Spike's Journal - Day 35 - August 9th
The time I've spent in hyperbreo Hyperborea seems like a lifetime... But I've finally made it, I'm on a ship homeward bound. I hate to admit it, but I've missed Twilight and Ponyville, but most of all I miss my bed. Still, Daring says I've really grown some backbone since I started this journey. I'm not one to brag but, yeah, I am pretty braveawes courageous! Anyway, we're about two hours out. It's gonna be a long ride. I'd catch up on my sleep if it weren't for the racket everypony's making on deck. It's almost like they're fighting up there or something!
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Spike's Journal - Day 1 - July 5th
I arrived in Las Pegasus by train at one o'clock, on time. To my surprise, there was an odd couple of ponies waiting for me at the stations end with a sign bearing my name. I hadn't expected anything this soon in the trip, so I wasn't sure what was going on...
The figure holding the sign stood hardily tall with beefy legs, a coat as black as midnight and a charcoal mane tinted with streaks of fiery-red embers of hair, a cigar smoking in his mouth and filling a small radius about his person. The small piece of cardboard he held in his muzzle bearing the name Spike coupled with the cigar would have looked almost comical, if he hadn't looked so intimidating. He appeared brutish in every sense of the word, an enforcer. Beside him sat a smaller but toned-looking pegasus. She bore a holster at her side armed with a .45 caliber revolver with a plain wooden grip, a lanyard ring and a 4-inch barrel with a Baughman-style front ramp sight and worn blued finish. With dark-pink eyes that held a cold, calculating, but mostly determined look in them, and a varyingly gray but equally icy-looking mane, she appeared a mercenary. But her golden coat shone brilliantly like sunlight and dismissed some of my uneasy feelings, her playfully wicked smile returned others. I started forward cautiously.
They seemed oblivious as Spike walked past, likely unaware of what their charge looked like. Satisfied that a villainous pair of ponies would have stopped him at any cost, more than fully aware of everything about him, he resigned fear and approached the duo. The pegasus noticed him first and her expression quickly turned to a winning smile. "Hey kid, are you Spike?"
"Yeah."
After sizing him up, the pegasus replied. "Short and simple, I like your style 'Shorty'."
Oh, joy. Well, at least she isn't calling me 'cutie' or 'cuddly-wuddly-face', or some other asinine nickname like that.. Spike could take that from Rarity, but sompony else? Looking at the beefy stallion he nervously asked. "Uh.. And you are?" The stallion replied by staring in the same direction he had been before, not a word in response.
"Yeah, he doesn't talk much Shorty... you hungry?"
Spike would have said no, not wanting to owe these strangers any favors, but his stomach replied swiftly with a loud grumble.
"I'll take that as a yes." she replied. "I know this great place across town, I have to stop here pretty often, old habits."
Spike looked at her accusingly.
"It's not what you think, I don't gamble. Unlike Discord, I do not play with dice. No, I come here to attend... ugh, meetings with my clients and to gather new information on old temples and ruins. This year ol' Magnus Bridle had some information on a trek in the deserts of Hyperborea with a live dragon. Good information it turns out. There's also a ruin not far from the dens I want to scope out. You'll be accompanied by a local my employer hired, so don't worry about getting off track. Basically, we'll travel with you as far as the crossroads between the ruins and the dens. Then, we'll meet up again before you get too ahead of me in the dens. The ruins will be impressive, but I want a look at those dragons. I would have been satisfied here and now, but you're not exactly what I was expecting..."
My pride... Spike couldn't help but be a little insulted, but he was too hungry to worry about that for long.
So, the trio made their way to the stranger's mystery restaurant, a barbecue place. Spike was astonished that such an establishment existed, back in Ponyville everypony was a vegetarian. When he questioned his nameless host she told him about the history of the area and its residents. "You see Shorty, a small half of western Equestria consists of a mostly gryphon population. They're meat eaters, so this area of Equestria has a rich culture in chow. Personally, I like meat. You probably would too, dragons are carnivores after all. Anyway, before the rule of Celestia and Luna, Equestria was much smaller, but during their rule they aquired these lands by buying them off the Gryphon Empire and the smaller Emipre of Hyperborea. Luckily, the gryphons that came here originally sought freedom from the oppression of the Empire, and the zebra colonies were in economic turmoil, so the colonists actually welcomed the Princesses' rule. But the biggest reason that they welcomed the Princesses was because of the wild nature of the region. You see, not only was it very undevelped, but the nomadic gryphon tribe of Talon that was native to this area still held power and often stole zebras and gryphons from their homes to use them for sacrificial rituals. The Gryphon Emperor couldn't do anything about it because his military forces were too widely spread, and the Hyperborean Emperor wouldn't do anything about it because she had little to gain from protecting a small chaotic colony so far from native zebra lands. The Princesses sent soldiers to this area to wipe out the nomads. But, finding the job more difficult than originally expected, allied themselves with the Talon's enemies, native tribes that were constantly attacked by the Talons. Banding together, they wiped out the Talons and established the first, and unfortunately last, successful treaty in the history of Equestria between the Equestrian government and the native tribes of Equestria."
Spike didn't know much about the history of Equestria, but he didn't mind learning. Having Twilight so far away actually got him missing her lessons. This stranger turned out to be just what Spike needed, she settled his thoughts the way Twilight always did, even if that was mostly because he'd fall asleep during her lectures. That reminded him, he still hadn't asked the stranger's name. "Hey, I never got to ask, what's your name?"
"Daring, Daring Do."
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