"Sister. We need to talk."
Celestia's sorrow was interrupted by the sound of Luna throwing the door open and striding towards her, clearly upset. Despite Celestia feeling truly remorseful about what she may have to do to protect her kingdom, she had just begun raising the sun. At the moment, its upper half had its light spread all throughout the kingdom. She turned around slowly.
"What seems to be the matter, Luna?"
Luna put her face closer to Celestia's.
"I was told that you had put a filly in the asylum," she whispered in disgust, "An innocent filly! A filly that was perfectly stable!"
With an annoyed look on her face, Celestia pushed her sisters face away with the tip of her golden hoof.
"And who told you this?"
"Why did you do it?" Luna countered, "HOW did you do it? Do her mother and father even know?!"
"Who told you?" she repeated, once again.
Luna's eyes narrowed as the sun continued to rise.
"Why does that matter?"
"Luna, I know everypony in this town. I know whether or not they are speaking based on fact or rumor. As such, depending on who the pony is, I'll know if they're telling the truth or not. If not, I will confront them accordingly. If they are, I'll admit when they're right and explain why."
"Why?" Luna asked in a raspy breath, still unable to comprehend a pony so young to be trapped in such an establishment. Celestia didn't blink.
"Who told you, Luna? This is the last time I ask."
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders," Luna shot back, "Now, why did you do it?!"
Celestia's eyes widened at the realization. The ways they've been acting, they're nervousness, everything...someone must have been talking to them at the asylum.
"Which filly are you referring to?" Celestia asked, turning her body towards the rising sun. Luna was floored.
"You mean...you mean you've put more than one in there...?"
"No, sister," Celestia replied, "I'm just asking: out of all of the fillies in Ponyville, which one is the filly in question?"
"Enough games," yelled Luna, storming in front of her once more, "WHY?! Why did you put Diamond Tiara in there?!"
Again, silence. Celestia was again, unmoved. Until the unthinkable happened: Celestia began to laugh! Luna's eyes twitched.
"This isn't funny, Celestia! You're responsible for potential mental scarring of a filly who didn't deserve to be there in the first place!"
"That's not why I'm laughing," Celestia said, in between chuckles, "I'm laughing because you believed a rumor so untrue that even I would have difficulty topping it!"
As Celestia continued to laugh, Luna stepped back, now confused more than anything.
"That makes no sense," Luna said, "The Crusaders were so sure of themselves when I confronted them about it."
"Ah..." Celestia said, wiping away a tear from laughing so hard, "They've just been through something that they can't even begin to understand. Something that is terrifying to them..."
"Yes? And?"
"And so, maybe it was just another nightmare! Please do give their sisters another one of that serum from last night. This time, put it in a blue pill--"
"How did you know I gave that to them last night?" asked Luna suspiciously, "You were sleeping!"
"Maybe," she responded, "But it seems that you've forgotten that I have eyes and ears everywhere, my dear sister."
"..."
"Like I was saying, put it in a blue pill that dissolves in water. Maybe then they wouldn't be so scared. Other than that, don't believe everything you hear, especially if it's just playground gossip from three fillies."
"But they don't gossip anymore! You remember the Gabby Gums scandal!" Luna protested.
"Indeed, I do," muttered Celestia, "But there's nothing harmful in simply discussing a rumor amongst themselves and waiting for it to come to pass or not. As long as they don't do anything to hurt anyone, I find this more funny than serious."
"When's the last time you saw Diamond Tiara?"
Celestia's brows furrowed. "Look," she stated in an authoritative voice, "I'll personally go to the asylum with Cadance this afternoon and see if Diamond Tiara is there. I'll ask them to provide a copy of all the current ponies residing in the building. Once you see that she's not there, THEN will you believe me?"
"I'll believe it when I see it," Luna affirmed.
"Good. When I'm finished, I'll go to the Crusaders and discuss this issue with them."
Luna gasped when she finished, remembering what they were told about her sister. Celestia turned to look at her.
"Is that all? Or is there more you would like to share?"
Lunan thought carefully before responding.
"Just one more question: what exactly will we do when Spike gets out? Clearly things are going to be different around here."
"Yes...indeed. I've been juggling some ideas around, but for now, the plan is for him to build his trust in Twilight again by continuing his assistant duties."
"But then he'll be no better off than before Discord's game! It'll be the same thing!"
"Luna, no matter how long we've known him, Spike is still a dragon. A docile dragon, at that. And I will do what I must to keep it that way," she replied, "I would rather have a kind dragon than a frightful one, wouldn't you?"
Luna slowly nodded her head.
"In addition, it will give you the chance to continue to spend time with him. Twilight's relationship wasn't the only one at stake."
"Yeah...yes, I guess you're right."
"Excellent. But remember, dear sister. I will do what I must to keep the peace."
Luna stared at her, wondering what she meant.
"Now, go get some rest. I have some business to attend to when I am finished here."
As Luna walked through the doors, Celestia had successfully raised the sun up in the sky, signifying the start of a brand new day. The townsponies were already out and about, purchasing groceries, making deals, eating breakfast, and more. Walking back to her room, Celestia frowned as she began to jot down a letter to asylum.
"i should've done this a long time ago...”
Spike sat in his usual position in the center of room behind the glass, waiting for the door to open. Other than Twilight, Cadance was one of the other ponies that he could truly trust with all of his heart. Although, he could only imagine what her reaction was to the news that Twilight no doubt shared with her prior to her visit. He couldn't bear to think of her face the moment she saw Twilight's scarred face...the scar that was a result of his rebelliousness. He shuddered in the wooden seat.
"I...I..."
He didn't know. He had no idea what was going on, what would happen to him, who might get hurt in the process of his 'rehabilitation', and whose relationships would be destroyed in the process.
The door was still closed; it was still just him in the room. Although there were many ponies in the asylum, two of which he knew were on both sides of his bedroom, he had never felt so alone. Whenever he closed his eyes, he felt nothing but...well, nothing. He couldn't feel joy, sadness, pain, pleasure, guilt, just nothing. It was a bit of a blank feeling if you will. And there was no medicine that he could take to get rid of this feeling.
As he slumped to the padded floor of his side, he heard two knocks on the metal door that served as his gateway to reality. It was so close, yet so far. He had been there often, but seemed to cross to the darkest side of his own mind in this particular situation. But, as was stated before, his mind, his life, his relationships, his entire world...it was all blank. All he knew was that it was just him.
The door creaked open and in trotted Princess Cadance, trotted in, wearing a smile. Spike frowned at the sight of her. There was nothing wrong with her. Spike just wished that he felt like that. Knowing that in the end, everything is going to be all right. In the end, there would still be people that loved him. There were only 24 hours in a day, and most of the time, nopony realizes how quickly time really flies. It seemed to stop just for Spike, though. Every second that passed seemed like a century.
Cadance reluctantly walked up to the glass and stared at Spike, who was slumped over. His body was on the chair, but his head was on the ground. He stared up at the ceiling, hoping to find an answer to a question that he didn't know he had. From Cadance's view, his emerald eyes, which were usually so full of glee, told a story that everything wasn't all right. And that he didn't know if they ever would be again.
"Spike?"
He didn't answer. He slowly turned his head and looked into Cadance's worried eyes. Usually whenever he caught sight of her, he didn't hesitate to give her the most genuine smile he could muster. It hurt him to see someone like her worried. It explained why Cadance sensed something was off about him.
"I saw what you did to...t--to Twilight," she stammered, almost unable to finish her sentence.
Spike sat up. It was clear that Cadance was close to tears, despite her wearing a smile when she walked in. It seemed that, like Spike during his remorse over Rarity, she too wore a mask. How'd he know? Because Cadance never cried unless something hurt her personally. She never shed a tear when she was physically hurt. She was mentally sound. She was similar to Pinkie in the fact that her goal was to spread joy, in her case, love.
"Yeah," Spike said, "D--do you see why I did it...?"
"Did you mean to, Spike?" she asked, "Did you want to inflict pain on her?"
He stayed silent for a moment. The dragon would have to choose his answer carefully. On one hand, how else would he get his point across that he was tired of being mentally, emotionally, and sometimes physically abused? On the other, he never liked hurting his friends, especially Twilight, who he's known the longest out of anypony?
"I c--can't answer," he responded, "Both of them are the right answer."
"What do you mean?"
He got up and sat back in his chair before avoiding Cadance's gaze.
"How would you feel," he began, "If your "friends", the ones that have known you for the longest time, the ones who you thought always had your back like you've been there for them, had always thought that you were simply an obstacle...a side character of sorts...somepony who you could pay no mind to and treat however you wanted, while expecting to get nothing but respect in return?"
Cadance put her hoof to her chin, intrigued by his question.
"I'd confront them about it," she said slowly, "And let them know that the way that they're treating me isn't fair. Friendship-wise, of course."
"I expected that answer," Spike responded, causing Cadance's heart to jump to her throat.
"What do you mean, Spike?"
"You're the princess of love. The last thing you would do is turn a weapon on a friend."
"You're right."
"But I'm a dragon, Cadance," he continued, calmly, "And my 'friends' are the Elements of Harmony. They should know when they're using somepony for personal gain by now. On top of that, they should've realized that that was no way to treat a friend at all."
Cadance was silent. Spike had a point.
"But apparently, they didn't know that. They didn't know that insulting somepony behind a friend's back was rude. Of course, they didn't know that." Spike continued, raising his voice slightly.
"Spike. Do you know why you're here?"
"But of course, Cadance! I'm here because I wasn't acting like a good little servant. I'm here because I was acting like a dragon. I seemed to pose a threat when all I did was confront them to learn why they've been lying to me about how they felt towards me for almost ten years!" Spike cried, the flame of anger now fully blazing in his eyes.
"Spike, calm down," commanded Cadance, "That's not why you're here!"
"I didn't want to hurt anypony," ranted Spike, pacing back and forth from one side of the room to the other, "But it's kinda hard not to when the ponies you're upset with only want you to stop when they're in danger. They're only scared of me when I call them out on their hypocrisy! I'm a threat! That's why I'm here, Cadance!"
He glanced at Cadance and his flame died down a little. Water was trickling down her face. He had truly terrified her; it was the one thing he didn't know he could do to anyone in Ponyville. He felt guilty almost immediately.
"That's not why you're here, Spike..."
"Cadance...I--I'm sorry, it's just--"
"No, I understand," she sniffled, "But you're misinformed as to why you're here."
When she finished that sentence, he began to regain some of his skepticism.
"Well. then why am I here?"
"You're here because we don't want anypony getting hurt. We need you to calm down before you can go back to being Twilight's assistant."
Spike was dumbfounded.
"Are you serious? That's not true at all!"
"It's what Celestia told me," she responded.
Spike rolled his eyes.
"Of course she did," said Spike.
"Is there a reason I shouldn't believe that?"
"Yes! You weren't there when we finished Discord's game. You weren't there when I scratched Twilight," he argued, "You don't know the whole story! You only know what she told you!"
"Well, then what am I missing?"
"You're missing the part where they apologized for calling me a pest," he said, "Oh, and the part where I called them out on their ridiculousness, and the part where Luna, the third closest princess I have a relationship to, basically admitted that she never cared about me. You missed a lot!"
Defeated, Spike looked down. He couldn't cry. There were too many tears shed. For now, his goal was to get someone to believe his story.
"Spike, we're here to help you. Please, just let us!"
His eyes lit up.
"You can help me by helping somepony else," he said, "There's a filly that needs help; she was put in this asylum against her will even though nothing was wrong with her."
Cadance smiled at the dragon's concern.
"Sure. What's her name?"
"Diamond Tiara."
Her smile formed into a look of confusion. Spike stared at her.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's just...Celestia said there was nopony in here named Diamond Tiara. Apparently, Luna was also concerned about a similar situation. Celestia came with me to get a copy of everypony in this asylum and bring it back to Luna to ease her worries."
Spike gasped and ran to the window.
"WHAT?! CADANCE, YOU NEED TO GET TO THE ROOM TO THE LEFT OF MINE, NOW!"
"Why? Is something wrong?"
"YES! Diamond Tiara IS here, and Celestia was the one who put her in here! We don't know what she'll do to her!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down, Spike! What are you saying?!"
"I'm saying that Celestia could be about to hurt a filly! She needs more love than anything, Cadance! She needs you!"
"But, you need help too!"
"You'd be doing me a HUGE favor if you did this! Please! Make sure she's alright before you go!"
Cadance quickly trotted to the door and opened it. Looking back, she saw Spike's pleading eyes peer into her soul. For a second, she thought she saw the old Spike, the kind, generous, loving dragon staring back at her. What he was replaced with was a dragon who needed help.
She ran through the door and headed for Diamond's room. It was moderately easy to find; she overheard Celestia say Spike's room number as she headed to see him. Diamond's door was simply to the left of his.
When she got to the door, she peered inside. It was pitch black. Cautiously opening the door, she noticed that everything was neatly in place; it looked like an unoccupied room. Slowly closing the door and illuminating her horn to see, she approached the bed.
"Hello?"
Silence. Although it seemed like it, she had the feeling that she wasn't the only one in the room. She waited.
"Diamond Tiara? Are you in here?"
When she finished, she looked down, and out came the filly, clearly scared and confused. When Cadance saw her, she recognized her instantly. She remembered the Crusaders being the victims of her bullying, but she also remembered the three of them unable to contain their excitement when they mentioned how they were able to revert her to the side of friendship. Ever since then, her encounters with her have been nothing but pleasant. In addition to this, she realized that Spike's story was right.
She knelt down to the cowering filly.
"My name is Cadance," she softly spoke, "Spike told me about you."
Her eyes shimmered at the mention of her name. Spike had kept his promise. There was still hope for her! Almost instinctively, she threw herself into Cadance's outstretched wings. As soon as she did, they wrapped around her; she could feel the aura of love that flowed through the princess's body. For the first time in a long time, she felt appreciated, cared for...loved.
"There, there," she said as she stroked the crying filly's mane, "Everything is going to be all right."
"How are you so...so sure?" Diamond sobbed, "You don't know my story!"
"You're right."
Cadance lifted her onto the bed and sat across from her with a caring smile.
"But I'm willing to hear it," she said.
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Discord floated above the asylum, watching the Celestia depart from the building with a smile on her face. Flying down to her, he greeted her with a glare.
"What have you done?" he seethed.
"What do you mean?" she responded.
"To Diamond Tiara? What have you done?!"
"Nothing," she said, innocently.
"Then why is she still here? You put her in here for no reason!"
"Not for long. She'll be leaving tomorrow. It turns out that she was in here and I forgot why."
"Lies," hissed Discord, "Why did you really put her here? What do you have against Diamond Tiara?"
"Nothing," insisted Celestia, "If you think I have something against her, ask her tomorrow."
Celestia walked around him and took flight to her castle. Discord went invisible and entered the asylum, making his way to Diamond's room.