Spike sighed as he looked at the scene in front of him. He felt a rush of emotions, but, all he could bring himself to do was let a few tears fall, close his eyes, and form a small smile. He moved away from the shed and motioned for the others to come over.

Celestia was the first to enter and review the room after Spike. She shook her head in thought as the others crowded outside of the shed, watching as the alicorn's horn lit up. Celestia turned back to the group as she finished and gave an apologetic look to them.

"Pinkie was very sick before she passed. Auto immune, nothing one of Appleoosa's doctor's could have done for her." said Celestia.

Before the group lay Pinkie, wrapped in blankets and lying on her bed. The shed had been cleaned quite nicely, on the walls were many pictures of her and her friends, from before Twilight had died. The inside of the shed was painted blue, yellow, and pink. Many of her personal belongings lie on the floor or on an oak bookshelf, that ironically had no books on it. Pinkie had her eyes closed, and was smiling. It was poetic.

"How long?" asked Fluttershy, struggling to hold back her obvious tears.

"Two months, maybe three. From what I can tell, she passed in her sleep, and felt no pain." said Celestia. Most of the group sighed in relief, save for Discord and Macintosh.

"Ah don't get it. How did nopony in Appleoosa see tha big white light?" asked the stallion.

"Allow me to explain, Tia." said Discord before Celestia could speak. The alicorn responded with an agreeing nod. "Macintosh, when somepony who possesses an element of harmony or chaos passes away naturally, their respective element does not release any energy. It is transferred to the next pony who represents the element as best as possible."

"Oh."

Rainbow Dash interrupted the unimportant lecture. "I think we should bury her."

-----------

The group traveled with heavy hearts as they headed north towards Manehatten. For the most part it was quiet, save for the occasional small talk. The sun began to set as they got ever closer to the city, and it was Peppers who finally broke the silence, pointing towards a large field of grass.

"I'm quite tired. May we set camp down there?"

"I don't see why not." said Discord.

Celestia cleared her throat when they landed. "Would all of you go and collect some wood for a fire? I need to speak with Spike in privacy."

Once they were all gone, Spike lowered himself to the ground as Celestia lied down next to him. He wrapped his arm around the minuscule alicorn. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing fine. Pinkamena and I were never particularly close." replied Celestia.

"Mhm."

Celestia looked up to the purple dragon. "I'm very, very worried about you Spike. You seem distant."

"I would be lying if I did not agree."

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

"Yes, I do want to talk about it. Remember when we were still hiding out in the mountains last week, and I had accidentally rolled over on your tail?" asked Spike.

Celestia raised a brow. "Uhm... How is that important? You know I'm not mad right?"

"I'm usually never disturbed in my sleep. However, that night, I had a very... Interesting dream." he said.

Spike explained his dream sequence, and the self conflict he had been going through over the past few days. Celestia grew more and more worried for every word he spoke. The scariest part for her was, she had no idea how to fix it. How to comfort him. For the first time she could remember, the alicorn goddess did not have the answers.

"And it came with a message." said Spike.

"What was that?"

Spike closed his eyes and turned away. "It said that you are an immortal, and that I have to leave you so you will not be lonely and hurt when I die. It said that the longer I stayed with you, the more pain I would inflict..."

It was now coming into focus how serious his problems were. Spike cannot even distinguish what is real or not anymore. Celestia was now on the verge of tears as she looked up at her companion.

"Spike..."

The dragon interrupted her. "So I told it to fuck off."

Celestia's eyes widened, her mouth agape. "W-What?"

"I came to my senses, Tia. Last night, I had a dream that lasted over thirty hours. Thirty. I didn't even know such lapses in time were possible, but it happened. I was alone for so long, no voice to lecture me. I thought I would be stuck there forever. I thought I had died. You know what I wanted at that point?"

The alicorn could form no response as she stared deep into Spike's eyes.

"I wanted to see your face. Just one more time before I let go. At that point, I realized how important you were to me. Then, this older dragon that was apparently myself came out and told me to vent my frustrations to him, so I did. He asked me what I wanted with my life, and I told him I wanted you. He told me to fight for you. That's exactly what I'm doing." he finished.

A wide smile formed on Celestia's face as she kissed Spike. "That's... The most amazing thing I've ever heard. What happens if you get trapped in your mind again?"

Spike grinned. "Then I deal with it. It doesn't control me. I do. I'm sure that whatever it is will be back, believe me, after this morning's flight with Peppers I would bet my life that I have to swim through shit's creek. But I'll do it. For you."

The touching moment was ruined as the six others returned with Celestia's desired fire wood. Macintosh and Applejack worked together to prepare a good pile, and Peppers lit it with a small controlled flame.

"Hey, how did you do that?" asked Spike.

Peppers turned to the younger dragon. "Do what?"

"Light a fire without killing everypony in a hundred foot range."

"Oh, that." Peppers laughed at his oblivious question. He had forgotten how inexperienced Spike was with his dragon fire. "Prepare a good stance. Breath calmly through your nose, pucker your lips, and exhale a flame as slow as possible. Concentrated fire is much hotter than regular fire, so you probably want to practice before using it in combat or around your friends."

"I'll take note of that." replied Spike, jokingly.

"Everypony, get some rest. We have much to do tomorrow, the City is not going to welcome us when we arrive." said Discord.

They all fell asleep quickly next to the warm fire, as Discord instructed.

-----------

Told me to fuck off, eh?

Spike jolted upright as he was awoken from his slumber. He looked around at the familiar black room and let out an annoyed sigh. "Gonna do anything about it?"

You know I don't have the heart to torture you.

Spike laughed. "Is that so? You've been doing such a good job at avoiding that option, haven't you now?"

Amusing. I can keep you here as long as you want, bring you pain in places you don't even know exist, and have you praying for all of your friends to die just so it would stop. Alas, I will not.

Spike grinned as he walked around the empty space. The floor was not made of glass like last time, more like a type of wood. He couldn't tell which though, seeing as everything was pitch black. A surge of confidence rushed through the dragon as he taunted the unwelcome visitor. "Do it then."

What!?

"I'm waiting."

Do you know what you are asking me, Spike?

"I know exactly what you can do. You're weak. Show yourself, coward. Your true self."

The room instantly changed colours from black to white. In the corner of the room, it revealed a Cloaked pony with a black coat, and no cutie mark. Her eyes were scorching white. She growled as she threw her cloak and hood on the ground, revealing a horn and wings.

Spike gasped as he looked upon the queen of Equestria, involuntarily bowing before her.

"It seems you still do maintain some manners, dragon." said the black alicorn.

Spike got up and snorted at the figure before him. "I considered your offer. I declined it. You have no more place here."

The alicorn laughed. "But don't I? It seems you and Celestia have been stirring up quite the illegal activity lately. Did you know treason is punishable by death?"

"Then kill us." grunted Spike.

She looked off to the side, strongly considering that option. "Boring. Make your move on me, fool. Gather your elements of harmony. Show me their true power, Spike."

"Can't wait to."

The black alicorn sighed. "Now that we're here together, I think it's best that I asked you a few questions."

"Not going to happen."

"Implying you have a choice!" protested the queen. "I can keep you here as long as I wish!"

Spike laughed. "You really didn't think this through, did you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Predictable. Let me tell you something, Luna. If you are just another dream, and you aren't actually here, then I can simply edit this dream to my desire, now that I am conscious."

The alicorns mouth hung open.

"Assuming you are real, you are nothing but a visitor. I still control every aspect of my own brain, you can only influence it to think certain things. Do you know what that means?"

No response.

"It means that I control you!" screamed Spike, as he swung a claw at the black alicorn. In utter disbelief, Spike's captor teleported away, and the universe they were in seemed to fall apart around him.

You were right. My mind is the key.

----------

Spike smiled as he woke up to the rising sun. It was the first time all week that he had gotten a full night's sleep. Refreshed, he let out a small green fireball as some odd form of a yawn. He looked down to see Celestia sleeping at his side.

So peaceful... So quiet...

...

...

...

...

...

Oh... It. Is. On.

Spike breathed in deeply. "MORNING EVERYPONY!!!"

A collection of squeals, and Discord jumping up then falling face first into the ground forced Spike into the laughter of an evil genius.

"Hey! What was that for!" shouted Dash as she charged to Spike's face.

"Nothing in particular."

Celestia giggled. "You shouldn't complain Rainbow, the only reason we're here is because of what you brought to my attention thirty years ago."

Dash turned from Spike and gave Celestia a confused look. "Huh?"

"Well, the only reason I wasn't at the palace to stop Luna was because of the letter you told Twilight to send me."

Dash looked around at everypony in the group, who were now staring at her. "What letter?"

Celestia rolled her eyes. "The one about Gilda joining the rebellion militia against Commander Veldhavin?"

"I hadn't spoken to Gilda since she first visited Ponyville, I don't have a clue what you're talking about." defended the cyan pegasus.

Spike and Celestia looked at each other in worry before turning back to Dash. "Rainbow... What was Twilight doing just about a month before the incident? Did you have much interaction with her?"

Dash lowered her voice as she realized that she wasn't a target of accusation. "Well, no, not much. I did talk to her some times, though, do you want to know about it?"

Celestia sighed. "Yes, we do."

Rainbow Dash protested. "Are you sure? I hate telling stories..."

Spike interrupted in frustration. "Yes we're sure, now get talking."

She grunted. "Fine. It was just a normal morning like always, and I was moving the clouds around..."