Seeing one of Rarity's friends just collapse like that had been bad enough. Seeing the black shape emerge from the unconscious form had been worse. But nothing compared to the feeling of sheer helplessness as Fancy Pants watched Rarity and the others fall unconscious.
"Rarity!" He hurried to her side and tried to wake her, but she didn't react. He tried the same with the others, to no avail, then he turned to the other ponies present, who looked just as shocked as he felt. "Right then, everypony, we've got to get them to a hospital, and quickly." Somehow, he managed to radiate an aura of calm determination, despite his inner turmoil.
One of the other ponies - a grey pegasus with a bubble cutie mark and eyes looking in two directions at the same time - blinked once, then looked around. "You heard him. Move it!" She looked at Fancy. "You're Fancy Pants, aren't you? I've read about you."
"Yes," he answered distractedly, not looking away from Rarity for a second.
He felt her gaze scrutinize him for a moment, then she laid a hoof on his shoulder. "She will be fine."
Despite himself, Fancy felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. She hadn't struck him as particularly observant, but he realized his error now. "Is it that obvious?"
The pegasus mare chuckled. "Perhaps not to everypony, but I'm a mailmare. There aren't many things I haven't seen."
"I could say the same. Not the mailmare bit, obviously," he smiled, "but I've seen it all where relations between ponies are concerned." He looked after the ponies and the dragon as they were carried away. "It's never felt a more useless talent than right now."
"Keep an eye on them. Something very bad is happening, and perhaps we won't be able to do anything, but we need to be there for them." The scratchy, tomboyish voice couldn't hide the seriousness in the mare's words.
Fancy Pants turned to the pegasus in surprise. "What - how do you know that? Why are you saying that?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems right, you see?" Then she smiled. "And I so want to deliver the invitations to your wedding, so make sure she gets out of this alright."
Fancy coughed. "I believe it's a little early to go planning for that, miss ...?"
"Derpy Hooves," she said.
"Miss Hooves. We've only been together for a little over two weeks."
"Yeah, but you'll last," Derpy said cheerfully. "You're the real deal." She checked the clock on the tower. "Sorry, I've gotta be going. I'm running late." She picked up her mailbag and took off.
Fancy looked after her, suddenly feeling a lot more hopeful than before. He hurried after the crowd of ponies moving towards the hospital.
A complete stranger reassures me, and suddenly everything looks not so bad after all, he thought. I'm beginning to understand what Rarity sees in this town.
***
"What is happening to them?"
Nurse Redheart looked at the unicorn stallion before her. She had seen photos of him in several of the high society magazines, but he looked different in person, and not just because he was obviously sick with worry.
"We don't know, Mr. Pants," she said. "They don't seem to be in direct danger, but they're showing no signs of waking either."
"Can't I do anything?" Fancy Pants sounded desperate.
"You brought them here, but actually, yes, there is more you can do," Nurse Redheart said. "Sit next to them, speak to them, try to get through to them. Simply put, be there for them, and especially for her." She pointed at the bed where Rarity lay, eyes closed, completely drained of colour.
"I will." Fancy Pants turned away and sat down next to Rarity's bed, whispering to her.
***
Fancy had no idea how much time had passed when his vigil was suddenly interrupted. The young dragon - Spike, he dimly remembered - was screaming and sobbing.
For a moment, Fancy's hopes went up, but Spike didn't seem any more aware of his surroundings than before. He began to whisper, and Fancy leaned in.
"I'm not worth it. I'll never be worth it. How could I hope to be worthy of anypony's love?"
At any other time, Fancy would have dismissed the words as the overblown ramblings of a young colt - or dragon, in this case - who had his heart broken for the first time, but his instincts told him that this was important. He needed to do something, anything. The dragon must not be allowed to surrender to these feelings.
Without really knowing why, Fancy leaned in and spoke directly in Spike's ear. "Do not sell yourself short like that, young dragon. Rarity may not be for you, but that's no reason to simply give up. You will find the one for you, and in time, you will learn to cherish what you felt for Rarity, even though it hurts now."
Spike twitched in his 'sleep', then he seemed to relax. Fancy had no idea whether that was a good sign or not, but he felt he'd done the right thing.
He went back to his vigil by Rarity's bed, casting an occasional glance at the dragon.
***
"Hello, Element of Magic. You are the last one now."
Twilight saw Doubt manifest ahead of her on the grey plain. She dug her hooves into the ground. "You won't win, Doubt, any more than Envy or Discord did."
"Yes, I know you've met these two." Doubt's voice was laced with disdain. "Envy was always a little too impulsive for her own good, and Discord ... well, he had some admirable ideas on manipulation, but he was too chaotic to ever really achieve anything."
"So what are you going to do to me now? Try to get inside my head?" Twilight asked.
"Haha. No. What kind of idiot do you take me for? You are the Element of Magic. Anything I tried to attack you with, you could turn back on me in a heartbeat." Doubt waved its hand, and the disc burst from the ground. Twilight gasped as she realized that five of the pits were occupied now. The black shape looked at her. "I've done worse than attack you, my dear. I have isolated you. What use is all the magic in the world without friends?"
Doubt's eyes turned blue, and its next words sounded almost reflective. "Discord tried the same, at least as far as I could tell from your friends' memories. Why didn't it work? It was brilliant enough that it should have worked."
"The princess sent me my friendship reports, and I realized how important my friends were to me." Twilight wasn't sure why she answered, possibly handing Doubt a weapon against her, but some part of her mind had simply ceased to care.
"Ah. So tell me, what happened when you tried to use your element against Discord for the first time, while the others were either not there or not caring?" The tone made it clear that Doubt knew the answer.
"We failed. The elements didn't respond."
"And now we are here." Doubt spread its arms. "Your five best friends are already on my side, so where does that leave you?"
"Where does that leave me?" Twilight's eyes blazed. "I'll tell you, Doubt! It leaves me fighting you until my very last breath, until you kill me, because I will never help you, whatever you hope to achieve!"
"Ooh. Are you sure that element didn't suddenly transform into Fighting Spirit?" Doubt asked, sneering. "So what are you going to do, exactly? Attack me with your magic?"
"If I have to, yes, I will." Twilight readied herself.
"What is Incantatus' First Principle of Magic?"
That question threw Twilight for a loop. "Excuse me?"
"I asked a simple question. What is Incantatus' First Principle of Magic? Every pupil of magic should know that one, unless it has been forgotten over time?" Doubt sounded almost like a teacher.
"No, it hasn't," Twilight said, unable to resist answering questions on her area of expertise even in this situation. "The First Principle is self-assurance. Any trace of doubt can lead to unexpected side effects or failure of the spell." She had grown ever quieter over that sentence, suddenly realizing what she was saying.
"And you want to tell me that with your five best friends in my hands and the hope of the world resting upon four children, you have the level of self-assurance needed to perform spells that could affect a primordial force of evil?" Doubt sounded as though it was barely holding back laughter.
Twilight gritted her teeth. "I sure hope I do." She focused her power, and a beam of white light shot out of her horn towards the whirling blackness.
It hit Doubt square in the chest area, and the blackness recoiled, its eyes suddenly blazing green. "You are more powerful than you look, little unicorn. Wanna try that again?"
She did. Another beam of light shot towards Doubt, but this time it was ready. A quick spin of the left hand, and the beam was deflected. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the beam streaked towards the disc, finally hitting it in the centre.
The whole world reverberated like a gong, and a deep crack formed in the disc. Twilight felt a feedback surge of magic running through her horn, and then she was flying towards the final empty pit on the disc.
Doubt laughed. "I would have preferred to empty you the way I emptied your friends before you got into your Pit, but this will do nicely. You won't hold out for long anyway once you're in there."
Twilight felt the pain of the impact drive the air from her lungs. She forced herself to stay conscious and looked around. The cracks in the disc were widening now, and blackness was seeping out of them. It wouldn't hold for much longer.
Doubt looked up at Twilight. "The final part of the prophecy will come true soon enough." It struck a pose.
"And in the end, after the other five have gone, when doubt denies magic, the elements will scatter, and darkness will reign."
"That hasn't happened. You haven't denied magic," Twilight spat defiantly.
"Not yet. But the Pit of Darkness will get to you soon enough, my dear little unicorn." Doubt turned away. "I would love to watch this play out to its inevitable conclusion, but I have other things to do. There are elements out there that need to be taken care of." It vanished in a swirl of black.
I failed you. All of you. It's up to you now, and I know you can do it, Twilight thought.
And then the darkness descended, the thoughts ended, and the screams began.
***
Spike felt a sudden surge of pain as the ground beneath him reverberated.
"What was that?" He clutched his head with both hands.
"The final element has found its way into the Pits." The swirl of darkness, familiar by now, appeared in front of the dragon.
"Oh? Then why are we still here?" Spike asked, taunting the shadow.
"She is still fighting it, but she won't last long." Doubt raised a hand, and the disc appeared. Spike's eyes were drawn to the only speck of colour, and he had to bite back tears as he saw Twilight writhe and scream in the pit. Her hooves were already starting to lose their colour.
"You won't win. She's too strong for you." Spike was aware how hollow his words sounded.
"She is not. But that's not the issue at hand anyway, my little dragon. You are," Doubt said.
"I defeated you once, as you said yourself. I can do it again." Spike's hand went to the gem around his neck.
"There is a tiny, unimportant little difference between last time and this time, oh Element of Resolve. Last time, we fought on your turf. This time, the battlefield is my home of five thousand years." Doubt's eyes blazed yellow, and it looked directly at Spike. "Let me show you what Doubt can really do to a young dragon's heart and mind."
The world went dark for a second, and then the barrage started.
The ponies in Canterlot, always afraid that something might happen, as it had when he hatched. The ponies in Ponyville, always distant to the one in their midst who was not like them. The dragon in the Everfree Forest, contemptuous of the hatchling who had invaded his hoard. The dragons at the migration, mocking the pony-on-the-inside.
Spike wavered, but he managed to weather the storm. "Is that all you've got?"
"Oh no. Let's get personal, shall we?"
Fluttershy, secretly scared of him as she was of all dragons, and afraid of what he would become one day. Pinkie Pie, whose home he had nearly destroyed. Applejack, convinced that a dragon didn't belong among ponies, though she would never say it out loud. Rainbow Dash, dismissing him as unimportant and not worth her time.
Again he wavered, and again he held. "You need to do better than that, Doubt!"
"As you wish." All trace of mockery had vanished from Doubt's voice.
Rarity. Sweet loving Rarity - but that side was not for him. He had loved her for years, and she knew it, but she had never taken him or his feelings seriously. She would never love him. She loved Fancy Pants, and what hope in the hay did a baby dragon have against that stallion?
Spike felt his insides burn. Why would anypony ever think of him the way he thought of Rarity? He wasn't worth it. He never would be worth it. The gemstone dimmed slightly.
And then he heard a voice in his head - the last voice he expected to hear right now.
Do not sell yourself short like that, young dragon. Rarity may not be for you, but that's no reason to simply give up. You will find the one for you, and in time, you will learn to cherish what you felt for Rarity, even though it hurts now.
Fancy Pants? For a fleeting moment, Spike felt the presence of the stallion, and even though that should have intensified the pain and doubt, it eased those feelings instead.
"Oh, so that wasn't enough either?" Doubt sounded positively livid now. "Time to break out the big guns, then!"
Twilight. Caring, sweet, loving and (yes) beautiful Twilight Sparkle. She was the only family he'd ever had, and even she didn't understand him. She hardly knew anything about dragons. She freely used him to ferry messages to the princess and back, but did she really see him as anything more than an assistant? Was he a friend? A little brother? Or just a glorified piece of furniture, or a special pet?
Again, Spike wavered, more heavily than before. He'd never realized before now how much Twilight meant to him, as a friend and as a sister. And he had no idea whether she even remotely thought of him the same way. Just as he was on the cusp of surrender, he suddenly thought of all the good times he'd had with Twilight, all those moments you share when you grow up together that you could never in a million words explain to anyone who wasn't there. His first flame, his first successfully sent letter, her joy at her passed exam in magical theory (an A+, naturally, as he'd told her it would be), him trying to cheer her up when she was lovesick for the first time (oh, that had been a bad time, but they had managed).
Her trying to cheer him up after he'd seen Rarity and Fancy Pants.
That last thought led naturally to that Sunday morning in the library when he'd finally come to terms with his pain, aided by the crush Apple Bloom had on him.
I can be loved. I am worth it. Twilight and Apple Bloom have shown me.
His element blazed with green light, and he laughed. "Trying to break me with images of my sister? Nice one, Doubt, but," he pointed at the shadow, grinning like mad, "you fail!"
The shadow exploded, and Spike was falling again.