The cobblestone paths of Ponyville had never seemed very practical to Spike as he made his way towards the edge of town, but who was he to question the thought process of ponies. He had known Twilight his entire life and still didn't understand how she got to some of the conclusions that she did, but that may just be Twilight. He remembered when she had tried to cause a friendship catastrophe so that she would have a letter to write to the princess. 'I wonder what she's been writing lately,' he thought to himself.
Spike continued to trudge through the streets as he pictured Twilight curled up in her room alone. It was so sad how her friends had all seemed to abandon her and left her alone again. It would have been no problem before when she hadn't had any true friends, but now that she did it was like taking away a piece of her - like taking away her horn. Spike shuddered and scratched his head where a horn would be at the thought of a unicorn losing her focal point and having no way to release her magic. The combination of thinking about losing a horn and the act of scratching his head reminded him why he was going to Zecora's in the first place as his skull started to pulse relentlessly once again.
Spike started to near the bakery at the edge of town when the ground started to tremble and shake as sounds of crying and screaming pounded against his throbbing head. A rainbow streak flashed before him as the bakery door burst open. Spike threw his arms up to protect himself, his muscles tense as he waited for an impact that never came. Spike nervously took his arms down from his face as he looked at the cotton candy mare standing at the doorway of the bakery. Whatever the rainbow streak had been, it was gone now.
"HI SPIKE!" the baby dragon flinched as the words pierced through his skull and continued to echo around in his brain like a bouncy ball.
"Uh, hi Pinky," Spike said slowly, slightly irritated at how loud she was talking.
"I WAS JUST WONDERING IF YOU KNEW WHERE RAINBOW DASH WAS GOING." His head throbbed on every word the excited earth pony squealed.
"No, no, I don't know where she's going." He held his head in his hands as he slowly shook it back and forth. His head hurt too much to even care about what had just gone on in the bakery.
"OH OKAY! HOW ARE YOU SPIKE? HOW'S TWILIGHT? HAVE YOU TALKED TO RARITY LATE…"
"QUIET!" Spike screamed at the deafening pony, dropping to his knees as his head convulsed at his own outburst.
"Oh I'm sorry, are you okay Spike?" Pinkie calmed down and cocked her head as she gave a concerned look at the purple dragon writhing on the ground.
"Ugghhh…"
"Spike?"
". . ."
"Spike?"
". . ."
The pink mare hurriedly rushed over to scoop the baby dragon up and take him inside as he groaned in agony, still holding his head in his tiny hands.
Spike woke with a start. He was sitting alone on a red velvet cushion that had been placed in the center of a finely decorated room he inferred was Pinkie's second story loft above the bakery. Party balloons, banners, streamers, confetti, glitter, and all manners of party implements lay strewn across the room. His head had finally stopped pounding as he slowly got to his feet, swaying slightly. How long had he been out? He glanced out the window with a relieved sigh as he saw the sun was still hanging high above the horizon. It couldn't have been too long. Unless he had slept more than a day! A worried expression came over his face as he scanned the room for somepony who would help him.
"HEY SPIKE YOU'RE AWAKE!" Spike jumped and cringed at the same time as the unexpected voice pierced the room suddenly. He turned to see that the party pony was only inches from his face, bouncing up and down with delight. The odd part was that for being such a loud mouthed pony, she was unnervingly silent as she hopped about the room.
"How long have you been here?" Spike asked tentatively.
The pink pony stopped bouncing for a second as she tilted her head to look at the baby dragon.
"Oh you mean in the room with you? The entire time." Spike scanned the room quickly trying to figure out how he could have missed the energetic pony when he had first woken up.
"I've been working so hard lately on developing a new kind of party and just now had Rainbow Dash over to test it, but I don't think she liked it very much." The pink pony gave a strange, almost wicked grin as she spoke about the pegasus that had escaped.
"That's nice…" Spike wasn't paying attention to her words as he continued to puzzle how he could have missed her in the large, open room.
"Are you feeling better now?" Pinkie asked giving another concerned look to the baby dragon.
Spike snapped back to reality as he focused in on the strange mare that was addressing him. She seemed different, he couldn't put his finger on it, but she had an almost innocent, yet sinister aura around her as she looked at him. He suddenly felt in danger as he started to back away from the oblivious mare.
"Spike? Is everything alright?" she asked taking a step towards him with another concerned look, this time sporting a devilish grin. She was almost like a predator ready to pounce on him as she stared him down. Was he just imagining all of this? Maybe he had passed out back at the house? The room started to spin as he flailed his arms about to keep his balance, but it wasn't enough as his head hit the ground with a resonating thud. His body was paralyzed as his vision started to grow black around the edges and creep towards the center, completely covering his world. Before he completely blacked out he recognized a lone pastry propped up neatly on the floor directly in front of him. It was almost as if it had been placed there on purpose just for him to see.
~Break~
Her new wagon teetered and shook over every pebble as the cyan mare lugged it behind her over the treacherous mountainside trail that was barely able to hold the width of a pony, much less a wagon. Small rocks tumbled over the side as she stepped over them, soon turning into large boulders that plummeted mercilessly into the canyons below. The clouds above were a thick menacing black, almost as black as the night, which threatened to soak her in chilling rain at any moment, and she wasn't particularly fond of getting wet and cold anytime soon. Digging her hooves into the hard earth, she stubbornly tried to pull the wagon up the hill using all of her weight, but it didn't seem to help speed up her journey at all, in fact it just added to her exhaustion. This new wagon wasn't nearly as finely crafted as her old one had been. The wheels were almost square and wouldn't even roll down the side of a hill if you let it go, unlike her old one that seemed to pull itself at times. Her beautiful old wagon that had been crushed back in Ponyville had contained everything she had ever owned before she had been forced to abandon it when she fled the tiny town. The road finally opened up around a bend at the edge of the cliff which was just wide enough for the panting mare to pull the wagon out of the way to stop and rest.
Trixie grimaced as she recalled what had happened back at the simple little town. She didn't know what had happened to her; something about the hick town full of degenerate inbreds had made her lose control and challenge anypony to be better than her in some way. The idea of anypony from that town being better than her at ANYTHING had made her snort at the time, but looking back at it now she was glad that she had been put in her place by that other unicorn. What was her name? Dawner? Or Dusk? She fidgeted as she thought of the elegant purple mare.
The saddle of the wagon started to chafe against her haunches as she puzzled over the unicorn's name. Maybe it was time to take a break she thought as she shifted under the weight of the wagon. Not many ponies appreciated the hard work the powerful unicorn put into her shows at every town. It was just another travelling gypsy show to them. They didn't even realize that she had to pull the heavy wagon across the countryside without any help, a feat that most gypsies wouldn't attempt just to show off their talents and meet new ponies. Trixie knew from the beginning that she was special, that she had to show off her talents to the rest of Equestria. It was something inside of her that had always motivated her to illustrate her magical abilities at their very best even though she never fully understood why. Her thoughts paused as the image of a strange black and white pony chanting foreign words in a room filled with purple and green vapors flashed across her memory for an instant before disappearing back into the folds of her memory. These recurring visions had been happening more and more lately for some unknown reason. The mysterious mare that haunted her dreams had appeared ever since Trixie fled Ponyville. The idea of the strange pony existing somewhere in the world sent chills down her spine, her skin started to crawl before she promptly decided to drop the subject. Her coat started to glow a sparkling cyan as a soothing flow of magic washed over her and she cleansed herself of her own thoughts. She let out a contented sigh as she finally started to relax. The lone unicorn had always been blessed in a way with her limitless reserves of magic; she had never been beaten, at least until that mysterious unicorn had appeared.
The name of the unicorn back at the mundane little town still eluded her as she half-heartedly focused her magic around the saddle that connected her to the wagon. How could she forget such an important name? The meek amethyst unicorn from Ponyville seemed almost magnificent to her now. She remembered looking down from the stage in the middle of her show and seeing the uncertain unicorn standing warily in the crowd surrounded by her loyal friends. The entire town had watched her show that day with contempt as the cyan monster before them challenged everypony without restraint, but she didn't recall that unicorn having the same look of scorn as her friends had; it was more like a look of sympathy for the stranger that emulated her greatness before her. Why would she have looked like that? Trixie had made a mental note to remember that strange unicorn, but apparently it hadn't been enough. How had that unicorn gotten such powerful magic? And where had she gotten such loyal friends to defend her? The azure unicorn drooped as she remembered how alone in the world she was. She had no family or friends, or anypony who even cared that she existed for that matter. She could disappear off the face of Equestria and no one would even notice.
She released her magical hold around the wagon abruptly, letting the front of it drop to the ground behind her with a sickening thud, her valuables inside tumbling off the shelves to crash onto the floor as she continued to sulk on the cold earth. It wasn't fair that such a blessed pony could be so miserable. Maybe it was just her curse for having so much magic - that she was destined to live alone for her entire life, having no one there to care for her. A thunderous boom cracked across the sky above her, rattling her wagon and dislodging what few items had remained on the shelves to shatter against the bottom of the wagon. The miserable unicorn didn't even flinch. The clink of a raindrop hitting her wagon echoed across the valley where she was looking out. Soon there was a steady chorus of raindrops falling all around her, soaking the ground around her feet, but she did not stir. A single, salty tear rolled down her cheek as she desperately reached out with her thoughts for some comfort - anything that would make her feel less alone in the world; but it was no use. Even her own mind had abandoned her - the world around her had abandoned her. The single tear soon turned into two, then three as she let out an anguished sob and collapsed onto the ground in front of her, burying her face in her hooves. She couldn't tell if she was shaking from her sobs or the cold that nipped around her as she curled up into a tight ball, wrapping her elegant silver tail around herself for comfort.
It was several minutes before she stopped trembling and brought her tear soaked face out from her hooves. The dirt had accumulated across her face and she tried to rub it off using one of her hooves while she sniffled, which just ended up smearing more dirt across her face. Luckily for her, there was nopony around to see how pathetic she was, to see how far The Great and Powerful Trixie had fallen. They wouldn't care anyway. Nopony cared. The bitter rain continued to pound the ground around her as she looked back out across the mountainside to the valleys below. The whole mountain seemed to shake as another deafening boom of thunder reverberated across the land.
Then another… and another…
Time kept passing by without her as the trembling unicorn continued to gaze out emptily at the valleys beyond, hoping that somepony out there would care. Another lone tear rolled down her cheek as she realized there wasn't.
~Break~
"PINKIE NO! PLEASE DON'T!" the baby dragon woke with a start for the third time that day. His head hurt again as he sat up to look around. This wasn't the room he had just been in; it looked like it was the main room of the bakery. The familiar scent of cupcakes wafted in from the next room as he tested the firmness of the couch he had just woken up on with his claws. Had the whole thing just been a dream? Was he dreaming now? Where was Pinkie?
He pressed himself deep into the cushions of the couch as he rapidly scanned the room for the pink earth pony that could be lurking anywhere, looking particularly hard this time at every detail that made up the room. Everything seemed normal; it was a wide open square room with pale white walls and a black and white checkered marble floor that spanned the entire length. Six plain white tables were scattered about the edges of the room, each with four miniature chairs placed symmetrically across from the other. A solid wooden counter across the room from him displayed the daily specials and all-time favorites of the bakery as the scent of pastries continued to drift in from the kitchen behind it.
Spike slowly started to emerge from the cushions as he took another quick glance around the empty room. "I guess it's safe," he reassured himself before walking over to the counter to look through the kitchen door. He strained to look over the wooden counter, pulling himself up on his toes to peer at the room behind it before awkwardly deciding that it would be better to just wait for somepony to show up. The bakery always seemed busy and it was odd that nopony was here now picking up an order of cupcakes or enjoying a delicious chocolate cake by the window. Spike turned to walk back to the couch when he noticed a dab of frosting on the floor in front of him. At least he thought it was frosting, it was red and runny like frosting as it flowed across the ground. It looked sticky too. He bent down to examine the substance closer when a voice came from behind him.
"Hey Spike, are you feeling better?"
Spike shrieked in terror as he spun around to see the pink earth pony on the other side of the counter looking worriedly at him.
"Where did you just come from?" Spike demanded furiously.
"Uh… the kitchen?" the pink mare replied slowly, motioning to the door directly behind her.
"Oh. Well why did you kidnap me in this place?" Spike threw his arms up as he glared around at the plain white room.
Pinkie Pie gave the baby dragon a curious look as he stammered on about how she had taken him against his will and locked him in her room. She glanced at the front and back doors of the bakery at the mention of him being locked in.
"You're not locked in silly!" she exclaimed with an innocent smile.
The purple dragon rushed over eagerly to the front door of the bakery to test her claim. The doorknob twisted effortlessly and the door swung open easily with a gentle push.
"I guess it had all been a dream," Spike confessed starting to blush at how outrageous his earlier claims must have seemed. He quickly apologized to Pinkie for making her seem like a monster.
"IT'S OKAY!" the pink pony squeaked as she began to bounce around the room again.
Her outburst once again reminded Spike of what he had been doing before he had passed out as his head began to shake violently from the pain that shot through his skull. He had to get out of this place before she cracked his head open with any more earsplitting outbursts.
"Hey Pinkie I have to go, I'll see you around sometime, okay?" he said hastily.
"Oh that's fine, are you sure you don't want to stay for any cake though?" At least she had quieted down a little.
"Sorry Pinkie, I really have to get going," he held his head in his hands as he made his way across the empty room towards the door.
"I can't allow that."
The baby dragon turned quickly to look at Pinkie with a confused expression across his face. Pinkie mirrored his expression as she looked back at him.
"What was that?" he asked
"What was what?" she asked him back simply.
"Did you just say something?"
"No…" Pinky looked around the empty room quickly.
"Nevermind." Spike said uneasily as his head started to throb again.
He turned again to walk out the door when he noticed how low the sun had gotten in the sky.
"Hey Pinkie, how long was I out?" he turned back around to ask, but the pink mare was gone. He scanned the room quickly with a confused look. He had only had his back to her for a moment and there hadn't been a single rustle or shuffle before he had turned around. How did she keep doing that?
Any further thoughts were forcefully pushed out of his mind as his skull gave another powerful pulse and he made his way back out the door towards Zecora's, to his salvation, to something that would end his misery. She had to have something that would help him. Anything.
~Break~
Feeling much better, Twilight finally emerged from her room to stretch her legs. She shakily made her way down the stairs, taking a surprised look at the devastation that still overwhelmed the room. It wasn't like Spike not to clean everything up before doing anything else. Where was he anyway? Twilight glanced around the room for her number one assistant but didn't see any sign of the baby dragon. It was even odder that he left without telling her where he was going. Something must have been wrong.
Twilight worried over every possibility that could have happened to him or her friends as she looked around the room again. The pots and pans were still scattered about the floor of the kitchen and what was left of the door still lay in heaps around the room as she fretted about Spike. She paced back and forth across the room while she thought, yelping each time she stepped on a splinter or pan.
"I can't think like this!" she finally screamed at the chaotic room after stepping on a pot so that it swung up and smacked her in the face with a resonating clunk. A sparkling purple glow surrounded all of the pots and pans simultaneously as the powerful unicorn concentrated her magic and lifted them all effortlessly into the air around her. She remembered when she had to concentrate so hard to pick up even one object and now she could lift entire rooms without giving it a second thought.
The realization of how powerful she had become brought a devious smile to her face as she sent the pots and pans into the kitchen to stack in the cupboards perfectly without even looking. She decided to put her magic to the test as she started focusing on every wood and metal particle that had been scattered about and brought them together into the center of the room. Piece by piece the door started to form, bound together by magical energies as each splinter and scrap of metal bent and twisted to fit back into the door. It was like a giant floating puzzle as it started to come together and Twilight finally let out a concentrated burst of magic to bond the wood and metal back together, sealing the entire door complete again. She focused one last time to guide the door over to the doorframe and seat it into place, locking the bolts and hinges.
She let out an excited squeak as she bounced up and down with joy at her accomplishment. She danced around for a couple seconds, her mane and tail flying wildly in the air as she celebrated her success. A sense of pride empowered her as she puffed out her chest and strutted over to the door she had reformed. She gave it a hard knock with her hoof to make sure it was sturdy before giggling and prancing away back towards the kitchen.
A ground shattering crash interrupted her celebrating as a rainbow streak flashed over her head and into the kitchen, slamming into the wall and knocking all of the pots and pans back onto the floor. Twilight spun around in horror to see the door she had worked so hard on laying in pieces across the room again.
"WHAT THE BUCK RAINBOW DASH?" she screamed at the upside down pony lying dazed on her head against the wall of the kitchen. Her voice cracked as she continued to shriek at the pegasus who had destroyed her preciously reforged door. Rainbow Dash continued to lie in a stupor during Twilight's assault until finally coming to and seeing the damage around her.
"What's going on Twilight?"
Twilight gave her the most enraged look Dash had ever seen as the unicorn continued to stare her down without speaking a word. Rainbow Dash started to fidget as the silence around her became uncomfortable and her friend continued to glare at her. The pressure of the room weighed down on the tentative pegasus as she continued to lie uncomfortably upside down against the wall. Her neck started to ache but she didn't dare move should it send Twilight into another ear-piercing fit.
"Uh… I'm sorry Twilight?" the rainbow pegasus almost asked as she put together the cutest face she could muster. Her vast wavering eyes along with her pouting lower lip were almost enough to melt Twilight's resolve as she looked down at her comically positioned friend. The fuming unicorn finally broke out in a small smile despite all her attempts to steel herself. Rainbow Dash smiled to herself - she had her now.
The multi colored pegasus awkwardly shook her rump in the air trying to get out of her predicament as she started to slowly slide down the wall. Her mane slicked back painfully against her head as her back hit the hard marble floor with an organ shifting thump. Twilight giggled at her goofy friend that lay stunned on the floor. Despite her hair being pulled back and her back and neck aching, Rainbow Dash managed an upside down grin for her giggling friend as she looked up at her from her back. Finally twisting around, the rainbow pegasus righted herself and stood up to look at Twilight curiously to see if she was still mad, but the unicorn now seemed giddy as she continued chortling at her friend.
Rainbow Dash let out another forced smile as she brushed herself off and took an uneasy step forward to make sure she hadn't broken anything from crashing into the wall. She let out a startled yelp and quickly pulled her hoof back as a burning pain shot through her leg.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay Dash?" Twilight's giggling immediately turned to concern for her friend when she realized that she might be hurt. Dash fought back tears as they welled up behind her eyes and she cringed from the pain that continued to scorch across her leg. Twilight instantaneously disappeared in a bright white flash and appeared next to her as she continued to look at her with a concerned expression.
"Was that really necessary?" asked Rainbow Dash, looking at the unicorn with a wondering look while still balancing her hurt hoof in the air.
"What?" asked Twilight distractedly, her head tilted as she studied Dash's hoof.
"Teleporting…" the pegasus quickly judged the distance she had been away from the unicorn a second ago, "two feet?"
"I need to examine your hoof Dash." Twilight urged as she moved closer.
"That didn't answer my question…"
"Quiet Dash, let me look at your hoof!" Twilight pushed. Dash bit her lip and turned her head away as she carefully stretched her arm out towards Twilight, waiting for the impending pain. The burning pain that shot through her arm started to cool and soothe as she held it out to Twilight. She looked back to see a purple glow engulf her entire arm and Twilight deep in concentration as the glow surrounding her horn started to grow brighter and brighter.
"Ah… that feels much better," Dash moaned loudly and gasped for breath as the sensation of the magic slowly spread through her body. Twilight cocked her head as she gave the pegasus a curious look; she'd never seen anypony act like that before.
"Are you okay Dash?" Twilight asked the rainbow mare who stood quivering with her mouth agape and her eyes closed as she let out another soft moan. A tremor ran up the pegasus's body as she slowly forced her eyes half open to see Twilight giving her a frustrated look. It was a few seconds before Dash could do anything but stare at Twilight awkwardly while lost in her ecstasy. Twilight continued to look at Dash expectantly until the rainbow pegasus finally snapped to attention, her eyes stretching wide as she realized what had just happened. Her face started to burn and she quickly turned her head away to conceal her blushing.
"What was that?" Twilight asked curiously.
"What?" Twilight gave her a stubborn look as the mare tried to weasel herself out of the awkward situation, but it wouldn't work this time.
"Oh uh, it just felt so good…" Dash blushed even harder at the meek way she said it despite her efforts to seem confident. She felt like a little school filly again as she timidly looked up to Twilight for approval. The purple unicorn finally noticed the pegasus's red cheeks, causing her to also blush uneasily and turn her head away.
It seemed like an eternity as several uncomfortable moments passed between them and they each looked back and forth at each other before quickly looking away again. Desperately searching for any way to change the subject, Rainbow Dash finally noticed the door that was missing behind the purple unicorn.
"Hey I'm sorry about the door, Twilight."
"What? Oh yeah, the door. That's okay Dashie. I mean Dash. I mean Rainbow Dash!" Twilight blurted out as she blushed even harder than she thought possible. The purple unicorn began to fidget uncertainly at her outburst as she desperately wished that she could disappear somewhere to save herself from anymore embarrassment. Oh wait, she could. Dash saw the sparkle in her eyes as she realized what the purple mare was going to do.
"Twilight wait! I need to talk to you…" her voice wavered as she reached out for her friend, but it was too late; the lavender mare instantly vanished in an arc of white light that she summoned around herself to take her somewhere far away, anywhere but there.
Dash blinked several times to recover her vision after Twilight disappeared to realize that she was suddenly alone in the kitchen. She hung her head for a few moments as the recognition that Twilight had just abandoned her set in. It was probably a good time to leave now. Gently testing her hoof on the ground, she let out a surprised gasp when she realized that it had been completely healed by Twilight's magic. There was absolutely no pain as she took a tentative step forward. Dash blushed again as she thought of the sensations that had come over her with Twilight's magic, but immediately dismissed them before her mind could take it any further. What had just happened between them? A spark of white light flashed in front of her again, blinding her temporarily, but she could still make out the outline of the lavender unicorn.
"Sorry Dash."
Then there was another flash of light and the unicorn was gone before Dash could say a word.
"It's okay Twilight..." She knew that her friend couldn't hear her but she still spoke softly to herself as her ears drooped behind her head and a tear started to form under her eye. She needed her friend right now, how could she just leave?
