Chapter 24: Long Lost

To say that the so called ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ were confused would be an understatement. Celestia basically just told them they were useless for reasons they were too young to understand. Especially Scootaloo didn’t take it very well, the young filly cursed more than an old fisher that just lost his last hook to the deep abyss of the wide ocean.

“Scoots, calm down! It is how it is, we should just go back to the barracks and play ball or somethin’,” Applebloom suggested, earning an angry glare from her orange friend. They were the best in her opinion, those stupid grown ups could just let them fight with whoever outside force was threatening and cornering them like that. None of them really understood the art of war, how could they, but even a foal could see that something was wrong.

The sun and moon almost clashing was really disturbing, kinda cool, for the little group’s inexperienced set of eyes, but mostly disturbing. Even though the sun was now noticeably lower than the moon for some reason none of them could even hope to know. The immortal Princess of the Sun was losing ground, losing more and more of her precious, harmonious peace that kept her subjects in line. Nopony knew what would happen if chaos reigned once more, would things like the Cutie Marks just disappear? Would the psyche of the ponies be affected, most likely, but more than just due to the shock of the sudden change in their leadership? Questions not even the gods could answer at the moment, all the normal ponies could do, was wait and pray.

“Celestia said our sisters and your almost sister will be alright. I mean she’s kind of a god, or something, she knows what to do. My parents are always around somewhere, I’m not really worried about them. Rarity can also handle herself really good, but she’s taught me so much and she would never hurt somepony… even if her life depended on it,” The bittersweet irony passed the little unicorn unnoticed, as this pacifistic sister was just about to end the life of countless guards protecting Stalliongrad.

“See? AJ is also super strong and will pull through no matter what! And so is Rainbow Dash, Ah mean, have ya ever seen her abandon ya, or the princess? She’s the most awesome, loyal and strongest pegasus Ah know!” The earth pony replied, trying to persuade Scootaloo, but also part of herself that worried to death about her sister.

“What about your homes though? Ponyville also seems to be in some kind of trouble!” The orange filly shouted.

Before they could answer her, another voice interrupted them, it sounded smooth, a bit higher than usual, but definitely a male’s voice, “You three want to get out of the city? I can help you.” Somepony, or rather someone slowly stepped out of the shadows that were created by the closed and fortified windows. He was rather big, about an average mare’s size, he stood on two legs, face obscured by a black hoodie. His skin was purple, and green scales could be seen catching the light in a very interesting way. The hoodie had a distinct, but very faint purple glow to it, a gift from his former best friend… and big sister. It had a dragon’s skull breathing fire stitched onto the back, framed with four crimson rubies, one in each corner about ten centimeters away from the head. It seemed to be magical because the shadows created by the hood itself perfectly covered his face, no matter the angle they looked at it, only his green eyes sparkled out of it, forming a vague angry glare.

“H-hey! W-who are you?” Applebloom stammered, stepping back a bit. This… creature came out of nowhere, she had never seen something like him. Maybe a lizard because of the scales? Or even a dragon? No, he didn’t have any wings or things like that.

“Me? I’m no one. Listen, if you want to get out of here be my guest, if not then continue complaining about not being able to do anything. I’ve been waiting for weeks now, for… somepony really important to come back, but instead… Nevermind. I’m waiting until this afternoon, then the guards have a general inspection, for ten minutes a particular tower of the castle will be unguarded. The unicorn… that lived there created numerous means to escape, should something unforeseeable happen, I, or we can use that to actually try and fix something.”

The last months had been tiring for the teenage dragon… abandoned by his only friend and big sister. Celestia tried to fill in that role by talking with him or teaching him more often like they used to, but it just wasn’t the same anymore. The princess was always so… distracted, especially if the topic of her little lavender student came up. He never got any update regarding her condition, but the dragon could listen… oh yes, and he did. The days after the ‘Nightmare of Canterlot’ had been the worst days of his life. Seeing the once so noble, intelligent and innocent sister literally tear through Celestia’s ranks had been traumatizing. Whenever the little dragon heard yet another news about ‘The Deathbringer’ a piece of his former personality died, leaving only a husk of the once so cheerful and curious fire breather.

Now Spike was often seen in a very bad mood, rarely smiling, and never going out without this special hoodie that Twilight gifted him. It just had been a strange event, now that he recalled that day. It had been on the 25th of December… the morning after Hearth’s Warming Eve. Not that there was any indication of it in the entirety of Equestria, maybe in the outer territories, were the rebels didn’t cause as much havoc. Even the seasons had stopped, no time to clear the clouds letting them do what they wanted, no time to produce snow either. Cloudsdale was like a flying citadel nowadays, nopony came in, nopony came out. Spike counted the days, like he always did… planning and waiting for her. He looked at the ground for a second, away from the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’, feeling the soft, black cloth caress his cheek, even though it was faint… the magic felt like a touch from his oldest friend. He drifted off, remembering that fateful day not too long ago.

The gift had just appeared in Twilight’s old tower, where he still lived, keeping everything ready should she return one day. It wasn’t that long ago either, about two weeks ago, normally the entirety of the land would be covered in a soft blanket of comforting white, but that would be counter productive for waging a civil war. A simple box, wrapped with shimmery, purple coloured paper and bound together with a green band, even accompanied by a little ribbon on top of it. A little note was attached to the green band, it simply stated, ‘For Spike.’

At first he had been confused, what could this be? More importantly, who had placed this here for him? Other than Twilight and Celestia nopony even knew anything about the dragon. Not that he cared, the lavender unicorn had been the most important friend his whole life anyway, and the princess always had been very nice, teaching him about many important things.

Carefully Spike removed the band, not wanting to destroy it without a reason, it felt important, his usually so grumpy mood was changed into one of pure curiosity, almost like back in the old days. Next up was the purple wrapping, it perfectly matching his scale tone, a strange coincidence… He folded it neatly and laid it onto the small glass table in… his living room. A light-brown cardboard box was everything that remained, about a quarter of his size, despite the dragon’s recent growth spurt. Again Spike carefully opened it, gazing inside the box, the first thing that caught his attention was a neat, purple envelope, closed with a wax seal in the form of… a six pointed star?!

He had to restrain himself to not rip the letter open, it had to be from Twilight! Where was she, what was she doing?! Spike had to know immediately, maybe she wanted to come back Inside was a light pink piece of paper, folded once to hide its contents to the curious dragon. The hoof writing was just as tidy and beautiful as he remembered it… written in utmost care with dark blue ink, almost looking like a calligraphy.

Spike, I hope you will receive my gift. First of all, I wanted to apologize, I’m sure you have heard about my new ‘title’ and what I have been doing these last months, there is no way to excuse that. Secondly, Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve, little brother.

You were, and always will be my family, even more so than my biological family who doesn’t understand why I do what I am doing. I am getting off track though, this is about you, not me. I can imagine those last months had been incredibly hard for you, and that I am probably the reason for that, again, my deepest apologies. I wanted to protect you from this, but I left you behind, trying to keep you from getting dragged into this ordeal.

Inside this box you will find three items that will hopefully ease your burden. A small bag of gems (because I know that those are hard to come by in Canterlot) that I personally gathered and checked. A special, enchanted hoodie, if other ponies ever annoy you, or if you just need some privacy. I am sure you will find out what the enchantment does soon enough, I also made it a bit bigger, since I presume you have grown quite a bit since our last encounter. The last thing is an… invitation, should you ever grow tired of Celestia’s reign, or if you find it acceptable to forgive me, leave Canterlot and hold it into the air. I will immediately bring you straight to me, and I can promise to never leave you again, should you choose to do so.

With love,
Twilight ‘The Deathbringer’ Sparkle

Spike fell back into his haunches, holding this letter close to his chest. The little dragon didn’t notice until now, but silent tears ran down his cheek, almost staining the letter of his… family. So Twilight really was sorry about all of this… she didn’t sound as cruel, or evil like everypony said… maybe this wasn’t her fault at all… He needed to see the rest of the contents, at least to see if this was not a dream...

Taking the first step felt very difficult somehow, his feet were glued to the spot, clutching the letter of his ‘sister. After months of loneliness and worrying she decided to pull him out of it… why now? Did it all became too much for her? Maybe Twilight needed her number one assistant again! Celestia wouldn’t allow him to leave though… not after everything that happened with the lavender unicorn. She would assume that her former student wanted to trick him, but… Twilight wasn’t like this! Maybe the princess really did some things wrong, and she was just afraid that Twilight would fix it without her. Spike didn’t really consider himself useful when it came to war, or politics, but the little dragon knew his sister damn well! She was brilliant, sometimes a little too eager and caught up in her books, but this was not like her at all, something else must be the reason for it.

Finally he was able to move, peeking inside the plain, light-brown box, on top of what looked like the hoodie she mentioned, rested a bag. It was closed off with a white cord, but he could already see some sharp gemstone edges slightly poking out of the thin fabric. His mouth watered, but this would have to wait, the other contents were more important for him. How ironic… a dragon rejects gemstones for stuff made by a pony. Maybe he was more pony than dragon, but that never really concerned him, from what Spike had heard, other dragons seemed to be jerks anyway.

Then Spike carefully lifted the piece of clothing, eyeing up the symbol on the back, gems, a dragon skull and fire, it was awesome! She knew him so well, it was not only surprisingly soft and warm, it also looked really mysterious. Last Hearth’s Warming Eve Twilight had given him a few books, mostly about dragon history, gemstones and where to find them, and his personal favorite, Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue. The first book of a very interesting series, full of action, villains, conspiracies etc, these books alone managed to spark his interest for literature, aside from learning new things with them. He was hoping to get his claws at little novels called ‘comic books’, but in this war nopony was really interested in that anymore. He slowly shook his head, it was all too easy to drift off into good old memories, no matter what occasion, Twilight’s gifts always hit the spot, even if they seemed boring for others. She played a very big and important role in his life.

He tried it on, and as expected it was a perfect fit. As Spike reached the mirror the effects of her enchantment were plainly visible, or rather invisible. Only his green eyes reflected some of the day light, the rest of his face was obscured by the shadows, no matter how much he tried looking at it. It faded as soon as he pulled the hood of his head, then it was just a normal, but nonetheless comfortable sweater. Thanks Twi… you always know exactly what I want… so why did you leave me here? I would’ve supported you… no matter what, even if it seemed wrong at first… I know that you are smart enough to make the right choices!

Now wasn’t the time to be depressed though, this was a gift from her after all! He stepped close to the box once again, grabbing the last item inside of it. A cut crystal, or more like a crystal plate, only about as big as his claw, the background showed an eclipse, thin lines of a crescent moon cutting into the circle of a round sun. It was overshadowed by a six pointed star that was just slightly thicker than the plate itself, like Twilight wanted to establish her power over them. He wondered why Nightmare Moon would let her do this… Spike knew that they were allies, but could she really be stronger than this insane alicorn? Not very likely at least, so maybe it should show only him that the lavender mare didn’t want to be involved into this war, distancing herself from it? He hadn’t seen this symbol in the newspaper or just about anywhere else, so this must’ve been created solely for him… another personal gift from her.

The small crystal pulsed very faintly, emitting a pleasant feeling of warmth and comfort. It was strange, but definitely not unwanted. Like a hug from her, and it could bring her to him… he needed time to think about it...

“Uh… You okay there, Mister Mysterious?” The small earth ponies voice ripped him out of the memories. He had been storing into nothingness for just one or two minutes, but it had felt like a complete recap of this particular morning. These fillies wanted to rescue their sister… and so did he, Spike had thought about it, oh he did for a long time, now he made a decision. The teenage dragon wouldn’t just help himself, but also these ponies and their own sisters.

“Yeah, just planning ahead,” He cleared his throat, those emerald colored eyes of his sparkling with determination. They still had this slight trace of distance in them though, rather than anger and frustration, arguably an improvement. It was time to get this going, this war seemed to be progressing, and so would he. “So, what do you three say? Celestia isn’t exactly willing to help, but I am. Meet me today at exactly 3:30 pm at the stairs of the east tower. Take as much things with you as you need, and if necessary, say goodbye to your families. We will have twenty minutes because at 4 pm sharp the general inspection will be over and five minutes later there will be a sweep search of the entire castle. With or without you three, I will be gone.”

Slowly the dragon walked away, hands buried in the bags of his now most precious gift. He didn’t need to pack anything, this tower was meaningless, all his books were meaningless as well for now. Spike just wanted to see and talk to her again, he could still feel the soft magical pulse of this crystal emblem in his pocket. If Twilight’s message was correct he did not even need to worry about travelling or distance anyway.

Scootaloo fluttered with her tiny wings, making a sound similar to a hummingbird, “Welp, this was confusing, Did you guys saw his face though? Totally weird, couldn’t see it from any angle!”

“I think it’s some sort of enchantment that—” The squeaky unicorn was interrupted by their third companion, having heard enough about this insignificant detail.

“Could yer two please stop talkin’ ‘bout this hood thing?! Didn’t ya hear what that fella jest said? We could see our sisters again! Ah mean we shouldn’t trust any random pony that starts talkin’ like that… especially with his choice of clothing. Ah’m just sayin’ it’s the best lead we have! What’s the worst that could happen? We get another talk with Celestia, Ah’m terrified!”

“You know my parents say that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit…” Sweetie Belle replied, looking into the deadpan face of her earth pony friend.

After a little glare and awkward pause from Applebloom she continued, “But the highest form of intelligence. Now shut yer mouth and let me explain. We could actually help our sisters if we manage to get outta here. Ah’m sure they’re are in Ponyville, I haven’t seen them while we have been evacuated.”

Sweetie just huffed and pouted, less arguing for Applebloom, so she didn’t comment on it. Scootaloo also didn’t seem to particularly care since she was always up for an adventure. She had been the one to suggest this whole catastrophic failure of a plan anyways… in hindsight nopony knew why the pegasus had been the one allowed to search for a suitable disguise. The earth pony filly shrugged, “Alrighty then, let’s go to the camps, lay low for the next few hours and meet back at the east tower like he said. We have all those things packed anyway, I hope they brought ‘em back to our families.”

With that the self-proclaimed ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ made their way out of the castle. Towards a seemingly brighter future and their sisters, all thanks to a particularly lonely dragon.

The icy winds of the north whipped into their faces as soon as the three pony group walked out of the shadowy door that disappeared a second after that. Only Rarity was wearing a light pink scarf, complimenting her eyes and keeping the seamstress warm, “D-Darling, would you mind explaining w-why we’re so far away f-from Stalliongrad?” The secured city could only be spotted in the far distance of the frozen landscapes that practically covered half of northern Equestria.

Twilight’s horn flashed dark purple for a second, it seemed that its colour had entirely changed during their ‘journey’. A thin layer of magic engulfed the three of them, letting the snow melt and keeping their temperature stable, “The city is surrounded by a lot of wards, making shadow travel impossible. It’s even stronger than the wards around Canterlot. Also, the city will be crawling with guards, so we can’t just teleport in.”

“I thought you wanted to eliminate everypony except maybe the scientists anyway,” The fashionista replied, looking into the distant city. Luckily the sky was covered with thick clouds, and it began to snow, that would help to cover their tracks and made spotting them a lot harder.

“You have a point there, but it’s more exciting that way, don’t you think? Besides, if even one of them warns Celestia she’ll likely send about half of her entire troops to secure the city, it has an immense tactical value for her,” The lavender mare stated.

“Twilight… Rarity… are you sure this is really a good id—” Morning got interrupted by Rarity slapping her hard, the imprint of her hoof already visible on her face. It was not particularly painful… not physically at least. “W-why?”

“You won’t doubt Twilight’s plans a second time, ‘darling’. After intensively talking with her about all of this I am a hundred percent sure that this is, indeed, the best course of action. You may know her for far longer, but you never tried to really understand or care about her didn’t you?” Rarity grew more irritated by the second, that Blaze dared to do that despite the honor of going on a mission with Twilight, unbelievable. Rarity definitely wanted the approval of the lavender mare, she was such a confident, strong and independent pony, that was admittedly a little bit cruel as of late, but that was just a minor detail.

Mhmm~ Such tension against your new slave. While I enjoy the fiery passion this unicorn mare radiates just for you, maybe you should calm her down. Make sure to reward her later for being so loyal~

Twilight’s right fore hoof rested on the seamstress’ shoulder, “It’s alright, Rarity. Thanks for helping me out. Let’s go, this plan won’t change in the slightest, but maybe we have to talk about rewards later, my dear.”

Even through the magical layer the lavender mare could make out the blush forming on the flustered unicorn’s face, “Y-yes, of course, darling! Everything for my friends.” The two of them trotted along, they would need a couple of hours of careful sneaking and hiding to even get close to the cities large, steel walls.

“Finally!” Scootaloo whispered, it had taken them hours to convince their parents why they needed their saddlebags and some supplies all of a sudden. All three of them were ready and wandered towards the castle. All of the guards seemed to be hectic, polishing their armor, looking at documents and sharpening their weapons. It seemed like this general inspection was quite an important event for them. Probably also to eliminate the possibilities of spies within their ranks.

It was the perfect opportunity, like this mysterious dragon/lizard said, even the castle’s gates were unguarded. The princess wasn’t here either, she overlooked the preparations for the inspections. Dawn, Mistral and Law were executing it, of course. All of them were in a really gloomy mood since the events that happened in the Canterlot gardens. It had been humiliating… tricked by a small group of criminals once again. The worst thing was that they seemed to grow stronger every time, how did they manage to train in between their chaos making? The situation hadn’t been in their favor for quite some time, and the upper ranks of Celestia’s army definitely planned to change that… what was left of them at least.

“Where is east? I think we’re running in circles,” The orange pegasus whispered while trying to find the right way towards the east tower. She wasn’t very good with directions… or flying, but at least she was an awesome athlete, just like Rainbow Dash!

“You’re going north, by the way,” Sweetie stated in a deadpan tone.

“Why the hay didn’t you say so ten minutes ago?!”

“Oh I’m sorry, since when am I your secretary?” The little unicorn replied sharply.

“Hey you idiots! The east tower is in this direction!” It was the dragon standing in the hallway, his face obscured with the hoodie as per usual. He seemed somewhat excited, but also annoyed by their incompetence. “Now stop being stupid and follow me. We don’t have much time.”

Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle pouted along the way, only the reasonable earth pony filly was walking next to their mysterious… friend and slowly shook her head,” Sorry for all the trouble. Ah swear we’re better than that. We jest had a hard time lately, with our sister bein’ gone and all…”

The dragon didn’t reply right away, he could relate to their pain, but also needed to keep going, they really didn’t have much time. Since Spike’s recent growth spurt nopony really bothered to make fun of his height anymore. Not that many dared to do that in the first place, being raised by a demi-goddess and the now most dangerous mare in the whole land. It had been a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but he finally understood why Twilight did all this… at least he thought so. His own anger flared for a second, his big sister had been manipulated all her young life, they had been separated even though he still had free time in between his education. Was it so that she would feel lonely and work harder in her studies?

Spike never dared to confront Celestia which wasn’t a good idea in general, but she was strangely sensitive when it came to the topic of Twilight Sparkle, even more so than himself. He knew deep down that she did all this for a reason, even if her sense of justice was twisted now… this wouldn’t have started without any valid reasons. The Princess of the Sun was at least partially at fault… but he had to talk to Twilight first. Maybe… the dragon could even help her, in his younger years he really hadn’t been much of a fighter himself, also because Celestia straight out refused to teach him about magic. The demi-goddess had been awfully busy as of late though, too bad that she couldn’t check the restricted archives all the time. A few weeks ago Spike paid it a visit, and found some very useful scrolls that he studied carefully. Ancient magic, hidden away to stop the once raging war between ponies and dragons. Now their relationship was kinda vague since no real information about them was known, but this magic still remained here. Now he had it in his claws though, it used the energy from different sources than the caster’s own body, that meant Spike would be able to cast it too… theoretically, he didn’t actually have time to get it to work consistently. It should be a surprise for the first pony that decided to stand in his way of getting to Twilight though.

They reached the east tower relatively quickly, ascending the stairs up to Twilight Sparkle’s old home, Spike hesitantly opened the door. He really had been taking care of the little apartment in here. Especially Sweetie Belle gasped at all the equipment for science or whatever the pony living here had been doing. Before she could touch the large telescope Spike slapped her hoof away, “I didn’t mention touching anything when I said ‘Follow me’, did I?”

“Okay, okay! You don’t have to snap like that!” Sweetie exclaimed, retracting her hoof quickly. This dragon or whatever was really not the most social creature in Equestria.

Spike sighed deeply, “Look, I know that you guys are frustrated, so am I, but this place is special for me, and the unicorn who used to live here. Don’t break anything, and you.” The dragon pointed at the earth pony filly. “You see that keypad over there? 2034218563, that’s the combination for the escape tunnel. Be careful, one wrong number and you’ll probably be blasted off the tower, or fall into a trapdoor. The pony was quite paranoid when it came to security measures for her secret stuff.”

“Two, Zero, Three, Four, Two… Uh…” She scratched her head, trying to remember the confusing order of the numbers. Who would have a password like that? And why did this dragon knew it out of his head? He wasn’t that much older than them… maybe? The dragon was certainly bigger, almost reaching up to Celestia in height nowadays, but it seemed relatively small for dragon proportions.

“Oh for Pete’s Sake,” Spike pushed her aside, quickly typing in the numbers with an impressive precision. The floor directly next to her old bed opened quietly, revealing a lit hole with a ladder going down. He knew that it went at least past the sewers of Canterlot, and then ended in a ramp that led to another secret door built into the mountain. He helped to build it after all, mainly melting the rocks ahead of them while Twilight hammered it out of the massive mountain with sheer magical force. Not once did the teenage dragon questioned why she did stuff like that, the lavender mare had her reason for everything. “You three first, then I’ll follow since the trapdoor closes in a few minutes.”

The three fillies shared a worried look before nodding. They knew that this was definitely wrong, but what other choice did they have? What would happen to their sisters if they just waited this national crisis out? Slowly they descended into the unknown, waiting for their ‘saviour’. After he also began to claw down the sturdy, iron ladder the door closed, like the dragon said. Fortunately this unicorn really seemed to plan her escapes well, the straight hole was well lit with little crystals behind clear glasses, they emitted a cold, but efficient light-blue shine.

“Alright, just continue to climb down, we should reach a descending ramp that will lead us out of the area, directly to the base of the mountain,” Spike stated, feeling the familiar weight of the little crystal plate in the inner pocket of his hoodie. In the last two weeks he never let go of it, same for the piece of clothing, except to wash it. His ‘luck’ that the princess made him learn stuff like that, next to cooking, cleaning, school subjects, dancing and even playing a few instruments. Of course he had way less free time than others, but Spike also enjoyed being tutored by her… she never forced him to learn something, but learning new things had been fun, especially because that way he felt closer to Twilight. Now he was at the border to being an adult, teenager at least… in pony years, around fifteen if he counted it correctly. His bigger sister should’ve turned seventeen a few weeks ago, but she never really cared about that. Ponies mature quicker than other creatures in Equestria, school starts with four or five, and you’re practically a young adult with~ fifteen to sixteen.

He shook his head quickly, the fillies were way ahead of him. As of late Spike seemed to drift off more often than not, he needed an organized, crazy and hectic mare like Twilight around him. Not to mention that the dragon really missed his bigger sister. Quickly Spike followed them, climbing way faster with claws and feet than with hooves.

After what seemed like an eternity of climbing, and about a hundred complaints from the fillies, they finally arrived at the descending ramp that would lead them into sweet, sweet freedom. The ponies needed a minute to catch their breaths, they just climbed down a mountain, literally, and descending ladders with hooves wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do.

The ramp wasn’t very long, the three could already spot the stone door that would lead them outside, soft light shining through the slits. Canterlot was on the more sunny side of this twilight sky which, oddly enough, seemed to affect the overall mood of the citizens. Not that the rebels had a disadvantage because of that, the darker side resembled their new leaders, and that was a real boost in morale.

“Let’s go, we’re out of the guards’ reach, so we just have to go outside. Be careful though… I don’t know how it will work out…” Spike said in an absent minded tone, already walking towards the door.

“What has to work out exactly?” Applebloom asked, trying to catch up, followed by her companions.

“You’ll see,” With a strong push the door opened, scraping along the stone ground. The dragon took a deep breath, looking at the strange sky and grasped the emblem in his pocket. A slight smile seemed to form on his face, finally he would be able to see her once again, something he’d been dreaming of for quite some time.