//------------------------------// // Finale // Story: Blooming Travels // by Soniclink137 //------------------------------// “So Spike, are you sure you won’t stay if Ah can find you a job?” Apple Bloom asked the next morning. Of course as soon as they woke up, ate breakfast, and began packing up camp, Apple Bloom went straight to suggesting ideas to keep Spike in Equestria. “What are you thinking?” Spike asked while picking up the rocks around the fire, not saying yes or no. “Well Ah was thinkin we head back ta Applewood,” Apple Bloom suggested. “Ah’m sure Apple Crisp will let us hide out at his house and lay low for a while. Then after they stop lookin for us, Ah’m sure we’ll both be able to find some sort of work. You said you wanted ta find a job didn’t you?” “Alright say we do that, and say it works,” Spike said. “First off, how long do you think we need to hide for? I doubt the guards will stop looking for me for a while. Maybe you, and that’s a big maybe. And after they do stop looking for me, what do you think they’re going to think when a random purple dragon reappears in Los Pegasus? Dragons aren’t exactly a common creature around Equestria.” “Well thanks for bein open minded,” Apple Bloom said with hurt in her voice. “I am open minded, but I want to make sure I know where I’m going before I go there,” Spike told her. He finished up putting rocks in his backpack and got up to face Apple Bloom. “Yeah, ‘cause you know so much about where you’re goin otherwise,” Apple Bloom told him, obviously mad. Spike guiltily looked to his feet at Apple Bloom’s accusing gaze. He also kicked his feet nervously but Apple Bloom’s gaze didn’t lesson any more. He eventually gave up. “Alright fine, I get it,” Spike said, snapping his head back up to look at Apple Bloom. “You have a point. I really don’t know what I’m going to do when I leave Equestria. But I’d rather be outside Equestria, where at least I know Twilight can’t find me, than here.” Apple Bloom sighed as she lowered her head and picked up her saddle bags from right in front of her. After sliding her bags down her neck and on to her back she looked back at Spike. Since Spike didn’t like that option Apple Bloom decided to give him the only one that she thought up completely and knew would work. The problem was, she knew Spike would hate it. “Why don’t you try explainin yourself ta Twilight better?” Apple Bloom told him. “Ah’m sure, positive, if you talked to her you’d be able to get right with her. Twi is the only family you have, so you can’t just leave her.” “Didn’t you leave your family?” Spike pointed out. “You left your family for the same reason I left Twilight. You know how I feel. Didn’t you leave them because they didn’t listen to your problem?” “Yeah, and Ah still feel guilty about it,” Apple Bloom told him. “Ah feel really guilty about it. Ah’m constantly thinkin, constantly wonderin if there was somethin Ah could have said, somethin Ah could have done, that would’ve made things better. Ah know Ah could have explained myself better and Ah know you could have explained things better ta Twilight.” “Well I would have if somebody wasn’t so selfish that she didn’t even bother meeting me alone,” Spike told her, his voice rising as he spoke. “I wasn’t even important enough for her to do that! I was treated just like I was another random peasant with a request she had to meet that day! Maybe if she treated me like I was family I would care more!” Spike’s voice suddenly became much lower. “But nope. I wasn’t even important enough for that. I’m sure if one of her friends or ‘he who must not be named’ told her they had something important to tell her, she would make sure to listen to them. But nope, I’m not that important to her.” Realization hit Apple Bloom’s face. “Spike…are you feeling left out and replaced?” “Well…maybe,” Spike said. “Spike…” Apple Bloom walked over to Spike and put a cream hoof on his shoulder. “Listen. Ah know the feelin’. Remember, Ah have nieces and nephews now. Ah know how it feels ta be replaced. But Ah…” “It’s not just that I’m replaced,” Spike interrupted. “Twilight literally betrayed me. She didn’t bother listening to me.” “Then tell her that!” Apple Bloom said. “Twi needs ta know that. You should tell Twi how you feel so she understands what she did to you. Otherwise she won’t ever understand what she did to you.” Spike was silent as he looked at Apple Bloom, obviously deep in thought. Apple Bloom kept her hoof on Spike’s shoulder and kept looking at him, hoping that she said that right words to Spike, hoping that she finally convinced Spike to come back with her. “No,” Spike flat out said. “I’m not going to come crawling back to her. I don’t care how much she ‘needs’ to know. I’m going to make sure Twilight doesn’t see my face ever again.” Apple Bloom lowered her head and gave a frustrated cry. “Well than what else do you want ta do?” Apple Bloom asked. “What do you think you’re gonna do? Spike, we ain’t got much else we can do. If Ah was Applejack and owned mah own business Ah’d get you a job that way, but Ah’m not. So we’re gonna need somebody’s help ta stay in Equestria. And don’t think you’re gonna do much outside of Equestria. You don’t know anythin about what’s outside there. So what makes you so sure you’ll do anythin there?” “I don’t know, but whatever it is it has to be better than staying here,” Spike told her. “No it isn’t!” Apple Bloom said loudly as she stomped her right off to the ground. “Spike, if you go away, you don’t know what you’re gonna do?! You don’t know if you can even find supplies ta stay alive! And Ah ain’t about ta let you go off and die!” “Die?” Spike asked. “Yeah die!" Apple Bloom said. "Did ya honesty not think of that! Ah’ve already told you mah feelings. So you know Ah don’t want ta see you leave when Ah know you’re just gonna get hurt from it. And Ah know you feel betrayed with Twi. But do you really think havin you possibly die should be her punishment for that? And what about others who didn’t do anything to you? Like me? Are you gonna punish me for what Twi did?” “You’re…not going to let up on me talking to Twilight are you?” Spike asked. "Ah gave you another choice and you ignored it," Apple Bloom said. “Besides, family has always been important ta Apples and it’s important to me. If any members of the Apple Family fight we always reconcile with each other. And Ah think ya should do that too. Please Spike, at least try. For me.” Apple Bloom gave Spike a look, a long hard look hoping that she could actually get him to agree with her. “Apple Bloom I…just give me a few seconds,” Spike said. “I’ll…I need to walk and think about it.” Spike took the straps of his backpack off his shoulders and placed them on to the floor. “I’ll leave this here just so you know I’ll come back.” Spike turned around and walked off in some random direction on his own. The drake was confused and Apple Bloom could tell that from the way he walked, but strangely the filly actually liked that fact. Something Spike thought was so concrete before was now unknown and Apple Bloom hoped that was a start to get him to agree with her. ~ Spike walked across the scorching desert sands with his mind confused. He wasn’t really paying attention to where he was walking, all he cared about was to keep moving forward so later he could reverse his steps and walk backwards. Beyond that he didn’t really care about where he was walking, including one point where he got stung by a scorpion, since the scorpion’s venom had no chance of penetrating his dragon scales. All Spike wanted to do was walk and think. Apple Bloom…urrg why do you have to use logic on me, Spike thought. That’s unfair. And of course what’s worse is she’s actually worried about me. If she wasn’t I could say nobody would care if I’m gone, but I can’t do that. But I guess she has a good reason for that because she has a crush on me. She has a crush on me. Apple Bloom has a crush on me. No matter how many times Spike ran those words through his head he could not believe those words. I…after Rarity I didn’t think I’d find somebody else. I didn’t think I’d get anybody to like me. And then Apple Bloom tells me otherwise. And not only does she have a crush on me, but she’s gone this far with me because of it. She cares so much for me. She even saved my life. But I still don’t want to talk to Twilight. I’d rather do anything than talk to Twilight. She didn’t bother talking to me so why the heck would I want to talk to her? She was too busy to bother with me. After raising me all my life, she betrayed and abandoned me when I needed her. Spike looked up in the sky where he saw buzzards circling around an area near the edge of his sight. With the amount of buzzards he knew something must have died recently, but Spike couldn’t see exactly what. It probably wasn’t a pony, Spike knew no ponies would come into the desert alone because of the dangers in it, but either way Spike still felt for it. Spike had a few guesses of what happened to that poor creature and none of them good. I wonder…if I keep going will I end up like that? Spike questioned. Apple Bloom is pretty sure I’m about to head off to my death. And I don’t blame her. If I run out of supplies, which I will in a few weeks, and can’t find anymore then well…I guess Apple Bloom has a point. I don’t really have an idea of what I’m doing here. Actually I haven’t really had a lot planned thinking about it now. Even when I was asking Twilight about getting a job, I didn’t know what I would actually do. I just figured I’d ask for a job and I’d get one I liked. I didn’t think through which job I should do and why. Guess it doesn’t help that I don’t have a Cutie Mark telling me what I’m good at. Heh, and I was complaining about Apple Bloom not thinking things through. Turns out she had everything more planned out than I ever had. The buzzards all flew away allowing Spike to continue his walk without worry of seeing the deformed figure of whatever pray the buzzards found. The drake knew he’d been gone for a while and Apple Bloom would probably come looking for him eventually but Spike still wanted to walk for just a bit longer. No matter what I do I don’t know what will happen. If I leave Equestria to avoid Twilight I won’t know where I’m going or what I’m going to do, but even if I stay in Equestria and talk to Twilight, something I really don't want to do, I still don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know where to go. I’m trapped without an idea of what to do now. Spike sighed but before he was able to think of what to do a shrill scream sounded across the desert. It was a high pitched scream, one that burned into Spike’s mind and made him quickly turn around. It was also a scream that Spike recognized, and one that made his heart pump with fear. It was Apple Boom’s scream. Spike ran in the direction of Apple Bloom’s screaming as fast as he could. His pulse was racing, and it wasn’t from the running he was doing. Apple Bloom’s loud scream was ringing in his ears and Spike was extremely worried about what fate had befallen her. Eventually the cream colored earth pony came into Spike’s view, lying motionless on the desert sands with her saddle bags and Spike’s backpack on. Along with Apple Bloom, the same scorpion that stung Spike before, along with half a dozen other scorpions, was surrounding Apple Bloom. Spike realized that he must have passed over a scorpion’s nest when he was walking this way and he made them angry. Spike greatly picked up the pace while swearing like a sailor in his mind. Once he got to the scorpions nest Spike immediately blew fire into the air to alert the scorpions, and if possible scare them away. He didn’t manage that but at least the scorpions turned their attention away from Apple Bloom and towards Spike. Spike grabbed the scorpions with his claws, ignoring the stings or pinchs that he got from them, and immediately threw them as far away as he could from Apple Bloom. He threw about half of them away before that half started coming back towards Spike. However, before they were Apple to get that far Spike twisted his head towards them and let out a great fire, burning most of them to a crisp and sending the ones that weren’t packing. Spike then went back to throwing the ones that were close to Apple Bloom away and repeated the process until all the scorpions were either dead or ran away. Once Spike got rid of them all and after taking a few seconds to catch his breath Spike immediately turned a concerned eye to Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom was still on the floor, her eyes were closed and Spike couldn’t tell if she was even breathing. Near her belly and hooves there were several red splotches where the scorpions attacked. Spike got on his knees in front of her and reached a claw towards her underside to try and find a pulse, worry causing his claws to shake. “S…Spike?” Spike’s hand snapped back at Apple Bloom’s voice and took a step back away from Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom’s eyes opened slowly and she looked tried to get up, but she only made it half way there before she fell back onto his belly with a pained look on her face. Spike once again ran up to the teenager. “S…Spike, are you…ok?” Apple Bloom asked weakly. “I’m ok,” Spike told her. “Those scorpions aren’t strong enough to pierce my scales. Plus I don’t think my dragon blood would be that affected by the poison. How did they sting you in the first place?! You should have seen that scorpion from a mile away. And you shouldn’t even be here right now! I told you I’d come back!” “Yeah Ah saw that scorpion,” Apple Bloom said, “but there were ‘bout a dozen Ah didn’t see. And Ah wanted ta make sure you were ok. You were takin a while and Ah was gettin worried.” Spike sighed, expecting that this would happen but wishing that it didn’t. Spike kneeled down once again in front of Apple Bloom, this time removing his backpack and her saddle bags to give her some comfort and get rid of some of the heat that Apple Bloom was feeling. It wasn’t much but it was something. “I’d ask how you feel but I think I have a good guess of that,” Spike said. “Hot. Really…sick. Ah feel like Ah have the flu, only worse,” Apple Bloom said. Spike grabbed a water bottle from his backpack. With the water bottle in hand he quickly moved towards Apple Bloom’s face, took off the cap, and placed the water bottle at her mouth. Apple Bloom eventually opened her mouth and drank up the entire water bottle within a few seconds. “T-thanks,” Apple Bloom said. “H-hey Spike since you can’t get hurt by poison can you…” “No, that doesn’t actually work,” Spike interrupted, feeling time getting away from him. “The poison is in you right now coursing through your veins. Without the right supplies I can’t do anything to stop it. I don’t know how poisonous the scorpions’ venom was but I don’t think you’ll last very long.” “So…what are ya gonna do?” Apple Bloom asked. “Can ya get me back to Los Pegasus?” “…Too far away,” Spike said as he realized what he was going to have to do. “And Appleoosa and Phoenix are both a long ways away too. No matter where I try to go I won’t be able to get you there in time.” “So then what?” Apple Bloom asked. “You’re not…gonna leave me here are ya?” “…No I’m not,” Spike said. “Apple Bloom, which of your bags has pencils and papers?” “The one that was on my right,” Apple Bloom told him. “Why?” Spike walked over to where he placed Apple Bloom’s bags and opened the flap. Reaching in Spike grabbed a pencil and paper and began writing on it. It was fast and not in his best handwriting but Spike didn’t really care. “Why?” Apple Bloom asked again, not being able to see what Spike was doing behind her. “You need help now,” Spike said. “So I’m going to get you help. I made my decision. I’m not leaving you here to die, not after all you’ve done for me so…” Spike blew his fire on the paper and it flew off into the desert sky. “I’m telling Twilight where we are.”