Traveling Towards The Tempest
It was an odd, but surprisingly encouraging, day after their joined adventure into the EverFree Forest. While Applejack and Granny Smith tearfully reunited with their family, and Tree Hugger and Carrot Top had parted ways with them, Twilight and Spike had returned to their home at the Golden Oaks Library in relieved exhaustion. Twilight had immediately set about writing a bulleted account of everything that she had learned and had happened, and then made a short checklist of things left to prepare for next. It was approaching noon before Spike had dragged her away from her writing desk and tucked her into her bed before heading to his room as both of them dropped into slumber.
It wasn’t until they awoke the next morning that the repercussions of what they had done and what they had been through finally hit them. It was an almost surreal affair as Spike made breakfast in the same kitchen he had worked in for over a year, making the same breakfast fare that he normally made when just hours before he and Twilight had been in a fight for their lives.
Twilight herself sat in front of her mirror, a hoof brush long forgotten as she could only stare at her reflection. The face looking back was a familiar one; one that she had seen everyday without thought as she went about her life. But now, the young mare peered closer, taking in every detail and every facet. Turning this way and that, she finally stared deep into the eyes reflected there. They were the same color and shape as always, but today they oddly captivated her, seeing more existing in them than she had ever noticed before.
“Twilight! Breakfast!”
Hearing Spike call for her, Twilight Sparkle, the town librarian, explorer of the Everfree Forest, fighter against evil unicorns, and … friend to others, hesitantly took one last look before she stepped away from the mirror and headed down to eat a warm breakfast made by her assistant. Just like she normally would every day. Stopping at her door, her hoof hovered above the latch. How could she still call it the same breakfast as every day, if she was no longer the same pony as she had been before?
“Twilight!”
Putting her thoughts aside, she made her way down the stairs and into the sun-filled little eating nook with Spike.
Breakfast started as a silent affair as the two slowly went through their normal routines, but with none of the blasé familiarity they took for granted before. A quick glance here and there, a clearing of the throat; the two fidgeted in uncertain confusion as neither quite knew how to broach the elephant in the room.
“Soooo, about yesterday?” Spike, the more socially adept of the two, clumsily began.
Looking at each other they held their gazes for a moment...before matching grins broke across their faces!
“Oh my gosh! Can you believe it!?”
“I know, right! She was just blasting away all like ‘Pew’ ‘Blam’ and ‘BLLLLAAAAARGH’ and AJ was just ‘Pow Pow Pow’!”
“And when the magic suppressor got overloaded like that!? I’ve already got a ton of ideas on how to fix that!”
“And Carrot was just blasting away at everything like a mad mare!”
“I know! I so want to talk to her about what she does in her garden!”
Bursting from their seats, the dam of emotions broke as the two giddily regaled to each other the events of yesterday as they acted out their battle, swinging their arms and hooves as they merrily chased each other around in mock combat. Laughing now at the terror and fear they had felt, basking in the strange euphoria at having survived certain death together. Collapsing in a fit of laughter two hours later on the floor, Twilight and Spike caught their breath, their chests heaving as the excitement abated.
Looking over to her companion and catching his gaze, Twilight shared a look with Spike and finally voiced what both had come to realize.
“We’re never going to be the same, are we?”
“Heh, yeah I guess not,” Spike chuckled. Reaching over, he grasped Twilight’s hoof as the two laid there staring up at the ceiling.
“So what do we do now?”
An excited smile grew on Twilight’s face.
The next few hours were a whirlwind of activity and manic energy as the duo packed, tinkered, tested, and repacked. Lists were drawn up and discarded as chalk diagrams were sketched out and erased and redrawn. In the middle of it all, Applejack had surprised them by stopping by and offering her help.
“Granny may be safe, but I’d never be able to call myself an Apple if I didn’t see that that Starlight never does this to anypony else,” she answered when they asked about her decision. “Besides, Granny herself took me aside this morning and told me ‘Our ancestors left the farm lands to help found this town and many others like it. We Apples may no longer cultivate the land, but we still do our part to help cultivate our communities and all ponies in need,’ Applejack quoted as she nodded her head. “I figured you two might try something like this, and I’ll be damned if I just stood by and didn’t keep the two of you out of trouble,” she finished with a cheeky grin.
“Besides, that Starlight was looking for this magical doodad,” she said as she patted the side of her saddlebag where the mysterious gold gorget with its orange jewel was stored. “And as long as she’s looking for it or others like it I doubt I could rest easy knowing she or her weird partner could return to my home at any time to get their hooves on it. I’m bringing the fight to her this time.”
And so the party grew to three, and soon four as Carrot Top returned as well to see how the two were doing. She proved to be a welcome help to Twilight in her research as well as surprisingly insightful into magical studies.
“Found it! It’s called the Element of Honesty, one of a set of magical artifacts called the Elements of Harmony that were said to exist during the time of the alicorns. According to this, ‘The Elements of Harmony represented one of the four aspects of harmony, in this case the intrinsic mystical connection between platonic ponies and were given power by the strength of their bearers' friendship. They were supposedly capable of banishing evil and purifying beings of darkness.’”
Poking her head out of the pile of books she was currently buried under, Twilight lit up as she listened to Carrot Top read from the book she was holding. “That’s amazing Carrot! How did you find it? I’ve been searching every compendium and magical index in here trying to find even a passing description of what Applejack has,” she said as she pointed to the mare’s saddle bag.
“Oh, well you know, I just sort of looked under ‘E’,” Carrot Top bashfully admitted to Twilight’s exasperated disbelief.
The clock ticking, the four ponies made their plans quickly as every moment lost was another for Starlight and her mysterious partner to make their move.
Looking over the travel schedule, Twilight looked back towards the group. “So, should we try to get Tree Hugger and Bon-Bon as well?”
“Nah,”Applejack said shaking her head. “Bon-Bon is nursing Lyra back to health, but she promised us all deep discounts from her store. And Tree Hugger said that she would be busy caring for the new little one; the acorn from the old Oak of the Everfree Forest. She wanted to invite all of us to join her in a yoga/cleansing session but I guess I’ll be telling her that we’ll all need to take a rain check on that.”
“It’s too bad, I would have liked to have tried that,” Twilight said, momentarily surprising herself by actually meaning it. “But that still leaves the issue of, well, getting to Cloudsdale.” She said, hesitantly looking towards Spike.
Taking a deep breath, Spike gave a brave smile and a thumbs up. “Heh, don’t worry about me Twi. I’m with you all the way.”
“Are you sure,” Twilight asked concerned. “Remember back in Unitopia how the crew at the pier needed to cage yo-“
“I said I’m fine!” Spike yelled before quickly subduing himself. Taking in a deep breath he continued, “Longma travel through the tempests all the time, they’re always bragging about how far they go and how great their networks are. Well, I’m a mighty dragon and I won’t lose to any fake dragon-pony thing,” he proclaimed as he thumped his chest. “Trust me Twilight, I can do this. I’m a pure-blooded dragon, a noble dragon! Dragon’s are strong, we’re determined, we d-don’t let anything intimidate us! I’m going to show those Longma one day what a REAL dragon is like!”
“But-“
“No!” Spike asserted himself as he looked Twilight directly in the eyes. “Twilight, I know I can get over this,” he said before slowly and bashfully averting his eyes. “b-but, I wouldn’t mind if you helped me out a little.”
“Spike,” Twilight whispered as she pulled him in for a tight hug. “I’ll look out for you every step of the way.”
Giving a curious look at the two, Applejack decided to leave what looked to be a personal matter to the side as she focused on the next step of their journey. “Alright then, we still need to find some way to actually travel to this ‘Cloudsdale’. Besides it supposedly being in the pegasus territories, I honestly have no experience with it, I’m ashamed to say. I’ve never traveled beyond the earth pony lands before.”
“I can help with that,” Carrot Top stepped in. “It just so happens that I’m shipping some produce to Cloudsdale later today, and I know a few ponies there as well who might be able to show us around. I’m sure with a few cloud walking potions I had in inventory, we can track down this Starlight Glimmer before she can cause any more trouble.”
“That’s amazing Carrot Top!” Twilight exclaimed before she felt Applejack place a hoof across her chest, placing a block on the librarian's optimism.
“You just happened to be shipping some produce to Cloudsdale set to leave later today?” the orange mare deadpanned with half lidded eyes as she gazed at the still smiling face of Carrot Top.
“Yes, that’s right,” the other mare replied with open sincerity.
“And you just so happened to have ‘cloud walking potions’, which I’m guessing we’ll apparently need, just lying around in your stock?”
“Why, yes, of course Applejack; I ship to all parts of Equestria and need to be ready for just such an occasion,” Carrot Top sensibly replied.
“And I’ve been meaning to ask, but you also happened to have exploding carrots and a magic absorbing produce shield yesterday?”
“Gardening is so much more intense than most ponies give it credit for,” Carrot Top replied, smiling sweetly and fluttering her eyelashes.
Narrowing her eyes, Applejack leaned forward as she tapped the bright orange maned mare in her fluffy chest. “After all this is over, I’d like to sit down and have a talk with you, Golden.”
“Why I’d love to share a pitcher of carrot juice with you Applejack; how about we meet at my house, or would you prefer I come by to visit you?” the mare named Golden Harvest, but known as Carrot Top to her friends, beamed as she clapped her forehooves together.
Put off by the display of open hospitality, Applejack backed down as Carrot Top pulled a small pamphlet with the picture of an airship proudly drawn on its cover out of her saddle bag. “Now if we’re to ride along with my produce, we will all need to book some seats. As it seems, this flight just HAPPENS to also take passengers and I have right here the prices for each type of ticket,” she said as she smiled serenely at Applejack. “Isn’t that just so lucky for all of us?”
Applejack looked like she had bitten a lemon, “Okay, now you’re just trolling me.”
Leaning down to flip open the pamphlet with her lips, Twilight’s face took on an ashen hue that only became worse as she looked down the list of prices.
“Now, I know that we probably won’t be traveling first class,” Carrot Top continued, “but I’m sure if we pool our resources, we can find something that will work within each of our budgets.”
“Well how much are tickets anyway?” Applejack asked as she walked up to the table to take a look at the pamphlet.
“Well, due to the dangers of the tempests and the expenses needed to maintain airships and pay the crew, travel is a bit on the expensive side,” Carrot Top explained. “But, again, if we dip into our savings a bit I’m sure –“
“SWEET MOTHER OF FAUST! OOOOOOOOOH! I’M DYYYING!!!” Applejack screamed as she clutched her chest and staggered back, dropping to the floor and began hyperventilating.
“Again, we’ll be pooling our resources everypony,” Carrot Top said trying to assuage their fears. “If everypony pulls from their savings I’m sure we can find something that will suit our needs.”
Turning to his companion, Spike asked a question that sadly told Carrot Top everything she needed to know about the young librarian’s fiscal abilities. “Hey Twilight, what are ‘savings’?”
“It’s something that moms and dads do for their foals so the foals don’t have to do it for themselves,” Twilight answered before trotting to a far corner of the library where a box lay. Flipping past the ‘I should have listened to Twilight’ and ‘I should have listened to Spike’ signs, she continued searching though the box before landing on one in particular. Placing the ‘I was a bad grownup’ sign around her neck she then proceeded to sit facing the corner.
Glancing back to the still hyperventilating Applejack, Carrot Top groaned and looked back to the pamphlet. Skipping to the last entry on the back of the page, she checked the price and compared it to what she had. Multiplying by four, Carrot Top gave a tired groan at the amount. “When did saving the world become so expensive?”
Airships; marvels of transportation since ancient times. The Carrack-type ship looked exactly like its ocean-going counterpart except for the wide fish like fins sweeping out from the back and middle of the hull and the massive whale shaped balloon anchored at six points along the ship; two at each end with two in the middle. A jaunty captain's quarters lay at the end of the aptly-named quarter deck with an enclosed wheel house atop it. Two sealed cargo doors were built into the deck surface, with a griffon hen figurehead staring out into the sky before it.
The balloon itself looked far too heavy to actually float, but despite the thick canvas and nylon-wrapped skin, it pulled on the rope net around it, fighting to take flight had the ship not been moored securely.
Trotting up the gangplank, the three ponies and one dragon made their way to the ship, with Applejack in the lead and Twilight and Spike in the rear. Riding on Twilight’s back, Spike chatted amicably with the rest of the ponies at first. But as they got closer to the ship, the dragon began to grow more silent to the concern of his purple companion. Now that they were on the boarding ramp to the ship itself, the little drake had developed a pale look to him as he began to sweat heavily, his breathing becoming shallower with each step.
“Welcome aboard the ‘Lollipop Skip’! How can we serve you today?” a chipper stallion greeted them at the top of the gangplank.
Sheepishly, Carrot Top stepped around Applejack and pulled out four paper napkins that the ticket-mare had given over to her as printing their actual tickets would have apparently been a waste of good paper and magic.
The stallion only needed to glance at the ‘Last Class’ scribbled on each napkin for his smile to die a sudden and painful death.
“The hold is on the bottom of the ship. Don’t touch anything, and we’ll try not to throw you overboard as ballast when we take off. No promises though. Also, don’t forget to sign your waivers.”
Wincing, Applejack and Carrot Top nodded to the crew-pony as they tried and failed to read a legal waiver covered in so much fine print that the document appeared as a solid black page. Knowing they had no other choice; the two mares signed the documents and began their trek to the bowels of the ship when a strained wheezing caught their attention.
“Hey Twilight, I don’t think I can do this,” Spike weakly called out.
“It’s okay Spike, we’re almost on board. You can do this,” Twilight encouraged as she slowed her pace to steady her passenger. “Just close your eyes and take deep breaths, try to focus on just doing that.”
Taking several deep breaths, Spike began to shiver as sweat poured off of him. “I-I-I need some more time, just let me lie down,” he croaked, he began to slide off of Twilight’s back.
“You’re almost there, you’re doing so much better than at when we traveled here the first time Spike,” Twilight nervously cheered as she quickened her pace up the ramp.
“I-I-I need to sit down," he dry heaved as he wobbled precariously on Twilight's back. "I-I've got to get- I've got to- I’ve got to get OUT!” Spike suddenly shouted as he jumped off Twilight’s back.
“Spike!” Lunging forward and tackling the fleeing dragon, Twilight held tight as Spike began flailing his arms harder.
“I NEED TO GET OUT! I NEED TO GET OUT! INEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUT!!”
“What in Tartarus is going on?” Applejack cried as she turned around and ran to the duo.
His pupils shrank to pinpricks as he locked sight of the distant tempest clouds that they would be traveling through.
“INEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUTINEEDTOGETOUT-”
“Please AJ! Help me get him inside; he’ll calm down once he can’t see the tempest anymore,” Twilight pleaded as she continued to hold onto the increasingly frantic dragon.
“Ma’am you need to leave, I can’t let you on without signing the waivers,” the now alarmed crew member called out.
Gripping a quill in her teeth and slashing an ‘X’ on two forms, Twilight looped a foreleg around Spike as Applejack did the same on his opposite site. Each pony sprinting in a three-legged gait with a flailing dragon between them, the two raced down the ship with Carrot Top running ahead to open hatches and clear the path for them.
Reaching the bottom of the ship, the trio deposited Spike as Twilight wrapped him in her hooves and rocked him back and forth under the concerned watch of her two travel mates.
Slowly Spike began to calm down as his breathing returned to normal.
“You okay Spike?” Twilight asked as he buried his face into her fur in shame to avoid looking at the rest of the team.
“What happened back there?” Applejack asked as she set down next to Twilight to give her and Spike additional support, with Carrot Top settling down at her other side to watch over the group.
Sighing, Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, Spike had a rough experience with the tempests before.”
Looking down with sympathy at the frightened drake, Applejack couldn’t help but be reminded of the times when she would comfort her little sister Applebloom during the scheduled lightning storms. Just because you knew what was coming, didn’t make it any less scary, especially for one so small. “Don’t worry about a thing Spike,” Applejack cooed as she stroked his back. “This ship is as sturdy and solid as they come,” she said, stomping on the solid oak boards beneath them. “We’ll be right here with you the whole way, and before you know it, we’ll be in Cloudsdale in no time.”
Shaking his head, Spike turned to look directly at Applejack. His tear-stained face and haunted look surprising the large mare. “You don’t understand; tempests want to kill you.”
At his side, Carrot Top gasped as she realized something. Applejack though, only saw a frightened child in need of comfort.
“I know that tempests can be scary but-“
“You don’t get it,” Spike’s cold monotone cut through Applejack’s soothing words like a knife. “You don’t get it at all,” Spike continued, turning back to clutch Twilight harder as his mind traveled back to his desperate flight out of the dragon lands, avoiding the patrols chasing him under the uncaring watch of the Longma elites. Thinking back to the tiny life pod he had snuck aboard in desperation to escape, Spike began to speak as he remembered...
The waves swelled and dropped beneath Spike as he struggled to hold onto the broken remains of the life pod. Dark purple lightning flashed around him, the booming thunderclaps bursting above him and striking him with a violent wall of air pressure from each explosion of sound. Golf-ball sized hail stones rained down upon him, pelting him mercilessly as his dragon scales and hide screamed in pain from the abuse even as a new sensation of intense itching began growing all across his body.
“HELP!” he screamed in panic as the world suddenly seemed to drop from under him. He dug his claws into the wood beneath him as it looked as if the ocean itself was receding below as he pitched forward. His cries were lost as his wreckage slid down the descending wall of water, surfing along the face of a newly formed 100-foot-tall wave. Faster and faster, he slid down into the roaring darkness as the wooden plank began to lose its connection to the wave beneath it as the fall became steeper and steeper, soon becoming nearly vertical as Spike finally lost his grip on the board and slammed face-first into the unforgiving waters below, the force of several metric tons of water crashing onto him and pushing him further down into the depths below as the ocean churned and tumbled. The massive underwater currents pulled and tossed the young dragon beneath the waters and it was only due to his draconic nature that his body was even strong enough to keep from being crushed and torn apart.
“Hel-mphgr!” Spike cried out in panic as he took in a lungful of water and flailed wildly, trying to make it back to the surface. But all around him the world was a turbulent mess of pitch black as he lost sight of which way was up or down and the currents continued to thrash him around. Spike’s vision began to black out when directly in front of him massive blue glowing lines with hundreds of smaller blue dots pulsed and charged towards him, a gaping maw the size of a stadium and full of thousands of razor-sharp teeth opened to engulf him.
With one last weak but desperate struggle, Spike pushed himself away from the oncoming doom, his arms already numb from the lack of breath and his feet no longer feeling, his mind filled with one last thought as he tried to flee.
‘I DON’T WANT TO DIE!’
Suddenly the world around him exploded in booming thunder and flashing lightning again as his head broke the water. Vomiting the water in his lungs, Spike took a deep breath before scrambling once again to avoid the leviathan within the dark.
Beneath him, the mass of the leviathan was so great that it pushed the water before it like a massive up-swell; the tiny dragon kicking through the water as hard as he could to escape the jaws of the beast. But with a mouth wide enough to swallow ocean-liners whole, his efforts were futile at best. Riding the surging up-swell of water, Spike pulled himself as far out of the water as he could, briefly emerging out of the ocean as the leviathan hit the surface.
But rather than breaking through the surface and consuming the tiny speck of a dragon, it was as if it had hit an immoveable wall. Slamming into the surface of the water, the massive beast instead buckled and compressed, blood and gore squeezing out of the sides as glowing lines and veins popped and burst. Chunks of flesh and visceral splattered across the undersurface of the water as the ocean turned greenish black with the remains of the horrific beast spread across the surface of the water.
Flung upwards once again by the impact of the leviathan, Spike choked and gagged as he tried to keep his head above the surface, now treading water within the blood and remains of the predator. Spitting up more greenish black bile, Spike wiped his eyes and scratched at his increasingly itchy scales as he swiveled around, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Gulping for breath, and shielding his face from the falling hail, all he could see upon the ocean were the crashing waves and wide expanse of pulped leviathan. Flinging a chunk of flesh that had drifted too close to him, Spike was about to bat another away when an eye suddenly opened to look directly back at him.
Yelping in surprise, Spike paddled backwards away only to see numerous other eyes open before and around him. Tossed back and forth by the storming waves, Spike occasionally bobbed up high enough to see that all around him the entire surface of the ocean was now staring back at him with hundreds of disembodied eyeballs, all floating upon the surface with him. Shuddering at the sight, Spike tried to splash one of the eyes away from him with a claw, the water and blood doing little to push the nearest eye away from him.
*SCHREEEEEEEEK!*
Pupil splitting apart, needle-like teeth revealed themselves as the eye shrieked at him. Rising out of the water on tendrils of sickly green blood, they towered above the terrified little dragon, their pearly-white jaws flashing in the lightning.
Lashing down, they tore and bit at Spike, though their teeth were no match for his dragon scales. Covering his face, Spike endured the strikes as he was tossed around in the waves, his scales holding up, but between the growing itch and the biting swarm he could feel his body screaming out in agony.
Another wave crashed over Spike just as a shrieking eye sank its jaws into him and he found himself beneath the waters once again. Tumbling beneath the waters, Spike found himself wrapped up in one of the reedy-like stalk of the eye. Clawing at the eye monster, movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention as the massive bulk of a leviathan darted past. Its enormous body slicing through the water at impossible speeds, Spike could see the giant maw of the beast dominating the front of its body as the rest were propelled by 11 thick and corded tentacles behind it. All around it, tendrils of sickly green blood flowed from the surface of the ocean back into the body of the beast. But no sooner had Spike spotted the leviathan, than he was yanked back out of the water and swarmed again by the biting eyes.
“Gyah!” Emerald fire erupted from the ocean as Spike unleashed his dragon fire. Around him, the shrieking wails of the eye creatures filled the air as his flames engulfed and consumed the magical blood puppets.
“Help! Someone help!” Even as the storm born monster burned, a thick choking black smoke whipped about in the fierce winds of the storm around him. Paddling as far away as he could from the burning mass, Spike’s whole body crackled with jolts of pain as the itching on his scales grew in strength. With his mind able to focus his own body again he could feel the thousand searing bites of phantom insects ripping away at him as he continued to desperately keep his head above the crashing waves.
“HELP! Please! Someone help!”
*BZCCCKKTTT!*
Around him, bolts of purple lighting struck the water, blasting giant plumes of steam and ozone into the air.
*BZCCCKKTTT!* *BZCCCKKTTT!* *BZCCCKKTTT!* *BZCCCKKTTT!* *BZCCCKKTTT!* *BZCCCKKTTT!*
“YEEAAAGH! SOMEONE HELP ME!”
Flash after flash of lightning exploded around him, the bursts of light scorching his eyes as the entire area was lit up brighter than the noon sky.
“PLEASE! SOMEONE BE OUT THERE!” he cried with tears streaming down his face as he frantically struggled to stay afloat.
Waves continued to crash down upon him, trying to drag him under even as he paddled with all four limbs and waded with his tail to stay high enough to keep breathing, his scales tortured by the bombardment of hail and maddening itch.
*BZCCCCKKT!!!*
He didn’t even have the time to realize what was happening. One moment the world was a chaotic storm of fury and waves, and then with a flash there was nothing.
No sound.
No light.
No heat.
No fear.
No emotions.
Sluggishly, he fought to open his eyes.
Only inky darkness greeted him.
Who was he? Where was he?
Still more nothingness.
Abstractly, he knew he was drowning. Sinking beneath the waves, he recalled the burst of lightning and power that had blasted him and sent him plummeting down into the depths of the ocean.
Some small part of him told him that he should care about drowning. But everything was quiet for once. Even though he couldn’t breathe, his whole body was numb. Numb to the point that nothing felt real. Everything felt so distant, like everything was happening to another person and he was only listening to it in a distant memory of a story.
He wished this would last forever.
…
His eyes began to close.
…
Down he continued to sink.
…
It was beginning to get lighter but he just couldn’t care anymore. Still, his eye lids stopped dropping and through thin slits he could see a ribbon of white light coming up to meet him.
Or was he sinking down to it?
Nothing mattered anymore.
Down he continued to sink, the light becoming brighter as he drew close.
The ribbon of light was streaming out of a room; a room only a story wide, but which seemed to stretch across the length of the ocean. His blurry and darkening vision could still make out a clear glass ceiling to a white corridor, bright white light spilling out from it within the darkness.
Sinking down to the glass, Spike’s descent did not stop as the glass pushed in and molded around him like film of soap. Sinking deeper, the film stretched and elongated until with a soft *pop* he passed through it and fell directly left. Dropping onto a wall littered with broken plates, the world reoriented itself 90 degrees as ceilings became walls and the wall he was on became the floor. Lying flat on his belly, the weight of his body pushed some water from his lungs as it pooled around his open mouth. Some long-forgotten instinct to *breath* weakly struggled to take in some air only for him to feebly vomit more water. Still something in him tried to draw more air into the portion of his lungs not filled with water.
“hhuuurrrk-gktck-cough-Cough *HURKT!*
The tiny trickle of air seemed to tickle something, turning into a cough which then seemed to wake up the rest of his body. With great heaving coughs, Spike hurled up mouthfuls of water, disgorging his insides as his mind re-awoke to sensations. Heaving away, his lungs felt like they were burning as he greedily gulped lungfuls of air while also spitting up more water onto the floor.
Twenty minutes later Spike was panting, propped up by his claws, still leaning over a pool of his own warm retch before finally rolling over onto his back, the crackle of broken porcelain beneath him shifting under his own weight. Opening bleary eyes, Spike slowly sat upright, pushing up from the shattered plates beneath him. Taking in his surroundings, he noticed first the white light. Above him shone the un-naturally bright white light, filling the long hallway with an almost oppressive, blinding sheen. The air itself held a sterile odor to it, like ammonia and soap, matching the pristine antiseptic white that surrounded him. To his right was a smooth featureless wall while to his left lay a wall of clear glass, though not a single reflection nor glare from the lights above marred its surface.
Most curious though, were the broken plates. Gingerly picking up a broken fragment, Spike puzzled silently at the mess around him. Looking up, he tried to make out the end of the hallway, only to the see the corridor continue to stretch on into the horizon. The far end of the passageway becoming blurred and lost in the brilliant white light. Peering behind him, he saw that the other end of the corridor also seemed to lose itself to infinity. As he hesitantly stood up, the shifting and crunching of the ceramic beneath him seemed to become amplified by the echoing walls of the hallway. The grinding sound of the dinnerware beneath him shattering the otherwise tomb-like silence that he found himself in.
“Uh.. hello?” Spike meekly called out, as he slowly spun about, his feet noisily shifting the rubble beneath him. “Um, anyone out there?”
Cold damp silence greeted him.
More scrapping sounds arose as the young dragon slowly began to stumble down the hall.
“…Hello?”
He remembered now; the storm, the leviathan, and then the lightning. Idly scratching at his itching scales, Spike slowly tried to find some reasoning behind his current location.
“I’m lost here… Could someone please help me?”
Even the tiniest whisper boomed loudly through the corridor as the walls echoed each word countless times, bombarding Spike from all sides with his own voice. Still he pressed on.
“Please?”
The smooth walls and glass on either side of him yielded no solutions nor hints. On and on they went, extending on with no seam or crack to break up the dull monotony.
*thunk*
Swiveling his head to the new sound, Spike looked up towards the ceiling. The blinding light hid the true shape of the roof above his head, but he could still hear perfectly fine. And from above him he identified a slow rhythmic tapping. Squinting to see against the light above him, Spike’s eyes involuntarily widened as a long, wicked claw emerged from behind the brilliant white light.
Reaching out, a long spindly limb capped with a bowie-knife sized ragged claw curled back and planted itself into something just behind the light. Another spindly and clawed limb emerged just to plant itself back onto the ceiling, and after that, another and another appeared. Soon, ten such limbs emerged and affixed themselves into the hidden ceiling. From the center of the circle of bent limbs, IT arose.
*RRURRRKKKKTTT*
A long slender neck with no head, covered in yellow bloated skin, came into view. Soon it was followed by a swollen fat sack dangling down from its back as it hung upside down, suspended by the ten long, spindly, arms tipped by those ragged spike-like claws. The stench of ammonia and soap was practically assaulting him now as the creature came into view.
Yelping in freight, Spike scrambled back as the creature crawled along the ceiling towards him. Stopping a few meters away, the fleshy fat sack bulged grotesquely, a clattering sound emerging from it before its tip seemed to pop, spewing a high-pressure stream of porcelain plates to shatter against the floor.
Face twisted in confusion, Spike watched as the creature's neck swung up to ‘face’ him before splitting down its entire length, serrated teeth lining its jagged maw.
“YAAAAAAH!” All thoughts of cold and itch were blown from Spike’s mind as he bolted down the hallway, a harsh shriek and scrambling of claws following close behind him.
Clambering along the ceiling, the creature's long spindly legs quickly made up the distance as it closed in on the tiny dragon and shot out a claw, only for its prey to leap at the last moment.
“UGH! Somebody help! Somebody HELP!!” Spike pleaded as he scrambled on top of the mess of broken porcelain, the sharp pitched squeal of broken china scrapping upon broken china was his only response. Spinning around to keep an eye on the creature, Spike backpedaled madly to try to escape.
*Thuuuurrrrk* rumbled the creature as six of its claws let go of the ceiling and descended, angling themselves towards the dragon.
Confusion and stress tied his gut into knots as Spike faced the barbed appendages. Tears streaming down his face, Spike let loose a blast of flame at the creature rather than wait and test his reflexes against its own. Emerald fire fought to take hold of the damp flesh, but short bristly hairs curled and released yellowish smoke as the rest of its body burned briefly as patches of black charred skin crackled and bled.
*Fwoosh**Fwoosh*Fwoosh*
His breath shallow and panicked, Spike still let loose a quick barrage of fire at the screaming creature.
Waving its claws in front of it, it swatted and slashed but did not come close to hitting Spike as the flames seemed to have ‘blinded’ the eyeless creature. *Hgggggggrrrrrrrrk!* it cried as it backed away, still waving its claws. But its retreat was awkward and stumbling, with so many of its legs waving in a futile attempt to ward off the magical dragon flame. In its haste, a leg must have missed a grasp of hidden ceiling, for it swung awkwardly down, the mass of the creature suddenly jerking away as another claw missed its mark and, in a tumble of gangly limbs, the creature crashed down from the ceiling and onto the floor, writhing on the shifting pile of broken refuse.
Slamming its neck-head into the ground, the creature tried to push itself up as its legs frantically stabbed at the floor beneath it. But the layer of broken plates proved to be a poor platform for the spiked legs as shards of china slipped against each other, the pointed tips of its claws failing time and time again to find any purchase on the ever-shifting floor beneath it.
*Thuuuuuuurrrk**Thuuuuuurrk**Thruuuuuurrrrk**Thrrrrrrrrruk**Thuuuuuuurrrk**Thuuuuuurrk**Thruuuuuurrrrk**Thrrrrrrrrruk**Thuuuuuuurrrk**Thuuuuuurrk**Thruuuuuurrrrk**Thrrrrrrrrruk**Thuuuuuuurrrk**Thuuuuuurrk**Thruuuuuurrrrk**Thrrrrrrrrruk*
From behind the ceiling lights, spiked claws emerged, a forest of bladed spikes descending from above as more creatures burst forth.
*Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt**Shkkrt*
Dozens of legs shot out, skewering their floundering brethren on the floor as large chunks of meat were torn from the corpse. Raising their impaled prizes back up, long spindly legs bumped against the lights and walls of the hallway as they clumsily tried to maneuver the spikes of their legs to their own mouths, tongues sticking out as far as they could as they grasped at the raw morsels. After a moment of twisting and gasping, the creatures turned towards each other, and with surprising gentleness that belied their unflinching murder of one of their own, began to feed each other. Gently placing the still bleeding flesh of their brother within each other’s mouths.
His stomach turning, Spike slowly backed away from the sound of happy coos and heavy panting that perhaps passed for laughter. Sadly, his steps could not be silent as each step created a crinkle from the porcelain. Two steps in, and all the long neck/faces of the assembled creatures turned towards him, all pleasantry gone from their body language.
Breath hitching in his throat, Spike began to turn when he saw more claws emerge from the ceiling behind him, late comers to the meal and still hungry.
Hungry creatures to the left of him, bloody creatures to the right, Spike backed up against the glass pane separating him from the dark depths outside only for his back to meet with no resistance; the ‘glass’ distorting and pushing out like a soap bubble. Looking out into the darkness, Spike glanced back towards his hunters. Edging forward, the creatures around him seemed to sense his thoughts and together, Spike and the creatures tensed as one.
Shooting a blast of flame, Spike's feet slipped on the loose tiles beneath him, but the burst of fire pushed him back enough to slip right through the transparent boundary. Flinching back, the creatures then leapt after the dragon, slamming into the ‘glass’ with a thunderous clamor. Clawing and screeching they stabbed at the surface, but they may as well been pounding against a thick steel wall as their spikes broke against the barrier. Their cries began fade out though as those that had fallen to the floor were summarily executed, many by the very beings that had been lovingly feeding them moments before.
Turning away from the sight, Spike was assaulted by the sudden cold and pressure of the deep, the itching from before returning even stronger this time. Flailing his arms, the little dragon tumbled in the water, trying to make his way back to the surface. Spinning back around to get his bearings, Spike nearly yelped in surprise as the white corridor he had been in now seemed miles above him, just a thin sting of white stretching out across the darkness. Holding onto his breath, Spike began paddling desperately back towards it. Squeezing his eyes shut, he prayed to the dragon ancestors for a miracle. Opening his eyes, Spike only saw darkness above him as even the ribbon of light was now gone.
Internally screaming in panic, Spike spun around and caught sight of the ribbon of white once again, now though it was even further away and behind him. With confusion and water pressure setting in, Spike yelped, a plume of bubbles spewing from his mouth as the entire ocean erupted in light as a massive eye opened behind the white corridor. Seemingly taking up an entire side of the ocean, the glowing white iris and dark pupil stretched for miles in every direction, disappearing into the darkness of the horizon. Peering closely at the insignificant being before it, the eyes lost interest in him and began to move, massive tentacles propelling it as the continental squid left to search for more substantial prey.
His lungs beginning to burn, Spike ripped his gaze from the mythical creature and tried to orient himself, when his sight fell upon the bubbles he had unwittingly let loose upon the sight of the monstrous squid. Hanging in the water illuminated by the receding glow of the squid’s eye, the air bubbles he had exhaled drifted lazily in every direction; no up, no down, they floated by aimlessly. Swirling his hands in the water desperately, as if he could dislodge the bubbles from their watery prison and follow them back to the surface, Spike’s tears of frustration flowed directly into the ocean around him. The burning pain in his lungs only grew as he frantically chose a direction at random and began swimming with the all the madness a drowning dragon could produce.
Swinging his limbs, an eruption of electric pain seared through his arm, cutting through his frantic struggle, and slammed directly into his brain. The light from the squid was nearly gone now but he could still see oozing to his left and reaching towards him in an amorphous blob, thick legs of red tar reaching up and around him. Even the glancing touch he had made melted the top most layer of his scales. Screaming in desperation and fear, Spike swam away; he didn’t have any direction in mind, he had nothing left. He just had to get away, get away from the acid, away from the monsters, away from all the madness. Paddling his arms and kicking his legs as hard as he could, Spike swam and screamed, his air spent, his muscles were burning from deprivation, and his mind was stripped of any rational thought left but one.
Escape.
Lightning exploded and thundered around him as his head broke the water. Throwing his head back, Spike screamed up into the sky as rain continued to pour down, threatening to drown him at the surface. He didn’t know nor care anymore about that. His lungs heaved as he greedily gulped in oxygen, only to continue screaming as soon as he could. Fixing his eyes on a random direction Spike began to splash and paddle as hard as he could. “Got to get out, got to get out, GOT TO GET OUT!!!”
Waves crashed around him as he swam, walls of water trying to push him back down into the directionless abyss beneath the surface, but Spike forced himself to keep his head above water. Whether it was out of conscious thought, or out of some primal instinct, he could no longer distinguish between the two. Crying as he continued to swim, he suddenly felt himself pulled back, as if the entire world was mocking his progress by negating it in an instant. Yet, just as suddenly, the entire world began to swell and rise. Beneath him the entire ocean began to bulge and heave. Pushed up a kilometer into the air, only to feel the stomach-turning drop as the water fell once again, Spike threw up violently but still kept on swimming.
Dropping down once again, the sky was blocked out momentarily as a wall of water rose to the side of him this time. The virtual mountain of water pointed high into the sky before dropping back down, the dark liquid taking on a grey and slate-like appearance as the water solidified and turned into solid granite. With a crack that drowned out even the thunder above him, the massive mountain of solid rock broke and shattered into a million pieces as they tumbled back down in an oceanic landslide. Seeing untold tons of solid rock cascading and falling his way, Spike could only swim harder as he screamed and flailed his way across the water. The rock surged into the waters around him, blasting the tiny dragon through the air and impacting with a wet smack against a colossal grey column.
Dropping back down into the water, Spike looked up to see what he had hit, only to behold tens of equally colossal elephant legs smashing down from the clouds themselves into the ocean. All around him massive pillars of muscle and thick leathery hide stomped down with an angry vengeance onto the surface of the water. But the water did not take this assault from its sky-dwelling brethren lightly, as long black tendrils grew from the ocean surface and plunged into the pachyderm legs, rushing into them and making them swell and distort until the one he was next to exploded into a shower of lampreys. Flesh-eating sea life rained down around him, one hitting the water in front of the dragon, and lunged straight at him, its circular mouth filled with curved and cracked teeth.
Had he been in his right mind, Spike might have felt fear, but his mind was not right. Overloaded as it was, Spike responded with a deep bellowing roar; something ancient, something old, something that no longer cared about the whims of the universe and instead bent the world around it to its own will.
Tackling the lamprey out of the air, the dragon tore at its head and sunk his claws deep into its thick rubbery flesh. Screeching in anger, the lamprey swiveled around to sink its teeth into the head of the tiny dragon attacking it, only to have a gout of flame shoot straight down its maw. Rearing back, Spike bit down hard with jaws strong enough to crush diamonds, and tore out the belly of the lamprey and threw the torn chunk of flesh into the darkness around them.
Exhausted, Spike collapsed against the body of the lamprey as he cried and caught his breath. Whatever strength he had seeped out of him as his mind slowly came back, too spent to even lose itself to madness anymore. Clutching close the corpse of his foe against the crashing waves and thunderous storm raging around him, a thought came trickling back into his mind through his fatigue and ever-present itching. A tiny but insistent observation that refused to give up until he acknowledged it.
The dead body of the lamprey was floating.
Eyes jolting open, Spike looked again to the dead creature he was holding onto and saw it bob tumble on the surface of the water, but never sink. With a grunt of renewed determination, Spike hauled himself onto the cadaver and began to paddle his morbid canoe across the waters.
Time lost all meaning as he paddled. His throat was dry and hoarse from his screaming, but his gaze never wavered from the distant horizon. The rain turned to badgers that tried to tear him apart before sinking into the waves, and still he paddled. Lightning struck all around him, but still he paddled. The world went mad, but none of it mattered as he continued to paddle. The rain and lightning stopped, an eerie silence fell across the ocean, and still he paddled. Before him, crystal spires jutted out of the water at odd angles, cheerful apparitions just beneath the glassy surfaces dancing and spinning as their rotting forms decayed, and still, he paddled.
The world flicked and then exploded in lightning and thunder, the broken remains of his life boat shattered and sinking behind him once again as he returned to the beginning of his journey through the tempest. Beneath him, Spike could still feel the corpse of the lamprey so he gripped it tighter with his legs and tail and paddled harder.
The world flicked again and colossal elephant legs crashed down into the ocean around him, but still he paddled.
He was underwater again, acid bubbling up around him, he held his breath and paddled.
The scraping of porcelain and broken plates rattled around him as he paddled the dead body of the lamprey down a white endless corridor, above him spindly limbs clattered as headless necks rose out of the ceiling to follow his movements. As slow as it was, he continued to paddle.
The only thing he thought about, the only thing left in his existence, was to keep going.
I NEED TO GET OUT!
“I don’t really remember much of what happened after that”, Spike mumbled into Twilight’s side as he clung to her. “Our maid Cadance said she found me unconscious but still clinging to that rotting sea monster just outside of the magic barrier surrounding Unitopia. She and Twilight’s brother Shining Armor brought me home to Twi’s family and the rest is history.”
Still clutching onto Twilight, Spike turned his face to look at Applejack, his eyes haunted and empty. “All I can really say about traveling through Tempests is: TEMPESTS WILL KILL YOU.” Giving Twilight one last squeeze, Spike leaned against her as he tiredly looked down to his claws. “I-I’m trying though. I’m really trying to not let them beat me. I’m sorry everyone for freaking out again...” His eyes watering in shame Spike closed them tight as Twilight hugged him tighter, murmuring quiet encouragements to her loyal assistant.
“You were very brave Spike, I’m so proud of you,” she whispered.
Grabbing ahold of and gripping the two smaller being before her, Applejack’s wide and fear-filled eyes scanned the now flimsy looking room around her as her large body shivered in muted terror. “THAT’S what we’re about to fly though?! The way everypony just kept calling them tempests I though that’s all they were! Just really really really bad storms!” she cried out in shock. “What sick pony first looked at a tempest and said, ‘Yeah, let’s FLY through one of those in a wooden boat.’? Why isn’t this thing made of steel?”
Rearing back, a brief look of offense crossing her features, Carrot Top took a moment to pat Spike gently on his head before turning back to her companion. “I’m sure that those ancient ponies only wanted to reunite with their lost families and were willing to risk everything, braving the very madness of the tempests to find old friends. I, for one, am glad that, despite the dangers, travel is now possible between the tribes.”
Shaking her head, Applejack squeezed tighter onto smaller companions as she curled into herself, ever weary of any leaks or punctures in the hull. “I get what you’re saying, but those tempests just don’t sound natural at all. And don’t get me started about magical phenomenon and all the nitpicky mumbo jumbo,” she injected as she cut off Carrot Top’s next few words. “What I mean is, that even the Everfree Forest has its own set of rules that it follows. These tempests sound like a completely different thing all together!”
“Well, yes… you’re actually more correct than you realized about that. The tempests really are a different beast all together. And it’s because that they are so dangerous that you need to keep a calm head and not let your fears get the better of you,” Carrot Top acknowledged with a nod of her head.
“I’m not afraid! I’m just being justifiably cautious right now,” Applejack snipped as tried to put up a brave front before her fellow earth ponies. It had always been a point of pride that others could always depend on her in their times of need.
Carrot Top’s only reply to AJ’s bravado was a raised eyebrow as she waved towards the other two companions currently nestled in Applejack’s embrace.
Confused, Applejack looked down to see the final two members of their group being slowly crushed in her forelegs as they both began to turn an even darker shade of purple. “Gah! I’m so sorry about that you two!” Releasing the librarian and her assistant, Applejack sheepishly rubbed the back of her head as she looked away in embarrassment. “I’m uh, really sorry about that. I guess your story really did shake me up more than I cared to admit, Spike.”
Gasping for breath, the two quickly began to recover as a bent over Spike waved Applejack off. “No huh- no problem,” Spike wheezed. “As long as you get now why tempests need to be feared.”
Catching her breath, Twilight nodded along with Spike before leaning up against him for support. “You’re forgiven *huff* Applejack, and don’t worry about the ship. Wood is a natural conduit for magic, no pun intended. The thaumatic tension between the different enchantments and the oak’s natural psych pathways anchoring it all makes the entire structure 43.7% stronger than any steel known to pony.” Raising a hoof, Twilight indicated the ship around them, “Since ancient times, vessels like this one have traveled through the tempetss and survived. The enchantments upon them were produced by some of the most famous and brilliant spell engineers in history. Heck, Spike and I traveled on a ship just like this one to get to Ponyville and it was so safe that Spike and I even fell asleep in our cabin!” she happily concluded, though failing to mention that her cabin had been specially sound proofed and isolated from the outside world. Or that Spike only slept after taking three sleeping droughts and fitfully telling his first encounter with a tempest to a fascinated then horrified Twilight.
Breathing out deeply, Applejack did seem to calm down and gave a little smile to her companions. “Thanks for the pep talk everypony… and you too Spike!” She quickly added as she saw the small dragon begin to frown. “Heh, I guess I just need to trust in the captain and his crew of experienced work-hooves to get us through the night.”
The air seemed lighter as the group smiled and herded closer together, beginning to pull out sleeping bags and other small comfor-.
*Thunk*
Looking at the pile of bulky cloth and metal armor that had been dropped into the middle of the room, the ponies and one dragon looked up to see one of the crew looking back with a flat expression. “I take it that NONE of you actually read the small print on your waivers then?”
Seeing the blank look, he groaned softly into his hoof. “Missy,” he called out, looking directly at Twilight, “from the sounds of it you traveled first class before, private cabin and everything.”
“Y-yes,” Twilight stammered.
“Well dearie, this is LAST class. By signing the waivers you and your group agreed to help out the crew. That means you all will be suiting up and joining the rest of us in dealing with the tempest.”
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Excellent job on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all wonderfully done in all the right places. I absolutely loved Twilight and Spike's reflection on their adventure the previous day as well as the preparations for the trip to Cloudsdale (such as the cloud-walking potions and the going over their combined funds for the airship). And, yeah, Spike's PTSD concerning the storms is a good backstory detail, particularly the fact that a previous experience with the storms, through Pegasus Maid Cadance, led to his first meeting with Twilight and her family (and the gang's attempts to keep Spike calm as they are boarding the airship was another beautiful detail). And, yeah, the fact the gang was only able to afford LAST class DEFINITELY means the next chapter is going to be downright nerve-wracking. Plus, the author's notes make some REALLY good points.
At any rate, I will most assuredly be looking forward to more of this, but will also understand if it takes a while. After all, read world concerns plus fickle inspiration and all.
Well, that was some Lovecraftian levels of horror right there.