10:30 - Canterlot Castle
Celestia has provided valuable information for the Mane 6 and Princess Cadence. Now they all rest, waiting for Armak's next move, well... except for one pony, who is still wondering where her little dragon is, is he okay, and what's going to happen between them?
Twilight couldn't sleep, she never slept for so long. She kept twisting and turning in her bed. Every time she would be close to falling asleep, she would either hear, think, or see Spike. Then she would rise up from her bed quickly while breathing and sweating hard. It was either hearing the words Spike said before he left, or thinking about what's going to happen to him. Will he be okay without her? Will he ever forgive her?
Twilight couldn't go to sleep, so she came out of her bed and went to go for a walk. Maybe she'll get tired by walking, who knows?
Twilight started to walk around the castle when she saw a balcony. She decided to go out to the balcony for some fresh air. When she went out, she saw the beautiful night. It wasn't cloudy, so she could see the glittering stars and the big bright moon. Luna made a wonderful scene tonight Twilight thought. It could help calm her down with the Spike problem.
Suddenly, Twilight heard something behind her. She smiled when she saw that it was none other than her brother Shining Armor. He saw her on the balcony from below and decided to pay her a visit.
"Hey Twily, I didn't know you were here as well."
Twilight gave a shocked, but happy expression. "(gasp) Shining!" They both ran towards each other and embraced in a warm hug. "Why are you here at the castle? I thought you were back at the Crystal Empire?"
"Princess Celestia called me here because of a new threat, I guess that's why you're here too huh?"
"Yeah! We were in danger at Ponyville, and I guess Cadence was in danger at the Crystal Empire, so we came here for protection. And since you're both the head of the guard, and Cadence's husband, you would need protection too."
"Hey, I don't need protection! I need to protect, and if all of you are safe, then that's what matters."
"Yeah, but I want you to be safe too. I want everypony to get through this okay." Twilight knew that she was asking for too much since she didn't know where Spike was.
They both looked at the sky. Shining put his hoof around Twilight's neck and resting it on her shoulder. "So, you came out here to look at the night sky, it is beautiful." Shining looked at Twilight. He could tell something was wrong, he was her brother after all. "Twily? Is something bothering you?"
Twilight looked at her brother. "... Something's on my mind, but it's nothing, you shouldn't worry about it."
"Oh... alright then. Well, I have to get going, you know, duty calls." Shining took his hoof off of Twilight and started to trot away. "Bye Twily!"
"Bye Shining!"
"Hey, you know what? After all, of this is over, we can hang out. Never got to hang out with my baby sister after the King Sombra incident."
"Yeah... sure." Shining left, and Twilight knew that she couldn't hang out, after all, this. She had to find Spike.
Twilight then smiled at the term, "baby sister".
Unknown Time - Unknown Area
It was dark.
Spike awoke to find himself in a cage. A big cage, dangling from the ceiling using a chain. Around him, was what looked like an old castle. Looked as bad as the Castle Of The Two Sisters. The castle was filled with cobwebs, it was dusty, the furniture was cracked, and the curtains were ripped. Right beside the cage Spike was in, was a throne. The throne was like Princess Celestia's, but was dusty and cracked like the castle.
Spike didn't know where he was, he had to get out of here. All he could remember was him talking to a pony and then he ended up here. "Hello? Anypony?"
There was no answer.
Spike tried to find the door of the cage, but there was none. How did he get in the cage if there is no door? Spike tried his fire breath, but nothing came out. It was just like the time at the Equestria Games, but he wasn't nervous. What was stopping him?
"Don't even try, I used a spell to seal your fire breath." Spike looked around but didn't see anypony. "I see you are awake... um? Spike? Yes, Spike!" Armak appeared from the shadows. With an evil grin on his face. "It's about time you woke up."
"You? Armak?"
"Yes, it is I, young Spike. Armak, the one who will claim Equestria for his own."
"Wha-? C-Claim Equestria?" Spike started putting the pieces together. "So... it was you, who Princess Celestia mentioned in the letter for Twilight!"
"Yes it was me, though, I thought it was kind of weird seeing a dragon with a letter from the princess, so I followed you to find some answers."
"What answers?"
"Answers to the questions that I have. Like for example, what kind of relationship do you have with Celestia? If you were close to the Princess then I could use you to lure them to me. It turns out that you are not close to Celestia, but close to Twilight, the other Princess."
"So that's why you have me here? Locked up in this cage?"
"Yes, if they noticed that you were missing they would come looking for you, and that would lead them straight to me. I would capture them, and make Equestria my own." Armak started to laugh.
Spike then gave a depressed expression. Spike knew that they wouldn't look for him. Instead, they would be happy because they would say that he deserved this because he left Twilight to fend for herself, they wouldn't care. "You're wrong... they wouldn't come save me... after all, they think about me only as an assistant," Spike said quietly.
Armak stopped laughing. "Wait, what!? You mean you were only an assistant? Nothing more?"
"...Yes..."
"Wha-? No... NO! My plan was perfect! I could already see them at my hoofs! Begging me to spare you! But you're... you're nothing!"
Spike took that to offense. "Hey!"
Armak was frustrated. He thought that his plan was ruined, but he didn't get the other side of the story.
He fired a random magic blast at the wall.
DAY 3 - 9:00 - Canterlot Castle
"Um, Celestia? You wouldn't mind if Sweetie Belle could come over? I mean, she's all alone in Ponyville... WAIT? I just left without telling her anything! Where did she sleep! What did she eat?" The Mane 6 and the Princesses were in Celestia and Luna's kitchen in the castle. They were eating breakfast.
"Calm down sugarcube. Ah'm sure Apple Bloom let her stay in, and ah doubt that Granny and Big Mac' didn't let her in."
"I-I'm sure your right, but I just left her there, what if something did happen to her?"
Celestia put her hoof on Rarity's shoulder and gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry about it. I'll send some of my guards to go check on them, and they'll pick up all of your family members. They will stay here for the time being. If Armak knows about them, then he will go after them."
"Perhaps, you should bring Scoots too. She is very close with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom." Rainbow suggested.
"That's alright with me. We have plenty of room here in the castle, and I'm sure Luna or the Guards won't mind."
Luna spoke up, "I don't mind."
"Great! Anyone else we forgot?"
"My family is nowhere near Ponyville, what about your's?" Rarity said.
They all said that none of their parents lived near here, but Celestia still thought that she forgot about somepony. "Okay, I'll send some of the guards right now to pick up your family and other very close friends. In the meantime, eat up, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"
All ate their food except Twilight. Soon enough, though, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy got her to eat.
Luna and Cadence were concerned, they didn't know why Twilight was acting like this.
Luna whispered to Cadence, "Did you notice how Twilight's acting?"
Cadence whispered back, "Yes I did. Even Shining thought Twilight was acting strange."
"Where's that little dragon of hers?" Luna asked.
"Spike? I don't know. Now that you mention it, I've never seen him since we all arrived here."
"Well, how about we try to cheer her up, her friends are already trying to," Luna suggested.
Both heads turned to Twilight.
Cadence asked, "Twilight? Are you feeling alright? You weren't eating."
Twilight put on a fake big smile, "Yeah! I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be fine!"
Applejack frowned at Twilight, and Twilight knew what she meant. She was the Element of Honesty after all.
"... Actually no, I'm not."
Cadence grew more concern for her friend. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"
"No... it's nothing like that, I-I'll explain when Celestia returns."
"Oh, alright then."
12:00 - Old Castle - Unknown Area
Armak sat there, on his throne, both bored and frustrated. He didn't know what to do, now that he knows... or thinks that Spike is useless to him. He couldn't just let him go, for he would just tell the Princesses that he doesn't have a plan, and they would come for him. But, even though he was evil, he did enjoy the company.
"So. I'm interested."
Spike was sitting in his cage, he gave a confused look, "Interested in what?"
"Of how YOU became an assistant to Twilight. You are like, the only dragon in Equestria."
"Oh, that? Um... Basically, Twilight had to pass an entrance exam for one of Celestia's schools in Canterlot. I... I was the exam, she had to hatch me from my egg to pass. She eventually hatched me, and she passed. After that, Celestia raised me until Twilight was old enough to take care of me. Once she became old enough, Celestia gave me to Twilight. At the time I still couldn't talk, dragons age slower than ponies do. You could say that Celestia was like a mother, and Twilight was like an older sister to me. Twilight raised me and when I got a little older, I became her assistant. I enjoyed being her assistant at first, but when we moved to Ponyville, I just got... used."
"So, they used a dragon egg for an exam, and when the dragon was old enough, it was just used for assisting a pony? That...That's low for Celestia."
"That's why I ran away. I hate what they did... I don't want to see them ever again! They just used me! I'm a different species, and they used me as a slave!" Spike got angrier by the second.
"...Join me."
Spike looked at Armak in confusion. "Huh?"
"JOIN ME SPIKE! I'LL HELP YOU HAVE YOUR REVENGE!"
"No..."
This time, Armak was confused. "What? I thought you hated them?"
"I said I hated what they did. They might not love and care for me, but I love and care for them. So I will never help you!"
"Fine then." Armak was smart, he could see what was really happening. Spike was wrong, Twilight and her friends did care for Spike after all, but they had their mistakes.
Twilight and her friends would come if they knew that Spike was here, and Armak's plan could continue, or maybe there's another way to beat Celestia? Armak gave a smile and left the throne room.
Armak went to the library of the old castle, got a parchment and quill. He started to write.
Dear Celestia,
I have something for you...
12:20 - Canterlot Castle
All the ponies were in the room with the big table in the middle. The Apple Family, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the princesses, and Shining Armor, were all called here by Twilight and her friends. They needed to explain what happened with Spike.
Twilight spoke, "Um... hi everypony. I'm going to explain what has happened a couple of days ago at Ponyville. You might have noticed me acting strange lately, and I believe I need to talk about it with all of you. Some of you might already know about this, but I'll give you a refresher.
Twilight started to explain everything from the day she came back from their big party at Ponyville.
When Twilight finished her story, the CMC, Apple Family, princesses, and Shining Armor looked shocked. The Apple Family helped with the search for Spike a day ago, but they never knew what had caused him to be missing, the CMC knew that Spike ran away, but didn't know that this was the reason, Princess Celestia finally noticed who was missing this whole time, it was Spike. Luna, Cadence, and Shining began to worry for Spike. Everypony in the room felt guilt after hearing the story, especially Twilight.
"So that's why he's not here. He's angry at me, and he doesn't want to return. He's somewhere out there, and I always wonder where he is, and if he is okay. I-I just want to apologize and ask for his forgiveness."
"Now you all know why I was acting the way I did, and after this is all over, I'm going to find Spike! And there is nothing that can stop me!"
Cadence needed to cheer up Twilight, "Don't worry Twilight, I'm sure the Crystal ponies will help for the search of Spike. After all, he did save their empire."
"Yeah, and the guards also owe Spike a dept for saving the Equestria Games." Shining did make a point.
"We'll get the Apple Family to help as well." Granny Smith said in her creaky voice.
Twilight gained more confidence, "Thanks, all of you. I guess it was the best choice to talk it out with my friends and family." Everypony shook their heads agreeing.
Just then, a letter appeared in a flash of darkness in front of Celestia.