Purple Light

by inkless

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Spike
Length: 6702

With the world slowly being covered in shadows, while searching for a way to stop the Nightmare, Twilight and Spike live their life in the Everfree. If only the Elements were more than a bunch of useless rocks.

Princess Celestia has disappeared.
Nightmare Moon is covering the world in darkness.
The Elements are just a bunch of rocks.
Twilight Sparkle hides in the Everfree, looking for a way to save the world from the all consuming shadows while trying to survive the everyday life inside the forest's castle.
Spike just wants to put some food in her stomach.

Published 2015-11-14 04:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-11-21 21:34:19 UTC

The Princess's Student

Author's Note

The only note I am going to put at the top. I hope.

Hello, everyone.
I am writing this with the goal to improve my English, I speak Spanish, and my writing skills.
The only QA this two chapters have is my own.
With that said, I hope this is of your liking.
Tell me what you think and, If you want, leave a review in the comments.

Bye.

14-11-2015: I accidentally liked this story, while browsing on my tablet. Sorry about that.
18-12-2015: Deleted some commas. Deleted some words. Fixed formatting issues.
20-12-2015: Deleted two more commas.

The Princess's Student

Three days. She has been reading for three days, sitting in front of an old desk she had levitated near a bookcase, locked inside the demolished remains of the library.

The big hole in the roof, that extended from left to right, allowed the shiny yellow orb that orbited the place to illuminate the room.

Rays of light hit her face, forcing the pony to slowly open her eyes. Covering her mouth with a hoof, she left a soft yawn, while stretching her other leg. With the ritual complete, the pony’s mind gradually began to function.

The first thing she noticed was the puddle of drool on the desk. The second thing she noticed was a notepad with a series of records about farming that slowly turned into gibberish. The third thing she noticed was a tray with a cup of coffee, some sandwiches and some napkins.

The puddle brought a red tint to her cheeks.

The horn on her head glowed magenta, so did the napkins. Rising from the tray, they made their way to the drool, landed on it and began to absorb it. After making sure that all of her saliva was removed, she threw the papers, now wet, to the trash bin next to the desk.

The gibberish made her grunt.

“I must have fallen asleep,” she said to no one.

Picking the notepad with a hoof, the unicorn began to flip the sheets, searching for more incomprehensible writings. Luckily for her, it appeared that only half of the last page was useless. Letting a sigh of relief, she placed the notepad back to its place.

Her stomach growled.

Focusing her attention on the food, she began to levitate one of the sandwiches to her mouth. At first, she gave it a shy bite. Once she savoured and swallowed the piece, however, the pony threw self-control out of the window and started to eat more larger, messier portions.

She was hungry, darn it!

Next, her morning coffee. Wrapped in her magic, she gave the cup, that had moved next to her mouth, a tentative sip. It was cold. Disgruntled, she forced the liquid down her throat.

Never again.

Rising from the chair, she began to walk down the aisle, two sandwiches following her steps.

Books. There were books to the left. There were books to the right. And there were some on the floor. Keeping her head glued to the ground, she took special care not to step on them.

During normal circumstances, she would pick them up and put them back on their respective bookcases. But she was grumpy, still hungry and, frankly, since there were only two beings living in the castle at the moment, no one would damage them more than they already are... she, at least. Her assistant might not care.

Speaking of him, he might had been keeping his distance from the library, she supposed, in fear of being tasked with cleaning the mess. Or in fear of her. She tended to do creepy things when she went loco.

Anyhow, both of them would clean this mess, in a later time.

Stopping in her tracks, she placed a hoof on her head and started to massage it. A list. She needed one, not only to organize her thoughts, but to bring a little of normalcy to the situation. With how hectic things has been lately, it slipped her mind.

She let out a little laugh. “That’s a first.”

There has been a lot of first lately. It needed to stop.

Inspecting the room to know where she was, she caught her reflection in a mirror, hanging on the wall, next to the library’s entrance.

It has been her assistant’s idea to put it there. “Just because,” he had told her. Now she know why.

Big black circles under tired purple eyes, a dirty mane with straws of hair poking around here and there and some stains of mud coating her body saluted her.

“Hilarious,” she snorted. “I don’t need to see my reflection to know I look like a mess, Spike”. Of course, sometimes she needed to be remembered to take a break.

And fine, it was funny. She could appreciate it, since it seemed to lighten the mood around a little.

“Look at you. All messy and dirty and tired and anxious and...” Her eyes began to glitter. She was sad again.

Darn, that came out of nowhere.

A blink. No more tears.

“No crying. The Princess is counting on you. Spike is counting on you.” She pointed a hoof to the mirror, every sentence bringing her body closer. “You are Twilight Sparkle. You are Celestia’s prized student. You. Will. Fix. This.”

Right then, first things first… She saw the sandwiches floating behind her

Well, breakfast first. And a piece of paper next.

She really needed that list. Things would be easier, if she had a more organized mindset. And a clue about what she was suppose to do.

They have the Elements of Harmony. Or rather, six rocks that refused to cooperate. Also, books. Lots of books. With no order whatsoever. Getting any kind of useful information about the Elements would be a herculean task. A task she would have to do alone.

Enough with the pessimistic thinking! Things were bad, but they could be worse.

They had a sun, at least, or a cheap imitation of it. And with time, plus her notes, she would devise some sort of farming project, using the surrounding land. Not a very thought through plan, but she needed a starting point, and this was as good as she was going to get, for the time being. Plus, it gave her something to focus on.

Anyway, a stable food source was necessary. The rations Spike had brought with him would not last forever and going to Ponyville to get aliment was too risky. Sadly, at least a few trips were necessary. They required materials, tools, seeds and more provisions. Getting to the point where they could harvest their work would take time.

Separating herself from the mirror, Twilight resumed her walking. To the kitchen, she commanded her legs. Or rather, the messy front-yard.

They hadn’t explored the castle enough to know where every room was.

And for Celestia’s sake, this place was a labyrinth. Secret passages, stairs that, she swore, reset themselves just to annoy her, doors that refused to open, trying to led her Faust knows where... It was madness!

She made her way through what looked like the castle’s main hall, in direction to the exit. Behind her, two surprisingly undamaged banners hanging from the ceiling.

They depicted two winged unicorns. Alicorns, if you will. The one on the left, a dark shade of blue, with a waning crescent moon in a starry night above her. The one on the right, a snowy mane with a bright sun overhead.

This was the Castle of the Two Sisters. A fact that, to her surprise, had lost relevancy fairly quickly.

Eternal night tended to do that.

Just some steps in front of the entrance, she found a makeshift fire, made of a series of rocks arranged in a circle and branches of different thickness acting as fuel. A burned, metal grid inside of it, too.

Her assistant might had been here before.

Circling the heat source, she spoke, “don’t let fire unattended, Spike.”

Where could he be? Exploring, maybe? That ought to entertain him a little. As grown up as her assistant claimed to be, he was still very much a kid.

Looking around, she found a kettle, sitting on a log, a modest distance away from the fire. Additionally, water bottles, coffee, bread... basically, a breakfast building-blocks.

Remembering she had brought food with her, she ate one of the sandwiches that had been faithfully following her. The last one with the coffee.

The kettle lighted up purple and started to float to the fire, dropping down carefully on the metal grid. Above it, water began to pour inside of it.

She sat near the fire, her back to the entrance.

Her head turned to the left, warming her cheek. After a few seconds, it turned to the right. The motion was repeated for a while.

On the corner of her eyes, she saw her assistant opening the doors. He had a pouch to his left, its string on his right shoulder.

“Good morning, Spike,” she called him. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“Morning, Twilight,” He responded, waving one of his claws. “No problem.”

“Mind telling me why did you left the fire unattended? I am not angry.”

He let out a worried, little laugh. “I went looking for you.” He scratched the back of his head. “Something happened, though: A door trapped me inside one of the rooms near the tower.” His cheeks turned red. “I freaked out and it let me go.”

Spike found himself wrapped in a hug. After a moment, his brain caught up with the situation and he returned the gesture.

“That must have been scary.” She smiled at him. “I am happy you are fine.”

Spike responded her with a warm smile. “You know? I still got to the library. I brought you this.” Rummaging his bag, he extracted her notepad, a feather and some ink.

“Thanks, Spike.”

Spike broke the hug, saluted her and sat down near the fire, inspecting the kettle.

Approaching him, Twilight sat down next to her assistant and began to write.

Finally she would start that darn list.

The Student's Assistant

The door opened with a creak.

Clenching his teeth, he peeked through the entrance, his eyes moving left to right, up and down, searching for the room’s occupant, silently hoping the door’s noise didn’t provoke her anger on the off chance that she was near the door.

Although, anger wasn't it. Annoying lecture was, probably, more accurate. He really didn’t want to hear one so early in the morning.

Stepping inside, he noticed the books covering the floor. A lump formed in his throat. Swallowing it, he carefully started to make his way to his friend, tightening the grip on the fray in his claws, sidestepping the lecture material in what could be aptly described as an awkward dance.

He really wished he could just walk in a straight line and be done with it, but his caretaker was perceptive, specially when it came to books. And when she snapped out of whatever obsession had taken hold of her mind, she would see the disaster area they called library, freak out and make him pick up every single tome on the tiles, while checking them for damage.

Celestia help him, if she saw a foot print on one of them. Specially one from him.

After a few minutes, the sight of a unicorn sleeping came into view. The dragon took a look at her face, his lips slowly raising. Her head was on the desk, with her legs forming a circle around it, a notebook next to it. She looked adorable. Peaceful, too.

“Rest well, Twilight,” Spike whispered.

His caretaker was finally resting. That was good.

He really wanted everything to return back to normal, and the hope of such an event occurring laid with the unicorn. She would figure something out. But spending three days locked in a room, alone, without sleeping, was becoming too much, specially after the disaster of the last few days.

She always did that when she was under pressure, obsess over something like it’s the end of the world, ignoring reality and forgetting her well being, forcing him to be the voice of reason and take care of her every need. Sadly, this time was different. Twilight had not involved him in her meltdown. She had locked him out, making him imagine terrible scenarios in his loneliness.

He really was considering dragging her out of the library by the legs, tie her to a log near the fire in the front garden and feed some food to her empty stomach. However, maybe that would not be necessary, if she went out after her nap.

Cold coffee should do the trick, if he know her well. And he did. It should cool down enough before she woke up, he hoped, forcing her out the place in search of a more appropriate beverage.

After silently putting the tray on the desk, he made his way back to the main hall. Once there, before going to the castle’s exit, he stopped in front of the mirror next to the library’s gateway.

“Just because,” he had said to Twilight when asked about why was he hanging a mirror, the day they made the castle their temporary home.

He was hoping that by seeing her reflection, she would snap out of the episode she would get into. And share a laugh. She looked hilarious sometimes.

After flexing his arms, admiring the muscles that definitely were there, he returned to the path to the front garden.

He interrupted his walk a few steps in front of the castle giant doors, outside, near the fire they used to heat their food.

Up in the sky, just above the library’s roof, he could see the small yellow orb that had appeared the day the Nightmare had taken control of the land, and had circled the place since then.

It was a weird little thing their small sun, giving them, and just them, the gift of light, while the rest of the world was dominated by darkness.

Maybe Twilight could make replicas of it to send to the rest of Equestria. Without the playfulness, though.

He swore, its rays seemed to concentrate in his eyes sometimes, blinding him and making him trip, generally when he was right in front of a mud puddle. The result, of course, was him falling face first in it.

If the thing had a face, it would probably be laughing. However, in Twilight’s absence, it was good company.

Averting his eyes from the sphere, the dragon directed his attention to the fire. Black and white dust covered the inside of the circle of rocks they had built around it. A small number of slim, unconsumed branches remained.

It looked like it would die off soon. His breakfast would have to wait then.

Stepping closer to the trees that surrounded the castle, he started to inspect the ground in search of burnable material he could use.

Sadly, the darkness that covered the place made it a tough challenge, limiting the area he could walk to. And he would not venture too deep inside the forest. He would be blind. Plus, he didn’t have a death wish

Crouched, with his eyes closed, he let out a sigh.

Opening them again, he was surprised to see a small path protected by light, the shadows shying away from the sun rays.

Getting up, turning around and putting his hand around his mouth, like a megaphone, he yelled to the yellow orb, “THANKS!”

It really was good company.

After a while, burning wood could be seen behind a smug dragon admiring a pile of food and water bottles, sitting on a log not far away. Nodding once, he turned to the castle’s entrance and stepped inside.

Walking to the aisle opposite the library, he followed the path that would take him to their bedroom.

Twilight hadn’t showed up, so he would have to go for her and lure her outside somehow. Of course, that was plan B. He hoped she was still sleeping or eating her breakfast. If she was awake, and sane, she was probably going to make him pick up some lecture material to not interrupt whatever investigation she was conducting.

So, with that scenario in mind, he had decided to go find his pouch, a small bag made out of bedsheets and a string of wool to hang on one of his shoulders that he had put together before leaving Ponyville.

The sound of lock unlocking itself made him stop at the base of the stairs that led to the top of the right tower of the castle, the place were they went to sleep.

Separating his hand from the wall, he stepped near the open door.

Peering inside, his head just inches apart from the exit while the rest of hist body remained in the other side, the safe one, he asked, “Hello?”

The moment he entered the room, the door behind him closed, the gust of wind it produced sending chills down his spine.

A ray of light sneaked through a petite hole in the roof. On the floor, the light started to expand, forming a circle. From the cebter of it, a yellow tentacle grew, zigzagging like a snake in the wild, to the door on the opposite end.

Right, this was getting creepy.

Turning around, he held the doorknob in both hands, turned it and pushed forward. The door didn’t budge. Now desperate, Spike began to hit the door with his claws. Without warning, it opened, making him fall on the cold tiles of the ground.

He made a run for the tower’s stairs.

At the top, he kicked the bedroom’s entrance, jumped to the bed and hid under the bedsheets.

Safe inside his impenetrable shield, Spike put in action the breathing exercises he had read in one of Twilight’s Christmas gift.

Twilight had the weird idea that everypony liked to receive books in all celebrations. And while he didn’t showed it much, generally displaying a face of silent disinterest, he really appreciated the fact that his caretaker remembered to give him something in every occasion. So he read them, when nopony was around to point hoofs at him.

Now more calm, he risked a peek to the outside world. The room was empty.

After getting out of his bunker, the dragon crunched and reached for the bag under the bed.

He wasn’t messy a dragon, but with the room already looking like a disaster area in its own rights, he wasn’t compelled to clean every minuscule detail. Besides, he hadn’t spent the last three days sitting on his butt. He had built a wood curtain to cover the hole where the windows was suppose to be. And he almost fell!

Twilight didn’t need to know that, though.

With the bag’s string on his arm, he ran off to the library, giving one nervous look to the haunted gate.

Nopony was in the library. The tray on the desk absent of any food. With that last one thought, the dragon assumed that his caretaker finally decided to come to reality.

To the garden, then.

Before leaving, Spike picked the notepad, a feather and a bottle of ink. Twilight would send him to fetch them anyway. She was out, but not out.

The castle’s main doors didn’t make a sound when opened, one of the many special things about their current residence. He was thankful for it, as he didn’t want to startle the unicorn. Still, she had caught him right after the fact.

“Good morning, Spike,” she called him. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“Morning, Twilight,” He responded, waving one of his claws. “No problem.”

“Mind telling me why did you left the fire unattended? I am not angry.”

He let out a worried, little laugh. “I went looking for you.” He scratched the back of his head. “Something happened, though: A door trapped me inside one of the rooms near the tower.” His cheeks turned red. “I freaked out and it let me go.”

Spike found himself wrapped in a hug. After a moment, his brain caught up with the situation and he returned the gesture.

“That must have been scary.” She smiled at him. “I am happy you are fine.”

Spike responded her with a warm smile. “You know? I still got to the library. I brought you this.” Rummaging his bag, he extracted her notepad, a feather and some ink.

“Thanks, Spike.”

Spike broke the hug, saluted her and sat down near the fire, inspecting the kettle.

The dragon give her a furtive glance. She was completely entranced with the notepad. The feather floating next to her head, scratching it. Her eyes still had bags under them, her mane was a mess and she was covered in mud. In spite of all that, she looked filled with determination.

Spike began to grin. His best friend was back.

Twilight would stop Nightmare and bring back the Princess, no doubt about it.

And he was going to be with her in every step of the way, taking care of her, helping with whatever she needed. Because he was her number one assistant.

Unknowingly for both of them, one of the elements, for the tiniest moment, glowed.

Author's Note

Now I have to learn about agriculture
14-11-2015: Fixed some issues (see >>6634035 ). Thanks, The Descendant.
15-11-2015: Fixed >>6634726
18-12-2015: Deleted some commas and extra spaces. Fixed some formatting issues and wrong conjugations.

A Stroll Through the Forest

Twilight eyed the beings in front of her.

Spike stood ahead the castle's doors, a long stick firm in his right hand and a frown on his face. To his left, the artificial sun floated up and down, it's light diminished to a small glow that illuminated part of the garden without hurting their eyes. They couldn't look at it directly, but peeking at it's direction was possible, if they covered them a little.

Apparently, her assistant and the little sphere had formed some sort of friendship during the past couple of days. This was one of the things that had surprised her after returning from her self-imposed isolation. “It can understand me,” he said to her the day she saw him talking with the thing. It unnerved her for a time, the fact that Spike seemed to regard the flying object as something sentient. He was longing for attention, she believed. Fortunately, or not, she still hadn't decided, their sun had proven it's intelligence during dinner, three days ago. Small chat turned into a barrage of jokes with different themes, one of them being Celestia's… sweets problem. It seemed the sphere hadn't liked her jab at the Princess's weight. In retaliation, it made a hole in Spike's home-made curtain, somehow, and directed its rays into her eyes, turning sleeping time for the next two days into a real pain.

“Right.” She nodded. “Let's check we have everything in order one last time” In a flash of light, her notepad and a feather appeared in front of her, suspended in the air.

Spike's expression changed immediately, from a frown to an exasperated look. “Again?” He complained. “This is the fourth time, Twilight! Are we ever going to leave?”

Giving him a side glance, Twilight responded smugly, “Aren't soldiers supposed to follow the orders of their superiors without complaining?”

“Power abuse,” the dragon commented.

The unicorn chuckled. “Get over it. You were the one wanting to play pretend.”

“You are still abusing authority!” Spike looked to the artificial sun. “Oi, give me a hand!”

The sphere's response was to keep floating in its place.

“Coward,” Spike replied, disappointed. Letting out a sigh, the dragon straightened himself, placed the stick to his left, pointing to the sky, frowned and focused on Twilight. “Please forgive my disrespectful words, captain”.

“Forgiven, soldier.” Moving the feather closer to the notepad, Twilight began to read. “Empty water bottles?”

Rolling his eyes, Spike pointed to his pouch...

Fifteen minutes later, the castle's occupants could be seen walking through the forest, the image of the fortress still visible behind them, however small. The sun lead the group, its front half intensively glowing, dispersing the darkness from the trees, while its other half emitted a soft light that the other two members of the party followed faithfully. Behind it, the unicorn trotted with the dragon sitting on her back and a stick hanging on her left, tied to her saddlebags.

Twilight observed their guide. It looked like it knew the way from and to the castle incredibly well, if the accurate turns and the constant peace it seemed to maintain where any indication. Plus, they reached the gorge's bridge fairly quickly. Maybe she could use it as some sort of map. It obeyed them, to a certain extent. If she asked about the existence of a secret room back at the castle, maybe it would take her to some useful places. Speaking of secrets rooms, Spike mentioned something about a passage in one of the rooms near the tower. She has to investigate that sometime in the future.

“Here's hoping it doesn't kill me,” she murmured. Apparently, it was loud enough to catch the attention of her passenger.

“What thing?” He asked, a little worried.

“Uh?” She looked at him quizzically. “Oh! Don't mind me. Just thinking some stuff,” she answered, a blush covering her features.

“You aren't going to obsess over it, are you?”

“What?! No! I am fine, seriously. What happened then was just the shock of the situation. We have a plan now. We execute it and enjoy the results.” She tried to give a reassuring smile. The look of suspicion the dragon was giving her told her clearly that it was anything but.

“You don't look fine.”

“I am good, really.” Was her left eye twitching?

“Maybe, when we come back we can...”

“Drop it,” she interrupted.

“All right, all right. So...” He dragged the word as long as he could. Was Spike choosing his words?! Was he really thinking that she was going to snap again?!

“I am not going crazy!” It was a childish outburst, she knew it, but her pride was wounded and she really didn't want to touch the theme of her mental health right now. Or ever.

“I wasn't going to talk about that,” he responded calmly, like she was a child crying for her mom after scratching her leg. Was she really this jumpy?

“Oh…” The ground looked really interesting now. “Sorry. Guess I am not out of it completely” She laughed. Yeah, she wasn't going to lighten the mood right now.

“It's okay, I had been fighting your breakdowns since I can remember. Nothing you do can faze me.”

Twilight chuckled. “Look at you, this morning you were playing with an imaginary spear, now you are giving me an emotional speech. Little Spikey is growing up.” If he were in front of her, she would have pinched his cheeks.

“I might have asked for advice every once in a while.” He scratched the back of his head, blushing. “Your mom really knows how to deal with your episodes. And the Princess is very good at teaching about emotions. And I might have read one or two books when you dragged me to the library.”

They remained silent after that, enjoying each other company. It was good, she thought, that the one accompanying her during Equestria's darkest hour was her little brother. The dragon knew her quirks. He will keep her head in the game.

“So, what was going to kill you?” He asked curiously. Ah, the child was back. She was proud of the maturity the dragon showed sometimes, but she much preferred the overly helpful kid. He could be an all time adult in the future.

“Whatever is down the passage you found. You told me a beam of light opened it, so our little friend over there,” she pointed to the sphere a few steps ahead of them, “must have something to do with it. I was already planning for it to show me some of the castle's secret rooms, if It knew any.”

Her assistant groaned. “Great, more deathly adventures.”

“It's not like I am going there any time soon. If I am stepping into uncharted territory, I am going prepared. At the very least, two or three emergency plans.”

Spike lifted an eyebrow. “Like right now?”

“This is different. We need supplies. And I enjoy food more when I know I only have to put my neck on the line once instead of everyday. Unless, of course, you are offering yourself to go inside the scary forest of death and collect food which, I might add, may not be edible.”

“You made your point. Don't rub it in my face,” her passenger huffed.

A sudden flash of light blinded the unicorn and made her trip. She regained her footing easily enough, but the sudden movement caught Spike sufficiently distracted to throw him off her back.

Lying on his belly, his face on the grass, the dragon commenced to pull the green plants out of the earth with both hands. “Seriously?” He murmured.

“We have to think of a better way for you to catch my attention,” the unicorn muttered.

Sitting, Twilight rubbed her eyes. White spots covered her vision, reducing her line of sight. Narrowing her eyes, she looked up front. Getting past her blurred eyesight, the magician could distinguish a long, gigantic, purple body lying on the ground. It extended a few meters from a river and ended in a dragon face with half an orange moustache.

A sea serpent?” Weird… and dangerous. Maybe. She didn't wanted to find out. “Right. We are taking a detour.” Getting the sphere's attention, the unicorn asked, “um, sun, can you find us another path, please?”

The ball shook itself and started to float to the river. It didn't advanced much, though. A purple glow stopped it in place and began to pull it back.

“Oh, no, no, no. We are not going anywhere near that serpent. Maybe it's nice, maybe it isn't. But I know this, it's in the Everfree. If it's in the Everfree, we can easily assume we are on its menu. I am not taking that chance.”

Assured that the globe wouldn't scape her magical grasp, Twilight turned to her assistant. He lay between two piles of grass, still on his belly. Brown spots could be seen starting to form under his hands. “Spike, get up, we are taking a detour.”

“Ugh” He responded.

They walked away until the serpent was nothing more than a purple dot in the distance. Twilight led the group, her horn glowing purple, spitting sparks every once in a while. Spike walked by her side, right hand firmly grasping her saddlebags. The ball was at the end, letting itself be dragged by the unicorn's magic. At the beginning, it fought for a few minutes, trying to break free, but soon realized the futility of its actions. Noticing the lack of force behind her, the student let it free. The sphere didn't float though: it fell to the ground and remained there, barely glowing. Rolling her eyes, letting out a sigh of annoyance, the unicorn held the sun in her magic once more, making it follow them a few centimetres behind.

Deeming the distance between the beast and them safe enough, Twilight spoke, “All right, we are doing the same thing we did last time. We pull out a tree and use it as a bridge.”

“Can we rest for a few minutes? We didn't exactly go for a walk in the park,” said Spike. He was crouched near the river, washing his hands.

“Are you tired?”

Spike nodded.

“I was the one carrying you the whole time. How are you tired?” Twilight responded playfully.

“Hey,” the dragon shot back in fake indignation, “my legs are little!” To demonstrate his point, he lifted one his legs with his hands and shook it. “Besides, I am a bit hungry.”

He whispered that last line. She heard it anyway. Maybe a break would be good. “Fifteen minutes.” She levitated the sphere in front of her. “Make yourself useful.” And placed it front of the dragon. She sat to his left.

Twilight rummaged through her bags. What did she have? Four apples, an orange and a banana. “Here,” she said, hanging Spike two of the red fruits. “It's not much, I know. Once we complete this plan, we are going to have more variety.”

“I am not complaining, Twi.” To ease the unicorn worries, her assistant gave one of the fruits a big bite and the unicorn a thumbs up.

Twilight smiled and returned to her bag. Now, what could she eat? After a few seconds of thinking, she set on the orange.

“Do you think there's going to be ponies in the town? Spike asked between bites.

A piece of the orange's peel fell to the ground. “I don't know… but if we find somepony, we bring them with us.”

An extra set of hoofs would certainly be a useful addition. The job ahead of them was not easy. Set up a little garden first, clean some of the castle's room and repurpose them as something beneficial. A lab was on the list of chambers they needed, a place to experiment with the Elements to try to discover whatever secret they were hiding. That or confirm that they are, in fact, just rocks. Her assistant's idea was good too: Replicate the shining sphere, make the copies susceptible to unicorn magic, and send them to suitable locations.

A purple hand entered her line of vision, bringing her back to reality. Spike stood in front of her, waving his hand up and down. Looking past him, Twilight saw his apples cores together on the grass. He was finished? She eyed the orange floating next to her. Part of it's juice content was exposed while the rest still remained behind its peel. How long was she out?

“Uh?” Smart...

“You spaced out. Care to share?”

“Oh, sorry. I was thinking about our next course of action, when we come back from Ponyville.”

“What if we finish this plan first?”

“I am just trying to have an outline we can follow. I don't want us rushing things.” She was becoming defensive. Let him win this argument. “But you are right. Let's finish this one first.”

Twilight got up, stretched a little, returned the orange to her saddlebags and walked to the orb.

“We are leaving. Are you going to follow or keep pouting?”

The globe didn't move.

The magician huffed. “Have it your way.” Her magic enfolded the sphere and lifted it from the ground. This thing had it out for her. Granted, she had not been an amiable pony, but it hadn't given her a reason to be either. Whatever.

“Why don't you teleport us? The dragon asked.

“Because the last time I teleported something with me, it caught on fire.” Now she was watching the ball. “And someone decided to interrupt my sleep for the last two days.” She returned her attention to Spike. “I need more practice too. I may overshoot our destination.”

“If you say so.”

Stepping close to the forest, Twilight planted her hoofs in the dirt. Her horn ignited and a nearby tree shined purple. She began to pull, throwing her head back. The earth under the plant started to break, slowly exposing its roots. The tree commenced to levitate, but it didn't move. Its roots refused to budge, hugging the earth with all the force they could muster. Closing her eyes, the student moved backwards. The tree's foundations stretched. Seconds later, they broke. The sudden release of force almost made Twilight trip. She caught herself with her hind legs. Stabilizing the tall plant, she directed it to the river, following it safely behind.

“Wow,” her assistant commented, clapping.

“C'mon, you had seen me levitating big things before.”

“It's still awesome.”

She was sweating and puffing a little. Taking that into consideration, she agreed, “it's a bit impressive.”

After carefully placing the tree between the two extremes of land, she rounded the bridge and kicked it to make sure it was fixed. It didn't fall. It didn't move either. As good as any other sign. Well, the definitive test was coming.

Turning around, she spoke, “I'll go...” Wait, where was Spike?

Before panic could settle, she heard a scream behind her. “TWILIGHT! HURRY UP!” her assistant was at the other side of the stream, jumping, with his arms wrapped around the orb. When did he snatch it? More importantly, when did he cross the bridge?!

“SPIKE!” Twilight traversed to the other side in what it felt like a second. When the unicorn jumped off the tree, Spike was sure he was in trouble. Every step she made brought a chill to his spine.

Five minutes and a scolding later, they resumed their advance through the woods.

The numbers of trees was decreasing. Ponyville's outskirts were close. Once they reached them, her plan would be put in action. It was going to be dangerous. The town was the epicentre of the Nightmare's return, the first place consumed by the shadows, so it was out of her list of raiding locations. She really hoped the Nightmare hadn't decided to stay there. Anyway, if that place wasn't accessible, they still had that cottage near the Everfree's entrance and the apple farm just some meters away.

Now she only needed to be sure that her assistant will keep next to her at all times. She didn't need him to be captured or… ugh, just thinking about it made her stomach revolt. Well, she wasn't being fair with him. The possibility of Spike being trapped by the Nightware was as high as hers. Ok, hers was worse. The alicorn only saw her, when she invaded the summer sun celebration, not Spike. As far as Twilight knew, for the mad mare, the dragon was nopony. She wasn't risking it anyway. If something attacked them together, she could blast it away. Unlike her BBBFF, she wasn't trained in the use of offensive magic, but she had raw power. Still, she needed to make sure.

“Spike, when we get out of here, you remain near me at all times. You only move if I do or if I tell you. Don't wander on your own. We don't know what kind of defences, if any, Nightmare Moon put in the town or in its vicinity. Understood?”

For a second Twilight thought he was going to complain, but something changed. His face turned from an expression of annoyance to one of surprise. What did he see? “Don't go anywhere alone. Stay by your side. Follow your lead. Got it.”

Twilight nodded, surprised. What with their previous interaction, she was expecting a little more resistance. His words, although sincere, still seemed to echo some anger underneath. Friction will be no good. Make peace. “Hey, about what happened back then.” Here goes nothing, “I was going to cross first, to make sure the tree was safe. I didn't want it to fall. Not with you on it. Still, if I screamed like a witch, sorry.”

“Same here. Didn't want you to drown… I was worried.”

“Hey.” Twilight stopped him and turned him around. “Thanks.” She hugged him. He hugged her. “But it's my job to worry about you, not the other way.”

“Next time, we talk.”

“Deal.” They separated. Well, that went excellent.

Looking up, the unicorn noticed an opening between the trees. At the other side, green land could be seen, no trace of forest. They were finally out.

Joy! That was all Twilight could think as she dashed to the exit. The excitement was short lived, unfortunately, because when she observed her surroundings, the sight of a black cloud in the spot where Ponyville should have been crushed it completely.

Author's Note

22-11-2015: Fixed some errors (>>6656815)
18-12-2015: Changed "pen" to "feather"