A Hall of Mirrors

Spike sat on a stump with his small book tucked beneath his arms, surrounded by the dark veil that covered the everfree, pondering what had happened that day. The outcome was not what he expected; anger, acceptance, sadness, anything but rejection. The minds of ponies certainly are strange things, he thought to himself. He opened up back to where he had left off that morning before being interrupted by Twilight.

'Although the Illusion spell is extremely practical, it requires large amounts of concentration and can only be maintained for short amounts of time. A less convincing but easier spell is the Shadowwalker spell, an incantation that gives one the ability to merge near perfectly with any sort of shadow or shade. this however is easily broken by any change in lighting, creating a silhouette of the spellcaster.'

Spike closed the Encyclopedia Draconus yet again, this time out of exhaustion; the morning had taken much out of him as did his midnight encounter with Smoke. He knew all he needed to know right now, anything else would just flow right through his head. It was funny, how Smoke had changed from his enemy to his mentor within mere hours. Now that he knew more about himself, Spike felt it was time for him to change as well. He stood up, and walked through the charred remains of a tree he had burned down out of pure rage.

Sometimes it felt good to just let it all out.

Twilight sat on her bed in the Library, the argument playing over and over in her head, parts engraved in her memory and others she skimmed over. She wanted Spike back, yet she couldn't ask for him; it would just prove his point, something she would not allow. With Spike gone, the Library felt empty, despite Applejack and Rarity being right at her side, trying to comfort her.

"I know it must be hard for ya, but ya'll gotta remember that Spike's not gone forever; he'll be back, I promise." Despite all of the assurance, Twilight still felt as bad, if not worse than before.

"Applejack is right, darling; Spike wouldn't dare to leave you all alone without any help whatsoever; his little heart would be broken if he had to leave Ponyville forever."

"I just don't know", Twilight finally responded. "He seemed so sincere; It was almost as though he wanted nothing to do with me in the first place."

"Now don't think that, darling!" Rarity was quick to refute Twilight's statement. "Spike would never leave forever, at least not without reason; He will come back, trust me."

"Then why did he leave in the first place? The Spike I know- the Spike I knew..." Twilight felt the tears coming back again, as well as all the emotions; anger, confusion, sadness, even joy.

"Twilight, He's still the same Spike as always! He just got a bit angry, ya know; He'll come back around, just you wait." It didn't matter, Twilight thought; if there was any hope of him coming back, it was gone when she kicked him out of the Library that morning; Twilight was getting frustrated that her friends would be so ignorant, so quick to think Spike would just leave because of emotions.

" If Spike truly meant to abandon you, he would have done it without you knowing; he will come back-"

"Well maybe I don't want him to come back!" Twilight didn't really care what she said, she just had to say something. She was angry at Spike for leaving her, at Applejack and Rarity for being so blunt with such a sensitive subject, at herself for letting Spike leave. Hatred flowed from her mouth, anger blazed in her eyes. "Spike didn't leave me, I wanted him gone! He can go wherever he wants now, because I don't care!" Tears ran down her face, her voice rising ever higher. "And now he's gone because I got angry and acted on it. He's gone forever. And you know what? I don't care right now. I don't want him back, I don't want anyone right now! I just... want to be alone..."

Twilight turned her back to her friends as they left, and slowly trudged up the stairs and flopped onto the bed. If she wanted to find answers, if she wanted peace, she knew she had to find the root of the problem. but not now; now she just wanted to rest, to sleep, to be alone, just her and her nightmares; just for a day, she said.

just one day, yet one day was too long to wait. She got up and grabbed a quill, ink, and paper.

  The sun was setting, and Spike knew he had a very small window of time left. the way he had left, it would only be natural for Twilight to inform the princesses, and they would, naturally, send out search parties. As he worked his way through the Everfree, he thought of possible locations to hide for the night. The castle had many secrets, but the princesses would more than likely know about them all, so that was out. If he was a bit stronger, he might try taking another dragons cave, but in his current condition it was out of the question. Zecora would just report him if the guards came knocking, and would rat him out if she found her during her walks or collections, so nowhere with plants or anything she might need. He searched for a place, anywhere he could hide. He sat on the edge of the river, leaves and sticks floating by.

Spike realized that he had found his hiding place.

As the rays of dawn rippled through the waves, Spike woke to the smell of fish and gravel. It wasn't a very restful night, but it certainly worked better than any other ideas he had conjured up.  He grabbed his book off the riverbed, recited the counter spell, and prepared for the oncoming torrent. The small air bubble he had summoned popped like a balloon, water, flooding in from all sides as Spike clutched the Encyclopedia Draconus and shot himself upwards. He shot out of the river and flopped onto the bank. He rolled over, laying the book next to him in a small pile of gravel kicked up next to hurried hoofprints. he smiled as he realized his prediction was right, and just stared at the sky and relaxed. He saw birds flying far above him, as well as some strays that simply flew off course a little or were flying in a completely different direction-

Spike shot up. he looked to the sky, focusing as much as he could on the bird that flew north, away from the flock towards the mountain. The bird sported some large, leathery wings and a very impressive set of scales. Spike shot up from the ground, ready to try out his new wings. Somehow, he managed to sustain flight, as though he was born to. He gained altitude, and, although very cautiously and shakily, began the race to catch up with an old friend.