Though there were still plenty of pain running through their bodies Spike rose from his sleep first. From that day previously it was the first time he managed to get any sleep and feel restful for once. While there was a pang of hunger building up in his belly it wasn’t as bad as it was previously. The trip through both these realms had been somewhat harsh. There hadn’t been much time for thinking through things if they wanted to get back home. Discord was still asleep but was plainly uncovered. On his back was the same mark that had adorned Rainbow Dash’s flank.

‘Why is it that this society around us ok with staring at a pony’s flank...Jeez listen to me trying to philosophize all this when I don’t need to worry about that. At least I didn’t need to worry about it till now. At least Dash would know that we are ok. Then she might be able to tell the others and then bam! Twilight magicks us out of here.’ Spike smiled haughtily to himself as he climbed out of his bed. It was really comfortable but they needed to keep moving and there was no time like the present.

With a quick survey he peered around for what he would be doing next only to find his eyes drawn towards the door with the three apples cutie mark. ‘Hopefully Applejack’s mission wouldn’t be as tough as the others were. That last one nearly got us killed.’

Discord soon stirred as well muttering something about cotton candy clouds flooding his vision but Spike paid it no mind. He looked tense as well before he started looking around his body examining every nook and cranny on his body. Discord found the mark soon after but his expression bared nothing on the outside. The poker face he sometimes wore when dealing with Twilight had come up almost imperceptibly though Spike had figured it out during one of of their guy’s nights when Big Mac had brought it up. While Spike wasn’t a master at reading Discord facial expressions Big Mac had pointed out how to tell when he was extremely angered. His irises seemed to get bigger and the back of his jaw would clench tightly almost subconsciously.

“Freya where are you?” Discord called out as the small pink sphere floated back out from wherever she hid. The floating sphere stared him down unusually hovered directly in front of his eyes.

Sure enough nearby on a small table was another meal made specifically for them including a small backpack nearby. They both ate their meals in relative silence except for the occasional crunching of a gem. Freya remain quiet as she examined the last door and the numerous cracks when Zero had broken into the room. The remaining ash had been cleaned up leaving the room back in its near sterile state. The backpack caught Spike’s attention but before he could ask Freya spoke up.

“Thanks Freya. Maybe we’ll have better luck this time.” Spike managed to scrape out after finishing a couple of gems. The rest he pocketed away inside the smallest pocket so as to not waste them. Discord remained quiet which Spike noticed for the first time in all their interactions with Freya. The only time he spoke with her was whenever he had the initiative or was deliberately trying to get her mad. Either way there needed to be a reason yet Spike hadn’t asked yet and doubted he would get an honest answer while the target of his questions was hovering around them.

“We should get going then.” Discord curtly replied to nothing in particular. With one fluid motion he stood and slunk over to the door and waited for Spike to step over. He felt different at that point. Due to the mark something had to have changed now because the same happened to Spike when they had gone into the doorways.

Spike waddled over ready to a certain extent to enter the next area. A swift thwack let the door fly open as the two burst into the doorway. There eyes were forced to adjust as something different lay before them. They were deep within a metal corridor glowing a ghastly green that intermittently went dead every couple of seconds letting the shadows overtake them.

The corridor wasn’t exactly intact as several slots revealed frayed wires and sparks flying from them. Several panels were crushed or slightly burning yet there weren’t any bodies lying around. Discord quickly looked through the wiring examining the inner circuitry while Spike looked on utterly confused at the designs all around them.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. The strangest thing I’ve ever seen was Twilight’s science equipment but that ran off a magic crystal. I don’t smell any magical residue at all here.” Spike sniffed at the air attempting to make sure he wasn’t missing the scent. Discord kept up his ministrations checking other panels as well.

“Well this is all scientific equipment and if I’m right it’s all powering up a ship of some kind… at least it was. This whole ship is dead now and there isn’t much working right here now. The power’s still on though. Maybe there are survivors here but its kind of unlikely with how bad it is just in this one area.” Discord stepped away from the wires as the sparks flew farther out from where he had been working on.

“So another horror like area? Jeez I hope there aren’t any zomponies here. I kind of like keeping my head intact and my brains right where they belong.” Spike deadpanned fiercely enough that he managed to look twenty years older… which changed nothing at all about his face.

“Most likely right now we need to find whatever it is we need here and then get out as fast as possible. I’d rather not fight against the undead… again.” The corridor led to a large tower with several levels to it. Most of it was partially buried in debris and sparks but the path downwards was still visible.

As the pair walked down the still intact staircase leaving behind the heavily damaged hallways Spike noticed something. He couldn’t see it clearly most of the time because of it’s speed but there was something out there. It seemed to be a green blob though its features seemed to bring a sense of dread into his gut. There were faces… screaming faces that seemed to stare into his very soul while fading in and out of the background. Curiosity immediately took over trying its best to erase the image he just saw with a flurry of questions that would distract him from the ever growing amount of dread breaking into his soul.

“Hey Discord. Why are you so flippant around Freya? I know we should be wary about her but we should at least play along to not reveal what we wanted to do ya know incognito like.” Spike moved his claw in elaborate movements poking the air to punctuate his point. Discord didn’t answer right away and with a wave of his arm actually summoned a cotton candy cloud and stuffed Spike’s head into it before shoving his head inside as well.

“Listen Spike those spheres have turned out to be more dangerous than I previously thought they were. I need to be quiet because even if it is bad to speak about things I’m still a being of chaos. They could probably trick me into speaking about our plans if I say something wrong or misspeak at the wrong time. Freya, on her own, managed to destroy that… Zero was it? If she could do that what could she do to us with how weakened we are right now. Plus I don’t think she is fully in control of her actions. Her timing in saving us was too much of a deus ex machina for me and I don’t trust that it was all luck that managed to get us out of there.” Discord finished his rant and the cloud faded away with a snap of his talons.

“I see. So that’s what is happening. Still we need to speak about things. Its better in the long run.” Spike offered a simple explanation which hopefully was blocked from view by the cloud. Paranoia, in this case, brought up a whole lot of problems for their plans later.

“I know it’s just hard not to be my usual snarky self. This situation is highly unlikely for tricksters such as myself. It’s unheard of in the annals of jokester kind. If I still had my power I would be showing you exactly what I meant.” Discord created another cloud and poked it in a certain combination turning it into a cup made of clouds filled with chocolate milk and chugged it down like cider. He seemed on edge when he made three more cloud mugs and chugged them like crazy.

“Drinking yourself under the table won’t be helping us here right now. I already think I’ve seen some ghosts so sober up and let’s get going.” Spike tapped his leg making him sigh and send the clouds away. The second level down had proven to be interesting because the door seemed to be wide open.

The room seemed really strange due to all the glass domes holding what looked like little nucleus creatures. Each seemed to be pulsing with energy as the three other parts swarmed around the main body gathering the electricity and feeding it elsewhere. The floors also seemed to be moving on their own without any visible means of powering it.

“Huh, conveyer belts and power stations. This place seems really hi-tech. Think Appejack’s throwing a conniption over all this ‘darnfangled cyber whatsitz muddying the issue’ or something” Discord laughed uproariously almost seemingly overcompensating for it. Spike let out a polite chuckle even though he knew somehow, someway that Applejack would know they had done that.

As they came back from their state they didn’t notice the buzzing sound in the air, or the bug like creature that was flying right towards them. Due to being less loss in his laughter Spike did notice it charge. With a quick jump he shot a fireball directly at the creature causing it to chitter in pain as the wings it had flew off. The creature fell flat on its face as the fire smoldered off revealing a very burned green insectoid biped with blue eyes and a strange brown sac behind its head. It chittered angrily before contracting its maw and shooting out a small glob of bile which melted the floor where Discord had been standing moments before. Spike took the opportunity to release a continuous stream of flames into its face making it fall over into a heap of slag.

“Almost as bad as changelings before the reform huh?” Discord looked at the pile cringing from the smell that came out of it. To say it was unpleasant would be the mildest of insults and still not adequate enough to describe it.

“True but at least you can talk a changeling down from doing something violent. Also those were only the fanatical ones under Chrysalis anyways.” Spike quipped up then added quietly to his own chagrin.

“Probably more where that came from. I’ll set up the traps to be ready you finish them off, yeah?” Discord snapped his talons and formed several clouds around him.

“Yeah I’m ready. Got a few gems in case I get tired at least.” Spike took a deep breath. The buzzing had come back in full force once again just like the incident with the shadow ponies.

Another of the bug creatures flew lazily by only for another fireball to slam into it. Then a cotton candy cloud caught it leaving it stuck in the sticky mess. It actually stared into the distance trying to figure out what happened before catching sight of prey. Without warning it raged around getting tangled further in the sticky mess. Limbs thrashing about brought the cotton candy around its face and it was eventually lost to the pink menace.

Spike was about to finish the problem but the ball of fluff stopped moving. Discord poked the cloud accidently activating the chocolate milk feature. There was a bit more thrashing and the cloud stopped for the last time.

“Huh… Didn’t know that could happen.” Spike walked past the cloud while Discord looked a little mortified by the turn of events.

“Hm. Seems like my power isn’t fully under my control right now. Gotta be careful with it.” Discord kicked the cloud away to the side and followed the path forward. Another open door was in front of them but there were no more creatures waiting for them. Half the hallway was under water leaving very few paths they could get through. The water actually threatened Spike nearly covering him up. Discord quickly grabbed him up with his tail keeping him above water

There were luckily no sparking cables littering the area leaving the place safe enough to trek through. Spike for his part kept watch behind them in case another one of the bug creatures came into view but all was quiet once again. The sloshing of water was there only company and little else happened leaving the awkward silence in place.

“Discord… something is over there.” Spike seemed especially serious as his eyes became pinpricks and his body started to shake slightly. Discord looked at him and saw him pointing a claw into a large pool of water.

“I guess that would be the thing we need huh? I guess I’ll stay above water then. You can swim right?” Discord carefully placed Spike on one of his clouds which hovered above the water. He couldn’t move it very far without the cloud changing too much. ‘Still don’t have the fine tuning all worked out just yet.’

“Yeah. You’d be surprised what I did when the former dragon lord called for all of us.” Spike proudly boasted of his accomplishment of saving the new dragon lord.

“I know… you mentioned it at least three times during one of our nights. Anyways let’s get this show on the road and see what this world wants with you.” Discord waited nearby though the water made it slightly uncomfortable since it had nearly gotten to his waist… ‘Ponyfeathers…’

The water was trickling in but it was rising all the same. Spike seemed to notice when the cloud started to dissolve from the water touching it. Wide eyed and shocked he jumped into the pool and dove down into the depths of the pool following the feeling that was pulling him forward. It was faint but he could tell where it was. The mark on his back glowed brighter as he swam faster down into the center chamber of the pool.

On a small pedestal made of scrap metal and surrounded by still intact cables was a pair of gauntlets spinning in place right on it. They were floating and seemed to be untouched by the water surrounding them. Spike shot forward seemingly like a missile and made a beeline for the pair of gauntlets. When he touched them they suddenly clamped onto his claws adjusting to his size and the pocket of air disappeared. A little heavier but still able to swim he made his way back up to the surface. He took much longer to get back though. It wasn’t because of the weight, in fact, the energy from the mark on his back made the trip a thoughtless task.

“What took you so long?” Discord was now eyeing that the water was next to his lower chest and quickly grabbed Spike with his tail placing him on his shoulders while he swam back through the hallways.

“At this rate we’ll drown down here… I think the power from Starlight’s mark gives me enhanced strength and stamina during physical activities. I wonder what Applejack’s does? Meanwhile from what I can tell Rainbow Dash’s mark gives you back control over your weather related pranks.” Spike spoke up while examining the new artifact he was made to retrieve.

“At least it’s been useful so far, “ Discord spat out some water going into his mouth from the swim until he could stand up once again. “So that means we can figure out who are harmony wielders and chaos wielders based on whether you or I get that feeling to find something.”

As they reached the dryer part of the hallways something shifted above their heads. A large tentacle came out of nowhere. Discord took the initiative using a cloud cover to evade it. The tentacle speared through the cloud nearly grazing one of the spines on Spike’s back. Then the tentacle turned back and slammed against the ceiling breaking out a section.

The force of the impact caused the twisted metal above to become too broken to support the weight anymore. The entire section came crumbling down leaving the two barely anytime to dodge the crushing weight. Discord felt something puncture his tail while Spike lost a few scales from the resulting crash. Spike got up first while tears streamed down Discord cheeks.

“Tail… Spike, figure out what happened,” He whimpered slightly gritting his teeth in vain attempts to keep his brave attitude. Spike wisely said nothing about it and examined the problem. A piece of rebar had gotten through the lower portion of the tail

“Discord… I can remove this but… it will probably burn you if I do.” Spike stammered out as he figured out just how bad it was.

“Just… quickly.”

Spike merely nodded and got to work. It wasn’t as bad as it looked but the bar was a twisted one. With a light flame Spike began to twist at the metal superheating it and picking away with his claws as if it were butter. He didn’t try biting into it though for fear of breaking his teeth.

“Aren’t you able to chew metal…?” Discord grunted as the heat started to reach him.

“No. I’ve tried a few times but they left me with broken teeth which I’m usually forced to pull out and wait for the next set to grow in. Strangely those teeth are really useful for making digging tools. I think I just need a few more years though. Ember had said that the stronger a jaw is the stronger things they could break through. Then she bit into a piece of steel she had. No broken teeth or anything.” Spike finished his welding managing to get through the metal and waiting for said metal to cool off. It took a while though leaving the two to their own thoughts. Spike was patting the flames out absent mindedly while Discord quietly groaned at the pain in his tail.

A good half hour later the metal had cooled enough. Discord waved him on digging his talons and claws into the floor albeit barely managing to make a gash in the floor. Spike grabbed the bar and placed his foot on the tail to push it down while he pulled up on the bar. It was a slow agonizing minutes before Discord finally could feel his tail sporting a new hole right through it. Spike threw the bar to the ground before noticing that lack of water.

“Huh. Seems that we won’t be drowning anytime soon here. Maybe we could go to the lower levels of this place and find the door now that we found the things we need.” Spike pointed out while Discord looked over his tail.

“Yeah. Any ideas about my tail? Maybe there’s something in the bag?” Discord pointed at the backpack.

Spike swung the backpack around and looked it over. Everything was still dry somehow then his eyes were drawn to the gauntlets. The right one had two apples on it while the left had one. Shaking his head, Spike looked through the pockets finding mostly food which Discord picked some out chewing absentmindedly while the search continued. Deep within the largest pack was a roll of gauze wrap. Discord took it and started to wrap his tail though it did take him a few tries to get the right tightness. Satisfied they resealed the pack and trotted back to the main shaft.

The hallways before then had changed. The glass cases were all broken and the weird nucleus looking things were floating around freely. Then they all floated towards Spike when his foot stepped too close to the first one. A few applications of cotton candy clouds made the farther ones stop in place. The closest one managed to avoid scrutiny until it was almost against Spike. Spike jolted back lifting his right hand up. The movement caused the gauntlet to shift positions looking almost like a cannon. Instinctively Spike raised it up and through a force of his willpower a small beam of energy shot out hitting the enemy causing it to vaporize from the sudden attack.

“Woah… Didn’t see that coming.” Spike lowered his claw and the gauntlet returned back to its normal glove form. Discord eyed it intensely before shrugging and touching each cloud he passed. Sparks floated around them all instead of chocolate milk. The clouds dissolved right afterwards leaving behind puddles of blue and yellow sludge on the ground. Spike followed close by avoiding the puddles to the best of his abilities.

Once again within the confines of the main shaft the two flew down the steps. Every couple of seconds though another green cloud of sludge with screaming faces would appear in the corner of Spike’s eye causing him to fire the energy weapon he received at his disappearing target. Nothing but a crater could be seen and the power kept fluctuating at that point leaving the same thing to appear and reappear like clockwork. Whenever Spike’s nerves would settle down he would falter and fire another shot off.

“Look I know you think you see something but it hasn’t attacked us yet. Let it go for now and we’ll deal with it when we actually can.” Discord huffed up still mad about almost being shot but kept his anger to a minimum. While he said he didn’t see the monster floating around he did. He was also pissed that any cloud he summoned on it would harmlessly fall to the floor without warning.

Spike merely nodded. He was still startled by it but kept his claws to his side. By the time they reached the bottom floor they were both snarling in rage from the constant arrival of the ghostly figure stalking them throughout the entire ship. At least they thought it was the entire ship after being hunted throughout the main shaft.

The bottom floor held sever cylindrical creatures with rectangular looking screens for eyes. They were moving erratically shutting down then powering back on without warning. Discord gunked up their circuitry with cotton candy leaving them stuck in a standby mode before heading out for the path on the right. Spike followed awkwardly behind him. The creatures before him were very similar to something he had read in a Power Ponies comic. ‘It looks like a robot but… it’s not that impressive.’

The two made their way into the next room only to be stopped by a wall. There was nothing but a seemingly empty room. Then the doors behind them locked behind them. Startled Spike lifted the right claw gauntlet producing the same weapon from before. He scanned the room while Discord knelt to the floor keeping his stance wide in case he needed to roll out of the way. Nothing happened.

“Anticlimactic.” Spike shrugged but something in him felt wrong. His arm was still raised and his eyes kept scanning the area.

“Maybe but the moment we relax it’s gonna get us. It already tried once and failed now we’re in a small room slightly vulnerable to anything.” Discord snapped his talons bringing in a few smaller clouds which hovered around him.

The seconds turned to minutes as the tension in their stances started to bring in soreness. They were losing to time and the creature still made no moved. The door was still locked shut and nothing was changing that. Spike relaxed first falsely pretending to yawn and lower his right claw. The cannon never changed back though. A tentacle warped in and attempted to spear straight through Spike only to be stuck in place. Several clouds had grabbed the blasted appendage. Unable to wriggle out of the trap Spike raised his claw and fired sending the charred tentacle reeling.

A large roar echoed through the room leaving the two struggling to keep standing. Slowly a figure faded into view. It looked like a large octopus but the eye it had was closed and on its sides were two tentacles which seemed far too small to the one that had attacked them. It floated around aimlessly unaffected by the shots of the gauntlet or the clouds surrounding it.

“Well this is gonna be perfect huh?” Discord smirked though his tone betrayed him. Backing up he looked around for anything he could do. Spike was still keeping low to the ground keeping his eyes glued to the creature.

“Why did AJ get the technological one. Is that irony or something?” Spike groaned unable to even do anything to the floating creature.

“Situational probably but it is kind of funny. I’m sure Applejack’s plan here would be to buck something into it even if it wouldn’t do anything. Provided, of course, that she didn’t learn tactics while she was in this world.” Discord chuckled dryly though his eyes kept wandering to the figure eight the creature was making.

Before either could make another comment the eye opened released a wave of blue fire which seemed to shimmer in and out focus. Spike shot his cannon and Discord used his clouds to catch the fires as they circled out. A loud screech tore through the room causing the creature to shift out of view and disappear. The fires sizzled through the cotton candy fizzling out through the chocolate milk that had formed in the cloud.

“Mmm… hot chocolate.” Discord took a sip and then chugged the entire thing down after he had a taste.

“Is it really time for that?” Spike mumbled when three tentacles popped out of nowhere and slammed down on Spike. For his part the left gauntlet activated revealing a weird energy lasso which pulled him out of the way of the impact. The tentacles were too fast with their attack but instead of a crash there only came a splat. They had hit another trap and were stuck in even more cotton candy.

At that point the two were calming down too much. Cockiness had gotten to their heads leaving them smiling as if they had won the lottery. They dodged the flailing tentacles and stood by the locked door. Another collection of spear like tentacles shot out and pierced the locked door opening it up. With the same smug smirk Discord led the way out… only to be stopped by a low hanging wall. The room had lost a few things and now the only way through was a small passageway that almost seemed too small for Discord to make it through. Then the creature stopped still faded and untouchable. The eye opened but the figure was still transparent. The eye glowed a sickly red as tendrils of dark energy summoned more of the tentacles that had tried to strike at them.

“Well I guess we know what their preference is when it comes to possessing things.” Discord chuckled weakly this time. The smugness had been drained from him while Spike just backed up with his cannon still trained on the creature.

“Celestia damn it all…” Spike spoke as a cadre of tentacles charged for them.