//------------------------------// // Nothing Gained // Story: Reflections of the Past // by Phaoray //------------------------------// Hehehehe… Spike grumbled and drowsily opened one of his eyes to his pitch black cabin room. Hehehe... The second round of soft giggling dowsed what remained of his desire to sleep. Wide-eyed, he looked around the cabin, peering into the darkness for a moment as his ears worked hard to listen to anything past the water hitting the sides of the ship and the creaking of the wood. Nothing. Spike let go of the death grip he had on his blanket and slowly reached over to the candle holder on the table next to his bed. After taking a breath to calm himself, he let out a small burst of flame, lighting the candle. The room lit up, throwing a dozen shadows out from the furniture. Spike wasn’t sure if he preferred this over the pitch black at the moment, but at least he was able to confirm that nothing was in the room with him. Spike racing mind managed to calm down a little, letting him go from its paralyzing touch enough to get off the bed and pace around the room. Nopony was in the small bathroom attached to his room, and nothing was waiting under the bed besides dust and spare sheets. Tap! Spike jumped, hitting the back of his head against the wooden frame of the bed. Groaning, he slipped his head out from underneath the bed and stood up, more annoyed than afraid now thanks to the pain. Warily, he stared over to the only glass object visible in the room; the small black porthole. Slowly, he made his way over to it. Perhaps a rock or something had hit it? A fish jumping out and now dealing with a small concussion? Could he be so lucky? Peering out into the inky black sea, it slowly dawned on Spike that a few stray pink hairs were dangling along the left corner outside of the porthole, dancing with the wind. “Fun?” The clear inquiry coming from right in front of Spike caused him to yelp and pull back a few steps from the porthole. As the light drifted away, the upside down silhouette of a pony’s face peered back at Spike, covering the porthole in a shadow of dark pink as the pony's hair damply hung across it. CRASH! Spike fell backwards onto the floor as a wave crashed into the side of the ship, the face in the porthole disappearing with the water. Shakily, Spike got back onto his feet and stared at the porthole for a few minutes to confirm whoever the pony was was not coming back. “Never sailing again,” He muttered, making a break for the door before anything else happened. Nothing. Spike grumbled and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. Bags were under his eyes and he still felt sore from all the searching he did last night along with the crew for the pony he saw. But After over an hour of searching there wasn’t any trace of a pony on board. The crew was especially sure of this since everyone on board was a Hippogriff but himself, so a pony would have stuck out. Grabbing his toothbrush, Spike started cleaning his teeth as he blinked rapidly to get the sleep out of his eyes. What little sleep he managed afterwards was restless at best. Between the strange, familiar mare in the window and the fear of falling asleep and setting the boat on fire by keeping a half dozen candles burning the rest of the night, sleep had been an idealistic thought. Spike yawned again and put the toothbrush down, grabbing the offered glass of water. “Thanks, Pinkie.” He muttered, downing the glass into his mouth and gargling. “No problemo!” She chirped back. A shattering noise registered in Spike’s ears as he spit the water all over his mirror and looked to the side. A second later, he slowly turned away from the mirror and took in the rest of the bathroom, confirming that he was alone. He stepped forwards, hearing the crack of the remains of the glass underneath his legs as he exited the bathroom, then his room, and kept going until he found Queen Novo up on the bow enjoying the early morning sun. “Hey there, partner, still spooked about last night?” She asked. “Could we switch rooms, please?” Spike paced back and forth on the deck of the ship, Queen Novo sat nearby, filing her claws. Their visit to Cream island had been the same story as the other two. The only major difference between Cream and the others was just how cold it was. Cold snaps weren’t unknown to the area, but rumors from passing ships of snowstorms being seen on the horizon didn’t make the situation any less weird for everypony involved. “Each island is the same thing, over and over.” Spike commented out loud. “Someone attacks unexpectedly, steals next to nothing, puts flags down claiming the land, and then disappears.” “Mhmm.” Novo replied. “But why, and who? If it’s the Storm King’s old army, then there would be a lot more of those big guys involved, and no one could mistake those for ponies, right?” “Mhmm.” “Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow are in stone, so it can’t be them. Do you think it’s somepony new?” “Mhmm.” “And,-” Spike’s eyes looked back and forth nervously. “D-do you think they might be a ghost?” “Mhmm.” “Wait, really?” “Mhmm.” Spike looked over to Novo and gave a dull expression. “You’re not listening to me, are you?” “Mhmm.” “Some help you are.” Spike muttered before giving a sigh. “What’s wrong hun?” Novo asked, blowing on her claws. “Nothing. Thanks for changing rooms, by the way.” “If it helps put you at ease it’s worth it. And you don’t have to worry about me none, whatever kept you up will be contending with a Queen tonight, and I don’t intend to lose.” She said, grinning over at him and flashing her claws. “I’m sure you won’t. So, you really think the sacred island of theirs might have something on it?” Novo shrugged. “Well it ain’t a bad idea to check it out. I mean, nopony lives there, right?” Spike nodded. “Kinda makes it a good place to hide then, don’t you think? And they have to have some way of getting their hands on those eggs of theirs. Even if it isn’t their hiding spot, we might get lucky and see them gathering the things.” “Makes sense, I just wish we had more to go on.” “Me too Sweetie, but that’s the breaks, right?” Novo got up again, stretching. “Now, how about we call it a day? It’s getting a bit too chilly out here and we’ll be to this Egg island of theirs soon enough.” “Pssst!” Spike opened his eyes to blackness. “Psst!” I guess it’s not just my room then… “Over here.” “Pinkie? Is that you?” he asked, peering into the dark. “Hurry!” Spike felt his wings shoot up in fear as a shadow by the door moved. He could barely tell, but the one spot that was just slightly less black than the rest of the room had shifted, so it must have been her. Shakily, Spike got off the bed, too focused on keeping an eye on that less black shape to grab and light a candle. “Come on.” The black shape moved again and suddenly blended in with the rest of the dark. Spike strained his ears, but the sound of hoof steps never reached them. Cautiously, he made his way to his door and reached out a claw, confirming his suspicion that it was open. Seriously, how is this kind of stuff only happening to me on this trip? Spike walked through the lower deck and headed for the stairwell to the upper decks. If that shadow Pinkie was headed down, well, there was no way he was following. The bowels of ships was where all the bad stuff happened in his comics. As Spike reached the stairwell, the sound of rain hit his ears. “Come on, Spike. I won’t bite.” Pinkie said in a dark tone, following up with a quiet giggle. Spike heard the door above him open but never close. Warily, he followed, closing the door behind him. Nervously, Spike looked around the main deck, wondering if he had taken a wrong turn. He knew it was impossible, but he really wished he had. The shadow pony with Pinkie’s voice had her back turned to him as she leaned against the rail a dozen meters from Spike. The light rain coming down had seemingly been accompanied by mist which lazily coiled and drifted around his shins. The squeal as wind hit the sails and pulled the ropes taut just confirmed to Spike that his comics had missed the mark by always focusing on what happens under the ship than above. Spike swallowed, running his tongue over his mouth briefly before starting his short trek over to Pinkie, eyes nervously darting around. Where were the guards? Who was at the steering wheel? There was supposed to be others up here other than himself! ...Is that a bucket? It was a little silly of him to distract from everything else, but yes, a few yards away from the shadowy Pinkie was a metal bucket with mist wafting out of it. What the- “Is Purple Snooty here?” “Huh?” “Purply Snooty!” The Pinkie growled out, her flat hair hanging down her left shoulder as she looked behind herself at Spike. “You know her, I saw you with her.” “U-uhm, do you mean Twilight? She’s not here, why?” Pinkie gave out a small sigh of relief. “Good. That’s...good.” From only a few hooves away, Spike could see Pinkie well enough, the moonlight that filtered through the light cloud cover was particularly helpful, despite how little of it there was. This pony was Pinkie, but also not. Her colors were darker, her expression more severe. Just being in Pinkie’s presence could lift Spike’s spirit. But here, with her, all he felt was unease. This wasn’t Pinkie. “Who are you?” The fake Pinkie smiled at him as a low humming sound began. It wasn’t coming from her, but Spike was not about to look away to figure it out. She took her hooves off the rail and fully faced him with a grin. “Oh, Spike, I’m Pinkie.” “You’re not.” He insisted. “Pinkie’s not like this. She can be creepy, but she doesn’t mean to. And why are you asking about Twilight?” “Hmph.” She grumbled, giving him a calculating glare. “Whatever, I don’t really care right now. And I’m just making sure she’s not going to blast me or my friends.” The humming grew a little louder. Briefly, Spike let his eyes flick to his sides, but couldn’t see anything past the mist and darkness. “So, who are you then? The real Pinkie would know Twilight wouldn’t do anything to her friends.” He gave her a weak glare, too unnerved to look any more threatening. “You’re the one attacking the islands, aren’t you?” “Pfft.” She flicked a hoof at him in mirth. “I’m not attacking the islands, I don’t attack my friends.” “...What?” She chuckled, sending shivers down Spike’s spine at the malevolence oozing out of the pony in front of him. “Oh, Spike.“ THUMP! Spike jumped as two changeling’s landed on the deck, each one flanking the fake Pinkie and carrying metal buckets. “Everypony, scratch that. Every creature is my friend.” And that’s my cue to run. Spike turned around and made it all of two steps before slipping on something. He smacked into the floor, rolling over as the world spun in his eyes. A changeling came into his sight and hissed down at him before a pink pony filled his vision, wearing a smirk. “Except her.” “GAH!” Spike sprung up from his bed, gasping and looking around. “Huh?” Disorientated, he looked around. It was morning, he could hear Hippogriffs working up on the deck. He stared around in amazement. “Are you kidding me!?” A nightmare? Was that it? Spike got out of bed, eyeing his room. Nothing was out of place. He gave a short bark of a laugh and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeep!” Of course, I couldn’t be so lucky. He lamented, rubbing the bump on the back of his head. “Nothing you can do right now, Spike. B-better just, clean up and head out. M-maybe you just bumped it yesterday on deck and didn’t notice?” He took two steps forward before slipping on a banana peel.