Into the Deep

by TwilightSparkle484

Chapter 9: The Epilogue

I hardly believed my eyes when they met sunlight for the first time in over twenty-four hours. It was even harder to believe when I had to close them to keep from going blind, making it harder to see said sunlight, meaning it couldn’t actually be real. Right?

But no. The cheers of the ponies beside me all but confirmed that we were finally outside.

I kissed the grass as soon as I could see comfortably.

“You know what, Applejack?” I asked, sprawling out to soak up as much sun-induced warmth as possible.

She chuckled. “What, sugarcube?

“I’m not a huge fan of adventures, especially ones underground.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Spike.”

She laid down beside me. “I can’t thank you enough for everything, Spike.”

“Hey, you looked out for me; I just returned the favor,” I responded. I gave her a light punch on the shoulder. “And I know that if the roles were reversed, you would have done the same for me.”

“But no one can do things the way you do, Spike.” She beamed. “You’re special, kid.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Thanks. You are too.”

“Wonder what caused all that mess with the runes. Like, it certainly wouldn’t be goin’ on attackin’ ponies at random, would it?”

“I’d hope not. Maybe it has to do with fate.”

“You’re really on this whole destiny train, aren’t ya?”

I smiled cheekily. “There’s no harm in believing, right?”

She rolled her eyes but matched my smile. “Come on,” she extended a hoof. “Let’s get ya home.”

“There!”

We froze and turned to the voice. A Royal Guard clad fully in armor had his hoof and sword pointed at us. He spoke into a radio attached to his helmet.

“Spike the Dragon and Applejack have been located.”

In a flash, a certain purple alicorn appeared in front of us. She somehow managed to look even worse off than Applejack. Disheveled mane, pinprick eyes, lunatic expression … I think you know the picture by now.

“OHMYGOSH! Spike! Where in Equestria have you been?”

“Uh, in a cave? Like we talked about before I left?”

“Yessss, but you said no more than two days, and it’s been two days.” She held up her hooves for emphasis. “Yesterday, today. One, two.”

“Two full days, Twi. It can’t be that long since sunrise, right?"

"It's almost noon!!”

“Okay, okay. But that doesn’t change the fact that it hasn’t been two full days.”

“…Okay, also true. But you said no more than two days. I just assumed the cave wasn’t that big and that you two would be back by evening and then you weren’t back, so I was worried all night, until I finally had the wits about me to do the logical thing, which was calling the Royal Guard for a search and rescue—”

“A search and what now?!” Applejack asked, alarmed.

“But then they couldn’t find you two inside the cave this morning, so that made me even more worried. And, and, and nopony in town knew anything about you returning, so I assumed you were lost and was about to go in there myself, and–”

“And I’m glad you didn’t,” I laughed. “But seriously. Do not go in there. It’s living Tartarus.”

She frowned. “See, exactly why I was so concerned.”

“Well, we came out all right. Right, Applejack?”

Applejack blinked and raised an eyebrow.

“Right, Applejack?” I said with more emphasis.

She rubbed her snout. “I suppose so.”

“I guess … I guess you’re right.” Twilight calmed down somewhat. “You’re not doing anything like this without me again though. You hear?”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good,” she smiled, relieved.

“If there’s one thing I’m wondering right now it’s where that Rainbow Dash is,” Applejack said, frowning.

Twilight furrowed her brow. “Huh, that’s funny. She was with me not too long ago.” She scanned the area. “Ah.”

I scratched my head. “Where?”

She pointed a hoof upward. “Rainbow, get down from there! I’m sure somepony wants to have a word with you.”

Rainbow Dash floated down to the ground sheepishly, Scootaloo on her back. “Hehe, yes. AJ. How you doing?”

“Could be finer if ya didn’t send me on a haunted house tour.”

“Well, I mean, you agreed to it, so…”

“But I’m sure you knew it was so dangerous, right?”

“Bats,” I interjected. “Mini avalanches, spiders, not to mention it’s really dark. … and cold … and wet.”

“Especially wet,” Applejack mumbled.

“And the map,” I threw the piece of paper to the ground, “is absolute rubbish. I swear they made it to get ponies lost.”

“Ya wanna know how many times we got lost?”

Rainbow laughed, albeit somewhat nervously. “Well, I’m sorry it wasn’t as fun as you hoped for. Guess daring things aren’t for everyone. Right, Scoots?”

“Mmhm.” She gazed into the cave with a crazed look in her eyes.

“You oughta show us how it’s done then.” Applejack smirked.

“Well, uh, we will, as soon as … as soon as…”

“Did I mention that there’s an evil spirit that shoots ice lasers at you? And weird writings on the wall that can trap you underground? Oh, and the water will give you hypothermia.”

“Evil spirit?!!” Twilight almost shrieked.

“I’ll explain later,” I mouthed.

“Oh,” Rainbow’s face blanched. “Well, it’s not like we haven’t faced crazy monsters before, right? And I’m sure I can avoid walls and water. I can fly.”

“Oh ho, but this guy’s different,” Applejack retaliated. “And trust me, Dash, there’s walls and water everywhere. One way or another you’re doomed at some point.”

She swallowed as discreetly as possible, looking up at the clouds, looking for a way out.

“When should I start your two-day timer, ladies?” I dug through my bag for a stopwatch.

“Uh, actually. I don’t think Scootaloo wants to go.”

“I never—” Scootaloo’s words were plugged by a cyan hoof.

“See? Speechless. Maybe not such a great idea to bring a filly after all.”

“Guess this trip’s only fit for a grown mare like you.” Applejack barreled into RD’s side, rolled her onto her back, and torpedoed toward the cave mouth.

“Wait, what?!!!”

AJ plopped her down on the soil by the entrance. “Whatcha waiting for?” She nudged her. “Go on, now.”

Starlight and Trixie suddenly joined me, AJ, Twi, and Scootaloo at the edge of the grass. Twilight gave them a nod of greeting.

“We’re all excited to see you set off,” Applejack continued. “We’ll meet ya on the other side, ‘kay?”

“But! But! There’s—”

Applejack’s face hardened. “No backing out now, Dash. A deal’s a deal.”

Rainbow hung her head in defeat, and, via magic, Twilight strapped her saddlebag full of supplies onto her back. “Okay, okay. I’m going.” She took a few meek steps and then stopped. She twisted her neck around to glare back at us. “And I will be out faster than you.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Sure ya will.”

Rainbow stood still.

“Go on, now.”

Celestia could’ve raised and lowered the sun twenty times in the time it took Rainbow to disappear into the cave.

Twilight yawned. “We’ll go in to get her if we need to, right?”

“Certainly,” Applejack said. “Although, I have feeling she’ll be coming right back out before we know it.”

“Hey, you’ve never really had a test of character until you’re plunged into the deep,” I added.

We all laughed at that, and in that moment, I realized I’ve never been more glad to have the friends I do.
.

.

.

“Wait, we should probably tell somepony about the whole map situation … and probably about Souse too,” Applejack interjected.

“Um, probably more than a probably,” I said.

“And, I don’t know, maybe sue if they knew about all this and still let this here cave business operate.”

“Mmm, yeah. Sounds reasonable.”

“Souse?” Twilight asked, eyebrow raised.

I turned around and waved everyone in the direction of Ponyville. “Evil spirit I mentioned earlier. We’ve got a long story to tell.”

The group burst into hearty laughter once again, the sun shining over our heads as we journeyed home at last.

Author's Note:

Aaand that's a wrap. I want to thank you all for being so patient. I truly did intend to finish this a long time ago, over year ago, actually. But I never really found the will to complete until recently. I'll do better with regular updates if I write another story. :)

And thank you for venturing alongside Applejack and Spike in this tale. I hope you learned something about yourself and/or the power of self-belief. Spike is one of my favorite characters to write and I think his character development happened quite nicely throughout the course of the story. A lot can change inside you in a little over a day (especially when that day equates to roughly two years).

Once again, thank you all. Best of wishes to everyone.

Comments

[Scyphi]

“Hey, you’ve never really had a test of character until you’re plunged into the deep,” I added.

Roll the credits! Again!

[SpikeSmolder fan]

So glad to finally see this story's ending (especially with the way it left us hanging on chapter 7), even more glad that a certain cyan pegasus got what was coming to her after AJ/Spike went though!

Thanks for sharing!

[TwilightSparkle484]

11262812
Ofc! Sorry it took so long.