Chapter 15: Appleoosa II (Final)
Appleoosa Finale
Spike was enjoying himself and helping set up the reunion. Apple Leaves did her very best to keep him entertained and was doing a good job of it. Spike then noticed that the buffalo had stopped by the farm too. Spike wondered how Little Strongheart was after all this time. Luckily he was in a pretty good disguise.
He looked around the farm wondering if she was even here. Sure enough, he found her in line for some apple baked foods. Spike noticed a bit of a difference as she seemed a bit larger, but more importantly she is wearing the Chief Thunderhooves’ headdress. It made him feel a little uneasy. Did this mean he finally passed away?
Spike wanted to avoid asking that question. He got close to her and said, “Hi there!”
Spike got Strongheart’s attention, but something happened that was unexpected. Strongheart recognized him almost immediately. Strongheart welcomely said, “Oh hi Spike!” Spike felt a deep shocking and queasy feeling. He couldn’t even respond. “You alright Spike?”
Spike then jumped and covered her mouth. This suspicious act got the attention of all the buffalo and ponies in the area. He quickly whispered into her ear, “Stop saying my name so loudly.”
She whispered back, “Why? Is something wrong?”
“Well yeah!” he responded a little loudly. He then whispered again, “I’ll tell you later everything. Just keep my identity hidden.”
Strongheart just thought it was some kind of surprise or something childish. “Alright then. Let’s go to the picnic area and talk there.” she said with a smile.
Spike nodded and immediately went to Apple Leaves to tell her the change in the situation. “Apple… Someone recognized me…” Apple wasn’t pleased with the news. Spike continued his fear, “She found out so easily through my disguise!”
“Spike.” Apple Leaves did her best to calm her friend down before he does something crazy. “Just calm down and tell me everything that happened.” After Spike told her about his interaction with Strongheart, she said, “Spike. She doesn’t seem like she would be the one to turn you in. She is even keeping your secret. We just need to talk to her in the picnic area and clarify everything.”
Spike wasn’t exactly cool with it. He was scared at how easily she broke through his disguise. Was he really so easily recognizable? Apple Leaves did whatever she could to keep him calm, until they reached the picnic area and saw Strongheart eating by herself underneath an apple tree.
Spike finally calmed down enough to hold a proper sentence and headed with Apple to the spot. What they didn’t notice was that Strongheart had a guest of her own joining in. Spike sat down near Strongheart who was chuckling. He then noticed who was right next to her.
“Howdy there Leafy! Nice to see you and your friend enjoying yourselves.” Braeburn said loudly.
Spike began hyperventilating as Apple Leaves immediately took over the conversation for him. “Yeah! We are having a great time!” Spike nodded nervously unable to say anything.
Braeburn noticed how shaky he was and asked, “Is your friend alright? Is he sick or something?”
Apple noticed he was shaking too and made up a quick excuse, “OH! Um he just saw Grand Uncle’s nails and it scared him. He still hasn’t recovered yet.”
Braeburn had a shiver run down his spine as well. “Not many can recover from seeing that.” He then faced Spike, “I hope you recover soon.”
Spike started to calm down as he noticed Braeburn couldn’t see through his disguise. If he keeps acting suspicious, he might blow it. He finally spoke, “Oh don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
Braeburn rose his eyebrow. Before he said anything, Apple Leaves then grabbed Braeburn’s hooves. “Lets go and get more food. We are almost out here and you are the host!” Braeburn just noticed the food was getting low and followed Apple, but the feeling he had before came back when he heard Spike’s voice.
Spike, once Braeburn was clear from the area, immediately told Strongheart, “Why was he here!?”
Strongheart confused replied, “What? Wasn’t he in on the surprise?”
Now Spike was confused. She clearly didn’t understand how serious it was. He tried to keep the volume low, but still wanted to shout, “I am not planning a surprise or anything! I’m running away and leaving Equestria. There are people who are trying to capture me, however, and I can’t let them find me. Braeburn nor any other pony or creature you know can know I am in Appleoosa.”
Shocked at the gravity of what happened, Strongheart said, “What happened that caused all of this!?”
Spike then began explaining in a very general way what happened in Ponyville and his adventure to Canterlot, Cloudsdale and now here. Strongheart could only feel sorry for the little dragon and was still surprised at how much has happened to this little guy. She finally understood the situation and decided to keep it all a secret.
Shortly after Apple Leaves returned with a few apple pies and a little out of breath. Spike asked, “Are you alright?”
She caught her wind a little and replied, “Yeah. Have you seen Braeburn? He left me in the dust when he suddenly tried to race here.”
Both of the shrugged in a negative fashion and they all wondered what happened. Braeburn eventually came later after they continued their secret talk. He too was out of breath, “Sorry guys. Something happened and I had to go immediately. I hope you saved something for me.”
Apple said, “I BEAT YOU!!! You owe me big!”
Braeburn acknowledged her win, “Alright. Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.”
Strongheart shared a fritter with him and they continued their casual chat. Spike felt a lot better that all the loose strings were tied up again and he can enjoy himself again. After it was getting late, and things were winding down. They were cracking jokes and something slipped out that wasn’t supposed to happen.
Braeburn was saying, “SO Masked stranger. Do you have a special mare in your life?”
The three were very curious to what he was going to say. “Well there was one mare I liked, but I doubt that is going to happen.”
“Oh come on!” Braeburn said, “You just need a little confidence and fortitude and you can bag anyone!”
“You can’t say that yourself you know Brae.” Strongheart said chuckling.
Braeburn put his hat down to hide his little blush. He then returned with, “Well Spike is a very talented guy. I remember when he-” That pause was all it took. The truth was out. Braeburn had let it slip out of his tongue.
When Braeburn looked at Spike, all he saw was a face of pure fear. Spike immediately ran away. Braeburned called out to him, “WAIT STOP!!”, but there was no way Spike was going to stop. He immediately pulled out his rope and lassoed Spike.
‘This is it!’ Spike thought to himself as he was pulled back to Braeburn. “Spike! I have no idea what’s going on, but don’t run!”
All Spike said was, “LET ME GO!” He then blew out his fire and burned the rope. Just as he was going to make a second attempt, Braeburn wrestled him to the ground. Apple and Strongheart were shocked at all that was going on.
Apple finally said, “Let Spike go already!”
“But Applejack wanted to see him!” Braeburn yelled as he finally pinned him down. “She will be here tomorrow along with her friends to pick him up.”
“But Spike doesn’t want to see them! He has a really good reason for not going back to them!” Apple pleaded.
Strongheart then added, “Braeburn. Listen to his story. This time Spike go into full detail about what happened.”
Braeburn eventually let up and began telling his story again. This time he held very few secrets behind. As he told his story, Braeburn began feeling more and more in pain as he felt Spike’s agony these past few days. He had a few choice words he wanted to deliver to his cousin when she arrived.
Braeburn said after it was all done, “I am so sorry about all that happened. I hope you can forgive what I did.”
Spike was humble about it, “Braeburn. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know. I should have trusted Apple Leaves to tell you about it instead of acting all suspicious about it, but now I have to go.” Spike then took off his disguise since it really didn’t matter anymore. “Time to get rid of this goofy thing.”
Braeburn then asked, “Why not stay the night before leaving?”
Apple added, “You do look tired. You wouldn’t get far in your condition and it’s the least we can do. Give you some southern hospitality.”
Spike wanted to go, but they were right. He wouldn’t do well in his condition. “Alright then, but as soon as the trains open I leave alright?”
The three had no objections to it. They then spent the rest of the evening finishing the final part of the reunion. They were proud how well it turned out. Just as everyone got ready to go and rest, suddenly lights came out of nowhere as a gust of wind came around them.
“We found the target.” some voices said. Spike looked past the light and noticed they were pegasi. He recognized one from Ponyville and thought they were there to take him away.
Spike then began running. As the flyers were in pursuit. Just then Braeburn gathered up so of the earth wranglers and tied down the pegasi. Apple Leaves then threw Spike’s belongings to him. “RUN SPIKE!” was all Braeburn could muster as the pegasus struggled to get loose. Spike ran away heading to town. He ran into a corner. Other pegasi cornered him and ordered he come with them. Just then a buffalo charged through and opened a path.
It was Strongheart telling Spike, “GO NOW!”
Spike then ran past as a lot of buffalo ran past him with nets between every pair of buffalo to capture the pegasi. One escaped all of their efforts. The only one from the Wonderbolts and leader of this search party. Of course someone from the Wonderbolts would be too skilled to be caught. Spike did his very best and finally reached the train station. Luckily for him, the wonderbolt was being distracted from all the mayhem. Spike then noticed there was only one train left. He didn’t look at where it was headed, but dived into the train. The doors closed as the wonderbolt flew into the door.
It looked like he was going to say something, but was caught by Braeburn. He and Apple Leaves along with Strongheart all on the platform waved goodbye. This wasn’t the way they wanted it to go, but whatever it took for him to be free. Spike then sat down and relaxed as the express train departed. The express trains ran on highly powerful magic as well as the a special locomotive that channels the energy as well as fuel. Whenever the pegasi eventually escaped, there would be very little chance for them to catch up to Spike in time. Unfortunately for Spike, he didn’t realize he was headed on a one way express train straight to Ponyville.
Spike then noticed another train going across. He thought he saw Rarity in the train across from his. They made direct eye contact for that one split second, but he just thought he was imagining things. Spike finally passed out after seeing the train to get rest so he can do whatever he needs to get back on track, wherever he was going.
Back in Appleoosa as the crazy mayhem ended, the leader of the group began talking to Braeburn, “We were told to search and bring Spike back by Spitfire. We were just following orders.”
“It’s alright. We just had wanted Spike to be safe. He didn’t want to be found.”
Apple then recognized the name Spitfire. She then asked, “Spitfire from Cloudsdale?”
The wonderbolt answered, “Yeah. She is one of the Elite Wonderbolts.”
“Why were you trying to capture him?” Apple asked in return.
“Well she was going to bring him to Ponyville to straighten out a matter. She didn’t go into detail, but we have been searching around Equestria for him. We even got his an artist sketch of him and specific locations of where he might’ve ended up.”
Apple then pulled Strongheart and Braeburn to the side and told them, “They weren’t here to harm Spike. They wanted to just fix everything between Spike and his other friends.”
Braeburn gave his opinion, “What if they are lying to get trick us?”
Strongheart added, “That shouldn’t matter. Spike didn’t want to go see his old friends anyways. It’s his choice whether he wants to forgive them or return. We should tell them to let him choose. He is old enough to make his own choices anyways.”
Braeburn then turned his attention to the pegasus. “We will let you all go. Just don’t pursue Spike anymore. If he wants to return home, he will do so on his own free will.”
The pegasi gave up and agreed. They were let go and flew away straight in the direction of Cloudsdale.
After they saw them leave, they saw a train come in. Suddenly they saw all six of Spike’s ex-friends jump out the cart of the train. Twilight yelled, “WHERE IS SPIKE!?” as she came out of the pile and ran to Braeburn.
Braeburn then said, “Well… You see…”
Apple Leaves and Strongheart just realized something. If they came from Ponyville, that means Spike was headed for… “Oh no.” They both said to each other.
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That is going to be interesting. Maybe Spike can hang with the CMC. They may be able to make him feel at home for a day or two.
Well shit. This could go one of three ways. Spike realizes where he's headed and make a beeline for Everfree with a possible chase scene, while there someone explains that Spike is in the clear and waits for his friends, or Spike gets captured by the ponies who wanted him executed.
Well spikes going to be pissed
To be fair though, twilight, who's been with him since quite literally day 1, almost immediately cut her bonds with him and blamed him without hesitation. What's to stop that from happening again?
Forgiveness isn't the issue anymore, trust is. Personally I hope spike meets them and forgives them... But decides to leave anyway.
But to each their own I suppose.
This is why Spike is so determined to get away. As soon as someone recognizes him, they do something like lasso him or try to pin him. That's gonna make him think if he ever was caught, then he'd be trapped forever.
5867484 Yeah, good point there. He might forgive them, but after being condemned by them despite how long they'd known him, there's no way he could ever trust them again. For all we know that incident might have ruined his ability to trust anyone, I mean, they were supposed to be the personifications of friendship, yet they still did that? If they turned their backs on him when he needed them most, who can he ever rely on ever again?
WhensWhens the next chapter!!!? Please!