Blooming Travels

by Soniclink137


Chapter 3

The next morning Apple Bloom was the first to wake up, but her movement to get back up on her hooves disturbed Spike’s sleep causing him to quickly wake up himself. They both got ready without talking by first stretching and then grabbing their respective bags and put them on. After finishing getting ready, they both nodded to each other to make sure the other knows their ready.

“Alright Apple Bloom,” Spike said before they went back to walking. “Last night I thought of something. You’ve really underestimated how long this journey will go for did you?”

“Well…” Apple Bloom kicked her right hoof. “This might be taken a smidge longer than Ah thought it would be. But it doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, it kinda does Apple Bloom,” Spike said. “The desert is going to drain you when you walk through it. Trust me, it isn’t exactly an easy place to cross. You’re going to feel thirsty and hungry a lot of the time we walk through it. So if you aren’t prepared while walking through you’ll run out of food and water, and there aren’t exactly any good places to find some more.”

“So what are you sayin?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Are you sure you have enough food to make it through the desert?” Spike asked.

Of course Ah don’t, Apple Bloom thought. Ah wasn’t gonna go through a desert when Ah packed. Ah don’t even have any salt with me either. It was then that Apple Bloom realized something. While means we’re gonna hafta buy somethin. Which means we’re gonna hafta go to the nearest town to get some more supplies. And the nearest town to here is…

“No Ah don’t,” Apple Bloom admitted. “So we’re gonna hafta go get some more supplies. Ah know what we should do. If we go along where this river is goin, we’ll reach Los Pegasus. We can head there ta get some more stuff.”

“Do you have enough bits?” Spike asked.

“Yeah Ah brought all mah money Ah’ve gotten over the past year,” Apple Bloom said.

“Well I brought some bits as well with me,” Spike said. “So if we pool our resources together we should be able to get you enough to last you until you reach Phoenix.” Apple Bloom opened her mouth to protest but Spike held one claw up to stop her. “Don’t worry about me. I only brought the bits just in case I’d need something for a huge emergency. I’ve got enough in my bag to last me for a while.”

Apple Bloom gave him a skeptic look. “How much could ya possibly hold in that bag?” she asked.

“Twilight enchanted it so that it has near unlimited space,” Spike said. “How it works is beyond me so don’t ask, Twilight tried to explain it to me but she lost me too quickly. So trust me, I have enough.”

“But Ah…don’t want ta…” Apple Bloom said.

“I told you it’s not a problem,” Spike said. “We need to get you some food if you’re going to make it anyways. It’s either this or you go back home, because I’m not letting you go into the desert unprepared.”

Apple Bloom sighed and lowered her head in defeat. “Alright fine,” Apple Bloom said.

“Good, let’s go,” Spike said.

~

They both walked next to the river together to reach Los Pegasus. It took them both half the day to see the mountains they were looking which was when they crossed the river and the spent the rest of the day reaching Los Pegasus. By the time they were able to see the city on the horizon the city was coming up into view. And when it came to view Apple Bloom was surprised to say the least.

“Are those…clouds?” Apple Bloom asked while they walked towards it.

The city in front of them bathed in the sunset seemed to be a city made of clouds. The entire architecture of the place reminded Apple Bloom of the pictures of Cloudsdale she would see with all the purple and puffy buildings, pillars, and roads. The only problem was the city was ground level instead of in the sky like Cloudsdale was.

Apple Bloom was actually amazed at the sight of it. When she was planning on going there, she saw plenty of pictures of Los Pegasus, but actually seeing it made her realize just how inaccurate those pictures were compared to actually seeing it. The pictures just made it look like the place was cloud themed, but here Apple Bloom could have sworn she saw actual clouds.

“Not exactly,” Spike explained. “Los Pegasus used to only pegasi majority city that’s on the ground. Because of that they gave the place a similar architecture to Cloudsdale. Everything in the city is made to look like their clouds. It’s thanks to the architecture that Los Pegasus it gets a lot of tourists and the city became really populated. It’s the second most populated town in Equestria, with Manehattan being the only town to beat it.”

“So we can walk on it?” Apple Bloom asked.

“On the lower part anyways,” Spike told her. “From what I’ve heard there are plenty of cloud houses here and probably some higher areas that are made of clouds. There are also a few areas where they make rainbows around here and some rainbow falls around with rainbow pools.”

“So it’s sort of like livin in Cloudsdale yet with multiple pony races?” Apple Bloom asked for confirmation. She still held on to her plans of working there, so hearing about this was worth it to her.

“Yeah pretty much,” Spike said. “Anyways, we should stop outside here for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll head into Los Pegasus and buy what we need. Afterwards if we head to the south of the city we’ll immediately reach the desert. So this is really only a one day delay.”

“Alright,” Apple Bloom said.

One they both were about half a mile away from Los Pegasus they both set up for the night once again. The sky was lit up from Los Pegasus and the night wasn’t that cold so they skipped the fire, and instead Apple Bloom just set out the blanket for herself. Spike himself lied down stomach up and wings spread out on the soft grass at the same time this night. He was about to hit the sweet embrace of sleep when a thought flashed through his mind causing his eyes to flash open and him to suddenly sit up.

“Sssspiiiike?” Apple Bloom said sleepily, Spike’s sudden movement disturbing her sleep. She opened one of her eyes to see Spike sitting up looking worried. “What’s goin on?”

“I just thought of something,” Spike said. “We’re running away from the Element of Honesty and a princess of Equestria.”

“Well yeah, Ah guess we are,” Apple Bloom said. “Not that Ah think of her like that. Applejack never cared whether she was the Element of Honesty or a normal pony. So what if we are though?”

“Come on Apple Bloom,” Spike said. “We have to check something quickly.”

Apple Bloom closed her eyes and yawned before opening them back up again. “Can’t this wait until mornin?” she asked.

“No, it can’t,” Spike said. “Come on, it’ll only take us a few minutes and then we can go back to sleep.”

“Ugg,” Apple Bloom groaned. She shakily got on her hooves and looked up at Spike with half open eyes. “Fine,” Apple Bloom said, “but this better be quick.”

They both quickly walked to the west for a bit until they reached the path that leads from Los Pegasus to the train station several miles to the north. After reaching that tar road Spike and Apple Bloom both took a left to walk into Los Pegasus. The walk was quick before the now black buildings started surrounding them and they could see numerous ponies walking across the streets.

“Alright we’re here,” Apple Bloom said. “So what are we doin here?”

“Keep an eye on the walls,” Spike said as he constantly snapped his head from side to side as he walked.

Apple Bloom yawned once again. “Ah can hardly keep my eyes out on what’s in front of me,” Apple Bloom said. She was really not taking what they were doing seriously, whereas Spike was tense as they walked, checking out not only the wall but also the ponies that they passed by. “Ya know, y’all can tell me what we’re lookin for, and that might make things faster.”

Spike sighed and stopped his advance forward. “We’re looking for posters with our faces on them,” Spike said as he turned around to look at Apple Bloom. “Twilight has the entire Royal Guard on her side, so as soon as she learned I was gone I’m sure Twilight sent out guards to find us. We’ll probably also have Runaway Posters plastered in every city in Equestria. That’s what I want to check for. I want to see if our Runaway Posters have reached here yet, and if they have whether they are just of me or of both of us.”

“Do ya think they know we’re travelin together?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I said in my note I was leaving alone, because at the time I was planning on leaving alone,” Spike explained as he started walking again while still facing Apple Bloom. “But knowing Twilight as soon as she heard you left the same day she’s going to piece together that we’re going together.”

“Alright, Ah get it,” Apple Bloom said. She tried to wake up a bit more to keep an eye on things, and for the most part she was successful. For the most part, since the lights of the city weren’t exactly the best around making it somewhat hard for Apple Bloom to see anything on the walls.

“Also I’m worried that if the posters have been put up, ponies will notice us and call the guards on us,” Spike said. He went back to observing everything.

“Well so far so good,” Apple Bloom said. “Nopony is lookin at us funny and Ah haven’t seen any…”

Apple Bloom suddenly became silent as the two passed a three-way intersection leading to the right. She stopped dead in her tracks as she looked into the intersection, but also didn’t say anything when she was looking at it. So it took Spike a few seconds before he realized something was wrong and walked back to Apple Bloom to see what was wrong.

“Apple Bloom what’s going o…” Spike turned his head around as he talked to see just what Apple Bloom was looking at. Just as Spike was worried about two guards, one white and the other dark gray, were just finishing nailing a white poster with Spike’s face on it on the side of a wall at the left side of the road.

“Alright Apple Bloom, listen,” Spike whispered quietly in Apple Bloom’s ear. “I’m getting out of here before they see me. You stay here and try in fit into a crowd or something. If you blend in with the crowd then they might not notice you while chasing me.”

“But Spike…” Apple Bloom whispered, her eyes still on the two guards as they stepped back from their work.

“I’ll meet you back where we made camp, got it?” Spike asked before Apple Bloom felt his presence leave her side in a gust.

Apple Bloom turned around to see where Spike was going but as she looked the purple drake was putting pedal to the metal across the street, and getting a lot of looks from the several ponies on the street. A few seconds later the wing of one of the two guards brushed against Apple Bloom’s side as the guards were in quick pursuit of Spike. They were both running with their wings flapping as they tried to catch up with him.

“Stop!” yelled a deep voice from one of the guards as he ran off.

Apple Bloom watched them until they all ran past her vision. As soon as she could no longer see Spike Apple Bloom quickly turned around to walk away from Los Pegasus. She walked as quickly as she could through the city without gaining any attention to herself, just wanting to leave for the night. As soon as she passed the last two buildings in the city she immediately left the road and went directly towards camp.

Spike, Apple Bloom thought as she walked, please please please be there when Ah wake up tomorrow.