“Spike hurry up, the guards will be here any minute!” Celestia announced.
“Coming!” Spike answered.
The vacation was now over, Spike packed up all of his belongings and walked out of his room. He slowly walked down the hallway taking one last look around. Who knows if he’ll ever come back to this place. Who knows if the princesses will invite him on another outing again. One thing Spike knew for sure was that he will never forget the awesome time he had here, even if he got injured, and dragonnapped, and saw an awful movie, and fought against pony ninjas.
Spike made downstairs where he was greeted by the royal pony sisters. “Everything all packed?” asked Celestia. Spike nodded and turned around to see the rooms behind him; a sad look appeared on his face. Luna approached next to him and nuzzled her cheek against his. “Don’t worry Spike, we'll come back again.”
Spike quickly turned to face him with widen eyes. “R-really!?”
Luna smiled. “Of course. You didn’t think this was a one time thing did you?” Luna pulled Spike in for a hug. “You’re always welcomed to accompany us on whatever trip we go on.” Before Spike could express how happy he was, there was a knock at the door which was revealed to the royal guards.
“My princesses, you’d enjoyed your vacation I hoped?” he said.
“Of course.” answered Celestia.
Celestia, Luna and Spike exited the cabin and got into the carriage. The guards took off into the sky and Spike took one last look at the cabin before it disappeared from his sight. While Spike was distracted, Luna motioned for her sister to get closer so they could talk in privet. “So sister, what should we do about the Snow Clan?”
“We’ll have to inform Shining Armor, Cadence and BlueBlood first, then if things start to get bad we tell Twilight and the others of the situation.”
“Speaking of Twilight.”
“I know Luna. Once we get home I’ll send one of the guards to bring her and her friends to Canterlot.”
“But what about Spike?”
Their conversation was cut short when Spike jumped in.
“Um, Luna....I’ve been thinking about when you asked me to join Canterlot’s team in the Equestria games. I want to join.”
“Wonderful, Spike!” Luna said with such glee. “I’ll make the arrangements once we get home.”
Seeing as how the trips back home was going to take a while, Spike sat back, reached into his backpack, and pulled out an issue of the Power Ponies comic that he didn’t get a chance to finish. Celestia looked over at Spike reading his comic. “Is that the Power Ponies?” she asked.
“Y-yeah.” said a shocked Spike. “You know about the Power Ponies?”
“Kind of, BlueBlood can’t stop talking about.” she explained. Spike’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. BlueBlood, THE PRINCE BLUEBLOOD, was a fan of the Power Ponies. The stallion that was described as a spoiled prince by Rarity? That BlueBlood?
“You know Spike, if memory serves there’s supposed to be some kind of convention centered around the Power Ponies happening today in Canterlot. If we make there in time, I could ask BlueBlood to take you there, if you want.”
“YES!” Spike yelled earning a giggle from the two princesses. A Power Ponies convention? It was just too good to be true. Spike wondered who or what would be there. From other fans of the comic, to brand new issues that haven’t hit the shelves yet, the possibilities were endless. He wanted to carriage to go faster; he’d hoped for this carriage to go faster. Spike wanted to go to that convention; his first convention ever. Celestia and Luna looked back at each other. “Well that takes care of Spike.” Celestia said.
Luna nodded.
****************************
It was mid afternoon when the trio landed in Canterlot. They were greeted by the guards and maids who bowed their heads to the rulers of the lands. Upon walked into the throne room, they were greeted by Prince BlueBlood, who took over ruling Equestria while they were away.
“Auntie Celestia, Auntie Luna, how was your trip?” he asked as he approached them.
“It was....interesting.” Celestia answered looking back at Spike and Luna. The three of them shared a quick chuckle leave BlueBlood a bit confused. BlueBlood shrugged it off as he remembered there was some place he had to be and needed to prepare. “Well if you would please excuse me, there’s someplace important I have to be.”
“Oh I know BlueBlood, that’s what I want to talk to you about.”
Celestia motioned BlueBlood over away from Spike a Luna. “There’s one small thing I would like to ask of you.”
“What is it?”
“Would you mind taking Spike with you to the convention?” she asked. “You see, i’m going to send for Twilight and her friends and Luna and I think it would be best if Spike didn’t see them right away.”
“This about whatever is inside of him is it?”
Celestia nodded. “Alright, I’ll take him with me.”
“Thank you, BlueBlood.”
Celestia and BlueBlood walked over to Spike and Luna, and informed Spike that he will be going to the convention with BlueBlood. Spike was a little hesitant at first ultimately decided on going with him. Besides, he may never get another chance to go to anything like this ever again. So what if he has to spend the rest of the day with BlueBlood, who cares. As the two left the throne room, Celestia called one of her guards over and told them to retrieve Twilight and her friends. The time has come for them to have a very important talk.
****************************
It was now sunset, and the train carrying the six bearers of the elements pulled into the station. The ponies wondered what it was that Celestia and Luna wanted seeing as how a royal guard was sent to fetch them. As they started to to make their way off the train, one was very slow to get out of her chair. Her mane and tail were a mess and her eyes were bloodshot with a stream of tears rolling down her face.
It’s been five days since they made it back from the Crystal Empire, and within those days Twilight discovered that Spike was nowhere to be found. At first she thought he went out to run some errands as he’s known for doing, but that theory quickly went out the window when he didn’t come back. Twilight traveled all over Ponyville hoping to find him but didn’t. She went so far as to form a massive search party involving all of Ponyville and for the past five days they failed to find him.Twilight worked herself into a frenzy, desperately searching wherever she could in order to find Spike but as always she would come up empty. Pinkie Pie would even stay with Twilight and hold her as she’d cried herself to sleep every night; constantly begging for Spike to come home.
“Come on Twilight, we’re here.” Pinkie said in a soft voice. Twilight simply nodded and with Pinkie’s help, she rose from her chair and followed her friends off the train. The six ponies traveled all the way to the palace entrance, then down the hallway towards the throne room where they were greeted by two royal guards.
“The princesses are expecting you.” one of them said. “Please enter.”
As the six ponies walked through the door, they found themselves not in the throne room, but in a light blue void similar to the one Twilight and Celestia was in when she became an alicorn for the first time. If fact it was the exact same void. They continued walking until a bunch of screens surrounded them. The screens were playing all the different times Spike was being used, hurt, or simply just left behind by them. From being abandoned at the Grand Galopping Gala, to being used as a pin cushion, all the way to recently when they were called to the Crystal Empire for the third time to help out with the preparations for the Equestria Games. The girls couldn’t understand what was going on. Why was this being shown to them? What were the princesses trying to tell them?
Out of nowhere all the screens disappeared and one giant one showed up right in front of them. It showed Spike walking into the throne room looking at all the stain glass windows before being confronted by Celestia.
****************************
“Spike? What’s wrong?”
“Well, as you know the Equestria Games are coming up, and Princess Cadence invited Twilight and the others back to the Crystal Empire to help with the preparations. Except me. This is the third time she’s invited them back there and completely forgot that I was the one who gave her the crystal heart. It’s like I don’t exist in her eyes, and not just Cadence, it’s everypony. Not being invited to Twilight’s birthday, not being able to meet Pinkie’s sister, not going to the Equestria Games tryout at Rainbow Falls, it’s as if whenever there’s fun to be had, I don’t exist.”
“You know, I thought helping saved the Crystal Empire would finally change things, that I would have been seen as their equal for once, but nothing changed, it’s the same as it was before. No pony seems to care how I feel. Maybe I should just leave Equestria, nopony would miss me.”
“That’s not true Spike, I would. I’m sure the others didn’t.....”
“NO, DON’T EVEN SAY THAT!”
“Spike?”
“I’M TIRED OF HEARING THAT SAME WEAK EXCUSE OVER AND OVER AGAIN EVERYPONY, KEEPS TELLING ME THAT!
“OH, SPIKE I’M SURE THEY DIDN’T MEAN TO”
WELL IF THEY DIDN’T MEAN TO THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP ON DOING IT!? THEY’RE THE FIRSTS ONE TO PREACH ABOUT LOVE, TOLERANCE AND FRIENDSHIP, BUT WHEN IT COME TO ME THEY SEEM TO BE FRESH OUT OF IT!”
****************************
The screen faded and the void disappeared. The girls found themselves standing in the middle of the throne room with the two sisters approaching them. Celestia looked at the girl with disappointment in her eyes while Luna just glared at them.“What you girls just saw was Spike telling me how he truly felt around you.” she explained. “Let me ask you all something; do you consider Spike as your friend? What is he to you?”
Twilight was shocked to hear Celestia ask her such a question. “Of course I do. Spike means so such to me; to all of us.”
“Apparently not seeing as how you’ve been invited to the Crystal Empire three times already and Spike never went with you. The first time was when you were needed to impress the games inspector, the second was when Cadence wanted to just have fun with you all, and the third was helping prepare for the Equestria Games. There was really no excuse for you to not at least bring Spike along with you, regardless is Cadence invited him or not. Don’t forget that it was Spike who grabbed the crystal heart from King Sombra. Cadence wouldn’t even have an empire to rule is Spike wasn’t there; don’t you think the crystal ponies would’ve loved to see him?”
The girls said nothing as guilt started to show on all their faces.
“Fluttershy, when you all were invited back to the Crystal Empire the first time you were the first to find out that Spike wasn’t invited back, you could have asked Cadence why this was, but you didn’t. Rainbow Dash, you maliciously teased Spike for not acting like other dragons and for doing something you yourself wouldn’t be caught dead doing.”
Both pegasi dropped their heads.
“AppleJack, when Rainbow Dash was teasing Spike, you didn’t make the matter any easier when you asked Spike why would he want to be like other dragons. You may not have meant for it to come out like it did, but those words you used easily could have had some horrible implications behind them.”
AppleJack gasped as she realized what Celestia was getting at.
“Pinkie Pie, you recently had everypony meet your sister, you said that you wanted her to meet all of your “Ponyvill friends” yet Spike wasn’t among them. You even threw Rainbow Dash a giant birthday party and invited everypony in Ponyville, except Spike.”
Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail deflated a bit.
“That just leaves Rarity and Twilight. I’m sorry to say this but, you two are the worst ones of the group. Rarity, it’s so secret to anypony here that Spike has a crush on you, yet you use his feelings for you to get whatever you want from him and how do you repay him? One....two....three seconds of your attention before you flirt with other stallions behind his back?”
Rarity brought her hoof to her mouth and tears started to swell up.
“And Twilight, having Spike climb high shelves to get a book that you easily could have gotten,not bringing Spike with you to the games tryout, leaving him behind while you celebrated your birthday here in Canterlot? You told me that Spike means so much to you, but it would seem that’s not the case. You’re the one who’s around Spike most of the time, you’ve seen most of the things that happens to him and you do nothing. Case in point, when Rarity used him as a pincushion, you could have said something then but you didn’t. You allowed Spike to degrade himself just to get attention from a mare who obviously doesn’t feel the same way about him.”
At this point Luna stepped in. “Twilight Sparkle, at one point Spike had a pet phoenix, did he not?”
Twilight nodded.
“May I ask, where it this phoenix?”
“I...I had Spike return it to it’s family.”
“And why is that?”
“Because it was just a baby.” Twilight said, now getting a little bit defensive. “It needed to be with it’s parents, and Spike is too young to have a pet; no way he could handle all that responsibility.”
“So you don’t think Spike is responsible enough to have a pet, but he IS responsible enough to be left home alone at the drop of a hoof whenever you and your friends leave somewhere to have fun, and cook and clean up after you whenever you ask?”
“I....I.”
“Spike isn’t just some servant you think you own, he’s a living breathing creature who’s only family he’s ever known are a bunch of hypocrites.”
After hearing those words, Twilight just broke down and cried with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy going to her side to comfort her. The guilt she was feeling just was too much. What Luna said was true, despite constantly calling Spike her number one assistant and friend, she used him as a servant, or to put in better terms, a slave that she allowed to be taken advantage of. At that point, Luna lit up her horn creating another giant screen. “I think it’s time you girls see what your actions has caused.”
The girls looked up in horror to see Spike possessed by the nightmare aura. They saw his fight with Celestia and Luna. They saw what they had pushed him to. “This happened because of all the negative emotions Spike started to feel about you; which caused him to become the demon you see before you now.” Luna explained. “It’s very similar to how I became Nightmare Moon.”
Twilight, with tears in her eyes, slowly approached the screen and stretched her hoof out on order to touch it. “Spike.” she whispered.
“P-please.” Fluttershy spoke up. “Can we save him?”
Luna sighed. “Fortunately, this demon doesn’t have full control over Spike as of yet. There’s some small part of Spike the truly believes that you all still care about him, so as long as that still exist within him there’s still a chance we can save him.”
A sigh of relief fill the room. The girls were happy to hear the Spike could be saved, however Luna wasn’t finished. “But what then?” she asked. “If you manage to save Spike, will you make sure that this never happens again, or will you just say things to get him to come back only to make yourselves feel better? When it comes to Spike, will you actually represent the elements that were given to you, or will you simply go back to doing the same things to him before? And you Twilight Sparkle, will Spike finally be given his own room, with a bed and everything; something to call his own, or will he simply go back to sleeping in that dog bed right next to you like a good little servant, or pet, or whatever you think he is to you, because a friend clearly isn’t one of them.”
Luna was finished with her ranting and turned away from Twilight and the girls; not wanting to see their faces any longer than she already had to. Celestia slowly approached Twilight, who was beyond devastated.
“T-that’s why he left isn’t it?” she asked.
“Twilight.” Celestia said in soft voice.
“I.....i’m sorry princess.” Twilight said as tears continued to fall. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not the one you should be saying that to.”
“I....I can’t. He....he’s gone......Spike’s gone. He hasn’t been home in five days, we’ve looked everywhere and we can’t find him. He’s gone. I want him back.....I want my Spike back.”
Even though Twilight deserved to here all of this, Celestia couldn’t stand to see her former student crying. Celestia wrapped a hoof around Twilight and held her close.
“Twilight, you don’t nee to worry about Spike.” Celestia reassured. “He’s been with me an Luna on our vacation for the past week.”
“W-what?” Twilight asked with widen eyes.
“Don’t worry, Spike’s safe.”
“Not like you care.” Luna mumbled.
“H-he is?” asked Twilight. “Where is he?”
“He’s with BlueBlood right now.”
Hearing that name shocked Rarity to her core. “B-BLUEBLOOD!”
“Is that a Problem?” Luna asked, glaring at her; daring her to say something else.
Rarity said nothing else and retreated behind Applejack. Celestia raised her hoof telling her sister to calm down a bit. Luna backed up a bit so that Celestia could talk.
“I’ve asked BlueBlood to look after Spike while we have this little talk.” Celestia explained. “Spike doesn’t know that he has this demon inside him so we and it’s best he doesn’t know.”
“I...i’ll make this right.” Said Twilight. “I promise I will.”
“Don’t just say it.” Luna said, looking sternly at her. “Do it.”
****************************
It was about thirty minutes after nightfall when the meeting between the princesses and the six bearers ended. The girls left the throne room and began making their way down the hallway where they saw Prince BlueBlood levitating a book in front of his face.
“BlueBlood!” yelled Twilight.
The prince of Equestria lowered the book as the girls approached him. Needless to say, he wasn;t very fond of seeing them, well a certain white unicorn in particular. “What do you hypocrites want?” he said coldly.
Hearing his voice stopped all six ponies in their tracks. “Well, out with it.”
The girls stood there for a few seconds before Rarity stepped up. “W-we want to know where Spike is.”
“Why, want see him degrade himself even more for your sick pleasure?” he said with disgust. “Please tell why I should bring you to him, and please spare me your friendship speeches because we all know that unless you’re a female pony your friendship doesn’t count for dirt.”
As BlueBlood started to walk away, Twilight teleported right in front of him. “I want to make this right.” she pleaded. “Please take me to him.”
“Do you really?” he asked. “Or do you just not want to feel guilty?” BlueBlood started to walk passed Twilight before she stopped him once again by grabbing his hoof. Twilight looked at him once again with even more tears streaming down her face. She once again asked BlueBlood to take them to Spike. BlueBlood stared Twilight in the face and saw that she was legitimately sorry for what she did and wanted to make things right, if she could. BlueBlood sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll take you to him.”
Before anypony could say anything, BlueBlood looked right at all of them. “Twilight only.”
****************************
Both Twilight and Blueblood were making their way towards BlueBlood’s room where Spike was. The two walked in silence until Twilight spoke up. “Um, why did you tell the others to stay behind?”
“You’re the one who spends the most time with Spike so it makes since that you’re the first one to see him.”
Twilight agreed.
“Plus, I don’t particularly care much for a certain friend of yours.”
“You mean Rarity, why?”
“Let’s just say that mares like her all all the same.” The conversation ended with that statement. Before long the pair made it to BlueBlood’s room. He let Twilight inside before leaving; telling her that he had important work to do. Twilight thanked BlueBlood and proceeded to walk inside. She looked around and saw that his room was pretty normal looking, well about as normal as a prince’s room can be. She made her way to the bed and saw Spike sitting on the edge staring out the window looking at Luna’s big bright moon. Twilight made her way behind him and pulled him into a strong hug. “S-Spike, I’m so sorry.” she cried. “I’m so sorry for everything, please forgive me.”
Spike slowly put his claw over Twilight’s hoof giving it a soft squeeze. He shifted his body so that he can look at her.
“Spike?” she asked.
“Hello, Twilight Sparkle.” he said in a eire voice.