Spike finished the last two bites of his sandwich as he walked back to the boutique. As he rounded a corner, his heart fluttered at the sight of a light on in the boutique’s upper floors.
Quickly, he ran to the front step and knocked loudly on the door.
“Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle, I’m here!” Spike shouted.
The boy stepped back from the door, and looked up to the illuminated window. He could hear noises from within, and heard footsteps upstairs. Soon, he saw the silhouette of Rarity’s head peer out the window. As quickly as she appeared, she retreated into the window.
Spike waited only seconds, before the front door was unlocked, and swung open.
“Sweetie B--Holy crap!!” Spike said.
Instead of his friend, he saw the mud-masked, hair-rollered visage of her older sister.
Normally, Rarity would have taken offense. But, not when her sister’s lost friend was staring her in the face.
“Spike!? We’ve been looking all over for you! Come inside!” Rarity said, as she hustled the boy indoors.
“You’ve been looking for me again?” Spike wondered.
“Yes! And we’ve been worried sick! All over again!” Rarity said. “Especially Sweetie Belle. Oh, she was heartbroken when she thought you left town.”
It occurred then to Spike how much he meant to her, and she to him.
“Well, I never left town. I’ve actually been waiting for your sister all day on the front step. But, I don’t plan on leaving her, or any of you guys again,” Spike said.
Such a noble sentiment from such a young boy, Rarity thought. Perhaps she had initially misjudged him. He didn’t seem all bad, if he was going to such lengths as to wait all day in front of the shop for his friends. She didn’t know what changed in the boy since the time he scarred Sweetie’s arm, but it was a great sight better than the thug she had imagined for so long.
Rarity led Spike upstairs, and knocked on one of the doors down the hall.
“Sweetie Belle, open up! Spike’s here for you!” Rarity called.
There was no answer.
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity called.
“Sweetie, it’s me!” Spike chimed in.
There was still no answer. With a slightly shaking hand, Rarity opened the door to her sister’s room.
Sweetie Belle was gone. No note. No prior word. Nothing.
“Sweetie Belle! Oh!” Rarity cried. “Where could you have gone!?”
After all the times they had together, Spike thought back to the place where he and Sweetie Belle had their fondest memories.
“I know where she is. Follow me,” Spike said.
“Wait! I can’t go like this!” Rarity said, indicating her mud mask and bathrobe.
“Then, catch up .”
____________________________________________
The moon shone across the crashing waves, as Sweetie Belle dragged her feet across the sandy ground. She carried her shoes in her hand, allowing the surf to break against her ankles as she walked.
Ever since she spent the night on the beach with Spike, the shore was like a second home to her. Now, it was a short the one who truly made it home.
Sweetie sighed, as she sat down in the sand, the gentle waves welling up against her toes, before receding back to the ocean.
Up in the boardwalk, two figures watched the young girl: a mountain of a man and a waif of a woman. Both leaned over the safety rail on the boardwalk, watching the young girl against the scenery of the moonlit ocean.
“Looks like her, doesn’t it?” Tirek asked.
“Mm…” was all Chrysalis answered, as she nodded her head.
“Kind of makes you sad, doesn’t it? That little girl, all alone on the beach like that. Probably waiting for her friend to come back from wherever he went to,” Tirek sighed.
“Mm…”
“Not really the sentimental type, are you?” Tirek asked, as he turned to face Chrysalis.
“I was actually thinking that she reminded me of me,” Chrysalis said.
“Yeah? How?” Tirek asked, not seeing any resemblance between the young, kempt, filled-out girl, and the haggard, unkempt, emaciated Chrysalis.
“It’s hard to imagine, but just like every other woman out there, I was a little girl once. And I actually went to this very beach many times,” Chrysalis answered.
“No kidding? And you were friends with a criminal’s son too, I bet.”
Chrysalis shook her head slowly.
“No. I didn’t have any friends when I was a little girl. That’s why I spent my days alone at the beach. I just can’t help but wonder is that girl is here now because she feels like she has nothing left,” the waif said.
“It’s why you joined Pharynx, isn’t it?” Tirek said, a smirk crossing his face.
Chrysalis said nothing, but sighed heavily.
“That’s me too,” Tirek said. “When I was a kid, I was in all kinds of trouble all the time. Breaking into houses. Knocking over shops. Pushed a drug or two on the schoolyard. Principal said there was a special place in hell for kids like me. It was when I was older that I learned hell was named Pharynx.”
“Don’t try to be poetic. You always manage to spoil a mood when you try,” Chrysalis said, with her fingers on her temple.
“Can’t blame me this time. With a mood like this, you almost have to speak in prose.”
In all their years together, not one of the four: Pharynx, Sombra, Tirek or Chrysalis learned a thing about one another, or what drove them to their life of crime. For the first time, it felt like there was a connection between them stronger than the next objective, as they looked on at the little girl on the beach.
“Well, enough idling. Let’s go introduce ourselves,” Chrysalis said, before she and Tirek walked down the nearby steps to the beach.
____________________________________________
Spike was running full tilt toward the beach. This was going to be where his tumult and turmoil ended.
He quickly ran down the steps on the boardwalk, to the sandy beach below. There, he saw a group of silhouettes sitting in the sand. One of them quite a bit smaller than the others.
“Sweetie Belle?” Spike said.
The smallest silhouette turned around.
“Spike?” she asked. Quickly, she rose from the sand, and started running toward him.
Spike ran too, meeting Sweetie in the middle. What he hoped would end with a warm embrace simply ended with a fist pounded on his chest.
“Ow! What was that for!?” Spike said.
“For disappearing, and not even telling me! Do you know what we’ve all been through, trying to find you!? I was worried sick! Then you start acting like a total jerk, and disappear again! What’s wrong with you!? Why can’t you realize what people are good for you, and stay with them!?” Sweetie tiraded loudly.
She went on and on, but Spike could barely hear her as he raised his arms and place his hands on her shoulders.
“Don’t!” Sweetie Belle said. “Don’t you think you can make any of this better with something so stupidly simple! You can’t! You can’t…”
Sweetie Belle trailed off when she felt Spike hold her closer for the warm embrace he expected. Though her frustration still kindled in the back of her mind, she felt it give away to relief and acceptance.
Footsteps sounded in the soft sand behind Sweetie Belle, and the children looked to see the two other silhouettes on the beach.
“Sorry to break up the reunion, but we have business here,” the muscular man-mountain said.
“Sweetie Belle, who are they?” Spike said, as a chill of fear ran up his spine.
“They said their names were Chrysalis and Tirek. I don’t know why, but they just showed up and started talking,” Sweetie Belle said. She yelped when she was pulled away by Tirek’s hand on her shoulder.
“Hey! What’s the big deal?” Spike said, as he approached Tirek to release his friend.
He was stopped by Chrysalis pushing him back.
“I’m sorry, but we need your friend. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. But, we need her,” the waif said
“You don’t know what happened to the last guy who threatened my friends. So, let her go, or I’m going to feed you to your pet bull,” Spike said, pointing to Tirek.
Spike jumped when he felt a hand gently clasp on his shoulder, and whipped his fist around to strike. His fist was caught, and he looked up to see the smirking face of the man from the metro.
“Don’t worry. It’s only me,” the man said.
“Get your hands off me!” Spike said, as he yanked his arms from Pharynx’s grip. Now, he could see in full view the sight of Sweetie Belle held captive by the other two, while the third looked on with a smile.
“Well, I have to say that I didn’t expect to find you two in the same place. I like when things take an unexpectedly efficient turn,” Pharynx said.
Spike clenched his fist, wishing he had a weapon to put the three in their place.
“Take it easy, Spike. I’m just here to help,” Pharynx said, raising his hand to placate the boy. “I know it doesn’t look that way, but I’m going to make things better for you.”
“You can start by letting Sweetie Belle go!” Spike said.
“Can’t do that, kiddo. See, she’s my bargaining chip, in case you don’t want to make your life better.”
Pharynx illustrated his point by drawing a stiletto from his jacket, placing it against Sweetie Belle’s temple, and slicing a single lock of hair.
Even Chrysalis and Tirek winced at the sight. Never in their adult lives did they attack a child like this. Of course, they should have expected it from Pharynx.
“Wait! Stop!” Spike said, “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to come with me to Canterlot Prison, and release your father from his incarceration with me,” Pharynx said, a smile twisting onto his double crossing face.
“Spike, don't go!” Sweetie Belle quietly begged, before she felt Tirek’s hands squeeze more tightly on her shoulders.
“Fine! I'll go with as long as she goes free,” Spike said.
“Spike!”
Pharynx’s smile shrank slightly. He knew that the boy would be good to his word, and turned to his two companions.
“Alright. Let the little girl go. Back to where the world is safe,” Pharynx said.
Tirek released his hold on the girl, and allowed her to throw herself from his grasp.
When Sweetie Belle looked up from the sand, she saw Spike and Pharynx walking away from her.
“Spike!” she called out to him.
Spike looked over his shoulder at her, trying to look like everything would be alright. They both knew that it would not be so. Whatever happened next was only going to be chaotic.
____________________________________________
At Canterlot high the front statue started sparking with magic.