Chapter 1: Missing

“He’s gone, it’s my fault, he’s gone, it’s my fault,” a yellow pegasus whispered, choking in every word again and again holding her head as she shook it violently, tears falling freely from her never blinking eyes as Rainbow Dash And Applejack tried their best to hold her down, while tears fell from their eyes too “he’s gone, it’s my fault, it should have killed me, I killed him, I killed Spike.” Her voice low, fragile and desperate, almost dark.

Pinkie Pie was sitting in front of the circle of ashes the rainbow lighting left on the library ground, her tail and mane straight and her coat devoid of color and brightness, she said nothing and made no movement. She just stared at the center of the ring while tears fell slowly from her eyes.

Rarity was leaning against the stairway trying her best not to hyperventilate after she had vomited once her screaming was done, the smell of burnt scales and meat lingering around the air of the library getting to her fast and swiftly, her eyes red and puffy while tears fell from them creating a small pond below her.

Twilight had her face glued to the journal. “N-no, this wasn’t either, it was perfect, everything was perfect, what the bucking hay went wrong!?” she yelled at the book “There must be a w-way to b-bring Spike back, or a-anything about where he is, there has to be something.”

“Twilight, p-please help us here, Fluttershy lost it!” Rainbow yelled for her attention, her body shaking barely managing to keep a hold of her shy friend, but she got none “Twilight!”

“I killed Spike, I should have died, I killed Spike, he’s gone, it’s my fault, he’s gone, it’s my fault, I’m a killer, I killed Spike.” Fluttershy went on.

“M-my *urk* Spikey-W-Wikey, my poor sweet Spikey-Wikey.” Rarity said once she had calmed down a bit, she fell to the ground putting her hooves over her eyes as she cried her heart out.

Applejack remained silent mainly because she had apparently lost the ability to talk, much like Pinkie who hadn’t move an inch for the last ten minutes after their screams had been suppressed. Of all of them she was by far the most composed, death of loved ones was not strange to her, that didn’t mean it hurt any less.

Twilight was going through the pages of the journal at lightning speed, reading them as fast as she could over and over again, trying her best to find even the tiniest hint of what had lead things to occur the way they did. She found none.

“BUCK IT ALL!” She screamed using the Royal Canterlot Voice “Buck it! Buck it! Buck it!” she tossed the book to the ground only to stomp on it harshly “Tell me what happened to Spike you stupid useless book!” Twilight stomped the book several times in rage before a hoof touched her over the back of her neck, turning her head she revealed the rivers falling from her eyes to Rarity who was not faring any better than her. Twilight’s lips quiver for several seconds before embracing her unicorn friend in a tight soul-wrenching hug, allowing herself to cry as hard as she wanted.

After several minutes the hug ended, Twilight managed to stop her crying enough to look to her other friends, Pinkie was still in the same spot as, somehow, Applejack managed to calm Fluttershy enough to shake her out of her trance, Rainbow was still shaking slightly as she kept looking at her damaged wing. Sniffling hard she got up and called to her friends.

“Girls, I know this is hard, but we can’t give up and a-assume the w-worst just yet,”she tried to sound as calm and serious as possible but, unsurprisingly, that sounded like she was talking more to herself than to her friends “I don’t k-know what went wrong, but I plan to figure it out, and I will *sob* need your h-help to do it,” her friends looked back at her, including Pinkie, a small light of hope shining in their eyes “for all we know Spike could be in the other side of Equus hurt and alone, we have to find him, fast.”

The rest of the Bearers looked at each other trying to comprehend what Twilight was asking them to do, one by one stood up and once they were all up on their hooves they all nodded.

“What c-can we do?” Pinkie asked, her voice flat and almost lifeless.

“I still don’t know, but we’ll figure something out, let’s go down to the Lab.” Twilight said as she trotted to the door leading down her basement followed by her five friends “Please, please be ok Spike, please be ok.” she begged inwardly.

-------------------------------------------------*********************************************

*Canterlot Castle 3 hours later*

Prince Blueblood walked through the vast halls of the castle towards the private chambers of his beloved older aunt, Princess Celestia, all the while a bright smile on his face as he hummed a happy song. Arriving at the entrance of Celestia’s private chambers two guards welcomed him, he stopped a little over a meter in front of the guards as one used a spell on him and the other used his front hooves to search any hidden weapon, Blueblood never losing his smile or stopping his humming. Once the guards were done they moved aside and the gates opened, Blueblood gave the guards a small nod and step inside the room. Blueblood gave a quick shot back catching the guard on the left handing over a small pouch of bits to the one in the right, their expression stoic as ever, causing him to let out a small chuckle.

The doors closed behind him softly just as he saw his dear aunt laying comfortably on her bed using her magic to hold up a quill and a parchment. Celestia noticed her nephew and greeted him with a small smile as she continued writing.

“I’m sorry for calling you at this hour, Blueblood, I’m sure you were busy with something more important.” she said looking at him, never stopping her writing.

“Nonsense my dear aunt, I finished my duties hours ago, I was simply ‘showing around’ the castle to, yet another, hollow noble mare.” he gave her a playful smile.

Celestia sighed “Another one? Are you ever going to stop your ‘despicable’ behavior and actually spend some time with them? Maybe you’d find them to be not as hollow as you think.”

“Oh auntie, are you so angry that you can’t place bets?” Blueblood smirked as she stopped writing for a second before continuing “If it makes you feel better, this one was at least determined, she didn’t stormed off until I showed her my private collection of suits.” he gave out a long heartfelt laugh.

Celestia giggles softly “That long? I can’t recall the last time one of them managed to get that far.” both of them shared a short laugh for several seconds “But in all seriousness, you should try to give at least one a chance, they may not be after what you think they are, dear nephew, remember Rarity?”

“Ah yes, the lovely miss Rarity, I was able to prepare thanks to a very convenient letter a few days earlier prior to the Gala, to be fair auntie, I apologized and explain everything to her during her stay last year, such a lady doesn’t deserve to be treated like I treated her, we even managed to become good friends afterwards.” Blueblood let out an overly dramatic sad sigh and covered his eyes with one of his forelegs “Alas, there is another prince fighting for her heart already, it is not my place to be in the way of love, and I think she doesn’t dream about me like she used to, though I dearly hope her dreams start to be filled with the prince at her side, say a green, purple and scaly prince.” Blueblood gave out a small chuckle as he finished “Speaking of which, how is my dear cousin doing lately? I haven’t received a letter from him in a while.”

“Spike is doing fine Blueblood, thanks for your concern, he is learning and grows with every day at a phenomenal speed, he might be ready faster than I thought.” Celestia smiled warmly as she spoke of her little dragon.

Blueblood clapped his front hooves together in approval, “Excellent! Oh, how I yearn to take him with me on a trip to the south, such a beautiful land Zebrica is, and maybe we can finally find what kind of dragon is he.”

Celestia stopped writing for a moment to look to her right side, her gaze focused on the remains of the egg Spike had hatched out of, it brought her a happy smile every time she saw it “What kind of dragon doesn’t matter to me as long as my little baby can stay with me at my side.” she said as she returned to her writing.

“I agree,” Blueblood nodded “why have you summoned me, auntie? Do you need to find something? Or somepony? Perhaps a map?” Blueblood offered.

“Very cunning my dear nephew.”

“Don’t flatter me, auntie! It’s my special talent after all.” Blueblood smiled at his solar aunt with gusto.

Celestia giggled softly “The Crystal Empire is expanding just as Cadence predicted, you will leave tomorrow morning to help her and Shining Armor create a map of the whole Empire and its surroundings, then I order you to spend some quality time with your sister and her husband.”

“She’s still mad about the wedding, isn’t she?” Celestia nodded “Thought so.” few seconds of silence fell between them “Is there anything else you need me for auntie?” he asked as he pointed to the door.

“That would be all.” she said just as she levitated the quill to her desk and rolled up the letter she was writing, placing a very special royal seal as she did so.

“A letter for princess Twilight Sparkle?” Blueblood asked curious about the letter “Is it something I should worry about?”

“What do you mean, Blueblood?” Celestia asked confused as she finished wrapping the letter.

“Well, usually, and I mean no offence, when you send a letter to Twilight Sparkle its most likely related to the safety of Equestria. The kind that threatens it, to be precise.” Blueblood said thoughtfully.

“........I never noticed, really?” Celestia received a deadpan stare from her nephew “Well, in that case, I assure you this is only a friendly letter, a quick hello if you will.” Blueblood sighed loudly in relief. Celestia focused her magic on a very unique and familiar spell and then casted it on the letter she was levitating.

*Thumpff*

Both Blueblood and Celestia turned their heads to the ground to find the source of the faint sound, there, laying on the ground, was the very letter Celestia had sent just a few seconds ago. An uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them as they only stared at the letter as if something impossible and horrible had occurred.

“I-it seems I’m more tired than I thought, Blueblood, could you send the letter for me, please?” Celestia asked softly to her nephew.

“Of course, auntie.” Blueblood picked the letter with his magic, levitating it in front of him, and focused on the spell his dear aunt had thought him long ago, it was a very unique spell, only those who shared the blood of Celestia could do it, that meant only three ponies (Luna, Cadence and Blueblood of course), aside from Celestia herself, could cast the spell, a direct link to Spike himself. Once the spell was ready he casted it.

*Thumpff*

The letter fell to the ground again unceremoniously, again silence fell between the unicorn and the alicorn as they simply stared back at the letter. Slowly Celestia’s breathing started to become more rapid and harsh, she took the letter with her magic again and re-cast the spell, only for the letter to hit against the floor once more. She levitated the letter again trying to send it away yet again.

*Thumpff*

And again.

*Thumpff*

And again

*Thumpff*

Celestia repeated the process several times, each failure increasing her rapid, harsh, almost painful breathing. Blueblood on the other hoof was not faring any better, but his attention was not focused on the letter, memories of the young days of Spike flashed in front of his eyes, like a movie at sonic rainboom speed. He used to hate Spike, fearing he would take his spot from the heart of his dear aunt, then, as time went by, he began to open to the drake, spending time and playing with him at every chance he got as did Cadence.

Contrary to what many took for granted, mainly because of his own actions, Blueblood was actually a true gentlestallion from mane to tail, with a bit of a pranking side, but still a good stallion at the end of the day. He loved his aunts, sister and cousin to death, before turning into the personal guardian/assistant of Twilight Sparkle, Blueblood made sure to teach Spike as much as he could about honor, duty, family and respect. Spike was to him more than a cousin or a fellow prince, he was the little brother he always wanted, somepony to teach what was right and what was wrong, to be an example for him to follow and thrive to become in the future.

“Hey, cousin Blueblood.” a smaller version of Spike sat at the side of a younger version of himself, all the while looking at the city below the gardens.

“What is it cousin Spike?” Blueblood asked as he passed Spike a pack of orange juice.

“Why ponies hate me? Did I do something whong?” Spike asked back taking the pack of juice.

“Because those ponies are stupid, that’s why.” Blueblood took a sip of his juice “They think because you’re a dragon you are dangerous.”

Spike took a sip out of his juice too “I like ponies, I want to poutect ponies, I want to stay….with you, and cousin Cadence, and Twilagh, and mommy.”

Silence fell for a few seconds before Blueblood spoke “Then stay, those stupid ponies will see what a great little cousin you are,” he placed a hoof a top of his head and rubbed his spines a little, making Spike laugh “and when you’re older, you will show them what a great prince you will be, and if you work hard enough you will be even better than me!” he turned his head and smiled down to Spike, but soon he felt two little arms trying to hug around his neck as much as they could, quickly returning the hug Spike began to whisper.

“Can I stay?”

“Of course you can.”

“Poumise?”

“Promise. I won’t let anything bad happen to you as long as I live and if you are ever in big troubles, you can count on me to help you out.” The tiny arms around his neck hugged him stronger.

“Thanks, cousin Blueblood.” Spike yawned.

“You’re welcome, cousin Spike.”

“Cousin Blueblood?”

“Hmm?”

Spike yawned again “Is it raining?”

“A little, yes, let’s get inside.”

“Ok.”

Blueblood got up, the packs of juice forgotten, as he carried his little sleeping cousin back into the castle without even bothering to dry away the tears falling down his eyes.

Blueblood felt like crying as his dear aunt fell into the floor hyperventilating with tears falling freely from her beautiful purple eyes, the letter forgotten in the ground after countless attempts to send it.

“No, no, no, no, no, y-you can’t be….you….you were meant to be…...you…..you…..please, no, no, no.” Blueblood thought as grief started to get the best of him as well as another emotion flowing fast and uncontrolled inside his body.

“Twilight Sparkle.” He said in a low tone before zapping away in a mighty flash of light, leaving his dear aunt to cry and scream in pain, grief and sadness. He couldn’t accept what that letter was implying, there was simply no way that Spike had died.

---------------------------------------------------------********************************************

*Ponyville-Golden Oaks Library*

In the basement of the Library the six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were studying every little thing they could think of that may have an explanation, or a lead to the whereabouts of their dragon friend, Spike. And yet after three hours of running numerous tests, theories and spells nothing had worked and every failure only served to dawn the horrible reality of what had happen to Spike.

Suddenly a loud noise upstairs broke them out of their trance, followed by a yell that made their blood turn into ice.

“Twilight Sparkle!!” the voice yelled from the lobby, after a few seconds of rapid and frantic hooves hitting harshly against the wooden floor, several things being broken and the utterly destruction of the door leading to the basement did the Bearers finally see who was the owner of said voice.

“WHERE IS MY COUSIN!?” Prince Blueblood yelled at them with a face of pure rage, bearing out his teeth as tears fell from his eyes, his perfect blonde mane ragged and messy, his suit torn apart as several pieces of paper and splinters adorned him, and his light brilliant artic blue eyes now resembling the eyes of a demon thirsty for blood, their blood.

For several seconds none of the mares moved until Twilight closed the book she was reading and walked towards Blueblood until she was in front of him, there was no use denying the truth any longer, then, with tears falling from her eyes and a face that could be mistaken for one of a corpse, she spoke a single word.

“Dead.”

Chapter 1 end.

Author's Note

Special thanks to all those who read this, you make my day every time!

*Spike's Destiny newest chapter is already in hands of my trusty proofreader, it should be out soon¨*

**Still looking for a proofreader for this story and/or editor, if anyone wants to help me, send me a PM**