Days turned to weeks as the search for Spike continued. The four princesses gathered around a huge table with a map of the world spread out; various red X's scattered across Equestria.
Equestria, The Empire, Dodge City, The Badlands, Dragon's Lair, even in that horrid town of Klugetown to find their distraught dragon, but he was yet to be uncovered.
When a full blown war was pouring down outside, having Spike taken off in the middle of the night wasn't what everyone needed.
However, the reason behind his leaving, it wasn't hard to see why. Still didn't lessen the blow that impacted everyone. Being not only poisoned but unable to control one's own actions and go on a blood thirsty ramage, destroying those who were unfortunate enough to get in his way. There were several casualties as a result. All because of Rarity.
"Manehatten, Ghastly Gorge, and Baltimare sadly added to this." Twilight sighed as she floated the red x stamp over with her magic and stamped more X's on the places. She then dropped the magic, having the stamp slumping over and buried her face in one hand while her other was in a sling and cast from the rampage. "Ooh Spike, where are you?"
"We have every resource known to ponykind to find Spike, we'll get him back." Cadence said soothingly, rubbing her the small alicorn's shoulders.
"Five weeks, he's been gone for five weeks, vanished without a trace!" Twilight said, sitting up, pushing her frazzled mane out of her face.
"We are still waiting on word from Griffonstone and the Hippogriff Kingdom, no one just disappeared without leaving a trace." Luna said.
"I'm surprised you haven't found him while combing through the land of dreams, dear sister." Celestia asked her, sitting regally in her chair.
"I have tried, but he has found a way to block even me. I tried entering his dreams but he managed to deny my entry." Luna responded with a sigh.
"There are potions that can cause the user to sleep, but are unable to have any dreams. Being by my side long enough, Spike knows a thing or two himself about brewing potions. It doesn't take actual unicorns to brew them…" Twilight said, trying to keep it together but it was a losing battle.
Spike was a brother to Twilight. Ever since she hatched him as an egg, she raised him as a part of her family. Years of them together, all those times they shared and loved and trusted one another, all of it was severed.
However she knew their relationship was already rocky with how she treated him. What Rarity did to him pushed him over the edge. She wished that she would fix this but she knows it's too late.
"Even if we find him, I don't think we'll be enough to convince him to come back." Twilight's voice cracked.
"What about his mate? Rachel?" Cadence asked.
"Right now, she is in no position to do anything." Luna said. "Mentally, and emotionally wise, she has no strength to do much of anything."
"When was the last time anypony saw her?" Celestia asked the group.
"Last I heard, she's in the new facility somewhere near the Empire." Twilight said. "Spike didn't just leave us, he left her…."
"Suffering from a broken heart is known, adding only more to her plate than she already has. " Cadence said with a sigh.
The girls sat for a moment before Celestia turned to Luna. "How are we with the Human troops?"
Luna nodded before using her magic to change the contents of finding Spike to war plans. Though it was the first time both Cadence and Twilight were experiencing an actual War for the first time, even the two old experienced princesses were unsettling but held a stoic face when it was presented.
They drew a circle where the old settlement facility was with the portal. "The human army has complete control of the Settlement and the facility and we lost all contact." Luna said before drawing arrows and circles near some small towns and other territories spreading out from the portal. "They are covering more territory with each passing moment on their "race to save their kind" their brutality as a result either wiped out or taken over by the humans."
Blueblood did a pretty damn good job of pissing off the human leaders and started an invasion. With Sombra back, they were being attacked on all fronts.
"I say we send some of our own troops to try and liberate the ones they took over." Celestia suggested. She was not going to sit by and let all the creatures of Equestria be slaughtered.
"Their weaponry is much more dangerous than our own weapons, most of our armies have never seen much of a battlefield." Luna said, truly not liking how their armies were looking.
"We don't have a choice. "
"The Crystal Empire has enough forces to help out." Cadence said.
"You need all of yours to protect the Crystal Heart." Twilight said.
"Twilight's right, The Heart must be protected at all cost, Cadence." Luna said. "We're currently asking our other ally leaders to take arms too because this will spread out more. "
As the other three princesses discussed plans, Twilight was in deep thought. She couldn't stop thinking about Spike.
If she were to go and even find him, she felt like she wouldn't be enough at all to bring him back, nor any of their friends. Her heart aches for what he went through and can't even possibly know how horrible he's feeling.
She kept thinking about what would work before she was startled by a hand on her shoulder. Twilight looks to her right and sees Celestia standing over her.
"Twilight, I would like you to go and see how Rachel's doing." The Sun princess said. "We would like an update. "
"O-oh? " She asked hesitantly. "With how she's doing, she may not want visitors. Don't you need me to discuss the plans?" She gestures at the plans, Luna marking where they would send their armies to fight off the Humans.
"I'm afraid at this moment you cannot. With the Elements of Harmony one element short, you don't have enough strength" Celestia said. "You'll be involved soon enough."
Twilight nodded. "Yes ma'am."
Up at the new facility, Twilight stood in front where Rachel was staying. Holding a put-together, get well soon basket Starlight and the others help make with her magic.
However she was very, very hesitant about knocking.
"Just a knock… It's okay." Twilight muttered. "Maybe she'll be-"
"Princess Twilight?"
Twilight stopped herself before turning to the direction of the voice. Professor Brimstone stood in front of her.
The tired stallion looked more exhausted since the whole thing started. He held a tray of food in his hands.
"Hello Professor," Twilight greeted. She looked at the food tray. "Is that for Rachel? How is she?"
He nodded. "The girl's been unable to keep much of any food down." He grunted. "And to answer the other question, not well. Now if you please. " He goes to the door, having her push to the side.
"Sir please." Twilight sighed. "I understand you're upset-"
"More like furious." Brimstone grunted, stopping his motion to open the door and looked at Twilight with a glare of his single eye. "If you must know, her transformation has taken a great toll on her body."
"Are the test results still not coming up?"
"No." He said. "She had new symptoms developed but refused anyone to try and treat her. Refusing tests, combined with a broken heart your dragon caused." Brimstone snarled, very angry at the fact he nearly mentioned Spike's name. "I have suspicions about what they are, and if it is what I think it is, it only makes me despise Spike even more."
Twilight frowned.
"Twilight please, just go~"
"Come in, Twilight…." Both Brimstone and Twilight froze when they heard Rachel's voice from the other side of the door.
Twilight looked at Brimstone who only glared at her. "Don't…do anything to upset her more." He warned her before taking his keycard out of his pocket and scanned it in the scanner and opened the door for Twilight.
Twilight nodded, using her magic to hold the get-well basket before walking inside.
Inside the room it was dark. No lights were on but Twilight could barely see the massive creature in the corner of the room.
"Rachel?" Twilight called before turning on the light.
Rachel growled, shielding her eyes from the sudden bright light. "Turn that off, it hurts my eyes." she hissed loudly.
For the split second, Twilight could see Rachel's full new form. Seeing her dark brown horns curved over her head and pointed upwards, she stood roughly the same height as her former assistant, large wings covered in yellow fur that blended seamlessly to the golden scales. Her muzzle wasn't as long nor sharp like a dragon, it was small and a bit rounded like a pony, her hair had colorful streaks and her ears were pinned flat. Her tail has a warm brown brush tip that wrapped around her taloned hooves.
Twilight quickly flips the switch down, this time conjuring balls of light that weren't bright enough to hurt her but enough to where she won't bump into anything. "Sorry." She responded before walking over to a table next to her vacant bed and set the basket down.
She turned to look at her. "Everyone's been worried about you. We're sorry for what Spike did…"
Rachel sharply inhaled and exhaled a small burst of blue flames, her golden eyes were red and puffy from the amount of crying she had been doing all this time, the fur around her cheeks were soaked wet.
"Oh? You mean leaving me with nothing but a note?" She grunted, using the wall to help her stand up, popping her back with a loud groan.
"If Rarity hadn't forced Spike the potion, he'd still be here with you." Twilight said as she watched her. "What had happened wouldn't… I'm sorry."
Rachel sniffled as she felt another wave of emotions come, wiping her snout with her hands. "I want to be mad at him, Twi…after everything we've been through, the promises we made to each other…" She reaches up and grips onto the ring she currently wears around her neck with a silver chain.
The ring he proposed to her with. "I understand why he left…" She then angrily slams a free fist into the wall next to her. Twilight jumped in response.
She felt abandoned, betrayed. Everything she gave to Spike was shattered, tossed away, their plans lost. He promised to be there for her.
"I want to be mad…but I can't." She trembled. "I…I understand why he left. I did it when I left my homeworld…"
"But unlike you, he has a family here who needs him back. Who loves him and wants to help him." Twilight said, taking a chance and walking towards her.
"He's not gonna come back…" She whispered as tears rain down her face more. "There's too much carnage shed.."
"Not to us~"
"But he will come back to you." A familiar voice cuts in all of the sudden.
"Hey, how did you get in here?!" Brimstone snapped from outside, surprised to see the new person.
Rachel and Twilight looked up and saw Ember at the doorway. Instead of dressing in her going out clothes, she wore her golden armor with the blood staff in hand.
"Ember, what are you doing here?" Twilight asked her, alarmed to see her here.
"Getting this bitch here off her ass and on her feet and getting her out of here" Ember grunted, looking over to Rachel.
"Uh…excuse me?" Rachel asked, confused.
"You're not taking her anywhere in her state." Brimstone said, grabbing the Dragonlord by the wrist..
Ember looked over her shoulders and snarled. "Unless you wanna lose your other eye, pony, take your fucking hands off of me." she threatened.
"Taking me where?" Rachel asked.
"Is it that obvious? Getting your ass prepared to go after Spike." Ember responded, pushing Brimstone off of her.
Rachel grunted. "Ember, if you haven't noticed, Spike basically dumped me. He doesn't want me or anyone else going after him."
"Yeah, that's not how dragon laws work. You're still his mate. That means he'll listen to you to come back." Ember explained. "He knew if he looks at you, he'd stay, but the fucker let his own mind fuck with him and took off before you could stop him."
"Ember's right," Twilight said, looking between the two girls. "Spike loves you with every fiber in his body, he picked you as his mate for a good reason. If anypony can get him back it's you."
"And we definitely need our boy back. With Sombra back and deadlier than ever, we need him. The dragons need him back." Ember added.
"What are you talking about?" Brimstone asked. Not liking hearing any of this.
"Back as…the Dragonlord?" Rachel asked. Remembering what Spike had told her about the mantle and his powers coming from winning the Gauntlet.
"He's what?" Twilight blinked. "I thought you were Dragonlord, Ember?"
"Technically I'm not." Ember sighed, adjusting the staff in her hand. "When Spike won, he tried to give the mantle back to me fully, but laws stated the only way rulers can change hands - except for my father stepping down with the Gauntlet - is trial by combat. Back then he barely knew how to wipe his own ass much less fight. I became guardian until he was able to fight."
"And taught him how to control his magic." Rachel muttered.
"Exactly. Taught him how to fight, use magic of the staff while keeping everything underwraps. Can't have the little guy get jumped left and right by greedy bastards." Ember entered the room and walked up to Rachel. "We eventually settled with me taking over, however I'm not really considered the Dragonlord. Spike's the True Dragonlord and he needs to be found. And the only one he'll listen to is his Queen." She says that right in Rachel's face.