"Running parallel to the Magical Land of Equestria, there is a seventh dimension. A dimension of Honesty and Lies. A dimension of Kindness and Cruelty. A dimension of Laughter and Misery. A dimension of Generosity and Greed. A dimension of Loyalty and Betrayal. But it's also a dimension of Magic and Mind. It's a nightmarish land whose boundaries are that of imagination. I am the key, the door, the guide, and the signpost of this world. Your next stop: The Twilight Sparkle Zone."

. . .And so, with Ahuizotl defeated, and the Sapphire Statue secured, the world was once again save thanks to Daring Do.

THE END

Spike looked up from the book with a huge smile on his face. "Wow! That was amazing!" he said as he sat in his throne at the Friendship Castle.

Rainbow Dash nudged Spike on the shoulder and said, "It sure is! Nothing beats the unbelievably unstoppable, awesome Daring Do!"

Spike closed the book and admired the cover. It read "Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone by A. K. Yearling." over an image of Daring Do swinging on a vine over a river of angry crocodiles, with the titular artifact in hoof.

"She must go on adventures every day!" Spike said in amazement, "She must have no fear at all. Especially if she has to fight against bad guys like Ahuizotl." Spike shuddered a bit, "Ohhh. . .that guy is something else."

Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously. "Heh, he sure is. Believe me, I know," she said vaguely. She then brightened right up and asked, "So, are you gonna read the book I'm in now?"

Spike shook his head as he got up off the throne and carried the book under his arm. "No way, Rainbow. I can't read the series out of order. I'm gonna read the whole series start to finish. That way I'll get the full affect of it."

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she hovered above the floor, "Huh! Fine, have it your way. Guess it makes sense to save the best for last."

Spike entered the castle library, which was filled with all the books that were magically restored from the old Ponyville Library, and walked over to the fiction section. Spike put Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone back in it's place, and his eyes moved over to the end of the long self. His gaze fell upon Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny for quite a while. Then, he reached out with a claw and pulled it out. Turning it over, Spike read the synopsis on the back cover.

Ahuizotl makes his return, in search of a set of magic rings with the power to keep the sun in the sky for eight hundred years. Daring Do will need a bit of help for this one, in the form of a rainbow-maned mare from Ponyville.

Spike looked at the book long and hard for a moment, then he quickly put it back. "No," he said as he pulled out Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet, "I want the whole Daring Do experience in the way it's meant to be had." Spike smiled as he exited the library with the second Daring Do book in hand.

From within the Library, next to a shelf of books, Twilight was watching.

"Spike the dragon may not know this yet, but he is soon about to come to the conclusion that these books have become a gateway. Not just a gateway of imagination, but a gateway of reality. What is real will be mixed with what isn't in this little dragon's mind, because this gateway that those books will take him through happens to pass right through. . .The Twilight Sparkle Zone."

I Daring Don't Believe It

A few days had gone by, and Spike was on the fourth book, Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams. It was 10 P.M., and Spike was still up reading, sitting up in his bed with a small lamp next to him, lighting the pages. Spike felt his scales tingle with suspense and anticipation as he read on.

Daring Do stood overlooking the magnificent Tenochlitan Basin. It's beauty completely filled her eyes as she looked over it. However, this inadvertently caused her to let her guard down. Behind her, moving slowly and silently, was a dark, black creature with an evil eminence. It was one of Ahuizotl's cats, the black panther. It's eyes a dull yellow with black slits. It's teeth white and razor sharp, with a pair of saber-like sticking out-

CRASH!

Spike jumped a few inches off of his bed when he heard the crash. His heart pounded as the sound echoed in his ears. It wasn't too loud; not enough to wake anypony up. It sounded like something had knocked over a half full trash can.

Reminding himself that a dragon should be brave, Spike took a deep breath and walked over to the open window, and stuck his head out into the warm summer night air.

Spike's breath was stolen away when he saw the dark, black creature lurking below, only a few yards away from the Castle. The feline stopped, and turned directly towards Spike, locking it's eyes with his eyes, baring it's huge teeth, staring down into the young dragon's very soul.

Spike closed his eyes.

He opened them.

The black panther was still there.

"TWILIIIIIIIIIGHT!"

Twilight burst into the room and quickly ran over to Spike's side. "What!? What is it? What's wrong!"

"H-h-h-huge panther!" Spike shouted as he pointed out into the night.

Twilight leaned over and looked out the window. She looked long and hard, and then finally said, "Spike. . .there's nothing there."

Spike looked out to where he last saw the huge predator, and he only saw nothing. "But. . .no, I'm sure I saw it."

Twilight rubbed Spike affectionately on his head and said, "Don't worry, Spike. It was just a dream."

"No, I wasn't dreaming! I was wide awake, I know I was!" Spike exclaimed as he slammed the crystalline windowsill with his fists.

"Spike, what would a huge panther be doing in Ponyville. Not even the Everfree Forest has panthers living it!" Twilight said incredulously, her eyes filled with sleep and frustration. "And why were you wide awake at this hour?" Twilight asked suspiciously.

"Uhhh. . ." Spike said nervously, as he looked over at the book and lantern next to his bed.

Twilight gave Spike a look of disappointment. Then, she walked over and turned out the light with her magic. "Spike. Go to bed."

The next morning, Spike was grumpily walking through town. He had a tote bag over his shoulder, ready to be filled with some quills from Quills and Sofas, as well as some parchment, ink, maybe some vegetables from the market.

As Spike walked on, not really paying attention to where he was going, he felt the frustration well up in his chest.

"I can't believe what happened last night," Spike muttered, "I'm positive I was wide awake. I know what I saw. It wasn't imagination, and it wasn't a dream. I know I saw that panther! But when Twilight showed up, it was already gone. That's it. Uuugh. I woke Twilight up out of a sound sleep to show her something that wasn't even there! She probably thought I was crazy." Spike's frustration suddenly evaporated, and he began to feel a terrible uneasiness fill him. "But wait. . .what if. . .what if I am crazy. I mean, seeing of all things a wild black panther in Ponyville, where they're not supposed to be less than 3,000 miles away? That doesn't make any sense. And I was wide awake. I was aware. I was actually seeing that panther. It was right in front of me, but it wasn't. . .but it was. . .but it wasn't. . .but it was, wasn't, was, wasn't, was-"

Spike's soft mantra and growing panic was cut off when he pumped into somepony's backside. As he fell onto his rump, he looked up at the stallion he had bumped into.

"Watch it, you rat," he sneered, staring down at Spike with his light green eyes.

Spike looked up at the brown stallion, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Hmph. Stupid dragon," the stallion huffed as he turned and walked away.

Spike kept his eyes on the stallion, his mind going back to what he had read.

Dr. Caballeron was a pony that you could just tell would bring no good. His dark stubble of a beard against his grayish-brown fur brought an air of roughness, and his green eyes beneath his thick black eyebrows were a sign of his craftiness.

"Come, come now, Miss Do," he said slyly, "You can't keep me away from valuable artifacts. Not as long as I have a Cutie Mark like this." The light seemed to glint of the stallion's golden skull Cutie Mark, it's red eye seemingly winking at Daring. "So, Miss Do," Dr. Caballeron said as he adjusted his polka-dotted ascot, "What is your answer?"

Spike felt a little sick. He couldn't believe what his eyes were telling him, and yet there he saw Dr. Caballeron, complete with white shirt, red and white polka dotted ascot, and golden skull Cutie Mark.

"He's not real. He's not real. None of it's real!" Spike thought desperately to himself as he began to sweat heavily. Then, right before the stallion got out of sight, Spike jumped up, dropped his tote bag, and ran off to follow the stallion at a safe distance.

Spike crept over to the door of a large warehouse which belonged to Filthy Rich. It was part of his business, Backyard Bargains. The young dragon pressed his ear to the door, and he could hear some muffled voices. A sudden urgency filling his little body, Spike ran to the side of the building and used his claws to climb up the wall. He reached one of the small windows near the top, which happened to be opened, and slipped in, landing on the scaffold that lined the top of the warehouse. He crept as quietly as he could behind a line of crates, and then timidly peeked over them. What he saw nearly threw him into shock. His eyes were wide and focused on the figure on the floor below him. His mind went back to a paragraph he had read from Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue.

Daring Do looked up, still slightly shaken from her volcanic blast off and crash landing, but still aware enough to recognize her arch-nemesis. There the beast stood, malicious and bizarre. It had an elongated dog-like head, except for his eyes, which are positioned over his nose at the end of his snout. He walked on all fours, with dog-like hind limbs and ape-like forelimbs, and a long monkey-like tail with a hand on its end. Dark blue fur was over most of his body, while his stomach, lower jaw and limbs are of a lighter blue. He wore golden colored jewelry; a necklace, a single ear ring, and three bracelets, one for each foreleg, and one around his tail's wrist.

Ahuizotl, the Ancient Evil One.

Spike stood frozen in terror as he saw Ahuizotl speaking to Dr. Caballeron and his cronies who were going through the countless boxes in the warehouse.

"Keep going! I know Filthy Rich obtained that collection of amulets! He must have what we seek! We will find it eventually. Just keep looking!" Ahuizotl commanded.

Spike was ridding so intently on this new development that he accidentally pushed a crate over the railing, which fell and crashed to the ground.

"INTRUDER! GRAB HIM!" Ahuizotl shouted as he pointed at the small purple dragon.

Spike let out a horrified scream as Dr. Coballeron's henchponies began swarming up the steps towards him. Spike ran to the window, and stared at the dizzying drop before him. He then turned and made a mad dragon charge across the scaffold and towards the far steps. Spike suddenly tucked and rolled in the middle of his charge, becoming a living dragon ball. He knocked over the two ponies in front of him and bounced down the steps. Slightly disoriented and scared, Spike got one last glimpse of an enraged Ahuizotl before he flipped the bar keeping the door closed and pushed the door open. Ahuizotl's tail hand only barely missed the fleeing purple dragon.

The sound of snarls made Spike quickly turn to see those vicious cats on his tail. This only increased Spike's speed as he raced in the direction of the Rich Family Mansion.

Filthy Rich pulled open the door to the warehouse with a frustrated demeanor. He pointed into the dark building and said, "See! Nothing!"

Spike leaned in and looked around. To his shock, none of the crates were opened or damaged or even out of place. He jumped in shock as Filthy Rich flipped on the lights and walked around the building.

"No ponies or monsters hiding behind boxes, no evil plan, no ransacking going on, no evil cats! NOTHING!" Filthy Rich shouted angrily. He then glared at Spike and said, "Now go! And leave me alone!"

Spike walked through town with his head down, feeling a mixture of shame, confusion, and fear. "They were there. They were there. I saw them . . . but they . . ."

Spike's thoughts began to break down into panic and confusion as he made his way back home. He entered the castle and walked up to the second floor, hoping that if he got some air on the balcony, he would feel better.

"Hello, Spike," came the voice of Twilight.

"Hi," Spike said without thinking.

"Spike, I've got something to tell you. Guess who- . . . Spike? Wait a minute, hold on!" Twilight called out.

Spike didn't listen. He simply walked up the stairs and headed towards the balcony.

"Hi there, Spike!"

Spike turned and saw Daring Do herself standing there, waving and smiling.

Spike stared at the pony, then ran and jumped off the balcony.

The police pony shook his head somberly. "Well, isn't that a tragic series of events."

As she sat in the interrogation room, Daring Do nodded in agreement. "Like hay it is. I had proof of Ahuizotl and Dr. Cabelleron having some of business with Filthy Rich. Maybe they were in cahoots or maybe Filthy just had the bad luck of buying something they wanted, but that doesn't matter right now. Princess Twilight and I thought it would make Spike happy if he were to meet me for real and all that, she said he was a big fan. I'd even figure out a way to put him in my book, like I did for Rainbow Dash." The mare then hung her head and buried her face in her hooves. "Twilight looked so distraught. And the poor little dragon. It . . . just isn't fair . . . you know."

"I know, Miss Do," the police pony said, "I know . . ."

"But WHY?!" Daring shouted angrily, tears of shame in her eyes, "I can't stand when innocent lives suffer or worse! What happened?! Why did this happen?! Why did he jump?!"

Police surrounded Spike's body, still in the process of making a chalk-out line around the dead dragon.

"Spike the Dragon. Fan of the Daring Do Series, who lost his reason, his mind, and finally his life to a collection of adventure books. The young dragon's suicide had the same cause as many suicides, and that's the loss, well in this case, assumed loss of his mind. The mind is very powerful, capable of amazing feats. It takes a strong force to break one's mind. However, once the mind feels and accepts that it has begun to malfunction, to fracture, and to break, it has no problem turning on itself and finishing the job on it's own terms. Even if the initial breakdown itself is merely Fiction. Psychology 101 - from the Twilight Sparkle Zone."

Author's Note

Inspiration:
The Fever
Perchance to Dream