Love Will Set You Free

by Ospero

Rating: teen
Tags: Apple Bloom, Fancypants, Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance
Length: 32991

When an ancient evil raises its head, it's up to Spike and the CMC to fight it.

Spike's dreams of Rarity are shattered, and at the worst possible time, for his friends will need him to make it through their greatest crisis.

Inspired by the United Kingdom entry to the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, "Love Will Set You Free" by Engelbert Humperdinck. From the second chapter onward, different songs serve as the inspiration, so check the comments for the links.

Title image by Jade (tehjadeh.deviantart.com).

Published 2012-04-06 02:24:03 UTC
Last updated 2012-04-22 22:41:16 UTC

Love Will Set You Free

"I could not care less about Fleur. Or any other mare except you, for that matter."

Spike didn't know why he had chosen tonight of all nights to go for an evening stroll in the park, but he was obviously not the only one to enjoy this warm summer night by the lakeside. The voice he'd overheard belonged to a stallion, upper-class Canterlot by the sound of him. It was naggingly familiar, but where ...?

"Really? Fancy, I don't know what to say."

That voice, on the other hand, Spike would have recognized anywhere. What is she doing here?

"In all the time since that party, I simply could not get you out of my mind. I just had to see you again."

The path Spike was following went around a large tree just then, and they came into view - Rarity and a white unicorn stallion with three crowns for a cutie mark. Now Spike recognized him. Fancy Pants. I met him once at Hoity Toity's.

"Fancy, I ..." Rarity seemed lost for words. "Don't you think this is awfully sudden?"

"Sudden?" Fancy laughed, a sound that seemed to drive an icicle through Spike's heart. "Rarity, it has been six months. By what definition does this qualify as 'sudden'?" He looked at Rarity with an expression on his face that Spike recognized all too well. I look like that when I see her.

Worse than that familiar expression, though, was the look on Rarity's face. Her eyes were sparkling, she was blushing slightly, she was fighting - and failing - to suppress a smile of pure happiness.

She bowed her head slightly. "And what would the most eligible bachelor in Canterlot see in a humble dressmaker like me?"

"Oh please, don't sell yourself short like that. You are anything but a 'humble dressmaker', my dear." Fancy smiled. "You are the mare of my dreams, and I believe it's time to make those dreams a reality."

Fancy Pants lowered his head and took a step towards Rarity. Everything inside Spike was screaming at him to run away, to close his eyes, to not torment himself with the inevitable conclusion to this scene, but his body refused to obey him. The dragon watched in horror as Fancy and Rarity kissed, enveloped in a beam of moonlight that had picked this particular moment to shine down on the newly-minted couple. They broke the kiss, looked at one another and turned to leave, down the path away from Spike's position.

Spike felt as though somepony had replaced his insides with ice cubes, yet at the same time, he felt a burning sensation deep in his stomach. He wanted to cry, to scream, but nothing came. He was beyond tears and beyond rage, lost in the darkness of despair.

He sat down at the lakeside and just stared into the distance.

***

Spike only returned to his senses when he noticed the eastern sky turning blue. A thought cut through the shadows inside his mind.

Twilight! She's probably worried sick by now.

Spike made his way back to the library as fast as he could. As he approached the door, panting slightly his steps slowed. He had never before been away without telling her.

The dragon breathed in deeply. Nothing to be done about it, I guess. Here goes nothing.

He pushed open the door and stepped inside. The next thing he knew, a purple blur shot towards him and crushed him in a hug. "Spike! Oh thank Celestia, you're alright!"

"Mmf ... can't ... breathe ... " Spike was struggling to get the words out.

"Oh, heh. Sorry," Twilight said as she released him and stepped back. "Where have you been, young dragon?" Her stern facial expression reminded him uncannily of Princess Celestia.

Spike swallowed. "I was in the park."

"The park? At night, by yourself? Are you crazy?" Twilight was really gearing up now. "Why? What possessed you to do something like that?"

Spike felt the memories of last night flooding back, and he suddenly felt another rush of dizziness. He swallowed hard and then decided to take the plunge. If anypony understands, it'll be her.

"I was out for a nighttime stroll, and I ..." He swallowed again. "I saw Rarity and her coltfriend."

"Her what?" The astonishment on Twilight's face might have been funny at another time. "Why don't I even know she has a coltfriend?"

"It only just happened last night." Spike lowered his head. "I saw them kissing, and ... I don't know, I just sat there for hours. Sorry."

"Oh, Spike." The pity in Twilight's voice was almost worse than the anger had been. "I'm so sorry. Can I do anything?"

"Could I have today off? I really need some time to myself," he said.

"Of course." While the look on her face told him that they'd talk more later, for now, she was giving him his space.

"Thanks." Spike walked up the stairs to his basket and fell into an uneasy sleep.

***

Over the next few days, he practically worked on autopilot. He did his chores, though he really wasn't up to his usual standards. Twilight noticed, he was sure, but she kept quiet.

One bright Sunday morning, two weeks after the incident at the park, Spike was sitting in the kitchen chewing on a large ruby. Twilight had gone out for the girls' weekly meeting, so Spike had the library to himself. As he sat there chewing, his thoughts going from Twilight to her friends, and from there to Rarity, he suddenly realized that he could think her name without feeling tears well up.

It's still bad, but I think I can live with it.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. Weird. Twilight must have forgotten to put up the sign.

Spike made his way to the door, calling out as he went. "Sorry, we're closed at the moment."

"Uh ... alright then, I'll be back later!" a voice rang out. Spike blinked in confusion. Apple Bloom? What is she doing here?

"Erm ... hold on a moment." Spike opened the door. Apple Bloom, turned away from the door, looked back in surprise - and something else, something Spike couldn't quite place.

"Oh ... hi, Spike!" She smiled brightly.

"Hi. Not to sound rude or anything, but why are you here?" Spike asked.

Apple Bloom pulled a book from one of her saddlebags. "To return this."

"Ah - okay?" This actually served to deepen Spike's confusion. He couldn't remember Apple Bloom taking out a book. He looked at the cover.

'Farming Stories of Ancient Equestria'? He looked back at Apple Bloom. "You didn't take this out, did you?"

"Nope. Applejack did. She wanted to get Granny Smith to check if any of these stories were true." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "You know Applejack, she's not one for reading. But if it might help the farm, anything's worth a shot."

"Did it work?" To his surprise, Spike found himself actually interested. "Did they find anything?"

"I'm not sure, but I heard them laughing a lot when they were reading it. Must have been mighty funny," Apple Bloom said.

"Well, in that case, it probably wasn't that useful," Spike said while he re-shelved the book next to the door. "So why are you bringing it back and not Applejack?"

Strangely, that made the filly blush slightly. "Applejack's busy at the moment, and I was on my way to meet with the Crusaders anyway."

Spike didn't think of himself as the most sensitive of dragons, but there were some things he did notice. Apple Bloom had her head turned half away from him, was fidgeting with her front hooves and was avoiding his gaze. He took a closer look at her. She was still flushed, her face tinted slightly pink, and the look in her eyes as she noticed his scrutiny and turned away was naggingly familiar to the dragon. He racked his brains trying to remember where he had seen this kind of behaviour before, but he couldn't place it.

He smiled. "Well, then, have fun. And try not to set any houses or trees on fire again."

"Hey!" Apple Bloom cried out. "That was just the one time! And we planted three new trees for that one!"

The smile turned into a grin. "Happy crusading, Apple Bloom."

"Thanks!" She turned away and skipped - yes, skipped, almost like Pinkie Pie did - down the street.

Spike put up the 'Closed' sign, shut the door and turned to walk upstairs again.

Halfway up the stairs, it suddenly hit him. He hadn't seen behaviour like Apple Bloom's - he had behaved like that himself.

Whenever I was around Rarity.

Spike's brain still wasn't working at full power, so he took a few moments to realize what that meant. When he finally did, he almost stumbled. He clung to the railing, suddenly dizzy.

Can this be true?

Now that he was aware of it, he saw several signs that should have told him ages ago. Apple Bloom was always inexplicably quiet when he was around, nothing at all like her usual self. Yet over the last few weeks, she had started to come up with excuses to have Spike around. Like that one time, when they were trying for Cutie Mark Crusader Acupuncturists. He shuddered at the memory - playing pincushion for Rarity had been one thing, but these three...

He made his way up the stairs with some difficulty and collapsed into his basket. His mind was racing. A thousand thoughts battled each other for supremacy, and one won out in the end.

How do I feel about this? How should I feel about this?

The pain was still there, but it was no longer alone. It felt like a flame had been lit in his heart, defiantly holding out against the shadows.

Life goes on. A broken heart heals. He had said that to himself many times over the last two weeks, but for the first time, he felt the truth behind those words.

He was smiling as he drifted to sleep.

Sound of Our Hearts

Twilight was deep in thought as she left the library.

He hasn't been himself these last two weeks. But what can I do about it?

She wasn't exactly the most experienced mare when it came to matters of the heart, and she was the first to admit that. But who was she supposed to talk to about this? Under different circumstances, she'd probably have picked Rarity, but that wouldn't work - she was too deeply involved in the whole affair, even if she didn't know that. As much as she liked Pinkie, she wasn't really the right pony for this. Rainbow Dash? Twilight had to suppress a rather unkind laugh at the very thought. That left Fluttershy and Applejack, neither of whom seemed particularly suited to the role as confidant in this matter.

Still lost in thought, Twilight only realized that she'd reached her intended destination when she nearly collided with one of the doorposts of Sugarcube Corner. She shook her head and entered the bakery.

The others were already there, waving at her from their regular table, all except Rarity, and that didn't really surprise Twilight - they had hardly seen each other over the last two weeks. Guess she has better company at the moment, Twilight thought with a smile - and just a little twinge of envy.

"Hiya, Twilight!" Pinkie bounced up to her and smiled. "What can I get you?" Her face took on an exaggerated salespony expression, and she affected an equally overdone 'Canterlot waiter' tone. "The cupcakes are particularly good tonight, ma'am. As are the muffins and the éclairs."

"Éclairs?" That was a new one. "Don't tell me you took inspiration from your rivals from the competition?"

"Yep!" Pinkie bounced up and down. "Oh, Gustave wouldn't tell me the recipe, of course, but I found it! Well, not his recipe, but it was a recipe for éclairs, and I wanted to try."

Twilight moved to the table and sat down. "It's an experiment, then. Éclairs it will be."

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie bounced toward the kitchen.

Twilight looked around. Applejack was busy attacking a slice of apple pie, Rainbow Dash almost disappeared behind a pile of what looked like daisy pancakes. Fluttershy, whose plate was currently empty, turned to her. "Hi, Twilight."

"Hi, girls." Twilight pulled one of the teacups closer to her. "So, what's new?"

"Oh, nothing too special. I've started training the bird choir for the Running of the Leaves, but that's still quite far off." Fluttershy took a sip of tea. "Applejack is busy at the farm preparing for the harvest ..."

"Sure am." Applejack interjected. "That south field needs to be cleared by tomorrow afternoon." She took another bite, then looked at the yellow pegasus. "Oh, sorry, Fluttershy, didn't mean to break in there."

"Oh, I don't mind," Fluttershy replied, then turned back to Twilight. "And we'll be helping the rabbits dig a few new burrows sometime next week, it's getting time for that too."

"What about you, Rainbow Dash? Busy times?" Twilight looked at the pegasus and frowned slightly. She could have sworn there had been enough pancakes to last her a day or two, but now only several empty plates lay scattered on the table before Rainbow Dash.

"Don't get me started, Twi. The weather team have been working their flanks off trying to get this freaky storm out of the Everfree Forest under control." Now that Twilight had a better look at Rainbow Dash, she noticed the haggard look on the pegasus' face and the dark circles around her eyes. "This is the first time in five days I have any free time, and even then," she glanced at the clock on the wall, "it's not much. I've got to get going in half an hour."

Pinkie came bouncing back to the table just then, carrying a plate of éclairs and another pot of tea, which she set down before Twilight. She then looked around the room. "Isn't Rarity coming?"

Applejack frowned. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her around much these last two weeks. Anypony know what's up with her?"

Twilight bit her lip. She actually had a pretty good idea what Rarity was doing, but she wouldn't talk about that before speaking to Rarity in private.

"Nah. Haven't heard from her in over two weeks either." Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy. "What about you? You have those regular spa dates with her, have you seen or heard anything?"

"Um ..." Fluttershy blushed and cast down her gaze. "Actually, yes, I have. But I promised her not to tell you about it."

"About what?" Rainbow asked, but Pinkie immediately shook her head.

"Oh no, Dashie. If Fluttershy promised to keep the secret, she'll have to keep it!"

"If you say so, but I sure hope she comes around soon." Applejack stood up. "Sorry, girls, gotta run. Can't let my brother do all the hard work by himself." She laughed. "Well, I could, but I won't. See y'all." She picked up her hat and walked out the door.

Shortly afterwards, Dash got up as well. "Sorry, gotta go. Shift starts in half an hour. Wish us luck."

"I know you'll manage, Dash. You always do." Twilight smiled encouragingly.

The pegasus just nodded and left.

"Ooh! Is that an empty table I see?" Pinkie jumped up. "Well, we can't have that. Just a moment!" She disappeared into the kitchen.

That little bit of privacy was exactly what Twilight needed right now. "Fluttershy?" The pegasus looked up. "I won't ask you to break your promise, but I think I know what Rarity is trying to keep from us, though I have no idea why."

Fluttershy seemed to shrink a little. "You know? How?"

Twilight thought for a moment, then decided she could trust Fluttershy with this. "Spike saw Rarity and Fancy Pants two weeks ago, kissing by the lake."

The yellow pegasus' eyes widened in horror. "Dear Celestia. So that's why I haven't seen him around?"

"Yes. He's been holed up in the library since then." Twilight tried to keep the worry out of her voice, but she could tell she failed. "He seems to be holding up, but I don't know what to do. I've never had to deal with a lovesick dragon before."

Fluttershy sighed. "So now we have two problems."

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.

"Rarity is head over heels in love with Fancy Pants. She actually reminds me of how Spike behaves when he's around her, or how ..." Fluttershy broke off and pressed a hoof to her mouth.

Twilight looked at her, now even more lost than before. "Or how?"

"Sorry, Twilight, I can't tell. I've already said too much." Fluttershy lowered her head.

"Okay, then let's get back to Rarity. Why is it a problem that she's so in love?"

Fluttershy peeked out from under her mane. "You don't understand, Twilight. The one time I've seen her in these two weeks, she wouldn't speak of anything or anypony else. She's incredibly happy, and I'm happy for her, but ..." She hesitated. "I'm scared we'll lose her friendship if it goes on like this."

Twilight reached out a comforting hoof. "I trust Rarity too much for that, Fluttershy. She wouldn't do that. She might be head over heels in love, but from what I know, that feeling doesn't last very long." She frowned. "What I'm wondering is, why doesn't she tell us?"

"Because she's scared." Fluttershy's voice was barely above a whisper. "She's afraid we won't accept him."

"Oh, for Celestia's sake!" Twilight felt a twinge of anger. "Doesn't she trust us?" She stood up and started pacing around the room. "You're afraid she's falling away from us, she's afraid we'll shun her, and yet again, nopony is actually talking to each other."

"We aren't?" Pinkie came bouncing out of the kitchen. "But aren't you talking to Fluttershy right now?"

"Ugh." Twilight pressed one hoof against her forehead. "We were talking about Rarity, and why we're not seeing anything of her."

"You didn't tell Twilight, did you?" Pinkie cast a stern gaze at Fluttershy, who shrank back and whimpered. "Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way ..."

"No!" Both Pinkie and Fluttershy stared at Twilight in surprise - she had almost screamed the word. "No, Pinkie, it isn't! There is one faster way - jumping to conclusions because you don't speak to one another!"

Pinkie seemed to actually think about that for a few moments. "Oh, like back on the train for the competition?"

"Yes! Only this time, it's not about a crime. It's about our friendship with Rarity, and how her having a coltfriend will affect that!"

When Twilight noticed the icy stare by Fluttershy and the look of poleaxed astonishment on Pinkie's face, she realized what she had just said out loud.

"Rarity. Has. A. Coltfriend?!" Pinkie asked, taking a step toward Twilight with each word.

"Oh, Celestia." Twilight hung her head and sat down on the floor. "Yes. I'm sorry, Fluttershy, I wasn't thinking."

Fluttershy stepped closer to her and stared down at her. "You're right. You weren't." She sighed. "But if we want to deal with this mess, we need to tell the others anyway."

Twilight looked at Pinkie. "Could you get a party ready by tomorrow night? Just the five of us."

"Sure." Pinkie hopped to the counter and started scribbling plans.

"What about Spike?" Fluttershy asked as they headed for the door.

"I'll talk to him tonight. You're right, we need to deal with this whole mess, and quickly, before it damages our friendship." They stepped outside and went their separate ways.

Nopony noticed the slight hiss emanating from one of the corners of the now empty café, or the high-pitched laughter echoing around the room.

***

Spike woke up when he heard the door. He looked at the clock and saw that his "little nap" had lasted a bit longer than he'd intended.

Dang. I should have started on my chores two hours ago if I'd wanted to finish on time. He got up and walked to the stairs. Looking down, he saw Twilight sitting at her reading table, absent-mindedly scribbling on a piece of paper.

"Twilight?" Spike walked down the stairs. "Something wrong?"

She raised her head, seemingly wondering for a moment who he was and why he was here. Goodness, she's really out of it today. What happened?

"Well, the girls and I talked." She hesitated. "About Rarity, and why we haven't seen her in two weeks."

The pain flared up, though it still was nowhere near as bad as before Apple Bloom's visit, so Spike took a moment to realize what Twilight had said. "Wait - two weeks?"

"Yes." Twilight stood up and started pacing around the room. "And Fluttershy eventually came out with the truth. We haven't seen Rarity because she's been spending all that time ..."

"...with her coltfriend." To his surprise, Spike found he could say the words without getting dizzy. Considering that even thinking the words "Rarity's coltfriend" had made him dizzy before today, that had to count as progress.

"So we're worried that she might start forgetting about us, and she's worried that we won't accept Fancy Pants, and that's why she hasn't spoken to any of us except Fluttershy over the last two weeks." Twilight seemed to have forgotten that Spike was there, she was speaking out loud to analyze the situation. She only snapped back to reality when Spike clicked his claws directly in front of her nose.

"Hello? Equestria to Twilight Sparkle, please respond!" Spike said in his best "commander" voice.

"Oh no!" Twilight looked close to panic. "I've done it again, haven't I? I've said something out loud that I didn't want to say out loud, and now ..."

Spike had to bite back a laugh. "Calm down, Twilight, please." He turned her words over in his mind. "So, why don't you girls simply talk this over with Rarity, then?"

"We will. I've arranged for Pinkie to throw a party tomorrow night where everypony except Rarity will be, and we'll talk about what to do now," Twilight said.

"Why not Rarity?" Spike asked.

"Because some of the others don't even know that she has a coltfriend yet," Twilight answered mechanically. Then she seemed to realize that something about Spike had changed. She gave him a quick once-over, and her eyes narrowed. "Spike? What happened?"

"Uh ... what do you mean?" Spike fidgeted with his claws nervously.

"You look different." She took a few steps in his direction. "Not as sad as this morning. And you're freely talking about Rarity, where her name would have brought tears to your eyes just a few hours ago. What's going on here, Spike?"

"Well ..." Spike cast about for a plausible explanation. He didn't want Apple Bloom's crush on him to become known to anypony else just yet, and that went double for Twilight - he'd never hear the end of it. "I guess I'm finally starting to get over Rarity, you know? I mean, I should be happy for her." A sudden flash of inspiration hit him, showing him a way out of this interrogation. "And so should you girls! Why don't you just go and talk to her?"

Twilight had obviously not expected to have her question thrown back at her in this way. She seemed to waver for a moment, then she fixed Spike with a stare she reserved for special occasions. "I will, Spike. But we're not done with this yet. I'll get to the bottom of this, just you wait."

Spike felt a mixture of relief and dread wash over him. He would have to explain all this at some point - Twilight never let go once she had sunk her teeth into an investigation of any kind -, but he had turned her aside for the moment, at least. And perhaps he might play some small part in keeping his friends from drifting apart.

Twilight's next words, however, drained the relief while cranking the dread up to maximum. "I will go to Rarity and talk to her. And you will come with me."

Spike felt a sharp pain and realized that he had bitten down on his tongue in surprise. "What?" he slurred, tasting blood.

"I said, you will come with me to Rarity's. If the girls and I need to talk this over with her, that goes double for you." Twilight's tone left no doubt that she was completely serious. She would drag him by the tail if necessary.

Spike took a moment to turn the thought of seeing Rarity again over in his mind. He was scared as never before in his life. Facing off against the three teenage dragons suddenly seemed child's play. He'd have gone up against Discord himself before daring to face Rarity right now.

He noticed that Twilight's lips were still moving, but he wasn't hearing anything. Images started up in his mind's eye.

***

His fear and pain were a vast black ocean threatening to swallow everything. There was nothing else but that dark, icy cold water.

And then he saw it. Right in the middle of that black ocean, a monolith rose from the waves, and that rock seemed to defy the ocean, turning the water away. The stone's surface was inscribed with the same symbols over and over again.

The Elements of Harmony. My friends. He felt a fire blaze up inside of him, and he knew that whatever happened, they could manage as long as their love and friendship was still there.

He flew closer and saw a blueish light emanate from atop the monolith, out of a black lattice resembling an oversized lantern. The waves, growing larger and larger, attacked the light, until their crowns poured inside the lantern and the light began to flicker. Spike felt something inside him begin to freeze.

Just as the light finally surrendered to the waves' onslaught, a filly's voice cut through the shadow.

You will need them. They will need you. And so will I.

Apple Bloom. As he thought the name, the lantern suddenly flared up again - not blue, as before, but bright orange. The ocean seemed to hesitate, even to draw back, and then ...

***

"Spike! Spike, talk to me!"

He opened his eyes and realized that he was lying on the floor. His fingers and toes felt like icicles, but at the same time, the small flame in his chest seemed to have grown into a bonfire. Twilight was standing over him.

He clambered to his feet. "It's alright, Twi. I'm fine."

"What happened? You just fell over while we were talking," Twilight said.

"I had a - I don't know, a vision?" Spike said hesitantly.

"Really?" Twilight's concern now was joined by curiosity. "What did you see?"

"Later, Twilight. We need to see Rarity," Spike said, astonished at his own self-confidence - he just knew that they had to keep the friendship between Rarity and the others intact. This was important, vitally important, though he could not have said why.

"You ..." Twilight broke off. "Perhaps you're right. We will talk about this later, though."

Spike looked at her and felt the confidence drain away slightly. Why was he ordering her around like this? What was going on here?

"Twi?" He sounded pitifully weak, but he didn't mind.

She had already made her way to the door and now looked back. "Yes, Spike?"

He ran up to her and hugged her. "Promise me everything will be alright."

She returned the hug. "I promise."

När jag blundar

"What do you mean, nopony's home?" Spike looked at the dark windows of Carousel Boutique.

Twilight floated the note she'd found attached to the door over to him.

Dear customers,

due to unexpected developments, Carousel Boutique will be closed until next Saturday (August 23rd).

Rarity, proprietress, Carousel Boutique

Spike couldn't believe his eyes. It wasn't like Rarity to simply go off without so much as a goodbye, and the note didn't sound like her either - if he hadn't recognized the handwriting as hers, he'd have had serious doubts about it. As things stood, however, their plan seemed to have hit an unexpected barrier.

He looked at Twilight. "What now?" he asked, the self-confidence that had filled him back at the library nearly gone.

"I'm honestly not sure." Twilight looked as lost as he felt. "I guess we'll have to talk this over with the others tomorrow and see if they have any ideas."

Just then, they heard the sound of whistling approaching from down the street, rather unusual at this late time, one hour after sundown. Spike and Twilight looked around and saw Sweetie Belle heading their way. The unicorn filly raised her head and looked at them in surprise. "Hello Miss Twilight; hello Spike. What are you doing here?"

"We wanted to check on your sister, but it seems she's not here," Spike said.

Sweetie Belle frowned. "That can't be right. I'm supposed to stay at her place tonight. Mom and Dad are out of town for the next three days - this was planned months ago." Spike noticed that Sweetie was carrying a rather large bag with pens and one or two books peeking out of it.

Spike and Twilight exchanged worried glances, then Twilight turned towards Sweetie Belle. "Say, Sweetie, have you heard much from Rarity lately?"

"No, I haven't," Sweetie replied. "Mom and Dad are getting pretty worked up about it, honestly." Then she seemed to notice that the Boutique was dark. "She's really not here, is she?" she asked, now sounding close to tears.

Spike felt a sudden flare of anger. In love or not, you didn't simply leave your sister hanging like that. He turned to Twilight. "Can't she stay with us?"

"Sure." Twilight looked at Sweetie Belle. "If you don't mind, that is?"

"Well ... I need a place for the night, and it's a bit late to go to Sweet Apple Acres now," Sweetie Belle said. "You'd take me in?"

"Of course we will." Spike smiled at the unicorn. "Come along."

***

Spike was lying awake. He could hear the breathing of Twilight and Sweetie, both fast asleep by the sound of them, but he was too wound up to sleep. He didn't know what to make of this whole situation. Rarity had never before been unreliable.

Is she turning away from the others? Was what I saw more than a dream?

The very thought made his blood freeze. Discord turning the Elements against each other had been one thing, but this time, life itself was causing the friends to drift apart, and while there was nothing too unusual about that, these were his friends, and he could not allow that to happen.

Hang on. Spike's eyes shot open. How do I know that? And what does it mean?

He had no answer to those questions, but he knew beyond a doubt that their friendship could not be allowed to fall apart like this. Not now, and perhaps not ever.

He remembered the words he'd heard in his vision. You will need them. They will need you.

Spike suddenly felt very, very small. Why me? I must keep those friendships intact? But I'm just a baby dragon. What can I do by myself?

Just as he felt tears coming to his eyes, he suddenly remembered what else the voice in his vision had said.

And so will I.

***

Again, images started appearing before his mind's eye. He was standing in a dark cave, shivering. Just a few steps in front of him, a circular groove had been cut into the rocky floor, surrounding rainbow-hued threads of light. Two of the end points of those threads looked almost close enough to touch, and where they converged, gemstones floated in the air at eye level - a blue balloon and a pink butterfly. The other points were hard to see through the shadows, but Spike thought he could make out a very familiar purple star on the other side of the cave.

As he watched, something began to shift among the stones. The triplet of blue diamonds started to flicker and fade, and finally went dark. A shudder went through the ground, cracks began to appear in the walls, and the other five gemstones dimmed, their light weakened by the loss of the sixth. The threads of light began to dance and whip around frantically, searching for something to connect to, but to no avail.

The three-coloured bolt of lightning was the next to go dark. One by one, the others followed suit, until finally only the purple star was left. The cave was shaking now, the cracks were widening. Large plates of stone dropped from the ceiling, some barely missing the dragon, yet just as the chunks of rock were descending upon Spike, he felt another presence in the cave.

Harmony isn't everything. You can't reduce friendship to just six elements - it's far too wonderful and complex for that. And when Harmony comes to the end of its wisdom, the void must be filled with something else, or darkness will reign.

It sounded like Apple Bloom, but she would never say something like that.

***

Spike awoke with a start. He noticed that he had his arms raised, as if to protect his head, and he was trembling all over.

What's happening to me? he thought as tears came to his eyes. What's going on here?

He was taken out of his thoughts by a loud knock at the door. Surprised, he looked at the clock. What in Celestia's name? It's half past three in the morning!

"Twilight? Are you there?"

Spike took a moment to recognize the voice. Big Macintosh?

He hurried downstairs and unlatched the door. The big red stallion looked like he'd just run the leaves, more out of breath than Spike had ever seen him. "Hello, Spike. Mighty sorry to disturb you at this hour, but it's urgent."

"Spike?" Twilight must have heard the knocking as well. She was coming downstairs, yawning heavily. "Oh. Good evening, Big Macintosh."

"Twilight. Thank Celestia." Spike had never seen Big Mac this shaken, and it filled him with dread. He didn't want anything to do with something that had this effect on the unflappable stallion. "As I said, sorry, but it's real urgent."

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, now fully awake.

"It's Apple Bloom." Spike suddenly felt as though somepony had pulled the floor out from under him, and he leaned heavily against one of the bookcases. Big Macintosh looked at him curiously, but continued. "About an hour ago, she screamed something frightful for several minutes and then went back to sleep. We can't get her to wake up, Twilight."

"Oh my goodness." Twilight looked at Big Macintosh in horror. "But why are you here? The hospital ..."

"You don't understand," Big Macintosh interrupted her. "This was more than just a simple nightmare. She's glowing."

"Glowing?" Spike hadn't believed it possible for Twilight's eyes to widen further, but he had been wrong. "What do you mean, glowing?"

"What I said." Big Macintosh cast a curious glance in Spike's direction. "Looks a lot like that, come to think of it, only it's green, not orange."

"What do you ..." Spike broke off as he looked down at his hands, enveloped in a soft orange light.

Twilight had obviously not noticed until now either, and looked at Spike with alarm. "What's happening here?"

"I don't know, Twi." Spike was shaking like a leaf. "But it's got something to do with me and Apple Bloom."

"You and Apple Bloom?" Big Macintosh's gaze now held a little suspicion, and his voice had a vaguely threatening undercurrent that made Spike shiver even more. "I mean, I know she's head over hooves for you and all, but ..."

Spike could feel Twilight's stare even before he turned to face her. For a few seconds, she seemed to be putting the pieces together, then her face went stern. "That was what you wouldn't tell me, wasn't it?"

He took a deep breath. "Yes. I only found out this morning." Not even a day ago? He could hardly believe that. Things were happening so quickly...

Big Macintosh seemed to realize what he'd done. "Oops. Sorry, Spike." His head turned towards Twilight, disbelief creeping into his voice. "You didn't know?"

"No." Twilight grinned sheepishly. "I may be a little slow on the uptake when it comes to things like that."

"Could we talk about this later?" This wasn't the self-confidence he'd felt after his first vision - it was worry for a friend that drove Spike this time, but it seemed to have a similar effect. "We need to get to Sweet Apple Acres now!"

"Right. Let's ..." Twilight broke off. "What about Sweetie Belle?"

Spike's mind raced. "We can't leave her here by herself. Big Mac, could you carry her?"

The red stallion was obviously wondering what Sweetie Belle was doing at the library, but he just nodded. "Eeyup."

A few minutes later, Twilight, Spike, Big Macintosh and a rather drowsy and confused Sweetie Belle were racing towards Sweet Apple Acres. Spike was repeating the same words to himself over and over.

Hang on, Apple Bloom. We'll find out what's wrong, and we'll take care of it. I promise.

Echo (You and I)

Canterlot, Villa Fancy, Thursday, August 21st

I've forgotten something. Something important.

The thought had been nagging at the back of Rarity's mind for the last five days. She could not put her hoof on what it was she'd forgotten, but she knew she really shouldn't have. Even the beauty of Fancy Pants' mansion wasn't enough to distract her from it.

One look at Fancy Pants was enough to drive the worry from her mind. She still couldn't believe her good fortune. Fancy adored her - he worshipped the ground she walked on. Yet he didn't let that adoration interfere with his higher brain functions, which was rare. If she'd wanted drooling colts, she could have had them by the boatload in Ponyville, but Fancy was smart, funny and sophisticated - everything the stallion of her dreams should be.

Fancy's voice shook her back to reality. "Is anything the matter, dear?"

Rarity looked at him and smiled. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You were a thousand miles away from here by the look in your eyes, and it's not the first time I've seen you like that." Fancy had a slightly worried look on his face.

Add "perceptive" to the list of good qualities, Rarity thought. "Actually, yes, something is the matter, but I simply can't remember what it is," she said out loud.

"Perhaps it has something to do with your friends?" Fancy suggested. "Or perhaps your family? This was an awfully spontaneous week off, after all."

The fog began to lift, but still not completely. "Yes, now that you mention it ..." Rarity racked her brains trying to get that damn memory to show. "My family was somehow involved."

The bit dropped. Rarity blanched, which by all rights should not have been possible. "Oh Celestia."

"What is it?" Fancy levitated a glass of water over to her. "What happened?"

"I had promised my parents to take in Sweetie Belle while they were out of town. And I completely forgot." Rarity took a deep gulp of water. She was shaking all over from guilt.

"What?" Fancy looked startled. "How could that happen? Didn't your parents say anything when you told them you were leaving?"

Rarity couldn't face him. She turned her head away. "Actually, I didn't tell them. Or my friends, for that matter. They don't even know about you yet."

A slight flush started to show on Fancy's cheeks. "You can't be serious, Rarity. Why? What earthly reason could you have to keep something this important a secret for this long?"

She had never seen him angry before, and she suddenly realized why the other society ponies deferred to him - he was obviously a force to be reckoned with. "Fancy, I'm sorry! It's just ..."

He waited for a few seconds, but as it became obvious that she wasn't going to continue without some prodding, he sighed. "What, Rarity? Are you ashamed of me?"

Despite the serious nature of the conversation, Rarity had to bite back a disbelieving laugh at that. "No! How could you think that?"

"Then what is it?" Fancy looked at her again. He seemed to have calmed down; the expression on his face was reflective rather than angry. "Let me venture a guess, dear. You're afraid that I might come between you and your friends and family."

Rarity just stared at him. "How ...?"

He grinned. "I'm quite a bit older and more experienced in these matters than you are, Rarity, no offense." For a moment, Fancy's eyes looked into the distance. "Ah, to be this young and this head-over-hooves in love again." He turned back to her, serious again. "The point is, I've seen pretty much everything there is when it comes to matters of the heart. You were scared that your friends might not like me, that you'd be forced to choose between them and me."

Suddenly, a floodgate seemed to open within Rarity. She started sobbing. "Yes. Oh Celestia, yes. What if they didn't want anything to do with you? And what about ...?" She broke off.

Fancy looked at her curiously for a moment, then he smiled. "There is somepony you didn't want to hurt. Somepony with feelings for you that go beyond friendship, perhaps?"

Can he read minds? She just stared, her tears forgotten.

He continued, thinking out loud. "I hardly know your friends, but I know it's nopony I saw at the party here in Canterlot. But you have told me about that little dragon with whom you go gem-hunting. He's your admirer, isn't he?"

She found her voice. "How do you do that?"

He pointed to his cutie mark. "I'm very gifted at recognizing social structures around me. I'm a society pony, it's what I do." He turned stern. "You can't run away from this, Rarity. As much as I hate cutting our time here short, you need to return to Ponyville at once." He pulled a rope, and seconds later, a butler entered. "Prepare the carriage, Cab. Lady Rarity and I will be leaving for Ponyville at once."

"Very well, sir." The butler turned away and closed the door.

"You'll come with me?" Rarity asked, uncertainly.

He stepped closer and embraced her. "We will settle this little problem together, Rarity."

***

Sweet Apple Acres, Monday, 18th August

Big Macintosh had been right. Apple Bloom actually was glowing.

Upon their arrival, they had cleared out a bedroom for poor Sweetie Belle, who had been out like a light the second she hit the mattress. Now Twilight, Big Macintosh, Applejack and Spike were assembled in Apple Bloom's bedroom, where the filly was tossing and turning fitfully in her sleep.

Twilight had her eyes closed, and her horn was glowing softly. She had started to analyze what was happening the instant she'd sat down, and now three pairs of anxious eyes were fixated on her.

Finally, after about half an hour, she opened her eyes, motioning for something to drink. Spike immediately pushed a glass of water into her hoof, and she drank greedily. "Ahh. Thanks, I needed that."

"What is it, Twi?" Applejack urged her. "What is going on here?"

"I can't say yet. But the magic here is nothing malevolent -," she broke off at Applejack's empty stare and sighed. "It's nothing bad or evil. In fact, it looks and feels very similar to the Elements of Harmony when they're active."

"What are you saying? That my sister is another Element of Harmony?" asked Applejack.

"No. It feels similar, not identical. And I'm absolutely certain that there are only six Elements of Harmony. This is something related, but different." Twilight looked at Spike, who was still glowing softly, then back at Applejack. "Whatever is happening here, it's something I've never even heard of."

"So what do we do now?" Spike stepped closer to the bed and looked at Apple Bloom. Whatever she was dreaming about, it couldn't be good.

"Spike, take a letter." Twilight looked at her assistant expectantly.

"Um, Twi, this isn't the library, and we did leave in a hurry. I don't have any paper or ink with me," the dragon said.

"One moment." Big Macintosh left the room, returning a few moments later with several sheets of paper, a bottle of ink and a quill.

"Thanks." Spike picked up the paper, dipped the quill in ink and waited for Twilight to start.

"Dear Princess Celestia, we have encountered a magical phenomenon here in Ponyville that I've never seen before ..." As Twilight continued to describe what had happened, Spike duly noted down every word. His mind, however, was elsewhere. I will get to the bottom of this, Apple Bloom. We'll get you out of there.

Finally, Twilight finished with her customary "Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle". Spike dried off the letter, rolled it up and breathed on it. The ashes flew out the window.

"That's that." Twilight suddenly seemed to realize that she should be asleep right now and just lay down where she stood.

"Um, Twi, that's the floor. We got beds for sleeping," Applejack said, also yawning. "I'll go get some blankets and pillows, at least."

***

In spite of everything he had to keep him awake, Spike had eventually dozed off. His sleep was rather rudely interrupted, however.

"Aaaaah!" The scream was followed by a series of ragged, deep breaths.

Spike shot up and looked wildly around for the source of the noise. His eyes fell on Apple Bloom's bed - he had asked to be allowed to sleep in the room -, and he saw that the filly was awake. She was still glowing softly, but the light was fading - as was his own, he noticed absent-mindedly. She was panting heavily, her eyes were wide open, and an expression of pure terror was etched on her face.

And she had her hooves raised, as if to shield herself from something falling on her from above.

Then she seemed to realize that she wasn't about to be killed by falling rocks. She looked around and noticed Spike for the first time. "Spike? What are you doing here?"

He could have said a dozen things. He could have explained it to her, although he didn't understand it himself. But something told him that she didn't need an explanation right now. That could wait.

"Shh." He clambered onto the bed and hugged her. "It's okay. Everything will be alright."

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but she seemed to relax ever so slightly. "I saw a big cave. And ..."

"I know. I've seen it too." Somewhere in the back of his mind, Spike was aware that this situation should be uncomfortable, perhaps even embarrassing, but it wasn't. This had nothing to do with love, and not even that much with friendship. They were going through the same frightening situation, and it just felt right that they should rely on one another.

"But what does it mean?" Apple Bloom sobbed. "And why did I hear your voice?"

He broke the hug in surprise and stared at her. "Did you say my voice?"

"Yeah." She sniffed one last time, then curiosity won out over fear for the moment. "You said something about Harmony not being everything."

Spike frowned in confusion. "I did hear that too. But it was your voice speaking."

"What is happening to us?" Fear returned to Apple Bloom's voice. "What is going on here?"

"I don't know," Spike admitted. "But we need to get to the bottom of this ..."

"... or else the Elements will scatter, and darkness will reign."

They had finished the sentence in unison and now stared at each other in shock.

"What does that mean?" Apple Bloom asked. "And why did it have to be us? We're just foals - or hatchlings."

Just then, the window suddenly flew open, and a soft voice floated in from outside.

"The Elements choose their bearers because they believe in them. Age does not enter into it."

Spike and Apple Bloom turned to the window very slowly, as if expecting some kind of monster. Instead, they were greeted by a dark blue pony head with a long horn and a flowing mane seemingly made of stars.

"Forgive us, loyal subjects. We did not mean to scare you."

Spike swallowed, then finally managed two words.

"Princess Luna?"

***

They hurriedly woke the rest of the house - it was almost time for that anyway - and assembled in the kitchen.

Twilight finally broke the silence. "So, your highness ..."

"Please, Luna will do." The princess waved a dismissing hoof. "We have more important things to do than stand on protocol."

"Right, Luna then. Why are you here? I wrote to your sister," Twilight said.

"True. But from the description in your letter, this seems a matter where my sister holds little sway. These two youngsters," she pointed at Spike and Apple Bloom, "have come under the influence of a power that resides within my realm."

"Your realm?" Twilight asked. "You mean, you know what is happening to them?"

"I do not, sadly." Luna's head dropped almost imperceptibly. "Yet whatever it be that is happening, it utilizes dreams and visions to show itself." The princess lips curled up into a half-smile. "Dreams and visions fall under the purview of the night, so I might be of more use in this than my sister. Also, I have taken quite a bit of time of late to further my studies of ancient Equestrian history."

"Ancient history? Like, the age of Discord?" Spike asked.

"No. That is not ancient history to me. I remember that time." A shadow seemed to fall over Luna's face, and when Spike saw her eyes, he shrank back, realizing for the first time how incredibly old the princess really was, and how much she'd seen. "I speak of times long before that, times before the unification of the Three Tribes, before my birth and that of my sister. The age of the Ancient Darkness." Luna's voice had taken on a slight reverb as she spoke, and her final words seemed to cast a shadow over the room.

"Ancient Darkness?" Twilight asked the question on everypony's mind. "What do you mean by that?"

"I only relate legends, Twilight Sparkle. It is said that long before the unification, the three tribes were under constant attack by forces beyond the understanding of ponies. When some brave and clever ponies from all three tribes realized that these forces were but avatars of a greater evil, they named that greater evil the Ancient Darkness." Luna's eyes had gone solid white, the reverb in her voice was stronger now. "The great evils you fought, Element of Magic, were but survivors from those days. When the Avatar of Envy possessed me, the result was Nightmare Moon. When the Avatar of Discord managed to manifest, he took the form of the draconequus you fought."

The light in Luna's eyes dimmed, and her voice suddenly sounded normal again. "It is also said that the Three Tribes, working together for the first time, managed to channel the powers of light and good against the Ancient Darkness, destroying it and banishing its remains beyond the borders of reality. You know six of these powers, for they have manifested in you and your friends."

"The Elements of Harmony." Twilight sounded shocked beyond belief at this overload of information, a feeling that Spike could relate to. "But you said 'six of these powers'. Were there others?"

"There must have been, but we know nothing about them. While the Elements of Harmony were preserved through the court wizards of the Unicorn Tribe, the powers utilized by the Pegasus and Earth Pony Tribes were lost over the years, which may explain the lack of unity among the Three after the Darkness was defeated and before the Great Unification led by Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie and Private Pansy." Luna looked at Spike again. "Also lost were the powers of the Tribes' allies."

"Allies?" Spike broke in. "There were others who fought the Ancient Darkness?"

"The legend says so, young dragon, yet nopony knows who these allies were. The bonds between the pony tribes and these allies did not survive beyond the defeat of the Ancient Darkness." Luna cast a searching gaze at Spike and Apple Bloom. "Yet now it seems that two of the powers of old are manifesting again. At least," she suddenly sounded a good deal less certain, "that is the only kind of explanation I have been able to find. Nothing else in the archives even remotely alludes to anything like what is happening to you."

"It matches up with what I found out," Twilight said. "The powers are very similar to the Elements of Harmony, but not identical. But where do these visions come in?"

Luna smiled again. "How often have you used the Elements since you defeated me?"

"Only once, to defeat Discord. Why?" Twilight seemed lost as to where Luna was going with this.

"The Elements of Harmony are attuned to the rulers of Equestria. The first time you used them, there was only one such ruler, my sister. And as I said," Luna's smile became a grin, "dreams and visions are not her purview, but mine. I only recently regained my full powers and birthright; your defeat of Discord came before that. If you used the Elements now, you'd likely experience some kind of vision as well."

"But Spike and Apple Bloom aren't bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Why are they still having visions?" Twilight seemed determined to untangle this knot.

"Two for the day, two for the night, and two for the bridge that links them." Luna recited.

"Um ... come again, Princess?" Applejack looked even more lost than the others.

Luna had the grace to blush. "My apologies. I forgot that not everypony is as fascinated with prophecy and visions as I am. The phrase I just recited is an old saying about the Elements of Harmony. Two are connected to the day, two to the night, and two to the twilight that turns one into the other." The princess looked at Twilight. "While no two historians agree on which elements are linked to which time of day, all of them believe that your element is associated with dawn and dusk."

"Twilight. Naturally." Twilight smiled. "So you think Spike and Apple Bloom bear other elements associated with night?"

"I believe so, though I should hasten to add that that is not a negative thing." Luna winked at Spike and Apple Bloom.

"All very well and good, but what do we do now?" All heads turned to Big Macintosh, who seemingly was tired of this whole discussion.

"Trust an earth pony to cut to the heart of the matter." Luna lowered her head. "I honestly cannot answer that, Big Macintosh. I have told you everything I know. From now on, you will have to make it up as you go along. I do know one thing, though. If I am right, and these are elements of old manifesting, you can be certain that they aren't doing that at random. They are doing it because they will be needed, probably very soon."

She rose. "I need to go. All my best to the other elements and your other friends."

Big Macintosh and Applejack saw Luna to the door, then they returned to a shocked silence.

Finally, Applejack spoke up. "Quite the infodump the princess gave us, eh?"

"Yes." Twilight looked as though somepony had struck her with a hammer. "Quite the infodump, indeed." She looked at Spike and Apple Bloom. "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you. Can we do anything?"

Spike didn't seem to hear her. Apple Bloom, however, turned her head and actually managed a smile. "You'll find a way." She turned to Applejack and Big Macintosh. "You're my friends and family. You'll think of something."

Twilight wished she could share the filly's trust, yet Apple Bloom's optimism was infectious. She looked at Applejack. "We will find a way, won't we?"

"Damn straight we will, Twilight." Applejack was even worse at hiding her uncertainty than Twilight - which was to be expected from the Element of Honesty -, but she too seemed to have been swept up in Apple Bloom's trust.

"Resolve."

Spike's voice was quiet, yet every head in the room turned to him at the word. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Resolve? What do you mean by that?"

"I believe it's my element." He looked up, and they saw a strange gleam in his eyes. "Think about it, Twilight. I wanted to find out who I am, and I would have gone through with it, would have remained there forever if those dragons hadn't been complete jerks. When they showed their true colours, I defended Pee Wee from them. I was able to give up a treat I had been looking forward to for months for somepony I like. I was so determined to remain your Number One Assistant that I tried to frame Owloysius for killing."

He sounded briefly ashamed at the memory, but then went on, "I played pincushion for Rarity. I controlled myself when we went gem-hunting, even though the tastiest treats were arranged before me. I kept at it for nearly two years, even though I could clearly see she didn't feel the same for me." Spike smiled. "I'm not especially honest, or generous, or kind. I'm not overly loyal or joyful, and I'm certainly not particularly magical. But I do finish the things I start, come what may, and that's why I think the element I bear is resolve."

The words had hardly left Spike's mouth when a brilliant flash of silvery light enveloped the dragon. It lasted only for a few seconds, fading as quickly as it had come, and then Spike realized he was clinging to the table with both hands. "Whoa! What in the hay was that?"

Twilight drew in a sharp breath when she noticed something around the dragon's neck. "Um, Spike?" She pointed. "I think you were right."

"What do you ..." He looked down and saw it. "Oh."

Spike was wearing a necklace very similar to the ones the Elements of Harmony were attached to. It wasn't made of gold, however, but of a smoky black glass-like stone - obsidian, he dimly recognized. Set in its centre was a brilliant green gemstone shaped like a quill.

"Congratulations, Spike." Twilight grinned impishly. "You're the new element of resolve."

He vaguely noticed yellow hooves catching him as he fainted.

Crno i belo

The first thing Spike noticed when he woke up was the ceiling - old, darkened beams of wood far above him.

The next thing he realized was that it must be the middle of the day, judging by the sunlight streaming in through the window. He sat up and looked around, recognizing one of the guest rooms at Sweet Apple Acres, and suddenly, the events of last night came flooding back into his head.

Did that actually happen? he wondered to himself. Or did I have the most bizarre dream ever?

His eyes fell on the bedside table, and any hope or fear that it might not have been real vanished instantly as he saw the necklace lying on it. Obsidian, with a quill-shaped emerald.

Spike groaned and fell back. I didn't imagine things then.

A knock sounded on the door, accompanied by a familiar voice. "Spike? Are you awake?"

"Uh ... yeah. Come in, Apple Bloom." Spike rose from the bed and sat down on the bench beneath the window.

The door opened with a creak, and Apple Bloom walked in. The shock seemed to have worn off slightly, and she was actually smiling. "Good morning, sleepyhead. Or should I say good afternoon?"

"What time is it?" Spike asked.

"Half past twelve." Apple Bloom looked at him, worry in her eyes. "Are you okay? You went out like a light after that appeared." She pointed to the necklace.

Spike smiled bashfully. "I guess it was too much to take in. I try and guess what it is I was feeling, and the next thing I know, that thing shows up out of nowhere."

"It will be alright. We have our families and friends to turn to, after all," Apple Bloom said.

From almost anypony else, Spike would have treated these words as simple reassurance, but Apple Bloom was different. She firmly believed in what she said.

He remembered something. "Apple Bloom? I meant to ask something last night, before the necklace appeared. Do you have any idea what your element might be?" Spike would have been the first to admit that he was curious about this, but there was more to it. He felt that it was important to know the answer.

"I've thought about that." Apple Bloom looked down. "I'm not very good at thinking, though. I can't really say."

"Don't be so harsh on yourself." Spike patted the bench next to him. "Sit down, let's talk this over. Perhaps we'll find it together."

Apple Bloom hesitantly sat down next to him - or lay down, Spike could never quite tell how to call it with ponies. He looked at her and thought for a moment about how to start, then he had an idea. "Did you have any other dreams of that - special kind? Apart from the one last night, I mean."

"Only one, though I'm not sure it was a dream, because I wasn't asleep. It was yesterday evening, after I'd come back from crusading. We were having dinner, and I must have zoned out from what Applejack told me." Apple Bloom looked at Spike. "What about you?"

"The same. I'd even say it must have been at about the same time - about sunset?"

Apple Bloom nodded. "Anyway, I was thinking about what we'd done that day, and how we still didn't have our cutie marks, and how I ..." She blushed.

Spike swallowed once, then he looked Apple Bloom in the eyes. "AB?"

That name, which he'd not used before, got her attention. "Y...yes?"

"You were thinking about me." It wasn't really a question.

Apple Bloom breathed in sharply. "You ... you know?"

"I realized shortly after you'd left." Spike smiled. "I must have been pretty blind not to see it before, to be honest."

Apple Bloom turned her head away, blushing even more deeply. "And you...?" She obviously couldn't bring herself to finish that question - perhaps she didn't know how it should end.

"AB, I had a crush on Rarity." Her ears perked up at his use of the past tense, but he continued. "I know what it's like to be in your position, and if I hurt you at any time, I'm sorry." He cast down his gaze and closed his eyes, remembering several occasions where he might have unwittingly stomped on Apple Bloom's feelings.

He felt a hoof wrap around his shoulders and looked up. Apple Bloom was smiling at him, though her eyes were brimming with tears. "It's okay. Granny Smith always says that pain is a part of life as much as joy is." Her expression turned serious. "We should talk about this later, but for now, we were talking about something else."

"You're right." Spike felt relieved that Apple Bloom wouldn't hold anything against him. "So what was your vision like?"

"Well, it was like this ..."

***

Apple Bloom was falling, ever falling through a pitch-black void without beginning or end. She had been falling forever, and she would continue falling until the end of time.

That wasn't the worst part, though. The void was more than just emptiness - it felt cold, dark and greedy, for it was her own fears that threatened to overwhelm her. They attacked her, not with weapons but with her own thoughts of inadequacy.

You will never get a cutie mark.

You will never be anything special.

You will always be the little sister of the strongest stallion in Ponyville and the Element of Honesty. That hurt worse than the others, because it had a ring of truth to it that the other two lacked.

He will never notice you. Why should he? That hurt even worse than the one before, because it was laced not with truth, but with doubt. Where the other thoughts seemed to pierce her like icy needles, this one was like an icicle straight through her heart.

Just as she felt the numbness and cold overwhelm her, she suddenly realized that there was actually something else here. She peered through the shadows and saw ...

The Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse. Only it wasn't the smallish treehouse they had built; this looked more like the Royal City of Canterlot, but with a distinct touch of Sweet Apple Acres to it. The lofty spires were topped by weathervanes, and the main building looked exactly like the farmhouse, with a lone apple tree standing right next to the door. The jury-rigged appearance still gave it away for what it really was, though.

As Apple Bloom drew closer, she noticed that the void seemed to recoil from the house briefly. Then, just as she was hoping it would go away entirely, it seemed to regroup and started to attack. Darkness drew in on the house from all sides, threatening to overwhelm it any second.

Apple Bloom's eyes were drawn to the apple tree. She realized that six of the apples bore carvings that she recognized as the Elements of Harmony. There were others that she knew belonged to ponies she loved - Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle. Finally her gaze fell upon the apple closest to the top of the tree. It was small and rather oddly shaped, almost like a pear, and its purple skin seemed to glow with a soft greenish light.

They're my family and friends. Everything will turn out right.

The apples in the tree suddenly blazed with light, none more brightly than the purple one at the top, which was now difficult to look at. As the void seemed to prepare for its final, decisive assault, Apple Bloom heard a voice.

You will need them. They will need you. And so will I.

Spike. As she thought the name, the void drew back from her, and from the clubhouse, and then...

***

"...and then I realized Applejack was shaking me by the shoulders," Apple Bloom finished.

"How did you feel when you came back?" Spike thought he knew the answer, but he needed to make sure.

"I was cold, but I also felt as if a fire was burning in my heart." Apple Bloom looked uncertain. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. I felt the same after my first vision." Spike scratched the back of his neck. "It wasn't a void, but an ocean in my vision, but I guess that makes sense."

"What do you mean?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I'm a dragon. Water can do some very nasty things to me, as Twilight realized after the last Winter Wrap Up." Spike shuddered at the memory. He had been fortunate to get away with just a simple cold - from what Nurse Redheart had told them, he could have died if the water had been any colder.

Apple Bloom, however, didn't seem to be listening. She looked deep in thought, as though she was trying to figure something out. Finally, she turned to Spike again. "If you had to give that black ocean in your vision a name, what would it be?"

"Um..." Spike had tried to avoid thinking about the water, but Apple Bloom might be on to something here. "Fear, most likely, though there was something else there."

"Yeah, I thought so too. I'd hoped you might be able to put a name to that 'something else'. You're the smart one here, after all." Apple Bloom grinned half-heartedly.

"Ever the confident one, AB. Have you ever considered that it might be your special talent?" Spike joked.

"What, confidence? Nah. I just think everything will eventually turn out alright, that's all." Apple Bloom had barely finished saying that when she suddenly vanished into a flash of brilliant silver light. Spike's nictitating membranes closed instinctively, but the flash disappeared as rapidly as it had come.

Apple Bloom was still lying on the bench, which was probably a good thing, for she was shaking heavily. "What in tarnation...?" She looked at Spike, and realization struck both of them. Their eyes wandered to Apple Bloom's neck.

It was a simple affair - an unadorned necklace of burnished copper set with an orange gemstone shaped like a hammer.

Spike forced a smile. "What you said before that happened, how you feel - that's exactly what confidence is."

"Oh." Apple Bloom carefully touched a hoof to the necklace. "So that makes me ..."

"The Element of Confidence." Spike hugged her. "Congratulations."

She was still trembling, but since she didn't have this revelation combined with a massive infodump, she seemed to hold up better than Spike had done. "I thought it would turn out alright, and the darkness retreated."

"I thought of my friends, and the ocean withdrew." Spike thought for a moment, then it hit him. "Of course! That's it!"

"What's what?" Apple Bloom asked.

"The ocean. It wasn't just fear. There was something behind that, something darker and more evil. The fears were mine, but they were magnified." Spike felt that the answer was within reach.

"Yeah. Something was driving the fears, using them against us." Apple Bloom seemed just as excited as Spike felt. "And I can almost put a name to it. It attacked our hearts, from within ourselves. It was trying to plant the seeds of ..."

They looked at each other as the answer finally came to them.

"Doubt."

***

Meanwhile, at Sugarcube Corner...

"Pinkie?" Mr. Cake called out as he entered the kitchen. "Just checking to see if you're ..."

He fell silent in horror as he stared at the scene before him, mouth agape.

Pinkie Pie was sitting on the floor just staring into the distance. Her usually poofy mane was straight, flattened against her head, her eyes were red from crying. At the sound of Mr. Cake's hoofsteps, she slowly turned her head in his direction and started to speak, in a voice raw from despair.

"Please help me, Mr. Cake. I don't know how to make cupcakes anymore."

As she slowly made to get up, Mr. Cake's eyes fell on her flank, and he gasped. Her cutie mark had vanished almost completely, only the barest outline of the balloons left.

"Let's get you to the hospital, Pinkie. I'm sure the doctors will know what to do." He was quite sure that the doctors had never seen anything like this, but he tried to keep up appearances for Pinkie's sake.

Neither of them noticed the slender black tendrils dancing around Pinkie's cutie mark as they left the bakery, nor the quiet, high-pitched laughter echoing around the room, a laughter that resonated with words.

When doubt extinguishes laughter, despair will reign.

Kuula

"Whatever this thing is, I'm sure you'll do our family proud with it." Granny Smith smiled at her youngest granddaughter.

Apple Bloom felt a surge of gratitude at the words of the Apple family matriarch. She and Spike had shown the necklace to the others immediately after their conversation, and also told them what they'd found out. They were assembled in the kitchen again, though this time Sweetie Belle and Granny Smith were present - for their first meeting that morning, Applejack and Big Macintosh had urged them not to wake Granny, but now it was two in the afternoon, and the old mare seemed just as awake and alert as any of them.

"I'll do my best, Granny," Apple Bloom said.

"So, you think that whatever is happening does have some ancient evil behind it after all?" Applejack said, steering the conversation into more dangerous waters.

Twilight shrugged. "Who can tell at this point? Did doubt get to us because our friendship with Rarity is currently under stress, or did doubt cause that to happen?"

Applejack seemed to reflect on that for a second, then she shrugged as well. "It doesn't matter. We needn't think about the causes, we need to deal with what is before us now."

"You're right." Twilight looked at Spike and Apple Bloom. "Do you have any ideas what we should do?"

Spike scratched the back of his neck. "Um, Twi, usually it's you who makes decisions like that. I just follow along."

Twilight smiled. "Fair enough, but the shoe is on the other hoof this time. Your visions showed us that something evil was happening, and perhaps they'll get us to the next step too."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Applejack got up to answer it, and a few seconds later, they heard her voice from the hall. "Derpy? What are you doing here at this time of day?"

The familiar tomboyish voice of Ponyville's mailmare drifted in. "Hi, Applejack. Sorry to disturb you, but Mr. Cake asked me to get this message to you." She peered into the kitchen. "Oh, hi everypony. Twilight, I've got one for you too." She produced two sheets of notepaper.

Applejack frowned. "You don't usually play messenger, Derpy. What's going on?"

"No idea, but Mr. Cake looked terrible. Something must have happened." Derpy gave them an apologetic glance. "Sorry, but I gotta be off. My afternoon round starts in an hour."

"Bye, Derpy." Applejack closed the door as the mailmare took off and looked at the sheet of paper in confusion. "What in the hay can that be about?"

Twilight had already unfolded the paper and now paled visibly. "Dear Celestia."

"What is it?" Applejack now read through her note and blanched as well. "Oh goodness. We need to get going immediately."

Spike suddenly shivered, as did Apple Bloom. The dragon turned to Twilight. "What is it?"

"It's Pinkie." Twilight's voice was shaking. "She's at the hospital."

***

Ponyville Hospital, Monday, 18th August, 3 pm

The sight made Spike's blood freeze, and by the looks on his friends' faces, they felt the same.

Pinkie lay in a hospital bed, her usually vibrant coat and mane looking pale, almost as if they had been bleached, only the faintest trace of pink remaining in the white. Her mane lay flattened around her head, and she was gazing into the distance.

Twilight turned to Nurse Redheart. "What's wrong with her?"

The white earth pony didn't turn her head, keeping her gaze fixated on Pinkie. "We don't know, Twilight. Nopony has ever seen anything like this. Mr. Cake found her like this, sitting on the floor of the bakery, but her condition is getting steadily worse." She gave Twilight an imploring look. "Please, if you can do anything for her, anything at all, try it. We're at the end of our rope here."

"Can we talk to her?" Twilight asked.

"You're free to try, but she hasn't said a word since she was brought here." Nurse Redheart stepped aside.

Twilight, Spike, Applejack and Apple Bloom stepped closer to the bed. Twilight forced a smile. "Hi, Pinkie."

Pinkie didn't react. Twilight tried again, as did Applejack, to no avail. Then Spike reached out his hand and tried to touch Pinkie's cheek.

"Ow!" He jerked his hand back as pain shot up his fingers. When he looked at them, he saw something like black smoke drift from them, though they didn't look burned. He looked at Twilight. "What was that?"

"No idea, but I'm on it." Twilight's horn glowed, and she looked at Pinkie and at Spike's hand. "Hm. There seems to be something inside Pinkie that reacts violently to the power you carry."

"Inside her? And it's an enemy of my element?"

"Exactly." Twilight looked at Spike, then back at Pinkie, who wasn't showing any reaction to this at all. "Something very bad attacked her, and she seems to be losing the fight."

"So what do we do about it?" Applejack asked. "We can't just sit here and let her die!"

Spike carefully stretched his hand out again. When it made contact with Pinkie's cheek, it burned, but this time he was ready for it. A strange hissing noise emerged from between his fingers, black smoky tendrils rose up, and when he drew his hand back, there was a vibrant pink print of it visible on Pinkie's cheek.

Twilight looked puzzled for a moment, then comprehension dawned on her face. "Perhaps you can help her out of this!"

Spike looked at his hand. The prolonged contact with Pinkie had actually caused the scales on his fingers to blacken slightly. "I don't think I can keep this up long enough, Twilight. It hurts a lot."

Applejack cut in. "Then use your element directly."

Spike's eyes widened. "How? I've never done that!"

"Neither had we when we defeated Nightmare Moon." Twilight gave him an encouraging nod. "Just focus on it and think of what you want to do."

"Should I help?" Apple Bloom piped up.

"I don't want you to get hurt, AB," Applejack said, "but if this is why that element showed up in you, perhaps you'll have to. Be careful."

Spike and Apple Bloom took positions on opposite sides of Pinkie's bed, looked at each other, then closed their eyes and focused...

***

They opened their eyes.

The first thing that was immediately noticeable were the rocks. They were standing in a huge pit filled with rocks, stones and boulders of all sizes and shapes, all kinds of rock imaginable and a few that Spike didn't even recognize.

Then they heard the sobs.

They looked ahead and saw that Pinkie was sitting at the very lowest point of the quarry. She had her back turned, her coat looking as bleached as it had in real life. She was crying - not like she usually did, loud and flashy, but quiet sobs that were only audible because it was deathly quiet otherwise. Around her fetlocks, her tail and her head, black smoky tendrils wove and stretched, seemingly strangling her.

Spike and Apple Bloom carefully made their way down the rocky slope to the bottom of the quarry. Pinkie must have heard their approach, for she looked up and turned to them.

"Help me. Please." If Spike hadn't seen who was speaking, he never in a million years would have believed that it was Pinkie. Her voice was quiet, yet it held depths of despair that Spike hoped he'd never fall into.

He exchanged looks with Apple Bloom, then he turned to Pinkie again. "What is happening to you, Pinkie?"

"It's draining the laughter." Pinkie pointed to where her cutie mark should be. Spike saw that the balloons had vanished almost completely, leaving only the vaguest outline. "It's taking my heart, and I can't fight it."

Spike noticed that his necklace was getting warm, and that the gemstone was beginning to glow. "Oh yes, you can, Pinkie. Fight it. It can't win if you don't let it."

A green ray of light shot out of the gemstone and hit the tendrils around Pinkie's left foreleg. They hissed and started to boil away very slowly, but Spike felt that he couldn't keep this up for very long.

Apple Bloom stepped up to Pinkie and looked her in the eyes. "You are Ponyville's party pony. You can win this. Everything will be alright." An orange ray of light emerged from her necklace and started to burn away the tendrils around Pinkie's head.

Spike realized that he was feeling cold and hot at the same time. When he looked at Apple Bloom, he saw that the filly was covered in lather, and he noticed that he was panting as heavily as he could. Apple Bloom raised her head and looked at him. "I can't keep this up any longer, Spike!"

I'm sorry, Pinkie, was the last thought Spike remembered before everything went black.

***

"Spike? Hey everypony, he's awake!"

Why does Rarity sound like a child? Spike slowly opened his eyes and saw what he'd expected - a white pony head topped by a horn, and a pair of green eyes looking at him expectantly.

Then his mind seemed to clear a little more. Green? Something's not right.

The fog lifted completely, and he realized that he was lying in a hospital bed, and that it wasn't Rarity who was looking at him, but her sister. "Oh, hey Sweetie Belle." He tried to sit up, only to immediately fall back. He felt completely drained.

Then he remembered and looked around wildly. "Apple Bloom! Where is she? What happened?"

"You saved Pinkie, that's what happened. I knew you could do it." Sweetie Belle smiled. "Twilight can probably explain this better, but she said you've stabilized her for now."

"Have we, now?" sounded a weak voice from the neighbouring bed. Spike felt a rush of relief that Apple Bloom was alright.

"Yes, you have." Twilight had just entered the room. "What happened?"

Spike launched into a description of their adventure. When he'd finished, he looked at Twilight desperately. "Why didn't it work?"

"But it did," Twilight said gently.

"You drove out Nightmare Moon with your elements. I didn't even manage to defeat this thing inside Pinkie." Spike tried very hard not to let his disappointment show.

"We had six elements that were made to work with each other, Spike. You had two, and if the necklaces are any hint, they're not even meant to be combined. I'd say you did very well." Twilight stretched out a foreleg and drew Spike into a hug. "But you two gave us quite the fright, I must say."

Spike returned the hug, then he realized it was dark outside. "How long did we sleep?"

"It's about eight now." Twilight sighed. "This won't do your sleep cycle any good, you know?"

"Sleep cycle? I seem to be spending most of my time unconscious at the moment." Spike barely managed to suppress a grin. "Besides, that's the last of my worries right now."

They were interrupted by a crashing sound outside. Twilight jumped up and raced to the window, trying to get a look outside, as did Sweetie Belle. They gasped in unison and then ran out of the room without another word.

Spike turned his head to look at Apple Bloom, who looked just as confused as he did. "What's going on out there?"

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Why don't we go and have a look?" She rose slowly, obviously still weak, but she managed to keep on her hooves. Spike followed suit, and they went to the door and looked out into the corridor. Seeing nopony there, they walked towards the brightly lit room behind the glass doors at the end, catching sight of Twilight and Sweetie Belle behind it. A pony was being carried in on a stretcher as Spike and Apple Bloom stepped through the door. Following that stretcher was a very familiar orange pegasus.

"Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked in surprise, causing everypony in the room to turn to her and Spike. The dragon barely suppressed a gasp as he saw the look on Scootaloo's face - a mixture of determination and sadness.

Then his eyes fell on the stretcher, and this time, a gasp did escape him. The pony on that stretcher was a pegasus with a very pale blue coat and a strange-looking mane striped in pale pastel tones, yet she was immediately recognizable despite the changes in colouration.

"Spike?" Apple Bloom's voice was shaking. "Is that who I think it is?"

Spike stepped up to the stretcher and touched the pegasus' wings, immediately drawing back his hand when he felt a familiar burning. He turned back to Apple Bloom, ignoring the shocked stares of the nurses and doctors in the room. "Yes."

Sweetie Belle had joined Scootaloo and now was trying to talk to the orange pegasus, whose eyes didn't leave the pegasus on the stretcher for even one second. Scootaloo's lips were moving, seemingly repeating the same words over and over. That piqued Spike's curiosity, and he stepped closer, followed by Apple Bloom, who obviously was worried about her fellow Crusader.

He had to step very close to hear the muttered words that were escaping Scootaloo's lips. Just six words, repeated over and over again.

"Be brave, Rainbow Dash. Be brave."

From somewhere nearby, he heard Twilight speaking to the doctors. "What happened?"

"From what we can tell, and by what Scootaloo told us, she had just finished her shift and was heading home when something seemed to take hold of her. She simply stopped using her wings in mid-air." The doctor looked as puzzled as Twilight.

Twilight turned to Spike. "The same thing that happened to Pinkie?"

"Yes." Spike looked at Twilight in despair. "Twi, I can't do the same for her. I'm spent, and so is Apple Bloom. We can't help her."

These words seemed to draw Scootaloo back to reality. "What do you mean, you can't help her? Why should you be able to help her? She's Rainbow Dash, she doesn't need help." Her voice had grown quieter by the word, until she was whispering.

Sweetie Belle, who had been watching and listening to the conversation without speaking up, looked at the dragon and at her fellow crusaders, and Spike noticed a strange gleam in the unicorn filly's eyes. Sweetie approached Rainbow Dash, who was staring into space like Pinkie, and looked the pegasus in the eyes. Her horn started to glow.

"Sweetie Belle, don't! What do you think you're doing?" Twilight asked in alarm.

The unicorn filly looked up at Twilight, and now the gleam in her eyes was visible to everypony. "Rainbow Dash needs help, and I'm the only one here who can help her." Her voice was different - she sounded as though she was speaking in harmonies, two or three voices overlapping each other. "I'm asking you to trust me. I can do this."

As if in answer, the gemstone in Apple Bloom's necklace began to glow. Apple Bloom raised her head and looked at Sweetie Belle. "I have no idea what's going on here, but I trust you."

"So do I." Scootaloo had walked up to Sweetie Belle.

"So do I," repeated Spike, then Twilight, and finally the assembled doctors and nurses.

Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and went rigid. A flash of golden light made everypony in the room avert their eyes - everypony except Spike, who instinctively closed his nictitating membranes, but did not turn away. Sweetie Belle touched her horn to Rainbow Dash's forehead, and a hissing sound was heard as a few strands of black boiled away from the pegasus.

It lasted only for a few seconds, then the golden light vanished, and Sweetie Belle keeled over. Spike, as the only one who had seen that happen, raced to her side and gasped when his eyes fell on her.

Just when you thought this day couldn't hold any more surprises, eh?

The necklace had fallen away when Sweetie fell over. It was lying on the floor next to her - burnished copper, like Apple Bloom's, but set with a light purple gem in the form of a heart-shaped musical note.

Apple Bloom joined him at Sweetie's side and said out loud what he was thinking.

"And then there were three."

***

Cloudsdale Weather Factory, one hour earlier

"Oof." Rainbow Dash dropped onto one of the cloud benches outside the factory doors. I sure hope that was the last we've seen of that storm. For a second or two there, I thought we weren't going to make it.

They had been at it for their entire shift, finally finishing one and a half hours after their usual time, but they had managed to rein in the storm, limiting its worst effects to the Everfree Forest. Somepony should warn Zecora, Rainbow Dash thought.

Gazing out at the vista of Ponyville stretching below her, Rainbow Dash's eyes fell on Carousel Boutique. Here's hoping that unicorn comes around sooner rather than later. She's not exactly being the best of friends at the moment.

Oh, look who's talking, she chided herself. I have hardly seen my friends over the last weeks. How's that for the Element of Loyalty?

I've had a lot of work. They'll understand, Rainbow Dash tried to reassure herself, but the words sounded curiously hollow in her head. Something seemed to worm its way into her mind and her heart, speaking to her in her own voice.

They will turn away from you. Loyalty is not rewarded as it should be. They're not as faithful to you as you are to them. Any friend can turn away.

Look at what happened with Gilda.

At that thought, something inside her turned to ice. She felt a strange tingling in her cutie marks, but she didn't care. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

She took off, heading home, but she barely managed to bring up the energy to flap her wings. She hardly noticed the voice of her biggest fan somewhere below, calling out to her. She didn't care that Scootaloo's voice turned from excited to puzzled, and finally to scared.

She hardly even noticed when she hit the outside wall of the hospital head-on.

As she fell, a hissing laugh could be heard emerging from the black tendrils dancing around the remains of her cutie marks, a laugh that carried words.

When doubt smothers loyalty, indifference will take hold.

Quedate conmigo

They don't know what you're truly worth. Or if they do, they don't care.

How much have you given, never to receive anything in return?

Why do you still bother?

Tuesday, August 19th, 7.30 am, Fluttershy's cottage

Fluttershy woke with a start. She didn't feel rested in the slightest - if anything, she was more exhausted than last night. And that was saying something, since she had done musical exercises with the bird choir until sunset, and then for good measure checked on the rabbit burrows near the river before turning in for the night.

She thought about those creepy voices in her dreams. They had sounded like her own voice, but they had put unformed thoughts from the deepest recesses of her mind into words, thoughts she never permitted to surface. She loved what she did, and she didn't do it to gather praise or gain attention. The work was its own reward.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a very alarmed-looking Angel hopping into the room. He took one look at her and motioned for her to follow him. He led her out of the house and down to the river.

When she saw what had happened during the night, she could barely hold back her tears. The river had burst its banks and flooded the burrows she had checked on just the evening before. Some of the tunnels seemed to have collapsed, leaving their inhabitants homeless, and with the ground near the banks soaked through, they couldn't start digging new ones at the moment.

I'll have to work harder. I can do that. They're relying on me.

Her eyes fell on one of the rabbit families, and she noticed something was off. It took her a moment to recognize this particular family, and when she finally did, the realization hit her like a brick.

This was a family of seven, yet only six were assembled at the river bank, and they were looking out onto the water as if searching for something. Or someone.

Fluttershy knew, deep down, that this was the way of nature. All things died, and some animals even had to eat other animals for sustenance. Standing there, looking at the desperate rabbits, that was no consolation at all.

The voices returned, more clearly and more cutting than before. You can never make sure. You can never help all of them. Even if you did, it would come to nothing in the end. What will you do now?

"I don't know."

With those three words, all energy and willpower seemed to drain out of the yellow pegasus. She just collapsed where she stood, the colour draining from her coat and mane, black tendrils dancing almost gleefully around the fading butterflies on her flank. The sound of hissing laughter was heard yet again, and Angel instinctively hopped away as fast as he could from the words emerging from Fluttershy.

When doubt undermines kindness, uncertainty will be the only master.

***

Ponyville General Hospital, three hours later

"Wow. I mean, it's awesome that you three are new elements now and all, but what is happening? Why are they like this?" Scootaloo looked at the other crusaders and Spike, assembled in the hospital room that now held Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.

"I don't know," Spike replied. "Honestly, I feel a little overwhelmed at the moment. The new elements, Rarity's coltfriend, Apple Bloom's crush, and the Elements of Harmony just collapsing like that ... it's too much." He yawned. He had never felt this exhausted in his life.

Apple Bloom looked just as tired as he did, and Sweetie Belle even more so. Scootaloo was the only one in the room who didn't seem ready to just go to sleep where she stood, and the pegasus now looked at the dragon in disbelief. "You can't be serious. You're supposed to be the Element of Resolve, then act like it!" She sounded harsh, almost painfully so.

"Scootaloo! What's wrong with you?" Apple Bloom cried out. "Why are you ripping into him like that?"

"You're asking what's wrong with me?" Scootaloo pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. "That is wrong! This is Rainbow Dash, most awesome pony in all of Equestria, and something has reduced her to this! I want to find out who did this and get even with them!" Her voice had grown steadily louder, until she was screaming, tears running down her face. "You've got those fancy necklaces, then do something with them!"

Spike growled, smoke rising from his nostrils. "We already did, Scootaloo! Apple Bloom and I saved Pinkie, and Sweetie saved Rainbow Dash. What else do you expect us to do? Just charge in, cure them and drive whatever caused this to the moon?"

"Guys, please! Why are you arguing?" Sweetie Belle's voice was quiet, yet both the dragon and the pegasus turned to her. "We can get through this, but only if we keep it together." She looked at the pegasus. "Scoots, even if you don't have an element, we're still the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We're friends, and neither these," she pointed to her necklace, "nor that," she pointed to Pinkie and Rainbow, "will change that. We can do this."

Scootaloo held her gaze for a moment, then she looked away. "Sorry. It's just ..." She looked at Rainbow Dash again. "I can't stand seeing her like this. What's wrong with her?"

Sweetie Belle frowned in concentration. "I'm not sure. I didn't see much, but it looked like black ropes tied around her wings and hooves. And she didn't seem to care about it at all."

"Can you send me in?" Scootaloo asked.

The other three stared at the pegasus. Spike was the first to find his voice. "You don't know what you're asking, Scootaloo. The three of us just barely survived going in there, and we had our elements to protect us. Would Rainbow Dash want you to throw away your life for this?"

"I don't know." Scootaloo sighed. "And I guess it's not necessary at the moment anyway. But could you do it?"

"Perhaps." Spike smiled apologetically. "Remember, Scoots, we've had these things for a day at best. We don't know what they're capable of."

The pegasus seemed to deflate. "Sure. Sorry. It's just that - I don't know, I might be a bit jealous of you."

Apple Bloom laughed. "You wouldn't be if the things that happened to us had happened to you, Scoots. I wouldn't wish those dreams on anypony." She grinned. "Well, perhaps just a short one for Diamond Tiara."

"Dreams?" Scootaloo's ears perked up. "You've had weird dreams, too?"

"Wait a moment - you've had them too, then?" Spike felt confused. "Sweetie, what about you?"

"No. Nothing unusual." The unicorn filly looked puzzled too. "What does that mean?"

"Hang on," Apple Bloom said. "Luna said something about elements linked with day or night." She looked at Spike. "Your flash of light was silver, and so was mine. But Sweetie's wasn't - it was golden."

Spike slapped a hand to his forehead. "Of course. Silver as moonlight, golden as sunlight. Our elements are linked with night, but Sweetie's is a day element."

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked completely lost now. The unicorn turned to Spike. "What does that have to do with the dreams?"

"Oh, sorry. You weren't there when Luna explained it," Spike said. "Dreams and visions happen at night, so Apple Bloom and I got them, but if your element is linked with day, it makes sense that you didn't."

"But then why do I get them?" Scootaloo asked. "I'm not an element."

"What did you dream about?" Apple Bloom asked. "Perhaps we can find an answer together."

"I can't really remember any images. It was mostly voices and flashes of light." Scootaloo scratched her head. "I do remember one phrase - it seemed important, it was repeated over and over. Be brave. You will need them, and they will need you." She looked at Spike and Apple Bloom. "What does that mean?"

"Spike and I had something like that in our dreams too, but the phrase was different," Apple Bloom said. "Are you certain you got it right?"

"Yeah, absolutely. I also remember that I was scared, but then something happened to drive away the fear." Scootaloo seemed to think about that for a moment, then her face lit up. "That's it! I wondered what Rainbow Dash would do, and I charged at the darkness, at the fear, and it broke apart."

"Wait a moment," Sweetie Belle broke in excitedly. "Something like that did happen to me too. But I just knew that the fear couldn't hurt me if I didn't let it - knew it beyond doubt -, as long as I had my friends and family to turn to."

Spike tried to fit the pieces together in his head, but a voice interrupted them. "Out of the way, kids!" Nurse Redheart entered the room, followed by two other nurses wheeling in a bed. The crusaders and the dragon looked at each other with rising dread - this was becoming familiar. They looked at the pony on the bed.

At first Spike didn't recognize her. The coat and mane didn't look familiar, and the cutie mark was covered up by a blanket. Then the pony turned her head and opened her eyes, and the four of them gasped in unison at the sight of that unmistakeable shade of teal.

"Fluttershy," Scootaloo whispered. "Dear Celestia, not you too."

Spike looked at Nurse Redheart. "What happened?"

She seemed to think for a moment about how much to tell the dragon. "Derpy found her like this about an hour ago. She's showing the same symptoms as Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, before you helped them."

Spike exchanged glances with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and all three of them shook their heads. They hadn't recovered nearly enough to help Fluttershy - they'd just hurt themselves if they tried now. They hung their heads in defeat.

Scootaloo, on the other hand, didn't seem nearly as willing to accept the situation. "Well? Aren't you gonna help her?"

"We can't, Scootaloo." Spike tried - and failed - to hide his despair. "We're spent."

"Then send me in." The pegasus looked excited and scared at the same time, but she also appeared determined to go through with this. "Rainbow Dash doesn't need help at the moment, but Fluttershy does. You can't help her, so I must do it."

Spike looked at Nurse Redheart. "Could you get Twilight? There should be somepony here who knows about magic."

"On my way." She turned and left the room, returning a few minutes later with Twilight in tow. From the shocked look on the purple unicorn's face, she had been informed about what had happened.

Twilight looked at Spike. "Don't tell me you'll try to help Fluttershy. You can't do that, you're still too exhausted ..."

"We won't." Spike swallowed. "We want to try sending in Scootaloo."

"What?" Twilight burst out. "Are you serious? You're trying to send in somepony, and a filly at that, who has nothing to do with this?"

"But I do, Twilight," Scootaloo said. "I've had strange dreams too, and honestly, wouldn't it be a little strange if I was the only crusader who doesn't have anything to do with all this?"

Twilight turned to Spike, who nodded and stepped closer to the pegasus filly. "I think she's involved in this too. I just don't know how - hay, we haven't even figured out Sweetie Belle's element yet. What was it Luna said - we had to make it up as we went along?"

The purple unicorn still looked worried. "I don't like this at all, Spike. But Fluttershy is dying. We need to do something, and I haven't heard any better ideas." She took a position near the foot of Fluttershy's bed. "I'll keep an eye on you, Scootaloo, and try to pull you out of this if it seems you're in danger." Her tone made it clear that this was not open for debate.

Scootaloo simply nodded and then took a place to Fluttershy's right. Spike, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and then focused their thoughts on getting Scootaloo somewhere she could help Fluttershy.

When the gemstones started to glow, Spike immediately felt the difference. He was the odd dragon out in this constellation - he could hear the disharmonies his element introduced into the song of the other two elements. He gritted his teeth and focused on what they had in common, rather than the things that separated them.

Scootaloo went rigid, drew in a deep breath and stretched out a hoof, touching Fluttershy's forehead. Black smoky tendrils boiled away, but the contact lasted for less than a second before the filly collapsed. Before anypony could react, a flash of reddish-orange light enveloped Scootaloo, vanishing as quickly as it had come.

By now, they knew what to expect. The necklace surprised them, however, since it was not the burnished copper that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wore, nor the obsidian of Spike's necklace or the gold of the Elements of Harmony. Instead, it was made of a fine silver mesh and set with a clear gemstone carved to resemble a stylized comet with a star-shaped head.

Scootaloo opened her eyes. "Did it work?"

Nurse Redheart was examining Fluttershy. "Yes. She seems to have stabilized, similar to what happened to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash."

"Um, Scoots?" Apple Bloom pointed at the necklace. "You got something there."

The pegasus looked down and frowned in puzzlement. "Why is it different from yours?"

"Well, mine is different too," Spike said. "Your light was different as well."

Apple Bloom seemed to think for a moment. "So - is she one of those 'between' elements, then?"

"Between what, exactly?" Scootaloo cut in.

"Night and day," Spike said. "Seems like your element is one linked to twilight, not night or day."

"Huh." Scootaloo touched a hoof to the gemstone. "Looks cool enough, I suppose." Then she collapsed again.

***

Somewhere else, at this exact time

Beautiful. They have revealed themselves, all of them.

You can't break what's not there, after all.

Now that they are here, time to start hitting them where it will really hurt.

You think you've seen me do bad things to ponies you love?

I'm just getting started. Time to get to the confident one.

Don't Close Your Eyes

Thursday, August 21st, in a carriage on its way to Ponyville

For the first half of the journey, an awkward silence had lain upon the carriage. Finally, shortly after they'd passed the waypoint, Fancy Pants spoke up.

"So. Tell me a little about your friends, then."

Rarity had been staring out the window, thoughts racing, and Fancy's words only registered after a second or two. "Oh. Sorry." She smiled bashfully. "They're amazing, the best friends anypony could have. Sure, each of them has their quirks and foibles, but I can't say I mind all that much. I have mine as well, and it never comes between us."

Fancy raised an eyebrow. "Never?"

"Well ... almost never. Truth be told, we do have our differences, but then who doesn't?" Rarity realized that the last part had come out a bit more defensively than she wanted. She was relieved when Fancy smiled.

"Excellent. For a moment there, I thought you were talking about some kind of untouchable, perfect circle of ponies, but it seems that you're a bit more real than that." The stallion winked at her. "It also fits better with what I saw at my party."

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Look at the six of you and think about it for a moment, Rarity: you are probably the most unlikely group of friends in the history of Equestria. Honestly, you and that orange earth pony who was digging up my lawn? Or that pink one with the party cannon?" Fancy had a strange expression on his face at that memory, halfway between humour and bafflement.

Rarity pondered those words. Though she had never thought of it like that, Fancy was right - they were unlikely. Would they ever have formed those bonds without the Elements of Harmony?

Of course not. What we did with Nightmare Moon simply had to form some kind of connection between us, Rarity thought. Or strengthen it, when you think of the stories of our cutie marks.

She felt something at that thought. Her cutie marks prickled slightly, and she suddenly was cold.

"Something is happening."

Rarity only realized she had said those words out loud when Fancy looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know." Rarity looked out the window again, at the trees flying past, and the feeling of dread intensified. "But whatever it is, it's not good. Perhaps something has happened to one of the girls."

"It can't be long now. We'll get to Ponyville, and you'll see that it was just somepony walking over your grave." Fancy smiled again.

Rarity returned the smile, but the feeling didn't diminish. Something is terribly wrong.

***

Thursday, August 21st, Ponyville town square, 1 pm

When Rarity and Fancy Pants stepped out of the carriage, the first thing she noticed was the quiet. While the town square was its usual hustle and bustle of activity, the atmosphere seemed subdued.

The second thing she noticed were her friends standing there to greet her, and the looks on their faces did nothing to ease her mind. Twilight looked exhausted, and Applejack was steaming in barely suppressed anger.

That was when she noticed the third thing. She swallowed and turned to Twilight. "Twilight? Where are the others?"

Twilight's answer was clipped, almost terse. "Spike and the crusaders are at the library looking for information on their newfound powers, and Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are at the hospital."

Had Fancy not caught her, she would have fainted right then and there. The feeling of contact with his hooves drew her out of the dizziness in time, and she looked at Twilight in pure bafflement. "Whatever do you mean by all that?"

"While you were gone with your coltfriend there, everything seems to have gone south pretty darn fast." Applejack almost spat out the words, as if each one was a dart with which she was trying to hit Rarity.

Twilight looked at the farm pony in alarm. "Applejack! What has gotten into you? This is our friend you're talking to, remember?"

"Friend my applebucking back hooves!" Applejack retorted, turning to face Rarity again. "You left Sweetie Belle hanging when you up and ran, and when our other friends started to collapse one by one, you weren't here to help. So much for the vaunted Element of Generosity, huh?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity noticed a weird black smoky thing somewhere on Applejack's flank, but her mind was too busy working through what the earth pony had said. "What are you saying, Applejack? That I'm not allowed to have a life of my own anymore, just because I have you for friends?" she bit back angrily. The words about Sweetie Belle had hit her pretty hard, but she certainly wasn't about to admit that to Applejack, not while the other mare was behaving like this.

Before the situation could escalate any further, they heard steps behind them. Turning, Rarity saw the very last pony she wanted to see right now. She instinctively reached out for Fancy to steady her.

Sweetie Belle was walking up to them very slowly and deliberately, followed by Spike and the other crusaders, all of whom were wearing strange necklaces resembling the Elements of Harmony. That only registered for a second in Rarity's head before Sweetie came to a halt in front of her.

"Why, Rarity? Why did you let me down?"

She had been prepared for anger, even for confusion, but not for the bitter disappointment that dripped from her sister's voice. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she barely managed to choke out "I'm sorry" before collapsing into a heap of sobs and heaves.

"Nice work, Sweetie Belle. Don't you think we've lost enough Elements of Harmony as it is?" she heard Spike's voice. The dragon was obviously angry with both sisters.

"She betrayed my trust, Spike!" Sweetie Belle sounded close to tears. "You don't do that! You never, ever violate another's trust in you!"

"Darn right you don't. Go home and think very carefully about what you did to your friends and your family, Rarity." Applejack had regained some measure of control, but the quiet anger in her voice was somehow worse than the nigh-unbridled fury had been.

"Ehm, fillies and gentlecolts?" Fancy's voice cut in. "I do believe that hurtful remarks, as true as they may be, are not the way to go at the moment."

"Shut it." All heads, including Rarity's, turned to Applejack at that. "It's mainly her fault, but you have your part in it too. You took her from here."

Rarity was shocked beyond outrage for a moment, then she noticed the black thing working on Applejack's flanks seemed to have grown. "Um, Twilight? What's that on Applejack's flank?"

"Her cutie ... oh." Twilight for some reason looked past Rarity, at Spike and the crusaders.

"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Applejack turned her head to look at her flank. "Seems perfectly fine to me, and anyway this isn't about me or my flank."

The farm pony had barely said those words when she collapsed, black tendrils rising up from her cutie marks and head.

"Applejack!" Apple Bloom charged past Rarity. "Guys, we need to help her! What's happening?"

Rarity saw Spike, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walk past, concern in their eyes. Without turning away, she asked "Twilight? What's going on here?"

Before the librarian could answer, a black smoky outline rose from Applejack's unconscious form. A hissing noise that sounded like laughter washed over the assembled ponies, and darkness swirled around them. The last thing Rarity heard before everything went black were the words in the laughter.

When doubt shatters honesty, pain will be crowned king.

***

When Rarity came to, she was lying on a flat grey floor. She felt cold.

She stood up and looked around. The others - Twilight, Spike, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle - were just waking up as well. Fancy Pants was nowhere to be seen, nor was Applejack.

She rubbed a hoof over her eyes. "What in the name of the goddesses is going on here?"

"I believe I can answer that, little unicorn."

The voice sounded like oil on glass, like needles through the skin, like lost love and forgotten friendships. Rarity had never heard it before, yet she recognized it, as did the others by the look of them. She saw Spike turn to Apple Bloom and mouth something like 'we were right'.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Rarity commanded in her most imperious voice.

"You know me, ponies and dragon. Everybody knows me." A few feet away, a swirling column of black smoky tendrils coalesced into a vaguely ape-like shape - two legs ending a foot or so above the ground, two arms ending in clawed hands, and a sphere-shaped swirl for a head. The only visible feature inside the black nothingness were two gleaming green pinpoints of light where the eyes would have belonged.

"Yes, we do." Spike stood and pointed a claw at the shape. "You are one of the lost avatars of the Ancient Darkness. You are Doubt."

"Aren't we the clever one, little dragon." The mockery in the voice was nearly unbearable. "I do see why the last of the old Elements of Power chose you."

"Elements of Power?" Twilight cut in.

"They have long since been forgotten in your world, little unicorn." If the thing had sounded smug before, it was positively gleeful now. "They were the four Elements wielded by the dragon lords in battle against my mistress. Resolve, Strength, Cunning and Dexterity. Three of them were destroyed long ago, and the same was believed of the fourth, before they were eventually forgotten in the mists of time. But I knew it was still out there, waiting for me." For just a second, Doubt seemed to lose its temper. "You defeated me once, dragon. You won't do it again."

"We will see." Rarity was amazed at the sheer willpower with which Spike's voice resonated.

Doubt turned to Scootaloo. "Ah, you I'm looking forward to, Element of Courage."

"Courage?" Scootaloo looked unfazed. "Awesome! So that's what I am. We had figured something like that."

"Good for you, pegasus," the darkness hissed, anger flaring up again. "Oh, how those accursed Elements of Discipline burned. It will be a pleasure to send you where your five companions have spent the last five millennia! Courage will at last be reunited with Obedience, Control, Fighting Spirit, Honour and Strategy."

The black shape turned to look at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "Oh yes, two of you survived. The earth ponies were always more careful than the pegasi, not to mention the dragons or griffons. You are Trust and Confidence, are you not?"

Apple Bloom seemed to swallow once, then steel herself. "Yeah. And we'll drive you back where you belong, wherever that is."

"And we'll make sure you never hurt anypony again," Sweetie Belle added.

"Will you?" Doubt turned its right hand, and they gasped at the sight before them.

A golden disc, about seven feet high, hovered in the air. A six-pointed star was engraved on it, bearing a pony-shaped indentation at each tip. Four of the six were filled, and Rarity gasped as she recognized these ponies, despite the eyes of solid black and the completely colourless manes and coats.

"Despair, indifference, uncertainty and pain are already here," Doubt hissed. "The other two will follow soon enough. You cannot hope to fight me. Harmony cannot hurt me, for my mother designed me as a weapon against it. Generosity will be the next to fall, and Magic will not stand alone." The black shape contorted for a second or two, as if struggling against invisible chains.

"I have waited countless years for this day, and I will not see it delayed or denied just because some elements of old refused to die when their time was due. Soon I will break loose, and then may your princesses have mercy on you, for I most certainly will not. But for now, there are rules I have to follow. I'm not my dear brother Discord, after all." Doubt laughed. "Let the challenges begin!" The thing swirled away, and seconds later, everything went black yet again.

The grey Applejack in the Pit of Pain flickered orange for a moment, and a whisper drifted across the void. "You can do this, Apple Bloom. It will turn out right."

***

Apple Bloom woke.

She looked around and saw that she was still in the same grey, featureless place. But now she was alone.

Some way ahead of her, the darkness took shape again. "Hello, Element of Confidence."

"What do you want from me?" Apple Bloom tried to sound fierce, but she could tell she was failing miserably.

"I'm not allowed to attack you directly just yet, little one. I'm bound by the laws of my banishment, so I can only get to you in my own way. And that is why you are here." It pointed a claw at her, and suddenly she was falling again, like in her vision.

It was a thousand times worse than it had been the last time. Doubt attacked her mind and heart with everything it could find, both from inside her and from the mind of Applejack. Apple Bloom saw the worry and the doubt about her in Applejack's heart, and it drove her to tears. She was aware that Doubt had stripped all the positive emotions away before revealing this to her, but that didn't make it easier to withstand. She saw the clubhouse begin to crumble before her eyes, saw the apple tree burst into flame and the weathervanes rust away.

Just as Apple Bloom was about to surrender to Doubt, her thoughts went out to her friends and family. Her element began to glow in response, and the darkness seemed to retreat just an inch. The fire went out, the house seemed to stabilize.

And then she thought of Spike, and large chunks of the shadow began to boil away. Doubt turned its 'eyes' on her and laughed. "Oh, so that's how it is, then? Don't you think you are a little young to feel like that?"

"You don't understand, and you never will. They need me, he needs me, and it doesn't matter what I feel, whether it's love for a friend, a family member, or whatever it is I feel for Spike. I'm not gonna give in to you." She drew in a deep breath, choking out the next words, the most difficult thing she had ever said in her life.

"Everything will turn out alright."

The shadow exploded, and Apple Bloom was falling again.

When the Music Dies

Rarity looked around, seeing nothing but grey void in all directions.

"What is this place?" she wondered out loud.

"It is called the Spaces Between. It is my prison. I was banished here five thousand years ago by the power of the Elements." The black swirling figure of Doubt manifested only a few feet ahead of Rarity.

"And why am I here, then?" she asked, trying her best to keep her emotions out of her voice.

"Because you are needed, Element of Generosity, just as your friends are. They might still be fighting it due to the interference of the other Elements, but the six of you are my key out of this void." Doubt approached her, its face sinking until it was at eye level with her.

"Why should I help you?" Rarity laughed dismissively. "You are a creature of darkness, and you admitted that yourself. What earthly reason would I have to help you?"

"You do realize that the only difference between us is that you don't admit to being cruel?" Doubt sounded almost amused. "You dare bear the element of Foxglove the Flighty? He never could have done the things that you have done to others. At least I am aware of what I do. You are not."

"Cruel? You call me cruel?" The indignity in Rarity's voice threatened to boil over. "How dare you say I ever did anything even remotely on the level of what you did to my friends?"

"Oh, this is fantastic," Doubt crowed. "You really do not know what I'm talking about, do you?" It closed the distance between them until their faces almost touched. "It's your fault that I even have this chance. You kicked away the first pebble, and now the avalanche is in full swing. But don't take my word for it." It waved its right hand, and suddenly the scene changed.

Rarity saw herself and Fancy Pants, kissing by the lakeside. Her heart fluttered, and she smiled. "You are trying to get to me with the happiest moment of my life? Whatever are you hoping to accomplish with this?"

"Look to your right," Doubt said, pointing a claw at a large tree behind the image of her and Fancy.

She did as he told her, and her heart nearly stopped as she saw Spike standing there, looking at the scene before him with an expression on his face that made her wince even at this distance, a mixture of horrified fascination and pain. She turned back to Doubt. "This can't be! We would have noticed if we were being watched!"

"You had eyes only for each other. And I can't lie to you. I'm not Discord, nor any of my other siblings who operate with lies. I can show you nothing but truth. It's your decision what you make of it." As he spoke, Rarity saw further images flash up, showing her things that had happened over the two weeks following the kiss. Spike bursting into tears at the very mention of her name. Twilight and the others assembled at Sugarcube Corner, waiting for her, discussing what was wrong with her. Her gabbing away to Fluttershy about how wonderful Fancy Pants was, completely oblivious to the worried expression in the pegasus' eyes. Sweetie Belle standing in front of a darkened Carousel Boutique, barely holding back tears, because her sister had stood her up. Her parents, sick with worry about why their daughter suddenly and without explanation was not keeping in touch, which she usually did every other day.

Rarity knew that Doubt was not inventing anything, that those scenes had happened exactly that way, and tears came to her eyes as she tried to imagine what Spike must have felt seeing her kiss somepony else, and what her friends and family must have thought of her suddenly seeming so distant. She never would have traded that night by the lake for anything, and yet she wished she could return to the scene and shield Spike from the pain, and somehow undo her secrecy concerning her coltfriend.

Doubt seemed to sense her inner turmoil. "You are the Element of Generosity, yet love has nothing to do with generosity. It's probably the most selfish emotion you ponies can feel. Love shatters the bonds between friends and turns families against each other. Why do you hold it in such high regard?" Behind the mockery, Rarity could sense a hint of true puzzlement.

"You don't get it. Love is the highest and purest of all emotions, and if it destroys friendships, then those friendships can't have been worth it in the first place." It was a line out of one of her favourite romance novels, but it had never sounded this hollow and thoughtless.

"Oh? Is that so? Then what will it be, Rarity? As you see, love and generosity will clash. Which side are you on? Will it be love or friendship?" Doubt's voice sounded urgent, almost frantic.

"I ..." Rarity was about to say she couldn't choose when she suddenly remembered something. Spike had pulled himself out of his greed-induced rampage not because of friendship, but because of love. All the friendship he held for Twilight and the others hadn't kept him from savaging the town; only his love for her had finally stopped him.

Something in her mind screamed at her that she was overlooking something, but she ignored it. "Love."

Even as she said the word, she could feel the cold descending on her, wrapping all around her. She sensed a prickling in her cutie marks, and suddenly all warmth seemed to drain out of her heart.

Doubt laughed triumphantly. "Brilliant. An Element of Harmony denying friendship in the name of love." It looked her straight in the eyes. "That, my dear, was a very, very bad decision indeed."

Black tendrils grabbed Rarity, and she saw the golden disc burst out of the ground. The tendrils pulled her to one of the two empty spaces and smashed her roughly into it. The disc shuddered, darkening from gold to a yellowish brown, and cracks appeared in its surface. Doubt looked up at the white unicorn, and the last thing she heard before her personality went under was a hissing laugh laced with words that didn't seem to come from the black swirling form, but from her own cutie marks.

When doubt trumps generosity, disdain will grasp their hearts.

***

A white unicorn filly had watched this entire scene play out, unable to interfere, looking on in mounting horror as her sister was robbed of all that made her who she was, leaving only the worst parts. The black shape behind her laughed.

"Do you see it now, Element of Trust? You have no power here. You rely on others to come through, but they won't. Even your own sister can't fight me, and she is older and more experienced in such things than you are. How can you hope to go up against me all by yourself?" Doubt seemed to revel in its victory.

Sweetie Belle was trembling, feeling completely abandoned and forgotten. She was alone, and Doubt was right. It had taken her sister and the other Elements of Harmony; what chance did she have against it? Yet something inside her just refused to give in to the darkness. She was just a filly, a blank-flank, but she was needed. She was the last line in the sand against the shadow, and just as she trusted the others, so too did they rely on her.

She raised her head and turned to face the shadow. "You tricked her. Did you do the same to the others?"

Doubt looked at her with something like surprise. "Me? I just showed them the truth, my dear little element. What use is harmony when life comes calling?" It giggled, a hissing, fitful sound. "That is why they can't go up against me, you know. Doubt cannot be fought with the elements. Where doubt reigns, laughter sounds desperate, loyalty turns in on itself, kindness becomes meaningless, honesty changes into cruelty, and generosity starts to look like bribery."

"No one ever trusted in you, did they?" Sweetie Belle didn't know why she asked, but she had the feeling that this train of thought might lead somewhere. "No one showed you love or believed in you." Tears came to her eyes. "Five thousand years with just the worst feelings there are. I pity you."

The darkness that had started to close in on them suddenly recoiled and sizzled, chunks of it simply vanishing. Doubt's eyes turned from their usual green to a dark red. "How dare you! Who do you think you are, filly?"

"I'm the Element of Trust. And I believe in my friends and family, even when they have done something really stupid." Sweetie Belle smiled. "Celestia knows I've done some really stupid things."

"You call yourself the Element of Trust, yet you have no idea what that title means." Doubt seemed to have calmed down again. "Let me show you something."

It twisted its right hand, and suddenly Sweetie Belle was floating above a scene straight out of a nightmare.

Below her, ponies were battling hordes of black, shadowy creatures of all shapes and sizes in the streets of a town - no, she corrected herself, a city, and a pretty sizeable one by the look of it. Both the assailants and the defendants looked curiously blurry, barely recognizable for what they were, except for six ponies standing on a hill in the midst of battle. Sweetie Belle recognized the necklace one of them wore as her own; another bore the one she had seen Apple Bloom wear.

As she watched, the assailants gained the upper hand, until finally only the six elements were still standing. Without really meaning to, she wondered out loud "Who are they?"

"The original bearers of the Elements of Community." Beneath the usual contempt and hatred, Doubt's voice held a sudden unexpected note of respect. "This is the Battle of Vindoponia. Eight thousand earth ponies going up against the united forces of me and two of my brothers, Regret and Fear. It raged for five days, and at the end, all the ponies except the bearers had either fled or fallen. We were triumphant. Or so we thought."

A sudden screech sounded from above, and the clouds themselves seemed to recoil as a squadron of griffons broke through them and descended on the shadowy hordes, led by three figures bearing necklaces seemingly made of white marble. Within minutes, two of the three clusters of darkness in the centre of the attacking army had been shredded by the griffons' talons and the powers of their elements, but the third now turned all of its power on the unexpected reinforcements. Seconds later, nothing was left of the griffons except a few drifting feathers and three marble necklaces that fell to the ground, shattering on impact.

That had been all the time the Elements of Community needed, though. A sudden flash of deep red light enveloped the remains of the shadow army, and when that flash dissipated, the shadows were gone.

Sweetie's eyes turned to the hill again, and she gasped. Four of the bearers lay on the ground, their necklaces cracked and the gemstones in them shattered. The other two, Trust and Confidence, were barely keeping on their hooves.

She drew in a sharp breath. Perhaps Doubt was right. How could she ever hope to live up to something like this?

"Still have the gall to call yourself the Element of Trust, little one?" Doubt asked contemptuously as the scene vanished, replaced again by the grey plain. "The sacrifices of four of the Elements of Community and the three Elements of Virtue banished me and my brothers and destroyed our armies. Cor Angeli, the Element of Trust, lost his ability to speak, and his fellow element Vox Communitatis would never walk again. What have you done lately?"

Sweetie Belle had no answer. Her resolve wavered, and she was on the brink of agreeing with Doubt when she suddenly heard a quiet voice float down to her.

Don't believe anything it tells you. I did, and it was the biggest mistake I ever made.

Rarity. The thought of her sister led to thoughts of all the others who were trusting her to get things right again - the other Elements of Harmony, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Spike, and all the rest of Equestria if Doubt had been truthful about its plans.

She raised her head and looked Doubt in what passed for his eyes. "I'm not Cor Angeli. But I am the Element of Trust now, and I won't let my friends down just because you tell me to." She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowing. "Who do you think you are?"

The shadow exploded, and Sweetie Belle was falling again.

Standing Still

Seeing one of Rarity's friends just collapse like that had been bad enough. Seeing the black shape emerge from the unconscious form had been worse. But nothing compared to the feeling of sheer helplessness as Fancy Pants watched Rarity and the others fall unconscious.

"Rarity!" He hurried to her side and tried to wake her, but she didn't react. He tried the same with the others, to no avail, then he turned to the other ponies present, who looked just as shocked as he felt. "Right then, everypony, we've got to get them to a hospital, and quickly." Somehow, he managed to radiate an aura of calm determination, despite his inner turmoil.

One of the other ponies - a grey pegasus with a bubble cutie mark and eyes looking in two directions at the same time - blinked once, then looked around. "You heard him. Move it!" She looked at Fancy. "You're Fancy Pants, aren't you? I've read about you."

"Yes," he answered distractedly, not looking away from Rarity for a second.

He felt her gaze scrutinize him for a moment, then she laid a hoof on his shoulder. "She will be fine."

Despite himself, Fancy felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. She hadn't struck him as particularly observant, but he realized his error now. "Is it that obvious?"

The pegasus mare chuckled. "Perhaps not to everypony, but I'm a mailmare. There aren't many things I haven't seen."

"I could say the same. Not the mailmare bit, obviously," he smiled, "but I've seen it all where relations between ponies are concerned." He looked after the ponies and the dragon as they were carried away. "It's never felt a more useless talent than right now."

"Keep an eye on them. Something very bad is happening, and perhaps we won't be able to do anything, but we need to be there for them." The scratchy, tomboyish voice couldn't hide the seriousness in the mare's words.

Fancy Pants turned to the pegasus in surprise. "What - how do you know that? Why are you saying that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems right, you see?" Then she smiled. "And I so want to deliver the invitations to your wedding, so make sure she gets out of this alright."

Fancy coughed. "I believe it's a little early to go planning for that, miss ...?"

"Derpy Hooves," she said.

"Miss Hooves. We've only been together for a little over two weeks."

"Yeah, but you'll last," Derpy said cheerfully. "You're the real deal." She checked the clock on the tower. "Sorry, I've gotta be going. I'm running late." She picked up her mailbag and took off.

Fancy looked after her, suddenly feeling a lot more hopeful than before. He hurried after the crowd of ponies moving towards the hospital.

A complete stranger reassures me, and suddenly everything looks not so bad after all, he thought. I'm beginning to understand what Rarity sees in this town.

***

"What is happening to them?"

Nurse Redheart looked at the unicorn stallion before her. She had seen photos of him in several of the high society magazines, but he looked different in person, and not just because he was obviously sick with worry.

"We don't know, Mr. Pants," she said. "They don't seem to be in direct danger, but they're showing no signs of waking either."

"Can't I do anything?" Fancy Pants sounded desperate.

"You brought them here, but actually, yes, there is more you can do," Nurse Redheart said. "Sit next to them, speak to them, try to get through to them. Simply put, be there for them, and especially for her." She pointed at the bed where Rarity lay, eyes closed, completely drained of colour.

"I will." Fancy Pants turned away and sat down next to Rarity's bed, whispering to her.

***

Fancy had no idea how much time had passed when his vigil was suddenly interrupted. The young dragon - Spike, he dimly remembered - was screaming and sobbing.

For a moment, Fancy's hopes went up, but Spike didn't seem any more aware of his surroundings than before. He began to whisper, and Fancy leaned in.

"I'm not worth it. I'll never be worth it. How could I hope to be worthy of anypony's love?"

At any other time, Fancy would have dismissed the words as the overblown ramblings of a young colt - or dragon, in this case - who had his heart broken for the first time, but his instincts told him that this was important. He needed to do something, anything. The dragon must not be allowed to surrender to these feelings.

Without really knowing why, Fancy leaned in and spoke directly in Spike's ear. "Do not sell yourself short like that, young dragon. Rarity may not be for you, but that's no reason to simply give up. You will find the one for you, and in time, you will learn to cherish what you felt for Rarity, even though it hurts now."

Spike twitched in his 'sleep', then he seemed to relax. Fancy had no idea whether that was a good sign or not, but he felt he'd done the right thing.

He went back to his vigil by Rarity's bed, casting an occasional glance at the dragon.

***

"Hello, Element of Magic. You are the last one now."

Twilight saw Doubt manifest ahead of her on the grey plain. She dug her hooves into the ground. "You won't win, Doubt, any more than Envy or Discord did."

"Yes, I know you've met these two." Doubt's voice was laced with disdain. "Envy was always a little too impulsive for her own good, and Discord ... well, he had some admirable ideas on manipulation, but he was too chaotic to ever really achieve anything."

"So what are you going to do to me now? Try to get inside my head?" Twilight asked.

"Haha. No. What kind of idiot do you take me for? You are the Element of Magic. Anything I tried to attack you with, you could turn back on me in a heartbeat." Doubt waved its hand, and the disc burst from the ground. Twilight gasped as she realized that five of the pits were occupied now. The black shape looked at her. "I've done worse than attack you, my dear. I have isolated you. What use is all the magic in the world without friends?"

Doubt's eyes turned blue, and its next words sounded almost reflective. "Discord tried the same, at least as far as I could tell from your friends' memories. Why didn't it work? It was brilliant enough that it should have worked."

"The princess sent me my friendship reports, and I realized how important my friends were to me." Twilight wasn't sure why she answered, possibly handing Doubt a weapon against her, but some part of her mind had simply ceased to care.

"Ah. So tell me, what happened when you tried to use your element against Discord for the first time, while the others were either not there or not caring?" The tone made it clear that Doubt knew the answer.

"We failed. The elements didn't respond."

"And now we are here." Doubt spread its arms. "Your five best friends are already on my side, so where does that leave you?"

"Where does that leave me?" Twilight's eyes blazed. "I'll tell you, Doubt! It leaves me fighting you until my very last breath, until you kill me, because I will never help you, whatever you hope to achieve!"

"Ooh. Are you sure that element didn't suddenly transform into Fighting Spirit?" Doubt asked, sneering. "So what are you going to do, exactly? Attack me with your magic?"

"If I have to, yes, I will." Twilight readied herself.

"What is Incantatus' First Principle of Magic?"

That question threw Twilight for a loop. "Excuse me?"

"I asked a simple question. What is Incantatus' First Principle of Magic? Every pupil of magic should know that one, unless it has been forgotten over time?" Doubt sounded almost like a teacher.

"No, it hasn't," Twilight said, unable to resist answering questions on her area of expertise even in this situation. "The First Principle is self-assurance. Any trace of doubt can lead to unexpected side effects or failure of the spell." She had grown ever quieter over that sentence, suddenly realizing what she was saying.

"And you want to tell me that with your five best friends in my hands and the hope of the world resting upon four children, you have the level of self-assurance needed to perform spells that could affect a primordial force of evil?" Doubt sounded as though it was barely holding back laughter.

Twilight gritted her teeth. "I sure hope I do." She focused her power, and a beam of white light shot out of her horn towards the whirling blackness.

It hit Doubt square in the chest area, and the blackness recoiled, its eyes suddenly blazing green. "You are more powerful than you look, little unicorn. Wanna try that again?"

She did. Another beam of light shot towards Doubt, but this time it was ready. A quick spin of the left hand, and the beam was deflected. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the beam streaked towards the disc, finally hitting it in the centre.

The whole world reverberated like a gong, and a deep crack formed in the disc. Twilight felt a feedback surge of magic running through her horn, and then she was flying towards the final empty pit on the disc.

Doubt laughed. "I would have preferred to empty you the way I emptied your friends before you got into your Pit, but this will do nicely. You won't hold out for long anyway once you're in there."

Twilight felt the pain of the impact drive the air from her lungs. She forced herself to stay conscious and looked around. The cracks in the disc were widening now, and blackness was seeping out of them. It wouldn't hold for much longer.

Doubt looked up at Twilight. "The final part of the prophecy will come true soon enough." It struck a pose.

"And in the end, after the other five have gone, when doubt denies magic, the elements will scatter, and darkness will reign."

"That hasn't happened. You haven't denied magic," Twilight spat defiantly.

"Not yet. But the Pit of Darkness will get to you soon enough, my dear little unicorn." Doubt turned away. "I would love to watch this play out to its inevitable conclusion, but I have other things to do. There are elements out there that need to be taken care of." It vanished in a swirl of black.

I failed you. All of you. It's up to you now, and I know you can do it, Twilight thought.

And then the darkness descended, the thoughts ended, and the screams began.

***

Spike felt a sudden surge of pain as the ground beneath him reverberated.

"What was that?" He clutched his head with both hands.

"The final element has found its way into the Pits." The swirl of darkness, familiar by now, appeared in front of the dragon.

"Oh? Then why are we still here?" Spike asked, taunting the shadow.

"She is still fighting it, but she won't last long." Doubt raised a hand, and the disc appeared. Spike's eyes were drawn to the only speck of colour, and he had to bite back tears as he saw Twilight writhe and scream in the pit. Her hooves were already starting to lose their colour.

"You won't win. She's too strong for you." Spike was aware how hollow his words sounded.

"She is not. But that's not the issue at hand anyway, my little dragon. You are," Doubt said.

"I defeated you once, as you said yourself. I can do it again." Spike's hand went to the gem around his neck.

"There is a tiny, unimportant little difference between last time and this time, oh Element of Resolve. Last time, we fought on your turf. This time, the battlefield is my home of five thousand years." Doubt's eyes blazed yellow, and it looked directly at Spike. "Let me show you what Doubt can really do to a young dragon's heart and mind."

The world went dark for a second, and then the barrage started.

The ponies in Canterlot, always afraid that something might happen, as it had when he hatched. The ponies in Ponyville, always distant to the one in their midst who was not like them. The dragon in the Everfree Forest, contemptuous of the hatchling who had invaded his hoard. The dragons at the migration, mocking the pony-on-the-inside.

Spike wavered, but he managed to weather the storm. "Is that all you've got?"

"Oh no. Let's get personal, shall we?"

Fluttershy, secretly scared of him as she was of all dragons, and afraid of what he would become one day. Pinkie Pie, whose home he had nearly destroyed. Applejack, convinced that a dragon didn't belong among ponies, though she would never say it out loud. Rainbow Dash, dismissing him as unimportant and not worth her time.

Again he wavered, and again he held. "You need to do better than that, Doubt!"

"As you wish." All trace of mockery had vanished from Doubt's voice.

Rarity. Sweet loving Rarity - but that side was not for him. He had loved her for years, and she knew it, but she had never taken him or his feelings seriously. She would never love him. She loved Fancy Pants, and what hope in the hay did a baby dragon have against that stallion?

Spike felt his insides burn. Why would anypony ever think of him the way he thought of Rarity? He wasn't worth it. He never would be worth it. The gemstone dimmed slightly.

And then he heard a voice in his head - the last voice he expected to hear right now.

Do not sell yourself short like that, young dragon. Rarity may not be for you, but that's no reason to simply give up. You will find the one for you, and in time, you will learn to cherish what you felt for Rarity, even though it hurts now.

Fancy Pants? For a fleeting moment, Spike felt the presence of the stallion, and even though that should have intensified the pain and doubt, it eased those feelings instead.

"Oh, so that wasn't enough either?" Doubt sounded positively livid now. "Time to break out the big guns, then!"

Twilight. Caring, sweet, loving and (yes) beautiful Twilight Sparkle. She was the only family he'd ever had, and even she didn't understand him. She hardly knew anything about dragons. She freely used him to ferry messages to the princess and back, but did she really see him as anything more than an assistant? Was he a friend? A little brother? Or just a glorified piece of furniture, or a special pet?

Again, Spike wavered, more heavily than before. He'd never realized before now how much Twilight meant to him, as a friend and as a sister. And he had no idea whether she even remotely thought of him the same way. Just as he was on the cusp of surrender, he suddenly thought of all the good times he'd had with Twilight, all those moments you share when you grow up together that you could never in a million words explain to anyone who wasn't there. His first flame, his first successfully sent letter, her joy at her passed exam in magical theory (an A+, naturally, as he'd told her it would be), him trying to cheer her up when she was lovesick for the first time (oh, that had been a bad time, but they had managed).

Her trying to cheer him up after he'd seen Rarity and Fancy Pants.

That last thought led naturally to that Sunday morning in the library when he'd finally come to terms with his pain, aided by the crush Apple Bloom had on him.

I can be loved. I am worth it. Twilight and Apple Bloom have shown me.

His element blazed with green light, and he laughed. "Trying to break me with images of my sister? Nice one, Doubt, but," he pointed at the shadow, grinning like mad, "you fail!"

The shadow exploded, and Spike was falling again.

Never Forget

Note: This chapter gets quite a bit more graphic near the end. I've upped the rating to Teen to reflect that.

The darkness was absolute.

It was more than just the absence of light - the blackness seemed to devour brightness and hope, until all that was left was the dark. Twilight fought it as best she could, but she knew she wouldn't hold out against it much longer, and when she finally succumbed ...

And in the end, after the other five have gone, when doubt denies magic, the elements will scatter, and darkness will reign. Doubt's words seemed to echo in the void.

"Twilight?"

The voice cut through the shadows like a single ray of pink light.

Twilight raised her head, slowly, painfully, as if it was the hardest thing she'd ever done. "Pinkie? Is that you?"

"I think so. But then, would I know if I wasn't Pinkie, just thinking I was her?" The voice hesitated. "I should stop thinking about that. It's giving me a headache."

"Where are you?" Twilight looked around, but all she saw was the darkness.

"I think it's called the Pit of Despair. The others are somewhere near, too." Pinkie's voice took on a sad tone. "I'm sorry, girls. I didn't fight it. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late."

"You don't have to apologize," another voice broke in. "It caught us all unaware, except for Rarity and Twilight."

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight tried her best, but still the darkness held firm, though it seemed to have stopped its relentless assault for the moment.

"Um ... girls, do you think we can do anything? Now that we're complete again, I mean." Fluttershy, Twilight thought, and suddenly the darkness seemed to lift ever so slightly.

"Don't see why not. I mean, we can't attack Doubt directly, but there has to be something we can do," Applejack's voice drifted in.

Twilight waited for the fifth voice, but nothing happened for a long while. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Rarity? Are you here?"

A quiet sobbing was her only answer at first, then a whisper reached her ears. "This is all my fault. I caused it, and then I made the wrong decision. How am I supposed to live with that?"

"That train of thought will get you nowhere, sugarcube," Applejack said gently. "You couldn't have known Spike was watching you, and even if you had known, would you change anything?"

"No..." Rarity said hesitantly.

"You told me how happy you were, Rarity. Even if you did make the wrong choice between love and friendship, nopony can blame you." Fluttershy might just be a disembodied voice at the moment, but Twilight could sense the kindness radiating from the pegasus even like that, and even though it wasn't directed at her.

"Yeah. Besides, what stupid kind of false dichotomy is that, choosing between love and friendship?" For a split second, Twilight wondered whether that had really been Rainbow Dash speaking, and the silence that followed the question told her that the others were just as astonished as she was. Dash seemed to notice and sighed. "It was explained in Daring Do and the Tablets of Thought. They're cheap adventure novels, but I do learn something from them every now and then, okay? What I mean is, since when are love and friendship mutually exclusive?"

"Yeah! Lots of my friends have lovers!" Twilight could practically see the frown on Pinkie's face, and she heard giggles drift in from the others, even Rarity. "Wait, that came out wrong."

"You don't say, Pinkie," Rarity said, sounding a little more like herself. "So you aren't mad at me?"

"You made a mistake, Rarity. We all do that from time to time." Twilight smiled. "Now we need to make certain that things take a turn for the better."

"Any ideas on how to do that, Twi?" Applejack asked. "We're not exactly mobile at the moment, so what can we do?"

"I don't know yet," Twilight said. "But I know we'll think of something. For now, focus on yourselves. Doubt can't get to us unless we completely surrender to him."

The darkness suddenly seemed a lot less hostile.

***

Scootaloo shook her head as she clambered to her hooves. Looking around, she saw nothing but the featureless grey plain stretching out, and the whirl of black in front of her.

"Hello, little pegasus. Alone and frightened. Why don't you just surrender?" Doubt sounded almost bored, as if he didn't expect Scootaloo to put up much of a fight.

"Alone, yeah, but frightened? Hay no!" Scootaloo tried her best to emulate Fluttershy's Stare. "Why don't you just surrender? I beat you once, I can do it again."

"Aww. Isn't the little filly adorable?" Doubt's voice had risen by about an octave, in a horrid mockery of foal talk. "You inherited the Element of Courage from Fire Feathers, best flier of the Pegasus Nation. Look at you - you can't even fly!"

Scootaloo shrank back. She knew all too well that her flying abilities were poor for her age, and having this black thing throw that in her face didn't do her willpower any good.

"You see? One little remark about your wings, and you break down just like that. I can't for the life of me imagine why that element picked you." Doubt's eyes blazed green, and it leaned in until they were at eye level. "Chicken."

The insult should have been laughable. Instead, it felt as though somepony had driven a stake through Scootaloo's heart. She bit down on her lip, tears coming to her eyes as she remembered all the occasions she had attempted flying and failed miserably, again and again.

Then she realized something. No matter how often she had failed, she had always gotten up and tried again. Her inner fire had always driven her forward, sometimes to foolish things, but she had never given up, and by the six-striped mane of Rainbow Dash, she was not going to start now of all times.

The diamond around her neck blazed with white light as she dug in her front hooves, staring unblinkingly into Doubt's eyes. "Nopony calls me chicken." She said it calmly, quietly, yet the menace beneath the surface would have made a dragon hesitate.

"Oooh. You might be more interesting than I thought, after all." Doubt held her gaze. "But tell me, did your courage help you with the really bad things in your life? At all?"

For a second, nothing seemed to happen, then Scootaloo heard the screams. She squeezed her eyes shut, failing to hold back her tears. Those screams haunted her worst nightmares, even now, three years after her mother had finally managed to contact the guards about the horrible things her husband - Scootaloo's sire, she wouldn't honour him with the word 'father' - did to her regularly.

He had never laid a hoof on his daughter. Scootaloo was grateful for that, yet at the same time some small part of her believed that it might have been worth it if it meant the screams and the crying would stop, even for a second. She had cowered beneath her sheets, and when it was finally over, when he was gone, she had sworn to never again back down from anyone or anything. She might get hurt, but at least it would be because of something she did, not something she hadn't done.

Her mother had a favourite saying, one that Scootaloo had never really understood. But now she finally got it.

She smiled at Doubt and spread her wings. "The night is always darkest right before the dawn."

The shadow exploded, and Scootaloo was falling again.

***

Spike smashed into the ground, face first.

Even the dust here tastes like nothing, he thought as he stood, spitting out the grey stuff. Looking around, he saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders scramble to their hooves and take in their surroundings as well. The next thing he knew, Apple Bloom had wrapped him in a tight hug. "You're okay. Thank Celestia you're okay."

Spike tried to loosen her hooves just a bit, so he could breathe again, and she eventually got the hint and released him, blushing deeply. "Sorry. Don't know what came over me."

He could hear Sweetie Belle giggle, while a strange retching sound came from Scootaloo's direction. "Eww. Are you done with that gooey stuff?"

"I was just about to ask the same question." Doubt swirled into being ahead of them, accompanied by the golden disc - or rather, what was left of it, for the cracks had widened further. Spike's eyes went to Twilight, and he saw with relief that she was still holding out. Her hooves and horn had lost colour, but it hadn't spread any further.

"Release them. Now." All heads turned to the rather unlikely source of the menacing growl. Sweetie Belle was staring at Doubt with a fire in her eyes that gave the lie to her small stature. "Before I do something very unkind to you."

For a second, no one spoke. Then Doubt broke the silence with a burst of laughter that made chills run down Spike's spine. "Ever considered a career in comedy, my dear? What do you think you are doing, threatening a primordial evil?"

Apple Bloom took a place at Sweetie Belle's side. "This isn't funny. We mean it."

That only served to intensify the laughter. "Oh, this is too perfect. Look at you. The six of them," he gestured to the disc and its prisoners, "barely managed to defeat Envy and Discord, and they were older and more experienced, and had elements that were in harmony with one another. What do you have?"

Scootaloo marched up next to Apple Bloom. "We are who we are, and we have the four elements we have. What else should we need?"

"A plan, perhaps? An idea on how to defeat me? A general knowledge of what your elements can and cannot do would probably come in handy as well." The laughter stopped abruptly, and Doubt's eyes turned blue. "You can't win this, foals. Surrender now, and I promise you I'll make it painless."

Spike joined the Crusaders' ranks. "Each one of us has already defeated you twice, Doubt. Why shouldn't we manage a third time?"

The shape suddenly expanded horizontally, drawing a circle around the four. "You have absolutely no idea, you little fools. You bear elements that should have gone the way of their comrades five thousand years ago, and that were so desperate they chose children as their last resort."

Doubt hissed, and its eyes took on a reddish tinge. "I will not warn you again, elements. Stand in my way at your own risk. I will take any and all steps necessary to get rid of the obstacles on my path out of this prison. Until now, I've held back because I found you amusing, but my supply of goodwill is exhausted. Surrender now, unless you want to find out about the true power of Doubt first-hand."

Spike swallowed hard. This wasn't the overblown, theatrical evil of Nightmare Moon, nor did it have the cartoonish overtones of Discord. This was a force of pure evil bent on a single goal, and woe to anypony fool enough to stand in its way.

He exchanged glances with the Crusaders, and they nodded in unison. It was them or no one.

"We will not stand aside while your evil spreads across Equestria." Spike noticed that his voice was trembling slightly. "We are the line against you. It's your call. Give up now, and we will try to help you."

"You have made your decision." Doubt sounded strangely excited. "I was so hoping you'd say that, you know. It'll be much more fun that way."

Its eyes blazed in all colours at once, and the four element bearers screamed as the full force of Doubt's power bore down upon them.

***

The house had crumbled, the apple tree was but a withered husk, and still Apple Bloom was screaming.

The stage was in ruins, sparks and small flames were flying from the microphones and amplifiers, and still Sweetie Belle was writhing in pain.

The racing arena was falling apart, clouds turning to raindrops, the scooters were smashed and broken, and still Scootaloo was sobbing.

The cave was crumbling, the gemstones were cracking and turning black, and still Spike was roaring his pain to the shadows.

"Don't act surprised now. I did warn you," Doubt hissed. "Get out of my way now, while you still can, or I'll turn really unfriendly."

The four bearers looked at it, through tears of pain and shock, and shook their heads.

"If you insist..."

***

The pain as her wings were ripped apart was unbearable.

The agony of having her vocal cords torn from her throat would have made her scream, if she could still have screamed.

The hurt when her hooves were broken should have made her faint or go numb after a while. It did not.

The burning when he was immersed in the icy water drove all thoughts from his mind except one. Make it stop.

***

They woke from the visions screaming and gasping for air. Spike realized that the tortures had not actually taken place, though they had certainly felt real enough. Apple Bloom was sobbing, Sweetie Belle just looked stunned, and Scootaloo was whimpering. Spike himself was shaking like a leaf and feeling numb.

"Now, did that finally convince you?" Doubt asked.

"Yes, it did."

All heads turned to Spike at that. The dragon had managed to stand up, his hands were clenched into fists, smoke was rising from his nostrils. "You have convinced me that no matter what it takes, you must be stopped."

"Fine. If physical pain didn't suffice, perhaps pain of the heart will make you see the truth."

***

A grounded pegasus, unable to fly, laughed at by everypony.

Laughed off the stage every time she tried singing in public, becoming the laughingstock of Equestria.

Cast out from the Apple family for daring to love a member of another species.

Seeing Rarity happy in Fancy's embrace, aware that he could never make her this happy.

***

Spike's head cleared again. The visions had seemed as real as the torture scenes, but they had been ten times as painful.

Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were lying on the ground sobbing, and after a few seconds, Spike realized that he was doing the same.

They never could tell which of them said it. Perhaps it was all four of them at once.

"Please, no more. I surrender."

Their necklaces dropped off one by one, the metal and stone vanishing as they hit the ground. Only the gemstones remained, robbed of all their light.

The cracks in the disc widened even further, and the last traces of colour drained from Twilight's coat, only the tip of her tail still showing a trace of purple.

Doubt laughed triumphantly. "Finally. The day of freedom is at hand."

Spike's vision faded. The last thought before the blackness was like a needle through his mind.

I'm sorry, everypony. We failed you.

Unbreakable

"Spike!"

The scream was raw, filled with an agony Twilight didn't know she was capable of. She heard the others cry out at the same time, Rarity and Applejack screaming their sisters' names, Rainbow Dash letting loose with a desperate "Scootaloo!", and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy joining in with a simple "No!"

Twilight felt her resolve drain away. The sight of the four little figures on the ground, sobbing helplessly, was the last straw.

***

Fancy Pants was woken from an uneasy slumber by screams.

He looked around and saw that all the ponies in the room were screaming, crying or both, as was Spike.

The feeling of uselessness that had threatened to overwhelm the society unicorn at the town square returned with double intensity as nurses and doctors hurried to each bedside, obviously just as helpless in the face of what was happening as Fancy was.

He looked the unconscious figures over and noticed that Twilight, alone of the six adults, still retained a little bit of colour. His little monologue to Spike had had some effect, he was sure of that. Perhaps he could do something again.

Fancy stood up and stepped to Twilight's bed, lowering his head until he could whisper in her ear. "You defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord. You can do something this time as well."

***

"Did you hear that?" Twilight cocked her head.

"What?" asked Rarity. "No, sorry, dear, I didn't hear anything. What was it?"

Twilight breathed in deeply. "I heard Fancy Pants' voice, telling me I could still do something." The pain and darkness seemed to lift from her mind. "And I believe he is right. Girls, focus on your elements."

"That's no use, Twi. They're useless against Doubt," Applejack said.

"That's not what I plan to use them for." Despite everything, Twilight actually managed a smile.

***

Spike woke up.

Memories came flooding back, though strangely subdued, as if his mind refused to take it all in. His eyes fell on the quill-shaped gemstone from his necklace, lying in the dust right in front of him. The crusaders were lying on the ground as well, utterly and completely defeated.

His eyes met Apple Bloom's, and she valiantly tried to smile.

A sudden fury gripped the young dragon. This was it? This was how it ended?

His hand grasped the gemstone, and a tiny sparkle of green lit up in the emerald's centre. "No."

Doubt didn't seem to hear him. It was too busy working some kind of ritual over the disc, which seemed to barely hold together now.

Apple Bloom stretched out a hoof and grasped her gem, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle following suit. Slowly, painfully, they scrambled to their feet.

A sudden burst of rainbow-hued light from the disc made him lower his nictitating membranes. A single, powerful note rang out in the gloom, and several of the cracks in the disc mended. Doubt screamed in fury. "You just don't know when to quit, do you, Element of Magic?" it hissed, casting a shroud of shadow over Twilight, breaking the mending magic.

Yet as Spike felt the wave of light wash over him, he suddenly realized that that hadn't been the primary purpose of that spell. The mending effect was just a distraction. Nopony else would have noticed, apart from Princess Celestia, but Spike had grown up with Twilight, and he recognized what she really was trying to accomplish.

He heard her voice in his mind. You have not failed. It's not over yet. If Harmony can't fight Doubt directly, then let it support the other elements in their battle.

Spike felt a surge of energy. He sensed the love the six ponies on the disc held for him and the crusaders, and from the looks on their faces, the crusaders could feel it too. Voices took shape out of the whispers of the magic.

You've cried enough. Time to laugh now.

I'm by your side, squirts. Now and always.

We share your pain. Let the healing begin.

I believe you can do it. Show that thing what it means to attack the Apple family and friends.

Take as much as you need. We can't do anything with it, but you can.

Magic knows many forms, and so does friendship. Let it support you.

The gemstone in his hand grew warm, and six shapes of coloured light danced around it, and around the other three gemstones held by the crusaders. Slowly, new necklaces began to form around the stones, made not of obsidian, copper or silver, but of clear crystal.

The four bearers looked at each other in wonder, and suddenly Spike felt his heart reignite, the flame that Doubt had smothered flaring up again, hotter and more intense than ever before. By the looks of it, the crusaders felt something similar.

Sweetie Belle was the first to find her voice. "I believe in you."

Scootaloo's eyes flashed. "Let's get that thing."

Apple Bloom grinned. "It will turn out alright."

Finally, Spike gritted his teeth. "We will not let it break out. We cannot let it break out."

The gemstones lit up, four different colours - green, orange, purple and white - joining into a nexus above their heads.

Doubt turned around and froze. Its eyes flashed yellow. "What is the meaning of this?"

A weak laugh drifted down from the disc. "You were right, Doubt," Twilight whispered. "Harmony can't fight you. But Harmony isn't everything. The forces of light support each other. That is why you and your kin lost the last time, and it will be your undoing this time."

Spike remembered something. "When Harmony comes to the end of its wisdom, the void must be filled with something else, or darkness will reign." He grinned like a mad dragon. "Do you want to know what that 'something else' is?"

For the first time since it had shown itself, Doubt looked uncertain. "Do tell."

Spike put one hand to his chest, his fingers framing the emerald, and closed his eyes. He knew that he had to get this right the first time - the disc was almost completely gone now. He swallowed, focusing on the power radiating from his fellow element bearers - Sweetie Belle's trust, Scootaloo's courage and Apple Bloom's confidence. They mingled with his own resolve, and he felt the energy inside him.

When he opened his eyes, everything had taken on a greenish tinge. Looking at the crusaders, he saw that their eyes were blazing with light, and he assumed his eyes looked the same. He turned his gaze on the visibly shaken shadowy figure beside the disc and spoke the word, the one word that was the new common ground of the four old elements.

"Unity."

A ray of brilliant white light shot out of the nexus, hitting Doubt in what passed for its face. The ancient evil screamed and stumbled, taking a few inadvertent steps back towards the disc. A second ray, and it was driven against the disc.

Or rather, it would have been, had there been any of the disc left where it stumbled. The lower half of the disc had been all but destroyed by the cracks, and Doubt swayed, teetering on the edge of oblivion, holding on to the remains of the disc with both arms. It cast an imploring gaze at the Elements of Unity. "You wouldn't imprison me in another, even worse place, now would you?" Doubt sounded hopeful, obviously counting on the tendency of good to give evil a chance at redemption.

The elements exchanged glances, and the three fillies grinned. "Cutie Mark Crusader prison wardens, yay!" they shouted gleefully.

Spike had no idea that this catchphrase could be made to sound so menacing. Neither, by the look of him, had Doubt. The dragon stepped forward. "You had five thousand years to think about what you did, and you wasted them. You are a monster, yet every monster deserves a chance." The brief hopeful flare in Doubt's eyes was immediately erased by Spike's next words. "You'll have a lot of time to think about what you did to us." The dragon's mouth twitched. "I truly am sorry, Doubt. But you can never be free again, not unless you change your ways, and you're unable to do that."

Another flash of white light hit Doubt, and the shadowy figure screamed. It lost its grip, and then it fell, lost in the darkness behind the disc, the screams still ringing out for a few seconds before they went quiet.

The disc rumbled and continued to dissipate, and Spike raised his head in surprise. "Why is it still falling apart?"

"You need to repair it!" Twilight's voice rang out. "Quickly!"

The Elements of Unity looked at each other and nodded. They focused the energy nexus on the disc, and silvery light started to slowly fill in the gaps. The disc groaned and shuddered, and Spike started to feel dizzy.

"Spike, I can't keep this up much longer!" he heard Scootaloo's voice.

He thought he saw the last gaps fill up before everything went black.

***

Spike was floating in a black void, but this time, he didn't feel fear or doubt. This was a good place, a nice place.

He saw the black rock appear out of the darkness. The ocean around it was calm and blue, and the rock itself looked steady and stable. The lantern on top of it blazed with orange light.

He approached the lantern and saw the symbols engraved upon it. The Elements of Harmony, with a special place of honour for the star and the diamonds, and above them the other Elements of Unity, topped by the hammer.

Do I love her? He realized that it didn't matter that much. They had been through hell and back, and nothing could break their bond now, no matter whether it was love or friendship.

Yet at the same time, he was curious. He pondered the question, and finally realized that he wouldn't find the answer while he was asleep or having a vision.

***

Apple Bloom saw the palatial clubhouse rise out of the darkness. It looked as good as new, even the apple tree was bearing fruit again. Her eyes were drawn to that strange purple apple near the top, and she felt a familiar flutter in her chest.

I love him.

She was aware that she was far too young to say this with the absolute certainty she felt, but she didn't care. They had been through so much together, and every step of the way had stoked the feelings she held. She was an Apple. She couldn't deny what she felt, even when her rational mind was aware that it probably wouldn't last.

I don't mind. It will be what it will be, and it will turn out for the best. But certainly not if I stay here and just dream about it.

***

Spike slowly drifted back into consciousness.

He was lying in a hospital bed. At least it's not the floor this time, he thought wryly as he tried to take in his surroundings. The crusaders were here, tucked into hospital beds as well.

As he tried to make up his mind whether to wake them, Apple Bloom opened her eyes. Her gaze fell on him, and she smiled. "Hello, Spike."

"Hi." The question from his dream came back to him with full force, and he blushed.

"Anything wrong?" Apple Bloom looked at him with worry in her eyes.

"Um ..." Spike was at a loss for words, still casting around for an answer to the question.

Apple Bloom got out of bed and approached him. "We really did it, didn't we? We defeated Doubt."

"Looks like it, yeah," Spike said.

"So what happens now?" Apple Bloom was avoiding his gaze, Spike noticed.

"I ... I don't know. AB, I know that you have a crush on me..."

"No," she interrupted. "It's more than that, Spike. After what happened..." she hesitated, then seemed to steel herself. "I think I love you."

"AB, look at me." She did, confusion in her eyes. "Think of who we are. I'm a dragon, you're a pony."

"What are you saying?" She seemed unsure whether to laugh or cry.

He swallowed. "Perhaps we should wait until we're ready for this."

She leaned in closer, grinning. "But I want it NOW!"

She pressed her lips to his. He was too surprised to react for a second, then he instinctively returned the kiss. It was messy, inexperienced, and it lasted for all of two seconds.

It was the most wonderful thing ever.

They were rather rudely interrupted. "Oy! Would you keep it down ..." Scootaloo's voice died down as she realized what she was looking at, picking exactly the right two seconds - or the wrong two seconds, from her point of view. "Eww!"

That seemed to have gotten Sweetie Belle's attention. "What's wrong?" She sat up, turning to Spike and Apple Bloom. By then, the kiss was over, but it wasn't difficult to guess what had happened - the dragon and the filly were still only inches apart, and both were blushing furiously. "Aww. This is so cute!"

Spike and Apple Bloom looked at each other, and Apple Bloom smiled bashfully. "So much for waiting, hm?"

"Yeah," Spike said breathlessly. "And so much for keeping it a secret for now, too." Then he decided to take the plunge. "Apple Bloom, I think I love you too."

Of course, fate decreed that this was the perfect moment for the door to open, admitting the Elements of Harmony. One look at Spike and Apple Bloom was enough to trigger several different reactions in the six mares, from joy to puzzlement.

Spike sighed. This was going to be a very, very long day.

Party for Everybody

Saturday, August 23rd, Sugarcube Corner, 5:45 p.m.

When Spike arrived at Sugarcube Corner, he was greeted by the sight of some last-minute preparations.

"Where should I put the muffins, Pinkie?" Mr. Cake asked, balancing a rather huge tray of the baked goods.

"The second side table. And try to put them behind the other things on that table." Pinkie Pie grinned. "Derpy shouldn't have it too easy. Now, where did I put that confetti cannon?"

"Confetti cannon?" Mr. Cake looked around the room, then stepped to the door opposite Spike and cast a look into the garden outside. "Don't you think there are enough decorations here already?" The baker certainly had a point - Pinkie had outdone herself, with glitter, streamers, banners depicting the Elements of Harmony and Unity, and a large wooden plank painted with the words Grand Victory Party.

"No, no, no. The words 'enough' and 'decorations' don't go in the same sentence, Mr. Cake!" Pinkie paused. "Though I just did use them in the same sentence, so that can't be right."

Spike cleared his throat. "Um, Pinkie?"

She whirled around in place like a figure skater, doing a full 360-degree rotation before coming to a stop facing Spike. "Oh, hi Spike! Sorry, didn't notice you. How long have you been standing there?"

"I only just got here." Spike's eyes fell on the tables holding the food, and his mouth started to water slightly. Pinkie had had two days to prepare for this feast, and it showed. Spike was amazed that the tables were holding up under all the dishes, plates, trays and bowls.

"Do you like it? The girls and I worked at this all day yesterday."

"It looks amazing," Spike said, smiling. "But do you think we can finish it all?"

"Have you seen the crusaders go at it?" Pinkie put on an exaggerated frown. "Trust me, at the rate Apple Bloom goes through cupcakes, we'll be lucky to have anything left by midnight!" Her face returned to the customary smile. "Speaking of which, where is she?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her all day." Spike scratched his neck. "Do you think I did something wrong?"

Pinkie bit her lip. "Sorry, Spike, I can't tell. I promised her not to spoil the surprise."

Spike was very much aware how seriously Pinkie took promises and secrets, so he decided to drop the issue for now. He went to work helping Pinkie and the Cakes with the last details of the party, though his mind was elsewhere.

***

Half an hour later

The mood at the party was rather subdued, at least among the guests of honour, but nopony would have wanted it any other way. While they were celebrating their victory over Doubt, the memories over what the thing had done to them were fresh enough to keep the joy they felt to a minimum.

Spike liked it that way. He was sitting in a corner of the garden, holding a glass of apple juice and just looking at the other guests. Twilight might have called it studying, but he was enjoying this too much for it to feel like work. Had he not been dressed to the nines, in his tuxedo, cane and even white gloves - he had gone without the top hat -, with the crystal necklace holding the Element of Resolve around his neck, this would have felt like a normal Pinkie party.

He scratched his head, still wondering why Pinkie had insisted on formal wear on the invitation, especially as, by the looks of it, that restriction only applied to the Elements and their company.

There was Derpy, going through muffins at a positively alarming rate. Just inside the door, Bon Bon was sampling the sweets, obviously enjoying them very much. The band Pinkie had hired were getting ready for showtime, tuning their instruments one last time and joking with each other. Over near the wall, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were playing pin-the-tail-on-the-pony, the sight of the two in their gala outfits going at a party game involving blindfolds making Spike grin.

And over near the hedge, there were Fancy Pants and Rarity, deep in conversation, looking so radiant with joy that the brief pang of jealousy Spike felt simply dissipated. He could bear Fancy no ill will, not after what had happened. He managed to get through to me and to Twilight when everything seemed lost. We could not have done this without him.

He saw Rarity turn her head and meet his gaze, and for one brief moment, she held his heart again - but that moment passed, and he was finally able to see her for who and what she was, rather than what he'd dreamt her to be. She was beautiful, generous and lovable, and she was his friend. She would always hold a place in his heart, but not the special place she'd once occupied. That place belonged to somepony else now.

Rarity seemed to understand what he was thinking, and she smiled.

The sound of hoofsteps close by made him turn his head. Applejack had just arrived at the garden gate, looking stunning in her gala dress, if a bit uncomfortable at having to wear 'high-falutin' fancy stuff', as she might have put it. Trailing behind her in brand-new dresses were Scootaloo, looking distinctly irritated at having to wear anything that was not a protective helmet, and Sweetie Belle, obviously overjoyed at the gorgeous white-and-purple affair her sister must have slaved over for quite a few hours by the looks of it.

The three entered, then Applejack turned around and beckoned to somepony Spike couldn't see. Another filly turned the corner and stepped through the gate, and when he recognized her, the dragon's jaw dropped.

He had seen her in clothes before, to be sure - that lovely dress she'd worn as a flower girl back at the wedding for one. Usually, though, he was used to her wearing the red bow and nothing else. That bow was still there, but she was robed in a simple yet elegant dress in the exact same shade of orange as her eyes, adorned with little green gemstones. Her mane was styled in a way very similar to Rarity's, and the element necklace was set off with a thin line of blue diamonds.

She stepped over to him and hugged him. "Hi, Spike."

The words pulled him back to reality. "Uh, hi Apple Bloom." He cast around for something, anything, to say. "You look nice."

By the look in her eyes, that hadn't been what she hoped to hear. "Nice?"

"Um..." Focus, dammit! Focus! He thought of the stories he'd read. "Nopony here tonight holds a candle to you, my lady."

That was obviously a lot better. "Heh. Thanks. I wanted to surprise you. Did it work?"

"Hoo boy, did it ever!" Did I just say that out loud?

She looked relieved. "Good. I spent five hours in front of that mirror, getting poked with needles." Her eyes wandered over to Rarity, and something like anger flickered up in them. "She's lucky it worked." Then she turned back to Spike, and all traces of bad feelings vanished. "Wanna get some cupcakes?"

Spike leapt to his feet. "Do I? Last one at the table is a rotten egg!"

***

Rarity watched Spike and Apple Bloom race inside to get something to eat and smiled. The two were just too cute for words. "A little young, perhaps."

She only realized she had said that out loud when Fancy turned to her. "What, those two?" He looked after the dragon and the filly. "From what you told me, they have been through hell and back relying on each other. I agree that they're not as advanced in years as I am, but that experience has forged a bond between them. Even if they don't work out as a couple, they will always remain friends."

Rarity snuggled up to him. "Does your talent tell you that?"

He smiled down at her. "It does, but it wouldn't be necessary. Yes, love at their age is often fleeting, but Spike doesn't strike me as flighty, and neither does Apple Bloom if she's anything like the rest of her family."

"True. He pursued me for two years, and he never let up." Rarity suddenly sounded sad. "I wish I'd had the heart to tell him sooner. This whole ordeal with Doubt might not have happened if it wasn't for me breaking his heart."

"Don't." She looked up at the stern undertone in Fancy's voice. "He was despairing he might not be worthy of love, and you are blaming yourself for what happened, and both of you are wrong. He's found he can be loved, and you need to get rid of the notion that you are somehow responsible for Doubt."

"But I am responsible, Fancy," she said very quietly. "I neglected my friends because I was afraid you'd come between them and me. I caused the very thing I tried so desperately to avoid. If I had told them straight away ..."

"Rarity, I said stop." He pulled her face around gently and looked her straight in the eyes. "We can never know what would have happened if something or other had gone some other way. We make our decisions, and we live with them. Everything turned out well, so stop worrying about what might have been."

She felt the small patch of darkness in her heart, the little doubt that had been there ever since that night by the lake, melt away. Fancy was right. It had happened, and it had turned out for the best.

She heard the band strike up a fast tune. Fancy looked at her and stood. "May I have this dance?"

"Of course, good sir. This and any others you wish to have." She stood up and followed him to the dancefloor.

***

"So what happened, exactly? I only remember everything going dark." Fluttershy sipped her cider, still looking shaken.

"The Elements of Unity repaired the disc," Twilight explained. "Whatever that dark place where Doubt held us was, it's now imprisoned even beyond that." She frowned. "I'm still not sure what that disc was, exactly. My guess would be it was some kind of seal keeping other dark things imprisoned."

Rainbow Dash, who had joined the conversation after her fourth defeat at pin-the-tail, shuddered. "Other dark things? Like, worse than Doubt?"

"Probably." Twilight didn't like the sound of that either. "Remember those other evils that Doubt told us about? Like Fear and Regret? Perhaps they're imprisoned there. Let's hope we never find out."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Twilight and Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy in surprise. "The Elements of Harmony and Unity are waiting for anypony who tries to do anything like what Doubt did." The yellow pegasus set her jaw in an uncanny parody of Iron Will. "We're ready to deal with them." At the surprised stares of the other two mares, Fluttershy shrank back a little. "Um ... if they do really bad things, that is."

Rainbow Dash laughed. "We will show them if they ever dare try anything, right Twi?"

Twilight just nodded and smiled. It had been a close call, but they had come through yet again, and their friendship would be stronger for it.

***

Two hours later

"Fillies and gentlecolts, a round of applause for our special guests, please!" Pinkie shouted from the stage.

She leapt down and hurried to the bakery door, passing Spike and Apple Bloom, who were sitting on a bench holdings hands - or hooves, as it were. Pinkie grinned at the two. "This is going to be great!"

Before either of the two could say anything, Pinkie had vanished into the house. Apple Bloom looked at Spike quizzically. "What is she up to now?"

"No idea." Spike saw a commotion on the stage. "But I think we're about to find out."

The band drew back from the front part of the stage, and six mares stepped forward, dressed in strange flowing garments and headscarves. None of them looked younger than fifty, and some seemed to rival Granny Smith in years. One of them stepped forward and grabbed a microphone. "It's our great pleasure to be here tonight, in honour of the Elements of Unity!" Her Equestrian was good, but had a distinct accent to it, which Spike placed as Stalliongrad. "We ask you to dance now! This song is called "Party for Everypony."

The mares launched into a strange, atonal song, and Spike wondered for a moment how anypony was supposed to dance to this. Then the instruments started up, and he understood, grinning. "Shall we?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Apple Bloom leapt up and ran onto the dancefloor, Spike in tow.

***

Where space and time hold no meaning

It was dark.

Doubt knew it would never see light again. It didn't mind that. The grey light had been the only feature of its prison for five thousand years. Darkness was good.

Then it sensed something. Something very close.

"Hello, brother."

It was no voice, for sound had no meaning here. It was a feeling. Doubt recognized it, and it felt a sudden wave of dread. It had not expected to sense that feeling ever again.

The feeling - the voice - returned. "Have you no words of greeting for your once-favourite sister?"

"Regret," Doubt sent. "What a nice surprise."

"I don't think 'nice' enters into it, my dear brother." The voice held a sudden note of ancient anger and hatred. "You left me to rot here, while you enjoyed your relative freedom in the Spaces Between. But your cunning plan failed, as they always do in the end."

Something seemed to streak past Doubt, and the dread multiplied tenfold.

"And now you're here. Finally, after all this time, I have you where I wanted you. I have dreamt of what I would do to the traitor, the one who got off easy, but I never dared hope I'd see the day I could make those dreams a reality." Regret's voice dripped with anticipation. "Now I'll show you the true meaning of the words 'eternal regret'."

The ancient evil constructed to assault Harmony, the splinter off the Ancient Darkness known as Doubt, began to scream.

Epilogue: You and Me

Sweet Apple Acres, 7 p.m., 10th August, six years after the Doubt incident

"I got it!"

Even three hours after the fact, Apple Bloom was beside herself with joy for catching the bride's bouquet, and slowly but surely Spike was getting a little annoyed with it. "Yes, AB, you've mentioned that once or twice."

The sarcasm seemed to be lost on her. "Oh, come on. Isn't this the best wedding you've ever been to?"

Spike had to admit that his marefriend had a point. While the official part at the Town Hall had been rather stiff and formal - possibly as a nod to the bridegroom, which just goes to show how little they know about him, Spike thought -, the reception at Sweet Apple Acres was fantastic. Pinkie had pulled out all the stops for this party, as had Applejack for the food, Rainbow Dash for the flight show, Fluttershy for the music and Twilight for the magic show.

Then again, that was to be expected. It wasn't every day one of your circle of best friends got married, after all.

Spike cast a look around from the bench he had plopped down on - never attending anything again where I can't sit or lie down for hours, he swore to himself -, and his gaze fell on the happy couple. Fancy Pants had proven once and for all that he deserved his name with a truly marvellous dark blue suit, but compared to his bride, he was so much background noise.

The dress looked rather simple at first glance, but in motion, a thousand little patterns among the gemstones and different types of cloth were revealed - a little ripple there, a counter-movement there, and the overall effect was nothing short of stunning. But the dress paled in comparison to the mare wearing it. Rarity had never looked this radiant - for once, all her high-class attitude, both real and affected, was gone, replaced with the most infectious and gorgeous smile imaginable. The stale saying about 'the happiest day in her life' had never seemed this fitting.

Spike's mouth curled up into a smile, and Apple Bloom seemed to notice. She followed his gaze and smiled as well. "Aren't they beautiful?"

"Yeah," Spike said absent-mindedly.

"Hey!" Apple Bloom punched him lightly in the side. "Hello? Equestria to Spike!"

"Huh?" Spike turned to her. "Sorry, must have zoned out for a moment."

"I noticed." For a second, he detected an old, familiar undercurrent of jealousy in her voice.

He took her hoof in both hands. "AB, look at me." She did, still with uncertainty in her eyes. "How long have we been together now?"

"Almost six years," Apple Bloom answered mechanically. "With that one-month break three and a half years ago."

"Have I ever said or done anything in all that time to show that I still wasn't over Rarity?" When no answer came, Spike looked Apple Bloom straight in the eyes. "Come on, I've done some pretty stupid things over those six years. Has that ever been an issue?"

"No." It came out almost unwillingly. "Except that one time, when you went crying to her."

He sighed. This again? "AB, we've been over this. You had broken up with me, and I felt like the world had ended." The dragon's lips twisted into a half-smile. "I don't think I ever told you this, but seeing Rarity and Fancy kissing wasn't even half as painful as thinking you didn't love me anymore."

Apple Bloom's breath seemed to catch in her throat. "Seriously?"

"I don't know where I'd be today if I hadn't had Twi and Rarity to help me through this, and eventually clear up the whole affair." He hugged her. "You promised me never to let anypony's opinion come between us again, even if that pony was your sister."

"Yeah, I did. But ..." Apple Bloom looked at Rarity again. "I guess I just can't believe my luck." She snuggled up to him. "Why would anypony give me a second look while she was around?"

Spike laughed. "What, you call yourself lucky? I'm a dragon among ponies, AB. I'm the lucky one here, because I found you." He turned serious again. "And anypony who doesn't look at you is just stupid. You're as beautiful as she is."

"Stop it," Apple Bloom said, though she couldn't hide a smile. "You may be better at lying than I am, but not by that much."

"I mean every word I said." He slowly blinked his nictitating membranes. "I don't care what anypony else thinks. To me, you're the most beautiful mare in the world, and that's final."

Apple Bloom blushed, and Spike smiled inwardly. He rarely let his sappier - or more romantic - side show, and she was always caught unprepared when he did.

She looked up to him. "And you're the most beautiful dragon I've ever met."

"I'm the only..."

The rest of his protest was cut short as she pressed her lips to his.

***

The old weathervane atop the main house at Sweet Apple Acres had seen better days. It was so rusty now that it usually hardly moved even in stormy weather.

Tonight was anything but a usual night, however.

The weathervane screeched as it started to turn, and a whisper echoed across the farm, unheard by almost all.

Four have been revealed and tested.

Four remain hidden, yet to show their mettle.

Eight will need to stand at the Dawn of the Seventh.