The Origin Chronicles Vol. 2

by SmokeShadow95

Ch.4 A Dark Horizon

Spike boarded the train to Appleloosa just in time. His encounter with Luna left him with barely enough time to get a ticket and get aboard. He nearly lost his tail to the closing doors, as well. Once aboard he moved to his favorite spot on the train. The back cabin. He preferred that cabin so much that it was almost always empty. All the ponies knew that he liked it. This time however there were a few ponies there in the cabin. He did not mind. There was plenty of room. He sat down on one the seats and leaned his head back. All of the sudden he was overcome by a sudden urge to sleep. It was probably due to spending the night on the most uncomfortable couch in all of Canterlot. Just the thought of that couch made him want to crack his back. So he leaned back and closed his eyes. Before he knew it he was in a deep slumber and sleeping not so peacefully.

Appleloosa. He was in Appleloosa. But how? Last thing he knew he was still on the train. That is when the realization struck him. No, this was not Appleloosa. This was just like one of the nightmares that he used to get from Galeek. But that still didn't make any sense. How was he having a nightmares like that? Galeek is dead.

Spike looked around the town that he was in. This fake Appleloosa looked just like the real one. He had only been there once, and that was a long time ago, but it seemed just as he remembered. Strange. He figured there would have been some changes made since then. As he looked around the town he noticed that not any of the ponies seemed to be talking. He looked around at all the other ponies. He was wrong. They were talking. All of them. Their mouths were moving and they were speaking, but there was no sound. It was like someone had muted the whole world. He stood in the center of town and waited. Something always happened in theses things. Something was bound to happen. He did not have to wait long.

He stood amidst the silence until it was broken. A loud scream that resounded of fear shattered the bonds of silence that surrounded him. He snapped his eyes to the pony who screamed. A mare. She was screaming and pointing a hoof. Spike was not able to see what exactly she was screaming about. All he saw was a rush of the reddest flames engulfed the building next to her. A flash of flames cut off his line of sight of her.

Just then the ground shook violently. Spike turned only to be blindsided by a wall of black smoke that barreled over him. He managed to recover and move out of the smoke. Although he was coughing and found it hard to breathe he was okay. He had no idea what was going on, but he could hear the screams of terrified ponies all around him. When he looked up, standing in front of him were his friends. Six in a row the girls were there. And then it happened.

It started at the end, with Applejack. A light, bright and gone in an instant went off right behind her. The blast blinded Spike and when he looked back there was nothing where Applejack was except a black scorch mark on the ground. He stared at the mark in disbelief. And then another scream. This time it was close. Fluttershy! He turned as fast as he could only to see her being dragged down a dark alleyway. He raced to it, but found nothing but empty air. What was happening?! A question answered by the heart wrenching scream of another of his friends. He raced back to the street again. And again he was too late. Pinkie Pie. A massive tremor shook and split the ground. The ground under her hooves gave way and with a final scream she fell into the dark abyss below.

One by one. All of his friends. Gone. And all he could do was sit there and watch. NO! This was not real! Spike repeated it to himself over and over again. He closed his eyes to cut himself off from that horrid place. When he finally opened them again he was back on the train.

Spike woke with a start and jolted forward. He nearly came out of his seat. His chest was heaving due to his heavy breathing. It took a moment for it to slow down to a somewhat normal pace. It was then that he noticed a pair of eyes on him. Sure enough, standing in the middle of the aisle was a young filly. He seemed a little startled. Spike moved his hand and the filly inched back a little. Spike smiled and leaned down to talk to him.

“I'm sorry I scared you,” He said, “It was just a nightmare, but it's over now.”

“You're Spike the Dragon,” The little filly said, “How can you have nightmares?”

“I'm not any different than any other pony when it comes to that, young one,” Spike responded.

“Yeah, but everypony says that Luna takes your nightmares away,” The filly stated, “She is your girlfriend after all.”

“What?! No she isn't. Where did you hear that,” Spike flustered.

“Everypony says that too,” The filly replied.

“Really? Everypony thinks that,” Spike groaned.

Spike really couldn't blame the ponies for thinking that. After all he had spent a lot of quality time with Luna over the years. She had become one of his closest friends. He might even say she was closer now than Twilight. And ever since that kiss he could not really deny it. Could he? He did not know what to do.

“Yep! Man, nobody at school is ever going to believe I actually talked with Spike the Dragon,” The filly said joyfully.

“Where do you go to school,” Spike asked.

“Appleloosa,” The filly told him.

At the mention of Appleloosa Spike's mind went blank. He was overtaken by a feeling of overwhelming dread. Like he knew something was about to happen. Then it clicked. His nightmares was not a nightmares. It was most certainly nightmarish, but it was more of a premonition. Appleloosa really was in danger. Spike gasped as the memories flooded in. Applejack! Fluttershy! He had to get there now.

Spike stood up tall and went for the cabin door. He opened it and started sprinting down the aisles of the train cabins. The ponies he passed were confused and surprised by this sudden outburst from him. All the while he moved he had a young filly on his tail.

Spike was really moving fast. He needed to get to the front of the train as fast as possible. When he did finally get there he stopped so suddenly the air almost blew the doors open. He stopped for just a moment to think about his next move.

“Hey, young one,” Spike said, “Can you watch my stuff for me?”

The young filly shook his little head so fast it was almost a blur. Spike took off his coat after that. Rarity never did finish fixing up his old one. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin another of her works. Besides, he was not sure if it would get in the way or not. He passed the coat down to the filly. It was much too big for him to handle, but he did not complain. Spike left him with his coat and a warning not to touch anything inside his coat.

At that point Spike moved toward the door. He placed a hand on the side to brace himself, and then he opened the door. Many of the passenger ponies gasped as they witnessed this going on. The door flew open and the air began swirling about the cabin. Spike reached out and dug his claws into the side of the train. He did the same with his other hand and reached for the roof of the train. He swung himself out and closed the door behind him with a flick of his tail. Once on the roof Spike stood tall. He felt the wind rushing past him and over his scales. He readied himself and took a deep breath in. He flexed the muscles in his back and his new wings emerged in all their greatness.

Great. Step one was complete. Even though Spike had still not yet mastered the art of flying he knew enough to know he would get to Appleloosa much faster with the wind carrying him instead of the train. So he did something that any other being in Equestria would have called insane, crazy, and downright stupid. He jumped off the roof of a moving train.

Spike traveled through the air as his wings caught the current. A rush of air lifted his wings. He extended them out as far as he could to catch all the air that he could. The muscles in his back that controlled his wings were still new and stiff. Through sheer force of will he was able to move past that. In no time at all he was soaring. He flapped his wings again and again, testing the strength in the limbs that still seemed a bit foreign to him. The air rushed past his scales at a speed he had never experienced before. He was starting to understand why Rainbow Dash loved this so much. With a huge flap of his mighty wings he was ahead of the train. It was dropping farther and farther behind until it was little more than a dot on the horizon. But he could not worry about that now.

In the distance he saw a scene straight from a nightmare. His nightmare. A scene that worried him more than anything. Off in the distance, he could see smoke. Several plumes of the darkest smoke rose from the horizon. The closer he got the more his heart dropped. Appleloosa. He could see it, or at least what remained of it. Not a single building remained intact. Each and every one was burnt, burning, or already destroyed. His eyes locked in on the horrific sight and he sped through the air like a comet.

Spike reached the ruins of Appleloosa mere moments later. He circled around the burnt out husks of the buildings many times. He flew over the town at least a dozen times and yet, there was not a pony to be seen anywhere. He circled one final time before going down. His feet touched down near the center of town. He curled his wings in just before he was slammed by another memory of his nightmare. He immediately spun and faced an empty street, but he recognized it. That was the street that the girls were on in his nightmare. He looked off to one side, although he was afraid of what he might find. He found it anyway. A dark black scorch mark where Applejack stood in his nightmare. Spike knelt down and placed a hand over the mark. He closed his eyes as a tear was about to fall. Was Applejack really gone? Was Fluttershy? Pinkie Pie? What had happened here?

“Spike?”

What? The voice echoed in his ears. His eyes snapped open at the sound of that voice. He was not sure whether to believe it or not. Was it really her? He leaned up slowly, and slowly he turned his head. And sure enough she was there. A yellow pony with dirt matted on her coat and her pink hair in a mess. She was staring at Spike with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Fluttershy,” Spike said with some disbelief in his voice.

In an instant he was off the ground and to Fluttershy. He wrapped his arms around her in a huge hug and just held her for a moment. She wrapped her wings around him as well. She was as happy to see him as he was to see her.

“Fluttershy. You have no idea how good it is to see you standing here,” Spike said as he released his hug.

“It is good to see you as well Spike,” Fluttershy said with a weak smile, “But what are you doing here so soon? The train hasn't come in yet. How did you get here so fast?”

“I'll explain later. Where are the others,” Spike asked urgently.

“I don't know. We got separated and I was trying to find them when I found you,” Fluttershy told him, as more tears began to form in her eyes.

“It's okay Fluttershy,” Spike said to console her, “We will find them.”

Just as the touching moment between the two friends ended another appeared. She crawled out from under the broken beams and collapsed walls of the nearby saloon. She looked worse than Fluttershy did. When she saw Flutters and Spike she made her way to them as fast as she could. She approached her two friends slowly. She was pretty beat up. Good thing Fluttershy saw her when she did.

“Pinkie Pie,” She screamed with both joy and surprise.

Spike turned around to see Pinkie Pie standing there. A little of his heartache fell away to joy at the sight of her. She was in pretty bad shape. Her mane was not poofy at all. It was long and straight and messy. She was covered in dust and debris. She was limping badly. And she wasn't smiling. Spike ran up to her and gave her as big a hug as he did Fluttershy.

“Pinkie Pie,” He said, “You're okay. I'm so glad you are okay.”

“Spike,” Pinkie said in an unusually flat tone, “You're here. And you found Fluttershy. But what about the others?”

“We were just about to go and look for them,” Spike responded.

“I wish I could go with you, but my hoof is messed up pretty bad,” Pinkie said.

“Not a problem,” Spike said.

Spike smiled a little smile in hopes of raising Pinkie's spirit a bit. She smiled back but Spike could tell she did not really mean it. Whatever happened here must have bad to shake Pinkie up like this. Spike scooped Pinkie Pie up in his powerful arms and waited for her to get into a comfortable position. Her injured hoof was hanging down over his arm. Dang. He hated seeing his friends like this, but at least it was not like his nightmare.

They walked down the street and searched many of the buildings there. Fluttershy checked what she could from above, but the smoke still filled the air and made it hard to see inside some of the buildings. Three different streets they searched, and found nothing. It wasn't until they reached the other end of town that they finally saw a familiar face.

Spike turned the corner at the end of the street with Pinkie Pie in his arms and Fluttershy following close behind him. He was talking with her when Pinkie Pie saw something. A small flash of white darting under an overturned cart. She announced it to Spike and they all went over to see what it was. As they got closer the cart started to shake. Dust flew off and Fluttershy couldn't help it. She let out a small sneeze that blew even more dust everywhere.

“Wait a moment. I know that sneeze. Fluttershy? Is that you?”

“Rarity,” Fluttershy half said and half asked.

“Fluttershy,” Rarity exclaimed as she emerged from under the cart, “It's good to see you. And you found Pinkie Pie, and Spike.”

“It is good to see you Rarity,” Spike said, “But you don't seem all to excited to see us.”

“I am, I am. It's just that. . . ,” Rarity trailed off, “It's Rainbow Dash. She is not doing so well.”

“What do you mean,” Fluttershy said with a gasp.

“Follow me,” Rarity replied.

Rarity led the three of them down the street further. At first Spike wasn't sure where she was leading them too, but then it became clear. The only building on this street that wasn't completely destroyed. The only building big enough to house a groups of ponies in this situation. The inn. Rarity led to that very same building, but the entrance was blocked by broken beams and columns. They were still burning a little. She led them down the side to a small back entrance. They got inside and found more ponies, but nearly as many as Spike hoped to find. Twenty at most. Rarity ran in ahead and announced them. By the time Spike got to the main lobby all eyes were on him.

“Spike,” Twilight said officially, “You can put Pinkie Pie down on the sofa over there. The doctor will look at her.”

The ponies inside parted with each step Spike took. Off to the side on one wall was a small green sofa. Spike leaned down and placed Pinkie Pie down as gently as he could. She winced as her hoof bumped the wooden frame. Fluttershy stayed with her as Spike went to talk with Twilight.

“Twilight,” He said as he approached, “It's so very good to see you.”

“Yes, it is,” Fluttershy said, “But what happened to Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie really wants to know and frankly, so do I. Rarity said she wasn't doing well.”

“Come with me,” Twilight said with a sad, heavy sigh.

Twilight led her two friends with Rarity close behind to a room on the second floor of the inn. Twilight's head hung low and she seemed very, very sad. Spike could feel it. Twilight led them to the first door on the right of the hallway. Inside two nurse ponies were attending to a pony. They left the room when Twilight asked them to. And then it was her, Rarity, Spike and Fluttershy in the room. All them staring at the pony in the bed. Rainbow Dash.

Comments

[Grizzlybear119]

That's one mighty big cliff hanger *gets his cliff hiking gear on* I'm going in!

[Love able chaos]

Okay I need to know is the pony Spike gave his coat to, a colt or a filly? Cause you say filly then say him to refere to the filly. Also what happened to Rainbow?