Irreplaceable

by La Barata

Chapter 1 - The Search

“SPIKE!”
The early morning calm of Ponyville’s library was shattered by the outburst. From the main room of the library, Twilight Sparkle (looking a mite perturbed) was busy, digging through shelves and stacks of books, briefly scanning covers before tossing them aside. Again, she called for her assistant.
“Spike, have you seen my copy of Magical Mysteries and Practical Potions? I need to... Spike?” More confused now than anything else, she began to head up the stairs towards the bedrooms. Spike had always been a deep sleeper, but he’d never been one to ignore her. She supposed he was still upset over the whole mouse incident the day before. In a fit of jealousy, he’d attempted to frame Owlysius for killing a mouse in the library, and she’d scolded him quite harshly. Maybe TOO harshly, she thought. So he made a mess of the library and tried to blame Owlysius. It was plain to see that he’d been really jealous. I guess I should’ve paid more attention to his feelings, and let him know he’s still my #1 assistant. I know I expect him to know that already but still is it too much to ask for me to occasionally give him the thanks he deserves and reaffirm his position all the books I read on psychology said that much at least that you should always give love and affirmation when a new member of the family comes along I know that’s more child psychology but still Spike’s only a baby dragon and I guess- Twilight shook her head. She was doing it again, getting caught up in the science of a thing when all that was really needed was some love and understanding. Trotting down the hall, she came to the door to Spike’s room. She tapped gently.
“Spike? You alright? Look, I’m sorry I got mad yesterday, but-” she stopped short. She’d peeked in the partially open door, and seen his empty bed.
“SPIKE?! Where are you?”
This was VERY unusual. Spike, up and about before she was? She could barely get him out of bed most mornings. Hay, she could barely get him out of bed most AFTERNOONS. Where could he be? I should go check with Pinkie Pie, maybe he went to Sugarcube Corner for an early snack, or he could’ve gone to see Rarity, or Fluttershy, or- No. Okay. Calm down. We got a bit angry, some hurtful words were said. I really should give him some time to cool off. Besides, I’m SURE he’ll be back for lunch. In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him miss a meal.

That night, there was an impromptu meeting in the library. After Spike hadn’t shown up for lunch, Twilight’s initial worry had returned full force. After he’d missed dinner, it escalated to full blown panic. After a quick but furious search of the town, with nopony remembering seeing him at all that day, it had been all her friends could do to prevent Twilight from charging out into the Everfree Forest that very night.
“C’mon now, sugarcube,” Applejack said, “Ah’m as worried ‘bout the lil’ guy as you are, but there’s no use chargin’ out there in the middle o’ the night. What d’ya think y’all can accomplish like that?”
“I CAN FIND HIM! Look, something’s wrong. I don’t know what-”
“EXACTLY, dear!” Rarity cut in. “You don’t know WHAT’S going on right now. You don’t even know if he’s in the forest! He could’ve just dropped off to have a nap somewhere!”
Twilight fixed her with an icy stare.
“A nap. For an ENTIRE DAY. Missing THREE MEALS. Look, we ALL know something’s wrong, and it’s entirely MY FAULT.” Rainbow Dash put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder comfortingly.
“Look, Twi. You know me. If I thought there was ANY chance we could do ANYTHING tonight, I’d be the first one out there. It’s just not safe. If you go out there tonight, all you’re gonna do is get yourself eaten by something”. With a resigned sigh, Twilight slumped back.
“But...”
“But NOTHIN’, sugarcube. Look, if y’all REALLY want to do summat tonight, why don’cha get everything organized and ready for tomorrow? I’m sure y’all can drum up a couple dozen folk ready ta help ya search”. Leaping to her feet, Twilight raced towards her desk. Tossing aside crumpled scrolls and cracked quills, she spread a fresh sheet of parchment and began scribbling furiously.
“That’s IT! Okay, we’ll need to spread out over a 5 by 5 grid, organize separate search teams, get some pegasus ponies doing aerial recon...” As she busied herself with her work, her friends slowly let themselves out. As they departed, Applejack spared a second to glance back towards her friend.
“Poor gel, workin’ herself all in a tizzy o’er this. Ah know they’d had a fight, but I never thought that Spike’d do sumthin’ so dang foolhardy like this.”

By morning, Twilight had a search plan organized. After explaining the situation to the mayor, she was able to rally almost every pony in Ponyville for help. But, as day turned to night, one by one, ponies began to drift away from the search, returning to their daily lives. By the night of the third day, the only ones still searching were Twilight and her friends. However, even they eventually departed. It was true that he was an important part of all their lives, and it pained them to see Twilight so sad, but they just couldn’t afford to keep searching.
“We’re really super sorry, Twilight,” said Pinkie, unusually despondent. “But we just CAN’T keep this up much longer. We ALL miss him SO MUCH... It’s just that we’ve all got so many things to do that we just CAN’T put off any more!!” As an outraged Twilight rounded on her, but before she could speak, Applejack stepped between the two.
“She’s right, sugar cube. The Cakes are havin’ trouble at Sugarcube Corner, Clouds are startin’ ta pile up around Ponyville, Rarity’s WAY behind on her orders, Fluttershy’s animals need her help, an’ Big Macintosh ‘n Apple Bloom can’t handle the farm alone. I miss th’ lil’ guy powerful, but there comes a time when y’ just need ‘ta accept that... Well...” She paused, at a loss for words.
“Accept what? That he’s gone? And that he’s never coming back?”
“Look, Twi. All’s we know fer sure’s that he’s not here. We’ve been out here fer three days without any sign o’ him. It’s time we git back t’our lives. We just can’t do this no more.”
They stared at each other in silence for a full ten seconds. It was Twilight who looked away first.
“We’re sorry, Twi.” Applejack said sadly. “We just can’t do this no more”. Twilight bowed her head. She knew they were right, she knew that the longer it took, the less likely they’d ever find him. With a sigh, she began to follow her friends on the long trek back to Ponyville.

Meanwhile, much deeper in the Everfree Forest, bursts of green flame lit the darkness, splashing out in strong, clear gouts.
“Excellent work, young one, excellent. Your control is greatly improving. Soon, we will be able to take the next step towards making you a proper dragon.”