Spike got up from his dragon basket. It was nice and early, 6:00 A.M. to be precise. He paused and sniffed the air, letting his keen dragon sense of smell tell him where Twilight was. He couldn't find her. "Oh well, It'll work someday." He murmured to himself. Upon discovering that his hyper - enhanced - superbly - amazing predator senses weren't working, just like how they didn't work any other day. Spike rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and headed to the library of the castle. On the way he contented himself with only licking the tasty crystal walls. He entered the library and frowned, that's strange. He thought. Usually Twilight's in here compulsively re - ordering books or something. I mean, she's done that ever since she was a foal. But, hey, there's a first time for everything, right?
He figured that she must be in the kitchen, fixing them breakfast. His stomach grumbled, he thought that a good bowl of sapphires, would be a great idea for breakfast. Perhaps with some aquamarine dust in there, you know, for that extra kick. As he wandered down the halls of the labyrinthine palace, he hummed to himself:
dum da dum dum. On a date with Rarity. dum da dee dee. I'm blue da b- he stopped humming abruptly, he was nearing the kitchen, which Twilight was definitely inside. There was only one problem: if she was inside that room, presumably making breakfast. Where was the smoke? The burning smell from her cooking? This was strange. And needed to be investigated. He pushed open the door, and gawked at what he saw.
inside Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's protégé in the magic of friendship was sitting at a table, which was covered in books. Arcane runes and glyphs dotted about in the air, and she held a map of Equestria in her magical grasp. He chuckled, "Yeesh, Twi - lite, why are all these books out of the library? " He used the name "Twi - Lite" as a derogatory term, mainly due to how similar she and her mentor were. However, Starlight just kept ignoring him, her actions becoming more and more frantic the closer spike drew to her. Pentagrams, Hexagrams, and a whole lot of other 'grams joined the wards, glyphs, and star constellation charts she was already projecting with her magic. "Umm, is something wrong Starlight?"
Hearing her name called, she seemed to be jolted back into reality, "oh, I'm so sorry Spike, It's just... I can't find them!"
"Find who?" said Spike, getting a tiny bit annoyed at how vague her answer was.
"My friends! Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, or even Twilight!" Starlight exclaimed. Her voice becoming audibly faster as she said each name.
"you mean our friends, right? Besides, I'm sure they're just... somewhere," Spike trailed off lamely.
"That's just the problem Spike, they're aren't in Ponyville!"
"The princesses must have sent for them then. So they must be at Canterlot, right?" Spike's voice was full of confidence now. He had it figured out.
"No! They're not even in Equestria, I tried looking for their magical signal using the cutie map, but... they're not there! I sent a message to Canterlot, to the princesses, but they haven't responded, I think they're gone too!"
"Oh... that's bad. What about discord? he must've sent them to Chineigh or something to annoy them! he- he has to, please tell me that's what happened." Spike sounded desperate now.
"Spike, Discords magic Is very unique, using the map I would be able to tell if he was anywhere in the world, never mind Equestria, but... he isn't here either!" Starlight was sounding much more distraught as well.
Recognising this, Spike realised he had to be the voice of reason here. Just like he had to be the voice of reason whenever Twilight was freaking out about getting her homework grades from princess Celestia a couple minutes later than usual. He took a deep breath, "Okay, calm down Starlight."
"HOW IS CALMING DOWN GOING TO HELP ME FIND THEM!?"
"How is freaking out going to help you find them?" Starlight knew he had a point, Spike could see it in her eyes, or maybe they were tears.
"You're right, I'm very sorry Spike... I just don't know what to do!" Starlight moaned. Clearly exhausted, her hair was stuck up at odd angles, and her left eye was twitching. Spike couldn't help but note the similarities she had in common to his purple unicorn friend during the smarty pants incident. Starlight took very long breaths in rapid succession, her eyes stopped twitching, and she seemed much calmer. "Okay, so... what do we know? Discord isn't here. And neither are the girls, The Princesses probably aren't here either."
"Discord is probably dimension hopping, or doing whatever bored chaos spirits do," Spike countered.
"well, yes- but still! The girls aren't here, and the princesses haven't answered me. I'm presuming they aren't here either,"
"Do we know for sure that the princesses aren't here?" Spike wondered.
"Well, no... but I think it's highly unlikely that they would've ignored me. Especially if they saw a letter about their precious student."
"I'm sensing some major envy here!" Spike chided, before he remembered just how serious the situation could be. "Can you teleport us to them?"
"I was never that good at long distance teleportation, and even if I was, I'm too tired and frustrated to really focus. I wouldn't want to make a mistake and splinch us. Don't ask what that is... you don't want to know."
"Then we'll go to Canterlot to see The Princesses!" exclaimed Spike. "We'll go to Ponyville train station and board a train to Canterlot."
"Great Idea Spike, I can see now why Twilight keeps you around," Starlight announced, acting as if she had just figured this out.
"umm... Thanks Starlight," Spike murmured, clearly wishing he hadn't called Starlight "Twi - Lite" earlier.
"Just kidding Spike. So, are we going to the station or not?"
"Well... Sure, just let me round up some snacks!"
"Spike, now is not the time for sapphires with aquamarine dust!"
"awww, come on! I even had a dream about them and everything." Spike bemoaned, falling to the floor. While acting as if he had just been shot, and clutching his chest.
"... yup, Princess Luna has definitely been kidnapped." Starlight dryly remarked. "But seriously Spike, go get some snacks then we'll be on our way to the station and to Canterlot."
"Yes!!!" Spike then did a double fist pump in the air, and ran off to get his food.
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The walk through town was average, to say the least. The flower trio were trying to hawk their wares, however the apple stall, which would normally be ponied by AppleJack was instead being run by Big Mac. Spike suddenly had a eureka moment.
"Hey, maybe Big Mac can help us! he might know where Applejack was last!"
"I've already asked, he said Applejack told him she had somewhere to be, and then left... without leaving any hoofprints, that would require either a horn, or wings. Both of which Applejack does not have. Unless she has a horn under that Stetson of hers. Mr and Mrs Cake said that Pinkie Pie wasn't in her room when they went to wake her up... which isn't really unusual for her, I guess." she raised a hoof to scratch her mane, and then continued. "Except she wasn't in the kitchen counting how many sprinkles there were left like she usually is. Sweetie Belle said that Rarity was called to Canterlot on "fashion business", though I doubt that. Fluttershy isn't at her cottage, and neither were any of her animal friends. And rainbow dash wasn't in her cloud house, or training." Starlight stopped abruptly and wheezed, trying to get her breath back.
"wait, you did all of that in the morning? Just how much sleep did you get last night?" Spike said, with no small tone of worry in his voice.
"I didn't get any. Sleep is for the weak. Not for a strong, independent unicorn mare like myself."
"uh - huh so, in other words, you're dead on your hooves?" Spike said skeptically.
"yeah" Starlight admitted, her words and hoofsteps slowing as they drew within sight of the train station.
"Ouch, well, you can always sleep on the train."
"Oh, goodie! a whole two hours of sleep on a steam train, which somehow isn't powered by magic yet! That means it'll be tossing and turning through the whole journey!" Starlight slurred, her words becoming somewhat affected by her lack of sleep, and her worry for her friends. "Stupid earth ponies, with their stupid lack of magic, and their stupid, idiotic, ways of making trains."
"uh... starlight, might wanna tone down the supremacism there. Besides who cares, it's just a train" spike said jokingly.
"But I like trains." Starlight whined. While paying for their tickets.
"yeah, you're definitely going to sleep on the train."
They got into their train carriage, (which was pink and green) and while Starlight bedded down for her whole two hours of sleep. Spike stayed awake with worry about what could have happened to his friends. And devised many plans about what to do to the pony who kidnapped them, his punishments included things like: tickle torture, being locked in a room with Pinkie for a while and the classic 'give them to Discord'. Although they couldn't rule out the possibility that this was just another prank (or even another evil scheme!) by Discord himself. Spike frowned, That's unfair, Discord may be a little odd, but I doubt he would do something like this. At least not now, not when he has truly realised the value of friendship. The train took a hard left, and Spike was almost thrown out of his seat, he quickly reached a hand out to steady Starlight. She stirred slightly but otherwise made no sign of being awake. He wondered how her dreams were going, maybe Luna would talk to him and tell him what was going on if he fell asleep? Finally deciding upon an excuse, Spike laid his head on his bag and slept.