Alone in the darkby Mr TechChaptersDenialAngerBargainingDepressionAcceptanceThe OutcastSome lore before we continue ( V2 )A journey's endRead 'A journey's end' first E2Read 'A journey's end' first E4Creditsnew storyRead 'A journey's end' first E3Read 'A journey's end' first! E1Denial What I'm about to tell you is one of my many stories, but all stories must have it's own begginings, and if I'm going to tell you why I did what I did I should probably start at the beggining as well, so strap on my dear, this is the story where I, spike changed from a nobody in ponyville to a saviour of millions... **Alone in the dark** It was a nice day in Ponyville, and Spike, Twilight Sparkle's assistant, was going to ask a very special mare to be his special somepony... And things were about to change… for better or worse... "Uh, Rarity?" Spike asked, earning the mare's attention. She was standing next to a few mannequins, each wearing different dresses and suits. "Will you go out with me… On a date?" The young dragon questioned, a shot of nervousness caused a chill down his spine and he jittered. He handed her some purple flowers he had bought earlier from Roseluck, one of the three flower mares in town. Rarity turned her head to look at the dragon. Her face shown no emotion as she replied, "Spike, darling, you’re really adorable you know that? But you’re simply too young." Rarity replied. Spike’s face wilted into bewilderment... "W-why? Why won't you go out on a date with me? Am I not good enough for you? I can change!" He pleaded as he dropped the flowers on the floor and fell to his knees to beg. Rarity turned her back on the drake and resumed her work, and responded obliviously. "First off, you’re a dragon. I’ve also said that you are too young earlier. To top it off, you… have a hard time doing anything on your own, other than doing chores for Twilight all day. That’s not even counting the flaws here and there." Rarity said without a clue that she was scaring the young dragon, and even hurting him. "I-I-I can do more than that!" The dragon defended as he slowly backed away from the fashionista, afraid that Rarity would throw more insults at him. When his left foot had suddenly gotten stuck in a bucket. The mare continued her work. When she heard him connect with the infernal metal object that she didn’t even remember owning, she faced the dragon looking very cross, "Look, if you’re not here to help me finish the dresses I’m working on, then go to someplace else and help somepony who you won’t annoy. I've got a massive order from Manehattan and I really don’t have time to talk right now.” Spike, with a heart shattered into a million pieces, ran out of the shop with tears in his eyes, back to his home where he believed his source of comfort would be: the Ponyville Library. One hour… It was an entire hour of constant tears and sorrow for the poor dragon. In that hour, Twilight briefly came up to talk to him about Rarity, but quickly trotted away having realized she still needed to do some more studying for the upcoming test. Once the cursed hour was finished, Twilight trotted back up to Spike’s coves. Noticing that he was still crying, Twilight let out a sigh. She didn’t have much time for Spike to be sad. She briskly trotted to Spike’s side and nonchalantly spoke, "You’ll get over it. Whenever you’re finished, I’ll need some help tidying up the library." Spike looked up, his eyes still teary from his rejection. Twilight wasn’t much help with his situation, having decided to trot back down to the library’s first floor and continue with her studying without so much of a concerned look! Finding out the hard way that Twilight would not come and comfort him, he felt useless, realizing that what Rarity said was true. There was no way Rarity wanted to love him. Spike walked out of the Golden Oaks Library with his head hung low. Spike walked around town, desperately searching for anypony who he could talk to about what happened. But everypony was too busy with their own dealings. Nopony had any time for a lowly dragon like him. By noon, Spike had an idea. He could visit Zecora inside the Everfree Forest! He snapped his fingers and raised his head slightly as he began to walk towards the forest many ponies avoided. 'She might have some advice for me, or a potion that makes me feel better,' he thought to himself. After walking for a few more minutes he found himself within the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. No pony in their right mind would wander this far out of town, but the denial from Rarity, the lack of comfort from Twilight, and the fact that applejack ,rainbow dash ,pinkie pie and even fluttershy were out of town at the moment, left Spike clinging for help from anywhere. He would accept somepony… anypony to comfort him at this point, Zecora can at least talk to him in some way he could understand but a drop of sweat dripped from his forehead as he gulped. The Everfree Forest was dangerous and filled with deadly creatures. But Spike needed help and comfort. After taking a deep breath,he put up a brave face and and puffed his chest. He set foot into the dark forest. After walking for half an hour, Spike began to think that perhaps he was lost. His legs started to feel sore from all the walking and wandering around the thick trees, vines, and bushes that covered the Everfree Forest. The fact that the forest grew darker and darker only made the situation worse, spike was starting to regret this choice... After spending more time deep in the forest, Spike’s fears escalated. He clung desperately to his fading hope that Twilight would come into the Everfree, find him, and bring him out. After all, he was Twilight's number one assistant. Spike was interrupted by the sound of snapping twigs, The purple dragon turned back and gulped. A pack of Timberwolves were standing behind him, having scars that covered their bodies. They were hungry. They were ready to pounce at any moment. Adrenaline shot through spike’s mind as one of them leaped at Spike's direction. The wolf missed Spike just by a hair as he lunged away. Spike immediately got up and ran off. He never ran this fast in his entire life. Whatever pain he felt was forgotten, his life at stake! After a few more minutes of running and dodging, he lost the Timberwolves. And boy did his leg hurt! Spike cursed his luck for bringing himself into a situation like this. First he was pushed away from the love of his life. To make matters worse, Twilight refused to help him in his time of need! And now he got himself lost in a big, scary forest… He kicked some dirt in a random direction and walked onward trying to find a way back home, recalling all the books he read about surviving in the wild... He knew fire wouldn’t be an issue but he had no means of calling for help... Suddenly, Spike stopped. He couldn’t breathe… He couldn’t even feel his heart beating! Even after all that, he still felt conscious. It was as if he and his surroundings was frozen in time… He could look around, but he couldn’t move a single muscle in the rest of his body. spike panicked and tried to move. "Time?... Was it really that time again?" Spike heard a deep voice that sounded like a middle-aged male. The voice echoed from all directions, as if the whole forest decide to suddenly talk to him. And spike was getting scared by the sheer calmness, emotionless and how tired the voice sound. After those words, a stallion wearing a tidy blue suit and a steel-gray coat emerged from the shadows, stepping in front of the dragon. The stallion had a two tone mane of grey and white. Spike took a good look at him… he looked deformed. He seemed the healthy stallion with his appearance, but his voice made him sound much older! The stallion looked closely at him as if he was staring into his soul. After a few moments, he spoke again in his calm and emotionless voice... "You are a sad one aren't you little dragon?" Spike frowned internally. He wanted to answer the stallion, but he couldn’t move a single muscle and The stallion quickly realized that... "Oh, you can't move." He slowly tapped his hoof to the ground. And with a snap, Spike was back to normal! Spike gasped for air, still feeling the pain on his legs. "Who? What? How? Why?" Spike blurted out, placing his hands on his knees to keep himself standing, as he looked up at the stallion in front of him a few steps away with a confused and scared look. "Who I am is not important. However what had happened to you are MR spike." The stallion closed his eyes and replied. Before Spike can say another word, he continued his explanation, "You have been through much today, but have you stopped to notice that this sort of pain keeps on hitting you like a boomerang?" The stallion asked, with his calm, fatigued voice as he tilted his head. Spike was confused and a little disturbed, ‘How was it possible for him to know his name?!’ He thought to himself, but was interrupted when the mysterious stallion actually responded, "I know because I am a part of you... Or the part that involves your memories." The stallion said with the tone as before. Spike's jaw hit the ground, but that didn’t matter to him. "What?"he asked jaw falling to the ground, flabbergasted by this stallion that stood in front of him with a neutral face staring at him with his cyan eyes. "I've got to ask, though. Is it worth wasting you life away with the ponies you care about?" He calmly asked the dragon. "After what you've been through, is it really worth your time to think of those "friends" who treats you like a… slave without will?" The stallion asked spike, disturbingly his face didn't even show emotion. 'What?!' Spike blurted out, his face spelled confusion as he tilted his head. “I have friends! I’m the number one assistant to one of the greatest magic users of all time! She cares about me as I do her!!' He passionately declared to the stallion is if trying to convince the stallion which did not show any signs of being convinced. "I figured you’d say that.” The stallion chuckled. “You know, I already knew you’d say that even before you said it. You see, I have the ability to read memories, even those that ponies said they’d forgot about a long time ago..." Spike scratched his head in disbelief. But he couldn’t ponder too long as he continued to talk. "After what you went through, may I ask why you believe such things? After all that the ponies made you go through, would you really call them friends?” The strange stallion asked. “All those adventures they had without you, and all those times they made you stay behind. They know full well you can take care of yourself..." After he said all those things, he began to fade. He stared at Spike without a single blink as he continued to fade away into nothingness... "On your left is a wooden chest. Open it, and you will know something about me. I’ll let you think about all I’ve said. Summon me when you are ready.” The stallion vanished into thin air, just like that. The forest turned back to the way it was, as if nothing had happened. To Spike's surprise, there was a small wooden chest… but it was burnt, Judging by the mark on the floor and the design of the box, Spike assumed that the box was at least a thousand years old. Spike opened the chest, surprised that its contents were still well preserved. Inside the burnt chest was a scroll with an odd symbol for a seal: a letter H with silver wings sticking out from its sides! There was also a chain necklace with a shield with the same symbol carved into it. Along its sides were four pulsating gems with strips of metal holding them in place. Spike cracked the seal of the scroll. Gusts of wind immediately blew in Spike’s direction as he began to read the scroll. " Project 846: test success! The artifact is finally done! My final artifact... This, along with six others are going to make anypony who wears it defeat anyone, rendering them invincible! This artifact is one the six, it’s called “Necklace of Reason”. It works very much like the Elements of Harmony in that it doesn’t kill or destroy, but it also sets anypony wearing them on the right path! Inside the shield was a copy of a soul, having no memories other than those of the soul. The soul is that of a friend of mine by the way. Anyway, to activate the artifact simply apply pressure around the soul's cutie mark, like the one you see with this symbol. When you press on it, time would stop, allowing the soul to ask questions that would set the pony on the right path. The artifact either keeps you going wherever you’re going or leave it for good. Each of these gems in the chest has their own uses. One preserves the chest, another detects souls and activate the artifact when needed, another keeps the soul from fading away and the last locks the chest if evil is near. My time is almost up so for the love of Celestia, keep this away from the wrong hooves... -Star S Spike rolled up the scroll and activated the 'artifact', his face wearing a frown. Time stopped again and the same voice as before said again "Time? Is it really that time again? It seems like we've just met before... What do you want this...time?"spike activated the artifact again. Spike loosened up, but not before his body froze up again in time again. "For one thing , you seem to not have short term memory loss,” Spike spoke. The stallion faded into view once more and replied, " Seems like you've read about me, and to answer your assertion, yes. I do not have short term memory loss." He gave a resigned laugh. That stallion who Spike named 'Friend' sensed the unease between them and replied, "You seem to forget that I am just a copy of a soul, not a real one. So I have memories like you and me, only short term...memories...worrying about others is good, but you must first worry about yourself.” The stallion explained before continuing and tilting his head yet again “But you still haven't answer my question. Is it worth your life to be with the ponies treating you like a nobody?" He asked, his face expressionless as he drifted the conversation to a different topic successfully. "I-I try not to think about it," Spike stuttered, looking away and fiddling with his fingers. as he looked around trying to avoid ‘friend’s cold stare. " Survive," Friend said as he started to fade away again with a tired smile but the smile was fake, spike can tell it’s just for show is if he was hiding something, something big.suddenly Spike completely forgot why he summoned Friend at all...strange As time resumed, Spike put on the necklace, bent down, and picked up the chest. Spike looked up to the concealed sky, barely seeing the setting sun turn the sky orange… He needed to set up a shelter, and fast if he want to survive... At this point, the sun had set completely, making way for the moon and the night. Spike set up a shelter for himself: a tent with a campfire and a bed of a rather simple build. It wasn’t much, but that would do for his first night at the Everfree… There was still a little hope for anypony to save him. His chance would be the small smoke trail that his campfire created. Hopefully the pegasi could spot it, swoop down, and save him… if they cared to. unbeknownst to Spike the smoke trail suddenly disappeared when looked from a distance and the glow slowly faded out of view as if it was not there in the first place... Something is preventing him from being reached... AngerIt was three days since Spike first entered the Everfree Forest.No pony had came to rescue the purple dragon. No pony called his name, and no pony flew across the sky and called for him. Spike was lonely, and Spike was angry. Spike mulled over what a ‘friend’ told him when he first entered the dark forest. Spike was convinced that the ‘friendship’ of his equine companions gave was only there to keep him from running away. As another day and night passes, He just sat there and waited for his never coming rescue. Spike stayed put at the campsite he made on his own. The fire he made let off small smoke trails that could be seen for miles. But all the smoke did was scare the woodland creatures away from him. Perhaps the reassurances his friends gave him were really false all along. “Maybe ‘friend’ was right. Three days already passed and no pony’s come to find me! Why do these things always have to happen to me?!” Spike yelled out, cursing everything that grew around him on his makeshift bed. But all he could hear were the echoes of his anger and the rustling of the forest’s leaves. Spike’s anger grew more and more the more he thought about everything that happened to him the past few days. His blood boiled deep inside as he grit his teeth. Never in his entire life had Spike had been so angry! Unable to contain his anger, Spike jumped up from his makeshift bed and stomped out of his camp in fury. Spike continued to scream into the depths of the Everfree Forest. No matter how hard he tried to calm himself, Spike grew more and more vexed. He continued to curse out towards the celestial being and his friends, expecting that his friends would hear the neglected dragon. He remembered how Twilight forbid Spike from swearing the way he did now, but that didn’t matter anymore. Nopony came to stop him now, and he wanted things to stay that way! But then… a twig snapped again behind him, Sounds of crunchy paws grew louder and louder, immediately placing Spike back into a state of fear. Despite all the anger he had in the world, his life was still very much at stake. His blood instantly turned from red hot anger into ice cold chills as the purple dragon now heard growls of hunger and malice. Standing all around the little dragon were Timberwolves of all sizes. Spike immediately noticed the silver scars that shone from the Timberwolves’ wooden bodies. They were the same Timberwolves Spike ran away the last time! Just as Spike was about to accept his inevitable death in the dank forest, a red stallion jumped out of nowhere and beside Spike. Once he landed, he spoke with a loud, booming voice, "Baby dragon! The key to defeating the Timberwolves is to feast on your anger! Think of everything that makes you mad! That white pony rejecting you coldly, that nerd who refused to help you in your time of need, and even all of Ponyville who never wanted to stop for a single moment to help you with your problems! You too are lost in the Everfree, which makes you mad, mad and mad!" The red stallion yelled at the top of his lungs. Spike had trouble breathing, let alone feeling his heartbeat. Everything that happened when he encountered ‘friend’ was repeating itself once again! Except for the angry red stallion! “Do you even listen to me, little dragon?! I told you to go and unleash your fury upon those beasts that hunt you! Remember what your ‘friends’ told you?! They said you were useless, vulnerable to everything!!” the stallion yelled, staring directly into Spike's eyes. Upon hearing those words, Spike could only see red. His blood heated up once again as he gritted his teeth, remembering the situation he was forced to confront. The red stallion began to fade, pleased that the purple dragon was finally learning. ”Ya gotta stand up for yourself kid. Good luck my friend.” Those were the last words the red stallion spoke before he vanished into thin air. As soon as the stallion vanished, the Everfree Forest became unfrozen that spike had no idea when it was frozen in the first place. The Timberwolves crept towards the reddened dragon. Spike’ vision became a tinted red as he stepped towards the wolves, gritting his teeth along the way and took a fighting stance. The alpha timberwolf and Spike lunged towards each other, beginning a fierce battle! Claw clashed with claw, and dragon scales met wood! The alpha’s claws were completely destroyed when it landed face first into the dirt, while Spike was barely scratched. The rest of the Timberwolves followed, but they all met the same fate. In his anger, Spike taunted the Timberwolves for their impotent attacks. But suddenly, another Timberwolf caught him off guard and pounced the purple dragon! Spike pushed the Timberwolf away from him. He took in a deep breath and let out a torrent of green magical dragon fire. The angry flame enveloped and consumed the wolf. The flame was so powerful that there was no trace of the wolf in sight, not even ashes. Spike picked himself off the ground slowly face down and and raised his head towards the injured timberwolves. His eyes were now a ruby red as opposed to his shining emerald green. The purple dragon yelled with a tone of fury, "WHO'S NEXT!?!" When the words left his mouth, all the Timberwolves ran up to him at once, but they didn’t even travel ten feet before they were all consumed by the overwhelming flame Spike exhaled. When it was all over, Spike didn’t see a single threat in sight. The wild forest became tamely silent. Nothing moved, and no living being was in sight. Spike heard a faint clap, but he didn’t know where it was coming from! The fact he had trouble turning his head, or moving in general didn’t help either. ”Nicely done, Mister Spike!” ‘friend' applauded as he made himself visible in front of Spike. “I take that you had a conversation with a rather mad red stallion I presume?” 'friend' asked as he slowly tapped his hoof towards the ground. “What are you doing here? Where were you the last few days?” Spike asked as he pointed his right claw at the grey stallion and walked towards ‘friend’. friend and spike started circling each other as ‘friend’ exhaled mist started to form around his mouth, it gave the impression that Spike was in a cold place,and suddenly it felt cold,really cold, like the forest was suddenly turned from summer to winter. that makes spike calmed down a bit from his anger, his eyes were starting to turn green again. “I am not someone you just “summon”when you feel like it. I only appear when you need my assistance, and just then,” He explained, the grey mist continuing to spew from his nostrils and mouth as they stopped going around in circles. ‘friend’s cyan, hollow eyes staring at him. “What help do I need?!” Spike mockingly asked. “I'm fine! In fact, I just dealt with an entire pack of Timberwolves by myself!” the purple dragon boasted. “Where were you when that happened?”, Spike grumpily asked, his anger against Twilight and his friends still fresh on his mind. The stallion let out a dry chuckle. “And here I thought you were having a moment back there,” ‘friend’ replied to Spike in a very, very amused tone. “Anyway, to your left is inside a bush. Inside the bush is a chest. You do want to return the favor back to Mr. Angry, don’t you? After all, he did save your life…” continued ‘friend’. The temperature and the forest returned to normal and ‘friend’ went back into his necklace Spike had brought with him. Spike rolled his eyes and looked to his left. A scratch mark on the floor greeted his vision and friend’s chest underneath the bush. Just as ‘friend’ had foreseen. Spike walked towards the chest and opened it. Inside the chest was a torch with a fading flame and an even smaller metal box. Inside the metal box was a scroll with a seal. On it was a cutie mark Spike presumed was the red stallion’s. He lift up the torch and blew out the flame. Spike reflected on all the action that transpired with the Timberwolves. He scratched his head as he pondered how he could have survived the ordeal. His fear grew on him once again like thistles and thorns. Spike picked up the scroll and cracked the seal, once again, the wind picked up and he began to read its contents aloud. “Test 346: Test failed. I am disappointed with this piece of the artifact. Its use is to summon a warrior, but when the torch was lit it just summoned the soul inside the artifact. Not unlike the necklace of reason. Perhaps it's the fact that it uses the same summoning spell... bla bla bla…makes user fearless when lit...bla bla bla.” Spike rolled up the scroll and tossed it away with a ‘meh’. It was useless information about the artifact just like friend’s scroll. Spike began to walk back from whence he came, only to realize that was lost again in the deep dark forest soon afterwards. The young dragon was starting to get nervous because it was starting to get dark outside. And he just knew it would be a bad idea walking around the everfree alone in the dark. Spike looked around for any eyes watching him and when he found none, he wandered into a different direction. Two hours later all he found a whole lot of trees and and nothing else. No rivers, no animals, not even any insects. Just a bunch of trees blowing with the wind over him. It’s getting dark outside, so he decides to take out his torch and blow some of his dragon flame onto it, activating the artifact in the process. Just then, the forest - as always - stopped moving, he couldn’t breath and just like every time he meets the soul inside the artifacts a stallion appears in front of him, this time instead of ‘friend’, however, a red stallion without any clothes on by the way, stares at him, right into his eyes. “Ya need somethin`?” he said with a weird accent as he looked around and tapped his hoof towards the ground. spike as always when the tap sound was heard was able to move and breath again. “cuz I don’t see anythin that might kill ya” he casually stated lifting a hoof up to rub his chin like he is thinking, when spike opened his mouth to reply, Then the stallion burst out laughing and rolled around like he just got tickled. “Mighty proud of ya kid, ain’t got anyponeh got fired up that quickly since since dat grey guy whoever he is, you had some pent up stress I tell ya that! So wadda ya need?” he finally finished as he looked at spike expectedly. “Well I need some of whatever you do because I am getting rather scared inside the largest and most dangerous place in this damn planet!” spike said as he opened his arms to pointed at his surroundings. “No can do cuz your a coward.” He said as he pointed at the dragon as he looked unimpressed like he is a drill sargent looking at his cadet, without respect and spike don't like it one bit. Spike the dragon was being called a coward right in his face and he instantly got very mad at the red stallion, so he gritted his teeth and pointed a claw at him and said in a low voice and stepping towards him. “Listen here buddy,I’ve just got rejected by the ones I know and love a few days ago and lost inside this dangerous SH!7 HOLE, and I am not in a good mood to chat, I can always destroy you, after all, you are just a soul in a torch after all. So...What...Will...IT...BE? HELP ME OR WHAT?!” He however just rolled his eyes and said in a even tone” you are talkin to a pony that died a thousand two hundred years ago kid,the fact it don’t bother you a single bit tells me enough that you don't need mah help, so quit bein such a pussy and build a fire.” And with that, he faded away… Spike grumbled at he muttered a55h0le under his breath as he start working on his fire and his ‘camp’ with him beginning to gather sticks and leaves, the thing about being a dragon is he don't have a cent so he can't be tracked or ‘sniffed out’ by animals,”that’s a plus” he muttered And after a few hours of building and crafting in a opening next to a stream with his makeshift tools made by sticks and rocks tied together, he made his second camp, the moon is high up in the sky and and he is finally done. He lay on his bed and blew out the torch when he wanted to sleep, he instantly regretted it again as he was suddenly aware of the woodland creatures that surrounds him and his camp, he started shivering as he lay on his bed and he took the torch and blew it on again. “What do ya need this time, stop callin me!” spike was going to call him ‘mad’ at this point said behind him as he stomped his hoof towards the ground well, madly. Spike for his part turned around and glared at him as he said. “just lighting up a torch to light up the place, got a problem?” spike the dragon spat back, as ‘mad’ groaned and rolled his eyes right before disappearing into thin air yet again for the third time of the day. Spike less afraid now that the torch is lit, he began to doze off, his energy had been drained after a full day of walking and fighting that one pack of timberwolves, that left him drained as a dry well. His eyes was starting to close shut, just when his vision was a narrow line, a voice said beside him quietly... “Time? was it really that time again?” and like that, he slipped out of consciousness... BargainingBack at Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, the all-powerful unicorn, had been studying in peace. Twilight wanted a short break from her studies, deciding that she would take a glass of water from her glass cup at the other side of her library. With a moan, Twilight arose atop the bookfort she built about a week ago, sore after not moving her hooves around for so long. As she exited her bookfort, Twilight noticed the deafening silence that descended onto her room. She was even more surprised that Spike hadn't come and asked her to eat at all. In fact, he hadn’t asked her of anything in the past couple of days... “Strange”, Twilight muttered to herself as she walked towards the kitchen. She looked around the library, the dust starting to pile atop her books like a sand mound. Twilight, baffled by the state of her house, called out for Spike. But there was no reply from the dragon, so with a mumble she trotted towards his room, she was thinking of asking for an explanation but when she stepped towards the door however, she noticed that it was unlocked and slightly opened. She pressed her ear towards the door as she tried to hear any form of life. Silence had greeted her. The unicorn was confused and slightly disturbed by the fact that no form of life was inside Spike’s room, ’what if he had committed suicide!?’ she thought her eyes opening wide. So she pushed open the door with a hoof and the door creaked open slowly, so she peeked inside the room, what she saw terrified her towards the core that she would be having nightmares in months. inside the room was a strange stallion sitting in spikes bed, blood splattered all around the room and the smell of gore filled her nostrils. her face had turned pale as she turned to run away but as she turned her head, he was there, standing in front of her, staring into her eyes with his soulless cyan eyes, the eyes of a corpse... “Time? Was it really that time again?” the stallion asked in a deep and raspy voice as he tilted his head slightly. Twilight was so terrified she wanted to scream but no voice came out, she tried to run but she can’t move, she can’t even move her own eyes or cast a simple spell! like she was frozen in time. The stallion began to say in his deep voice with an emotionless tone, ”the right mare in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world,” the world had flashed white the black, as she realised she was in a different place, it looks like a campsite in a forest… “And you twilight sparkle, had been at the wrong place when a broken dragon needed you the most... Instead of giving the illusion of free choice, I will take the liberty of choosing for you…” ‘friend’ started altering her brain into a different arrangement,and altering her decision making, memories and thoughts in the short term future… [ 47t3r 7w0 d4y5, h3r br41n w1ll r34rr4n63 b4ck 70 17’s 0r161n4l form by 5l33p c0un7 bec4u53 ‘fr13nd’5 power 4r3n’t n3utr4l m3m0ry w1ll r3m41n 1n74ct ] “I do apologise it has come to this, but it is for the greater good. So wake up MRS Sparkle. Wake up and smell the ashes…” He faded away into thin air like he was made of dust being blown away by a non existence wind, and the world exploded into a blaze of white and black again… Twilight snapped open her eyes as she grasped for air, the hints of cyan left in her eyes. She was inside a pile of books again, she looked around furiously taking in the environment. Twilight shot up and galloped towards Spike's room. Spider webs and dust littered the place. When she reached the dragon's room, she rushed inside and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no blood, or anything of the sort. and instantly snapped open her eyes again, ‘spike was gone…’ sure there is no blood or corpse on the room but spike was gone, his bed was untidy and dried tear stains littered across his pillow. “Spike? Slike!? SPIKE!!” twilight called out as panic took over her again, she looked around the room, looking for any trace of the dragon lost dragon, slowly forgetting what she had just seen… Spike woke up inside his makeshift camp with a yawn. After all that had happened, he's not mad at his friends anymore. There is no point to it; in fact, he would like to return to them to set things right again. After all, he had been lost inside the everfree for a few weeks now. So Spike packed up his tools made out of sticks and stone, and put them into his bag made out of sticks and leaves instead. With the tools packed up and a few stone water bottles he made by molding them like clay when they were red hot, and finally grabbed the two artifacts. He began to walk out of his tent and began walking with the sun on his right, which means he is facing north, then started walking towards his destination. He assumes it is the direction of Ponyville on the map Twilight had him memorize when he was two years old… “Heh, being the assistant of a nerd had it’s benefits after all.” He began to walk a little more, one of the magical gems he had with the chest of the artifacts had been eaten for survival. Each gem according to ‘friend’ can make a fully grown dragon last a whole day… since spike is a baby, he can last a whole month with just one gem… Only 7 left he counted to himself… After what felt like three hours, when in reality it was just one and a half, he tripped on an uneven stone. Now, unlike normal pebbles on the ground which would be shattered by big creatures like manticores and stuff Spike just so happened to forgot at the moment since he's in a big dangerous forest… So, he looked down at the rock he just tripped over. From what he could tell, it isn’t a rock, not even close. Instead, it was an ocarina made by the finest lapis lazuli with a golden ring at the tip. He picked it up and found wood splinters all across the area and four gems embedded IN the ground as if someone had been doing a horrible job at burying the gems… And with that he would assume that it’s an artifact made by the all knowing Star S-whoever it was… Spike rolled his eyes as he dug up the gems and put them into his bag. It means he can survive in the everfree for a whole year without food. Now all he needs is water... And without anything to do other than walk and walk all day, he bring the top towards his mouth and blows out a note; and as expected, the forest became silent as soon as he blew into the instrument. A royal purple unicorn mare with a sharp horn, a messy purple and royal blue mane and tail, gold slit eyes, brick red hooves stepped into view behind a tree... “Aww, was it really that time again” She whined as she looked around her surroundings as if she was looking for something. Unlike ‘mad’ or ‘friend’ he can move and breath, but there is a circle of light that circles his feet. As Spike soon finds out he can’t pass through the light line on the ground. The mare mare in question then looked at Spike as if she just noticed him the first time “Hi, purple dragon, what are you doing inside a forest?”, she asked with an innocence similar to two friends chatting. All the emotion comes back to him like a solid brick wall. He frowned, sighed, and said, “Can’t you read memories like the necklace or the torch?” He looked away and crossed his arms. “Necklace? Torch? Oh, oh, oh… do you mean that red charmer that looks tough and deep as a rabbit hole?” she tilted his head and smiled, as she tilted her head cheerfully looking at Spike with her golden eyes. “As for the necklace, I don’t know what you're talking about… there are only four artifacts aren't there? The twins ,red and me!” She asked and then her body began to falter and fizzle. “Oh, looks like our time is up, call me after a few hours! hope I can stay longer but the first time usually is the shortest”, She chirped as she completely faded from view and the light circle faded. Spike shrugs, then brings the instrument back to his mouth and blew a melody called “lon lon ranch” he read a few months back when he was done cleaning the whole living room by himself. When he finished the song the sun was in a different position. Sure Spike can lose the sense of passing time, but from the looks of the sun, it’s 4 o'clock. “Heh, I’ve been walking for quite some time now. Better take a rest”, he grumbled. So Spike sat down, took a sip of water out of his stony bottle, and laid back. Since he had found ‘mad', no animal dared to approach him. He once saw a manticore wonder near his camp, but just as Spike was seen, its eyes turned cyan and fled away whimpering… And Spike wastes no time using the artifacts power to help him survive inside this forest; while he was sitting by himself, he closed his eyes and listened to his surroundings, the wildlife making all sorts of noises,taking in the environment about this pony-free forest and what makes this forest so feared.and started thinking about his old life and how he can change it, And after what felt like a few hours had passed spike opened his eyes ,move to a more comfortable position took and out the necklace of reason and stared at it, now being a librarian, it’s job was to organize books and keep track of them, and after years of being one himself, his sense of perception was not bad for dragons then he summon friend, now if there is anything different,it would be the fact that he can fade into view out of thin air unlike ‘mad or ’happy’ that lives in the ocarina,time slowed as always and forest became dead silent. “Time? is it really that time again? it feels like just a day had passed since you found me, you had done a great deal of things in a short period of time, glorious work you’ve done over there about finding the artifacts, I am proud of you…so mr spike, what do you ever need me for?” the ever grey stallion said with little to no emotion. “friend,I’ve got to ask you a question, what does it feels like, being inside an artifact?” spike asked mentally since ‘friend’ can read minds according to him, and tilted up his head to meet his eyes once he had heard a tapping sound from the stallion And with that question ‘friend’ for the first time let his full emotion showed on his face, he frowned, sighed and closed his eyes as he lowers his head “it’s cold, it’s so cold and lifeless, trapped alone in the dark,inside an object sealed inside a chest forgotten forever... some can't keep track of time and I am not one of them, I feel every second,every hour of every day..” Pity… spike thought as he open his mouth to reply, just then friend spoke up again,this time back into his emotionless mask ”but this is not about me, it’s about you, mr spike, you must know that loneliness does not come from being alone,but being surrounded by people who can't understand you... in the meantime… this is where I get off” ‘friend’ turned away from spike and walk away and slowly fading away as the forest resumes like nothing had happened at all. So spike stood up after the rather short meeting and started walking again and picked up the ocarina and began playing some more songs to entertain himself… After walking for quite some more time, he found out more and more landmarks,there are dirt roads on the floor again and the sound of wild animals grew more quieter the longer he walk north, and then he saw a clearing and buildings, spike then brighten up and starting to walk towards it when a something stopped him cold. Twilight sparkle, the one he trusted the most, was sitting on a mountain top, having a picnic with the elements of harmony, laughing and telling jokes, and having a fun time, like spike was not there in the first place...like he wasn’t even needed in their lives to be happy or function… “oh hey purple dragon” ‘happy’ walked up from behind him and a circle once again lit up around spike,and looked towards the group of ponies,that’s chatting “something big was going to happen soon in their future, and I am sure you want none of it...:” the mare said to spike as she turned her head back to face spike, and he looked back towards the forest and asked the mare… “why, why does it have to be me…” spike asked with a teary eye “sometimes life's not fair,and you have to face it” the mare said sadly as she moved to comfort the dragon but once her hoof touched the dragon, her hoof passed through spike like she was a ghost and she began fading away spike saddened, began to walk back into the forest with his head hung low just when ‘happy faded from view with fizzled sound.he spare them one last glance and they are are talking to a gray mare with gray and white mane...strange but spike was too sad to notice anything... spike’s camp was built under an hour, this time near the temple of the two sisters, he then sat there outside his tent staring at the night time sky, spike had realise that he was alone all this time, he can’t be understood by the ponies that raise him since he was a baby… inside his head he was thinking about his purpose inside his life, he was not made to steal things from others that one incident at ponyville had proven that, now he just don't know what to do in life, all those time he spent with the ponies, can be forgotten in just a week... Spike had a lot to think about… Within the depths of his tomb five gems embedded in the walls suddenly lit up, and the beams of light hit the coffin at the center of the room. A groan busted out as a skeletal pony hoof punched a hole through the lid of the coffin sending wood flying all over. Liquid silver started flowing upwards around the skeleton hoof, and said hoof returned back into the lid. The coffin busted open and inside rested what looked like a healthy pony stallion. He stood up, looked around and started walking towards the exit, his vision tinted blue with words scattering across. The words read: “find all the artifacts and terminate all who stands in unit’s way”. Depression Spike was alone... He could see it now; he was alone from the start. ‘Loneliness doesn't come from being alone, it comes from being surrounded by ponies that don't understand you, and the deep feeling of isolation comes when you realize that even the pony that's closest to you is so far away that you could never touch them,’ Spike recalled the words spoken by ‘mad’ and ‘happy’ not long after he summoned them. It's been three days since he left his bed and he was glad that he didn't need much food, thanks to the gems. He only needed water to survive, but that still didn't change the fact that he was alone, without any friends or family, all he had was the three artifacts... if they're even real... “Waiting... For what? Do you have a chance? Do you want to keep living like the past? To live as a slave to everyone? Spike, everyone wants happiness, and no one wants pain, but you can’t make a rainbow without a little rain. Move on,MR Spike,” friend said without even bothering to show up. After a few more hours of doing nothing, he wiped the tears from his eyes and started packing up, he had no idea where he was going to go next; there is no future, and his past... he wants to forget them, forget them all... but he can’t lose them: they've changed him too much; shaped him to their liking... He's stuck. He can’t go back to his dragon nature, but he can’t go back to the ponies that used him, either. He's caught in the middle of these two factions, and he doesn't know what to do...But he does know that he must move on, despite the hardships he faced... After a few minutes he finished packing and began walking across the bridge towards the abandoned castle. ’Gotta get to higher ground,’ he thought to himself. Maybe it’s time to do something with his life... He climbed the walls of the castle to their highest point. By the time he got there, he was panting pretty hard, but he still managed to squint his eyes and look around, taking the view, which was amazing to him. What he saw was an ocean of green that stretched as far as his eyes could see, which covered nearly all of the forest. He could see ponyville, that wretched place he once called home, he even saw a outline of a what looks like a giant glass dome in the distance, a tall mountain with a little snow on top at the horizon, and even his first camp, which wasn't far from here. “Strange, the Everfree looks a lot smaller in the maps than in does real life,” he said as he rubbed his chin with the his claw, looking around some more, his mind drawing a blank as he tried to avoid remembering the pain he suffered from those ponies. Unbeknownst to him, however, something saw him and was watching him closely... observing his every movement as the dragon took in his surroundings. The woodland creatures wouldn’t dare to even think of approaching this figure, just like the dragon that held the two artifacts. The mysterious figure’s flesh soon melted like liquid silver, exposing it’s pony skeleton before, just a second later, a new coat of silver covered it, and when the liquid covered its whole body again, the silver faded into a different color. Now, instead if a stallion, it was a beautiful mare with a white coat, sky blue mane and tail, and golden eyes that fluttered open as she looked around and walked towards the mountains with a wicked smile on her face. After some rest on the top of the tower, spike climbed down, actually ready for a long walk... At least until he reached the bottom, where he sighed and looked down towards the ground, remembering what friend said to him a few hours before. so he took a stroll around the castle and scavenged somethings of use. when he was done, he took off towards the tall mountains. He has to remain strong... so, with a heavy heart, he looked towards the mountains, took a deep breath and began walking towards his goal. After a few hours of walking with nothing to do, his mind decided to bring up the fact that he was essentially abandoned in the span of a week, so, to drive his mind out of this, he took out his ocarina, closed his eyes, and started playing a song called 'Misty Mountains Cold' to distract himself. But, while he played, he felt a weird sensation around his body, like that wind blew towards him in every direction, but he ignores it. He blew every note according to his memory, playing the instrument with not just his body, but with his very own soul. Every note he blew came from the bottom of his heart and, after the song was finished, he opened his eyes to found that he was in a different location; one he didn't recognize... he was on an floating island, but it was the other beings before him that surprised him. Standing there, right beside each other were two bodies twitching madly and fading into and out of view. It was ‘happy’ and ‘mad', both surrounded by sparks igniting all around them, they looked as if they were both burning and freezing at the same time. As they saw Spike look upon them, they gritted their teeth and said with a pained voice, “k-kh-kh o-o-oly-y-y-olyhv! Kh-kh-kh lv q-q-qr DUUJK, K-k-kh kdv-kdv-kdv d-d-d ZKROH-ROH vr-vr-DUUUJK. Doo-doo WKH SDLQ kh-kh dozdbv-dozdbv-ihhov! ULS-ULS-ULS IURP WKH ERGB ZKROH!” The instant their chanting ceased, they exploded into sparks and the floating island collapsed. Spike awoke gasping for air and took in his surroundings. It was nighttime and the forest looked very different. He felt cold and instantly dug out his torch and blew flame onto it. As expected, everything stopped moving and a shout of pain rang out “AHHHHHH-NEVER SUMMON ALL OF US AT THE SAME TIME!!!” mad yelled out as he appeared behind Spike, all while walking like a drunk. “Do you have any idea how much it hurts? Thank god I can forget it all in just a few days,” he gritted as he held his hoof to his forehead as if he just violently banged his head before stomping his hoof towards the ground. Spike raised an eyebrow and asked, ”what do you mean? I didn't summon you. Why would you say that? ... And what did you mean by 'uls iurp wkh ergb zkroh?'” Spike was getting mad, but the red stallion in question just rubbed his forehead and sighed... “Kid, in order to summon the souls in the artifacts, you just need to bring up the emotions the souls feel the most. When you played the ocarina, you summoned the mare as well as me, and now you’re depressed, so that very angry being I once met, who ever he is, got summoned” he cringed and Spike’s surroundings moved a little, but stopped soon after. “Well, now, thanks to you, I Have a full soul. ARRGH!!! THANK GOD it fades in a few days...” he held his head is if it was going to explode, spike cringing at the reaction. “What do you mean a full soul? I thought you were just a part of a soul?” Spike asked, a little worried about the red stallion rubbing his head and rolling on his back. “Look, kid, all you need to know is that when two or more artifacts are used at the same time, the souls merge and share a personality, meaning that the two will become one. Now I am going back into the torch, it hurts just being outside,” and with that simple sentence, he vanished. Spike, with the flame’s glow, finally began to really take in the surroundings, and his jaw hit the ground. He was at the foot of the mountain he wanted to travel to... in just the span of one song... The dragon’s eye twitched and he began laughing like crazy. After he calmed down, he put his still lit torch on the side of his bag and began climbing, his claw digging into the stone with a ‘crack’. It’s been three hours, but he finally made it to the top with little effort, and what greeted him was snow, a clearing and a chest... well, two chests strapped together. One was white with a black lock and the other was black with a white lock... He opened the two chest with little delay and began reading the pieces of paper inside each of them, quickly finding out that they were littered with holes... "Great..." Spike rolled his eyes and stack them together to roll them up, only to pause as he saw that the holes lined up with the text on the other sheet. ‘Heh, that was easy...', he thought to himself as he stacked the two pieces of paper together and began to read, and, unlike last time, he was going to read this seriously. A note of advice: these are suppose to be very dangerous. One can bring life and one can bring death. The white one brings life and black one brings death... [ ] are suppose to bring [ ] back but [ ] one doesn't feels like it, [ ] won't work... star s With that, spike rolled up the two pieces of paper and looked at two chest to find out what’s inside them... and what greeted him was not what he expected. He expected it to be a badge or something, but what greeted him was the most beautifully crafted swords he has ever seen in his life... even though they were the only swords he has ever see with his own eyes. Spike then went about hollowing out the chests when it suddenly hit him: ‘These chests are mostly hollow anyway, with only four jems, two swords, and two pieces of paper, so why not use them as bags, instead?’, He thought to himself as he began to pack everything he could into the chest... After some time, and some careful packing, he shut the two chest and locked them with the built in locks, making sure that the contents wouldn't fall out, he tied some rope he ‘scavenge’ from the castle of the two sisters, which brought up the memory of why he was in this situation in the first place... He was going to take out the ocarina, but he reminded himself about what he did to mad and happy... and he still hasn’t seen ‘friend’ yet, and as if on cue, time stopped and there he was, standing there, looking out to the distance...”listen,” he said with his usual dull and boring voice... Unlike the last time they’ve met, friend did not free him from the ‘time jam’, nor did he talk with any warmth or care,hidden beneath his voice "there's someone that took something away from me. It was important enough for my very soul to remember it, and you need to remember what I’ve said or I might forget, or even die soon...”his voice becoming grim... "He who survives over the years must be put down in order to relieve your fears, or he will become your worst nightmare. But when you find the one who remembers, you'll have nothing to fear-” he was cut off by something as a look of fear crossed his face. ALSO unlike last time, he disappeared by turning to stone and crumbling to dust as time resumed, and as it did, Spike noticed that his necklace began to glow. At first it was red, then it turned orange and started smoking, then it became white, and then finally blue. A light then shot out of the shield and bolted straight towards a random direction that spike presumed was north-east. Spike, still confused by what happened, tapped the shield and found out that it was boiling hot. Needless to say, he was surprised, not by the temperature, but that ‘friend’ didn't appear at all. What spike thought was his cutie mark was also gone... So Spike did the only thing he thought he should; he went after the glowing trail that Spike guessed was leading him to the rest of 'friend's soul…”it’s been a wild week” he muttered to himself as he began to walk. Twilight returned home after yet another picnic. It’s been a few months since Spike went missing, but she's gotten over it. The library's been a constant mess without Spike to do his daily chores. Feeling the sudden urge to send a letter to Celestia on the first day she found out that spike was missing. Sure she's been out more since he left, but without the constant reminders from him to eat, she's become much thinner, not terribly noticeably, but still a significant change that her friends jumped to help fix. Within a few minutes of her return, Princess Celestia send her yet another letter by the royal guards instead of spike’s flame. The message stated that there's something preventing them from reaching the dragon, and that a squad's been sent to look for him, but turned up empty. And so Twilight had to do everything on her own now. She couldn't help but feel bad from the things she said all those months ago, but she was in a very stressful situation back then. Though it was Rarity that was hit the hardest when she noticed Spike stopped showing up to help her with her dresses. She first went to Twilight, but when she found out that he was missing she became very worried and asked the girls to help look for him. That also, unfortunately, turned up empty... Rarity blamed herself for what happened after that day, but she's gotten over it a few weeks ago. Twilight knows that she never intended to hurt Spike that way. With that, she decided that she'd go and look for him with her friends where he'd most likely be: a place his young mind would look for comfort from a very powerful zebra: Zecora, the enchantress... Acceptance Both figures yawned and stretched their limbs as if they’ve been woken up by someone, and in this case, the purple and green dragon leaned up against the forcefield around him with his eyebrow raised and his arms crossed... The male figure opened his eyes and finally, after 15 minutes of waiting for them to wake up, spoke with a voice typical of an average stallion, “sorry, sir: after being locked inside a blade for however long it was, you tend to want to sleep all the time. So... how long has it been? Five? Ten? Fifteen? Twenty years?” He asked that in a strangely casual tone with his eyes half opened, as if he want to go to sleep again. He rubbed his golden mane with streaks of white and tried to wake himself up while the mare with the same color pellet as ‘friend,’ oddly enough, was still trying to wake up as well, groaning and shifting around like a filly. Spike pointed a finger to the brown stallion and replied with a deadpan voice, ”that would be one thousand, two hundred years, three months, twelve days, five hours, and fifteen minutes.” The brown one raised an eyebrow at him as if he had just told him that he was a mare... meanwhile, the grey mare was snoring once again, and even though it was cute, he had to wake her up eventually... “Rise and shine~” Spike sang after learning that ‘friend’ said this all the time, while friend will not say these words in a sing song voice... ever, this did tend to wake up the sleeping mare on the floor, and as she jerked her head and ears up, she looked around with her cyan eyes and half lidded lids. “Love?” She asked before a yawn as she looked at her surroundings, then, with a small smile, she waved at the brown stallion as if she had just noticed him, with a face still looked sleepy as she would ever be. “No, but if you mean the grey stallion with white and gray mane and tail...” Spike answered as he raised his finger, only to have the mare perk up and pay full attention to the young dragon before her. “Then you wouldn't find any here, but I do know where he went-” then he was cut off by the brown one with a rather surprised tone in his voice, and judging by the expression he wore, he was just as surprised as his voice... “Wait wait wait! It’s been that long? Fdhvdu Flskhu!” He asked Spike before cursing to himself, all while the dragon just raised his eyebrow at him as he crossed his arms, noting that the stallion he didn't put his arms down... “Do you guys have names?” Spike asked the two ponies in front of them, he didn't want to name them sleepy, since it would be rude... “Hey! I’m not sleepy, call me Tee; full name: Key Tech. It's a horrible name, I know, so I call myself MRS tech, or tech, or most ponies usually call me tee, that's also fine with me.” Tee whined then introduced herself to Spike with a proud look on her face. Then she said something with a blush and looked away... just to look adorable. “Zkhq L fdoohg klp oryh, L zdv dfwxdoob klv ihpdoh forqh... ru ylfh yhuvd; L gxqr. Exw mxvw vr brx nqrz, Vslnh, kh zdv d qlfh jxb, exw wklqjv kdg wr eh grqh wkdw pdb ru pdb qrw kxuw brx lq wkh ixwxuh...” but before Spike could ask what she said, because her voice was barely audible, the brown stallion cut in... "The name's Intel. The rest... I don't remember all that much, and why should we believe it's been that long?" Intel asked Spike with a questioning tone, still not believing it’s been a thousand, two hundred years since he had last woke up... “Let's just get back to why I summoned you two in the first place.spike ignored intel’s question... What do you do, or should I ask, what does your artifacts do? and intel? you can’t tell if i am lying or not...” Spike asked and said intel with a more serious tone.and a more serious face. “I-I-I need to think this over...my friends, family...” He said in a small voice as closed his eyes, sat down, and rubbed his temples in a circular motion. Spike looked around to tee and found her sitting on the ground, rocking herself to and fro, looking around with a small smile on her face... ‘I wonder if they're the same pony, one with a serious and calculative left brain, and the other with a happy and relaxed right brain... heh, make sense, even their cutie marks are the same...’ Spike mused to himself as he looked at the mare in front of him. “So you’ve met my love, then... good to know. Back to your question, we're blades, so we're activated when we cut things, unlike your blue potato thing that plays music or your torch, so when you accidentally cut yourself with our super sharp blade, we were summoned... and to think that I still remember this stuff after more than a thousand plus years...” she explained to Spike, still looking around and rocking herself, at least before the two began fizzing as they dissolve into thin air. Just before they were completely gone, Intel suddenly looked at Spike and said, ”she’s got a body of an adult, but she behaves like a child, and she's a lot tougher than she looks. After all, she was separated from her love for almost a thousand years...time tend to pass slowly when you are alone in the dark” then he was completely gone... The environment resumed back to normal speed when he remembered what he was doing: Spike was walking towards where friend’s soul, or whatever, was going... So then Spike braced himself and began walking again, finally, he was able to accept what those ponies did to him in the past, now he only feel annoyance out of the six so called ‘friends’ when he thought about them. It’s been three hours and Spike was getting thirsty, he looked up and saw that the sun was setting, turning the sky from it’s baby blue to fiery red, so the purple dragon decided to build his camp here, at the foot of the hill on the other side of the Everfree. Through his way down, he had to admit that the scenery is beautiful, he had never looked at the Everfree the same way before... life here is tough, but so many lives can live here together. To this day, only an estimated three percent has been explored, two of which were the surrounding areas of ponyville and the castle of the two sisters... Yes, life is tough, but you can't make a rainbow without a little rain... ’heh, I guess friend was right. I swear, he can be as deep as he want to be,’ Spike mused to himself as he began to work on putting his camp together... He opened his black chest and brought out everything he needed to build his camp, along with a few books about medication he ‘savaged’ along with the ropes and the glass bottles replaced his stone one with.the books are for easing his sore feet and the book he read about supernaturals... After he got everything out, he began checking them: rope, a sheet of leaves he sewn together, a thick, uniform stick he carved out of a rather thick branch, and a few sharpened sticks to safeguard his camp with. So when that was done, he began to work. First he tied the supporting beams together with the rope, then laid out a few rocks in a circle for the campfire, he then covered his tent's frame with the sheet of leaves before securing them with more rope, as well as some sharp sticks he stabbed into the ground... then it was done, and by the time he had finished his mobile camp, it was already night. Spike stepped back to admire his work and sat down, he then looked up and gaze at the stars, finding them very comforting and relaxing. One peculiar star got his attention: there, on the side of the moon, it glowed brighter than the others a lot brighter, and he just stared at them; the diamonds in the sky and was soon lost in his own thoughts, just before he heard a growl from behind him and turned around. The sight he was greeted with surprised Spike, but it wasn't scary anymore, for behind him was a classic pack of timberwolf with their trademark green glowing eyes... to which Spike stood up and closed his eyes, drawing his breath to calm himself as he took a fighting pose, the very same one he saw in all those super hero comics. -20 minutes later- Needless to say, the fight didn't last long with the timberwolves burning to ash; what took all the time was a manticore who just so happened to decide to visit his camp this time of the year... ’Heh, time,’ he chuckled to himself, ‘friend was the only one of the souls to show outright fear in front of him, even someone as boring and deep as him has a weakness, I guess...’ he thought to himself. When was fighting the manicore, he was losing after the first fifteen minutes, but then something crashed against the beast and knocked the wind out of the poor thing, Spike was sure he heard a crunch and a tooth fall out, but it’s the object that crashed that caught his attention the most. Right in front of him was a smoking... thing made of metal, he noticed that the bright star he saw earlier was the same thing, most likely due to the atmospheric friction, that and because the star was gone, bright stars don’t just vanish... so he then approached the metal thing he's never seen before in any book, and touched it. He was surprised by how cold it was, since he expected it to be piping hot from entering the atmosphere. And with a hiss, a door opened and a female pony crawled out, she was looking like she's been through a lot as she had a long and deep blue mane and tail with a band to hold said mane back, she had a light blue mane and a light blue coat, she wore a tired and pained look on her face with tears in her eyes as she dragged her hind hoof out of the thing, and Spike was surprised once again. There, bleeding and burnt, were two giant holes that went through her hind hoof, and her cutie mark was a bold red heart bursting through a ring of chain encircling it. Helping the mare was a no brainer for Spike, and he quickly pulled her out and towards his tent... To say that Spike didn't have a nice few days was a big understatement. The mare he dragged out of the pod had been unconscious all this time and to stop the two giant holes from bleeding out, he had to burn them shut. On the plus side, it turned out that poison joke actually resets the body like a game in order to play it’s prank. ‘Better safe than sorry,’ Spike thought after some careful hours searching around the camp, being very careful to not touch those damn plants once he found them, and making sure to apply the plants to the bleeding mare. Turns out that the host only needs to be unconscious for them to work... how convenient... and after turning her into a stallion for a few minutes before splashing her the cure he recreated, he pick himself up and boiled himself in the stone cauldron he made. The mare awoke with a gasp and tried to get up, only to flinch and lay back down with a moan... “Woah, easy there, easy. You’ve been out cold a couple of days now,” Spike said as he helped the mare slowly sit up again. ”Let's see what the damage is, and how about a name; can you tell me your name?” Spike asked as the mare and tilted his head. “Call me... twenty one...” she said in an voice you would expect a mare would sound like. “Heh, I can't say it’s what I'd pick for you, but it’s your name,” Spike said with a casual tone while looking for anything the poison joke didn't heal. ”I’m Spike, and welcome to my camp in the everfree forest...” Spike said to the mare, who looked surprised but listen to what had to say. “Now I hope you don't mind, but I had to expose you to poison joke in order to heal you, so you better tell me if there's anything I’ve left out of place…”Spike handed her a part of the metal pod thing to act as a mirror. “how’d I do?” Twenty one looked at herself in the “mirror” and found nothing wrong with her reflection and handed back the piece of metal with a small ‘thanks.’ “Well, I’ve got most of it right anyway; the stuff that matters. OK, no sense of keeping you in bed anymore, lets see if we can get you on your hooves,” he said to the mare and slowly helped the mare up, the mare soon found out that the two holes in her hind hooves were gone and, to her surprise, pain free... “Good, why don't you go and walk out of this tent yourself? Take it slow, now, this ain't a race,” Spike said to the mare as she groaned and started walking towards the flap of the tent. “Why are you being so nice to me? It’s not common to find someone such as yourself in the wasteland,” the mare asked Spike after they’ve been walking around the camp for the past five minutes, all while Spike was at twenty one’s side, helping her when she was having trouble. “I know nothing about your so called ‘wasteland,’ and as much as I want to deny it, I need someone to talk to without interruption, and I need someone to watch my back,” Spike said to twenty one with a frown. The Outcast“So, how did you end up in the pod thing like that?” Spike asked Twenty One, looking at her as they walked through the thick forest that is the Everfree Forest, trying to know more about the mysterious mare that fell out of the sky. He watched her flinch away as if she was not very comfortable with him. “I, uh, was helping a friend… escape from something…” Twenty One replied, looking anywhere but Spike as if he was a ghost or something. But Spike was too busy stepping through the thick forest to notice anything wrong as the pair took careful steps around the bushes with rustling sound and occasionally a twig snapping… “The last thing I remembered was a strange mare wearing a jumpsuit approach me without a spacesuit and somehow survive inside a vacuum environment. Might be seeing things, but as soon as she opened her mouth and said that she can take it from here and began singing, I fell unconscious… the next thing I know, I was here…” Twenty one said with a shiver going down her spine. Spike nodded and continued to walk through the forest, all the while noting the unease in the mare, Spike put this at the back of his mind for later as he heard some rustling towards them… Very, very near… He put his hand up and stopped moving. Impressively, twenty one instantly got down and took a fighting pose with her head lowered, hooves spread out as she looked around trying to find what was approaching, and she soon too notice where the rustling sound was coming… They both assume in their own minds that whatever it is, it was within a 10 foot ( around 3 Meters ) range. Spike then swiftly took out the yin yang blade and threw the white blade towards the mare, she expertly catched it and and they both slowly crept towards the source of the noise... Only to be surprised to see a changeling whimpering on the ground with bruises and scars covering it’s body. When it saw the two figures it flinched, then said in a trembling female voice: ”Help… me…” After that its blue eyes lost focus and it went limp. They both look at each other in the eye for the first time since the camp and in unison looked up towards the sky. They had been walking for hours and with twenty one, Spike’s water supply had been steadily decreasing, plus the sun was setting real soon. “So what do you plan to do now? And what is that?” Twenty one asked Spike while pointing at the changeling giving it a strange look. Spike raised an eyebrow at her then sat down and opened his bag-chest-thing, took out a water bottle, and took a sip. He asked for the blade back afterwards. “You haven't seen a changeling before?” Spike asked giving the mare a strange look as he began to walk again, and signal the freeloader to carry the changeling. He eventually holstered both of his weapons back into the chest, “We should look for a clearing to set up a camp soon.” “To be honest even the wasteland with alicorn ghouls and all the stuff in between I’ve never seen a lovechild of a pony and a bug before,” she said giving the changeling a strange look while Spike gave twenty one a strange look. “Wait, wait, wait,” Spike stopped walking as he spun to face the mare and hold his hands up, giving her a strange look even more intense than the one before. “So you’re telling me that you’ve seriously never seen a changeling before?” twenty one also stopped and after a second glance turned her head to face the dragon. “You came from the wasteland right? That is practically where changelings live in the first place, and that’s counting how little I know about that place. There are also only four alicorns on our planet, and all of which, in Equestria...” Spike said to the mare, but a groan from the changeling interrupted them as the mare opened her mouth to reply. “You know what? let's find a clearing and some water, then we’ll talk” Spike said then began to walk again, the mare nodded and followed Spike as the grass, leaves and twigs rustled underneath their feet... “Right, let's talk…” Spike said to twenty one, grabbing the mare’s attention in the process. The two of the three, if including the changeling, being inside Spike’s new makeshift camp. Needless to say it’s… crammed… So the two decide to talk outside... It’s around 10 o’clock (22:00), judging by the position of the moon high up in the sky. The temperature outside into a chilly night, the the constant chirps, cracks and snips of the wildlife around them makes the night more relaxing than ever… Sometimes Spike needs to remind himself that he is in the everfree forest… “Where did you really come from?” Spike asked outside the tent, with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed. Twenty one however, was looking at Spike with a bored look on her face… “For the third time, I’m from the equestrian wasteland, hoofington to be exact” twenty one said to Spike in a matter-of-fact tone staring at him as if he was an idiot. Spike stared back with a blank face and sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “There is no such town called hoofington in Equestria, and believe me-” Spike pointed at twenty one, looking at her again with an raised eyebrow, unimpressed “-I’ve read maps of Equestria more than ten times per month.” After hearing this twenty one looked very annoyed as she rolled her eyes, groaned and looked at Spike, who crossed his arms again. “Enough of your questions. where are we now? I appreciate that you saved my life but I don't like it when I don’t know where I’m going without a plan,” twenty one said in a gruff tone, giving Spike a suspicious look, successfully changing the topic… “We are in the Everfree forest as I told you when we first met. Where else do you think we are? Picnic mountains?” Spike scoffed, and looked at her in the eye, giving her the most unimpressed look ever. if she wants to play gruff, he’ll just return the favor, he thought to himself. “Bullshit, and let me tell you why-” The mare said slowly and dangerously, unaffected by the look Spike was giving her at all, as she crept towards the young and recently broken dragon… “if we are truly in the everfree, we would be dead by now!” She gave a forceful jab from her hoof towards the left of Spike’s head, never breaking eye contact. What comes out after the jab was a chicken’s squawk. As Spike turned around, he found an unconscious cockatrice laying on the ground. Spike turned around to face the mare again giving her a small ‘thanks’ as he picked up the bird hybrid thing and giving it a forceful toss in a random direction outside of the camp while hitting a tree in the process, muttering to himself. ”And Twilight was afraid of them. Oh, what a scary chicken...” Being so close to twenty one, of course she heard it. “Wait… you just said Twilight,” twenty one said slowly and suspiciously, never dropping the dangerous tone, “as in Twilight who?” She asked Spike, raising an eyebrow at the dragon. Spike, having to look up to see the mare’s face backed up a little so he can get some personal space. Hearing a groan from the changeling he sighed as he looked down towards the ground suffering at the memory of his recent lost… “Twilight Sparkle...one of the most powerful magical users of all time, and princess of the so called ‘friendship’.” Spike sighed, looking away. twenty one however, widened her eyes to the size of dinner plates and let her jaw drop towards the ground as she took in what Spike just said… “Princess of friendship? more like a part of the goddess that turns everyone into alicorns and mind control ponies in the first place!” twenty one shouted as she wore an expression of utter bafflement while she stares at Spike. said dragon however, surprised by the sudden change of tone, took another step back and held his claws in front of him in a innocent pose. The type a child would use if he was caught cheating or something… “Woah, calm down-” Spike said,looking for a way to calm the baffled mare from screaming too loud pushing the thought of how his pony ‘friends’ betrayed him back into his own mind for later thoughts. “Yes Twilight was bad but I don’t think it’s that bad that she would mind control ponies. Take a breath and let it out slowly,” Spike said, a little baffled himself as to where that thought even come from… The mare did as she was told, and she repeated the process a few dozen times when a small and shy female voice interrupted them both. ”Um…hello?” Spike and twenty one looked at the beaten mare that walked out of the tent instead of a changeling... In perfect unison both spike and twenty one said “Hey,” they shared a glance at each other, then looked back at her, with Spike saying, “you're awake. Good…I’m Spike, and welcome to my makeshift camp. We both know you’re a changeling so you can change back if you want. Anyway do you have a name?” Spike asked politely as he looked at the mare expectedly. Twenty one however yelped as the mare burst into green flames to reveal the changeling in all of it’s glory… “What the hell is this thing!” Twenty one yelled across the camp, trying to get as far away from the changeling as possible. Giving it a scared look that can be seen all across the camp within is 22 feet (10 m) “AND HOW DOES IT BURST INTO FLAMES AND CHANGE INTO A PONY?!” twenty one yelled which earned a chuckle from Spike from her reaction... “For the second time, calm dawn,” Spike said to twenty one then went to comfort the shivering black ball on the floor whimpering, that is the changeling mare, twenty one gave Spike a look and approach the two slowly, as if the the changeling will jump on her… “It’s a mystery on how they change shape but they need ponies to like them in order to survive, and attacking you will only make you hate it. Besides, I think she is the one afraid of you right now,” Spike reasoned with Twenty one in a calm and controlled voice, the mare raises an eyebrow at the changeling and by now it’s staring at twenty one with a curious look on the changeling’s face… To say that Spike’s small group of people was good is a big understatement, Spike was small, agile and have high perspective, while Twenty one had strengths and brains to make up for it, the changeling named ‘Echo’ which spike learned from the changeling when they are talking yesterday, had wings and speed, so it makes the three very effective in combat situations. It was noon and the sun was beating relentless onto the forest, the treo was heading towards a small town called ‘goodsprings’ where ponies, outcasted changelings and outcasted griffons lived and apparently, it was attacked by a mysterious entity that took a form of a mare and almost killed all of it’s population, curious thing was, all of the town’s population survived, they only suffers from heavy wounds from the entity like the changeling did when Spike and Twenty one found them... Then, according to the changeling, an orb of blue light shot out of the woods and immediately went after the entity, the mare then tried to talk to the orb, but the blue orb shot itself into the mare’s head, the mare immediately fell on the ground, and after a few minutes she stood up and her flesh melted into liquid silver and changed into a stallion with a great coat, a lighter grey and white mane and cyan eyes, a pony spike knew well… Then, it went back into the forest north east, leaving its population to slowly bleed out, the changeling was one of the few who can still go into the forest and savage medical plants and supplies… after hearing that story from echo while they are still walking, Spike decided to take a short break, while Twenty one just took it all in like it’s nothing… ‘… It's strange coming from a mare that has never seen a changeling before to say the least,’ Spike thought to himself. The group of three was walking non-stop for three hours straight after they’d packed up the makeshift camp so Spike took out a glass bottle and took a sip of the water inside the bottle. When he was done he decided to pass it to his companions while he was at it. Twenty one took the bottle with a hoof...somehow and gave it a suspicious look, “Are you sure it’s ok to drink river water? Inside the everfree of all places? At all?” she asked Spike, unsure of whether she should take the risk of drinking river water inside the everfree. Who knows? It may be poisonous… And after hearing that, Spike gave her the most deadpan look he could manage to put up and said ”I’m a dragon that breaths fire, what do you think? That I would drink river water without… oh I don't know? Boiling it?” After hearing that, Twenty one rolled her eyes and muttered a small ‘should’ve guessed’. She finally took a sip, and passed the bottle to Echo. The changeling guest took a sip and passed the bottle back to Spike, which he packed into the chest-backpack hybrid along with the artifacts. He really didn’t have a use for them. At least not yet, he has companions to talk to instead of half-souls in random stuff. After walking for at least half a day, they have finally arrived at Goodsprings… Spike was surprised to say the least, the town was unlike any he had seen, now normal towns have different races and even a few different species, but this town was different for a whole new level. It has at least four different species living together. In harmony, helping each others without hate… Spike was left speechless, honestly. Changelings, ponies, griffons, are just a few among them, he even saw a teenage dragon walk by. Ponies are quick to accept different races, but they are far from perfect like everyone had taught. Ponies love and tolerate sure, but they don't usually get along with others unlike the princess and part of ponyville. To see them all there, helping and caring each other's was a sight to say the least. “Like I’ve told you, we had been hit really hard, good thing none of us were killed in the process, but we need all the help we can get. You can find me in the tallest building in the center of the town.” The changeling said then walked off to help a griffin to carry a stack of bricks with her magic, Spike then shaked his head as he came back to his senses, and looked at twenty one’s face,. Her face was just like Spike’s earlier with the dropped jaw and a baffled expression. Spike for the first time of the day, chuckled and asked the mare “haven't seen this scenario before?” with a conversational tone. “Not even pony only towns I’ve seen are so friendly to each other in one place,” the mare said to Spike, then looked up to see the sky, slowly darkening… “let's go see the mayor then” Twenty one said to Spike. He nodded as the pair slowly traveled towards the center of the town… It didn't take long for them to find the tallest building in town. After all, it’s five stories tall, it’s made of stone and wood, not normal stone tied together but stone bricks, and the wood was made of fine dark wood. It all made it look like ponyville’s town hall, and Spike felt a twinge of annoyance at even thinking of that place… The weather was chilly with a cold gust of wind every now and then, it almost makes Spike forgets that he was in the everfree forest… almost… with that in mind, he and Twenty one stepped into the building and what greeted them was none other than echo sitting behind a desk with a band around her chest that spelled ‘mayor’ “Took your sweet time getting here.” echo said as she closed the doors with her magic, Spike had noticed that her wounds was now treated with proper bandages instead of leaves tied up together, “now that we are in a safe place instead of a camp with spheres as the only line of defence, i would like to introduce myself, I,as you may now know,is the mayor of goodsprings” the changeling said with a proud look on her face and a hoof over her chest. “We are a group of outcasts exiled from our homes and left to wander, our town was near the center of the everfree forest and people you see here are usually saved from our patrols, but since our recent ‘attack’, we are not able to do that now can we? any questions?” the changeling said to the two. Spike then took out a medical book from his chest and gave it to the changeling and with a neutral tone, said ”This may help you and your town in the future, i’ve already have the whole thing memorised by now anyways. One question though, do you have rooms you can stay in for the night?” asked Spike. “Look for a building that resembles a motel down the street, talk to a griffon named Grizelda, tell her ‘Echo sent you’.” The changeling then took the book Spike gave her and said a small ‘bye’ before lying off the opened window behind her. Spike then turned around to look at Twenty one with a ‘you coming?’ look, she rolled her eyes then followed spike out the door into the chilly sunset. When the two had reached the motel, they have time to look at their surroundings more carefully, everyone in the town was injured in some way, be it scratches to broken legs. When Spike had opened the door, a blast of hot wind and chocolate milk hit his nose as the two walked into the building. “Evening, visitor-” said a female griffon behind a desk, she wore a small scar on the side of her beak and she have bandage over her eye,”welcome to my humble motel, if you’re looking for food, we still have plenty, but we lack medical supplies due to our recent event… or are you just here for a room, either one of them, you talk to me, got it?” she said in a relaxed tone as she lean back onto her chair behind her desk. Spike looked at twenty one and back at the griffin and said “Echo sent us and we need two rooms please.” Some lore before we continue ( V2 ) "Well, that was an interesting experience," Spike muttered to himself inside his room. It was a cold night in Good Springs, and it's residents have been asleep for quite some time now. At least, judging by the lights. But somehow, Spike couldn't sleep. Maybe it's the fact that Twenty-one just left without him noticing, or maybe it's because his necklace has something to do with it... Spike tossed and turned on the bed and finally sat up. Try as he might, he can’t sleep at all. He has too much on his mind, Spike never considered Twenty-one a friend, but having someone to watch your back was kind of important to him... Needless to say, he needs someone to have a heart to heart with... So Spike stood up and shuffled towards the chest. Good thing Twenty one didn't steal his stuff. Then again, there was never much that was worth stealing. The dragon shook his head and let out a sigh. He took out the white blade. He had a few questions that still needed to be answered, and she's the closest to MR ‘Friend’. Spike looked at the blade he was holding in his hands and admired its beauty. The blade had beautiful etchings at its handle, making it easier to grip. 'Makes sense,’ Spike thought to himself, as he took a general swing in front of him, whistling through the air. A yawn behind him almost made him jump. "Good day, my little dragon, how are you?" Asked a female voice behind Spike, the dragon turned around to face the gray mare who was laying on his bed, looking very sleepy. "I've seen better days". Replied Spike automatically, as he leans back to the force field that surrounds him, putting the very sharp blade where he won't cut himself. "So what brings you here today?" The mare asked, giving Spike a relaxed smile as she stood up from her bed and walk towards the dragon. "I have a few questions, and I'm feeling pretty lonely right now..." Spike replied honestly with a sigh. "Very understandable, considering the only ponies you could talk to for the past few days were a grumpy pony and a changeling. Not exactly what you’d call good conversationalists." Tee closed her eyes and nodded understandingly towards Spike. “So you can read minds like mr ‘friend’?” Spike tilted his head, looking at the mare and continued with a raised eyebrow, “presuming that you even know who he is?” Spike asked the mare with a questioning yet patient tone. Tee nodded again towards Spike, and said: “I call him ‘love’ to mess with ponies minds. Makes them more vulnerable to penetrate and read, but I think you are way more perspective than those ponies in ponyville. Minus Twilight, of course. To notice we are actually related as soon as you saw me… My soul, if you know what I mean.” She finished with a hint of a smile on her face. Spike can't say that he was surprised, almost everything she said was true, and she said it herself... That, and she can also read minds. That only further proved to Spike that the two are related, if not the same. It made sense, considering that they look and sound the same. that thought just made tee’s eye twitch a little, but she gave no emphasis on showing my emotion in particular. Spike then closed his eyes and rubbed his face with both of his hands and a groaned, thinking to himself: ’how should I ask her without sounding blunt? Tee, what makes you different than other blades, other than your looks?’ When he was finished rubbing his face, only a few seconds later, tee was looking at him with a natural smile on her face. “I heard that, and I'm very offended... anyway-” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, putting a hoof on her chest and exhaled. Tee went through this a few more times and put on a neutral smile on her face again. Spike facepalmed because he forgot she can apparently read minds. Tee then opened her eyes and said, “-to answer your question before it was even asked: my job, as the blade of life, is to stop the effects of the blade of death; a single cut on a lethal wound from my blade can stop said wound from either bleeding, or by killing harmful foreign creatures like germs or parasites. Still with me, dragon?” She stopped and asked spike and to take a breath for herself. Spike, who was by now leaning by the opposite side of force field nodded and gestured her to continue, not a single bit bothered anymore by how easily his mind can be read by a sword on the floor next to him. Tee then continued with a nod. “The blade of death, however, is a different story. You see, the blade was only meant to bring death, unlike regular sharp objects like a scalpel or needles, which also penetrates the skin, a single cut can bring a hundred percent death via infections or unstoppable bleeding. That’s why I was made, to stop death from killing those when they were not supposed to be killed; a cure, if you will.” She closed her eyes and nodded to herself with a proud smile on her face. Spike just shrugged and asked the mare, “So? It’s not like normal swords, blades and knives won't do the same thing on the person targeted, what makes the black one so dangerous?” upon finishing that sentence tee’s smile slipped away from her face as she facehoofed and groaned. “Yes, but normal knife wounds can be healed if treated properly. The ‘black one’s’ wound will cause death, guaranteed; no matter how you treat the wound; even if it's just a small cut.” Tee finished with a frown for the first time. Spike noted the fact at the back of his brain and decided to change the topic. “So what do you know about the occerina, and the torch, or the artifacts in general? Their history? Maybe where they came from?” Spike asked Tee. The mare closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She looked at Spike in silence for a few seconds as if anticipating whether or not to tell him something… Tee then sat down and after a moment of hesitation, she finally said, “They're good ponies, and each other's friends. They died almost one thousand, two hundred years ago.” The mare began, opening her eyes and looking directly at Spike's, piercing into his soul, her tone turning dark. Spike instantly noticing the change of mood from the mare, and did the only thing that he can think of, he sat down and listened. She then continued, “They all had names, lives, and families once, but when they were under discord’s rule, when he had risen to power oh-so many years ago, their lives had taken a turn for the worse. They had to fight for survival with other ponies just to get a few grains to eat, and worse? It was all just for shits and giggles.” Tears are starting to form at the edge of tee’s eyes when she sniffed and pressed forward. “All until one faithful day where the monster that was Discord, was bored with them and left them alone. They went off to seek help and snuck away. After a few days of torturous walking through the deformed land that was Equestria, they finally found hope: a young wizard with the name of Starshine, or, to your knowledge, Star S.” Tee sniffed again and wiped a tear away from her eye. “When they found the young wizard he was alone and was injured badly on the edge of the forest, so the few friends brought him to a cave inside the forest itself and healed him. The wizard then told them that he was crafting artifacts to stop anyone who tried to take over Equestria to harm its subjects, but those weapons needed parts of a soul to power them. Knowing full well of the evil that once took Equestria, the survivors volunteered to be the souls that power the very artifacts you hold in your chests.” Tee pointed towards Spike’s twin chest “But right after the spell was finished and the now active artifacts were sealed inside the chests, Discord, who had detected the large spike of magic, laid a curse on the young wizard. He was to either be killed, or destroy the very artifacts before his eyes with his own hoofs. The wizard chose the former, so he threw the artifacts into the sky and casted an expansion spell in the middle of the chests, causing them to fly off into different directions, lost inside the forest, and because of that, Discord made this forest into the most dangerous place in equestria, so that nopony could find them…” “And discord killed the wizard when he was complete with the forest and cursed his soul to roam the everfree causing chaos against his will until he could find all his own artifacts and destroy them. That’s how Discord dragged him and me into this mess,” the mare sniffed and pressed on. “We are not normal ponies, you see. We control bodies of corpses like a ghost, which means that we don't have a physical bodies of our own. Discord then gave the same power to the wizard’s soul and took our bodies, which we perfected in the years we traveled, we named those bodies T-XI by the way, me and ‘friend’ can always leave our perfected bodies at will but Discord prevented us from entering back to our bodies we perfected. He sealed us into the artifact chests of two random artifact, replacing the original souls with us. Discord accomplished this by tracking the fading magic, it was just enough to perform to accomplish this task, but not enough to track the Chests still airborne and flying away at high speeds, so he left the forest, having no way to track all of them by once.” When tee was finished, she lead her head down with her eyes closed and filled with tears. Spike had to pick his jaw from the ground for the fact that tee was technically a ghost from the past and not a cut up pony's soul who was trapped by the artifact. And as if on que the mare’s body began to fizzle and starting to fade away as she looked at spike in the eye again a final tear shed from her eye and with that, she’s gone, spike then took the time to process this information, she had never seen this side of the mare before. She was always seen as a happy if a little childish pony… ‘It was all just a mask to hide her emotions… her real emotions... Just like ‘friend’ who had never shone any emotion at all, the pair were constantly in pain from the loneliness inside the necklace and the knife separated miles apart. Spike finally got why ‘angry’ and ‘happy’ said those things when he played the ocarina a few days ago... And it hurt just by thinking about it,. Then there were the artifacts who’ve met such a tragic past by living under Discord’s rule. Celestia’s explanation on Discord was a huge, huge understatement. In any case, Spike has to think about what to do with them. keep them, or set the soul free? So can they just leave the artifact? Too much was on Spike’s mind now, so going out for a walk was probably the best thing for him. He packed the white sword back into his chest, left his room, and slapped himself in the face, having accomplished the opposite of what he was looking for…some damn sleep... It’s been twenty minutes since Spike had decided to take a stroll outside at goodsprings. Spike had to admit, it’s nice out at night, alone with nothing but his thoughts, the sky was filled with luna’s beautiful stars forming constellations and wonders, the air was cool as the ocean, with a gentle breeze every now and then, and the air itself smelled like freshly cut grass in the small outcast town. “Do you know how much I’ve missed him? It's been a thousand years already,” a female voice said beside Spike in a sad tone, Spike jolted and jumped away in the opposite direction, surprised by the sudden intruder. When Spike had recovered from the shock, he looked around quickly, only to find no one in sight. “Who, and where are you?” Spike asked the voice with a slightly shocked tone. “It's just me, Spike. Tech…” The voice replied calmly without delay, Spike then closed his eyes and let out a relief sighed then continued walking on the gravel road. “Say how are you here? And why?” Spike asked tee in a casual tone. Looking around the sleeping town, thinking about his loss and enjoying the cool night sky. Spike had always enjoyed the night with the stars, them being just like little gems in the sky. So deliciously beautiful, yet so unbelievably hard to reach... “I can’t go back to sleep…” The voice sighed as if there was something troubling the soul, “and I can leave the artifact anytime I want, I just can't take over bodies unless my blade cuts into them…” The voice continued honestly… After hearing that, Spike raised an eyebrow and asked the voice with a hint of suspicion in his tone,”wait, you mean when we first met, you could actually take over my body? Why can't I see you, anyway?” The voice chuckled for the first time And after a few seconds it replied with a friendly tone, “you can’t see souls without assistance, spike. And I can only take over dead bodies without souls, not living bodies with souls, there’s a difference between the two.” Spike then let out a sigh and continue walking on the cold road. “I know it’s been rough for you to get rejected twice but when you think about it, I’ve suffered a lot worse than you. Being separated with the one I love so much, so long and so far apart, we can't even find each other when we leave the blade. And i’m still here, knowing that one day this will end, for the better or for the worst. Everything will have it’s end, Spike even your friendship, the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can get over your loss and pull yourself together… I’m going to try to get some sleep now, hope that you do too,” and with that, the voice had faded away, leaving spike in the dark with himself, the moon and the gentle night breeze... When suddenly a mare with a dark grey coat with long pink hair was spotted not far from Spike. When he tried to approach the mare, she just walked out of sight and disappeared right before his very eyes…”ugh. More mysteries…” Spike muttered to himself... A journey's end Spike opened his eyes with a groan, needless to say, he did not have a long or comfortable sleep. All those questions in his head just won't go away so his entire night was spent on tossing and turning on the bed… The dragon sat up from his bed and shuffled towards his chest… “so you're awake” whispered a weak voice behind Spike. He looked behind his shoulder attempting to find the source of the voice,but as expected, no one was standing behind him. And with a second and a louder groan, he turned back to what he’s doing… “what now?” He asked the voice tiredly when he got up to his feet. “I can't go back to where I used to, and all I have on me was these artifacts and I can’t sell them, they're too dangerous,” he continued with a frown upon his face… There was a pregnant pause where none spoke a word, then the voice said in a lost tone, “I don't know, Spike, the future is for you to choose and you alone…” spike nodded as he jumps out of his bed. Spike hesitated for a moment before muttering softly to himself “Twilight may not have known about this, but I always wanted to be a music teacher, I guess she will never find out now...” Spike lowered his head and let out a humorless chuckle to himself before he slowly walked towards the bathroom. After a cold morning shower, Spike picked up a toothbrush and began to brush his teeth. No one spoke a word until the voice asked a question with hesitation: “You know, I’ve been alone inside a chest for god knows how long. Can you do me a favor Spike?” The voice suddenly asked the brushing dragon with hidden sadness. Spike thought about it for a moment before a simple shrug and a nod. Another pause before the voice replied with a sigh, “can you help them?” The voice asked with a hint of desperateness in it’s tone, “because… To be honest, I...we… help founded this town and used to live here long long ago, it would be nice to see this town safe”... Nether spike or the voice spoke a word for a few seconds before Spike nodded to himself in the mirror again before courageously replying, “sure, I have no home to begin with. Might as well find a place to settle down and rest”, with that, Spike walked out of the bathroom and out of the motel room. The sun was shining through a few strands of clouds, the sky was a lovely shade of cyan and the air smelled like - rain? Spike felt a few drops fall on his head. Spike never knew it rained here before but sure enough, the ground was a little wet... Surprisingly enough the mayor of the town greeted Spike’s vision a few seconds later, along with the motel’s owner, “ah my savior, I trust you had a good night's sleep?” Echo asked the now slightly confused dragon with a pleasant smile on her face. All of her wounds appeared to be treated rather nicely,Spike opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the inn owner, “we need help, like now. tell you what, you can stay here for free as long as you want if you help us with this…” she pointed at the mayor’s bag with an uneasy look on her face “task…” she finished lamely... Spike raised an eyebrow, and the mayor levitate him a piece of paper with barely illegible writings on it, the mayor’s face bore a slightly guilty look “Purple dragon, artifacts to my tomb to the north of mayor’s tower or everyone dies trying to defend themselves. I will know if you are coming or not, give them to me and they die a quick painless death...” The mayor took back the peace of paper with a troubled expression then said in an apologetic tone, “i’m sorry to bother you, but you seems to have those artifacts at your disposal, we’d love to help but we have our families too. Please don’t ask how I know...” Spike paused for a second before replying smoothly, “Sure, but echo, can you spare me a moment please?” the mayor took a moment to consider his offer before giving spike a simple nod. Both proceeded to walk away from the motel towards a random direction while the inn owner walks away with a sigh... After a moment of walking where neither the changeling or the baby dragon had spoken a word, Spike turned and looked at the changling directly, the town was still busy picking itself up to notice them pass by, “after this is done, can I have a place here in Goodsprings?” The dragon asked echo with a slight frown. Echo tilted her head and asked spike with a hint of confusion and a concern: “don't you have a home to go back to?” After hearing that spike winced before looking down onto the ground, the changeling after seeing his reaction nodded to herself and continued, “yes, because we know how it feels to be an outcast too” Spike looked up hopefully before replying “really? I can stay here? can I finally be treated like an equal here?” The changeling gave Spike a nod and a welcoming smile, Spike then proceeded to kick himself in the head for remembering something he forgot earlier before replying with a pained expression“ but I don't have money or anything of value”, echo just laughed and gave spike a pat on the shoulder And with a chuckle she replied with a smile “we don't use currency here, Spike,” he raised an eyebrow at the statement, “we use something called respect points, since everyone here knows how to do almost anything, so we don't need anyone to do anything for anyone.” Spike motioned her to continue with a simple hand gesture. “But you can do someone's work for them and get respect points, you gain and they lose, you help someone in need and nearby people give you respect. And as long as you are willing to learn, somebody will teach you almost anything for free” The mayor shook her head before giving spike the warmest smile he had seen for days, “what I’m trying to say is, you are welcome amongst us, the outcast and the reformed anytime,” Spike then nodded and continued walking along the gravel road. It took spike a few minutes to collect himself again due to the hidden excitement in his head, he finally have a place where he can be himself, better than ponyville and those six by a milestone that's for sure. He was then reminded of more pressing matters that is our ‘friend’... Echo then proceeds to open her mouth to say something but Spike already knew what she was going to say and put a claw on her mouth effectively silencing her by closing it, he then replied simply “don’t worry, I will solve this mess for you” with a smug look on his face, with his newfound confidence, nothing can stand on his way dammit! Echo lifted spike’s claw away with her magic and rubbed her lips with her not so injured left hoof, she then looked at spike with a uncertainty painted all over her face, “are you sure? the note said,we will all die, why not just let him come and put up a fight?” He just nodded simply muttering the word true.. Spike then proceed to jump up a rock nearby and yelled on top of his lungs as loud as he can “Hello, Starshine! Who takes the artifacts, takes the fate of countless lives, but bad news Star, because Guess Who?! Ha!” Spikes yells was so loud echo had jumped behind a rock with a squeak, her hoof covering her ears as much as possible. Spike then yelled though not as loudly as before “now the question of the hour is: who’s got the artifacts? An answer I do have, next question, are you coming to take it from me?” He asked aloud, so loud in fact that all the town’s folk was now staring at him with surprise, confusion and everything in between. The young dragon then spread his arms out and looked around the now staring town looking for anything unusual, after a few seconds of nothing happening, he took a deep breath before continued yelling again, the whole town collectively braced themselves. “Come on! look at me!” Spike looked at the surrounding forest ,nothing, “No plan. No backup. No skill worth a damn and one more thing! I have Nothing To Lose!” Spike had put emphasis on every word after the word ’nothing’. “So! If you are sitting in your silly little basement with all your silly pathetic magic! And you’ve got plans to take the artifacts soon! Just remember what's standing in your way! Remember every black day the dragon race had given you!” Spike was practically yelling as loud as he can now. “And then! Annnd then! Do the smart thing! ” Spike stopped to breath for a second before continuing “just walk away!” Spike put up his arms again not knowing when did he put his down on the first place, Spike had noticed a gray tail disappearing behind a tree a few moment later. Echo peeked her head out from behind a rock looking at spike as if he’s an unstable statue ready to crumble at any moment. Before whispering weakly “was that really necessary?” All the while rubbing her ear with a hoof. Spike climbed down the rock before nodding softly towards the temporary deaf echo. “Yes, yes it is, now the guy know what's coming and hopefully walk away...” Spike replied simply before he resumes his walking and signaling echo to do the same. Both continued to walk in relative silence before it was rudely interrupted by a teenage dragon on with white scales on his back and pink scales on his belly jumping out of nowhere surprising them. “Ah, purple dragon, heard that you saved our dear changeling’s ass the other day, ha! Not news you hear everyday that our tough nut here needs saving” The dragon said jokingly, echo just rolled her eyes after they both had recovered enough while spike just looked at the note clutched in his hand. The slightly annoyed changeling glared at the dragon before growling troughs gritted fangs “ in my defense, three manticores ambushed me from my every direction.” But the teenage dragon was take ping none of that, “Anyway, this is for you-” he gave Spike the note that he has been holding, spike took it without another word, the dragon then continued as if nothing had happened, “ found it stabbed on a tree trunk with the word purple dragon on it. The baby dragon turned away from the two before he unwrapped the crumbled piece of paper. “Come to my tomb tomorrow with the artifacts and the town burns with all the residents in it, find me at North East of where you found this note I will enjoy watching you see all the residents pathetically failing to defend themselves if you don't hand them over.” “Well? What does it say?” Echo asked Spike after giving the white dragon a final faux glare before peeking from Spike’s shoulder, the young dragon just shrugged and burned the note with his dragon fire. It burned away with a puff of purple smoke before fading into thin air. “Nothing you should worry about my dear changeling,” Spike said smugly, turning to face the changeling, “I may have a giant wound in my heart from my backstabbing friends but that would not stop me from helping your baile-alainn” Spike finished off jokingly with a smile and a silly accent before patting echo on the shoulder, her exoskeleton felt smooth as silk… “Anyway, I should probably go and get myself some breakfast before setting out to find that crazy town burning bastard bent for old pieces of stuff locked in chests ” Spike said before walking away by himself, whistling a tune. Echo just muttered something about getting purl some everclear under her breath, A few seconds of nothing happening later, the changeling and the dragon went their separate ways after a simple “goodbye”. Celestia sat on top of her throne it was a boring day in Celestia’s day court. She was currently watching two nobles arguing about wages before a crumbled piece of paper materialized out of thin air. It took Celestia a full second to remember what she just saw but when she finally remembered what just happened, she swiftly read the message inside the note. After she was finished, day court ended by Celestia teleporting to a certain tree library where a purple alicorn sat there looking at an old photo album. Spike was just walking around the town of goodsprings now buying the necessary items for a fight. if ‘friend’ wants one so bad, he will get one, Spike, with the cost of 3000 respect points, bought a small cabin near the echo’s office. A pair of sword holsters, and a bag. Since Spike saved Echo and gave supplies while the town was in need, it's only fair for the town to give him some respect. 2000 more respect to spend… Might as well save them.. Spike kept walking in a few moments before bumping into a small filly, with a white coat and cyan eyes she was carrying a crossbow like object without the bow and a big scope drinking from a bottle labeled ‘everclear’ held in her forehoof. “Sorry mr, I wasn't looking at where i’m going” said the filly apologetically in your typical filly's voice. Spike just brushed himself off while the filly took another swig from the bottle like it’s just water. The white filly looked at Spike before tilting her head and asking in confusion, “are you Spike? As in the assistant of overpowered magical purple unicorn?” Spike just nodded, not even bothering to correct her, the less he thought about the six the better. After hearing this the filly pressed on with another swig from the bottle and ceriousiosity clear in her tone “So what are you doing here anyway? You went missing a few months ago, but why?” The filly asked, Spike tilted his head slightly at her statement. “I’ve been gone for only a week, what are you talking about?” Spike asked before shaking his head “and why are you out here all alone? Where are your parents?” The filly just smiled and looked around causally. “My parents are friends with the mayor, in fact almost everyone here knows each other, I hope Echo’s health gets better soon tough” Spike was even more confused now, what is she talking about? And what is it about Echo’s health? “Purl!” Echo called from a few blocks away, spike gave the changeling a wave of his claw and the changeling returned it with smile and a nod. “Got to go, Mr Spike! Glad to meet you here!” She said before running off to give echo a hug and disappearing behind the corner with the mayor. “Is it just me or do cyan eyes always always are just full of weariness all the time?” Spike mused to himself, before walking north east towards a mountain. No doubt that’s where ‘friend’ wants him to go, he just knew it… Somehow... “So this is it then” Spike thought to himself, as he walked to the final chamber, his tomb… Spike finally made it, and there he is… sitting on a platform, in front of a central pillar, looking at spike tauntingly with a smile and with blood red eyes instead ‘friend’s signature cyan. The room was massive and looks like it can easily hold four fully grown dragon side my side. What's under the few bridge connecting to the pillar was what seems like a bottomless pit and it was after all carved right out of the mountain. “Yes, you’re here, I assume that you know what will happen if you don't hand me the artifacts and the consequence you will face, right?” ‘friend’ asked Spike with a dangerous smile, slowly walking towards the dragon, step by stone cracking step he walked towards him “but it doesn't matter really, I will take those artifacts from you cold, dead body anyway…” The stallion then asked a question looking spike dead straight in the eyes and a bloodthirsty grin on his face, “ And why do you want these artifacts for huh? Be a hero?” This time it was spike’s turn to laugh, and it was… Unsettling to say the least his laughter filled the chamber echoing off walls and tunnels, it was until a full minute if broken laughter did spike decide to stop. “If I give you these weapons, it can be, no” spike paused his expression turned grim as he stepped one step forward “ it will be used for evil and potentially kill millions if I left these unchecked, what's stopping your ‘master’ from using them for mass murder? Hate to break it to you but ponies can be very good at lying,and I know what I'm talking about’ learned to the hard way from the embodiment of the elements of harmony itself...” ‘Friend’ nodded before turning around and walk towards a tall pony. She was pink and have a wings and a horn, making her an alicorn. Her mane was puffy and her tail was trim short with random spots of color around her body, basically it's the most messed up alicorn Spike had saw in his entire life… Now throw that idea off the window because she looks ten times worse that words can ever discribe... “I was hoping you would like my art project on my wife’s body ” ‘friend’ said while stroking the alicorn’s chin, the alicorn just stood there motionless, soulless staring ahead without focus… The stallion continued to talk, as if unaware that spike had stopped paying attention “this is not what she originally looked like sure , but I think an alicorn fits her form better, don't you think?” The stallion asked without expecting an answer... Spike looked at “friend’ in the face, and all he can describe is the stallion before him was not the same as the one who helped him when Spike was still in denial. “I can feel him, fighting inside to gain control of his body again you know? Don't worry, I will make him watch the entire town die in front of him. Oh the screams… But I will leave the monologue here and get ready for me to kill you now...” the stallion smiled a sadistic smile to the motionless alicorn. Spike was not sure who he’s talking to, his ‘wife’ or the baby dragon. Spike, with the aid of the torch and ocarina , instantly pulled out a white sword and threw it at ‘friend’ filled with pure white hot rage. The sword cut through the air splitting the very air molecules in half. Only to miss the stallion completely without dodging, ‘friend’ laughed more loudly than before saying “you missed”. “No, he didn't!” A female voice yelled behind ‘friend’. When he turned his head around, a powerful kick was delivered straight into his face sending him flying out the door Spike had entered, it was the female alicorn with a very clear cut on the side her neck, blade still embedded into the pillar a inches away from the mare, “thanks spike, for freeing me” she muttered after a little while. Spike quickly ran to the ‘alicorn’ who is now completely silver slowly morphing into the Tee Spike saw a few days ago in the sword. “That hardly seems fair, two against one” ‘friend sighed before raising his left forehoof while lowering the silver blade formed by his right forehoof, cutting it off and sent it flying straight up into the air which slowly turned into a double bladed, long double edged sword with a bone for the handle before landing on his now completely silver forelimbs he regenerated. Spike pulled out his second sword while tee, now in her ‘original’ form pulled out the sword embedded into the pillar behind her with her mouth, ‘friend’ now with a serious face charged at the two, spike jumped behind the stallion while tee blocked his attack with a mighty ‘clang’ as both swords met. Spike seeing an opportunity attacked ‘friend’ from the behind, this went on for a minute where neither gave an inch of ground, spike with the aid of rage, fraught on furiously, where Tee with years of training dodged her lover’s every attack. But after a powerful attack from Tee, Spike’s sword slices through ‘friend's back before he can block, Spike literally saw the silver canyon that went through his back closing slowly but failing to do so completely, but “friend” expertly turned around where Tee’s blade cut through his gaping wound, cancelling Spike's blade effect then lept away. Now both are face to face with ‘friend’ and without warning, the stallion ran towards a door next to the tomb leading to another similar chamber. Both gave chase and ‘friend’ suddenly stopped in the middle of the long and narrow walkway between the pillar they fought near and the door to the next chamber, where he resumes his sword attack, tee expertly blocked the deadly swing from ‘friend’ but Spike was kicked aside by him after tee’s counterattack. Both continued exchanging deadly slices as ‘friend’ begin to back up to the center pillar again by tee’s ferocious attacks, spiked charged back into the fight, and the duo kept on exchanging deadly swings, after seeing no other way but to back up, ‘friend’ attacked spike witch caught him off guard, the ocarina was destroyed, spike can see the soul from the inside slowly fading away with a smile on her face. By the time Spike looked up, ‘friend’ was already halfway across the room with tee in hot pursuit, tee and ‘friend’ stopped on the other end of the walkway as they continued their dance of death. All the while the air was filled with metallic clangs and clashes with tee’s every attack to the legs he would jump, with every attack to the head, he would duck. ‘Friend’ was slowly backed into the final smaller room with a giant bottomless hole in the middle both fought on without giving an opening but when spike arrived to the last chamber, ‘friend’s eye turned into silver reflecting the light from spike’s torch blinding her momentarily, before stabbing her in the chest and destroying her sword of life. Everything in Spike’s vision turned red, after seeing one of the ponies who understand him the most got killed in front of him,Spike let out a feral scream before attacking more furiously than before. But in Spike’s rage he had become careless and left ‘friend’ an opening to the torch. The torch of anger was shattered under the sword of ‘friend’, Spike’s world slowed down, he now had time to think, unlike just now where everything is a red blur, as the red pony’s soul faded away with a smile Spike thought of a new idea. Spike’s and ‘friend’s sword met with a final clang before Spike breathed out a blinding green fire blinding him then cut off both ‘friend’s forelegs. He then knelt Down and looked up at Spike with a hateful glare when spike hold the sword of death on his throat. The world stopped suddenly without warning. A pony walked into Spike’s view, slowly, after a serious looks , spike recognize that it was the same pony he saw when he was out for a walk last night, “hello, Spike” the mare said sweetly. Spike couldn’t move but he did opened his mouth to ask a simple question, “ who are you?” The mare just calmly walk towards Spike after a tap on the ground. Spike just looked at the mysterious mare carefully. The mare in question smiled before answering “ memory, my name and function is memory, I can alter or make you remember anything you want and forget everything you want...” Spike groaned inwardly to himself Spike then asked again with tiredness clear in his voice “what do you want then?” Memory chuckled and guided Spike’s face to look at Tee, “I want you to look at her, you're fighting a companion.” Memory pointed her forehoof at where tee has fallen spike turned his head at the direction “Notice that she still ‘fought’ her lover even though she could've of just walked away and let your blade do the magic after your first cut, she knew full well what It will do.” Spike’s needed to do a double take at what he saw. Tee who was still alive was looking at Spike’s direction with a crushed look on her face, lying down,as if she’s trying to get up, “alone for a thousand years in search of her husband only to fight and have him killed in front of her” memory said with a voice full sorrow. She then pointed to ‘friend’, The dragon turned and looked at the pony with a sword pointed at his throat “a innocent soul not in charged of his body and a young wizard driven to insanity by torture of an evil being. Can you truly blame him for threatening the town for the end of his own long lasting pain and suffering?” Memory asked spike sadly. “But I know I’m stealing your ‘friend’s job. My point still stands, can you blame them? Is it truly their fault? What about those in ponyville? Can you Blame them for forgetting you because they have their own lives to take care of? The road ahead is for you to choose and yours to walk alone, spike… choose your decision wisely from now on” and like that, memory faded out of view, a white mask suddenly materialize on Spike’s freehand as the world resumes… Spike closed his eyes put on the mask and made his decision. . . Ending one: “What's one less person on the face of the earth anyway? I can't just go back now...” Ending two: “Murder is a talent we all possess, but I will be going to where I began this journey… This is something not all of us possess…” Ending three: “Nothing can make injustice just but mercy. I have New beginnings New memories, And a New home now… So should you, you’ve suffered enough” ( author’s choice ) Ending four: “When you finally go back to your old home, you find it wasn’t the old home you missed but your childhood… Go, go and show mercy like I’ve shown you to someone else in need of it…” Read 'A journey's end' first E2[youtube=https://youtu.be/rE7S4nLrThs] And so the baby dragon who was broken weeks ago made his decision. Armed with nothing but hate, took a swing with his sword and sliced the corrupted MR tech’s throat. the final word tech heard with his ears from the dragon was: “game over…” Mrs Tech, with the loss of her husband and her old body back,walked out of the final resting place of her lover into the everfree forest… expressionless… never to be seen again by spike, though spike can occasionally see a gray figure watching… Waiting to take away his life as he did with her husband... Twilight Sparkle, though decision not her own, had found Spike hunting alone a year later. She brought him back into the town of ponyville only to be shocked by how much his trip from the forest had changed the baby dragon. No longer Spike, the number one assistant Twilight once knew. That part of him died when he had entered the forest. Instead Spike became a calculating and deadpan person… cold and efficient. So similar to Twilight, yet also completely different. The town of Goodsprings continued to thrive within the everfree forest for years to come. Though a sighting of a certain blue mare can be sighted once in awhile, watching. The outcasts continued to live their lives and eventually the blue mare came to live with the town and lived a peaceful life. not much else was known about the mare… Angry and Happy finally found peace… without the artifacts to hold them together they fade away into nothingness. their final moments was a silent and relaxing sleep… oblivious to the time that have passed… And so this is the end of Spike’s journey… For now… in the world of equestria, there are millions of ponies with different stories to tell, sometimes they cross; but other times, they don’t. Who knows? Maybe Spike would find himself inside one of those stories, only the sands of time can tell... Read 'A journey's end' first E4[youtube=https://youtu.be/rE7S4nLrThs] And so the baby dragon who was destroyed weeks ago made his decision. Filled with mercy, he took away with his sword and helped the corrupted MR tech’s up. The final word corrupted tech heard with his ears was:”game over…” As the dragon destroyed his own sword and mask and lifted the wizard’s curse while MR tech was spared. MR and mrs tech, with their old body back,walked out of the final resting place of the artifacts and into the everfree forest with smiles on their faces. never to be seen again by Spike … Twilight Sparkle, though decision not her own, had found Spike hunting alone one day. She brought him back into the town of ponyville only to be shocked by how much his trip into the forest had changed the baby dragon. No longer was Spike the number one assistant Twilight once knew, that part of him died when he had entered the forest… Spike changed into a laid back, distant, lazy, and reasonable person who always wore a smile on his face… The town of goodsprings continued to thrive within the everfree forest for years to come, though a sighting of a certain blue mare can be rumored once in awhile, watching. The outcasts continued to live their lives and eventually the blue mare came to live with the town and lived a peaceful life. Not much else was known about the mare or where she’d come from... Memory, Intel, Angry and Happy finally found peace… without the artifacts to hold them together they faded away into nothingness. their final moments was a silent and relaxing sleep… oblivious to the time that had passed… And so this is the end of Spike’s journey, for now. For in the world of Equestria, there are millions of ponies, all with different stories to tell, sometimes they cross, and sometimes they do not… who knows? Perhaps Spike would find himself inside one of those stories, only only the sands of time can tell... CreditsWelcome to run inn, what can I do for you on this lovely evening? new storySomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Read 'A journey's end' first E3[youtube=https://youtu.be/rE7S4nLrThs] And so the baby dragon who was destroyed weeks ago made his decision. Filled with mercy, he took away with his sword and helped the corrupted MR tech’s up. The final word corrupted tech heard with his ears was:”game over…” As the dragon destroyed his own sword and mask, thus lifted the wizard’s curse while MR tech was spared. MR and MRS tech, with their old body back,walked out of the final resting place of the artifacts and into the everfree forest with smiles on their faces. never to be seen again by Spike … Twilight Sparkle, though decision not her own, had never found spike in the depths of the everfree again, her nights in her home was spent alone, within the cold walls she made for herself. Twilight blamed Rarity for her lost... No longer was Spike the number one assistant Twilight once knew however, that part of him died when he had entered the forest… Spike changed into a laid back, distant, lazy, and reasonable person who always wore a smile on his face… The town of goodsprings continued to thrive within the everfree forest for years to come with their newcomer, though a sighting of a certain blue mare can be rumored once in awhile, watching. The outcasts continued to live their lives and eventually the blue mare came to live with the town and lived a peaceful life. Not much else was known about the mare or where she’d come from... Memory, Intel, Angry and Happy finally found peace… without the artifacts to hold them together they faded away into nothingness. their final moments was a silent and relaxing sleep… oblivious to the time that had passed… And so this is the end of Spike’s journey, for now. For in the world of Equestria, there are millions of ponies, all with different stories to tell, sometimes they cross, and sometimes they do not… Perhaps Spike would find himself inside one of those stories, only only the sands of time can tell... Read 'A journey's end' first! E1[youtube=https://youtu.be/rE7S4nLrThs] And so the baby dragon who was broken weeks ago made his decision. Armed with nothing but hate, he took a swing with his sword and sliced the corrupted MR tech’s throat. the final word tech heard with his ears from the dragon was: “game over…” Mrs Tech, with the loss of her husband and her old body back,walked out of the final resting place of her lover into the everfree forest...expressionless… never to be seen again by spike, though spike can occasionally see a gray figure watching… Waiting to take away his life as he did with her husband... Twilight Sparkle, though decision not her own, had never found spike in the depths of the everfree again, her nights in her home was spent alone, within the cold walls she made for herself hanging on to the fading memories with spike. Twilight blamed Rarity for her lost... No longer was Spike the number one assistant Twilight once knew however, that part of him died when he had entered the forest… Spike became a calculating and deadpan person… cold and efficient. So similar to Twilight, yet also completely different. The town of Goodsprings continued to thrive within the everfree forest for years to come with their newcomer. Though a sighting of a certain blue mare can be sighted once in awhile, watching. The outcasts continued to live their lives and eventually the blue mare came to live with the town and lived a peaceful life. not much else was known about the mare… Angry and Happy finally found peace… without the artifacts to hold them together they fade away into nothingness. their final moments was a silent and relaxing sleep… oblivious to the time that have passed… And so this is the end of Spike’s journey… For now… in the world of equestria, there are millions of ponies with different stories to tell, sometimes they cross; but other times, they don’t… Maybe Spike would find himself inside one of those stories, only the sands of time can tell...
Denial What I'm about to tell you is one of my many stories, but all stories must have it's own begginings, and if I'm going to tell you why I did what I did I should probably start at the beggining as well, so strap on my dear, this is the story where I, spike changed from a nobody in ponyville to a saviour of millions... **Alone in the dark** It was a nice day in Ponyville, and Spike, Twilight Sparkle's assistant, was going to ask a very special mare to be his special somepony... And things were about to change… for better or worse... "Uh, Rarity?" Spike asked, earning the mare's attention. She was standing next to a few mannequins, each wearing different dresses and suits. "Will you go out with me… On a date?" The young dragon questioned, a shot of nervousness caused a chill down his spine and he jittered. He handed her some purple flowers he had bought earlier from Roseluck, one of the three flower mares in town. Rarity turned her head to look at the dragon. Her face shown no emotion as she replied, "Spike, darling, you’re really adorable you know that? But you’re simply too young." Rarity replied. Spike’s face wilted into bewilderment... "W-why? Why won't you go out on a date with me? Am I not good enough for you? I can change!" He pleaded as he dropped the flowers on the floor and fell to his knees to beg. Rarity turned her back on the drake and resumed her work, and responded obliviously. "First off, you’re a dragon. I’ve also said that you are too young earlier. To top it off, you… have a hard time doing anything on your own, other than doing chores for Twilight all day. That’s not even counting the flaws here and there." Rarity said without a clue that she was scaring the young dragon, and even hurting him. "I-I-I can do more than that!" The dragon defended as he slowly backed away from the fashionista, afraid that Rarity would throw more insults at him. When his left foot had suddenly gotten stuck in a bucket. The mare continued her work. When she heard him connect with the infernal metal object that she didn’t even remember owning, she faced the dragon looking very cross, "Look, if you’re not here to help me finish the dresses I’m working on, then go to someplace else and help somepony who you won’t annoy. I've got a massive order from Manehattan and I really don’t have time to talk right now.” Spike, with a heart shattered into a million pieces, ran out of the shop with tears in his eyes, back to his home where he believed his source of comfort would be: the Ponyville Library. One hour… It was an entire hour of constant tears and sorrow for the poor dragon. In that hour, Twilight briefly came up to talk to him about Rarity, but quickly trotted away having realized she still needed to do some more studying for the upcoming test. Once the cursed hour was finished, Twilight trotted back up to Spike’s coves. Noticing that he was still crying, Twilight let out a sigh. She didn’t have much time for Spike to be sad. She briskly trotted to Spike’s side and nonchalantly spoke, "You’ll get over it. Whenever you’re finished, I’ll need some help tidying up the library." Spike looked up, his eyes still teary from his rejection. Twilight wasn’t much help with his situation, having decided to trot back down to the library’s first floor and continue with her studying without so much of a concerned look! Finding out the hard way that Twilight would not come and comfort him, he felt useless, realizing that what Rarity said was true. There was no way Rarity wanted to love him. Spike walked out of the Golden Oaks Library with his head hung low. Spike walked around town, desperately searching for anypony who he could talk to about what happened. But everypony was too busy with their own dealings. Nopony had any time for a lowly dragon like him. By noon, Spike had an idea. He could visit Zecora inside the Everfree Forest! He snapped his fingers and raised his head slightly as he began to walk towards the forest many ponies avoided. 'She might have some advice for me, or a potion that makes me feel better,' he thought to himself. After walking for a few more minutes he found himself within the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. No pony in their right mind would wander this far out of town, but the denial from Rarity, the lack of comfort from Twilight, and the fact that applejack ,rainbow dash ,pinkie pie and even fluttershy were out of town at the moment, left Spike clinging for help from anywhere. He would accept somepony… anypony to comfort him at this point, Zecora can at least talk to him in some way he could understand but a drop of sweat dripped from his forehead as he gulped. The Everfree Forest was dangerous and filled with deadly creatures. But Spike needed help and comfort. After taking a deep breath,he put up a brave face and and puffed his chest. He set foot into the dark forest. After walking for half an hour, Spike began to think that perhaps he was lost. His legs started to feel sore from all the walking and wandering around the thick trees, vines, and bushes that covered the Everfree Forest. The fact that the forest grew darker and darker only made the situation worse, spike was starting to regret this choice... After spending more time deep in the forest, Spike’s fears escalated. He clung desperately to his fading hope that Twilight would come into the Everfree, find him, and bring him out. After all, he was Twilight's number one assistant. Spike was interrupted by the sound of snapping twigs, The purple dragon turned back and gulped. A pack of Timberwolves were standing behind him, having scars that covered their bodies. They were hungry. They were ready to pounce at any moment. Adrenaline shot through spike’s mind as one of them leaped at Spike's direction. The wolf missed Spike just by a hair as he lunged away. Spike immediately got up and ran off. He never ran this fast in his entire life. Whatever pain he felt was forgotten, his life at stake! After a few more minutes of running and dodging, he lost the Timberwolves. And boy did his leg hurt! Spike cursed his luck for bringing himself into a situation like this. First he was pushed away from the love of his life. To make matters worse, Twilight refused to help him in his time of need! And now he got himself lost in a big, scary forest… He kicked some dirt in a random direction and walked onward trying to find a way back home, recalling all the books he read about surviving in the wild... He knew fire wouldn’t be an issue but he had no means of calling for help... Suddenly, Spike stopped. He couldn’t breathe… He couldn’t even feel his heart beating! Even after all that, he still felt conscious. It was as if he and his surroundings was frozen in time… He could look around, but he couldn’t move a single muscle in the rest of his body. spike panicked and tried to move. "Time?... Was it really that time again?" Spike heard a deep voice that sounded like a middle-aged male. The voice echoed from all directions, as if the whole forest decide to suddenly talk to him. And spike was getting scared by the sheer calmness, emotionless and how tired the voice sound. After those words, a stallion wearing a tidy blue suit and a steel-gray coat emerged from the shadows, stepping in front of the dragon. The stallion had a two tone mane of grey and white. Spike took a good look at him… he looked deformed. He seemed the healthy stallion with his appearance, but his voice made him sound much older! The stallion looked closely at him as if he was staring into his soul. After a few moments, he spoke again in his calm and emotionless voice... "You are a sad one aren't you little dragon?" Spike frowned internally. He wanted to answer the stallion, but he couldn’t move a single muscle and The stallion quickly realized that... "Oh, you can't move." He slowly tapped his hoof to the ground. And with a snap, Spike was back to normal! Spike gasped for air, still feeling the pain on his legs. "Who? What? How? Why?" Spike blurted out, placing his hands on his knees to keep himself standing, as he looked up at the stallion in front of him a few steps away with a confused and scared look. "Who I am is not important. However what had happened to you are MR spike." The stallion closed his eyes and replied. Before Spike can say another word, he continued his explanation, "You have been through much today, but have you stopped to notice that this sort of pain keeps on hitting you like a boomerang?" The stallion asked, with his calm, fatigued voice as he tilted his head. Spike was confused and a little disturbed, ‘How was it possible for him to know his name?!’ He thought to himself, but was interrupted when the mysterious stallion actually responded, "I know because I am a part of you... Or the part that involves your memories." The stallion said with the tone as before. Spike's jaw hit the ground, but that didn’t matter to him. "What?"he asked jaw falling to the ground, flabbergasted by this stallion that stood in front of him with a neutral face staring at him with his cyan eyes. "I've got to ask, though. Is it worth wasting you life away with the ponies you care about?" He calmly asked the dragon. "After what you've been through, is it really worth your time to think of those "friends" who treats you like a… slave without will?" The stallion asked spike, disturbingly his face didn't even show emotion. 'What?!' Spike blurted out, his face spelled confusion as he tilted his head. “I have friends! I’m the number one assistant to one of the greatest magic users of all time! She cares about me as I do her!!' He passionately declared to the stallion is if trying to convince the stallion which did not show any signs of being convinced. "I figured you’d say that.” The stallion chuckled. “You know, I already knew you’d say that even before you said it. You see, I have the ability to read memories, even those that ponies said they’d forgot about a long time ago..." Spike scratched his head in disbelief. But he couldn’t ponder too long as he continued to talk. "After what you went through, may I ask why you believe such things? After all that the ponies made you go through, would you really call them friends?” The strange stallion asked. “All those adventures they had without you, and all those times they made you stay behind. They know full well you can take care of yourself..." After he said all those things, he began to fade. He stared at Spike without a single blink as he continued to fade away into nothingness... "On your left is a wooden chest. Open it, and you will know something about me. I’ll let you think about all I’ve said. Summon me when you are ready.” The stallion vanished into thin air, just like that. The forest turned back to the way it was, as if nothing had happened. To Spike's surprise, there was a small wooden chest… but it was burnt, Judging by the mark on the floor and the design of the box, Spike assumed that the box was at least a thousand years old. Spike opened the chest, surprised that its contents were still well preserved. Inside the burnt chest was a scroll with an odd symbol for a seal: a letter H with silver wings sticking out from its sides! There was also a chain necklace with a shield with the same symbol carved into it. Along its sides were four pulsating gems with strips of metal holding them in place. Spike cracked the seal of the scroll. Gusts of wind immediately blew in Spike’s direction as he began to read the scroll. " Project 846: test success! The artifact is finally done! My final artifact... This, along with six others are going to make anypony who wears it defeat anyone, rendering them invincible! This artifact is one the six, it’s called “Necklace of Reason”. It works very much like the Elements of Harmony in that it doesn’t kill or destroy, but it also sets anypony wearing them on the right path! Inside the shield was a copy of a soul, having no memories other than those of the soul. The soul is that of a friend of mine by the way. Anyway, to activate the artifact simply apply pressure around the soul's cutie mark, like the one you see with this symbol. When you press on it, time would stop, allowing the soul to ask questions that would set the pony on the right path. The artifact either keeps you going wherever you’re going or leave it for good. Each of these gems in the chest has their own uses. One preserves the chest, another detects souls and activate the artifact when needed, another keeps the soul from fading away and the last locks the chest if evil is near. My time is almost up so for the love of Celestia, keep this away from the wrong hooves... -Star S Spike rolled up the scroll and activated the 'artifact', his face wearing a frown. Time stopped again and the same voice as before said again "Time? Is it really that time again? It seems like we've just met before... What do you want this...time?"spike activated the artifact again. Spike loosened up, but not before his body froze up again in time again. "For one thing , you seem to not have short term memory loss,” Spike spoke. The stallion faded into view once more and replied, " Seems like you've read about me, and to answer your assertion, yes. I do not have short term memory loss." He gave a resigned laugh. That stallion who Spike named 'Friend' sensed the unease between them and replied, "You seem to forget that I am just a copy of a soul, not a real one. So I have memories like you and me, only short term...memories...worrying about others is good, but you must first worry about yourself.” The stallion explained before continuing and tilting his head yet again “But you still haven't answer my question. Is it worth your life to be with the ponies treating you like a nobody?" He asked, his face expressionless as he drifted the conversation to a different topic successfully. "I-I try not to think about it," Spike stuttered, looking away and fiddling with his fingers. as he looked around trying to avoid ‘friend’s cold stare. " Survive," Friend said as he started to fade away again with a tired smile but the smile was fake, spike can tell it’s just for show is if he was hiding something, something big.suddenly Spike completely forgot why he summoned Friend at all...strange As time resumed, Spike put on the necklace, bent down, and picked up the chest. Spike looked up to the concealed sky, barely seeing the setting sun turn the sky orange… He needed to set up a shelter, and fast if he want to survive... At this point, the sun had set completely, making way for the moon and the night. Spike set up a shelter for himself: a tent with a campfire and a bed of a rather simple build. It wasn’t much, but that would do for his first night at the Everfree… There was still a little hope for anypony to save him. His chance would be the small smoke trail that his campfire created. Hopefully the pegasi could spot it, swoop down, and save him… if they cared to. unbeknownst to Spike the smoke trail suddenly disappeared when looked from a distance and the glow slowly faded out of view as if it was not there in the first place... Something is preventing him from being reached...
AngerIt was three days since Spike first entered the Everfree Forest.No pony had came to rescue the purple dragon. No pony called his name, and no pony flew across the sky and called for him. Spike was lonely, and Spike was angry. Spike mulled over what a ‘friend’ told him when he first entered the dark forest. Spike was convinced that the ‘friendship’ of his equine companions gave was only there to keep him from running away. As another day and night passes, He just sat there and waited for his never coming rescue. Spike stayed put at the campsite he made on his own. The fire he made let off small smoke trails that could be seen for miles. But all the smoke did was scare the woodland creatures away from him. Perhaps the reassurances his friends gave him were really false all along. “Maybe ‘friend’ was right. Three days already passed and no pony’s come to find me! Why do these things always have to happen to me?!” Spike yelled out, cursing everything that grew around him on his makeshift bed. But all he could hear were the echoes of his anger and the rustling of the forest’s leaves. Spike’s anger grew more and more the more he thought about everything that happened to him the past few days. His blood boiled deep inside as he grit his teeth. Never in his entire life had Spike had been so angry! Unable to contain his anger, Spike jumped up from his makeshift bed and stomped out of his camp in fury. Spike continued to scream into the depths of the Everfree Forest. No matter how hard he tried to calm himself, Spike grew more and more vexed. He continued to curse out towards the celestial being and his friends, expecting that his friends would hear the neglected dragon. He remembered how Twilight forbid Spike from swearing the way he did now, but that didn’t matter anymore. Nopony came to stop him now, and he wanted things to stay that way! But then… a twig snapped again behind him, Sounds of crunchy paws grew louder and louder, immediately placing Spike back into a state of fear. Despite all the anger he had in the world, his life was still very much at stake. His blood instantly turned from red hot anger into ice cold chills as the purple dragon now heard growls of hunger and malice. Standing all around the little dragon were Timberwolves of all sizes. Spike immediately noticed the silver scars that shone from the Timberwolves’ wooden bodies. They were the same Timberwolves Spike ran away the last time! Just as Spike was about to accept his inevitable death in the dank forest, a red stallion jumped out of nowhere and beside Spike. Once he landed, he spoke with a loud, booming voice, "Baby dragon! The key to defeating the Timberwolves is to feast on your anger! Think of everything that makes you mad! That white pony rejecting you coldly, that nerd who refused to help you in your time of need, and even all of Ponyville who never wanted to stop for a single moment to help you with your problems! You too are lost in the Everfree, which makes you mad, mad and mad!" The red stallion yelled at the top of his lungs. Spike had trouble breathing, let alone feeling his heartbeat. Everything that happened when he encountered ‘friend’ was repeating itself once again! Except for the angry red stallion! “Do you even listen to me, little dragon?! I told you to go and unleash your fury upon those beasts that hunt you! Remember what your ‘friends’ told you?! They said you were useless, vulnerable to everything!!” the stallion yelled, staring directly into Spike's eyes. Upon hearing those words, Spike could only see red. His blood heated up once again as he gritted his teeth, remembering the situation he was forced to confront. The red stallion began to fade, pleased that the purple dragon was finally learning. ”Ya gotta stand up for yourself kid. Good luck my friend.” Those were the last words the red stallion spoke before he vanished into thin air. As soon as the stallion vanished, the Everfree Forest became unfrozen that spike had no idea when it was frozen in the first place. The Timberwolves crept towards the reddened dragon. Spike’ vision became a tinted red as he stepped towards the wolves, gritting his teeth along the way and took a fighting stance. The alpha timberwolf and Spike lunged towards each other, beginning a fierce battle! Claw clashed with claw, and dragon scales met wood! The alpha’s claws were completely destroyed when it landed face first into the dirt, while Spike was barely scratched. The rest of the Timberwolves followed, but they all met the same fate. In his anger, Spike taunted the Timberwolves for their impotent attacks. But suddenly, another Timberwolf caught him off guard and pounced the purple dragon! Spike pushed the Timberwolf away from him. He took in a deep breath and let out a torrent of green magical dragon fire. The angry flame enveloped and consumed the wolf. The flame was so powerful that there was no trace of the wolf in sight, not even ashes. Spike picked himself off the ground slowly face down and and raised his head towards the injured timberwolves. His eyes were now a ruby red as opposed to his shining emerald green. The purple dragon yelled with a tone of fury, "WHO'S NEXT!?!" When the words left his mouth, all the Timberwolves ran up to him at once, but they didn’t even travel ten feet before they were all consumed by the overwhelming flame Spike exhaled. When it was all over, Spike didn’t see a single threat in sight. The wild forest became tamely silent. Nothing moved, and no living being was in sight. Spike heard a faint clap, but he didn’t know where it was coming from! The fact he had trouble turning his head, or moving in general didn’t help either. ”Nicely done, Mister Spike!” ‘friend' applauded as he made himself visible in front of Spike. “I take that you had a conversation with a rather mad red stallion I presume?” 'friend' asked as he slowly tapped his hoof towards the ground. “What are you doing here? Where were you the last few days?” Spike asked as he pointed his right claw at the grey stallion and walked towards ‘friend’. friend and spike started circling each other as ‘friend’ exhaled mist started to form around his mouth, it gave the impression that Spike was in a cold place,and suddenly it felt cold,really cold, like the forest was suddenly turned from summer to winter. that makes spike calmed down a bit from his anger, his eyes were starting to turn green again. “I am not someone you just “summon”when you feel like it. I only appear when you need my assistance, and just then,” He explained, the grey mist continuing to spew from his nostrils and mouth as they stopped going around in circles. ‘friend’s cyan, hollow eyes staring at him. “What help do I need?!” Spike mockingly asked. “I'm fine! In fact, I just dealt with an entire pack of Timberwolves by myself!” the purple dragon boasted. “Where were you when that happened?”, Spike grumpily asked, his anger against Twilight and his friends still fresh on his mind. The stallion let out a dry chuckle. “And here I thought you were having a moment back there,” ‘friend’ replied to Spike in a very, very amused tone. “Anyway, to your left is inside a bush. Inside the bush is a chest. You do want to return the favor back to Mr. Angry, don’t you? After all, he did save your life…” continued ‘friend’. The temperature and the forest returned to normal and ‘friend’ went back into his necklace Spike had brought with him. Spike rolled his eyes and looked to his left. A scratch mark on the floor greeted his vision and friend’s chest underneath the bush. Just as ‘friend’ had foreseen. Spike walked towards the chest and opened it. Inside the chest was a torch with a fading flame and an even smaller metal box. Inside the metal box was a scroll with a seal. On it was a cutie mark Spike presumed was the red stallion’s. He lift up the torch and blew out the flame. Spike reflected on all the action that transpired with the Timberwolves. He scratched his head as he pondered how he could have survived the ordeal. His fear grew on him once again like thistles and thorns. Spike picked up the scroll and cracked the seal, once again, the wind picked up and he began to read its contents aloud. “Test 346: Test failed. I am disappointed with this piece of the artifact. Its use is to summon a warrior, but when the torch was lit it just summoned the soul inside the artifact. Not unlike the necklace of reason. Perhaps it's the fact that it uses the same summoning spell... bla bla bla…makes user fearless when lit...bla bla bla.” Spike rolled up the scroll and tossed it away with a ‘meh’. It was useless information about the artifact just like friend’s scroll. Spike began to walk back from whence he came, only to realize that was lost again in the deep dark forest soon afterwards. The young dragon was starting to get nervous because it was starting to get dark outside. And he just knew it would be a bad idea walking around the everfree alone in the dark. Spike looked around for any eyes watching him and when he found none, he wandered into a different direction. Two hours later all he found a whole lot of trees and and nothing else. No rivers, no animals, not even any insects. Just a bunch of trees blowing with the wind over him. It’s getting dark outside, so he decides to take out his torch and blow some of his dragon flame onto it, activating the artifact in the process. Just then, the forest - as always - stopped moving, he couldn’t breath and just like every time he meets the soul inside the artifacts a stallion appears in front of him, this time instead of ‘friend’, however, a red stallion without any clothes on by the way, stares at him, right into his eyes. “Ya need somethin`?” he said with a weird accent as he looked around and tapped his hoof towards the ground. spike as always when the tap sound was heard was able to move and breath again. “cuz I don’t see anythin that might kill ya” he casually stated lifting a hoof up to rub his chin like he is thinking, when spike opened his mouth to reply, Then the stallion burst out laughing and rolled around like he just got tickled. “Mighty proud of ya kid, ain’t got anyponeh got fired up that quickly since since dat grey guy whoever he is, you had some pent up stress I tell ya that! So wadda ya need?” he finally finished as he looked at spike expectedly. “Well I need some of whatever you do because I am getting rather scared inside the largest and most dangerous place in this damn planet!” spike said as he opened his arms to pointed at his surroundings. “No can do cuz your a coward.” He said as he pointed at the dragon as he looked unimpressed like he is a drill sargent looking at his cadet, without respect and spike don't like it one bit. Spike the dragon was being called a coward right in his face and he instantly got very mad at the red stallion, so he gritted his teeth and pointed a claw at him and said in a low voice and stepping towards him. “Listen here buddy,I’ve just got rejected by the ones I know and love a few days ago and lost inside this dangerous SH!7 HOLE, and I am not in a good mood to chat, I can always destroy you, after all, you are just a soul in a torch after all. So...What...Will...IT...BE? HELP ME OR WHAT?!” He however just rolled his eyes and said in a even tone” you are talkin to a pony that died a thousand two hundred years ago kid,the fact it don’t bother you a single bit tells me enough that you don't need mah help, so quit bein such a pussy and build a fire.” And with that, he faded away… Spike grumbled at he muttered a55h0le under his breath as he start working on his fire and his ‘camp’ with him beginning to gather sticks and leaves, the thing about being a dragon is he don't have a cent so he can't be tracked or ‘sniffed out’ by animals,”that’s a plus” he muttered And after a few hours of building and crafting in a opening next to a stream with his makeshift tools made by sticks and rocks tied together, he made his second camp, the moon is high up in the sky and and he is finally done. He lay on his bed and blew out the torch when he wanted to sleep, he instantly regretted it again as he was suddenly aware of the woodland creatures that surrounds him and his camp, he started shivering as he lay on his bed and he took the torch and blew it on again. “What do ya need this time, stop callin me!” spike was going to call him ‘mad’ at this point said behind him as he stomped his hoof towards the ground well, madly. Spike for his part turned around and glared at him as he said. “just lighting up a torch to light up the place, got a problem?” spike the dragon spat back, as ‘mad’ groaned and rolled his eyes right before disappearing into thin air yet again for the third time of the day. Spike less afraid now that the torch is lit, he began to doze off, his energy had been drained after a full day of walking and fighting that one pack of timberwolves, that left him drained as a dry well. His eyes was starting to close shut, just when his vision was a narrow line, a voice said beside him quietly... “Time? was it really that time again?” and like that, he slipped out of consciousness...
BargainingBack at Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, the all-powerful unicorn, had been studying in peace. Twilight wanted a short break from her studies, deciding that she would take a glass of water from her glass cup at the other side of her library. With a moan, Twilight arose atop the bookfort she built about a week ago, sore after not moving her hooves around for so long. As she exited her bookfort, Twilight noticed the deafening silence that descended onto her room. She was even more surprised that Spike hadn't come and asked her to eat at all. In fact, he hadn’t asked her of anything in the past couple of days... “Strange”, Twilight muttered to herself as she walked towards the kitchen. She looked around the library, the dust starting to pile atop her books like a sand mound. Twilight, baffled by the state of her house, called out for Spike. But there was no reply from the dragon, so with a mumble she trotted towards his room, she was thinking of asking for an explanation but when she stepped towards the door however, she noticed that it was unlocked and slightly opened. She pressed her ear towards the door as she tried to hear any form of life. Silence had greeted her. The unicorn was confused and slightly disturbed by the fact that no form of life was inside Spike’s room, ’what if he had committed suicide!?’ she thought her eyes opening wide. So she pushed open the door with a hoof and the door creaked open slowly, so she peeked inside the room, what she saw terrified her towards the core that she would be having nightmares in months. inside the room was a strange stallion sitting in spikes bed, blood splattered all around the room and the smell of gore filled her nostrils. her face had turned pale as she turned to run away but as she turned her head, he was there, standing in front of her, staring into her eyes with his soulless cyan eyes, the eyes of a corpse... “Time? Was it really that time again?” the stallion asked in a deep and raspy voice as he tilted his head slightly. Twilight was so terrified she wanted to scream but no voice came out, she tried to run but she can’t move, she can’t even move her own eyes or cast a simple spell! like she was frozen in time. The stallion began to say in his deep voice with an emotionless tone, ”the right mare in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world,” the world had flashed white the black, as she realised she was in a different place, it looks like a campsite in a forest… “And you twilight sparkle, had been at the wrong place when a broken dragon needed you the most... Instead of giving the illusion of free choice, I will take the liberty of choosing for you…” ‘friend’ started altering her brain into a different arrangement,and altering her decision making, memories and thoughts in the short term future… [ 47t3r 7w0 d4y5, h3r br41n w1ll r34rr4n63 b4ck 70 17’s 0r161n4l form by 5l33p c0un7 bec4u53 ‘fr13nd’5 power 4r3n’t n3utr4l m3m0ry w1ll r3m41n 1n74ct ] “I do apologise it has come to this, but it is for the greater good. So wake up MRS Sparkle. Wake up and smell the ashes…” He faded away into thin air like he was made of dust being blown away by a non existence wind, and the world exploded into a blaze of white and black again… Twilight snapped open her eyes as she grasped for air, the hints of cyan left in her eyes. She was inside a pile of books again, she looked around furiously taking in the environment. Twilight shot up and galloped towards Spike's room. Spider webs and dust littered the place. When she reached the dragon's room, she rushed inside and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no blood, or anything of the sort. and instantly snapped open her eyes again, ‘spike was gone…’ sure there is no blood or corpse on the room but spike was gone, his bed was untidy and dried tear stains littered across his pillow. “Spike? Slike!? SPIKE!!” twilight called out as panic took over her again, she looked around the room, looking for any trace of the dragon lost dragon, slowly forgetting what she had just seen… Spike woke up inside his makeshift camp with a yawn. After all that had happened, he's not mad at his friends anymore. There is no point to it; in fact, he would like to return to them to set things right again. After all, he had been lost inside the everfree for a few weeks now. So Spike packed up his tools made out of sticks and stone, and put them into his bag made out of sticks and leaves instead. With the tools packed up and a few stone water bottles he made by molding them like clay when they were red hot, and finally grabbed the two artifacts. He began to walk out of his tent and began walking with the sun on his right, which means he is facing north, then started walking towards his destination. He assumes it is the direction of Ponyville on the map Twilight had him memorize when he was two years old… “Heh, being the assistant of a nerd had it’s benefits after all.” He began to walk a little more, one of the magical gems he had with the chest of the artifacts had been eaten for survival. Each gem according to ‘friend’ can make a fully grown dragon last a whole day… since spike is a baby, he can last a whole month with just one gem… Only 7 left he counted to himself… After what felt like three hours, when in reality it was just one and a half, he tripped on an uneven stone. Now, unlike normal pebbles on the ground which would be shattered by big creatures like manticores and stuff Spike just so happened to forgot at the moment since he's in a big dangerous forest… So, he looked down at the rock he just tripped over. From what he could tell, it isn’t a rock, not even close. Instead, it was an ocarina made by the finest lapis lazuli with a golden ring at the tip. He picked it up and found wood splinters all across the area and four gems embedded IN the ground as if someone had been doing a horrible job at burying the gems… And with that he would assume that it’s an artifact made by the all knowing Star S-whoever it was… Spike rolled his eyes as he dug up the gems and put them into his bag. It means he can survive in the everfree for a whole year without food. Now all he needs is water... And without anything to do other than walk and walk all day, he bring the top towards his mouth and blows out a note; and as expected, the forest became silent as soon as he blew into the instrument. A royal purple unicorn mare with a sharp horn, a messy purple and royal blue mane and tail, gold slit eyes, brick red hooves stepped into view behind a tree... “Aww, was it really that time again” She whined as she looked around her surroundings as if she was looking for something. Unlike ‘mad’ or ‘friend’ he can move and breath, but there is a circle of light that circles his feet. As Spike soon finds out he can’t pass through the light line on the ground. The mare mare in question then looked at Spike as if she just noticed him the first time “Hi, purple dragon, what are you doing inside a forest?”, she asked with an innocence similar to two friends chatting. All the emotion comes back to him like a solid brick wall. He frowned, sighed, and said, “Can’t you read memories like the necklace or the torch?” He looked away and crossed his arms. “Necklace? Torch? Oh, oh, oh… do you mean that red charmer that looks tough and deep as a rabbit hole?” she tilted his head and smiled, as she tilted her head cheerfully looking at Spike with her golden eyes. “As for the necklace, I don’t know what you're talking about… there are only four artifacts aren't there? The twins ,red and me!” She asked and then her body began to falter and fizzle. “Oh, looks like our time is up, call me after a few hours! hope I can stay longer but the first time usually is the shortest”, She chirped as she completely faded from view and the light circle faded. Spike shrugs, then brings the instrument back to his mouth and blew a melody called “lon lon ranch” he read a few months back when he was done cleaning the whole living room by himself. When he finished the song the sun was in a different position. Sure Spike can lose the sense of passing time, but from the looks of the sun, it’s 4 o'clock. “Heh, I’ve been walking for quite some time now. Better take a rest”, he grumbled. So Spike sat down, took a sip of water out of his stony bottle, and laid back. Since he had found ‘mad', no animal dared to approach him. He once saw a manticore wonder near his camp, but just as Spike was seen, its eyes turned cyan and fled away whimpering… And Spike wastes no time using the artifacts power to help him survive inside this forest; while he was sitting by himself, he closed his eyes and listened to his surroundings, the wildlife making all sorts of noises,taking in the environment about this pony-free forest and what makes this forest so feared.and started thinking about his old life and how he can change it, And after what felt like a few hours had passed spike opened his eyes ,move to a more comfortable position took and out the necklace of reason and stared at it, now being a librarian, it’s job was to organize books and keep track of them, and after years of being one himself, his sense of perception was not bad for dragons then he summon friend, now if there is anything different,it would be the fact that he can fade into view out of thin air unlike ‘mad or ’happy’ that lives in the ocarina,time slowed as always and forest became dead silent. “Time? is it really that time again? it feels like just a day had passed since you found me, you had done a great deal of things in a short period of time, glorious work you’ve done over there about finding the artifacts, I am proud of you…so mr spike, what do you ever need me for?” the ever grey stallion said with little to no emotion. “friend,I’ve got to ask you a question, what does it feels like, being inside an artifact?” spike asked mentally since ‘friend’ can read minds according to him, and tilted up his head to meet his eyes once he had heard a tapping sound from the stallion And with that question ‘friend’ for the first time let his full emotion showed on his face, he frowned, sighed and closed his eyes as he lowers his head “it’s cold, it’s so cold and lifeless, trapped alone in the dark,inside an object sealed inside a chest forgotten forever... some can't keep track of time and I am not one of them, I feel every second,every hour of every day..” Pity… spike thought as he open his mouth to reply, just then friend spoke up again,this time back into his emotionless mask ”but this is not about me, it’s about you, mr spike, you must know that loneliness does not come from being alone,but being surrounded by people who can't understand you... in the meantime… this is where I get off” ‘friend’ turned away from spike and walk away and slowly fading away as the forest resumes like nothing had happened at all. So spike stood up after the rather short meeting and started walking again and picked up the ocarina and began playing some more songs to entertain himself… After walking for quite some more time, he found out more and more landmarks,there are dirt roads on the floor again and the sound of wild animals grew more quieter the longer he walk north, and then he saw a clearing and buildings, spike then brighten up and starting to walk towards it when a something stopped him cold. Twilight sparkle, the one he trusted the most, was sitting on a mountain top, having a picnic with the elements of harmony, laughing and telling jokes, and having a fun time, like spike was not there in the first place...like he wasn’t even needed in their lives to be happy or function… “oh hey purple dragon” ‘happy’ walked up from behind him and a circle once again lit up around spike,and looked towards the group of ponies,that’s chatting “something big was going to happen soon in their future, and I am sure you want none of it...:” the mare said to spike as she turned her head back to face spike, and he looked back towards the forest and asked the mare… “why, why does it have to be me…” spike asked with a teary eye “sometimes life's not fair,and you have to face it” the mare said sadly as she moved to comfort the dragon but once her hoof touched the dragon, her hoof passed through spike like she was a ghost and she began fading away spike saddened, began to walk back into the forest with his head hung low just when ‘happy faded from view with fizzled sound.he spare them one last glance and they are are talking to a gray mare with gray and white mane...strange but spike was too sad to notice anything... spike’s camp was built under an hour, this time near the temple of the two sisters, he then sat there outside his tent staring at the night time sky, spike had realise that he was alone all this time, he can’t be understood by the ponies that raise him since he was a baby… inside his head he was thinking about his purpose inside his life, he was not made to steal things from others that one incident at ponyville had proven that, now he just don't know what to do in life, all those time he spent with the ponies, can be forgotten in just a week... Spike had a lot to think about… Within the depths of his tomb five gems embedded in the walls suddenly lit up, and the beams of light hit the coffin at the center of the room. A groan busted out as a skeletal pony hoof punched a hole through the lid of the coffin sending wood flying all over. Liquid silver started flowing upwards around the skeleton hoof, and said hoof returned back into the lid. The coffin busted open and inside rested what looked like a healthy pony stallion. He stood up, looked around and started walking towards the exit, his vision tinted blue with words scattering across. The words read: “find all the artifacts and terminate all who stands in unit’s way”.
Depression Spike was alone... He could see it now; he was alone from the start. ‘Loneliness doesn't come from being alone, it comes from being surrounded by ponies that don't understand you, and the deep feeling of isolation comes when you realize that even the pony that's closest to you is so far away that you could never touch them,’ Spike recalled the words spoken by ‘mad’ and ‘happy’ not long after he summoned them. It's been three days since he left his bed and he was glad that he didn't need much food, thanks to the gems. He only needed water to survive, but that still didn't change the fact that he was alone, without any friends or family, all he had was the three artifacts... if they're even real... “Waiting... For what? Do you have a chance? Do you want to keep living like the past? To live as a slave to everyone? Spike, everyone wants happiness, and no one wants pain, but you can’t make a rainbow without a little rain. Move on,MR Spike,” friend said without even bothering to show up. After a few more hours of doing nothing, he wiped the tears from his eyes and started packing up, he had no idea where he was going to go next; there is no future, and his past... he wants to forget them, forget them all... but he can’t lose them: they've changed him too much; shaped him to their liking... He's stuck. He can’t go back to his dragon nature, but he can’t go back to the ponies that used him, either. He's caught in the middle of these two factions, and he doesn't know what to do...But he does know that he must move on, despite the hardships he faced... After a few minutes he finished packing and began walking across the bridge towards the abandoned castle. ’Gotta get to higher ground,’ he thought to himself. Maybe it’s time to do something with his life... He climbed the walls of the castle to their highest point. By the time he got there, he was panting pretty hard, but he still managed to squint his eyes and look around, taking the view, which was amazing to him. What he saw was an ocean of green that stretched as far as his eyes could see, which covered nearly all of the forest. He could see ponyville, that wretched place he once called home, he even saw a outline of a what looks like a giant glass dome in the distance, a tall mountain with a little snow on top at the horizon, and even his first camp, which wasn't far from here. “Strange, the Everfree looks a lot smaller in the maps than in does real life,” he said as he rubbed his chin with the his claw, looking around some more, his mind drawing a blank as he tried to avoid remembering the pain he suffered from those ponies. Unbeknownst to him, however, something saw him and was watching him closely... observing his every movement as the dragon took in his surroundings. The woodland creatures wouldn’t dare to even think of approaching this figure, just like the dragon that held the two artifacts. The mysterious figure’s flesh soon melted like liquid silver, exposing it’s pony skeleton before, just a second later, a new coat of silver covered it, and when the liquid covered its whole body again, the silver faded into a different color. Now, instead if a stallion, it was a beautiful mare with a white coat, sky blue mane and tail, and golden eyes that fluttered open as she looked around and walked towards the mountains with a wicked smile on her face. After some rest on the top of the tower, spike climbed down, actually ready for a long walk... At least until he reached the bottom, where he sighed and looked down towards the ground, remembering what friend said to him a few hours before. so he took a stroll around the castle and scavenged somethings of use. when he was done, he took off towards the tall mountains. He has to remain strong... so, with a heavy heart, he looked towards the mountains, took a deep breath and began walking towards his goal. After a few hours of walking with nothing to do, his mind decided to bring up the fact that he was essentially abandoned in the span of a week, so, to drive his mind out of this, he took out his ocarina, closed his eyes, and started playing a song called 'Misty Mountains Cold' to distract himself. But, while he played, he felt a weird sensation around his body, like that wind blew towards him in every direction, but he ignores it. He blew every note according to his memory, playing the instrument with not just his body, but with his very own soul. Every note he blew came from the bottom of his heart and, after the song was finished, he opened his eyes to found that he was in a different location; one he didn't recognize... he was on an floating island, but it was the other beings before him that surprised him. Standing there, right beside each other were two bodies twitching madly and fading into and out of view. It was ‘happy’ and ‘mad', both surrounded by sparks igniting all around them, they looked as if they were both burning and freezing at the same time. As they saw Spike look upon them, they gritted their teeth and said with a pained voice, “k-kh-kh o-o-oly-y-y-olyhv! Kh-kh-kh lv q-q-qr DUUJK, K-k-kh kdv-kdv-kdv d-d-d ZKROH-ROH vr-vr-DUUUJK. Doo-doo WKH SDLQ kh-kh dozdbv-dozdbv-ihhov! ULS-ULS-ULS IURP WKH ERGB ZKROH!” The instant their chanting ceased, they exploded into sparks and the floating island collapsed. Spike awoke gasping for air and took in his surroundings. It was nighttime and the forest looked very different. He felt cold and instantly dug out his torch and blew flame onto it. As expected, everything stopped moving and a shout of pain rang out “AHHHHHH-NEVER SUMMON ALL OF US AT THE SAME TIME!!!” mad yelled out as he appeared behind Spike, all while walking like a drunk. “Do you have any idea how much it hurts? Thank god I can forget it all in just a few days,” he gritted as he held his hoof to his forehead as if he just violently banged his head before stomping his hoof towards the ground. Spike raised an eyebrow and asked, ”what do you mean? I didn't summon you. Why would you say that? ... And what did you mean by 'uls iurp wkh ergb zkroh?'” Spike was getting mad, but the red stallion in question just rubbed his forehead and sighed... “Kid, in order to summon the souls in the artifacts, you just need to bring up the emotions the souls feel the most. When you played the ocarina, you summoned the mare as well as me, and now you’re depressed, so that very angry being I once met, who ever he is, got summoned” he cringed and Spike’s surroundings moved a little, but stopped soon after. “Well, now, thanks to you, I Have a full soul. ARRGH!!! THANK GOD it fades in a few days...” he held his head is if it was going to explode, spike cringing at the reaction. “What do you mean a full soul? I thought you were just a part of a soul?” Spike asked, a little worried about the red stallion rubbing his head and rolling on his back. “Look, kid, all you need to know is that when two or more artifacts are used at the same time, the souls merge and share a personality, meaning that the two will become one. Now I am going back into the torch, it hurts just being outside,” and with that simple sentence, he vanished. Spike, with the flame’s glow, finally began to really take in the surroundings, and his jaw hit the ground. He was at the foot of the mountain he wanted to travel to... in just the span of one song... The dragon’s eye twitched and he began laughing like crazy. After he calmed down, he put his still lit torch on the side of his bag and began climbing, his claw digging into the stone with a ‘crack’. It’s been three hours, but he finally made it to the top with little effort, and what greeted him was snow, a clearing and a chest... well, two chests strapped together. One was white with a black lock and the other was black with a white lock... He opened the two chest with little delay and began reading the pieces of paper inside each of them, quickly finding out that they were littered with holes... "Great..." Spike rolled his eyes and stack them together to roll them up, only to pause as he saw that the holes lined up with the text on the other sheet. ‘Heh, that was easy...', he thought to himself as he stacked the two pieces of paper together and began to read, and, unlike last time, he was going to read this seriously. A note of advice: these are suppose to be very dangerous. One can bring life and one can bring death. The white one brings life and black one brings death... [ ] are suppose to bring [ ] back but [ ] one doesn't feels like it, [ ] won't work... star s With that, spike rolled up the two pieces of paper and looked at two chest to find out what’s inside them... and what greeted him was not what he expected. He expected it to be a badge or something, but what greeted him was the most beautifully crafted swords he has ever seen in his life... even though they were the only swords he has ever see with his own eyes. Spike then went about hollowing out the chests when it suddenly hit him: ‘These chests are mostly hollow anyway, with only four jems, two swords, and two pieces of paper, so why not use them as bags, instead?’, He thought to himself as he began to pack everything he could into the chest... After some time, and some careful packing, he shut the two chest and locked them with the built in locks, making sure that the contents wouldn't fall out, he tied some rope he ‘scavenge’ from the castle of the two sisters, which brought up the memory of why he was in this situation in the first place... He was going to take out the ocarina, but he reminded himself about what he did to mad and happy... and he still hasn’t seen ‘friend’ yet, and as if on cue, time stopped and there he was, standing there, looking out to the distance...”listen,” he said with his usual dull and boring voice... Unlike the last time they’ve met, friend did not free him from the ‘time jam’, nor did he talk with any warmth or care,hidden beneath his voice "there's someone that took something away from me. It was important enough for my very soul to remember it, and you need to remember what I’ve said or I might forget, or even die soon...”his voice becoming grim... "He who survives over the years must be put down in order to relieve your fears, or he will become your worst nightmare. But when you find the one who remembers, you'll have nothing to fear-” he was cut off by something as a look of fear crossed his face. ALSO unlike last time, he disappeared by turning to stone and crumbling to dust as time resumed, and as it did, Spike noticed that his necklace began to glow. At first it was red, then it turned orange and started smoking, then it became white, and then finally blue. A light then shot out of the shield and bolted straight towards a random direction that spike presumed was north-east. Spike, still confused by what happened, tapped the shield and found out that it was boiling hot. Needless to say, he was surprised, not by the temperature, but that ‘friend’ didn't appear at all. What spike thought was his cutie mark was also gone... So Spike did the only thing he thought he should; he went after the glowing trail that Spike guessed was leading him to the rest of 'friend's soul…”it’s been a wild week” he muttered to himself as he began to walk. Twilight returned home after yet another picnic. It’s been a few months since Spike went missing, but she's gotten over it. The library's been a constant mess without Spike to do his daily chores. Feeling the sudden urge to send a letter to Celestia on the first day she found out that spike was missing. Sure she's been out more since he left, but without the constant reminders from him to eat, she's become much thinner, not terribly noticeably, but still a significant change that her friends jumped to help fix. Within a few minutes of her return, Princess Celestia send her yet another letter by the royal guards instead of spike’s flame. The message stated that there's something preventing them from reaching the dragon, and that a squad's been sent to look for him, but turned up empty. And so Twilight had to do everything on her own now. She couldn't help but feel bad from the things she said all those months ago, but she was in a very stressful situation back then. Though it was Rarity that was hit the hardest when she noticed Spike stopped showing up to help her with her dresses. She first went to Twilight, but when she found out that he was missing she became very worried and asked the girls to help look for him. That also, unfortunately, turned up empty... Rarity blamed herself for what happened after that day, but she's gotten over it a few weeks ago. Twilight knows that she never intended to hurt Spike that way. With that, she decided that she'd go and look for him with her friends where he'd most likely be: a place his young mind would look for comfort from a very powerful zebra: Zecora, the enchantress...
Acceptance Both figures yawned and stretched their limbs as if they’ve been woken up by someone, and in this case, the purple and green dragon leaned up against the forcefield around him with his eyebrow raised and his arms crossed... The male figure opened his eyes and finally, after 15 minutes of waiting for them to wake up, spoke with a voice typical of an average stallion, “sorry, sir: after being locked inside a blade for however long it was, you tend to want to sleep all the time. So... how long has it been? Five? Ten? Fifteen? Twenty years?” He asked that in a strangely casual tone with his eyes half opened, as if he want to go to sleep again. He rubbed his golden mane with streaks of white and tried to wake himself up while the mare with the same color pellet as ‘friend,’ oddly enough, was still trying to wake up as well, groaning and shifting around like a filly. Spike pointed a finger to the brown stallion and replied with a deadpan voice, ”that would be one thousand, two hundred years, three months, twelve days, five hours, and fifteen minutes.” The brown one raised an eyebrow at him as if he had just told him that he was a mare... meanwhile, the grey mare was snoring once again, and even though it was cute, he had to wake her up eventually... “Rise and shine~” Spike sang after learning that ‘friend’ said this all the time, while friend will not say these words in a sing song voice... ever, this did tend to wake up the sleeping mare on the floor, and as she jerked her head and ears up, she looked around with her cyan eyes and half lidded lids. “Love?” She asked before a yawn as she looked at her surroundings, then, with a small smile, she waved at the brown stallion as if she had just noticed him, with a face still looked sleepy as she would ever be. “No, but if you mean the grey stallion with white and gray mane and tail...” Spike answered as he raised his finger, only to have the mare perk up and pay full attention to the young dragon before her. “Then you wouldn't find any here, but I do know where he went-” then he was cut off by the brown one with a rather surprised tone in his voice, and judging by the expression he wore, he was just as surprised as his voice... “Wait wait wait! It’s been that long? Fdhvdu Flskhu!” He asked Spike before cursing to himself, all while the dragon just raised his eyebrow at him as he crossed his arms, noting that the stallion he didn't put his arms down... “Do you guys have names?” Spike asked the two ponies in front of them, he didn't want to name them sleepy, since it would be rude... “Hey! I’m not sleepy, call me Tee; full name: Key Tech. It's a horrible name, I know, so I call myself MRS tech, or tech, or most ponies usually call me tee, that's also fine with me.” Tee whined then introduced herself to Spike with a proud look on her face. Then she said something with a blush and looked away... just to look adorable. “Zkhq L fdoohg klp oryh, L zdv dfwxdoob klv ihpdoh forqh... ru ylfh yhuvd; L gxqr. Exw mxvw vr brx nqrz, Vslnh, kh zdv d qlfh jxb, exw wklqjv kdg wr eh grqh wkdw pdb ru pdb qrw kxuw brx lq wkh ixwxuh...” but before Spike could ask what she said, because her voice was barely audible, the brown stallion cut in... "The name's Intel. The rest... I don't remember all that much, and why should we believe it's been that long?" Intel asked Spike with a questioning tone, still not believing it’s been a thousand, two hundred years since he had last woke up... “Let's just get back to why I summoned you two in the first place.spike ignored intel’s question... What do you do, or should I ask, what does your artifacts do? and intel? you can’t tell if i am lying or not...” Spike asked and said intel with a more serious tone.and a more serious face. “I-I-I need to think this over...my friends, family...” He said in a small voice as closed his eyes, sat down, and rubbed his temples in a circular motion. Spike looked around to tee and found her sitting on the ground, rocking herself to and fro, looking around with a small smile on her face... ‘I wonder if they're the same pony, one with a serious and calculative left brain, and the other with a happy and relaxed right brain... heh, make sense, even their cutie marks are the same...’ Spike mused to himself as he looked at the mare in front of him. “So you’ve met my love, then... good to know. Back to your question, we're blades, so we're activated when we cut things, unlike your blue potato thing that plays music or your torch, so when you accidentally cut yourself with our super sharp blade, we were summoned... and to think that I still remember this stuff after more than a thousand plus years...” she explained to Spike, still looking around and rocking herself, at least before the two began fizzing as they dissolve into thin air. Just before they were completely gone, Intel suddenly looked at Spike and said, ”she’s got a body of an adult, but she behaves like a child, and she's a lot tougher than she looks. After all, she was separated from her love for almost a thousand years...time tend to pass slowly when you are alone in the dark” then he was completely gone... The environment resumed back to normal speed when he remembered what he was doing: Spike was walking towards where friend’s soul, or whatever, was going... So then Spike braced himself and began walking again, finally, he was able to accept what those ponies did to him in the past, now he only feel annoyance out of the six so called ‘friends’ when he thought about them. It’s been three hours and Spike was getting thirsty, he looked up and saw that the sun was setting, turning the sky from it’s baby blue to fiery red, so the purple dragon decided to build his camp here, at the foot of the hill on the other side of the Everfree. Through his way down, he had to admit that the scenery is beautiful, he had never looked at the Everfree the same way before... life here is tough, but so many lives can live here together. To this day, only an estimated three percent has been explored, two of which were the surrounding areas of ponyville and the castle of the two sisters... Yes, life is tough, but you can't make a rainbow without a little rain... ’heh, I guess friend was right. I swear, he can be as deep as he want to be,’ Spike mused to himself as he began to work on putting his camp together... He opened his black chest and brought out everything he needed to build his camp, along with a few books about medication he ‘savaged’ along with the ropes and the glass bottles replaced his stone one with.the books are for easing his sore feet and the book he read about supernaturals... After he got everything out, he began checking them: rope, a sheet of leaves he sewn together, a thick, uniform stick he carved out of a rather thick branch, and a few sharpened sticks to safeguard his camp with. So when that was done, he began to work. First he tied the supporting beams together with the rope, then laid out a few rocks in a circle for the campfire, he then covered his tent's frame with the sheet of leaves before securing them with more rope, as well as some sharp sticks he stabbed into the ground... then it was done, and by the time he had finished his mobile camp, it was already night. Spike stepped back to admire his work and sat down, he then looked up and gaze at the stars, finding them very comforting and relaxing. One peculiar star got his attention: there, on the side of the moon, it glowed brighter than the others a lot brighter, and he just stared at them; the diamonds in the sky and was soon lost in his own thoughts, just before he heard a growl from behind him and turned around. The sight he was greeted with surprised Spike, but it wasn't scary anymore, for behind him was a classic pack of timberwolf with their trademark green glowing eyes... to which Spike stood up and closed his eyes, drawing his breath to calm himself as he took a fighting pose, the very same one he saw in all those super hero comics. -20 minutes later- Needless to say, the fight didn't last long with the timberwolves burning to ash; what took all the time was a manticore who just so happened to decide to visit his camp this time of the year... ’Heh, time,’ he chuckled to himself, ‘friend was the only one of the souls to show outright fear in front of him, even someone as boring and deep as him has a weakness, I guess...’ he thought to himself. When was fighting the manicore, he was losing after the first fifteen minutes, but then something crashed against the beast and knocked the wind out of the poor thing, Spike was sure he heard a crunch and a tooth fall out, but it’s the object that crashed that caught his attention the most. Right in front of him was a smoking... thing made of metal, he noticed that the bright star he saw earlier was the same thing, most likely due to the atmospheric friction, that and because the star was gone, bright stars don’t just vanish... so he then approached the metal thing he's never seen before in any book, and touched it. He was surprised by how cold it was, since he expected it to be piping hot from entering the atmosphere. And with a hiss, a door opened and a female pony crawled out, she was looking like she's been through a lot as she had a long and deep blue mane and tail with a band to hold said mane back, she had a light blue mane and a light blue coat, she wore a tired and pained look on her face with tears in her eyes as she dragged her hind hoof out of the thing, and Spike was surprised once again. There, bleeding and burnt, were two giant holes that went through her hind hoof, and her cutie mark was a bold red heart bursting through a ring of chain encircling it. Helping the mare was a no brainer for Spike, and he quickly pulled her out and towards his tent... To say that Spike didn't have a nice few days was a big understatement. The mare he dragged out of the pod had been unconscious all this time and to stop the two giant holes from bleeding out, he had to burn them shut. On the plus side, it turned out that poison joke actually resets the body like a game in order to play it’s prank. ‘Better safe than sorry,’ Spike thought after some careful hours searching around the camp, being very careful to not touch those damn plants once he found them, and making sure to apply the plants to the bleeding mare. Turns out that the host only needs to be unconscious for them to work... how convenient... and after turning her into a stallion for a few minutes before splashing her the cure he recreated, he pick himself up and boiled himself in the stone cauldron he made. The mare awoke with a gasp and tried to get up, only to flinch and lay back down with a moan... “Woah, easy there, easy. You’ve been out cold a couple of days now,” Spike said as he helped the mare slowly sit up again. ”Let's see what the damage is, and how about a name; can you tell me your name?” Spike asked as the mare and tilted his head. “Call me... twenty one...” she said in an voice you would expect a mare would sound like. “Heh, I can't say it’s what I'd pick for you, but it’s your name,” Spike said with a casual tone while looking for anything the poison joke didn't heal. ”I’m Spike, and welcome to my camp in the everfree forest...” Spike said to the mare, who looked surprised but listen to what had to say. “Now I hope you don't mind, but I had to expose you to poison joke in order to heal you, so you better tell me if there's anything I’ve left out of place…”Spike handed her a part of the metal pod thing to act as a mirror. “how’d I do?” Twenty one looked at herself in the “mirror” and found nothing wrong with her reflection and handed back the piece of metal with a small ‘thanks.’ “Well, I’ve got most of it right anyway; the stuff that matters. OK, no sense of keeping you in bed anymore, lets see if we can get you on your hooves,” he said to the mare and slowly helped the mare up, the mare soon found out that the two holes in her hind hooves were gone and, to her surprise, pain free... “Good, why don't you go and walk out of this tent yourself? Take it slow, now, this ain't a race,” Spike said to the mare as she groaned and started walking towards the flap of the tent. “Why are you being so nice to me? It’s not common to find someone such as yourself in the wasteland,” the mare asked Spike after they’ve been walking around the camp for the past five minutes, all while Spike was at twenty one’s side, helping her when she was having trouble. “I know nothing about your so called ‘wasteland,’ and as much as I want to deny it, I need someone to talk to without interruption, and I need someone to watch my back,” Spike said to twenty one with a frown.
The Outcast“So, how did you end up in the pod thing like that?” Spike asked Twenty One, looking at her as they walked through the thick forest that is the Everfree Forest, trying to know more about the mysterious mare that fell out of the sky. He watched her flinch away as if she was not very comfortable with him. “I, uh, was helping a friend… escape from something…” Twenty One replied, looking anywhere but Spike as if he was a ghost or something. But Spike was too busy stepping through the thick forest to notice anything wrong as the pair took careful steps around the bushes with rustling sound and occasionally a twig snapping… “The last thing I remembered was a strange mare wearing a jumpsuit approach me without a spacesuit and somehow survive inside a vacuum environment. Might be seeing things, but as soon as she opened her mouth and said that she can take it from here and began singing, I fell unconscious… the next thing I know, I was here…” Twenty one said with a shiver going down her spine. Spike nodded and continued to walk through the forest, all the while noting the unease in the mare, Spike put this at the back of his mind for later as he heard some rustling towards them… Very, very near… He put his hand up and stopped moving. Impressively, twenty one instantly got down and took a fighting pose with her head lowered, hooves spread out as she looked around trying to find what was approaching, and she soon too notice where the rustling sound was coming… They both assume in their own minds that whatever it is, it was within a 10 foot ( around 3 Meters ) range. Spike then swiftly took out the yin yang blade and threw the white blade towards the mare, she expertly catched it and and they both slowly crept towards the source of the noise... Only to be surprised to see a changeling whimpering on the ground with bruises and scars covering it’s body. When it saw the two figures it flinched, then said in a trembling female voice: ”Help… me…” After that its blue eyes lost focus and it went limp. They both look at each other in the eye for the first time since the camp and in unison looked up towards the sky. They had been walking for hours and with twenty one, Spike’s water supply had been steadily decreasing, plus the sun was setting real soon. “So what do you plan to do now? And what is that?” Twenty one asked Spike while pointing at the changeling giving it a strange look. Spike raised an eyebrow at her then sat down and opened his bag-chest-thing, took out a water bottle, and took a sip. He asked for the blade back afterwards. “You haven't seen a changeling before?” Spike asked giving the mare a strange look as he began to walk again, and signal the freeloader to carry the changeling. He eventually holstered both of his weapons back into the chest, “We should look for a clearing to set up a camp soon.” “To be honest even the wasteland with alicorn ghouls and all the stuff in between I’ve never seen a lovechild of a pony and a bug before,” she said giving the changeling a strange look while Spike gave twenty one a strange look. “Wait, wait, wait,” Spike stopped walking as he spun to face the mare and hold his hands up, giving her a strange look even more intense than the one before. “So you’re telling me that you’ve seriously never seen a changeling before?” twenty one also stopped and after a second glance turned her head to face the dragon. “You came from the wasteland right? That is practically where changelings live in the first place, and that’s counting how little I know about that place. There are also only four alicorns on our planet, and all of which, in Equestria...” Spike said to the mare, but a groan from the changeling interrupted them as the mare opened her mouth to reply. “You know what? let's find a clearing and some water, then we’ll talk” Spike said then began to walk again, the mare nodded and followed Spike as the grass, leaves and twigs rustled underneath their feet... “Right, let's talk…” Spike said to twenty one, grabbing the mare’s attention in the process. The two of the three, if including the changeling, being inside Spike’s new makeshift camp. Needless to say it’s… crammed… So the two decide to talk outside... It’s around 10 o’clock (22:00), judging by the position of the moon high up in the sky. The temperature outside into a chilly night, the the constant chirps, cracks and snips of the wildlife around them makes the night more relaxing than ever… Sometimes Spike needs to remind himself that he is in the everfree forest… “Where did you really come from?” Spike asked outside the tent, with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed. Twenty one however, was looking at Spike with a bored look on her face… “For the third time, I’m from the equestrian wasteland, hoofington to be exact” twenty one said to Spike in a matter-of-fact tone staring at him as if he was an idiot. Spike stared back with a blank face and sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “There is no such town called hoofington in Equestria, and believe me-” Spike pointed at twenty one, looking at her again with an raised eyebrow, unimpressed “-I’ve read maps of Equestria more than ten times per month.” After hearing this twenty one looked very annoyed as she rolled her eyes, groaned and looked at Spike, who crossed his arms again. “Enough of your questions. where are we now? I appreciate that you saved my life but I don't like it when I don’t know where I’m going without a plan,” twenty one said in a gruff tone, giving Spike a suspicious look, successfully changing the topic… “We are in the Everfree forest as I told you when we first met. Where else do you think we are? Picnic mountains?” Spike scoffed, and looked at her in the eye, giving her the most unimpressed look ever. if she wants to play gruff, he’ll just return the favor, he thought to himself. “Bullshit, and let me tell you why-” The mare said slowly and dangerously, unaffected by the look Spike was giving her at all, as she crept towards the young and recently broken dragon… “if we are truly in the everfree, we would be dead by now!” She gave a forceful jab from her hoof towards the left of Spike’s head, never breaking eye contact. What comes out after the jab was a chicken’s squawk. As Spike turned around, he found an unconscious cockatrice laying on the ground. Spike turned around to face the mare again giving her a small ‘thanks’ as he picked up the bird hybrid thing and giving it a forceful toss in a random direction outside of the camp while hitting a tree in the process, muttering to himself. ”And Twilight was afraid of them. Oh, what a scary chicken...” Being so close to twenty one, of course she heard it. “Wait… you just said Twilight,” twenty one said slowly and suspiciously, never dropping the dangerous tone, “as in Twilight who?” She asked Spike, raising an eyebrow at the dragon. Spike, having to look up to see the mare’s face backed up a little so he can get some personal space. Hearing a groan from the changeling he sighed as he looked down towards the ground suffering at the memory of his recent lost… “Twilight Sparkle...one of the most powerful magical users of all time, and princess of the so called ‘friendship’.” Spike sighed, looking away. twenty one however, widened her eyes to the size of dinner plates and let her jaw drop towards the ground as she took in what Spike just said… “Princess of friendship? more like a part of the goddess that turns everyone into alicorns and mind control ponies in the first place!” twenty one shouted as she wore an expression of utter bafflement while she stares at Spike. said dragon however, surprised by the sudden change of tone, took another step back and held his claws in front of him in a innocent pose. The type a child would use if he was caught cheating or something… “Woah, calm down-” Spike said,looking for a way to calm the baffled mare from screaming too loud pushing the thought of how his pony ‘friends’ betrayed him back into his own mind for later thoughts. “Yes Twilight was bad but I don’t think it’s that bad that she would mind control ponies. Take a breath and let it out slowly,” Spike said, a little baffled himself as to where that thought even come from… The mare did as she was told, and she repeated the process a few dozen times when a small and shy female voice interrupted them both. ”Um…hello?” Spike and twenty one looked at the beaten mare that walked out of the tent instead of a changeling... In perfect unison both spike and twenty one said “Hey,” they shared a glance at each other, then looked back at her, with Spike saying, “you're awake. Good…I’m Spike, and welcome to my makeshift camp. We both know you’re a changeling so you can change back if you want. Anyway do you have a name?” Spike asked politely as he looked at the mare expectedly. Twenty one however yelped as the mare burst into green flames to reveal the changeling in all of it’s glory… “What the hell is this thing!” Twenty one yelled across the camp, trying to get as far away from the changeling as possible. Giving it a scared look that can be seen all across the camp within is 22 feet (10 m) “AND HOW DOES IT BURST INTO FLAMES AND CHANGE INTO A PONY?!” twenty one yelled which earned a chuckle from Spike from her reaction... “For the second time, calm dawn,” Spike said to twenty one then went to comfort the shivering black ball on the floor whimpering, that is the changeling mare, twenty one gave Spike a look and approach the two slowly, as if the the changeling will jump on her… “It’s a mystery on how they change shape but they need ponies to like them in order to survive, and attacking you will only make you hate it. Besides, I think she is the one afraid of you right now,” Spike reasoned with Twenty one in a calm and controlled voice, the mare raises an eyebrow at the changeling and by now it’s staring at twenty one with a curious look on the changeling’s face… To say that Spike’s small group of people was good is a big understatement, Spike was small, agile and have high perspective, while Twenty one had strengths and brains to make up for it, the changeling named ‘Echo’ which spike learned from the changeling when they are talking yesterday, had wings and speed, so it makes the three very effective in combat situations. It was noon and the sun was beating relentless onto the forest, the treo was heading towards a small town called ‘goodsprings’ where ponies, outcasted changelings and outcasted griffons lived and apparently, it was attacked by a mysterious entity that took a form of a mare and almost killed all of it’s population, curious thing was, all of the town’s population survived, they only suffers from heavy wounds from the entity like the changeling did when Spike and Twenty one found them... Then, according to the changeling, an orb of blue light shot out of the woods and immediately went after the entity, the mare then tried to talk to the orb, but the blue orb shot itself into the mare’s head, the mare immediately fell on the ground, and after a few minutes she stood up and her flesh melted into liquid silver and changed into a stallion with a great coat, a lighter grey and white mane and cyan eyes, a pony spike knew well… Then, it went back into the forest north east, leaving its population to slowly bleed out, the changeling was one of the few who can still go into the forest and savage medical plants and supplies… after hearing that story from echo while they are still walking, Spike decided to take a short break, while Twenty one just took it all in like it’s nothing… ‘… It's strange coming from a mare that has never seen a changeling before to say the least,’ Spike thought to himself. The group of three was walking non-stop for three hours straight after they’d packed up the makeshift camp so Spike took out a glass bottle and took a sip of the water inside the bottle. When he was done he decided to pass it to his companions while he was at it. Twenty one took the bottle with a hoof...somehow and gave it a suspicious look, “Are you sure it’s ok to drink river water? Inside the everfree of all places? At all?” she asked Spike, unsure of whether she should take the risk of drinking river water inside the everfree. Who knows? It may be poisonous… And after hearing that, Spike gave her the most deadpan look he could manage to put up and said ”I’m a dragon that breaths fire, what do you think? That I would drink river water without… oh I don't know? Boiling it?” After hearing that, Twenty one rolled her eyes and muttered a small ‘should’ve guessed’. She finally took a sip, and passed the bottle to Echo. The changeling guest took a sip and passed the bottle back to Spike, which he packed into the chest-backpack hybrid along with the artifacts. He really didn’t have a use for them. At least not yet, he has companions to talk to instead of half-souls in random stuff. After walking for at least half a day, they have finally arrived at Goodsprings… Spike was surprised to say the least, the town was unlike any he had seen, now normal towns have different races and even a few different species, but this town was different for a whole new level. It has at least four different species living together. In harmony, helping each others without hate… Spike was left speechless, honestly. Changelings, ponies, griffons, are just a few among them, he even saw a teenage dragon walk by. Ponies are quick to accept different races, but they are far from perfect like everyone had taught. Ponies love and tolerate sure, but they don't usually get along with others unlike the princess and part of ponyville. To see them all there, helping and caring each other's was a sight to say the least. “Like I’ve told you, we had been hit really hard, good thing none of us were killed in the process, but we need all the help we can get. You can find me in the tallest building in the center of the town.” The changeling said then walked off to help a griffin to carry a stack of bricks with her magic, Spike then shaked his head as he came back to his senses, and looked at twenty one’s face,. Her face was just like Spike’s earlier with the dropped jaw and a baffled expression. Spike for the first time of the day, chuckled and asked the mare “haven't seen this scenario before?” with a conversational tone. “Not even pony only towns I’ve seen are so friendly to each other in one place,” the mare said to Spike, then looked up to see the sky, slowly darkening… “let's go see the mayor then” Twenty one said to Spike. He nodded as the pair slowly traveled towards the center of the town… It didn't take long for them to find the tallest building in town. After all, it’s five stories tall, it’s made of stone and wood, not normal stone tied together but stone bricks, and the wood was made of fine dark wood. It all made it look like ponyville’s town hall, and Spike felt a twinge of annoyance at even thinking of that place… The weather was chilly with a cold gust of wind every now and then, it almost makes Spike forgets that he was in the everfree forest… almost… with that in mind, he and Twenty one stepped into the building and what greeted them was none other than echo sitting behind a desk with a band around her chest that spelled ‘mayor’ “Took your sweet time getting here.” echo said as she closed the doors with her magic, Spike had noticed that her wounds was now treated with proper bandages instead of leaves tied up together, “now that we are in a safe place instead of a camp with spheres as the only line of defence, i would like to introduce myself, I,as you may now know,is the mayor of goodsprings” the changeling said with a proud look on her face and a hoof over her chest. “We are a group of outcasts exiled from our homes and left to wander, our town was near the center of the everfree forest and people you see here are usually saved from our patrols, but since our recent ‘attack’, we are not able to do that now can we? any questions?” the changeling said to the two. Spike then took out a medical book from his chest and gave it to the changeling and with a neutral tone, said ”This may help you and your town in the future, i’ve already have the whole thing memorised by now anyways. One question though, do you have rooms you can stay in for the night?” asked Spike. “Look for a building that resembles a motel down the street, talk to a griffon named Grizelda, tell her ‘Echo sent you’.” The changeling then took the book Spike gave her and said a small ‘bye’ before lying off the opened window behind her. Spike then turned around to look at Twenty one with a ‘you coming?’ look, she rolled her eyes then followed spike out the door into the chilly sunset. When the two had reached the motel, they have time to look at their surroundings more carefully, everyone in the town was injured in some way, be it scratches to broken legs. When Spike had opened the door, a blast of hot wind and chocolate milk hit his nose as the two walked into the building. “Evening, visitor-” said a female griffon behind a desk, she wore a small scar on the side of her beak and she have bandage over her eye,”welcome to my humble motel, if you’re looking for food, we still have plenty, but we lack medical supplies due to our recent event… or are you just here for a room, either one of them, you talk to me, got it?” she said in a relaxed tone as she lean back onto her chair behind her desk. Spike looked at twenty one and back at the griffin and said “Echo sent us and we need two rooms please.”
Some lore before we continue ( V2 ) "Well, that was an interesting experience," Spike muttered to himself inside his room. It was a cold night in Good Springs, and it's residents have been asleep for quite some time now. At least, judging by the lights. But somehow, Spike couldn't sleep. Maybe it's the fact that Twenty-one just left without him noticing, or maybe it's because his necklace has something to do with it... Spike tossed and turned on the bed and finally sat up. Try as he might, he can’t sleep at all. He has too much on his mind, Spike never considered Twenty-one a friend, but having someone to watch your back was kind of important to him... Needless to say, he needs someone to have a heart to heart with... So Spike stood up and shuffled towards the chest. Good thing Twenty one didn't steal his stuff. Then again, there was never much that was worth stealing. The dragon shook his head and let out a sigh. He took out the white blade. He had a few questions that still needed to be answered, and she's the closest to MR ‘Friend’. Spike looked at the blade he was holding in his hands and admired its beauty. The blade had beautiful etchings at its handle, making it easier to grip. 'Makes sense,’ Spike thought to himself, as he took a general swing in front of him, whistling through the air. A yawn behind him almost made him jump. "Good day, my little dragon, how are you?" Asked a female voice behind Spike, the dragon turned around to face the gray mare who was laying on his bed, looking very sleepy. "I've seen better days". Replied Spike automatically, as he leans back to the force field that surrounds him, putting the very sharp blade where he won't cut himself. "So what brings you here today?" The mare asked, giving Spike a relaxed smile as she stood up from her bed and walk towards the dragon. "I have a few questions, and I'm feeling pretty lonely right now..." Spike replied honestly with a sigh. "Very understandable, considering the only ponies you could talk to for the past few days were a grumpy pony and a changeling. Not exactly what you’d call good conversationalists." Tee closed her eyes and nodded understandingly towards Spike. “So you can read minds like mr ‘friend’?” Spike tilted his head, looking at the mare and continued with a raised eyebrow, “presuming that you even know who he is?” Spike asked the mare with a questioning yet patient tone. Tee nodded again towards Spike, and said: “I call him ‘love’ to mess with ponies minds. Makes them more vulnerable to penetrate and read, but I think you are way more perspective than those ponies in ponyville. Minus Twilight, of course. To notice we are actually related as soon as you saw me… My soul, if you know what I mean.” She finished with a hint of a smile on her face. Spike can't say that he was surprised, almost everything she said was true, and she said it herself... That, and she can also read minds. That only further proved to Spike that the two are related, if not the same. It made sense, considering that they look and sound the same. that thought just made tee’s eye twitch a little, but she gave no emphasis on showing my emotion in particular. Spike then closed his eyes and rubbed his face with both of his hands and a groaned, thinking to himself: ’how should I ask her without sounding blunt? Tee, what makes you different than other blades, other than your looks?’ When he was finished rubbing his face, only a few seconds later, tee was looking at him with a natural smile on her face. “I heard that, and I'm very offended... anyway-” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, putting a hoof on her chest and exhaled. Tee went through this a few more times and put on a neutral smile on her face again. Spike facepalmed because he forgot she can apparently read minds. Tee then opened her eyes and said, “-to answer your question before it was even asked: my job, as the blade of life, is to stop the effects of the blade of death; a single cut on a lethal wound from my blade can stop said wound from either bleeding, or by killing harmful foreign creatures like germs or parasites. Still with me, dragon?” She stopped and asked spike and to take a breath for herself. Spike, who was by now leaning by the opposite side of force field nodded and gestured her to continue, not a single bit bothered anymore by how easily his mind can be read by a sword on the floor next to him. Tee then continued with a nod. “The blade of death, however, is a different story. You see, the blade was only meant to bring death, unlike regular sharp objects like a scalpel or needles, which also penetrates the skin, a single cut can bring a hundred percent death via infections or unstoppable bleeding. That’s why I was made, to stop death from killing those when they were not supposed to be killed; a cure, if you will.” She closed her eyes and nodded to herself with a proud smile on her face. Spike just shrugged and asked the mare, “So? It’s not like normal swords, blades and knives won't do the same thing on the person targeted, what makes the black one so dangerous?” upon finishing that sentence tee’s smile slipped away from her face as she facehoofed and groaned. “Yes, but normal knife wounds can be healed if treated properly. The ‘black one’s’ wound will cause death, guaranteed; no matter how you treat the wound; even if it's just a small cut.” Tee finished with a frown for the first time. Spike noted the fact at the back of his brain and decided to change the topic. “So what do you know about the occerina, and the torch, or the artifacts in general? Their history? Maybe where they came from?” Spike asked Tee. The mare closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She looked at Spike in silence for a few seconds as if anticipating whether or not to tell him something… Tee then sat down and after a moment of hesitation, she finally said, “They're good ponies, and each other's friends. They died almost one thousand, two hundred years ago.” The mare began, opening her eyes and looking directly at Spike's, piercing into his soul, her tone turning dark. Spike instantly noticing the change of mood from the mare, and did the only thing that he can think of, he sat down and listened. She then continued, “They all had names, lives, and families once, but when they were under discord’s rule, when he had risen to power oh-so many years ago, their lives had taken a turn for the worse. They had to fight for survival with other ponies just to get a few grains to eat, and worse? It was all just for shits and giggles.” Tears are starting to form at the edge of tee’s eyes when she sniffed and pressed forward. “All until one faithful day where the monster that was Discord, was bored with them and left them alone. They went off to seek help and snuck away. After a few days of torturous walking through the deformed land that was Equestria, they finally found hope: a young wizard with the name of Starshine, or, to your knowledge, Star S.” Tee sniffed again and wiped a tear away from her eye. “When they found the young wizard he was alone and was injured badly on the edge of the forest, so the few friends brought him to a cave inside the forest itself and healed him. The wizard then told them that he was crafting artifacts to stop anyone who tried to take over Equestria to harm its subjects, but those weapons needed parts of a soul to power them. Knowing full well of the evil that once took Equestria, the survivors volunteered to be the souls that power the very artifacts you hold in your chests.” Tee pointed towards Spike’s twin chest “But right after the spell was finished and the now active artifacts were sealed inside the chests, Discord, who had detected the large spike of magic, laid a curse on the young wizard. He was to either be killed, or destroy the very artifacts before his eyes with his own hoofs. The wizard chose the former, so he threw the artifacts into the sky and casted an expansion spell in the middle of the chests, causing them to fly off into different directions, lost inside the forest, and because of that, Discord made this forest into the most dangerous place in equestria, so that nopony could find them…” “And discord killed the wizard when he was complete with the forest and cursed his soul to roam the everfree causing chaos against his will until he could find all his own artifacts and destroy them. That’s how Discord dragged him and me into this mess,” the mare sniffed and pressed on. “We are not normal ponies, you see. We control bodies of corpses like a ghost, which means that we don't have a physical bodies of our own. Discord then gave the same power to the wizard’s soul and took our bodies, which we perfected in the years we traveled, we named those bodies T-XI by the way, me and ‘friend’ can always leave our perfected bodies at will but Discord prevented us from entering back to our bodies we perfected. He sealed us into the artifact chests of two random artifact, replacing the original souls with us. Discord accomplished this by tracking the fading magic, it was just enough to perform to accomplish this task, but not enough to track the Chests still airborne and flying away at high speeds, so he left the forest, having no way to track all of them by once.” When tee was finished, she lead her head down with her eyes closed and filled with tears. Spike had to pick his jaw from the ground for the fact that tee was technically a ghost from the past and not a cut up pony's soul who was trapped by the artifact. And as if on que the mare’s body began to fizzle and starting to fade away as she looked at spike in the eye again a final tear shed from her eye and with that, she’s gone, spike then took the time to process this information, she had never seen this side of the mare before. She was always seen as a happy if a little childish pony… ‘It was all just a mask to hide her emotions… her real emotions... Just like ‘friend’ who had never shone any emotion at all, the pair were constantly in pain from the loneliness inside the necklace and the knife separated miles apart. Spike finally got why ‘angry’ and ‘happy’ said those things when he played the ocarina a few days ago... And it hurt just by thinking about it,. Then there were the artifacts who’ve met such a tragic past by living under Discord’s rule. Celestia’s explanation on Discord was a huge, huge understatement. In any case, Spike has to think about what to do with them. keep them, or set the soul free? So can they just leave the artifact? Too much was on Spike’s mind now, so going out for a walk was probably the best thing for him. He packed the white sword back into his chest, left his room, and slapped himself in the face, having accomplished the opposite of what he was looking for…some damn sleep... It’s been twenty minutes since Spike had decided to take a stroll outside at goodsprings. Spike had to admit, it’s nice out at night, alone with nothing but his thoughts, the sky was filled with luna’s beautiful stars forming constellations and wonders, the air was cool as the ocean, with a gentle breeze every now and then, and the air itself smelled like freshly cut grass in the small outcast town. “Do you know how much I’ve missed him? It's been a thousand years already,” a female voice said beside Spike in a sad tone, Spike jolted and jumped away in the opposite direction, surprised by the sudden intruder. When Spike had recovered from the shock, he looked around quickly, only to find no one in sight. “Who, and where are you?” Spike asked the voice with a slightly shocked tone. “It's just me, Spike. Tech…” The voice replied calmly without delay, Spike then closed his eyes and let out a relief sighed then continued walking on the gravel road. “Say how are you here? And why?” Spike asked tee in a casual tone. Looking around the sleeping town, thinking about his loss and enjoying the cool night sky. Spike had always enjoyed the night with the stars, them being just like little gems in the sky. So deliciously beautiful, yet so unbelievably hard to reach... “I can’t go back to sleep…” The voice sighed as if there was something troubling the soul, “and I can leave the artifact anytime I want, I just can't take over bodies unless my blade cuts into them…” The voice continued honestly… After hearing that, Spike raised an eyebrow and asked the voice with a hint of suspicion in his tone,”wait, you mean when we first met, you could actually take over my body? Why can't I see you, anyway?” The voice chuckled for the first time And after a few seconds it replied with a friendly tone, “you can’t see souls without assistance, spike. And I can only take over dead bodies without souls, not living bodies with souls, there’s a difference between the two.” Spike then let out a sigh and continue walking on the cold road. “I know it’s been rough for you to get rejected twice but when you think about it, I’ve suffered a lot worse than you. Being separated with the one I love so much, so long and so far apart, we can't even find each other when we leave the blade. And i’m still here, knowing that one day this will end, for the better or for the worst. Everything will have it’s end, Spike even your friendship, the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can get over your loss and pull yourself together… I’m going to try to get some sleep now, hope that you do too,” and with that, the voice had faded away, leaving spike in the dark with himself, the moon and the gentle night breeze... When suddenly a mare with a dark grey coat with long pink hair was spotted not far from Spike. When he tried to approach the mare, she just walked out of sight and disappeared right before his very eyes…”ugh. More mysteries…” Spike muttered to himself...
A journey's end Spike opened his eyes with a groan, needless to say, he did not have a long or comfortable sleep. All those questions in his head just won't go away so his entire night was spent on tossing and turning on the bed… The dragon sat up from his bed and shuffled towards his chest… “so you're awake” whispered a weak voice behind Spike. He looked behind his shoulder attempting to find the source of the voice,but as expected, no one was standing behind him. And with a second and a louder groan, he turned back to what he’s doing… “what now?” He asked the voice tiredly when he got up to his feet. “I can't go back to where I used to, and all I have on me was these artifacts and I can’t sell them, they're too dangerous,” he continued with a frown upon his face… There was a pregnant pause where none spoke a word, then the voice said in a lost tone, “I don't know, Spike, the future is for you to choose and you alone…” spike nodded as he jumps out of his bed. Spike hesitated for a moment before muttering softly to himself “Twilight may not have known about this, but I always wanted to be a music teacher, I guess she will never find out now...” Spike lowered his head and let out a humorless chuckle to himself before he slowly walked towards the bathroom. After a cold morning shower, Spike picked up a toothbrush and began to brush his teeth. No one spoke a word until the voice asked a question with hesitation: “You know, I’ve been alone inside a chest for god knows how long. Can you do me a favor Spike?” The voice suddenly asked the brushing dragon with hidden sadness. Spike thought about it for a moment before a simple shrug and a nod. Another pause before the voice replied with a sigh, “can you help them?” The voice asked with a hint of desperateness in it’s tone, “because… To be honest, I...we… help founded this town and used to live here long long ago, it would be nice to see this town safe”... Nether spike or the voice spoke a word for a few seconds before Spike nodded to himself in the mirror again before courageously replying, “sure, I have no home to begin with. Might as well find a place to settle down and rest”, with that, Spike walked out of the bathroom and out of the motel room. The sun was shining through a few strands of clouds, the sky was a lovely shade of cyan and the air smelled like - rain? Spike felt a few drops fall on his head. Spike never knew it rained here before but sure enough, the ground was a little wet... Surprisingly enough the mayor of the town greeted Spike’s vision a few seconds later, along with the motel’s owner, “ah my savior, I trust you had a good night's sleep?” Echo asked the now slightly confused dragon with a pleasant smile on her face. All of her wounds appeared to be treated rather nicely,Spike opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the inn owner, “we need help, like now. tell you what, you can stay here for free as long as you want if you help us with this…” she pointed at the mayor’s bag with an uneasy look on her face “task…” she finished lamely... Spike raised an eyebrow, and the mayor levitate him a piece of paper with barely illegible writings on it, the mayor’s face bore a slightly guilty look “Purple dragon, artifacts to my tomb to the north of mayor’s tower or everyone dies trying to defend themselves. I will know if you are coming or not, give them to me and they die a quick painless death...” The mayor took back the peace of paper with a troubled expression then said in an apologetic tone, “i’m sorry to bother you, but you seems to have those artifacts at your disposal, we’d love to help but we have our families too. Please don’t ask how I know...” Spike paused for a second before replying smoothly, “Sure, but echo, can you spare me a moment please?” the mayor took a moment to consider his offer before giving spike a simple nod. Both proceeded to walk away from the motel towards a random direction while the inn owner walks away with a sigh... After a moment of walking where neither the changeling or the baby dragon had spoken a word, Spike turned and looked at the changling directly, the town was still busy picking itself up to notice them pass by, “after this is done, can I have a place here in Goodsprings?” The dragon asked echo with a slight frown. Echo tilted her head and asked spike with a hint of confusion and a concern: “don't you have a home to go back to?” After hearing that spike winced before looking down onto the ground, the changeling after seeing his reaction nodded to herself and continued, “yes, because we know how it feels to be an outcast too” Spike looked up hopefully before replying “really? I can stay here? can I finally be treated like an equal here?” The changeling gave Spike a nod and a welcoming smile, Spike then proceeded to kick himself in the head for remembering something he forgot earlier before replying with a pained expression“ but I don't have money or anything of value”, echo just laughed and gave spike a pat on the shoulder And with a chuckle she replied with a smile “we don't use currency here, Spike,” he raised an eyebrow at the statement, “we use something called respect points, since everyone here knows how to do almost anything, so we don't need anyone to do anything for anyone.” Spike motioned her to continue with a simple hand gesture. “But you can do someone's work for them and get respect points, you gain and they lose, you help someone in need and nearby people give you respect. And as long as you are willing to learn, somebody will teach you almost anything for free” The mayor shook her head before giving spike the warmest smile he had seen for days, “what I’m trying to say is, you are welcome amongst us, the outcast and the reformed anytime,” Spike then nodded and continued walking along the gravel road. It took spike a few minutes to collect himself again due to the hidden excitement in his head, he finally have a place where he can be himself, better than ponyville and those six by a milestone that's for sure. He was then reminded of more pressing matters that is our ‘friend’... Echo then proceeds to open her mouth to say something but Spike already knew what she was going to say and put a claw on her mouth effectively silencing her by closing it, he then replied simply “don’t worry, I will solve this mess for you” with a smug look on his face, with his newfound confidence, nothing can stand on his way dammit! Echo lifted spike’s claw away with her magic and rubbed her lips with her not so injured left hoof, she then looked at spike with a uncertainty painted all over her face, “are you sure? the note said,we will all die, why not just let him come and put up a fight?” He just nodded simply muttering the word true.. Spike then proceed to jump up a rock nearby and yelled on top of his lungs as loud as he can “Hello, Starshine! Who takes the artifacts, takes the fate of countless lives, but bad news Star, because Guess Who?! Ha!” Spikes yells was so loud echo had jumped behind a rock with a squeak, her hoof covering her ears as much as possible. Spike then yelled though not as loudly as before “now the question of the hour is: who’s got the artifacts? An answer I do have, next question, are you coming to take it from me?” He asked aloud, so loud in fact that all the town’s folk was now staring at him with surprise, confusion and everything in between. The young dragon then spread his arms out and looked around the now staring town looking for anything unusual, after a few seconds of nothing happening, he took a deep breath before continued yelling again, the whole town collectively braced themselves. “Come on! look at me!” Spike looked at the surrounding forest ,nothing, “No plan. No backup. No skill worth a damn and one more thing! I have Nothing To Lose!” Spike had put emphasis on every word after the word ’nothing’. “So! If you are sitting in your silly little basement with all your silly pathetic magic! And you’ve got plans to take the artifacts soon! Just remember what's standing in your way! Remember every black day the dragon race had given you!” Spike was practically yelling as loud as he can now. “And then! Annnd then! Do the smart thing! ” Spike stopped to breath for a second before continuing “just walk away!” Spike put up his arms again not knowing when did he put his down on the first place, Spike had noticed a gray tail disappearing behind a tree a few moment later. Echo peeked her head out from behind a rock looking at spike as if he’s an unstable statue ready to crumble at any moment. Before whispering weakly “was that really necessary?” All the while rubbing her ear with a hoof. Spike climbed down the rock before nodding softly towards the temporary deaf echo. “Yes, yes it is, now the guy know what's coming and hopefully walk away...” Spike replied simply before he resumes his walking and signaling echo to do the same. Both continued to walk in relative silence before it was rudely interrupted by a teenage dragon on with white scales on his back and pink scales on his belly jumping out of nowhere surprising them. “Ah, purple dragon, heard that you saved our dear changeling’s ass the other day, ha! Not news you hear everyday that our tough nut here needs saving” The dragon said jokingly, echo just rolled her eyes after they both had recovered enough while spike just looked at the note clutched in his hand. The slightly annoyed changeling glared at the dragon before growling troughs gritted fangs “ in my defense, three manticores ambushed me from my every direction.” But the teenage dragon was take ping none of that, “Anyway, this is for you-” he gave Spike the note that he has been holding, spike took it without another word, the dragon then continued as if nothing had happened, “ found it stabbed on a tree trunk with the word purple dragon on it. The baby dragon turned away from the two before he unwrapped the crumbled piece of paper. “Come to my tomb tomorrow with the artifacts and the town burns with all the residents in it, find me at North East of where you found this note I will enjoy watching you see all the residents pathetically failing to defend themselves if you don't hand them over.” “Well? What does it say?” Echo asked Spike after giving the white dragon a final faux glare before peeking from Spike’s shoulder, the young dragon just shrugged and burned the note with his dragon fire. It burned away with a puff of purple smoke before fading into thin air. “Nothing you should worry about my dear changeling,” Spike said smugly, turning to face the changeling, “I may have a giant wound in my heart from my backstabbing friends but that would not stop me from helping your baile-alainn” Spike finished off jokingly with a smile and a silly accent before patting echo on the shoulder, her exoskeleton felt smooth as silk… “Anyway, I should probably go and get myself some breakfast before setting out to find that crazy town burning bastard bent for old pieces of stuff locked in chests ” Spike said before walking away by himself, whistling a tune. Echo just muttered something about getting purl some everclear under her breath, A few seconds of nothing happening later, the changeling and the dragon went their separate ways after a simple “goodbye”. Celestia sat on top of her throne it was a boring day in Celestia’s day court. She was currently watching two nobles arguing about wages before a crumbled piece of paper materialized out of thin air. It took Celestia a full second to remember what she just saw but when she finally remembered what just happened, she swiftly read the message inside the note. After she was finished, day court ended by Celestia teleporting to a certain tree library where a purple alicorn sat there looking at an old photo album. Spike was just walking around the town of goodsprings now buying the necessary items for a fight. if ‘friend’ wants one so bad, he will get one, Spike, with the cost of 3000 respect points, bought a small cabin near the echo’s office. A pair of sword holsters, and a bag. Since Spike saved Echo and gave supplies while the town was in need, it's only fair for the town to give him some respect. 2000 more respect to spend… Might as well save them.. Spike kept walking in a few moments before bumping into a small filly, with a white coat and cyan eyes she was carrying a crossbow like object without the bow and a big scope drinking from a bottle labeled ‘everclear’ held in her forehoof. “Sorry mr, I wasn't looking at where i’m going” said the filly apologetically in your typical filly's voice. Spike just brushed himself off while the filly took another swig from the bottle like it’s just water. The white filly looked at Spike before tilting her head and asking in confusion, “are you Spike? As in the assistant of overpowered magical purple unicorn?” Spike just nodded, not even bothering to correct her, the less he thought about the six the better. After hearing this the filly pressed on with another swig from the bottle and ceriousiosity clear in her tone “So what are you doing here anyway? You went missing a few months ago, but why?” The filly asked, Spike tilted his head slightly at her statement. “I’ve been gone for only a week, what are you talking about?” Spike asked before shaking his head “and why are you out here all alone? Where are your parents?” The filly just smiled and looked around causally. “My parents are friends with the mayor, in fact almost everyone here knows each other, I hope Echo’s health gets better soon tough” Spike was even more confused now, what is she talking about? And what is it about Echo’s health? “Purl!” Echo called from a few blocks away, spike gave the changeling a wave of his claw and the changeling returned it with smile and a nod. “Got to go, Mr Spike! Glad to meet you here!” She said before running off to give echo a hug and disappearing behind the corner with the mayor. “Is it just me or do cyan eyes always always are just full of weariness all the time?” Spike mused to himself, before walking north east towards a mountain. No doubt that’s where ‘friend’ wants him to go, he just knew it… Somehow... “So this is it then” Spike thought to himself, as he walked to the final chamber, his tomb… Spike finally made it, and there he is… sitting on a platform, in front of a central pillar, looking at spike tauntingly with a smile and with blood red eyes instead ‘friend’s signature cyan. The room was massive and looks like it can easily hold four fully grown dragon side my side. What's under the few bridge connecting to the pillar was what seems like a bottomless pit and it was after all carved right out of the mountain. “Yes, you’re here, I assume that you know what will happen if you don't hand me the artifacts and the consequence you will face, right?” ‘friend’ asked Spike with a dangerous smile, slowly walking towards the dragon, step by stone cracking step he walked towards him “but it doesn't matter really, I will take those artifacts from you cold, dead body anyway…” The stallion then asked a question looking spike dead straight in the eyes and a bloodthirsty grin on his face, “ And why do you want these artifacts for huh? Be a hero?” This time it was spike’s turn to laugh, and it was… Unsettling to say the least his laughter filled the chamber echoing off walls and tunnels, it was until a full minute if broken laughter did spike decide to stop. “If I give you these weapons, it can be, no” spike paused his expression turned grim as he stepped one step forward “ it will be used for evil and potentially kill millions if I left these unchecked, what's stopping your ‘master’ from using them for mass murder? Hate to break it to you but ponies can be very good at lying,and I know what I'm talking about’ learned to the hard way from the embodiment of the elements of harmony itself...” ‘Friend’ nodded before turning around and walk towards a tall pony. She was pink and have a wings and a horn, making her an alicorn. Her mane was puffy and her tail was trim short with random spots of color around her body, basically it's the most messed up alicorn Spike had saw in his entire life… Now throw that idea off the window because she looks ten times worse that words can ever discribe... “I was hoping you would like my art project on my wife’s body ” ‘friend’ said while stroking the alicorn’s chin, the alicorn just stood there motionless, soulless staring ahead without focus… The stallion continued to talk, as if unaware that spike had stopped paying attention “this is not what she originally looked like sure , but I think an alicorn fits her form better, don't you think?” The stallion asked without expecting an answer... Spike looked at “friend’ in the face, and all he can describe is the stallion before him was not the same as the one who helped him when Spike was still in denial. “I can feel him, fighting inside to gain control of his body again you know? Don't worry, I will make him watch the entire town die in front of him. Oh the screams… But I will leave the monologue here and get ready for me to kill you now...” the stallion smiled a sadistic smile to the motionless alicorn. Spike was not sure who he’s talking to, his ‘wife’ or the baby dragon. Spike, with the aid of the torch and ocarina , instantly pulled out a white sword and threw it at ‘friend’ filled with pure white hot rage. The sword cut through the air splitting the very air molecules in half. Only to miss the stallion completely without dodging, ‘friend’ laughed more loudly than before saying “you missed”. “No, he didn't!” A female voice yelled behind ‘friend’. When he turned his head around, a powerful kick was delivered straight into his face sending him flying out the door Spike had entered, it was the female alicorn with a very clear cut on the side her neck, blade still embedded into the pillar a inches away from the mare, “thanks spike, for freeing me” she muttered after a little while. Spike quickly ran to the ‘alicorn’ who is now completely silver slowly morphing into the Tee Spike saw a few days ago in the sword. “That hardly seems fair, two against one” ‘friend sighed before raising his left forehoof while lowering the silver blade formed by his right forehoof, cutting it off and sent it flying straight up into the air which slowly turned into a double bladed, long double edged sword with a bone for the handle before landing on his now completely silver forelimbs he regenerated. Spike pulled out his second sword while tee, now in her ‘original’ form pulled out the sword embedded into the pillar behind her with her mouth, ‘friend’ now with a serious face charged at the two, spike jumped behind the stallion while tee blocked his attack with a mighty ‘clang’ as both swords met. Spike seeing an opportunity attacked ‘friend’ from the behind, this went on for a minute where neither gave an inch of ground, spike with the aid of rage, fraught on furiously, where Tee with years of training dodged her lover’s every attack. But after a powerful attack from Tee, Spike’s sword slices through ‘friend's back before he can block, Spike literally saw the silver canyon that went through his back closing slowly but failing to do so completely, but “friend” expertly turned around where Tee’s blade cut through his gaping wound, cancelling Spike's blade effect then lept away. Now both are face to face with ‘friend’ and without warning, the stallion ran towards a door next to the tomb leading to another similar chamber. Both gave chase and ‘friend’ suddenly stopped in the middle of the long and narrow walkway between the pillar they fought near and the door to the next chamber, where he resumes his sword attack, tee expertly blocked the deadly swing from ‘friend’ but Spike was kicked aside by him after tee’s counterattack. Both continued exchanging deadly slices as ‘friend’ begin to back up to the center pillar again by tee’s ferocious attacks, spiked charged back into the fight, and the duo kept on exchanging deadly swings, after seeing no other way but to back up, ‘friend’ attacked spike witch caught him off guard, the ocarina was destroyed, spike can see the soul from the inside slowly fading away with a smile on her face. By the time Spike looked up, ‘friend’ was already halfway across the room with tee in hot pursuit, tee and ‘friend’ stopped on the other end of the walkway as they continued their dance of death. All the while the air was filled with metallic clangs and clashes with tee’s every attack to the legs he would jump, with every attack to the head, he would duck. ‘Friend’ was slowly backed into the final smaller room with a giant bottomless hole in the middle both fought on without giving an opening but when spike arrived to the last chamber, ‘friend’s eye turned into silver reflecting the light from spike’s torch blinding her momentarily, before stabbing her in the chest and destroying her sword of life. Everything in Spike’s vision turned red, after seeing one of the ponies who understand him the most got killed in front of him,Spike let out a feral scream before attacking more furiously than before. But in Spike’s rage he had become careless and left ‘friend’ an opening to the torch. The torch of anger was shattered under the sword of ‘friend’, Spike’s world slowed down, he now had time to think, unlike just now where everything is a red blur, as the red pony’s soul faded away with a smile Spike thought of a new idea. Spike’s and ‘friend’s sword met with a final clang before Spike breathed out a blinding green fire blinding him then cut off both ‘friend’s forelegs. He then knelt Down and looked up at Spike with a hateful glare when spike hold the sword of death on his throat. The world stopped suddenly without warning. A pony walked into Spike’s view, slowly, after a serious looks , spike recognize that it was the same pony he saw when he was out for a walk last night, “hello, Spike” the mare said sweetly. Spike couldn’t move but he did opened his mouth to ask a simple question, “ who are you?” The mare just calmly walk towards Spike after a tap on the ground. Spike just looked at the mysterious mare carefully. The mare in question smiled before answering “ memory, my name and function is memory, I can alter or make you remember anything you want and forget everything you want...” Spike groaned inwardly to himself Spike then asked again with tiredness clear in his voice “what do you want then?” Memory chuckled and guided Spike’s face to look at Tee, “I want you to look at her, you're fighting a companion.” Memory pointed her forehoof at where tee has fallen spike turned his head at the direction “Notice that she still ‘fought’ her lover even though she could've of just walked away and let your blade do the magic after your first cut, she knew full well what It will do.” Spike’s needed to do a double take at what he saw. Tee who was still alive was looking at Spike’s direction with a crushed look on her face, lying down,as if she’s trying to get up, “alone for a thousand years in search of her husband only to fight and have him killed in front of her” memory said with a voice full sorrow. She then pointed to ‘friend’, The dragon turned and looked at the pony with a sword pointed at his throat “a innocent soul not in charged of his body and a young wizard driven to insanity by torture of an evil being. Can you truly blame him for threatening the town for the end of his own long lasting pain and suffering?” Memory asked spike sadly. “But I know I’m stealing your ‘friend’s job. My point still stands, can you blame them? Is it truly their fault? What about those in ponyville? Can you Blame them for forgetting you because they have their own lives to take care of? The road ahead is for you to choose and yours to walk alone, spike… choose your decision wisely from now on” and like that, memory faded out of view, a white mask suddenly materialize on Spike’s freehand as the world resumes… Spike closed his eyes put on the mask and made his decision. . . Ending one: “What's one less person on the face of the earth anyway? I can't just go back now...” Ending two: “Murder is a talent we all possess, but I will be going to where I began this journey… This is something not all of us possess…” Ending three: “Nothing can make injustice just but mercy. I have New beginnings New memories, And a New home now… So should you, you’ve suffered enough” ( author’s choice ) Ending four: “When you finally go back to your old home, you find it wasn’t the old home you missed but your childhood… Go, go and show mercy like I’ve shown you to someone else in need of it…”
Read 'A journey's end' first E2[youtube=https://youtu.be/rE7S4nLrThs] And so the baby dragon who was broken weeks ago made his decision. Armed with nothing but hate, took a swing with his sword and sliced the corrupted MR tech’s throat. the final word tech heard with his ears from the dragon was: “game over…” Mrs Tech, with the loss of her husband and her old body back,walked out of the final resting place of her lover into the everfree forest… expressionless… never to be seen again by spike, though spike can occasionally see a gray figure watching… Waiting to take away his life as he did with her husband... Twilight Sparkle, though decision not her own, had found Spike hunting alone a year later. She brought him back into the town of ponyville only to be shocked by how much his trip from the forest had changed the baby dragon. No longer Spike, the number one assistant Twilight once knew. That part of him died when he had entered the forest. Instead Spike became a calculating and deadpan person… cold and efficient. So similar to Twilight, yet also completely different. The town of Goodsprings continued to thrive within the everfree forest for years to come. Though a sighting of a certain blue mare can be sighted once in awhile, watching. The outcasts continued to live their lives and eventually the blue mare came to live with the town and lived a peaceful life. not much else was known about the mare… Angry and Happy finally found peace… without the artifacts to hold them together they fade away into nothingness. their final moments was a silent and relaxing sleep… oblivious to the time that have passed… And so this is the end of Spike’s journey… For now… in the world of equestria, there are millions of ponies with different stories to tell, sometimes they cross; but other times, they don’t. Who knows? Maybe Spike would find himself inside one of those stories, only the sands of time can tell...
Read 'A journey's end' first E4[youtube=https://youtu.be/rE7S4nLrThs] And so the baby dragon who was destroyed weeks ago made his decision. Filled with mercy, he took away with his sword and helped the corrupted MR tech’s up. The final word corrupted tech heard with his ears was:”game over…” As the dragon destroyed his own sword and mask and lifted the wizard’s curse while MR tech was spared. MR and mrs tech, with their old body back,walked out of the final resting place of the artifacts and into the everfree forest with smiles on their faces. never to be seen again by Spike … Twilight Sparkle, though decision not her own, had found Spike hunting alone one day. She brought him back into the town of ponyville only to be shocked by how much his trip into the forest had changed the baby dragon. No longer was Spike the number one assistant Twilight once knew, that part of him died when he had entered the forest… Spike changed into a laid back, distant, lazy, and reasonable person who always wore a smile on his face… The town of goodsprings continued to thrive within the everfree forest for years to come, though a sighting of a certain blue mare can be rumored once in awhile, watching. The outcasts continued to live their lives and eventually the blue mare came to live with the town and lived a peaceful life. Not much else was known about the mare or where she’d come from... Memory, Intel, Angry and Happy finally found peace… without the artifacts to hold them together they faded away into nothingness. their final moments was a silent and relaxing sleep… oblivious to the time that had passed… And so this is the end of Spike’s journey, for now. For in the world of Equestria, there are millions of ponies, all with different stories to tell, sometimes they cross, and sometimes they do not… who knows? Perhaps Spike would find himself inside one of those stories, only only the sands of time can tell...
Read 'A journey's end' first E3[youtube=https://youtu.be/rE7S4nLrThs] And so the baby dragon who was destroyed weeks ago made his decision. Filled with mercy, he took away with his sword and helped the corrupted MR tech’s up. The final word corrupted tech heard with his ears was:”game over…” As the dragon destroyed his own sword and mask, thus lifted the wizard’s curse while MR tech was spared. MR and MRS tech, with their old body back,walked out of the final resting place of the artifacts and into the everfree forest with smiles on their faces. never to be seen again by Spike … Twilight Sparkle, though decision not her own, had never found spike in the depths of the everfree again, her nights in her home was spent alone, within the cold walls she made for herself. Twilight blamed Rarity for her lost... No longer was Spike the number one assistant Twilight once knew however, that part of him died when he had entered the forest… Spike changed into a laid back, distant, lazy, and reasonable person who always wore a smile on his face… The town of goodsprings continued to thrive within the everfree forest for years to come with their newcomer, though a sighting of a certain blue mare can be rumored once in awhile, watching. The outcasts continued to live their lives and eventually the blue mare came to live with the town and lived a peaceful life. Not much else was known about the mare or where she’d come from... Memory, Intel, Angry and Happy finally found peace… without the artifacts to hold them together they faded away into nothingness. their final moments was a silent and relaxing sleep… oblivious to the time that had passed… And so this is the end of Spike’s journey, for now. For in the world of Equestria, there are millions of ponies, all with different stories to tell, sometimes they cross, and sometimes they do not… Perhaps Spike would find himself inside one of those stories, only only the sands of time can tell...
Read 'A journey's end' first! E1[youtube=https://youtu.be/rE7S4nLrThs] And so the baby dragon who was broken weeks ago made his decision. Armed with nothing but hate, he took a swing with his sword and sliced the corrupted MR tech’s throat. the final word tech heard with his ears from the dragon was: “game over…” Mrs Tech, with the loss of her husband and her old body back,walked out of the final resting place of her lover into the everfree forest...expressionless… never to be seen again by spike, though spike can occasionally see a gray figure watching… Waiting to take away his life as he did with her husband... Twilight Sparkle, though decision not her own, had never found spike in the depths of the everfree again, her nights in her home was spent alone, within the cold walls she made for herself hanging on to the fading memories with spike. Twilight blamed Rarity for her lost... No longer was Spike the number one assistant Twilight once knew however, that part of him died when he had entered the forest… Spike became a calculating and deadpan person… cold and efficient. So similar to Twilight, yet also completely different. The town of Goodsprings continued to thrive within the everfree forest for years to come with their newcomer. Though a sighting of a certain blue mare can be sighted once in awhile, watching. The outcasts continued to live their lives and eventually the blue mare came to live with the town and lived a peaceful life. not much else was known about the mare… Angry and Happy finally found peace… without the artifacts to hold them together they fade away into nothingness. their final moments was a silent and relaxing sleep… oblivious to the time that have passed… And so this is the end of Spike’s journey… For now… in the world of equestria, there are millions of ponies with different stories to tell, sometimes they cross; but other times, they don’t… Maybe Spike would find himself inside one of those stories, only the sands of time can tell...
