//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Blooming Travels // by Soniclink137 //------------------------------// The rest of the day was set in silence. There was really nothing Spike wanted to say after that and luckily enough for him Apple Bloom didn’t push him for answers. By the look on her face before they both continued onwards she was probably too shocked for words. So for the rest of the day the two walked without any sound besides the sound of Apple Bloom’s hooves across the grass. When Spike looked back at Apple Bloom every once in a while he noticed she was walking with her head down so he assumed that she was either thinking or possibly grieving for the drake based on her expression. Spike didn’t want her to be sad for him, since this was all his doing. The sun was beginning to set, sending the skies into an orange glow when Spike finally noticed the place he wanted to stop for the night. Just appearing in his vision was what looked like a small fissure in the ground, but Spike knew as he got closer to it he would eventually see a river in that crevice. The river, filled with clean pure water was coming up, a landmark for their journey. It still took a few more minutes before Spike finally reached the river and once he did, after placing his backpack away from the river Spike stopped right in front of it and overlooked the clear river. The river was only a few inches away from the bank and from what Spike could see it was two or three feet deep. The only thing big about the river was how wide it was across, looking like it was about nine or ten feet across. The water itself was flowing slowly and peacefully, not making much noise to Spike’s relief. If he was next to rapids he would have a difficult time sleeping that night. Spike turned around to walk away from the river but as soon as he did a one-eighty the colors of red and yellow flashed in his vision. And then he felt something push on his stomach, knocking away his balance and causing him to start tripping. He grabbed forward to try and regain his balance, ending up grabbing on some fur. Unfortunately even that wasn’t good enough, since Spike caused both him and whatever he grabbed on to fall into the drink screaming. With a small splash Spike and whatever he was holding on landed in the cold water. Spike felt the water flow hit his right side, felt his spikes dig into the dirt on his back side, and felt something on his stomach. Spike looked towards his stomach to figure out just what hit him and knocked him down into the river. When he looked into orange eyes rounded by yellow fur topped with red, he figured it out. “Apple Bloom!” Spike said in an annoyed voice. “Spike?” Apple Bloom asked. “Watch where you’re going!” Spike said. “Sorry Spike,” Apple Bloom said apologetically. “Ah…didn’t notice you stopped.” “Well I guess I’m sorry for bringing you in with me,” Spike said. He lifted up his right claw which had some yellow colored fur in it. He opened up his claw and the fur started flowing down in the water. “It’s alright,” Apple Bloom said. “So can you get off me now?” Spike asked. Apple Bloom apparently just realized the position she was in after Spike said that which resulted in her cheeks turning red. She quickly got off Spike and jumped back on shore, which splashed some water on Spike’s face. Spike, now no longer have Apple Bloom’s weight on him, got up and climbed out of the water. Spike was quickly able to dry off due to his scales being water repellent. However when he looked at Apple Bloom he noticed she was soaked on the lower side of her body, including parts of her tail. Water was dripping of the bottom side of her fur and she was shivering. Her saddle bags were also dripping wet at the bottom part. “Are you ok Apple Bloom?” Spike asked. “Y-yeah Ah…Ah’m fine,” Apple Bloom said through her chattering teeth. Spike walked a few feet to where he left his backpack and opened it up. He reached inside his backpack and got out a bunch of rocks, which he placed in a circle. Afterwards he grabbed out a few sticks and twigs and placed those within the rock circle. After finally setting up, Spike breathed fire on it starting a fire. “Come here,” Spike said. “The fire should help dry you off and warm yourself. It also should dry your bags off. “A-alright,” Apple Bloom said. She walked up to the fire and placed her bags down close to it. She then walked around to the left of her bags and sat down herself. After she sat down, she put her forehooves up to draw in the warmth to her body. Spike sat down to Apple Bloom’s left and also looked into the fire. When he sat down he also shivered, but he paid no attention to that and instead let the fire warm him. He felt Apple Bloom shifting to his right and apparently she paid attention to Spike’s shivering. “Spike are you cold?” Apple Bloom asked concern in her voice. “Yes I’m cold,” Spike said. “Just because I can breathe fire doesn’t mean I’m never cold. Haven’t you noticed I wear a scarf every winter?” “No that’s not what I meant,” Apple Bloom said quickly. “Ah was just wonderin if you were cold, not if that is even possible.” “Sorry,” Spike said. “I’m just so used to ponies questioning whether I can actually get cold just because I can breathe fire. I don’t actually feel the heat from my fire until I start breathing it and even then I only feel it in my throat and mouth. I can still easily get cold and I prefer being in warmer places. It’s one of the reasons I like summer so much.” “Yeah Ah understand,” Apple Bloom said. Apple Bloom looked into the fire and thought for a few seconds as to how she can keep the conversation going. “Ah…hope Ah’m able ta make it as a carpenter when Ah get ta Lo…Phoenix,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah’ve never actually built anything before. Ah’ve renovated a lot of things, but Ah’ve never had the opportunity to build somethin from scratch.” “I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Spike said. “And I told you, I’ll help you get yourself ready before I finally go on my own. For now I’d worry about getting there. We still have a long journey ahead.” “Yeah, your right,” Apple Bloom said. She yawned. “Anyways Ah think Ah’ll try and hit the hay. We got a long walk ahead of us.” “Did you bring any bedding?” Spike asked. “Ah well…no,” she admitted. “Ah…guess Ah’ll sleep on the ground?” “Be careful,” Spike said. “Trust me, it’s not easy sleeping on the ground.” “Well it’s not like Ah got any better option,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah didn’t bring nothin because…to be honest Ah wanted ta save room for food and water and my construction supplies. Ah figured Ah’d just sleep on the ground until we get there.” “Well I’d help you, but I didn’t bring much either,” Spike told her. “Well I guess…” Apple Bloom said as she walked over to a random patch of ground, “Ah just have to get used to it.” Apple Bloom lied down on the ground and tried to get comfortable. “It’s a little hard but Ah think Ah can get used to it.” Apple Bloom closed her eyes and attempted to get used to it. “Good luck,” Spike said as he turned around to watch her. Spike could tell that Apple Bloom was having difficulty sleeping because she constantly rolled around, and even changed places where she was lying down, while trying to get comfortable. Apple Bloom squirmed a few hours fruitlessly, until the sun was down below the sky and the moon was beginning to rise. Spike watched as she did that, trying and failing not to laugh. The only other movement he made besides that was to walk towards his backpack. “Having fun?” Spike asked through his laughter. “Hey, this ain’t easy!” Apple Bloom said in her defense. She turned around to look at Spike when she noticed he was holding what looked like a picnic blanket in his claws. “Here you go,” Spike said as he threw the blanket towards Apple Bloom. “You can sleep on this.” “Spike?” Apple Bloom asked. “What about you?” “I’ll be fine,” Spike said. “Go ahead and use it.” “But Spike,” Apple Bloom said to try and make another argument. “It’s your blanket so you should use it.” “I told you I’ll be fine,” Spike said once again. “I’m more used to sleeping outside than you are. You on the other hand obviously aren’t used to sleeping outside. So I’m giving it to you.” Apple Bloom looked like she wanted to convince Spike otherwise, but before she could make an argument she let out a loud yawn telling her just how tired she was. “Alright Spike,” Apple Bloom said as laid out the blanket and then laid down on it. “You win. But if ya need it well…Ah’ll give you some room so you can sleep on it too.” After a few more minutes Spike noticed her chest rose and fell slower suggesting that she finally fell asleep. Took you long enough, Spike said. But I guess that’s because you’re sleeping on the actual ground. You should have prepared for the fact that you were going to spend a lot of time sleeping outside. But then again, I’m not much better. I’m just more used to sleeping outside and didn’t want to bring some bedding with. But I’m still wondering how prepared you were for this journey. Spike waited a few more minutes just to make sure Apple Bloom was fully asleep before walking to his left around the campfire to where Apple Bloom placed her bags. He started with the bag closest to him, quickly opening it up. He wanted to get through it as fast as he could, since he was sure that if Apple Bloom happened to wake up she wouldn’t be too happy with Spike going through her stuff. The first bag Spike looked through was not the one that he was looking for. He opened up her construction supplies bag by accident, and while he was glad to see that they weren’t damaged from the water that hit the bag, it wasn’t what he was looking for. So he quickly closed the bag and went to the next one, the one that carries all her food supplies. He took a quick stock at how much supplies she had before closing the bag as quickly as he opened it. Yeah I should have guessed as much, Spike thought. She has enough here for about three days at most. Not enough for us to reach Phoenix. Ugg…Apple Bloom. You want to know why I’m coming with you? This is why. You don’t exactly have this planned out very well. Not that I blame you. I wouldn’t really know what I’m doing too if it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve pretty much worked in a library for all my life. Anyways it looks like we’re going to have to take a detour to get you some more supplies. I brought plenty of bits and you look like you have some so we should be able to get you some food. Tomorrow I’ll have to convince you to take a detour someplace to find some. Unfortunately that means we’re going to have to take that much longer to get to Phoenix. Which is going to be annoying. I want this to be done and over as soon as possible. Sure it’s nice to have a travel companion for now, so long as she isn’t asking me why I’m leaving. But I want to leave on my own. I want to walk with alone until I find what I’m looking for. Until I find where I belong.