“Wah! Wah!”
The two twin foals were crying, their voices only mitigated by the sound of the rain. Sweetie Belle dragged Spike’s body back to the cave in order to take care of the foals while administering aid to the dragon, but she didn’t even know what she was going to do…
Once Spike was safe from the rain, Sweetie Belle patted the heads of the foals. “Shh, shh. It’ll be okay. I got this. Your big sis is gonna take care of everything.”
The foals looked at her with big wide eyes. They frowned and pouted but Sweetie Belle didn’t know what that meant. She didn’t have milk for them, if their diapers were dirty they were out of luck, and she had no toys… This is hopeless, Sweetie Belle thought. I’ll never be able to climb out of the gorge with the foals on my back… What am I going to do!?
As if the foals could read her mind and know her desperation, they began crying even louder.
“WAH! WAH!”
“No, no! It’s okay! I promise! I’ll take care of this somehow! Just give me a moment to think!”
The foals continued to sob as Sweetie Belle paced the tiny cave. She had to think of something! Who else was going to do if not her?
“Aaahh…”
Spike slowly rolled to one side. Thankful he was waking, Sweetie Belle knelt next to him. “Spike! You’re awake! Thank Celestia! Are you going to be okay? Tell me you’re going to be okay!”
The dragon took ragged breaths and opened his one good eye. His left eye was bleeding from under the eyelid and glued tightly shut. He looked terrible. Scales were missing from his hide, there were cuts from where the shadows hit him, and what raw flesh Sweetie Belle could see was bruised. The little breathing he was doing was shallow.
“Spike… Spike, say something!” She gently placed a hoof on his shoulder.
“Ow,” he groaned.
Sweetie Belle pulled her hoof away and frowned. “S-sorry…”
He stared out into the rain for a moment before taking a breath to speak. “Sweetie Belle? Are you… okay…?”
“Yeah, everything is okay! I’m fine! Sombra wouldn’t attack me!”
“Good…”
“What’re we going to do, Spike? How are we going to fix all this?”
Spike didn’t reply.
Sweetie Belle gently shook him, trying hard not to panic in front of the foals. “Spike! What’re we going to do?”
He groaned in pain from her gentle nudges. She stopped, but the agony of waiting for him to answer was almost too much for her to bear. Finally he took another breath.
“Sweetie… I don’t know… I don’t think I’m going to make it…”
The twins began another round of loud crying. Sweetie Belle pushed their cries from her mind and focused on Spike. “No,” she said defiantly. “No, you’re going to be fine! Totally fine! When we see our friends again I’m going to tell them you didn’t hide. I’m going to tell them that you stood against a titan and never faltered. You were the bravest of us all.”
Spike laughed weakly, but in doing so hurt himself. “Sweetie… You have a way with words…”
She cuddled up next to him to hide her sadness. “Yeah… That’s what everypony says when I write them songs…”
Sweetie Belle listened to Spike’s breathing become lighter and more ragged by the minute. The foals were still upset, but she couldn’t leave Spike. Not yet. I wish I knew how to make this better. I wish I knew something, anything, I could use to save everypony…
“Sweetie,” Spike whispered, closing his eye. “Maybe singing… will make the foals… feel better… I know it would for me…”
“I-I’m not a very good singer,” Sweetie Belle sarcastically laughed.
“Everypony says you are…”
“Well, they don’t know anything about pitch and tone and or how a mezzo-soprano voice should sound… If they did, they would know I had a long way to go before I could be considered-”
Spike weakly placed a claws hand on her hoof, stopping her short of finishing her sentence. “For me… I don’t have much time left…”
“No!” she shouted, jumping to her hooves and wiping tears from her eyes. “No! I’m not going to sing while you slip away to the River Styx! It’s not fair! You shouldn’t have to go! I don’t want you to!”
He gave her a wary smile but said nothing.
“Wah! Wah!”
Sweetie Belle covered her ears with her hooves and closed her eyes. Her frustration with the situation was almost unbearable. Where was Rarity? She needed her sister! After a few deep breaths, Sweetie Belle capitulated to her somber feelings… She opened her eyes and held her head high. If Spike wanted her to sing, she was going to sing.
Ironically, after she had just explained that ponies enjoyed the lyrics she crafted for songs, Sweetie Belle opted to sing a more pure musical song instead. She didn’t feel like any words would be appropriate for how she was feeling. Just… emotion. Sweetie Belle sang a series of harmonized notes. It was slow and heavy, like the rain outside.
The twins stopped crying as she sang. Much to Sweetie Belle’s surprise, however, their horns began to light up with magic but nothing magical ever happened. Sweetie Bell stopped singing and gave a questioning stare. “Are you two okay? What’s wrong?”
They continued holding their unicorn magic. Obsidian began giggling and laughing like he was amused by something but Sweetie Belle didn’t understand. She opened her mouth to continue singing when it suddenly struck her; what if she used her magic while singing? For a moment she was still; frozen in place with her mouth open thinking about the possibility. She wasn’t very good at magic but…
Sweetie Belle began singing again, this time a more uplifting song. She activated her magic and closed her eyes, focusing on the song and the power of magic inherent in her body. With her eyes closed she felt like she were metaphorically struggling to open a door… something she knew she could do if only she tried just a little harder.
As she sang she felt so much better; the uplifting melody was washing away the depression and sadness, replacing it with something better. The longer she sang the more she realized she was getting closer to opening that door. It felt like she was crafting new magic without even realizing it; doing something she had never done before. It reminded her of Rarity’s stories about discovering her gem-locating spell. It had just come to Rarity naturally. She didn’t even need to be taught. She just knew.
Finally she felt the release of the magic – the door had been opened and, like a floodgate, magic poured from her! Her singing was now infused with magic, carrying it to whoever could hear. It felt as though Sweetie Belle was imparting a piece of herself into anyone that heard her music; like transferring power and happiness from her very being. She continued singing her wordless song, feeling the sheer happiness overtaking her.
The twins began laughing and clopping their hooves together by the time Sweetie Belle had exhausted herself. Singing like that was hard work! Her voice echoed along the walls of the gorge and she smiled when caught a glimpse of her own voice. I wasn’t bad!
“Hm? What the-”
Sweetie Belle turned to Spike and saw that he was picking himself off the floor and brushing off. His wounds… they were almost completely healed!
“But- er, how?” Sweetie Belle gasped.
“Sweetie Belle! You… you saved me!” Spike grabbed her and squeezed her up into his arms with a powerful hug.
“Eip-” she coughed, barely able to breathe.
Spike released her and spun around. There were still tiny white lines from where he had been injured, but otherwise he looked fine. His left eye, however, was still tightly shut. Spike brought one of his clawed hands up to touch it and immediately pulled away after the slightest of pressure. Blood leaked from the eyelid and he grimaced from the pain. That wound had been the worst but it seemed infinitely better now, even if it were still there.
“I… I don’t know how I could ever thank you but… Thank you! I didn’t even know you could do that!”
Sweetie Belle awkwardly laughed. “Neither did I!”
“Sweetie Belle, look!” Spike pointed to her flank and she immediately whipped her head back to look. On her flank was her cutie mark; a mystic looking pink heart with a black music note in the center.
Sweetie Belle gasped so hard she almost fainted. “Spike! Spike, I got my cutie mark!” She ran to him and the two began playfully dancing; one happy to be alive the other happy to finally have completed her first major goal in life. Even the two twins carried on with the joy, clopping their hooves together as though this were an epic celebration.
Spike suddenly stopped the silly dancing and stared at her with his one eye. “Sweetie Belle! This is awesome, but it’s no time to celebrate! We have to do something about Sombra and the changelings!”
She stopped and looked at him, contemplating the situation. “Wait!” she suddenly gasped. “You can send a scroll to Celestia! With your fire breath! Then she’ll know what’s coming! She can prepare!”
“Sweetie Belle, that’s perfect! That’ll give us time to come back and try and free everyone from the changelings!”
Smiling, Sweetie Belle hugged Spike another time. “We’re going to do it! We’re going to get a plan together and win this after all!”
“We will only if we hurry,” Spike laughed.
“Oh, right…” She let go of the dragon and levitated the twins over. “Let’s go!”
They ran from their tiny cave and began climbing out of the gorge. Although Sweetie Belle had been cold and tired before, she now felt rejuvenated. Even Spike seemed like he were full of energy! We’re going to make it! I know we are!
---
Rarity sat in the darkness of the cave, silently contemplating everything she had learned. Apparently, Sombra had been alone in the gorge, trapped under rocks, for years… Rarity blamed herself for not realizing it… it was so obvious! She should have been there… she should have gone back to get him… to pull him out…
This is all my fault.
If she had saved him then Queen Chrysalis would have never used him for her own twisted deeds. Now he was being used and drained of his magic… attacking other ponies when she knew he didn’t want to.
This is all my fault.
The sound of a beautiful melody suddenly echoed along the rocks of the cave and Rarity slowly lifted her head. That voice sounded familiar… “Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked aloud, her voice cracking. “Sweetie Belle… Is that you?”
“R-Rarity?”
Stunned, Rarity stood up and backed up against the wall. “Who’s there?” The entire cave was pitch black. She couldn’t see a thing.
“Um… It’s me…”
Once she got her bearings, Rarity used her magic to illuminate her horn. On the far side of the twisted cave was the yellow pegasus, Fluttershy. She looked… less than stellar. Her mane was a wreck, her face marked with dry tears and her wings scruffy.
“Fluttershy! I didn’t know you were here!”
“Rarity? It really is you!” Fluutershy got up and weakly smiled. “I thought… I thought they had forgotten about me down here…”
Rarity embraced her friend and looked around. “Fluttershy… Tell me what happened. How long have you been down here?”