Spike 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.