“Wow Twilight, it sure was nice of Celestia to give you a few days of vacation time in the woods!” Spike followed behind Twilight and as she aimlessly wandered through dense brambles. Twilight magically slashed down a branch blocking her path, then once Spike had followed she magically reattached it.

“Well, there were few enough duties that I could take a week long break just getting as lost as I can in the Everfree Forest. It’s not dangerous anymore which means I can have as much time to recuperate as I need. And if anything bad happens she can send me a letter by dragonfire.”

“Plus you’ll get some alone time from the huge paparazzi that always comes whenever you go away and you don’t have any diplomatic issues.

“Yup!” Spikes stomach growled after Twilight spoke.

“So, uh. How long until we stop for the night, I’m getting hungry.”

Twilight turned her head back to look at the purple reptile. That little rascal was always hungry. She smiled at him and continued to walk through the undergrowth, setting her weight on a loose stone teetering above a small ravine. The ground gave way for the stone and she fell forwards and stuck out her wings in an attempt to slow her fall to no use. She landed face first in the dirt. Fortunately, nothing hurt that badly.

“Woah, Twilight!” called Spike. “Good thing we have first aid.”

“What are you talking about Spike, I’m not hurt…” she said as she pulled her face out of the ground and noticed the blood running down her left wing. The crimson droplets were falling off a brown stick that penetrated the center of her wing, perpendicularly prodding out of it. A smaller fragment of stick contaminated with scarlet lay beneath her.

“You mean you don’t feel that huge stick!”

“No, I must be in shock. Come help me pull it out.” Spike slide down the ravine and grabbed the stick from the antsy Twilight. As he retracted it back through Twilight’s wing she mended her flesh with a weak healing spell, just powerful enough to ease her shakiness. After the process was done she stretched her wings out, catching a small breeze.

“Well, this is better. However, I don’t think I should try flying for another few days.”

“You weren’t planning on flying out of here anyway though.”

“Yeah, I suppose. Come on, five more minutes then we can stop for dinner.”



The duo found a small clearing surrounded by dense trees with one exit—Twilight and Spike’s entrance—to use as a rest stop once Twilight removed the rocks and poison ivy from the ground. She levitated the rocks into a circle surrounding the ivy in the center of the clearing and let Spike get to work on dinner, a small vegetable soup—complete with gem pieces in Spike’s portion. Meanwhile, Twilight sent up their tent.

“Well, day one of wandering is done, and day two will begin tomorrow,” said Spike. “Are we gonna head back the way we came?”

“Nah, I think we’ll head over yonder,” Twilight said as she pointed a hoof 134 degrees (approximately) clockwise from the path. “I hear some nice birds coming from that direction.”

“Maybe we can find another phoenix.”

“Yes, maybe we can. But first let’s eat.”

---

The next morning the duo awoke and crawled outside of their tent. It was already well into the day, but still overcast and not too bright. Spike set his left hand down in a pile of mud.

“Looks like it rained,” he said. Looking around, Twilight noticed dew on all of the leaves and several more piles of mud in the clearing. “No matter, rain just makes nature look more beautiful.” The two continued looking around, engulfing themselves in the pastel greens of the moss growing on the trees, normally faded out by the sun in the clearing. A huge tree toward directly across from the path and had a small owl hole about twenty feet up the side, complete with a blackness that cut through the cloudlight.

“We should eat some more food and head off,” said Spike.

“Yes, we should. I have hay flakes for breakfast.” Twilight pulled a few cups out of her bag and filled them with the cereal, then floated one to Spike who took it and ravaged through his breakfast twice as fast as Twilight. When he finished, he looked up and held out his empty cup. Twilight looked at the supplies, then back at Spike. Oh, well, she thought and poured a few more flakes into his cup. Spike dug into his second batch more slowly and finished at the same time as Twilight.

“Hey, I don’t feel great,” said Spike.

“Well, you should’ve eaten slower,” chastised Twilight.

“Wait,” Spike said as his stomach gurgled. “I have a letter.” He burped up a glowing pink parcel into the nearest mud pit. Twilight picked it up and cleaned it off before reading the contents of the letter.

<em>Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle

Forgive me, for I know that you are on vacation, but a great misfortune has befallen us. It pains me to tell you that my husband… your brother… Prince Shining Armor has fallen ill. A rare disease has caused a plagued lump of flesh to arise in his through and we do not know how bad it will be. We are operating on him tonight in Canterlot. I ask you to please come help him, even if only spiritually. He needs you.

With Love,
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza</em>

“Spike, we have to go back!”

“What, we just got here.” He grabbed the letter and read it himself and Twilight buckled to the ground. No tears came out. “Twilight, how?”

“It’s simple, I’ll just fly us…” She looked at her instinctively-outstretched left wing, then sheathed it back to her body.

“You can teleport us both out!” piped Spike.

“Wrong, I can only teleport myself that distance. You’ll be stuck in the woods with all our supplies.”

“I can handle,” said Spike.

“No, the guilt of leaving you will drive me mad.”

“The guilt of not being at your brother’s operation will drive you mad!”

“Spike! I’m not leaving you lost in the middle of the Everfree Forest with no way home!” Spike didn’t reply. After a few seconds… minutes of sitting in silence, Twilight spoke again.

“Look, I’ll just write a letter back to Cadence explaining why I have to stay here and we can start heading back on foot. It’s the best of both worlds.”

“Or the worst of both.” Twilight raised her eyebrows. Spike continued, “But I’m with you. I don’t see a better option.” Twilight took a piece of parchment from her saddleback and began to write.

<em>Dear Princess Mi Amore Cadenza

I received the news about my brother and it brings me great pain. However, I hurt my wing yesterday and am unable to fly out of the Everfree and if I teleport out I will be leaving Spike behind in the woods. As such, I will be unable to make it to the surgery tonight but I hope I can get there sometime tomorrow or the next day. Please understand.

Your friend,
Princess Twilight Sparkle</em>

“How long do you think we have to see him?”

“Really, it depends on how the surgery goes tonight, but this type of disease normally takes a week of being really bad to do any real damage.”

“I trust you, but just in case, we should get moving.” Spike burnt the letter away and the two quickly packed up all their supplies and put the bags on Twilight.

“Let’s go back the way we came,” said Twilight. Spike nodded and the duo strode out of the clearing. After a few feet the broke from the path next to a tree with yellow moss they had passed the previous evening and continued as straight as possible until they encountered the small ravine Twilight had fallen from.

Splash.

“Um, Twilight,” Spike said as he examined his mud soaked foot. “I don’t think we can climb that.” For even though the ravine was only seven feet tall, the rain had turned it into a complete mudslide with a waterfall pouring from where the loose stone had been. The entire wall was think mud and many more stones had fallen to the bottom.

“I can just throw you up and then I can climb.”

“Twilight, you’re too hurt,” Spike said. He glanced around looking for terrain details. “But look, the ground seems to get higher to our left! Let’s head that way and I’m sure we’ll be able to climb that.”

“Huh,” Twilight said and looked up the wall to the left. “I guess it’ll have less water too. Ok, I’m game.”



The duo spent the rest of the day wandering the woods. For the first few hours they trecked parallel to the ridge until they found a dry enough spot to scale. After that they stopped for lunch—salads—and after a quick break they continued marching. Some areas of the forest were brightly lit enough to use the sun as a guide. By watching the shadows they could figure out which direction was north. Once their feet started to hurt, they stopped for the night, again with Spike making food and Twilight pitching the tent.

“Hey, Twilight, I feel another letter coming.” Twilight whipped around and caught the pink paper. She opened it.

<em>Dear Twilight,

I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU! With no help from you the surgery went disastrously! Shining Armor has a few days at most and you’re moseying around in some stupid forest. I hope you’re happy with yourself, and I’m not looking forward to seeing you when you return.

Cadence</em>

“You know what, spike? I’m not hungry!” She magically ripped open the tent and ran inside. The tent sealed itself behind her in a fit of purple rage.

“Twilight?” No answer. Spike looked at the letter hastily discarded on the ground and read it. “Oh.” He went over and finished cooking dinner—silence penetrated only by the branches occasionally rustling in the wind, crickets chirping in the cascading sunset, and the faint sobs of an alicorn princess. He opened the tent a smidgen to slide Twilight’s meal in, then sealed it and laid down next to the tent and went to sleep.

---

“Twilight, I think it rained again,” said Spike as soon as he hit consciousness and felt the mud sticking to his body. He opened his eyes to see that their rest spot was completely dry, save the puddle of mud surrounding the tent. “Twilight?” he repeated. The purple unicorn stuck her head through the tent.

“You know what? I don’t even care anymore.”

“What?” gasped Spike?

“Shining Armor didn’t even bother to tell me he was getting married. Heck, ever since I moved to ponyville he hasn’t written once! We only ever see each other at important events.”

“Twilight, this is an important event!”

“Not to me it isn’t!” Her eyes looked red but no more tears could come out. She started sucking on a water canteen.

“Will you listen to what you’re saying Twilight? He’s your brother!”

“Yes, and he doesn’t care! Why should I?”

“He’s busy!”

“So am I!”

“You’re better than this,” said Spike. Silence perpetrated the forest. The fine tuned sounds of nature remained in the background, but the energy of rage in Twilight’s head blocked it out.

“Maybe I’m not,” Twilight said at last. Before Spike could respond, a white letter came flying out of his mouth, which Twilight snatched up.

<em>Dear Princess Twilight,

I know having your brother became seriously ill is a travesty and Cadence surely isn’t spoonfeeding you, but I respect your decision to not abandon your assistant in the woods and reach the exit at your own pace. I believe you will have more than enough time to reach Canterlot to see your brother. Cadence is distressed so don’t let her get to you, but at the same time you cannot blame her. We all feel yours and her pain.

See you soon,
Princess Celestia</em>

“See Spike, Celestia agrees with me!” She whipped the letter at him and ran off into the forest. Spike grabbed his stuff and followed suit. It didn’t take long for him to find her standing, looking at a heart shaped set of leaves.

“I know this is hard for you,” said Spike. “But this is hard for everyone and… We need you to be strong. I’m sure we’re close to the border now. Let’s just take it slow and relax. We can get out of here by nightfall and see your brother before you fall asleep, ok?”

Twilight said nothing, but nodded at Spike. He led them on in silence. After a few hours they stopped for brunch.

“Spike,” said Twilight. “You’re right. We will see Shining Armor tonight.”

---

“Twilight, you need a break.” Sweat was pouring down off her face, ricocheting off low hanging leaves and bounding gloriously to the ground.

“Heh, you’re right. At least once the rain starts the sweat won’t feel as sticky.”

“I’ll look around, you stay here and try to keep your mind off things.” Before Spike left her view he looked at her and could clearly see the intensity and uncertainty in her hard eyes that stared directly towards the ground. Her mind was still on things.

Spike turned to watch where he was going, dodging low hanging branches and sprouting trees. He was working in a small curve to the left that would eventually bring him back. More trees. Everything in his sight was a tree. He waved his arms to walk through yet another set of branches to find a large clearing. Heck, a large path.

“I recognize this place,” he said to no one in particular. “This is the path out of here!” He turned and ran, stomping on twigs—hitting a particularly large one to coincide with the first strike of thunder. Rain pounded on his back, but at least they had a way out.

“Twilight, I found the path out. We can get out, but hurry it’s getting dark.” Twilight perked up.

“I’m coming.”

“Follow me.” The duo ran. Over tree roots and poison ivy, under branches and swooping owls. The two broke though the last grouping onto the path as the sky went completely dark; the sun was completely obscured by the final lethargic storm clouds to congregate above.

“Come on Spike!” Twilight took off down the muddy path. Slipping once, twice—a third time! Spike wasn’t fairing better, penguin sliding down the muddy path before grabbing branches to pull himself up and falling on his stomach another few feet down the road. “That’s the exit!”

At the break of the forest, Twilight lost grip with the ground again, face planting into the mud. She stuck her head up to see a pink paper in front of her body.

<em>He’s Gone.</em>

Her head sunk back into the mud. Spike caught up and saw the letter. He sat down and put his hand on her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry Twilight… He was a good pony. He will be missed.” Spike began to cry to, unsure of how Twilight was doing. The salty tears protruded and clashed with nearby rain, creating dissonant puddles of water that fought with themselves.

“En hen,” Twilight sobbed into the ground.

“I know this is pointless to ask, but how do you feel. Talk to me Twilight.”

“I…” said Twilight twisting her mouth up to breath. “I feel… uncomfortably numb. I feel everything, so much that I feel nothing. So much that my body is in physical discomfort.”

“I…” said Spike.

“I don’t expect you to understand. I just want you to leave me here and let the mud reign o’er me.” The two sat there. More mud and more rain piling up, splashing on the duo. At long last, Spike talked again.

“Twilight. I know this isn’t enough, but you did your best. I just wanted you to know that, Ok?”

“Ok.”