A Journey

by DX-1118 C

Rating: teen
Tags: Crossover, Alternate Universe, Human, Sad, Anthro, Adventure
Length: 4772

Spike leaves his home, and realizes what lies outside of his country, is more deadly than what he ever thought.

After years of living with humans, Spike lived a pretty content life. Most of his differences went unnoticed, and were usually irrelevant. Life (aside from the many dangerous moments) was pretty peaceful, if you knew where to stay.

Unfortunately, Garble gave him a letter saying he was going to die.

To save himself, he has to trek through heavily fortified cities, deadly castles, demon lairs, and the deadliest valley on the planet.

But what lies beyond?

Special thanks to DarkPhantom13
And Trondason

This may or may not get a prequel that will have to be finished before this can continue. So possible haitus.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-17 01:05:24 UTC

Prologue

       In an ever-changing plain of existence, very few structures exist. It is a chaotic world where lost souls drift in and out all the time, and usually don't even get noticed. This world consists of only two thousand buildings, most of which are soul purification rooms. The walkways aren't usually crowded, since the only tangible things that are alive, can bend reality to their will. The walk ways, are actually dark purple clouds, that almost blend in with the reddish purple surrounding area that has been labeled 'oblivion'.

This is the God's Realm.

     Deities are born here, and when the world they 'govern' falls, they die here, or rebuild it. The lack of structure was made popular by the various portals that like to destroy any matter that isn't from or going to destroy their own. To keep these passage ways from ripping each-other apart, there was placed a thin golden outline around the edge of each portal, allowing portals to be gripped, placed, and moved. The gods were pleased at this, because they could go to other worlds, and cause mischief to other gods by 'converting' followers without accidentally stumbling into a more powerful deity's plane of existence.

      A few gods, labeled watchers, monitor the escaping souls, and prevent them from floating into a 'hell' portal or a destroyer gate. These souls go crazy, and upon going into a new life, tell others what they experienced. These watchers' other duty is to give 'pure' souls an afterlife that their actions deserved, and to cleanse 'rotted' souls by 'accidentally' chucking them into a hell portal. It is very rare for a soul to be trapped in a reincarnation world, where they are out of contact with the gods, and even rarer for a god to personally judge a soul.

       Even so, rarities do occur, and a cluster of gods and curious god-lings were observing not one, but a pair of rare souls. Souls that make watchers halt their progress, and ask questions. Among these gods was a goddess cloaked in a long white dress and a god in a red tuxedo. The souls in question was a large blue ball and a reddish black one that was suspended in a field of energy. Gods, loving being on time above all else, were annoyed, and few were outraged. One angered god, a flame headed jellybean,was casting an unseen glare upon the black soul, started yelling at the man.

       "How dare you bring this monstrosity of a soul before us! Cast it into the flames of a hell, and be done with it!" The flaming jellybean yelled. "Surely you know what that thing would do if let back into a world!"

       The red suited god, however was unfazed by the yelling of the jelly bean, as the jelly bean was a 'hothead'. The bean, had no name to be called by as he wasn't labeled by mortals. Mortals usually had acceptable names, when naming a god. People just called him spicy or gummy. He use to be a sweet jelly bean, until nicknames came into play. Then he went through ever-changing emotions. It didn't matter anyway, the woman standing next to him was going to speak. "Silence, delicious treat!" she exclaimed, taking the suited god's soul, and cradling it like a baby. "I always loved the bad-boy spirits" she said in a... softer voice.

       Aside from the few chuckled from both of her comments, the room was silent. The jellybean just stood there, in what everyone assumed was a dropped mouth, and wide eyes, was silent. A sound, similar to a hand hitting a forehead, came from his (it's?) direction. "How many times have I told you, not to call me delicious, or a treat?" He asked. The white cloaked goddess just smiled, and began juggling the souls. In the silence, the jellybean, now not flaming, sighed. "What exactly are we going to do with these souls, since it's obvious that we aren't just going to proceed with the standard protocol, in this particular situation?" The gods were silent, pondering a possible solution. "What?" the jellybean god asked. "Nobody has an idea?" The room was silent once more.

       The goddess in the white dress spoke once more "Well, we could send these souls to multiverse 'M'..." She said. Two gasps, one facepalm, one confused laugh, one sigh, and one groan came from the audience. The unnamed god that groaned just walked into a random portal, and disappeared. One godling, that became bored of this conversation, went off with his brother, to play tricks on some mortals.

       Another god, who had no idea what was happening, asked "What exactly is multiverse 'M'?" It asked. "I don't know what a multiverse, but it seems similar to an omniverse, but I need exact clarification on what it is." The god paused for a moment, and looked around, until his gaze fell upon the white dressed goddess. "What about you, Solana?" The goddess, Solana, shrugged.

  "I was actually conceived in a specific world in multiverse 'M'." She paused and looked around. "My husband, Marama, was also conceived in that multiverse." She was silent, once again. "A multiverse is a cluster of dimensions that are too similar, or alike to exist separately as their own portal. There are quite a few like it, but this is one of the largest. I could take these souls and prepossess them, if you wish..." she trailed off. The jellybean god, was confused by her statement.

       "Solana, you know your time is nearly up." He said, driving a good point. Solana, being a goddess born in a dimension other than oblivion, has limits to her immortality. She could live forever without children, or give one of her children her powers. Once she found her husband, her fate was sealed in stone. All of the gods present were silent, for losing one of their own, despite what they have done, was an immense loss. "The souls would be loss, until an heir to your powers has matured enough to harness these powers without a clouded mind. Even then, the souls would have to adapt for thousands of years before being reborn." The jellybean paused, and looked around. "Would you take up a responsibility, and guide these souls out of our reach, where they could do any amount of good and evil, and you would have no way to stop them?"

       Solana paused, lost in her thoughts. She had given birth to a child, and another is on the way soon. Would she really endanger their lives, for the sake of two others...

       "My world had a tendency to overcome tragedy, and be more peaceful than many others." She paused for a full minute, and the suited god beside her, looked at her with a curious expression. "Besides this soul" she said, gesturing to the reddish black one "will not be easily held by a hell, and we cant properly judge him, since other people influenced his descent into darkness." The soul, seeming restless before, stopped as if it could hear Solana's words in understanding. She cuddled it, and spoke again "It did have a mortal that it loved very dearly, and deserves another chance at life for that alone."

       The other gods, assembled  were silent. The suited god, a being of much power and respect, agreed with Solana's compassion. With a lifted hand, he said "Any god who agrees to allow the pure and rotted souls, to Solana's plain in multiverse 'M', stay silent, and any opposing will challenge now!" He said.

       Upon hearing no objections, he smiled and allowed a decree "Than by the power I possess, I allow the souls to depart with Solana!"

       Upon saying those words, Solana was teleported to her home dimension with her husband. Upon her departure, a goddess dressed in black, flowing robes walked in, and addressed her concern. "YOU!" she addressed her fury towards the suited god. "You know how much I favored the black soul, why did you give it to that whore!" Upon saying those words, a black energy encompassed itself around the goddess's neck, and she was unable to speak.

       "You will not speak to a member of this court, and MY grandchild in any way. For your insolence, I will not heed your claim, and I cast you out, Purge!" upon saying those words, the goddess, Purge, appeared in her home, in a pocket dimension she made when she came to be. She began pacing around her dwelling, cursing the suit, and his family.

       "Curse him..." She said. "Curse his grandchild, curse her child, and curse her world!" she began rambling indecipherable words for minutes, until she realized something. "WRAITH" she boomed, and not a second later, an imp with long arms and a small body and a fitted suit appeared behind her.

       "Damn-it Purge!" he yelled. "I don't care if you're having a mid life crisis or not, I was having a party with some imps, and it got pretty wild!" he jumped on her head, and looked in her eyes 'This has got to be pretty damn important, if you called me on this, my day off!"

       Purge picked Wraith up bu the skin on the back of his neck, similar to a mother cat, and placed him in a shirt pocket that she willed into existence. She began to walk to a shelf and placed vials around it that began to float. "Solana had a child yet to be born, I felt it! Gods may not be able to curse other gods, but their children, while still mortal, are exempt from this rule. I want you to make a spirit, to be placed on this new child's prophecy." she said. Wraith looked at the vials, and began mixing them. after a few hours, he made a shadow, and sent it to Solana's child. It would take a while for it to get there, and longer to avoid the gatekeeper's attention, so he released it, and went back to his party, leaving Purge to her insanity. "Soon" she said.

Chapter 1

Ponytown

Thousands of Years Later

Spike POV

3:57 P.M.

Beep!

Crush!

“Crap…”

Spike looked over at his arm, which had a now crushed alarm clock under the fist. Why did he buy such a cheap alarm clock, he will never remember. All that matters would be to get the hell up, put on some clothes, make breakfast, and then leave before his roommate got up. He had stuff to do.

He looked up from where his head was resting, and saw a map the he had etched slowly over the past month. He didn’t know why he wrote that map, or what it was, but it intrigued him, so he kept it.  Spike reached over to a chair next to his bed, grabbed a towel, flipped out of bed, and went to a shower. After the water was at optimal temperature, the only things that could be heard from the bathroom for the next seven minutes was singing.

As he exited the bathroom, the first thing Spike did was look into a mirror next to his bed. Although having mirrors within inches of a sleeping body was never a good idea, he had one anyway. “Why is this happening?” He asked himself after looking. He has asked himself this very question every day for the last month. There was obviously something wrong with him, as a body does not just do this in just a month, especially an immortal’s body. The very thought was putting more stress on his mind than need be.

Why is his hair getting paler?

Now, normally when one asks that question while sounding genuinely distressed, people tend to outright ignore that person. Hair related emergencies are not that important, and can get fixed at any time. Even if the person’s conundrum could very easily spell disaster for the world, people would just ignore it. It’s only hair.

But Spike’s conundrum was not as simple of hair fading color. Sure, his hair has gone from a forest green to a pale yellowish-green, but is that so bad? No, it was much more than that. As the days pass, he could feel himself become weaker and feverish. His perception of time was also affected, as things to seem way slower to him. His magic was so wiped, that he can’t even send mail to people, so he has become pretty much useless. 

The question is why.

Being a different species than humans, Spike was going through something that they had no experience with, and was thus presented with an inevitability. He knew this would happen sometime, but he was really hoping for it to happen when his friends and caretaker has long passed away, and he has his own bloodline to attend to, but time has forced his hand. Being a burden on others, unable to pull your own weight or even lift heavy things was not the Spike way. Spike is a happy, energetic, humorous and positive person, not this sad, depressed… Thing that looks like him.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

Oh, and he has a creepy voice that came around the same time his hair began fading. He named it Cedrik.

“I don’t know, Cedrik. What do I do?”

“You know what to do… I told you, multiple times.”

“Can I wait a little longer?”

“Do what you want, I’m just a voice. Just don't be a coward like last time”

Sighing, the naked teenager put some clothes on, and began his day. Right next to his bed was the clothes he would wear, so that was a good start. Putting on the clothes (a white jacket with black pants and running shoes), he thought up a checklist.

Wake up: Check:

Shower: Check

Argue with Cedrik: Check

Make breakfast:

Discreetly say goodbye:

Leave town and find my own way:

“Okay, now just to make sure that I always keep this in a pocket that people won't see it from, and I’m good to start my day.” He said to himself. He knew that multiple times, in the past, he has had important and secret information just sitting around for the next passerby to find, but this time he would be fully prepared to not let that happen. Nope, he would do this the correct way.

‘What are you going to do next?’

‘I dunno. I have a plan as to where we are going too, though.’

‘Where? I thought the book Garble gave you said that you should head to the valley. Head there first. Get this over with.’ Cedrik seemed different about this. Usually, he was just saying slightly relevant stuff, but whenever Spike mentions having to leave, Cedrik jumps on it and keeps telling him that he should leave as soon as possible.

‘Come on, bro. We have plenty of time.’ Spike reasoned. He heard Cedrik scoff and mutter something before he stood silent. ‘Bro?’ Spike called out into his subconscious. He knew Cedrik was in there somewhere, but if he wanted to act like this, then so be it.

Spike turned around, thought about it, and headed to the bakery, since it was the closest. And by closest, he meant the giant gingerbread house was right behind him. He walked through the doors, was met with the smells that tempted him to float into the air and devour all the sweets, and ignored said smell. The building was surprisingly empty, as all of the booth were void of anyone. That didn’t matter right now, as he was only here for one girl.

She was currently cleaning one of the booths with a spray bottle and some cloth. He was silently happy that she didn’t notice him walking over to her. He was almost there, and her bubblegum smell was starting to get to him. It was odd, considering her usual fragrance was that of those little cherries that you would find on top of a milkshake, but those were just details. She could change her smell as often as she wanted. As long as her hair was recognizably pink, poofy, and bouncy, he didn’t care.

He was about to surprise her by grabbing her shoulder, but as he reached over, it happened. She turned around and looked at him with the creepiest french mask he had ever seen in his life. The Guy Fawkes mask looked at him with all of it’s French fury, daring him not to scream at the incoming mind rape. “Hello.” she said in a manly voice. “We have awaited your arrival. Take a seat so we may have fun.” she completed her statement, as her voice got deeper with every word.

Spike flailed his arms and fell backwards, while his lips moved to scream, but no sound came.  “Pinkie, what the-” he groaned when he felt something hard on his side. He lifted his shirt, revealing a broken knife. The broken knife that apparently broke off of skin. “Wha?”

He looked up to find Pinkie laughing hysterically. She was on a table, clutching her sides, and all. He decided it was best to not tell her she almost killed him, had the knife not clipped off the table. “Why in the gods’ name did you put that mask on today?” he said, while slowly getting up. The broken knife slid back into its correct place. He would need a better sheathe than this one. Knives usually aren't blade facing upwards.

She kept laughing for a moment, and Spike waited with an unamused expression. She ended her laughter with an “Ah.” and looked at him. She was dressed in jeans, a shirt, and an apron around her neck. He didn’t care about that though. Just an observation. “I knew you would come to me today. I just had to scare you with the mask is all. Couldn’t help myself.” she said. He was prepared to speak, but she continued. “Do you want any cake?” he shook his head. “Cookies?” he shook his head. “Fruit?” he shook his head. “Candy?” he shook his head. “Gemstones?” he shook his head. “Oh! how about a-”

“No, I just wanted to talk with you about something.” he said. She looked at him with her crystal blue eyes, and it scared him a little. She clearly wanted to sell him a pastry, but she couldn’t decide. He feels like she is reaching into his soul and grabbing the pastry he craves from it.

“Do you want ruby cookies?”

“Sure.” he gave up on her. Clearly, he was making a good choice when he didn’t visit her yesterday. Yep, a good call right there. He should stop saying ‘It’s future Spike’s problem’, as it is now his problem. Hopefully, this wont take long, as he hopes to get on the only train going to his destination within two hours. ‘Shouldn’t have backed out yesterday. You could’ve been on an earlier train. Perhaps the midnight train, where people are less likely to notice you. The lack of sunlight could have aided you.’ Spike ignored Cedrik for now, as he was really just pointing out the obvious. ‘Shut up.’ Spike was never really good at just silently ignoring anyone.

Pinkie came back with the cupcakes, when she made them is a mystery, and how she knew he was coming was a bigger one, but one does not simply question her. He accepted the cookies, and they both took a seat. “So, whacha doing ‘round these here parts, partner?” she asked, Applejack’s hat on her head. She was sure to give Pinkie hell for that later.

“I came here to-” he was going to continue, but Cedrik stopped him. ‘She is the most perceptive of your friends. Tread carefully around her.’ Spike heeded his words and took a deep breath. “Just spend some time and talk.” he said after a pause. Her brow furrowed and unclenched so fast that he doubted it ever clenched in the first place. ‘She caught the pause.’

“Sure. I dont really have much time to chat. The customers would roll in,” she looked at a clock halfway across the shop. “Five minutes.” she said, then she relaxed into the chair. “So what does my favorite little guy have to say, hmm?” she said. Spike huffed a little, but she just giggled at this. “Silly boy.” she whispered to herself.

‘End this quickly. You know what shes like.’ Not missing a beat, Spike said “Yeah, I just wanted to just talk with you. Ya know, just say hi and stuff, but if you’re too busy-” She laughed some more. She was looking at him intensely, and he began to sweat. ‘You need to separate from her immediately, or the plan would be ruined.’

“No, stay Spikey. The customers won't be rolling in for three more minutes. Thats plenty of time to chat. Stay here so we can chat, please?” she said. Spike could feel Cedrik’s cringe without seeing it. ‘Something’s not right with her.’ he said. ‘It is Pinkie Pie.” Spike replied. Cedrik mumbled something that sounded like ‘no excuse’, and then he was gone.

“You know what, I actually have something to do suddenly. Gotta go!” with that, he got up, and ran out of the shop. Before he made it to the door, he felt Pinkie hug hum from behind, and whisper in his ear. “BYE!” It was as much of a whisper as anyone could get from her. He was then released from her grasp.

---Line Break---

Spike’s sprint turned into a slow jog, and in no time at all, he made it to Rarity’s place. Her sister, wearing a dress that Rarity probably told her to wear, was sitting on the bench outside the house/dress shop. Spike should have saved her for last, but that would just be an inconvenience, as Cedrik puts it. He approached her, as she looked pretty indifferent. “Hey Sweetie, how are you? You alright?”

She looked at him, squinted, and blinked silently. A few moments passed with them looking at each other, then she spoke. “Whats wrong with your hair?” A tear almost escaped Spike’s eye. How did she not notice? They see each other all the time?

“What?” he asked. ‘She didn’t notice? Well, theres one candidate of a vast, shared future thrown out the window.’ Cedrik chuckled within the confines of Spike’s subconscious. “You didn’t notice my hair getting pale?” he chuckled a bit. “Sweetie, my hair was as green as a forest in the summer last month, and now it’s barely green!” he laughed a bit. “Whatever, what’s with you?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, clearly ignoring the previous laughs diverted towards her.

“You look sad.”

“I’m not sad. It’s just-” Spike interrupter her with an ‘Ah?’, but she kept talking. “It’s just I still haven’t received a confirmation letter to the academy.” Spike nodded a little. He understood just how important this Academy of Musical Arts thing was so important to her. She tried out singing a while ago, and Spike thought she was pretty good. She then sent a tape of her singing to the academy, and they have yet to respond apparently. Too bad, she was a good singer in his eyes.

“Dont worry, I’m sure they just have other things to do. You did only send that five days ago.” he looked up. “Do you know where your sister is?” he asked.

“No, she left right before you came.” Sweetie said, as a random person walked by and tipped his hat. Why he did that was an unknown reason, but he was never heard from again. ‘So, you can't talk to Rarity? It’s for the best. You can't bear to speak to her and would leave abruptly, wouldn’t you?’

“Oh, thats unfortunate.” Spike sighed. “Well, I’m off. See ya later, Sweetie.” he waved her goodbye, and she returned the gesture. ‘Are we done now? You don’t exactly have all the time in the world.’ Spike waved him off and walked over to the own market. ‘Be that way.’

---At the Market (Nicknamed Merchant Square)---

Spike sighed. “Applejack’s stand is usually right behind a tree, right?” he asked Cedrik.

‘And how would I know that?’

“I dont know.”

‘Cant we just leave without saying anything? We were pushing it with Pinkie, and the others know you almost as well. You could have been subconsciously sending off distress or a means to be pursued for all you know.’ Cedrik had a point, this wouldn't be the first time something like this had happened. Leaving sooner had started to look like more and more of a good idea to him. ‘I will ask again, do you think it would be wise to speak to everyone before you leave?’

‘No.’ Spike responded. ‘But I feel like I should do it anyway. Is that so wrong?’

‘Well, her stand is right there.’ Cedrik turned Spike’s attention to the stand, which was not anywhere near a tree. In fact, it was on the edge of the road, being pulled away from merchant square. ‘And she appears to be leaving.’ Indeed she did. She looked relatively normal, just a shirt and some pants, nothing really that important, although her hat was strapped to her back. She never really went anywhere without one. She was pulling the cart away because she was sold out of apples. ‘Think about how you are going to go about this.’

“Hey, AJ!” Spike ran over to her, and his yelling caught the farmgirl’s attention. She looked up, waved her hand, and waited for him to catch up. “Hey.”

“Howdy.” she pulled the hat over her head. “It’s gettin hot today, aint it?”

“I don’t know, I don’t feel heat the same way you guys do.” he shrugged. “How hot is it out here?”

“About… Maybe ninety degrees, I reckon.” she looked up. “Yup, that seems about right. So what brings you ‘ere?” she asked while pulling out a cup of water.

“Oh, just saying hi.” Spike said. ‘Just saying hello?’ Cedrik laughed. ‘If you were just doing that, there would be no reason to come over here.’ ‘Shut up.’ “You know, because I saw you over here with your cart, and I thought ‘Sup.’, so here I am. Just here.” he tried not to sound nervous, but that’s just what happened to him. Trying to sound nonchalant was not his strong suit. He was absent for that lesson.

“This isn’t the best time.” she pulled the cart some. It wasn’t that heavy to either of them. Pretty light, in fact. Especially with nothing in it. “Ah got three more runs of apples to give before I can close the stand for the day. Come back later, and ah will have time fer ya.” she pushed onwards. ‘Would it be too soon if I said I knew this would happen?’

‘Yes.’ Spike answered.

‘I knew it would happen.’ Cedrik said anyways. ‘You know why we shall not go to Rainbow Dash, right?’ he asked. Spike didn’t answer. He knew Rainbow would follow him around if she was bored, and who knows what she would do if she continued to follow. Thats just the kind of girl she was. A stalker. ‘Shes not that bad, but she is still bad.’ he thought about it. ‘Um… Im not sure if going to either of those two would be a good idea.’

‘Go to the train then.’ Cedrik offered.

‘I don’t wanna.’

‘Do you want to be the one that goes to Fluttershy, the one person who might be able to read minds, while knowing where you are going? Is that seriously your best plan of action?’ he had pretty good point. Fluttershy could speak to animals, yet she doesn't actually speak to them, and over time, Spike started thinking she could read minds. ‘Um… Do I leave?’

‘You should.’ Spike turned around and walked to the train station.

In no time at all, he made it to the Equestrian Express, the only other train in Equis besides the Friendship express, walked inside, and found a seat. Not long after, the train started to move. ‘It’s for the best.’ Cedrik said. Spike wasn’t so sure about that, but it didn’t matter now. ‘Did you happen to get your stuff before you left? Because if you didn’t, you would have to use a spell to summon them.’

“Fuck.”