My Starbound Poniesby DedionChaptersGraduation DayBeam DownScience, Space, and ApplesGraduation DaySpike walked down the busy halls of Equestria's Stargate Academy. His arms weighed down by the two bags in his hands. Everywhere he looked he could see people from different races. There were dragons, griffins, sirens, diamond dogs, humans, and, of course, ponies. Though that was something he had grown used to in his four years of attending E.S.A. What had grabbed his attention was that everyone was getting ready for a large event. The second largest event that this academy held, graduation day. This year E.S.A is going to graduate its largest class in over a century and he was going to be part of it. Some would find themselves nervous in this situation and Spike was to an extent. The same could not be said for his roommate, Twilight Sparkle. Using his keycard, Spike entered his bedroom and found it just the way he left it, almost filled to the brim with papers and pens with a lavender unicorn sitting in the middle of it all. Spike sighed and carefully moved his way through the sea of paper and ink and managed to clear a space on his desk for his bags. The lavender unicorn still hadn't moved from her spot and was muttering something under her breath. After coughing a few times, the purple dragon managed to break the trance that was held over his roommate. "It's time for lunch, Twi." he said. The unicorn in question looked at him with confusion only to then snap her head towards the clock that hung over the doorway. Spike was right. It was lunch time, or to be more specific an hour passed lunch time, and she hadn't even noticed it. With a chuckle, she thanked Spike and helped him clean up the clutter that she had made. "Lunch looks good today," Twilight said as she molested her hayburger with her eyes. "Lunf awfays loks good," Spike responded through a mouth full of spicy noodles. "Spike... remember what I said about manners?" Twilight asked before taking a bite of her food. Spike slurped down his noodles and sighed. "Sorry Twilight. The lines at the cafeteria were really long and I had to pull some serious maneuvers to get through the traffic in the hallways. It normally takes about twenty minutes to get back here with the food." "Well, graduation day is just around the corner. In a few more days, we'll be graduates and from there onto the stars! It makes sense that everyone would be busy!" Twilight reasoned. Spike chuckled a bit. "Is that why I woke up this morning to find an ocean of papers at my feet? You've been busy?" "Reviewing and revising my speech for the ceremony." "It doesn't take an ocean of papers to review and revise a speech Twilight." "I want it to be perfect!" The two laughed at that before finishing their lunch. From there, Spike and Twilight spent the rest of the day finishing her speech. Then the next day was dedicated to spending time with friends. There were a couple tears shed at first. Then a few drops turned into a puddle and that puddle turned into a pond. Which then lead to that pond becoming a massive ocean. Twilight came back to her room with her clothes nearly drenched in salty tears. Spike didn't look any better. Both were surprised as to how sixty percent of it was from one mare. After drying off, grabbing dinner and watching an old movie together, their second day came to an end. Then came the third day, the final day, graduation day. To say Twilight was excited would be an understatement. She was more ready than anyone had ever seen her. She was up and in her graduation uniform before anyone had the chance to wake up. She stood in front of her bathroom mirror admiring her uniform. It was a black long sleeved collared shirt with a lightly armored vest over it. On her right arm, just below her shoulder, was her last name and first initial written in white down the length of her arms, but stopping just short of her elbow. Her pants were the same color as her shirt, but they got progressively whiter as they reached the bottom. Then finally in the middle of her vest was the acronym E.S.A. Overall it was simplistic, but it had its charm. While Twilight was admiring herself, Spike had managed to drag himself out of bed and eventually got his uniform on too. Soon, everyone had gotten ready for the ceremony. Twilight could tell it was going to be packed in the stadium. She could see hovercars lined up for miles. Each one carrying at least a party of four to the ceremony. Just thinking about all these eyes on her made her feel ill, but she shook it off. This was going to be her day and all of her peers' day as well. Nothing was going to ruin this moment. Minutes soon flew by as the ceremony took place. Before Twilight knew it, she was standing in line to get her reward for four years in the E.S.A. The Matter Manipulator Spellbook. They had all used a spell that was similar to the Matter Manipulator spell, but this would be the real thing. The real spell and all of its other components. "This will mark the beginning of my new life as a traveler of the stars." She thought to herself. She heard her name being called. She could feel her legs move toward Head Chief Celestia. The look of pride and happiness that was displayed on her face would only rival that of Twilight's parents. Twilight reached out to receive her spellbook from Celestia's hands and the moment her hand touched it, her life was changed forever. There was a sudden flash of light and screams erupted from the crowd of parents and family. Twilight didn't have time to react before she felt the sudden force of her fellow graduates knock her down to the ground. Everyone was rushing to escape, but from what Twilight didn't know. That was until her fellow graduates cleared out enough for her to see. Giant, black, thorny vines had burst through the stadium. Twilight looked around again to see that Celestia had reacted quick enough to put a defensive barrier between them and the vines, but it didn't look like it would hold. The vines smashed against the shield with all their force, taking away huge chunks of magic along with them. Celestia screamed for Twilight to run, but the words barely registered in Twilight's head. She felt someone tug on her arm. Spike had returned to get her, yelling for her to get up. She quickly rose to her feet and followed him. Spike continued to lead Twilight down the series of hallways that would eventually open up to the docking bays. Though it didn't take long before something got in their way. A large pile of rubble had blocked the hall. Spike grunted. This was was the shortest way to the docking bays. If they take the longer routes, all the ships might be gone by the time they reached them. Both of them soon remembered what they had in their possessions. Since Spike didn't have much magic besides teleporting small objects with fire, he was given the Matter Manipulator gun. He readied it and Twilight opened her book. With a pull of a trigger and a light of a horn, the two soon began to clear away the rubble with ease and continued on their way. It was in their sights. The docking bay was just up ahead. It just so happens that a vine erupted from the floor just in front of the doorway. It lunged at them, but Twilight was quick to react this time and place a magic barrier in front of them stopping the attack. Though the defense would be not last long. The vine had absorbed more magic that Twilight thought it would. The shield would probably hold up to one more attack. Spike to seen the fatigue on his friend's face and scanned the area for anything of use. In the light coming in from the door, Spike saw a glimmer of shining steel. It was a sword. It was a bit worn down, but it would do. As a second attack from the vine came, Spike rushed as quickly as he could. He tried to dodge the thorns of the vine and barely missed them before landing next to the sword. Twilight's shield blocked vine and even repelled it, but it shattered after the impact. Spike saw a window of opportunity, grabbed the sword, and slashed at the vine with all his might. The first cut managed to nearly sever the vine. It flinched in pain and gave Spike another chance. With another swing, Spike cut through the vine, leaving half of it on the floor spasming out. The other half quickly receded back into the floor. There was a moment of calm before Spike went to get Twilight back on her feet. Although she was still fatigued from the vine's attack, Twilight and Spike managed to get out onto the docking bay. Most of the ships had already left and were now exiting the atmosphere. The two found the closest one there was that wasn't taken. After presenting his M.M. gun to the ship's scanner and having the door open, Spike helped Twilight into the ship. Twilight found the closest seat and strapped herself in as Spike worked on the controls. The dragon managed to get the ship's systems to start up just as a cluster of vines erupted from the building behind them. Spike began to drive the ship way from the vines and into the sky. Unfortunately, the vines began to follow them. The monitor displayed them coming towards them. Spike did his best to dodge some of the incoming vines, but his ship wasn't made for fast maneuvers. He received blow after blow from the vines and red warning lights began to flash on the monitor. Spike knew he had to do something if he wanted to get away from the vines. It was a risky move, but he began to input the commands for a light speed jump. Of course, a warning popped up, which Spiked groaned in frustration at before dismissing. There was a sudden jerk and Spike could feel himself being pushed back into his seat. The ship started its jump, but not before a vine got one last hit on one the ship's engines. With a *thoom*, the ship carrying Twilight and Spike disappeared.Neither of them saw the planet that they called home explode into giant pieces of space debris nor would they find out what happened until they finished their jump. The two traveled across the stars just like they dreamed, but they would never see their home again. Author's Note It's my first time writing in a while. Tell me what you think and, if you can, give me some advice. Beam DownTwilight woke to the beeping of the ship's console. She unbuckled herself from her seat and tried to stand up. Her legs were a bit wobbly upon standing, but she managed to steady herself. Spike heard the shuffling behind him and dropped what he was doing to rush to his friend. Twilight barely withstood the dragon tackling her and almost fell to the floor. The two then shared a brief embrace. Tears and small fits of laughter came from the two in their short time in each other's arms. Once the two calmed down they tried to recollect themselves. "Are you okay Twilight? Nothing hurts?" Spike asked. "Besides a minor headache, I'm fine," Twilight answered. She looked over her draconic friend. He was mostly fine. There were some scuff marks here and there, but it wasn't until she looked at his right arm that she found it wrapped in partially bloodied gauze. "Are you okay?!" she asked as she gestured towards his injured arm. Spike looked at his arm and then shrugged. "It doesn't hurt anymore. That vine we fought really got me. The cut wasn't as deep as I thought though, but I still didn't want it to get infected. It's a good thing that this ship had some medkits." Spike answered. Twilight sighed in relief. "That's good. Now, let us see where we ended up." Twilight said as she went to sit in the console seat. Spike hurried behind her. "About that..." he began to say, but it was too late. Twilight had begun looking over what Spike had been doing prior to her awakening. She looked over the console once and then twice and finally a third time to make sure that what she was seeing was real. Red warning signs flashed everywhere. Their communications were down, their engines and thrusters were only working at twenty-five percent, the right side of the ships hull was severely damaged, the A.I. system was having trouble rebooting, and the warp drive was somehow damaged beyond simple repair. Not to mention that they were in a star system she hadn't been to before. Which meant that she had no idea where to go. She tried to search the vastness of space for any signs of constellations that looked familiar to her, but, with the limited reach of the ship's console, her search proved unsuccessful. She put her head in her hands and groaned. Spike sat in the co-pilot seat and looked into the black void of space. "How much food do we have?" Twilight asked. Spike sighed and leaned back into his seat. "We have about a week of food at best if we manage to ration it perfectly between us," Spike answered. Another groan could be heard from the lavender unicorn. Spike sighed as the two sat in silence for a few minutes, think about their next move. Though Twilight didn't know what to do. On the day of her graduation, her home planet was attacked by some vines that could absorb magic and now she was somewhere in the nearly infinite void of space with a damaged ship and a week of food. Twilight tried to find some hope in this situation. "Is there anything on this ship that still works perfectly?" she asked. "Well, there's the life support, obviously," Spike answered," as well as the left side blasters. The planetary scanner is still functional and the surface teleporter should still be working." Hearing this made Twilight instantly sit up. With a look of determination, she started to work on the console. She minimized the warning signs and zoomed in on their position to find the closest planet. It was then that she found one. It was about the same size as their home planet and if the scanner was right, there was edible vegetation there and the air was breathable. It would take about a day or so, with the current condition of their thrusters, to reach it and maybe a couple of hours after that to maintain an orbit around it. If anything, they could set up a base there until they could find a solution to how they were going to fix their damaged ship. "Spike, I'm setting a course. Keep an eye on the engines and thrusters for me." Twilight ordered. Spike nodded his head as the ship began to roar to life. Unfortunately, to the dismay of Spike, they found out that the radio had also been on the technology casualty list. With nothing but the sputtering of the engines and the low hum of the lights to entertain them in the silence, the two continued on their way to the planet Twilight selected. The two had finally made it towards their destination and had obtained an orbit. For Twilight, it wasn't as circular as she would have liked, but it would have to do. The two made sure that their Matter Manipulators' ship teleport function was synched to their ship before they activated the teleporter. With a flash of purple colored light, the two were beamed down to the planet's surface. The two blinked to get their eyes to focus. They were currently standing on the out edge of a lake with a few trees dotted here and there with the surrounding plain as well as some plants. On the horizon, more trees were scattered around. A few wildlife stood and looked at two new arrivals. After a stretching for a short while, Spike was the first to speak. "Okay, Cap'n. What should we do now?" he said. The unicorn question was looking through her Manipulator Spellbook. Her horn began to glow in a pale blue light. A beam was fired from her horn and a small pile of rubble appeared on the ground. "Ah... you found the building spell," said Spike. Twilight's smile began to spread across her face. "I think I'll start building our base. You wanna go look for some edible plants?" said Twilight. Spike shrugged as he readied his sword. "Don't think I have much of a choice, Twi. I also don't think I want to eat another meal of canned food," Spike said, "I swear they put too much salt in those things." With that, the two parted ways. Spike continued to walk throughout the vast plains that surrounded him. The quest to get food proved to be somewhat successful. Spike had managed to find some rice and sugar cane. Both of which he didn't expect to find on an alien planet. Though he also didn't expect to wind up in some unknown section of the galaxy with a busted ship on said alien planet. Spike finally came back to Twilight and his base and was awestruck at what he saw. In the time that he was gone, which he estimated was about an hour, Twilight had already built a decently sized cabin made out of wood and just outside the cabin was a campfire that was primed for lighting. Next to the right side of the door was what looked to be a wooden workbench. Spike then stood in the door frame of the cabin and looked inside. Twilight sat in a wooden chair, studying her Matter Manipulator Spellbook. In the back of the cabin was a furnace with a pile of coals beside it. A couple of oil lanterns helped brighten up the cabin as they hung from the ceiling. It wasn't much in here, but it was impressive. With a couple of knocks on the door frame, Spike gained Twilight's attention. She closed her book and official greeted Spike to their 'home away from home'. Spike chuckled a bit. "You know you could have just made a basic perimeter, a campfire, and called it a day right?" Spike asked. He used his manipulator to materialize the food he had collected and a can to cook it in. The sun was going down and it was time to cook. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But once I got the hang of my manipulator I just couldn't stop. Sure I had to go mining for some resources, but it was worth it." Twilight said with glee. Spike looked at her with curiosity. "Did you kill any creepers while you were mining? Got some gunpowder with you?" he joked. He then walked outside towards the campfire with Twilight close behind him. "Oh ha ha. No, I didn't. But I did manage to find some coal deposits as well as some copper veins. It's amazing how strong these things are." Twilight said, looking down at her spellbook. Spike poured some bottled water in a can of his harvested rice. "I'm surprised too. I'm surprised these things haven't been used in a murder case." Spike said as he lit the campfire with his green flames. "You now I've thought about that too. I did some research about it and even did a report on it," Twilight said. Spike remembered that report, all two hundred and fifty pages of it. He placed the can of rice into the fire and prepared himself for one of the many ramblings of Twilight Sparkle. Halfway through the rambling, Spike had to excuse himself to go to the ship for a minute. He returned to the base with a can of tomato soup, two bowls, and some plastic spoons. "Wait a minute. I thought you said you couldn't handle another meal of canned foods!" said Twilight. To which Spike shrugged and proceeded to up the can. "This rice is going to be pretty bland without any salt or sugar. And seeing as to how my manipulator hasn't finished converting the sugar cane into something usable, this was the second option." Spike admitted before placing the can in the fire alongside the rice. "With any luck, the soup shouldn't be too salty." Twilight soon continued her rambling as Spike kept checking on their food. Within ten minutes, everything was done and the two had their dinner. The fire's crackling was the only thing that kept the complete silence at bay. The two had time to really think about what had happened. As a result, the two had been quite the whole evening except for when Twilight had asked for seconds. Maybe it had to do with the fact that both of them were scared to ask what they were both thinkings that caused their voices to be lost to them. Neither of them wanted to bring into light what had happened or the possibility of what could be. It wasn't until Spike found that the can of rice and tomato soup had both ran dry did he finally find his voice. "So... what do you think happened to our home world?" Spike asked. He could see Twilight flinch a bit at the question. She put her bowl on the ground and laid on her back. "I... don't know," she answered, "I've been thinking about it for a while now and I've come up with a couple of possibilities. One of them being that the vines that attacked us were some kind of infestation and the world leaders have come up with a solution to combat them. Some other possibilities come to mind, but they seem a little too complicated. And then we have the worst case scenario." Spike listened closely. "And that is?" he asked. Twilight took a moment to collect herself. "Judging by the size of some of those vines and the sheer number of them, I'd have to say that they could be part of a larger organism. And if my theory is correct, though I'm starting to question it myself, then that organism is so large that its capable of... destroying an entire planet." Twilight said finally. The silence once again was held at bay with the crackling of the soon to be dead fire. The two sat for what seemed like hours looking up at the night sky. Once the fire had died, Spike had stood up and began to walk towards the cabin. "Well, we won't know what happened for sure if we don't get our ship fixed. So let's not get too gloomy eh?" he said. He turned to face Twilight with a smile on his face. Twilight looked at Spike for a moment before returning his smile and nodding in agreement. "You got our sleeping bags off the ship right?" Twilight nodded again as she followed the dragon into the cabin and made sure to finally craft and install a door for their cabin. The two slept comfortably that night with the mindset of fixing their ship to perfection. Science, Space, and ApplesDays had turned into weeks before Twilight and Spike even began to work on their ship. They had found that getting supplies was the most... tricky aspect of their task. Each time they dwelled underground for ores to turn into usable metal, their results would differ. On one occasion, Spike and Twilight had managed to mine a decent amount of ore. This lead to hours melting them all down to create some usable materials. On another occasion, the two would spend a couple of days underground with nothing to show for themselves except a handful of coal and tons upon tons of cobblestone. Something else happened on the days that were spent collecting needed materials. The duo happened to discover one of the planet's fauna. It was a peculiar thing. It seemed to be almost spherical in shape and was made of a springy material that allowed it to jump incredibly high for something of that size. What the two of them soon realized was that for this little guy to jump so high, there had to by a lot of force behind it. Their theory was proven correct as the orange creature, having noticed the two staring at it, launched forward at the duo. Spike had been quick enough to dodge out of the way before the blur of orange rammed into him. Twilight wasn't so quick on the draw and received her punishment for her slow reaction time. Her breath had left her body quicker than it ever had before as the orange creature slammed into her chest. Luckily, her chest plate had taken much of the attack. Though Twilight still felt the force of the creature driving out all the precious oxygen within her body. The next thing she knew was that she was on the ground with her vision slightly blurred. She didn't know how long she had been laying on the ground before Spike helped her to her feet. "W-what...? Where...?" Twilight tried to ask between deep breaths. Her lungs had not yet taken in enough of air to where she could pronounce complete sentences. Spike soon caught on to what the purple unicorn was trying to ask and pointed towards a giant scorch mark on the ground. Twilight could see the burnt remains of the creature that had attacked her. The smell of burnt flesh and liquids that Twilight had no idea of tortured her nostrils the longer she stayed there. The two had retired to their base for the rest of the day. After that encounter, the two continued to quickly gather as much of their resources as possible. They had much more encounters with the same species as before as well as different ones. Twilight's most favorite one was a creature that could naturally produce music. She had wanted to study its biology on numerous occasions, but lady luck was never on her side. She had also find out that these creatures could travel in packs and at the center of that pack was a mother. An enormous, very protective, mother. Twilight thanked her ability to be able to teleport every night before she went to sleep since then. Now, the two were working on fixing their ship. While Spike worked on repairing the outside of the ship, Twilight worked on fixing the communications. Thanks to the breathing apparatus that Twilight had made, Spike was about to work on the hull of the ship without worried too much about suffocating in the vacuum of space. Though Twilight still had to cast a protective spell around him. Even if he wasn't going to suffocate, there was still other risks of him being exposed to space. Spike wasn't known for his repair skills back in the academy, but he likes to think that his skills have improved a lot. Well, improved enough as to where they would have to worry about a stray piece of space debris punching a hole in their ship. Spike teleported into the ship and saw Twilight still working on the ship's console. "You know, you could have gone through the airlock," said Twilight. Spike sat in the co-pilot seat before responding to her. "I know, but I like teleporting. It makes me feel like I'm using magic," he said. He looked at the unicorn's expression and quickly spoke again. "No, Twilight. I don't want to hear your twenty-page essay about the 'natural energy field manipulation theory' for the fourth time," he said, quickly defusing the long speech that was coming. Spike then relaxed into his seat as Twilight continued to work on the console. After about fifteen minutes, she was able to finish her work. It wasn't a pretty repair job, but she fixed it enough to where their communications were back online and the A.I system was rebooting. Though A.I system was rebooting at a snail's pace. No, it wasn't even a snail's pace. A snail could have circled the entire planet the two were on twice before this thing could reach five percent completion. "How about we try and search for someone to contact?" Spike suggested. Twilight nodded as she began to scan around for a friendly ship they could contact. Both of them had their hopes that they could reach someone as well as have them speak a language that they could understand. It wasn't long before two small *bings* alerted the two that two ships were close enough to the point of communication. The two looked at the information on the ship that they were able to find. There were one cargo ship and two smaller ships flying alongside it. But what caught the dragon and unicorn off guard was that they were Apple Family ships. Both Spike and Twilight had let out a sigh of relief that, out of all things that they could find out here, it was the Apple Family the found. The Apple Family was known throughout most, if not all, of the galaxy for their apples, apple-based products, and their willingness to help. Twilight quickly sent a distress signal and the two waited in silence for a response. The two watched the screen and monitored the ships movements. The three ships had continued to drift through space for a while. "Did it reach them?" Spike asked. "They are in the range of our communications and the signal should have sent without any hindrance," answered Twilight, " Maybe they're debating on who is gonna come get us?" "Well, they are Apples. It's not like them to turn down a request to help unless they were they're doing business or need to get back to their farm. But even then they should have at least contacted us by now or some..." Spike was cut off when a ringing sound emanated throughout the ship. Looked at the monitor, he saw that one of the ships was trying to contact them. They immediately answered the call and the face of an orange pony with blonde hair came into view. A brown stetson laid upon her head. "Howdy ya'll. Name's Applejack. What seems to be the problem? " she asked. Twilight and Spike practically beamed with delight at the sight of another being that didn't try to eat their entrails for lunch. "Well, Applejack, I'm Twilight Sparkle and my ship received a lot of damage and we've been stuck on this planet for a couple of weeks. Do you think you can give my friend and me a ride to the nearest repair station?" Twilight said, her eyes shined with hope. "Ah see. How badly damaged is your ship?" Applejack asked. "Most of our outer hull was damaged, but I was able to fix it for the most part, " said Spike, " Our engines and thrusters have been through Tartarus and back. Not to mention our warp drive is completely dead." As Spike finished his last sentence, Applejack visibly winced. "Ooookay. That is bad. The crystal fuel for the drive is probably shot too. Getting those the crystals around these parts are gonna cost yah an arm and a leg, " Applejack said, as she rubbed the back of her head, "Ah can give ya'll a ride, but we'll have to come back for your ship. Ah don't have the equipment to tow other ships through space and The Winona is full of cargo right now." Twilight and Spike thanked the orange pony profusely. "Nah, ain't nothing to it. Ah'll be there in a few minutes." With that, Applejack canceled the call and the duo waited for their orange savior to get them. The inside of The Winona was very comfortable. There was a kitchen area stocked with enough food that it could feed a group of four for about two months, give or take a few days. There was a small recreational room just under the kitchen area. In it were a ping-pong table, a pool table, an intergalactic television set, and an oak table with a decent amount of board games on it. The duo of Spike and Twilight were soon lead to the cockpit where they met Applejack's big brother Big Macintosh, a stallion of few words. Finally, the two were led to the housing area. There were three rooms and each contained two beds. Further down the hall was a community shower. Applejack insisted the two take it for a spin. Twilight nervously chuckled as she volunteered to go first. Spike nodded and went into one of the rooms to wait for his turn. Applejack followed him. She had some questions for him. "So, how did yall's ship end up so banged up and how did ya'll get here?" she asked, "This is basically one of the backroads to the Interstellar Trading Center. Not many people travel this parts." "Well, there was this... thing... that attacked our planet," Spike started,"But it didn't seem like it wanted us to leave. So after getting smacked around a lot, I managed to jump us to some unknown spot. But that was a few weeks ago..." Spike seemed to stop for a bit as the gears in his head began to turn. He and Twilight had been lost on a planet with no communication to any other inhabited planet or anyone else. The mystery of what happened to his home planet could be answered right here and now. "Hey, have you heard anything about EQ 4368 in the past few weeks?" he asked. He visibly saw the orange pony wince at the mention of the planet. "Do ya'll really want to know?" Applejack asked. Spike held his head in his hands and sighed. "Listen, at this point, I just want to know," Spike said sadly, "Just give it to me straight and I'll worry about telling Twilight." Applejack nodded. "Ah heard about it on a news channel one day. EQ 4368 was found to have been destroyed," said Applejack, "There have been reports that there are refugees that have crash landed on other planets and some have made to some safe places. Nobody really knows what caused the planet to explode." Spike groaned loudly. Applejack drooped her ears. "Did you have any family living there?" she asked. "No, I was a planetary transfer student to E.S.A. So my family, or whats left of it, is on Dragonia-4. EQ 4368 wasn't my real home planet, but I treated it like it was. So, to find out that it's gone forever is... heartbreaking," Spike said, the tears that he had been holding back finally burned their way through to the surface and where now rolling down his cheeks."Twilight on the other hand though..." Spike answered. His attention turned towards the door. The sound of a muffled shower still running down the hall. An eerily silence filled the room the dragon and cowgirl for what felt like forever. It was Applejack to finally decided to break the silence. She stood up from one of the beds she had been sitting on and made her way to the door. "ah need to go check on the cargo. Holler at me over the intercom if you need anything," she said, "Oh and Spike..." The dragon lifted his head up to meet her gaze. She nearly felt the pain behind those emerald eyes of his. "... Ya'll have my condolences." Spike nodded his head before he placed his head in his hands again. The door to the room closed and Applejack's footsteps soo began to fade. The young dragon was alone with his thoughts for the moment. He constantly asked questions to himself. Did any of their friends survive the planet's destruction? If they did, are they okay? More questions came to the surface and more demanded to be answered, but Spike didn't have the answers they wanted. The only question that Spike had the vaguest idea of answering. "How am I going to tell this to Twilight?" he asked himself.
Graduation DaySpike walked down the busy halls of Equestria's Stargate Academy. His arms weighed down by the two bags in his hands. Everywhere he looked he could see people from different races. There were dragons, griffins, sirens, diamond dogs, humans, and, of course, ponies. Though that was something he had grown used to in his four years of attending E.S.A. What had grabbed his attention was that everyone was getting ready for a large event. The second largest event that this academy held, graduation day. This year E.S.A is going to graduate its largest class in over a century and he was going to be part of it. Some would find themselves nervous in this situation and Spike was to an extent. The same could not be said for his roommate, Twilight Sparkle. Using his keycard, Spike entered his bedroom and found it just the way he left it, almost filled to the brim with papers and pens with a lavender unicorn sitting in the middle of it all. Spike sighed and carefully moved his way through the sea of paper and ink and managed to clear a space on his desk for his bags. The lavender unicorn still hadn't moved from her spot and was muttering something under her breath. After coughing a few times, the purple dragon managed to break the trance that was held over his roommate. "It's time for lunch, Twi." he said. The unicorn in question looked at him with confusion only to then snap her head towards the clock that hung over the doorway. Spike was right. It was lunch time, or to be more specific an hour passed lunch time, and she hadn't even noticed it. With a chuckle, she thanked Spike and helped him clean up the clutter that she had made. "Lunch looks good today," Twilight said as she molested her hayburger with her eyes. "Lunf awfays loks good," Spike responded through a mouth full of spicy noodles. "Spike... remember what I said about manners?" Twilight asked before taking a bite of her food. Spike slurped down his noodles and sighed. "Sorry Twilight. The lines at the cafeteria were really long and I had to pull some serious maneuvers to get through the traffic in the hallways. It normally takes about twenty minutes to get back here with the food." "Well, graduation day is just around the corner. In a few more days, we'll be graduates and from there onto the stars! It makes sense that everyone would be busy!" Twilight reasoned. Spike chuckled a bit. "Is that why I woke up this morning to find an ocean of papers at my feet? You've been busy?" "Reviewing and revising my speech for the ceremony." "It doesn't take an ocean of papers to review and revise a speech Twilight." "I want it to be perfect!" The two laughed at that before finishing their lunch. From there, Spike and Twilight spent the rest of the day finishing her speech. Then the next day was dedicated to spending time with friends. There were a couple tears shed at first. Then a few drops turned into a puddle and that puddle turned into a pond. Which then lead to that pond becoming a massive ocean. Twilight came back to her room with her clothes nearly drenched in salty tears. Spike didn't look any better. Both were surprised as to how sixty percent of it was from one mare. After drying off, grabbing dinner and watching an old movie together, their second day came to an end. Then came the third day, the final day, graduation day. To say Twilight was excited would be an understatement. She was more ready than anyone had ever seen her. She was up and in her graduation uniform before anyone had the chance to wake up. She stood in front of her bathroom mirror admiring her uniform. It was a black long sleeved collared shirt with a lightly armored vest over it. On her right arm, just below her shoulder, was her last name and first initial written in white down the length of her arms, but stopping just short of her elbow. Her pants were the same color as her shirt, but they got progressively whiter as they reached the bottom. Then finally in the middle of her vest was the acronym E.S.A. Overall it was simplistic, but it had its charm. While Twilight was admiring herself, Spike had managed to drag himself out of bed and eventually got his uniform on too. Soon, everyone had gotten ready for the ceremony. Twilight could tell it was going to be packed in the stadium. She could see hovercars lined up for miles. Each one carrying at least a party of four to the ceremony. Just thinking about all these eyes on her made her feel ill, but she shook it off. This was going to be her day and all of her peers' day as well. Nothing was going to ruin this moment. Minutes soon flew by as the ceremony took place. Before Twilight knew it, she was standing in line to get her reward for four years in the E.S.A. The Matter Manipulator Spellbook. They had all used a spell that was similar to the Matter Manipulator spell, but this would be the real thing. The real spell and all of its other components. "This will mark the beginning of my new life as a traveler of the stars." She thought to herself. She heard her name being called. She could feel her legs move toward Head Chief Celestia. The look of pride and happiness that was displayed on her face would only rival that of Twilight's parents. Twilight reached out to receive her spellbook from Celestia's hands and the moment her hand touched it, her life was changed forever. There was a sudden flash of light and screams erupted from the crowd of parents and family. Twilight didn't have time to react before she felt the sudden force of her fellow graduates knock her down to the ground. Everyone was rushing to escape, but from what Twilight didn't know. That was until her fellow graduates cleared out enough for her to see. Giant, black, thorny vines had burst through the stadium. Twilight looked around again to see that Celestia had reacted quick enough to put a defensive barrier between them and the vines, but it didn't look like it would hold. The vines smashed against the shield with all their force, taking away huge chunks of magic along with them. Celestia screamed for Twilight to run, but the words barely registered in Twilight's head. She felt someone tug on her arm. Spike had returned to get her, yelling for her to get up. She quickly rose to her feet and followed him. Spike continued to lead Twilight down the series of hallways that would eventually open up to the docking bays. Though it didn't take long before something got in their way. A large pile of rubble had blocked the hall. Spike grunted. This was was the shortest way to the docking bays. If they take the longer routes, all the ships might be gone by the time they reached them. Both of them soon remembered what they had in their possessions. Since Spike didn't have much magic besides teleporting small objects with fire, he was given the Matter Manipulator gun. He readied it and Twilight opened her book. With a pull of a trigger and a light of a horn, the two soon began to clear away the rubble with ease and continued on their way. It was in their sights. The docking bay was just up ahead. It just so happens that a vine erupted from the floor just in front of the doorway. It lunged at them, but Twilight was quick to react this time and place a magic barrier in front of them stopping the attack. Though the defense would be not last long. The vine had absorbed more magic that Twilight thought it would. The shield would probably hold up to one more attack. Spike to seen the fatigue on his friend's face and scanned the area for anything of use. In the light coming in from the door, Spike saw a glimmer of shining steel. It was a sword. It was a bit worn down, but it would do. As a second attack from the vine came, Spike rushed as quickly as he could. He tried to dodge the thorns of the vine and barely missed them before landing next to the sword. Twilight's shield blocked vine and even repelled it, but it shattered after the impact. Spike saw a window of opportunity, grabbed the sword, and slashed at the vine with all his might. The first cut managed to nearly sever the vine. It flinched in pain and gave Spike another chance. With another swing, Spike cut through the vine, leaving half of it on the floor spasming out. The other half quickly receded back into the floor. There was a moment of calm before Spike went to get Twilight back on her feet. Although she was still fatigued from the vine's attack, Twilight and Spike managed to get out onto the docking bay. Most of the ships had already left and were now exiting the atmosphere. The two found the closest one there was that wasn't taken. After presenting his M.M. gun to the ship's scanner and having the door open, Spike helped Twilight into the ship. Twilight found the closest seat and strapped herself in as Spike worked on the controls. The dragon managed to get the ship's systems to start up just as a cluster of vines erupted from the building behind them. Spike began to drive the ship way from the vines and into the sky. Unfortunately, the vines began to follow them. The monitor displayed them coming towards them. Spike did his best to dodge some of the incoming vines, but his ship wasn't made for fast maneuvers. He received blow after blow from the vines and red warning lights began to flash on the monitor. Spike knew he had to do something if he wanted to get away from the vines. It was a risky move, but he began to input the commands for a light speed jump. Of course, a warning popped up, which Spiked groaned in frustration at before dismissing. There was a sudden jerk and Spike could feel himself being pushed back into his seat. The ship started its jump, but not before a vine got one last hit on one the ship's engines. With a *thoom*, the ship carrying Twilight and Spike disappeared.Neither of them saw the planet that they called home explode into giant pieces of space debris nor would they find out what happened until they finished their jump. The two traveled across the stars just like they dreamed, but they would never see their home again. Author's Note It's my first time writing in a while. Tell me what you think and, if you can, give me some advice.
Beam DownTwilight woke to the beeping of the ship's console. She unbuckled herself from her seat and tried to stand up. Her legs were a bit wobbly upon standing, but she managed to steady herself. Spike heard the shuffling behind him and dropped what he was doing to rush to his friend. Twilight barely withstood the dragon tackling her and almost fell to the floor. The two then shared a brief embrace. Tears and small fits of laughter came from the two in their short time in each other's arms. Once the two calmed down they tried to recollect themselves. "Are you okay Twilight? Nothing hurts?" Spike asked. "Besides a minor headache, I'm fine," Twilight answered. She looked over her draconic friend. He was mostly fine. There were some scuff marks here and there, but it wasn't until she looked at his right arm that she found it wrapped in partially bloodied gauze. "Are you okay?!" she asked as she gestured towards his injured arm. Spike looked at his arm and then shrugged. "It doesn't hurt anymore. That vine we fought really got me. The cut wasn't as deep as I thought though, but I still didn't want it to get infected. It's a good thing that this ship had some medkits." Spike answered. Twilight sighed in relief. "That's good. Now, let us see where we ended up." Twilight said as she went to sit in the console seat. Spike hurried behind her. "About that..." he began to say, but it was too late. Twilight had begun looking over what Spike had been doing prior to her awakening. She looked over the console once and then twice and finally a third time to make sure that what she was seeing was real. Red warning signs flashed everywhere. Their communications were down, their engines and thrusters were only working at twenty-five percent, the right side of the ships hull was severely damaged, the A.I. system was having trouble rebooting, and the warp drive was somehow damaged beyond simple repair. Not to mention that they were in a star system she hadn't been to before. Which meant that she had no idea where to go. She tried to search the vastness of space for any signs of constellations that looked familiar to her, but, with the limited reach of the ship's console, her search proved unsuccessful. She put her head in her hands and groaned. Spike sat in the co-pilot seat and looked into the black void of space. "How much food do we have?" Twilight asked. Spike sighed and leaned back into his seat. "We have about a week of food at best if we manage to ration it perfectly between us," Spike answered. Another groan could be heard from the lavender unicorn. Spike sighed as the two sat in silence for a few minutes, think about their next move. Though Twilight didn't know what to do. On the day of her graduation, her home planet was attacked by some vines that could absorb magic and now she was somewhere in the nearly infinite void of space with a damaged ship and a week of food. Twilight tried to find some hope in this situation. "Is there anything on this ship that still works perfectly?" she asked. "Well, there's the life support, obviously," Spike answered," as well as the left side blasters. The planetary scanner is still functional and the surface teleporter should still be working." Hearing this made Twilight instantly sit up. With a look of determination, she started to work on the console. She minimized the warning signs and zoomed in on their position to find the closest planet. It was then that she found one. It was about the same size as their home planet and if the scanner was right, there was edible vegetation there and the air was breathable. It would take about a day or so, with the current condition of their thrusters, to reach it and maybe a couple of hours after that to maintain an orbit around it. If anything, they could set up a base there until they could find a solution to how they were going to fix their damaged ship. "Spike, I'm setting a course. Keep an eye on the engines and thrusters for me." Twilight ordered. Spike nodded his head as the ship began to roar to life. Unfortunately, to the dismay of Spike, they found out that the radio had also been on the technology casualty list. With nothing but the sputtering of the engines and the low hum of the lights to entertain them in the silence, the two continued on their way to the planet Twilight selected. The two had finally made it towards their destination and had obtained an orbit. For Twilight, it wasn't as circular as she would have liked, but it would have to do. The two made sure that their Matter Manipulators' ship teleport function was synched to their ship before they activated the teleporter. With a flash of purple colored light, the two were beamed down to the planet's surface. The two blinked to get their eyes to focus. They were currently standing on the out edge of a lake with a few trees dotted here and there with the surrounding plain as well as some plants. On the horizon, more trees were scattered around. A few wildlife stood and looked at two new arrivals. After a stretching for a short while, Spike was the first to speak. "Okay, Cap'n. What should we do now?" he said. The unicorn question was looking through her Manipulator Spellbook. Her horn began to glow in a pale blue light. A beam was fired from her horn and a small pile of rubble appeared on the ground. "Ah... you found the building spell," said Spike. Twilight's smile began to spread across her face. "I think I'll start building our base. You wanna go look for some edible plants?" said Twilight. Spike shrugged as he readied his sword. "Don't think I have much of a choice, Twi. I also don't think I want to eat another meal of canned food," Spike said, "I swear they put too much salt in those things." With that, the two parted ways. Spike continued to walk throughout the vast plains that surrounded him. The quest to get food proved to be somewhat successful. Spike had managed to find some rice and sugar cane. Both of which he didn't expect to find on an alien planet. Though he also didn't expect to wind up in some unknown section of the galaxy with a busted ship on said alien planet. Spike finally came back to Twilight and his base and was awestruck at what he saw. In the time that he was gone, which he estimated was about an hour, Twilight had already built a decently sized cabin made out of wood and just outside the cabin was a campfire that was primed for lighting. Next to the right side of the door was what looked to be a wooden workbench. Spike then stood in the door frame of the cabin and looked inside. Twilight sat in a wooden chair, studying her Matter Manipulator Spellbook. In the back of the cabin was a furnace with a pile of coals beside it. A couple of oil lanterns helped brighten up the cabin as they hung from the ceiling. It wasn't much in here, but it was impressive. With a couple of knocks on the door frame, Spike gained Twilight's attention. She closed her book and official greeted Spike to their 'home away from home'. Spike chuckled a bit. "You know you could have just made a basic perimeter, a campfire, and called it a day right?" Spike asked. He used his manipulator to materialize the food he had collected and a can to cook it in. The sun was going down and it was time to cook. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But once I got the hang of my manipulator I just couldn't stop. Sure I had to go mining for some resources, but it was worth it." Twilight said with glee. Spike looked at her with curiosity. "Did you kill any creepers while you were mining? Got some gunpowder with you?" he joked. He then walked outside towards the campfire with Twilight close behind him. "Oh ha ha. No, I didn't. But I did manage to find some coal deposits as well as some copper veins. It's amazing how strong these things are." Twilight said, looking down at her spellbook. Spike poured some bottled water in a can of his harvested rice. "I'm surprised too. I'm surprised these things haven't been used in a murder case." Spike said as he lit the campfire with his green flames. "You now I've thought about that too. I did some research about it and even did a report on it," Twilight said. Spike remembered that report, all two hundred and fifty pages of it. He placed the can of rice into the fire and prepared himself for one of the many ramblings of Twilight Sparkle. Halfway through the rambling, Spike had to excuse himself to go to the ship for a minute. He returned to the base with a can of tomato soup, two bowls, and some plastic spoons. "Wait a minute. I thought you said you couldn't handle another meal of canned foods!" said Twilight. To which Spike shrugged and proceeded to up the can. "This rice is going to be pretty bland without any salt or sugar. And seeing as to how my manipulator hasn't finished converting the sugar cane into something usable, this was the second option." Spike admitted before placing the can in the fire alongside the rice. "With any luck, the soup shouldn't be too salty." Twilight soon continued her rambling as Spike kept checking on their food. Within ten minutes, everything was done and the two had their dinner. The fire's crackling was the only thing that kept the complete silence at bay. The two had time to really think about what had happened. As a result, the two had been quite the whole evening except for when Twilight had asked for seconds. Maybe it had to do with the fact that both of them were scared to ask what they were both thinkings that caused their voices to be lost to them. Neither of them wanted to bring into light what had happened or the possibility of what could be. It wasn't until Spike found that the can of rice and tomato soup had both ran dry did he finally find his voice. "So... what do you think happened to our home world?" Spike asked. He could see Twilight flinch a bit at the question. She put her bowl on the ground and laid on her back. "I... don't know," she answered, "I've been thinking about it for a while now and I've come up with a couple of possibilities. One of them being that the vines that attacked us were some kind of infestation and the world leaders have come up with a solution to combat them. Some other possibilities come to mind, but they seem a little too complicated. And then we have the worst case scenario." Spike listened closely. "And that is?" he asked. Twilight took a moment to collect herself. "Judging by the size of some of those vines and the sheer number of them, I'd have to say that they could be part of a larger organism. And if my theory is correct, though I'm starting to question it myself, then that organism is so large that its capable of... destroying an entire planet." Twilight said finally. The silence once again was held at bay with the crackling of the soon to be dead fire. The two sat for what seemed like hours looking up at the night sky. Once the fire had died, Spike had stood up and began to walk towards the cabin. "Well, we won't know what happened for sure if we don't get our ship fixed. So let's not get too gloomy eh?" he said. He turned to face Twilight with a smile on his face. Twilight looked at Spike for a moment before returning his smile and nodding in agreement. "You got our sleeping bags off the ship right?" Twilight nodded again as she followed the dragon into the cabin and made sure to finally craft and install a door for their cabin. The two slept comfortably that night with the mindset of fixing their ship to perfection.
Science, Space, and ApplesDays had turned into weeks before Twilight and Spike even began to work on their ship. They had found that getting supplies was the most... tricky aspect of their task. Each time they dwelled underground for ores to turn into usable metal, their results would differ. On one occasion, Spike and Twilight had managed to mine a decent amount of ore. This lead to hours melting them all down to create some usable materials. On another occasion, the two would spend a couple of days underground with nothing to show for themselves except a handful of coal and tons upon tons of cobblestone. Something else happened on the days that were spent collecting needed materials. The duo happened to discover one of the planet's fauna. It was a peculiar thing. It seemed to be almost spherical in shape and was made of a springy material that allowed it to jump incredibly high for something of that size. What the two of them soon realized was that for this little guy to jump so high, there had to by a lot of force behind it. Their theory was proven correct as the orange creature, having noticed the two staring at it, launched forward at the duo. Spike had been quick enough to dodge out of the way before the blur of orange rammed into him. Twilight wasn't so quick on the draw and received her punishment for her slow reaction time. Her breath had left her body quicker than it ever had before as the orange creature slammed into her chest. Luckily, her chest plate had taken much of the attack. Though Twilight still felt the force of the creature driving out all the precious oxygen within her body. The next thing she knew was that she was on the ground with her vision slightly blurred. She didn't know how long she had been laying on the ground before Spike helped her to her feet. "W-what...? Where...?" Twilight tried to ask between deep breaths. Her lungs had not yet taken in enough of air to where she could pronounce complete sentences. Spike soon caught on to what the purple unicorn was trying to ask and pointed towards a giant scorch mark on the ground. Twilight could see the burnt remains of the creature that had attacked her. The smell of burnt flesh and liquids that Twilight had no idea of tortured her nostrils the longer she stayed there. The two had retired to their base for the rest of the day. After that encounter, the two continued to quickly gather as much of their resources as possible. They had much more encounters with the same species as before as well as different ones. Twilight's most favorite one was a creature that could naturally produce music. She had wanted to study its biology on numerous occasions, but lady luck was never on her side. She had also find out that these creatures could travel in packs and at the center of that pack was a mother. An enormous, very protective, mother. Twilight thanked her ability to be able to teleport every night before she went to sleep since then. Now, the two were working on fixing their ship. While Spike worked on repairing the outside of the ship, Twilight worked on fixing the communications. Thanks to the breathing apparatus that Twilight had made, Spike was about to work on the hull of the ship without worried too much about suffocating in the vacuum of space. Though Twilight still had to cast a protective spell around him. Even if he wasn't going to suffocate, there was still other risks of him being exposed to space. Spike wasn't known for his repair skills back in the academy, but he likes to think that his skills have improved a lot. Well, improved enough as to where they would have to worry about a stray piece of space debris punching a hole in their ship. Spike teleported into the ship and saw Twilight still working on the ship's console. "You know, you could have gone through the airlock," said Twilight. Spike sat in the co-pilot seat before responding to her. "I know, but I like teleporting. It makes me feel like I'm using magic," he said. He looked at the unicorn's expression and quickly spoke again. "No, Twilight. I don't want to hear your twenty-page essay about the 'natural energy field manipulation theory' for the fourth time," he said, quickly defusing the long speech that was coming. Spike then relaxed into his seat as Twilight continued to work on the console. After about fifteen minutes, she was able to finish her work. It wasn't a pretty repair job, but she fixed it enough to where their communications were back online and the A.I system was rebooting. Though A.I system was rebooting at a snail's pace. No, it wasn't even a snail's pace. A snail could have circled the entire planet the two were on twice before this thing could reach five percent completion. "How about we try and search for someone to contact?" Spike suggested. Twilight nodded as she began to scan around for a friendly ship they could contact. Both of them had their hopes that they could reach someone as well as have them speak a language that they could understand. It wasn't long before two small *bings* alerted the two that two ships were close enough to the point of communication. The two looked at the information on the ship that they were able to find. There were one cargo ship and two smaller ships flying alongside it. But what caught the dragon and unicorn off guard was that they were Apple Family ships. Both Spike and Twilight had let out a sigh of relief that, out of all things that they could find out here, it was the Apple Family the found. The Apple Family was known throughout most, if not all, of the galaxy for their apples, apple-based products, and their willingness to help. Twilight quickly sent a distress signal and the two waited in silence for a response. The two watched the screen and monitored the ships movements. The three ships had continued to drift through space for a while. "Did it reach them?" Spike asked. "They are in the range of our communications and the signal should have sent without any hindrance," answered Twilight, " Maybe they're debating on who is gonna come get us?" "Well, they are Apples. It's not like them to turn down a request to help unless they were they're doing business or need to get back to their farm. But even then they should have at least contacted us by now or some..." Spike was cut off when a ringing sound emanated throughout the ship. Looked at the monitor, he saw that one of the ships was trying to contact them. They immediately answered the call and the face of an orange pony with blonde hair came into view. A brown stetson laid upon her head. "Howdy ya'll. Name's Applejack. What seems to be the problem? " she asked. Twilight and Spike practically beamed with delight at the sight of another being that didn't try to eat their entrails for lunch. "Well, Applejack, I'm Twilight Sparkle and my ship received a lot of damage and we've been stuck on this planet for a couple of weeks. Do you think you can give my friend and me a ride to the nearest repair station?" Twilight said, her eyes shined with hope. "Ah see. How badly damaged is your ship?" Applejack asked. "Most of our outer hull was damaged, but I was able to fix it for the most part, " said Spike, " Our engines and thrusters have been through Tartarus and back. Not to mention our warp drive is completely dead." As Spike finished his last sentence, Applejack visibly winced. "Ooookay. That is bad. The crystal fuel for the drive is probably shot too. Getting those the crystals around these parts are gonna cost yah an arm and a leg, " Applejack said, as she rubbed the back of her head, "Ah can give ya'll a ride, but we'll have to come back for your ship. Ah don't have the equipment to tow other ships through space and The Winona is full of cargo right now." Twilight and Spike thanked the orange pony profusely. "Nah, ain't nothing to it. Ah'll be there in a few minutes." With that, Applejack canceled the call and the duo waited for their orange savior to get them. The inside of The Winona was very comfortable. There was a kitchen area stocked with enough food that it could feed a group of four for about two months, give or take a few days. There was a small recreational room just under the kitchen area. In it were a ping-pong table, a pool table, an intergalactic television set, and an oak table with a decent amount of board games on it. The duo of Spike and Twilight were soon lead to the cockpit where they met Applejack's big brother Big Macintosh, a stallion of few words. Finally, the two were led to the housing area. There were three rooms and each contained two beds. Further down the hall was a community shower. Applejack insisted the two take it for a spin. Twilight nervously chuckled as she volunteered to go first. Spike nodded and went into one of the rooms to wait for his turn. Applejack followed him. She had some questions for him. "So, how did yall's ship end up so banged up and how did ya'll get here?" she asked, "This is basically one of the backroads to the Interstellar Trading Center. Not many people travel this parts." "Well, there was this... thing... that attacked our planet," Spike started,"But it didn't seem like it wanted us to leave. So after getting smacked around a lot, I managed to jump us to some unknown spot. But that was a few weeks ago..." Spike seemed to stop for a bit as the gears in his head began to turn. He and Twilight had been lost on a planet with no communication to any other inhabited planet or anyone else. The mystery of what happened to his home planet could be answered right here and now. "Hey, have you heard anything about EQ 4368 in the past few weeks?" he asked. He visibly saw the orange pony wince at the mention of the planet. "Do ya'll really want to know?" Applejack asked. Spike held his head in his hands and sighed. "Listen, at this point, I just want to know," Spike said sadly, "Just give it to me straight and I'll worry about telling Twilight." Applejack nodded. "Ah heard about it on a news channel one day. EQ 4368 was found to have been destroyed," said Applejack, "There have been reports that there are refugees that have crash landed on other planets and some have made to some safe places. Nobody really knows what caused the planet to explode." Spike groaned loudly. Applejack drooped her ears. "Did you have any family living there?" she asked. "No, I was a planetary transfer student to E.S.A. So my family, or whats left of it, is on Dragonia-4. EQ 4368 wasn't my real home planet, but I treated it like it was. So, to find out that it's gone forever is... heartbreaking," Spike said, the tears that he had been holding back finally burned their way through to the surface and where now rolling down his cheeks."Twilight on the other hand though..." Spike answered. His attention turned towards the door. The sound of a muffled shower still running down the hall. An eerily silence filled the room the dragon and cowgirl for what felt like forever. It was Applejack to finally decided to break the silence. She stood up from one of the beds she had been sitting on and made her way to the door. "ah need to go check on the cargo. Holler at me over the intercom if you need anything," she said, "Oh and Spike..." The dragon lifted his head up to meet her gaze. She nearly felt the pain behind those emerald eyes of his. "... Ya'll have my condolences." Spike nodded his head before he placed his head in his hands again. The door to the room closed and Applejack's footsteps soo began to fade. The young dragon was alone with his thoughts for the moment. He constantly asked questions to himself. Did any of their friends survive the planet's destruction? If they did, are they okay? More questions came to the surface and more demanded to be answered, but Spike didn't have the answers they wanted. The only question that Spike had the vaguest idea of answering. "How am I going to tell this to Twilight?" he asked himself.
