The Dragon in Twilight

-6-

Spike didn't know where he would go. Just away, far away, from Twilight, from Ponyville, and ponies in general. He made his way to the forest, ignoring the strange looks he got as ponies stared at him running with tears in his eyes. Some became concerned, but did not react fast enough as he sprinted by before they could say anything. Spike ran, almost blindly, even going as far as the Everfree forest. He knew he was in the forest, he knew there were strange creatures there, monsters, plants, and anything that could harm him, but he didn't care. If anything this would just distance himself from what he knew hated him back at the library. He kept on running, and he did not stop. He just went on into the looming darkness of the forest, not caring if he ever came out again.

Pinkie Pie bounced down the streets of Ponyville, her destination being the library. She happily made her way to the house of one of her best friends, carrying her saddlebags with her that contained a fresh batch of orange-mango cupcakes. She was so excited to share her confections with her friends that she didn't even bother knocking, and barged straight into the door.

“Hey Twilight! Guess what I-” Pinkie stopped, realizing Twilight wasn't in the main room. “Huh, must be in the kitchen!” Pinkie checked the kitchen, still, no Twilight. “Hm, the basement then, some sorta cooky experiment, yeah!” She checked the basement, poking her head halfway down the steps and calling out for her, but still, no Twilight. “Hmmm... oh, oh, I know! She's up in her room!” Pinkie bounced towards the stairs, making her way up to Twilight's bedroom which was currently closed. With her excitement still high, she simply barged straight into the bedroom to show her friend, “Twilight!” Pinkie called out as she saw her friend sitting on the bed facing away from her with her head tilted downwards. “There you are, you'll never guess what I got!”

No response.

“Twilight?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head. She listened closely for a few seconds, and could make out... sobbing? And, was that her body trembling? “Twilight, are you okay? What's wrong?”

Pinkie approached her slowly, no longer bouncing, and made it to the edge of the bed before she stopped, with Twilight on the opposite side.

“Twilight, why are you crying?” Pinkie asked, able to see the tears just barely on the side of Twilight's cheek. “Did... did something bad happen?”

“Mhm...” Twilight replied with a slow nod.

Pinkie gasped just then, realizing it might be something serious. She leaped across the bed to see Twilight from the front, but was horrified by the sight of her friend. Twilight's eyes were closed with tears that had run down from her eyes all the way down to her chin and dripping to the floor with a large puddle already accumulated. Pinkie almost felt herself deflate, but kept her composure in order to help her friend.

“Twilight, what's wrong? Why are you so sad?” Pinkie asked as she gently pulled Twilight into a hug. Twilight didn't reply, she didn't even return the embrace, she only continued to cry. “Twilight, please tell me what's wrong? Pleasy weasy squeezy measy lemony weetzy?”

Twilight still didn't talk, but she nodded slowly in return. Pinkie pulled back as she saw Twilight open her eyes some and look first at her, and then something off to the side. Twilight raised one of her hooves and pointed it across the room, Pinkie looked over to see Spike's bed with nothing in it.

“Spike's bed?” Pinkie asked, confused. She looked at Twilight again, and then at the bed, and then Twilight, and then the bed one more time, then it hit her. “Hey wait, where's Spike?”

Twilight's foreleg dropped. She just stared at Pinkie pie, a stare that Pinkie pie returned with a look of confusion. Pinkie analyzed Twilight's look, it was... pleading. Twilight's eyes were wide and her bottom lip puckered up as she took a quick glance at the bed, and then back at Pinkie. Pinkie could see it just then, and her eyes widened with the sudden realization as she let out a small gasp. Hoping she was wrong, she slowly and calmly asked Twilight again...

“Twilight... wheres' Spike?”

Twilight simply dropped her head at this, her eyes closed as she cried openly, her sobs the only thing that filled the room. Pinkie's suspicions were confirmed, and she knew then that only Twilight knew the exact specifics, and she would have to try to coax them out of her, but the main issue remained the same...

Spike was missing.

About about four hours had passed since Spike left the library, he could tell by the position of the sun. It was getting late, and the sun would be setting in just another hour. He had long since stopped running, and simply walked further and further through the forest. This time to himself had given the adolescent dragon plenty of time to think about what had happened in the library, and more importantly, what he was going to do next. That was the only home he had, really.

He thought about going back to Canterlot, but somepony would surely recognize him there and send word to Twilight, and she would find him. Perhaps other towns like Trottingham or Manehatten, but at that point he had no way to find which way to go to get there. He was effectively lost in the forest, and as he looked out from atop a hill, all he saw was forest across the horizon. The only sign of civilization was the far-off castle in Canterlot, just barely visible by that time. Spike took a long look at it, sighed softly, and simply continued walking away.

He really had no further plan than this, his actions were impromptu. But as his stomach began to grumble, he figured he had to find some food if he wanted to maintain himself. His thoughts just then took him back to the last time he ran away, and how he stumbled upon a gem-filled cave. But just as he thought about looking for such a cave, the memories of the dragon afterward made him rethink his decision. He sighed in frustration as he realized he had nowhere else to go.

Finally, he stopped. He took a seat in a semi-clearing, with some sunlight filtering through the fanned out branches above him. He rested his head on his hands and began to think. What am I doing out here? Spike asked himself. I can't go back to the library, Twilight's just... ugh... Spike shook his head, not allowing himself to think about the lavender unicorn. Something to him didn't seem right about the whole thing, about him, and her, like... perhaps he was missing something. Like there was some sort of detail that he didn't catch... but before he thought about it too much, he dismissed the thought, and moved on. Maybe... nah, I can't go to Zecora's... she would tell me to go back home too. But what if... he looked straight forward, an idea coming to mind. Would if I could go back with other dragons? Like, return to them I guess... maybe I can even find my family. My REAL family... but, where do I start looking?

Spike decided that the best way to find a dragon would be to see it fly across the sky. And in order to do that, he would have to watch the skies. So, Spike managed to climb on top of one of the trees on the hill he was on and sat down on a branch atop the canopy. He stared outwards, sitting back against the main stem of the tree as he watched... and wait...

...and still kept thinking...

Most of Ponyville was already very active with ponies searching high and low for the town's only dragon resident. After Pinkie Pie's confrontation with Twilight, she immediately went around Ponyville and started getting ponies to go around searching for Spike. Twilight, after taking the time to regain her composure, had joined in on the search. While most of the ponies looked around the town itself, some of them – including Twilight – thought that Spike would venture out to the Everfree forest. There was already a party entering out through the forest, including all of the mane 6. Pegasi like Rainbow Dash were out giving a birds-eye view while other ponies like Fluttershy provided safe navigation through the dense forest. They even hooked Zecora into this, using her knowledge of the forest to aid in her search.

But amongst them all, Twilight Sparkle was traveling through the deepest. Though she was still heavily effected by her emotions, her logical side was able to step in and make an educated guess as to what Spike had done. If it was anything like last time, Spike would have probably just kept going into the forest, especially with the fit he was in. Twilight knew this, and just kept going straight as well, galloping the entire way as she used all of her senses – magic included – to search the immediate area around her.

Twilight pressed on, going so fast in one direction that her friends soon lost track of her. She didn't mind though, she knew she could handle herself in the forest, it was Spike she was worried about. All alone in the forest, anything could happen to him! She had to find him before it was too late, and with the sun setting in about an hour, she knew she had little time before her chances diminished drastically.

“Please Spike...” she to nothing in particular. “Please be okay...”

Spike watched the sun from his treetop seat. The sky was orange as the sun was nearing its setting point, the bottom of the fiery circle just barely sitting above the horizon. He hadn't seen anything the whole time, and decided to turn in for the night. He slid himself down the tree and began to dig into the dirt, thankful that his claws were able to effectively pierce through the soft ground and scoop out ample amounts of earth with it. In only a few minutes he had burrowed several feet down and began making a widened expanse. It was like his own little cave, and though it was filthy, it would keep him safe. He jumped out and began collecting some large leaves from a few bushes, setting them beside his hole to use as cover in the night so nothing finds it. As he finished that, he stopped an sat down to relax.

He had calmed down a lot by that time, and he was no longer angry, just... sad. He was hurting inside, and constantly felt the urge to break out to tears. How could the pony who he lived with all his life read a book like that? The only explanation at the time was that she did think he was some sort of monster, that dragons were just... creatures. Destructive, evil creatures that only wanted to hurt other things, just like the ones he met during the great migration. He sighed at this, and simply laid back as he tried to clear his mind.

Then he heard it...

He sat up, listening more closely. There it was, it was soft, but he recognized that sound... Spike immediately took off on a short jog in the direction of the noise, and just as he suspected, there was a river nearby. Upon closer inspection, there were even some berry bushes nearby – and they looked edible.

“Oh wow, just my luck!” he said aloud as he rushed to the river. He dove his head into the water, washing his face first. A feeling of refreshment washed over him as he pulled his head out, aiding to clear his mind. Next on the list was not to clear, but to fill up – more specifically, fill up his stomach. He rushed to the berry bush and began picking out berries, munching them down as rapidly as he picked them off. They were delicious! The taste was like that of raspberries mixed with strawberries sort of... neat.

He continued eating, but noticed that It was getting much darker faster than he expected. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a low-hanging branch from a nearby tree and tugged it off. He drew in a quick breath, and blew his fire on the tip, careful not to ignite it and send it off to the princess. If it just burned like regular fire, and was not fully engulfed, then his fire would simply act like a normal red one. Satisfied with the extra light, Spike quickly stuck the stick upright in the ground and continued to feast, his belly progressively filling up.

But in his haste to eat more, Spike failed to set the lit stick in firmly enough. The stick, without him realizing, tipped over and fell right onto a bush on the opposite side, away from Spike's field of focus. The bush quickly caught fire, this time with red flame, not his green one. Only the fire that derives from his throat is green, fires that come from that and shift to different materials turn to regular fire. The bush burned, and soon the tree next to it did as well. Spike, taking note of the extra light, turned around to see a whole tree set ablaze.

“Oh crap, fire! Forest fire!” he yelled out as he flailed his arms.

He tried rushing to the river to splash water on it with his claws, but it was no use. The tree burned furiously, illuminating the entire area around it. Spike could only stand back and watch, realizing that he may have just started a devastating fire. The flames began to lick at the leaves and branches of other trees, beginning to char at their bark and smolder their greens. It was only a matter of time before-

Without warning, a stream of water magically flew over him and to the fire, putting half of it out immediately. Spike was dumbfounded, but watched as another stream came in, spraying down the rest of the tree and effectively putting out the flame. But he saw the water well enough that time, and he was able to see the purple aura around it. He knew what that meant, and as he turned around slowly, his suspicions – once again – were confirmed.

Right there, not ten feet away, stood Twilight Sparkle, her horn going dark as a pillar of water receded back into the river. Her mane was a mess, her coat covered in bits of plants dirt while her eyes were baggy and red. She stood there, her expression shifting from the excitement and relief of finding him, to one of pleading and resentment. She parted her lips slightly to speak, but stopped, not feeling any words form for her to give out. She looked down for a moment, and then up again at the stunned and surprised Spike. She couldn't say anything, but she could still move, so she took one hoofstep towards him...

And he took one backwards.

Twilight gasped inwardly at that, but she followed up with another forward step.

Spike took another back.

“...Spike...?” She finally managed to get out. But as soon as she had closed her mouth, Spike had turned around and dashed off into the forest. “Spike, no! WAIT!”

Twilight took off in a dash towards him, moving at full speed. She couldn't lose him again, not when she was so close. She had the book with her, in her saddlebags, if he could just get him to sit down and read it for a bit-

A clearing came up ahead as she gained on Spike. She was only a few steps away from them when they came upon the clearing, and Spike went airborne. There was an immediate break-off from a large canyon, and Spike was mid-sprint when he went over it. He yelled out in surprise as he flew across, just barely managing to catch onto the edge of the other side with his claws. But that was not enough, he didn't have a good grip and he was slipping. Twilight was able to stop herself in time, and she saw Spike about to lose his grip and fall. Thinking quickly, she fed magic into her horn and pushed him up, enabling him to get onto the edge and be safe. She sighed slightly in relief, but then saw Spike continuing to run away.

“S-Spike! Please, stop!” Twilight cried out as she backed up a few paces, and then made her own running dash over the large crevice. She made it – just barely – and continued on after Spike.

She pursued her dragon assistant further, dashing through the rapidly darkening forest. It was almost pitch black, and they were just barely dodging the trees in front of them. She could hear Spike ahead of him, he was constantly running through bushes and giving out short yelps of pain as he bashed into trees and other hard objects along the way. He was going to knock himself out at this rate! Reacting to this, Twilight lit up her horn brightly, feeding light into their surroundings. She even sent a bolt of light forward, making the spell hold the ball above Spike to provide him with some illumination.

Even with Twilight's obvious assistance, Spike didn't stop. Twilight continued to call after him, but he would only reply with words like “NO!” or “Go away!” each time. Twilight was getting desperate, she wanted to use her magic on him to hold him down, but she knew if she did that then he would never give in, it would scar him forever! She did her best to plead to him, while help him any way she could.

The two eventually came to a small clearing, and Spike dashed straight into a cave right in a mountainside. He swatted at the light above his head, dispelling the orb and turning out the light so he could hide himself. Twilight followed close by, shining her light brighter than ever in order to find him. She slowed her pace as she went through the cave, realizing it had to end somewhere. She could hear Spike's steps echo through the cave, but suddenly, they stopped. Twilight figured he had reached such a dead end and hurried forward. But as she reached the dragon, she realized the situation was not what she anticipated.

Before her was a large collection of large webs strung further into the cave. Spike was stick in the middle of the mess, his limbs restrained by the sticky elastic substance.

“Spike!” Twilight called to him as she approached. “Don't worry, I'll get you out!”

“Gah!” Spike cried out as he looked down into the cave, suddenly struggling with all his might.

Twilight looked down as well, and was able to see a countless number of red orbs floating through the darkness. Then she heard it, little pricks and prods at the dirt, as if a million things were tapping against the ground. She and Spike both knew what it was...

“Cave spiders!” Twilight gasped as she saw them beginning to come into the light of her horn. “Oh no, Spike, hold on, I'll get you out!”

Twilight worked her magic on Spike first, attempting to pull him free, but the elastic was too strong, able to hold down even a fully grown mantacore with merely one layer of web. Twilight focused more, feeding more magic into Spike, trying her best to yank him off, but to no avail. The spiders got closer, with some running ahead of the pack to get to Spike. Twilight quickly refocused her magic and blasted the few at the front away, sending them back into the depths of the cave.

The mass continued though, and Twilight knew she couldn't blast them all back. Her heart raced as she adjusted her focus to the web, trying to use her magic to sever it. Time was running out, but the web gradually became thinner around Spike, and soon began to sag down. Another spider leaped for the dragon, landing right on his bag just as Twilight grabbed onto it with her magic. She pulled it off as the very tip of its fangs touched his back, leaving a slight trail of purple, poisonous venomous dripping down his scales, and used it as a bat as she swatted away several more advancing spiders. She grew desperate, feeding as much magic as she could just then into the web.

Finally, with a soft sloshing sound, Spike and the piece of web on him fell to the ground just as the whole mass of Spiders reached the outer web layer. Twilight picked him up with her magic and carried him out of the cave, galloping as fast as she could. In only a few seconds they were out of the cave, and away from the spiders within. But, just for a safe measure, they traveled further alongside the mountain to ensure they were out of the spiders' grasps.

Twilight used a spell on the terrain, and was able to quickly find another, smaller cave, one that only went in for about thirty feet. She carried Spike in there with her, who was still mostly immobile from the web stuck on his body. She gently set him down on the ground, her magic working again on the bindings between him and the web. She focused with only small spots at a time, tugging them off and working on the web as a whole. Twilight looked at Spike's face; it was blank, expressionless, he just stared off into the distance. She wondered what was going through his mind, but stayed on task.

Finally, the last piece was being worked off. She gave it a good yank, and off it came... and off he went. Without warning, Spike made a mad dash for the exit. He almost made it out when Twilight pounced on top of him, holding him down with her hooves.

“LEMME GO!” He growled, breathing out fire in random directions, singing the edge of Twilight's hair.

“No Spike, wait!” Twilight pleaded desperately. “I have to talk to you, this is all a big misunderstanding!”

“Oh right, so now you're gonna tell me you don't hate dragons, huh!?” Spike fumed with anger, turning his head to look Twilight straight in her eyes as he continued. “What, ya miss me being your slave all the time? Is that the only reason you keep me around!?” Spike knew deep down that Twilight didn't really treat him like a slave, but he didn't care, his anger was getting the best of him as he just poured out what came to his mind without much thought.

“Spike, that... that's not it at all!” she replied, feeling tears come to her eyes. “How... how could you even think of such a thing? You a... a slave? That's... that's not anything close to it at all... you're my number one assistant...” Twilight sniffled lightly as she tried to hold back her tears.

“Right, I was your assistant!” he emphasized, trying to justify his anger. “Not your personal duty boy that would always run around and do this and do that for you while you just sat on your flank and read books all day, making a bunch of messes for me to clean up! How fair that? You never clean up after yourself, you just leave me to do it! ALL of it!” Spike struggled further, even going as far as digging his claws into one of Twilight's legs, making her yelp in pain.

“Spike...!” she gasped as she bit onto her lip to stop from screaming out in pain. “That... you're hurting me...!” Tears continued to well up into her eyes until they overflowed, dripping down her face. “Y-you've never hurt me before...”

“Yeah well you-” Spike wasn't paying attention to Twilight's expression before, but when he felt a tear drop on his face, he immediately stopped, turning his gaze straight up to look at her.

Her eyes leaked tears rapidly as she continued to look down at him, her eyes filled with sorrow, regret, and depression. Spike's emotions practically turned over on themselves, and his anger at here practically dissipated in seconds. He could see it... he could feel it. The words she said, what she was saying to her, they... they were true. She was telling the truth, all of it, and now she could see. Sure he was still upset at her, but he quickly realized as he looked down at his claws and saw the bits of blood beginning to drip down her leg. With a gasp he pulled away, not intending to hurt her so much, just he just wanted to get her off of him. He looked up again, suddenly feeling a heavy weight of regret as his look changed from surprised, to pleading.

“Twilight, I...” Spike stopped, pulling up his claws to look at the bits of blood on them. “I... I didn't mean to... your leg, and...” an epiphany struck him.

If Twilight was telling the truth now... then perhaps she had been the whole time. He thought about the recent events, back in the forest when he ran into several dangerous situations, and each and every time Twilight helped him out of it. From the forest fire to the canyon, and from the light to the tunnel of deadly spiders, Twilight didn't care if he was trying to run away from him, or that he might hate her, she wanted to help him. She... she cared for him, just as she had always said. He then turned his mind to only a few moments ago when he persecuted her of using him as a slave... he knew it wasn't true, but he said it anyways... why?

But, he knew why. He read parts of that book... that book that Twilight had read, and obviously seemed to love so much. The Dragon in Twilight... just, what was it exactly? Did he miss something? He didn't read the whole book, he never had the chance, but... should he have? The parts he read all pointed to dragons being evil, bloodthirsty monsters of destruction, but was there more to it in the story? Was there, and Spike was just a complete, misunderstanding idiot this entire time?

He looked back up to Twilight, her face unchanged as more tears began to drip down her eyes. Spike knew he did wrong... he knew he did very wrong. He returned his arms to himself, holding them tight to his body as he no longer fought Twilight back. He closed his eyes and lowered his head, keeping his chin to his chest as he curled his tail and his limbs up against himself.

“Twilight...” Spike said with a slight whimper. “I... I think I made a big mistake...”

Twilight, streams of tears still flowing from her eyes, allowed herself a slight smile as she realized she just might have gotten through to him.

“Spike...” she said softly amidst light sobbing. “It's okay spike... I'm here for you...”

“But, why?” Spike asked as he opened his eyes to look at her. “After I, I mean... I thought, I thought you hated me...”

“But why?” Twilight tilted her head. “Why did you get so mad all of a sudden, and where did you get the idea that I hated you...?”

“The book...” He replied slowly, his voice conveying his inward pain. “I, I told you I read it, and all the parts I read had ponies just... hating dragons, calling them mean, evil, dangerous things that would cause nothing but trouble. I just, I think that, after I read that and with how I noticed you liked the book so much, I just...”

“...you only read those parts of the book...” Twilight continued for him, suddenly realizing the spawn of his rage. “So all you thought, all you knew was just that it was about hating dragons?”

“I... mhm,” Spike mumbled with a hesitant nod. “Is it... it's not like that at all, is it?” He asked, wondering if his newly found fears were true or not.

“No, it's not...” Twilight replied as she saw Spike flinch at this. “Spike, did you by chance, like, ever bother to read the back?”

At this, Twilight floated the book out of her saddlebags. Spike watched as the book floated down to him, its back already turned and the words coming into view. Quickly, he scanned over the words on the back, reading each in his head as if he were saying them aloud...

On a cool spring morning, a lonely mare finds a stallion with a heart as pure as the whitest light. But the stallion holds secrets with him that still haunt him every day, and every night...

Can Rosalina see past the his menacing form at night, or can she truly see the stallion for what he really is?

Pony by day,

Dragon by night...

A story of love and pain,

To be settled at Twilight...

“Wait...” Spike stopped, feeling his heart skip a beat. “This is a love story... between a female pony and a male dragon?”

“Mhm...” Twilight nodded, the tears no longer streaming from her face.

Spike suddenly felt a shiver run up his spine as he realized everything was indeed a big misunderstanding. How stupid of me... he thought. I... just just hurt Twilight, I cause her so much pain, and, and earlier at the library... she looked eager before I went off on her. Were her feelings just then... and last night, and the book, does that mean...

All the pieces fell into place, and everything came together. Spike's feelings... Twilight's feelings... the book and what it was about... he suddenly realized what it all meant. He suddenly had a very good idea of what Twilight read last night, and what she may had been visualizing in her head in place of any other dragon...

...it was him.

Author Note: Though this chapter is over 5,000 words long, for some reason it feels rushed to me...
anybrony else get that feeling? I hope not.