Fellowsong

Sweetie Belle watched as Spike came back downstairs, the stranger- Tumbler- following on. Sweetie read an emotion in Spike she did not recognise; it was part fear, part determination, part sadness. Sweetie decided that she disliked this emotion immediately.

She trotted over to Spike, but right then Pinkie appeared from nowhere with a cake in her hooves.

"Surprise!" she yelled. Tumbler barely flinched, but Spike was instantly snapped out of his reverie.

Tumbler smiled and accepted the piece of cake Pinkie proffered him with gratitude, eating politely and slowly, but Sweetie could clearly see his hunger and desperation, suddenly apparent in the harsh lines of his body and face. She absently took the piece of cake Pinkie was holding out, but placed it on the table without eating it, and saw Tumbler's gaze alight upon it. She felt his eyes on her, a silent question, and flicked an ear in compliance. Tumbler seized the cake, eating more hurriedly than he had the first slice as if Sweetie might change her mind.

"Spike?" she said questioningly as Tumbler accepted a third slice from Pinkie. "Are you okay?"

The dragon didn't answer; just fixed his eyes on the mountains in the far north. Sweetie persisted. "Spike. Spike." No response. She sighed and said sweetly, "Spikey Wikey?"

Spike jolted and looked around. "Rarity?" Spotting Sweetie, however, he looked scandalised and even... disappointed? Sweetie's heart sank; she knew he'd always had a soft spot for her sister, but Rarity had done nothing in the last ten years but ignore him, so Sweetie had dared to hope he might pay a little more attention to her instead. Apparently not.

Rarity chose that moment to walk in, and shuffled through the kitchen with her eyes fixed on the floor, stopping only to quietly refuse the cake Pinkie offered to her before heading back upstairs. She had been refusing food a lot recently, Sweetie realised, and as a result the once lustrous unicorn was now gaunt and thin. A moment later, they heard a door slam and a bolt slide across.

Sweetie ceased dwelling on her sister, however, when she realised that Spike was still looking at her. She turned back to him. "Spike. Are you okay? What has Tumbler said to you?"

Spike seemed about to reply when Tumbler, wiping the last traces of cream from his lips, sidled over and said, "Well, Spike, are you ready to leave? The sun is far from setting, of course, but the sooner we can get to the mountains the better. Your teacher is waiting for you there; I only hope she has not decided to die on us when I have finally found you."

Sweetie felt stunned. Spike was leaving with this strange pony after only an hour of knowing him? How could Spike just leave them on the word of some travelling loner? For all Spike knew this pony was a twisted murderer, reeling Spike in with a web of lies so that he could slaughter the dragon or take him to Canterlot to serve the darkness. No, she thought. Where Spike goes, I go. We'll protect each other like we have all these years. We go together.

She only realised she had been talking aloud when she saw Spike staring at her and Tumbler shaking his head. "I'm afraid you can't go," the blue pony said grimly. "This journey is dangerous enough as it is without having to worry about another member of the group."

"No. She's right." Spike said determinedly. "We go together. All of us."

Tumbler threw his hooves up into the air in despair. "Spike, you don't understand! The darkness is much more likely to notice a group of six than a pair! We might be attacked- would you take them along, just to see them all die or be overcome?"

Spike looked stubborn. "I won't leave them."

Tumbler looked desperate. "There is little food left anywhere. I have not eaten more than three times in the week it took me to get here. There would not be enough food sources on our journey to feed us all."

Fluttershy came cautiously downstairs then, lured by the smell of cake, and snatched a slice, with a squeaked word of thanks to Pinkie, before vanishing back upstairs. Sweetie, seeing this, knew Fluttershy would never agree to leave the house, and neither would Rarity, since her room seemed to have become her private, safe territory, and she would not suffer anypony in there

"Spike," she said hesitantly, "I don't think Fluttershy or Rarity would cope very well out there- it might be best if they stayed here."

Spike looked pained. "But they wouldn't be able to cope alone here, either. Rarity hasn't been eating, and Fluttershy never comes downstairs except for food- and if there isn't anypony here to feed them or make them eat, they'll both die." His voice was anguished.

"Well then, I'll just have to stay and feed them." This was Pinkie, hopping up and down on the spot quite amiably.

"Are you sure?" asked Spike dubiously.

"Of course! I'll make sure they both eat plenty while you're away."

"Um, okay then." said Spike.

"Wait. What about..." interrupted Tumbler, angling his ears towards Sweetie Belle.

"I don't see any reason why Sweetie can't accompany us, unless she doesn't want to." said Spike coolly.

Tumbler saw he was beaten. "Well then, we'd better be going."

Spike and Sweetie Belle said their goodbyes and left with Tumbler, walking through town in silence. Tumbler drew ahead, and Sweetie nudged Spike, who looked downcast. "Cheer up! You'll see them again soon!"

Spike looked at her and Sweetie didn't like the misery in his eyes, so she changed the subject. "So why exactly are we going to the mountains, anyway? Ooof!"

This last exclamation was because she had bumped into Tumbler, who had stopped on the outskirts of town. He turned to them. "Now, since you insisted we bring Sweetie, we will be slowed considerably if we continue on foot. So-"

Both Sweetie and Spike had opened their mouths to protest his statement, but listened in surprise as he continued, "I have decided it would be much more appropriate if we flew."

Spike looked bemused. "Uh, Tumbler, none of us have wings."

Tumbler scoffed. "A Singer needs no wings to fly." So saying, he rose a few inches into the air and hovered above them. Spike looked amazed.

"How-"

"Stand on this." Tumbler indicated a tree stump, black and dead. Spike obeyed.

"You want me to fly from here?" the dragon asked, bemused.

"Fly? How can you fly? You said yourself you have no wings."

"But you said-"

"No wings, no flying. Not difficult, is it."

"But you just said-"

"No more talk of flying. All you need to do is take one step off the stump towards me. Just one step. Off you go."

Spike took one step off the stump and landed on the dry ground.

"No! Did I say fall off? I said take one step." Tumbler looked serious, but humour sparkled in his yellow eyes.

"But how do I stop myself falling?" Spike was angry now as well as bemused.

The same way you stop yourself picking something up. You choose not to. You fell because you expected you would fall. Back on the stump, take one step, and wait there."

"How?"

Tumbler's face suddenly dropped. His brow furrowed. "Never ask how. There are many singers, including your teacher, who would punish you for such a question. How doesn't matter. Just do as I say."

Sweetie jumped to Spike's defence. "If he doesn't know how, how is he supposed to do what you say?"

Tumbler, still hovering, just looked to Spike, who promptly stepped off the stump again. He fell, as before, and Tumbler sighed. "Perhaps I am teaching you wrong. Kakarana, your teacher, will probably teach you better when we get to the mountains. As it is, it seems we must continue on foot."

Spike and Tumbler walked away, but Sweetie paused to climb up on the stump. She took a step forward, and fell. But just for a fraction of a second, as she reached the point where she began to fall, she felt what it would be like not to fall. It was a strange sensation.

Sweetie shook her head, and cantered away to join Spike and Tumbler, leaving Ponyville and the stump behind.