This is probably my longest chapter yet, that's why it took so long. By the way you may remember form the original episode only Garble, Spear and Clump were at the raid but here I made the whole group join. Why? Well… You'll see…
The sun was setting on the horizon but that didn't stop the girls-turned-ponies from going through the woods following the direction the magic divining rods on Mystletainn. They also noticed the rods were getting brighter as they went along, meaning they were getting closer to Ayumu.
We're almost there… Eu thought optimistically in contrast with her stoic expression.
Then they noticed two shadows flying from far away, they thought nothing of it until the divining rods suddenly grew much brighter than before and they were pointing in the direction of the figures.
"Whoa! Why did they change like so quickly?" Haruna asked stunned at what happened.
"Unless…" Sera said as an idea formed in her mind.
But her thoughts were halted when Eu suddenly took off in the figures direction leaving Mysteltainn behind.
"Lady Hellscythe!" Exclaimed Sera as she flew after her.
"Neckwearmancer! Wait up!" Haruna shouted as she picked up her chainsaw with her magic.
Her friends' calls fell on deaf ears as Eu kept galloping as fast as she could after whoever was flying, and kinda forgetting she had wings she could use to catch up. As she got somewhat closer she noticed what looked like a white dragon (much smaller than the other dragons she's seen in this world) carrying a lavender pony and a blue pegasus carrying a white pony but more importantly the dragon look a lot like…
Ayumu! He's okay! She thought as she kept running but accidently started smiling giving her a shooting headache making her stumble and trip over herself. As she got back on her hooves Haruna and Sera caught up to her.
"Don't scare us like that!" Haruna scolded as Eu's ears drooped as a sort of 'I'm sorry' look and then pointed to the sky to where the figures are flying even further away as they were lowering into the forest out of sight.
"Lady Hellscythe, do you believe that was Ayumu up there?" Sera questioned what she was suspecting before the necromancer ran off. Before Eu could answer a very bright light shining came through the trees, almost like a miniature sun. It was so blinding that the three of them had to cover their eyes, even if it was pretty far away from them.
"What is that?!" Sera exclaimed still shielding her eyes with her wing.
Eu moved her hoof from her eyes slightly as she got a look at the light their seemed to be a shadow that looked like… some sort of bird?
Meanwhile…
Garble, Clump and Spear had their heads embedded in a tree while Fizzle and Baff were tangled up in the branches and Vex had his head stuck in a boulder. They got tired of waiting for Ayumu so they started the dragon raid without him and made Spike lure the adult phoenixes away from the nest since he was new. But what they didn't expect was that the eggs already hatched so they decided to take the chicks instead, luckily they managed to get away even more that the parents came back swiped back the hatchlings. Problem is no one realized that there was one egg that didn't hatch and it fell out of the nest and into the bushes.
When Garble was starting to catch up to the fire birds, the male phoenix made his body shine extremely bright to blind him and his group so they can escape, leaving the dragons in their aforementioned positions.
"They got away! I hate that!" Garble muttered as tree he and the others were in fell to the ground and on top of Vex, as Baff and Fizzle tumbled out of the branches.
Back at the nest Spike noticed the egg in the bushes and walked towards it. "What do we have here?" He wondered as he picked up the yellow and orange egg as Garble and his crew flew back with scowls on their faces.
"Uh… how did it go?" Spike asked nervously.
"They got away… Huh?" Garble grumbled but then noticed what the baby dragon had in his hands.
"You managed to get an egg?!" He said with wide eyes.
"Uh…"
"Well I guess this raid wasn't a total waste after all!" Garble declared as his group cheered for Spike.
"Too bad Ayumu missed it. Wonder what kept him?" Baff wondered to himself. Spike looked down at his feet, where was Ayumu throughout all this? But his thoughts broke when Clump gave him a rough pat on the back almost making him drop the egg.
"Well what are you waiting for Spike? Smash it!" Clump said.
"Smash… the egg…?" Spike repeated not believing what he heard.
"Yeah! Throw it on the ground as hard as you can!" Spear exclaimed.
"Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it!" the entire group chanted at Spike as he hesitantly lifted the egg over his head. But his thoughts made him stop as it went to Twilight who took care of him since he hatched even if she didn't have to, all the lessons and values she taught him, her parents and brother who thought of him as part of the family even if they weren't related, Princess Celestia and her kindness, the friends he and Twilight made when they moved to Ponyville. And finally, he thought about Ayumu Aikawa, that odd yet awesome zombie dragon who he spent the last couple days with. The stories they told each other, the laughs they had, unlike these other dragons Ayumu thought he was cool being himself, quirks and all.
Ayumu had every right to kill that Kyoko girl after everything she did to him and others but he spared her, even if she didn't deserve it and I'm going to kill an innocent being just to prove I'm a dragon? What the hay am I doing?! With that last thought Spike made his decision with tears in his eyes.
"NO! It's just a defenseless egg! Like I was… and I'm not gonna let you hurt it!" Spike yelled at the other dragons as he hugged the egg in an attempt to shield it. The group looked at him with wide eyes and Garble glared at Spike.
"What did you say?" Garble asked dangerously.
"I said no!" Spike glared with determination, even if he was getting scared on the inside.
"No one says 'no' to me!" Garble growled angrily as he was lunge at Spike but someone punched him hard in the face sending him back and actually made him lose a tooth! "What the-?!"
"Well he just did you bastard!" exclaimed a certain white dragon.
Spike eyes widened and he got a big smile. "Ayumu!"
"What? Did you really think we would leave you alone kid?" Ayumu turned to him with a grin.
"We?" Spike questioned that part of the sentence until three familiar ponies got in front of him and to Ayumu's side, making him gasp.
"Nopony's gonna lay a claw on him!" Rainbow Dash warned as she was flying over Ayumu holding her front hooves up.
"That's right!" Twilight agreed doing the same.
"Fighting's not really my thing, I'm more into fashion. BUT I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES IF YOU HURT ONE SCALE ON HIS CUTE LITTLE HEAD!" Exclaimed Rarity with surprising force.
The other teenage dragons just laughed at them but Garble gave Ayumu an angry scowl and a look of disbelief. "Are you kidding me Ayumu?! You're friends with these namby-pamby ponies too?"
"Yes, I am. I may not know them as well as Spike does, but if he's cool with them, it's ok with me." Ayumu answered with a cocky smirk and Spike stepping by his side no longer embarrassed by his background with a proud smile of his own.
"Oh really?" Garble responded as he caught Ayumu off guard by launching at him with quick speeds and knocking him to the ground towards his group. As he tried to get up Clump tried to body slam him but Ayumu managed to use his enhanced strength to catch him.
"30% power!" He cried out as he tossed the brown dragon towards Vex knocking them both off their feet. Then Spear and Baff tried to sneak up from behind but Ayumu ducked and caught them both by their tails midflight and throwing them towards the trees. He also managed to block a an attack from Fizzle with his claws managing to scratch his arm and he just barely made it out of the way when he decided to breath fire. As Fizzle made another direct charge Ayumu decided to use his new 'Death Breath' as he decided to call it to breath that noxious gas from earlier to knock him out.
"Go get'em Ayumu!" Spike cheered from the sidelines along with Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity. But Twilight managed to spot the scratches on Ayumu's arm heal in a manner of seconds, leaving her shocked. From what little information she had about dragons in her library it said that they are fast healers and can re-grow limbs if severed like regular lizards but that takes YEARS. Not seconds!
Ayumu managed to give the others a thumbs up but didn't notice Garble come from behind him, grabbed his arm, snapped it like a twig and knocking him hard into the same tree the phoenixes where. He felt the impact made him break his right wing as well. And when he tried to move forward Clump and Vex came out of nowhere and they both gave Ayumu a punch in the chest that made him crack a few ribs and was forced back on the tree and he coughed up blood as he fell to his knees.
"Ayumu!" The ponies exclaimed in horror of the scene before them and although Spike cringed a little he otherwise said nothing. He knows it would heal back up since he was a zombie.
Garble stalked towards Ayumu like a predator as the rest of his group rejoined him, injured but still standing. "Y'know, it's a shame. Here I thought you were the cool one, but you're just like Peewee and his pony friends! Well I have another test for you Ayumu!" Garble and his team them opened their mouths to reveal their fire breaths.
Spike's eyes widened and his color drained from his face, now he was getting scared "Oh no!"
Twilight then galloped towards Ayumu making her horn glow to try to shield him. Ayumu didn't heal in time to move as the dragons unleashed their fire breaths and Twilight neck and neck with the fire.
"AYUMU, NO!" Spike cried out for his friend. And suddenly…
A figure came in front of Ayumu and started to shield him by spinning some sort of staff like weapon like a propeller to repel the all the fire in one go! Twilight stopped in her tracks and the others were surprised with the new arrival as well.
Ayumu got a look at the figure who defended him he saw it was a purple pony with horns AND wings, an alicorn if he remembered right (which according to Spike was only among this worlds royal family), but what really surprised him what that she had long silvery-white hair, whore armor on her body and when she stopped spinning her weapon it turned out to be a scythe! That scythe… that hair… that armor… I know them anywhere!
"E-Eu?" He somehow managed to stutter out.
She turned her head to face Ayumu. She may look slightly different as a pony but there was no mistaking that face and it looked like her eyes were glassy like she was trying her best not to cry when she saw him.
"Mmm-hmm" She responded silently as she turned back to their attackers with glare she managed to do without causing her pain. She doesn't like killing, but she won't hesitate to defend someone she cares about, even if she had to apply a little hurting.
The ponies went wide-eyed at who was in front of Ayumu; he actually knew an alicorn?! Then they remembered Ayumu's story about his world, but who had enough power to be considered an alicorn here? Spike put the pieces together on who this mystery pony was. "Guys! I think that's Eucliwood Hellscythe! One of Ayumu's friends!"
"The necromancer?" Twilight remembered her name when she was listening in to Ayumu's story. If what he said about her powers was true it wouldn't be surprising she would be an alicorn, but what was she doing here?
"Another pony?" Clump grumbled to himself.
"Who cares? Get her!" Garble ordered as he, Spear and Clump flew towards Eu, but Ayumu was fast and got in front of her.
"40% power!" He shouted as he gave Clump a strong punch to the gut (now that he healed properly, only his arm still recovering) sending him flying towards the other end of the clearing and Eu gave quick jabs to Garble and Spear with the end of her scythe that she enhanced with magic to push them back. But while that was happening the other half of Garble's troop went over to Spike and the other ponies.
Twilight kept them away with magic blasts with Spike behind Rarity for protection while Rainbow Dash gave them strong flying head butts. But they didn't notice Clump recover from Ayumu's attack and flying straight towards them.
"Look out!" Spike warned as he held the egg tighter and Rarity getting in front of him to shield him.
"Swallow-Return Strike!"
Spike, Rarity and especially Clump were shocked to see a whole flurry of leaves form a small tornado around the dragon, with all the small leaves slicing through his skin bit by bit like shuriken and suddenly a larger being came through the tornado like a knife through butter forcing Clump out and skidded through the dirt as Rarity and Spike got out of the way. They looked up to see a certain green bat-pony above them, red eyes piercing through the night.
"Are you alright?" She asked them as she landed and her eyes turned from red to green to appear less threatening.
Rarity realized she was staring at her and shook it off "Oh, yes. Thank you so much." She said as she bowed politely. Spike took a tentative step forward "Um… you wouldn't happen to be Seraphim, would you?"
Sera raised a brow "How did you know my name?"
"Well… Ayumu told me a lot about you."
"Oh I see. You're friends with the maggot now." Sera stated with a stern expression. Not angry, just serious.
"He didn't say anything bad if that's what you're thinking! He's always talked about you like a good friend!" Spike defended not liking her attitude.
"I don't doubt that, his heart's in the right place. As repugnant as he is, he has my respect. Apparently he has yours too, and with good reason. Now if you'll excuse me…" She replied as she disappeared with the leaves.
Spike looked from where the vampire-ninja once was and thought about what she said Wow… I think I had her all wrong…
He then looked at Ayumu fighting Garble but his arm was still dangling out of place. He remembered Ayumu telling him if his arm or leg is broken or dislocated but not severed it takes a little while to heal back in place, especially if he keeps moving.
"Hey Rarity, can you watch the egg for me?" He asked as he handed off the egg to Rarity to hold it with her magic and put it in her saddlebag.
"Sure, why?" She questioned as she saw Spike running off.
"Ayumu always helped me out, now it's my turn!" Spike answered but not looking back.
As Garble charged at him again, Ayumu decided to go the defensive and use his death breath to cloud his vision, but didn't realize at the same time Spike used his fire against the red dragon. The fire collided with the gas causing an explosion that managed to singe Garble and caused him to step back.
Ayumu and Spike looked at what they did with surprise; they weren't expecting that to happen.
"I… guess that gas was flammable. Sorry Ayumu." Spike apologized hoping he wouldn't be mad at almost burning him.
"No… it's ok buddy. You didn't know, thanks for trying to help." Ayumu replied still in a bit of a stupor. But he then noticed in horror Garble creeping up from behind Spike.
Oh no, Spike!
….
Rainbow Dash was giving Baff a hard time with her speed by dodging his fire breath. But Fizzle suddenly got in front of her, caught her in his arms and gave her one strong toss to a boulder. Rainbow didn't have time to recover from the sneak attack and braced herself for impact, but she suddenly got enveloped by an unfamiliar aura of pink magic that stopped her in her tracks and laid her down gently. She turned to see a pink unicorn looking at her with a cocky grin that almost mirrored her own.
"I think I'm finally getting a hand at this pony magic! You're lucky that a genius like me was around to save ya!" She bragged.
"W-Well I would've stopped on my own! You just beat me to it!" Rainbow defended trying to preserve her pride.
"Yeah right! I saw you scrambling!" The unicorn laughed until Vex flew right towards them. The two ponies did back flips to move away from the boulder making Vex ram into it instead.
"Wow! Sweet moves!" The unicorn complemented. Rainbow thought that it was weird that she just went from mocking to praising at the drop of a hat but shook it off quickly.
"Thanks! You too!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
The two of them turned around seeing Ayumu's dislocated arm get ripped off Garble dropping his severed arm in horror but Spike managing to catch it in his hands.
"Ayumu!" the two ponies cried out as they ran towards them and the unicorn brought over a chainsaw that Rainbow didn't notice was there earlier with her magic.
…
What was happened was that Garble was going to attack Spike. Twilight and Eu noticed and ran over to help, but Ayumu was quicker and pushed the baby dragon out of the way towards the girls. As he was blocking Garble from Spike, the red dragon managed to slash his injured arm so out place that he accidently severed it. It freaked him out so much he backed away and tossed the arm in Spike's direction and he caught it, making Twilight shriek in terror. When Rainbow, Rarity, Haruna and Sera came over Rainbow had to keep Rarity from fainting.
"I gotta give this back to Ayumu so he can heal!" Spike said to himself but put a hand over his mouth when he realized Twilight was there, looking baffled.
"Spike you can't just simply glue someone's body part once it's severed! He needs medical attention and-" Twilight panicked but Eu stopped her putting her hoof on her shoulder and showing her notepad.
'Let him go.' The note said simply.
Twilight was flabbergasted by what Eu was telling her, but Spike took the opportunity to go over to Ayumu but not before turning to the necromancer. "Thank you." He said before running over.
Meanwhile Garble was completely shaken from how Ayumu was unmoving after his arm was severed and all the blood that was coming out of the stump. The other dragons came over after they heard the scream they were shocked with the gore-fest that was before them.
"Dude… what did you just do?" Vex questioned with a whisper.
"Garble, I think you went too far!" Fizzle freaked out.
"B-But- he… uh…I mean… I j-just…" Garble stuttered frantically.
"You're really pathetic you know that?"
The teenage dragons jumped at the voice and they got even more scared when they see Ayumu stand up despite the blood loss.
"Ayumu catch!" Spike shouted as he threw Ayumu's arm towards him. When he caught the arm he placed it over the stump and waited for his magic to allow the pieces to reattach themselves, making the dragons scramble backwards in fear and Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity gasps in shock.
Garble was beyond scared pointing at Ayumu with a shaking finger "No way! How did you-"
"What's the matter Garble? Thought you killed me? Well I hate to disappoint you but I'm a zombie, you can't kill what's already dead!"
"ZOMBIE?!" Both the dragons and the ponies repeated in shock.
"And what you saw was only a fraction of what me and my friends can do. So unless you want to become nothing but bloody pulps I suggest that you leave my friends and these phoenixes alone. Got it?!" Ayumu warned dangerously giving his best zombie glare as his roommates came over in front of him, Eu pointing her scythe, Haruna revving up her chainsaw and Sera summoning her leaf sword. They weren't gonna kill them, just scare them a little.
"U-uh y-yeah! S-sure! We'll do that!" Garble stammered as he and his group nodded nervously. "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"
With that Garble and the other dragons flew away in terror but Baff accidently tripped over his tail and fell over. As he turned around he saw the four still glaring at him and then he flinched when Eu stepped forward.
"Boo." Eu said simply making Baff yelp and fly away.
Haruna couldn't help but laugh at that. "Good one Neckwearmancer!"
But Eu didn't respond as she turned to face Ayumu. It was silent for a while as Ayumu gave her a small smile. "Hey Eu…"
He got tackled suddenly as Eu flew up to him and gave him the best hug she could with her new body. Ayumu could feel her sniffling slightly into his chest. "It's ok… I'm sorry I made you worry Eu… I'm here now…" He whispered as he rubbed her head a little. We haven't been this personal with each other since Tokyo Tower… He thought to himself. But his thoughts broke when Haruna a rock was flung to his face.
"What the-?!"
"That was for making Lady Hellscythe worry, maggot." Sera answered.
Ayumu grumbled as he let Eu down but suddenly Haruna leapt at him and gave him a hug of her own.
"That was for being safe…" Haruna said with tears in her eyes and Sera approached him as well with a smile of her own that said 'I'm glad you're alright'.
"Ayumu!"
He looked up to see Spike coming towards him.
"Kid?" He said as he let Haruna down and Eu tilted her head with a questioning look. Ayumu knew what she was trying to say. "It's okay, he knows."
Spike stopped in front of them as the other ponies took steps forward nervously.
"Girls this is Spike, I met him when I came to this world. Spike these are my friends Eu, Haruna and Sera."
"Uh…hi." Spike greeted nicely.
"A pleasure." Sera replied.
'Hello' Eu wrote in her notes.
"Well aren't you adorable!" Haruna exclaimed as she picked up Spike by the tail with her magic.
"Haruna put him down. He's not a toy." Sera scolded as Haruna did just that, albeit roughly.
By then Rainbow had enough. "Ok can somepony tell me what the hay is going on?! Why did Ayumu just call himself a zombie?! And when did you know about this Spike?!"
Spike chuckled nervously as he rubbed his arm "Since yesterday… When we climbed the mountain Ayumu got injured and that's when he told me he was zombie."
Twilight took a few more steps towards Ayumu. "So you really are a zombie?"
"Yup. You're looking at a real undead corpse Twilight." He answered, no reason to hide it now.
"This. Is. AMAZING! That explains all those quirks you told Spike, the sensitivity to sunlight, the comfort in graveyards! And it's not like those fake zombies in movies! You still retain brain function! It's all so fascinating!" Twilight gushed with excitement and getting into his face.
"Okaaaay…" Ayumu said weirded out by her change in behavior. Spike told him she had her 'cuckoo moments' when it comes to research but he thought he was exaggerating.
Rarity pulled Twilight's tail with her magic to get her out of his space. "Darling, this isn't the right time for that. Spike what are we going to do with this egg?" She asked as she showed the phoenix egg in her saddlebag.
Spike's eyes widened. "You're right! The parents flew away!"
"And with all this commotion I doubt they'll be coming back any time soon…" Ayumu added in looking around the destruction they caused.
Spike looked at the egg with sadness, but then got an idea. "Twilight, can I look after the egg? At least for a while until the parents come back to the nest? Please?"
Twilight was surprised to hear that "Are you sure Spike? It's a big responsibility…"
"Yes I'm sure! It was my fault this all happened, it's the least I could do! Please Twilight!"
Twilight sighed but then gave him a smile of her own "Ok Spike. We'll take it with us, at least until the parents return."
"Thank you!" Spike cheered as he hugged Twilight.
Suddenly Ayumu remembered something "Hey wait a sec! How did you girls get here in the first place?! We killed the Megalo that sent me here!"
Haruna then lifted Mystletainn with a smile "Thank the Head Teacher for that! She put these rod thingies on Mystletainn and they helped us find you in this world!"
Ayumu nodded at the answer "But do you know a way home?"
Haruna's smile faded in realization. "I have… no idea!"
"SERIOUSLY?!" two of her roommates shouted. Then Mystletainn roared by itself, Haruna looked at it knowing what it meant.
"Huh? What is it Mystletainn?"
The chainsaw roared again and Haruna nodded a few times "Really? It's that easy? Ok."
"Uh were you… talking to the chainsaw?" Twilight questioned the odd scene.
"Uh huh!" Haruna said as if it was natural. The gears in Twilight's head were turning again, this otherworldly magic was interesting.
"Well what did it say?" Rainbow asked.
"Mystletainn said the way back is almost the same way as we came here, we gotta tell the rods to show us home and Mystletainn will slice through the air to make a doorway back to our world anytime!"
Twilight smiled as an idea came to her "Well since you can leave anytime, maybe you can stay in Ponyville with us for some rest for a little while."
"Really? I wouldn't want to impose…" Ayumu said but Rarity interrupted by waving her hoof.
"Nonsense! It's the least we can do after everything you've done for Spikey-Wikey! Our treat!" She assured. Spike got excited as he nodded to Ayumu rapidly.
Seeing there was no way to change their minds he looked at his roommates who gave affirming nods of their own. He gave them his usual smile. "Oh, ok. Why not?"
"YES!" Spike fist pumped the air and gave Ayumu another hug.
"Well everyone let's head back to Ponyville!" Twilight announced.
Ayumu then took off in the air carrying Twilight, Spike by Eu, Rarity by Rainbow and Haruna by Sera as they all flew back to Ponyville.
"Hey Spike, sorry your quest turned out to be a bust." Ayumu apologized to Spike as they were flying, but he shook his head.
"Oh I wouldn't call it that. This trip taught me something, what I am doesn't dictate who I am. These ponies aren't just my friends their family, because of them I didn't end up like those guys."
Ayumu smiled a little at what he said and Twilight below him did as well.
"Preach!" Haruna cheered from behind
"Besides I got to meet someone better than all of those guys put together! So I'm definitely glad I went on this quest!" Spike exclaimed making Ayumu laugh a little.
"Thanks kid."
Boy this took a long time! But I'm pretty proud of the end result, next chapter will be in Ponyville! Stay tuned!
Like what you see? Anything you wanna ask? Comment below and let me know! See ya!