"T-Twilight no!" The words ripped from the dragon's jaws as he scrambled helplessly into wakefulness. Dirt and seemingly out of place flowers flew about as his limbs flailed around, desperate to pull the body to its feet.

"TWILIGHT!" He choked hoarsely, embers sputtering from his mouth as he lost control of his ignitable exhalations.

"TWILIIIIITGGHHHTT!!" He screamed this time, panic overtaking him as he struggled to turn his body about to survey his surroundings. The dragon pulled himself to his feet by hooking his claws into the cold stone wall.

"DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" His voice was rapidly finding strength as adrenaline pumped through his body, desperate to catch up to the mare that had attempted to leave the cave without him.

'Spike you need to sleep.'

He called the mare's name again, hoping his voice would make her wings fold back before she left him. As he neared the opening of the cave, where distant lights cast a soft glow, he began go notice the cold.

'You're getting sick."

"I'm not sick, I'm not sick Twilight..." His mutters turned to warm wisps of vapor in the cold air, a visible rebuttal to his friend's words. He hobbled onward on ferociously tingling legs, the muscles under the scales snarling at him to sit, to lay, anything. In defiance, the dragon dropped to all fours and crawled out of the mouth of the cave and into the whiteness beyond.

He felt his breath catch in his throat as the cold air met him outside, the snow that had snuck its way in between his toes served as a jarring message that it was indeed winter. The dragon stood upon a cliff, high above a city decorated in vibrant and cheerful neon lights. Bright as they were though, they were pleasant to look directly upon, soft pinks and lime greens calling out across the snow covered outskirts to any lonely heart listening.

The neon messages decorating the buildings did little to comfort the dragon though, instead only fanning the flames of his panic.

"Wha-..." He sobbed out, tears springing to his eyes as he wrung his claws.

"TWILIIIIIGGGHHTTT!" The dragon desperately called into the night, hoping the mare would appear before him and explain this all as a joke.

"Sir?" A voice was heard behind him, obviously nervous but motherly nonetheless. The dragon whirled around, nearly losing his balance as he did so to see several ponies stopped in their tracks on a path leading down from the mountain-side and into the city. Closest to him was a female, young but unnaturally short for her clearly blossoming age.

"Do you know Twilight Sparkle?" He felt a tear roll done the scales of his cheek as he struggled not to let his voice break. A second pony, this one male and slightly older, came closer to stand next to the mare. The two exchanged a glance and looked back at Spike.

"Sir Spike? You've...been asleep for a little while." The mare chose her words carefully, obviously trying to avoid upsetting the distraught dragon any further. It did not work.

"No, I didn't. I wasn't sick..." He felt the panic beginning to bubble over, his anxiety growing ever more ferocious as he looked at the crowd of ponies gathering near the top of the path. Each looked a bit more frightened than the last, yet they all wore the same look of concern as the mare who had spoken to him. They wore brightly colored sweaters, scarfs, and earmuffs, no two the same. However, each appeared to be carrying a bouquet of flowers on their backs, the petals reflecting soft yellows and white.

"D-does anyone here know Applejack from Ponyville? Or R-Rainbow Dash?" Spike felt more tears roll down his face as his hopes sank lower, a dark truth lingering in his mind that he refused to accept as a possibility.

"Sir Spike, you're still in Ponyville." The male had spoken up this time, keeping his voice as calming as he could.

"But...no, where is everyone? Where..." The dragon paused to wipe a numb claw at his eyes when he noticed something that shook him harshly.

His claws had grown to monstrous proportions, so much that he did not recognize them as his own. He raised them both up to his eyes, his mouth agape and his stomach threatening to spill bile. The ponies watched him cautiously, caught between the desire to comfort him and to keep out of reaching distance lest he collapse from shock.

"This isn't real." He said aloud as he looked through the digits at the mare that had spoken to him. "This isn't real." He almost pleaded with her to agree with him, but to no avail. She shook her head slowly and pursed her lips. Spike was about to reason with her again, tell her this was a bad dream, when a familiar face crept up behind the mare.

"Pinkie Pie!" Relief flooded through him as he dropped back onto all fours and stumbled forward into the crowd. A few ponies cried out in shock and tried to make room for the dragon. The pink mare dropped the snow-white flower she held in her mouth and fell back on her haunches, fear wrenching her eyes wide as the dragon closed in.

"Pinkie! Where are we? W-where are the others?" Spike asked these questions despite his waning relief as he neared closer. The pink mare he had backed against a wall, the ponies encircling them preventing her escape, was no mare at all. She was but a filly. Indeed, she would have fit in the dragon's newly grown palm.

Spike sobbed openly as he took in her features. Sure, she had the puffy bubble gum mane, and the bright blue eyes. The resemblance was downright uncanny. But resting on her flank was not the familiar party balloons, but rather a simple cake design with three lit candles resting in the frosting. This filly's Cutie Mark, being but eight days old, designated her as not a party organizer, but rather a talented baker. In the days to come, Spike would come to find how rare such a seemingly simple talent was in the strange, industrialized world he had awoken to.

No sounds came from the hushed ponies watching the despairing dragon. He dropped his face down into the snow and wept bitterly, realizing he awoken in a place where he was utterly, horribly alone. All of his friends were gone, and Twilight Sparkle was nowhere to be found.

The filly, gingerly pushing herself up from the rock wall she had fallen against, looked at the behemoth weeping at her hooves. Hot tears melted the snow and steamed up into the air. Unsure of how to comfort a dragon, let alone the last surviving hero of Princess Twilight's court, she gently wrapped her hooves around the back of the creatures head and held her body against the rough scales. Possessing no voice to whisper comfort to the dragon, it was all she could do to sympathize with the gigantic body lurching for air and melting the snow below with wretched sobs.

'This is real,' he thought, 'I fell asleep.' He balled his claws into fists and gasped as the new length to his nails burrowed painfully into his palms. Warmth slipped between the digits and poured out to melt the snow below.

"Sir?" He felt a hoof that was not the filly's touch his body, this time just above where his shoulder-blades were.

"Princess Bluebell told us to keep you safe while you were asleep." Another set of hooves touched him, rubbing gently along his ribs.

"Why?" He asked in a voice that struggled to regain its composure.

An angle of vision that wasn't obscured by the filly holding his head or the snow that caked his face revealed a single white flower being laid in front of him. Nopony spoke up again, but rather one by one they laid their offerings next to him. They ranged from flowers to cinnamon cakes to the occasional jewel.

Understanding had graced Spike slowly, prompting him to lift his head and stare back at the filly who was comforting him. Her bright blues shined back at him, calling his mind back to a certain happy-go-lucky mare who had livened up even the darkest of moments. One last surge of tears welled up in his eyes as he looked down at what was the last reflection of his former life. The last remaining piece of a simpler time. He slowly and carefully slid his claws forward and cradled the filly in them, feeling an intense need to stave off the cold from her.

Author's Note

Please don't kill me tmfor this: I actually had more written. Much much more.

The problem was that I felt the later parts of what I had written affected the atmosphere I was attempting to establish. You see, I got the idea to write this one night at work while I was listening to the Hurry Up, We're Dreaming album by M83. The thing about it that made it unique for me was the atmospheric qualities of the music. I felt a sense of near constant displacement, and yet a strange sense of adventure. Like I was going somewhere, far away but I was going alone.

I felt this would carry well into fanfiction, and I had planned on making this as an ongoing series. However, there are limitations that I must abide by to keep the mood. I had wanted this "Pinkie Pie clone" to remain nameless and voiceless (hence she is mute) so that she would be subject to Spike's delusions, a living breathing coping mechanism if you will.
The later material I had written upset this formula.

However, if you like this material I may consider writing more in random episodes after I finish my other series.

But anyway, like comment, watch, or flame. All is welcome.

And hey, if you are interested in helping out a fellow artist and have some free time, when not check out my YouTube page? I'm a co-founder of a channel with my friends, and I've submitted two song to Equestria Daily that made it to Music of the Day posts:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLrY4bUm616_mHLglIAhibSHZ5ngbH18L

Thanks guy!