//------------------------------// // So Close and Yet So Far // Story: If Only I Had Time // by FamousLastWords //------------------------------// “I hate everything…” Spike groaned aloud as he trekked through the woods. He’d been walking for at least a century at this point and every step was torture on his calves. Well, it was probably more like an hour or two, but the sentiment was the same. He really needed to work out more. Save for an occasional clear patch of grass, the forest seemed to be never-ending. No signs of roads, houses or towns of any kind. For all he knew, he’d been walking in circles. He just needed the woods to end so he could at least get a clear view of his surroundings. Unfortunately, his stomach decided to suffocate even the faintest flame of hope that he had burning inside him as it let out a mighty growl. He clutched his abdomen and frowned. He was very hungry. And thirsty. Actually, he was a lot of things and most of them were unpleasant. He needed to find a town and fast. They said he’d be transported to a remote location but surely, they weren’t putting him eons away from civilization, right? There’s no way Discord would do something like that intentionally. Possibly. Maybe. Perhaps. Spike shook his head in a fleeting attempt to erase the negative thoughts from his brain and focus again on the task at claw. Moping wasn’t going to get him anywhere faster and time was of the essence. He continued to trudge through the woods, his body fighting back against him with every step, but still, he pressed on. After about thirty more minutes of walking, he finally saw it. The first sign of hope and grace all morning. “A road!” A few hundred feet off in the distance Spike could make out a well-trodden dirt path through the trees. This could only mean something good as far as he was concerned. He raced toward it as quickly as possible to ensure it wasn’t just a mirage. And sure enough, it was real. Although he still seemed to be in the thick of the forest, he knew he couldn’t be far now. Tracks were impressed into the dirt that resembled hooves and wagon wheels. Given that the ground was still wet from last night’s storm, these tracks would’ve had to have been from this morning. There was no doubt about it: he was on the right path. Now he just had to decide to take a left or a right. He turned his head back and forth. Both directions looked relatively the same, but considering the newness of the tracks, he figured it’d be his best bet to go the direction from which the wagon came from. With any luck, it possibly departed a nearby village, and he wouldn’t have to walk for more than an hour or so. Decision made, Spike smiled and started trekking down the road at a brisk pace. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he ran into a pony on the road. There’s a good chance they’d be terrified and possibly try to put up a fight. But he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. For now, all he cared about was saturating his dry mouth with some fresh water and sating his hunger as quickly as possible. All other lines of thought were being put on the backburner. He didn’t have to walk for very long, no more than fifteen minutes or so before the forest began to thin out. Patches of grass began popping up in the sunlit areas between the trees. The surroundings were quite beautiful. He only wished he could appreciate it more. Nothing really seems too amazing when you’re tired, thirsty and hungry all at the same time. Luckily, to his relief, his gamble of which way to turn paid off and there it was: a clearing. But not just any clearing… A clearing with a sign of some kind in front of it! This had to be it. Spike raced up and examined the sign closely. It was a light colored wooden construct, just a few feet tall, with two simple words engraved into it. “’Southwest Town’.” Spike grinned at what his eyes had laid upon… and then scratched his head. “They weren’t much for creativity back in this time, I guess. Then again, ‘Ponyville’ isn’t exactly a pinnacle of forward thinking either.” The dragon shrugged and ventured forward past the sign. The dirt road led straight in front of him. He could see in the distance that there were some structures built up ahead on either side of the path. His hopes and dreams weren’t deceiving him! Finally, this is exactly what he was searching for: civilization! He had much more of a spring in his step as he traveled forward, getting closer to the town. He seemed to have cleared the forest for the most part as there was now a grassy meadow on either side of him, save for the dirt path he was walking on. It didn’t take him long to finally arrive at the first building on his left. It was made of wood, just like the sign… and apparently every other structure here. It made sense considering they were just a hop, skip and a jump from an obscenely large forest. The first building seemed to be very crude in design but was obviously functional. It was two stories with a large, covered porch. Attached to it was a small, three-step staircase. It was rather quaint, or so Rarity would probably say. There was a sign hung up on the second-floor wall that read ‘Southwest Inn’. He may need to double-back to that place if he got help up in the area for too long. Getting to sleep on an actual bed sounded amazing. Or at least he hoped they had actual beds back in this time. He really should’ve paid more attention to Twilight’s history lessons. As he gradually walked down the road, he saw a ‘General Store’, ‘Hoofinson Saddle and Cloth’, a jailhouse and ‘McCoy and Colt’s Tools and Trade’. He didn’t initially see any sort of housing, but a bit further up, off the road and into the plains, there were some simply built, one-story wooden shacks. He assumed those were the places of residence. There weren’t very many homes, but this seemed to be a small trading town more than anything. Spike had ventured roughly halfway through the small town before he realized something: There were no ponies here. He shook his head and turned in a circle. Nope. The whole town was vacant. He closed his eyes for a moment and perked up his ears, but he couldn’t hear a single hoofstep anywhere. Everything appeared to be completely dead. He felt a chill run down his spine. This place was beginning to give him the creeps. However, he wasn’t going to let his fears get the best of him. It was entirely possible that everyone was just either in their shops or homes, handling personal business of some kind… in the middle of a beautiful day. That made sense, right? Spike steeled his nerves and decided he would check inside one of the shops to find somebody. Anybody would do at this point. He first checked the saddle shop, but the wooden door was locked up tight and soundly. He backed away and then tried the Inn. Same situation. It was possible that both of those locations were closed, so he tried one last time at the General Store. Those things are almost always open. Nope. Still locked. Spike was officially dumbfounded at this point. Nopony was here, the shops were locked up in the middle of the day, and there wasn’t so much as an echo to be heard anywhere. Just the wind blowing over the grassy fields surrounding the town. He walked back to the center of the road and sighed. He was thirsty… and hungry… and tired. But it didn’t look like any of his needs would be met here. For all intents and purposes, he figured he must’ve come across nothing but a ghost to— “We’ve got you now, dragon!” “Wha—?” Spike jumped out of his scales at the voice that suddenly cried out from behind him. Before he could react, however, he was tackled to the ground by three stallions. “Think you can come into our town and cause trouble?” One of the stallions, a light brown one with a wavy black mane said. “We’ll see how much trouble you cause when you’re behind bars!” All three stallions were younger, possibly early twenties. Besides the brown one, there was a gray one with a dark black mane and a pale red one, also with a black mane. They were also very strong, a fact which Spike was learning as he was unable to remotely move from their grip. “Hey, Stone.” The brown one said, pointing a hoof at the charcoal stallion. “Tie him up good and tight with the rope. He ain’t going anywhere.” “You got it, Brick,” he replied. Before Spike could even fathom what was about to happen, a rope was forced around his legs and secured very tightly within a matter of seconds. That was quickly followed by one going around his back, restricting his arms and wings. He continued to squirm around on the ground, trying to regain any ground in the ambush, but it was all for not. His limbs were completely immobilized. “Cobble,” the one that was apparently Brick stated, pointing to the remaining red stallion. “Let’s get him on his feet and over to the station.” Once again, Spike was unable to finish a thought before his body was jerked into an upright position, being balanced only by the stallions. Now that he was off the ground and not being forced to hold still, Spike was finally able to formulate words again. “Wait a minute!” The dragon shouted. “Could you please tell me what’s happ—” He was interrupted immediately by Brick turning his back to him and facing the town. “Alright, everypony! You’re safe to come out! The dragon has been detained!” An uproarious cheer echoed throughout the town as ponies of all sizes, genders, and ages ran out into the street. Some came from behind buildings, others from inside buildings, and there were even a couple that were apparently hiding in the occasional barrel on the sides of the shops. Before he knew it, Spike was surrounded by roughly twenty-five to thirty ponies, all starting up at him with wide eyes. This couldn’t be good. “Have no fear,” Stone spoke up. “We’ve got him good and tight here and we’re getting him over to the station right away.” Yep, this wasn’t going to end well. “Please feel free to return to your chores and businesses as usual,” Cobble yelled out. “You’re all safe.” Another cheer rang out from the crowd. Spike had no idea what to do, but he knew he couldn’t go to jail. There wasn’t any time for that. He had work to do! No, he’d need to rely on a tactic Twilight had taught him many times over. A tactic that always seemed to work in the wide world of reasonable, understanding ponies: Respectful conversation and diplomacy. Spike cleared his throat and began to address the entire crowd. “Hold on a minute!” The entire crowd instantly turned back to face him, muttering amongst themselves. Some seemed fascinated while others were literally shaking in their boots. “I think there’s been a big misunderstanding here, everypony,” Spike continued. “I’m merely a traveler that stopped here to get some food and water. I promise, I mean you no harm!” The crowd began muttering with much more volume and confusion this time. If nothing else, at least he had their attention. He turned his head a bit more toward the three stallions that had tied him up in the first place. “How about you guys untie me, and I can get out of your manes, okay?” Spike shrugged. “Like I said, I’m just passing through. I don’t plan on eating anypony.” The dragon let out a small chuckle. The muttering stopped and some of the ponies began to look as if they were easing up. Even the three stallions holding him gave curious looks to one another. Spike wore a bright, toothy grin. Yeah, he had this in the bag. Diplomacy and politeness always worked in good old Equestria. He’d be on his way in no time and this whole little shindig would be a thing of the past before he knew it. SLAM! The jail bars shut with great ferocity right behind Spike. “Well, that was definitely a miscalculation.” Spike sighed. At least they had the decency to take his ropes off. “Now you just wait here, okay dragon?” Brick said with a piercing gaze. “The sheriff will be coming back to town a bit later in the afternoon and he’ll decide what to do with you. So, you just hang around here for the time being and don’t try anything funny, ya hear?” Spike looked the three stallions in the eyes through the jail cell bars. He’d given up on trying to plead his case at this point. “You got it.” The stallions walked off leaving him alone in his cell. Spike looked around to get a bearing on his quarters. It couldn’t have been more than 10 feet across in any direction. That was probably a decent amount of room for a pony, but when you’re a dragon… not so much. There wasn’t a whole lot to look at, but it had a small wooden bed frame loaded with hay. There was also a barred window to get some measure of fresh air. Other than that, he was alone. He released a deep breath and strolled over to the bed and took a seat. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the most comfortable he’d felt since arriving in this god-forsaken time period. His mission wasn’t starting on the best note. Maybe he should’ve broken out into song or something to get those ponies to let him go. That kind of thing usually works with Twilight and her friends… Spike turned on his side and let his body sink into the hay. This was gonna be harder than he thought.