//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Blooming Travels 
// by Soniclink137 
//------------------------------//

Spike placed his right claw on a pillar to rest up for a bit. The drake finally managed to get a second alone after being chased by Royal Guards members and even the local police once they caught wind of him for most of the night. He knew, or at least he figured, that a dragon his age didn’t need as much sleep as the average pony his age but he also knew not getting a lick of sleep all night wouldn’t help him too much.

The problem was while Spike’s wings are stronger than the guards’ they could still outfly him and they were even more mobile leaving Spike to most run across the ground. But even there he knew he could be outrun easily by most trained guards so Spike had to be tricky. For most of the night Spike had been ducking in and out of alleyways or if he reached the occasional park he would use the equipment there in order to help him hide out. One time, much to his embarrassment, he had to hide in the tubes of one of the playgrounds, and to even more of his embarrassment the guards didn’t bother looking there because they didn’t expect a teenage dragon would hide in a play place for young fillies and colts.

After evading the guards Spike would usually attempt to find his way back out of the city so he could join back at camp with Apple Bloom, but before he was able to get very far he would always be seen by either a guard member or some pony who would report him to the police/guards starting the cycle all over again. It’s been this way all night with no sign of changing anytime soon. The guards don’t seem to want to quit anytime soon and Spike of course won’t quit either. He will not under any circumstance go back to Canterlot so long as it was within his power.

After spending a few seconds to catch his breath Spike walked to his right to take a quick peek out of the alleyway he was standing in. As he expected guards were lining the streets asking the few civilians there if they’ve seen him. And since Spike was sure at least one of them saw him run into the alley he knew he didn’t have much more time.

This is working out well, Spike sarcastically thought. An entire night and I’m still nowhere near escaping the guards.

Spike turned around getting ready to run. Alright Spike, time to make a getaway.

The purple drake walked farther into the alley until he reached the back of it, as far as he could go. Of course as far as he could go was until he reached a metal fence but that was no problem for him. He quickly spread his wings and flapped them to give him some lift as he tried to go over the fence separating him from another alleyway. Spike reached the top of the fence and with his claws he grabbed the top, flipped over it, and fell feet first on the other side. Spike landed with a small smack, and after giving himself a few seconds to recover from the fall Spike ran as far as he could across the next alleyway until he got close to the street.

Once Spike reached the street he stopped for a second to look left and right to see if there were any ponies on the street. He saw about five ponies walking the street, but unfortunately for Spike that was five too many. He hoped he would pass by a street without anypony on it, but unfortunately he shouldn’t have thought he would be so lucky with the sun starting to rise.

One of the disadvantages of being the only dragon that lives as an Equestrian citizen was Spike had no way of avoiding attention to himself. Most ponies knew who he was, either because he was the one who saved the Crystal Empire so many years back or because his connections with Twilight, and if they see any sign of him and see him, they know it’s one in the same even without getting a good look at him. And for those that don’t, they’d just run to the police anyways when they see a solitary dragon walking the streets. The only chance Spike had of not being noticed was if they haven’t seen the runaway posters yet knew who he was, but Spike highly doubted that would happen with five ponies on the street.

Alright Spike, just take your time and wait a couple seconds, Spike thought as he kept a careful eye on the ponies walking the streets until he felt he could dash past them. Once Spike thought he had an opening he quickly marked where he wanted to go before going there. He quickly ran through the street like a purple blur and hit the wall on the other side. Once Spike reached the wall he flapped his wings and quickly climbed over it onto the rooftops. After getting over the fact that the roofs look like cloud tops but feels like a normal roof, Spike ran across it until he reached the next alleyway a few yards ahead and dropped in.

Once the teenage dragon jumped down he took a few seconds to recover, catch his breath, and come up with another plan. He realized he has been doing this for way too long, and wanted to find some way of returning back to the campsite without bringing the guards with him so he could get some rest. Of course it was at that moment that Spike realized he had no clue where he was.

“Guess I’m going above again,” Spike said to himself. “Hopefully nopony decides to randomly look into the skies to see me. And maybe if I can get above the clouds and the pegasi aren’t moving them I’ll be able to use them as cover while heading back to where Apple Bloom and I are camping. I’m sure she’s going to wake up soon, and I’ll bet all the bits I have in my bag if she sees I’m not there she’ll come in to find me. And probably get more badly lost then I used to be.”

Spike heard some disturbance from behind him which suggested to him that the guards were catching up to him. So Spike quickly took to the skies and flew higher and higher until he was as high as some of the tallest buildings on the ground. Of course at this height Spike knew he’d be visible by the many pegasi in the cloud homes he was seeing at his altitude but he was less worried about them since they probably didn’t know he was a runaway yet.

Spike also got a little chuckle when he looked below himself. Los Pegasus was always considered to be Canterlot and Cloudsdale collided and Spike could really see why that was from his altitude. While the streets and buildings looked like they were made of clouds they had a similar structure to them that reminded Spike of the place he spent a lot of time in his childhood. There were also plenty of grassy parks around Los Pegasus and didn’t have any look of Cloudsdale at all. The only thing missing was the large castle in the center, but Spike guessed Applewood to his right shining almost as bright as the sun was the closest they were going to get.

Unfortunately Spike didn’t a chance to gawk at the scenery below him for long because he heard the heavy beat of pegasus wings coming closer behind him. Spike put more energy in his right wing to turn counterclockwise and see what was coming after him. Of course instead of being a few pegasi wanting to see a dragon up close, it had to be some royal guard members. 

“Hey you!” the royal guard member in the center said. “Twilight Sparkle wants to talk to you in Canterlot. You may either come quietly or we will have to force you. It is your choice.”

“I don’t think so,” Spike told them back. “Go back and tell Twilight that if she wanted to talk she should have listened to me before all of this! She had her chance and she blew it!”

“But she…” the royal guard member to Spike’s left said. He had a deeper voice then the middle one.

“I don’t care!” Spike interrupted. “I don’t care what Twilight has to say anymore. She clearly doesn’t care what I have to say so why should I?”

“Wait!” the royal guard member to Spike’s right said. He had a lighter voice than the middle one. “The princess says this is all just a misunderstanding and…”

“Misunderstanding?” Spike asked. “I don’t think so. She understood me clearly and I understood her clearly. Twilight’s not going to help me, so I have to help myself. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

Spike quickly angled himself downwards and suddenly folded in his wings, causing him to fall rapidly towards the ground. Spike kept his eyes open as he watched the ground rush up, even though the whiplash against them made him really want to close them. As Spike looked at the ground he chuckled a bit, wishing that be brought a scooter or a skateboard with him because the road below him was on a downward hill. Eventually when Spike felt he was close enough to the ground Spike spread his wings back out to close into a quick glide. He still constantly, but Spike didn’t mind because of the downward slope, and either way he was able to glide down the middle of the street where there were luckily no carriages at the time.

Spike continued to glide down the street for a while, confident that his sudden actions allowed him to get away from the guards, until he noticed a carriage closing in fast. Spike knew he had to think fast, so he quickly did a forward somersault in the air until his feet hit the ground at which he started running. Unfortunately Spike underestimated how fast he would be going when he ran because of how fast he was gliding and the fact that it’s a downhill slope, so when he hit the ground he seriously had to move his legs to keep up with the speed he was going which hurt his legs. 

The drake had to ignore the stinging pain and overexertion for now though because he was still on a collision course for the carriage. Spike twisted his body to the left where he noticed another alleyway and with his right foot he pushed off to the left hoping that he made it. Spike did, however he underestimated his forward velocity so as soon as Spike flew into the alleyway the right side of his body hit the right wall hard, causing him to cry out in pain. Spike’s body grinded across the wall for a few seconds before he stopped and fell on his belly. When Spike finally stopped he felt all his injuries surge together at once. It was excruciatingly painful for Spike, so much so that he could feel his consciousness slipping away from him.

No…I can’t…get knocked out here, Spike said as he tried to overcome his need to pass out, but Spike just wasn’t strong enough.

The last thing Spike noticed before he lost consciousness was the sound of hooves walking up from behind him.