//------------------------------// // Twilight's journey // Story: I don't belong here // by Clawder //------------------------------// A week ago “WHAT?!” Rarity’s voice filled the lobby. “You… You didn’t know he was here, miss Rarity? He… He said he was escorting you!” “Where is he?! Tell me! I have to get him now!” “O-of course, right this way!” The guard guided Rarity to the alley where Spike was. Only to find out that the dragon wasn’t there. Rarity glanced at many directions desperately while the guard shrugged. “I-I swear, he was right here!” Rarity didn’t respond, instead, she galloped to the main plaza followed by the escort. Once there, she called out loud: “Has anypony seen a dragon around?!” Surprisingly, many pointed their hooves towards the waterfalls. “That was quick,” said the guard “Why didn’t I think of that?” both ponies ran and arrived to the place, where they saw some tourists swimming, others having a picnic, or just talking; but no sign of Spike. “Has anypony seen a dragon around?!” repeated Rarity. “Of course we have! That thing almost knocked me to the pond!” said one of those present. “But you guards are late to catch him, he already leaped off the cliff,” another pony added. “He did what?!” Rarity hurried to the edge of the waterfall, tiphoofing carefully so she wouldn’t fall. “Lady Rarity?” the guard followed her closely “What are you doing? You can’t be possibly thinking of… Well… Following him, right?” Rarity could see a purple dragon emerge from the water in the distance. She gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth and pointed at Spike with the other. “There he is!” The guard looked down and saw the dragon too “I’ll go inform the princess immediately!” “There’s no time! I must follow him! Twilight would be upset if I just let him go!” “My lady… I don’t think that’s a good idea; even if you survived the fall, your dragon friend would oppose to go with you. There is a reason while he ran away after all.” “But I-I-we can’t!” “Miss Rarity, calm down, let’s get to the castle and I guarantee that Princess Celestia will send a team to get him. Until then, there is nothing we can do.” “I… Suppose you’re right…” The two of them got back to the castle. Rarity was stressed and worried, and the guard could feel her tension. As soon as they were in Celestia’s chambers, Rarity . “Princess! He was here a few moments ago! Spike has just left!” Faking a shock expression, Celestia raised an eyebrow “Where is he now?” “He jumped off the waterfall, Princess,” said the guard. “Oh my…” NOW Celestia was shocked. “He’s fine though, it didn’t seem like he was injured, because he began to run as soon as he got out of the water.” “We need to get him back now!” Rarity shouted. “Rarity, as much as I would love to interfere, you have to keep in mind that Spike doesn’t want you to follow him.” “I know, but the guards could! Maybe they can just track him down?” “Hmmm,” Celestia thought the best way to give space to Spike and not ignore Rarity’s pleas “Alright,” she then pointed at five of her soldiers “You will follow the trail of Spike, but you are not allowed to detain or get close to him. If he notices you, he will probably discard the idea of returning at all.” That said, the guards trotted out of the castle and began their task. Rarity sighed, she was a little relieved but there was still anguish in her heart. “Thank you, Princess,” she finally said. “No need to thank me, I owe you and your friends for saving my sister,” Celestia smiled. Rarity smiled back, and came to a realization after hearing Celestia “My friends! They must know that we have already found Spike!” “Oh, of course, I will send letters to Ponyville, Manehattan and the wonderbolts right away,” Celestia glanced at many directions while rubbing her chin with a hoof “And… Where did you say Twilight was heading to?” “Ummm, maybe there will be a problem trying to letting her know about this,” Rarity looked at the princess with guilt “She went to a dragon lair, nine days from here…” “That sounds pretty dangerous, did any of you offered to accompany her?” “She didn’t want us to go; I think she believes this is her fault.” “I see. But it’s not a major problem; I will send Philomena to give the news to Twilight,” despite her efforts to soothe Rarity, Celestia was unable to do so “Why don’t you get some rest? I’m sure Spike will soon return to Ponyville,” she suggested, realizing her friend’s concern would not wear off at least for that day. “Yes, it might be a good idea, thank you again Princess.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy had arrived to Manehattan two days before Spike escaped from Canterlot; at that time, the only plan she had was to improvise. She stepped out of the train slowly, carrying her only suitcase in her back. No longer after she did, a light green coated stallion approached her “Good evening madam.” “Uhm... Hello,” she whispered. “Are you going anywhere in particular? My taxi is right over there. Manehattan can be a labyrinth for tourists sometimes.” “Oh, thank you, it would actually be really nice if you could take me to-” “Out of the way! Out of the way! Don’t you see a celebrity is here?” interrupted a mare surrounded by reporters and photographers. The pony mob shoved off the taxi driver and got around Fluttershy before she could finish her sentence. Fluttershy shrugged and took a few steps back, bumping with another pony. The cameras focused on her and another mare with a colorful gown, who bowed before Fluttershy and ordered the ponies behind her to move aside. “What happened? Why are they taking pictures?” Fluttershy asked, a little worried. “Ja! Don’t be so modest, did you expect to arrive to Manehattan unnoticed? We are honored by your presence!” A few flashes dazed Fluttershy before she could speak again “There must have been a mistake… I-I don’t know who you think I am but I’m no celebrity at all.” “Come on! I would recognize a model anywhere! Even more one of Photo Finish’s,” she said with a satisfaction smile. “That was a long time ago… I really wouldn’t like to be the spotlight of anything ever again… If you understand.” Some photographers stopped taking pictures and one of them spoke up “Now that she mentions it, I don’t recognize her.” “Me neither.” “Who is she again?” “SUCH IGNORANCE!” Everypony turned to see fashion mare in front of Fluttershy “How come you do not recognize the one and only Fluttershy?!” she began to lecture the reporters. “She is one of the six rulers of Ponyville, bearer of the element of kindness, savior of Equestria and Princess Luna, reformer of the God of Chaos Discord, professional model, and mistress of stares!” Silence. Everypony including Fluttershy listened, mouth agape and eyes wide opened. “Wow.” “Yeah, pretty impressive.” “Hurray for her visit!” The flashes continued once again. “No, uhm, actually, Twilight is the princess, I’m just one of her friends,” Fluttershy’s words were in vain. The crowd was loud and nothing she said could be heard. After six hours of tiring questions, photographs and interviews, she finally made it to the tranquility of the hotel. When Fluttershy entered her room, she collapsed in the floor. The intense amount of lights and flashes had made her get migraine. With nothing to worry about now, she took off her suitcase and found the way to her bed. “Oh… Dear… Celestia…” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight had two saddlebags filled with food and water. It should be enough with that and whatever she could find to eat in the way. She also mastered a spell which consisted of a portal capable of holding small items, like a closet, but accessible anywhere. There she kept some books to read while resting, including one on dragon behavior. It had already been four days since she left Ponyville. Philomena was on the way but it would take the phoenix at least seven days to reach Twilight; who was about to get to the volcano. Most of the travel was uneventful like the last time, but it was harder to face the weather, the night threats and some dangerous creatures alone. Twilight occasionally encountered beasts of different sizes such as manticores, wild bears and even a hydra. It wasn’t difficult to handle them though: she only needed to teleport or cast a sleep spell, avoiding any kind of fight. Present Day After five long days, Twilight found herself at the imposing dragon volcano. There were not too many dragons compared to the last time she was there, and fortunately, it seemed like most of them were asleep or lazily walking around. Twilight breathed deeply and galloped forward, ready to encounter any fierce dragon. Hopefully, Spike would be there at first sight, just talking or eating gems or doing whatever crazy contest young dragons liked to make. It didn’t take long for one of the elder ones notice a certain pony get close. Thinking of it as a juicy morsel, the white dragon flapped his wings and flew towards Twilight. The dragon landed in front of her, but something was wrong: she wasn’t scared. Considering there were no living creatures willing to get close to a dragon, the place was free from any other species. “Did you get lost, little pony?” Said the dragon with a devilish grin as he circled around Twilight; who wasn’t even moving her head to look at her predator. “I know exactly where I am,” The tone of her voice was sharp. The emotions of anger, frustration, sadness and concern she had been feeling for the past five days where being channeled in that moment. “Then you don’t have any appreciation for your own life,” the dragon stopped circling and bowed his head to meet the pony’s gaze. After a short inspection, he realized she was an alicorn. “I know that most of you are not friendly, but I will ask you something, and I expect you to answer,” Twilight’s expression turned from blank to serious. The dragon wasn’t intimidated but knew the pony in front of him was different from the rest. He began to growl, taking her words as a challenge. “Have you seen a purple baby dragon lately?” The dragon exhaled, covering Twilight in a curtain of smoke “Tell me, pretty pony, why shouldn’t I eat you right now?” “You can try,” she said, still motionless “I have to warn you: I’m in the worst of moods and I don’t feel like wasting my time with an arrogant dragon.” That was definitely a challenge. The dragon took a step back and pulled as much air as he could. Then, with a malicious grin, he let the fire out. The flames were intense and appeared to engulf Twilight. Ten seconds later the fire stopped and reveled a completely intact, unimpressed pony. “What?” the white dragon stared at Twilight, surprised of what just happened. “I told you I didn’t want to waste my time,” she teleported in front of the dragon and hovered at his height “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like an answer.” The dragon gulped, then groaned again, then roared “So you think you’re very tough huh?” “Please, we can avoid all of this! Can you be a nice dragon for once in your life and answer?” “Hmmm,” the dragon pondered the situation for a moment. It was clear that this pony had come prepared, so he wouldn’t be able to just eat her like another common prey “A purple baby dragon you say?” Twilight nodded, feeling a little relieved. Before the dragon could reply, another two glided at their direction. “Hehe, it looks like you’re in a little more trouble than you thought, pony.” Twilight descended and sighed. The barrier she created had worked, but it consumed a lot of her energy to block that amount of fire. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to keep up with another two assaults like that one “Just tell me what I want to know so I can leave,” she tried to convince the dragon trying to pretend she still had control of the situation. A black and a blue dragon landed beside the white one. “Did you get yourself a friend at last, Erkheus?” said the black dragon, notoriously elder than the other two. “And look at this! It’s a pony! Hahaha!” supplemented the blue dragon. Erkheus rolled his eyes “Yeah right, listen, for some reason this pony is immune to my fire.” “That’s why you haven’t eaten her yet? Sounds like an excuse to me!” without further delay, the blue dragon breathed fire at Twilight. She gulped and covered herself again with the force field. Even with the shield, she could feel the heat surrounding her. After the second assault, she was fighting the urge to remain collected, to not sweat, practically to give the dragons any hint that they could take her down with a few more tries. “Are you done?” “Wow, you didn’t lie,” “Told you,” reassured Erkheus. Besayu, the black dragon, leaned forward to take a closer look at Twilight “So an alicorn huh? No surprise you were unaffected by their fire.” Twilight changed her tone of voice to try a different approach “Please, sir, I don’t want to cause trouble,” she took a few steps forward to Besayu in order to close their distance “I’m just looking for a friend; I assure you we will leave in no time!” With his head down at the pony’s height, Besayu spoke to her “Hehe… A noble cause, I see,” There was something strange with this pony, a kind of magic he had never seen before. There was determination, courage, concern and sadness within the alicorn. Could that be the so called magic of friendship only a few species were able to achieve? And more important, how powerful was that kind of magic? “Alright,” he said, straightening “I will let you search our lair for your ‘friend’.” “What?!” roared Erkheus. “Thank you! I knew I could count on- ” “Not so fast, pony,” Besayu cut her off “I will tell my companions not to harm you with a single condition.” “And that is?” “You’ll have to defeat me in combat!” Besayu stood in his rear legs and unfolded his wings. He was the hugest dragon Twilight had ever seen. Holy texts of Star Swirl… Twilight’s ears went flat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It took an hour for the dragons to gather and witness the event before it started; time which Twilight spent recovering her magic; and time Besayu prepared by remembering the limitations and weaknesses of unicorn magic based on past experiences with preys. After that, everything was ready; the dragons formed an oval around the contenders cheering at Besayu. Most of the presents were even offended by the fact a pony would be in a one on one fight against one of the mightiest dragons of the lair. Twilight stood expectant. The space between her and Besayu was about a hundred yards, so surprise attacks were unlikely to happen. Twilight’s concentration was broken when she saw the black dragon running at her. There had been no bell ringing or announcer to say ‘begin’ or anything, the battle had just begun without notice. The other dragons cheered even louder when Besayu charged. Twilight shook her head to focus in what to do now, seconds after, she saw her opponent in front of her raising a claw. “Let’s watch you block this!” he said as he swung his claw directly at Twilight. She quickly teleported to the top of the dragon’s head, dodging the attack. Better to end this quick she thought. Before Besayu could notice her, she charged a vast amount of energy into her horn and fired a powerful beam directly at his head. The impact grounded Besayu, leaving him dazed for a moment ouch he got up and saw Twilight hovering “You’re going to need more than that!” he sprang up and flapped his wings once, strong enough to reach his adversary. Oh no… That wasn’t enough! she tried to fly away from the dragon’s grasp, but it was too late, she was already caught. “It’s over, pony,” he opened his mouth and pulled Twilight. Desperately, she used another spell: her horn glowed and Besayus claws began to be covered in ice; the burning cold sensation made him shiver and look at whatever was going on. He couldn’t either tighten his grip or loosen it. He decided to thaw it off. Twilight could manage to teleport to the ground before the flames covered Besayu’s claw, leaving it free from the ice. “Impressive,” he moved his fingers to regain their feeling “You are indeed, a good fighter,” he smiled. Twilight’s fatigue was now clear, she was panting and she found it hard to breath “But you cannot win, I’m afraid you’re done,” right after finishing the sentence, he pulled the largest amount of air he could to his lungs. Twilight could feel the air gathering as if a black hole was swallowing it; it kept going for thirty seconds. She was scared and her energy was too wasted for teleporting again. This massive attack would for sure be the final blow. She used what was left of her power to create another barrier, this time stronger than the last ones. Then, with a sight, she welcomed the flames. Besayu let out the fire mercilessly at the alicorn, knowing there was no chance to survive it. Inside the barrier, Twilight trembled, feeling her shield being broken and the heat entering slowly. Ten seconds later, she fell to her fetlocks, greeting her teeth. Twenty seconds now, the fire had surrounded her for twenty seconds and was still coming out. Twilight nearly fainted when a voice came to her mind: The voice of Spike. It didn’t say anything important like ‘save me’ or ‘come on! You can do this!’ it was just his voice saying her name, the names of her friends, the title of some books, even random sentences, but it was Spike. A newfound strength overwhelmed her. Her eyes shone and she levitated without the need of her wings. The crowd that twenty seconds ago was supporting Besayu, was now silent, watching in awe as the pony repelled the flames which were being redirected before colliding with her. Besayu’s flames were out, and he could only stare at Twilight without accepting what just happened. He roared wildly and swung his gargantuan tail against Twilight. She flew at top speed at Baseyu, avoiding his attack with ease and then concentrating more energy for another powerful beam. “That again? You will not beat me!” he leaped at her, with his mouth ready to chew with force. When they were a mere yard away from each other, Twilight fired. The blast was not as big as the one she fired at Tirek a couple of years ago, but it was powerful enough to knock the black dragon down, sending him flying at the crowd. Besayu crashed against a few dragons, who were knocked down too. The others blinked repeatedly and glanced at Twilight and Besayu constantly. Twilight descended and landed in all four hooves, her eyes going back to normal “Did… Did I win?” Erkheus couldn’t take it anymore; he shoved some dragons away and stood in front of Twilight “Ridiculous! I will not let our kind loose respect because of a pony!” “Erkheus!” shouted Besayu from behind, recovering from the blast “S-stop right now. She won, and I shall keep my promise.” Erkheus growled, then he looked back at Twilight "And who's gonna stop me? YOU?" "Yes, you try anything funny and i'll make sure you don't see the light of another day." The tension remained for a while, with the crowd of dragons waiting for a response, but stopped when Erkheus exhaled through his nostrils and flew away. “Thank you,” Twilight could finally allow herself to sit and rest for a moment. “Honestly, I didn’t think you could win,” he staggered to his feet, swaying a little “I didn’t know there was a power like yours.” “You should learn about it,” Twilight beamed “It’s the magic of friendship!” “…” he raised an eyebrow “Sounds dumb.” “Of course not! Frienship is the greatest thing you can live with! If you are willing to give it a try, I can show you.” Besayu chuckled lightly and nodded. “Still sounds dumb but... My fellow companions!” he called out loud “This pony has proven herself and will be able to walk among us freely. No dragon is allowed to attack her! She is under my protection!” The dragons whispered between them. While Besayu was not a leader, he was easily the strongest of them. They dispersed and left. “So…” he returned to speak to Twilight “You say you were looking for someone?” “Yes, his name is Spike, he’s a purple baby dragon, even smaller than me.” “Hmmm,” he scratched his head and thought for a moment “I certainly don’t recall running into fella with those characteristics but the lair is big…” Twilight listened, hoping Spike would be here. “I think it will take you six days or so to search the whole place, there are a lot of places where a baby dragon could be hiding, including the surrounding forest.” “Thank you a lot again mister…” “Besayu is the name,” he grinned. “I’m Twilight, Twilight Sparkle.” With that, the two of them headed to Besayu’s place, where Twilight could be sheltered from any rebel dragon who wished to eat her despite of her protector’s warning. The night sky was filled with stars, the breeze caressed Twilight with a soft embrace. Right now, everything felt right. There was no danger she could fear, not even Spike’s health. Something in her heart assured he was fine, and that soon, he would be back to her.