Rarity had trouble as she looked around her hospital room. She was trying to look at anything other then Pinkie Pie bawling over her still body. "You have to get better Rarity, you have to! We miss you so much, it's not the same without you! Please get better! I'll be a better friend, I'll help more with your dresses, I'll give you better parties! Anything, I'll do anything you want me to, just get better!"
Tears streamed down her eyes as she tried to console her friend. "You did nothing wrong Pinkie. I could never ask for better friends."
Twilight entered with a meek and heartbroken Fluttershy. When the door opened, Pinkie Pie bounced back to her normal cheerful self, if only as a Facade for Fluttershy. "Hey girls. I had a nice chat with Rarity, I think she'll be okie dokie. She'll get better and we'll have a big welcome back party. Think we should get a dress for her when she gets out of here? She probably hates these gowns she has to wear in here."
Twilight smiled as she ruffled her mane. "Sounds like a wonderful idea Pinkie, but first, business."
"What kinda business sugar cube?" Applejack and Rainbow Dash stepped into the room, Rainbow never looking up.
"Spike. We all know he's been in love with Rarity for as long as we can remember, so this hits him hard."
Fluttershy squeaked out as she fussed over Rarity's mane, crying softly. "It hit us all hard."
Applejack sighed. "It hit us all hard, but war seems extreme. I know what ya mean Twi, but what do we do about it?"
Rainbow Dash spoke soft and painfully. "Nothing we can do. Only a few ponies out there who could change his stubborn ass and one is in that bed. Ya know it's cause of us he's doing this, so this doesn't happen again. He always tried to help us, protect us, when he was smaller." Rainbow Dash jammed a hoof at Rarity without looking at her. "Do you really think she needed as much as help as Spike gave her? She knew he just wanted to look out for us! You didn't see him when he first came back! When he showed up in Ponyville."
Fluttershy squeaked and stood ridged. "When he killed all of those ponies?"
Applejack stepped forward, angry as she looked at Rainbow Dash. "Stop. You're gonna scare her. Scare all of them."
Rainbow shook her head. "Good. Cause Spike is the reason for all of this. He's scared, just like we are. Scared she'll die. Scared we'll all die, every day. Scared cause it's going to be all his fault."
"He scares me." They all turned to Fluttershy who was crying. "His teeth, his claws. I see blood on them, pony blood. He is not the little Spike I know and love."
Applejack raised a hoof. "Look, I see where this all's comin from, but our problem is war. When need to stop him from starting a war, not how we feel about him now. We need to stop him before he becomes like Sombra, or worst. He's my friend, so don't want it to get harder, for him or us."
Twilight stepped forward. "I agree with Applejack. Unfortunately, his only council is the elder dragon, princess Celestia, and his drakos councillors. Even I can't get to him."
Pinkie Pie bounced in place. "Me and Rainbow Dash talked to him today. Before coming here as a matter of fact."
Rainbow Dash growled at all of her friends. "Yeah, he said stay out of it. You still don't get it do you? When he came to Ponyville, he was still the same old Spike, just smoother. I didn't understand how he got so calm, till Bloody killed Rarity's dad. As he killed the same ponies that killed her dad, and tried to kill me, I got it. He was soft, WE made him soft. He gave them a chance, just so he wouldn't have to do what he had to. It broke his heart, but he did it, for us, me and her specifically. To keep us safe. He's a drakos, a protector, and he'd die defending us. Now a whole race will too. The only way to stop them, is to give them up to the dragons. They would do it too, kill their selves for us. Spike's been doing it since he left. So yeah he's scary now. He scares me too, at times, but I get it. He's hurt, dying emotionally. Our job, as friends, is to help heal him, not change his mind. I'm outta here." She walked out of the door and froze.
Rarity went to see what had spooked her but stopped when she heard his voice. His hurt and trembling voice. "Thanks. I know what to do now." Spike.
Rarity watched helplessly as Spike slept at the end of her bed. She longed to comfort him, council him, help him however she could. Sombra however, chose to laugh at him.
"I bet you wish I had killed them all now! Hahaha, rejected and feared by your own friends. Poor poor Traitorous King. If only if only, why not kill the bastard? Kill him and all his family and be done with it. No politics, be like your ancestors. Hahaha."
Surprisingly, it was Nightmare who helped her with Sombra. "Silence. She contemplates. We must let her be."
"No, you annoying wisp of ignorance. Our job is to guide her to a decision, not pat her head and sooth her wounds."
Rarity's anger turned to curiosity. "Guide? I thought you were here just to watch me? Are the two of you suppose to help me choose whether or not I come back or...." She waved a hoof at her body. "Leave it all?"
"Yes princess. Was it not obvious?"
"No, I simply thought you were meant to annoy me."
Nightmare smiled and giggled. "He maybe. I, on the other hand, am here to convince you to live again."
Sombra smirked. "I death."
"I still do not see why I would ever choose death."
"Nightmare leave us."
"Yes shadow king."
Sombra had a stoic expression as he watched Nightmare leave. He turned his eyes to Rarity, his voice steady and unemotional. "You are already supposes to be dead. That wound was fatal. Magic saved you, and not Spike's magic, Shadowfang's magic. The more Spike uses said magic, the more it corrupts him. Don't you think his scales look darker to you? Good bye for now princess."
Rarity looked at Spike and how he did indeed have a darker colour. "Wait-" but Sombra was gone. She hung her head in sorrow.
"I'll kill them all, every last one of them for hurting you. I won't let them hurt anypony else I care about."
She looked at Spike. He had not been asleep at all, a pained look in his eyes. "I would take my own heart out to bring you back and keep you safe." He stared at her comatose body. "I failed you, I failed your dad, I failed myself. I'm so sorry." He buried his face into her leg and wept. Rarity wept behind him, desperately trying to hug him.