Chapter 2: The Exodus of Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle woke up earlier than usual the next day. She stretched, yawned, enjoyed the sunlight on her face, and wondered what it was that was special about this day.
Oh, yes, that was it- This was the day she left Canterlot.
The excitement of that woke her up fully. She got up, stretched again, grabbed her Miss Smartypants doll, and cheerfully walked over to where she'd stashed the food and books. She opened it up, took them out, and then grabbed a few large saddlebags with which to pack it all in.
She packed the food as tight as she could. She didn't want to have to leave any of the books she'd chosen to take with her behind. Fortunately, she didn't have to. All of them (The book she'd taken from the library yesterday, a book on trains, one of her favorite sci-fi stories, and a book on wilderness survival), fit. She then stuffed in Miss Smartypants, a small knife (just in case), and then her paper, ink, quills, and checklist materials. She then unrolled and studied the checklist that she'd made up for her activities of that day.
Item one was 'Wake up Spike'.
Twilight got up and moved to go do this, but it was proven unnecessary when Spike walked into the room, having gotten up of his own accord. Twilight smiled and crossed that item off the list. She asked her friend:
“Did you have a good morning's sleep?”
Spike answered: “Yup! Got some rubies before we go?”
Rubies were Spike's favorite food.
“Not so fast, Spike. Breakfast is item three on the checklist. Packing's number two. Pack first, then rubies.”
Spike walked over to Twilight and looked first at the list, and then at Twilight's already-packed bags.
“Oh, I see,” he said, with no small amount of sarcasm, “so that's why you packed your stuff before coming to wake me up.”
Twilight noticed the discrepancy, and was a bit embarrassed by it.
“Oh...” she said, “Um, that was just a mistake, okay?”
Spike shrugged his shoulders and packed his stuff. His pack was simpler than Twilight's, consisting of a few short novels that he read for fun, the gems that he ate, and his stake. There was a bit too much for the bag he used, but that was okay, as those would be that day's breakfast. Unfortunately, there were no rubies, as he discovered when he went to open the gemstone cupboard, so he settled for emeralds. Twilight crossed 'Pack things' off her checklist. She carefully wrangled some hay out of the stash she had packed, and, as she did so, reflected on the benefits of eating before packing away the food one was supposed to eat.
Oh well, that was an issue for the next checklist dealing with that sort of thing.
She and Spike ate quickly, as both were eager to get going to the train that was going to carry them to Ponyville, a small town on the edge of the Everfree Forest (see, this is why Twilight had a book about trains).
Twilight strapped on her portable armory and put on her cloak, Spike got his stake, they both got their packs (although Twilight needed to partially support hers with telekinesis), and, after checking to see that they hadn't forgotten anything, the pair walked out the door, leaving behind them their old safe house, now with nothing much special in it, and a wrecked door and windows to show for its habitation by Twilight and Spike.
As Twilight walked out, she put her forehoof down wrong, and a sharp stab of pain shot through it.
“OW!”
Spike asked, concerned: “What is it, Twi? Did you hurt your leg again?”
Twilight grit her teeth against the pain and replied: “Vampire attack yesterday while I was going to … my library. It's worse than I thought- I must have really hit that wall in a bad way. Still, I think it only hurts when I stand on it wrong. I'll be fine. I just need to be a bit more careful. Now let's get going. I want to get that train moving before dark.”
Spike nodded in response, and they resumed their journey to the train station, with Twilight stepping carefully, so as to avoid hurting her leg further. It was worse than she usually got- she must have been losing her touch. Usually she didn't allow vampires to hurt her that much. She had heard the legends about them transforming ponies/draining them dry with a bite, and although she hadn't yet had confirmation, she wasn't going to let them chomp on her and see.
The pair did indeed get to the station of the Friendship Express before the sun neared the horizon. A train was in the station, which didn't surprise Twilight. What did surprise her was just how well-maintained it seemed. There was no rust anywhere, it was completely clean, and seemed to be in perfect working order, although she couldn't see the inside through the completely covered windows. How odd, for something that had stayed in a city full of mindless vampires for ten years.
Twilight wanted to investigate further, but she had stuff to do. She couldn't stay longer in Canterlot, so it was probably a bad idea to postpone leaving. Once she'd settled into life in Ponyville, then perhaps she could look further into it. But not now.
She opened the door to the first car. As were most train doors, it was not designed to be opened from the outside, but Twilight Sparkle managed to wrench it open and step in, with Spike following her. It was then that she got a nasty surprise.
The train was full of vampires.
The vampires seemed as stunned to see Twilight as Twilight was to see them. There was a surprised stand-off for a few seconds, and then Twilight got her knives, stakes, and shuriken out.
It was a bloodbath. Twilight had the element of surprise, and soon vampire corpses littered the floor, and Twilight herself was quite covered in vampire blood, yet again. She was only mildly annoyed by this. It had happened many, many times before, and she'd learned a cleaning spell early on in her vampire-hunting career.
Twilight pulled her stake from the second-to-last vampire, and turned towards the last in the car, an earth pony with a dark pink coat and a curly yellow mane. As she did so, she stepped wrong on her hurt leg.
“Auugh!”
Twilight fell to the ground, and on seeing her distracted and vulnerable, the vampire wildly lunged for her, only to be impaled by a thrown stake. She gave a strangled gurgle, and had enough time to see Spike, the thrower of the stake, before she died.
Twilight carefully got up, wincing.
“Thanks, Spike,” she said, “I don't know what I'd do without you.”
Spike told her seriously: “Your leg had better heal soon, if the pain is going to be doing this to you. I'm not always going to be in a position to save you.”
Twilight nodded wearily.
“Yeah... I know. Now go retrieve your stake and let's go see what we can do to get this train moving. Chapter two of my book deals with that, so let's get into the stoking room. If we're lucky, there won't be any vampires in there.”
The pair weren't lucky, but weren't very unlucky either. There was only one vampire in the stoking room. He wore a uniform, which was surprisingly not tatters, even though it would have had to have been put on over ten years ago. He was facing away from Twilight, but turned when she opened the door- just in time for her to shove a stake through his heart.
With him taken care of, Twilight cast the spell to clean up herself and her weapons. Blood was inconvenient if allowed to dry on one's coat, even if it did crumble to ash after a while, and it wasn't good form to not clean one's weapons.
She took out the book she needed, and studied it, telekinetically flipping the pages to the one she wanted. It was Twilight's opinion that all the knowledge that could ever be needed could be found in the pages of books, if one just looked hard enough. In all her time in Canterlot, she had not often been proven wrong. This book in particular had taken a lot of searching to find, but it had what she needed.
Twilight found the right page, smiled, and got to work. This was the hard part, because while Twilight was an expert at finding information she was not always the best at putting it into practice. This was the first time she had handled a train, and so even with the book, she was liable to make mistakes, and she knew that very well.
She decided to check and see what had already been done first. This turned out to be a good idea. The train turned out to be in great condition, and ready to run. Twilight barely needed to do anything to get ready. This surprised her. How could this be so? Why would the train be in tip-top condition after a decade of disuse? Was there a spell in place to keep it like it was?
Twilight decided that that had probably been the case. It was the only explanation, and it made some sense (although why on Equis would a railroad company of all things suddenly decide to put preservation spells on their trains just in case they would be suddenly abandoned?).
Of course, there was one other option that would make sense of nearly everything. Most ponies examining that situation would quickly close in on it, but not Twilight Sparkle. Twilight didn't think of the other option. She subconsciously pushed all thought of it away, because if she went down that path, she might find it logical. And if it was logical, it might be true.
And if it were true, then she would have done terrible things. If that were true, then she would be a murderer. If that were true, then everything she had done was her responsibility. There would be no excuses. Everything since that first night was entirely her fault, and that, Twilight couldn't face. There was too much pain, still not completely assuaged even after ten years.
With that dangerous point safely ignored, Twilight proceeded on with her life. She studied her book, and got busy following its instructions. She called out to Spike:
“Spike, will you come over here, please?”
Spike obliged, and Twilight discussed with him his role in getting the train moving. They spent a while planning for what they'd do, how to escape the train if it was suddenly derailed (Twilight bemoaned the fact that she didn't quite have that teleportation spell down right), and all other ways that they would make up for the fact that they would never have been allowed anywhere near the controls of a train had there been anyone left to stop them.
Which was, as they were about to prove, for several very, very good reasons.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Well, that could have gone better,” said Spike, as he and Twilight looked back at what had once been their ride to Ponyville.
It had done its job, certainly, but the problem was that it would not be doing any other jobs, at least not without a dedicated mechanic (and perhaps a talented wizard) having a go at it first. Still, it had done what Twilight and Spike had needed it to do, and it wasn't as if they had any other uses for it (or at least, none that they could think of at the moment).
At least, Spike hoped, it had convinced Twilight to never again attempt to drive a train of vampires with nothing more than a book and one assistant. It had certainly convinced him. He knew perfectly well what his nightmares would look like for the next couple of weeks.
Twilight was the first to look away, to check out their immediate vicinity. It was a bright and clear night, with a waxing moon shining over it. The stars twinkled in the night sky, and a soft breeze blew. It was a wonderful early summer night, all was calm, and all was bright. For anyone else, it would be beautiful, something to just look at all night long. It would be a experience that would not be easily forgotten. The night was just so peaceful.
Twilight Sparkle was edgy. They had made rather good time, all things (especially their poor driving skills, the few vampires she missed, and her lack of knowledge on what kept a train working like it should) considered, but night was still night. She listened around for the tell-tale hissing, and looked hard for pony bodies. She saw nothing, but she heard hooves coming up from behind her her. She jumped and immediately sent a knife hurtling towards the source of the noise, only turning around once the knife was well on its way.
The blade got stuck in the armor of the Royal Guard that had been trotting up behind her. It would have clattered off, if it wasn't for Twilight's enchantments. Twilight mentally cursed. She didn't fight Royal Guards too often, and they were her least favorite opponents. They wore armor that could stop even Twilight's knives, and they were better fighters than your average vampire, probably from the training they did when they were still alive.
They still weren't invincible. Twilight yanked her knife out of the armor, wincing at the horrific noise it made, and attacked the guard with it. He recoiled from her strike, and the knife swished through air instead of neck. Twilight deftly turned it around and stabbed at him, only for the blade to stick in his helmet.
That armor was such an annoyance. She probably could take it out with one of her magic bolts, but vampires were resistant to direct use of magic (pony magic only-Spike's dragonfire was unaffected), and so calling forth a bolt powerful enough to harm them (and also get through Royal Guard armor, which was usually enchanted to resist magic) took a lot of juice. Twilight was normally more than capable of providing such power (and indeed supercharged her bolts as a matter of habit), but she had used up a lot of her magic energy during the train trip, holding the Express together and otherwise correcting her mistakes (She was pretty sure trains were never meant to fly).
So, she just had her knives, stakes, and Sun Shuriken against the vampire. Fortunately, she was very good with them. As the Royal guard moved swiftly to flank her, she quickly opened her pouch of Sun Shuriken and flashed one at the vampire. He recoiled silently. She sent it flying towards him, and he managed to duck in time. It missed, but that was no matter, she'd got what she attacked for: a distraction. She wedged the knife in the small space between his helmet and his neck, and popped it off. The guard didn't let that stop him, and he rushed at supernatural speed towards Twilight. She barely managed to dodge him, and in the process she stumbled on her injured leg and fell, twisting it painfully and gaining a good few bruises from rocks on the ground.
The Royal Guard lifted a hoof and brought it down on what would have been Twilight's forehead, had Twilight not blocked him with the knife, and snuck another one under the Guard's chest and plunged it upward into his heart. He immediately went limp. Twilight picked herself up from the ground, cradling her injured limb. She really needed to do something about it. She yanked her knife out of the dead Guard and cleaned it off.
She looked around to see if there was anything she missed, and saw that Spike had taken care of another Royal Guard. After she had determined that he was quite all right (his scales were very good protection), she noticed that he was quite dusty after his ordeal in the train. She then looked at herself. She was in similarly bad condition. Her cloak was quite stiff with coal, and her coat had turned a dirty gray.
Well, now she had priorities. Her horn glowed as she cast her cleaning-up spell on both herself and Spike. It was a good thing that coal dust was a good deal like vampire ash. She'd had experience cleaning up the latter.
Once she and her assistant had been magically dusted off, Twilight felt much happier. She had always been a clean mare. Yes, she got spattered with blood and ash on a regular basis, but she always cleaned up. She didn't feel quite right when she was all bloody (at least, when she noticed). It was all in a day's work, sure, but any kind of work has its downsides, and the irritation of often being covered in blood was what happened when you did what Twilight did for a living. Once she was cleaned up, Twilight relaxed.
Her relaxation turned into annoyance when she looked down at her knives. The one that had done the lion's share of the work against the guard was bent and blunted (darn Guard armor enchantments! She hadn't expected them to be so strong), and the other one was also in bad condition- it was one of her oldest knives and was in need of serious repair. Twilight wondered why she had grabbed that one of the two she'd managed to save of her collection (the ride had not been easy on any of her stuff- she'd just barely managed to save her packs by stuffing them into a relatively protected corner). She quickly dismissed it as one of those errors you make when distracted in the heat of the moment.
She sighed in resignation, carefully hid both knives, picked herself up, beckoned to Spike, and set off, careful of her injured leg. She was quiet, and so was Spike. It had been a long day/night, and full of much more panic and adrenaline than most days were, even by Twilight's standards (this was a result of the train ride, and entirely Twilight's fault).
At this point, the peace of the night, the soft breeze, her early wake-up, and adrenaline exhaustion really started to show. She was tired. But she must not sleep. It was still night out, and the vampires were still about. Usually, that's what she took turns with Spike for, but he was just as tired as she was, now. It's amazing what the aftermath of an afternoon of total panic can do to you.
She walked for a while, always careful to skirt the edges of town. She wasn't ready for a confrontation yet. She didn't think she could kill the whole town, as tired as she was. So she walked around, and she finally settled down some distance away from a small cottage on a hill, which she thought would make a good safe house. She just needed to wait until daytime, at which point she could more safely search the house for vampires.
She hid herself underneath a bush, and Spike crawled in with her, too exhausted to speak. He curled up and nodded off fairly fast. Twilight let him. It had been a very long day, and Spike had more than carried his weight (especially since he was so much lighter than Twilight).
But Twilight herself mustn't sleep. She had to keep vigil. The grass was soft underneath her, and almost as cozy as a bed. But she had to keep watch. The night was comfortably warm. If she went to sleep, a vampire could get her. The breeze blew softly. Spike was counting on her. The darkness pressed softly around her, like a blanket. Sleep would be trouble. Her eyes felt heavy... No! She mustn't sleep! She had to wait until dawn. Then she could rest...
Twilight Sparkle dropped off to sleep, a deep sleep from which she would not awaken for a while.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight would not awaken when a baby bunny bounced behind that very bush. She slept straight through the creature snuggling up to her. She didn't hear a pony voice calling out for that very bunny.
Twilight did not awaken when a yellow pegasus followed the bunny to where Twilight slept, which was unknown to Twilight a favored hiding spot for the younger animals living around there. When the pegasus discovered Twilight and gasped in surprise, she gave no response. Twilight didn't know it when the pony gently dragged her up the hill and into the cottage. When the little pegasus tucked Twilight in to a real, soft bed, Twilight did not seem to notice. When the pony left again, returned with Spike, and tucked him in next to Twilight, nothing seemed to change.
But for the first time in years, Twilight Sparkle dreamed a happy dream about playing with her older brother and her babysitter/best friend Cadance, and then coming back to her mother tucking her in and reading her a bedtime story, and her father cuddling her and rocking her to sleep. There were no vampires, no knives, no blood, no pain stabbing directly at her heart. There was just a little filly and the ponies who loved her the most in the world.
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Hmm, Twilight's injured leg didn't seem to give her any troubles in the last chapter through the night.
Interesting take on I Am Legend (The pun in the title alone attracted me) and it would be Fluttershy wouldn't it? Can't wait to see how that NMM tag comes into play!
Honestly, I expected Rainbow Dash to be the first one Twilight meets, since she was the first that she met in the show.
5489325
Actually, in the show she met Pinkie Pie first (although not for very long before Pinkie Pie ran off to plan her welcoming party). Also, there's a reason she meets Fluttershy first. You'll see in the next chapter.
5489064
Well, it did, but a) Twilight had a lot of other things to focus on (adrenaline is really good for temporarily blocking out pain), and b) she wasn't moving around as much. She was mostly staying where she was and using her magic kill the vampires at a distance, operating on the Zombie Survival Principle that if they get close enough to bite, you've lost.
And you'll see how Nightmare Moon comes in. But rest assured, she will. It's nearly the Summer Sun celebration day, the longest day of the year. And Twilight's just as old as she is in canon, and while she might have had a rougher ride to Ponyville, she's still there, just a bit early for the big show!
5489481 ETA on that next chapter?
5489963 Ah, I see.
5489970
ETA stands for...?
5490016 Estimated Time of Arrival.
5490025
Unfortunately, I'm bad at forecasts. I can, however, say that I've got most of the chapter plotted out, and I have started writing it.
5490036
5489481 Ah, yes. I suppose I did not count Pinkie Pie because all that meeting had was Pinkie gasping loudly and running off. Plus, she is likely the first every new pony meets upon arriving in Ponyville.
A reminder: If you're going to downvote this story, please tell me why. I want to know! I can't get better if I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
After reading this (and by this, I mainly mean the title), I really feel like watching I Am Legend.
This is a cool story can t wait for an update
good the history seems that he/she won't have but chapters. what leaves us with ace asks; 1.-¿el everfree forest, for poniville fences it allow that the ponivamp is as the vampires of apples and not of blood?
2. - was the moon return different, instead of to return and to try to capture to celestia change to all for creatures that love the night, in closing at the same time her and in case, where he/she learned it?
3.-if it was the case a vampire it acts rational, if it doesn't perceive a creature that is their food (twi) it goes to current by instinct, if he/she is their parents they didn't recognize this way her.
4. - if it is the case of (3) alone their presence put all cantelot in that state and there was not I attack her, serious as if they were a version of the ponis like they act if it was by day, when being her all passed way hunter, without mind single instinct of eating her.
you leave doubts that are expected in the following chapters to respond, or who or that I pass to celestia and if she will survive to know it.
following cap!!! it publishes plz n_n that ideas it goes by that that to spirit in the cap.
by the way treatment of using the translation but near to read the history to Spanish u_u
the second art gives my vote
also like he/she narrates himself what passes with twi it is believable there is certain point, for instinct you can kill for that reason he/she calls himself self-defense the body he/she reacts her he/she doesn't mention, of that that to past in the other cap leaves clear that her had been hurt previously and to bleeding or at least exposed by that that not to change. to part winning experience what causes that it matures but quick, to survive she can have the young body but the mind is at least 10 years adult (perhaps it exaggerates in it is point)
Update?
hello? these? in anniversary of one year. did the upgrade arrive?
hola ? estas ? en aniversario de un año . llegara la actualizacion ?
6550485
Could you please clarify what you're trying to ask?
This is awesome
Can't wait to see how it goes, if you're um... still updating it, that is...