Spike's Sacrifice

by 1jckuhn


Chapter 2: The Aftermath

Twilight and her friends never ceased crying as they were transported back to the Castle of Friendship. When they walked into their home, they all silently and slowly headed for Twilight's room, crowded onto her bed, and embraced each other as tight as they could. Within a half hour, they had fallen asleep, due to sheer exhaustion from crying so much. The princesses were relieved to see the Element Bearers finally asleep and away from any depression. They looked peaceful as they softly snored the remainder of the day away.

Thorax and Ember were too emotionally shattered to fly back home. They were given a guest room that was one floor above Twilight's room. Unlike the ponies, however, Thorax and Ember spent the remainder of the day, and half the night, embracing each other tightly and crying their eyes out into each other's shoulders. Anyone who passed by their room knew it was best to just leave them be.

When Starlight Glimmer heard about her best friend's fate at the top of the hill from the princesses, she immediately went pale. When she returned to the castle with her sobbing friends, she quickly trotted into her room, locked the door, and refused to come out unless she needed to eat or use the bathroom. Every time someone in the castle greeted her in the rare moments that she was out, she'd wave back, but her expression always seemed so blank, and they got no words of acknowledgement. For the time she was in her room, Starlight would usually be seen blankly staring out the window. Anyone passing by would get a small wave from the pink Unicorn but nothing more.

THE NEXT MORNING

Twilight let out a groan as she woke up, her eyes were sore and her whole body ached. She felt like she had just flown and run a marathon at the same time. She looked around at where she was. She realized that she was in her bedroom with her friends, who were lying on her bed still asleep. From the looks of it, they had all fallen asleep in a tight hug. There were tear streaks on the pillows and sheets.

"Ugh," Twilight groaned. "What did we do last night?"

Then she noticed something. In the middle of the cuddle puddle was a small hole that would've fit a small, purple Dragon. Twilight didn't know why Spike wasn't with them. Twilight suddenly felt sick to her stomach thinking about him, but she didn't know why. She couldn't recall a single thing from yesterday, but she felt this was serious, very serious.

She bolted out the door and to Spike's bedroom. She peeked inside, expecting him to be asleep in bed. He wasn't there. She looked in every room in the castle, but couldn't find Spike anywhere. Twilight felt even more sick to her stomach and she felt a bit sad too. Why was she feeling like this? She ran back to her bedroom and woke up the rest of the Element Bearers up.

"Girls," Twilght said. "Girls, wake up."

One by one, the other Element Bearers slowly began to stir, and they were not happy about it.

"Ah, what the hell, Twi?" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Why are you waking us up?"

"Girls, Spike's missing," Twilight said. "I've checked everywhere, and I can't find him."

Everyone's fatigue vanished and they jumped up out of bed. They rushed out of the room to start a search party when they were greeted by Princess Celestia and Luna near the staircase. Twilight, as well as her friends, were confused. Since when did the Princesses drop by for a visit?

"Celestia? Luna? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"We're here to provide comfort for you, Twilight," Celestia responded. "Do you not remember what happened yesterday?"

Both sisters felt their guts drop when Twilight shook her head, "no". It was clear to them that they had no choice but to recap the results of the battle that happened no more than 17 hours ago. Without another word, the royal sisters uttered a spell and a screen appeared before the six Element Bearers. The second they saw what was on it, the Element Bearers became horrified. On the screen was Twilight, along with her friends, huddled around a mortally wounded Spike, who was croaking out his sixth-to-last to third-to-last sentences to all of them.

“Twilight, there's nothing you can do. We both know I won't make it, but it's okay. I don't care about my safety. *cough* As long as I know that Equestria is safe, more importantly, as long I know that you’re all safe, there's nothing more I'd want to know in my last moments than that."

At that moment, all the memories from yesterday hit Twilight and her friends like a wrecking ball. They began to sob silently.

"A funeral is to be held in Canterlot in three days' time at 12:45 P.M.," Luna stated.

"O-Okay," Rainbow Dash sniffed. "W-What about Starlight? How's she taking it?"

"Well," Celestia sighed. "She's not saying anything about it. Most of the time, she just stares out her window and doesn't show any emotion. Ember and Thorax are also here. They're too emotionally hurt to fly back home, so they'll be here until the day of the funeral. We must be off now. The funeral preparations are to start in an hour and a half."

"Oh, uh, thanks," Rainbow Dash replied, her tone sounding meeker than Fluttershy's.

With that, the Princesses flew out the door and to the Canterlot Cemetery, leaving the six heartbroken ponies alone. They all agreed to go to their separate bedrooms to be alone with their thoughts. As they walked back to their bedrooms, Twilight kept uttering the same thing to herself over and over again.

"Why," whimpered Twilight. "Why couldn't I have done something? I could've saved him."

Left with nothing better to do, everyone crawled into bed and cried themselves to sleep. It was going to be a long three days.