It was a dead end, completely dark with no shining jewels in sight. Until suddenly… a peculiar green pipe rises from beneath the ground. From it, emerges the ox-turtle prince of the Koopas, Bowser Jr, aboard his signature Junior Clown Car.

“Heh, told them I could figure out how to rework these pipes so we could warp to other worlds,” said the brains of Bowser’s army. He reached into his shell and took out a strange device that bore a resemblance to an old Game Boy. It began beeping in his hands, tracking a particular object from within the caverns.

“Looks like the gem-thingy dad needs is down that way. Well, better not waste any time!”

Junior switched his Clown Car into its kart mode and began driving over the gravel beneath him, moving towards his destination.

Back with Spike & Rarity…

“Alright, that should do it,” said Rarity, accounting for every gem in the basket, satisfied with what she and Spike collected. “Now to bring these up to the surface and have lunch!”

“Awesome!” cheered Spike. At that very moment however, a shining object caught the corner of his right eye, as well as his curiosity. Rarity had already begun making her way towards the exit farther up the route they were in, but Spike felt the strange object should be investigated.

“Hey Rarity! Would you mind if you gave me a few minutes?” he asked.

“Why so?” she asked.

“I think there’s something over there worth checking out,” said Spike. “In case I find anything, I’ll be sure to bring it back.”

“Are you sure you don’t need an additional light source, dear?” asked the unicorn, concerned.

“That’s alright,” Spike assured. “I can just use my own fire for light! I won’t be too long.”

“Well alright then love,” she said. “I’ll be out here when you're ready.” She began to leave the caverns with the basket of gems, hoping Spike would be fine on his own.

Spike found and picked up a small but thick wooden stick laying on the ground; he gently lit the tip of it with his fire breath, creating a small but visible light source. He approached the enigmatic object shining a couple of feet away, buried within the dirt. Using his prehensile tail to hold out his light source, he began to dig away at the soft gravel, and pulled out a what appeared to be a violet-colored gem. The treasure glowed beautifully in the dragon’s claws, leaving him in awe as he continued to admire it by his light source.

Spike came to a clear decision that it would best be suited as a gift. He stood up confidently, proudly proclaiming: “That’s exactly what I’ll do.”

As Spike concluded that sentence, he heard a strange noise coming from the other side of the cave. It sounded motorized and only grew louder every second. Another light source shined against Spike, as he turned and observed what was coming near him quickly. He yelped as his eyes widened, seeing the Koopa prince driving directly at him in his Clown Car very fast. Bowser Jr noticed the baby dragon, and shrieked as well, not having enough time to stop his vehicle.

The Junior Clown Car collided against Spike, knocking him and Bowser Jr (who flew out of the car instantly) back into Spike and Rarity’s work area. The Clown Car automatically converted itself back to propeller mode as it laid against a wall. However, its front lights were left on, allowing Junior to see who he had collided with. Junior slowly stood up from where he fell, regaining his vision.

“Huh?” said Junior confused as he looked at Spike. “Hey! Watch where ya going ya fool! I could’ve gotten hurt real badly!”

Spike got up slowly as well, looking at what had hit him.

“Huh?” he said, coming to his senses. “Hey, you’re the one who bumped into me with that… uh… is that some sort of clown plane?”

“No it’s… well …actually that’s exactly what it is…” admitted Junior. “B-but that’s not important!”

“Who are you anyway?” asked Spike.

“Name’s Bowser… Junior that is. But all my friends call me BJ. My dad’s king of the Koopas, which makes me the prince!” Junior bragged. “Now get outta my way, I’m busy looking for-”

The Game Boy tracking device vibrated in Junior’s hands, identifying the gem Spike was holding as the object he was looking for.

“Wait, what? But why?” asked Spike, holding the gem tightly.

“My dad’s looking for a gem just like that, and sent me here to look for it,” Junior explained. “With it, we can finally have the power we need to crush our enemies!”

“Well… I can’t give it to you,” Spike tried to explain. “It’s for someone else.”

“Well that ‘someone else’ should be me,” threatened Bowser Jr. “Unless you’re willing to name a price of course.”

“Huh? You'd buy it off of me?” asked Spike.

“Sure! My dad always gives me whatever I could want in that clammy castle of his,” the spoiled prince told the dragon. “Just come with me, tell him what you want in exchange, and it's all yours. I could even let you play with some of my toys.”

“Anything I want…?” wondered Spike. As a mere assistant to a princess, benefits past the bare essentials only came ever so often. He envisioned bathing in a pool of nothing but shining, delicious gemstones as far as the eye can see. He imagined reading and owning every issue of his favorite comic books, such as the Power Ponies. He even pondered the thought of a friendly game of mid-air bumper carts in a flying clown helicopter of his own alongside Junior.

But, Spike soon realized what would happen if he gave this allegedly powerful gem to a mere stranger who wished to “crush his foes.” That ambiguous statement alone is untrustworthy and could easily mean this prince was no ally, especially to Equestria. And his caretaker, Twilight Sparkle raised him better than the likes of a greedy, adolescent dragon.

He quickly came back to reality and said: “No money or gems or anything in the world will be enough for this. It belongs in the hooves of Rarity.”

“That’s a shame,” said Junior, getting into a battle stance. “Looks like we’ll have to negotiate this the hard way, buddy.”

“Wait, hold on- you want to fight over it!?” said a shocked Spike, who rarely engages in combat unless necessary.

“Whatever it takes to have mama Peach for myself!” said Junior. “Plus, where's the fun in just snatching it off of ya?”

“What have I gotten myself into…” Spike said as he got into an improvised fighting stance of his own.

As he breathed deeply, Junior clenches his chest and looks over at Spike, stating: “Alright, so you’re a lot tougher than I thought. Well, that doesn’t matter. I’ve got plenty more awesome tricks up my sleeve!”

He ducks into his shell and spins towards the baby dragon. After taking a moment to catch his breath, Spike looked up and instantly became shocked at the incoming koopaling headed his way. Junior’s shell hits Spike before the latter could react in-time, knocking him into the air. Spike then falls down immediately, his body landing face-down atop the spiky surface of Junior’s shell, still spinning in place. The spinning shell moves around the general vicinity of the cavern room, while Spike tries to hold on tight to it.

“Whoooa!” Spike shouted as the shell spun around in circles, his body completely unaffected by the sharp spikes on its surface. “Not-having-a-great-tiiime!”

“Hey!” said Junior from inside his shell. “Get offa me!” Junior halts his spin technique, knocking Spike to the side. Spike holds his head up, dazed and confused from the experience.

Junior takes out a green Koopa shell from within his own shell, as well as a hammer. He presses the hammer lightly against the shell, acting as if the hammer was a golf club and the shell was the ball. He aims towards his foe and swings the hammer with all his might against the shell.

The shell begins to move towards Spike at full speed. The baby dragon comes to his senses and quickly gets out of the way, causing the shell to hit the wall behind him and ricochet across the room in random directions. Both Spike and Junior try to evade the shell, and successfully avoid getting hit numerous times. Junior then decides to stop the shell as it spins towards him by ducking into his own shell and quickly hitting himself against it, knocking it towards Spike once more. Spike reacts in time and uses his flame breath to burn the shell to a crisp.

“Eh, forgot those aren’t as tough as mine,” said Junior in response. “Ah well. Let’s see what else I have in here...”

Junior reaches into his shell once again, and makes contact with a rather long staff-like object. He pulls it out, and recognizes it as the Magic Paintbrush.

“Ah hey!” said Junior, happily recollecting on his use of the brush. “Haven’t used this in a while!”

Spike looks over from his current position and stares at the brush in confusion.

“...A big paintbrush?” he questioned.

“Not just any paintbrush! It’s… magic!” Junior emphasized. “Watch and learn!”

Junior rushed quickly towards Spike and began swinging the paintbrush from left to right, Spike trying his best to dodge each swing. Some of the paint droplets from the brush did manage to make contact with Spike’s scales.

“Hold still!” Junior demanded. He painted the ground beneath Spike, causing Spike to slip and fall face-first over the paint.

“Oof…” the dragon muttered. He tried getting up, but his face was stuck to the ground. He pulled as hard as he could and freed himself from the paint. “Eck… what IS this!?”

Bowser Jr began painting away at Spike with electric graffiti, resulting in the dragon being shocked and electrified. Spike tried his best to wipe as much paint that hadn’t yet dried off of him.

“Mmmf… w-why are you d-doing this…” Spike asked his foe, struggling to stand up.

“Trust me buddy, this hurts me more inside than you outside,” claimed Junior. “You can end the pain right now by letting me keep that gemstone for daddy…”

“Urg… n-no… I’m never giving it up,” insisted Spike as he stood right back up, a bit of smoke emitting from his scales. Thankfully, this wasn't the first time Spike had been electrified in his life. “It’s not yours to take… and I wouldn’t give it to some punk kid like you.”

“Suit yourself!” retorted Junior. He got ready to swing his paintbrush again, only to be interrupted by Spike throwing a punch at his muzzle and a low kick, knocking Junior away a couple feet.

“I really didn’t want to fight you at all… but now this is serious!” Spike warned the koopaling. He grabbed onto the Magic Paintbrush handle with both hands, trying to take it away from Junior. Junior held onto his stolen invention tightly, the two struggling for control over it.

“Give… it… BACK!” Junior yelled as he headbutted Spike to the ground and reclaimed his brush. “Now you’ve made me mad!”

Junior took out a blue bandana from his shell and painted a familiar mustache over it. The bandana glowed as he tied it over his face. A blue aura surrounded Junior as he spun up high into the air, hovering just beneath the cavern ceiling. He magically shapeshifted, and the blue aura subsided after Junior landed on the ground in his new form: Shadow Mario.

“...Did you just turn into a blue guy with a mustache?” a confused Spike asked.

Shadow Mario did nothing but stick out his infamously long tongue in response. He warped away from his current location and appeared directly behind Spike. Spike looked down at his feet, noticing a strange, steaming substance emanating beneath him. He turned and dodged an incoming swing of the paintbrush from Shadow Mario, who now meant business.

Shadow Mario teleported above Spike, and drew a large stroke of paint in the form of an “X” over Spike’s body, using a combination of his lava and explosive graffiti.

Spike looked at the graffiti “X” on his body, and felt a warm sensation from it.

“Huh… hey this actually feels pretty good,” Spike commented. “You know you can probably make a living selling dragons some of that paint as some sort of body lotion-”

Just as Spike was finishing his sentence, the paint on his body began to flash brightly and then exploded, sending Spike backwards against a wall. He fell to the ground, trying to process what had just happened. All of a sudden, Spike’s body paint exploded again, this time for good, sending him back against that same wall.

“Urg… did I just explode… twice?” Spike asked himself.

Shadow Mario went up to the exhausted Spike, still pressed against the wall, and began painting away at a blur speed. When he stopped, Spike was completely trapped in dried layers of paint.

Spike snapped out of his exhausted state, realizing the situation he was in.

“Hey! What’s going on!?”

Shadow Mario removes his bandana, transforming back into Bowser Jr. He looks over at the wall where he trapped Spike, but shifted his attention towards his right side, noticing a sparkle at the corner of his eye; it was the violet gemstone. It seemed Spike had dropped the treasure that he had been holding with his prehensile tail after the first paint explosion occurred. Junior walks over and picks up the gem for himself.

“Well, looks like my work here is done,” said Junior, throwing the gem up into the air, catching it and clenching it tightly. “You were a lot tougher than I thought. But I’ve fought against tougher challengers before. Now if you’ll excuse me, me and daddy have a kingdom to rule! Smell ya later!”

Junior walks over and climbs into the Junior Clown Car, still sitting where it was prior to the fight, and flew towards the next hallway. Before leaving the room, he uses the paintbrush to generate a yellow force field wall to seal off access to that hallway. He flew away towards the same exit Rarity had left through earlier, leaving Spike alone in the darkness.

“...I gotta get out of here fast…” Spike said to himself, immobile within the paint layers. His body slowly began sinking within the wall. “Rarity’s in danger! ...All of Equestria could be in danger…”

Spike pushed himself against the hardened paint, but he was still tightly locked in.

Meanwhile, a concerned Rarity was sitting on a picnic blanket outside the cavern, looking towards the entrance.

“What in the world is taking the little dragon so long?” she wondered. She got up and went towards the cavern entrance to check up on Spike. Before she could enter, Bowser Jr emerged from the entrance at a fast speed, shocking Rarity.

“Wah-ha-haaa!!”

Spike had heard the familiar scream, his eyes widening.

“Oh… no you didn’t man…”

Without a second thought, Spike unleashed his fire breath from within the layers of paint, knowing full well he would not be affected by it. The flames grew hotter at a fast pace, melting the paint that the wall was coated in within mere seconds; at last, Spike was free. He touched the ground, realizing he was covered in soot from the flames. He quickly shook all of it off.

“It may be magic paint… but it's still paint after all,” Spike discovered.

He walked over towards the hallway blocked off by the barriers Junior had painted. Hoping it would be enough, Spike unleashed a huge torrent of flame, melting down the barrier in a few short seconds.

“Rarity, I’m sorry I took so long… you okay?” he asked worriedly.

“I’m fine Spike…” assured Rarity. “I was a little freaked out at… whatever that monstrosity of a machine was… have you been in there that whole time with it?”

She looked at his body, which in some areas were covered in dried up paint.

“The kid driving it, yeah…” said Spike. “He’s got something precious in his hands. And if I don’t stop him now, he’s might take over Equestria!”

“Oh my, this is serious…” said Rarity.

“Listen Rarity,” Spike began. “Go back to Ponyville and warn the others. I’ll try and hold this guy off in the meantime.”

Spike runs off in the direction Bowser Jr was flying in.

“Spike, wait!” shouted Rarity, now even more worried.

“I’ll be fine Rarity!” Spike assured as he continued pacing over. “He’s my responsibility!”

Rarity looked on, and then quickly went her own way back to Ponyville to warn her friends, hoping Spike would be alright.

Spike picked up a small rock nearby, and with all his might, flung it over in the Junior Clown Car’s direction. It hit the Clown Car’s propeller, lightly knocking it off balance. Junior was mildly confused, but felt nothing was wrong and kept moving forwards. Another rock was thrown, this time clanking against the middle of the clown car. One more was thrown, making a direct hit with the back of Junior’s head. This definitely got his attention, stopping the Clown Car in place and angrily looking behind him.
“Hey!” he shouted. “Who keeps doing that!?”

Another rock was thrown at Junior, hitting his forehead. Junior’s rage fueled up, but then his expression changed to shocked as a large boulder was flung at him, knocking him out of the Clown Car. Junior fell to the ground on his back, with the boulder on top of his stomach, his thick shell protecting him from the impact. Junior ducked into his shell, spun around and flung the boulder over at Spike. Spike readied his flame breath and unleashed it, burning through the boulder before it can hit him. Spike then jumped towards the now weakened boulder, and used his tail as a jackhammer to shatter it into pieces. Spike curled into a defensive position, unaffected by the flying debris, and Junior remained in his shell to avoid getting hit by any. Junior emerged from his shell and stood on his feet, angered at the dragon.

“You have something of mine,” said Spike. “Give it back.”

“What, this?” Junior said as he pulled the violet gem from his shell. “Come and get it, pal!”

As Spike charged forward, Junior threw the gem up at his Clown Car, followed immediately by him jumping high into the air, and spin-hovering into his vehicle.

“Syke!” Junior teased. “Now you’re in trouble, scaley!”

Spike looked up at the Junior Clown Car, wondering what Junior would do next with such a strange machine.

Junior ducked into the car and threw two green koopa shells towards the enemy. Spike sees the incoming shells and proceeds to whack them out of the way with his tail.

“Tsk,” Junior sucked his teeth. He ducks in again and instead takes out two Bob-ombs. He lights them up with his firebreath and tosses them down. “Bombs away!”

Spike looks up and squints to see what’s coming down, as the objects were blacked out by the sunlight. He realizes the objects were small bombs, and without much thought, gets out of the way. The Bob-ombs land on the ground and get up on their feet, walking towards Spike. Spike moves back quickly and uses his fire breath on the Bob-ombs, blowing them up and creating small craters in the ground.

Bowser Jr presses a button in the clown car, ejecting a Mecha-koopa downwards. It lands in front of Spike, who is genuinely confused by the object. The Mecha-koopa walks forward quickly and attaches itself to Spike’s tail. Before Spike could wag it away, it promptly exploded and sent Spike face down onto the ground, leaving him surprised and covered in soot.

“Heh, what can I say?” Junior said victoriously. “Little boys like their toys!”

Junior begins to press the same button repeatedly, dumping several Mecha-koopas below him. As Spike stood up and shook the soot off of his body, the explosive wind-up toys landed on the ground. He begins to run away from the area, each Mecha-koopa following in pursuit. Spike then stops in his tracks, getting an idea. He uses his tail as a shovel, quickly burrowing underground where the toys were headed. He emerges from the ground behind them, and begins using his tail as a jackhammer once more. He circles each of the explosives, stopping the Mecha-koopas in their tracks and holding them in place. The ground then began to weaken and crack beneath all of them, opening up a small fissure and causing the explosive tinkertoys to fall through, each blowing up beneath the earth.

“That was a close one…” said Spike in relief, wiping sweat off his head.

“Don’t relax yet, little dragon boy!” Junior warned as he flew a bit closer to his foe. “I’ve got plenty more toys to share with ya!”

Junior pulls back a lever on his control panel, opening up the Clown Car’s mouth and revealing a cannon inside.

“Fire in the hole!” Junior yelled as pointed towards Spike, launching a cannonball towards the target.

“Gah!” Spike yelled, jumping out of the way in time. The cannonball struck the earth beneath where he was standing, causing a mild explosion. In fear, Spike looked at what was left of the area he just stood in, his heart racing from the close call. “This kid is crazy!”

“Reloading!” shouted Junior. “And fire!”

Another cannonball is shot out. Spike gets up and climbs a nearby tree, the cannonball just hitting beneath it. It explodes on impact, shaking the tree as Spike held onto a tree branch. It began to topple over as Spike grabbed onto a branch from the tree across from it.

“Heh, this is fun!” laughed Junior. “I’m having a better time punishing you than that mean ole’ Mario!”

“How do I stop that thing?” wondered Spike. He had to think quickly before the next shot was fired. He notices the tree he’s on is an apple tree, promptly giving him an idea.

“Shot number three ready!” shouted Junior. “This one’s got spikes on it! Ready, aim, fi-”

Before the cannon could activate again, the clown car shook, stunning Junior momentarily.

“Hm? What’s wrong with this thing?” he wondered. He began pulling on the lever in an attempt to retract the cannon, but the lever itself was stuck. “Something’s jammed.”

Junior crawled onto the cannon and looked inside to see what was jamming it. He stretched his arm inside the cannon, checked around and pulled out the object jammed inside: a large apple.

“Heh, nice try little dragon dude,” teased Junior, looking down at where Spike was. “But there’s no stopping this thin-”

Junior was interrupted mid-sentence as he was hit by another apple Spike threw.

“Grr…”

Junior jumped back into the cockpit and got ready to fire his cannon once more. As Junior charged up his next shot, Spike quickly picked a few more apples and threw them Junior’s way. A few of them hit the clown car to no effect, one hit the rim of the cannon, two managed to get stuck inside the cannon, and one more hit Junior’s muzzle, angering the young koopa even more.

“That’s it, fire I say! Fire!” shouted Junior angrily.

The cannon tried to fire another cannonball, but it was jammed once again by the two apples inside. Junior demanded fiercely that the cannon fires the charged shot. A few seconds later, the cannon releases a small explosion of soot and applesauce all over Junior’s body.

“That dragon is despicable,” muttered Junior under the burnt apple and ashes. “Resourceful but despicable.”

“How do you like them apples!?” teased Spike from down below.

Junior actually takes a small taste of the burnt apple he’s covered in.

“Actually, these are pretty decent,” he admits in response to the pun. He shakes all of it off of his body. “Maybe when this is all over, my dad can salvage these acres! But in the meantime...”

Junior presses a button, opening up the clown car’s mouth and releasing a metal arm with a saw blade.

“...I got a pesky lizard to chop up!” he said excitingly. He dashed over to Spike’s position, chopping off the tree branch Spike was standing on. Spike dropped to the ground along with the branch, a bit dazed from the impact. Junior immediately dropped down over him with the saw blade, hitting the dirt below where Spike laid. Spike immediately snapped out of his mild confusion and noticed the blade.

“Waaah!” he screamed as he dashed away, Junior following suit in mid-air.

“You can’t outpace my car forever, dragon boy!” teased Junior, the saw blade’s metal arm moving left to right as it chased after Spike. Spike ducked his head and jumped over at each swing. He made a turn in an area full of trees and rather tall grass, allowing him to hide away and lose Junior. The koopa prince drove his car upwards in the air and scanned around slowly for his prey.

“This kid seriously wants me dead over that gem… at this point, I probably should let him have it to save my hide…” Spike considered as he crawled through the grass, trying to remain hidden.

“...No, I can’t,” Spike told himself. “If I let him keep it, he’ll take all of Equestria to himself. I have to try holding him off longer.”

He reached a point where the grass began to get shorter. Spike stood up and slowly tiptoed away, hoping to remain inconspicuous... until he tripped over a hidden rock. Junior had caught this, and moved quickly towards his direction. Instead of getting up and running, Spike hatched an idea, and crawled over against a tree, pretending to look helpless.

“Nothing personal, pal!” said Junior, get ready to swing the saw blade at Spike.

Before the blade could make contact, Spike blew his fire breath to melt the saw blade and its metal arm off the clown car in an instant, rendering both useless. Junior looks down at his melted weapon.

“Ah shucks,” said Junior. “Let’s try something different!”

Junior’s clown car then releases two metal arms from its sides, both containing moving drills.

“These outta do the trick!” said Junior.

“Aw come on!” said Spike, now annoyed by the surprisingly massive amounts of weapons in the small vehicle.

The drills move towards Spike, who gets up from his position and proceeds to climb the tree he laid against. The drills get stuck within the ground, but Junior quickly releases them. As Spike climbed up and moved across different tree branches, the drills strook various areas where he stood, each narrowly missing their target. Spike tried to dismiss the drills with his fire breath, but kept missing them as the metal arms were moving too fast.

Junior was annoyed that his opponent kept dodging his attacks. He dismissed his drill arms, and flew up to the current tree branch Spike was on. He released two chained wrecking balls from the clown car, and began swinging them at his foe. Spike tried to dodge the wrecking balls, but couldn’t keep his balance on the tree branches. He fell over, hitting a few branches on the way down. He grabs the last one before he could hit the ground, stopping his fall. Junior descends to Spike’s location, takes out his paintbrush, and uses it to tickle his foe.

“H-hey! That tickles!” said Spike, giggling as he tried to hold on.

“I know it does,” said Junior. He then activates the Clown Car’s tongue to lick away at his opponent.

“Come on, s-stop that!” said Spike. He couldn’t resist any longer, and let go of the branch. Before he fell to the ground, Junior used the Clown Car’s pincers to grab the dragon.

“Gotcha!” said Junior. He presses a button in the car, releasing two metal arms equipped with boxing gloves.

“Uh oh,” said Spike, trying to squeeze out of the pincers.

Unfortunately, it was too late to try and escape; Junior began to wail on the dragon with his mechanical boxing arms, while shadow boxing the exact same movements as his car.

“And some of these!” said Junior as the punching continued. “And some of those… AND…”

The clown car’s pincers let go of the injured dragon; its driver jumped out of the clown car momentarily, swinging a big nail hammer against his foe, and knocking him down to the ground.

“That’s how it’s done,” concluded Junior. “Now stay down this time! Or else next time, it’s game over.”

Junior flew away in his clown car, leaving his injured opponent on the ground. Spike groaned in pain, and passed out on the ground.

“I almost feel bad for the squirt,” said Junior as he drove off. “We could’ve been tight buddies if he had just saw things my way. Ah well! Can’t keep that weirdo Kamek waiting to take me home...”

A couple minutes had passed by since the brutal beatdown. The baby dragon was still lying down on the ground, nearly fainted.

...Until suddenly, he had awoken from his brief coma, coughing a ball of fire outwards as he gasped for air.

A little while later, Junior is still flying through the forest he had been in, trying to navigate out with his Game Boy radar.

“Hey koopa kid!” shouted a familiar voice.

Junior looked up from the screen and raised an eyebrow.

“Actually that guy retired a while ba-HEY!” exclaimed Junior as he noticed the meddling dragon a couple yards away on the ground. He looked beat up, but still seemed to be aching to go.

“I thought I told you to stay outta the way,” threatened Junior.

“Nah man… I can keep going…” said Spike, looking confidently up at the ox-turtle as he clenched his fists, breathing small flames out of his nostrils.

“You’re crazy, kid,” said Junior. “...I like that.”

The clown car’s boxing gloves arms popped back out, punching each other readily.

“Too bad I gotta put a stop to that,” Junior stated. He commanded the clown car to charge up a punch, soon making impact with the ground near Spike. The punch left a crater in the ground, letting Spike know what he’s up against.

Junior flew back up and resumed charging up his car’s punches, punching the earth beneath him.

As Junior continued this strategy, Spike began to notice his opponent’s attack patterns. He quickly got an idea.

Junior charged another punch from his car and threw it beneath him. Spike narrowly dodges it, and awaits one more. Junior charges up a punch again, hitting the ground. Acting quickly, Spike jumped and grabbed onto the boxing glove just as Junior was retracting it. Junior had a shocked expression on his face when he realized his foe latched on and was coming upwards. Without time for his opponent to act, Spike jumps off of the boxing glove, headbutting his opponent as he jumped into the cockpit. Whilst inside, the two children began beating on each other, causing a smoke cloud to emanate around them. Junior used his boxing skills to fight the baby dragon, while Spike blocked and used basic punches and kicks to counter when possible.

Junior grabbed his paintbrush, trying to whack his opponent out, but Spike grabbed the brush before it could hit him. He notices a lever right behind him, and uses his tail to pull on it, causing the clown car to spin around in different directions in mid-air. Both Spike and Junior yelped and grabbed onto something so they wouldn’t fall out. Junior tried reaching up to the pulled lever to stop the car, but Spike takes notice and breathes fire on the lever as Junior grabbed it, causing the top half of it to melt. This leads to Junior losing his grip and falling to the ground with his paintbrush. Spike then grabbed what was left of the lever and stopped the car from moving, falling into the cockpit in a dazed state.

Junior got up off the ground, rubbing his head. He realizes the current situation and is angered.

“Hey you! Get outta my car!” Junior yelled.

“Ugh… huh?” said Spike as he came to his senses. He looked around and finally found the gemstone he had been trying to retrieve laying around. “There you are!”

Spike also came to the realization that he was now in control of his enemy’s vehicle. He knew that after so long, it was payback time. He popped his head out and looked down where Bowser Jr stood. Spike smirked down at the koopa prince, shocking Junior.

Spike grabbed one of the levers, wondering what it does. It released a drill on the bottom of the car, which promptly elevated downwards at his enemy. Junior ran away before the drill could hit him.

“Crud!” Junior exclaimed. “Not again!”

“Mwua-hahahahahaha…” laughed Spike as he pressed a button on the control pad. This one opened up the car’s mouth and released a flamethrower. Spike moved the car forwards, chasing after Junior.

“Aw nah!” Junior screamed as he paced away from the flames. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough, and his tail caught on fire, causing him to roll up against a tree and blow it away in pain.

“Urg, I can’t let this continue…” muttered Junior. He put on his blue bandana and jumped up, resuming his Shadow Mario form. Shadow Mario wielded the paintbrush in mid-air, and hovered over to the clown car to reclaim it.

“Uh oh… let’s see if the cannon still works,” said Spike, pulling back the respective lever. The cannon opened out of the car’s mouth and shot a spiked cannonball towards Shadow Mario.

“Hah, it does!” said Spike. The spiked ball flew quickly towards its target, but Shadow Mario teleported away and warped inside the clown car’s cockpit. Spike looked at the strange figure, both in fear and in confusion.

“You again?” said Spike. He breathed fire into the face of his foe, who warped away a few seconds later behind him. Spike notices and moves away from him. He makes a break for the control panel in an attempt to get rid of Shadow Mario, but the figure moves towards the panel as well, trying to push Spike away. Spike pushes a random lever forward, making the car move forward extremely fast, throwing the both of them off their game. Shadow Mario quickly pulled the lever backwards to stop the car, but quickly Spike breathed fire on his foe’s arm, causing him to painfully retract it from the lever and allowing the car to keep going forward, albeit a bit slower. Shadow Mario grabbed his paintbrush and swung it at Spike’s feet, causing him to slip inside the car. While on the ground, Spike pulled on Shadow Mario’s legs, causing him to fall over as well. The two brawled on the floor as the clown car kept moving forward towards a nearby village; Ponyville.

Meanwhile, Rarity was in the middle of town square, trying to recount the situation to her friends.

“So…” Twilight Sparkle recapped. “You’re saying you and Spike were excavating gems, and suddenly this weird turtle creature comes out of nowhere in a floating clown machine, whom Spike is trying to fend off right now?”

“Exactly the situation, darling,” confirmed Rarity.

“Uhm…” Rainbow Dash responded in confusion. “A floating clown machine driven by some turtle guy?”

“I’m serious!” Rarity tried to assure. “We need to find them right now before Spike…”

“We believe you Rarity,” Twilight retorted. “Where are they now?”

As she concluded her question, the clown car sped past the three mares, Spike’s scream being heard as it flew by.

“...There they are?” said Rarity in shock. She and Twilight ran in the direction of the car, Rainbow following right behind.

Shadow Mario had enough of the young dragon. With the vehicle still in motion, he picked Spike up and threw him in-front of the clown car. He quickly proceeded to press another button, summoning a giant fork which pierced against Spike’s scales. The baby dragon couldn’t feel the pain from it, but he was very much stuck against the fork.

Shadow Mario then threw Spike upwards off of the fork, and quickly swapped the fork out for the cannon, Spike falling into the cannon itself. Shadow Mario charged the cannon and fired Spike out of it; from it, Spike crash landed through a window of Princess Twilight’s castle. Shadow Mario finally slowed the clown car to a halt, regaining full control over his vehicle. Junior momentarily takes off the bandana and looks up at the castle, gazing in awe.

“Wow… daddy’s got some competition,” said Junior.

Within the castle, Spike slowly got up from where he was shot, surrounded by broken glass. He limped around the hallways, hoping either Twilight or Starlight Glimmer were home to help.

Junior drove the vehicle inside the same window Spike was shot through to get a better look of the interior. He floated through the hallways, looking at all the decorations and stain glass windows, already getting ideas for renovating his own castle.

To Spike’s dismay, it appears nopony was home, and thus was on his own again. He reached his bedroom and tiredly laid on his bed.

“...I can't lay here forever…” he said to himself. “He's probably looking around the castle for me.”

Despite everything that had happened prior, Spike still held the gem closely in his grasp.

“In the name of Celestia, what am I supposed to do? What would Twilight do… what would the Power Ponies do… what would Garbunkle do… wait, I am Garbunkle!”

Spike opened up his closet and found the Ogres & Oubliettes board game inside. He hoped to look through past logs he and his partners had made during their past adventures for inspiration. He opened up the box containing the game, and found something unexpected inside: it was own homemade Garbunkle game piece, but it glowed a strange aura.

“What in the world?” Spike said as he held it. He looked inside, and found a small note that wasn't in the box prior.

“In case of bad guy, use magic fire on me,” Spike read from it. “Don't tell Twilight. From Discord.”

With nothing else to lose, Spike breathed a small, magic flame on his game piece, and was soon surrounded by the same magic aura.

Meanwhile, after giving himself a personal tour, Junior finally came across the doorway to Spike’s room.

“That dragon kid and my precious gem have to be in there,” he said. “I've checked every library, balcony, closet, refrigerator with delicious cake and bathroom in this castle. ...Yeesh, now I know how those plumbers feel in one of those infinite-looping castle rooms.”

He opened the door, and to Junior’s surprise, he was met with laser blast to the face moments later. Junior brushed off the blast and looked for whoever shot it. He was surprised to see that it was Spike himself, albeit assuming a new appearance that made him look that of a wizard. Looking rather rejuvenated, he held a magic scepter in his claw.

“Halt foul being!” Spike bravely shouted at his foe. “You’re in my domain now! Surrender the jewel, or face the wrath of Garbunkle!”

“...Pfft hahahahaha!” laughed Junior, falling over in his cockpit. “You’re kidding right?”

Garbunkle holds his scepter outwards and emits another laser at the ox-turtle to silence him.

“...I see you’ve made your case,” said Junior, preferring to not be shot again. “But hey, I’ll give credit where it’s due; that magic wand of yours is cool and all. But is it a match for my Magic Paintbrush?”

“Is that a challenge I hear?” Garbunkle responded.

“A challenge indeed!” Junior confirmed. “I can play with you a little while longer. Winner gets the jewel, and the loser’s magic staff.”

“I agree to these terms, Prince Bowser Jr,” said Garbunkle. Junior was impressed and somewhat humble that his foe had addressed him by his proper name, and thus fully felt up to having a final bout with the dragon wizard.

Junior put his blue bandana back on, once again becoming Shadow Mario, wielding his Magic Paintbrush from within the Junior Clown Car. He backed out of the nearby window, expecting his opponent to follow suit. Garbunkle jumped onto the window sill and casted a spell, granting himself a pair of draconic wings. He flew up in the air and landed on the ground in front of his opponent, both standing against each other in an open area in front of the castle. A small crowd of the townsponies gathered around, wondering what was going on, which was soon joined by Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity.

“Spike!?” Twilight yelled out to her assistant, surprised to see him fighting against the supposed threat Rarity described.

“Don’t worry, Twi,” Garbunkle told her. “Leave this to me.”

Both Shadow Mario and Garbunkle stared each other down for a good moment, both awaiting the other’s first move.

Click here to read Part 2/2!