The Judas Kiss

by friedlambo


The Part of Her

When one experiences pain or sorrow, they are usually left to weep and bask in their own thoughts of how they can fix it, what they can do to prevent it from happening again in the future, or simply to reminisce on the very events that led them to feel such things in the first place.

For a particular magical, lavender unicorn, it was all of the above.

She felt as if this whole ordeal had been her fault, but for a good reason: she was the one who had started asking Rarity all of those cursed questions. It was she who had incautiously forced these hurtful answers out of the ivory-colored unicorn, and now, because of her selfishness, she had lost her assistant. She had lost her friend.

She had lost what was once to her a brother.

Shaking with both fear and despair, Twilight weakly got up from her bed, and made her way downstairs to prepare herself for breakfast. Surely, she didn't feel like eating, but she had to. She didn't feel like eating ever since Spike had run off to Celestia-knows-where, as a matter of fact. Lazily, she made herself some cereal, and ate at it slowly and unwantingly. After what seemed to her like an hour, Twilight finished up her meal, and tossed the bowl into the sink, not bothering to clean it. Her whole library was a complete mess. Books were scattered across the floor, papers and scrolls lay about torn and wrinkled, and even some of her past reports were lost and torn apart. Without her assistant, not only was she alone, but she was also hopeless.

She hadn't bothered telling Celestia about any of this yet. She was afraid of what she might say, or how she might scold her for asking Rarity those questions in the first place. She mainly didn't tell her because she was afraid that Celestia might want to take Spike away from her, fearing that the dragon was maturing and growing into a dangerous, threat-inducing beast. Celestia may have been the one to let Spike stay with her, but she was also the one that was very skeptical about the dragon's aging process, and how risky it would be to let such a creature stay in a pony residence.

Twilight huffed and sat down on one of the many piles of books in the library, and let out a big, heavy sigh. She wanted to cry, but she had already done so for the past three days, and she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. She looked down on the pile of books below her, many of them being about magical spells and enchantments that she had already mastered long ago. One particular book, however, caught her interest. Not because of it's contents, but rather because of what it reminded her of. It was a book that she had used to read to Spike whenever he was still barely a hatchling. There were times that the dragon had trouble sleeping or falling asleep at night, and those nights, Twilight would read this book to him. He would always seem to fall asleep just fine afterwards, with a smile on his face that only Twilight knew oh-so-well.

The Mare and The Beast.

It was at this moment that Twilight, even though she had tried to fight it, let some tears fall down her face, leaving a darker trail of hairs where they ran.

As she continued to weep more and more, a particular owl made his way inside, and flew over to the crying unicorn, a letter gripped in his beak. Twilight, sensing the owl's arrival, lifted her head to see Owlicious, her secondary assistant. She toke note of the letter he had. Funny. She hadn't sent any letters to the Princess recently, so this was a bit rare. If Twilight ever received any letters from the Princess that weren't replies to her own, then that meant either really good news, or really bad news.

Obviously, Twilight had hoped for the first. She was going through enough "bad news" as it was already.

"Thank you, Owlicious." Twilight said in a low tone.

Taking the letter with caution from his beaks with her magic, Twilight brought it over to her and unrolled it, beginning to read.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

It is with my utmost concern and acknowledgement to tell you of a terrible act that has inflicted a potential threat to Equestria. There is not much time to explain all of this through a simple letter, and it would be easier to explain to you in person.

I will, however, tell you this right now; your friend Spike is in grave danger, and we are unable to locate him anywhere. I am not sure what happened to him or why, but I am sure that you can possibly tell me any details that you know whenever you arrive here to talk to me.

There is a chariot already on it's way over to you. By the time you have finished reading this letter, they will be about twenty minutes away from you. Please be ready.

With love, Princess Celestia.

Twilight felt her heart drop. Spike was in danger? How did she know that? Does it have anything to do with this so-called threat that the Princess is talking about?

Her head began to spin from all of the unanswered questions that she wanted answered too badly. This was bothering her. Not only was Spike now missing, but he was now also in danger? What exactly was going on?

"Twenty minutes. That's more than enough time to get anything ready. But wait...will I even need anything? She didn't exactly say that I would be doing anything about this...this threat...." Twilight said as she went upstairs to prepare for something that she didn't really even know if she was supposed to prepare for.

"Oh, this is not good! When if I never see Spike again? What would I do without him, and what would Rarity-?" Twilight stopped mid-sentence.

Rarity.

Twilight's eyes popped open. She knew all too well that Rarity wasn't fairing too well ever since Spike not only ran away, but screamed in her face at how horrible she was to say those things about him a few days ago. However, Twilight also knew very well that Rarity was just as concerned for the dragon as she was, and it only seemed fair to tell her of the letter that she had gotten from Celestia.

No.

She didn't want to just tell her about it. She needed to go with her. Celestia may have not said for anypony else to go, but neither did she say that it wasn't allowed, and Rarity was just as involved with this as she was.

Without wasting another moment's hesitation, Twilight ran downstairs and sprinted to the doorway and out the door, leaving a very confused and seemingly-lifeless owl to stand in the very place that it had landed.

"Who?"

_______________________________________________________________


Twilight ran as fast as she could to Rarity's boutique, both excited and scared to tell her of the news she had received. She hadn't seen the unicorn ever since that fateful evening that both had grown to memorize, replaying the night's events over and over in their heads. She was worried about her, no doubt. Rarity was always one to be over-dramatic about a lot of things, and Twilight assumed that this was no exception. At the same time, she also knew that, although the white mare didn't really show it too much in a serious manner, Rarity was very emotional.

Finally arriving at the boutique, Twilight began to knock patiently, waiting for her friend to come down and open it. Just as Twilight was about to start another round of knocking, the door opened to reveal Rarity. Twilight's purple eyes met Rarity's eyes.

Her blue, blood-shot, half-opened eyes.

Twilight winced at the sight. She looked as if she had not slept in ages. Her mane was a mess, which was far from normal for her. Rarity barely looked like she was even able to lift her head.

She was taking this a lot harder than even Twilight herself.

"Rarity, I-I need to talk to you! It's important! Equestria is in danger! Not only that, but Spike-!"

"You've found Spike?!" Rarity interrupted, alarming Twilight. Rarity's eyes seemed to have shot open upon hearing the dragon's name, and a dead-hopeful smile slowly smeared onto her face.

"N-no, I haven't...but that's not it! I received a letter from Celestia, and she claims that a threat has been made on Equestria! She also said that Spike was in danger, but sadly, she too doesn't know where he is. She wants me to come to Canterlot to talk with her, but you are a part of this too, so I thought it would only seem right if I asked you if you wanted to come with me!" Twilight said, rushing through every sentence. Rarity gazed at her lavender friend, her smile fading away again at the news.

"Spike is...in danger? Why? What happened to him, Twilight?" Rarity asked, her voice peaking to desperation.

If only she knew the answer to that question herself.

"I'm not sure, Rarity, but we can find out once we get to Canterlot! So do you want to come, or do you not?" Twilight asked, realizing that the chariot that would take them to Canterlot would be arriving at her library at any minute.

Rarity looked at the ground below her. She stepped inside of her boutique, and closed the door slowly in Twilight's face.

Twilight was a bit shocked to see this. Rarity wasn't interested in going? Didn't she at least care about Spike at all? This didn't make any sense to her.

"I guess-I guess not, then..." Twilight said, letting out a long sigh.

With a feeling of disappointment, Twilight turned around in a slow, depressing manner, her head hanging low, and was about to make her way back to her library when she heard the door behind her open. Turning around curiously, she saw Rarity step out of her boutique. However, something was different about her. Her face was now full of confidence, and she looked as if she were ready to face anything. Her mane, while still rather messy, was half-heartedly combed back to it's original state. But that wasn't the thing that Twilight noticed the most. What caught Twilight's attention almost put a smile to her face.

She was wearing the fire-ruby that Spike had given her on his birthday.

"Let's go, Twilight. Spike needs our help." She said as she walked past Twilight, her voice fearless and full of pride. Twilight, now smiling at her friend's confirmation of going with her, ran to catch up with Rarity, and the two began to trot on over to Twilight's.

We're coming for you, Spike. I'm coming for you, Rarity thought as she trotted.