The Chronicle of Spike: Rise of a Hero

by QuillVolt

Chapter 5 - In Which Express Delivery Is Highly Appreciated

Spike ran.

Or, at least he tried to.

Apple Bloom was on him faster than Pinkie Pie on a cupcake. She quickly subdued his right foreleg while his left was uselessly trapped underneath him. His legs and tail were likewise restrained. And when he tried to raise his head, there was a sharp pain in his neck resulting from pressure being applied.

A custom maneuver made specifically to immobilize a roughly pony-sized dragon which also takes into account their species' prehensile tails and sharp fins/spikes.

Take a guess as to who was the test dummy.

"Calm down Spike!"

The dragon snarled in response and desperately tried to break her hold over him, but she's had a lot of practice with it and she knew him well enough to predict the tricks he would try, especially since he wasn't exactly thinking clearly. Apple Bloom was more worried that he would hurt himself in his attempts rather than actually succeeding.

As such, she was completely unprepared for what happened next.

Spike closed his eyes and altered his breathing pattern. She assumed that meant that he was trying to calm down with some sort of breathing exercise, like she's seen Twilight and Fluttershy do in the past. She failed to notice the subtle tensing up of his entire body.

Clear mind. Serene heart. Harmonize. Resonate and...

"... give me strength!" he mumbled inadvertently.

"Hmm? Whoa!"

Spike's eyes shot open pushed down with the limb under him. His bones groaned in protest - he wasn't fully healed yet - and his scrawny frame trembled with effort. However, Apple Bloom felt herself slowly but surely rising.

To say that she was shocked was an understatement.

If she were to ask around Ponyville what Spike was best known for, she'd get three very common answers: he's smart, always helpful, and notoriously weak.

Hay, he lost to Sweetie Belle of all ponies in a contest of strength. And she had a hoof tied behind her back!

Apple Bloom was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn't aware that Spike had finally risen back to his feet. His spines were pressed up uncomfortably against her underside and that was enough for her to snap out of it and realize that she was draped on his back.

"Eh?"

Spike unsteadily made his way to the portal, panting from exhaustion. Every step he took, he came closer to collapsing. Whatever it was that he did earlier had apparently whittled down the last of his stamina.

Fatigue doesn't fade away just like that. Everything that's happened recently: being chased by Timberwolves and accidentally blowing himself up, wandering around underground mazes for hours, fighting a Synthesizer golem and nearly getting crushed, asphyxiating, and horribly burnt in the process, and ingesting a potentially dangerous gem that made him feel like he was still burning; the stress from everything accumulated to the point where he was ready to fall asleep standing up.

That last push took everything he had left, and he couldn't maintain his façade anymore. Apple Bloom was always quick to bounce back, but he most definitely wasn't.

He was beyond exhausted, and it showed.

But he didn't care. He didn't care that his left foreleg threatened to give out at any moment and was in far more pain than it should be. He didn't care that his body was screaming for rest. He didn't care that his insides felt like they were being welded together. He didn't care that he might never be able to come back to this place.

Right now there was only one thing on his mind:

Twilight is in trouble, and he did not do anything.

The thought frustrated him enough to continue even though he would've oridinarily collapsed at this point. He was abusing his body, but he didn't care.

"HAH!" With one last shout, he stumbled into the portal; before his leg finally gave out which caused Apple Bloom to pitch forward while he fell ungracefully to the ground.

Dimly he was aware that they were somehow outside again and that it was nighttime...

Wait... NIGHTTIME?!

With no little effort, Spike rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky. An all encompassing void illuminated by tiny pinpricks of light surrounding a single celestial entity that was known as the moon.

Just looking at it calmed the boiling of his blood.

It's been a while since I lost control like that. I guess that shows that I've still got a ways to go, huh? With a weary sigh, Spike lay on the grass. He continued to stare at the night sky. Something is... off.

He was always fond of stars. Especially the pictures they painted when splayed out on the black canvas that is the heavens above. Whenever he suffered from insomnia, he would go outside and draw images by connecting the dots of light.

It was one of the reasons he got along with Princess Luna really well. She liked him enough to show him sneak peeks of the next week's star alignments after his tutoring sessions.

I could have sworn that this pattern was meant for tomorrow. And that specific arrangement was from the beginning of the week. That one star is out of formation and a bit brighter than it should be... I see.

Let's see, if I start from there and connect those two... that group forms that shape... and this and that... huh? No, wait, that's meaningless. Maybe if I rearrange it a little...

...

Ponyfeathers, horseapples, and all that jazz!

"AB?"

Apple Bloom groaned. "Yeah, Spike?"

"I apologize for earlier. How long were we down there?"

"I dunno. I thought it was only for a couple o' hours, but seein' the outside I think we spent the whole day."

"You said you thought that it was only a couple of hours. How good is your sense of time?"

"Hmph. I'll have you know that I haven't needed to check a clock since I was twelve!"

"You were right the first time."

"What?"

Spike tilted his head back as far as he could given his current position. "I said you were right the first time. According to my calculations, less than five hours have passed for us since we descended. But apparently, time in there and time out here doesn't flow at the same rate."

"In plain Equestrian please. Remember, I ain't the 'smart one'."

"Don't sell yourself short. You're a lot smarter than some ponies give you credit for."

"What were you saying earlier?"

"What was five hours for us was at least two days in regular time. Given what I read, it's highly likely that it's been more."

"...You sound pretty calm right now."

"Looking at stars relaxes me. What about you? You don't sound all that surprised though."

"I am. I just-"

Whatever Apple Bloom was about to say died in her throat as an enormous winged beast flew overhead. It appeared to be pursuing a fleeing figure that unmistakably belonged to a pegasus. The speed at which they flew was fast enough to make Rainbow Dash envious, so they disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.

Spike was concerned about the pony being chased, but something else was bugging him.

"If the stars aren't completely messed up, then they came from the direction Ponyville is in."

"Spike..."

"I know." I can only hope that this body of mine bears with my selfishness for a while longer.

Ignoring the pain that spread throughout his entire body, Spike rose. His home, his friends...

...Twilight!

He couldn't afford to rest until all of them were safe and smiling at the end of the day. He adopted a rueful smirk.

A bit too cliché for my liking. I ain't a hero, but I'll do what I can to protect my precious bonds.

Apple Bloom was brushing the dirt from her coat and mane. Peewee chirped up - unhappy for being left out for so long - and perched on Spike's head.

"How are you feeling AB?"

"Tired. I'm more than ready to hit the hay than anythin'."

"Same here. So, you ready?"

"Yup."

...

The two panted as they leapt over another fallen tree. Going back through the way they came wouldn't work; it would've taken far too long and they weren't entirely sure if they could remember the path exactly. So they decided to take a more direct shortcut.

Normally they were quite adept at traversing even the roughest of paths as long as there was something. But it seems like even the residents of the Everfree seldom traveled this way. The ground was terribly uneven and littered with roots, fallen trees, large rocks and various types of plantlife.

Really deadly plantlife.

Too weary to even react, Spike side-stepped a lunge from a bulb that suddenly grew teeth and a long neck-like stem. His claws effortlessly sheared through the vine and the thing let out one last dying screech as its head was separated from the rest of it. Like with the others, it just sunk into the ground and a red gem popped up, which was promptly crunched.

Spike felt a soothing sensation flow over his entire body, which eased some of his pain, but he didn't stop to savor it for long. He increased his pace to catch up with Apple Bloom and Peewee.

They had been attacked by enough of these things that Spike had eaten enough gems to almost completely restore his health and mana. However, they had done nothing for his exhaustion.

Still, it was rather fortunate that only he was hurt; he got the feeling that these things wouldn't help his friends at all.
When he managed to catch up, Apple Bloom gave him a quick glance before looking back forward.

"We're almost there."

"Yeah. I don't know what to expect, but be prepared." He didn't need to say what for. She could probably guess.

Trying to distract herself, Apple Bloom tried to change the subject. "Hey Spike, don't you think that the Everfree has been kinda quiet recently?"

Spike was silent for a few meters. "True. If you don't count the weird Timberwolves, Hedge Dog, and these killer plants that seem strangely familiar; shouldn't there be something else trying to kill us? Not that I'm complaining. Why are you even wondering about that?"

"Spike I really think that we need to - TAKE COVER!"

What a well-timed interruption, Spike chuckled lightly. He dove behind a tree just at some high-speed rocks struck the bark. He winced as he felt the tree vibrate. Talk about terminal velocity...

"How am I still able to make bad puns in these situations?" he muttered to himself. He glanced at Apple Bloom, who was hiding behind a conveniently placed boulder and shielding Peewee.

"I am really tired of rocks," she grumbled. Almost as if by cue, a crudely-made wooden spear struck against the stone, splintering upon impact. "That is not better!"

Spike sighed. He didn't need to focus to sense the magic in the air. The spell being used was the basic psychokinesis spell that practically all unicorns knew, just supplied with double the amount of mana to increase the intensity and strength. It lacked finesse, but it was practical.

Who needed control if you're just going to launch it in a straight line?

It was also a trick that only beginners relied on to compensate for their lack of knowledge and/or experience. Learning a stronger spell is still far more efficient. The original spell formula was simple and not made to withstand handling that much mana, or else it would backfire spectacularly in the bad way. Even the revised formula could only handle double the normal amount.

He should know, he's one of the ones that rewrote it.

There were at the close to the invisible boundary line that separated Ponyville from the Everfree. If he was right...

"AB, you already guessed what's happening right?"

"Uh-huh."

"The usual then?"

"Actually, why don't we try something new?"

Both of them eyed the orange bird currently in Apple Bloom's grasp. He tilted his head in confusion and more than a little concern at the evil grins the two were now sporting.

...

"STOP!" The 'leader' of the group that had attacked called for a cease-fire. The unicorns hiding in hastily dug trenches halted their barrage and the pegasi and earth ponies supplying ammunition scattered and hid. A pair of amethyst eyes, their owner still covered by the shadows, peeked out from behind an overturned wheelbarrow.

A white unicorn slid into the shallow burrow behind the wheelbarrow.

"Do you think we drove them off again?" she asked. The other pony shrugged, but it was hard to see in the dark.

"These things have been attacking us for the past four days, and they're getting more and more stubborn. Everypony already skipped town, and I don't think we should risk sending somepony into the Everfree to check. Can't one of your unicorns fire some kind of light ball spell thingy or something?"

The unicorn glared. "Most of these unicorns have very little to no magic training! It was hard enough for them to learn the modified telekinesis spell in a couple of days!"

"What about you then? Haven't you been getting magic lessons from somepony?"

The unicorn was about to retort when a sudden rustling in the trees drew their attention. A small figure, which they assumed was a bird, shot up into the air. The two of them sighed in relief.

It flew by overhead, but it was too dark for either of them to identify what kind of bird it was unless they got a closer look. As much as one of them wanted to fly up there and see, both of them turned their attention back to the treeline.

This turned out to be a wise decision.

The bird squawked in "panic" as it appeared to have spontaneously combusted into a large fireball that illuminated the area. Embers rained upon the alarmed ponies, causing them to yelp and dance around trying to avoid the cinders.

"My coat!" cried a red unicorn colt, running around trying to put out the smoking patches on his back. Fortunately the strange, white spiky hat he wore protected his mane from igniting.

"Not the time, you priss!" hissed the blue pegasus filly chasing after him. She had a sort of wild appearance, and was a stark contrast to her friend. "Stay still will ya! I'm trying to help you!"

"You're just going to beat me up while to putting out the fire!"

"Yep!"

"At least try to deny it!"

Those that weren't distracted by the descending flames had their attention occupied by the bickering couple.

And that's what they were waiting for.

Two figures rushed out from the forest and completely blindsided their forces. The two behind the wheelbarrow were the only ones to notice them, but by then it was too late.

The unicorn's horn lit up with the tell-tale glow of magic, revealing her jade green pupils and lavender/pink mane. Before she could do anything more, one of the other two took her down and clamped a claw over her mouth. Whatever spell she was trying to cast fizzled out.

Her friend, an orange pegasus with an unruly purple mane and tail, attempted to help her friend but didn't get any further than a single step before the last enemy tackled her from the side. They rolled for a short bit, but it ended up with the pegasus pinned to the ground.

Their "attackers" smiled at their captives, who stopped struggling after they recognized who they were fighting. The bird from before landed, completely unharmed, and perched on one of them.

"Yo, CMC," said the dragon. "Sapph! Stop trying to kill Ruby!"

"It ain't nice to welcome back your friends by tryin' to kill 'em," said the earth pony.

"Nice to see you again, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo," the two of them chimed together.

Jaws dropped.

...

"You want to explain why you were trying to stone us earlier?" Spike asked after he and Apple Bloom released their friends. Scootaloo fake-glared at them while Sweetie Belle was avoid all eye-contact.

"You wanna explain where the two of you have been?" she countered. She motioned for everypony to go back to their positions.

"Exploring in uncharted part of the Everfree, fighting for our lives while searching for the ruins of an ancient dragon temple that could possibly hold long-forgotten secrets in a place that happens to have its own time zone," Spike replied matter-of-factly.

Scootaloo blinked.

"Oh. We just thought that you two eloped or something." There was a collective sigh from some of the ponies behind them. Scootaloo received a slug on her foreleg from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had on a very light blush.

"Nope." Spike was completely unaffected by the teasing. Apple Bloom facehooved as she received some looks of pity and sympathy mixed with some of relief and envy.

How many times do I have to tell them...!

"Anyways," Apple Bloom tried to get the conversation back on track and away from her and Spike. "This might sound kinda strange, but do you mind tellin' us when was the last time you saw me or him?"

"We saw you around town around five days ago I think, then you and Spike just vanished," Sweetie Belle answered with a confused tone. She seemed to figure out something. "Wait, 'time zone'? Were you two-" Peewee chirped indignantly. "Sorry Peewee. Were you three trapped in a place where time flowed differently?" Looks of shock were present on both her and Scootaloo's expressions.

"Exactly," Spike nodded. "Does the uncertainty stem from that?" He pointed up.

Apple Bloom was about to ask what he was talking about, because the sky looked the same as before, until she saw her friends fidgeting uncomfortably. "Sweetie? Scoots? Somethin' wrong?"

They looked at each other before moving a fair distance away from the others, motioning for them to follow.

"We'll tell you what you missed out on, but keep it down alright?" Scootaloo told them in a low voice.

"You're right Spike," Sweetie Belle started. "The day after you two disappeared, the sky started acting funny. It's like the sun was up one minute then the moon came out then next. Rarity and the others went to Canterlot to check with the Princesses."

"When they got back, they asked if Twilight was still here, but we told her that we haven't seen her," Scootaloo continued. "That when they told us about an attack on Canterlot by-"

"You can skip that part, Scoots," Apple Bloom interjected. Spike was sulking again.

"Ok... so they sent out this search-"

"And that part too!" Spike looked like he was ready to huddle in a corner somewhere.

"Ah," Sweetie Belle sort-of understood. "After that, things sort of went back to normal, if you don't count how depressed everypony was."

"But then a bunch of things attacked Ponyville. Neither of us got a good look at them, but we do know that they were being lead by a group of... dragons..." Scootaloo struggled not to spit that word out. "Everypony evacuated the town, but the Crusaders were away while this happened. When we came back, it was already really late and Ponyville was empty, but there were enough signs for us to guess what happened."

"Was anypony...?"

"No," Sweetie Belle reassured her friend. Apple Bloom heaved a massive sigh of relief.

"Why were you guys away?"

"Well..."

"Sweetie here was worried when she didn't see you guys around, so we broke into the library and took a look around."

"Scoots!"

"All we found was some of Spike's notes about some kind of temple and a... what was it called again?"

Sweetie Belle sighed. The damage had already been done, so might as well. "A revised basic telekinesis spell formula."

"Right, that and a couple of maps about the Everfree. Then we searched your room Apple Bloom. Both of them too; the one in Sweet Apple Acres and the one in the library. By the way, I'm still not done teasing you about that."

The mare in question groaned. She honestly wasn't surprised, but that didn't mean she was happy about it. Scootaloo evilly smiled.

Sweetie Belle cleared her throat to get their attention. "We found a list of supplies you made and some spare stuff you forgot to pack, so we assumed that you and Spike went into the Everfree together. Since you two haven't come back yet or told anypony that you'd be gone for a long period of time, we got worried and wanted to go and search for you. The problem is that the others caught wind of our plans and, well...

"It turned into one huge field trip. They were even more determined once they found out about you two. We already know how dangerous the Everfree can be, so we needed to make sure they could protect themselves if it comes down to it. Most of the earth ponies and pegasi knew a thing or two about brawling - though I will not ask why - but it was the unicorns that needed the most work. Spike's revised spell took a few days to learn, but it really helped those with limited magical knowledge.

"When we ventured into the forest, we followed the map we made, but we ended up getting lost more than a couple of times. Oddly, our trek was almost peaceful; the only thing that happened was Sapph laughing when Ruby got his hat snagged on a branch and lost badly when he tried to free himself.

"At the end all we found was this weird flat mountain that looked really out-of-place. With nothing else, we were forced to turn back. When we finally returned..." Sweetie Belle trailed off.

It didn't look like she wanted to say the next part. Scootaloo was unusually tight-lipped at the moment.

"...There's bad news isn't there?" Spike mumbled dejectedly. The three of them jumped; he'd been so quiet that they'd almost forgotten about him. "Something that would upset us. Something that you two yourselves are still distressed about."

They winced for two reasons: his tone just sounded so lifeless... and he was right. Neither of the two knew how to approach this topic since they were still trying accept it themselves. Though it seems like Spike had no problem stating it, even if he was only guessing.

"Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack have been kidnapped too, right?"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stared with their mouths agape, completely shocked by the purple dragon's bluntness, but meekly nodded. They fearfully turned to see their other friend's reaction.

Apple Bloom grimaced, but didn't do anything more. She turned to Spike. "Just like in the Princesses' letter."

Spike nodded, shaking off his earlier depression and adopting a more serious expression. "Then that thing earlier... it's possible I suppose."

"Who was it though?"

"AB, how many ponies do we know that can fly like that?"

"Don't you just hate it when these two talk like that," Scootaloo whispered to Sweetie Belle. "When they know something that we don't."

"We can still hear you, you know."

"How can you hear so well without ears?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Sweetie Belle, do you mind continuing where you two left off earlier?" asked Spike, brushing aside Scootaloo's shout of "Hey! Don't just ignore me!"

"Sure," Sweetie Belle replied. "Nopony was here, but it didn't stay that way for long. Some strange-looking Timberwolves came out of the woods and tried to attack us." Spike and Apple Bloom cringed. "Thankfully, there were only a few of them and we were able to drive them off. Then after that, these big mushroom spiders and some odd plants that reminded me of frogs tried to swarm the town."

"It took a little work, but we managed to beat them back too!" Scootaloo exclaimed loudly, tired of nopony listening to her.

"Why didn't you just leave?" Spike asked. "What if you two or the others got hurt or worse?"

Surprisingly, it was Sweetie Belle that answered. "Spike, Ponyville's our home. It isn't some place we can just abandon; at least not without a fight." She looked resolute.

Scootaloo nodded adamantly. "Couldn't have said it better myself. Sides, we already told everypony they could go if they wanted, but nopony wanted to."

Spike knew better than to argue when they got like that. "So just guys set up a perimeter around the town?"

"We got some ponies acting as scouts around the edges of town near the Everfree. Our members split up into teams that cover a certain area. Me and Sweetie move around and go where we might be needed.

"Earlier we found out that these things were sensitive to light, so we hoped that if we lasted until morning then they'll leave us alone. The problem is, the sun should've risen hours ago and its still the middle of the night."

"So that means that there's definitely trouble in Canterlot; apparently enough to stop the Princesses from doing their duties."

"Yes."

"Normally we go ourselves, but..."

He knew where she was going with this. "You can't just leave the town undefended, nor can you leave the junior Cutie Mark Crusaders by themselves, so I need to go."

Sweetie Belle looked at him with pleading eyes. Scootaloo tried to do the same, but she couldn't hope to match the master.

Spike groaned and turned away.

"I'm already going, so stop with the eyes already." He turned to Apple Bloom, who had grown unnaturally quiet, and Peewee who was discontent with being left out for so long again. "Thanks for your help earlier AB. You too Peewee. It would have been difficult without you guys."

"Spike?"

"Sweetie, Scoots; retreat the front line back enough to create some room for traps to save some energy. Get a few pegasi to drop stuff on enemy forces to deal damage and cause destruction as well as give your attacks another dimension."

Without waiting for a response, Spike turned and ran into Ponyville faster than anypony would've expected from him.

Scootaloo turned to the ponies that had been eavesdropping. "You heard the dragon! I don't know how long you were listening, but set up! You two! I'm talking about you, Tunn and Nel! Start digging! I want pitfalls ready five minutes ago! No, I don't know what that means!"

As Scootaloo tried to find the Burrow brothers, Sweetie Belle sighed and decided that she should make sure that her friend doesn't run them into the ground.

Before she left, she whispered, "If you aren't going to go after him, then I gladly will."

She was fully intent on keeping her word too.

...

Spike made it to Golden Oaks in record time.

Good, I can't afford to waste any more time.

He ripped the door open. One of the perks of living in a friendly town is that you never need to lock your doors, especially if your house is a library that few ponies visit on a busy day.

Despite being gone for four to five days, the library was pretty much how he left it - aside from a few book piles he guessed was the result of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo "taking a look around". The dragon narrowed his eyes and made a note to clean it up when he got back.

"It's almost Reshelving Day anyways," he sighed. He shook his head. "No, focus."

Spike tore up the stairs and made his way to his room. He flipped over the mattress and withdrew a small bag of coins. Each one was large enough to fit in the palm of his claw and appeared to be made of pure silver. Carved into the center was a crescent-shaped hole.

These weren't ordinary coins; these were tokens for the Lunar Express.

One of Twilight Sparkle's side-projects was coming up with a way to make teleportation available to all ponies, not just unicorns. She figured that this was would help bring down one of the barriers between the races.

The way it would work is that the teleportation spell would be cast, but not activated. While in limbo, the spell could theoretically be transferred to another pony even if the original caster is absent. Anypony could activate the spell by finishing the command and inputting the destination. Verbal statements would suffice. Twilight had even thought up of a way to compress magic into a small physical shape, a token, for convenience.

Sadly, the only flaw was that the user ended up anywhere except for their original destination. Without additional calculations, the actual route can and actually did deviate greatly from the original course.

When Spike tried to use one to get to Sugarcube Corner from the library, he somehow ended up in Fluttershy's bathtub.

It would've been bad enough if she hadn't been in the middle of bathing.

She passed out.

Dreading the awkward situation, after making sure Fluttershy wasn't going to drown Spike used another token... and wound up in the middle of a meeting of the snobbiest ponies from Canterlot.

Did he mention that they also hated him? And had big, burly bodyguards that would do whatever they said?

Spike started the hugest food fight in Canterlot history (rivaling the one that he and Princess Luna created after some obnoxious reporters were relentlessly hounding her about the whole 'Nightmare Moon' debacle) before using one more token to teleport himself away.

After teleporting into more mares that were bathing (why so many of them chose the same time to bathe was beyond him; he was more curious as to why he was appearing in so many bathrooms and lakes), the absolute worst was when he was teleported into a certain "Great and Powerful" unicorn's bath time.

Needless to say, Trixie had not been happy when Spike had materialized overhead and dropped onto her. And to make matters worse, he was out of tokens.

Fortunately she had shown him some mercy when she found out that this was a result of one of Twilight's failed experiments and showed him the way back. Surprisingly, she was a lot nicer than he had thought.

Still, when he had finally returned to Ponyville a bit over a week later, he was still sporting a hoofmark on his cheek that required magic to get rid of.

Twilight put the project on hiatus, and ended up forgetting it after a while (much to the relief of Spike and mares everywhere).

When Spike started his tutoring/princess sitting, he needed a better way to travel between Ponyville and Canterlot aside from taking the train. He and Princess Luna dug up Twilight's old idea and tried fix it.

Their solution?

If the direct route was problematic, then why not try a detour?

Teleporting involved breaking down one's molecular structure in one place and being reassembled into another instantaneously. Simple in theory, but it takes quite a bit of computing to actually end up where they wanted because they would be moving through higher dimensions before reappearing in their original one.

Spellcasters instinctively make these calculations based on feeling, so they are not completely aware of it themselves. For somepony else to use it, it would take quite a mind...

In order to ease this burden, Spike and Luna planned a halfway point and changed it from "teleportation" to a form of high-speed "transportation".

The "Lunar Express", as Spike had dubbed it, is fairly simple. First, there are two parts to it: the Transport Token, which holds the movement spell, and Markers, which emit a certain, unique frequency that can be homed in on.

In order to use the Lunar Express, three conditions must first be met:

- a Marker is placed at the destination;

- the user has a Transport Token on hoof/claw; and

- moonlight is shining on both the starting point and the destination.

Their molecular structure is still broken down, but rather than going directly to the goal, they first ride the moonbeams to the moon before being redirected to a specific Marker area.

It wasn't exactly something that could be used by the general public, as it required magic unique to Princess Luna in order to be created. Plus, while the tokens were easy enough to make - if not time-consuming - Markers were another thing entirely. Not to mention that if too many ponies use it at one time, then there's a good chance that they'll be stuck on the moon. But it was convenient for Spike at least.

Truth be told, the accuracy could still use a bit of work depending on what phase of the moon it is (Spike learned the hard way to never use it during a new moon; Trixie was not happy finding out she had an unexpected roommate and a new skylight), but at least now its mostly within the general area.

Tonight was a half-moon, first quarter if he remembered it correctly. Then again, with the sky out of order, Spike wondered if it would still work.

I need to take that chance. Walking would take too long and running all the way there is out of the question entirely. Mother of Celestia, it's times like this that I really regret not being able to fly.

Spike took a deep breath.

As per instructions, he was standing just outside the library. The bag of tokens had been mostly stowed away into his bag for safe-keeping, with one token in his claw ready to use. He held it up and shouted, "I request immediate passage to Canterlot Castle!"

For a second he was afraid that it wouldn't work, but he sighed in relief as the token started to vibrate. It levitated upwards and broke apart into three silver rings that expanded until they were wide enough to encircle Spike. As they descended, Spike could also feel the spell taking effect as his body started vanishing.

While the magic was enveloping him, Spike's eyes widened as he felt somepony interrupt the sequence by jumping into the spell area. The mana levels fluctuated wildly.

"NO-" Before Spike could get anything more out, he and whoever else was with him were broken down into molecules and sent shooting off to the moon.

Author's Note:

Not the best chapter, and kinda boring at parts. I know. To me it feels kinda rushed, but I'm really anxious to write the next part that it was difficult to focus on this chapter.

If there's something that you guys don't like, leave a comment and I'll try to improve my writing.

Until next chapter Fimfiction!

Comments

[DARKPHANTOM13]

Another great chapter and it looks like Spike is going to have company on this journey.

[Smithy Jones]

I found 2 errors:

Good, I afford to waste any more time.

Did you mean "Good, I can't afford to waste any more time."?

While in limbo, the spell could theoretically be transfered to another pony even if the original caster is absent so long.

transfered is really spelled "transferred". The end of the sentence is a bit awkward. "even if the original caster is absent so long" sounds like you forgot some of the words, like "so long as the spell is done in daylight". On the other hand, if you wanted to say that the caster could have cast the spell 3 hours ago and it would still work, you could say "even if the original caster is absent for a long time"

Not every chapter needs to be exciting to be interesting. This chapter had a lot of world building, and a good bit of humor in the middle with the CMC teasing Applebloom, so it was interesting. It would be boring if you simply droned on and on about how the Mane 6 are missing and how bad it is. You kept me interested because I got to learn more about how things worked, and I got a bit more insight into Spike's contributions over the years.

Keep up the good work.

[QuillVolt]

3469090
Thanks again for your review. I already fixed the errors you pointed out, and if you spot any more please feel free to point them out too. There's actually a lot of errors that slip past me, so I'm thankful for the help.

I don't get the point of over emphasizing the seriousness of a situation if you already know how bad it is, especially if you might be able to do something about it. Thanks again.

[DX-1118 C]

3471368 DAMMIT, SWEETIE
PS plz put a pony Mercer in dis

[that1dude]

I'm really enjoying this fic so far. All the references to video games in general are really great. Hope to see another chapter soon!