The Search

by newHelm

Setting

Form looked up from his book as a flash of purple appeared in his hall. He leaned back in his chair by the door as the purple alicorn approached his empty throne. "Hello? It's me, Twilight. Are you here?"

He tried to squeeze himself even closer to the wall, throwing up a spell to conceal himself better. Luckily Rarity walked in. She stood in her nightmare form, having better control of the power, and stared in shock at Twilight. "What?"

Twilight gaped at her. "Rarity!? What happened?"

"What, this old trick?" She turned her head away and waved a hoof. "I'm simply learning how to control this power of mine darling. What are you doing here though?"

"Oh." Twilight shuffled around and looked anywhere but at Rarity. "Um, the guy in charge, where is he?"

"Who, Form? I had thought he was in here. He looks like a pink fleshy ape in a white suit, hard to miss."

"Yeah, didn't see anything like that. So his name's Form?"

"Yes, he's, interesting. Do you know him as well?"

"Sort of. We've never met, but I've given and received work related letters with him. The few times I've been here, I was met personally by one of his assistants. I need to talk to him about Spike. I have an idea but I need to ask him some questions first."

Rarity looked up at him, obviously not fooled by his spell. Shaking his head furiously, Form put his fist to his mouth in worry. "I'm sorry dear, he seems to be out. If you could though, I'll look for him, wait in my room. Last door on the left, just through that hall."

Twilight shook her head. "That's okay, tell him I stopped by and I need to speak with him. It's good to see you're okay Rarity."

"You too Twilight, and please tell Spike and everypony not to worry too much. I am fine here."

"He's coming for you. No pony can stop him, I doubt even you could."

Rarity sighed sweetly and smiled. "Yes well Spike is a dear. He would do anything for those he loves. Took me too long to notice, but I had my shining knight next to me for so long."

Twilight frowned. "True, but there is too much at risk here. Even Princess Celestia is scared."

"Yes, I know. I've found out that Shadowfang or even those related cause quite the problem. Anyway darling, I will tell my host you stopped by."

Twilight smiled as she teleported away. Rarity sighed and dropped her head. Magic flared from her horn and Form's chair disappeared, causing him to fall. "Pray tell, Lord of Tartarus, why were you hiding from my friend and possibly the best chance at fixing this situation?"

His fingers moved in an erratic pattern as he bowed his head. "You could say she shares the face of someone I lost, someone I cared deeply for that Shadowfang stole from me." Rarity reached out to him, before she pulled back, looking away. He grunted as he stood. "It's okay, I just need some air."

---

Spike sat at the campfire with the team that had joined him. He frowned, thinking deeply of the new development. Sombra was on his way to Tartarus as well, with an army of monsters at his heel. Spike could feel it, this was the final battle. Apprehension filled him at the thought of what was to come, but he stilled his heart as steal entered his blood. He would finish this now. Sombra, Shadowfang, Nightmare, he would eliminate all who could hurt her.

Fancy Pants approached him slowly, nodding as he sat next to him. "Hey my boy, it's late, why not get some rest?"

"Not real tired, think I might take next guard shift."

"That would be fine I suppose, but I must ask. What's troubling you? You've been distant as of late. Worry for lady Rarity, or is it that you expect to die on this excursion?"

Spike's eyes widened as he stared at the fire, his body rigid. "How?"

"Come now, I've known you since you were born. I know better than most how your mind works. You live by your honor since you first read those knight stories. Even before that though, you have always lived by your emotions. Why I believe Celestia paired you with Twilight, was not just to get her to use her emotions, but for you to use your mind more often. You are smart, with quantities of sense, but you tend to just act without thinking. Let's see if we can find another way before we act hasty, for Lady Rarity, for your friends, for Celestia, for me?"

Spike nodded. "Sure, though I'm sure I've looked at this from every possible angle, but if you find something, I'd be more than happy to hear it."

Fancy Pants patted his knee and nodded. "Good my boy, now get some sleep, I will take next watch."

Spike nodded and slunk to his bed roll. As he laid down, he jolted his head back towards Fancy Pants and smiled. He was going to take next shift watch, but the older pony had somehow taken it and convinced him to sleep, the sly fox.

Fancy Pants waited till Spike was asleep before whispering out. "Discord, come here." The lord of chaos appeared in a ninja costume, bowing. "I assume you heard my earlier conversation with Spike."

"Hai."

"Good, so what do we do?"

Discord poofed the costume away and actually had a somber look on his face. "I had already done it. They needed to be split up, but he's so determined to fix this whole mess, he's been on the verge of suicide for years."

"We can not let that happen. He means too much."

"Well see, that's the problem, he means too much to everyone. So he's been thrown into something that he doesn't want to be in. I feel terrible about it, this whole mess is my fault."

"I worry about him. I can not bear the thought of losing him, and I know Celestia feels the same."

They spun around as a new voice joined in. Big Macintosh was shaking his head. "He'll be fine, he and us, we can handle it. Have faith. Git yer lazy ass up lizard, stop pertenden."

Spike raised his head up and groaned. "I thought Fancy had next shift?"

Shining Armor huffed and threw his cover over his head. "Ugh, no surprise nopony is asleep with all this chatter. Can't a pony get some sleep?"

They all laughed as the prince threw his pillow.

---

Not far from Spike's camp, a shadow loomed, smiling just before evaporating.