//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Plans Astray // Story: Spike's Nameless Brother // by Cold Spike //------------------------------// "Stratosburg... I've never heard of this town. That bothers me," Spike said, trailing on the left of the changeling while Shyfrost walked on the right. "Never been there myself, but if I had to guess, I would imagine it's a trading town," the changeling said. "Aren't all towns trading towns?" Shyfrost asked while studying the map intently. "Oh, no sir. I've been to plenty of pony towns and only came across a few trading ones. You can tell the difference from how many homes are up and how many out-of-town folks come and go. Trader towns tend to be less laid back, more rugged, but a good place to pick up supplies." "Think they sell pearls there?" the young orange dragon asked hopefully, subconsciously licking his lips. "Never seen a store sell pearls before, at least, not in these types of towns. Sorry." "But-" Spike shoved a confectionery treat in his mouth without warning. "Just eat a cupcake and shut up, please." It worked. While the young dragon was busy enjoying his cupcake, Spike whispered into Shadow Mirror's ear. "How long do you think the dragon migration will last before they break up without us?" He whispered back. "Not sure. Probably not long, but we can try and hurry." They both nodded and picked up their pacing, leaving the frost dragon behind as he slowed down and licked his lips and smiled. He then slowly opened his eyes and saw his two companions running ahead. "HEY, WAIT UP!" He caught up with them, panting heavily. Spike took one of his claws and draped it over his shoulder as they both smiled and headed towards town. They walked for fifteen minutes straight, no longer needing to stop to check the map after they noticed signs pointing to the town itself. Eventually, the edge of the town came into view. It reminded Spike of Appleloosa, only with far less desert surrounding it. Spike gave it a quick glance and noticed a few things that he found odd, and decided to bring the first one up. "Where are all the food stands?" The changeling looked down at him and raised an eyebrow, Spike noticed that he had changed into a red colored unicorn stallion with a sunflower on his flank. When he answered, both dragons did a double-take as his voice was now different. To be perfectly honest, it weirded them both out. "Stands? This is a trading town, little dude; you need to deal in shops or trading with, um, citizens..." He trailed off when he noticed that he was the only thing in the town that looked like a pony. Minotaurs, zebras, griffons, and donkeys all populated the vast town. The only thing missing in high quantity were ponies, well, that and dragons. Shyfrost tapped the changeling on the shoulder to snap him out of it. "Um, is this going to be bad for us or good for us?" "It's not great for us, but so long as we act natural and don't bump into anybody then we should be good. Just don't antagonize any Minotaurs or griffons, griffons tend not to like dragons..." Shyfrost sighed and brought up his tail in a hug and turned back to Shadow Mirror. "I noticed. Let's just get some supplies, right, Spike?" Spike blinked a few times and shook off the awe of the town. "Yeah, how many bits do we got?" The changeling brought out the bag and started counting. "Around forty." Spike's eyes flew open. "You stole forty bits?!" "They were rich travelers... Anyway, let's get going!" He used a bit of changeling magic to gently levitate both dragons on his back. “Just stay close, and everything should be alright." Not even waiting for an answer, he galloped into town in the direction of the first shop. "Not exactly sure what they sell here, but sometimes you need to mingle in shops before you find what you're looking for. Get used to angry glares, by the way; unless they have what we need, that is!" He laughed, but the joke was lost on both dragons. "You both ready?" Scootaloo was now standing at attention on her scooter, waiting for her two best friends to climb into the wagon. It was early in the morning but none felt tired. They both climbed in and gave Scootaloo an affirmative nod. Her wings began to buzz and she was just about to place her right hoof down on the ground to begin their journey but one of them spoke up. "WAIT!" Sweetie Belle squeaked out, causing the pegasus to stop and turn around. "WHAT?!" "Could you ease up on the turns, please?" Sweetie Belle was giving her friend the best smile imaginable and blushing ten shades of red, but Scootaloo simply glared at her. "Uh, sure, I'll watch out for turns." She placed her hoof gently back on the ground as her wings began to buzz again- "WAIT!" This time it was Apple Bloom who spoke up. "WHAAAAT?!" "Do ya even know which way to go?" Scootaloo glared back at her before realizing that she might have had a point. She then turned to Sweetie Belle, who shook her head and then shrugged after giving up on the map completely. The pegasus blinked, but then an idea came to mind. "Ok, here's what we'll do. We follow the path and watch out for paw prints, they have to have left some, and even if they don't, that tail of his should leave markings in the ground." "You mean his metal tail?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yeah that, it's always dragging on the ground. I'm sure we'll find something. Now let's go!" Wings buzzing again, she put them into full force and- "WAIT!" Both cried in union causing her to finally stop, groan and then slam her hoof down on the ground. "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! WHAT?!" "Sorry Scoots. We we're just wondering how come his tail is like that anyway?" "No idea, let's ask him when we find him!" She did not wait for a response and without warning she flared her wings, slammed her other hoof down on the ground, and they took off flying. "Twi, are you sure you don't have some kind of heating spell or something? It's freezing!" Dash screamed over the encasing blizzard after she had turned back around to try and locate her friend beneath her fog covered goggles. The group had been traveling for hours on Drakenridge Mountain, its unforgiving terrain and freezing cold temperatures taking its toll on the six mares. "For the last time, Dash, no spell works that way. I can start us a fire, but I can't keep up a force field spell that long without risking magical fatigue. I'm sorry, but we're just going to have to tough it out." Dash groaned, but kept further comments to herself. Applejack, however, hadn't even started. "What'sa matter, Dashie? Can't stand the cold?" she taunted with a hint of self satisfaction. "Shut it, AJ. Like you're one to talk. You're shivering!" Applejack shrugged. "Least I'm not complaining." "Girls, could we please focus and move? Please?" Fluttershy butted in, which caused both mares to roll their eyes, but they agreed. According to the lavender-colored mare (who had triple-checked her calculations), it wouldn't take them more than a few hours. After that, it would be only two hours to the migration spot. However, they did not plan for running into full grown dragons. Twilight suddenly stopped walking. She narrowed her eyes, staring at nothing in particular, and began to think. The other girls quickly caught wind of this, and walked back. Pinkie placed a hoof on her shoulder to ask what was wrong, but Twilight did not so much as flinch. She then shook her head and turned to her friends. "Girls, something's not right here..." "What is it this time?" Dash grumbled. "The migration, how long has it been since it started girls?" Most of them shook their heads or shrugged, but Pinkie piped up at this question. "It's been four days, thirteen hours and twenty minutes!" she responded without skipping a beat. "Pinkie, are you absolutely sure?" Twilight pressed. "Yepper- oh...” Pinkie paused. “The migration is over, huh?" Twilight nodded, her ears falling flat. "So then... wait. Darling, if the migration is over, then where would our dragons be?" All of them stopped and turned to Twilight, who shook her head, having no answer whatsoever. The search party stood in awkward silence until Twilight's head snapped up. "They don't know! They might still be there! C'mon, girls, let's pull through and get off this Celestia-forsaken mountain!" "YEAH!" All of them screamed in union. With new-found determination and speed, they all galloped as quickly as the blizzard would let them. Sweet Apple Acres. On an average day, a pony that happened to walk by would hear the telltale sign of apple trees being bucked, apples being poured into crates, and said crates being hauled off into storage. Today, however, was not an average day. Big Mac stood tall in front of the barn, trying to comprehend the previous days events, and most of all, trying to keep his sanity. "Ah can't believe Ah lost em! We looked all night! They're gone, and AJ is gonna to kill me, eeyep, no doubt about that." He began to pace, and ran different alternatives through his mind. Let's see... Ah could skip town and change my name so AJ never finds me and start a new life... He smirked. Nah, she'd track me down some way or another. Ah could call in the royal guard to look for them... Nope, would never work. No royal guard could ever tango with the likes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He shuddered at the thought, knowing full well that it was mostly true. That leaves me with one last option. Ah need to go after them! It didn't take him long to pack. He may have lived at the farm his whole life, but that hadn't stopped him from roughing it in the woods every now and again. He only hoped that he wasn't too late to find the three fillies that had an affinity for trouble. Scootaloo's wings had picked up speed the minute they spotted familiar tracks in the dirt, tracks pertaining to two dragons and an oddly shaped hoof print. They had been traveling for over an hour with no sign of the pegasus filly tiring out. Sweetie Belle was busy enjoying the sights of the forest with Apple Bloom bringing up the rear, making sure that the orange colored filly did not get side tracked. Eventually, the tracks had started to fade, leaving behind a mix of all sorts of creatures that the three were pretty sure had nothing to do with ponies at all. They decided to stop. "How do we even know they went this way? We lost the tracks!" the winged one of the group complained, throwing up her hoofs in exasperation. "Well, I'm sure they did, it's the only road after all," Sweetie Belle said while examining some of the tracks. "Hey, do you both hear somethin'?" "No, I don't hear anything. We-" She stopped upon hearing the sound of hoof steps approaching, but something was off about them. "Plop Plop. Plop Plop." Instead four sets of hoofs, it was only two at a time. The three knew what this meant—whatever was coming, it was not a pony. "Hey look!" The unicorn squeaked out and off in the distance they spotted a lone diamond dog walking along. Oddly enough, he was fully clothed and had a saddlebag on his back. The three darted into a nearby bush, but in their haste they failed to hide the wagon or the scooter. Scootaloo almost went out to retrieve it, but quickly hid as the creature approached. "What the hay is a diamond dog doing all the way out here?" Scootaloo whispered, hoping she wasn't heard. The pegasus did not think about the sensitive ears of the diamond dog race, however. The dog stopped at the wagon and examined it, he then turned his head to the bush and immediately saw some shuffling. Shrugging, he knelt down to inspect it. "Hello? Rover has found your wagon, little fillies?" "GO AWAY!" Sweetie's voice rang out, carrying boldness and invoking a little fear. "Rover is sorry for any-" "She said leave!" Scootaloo demanded. The dog felt hurt, but nodded glumly. "Rover understands. Farewell." He bowed respectfully, causing all three of them to do a double take, before he slowly began to make his journey away from the wagon. Sweetie Belle looked hurt herself, she immediately stood up and followed the dog. "Wait!" Sweetie Belle yelled out, her normal speaking voice forgotten. The diamond dog slowly turned around and stared down at the unicorn filly. Sweetie Belle ignored the hissing protests of her friends and slowly examined Rover all over, she circled him with quiet curiosity while he waited patiently. "I'm sorry we yelled at you, my name is Sweetie Belle!" Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo simply turned to each other, dumbfounded. The diamond dog did a slight bow, shifting his weight and causing his backpack to nearly topple over. "Greetings, young pony. My name is Rover of the... Well, just Rover will do." He then grabbed her hoof gently and gave a firm shake and a smile. "Cool. Hey, you two come out here, he's friendly!" she said in her usual squeaky voice. Scootaloo, not wanting to be out braved by her usually shy friend, did just that, and Apple Bloom followed close behind. "I'm Scootaloo," she offered her hoof hesitantly and the dog repeated his previous actions. "Apple Bloom." With the introductions completed, the three fillies ended up standing in front of one lonely diamond dog. They awkwardly stared at each other, unwilling to speak, until finally the dog finally broke the silence. "Sooo... Are you ponies from Stratosburg?" Scootaloo's ears perked up at this. "No, but we need directions to it, have you been there?" "Rover has. He supposes he could take you there..." The filly tilted her head to the side. "Why do you talk like that?" "Like what?" "You mentioned your name instead of saying 'I have', you said 'Rover has'. So why?" The diamond dog groaned at this but not loud enough for them to take it as a threat. "Ro- I used to be part of a clan, and now I'm not. When you are the leader of one, you refer to yourself as your title at all times." "What happened? How come you're not leader no more?" Sweetie asked. "I made a mistake and... that's that." He finished with a grin, but then slumped down. Sweetie turned to her friends and they both shrugged. "CRUSADERS HUDDLE!" the unicorn demanded, which caused them both to deadpan and then finally comply. "Sweetie, have you lost your mind? He's a diamond dog!" Scootaloo flared her wings, but neither party was impressed. "So what! He can help us get to that town, and besides," she turned and looked back at him, giving the dog a comforting look, "he looks lonely. So we should add him to our group!" "Ah don't know, wasn't that one of them critters that kidnapped your sister?" "Yep!" "And that don't bother you?" "Nope!" "That makes no sense!" Another flare of the pegasus wings. Sweetie Belle just giggled. "Rarity took care of it, to her it was just more of an minor annoyance. So what do you say, girls?" "Ah guess so." "No!" "Why do you even care?" "'Cause! Uhh, he's weird looking?" A set of face hoofs is what she got in return. "Scoots, we have no idea where we are and he can help." "But-" "Do you know how to get us to the town?" Sweetie's sounding voice dangerously close to a certain mare she knew very well. "No... But-" "Great! Then it's decided. Hey Rover!" "Yes?" "Do you want to join us and take us to that town? Please?" Sweetie's eyes bulged out of their sockets, causing what she would call a cuteness ray, but it did not matter. "Of course! Ro- I mean, I, would be honored to join you ponies!" "YAY!" Two fillies screamed in union, but Scootaloo just stood on the side with her forelegs crossed. "Fine, but he better keep up on foot!" The dog simply smirked at this. The two fillies climbed back into the wagon with Scootaloo's wings flaring up. The wagon slowly started to move and in an instant the dog had climbed down onto all fours and jetted off leaving all three fillies in his dust. "Wow..." Scootaloo shook off her awe and took off, steadily trying to keep up with the insanely moving diamond dog. Eventually the dog took the hint and decided to slow down, running side by side with the pegasus filly, he then craned his neck and yelled a question over. "So why are you going to the town anyway?" "We're looking for our dragon friends, about our heights. They ran off!" The dog nodded in understanding and kept up. In the back of the wagon, Apple Bloom felt she had to ask her friend a question. "What do you think Rarity would do if she saw us hanging out with Rover?" The unicorn thought on it and then shrugged. "Ahh!" The unicorn white mare of the group gasped and grabbed her heart. "I'm sorry girls but I felt a dist-" "Rarity, knock it off! Stop being so dramatic and keep moving!" the rainbow-maned mare of the group groaned. The group had long since left the cold of the mountain and was now traveling through an open forest steadily on a single path. Pinkie Pie, having near infinite energy, was simply bouncing along with a literal skip in her step. Rarity was busy glaring at her friend Rainbow Dash, who was flying in the air above them with her patience wearing thin. Twilight Sparkle wore the same expression, a cold stare looking off into the distance, and finally Fluttershy was bringing up the rear with over a dozen worries of her own, one of which involved their leader. Eventually, the pegasus in the back had worked up the courage to walk nearer to her friend, but not close enough to actually say anything. Both unicorn pony and pegasus walking side by side, each worried for their own dragon and yet each feeling entirely different things. Eventually after a long one hour walk, side by side, determined yet feeling hopeless, the pegasus sighed. Something stirred in Twilight and for the first time in a long while, she was more aware of her surroundings. She quickly glanced over and spotted Fluttershy walking near with her head drooping low. "Fluttershy?" The pegasus perked up slightly and looked over. "H-hey. Welcome back." "Heh. Sorry, I guess I was on autopilot there for a bit... How are you doing?" Fluttershy took in a deep breath and began to speak, without once stopping. "We lost our dragons, whom you entrusted me with. Shyfrost and Spike are out there lost, and probably scared, and even if they did trick us that still does not mean that their fears would be put to rest. I feel like a terrible caretaker for sleeping in and not realizing the signs when they were right in front of me. And to make matters worse- Ooph." Twilight and her friends immediately tackled her in a bone crunching hug. "Fluttershy, we both made mistakes and we will get them back! Besides, we're getting close to the migration spot." Fluttershy smiled and returned the hug. They all smiled, glad to have each other and glad to be together. Eventually they trudged up to a lone, teenager dragon who was sitting alone, resting. Most of his kind having left a long time ago; each pony shared uneasy looks until Twilight and Fluttershy decided to address him. "Excuse me? Mr. Dragon?" The red colored dragon craned his neck to look at them all and then scowled. "Mr? Honey, I'm a girl!" Fluttershy blushed and bowed her head to apologize. Knowing that such a situation was nearly impossible to recover from, Twilight decided to speak up. "We apologize, miss. But we were wondering if you could please help us?" Twilight grinned, hoping to please the dragon mare. "With what? I'm trying to sleep here, you know..." "Hey! All we want is your help, you-" Twilight jammed a hoof in Rainbow's mouth and gave her a quiet scowl. Giving the dragon a sheepish smile, she continued. "Please, have you seen two lone dragons walk through here? They would be extremely young, baby dragons?" The lady drake stared at her and then turned to their friends, scratching her chin in thought. "I was at that migration the whole time, no dragons that young ever showed up. I would have remembered them." They all fell on their backs, groaning in defeat, except Fluttershy. "Are you absolutely certain?" Fluttershy pressed. The dragoness scowled. "Do I look like a fool? No baby dragons show up to the migration. That'd be ludicrous! Sorry." They all ignored her and huddled up, the dragon simply snorted and turned over for her nap. "So this was all for nuffin? What in the hay do we do now?" Twilight tapped her chin in thought. It took a while, but she rummaged up an idea. "We head back and check the nearest settlement. If we are lucky, they should still be there." Rainbow Dash did not share her confidence. "What makes you think they wouldn't just head back to Ponyville or something else?" "Because if I know Spike, he will be wanting some food. And I'm sure they didn't pack that much, with the pearls gone and all..." It seemed to make sense to them and they all turned back, having to once again face the mountain and it's weather. "I think I will send the Princess a little letter. I just need to think of the right spell..." "So..." Shyfrost was now standing in front of a lone minotaur, the shop owner. Shaodow Mirror was glancing around, as was Spike. The minotaur in question was glaring down at him, not the least bit pleased with them in his presence. "Uhh, I was wondering if-" "BURP!" In an instant, several things happened. The scroll that was thrust out of Spike, landed on a shelf, which caused Spike to clumsily reach for it and causes the entire shelf's contents to fall down. They all looked to the owner of the shop and he growled. "OUT!" They could not comply fast enough. Once outside, Shyfrost started to complain. "Spike! I was so close! He could have had some pearls or something!" Spike rolled his eyes and opened the letter, Shadow Mirror stood off to the side and began to inspect a few other shops. Dear Spike and Shyfrost, I'm sorry to say this, but it appears that both of you have missed the dragon migration. I would suggest that you both return to Ponyville immediately. Signed, Princess Celestia Spike immediately crunched up the letter and in a fit of rage, released a torrent of orange colored flames, burning it up. "HOW COULD WE HAVE MISSED THE BLASTED MIGRATION!" He wanted to huff, he wanted to harm others and destroy things. Before he could partake in such acts, he was tackled, but not to the ground. Spike slowly looked down and saw familiar orange arms wrapped around him in a warm embrace. "Better?" he asked with a grin. Spike simply rolled his eyes and nodded. "Still, the whole reason we were out here! And-" "I also wanted to find out more about this amulet. Even if the dragons are gone, we can still travel there. Plus, with Shadow Mirror and his... thing, it has become kind of, interesting?" Spike glared at him for a good long while. It was true that what happened between his friends amulet and whatever the changeling had was intriguing. Spike also could not deny his own feelings when it came to exploring and getting away from the ponies in Ponyville, even if he did miss them. He smiled. "Alright, we can still go, but-" Both dragons whipped around when they heard a sound that made their hearts stop. Their new friend was now standing in the middle of town, stripped of his disguise. Something had happened, and now most of the town was glaring at him in anger. Both dragons shared a look, the type where they both had one, simple synchronized thought. Buck. They ran up to his side. Upon seeing the two dragons, the crowd increased their rumblings and dark mutterings, much to the dragons' dismay. "Dude, what in the hay happened?" Spike asked, nervously eying the growing crowd nervously. The two baby dragons stepped out in front, attempting to guard the changeling from the glaring eyes. "Heh, uh, I was focusing so much on something that my disguise kind of slipped slightly... Once that happened, some others noticed and at that point it didn't matter..." "Shadow, do something! There are angry looking griffons out there and..." Shyfrost trailed off when he realized just how many griffons there actually were. He wasn't much for math, but it definitely added up to a lot. "Alright you two, climb on, now!" They quickly obliged, knowing his plan. But Spike had to mention one little flaw. "Dude, griffons can fly, we don't stand a chance!" "Never tell me that! Now hang on!" Before any griffon or other creature could respond, he had fired a blast of green bright energy into the crowd, thus distracting them enough to get into the air. Unfortunately the weight of two baby dragons on his changeling form was taxing; try as he might, he could not fly high or fast enough to get away to safety. The two looked back and, to their horror, there were already four griffons hot on their tail. "Guys, I can't keep this up, we need to land." They landed near a minotaur off on the edge of town. The creature stared at them in confusion and then glanced over to the landing griffons. The changeling was panting on the ground. The two dragons turned to the griffons and smiled, the biggest grins they could muster up. Shyfrost was in a near state of shock. "Well, well, well..." One of the griffons, a male, began to speak, but trailed off when he noticed the minotaur walking in between them. Both sides stared at the large creature in confusion. "What do you want?" Another griffon spat the question out. "I could ask you the same thing," the minotaur replied. "Just get out of the way!" A third griffon spoke out in pure anger, glaring daggers from a distance to the frost dragon. "...No." The creature crossed his arms and sighed, he assessed each griffon before him and concluded that a battle could only end badly, for them. The lead griffon, or what the non bird creatures thought was the lead stepped forward. "Just keep them out of town. Lets get going!" The other griffons gave a long sideways glance back at the changeling and dragons and obliged, flying away. The minotaur then turned around and walked closer to the three, but stopped when he noticed something in his saddlebag was stirring. Confused the three of them moved their heads forward to see what was up. Apparently, a lot was up, for the very second the creature took out the item in question, the artifacts held by two of the three members began to stir as well. Suddenly a flash blinded all three of them, for a moment there was an odd sense of acceptance among the group, like the blinding a pulsating light was meant to be there. Then, as quickly as the light came, it left; leaving behind two confused dragons, a changeling who was grinning from ear to ear, and a minotaur who seemed to accept whatever happened far too quickly. Spike finally spoke, giving voice to the same thought running through everyone's mind. "Whoa..." Princess Celestia sighed as she stood in front of and stared at the one case she had only hoped to call upon in an emergency. It had not been opened too often in the past, but today she knew it was necessary. Her horn glowed, and slowly a magical lock released, revealing the black case for what it was, instead of the illusion spell that once covered it. She opened it and inside revealed the sight of the jewels containing the Elements of Harmony. She sighed as she inspected them. Nothing seemed out of place on the surface, but, being a near-immortal being, she knew better. "What is wrong you?" she asked, her voice trailing off. "I believe it is time I called in my student and her friends. I just hope they have found their dragons." She then resealed the box and left the chamber, with every intention of writing the letter she so desperately wished she did not have to.