Spike and the Dragon Tree
***
Chapter 3 – Setting out
Spike had never packed so fast in all his life. As soon as he entered the library, he had grabbed the large square of cloth that he had used as his bindle the last time he had set out on a journey and quickly filled it with various things that he felt would be useful. Jars of preserved food, a couple of bite sized gems and a detailed map of Equestria made up the majority of the items he would be able to carry with him.
Zecora also grabbed several cans of food, as well as several packs of highly concentrated feed Twilight sometimes used for her cram sessions, shifting some of her smaller items to the pockets of her cloak. Spike also grabbed a roll of parchment and a couple of quills from a desk stand, adding them to his rapidly filling bundle of goods. A jar of ink was the last thing he added, taking care not to crack the glass. It was at times like this that he was sorry that his magical dragon flame could only send and receive letters. It would be useful to be able to send a letter to Twilight or the princess, and then burp up a tent or a packed lunch. He knew that Twilight could store items in a pocket dimension, but he didn’t think he could do anything like that.
Zecora had to stop him from packing a couple of items that would almost certainly have proven to be useless. Sentimental things like a photo of him and Rarity together would only slow them down with unnecessary weight. “Please, Spike. You must pack light. It is important that we leave before the arrival of night.”
Around them, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were ripping apart the library, searching for anything that could help them in their search. Applejack, being a level headed pony, had begun her search in the ‘D’ section, reasoning that anything to do with dragons would be stored there. Pinkie Pie had just pulled the first book she could off the shelf. She was now looking over ‘ye olde atlas of Equestria most ancient.’ That it was written in archaic Equestrian, and making reference to Equestria as ancient spoke much about how far back this book was meant to be delving. Pinkie Pie had shrugged this off, suggesting that they needed very old maps to find something lost for thousands of years. There was a certain type of logic to Pinkie’s method, so Spike let her work.
Spike returned to his packing. He wanted to argue with Zecora after she told him to leave behind just about everything extra he had wanted to pack, but eventually had to concede the point and removed all but the most basic necessities from his bag. Taking one last look at the photo of Rarity, Spike touched a claw to her smiling face. “Don’t worry, Rarity. I’ll save you,” he whispered to himself before turning to face Zecora.
She had the map of Equestria unfurled on a table and was looking at it intently. Along the eastern edge of the map, Spike could clearly make out an arrow with the words ‘Dragon Lands’ printed under it. To highlight the point, several renditions of dragons were flying around the border of the map along with the words ‘here there be dragons’ posted unnecessarily below them.
Zecora pointed a hoof at a series of hills right up against the edge of the map. “These hills are the fastest way. If we are lucky, we can be there before dawn of the fourth day.”
Spike recognized the hills as the same ones he had traveled through during his trip. It had taken him about the same time to reach them. Reaching the other side of them would mark their arrival in the dragon lands. Spike had no desire to return there. The dragon lands were harsh and barren, devoid of any life that wasn’t hardy enough to eek out an existence amid its jagged crags and outcrops. For Rarity though, he was willing to go back.
Zecora traced out a straight path from Ponyville, passing through mostly open fields and light woodlands. Spike had followed a similar path during the migration and it was as good as any trip that they could take. It would be no problem for the pair of them to get to the border of Equestria; that was the easy part of this trip. Once they got to the dragon lands however, that was when things would really become dicey.
Looking at the border of the map, Spike realized something that he hadn’t really thought about before. It was something that could scuttle this trip before it even began. “Zecora,” he started, “how are we going to know this tree when we see it? I’ve never actually seen any pictures of it, and every dragon who mentioned it to me had a different description for it.”
Zecora gave him a quick smile and walked over to one of the shelves of the library, selecting a familiar green covered book from the ‘S’ section. “That is a question most wise. Luckily, the answer is right before your eyes.” With a flick of practiced hooves, Zecora opened the book and flipped it around to a page right towards the back. Spike peered around her, trying to catch a glimpse of what she was looking for until she stopped on one specific page.
On the page, Spike saw what looked like a rough sketched image of a very odd looking tree. A single, almost vertical trunk with branches splitting off it at regular intervals. Each of the branches divided again, forming an increasingly dense network of limbs the higher the tree went. There was not a scrap of foliage anywhere except on the crown of the tree. The entire thing looked very much like as if it was made in the design of one of Rarity’s saddle mounted umbrellas. It was unlike any tree he had ever seen before.
“This is the only picture of the Tree of Life. It was drawn by a griffon trying to save his wife,” Zecora said, pointing out the artists initials next to the image. There was a little caption next to the image. Spike quickly skimmed through it, thankful that years of being Twilight’s assistant had honed his ability to read quickly.
Of all the fabled cure-alls, none had remained as elusive as the so called ‘Dragon’s Blood Tree,’ also known as the Tree of the Firstborn, the Tree of Life, and the Tree of fools hope. Despite searching for nearly ten years, I was unable to locate anything more than the most basic of clues as to where it might be found. From the fact that it has remained hidden all these long years suggests it is in a remote part of the land not easily accessible. The few dragons that were willing to talk to me were very tight lipped about what, if anything they knew regarding its location. The only thing I ever found out was from one of the younger dragons. In exchange for a king’s ransom of gems and coins, he described the tree in great detail, which I have attempted to reproduce here, and told me that ‘You must travel through the maw and down his gullet.’ I have no idea what he meant by that, nor did he care to elaborate. I think that not even the dragons know much about this tree, but I must not loose hope.’
“So that’s what it looks like,” Applejack said, coming up behind Spike to take a look at the picture. “Doesn’t look all that fancy to me. I was expecting something more… impressive looking. Spines and spikes, or something like that.” She quickly skimmed the caption, re-reading a couple of lines along the way. “Sounds like more than one pony has gone looking for this tree before. What do you suppose he means by ‘down his gullet and all that? That part doesn’t make any sense. I don’t see how getting eaten by a dragon is meant to help you find the tree. I think that there dragon was just taking this griffon for a spin and conning him out of his money.”
“Maybe it’s some sort of literal riddle. You know, like that one about friends and doors from that book about that ring,” Pinkie said, not looking up from her atlas.
“It is indeed a riddle, one of which we are now right in the middle. I can only surmise that it is a clue, the answer for which eludes me or you.” Zecora closed the book and rubbed her hooves against her head, pressing the flats up against her temples in concentration. The golden bangles on her left hoof jangled together as she rubbed. She remained in that stance for a while, clearly deep in thought. Spike watched her for a few moments, puzzling himself over what it could all mean. When Zecora didn’t move for nearly five minutes, he returned to his packing, grabbing a bag of emergency bits he had been saving out of the housekeeping and shoving it into the last remaining space in his bindle.
He had been planning on using those bits to by Rarity a very special birthday gift. He hadn’t decided what it was going to be yet, as everything he could think of seemed to be either tacky, or had already been done. He figured that using the bits to try and save her life was a worthy goal instead.
With nothing else to do, he moved over to check on Applejack and Pinkie Pie’s progress. “Got anything?” he asked Applejack. She shook her head at him as she sorted through another section of the shelves.
“Nothing over here. Can you believe it; not a single book in the library starts with the word ‘dragon.’ Pinkie Pie’s no help either. She’s just looking through that atlas over and over again, mumbling that silly riddle over and over again.”
There was a flurry over movement from the table and Spike looked up to see Zecora smiling at him. She had a look of triumph on her face that could only mean that she figured out a possible solution to the riddle.
“Pinkie Pie, my dear. Bring that atlas over here.”
Pinkie Pie trotted over to Zecora and handed her the atlas. Zecora quickly flipped through the pages of the book before coming to a page that showed much of the eastern edge of Equestria. The map was richly detailed, filled with streams and lakes, settlements and towns, though most of the information on it was vastly out of date now. There was also a rough sketching of the borders of the dragon land, though there was little detail on that, save for a few large rivers and mountains. It showed the shape of the land, but not all that much else.
“What are you thinking?” Spike asked as Zecora began tracing a hoof along the page, clearly looking for something. “What did you realize?”
Zecora’s hoof came to stop on one edge of the map, pointing directly at a rough outline of the coast. A large river exited into the sea right under her hoof, and it passed through a long cove. On the map, the river snaked its way south for a while, starting its journey to the sea from a mid sized lake fairly close to the center of the dragon lands. The lake was surrounded on all sides by steep mountains and around that were deserts. Spike took a closer look at the exit of the river. The cove was slightly longer on the top side, and each landmass had a couple of jagged bumps that looked suspiciously like teeth. Another lake, unconnected to anything was situated above the river in an almost perfect oval.
“Oh, you don’t think…” he said, realizing what Zecora had found out.
“The riddle was in fact, rather apt. We are fortunate that this place was mapped.”
Spike took another look at the map before him. The shape of the coves and the isolated lake looked almost like the head of a dragon. ‘Through his maw and down his gullet,’ he thought, looking at the river running through the map. If you looked at it right, it almost looked like an esophagus, and it ended up in a lake that was almost inaccessible. It was the perfect place to hide something of great value.
“You think this tree might be somewhere in around there?” Applejack asked.
“Its hiding places are great and many, but this is as good a place to start as any,” Zecora confirmed, closing the atlas and slipping it into her saddlebag, along with the Super naturals book. She gave her bags one final look over, checking that everything was in position and securely fastened. Once she was sure that her bags were filled with everything that she was likely to need, or at least as much as she could carry, Zecora picked up her staff and slipped it through a couple of knots of rope woven into the back of her cloak. With both objects properly attached to her body, Zecora gave a quick nod to Applejack and Pinkie Pie before motioning for Spike to follow her.
“Are you all set, or are there things you must do yet?” she asked. Spike gave his bindle a quick check over and shook his head. He was no stranger to packing quickly, and he had a general idea of the sorts of things he would need on a journey. He was fairly confident that he had what he needed to take. Except for the unforeseeable, but they would just have to deal with that when they got to it.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie both come over and gave Spike a hug. Applejack kneeled down before him and looked him straight in the eye before saying, “This is a real brave thing you are doing, Spike. I know Rarity couldn’t be in better hooves than yours. Come back safe, you hear? I don’t plan on loosing any friends over this, and that includes you.”
Pinkie, on the other hand, gave Spike advice that was a little bit more random, though no less practical. “Remember, Spike, those other dragons can be real meanies. When you get back, I’ll throw you a big ‘Spike saved the day!’ party, and everypony will be invited.”
“Thanks, you girls,” Spike said. “I’ll try to be careful. Zecora and I will find that tree, and be back before you know it.” He hoped that he sounded more confident than he felt.
“Spike, come along, the day grows long,” Zecora’s harmonic voice came from over at the door. She was fully kitted out and ready to be on her way. “The little time Rarity has left goes to waste. If you wish to return triumphant, we must make haste.”
Spike spared one last look at Applejack and Pinkie Pie, both of whom looked a mixture of excited for him, and fearful for their friend. He gave them one last wave of his claw before grabbing his bundle from the ground next to him and marching over to meet Zecora.
Taking a deep breath, Spike put his foot down onto the earth outside the library, taking the first step on the most important journey he had ever taken. Looking up at the setting sun, he felt a resolve hotter than the affirmation of Celestia’s will burn within him. Without looking back, he took his second step…
Twilight watched helplessly as the medical staff of the Ponyville general hospital moved Rarity from her temporary room into the specially prepared isolation ward. Nurses Red Heart and Tender Care had taken all possible precautions, donning sterile hoof gloves and filter masks over their muzzles. Twilight had wanted to help, but they had both refused to let her anywhere near Rarity during the transfer. Now they were placing Rarity onto the bed that she was likely to die in, taking care to make sure that none of the various wires and tubes hooked up to the white mare were crossed or chafed at any point.
Twilight could only watch from outside the sealed glass cube, standing in a small observation area. From this point on, there would be no direct contact with Rarity without a doctor being present and all who entered even the observation area would be required to undergo sterilization before leaving.
The two nurses worked efficiently and soon Rarity was as comfortable as she possibly could be, given the circumstances. She had been given a sedative prior to being moved; nurse Tender Care had told Twilight that Rarity would be asleep until the morning at least. She would be able to receive limited visitors starting tomorrow, though only those with relevant business would be allowed in.
Exiting the cube, nurse Red Heart gave Twilight a firm squeeze on her shoulder and a sympathetic look before following Tender Care over to the decontamination area, leaving Twilight totally alone with Rarity.
As soon as the door closed behind Twilight, she dropped all pretence and collapsed to the floor, burying her face into her hooves and letting the flood of tears she had been holding in seep out onto the floor. “Rarity, I’m so sorry this had to happen to you,” she sobbed out. “I wish I could take your place; you don’t deserve this.”
With no other pony around to see her, Twilight lost track of how long she had spent on the floor. She had to be strong for her friends; they expected her to lead them, to know exactly what to do in a situation like this. It had nearly killed her, having to tell them that she didn’t have anything. She had felt so helpless, so powerless to do anything against such an insidious foe.
“I don’t want you to die, Rarity,” she continued. She could feel her eyes puffing up from all the tears running down her face and her throat was becoming raw from the sobs. “Don’t worry though. Everything is going to be alright. Spike and Zecora will know exactly what to do.” She wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince; the still sleeping Rarity or herself.
A sudden banging of some doors broke Twilight out of her reverie and she looked up just in time to see the double doors to the isolation room swing open, revealing a light pink unicorn looking around with fearful eyes.
“Where is she? Where is my daughter?” Pearl cried out, hysterical and seemingly looking in every direction at once. Behind her, Twilight recognized Rarity’s father, Magnum looking apprehensive and equally as worried. He was talking to Dr. Stable and the pair of them looked like they were arguing over something. Pearl burst into the room, nearly running right into the glass of the cubes edge and banging her hooves uselessly against it.
“Rarity! Oh sweet child, tell me that you are going to be ok. Please be ok.” Pearl beat her hooves against the glass again before eventually sliding to the floor in a heaving heap.
‘Time to be strong again,’ Twilight thought to herself as she walked over to comfort Pearl. She slipped her hooves around the sobbing mare, pulling her in tight. Pearl looked up in fright for a moment before recognizing Twilight as one of Rarity’s friends.
“Oh, Twilight, I didn’t see you there. Please tell me that this is just a mistake, that the doctors have gotten it wrong. Rarity could never get Aether Pox, could she?”
“Rarity is going to be ok, Mrs. Belle,” Twilight lied. She wasn’t sure why she said that, but she just couldn’t bring herself to tell Pearl the truth. “A team of scientists and doctors are close to finding a cure. Rarity is going to be up and healthy again before you know it.”
Pearl grabbed at the lifeline Twilight had offered, either not noticing, or deliberately looking past the obvious falsehood in favor of grasping at any hope that presented itself. She hugged Twilight in hard, tears streaming down her face. “Thank you, Twilight. I knew I could count on you to help Rarity in her hour of need. She always spoke so highly of you whenever we visited.”
Behind Pearl, Twilight saw Magnum enter the isolation room. She could see in his eyes that he knew this was a serious situation and it would be a disservice to him to try and present it in anyway other than the stark truth.
Pearl released Twilight and went back to looking through the glass at her daughter. All the various machines Rarity was hooked up to blinked or beeped regularly, indicating that she was in good general health considering the condition she was suffering. Slowly, Pearl’s tears began to dry up, replaced by a heaving sob every few seconds. She levitated a silk handkerchief up and dabbed it at her eyes, causing her eye liner to run and blot.
Magnum walked over to Pearl and put his hoof around her shoulder and pressing his head up against hers. “Don’t worry, love. You heard Twilight. Rarity is going to be fine. Look at the poor girl; she must have been here for hours. Do you think you could find a cup of coffee for Twilight?”
Pearl looked up sharply, turning to stare at Twilight before seemingly noticing the sagging bags under her eyes. Magnum was right; Twilight had been in the hospital for many hours now, and she wasn’t sure exactly how long it had been since she got any sleep. Not since Spike had come running to her, so at least a full day had passed. Suddenly she felt tired; the pretence of appearing so calm and collected, plus the constant drain of holding her magic for so long were beginning to take their toll on her.
“Right, right. I’m sorry, I should have asked if there was anything you needed. How do you take it, Twilight?” Pearl asked.
“Uhh, just black will be fine,” Twilight finally replied. She wasn’t a big fan of coffee. It tasted foul and left her jittery, but she wasn’t about to refuse and say no.
Pearl nodded and left the room in search of a coffee machine, or even a simple boiler pot. As soon as she walked out, Magnum gently closed the door before turning to face Twilight. His expression was totally serious. He could tell that Twilight had been sugarcoating it for his wife. He, however, wanted it straight up. He was just a simple stallion and had no time for games, not when it was his daughter’s life on the line.
“Twilight, I appreciate you trying to spare Pearl, but please, I want to know the real story. How bad is it?”
Twilight sighed, steeling herself to deliver what was likely going to the most devastating news Magnum had ever heard. In the end, she decided just to be straight up blunt with it. He had asked to hear it untempered, so she figured he could handle it. “Not good,” she admitted. “It’s true that Celestia has a team of the most talented researchers in Canterlot working on it right now, but the chance that they will find something useful within the limited timeframe we have open to us is slim. The doctors here have made it very clear that Rarity’s chance for survival is only about one in one thousand and they estimate that she has about three or four weeks to live. She won’t be in any pain, but as the virus progresses, she will become more and more debilitated.”
“Is there any good news at all?” Magnum asked. He knew that he would need something to comfort his wife with once she realized just how serious this actually was. Magnum loved Pearl dearly, but she did tend to be a little air headed at times. She had wrapped herself up in a cocoon of her own delusion and would remain in there for as long as she could.
“It’s hardly good news, but we have a very remote possibility to find a cure.” Twilight told Magnum about Zecora and Spike and how they were heading off to find a lost legend in the hopes of acquiring a long forgotten sap that just might help Rarity. Magnum listened intently, not interrupting once.
“It’s a long shot, I know,” Twilight said, coming to the end of the story. “A lot of ifs based on maybes, but it’s all we have right now.”
At that moment, Pearl came back through the door, holding three foam cups of black coffee in her magic. She looked a little calmer now, but one glance at her daughter hooked up to half a dozen machines caused her eyes to start to water over again. Twilight quickly grabbed the coffee cups out of Pearl’s grasp before they fell to the floor and passed one over to Magnum, keeping the other one for herself. One sip of the acrid liquid told Twilight that this was the usual cheap kind of coffee one would find in any number of public buildings.
“Thank you, Pearl,” Twilight said, forcing herself to swallow the tepid mixture. Drinking the rest of the coffee, she felt some of her energy begin to return, but that also only served to highlight just how tired she actually was.
Soon, all three ponies returned to look at Rarity. She appeared to be resting comfortably. Mangum and Pearl were pressed up against each other, while Twilight kept a respectable distance apart, not wanting to intrude on their grief. After a few minutes of just watching, Twilight decided that she was going to have to mention to metaphorical elephant in the room.
“What are you going to tell Sweetie Belle? I assume she doesn’t know yet.”
Magnum shook his head. “No, she doesn’t know. Sweetie Belle has been staying with Apple Bloom while we were on holiday. Right now, she and her friends are off on one of their crusader sleepovers. We didn’t want to ruin her good time just yet. I don’t know what we are going to tell her; she idolizes her older sister.”
A soft knock from behind them stopped all further conversation. Twilight looked behind her to see Dr. Stable standing in the doorway. He looked a little hesitant; almost as if he wasn’t sure he should be there. Twilight gave him a questioning look.
“Visiting hours are almost over. I’m going to have to ask you all to leave.” His tone was quiet and respectful. This wasn’t the first time he had needed to do something like this before, Twilight guessed. “Rarity will be well taken care of during the night, I assure you. She should be awake some time early tomorrow, but I would ask that you not do anything to excite her. The best thing we can do for her right now is to keep her calm and rested.
“When can we come back? I don’t want her waking up alone,” Pearl asked, not taking her eyes off of Rarity. It was clear she didn’t want to leave her baby girl.
“First thing in the morning. Don’t worry, Mrs. Belle, if Rarity’s condition changes, I will alert you at once.” Dr. Stable held the door open and gestured for them to follow him.
“Come along, dear,” Magnum said gently, giving Pearl a slight tug. “We need to let the doctors do their work. We can come back tomorrow. Besides,” he said, pausing to give Twilight and Dr. Stable a significant look, “the situation is well in hoof. You heard Twilight; Rarity will be fine. All she needs is for us to stand back and let the doctors and nurses do their jobs.”
“Yes, yes,” Dr. Stable agreed, picking up on the ruse quickly. He gave Twilight a questioning look, but didn’t say anything to her. “Rarity just needs time to rest and recover. I’m certain that in a month’s time, she will be as healthy as you or I.”
“Alright,” Pearl said, finally turning away from Rarity. She instead looked at Twilight. “You have been a good friend to my daughter. She is going to be ok, isn’t she?”
Twilight nodded once, not trusting herself to speak. Pearl was willing to believe just about anything right now, and Twilight just couldn’t bring herself to shatter the illusion she had surrounded herself with just yet.
Giving Rarity one last look, Twilight followed Pearl and Magnum out of the hospital and headed back towards her beloved library. With the sun just setting over the hills, she thought about Spike and his quest to find the Dragon Tree. It was a ludicrous possibility, but it was the only chance Rarity had.
‘Good luck, Spike. Safe journey,’ she thought before she arrived at her door. She had to get a good night’s sleep tonight, as tomorrow she would be headed straight for Canterlot to join Rainbow and Fluttershy in searching the archives for any clues Spike and Zecora could use.
It may have been a fool’s hope, but even a fool’s hope is better than none.