Chapter 3- A Journey Begins With a Single Step.
Written by Fr0zenph0enix
Proofread and Edited by MoltenXKid- (Who’s not a bad guy himself…A pretty cool guy.)
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It had been an hour since the group had left the library on their small adventure. He packed lightly knowing he would probably be doing most of the carrying. Fortunately, the new pony body had given him more strength and better leverage to carry the items: a tent big enough for the four of them; rations of food that would last them several days, sleeping bags to keep the cold weather, produced by the Everfree Forest, away; and various other items that might help later in the trip.
The CMCs, on the other hoof, only brought small saddle bags that they could easily carry with no hassle. Spike had no idea as to what those fillies decided to bring, but he could only assume it was something that they could use in hopes of gaining their Cutie Marks. He sighed knowing something would go wrong.
The group had been traveling-more like hunting- for close to an hour with no sight of Peewee. Spike noticed that the fillies were getting tired. He hoped to at least make it another mile before noon, yet his hopes were slowly depleting as rain clouds moved in from the north. They seemed to laugh at his efforts as they came closer.
"Nope! Not over here." Scootaloo said taking her head out of the nearby bushes.
"He’s not over here neither." Added Sweetie Belle.
"Ouch!” wailed Applebloom. She accidently searched a thorn bush. “Ah’ve got nothin’.”
"How about you spike? Have ya found anything yet?"
"No," He replied glumly. He sulked out of the bush he was searching. "How about we check…" Spike began to say, but was cut off by a raindrop splashing onto his snout. He looked up to see that the once far away rain clouds were now over head. The others had taken notice of this as well. In that moment, Spike knew that the search would have to be cut short. He planned get an early start to make up for the lost time.
"Uh, Spike, I think we should find shelter before that storm comes in." said Apple Bloom stating the obvious.
Sweetie Belle looked at the clouds before nodding in agreement, "Yeah we should; why don't we set up the tent?"
Spike shook his head in disagreement "No, that might be a bad idea considering how dark those clouds are; a tent might not be safe enough."
"Then where are we suppose to take shelter from the rain?"
Spike paused from a moment, and began to think. He looked around to find anywhere safe to stay until the storm passed. For the most part, he only saw trees, but after a moment, something came into sight. In the distance, there was a chain of large hills. He knew there was no guarantee of safety, but at the moment it was the only choice they had.
"Hey guys, if we go towards those hills, we might get lucky and find some shelter. Maybe a cave?"
"Can't we just find shelter over here? I don't wanna walk anymore" Scootaloo replied in an annoyed tone.
"I don't think there is another option; there’s no other shelter anywhere around here." Spike reassured trying to reason with her.
"Fine!" She huffed.
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It took about ten minutes before the group reached the large hills. The rain clouds were ready to release their load. The group scrambled around the hill in search for a place to take shelter. They kept searching, yet it was in vain. Nothing was showing.
Apple bloom walked around the hill keeping her eyes peeled for anything that could be used as shelter. She had looped a hill around completely with no luck. The others were searching around as well, but they too had no luck finding anything.
After a few more minutes of searching, she decided that it would be best to give up and go meet back up with the others. As she was walking back, the wind decided to blow out her loosely tied bow. Without thinking, she ran after it trying to jump up and catch it. After a while of chasing the elusive bow, it finally landed behind some shrubs. She walked in the bushes to retrieve the bow, gently pushed the shrubs aside, and saw small dead end cave that could easily house the four of them until the storm passed. After silently praising herself, she went back to tell the others of her discovery.
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The storm went on for the rest of the day trapping them in the cave for the night. The group-more Spike than any of them- had quickly made a fire after the sun went down for the day. Spike started to prepare some of the food that he had brought for the trip. After dinner, they all unrolled their sleeping bags and decided to lie down for the night, though the conversations carried on.
"Hey guys?" Spike asked as he starred at the ceiling.
"Yeah?" The three fillies responded
I don't mean to sound rude ,but why did you guys have to come stay at the library? I mean, don't you guys have family that you could have stayed with?"
Sweetie Belle reflected on her current situation momentarily before proceeding with her answer, "My parents aren't always around; they're on business trips most of the time. I live with Rarity because they're always busy. And even Rarity is too busy for me sometimes. I didn't have much of a choice in coming here, but I'm glad I did; otherwise, I would have missed out on all of this." She said maintaining a small smile.
"And what about you guys?" Spike said nodding to the others.
"Ah just came because they were coming; it gets really boring at the farm without Applejack. Granny Smith just sleeps all day, and all my brother does is work on the farm. Ah figured that if ah chose the library, ah would at least get to be with my friends. Ah mean this whole adventure isn't that bad." She explained
"So what's your story ,Scootaloo?"
"I-I don't really want to talk about it." She said with haste. Spike and the remaining two Cutie mark Crusaders exchanged equally confused looks, but decided not to press the subject any further. For the next few minutes, an awkward silence filled the air; nopony said a word. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the rain outside, and the crackling of the dim fire. After several minutes of silence, Spike decided to it was time to sleep.
"Man, it's getting really late; we should really hit the hay."
"Yeah, ah guess you’re right." Apple Bloom agreed letting out a yawn
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It was late into the night, and the entire group was asleep. All except for Spike who was finding sleep exceptionally hard that night. Mostly due to the things on his mind.
'These past few days have been the worst days of my life. I've managed to turn myself into a different species, lose my pet Phoenix, and now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere with the Cutie Mark Crusaders of all ponies. Why did they even have to come in the first place? I would have been perfectly fine having the library all to myself. ’Spike sat up, in defeat, 'I’m never going to Get to sleep' he sighed. He walked over, and sat by the dimly lit fire deep in thought, “If I were Peewee, where would I go?” .
Half an hour passed, and the thought lingered in Spike’s mind He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Sweetie Belle take a seat next to him.
"Can't sleep?" She asked.
"No, I've got a lot on my mind." He responded.
"Why? What's the matter?" Her voice filled with a bit of concern.
"I-it just wasn't supposed to go like this. I-we should be back at the library right now, reading, and drinking hot chocolate." He sighed and looked down, "This is entirely my fault."
"No, it's not your fault Spike. You’re just doing what is necessary to get Peewee back; I think any pet owner would understand that."
Spike yawned, "I guess your right Sweetie Belle. Thanks."
"No problem."
The two ponies went for a hug, but decided that too awkward for the both of them. Instead, they walked over to the others, and found their respective sleeping bags. After that comfortable spot, both descended into sleep.
"Good night, Spike."
"Good night, Sweetie Belle."
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Not too far away, a queen sat on her throne looking restless. She was just moments away from finding out if her plan worked or not. The atmosphere in the room was dead still from the tense environment. Months of work and planning went into this, and if it didn't work, her entire hive could possibly starve. Yet for the moment, all she could do was wait in suspense. Finally, the large cobblestone doors were slowly pushed open by a General. He walked in ,and gave a respectful bow.
"You have better got a good reason for interrupting me when I specifically asked to be alone."
The general nodded, "I have word on your plan."
These words immediately brought the queen to a proper sitting position. "And what is the news?" She asked. Eagerness dripping from every word.
"The subject has entered our land." He said with a smile
“This is wonderful news. Now, all we need to do is-” She was interrupted by the general
"But there is a complication..." He said looking down.
"What do you mean 'complication'?" She asked in a hostile voice
"We'll he's not alone; there are three fillies with him."
"Well, we only needed him, but since they are in the way, we might as well take them too. I guess they could be a bonus of sorts."
"What should our next course of action be?" the General asked
"Capture them, and bring them here. No matter what you have to do; take all the soldiers you need."
With that, the general bowed again ,and walked to the door once more to leave. "Oh, and general…" She said stopping him in his place.
"Yes, my queen?"
"Don't let them get in your way. I don't mind if one of them come back with a non-life threatening injury." The general grinned at this with pleasure.
"Yes, my queen." With that, he left through the door leaving the queen alone with her thoughts. She was happy… happier than ever before. The gears of her plan were turning quite nicely. She looked over to a chirping, baby phoenix, which was now in a cage. It wasn't hurt but was obviously unhappy.
The queen smile before she got up from her thrown, and walked to the door. Now wasn’t the time for resting because now....
It was time for step two…
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Authors Note:
I am truly sorry for how long it takes me to update, and trust me when I say I don't like keeping you guys waiting. If it were up to me, I would sit here all day and write. Unfortunately, life has other plans for me. Soon, I will be working a part time job to start saving up for college, so that takes time off my writing hours. But, I will try to get updates out a lot faster. I’m also pretty nervous about screwing this up so I’m taking my time to ensure you get the best content I can possibly give you. Sorry again. :(