Originally published on November 28, 2017
In the last Chapter, we saw where Spike was being held captive, and things were not going very well. In this chapter, we will see how the ponies in Ponyville were doing. And as of late, not well. The ponies still had no clue as to Spike's location.
The last time Twilight's friends tried to contact Spike directly, it didn't work. We saw their previous attempt two chapters ago, but that was not their last attempt.
There was a huge search effort across Equestria dedicated to finding Spike. There were several search parties spanning many locations over the course of days, but every attempt to locate Spike turned up empty. No pony could find Spike. Twilight Sparkle lead most of the searches. She lead searches in Appaloosa, Manehatten, Griffonstone, and more. Many ponies would volunteer to help, but no matter the number of volunteers, it didn't seem to matter. Though all their help was appreciated, it was so far all for not.
Twilight grew more distraught with each failed search, she was in utter shambles. Her friends all felt awful, but there was not much they could do. What could they even do with Spike's whereabouts still unknown?
It had been days now, nay, weeks since Spike disappeared. Finally, enough was enough, and Twilight made the difficult decision to halt searches for the time being, to the surprise of everypony. Twilight decided to put official searches on hiatus until further notice.
And that brings us to the present time. Just how were Twilight Sparkle and friends coping at this stage of the story? Let's take a look.
Ponyville was fairly quiet. Ponies still went about their daily lives, but there was an unsettling atmosphere in the air. Twilight's sadness seemed to flow through the air and affect everypony to an extent. Twilight rarely come out of her castle anymore, and her friends were growing worried. Fluttershy had decided to visit Twilight. She hadn't spoken with or seen Twilight in a few days, and was worried for Twilight's well-being.
"Twilight? It's me, Fluttershy." she knocked on the front door of Twilight's castle.
"Hello? Are you home?" she asked.
The door opened, it wasn't locked, or even closed all the way. Fluttershy decided to enter.
"Twilight?" she asked wandering the castle. The castle was eerily quiet. No activity in the front room. Fluttershy decided to check the library.
"You in here Twilight?" she asked.
"Oh hey Fluttershy." Twilight said. She was in the library, sitting on a couch reading a book.
"Hi Twilight. So how are you doing?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh you know, just fine." Twilight said. She seemed perfectly fine.
"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Twilight asked.
"Because, you know who is still..." Fluttershy said hesitantly.
"Oh, right..." Twilight looked down.
There was a pause in the atmosphere.
"So, what have you been up to?" Twilight asked, quickly changing the subject, and changing mood.
"Oh the usual. Or at least, as usual as possible." Fluttershy said.
"So anyway, it's been nice talking." Twilight pushed Fluttershy all the way to the front door of the castle.
"Oh? You sure you don't want to talk anymore?" Fluttershy asked.
"Not particularly. Anyway, bye!" Twilight slammed the door in Fluttershy's face, and proceeded to trot the other way.
"But what about Spike?!" Fluttershy asked through the front door.
Twilight stopped in her tracks when Fluttershy mentioned the name, Fluttershy could hear her hoofsteps from inside. But then she soon continued to trot away. Fluttershy was confused. She kicked her hoof in the dirt, and thought. And then she got an idea. She knew what she had to do.
Later in the day, there was some more knocking on Twilight's door. Twilight trotted to the door, and opened it. It was her friends. Fluttershy had gathered Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash together.
"Oh, hey girls." Twilight said peaking through the door.
"Hello darling, we need to talk." Rarity said.
"Not to sound rude, but I'd rather not." Twilight said, not in a sad tone, but more in a disinterested tone.
"Too bad, it's been too long, we got some catchin' up to do." Applejack said.
"Alright, if you insist. Follow me." Twilight said.
Twilight lead her friends to the map room, where they each sat down in their own respective thrones. Starlight Glimmer joined the ponies, and stood beside Twilight. And now they were all ready to talk, or rather ready to try talking.
Twilight was in such a calm, yet stern mood. No pony wanted to say anything that could upset Twilight, but at the same time, they did want to talk about Spike. It was kind of troubling that first she called off the searches, and now she didn't even seem want to talk about him at all. They all sat at the map table in awkward silence, not sure what to say, until finally some pony spoke.
"So Twilight, how's your... wings... working out?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to start a conversation.
"Oh just fine." she replied.
"Have you thought about trying out for a wonderbolt?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"You know, I'm confident I definitely could become a wonderbolt if I tried, but I'm already Princess of Friendship. And although first Princess Wonderbolt would be neat, I think that'd be overachieving." Twilight said.
"Is that... so." Rainbow Dash said, awkwardly ending the conversation.
"So Applejack, how have your apples been?" Twilight asked.
"Oh you know. Apples, have just been... apples." Applejack replied.
"Have you prepared any grape juice lately?" Twilight asked.
"Since when has grape juice been your specialty?" Starlight asked.
"No grape juice recently. As a matter of fact, grape juice has always been a side... passion... sort of." Applejack said, awkwardly ending the sentence.
"And Rarity, have any ideas for new fashion lines yet?" Twilight asked.
"Not as of late darling. New ideas are very hard to come up with. Some days I come up with new lots ideas without even trying, and then there's long periods of creative drought. Just depends on my mood, and right now my mood has not been the best." Rarity replied.
"Mmmhmm. So is that all?" she asked.
"I mean, I suppose... that's it darling." Rarity said.
The atmosphere was growing especially awkward. Normally having conversations wasn't so hard for her friends to do, but something was off about Twilight that didn't resonate well with the other ponies.
Finally, Pinkie had enough, and stood up and shouted.
"Okay, since we're all thinking it I'm just going to say it; is anypony going to mention Spike?!" Pinkie stood up and exclaimed.
The awkward silence now became an uncomfortable awkward silence.
"Um, Pinkie? We try not to mention the S word in the castle." Starlight said.
"Why not?!" Pinkie asked, gritting her teeth.
"It's just what Twilight told me, and it'd be respectful if you respected her request and-" Starlight said, but was interrupted last minute by Twilight.
"No no, it's fine Starlight. She wants to talk, so let's talk." Twilight said.
"I agree, let's talk. Speaking of talking, why don't you want to talk about Spike?" Pinkie asked.
"It's not that I don't want to talk about... you know who, it's just, not the right time." Twilight said. She didn't stare Pinkie in the eyes, she sort of wandered off.
"So when is it the right time Twilight?" Pinkie asked.
"Eh... sooner or later I guess..." Twilight said, seemingly not even answering the question.
"So what you're saying is, just because you can't find Spike you've decided to both give up the search, and forget about him?!" Pinkie exclaimed.
The room went silent.
"Well, give up is a harsh way to put it but-" Twilight started, but was interrupted by Pinkie.
"BUT! That's exactly what you're doing!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I just can't believe you would do such a thing!"
"I'm with Pinkie Pie! It's one thing to take a break and not search for a few days, but I think it's just shameful that you're choosing to forget all about Spike! Pretending that he never existed so you don't have to deal with the... with the loss!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
Everypony was shocked and looked at Fluttershy. Twilight gave her an angry scorn.
"I mean... that's just my... opinion." she slumped underneath the cutie map.
"You think I haven't been trying to find him?" Twilight started to show her true feelings.
"More like tried! You-" Pinkie started, but was interrupted.
"You think I haven't tried?! I searched everywhere! I've spoken to leaders across Equestria! None of them have seen him! Not in Appaloosa, Crystal Empire, Manehatten, nowhere!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Just because nopony has seen Spike, doesn't mean he isn't out there somewhere!" Pinkie argued.
"W-well at this point! I'm... I'm starting to have doubts!" Twilight shouted.
*GASP* everypony in the room gasped.
"How can you say that Twilight?!" Rarity asked.
"If there's anything I've learned in my studies, it's that the theory with the most evidence is typically the one that's correct. And right now, evidence saying that Spike is still out there is... is non-existent!" Twilight blurted out.
Every pony gasped again.
"Even if we assume Spike is... *gulp* is choosing to not think about him the right way to handle this situation?" Applejack asked.
"If anypony has any better idea, I'd love to hear it!" Twilight said in tears.
"Calm down Twilight. We're your friends. We want to help. Spike was- I mean is our friend too." Rainbow Dash said.
"Spike was your friends too, but Spike and I were... extra special friends." Twilight said tearing. "None of you know what I'm going through!" she said.
"Twilight! You're not the only one with a reptilian companion! Me and Gummy share an inseparable bond, just like you and Spike." Pinkie Pie said.
"And remember when Tank went into hibernation? Remember how devastated I was? We've all gone through hard times Twilight. You're not alone on this." Rainbow Dash said.
"Well this is different. Hibernation is temporary. With Spike it's just... gahh!" Twilight said.
"Just say what's on your mind Twilight!" Pinkie got in Twilight's face.
"I want to be left alone! Now get out of my face! " Twilight snapped in Pinkie's face.
Everypony went quiet. Pinkie got choked up.
"Yeah- well... Fine! If you want to be left alone, then... then fine!" Pinkie exclaimed, and stormed out of the castle.
Everypony looked at Twilight.
"What are you all looking at?! This meeting is dismissed!" she said and trotted out of the room.
Meanwhile, Pinkie was quite peeved outside.
She walked away from the castle in spite.
"Gee, it's sure not like Twilight act so rude. Not to mention she didn't appreciate my advice. She just shot down everything I had to say!" Pinkie thought out loud.
"Then why not help ponies with more open minds? Ponies who'd appreciate your help." said a voice.
"Who said that?" Pinkie asked.
"Psst. Come here." said a mysterious pony in a trench coat, standing adjacent to Pinkie.
"If Twilight doesn't appreciate my help, then who will?" Pinkie asked them.
"Try Ponyville hospital. There's lot of sick ponies who can use some positive energy, maybe a laugh or two. You may even find somepony there with something shocking to tell you." said the trench coat pony.
"Hmm. You know what? You're right! I think that's a swell idea. Thanks stranger!" Pinkie turned around and trotted the other way.
"Wait a second. What do you mean somepony might have something shocking to tell me?" Pinkie asked, but when she turned around again, the trench coat pony was gone.
"Huh. Where'd they go? Oh well, maybe they had somewhere important to be. When you gotta go, you gotta go!" Pinkie said.
"Well then, I guess I know where I'm heading off to." she said as she trotted off.
Back inside the castle, Twilight's friends were at a loss for actions.
Twilight trotted off to her room, and Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight were all out of ideas.
"Should we...?" Fluttershy asked, not knowing how to end her question.
"*sigh* This is taking a bigger on toll on Twilight than I could have imagined." Starlight said.
"I haven't seen Twilight act this bitter in all the time I've known her." Rarity said.
"Yeah well, nothing like this has happened before to her so..." Starlight said.
"The way Twilight just snapped at Pinkie was totally not cool." Rainbow Dash said.
"Wow, Rainbow Dash is calling out another pony for their actions." Applejack said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Rainbow.
"Oh nothing." Applejack said slyly.
"I think it is best if we give Twilight time to vent out her feelings." Rarity said.
"Agreed. You can face the bull head on when it's angriest, or wait for it to use up its energy and crash." Applejack said.
"AJ always coming up with the country analogies." Rainbow Dash said.
"Girls, stay focused. I think we've done all we can for now. It's probably best if we gave Twilight room to breathe." Starlight said.
"I don't know, it doesn't feel right to just do nothing and wait for Twilight to get better." Rainbow Dash said.
"Well, we're low on options." Starlight said.
"Touche darling." Rarity said.
"Anyway, I suppose that's it for now. We'll just leave Twilight alone for now, and hope she gets better." Starlight said.
"I guess it is. I wish Twilight the best of wishes." Fluttershy said.
Rarity, AJ, and Rainbow Dash all nodded and agreed with Fluttershy.
"Well, see you later girls." Starlight said.
With that, her friends all left the castle, and they waved good bye to each other.
"Where do you think Pinkie Pie went?" Fluttershy asked.
"Probably doing whatever Pinkie does." Rainbow Dash answered.
Meanwhile, Starlight broke her own rule, and wandered to Twilight's bedroom door. Rainbow was right, it didn't feel right leaving Twilight all to herself, even if she says it's what she wanted.
"Twilight?" Starlight knocked on her bedroom door. "Are you in here?"
Starlight wandered into Twilight's bedroom. Twilight was laying on her bed, face planted into her pillow. She was crying, Starlight could hear, and see the tears pouring from her face.
"Are you okay? It's not like you to snap at your friends." Starlight said.
Twilight said something, but her voice was too muffled to hear what it was.
"You know, your friends have a point. You cant just stop thinking about Spike and let yourself forget about him." Starlight said.
Twilight sat up and looked at Starlight.
"Whether Spike is out there, or... not. It's important to acknowledge him. I know how special Spike was- I mean is to you." Starlight said.
"...But it hurts to think about him." Twilight finally said.
"But forgetting isn't the answer." Starlight said.
"The more I think about, what he means to me *sniff* and what I mean to him, the more it hurts." Twilight said. "And the more I think about how much I love him, and how much he loves me... *sob*."
"Well no matter how much it hurts, you aren't going to feel any better by pretending he never existed." Starlight said.
"Hmph." Twilight said.
"Tell me about Spike. I'm sure you have a hundred stories you could tell me about you and Spike." Starlight said.
Twilight sat, and reminisced about Spike...
She had a flashback to a cold night in the castle.
"Twilight?" asked a scared Spike.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you tonight please?" asked Spike.
"Okay. Anything for you my sweet little prince."
"Thank you Twilight."
Spike climbed into bed with Twilight. He brought his own blanket, and laid snuggled beside her.
"What was your dream about?" asked Twilight.
"In my dream, everyone in Equestria had disappeared besides me. I was all alone. It was so awful." Spike said.
"Well thank goodness that was only a dream. Because I can assure you, you don't have to worry about feeling alone." Twilight assured.
"I feel so safe in your grasp. I hope that never changes." Spike said.
"I promise to do everything in my power to protect you." Twilight said.
"Really?" Spike asked.
"Of course. Nopony's going to lay a hoof on you on my watch. And if they do, they'll regret the day they decided to mess with my family." Twilight said.
"I'm glad I can count on you Twilight." Spike said.
"And I'm glad we met on that faithful day. Receiving my cutie mark was only half of what made that day magical. The other half, was having the honor of hatching you, and calling you my... my friend..." Twilight said.
"*yawn* Good night Twilight." Spike was falling asleep. Twilight's story put Spike to sleep, in a good way.
"Good night Spike." she said.
They both closed their eyes.
"...I love you Twilight." Spike said.
"...and I love you too, Spike." Twilight said.
Flashback concluded.
"Spike is... Spike's my best friend in all of Equestria. I love all of my friends, but Spike, has a special place in my heart, reserved just for him." Twilight said.
"I promise you he's out there. I just know it." Starlight said.
"I know he is. He's brave, and doesn't give up easily." Twilight said.
"So why should you?" Starlight asked.
"I haven't fulfilled by promise to protect him, but that's going to change. I'm going to find him. Oh Spike, wherever you are... I'm going to find you." Twilight said.
And there you have it. Twilight tried to hide her feelings, but all she was really doing was bottling them up.
Who was that mysterious trench coat pony who spoke to Pinkie Pie? What did they mean when they said somepony at Ponyville Hospital might have something shocking to say? You the reader knows where Spike is, so how much longer do you think he could survive? Will Twilight ever find Spike in time? Or will it be too late? Keep reading and find out.