Spike: Chapter 5

Cemetery, 1:15 AM

Spike staggered to a hiding spot. He just had to think that thought, didn't he? One minute, he was on top of the proverbial world, the next he's at Gary's door. He accidentally headbutted a TV, which somehow caused him to lose his fire, ran a gauntlet of Frankies and Jeffs, (which accounted for most of his current scars) and lost any sense of direction he might've had. He looked around, hoping to find something, ANYTHING that could get him back into top shape. But alas, the moon did not reveal anything useful.

Larry finally appeared beside him and said, "Good thing this isn't timed, or you'd be in a lot of trouble."

Spike's eyes couldn't lock on to the ghost, but he could still speak. "Hurts...to...move...find...exit?"

Larry shook his head. "Nope. But I found something that may be what you need."

Spike groaned as he got up, still aching from everything, and followed Larry to the best of his ability. Though, when one can't walk 10 yards without tripping over their own two feet, that doesn't sound promising on one's ability. After many faceplants, he finally gave up walking and crawled towards the ghost. Thanking Celestia that Larry had chosen a path that had no enemies, Spike finally saw what he was looking for. One shiny, flawless diamond, ripe for the taking. With great effort, Spike grabbed the gem and ate it. With every bite he took, his scars faded once again. He stood up and stretched his limbs, thankful that luck smiled on him again.

"You know you won't have it this easy all the time, right?" Larry asked. "Because this place is not merciful to even seasoned adventurers."

"Right now, I'm just happy to be on my feet again," the dragon muttered, dusting himself off. "So which way now?"

"Right here, actually," Larry replied. He touched the background to reveal another static portal. Spike didn't ask where it lead to. He simply jumped right in.
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Unknown Area, 1:21 AM

A small area appeared before our hero. Just a stump right in front of him, a ledge with spikes behind it, and nothing behind the purple dragon. But suddenly, he heard a round of applause and a loud voice yell, "IT'S BONUS TIME!" A translucent box appeared before Spike. It showed the dark human, Lewis, and Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus.

"Alright, we've been doing some research," Lewis said. "Small time, nothing fancy. But we found a place where this stump shoots out skulls, and some monsters walk on a spiked platform."

"Um...what was I supposed to say?" Fluttershy asked timidly. Lewis handed her a piece of paper with words on it. She looked over it before speaking, very softly. "According to what we've found...those monsters have hurt people and ponies alike. Use...use the skulls to...to...I can't say that, i-it doesn't sound nice."

Lewis sighed and finished for her. "Use the skulls that stump shoots out to kill the monsters. There's some kind of reward for defeating them all. You have about 30 seconds to do this, and time starts when we disappear. So to whoever is out there, good luck."

"...what he said," Fluttershy said. With that, the box disappeared.

As if on cue, also, the stump shot out two skulls rapidly, and Spike could hear a ticking sound. He also saw the Frankies walking along the spiked platform. Listening to what Lewis and Fluttershy said, he hit the skulls into the Frankie. Like all the others that crossed his path, this one fell and de-rezzed. He kept the rhythm going, hitting the skull into the enemies on the spiked platform. There was no question, when time ran out, he had defeated all of the enemies. The translucent box appeared again, but this time, it showed a results screen.

On it where a picture of Frankie, and 0/10. The 0 went up quickly to 10, adding an amethyst starting at 5 and for every number up. When the number finally stopped, the screen dissolved and displayed "PERFECT." After that, a picture of a black remote appeared, with a tiny bit flashing. What did that mean? No time to find out, because the world faded when the box did.
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Back Outside, 1:23 AM

Larry tapped his foot impatiently. He figured it wouldn't take this long, if at all. Then the portal opened up again, spitting Spike out and disappearing. Spike didn't look hurt.

"Looks like you were successful, then," Larry nodded.

"You knew about that?" Spike asked.

"Um, yeah, otherwise I wouldn't have pointed it out."

As they turned to leave, Larry lifted a hand and said, "Oh, and all gems and enemies have respawned, so have fun with that."
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(Insert obvious "Extremely Loud Outburst" joke here)
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Running as fast as he could, Spike grabbed the remote and did a tail bounce on a Heli nearby. It exploded in time to eliminate a nearby Jeff. As he ran, Spike finally reached the end of the path. A coffin beside him, a spike wall in front of him, a horde of monsters behind him, and the exit above on a platform. Is this how it's supposed to end? Spike thought. I was doing so well. At least for someone who doesn't know anything about here.

He saw Larry on the platform, waving his hand. "USE THE COFFIN!" he yelled. "IT'LL GIVE YOU A LIFT!"

"HOW DOES THAT WORK?!?" Spike yelled back.

"DON'T ASK ME, JUST JUMP ON IT!"

Spike jumped on the coffin. Without warning, he was shot up into the air, above the platform and into the sky. Larry followed Spike's form before it went out of sight. Nodding, he pulled out an imaginary pad and pencil and did a few calculations in his head. Moving a few steps away from the exit, he somehow made an X in the ground. After about 10 seconds, he looked at his wrist and held up 3 fingers. 2. 1. He pointed to the sky as Spike's scream became louder. He landed on the X with a loud THUD!

Spike moaned as he got up. He checked all five of his limbs: arms moved well. Legs weren't the worse for wear. Tail moved at his command. No, the fall didn't do anything. He didn't even acknowledge Larry. He just hit the exit TV's power button and watched the world once again fade. The remote appeared in his hand and took him to the map.