Chapter 5
A faint light shone from one of the windows of the Carousel Boutique. The source was a candle inside Rarity’s room. The mare had been up late working on outfits for her current client. Spike had been a big help that day. With so much to do in so little time, Rarity had given Spike the responsibilities of fetching her any tools she needed from her workshop as well as holding pins with his thick scales. She made a mental note to do something special for the baby dragon as a token of her gratitude. As the day began to break into night, she sent the baby dragon home. Rarity figured that Twilight wouldn’t like it if her number one assistant came back to the castle after hours. Plus, there wasn’t much else Spike could do to help her at the moment. She still had lots of designs she needed to draft and she figured Spike would have gotten bored after a few hours of sketching.
Rarity was currently at her dresser getting ready for bed. Though she was far from done with her work, she knew her limits. The tired mare finished getting into her sleeping gown and blew out the candle on her nightstand, eager to get some sleep. She smiled as she carefully situated herself under the covers and put on her sleeping mask. Before she could drift off to sleep, a loud knocking echoed from her front door. Her eyes shot wide open and she removed her sleep mask. In a frustrated huff, she got out of bed and headed towards the front door.
Honestly, why would anyone be here at this hour? This is late even for me!
Rarity struggled to keep herself from being visibly annoyed. When she opened the door her frustration vanished in an instant. Standing on the welcome mat of the Carousel Boutique was Spike. His eyes were puffy and red. Tears could be seen streaming down his face reflecting the light from the inside. His entire body quivered as he failed to hold in his sobbing.
“Spike?” Rarity asked. “Whatever are you doing here at this hour? What’s wrong?” She moved aside and motioned Spike to enter. He didn’t move. Staring at the ground, he took in several sharp breaths as he attempted to calm down. Rarity looked at him in shock. The poor dear looked absolutely destroyed. “Spikey?” Rarity said softly. Spike finally looked up at Rarity.
“R-Rarity,” he managed to choke out. “Twilight… she’s,” Spike drew in another deep breath. “I think she’s gone.” Rarity’s eyebrows shot up. She took a quick glance outside, trying to see if anyone was around listening in.
“Come on, let’s get inside Spike.” The two entered through the door. When the door shut, Rarity turned back to Spike continued. “Now, what do you mean Twilight’s gone? What happened?” Spike walked over to the display stage in the center of the room and sat down. He turned his attention to Rarity and slowly continued.
“Twilight wasn’t home when I got back to the castle, so I figured I’d read some comics until she got back. But when I got to the library...” Spike’s voice trailed off. His breathing quickened in pace a little. Fresh tears welled up into his eyes. Rarity put a hoof around Spike to comfort him.
“Go on, Spike,” she encouraged. He sighed and looked down at the ground.
“I-I don’t know, it looked like some kind of bomb had gone off or something. All the bookshelves were toppled over or broken and there were books everywhere. Twilight would never let something like that happen, let alone leave it there for who knows how long! So, I just sat and waited for her to get back but…” Spike began sobbing again. His body shook as he curled his head into Rarity. She didn’t wait for him to continue. She merely sat at his side as he sobbed, comforting him with gentle pats on the back.
Rarity at first assumed that the destruction of the library was the effect of one of Twilight’s many experiments. She knew the past few weeks have kept her friend busy with a seemingly never ending study session. She let out a quiet gasp as a single thought had struck her. If Rarity knew Twilight, she knew that the first thing the studious alicorn would do would be to study the artifact. Surely Twilight’s curiosity would lead her to attempt to experiment on it.
“Spike,” Rarity said calmly, “I want you to come with me. We’ll go round up the others and bring them all to the castle.” Spike turned his dreary gaze to Rarity’s eyes.
“But why?” he said.
“We’re going to figure out what happened to Twilight.”
---
Spike trudged alongside Rarity as they made their way Fluttershy’s cottage. It was relatively close to the Carousel Boutique, and they needed Fluttershy to gather Rainbow Dash from her cloud home. Spike’s eyes were fixed on the ground as they walked. He desperately tried to hold in his sobs. He wanted to believe that he was overreacting. Maybe Twilight had just gone out for a midnight walk? He liked to think that when they got to the castle she would be there cleaning up the library. She might even ground him for going out after hours. Spike knew that wouldn’t be the case. After all, Twilight would never leave Spike alone without leaving some sort of notice. Something bad had to have happened.
When they got to Fluttershy’s cottage, Rarity knocked on the door. A light flicked on from inside the cottage. A moment later, the door opened revealing Fluttershy’s tired gaze.
“Rarity? Spike?” The mare rubbed at her eyes and fought against a yawn. “What are you two doing here so late? I mean, not that you aren’t welcome to visit but…” Rarity cut her off.
“Fluttershy, darling, I’m dreadfully sorry for bothering you at such a late hour but we’ve got a bit of an emergency.” Spike caught Rarity’s worried gaze turn to him for a brief moment. “Apparently Twilight has gone missing.” Fluttershy brought a hoof to her mouth in surprise.
“Oh my,” she said softly. She turned her head to Spike, who was still trying to recover from his grief.
“Indeed,” Rarity said. “We need to gather up the girls and head to the castle. Do you think you can get Rainbow Dash and meet up with us there?” Fluttershy nodded.
“Of course, Rarity.” Fluttershy turned to Spike again for a brief moment before gesturing towards Rarity. “Um, do you think this has something to do with you-know-what?” Spike raised an eyebrow.
“Huh?” he said. Fluttershy backed away slightly and shrunk into the ground.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say.” Spike scuffled out from behind Rarity. He threw his hands out in frustration.
“Come on Fluttershy,” he pleaded. “If you know anything please tell me!” Fluttershy looked at Rarity with an unsure gaze. Rarity nodded at the mare and turned towards Spike.
“When we in Canterlot,” she began, “Princess Celestia gave Twilight a strange artifact. She wanted Twilight to study it and figure out what it was.” She turned back to Fluttershy. “I don’t know if it has anything to do with her sudden disappearance though.”
“Wait,” Spike said with a claw to his face. “Why did no one tell me about this?” Rarity and Fluttershy looked at each other.
“Well,” Rarity said cautiously, “Princess Celestia felt you, uh…” She broke off for a moment as if she was trying to find the right words. “She didn’t want to worry you,” she finally said. Spike felt anger and frustration building up from within.
“Worry about what? Some stupid artifact?” he yelled angrily. “Whatever, it didn’t work! I’m pretty worried now!” He thought back to the meeting in Canterlot. Suddenly he understood the gemstones the princess had offered him. It wasn’t just a kind gesture, it was a way to keep him out of the meeting they had. It was a way to keep him out of the loop. He couldn’t believe it. Princess Celestia had actually specifically left him out of whatever seemingly important information she had given to the ponies. He felt absolutely betrayed. Not just by the princesses, but also by his friends. He shot a glare at Rarity and Fluttershy. “Why didn’t you girls tell me?” Fluttershy was the one to answer his question.
“Um, well I didn’t think it was my place to say. I kind of assumed Twilight would have told you.” Rarity nodded in agreement.
“Well she didn’t!” Spike yelled.
“Darling, please calm down,” Rarity said quietly. “I know you’re upset but yelling at us isn’t going to help.” She turned around to face Ponyville. “We must to gather the others and get to the castle. Fluttershy, you get Rainbow Dash. We’ll see you there.” Fluttershy nodded and flew off. Spike stood still, fuming at what he just learned. “Come on Spike.”
“This conversation isn’t over,” he said dangerously. He roughly brushed past Rarity, stomping his feet into the ground as he walked.
When they had reached the castle with Pinkie Pie and Applejack trotting behind, Rarity and Spike came to a stop at the front door. It seemed that Fluttershy had not yet gotten back with Rainbow Dash. The group decided to wait at the door for the two missing ponies. Spike leaned his back against one of the walls of the castle and folded his arms. His gaze avoided the ponies who had betrayed him. He hadn’t said a word to any of them since leaving Fluttershy’s cottage. The anger he felt inside prevented him from willingly conversing with any of his “friends.” One thing was for sure, Princess Celestia would be getting one heck of a letter from him once this was over. He faintly heard the sound of wings flapping in the air and looked up. He expected to see Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash making their way towards the castle. Instead, he only saw Fluttershy who was flying solo. He raised his eyebrow in confusion as she made her landing. The other ponies crowded around her.
“Where’s Dash?” Applejack asked. Fluttershy shook her head before giving her shaky reply.
“I-I don’t know, she wasn’t in her house.” Applejack stomped a hoof into the ground.
“Consarn it, why can’t anyone find that pegasus when we really need her?” Spike watched the exchange from the corner of his eye. In truth, he didn’t care if Rainbow Dash wasn’t here right now. He didn’t even really care if anyone else was here. Deep down, he knew that there wouldn’t be anything that the ponies could do. He was holding onto the hope that one of the ponies knew where Twilight was. Now that he knew they didn’t, he didn’t really see the point in gathering at the castle. Surely the first thing they should do would be head straight to Canterlot, right? After all, this emergency affected not just Spike and Twilight’s other friends, but Equestria as a whole. A princess was missing. After a while of banter between the ponies, Spike let out a loud grunt.
“Ugh, whatever! Can we just go inside please?” Spike angrily slammed the door to the castle open. He walked in, leaving the speechless ponies outside the entrance. They slowly followed him inside.
The door to the library was open. Bookcases were toppled over. Many books and papers were lying on the floor in crumpled piles. Spike’s heart dropped slightly as they approached the doorway. He had yet to take a step inside for two reasons. One, the way was blocked by a toppled bookcase. Two, he was afraid of what he might find inside. He nervously stood outside the library staring at the destruction inside. The other ponies gasped as they followed from behind.
“Oh dear,” Rarity said. She looked at Spike. “You weren’t kidding when you said it looked like a bomb had gone off.” Spike didn’t reply. He walked over to the bookcase blocking the entrance and attempted to push it out of the way. After his failed attempt, Rarity moved it with her magic. Spike shot her a thankful glance and made his way into the library. He was shocked at what he saw.
Over by the window was Princess Luna pacing back and forth. Her eyebrows were furrowed in thought. She didn’t seem to take notice of the ponies and dragon that had entered the room. Spike’s eyes caught a second pony in the room. Princess Celestia sat motionless in the middle of the room with her back facing the rest of them. She was sitting before the black singed floor staring down at it. Her ears were down and her wings were wilted. She didn’t make a single noise. She grabbed a few of the feathers off the ground with her magic and brought them to her face. No reaction came from her when Luna finally noticed they had company. The princess of the night stopped her pacing and walked over to the group.
“We were wondering when you all would arrive,” she addressed the group.
“Princess Luna?” Rarity said. “What are you two doing here? What happened?” Luna briefly turned her sad gaze to Princess Celestia before answering.
“We felt a magical disturbance coming from this castle,” Luna answered. “We came here to investigate. Have any of you seen Princess Twilight Sparkle or Rainbow Dash?” Spike’s attention turned back to Luna. His eyes widened in surprise.
“Wait, Rainbow Dash? Is she missing too?” Spike asked. Luna grabbed some of the feathers from off the floor and showed them to Spike. The feathers were blue and purple. At the sight of the feathers, Spike began to tear up again.
“We assume that she was teleported along with Twilight,” Luna said simply.
“Teleported?” Rarity asked suddenly. “How can you tell?” Luna’s humorless chuckle caught the group by surprise.
“Perhaps you should get into studying magic a bit more, Rarity. We knew what the magic was as soon as we felt it.” Applejack walked forward to address Luna.
“Well, where did they teleport to?” she asked. Luna shook her head sadly.
“We do not know.” Spike turned his attention to Princess Celestia, who still had not moved an inch. He held an angry expression as he walked over to her and pointed an accusing finger at the sullen princess.
“Why did you not want me knowing anything?” he demanded. Princess Celestia did not respond. She did not flinch. She did not make any indication that she had even heard Spike. The dragon continued. “Well? Are you gonna say something?” More silence followed Spike’s furiously toned question. He growled in frustration. “Unbelievable! Am I really that useless to you? Do you really have such a low opinion of me that you want to keep me out of the loop whenever something important happens?”
“I am sorry,” came the shaky reply of Princess Celestia. Spike backed down slightly at the sorrow filled tone of her voice. Still, he was undeniably angry with her and he wanted to let her know it.
“You’re sorry?! You send me out of the room so you can have your stupid little meeting about a stupid artifact without me knowing anything about the artifact that you gave to Twilight. Now Twilight and Rainbow Dash are gone and you’re sorry?! Is that all you have to say to me?” Celestia finally made a move. She turned her head to look down at Spike. The dragon gasped as he spotted the tears flowing freely down her face. Her body shook visibly. It was not a sight that anyone in history had ever seen. In fact, until now, Spike had assumed that Princess Celestia never cried. And yet, here she was, sobbing quietly.
“I will make no excuses for my actions. What I did was wrong. I should have told you what was happening, and I am sorry for that.” She turned her gaze back to the scorch mark on the ground and continued to sob. “This is my fault.”
“Sister, please,” Luna said compassionately. “No one knew this would happen. No one even knows what exactly happened.” Celestia brought in a deep breath.
“I think I know.”
“Go on,” Spike said to Celestia, eager to learn anything he could about where Twilight and Rainbow Dash went.
“My theory is,” Celestia explained, “Twilight must have started experimenting on the artifact magically. Somehow the magic in the artifact must have reacted with her magic and teleported her somewhere.”
“But where?” Spike asked desperately. Celestia did not answer. Luna walked over to her sister and whispered something inaudible into her ear. Spike tried to hear what was said, but the voice was too quiet to make out any of the words. Celestia looked at her sister with an unsure expression. After a moment, she nodded her head. Spike sighed in frustration. “So are you going to tell us anything? Or are you just gonna keep us out of it?”
“We do not know where she went,” Luna stated. “We only have a… theory.” Her face darkened at that last word.
“When the artifact was first found in Saddle Arabia, the magic in the air indicated that the object had been teleported,” Celestia explained. “The amount of magic used implies it was teleported from a great distance away. A distance that is not possible in our world.” She closed her eyes and raised her head upwards as if she was trying to sense something. “Haakim was right,” she muttered. “There’s way too much power in this magic for it to be a short range teleportation spell.”
“So, what does that mean then?” Spike asked. Celestia hesitated a moment before answering honestly.
“It means that Twilight and Rainbow Dash could have been teleported to somewhere beyond the stars.”
The silence that followed was agonizing. Each pony stood still in thought, their jaws wide open in shock. Spike followed suit. He couldn’t wrap his mind around what Celestia had just told him. He didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t believe it. There was no way something as crazy as that had happened. Twilight was powerful in magic, that was true. However, Spike knew her limits well. There’s no way she would have been able to teleport two ponies across space. He knew one of the basic principles of teleporting was knowing exactly where you wanted to go. Any pony who wanted to teleport needed to know everything about the area. They needed to know where it was in relation to where they stood. They needed to have a perfect mental image of wherever they wanted to teleport to. Spike had been with Twilight his entire life and not once did he ever hear about Twilight going to space. It didn’t make any sense and surely the two princesses knew that.
“I don’t get it,” Spike said. “How is that even possible?”
“We do not know,” Luna replied. “Hence why it is only a theory.” Spike groaned loudly while attempting to hold back more tears. He felt he was beginning to run dry.
“So, we don’t know where they are. We don’t know how they got there, and the only explanation you two have come up with is absolutely nuts! What are we supposed to do?” Spike kicked his foot out in frustration. The two princesses looked at each other as they considered their options.
“We… we’re working on that,” Princess Celestia said slowly. “For the moment, Spike, I’d like you to come with me to Canterlot so you have a place to stay.” Spike turned his back to the Princess.
“Forget it,” he snapped. “I don’t want to stay in Canterlot with you.” Celestia’s face fell at Spike’s response. She looked like she was going to argue with the dragon, but decided against it.
“Very well, I understand.” She looked over the ponies who were watching the exchange. “Would one of you take in Spike? I don’t want him staying inside this castle alone.”
“I’m fine!” Spike yelled. Celestia flinched.
“I’d feel much better if you stayed with one of your friends,” Celestia told him cautiously. “I don’t think…” Spike cut her off.
“I don’t care what you think or how you feel! Why should I anyways? You don’t seem to care how I feel or think!” Celestia brought a hoof to her face. She let out an exasperated sigh.
“Well, what about you? How do you think you’ll feel living in an empty castle with no one to talk to?”
“S-shut up!” The ponies gasped loudly. Luna shot a dangerous look towards Spike’s direction. She stepped forward to address the dragon.
“Be silent!” she said in her royal Canterlot tone. No one in the room dared say another word. Spike stared directly at the ground, not wanting to meet Luna’s furious gaze. He knew he was acting like a jerk, but he couldn’t help it. The betrayal he felt overrode all other emotions from within him. He was letting his emotions speak louder than his words. Luna took a deep breath, calming her tone, and continued. “We realize that you are upset, but don’t you dare take it out on my sister!”
“Spike can stay with me,” Rarity said quickly to break up the argument. “It’s not a problem at all.” Spike felt a little better when he heard Rarity’s words. He always felt better when he heard Rarity. He turned to her and stammered.
“U-um, really Rarity. I’m fine. I’ll just stay in the castle.” Spike wasn’t really sure why he was so adamant about staying. Perhaps he just wanted to prove that he was mature enough to live on his own given the circumstances. He was still devastated by Twilight’s (and Rainbow’s, of course) disappearance, but he didn’t want to let bad events such as these run his life. It seemed, however, that Rarity would not be taking “no” as an answer.
“You will do no such thing!” she said. “I understand why you are upset, but the princess is right. It will do you no good staying in this castle alone. You can stay at my boutique until Twilight and Rainbow get back.” Spike begrudgingly nodded his head.
“We must get back to Canterlot,” Celestia said sadly. She turned to address her sister. “I don’t think there’s anything else here that can help us.” Luna nodded in agreement. She turned back to Spike who shrunk under her now neutral expression.
“We will send you a letter if anything comes up,” she promised Spike. He said nothing, still recovering from the princess’s harsh words. “As for the rest of you, be on guard. Report anything suspicious to us. We have no idea what might happen next.” The ponies in the room nodded at Luna’s request. Luna and Celestia walked out of the room. Spike continued to avoid the princess’s eyes as they left.
“Come on Spike,” Rarity said softly. “Let’s go back to the boutique and get some sleep.”
“Yeah…”
---
The two princesses flew quickly in the night sky. Luna was reflecting on what had happened. She frowned at the thought of the theory Celestia gave. She never liked the whole “outer space” idea. At first she hated it because she didn’t like the thought that she had missed something in the starry sky that she knew so well. It was a bit of a pride thing. However, now with a princess and a former Element of Harmony missing, she hated the theory even more. Because it was probably true. She felt the magic alongside her sister when the disturbance had first occurred. Now that they had investigated the castle and felt the lingering magic from a teleportation spell, she could no longer deny that the theory was beginning to hold weight. If it was true, then Twilight and Rainbow Dash were completely out of reach from anyone in Equestria. Or even the world.
She looked over at her depressed sister as they flew. They had not spoken since they left the Castle of Friendship. Hating the silence, Luna spoke up.
“Do not worry yourself over Spike, dear sister. He will be fine.”
“He was right,” Celestia said, briefly turning her head towards Luna. “We should have included him in the meeting. I’m a fool.”
“You are not a fool. You’re just worried about him.” Celestia shook her head.
“No. Not anymore. He has matured greatly since leaving Canterlot.” Celestia sighed. “I am worried about Twilight and Rainbow Dash. I can’t help but feel responsible for their disappearance.”
“But why?” Luna asked. “You know as well as I do that you did nothing wrong.”
“The artifact was gone,” Celestia shot back. “Their disappearance obviously is connected to the artifact we gave them. I should have known something would happen. I should have never given it to Twilight in the first place.”
“You doubt Twilight’s magical ability.” Luna’s response wasn’t a question, but a statement. Celestia did not respond. Luna continued. “If I know Twilight, she will find a way back from wherever she was sent. She is an exceptionally smart pony.”
“Smart, yes,” Celestia said with fear laced in her voice. “But what if they were sent somewhere dangerous? What if they get hurt or…” Celestia didn’t finish that sentence. Luna chuckled.
“She’s with Rainbow Dash. There’s no way the former Element of Loyalty would allow any harm to come to a princess, or a good friend.”
The rest of the flight to Canterlot was made in silence. Luna hoped her words had helped Celestia feel better about the situation, but she knew deep down the princess of the sun was hurting greatly. Her former faithful student was gone. Luna knew how much Twilight meant to Celestia and she knew the coming days would not be easy on either of them. The first thing they needed to do when they got back to Canterlot was form some kind of plan.
Hopefully they could figure something out before it was too late.