Spike looked frantically around the train car, the place was in pure chaos. They still could hear the dragon just a few hundred meters behind them and nopony knew what to do. All he could hear was the roar of the train engine and the screams of the other frightened ponies.
“Why’s this happening?!”
“We’re all going to die!”
“Can’t this train go any faster?” The passengers inside felt another sharp hit to the side of the traincar.
“It’s those blasted dragons!”
“I don’t understand, dragons have never attacked us before!”
“Wait, is the train moving faster now?” And indeed it was, Spike could feel the engine pulling the cars forward at an amazing pace. He managed to scoot close enough to a window to see the dragon falling behind. There was a large cheer from all the passengers in the train, and Spike let out a huge sigh of relief. Slowly, everypony on the train began calming down, and Spike once again settled in his seat. Then, he heard the hoofsteps of an engineer coming down the hallway.
“That was amazing” Spike congratulated the engineer, “How’d you get the train to go so fast?”
“Well, in emergencies we have all hooves on deck, it’s amazing what a team can do under pressure. Also, since this was a real emergency we took all the emergency measures and let some weight off the train to get her wheels really goin’.’”
“Wow, that’s really great- wait a second, did you say let some weight off the train?” Spike asked worriedly.
“Ur, yeah. Unfortunately we had to lose the baggage cars, but we figured you ponies lives were a lot better than those bags” The engineer admitted.
“No! No no no no!” Spike sputtered, “You can’t get rid of those! I had some very important bags on there!”
“Sorry little guy, but it was either lose the baggage cars or lose the whole train. It looked like there was even a small swarm of those little dragons in there so we wouldn’t have had much of a chance. I’m sure your mom or dad will forgive you, I mean, ponies are more important than luggage, right? And we’ll be out of the mountains and back in Ponyville in no time, you’ll see!”
“Yeah” Spike muttered as the conductor went to the front of the train. Spike smooshed his face against the window, straining his eyes to look for the discarded train car, but it was already out of sight. It was a long trip to Ponyville, even going at full speed, but Spike somehow wished it was longer. He was scared of going into this weird new world alone, and at least on the train car he was kind of safe from having to walk in his clunky new feet or open doors without his hands.
However, he did arrive in Ponyville; it was a little calmer there than in Canterlot, but there was still an uneasiness in the air. All anypony could see was the dragons swarming around Canterlot Castle like bees over a flaming hive, and black smoke spewing out from the city. Spike carefully exited the train while the rest of the ponies ran out in a worried flurry, their eyes fixated on the overtaken capital, but his mind stayed on his missing friends. He was scared, confused and alone; Spike had no clue what to do without Twilight or anypony else. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying attention to his hooves and fell face first down the steps off the train platform. He rubbed his head, when somepony extended their hoof to help them up.
"You alright little pony?" The old green pony asked Spike, "that was sure a nasty fall you took there." Spike looked up and recognized the old pony as Granny Smith. Spike felt shocked and embarrassed; he didn't want Granny Smith to recognize him, he might be seen as a spy, or at the very least be locked away for being an ex-dragon. He lowered his head and quickly got up.
"Oh, um, thank you m'am" Spike mumbled as he began walking off.
"Wait a minute little guy!" Granny called out after Spike, "do I know you from somewhere? I've met a lot of ponies in my day but you do seem real familiar..."
"Uh, I don't think so," Spike lied, "I've just got, um, one of those faces I guess." He had stopped walking to be polite, but was now slowly backing up to escape.
"No no, t'aint your face," Granny stated again, "oh! You know what it is? It's your voice!"
"Ah, that's what it is!" Spike chuckled nervously, "Well, mystery solved! I should probably get going-"
"Wait a darn-tootin' minute, that's not just it," Granny interrupted again, "Yer coat looks a might familiar too. You sure we haven't met before? Ever heard of Apple Strudel?"
"Granny! Granny!" Spike heard somepony yell, "Applejack never got off the train, and neither did any of her friends, me and Big Mac are getting' worried!" Applejack's little sister Applebloom was running towards him and Granny Smith. Spike was starting to panic; the more ponies who knew him before, the more likely he was going to get found out.
"Well, it was nice meeting you folks but I really have to go" Spike said, scrambling to get away, "Thank you for your hoof Granny Smith." Spike was almost out of range when Granny Smith called out to him.
"That was a pretty impressive trick," Granny Smith began, suspicious, "Knowin' my name even though we haven't met before." Spike stopped dead in his tracks, the jig was up.
"Uh, well, Applebloom just said it!" Spike yelled, trying to cover his tracks.
"Naw, she only said Granny."
"Wait a minute, how did you know my name?" Applebloom asked, confused. The three Apples stared at Spike, waiting for an answer. Spike looked from pony to pony, trying to think of another lie that could get him out of this one.
"Look little fritter," Granny started, earnestly concerned for him, "are you in trouble or somethin'? I hope you know that we'll do anything we can to help you out, no matter who ya are. Now son, do you think you could tell us your name?" Spike sighed, he was so afraid to trust the Apples, but he didn't know what else to do.
"Woah! Where'd you get that cutie mark?" Applebloom suddenly cried out, staring at Spike's rump, "I've never seen that cutie mark before! What's your talent?" Spike looked back at where Applebloom was looking, he hadn't noticed that he had a cutie mark. It was a simple bright, green swirling flame, just like the kind he used to make as a dragon right before Celestia sent a letter.
"Well, uh-" Spike began
"It looks awful familiar, kinda like the kind that Spike would- Spike!” Applebloom suddenly called out in realization.
“What! No!” Spike began, backing up away from the Apples
“Yes! That’s who ya’ sound like! The little dragon that Twilight has!” Granny hollered.
“Is that really you Spike? How’d y’all get like this?” Applebloom asked.
“No! Um, I just-” Spike scrambled, trying to think of any explanation. As he continued shuffling away, he backed right into Big Macintosh; Spike was trapped. The three ponies earnestly looked at Spike for an answer.
“Spike,” Big Macintosh began, “Are you in some kinda trouble?” Spike lowered his head and sat down, defeated. He was defeated by his lies and defeated by all the terrible things that had happened that day.
“Yes” Spike softly wailed, starting to cry, “I just don’t know what to do. Me and Twilight and her friends went up to Canterlot to meet some sort of fan of hers called Night Ember, but when we got there, she wasn’t a fan at all. These dragons suddenly attacked the castle and burst through the windows, and they trapped everyone. Then Night Ember told everyone that ponies had been oppressing dragons, and she even asked me if I’d been oppressed and I didn’t even defend my friends.” While Spike was talking, the Apples simply sat close and listened to every word.
“I didn’t really understand what’s happening, I think she turned Princess Celestia into a dragon egg, and she turned the rest of my friends into baby dragons and told them that they can’t use the Elements of Harmony. When she told me to tell Twilight what I really felt and to-- to hurt her I just couldn’t!”, Spike began crying harder, “I just couldn’t hurt my friends like that and I didn’t know what was going on, so I told Night Ember no and, and she got upset, then her magic hit me and I woke up and I was a pony!
“I can’t use my hands anymore, I can’t breath fire, I can’t stand on two legs, I can’t even use my tail anymore! It, it stinks. Then, then Night Ember told us to leave, so we all snuck on the train to Ponyville; they were in the luggage car and I stayed in the passenger car. But, but then dragons started to attack the train, and, and the engineers disconnected the luggage car, and I, I don’t know-” Spike began sobbing, “I just feel like this is all my fault.”
“What?!” Applebloom yelled.
“Spike, none of this is ‘yer fault deerie-” Granny Smith started.
“But it is, kind of, some of it. I just feel guilty because I couldn’t defend my friends.” Spike whimpered. Big Mac smiled, then comfortingly put his front leg around Spike.
“Now Spike, the fact that you’re a pony just shows you did defend your friends” Big Mac comforted. Spike clumsily wiped away some of his tears then looked up at Big Mac thankfully.
“Now I’ve heard a lot of sad stories in my day” Granny began, “But that’s got to be one of the worst, and I’ll be darn-tootin’ if we can’t help ‘ya fix it!”
“Really?” Spike blathered, looking up at Granny Smith, “you would do that for me?”
“Why a’course!” Applebloom insisted, “you’re our friend! And who else can you rely on if you can’t rely on good friends!” Spike thanked the Apples profusely as he tried to give them all big pony hugs, but it was a lot different giving hugs on four legs as opposed to two and he fell over when he tried to give one to Applebloom. They all laughed together as Granny Smith wiped some of Spikes tears away.
“But I don’t know what to do now! Should I go back to the library where we said we’d meet? Should I go out looking for them? Should-”
“Woah slow down little fella! Just calm your barrel, we’ll figure something out” Granny encouraged.
“But what if they’re not ok? It’s not like they’re just going to fall out of the sky and tell me they’re alright!”
“Wait a minute,” Applebloom hushed, “do y’all hear that?” The four ponies went silent, and they heard a low rumble in the sky, like something was speeding towards them. As they looked up, they saw a streak of blue and rainbow heading straight for them.
“Hit the hay!” Granny Smith yelled as the group quickly ducked as the streak of light flew over their heads and crashed into a nearby bush. The group got up and ran towards the crash to investigate.
“Well would ya look at that!” Applebloom exclaimed. Lying in the bush was dragon Rainbow Dash, rubbing her sore head from impact.
“Rainbow!” Spike cried, “I’m so glad you’re here! Is everyone else ok?”
“Ug, yeah, everypony’s fine. Jeez, these wings are great but it’s impossible to land...”
“Where is everyone? Should I go back into the mountains with them? Are they coming here?” Spike continued to pester.
“No no no,” Rainbow Dash started again as she began brushing herself off, “They’re going deeper into the mountains to look for Night Ember’s headquarters or something. They told me, to tell you, to stay here and look through the library just in case there’s something in Twilight’s books.”
“Oh, ok,” Spike said, a little disappointed that he wasn’t going to see anyone else, “But you’re staying here with me, right Rainbow Dash?”
“Ha!” Rainbow laughed, “No way! I’m heading back into the mountains for some adventure! You’ll be fine by yourself.”
“But, I’ll be all alone” Spike sputtered.
“No you won’t!” Applebloom offered, “We’ll help ya out! Won’t we Granny Smith?”
“Darn tootin’! A’course we’ll help you, what else is family for? Er, friends of friends of family.” Granny Smith encouraged. Spike smiled up at the old pony. However, more ponies were coming up behind them to investigate the crash.
“Rainbow, you gotta get outta here!” Applebloom warned.
“You got it, with these wings I’ll be out of here in a dash before anypony even sees me!” Rainbow Dash boasted, then set herself up for flight. With her eyes squinted, her back arched, and her wings aloft, she let out a triumphant “Yah!” before trying to speed off into the blackening sky. Unfortunately, she only got about a foot high before taking a sharp arch downwards and crashing.
“Gosh darnit!” Rainbow mumbled before hobbling off for a clunky running takeoff with everypony watching in an awkward confusion.
“What the hay was that?” asked one of the ponies watching the ordeal.
“Do you think that was a dragon?”
“Are they attacking Ponyville now?!”
“Nah,” calmed Granny Smith, “Looked to me like a big rainbow gull. Must’a gotten lost from its migration group. They aren’t too bright you know.” This explanation seemed to calm the crowd, who were quickly losing interest in the ‘rainbow gull’ and worries looked back to their endangered capital.
“So Spike” Granny whispered back to the purple colt, “You think you can get us back to ‘yer libary now?” Spike nodded and the group trotted into town towards Twilight’s old home.
"Er, Twilight?"
"Yes Applejack?"
"Not to doubt y'all or anything Twi, but do you sure you know where you're takin' us?" The group had been scampering up the side of Horseshoe Pass for a solid hour, and things were beginning to look a less and less like a legitimate trail, and more like they were simply lost. Behind them, they heard Pinkie blow up another signal bubble.
"Don't worry, I'm 93% sure that this is the right path if we want to head into the smoky mountains" Twilight stated assuredly, "Well, at least 81% sure. Maybe closer to 79% sure." The friends then came out of the brush and found themselves at the edge of a desolate cliff- definitely a dead end.
"Ok, at this point it may be closer to only 34% sure..." Twilight mumble. The group groaned.
"Ug! This is all so frustrating! I've never tried to navigate without some sort of map before, this is hopeless" Twilight sighed.
"Wait, does anypony else hear that?" Rarity shushed, the group went silent and they could all hear a low rumble in the sky that was coming straight towards them.
"Look!" Pinkie Pie pointed to a streak of color in the sky, "I think that's Rainbow Dash!" The blur was speeding towards them, and it tried to land a few feet in front of them. However, instead of a clean landing Rainbow Dash only managed to bounce and skid until she landed at Pinkie Pie's feet, who let out an excited squee.
"Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie gushed excitedly, giving her battered friend a big hug.
"Did you get the message to Spike?" Twilight asked.
"Ug, yeah. Spike managed to find Applejack's family and they're all at your house now, he seemed ok. Um, Pinkie Pie, do you think you could let go now?" Rainbow Dash sputtered out or her squeezed lungs.
"Oops! Sure!" Pinkie Pie dropped her friend on the rock floor as Rainbow rubbed her head.
"Thanks Pinkie..." Rainbow Dash mumbled.
"No problem!"
"Ok!" Twilight spat, trying to get her friends back on track, "So, we have Rainbow Dash and Spike's safe and sound at home, now we just have to keep moving! At this pace, we might even rescue the Princess before sundown! Or, what would be sundown anyways-"
"What time is it? Does anypony have a clue?" Rainbow Dash asked. The ponies all looked into the sky, they could only see a small glimpse of the sun, still in its noon position, as the thick, inky smoke slithered across the Equestrian sky.
“Goll-ey” Applejack murmured, lowering her hat, “I couldn’t even imagine what whatever’s left of Canterlot looks like now, they must have burned down the entire city to have created that much smoke.” However, Twilight was dubious.
“I’m not so sure, that seems like too much smoke for just a city-wide fire, even a city as huge as Canterlot.” Twilight looked around, then scampered up a nearby tree to try and get a better view of her old home. She squinted between the mountain pass, and strained her eyes.
“Then where’s all the smoke coming from?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Well, remember when that dragon started to hibernate in the mountain right outside of Ponyville? There was so much smoke that you could barely see the sky. It was redonkulous!” Pinkie reminisce.
“Yeah, until we drove it out!” Rainbow Dash added excitedly. The group stayed silent for a moment, remembering the moment in light of the events of that morning.
“So you think it was a good idea to kick ‘em out?” Applejack asked.
“Um, yeah!” Rainbow Dash blurted, still not making the connection. The remaining friends stared thoughtfully as it dawned on her.
“Well, Princess Celestia told us to, it was our duty!” Rainbow backpedaled as her friends stared at her, “Also, uh, oh! Also, it was blacking out the sky, remember? It was making the weather team’s job impossible and, you know, making the sky all smokey”
“It was upsetting my animals” Fluttershy mumbled.
“But that cave was it’s home, he was just trying to sleep” Twilight stated.
“He wasn’t even violent ‘til Rainbow Dash kicked him” Applejack murmured. The group fell silent again.
“What if Night Ember’s right? What if we were wrong about dragons and we’ve been hurting them all along?” Twilight asked, then looked at the group, “What if we’re wrong?”
“Now Twilight” Rarity started “I can’t say that every interaction that ponies have made with dragons has been, sparkling, but taking over Canterlot, attacking ponies and brainwashing Princess Celestia certainly hasn’t been right. Sure, Night Ember may have had some valid points, but a more- diplomatic approach on her end would have been in order.”
“I suppose-” Twilight mumbled, “-I just can’t help but think of all of the other dragons that have been feeling this way.”
“Twi, I think you’re forgetting about somepony special that would disagree with you there” Applejack began.
“Who?” Twilight asked
“Spike a’course! Even though he’s been a dragon living in a pony world, he loves you, why he loves all of us so much that even when he had the choice to rule ‘long side with other dragons he told Night Ember and her band of misfits to munch mulch.” Applejack reminded.
“Woah, not only that AJ” Rainbow Dash added, “Night Ember was about to blast his scales off and he still stuck by our side.”
“Well, technically she did blast is scales off,” Pinkie Pie pondered, “But even after that he was still on our side!”
“I’m sure that Spike’s not the only one, but I think we’re all very lucky to have him as a friend” Fluttershy said as she landed beside Twilight. The group nodded in agreement.
“Well, are we going to sit here talking about nothing all day or are we going to kick some dragon butt?” Rainbow Dash asked impatiently. Everyone laughed, and the six friends continued scurrying up the side of the mountain.