KH: FiM - Tension Rising

When the girls woke up, they found themselves on the floor of the library. Apple Bloom eased herself up and shook her head. “Man, that was somethin’...” Then she noticed someone standing over them. “Aheh. Howdy Spike.” Spike was dressed in a combination of traditional Dragon Clan armour and magical clothing. He wore a black vest edged with thick red bands and featured a red zipped pocket on either side. The outline of the vest followed the curve of his ribcage, which meant his midriff would be quite exposed if not for the dragonfire-forged enchanted metal he wore under the vest. Purple all around apart from the front, which was a pale yellow, this armour granted him protection from just about anything the worlds could throw at him. Set on his shoulders were three-layered shoulder gaurds that tapered into points like the overlapping scales of the dragons he was descended from. He also wore a neon green belt to match his eyebrows and the multitude of spikes that stuck up from the middle of his head. This in turn held up his pants; grey at the hips and separated from the legs by zips, then black down to the knees. Then a purple edge separated the legs from the cuffs, which were bright red. Lastly, his red boots were tightly laced and one was tapping on the hardwood as he glared down at the Crusaders, arms folded. “And what,” Apple Bloom winced, she’d only heard that tone from Applejack when she’d done something really stupid. “do you four think you were doing in Twilight’s Gummi garage?” Sweetie Bell smiled nervously. “Uh, this isn’t what it looks like.” Spike arched a brow. “Oh really? You break into my home, ransack the garage and trip the alarm. Forgive me if I seem a little suspicious. What the hay were you doing down there anyway?” The Crusaders exchanged looks. “We were gonna build a Gummi Ship to look for the Elements.” Babs eventually said. Spike gave a harsh laugh. “That is rich. Even if you could fly a Gummi, no one knows where the Elements ended up. It’s impossible.” Scootaloo got to her feet. “Is that what you’ve been telling yourself for a year?” Spike glared at her, but she refused to back down. “Is that what Twilight would want you to think?” Spike froze. “I...”  A long moment passed as the rest of the Crusaders pulled themselves up.

Finally, he made his choice. “Right.” The Dragon looked around at the other girls. “If you want to go on this wild goose chase then I won’t stop you. But you’ll need to get your hands on some kind of weapon.” Apple Bloom held her hand out as if to grasp something. “Y’mean like this?”

A cloud of apple flower petals swirled forth and vanished, leaving behind what was unmistakably a Keyblade. The gaurd and handle formed the shape of an apple cut in half, with two thin green vines curling out artistically into teardrop-shaped leaves. What made this Keyblade particularly unusual was it had two shafts instead of one. On one side was a golden shaft a meter long, coming into a sharp point like a diamond shape cut in half. Just below this point was a hook with four arrowhead points projecting from it, and spaced in between each of these gold points was a feather, cream-colored at the base and fading into pink at the tips. Running parallel to this hook was, of all things, a giant brown paint brush, the same length as the gold shaft with the top half of the bristles coloured red with paint. Scattered along the blade were four flowers of differing colours, with a simple four-petaled purple one nearest the top of the brush with a six-petaled green one a little ways down the hook from it. Diagonally down on the brush from that was a large red one with four pointed petals, and diagonally down from that one was a nice three petaled blue one.

Blooming Heart.

Apple Bloom blinked. “Whoa. Ah didn’t think that’d work.” Spike took a step back, followed by two more when the others attempted to summon Keyblades of their own. Sweetie studied the purple and white Bell Staff that had appeared in her hands, smiling a little. Babs looked over the Faith Emblem shield with a measure of resignation. “Ah well. Swords aren’t really my thing anyway.” Scootaloo gave the weapon in her grip a puzzled look. It was dark blue and resembled a chainsaw on a stick. “What the heck is this thing?” Spike gave the weapon a look, then snapped his fingers, summoning a book in front of his face in a puff of smoke. Babs looked on. “You been practicing that?” Spike sent entire chapters flipping past with focused flicks of his hands. “I try to stay in shape these days. Ah, here we go.” He took the book in his hands and read from the page. “According to this, that thing is called a Scrapper. It’s a weapon that’s supposed to be on par with the Keyblade in terms of strength, but only if you’re trained properly.” Spike sighed and dismissed the book. “Well, I guess I’d better come along. You need at least one responsible adult.” Apple Bloom smiled. “Thanks Spike. Ah mean it.” Spike gave gave a rueful grin. “Well, those girls aren’t gonna save themselves, now are they?”

TWANSITION!

Back in the garage, Spike went over to the terminal and took up the controller. “Up up, down down, left right, left right, B, A, Start...” Sweetie Bell raised a brow. “The Konami Code?” Spike chuckled. “Pinkie’s idea.” The floor opened and a ship rose from the hole. Large, long, solid and bristling with weapons, built with Gummi Blocks that faded through purple, pink, orange, blue, white and yellow in sequence. Emblazoned along the side was the ship’s name: Seeker. The cockpit hissed open and everyone clambered in, and there was a bit of confusion for a moment as they figured out who would sit where, followed by a crash course on what each of them would be doing at their stations. Eventually, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom settled in the weapons seats on the far left and right, Babs plopped into the navigator’s console on the right and Sweetie sat at the comms station on the left. No sooner had the mage taken her seat than a video feed popped up. “Hey Sweetie!” Apple Bloom leaned over. “Is that Button Mash? What’s he doin’ on the phone?” Sweetie Bell tittered. “Uh, well, I thought he’d be a good mission control, see, and uh...” Spike sighed. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just go.” He flipped a few switches and everyone felt the Gummi rumble. Spike gently eased the ship up off the ground and hit another button which opened up a long tunnel. “Right. How are the systems looking, girls?” Apple Bloom thumbed her joysticks. “My side’s fine.” Scootaloo nodded. “Same here.” Babs shifted a few things around on her screens. “Radar’s clear.” Sweetie Bell gave a thumbs up. “Communications are all green.” “I’ll set up in the library and see if I can find any books that might help!” Button Mash called from his screen. Spike nodded. “Alright. Then let’s go save the Elements!” And the ship rocketed away.

Within Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia was going over some trade agreements with the Griffon Tribes when a gaurd suddenly rushed through the door. “Your Majesty, we’ve just received word that a ship has taken off just outside of Ponyville. We tried to raise it on the comm, but all we got was some Dragon clansman telling us to quote unquote shove it where the sun don’t shine.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?” “Yes ma’am. We managed to get the designation of the vessel before the signal cut off. Seems it goes by the name of Seeker. What are your orders?” Celestia smiled to herself and turned back to the documents. “Let it go.” The gaurd stumbled. “Your Highness?” “The five hearts onboard that vessel are quite stubbornly set in their objective. To try and stop them would be a fool’s errand. Dismissed.” The gaurd was puzzled, but he followed orders and left to tell the fighters to stand down. Celestia raised her gaze to the ceiling. “Good luck Spike, and whoever is with you. May the light of the worlds guide you on your path.”

“I just realised.” Button spoke up some time later as the Seeker powered through space, having managed to get his mitts on the communications equipment back at the Golden Oaks. “You guys are gonna need some kinda hub world.” Spike blinked. “Huh?” “Well, if the Elements have been gone for a while, they’ve gotta be exhausted. We need a place where they can recover and give us hints about what to do next!” Most of the others didn’t get the joke, but Sweetie Bell had to hold herself back from facepalming. “Mash, this isn’t a video game.” The nerdy boy chuckled. “Just give it some thought, you never know.” Spike rolled his eyes as Button closed off his video for now. “Babs, what’s the nearest world look like?” The defender consulted her screen. “Looks like it’s called The College of Runes. It’s an inter-dimensional magic school that focuses on rune-based magical combat, commonly known as Rune Duels.” Spike nodded. “Oh yeah, that place. The Elements and I went there last year. Apparently, Rune Duels are one of the three universal magical battling styles, the other two being Incantation Duels and Shapeshifting Duels.” Scootaloo smirked. “And then there’s people like us, who just go around poking our noses everywhere we can.

“That we do.” Spike tilted his head in the Pegasus’s direction. “But to get my point, the folks down there might be able to help us out. The girls and I befriended a few of the teachers and students while we were there last; We can at least see if they know anything.” Spike settled the ship into an orbit pattern around the world and looked around at the young girls, a mischievous grin on his face. “Ready to go?” Upon receiving four nods he raised a hand and slammed it down on a large red button, and all vanished in a flash of red light.