//------------------------------//
// Seeking Reasons 
// Story: When Two Worlds Meet 
// by Darkness 1 
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	Two hours later, they had all arrived at Twilight's Castle; it was late at night, and Darkness said, " Perhaps it's best for everypony to get some rest, we have quite a journey ahead of us, besides....this may be the last time any of you see Ponyville in a while, and if we fail, none of us will see Ponyville again. We will start to set out three hours after daybreak, that gives all of you time to pack what you need, and say goodbyes to those that mean the most to you, and spend some time with them, if need be. But we must set out three hours after daybreak, everypony understand that?" 
Everypony understood, Applejack said, " You make it sound like we won't be back." 
Darkness said, " Exactly, we may not be able to, depending on how this all ends. Many things could go wrong, so that's why I'm giving you all time to find the reasons with each of yourselves as to why you take on this task, why you want to continue this journey. And if nothing else, what or who are you fighting for? I want you all to find these reasons on your own." 
Rarity said, " Alright, Darkness, just don't leave us behind, you wouldn't, would you?" 
Darkness said, " No, I wouldn't abandon my friends. I still don't understand many things, and I struggle with why I carry on this fight, so I myself, will go out and find that reason, but I will be back when it's time to set out. Look for the brilliant black wings in the sky, that's how you will know that I have not abandoned you all." 
Fluttershy said " Be careful!" 
Pinkie Pie said, " Yeah, we don't need our friend and best hope to leave us!"
Darkness said, " Don't worry, now I'll be off now, but I will be back, see you all later. Sleep well, all of you." 
Twilight said, " Thanks Darkness, and good luck finding your reason." 
Darkness scoffed, and said, " There is no luck involved in finding something like this." And with that, he walked out of the door, and flew away, and out of sight. 
Rainbow Dash commented, " He's still so cold." 
Applejack said, " That's just how he is, all we can do is try to understand him a little better. I think I speak for everypony, but Darkness has been trying to understand all of us." 
Fluttershy said, " That's true, and he has changed quite a bit since we first met him. At least, I think so, he seems nicer, in a unique way." 	
Twilight said, " That is true, Fluttershy, but he is rather difficult to figure out, he may seem cold, but perhaps that's just one of his many different ways showing his care for all of us. If he didn't care about any of us, he would've left us long before now." 
Rainbow Dash persisted, " But still....he's so....I don't know, he seems so indifferent about what we mean to him. Arghhh!!! Why does he have to be so difficult?" 
Twilight said, " Rainbow, please, calm down, maybe we are all just looking at it all in the wrong way, perhaps a different way of looking at things is in order." 
Rainbow Dash said, " Alright, but he still doesn't make any sense right now."
Rarity said, " Maybe not right now, but the answer will come to one of us or all of us at once, eventually." 
Twilight said, " I think that's enough chat for tonight. I'm going to bed, we all have another big day ahead of us, we'll all need all the rest we can get." 
Rainbow Dash said, " Okay, well, I'm going to crash, night!" 
Applejack said, " Me too, goodnight everypony." One by one, everypony went to their beds, and they were all soon sound asleep, as a shadowy hooded figure watched them through one of the outside castle's windows. Morning came, and everypony woke, got out of bed, and everypony except Twilight had left the castle to go find their reason and prepare for the journey ahead, Twilight had slightly overslept. She stretched and got out of bed, walked out of her room, and began to walk towards the exit of the castle, when something caught her eye: she looked over at the left side castle window that looked outside, but as she diverted her attention, whatever it was, was gone. Twilight said to herself, " I thought I saw something...hmm...maybe not." She continued towards the door, opened it and headed towards Canterlot, as Twilight said to herself, " If I am to find the reason why I continue this journey, I should probably start there." As she went up the path, the figure reappeared from behind Twilight, behind a bush, and took off the hood, and cloak, to reveal a light blue mare, with a light pink mane, and icy blue eyes, and she was wearing a necklace of some sort, with a expression of worry in her face, as she  watched Twilight head towards Canterlot. She stood there and waited a while, just watching Twilight, and then with a flash, she was gone.
Meanwhile, Darkness was high in the mountains, at the peak of the tallest mountain, overlooking Equestria, as he said to himself, " Why do I continue on? Why or what do I have to fight for now? What do I have left?" He looked down, and said, " I don't. I don't have anypony that means so much to me, to really fight for now, my mother's dead, and passed on, my father was dead before I was born, anypony else that meant something to me, is gone, disappeared, or dead......Twilight and the others are only my friends....Luna's all I really got left in this world....*sigh*" He looked up at the stars, he couldn't see them as well as he could see them when it was night, but he said, " Luna, my only love in this world now, what should I do?" He said nothing else, as he stared into the sky, and then said, " Of course, you are my reason Luna, and so are my friends. I think I'm beginning to understand why I continue this journey now." He said nothing else, he just stared up into the night sky, wondering what was going to happen next. Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Rarity was at her store and home, spending time with Sweetie Belle. 
Sweetie Belle asked, " Why are you spending so much time with me all of a sudden? You never spend so much time with me." 
Rarity expression saddened and she said, " Because, Sweetie Belle, I realized, that you may do things that irritate me, quite a lot, actually. But this journey that I am about to go on with Twilight, Darkness, and my friends, we may not be able to come back. I don't want to it all to end knowing that me and you, as sister's, last talked to each other in bitter tones, never spent a whole lot of time with each other, and me leaving without saying goodbye. It was a regret I just couldn't live with, and I also realized I may have been a bit too harsh on you, and I'm sorry for that. My business has had me on edge lately."
Sweetie Belle was silent for a long time, and then said, " Wow, sister, I never knew you felt like that, and I'm sorry for all the times, I've broken stuff, and drove you insane at times." 
Rarity hugged Sweetie Belle, and said, " It's okay dear, and I'm sorry too, for taking it out on you. You are still just a filly, after all, you're still learning. Just ask, if you don't know exactly what you are doing when you use something of mine, and I'd be happy explain it to you, and help you to use whatever it is, the right way, okay? Does that sound good to you?" 
Sweetie Belle looked into Rarity's eyes, and said, " Promise, Rarity?" 
Rarity nodded with a tearful smile, " I promise, as your sister, I also want to spend more time with you, once I come back from this journey, okay?" 
Sweetie Belle cried, and hugged Rarity tighter, and said, " I love you sister!" 
Rarity cried too and hugged tighter as well, and said, " Me too, sister, me too." The two just sat there, crying, hugging each other, and rocking back and forth.
Back in Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was at her home spending time with her family and Applebloom, and Applebloom said, " Sis, you've been acting really strange lately, what's going on?" 
Applejack said, " Because Applebloom, Me, my friends and Darkness are going on a journey, and if we fail our mission, we might not be able to come back. So I wanted to spend time with those I've had so many good memories with."  
Applebloom said, " Wow, all this, just to go to the Crystal Empire?" 
Applejack said, " No, Applebloom, after that, its just this might be the last time, we stop in Ponyville or in this case, Sweet Apple Acres." 
Granny Smith said, " You better come back Applejack, this here farm wouldn't be the same without you." 
Big Macintosh only said, " Eeyup!" 
Applebloom said, " Yeah! we have still some much to do and I've got plans for just the two us, and..." 
Applejack put a hoof on Applebloom's mouth, and said, " Whoa there, Applebloom, you keep talking that fast, you're going to hurt yourself." Everypony laughed and Applejack said, " But thanks everypony, when all this is over, I will find a way back, I will come back, because you guys and my friends are the reason why I even started this journey to begin with, and its why I continue this journey now." Everypony hugged and just sat there, looking through the family picture book.
At Fluttershy's home, Fluttershy, was in her backyard, and she said to herself, " My reason...to continue this journey. Gosh I'm not quite sure, there's so many, I don't think there's one particular one. But if I had to choose..." Just then Angel, Fluttershy's pet, come by, tugged on her tail, she turned around and saw that Angel was holding up food for Fluttershy. Angel handed it to her and she as she took it, she said, " Goodness, Angel, you're being rather nice today, usually you're..not so nice. Why the change?" She started and finished eating, put down the container and picked up Angel, who actually wanted to be picked up. Angel began to make sounds and Fluttershy said, " The journey? Not coming back? Oh you must mean my journey to save Equestria, and to the Crystal Empire and beyond. But you are right though, there may be a chance I might not be able to come back." Angel's expression saddened, and began to cry while sitting on top of Fluttershy's head. 	Fluttershy picked Angel up from her head, and held Angel in her hoof, and hugged Angel, who hugged back and Fluttershy said, " Don't be sad Angel, there would be no way, nothing to stop me from coming back to see all my furry little and big friends and you my adorable little Angel." Angel brightened up and looked up at Fluttershy and made some more sounds. Fluttershy said, " Promise? Of course I promise, I could never leave you behind. Especially leaving you unsupervised for that long, it would be a mess." Angel snickered, hugged Fluttershy, hopped down to the ground and scampered off to the house. Fluttershy stood there for a while, looking around, and then said, " I think I know why I continue on, I do this for my friends, for Darkness, and for all my furry friends here, and for Angel. I will come back, I have to, I couldn't bear leaving all of my friends here behind. In fact, I'd rather not want to leave them at all." She called all of her creatures and said, " I'll be away for a while, so I want you all to behave and keep Angel out of trouble, but don't worry, I'll be back soon." All of her creatures shook their heads in acknowledgement and took off as Fluttershy herself went back inside the house.
Pinkie Pie was back at her store, Sugarcube Corner, happily humming to herself, as she was in the kitchen, baking many different things, hours later, as she sat there, eating what she had made, she stopped and pondered about what Darkness had said, and she said to herself, " My reason to continue this journey, mmmmm.....I've not really thought about much. But now that I think about it, why I continue this journey, I will fight for Equestria and for my friends. I'm not going to let some evil meanie take away what means the most to me. Sure, Sugarcube Corner means a lot too, but not even close to how much my friends mean to me. Besides, without my friends, or even Equestria, I wouldn't be able to throw parties for anypony, or gifts, or surprises either. I fight and keep going on this journey for my friends and for Equestria!" Pinkie Pie smiled happily to herself and went back to eating her deserts.
Rainbow Dash however, was not doing anything, she was at her house, in Cloudsdale, laying on her bed, with her hooves on her head, with a face of frustration and strenuous thought. Rainbow Dash said out loud, " Ahhh!!! I don't know why I keep going! I don't even now why I even keep fighting, or keep searching for things to keep this world, my home, and friends safe." Rainbow Dash began to roll around on her bed, still thinking with much effort, and then she stopped, and thought about what she had just said, and she said, " Wait a minute, I think that's it! I go on this journey because, I couldn't just leave my friends behind and go hide somewhere, I couldn't do that to them. I wouldn't want to do that anyways, I just wouldn't feel right. Sure, it would be so simple, just to pack my things, wave my friends off, and disappear, while they head off to maybe their deaths.  But then, no it would not be easy to leave everypony behind, I shared so many memories with all them, and they have always been there for me when I needed them most, even when I was the academy, they we still there for me. No! I am no coward! My friends need me as much as I need them." Rainbow Dash got off her bed and stood up and said, " I will see this journey till the end, and if I die, then I will do so with my friends!" With a fierce determination in her eyes, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took to the skies.
In Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle was in the throne room, with Princess Celestia, discussing many academic subjects, and it was during the subject of friends when Princess Celestia asked Twilight, " Twilight, Darkness said you all should find a reason, himself included, have you an idea what yours is? What drives you to continue to put yourself in harms way, against an evil none of us are completely sure how to battle, a journey that is once again, going to take you and your friends, far away from your homes. Why do you continue to do this? What is the reason that drives you to do these things?" 
Twilight stopped and stood, in deep thought, and moments later, Twilight answered, " I'm not sure, but I do know this: I fight for my friends, for the sake of those who cannot defend themselves. I go on this journey, wherever it leads us, because I believe in the future of this world, and i don't want it to be destroyed because either me or one of my friends was too cowardly to stand up to the task and face our fears. To be honest, my friendship with all my friends is what drives me. To see them safe and sound, at the end of each of our travels. To see how much they learn from each other or from somepony else. Or how they can rise above themselves and fight for the greater good of all Equestria, and not ask a single thing in return, but to go back home and be still as happy, and maybe even happier, then when they left for each adventure. This is why I go, Princess Celestia, I go and I fight for my friends and for the future and survival of all Equestria." Princess 
Celestia smiled and nodded in agreement, and said, " It seems there is nothing else for me to say, you know what you must do now, and you already seem to know, that even if you falter, or stumble, your friendships that you have with your friends will be your greatest strength to help pick you back up, and to help you to keep going. With that said, Twilight Sparkle, go forth with your friends, and prevent this catastrophe from happening." Twilight nodded, and began to trot off, and Celestia called out, and said, " Twilight! Good luck!"
Twilight stopped, turned around and said, " Thank you Princess Celestia." Twilight turned back around to the exit, and began to trot back to her own castle.