There's something strange out in the Everfree Forest. Will Spike be the one to uncover it?
Upon venturing into the Everfree Forest, Spike finds a creature that nobody can identify. It knows his language, yet it isn't from Equestria. It isn't from this world. An alien visitor in Ponyville is something to be kept secret. Is a secret a burden Spike can't handle? How long will this creature last in Equestria? Why has it come here in the first place? But most importantly, why won't it leave?
Pinkie Pie's parties were always good, but when it's a birthday party, especially her own, it is never something to be missed. So naturally Twilight was off in a hurry to attend with the rest of her best friends. Except for me. Spike.
It's not that I felt left out, the reason that I stayed home, in the library: it's just that I don't always feel like Twilight wants me hanging around her friends. A lot of pony folk here think that Twilight is like a mother to me, but really she's just more of a... nerdy older sister, and I know that if I had any friends to hang with around, I wouldn't want to have Twilight around, constantly bugging them.
So it's not unusual for me not to go to one of Pinkie's spectacular parties. It's out of an act of sympathy. Twilight always tries to put herself in other ponies' hooves, and most of her friendship lessons seem to rub off on me, which totally stinks. Sometimes I could swear that the lessons were actually aimed at me, like one time she learned that the more risks you take, the more likely you're going to hurt yourself, but the way she worded it was: "If you mess with fire, you're going to get burned". Who messes with fire more than a baby dragon? I bet she thought she was being really subtle, but I saw right through that ploy.
Anyway, there I was, alone at home, waiting for something to happen: I'd already organized the bookshelves and dusted the place up, so that was my entire evening done, and I was a couple of hours ahead of schedule at least.
My favorite place in the library is probably the balcony, so it's pretty lucky for me that I have to go out there every time I send a letter to the princess - Twilight doesn't like the library getting smoky. Out of sheer boredom, I had walked out onto the balcony, and ZOOM! Splat! A meteor shot right out of the sky and landed in the Everfree Forest.
Initially, I was shocked, then excited, and finally, worried that anyone else had seen it, but I was fortunate. It was Fall, the running of the leaves had happened a week prior, and now the days were pretty short, and Luna was raising the moon really early afternoon. Maybe the princesses were attending Pinkie's party too or something, because they really got lazy that day. It wasn't late at all, but the moon was bright in the sky. The meteor had safely landed unnoticed right in... oh.
I had been hoping to go to where it had landed beforehand, but... Then I saw the smoke trails coming from the very center of the Everfree Forest, and I knew it was a lost cause. Twilight could have been back any minute! Maybe the party was a total bust! If I left, and she arrived and I wasn't there, she'd get so mad!
But I looked up to the moon, and said "Spike, come on. Be a manly dragon!" And I leapt up and roared triumphantly, yet quietly - Just in case. With vigor in my heart, I jumped down the stairs, two steps at a time, and out the door, off to...
The Everfree Forest...
With ninja-like reflexes, I slowly snuck across the silent streets, hoping to not make a peep of noise as I went along. The forest was creeping up to me. I saw Fluttershy's cottage to the right of me, resembling a face from where I stood, with the windows as eyes and the door as a mouth. It judged me. Well, it had about six eyes, and that was just from my perspective... and the door was split horizontally, so it was a deformed mouth... but regardless, the lights were out, and on such a dark and spooky night, it's not what you'd have expected from her cottage. What if she was injured! There could have been a burglar in there...
Wait, no, she was just at Pinkie's party. And yet still... maybe...
Nevermind, I was getting distracted from my initial goal. The Everfree Forest is awfully spooky, especially at night... how did Twilight do it against Nightmare Moon? Even now, I could see the bats and owls and poisonous bugs skittering around, gazing at me, daring me to enter. I might as well of rubbed myself in gravy, because I was probably about to enter some terrible creature's food bowl.
I dared myself to step forwards, and surprisingly, that worked. So long as my eyes were closed, I could only feel the scariness around me. It could be worst, I had thought, until Sweet Celestia, I kid you not, a bat just flapped right next to my ear. I hadn't blocked out my sense of hearing. With a scream, I turned and ran, evidently not out of the forest which was my initial path, but instead even deeper in. Even worst: I couldn't see the way out, and the trees were blocking the sky, so I couldn't follow the trail of smoke any more...
Unless... I started climbing!
I scurried over to the first good tree I could find, doing my best to ignore the sound of insects skittering away as I adjusted my footing. Digging my claws into the bark, I started scampering up to the nearest stable-looking branch. The ripping of bark peeling back was chilling, and I tried not to imagine the creatures waiting below for me. As I pushed away from the bark and dove to a branch, gripping as tight as I could, I heard the bark snapping bellow and crunching against the ground.
Until then, I had not realized how high up I'd climbed in such a small space of time, but it took at least two seconds between the breaking of the bark and the crunching it made as it shattered against the floor for me to realize my undeniable fate if I fell. On the plus side, the tree had much more branches, the higher up I went. Within a few seconds I had found my way to the top of the tree, which was no more than a leafy mess. Looking up, I realized the smoke was closer than I imagined, and maneuvered my way across the treetops towards it. I was only a few steps away! For whatever reason, this was making my heart race. Curiosity had made me possibly risk my life, and it was just about to pay off. I was so excited, I had stopped even looking at the branches I stepped on...
Big mistake. Crack!
The tumbling sensation was too much, and despite the occasional branch which punched me in the stomach, the gap between any contact besides the wind through my scales as I rushed towards the ground was unbearable. Fortunately, a thorn bush was there to break my fall. Believe me, I still have a few thorns rustled into my scales from that experience!
Eventually, I found the power in me to get back to my feet. Looking up, I noticed something which was strangely familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It... looked like any old tree. But... there seemed to be some oddly colored fruit there. The colors of a rainbow. Then it came to me: This is one of those Zap Apple trees that the Apple family have! Funny that. I guess if I get back to Ponyville alive I can tell them-
Behind me, something began growling, extremely angrily. As I turned around, I found myself surrounded by wolves... peculiar wolves that looked to be made up of wood and leaves. They were chilling. As they encircled me, I tried to climb the Zap Apple tree, but instead received an electric shock, which felt as though I had been struck by lightning. Falling onto my back, I began feeling extremely dizzy, and darkness surrounded. Just when I thought my last living sights were going to be these weird creatures closing in, a blur of dark red swept across, and a wolf yelped in pain, as I blacked out.
When I awoke, it was still night time. A flurry of sticks and leaves surrounded me. And standing in front of me, intently studying my every movement, was a creature of darkness with spikes protruding from all around it's skin, sharp as broken bones.
The figure was dark red, with enough spikes to make it a distinguishable feature, whilst not having so many that it looked like a hedgehog. I stared at it, and it stared back with its gray pupils. It, like the ponyfolk here, stood on all fours, but it had a blankflank, and two devilish horns on its head, like a ram.
Without a doubt, those strange wolves had been stopped by this creature. So why was it leaving me alive? I sat upright and the creature stepped forwards, to assert some sort of dominance or control. "No, no, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." I spoke gently, standing up. It would have been awfully convenient to have Fluttershy around: the animal charmer. Instead I had to work with what I'd seen from her and her little critters. The thing in front of me was surprised by my speech. "Hey, did you see any big meteor? Go crash into the ground?" I asked, not like it was ever going to understand me, that would be ridiculous, but hey, it was worth a shot...
Hold on a second: the creature nodded! "You understand me?" Nod. "Can you take me to the crash?" Nod... but no movement other than it. "...Will you take me to the crash?" It shook its head. For a few seconds I was silent, but then: "...Can you speak Equestrian?" Some bushes rustled behind me. Undoubtedly I must've leaped at least three times my own height, I was so scared. Twisting around, I saw a stripy pony - no, Zebra - standing behind me. "Zecora! Oh, thank Celestia it's only you! I thought it was another scary monster!" "You lurk in the night, and I must ask why? I always mistook you for a dragon more... shy." "Um... who, me? Shy? Never. I was expediting for a study of Twilight's." "Please forgive me, I don't mean to pry, but I thought she was at the party of Pinkie Pie." Zecora was onto me! "Yeah, that's right! She doesn't know I'm in the forest, I was going to surprise her when she got back and I'd finished her studies! Please don't tell her I was out here." This was one of my worst lies ever. If Twilight ever found out that I had finished one of her studies for her... oh, she'd never let me hear the end of it! "It is dangerous for you to travel this late out! My lips are sealed, but never again will I catch you about!" "Yes, Zecora." It must be hard for you to make sense when you speak in rhyme all day. Zecora barely manages. "One more thing I must ask you, that I hope you do not mind you telling me too. I heard in the dark your voice I knew alike, but I must ask, who were you talking to Spike?" It was only now that I noticed the beast had disappeared the second Zecora arrived. Quick thinking, Spike! "What! Me? Talking to someone in the forest? Never! I'm all alone here. I, er... don't know what you're talking about!" Zecora looked at me for a minute, eying me up with suspicion in her glare. I didn't want her to think that I was crazy, but I think that my response had quite the opposite effect. After a few seconds, she turned away and began heading back to her home. "Zecora! Wait!" I caught up with her. "I'm... kinda lost. Please can you show me the way back to Ponyville?" She sighed, but turned right at the same time. "You're lucky I found you in time, yes indeed. Some things here would eat you with magnificent speed." She growled threateningly. It was clear that she was deliberately trying to scare me to keep me out of the forest, and it was working. Throughout the journey back, I trailed her intently, merely a scale's width away from her at all times, examining the forest around us every second of the way. She did not care to hide her irritation for me, and I could swear that at one point she deliberately tried to nudge me into some poison joke. Lucky for me I know what the stuff is, and I steered clear of it... but there would be no hiding my journey from Twilight if the next day I was breathing confetti instead of fire.
There did not seem to be any creatures around us. At least, that is what I thought at first, until I noticed the spiky, dark red, horned figure that trailed us silently from the bushes. I didn't dare tell Zecora, as I was too frightened to speak, in case my voice attracted unwanted attention, but the thing of the forest trailed us all the way into Ponyville.
As quick as it had appeared the creature was gone, and Zecora was quick to follow. I made my way back to the library, when a familiar voice came from Sugarcube Corner: "What a great party Pinkie! I didn't expect me to stay up this late. I'd better get back to the library - Poor Spike must be tired out of his mind!" As far as parties go, I was aware that Twilight wasn't all up for them, but this time she seemed pretty genuine- Sweet Celestia! She was going to get home before me if I didn't hurry!
I was quick to climb the nearest house, and it was fairly easy. I had a plan ready: Jump across the rooftops until you get in jumping range of the balcony. Then jump in, lock the doors, close the windows, and get in bed before Twilight returned... sure, the plan was destined to fail, but hey! At least I could say that I gave it a shot.
The jumps across the rooftops were nothing compared to the branches, and I was far ahead of Twilight and nearing the library- shoot! Rainbow Dash was flying overhead on her way to her cloud house! She was going to see me! As fast as I could I dived across some more houses over to the clock tower, and leapt in, next to the bell. Peeking out I could see the library, and Twilight nearing it. Out of sheer accident, I slipped, grabbing onto the first visible thing: the bell. I tumbled out of the other end and gripped onto the side of a house climbed up, and leapt around to the library.
The leap across was too big, and I tumbled to the floor, but as I looked up, Twilight was too busy investigating the chimes echoing from the clock tower this late at night to notice me running around to the back of her, into the house. As quick as my reflexes would allow I picked up the ladder and barred it in front of the door, extinguished the near burnt-out candle with my claws and shut the windows, and finally scampered upstairs, jumping into bed, just in time for Twilight to break through the door.
"Spike? That silly dragon must've left the ladder in front of the door while he was tidying. I'll tell him off for it later..." She stopped for a second, like she'd heard something from me. The sound of her clopping along the floor had stopped, and I could tell she was listening again intently... what for?
...Oh. I always snore loudly while I sleep. Stupid me! It's not what she could hear, it's what she couldn't! Unconvincingly, I snored, but Twilight seemed to buy it. I guess she really was tired. Very shortly afterwards she went upstairs, and got in bed herself. Twilight eventually stopped tossing and turning around, which meant she had finally fallen asleep. I sat up, letting the adrenaline wash away from me, and realized how tired I really was. Despite the blackout from earlier, I felt like I hadn't slept in days.
Looking to the right, out of Twilight's window, I saw the now-fixed tree that had collapsed into the Library when Applejack and Rarity stayed over. Very faintly, I could see two white eyes sitting in that tree, examining me with very gray pupils, from a dark-red, spiky body... I rubbed my eyes and it was gone. Probably just my imagination.
I lay back in bed and stared at the ceiling. Deep down inside me, I knew it wasn't.
Upon a complete miracle, nobody had seen me maneuvering my way across Ponyville to get to the Library... apart from maybe Owlowiscious, but she didn't say anything to Twilight about it, so she probably didn't. Twilight was pretty sorry about being home so late, so she didn't end up punishing me for barring the doors on her, just told me not to do it again. After a while I had thought the whole experience was a dream: Had I really almost died about three times? I'd been into the Everfree Forest before, but I'm pretty sure that it's never been that bad. Apart from the time with the Hydra. Oh, and maybe the time I got chased by a dragon... that was pretty bad too.
Actually, what was special about this time? Why was I so scared? The hydra wasn't so scary because I was protected by Twilight, and the dragon wasn't bad either, because I was mainly jealous of Owlowiscious. I guess this time I had no reason NOT to be scared - like I said: I almost died!
I had barely avoided getting caught last time, and again, I had Twilight constantly watching me, so things were back to normal. Kinda. The thing I met in the forest had been lurking around, but I was the only one to see it. Even so... I knew that I wanted to speak with the creature again. I drew a picture of the it, from memory, and showed it to Twilight, the pony who's pretty much read every book in Equestria, and yet, she didn't recognize it. Maybe it was just my bad drawing, but Twilight is perceptive: She would probably be able to pick up on any distinguishable details, but yet all she told me was that it looked like a bad doodle of a pony.
But since there was no way anyone here in Ponyville could know about the creature - for if they did then they would consequentially have to know about my trip to the Everfree Forest - it was up to me to discover more about it. The only problem was that the thing was as quick to disappear as it was to appear. Every time I noticed it, that would be the time it left. How was I going to find a way to learn about it when I was barely able to look at it?
My curiosity for the thing sprouted from the point in time where I made a theory: A meteor lands in the middle of the Everfree Forest, and on the same night, I was in the middle of the Everfree Forest when I discovered a creature that has never been seen before in Equestria... so how do I know that the creature wasn't from the meteor? The fact that it had never been seen before was pretty much clarified when Twilight did not recognize the picture.
Once I'd theorized that, I realized how much it was sounding like one of Twilight's experiments. This intrigued me more. At most, in past I'd been offered to help her, but now I felt as though I was conducting my own personal research. I felt so independent!
The independence was an illusion. In theory, there was no way I would be able to have any free time, what with Twilight's busy schedule. Every now and again, she lets me go out into town on my own, but at most I've only been out for about half an hour, and even then Twilight got nervous. The only exception I can think of is my birthday, but I don't have a birthday coming up, and besides, even if I did, the amount of time I got free might still not be enough time to capture the thing.
I needed to think of a big plan, and a plan this big needs it's own spare time to devise. Upon checking Twilight's schedule, I found that on Tuesday morning, she was going to be out for at least an hour! She's always up at the crack of dawn, however, that particular Tuesday especially, she was up early, running errands and getting jobs done.
The rest of the week was spent fretting over how I would ever find a way to wake up that early, but it seemed that on Monday night, I came up with a solution: I don't have to wake up if I never slept in the first place. Looking at the calendar, I could tell that it would be a busy day for the both of us, but I was not willing to let an opportunity like this go. So throughout the night, I struggled to keep my eyes open between fake snores.
Just as my eyelids were about to give in on me, Twilight was up and preparing herself for the day in a flash. I breathed a sigh of relief, and Twilight turned and looked my way as I quickly tried to turn it into a yawn, as I turned to her: "What time is it? It's still dark out." I said in the grumpiest voice I could pull off.
"The sun is just about to rise. Go back to sleep." Twilight said, without even the slightest tone of suspicion in her voice. Perfect. As soon as she was out of the door, I was up on my feet, pacing around, thinking of a way to lure out the beast so that I could talk to it, when it hit me: It seemed to be the happiest to move around when it was in the Everfree Forest. How much time had passed? Looking out of the window, I could see that the top of the sun was just peeking over the horizon now. Twilight would be back by the time the full sun was showing. I couldn't afford to waste time.
I was running to the Everfree Forest immediately, taking not a second's thought of what might be lurking in there, and instead going as deep in as possible whilst following the path. It did not take long for the creature to appear, but it was too far for me to do anything. Every time I approached it, the wind would pass and the creature was gone, reappearing behind me in the bushes. What lured it out last time? My vulnerability? I tripped up, to no effect. The creature was stubborn today, and it wanted me to work for this reward.
Well, if there's anything I've learned about the Everfree Forest, it's that if you're looking to be a large creature's snack, the caves are the first place to look. On the way, I noticed the creature's curiosity for my lack of focus. This better work. I'm putting too much on the line for this not to work.
Finally, I found a gigantic cave in the side of a hill. I took a step forwards and the creature leapt in front, blocking my path. "What do you want from me?" I asked. No response. "Are you from the meteor?" The creature nodded. "Are you from Equestria?" It shook its head. "Are you from... this planet?" It shook its head. "So you're an alien?!" It nodded. This was too cool! As far as I know, I was the person in Equestrian History to speak with alien life! "What are you doing here?" It looked up at the sky, then back at me, with a quizzical look on its face. It doesn't know. "Are you... planning on leaving?" It shook its head. "Why not?" It stared at me without response. "Well... do you have a place to stay?" It looked down, like it was sad, and shook its head. "I could try and arrange something with Twilight at the library. You could probably pull it off as a normal pony here if you wear something over those spikes, some good clothes." I stopped for a second, a large grin spreading across my face. "And I know the perfect place. Just, stick with me."
We arrived back in Ponyville as the sun was half showing. In the library, I sewed together some raggedy clothes last-minute from the sewing machine Rarity got me as a gift a while ago. I needed something to cover the creature up before I took him to see Rarity, anyway. The worse the clothes are, the cheaper Rarity will sell some clothes to him for. She couldn't stand someone standing in her shop with clothes this bad for long before she gave him a free outfit. Of course, I could've just made nice clothes, but that would've taken me hours, possibly even days, and we had fifteen minutes at most.
Finally, I finished my awful outfit for... Only then and there I realized I had never even asked for a name. "Pardon me for asking, but, what is your name?" Of course, it couldn't speak, and it looked at me blandly like I was an idiot for forgetting. "...Well, should I name you?" It seemed to like this idea. "Let's see... well, you have lots of spikes coming out of your body, so we could name you Spike... no, wait, that's my name." I remembered then that I hadn't even introduced myself. "Hi there, I'm Spike, but you can call me... oh, right, you can't speak. Well, that makes you silent... so I'll call you... Mute." It showed no sign of taste, nor distaste, towards the name, so I kept it.
"Well, Mute, we've got to hide you from Twilight, my older sister, until Rarity, my girlfriend, opens the Carousel Boutique, her clothing store." I warned it. Truly, at this point in time, I could appreciate how amazing it was at hiding. It took no time for it to maneuver its way into the darkness, and if I didn't know it was there, I would never have seen it...
"Who?" The all too-familiar noise came from behind, and I remembered that Owlowiscious had been watching the entire thing... and I knew from past experiences that the owl would let Twilight know immediately - no matter what I tried to do to stop her - of the thing I'd done. "Owlowiscious, if you let this one slide, then..." I stopped dead. There is nothing I have that Owlowiscious would want... but there is something I could do. "If you tell Twilight, don't forget that Mute can hear. I've seen him ruthlessly tear apart a pack of hungry wolves... imagine what he could do to one loudmouthed owl." Once I had said the harsh words, there was no taking them back, and I did feel guilty watching Owlowiscious shrink back into the shadows and swoop away in fear. I had finally grown to like her, and I feel like I probably just jeopardized that friendship. I'll explain to her later that it was the only thing I could do... but it's not like she'll forgive me.
Twilight walked in, looking tired and a bit surprised. I had forgotten to get back in bed. "Spike, what are you doing up? And where's Owlowiscious?" "I dunno, she must've gone on a flight at dawn. I thought she was putting on a few pounds, maybe she's getting self-conscious." I lied, putting no attempt of plausibility into it. "I'm awake because the window was open and I got up to shut it." Again, a blatant lie. "Spike, what's really happened?" "...I got scared because I thought I saw a monster." This would be really easy to say without Mute listening in on every word I said. "I don't know where Owlowiscious is. I didn't even notice she was gone." This sounded more believable, and though it was clear Twilight didn't completely buy it, she didn't ask any more questions. The day went on as usual, but I worked hard to finish all my chores early and get a chance to go out into Ponyville.
Once I was out in the streets, Mute decided to join. It was wearing the pathetic attempt of clothing that I had made for it. We neared Rarity's clothes shop, everything going better than expected. "Spike! Get your butt over here!" I suddenly was seized by the powerful magic that could only be Twilight. "Explain to me why Owlowiscious has shown up with her feathers all rustled up, hooting about some creature you let in the library?" Mute had not disappeared, but instead continued going without Spike.
"I don't know what Owlowiscious is talking about! How, in the small gap of time between you being gone, could I have convinced a creature to go into the library? And even so, how would I do this without anyone seeing?" As the words came out, I realized how unlikely the whole predicament really was, and Twilight was relaxing a bit more. "Maybe I misunderstood what Owlowiscious was trying to say... sorry Spike." She turned and started going home, seeming a bit embarrassed.
As guilty as I felt, I ran to catch up with the creature and tried to pretend I wasn't letting down the huge amount of people I was with all my lies. The two of them walked into the Boutique, Mute put it's hoof in front of me, stopping my path. "What is it, Mute?" He was silent. I stepped ahead of him, brushing his hoof down and walking in.
It's funny, because for a second there, I could've sworn I saw him open his mouth.
It took Rarity no time to notice the "Hideous rags" that Mute was wearing, and she was away, with measuring his height and width, asking for if it had any preferences, color in particular. "Rarity, my friend is really shy, and doesn't talk much." I piped in, before she grew suspicious. "And is also strictly against taking off his clothes, and loves wearing hats. He's an odd pony." I told her, improvising the alien's gender. "However did you meet such a strange pony?" Rarity asked me, frowning. I had given him a veil to hide his horns, making his head look over inflated and still not hiding his grey pupils, but Rarity had noticed parts of the clothing being pointy. I told her it was a skin condition of his. "Well between you and me, he's homeless. I met him on the streets of Canterlot wearing these rags and became friends with him then. Nobody knows who he is, but I wanted to be kind." "Oh, Spikey-wikey, you're so generous! But... in future, please don't bring homeless ponies into my boutique... bad press, you know." "Yeah, sorry." Things were going like clockwork! In fact, it was going so well, my many thoughts of how this was going to end up badly were beginning to fade, one by one! Once Rarity gets it some good clothing, I can take it around town without drawing attention to it. Then... I slowly become friends with it, and finally, I get some answers out!
A high, shrill and adorable scream came from the other side of the room. I turned, and to my dismay, Rarity had taken off Mute's veil, and was now quite close to fainting at the sight of his curled horns. Mute reacted by belting off to the window. Quickly, I ran in front to block it from jumping out, and it jumped over my head, landing vertically on the wall, and surprisingly not falling. In a bug-like fashion, Mute climbed up to the ceiling, causing its rags to fall off like leaves and float to the floor.
Now that Rarity could see the spikes sticking out from its body, the real screams were starting. Eventually I calmed her down. "What is this thing? It looked like an innocent hobo to me!" I lied. "Oh, Spike... it's an innocent mistake to make." She lied. "Lets not let anyone hear about this... this kind of stuff gets bad press." Secretly, people in high places was my real worry. During my time living in Canterlot with Twilight, I had a tour around the castle. There were dungeons there. Celestia said they hadn't been used in thousands of years, not since her and Luna had achieved harmony across Equestria... but I didn't buy that excuse. If they hadn't been used, then why were they still there? Why keep the dungeons as a dusty and dark place beneath the regal castle, instead of turning them into something nice, like a cellar?
Anyway, I was hoping Rarity would agree with me with it and keep it quiet, but unfortunately, she laughed a shaky laugh, still rife with panic, and smiled. "Oh Spike... don't be ridiculous. We will take... it... to Twilight, and see if she takes anything of it. I certainly have never seen something so... unique... before. Maybe Twilight will be able to tell us what it is..."
Twilight wasn't able to tell us what it was, but she was pretty angry about something the second I walked in the door. She said that she recognized it from something at the back of her memory. Something so insignificant that she put barely any attention to it and in fact, tried to forget the memory altogether: My doodle. Rarity was in the background, puffing with shock. The creature stood in the corner of the room, upon being brought to the library with a disappointing lack of struggle. "Spike, I am very disappointed in me. You lied to both me and Rarity about various things for no clear reason! What is going on with this... this Alien?" "...His name is Mute." "What did you just say, Spike? You're in enough trouble as it is, and you have the nerve to try and talk back to me? What did you say?" "...Nothing." I sighed. There was no point in arguing with someone who has more integrity than me. Everything was going wrong and it was my fault. "Where did you find this... thing?" Twilight asked. I stayed silent. If I told her, I would probably never see broad daylight again. "Spike, answer me." She demanded. "I found it by the library... in the tree." "No, you didn't. You found it in the Everfree Forest. Zecora told me all about your little venture. I don't even have any studies in the Everfree Forest, and I don't plan to! It's much too dangerous there, even for me! What is wrong with you? You could've been injured! Or worse!" Never before had I seen Twilight this angry, and upset, making me angry, and upset. Why had I gone to such lengths in the first place to capture this stupid thing? I wished it would just disappear out of my life. I wished that I could just crawl into a corner and die, instead of having Twilight ripping me apart emotionally. I deserved it. I'd been so selfish.
Twilight and Rarity started talking about what they were going to do, but my ears just blanked out. I didn't want to hear anymore. It was so painful listening to word after word of disappointment and depression pounded against me like a thunderstorm against a leaf. Only, I'm not a leaf. I'm a weed.
As I looked at Mute, I saw him sneaking over to the window. Typical of it - weaseling it's way out of bad situations that it had gotten me into. Surprisingly, I found no more interest in the thing. In fact, I was happy to see it leave. Until it started arching... then running... and finally charging, right into me, with such a force that it broke through the library wall.
The wind was knocked out of me so fast and extremely that for a second, everything became dark. Something squeezed against my stomach, I heard a particular accent yell a noise, and the sound of galloping nearby, fading away. Once I had regained sight, I found that I was tied to Mute's back by vines, and it was running through what appeared to be the Everfree Forest. I sat up as best as possible, facing the opposite direction to which Mute ran, and saw Twilight and Applejack chasing after me from a long distance away. How did Applejack get involved? What in the name of Celestia was going on?
"Mute, please, stop! What are you doing?" In one giant leap, Mute flew above a crevice with extreme elegance. Looking at Applejack and Twilight, they both stopped on the spot. The gap was too wide for them to jump, until Twilight's horn glowed, and in a flash, her and Applejack were teleported across the gap, and running again. "Where are we going? Mute, what are you doing?" The spikes on Mute's spine were jabbing into my scales. It barely hurt, but it was putting on pressure.
With little effort it craned its neck back, looking at me with a grin as wide as a cat's upon murdering a mouse.
The sheer fact that Mute was not, had surprised me more than the scenario it had gotten me in, and the surprise took me aback so much that I did not have anything to say once it had spoken: All questions I once asked it had faded away from my memory. All but one, which I eventually mustered up the nerve to ask: "Why can you talk?" "Because I watched. I learned." Other questions triggered were formed in my head from the answer he gave, but the anger in its voice was enough to drive me to silence again. As the forest rushed behind me from the speed of Mute's sprint, I questioned what it meant by home. Did it intend on leaving Equestria again? Going off of this world? It said we. Mute was going to take me with it?
Magical sparks surrounded a nearby tree, when it fell down in front of Mute, stopping him to back up for a second. Twilight and Applejack returned to sight, coming up from in front and behind, closing in. This hardly bothered Mute, and it turned right, into a thick wall of trees, and jumped against one, climbing up it like it showed in the Boutique. Once it peaked the forest's canopy, it began to head along the same trail I had two nights ago, only more careful, and less eager. Mute was very hesitant on each branch it leapt to, taking half a second to examine it and weigh out whether or not it could handle the weight of a heavy alien and a baby dragon, and then jumping to the safest one. The minute gaps between jumps jolted me around enough to dizzy me, though I had the assurance Mute wasn't going to drop me. For whatever reason, Mute had use for me.
Twilight and Applejack, with no means to follow, did their best from the ground below to trail us the rustles in the trees above. Unfortunately, Mute was very silent, and usually only rustled to throw them off of the right path. Glancing through the leaves, I saw Applejack and Twilight begin to follow a false lead, and leave me alone with Mute. I wanted to call out, but didn't in case Mute threw me down the trees - I had barely survived it the first time, and purely due to sheer luck did I not die in the end.
An opening appeared in the roof of the forest, and as soon as Mute noticed it, it made his way over there. Looking down, I could see a long pit which quite resembled a whirlpool: the earth swirled a flat walkway almost all the way to the bottom. In the center of it was a pool of water, Celestia knows how deep, with a rather wide range. The top of the crater spanned about Twilight's Library, whilst the bottom was about the size of the sleeping quarters. Carelessly, Mute shrugged me off of its back, landing me on a small mass of branches and leaves next to it. It looked down the hole, evidently weighing down mathematics. What was it planning on doing? Throwing me in? Panicking, I decided now was the time to ask questions. "Why have you been protecting me?" "Because I need you alive." Mute said dully. "What for?" "The creatures here are very unique. In the short time I arrived here, I acquired abilities. That pit is not bottomless, and most definitely not lifeless." As I looked closely into the hole, I noticed some more things. The water in the pool refused to be still, as if something unsettled was moving around inside of it, and there were some jagged edges around it, a bit like teeth. Then I realized it. It wasn't a pool of water: it was a mouth.
"I acquire the traits of any creature to find its way into the mouth alive, either on purpose or not. Whilst the horns were a feature of a ram that slipped on the edge and found its way into the pit, the hedgehog spikes, and the bug feet were less than an accident. I even considered taking a unicorn like your mentor, and having her in there, but that was for later, for your town seems to be a close one, where all ponies know each other. If one pony goes by my hand, then the whole town, perhaps even country of Equestria will find and put me to rest, because of your ridiculous connection to each other. I would need something to protect myself, first. Something like scales, able to endure sharp things and many forms of pain." I gulped, and he grinned, and looked down into the pit again.
"Did your meteor crash down there?" "Indeed it did. I was but a smaller, devolved form of myself a few days ago. I am a new species, and that down there is my mother: The transformation my transportation has undertaken." The rhyme of the sentence, notable as it was, did not lighten the mood. Clouds had gathered overhead, and the rain only just began pouring down. And yet, I refused to acknowledge that this was the end. As much as I struggled in my ties to loosen them, he paid no attention, and for good reason: A knot this powerful is hard to create, and felt impossible to undo.
As it looked down at me, I could tell that his wait was over. "Spike, you have made me waste my time enough, following and studying you, ensuring every decision I made was the right one. I can tell from your struggling in your knots that you are beginning to think straight again, so my punishment of keeping you waiting must end now, sadly. Goodbye." It picked me up with its mouth and threw me into the pit. A scream could be heard, from Twilight, who had arrived a second too late, as I span towards the gaping mouth, opening its jaws, embracing me, encouraging me to make the mistake of giving up.
Looking to the left, I noticed a tree's root sticking from the end, and twisted my back towards it, so to have the bondage of my arms caught in it. The jolt given when my plan worked pushed my back away from my arms, causing me to yelp out in pain. The knot gave out and snapped to the strength of the root, and I began to fall again, until I clasped my claws onto the edge of the thin slope. The rain caused my hands to slide vertically down the slope, moving downwards into the epicenter. Cautiously, I dug my feet into the wall, just before the slope ended, causing my right hand to slide off, but my left holding a strong grip. Looking up, I tried to find a way to get out of this bad situation. A beam of magic shot across the top, and Mute jumped over the gap, over the beam, onto the side which it was fired from. They were fighting. Twilight wasn't prioritizing saving my life. That probably meant she had already assumed me dead.
Swinging my right hand up against the wall, I began to climb up it, using the same maneuver that I had done on the tree. This was tougher, however, as I fought against crumbly, wet rock, and my imminent peril was very possible at this point in time. As I fought against the weather pounding against me, I found myself nearing the tree root from earlier. The creature below growled, and this reverberated across the walls, causing many small avalanches of rock to fall down. Scuttling up, I reached the root as a large rock tumbled down towards me, dived to grab it, and swung to the side to avoid the rockfall.
I didn't have time to stop and allow the terror building up inside me to fade away, as the root began to give way from all the pressure on it, and it pulled out into the abyss below as I clung onto a nearby rock. The rock too came loose, and I felt myself scrambling, panicking for anything I could possibly grab onto. The top was still so far away, and the rain wasn't relenting. Desperate jumps higher were starting to look futile, as each one would get me closer to falling down below. The rocks seemed to be getting more and more worn down by the rain the higher up I went. Squeezing my eyes shut from the rain pounding down on my, I pulled off any attempt of perseverance I could, slowly getting higher, forcing back the thought that I had no idea whether or not I was going to grapple onto thin air on my next dive. Gripping my hand down onto what first seemed like a rock, my confidence failed me as for a second I thought I had fallen due to the lack of anything grabbed for a second or two. It was just another slope. My eyes drooped open as I contemplated giving up in my head, when I looked up. There were no more slopes. I was at the top.
Pulling myself up with all of my might, the scene became clear. Mute pushed down Twilight, and stood over her, placing his hoof on her neck. Applejack was on the floor, cut from Mute's spikes, but her chest steadily rose and fell, showing she was still alive. Shame filled my body. If anything happened to them, it would be my fault. My curiosity to venture out and do what they once did: have an adventure. Pathetic old me could be causing them their lives. None of this would have happened if Mute never existed. My sadness turned into rage, and I screamed out as I ran at Mute, pushing him off of Twilight. "Get your hooves off of my sister!" I yelled, as I shut my eyes, clawing into whatever I could reach: My scales protected me from his spikes. When somebody ruins my life and tries to kill me, that is one thing, but going on to try and kill my sister? My family? Mute cried out as I scratched its eye, and it stumbled around furiously, trying to buck me off of it. Suddenly, we both dropped as he fell into the hole, and I fell after him, hands first, when Applejack abruptly bit my tail, keeping me from falling. My eyes opened.
The mouth's teeth were gnashing around, hungry and impatient. Mute craned his neck around to me, angrily, and his spikes protruded again, stabbing into my hands. Out of pain, I let go, and Mute began to fall, until its feet fell against the wall and stayed there. The creature in the pit, mad with hunger, began crashing about against the walls. A creaking came from behind Applejack, and as I looked, I could see a tree slowly falling towards her. Knowing it was probably too late to warn her, I did what I could, and scratched out at her cheek with my foot, causing her to recoil and let go. I fell back down into the pit again, and the tree followed, preparing to flood all sunlight and chance of escape. Looking down, Mute began to panic, as the tree lowered down, and it scrambled up against the walls, attempting to keep stable, before simply falling down into the mouth, which swallowed him whole without hesitation. Before I joined him in the beast's belly, there came the poof of Twilight's teleportation, and she appeared beside me, placed her hoof against my arm, and teleported us back up to the surface. She fell to the ground, collapsed, and I watched as the tree sunk down, suffocating the mouth.
"Twilight, I'm sorry... this is the worst thing I've ever done. I'd understand if you wanted to get a new assistant now, since I'm so useless at everything." She looked at me lovingly, smiled a warm smile and hugged me. Without saying a word, she rolled over and passed out, and I stared up at the rain, lying on my back, and wishing that I had listened to Twilight all that time ago. My arms ached, I was sick to the stomach, and I didn't think at that moment in time that I would ever manage to walk again, but I had played with fire. These were the repercussions.
As far as stories go, everyone involved in this one tried to keep it quiet. It was a humiliation for almost all of us, that Mute almost won, Equestria was almost lost, and I had been so much of a different dragon in that story that if it weren't me telling it, you wouldn't think it was me.
Mute was one of the worst things that had ever happened to me, and something about it possessed me, but it was, undeniably, a strange little thing with strange little powers. Even though I wish that the ending was happier, it wasn't. Everything returned back to normal, and all eyewitnesses that were somehow convinced it wasn't their imagination had such strange and unrealistic descriptions of the thing that nobody would have believed them.
Although I sometimes think I see it at night, before I go to bed, I know it is just the tree outside of our house, and nothing else. My imagination has done darker things than fabricate a story of the likes of Mute, and I hardly have recollections of others telling the story. I no longer know whether or not I did see a creature as strange as it. Twilight has not spoken of the incident since the thing itself. Applejack, once her wounds had healed, was hesitant to speak to me afterwards, for she didn't see the collapsing tree, and understand my motives for attacking her. As for Mute, Twilight covered the area of land where the hole was in dirt, and planted trees there. She used an insta-grow spell out of impatience for it to change. Like I said, she was silent throughout the whole process, not confessing what she was doing before, during, or after she had covered up the scene.
Twilight made the mistake of leaving the tree that had collapsed without a head to it. Not many dare venture in the Everfree Forest, and nobody dares cut down trees in there, in order to avoid messing up the strange habits that the forest contains. Therefore, if I ever possessed the desire to, I could rather easily find the spot that it died in. For all we know, Mute still lives, undigested, in the monster's belly. That makes me happy: he deserved something like that, for all the hassle he put me through.
However, I never plan to go back to that wretched place. I have learned quite the few things from the event.
Never go back to the Everfree Forest alone, and unmotivated, like before.
Listen to Twilight's advice. It applies to me more than I imagine it to.
And finally, and most certainly most important of all, never miss one of Pinkie Pie's parties. The fate of Equestria may depend on it.
