Chapters "Basket?"
"Check."
"Sandwiches?"
"Check.
"Condiments?"
"Check."
"Blanket? Napkins?"
"Check and check." Spike marked the checklist. "Thats about it." Twilight beamed with happiness. Things in her life had been rather hectic ever since she was crowned princess. Ponies to meet, papers to sign, books to move. Her entire palace needed some work. A entire month of remodeling, fixing and settling in. But she was finally done now. Everything was ready. All she wanted right now was to meet with the most important ponies in her life.
"Okay, Spike, I'm leaving now. Remember to clean up the library okay?"
Her palace wasn't exactly a palace per say. It was more like her own private villa. Ponies lived there of course, going around with their daily business, and she planned to stay there at least week every month, and more if necessary. But for now, her palace was mostly empty, save for the few servants who kept it clean. The new princess didn't have to worry about a court, guards or anything of the like. And that suited her fine, for it meant that she could stay where her home was. With her friends.
"Can I join your girls when I'm done?" Spike placed a tome in its place.
"If your done on time. Sure." Twilight answered as she placed the basked on her back, using her wings to keep it balanced. She still had some awkward moments with them, like when she sent Spike flying by accident when he tried to wake her up one morning. They were powerful things!
"Bye Spike!"
And with that, Twilight vanished from the library. Spike glanced around the library. Piles of books where everywhere. Dirty dishes occupied the kitchen. His bed was a mess. The entire library was a mess. A mess that would take hours to clean.
"When I'm done..." his smile disappeared. "Right..."
Twilight flapped her wings, feeling the air flow below them. She was still awkward while flying, something that Dash had no shame in rubbing in, but gosh it felt good. Was this why pegasus enjoyed flying so much? It felt amazing!
"Maybe I could try doing some flips eventually..."
Ponyville soon ended, giving way to the green fields. Grass, trees and flowers. Nothing you could find in Manehatta or Fillydelphia, though maybe in Canterlot. But even then, it would lack the friendly atmosphere that covered the town and its surrounding land. Yup, Twilight had a house in Canterlot and a castle for herself.
But Ponyville was her home.
"Hey Twilight!" Pinkie bounced where she stood. All of her friends where waiting for her. Few things changed once she got her crown. Other than having to slightly decrease the time she could spent with them, Twilight's life had changed little, and even then, it wasn't that bad. It just meant that they would have to make each meeting even more special.
"You sure took your time." Dash said from the tree she was laying on.
"You're one to talk." Twilight placed the basket between them. "I had to give some instructions to Spike. Sorry for the delay."
"Its alright darling." Rarity said from her couch. "Is Spike going to join us soon?"
"If he finishes quickly, then yes." Twilight answered. But finishing soon was not something that Spike had in mind. He had been a librarians assistant for years now. And he knew when to realize that there was no way he was going to be able to meet up with the girls for a fun time.
Again.
The books were the heaviest. Piles as tall as Big Mac. Each book as heavy as it could be. Specially when you had to climb a ladder. Those were the worst. Claws or no claws.
"She could have helped here..." Spike grumbled as placed the tome back.. "One flick of her horn and all done, but no, why waste time doing that when she has me to clean up her mess!"
Fixing the library alone took him a couple of hours. He couldn't fly, he couldn't use magic and he wasn't really that strong to begin with. Weren't dragons supposed to be almighty beasts or something like that? He sure didn't feel like it. The kitchen was little better. A small pile of dirty plates was stacked. Knifes and forks were thrown in the dish cleaner. All in all, a mess.
A mess he would have to clean. Again.
"Why do I have to be left behind...." Spike grabbed a plate and began working. " Its always me."
"Yes. Why you?"
Spike dropped the plate, which smashed against the floor.
"Who's there?!" he asked loudly. But nopony answered. The library was empty, save for him. Not a soul inside.
"I-I said w-who's there!"
"Why nopony Spike. You're alone, remember?"
"Alone...wait, show yourself!"
"Left behind by your friends...."
Spike ran out of the kitchen and straight into his just arranged bed. This was not happening. This could not be happening! Ghosts don't appear in the middle of the day!
And they don't say hurtful things to you.
"They're not really your friends are they Spike? They wouldn't leave you here if they were..."
"J-just leave me alone!" Spike cried from his under the covers.
"Spike...haven't you realized?"
Spike didn't say anything.
"You're already alone."
"N-no I am not!" Spike shivered. "M-my friends will help me!"
"Your friends? How would they know? They left you here to work. How would they know if anything happened? Would they even care?"
"Of...course they would! Twilight and the others would save me without a doubt. Were family after all!" Spike started to get angry. Who did this ghost think he, er, she...it, think it was?!
"Is that why they left you behind when the Equestria Games happened?"
Spike said nothing. That one did hurt for a while.
Spike...I am not here to hurt you...you are alone here...
Spike peered out of his blanket. A white sphere had appeared in front of him. To say that it was beautiful would have been an understatement. Even Celestia's mane seemed like a dirty rag compared to it.
"You are alone...until now..."
"Who are you?" Spike asked.
"Your first true, real friend. And if you listen to me...not the last."
Silence engulfed the library for a few seconds.
"So you are my friend." Spike asked.
"Thats right Spike. I am not your enemy. You can trust me."
"Why should I? I've barely known you for ten minutes."
"I promised I wouldn't attack you." the sphere said. "Have I?"
"I...I guess not." Spike sat on his bed. "But what should I call you then?"
"You can call me whatever you want. I'm a good friend after all."
Spike hesitated before continuing. He gave the door a quick glance. He could reach it if he was quick. All he had to do would be jump down from the second floor, which wasn't that high to begin with. But the white sphere seemed to be telling the truth. At least for now.
"Are you a boy or a girl? Its kinda weird to talk to you without knowing."
"I'm a mare."
"Okay then. Can I call you snowdrop? You really look like one."
"As you wish." Snowdrop agreed before slowly circling him. "You must be lonely here. Cleaning up this library I mean."
"Its not so bad. I mean, its my job after all." Spike said proudly. "I'm Twilight's number one assistant." Snowdrop floated around the library, inspecting the different books, scrolls and quills. Spike had really outdone himself this time. Not a single thing was out of place. The kitchen was still slightly messy though, but nothing that couldn't be fixed without some quick work. Snowdrop disappeared, appearing right in front of Spike.
"You did a marvelous work here. Not a single stain or mess. And it only took you a couple of hours. A normal pony would have taken hours upon hours." Snowdrop said cheerfully. Spike gave a bitter laugh.
"Yeah. A normal pony. Twilight could have fixed this whole thing in a minute with her magic. but-"
"But she had to see her friends, leaving you to do all the work for her, eating the picnic that I assume you made. Again."
Spike said nothing. Snowdrop took this as the signal to continue.
"Do you remember the Equestrian Games?" Spike nodded. "She didn't even take you to the games, even when it had been you who saved the crystal empire! Now that doesn't seem very fair, does it? Or when Owliscious got here and it took you leaving to get Twilight to listen to you." Snowball said. "Thats just not right."
"Well...they have been a bit insensitive lately..."
"Insensitive is putting it mildly Spike! Don't you see? She's using you! They are using you. Like Rarity and the whole diamond dog issue. Besides thanking you once, as she ever rewarded you in any way?"
"But Rarity does reward me! She thanks to me, gives me gems and stuff." Spike defended his crush.
"Thats called payment Spike. A real reward is very different. A thank you isn't good enough either. Haven't you proved your worth already? Why hasn't she answered? She could at least say no to you, letting you fall gently. Instead, she keeps you hanging around, knowing that as long as you don't know the answer, you wont leave her side. The perfect dragon slave." Snowdrop spat. Spike tried to reply, but Snowdrop got ahead of him.
"Or when Pinkie Pie trapped inside the Sugarcube Corner and started interrogating you, making you say all those humiliating things. Or when Applejack rejected your help, even though you honestly wanted to repay her. Or when Fluttershy had you take care of Angel, knowing that the bunny was going to make your life miserable."
"How...how do you know all this stuff?" he shivered.
"I know because I care about you, unlike them, who only want their servant." Snowball took a friendlier tone, rubbing herself against Spike cheek. The door to the library opened and closed, the sound echoing through the library.
"Its Twilight! She's here!" Spike jumped out of bed.
"Don't tell her about me. She'll probably call you childish and immature." Snowdrop said.
"You're sure? Maybe we can talk this out with her." Spike replied.
"Like when you burned that book by accident and she didn't even hear you?"
"Spike?" Twilight called. Spike peered out from the second floor. Snowdrop had disappeared. They were alone now. Just him and her.
"Hi Twilight! Eh, how did the picnic go?" Twilight set the now empty basket on the table, giving a tired, yet happy sigh.
"It was good Spike. Tiring, but good, you should have been there." Twilight said, immediately teleporting to her bed. A quill, ink and a scroll floated next to her. Spike rolled his eyes.
"Well yes, I was bit busy..." his talk with Snowdrop floated in his head. " You know, cleaning the library."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I did kind of a mess didn't I? Thanks for cleaning it up for me." Twilight said with a sheepish smile. Spike decided to test waters.
"So...it was fun right? You think I can go next time?"
"Sure. You just gotta finish your work of the day and you can go. I promise next time will be easier."
"So you can keep me hanging around..." he muttered.
"What was that?" Twilight glanced from her scroll. Spike jumped off the bed.
"Nothing." he grumbled as he jumped off the bed. "I'll go finish with the kitchen." he said before walking down the stairs. Twilight was slightly surprised by his unfriendly tone, but decided to pay little attention to it. Spike could get grumpy when he had a lot of work. It wasn't anything unusual. he would probably be fine by night time. Meanwhile, Spike closed the door of the kitchen, grumbling all the way. He grabbed a dish, cleaning it with more force than needed. he was scratching with his scales, but didn't really care right now.
"Told you..."
"She sugarcoats it for me. I can't believe I didn't notice." Spike put the plate away. Snowdrop was floating right besides him.
"She probably thinks that you don't notice. That you're happy like this." she noted. Spike scoffed.
"Well, I'm not." he grabbed another plate.
Clearly not." Snowdrop floated in front of him. "Makes you wish that things were different."
"Sometimes..." Spike said, mostly to himself. Snowdrop giggled, making Spike blush a bit.
"What if I told you there is a way? That you can change things?" Snowdrop said. "That you can be truly happy again?"
"What do you mean? Its not like have a magic lamp or something." Spike grumbled.
"Remember what I told you before? The first thing that you actually listened to?"
"You said you were going to be my friend." Spike answered.
"Yes. That and that if you listened to me..."
"You wouldn't be the last." Spike finished for her, his voice slowly getting filled with hope. Snowdrop giggled again. It wasn't an annoying giggle, nor a girly giggle. It was a friendly giggle, the best kind of giggle there is.
"Thats right Spike. You are not the only one who suffers like this." Snowdrop explained. "There are others who understand you, who can truly relate to you. And I want you to meet them!"
"Really?!" Spike grinned. "When?!"
"Tonight."
The library was silent. So much mice's steps would be hearable. It was a good thing that Spike had cleaned up the library so well. He could barely see anything as he tried to walk down the stairs. The wood creaked slightly with every step. The only thing that prevented a full racket was the fact that he was light. Owlicious was gone for the night, hunting his meal, making it all the more easy for the dragon. He was about to touch the handle of the door when a loud snore froze him. Twilight shuffled on her bed for a few seconds before finally settling in. Spike waited a few seconds before moving again, holding his breath.
"You took a while." Snowdrop whispered as Spike closed the door, finally outside of the library.
"I got lucky. Twilight sometimes goes all the way till four in the morning. Guess who has to be fetching the books and cleaning up the next morning?"
It was cold. Summer was about to end and it showed. Many leaves had turned yellow, and many others were following the same path. Spike wasn't really bothered though, not that much at least.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see..."
They passed in front of many of the landmarks of Ponyville, such as the town hall, the Sugarcube Corner and the Carousel Boutique. Snowdrop hovered her way across, glowing with a pale light. Spike walked behind her. Soon enough, they left town, reaching the fields that surrounded the it. Spike could see a shadowy tower in front of them.
"We're almost there."
"The Bell tower?"
"Thats right. I thought it would be more fitting."
"But how are we supposed to get inside?" he asked.
"I have that covered." wings beating could be heard, grabbing Spike's attention. "Look." The wings soon reached the light that Snowdrop produced. Derpy landed with a small grunt. On her back was none other than Diamond Tiara, though her namesake was missing from her head.
"Nice landing Derpy." Snowdrop complimented.
"Not nice enough for me. I'm all sore." Diamond Tiara motioned to get down, but Derpy prevented it with a wing.
"The nice ball said we have to go inside. We go through the bell hole." the pegasasus said.
"You better hang on to her Spike."
The bell tower was build like a thin pyramid, which gave everypony enough space to sit at the bottom and be comfortable. Spike was surprised by the grace with which Derpy had flown them down. He had heard Dash tell some stories about the mare's less than stellar record.
"Right here. Thats good Derpy. You can sit besides Diamond, Spike." Snowdrop said as she landed right in the middle of the group. "Now, I guess you are all wondering why you are here. I can explain everything, I just need-"
"Indeed. Why are we here?" Diamond Tiara asked angrily. "I thought you said you were my friend."
"She's my friend too..." Derpy whispered.
"Hey, hey! Keep it down or somepony will hear us!" Spike said. Diamond Tiara fumed, but said nothing more.
"Spike is right. We need to stay calm if this to work." Snowdrop agreed. "I know that you don't want to share me Diamond Tiara, and I understand why." Diamond Tiara dropped her ears at that moment. Snowdrop floated a bit higher.
"The three of you are here because they have had an unfair life, denied of the most basic of things, like respect..." she motioned to Derpy. "...love..." she followed with Diamond Tiara. "...and gratitude." she finished with Spike. "All three of you have been trying coping in ways that you know, some were the right way and others...not so much. But it has gotten heavy, isn't it?" Three heads nodded. "Keeping up the facade, smiling when you really want to cry, acting like you always do, when all you want is to be hugged or cared for. Being loyal, hard working and proud. Its just not cutting it anymore, is it?"
Once again, three heads nodded.
"Thats why I came to you. I noticed your sorrow, your pain. So I came to help you three." Snowdrop explained. "i promised each of you that if you listened to me, I would be the first friend. I now fulfill my word. So, lets introduce each other. Spike? Why don't you start?"
Spike hesitated. He didn't really knew the two ponies that were joining him tonight, and what little he did knew about them wasn't very encouraging either. A complete klutz who nearly demolished the town hall and a well known bully. Snowdrop pulsed with energy. Spike snapped out of his doubt. Snowdrop had done her part, now it was his turn.
"Well, eh, I'm Spike. You pretty much know about me already. Twilight's assistant, only dragon in town and friend of the elements of harmony. Or at least, thats what I like to think." Derpy paid close attention. Tiara seemed to be looking at some invisible fly, but her hears were twitching every now and then. "I do a lot of work for them. Bring them stuff, help them around, clean their messes. But I never get any recognition! Its like they expect me to just work for the pleasure of it!"
"I think I can relate a bit..." Derpy said. " Ponies always take me for a klutz. I mean, I kinda am a klutz, but they take it too far. I have two kids to worry about, and yet, all I get is the worst jobs. The one that nopony takes because they suck. They don't pay good, so I have to do them a lot, all the while the rest of the ponies call me names and insult me, even when I'm with my family!" A tear slipped from her face.
"And what about you Diamond?" Snowdrop said. "Anything you want to share with your new friends?"
Diamond Tiara didn't answer. She gave both Spike and Derpy a long stare, one that was filled with both disdain and mistrust. A nudge from Snowdrop made her changer mind.
"My...family...is rich." she explained. "From the moment I was born, my parents always gave me what I needed. Toys, clothes, jewelry. But they never gave me what I really wanted." She did her best to seem strong. "Every day, I have to see ponies walk by, happy with each other, with their families, with their friends. And I can't help it. I just...I just feel so jealous! I have everything they wish for and yet they are more happy than me! Why?! Why them?! Why not me too!" Diamond Tiara sobbed. Derpy draped a wing around her. The filly didn't accept it, but didn't reject it either.
"And there you have. The three of you now know what you have in common." Snowdrop said. "The three of you have been denied of what should have been given freely. You have endured great loneliness when you shouldn't have too." she floated right above Spike.
"But not anymore."
All three of her guests turned to her.
"You have have suffered loneliness and pain, but now each of you has found two kindred souls that understand you. That can relate to you." Snowdrop explained. "And it doesn't have to end there either."
"No? What do you mean?" Spike asked.
"What if you could get even?" Snowdrop answered, straight on his face before moving on to Derpy. "What if you could make them see just how much pain you are in?"
"As in telling everypony?" Diamond Tiara asked. Snowdrop giggled.
"No silly, I mean as in getting even. You three have suffered greatly because of your so called family and friends. Why not give them a taste of their own medicine? Why not show them how you three have felt for years! Isn't that the fair thing?"
"But...we're gonna hurt them. Won't we?" Spike asked.
"They have done it to you, have they not? Or did you already forget what happened today?"
Spike frowned. He had not forgotten.
"We have taken in a lot of stuff. Maybe we should give some back." Derpy said. "I mean, its just for a while right? We're not really going to hurt them, are we?"
"Only as much as you feel like. You're the one who's been hurt. Its only fair its you who delivers the punishment."
"But how are going to do it? We're just ponies! and a dragon." Diamond asked. That was a problem, considering just which ponies they were getting back at to.
"I can help you with that." Snowdrop answered as she started glowing brighter and brighter. "Just stay still for a moment."
Spike had to close his eyes as the light engulfed him. It was tingly at first, maybe even itchy. But it soon stopped, replaced by a feeling of fullness. Not of appetite, or muscle, or anything physical. It was more than that. It was as if his body was filled to the brim with energy.
And it felt awesome.
"Now then..." Snowdrop said. Her voice sounded different. As soon as Spike opened his eyes, he had his answer. Snowdrop was no longer a sphere of energy. She was a mare now. Still of the purest white. Her mane cascaded from her body, same thing with her tail. Her eyes were cyan. If she had a cutie mark, it was invisible against the white flank.
"Why don't we start with some ideas?"
Twilight woke to a delicious smell. Her mind activated as soon as her nostrils caught the scent of breakfast. It was so enticing that she soon found herself fluttering her way downstairs. And indeed, there was Spike, chomping away at a nice, big bowl of gems, along some nice toasts and a sweet smelling cup of coffee.
"Good morning Spike." Twilight sat at the table.
"Morning." Spike answered between mouthfuls. Twilight noticed something. The table was set for one. A one that was already finishing his own food.
"So...where's my breakfast?"
"In the kitchen." Spike answered. Twilight tried to process his answer.
"In the kitchen?"
"Yep." he jumped off his seat, heading towards the door. "I figure you could learn to prepare your own breakfast for once. Don't worry, its not so hard."
"Where...where are you going?"
"Out. I'm taking a day off today. I mean, I did work pretty hard yesterday, right?" Spike chuckled. "Be careful with the milk. Stains are a bit hard to remove as you might soon discover." He left, leaving a confused Twilight alone in the library. Many things were going through her mind. Like how Spike didn't wake her up, or how he had blown her off without a second thought. Glancing at the kitchen, she felt some irritation bubble. Spike always made breakfast. She didn't have the faintest idea how!
"Well, it can't be that hard..." she walked towards the kitchen. "He does it everyday."
Spike was outside. He pressed his ear against the door. It wasn't long before a plate crashing was heard, followed by a curse. He grinned. That'll teach her.
"Okay now. A hole day to myself." he started exploring town. "What to do, what to do..."
"Hiya Spike!"
Of all the ponies he didn't want see right now, Pinkie Pie was high on the list.
"Hey Pinkie. What are you doing here?"
"My leg itched, and that meant that milk was going to be dropped around here somewhere!"
"So you came to help?"
"Thats right! Milk is a very important ingredient when making cake, so any milk spill is must be treated like a serious emergency! Can you imagine what would it be like if we had no milk because we spilled all of it?!"
"Not really, I mean, its not I would really care." Spike answered.
"Don't care?! How can you not care?! What about the cakes?!"
"Well Pinkie, some of us don't need a diabetes inducing diet in order to good with ourselves." Spike said. "Or having parties twenty four seven to validate ourselves. Twilight is inside by the way. She's probably the one responsible for the milk spill."
Spike walked past Pinkie. Who was trying to assimilate the words that the baby dragon had said.
"Have fun fixing the milk spill."
Spike didn't wait to hear Pinkie Pie run to the library. He had better things to do. What things? He had no idea, but it didn't really matter. He would think something out. Meanwhile, he could appreciate the beauty of the town. Like the rebuild town hall, the Sugarcube Corner. Ponyville was one of the few places that was naturally beautiful, a fact that Spike was always thankful for.
"Stupid cloud." Dash mumbled. Spike had reached the outer side of the town and, to his surprise, there was Rainbow Dash, trying to lift a cloud from the ground.
"Whats wrong Dash?"
"Just this cloud thats..." Dash tried lifting it, but the cloud merely fell from her hooves. "... just not cooperating!"
"What happened?"
"Well, somepony was supposed to take of the clouds today. But she didn't show up, so they stuck me with the job, and this cloud is to dense to float but to shallow to be pushed!" Dash tried lifting it again in vain. "And I can't blow it away because we need clouds for rain!".
"Its no so bad, right? I mean, its not like you work a lot anyways." Spike teased.
"Uh? Whats that supposed to mean?" Dash retorted angrily. Spike grinned to himself. Dash always felled for it. And he was going to take every advantage he could.
"Well, since you spend a lot of your day napping, I don't think it you have time to work a lot now do you?"
"Hey! If Derpy wants to take a day off, all she has to do is say so! I don't have to be cleaning up her messes everytime!"
"If she did, would you listen to her?" Spike said. "Or would you be too busy being cool and napping to listen to somepony else who is not your own reflection."
Dash open her mouth to say anything, but closed it. The cloud had faded by now. That would come to bite her later. Dash rose on the air, with few parting words.
"Not cool Spike."
Spike had to cover his eyes from the dust that rose from the wingbeat of the pegasus. She wanted to be childish and leave? Fine by him. He had better things to do. As he walked over the grass, he saw the cutie mark crusaders. They weren't happy or laughing, or crusading. They were visibly downcast, and Sweetie Belle seemed to be on the verge of tears. No doubt that Diamond Tiara had something to do with all this.
"I'm gonna have to speak with her. They crusaders messed up alright, but they weren't that bad. At least, not as much as Twilight and her friends."
Seeing the crusaders drag themselves across the grass, an idea popped into his head. He now knew where to go. If he was lucky, the mare would still be there by the time he got there.
Meanwhile, Twilight did her best to make heads of the situation. First, she had tried making breakfast, which, even with her magical prowess, was an absolute disaster. Her wings knocked everything to the floor, no matter how careful she was, her magic just kept crushing the fragile cereal under the pressure and she was just plain awkward when moving inside the small kitchen, all culminating in a box of milk being sprayed all over the place. Then, Pinkie Pie had burst into the library, visibly stressed about Spike saying some really nasty stuff to her, and then, after managing to clean the milk spillage, merely an hour later, Rainbow Dash had flown through her window, with the same problem on her mind.
Spike.
"He said that I don't work enough. I work my flank off every day thank you very much!" Dash shouted. "And why was he defending Derpy? He doesn't even know her!"
"Yeah! He as all grumpy and meany-weany with me and said some really bad things too." Pinkie complained. "He was really super-duper grumpy!"
Twilight was having a hard time believing what she was hearing. "Spike? My Spike? He's doing all this? Why? Why now? Whats wrong with him? " Her mental train was stopped as the door opened, letting a visibly irritated Rarity inside.
"Twilight. We need to speak immediately."
"Wait, don't tell us." Dash snarked. "Spike found you and started saying some really bad stuff about you, right in your face, and left am I correct?"
"Yes! That is exactly what he did! he said I was really shallow, putting all my attention in gems and diamonds, never really focusing my attention on the important stuff like, like my sister!" Rarity was breaking a little. "H-he said that I was so petty I didn't even notice that she was being bullied at school! Is that true?!"
"Whoa there Rarity, calm down." Twilight put a wing around her friend, guiding towards the kitchen. A small nod to Pinkie told the pink mare what to do. Both the pegasus and the alicorn watched their friends enter the kitchen.
"See? Something is wrong with him." Dash said. " He's been going for us, one after the other. I wouldn't be surprised if Fluttershy and Applejack showed up next."
"Your right. There is something wrong with. But what?" Twilight scratcher her head in worry and confusion. "I know Spike. he wouldn't do something like this out if the blue."
Another knock echoed through the library. Dash groaned and Twilight sighed. She felt rather guilty at the fact that she could predict who was going to be there and why. Not wanting to delay the inevitable, Twilight magically opened the door. And indeed, just as predicted, Applejack and Fluttershy stood there. The earth pony was visibly angry, while the pegasus was in tears.
"Spike?" Twilight asked.
"Spike." Applejack answered before walking inside, followed by the teary Fluttershy. Twilight frowned. This had gone too far. She was going to speak with Spike. This had to stop right now!
Meanwhile, said purple dragon was happily enjoying a nap on a tree branch. He had dozed off for a short while before waking up. No wonder Dash took so many naps. He felt great! No, scratch that. He felt awesome! He had woken up feeling like a different dragon. He could stand up to any of his so called friends now! Not even Applejack could talk back to him.
"What are you doing up there?"
Spike glanced down. Diamond Tiara was below him, giving a serious glare. Her tiara was still gone. Silver Spoon was nowhere to be seen. Even better. Snowdrop had suggested that any talk between should be kept a secret for now.
"I'm enjoying my day off." he answered, returning to his original position. "I should this more often."
"For working for such a workaholic, I figure you would be a lot more proactive, like and Derpy."
"I am being proactive. I'm just doing it my way. And speaking of ways..." He jumped off, landed besides the filly. "You should cool it a little with the crusaders. They have messed up, but not that much. The idea is that we show that we suffered, not make them look like martyrs."
"Then what am I supposed to do? This is the only way I know how!" Diamond Tiara growled, making Spike step back a little.
"Hey, easy. We're meeting with Snowdrop tonight, right? We can ask her then!" he said. Diamond Tiara calmed down, but it didn't stop he frown.
"Don't be late."
Spike sighed as Diamond Tiara turned and left. Snowdrop wanted him to be friends with her ? It was going to be a lot harder than what he thought it would be. Still. he had accomplished something today, and that was good enough for now. Looking up, he could see the the sun leaving the midday, starting the afternoon. The felt good, warm and comfortable, even more so under the leaves and branches of the tree.
"Another nap wont hurt... "
Twilight, however, couldn't ask more for the contrary. Rainbow Dash had accompanied Fluttershy home, while Applejack did the same with Rarity. Pinkie Pie had stayed and help her finish cleaning around before leaving, since the the six of them had lunch together, this time prepared by Applejack. The topic was, of course, the baby dragon and his actions in the morning. None of them could understand why he was acting like that. Twilight herself had no idea and was as confused as her friends. Apparently, the only way she was going to get some answers was when Spike arrived back at the library.
If he arrived, since the sun was already setting, and there was no sign of the dragon. So there she was, on her bed, trying to read book. Her mind was so busy with today's events that she hadn't changed the page in twenty minutes, a far cry frm her usual four. She closed the book, realizing it was futile attempt. All she could concentrate on was the door, eagerly expecting to open.
Like right now.
"Phew. Ponyville is a lot bigger than I thought." Spike said as he closed the door. He was tired. But happy. He had a nice nap, he ate some gems on the way here. What more could a dragon ask?
"Ehem."
Spike glanced up. Twilight standing on the edge of the second floor, glaring directly at him. She did not look happy at all. In fact, she seemed downright furious. Spike didn't even flinch by her gaze.
"Hey Twilight. Had problems with the milk?" he asked as if nothing was going on. Twilight didn't answer. What she did do was teleport him, a stool and a pillow right to the the center of the library. She sat Spike on the stool, placing him in the middle of the room, while she sat on the pillow, right in front of him.
"Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy came today. All of them met with you on the way." Twilight explained sternly. "And they all said you were a complete jerk to each of them. Now, I want to know why." She leaned one him, staring as hard as she could. "And I want to know now."
Spike stared back. This was it.
A graveyard had more cheer than the library at the moment. Spike sat on the stool, visibly upset. Twilight sat on a pillow in front of him, just as angry as he was. The tension between them at the moment could be cut with a blunt knife. After a few minutes of silence, Twilight began the discussion.
"Well?" she asked. "You clearly have something on your mind. Speak up."
Spike said nothing. He merely stared back.
"Spike say something." Once again, he didn't answer. "Say anything for goodness sake! You feel angry?! Sorry?! What?! Why did you act like so mean to my friends?! To your friends?! To our friends?!
"Because..." he started. "...they were mean to me."
"They were mean? How? From what I gather, it was you who started saying mean things the moment you crossed paths with them. In fact, you went out of your way to get to Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy." Twilight was pacing in front of him. "Since I woke up this morning, all you have apparently been up to has been ditching all the work of today, which I can assure you, its not gonna disappear by tomorrow, and be a complete jerk to anypony who crossed your path. You made Fluttershy cry. Fluttershy! What were you thinking?!"
"She always crying! If not today, then tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow! Seriously, why are you so angry about it?"
"What?! How can you even say that! Fluttershy is a kind mare, who's always trying to do the best for everypony! In fact, all of our friends are outstanding ponies, and they don't have to put with your insults."
"Oh of course, I forgot. It is I who has to put up with the insults and stuff, right? Sure, you can be mean to Spike, but Spike can't be mean to you, is that it?! Is that how it goes?!" Spike growled. Twilight stepped back a little before returning back to her angry stance.
"What are you talking about?! None of them has been mean to you! Rarity gives you gems every time you help her! Pinkie Pie gives you candy! Same thing with Applejack and her apples, Rainbow with her tricks and Fluttershy with her food. They have never been mean to you Spike, your being ridiculous." Twilight continued.
"They? What do you mean they? You should be saying we , because you are even worse than them Twilight!"
"Me?! Now you are really pushing it Spike! Thats and accusation I really resent!"
"Why? Because you know its true? Or because for perhaps the first time in your life since you got here, you're actually getting some told off for something you did."
"What are you suggesting? I always get told off if I do something wrong!"
"Yeah, right. Apparently, you forgot about the whole want-it-need-it spell fiasco. A fiasco that could have been avoided had you actually listened to me. But no, you just had to keep going, you just had to ignore me, like you always do, and nearly tear the whole town apart!" Spike was shouted. "And then, when Princess finally arrived, not only you don't get punished, but you actually have your work lightened for you! You had the whole town at each others throats and you didn't even a single word of punishment!"
Twilight flinched. That was a low blow for her, and Spike knew it.
"I...I changed! I didn't let my OCD affect me anymore! I take things calmly, with rational thinking and stoic actions." she defended herself.
"Like the whole time traveling spell? I forgot you handled that so well." Spike jumped off the stool. "Everytime something wrong happens with you, you blow things out of proportion, you make the situation even worse and then, you somehow fix it at the last second, always with outside help of course, so everypony conveniently forgets that you screwed things up!"
"No, I don't!" Twilight stepped forward. "Back in during the Eqesutrian Games in the crystal empires, I was assigned with the preparations, and you know what? They went without a hitch! I don't let myself freak out anymore!"
"Oh, well, then please excuse me for not knowing. I'm afraid I was not there there to see it, since I wasn't invited to the games, even though I saved the empire to begin with !" he pressed a finger on Twilight's chest with each remark. "Every time you do something good, all of Equestria throws you a freaking parade, while everytime I do something right, I get a pat on the back and then thrown a mop to clean the place up. You only have to open the door to a pony to get a party, while I have to break my back just to get a thank you!"
"Oh, so thats it? You're jealous? You've been a jerk to everypony because you were jealous ?! If what you wanted was attention, all you had to do was ask! Not demand it by being a complete twit about it!"
"Well, I would if I wasn't always covered in work! But oh wait, I am always covered in work! You're always giving me something to do, even when there isn't anything to do! You're always making a mess in the library, and I always have to clean it up for you! I clean, I organize, I cook, I do the groceries, what do you do? You read, and somehow, make a mess, and the you leave with your friends, because of course, why bother cleaning it up when you an assistant to do it for you!"
"Spike, you're my assistant! Its your job ! Just like Applejack gets up with the sunrise or when Rarity slaves herself over her work!"
"First, Rarity doesn't slave herself over her work, because she has me to depend on. And second, its my job to assist you, not make your life for you, something that!"
"How dare you! What is wrong with you Spike?! You've never been like this. We always talked things out before!"
"That was before I realized the truth. You haven't changed Twilight. Just got a set of wings. But you know what, deep down, your still that nerdy, arrogant filly who would prefer to stay the night with a dumb book than actually having a life!"
"Enough! " Twilight shouted, instinctively hitting him with a wing. Spike went flying until he slammed against a bookcase, making a tome fall on his head with a sickeningly dry sound. Twilight froze, then stared at her wing like it was alive and dangerous. Why had she done that? Why did she hit Spike? It took her a while before realization hit her like a brick.
She hurt Spike. She had hurt Spike. Holy heavens, she hurt Spike!
"Oh dear! Spike!!" She teleported in front of him, kneeling as soon as she got there. "Are you alright?! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I-"
"Shut. Up." Spike said coldly, ignoring her distress. He slowly got up, as if he was slowly removing a heavy object from his back. He glared at Twilight, who stood up and backed away.
"Spike...your eyes..." she started, but Spike didn't listen. He didn't want to listen. Not to her. Never again to her. He saw the door. He wanted to leave. He wanted to leave now. "Spike, wait! Where are you going?!"
"Away from here!" Spike opened the door and left, leaving the poor mare stumped. He slammed the door, not even bothering to check how Twilight was reacting, instead welcoming the coolness of the night. The sky was clear, with the moon on full. It was gorgeous. Luna should be proud of her work, specially since it served to light up his ways as he walked through the town.
His mind started realizing what had happened. He had argued with twilight. He had just what was perhaps his biggest argument with Twilight since...since...since forever! He had said some really nasty things, and most likely, really hurt Twilight. But he didn't feel angry with himself, or depressed or regretful. He felt none of those things. He felt something else entirely.
He felt good. No, scratch that. He felt incredible .
"Hi Spike!" Derpy said as she landed besides him. She seemed different somehow, more exuberant, happy, he couldn't really put it in words. But if she was happy, then he was happy, because thats what friends are for. There was something else too. her eyes weren't golden anymore. They were yellow. A yellow so white that it seemed to glow in the darkness that surrounded them.
"Hey Derpy. Whats up with your eyes?" he asked. Derpy look confused.
"My eyes? I think you mean your eyes. They look pale, its like they are glowing green or something." she answered. Were they now? Was that what Twilight wanted to tell him? Well, she should have tried harder then. Stupid Twilight, being all ambiguous like that.
"Anyways, come onSpike! Snowdrop and Diamond are waiting for us!" Derpy picked him up, carrying him over the entire town. It didn't take them more than a couple of minutes to get to the bell tower, where a distinct pale glow could be seen coming from the bell entrance. It was beautiful glow. Derpy entered the tower, once again being careful with the edges, lest she allowed her friend to get hurt. Right at the bottom, sat Diamond Tiara.The filly was different too, in the same way as Spike and Derpy where. Her blue eyes were now a clear cyan. It was quite beautiful actually.
"Hello Derpy, Spike." Snowdrop smiled warmly from the middle of the floor. Spike hadn't seen her there before, but he must have been blinded for a second. The mare was glowing a bit too.
"So, how are you feeling?" she asked the dragon. "Did you do as I suggested?"
"Oh boy yes. I let my feelings out, just as you said. It was awesome! I was as if...as if I had a rock on my back and I just dumped it!"
"And you Derpy? How did your boss reacted?"
"Just like you said. I let all the clouds out and he got all mad and started yelling and stuff, but then I said that if he was calling me a klutz all the time, then why was he getting all angry about, after all, a klutz is what a klutz does."
"Good." Snowdrop congratulated. "Im glad for you you. Both of you realized just how much you were hurt by others, and now, you have them know it. Little Diamond here was telling all about her talk with her parents. How she made sure they listened to her this time. The three of you have done yourself a favor. A very big favor." The three of them smiled at the praise. Spike couldn't but to share the happiness that radiated from his two new friends. It was a wonderful feeling.
"But its not over."
Spike, Derpy and Diamond were taken aback. Today they had poured their anger and sentiments out on the sky. How could they not be done?!
"Why? We did as you suggested! They now know of our pain!" Derpy asked. Snowdrop's grin turned into a sad smile. She sighed heavily before answering.
"You're right. They do know. But for how long?" she explained. "Spike, how long will Twilight respect you before she starts dumping work on you? Derpy, how long will your peers respect before they start laughing again? Little Diamond, how long will your parents pretend to love you before they start ignoring you again?" The silence she received was all the answer she needed. Today you shook up the status quo. Today you showed that you are not going to take anymore garbage, but how long will that last? How long until they forget about it and decide it was just a one time thing?" Spike gave a step forward.
"But...we can't be doing this everyday! Are you sure they will?" he asked.
"They will try to convince otherwise, that they understand you now, that things will change, and they will...for a few days at the most." Snowdrop answered. "Then, you'll back at square one. Nothing will have really changed."
"But what are supposed to do then?" Diamond asked. Snowdrop grinned.
"Fear not my friends. I will not let you fall back into that world. All you have to do is listen to me and do as I suggest and I promise, no, I swear that you three will be happy." If Spike would have paying attention to Derpy and Diamond Tiara, he would have noticed their eyes go a bit whiter. Ir he had a mirror, he would have noticed the same thing with his own eyes.
"What should we do now? I can't go back tonight." he asked.
"We're going to break the status quo. We're going to make sure they never hurt you or anypony else." Snowdrop answered. "Its not going to be easy. Its going to be hard, and will demand a lot of sacrifice, but the reward will be great. Are you three with me?"
None of them hesitated.
"Excellent." Snowdrop grinned. "Here is what were going to do..."
Fog covered the entire town apparently. Voices of worry and confusion echoed through the streets as ponies triedd to see where they were or where they were going. Even the light of the sun was heavily dimmed by the fog. The fact that it the sunset was approaching was fast did not help the situation. There was only one true source of light, and it came from the horn of the resident princess.
"Its so hard to see." Rarity said.
"Never seen fog so thick." Applejack added. "I didn't know you pegasi could make it like this..."
"We don't. At least, not regularly." Rainbow answered. "We only put it out for winter. The machine isn't supposed to be even working during summer."
"Can't you just flap it away or something? An accident is just waiting to happen here." Rarity said.
"Alone? I'm awesome, but not that awesome. We would need at least ten pegasus."
"What about you Twilight? Can you lift it with you super-duper alicorn magic?" Pinkie asked. Twilight glanced around, not that there was much to see anyways.
"I'm not so sure Pinkie. Maybe I could if I knew just how big this mist is, but since I don't, I could end up just removing part of it or make it worse even. Turning into an alicorn increased my magic pool, but not my control over it. I'm still working over a few twigs with it." Twilight answered. A crash was heard, along with a few groans of pain. Dash flapped her wings in response, clearing a but of the fog away, enough to allow the group to see each other perfectly. An idea popped in Twilight's head.
"Dash, keep flapping your wings. If we can't clear this fog, then at least we can make it safer. You too Fluttershy."
The two pegasus began flapping their wings, sending wave after wave of fog away from their position. Soon enough, a sizable area had been cleared, which was good enough for Twilight.
"Now Rarity, light up your horn, make it as bright as you can. We have to give some sort of signal."
Rarity did as told, and her horn was soon glowing with a pale blue light, which, coupled with Twilight's already glowing magic, made for quite the sign that Twilight was hoping for. Indeed, ponies soon started flocking to their way, knowing that the newly crowned princess usually held the answer to whatever problem was assaulting the town at the moment. Soon enough, a decent crowd had formed in front of them, meaning that the rest of the citizen had probably managed to enter their houses.
"Okay, we got their attention. Now what?" Applejack asked. Twilight focused in response. The light around her horn grew brighter and bigger before it split in three different sections, each as bright as the original. The newly formed lanterns floated above the crowd for a few seconds before splitting again, now resulting in nine lanterns. After a few seconds, the lights split once more, finishing with a total of twenty seven lanterns that floated above them.
"Everypony listen!" Twilight said out loud. "Those lights will move around the town. Use them to get to your homes safely until we can get this mess fixed. It shouldn't take long, but its better if you cleared the area for now." The crow murmured and whispered between them before doing as instructed, branching off in groups behind the lights, leaving the six friends alone once more.
"Nifty." Dash commented.
"Its only a temporary solution. We need to find out whats causing this. Dash, you fly to the weather management of Ponyville and find out whats wrong."
"You got it!" the pegasus mare answered said before blasting upwards. She soon vanished between the waves of fog.
"Will she be alright? She can't see where she's going." Applejack said.
"Fog never reaches higher than big house, and the weather management is way higher than that. She'll be fine."
"So, uhm, what do we do now?" Fluttershy asked.
"I'm deciding it. We could go back to the library and wait for Dash to come back with some answers or see if we can help around, though I don't see how. This fog is to dense to do anything in it. Maybe if I tried I could at least make it a bit easier to see." Twilight suggested.
"Wait." Pinkie stopped her before both of her ears flopped a couple of times, followed by her tail twitching once. "We have to go back to the library."
"Why? Did your Pinkie sense warned you of a doozy?"
"I don't know. But my ears flopped, and then my tail twitched once. And that only happens when not-so-good stuff happens. But I don't mean something like a burnt cupcake or something like that, though that is a not-so-good thing. I mean really not-so-good-stuff. I don't know what, but its happening right now."
The group trotted back to the library. The fog slowed them down a bit, since they had to pay close attention to the ground as they walked. The shadowy form of the library soon appeared before them. Nothing seem out of ordinary. Not yet. But Pinkie Pie had said her Pinkie sense warned of danger. And the pinkie sense was never wrong.
"Here we go..." Twilight entered the library. A few books were scattered around, along with a few quills and letters. While it was nothing close to the earlier mess that Twilight made, it was still quite a sight. Fluttershy gave a small whimper at how her work had been undone so quickly. But what caught everypony's attention was another thing.
Scratch marks. All over the shelves.
"Spike..."Twilight whispered. "Spike was here! I would recognize those marks anywhere!"
"He came back? When? How didn't we notice it!" Rarity said.
"He probably did it while were out doin' the whole mist issue solving. We didn't take that long though. And this place is looks like he was looking for something." Applejack pushed a book out of the way. Fluttershy had immediately begun to pick up the books and the scrolls. Placing them on a corner, she was about to begin collecting the rest when she stopped for a moment to take a glance around at the library.
"Some of them are missing..." she said to herself.
"What was that darling?" Rarity asked.
"Oh! Eh, I mean, its jus that I noticed that there's more empty spaces than books. Look." And indeed, the number of books, while not that big, was noticeable if you looked carefully.
"Missing? Were they stolen?!" Twilight asked frantically.
"Apparently so, and it seems that Spike is the thief here." Applejack said. Twilight plopped on her haunches, trying to take in both news about her dear assistant: That he had been home and that he had stolen something from her.
"But were barely gone for little more than five minutes. Spike couldn't have possibly searched the entire library by himself. He would have had to grow wings to look around that fast." Rarity said.
"Maybe he didn't have to..." Applejack as she pointed a hoof towards a window, making both Fluttershy and Rarity look up. On the edge of the window, trapped by a hasty closing, laid a single, large gray feather. Rarity grabbed it with her magic, showing to the rest.
"I've never seen a feather like this." Rarity examined the feather. There was nothing special about it. Just a simple, boring gray feather.
"Where do you think it comes from?" Fluttershy asked.
"Ah' don't know, Bu probably a pegasus, and whoever it is, it helped Spike in here."
"Spike is not a thief." Twilight murmured. Her three friends said nothing, not knowing what to say without setting her off.
"Anyway, this feather is perhaps our only clue. What can we do with it?" Rarity asked.
"Uhm, maybe we can ask when she comes back?" Fluttershy suggested. As on cue, Dash kicked the door open, fuming and grumbling.
"Those idiots had not checked the fog machine days! Somepony sneaked in and turned it at the max on for hours to let the fog pool together. That thing sure pump out some mist." The silence that greeted her immediately told her that something bad had happeded. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"Spike was here. He stole a few books before leaving." Applejack said, not giving Dash a moment to say anything. "We also found this." Rarity placed the feather on the table, plain on the sight for everypony to see.
"Any ideas as to who it might belong to?"
Dash stared at the feather, cocking her head sideways as she studied it.
"Ha! Of course I do! That's Derpy's feather. I would recognize it anywhere. That idiot probably crashed into something again." Her laugh died down when Twilight walked up to her. Her new wings made her seem bigger than she actually was.
"Who is she?" Twilight asked, making Dash and the rest of the group recoil a bit at the edgy tone of their friend.
"Wow, chill Twilight. She's just the mail mare alright? She's kinda of a mess though. She always delivers the wrong letters and makes a crappy job at the weather management." Dash answered. "Why? What does she have to do with Spike?"
"We believe that Derpy was here with Spike." Rarity replied. "She may or may not have been helping him. The point is that she knows where he is, or knows something at least. Do you know where she lives?"
"Yeah, just out of town. We won'g get there with this mist though, even with the magical lights. They said that they would have this clean in twenty minutes or something like that...What are you doing?"
Twilight had begun to put the books back in place, along with the scrolls and the quills. Her lips mumbled as she mentally kept track of which books she was putting back, and which books were still to be placed on the shelves.
"Twi? You okay?" Applejack asked.
"There are four books missing."
"What...what kind of books?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight didn't answer for a few seconds.
"Important ones."
Meanwhile, far from Ponyville, the bell tower glowed once more. Inside, Snowdrop patiently waited, pacing around the cramped floor.
"Pacing won't make them get here any faster." Diamond Tiara said. Snowdrop didn't answer. Instead, she focused her hearing. After a few seconds of silence, she smiled as she heard the soft beatings of wings.
"Here they are."
Derpy and Spike arrived, the latter holding a bag over his shoulders. The added weight made Derpy tumble a little, but nothing she couldn't manage. As soon as they landed, Spike carried the bag to Snowdrop, pulling out the books one by one.
"Here you go. 'Equestrian Mind', 'Two hundred years of Canterlot', 'Advanced biological magic', 'A Glance at the Astral Plane' and last but not least..." he pulled the final the book. "'Elements of Harmony: A reference guide."
"Books? You had all this fog and distraction made just for a few books ?" Diamond asked. Snowdrop grinned as she opened on of them quickly skimming through the pages.
"Yes my little Diamond. Its exactly why I did it. You see, I needed these five particular books. By the way, nice fog Derpy. Spike, thanks for the books." Both Spike and Derpy smiled happily. Snowdrop closed the book, gathering the five if them together.
"Everything is perfect. We have each other and now..." She waved the Equestrian Mind in front of them. "We have something useful in hour hooves."
"Uh...how will the book help us?" Derpy asked. Snowdrop chuckled in response.
"My dear Derpy. The books wont help us. Its their knowledge that will help us. You see, we can accomplish great things as long as we are together, but it just wont be enough." she explained. "We need some sort of edge on our side. Something that would allow us to be one step ahead. Sine the six elements are looking for Spike, it was too risky to send him into the town to fetch the books. Thats why I had the fog done."
"What do you mean by edge?" The baby dragon asked.
"We're going to change Eqeustria. All three of us. And this how we'll do it. You see, I was a scholar before. Learning was my life. Therefore, I know which kind of knowledge is best for the situation." Her briefly dulled their colors. It was too quick to be seen by her friends.
"Now then...who's up for some magic?"
A graveyard was more noisy than the library. It was early in the morning, and no sound could be heard, be it the passing of pages, the ticking of the clock or the scribbling of a quill on paper. No disturbance whatsoever except for the quiet crunching sound of Twilight eating her cereal.
Alone.
Spike hadn't come home. Again.
Her friends had to leave when the night came, not wanting to get lost in their way. The fog had been cleared, but a thin mist still remained in the town, blurring the light of the sun. The library was cold. Had it always been like this in the mornings? Had Spike always gotten up with this cold?
"He must be cold... " she thought.
She knew she had some studying to do, along with some paperwork. She would have been thrilled any day, ecstatic even, but not today. She didn't want to work, or study or do paperwork. She wanted Spike to come home. It had been two days already, and she missed him. She missed him a lot.
"Hey Twilight? You in there?" Dash's voice called through the door. Twilight sighed once more before opening the door. The afore mentioned pegasus was standing there, along with Fluttershy and Rarity.
"Yes?" Twilight flew towards them. "What is it?"
"There is something you need see darling." Rarity answered. The three mares lead Twilight to the center of the town. Ponies walked around, slowly trotting through the fading mist. Other than being oddly quiet, nothing seemed really different, something that Twilight quickly pointed to her friends.
"Look again Twilight."
Twilight focused as instructed, placing her attention on the mare known as Berry Punch. Indeed, what she had initially dismissed as a slow trotting caused by the mist was actually a uncanny walk, almost dragging her hooves along the ground. Twilight walked in front of her, firmly planting herself on the way of the mare. Berry Punch merely kept on walking until she bumped on the alicorn. She raised her head, and Twilight nearly fell backwards.
Her eyes were a pale pink, a far cry from their usual dark purple.
If felt annoyed or irritated, she didn't show it, instead choosing to quietly continue her path. Twilight could merely stare as Berry continued her path. Snapping her head around, she saw Caramel and Noteworthy, both with the same disposition as the bartender. Twilight quickly flew towards them, landing right in front of them. Checking their eyes, she found, to her growing concern, that their eyes also shared the paleness that was present in Berry's.
What was going on?
"We were on our way to join you in the library when we found them like this." Rarity explained.
"The whole town is like this!" Dash pointed a hoof around her. "Please tell us whats going on."
"I...well I-"
"Girls! Something really weird is going with Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie Pie ran to them. " I woke up this morning and said hi to Gummy! He's such a sweetheart. Anyways, I went down to get some breakfast, only there was no breakfast! Mr. Cake was walking around the store, like looking for something, maybe a cupcake, because what else would be looking for right? And then I saw Mrs. Cale in the kitchen. I tried to say anything, but she just stood there, eyes all droopy and stuff. I even tried my best jokes, and they didn't work! Not a bit! Why did my jokes didn't work?! They always work! I even-" Pinkie was silenced by Rainbow's hoof.
"Go on Twilight."
"Well I..." Twilight briefly glanced at the the ponies that surrounded them. "I have seen eyes like that before, but something is different..."
"Different? How?" Fluttershy asked.
"Before Spike...before he left, his eyes had the same paleness in them. They were a really light green. Like if something had gotten inside him."
"But Spike wasn't acting like this was he?" Rarity asked.
"No! He was completely normal...for the most part." Twilight cringed, remembering the argument. "No he was completely normal. His eyes were completely normal, but not now." Twilight glanced at the denizens of the town. "Their eyes are dull. Like when you put too much white in a painting. The color pales and dulls. Spike's were almost glowing ."
"Then what the hay is going on?!" Dash questioned. "Look at them! Their like zombies or something."
"Indeed. One of them bumped into me when I left the Boutique. It sent shivers up my spine." Rarity commented.
"What about Sweetie Belle?"
"She was sleeping by the time I left. Didn't wake up even with alarm clock. Such a heavy sleeper." the fashionista mused. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen any foal since I arrived at the library with the others."
"The twins were fast asleep too!" Pinkie chirped. Twilight could almost feel the terror in her gut rise. Spike was gone, and last time she saw him, his eyes had gone crazy. Now the town was hit the same thing, but worse. And if her quick mind was right, then the two things were somehow related.
She prayed to all heavens she was wrong.
"Where's Applejack?" Dash asked.
The question was answered not with word, but action. The five friends quickly made their way to the apple orchid. The mist quickly faded as they passed the final house. Twilight felt a bit relieved as the warm light of the sun bather her. Any memory of Celestia helped her relax.
"I hope she is alright..." Fluttershy muttered.
"Of course she is, she's Applejack, remember?" Dash laughed.
And indeed, as soon as they approached the house, Applejack was on sight, reading he cart for the market. It wasn't until they were right besides her that she noticed them though.
"Hey girls! Come to see me off to work? Thats sweet of you."
"Applejack, has Big Macintosh or Granny Smith been acting weird today?" Twilight asked.
"Weird? Eh, I don't think so."
"And Apple Bloom. Is she awake?"
"Dang right, she's been helping me with the apples. Done more harm than good though. Is something going on?"
"Maybe it only affects the ponies in town?" Rarity said. "Or maybe its the mist."
"Girls? Whats going on?" Applejack asked. Twilight quickly explained the events of the morning to her.
"You can't go to the market today." Twilight finished. "Nor can Apple Bloom or Big Macintosh."
"Wow. Now that is weird. What do you think is going on? And if all this is going on, why aren't you five stumbling about?"
"That...I don't know." Twilight answered. She had no idea what was causing it, or when it had begun. All she knew was that the town was acting funny and the five of them were immune to whatever was happening. Applejack too, since apparently only the elements were safe.
"Ok. So no selling today. What now?" Applejack asked.
Twilight was at lost. Normally, she would find a way to fix the situation based on preexisting knowledge, or some sort of hint that would allow her to come up with a solution.
"...always with outside help of course... "
No. Focus. Put it aside. Center yourself on the problem. The town is enchanted, cursed or something, but she had to to the bottom of it. And in situations like this, she would do what she always did.
"Let's go to the library."
Walking through the town was, quite frankly, scary. The ponies were still dragging themselves around, endlessly following a pattern only they could see. In addition to that, Twilight could swear she heard them mumbling something every time they got close to somepony and by the time they had arrived to the library, she had noticed a couple of them staring at them. Not angry, or sad, or anything. Just staring at them through the fog.
The unnerving feeling only diminished once she closed the door.
"What was that all about. They're getting worse!" Dash noticed. Twilight ignored her, instead beginning to drag book after book towards her, flipping pages from each, dismissing them almost as soon as she pulled them.
"Eh, Twi? What are you looking for?" Applejack asked.
"Mental spells." Twilight didn't even glance away from the seven books she was holding. "Whatever is happening here, it has to be a mind confusing spell or something like that. If I can find it, I'll know how to fix it."
"Really? But if you don't find anything?" Rarity noted. "I mean, those mental spells sound very dangerous for such a small library."
"I was studying them for a while, trying to perfect my abilities with them so I wouldn't have another incident."
The search went on for a while, books flying around the library. Twilight was completely unaware of the fact that her friends had to duck as a book flew in their directions. Twilight frowned, intensifying her search and increasing the number of books around her.
"Damn it!" she flung the books aside. "Its not here! Its not anywhere!" she groaned in anger.
"Wow, easy there sugarcube, what'cha looking for? Maybe we can help!" Applejack approached her. Twilight sighed, breathing some the anger away.
"I think I know which books Spike stole..." Twilight growled. "All my mental research is gone."
"You mean he's behind this?!" Rarity asked frantically.
"Not Spike!" Fluttershy denied. Twilight could feel her sorrow, forgotten with the morning events, return, now stronger than before. This was not happening. This could not be happening. The whole town was under a dangerous spell, and Spike was either behind it or had something to do with it.
"Soooo....what now?" Pinkie asked, having staid amazingly quiet the whole time. Twilight sighed. She knew what she had to do. And she knew she was not going to like it.
"I will fly to the library in my castle and look for the copies of the missing books and whatever might help." she started. "In the mean time, you five are going to scout the town and the surrounding area again. We have to find Spike as soon as possible before he gets out of hoof."
"Will do." Rainbow Dash said before peering out of the window. "You better hurry though. Those ponies are starting to look a bit unfriendly to me."
"I will fly as fast as I can." Twilight took out a scroll, quickly applying a spell on it "Be careful. Spike is not thinking right. He might be dangerous."
And with that, she was off, using her horn as a guiding light to leave the misty town. Meanwhile from atop the town hall, two shadowy figures stared intently as the purple lantern faded from sight. One of the grinned. The other merely stared at the place where Twilight had last been seen.
"Snowdrop was right." one of them said with a young female voice. Her pale pink eyes going from pony to pony. "This is amazing."
"Twilight won't take long in finding those books. I've been inside the library of her castle." the other figure replied. "We have to start soon."
"We don't get to play a little bit more? I was starting to have fun with this." Diamond Tiara said as she stallion a glance. The stallion quickly ran against a food stand. Spike smiled.
"Of course you can. Just remember what were supposed to do here.
"Everything alright?"
Both Spike and Diamond Tiara looked behind them. Snowdrop had materialized behind them. She was now perfectly visible. Her tail, her mane and coat were no longer blurry or too shiny. They were there. And they were beautiful.
"So far so good. Whats up?" Spike answered.
"Oh nothing. I'm just checking on you two, making sure everything is fine. I was with Derpy just a minute ago. She said that everything is in place."
"Good to know that. Everypony in town is closing in as we speak. They'll soon be surrounding the library completely." Diamond said.
"And you Spike? Are you up to this? You can still back down." Snowdrop said with a grin.
"Back down?"
"Yes. I mean, Twilight has been quite mean to you, right? But if you don't want to return the favor..."
"I do . You can count me in." Spike answered fiercely. Snowdrop grinned.
Back inside the library, five friends discussed how they would split themselves, doing their best to accept the fact that Spike was the trouble maker.
"I still can't believe that Spike has something to with this. Why would he?" Rarity asked.
"We're gonna have to ask him when we find him Rarity." Applejack answered. "We won't make heads or tails of this until then."
"But, how are supposed to find him?" Fluttershy shivered a bit. "With the fog around, he could hide anywhere and we wouldn't find him." Dash chuckled.
"Well thats easy. If he does that, all you and I have to do is flap our wings and fog-be-gone. Simple as that.
"And then grab Spike and tell him to stop being a meany pants. And then we can throw a party on how we solved this whole issue and laugh and drink and eat! Cool, right?"
"Not quite Pinkie Pie."
The five mares froze as the familiar voice spoke. None of them dared to move. Between all the talking and searching, none of them had noticed noise, or lack of. It had grown quiet. Too quiet. Not a cricket, not a bird, no nothing. The only sound was their breathing. Applejack was the first to move. She slowly, almost carefully, walked to the door. The others soon followed her example.
"Come out."
Applejack, hesitated for a few seconds before opening the door and walking outside, followed the rest of her friends.
"Hello girls." Spike said. The five mares huddle together at the sight in front of them. All of Ponyville was in front of them. All of them as quiet as stones, all of them darkened by the fog. All of them with pale pink eyes, peering through the mist. And right at the front of this group, was Spike, who was flanked by Derpy and Diamond Tiara, who shared the eye color of the controlled ponies.
"Well girls, what are you waiting for? Cheer, laugh, throw a party." Spike gave a step forward.
"You found me."
When Twilight left her giant library, she had done so filled with a sense of achievement. She had managed to find the tomes she was looking for, which meant she was now armed with some sort of cure for the town. And so she had made her flight back to Ponyville as quick as possible, carrying a few books in a saddle bag.
Everything changed when she landed in front of the library.
The town was barren of life. Nopony walked the streets. Nopony was at the market. Nopony strolled around. Even with the mist clouding her sight, she could clearly see that she was alone. No sound. No movement. No nothing. Just her.
"Something's not right. " she thought as she gave a quick walk around the library. The restaurant was closed. The town hall was locked. The Quills and Sofas store was closed, and so were each and every house, with their windows shut and their curtains drawn. Twilight felt a shiver run up her spine. It wasn't that something wasn't right.
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Deciding that she would find nothing by exploring, Twilight turned to the library, trotting quickly. Her hooves echoed around her as she walked. It was rather unnerving. The inside of the library was no different than how she had left it. Everything was in place. Everything was in order.
Then why did it feel so wrong?
"Might as well have some tea to calm myself... " Twilight though. The kitchen was perfectly clean as well. Not a cup in the dish washer, not a pot out of place. Had Fluttershy really been that thorough? Using her magic, she took out a cup, sugar, a small bag of tea and set some water to boil. Soon enough, she had a steaming cup of tea waiting for her.
"Now, lets see about this books..." She said as she placed everything on the table. Time seemed to disappear as she began reading. She took sip of tea, almost completely ignoring the flavor, as she was too immersed in the reading. She went to the next book after a few more minutes.
"This is good, but not enough. " Twilight thought, taking a long gulp of tea. "I'm gonna have to...have to... "
Her magic flickered, letting the cup fall and smash agains the floor. Her mind was clouding. Her thoughts we messy. She tried getting up, but only managed to knock a couple of books from the table. She tried again, this time managing to actually stand up, though her legs were increasingly shaky.
"What...whats happening?!" She mumbled as her sight began getting clouded by darkness. Mumbled voices began flooding her ears. She saw the door open, though it was too blurry to see who entered. She tried giving a step, but tripped with her own hoof, falling hard on the floor.
She couldn't get up anymore. She could barely think. The darkness had completely covered her vision and was extending to her thoughts. Her whole body felt numb.
"No...no..." she mumbled before closing her eyes.
And then, Twilight knew nothing but darkness.
"Come on Spike, we have work to do!" Twilight chirped as she walked down the stairs. Spike quickly followed. The sun had barely risen over the horizon.
"But Twilight, its saturday! Can't we just take a day off?" Spike asked, rubbing his tired eyes. "I wanted to go see Rarity today. Take break, you know?"
"I'm sorry Spike, but we really do have a lot of work to do today. Celestia sent me a few books that I have to correct by monday.
"Books that you asked for. You set yourself to the time, remember? Celestia said there was no hurry."
"Well, yes, but I like to keep work from piling up. If we can get this finished now, then we don't have to worry about it later. So come on, lets have breakfast and the get to work."
"But...I really wanted to have a day off." Spike begged. Twilight was subjected to the famous puppy eyes, a technique that Sweetie Belle had put to good use over the last few years. She probably taught it to Spike at one point or another. Twilight did her best to resist the sad, sparkly eyes, but relented in the end.
"Look, tell you what. Help me gather all the stuff at the table and then you can go, sounds good?" Twilight put her best smile on. Spike, hesitant for a while, smiled back at her. It was good to have an assistant like him.
"You know, I though you would know the difference between normal tea and spiked tea...then again, you have missed a lot of stuff lately."
Twilight slowly opened her eyes, but closed them from the pain. Her head pounded like crazy, making her flinch as the voice spoke. Thankfully, there was no light around. Her eyes felt like they would explode. She tried getting up, but failed. She tried again, but her body wouldn't budge. What the hay?!
"Don't bother. Those ropes wont break."
Twilight opened her eyes, the pain subsiding a little. She was in a dark room. The only source of light was a light bulb hanging from above. The floor was wooden and the walls were a pale yellow. But that didn't bother her. What bothered her was the fact that Spike was sitting right in front of her. He had crossed his legs, his tail was resting on the floor. He was...taller? Not by much, but definitely bigger. tall enough that his head was covered in shadow. Only his pale eyes could be seen.
"What did you do me?" she growled.
"I changed the tea for a specially made mix we had. You should keep more track of what we have in the basement. Somethings can go missing and you wouldn't even notice."
"You drugged me?!"
"Well, yeah. I needed to catch you somehow, and I knew you just wouldn't let yourself be caught. So yeah, I drugged you."
Twilight could feel her rage reach boiling point. He had drugged her, done who knows what tot he town and he was just sitting there like if nothing happened!
"At least you came down easier than the rest of your friends. Dash and Applejack put up quite a fight, but we managed eventually."
"What did you do to them? Spike! Where are they!?" Twilight tried to free herself from the ropes that bind her, but it was no use. She was completely tied.
"Nearby. I wouldn't worry about them. If I were you, I'd focus on myself." Spike pointed a finger at her. Specifically, at horn. Twilight looked up. Indeed, horn was still there, but was different some how. It was it's usual purple. it was gray, like covered in something.
"I used that magical repellent concrete you made a few years ago. It wasn't to find, but I managed eventually. The basement is a mess by the way. You have to stop throwing stuff in it, because guess who has to clean it up later." Spike growled the last part, leaning on Twilight. "Me."
"Are you doing all this because of that? Are you serious?! I can't believe you! Let me go right now!" Twilight shouted. Spike grinned again.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, we have a plan to stop all the abuse. We're going to save everypony who has been a victim of injustice, and for that, we need you to stay put..." Spike poked her horn. "...and this to stay off."
"You keep saying we...who's helping you. The changeling Queen? Sombra's horn? Tell me!" Twilight demanded. Spike smiled, as if filled with a happy memory.
"Who else but my friends Twilight? My real friends. You see, unlike you, they help me with my work, and now are waiting for me to be done here. They don't leave me behind to clean everything up while they go out have fun. They are loyal to me, kind to me, and care about me."
"Spike, I care about you. Everypony cares about you! If they did something to you, then they can apologize once you tell them, heck, I will apologize!" Twilight said.
"Your lying." Spike quickly replied.
"No, I'm not! Look, let me go and I can show you. I swear."
"Why should I believe you? For all I know, all you want is to get this over with quickly so you can return to the way things were, just like she said you would. But I got news for you Twilight. Thats not happening, and I'm gonna make sure of it." Spike stood up, walking towards the door.
"Spike, wait! I mean it! I'm sorry alright! I'm sorry!"
"Too late for that one Twilight." Spike left the room.
"Spike! Don't close the-" SLAM. "-door."
Twilight was left alone in the darkness. Her mind, now free of any poison, was trying to comprehend what had happened. Spike had hurt her. Spike had hurt her. He had insulted her before, argued with her and even shouted at her before. But she had never hurt her. The fact that he did it hurt more than the actual injury. She could feel her eyes water a bit. She sniffed.
She wanted to cry.
"No..." she whispered before sniffing again.
"I said no..." she said, swallowing a sob. Blinked, trying to get rid of the tears that threatened to come out. She choked on sob. No was no dammit!
"I have to free myself... " She started struggling agains the ropes. They're were all over her hooves and around her body, trapping her wings. "I have to help my friends... "
But no matter how much she struggled, the ropes just wouldn't come off. They were painfully tight around her, and any movement made them even tighter. She tried focusing on a spell. She could the flow of magic in her body in her body, it would not reach her horn.
"Stupid concrete..." she mumbled as she continued to struggle for a few seconds more. She stopped, panting a little. She started again, and noticed something.
"The ropes are looser..." she said to herself. That was it! If she struggled for long enough, then maybe she could loose the ropes enough to free herself!
Meanwhile, Spike walked out of the town hall basement. Who knew there were so many rooms down there? Snowdrop, Diamond Tiara and Derpy were waiting for him on the main floor. He smiled when he saw them.
"She's trapped alright. We're good to go." he said.
"Are you sure its a good idea to just leave her there? What if she uses a spell or something?" Diamond asked, but Snowdrop placed a hoof around her shoulder.
"Then we will cross that bridge when we get there. Honestly, this whole thing was to get them out of the way for a while. Now, we need to get going. Are the guards in their place?"
"Yes they are. Just waiting for me to say something." Diamond answered. "The whole town is covered. They won't be getting anywhere."
"I managed to get a cart out of the mail office. We can leave anytime we want." Derpy said.
"Perfect. Everything is going perfect. All we gotta do now is load the cart with what we need." Snowdrop started walking towards the door.
"Where are we going?" Diamond asked.
"Fillydelphia of course." Snowdrop answered with a smile. "If we're going to change anything, then we have start somewhere were injustice is abundant. What do you say? Shall we begin our crusade?"
"Hay yes." Spike answered for the three of them.
In mean time, in the basement, twilight struggled to to pry herself of the ropes. Her hooves hurt, and the pain increased with every struggle. She couldn't see them in the darkness, but she could bet they weren't purple anymore.
"I can't give up now..." she continued to struggle, even though her eyes were starting to get misty with the pain. "I have to save my friends..."
The ropes tightened around her legs, making the task seemingly impossible. Twilight stopped to catch her breath. Thoughts of Spike returned to her. The things he said. The things he had done.
"No, I can't let that get to me now." Twilight resumed her struggling. The ropes became a bit looser around her. It was working! She was almost there!
"Come on...just a bit more..." Twilight pushed and pulled on the ropes that covered her hooves, ignoring the pain from the sore and broken skin. After a minute of struggle, the rope finally came off, making Twilight gasp in pain. She had done it. Her front legs were free, and it had barely taken her nearly thirty minutes of struggling!
""I can't waste time. I have to find my friends!" she went for her hind legs. The knots were as hard as rocks, even with all the earlier struggling. Her hooves were of little help for untying, forcing her to painfully push the knots of her legs. She could feel her skin stretch and burn, the struggling having done a number on it. With one final gasp of pain, Twilight freed her legs from the ropes that snared her. She could do nothing about her wings though. Without her magic, there was no way she could pull them free.
"Okay...now, where are you girls..." exiting the room was easier than expected. Spike didn't even lock it.
"Careless, as always... " Twilight thought dryly. She didn't have to be a genius to recognize where she was. The basement of the town wall was surprising large, big enough to hold food for all of Ponyville should the need arise. Twilight slowly walked through the dark hallways of the basement. Her legs were sore and itchy. They were probably very irritated, but she didn't want to look right now.
"Now, if I was Spike, where would I put five ponies?" Twilight murmured to herself as she walked through the hallway. It was a single hallways, with four doors on each side. Twilight tried opening a couple of them, but they wouldn't budge. She bucked one, blasting it open.
"Empty..." she cursed. Loud steps were heard from the wooden roof, rushing towards the stairs. Twilight nervously looked around, desperate to find a hiding place. Seeing no better alternative, Twilight ran to her former prision room, quickly closing the door and laying on the ground.
"What was that?" A male voice asked. It was monotonous and cold, like if it was a machine talking.
"Do you see anypony?" another voice asked.
"No. Must have been a rat or something."
"Check again. Remember the princess asked for perfection, like she deserves." the other voice finished, just as robotic as the first voice. The steps approached the door, to the point where Twilight could see the shadow of the pony underneath the door. Without her horn or her wings, she was completely defenseless.
"Go away, just go away..." she whispered to herself. The stallion at the door waited for a few more seconds before finally leaving. Twilight waited for nearly five minutes before allowing herself to relax.
"Its the spell. The spell is making them do this. " she slowly exited the room, peering the hallway before fully exiting. "But how? "
Now that she was alone, Twilight tried to open the other doors. Her efforts were met with failure, as the doors showed themselves to be locked one by one. She swallowed a groan. This was going from bad to worse really fast.
"Last door...I shouldn't even bother. Its probably locked too." Twilight said before placing a hoof on the door knob. To her surprise, the door wasn't locked, and it opened easily. The room it contained was just as dark as hers, and her had to adjust to the dark before she could see anything.
When they did adjust, Twilight had stifle a gasp.
The room wasn't empty, for right in the middle of it, bruised, battered and tied up, laid Applejack.
Applejack groaned as Twilight carefully pulled the ropes. They were as tight, perhaps tighter than Twilight's, making every tug a painful experience. Not that she wasn't in pain already. Her body was visibly bruised, with some cuts scattered along her body. She gasped as Twilight did a particularly brusque tug.
"I'm sorry Applejack..." Twilight murmured.
""It ain't your fault sugarcube, it was those ponies.." Applejack mumbled. She hissed when Twilight managed to free one of her legs. The ankle was swollen and visibly bruised, probably from earlier trashing.
"What did they do to you?" Twilight asked. Applejack hesitated to answer, not wanting to seem weak. A look from the unicorn was enough to convince her to talk.
"They tried to capture us, with ropes and everything Dash, Rarity and I tried to stop them...but they were too many. They even brought ropes and stuff. The last thing I remember was seeing Rainbow Dash get bucked in the face before I was knocked out." she explained. "I'm sorry Twi..we tried to stop them...but it was hard. Seeing so many friendly faces, all turned against us..."
"Don't worry about it..." Twilight replied after a nearly a minute of silence. "Let me get you out of here."
With a final, painful yank, Twilight slipped the ropes from Applejack's legs. The earth pony slowly got up, only to nearly again had Twilight not helped her. After another try, Applejack stood on, though she was visibly trying to apply less weight on one of her front legs.
"Applejack..."
"Ah'm fine Twilight. Ah' can walk."
Carefully and silently, both mares climbed to the main floor of the town hall. Nopony was inside but them, but hey couldn't say anything for outside. It was pitch black through the windows. Even the town hall was dark, being illuminated by a few candles. Twilight Applejack quickly moved to a corner, doing their best to stay clear of the windows. Soft voices could be heard coming from outside.
"You think they can hear us?" Applejack asked.
"No. If they could they would have come in already." Twilight sighed. We'll be fine as long as we stay quiet." The weight of the situation was finally starting to set in. And it was not doing wonders for her.
"Well, use your magic. Teleport us out." Applejack suggested.
"I can't..." Twilight pointed to her horn. "...Spike covered it with a magic repellant. No horn, no magic."
"Then were stuck here. Ah got a limp and you got your wings and horn out of the question." Applejack sat on the ground. "Speaking of wings, why don't Ah' free them? I bet Ah' can chew through those ropes."
"It would take too long. Besides, even you did free them, I can't fly around in the dark. Lets leave them there, out of the way." Twilight answered. "I don't supposed you know where the rest are." she asked hopefully.
"Last thing Ah' saw was Rarity being dragged to the Sugarcube Corner, we could start there." Applejack started walking to the gate, but Twilight stopped her with a hoof. Applejack was about to complain when voices were heard just outside the door. They went just as quick as they came.
"There are ponies watching the place. If we just waltz out, we will get caught."
"Then what?"
Twlight glanced at the door, then back at Applejack.
"Can you tip hoof?"
The door opened, letting two mares inside. One purple, one blue, both of them with glowing eyes. They searched the entire hall, doing their best to peer through the heavy shadows that covered the many corners of the place. One of them, the blue one, signaled to the other to follow her, and both walked down to the basement. The purple one was about to walk down when she heard a soft shuffling behind her.
"Now?"
"Now."
Just as she turned, Applejack's powerful buck smashed against her face, sending her tumbling down the down the stairs, lading in a heap atop the blue mare. Twilight quickly checked them up, making sure they were unconscious but mostly unharmed. After tying them up, she rejoined Applejack upstairs, finding her rubbing her hurt leg.
"You didn't have to buck so hard." Twilight said. "We don't want to hurt them."
"Hey, you said buck. When Ah' buck, ah' buck ." Applejack breathed. That buck had been a bit more tiring than intended. "What now?"
"Well, you said Rarity was taken to the Sugarcube corner. Lets head there."
To say that it was dark outside would be an understatement. Twilight could barely see past her nose and the only reason why Applejack could follow her was because they were the only thing that moved that didn't have glowing eyes. Mares and stallions roamed the entire town. None of them heading in any specific direction, instead just roaming around the town. Both elements decided against running, choosing instead to walk as fast as they could without making a noise.
"Spike...how could you?" Twilight though as they walked through the town, careful to avoid the gazes of the possessed ponies. The very sight of them was enough to make them uneasy, let alone the fact that Spike was partially responsible for this. That she could hear Applejack limp behind her was only making it worse.
If she was limping, then how would the others be? The question itself made Twilight shiver.
"Ah' think Ah' can see it."
Indeed. The sugarcube corner only had a single light on on the second floor. everything else was dark, except for the ominous glow if a pair of eyes. The two stopped, knowing that walking any closer would sure lead to detection.
"Main door is out of the question..." Twilight whispered.
"What about the windows? You think they're open?" Applejack suggested. Twilight looked at the single light on the house.
"Lets hope so."
Unfortunately, there was no way to reach any window from any wall without the guard noticing, which forced them to take a rather long and risky circle around the store. It was slow and painfully tense as they had to nearly crawl to avoid the occasional glances from the controlled ponies.
"Here goes nothing..." Twilight tried to lift open the window, but it didn't budge. Alarm and fear rose in her as she tried in vain to push the window open. Applejack joined to help, gently pushing the window until, with a snap, the lock gave away. Both mares quickly jumped in, praying that nopony had heard the noise.
The inside was almost as dark as the outside. What little light that came from the outside was reflected on the abandoned plates and cutlery, allowing some sort of path distinction. A sugary smell was lingering on the air.
"The light was upstairs. Come on."
To their surprise and relief, the house was empty, except for the room upstairs. Possibly. Hopefully.
"You think she's in there?" Applejack whispered as they approached the door.
"Only one way to find out." Twilight said as she gently pushed the door open. To their surprise, the room was devoid of life, the only things inside being the lightbulb on the roof and a bed.
"Okay..." Twilight slowly walked inside. Why was there nopony in? Could it be that Rarity wasn't here? The where could she possibly-
"Take this ruffian!"
Twilight barely manage to react before a hoof landed on her head, knocking her to the ground. Applejack rushed in immediately, grabbing the flailing Rarity from behind.
"Unhand me this instant!" Rarity nearly shrieked.
"Rarity! Its me! Applejack!" Applejack placed a hoof on her mouth. "Be quiet or they'll hear us!"
Rarity stopped flailing her limbs, opening her eyes and looking around her. Her eyes filled with tears as she realized who was really there with her.
"Applejack! Twilight!" she pried herself from Applejack's grasp. "You found me!" she nearly collapsed on the ground in hysterics, doing her best to reduce the drama levels. Twilight got up from the ground, having a hard time believing that the pony in front of them was actually Rarity. Her mane was dirty and completely unmade, resembling more Twilight's when stressed. Her coat was gray with dust and her tails even dirtier. All in all, it seemed like if somepony had used her as a duster.
"Ra-rarity?" Twilight asked. "What happened to you?"
"Those animals threw me around like, like some sort of doll!" Rarity answered. "Spike even messed my mane! He even threw an egg on it! Do you know how hard is to remove egg from hair!?"
"Are you injured in any way?"
"Why, a bit sore perhaps. They were pretty rough when handling me around like cattle, but other than that..." she pointed a hoof to her horn, which was covered in the same repellant as Twilight. It was then that Rarity noticed Twilight's wrists.
"Twilight! What happened to your wrists?!"
Twilight quickly put Rarity up to speed, describing all the events so far, from her capture with poisoned tea to her freeing Applejack and then finding her. Needless, Rarity was less than pleased with the answer.
"We are leaving." Twilight said. "Do you where the others are? Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie?"
"I'm afraid not. I don't even know if they are alright! Oh, I hope thy are alright..."
"Don't worry Rares, they are our friends remember? They may look easy, but boy are they tough!" Applejack reassured. Rarity smiled a little. Twilight however, peered out the window. A few ponies were staring at the window, attracted by all the noise they had caused.
"We need to get out of here. Rarity, are you sure you don't know?"
"I'm sure Twilight. I'm sorry for being of so little help."
They had a problem. If Rarity really didn't know where the others were, then they could spend the whole night looking and they wouldn't find them, eventually getting caught. On the other hoof, they couldn't stay there. The ponies outside would eventually search the house, and in their condition, fighting their way out was all but impossible.
"We need to get out of here, but where?"
"How about the boutique?" Rarity suggested. "Its not far from here, and I can close the curtains so they wont see us. Maybe we can even get our horns clean."
The number outside increased a bit.
"Excelent." Twilight replied. "Lets go."
By the time they exited the Sugarcube corner, the ponies were guarding the door, ready to stop whatever intruder that dared to enter the store.
"They're not very useful are they?" Rarity murmured.
The walk to the Carousel Boutique was just as silent as the one to the Sugarcube Corner. To their surprise, the boutique was watched by a single stallion, who was firmly planted in front of the door.
"Think we can sneak from behind like before?" Applejack asked.
"Afraid not. I locked the windows before all this happened." Rarity answered. Twilight glared at the stallion. The hree of them could probably overpower him quickly, but they would have beat him to it, and she didn't want to hurt him unless she really had to, and apparently, thats how it was going to be, unless...
"Applejack, ready to buck again?"
The guard was standing firm and stoic, ready to deal with whatever intruder approached the house. His attention was diverted when the sound of smashed glass reached his ears. He quickly ran to the place, leaving the door alone.
"Now or never girls! Inside!"
The inside of the Carousel Boutique was just as pristine as rarity had left it, although they would have appreciated it more if they could see anything.
"I know my store by heart. Follow my voice Twilight, the bathroom is this way." Rarity said. "You too Applejack. Better if we stay close to each other."
After a few trips and stumbles, one of which had Twilight fall flat on her face, the three mares reached the luxurious bathroom. Rarity immediately went for a brush and a towel, making the latter was wet first.
"You first Twilight. We could really use some magic right now..." Rarity said as she began to rub Twilight's horn. Twilight gasped a little as a few drops of hot water touched her skin.
"You sure its gonna come off with that?" Applejack asked.
"Its a specially designed sediment." Twilight answered. "Hot water dissolves it..." a few more drops fell on her head.
"This towel is going to be ruined..." Rarity moaned as she scrubbed the horn of her friend. Drops of melt material fell on the floor. After a few more minutes of scrubbing, Twilight rubbed her horn. It was still a bit covered in magic repellant.
"I'm afraid thats all I can do for now Twilight. Without any actual horn cleaning tools, there is little I can do."
"Don't worry Rarity." Twilight said as her horn began to glow. "This will do for now."
"Can you teleport us out of here?" Applejack asked.
"I don't think so. There's still to much repellant on my horn, but I can do this." Twilight' shorn cackled with energy for a few seconds before a wave of magic surged from it, briefly covering everything inside with in purple before the darkness returned.
"I cast a silence spell. Nopony outside will be able to hear us, no matter how high we speak. I also made it impossible to see through the windows." she explained. "Lets rest here for a while before heading out again."
"Well thats a relief!" Applejack said as she left the bathroom, plopping on a couch. "I didn't thought a limp could tire me out like this..."
"I'm going to check on Sweetie Belle. Poor thing must be terrified!" Rarity climbed the stairs, leaving her two friends alone. Twilight served herself a glass of water. Her legs were shaking badly, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Applejack.
"Why don't you use tour telekinesis?"
"Effort. My mind is already strained as it is. I could end up crushing the glass by accident."
"Oh."
Now that they were out of danger, none of knew what to say. It was unnervingly quiet outside, something that Applejack was both grateful and nervous over. Meanwhile, Twilight pondered. Her mind was a mountain of thoughts and worries, and at the top were to main concerns that were wracking her apart. Her friends and their safety and-
"Did you speak with Spike?" Applejack asked. Twilight nearly dropped the glass, but managed to steady herself.
"He talked to me. He said something about stopping injustice and that they would go somewhere...I don't know with who though..." she answered quietly before joining Applejack on the couch.
"Thats not all isn't it?" Applejack said. Twilight didn't answer. "Twi?"
"He drugged me..." Twilight nearly whispered. "Applejack. Spike drugged me." she repeated a a bit stronger. "He drugged me and put me in a dungeon!"
"Twi..."
"And then he goes spouting about ending injustice and that I don't care about him and that he has real friends now! I do care about him Applejack! I am his friend!" she cried. It was funny how it was affecting her now that they were out of danger.
"Twilight, Ah'm sorry..."
"And he doesn't even let me speak! He goes on to insult me and accuse me, and yet he doesn't even let me apologize!"
"Twilight!" Applejack grabbed her shoulder. "Calm down. Spike is...not right. You said so yourself that something's weird about him. He doesn't...really mean it. Ah' don't know him as well as you, but Ah'm also his friend, and Ah' also want to help him. We'll find him and we'll get this whole mess fixed, just like we always do."
Twilight sniffed once more before rubbing her eyes. She smiled.
"You're right Applejack. I shouldn't let this get to me. I have to save Spike, and letting myself get beat by this thing is not helping!"
"Now thats the attitude!"
"Twilight! Applejack! Come up! Quickly!" Rarity shouted from upstairs. The two mares didn't waste a second in running upstairs to Sweetie Belle's room, the only room in the second floor. Rarity was sitting by the filly's bed, desperately trying to shake the filly awake, but it was no use. Sweetie Belle laid on her bed, showing no signs of waking up.
"Rarity, whats wrong?!" Twilight asked.
"Its Sweetie Belle!" Rarity answered frantically. "She won't wake up! I tried everything! Shaking her, moving her, dumping cold water on her, but nothing works!"
Twilight was taken aback by the answer. Sweetie Belle was a known hyperactive child, just like Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and yet, there she laid, placidly sleeping, blissfully ignorant of the emergency that was going on around her.
"First the adults...now the kids?! " she thought worriedly.
Sweetie Belle laid still as Twilight's magic covered her body. Tense minutes passed while the magical scan was in progress. Rarity stood besides Applejack, almost holding her breath while the exam was in progress. After a few more minutes, the glow vanished, but Sweetie Belle was just as still as before.
"So? Whats wrong with her?" Applejack asked.
"I..I don't know..." Twilight sighed. "I searched her body for any spell or curse, but theres nothing. Its like she just...went to sleep..."
"But you can heal her right? You have to heal her!" Rarity exclaimed. Twilight glanced at Sweetie Belle.
"I don't whats wrong with her, nor how its doing this. I doubt I can heal anything. I might even make it worse!" she answered. "I'm sorry Rarity, but I can't take that chance."
"But...but then what do we do?! I won't leave my sister here, especially like this!"
Twilight lifted Sweetie Belle, rolling her in the blanket and placing her on Rarity's back. All that could be seen of the filly was the point of her horn.
"I can't fix it right now, but I will when I have the time and magic. Rarity, you go with Applejack to her farm and wait there. The the fog shouldn't have reached the orchid yet."
"Ain't happening."
"What?!" Twilight questioned. "Why not?!"
"I have to agree with Applejack dear." Rarity answered. "I want to save my sister, but I won't leave you here alone in here. What if they catch you again? You wont escape twice!"
"Besides, what if you need some raw muscle? Ah'm not at my best right now, but Ah' sure can put some push if needed."
"No you can't" Twilight said.
"Wha-yes Ah' can!"
"Applejack, you've been limping all the way from the town hall. And Rarity, you're going to be carrying Sweetie Belle. If you two stick together, you should be just fine. Besides..." she pointed to her horn. "I can do magic now. I'll be fine."
"Ah' still think you shouldn't go alone." Applejack said.
"And you're right. Its dangerous and I have to be careful if I don't want to get caught, but I'll be a lot more focused if I don't have to be worrying about you two as well."
"But-"
"Please Applejack." Twilight asked. Applejack looked at Rarity for support, but the she was just was doubtful as her. Between Twilight's stare and her own indecision, Applejack eventually relented.
"Alright. We'll go. But don't take too long ya hear?" Applejack said. "Or we'll go looking for ya."
"I will." Twilight walked to the door. "Now go. I'll be back soon."
Peering through the window, Twilight saw the stallion returning from his investigation. He would probably be on high alert now, which meant that the same trick wouldn't work twice. But there was a difference from before. A difference that right now meant the world to Twilight.
She had her magic.
"Hold on a second..." her horn started glowing. A few seconds later, the stallion fell over to his side, completely asleep. Twilight however, fell on her haunches visibly tired.
"Wow hey, are you alright?" Applejack asked.
"Its the leftover repellant. Its like pushing my magic through clay...I hadn't realized earlier because I still had some adrenalin in me."
"Oh dear. Then we should stay with you now shouldn't we?"
"No." Twilight said firmly. "I can do this. You two get going. I don't know how long I was out, but we have take advantage of the dark."
Applejack and Rarity gave each other one final worried glance before walking out the door, leaving Twilight alone in the boutique. Darkness and silence overcame her.
"Maybe I should have let them stay..." she whispered as she left the Boutique. She shivered when a cold mass of air surrounded her, which was odd, considering that it was summer, but ignored it. She had more important things to worry about, like how to find her friends.
"Lets see... " she thought, hiding behind a haystack. "Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are pegasi, and if this ponies aere smart, then they are locked up somewhere where they can't fly away. Since that could be any house in the town, to look for them would be nearly impossible, which leaves me with... "
"Pinkie Pie..." she whispered.
How was she supposed to find her?! Pinkie Pie was an earth pony, which meant that she could be anywhere! At lest with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash she knew they would be under a roof. Pinkie Pie could perfectly be tied in the middle of a street and Twilight wouldn't see her in all the darkness.
"How am I supposed to find a sugary obsessed...sugar. Thats it! "
Her horn started glowing, and before long, a small, purple three dimensional arrow popped into existence in front of Twilight's face, already pointing away. Twilight however, was too stunned to be happy.
"I can't believe I'm using a cupcake tracking spell...and thats its working!"
The town had not changed much in the short while when they were at the boutique. The night was still heavy on the land, and the omnipresent fog was just as thick as before. Since there was no way to contact the princess, there was no way to ask for help. Applejack and Rarity would be getting to the farm soon, since they would be of little help in their condition.
"I'm alone for this one. "
While Applejack's words still rang in her head, she still couldn't feel at ease with either herself or the situation, even more so after finding Rarity. Applejack had been hurt in the struggle, but Rarity had been deliberately thrown into a dumpster and messed up. Spike had gone from simple insults to physical threats in just a couple of days.
It made her shiver as thoughts Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie passed through her mind. If Applejack and Rarity were bad, how would the others be?
Silence was her only response.
The arrow floated in front of her, occasionally pulsing with purple magic, too faint to be seen from afar but bright enough for Twilight to follow it. It wouldn't last long though. She could only use so much magic with the dampener. The arrow would eventually fade away, leaving her in the dark, alone and tired.
"Better hurry... " she thought.
Minutes of walking eventually led her to sudden turn, which lead her to a small street, which on a normal day, would have been hidden away by the houses. Twilight could swear she had been there before, but the already thick darkness, intensified with the houses, made it impossible to do any recognition.
"Now...where are you Pinkie?" Twilight whispered. The arrow was becoming increasingly still, signaling the end of her search until, with one final pulse of purple energy, it vanished, leaving Twilight in dark.
"Wha-No, no!" she tried casting the arrow again, but it was now use. She was too tired to push the magic out. Her attention was diverted as hooves started approaching her direction. Twilight frantically looked around, desperately searching for an exit. Meanwhile, the hooves, kept getting closer, now distinct enough to recognize three.
Running out of time and options, Twilight made her magic flash for second, allowing her to spot a door that was ajar. She promptly ran inside, careful not to slam the door afterwards. A single drop of sweat ran down her face as the hooves waked right besides the door, slowly scanning the whole street. Door after door was heard slamming opening. Twilight realized they would find her if she staid there, and quietly distanced herself from the door, careful to not trip on any invisible object. Hiding behind what felt like a large couch, she made herself as small as possible.
Thats when the door slammed open. Heavy breaths and clopping hooves were all around her as three ponies searched the area. Twilight held her breath as they started to get closer.
"Do you see anything?" one male voice asked. It was just as robotic as the mares in town hall.
"No. Whatever it was, its not here."
The third pony didn't say anything, but approached the couch, its glowing eyes squinting to peer through the darkness. Twilight waited for the inevitable.
"Lets go." Cheerilee said, turning around and leaving. Twilight didn't stop holding her breath until she heard the door close and the hooves leave. She gasped for air, not daring to move until the ponies could no longer be heard. She stood up, shaking like no tomorrow.
"Too close... " she thought. "Better hurry before they decide to come back. "
The arrow was pointing towards somewhere in this street, which meant that Pinkie had to be in one of the houses. Four entire houses to search. Perfect.
"Well... she isn't in this house at least..." she told herself as she gave a quick glance to the second floor. Her horn glowed with with dim magic, allowing her to see a little. Twilight peered out the windows before walking out of the house, nearly running inside the one in front. To her surprise, it was empty. No stuff, no couches, no Pinkie. Just a barren wooden floor.
"Well, that simplifies things."
The third house was the same thing. Barren, empty and quiet. But with one difference. It had stairs. Twilight took a deep breath before walking up. The second floor was just as empty, except for bundle of blankets that was piled on a corner. Twilight paid no attention to it.
Until it shivered under the light.
"What the..." Twilight whispered as she approached it. Biting on the blanket, she pulled away hard. And then she froze.
Tied, gagged and bounded on her eyes was Pinkie Pie. All of her legs were tied, as was her muzzle, her neck and body, all this in such a way that it would be impossible to move a muscle. Her mouth was gagged, as were her eyes. Twilight even recoiled a bit at the disturbing sight.
"Mmmh-mmph!" Pinkie started twitching in fear, trying in vain to escape the ropes that trapped her, not caring how they were starting to break her skin. Twilight quickly used her magic to pull the cloth around her eyes. But Pinkie was still trashing away, forcing Twilight to cup her head.
"Pinkie! Its me! Calm down!" Twilight said sternly. Pinkie's blue eyes found her friend, and immediately started tearing up. Twilight tried prying the ropes, but a muffle gasp of pain from Pinkie stopped her. She tried using her magic, but the ropes were just too tight and she was just too tired to do anything. With one final push of magic, she tore the gag from her mouth.
"Twilight..." Pinkie sobbed. "It hurts...and not in a fun way."
Twilight racked her brain trying to figure out a way to free Pinkie without hurting her, or at least carry her without being discovered. But nothing came up. Pinkie was the only who could find Dash and Fluttershy with her...sense. She knew what she had to do to release Pinkie.
And she hated it.
"Pinkie... calm down. Pinkie. Pinkie, listen!" Twilight said. Pinkie stopped sobbing doing her best to look at Twilight. "I can't pull the ropes from you, so I'm going to have to cut them. They are going to get tight and its going to hurt, but I need you to be brave and stay quiet, do you understand me?"
Pinkie hesitated, but nodded. Twilight took a deep breath andfocusing what was left of her magic on her horn.
"Here it goes..." she whispered. The knots around Pinkie's neck started glowing, visibly straining and breaking, strand by strand, until they snapped. Pinkie coughed as the pressure around her neck ceased. Twilight then moved to her legs, following the same process. Pinkie silently whimpered as the ropes tightened, pinching her skin red. Twilight repeated the process two more times with Pinkie's body and flanks, doing her best to ignore the small gasps of pain that came from Pinkie each time a knot tightened.
"One more Pinkie..." Twilight whispered. The final knot that bounded Pinkie's legs together glowed, tightened painfully and snapped, finally releasing her. Pinkie wasted no time, immediately hugging Twilight.
"It was horrible Twilight!" she sobbed. "They pushed me and bound me and threw me around! It was like that pushing game that the crusaders like, but it wasn't a game because it wasn't fun at all!"
Twilight rubbed her friends back, letting her get it out of her system. Pinkie didn't have injuries or bruises like Applejack, which meant that she wasn't beaten or roughed up. But the ropes had done their share, leaving marks on Pinkie's skin, not as severe as the ones on Twilight's wrists, but definitely bigger.
"Pinkie...can you walk?" Twilight asked, standing up. Pinkie stumbled a little, but soon followed her example.
"Good. Do you know where Fluttershy and Dash are?"
"Dash is locked inside the Quills and Sofa's store and Fluttershy is with her. I know because I felt my left eye lid twitch, and that meant that somepony I know is inside somewhere they hate, and I know that Dash hates that store, I wonder why though. Do you know why? I'd love to-"
"Pinkie." Twilight placed a hoof on her mouth. "Not now. Look, are you absolutely sure they are there? Completely sure?"
Pinkie nodded fervently, completely forgetting about the pain that came from the rope marks. Twilight breathed deeply. Finally something was going their way.
"Rarity and Applejack are on their to the farm. They should be there by now. You and I are going to search for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy." Twilight noticed Pinkie's determined look. "And we're going to do it quietly."
"Uh? Why?"
Twilight sighed and proceeded to explain what had happened to her friend, a task that proved to be more complicated than it should thanks to Pinkie's puppy dog's long attention span.
"Okay. Quiet and stealthy, like when we went to the library in those sneaky suits!"
As soon as they left the library, Twilight noticed something about the darkness that surrounded them. It wasn't that dark anymore. She could see vague ponies outlines in the fog around that, while barely visible, were still there. Alarms ranged inside of her as she realized what was happening.
"Its dawning." Twilight said. "We have to hurry!"
They walked as fast as they could through the streets, doing their best to avoid making noise with their hooves. It wasn't long until they arrived at the shop which was, to Twilight's surprised, unguarded. Twilight and Pinkie walked in, eager to leave the streets. Nopony was inside. At least, not in the first floor.
"There's nopony here...are you they are in here Pinkie?"
"Super duper extra sure!" Pinkie exclaimed. Twilight sighed and proceeded with the search. The first floor was filled with, surprise surprise, bags of quills and sofas, but there was nopony on them or behind them. The counter was bare of life.
"Nothing here...lets go to the second floor."
The second floor consisted of a hallway with two doors, on front of the other. Twilight slowly walked it, followed by Pinkie Pie. She placed one of her hooves against a door. It opened easily. The room was filled with boxes of quills and sofa building materials. Not even the squeak of a mouse could be heard over the silence that reigned in the room.
"Nothing here either..." she pushed a small pile of box, sending the top box tumbling down. As soon as the box landed, quill and empty ink bottles spilled on the floor loudly. Both Twilight and Pinkie froze, fearing the worst. But nopony came. All that could be heard was their breathing and shuffling. Very loud shuffling.
Shuffling that came from the other room.
Twilight motioned Pinkie to stand behind her. Slowly and carefully, Twilight pushed the door open. There was no light except that which came from a small window., which forced her to use what little magic she had left to make her horn glow. The only two things in the room were a closet and an empty bed.
"Nopony here either..." she whispered.
"Look at that bed! Somepony was having some fun it." Pinkie said. And indeed, the covers were tossed over it and the mattress was wrinkled from the whatever force was on it. Twilight placed a hoof on it.
"Its warm..."
The shuffling was heard again, much louder this time. Twilight and Pinkie glanced at each other, then at the source of the shuffling sound.
"Somepony is in the closet..." Twilight said. Pinkie stood behind her, ready for anything. Twilight grabbed the handle of the closet and, counting to three, brusquely opened the door. Her magic went out as a large lump body fell on her. A small scream followed by more shuffling was all that was heard before Twilight managed to turn her horn back on.
"What was that?" She asked, pushing the lump off her. But Pinkie didn't answer. "Pinkie, what s is wrong?"
Pinkie didn't say anything, instead pointing a hoof towards Twilight. More specifically, Twilight's side, where the unmoving body of Rainbow Dash laid, heavily bruised and beat up.
"Rainbow Dash?!" Twilight started shaking her. "Dash! Wake up! Say something!"
But Dash didn't wake up. If Applejack was bruised, the Dash was completely beaten up. Scratches and blows were visible all over her body and her breaths were shallow and slow. Applejack had said that Dash had put up a fight.
She didn't say how she fared.
Twilight pulled Dash into a hug, more out of protective instinct than anything. Dash moaned out of unconscious pain, but didn't wake up.
"Twilight...the bed is shaking." Pinkie said.
Twilight looked to bed. Just like Pinkie said, the bed was trembling a little. Twilight carefully, hesitantly placed Dash on the floor. She slowly peered under the bed. The lack of light made it difficult to see. She could a pale yellow body. It was shivering and whimpering. Some feathers had fallen from it.
Feathers?
"Fluttershy?" Twilight called. The bundle shuffled and before long, Twilight was blown from the bed, completely trapped by the form of Fluttershy, who was sobbing freely. Twilight tried pushing Fluttershy away, but it was no use. Fluttershy was crying away and would not let go.
"She's not scared or nervous... " Twilight thought. "She's terrified. "
It took a whole ten minutes for Fluttershy to calm down. In the mean time, Pinkie placed Rainbow Dash on the bed, glumly keeping watch over her. Twilight did her best to console Fluttershy, who was slowly calming down.
"Fluttershy..."Twilight started. "What happened?"
"Twilight. It was horrible. All this ponies came and tried to grab us. Pinkie Pie and Rarity tried pushing them away, but it didn't work, and when they grabbed them, Applejack and Rainbow Dash tried fighting them off. Twilight, you weren't there to see it. Applejack was knocked over with a stick and Rainbow went ballistic. Thats when they..." Fluttershy didn't finish the sentence. She didn't have to.
"And you? Did they do anything to you?"
"N-no...I...I tried to push them away, but I didn't manage too...They didn't do anything to me."
Twilight didn't say anything, instead focusing her gaze on Rainbow Dash. Her friend laid there, unmoving. She looked out the window. The fog was no longer black. It was a very dark gray, which would soon go lighter. She looked at Dash again.
"Fluttershy, can you fly?" she asked
"Y-yes. Yes I can."
Twilight opened the window.
"Because we are getting out of here." Twilight used her magic once more and snapped the ropes around her body, ignoring the pain that came from her wings. She flapped them a couple of times. "Grab Rainbow Dash. We're going to the farm?"
"What about me?" Pinkie asked.
"I'll take you." Twilight flapped her wings harder. "Now lets go. First to the apple orchid to rest a little. Then, we head to Canterlot."
The road was quiet, which was expected from the hour. What few lights were active in Ponyville slowly vanished as the cart slowly distanced itself from the town. Spike sighed as the final light disappeared.
"Whats the matter Spike?" Derpy asked.
"Nothing, just...saying good bye to the town."
"You're not getting seconds thoughts are you?" Diamond asked. Spike shook his head.
"No. Its just that Ponyville was our home. Who knows when we will come back?"
That last bit of talk returned the cart to its silent atmosphere. The cart was being driven by Snowdrop, who was using her strange magic to make the cart move. How she was doing it was anypony's guest. Diamond Tiara laid against Derpy, who was covering her with a wing.
"This may take us a while. But I promise you..." Snowdrop said. "You will return to Ponyville."
"You're sure?" Spike asked. But Snowdrop didn't answer.
It was cold around them, which was odd, considering that it was summer. But he didn't mind. He had other things to worry about.
Like where exactly in Fillydelphia were they going to stay? Snowdrop probably had a plan already but, was it a nice plan?
What if they failed? What if Snowdrop's plan wasn't good enough? She was his friend, like Derpy and Diamond. He trusted her. She just seemed...more confident than Twilight. More prepared. Is that why he trusted her? Or maybe she just exuded a better atmosphere than Twilight. One that didn't involve slaving him around.
Unlike Twilight.
Derpy had other ideas though, as she hugged the filly closer to her. Her daughters were sleeping in Ponyville, and Diamond's ponies would take care of them. But she was their mother. And she was away from them. She was doing this for their sake. She would do anything for her daughters.
But would she be willing to drag other ponies down for that, like in Ponyville?
Diamond Tiara snuggled closer to Derpy. She was a lonely girl. She only one real friend, and that was Silver Spoon. Her parents barely paid her any attention and her school mates hated her. Sure, she was a bit acerbic in her way of treating others, but that didn't mean she was cruel with rest. She wasn't a cruel filly.
Was she? Snowdrop didn't seem to think so, and Derpy and Spike were willing to give her a chance to prove herself a good filly. She would not let them down.
At this point, Ponyville was completely gone from their sights. There was only one source of light, and that was the moon above them. Even then, the light was slightly filtered by the mist around them. Snowdrop was stoic. She wasn't a unicorn, and yet her she was, driving a cart with magic. A small part of Spike was curious as to how she was doing it, but the rest of him just accepted it as a good thing. It was as if his mind just refused to question Snowdrop's origin.
But that was good. It meant that he trusted her. Right?
"You should get some sleep Spike. Fillydelphia is still hours away." Snow drop suggested.
"How many hours?"
"About six." she answered. "Don't worry. I'll wake you once we get there."
Spike looked at Snowdrop. She was smiling, as if she was having the time of her life. He glanced at Derpy and Diamon Tiara. The were fast asleep already. He changed sides on the cart, now laying against Derpy, who unconsciously wrapped her wing around him. Within a few minutes, he was fast asleep.
Asleep with his friends.
Twilight wasn't doing so well.
Now that she had found all of her friends, the next step was to get all of them to Canterlot. The had reached the train station just the sun rose from the horizon, bathing the land in its warmth. The entire group consisted of the elements of harmony, along with Sweetie Belle and the rest of the Apple family. Fluttershy had been tending to Rainbow Dash for a while. She hadn't woken up yet, something that was starting to worry Twilight a bit.
It worried her more, however, that the first Dash was going to ask about was Scootaloo.
The train was completely silent as it made its way towards Canterlot. Fluttershy and Granny Smith were taking care of Dash, while Rarity kept an eye of Sweetie Belle, who was still sleeping. Big Macintosh had to take Apple Bloom into a room to stop her from asking questions. That left her with Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who was quietly rubbing some of the spots were the ropes were tied.
Which meant that for the first time since she freed herself, she had time to think. She didn't want to. But she couldn't help herself.
Spike was her closest friend. She had known him all his life. Literally. She raised him. She educated him. Had she really been that blind to how she was treating him? Had she really been slaving him around? How long had this thoughts festered inside of him? As much as she hated to think admit it, he had made some pretty good points.
Where they enough to warrant all this? Spike had insulted, poisoned and trapped her. Even with all of her inner turmoil, this was taking it too far. No sane pony would ever do this over-
Wait a minute. No sane pony. Spike was prone to overreacting, but never like this. But then, why would he act like this? Did the eyes have something to with that? He did mention his friends. Which meant that somepony had either assisted him or was behind all of this. Either way, this somepony had done something to Spike.
An intense anger began setting in her heart.
"Uh...you okay sugarcube?"
The question snapped Twilight of her train of thought. Applejack was eying her with some worry. And who could blame her? The newly crowned princess looked like she had gone to Tartarus and returned. Her mane was messy, the rope marks had become all the more blatant now and there were bags under her eyes. The dangerous look in her eyes didn't help the matter at all.
"I'm okay Applejack. Just a little tired."
Applejack didn't bought, and the look on her face showed it.
"I just...have a lot on mind." Twilight finished lamely.
"Ah' know you do Twi, but don't you worry none. The princess is going to clean this mess up, just like she always does." Applejack smiled with confidence. Twilight smiled in return, doing her best to hide her pain at how Applejack was proving Spike right.
"Canterlot Terminal! All passengers must leave the train!"
Canterlot was as beautiful as ever. Shiny. Pristine. It the contrast all the more obvious once Twilight's wrecked form lefet the train, followed by her friends, who where doing little better than her. Recognizing her right away, a guard rushed to aid Twilight.
"I need to speak to the princess immediately. Take my friends and their family to the royal clinic."
Faster than one could say chimmy changas, Twilight was led through the hallways of the palace, while her friends, who followed her briefly, were taken to the clinic.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, your majesty." The guard introduced her. Celestia, completely oblivious of the reason of the visit, smiled and allowed her inside.
"Twilight, what a pleasure it is to see...you..." Her voice trailed of as she saw the wreck that was her dear student.
"Princess...we need to talk."
Meanwhile, Fluttershy nervously eyed the nurses that were bandaging Dash up. Applejack's family, being unharmed, had been taken towards another room for inspection. Applejack insisted in staying with them, but the nurses told her to at least allow them to check her leg.
"Come on Sweetie...please wake up..." Rarity whispered on the ears of her sister, who was still placidly sleeping. Pinkie still had her mane straight. She didn't look so bad with it, if you ignored that the meaning of the straight mane.
Dash was no longer unconscious. The nurses had managed to briefly wake her up in order to make sure there wasn't any other injury they didn't know about. Although she refused at first, the nurses casted a sleeping spell on her, easing her into a restful nap.
"What now?" Fluttershy asked Applejack.
"Ah...Ah' don't know." was the answer. "Ah' guess all we can do right now is wait for Twilight to finish speaking with the princess."
She glanced at Rarity, who was holding Sweetie Belle's leg. The idea that the same could have happened to Apple Bloom, that it could have been herself who would be sitting there, holding the hoof of her unconscious sister...
It made her shiver.
"We'll fix this Rarity...Ah promise. "
Meanwhile, Twilight took a deep gulp from a glass of water offered by her mentor. Even after escaping the town and having her horn cleaned of the sediment, she was practically drained. She was too tired to even try to fix her appearance, so she was thankful when the princess started doing it for her.
"And Spike did all this? Are you sure?" Celestia asked once Twilight finished recounting the events of the past two days.
"I...I don't think he did it, but he definitely has something to do with it...Princess?"
But Celestia didn't answer. Her eyes were fixated on the floor, deep in turmoil. She didn't say it, But Twilight liked to think she knew her mentor enough to read her moods. Sometimes she disliked that ability. Especially when she could that her teacher was troubled.
"Any idea has to why he did it?" Celestia regained her composure, hiding the pain behind the facade of a ruler. She could agonize about her Spike later. First she had to worry about her ponies.
"He says that...He said that I slaved him around. That everypony slaved him around..." Twilight murmured. "He found others like him...he calls him his true friends."
"Who?"
"I don't know!" Twilight shouted, finally letting loose after a whole night of pain. "I don't know, I don't know I don't know! He just did all this. To me! To my friends! To Ponyville! He-he said that I used him all the time! I didn't know Princess, I swear!"
Twilight launched herself at the princess, who hugged her with her wings. Twilight sobbed on the chest of Celestia, now free from the stress of being in danger or trapped. Celestia could feel her heart breaking at both the sight and the knowledge of what transpired, but she remained strong. She had to remain strong. For Twilight.
And if this was all just as Twilight said, for Spike as well.
"Twilight, my dear student...you went through so much in so little time. You are hurt, tired and depleted. You must rest now. We will deal with Spike once you are more mentally able for the task." Celestia coed.
"But-"
"Sleep my little pony..." Celestia's horn glowed slightly. Twilight tried to stay awake, but her eyelids became heavier by the second. With short moments, the newly crowned princess was fast asleep. Celestia placed on her back, careful to not wake her up.
"Don't worry Twilight. We will end this, and we will save Spike...I promise you. " was her las thought before she left the throne room. The guard posted outside immediately snapped in attention once she appeared on his sight.
"Please have my sister meet me in my chambers. It is a matter of terrific urgency." She instructed him.
"And what if the princess is asleep?"
"Tell her that I sent for her."
The guard hesitated for a few seconds, but nodded, quickly departing to fulfill his duty. Once he was out of sight, Celestia merely teleported to her room. With a quick but gentle spell, she placed Twilight on the bed, covering her with the blankets. It had been many years since she had to do something like this. It broke her heart that it was under this kind of circumstances.
She sat on the floor, staring at the window. The sun was now reaching the middle of the day. She could see Ponyville from there too. Just like Twilight had said, the town was gone, replaced by a mass of fog. She sighed. This was not pretty at all.
"Tia...I believe that the sun is still up."
Celestia turned around. Right besides the bed stood Luna, still wearing her pajamas. Her mane was a mess too. Anypony's appearance would be if they had barely slept for a few hours. Celestia would have chuckled at her sister, but not now.
Specially not now.
"Luna...please get dressed." she explained. "We have an emergency."
"Wha...what?" Luna stuttered.
"Get yourself ready for the day, then meet me at the royal clinic."
And with that, she vanished in a flash of light, leaving her poor sister confused and concerned for the gravity of her tone. She didn't even notice Twilight sleeping.
"Princess Celestia!" Applejack bowed, or tried to, once the the princess entered the room they were in. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie followed her example. rainbow Dash stirred a little, but did nothing else. Rarity was to focused on her sleeping sister to pay any attention.
"Twilight has told me what happened." Celestia started. Fluttershy cringed. "Now I want to ear your side of the story. And please hide no details. If we are to fix this whole situation, then we must know every single aspect of it."
Applejack took the lead, making sure to tell what Spike had done before this whole thing started, like when he was a jerk to them. She skipped the part when they were with Twilight, ending with the most uncomfortable part of the all.
When they where captured.
"They knocked me and Dash around. Flutterhy and Rarity less so. Pinkie Pie...they gagged and bound her like an animal."
"I am here sister." Princess Luna walked in the room. Even though she had cleaned herself up, one could notice the bags under her eyes." What is it that you need?"
Celestia walked towards Rarity, placing a hoof on her shoulder. Rarity looked at her, begging her with her eyes to do something. Anything. She just wanted her sister to be okay.
"I'll put you up to speed Luna, I promise I will." Celestia stood aside, allowing Luna the perfect view of Sweetie Belle. "But first...I need you to wake this filly up."
It was dark.
It was cold
But mostly dark.
Luna walked through the dreamscape. If it could be called a dreamscape. There were no trees. No mountains. Nothing. Just an endless darkness. If it she wasn't standing on a surface already, she wouldn't know if there was a floor to begin with.
And mist. There was a huge amount of mist.
It was both depressing and creepy.
"Its like if some pony turned off the dream like a candle…" Luna whispered. It was a little disturbing actually. There was no echo, which meant that there were no walls.
She could, however, hear some vague whisperings. They were very soft and very low, but she could recognize them immediately.
"If I can hear my sister and the bearers, then that means that this mind can hear them as well. " she thought. "If thats the case, then all I have to do is turn this dream back on. But how? "
Whenever she entered a dream, Luna would use the dreams own rules and setting to her advantage, and help the creature in question. But what could she do when there was nothing at all to be used?
"I need to sit." Luna sat on a dark blue pillow that appeared under her. Altering the dream was safe as long as she kept it to a minimal. She could't help any pony if the subject kept waking up now could she?
"I don't think I have to worry about that though." Luna said. "This could take some time."
She wasn't really worried about taking too long in waking Sweetie Belle. Time in the world dreams transpired at a much faster rate than the real world. The problem wasn't how much it was going to take.
The problem was a how long had she been in this condition.
"A day and half at the most, if Twilight is correct." She tapped her chin. "Not that long, buts its better if we woke her up."
She looked up. Black infinity was all that met her eyes. Something had to be done about that.
"Let there be light." Her horn glowed. A pale spot started forming on the sky. After a few minutes, a large, white full moon was floating right on the sky, bathing the place with its light. Her eyes immediately adjusted to the dark.
Being the princess of the night had its perks.
"Still nothing…" she muttered. The never ending darkness kept going in all directions around. There was no pony on sight. There was nothing on sight.
She really was completely alone.
"This is getting me nowhere. I need a more direct approach." Luna pondered for a few seconds before a literal lit bulb popped above her.
"If altering the dreamscape wakes up the dreamer…" large empty canvas, already placed on a tripod, appeared in front of her. Floating with her magic were a brush and pallet with different colors.
"Good thing I took those art classes."
Meanwhile, out of dream, reality was less humorous. The five bearers were gathered around Sweetie Belle's bed. Rarity was holding her hoof, not taking her eyes away from for a second, desperately looking for any sign of activity.
"Ah don't get it. Why wasn't she all zombie like? Not that Ah'm complaining." Applejack asked.
"Maybe she wanted to rest in peace?" Pinkie joked. Nopony laughed. "Sorry…"
"I have seen this sort of enchantment before." Celestia answered. "But not like this. And never on this scale. But…"
"But what?! Don't leave us in the dark princess!" Pinkie complained. Celestia didn't answer, absorbed in her own thoughts. It took Fluttershy, of all ponies, poking her side to bring her back.
"Lets wait for my sister to finish. I want to hear what she has to say before coming to a conclusion."
"She sure is taking her sweet time." Applejack noted. Rarity tightened her hold on the hoof of her little sister, an action that did not go unnoticed.
"Don't fear dear Rarity." Celestia placed a hoof on her shoulder. "There is no pony better at this than Luna. She will bring back your sister. I promise."
The reassurance wasn't big, but it was enough to make Rarity smile for a few seconds.
Inside the dream, things were going at a much different pace. Literally.
Luna was wiped some sweat from her forehead. Her canvas was now sporting a nice, big blue castle. Not far from her, right on her sight, stood a gargantuan fortress made of lapis lazuli, shinning with the light of the moon. Luna drew a flag on one of the towers of her drawn castle. As in response, the largest tower if the fortress now had a flag. A moon was sewn on it.
"That should do it…" she said proudly. But the landscape didn't change one bit. "Damn."
There was however, a light buzzing. It was very faint, almost impossible to hear, but ti was there. Luna grinned when she heard it. It was working.
"A huge fortress only managed this little buzzing…" she glanced at her painting. "I am going to need a larger canvas."
"Is she alright?" Fluttershy asked, giving Luna a worried look. The princess of the night was sitting on the other side of the bed, facing rarity. Her eyes were closed. A faint glow went from the tip of her horn towards Sweetie Belle's forehead. She occasionally moved, but nothing more than the occasional twitch.
"Don't worry. Luna usually does this while laying down, but can perfectly do it while sitting or even standing."
Sweetie Belle twitched. Rarity was immediately on her, looking for any other reaction, but nothing happened. She looked at the princess in worry and confusion.
"Luna is probably trying to wake her up by interfering with the dream. It won't be long now."
"How long do yah' think?" Applejack asked. Celestia looked at her sister for a few seconds.
"For us, a couple more minutes." She looked at Sweetie Belle. "For them, I'd say a few hours."
"Hours?!" Rarity asked.
"Time goes at a different rate in the world of dreams. I've never truly managed to understand the rate , since if varies from pony to pony. Luna should be able to explain once she's done."
If she could have seen inside the dream, Celestia would have probably thought twice when speaking, for inside the head of little Sweetie Belle was no longer a fortress in the middle of nowhere.
There was a huge valley. On the horizon, a mountain reached as high as the clouds, and at the very top, stood the fortress, now nothing but a shadowy figure on the distance. The sky was now covered in stars, adding to the night light.
On a small hill, Luna was focused on continuing her painting. Trees began sprouting around the hill as she added them to her work. A couple of small lakes flooded certain areas within seconds.
"Maybe another hill here….another one over there…" Luna mused while adding to the painting.
The buzzing was had disappeared. Now, small tremors assaulted the land with increasing frequency. Luna had to steady her tripod lest it send her canvas crashing down.
"Just a little more…" she murmured as she began, slowly but surely, to erase the fog from the canvas. With a few more strokes, the mist was completely removed. Of the old blackness, nothing remained. Only a beautiful night scape.
Suddenly, a powerful earthquake hit the land. For a while Luna was worried something went wrong, but after a few seconds, the shaking stopped. A couple of trees fell, but nothing more. The princess of the night stood still, quiet as a mouse, waiting for any sign of activity.
"Hello?" a young voice called. Luna didn't say anything.
"Is some pony there?" the young voice repeated. Luna decided it was time to intervene. The canvas vanished, along with the brush and the palette. Flying up to the sky, it didn't take her long to spot her target.
A small white dot slowly moved between the trees. Luna dived, carefully landing besides the small filly.
"Hello child." she called. Sweetie Belle turned around in surprise. Luna smiled.
"Uh…hi…" Sweetie Belle said softly.
"No need to be afraid child. I am here to help."
"Oh! Are you going to help me find the gem lilies for my sister?" Sweetie asked cheerfully. Luna blinked a couple of times in confusion.
She didn't remember anything?
"Sure. But before I do, I need to know something." Luna said. "How did you get here?"
"I was…I was…I don't remember. Sorry." Sweetie Belle smiled sheepishly. LUna smiled relieved. Not remembering the origin of the dream was normal. In fact she remembered anything else, then she had problem.
"Thats alright little one. Now we can go find your gem lilies." A door appeared in front of them. "In fact, I think I might help you finish your quest faster."
"Really?! What?! Tell me!" Sweetie jumped in excitement. Luna smiled and opened the door. White light was all that cam from it.
"Right this way."
Tense seconds passed in the real world. Nopony uttered a word. Rarity was getting more and more distressed by the minute, but stayed quiet. She wanted Sweetie Belle to wake up. She wanted to hug her and make sure she was alright
She wanted her sister back.
"Look." Celestia said. Everypony looked at Luna. Her horn stopped glowing, ending the connection between her and Sweetie Belle. After a few seconds, the little filly slowly opened her eyes. Her sight barely managed to clear itself from the blur before she was pulled into a monster hug by Rarity, who was crying and sobbing dramatically.
"Uh…I love you too sis?" Sweetie Belle said, confused and still half asleep.
"Glad thats over…" Applejack yawned. Now that every immediate problem had been solved, their bodies started remembering how tired they were. Even Pinkie, patron saint of energy and cheerfulness, was starting to fall asleep right where she was sitting.
"It would seem that Twilight is not the only one who needs a good sleep." Luna said, opening her eyes.
"No, we just…we just…" Applejack yawned again. Celestia smiled. With a quick spell, everypony was placed on their beds. Seconds was all it took for them to fall asleep. Rarity struggled a bit, but eventually relented.
"What about me? I'm not tired." Sweetie Belle said. Before she could utter another word, she vanished in a flash of golden magic.
"Where did you send her?" Luna asked.
"With Apple Bloom, Applejack's little sister."
With the five bearers fast asleep, Celestia and Luna quietly left the room, closing the curtains and turning off the lights as they left. By now dawn had completely ended.
A beautiful day covered Equestria.
"So, what did you see?" Celestia asked.
"A lot of things. I believe you and I will have a long talk." Luna stopped. "But before all that, could you please explain to me what the devil is going on?"
Meanwhile, far from there, in Fillydelphia, a cart stopped in front of a run down house, hidden between all the large and newer buildings. Spike jumped off, landing neatly on the ground. The cart trembled a little at the sudden loss of weight.
"I don't remember the cart being so close to the ground…" he began thinking, but was interrupted when Diamond Tiara cleared her throat. Spike pulled his arms up, helping the filly descend from their transport.
"What is this place?" Derpy asked.
"Fillidelphia has a surprisingly big number of abandoned houses." Snowdrop said as she jumped off the cart. "The previous owners moved away and simply forgot all about it."
"And we are going to stay here? How crass." Diamond said.
"Be patient little one." Snowdrop walked towards the door. "Its only temporary."
The inside was surprisingly intact. It was dusty, but nothing really bad. The windows were still there, albeit dirty. Spike felt a sudden tinge of nostalgia, seeing all the dust.
"Twilight would have a fit if she saw all this dust…" he said without thinking.
"And she would have you clean it up, wouldn't she?." Snowdrop said. Spike blinked a couple of times.
"Yeah."
Nothing else was said while the three ponies and dragon explored the house. Given the lack of clean windows and inside illumination, darkness was pretty much everywhere.
The house was very simple, having only two floors. The first one was one large room, completely empty, which was connected to what used to be a kitchen. The second floor was a short hallway, with doors leading to three different rooms.
All of them were empty.
"What now?" Spike asked.
"We can't act out during the day. We'll only manage to bring attention to us." Snowdrop said.
"I thought we wanted that?" Derpy said.
"We do, but not yet." Snowdrop answered. "For now we just have to bid our time."
"Doing what? There is nothing except dust." Diamond complained. Snowdrop tapped her chin.
"We are going to need some directions. Tiara, you walk around and study the place around the house. Look for corners and passages." she turned towards Derpy. "You will find what kind of places ponies gather in this city. Try to find one thats close by."
"Okay." Derpy smiled and walked out of the house, soon followed by Diamond Tiara. "We'll be back soon!"
"What about me?" Spike asked. "I wanna help too."
"You?" Snowdrop grinned as she turned towards him. "You and I are going to have a talk."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you ever heard the expression 'big fish in a small lake.'?"
Spike cocked his head in confusion. Snowdrop rolled her eyes, but continued.
"It means when somepony is being held back by its environment."
"I don't understand." Spike said.
"Say, did you grow anything while in Ponyville?" Snowdrop circled around him. "Did you get any bigger? Stronger?"
"Eh…no? At least, not in a permanent way."
"Why?" Snowdrop asked.
"I just…didn't want to hurt any pony by accident."
"Really? Is that you believed?" Snowdrop got closer to him. "Or what Twilight told you?"
Spike frowned. His mind began putting things together. Snowdrop noticed, and kept talking.
"Remember that I saw your memories Spike. You lost control once. And Twilight immediately took action, making sure you wouldn't grow again."
"But why would she do that?" Spike asked.
"Because she feared you." Snowdrop answered. "Thats why she put in all those menial tasks afterwards. So your greed wouldn't greed triggered again, even though she could have helped you control it."
"So she was being paranoid?"
"Yes…but thats one of the differences between Twilight and me." Snowdrop smiled. "I am not paranoid. Or afraid."
"So…."
"So I can help you grow."
"But I don' t wanna be that big again." Spike said.
"And you don't have too. Haven't you noticed how you have been getting a bit heavier? Or taller? Thats because you are no longer restraining yourself. The moment you don't any more growth, you simply have to stop wanting it."
"And you'll help me?" Spike asked.
"Of course. We are friends after all."
In the mean time, Derpy walked amongst the mares and stallions of the city. Most of them ignored her, though a few of them gave her some passing looks. They were innocent looks, but Derpy couldn't but to feel a little small.
"They probably think I'm some sort of hillbilly with a defect…. " she thought bitterly.
The ponies in Ponyville did the same thing, and now they were little more than zombies. Snowdrop assured her that they weren't hurt by it. It didn't make it easier doing it though. Or leaving her daughters in their care.
"They are safer there." she repeated what Snowdrop told her just before they left. Did that mean things were going to get dangerous? Violent even? Were more ponies going to get hurt?
"I hope not. " she thought. "At least my girls are safely sleeping. They won't have to see a thing. "
The same could not be said from Diamond Tiara. The little filly carefully jumped over a puddle of mud. Her fur was a little stained from the dust of the house and her hooves were getting increasingly dirty with the surrounding area.
"Why do I have to do all this…" she muttered. "Shouldn't I be getting all the attention?"
Her parents never listened to her. Never spoke with her. Never really spent time with her. The whole
Ponyville thing changed that. Ponies listened to her. Spent time with her. If she needed attention, if she wanted affection, she could ask for it. And now here she was, getting her hooves dirty when she could just ask anypony to do it for her.
"Still…Snowdrop was right the first time….She was the one who started all this ." she thought.
Blank flanks always got all the attention. Everypony talked about them and how they had limitless possibilities. She had found her cutie mark. Did that mean that she was boring? That she was no longer fit for being included in the group?
"I'll just have to show them then." she grinned.
Meanwhile, up in the sky, the sun continued its path, now approaching the middle of the day.
Snowdrop looked through the stained window as Spike hid the cart besides the house. Looking up, she took a moment to look outside at the sun. Her confident grin was replaced with a scowl.
"I will show you." she spat. "Tonight I will show you."
Back in the castle, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom played on the gardens. Chasing each other, playing catch. Doing what kids did best.
"Where is Scootaloo?" Sweetie asked as they rested under a shadow.
"Ah don't know. Applejack wouldn't tell me. Ah don't even know whats going on." Apple Bloom answered. "Ah' hope she's alright."
"Of course she is! She's Scootaloo! Rainbow Dash's sister!" Sweetie cheered. "Nothing in the world could take her on."
"Except a bee." Apple Bloom chuckled. "Ah' bet she wouldn't even come close to one."
"Yeah!" Sweetie belle laughed.
The two fillies stayed quiet for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company. On the distance, they could see the balcony of the chambers of the princess. Celestia and Luna were standing there, but they were two far away to be heard.
"What do you think is happening?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I don't know." Sweetie Belle said. "Its got my sister all worried though."
"What happened?"
Sweetie Belle told Apple Bloom about what happened that morning, making no effort to hide how bizarre it had been for her. Apple Bloom laughed a little when she heard how Rarity had nearly crushed her friend in a bear hug.
"I haven't seen her since they teleported me to you. I hope she's alright."
"Of course she is. She's a friend of mah' sister." Apple Bloom said. "Any friend of may' sister is a strong pony."
"You think that something is wrong?" Sweetie Belle asked after a few seconds of silence. "Everypony is acting strange lately."
"Ah don't know." Apple Bloom answered. "But if it were, Ah' wouldn't worry too much about it."
"Why not?"
"Cuz Twilight has something do with it." Apple Bloom smiled. "And she always finds a way to fix things."
"That… is quite a tale." Luna said from her couch. "How come I didn't found about this?"
"I don't know…" Celestia replied, looking out the window. The sun shone brightly and the land was there for all to see. The only spot was Ponyville. Celestia did her best to not look at it. "You were probably in a dream at the time."
"And Spike is responsible for this." Luna spat. "Treachery is not lightly punished sister."
"I know."
"So what are we going to do?"
Celestia turned to face her sister, her mind already processing a solution. Spike and his accomplices were already gone. Twilight and her friends needed to rest and Ponyville was still in dire need of aid.
"Lets take care of what we can take care of at the moment." Celestia answered, walking towards the door of her study. "Walk with me Luna. We're going to have a talk with the guards.
"And you need me because…?"
"Because you are going to lead a team to Ponyville."
Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes. The light of the window was glowing like a white candle, slowly bringing her out of the darkness. She blinked, slowly but surely getting her bearings back.
Thats when her headache returned with a vengeance. Actually, forget the headache. Her entire body was sore beyond imagination. Every single part of it. As if she had crashed a concrete wall at sonic boom speeds. Even breathing hurt.
"He…hello…?" she managed to croak. Barely. The only answer she received was the soft murmur of Pinkie's snores. Other than that, the entire room was deathly silent.
Against her better judgement, she tried moving one of her legs. Pain instantly shot up through it. She winced, not wanting to look weak by whimpering around.
"I see you are awake."
Moving her head to the left as much as she could, Rainbow Dash looked to the door of the room. A nurse was standing there, using her magic to carry a tray with bandages.
"How long was I out?" Rainbow groaned.
"Form what I've been told…about twelve hours." the ruse answered while setting the tray in a table by her bed.
"What?! What about Spike! Ponyville! Where are-" Rainbow's rant was cut short as a spasm of pain racked her body.
"You shouldn't move. Most of your body is bruised." The nurse commented sadly. "That and a few of your joints are sprained, along with a couple of broken ribs."
Dash was shocked. That beat up was a lot worse than she remembered. Then again, she didn't remember a lot of things. She did remember Spike watching while the town ponies mashed her into a pulp. An intense anger began settling inside of her.
"What about my friends?"
"Applejack was a little hurt, but not as much as you. The rest fine too." The nurse answered, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Rainbow Dash looked at the ceiling. It was marble white.
"How long do I gotta stay here?" she asked.
"I'd say about week."
"What?! I can't sit here for a week! My friends need help! Spike needs help! I gotta save every pony!"
"We already applied a healing spell to you. You should be happy its not a month. You should be happy your friends alright. Twilight manage to rescue them and their families."
Rainbow Dahs opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out of it. What could she say?
"Families…I don't have family in Ponyville…" she said without thinking. Until it hit her. "Except…"
"Except who?" the nurse asked.
"Scootaloo." Rainbow said. "Did they get Scootaloo out?"
"Scootaloo?"
"Yeah! You know, orange and purple, small, all around awesome for a kid?"
The nurse tapped her chin for a few seconds, seconds that seemed an eternity for Rainbow Dash. The fact that the nurse wasn't showing much concern while taking so long to remember only served to increase her worry.
"I remember seeing two little fillies within the group. But they were white and yellow, not orange."
A cold stone dropped in Rainbow's battered stomach. Scootaloo wasn't here. That meant that she was still in Ponyville. Alone. With all the zombified adults and the fog and the danger and the risks!
"I have to go." she said sternly while trying to pry herself free from the bedsheets. The nurse, seeing what her patient was trying to do, used her magic to gently forced Rainbow back on the bed.
"What are you doing?! Let me go! I have to rescue Scootaloo!" the pgeasus trashed on her bed in vain.
"You are in no condition to move, let alone go in a rescue mission." The nurse began walking towards the door. "Please, try to rest now."
And with that, Rainbow Dash was left the only awake pony in the room. Her mind was in complete turmoil. Most of brain was screaming at her, ordering her to get up, zoom to Ponyville and rescue her number one fan. Her body was screaming in return, begging her to stay in bed and rest.
The fact that she was even paying attention to her body was proof of how much it hurt.
"They save every pony except Scootaloo…" she thought bitterly. "Why? They know she's like my sister!"
However, deep inside, she knew she couldn't blame them. All it took was one glance at their sleeping forms to see just visibly batter and tired they were. Although she wanted to, she couldn't really blame for being able to save Scootaloo.
"But then who will?" she thought bitterly.
Twilight carefully placed the quill on the desk, making sure that it was aligned with the research papers next to it. The library was completely dark, save for the humble light that came from her candle. She blew out the candle, having finished with her work and lighting her horn to show her the way upstairs.
As she reached the second floor, soft snoring reached her ears. Her eyes wondered down, finding Spike drawled on his bed, deep in slumber. Smiling, she used her magic to lift his blanket, placing it over him.
"Good night Spike." she murmured as she climbed on her bed.
Twilight slowly opened her eyes. It was dark around her. Wherever she was, it was soft and quite. The perfect place to sleep. She snuggled on the soft blanket that was below her. For a few seconds, everything was right with the world. She was back in the library and everything was okay.
Thats when the memories returned.
Twilight sighed and sat up. Looking outside through the curtains, she could see orange glow of the sunset. Alarm briefly ran through her before she took a deep breath to calm herself. Rushing would not help things.
"I need to find the princess." she thought. Using her magic, she illuminated the room, allowing her to see herself on a mirror. She remembered that the princess had fixed her mane and all the scratches on their way to the room, so she didn't bother too much with it.
Leaving the room and making her way downstairs, many guards saluted her, but she didn't give them a glance. She was too focused with the matter at had. Now that she had rested and her mind was free from the adrenalin, she could actually do something.
She was still worried about Spike though.
She had to hurry.
Twilight knew the palace by memory, so finding the throne room was easy as pie and, just as she expected, she saw Princess Celestia there. What she didn't expect to find there, was Princess Luna, along half a dozen night guards.
"Don't you think you'll need more guards?" Celestia asked. "You are facing an entire town, remember?"
"Too many guards could end up causing a battle to break out." Luna answered. "And I think violence is something we want to avoid at the moment."
Celestia tapped her chin for a few seconds before placing her hoof in Luna's shoulder.
"Alright sister. I trust your judgment. Be careful and remember: These ponies are not in their right minds. Do not use force against them."
Luna nodded before walking towards the open window of the room. With a quick hoof sign, she motioned her guards to follow her before taking flight. Celestia saw the seven figures disappear in the darkening sky before turning around, finding Twilight standing right in front of her.
"Twilight…" Celestia began. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore. Where is Luna going?"
"To Ponyville. To rescue the foals and, if we are lucky, the adults as well."
"What about Spike?"
Celestia didn't answer, instead walking by her student and heading to the door, making a signal for Twilight to follow her.
"I wanted to wait until you and your friends were awake. This is a problem that concerns all of you, so all of you need to decide what to do." Celestia answered as the two princess made their way to the royal clinic, where the bearers of harmony were staying. "In the mean time, is there anything you could tell me about Spike's plan? Anything you might have forgotten?"
Twilight negated with her head.
"In that case we might be in a bit of a pickle here…" Celestia said just as they entered the clinic. It wasn't long before they reached the room where their friends were staying. They could hear voices as they approached. Loud voices.
"Why couldn't you get Scootaloo?" Dash asked from her bed, her sore chest keeping her from shouting.
"Ah' told you, we didn't have the time! We would have gotten caught! We barely managed to get Sweetie Belle out." Applejack answered. Rarity didn't answer, not knowing what to say. Pinkie was looking from pony to pony, following the argument with worried interest, as was Fluttershy.
All voices became silent as the two princess entered.
"Princess! We just woke up!" Pinkie started. "And then Rainbow Dash asked us why we couldn't save Scootaloo, and the Applejack said we weren't able, but Dashie kept asking and Applejack kept answering and Dashie-"
"Thats enough dear" Rarity said, placing a hoof on Pinkie's mouth. It helped that their beds were right next to each other.
"I understand your worry Rainbow Dash." Celestia said, approaching the bed of the pegasus. "But you need not to fret. Luna is dealing with the situation as we speak."
The information, while not exactly cheerful, visible made Rainbow Dash relax, which in turn helped to defuse the tensing atmosphere.
"Now, I think we need to discuss about the current situation." Celestia begun saying. "Twilight has put me up to date with what she knows and, from what I can tell, it is little different from what any of you could tell me, correct?"
"We're sorry…" Fluttershy whispered.
"No need to be sorry dear. Given the circumstances, I would be surprised if we had more information to go along with. Spike and his helpers planned this well."
"I didn't know Spike liked to plan things." Rarity noted
"He always went along with what I planned. I don't think its much different here." Twilight replied. "I never really asked him…"
"Then what do we do?" Applejack asked. "We don't know where to go, when to go or whatever!"
"For now, there is little we can do apparently." Celestia answered. "I shall have the remaining night guards scout the nearby area of Ponyville and Canterlot. As for us, we are going to wait for Luna, and hope she brings some more information."
"Princess, if I may ask a question?" Rarity asked.
"Certainly."
"While Princess Luna was…while she was waking Sweetie Belle, you mentioned that you knew the spell that was used on her…"
"Yes. Its an advanced form of mind control."
"But thats not all, is it?"
Celestia staid quiet for a few seconds. She sighed wearily.
"No. No its not. However, I'd rather not jump to conclusions yet. Let us wait for Luna to return tomorrow morning. There's not much that we can do anyways. Get some rest, all of you." Celestia turned towards the door. "I believe tomorrow will be a long day."
"Princess…" Twilight said, her eyes looking straight at Celestia.
"Don't worry Twilight. As soon as Luna returns, answers shall be given." She nuzzled her student. "And everything shall be fine. I promise."
As she pronounced this words, the final rays of the sun vanished in the horizon.
A group of flyers headed towards Ponyville with haste, ready to fulfill their duty. At head of this group was Princess Luna, stern and decided.
One night guard approached her inflight.
"Princess, may I ask what is the plan?" he asked.
"Ponyville has fallen under some sort of mind control. From what I gather, all the adults are being controlled, while the foals are asleep." the night princess answered. "We are going to save the foals and, if possible, the adults."
"But Princess…there is only six of us, not counting you. How are we going to do it?"
"I have something in mind. It is simple and I'd rather have your full attention, so we shall discuss it once we land in the outskirts of the town." Luna smiled. "Don't worry about the mind spell. I shall cast a counter spell once we land."
On the distance. The dark figure of Ponyville slowly approached them.
Meanwhile, far from there, Four figures stood in in a small alley, all their attention locked in the building in front of them. Said building was none other than Fillydelphia's City Hall, know for being active until late hours at night.
And that was exactly what they needed.
"This is the closest I could find." Derpy said. "Is it good?"
Snowdrop eyed the building. Although there weren't exactly a lot of ponies coming and going, it was clear that the place was still going full throttle.
"It will do." Snowdrop looked at Tiara. "Are you ready?"
Tiara nodded and walked out of the alley in direction of the City Hall. Derpy eyed the filly as she walked with firm steps.
"This is not going to hurt them is it?" Derpy asked.
"You don't have to worry about a thing Derpy." Spike said from besides. "Snowdrop knows what she's doing."
Derpy was a little surprised when she had stop looking down to talk to Spike, who was now almost at eye level with her. His eyes had gone from their usual gem green to an almost white green, with the irises almost completely gone.
Diamon Tiara, meanwhile, had reached the City Hall and entered it. Following a small group of stallions, she quickly reached the center of the building. Nopony seemed to be curious as to why a filly was there a night time. Nopony was paying attention to her.
Well, that was going change.
"Excuse me…." she asked a nearby guard. "Could you help me please?"
"Sure. What's wrong girl? Did you lose your parents?"
"Something like that…" Diamond Tiara murmured. "Are you paying attention to me?"
"Eh, yes I am…" the guard replied. Diamond Tiara looked at him in the eye. Her eyes began to glow pink, completely taking over the usual blue.
"Are you really paying attention to me?"
"I am princess." the guard said, completely oblivious to the world around him. Or the fog that was slowly rising around them.
Because magic isn't everything.
If some pony had told Luna that the fog was only for mind control, Luna would have answered that it was a mistake, for as soon as they landed on the outskirts of Ponyville, the first thing they noticed was not the chilling air around them, or the pitch black darkness around them.
It was the silence.
The only sound after their landing was their breathing. Luna scanned their surroundings with magic before turning around to face her guards.
"As I said before, we are going to round up the foals of Ponyville and then I shall teleport them to the castle. I already have some arrangements done to house in the castle." she explained. "You will search the town for them and bring them here. The first one to get here shall stay and mount guard."
"What about the adults show resistance?" one of the guards asked.
"My sister explained to me that they are under some sort of mental control." Luna answered. "Avoid fighting if you can. If it comes down to it, try to not hurt them. They are not responsible for their actions."
The guards nodded and headed towards the town. Luna herself was not far behind. Their eyes were specially useful during the night, so maneuvering through the place was not hard.
But she was still nervous.
There was no sound. No glowing eyes like Twilight had described. There was a complete and utter lack of life. And it was disturbing. No place, least of all a town, should be this quiet.
"Your highness?"
She turned around and saw one of her guards approaching her.
"Have you found the foals?"
"The foals have been found and we are currently bringing them to the meeting place…"
"But?" Luna finished for him.
"Well…I think there is something you should see."
As the guards led Luna through the town, she could hear the quiet shuffling of the guards rounding up the colts and fillies. If she focused, she could also see some unmoving shadows, but she was too busy to investigate at the moment.
"Here we are." The guard said, stopping in place. Luna stopped and looked forward. And gasped.
In front of them was Mayor Mare, with her eyes locked on them. However, she didn't move an inch. She didn't even twitch. The only sign of life was her breathing.
"Why hasn't she given the alarm?" Luna asked.
"I don't know. I don't think she even realizes that we are here." the guard answered. Luna approached the mare, tapping her forehead with her hoof, but no reaction happened.
Suddenly a loud growl was heard coming from the mare, making both night ponies take a fighting stance. But no fighting happened. Mayor Mare was as frozen as she was before.
"What was that?" The guard asked. The growl was heard once again. It wasn't that strong actually, but it was definitely there.
"I think…that its a stomach growling."
"Are you hungry princess?" the guard asked.
"No. Are you?" Luna asked back. The guard shook his head. As realization hit them, their eyes wandered to Mayor Mare. Luna began making calculations as realization slowly reached her.
The guard approached the zombified mare until the princess placed a hoof on his shoulder, forcing him to face her.
"New orders." she began. "Fly back to the castle and tell the servants to forget about the beds for now. I want them to prepare enough food for a town."
"Princess?" the guard stuttered, confused by the weird command.
"If its as I suspect, these ponies have not eaten, drink or rested in little less than two days. Do as I say now ."
The guard saluted before bolting away in the sky, quickly vanishing in the fog. Luna looked at the mare in front of her. Mayor Mare was still looking forward, unblinking, completely paralyzed.
Was she conscious the whole time?
She shivered, preferring not to know.
Far from there, up high in one of the castle towers, Celestia sat behind her desk, holding with magic two pictures. On the first, she saw herself, dressed up and ready for a royal dinner with the ambassadors of three other countries. Right besides her was small mare, who was also dressed up nicely.
She was had a white colored coat, while her mane was icy blue. She was smiling as well. Her cutie mark was a snowflake along with a couple of sparkles. Celestia briefly smiled before putting the pictures inside of a drawer in her desk.
"After so long…how did she…" she murmured.
It had been a few hours since she had sent Luna away. She had no doubt that her sister would return with some sort of evidence. But the question was, of what?
"I should have gone as well. I could have recognized the spell myself…" she thought. Her train of mind was interrupted as a knock echoed in her office. After a few seconds of silence, the knocks came once again, this time, from the door. Celestia teleported herself in front of it and opened it with magic.
A single royal guard stood in front of her. While he was as stiff and stern as every other guard, Celestia could see that he was greatly disturbed.
"Good night, guard. What is it?"
"Your highness…" The guard hesitated. "I have…troublesome news…"
To say that Twilight was having a rough night was understatement. She tossed and turned in her bed, yet sleep would not come. Thoughts of Spike came to her, filling her with fear and doubt.
Was he okay? Was he hurt? Did he regret anything? Was the spell over him, assuming it was a spell, permanent?
After a few hours of trying to get some sleep, Twilight gave up and left her bed. She was in her old room, back from when she was still living in Canterlot. It was small, cozy and very organized, with a small balcony that allowed her to see the outside of Canterlot.
"Maybe a nice breeze will help… " she thought as she opened the glass door of the balcony. A light breeze flowed outside the tower. She smiled as she felt the cool air between the strand of her mane. It was calming and it soothed her mind.
"Things are going to be alright. We just have to put some effort into it. " she thought.
Thats when she noticed the lone bat like figure flying straight into one of the open windows.
"It seems that one of the night guards returned." Twilight murmured. "But that would mean…"
It was then that a the sound of guards running about reached her ears. Orders and shouts could be heard. Both curious and worried about all the noise that had suddenly spurned to life, Twilight exited her room.
A few guards were running about, as were a few servants. Twilight saw a maid running and stopped her with a hoof.
"Whats going on?" she asked.
"Ponyville! All of it! Is coming to the castle!" the maid said hurriedly before dashing away in direction to the kitchen, as Twilight remembered.
"All of Ponyville?" Twilight repeated. With a purple flash of magic, she teleported to the throne room, where Princess Celestia was speaking with a pegasus guard, who, after a few more words, took flight into the night.
"Princess?" Twilight asked.
"Twilight…" Celestia looked to her former student. "I was hoping that you could get a few more hours rest, but alas, it seems that rest will have to wait a bit longer."
"What happened?" Twilight asked. Celestia grimaced, as if the answer in itself was hard.
"Fillydelphia has fallen under the same kind of fog as Ponyville."
The entire world seemed to freeze as Twilight's mind assimilated the news. Fillydelphia? An entire city?!
"The guards that were sent to investigate that area have not returned. When others went to investigate, they could see the fog under the light of the moon."
Twilight had to sit down. Ponyville was one thing. But a city? An entire city of ponies that had nothing to do with the whole thing?
"On the bright side, my sister has dealt with Ponyville. She should start bringing them here any moment."
"Wha-what?" Twilight stammered.
Celestia quickly explained to Twilight what she had heard from the night guard before walking towards the door.
"Please go and wake up your friends. As soon as Luna arrives, we are going to have a talk."
Meanwhile, far away from Canterlot, in the now near invisible city of Fillidelphia, all sound had faded. There were no ponies walking in the night. No carts being pulled through the streets. No chattery and business life going on at the moment.
Just the soft sound of a filly's hooves walking on the pavement.
"Wow. It really did get everyone." Diamond Tiara said. A for beating of wings were heard as Derpy landed besides her.
"Everything looks so…wrong." she said, looking around them. It was only thanks to Snowdrop's spell that they could see anything, and even then, it was rather murky.
"Cheer up Derpy. Remember what Snowdrop said: Its for the greater good. Now lets go back."
"Yeah…greater good…" Derpy answered. If Tiara had been watching her friend, she would have noticed how her eyes had dimmed a little bit.
Back at their shelter, in what used to be the kitchen, Snowdrop grinned as she looked at her work.
"How do you feel?"
"Big." Spike answered from the darkness. "But strong. What did you give me?
Snowdrop smiled before grabbing an old bottle with her mouth and tossing out the window.
"I prepared a special potion for you a few ingredients that I had Diamond Tiara bring here.. It slows down your growth, but allows you to keep the strength, even if you are barely the size of a pony."
And indeed, Spike was no longer the small baby dragon that left Ponyville. he was now a young drake, as tall as a mare. Only the likes of Big Macintosh were taller. He was probably just as strong too, if not more.
"We have the city." Diamond Tiara announced as she entered the abandoned house, followed by Derpy. "What now?"
"Now…we wait." Snowdrop answered, receiving three shocked stares as a response.
"Wait?! Are you crazy?! They'll be unto us in a second!" Spike shouted.
"I know." Snowdrop replied calmly. After a few seconds of silence, it was none other than Derpy who came to the obvious conclusion.
"You want them to come here."
"Of course. Its all part of the plan."
"Plan for what?!" Diamond growled. "Get busted?!"
"Don't you see? The only ponies that resist the fog are the elements of harmony and the alicorn sisters." Snowdrop explained. "And since we know that at least two of the bearers are incapacitated and that the princesses will not risk themselves, that leaves four ponies available."
"So they show. One of them is Twilight, remember?" Spike said. "She can stop us."
"No she won't" Snowdrop turned towards him, staring directly at his eyes. "You won't let her, right?"
"I…"
"You won't let her hurt your friends, right?"
"No. She will never hurt my friends." Spike answered. His briefly flickering back to the old green.
"Good. Now, Diamond Tiara, could you be a sweetie and have every pony in position? I don't think we are going to have to wait too long for them."
However, back at the castle, back in the patient ward of the royal hospital, the bearers of harmony waited patiently for their rulers to arrive. The only sound inside the room was the soft chewing sound of Pinkie eating a cupcake that she had somehow pulled from behind her pillow.
Twilight was staring to get fidgety. It had been a couple of hours since Celestia had asked her to wake up her friends. They had made some small talk while they waited, but eventually fell into silence as the time passed.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened, startling every pony. Celestia, dignified as ever, walked in, followed by Luna, who was, while still very prideful and tall, breathing a bit heavily.
"I apologize for the wait my little ponies. I needed to speak with my sister first." Celestia turned towards Luna. "Now Luna, could you please repeat what you discovered.?"
"The ponies in Ponyville have literally done nothing since you managed to escape. We explored every inch of the town and found every pony. They were all standing still, without even reacting to us." Luna explained. "No food was prepared. No work was done. No field tendering. No cleaning. No nothing."
Twilight was, just as much as their friends, horrified at the answer, and all that it implied.
"What about the foals?!" Rarity asked loudly.
"All the foals, both colts and fillies, were found deeply asleep, just as much as your sister was before I woke her up."
"Did you wake them up?" Applejack asked.
"What about the babies!?" Pinkie Pie jumped from her bed.
"The foals are in the process of waking up. I applied a spell that will hasten the process. It will take a bit longer that with Sweetie Belle, but it will work. As for the babies, they have been woken up as soon as I found them and are being tended to."
Pinkie Pie started crying loudly in happiness before falling back asleep, content with the knowledge that her adoptive siblings were safe. Rainbow Dash wanted to say something, but the knowledge that Scootaloo was safe kept her quiet.
"What about the rest of the ponies? Are they going to be okay?" Flutterhsy asked.
"The same process is being applied to them as we speak. As soon as they wake up, they shall be fed and given a place to rest."
"Thats for the moment, the entire royal dinners have turned into a temporary sleeping place for them." Celestia added.
"What was the spell used on them? Mind control?" Twilight asked, focusing on what she knew best.
"Something like it. I cannot explain it, but it didn't feel much like mind control. The magic was there but in a different way. I cannot explain how." Luna looked at her sister. "But I believe that you can, right sister?"
All eyes turned towards Celestia, who sighed. With a flash of golden magic, a couple of pillows appeared next to herself and Luna. Sitting on one of them, and signaling Luna to follow her example, Celestia began answering.
"You asked me before if I had seen this magic before, and I said yes." the sun princess answered. "Then you asked me if that was it, and I said no."
Everypony was silent as a stone, eager to learn what was happening.
"Luna, you are half right. It is indeed a magic mind control spell. A very potent one in fact, that makes the victim absolutely loyal to the caster, to the point were they can't even do the most basic of things without a command." Celestia explained. "However, although it is called a spell, its not a spell at all."
"But thats impossible. How can it be anything but a spell?" Twilight asked.
"There are many ways to perform a feat that could be called a 'spell' Twilight. Runes. Nature forces." Celesita paused for a second. "Or on this case…alchemy."
"Alchemy? Is it still being used in this day and age?" Luna asked.
"Not much. Magic has advanced a lot, thanks to prodigies like Twilight here. However, one hundred and twenty years ago, alchemy almost faced the same kind of drastic changes, all caused by one pony."
"Who?" Rainbow Dash asked, having staid uncharacteristically quiet.
"An earth pony mare. She was an accomplished scientist and a brilliant alchemist." Celesita looked at the window. "And she was also my number one assistant."
Applejack had expected many things when she entered the library. A lot of them included Spike asking for forgiveness in some way. Truth be told, Spike hadn't been that rude with her. Sure he did call her selfish and arrogant, but little else. He seemed in some sort of hurry. As if he couldn't wait to get the insulting over with. While it had indeed annoyed her, she decided to let it go. She was a grown mare and wouldn't fall for such childish acts.
The Fluttershy got to the farm, all teary and sobbing.
Nopony messed with her friends. Not even other friends! So she went straight to the library and had her say, or would have, if not for the fact that apparently, Spike had been busy that day and did an effort to insult everypony. Twilight managed to calm them down and told them to go home. That she would deal with this and found out what was wrong with the dragon baby.
Applejack doubted, but relented, and soon left with Rarity, her faith placed in Twilight.
So when entered the library, she did not expect to find Twilight reading book after book, merely getting a few pages before dumping it for the next. She must have been doing it for a while, because the whole library was a complete mess! Books where thrown everywhere. Quills had been pretty much scattered to the winds and there ink stains all over the the few patches of floor visible.
Applejack didn't know if to be confused by the disaster or horrified by the state Twilight was in. The alicorn was sniffing as she poured through the books. Her mane was a complete mess and she was visibly tired, only going by her frantic reading.
"T-twi?" Applejack asked. Twilight's head snapped as soon as she heard her name. Applejack found herself the receiver of a crunching bear hug that would have made Pinkie Pie proud had the situation been different. Right now, Twilight was sobbing on her chest, and Applejack was not one to let her friends suffer like this-
"There, there sugarcube..." she cooed, not knowing what else to do." Let it out..."
Twilight cried for a few minutes more before even starting to get a semblance of control. Releasing the hug, she rubbed her eyes a bit, trying to get the stinging out of her eyes.
"There, much better right?" Applejack asked. Twilight didn't say anything. "Now Twi. Tell me what happened."
"It was Spike..." Twilight murmured. Applejack went red with anger.
Applejack went red with anger. She knew it! She knew this would happen! She should have listened to her gut and staid! And now Spike had insulted the one mare who did not deserve it by any chance! Oh, he was so gonna get it when he showed his face. Speaking of him, why hadn't fixed this mess already?! If he was the cause of Twilight's sorrow, he could at least show some regret!
"Twi? Where's Spike?"
"I don't know..."
She didn't know? Now that was new.
"You don't know?"
"No Applejack, I don't know. He left last night."
"Left? Left where?"
"I don't know."
"Twilight! Where is Spike?!"
"I don't know!" Twilight shouted. "He came back last night, I was so angry, so I asked what happened! We ended up arguing. It wasn't so different than most times, but then he got angrier and angrier and started saying some really hurtful things to me, and he didn't stop even when I tried talking back to him and I snapped and hit him with my wing! He slammed against the wall, right there!" she motioned the spot where Spike had crashed. " And when he got up he had his eyes all weird and he said he was getting out of here, and he did! And hasn't come back all night! "
She lifted a book, waving right in the farmers face.
"I've been up all night waiting for him, looking for what was wrong with his eyes, but I can't and I'm worried he's done something stupid!" Twilight finished. Applejack was left speechless. Twilight was usually a very down to earth pony. A real tough to crack cookie. What in tarnation had Spike said to her that left her like this?! No matter. Right now, she had to get Twilight to calm down. She was the only one who could hope to find the dragon fast, and being all worried as she was, she wasn't of any good to anypony.
"Come on sugarcube, let's go to Rarity's place."
The Carousel Boutique only closed for two reason: special occasions and emergencies. Most of the time it was the first one. Unfortunately, today it was the latter. Rarity had immediately served up some tea, something that Twilight was grateful for. Princess Celestia had always spoke about the calming qualities of tea. Now she could see why. Her mind felt more peaceful. her emotions more in check.
She was still a turmoil inside. Retelling the whole thing to Rarity and Applejack, this time with more derail of the argument, didn't make her feel any better.
"Now this is just awful." Rarity said. "How can he just go and say things like those? And then he just leaves? How can he even consider it!"
"Spike said that he felt unappreciated. He said that all of us have hurt him in some way." Twilight noted.
"Thats just a bunch of horse apples. Ah' don't remember being a jerk to him. Ah' don't remember anypony being a jerk to him!"
"Twilight dear, Spike is probably one of those dragon phase things. he's craving attention, so he's making sure to get it." Rarity grimaced as she remembered her encounter with him. "One way or another."
"But he's still gone!" Twilight exclaimed, nearly tipping the table as she stood up. "He's been gone for the whole night! What if he got in some sort of danger like last he ran away! I can't just wait for him to grow out of a possible growing stage! I have to find him!" Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile.
"And you will Twilight. And we will help you. Right Rares?"
"Of course. Spike may be acting like a genuine ruffian, but he is still Spikey-wikey." Rarity walked to the door. "I say we should gather the others, don't you think?"
The six friends met at the entrance to the library. All of them feeling better from yesterday and eager to aid in the search. Twilight was confident on their success. With friends like hers, Spike would be found in no time at all.
"Alright girls. Spike didn't say exactly where he was going, se we can only assume he is still in Ponyville." Twilight explained. "Rarity, you and Pinkie will search the town. Spike has always been fond of the market zone, so take a look there." She then turned to Applejack. "Applejack, Rainbow Dash, you two will cover the outside of Ponyville. The fields, the orchid and all those places are up to you." She finally reached Fluttershy. "Fluttershy. You're going to stay near the library in case he comes back. Got it?"
"But...what if he went to the Everfree forest?" the shy pegasus asked. Twilight grimaced.
"Thats were I'm going." She said quietly. "Everypony remember. Spike is not acting like himself, so if anypony happens to find him, remember to be careful around him. We don't need another greed-induced rage."
And with that, the six of them split, each of them ready to do their part. Twilight's earlier self doubt creeped back into her. Spike's word had carved deeper than she initially thought, and now she was plagued by them. Was he right? Had she been over demanding of him? Had she really hurt him?
The scene of her hitting him with the wing replayed in her mind.
"Have to focus." She chided herself before flying away in direction to the forest. She could the see the form of her friends move throughout the town, a white and pink spots on the market, an orange spot on the fields, a yellow stain walking towards the library and a rainbow blur flying around the town. She smiled briefly before returning to her task. Her friends were doing their best to find Spike. She had to do her best too!
"Okay now..." she said as she landed between the trees. "If I was Spike, were would I go..."
She knew better than to search the dragon caves. Spike had been terrified of them ever since his close encounter with one of them last time he...ever since then. The ruby mountains were a possible place, but it was so obvious that she doubted Spike would be dumb enough to go there, specially if his plan was to avoid being seen. As she walked through the branches and leaves, different places continued to pop in her head, all of them rejected for one reason or another,
"Wait a minute...whats this?"
A silverish liquid stain, little wider than her hoof, laid on the floor. It was glowing a bit, but it was clearly fading. Twilight poked it out of sheer curiosity. The liquid wobbled and rippled, but did not move from its place, except for a small drop that seem to glue itself to her hoof. It was cold to the touch, which was even weirder, considering that it was summer. She tried to remove it with magic, but the small but of liquid vanished as soon as her magic made contact with it.
"What the..." she tried again, obtaining the same result. Her hoof was completely clean, as if there had nothing on it to begin with. Twilight made a test tube appeared, carefully collecting as much of the liquid as possible. It slid in slowly, almost reluctantly, as if it was alive and it was doing it out of a threat. But that wasn't what grabbed Twilight's attention. What it did grab her attention was the color of the liquid.
It was the same tone of pure silver she had seen in Spike's eyes.
"Whatever this thing is, its not supposed to be here." she thought as she made the now full test tube disappear "And it has something to do with Spike. I just know it. "
The rest of her search was eventless and just as fruitless. She searched everywhere, the castle ruins, near Zecora's hut, the poison joke fields, but no sign of the baby dragon could be seen anywhere, no matter how hard she tried. She sighed, both glad that he hadn't entered the forest and depressed that she couldn't find her assistant. She somberly left the forest, having no more reason to stay there.
Her friends were all gathered in front of the library. Her expressions told her the whole story.
"He's not in the market. And we searched everywhere." Rarity explained. "Pinkie even searched inside the crates while they were closed, though I am not sure how she did it."
"The fields are empty, so are the trees. If he's on them, he's really good hidden." Applejack said.
"He hasn't even come close to the library. I peeked through the windows while I was cleaning up and not even his tail could be seen, oh I hope he's alright."
"I hope that too Fluttershy " Twilight thought. As much as she hated to admit, Twilight had to face the fact that just did not want to be found. If that was his intention, he was being really good at showing. If the combined search of the six of them couldn't find them, then they never would. All they could do right now was sit tight and wait.
Even if such wait would be nerve wracking to her.
Inside the library, Twilight paid little attention to the magnificent order in which Fluttershy had left the library in. The books where in their shelves, the floor was sparkling clean and the kitchen floor could be eaten on. But it matter little to her. She didn't really care about the library right now. All she cared about was Spike. He and his green eyes. His very pale green eyes.
"I should start investigating that liquid..." Twilight made the test tube appear. The silver liquid inside had not changed in quantity, but density. The earlier muddy substance was now clearly sloshing inside the tube, almost like if it was vapor or some sort of plasma. Either way, something had changed it, and she would find out what. Maybe she could find some clues as to what was wrong with Spike.
"What's that?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know Applejack. I found it in the Everfree forest while I was looking there. I thought it was odd that a material of such a weird composition would be just lying there, so I took it here." she took out a few lab instruments, placing the test tube in a specially designed rack. The liquid swished inside with the movement.
"Before Spike left, his eyes looked funny. They were kind of pale, but I didn't think much of it at first since I was..." she paused for a second. " I didn't think much of it. The point is that this...thing has the nearly the exact same tone and purity as Spike eyes."
"So you just guess they are related?" Rarity asked. "No offense Twilight, but that is rather grasping at straws."
"I have no choice Rarity." Twilight sighed sadly. "I know this a long shot by far. But Spike is gone and...and if there's any chance or anything that can help me find him...I just have to take it." she rubbed her eyes for a second.
"Hey Twilight?" Dash ask from a closed window, breaking the sad mood that reigned inside the giant tree." Are your curtains white?"
"I don't have curtains Dash, you know that."
"Really? Then why can't I see anything out of your window?"
Twilight flew until she was besides Dash. Just as the cyan mare said, there was nothing but a dark white covering the window. Covering all of the windows actually. Not wasting a second, the alicorn landed in front of the door, opening with magic. Just like the windows, peering outside the was impossible beyond a few feet.
"Its..." Twilight walked outside. "Its fog."
"At this hour? Thats impossible." Dash flew right besides her. "Fog is scheduled for days, and even then its supposed to be just a light thing."
"This is even worse than Fillydelphia in winter. You can't see anything." Rarity joined their side.
"Does this mean we're can play hide and seek in the fog? How cool can that be?! Its like hide and seek, but up to eleven!"
Twilight ignored the suggestion. The fog was thick enough that she could feel the moisture on her body. Whatever this fog was, it was not natural, and if left alone, it could cause trouble. She motioned to her friends, who followed her immediately out of the library.
"Come on girls. We need to find out what is going on."