Facing the Future

by Zephyr Spark

Part 5 The Future: Truth and Belief

When Spike opened his eyes, he realized several things. First, his head hurt where he had been struck. Second, his limbs were no longer bound together. Third, he was in a jail cell. Fourth, torches provided some light as the hung from the walls. Fifth, every other cell he could see was empty. Sixth, judging by the stones surrounding him and the stuffy air, he had to assume he was underground.

He saw an exit at the far end of the tunnel and heard hoof steps, well, more like sounds marking approach. Three figures came into view and Spike felt unnerved by each one of them. In the front was an orange pegasus with a purple mane. She may have looked like Scootaloo if her eyes didn’t look so tired and worn, her body muscular and imposing, her mane covering her right eye, or wear a black combat suit lined with knives. Essentially, she would never have passed off as Scootaloo. Spike wasn’t completely sure this was a mare. On her left, Spike saw a griffon with smudgy feathers that might have been white once, a red headband covering his forehead, a dark orange beak, and iron tipped claws. The last figure was an oddity. She looked like a pony with her purple mane, but Spike had never seen a pony like her. This pink creature had two white horns behind both of its ears, a long lizard-like tail that lashed furiously, tiny toes at the end of her hooves, fangs, and scales and fur over her body. Spike quickly looked away so she wouldn’t see his stare.

The group approached him and looked at his with curiosity and distain. Spike did his best to look brave but these three were terrifying.

“So,” the pegasus’ rough voice broke the silence, and Spike recognized her as the one who spoke to Discord, “none of the families in the bunker lost a little pegasus like you.”

She cocked her head as if she expected Spike to say something. She growled through the bars, “listen kid, I don’t know who you are but pretty soon you’re going to be a little nobody rotting away in this cell for all eternity if you don’t start talking. Who are you? Why were you bothering Discord? Where did you come from?”

Spike flinched at her ferocity but steadily met her gaze. She seemed slightly taken aback by his boldness, “Even if I told you,” Spike said, “I doubt you would believe me.”

Suddenly, a shrill sound shrieked and Spike put his hooves over his ears. He turned to his right to see the griffon dragging his metal tipped claws against the bars of the jail cell, “answer the lady’s questions, freak. If we like your answer, we’ll let you off with a warning.”

Spike scowled and met their eyes. He didn’t care if his actions here some how messed up the past. He had to get out of here and find Twilight now. He approached the cage bars and spoke, “okay. My name is Spike and I’m a dragon from the past. I was on a train bound for Griffonstone Station when suddenly I was dumped here in the future and changed into a pony. I don’t know who did this to me, but I have to find Twilight Sparkle so she can send me back.”

The pegasus angrily slammed a hoof against the bars, knocking back Spike. The griffon hissed and scrapped his claws against the cell once more producing a terrible noise, while the oddity’s eyes narrowed.

“You’ve just made a big mistake,” the pegasus growled, “we gave you a chance to tell the truth and instead you mock a once noble dragon! You are going to rot in here for eternity.”

“I’m not lying,” Spike rose to his hooves and approached the cell bars refusing to be intimidated, “I am Spike from all those years ago before the beast emerged. Ask me any question about myself from before I went to Griffonstone Station, and I promise you I can answer it.”

The pegasus smirked. The griffon seemed dangerously close to tearing Spike apart. The oddity looked on with new interest in her eyes.

“Alright,” the pegasus gave a smirk that had no good nature whatsoever, “where were you born, ‘Spike’?”

“Twilight hatched me from a purple egg in Canterlot as part of a Magic School Entrance Exam,” Spike responded without missing a beat.

“Why did you come with Twilight to Ponyville?” the pegasus looked irritated, “And who did you meet?”

“Princess Celestia sent Twilight to Ponyville to make new friends, but Twilight only wanted to overlook the Summer Sun Festival. In the end, Twilight met six new friends who became the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony and defeated Nightmare Moon,” Spike replied determined to answer anything in order to see Twilight. “We met Pinkie Pie, who became the element of laughter, Applejack, the element of honesty, Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty, Rarity, the element of generosity, and Fluttershy, the element of kindness.”

The trio before him looked slightly impressed, but the pegasus snarled in frustration, “what was your role to Twilight? What did she have to do in Ponyville?”

“I was her number one assistant,” Spike felt slight satisfaction as the group before him seemed to change their attitudes, “When she was in Canterlot, I helped her organize her works, delivered her messages to Celestia with my fire breath, made sure she didn’t stay up all night studying and that she remembered to break for food, and offered her my advice though she rarely listened. Whenever she learned a lesson on friendship in Ponyville, I would write down her findings and send it to Princess Celestia. Soon, I did that for her six other friends and wrote a few letters myself.”

The griffon was beginning to look convinced and turned to the pegasus, “Do you think he could be telling the truth?”

“Shut up!” She snapped at the griffon, making him cower, “so the little kid knows the history of Spike, big whoop. That doesn’t prove anything.”

“Maybe not,” the oddity finally spoke with a hypnotizing, silky voice. “But it makes his case all the more credible.”

“Not you too?” The pegasus groaned, “he’s just some nutcase trying to get attention.”

“I don’t care what you think about me,” Spike didn’t want to stand around and let these simpletons debate this forever. “I’ve answered your questions, now let me see Twilight!”

The pegasus slammed her hoof against the bars once more, but Spike did not flinch or back down this time. “Don’t insult Princess Twilight!” her putrid breath made Spike wince but his heart was steeled, “she’s been through enough already. She doesn’t need some freak who wants attention reminding her that the creature destroying the world used to be her friend!”

She turned and walked away. Soon, the other two followed her. They were almost at the exit, but Spike refused to let them leave him here. He had to see Twilight. Desperately, he frantically shouted his biography at the trio.

“When Twilight was worried about a letter deadline, I told Princess Celestia about her problem! Twilight gave me the Crystal Heart when she was trapped and told me to save the Crystal Empire! During the Running of the Leaves, I commented on the race with Pinkie Pie in a hot air balloon! I left Ponyville because I had a nightmare that I would destroy it!”

The trio ignored him and proceeded through the exit. Panicking, Spike screamed one last statement, one of his greatest secrets.

“Ever since we met, I’ve always had a crush on Rarity!”

The oddity grew rigid and stopped in her tracks. The other two turned and looked at their comrade curious why she had stopped. Slowly, she turned around and stared with eyes agape at Spike in a new light. As though he was suddenly different.

“What did you just say?” Spike blushed at her question, not wanting to repeat such a personal secret. She stepped towards Spike and looked at him straight in the eyes, “I said, what did you just say?”

If Spike had fingers, he would be twiddling them right now in embarrassment. Instead, he pawed the ground with his right hoof and stared down.

“Ever since we met,” he mumbled nervously, “I’ve always had a crush on Rarity.”

The oddity before him stared at him intently. Her mouth was slightly ajar but her face carefully masked her inner thoughts. She gently placed a hoof to a cell bar, prompting Spike to look into her eyes. She was looking at him with something akin to recognition. Spike could not explain it but he felt it as well. Slowly, he moved his hoof to the other side of the bar. Only the cell bar separated them, but their hooves were inches apart.

“P!” the pegasus’ voice snapped both of them out of their trance and began stomping towards her, “stop listening to this nonsense! This filly is insane and a menace!”

“But how did he know about Spike and Rarity?” the oddity who Spike assumed was named P turned to face the pegasus, looming over her, or trying to; P was much taller than her. “Only a few ponies ever knew about them and—.”

“Enough!” The pegasus snapped at P and reached for a knife on her belt, her hoof resting on the hilt, “if you don’t get back in line and face reality, you’ll be dealing with me. Do I make myself clear?”

P regarded her for a moment. Spike saw that P was much bigger than the pegasus but had no visible weapons. Then again, perhaps she had no need for weapons. He felt thick tension in the room as the two stared each other down. Gradually, P bowed her head and let out a small smile.

“Yes,” she obediently said, “I’m sorry, S. I let my emotions cloud my judgment and almost let this imposter deceive me. Please forgive me.”

The pegasus, apparently named S, looked doubtful, “why the sudden change of heart?”

“I recognize that I wasn’t thinking clearly,” she walked away from Spike’s prison towards the exit, “he could have found about Spike in many different ways. There is no reason to assume he could be Spike based on his knowledge, which clearly has gaps if he cannot recall events after the real Spike left Ponyville.”

S scowled but eased her hoof off the knife hilt and followed P. She seemed satisfied with P’s answer but kept a steady eye on her. Spike fell to his side miserably. Nothing he said would convince them that he was truly Spike. How was he going to see Twilight now?

“Oh,” P stopped near the exit and S looked at her suspiciously, “I should warn you imposter,” she turned her head to look at Spike, “if Princess Luna ever heard you were Spike from the past, she would certainly obliterate you in a second. Even if it meant rewriting history and eliminating all of us from existence, she’d do anything to get rid of her greatest foe. So I’d shut up about this ‘I’m a dragon’ nonsense and settle for being a pony.”

P was the first to leave, followed by the griffon. Spike stared at the spot, where she left. Was she giving him advice to stay alive? He thought about her advice and wondered if it had some bearing on his status as a pony. Before he could further contemplate her words, S turned around and scowled at him with her visible left eye.

“Princess Luna is long gone,” S huffed as she exited the room. She grimly whispered in a voice that echoed through the stones, “now there is only our Queen.”

***

Hours passed by, as Spike stared at his jail cell lock. He wracked his brain trying to think of a way to open the door but found no solution. He tried picking the lock with one of the feathers on his wings, but it broke in lock. He tried another feather with no luck. Spike let out a long exhale of air as he sighed with disappointment. If only he had his fire breath, then he could just melt the lock and escape. Of course, he had no idea how he would reach Twilight afterwards, but he decided to cross that bridge when he got there. He yanked another feather from his wings, wincing at the sharp pain, and reached his hooves through the cell to pick the lock once more. At this rate, he’d run out of feathers.

The feather snapped and Spike groaned in frustration as he retrieved the feather and threw it into his cell. He scooped the broken feather into a similar pile of broken feathers he had buried under the ground. He didn’t want his captors to get wind of his plans. Although, Spike thought glanced at his wings, my increasingly featherless wings might tip them off.

Suddenly the cave shook violently, rocks fell from the ceiling and dirt fell. Was it an earthquake? Spike saw several torches go out and a cell adjacent to his collapse. He gulped, praying he could escape before that happened. Then he heard something. It was faint from under the earth, but it was still the most chilling noise Spike had ever heard. He almost went deaf from the sound at this distance as it rocked the ground. It sounded like some animal, roaring a violent challenge, but no animal could sound this feral. The roar ended and the grounds shook again.

“Spike!” P appeared in front of him from thin air and Spike stifled his startled scream, “The beast has appeared in the ruins of what once was Manehatten. We don’t have much time.”

She opened her mouth and a jet of purple flames emerged melting the lock, which fell to the ground. She opened the door, and Spike quickly exited and stared at P in confusion. He had so many questions. Where had she just come from? Did she teleport to his cell? And if she did, how did she suddenly breathe fire like a dragon? But most importantly, what was she doing?

“I’m sure you have questions, but there’s no time,” she raced away and beckoned Spike to follow, “the others will be distracted by the beast for so long. We need to get you to Twilight.”

For the first time since he arrived, Spike’s heart soared with hope. He didn’t know if he could trust P, but he couldn’t even stop to think when faced with the prospect of seeing Twilight. They raced side-by-side through the trembling tunnels, stopping only when they heard distant screams of panic approaching them. P’s horns lighted up and she and Spike disappeared from sight. An earth pony and the griffon from earlier ran past them without even noticing them. They continued through the tunnels, winding about in what seemed aimless directions.

“These tunnels run through out Equestria,” P explained as they raced through a shaky tunnel that curved left, “it’s our only way to get around the world safely.”

“How are you going to get me to Twilight?” Spike asked as the tunnel took a sharp plunge and diverged into three paths.

P sprinted through the center tunnel and Spike matched her pace as quickly as possible, “when Twilight retreated to her castle, we created a tunnel leading directly to her home. We had always hoped she would rejoin the fight. No pony uses the tunnel since she put up that barrier but with the beast nearby, her magic might waver enough for you to pass through.”

“Why are you doing this?” Spike tripped but jumped to his feet and doubled his pace to catch up.

“Because I believe you,” she responded turning right at another intersection.

“Why believe me?” Spike panted breathlessly as they stopped before a door, with a flickering purple field before it, “And why do this, P?”

P shoved him through the barrier in a brief second that it flickered, and stared at him from the other end. The ground had stopped trembling and the barrier was now up in full force. As they were in the jail cell, they were separated once more.

“No other soul knew about Rarity and Spike except those who are long gone,” she replied. “And my name’s not P. We all use codenames.”

“What’s your real name? How can I ever thank you?” The ground began to shake once more as dirt and rubble fell between the two.

“Just set things right,” she replied with a wistful smile, “When the time comes, you’ll know my name, father.”

Spike’s eyes widened at the word. He stared at P in a new light. Her long whipping tail, her scales and purple flames, her reptilian eyes and sharp fangs; they were all familiar. He was looking at his own future daughter. She had magic like a unicorn, a purple mane, and fur covering her body where scales did not. Where did all of this come from? Her mother? Then, he his heart fluttered as he remembered what convinced her that he was Spike; his crush on Rarity. Could this mean that at some point—?

Before he could pursue the thought, rocks fell between the two blocking the tunnel. Spike was alone on the other side of the barrier and the rocks with his thoughts. He shook his head in frustration. There was no time to procrastinate. The fate of Equestria depended on him. He turned around and ran through the tunnel, which slowly curved upward and stopped at a circular, wooden door marked with Twilight’s cutie mark.

Spike found the door locked. Undeterred, he took several steps back and raced at the door, tackling it with all his might. It shook only slightly. Ignoring his groaning muscles and sore body, he threw himself at the door even harder. It trembled once again and Spike felt renewed confidence. Finally, he charged at the door with all his might. This time, his strength triumphed and the door collapsed.

Author's Note:

I based P's design off of a character that often appears around Sparity fan art. If I find out where the original design came from, I promise to cite the creator. This chapter as well as the next were going to be a single chapter, but I thought it would be a better idea to split them up so it wouldn't be too long. Thanks for reading, and I hope to finish writing this fanfic for you all as soon as possible.