• Published 20th Nov 2018
  • 9,398 Views, 868 Comments

Finding Friendship - Kamen-Zero



After an adventure gone wrong, Twilight decides to spend some time living as a "normal" pony for a change. But not all is at it seems in this quiet little country town she has chosen to settle down in.

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— Chapter One —

--- Of Misadventures and New Beginnings ---

The craggy landscape stretched out as far as the eye could see, rough and uneven, and surrounded by numerous peaks. The mostly grey coloration of the environment was only broken up by the bright blue cloudy sky, and the dull browns and greens of the few plants that were able to survive in this environment. Moreso weeds than anything else, to be perfectly honest. Little more than proof that life could be sustained here, however grim or bleak it may have seemed. The hard stone was perfect at capturing the warmth of the sun, transforming the cool stone into a force that radiated heat with even the closest of proximities. This combined with the lingering yet distinctive scent of volcanic ash in the air created an aura of danger about the place. Definitely not a prime location for an early afternoon picnic with the kids.

But such things were far from the concern of Twilight Sparkle as she frantically galloped through the rocky region as fast as her legs could carry her. The short rapid gasps for air blended together with the clacking of her hooves against the stone and the pounding of her heart into a rhythmic cycle that only served only to escalate her own paranoia and panic. Against her better judgment, she turned her head to gaze upon the scenery behind her to gage her current situation. Much to her relief, she was still in one piece. Her heavy concealing cloak was still present, still held firmly in place by the clasp around her neck and the saddlebags strapped to either of her sides. The presence of her belongings wasn't much of a comfort, however, compared to what she saw rising above the mountain she had just escaped from.

Silhouetted by the early afternoon sun was the figure that the pony was currently fleeing from. The impressive, majestic form of an adult dragon leaped into the sky with a mighty stroke from its wings, casting a shadow that managed to perfectly eclipse the sun, a testament to how massive this creature was. It easily put most houses to shame and was clearly more than capable of rendering a large city to naught but ash if it were so inclined. It was nothing short of a miracle that had allowed Twilight to escape the beast's initial assault and gain so much distance. A miracle, alongside a slight rockslide that had rendered the creature temporarily buried alive. Though it seems that this head start was of little concern to the dragon, as another quick flap of its wings sent the red-scaled titan into a nosedive aimed directly at its prey. It almost smirked as it somehow managed to lock eyes with Twilight, a knowing glance that told her that there would be no "accidental" avalanches to save her this time. And as the dragon continued its assault, transitioning into a slightly slower glide, its head reared back as a foreboding orange glow began to shine through the pearly white and spear-like teeth.

Twilight knew exactly what this meant, anyone who had any knowledge of dragons knew what this meant, and the sudden loss of color in her face spoke a thousand words of just how much she was aware of what came next. With a heavy nervous gulp, her gaze returned to the path ahead, an act that only further served to worsen her fear as she caught sight of the dragon's silhouette that now surrounded her. Thankfully, this pony was nothing if not resourceful, and the horn that sat atop Twilight's head began to radiate with arcane light as she adjusted her focus. She had already attempted something along the lines of this earlier in the chase, and it proved effective enough at the time. Perhaps trying the same trick twice wasn't a great idea, but a plan was better than no plan. A plan that would require near-perfect timing and precision to pull off successfully: too early and it would only prove as a minor delay to her currently inevitable demise, too late and she'd be converted into a black ashen stain against the ground. Neither prospect sounded particularly pleasing, which thankfully served as a good source of motivation to keep herself concentrated on the spell. All she had to do now was wait for her moment.

The shadow that had engulfed her was suddenly dispersed by a rather warm orange glow. A warmth that turned into sweltering heat as the light grew brighter, signifying to Twilight that the dragon had unleashed its attack. It was now or never, do or die, either she enacted her plan now or let herself succumb to the flames. Her eyes shut tightly as the mass of fire overcame her faster than she could react.

The flames dispersed into nothingness as they crashed into the ground without kindling to keep them alive, leaving nothing behind but a massive black scorch mark on the ground. Despite the seemingly obvious evidence of Twilight's demise, the dragon continued its airborne assault, shifting into a lower glide with its limbs tucked close to its body. It had fallen for this trick once before and was seemingly clever enough not to do so again. Just as she had the last time the dragon attempted this method of attack, the magical pony appeared within a flash of mystic light with a loud distinctive "pop" sound, still running full tilt away from the now gliding dragon.

Looking back for the smallest second, Twilight was deeply upset by the fact that her ruse failed to work a second time. Earlier in the day, that spell had given her the upper hoof against the red-scaled beast. But just as her own intelligence had saved her, her own hubris had doomed her: thus allowing the dragon to quickly disassemble the advantage she had gained. Glancing back to the path ahead, Twilight's expression shifted from horror to hope as she spotted her goal.

Off in the slowly closing distance stood an odd natural phenomenon, a series of odd crystal protrusions sticking through the stone ground, almost like the exposed roots of some utterly massive tree. The structures created a number of archways that a pony or other similarly sized creatures could comfortably walk under, one of which was almost big enough for the dragon itself to squeeze underneath if it were so inclined.

Yes, yes, yes! Twilight's mood only continued to improve as she came closer and closer to her own salvation. Her horn began to glow once more, as one of her saddlebags began to rustle and stir a bit. After a few seconds, a chained amulet with a large gleaming white gemstone embedded within floated out and took its place around Twilight's neck. Her attention shifted back to the crystal roots as she adjusted her focus, changing the intent of her magic and causing the white gem around her neck to glow with every color of the spectrum.

The same light began to radiate from the closest archway, almost leaking from the structure down to the ground and creating a shimmering curtain of light. The sight of this veil gave Twilight hope for the future, hope that was all but extinguished as she heard the dragon behind her cry out once more. A thunderous crash soon followed, the image of the dragon now galloping after her on its claws etching itself into Twilight's mind.

This is gonna be close! Twilight pushed her body to its absolute limits as she continued her way towards her goal, the sounds of the dragon gaining on her giving the little pony the strength to push herself even further. She was so close, and so was the dragon, but she wasn't about to stop now.

With a loud hissing snort, the dragon lunged forward maw first towards what it hoped would be its next meal. Hearing this, Twilight dove forward herself in a last-ditch effort to reach her destination. And thankfully for her, her forehooves made contact with the shimmering curtain just as the maw beginning to engulf her, the magical energies quickly sucking the rest of her inside and safely out of the dragon's reach. For all intents and purposes, she was gone.

The dragon, however, was not so lucky. Its empty maw snapped shut just as its snout collided with the field of light, a bone-snapping crack echoing throughout the land. The veil of light pulsated violently, pushing the seemingly invincible dragon away with great force and onto its back with a loud resonating bang. It took the titan a moment to register what had happened, regaining its composure as it rolled back onto its claws. Turning an angered gaze towards the crystal archway, it watched with much disdain as the curtain of light faded away as the crystal root returned to its dormant state, entirely unharmed by the dragon that had just tackled it.

The red-scaled dragon huffed heavily through its nostrils, releasing a bit of thick black smog atmosphere. It turned away from the field of structures with a frustrated growl, beginning to slowly walk away with whatever dignity it had left. It stopped for only a moment, turning its head away from its chosen path and spitting on the ground, leaving behind a single bloodied fang that the impact had knocked out of place. With that last act, the dragon once more took flight and began the trek to its mountain home. It had left its hoard alone for too long, so it wouldn't be long before smaller dragons took notice and attempt to usurp some of its treasure. And while the pony's trespass and escape was an insult, the thought of losing even one trinket from its hoard to lesser dragons was far more vexing.

--- — ---

The moment Twilight had touched the barrier of light, her entire perception of the world had changed. The rocky wasteland, the sun shining in the bright blue sky, and the dragon that was assaulting her had vanished in their entirety. The only thing Twilight could comprehend at the moment was light. The glittering radiance surrounded her on all sides as she fumbled and fell throughout the void of light. Not intense enough to cause pain to one's eyes, thankfully enough. It was a sight Twilight had seen many times before, though normally in less dire circumstances.

The magic used in this method of travel was fickle, unstable even. One needed absolute clarity on where they were going in order to make the delicate roadways in this realm appear. And based on how there was no solid footing to be had what so ever, it seemed that Twilight had cast the spell without this necessary level of coherence. Likely a result of being chased down by a very angry dragon. No destination had been set, and so no path had been forged. She was at the mercy of cosmos now, liable to end up virtually anywhere in the world at this point.

If I end up anywhere at all, she gulped nervously. She kicked her legs wildly in a vain attempt to hopefully find some form of solid ground. But no such sensation greeted her hooves, and she was left to soar through the abyss. Any and all sense of direction was utterly lost: up was gone, down was meaningless, and diagonally was over in the corner crying. Maybe I should have tried my luck with the dragon again...

There was no way to tell how long she spent in this space between spaces if any time had even passed at all. But eventually, there was a break in the endless walls of light that surrounded her. A tear in the cosmic fabric that looked to lead back to a physical plane of existence. The sight brought a smile to Twilight's face, a smile that only grew wider once she realized that she was heading straight for it. With newly restored hope, she began swimming in the air in an attempt to speed up her approach.

"Yes, yes, yes!" She blurted with glee, watching the new gateway grow in size as she came in faster and faster. Elation was quick to turn to worry, however, as Twilight made a very important observation. She was, perhaps, approaching this new portal a bit too fast for her own good. "No, no, no!" She began kicking her legs in the opposite direction, trying to slow down her decent (or accent) back into the real world, but it didn't seem to have made much of a difference.

Twilight let out a shriek as she was unceremoniously flung back into existence, all sensations that she had previously lost suddenly flung back to her. Time, direction, everything all at once. And the shriek was cut comically short as she landed face first in the dirt, sliding along the ground for a moment before skidding to a stop.

"Pfft," she huffed loudly while pushing herself out of the dirt. A few dog-like shakes of her head and several coughs were enough to clean her up for the most part. "Not the most gracious of escapes, but I'll take it." She chuckled to herself and looked down to the amulet, taking notice of how the white gem had taken on a pitch-black coloration. A tired sigh escaped from her as she lightly poked at the artifact with a hoof. "Of course that depleted the whole charge. Why wouldn't it?" She shook her head disappointedly at this development, turning instead to see where in the world she ended up.

An expanse of trees could be seen in all directions, with green-tinted shadows, cast from the sun high above, were dancing about the ground. The subtle sounds of the forest and its inhabitants could be heard in all directions, a few birds having stopped for a moment to investigate the sudden new arrival before fluttering off. The only deviation was the large crystal archway identical to those from the dragon lands—which she quickly realized must have been her point of exit—through this one was seemingly alone. It was a stark contrast from where she had just been moments earlier, and the calmer environment was a calming sight. Twilight let out a relieved chuckle as she came to the realization that the threat had been passed, the pony sitting down in the dirt to catch her breath.

Twilight exhaled contently before letting out a chuckle. "I think we're gonna be okay, Spike." She took a moment to just take in the calmness of the woods. Though it was only then that she remembered that Spike had been with her for the entire ordeal. She had told him to climb inside one of the saddlebags when the larger dragon had spotted them, and she distinctly remembered him doing just that. Or at least, she thought she remembered, yet his silence was doing wonders in making Twilight doubt her memory. "Spike?..." She waited for a few moments, ready for the young dragon to pop out of one of the saddlebags at any moment. But no such occurrence came to be, and Twilight's mind began running through all the possibilities of what could have happened.

He got in the bag when I told him to, right? I know I felt him climb in...

What if he fell out while I was running?

What if he got lost in the portal?

That last one scared her more than any dragon ever could. And it was only now that mild anxiety burst into full-on panic. "SPIKE?!"

She shot up to her hooves with a sudden sense of dread. With a quick flicker of her horn, her saddlebags were placed on the ground. She threw the first one open with great haste, digging through her belongings with speed comparable to light itself. Each book or map or other such items she moved out of the way only served to further anxiety, as everyone had yet to reveal her lost companion. As she continued her foraging, her mind continued to race with dreadful possibilities. She thought that Spike had been with her since the larger dragon had found them, she could have sworn that he had gotten in the saddlebag, and she quickly began scolding herself for not paying better attention to the one who depended on her the most. The mere suggestion that she might have let him down, or worse, was more than her heart could take.

The grisly images her mind painted of the elder dragon finding Spike—or accidentally extinguishing his life without even noticing him—was almost enough to make her choke up the omelet she had made this morning. The idea of Spike being trapped forever in the magical void she had been lucky enough to escape from wasn't very comforting either. In many ways, they were even worse. She couldn't possibly imagine spending the rest of her life trapped in the space between spaces, and frankly, she didn't want to. After fully emptying the first bag onto the ground with no sign of the odd dragon, her attention turned towards the second and the process was repeated with even greater haste.

And thankfully, her frantic searching was finally rewarded, allowing her some brief peace of mind. Curled up in the second saddlebag was a familiar mass of purple and green scales, rolled up into a small draconic sphere. Twilight's brow furrowed as she leaned in closer to check in on her friend. The relief she had felt upon finding him was less than a memory at this point, replaced by worry over his well being.

"... Spike?" The dragon finally began to stir at her latest pry, and so Twilight quickly backed up to allow him room to move. Watching Spike emerge from the saddlebag was a calming sight in it of itself, it was more than proof that he was alive and well, and it brought back a cavalcade of good memories the two had forged over their time with one another. Earlier this morning in particular.

But the past was the last thing on Twilight's mind once she took notice of Spike's expression. The young dragon was slow and timid in his movements, foreclaws gripping at the lip of the bag as if his life depended on it. His eyes darted back and forth across the environment nervously and quickly, searching for any sign of anything amiss, and she could tell he was trembling ever so slightly. Twilight didn't need to be told that her draconic companion was scared, and she also didn't need to be told what he was currently scared of.

After what felt like a never-ending silence, Spike finally spoke. "... T-T-Twilight?" His voice was jittery and nervous, and it was clear he was using a great deal of effort to try and hide these facts from his friend. He gulped hard as he started Twilight dead in the eyes.

"I... I don't wanna look for dragons anymore..." Those words had significant weight to them, and hearing them was enough to practically break Twilight's heart all over again. After seeing Spike's utter joy earlier today, this sudden reservation and paranoia from him was painful to see.

"Spike... are you sure?... We're not going to—"

"I'm sure!" The dragon barked with a quick nod before transitioning to a forced smile, his voice changing to a pale imitation of his usual speaking tone. "I mean... I just think we've done enough searching, for now, you know? W-we should do some other stuff for a little while... It's only fair, right? I'm sure you have things you wanna do..." The only thing more forced than that smile of his was the chuckle that he managed to push out after his statement.

Despite Spike's best efforts, Twilight was able to read her young companion like a book. Spike had been wanting them to find this 'Dragon Kingdom,' or other dragons in general, for the longest time. But today had been the first time Spike had ever seen another dragon outside of books or paintings, and it seemed to have proven too much for the young dragon to take. Despite his high intellect, he was still only six years old, young by pony standards, and even younger by dragon standards. It was more than a bit upsetting to see him give up on his goal like this, but at the same time, she couldn't exactly blame him. An adult dragon wasn't exactly the most comforting of creatures, especially when angered. There was another pause in the conversation as Twilight processed his words.

"... If you say so, Spike," she gave him the most reassuring smile she could muster, beginning to repack the saddlebag she had emptied in her panic. It was obvious that he didn't want to talk about this, not yet at least, so she would give him the time to calm down. She felt like she could use some of that herself, in all honesty. "Come on. I have no idea where the tree spat us out, and we're running low on food. We need to find a town."

"Uhh... actually... if it's all the same with you, I think I'll just stay in here for a bit longer," Spike was doing everything he could to avoid eye contact, "You know... take inventory... make sure we didn't lose anything..." He sunk back into the saddlebag and latched it shut behind him before Twilight could register what he had even said. She took note of this behavior and made a mental note of it for later, placing the now depowered amulet back inside the travel pouch as well. With her items placed back in their proper places, and her saddlebags once more at her sides, Twilight took a moment to pick a direction before walking off. It seems fate wasn't entirely against her, as the patch of dirt she had faceplanted into seemed to be part of a well walked path. And where there was a path, there was bound to be civilization.

--- — ---

The forest seemed to stretch on forever like an endless mass of trees, bushes, and other flora. The subtle sounds of nature overwhelmed Twilight's sense of hearing figuratively speaking, it was all that could be heard for what felt like miles. Definitely a far cry from the near-dead silent ambiance of the wastelands where that red dragon had made its home. She had even seen a few of the local creatures responsible for the atmosphere of the forest, the small woodland creatures stopping only for brief moments to asses Twilight's presence before moving on. It was doing wonders for Twilight's mood, serving to help calm her down after the rollercoaster of fear and anxiety from earlier today.

Hopefully, it was doing the same for Spike.

He had been all but silent after their narrow escape from the red dragon, staying confined within the saddlebag long after Twilight had told him it was safe to come out. She had to actively talk to him to break the silence, and even then he didn't have much to say. The explanation was that he hadn't slept very well last night and was a bit tired because of it, an excuse that Twilight was instantly able to see through as an obvious lie. His energetic behavior at the crack of dawn was more than enough to contradict him, but again Twilight didn't wish to call him out on this. Funnily enough, Spike did actually end up falling asleep in there at some point during the woodland stroll, so at least he hadn't been lying straight out.

Despite them being well out of harm's reach by now, Twilight still couldn't help but worry for her small draconic friend. She had spent a good portion of her hike trying to figure out what she could possibly do to help him move on from this experience. It was clear that he had been shaken up by the encounter with the red dragon, he hadn't done a very good job of hiding this fact, but for the life of her Twilight couldn't figure out what to do. Spike had never gotten like this before, he'd always faced every situation with this childlike optimism that was hard not to be influenced by. Not to say he had never been afraid before, that one time they had run into a manticore stuck out to Twilight in particular, but this was—quite literally—an entirely different beast.

The cloaked pony had been wracking her brain on how to handle this particular problem for what might've been hours now. Scratch that, it definitely had been hours since they arrived in the forest. The sun had moved a considerable distance since then, it'd be another few hours before the sun went down, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to set up camp for the night either. Twilight let out a frustrated sigh at the development, glaring up through the canopy of leaves to the sunlight above. They were running out of rations and were in desperate need of resupply. She had been hoping that there'd be a town nearby, but it seems that was just a pipe dream of an overly optimistic pony.

"Something wrong, stranger?" A loud bubbly voice suddenly asked from behind.

Twilight practically leaped out of her skin from the sudden shout. With a quick leap and a spin, Twilight was made to face her assailant with a defensive stance, her horn lighting up in preparation to defend herself. The one who had snuck up behind her was, surprisingly enough, another pony. Twilight had to take a moment to properly register this, it'd been quite some time since she had seen another one of her kind.

The earth pony was covered in a bright pink coat, perfectly accented by the even brighter shade of pink that made up her incredibly poofy mane and tail. Two bright blue eyes stared back widely into Twilight's own, a large grin dispersing into a look of worry. Despite her readied posture, the sight of the pony was one of reassurance. It meant that Twilight had a much better idea of where in the world she had ended up. Nothing specific yet, but the search area had been significantly dwindled down from anywhere in the entire world.

"Whoa! Hold up! Don't shoot," the pink pony bellowed, "Didn't mean to scare you! I come in peace!"

Twilight let out a small sigh as she extinguished her horn, standing back to a more relaxed posture. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that. I could have seriously hurt you," she scolded of the pink pony, knowing that she had no idea what someone like Twilight was capable of.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. I saw you walking around, you looked like you were lost, and I've never seen you around before so I assumed you were lost, and I came over here to help you out if I could!" The earth pony spoke faster and faster with each passing word, never stopping for a breath until after her elaborate statement had been completed. "My name's Pinkie Pie, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She offered the biggest smile Twilight had seen in a long time before transitioning into a floppy-eared look of guilt. "... Sorry if I scared you..."

Twilight hesitated for a moment before finally responding. "... Thank you, Pinkie... I'll be going now..." She turned to continue on her way but stopped as the earth pony's words finally fully processed in her head. She stopped and slowly turned back. "I'm sorry... but did you say you were going to give me... directions?"

The shift in Pinkie's mood back to bright and bubbly was instantaneous. "Yeah! You're looking for the town, right? I mean, I'd be looking for a town if I were in your position. I don't know about you, but I sure wouldn't want to spend the night alone in the Everfree Forest!"

Everfree Forest? That name had an oddly familiar ring to Twilight, but for the life of her, she couldn't quite place her hoof on it. But that was a question for later, the prospect of finding the nearby town was of far more important right now. And Twilight was quick to answer Pinkie's suspicion and request directions to said settlement.

"Well, firstly you're gonna wanna get off this path," Pinkie explained with a giggle, "It'll lead you to town, eventually, but it'd be WAY faster to just walk straight this way." She pointed a hoof to her sharp left. "If you do that, you'll be back in town LONG before sundown!"

Twilight looked in the direction with a raised eyebrow. Was it really that simple? Well, she didn't exactly have any better ideas at the moment. "... Thank you... Pinkie Pie, was it?" She mentally chuckled at the name. While there was nothing particularly wrong with that name, especially for a pony, it had been quite a while since Twilight had been around other ponies. And in that time she had forgotten just how... on the nose pony naming conventions usually were. There was nothing wrong with them, but after spending so much time around various other races, it was an observation she couldn't stop herself from making.

"Yep! That's me! Pinkie Pie!" She beamed brightly. "I already said this, but it's really nice to meet you, purple-pony-who-hasn't-told-me-her-name-yet!"

"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

"OOOOOO, that's a pretty unicorn name! Well, for the third time it was nice to meet you! Maybe we'll see each other around town sometime!" Pinkie giggled with a loud snort. After a quick wave of her hoof, she spun around to continue on her merry way. But after a few bounces steps, she stopped dead in her tracks and bolted back to Twilight. "OH! I almost forgot! If you're looking for a place to stay, go to the Bedrock Inn! Best hotel in town!"

Twilight didn't have time to process the advice before Pinkie bounced off—literally, she just bounced off like she had horseshoes made of rubber or something. It was bizarre. But again, she didn't get a chance to question these odd antics. Instead, she decided to take the pony's advice and head in the direction given to her. She didn't really have anything to lose by following this new path. If it didn't lead to town a quick teleportation spell could undo the lost progress in a snap. And if it did lead to town, then one of today's problems would be effectively solved.

At the very least, there wouldn't be any more accidental dragon encounters.

Author's Note:

Fun fact. This was supposed to be the introduction to the story. But after some thought, I added the prologue to give you all a better understanding of Spike and Twilight's relationship.

It also served to establish a few other things that'll be important later on. So be on the lookout for those~

Also, please let me know if you spot any grammar/spelling/continuity mistakes. It'd be appreciated.

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