Paper Spike and the Thousand Year Door

by Sakunyan

Chapter Sixteen: Excess Express

Chapter Sixteen: Excess Express

"Oh, I'm so, so, so glad you were able to do that for me, Spike! Really, I am!" Pinkie Pie was bouncing up and down as she held the small box of berries Spike had brought her. "And you brought Cranky Doodle Donkey! I haven't seen him in forever!" The donkey had decided to tag along after returning to Rogueport as the ship back to mainland Equestria had a two hour delay. He had decided to tag along while they visited Pinkie Pie.

"I'm sure glad I came too…" The pink pony smiled as she hugged the donkey tightly. Spike cleared his throat, nudging Pinkie's side.

"So, um, Pinkie, you can give us the Element now, right?"

"Element?" Pinkie Pie began laughing hysterically. "You aren't even done helping me, little dragon! We still have to take the cake to Poshley Heights!"

"Poshley Heights? What are you-" The pony pulled out tickets once again.

"And I'm coming with you this time!" The group sighed as she pulled up more luggage. Cranky began backing away slowly.

"Well! As fun as all of that sounds, I think I ought to be heading to the pier now. Good luck to you all, though, really!"

"Bye, Cranky Doodle! Say hi to Matilda to me!" She waved frantically as he turned and galloped away toward the pier. "Well! Let's get a move on if we want to catch that train!"

After the long and horrid boat ride, the group of travelers was quite relieved to be aboard the Excess Express. Although they all shared one room, the room was quite large and luxurious. The whole train seemed luxurious despite the fact that they were quartered in the cheapest section of the train.

"So, Pinkie, how long does it take to get to Poshley Heights, exactly?" The pink mare stared out the train window excitedly as they began to shove off.

"Oh, only a few days!" Spike gulped, nervous in asking his next question.

"A few days… round trip?"

"Nope! One way!" She continued smiling as Spike groaned, gritting his teeth in frustration. As much as he wanted to abandon Pinkie and leave with the Element, he knew he couldn't as breaking a Pinkie Promise is something no one should ever think to do. He was also Pinkie's friend and knew it was the right thing.

The group decided to split up and explore the train after settling into their room. Pinkie stayed in the room with the dessert to ensure another Friendship Express mystery didn't occur. The fillies decided to wander off together and explore the front of the train while Fluttershy went off to view the train's gift shop, feeling a bit guilty for leaving Angel behind for so long. Spike, being alone, headed off for the dining car to enjoy a nice meal.

Night came rather quickly for most of the passengers of the train, though for Spike the night seemed to never come. Despite the fact that he had kept himself rather occupied with the abundance of food the train's buffet provided, it was a bit of a difficulty trying to keep his mind of Rarity and the final Element. At nightfall, he returned to the sleeping car to find the rest of his crew already there.

"So how is everybody?" he asked politely. The fillies rolled their eyes together, playing with a ball they had apparently found.

"It's too boring. We went to the front of the train but everypony kept yelling at us and asking where our parents were." Sweetie Belle blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, looking dismayed. Scootaloo sighed as she dropped the ball.

"It's way to prissy here. Too dumb." She stared at the ceiling of the room. Fluttershy lifted her head from her crossed front legs.

"Oh, well, I found a delightful little toy for Angel, so I hope he'll forgive me for leaving him like this for so long. I do hope he's ok."

"I'm sure he's fine, Fluttershy. Twilight and Cheerilee are great caretakers!" He smiled reassuringly at her. "Well, how was your day, Pinkie? Pinkie?" The mare was still staring hard at the dessert, not blinking for even a second. "Pinkie?" Spike walked up to her and snapped his fingers, causing her to start suddenly. He jumped back.

"Wow! I was just asleep with my eyes open!" She snorted as she giggled. "I told Dashie I could do that! Now she'll have to believe me if you guys saw!" She yawned, mouth wide open. "I should really go to sleep, but what about the cake? I can't take my eyes off of it for a second!" Spike put a claw on her shoulder.

"Pinkie, you can't do this to yourself. The room will be locked and you can trust all of us! Right?" He eyed the fillies keenly, who nodded at Pinkie with large grins. Pinkie Pie sighed.

"Okey dokey lokey, I guess I'll go to sleep. But I'll wake myself up at 45 minute intervals to check on it, ok?" Spike scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, that's ok, I guess." The pony smiled.

"Great!" She quickly hopped onto the upper bunk next to Fluttershy. "Nighty-night!"

"Good night," Spike replied as he pulled the light switch and took his place at the end of the bed the fillies were occupying. He closed his eyes and attempted to sleep, listening to the sounds of the train.

Sleep was nearly impossible, so Spike decided to get up and take a walk through the train. He had only gone as far as the dining car, so assumed this was his chance to explore more, although many ponies were asleep so he would have to keep it quiet. He tiptoed through the hallways towards the back of the train. Before long, he came across a closed door which couldn't be opened.

"Well, I guess this is where I turn back." he muttered to himself. As he turned around, he jumped to find a pony standing in front of him. "Whoa! You scared me! I'm sorry if I woke you up, I was actually heading back to my room." The pony said nothing as they stared at Spike. The dragon gulped as he looked down, noticing that the pony's hooves faded into the air. "Wait, are y-you a…"

"What are you doing at this hour, little dragon? You shouldn't be awake." Spike walked backwards, his back eventually hitting the cold metal of the door behind him.

"I-I'm sorry! Like I said, I w-was just going off to bed!" The ghostly apparition approached him, its expression never changing.

"You shouldn't be here, dragon." Spike panicked as he stared into the unblinking, blank eyes of the pony. Frantic, he turned to the door and tried to grasp the handle with trembling hands. After getting a hold of it, he pushed insistently.

"Come on, you stupid door, open! Open!!" After urging the door to open by yelling, it somehow gave way. The door swung open and Spike stumbled into the darkness. After landing on his knees, he turned to look at the doorway just to find that the apparition had vanished. Still shaken, he stood up and began to explore the room.

It appeared to be a basic storage room, the only aspect of interest being a ladder which looked as though it led to the roof of the train. He assumed he wasn't supposed to actually be in the room, so decided to leave, but crashed into one of the various boxes on the floor before he did so. Something scurried from underneath of the box, vanishing into the corner of the room in an instant.

"What was that?" he muttered to himself as he looked back. Letting it be seemed like the best option and he left the room, closing the door securely as he did. Although he hadn't sighted the ghost again, he ran through the cars of the train as quickly as he could to reach his sleeping car.

Spike awoke later than everyone else in his group, who actually ended up having to wake him up. His late night adventure had left him exhausted.

"Spike! Hey! Something's going on!" The little dragon rubbed his eyes and flipped over, ignoring Sweetie Belle. "Spike! Get up!" She knocked him on the head with a hoof, forcing him to sit up in the bed.

"I'm up! I'm up! Sheesh." He rubbed the wound and glared at Sweetie Belle. "What is it?"

"Spike, everypony's gone! The train's still moving, but we can't find any of the passengers!" He cocked his head, wondering if he was just having a strange dream.

"What are you talking about?" She abruptly pulled him out of the bed and out into the hallway where Fluttershy and Scootaloo were. Pinkie was still watching the dessert in the car.

"Come with us; everyone's gone. We have no idea where they went and the train conductor wouldn't let us in to ask!" Before allowing him to say anything else, the ponies dragged Spike through the various cars of the train, pointing out that indeed every car seemed to be empty.

"Well, what time is it?"

"Ten o' clock."

"Uh… maybe everyone slept late?" Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.

"That's highly unlikely. The dining car's supposed to be open at Seven, but it isn't! Look, the door's even open!" Sweetie Belle pointed to an open door in one of the cars, indicating a kitchen. Spike peered in to only find the smell of cooked vegetables.

"That's weird… where did everyone go?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out, genius!" Scootaloo cried out in exasperation. "We have no idea!" Spike suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Maybe they're on the roof! We haven't checked there yet!"

"Spike, that's ridiculous, there's no way they're on the roof." The window pane beside them was suddenly hit with a strong force, almost knocking the pane out of place. The group looked up to see a small crowd of Parasprites trying to knock through the glass. After another slam, the window pane fell through and a swarm of Parasprites began making its way into the train car.

"Run!" Spike yelled as he began heading back towards the sleeping car. The Parasprites, though, were quicker than the ponies and managed to grab a hold of the back legs of the fillies and Fluttershy.

"Spike! Help us!" Fluttershy cried out to him. He wished to help them, but the Parasprites were closing in on him and he knew there was only one pony to stop them.

"D-don't worry! I will!" He turned and ran as fast as he could back to the sleeping car, noticing Parasprites flying outside the train windows out of the corner of his eyes. Once he was inside the sleeping car, he slammed the door and shut the curtains, making sure the window's lock was secure. "Pinkie Pie! We need your help!" The mare jumped, nearly hitting her head on the ceiling.

"Whoopsie! Looks like I fell asleep with my eyes open again!" She giggled as she trotted merrily up to Spike. "What's the matter, Spikey-Wikey?"

"Parasprites! They're back! The train! Help!" The pony gasped dramatically.

"Parasprites? No! They'll get the cake!" She ran to her luggage and rifled through, pulling out an assortment of instruments as she did. "Let's do this, Spike!"

Although it felt nearly impossible, Spike had on him various instruments while Pinkie carried the rest. Knowing they had to act fast, they played their instruments in harmony together as they sauntered through the train cars towards the end car where Spike knew they could gain roof access. The Parasprites that had already invaded the train followed the two, flying in harmony with the music. The two climbed the ladder and opened the hatch leading up to the train's roof where, once they turned to see, thousands of Parasprites were holding the passengers of the train captive in their swarm.

"Pinkie, Spike, help!" they heard Fluttershy cry from the inside of the swarm.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy, Pinkie is here!" The two began to play their polka again and the insects began dropping their prisoners to encircle the musicians. While the pests were captivated, the train passengers began to sit up, wondering what had just happened. Knowing what to do, Fluttershy quickly rushed the passengers past the swarm and down the hatch into the train. Once the last passenger had made it, Spike stopped blowing into his trumpet and looked at Pinkie Pie.

"How do we get rid of them for good?"

"Throw the instruments!"

"What? How will that solve anything?"

"Just do it!" At once, the two hauled all of the instruments off of themselves and tossed them off of the train's back end. The swarm flew after them in a rush, for what reason Spike wasn't sure. He sighed and followed Pinkie back down the ladder. Once the two were inside, the passengers began cheering immensely.

"You saved our lives!"

"Thank you, pink one!"

"That dragon is really good at the trumpet!" Spike accepted the compliments gushingly, but Pinkie Pie hurried off back to the sleeping car to keep an eye on the cake. After the crowd dissipated, only the fillies and Fluttershy remained.

"Well, I don't think we'll have any more problems like that on here!"

"I sure hope so. That was scary!" Fluttershy shuddered, remembering when she had first picked up the single Parasprite she had found so long ago in Ponyville. Spike looked down as his stomach began rumbling.

"Oh, gee, I'm sure glad that we could get the chefs back. I'm starving! Who's up for the dining car?" The ponies rolled their eyes as he began heading through the train, waiting in line for the breakfast he wished he had eaten hours ago.