Alone in the dark

by Mr Tech

The Outcast

Author's Note:

please keep it in mind while you are reading...
1) grammar may be wrong due to the lack of my editor responding...
2) this ch may be corrected of it's grammar mistakes later
3) I may or may not change a few things inside the story itself later
4) twenty one will only be in this ch, don't worry if you are...
5) this is V3 of this ch, no plot changes, just some mistakes...

“So, how did you end up in the pod thing like that?” Spike asked Twenty One, looking at her as they walked through the thick forest that is the Everfree Forest, trying to know more about the mysterious mare that fell out of the sky. He watched her flinch away as if she was not very comfortable with him.

“I, uh, was helping a friend… escape from something…” Twenty One replied, looking anywhere but Spike as if he was a ghost or something. But Spike was too busy stepping through the thick forest to notice anything wrong as the pair took careful steps around the bushes with rustling sound and occasionally a twig snapping…

“The last thing I remembered was a strange mare wearing a jumpsuit approach me without a spacesuit and somehow survive inside a vacuum environment. Might be seeing things, but as soon as she opened her mouth and said that she can take it from here and began singing, I fell unconscious… the next thing I know, I was here…” Twenty one said with a shiver going down her spine.

Spike nodded and continued to walk through the forest, all the while noting the unease in the mare, Spike put this at the back of his mind for later as he heard some rustling towards them… Very, very near…

He put his hand up and stopped moving. Impressively, twenty one instantly got down and took a fighting pose with her head lowered, hooves spread out as she looked around trying to find what was approaching, and she soon too notice where the rustling sound was coming…

They both assume in their own minds that whatever it is, it was within a 10 foot ( around 3 Meters ) range. Spike then swiftly took out the yin yang blade and threw the white blade towards the mare, she expertly catched it and and they both slowly crept towards the source of the noise...

Only to be surprised to see a changeling whimpering on the ground with bruises and scars covering it’s body. When it saw the two figures it flinched, then said in a trembling female voice: ”Help… me…” After that its blue eyes lost focus and it went limp.

They both look at each other in the eye for the first time since the camp and in unison looked up towards the sky. They had been walking for hours and with twenty one, Spike’s water supply had been steadily decreasing, plus the sun was setting real soon.

“So what do you plan to do now? And what is that?” Twenty one asked Spike while pointing at the changeling giving it a strange look. Spike raised an eyebrow at her then sat down and opened his bag-chest-thing, took out a water bottle, and took a sip. He asked for the blade back afterwards.

“You haven't seen a changeling before?” Spike asked giving the mare a strange look as he began to walk again, and signal the freeloader to carry the changeling. He eventually holstered both of his weapons back into the chest, “We should look for a clearing to set up a camp soon.”

“To be honest even the wasteland with alicorn ghouls and all the stuff in between I’ve never seen a lovechild of a pony and a bug before,” she said giving the changeling a strange look while Spike gave twenty one a strange look.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Spike stopped walking as he spun to face the mare and hold his hands up, giving her a strange look even more intense than the one before. “So you’re telling me that you’ve seriously never seen a changeling before?” twenty one also stopped and after a second glance turned her head to face the dragon.

“You came from the wasteland right? That is practically where changelings live in the first place, and that’s counting how little I know about that place. There are also only four alicorns on our planet, and all of which, in Equestria...” Spike said to the mare, but a groan from the changeling interrupted them as the mare opened her mouth to reply.

“You know what? let's find a clearing and some water, then we’ll talk” Spike said then began to walk again, the mare nodded and followed Spike as the grass, leaves and twigs rustled underneath their feet...

---

“Right, let's talk…” Spike said to twenty one, grabbing the mare’s attention in the process. The two of the three, if including the changeling, being inside Spike’s new makeshift camp. Needless to say it’s… crammed… So the two decide to talk outside...

It’s around 10 o’clock (22:00), judging by the position of the moon high up in the sky. The temperature outside into a chilly night, the the constant chirps, cracks and snips of the wildlife around them makes the night more relaxing than ever… Sometimes Spike needs to remind himself that he is in the everfree forest…

“Where did you really come from?” Spike asked outside the tent, with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed. Twenty one however, was looking at Spike with a bored look on her face…

“For the third time, I’m from the equestrian wasteland, hoofington to be exact” twenty one said to Spike in a matter-of-fact tone staring at him as if he was an idiot. Spike stared back with a blank face and sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“There is no such town called hoofington in Equestria, and believe me-” Spike pointed at twenty one, looking at her again with an raised eyebrow, unimpressed “-I’ve read maps of Equestria more than ten times per month.” After hearing this twenty one looked very annoyed as she rolled her eyes, groaned and looked at Spike, who crossed his arms again.

“Enough of your questions. where are we now? I appreciate that you saved my life but I don't like it when I don’t know where I’m going without a plan,” twenty one said in a gruff tone, giving Spike a suspicious look, successfully changing the topic…
“We are in the Everfree forest as I told you when we first met. Where else do you think we are? Picnic mountains?” Spike scoffed, and looked at her in the eye, giving her the most unimpressed look ever. if she wants to play gruff, he’ll just return the favor, he thought to himself.

“Bullshit, and let me tell you why-” The mare said slowly and dangerously, unaffected by the look Spike was giving her at all, as she crept towards the young and recently broken dragon… “if we are truly in the everfree, we would be dead by now!” She gave a forceful jab from her hoof towards the left of Spike’s head, never breaking eye contact. What comes out after the jab was a chicken’s squawk.

As Spike turned around, he found an unconscious cockatrice laying on the ground. Spike turned around to face the mare again giving her a small ‘thanks’ as he picked up the bird hybrid thing and giving it a forceful toss in a random direction outside of the camp while hitting a tree in the process, muttering to himself. ”And Twilight was afraid of them. Oh, what a scary chicken...”

Being so close to twenty one, of course she heard it. “Wait… you just said Twilight,” twenty one said slowly and suspiciously, never dropping the dangerous tone, “as in Twilight who?” She asked Spike, raising an eyebrow at the dragon. Spike, having to look up to see the mare’s face backed up a little so he can get some personal space. Hearing a groan from the changeling he sighed as he looked down towards the ground suffering at the memory of his recent lost…

“Twilight Sparkle...one of the most powerful magical users of all time, and princess of the so called ‘friendship’.” Spike sighed, looking away. twenty one however, widened her eyes to the size of dinner plates and let her jaw drop towards the ground as she took in what Spike just said…

“Princess of friendship? more like a part of the goddess that turns everyone into alicorns and mind control ponies in the first place!” twenty one shouted as she wore an expression of utter bafflement while she stares at Spike. said dragon however, surprised by the sudden change of tone, took another step back and held his claws in front of him in a innocent pose. The type a child would use if he was caught cheating or something…

“Woah, calm down-” Spike said,looking for a way to calm the baffled mare from screaming too loud pushing the thought of how his pony ‘friends’ betrayed him back into his own mind for later thoughts. “Yes Twilight was bad but I don’t think it’s that bad that she would mind control ponies. Take a breath and let it out slowly,” Spike said, a little baffled himself as to where that thought even come from…

The mare did as she was told, and she repeated the process a few dozen times when a small and shy female voice interrupted them both. ”Um…hello?” Spike and twenty one looked at the beaten mare that walked out of the tent instead of a changeling...

In perfect unison both spike and twenty one said “Hey,” they shared a glance at each other, then looked back at her, with Spike saying, “you're awake. Good…I’m Spike, and welcome to my makeshift camp. We both know you’re a changeling so you can change back if you want. Anyway do you have a name?” Spike asked politely as he looked at the mare expectedly. Twenty one however yelped as the mare burst into green flames to reveal the changeling in all of it’s glory…

“What the hell is this thing!” Twenty one yelled across the camp, trying to get as far away from the changeling as possible. Giving it a scared look that can be seen all across the camp within is 22 feet (10 m) “AND HOW DOES IT BURST INTO FLAMES AND CHANGE INTO A PONY?!” twenty one yelled which earned a chuckle from Spike from her reaction...

“For the second time, calm dawn,” Spike said to twenty one then went to comfort the shivering black ball on the floor whimpering, that is the changeling mare, twenty one gave Spike a look and approach the two slowly, as if the the changeling will jump on her…

“It’s a mystery on how they change shape but they need ponies to like them in order to survive, and attacking you will only make you hate it. Besides, I think she is the one afraid of you right now,” Spike reasoned with Twenty one in a calm and controlled voice, the mare raises an eyebrow at the changeling and by now it’s staring at twenty one with a curious look on the changeling’s face…

---

To say that Spike’s small group of people was good is a big understatement, Spike was small, agile and have high perspective, while Twenty one had strengths and brains to make up for it, the changeling named ‘Echo’ which spike learned from the changeling when they are talking yesterday, had wings and speed, so it makes the three very effective in combat situations.

It was noon and the sun was beating relentless onto the forest, the treo was heading towards a small town called ‘goodsprings’ where ponies, outcasted changelings and outcasted griffons lived and apparently, it was attacked by a mysterious entity that took a form of a mare and almost killed all of it’s population, curious thing was, all of the town’s population survived, they only suffers from heavy wounds from the entity like the changeling did when Spike and Twenty one found them...

Then, according to the changeling, an orb of blue light shot out of the woods and immediately went after the entity, the mare then tried to talk to the orb, but the blue orb shot itself into the mare’s head, the mare immediately fell on the ground, and after a few minutes she stood up and her flesh melted into liquid silver and changed into a stallion with a great coat, a lighter grey and white mane and cyan eyes, a pony spike knew well…

Then, it went back into the forest north east, leaving its population to slowly bleed out, the changeling was one of the few who can still go into the forest and savage medical plants and supplies… after hearing that story from echo while they are still walking, Spike decided to take a short break, while Twenty one just took it all in like it’s nothing…

‘… It's strange coming from a mare that has never seen a changeling before to say the least,’ Spike thought to himself. The group of three was walking non-stop for three hours straight after they’d packed up the makeshift camp so Spike took out a glass bottle and took a sip of the water inside the bottle. When he was done he decided to pass it to his companions while he was at it.

Twenty one took the bottle with a hoof...somehow and gave it a suspicious look, “Are you sure it’s ok to drink river water? Inside the everfree of all places? At all?” she asked Spike, unsure of whether she should take the risk of drinking river water inside the everfree. Who knows? It may be poisonous…

And after hearing that, Spike gave her the most deadpan look he could manage to put up and said ”I’m a dragon that breaths fire, what do you think? That I would drink river water without… oh I don't know? Boiling it?”

After hearing that, Twenty one rolled her eyes and muttered a small ‘should’ve guessed’. She finally took a sip, and passed the bottle to Echo.

The changeling guest took a sip and passed the bottle back to Spike, which he packed into the chest-backpack hybrid along with the artifacts. He really didn’t have a use for them. At least not yet, he has companions to talk to instead of half-souls in random stuff.

---

After walking for at least half a day, they have finally arrived at Goodsprings… Spike was surprised to say the least, the town was unlike any he had seen, now normal towns have different races and even a few different species, but this town was different for a whole new level. It has at least four different species living together. In harmony, helping each others without hate…

Spike was left speechless, honestly. Changelings, ponies, griffons, are just a few among them, he even saw a teenage dragon walk by. Ponies are quick to accept different races, but they are far from perfect like everyone had taught. Ponies love and tolerate sure, but they don't usually get along with others unlike the princess and part of ponyville.

To see them all there, helping and caring each other's was a sight to say the least. “Like I’ve told you, we had been hit really hard, good thing none of us were killed in the process, but we need all the help we can get. You can find me in the tallest building in the center of the town.” The changeling said then walked off to help a griffin to carry a stack of bricks with her magic,

Spike then shaked his head as he came back to his senses, and looked at twenty one’s face,. Her face was just like Spike’s earlier with the dropped jaw and a baffled expression. Spike for the first time of the day, chuckled and asked the mare “haven't seen this scenario before?” with a conversational tone.

“Not even pony only towns I’ve seen are so friendly to each other in one place,” the mare said to Spike, then looked up to see the sky, slowly darkening… “let's go see the mayor then” Twenty one said to Spike. He nodded as the pair slowly traveled towards the center of the town…

---

It didn't take long for them to find the tallest building in town. After all, it’s five stories tall, it’s made of stone and wood, not normal stone tied together but stone bricks, and the wood was made of fine dark wood. It all made it look like ponyville’s town hall, and Spike felt a twinge of annoyance at even thinking of that place…

The weather was chilly with a cold gust of wind every now and then, it almost makes Spike forgets that he was in the everfree forest… almost… with that in mind, he and Twenty one stepped into the building and what greeted them was none other than echo sitting behind a desk with a band around her chest that spelled ‘mayor’

“Took your sweet time getting here.” echo said as she closed the doors with her magic, Spike had noticed that her wounds was now treated with proper bandages instead of leaves tied up together, “now that we are in a safe place instead of a camp with spheres as the only line of defence, i would like to introduce myself, I,as you may now know,is the mayor of goodsprings” the changeling said with a proud look on her face and a hoof over her chest.

“We are a group of outcasts exiled from our homes and left to wander, our town was near the center of the everfree forest and people you see here are usually saved from our patrols, but since our recent ‘attack’, we are not able to do that now can we? any questions?” the changeling said to the two.

Spike then took out a medical book from his chest and gave it to the changeling and with a neutral tone, said ”This may help you and your town in the future, i’ve already have the whole thing memorised by now anyways. One question though, do you have rooms you can stay in for the night?” asked Spike.

“Look for a building that resembles a motel down the street, talk to a griffon named Grizelda, tell her ‘Echo sent you’.” The changeling then took the book Spike gave her and said a small ‘bye’ before lying off the opened window behind her. Spike then turned around to look at Twenty one with a ‘you coming?’ look, she rolled her eyes then followed spike out the door into the chilly sunset.

When the two had reached the motel, they have time to look at their surroundings more carefully, everyone in the town was injured in some way, be it scratches to broken legs. When Spike had opened the door, a blast of hot wind and chocolate milk hit his nose as the two walked into the building.

“Evening, visitor-” said a female griffon behind a desk, she wore a small scar on the side of her beak and she have bandage over her eye,”welcome to my humble motel, if you’re looking for food, we still have plenty, but we lack medical supplies due to our recent event… or are you just here for a room, either one of them, you talk to me, got it?” she said in a relaxed tone as she lean back onto her chair behind her desk.

Spike looked at twenty one and back at the griffin and said “Echo sent us and we need two rooms please.”

Comments

[Mr Tech]

6701215 see ya then, have a nice time browsing...

[mrkillwolf666]

10/10