Aching pain spread throughout the drake's body from the force from the library's explosion as it propelled him towards the solid oak walls of the aforementioned library. The collision would have easily snapped his neck, along with every bone in his body, but a flickering purple shield took the blow instead of him, smashing through the wall in a storm of blazing splinters. Spike hugged Twilight close to his chest as the bubble shield was flung away from the Golden Oaks Library, bouncing along a field of grass until it finally crashed against a tree.

"Twi...Twilight?" the dragon's voice held none of the strength it had a few moments ago as he called out to his marefriend in a huff. The bubble shield had absorbed most of the impact, but it was weak enough to knock the air out of the the drake. Upon hearing no response, Spike uncurled himself slightly, looking down at his lavender companion to find her knocked out by the magical exertion she gained from producing the shield spell while in her weakened state. His thoughts barely registered her shallow breathing as he took in the sight of something much worse on her form. A splintered stake had driven itself into her right shoulder with the force from the explosion, causing her to bleed from the moderately deep gash, and her coat had a couple of areas that had been burned slightly, leaving black 'Splotches' on her body.

"Oh no!" adrenaline was pumped throughout the drake's body, washing away his mild pains, and gave him the strength to be able to stand again. Spike cradled Twilight carefully in his arms in order to avoid touching her wounds, a feat that proved to be impossible as suggested by the whimpers of pain the mare gave off in her exhaustion induced slumber.

'What the hell just happened?' the purple drake conversed with himself in his mind as he began to run towards the giant fire in the distance, the shield really launched them far away. 'How did Granny Smith get her hooves on a fire rune gem, I don't think there are any unicorns in her group, and I doubt they would know how to enchant a fire ruby without instruction.'

"It's not safe here anymore...not if they're willing to kill us."

Spike cut the distance between the burning library and himself in a short amount of time, and he noticed a smaller group of ponies detached to the side of the protesting mass, a group made up of five sobbing mares. The dragon tried to draw as little attention as he could to himself as he approached his friends, not really wanting to argue with Granny Smith at the moment since there was a more pressing matter to take care of.

"Girls!" Spike called out to the mares in a hushed yell.

The Elements Bearers all raised their heads groggily, not wanting to talk to anypony due to their grief, but were snapped to attention when their eyes found the dragon and the damaged mare. Those who hadn't seen Spike's transformation yet were more shocked than those who did, but they were all filled with dread at the sight of the hurt couple. Soundlessly, the mares rushed over to Spike as they tried to take in the gravity of the wounds inflicted on the couple.

"Oh my, that splinter," Fluttershy pointed a hoof at the spot where the piece of wood was impaled in, "it has to come out or else it'll make Twilight develop a infection."

The yellow mare was taking the sight of one of her best friends bleeding quite a lot better than the rest of the ponies present, except for Applejack and Rainbow Dash of course, they had both seen enough injuries to not get freaked out by one.

"What'll you need, Flutter?" the farm mare spoke up first, not wanting to disappoint her lavender unicorn friend like she thought she had a few moments ago.

"Hmm, I'll need something alcohol-based and something to wrap the wound in." Fluttershy inspected the stake closely, and, in a move that no one was expecting, took hold of it in her teeth and yanked it out. Shyness found no home in her body at the moment, any trace of it was overridden by her desire to help others, especially in medical situations due to all the practice she got with healing her animals. Twilight thrashed a little at the pain that was injected into her body when Fluttershy pulled out the shrapnel, but stopped after a few seconds.

"Well, dear, I just happen to have a bottle of wine with me, and I've also got the lacing I used to seal this box of chocolates." Rarity levitated the items she spoke of out from her saddlebags, uncorking the wine and unwrapping the chocolate's box.

"Those will have to do, now, pour some of the wine onto the cut to clean it. I'll put the bandages one after you're done." said the veterinarian.

The designer didn't exactly like the idea of bringing more pain to Twilight by pouring the alcohol onto her, but it had to be done. She levitated the bandages over to Fluttershy and began tilting the bottle towards the gash on her lavender friend's shoulder, prompting more violent thrashes from the sleeping mare as the pain spread throughout her nervous system.

Twilight's thrashing began to die down a minute or so after the wine was introduced to her injury, and Fluttershy took the opportunity to wrap it in the lace provided, forming a durable makeshift bandage. Spike smiled at his friends after the bleeding spot had been covered up, looking down at his marefriend for a few seconds, pecking her softly, and facing up again to speak.

"Thank you, girls, I wouldn't have know how to handle Twilight's injury if it wasn't for you."

"Oh, well your welcome Spike, we're just doing something for our friends." Fluttershy had returned to her shyer self, blushing at the praise.

"I'm just curious, but why didn't you just run straight to the hospital?" Rarity spoke up what was on some of the mare's minds, resulting in a serious expression overtaking his face. For a moment, the designer thought that the dragon was about to lash out about their last meeting, so she was surprised when he spoke softly.

"Because that would mean we would have to stay in Ponyville longer." Spike braced himself for their reactions, a smart choice.

"What!?" the Element Bearers asked loudly in unison, shock clear on their faces.

"Why do you guys have to go?" Pinkie's question was accompanied by a quivering lower lip, a sight that would be able to melt any other pony's heart.

"It's not safe here anymore, Pinkie, Granny Smith and her group intended to kill us tonight, and they very well might have if it weren't for Twilight setting up a shield spell in a split second." the dragon seemed to tighten his embrace on the mare in his arms as he spoke, drawing her closer to his chest. Applejack gained a sense of fury at Spike's words, remembering what exactly had caused harm to her friends.

"Darnit Granny, I'm going to have a word with her right now!" the farm mare turned around and stormed off towards the stunned crowd of ponies, who were still staring at the burning building and completely overlooking the fact that the couple they intended to run out of town was a few meters away from them.

"AJ, stop!" Rainbow Dash called out to the orange farm pony, seeing the danger of drawing attention at the moment, and tried to stop her from exactly that.

"Granny Smith! What have you done!" Applejack was holding none of her voice back as she beckoned her grandmother, whom looked at her in surprise, not expecting her appearance or the tone of her voice. The accusation snapped her out of her shock at the library's spontaneous explosion, reigniting her anger.

"Ah ain't done nothing!" the elderly mare's words seemed to bounce off of Applejack, not phasing her in the slightest of degrees.

"Nothing!? You burned mah best friends' house down, heck, you very nearly killed them!"

"Ah said that Ah didn't do it! Listen to your elders, young lady!"

"No, you listen Granny," Applejack incredibly spat out her own grandmother's name in her fit of anger, "I'm sick and tired of you manipulating mah life! You steered my mother's life, you killed my father, and now you're trying to destroy Twilight and Spike's lives as well."

"Ah never manipulated anything in your life, Applejack, and how dare you accuse me of killing your father!"

"Because you did! Who else would have done it, Granny?! He was found dead near the orchards, right were all of the stallions working the field were, and I never even saw you on that day!"

The elderly mare's throat began to constrict on itself as her granddaughter took apart the crime scene better than any of the detectives who were there on the day of Citrus Punch's murder, whom she had managed to ward off with her weak elderly appearance.

"Y-you can't prove nuthin'!"

"Ah don't need to, Ah saw the anger on your face the second Ah mentioned my Aunt and Uncle Orange, Ah spotted your little charade for that little second your mask slipped and Ah was able to finally understand what was hiding behind your lie!"

"That doesn't change the fact that you're going against your own religion!" Granny Smith was growing desperate to keep control of the situation, tossing out obstacles in the conversation to try and subdue her granddaughter.

"A religion you dragged me into! Ah never liked being a Mareian, it doesn't give ponies the freedom they deserve in life, it just sets a path for them to follow, whether they want to or not!"

"You are a disgrace Applejack! You would desert your own kind to help those sinners, you broke mah commands, and you have the nerve to confront me like this!"

"Yes! It's a nerve that Ah should have put to use long ago!"

"THAT IS ENOUGH FROM YOU! You abandon your duties as a Mareian, you go against me, and you go against your fellow community members! You're not mah granddaughter, not the mare Ah raised, so you have no place in Sweet Apple Acres any longer!" the lime mare was unable to restrain her final trump card from slipping through her mouth, yet she made no move to rectify it.

Granny Smith's words rang in Applejack's ears, her own grandmother just told her that she was no longer welcome at her own home, the home in which she grew up in and left many memories behind. The orange farm pony froze in place as a torrent of emotions rushed through her, a torrent made up of anger, sadness, and melancholy.

A hoof touched her shoulder, and she turned with teary eyes to look at Fluttershy, then another hoof touched her opposite shoulder, this one belonging to Pinkie. Applejack soon found herself in a sympathizing group hug with the four mares and the dragon, the act washed away some of her worry, barely enough to get her out of her shock. She opened her mouth to speak, but Spike did it instead.

"Granny Smith," he started in a leveled voice, one clearly hiding all of his emotions save for pity, "how low have you fallen? We used to look towards you and found the caring mare that has always been there for her community, we all cared for you. Now, go ahead and look at yourself now, what do you see? I don't see a avenging angel in golden armor, I see a mare who has yet to let go of the past and embrace the future, I see a mare who is willing to get blood on her hooves in order to get what she wants, but, most of all, I see a mare who is too afraid of change to let it happen, so you try to stop it in hopes that time won't leave you behind."

"..." Granny Smith simply stared at the dragon, her recent rage had been put to rest with the drake's words, like a bucket of cold water to a flame. She still didn't like the idea of his relationship, but she was now lost in thought about what he just said.

"Well, congratulations, you win. Twilight and I are leaving Ponyville, I'm not sure for how long, but victory is yours. As a favor, I ask you to look back at what you have done in order to achieve your goal. You attempted to murder us, you harassed us, destroyed our home, and you have caused un-repairable damage to your relationship with your granddaughter."

Spike turned away from the silent crowd to face the four Element Bearers with a look of finality clear on his face, along with a small frown.

"Listen, girls, I'm taking Twilight to Canterlot to take care of some business we have over there, and to get away from the recent attacks towards us. I'll be sure to send you a letter soon, but right now I have to run."

"Right now? As in 'No time for a goodbye party' now?" Pinkie hoped that her friends could stay, but no. The offer nonetheless broke away a bit of the tension in the group since it was still clear that Pinkie was herself.

"Yes Pinkie, the train is leaving in a couple of minutes, so I have to run if I want to catch it."

"That's it? Is this how it ends?" Rainbow Dash was expecting some kind of a giant brawl, not Spike and Twilight leaving town willingly.

Spike sighed before speaking, "No, this is far from over, I just need to get Twilight away from here. Canterlot has the Princesses and her family, that would be the best place to recover the recent events."

The five Element Bearers could tell how serious the purple dragon was while he spoke, hearing that his voice was laced with sorrow and urgency. With sad smiles, Spike's friends said their reluctant goodbyes after settling that Applejack would be able to stay at Fluttershy's cottage due to her lack of housing, and they watched as the purple dragon ran, with a speed unknown to them, past the still crowd, and towards the train station.

The Ponyville Express' whistle billowed out of its freshly repaired steam engine and into the night air, alerting Spike that he should really pick up his pace. Sweat ran down his forehead as his feet became blurs in their speedy movements, a speed that barely kept up with the moving train. The steam vehicle began to gain velocity, almost leaving the couple behind. Spike used his short range teleportation to close the gap between him and the train, following up his action with a mighty leap that landed him into one of the last boxcars.

Panting from the exertion he just went through, Spike moved away from the open sliding door on the cart, towards the back where a small pile of hay lay. He walked up onto the dry grass, laying down on his side and curling himself a little tighter against Twilight, feeling her shudder as a blast of cold air flew in through the boxcar's opening. Experimenting a little, Spike clenched his mouth shut and blew a flame, restraining it inside of his body. The little move served to warm up his body like a furnace, banishing any cold that he or Twilight held, and helped lull him to sleep. One thought entered his semiconscious mind as he slipped into the dream realm,