> Paradox Scholar
>  by Penmore
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Shimmer of Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This isn't goodbye; it's' just goodbye till next time. Ready?" Twilight asked as she finished saying her goodbyes to the girls.

The battle against the Dazzlings was an intense one; Spike had to admit that he was not much help to Twilight having stacked on the pressure for that counter-spell but, looking back he genuinely thought she could do it on her own. It all stemmed from watching her over the years and being witness to her coronation and her part in the fight against Tirek. He couldn't help but feel as if there was something he should have done something differently back then. The thought always came during a lull in any of his many activities.

"Ready." The dragon turned pup responded as he stepped into the portal seconds before her, thinking nothing of it. He believed that she was right behind and looked forward to seeing their pony friends. He never could figure out what the cause was at the time. Whether it was the magic of the book wavering or a side effect of opening the portal manually. It was something that went unsolved, even seven years later.

Seeing a flash and being temporarily blinded by the light, he thought Princess Celestia was outdoing herself with the brilliance of her sun. When his eyes had adjusted, however, he found himself located on a mountaintop overlooking a forest so dense with nature that the Everfree would pale in comparison. Looking around as panic took hold of his senses he saw nothing but rocks and sparse vegetation.

"Twilight? Twilight! Where are you?!" were all that was echoed as his stubby legs propelled him around the area. Thankfully, he had arrived in his regular form and not a dog, so that was one less worry. The search for his caretaker had him looking around every rock that could hide anything in his immediate view. After a couple of minutes, the young drake stopped and realized he was alone. Alone on a Mountaintop, whether it was in Equestria or not, he would not find out for quite some time.

He cried that night until his eyes were red and dry curled up in a ball with nothing but a giant boulder guarding his back and the moonlight shining down languidly on his shivering form. Spike stayed there for what seemed like a week with only the sun to help keep track of the days. He knew that there was magic in the air but, it was severely different from what was usually in Equestria. Having learned the feel of such things due to being around the Elements of Harmony themselves it was one thing he was grateful for having asked Twilight to hone such senses. He had thought to send a letter in case this was just a different unexplored part of the world he knew only to have the small hope disappear when the only thing his fire did was burn it, leaving ashes in its place.

"I… I don't know what to do…" The week came and went sitting on the mountain top, and the dog biscuits he had brought through the portal (despite Twilight's warnings of other world objects) were almost spent. Not to mention that all he had in the dimensional pocket Twilight had awarded him after the events of the dragon migration were quickly being depleted in lieu of few sources of nourishment. It was to solidify the position as her number one assistant, and despite the strange magic in the air, it appeared to be stable.

"This way, we can always be ready in case we need to message Princess Celestia." Was what Twilight had said the day he received it.

It had to be the only time Spike was glad he used it as a personal storage of sorts regardless of Twilight telling him it was for work only, still, he did regret not having more than just pen and parchment in it.

"One Ruby, three emeralds, five dog biscuits, quill, ink, a ten pack of parchment, and sixty-seven bits...” Sighing, he realized that staying in put (as per Twilight's instructions of emergency situations) would be disastrous as he would run out of food soon. He turned from the scenic view of the dense forest beneath the mountain and faced towards the foreboding trail that was seemingly spiraling down towards possible death.

"I need to find a village or town. Maybe, with luck, somepony would be able to help me figure out where I am."

Putting the items away except for a biscuit he tore in half. He began down the path slowly nibbling his breakfast toward the journey of what would hopefully be salvation. It was cut short, however, as rounding the corner had him meet with a pack of what could be thought as fellow dragons to any other dragon. They were speaking a foreign language, but somehow, it was familiar. It sounded like common draconian with an emphasis on the S of every word.

"Uh… Hello?" he said, waving slightly at the pack trying to figure out who or what they had encountered.

"Ssso it ssspeaksss." The one that seemed to be the leader of the small group by the default logic of being in front said. He seemed every bit draconic and even resembled Garble (if somewhat taller and a shade of green) except for the language and the way his eyes were clouded with uncertainty.

"Hail brethren, it sssseemss to usss that you are sssomewhat lossst. Which tribe do you hail from?" The leader asked taking a step forward still slightly wary of the purple dragon. Spike may have been small, but even small creatures had their dangers.

"I don't know… I was just here. I don't remember much."  He lied not wanting to say anything about stepping through a portal in a statue which was located in a world in which he was a dog.

"Sssshame. Perhapsss the ssscholarssss dumped you after their experimentsss, or you might be sssuferring from lossst brain imagesss." Said the leader looking at Spike with a mixture of pity and excitement.

"Come brethren, we sssshall take you to the village. Thisss is no place for one sssso young." He beckoned, and turned to the other four dragons?

"Ok." Spike looked back at that moment and realized that had he left sooner, or even a day later many things would have been different, whether it would have saved him grief or not was something he'd never know. Though the time spent with what he later came to know as the Gecklings were equal parts brutal and mind blowing. It helped shape who he was now. It also helped Spike forget the various attempts at contacting Twilight and the girls and days of failure in searching for a way to contact any of them. 





Now, where once he was known as a number assistant, he became known as a competent (if reckless) scholar studying the central role of laws in creating a just society through any means necessary. Even after seven years in this new world, his feelings always remained wholly unchanged as he kept searching for a way back through the portal. A way back home to Equestria, back to the girls, and back to Twilight. Unfortunately, time was starting to take its toll on memories, and soon he found himself not remembering their faces. He could remember their names and the feelings he shared with them, but recalling more than that took serious effort.

He stood up from the boulder he’d chosen to sit on as the small band of Gecklings under his charge continued to hack and loot the scholars they encountered. It was a profitable outcome for them as they were starving for fresh meat and Spike got a hold of more books and various equipment the scholars had on hand. Standing at a height of 6'4 wearing a set of void-black paradox armor that sat tight on the body. He held a longsword now clean of blood and shining in the sun; he put on the helmet that hid the solid, and rough face due to scars and a half missing ear fin. His tail trailing behind as it had fresh burns and blood from the battle leaving splotches of red on the dark purple scales and forest green spikes gleaming as the blood was only beginning to dry.

"You lot almost done?!" He yelled sheathing the longsword and packing away his share of the loot into the now seemingly endless dimension pocket. He never did quite figure out how much would fit as it just kept accepting everything put into it.

"Jusssst about ssssir. We are putting the meat on the cartssss, and that sssshould be it for the harvest." Answered one of the lackeys, Spike never bother to learn their names, settling on just "You" when addressing them individually.

"Fine. Two of you spread out and search the area for any stragglers. Bring them to me before you kill em, I want to know if there are more of them heading this way." he set about organizing the rest of them to start carting the spoils back to the hideout. 

It wasn't long until a shriek through the air was heard, and he turned towards its direction. It seemed as if the scouts had caught a female. It would be all right. Usually, he chose to slaughter them instead of keeping them alive as the Gecklings practiced some very unsavory acts towards all women they found.

"Bosssss! We found one! Sssshess a keeper ya, flaming hair and all." Said the head scout as the brush was pushed away by the other scout shoving the prisoner to the ground.

Spike’s eyes went wide as he took in the sight of black leather, blue jeans, light blue top and hair a dark red shade with streaks of yellow. Having nearly lost all forms of thought at the image of her face come into view with rebellion in her eyes.

"Stop it! Let me go you scaly freaks!" she said as her voice seethed anger over every word and trying her best to resist her captors. He took a moment to take the sight in and felt something he thought lost. Seven years of a void that couldn't be sated, seven years of torture when he thought a way was found. Seven years of nothing but, hollow dreams and never ending nightmares. All of it, gone once he saw her.

"Sunset?"  Asking her cautiously as if acknowledging her would result in her disappearing. Having thought that if something like this had ever happened, he would be ecstatic was vastly incorrect on his part. Thus, due to all those years of hardship and experiences, his tone betrayed emotions and hinted at nothing except ice-cold indifference. She stared at the figure clad in black armor, not knowing how to answer. It was no surprise as being surrounded by lizard-like monsters speaking a foreign language would make anyone tense.

"How do you know my name? Who-"

Spike took off the helmet and knelt down in front of her. They stared into each other’s eyes, and a gasp could be heard from her at a sudden realization. Her face went through several emotions at once, the ones Spike could recognize were elation, fear, and hope. She was about to speak up before a rag was shoved into her mouth and tied in place with a second one.

"Alright lads, I’m claiming this one as a slave. That means if any of you touch her I'll personally see to it that the rest of us have extra meat tonight."  Spike yelled grabbing Sunset by the arm and pulling her along.

"Now, lets' go home." The usual response of cheers and hissing and they started the journey back could be heard in response. Sunset was kept in front of him and pushed forward at different intervals to assure her of his presence. A feast was promised tonight, and this would be the first time, in a long time, that he would partake in the celebration that usually went on after such a haul. Tonight would be a night to remember as he hauled his trophy with them.
> Time Lost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four hours, it had taken four hours to return to what would be considered home to the gecklings and a lesser extent Spike. Halfway through it though Sunset had fallen on her knees so instead of pressing the matter Spike decided to just pick her up and threw her over his shoulder. It was a task in itself to adjust her enough to be comfortable but, give the impression of carrying a possession. He would have rather had her ride in one of the carts, but considering that they were either filled with fresh meat from game and humans, he decided to forgo the latter.

Of course, there was also the fact that even if that were not the case, the gecklings would consider it an act of weakness for showing a slave some form of compassion. It also didn't help that said slave was a human and a female at that. Throughout the years he spent around the monsters known as gecklings, Spike found that the practice he came to hate the most was their use of the female slaves. It took a while for him to get used to the slavery but, even longer to stomach the gecklings using them for relief. Nothing he did could change their way of doing things since it was deeply ingrained in their minds of slaves being less than even the weakest of them.

He did, however, change some of the ways they were treated, and at any possible chance would demand a slave or two. During this time, Spike would pack a bag full of supplies for a week and stashed it where he kept the girl/s. Once a sufficient amount of time had passed he would feign anger and make a show of reducing them to ashes, always in the same spot so as to catch the supplies in the fire. It displayed not only his power and dominance but would also send the girls to a place that was far enough away from the encampment so they could run. What they did after that would be up to them to decide. Not a single one ever came back, and he could only wish they made it somewhere safe.

"Alright, take the carts to butcher hut and leave the ones with the loot outside of my hut so I can check if there are any traps on them. Once you're all done doing that rest a while, you lot earned it." Spike yelled at the party; it was mostly formalities now but, it never hurt to be consistent.

"Welcome back bosss, would you like me to take thiss ssslave with the ressst?" asked a gecklings slightly different from the rest as he reached to collect Sunset. 

Gecklings were not known for being unique, and by that, it meant that they all looked the same. Despite that, every so often, one or two of them would have some unique striking feature that separated them from among the rest. This one's unique feature was the fact he had a larger physique than the rest of them. If he were to wear Spike’s armor, he could easily pass as for him if not for the color of the tail as his was always showing. That wasn't the only thing that made him different, though; there was also the fact that this geckling had a name.

Names to gecklings meant reverence; not one geckling except for those chosen by the Mad God's counsel had a name. It had helped Spike immensely upon his first encounter with them that he had a name. Never was he as happy to have a name then when the first time he was with the gecklings as they did not resort to slaughtering him for failing to be a true geckling.

"No, this one is mine. Tell the rest not to touch this one Aposte, and prepare the feast. I'll join the rest after I get… better acquainted with this one." he said moving past Aposte and adjusting Sunset on his shoulder.

"Yesss, bosss." Aposte replied as he wandered away to oversee the rest of the place.





Home for the past year had been this place, the abandoned village of Marx located near the border of the lush expanse of green that Spike had seen when first heaved into this world. He had always kept near the mountain that had been the place of his arrival; silently wishing something would happen to give him a sign that the portal had appeared. It was naive, to say the least, but it filled him with a strange sense of comfort. Comfort in knowing that the mountain was the closest to Equestria that he could ever be.

Upon his first arrival to this village, it only had about four houses and a larger building that was a kind of inn which seemed strange for such an out of the way place. Bodies were scattered about, and blood was still drying throughout the street as he explored around. Apparently, from what could be gathered from reading the diary of an outraged farmer, was that the villagers were not content with how the chief was conducting everything. Taking everything that the villagers had and distributing it evenly between everyone. All of this resulted in bitterness as the chief would do nothing except laze around and take anything he sought was "fair". So the villagers did the only thing they could think of and slaughtered his family, gruesome yet effective.

Long story short, it was a bad idea on their part as the chief came from a long line of scholars. In the end, he died but, not without taking the rest of them with him. Made apparent as Spike found a pile of corpses in the basement of the inn. Regardless, he set about moving them out and cleaning what he could, and eventually established one of the bigger abodes as a base. The gecklings came later as he found most of them stalking around for food a week later. Having convinced them to stick around by giving them what meat was left and telling them it would be warmer to stay in the houses than the regular cave as their norm. More of them arrived soon after, but the fact that they came made it a village of sorts and meant order was needed. They elected Spike as their boss but, he always had Aposte delegate more once he began to settle there. It helped keep his distance emotionally and let them be more independent regardless of his presence.

Throughout the walk back and the delegation of duties Sunset was relatively calm. Thinking it was weird for the girl he remembered to have a rather rude demeanor. Of course, she was in a different world than Equestria and that of the high school where she had spent several moons. Not to mention that her first contact with any form of sentient beings were the geckling scouts that, by the looks of it, had roughed her up a bit before bringing her to Spike. They reached his place without much problem as most of the gecklings knew not to bother him unless it was important. Closing the door and lighting the lamps near the doorway he took amount to look the place over. It was larger than the rest, except the inn, with a typical fireplace and dining table in the middle. A rather large bed facing the door made by combining the two that were originally there when he took residence towards the upper right corner along with a bedside table on its left. To the right of the dining table against the opposite wall was a chest next to a small desk and two bookcases that lined the rest of the walls. It smelled of ink, blood, sweat, and paper throughout the room which was typical these days but, to Sunset, it seemed to unnerve her as she made an audible noise of disgust.

"Let me put you down, and then we can talk after you clean the blood off your face." he told her walking towards the bed and undoing the bonds and gag.

Immediate regret came once he did as she kicked his leg; it was regret on her side though as Spike still had the armor on which resulted in a rather nasty thud.

"Ow…" she said holding her boot.

"What was the gag for?! And who are you? You can't be the Spike I know… at least, I don't think so. I've only ever known your dog form and can't be too sure." She barked as she tried to clean her face with the small towel handed to her.

"It is you, right? Spike?"

He brought a chair from the table over to sit in front of her after lighting the fireplace. Having left the helmet on the table, he stared at her. She had asked all of it with fear still in her eyes. Fear all too familiar, the kind that meant having someone familiar near yet somehow unfamiliar. Her eyes burned to the core as he took the towel and gave her a cup of water, leaving the pitcher near her.

"Yea. It's me Sunset."

Whether it was because she was glad to see the dragon or because she felt safe in this new world, she lunged with a hug. Ignoring the water spreading from the knocked over pitcher he had just set down, Spike returned the hug with caution as using his full strength would result in broken bones. She continued to sob quietly but, eventually pulled back from the uncomfortable feel of the armor.

"Sorry, it's just… I never thought I would see you again. No one did, not after you disappeared. Especially not looking the way you do now." She said, trying to wipe her tears and compose herself once more.

That caught him by surprise; it was as if she thought he had changed much too drastically. Then again, it has been a long time since the last time they spoke. Spike had mentioned that he was a dragon in Equestria in passing but, he guessed seeing it be genuine and in full armor sans the helmet was certainly not something to take lightly.

"It's been a long time Sunset; I've changed. Whether or not it was for the better doesn't matter. I was never given a choice all these years; it was either adapt or die. I have spent too much time trying to survive the days in hopes of going back home. Giving up... dying was not an option." he put down the refilled pitcher by her again and handed her a napkin.

"Spike, I don't understand… How long have yo…" she asked with a confused look on her face, or, at least, she would have if Spike hadn't interrupted her.

"Listen to me Sunset; I get that you aren't exactly ecstatic with the situation right now but, we don't have much time. I'm planning on leaving within the next few days, its spur of the moment but, you showing up destroyed everything I had planned."

"Leave? As in leave for Equestria?" she asked, the excitement apparent in her voice.

"Sunset… If I had the luxury of getting back so soon, do you think I wouldn't have jumped at the chance by now? Do you honestly believe that I love being here? Away from everyone? Not having anyone to talk to except those monsters?! Do you think so little of me that you consider my being here for so long my choice?! Are you honestly saying I wanted to be away this long from my home?! My friends?! Twilight?!" He was yelling, Spike hardly ever yelled when he was younger and certainly not at a friend. The question threw his emotions into disarray as it felt like a knife plunging itself deeper into his heart.

He watched as she was stepping away hesitantly from the intense look in his eyes. Spike had apparently crossed the small distance between them and was staring her down. It had made her move away and pin herself against the wall on the bed. Her eyes full of fear, something he would have never imagined a friend would have directed at him. Not again, not since the events of his greed exploding and taking over his actions.

"So… Sorry Sunset, I… I don't know what came over me. You asking those questions just brought up too many bad memories."

He backed away and moved across the room to the chest on the opposite side. Spike started to take off the armor and put on a shirt and trousers. It wasn't as imposing as the armor, but it provided his body with warmth and let the aura of intimidation disappear. The shirt being a pure tan color that sat somewhat loosely on the dragon, and matched the brown trousers that he had put on in the same fashion. The clothing would have matched too if it wasn't for the fact that Spike went without footwear. It was to be expected though as anything he had tried on besides the greaves would be torn through with ease.

"Spike… I'm sorry too; I didn't mean to bring those up for you. I was just…" Sunset said looking gloomy after realizing how her words had affected the towering dragon. "Spike, I have to know. What did you mean by being here for so long?"

He looked at her with confusion before sitting back down pouring a glass of water for himself.

"I mean, you also said that you weren't given a choice after all these years… Spike, how long have you been here?"

"What do mean how long? Sunset I've been gone for seven years. I don't understand." Dread was creeping over him as the question was not something he had expected.

"Spike… you've been gone for a year and a half…" She said, her eyes were not lying as the words left her mouth.
> The One Left Behind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Welcome back dear. I take it that, with your return, everything is fine with our counterparts?" Rarity asked waiting in front of the mirror with the other four mares.

"Hey Rarity and yes everything is going to be ok now. It was certainly one doozy of an adventure. I'll be more than happy to tell you girls about it in a bit." Twilight Sparkle said striding past her friends and leading them to the map room.

"So, was my double what you needed to take care of those sirens? I bet she was, since she is pretty much me." Rainbow Dash said floating in front of Twilight with a smug look on her face.

"Actually, Rainbow, your counterpart kind of stirred the pot with how big her ego was getting." Twilight replied with a giggle as Dash stopped midway looking a bit let down.

The other girls laughed as well and walked to their respective thrones once they reached the table. They set about asking questions about their doubles and the situation with the Sirens which they now knew were called the Dazzlings. They laughed at the faces that Dash had made when Twilight reached the part concerning the band and how her human counterpart had practically claimed it as her own. They were a bit shocked when they found out that not only had Twilight not been able to discern the counter-spell until the last minute but, that the key to defeating the Dazzlings was Sunset Shimmer.

"Well, I must say, that I for one did not think that Sunset Shimmer would be so... understanding, considering her past. Then again, when you consider that even Discord could turn into a good friend, anything could be possible." Said Rarity as she sipped on her tea before levitating it back down onto the table and refilling it.

"Yea, especially when you consider that she turned into a demon and tried to destroy you and the other girls." Dash added bluntly, before looking at the cake in front of her and eating it all in one bite.

"Well, girls, whether or not it is believable is just us having assumptions on others. Like how Rainbow thought I was working with Nightmare Moon or how Rarity thought Fluttershy liked being a model without actually taking the time to talk about it." Twilight said

"Oh, yes. That was certainly a bad day for both of us." Said the yellow mare turning her tea cup with a smile on her face.

"Well, regardless, we certainly couldn't have done much of anything if we stayed trapped underneath the stage. It was a good thing that Spike was there. Otherwise, I don't know how long we could have been stuck or what would have happened." Twilight said with the same enthusiasm she had when talking about her number one assistant.

"Speaking of, where is the little guy? Did all that adventure tire him out?" Dash asked looking around.

"Yes, I do think it might be wise to let him rest. He is, after all, a baby dragon." Rarity added.

"So he went to go sleep? Who put out the cake and tea then?" Twilight asked, looking at the tableware and the dessert spread out in front of each mare.

"Oh, that was me. I thought it would be ok since Spike isn't here." Answered the pink party mare as she set down a fresh pot of coffee for Applejack and herself.

"Not here? I don't get it; he went into the portal before I did. You girls should have seen him." Said an increasingly worried Princess of Friendship.

"Spike! Spike!"

At this point, Twilight was teleporting around the castle trying to locate dragon. With each teleport, she grew increasingly worried and so did her friends as her cries could be heard from the table. The mares each went around trying to locate Spike as each cry kept getting louder.

Twilight teleported outside his room and knocked on the door. She had checked everywhere else in the castle in hopes of finding him just moving around or on some chore. That wasn't the case, and she couldn't just teleport inside his room, she respected his privacy, and if he were inside sleeping, then it would be rude otherwise.

"Spike, are you in there? Spike if I woke you up let me know. Spike?" She asked knocking on the door and receiving only silence as a reply.

Twilight opened the door and looked around the room for her best friend and number one assistant. Only to find his basket empty and made and his comic collection piled next to it. She searched around the room moving everything with her magic into the air and could not find a trace of him.

"Sp…Spike?"

She teleported back to library portion of the castle and took the book that was the anchor between Equestria and where Sunset resided. The five other mares had rushed to find her when a loud crash could be heard as Twilight teleported without putting the contents of spike's room back down gently. They found her writing in the journal; her hair frazzled and a look of desperation in her eyes.

"Twilight? What's wrong? Did you find Spike?" asked Rarity as she and the rest of the girls stepped into the library.

"No, I can't find him anywhere. Maybe he went back for a bit to talk to Sunset and the others but, I'm not sure. I just wrote to Sunset asking if he went through the portal." Twilight replied never taking her eyes off the journal awaiting a response.

"Twilight, I asked around, and none of the girls saw Spike come back through the portal. I don't understand, how could he not be there? Didn't he leave before you? It can't have been more than a couple of seconds of difference. I have the girls helping with the search; I'll let you know if we find him or anything that could lead to his whereabouts." Was all that the journal had produced as Sunset's reply.

Twilight put the book back in the portal and waited for it to activate again. Pacing about then running through as it came alive. She hopped out of the Canterlot High statue and looked around before going back through to meet five very concerned mares.

"Twilight? What are you doing? What's happening?" asked Fluttershy as she felt a chill wind come in through an open window.

"I'm trying to figure out if there is something wrong with the portal. I can't find Spike anywhere, and Sunset and the others said that nopony came through after he and I left."

She kept going back and forth a few more times before stopping on the Equestrian side and sitting down in front of the mirror. She kept looking at it as if the baby dragon would just pop out any second in a slight daze. He would pop out and ask what happened and then they could research the portal further like they always did when she encountered something strange. They would laugh, stay up, and complain when hitting dead ends. He would scold her for not going to bed, and she would tuck him in before returning to work, only to pass out and have him drape a blanket on her.

She would wake up and find her friend next to her having dragged the basket downstairs, or he would be coming in with a plate full of his crystalberry pancakes that he learned to make when they visited Candance and Shining Armor. It was just a matter of time for it all to be normal. Everything would be back to normal, and all that needed to happen was for him to come through the mirror. Only, he didn't, and as seconds turned to minutes, she knew that something had gone wrong. Something that made her best friend and family disappear without a trace, and she had been powerless to stop it.

Twilight sat there crying. Crying past the attempts of her friends trying to console her. Past the humming of the journal that fell from its place on top of the mirror as Sunset's search had turned up nothing. Ignoring her friends leaving the mare to write a letter to Princess Celestia and Luna, and organize a search. A search that would span the larger part of Equestria only to turn up empty hooved with no signs of the small dragon. She sat there every morning and slept there every night until a week had passed and she moved the mirror to her room. 

Twilight had placed the mirror in front of her bed so she could be ready whenever anything happened. She sat on the bed, eyes never leaving the mirror and her friends had taken shifts to take care of her every day. Eventually, weeks turned to months and Twilight was gradually starting to turn for the better. The help she received from her friends had significantly improved her mood. Sunset had even visited more often to comfort her and never stopped searching on the other side of the mirror. 



Then, a year and a half passed…



Twilight had recovered to her almost usual demeanor and activities, but she kept the mirror in her room, and checked on it regularly with surveillance spells she put in place. Sunset and the girls of Canterlot High had graduated and moved on with their lives but, they never stopped searching for anything that might lead to their missing friend. Sunset, having spent the majority of the time visiting Twilight grew homesick, and Twilight offered her a job as an advisor.

"Thanks again for the job Twilight, the girls were sad when I told them I would go back to Equestria but, with the mirror being close and the journal being left in their hands once I leave they calmed down a bit. I'll be there in about an hour or so." Was what the journal produced early that morning as Twilight had checked it before returning it to its place on top of the portal.

Twilight had just finished a letter to Princess Celestia and was walking to her room when she heard the mirror activate. She ran to it knowing that it might be Sunset but, hoping it would be somepony else entirely. It was a rude thing to think but, she always wished it was him that came through every time she heard the mirror hum alive. She stood in front of the mirror watching as soft waves formed from the middle to the outer edges, waiting for Sunset to step through.

The mirror slowed to a low hum and then stopped remaining silent as Twilight had a feeling of dread loom over her. She walked up to it and touched it; the mirror came alive once more as she put a hoof through to find it still worked. She walked into it and stepped in front of five girls who were happy to see her, and yet confused.

"Twi'? What are ya doing here? Not that we don't want ya here jus' wondering what the occasion is that made ya be here." Asked Applejack as she and the rest of the girls hugged her.

"Girls, I take it since all of you are here Sunset has already left?" Twilight asked already shaking with the answer that would come. 

She wanted everything to stop; she wanted everything to be just a nightmare. A long, horrible, disgusting nightmare. One that robbed her of family and a friend that was close to it. One that saw to make everything in her life bleak and full of loss, full of days wondering whether they were alive. Days that had her heart die each second she didn't know what to do, what to say, or how to save them. 

"You mean she didn't show up in Equestria?" was all Pinkie said before rushing forward as the other girls did.

Twilight had passed out tears falling from her eyes and her heart heavy with a familiar pain.
> A Simple Request
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The room echoed the fall of the cup and pitcher, once again staining the floor with water. Spike couldn't believe what he had heard. He couldn't even begin to comprehend whether or not Sunset was telling the truth. No… by the look in her eyes he knew what she said was true; he just didn't want it to be the truth.

"A year and a half? That would mean that time here goes at a rate of 4.6 Equestrian time. That would also explain as to why you look relatively the same as when I left. I thought it was just the fact that you were brought to this world that made you look like that." Pacing around the room in a way much like Twilight's when she was busy thinking of something.

"Spike?" Sunset chimed with a worried tone.

"If this is true then it means we can't afford to waste any time. We need to find a way back. I tried waiting here thinking it would appear or something would lead me back. Though the only thing that has happened is that you came, and I didn't feel any difference in magic which means I need to search for it rather than wait." He mumbled, starting to explore one of the bookcases for pen and paper.

"Spike? Are you listening?" 

"So if that's the case then where exactly do we start? We're in the middle of Darwin's Jungle, and the closest town is, at least, two days journey. I wish I hadn't killed that apologist a few days ago, could have used those cardinals she had." 

Just as he had begun to plan the journey by putting pen to paper, He felt the air shift and caught a cup just before it hit his head. Spike looked at it and turned to the direction it came from to see an upset Sunset.

"What was that for?" he scowled, putting the cup down on the table.

"I've been calling you for a while now; I figured something else would work instead. I threw it because I didn't want to hurt my foot again." She said.

"Oh, sorry about that. I don't usually have company, at least, none that I cared for anyways." 

He walked back to the chair in front of her and cleaned the water that was still spilled. Once clean, Spike sat back down looking at her with concern. She looked healthy enough, other than the bruises that the gecklings had made. Her clothes were in good condition and intact only a little muddy and in need of a wash. Most of all, however, she looked weak, not physically but mentally. The fact that he had been here for seven years affected more than just him. It affected her in some way by, what he guessed, giving her a rough idea as to how long she would spend in this strange new world.

"Sunset, we need to go. I'm not exactly sure where but, we can't stay here. I've spent seven years around this place with no luck, and I'm not about to spend the rest of my life here."

"Go where? Where exactly are we Spike? How are you so different? Why are you with these… these monsters?" Sunset responded with a flurry of questions her voice growing increasingly panicked when Spike started to pack anything of value into bags and his pocket.

"Freedonia, it's a kind of city though best not to put a label on it as it's a city located in the Domains of Discourse. Not a lot of things make sense around here but, at least, we'll be able to walk around freely if somewhat confusingly."

"Spike, you still haven't answered the rest of my questions. I need to know, please Spike." The look in Sunset's eyes as she spoke held a fragility that one would never expect from the usually confident girl.

Spike stopped packing and walked to her, holding her by the shoulders and coming eye level. He stared at her for a while and pulled her into a hug.

"Sunset, I really can't explain right now. We need to get ready to leave and fast. I promise I'll explain later but, for now, I need you to trust me."

The feeling of her arms trying their best to wrap around his large frame and soft sobs escaping from her shivering body was all that he felt and heard. It was a while until she was done and he couldn't blame her. With everything that has happened so far, seeing someone long thought gone, being in a different world, captured by monsters, and then told to get ready for a journey that would take who knows how long with no clues as to getting back home.

"Spike, thanks and I do trust you. It's just, I'm not sure if that confidence is from fear or not. I mean, I saw what you did to those people Spike. I saw you… butcher them…" She said as they hugged. Spike could feel the disgust in her voice, and it was only natural, living in Equestria and her time in the other world gave a reliance on peace but, here it was a different matter entirely.

"You saw that huh?" he said, as she pulled away and nodded, wiping away the tears from eyes again. 

"Listen to me Sunset; I know that it isn't something you would expect to see. Much less from someone you know but, it was necessary. I did it to survive in this world; this isn't Equestria where friendship can solve problems. Here only the thing you can trust is yourself, nothing is what it seems, and everyone rarely has friends. That's why with you here I can relax but, at the same time, it means I have to be a lot more vigilant."

"I get it, Spike; I've adjusted to a different world before. I just have to do it again but, I… I don't know if killing is something I can do. I know I tried to destroy Twilight and the girls before but, it's a part of me that I would rather not remember."

He could tell she remembered her past, how she tried to take over Equestria and the other world by using Twilight's crown. The anger, sadness, and regret that still clung to the edges of her heart clearly visible and caused her to believe she deserved less than she did and was less than she is…

"Stop that, its fine. You don't have to kill anything Sunset. If that's all you're worried about, then let it pass. I'll take care of it; it is what I'm used to nowadays after all and you showing up doesn't change it, if anything you strengthen my resolve."

He patted her head and ruffled her hair, she looked annoyed at such actions and yet relieved at the words. He stopped before continuing to rummage around the room for things to pack. Spike gave her a look and motioned for her to join. She nodded and started to move around to find things that might be useful on a trip. 

They moved the table to the left side of the room to lay down everything for the journey ahead. Even with Freedonia being a couple of days out it was better to be safe than sorry in the Domains. They had gathered six canteens of water, two sleeping bags which were the best out of the many Spike had two tarps made for blocking the wind and rain, four cloaks of bear fur and leather, and a week's worth of rations. There were also some books he picked out and cooking utensils along with some soap, pens, and parchment. Spike put all of it together in packs and stuffed a compass and map into Sunset's bag. 

"I could fit all this in the pocket that Twilight gave me but, I have no idea as to how much I can stuff in there and whether or not it doesn't get lost. Most of the time I find what I need but, there were some cases where I couldn't find what I put in there. I would rather not risk losing what little we have."

"Twilight gave you a dimensional pocket? That has to be one of the hardest spells there is; I mean, it creates a small dimension for Celestia’s sake. Still, I know what you're saying, not a lot is known about it and so not a lot of ponies that could do the spell used it. Still… if you have one, then that just means you must have stuff in there." She said with a look of curiosity.

It was the same look Twilight would get whenever she encountered something worth studying. A look that he had missed even if it meant, tagging along through some mini-adventure. He smiled and pulled out what he could from the pocket; it wasn't much, though, everything was precious.

A dried and crumbling quill, one ruby, sixty-seven bits he had upon arrival, a white fang from what seemed like a rather large creature, three books that looked rather old, a flower that looked as fresh as if it was just picked, and a large piece of amber that encased a large black spot in the middle that seemed to pulse. Sunset looked at everything and from the look on her face seemed as if she couldn't grasp half the things there. It was mildly amusing watching her eyes go over everything with that look of wanting to study each of them. She started to reach for one of the books before he stopped her.

"Don't, those aren't for reading. Well, they are but, not in the way you think. It's best if you just don't touch them."

"Oh… ok, if you say so Spike. What are some of these things?" she asked pointing to the latter half of the items. "Why do you have such an old quill too? Are these bits?"

"Yea those are bits, and the quill is the only thing I have to remind me of home other than the bits. The Ruby is one of the snacks I had left before coming here, this fang is one I lost in a fight, and the books are dangerously rare here, so I kept them. As for the flower, it's a memory of a friend… one close to my heart…"

Sunset had never seen the dragon so saddened at the mention of the flower. She had known sadness before but, the emotion that Spike had at the moment was something deeper. Something that gave him an air of maturity that she could only guess was the cause of a significant event in his life. Not wanting to press the issue she decided to focus the conversation elsewhere.

"What about this Amber? What is it from?" she said, picking up the amber and feeling it pulse gently in her hand.

"Oh, that? It's part of my soul."

"What?!" she yelled, throwing it down.

Spike caught it in time and set it down again next to the books. He turned to look at her and saw utter shock across her face before she tried to compose herself. She reached for it again and held it in her hands looking at it intensely.

"Careful this time, if it breaks then a part of me dies. Not to mention the fact that it could summon a pretty large paradox beast that I would rather not fight."

She looked at him and back at the amber, questions racing through her mind. Ones that Spike would rather not have to answer. She put it back down after a minute of thinking and finally looked towards the dragon.

"Why do you have a piece of your soul in Amber?" she asked 

"It was a requirement to pledge my loyalty to the Mad God; who rules much of this world. Never actually seen the guy, though, only know of him through proxies and stories. People are looking for him but, it's a search that has apparently spanned since the beginning of this world."

"You serve someone called a Mad God? Why would you… Never mind I'm starting to get the idea here. Survival right?" Sunset asked with disbelief in her voice.

He nodded and grabbed the Amber along with the rest of the things leaving only the tooth out. Picking it up and some cloth, he wrapped the thing up and held it in front of Sunset.

"Use this only in case of emergencies and when I'm not around. It is a dragon tooth so it'll cut through almost anything. Just… don't lose it or show it to anyone else; there are a lot of things out there that would go to extreme lengths for one."

"Don't you mean people?" she said, as she grabbed the bundle and stuffed it in her pack.

"I know what I said, and I meant it."

She nodded once again and looked around the room; there was a lot of stuff he was going to leave behind, and it had taken a long time to get most of it. Her eyes stopped to rest on the armor Spike was wearing when we met. It was as if all the light in the room was being sucked in leaving a black spot where the armor was located.

"What about the armor? Are you not going to take it?

He glanced at the armor, the symbol of loyalty to the Mad God aside from the amber. It had been given to him a year ago and saved his life more than once. However, now he had a rekindled determination that had long since died. He had to leave it behind, if they wanted to search for a way back to Equestria and going around in that armor would mean constant danger from all directions.

"No, I can't take with us. It'll stay here even if I wanted to bring it along, it would only cause the journey to be even harder for the both of us." He looked away and grabbed some parchment, pen, and ink.

He started to write on the piece of paper and felt Sunset's eyes resting on him. He looked up and could tell she wanted to know the most important part of the whole conversation. It would come up eventually, and that was what prompted him to start writing.

"Soo… how exactly are we going to leave this place? I'm pretty sure these guys wouldn't want you to go." 

"You're right, even ignoring the fact that I'm not one of them they do regard me as a leader of sorts. Which, is fine but, they won't just let me leave without raising a fuss and probably try to kill me and you since you're my slave." He said before finishing writing down a passage remembered by heart.

"Here I wrote down a spell that I've been saving for a while now, it's usually supposed to be learned after intense training but, with this forgery, it'll work pretty much the same if somewhat less potent."

Sunset took the paper from my hand and read the contents. Her eyes were growing wider as she continued.

"Spike… are you serious? Is this even going to work?" she asked, looking at him as if Discord himself had come up with the plan.

"It'll work; I've seen it done before. I can't be the one to do it, though, so that is where you come in."

"But, Spike this means… this…"

"That's right…" He looked at her and answered before she could protest as she tried to wrap her head around what he was asking.

"Sunset, I need you to let me die."
> A Lunar Promise.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset had never felt so much hatred in her life, not even when she resented Celestia for all those years since she left. No, right now her hate was well beyond that and directed towards one oversized lizard by the name of Spike. She kept dragging the burden she was commissioned with as she left the village heading north. It had been four hours, and she still had some distance to cover before she would be far enough away to finish the plan Spike had explained last night. She complained the whole time and even took out her frustration on the bundle now and then.

A couple of meters and four or six more hate rants to nobody in particular and she had arrived at a point far enough away to finish the plan. She stopped dragging the large bundle and set down the packs that she was carrying. She took a swig of water and dug through her bag for the spell Spike had given her the night before.

"Kallista, I ask that on this contract and piety that the vessel before me be filled once more and walk the land of Sophia contributing further towards seeking the truth. Let the soul be shackled, and the vessel filled." 

Sunset yelled the words that Spike had jotted down and felt a sudden surge of exhaustion. The paper burned, and the ashes fell on the bundle lighting it on fire as well. Sunset looked upon the scene on her knees after a shock shook her body feeling like her stamina draining completely. The fire died, and the blackened pile started to move.

"Sweet Celestia that hurts!" yelled the black figure, popping up from the ground and patting down his body.

He looked toward Sunset and smiled, showing his set of dangerous pearly whites as he walked towards her. He picked her up and helped to keep her from falling over.

"Told you it would work."

Sunset smacked him with her free hand though Spike barely felt it, but he did feel the next one since she slapped the same spot. Of course, she would regret the action later since it was against dragon scales.

"I'm glad it worked because once I get enough rest, I'll kill you and use it again. You son of a flea-ridden bitch." She said before leaning on him and passing out from exhaustion.

Spike laid out the one of the tarps in the packs and put Sunset to rest against a rolled up sleeping bag. Setting about making camp and letting Sunset rest he stared at the girl, she didn't look much older than the last time he saw her. However, at the same time she had an air of maturity that was not there since their goodbye. It felt as if she was at peace with herself, the last time they even spoke he saw deep regret, and sadness in her eyes. Now, those teal eyes shone with a brilliance of confidence and understanding. It was incredible that she reached such a state in her life enough to sleep peacefully.

He started to make dinner in case she woke up because of the amount of time it took her to reach this spot and the time it took to make camp it was already getting dark. He kept staring at the green fire that heated the soup prepared for the both of them. It had been a while since Spike had to take care of more than himself; it gave him time to think. His mind was still trying to come to terms with his death and revival. It was a crazy plan, just like Sunset had pointed out the night before when the events took place. Foolish but, it was the only to leave with her alive and safe. He never really cared all that much about losing a geckling due to there being another to replace them. He had tried before to care for them, but he learned later that it amounted to nothing.

When danger and death can be anywhere, you lose more than just friends. You burn a part of yourself each time you’re betrayed or lose one of them. With each lost part, your heart just locks itself away, away from the pain and away from the loss. It was the only thing Spike could do to survive, even if it meant that he would never be the same Spike that Twilight and the rest had known. It would be better to return alive and changed then not return at all.

~The Night Prior~

"You want me to what?" Sunset asked.

She never expected to hear those words coming from anypony's mouth. She certainly didn't expect it from a friend, especially one that she had only recent learned was alive after disappearing. Here I was, saying those exact words with a tone so serious that it made her realize just how different I had become.

"I said, I want you to let me die."

"I know what you said!" She yelled. "I just can't believe you're even thinking about it! You want me to let you die after finally finding out you're alive?! Do you even hear yourself?! How is your death going to get us out here?!"

At this point she had gotten up and was staring him down, despite being a good deal older and stronger than her, it reminded him of the look Twilight would give him when she was full lecture mode. It still gave Spike chills no matter the age. Still, he couldn't exactly back out of this apologizing. They needed to leave, and this was the only way out of everything without risking her life. It may be foolhardy but, it needed to be done.

"The gecklings have a tradition of fighting for leadership; the only reason I had any pull whatsoever with them is because I was here first and took care of them. The only way for them to accept me leaving them alone now would be a new leader taking over."

"That still doesn't explain how both you and I would be leaving this place… alive," she complained.

"Sunset, the spell I gave you will let me revive if I die. It takes a toll on the caster so you would have to be in a secluded place until I'm able to move around. As for you leaving alive, well if I get killed in a battle for leadership I get to have some… last wishes. I'll make it so that you can leave here unharmed and packed with a few more supplies, along with getting to take my body."

"You want me to drag around your dead body? Out there? Where who-knows-what could be attracted to it or me? Are you serious Spike? I wouldn't last ten minutes out there."

"You don't have to worry about the beasts Sunset, none of them show up within a hundred kilometers of this place. The hunting that the gecklings and I do keeps them wary, not to mention that most sentient ones know I'm loyal to the Mad God. At most, you'll just have to go about half a day out heading north towards Freedonia. Once you find a place you think is far enough away from here, just use the spell. Even as a forgery it should work correctly. I'm pretty confident of my skills in such things." he said, with a smug grin forming. Which was immediately kept in check by Sunset.

"That's another thing, I don't even know how magic here works! How am I supposed to even cast this with no idea as to what could happen? Not to mention that even if I can cast things just by reading them off, this isn't a magical tome it's a piece of paper you just wrote the words to a spell on."

She shoved the paper in his face making him recoil from the sudden movement but, it did little to keep the smile off his face. It was hilarious to see her panic about a spell considering that she, once a special student to Princess Celestia herself would be able to cast a multitude of powerful if still in Equestria. Spike just couldn't help but laugh at the sight, of course, that didn't help the situation at all as evident by the pillow thrown by a very annoyed Sunset.

"Stop laughing you jerk!"

"Sorry, sorry Sunset. It's just, well, I never expected you of all ponies would be worried about casting a spell."

"Well, excuse me for trying to be cautious about being left alone in a place like this!" she yelled, throwing a cup at me.

Spike stopped laughing after a while, wiping some tears away and facing a pouting Sunset sitting with her arms crossed on the bed. "Sorry about that, it's been a long time since I've been able to laugh like that. I shouldn't have laughed, though, I guess you would be nervous about being left alone. Especially, considering where we are right now and all."

"Apology accepted, now will you please explain how this is all going to work?" she asked but, not before throwing the pillow at him again.

"Well, the magic itself is in the words. As long as you read the words, the magic gets activated. Forgeries, depending on how good of a forgery, can be used with a less powerful effect just like regular enchanted items. The only problem is finding the right type of paper and ink to write such spells; I only have about two more pieces and one ink bottle left so I can't very well use such a spell whenever I want."

"What do you mean by the spell being less potent? Is it going to have a side-effect on you?"

"Well, the most it can do will leave me pretty weak for some time. As to how long, I can't say. Still, even a weakened dragon is still a dragon, that and taking into account that I've still got combat experience and a few spells I can use, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"I don't like this Spike. Asking me to let you die and then revive you is against everything I've ever learned." She said.

"No offense Sunset but, what you've learned and what I know are two completely different things. So just trust me on this alright?"

She was pouting again; it was adorable seeing her be humbled for lack of knowledge. Even if it would come back to haunt me later on, considering her pride and curiosity were more than a match for Twilight.

"Fine, so what's next then?" she asked, urging for more details to the plan.

Spike got up from his chair, walking to the door and grabbed the sword left by it. Just before he walked out, he turned before Sunset called out.

"Stay here and rest for now. Make sure the packs are ready as well, and please don't open this door until someone comes knocking. I would rather not let you see me die if I could help it."

"I would rather not watch you die."

Sunset walked across the room and pulled him back inside. It caught Spike by surprise as she pulled the dragon into a hug.

"It's great to see you again Spike, regardless of the circumstances. I won't tell you to be careful but, know that I'll still worry about you."

He smiled and hugged her back, they stood there for what seemed seconds but, was actually minutes. He missed the warmth that came from doing these sorts of things with someone he considered a friend and it left Spike realizing how lonely he had truly been in this world.

"Thank you Sunset." He ruffled her hair again and pulled away. "Just get some rest and be ready leave."

That was the last Spike saw of her that night, the rest of the night was spent convincing Aposte to be the next leader and letting him know what he had planned. Spike owed it to him at least since he saw the dragon as a kind of friend but, revered him as a leader. He had to admit, Aposte was growing on him as well but, with the appearance of Sunset, the possible building of a stronger bond was nowhere in sight. Aposte agreed to help, and they drank enough to convince the rest of the gecklings that they were both off their game and angry at the littlest things.

Aposte had asked for the armor and the chance for a serious fight, even with the eventual ending of Spike’s death. He was granted that and Spike let him know what to do with Sunset once he’d died. It was a long fight, one that had the gecklings go from cheering to watching in awe at the display of strength. In the end, Aposte's dagger plunged into Spike’s heart, and the dragon fell dying. The last image he saw was of the would-be friend slowly gathering his body.





Spike snapped out of remembering the events as he heard Sunset stirring. He moved the ladle around once more before pouring out two bowls and setting one down in front of where she lay.

"Sleep ok there Sunset?" he asked, knowing well enough that casting such a spell would have left her completely drained even if it was a forgery.

"As well as I could after feeling like a truck hit me. What smells so good?"

"Its cabbage, carrots and potato soup. I would have put meat in the pot but, I know you aren't a big fan of the stuff." He replied passing a cup of water before eating his bowl of the soup and chewing on some jerky he had put in his pack.

"Yea… especially considering what kind of meat it could be. How can you even eat that stuff? How can you eat humans?"

"There aren't exactly a lot of options out here if you haven't noticed. It's hard enough to find gems to eat, and I can't exactly survive on plants alone. Not to mention most of the animals around are already hunted by other beasts."

She gave him a look of disgust; usually it was something that would bother him in the least. This time, though, it came from a friend and it stung a little knowing how he looked more like a monster than what he used to be in the past.

"So why not hunt the beasts then? You already said that you guys hunted them." She said, before sitting up and beginning to eat her bowlful.

"We did hunt them, which if you had bothered to notice, makes them extremely cautious to be near anywhere around the place. If there were plenty of them to hunt I wouldn't be eating human but, then again, if they were around you would probably be dead, and I'd have stayed a corpse."

"Fine, whatever. The first chance I get, though, I'm getting you off that stuff and onto at least some regular meat." She gulped down the rest of her soup as she said this and started to pour another helping for herself.

Spike couldn't help but stare at her wide-eyed. It had been a long time since anyone tried to help him without wanting something in return. It felt good to have a friend present in his life again. This time, he would do anything to keep her alive. Even if it meant doing things that resulted in her hating him.

"Ok, thank you Sunset."

He smiled and could see her face turn a slight shade of red. It was entertaining to know that she was still as awkward as ever when receiving thanks for something she had said or did.

"You still owe me the whole story as to how you've grown to be the way you are, not to mention telling me about the kind of magic in this world."

"I did say I would tell you everything, the easiest thing I can explain right now would be the magic. As for the rest, well, I'll fill you in at some point. I'm not proud of a lot of what I've done, and it's certainly not easy to tell someone that used to know me before all of this." He put the bowl to the side and finished the jerky and gathered his thoughts.

"Well, the magic here is the same as Equestria, with the exception of needing a catalyst. I mean, as a unicorn I'm sure using your horn made things a lot easier but, here you need to have either an enchanted item or a book detailing the spells you want to use."

Sunset kept eating stopping now and then to nod and urge him to continue.

"There are exceptions to those rules if you've used a spell enough times to have your body learn the effects. These kinds of spells though are exceedingly rare, and the books that allow you to use them are equally rare. I have one of those skills by pure luck; it was given to me by a girl I helped escape captivity about four years ago."  He continued, watching the fire and stirring the pot to keep the soup contained inside.

"So what kind of spell is it?" Sunset asked, putting down the bowl and walking over to sit next to me.

"Well… it is one of the rarer spells out there but, I have to say it's also one of the most bothersome if you don't have the second spell that works with it. In fact, I panicked when I realized I needed the second half. Spent a good year searching for it too." Spike reached over and grabbed her hand; this caused her to flinch and blush.

"I'll show you what I mean just relax." He concentrated on her image and heard her gasp as his body started to shape itself as if it was clay. The tail was gone along with his scales, replaced by skin and hair. His eyes were no longer reptilian and green, now a soft teal and the scars disappeared to show a face that looked flawless.

"So yea, you can imagine my surprise when I found out what it did the first time I used it, not a pretty sight." he said, only with a voice exactly identical to Sunset’s own.

Sunset looked at him, now staring at a mirror image of herself that looked no different from the real deal. Spike could tell it caught her by surprise but, what caught him by surprise was the look of hunger in her eyes. The desire for knowledge, the one that craved to understand how such a thing was possible without the use of illusions. He focused once more and changed back to his original form.

"Spike… this is amazing! I've never seen anything like it; even illusion magic has some form of flaws."

"Well I didn't use illusion magic, this spell lets me take the form of any sentient being I touch. I become them along with everything they are while still retaining my sense of self. The only downside to it is that if they don't know magic, I won't be able to use any while in that form. Not to mention that without knowing the second part of the spell I could be trapped in a different form for the rest of my life. This spell stays with me no matter the form in case you were wondering."

Sunset's look of enthusiasm disappeared, the sudden thought of being stuck as something or someone other than herself frightened her. It was like losing yourself forever since there was only one Sunset Shimmer and if she could only take forms and not change back, then that would mean she would be lost forever.

"Wow! And you spent a whole year trying to change back? I can't even begin to imagine how it must have felt to almost lose yourself entirely." She said, the fear apparent in her voice.

"Well, the bright side to it all is that I got a better handle on it whilst trying to search for the second half. I also learned that once I take a form, I have it indefinitely. I just have to concentrate to turn into one of them. The downside is that someone or something might recognize them, and I don't exactly have memories of the forms I take."

Sunset nodded and went back to her makeshift bed sitting down to think about everything she'd been told.

"Get some more rest, I've been dead most of the time so I'll take watch. I need to try moving around and get the kinks out of my body. We have a long day of traveling tomorrow, and you'll need the energy considering you're new to this area and its climate. Not to mention traveling through the jungle."

"Ok. I'll do just that. Goodnight Spike."

"Goodnight Sunset, Sweet dreams." He stood up as she started to lay down.

Walking around stretching and keeping watch over her sleeping form he took in his surroundings. The moon was out in full force that night and the stars looked as if Luna herself prepared them. He started to think of the journey ahead and promised himself that no harm would come to his precious friend. No matter what the cost.
> Freedonia, Spike hates the place.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Spike, how much longer until we reach this city you were talking about?" asked a very annoyed, tired and sweaty Sunset.

It had been two days of walking through the humid Jungle, and they were close to running out of rations. Spike took his presence too lightly as the beasts and animals stayed more of a distance away than he had originally planned. They were following a stream close by as he knew Freedonia had it run through the middle to accommodate for its more aquatic visitors. Though even if that was the case, it meant more for them in regards to being one of the few sources of water aside from the sporadic rain. Spike considered them lucky they had two full days of traveling without encountering any such rain as it could quickly ruin most of what they packed. 

"Well, if I remember correctly it should be at least another few kilometers away. I'd say… wait never mind, I can see it now. Here let me help you." He replied with a slight smile watching the girl try and swat away some flies.

Putting away the map Spike was using to keep track of where they were going, he bent down and picked her up. She let out a squeak of surprise as he put her atop his shoulder and pointed towards where the city was located.

"See? It's over there at the base of the mountain. Not really big but, it's big enough to be called a city so people kind of miss it. Which, I guess, is how they want it since not a lot goes on there that makes sense."

"Warn me next time you do that," Sunset said adjusting to the new vantage point. "I see it but, why were you saying about it not making sense? It looks pretty reasonable to me; from what I can tell."

"Well, while I've never been here for more than a couple of hours, I can say with utmost sincerity that looks are extremely deceiving," He continued walking towards the city with Sunset still perched on his shoulder. As they came closer to the city, there were several signs along the somewhat winding path that was completely unnecessary due to the city being straight ahead. 

"You are now entering Freedonia." Sunset read as they passed the signs. "Are you insane?"

Spike laughed at that one and pointed at the next one. "Our motto is Tranquility through Action, Harmony through Chaos. I always liked that slogan, reminds me of Discord. Which is hilarious as this place is run by Discordians and before you say anything they have no connection to Discord whatsoever, they worship Eris and pure chaos."

Sunset giggled and smacked him playfully. "If Twilight heard you say that you preferred harmony through chaos I'm sure she would throw a fit." She said while motioning to put her down.

As Spike did as she suggested, he noticed the gate and ramparts had no guards keeping watch. It was always weird considering where the city was located but, with their unabashed love for all chaos it was understandable. Not to mention all forms of sentient beings made this place their home. Of course, that still didn't mean that they should let their guard down as any small amount of chaos can be dangerous.

"Sunset, keep my tooth handy in case something goes wrong. If you can, try to find a weapon or something along those lines. I would rather you have something else to rely on since you would rather not kill. Also, try not to be too curious about your surroundings in a place like this. They mostly govern themselves but, they tend to have governments sprout at random. I have no idea as to how it happens, but it does so be careful."

"I understand Spike but, what do you mean by governments at random?" she asked sliding the tooth in a gap between her pants and belt and tying it securely.

"I meant just that, the residents here have no governments as it would be too orderly, so they govern themselves rather chaotically. When they do have a government it usually doesn't last for more than five minutes but, that government has control over the whole city. So just watch out for that ok? There's no way of knowing what can happen here. If we get separated, just wait near the river running down the middle of the city. I'll go there as well in case something happens."

"Ok, so you aren't going to change into another form? I mean, I know you said they don't mind monsters and the like but, you're a dragon, and I doubt there are many of those that are like you."

"Nah, I'll be okay as I am. I would rather not change as it tends to leave me rather defenseless at times. I may have forms I can change into but, not even I know what exactly they can do considering I took most of them at random. Oh, and before I forget, here take this with you in case you want to buy anything."

He handed Sunset the last jewel brought from Equestria and searched through contents of his bag for a bundle of trinkets. As Spike gave them to her, she just looked them over and realized as to how he had collected so many. She frowned but, accepted them in the end.

"I thought you wanted to keep the jewel. You know since it's a reminder of Equestria. Also I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be able to understand anyone here at all." Sunset said as she looked at the Ruby he’d given her.

"I did, and you're right, but now I have something more important to remind me of home. I have my friend, as for the language barrier, we can fix that with a stop at a magic shop... hopefully."

She smiled, at the friend comment and he smiled back. They gathered their things and made way for the stone gate. It was large enough to fit an Ursa Minor with fantastic designs ranging from apples to snakes and eyes. It was unnerving yet at the same time looked extremely gaudy. Upon closer inspection, Spike noticed that unlike the first time he had been there, the whole thing seemed to have no way of opening. He looked around and saw no hinges on the sides or rope that would raise the ugly thing. Sunset looked at him expectantly; she wanted to see what he would do to gain access but, Spike was at a loss for words as it was completely different from before.

However, before either of them said a word a large crash came from the right side of the gate. It was caused by a much smaller door being slammed open and a rather large man rolling through it. 

"Thanks for shopping, come again or not I don't rightly care!" said a voice that belonged to a female though she seemed to have a thick accent which Spike had never heard before. 

He walked over to the small doorway to catch a tiny figure walking away, peeking inside he saw a sign to the left of the opening.

"Mandatory exit for paying customers."

He waved Sunset to follow, and they entered the city not bothering to check on the man that was thrown outside as he was already leaving with a smile on his face. As they walked in Spike took the time to see that more than just the gate itself changed, the stone and metal buildings he vaugely remembered were replaced by wood or straw huts. The roads, normally of dirt and grass, were now paved and had intricate designs of trees and animals. It seemed a hassle to do, but they were kept clean regardless of their purpose. The inner city, from the looks of it, appeared to be filled with chatter from crowds and around them people were giving looks that seemed to say "fresh meat."

"Well, not the same as I remember but, at least we got in right?"

Sunset was looking around taking in her surroundings before she realized that doing so had been precisely what Spike had warned her about before we came inside. She stopped looking around gave him a slight glance to check if he had noticed. Spike pretended not to see it, and she seemed to relax a bit. Though a noise behind them made it obvious that someone else had seen noticed.

"Hey! You there! The big lizard and the fiery red head!" came a shout that sounded a somewhat cheerful.

They both turned and saw a rather baby-faced man come up wearing what looked like a blue bathrobe and slippers in the shape of alligators. He stopped in front of them and took a minute to examine their appearance. He reached into his pocket and took out two pieces of paper which he proceeded to slap onto on them. One on Spike’s leather jerkin and the other on Sunset's jacket.

"I saw you two coming in through the exit, so I took it upon myself to make sure you both get these. Can't have you both walking around without them, otherwise, you wouldn't be welcomed here." He smiled and started to walk off whistling a tune that was somber yet captivating at the same time.

"Hey wait! What are these?" Yelled Sunset, trying to get his attention and answers to his actions.

He stopped and turned around handing her a small white card that read "Sri Syadasti" in black letters and nothing else. As they both looked up from reading the card they found he had vanished. It was just a few seconds they had taken their eyes off the man, and he was already gone.

Spike shook his head and took a look at the labels Sri had slapped on them. His had the number two on it and nothing else while Sunset's had a shoe. What that even meant neither of them couldn't even begin to understand. He motioned for the two of them to continue before tripping over something and landing hard on the pavement. Sunset helped him up, and they looked at what had tripped him to find a kid crouching down.

"Hey, kid! You shouldn't just be in the middle of the path like that people could get hurt!" Spike yelled only to realize he’d made one of the biggest mistakes you could do in Freedonia. Engaging a conversation with a complete stranger in the city of chaos.

The kid looked got up and looked at them and they, in turn, looked at him. He was rather small for a child and looked as if in his early teens. He had some cloth pants and a white shirt on along with some sandals. His hair was completely white and had streaks of red running through it. He smiled at being acknowledged and walked over to the both of them, he stared at Spike still on the ground and proceeded to take the fallen pack.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing kid?!" 

As he was trying to get up Sunset ran after the kid to get it back, as she rounded the corner Spike went after them only to find a dead-end at the same corner. He turned around and found myself in an entirely different looking street with a dirt path. The wooden buildings were gone and replaced with stone and steel ones and the residents that had occupied the street were replaced with ones he had not seen coming as they came in.

"Shit!" he smacked himself and realized that he’d let the city take Sunset. It took a while for him to compose himself and proceeded to search for her. Best case scenario, she would be running around, and they would meet at the river. Worst case scenario, she chased the kid into one of the dungeons that tend to sprout up at random. "This is going to be a long day…"




 
Sunset was running after the little punk that had taken their stuff and thought that Spike was right behind her. She kept the kid in her sights as he kept ducking into alleys and going past houses and shops. He ran towards a clearing and proceeded to climb a ladder, she went and climbed as well. Pausing a moment to check if Spike had lost her and found that she was indeed alone. She grew worried, but knew that they would just be able to meet by the river. She kept chasing the kid on a roof and saw him jump into a window. She went after him and did the same only to be met with several other children with weapons drawn on her as she tumbled into the room.

"I'm surprised you kept with me, lady. Usually, people just give up or lose sight of me way before reaching this place. Though, judging by the fact I've never seen you around before, I take it you and your lizard back there are new." Said the boy she had been chasing.

He had a smile on his face as he stepped past the other kids to meet her. He waited for a response from her but, received gibberish as a reward for his patience. He didn't recognize the language which didn't make any sense as that other guy had spoken to her rather naturally before the chase. Sunset looked equally as confused due to not being able to understand what was being said to her. She tried to speak to the child again but he didn't understand.

The kid sighed and motioned for one of the other boys to get something from a desk that was located in the room. The lackey came back with a book and handed it over, as soon this was done the thief opened it and started to say something. There was a brief and small flash his in eyes, and he looked at Sunset again.

"Can't even speak basic Discordian huh? You're lucky I'm such a nice guy, otherwise, I'd have killed you without giving you a chance. It also helps that you aren't that bad on the eyes."

Sunset was surprised at suddenly being able to understand the kid, apparently he had used a spell, but she didn't think there were linguistic spells in this world that allowed for perfect translation.

"I can understand you know… that must be some spell. Either way, I would like the bag back if you don't mind. It's my friend's and I would rather not have him come busting in and kill some kids." Sunset made to stand but was stopped by the thief kicking her back down.

"Hey! Watch it you punk!"

"I don't think you quite understand your position here lady. I'm the one making the demands and asking the questions. In case you haven't noticed, you're surrounded, and these "kids" have killed before for a lot less than just a bag of stuff." The thief moved closer to Sunset and crouched to look her in the eyes.

"Now, who are you and why do you have a dragon following you around? You tame the damn thing? Or did he happen to tame you?" He said with a slight grin on the last question which received a laugh from the rest of the boys.

"Name is Sunset Shimmer, and nobody tamed anyone. He's my friend, and if you have any brains, you'll give me our stuff back before he finds me."

"Well then Sunset Shimmer, welcome to the top floor of our home. Name's Bix, leader of this merry gang of thieves and orphans. I suggest you get comfortable as you're our hostage until your body can pay up. Don't worry, though, we won't mistreat you… much." He laughed and gestured for two of the boys to tie her up and drag downstairs.

Sunset struggled the whole way down and found it a bit ironic that she had been caught and bound twice since coming to this world. It felt like something was just having fun at making her look like a fool. Before she was out of earshot, Sunset heard Bix telling the rest of the boys to find Spike and let him know to get a ransom ready otherwise he'd find Sunset in a less than perfect state.





Spike kept running around the city keeping an eye out for Sunset or any sign of the boy that had stolen his bag. He arrived at the river and had waited for a good two hours before starting his search again. Encountering dead ends and swore that each one looked the same. Every time a new street was taken, he found either a dead-end or my way back to the river. It angered Spike to no end, but he knew that in Freedonia you just couldn't trust anything to make sense. The winding paths and the constant blocking from the residents as they tried to push wares or the many "unique" activities they were doing that were borderline distracting didn't help to improve his current mood at all. 

Having reached another dead end only find out that he’d been there before due to the burn mark that was left, confirming that the city seemed to be moving his anger reached the limit. "Arrrrrgh!" He yelled before punching the marked wall leaving a hole in the shape of his fist. 

"Why does it keep doing this? I have to find Sunset; she doesn't even know any of the standard languages for this area." He punched the wall again which caused cracks to form towards the dead end. 

As the cracks reached the wall in front of him, it went past the side of it, completely ignoring the wall directly in the way. That was when it seemed to shake, and the sky appeared to fall towards him. "What the buck?"  he backed away to let it fall and reveal it was just an incredibly detailed painting. Looking at the fallen faux wall he noticed that where it had been were a system of pulleys and tracks. 

"I hate this place." 

As he walked past the fallen painting and headed towards the new opening he found a new path. He started to explore this new way towards possibly finding Sunset only to be stopped by two kids heading towards his direction. He didn't think much of it thinking they mistook him from a distance.

"Hey you big lizard, you named Spike?" asked the smaller of the two boys, he had dark curly hair and was wearing similar clothes to the bag thief.

"Yea, what of it?"

"We got your girl and if you want her back you're gonna have to…" he said no more before being interrupted.

Spike’s tail reached around and grabbed him by the neck as he reached for the other smaller round boy to keep him from running. He tightened the grip on the taller boy and raised him to face his baring teeth.

"Where is she?!" He yelled as more of his draconic features became prominent.
> Street Rats
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was dark, incredibly dark. It was also damp, not to mention humid despite the lack of light. Those things, however, came nowhere close to how bad the smell was in the place. It reeked as bad as Fluttershy's animals when they rolled around in their feces and yet even that comparison seemed not to do the horrid stench justice. If it wasn't for the fact that she was bound, gagged, and blindfolded; Sunset would have lost most of what she ate that morning and last night. She could hear voices but, whatever magic Bix had used before seemed to have worn off or only worked with him. All she could tell was that they were moving around in a hurry, and the room itself was either cement or marble from what she could feel.

Sunset had tried to go around the whole place only to be kicked without warning when she reached a certain point. She had started to fight back at once but, was quickly beaten down by some of her "guards" and thrown to the back of the room once again. She decided against doing anything else that might provoke them and just leaned against the wall behind her. Not knowing how much time had passed was the worst of it, when they caught her it was still near noon. Now, it felt as if enough time had passed for it to be night or somewhere near it from the temperature drop. Though, whether or not that was true, she couldn't tell because of the stench and humidity of the room itself.

She sat in the corner wondering where Spike was and what had kept him so long. The boys weren't all that malicious which was evident by them feeding her, at least, some soup. She appreciated it but, at the same time she had to be held down and fed like a baby due to her trying to break free. All of the silence and inactivity gave her time to think about a lot of things.

"When Spike gets here I'll make sure he doesn't hurt them much. I just hope he doesn't kill any of them. The little guy has changed so much in the time he was gone. I wonder what Twilight or the girls would say if they could see him now. I'm sure they would happy but, would they accept him the way he is now?"

She wiggled around the room feeling for a corner and found one right away. As she propped herself against it, she started to relax a little. It was going to be a long wait, they had gone in search of Spike for ransom but, there was no telling where he was in this city. Even after most of the things the dragon had told her of his time in this world, he had skipped major parts of his time here and ultimately left her in the dark about his past. She didn't like it but, she knew better than to pry something that upset him so much.

"Hurry and get here Spike." She said before falling asleep in the corner of the room.

The sleeping powder the boys put in her soup had taken effect. They hadn't put it in there to do anything cruel. They just did it because they would rather not worry about her thrashing about every chance she got.

"She out?" Bix asked the boys that he left to guard Sunset.

"Yea, she is. Finally, I thought for sure that beating we gave her would tire her out. At least, with this, she'll be quiet for the rest of the night." 

"Hope you guys ain't left any bruises, would hate to explain that to that lizard of hers. Sam and Lester aren't back yet, and it's already been three hours."

"I wouldn't worry Bix; they probably got lost again. Ain't exactly easy to predict when the city changes unless you got something like that ring you found."

"True, but I still don't like it. Be ready just in case something goes down. If he tries to bust in here, make sure to move her. I need that lizard compliant for what we gotta do next."

Bix left the basement and went back upstairs, leaving the two guards to their work. He headed towards the dining area of the hideout to snack on something and talk to the rest of the gang before Sam and Lester showed up with the lizard. As he walked through the rooms, he took note of all the kids that occupied them. Each one either abandoned or orphans due to the death of a family. Freedonia was never kind, the chaos it took pride in had taken a toll on all of its citizens. Driving more than half of them mad with all the ways it had to confuse anyone unlucky enough to walk into the city without proper countermeasures. The rest of the people in the city were either visitors or dungeon delvers. Both always lost something in this city, whether it was their sanity or family, the city always took something.

"Bix, any word from Sam and Lester?" asked a girl blonde haired girl that peeked out from one of the rooms.

"Nothing yet but, I'm sure they're on the way back. How are the rest the kids doing?"

"Not bad today compared to last week. I need to get them some form of medicine. There is only so much we can do without either that or an apologist on hand."

"I know, I wish there was something more I could do but, last time we tried to break into the hospital we didn't even make it past the entrance. It also didn't help that any and all apologists are rare all across the Domains. The only reason they come is to dungeon dive and if they're lucky to get out of that alive."

The girl could see the conflicting emotions Bix was going through. It made her feel awful for bringing the subject up again as she knew that he was doing everything he could to help. He had saved all of them from starving and even went as far as setting up this hideout in one of the poorer districts. It had taken most of his stash that he'd stolen throughout the years but, he was always proud that he did so in the end.

"Ok Bix, sorry for being so persistent about these things." She vanished into the room and closed the door. 

Bix lingered in front of the door trying to ignore the sounds of pain and coughing coming from the other side. Inside were more than half of his friends and family losing to an unknown disease that appeared after one of their usual theft ventures. It had started small only claiming two people but, it spread fast. It had taken all of them to try and isolate all the infected and realize how it was spread. It still confused him but, that was something he got over quickly as seeing him in such a state put the rest of children in a panic.

He started to walk to the dining area again trying to ignore the pleas for help that echoed in his mind from kids already gone. It would always haunt him as he could not do anything to cure them. He knew the cause and how it spread but, it was impossible to stop it unless the source was destroyed, the medicine was taken, or an apologist was present to help. They tried to ask any of the passing apologists for help but, due to the city's reputation, it was always in vain. 

"Alright everybody, listen up!" Bix said as he walked into the dining area gaining the attention of everyone present. "When that lizard shows up, make sure not to give hints as to where the girl is, we need that thing to do what we want by any means."

"What if he just comes in swinging?" a voice rang out

"Well, we either threaten him by hurting the girl or kill them both. I would prefer we didn't kill them. We don't come across monsters like that often, especially those that seem far more intelligent than the average paradox beast. Not to mention the girl just wanted her stuff back."

"I get ya Bix; I wouldn't want to kill her if I could help it either. She seemed like a nice enough lady." Answered another voice from the crowd.

"Alright then, just get ready for when they get back. I don't want any one of you lousy misfits to die before we take care of our biggest problem." Bix finished addressing the gang and set off to get ready for the inevitable return of the lizard. 

Whether it was with the two boys or by himself, Bix wanted everyone to be prepared in case of things quickly going south. It had taken a long time to come up with a plan to cure everyone and get enough loot to tie them over for winter. The only problem was the apparent lack of muscle and combat experience that the children required. Bix had some experience in battle but, it was mostly murders and escaping anyone trying to cut him down. It wasn't enough to only have one person with experience, so he kept searching for someone with enough of it to go through with the plan. He was more than happily surprised when that someone turned out to be something in the form of a giant purple lizard. Even more ecstatic when he saw the girl and noticed her apparent lack of any experience.

It was only obvious to him that Sunset herself was either sheltered or had some amnesia. The world was never peaceful enough for her not to see death otherwise. That, of course, made her the perfect bait for the lizard to come to him. Convincing the big creature would be a task in itself but, he couldn't afford any mistakes. The kids were counting on him, and he had run out of options. Before he could think of anything else, there was a loud crash from the window entrance that they had caught Sunset. All at once several people ran with weapons in hand, and Bix followed shortly after to investigate the noise.

"What's going on?!" Bix yelled as he burst into the room to find a circle of people around the entrance. He stepped past them to find a tall boy out of breath and slightly severely beaten.

"What in the name of Kallista happened?" he yelled trying to get the tall boy to stand with help from the others. "Lester?" he asked

"That lizard beat us something awful, I managed to try and slice him in the face when he picked me up, and we ran when he got spooked. We split up and ran back here, not sure where the other guy is, for all I know he's still running." Answered the lanky boy as he leaned on Bix for support.

"Is that so…?" Bix stopped and readjusted for the tall boy while making a motion with his free hand to the others. All of them ran out and disappeared into the inner chambers of the house. Bix led the boy downstairs and into the dining area where he sat him down.

"Does he know where we are? Did you tell him anything?" He asked as he poured some water and slid it in front of the battered boy.

"We just mentioned we had his girl, and then he went crazy. We should give her back; it's not worth the trouble." Answered the boy as he took small sips of the water.

"What about Sam? Do you know how far he went or if that thing went after him?" Bix asked with an intense look in his eyes. The look made the lanky boy shrink slightly but, he was otherwise unaffected by it.

"I don't know if he was chased or not but, with me being here I think the lizard went after him instead of me. I'm lucky to be back alive; that thing was crazy. I'm telling you we should give him back that girl. Where is she?" at this point the boy had gotten composed, and the room was filled with the crowd that had disappeared before. All of them with slightly worried looks or serious expressions.

"Really now? I guess we should do that then… tell me Lester. If that big dumb lizard went after Sam then why are you here? Why aren't you out there?" Bix motioned to the group around him and they all silently agreed.

"I told you, it was all I could do just to get away from the damn thing. I panicked and just came back as fast as my legs could take me. I know I shouldn't have separated from him but, I didn't know what to do." Lester had a look of anguish on his face, not knowing the fate of his friend and realizing his cowardice was taking a toll on him.

"Well then, I guess you couldn't help it then." Bix stood up and walked towards the door at which Lester tried to follow after him. "No, no, just relax for now. It's not like we have to worry so much about the damn thing. Isn't that right boys?" He said aloud, and the room loudly agreed.

Once the noise that came from the response died, Bix snapped his fingers, and all of the boys jumped at Lester. They held him down for all they were worth, and Lester screamed at the action.

"What the hell are you doing?! What's going on?!" Lester yelled and struggled to break free from the crowd.

"Let's just stop playing these games lizard, I don't know how something like you got a hold of such a rare spell but, I know you should have thought this plan out a little more." Bix said with a slight frown on his face.

"What the hell are you talking about? Let me go?!" cried Lester as he was forced further to the ground as the boys kept slamming him down.

"Lester, Lester, Lester, my dear friend, if you are who you say you are then it wouldn't have come to this. I mean come on, it was pretty easy to figure out. Especially when you're supposed to be Sam and Lester is the one the lizard should be chasing." 

All at once the struggle stopped, and boys looked down at their captive. They saw his body stretch, and his skin turn into cold, hard scales. The clothes were being ripped, and it took more of them to cover the body.

"I knew I should've asked for their names, then again I didn't think you kids had any names whatsoever since you're all urchins." The boy now dragon said, forcing his way up and scattering the pile of children that were trying to force him down.





"Where is Sunset?" yelled Spike staring down the boy caught by his tail.

"Le…let g.go…you freak." Was all the lanky boy choked out Spike tightened the grip his tail had on kid's neck.

The smaller boy was struggling to break free from Spike's grasp but, was knocked out as a fist slammed into his stomach. It was a bit disgusting when the kid barfed due to the impact but, it gave Spike time to deal with the other one.

"Listen, kid; I'll only ask one more time before I start getting violent. Where is she?"

The boy still caught by the tail calmed down when the grip loosened a bit. He looked as if he was ready to talk but, refused and only gave a look of utter hatred.

"I won't say shit to a beast like you. Let us go otherwise who knows what she could experience if we don't go back in one piece."

"Kid, both of you aren't in a position to tell me what to do at all. You urchins took my stuff and while I would have let that slide if I got some things out first. Now, you have my friend, and I'm losing my patience. So either show me where you're keeping her or I explain to your friend why I had an early dinner and ask him instead."

The kid seemed to panic but, remained silent. Spike had to give him some respect; it wasn't every day he encountered someone not intimidated at the sight of a giant lizard regardless of whether they knew he was typically non-hostile. As he was still trying to think of what he could do before actually resorting to violence, the portly kid started to stir.

"Uhmmgm…" came from his left as the boy stirred.

Spike immediately knocked him out before he could do anything to help his friend. The boy in his tail didn't seem to like that and thrashed violently trying to get enough room to speak. As Spike raised the boy caught in his tail out of the way he saw a flash of silver and a sudden pain traveled through his body. In that moment, he released the hold his tail had on the boy and saw him drop with a thud. He searched for the cause of the pain and saw a knife with inscriptions belonging to the church. The hilt was nowhere to be seen until he picked up the fallen boy and saw it sticking out of the boy's shoe. It was clever for an urchin, but Spike guessed one had to be in order to live in a town like this.

He looked at the boy and noticed his neck had snapped, it couldn't be helped as the thrashing and pain made him instinctively crush him. Spike tore the knife out from his tail only for it to burn through his scales which made him drop it. It left an imprint of the blade on his claw that sent waves of pain screaming to run away. He tore some of the cloth from the dead boy's body and grabbed the knife. It didn't burn through the cloth or him this time so he stuffed it in his dimension pocket.

"I'll figure out what the fuck just happened later, right now I need a plan… I doubt this other kid would be willing to talk and one dead kid is one too many." He thought aloud, he was starting to get frustrated until he remembered what he showed Sunset days before.

Reaching over to the body, he concentrated and felt his scales retract and turn into skin. The jerkin he had on along with the pants were now much too big for him and the boy he had been holding had fallen on his back, still knocked out. Spike changed into the set of clothes the dead boy had and put his into the pocket dimension as well. He took a moment to drag the corpse away and came back to the portly boy regaining his senses.

"What happened? Where's the lizard?"

"He left, said he didn't have time to waste on kids. Let's go back and let the others know"

"Sure. Fuck, if I ever see that thing again I'll check to see whether or not that tail regrows like a gecko."

Spike smiled slightly at the threat, it was hilarious to know what people said about him when they thought he wasn't around. Usually, Spike would threaten anyone or anything that would say such things, but he couldn't blow his cover until he knew where they held Sunset.

"Sunset comes first Spike, just relax and think of Sunset." He muttered, trying to calm down from the rage building inside.

Spike motioned for the kid to lead the way and followed close behind, the trek was a quiet one as he guessed the kid usually didn't talk much in the first place. They went through alleys, roofs, holes, and stores throughout the way only to have many residents chase after them. Just as the boy said they were almost there a pair of hands reached out and grabbed them by the collars.

"There you are little shits, thought you bunch of rats could just take food from my stand and get away?" They turned to look at a man that looked about the same height as Spike if he were still a dragon.

"Lemme go you bastard; I don't have time for this you fat piece of sh…off" yelled the portly boy trying to break free.

He was answered with a swift knee to face, the guy had sent the kid clear across the street. Spike found himself laying down in the mud again for what seemed like the third time today. Before he could get some form of bearings again, a barrage of kicks came down almost instantly.

"Wait!" Spike yelled before the guy did the same to him. "I'll pay for it, and more if you help me out"

"I doubt you have the money, you filthy orphan."

Spike made to reach into a small pouch strapped to the clothes that belonged to the previous owner and pulled out a silver coin. The man reached for it and threw him on the ground, he looked at the coin and pocketed it once satisfied it was real.

"What do you want then?"

"I'm guessing you know the area relatively well; do you happen to know where our hideout is?"

"Yea, down the alley on the right past the dancing old man and the guy who thinks he's a bird. Usually,  I avoid the area since it's full of filthy brats."

"Thanks, the only other thing I need you to do is get rid of the kid somehow. I don't particularly care how it's done, I just don't want him around."

"That all? Sure, I got just the place to dump unwanted trash. As long as you're a paying customer I don't mind." The man picked up the boy he had thrown and walked away, Spike never saw the boy again and no one else did after that. It did make him feel a little guilty, but only a little as it was nothing compared to the possibility of losing Sunset.

He turned away from the scene and continued on towards the hideout, stopping in an alley directly in front of his destination. Taking a small amount of time to rest he ran towards the door and charged through full force. The crash was effective as a large group of kids came and were reacting to his presence.





In Spike's defense, he thought his plan would go smoother than this but, lack of planning comes back to bite hard. There he was, surrounded by children with swords and knives, all of them willing to kill the giant intruder at the slightest hint of hostility. Still, while it is somewhat intimidating, Spike's scales would be enough to block it all with the strength they had. They didn't seem to notice this despite him not showing much concern, except for one of them. The one that had seen the ruse almost from the start of it all, the leader of this den of thieves.

"I ain't got any reason to let go of the only leverage we got that easily lizard. What did you do with my boys? For your sake and the girl's, they better be alive." The kid stood there with an air of confidence that seemed weird for a kid.

Walking over to him and picking him up by his collar didn't change the look on his face. He remained rather emotionless but, the rest of the kids surrounded me once again. The leader motioned them away and stared at Spike.

"As far as I know there's still one of them alive, the one whose form I took is, unfortunately, dead. I reacted on instinct to danger and it couldn't be helped."

"So Sam is dead? Fucking idiot…"

There was a slight silence as the rest of the children took in the news, none of them dropped their weapons and instead readied to pounce at the slightest signal. Spike could feel the bloodlust filling the room. He put their leader down and took a step back waiting for them to make the next move.

"What of Lester then?"

"Got caught by some guy he stole from before; I didn't have any obligation to save him so I just let him be."

"Follow me lizard." The leader said his tone full of venom.

"The name's Spike, I'm pretty sure you know that, and it would help if you called me that instead of lizard."

"Fine, Spike. They call me Bix, now follow me and be quick about it."

He followed Bix to a dining area sat down across from him. Bix spoke to one of his guys, and they brought back some water and a bowl of soup. They set it down in front of Spike; he looked at it suspiciously until Bix tasted it and pushed the bowl forward to ensure that it wasn't poisoned.

"Listen here lizard, if you want the girl returned safe and sound then I'm going to have you do some errands for me. I need someone, though in this case, thing to go somewhere and get a certain object for me."

Gulping the soup down and slamming the bowl Spike kept listening to his explanation. Apparently, he wanted Spike to go into one of the few dungeons that appeared and stayed for more than a week near the city. It would change location each week and never have the same layout. Fitting for a city like Freedonia, though, everyone that went into it never came back out.

"You want me to go on a suicide run? I'd rather kill the lot of you as that would be more in my favor." Staring at Bix, he got up and was immediately surrounded again.

"You won't be doing it alone; I'll be going with you to ensure the job is done right. There are a lot of traps in there, and I can help with them. The big problems are the beasts that lurk within the dungeon itself."

"No deal Bix, I have no obligation to help you get anything. I'm going to find Sunset and take her back now, casualties or no casualties."

"If you do that then I'll have one of my guys take care of her before you arrive. I'm pretty sure even you won't be able to undo a curse. The hospital requires a hefty sum and apologists are increasingly rare in these parts."

Spike stopped halfway towards reaching the door and turned to face him. The look on Bix's face was serious about the curse and there was no indication he had lied about the way to cure her.

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing for now, though, if you cross us at any point and time she'll be forced to experience something rather unpleasant. Ever see the idiom "Tall drink of water" turn into something literal?"

The water Spike was drinking was spit out immediately at that question. Bix didn't flinch and only smirked at the action. If what he said was any clue, and it was, that meant they had a book as rare as the one Spike had that let him change form. The spell itself "Turn to Water" was simple enough, it turned small objects into water which is harmless enough. The thing about it was the fact that, when used on anything sentient, it turned them into water elementals, and they could never turn back unless the curse was broken.

The thought of being a water elemental might seem like a pretty good idea to some but, the fact of the matter was that they needed to stay in the vicinity of a water source at all times. Not to mention that, while they kept their sense of self, they were locked into a state of slavery by the one who cast the curse. Spike had only seen it done once, and it was horrifying, to say the least. The screams coming from the one turning were traumatizing enough, hearing or even seeing Sunset become one would no doubt send him on a rampage. One potentially worse than the greed induced one back in Ponyville.

"Fine, I'll do what you want and go to this dungeon. I want details if I'm going to something as dangerous as a Freedonian dungeon, I want to know what I'm trying to find inside." He wiped the water from his mouth and eyed the pitcher suspiciously.

"Well, that's fair enough, though, if you'd have just waited I'd already be telling you."

"Fuck you."

"No thanks, I prefer someone like your friend, not lizards. Regardless of the offer of a good time, I need to go into this place because of the sheer amount of dungeon divers that use it. I'm not sure how far we'll be going into the damn thing but, I'm looking for any dead apologists that might've left behind their books."

"Why do you want the books? Can't you just steal one like you lot usually do?"

Bix lost his smile at the mention of taking one. The look he had was one Spike was all too familiar with, one of loss and regret. He had probably tried to steal them before but, met with substantial resistance. It was to be expected as those books were guarded in hospitals and never left an apologist's side. It was even harder as apologists were never alone; be it party members or bodyguards, they were well protected as a source of healing.

"We have sick and injured; I know what the cause of the illness but, without the proper care they'll just die. Those books can help them get better and provide us a means to get coin properly. The only thing standing between us getting a better life are the beasts and traps in that dungeon, not to mention whatever else could be lurking around. That's where you come in Spike, none of us have enough combat experience or the coin to hire goons."

"Bodyguard for a thief huh? Fine, I'll do it then, though, I have some demands as well if I'm risking my life in that place."

"I don't know if you've noticed but, we're the ones with the leverage here."

"I can find a way to break the curse at some point, and unlike the lot of you, I can walk around freely in this city."

Bix didn't want to admit it but, Spike was telling the truth. Nothing was stopping the brute from killing everyone here other than the girl and possible curse. Though if he wanted actually to kill them all he would have done it by now. He wondered what types of demands the lizard wanted but, it didn't help anyone if the thing started to get violent.

"Fine, what do you want then?"

"I want my bag back for starters. I also want to see Sunset; I promise not to do anything stupid. I want you to follow what I have to say as this will likely be your first time in a dungeon. Finally, if we find any extra books or items down there we split them evenly."

"I can give you the bag back no problem. The split of the stuff is fine but, we get first dibs. I'll listen but, you have to follow what I say in regards to traps as I do have experience with them. As for the girl, we can let you hear her voice but, with your magic, I'm not entirely sure what you're capable of so we can't let you actually see her."

Thinking about the conditions it was fine, not only would he know Sunset's situation, but he'd have a chance at whatever they found. If there was anything there that Sunset could use then all the better. "Fine." He presented his claw and Bix shook it to seal the deal. One of his guys brought a familiar bag and they headed towards what Spike guessed was where they kept Sunset. The smell was horrible and it somehow reminded him of the time he helped Fluttershy bathe her skunks.
> Dungeon Diving
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Listen lizard."

"Spike, you filthy urchin."

"Ok, whatever, Spike then. Listen I'll let you talk to her and considering that you can talk to her regardless of her not knowing basic Discordian I have to trust you not to do anything stupid since you're helping us despite the circumstances."

Spike nodded and moved closer to the stairs leading down to the basement. "Sunset! Sunset are you down there?" calling in Equestrian; he waited impatiently for a reply from the crimson haired girl.

"Spike? Spike! I'm down here!" she screamed, but her voice seemed slightly coarse.

"What did you do to her?" Spike turned to Bix grabbing him roughly, his eyes turning a deep crimson.

"Nothing, geez calm down. She kept trying to escape and guards being guards "persuaded" her otherwise. It kept happening so we just fed her some soup with sleep aids. She is probably still waking up." Spike shoved him away, and he wiped his clothes of dust while stopping the other boys from doing anything stupid.

"Sunset! I can't exactly come down as these little punks are threating to curse you if I try anything. They don't know about the things I can do so they are taking any precautions possible."

"Curse? They'll curse me? Spike, why are they holding me down here? What's going on?"

"They put you down there because they wanted help with something. They saw me and figured what better muscle than some giant lizard. You're the advantage they have over me right now."

"Spike, while I don't exactly like the idea of being cursed, I doubt these kids could do anything to a dragon like you."

"If I wanted to, I could get you out no problem, but I would have to kill most of these kids in the process. I doubt that is something you want to witness me doing, especially when you've just barely getting used to the new me."

Spike sat down at the top of the stairs and sighed. It was easy enough to get her out, and the fact that she wanted him to free her was all the confirmation needed. The only problem was that he wanted to slowly get her used to the thought of him killing. If possible, he didn't want her to witness him taking a life period, if only for the sole reason of him not wanting to see her frightened gaze. The looks of fear were something he got used to here were nothing compared to the time after greed took him over in Ponyville. Half the town was already partly wary of a local dragon before that, and in the aftermath, that half had grown to outright fear the monster lurking within. It hurt to see those looks back then, but those would pale in comparison if a friend had the same look.

"Spike, I'm sorry… I didn't mean… I just… Sorry Spike."

"It's ok Sunset, I understand." There was a silence and after a while, he decided to start getting up, only sit back down as Sunset continued to speak.

"Spike, what exactly do they need help with? What would make them do such things?"

"They want my help going into a dungeon and retrieve some books from dead apologists. It's grave robbing, but there is no telling how deep we have to go and what we might encounter down there. I agreed only for the chance to find some things we might be able to use on our trip. I'm not exactly sure what it is we'll find, but it's worth a shot as we don't have much of a starting point for getting back home."

"You've mentioned apologists before, are they important or something? What exactly will the books they carry do?"

"Oh, well apologists are like medic ponies. The books they carry are only allowed to be owned by them and allow them to cast minor healing spells along with some pretty useful offensive spells. It's pretty rare for anyone other than an apologist to have one of them as they keep them exclusive."

"Spike, why do these kids want to go through such risks for the book? What are they planning on doing?"

Spike knew where this was going, and didn't want to answer her. He knew that at the mentioning of the sick kids she would probably help them regardless of threats or benefits. That meant he would have to lie to her, though, and while it left a lot of her questions about him vague, he never outright lied to her.

"Spike? Are you still there? Spike?!"

"Yea, I'm here. Sorry, I was just… asking what they wanted."

"So what do they want to do with the books?"

"They want to just use the spells so they won't steal from the local hospital. It keeps them out of trouble and lets them make some cash by healing for a fee."

Spike felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Bix holding a book in his hand and smirking. "Leaving some stuff out huh? None of my business in the end, but I kind of feel sorry for the girl. Having her friend lie to her and all." He said in a rather quiet voice.

"Leave her out of this; there's no telling what she would do. I can't have her risk her life. I'd rather risk mine than have her hurt because she can't leave things alone."

"Yea, gotta hate those meddlesome types huh? Well, just letting you know that you'll regret it if she does find out." He stepped away and sat down on the chair that was usually for one of the guards he kept there.

"Spike, I know that you can take care of yourself by now considering how long you've lived in this world. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful, though, if anything happened to you after finally reuniting. I don't think I could take being alone in this place after that…"

If he didn't already feel like a complete mule, those words hammered in the fact that he was no longer alone. Spike had Sunset and Sunset had Spike, if the worst did come to pass then that would leave her here surrounded by things she barely understood and with a language she doesn't even know. Not to mention captured by kids that could just as easily throw her out.

"Sunset?"

"Yea Spike?"

It was now or never, if he actually told her the truth then she would help the children regardless of threats, it would definitely the case if she was the same Sunset he remembered. No, she was the Sunset he remembered, and that only made him fear her response. He wanted to keep her safe and promised to anything to keep her alive. If he started to lie to her now, when would he stop? Would he just stack lies upon lies? Could he keep her in the dark for so long? No, he was acting the same as when Twilight tried to gloss over some of the most morose details whenever they had an adventure. He was treating her like a child, but she was a grown mare… woman. She deserved to know if not because of their friendship, but because of their mutual trust.

"Spike?"

"There are children here that have come down with a fatal illness. That's why they want the books, why they took you in order to get me to help them out. I didn't want to say anything about it because of what you might do…"

"While this back and forth is relatively amusing, we got preparations to be making." Bix said as got up and walked to my side again.

Spike started to follow Bix after waiting for a reply only to be stopped halfway by Sunset's yelling.

"Spike!"

Both he and Bix stopped and turned to look at the direction the voice came originated.

"Spike, you get your scaly ass down here and untie me! Now! Or I swear by Celestia's cake loving big butt that I'll be sure to let you re-experience the time I turned into a she-demon first hand.!"

"She-demon?" asked Bix

"It's better that you don't know. I'm going to let her go now, and don't worry, considering how she is, we'll definitely still help you out. After she skins me alive…"

"Fine, but just in case, you think you can just up and leave. I have to let you know that you've already been cursed."

"What?!"

"I never drank the water did I? Don't worry so much, it only activates if I say so or in the case of my death. However, it's an instant death curse in case you're thinking of breaking it."

Spike decided against trying anything as it would just be pointless. He headed back towards the entrance to the basement but stopped just before heading down.

"Bix."

"What?"

"That book you have with you, is it what lets you know what Sunset and I were talking about?"

"Oh this?" he lifted the book as he said it. "Yea, it's about as rare as the one that let you use form taking. Probably even rarer than that, I found it the first time we tried to raid that dungeon. What? You interested in it?"

"Yea, I am."

"Hmmm…" he seemed to be thinking about something as he started to pack food in a bag that one of his guys brought him. "Tell you what, if we make it back alive and with a big enough haul then I'll see about trading it for something. I've used it enough that I practically know the spell by heart. I just keep using it because it makes it easier to cast and I'd rather not lose the damn thing."

"Fair deal. I'll do all I can so you won't die." Not that Spike was going to let another kid die as Sunset would tear him a new one if he even thought it. Be that as it may if, for any reason, it came down to either Spike or Bix then he wouldn't hesitate. Dying was not something he wanted to do, especially since Sunset was counting on him.

"You mean you were going to half-ass the bodyguard job?"

Completely ignoring that last question Spike proceeded downstairs only to be met by the two boys guarding Sunset's "cell", however, they moved once Bix motioned them to disperse. Spike went inside only to be assaulted with a wave of the same rank odor he had caught at the top of the stairs. It was tear inducing and he couldn't believe Sunset was withstanding it so well. As he tried to look around the cell he found Sunset near the back, at once he closed the distance and began untying her. She stayed motionless and quiet the entire time, however, once free she strode past him only stopping in front of Bix for a moment to slap him.

"You could have just asked!" she yelled, before heading upstairs

"So when do leave?" Spike asked Bix trying to stifle a laugh.

"Spike!"

"Right behind you Sunset!"

The entire walk back Sunset kept yelling at Spike, it surprised everyone how such a large and deadly creature could act so meekly because of a girl smaller than him by all standards. It almost felt as if they were watching an older sister lecture her kid brother. When they finally arrived at the dining area, they took a seat and Bix ordered some food for Sunset; just like when he offered Spike he tried the food first, only, this time, he made sure to drink from the same pitcher that arrived to show Spike it wasn't dangerous.

Satisfied, Spike let Sunset eat while he and Bix their next course of action. "So, when do you and I leave for this dungeon?"

"We" chimed Sunset as she finished a glass of water and poured herself another.

"Sunset, no. Please, I know you want to help but you waiting here freely and doing what you can is enough. This is too dangerous."

"Spike, I'm going with you and that's final."

"Listen, sweetheart, personally, I wouldn't mind a little eye candy on this trip. Unfortunately, your pet here is right about it being too dangerous. You seem like a smart one so take a minute to think about this, how are you going to help other than getting in the way?"

"It's Sunset, call me sweetheart again and I'll stick my boot so far up your ass that you'll be my new one. I might not know the language here nor do I have any magic, but I can at least sense it and I've had experience picking locks."

"Excuse us for a moment." Spike said, grabbing Sunset by the arm and heading towards a corner.

"No Spike, I won't change my mind." She said before he could even speak once they reached a place out of earshot.

"Sunset, be reasonable, please. I've already got my hands full with trying to protect the kid. Not to mention that the dungeon is a Freedonian dungeon, who knows what could possibly be in there."

"Spike, the girls and I lost you once before and it devastated Twilight. If you could only see her during that time, then you would know why I won't let you leave my sight if I can help it." She hugged the scaly giant which caught him by surprise. "We can't lose you again… I can't lose you again, please understand."

Spike hugged her back, he appreciated the fact that he was cold-blooded at a time like this as her body spread throughout the places she touched. It was warm, it was comfortable, it was familiar. Though, at the same time, he was worried at he heard. Twilight had been a wreck, his disappearance caused her to be that way and the rest of the girls had a similar reaction. If this was true, then what were they doing now with Sunset missing the same way? He needed to find a lead home, if not for the both of them then at least Sunset.

Bix took a minute to take in the sight of the both of them hugging. It was increasingly disturbing to him as it just wasn't natural. No one in their right mind would just decide to hug such a beast by choice. At least that's what he thought about it, he drank the rest of his water as they returned and proceeded to pull out a map. "This is as much as we could gather about the place when we tried going inside. It's not much, but at least, it will let us go through without dying in the beginning. As for when we leave, I want to leave as soon as possible and get this over with as quickly as possible. The only problem is that we have to wait at least one more day as I have no doubt it'll be moving again tonight and won't stabilize until morning."

"That's fine, we need some rest before going. We'll be ready by then just say the word, as for where we'll be…" Spike looked around and spotted a table at the far right corner. "We can just nap here as I'm sure you'd want to keep an eye on us."

"We?" Bix asked with a tone that seemed to question his intelligence. "Actually, forget it, that's fine. If you need to talk let one of my guys know and I'll come in time. You're welcome to eat, and I'll be sure to send pillows at least." Bix turned and left the room as Sunset and Spike made their way to the corner.

Spike set about making a final run through of their gear and ate some more before drifting to sleep. Sunset watched him do so and left him to sleep, in the meantime she went and explored the place. The kids just watched as she walked by knowing that it was fine, she couldn't understand their whispers and they couldn't understand her mumblings. She arrived outside one particular door that had light blazing coming from inside. She could hear coughing and cries from several children inside. She was about to step inside and see them but was stopped by the door opening and a girl walking out. She looked surprised to see Sunset outside the door, but a quick talk to one of the guards that walked by informed her of what happened. 

The girl offered her a mask to put on and gestured not to touch anyone or anything inside. As the stepped inside, Sunset saw children crying over other children who appeared asleep. While others had similar masks whilst laying down. The masks were to prevent the illness from spreading but, only Bix and a few others knew it was mainly for peace of mind. Sunset saw one of the children crying over their friend go into a coughing fit and was surprised as blue sparks were being released. The girl that had shown her in immediately reacted and put a mask on the child and told them lay down on a free bed. It was a room full of misery and mystery, they all looked miserable those weeping and those sleeping. Sunset felt she had to do something for them; she wished more than ever to have her magic back. 

The walk to the entrance of the dungeon was frustrating, to say the least. Moving around in the city was by far one of the most annoying things Spike ever encountered in his time living in the Domains. If there wasn't fake walls or buildings that moved on tracks, it was the constant circles the streets made and the citizens that would rather leave you confused than help in any single way. By the time their group reached the southeast exit of the city, it was already near noon, and he was not a happy dragon.





"Are you sure this is where the damn thing moved to?" he asked as Sunset trailed close behind and Bix pulled up the rear, his face buried in a book.

"Yea, I'm sure. Considering that it's near noon and a new cycle started up it (for some reason) always starts from one point. The only problem is reaching it."

Spike cut away some of the plants blocking the path as they continued through the dense jungle. "What do you mean by that exactly?"

"I mean, that the place it stays in is relatively hard to reach. The damn thing likes to appear on a tree several stories up. So I hope you like climbing because that's the only way to get to it."

Spike stopped mid sword swing to turn and look at the kid. "A tree? The entrance to one of these dungeons is in a tree? Several stories up?"

"Yea, nothing to worry about, though. We should reach it soon enough, and I'm sure you'll make a decent ride."

"What?"

Digging his claws into the trunk as Bix opened the passage into the dungeon, Spike completely felt justified in his hatred for Freedonia and anything that had to deal with the place. He and Sunset watched as Bix finally climbed from off the dragon's back and into the entrance, Spike climbed the rest of the way into it and helped Sunset climb off. Taking a minute to catch his breath and resting the aching muscles from climbing so far, Bix took the opportunity to check the map.

"Alright, from here we take a right and head down until we reach a bunch of hats. Once there, we go left and hit the wall four times while on one foot and then backtrack to the hats and pick out the funniest looking one to open the door to the left of here."

"You're kidding right?" Sunset asked with a rather exasperated look on her face.

"I wish, but you have to remember that the Domains have their way of doing things. This dungeon, in particular, has a bunch of traps that could easily go off if one thing is wrong. So just wear the hat and shut up."

She and Spike sighed and got up to follow Bix and proceeded to do as he said. They got to the pile of hats, and they were all shapes and sizes. Sunset asked if they could just get one now instead of coming back to get it, the answer she got was a rock being thrown near the pile and rolling to just barely touch one of the hats. When it did the hat itself snatched the stone, and all that could be heard was a resounding crunch. They continued on, and once at the wall, immediately started to jump on one leg and hit the wall that marked the dead end. Once back at the hats; Spike chose a sombrero looking one, Sunset had small beret with a large ridiculous feather, and Bix chose a beanie. This took a good amount of time as Sunset refused to touch any of them, much less go near her head.

"For a girl that has a giant man-eating lizard under control, you sure are a big baby."

"Yea, whatever you little brat. How many times did you protest before finding all this out?"

"None, that's the beauty of having a large gang of thieves. Information is easily secured thanks to drunks just yapping away if you keep them that way."

They were at the entrance again and took the left path to find a door that had a face. As the party stepped closer, the face turned from being stoic to smiling, and a click echoed. The door opened, and the hats were discarded.

"Ok, from here we'll encounter a lot of traps, but we should be ok if you let me figure out the ones still active. The biggest problems here is that the map ends after two more sections, and if we can't find anything before that, then we go in blind for the rest of the way. Not to mention, that beasts should be stirring now that the place is stabilized."

"Alright, I'll keep an eye out for anything suspicious." Spike said, positioning himself at the front.

"Don't bother, everything here is suspicious. It'd be easier if you just don't trust anything in this place."

As if to emphasize this point, a huge rat had appeared near the other side of the hallway they were in. It was the size of a foal and looked crawling with disease. Before it could do anything though a butterfly that Sunset thought had somehow found its way inside landed the rat's back. The rat screeched as the "butterfly" seemed to burrow into it, after convulsing for a bit came an explosion of blood and the butterfly spitting out some bones as it flew away.

"Sweet light of Kallista!" screamed Bix as he hid behind Sunset.

"Well, I guess you're right about not trusting anything here."  Spike said before breathing an emerald fireball at the damn thing before it got closer turning it to ash.

"You can breathe fire? How in all of the Domains did a lizard like you get a hold of such a rare book?"

"That's none of your business. Now come on, I don't want to stay in one place in case more of those things show up."

Sunset took a moment to walk along Spike's right and whispered: "He doesn't know you're a dragon?"

"Didn't think he'd believe me anyways, just let him think what he wants about me. Oh, and stay close to me. At the first sign of danger, I'd rather know you're close so I can keep you safe."

"I'm not a child Spike."

"And I'm not a baby dragon anymore. Sunset, I let you come along because I knew you'd just follow us. However, that doesn't mean I'll just let you do what you want in a place like this; you said you trusted me, so I need you to prove that by following what I have to say."

"Fine…" She pouted and stepped behind him, but not before giving him a solid kick in the leg.

They followed the map and headed down the hallway to stop in front of three doors. Only one of the rooms was on the map, and the other two were a mystery. They continued down the route to the next room only to find a statue of what looked like a small sun with an unnecessary realistic face.

"That is just plain creepy, in fact, this whole place is creepy. So what now?" Sunset asked, taking a peek at the map.

Bix stared at the map for a bit and took out a small notepad while switching from it to the floor he started to walk towards it in what seemed a random pattern. When he finally reached the statue, he touched the face and gave it a smack to make it change from a stoic expression to a one of pain. All at once a rumbling sound came from the statue and the door they arrived from closed. The walls gave way and a pile of what looked like human bones poured from the ceiling. As they hit the ground, all of them shook and came together. Bix ran towards the two of them, and Spike drew a short sword as the bones formed a giant centipede. The skulls had created the head and made it seem to have large eye sockets; the spines had developed mandibles that were complimented with ribs to form spikes protruding from them. The legs were formed by the arms and legs, and the rest of the bones were used as the body. It took up a good portion of the room. The rattling of the bones alone was enough to send chills down anyone's spine, but it was the way the skulls moved around to fill in for eyes that was truly unnerving.

"What the fuck did you do Bix?" yelled Spike pulling the kid and Sunset behind him.

"Uhh…uhhh." He said flipping through his notebook until he found something. "Shit, I was supposed to slap it after telling it a joke. Not my fault, the tip was written in the margin. Who the fuck even writes in the margin? Fucking savages thats who."

"We can discuss the value of proper writing etiquette later!" Sunset said as she pulled Bix to her trying to find a way out of this mess.

The centipede drew back and lunged, at which Spike dodged along with Sunset and Bix wrapped by his tail. It collided with the door and brought down part of the ceiling. The disgusting thing had collapsed but was reforming quickly.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Bix yelled as Spike threw him and Sunset into the newly formed hole along with the packs. They screamed the whole way and were barely able to escape being caught by the bony monstrosity. 

"Omphhh, you could have said something beforehand! I think the landing sprained my foot!" yelled Bix from the hole.

"Shut up and look for something to use against this thing. I don't have anything to use against such an obvious undead!" Spike retorted as the thing struck again

Dodging left and right to escape the mandibles of the centipede cutting him in half; he was caught unaware and struck as it swung its body in his direction sending him flying towards the back wall. While it might have broken some bones in others, the impact had merely knocked the air out of him and left him sore. Rolling away once again as it charged, he jumped onto the body as it tried to swing again only to encounter the bones on its back trying to impale him as the skulls that shaped the head chattered and turned to face its new rider, all of them kept chattering their teeth as the bones below kept trying to pierce.

"Bix! Sunset! Some help if you don't mind!" he screamed just before one of the bones pierced his left foot and boney hands held it down preventing further movement. As the other foot got the same treatment, his tail flailed around slamming into the bones breaking them as it swung to deflect any of the ones it threw his direction. The fire inside was still building, and it wasn't until it knocked the short sword he was using to pry open the bony prisons away that he let loose and burned most of the creature's body. It was engulfed in emerald green flames and thrashed around trying to put them out, taking the opening Spike focused the fire on his feet. It made the bones brittle enough to free himself letting him  jump off and release the last bit of flame he had only to falter at the end.

"Shit!" he backed away towards the opening in the ceiling leaving a trail of blood from his feet. His vision started to blur as he reached the collapsed wall, the damn thing had apparently been made for the intent to destroy at all costs and had poison coursing through it. Sliding down the wall, Spike watched as the last of the flames died, and the beast stopped thrashing. It was a little smaller due to losing some of the bones, but no less deadly. Not to mention that burning the bones had laced the air with whatever poison the bones seeped, and it was quickly filling the room. The centipede readied to charge once more, and the last thing he saw was a huge mouth of bones closing in and skulls chattering.





Bix scrambled to light a torch to take in the new room he was thrown into, as he looked around all he saw was emptiness. Getting up and trying to walk was a chore as the impact from the throw had sprained something. He could hear the rattling and crunching of bones behind him; he knew it was useless to help unless he found something in the room he and Sunset were thrown. The lizard would be able to handle it while they searched for something to use.

"Spike!" yelled Sunset as she watched the fight between her friend and the monster.

"Stop watching and start searching! Unless you have something in one of those packs to help the situation then start looking around!" yelled Bix as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along.

Bix did have things ready in his bag, but nothing for undead beasts, and certainly not for one of that size. If there was anything that could help to destroy it, then he would have better luck wandering around and finding it. He combed the area and found nothing in the room; it was a chamber devoid of anything. There wasn't even a door or path that he could use to exit other than the hole he was thrown in to get there.

"Bix! Some help if you don't mind!" he heard Spike yelling from beyond the hole. It snapped him out of his daze.

"There's gotta be something here; there just has to be. I can't come this far just to die and fail all of them again." Sunset was in a state of panic as she kept looking around, trying to find anything to help the situation.

"Shit!" Bix slammed against the wall in defeat. There was nothing he could do; Spike would die and so would any hope of getting anything to cure the kids. Once the beast was done with the lizard it would seek out anything living. Everything was looking bleak until he heard Sunset.

"I've got it!" she searched through her bag and pulled out a book and small pouch. She brought them to Bix and he looked through it to find it a spell he never thought he'd see.

"Where did you get this?!" he yelled at Sunset taking the bag containing what he hoped it did.

"The girl back at the hideout that takes care of the children. She gave them to me, I couldn't understand what she was saying, but I knew she wanted me to have them. What does the book say?"

"I'll yell at her when we get back, for now, I can tell you that this spell lets me use jewels and crystals as weapons. It helps channel inert magic in the gems, and depending on the gem used, causes several things to happen." He poured the contents of the bag out only to be devastated.

"What? What is it?"

"These are all amber, the only thing these do is produce a slight painkiller effect. They're useless!"

Sunset couldn't believe it after finally seeing Spike and spending time with the dragon she was once again on the verge to lose him. This time forever, there was no spell to revive him and no way she would be able to save his body until she found one. Their only hope was gone as they didn't have a gem that could be beneficial at all.

"Wait, what about this one? What could this one do?" She said presenting Bix a ruby with such clarity that it made it shine with a red glow.

"That… It might work… No, it'll definitely work." He took the gem and ran to the whole to witness the flames the beast was wrapped with die down. He opened the book and started to chant.

"In the name of mother earth, I offer this pittance. Let her might shine through, and help those who heed and wish for aid." The ruby started to glow brighter and emitted a light that mesmerized Sunset.

She watched as Bix threw the gem at the beast about to kill Spike and bounce off a bone. All at once, the gem exploded and then sucked up the centipede in a ball of fire. The centipede screeched and thrashed all it could but couldn't escape the ball. It disappeared into the fire and the ball released heat around the room until dying down. Bix and Sunset threw the packs down and landed on top of them to cushion the fall.

"What was that?" asked Sunset helping to prop Spike up against the wall.

"Rubies cause explosions, but with the level of clarity each gem has, the spell changes what they do slightly. All I can say is that the clarity of that Ruby was beyond any I've ever seen, so when I used the spell it caused an implosion instead. Where did you get something that rare?"

Sunset looked to Spike and smiled as she poured a potion they bought before leaving town into his mouth. "A friend gave it to me, it was in celebration of our reunion."
> Corruption
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was hot, painful, constricting, and soft. That was the only way Spike could describe his current situation. The poison from the undead was still coursing through his body and was causing him immense discomfort. The symptoms seemed to be dissipating and his sight was beginning to become clearer. He could see a blur hovering over him but the ringing in his ears from the poison induced migraine prevented him from hearing anything it was saying. He tried to blink as another blur came and put something cold on his head. The first blur was coming into focus and he realized it was Sunset, so that mean the other one had to be Bix.

"Spike? Spike, can you hear me?" The Sunset blur said making the migraine worse from being so loud.

"Hnnnng" was all she got in reply.

Bix came back and forced open Spike's mouth to pour something bitter. The patient sputtered and his symptoms were dissipating faster than before.

"Stop that! He's still injured, what good will it do to drown him as well?" Sunset smacked away Bix's hand and wiped the sweat from Spike.

A few minutes later the dragon had regained his senses and started to get up only for to get dizzy and lay his head back on the cushion they had somehow found. He opened his eyes and saw Sunset wearing a warm smile which was cut short as he was thrown off the cushion forcefully. When he looked at what the cause of it was, he saw that the cushion he had used was Sunset's lap. She didn't look too pleased with the slight grin on his face and rolled her eyes before getting up.

"Well, that explains why it smelled so good along with being comfortable." He muttered before getting on his feet and searching the room to find Bix examining the walls and his notebook.

"Glad you're feeling better big guy, now come help me do something about this wall or we can't continue," Bix said looking back at the dragon and putting away his notebook.

"Why not use that spell again? I'm sure you have some gems you could use." Sunset asked as she dusted herself off and stuffed the towels back into one of the packs.

"Spell? Gems?" Spike said with a confused look. He then realized what happened before he passed out and all of a sudden became hyper vigilant. "Wait! Where's the undead? What the fuck happened?"

"Relax idiot, in case you haven't noticed the damn thing is gone. We took care of it before it reached you." Bix stated with a smug grin.

"You two? How did you manage that?"

"Sunset here had a book given to her by one of my gang, and while I have a few choice words for her when I get back, it's what saved your life. She used up the gem you gave her, but I'd say it was worth it. Don't you Sunset?"

"Definitely, I didn't have a use for it and if giving it up meant saving Spike I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"I've never heard of a spell that uses gems. What was it?" The dragon directed the question towards Bix who was now trying his luck touching different stones on the walls.

"The spell isn't rare, just not very well used due to it using gems as it's "ammo" of choice. I'm sure that if it didn't do that it would be more common, regardless, it channels the energy from the world into the gem and depending on clarity and type of gem does something different once it leaves the spellcaster's hand."

"The Ruby that you gave me was what we used for that thing. It caused an implosion that, according to Bix, was rare due to the high clarity it had." Sunset at this point dug the book out of her pack and walked over to Spike. "Spike you should have seen it; I've never seen an implosion up close. It was like a miniature sun turning into a black hole sucking in whatever it caught. That undead was destroyed in no time at all and nothing was left behind!" She had that look of thirst only somepony like Twilight would understand.

Spike could tell that her head was swimming with all sorts of theories and possibilities. He reached for the book and Sunset handed it to him. Looking over the spell, he realized that it was a unique one though not so unique as to warrant killing over it. That meant she was safe from others trying to get their hands on it through any means. He reached into the Dimension Pocket and wrote out an Equestrian Translation, once done he handed both the book and translation to Sunset.

"There you go, if we get in trouble again you'll be able to use it. I think I might have some gems packed from the village, feel free to grab them as they were just snacks. No guarantees on the clarity, so don't expect much."

Sunset raced to the pack and dug through it with the smile on her face hardly fading. When she found a small pouch and showed Spike, he nodded and saw her search through the contents.

"What village? As far as I know, there aren't any settlements close to Freedonia. Also, you eat gems?" Bix inquired having heard their conversation. "Didn't know lizards could do that, guess you learn something new every day. Now come help me with knocking down at least one of these walls." He was trying to use a small knife he had to pick at one of the sides of a stone and try to force it loose.

"It was the one I came from, a small place and relatively ignored." Sunset answered before the topic could be expanded on.

"Your village? And yet you don't know basic Discordian? It must be an extreme backwater place then." Bix pointed to one of the stones he had been trying to get lose and Spike focused his fire into the one spot. They both watched as the stone slowly melted away from the intense heat.

"Yea… We didn't get many outsiders and only a relatively few of us knew Discordian."

"Hmm, fine forget it. I can tell when someone is avoiding to talk. It doesn't concern me anyways." Bix poured water from his canteen onto the melted stone and watched the steam fly on contact.

Spike looked into the hole to find more darkness being the only one unfazed by the cooling magma. He set fire to a torch Bix had scrounged up and threw it inside to light the adjacent room. It didn't do much but it did let him see an outline of what appeared to be a door on the back end of the poorly lit room. Not to mention it was empty save for a few spider webs and fallen rocks.

"I can see a way out in there or the outline of what I think is a door anyways. Give me second while I knock the stones loose." Spike pushed Bix away and turned his back to the small opening. He raised his tail and slammed it against the wall near the hole resulting in a loud echo of the impact. The stones around the hole began to move with each hit and soon crumbled as the small opening became a path into the next room. "Let's go, and stay behind me from now on. With no map or idea what's next, it's best I go first."

Bix followed behind the lizard while Sunset brought up the rear with Spike's and her packs. She handed Spike his pack once she caught up to them and stood next to Bix who handed her an extra torch. They both waved the torches around the room in order to get a better look at what it held and found nothing aside from dust and debris. Spike motioned for them to continue on and they reached the doorway he had seen before destroying the wall. It was bigger than he thought and had steel bars blocking the way forward. The openings weren't big enough for him to fit through and he couldn't use his breath to melt them as he needed time to recover.

"Great, more hindrances. Sunset what kind of gems were in that bag?" Spike asked as he tried to pry open the bars.

Sunset dug through the bag of gems and took out three gems, an Amethyst, Opal, and a Garnet. "There were seven gems but they consist of these three types; four Amethyst, two Opal, and one Garnet. Bix do you have an idea of what they do?"

"I know the Opal can be used to heal, and Amethyst are used for illusions. I don't know what the Garnet does and if these are any indication as to the clarity of the others then it'll be rather small effects from using them." He handed the gems back to Sunset after picking them up to check for clarity. He examined the bars and tried to squeeze through them only to be stopped by an unknown force from getting too far.

"Can't fit through properly?" Spike asked the boy wiggling his way back out from between two of the bars.

"I can, but something is blocking me from going too far. It might have a type of spell that stops intruders."

Spike tried to fit his arm through the bars and felt nothing stopping him from going through the gap. He looked at Bix and the boy tried his arm only to be met with resistance. Bix tried once more with Spike pushing him through but the resistance was there for the both of them this time.

"So it lets me through but I can't fit, where as you can fit through the bars only to be stopped by some type of spell. I can't use my fire for another hour so I guess we have no other choice than to wait."

"Let me try," Sunset asked as she tried to step through the bars. It was a tight fit and for a moment thought she felt something only for it to disappear. She gave it a final push and fell through the bars to the other side.

"What the hell? How were you able to pass when even I couldn't? I mean, look at me I'm way smaller than you are. I certainly don't have as big an ass or boobs but why couldn't I go through?"

"Bix, I'll ignore that last comment for now and I don't know why I could get through. I did feel something trying to stop me but it was only for a moment. So maybe, it just ignores certain things going through."

"It let my arm through but not Bix. We can rule out it not letting males through and it let you through so that strikes out requiring being female. Maybe… maybe it just doesn't let humans through…" Spike realized what he had said and looked to see if Bix had caught it, however, the boy was too busy trying to force his way through once more.

Spike looked at Sunset through the bars and saw her nod. They realized that the only reason she could get through was because she wasn't human. She only looked human and that was why it had resisted her slightly when in reality she was a pony. It was helpful to know that such barriers existed as they might encounter them later, but it would also let them escape if such barriers were present elsewhere.

"Hand me a torch Spike, I'll look around the place and see if I can find a way to open the bars."

"OK, be careful Sunset. If you can't find anything just come back and we'll wait for my fire to be ready."

"Calm down, I'm sure it'll be alright. If there was anything in here remotely dangerous then it would have tried to attack by now." She grabbed the torch he handed to her and left their view. The only thing noting where she walked was the light of the torch and nothing else, not even her footsteps could be heard after a while.

"You sure that was wise? She doesn't exactly have much in the way of defending herself."

"Don't worry about Sunset, she can manage just fine now that she has at least some magic. Granted it's light healing and illusion, but she's resourceful enough that it won't stop her from being safe."

"Alright, if you say so." Bix sat down in front of the bars and rummaged through his belongings looking for something. "So… how did you end up meeting her? Usually, lizards like you tend to either enslave humans or make them toys." He pulled out a small bundle and opened it to reveal a block of cheese and some grapes. Cutting thin slices of the cheese, he wrapped them around the grapes and began eating them.

"Well, as you said, we weren't always friends. I met her through the actions of my sister, Sunset didn't use to be as nice as she is now."

"That's her being nice?"

"Yea, trust me it is. Anyways, she turned a new leaf after some stuff happened that I'd rather not talk about. Once she did it was like we saw the real Sunset for the first time. It was only when I met her the second time that we became friends. She helped my sister and me through a bad situation and that's when I truly thought her as a friend. I haven't seen her in seven years though; so she was surprised to see me when we reunited."

Spike kept trying to look further into the dark, making sure to see if the light from the torch disappeared or if some sound echoed from the direction Sunset had left. He could hardly see the light she had with her as the darkness was swallowing it the further she got, he didn't like letting her go alone especially in a dungeon. But, with how she was personality wise, she would have gone even if he tried to stop her. She couldn't leave well enough alone and while it was usually one of her more endearing traits. This place was not the ideal location for her to head off with her lack of experience.

"Ah, so you aren't just a slave then? I thought it was weird for you to be doing so much for her." Bix finished his last bit of cheese and put away the bundle before getting up. "And here I thought she was one of those lizard lovers."

"Lizard lover?" Spike turned to look at him, trying to fish for an answer.

"Yea, you know. People that take on lizards like you as lovers rather than someone of their own species. Not many around, but enough for them to be labeled as freaks."

"Whatever, she isn't like that and we're just friends." Spike turned back to the bars and took a big breath. He churned the fire inside him and focused the heat on the bars blocking their path. It took a while for them to melt, but eventually nothing was left except for the top parts hanging from the entryway, while the rest lay in a pool of molten metal.

"Perfect, let's go after her then. It's been a while and I can't even see her light anymore. No telling how big this place is or where she could have gone. Hell, for all we know she could be dead by now."

Spike grabbed Bix by the collar and snarled at him for that last comment. The boy was scared for a second from the sudden threat but recovered quickly with a calm demeanor.

"Alright, I get it already. Geez, can't even take a joke."

Spike let him drop and grabbed Bix's torch walking towards the direction he had last seen Sunset's light go. Bix followed close behind keeping an eye out for any corpses or loot that the girl might have missed in an effort to find a way to open the bars. He did think it strange that she had taken so long considering that an hour wasn't that long of a wait. She should have been back before that if she didn't find anything, and yet, she had continued on.

They walked further into the darkness and Bix kept looking around the room to find nothing. He stopped as he collided with Spike. The dragon had stopped short of something and as Bix looked around the hulking figure to see what it was, he realized that they made a mistake in letting the girl go alone. The object that had made his bodyguard stop was a wall, not just any wall it was a wall that signaled the other end of the room. It shouldn't have been possible as one look in the direction they came was the entrance with the melted bars. The room they had walked into was smaller than they thought and this wall proved it.

"Great, Freedonian dungeons at their best! Confusing, Frustrating, and Deadly. Now, what do we do?" Bix complained as he tried to search the wall for anything that might make it move.

He didn't get much of a chance before a claw grabbed him and pushed him to the side. He watched as Spike's demeanor changed. His eyes blood red and teeth showing as he snarled, his claws growing and the spikes on his tail becoming sharper. Before Bix had time to ask what was going on, Spike let out a roar so fierce it left the boy temporarily deaf. He watched on as the beast who was formerly his bodyguard slammed against the wall knocking it loose and smashing it in two hits. As soon as the wall had crumbled, Spike's figure ran inside and Bix followed quickly after him. He made a mental note to never try threatening Sunset again, this was something he didn't want to go up against.





Sunset looked back to where she left Spike and Bix as she moved forward through the room. She did this every now and then to gauge how far she had gotten in her search. The room was pitch dark if not for the torch she carried. Everywhere the warm glow of the light didn't touch seemed to end in absolute darkness. When she wasn't checking a wall or looking at the ceiling, she was searching the ground for some indication as to how the bars could be moved. After a what she thought was a good amount of time she turned to make her way back to the others only find that no direction held the light of a fire other than hers.

"Shit, which direction was it? Spike! Bix! Can you hear me?" She shouted into the dark with no reply as the room seemed to swallow her voice. Not even an echo from her shouting could be heard or the slight noise made by the wind passing through the room. It was nothing less than complete and utter silence that surrounded her. She walked to what she thought was the opposite wall but found herself walking further and further into the dark.

"This isn't natural, something is keeping me from getting anywhere in this room." She knelt, grabbed a rock and threw it into the void waiting to hear the impact. The impact never came as the rock seemed to vanish.

"Nothing, this place is a whole lot of nothing. I guess I just have to keep walking and hopefully find a way out or a way back to the others." 

The silence was unnerving, the only thing she could hear were her own footsteps and the crackling of the torch. Time seemed to stop as every step would lead her to more void and uncertainty. The more she walked the less likely it seemed she would find her companions. The only things she had on her were the clothes she had come with, Spike's tooth, a small dagger one of the children gave her, and the catalyst for the gem spell. The gems themselves were in her pants pocket but were ultimately useless. There was no need to heal, no need for illusions, and the Garnet was nothing but a mystery she had no clue as to solve.

"Spike did say that this dungeon wouldn't act like regular ones due to being in the Domains. Is the latent chaos in this land that powerful? Or is it because of this Mad God and his influence? Which brings up another question, why did Spike give part of his soul to something referred to as a Mad God?" Her voice was gradually getting louder as she asked the darkness those exact questions only to deep silence as a response.

"Great, I'm talking to myself in a dark room located in a dungeon famed for chaos. I'm sure that's healthy for my sanity. Then again not much else to do is there?"

"That's true, this place is pretty maddening at times. Then again, there is always that door to go through."

"Door?" Sunset asked walking ever forward.

"Yes, that door just up ahead to your left. Didn't you notice it? No idea as to what could be behind it but maybe you would like to find out?"

Sunset looked to her left and noticed a wooden door with a tiny bit of light emanating from the edges. She wondered why it had gone by unnoticed and how it seemed so welcoming. She stepped closer to the handle and opened the door. As she stepped inside towards the light the door closed allowing her to snap into focus.

"Wait, who was that talking to me?" before she could ask anything else the light shone brightly and swallowed her.





"Where am I?" Sunset's asked as she regained her vision from the flash. Rubbing her eyes, she focused on what was in front of her. The blurs were taking shape and the sight before her made her do a doubt everything.

"Twilight?"

She was back in Ponyville in Twilight's chamber. The crystals and bed were all as she remembered. The moon was glowing through the window shining its soft white glow on Twilight who lay sleeping. She looked at herself and found not a human form but a pony. She was back to normal, the light had taken her to Ponyville. How it happened she didn't now but she was back. She moved over to Twilight to find the Princess having a nightmare, she tossed and turned in her sheets; a look of agony plastered across her face.

"No, please… Don't leave me alone again…"

"Oh, Twilight…"

It was obvious that the nightmare was about the disappearance of her and Spike. It was flattering to know she was important to Twilight but it made her uneasy for being the cause of such distress. She knew that the day Spike vanished was one that affected the purple unicorn and hers was no different. Sunset reached and held Twilight's hoof, she gave it a light squeeze.

"It's alright Twilight, you're not alone. It's alright now."

"Are you sure about that?" a voice asked from behind Sunset.

The room grew still and a chill was coursing through the air. Twilight's breathing had stopped and her hoof grew stiff. Sunset turned to find the same strangely clothed man she and Spike met in Freedonia.

"You? Why are you here? You can't be here… unless… this is an illusion."

"Oh no, it's real very much so. You're in your quaint little horse town with your little horse friends."

"How are you doing this? You shouldn't be able to do this unless you had immense magic."

"Let's leave that aside for now. Right now, I need you to understand your position. I know that this place has an entity of chaos so I can't stay long before he realizes I've taken over."

"You mean Discord? Is that why you're doing this? You want to get to Discord?"

"Oh please, that second rate mishmash of animal appendages has nothing to do with any of this. I know mice with stronger influence than that thing. I simply don't want to deal with the whining it might do if we met. It's the same prospect of dealing with a child who thinks highly of himself."

"Discord a child?"

"We're getting off topic so that's enough of that. Now, as I was saying, your position in all this is pretty important. You see, the instant you walked into Freedonia I knew you weren't from where I reside. That meant you were just like Spike, that allowed me to trace the magic back to this place."

"So you want to take over Equestria?"

"Not even remotely close. You see Sunset, I work for someone you might call eccentric. My boss, so to speak, desires pure chaos in all forms. Which leads me to your friend the dragon."

"Chaos? Spike? Wait, you're talking about that Mad God, aren't you? What does he want with Spike?"

"Nothing too dangerous, he just wants him to stay where he is creating all kinds of chaos. Think of it, a bipedal dragon with the knowledge of another world. It can use magic and has the potential to be as strong as ancient dragons. Don't you think that corrupting such a being has potential for unlimited chaos?"

"Were you the ones that took him? Is that why he's there?"

"No, honestly, his being there is a fantastic accident. I'm getting ahead of myself, the reason I'm doing this is because you are giving him the idea to try and leave. While it's making for great entertainment, we would rather he just give up entirely. So here we are, I'm giving you a chance to return here. I just need you to forget about the dragon, and in case you have any thoughts of trying to find him I'll be taking any memories you made." He extended a hand towards Sunset as she tried to think of what to do.

"So what's it going to be sweetheart? Do we have a deal?"

Sunset stood still to think for a moment but it was only for a moment. She walked up to the man and bucked him only to hit nothing and stumble slightly.

"I take it that's a no?"

"Fuck you! I'm not leaving my friend behind just because you want to please some fucked up deity. You have no right trying to corrupt him!" She yelled at Sri and tried to summon any magic she could only to fail.

Sri just laughed and with a snap of his fingers the scenery changed. It vanished as if being washed away by rain. A strange feeling overcame Sunset and she found herself on her hands and knees in her human form. She stood up and wiped herself down with a scowl.

"I thought you'd be smarter than that. Listen to me little girl, I'll only warn you once. Don't try anything like that again or your friend will have a hard time trying to find all of you."

"Bite me."

Sri extended his arm and took the form of a viper. The serpent appendage launched at Sunset and sunk it's fangs into her left leg. She let out a scream of pain before trying to throw the creature off. It shrank back before she could grab it and turn back into an arm.

"You offered. Don' think too badly of me now. I just had to make sure you won't talk about this meeting and what you've heard. The curse I put on you will constrict your heart if you so much utter a word about all of this." He walked towards Sunset disappearing briefly and appearing right behind her.

"Just to show you I'm not that bad of a guy I'll give you this." He said before Sunset turned to try and punch him causing him to disappear.

She felt a weight being added in her left jacket pocket as she turned once more to see Sri back where he had been standing. She reached inside to take out whatever it was he put inside.

"A rock? You're giving me a rock?" She was about to throw it at him but stopped as a sharp pain struck her chest. She dropped the rock and clutched her chest gasping for air despite it burning each time she did.

"I did say not to say anything. Now, keep the rock around. I'm sure you'll find it useful later on." He started walking into the darkness leaving Sunset where she was still gasping for air. "Oh, and if I were you I'd move as soon as possible. Your friend isn't exactly in his right mind."

He vanished in the darkness and Sunset could suddenly breathe again. She gulped for air and remembering what he had said; moved to her right as fast as possible. Just as she moved a howl pierced the air and a crash came from behind. A tall bulky figure charged through the rubble and stopped where she had been. She couldn't see it all that well in the dark but she could make out sharp claws and blood red eyes. Its tail was thrashing around as it sniffed the air and green fire was coming out of its mouth as it bared its fangs.

It turned towards Sunset and walked over to her. Sunset grabbed one of the Amethyst to cast an illusion. She felt the magic drape over her and couldn't tell what it kind of illusion was being put out. As the creature got closer she stayed silent and watched as she began to see it better. She held back a gasp as the creature stopped in front of her and reached out to grab her.

"Spike! Stop! That's Sunset!" a voice called out in the dark.

The creature stopped and its eyes grew dim. The spikes protruding out of its back shrank and the fire from around the mouth died. Sunset watched in horror as the monster that had caught her turned into her friend. The corruption of her dragon friend had already begun and this was the result.
> Some Bread and Lots of Wine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The grip Sunset was caught in softened as Spike returned to normal. However, the look on her face stayed as she watched her friend revert back to normal. Her face held a picture of pure shock that the corruption she wanted to stop from happening had progressed so far. Was it already too late to do anything for Spike or was there enough time to make sure he didn't progress further?

"Sunset! Thank goodness you're safe! I don't know what I would have done if anything happened to you!" Spike hugged her as his voice filled the room.

It snapped her out of her temporary shock and made her brace for the bone crushing hug she was part of due to the dragon.

"Spike, I'm fine let go of me."

As they separated Bix finished looking around after catching his breath and returned to where they stood, his face sporting a scowl from what he found.

"There's nothing here! Gods damn it! We either go back and wait for the next time the dungeon resets or start getting a lot more physical with the place."

"You mean to tell me the place has nothing else in here?"

"Didn't you just hear what I said sweetheart? Glad to see you're fine and all but this ain't the time to ask stupid questions."

"Who the fuck are you calling stupid?"

"If the jacket fits then I guess it's gotta be you. I don't see anyone else here that was idiotic enough to get lost in a room this small."

"I'll have you know that..." Sunset cut her rebuttal short as a pain shot through her chest. She couldn't breathe for a moment as the beating of her heart was being constricted by an invisible hand. It seemed to slowly close its icy fingers across it and let go after what seemed like an eternity.

"Sunset! Are you alright?!" Spike helped her keep steady as she tried to regain her composure and could once again breath normally.

She slapped him away and took a step back. "I'm fine, just couldn't breathe for a bit. Some dust must have gotten into my lungs. More importantly, what are we going to do now?"

"Well, like I said, we either return next time it appears or we start breaking down some walls. Seeing as Spike here is the main muscle and how he's done it before we can just have him do the work."

"I've got no problem doing so but, we don't know about whether or not that'll attract some other beast or what the next room could hold. If anything, Sunset disappearing in a small room like that shows the real danger of this place."

"How long until the place comes again?" Sunset asked as she collected her bag from Bix.

"That's the thing. I'm not exactly sure, this one was just within the expectations most of the divers talked about. It could have appeared two days from now or next month. It's completely sporadic."

"We don't have the time to wait here. I'm sorry Bix but we need to leave this place within the week."

"Spike! We can't just leave them after agreeing to help them out!"

"You were the one to agree to it Sunset. I'm only here because I knew you wouldn't leave them the way they are once you knew the situation. We can't stay here and you know it."

"Then start knocking down some walls you idiot! We're going to find that book if it takes the whole week!"

Spike remained stoic but walked away towards one of the walls knocking on them to find a sound of space beyond them. Bix and Sunset watched him work as they sat down to eat. Bix offered her the cheese and grapes he had and declined any himself as he had eaten before finding her.

"Thank you Sunset. I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"Don't worry about it. You were just upset about the dead end. Just make sure it's the last time you say something like that to me."

"Got it."

Spike kept knocking for a while long until he found the spot he thought would work. He focused his fire once more and melted through the rock to look into what was behind the barrier of stone. Satisfied he started to smash the stones with his tail and the stones began to move. Sunset watched as he worked silently, whether it was because she had told him or he was working off some stress, she didn't know.

"I gotta say, the big guy surprised me when he turned all nasty once he realized you disappeared. You must be really important; I've never seen or heard of any lizard doing that kind of thing. Well except for those touched by the Mad God."

"What do you mean touched by the Mad God?"

"Sweetheart you're something else. I swear it's like you're completely ignorant about life here. Were you just sheltered as a kid?"

"Just tell me you brat."

"Fine, fine. Like I said those that are touched by the Mad God do things that aren't otherwise natural. As natural as you can get in the domains anyways. There was talk in the bar of a bear that was touched and it was said to turn into a demon of flames. It would torch anything that came in contact with it."

"What happened to it?"

"I don't know. It's still out there somewhere; burning things to less than ash. Some say it can disguise itself by eating the remains if it's victims. Which reminds me of Spike's magic, only, his requires just a touch not flesh and blood. Though, just thinking about such a thing being able to disguise itself as a human or intelligent lifeforms gives me the creeps."

"Hasn't anyone tried to hunt it down?"

"Several have tried, and none ever came back. The gods damn thing might be smart enough to either evade them or worse. If it can change into a sapient being, then there's no telling what sorts of things its learned over the years."

"Is there a some kind of criteria the Mad God uses to choose who it gives such power to?"

"Don't know. Don't care. If you ever seen something that seems to fit that criteria, then it's best to never get involved with it. Spike seems to have control over what he does so I doubt he has ever been touched. I mean, lizards are known to be savage, and some of them worship the damned deity but there has never been anything linking the two together."

Sunset thought back to what Spike had told her about the armor he'd received when he swore allegiance to the Mad God. If that was something provided by the deity, then would that mean the Gecklings had contact with such a hateful being? Or was it only Spike that had received something like that due to whatever he had done in his past? If there were other creatures out there that had been corrupted, then to what extent did it spread? There were too many questions and no clues as to what could be the answers. The only way she'd find some way to stop any form of the corruption would be to either examine it first hand or ask Spike more about his past.

When she first asked of the events leading up to him being so drastically different he brushed it aside saying he would tell her later. When would later be? Would he just keep dodging the subject? Something happened to make him the way he was now, of that she knew for sure. Though, if that was related at all to the corruption that infected his body and mind she didn't know. She needed more information; about the corruption, the Mad God, and about Spike.

A crash echoed throughout the room and they both looked towards Spike to find him clearing any loose stones from the collapsed wall. They gathered their things quickly and went over to the new path.

"Took you long enough. I would think that a lizard as built as you would be able to knock something like this down easily."

"Shut up Bix. If you want to take care of the next obstacle you're more than welcome, until you actually do something useful then I prefer you shut up and keep close. I'd be more than glad to get out here with or without you."

"Spike!"

"What?! Listen Sunset, I don't want to be here and I sure as shit don't want you in such a place. I only agreed to coming because of you but that doesn't mean I'll keep quiet about my dissatisfaction. Not only do I have to go through a fucking death trap of a dungeon, protect two people, and search for books that might not even be here. I have to deal with this brat shit talking me?"

"Hey, you can just as easily back out of this if you want to Spike. I didn't know I was being such an unwanted burden."

"Don't start that shit with me Sunset. I'm the one that's been here longer and you're still learning. You might have it in your mind that I'm still that baby you've met so long ago but things are different. This is life or death we're talking about and I have more experience than some teenage princess wannabe and a little bastard who thinks he can tell me what to do!"

"I'm not exactly sure what the two of you are saying, but I'm taking it that, by the volume of both your voices, it's a fight? Listen, let's just calm down here and get going already. We don't have time to deal with any petty squabbles."

Both Spike and Sunset turned to look at Bix and while Sunset was getting ready to yell at the kid; Spike immediately punched him in the stomach. The force behind the strike was so intense that Sunset could hear what could only be a rib crack. Bix flew through the air and landed on his side. He groaned a bit before throwing up and Sunset immediately went over to help the boy.

"Bix! Spike, what the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

"I didn't mean... I only wanted him to shut up. I just..."

"Come on Bix. I'll help you up, just hold on to me for now."

"Thanks. Sorry about this."

"Bix... I'm..."

"Spike, just stop. Let's go, we need to find what we came here for and then get Bix to a hospital or healer. We'll talk about this when we're somewhere safe."

The group was silent as Spike took point once more followed by Sunset helping Bix to walk. The path that had opened led to a hallway they hadn't seen before; Spike threw a rock down the hallway to the left and heard it hit a wall quickly.

"Dead end. We go right."

A groan of approval came from Bix and Sunset simply nodded. Their bodyguard marched on setting bugs they encountered on fire and throwing rocks anywhere that seemed suspicious. They avoided traps using these methods and came upon the end of the hall only to be presented with three doors. The door on the left was a normal wooden door with a handle and keyhole. Whether or not it was locked they didn't dare check until they decided which door to take. The door on the right was made of a giant black slab of rock. There was no visible handle or keyhole for them to use or workaround. The final door, the one in front of them, was a giant metal door that seemed too modern for it to be in this dungeon or this world and to the immediate left of it was a small pillar with a weird symbol.

"Which way do should we go? Bix?"

The boy looked around and inspected the doors along with Sunset. "I'm not sure... shit... I can barely talk without it hurting. What do you think Sunset?"

"Well the wooden door looks safe enough but given the experiences we've had in this place I'm not sure that I can choose just because of that. The giant door seems to have something to do with the pillar but it might have to do with some sort of magic trap. I kind feel uneasy around it. As for the last one, I can't see any kind of way for us to open it. The wall doesn't have any indication of a hidden switch."

"There aren't any more rocks I can throw to see if anything happens when touching that pillar. I'd rather not throw anything I have since I might need it later on. If it does have something to do with magic, then we can't really choose it. I'll look around and check for a switch or something for the stone wall."

"Well, ugh... I think we should just... choose the wooden one. Fuck! Leave me against the wall Sunset. I need to calm down."

"Sure, Bix. Why do you think we should go for the wooden one?"

"Because, it's the only one with a visible lock. Even if it is locked, I can just pick it or the fucking asshole over there can smash or burn it down."

"Bix, please don't be like that. Hate only festers and grows into something hideous. I understand the way you feel about Spike and his actions and I intend to give him a piece of my mind about it. Just, don't hate him... please."

"Fine, whatever. Just rip him a new one for me as well alright?"

"You bet. I'll remind him who the real badass is around here."

"I found something!" Spike yelled out from down the path. It was a considerable distance from the doors so it was rather odd.

Bix used the wall to prop himself up and walked towards where Spike was waiting. Sunset offered to help him there but he declined and walked with her by his side in case he needed help. When they reached Spike they found him laying on the ground near the wall to their right.

"What did you find Spike?"

"And why the fuck are you laying on the ground?"

"Watch it you fucking midget."

"Spike..."

"Yea, yea. Anyways, I was looking around for the switch and couldn't find anything but I did find this."

He stood up and pointed to where he was lying. It was too dark to see properly so Sunset squatted down and hovered a torch over the spot. What she found was a tiny bit of cloth, it was a dark blue colored cloth and if one wasn't looking for it they would easily miss it.

"Great, you found some trash."

"Shut up Bix. Spike what does a bit of cloth have anything to do with the doors?"

"Don't you see anything strange about it?"

"Nope."

"Sorry Spike, I don't see anything odd about it."

He grabbed Sunset's torch and set it down near the cloth as he squatted down. "Look at how it's sticking out from underneath. The cloth is stuck under the wall; it's not just a piece that was torn off. Since it's stuck under then somewhere around here..." Spike started to move his hands along the floor and found a tiny stone hidden in the intersection of several stones. "Got it."

He pushed the stone and a rumble came from the wall. It went inward and started to move upwards revealing a path to a new area. Sunset and Bix watched as the passage slowly revealed itself.

"Yea. I know what I'm doing. So next time just shut up and listen you brat."

"Fuck you."

"No thanks."

"Both of you shut up."

As the wall slowly climbed upwards the cloth was released from it's prison. Sunset grabbed the bit she could and pulled it only to fall backwards as there was nothing really holding it in place. The cloth flew from the under the wall and landed on the girl along with it's owner. The husk that inhabited the robe landed on top of Sunset and she threw it away from her immediately. 

"Oh Celestia! What the fuck?!"

"Calm down. It's just a corpse. Poor sap must of been here quite a while. Judging by the decay and the fact it still has skin it wouldn't have been that long." Spike examined their dead guest closely before looking up to see Sunset rather disturbed.

"Oh come on, you've seen dead bodies before."

"Only from a distance! That thing landed on me and... and... ugh..."

Bix went towards the body and started to search along the robes. He took out two small pouches and a miniature book from some pockets sewn on the inside of the clothing.

"Bix, what the fuck? Just leave it alone."

"Not a chance. In case you've forgotten we're here find an apologist's book. Which means getting them from the ones we find here. Who, unless by some miracle, are more than likely dead."

"That's disgusting."

"It's life. Get over it Sunset."

As he looked through the book he put one of the bags away and handed the other to Sunset. "Some gems, I'd rather keep them for myself but since you've got the book I figure it'll be better you have them."

"Thanks." She grabbed the bag with some reluctance and checked inside to find 4 Rubies, and 3 Emeralds. "What do Emeralds do?"

"I'm not sure. Try it out if you have extra."

As Bix and Sunset talked about the repercussions of random spell casting; Spike looked at the body once more and took the robe off completely. Underneath he found that the unfortunate soul was a woman. She was stuck in a pose that looked natural, as if she had died without even knowing it. He tried to turn the body over only to have an arm snap off and a dark red liquid seep out. Holding the arm and putting pressure on it made it crumple easily. He dabbed one of his claws into the liquid and tasted it.

"Spike, what the fuck are you doing?"

"We need to go."

"Yea, no shit. The way is open so we should go if we plan to get out of here before the dungeon shifts."

"No! Don't go in there!"

"Why the fuck not?"

"This body is made out of bread and wine!"

"Bread and win.... oh shit! Get to the doors quick!"

Sunset could only watch as Spike stood up and took hold of Bix. "Sunset! Come on!"

"What's going on?!" She asked running back to the doors.

Behind them came a slow cry. It sounded like the dying scream of a sheep in a slaughterhouse. Sunset looked back to see a rotting corpse leaning down and devouring the one on the ground. It wore a robe similar to the one they found. It was matted in red splotches which could be taken for blood and ripped at places. One of it's hands held on to a book tightly while the other tore away at it's victim. Crunching sounds and slurps echoed throughout the hallway as they reached the doors.

"What the fuck is happening? What is that thing?"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. Which way do we go big guy?"

"I say we go through the metal one. If we can get inside, then we can close it and the thing won't get us."

"What won't get us?!"

A cry echoed through the darkness behind them and the sound of footsteps kept getting stronger. As the head turned to face their way Sunset could see the eyes glowing yellow in the dark. It was like watching two fireflies getting larger with each each echo. She turned back to find Bix and Spike messing with the symbol on the pillar.

"It's getting closer!" She took out a Ruby and her book with the translation. After saying the words, the gem glowed brightly and she threw it towards the creature. The impact was immediate and once the smoke cleared she saw the thing still standing.

"Get the fuck over here you idiot!" Bix yelled from beyond the metal door.

Spike ran and grabbed her as the creature began to run towards the cause of damage. The book in its hand started to glow brighter by the second. Spike ran inside where Bix waited and he slammed on the pillar near him. The door closed immediately and the creature behind it started to slam against it. Spike put down his friend before sitting down next to Bix. They heard the creature starting to scratch at the door and could see that the book was still glowing from underneath the barrier.

"Alright, one of you tell me what that thing was. Another undead? What was with the whole bread and wine thing? Someone tell me what is going on!"

Bix held his hands up and Spike sighed.

"That thing was an apologist Sunset. The book it has is what we're trying to get."
> Nest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That thing was an apologist?! You've got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Nope.” Spike and Bix replied as they watched the fire haired girl pace in front of them.

“Glad to see you both agree on something, but for once I want a clear answer to all this. So stop being vague like the assholes you are and tell me what exactly we’re dealing with here.”

“Well, if you’d just calm down and listen we’d be moving past this already.”

The banging against the metal door was growing louder alongside the screeching that was being muffled. Their undead objective was all too eager to interrupt the conversation if it meant getting to them faster.

“Shut up!” Sunset yelled towards the door before turning her attention back to the two sources of her headaches lately. “Bix!”

“Yes?!”

“Explain everything now!”

“Wha…. I mean, of course. Just put the gems away.”

“Good, as for you Spike.”

“What is it now? Like I told you before Sunset I…”

“I’m sorry.”

Spike was caught off guard by the apology directed at him. There wasn’t anything he could think of that she would need to apologize or at the moment but he knew by the tone of her voice and body language that she was sincere. It was a sight to see the usually headstrong, stubborn Sunset like this from all the times he could remember her as a baby dragon.

“I’m sorry for getting you wrapped up in all of this. I understand that you just wanted what’s best for me and I know that you’re trying your best to get us home. It’s even obvious that you know more about what we might encounter than I do.”

“Sunset…”

“But that doesn’t excuse you from acting the way you have been lately. I know you’ve been taught better than that. If you truly have been thinking about going back home throughout these years than I’m sure you remember everything Twilight has taught you. Tell me what changed, why are you like this? What made you this way.?”

“Fine but, let’s take care of our current situation first. It’s a long, long, story.” Spike could only look at the girl as she finished. His answer was immediate and his tone devoid of emotion. The demand for him to dig up his memories was something he expected from the girl, yet, he was still unprepared to share it.

“Thank you. Now then, back to the matter at hand. Bix?”

“My turn? Alright, so that thing out there is an apologist an undead one at that.”

“So if it’s an undead why do you still call it an apologist?”

“The book it has makes it an apologist. I’m not sure how the thing turned into an undead but the fact that it has that book means it still has some memory of before that. Undead usually mimic actions they’ve done while alive.”

“Like a kind of muscle memory?”

“Muscle what?”

“Muscle Memory. To put it in a way you’d understand, you pickpocket right?”

“Yea.”

“When you do it, do you ever think about it or does it come naturally?”

“I don’t think about it at all, I just do it.”

“That’s Muscle Memory, you’ve been doing it for so long that your body just moves without a second thought.”

“I think I get it. Anyways, back to the undead. If it has the book, then it just cast spells indiscriminately because of overuse during life. That book is designed for apologists so it’s mainly centered around healing.”

“That’s the part I don’t get. If the book can only use healing, then why should we run?”

“Well, if you’d just let me continue you’d know.”

“Sorry.”

“Right, well, like you said apologists are known due to their healing and that’s what makes them important but, it’s the books that are really valuable. Even inept people can master the spells inside despite having no training. Their spells will just have low effects until they can master them. Which makes them targets for a lot of bandits and thieves, which brings us to the main point. In order to counter the fact that they get preyed on so much the books are only given to those with enough training to use the attacks spells it contains.”

“Attack spells?”

“The bread and wine thing is an effect of one of those spells. It turns a weak enemy or whatever is weaker than an apologist views as one into that. The body becomes bread and the blood becomes wine. It takes effect instantly and both are high quality provisions for anyone.”

“Provisions? That spell is practically a death sentence for whoever it’s cast on! That was a human back there too! How can you just take it so lightly?”

“Why do you think apologists are the ones that have it and are protected to such extent? The books alone are worth a lot but the people that use them are all practically saints. There has never once been an incident where they use it on anything other than paradox beasts and deadly creatures.”

“Bix is right Sunset. You need to calm down.”

Sunset sat down and leaned against the wall opposite of Spike and Bix. She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. “So what are we going to do now?”

“Let’s look at our options. We need the book in order to get out of here with enough time for you two to prepare to leave. Sunset’s gem didn’t damage the damn thing so it must be a pretty strong undead. If it notices us, then it would more than likely cast that spell since we’ll be enemies. The big guy here can’t use his fire on it either so that leaves us with ambushing it or luring it into a trap.”

“Why can’t I set it on fire?”

“The book will burn along with it genius.”

“Oh, right. Then I guess we can only take it by surprise.”

“We should check around here and see if there is another way out. Let’s do it together this time. I don’t want you getting lost again princess.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Touchy.”

They searched the room to find the door was only held in a small corridor that led to a large open room. It stretched too far for them to see what it held in its entirety. As they walked further they came upon long tables filled with papers and writing tools. The tables were long and made of wood and each of them held two candle stands placed far enough apart to shine light on the whole table. They looked around the walls of the room to discover decaying bookshelves with contents long eaten by insects or time.

“What is this place?”

“Looks like a library.” Bix picked up some of the papers shuffled through them only to throw them back down. “Can’t read a damn thing, I don’t know what language it is and my book only works on spoken word.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that. You used that book when we first met and you could understand me. Does that mean only you can understand me besides Spike?”

“It helps me understand any and all types of spoken word. It does shit for written form. I’ve been using it for so long that it lasts a long time. I think a week at most but for beginners it only lasts for about six hours a day. It’s definitely a unique book and I could certainly trade it for a lot but not enough to just buy an apologist’s book.”

“How in the world did you manage to get a book like that?”

“Got it off a corpse.”

“Lovely.”

“Both of you mind searching some more. I don’t want that to be here any longer than we have to despite the task at hand.”

“It ain’t me, Princess here is just bursting with questions.”

“I told you not to call me that. Sorry, Spike we’ll get back to it. I’ll search the right side, Bix you search through the middle of the tables, Spike take the left side. Call out if you find anything.”

They traveled through the room and found it larger than they previously thought. At a glance it was already bigger than the rest of the rooms. They lit any of the candle stands they came across and the room started to brighten. Several times Sunset called out to bring attention to a few books she found in good condition only to be told they were, according to Bix, useless. She kept them regardless so she’d have something to read and hopefully learn later.

They were coming towards the end as the wall came into view but they noticed something blocking what might be a door. They converged in the middle with Bix and stopped several feet away from the blockade.

“What do you think it is?”

“It looks like a pile blankets. I say we have big guy burn them.”

“You want us to suffocate to death?”

“Sunset’s right. It might be convenient but not worth dying. Besides, there’s another way to get rid of it.”

“You know what it is Spike?”

“Yea, it’s a bear.”

“A bear?!”

“Shut up, geez you suck at stealth Princess.”

“I swear if you call me that one more time…”

“Enough, both of you move further away. I’ll take care of this.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Bix said as he moved and sat down at one of the lit tables several feet away.

“You’re going to kill it aren’t you?”

“…”

“Spike, I understand. This isn’t Equestria so everything is practically out to kill us. The human world taught me those sorts of things but I never expected someone I knew to be able to kill so easily.”

“If you understand then step back and let me do it.”

Sunset stepped back and walked towards where Bix was sitting. She stopped midway and came up next to Spike. “Be careful.” Was all she said before turning once more.

Spike turned his attention to the mass of fur and took out his short sword. He walked slowly as the bear’s body rose and fell with each breath. The closer he got the larger it seemed the creature seemed to get. Taking the short sword he plunged it into the back of it's neck and pierced through with all his strength. The bear awoke and unleashed a gurgled roar as blood accumalated within it's mouth.

It rose and slashed frantically as it's vision was dimishing. Spike backed away from the frantic flurry of death and bumped into one of the tables knocking it over. The noise alerted the bear and it pounced towards the disturbance. Catching the massive claws within his and avoiding the maw as it tried to devour him, Spike lashed his tail at the left side of it's body and dug into the flesh and fur with his natural daggers. Pulling the tail away he tore flesh from it's side kicked the beast making it stumble back. As it did, he bolted forward and held it in his arms; constricting it's movements as it struggled to get free.

The bear kept growling and gurgling as it lost the strength to struggle. Once it seemed the bear could barely move, Spike tightened his hold and crushed the bear's spine making it use the last of it's energy on spitting blood all over the dragon's face as it went limp. Throwing the corpse to the ground and wiping away the blood from his eyes he turned to see Bix approaching with smile on his face. He looked past the kid towards Sunset and realized that what he had seen before, when he found her in that dark room, was true. She had fear in her eyes, fear that he knew all to well as it was always directed towards him.

"That was fantastic! The damn thing never stood a chance!" Bix did his best to kneel next to the body of the bear and put a hand on it's body. "This is some high quality fur, if you aren't taking it mind if I do?"

Spike turned away from the motionless Sunset as he reached for the corpse. "I do mind. I'll take the fur and meat. It'll save me some time trying to barter for supplies when we get back to town."

"Damn, well if you don't mind giving me some of the meat then I can at least pay you for it. I know the kids back home would love to eat something other than soup and bread."

"Sure."  Kneeling next to the body, Spike took out his short sword from the creature's neck and started to skin it.

"I think you might of scared the princess." Bix said in hushed voice. "She hasn't moved from there since you started to fight the furball."

"It's fine, she's just not used to seeing me kill anything. It's been a long time since we've seen each other so she has to come to terms with some things."

"Listen, I'm not an idiot. I know that there's something you two aren't telling me about where you're from and I get that, given the circumstances, I'm not in a position to ask about any of it. Though, I would appreciate it if you could answer just one thing."

"What?"

"You're not really a geckling are you?"

"..."

"Gecklings can't breath fire naturally, they don't have spikes on their tails, and they certainly don't have that much intelligence."

"You're right." Spike stopped skinning the bear and turned to Bix. "I'm not a geckling. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No. That's all I wanted to know. I won't ask anything else about what or who you guys are. Let's just get through this alive. I'd like to go back to the kids in one piece if possible."

"Sorry."

"It's fine... just take your shit out on the beasts in here and not me next time."

Bix, with the help of Spike, got up and walked back towards Sunset; leaving the bodyguard to work.

"Something wrong princess?"

"Wha..."

"Hello? You still with us?"

"Sorry, I just... I've never seen something so... so... brutal."

"This is the norm around these parts. I find it hard to beleive that you've lived such a sheltered lifestyle. Though, with what I've seen within the Domains, I guess anything is possible."

"Is Spike ok?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Yea... you're right. It's just... I..."

"You're scared of him aren't you?"

"What?! No! I would never!"

Spike turned his head to see what the commotion was about but Bix waved him off. He nodded and turned back to cutting the meat.

"Calm down."

"Sorry."

"Listen, I don't personally know what's going on between the two of you but I suggest you get used to shit like this more often. I mean, you took out a paradox beast and yet you have trouble with him killing a bear? I know I'm not one to say this but, stop acting like a child."

"You're right. I know you are but, I just need some time."

"Alright." Bix turned back to look at Spike and noticed most of the meat had vanished. "Looks like he's just about done. Let's get ready to go."  The boy started on his way back to Spike before being stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Bix?"

"Yeah?" asked the boy as he turned to face Sunset.

"Thank you." She said before slapping him across the face making the boy lean against a table for support. "Don't call me princess."

"Fuck! Fine, geez." he rubbed his cheek as he watched her pick up the packs and walk towards Spike. "Gods damn bitch."

"Spike?"

"Yea, Sunset?"

"I'm glad you're okay. Anything I can do to help?"

"Check the area where the bear was sleeping with Bix. I can't see it from here but I can just about make out an outline of something."

"Okay."

As Bix caught up to her, they went to check the bear's nest. They found several bones and objects littered inside. Bix dug through the chewed bones and ripped papers that made the nest and found a couple of rings, bracelets and daggers. They were all in terrible condition so they'd only serve as things to be sold. The books that he found buried were too torn to be of any use. Sunset helped him in his task and found a book that was still in relatively good condition. She opened it only to face the language she had no idea as to begin translating.

"Is this of any use?"

"Let me see." Bix took it and flipped through the pages to find several illegible. It wasn't until he reached the back that he realized what kind of book it was. "Damn, it's a relatively good book but the spells that are legible are nothing we can use right now. The spells are pretty damn useless against that apologist."

"What are the spells?"

"Senseless Violins and Suck Heat."

"What?"

Bix sighed and turned to face the bewildered girl. "Senseless Violins is a spell that, just like it's name, summons some violins that cause madness to all who hear them for a time. When I say all, I mean all. Absolutely no one is safe from it, it even affects the caster."

"That sounds like a really stupid spell."

"Yea, Suck Heat is better by far but useless right now. It sucks the warmth of life out of your opponent and potentially freezes them to death. Unfortunately, you have to be relatively close to your target and it doesn't work on certain kinds of enemies with undead being one of those."

"That does sound more useful, but the fact you have to close makes it seem pretty impractical as everything just seems too deadly to even get close enough to try it out."

"Yea, it's certainly not a favorite. I can at least sell it when we get back."

"Wait. Do you mind if I keep the book?"

"Sure, I don't particularly need it anyways."

Sunset stuffed the book into her pack and turned to face the wall that was hidden behind the bear. A small door, half her size, made of stone and covered in intricate carvings was blocking their way. It had a pedestal similar to the one used to enter the current room only smaller to match the door's size. Before she could reach out and touch it, Spike grabbed her hand.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She snatched her hand away and stepped back. "I was going to open the door."

"Let me or Bix handle that." he said.

"Stop treating me like a child." Sunset walked past him and touched the pedestal. It lit up and small streaks of red were inching their way through it's cracks. There was a large crash from beyond the door and what sounded like stones grinding.

"What happened?" Bix asked as he came next to the pedestal.

Before anyone could answer the small door began to open slowly. It seemed to cover an inch a minute as another crash echoed in the room. An all too familiar shriek called out to them from behind and they turned to see two yellow orbs coming into the candle light. The metal entrance had opened and the apologist was coming; book glowing in it's decaying hand.
> Smoke and Mirrors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Gods damn it princess!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Both of you shut the fuck up and hide!" Spike yelled as he knocked over a couple tables and grabbed the two as he dove behind them. He sat with his back against the wood as the steps of the undead crept closer.

The two struggled to break free of the dragon's grasp to no avail as he even covered their mouths to keep them from making noise. He peeked over the top edge of the table and saw the apologist moving towards the left side of the room. It wasn't until he felt something ramming against him that he realized Sunset and Bix were jabbing him as hard as they could.

"Sorry." he whispered as he let them go and looked above the table once more.

"What's the plan big guy?" Bix asked as he tried to wipe the taste of lizard from his mouth.

Sunset followed Spike's actions and peeked at the obstacle that she had unleashed.

"We either wait until that small door opens, which..." he took a second to look towards the slow, upward crawling entrance. "I seriously doubt it would be big enough for me to fit through."

"Second option?" Sunset asked as she ducked down before the thing caught sight of her.

"I get rid of the damn thing here." Spike looked over once more and noticed the undead lumbering across to the middle of the room still some distance away. He took another look at the entrance in hopes of it being open enough to low crawl yet it was still only slightly open.

"You mean we right?"

"Now hold on there princess. I know you're all gung ho about trying to help but let's not forget who's fault it is that thing is even in here."

"I swear to Celestia, Bix if you don't..."

"I don't know who that bitch is but listen here. You said that you'd stop acting like a child so let him handle it and stop trying to force your way into his plans. As he said before, experience is what matters here not a can do attitude. So do us all a favor and shut up so he can explain everything."

Sunset  was ready all but ready to pounce on the kid until she felt Spike grab her shoulder. She looked towards him with a look of fury only to have it dissipate as he stared back in an unmoving determination.

"Fine..." She'd done it again. She didn't know why it was that she kept having such an attitude towards their situations or why she didn't rely on Spike fully. It was true that he had grown and encountered many things in this world that Sunset could imagine but, it didn't change the fact that she was used to seeing him as a helpless dog or baby dragon.

"Let's think about this calmly. I can't use my fire on it because of the book. We don't know where the small door leads even if I could fit through it. Sunset's ruby didn't have any effect on it when she tried to damage it."

"The new book she has is useless against it as well. This is really starting to look bleak."

"New book?"

"Bix and I found a book with new spells in it. He said one of them was useless and the other didn't work on undead."

"Senseless Violins and Suck Heat. I swear the divers that came before us had the most useless things. It's a wonder most of them made it as far as this if that was all they had to rely on."

"Those are useless but, maybe there is something we can do after all with one of the books. Sunset how many Amethysts do you have left?"

"Three, along with two Opals, one Garnet, three Rubies and three Emeralds. I don't know what the Garnet or the Emeralds do at all so I'd rather not try them at all."

"Bix, you got anything besides your language book?"

"Nope, it's the only book I have. I do, however, have a smoke bomb."

Spike took a moment to look at the kid before rubbing his eyes once what he said settled in.

"Bix, why do you have a smoke bomb?" Sunset asked.

"He was going to use it on us at some point. But, seeing as how he can hardly move without being in pain it's obvious he decided against such a thing."

"Bix! How could you?!" Sunset said in the loudest whisper she could muster.

"Hey, don't give me that shit. While I appreciate the help you two have given me, I didn't know whether or not you'd just outright betray me once everything was done. It's just business princess."

"Get the bomb ready Bix. Sunset use all four of the Amethysts and throw them towards the undead after the smoke goes off. It might not be much for other creatures but, this being an undead, it should be enough to make it target those instead."

"Then what? We just wait around while it flings the spell at the targets and then randomly around the room once it's agitated?"

"No. Once it's distracted I'll try to sneak up to it and crush it's head."

"That's it? That's your big plan? Spike this is insane you could get caught and end up like that other corpse!" Sunset protested as her voice grew louder.

Bix covered her mouth and peeked over the table with Spike only to see the undead stop moving trying to listen closely for the source of the voice. "Shut the fuck up. Sweet Mother, I swear you're just a walking bundle of ignorance with all the shit you do."

Sunset punched Bix in the chest to make him let go and turned to face Spike as he continued to monitor the apologist.

"Fuck... right in the ribs." Bix struggled to breath as he leaned against the table.

"Fine, let's do this your way Spike."

"Alright. I'll flip over tables as I go along the right side. Bix, when I give the signal throw the bomb. Once both of you do your parts try to crawl through the small door."

"What's the signal?"

"I'm wondering why we can't just go through one of the other doors in the previous room."

"Because, the amount of time it would take to open one of them without incident would leave use open in a hallway where it can easily see us Sunset."

"Uh... the signal?"

"So you expect us to just leave you here to deal with the thing alone? What are you going to do after we crawl through and you can't get in? Or worse, if we can't get out?"

"Guys? I'd really like to know the signal."

"We'll figure that out later. You'll be safer out of here regardless of whether or not I can follow."

"I thought I told you not to treat me like a child."

"And I told you to trust me. If you can't even follow a simple plan as this Sunset then what exactly did you come along for? Do what I say and crawl through with Bix once this is going off." Spike started to move towards the right of the room throwing any stones he could find to the left of the undead and flipping over tables gently so as not to attract noise.

"I swear, he's grown into such a jerk." Sunset watched him move getting the Amethysts ready to go. She looked over to Bix who had the bomb in his hand and was confused as to why he looked so worried. "What's wrong? Don't have a light?"

"What's the signal?" was all he could ask as he took out some flint.

"Wha... Shit!"

They watched as tables were being flipped and the monster followed the movement only to be distracted as rocks hit the opposite wall. In a few minutes Spike had reached the middle of the room. The pair waited for anything that might have been a signal for several minutes only to keep waiting. The undead was closing in on the table that Spike was supposedly behind and there was still a lack of any form of signal.

"What's he doing? Did he already do whatever the signal was?"

"I don't know. Fuck, why did I have to fight with him?"

"Because you're ignorant now shut up and pay attention."

Bix took hold of the bomb and readied the flint while Sunset kept watch on Spike's table. The undead moved closer until it finally came upon the table and pushed it aside to reveal nothing behind it. It was then that the two saw a stream of green fire from the left side of the room.

"Now!" Bix yelled as he lit the bomb and threw it at the apologist clouding it's figure in mass of smoke. Sunset recited the words as quickly as she could and threw the gems into the cloud. They shattered and purple mist formed within taking on her shape.

The apologist's book shone as it tried to direct the magic towards the incorporeal avatars. White lights danced around the images as Spike rushed forward from his hiding spot sword in hand. Meanwhile, Bix and Sunset had retreated towards the small opening and were trying to hurry it's opening as it came close to being able for them to crawl. Bix started his crawl first as Sunset watched the lights flashing from within the smoke. She could hear the monstrosity shrieking it's unholy howl as the sound of Spike's movements told her he was trying to dodge the lights dancing around.

"Hurry the fuck up! I'm already here and there doesn't seem to be anything deadly!" Bix yelled from the other side of the opening prompting the human guised pony to start her crawl.

As she started her crawl she could hear tables smashing and Spike curse.Was the smoke clearing? Did the thing get him? Did he get it? Questions danced in her mind as she continued forward faster. When she reached the other side where Bix was waiting she immediately turned around and looked through the passage. The smoke was diminishing and another shriek cut through the air. The image of Spike flying across her limited vision burned itself into her mind.

"Spike!" she yelled as the undead's book glowed and started to shine over his body.

The yell distracted the apologist and it looked around for the source leaving enough time for Spike to duck behind another table.

"Stay there! I couldn't get it in time. The thing moved before I could get a clean swipe!"

Sunset ignored the warning and started to crawl through the passage once more until she saw the initial entrance start to close. The close quarters hindered her movements as she tried to hurry before she was cut off. Suddenly she felt hands on her legs trying to drag her out of the passage.

"Leave it! He said to run, don't make him do all this for nothing!"

"I can't leave him with that thing! Spike! Spike!"

She kept yelling and crawling only for the dust in the hole to start floating and hindering her breathing. As she tried to throw Bix off her the bag where she stored the gems opened and threw out the Garnet inside. She stared at it for a minute only to recite the words as she grabbed it. From what she could see, Spike was trying once more to cut the head off as the illusions started to fade. She tossed the gem towards the entrance and watched it shatter as she closed her eyes.

Silence surrounded her as she opened her eyes and found the door moving even slower than before. She tried crawling once again only to find added weight to her body as Bix was dragged with her. As she reached the other side of the door inched itself only a millimeter. She looked towards Spike to find him standing still in the path of cluster of lights.

The lights inched closer to him little by little as his expression grew grim. The undead's shrieking wasn't heard though it seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. Getting up, she found Bix still clinging to her and his face slowly moving.

"It slows time..." She said in a whisper. "I have to hurry!"

She grabbed the kid and dragged him out of the hole and released his grip before putting to one side. She then ran towards Spike and the undead pushing the dragon away from the lights. She could tell that he was seeing her as his face became confused. The lights started to move closer and faster as she moved away from them.

"It's starting back up." Sunset grabbed Spike's sword and slashed at the apologist's neck. She wasn't strong enough to slice it off as it embedded itself halfway. Time was beginning to return to normal as she struggled to take it out. When she finally freed the blade from the meaty holster, she once again swung at it's neck putting her entire weight behind it.

As it struck the rotting flesh, she could hear Spike crashing into a table and Bix finishing what he was saying. The apologist shrieked one last time before it's head fell off and the body slumped forward. Sunset moved out of the way and the light of the spell it cast dissipated.

"Shit! What the fuck just happened?!" Bix yelled as he tried to scramble to his feet.

Spike rushed forward after collecting himself and stomped on the head laying on the ground with a horrible squelch and crunch. It wasn't until the head had become a hideous mass of rotten flesh, teeth, and shattered bones that he took a deep breath.

"Spike! Are you ok?" Sunset asked as she rushed to his side.

Bix walked up to the pair as Spike turned to face Sunset. His faced showed nothing less than fury as slapped her. Bix stopped halfway and decided to sit down on the nearest chair rather than continue.

"Wha.." Sunset muttered as she held a hand to her left cheek.

"What the fuck were you thinking?! You could have gotten killed!"

"I was trying to save you! I couldn't just leave you to alone with that thing!"

"I told you to trust me! You said you'd follow what I told you and yet you pull this shit again! Stop thinking about others and think about your own safety; you fucking idiot!"

"I can't just leave one of my friends to die!"

"We aren't friends!" Spike yelled in a huff.

Sunset took a step back as she took in his words. Spike started to calm down only to realize what he'd said. He watched Sunset's expression become downcast and stayed in place as she walked away towards Bix's location. He remained still as he heard a chair screech and a footsteps coming closer.

"I'll uh... I'll go ahead and search the body. Get some rest, we should be leaving pretty soon after all."

"I'll help you."

"Are you sure? Don't you... want to talk her?"

"No. It's best to just leave her alone for now."

The two of them crouched over the body and pried the book out of it's cold hand. The hand clutching it came off as well and Spike had to cut it off before they could open it. As they did, the book shone and flashed; blinding them in process. Once their vision came back they noticed all the pages had become blank except for the first.

"Fuck, it had a trap on it."

"What spell is left? I'm still seeing spots myself."

"It's the basic healing spell. It's fine, that's all we need. Even if it's just basic; it does more than other spells since it's an apologist book. It should be enough to cure the kids back home. I guess the rest will just come back as it's mastered." Bix closed the book and held on to it as he searched the body's cloak for anything else.

"Aha!" he said as he pulled a bundle from the inside of the coat. He opened the bundle to reveal papers and ink along with some small stones. "This guy was into some serious magic. Not often you find counterfeit paper; let alone some chance stones."

Spike grabbed the papers and stones and stuffed them into his pocket before Bix could protest.

"What the fuck! I wanted those!"

"Deal with it. I had to deal with the fucking thing so I'm taking everything besides the book."

Bix grumbled and walked off to join Sunset as Spike searched the corpse once more and took it's clothes. As he sat down next to the girl he noticed her staring at a rock.

"You alright?"

"Hmm? Yea, I was just... lost in thought is all." She continued to stare at the rock in her hand and turned it over feeling it's smooth surface. It was the same one that she'd gotten during her encounter with the Mad God's agent. The surface looked the same as any other rock but the texture felt too smooth to be natural. It felt as if it was pulsing the longer she held it. As if it was going to start moving on it's own at any moment.

"Let's go. We have quite a bit of ground to cover until we make it back to town." Spike said as he came to where the pair was sitting.

"Fine by me. Now that we have the book; I'd rather get back as soon as possible and heal the kids. Though, with what we encountered here so far I'm kind of curious as to what else is inside this dungeon."

"You're welcome to stay if you want Bix. Sunset and I will be leaving as my part of the deal is complete."

"Yea, yea. I get you. I'll undo the curse as soon as we're out of here and you two can go about your ways." he said as the boy walked past the dragon. He was stopped by Spike grabbing hold of his shoulder.

"The deal was for that book you have as well."

"What curse?" Sunset asked coming up from behind.

"It's nothing. Just something between me and the kid."

Sunset stayed silent and Bix took a moment to look at the claw holding him and felt the pressure coming from it. He dug through his belongings and handed the book over to his bodyguard. Spike let him go and stored the book away. They backtracked through the dungeon until the came upon the pile of rubble blocking the path to the entrance. Sunset was silent the whole trek back only raising her voice when asked a yes or no question.

The air was tense with frustration from Spike and Sunset as Bix helped his bodyguard remove the rubble blocking the path. Sunset just stood apart from them silently keeping guard. Once the rubble was cleared and they returned to the entrance; Bix stopped the party to do a final check.

"Listen, since we're already here I might as well let you know that the curse was just me bluffing."

"What?!" Spike yelled.

"I know, I know. I shouldn't have lied but I really needed this book. I'll make it up to you by getting you some of the supplies you need free of charge."

"You mean by stealing them?" Sunset added as the two continued to stare at each other.

"Take it or leave it. I don't really care. I'm just trying to be fair since you've done all you could to make it so I get back alive."

"We'll take it." Spike responded immediately before Sunset could refuse. "I could care less if it's stolen. As long as they aren't marked it'll be fine."

"They won't be. My guys have learned how to wipe that kind of stuff off. Though, if you could spare more of that meat, I might be able to add in something extra."

"I'll think about it."

"All I ask."

"Yea? Well, you've already asked enough." Spike grabbed Bix and put him over his shoulder. He stretched his hand out for Sunset who took it and climbed onto his back.

All three of them said their silent goodbyes to the dungeon as Spike climbed down from the tree slowly. As they reached the bottom; the long trek to town started and ended in complete silence until they reached the familiar gate. It was then a noise came from the other side and a body came barreling out of the small entrance to the side.

"Keep out you no good lazy miser!" a voice yelled from inside.

"Yea?! Well fuck you too." the large man responded as he dusted himself off. He looked at the door before turning and spotting the party. "You again? Whatever, quit staring and mind your own." he said walking off into the forest.

"What was that about?" Bix asked as he held on to Spike due to having trouble walking.

"We saw him the first time we came here. Didn't think they'd let him in again."

"Didn't know you were acquainted with an elder"

"Elder?" Sunset asked; breaking her silence.

"He's an elder of the town. That's what we call the people that have been here since the place was established."

"How long ago was that?"

"Oh some 735 years ago."

"That's impossible! No one can be that old!"

"This is the Domains. Anything is possible so deal with it."

The trio walked though the small entrance and towards the hideout. They noticed the shops were completely different than when they left. Bix chalked it up to the town's continuous shifting and checked a sign he'd left to know what had shifted before continuing. As they crossed the river and traversed several rooftops and alleyways a clear sense of change crept among them. It wasn't until they reached their destination that Bix said something.

"This can't be it."

"What do you mean? It's the place you told me to go." Spike responded as he let the boy down.

"No, I mean, yea it is the place according to the signs. However, something's wrong here; this feels completely different."

Spike and Sunset watched as the boy hobbled over to the door way and knocked in a strange manner. The door opened and a young woman stood at the entrance.

"Who the fuck are you?" Bix asked crudely.

"Bix? Is that you?" the woman said shaking slightly.

"Depends. Who's asking?"

"It's me. Sarah."

"No... you can't..."

The woman lifted her hair and showed him scar. Bix stared at it in disbelief as he recognized the mark for his friend's birthmark.

"How long?" he asked in a small voice.

"Four years." was all she managed to say as tears formed in her eyes.
> WWTD?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"We're leaving. Come on Sunset."

"What? What do you mean? What about Bix?"

The dragon stopped halfway towards the alley that led them to the orphan's base and turned to face the girl.

"What about him? We got the book. He gave me what we agreed on and now he's back here safe. That was the deal and anything else after that is his problem to deal with. We've spent far too much time doing this shit and not enough time on what we came here to do."

Sunset looked over her shoulder at the boy once more to see him unmoving as the woman at the door simply cried and hugged him. His expression was pure shock whether by something the woman said or something he realized she didn't know. Whatever was said between the two was lost to the her as she could barely hear above them mumbling.

"Come on! We're going to an Inn and we'll talk about this there." Spike turned once more and entered the alley as Sunset followed hesitantly.

Following the towering reptile and keeping silent as she didn't even expect of herself. Her thoughts kept returning to their fight in the dungeon and what he had said about their relationship. Did he truly not see her as a friend or was it just a spur of the moment comment due to being angry? His eyes seemed sincere as he shouted the words and nothing about his demeanor changed since he said it. She couldn't tell what he was thinking at all and it worried her.

They reached a tall building after many twists and turns that had a sign with a picture of some form of animal she'd never seen before. The words were still a mystery to her and now that Bix was no longer with them she had no one to ask what anything was other than Spike. He didn't seemed to be in a talking mood at the moment as she witnessed him speaking to a stout man behind a counter and dumping coins onto it.

She followed once more staying close as the other patrons seemed to be eying her with something other than just curiosity. It sent shivers down her spine as she noticed they had been going up for some time. As they reached the top they descended down another set of stairs and into a room with more stairs leading up. They crossed a hallway devoid of doors except for the one at the far end which opened to more stairs leading down. At the end of the stairs was yet another door which Spike knocked on four times and opened.

The door revealed two small steps to a door similar to the first one. He used a key, which he more than likely got from the stout man, and opened it. Beyond the door was a room with a fireplace towards the back. A table was by the fireplace big enough for six people with a pitcher of water in the center. A book shelf on the right side with only a few books in it and a window right next to it. The left wall held hooks on it for their belongings and a door that, when Spike opened it, led to a room with a large bed. A small table could be seen on the right side and small counter was located across from the door that held a large bowl of water with a mirror hanging above it.

"Get some sleep. We'll talk about what we're going to do tomorrow."

"I'm not tired. You said you'd tell me why you're the way you are now. I want to know."

"I lied."

"W-what?!"

Spike turned from putting away the packs and hanging up his leather jerkin to look at the her. "I said, I lied. I'm not going to tell you about it because I don't want to talk about it. Now get some sleep. We've got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow and I'd rather not have you too tired for anything."

"No! You said that you'd tell me after we got through all of that! I deserve to know!"

"You deserve to live!" He shouted as he slammed the wall with his fist.

"You got lucky back there Sunset! I told you that I had a handle of it and yet you put yourself in danger after I specifically asked you to trust me! I had everything under control!"

"You were going to get hit with that spell! What was I supposed to do?!"

"You should have left it alone! That spell wouldn't have work on me anyways!"

"That doesn't make sense!"

"Dragons here are highly resistant to magic! If it had hit me there was a chance it wouldn't have done a thing!"

"A chance? A CHANCE! You risked your life on a chance?!"

"Yes, I did and I'd do it again if it meant keeping you safe you fucking idiot!"

"I'm not a child that needs looking after!"

"You could have fooled me with how you've been acting lately! Not only did you decide to join the dive, you also ignored my warnings in favor of doing whatever it was you wanted! I wanted to be out of this place within a week and now thanks your need to help people we've ended up staying for four years!"

Sunset took a step back as Spike calmed down and sat down at the large table and poured himself a drink. The silence grew between them as she crossed the room and took a seat opposite of the drake.

"Why did you say we aren't friends?"

"Because we aren't." He sighed before downing the drink in one go.

"I thought we were. I've considered you a friend for a long time now."

"No. You've considered Twilight your friend. You've only ever talked to me when she was around we aren't friends. Acquaintances maybe but not friends, not in the slightest."

"But-"

"Sunset, I'm not saying we'll never be friends and I'm definitely not saying I won't look out for you. You're the only thing spurring me on to try and find a way back anymore. I think if anything happened to you then I'd finally just give up."

"Give up?"

"I know that I've been touched by the Mad God. That crystal with part of my soul is proof of that and the only thing keeping me sane. I'm tainted Sunset, I've been tainted for a long time and I've fought it for just as long hoping for a sign to return. You just happened to show up the moment I truly felt like I'd done enough."

Spike rested his hand on his arm and wiped his face with his other hand as he turned to stare at the fire. When Sunset first reunited she realized he had changed but now she took a good look at him. His expression alone told of someone who had been close to breaking several times. The scars lining his body told of hard won battles and a deep mark on the right side of his chest meant he had experienced being close to death more than once.

"What... what were you going to do?"

"What do you mean?" he asked looking at her once more.

"When we were at the village; you said that you had plans to leave within the next few days. What were you planning on doing?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Spike, tell me. If you won't tell me about your past then at least tell me this."

"I was planning on going into the jungle and smashing the crystal." he sighed pouring another glass. "I was prepared to turn into a paradox beast or whatever he wanted of me."

It was hard to take in and believe what Spike had said. It had to have been a cold and harsh life the drake experienced for his usually optimistic demeanor and innocence he had when was younger. Was this world truly so bad that he'd be willing to give up on his life so readily?

Then again, did she honestly think it wasn't with everything she had seen and heard from both Bix and Spike? Was she truly just naive to think that it couldn't be that bad? No, she knew what she was up against with everything she'd experienced. The Mad God's agent was clue enough as to what this world was capable of and yet, she felt that if she acknowledged it she'd begin to lose something important.

"Fine."

"Fine?" mimicked the confused the dragon.

"Yes, It's fine. I'm starting to understand what it is I've been put into. I'll listen to you from now and stop treating you like the baby dragon I remember. As long as you stop treating me like a child."

A nod as a reply was all she needed to turn and try to sleep. It would be a long night for both of them.

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"I'll be out here don't worry about me and sleep."

Her immediate thought was to protest and yet she shut it down just as quickly and closed the door to the room. Spike was left alone and soon the noises of rustling about couldn't be heard from the other room. He sat in silence for another hour before getting ready to go out. As he wrote a few lines stating he'd be back in a while he closed the front door as Sunset peeked on him leaving.

A thought came to follow him but his voiced echoed in her head about trusting him. She put the thought aside and returned to lay on the bed. Her mind racing with a thousand different questions as she stared at the ceiling. She reached for her jacket and took out the stone once more and moved it around in her hands.

"Four years... I can't believe four years passed while we were in that place. It can't have really been that long... could it? If this is a normal thing then does that mean I've been gone for months now back home?"

She wondered if they would ever find a way back. Spike had been here for seven years of his life without finding a way. Would her sudden arrival change anything? Then there was the Mad God's agent. He had transported her back to Equestria when trying to bribe her away. If they had that kind of power then what was to stop them from actually taking over Equestria. They didn't even consider Discord much of a threat.

"Fuck it. I'll think about all this tomorrow. It's getting late and Spike wouldn't just leave me alone without making sure I was safe. I'll ask him where he went in the morning."

Her eyelids closed as she yawned and buried herself deep into the covers of the bed. The exhaustion, both mental and physical, hit her as her head hit the pillow. Soon she found herself dreaming of better days. Days filled with laughter and joy brought to her by her friends, which, included Spike whether he saw them as friends or not.





"Give me another one and leave the bottle this time." Spike said as he caught the attention of the bartender before the portly woman could ignore him once again.

"I'll do so when I see if you have the coin for it." Her look of disgust turned to one of comfort as Spike produced a small bag full of coins and placed several on the counter. She grabbed them and set down a large bottle of his usual drink.

To say it was his usual was just him thinking it was as he had never been to the bar before tonight. The drink itself was the cheapest and lowest quality alcoholic drink anyone could afford. While others drank it because they had little choice due to being low on coin, he drank it because he'd gotten a taste for it due to years of human hunting.

He took the bottle and his glass to a small table near one of the open bar windows. The other patrons ignored him as their attention was directed towards a pair of cats arguing over who's fur was softer. The white hair had a point that, since his fur didn't have any stains or indications of dirt, her fur was softer. To which, the tabby smeared some dirt on her chest and a fight broke out.

"What do you want?" Spike directed towards a figure that stood on the other side of the wall.

"I've a message to deliver."

"Well, send it back. I don't want anything to do with you lot."

"Not happening I'm afraid. You've taken an oath and it's time to uphold it. You are needed at the border of the Domains within three weeks. There's a war going on and you'll be taking part in it."

"I'm not fighting in any wars. Tell them I'm not moving unless I get what I want."

"You aren't fighting in the war. You're ending it."

"How does he expect me to do that?"

"You'll know when you get there. Just a warning; in case you refused or had thoughts of not going they told me to give you this." A pale hand stretched itself inside the building through the window with a small sack.

Spike snatched the sack and dumped it's contents to see a bundle of red and gold hair tied together with a small string. He picked the bundle up and sniffed it which resulted in him immediately reaching outside. He pulled the messenger inside only to find an empty cloak.

"Why does every one think to make me angry lately?" He stuffed the tuft of hair away and drank the rest of the bottle before chewing on the glass. "Let me get six more bottles and a barrel of water." He yelled over the roar of the crowd that was still watching the cat fight going on.

The bartender tapped the counter and Spike produced coins for the wares. He packed the bottles away in his pocket and carried the barrel back to the room but not before collecting the empty cloak at the table he was sitting.





The click of the lock echoed through the room as Sunset woke from her short slumber. She got out of bed and wrapped one of the blankets around her as she walked and peeked into the next room. She saw Spike coming in carrying a barrel of some sort with an extremely sour look on his face as he shut the door. He set it down by the table as she opened her door.

"Where were you?" She asked stepping out of the bedroom and walking towards the dragon.

"I thought you were sleeping." Spike sighed as he let himself fall onto one of the chairs.

"I was sleeping. It just wasn't as deep as I would have liked."

"Try get some more then. I'll wake you up in a few hours. We need to visit some shops before we leave in the morning."

"Where are we going? Did you find some kind of lead? What about Bix?"

"What about him? He's lived this long without us being around. As for where we're going, well, I have to go towards the northern border of the domains and I'm not leaving you behind."

"I wasn't planning to stay put either way. Why the border though?" Sunset poured herself a glass of water waiting for an answer but nothing came. "Spike?"

He pulled a bottle out from nowhere and started to take long swigs of the drink. He wiped away the excess that slipped from the sides of his mouth before putting it down and burping a slight puff of fire.

"There's a city close to the northern border that works as a hub for any thrown into the Domains. If there are any clues as to how we can get back to Equestria we can start there."

"If that's the best chance then why haven't you tried it before?"

"I have, but I haven't been there in years so it has to have something new. There's also the fact that we've wasted an entire four years because of the dungeon." He drank some more as he answered never meeting Sunset's eyes.

"I'm sorry alright!" Sunset yelled at the mention of the time wasted.

"I'm not angry about that Sunset. I get that you just wanted to help them out. It just didn't end the way either of us wanted. Now go to bed. You need some rest and I want some time alone."

"I don't need to sleep. I can stay and help-"

"Sunset, please. I just need some time alone and if I can't get it here then I'll get it somewhere else. Either way, you still need sleep."

"Fine. Good night, Spike." She huffed stomping back into the bedroom.

Spike watched the door slam and sighed before finishing the bottle he'd taken out. He made a note to buy some more before leaving the town and took out another one. They needed to buy Sunset some decent armor. Enough supplies to last for two weeks or more for two. Gems for Sunset's spell to work; cheap ones as the barrel of water had been a bit of a drain. Then...

"Then what? Fuck, what am I even doing anymore? Nothing is going the way I want it to at all." He slumped down onto the table and put his hands on his head trying to figure out where everything went wrong. "We were only supposed to supply here and get some info before going to the border town. Four years... four more years spent here without my knowing."

Grabbing the bottle again and draining it; he groaned in frustration. "What should I do? Twilight, tell me what I should do. I'm tired Twilight. I'm so so tired." He laid his head down and closed his eyes as the fire started to grow dim. A new day was slowly starting to rise and with it new problems. For now, he them pass over him as he dreamed of still being the number assistant to the Princess of Friendship. He dreamed of being home.
> Unknown Paths
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Morning, Spike." Sunset walked out of the room dressed and hungry. It was a hassle not to have indoor plumbing but she had done without it before during the month she had to accommodate Applejack when she invited her camping. Not only was it far from any known camp sites. Sunset had only brought enough for herself plus a few extra snacks whereas A.J only carried some rope and an ax.

Needless to say, it was a disaster as A.J kept running off and leaving her alone to enjoy the outdoors. When they returned she confronted the rest of the girls about it and received a unified response that indicated it being an initiation of sorts. The only one that hadn't hated it was Pinkie but it was mainly due to her driving A.J insane within the third day. Regardless, not having indoor plumbing was an inconvenience but one she could certainly survive.

"Morning, how did you sleep?" he was opening a window curtain letting in the morning sun as he walked back to the table and collected several objects he'd been polishing.

"Decently. How about you?"

"Didn't sleep. Was too busy trying to take inventory and cleaning up. Once you think you're ready I made some soup. When you're done eating get ready to go shop and get you armor for the trip ahead among other things."

"Wait, you didn't sleep? Why's tha- Hey!" she yelled as he walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

"Later, I'll be washing before we leave. Hurry up and eat; we don't have all day."

Sunset was left frustrated at the table before getting up and pouring a serving. She realized that Spike wasn't in the mood to talk so she directed her energy to angrily eating. Spike was becoming distant and she didn't like it. Then again, it wasn't as if they had been close in the first place. Last night's talk replayed in her mind when she confronted him about his comment in the dungeon.

"He's right. I never really took the time to get to know him at all. It was only ever when he was around Twilight that I even bothered." 

Everything he had said that night had rung true. They weren't friends and barely even acquaintances. Whatever reason she thought was valid for yelling at him to lie was pointless. Friends talk to each other and listen to one another but when you're practically strangers with a mutual friend it was different. She had spent the last few years learning the ins and outs of friendship with the paragon of friendship herself yet, she was still as inexperienced as the time spent being Celestia's protege.

The door opened and Spike stepped out dressed in a different white cloth shirt. He pulled the jerkin on his body and gathered the rest of the bags. Taking a peek inside the pot of soup he motioned towards it to see if Sunset wanted more. She shook her head and watched him down the rest in a series of gulps. He took the pot and headed into the room once more to clean it; stepping out once it was done and tying it to his pack.

"Let's go. Leave the plates, they're part of the room."

Sunset quickly adorned her pack and followed Spike through the maze of an Inn. It seemed longer than when they had first arrived and there were others moving about in front of them only to pass through doors and end up behind. She stopped at a door and opened it only to find a corridor that looked much like the rest. Finding herself drawn in she took a step inside and the door locked behind her. With there being only one other door she walked towards it and found the path warping slightly.

The door she had seen in front of her as she stepped inside was now on the ceiling above her. She turned around and saw a set of stairs that weren't there when she walked through and the entrance to this hallway on the right side. There was a knock on the door above which caused her to jump slightly before reaching for the handle. As the door opened she felt the full effects of gravity and started to fall upwards then downwards; landing into Spike's arms.

"Stop playing around and stay with me." he said putting her down and closing the door to his left.

"Right, sorry."

Sunset stayed close for the rest of the walk through the ups and downs of the hallway which seemed longer than the one they took to arrive at the room. As they reached the end of a particular twisting hall they were rewarded with a door too small for someone Spike's size. However, once he grabbed the handle and opened it Sunset felt a force pull her and they were immediately on the other side of the door and at the front desk.

"Damn it. I was hoping you'd get lost in there." the owner of the Inn said accepting the key Spike placed on the counter.

"Yea almost didn't make it thanks to her being curious. Better luck next time."

The duo walked out into the misty morning to the sounds of a bustling street of merchants and urchins. The road that was once filled with intricate designs was now in disrepair as the residents of the town walked or crawled through without concern. The buildings that hadn't matched the glamor of the road the first time through were now replaced with rather regal looking abodes and shops. Whoever was the in charge at the moment seemed to prefer the buildings looking better than anything else as the thugs and miscreants did not match the upper-class feeling of the place.

"Stay close this time. I don't know how and when the town is going to shift so it's best to keep within view of each other in case it happens. We'll be going to one of the few shops I know doesn't shift."

"Right."

The pair traversed the streets filled with miscreants. Sunset watched as gecklings and humans mingled together despite what she'd learned the creatures do to any they caught. She noticed more urchins running here and there stealing or accompanying those that they were trying to steal from. There were even some races that she'd never seen such as one that looked like regular ducks wearing clothing and tall badger looking beings who wore cloaks and hid their eyes behind a dark veil. She would have noticed more if not for Spike's claw turning her head forward.

"Don't stare. If they catch you looking or paying attention then you'll get caught up in their mess. Whether it's because they feel it rude or they feel you're an easy target it's best to just mind your own. Besides, we're here."

"This place?" Sunset noticed the small building they were standing in front of for the first time.

It had a canopy situated in front of its door with tables holding all different kinds of plants and meats. It wasn't exactly bustling with activity as everyone that seemed to pass by ignored it entirely. As they stepped closer she heard a bell ring to her left and a goat walk out chewing some grass. It watched them enter the building through the door with a blank stare. The inside of the shop was lit only with a few candles and the few rays of sunlight that crept in from the doorway and a small window.

A gruff voice from the back called out which was given form as a tall, tanned and bearded man with scars all over his bald head walked out from behind a wall of rugs. Spike signaled Sunset to stay quiet as he spoke to who could only be the shop owner. He pointed a claw towards her and the man nodded before saying a few more words in the language of Discordian, at least that's what Sunset thought it was at the moment. The man disappeared once more behind the wall of rugs and the two were once again left alone.

"What were you two talking about?"

"I asked him to get any sturdy and light armors that he had so we could haggle."

"He seemed upset for a second while you two were talking. Did something happen between the two of you?"

"No, I just asked how he was doing. He was only upset because of a fight he had with his wife a week before. They haven't talked since but I told him I could fix it for a discount."

"I thought you didn't care for helping anyone out."

"If it's to save money we need for traveling then I'll do at least this much. Besides, it's easy enough if you already know who his wife is." Spike smiled before handing reaching into his pack and pulling out the book Bix had given him the day before. "Here, I've already translated the spell for you last night. It's the same one Bix used in order to talk to you."

"So the payment for the job was the book to help me understand?" A nod gave her the confirmation she needed as she took the book and opened it to the spell in question. "Thanks, Spike."

"Don't thank me yet. Since you're new to the spell it'll only last for six hours at most and you can't cast it again for the rest of the day. You also need to keep it close to you in order to have the effects stay active until you can easily cast it without the book. Plan accordingly because there might be situations that even I can't be of any help. Now, stay here and wait for the guy while I talk to his wife."

Sunset watched him walk outside and out of sight before hearing his voice call out to someone. She invoked the spell and tried to listen in only to hear the bleating of a goat and second voice slightly over it. A groan came from behind her and she found the man back with a large chest in his arms. He slammed it onto a counter and motioned for her to join as he laid out three different armors.

"Pick da one ya want girly. I'll be nice today let ya have a discount thanks to your pal smoothing things out with the wife."

The first one was made of what felt like silk and looked more like a short robe than armor. The whole thing was white with tiny threads of black making a design of a serpent's tail coiling around the front. It had a hood that bore a different design made from the same black threads. It was folded so she couldn't actually make out what it actually was so she tried to pick it up.

"Hold on there. If that's what you want then go ahead and pick it up but ya should know that when you do it'll be bound to ya regardless and you'll have to pay for it. You can touch but don't pick it up unless you truly want it."

"What do you mean it'll be bound?"

"Look here girl, when you deal with things in this town you have to know that all shops have countermeasures to thieves. If someone was to try and steal anything then they'll be bound to the item until they pay. Meaning you'll never be able to wear anything else as it'll take over what you're currently wearing as that's how clothing is bound. So I suggest you take your time and pay before picking anything up."

Her hand moved away and she took a look at the other sets with a nod. The second piece was much like Spike's jerkin and held no special insignia. It did, however, have studs that looked to be made of obsidian but they shone with an eerie dark glow. It came with a set of leg and arm guards with the same stones embedded into them. The final set was a deep crimson long sleeved chain mail coupled with arm guards and a strap located on the hip that seemed to be for any of the books that were seen in this world. It shone as light from the sun hit the metal links and seemed to hum the closer she got.

"They all seem good but I've never really had any sort of armor in my life. I can feel some magic on them too; what's that about?"

"Ah, a scholar then?" he said with a slight frown "We don't get many of you but judging by the book you have and the fact you seem sheltered I'd say go for the robe. It's made from depth spider silk and the scales of sky snakes. The scales protect you from strong gusts and keep the thing pretty clean as it lets things slide off easily. The silk is sturdy enough to stop a regular knife or claw before it gets to anything too important."

"And the other two?"

"The jerkin has obsidian cores sewn into it. Alone it's just a regular old jerking but with the cores, it'll let you blend into your surroundings as long as you don't move and it's relatively dark. It's great for cowards but not the best defense against anything. The chain mail is made with melted down parts of fire-fanged bats. Damn things are harder to use due to being so resistant but they are extremely useful as parts for armor. The thing will let you go take a round of fire head on for a time and makes for above average protection. The only thing that's a problem is the damn weight; the fact of the matter is that the bat parts make it twice as heavy as the other two."

"How much are they?" Spike asked coming back inside with the goat following close behind.

"You better not gouge them on the price or I swear to the Mad God that you'll be sleeping in the pen until I'm cooled off." a feminine voice called out from somewhere.

Sunset looked around to find who it was that talked only to witness as the man rushed past her to hug the goat.

"I won't, I swear it. I'm sorry about before I'll make sure not to cheat on ya again."

"You better not." answered the goat nuzzling the shopkeeper.

Spike put a hand on Sunset's shoulder before she could open her mouth. "Don't. I know you want to ask but right now is not the time to bring that up. I'll tell you later if you really want to know."

"Right, anyways, I'll do you lot a good turn and let you have one for the price of forty gold. They're usually at least a hundred or so, but you got us talking again and that means more than anything to me."

"Well, Sunset? Any idea on which you want?" Spike nudged her towards the sets. "Can you also let me get some trash gems and a couple loaves of bread with two bundles of vegetables?"

"Sure, Let me go get em."

"The robe sounds good. I'll take that one as I'm not exactly sure I'll be able to withstand the weight of the mail and the jerkin doesn't seem that good despite the effect."

"That's fine dear. I'll throw in some leg and arm guards free of charge. Nothing too fancy but they'll get the job done. In all, I'd say it'll come to no less than a hundred twenty gold. If you don't have that then I'll be willing to accept trades." The goat walked towards the sets and put the other two away before reaching for the bag Spike held out to her.

"I'm ten short but I got some dragon scales to sell in order to cover the rest."

"Dragon scales?" she shouted through the bag in her mouth. "How in the Domains did you get them?"

"Found them on a corpse."

"Ah, yea that'll do it. That'll be two hundred a piece; how many do you have?"

"Just two right now. I might need more gems though so throw in three more bags of them."

"That's fine. That makes brings it up to an even hundred for you. I'll go let him know so just leave the scales on the table." she turned to Sunset before leaving and gave a smile as best a goat could anyways. "You can go ahead and wear it now if you want. It won't be bound now that I have the money."

"Dragon scales?" Sunset asked holding the robe up to look at it better.

"I shed. It's not my fault they're pretty valuable just gives me something to look forward to each time one falls off."

"Won't they know it's yours once you hand them over?"

"Not really." He took a bundle of cloth out and handed it to her.

She undid the wrapping and found two large red scales. "I thought you said these were yours."

"They are mine. I don't know whether it's because of this place or the fact I'm tainted but they change color when they fall off. I don't question it since it doesn't bother me what happens to them once I shed."

The owners came back with the goods requested as Sunset placed the scales down. She took her jacket off and put the robe on. It felt like wearing a hoodie as it only stretched a bit past the top of her jeans and clung to her body. The material was light and she could feel the air slightly pass through it but still keep her warm. Strapping on the arm and leg-guards while Spike haggled; she felt a surge of magic run through her body as the last strap tightened around the bite the Mad God's agent gave her.

"Are you alright?" Spike asked with a worried look.

"Y-yea. Sorry, did you say something?" she held a hand to her forehead trying to keep her vision steady.

"I asked if there was something here you want. I figure you're curious about some of the stuff here so pick something out."

She nodded and walked around taking in the sights of drugs, herbs, meats and other various goods. She walked past a stand full of some kind leather and noticed a small chair with books stacked on top of them. As she reached for them another surge of magic ran through her causing the books to fall over as she stumbled. She held up a hand to stop Spike from rushing over and got up only to hear a thud as the rock still in the jacket she held fell onto one of the books. It hummed slightly and seemed to make the book glow slightly. Sunset put it away noting it pulsed slightly in her hand and reached for the book. The symbol of a leaf was on the cover and was closed with a small lock.

"Is that what you want?"

"Huh?" She turned to see Spike looking over her shoulder. "Y-yea. I might not be able to read it but it might help me learn faster if I have something other than spells as examples."

"Looks like it's locked up tight." he said grabbing the book. "You wouldn't happen to have the key for this would ya?"

The shopkeeper looked at the book handed to him only shake his head. "Nah, I traded it for some food but it didn't come with the key. I suppose they thought it would only stay here for a while but it's been a couple months. If you want it then I'll let it go for one piece."

"It doesn't have the key and you're still charging a piece? How's about you throw in a jar of honey and it's a deal."

"Yea, sure. I might as well since ya'll have been fair."

They bid farewell to the odd couple and Sunset followed close to Spike as he stopped to buy several bottles from a stand outside a bar. The duo continued through the maze of a town and arrived at the entrance as the sun hit midday. Spike ran a thorough check on both their bags before opening the door into the jungle of the Domains. It seemed to be even more overgrown than when they had first traveled through it.

"Can I have the book now?" Sunset asked before the two were too far from the town.

"Oh, right." Spike took it out and turned it over before focusing an intense fire on the lock. It melted off but left the cover slightly burnt and some of the page edges charred. "It's not perfect but this way you'll at least be able to use it." he said handing the book over to the girl.

Sunset took a moment to look through the pages and only to find nothing she could actually read. "Spike, what do you make of this?"

"Let me take a look." He scanned a few of the pages only to stop in the middle. "Huh, well would you look at that."

"What?"

"Well, this book is perfect for someone like you."

"Why do you say that?" she took it back as it was handed over to her once more.

"It's a book on the history of The Domains. Looks to be an account of several people throughout the ages. When we get some time I'll go ahead and translate the first couple of pages for you and write down some of the letters to have you get used to them."

"Thanks, Spike."

"It's no problem. Now, let's pick up the pace. I want to get to the border within the next two weeks. Hopefully, nothing happens along the way that'll cost us time." He said as he tore down some vegetation in the way with his claws and stamped out any of the encroaching vines to make a path for the two. 

He was betting on the path to the border to be the same despite the years that had been stolen from him. If everything went according to his memory they'd reach the place well within the amount of time. However, there was no telling what had changed and what remained the same as the two traveled through the thick jungle landscape.
> The Element of Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Any change today?"

"No, she's the same as yesterday and the day before. This is too much like before A.J, I don't know how much longer I can bear to see her this way."

The farmer held her shy friend as she began to cry while Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity stood by trying to think of something to help Twilight who was once again suffering the loss of somepony close to her. 





It was during the day that Sunset was supposed to arrive that the girls found copies of themselves inside the castle looking after the alicorn. The humans turned ponies explained the situation before returning to their world. It was a depressing way to meet their counterparts but they understood the situation once they looked at Twilight's frail figure shivering as she cried.

She would be bedridden for the next week as Fluttershy stayed to look after her and the girls visited her each day. Twilight's parents and even Shining Armor and Cadence took the time to visit her during that time as well but it would lead to no change in her behavior. Princess Celestia was much in the same state as she shut herself away and left the court to Luna once news of Sunset disappearing in the same fashion that had befallen Spike.

The time Sunset had spent consoling Twilight of Spike's disappearance was one she had spent making amends with the student she had failed. They were both hesitant about each other's motives until Celestia saw how Sunset truly cared about Twilight's well-being. It was what helped them reconcile and with her graduation and Twilight's recovery it did wonders for her mentally as she would have more time with each of them. However, fate was cruel and unforgiving as it took Sunset away for a second time and possibly forever.

Luna had tried her best to console her sister but nothing seemed to help her get past the incident. She had a feeling as to why it was such. Sunset had been the sole pony Celestia had opened up to after Luna's banishment caused her to close her heart to many and wear a constant mask. She was the one that let her be more than just a ruler and living deity. That was why, when she saw she'd failed Sunset, the feeling of losing someone close to her had hit her once more. Whether to protect herself further or if it was done subconsciously, Celestia had created an even stronger barrier between her and every pony else. It was the reason why Twilight would always see her as a mentor and idol instead the equal she had become.

Without the support of her mentor and the only other pony she felt a true bond with Twilight was left to deal with her feelings alone. It wasn't that she didn't want to let the other girls know what she was going through, it was simply impossible to put it into words. The feelings of a hole appearing in her already broken heart, the feeling of inadequacy as nothing she could do would ever be able to bring them back. It was more than she could bear to even begin to describe.

So there she lay in her bed as the hoofsteps of her friends echoed through the empty hallways that were otherwise caked in dust. The empty rooms with books left scattered and unorganized that Twilight had browsed through in search of answers. The front door echoed shut and Twilight could no longer hear Fluttershy crying. She turned her head towards the object that was the cause of the situation. The object that she once harbored the utmost interest in as it's very existence was a miracle of magic. Now, however, she saw it for what it truly meant and what Starswirl had feared.

It was an unknown magical device that was far from understood. Starswirl feared the interference that it could cause between dimensions and the dangers of traveling between them. The loss of Spike and Sunset proved to be the cost of using such unknown magic. It was more than she could take knowing that she had a hoof in their disappearance.

"No... Please... Don't leave me alone again." she said above a whisper as sleep took hold of her and Luna helped her remember better times.





The morning came and with it so did Fluttershy, normally. To Twilight's surprise it was Rainbow who had shown up around the time of her usual caretaker. It was enough to cause the alicorn to prop herself up even after spending the last several days simply staring between the ceiling and the mirror.

"Where's Fluttershy?" she said with a soft voice realizing that the ill use of it had made her lose it.

"She's taking a break for now. I"ll be watching over you for the next few days Twilight."

"Is she okay?"

Rainbow flinched slightly and paused from opening the curtains. "She's just... tired. How are you holding up Twi?"

"Could I get some water?"

"Sure." Rainbow floated over to the pitcher on a table near the mirror and poured a glass. She gave it to Twilight who took small sips as her horn lit up. "What are you doing?"

"Just checking the surveillance spells for anything." 

A flash went off and Rainbow shielded her eyes as windows of magic showed up hovering in the air. They showed various angles of the room but were all focused on one object in particular. The mirror was in the center of each of the images as time seemed to pass within them. Rainbow watched on as Fluttershy could sometimes be seen here and there walking around the bed which was slightly out of the shot. It was heavily uninteresting as it was the same nothing throughout all of them. It wasn't until she saw something that she spoke.

"Wait!"

"Ah!" The shout caught Twilight off guard as the pegasus jumped up and floated near one of the screens.

"Go back a bit but make it slower this time."

Twilight used her magic once more and did as she was told unsure of as to the reason why. "What's going on? I don't see anything." She watched the other screens and found nothing amiss.

"Stop!" Rainbow shouted and pointed to the one screen she'd been looking at. "Make this bigger."

Twilight brought the screen closer and made it three times it's size. She saw nothing wrong with it and wondered if Rainbow was just seeing things.

"Right here." Rainbow motioned towards the bottom left corner towards some shadow.

"I don't see anything Rainbow. Are you sure it's not just a trick of the light?"

"No, I swear it's not. Look at it closely, doesn't that shadow look like one of those from a hoomen?"

Twilight stared and enhanced the image to find that it could be mistaken for one but it wasn't real proof. She took another screen from a different angle and expanded the image on the same spot. The contents of the recording passed by slowly but a sudden shadow passed. She froze it instantly after rewinding and the shadows of two human like figures could be seen briefly. One of them had an increasingly familiar hairstyle.

"Sunset! It's Sunset! She's alive!" Twilight screamed which immediately caused a coughing fit. Rainbow tried to calm her down but was pushed back as Twilight forced her magic to cover the room. 

The magenta light soon recreated the past events that happened in the room. She focused on the spot where the shadows had been and found something trying to block her. She pushed through the barrier and found the image of Sunset Shimmer as a human. It should have been impossible for her to remain as such once through the portal yet there she stood on her feet. The image she faced was of someone Twilight didn't recognize at all. She tried to move closer towards the figure but a sudden pain shot through her horn.

The wave of magic was broken but for the briefest of moments Twilight saw the mysterious figure smile at her. Not at Sunset but her. As if it knew what she was doing and it didn't like it.

"What was that? What happened?" Rainbow shouted trying to understand exactly what she saw.

"Sunset is alive Rainbow. I don't know how or why she was here but I know that something beyond alicorn magic brought her here. Which means, it could be what took her as well as Spike."

"So, what do you think we should do?"

Twilight shook the pain off and grabbed the journal that was the catalyst for the portal to open. "I don't know yet, but they're alive out there. What I do know is that whatever or whoever took them from me is going to feel the full force of the element of magic. I'll get them back if it's the last thing I do." She placed the journal on top of the mirror and as it hummed awake Rainbow witnessed Twilight force all the magic around her to gather.

Whatever she was about to do or thought she was doing seemed to draw in all of the magic around them. From the magic in the air to the magic in Rainbow's wings. It all gathered towards her horn as Rainbow felt herself grow tired. The last image she saw was of Twilight blasting the mirror and causing a tear of some sort.