After liberating the fort, Spike helped them rebuild their town which was severely burnt for the one year that the Umbrums had stayed there. It was easy for the purple dragon to help, all he needed to do was to do the heavy lifting.

The waters were filled with blood from both Umbrums and innocents alike, causing the water to be undrinkable unless if they found a way to get the blood out of the water. Spike knew of something that could help, but he would have to leave the fort for a little while.

The other creatures inside the fort felt and looked happier than before; not needing to worry about Umbrums looming over their shoulder all the time, worrying that they would be killed or not get any food.

The reinforcement from the Crystal Empire had arrived at the fort and helped any way they could. They gave the creatures there food and medicine, the medics tending to the sick, the soldiers marching around, making sure that the creatures were protected in case any Umbrums would come.

With the reinforcements, came Princess Luna who wanted to speak to Spike about running off but it was only half-hearted as she knew that he practically had no choice. And the fact that he must have felt like a prisoner.

The others had wanted to come to scold Spike but Luna managed to convince them to let her handle it.

Currently, Spike and Luna sat by a fire, looking into the flames of the dancing fire. They were both quiet, intending on allowing the other one to speak but they were not making any movements. Spike then decided to be the one to Speak.

“I might know of a way to take the blood out of the water.” Spike approached the subject with no little amount of anger, thinking about what the Umbrum had done. Luna quirked a brow at him.

“Oh, is that so?” She asked. Spike glanced at her with some light irritation, but not about her.

“Yes, there is a certain moss you can find in the Everfree forest as well as other places but the moss I’m looking for can only be found in the Everfree forest. It is water-friendly and sucks out the filth in the water along with other things that should not be in the water. Albeit it should only be in the water for one hour at most because it also sucks out the bacteria that should be in the water.”

Luna looked at Spike impressed. She had not thought of that. She believed that nature would have to clean everything naturally but here Spike had an idea that would save them a lot of time. If the moss is as good as he says it is, then they will have clean water in the fort in a few hours. It would have normally taken weeks before it would start to even remotely clean itself. Lives could be saved with this.

“Do what you must, Spike, but be sure that you come back. Alive.” Luna said her voice firm as to make her point clear.

“You won’t have to worry about anything auntie, I will be back alive with the moss. Hopefully, if I find it.” Spike said with exasperation evident in his tone. It felt like he had to explain every day to his family members where he was going, and this was only the first time it had been asked of him.

Luna glanced at Spike with authority at the tone in which he had spoken it. Her face morphed into one of amusement, her eyes twinkling mischievously. “You do know that I will not be the only one who will demand this of thou, right?” Luna’s voice was on the verge of laughter, she had even used a word from the old dialect.

Spike grumbled at his aunt who was now openly laughing; not a care in the world if the other creatures saw her like that or not. It was a laugh that she had not been able to have for a long time, the war had prevented that. The thoughts of what the Umbrums do to their creatures haunted her mind every day and night. Every creature had nightmares about the Umbrums that not even with her sisters’ help, could she help them all.

Even then, she had to patrol the empire during the night to make sure that the Umbrums nearby stay where they are. That always troubled Princess Cadance because they were nearby but never made a move to the empire. She would have felt more comfortable if she knew what the Umbrums were doing. And frankly, Luna wished so too. She felt as though the Umbrums were only there to mock them of their failure; remind them of who they lost to. Make them feel guilty for their failure.

Spike waited until his aunt had calmed down from her laughing but he did not stop her. He knew she needed it more than others. Some would probably never laugh again because of what has happened.

Luna flashed a grin in Spike’s direction when he looked at her with a blank expression. She knew that he was amused, he just did not want to show.

Together, they sat there and unknowingly thought about the past. Spike thought about his ancestor, wondering where he was at the moment. Luna wondered what Spike was thinking about but she did not want to intrude.

Spike got up, looked into the fire, and without a word, walked away, leaving his aunt behind who prayed that he came back alive.

*** *** ***

Traveling to the Everfree forest was much harder than Spike had initially expected. The Umbrums had more war camps than before, which could not be a good sign. It must mean that King Sombra is taking over more kingdoms beyond Equestria and ruling them with an iron fist.

The Everfree to his luck did not contain any Umbrums who were usually hunting for food in the big forest areas of Equestria. Spike thanked his lucky stars. But that did not mean that they would not come by later to check things out which worried Spike so he decided to hurry along.

The forest was covered with darkness from the sky that King Sombra had conjured around his kingdom. The trees looked to be dying, the bushes were rotting away, the muddy ground felt more like sand. The air felt thicker and colder. The whole forest felt as though it was against him; like it was fighting him.

His mind and muscles tensed, his claw was already on his katana, ready to fight.

He did not know why, but he felt like some creature was watching him. Like some creature who was close by watching his every move but that Spike could not see the creature. He became more observant when he plunged deeper into the forest, watching over his shoulder in case Umbrums would stalk the forest for food.

Finding the moss proved to be harder than initially expected; the moss is usually around a river that secretly runs under the Castle Of The Two Sisters but he could not find the small river. Looking around the castle, top to bottom, he could not find the river or an entrance to the location of it.

It was the first time in a long time Spike felt useless.

He had promised to come back with the moss, despite him saying ‘hopefully’, to his aunt, he still had a duty to fulfill with finding the moss and to give the creatures of the fort clean drinkable water.

He did not intend on breaking that promise.

The castle was as magnificent as ever but it was torn apart from the battle that took place there a millennia ago. The walls were breaking, the ceiling was going to collapse, the floors were cracked to the point where Spike was sure that it would make a large hole. Stems were growing over the castle, almost consuming it.

Spike walked into a room where there were endless amounts of books that were of history, magic, kingdoms, creatures, anything. Lost history that no creature alive would know about aside from the rulers of the kingdoms. The bookshelves were the dustiest he had ever witnessed in his short life. The maids who worked for the princess’ would have a stroke seeing that.

Not seeing any moss around, he left the room and headed to a location where he suspected the moss would be. The moss he was after grew in extreme quantities so it was easy to find them if one knew where to look. But because the river was not there anymore for whatever reason, it bid him even further difficulty in finding the moss.

Heading to the last place Spike knew where it could be, his mind drifted on about what was happening to his friend beyond the portal. He had been to a universe where something called; humans rule the earth they walk on, albeit, they are split and can never keep peace with each other for long for whatever reason. The mare who fleed there is his sister, Sunset Shimmer. She is his adoptive sister but they are related through blood with the blood adoption. His sister felt she never had enough attention from their mother who worked unholy hours just to keep the nation running with a fueling economy and other kingdoms threatening with war. His sister started studying as hard as she could to become the best in everything and one day, she found a mirror that led to another world. Their mother caught her and told her to never enter the room until she felt Sunset was ready. At first, she listened and obeyed her mother’s wishes and did not return but she was still curious about the mirror so every opportunity she had, she asked about it but she received the same response every time. Sunset was ordered to make friends but she couldn’t so she started to study in the library which she had been forbidden to do. Their mother would throw Sunset out into the world so she could learn the values of friendship but she fled through the portal and had never been seen or heard from again. Until she stole the crown from Twilight and nearly took over a school. But she was defeated and is learning about friendship in the human world, not that the place is to most stable one to learn anything in.

He wondered what his sister was up to, wondering what fun activities she is doing. At least she was with friends that could help her through anything she could be going through and not need to worry about Equestria.

Spike smiled at the thought, entering a room that was to his joy, filled with moss. The wall on the right was covered in it, the moss, covered everything, not showing what the wall once looked like. The rest of the room had fragments of the moss but not enough to clean anything.

Walking up to the wall, he pulled out his tanto and he started to cut the moss in big chunks so he could reuse them if needed. If he knew the Umbrums right; they would do so in other places for their amusement. He would not put it past them.

While he was cutting the moss, he did not hear that some creature was sneaking up behind him. When he got the last big chunk of moss, he was grabbed from behind, and on instinct, he flung his head backward to hit the unknown enemy. The creature behind him cried out and Spike turned around, facing the enemy with his katana tip near the throat of his attacker.

The attacker was wearing a black cloak that concealed the identity but he knew that it was a pony because he felt a very small fragment of the horn. With anger, he shouted; “Who are you and what are you doing here!?”

The creature seemed to freeze, standing completely still, too afraid to move an inch. Cautiously, the creature reached for the hood and slowly pulled it back—making Spike almost drop his katana if it wasn’t for the fact that he did not truly believe it was her.

“You think I will just believe you like that?” His voice was calm but there was an unresponded fury in his words that didn’t go unnoticed by the mare who stood in front of him. Her coat was amber with her mane and tail being red and golden in streaks. Her eyes were moderate cyan, displaying fear as she observed the warrior in front of her.

“My mother is Princess Celestia, you are my blood adoptive brother and our aunt is Princess Luna. Our cousin is Princess Cadance as well as Prince Blueblood. Our cousin-in-law Is Shining Armor.” Her voice was pleading, she named her family members because they were not at all known except for the royal guards.

Spike lowered his katana, uncertainty still on his face. He was convinced, but the information she provided could have been leaked during the war. But there is only one thing the real Sunset Shimmer should know.

“And we made a blood pact, we shared our blood; becoming intertwined with each other. We share the same ancestry now.” Sunset said, remembering the one thing only she and Spike would know about.

Spike regarded her for a moment, his face concealed by his mask. He then pulled off his mask and stared at his sister, she stood there too terrified to be asking questions about what he was wearing or what he was doing. The air became thicker and Sunset believed she met her demise but to her shock; when he ran towards her, he hugged her tightly.

“I have missed you, Sunset.” He said, clearly happy that his sister was there. Sunset felt tears in her eyes, as she hugged her brother. She had missed him, she had not been able to see him in so long that she had decided to come to Equestria, but that was months ago.

When Spike released her, he looked at her with his eyes almost drilling into her soul.

“What are you doing here? Do you not know what is going on?” Spike asked. He sincerely hoped that she knew.

Sunset sighed. “Yes, I do know what’s going on, I came here because I wanted to be with you but that was three months after the invasion. I fleed the Crystal Empire after I had found no evidence of you being alive. But with the blood that you and I share; I knew that you could not be dead because I would have felt it. I decided to search for you but I never found you. Then, a few months ago I started hearing stories about a samurai that was fighting back against the Umbrums. Yakyakistan was liberated and then there was Griffinstone, the most recent one I’ve heard was the fort in the Frozen North. I became excited but I started hearing rumors from the Crystal Ponies how; Spike The Brave And Glorious had returned to fight for them. At first, I did not believe it but then I started seeing illustrations from the Yaks and I realized that it matched your size but there was one thing that made me certain that it was you; your eyes are emerald green. The illustrations I saw shined against the enemies you were ‘slaughtering’.”

Spike nodded in understanding. “And how come you ended up here?” Spike noticed that she had never said anything about why she was their mother and aunts’ former castle.

“I use this as a hideout and most Umbrums never go anywhere near this place for various reasons. They mostly hunt for food here, I can hear the poor animals scream every time they hunt. So I started to butcher them.” Sunset said, looking down to the floor, circling with her left hoof.

“That takes great courage to do something like that, I am proud of you Sunset,” Spike said, making Sunset look at her brother in bewilderment. That is not something you should say considering the topic.

“Spike, that is not something I’m proud of!” Sunset said angrily, her face reddening and Spike started to lightly chuckle at her response.

“Maybe you do not feel proud, and I understand that; those Umbrums are corrupted by King Sombra but the creatures of Equestria needs hope, I want to give them hope, letting them know that they won’t have to be afraid anymore, no need to worry about money or food. I am not looking for titles, I am looking for a home for the creatures of Equestria. You may not be proud, but if you help us, you will have to realize that you will be seen as a hero by practically every creature.”

His explanation did make sense, but it still did not sit well with Sunset. She did not want to go around and kill.

Her eyes had some tears in them, thinking about the Umbrums she had to kill, Umbrums who were corrupted and most likely did not know what they were doing. It saddened her to think that she has killed innocents. Spike saw her look and knew what she was thinking about.

“It isn’t your fault Sunset, neither is the Umbrums, I keep forgetting that they are just like you and me, they are corrupted though and I guess I am just using that as an excuse, but I can’t spare every Umbrum that runs away. But I must ask; why do you kill if you feel so guilty?”

There the question came, the question that Sunset looked to have dreaded from the look on her face. She looked away, not meeting Spike’s eyes. Her guilt nagged at her more than it did before. She felt her brother’s gaze on her and she knew she would have to face him. She had to tell some creature. Some creature who could understand what she was going through.

“I ... I guess I just had no choice, It started with me being in a situation that was dangerous enough that I needed to defend myself. It happened in Ponyville. But instead of stopping when the Umbrum was on the ground, I continued to hit her, the screams continued until it eventually ... stopped.” Sunset sobbed out the last word.

Spike looked at her with surprise clear on his face. He knew that she was capable of doing things like this if her past was anything to go by, but right now, she showed signs that she had never shown before. She showed signs of sadness with the fact that she had to kill. Yet, she was ready to take over Equestria.

He kept those thoughts for himself, now was not the time to ask her true sincerity.

“Sunset, I apologize that I stumbled upon your hideout, I was only here for the moss. The Umbrum dumped bodies into the water in the fort which I liberated. The water is covered in blood, completely undrinkable by any creature. This moss will clean out the blood and anything else that should not be in the water. I will be leaving now.” He walked towards the door, not wanting to bother his sister any more than he’d already done.

“Wait! Don’t go!” Sunset called for her brother. Spike stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her. He noticed the tears in her eyes. Fresh ones. He always had a weak spot for her in these sorts of situations.

“Sunset,” Spike said. “I have to leave soon, speak your mind.”

“I ... I need your ... help.” She said, her words shaky as she asked for help from her brother. She had never asked for help before, never under any circumstances. Spike froze. Did she ask for his help? He could not have heard right.

“What kind of help?” He asked, uncertain why he had asked that. He noticed that Sunset’s lip quivered.

“My friend from Equestria, Trixie, is in very bad shape. She hasn’t eaten in days. I brought her here after I found her by the border to the Badlands and the Everfree forest. I thought I had food left, but I didn’t.” Sunset explained, her apprehension was evident.

Her eyes said it all, they were pleading with him to help and he was going to. He knew he was going to.

“You want me to bring her to the Crystal Empire?” He questioned. The Crystal Empire was the best place to find food and medicine. He did not know if that would be the best place for them because their mother was there. He did not know what terms their mother was with Sunset.

Sunset shook her head. “Mother would not be happy to see me. To my understanding; she is not very happy with Trixie either so I would rather you bring us to someplace that you have liberated that has enough food and medicine. I am willing to do anything I can to help contribute to freeing Equestria.”

Spike looked at her long and hard. He was uncertain if he should bring Trixie anywhere but he knew that he would want to help her either way. He could not allow himself to be consumed by a personal vendetta. They had to push aside their differences.

“You are probably right,” Spike responded. “She is not super happy with me either after I disappeared. But we can talk about that later.”

She nodded. She wanted to know where Spike had gone but knew that he would tell her the story one day.

“We need to go quickly, the moss can only be away for so long.” He said, referring to the moss in his inner pocket that he had near his left thigh. Sunset understood and led him out of the room where the moss was and led him to a staircase that led to the upper floors. As they walked Spike asked a few simple questions that he would need answers to.

“Which room did you place her in?” He asked.

“I placed her in the fiftieth library,” She joked.

Spike raised a brow. “There are fifty libraries in the castle?”

“No, but because of the thousands of bookshelves filled with books, it’s starting to feel like it.”

Spike laughed. She did have a point; in every room in Canterlot whenever he walked into the rooms there were bookshelves stacked with books with over a thousand-year of knowledge. Spike had secretly read a few of them for his purposes before the invasion and was always surprised when he learned something that he was sure could not happen or had happened.

Sunset led him to a room by the end of the hall that faced a broken window. The door to the room was slightly open and Sunset knocked and stepped inside. The room was by far the cleanest one in the entire castle. The chairs and tables had no dust and the bookshelves there had nothing either. The walls looked a little new and the floors did not sound or look cracked. But there was one problem; there were two mattresses but there was no pony or other creature in sight.

The only one in the room was Spike and Sunset. The latter looked slightly confused but fear started to slowly cripple her.

“Trixie?” Sunset called out, hoping that Trixie was in the room in a spot that they could not see. But she received no response ...

“Trixie?” She called again. No response.

“TRIXIE!?” Sunset shouted, the fear was getting to her. She was completely terrified of what was going on. Spike hugged Sunset to calm her down but she tried to fend her brother off to no avail.

When Sunset had calmed down enough to think things through, they started to look everywhere throughout the room. Spike looked by the beds to see if any letters said where she was going but found none. It was like the mare had just vanished. It wasn’t exactly impossible because Trixie is a magician.

The tables had nothing that suggested that there was a note or message of sorts that were left. Spike and Sunset grew frustrated as they continued their search for the magician.

Sunset was looking frantically all over the place, her emotions were extreme concern and frustration at lack of progress. She kept glancing over at Spike as if he would disappear any second.

“Wait,” Sunset said as she pushed away some books, seeing a letter of sorts. Grabbing the letter, she looked for text and found it on the backside, and started reading. Spike walked over briskly and started reading the letter.

*** *** ***

”Dear Sunset

By the time you find this letter, I will be gone. I’m sorry that I have to do this to you, but it’s for the best. I do not have long. You see, I have an injury. Before you found me I had been attacked by a Umbrum who had been hunting for food. With no strength in me ... I fleed.

I had run as fast I possibly could, trying to escape the Umbrums but I was so afraid that they would find me again. They had been chasing me, shouting orders about killing me if I understood them correctly. It was as if they were playing some kind of sadistic sport.

Then when you found me, I was afraid that it was an Umbrum changeling who was trying to lure me to feel safe, but when you answered my question, I could not help but feel relieved but also terrified. You see, there is something you should know, something I never told anypony or creature.

I have been stealing supplies from them, I stole as much as I could and brought them to survivors and refugee camps. I am also a firm believer in The Ghost. I have seen the Umbrums march nearby and I know they are still looking for me. A few nights ago when you were asleep, I decided to go and find some fruits for us. I just wanted to help but the Umbrums saw me.

I ran back to the castle, but not without them shooting some kind of poison into the injury I already had which had been healing at the time. I can feel myself dying for every minute that passes. I did not want to burden you with it and I knew that I could not die, not without giving you an explanation. I want you to live your life to the fullest Sunset Shimmer. And even though I never got to say it in person ... I love you.

Forever yours, Trixie Lulamoon

*** *** ***

Sunset was visibly shaking, she tried to contain her sobs. Spike held her as hard as he could. He knew that she was not in the right state of mind to not try to find her friend. His sister was very easy to anger if you pushed her buttons.

“She ... She ... She wouldn’t dare!” She sobbed into his chest, clutching his armour so hard that Spike was sure she would rip it off with her bare hooves. Spike did his best to comfort her. “She wouldn’t dare...”

Spike hugged her and he started to feel how heavy she was. She was tiring herself out with her crying but he could tell that she did not care the slightest. Her emotions were in turmoil.

When she had fallen asleep, her body was limb so Spike placed her in her bed and walked out of the castle but made sure that the room Sunset was sleeping in was hidden. He did not want any Umbrums to walk by and see an easy prey. His mother would never forgive him if anything happened to her “little sun”.

*** *** ***

The nature of the Everfree Forest was magnificent but it was also very dangerous. The animals inside the Everfree are crazy and hard to kill, even simple bunnies have been known to turn extremely dangerous just by being inside the Everfree for an entire day.

The Umbrums who hunted for food did not seem affected by the forests’ cruelty which had turned so many other creatures in the past. The sheer cruelty was something that not even Spike could handle and that was something that he was willing to say to any creature.

The forest is not something to mess around with.

Only some very select few creatures can handle the cruelty of the forest and even then, they need to be in groups of five or six. But if you are just like his friend Zecora who lives in the forest, then it will not affect them as much.

He had decided to look for Trixie. He did not want the mare to die alone and forgotten. Not that Sunset would have allowed it the slightest. She would have written books about her friend and made sure that Trixie Lulamoon was remembered forever.

However, Spike had no intentions of allowing Trixie to die either. If he is right with the poison he was thinking about, then he just needed to take her to Zecora and she would be fine.

Suddenly, after Spike had killed to alone Umbrums who were doing—his ancestors know what—he had found a set of trails that matched one of a pony hoof. It was not large like stallions, this was from a mare. Quickly, he began to follow the trail.

Following the trail, Spike realized that the environment began to feel more hostile than usual. The atmosphere was tense and the smell was awful. Suddenly, he stopped and looked around after he smelled a faint smell of burning. He looked from the left and right but saw nothing nearby. This was suspicious to him.

He looked up into the sky and he saw black smoke coming from ahead of him, he straightened his back and prepared his katana for battle, and ventured towards the fire.

When he got closer to its location, Spike noticed to his surprise that tens of Umbrums were dead. He crouched down and slowly moved towards the location, being careful to not be heard or seen.

The place where the black smoke was emitting from came from a village that Spike had no idea existed. He peered closer and saw buildings aligning with one another as well as creatures who were walking around, finishing off the Umbrums who were suffering from not dying after getting an arrow or slice at them.

Moving closer, he noticed that the creatures were both yaks and dragons. They were killing the last of the Umbrums. He did not see Trixie anywhere, but it did not hurt to speak to the creatures.

He walked over to them, drawing their attention. At first, they aimed their bows and arrows and him but when they saw that he walked over to them with a sense of calm, they hesitantly lowered the weapons. Their leader, a dragon, walked over to Spike, meeting each other halfway.

To both of their surprises, they knew each other.

“Garble?!”

“Spike?!”

“What are you doing here?!” They asked each other.

“Well, Garble, I was here looking for a friend of mine who was injured and poisoned, she left a note and fled, I was hoping that I could talk some sense into her.” Spike truthfully said. Garble looked surprised but he suddenly looked grim.

“It wouldn’t happen to be a blue coated pony would it?” He asked. His voice was thicker then stone when he asked the question.

Spike felt his heart start beating faster than normal, she couldn’t ... could she?

“Her name is Trixie Lulamoon, her coat is indeed blue ...” He could not finish his intended sentence.

Garble walked over to Spike and lay a claw on his shoulder and sighed heavily. Spike could tell this wasn’t a prank, he had never seen Garble so serious before. He looked into Spike’s eyes and said; “I’m sorry, she’s gone, her body was severely burnt when we got here.”

Spike looked up into the sky, it was raining, but for once, the rain felt right...

Author's Note

Here is another chapter guys!