//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Road To Nowhere // Story: Life of a Dragon: Die for Metal // by MoshKing //------------------------------// Four hours later... Spike had already left Canterlot and Ponyville miles behind him as he flew towards his unknown destination. He didn't know where he would go, but anywhere was fine as long as it was far away from his former home. Tears poured from his eyes, and he could feel something painful in his chest, aching and burning at the same time. He tried to ignore the pain as he left Ponyville far behind him and flew onward. How could they do this to me? he thought, Everything that I did for them--cooking, cleaning, pet sitting, organizing books, fetching fabrics, going gem-hunting, carting all their stuff around, letting myself be used as a pincushion, sending letters back and forth-- none of it ever mattered. "What a waste." he said aloud. As Spike continued flying, the pain in his chest began to spread across his entire body. His vision went blurry. He tried to maintain a steady course, but the pain became too much and overwhelmed his mind. His vision began to turn grey as he hurtled towards the ground. He felt himself hit the ground as he began losing consciousness. As his vision went black, one coherent thought crossed his mind. Fuckers... And then the world went dark. One hour later... Blueblood drove down the empty road that cut through the grassy plains fast, but carefully. He looked in every direction for some sign of his cousin. Unfortunately, he seemed to be nowhere in sight. Blueblood continued down the road as the sun began to rise above the horizon, casting a warm, yellow glow on everything it touched. Blueblood pulled off to the side for a second so he could wipe the dirt off his face. He sighed loudly. He had never felt more frustrated in his entire life. As he stared at the empty road in front of him, his mind began to drift to the events of the previous night. I'm leaving you, Blueblood Blueblood squinted his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to think of anything but what happened the night before. I'm leaving you for another mare. Blueblood grasped at his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to empty his mind. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again to see the empty road staring back at him. he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He opened i to reveal a small, diamond-encrusted ring, the light shimmering off the exquisite stones that decorated the ring. To think that I was going to propose to her. He put the ring back in his pocket and started up his motorcycle again, and made his way down the highway, determined to find his cousin, one way or another. As he drove on, he noticed an odd shape sitting on the grass next to the road. As he got closer, he realized that the shape was actually a person. Blueblood drove as fast as he could towards the figure on the side of the road. He had to see if they needed help. Looking for Spike could wait that long, at least. He parked his bike and rushed over to the hunched figure laying in the grass, not knowing if they were alive or dead. "Hey man, are you alright?" he began. As he got closer, he noticed the purple hoodie the person wore, recognizing it as the one that Spike had on the night before. Oh shit! he thought. "Spike?" he asked. He received a groan in response. Blueblood kneeled down to help him get up. "Holy fuck, dude. What happened to you?" Blueblood asked the half-conscious dragon. As he helped Spike up, he noticed that Spike's appearance was different. He had a slight build to him, his wings were slightly bigger than before, his snout was reduced to where his face retained a humanoid shape, and-- Spike groaned in pain, but didn't appear to be hurt. "Blueblood? What happened? Where are we?" he asked him. Blueblood didn't answer, but instead stared at him like he had grown a second head. As Spike checked himself for any type of injury, he began to remember the events of last night. That explains why I'm out here, then. he thought. "Dude, you got hair." Spike turned to Blueblood, realizing that his cousin had just spoken to him, nut he hadn't heard what he said. "What?" "You have hair, Spike" Blueblood repeated himself. "What?" Spike asked again. "See for yourself." Blueblood horn glowed, and a mirror appeared in front of Spike. Spike looked at his reflection to see a startling change in his appearance. The spikes on Spike's head had been replaced with emerald hair that extended down to his shoulders. It was parted so that it just barely came down over his left eye. It looked unkempt and unwashed, making him look like a derelict that sold stolen goods to people out of his car. And if that wasn't enough, he had grown a beard too! It was the same emerald color as his new head of hair. It was mainly stubble, but he didn't really care, for he was more preoccupied with trying to figure out how it got there in the first place. "Holy shit, dude. What happened to me?" Spike asked his cousin. "Fuck if I know." Blueblood answered him, "But at least you aren't hurt." "I guess. What are we gonna do now?" "Well..." Blueblood began, "First , we need to get you some new clothes, because what you're wearing now makes you look like roadkill. Spike looked down at his clothes and assessed the damage. There were several rips in his hoodie and the green T-shirt that he wore underneath. He looked farther down and saw that the fall had left some pretty big holes in his jeans. He was covered from head to foot in grass and dirt stains. "Fine." Spike said. "But what are we gonna do after we're done with all that?" Blueblood began walking. "We'll figure it out as we go along". Great plan. Spike thought sarcastically. He ran to catch up to Blueblood as they walked over to his motorcycle. Blueblood's horn glowed for a few seconds, and the motorcycle disappeared with a pop! that made Spike jump ever so slightly. Blueblood didn't notice this as he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket. He wrote something on it while hiding it from Spike's view, folded it up, and made it magically disappear before Spike had a chance to read what it said. "What was that?" Spike asked quizzically. Blueblood replaced the pen in his pocket before responding to him, "Just telling Aunt Celestia that I found you." Celestia's castle Princess Celestia sat on her throne, dozing off because of the lack of sleep due to what happened the night before. She had been so worried about Spike, that she had spent the rest of the night in her room, pacing the floor as she waited to receive any sort of news on her son's whereabouts. Suddenly, a folded piece of paper appeared in front of her and fell into her lap. Her eyes snapped wide open, and she quickly grabbed and unfolded it, hoping that it would contain information assuring her of her son's safety. Aunt Celestia, I found Spike. Other than some torn clothes, he seems okay. Looks like he crashed into the ground while flying. He's undergone some kind of transformation that we've never seen before in any other dragons. We will be returning home soon in order to evaluate whether or not the transformation will be permanent. Blueblood Celestia looked up from the letter and let out a heavy sigh. Dammit, I can't let them come back here. Not while they are still in my castle. Celestia wrote a quick response to her nephew: I don't think that's the best idea for Spike to come back while the Elements of Harmony are still residing here at my castle. I suggest that you find a hotel to stay at until Twilight and her friends leave my castle in a few days. Celestia. Celestia rolled up the paper before sending it to her nephew with her magic. Once the letter disappeared, she leaned back into her throne and closed her eyes.What's going to happen now? she thought. I can't let Spike stay with the Elements of Harmony. Not after everything they put him through. As much as I would like for him to stay here, I don't think he would enjoy having to endure the snotty remarks of almost every resident of Canterlot. Celestia's train of thought continued as she sat on her throne, not noticing the draconequus hiding in one of the many stained-glass windows that decorated the throne room who had been spying on her. On the highway When Blueblood received his Aunt's response, he hadn't been surprised when she didn't want them to return to Canterlot for a few days. It definitely wasn't a good idea to have Spike around the Mane Six so soon. It would be like pouring salt on a fresh wound for the poor bastard. "Come on. We have to find a place to stay." he said to Spike. "Why don't we just go to Canterlot?" Spike asked him. "Think about it. Do you really want to be around those skanks after what they did to you?" "I guess not." "Good." Blueblood responded. His horn glowed for a second before a black jeep appeared on the side of the road next to them. "Come on, we'll take my car". "What was wrong with the motorcycle?" Spike questioned him. Blueblood rolled his eyes. "Would you prefer riding bitch on my bike? Or would you rather be able to sit comfortably in a vehicle that doesn't require you to be packed ass-to-cock with me?" Blueblood asked him sarcastically. Before Spike could answer, Blueblood tossed a set of keys at Spike, which he caught before they could hit him in the face. "You're driving." Blueblood said to him. Spike looked at the set of keys, and then back at his cousin. "Wait, why am I driving?" he asked him incredulously. "Because I'm exhausted from looking for your sorry ass all night." he responded grouchily. Spike climbed into the driver's seat of the jeep while Blueblood took the passenger seat next to him. Spike started the car and began to drive down the long stretch of road. A half hour later... Spike leaned back into the driver's seat as he cruised along the highway. He looked at himself in the rear view mirror, and took a good look at his new appearance. Other than his hair and his newly-ruined clothes, he didn't look all that different from before. He looked back to the road as his mind drifted back to the night before. His sister and his crush stabbing him in the back, his rage-induced rant that preceded his running away, and the last words that he left them with before he had flown out of the castle and away from Canterlot. YOU CAN ALL BURN IN HELL!!!!!!!! "Thinking about them?" Spike looked around to see Blueblood, who had been dozing peacefully in the passenger seat for the last half hour, awake and gazing at him. Spike sighed. "It's just..." he started, his mind failing to form the right words that could describe his inner turmoil, "... fuck, man, I can't even describe it. What the fuck did I do to deserve this? I've always tried to do the right thing. I've spent my whole life being Twilight's assistant, and all I want is some appreciation for what I do. That's all I've ever really wanted, and instead, I get shit on again and again by the people who are supposed to be my friends. They work me like a damn slave and fuck me over all the time. They always treat me like I'm not worth shit. They've never included me in anything that they've done together. They just leave me behind and treat me like I'm not even there." Blueblood looked out the window at the grassy plains that rolled past them. "I know, man. It's not right." he replied. Spike shook as he continued to vent his feelings. "And then Twilight goes and starts sleeping with Rarity behind my back. She knew that I'm in love with her, and she did it anyway." Spike gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles began to turn white. "I'm damn sure that Rarity knew about my feelings, too! She knew, and yet she still used me so she could get free labor out of me! She never cared about me! None of them ever cared!" Blueblood listened to every word that came out of his cousin's mouth. He was hurting. Both of them were hurting. Suddenly, an idea cam to him. "Hey, Spike," Blueblood said, "Why don't we head down to Las Pegasus?" Spike gave his cousin a look of irritation. "Yeah, because gambling away what little money I have would be such a great way to forget all my troubles." he said sarcastically. "That's not what I was talking about, smart-ass." Blueblood shot back. "But I do have and idea of how to get your mind off of what those shitheels did to you." Spike drove on without another word from either of them. ... "Does it involve booze?" "*Sigh* Just drive."