Before we begin, I just want to point out something that one of the reviews asked me. Cadence isn't Luna's daughter; I just called Shining Armor the "nephew-in-law" because he's married to Cadence, and she's the niece of the two Princesses. Also, I what I wrote about Luna and Sombra is what one of the readers inspired me to do for my finale. Enjoy the chapter.
Ch.7: Where's Spike?
Meanwhile in Ponyville, Marvin was busy making breakfast while Twilight was putting away their books from yesterday.
"I can't believe we've read ourselves to sleep last night," the Unicorn stated with a giggle.
"I know what you mean," Marvin replied with an invisible smile before giving her a flirty look. "Then again, I didn't mind the way we were sleeping."
"Oh, you!" she giggled with a slight blush as she pushed him back playfully.
"C'mon, Twi," he teased, wrapping his arms around her neck. "You know you liked it too. Probably why Spike didn't disturb us last night." Twilight blinked in reply.
"Now that I think about it," she said, "I haven't seen him all morning. Last time we did see him, he left yesterday to help Rarity. You think he must have went to bed without waking us up?"
"Possibly," her Martian boyfriend answered. "I'll go check." He then left for Twilight's room to fetch the little dragon. As he did, Twilight answered the knock at her door. Opening it, she saw Rarity outside with a basket of gems.
"Hi, Rarity."
"Hello, Twilight, dear," the white Unicorn greeted. "I came over to give this basket of gems to Spike as a thank-you gift for yesterday. Is he up yet?"
"Marvin's fetching him now. You want to come in and wait?" As the Bearer of Generosity came in, Marvin came back downstairs, Peewee riding on his shoulder.
"Twilight," he said with a bit of worry, "Spike's not there."
"What do you mean 'not there'?" asked Rarity, noticing the worry in his voice.
"I mean he's not in his bed. Just Peewee with his note here." He then handed the parchment to Twilight, who read it out loud to find out what's going on:
"Spike came last night, packed his things, and just left. He looked rather strange, and he seemed upset about something. Owlicious went to follow him and find out where he's going, and I stayed here to tell you what happened."
"You mean our poor little Spikey-Wikey ran away?" Rarity cried, dropping the basket with dismay, spilling its contents all over the floor.
"What do you mean 'He looked rather strange', Peewee?" Twilight then asked the baby phoenix. Peewee then flew over to the desk, took a hold of a quill with his talon, and started to write his answer:
"His scales looked a little grayer."
"Grayer?" asked Marvin, confused. "Can dragons do that?"
"I don't think so," Twilight answered with a shake of her head.
"Grayer shade on scales…upset expression…his running away," Rarity said with some thought before it hit her. "Twilight, you don't think that Discord has something to do with it, do you?" The violet Pony's eyes went wide with shock.
"It may be possible, but I just hope not."
"What are you talking about?" asked Marvin.
"Remember when we told you about Discord turning us into the opposite of our true selves?" his girlfriend asked. "Well, when he did, we literally turned gray in color. That's the effected sign of Discord's influence upon us."
"So you're saying that Spike ran away because Discord turned him into the opposite of the Spike we know and love?"
"Exactly, which is why we have to find him and figure out what it was that made him like this. The question is: Why hasn't Owlicious come back to tell us where Spike is now? He should've been back already."
Meanwhile at the castle ruins, Discord had hung up a cage that's holding Owlicious inside. He had detected the owl's presence and learned from Spike that he's Twilight's pet. Thinking he followed Spike to find out for Twilight where he was going, he caught him and trapped him inside the cage.
"Sorry, birdie," Spike said to the owl coldly, "but you're not going anywhere for quite some time." Discord then turned to Kaa and Hiss.
"You two stay here and keep an eye on him," he instructed, thumbing at Owlicious. "The others and I are going to meet up with my Princess."
"Asss you wish, massster," Kaa replied, bowing to him as did Hiss. Discord then snapped his fingers, and he and the seven dragons were gone in a flash.