Chapters Spike was running. He didn't know where to, but he was running as fast as he could. "Gotta keep going! I won't let them get me!" He thinks to himself as he turns his head to see Garble, the leader of the teenage dragons, chasing after him.
"Get back here, Spike!" Shouted Garble with a furious looks and smoke coming out of his nostrils. "We have unfinished business with you!"
Spike closed his eyes and kept running, only to trip on a branch and fall face first into the ground, sliding a little further forward before coming to a complete stop.
Laughs from Garble can be heard as he closes in on Spike. "It's over, Peewee! Now you'll know what happens when you mess with me!"
Spike became completely scared at this point. Tears were now rolling down his cheeks as he scooted back further. He wanted to get back up, but his ankle was twisted from the trip. The only thing he could do now was whimper in fear and hide his head in his legs, hoping help will come.
Garble is just about to grab Spike, but then a mysterious voice is heard. "HALT!!" was echoed across the land and it stopped him in his tracks.
"Who's there?!" He screamed into the air. "Show yourself!"
"Be careful what you wish for!" As the statement is bellowed at the dragons, the moon glows and Princess Luna flies down and stands between Garble and Spike. Her face shows anger, but Garble could only laugh.
"What is a nanny-pamby pony princess like you gonna do?" He asked, laughing hysterically. However, as he continues to laugh, a dark aura starts to surround Luna.
As it covers her whole body, she closes her eyes and answers, "I will not harm you, beast." At this point, she opens her eyes from within the dark aura and her body begins to turn black. "However, what I will do is show you your greatest nightmare!" The aura soon vanished and Princess Luna was now Nightmare Moon. Garble' s laughter died down at this point and he gave off a serious look. Nightmare Moon's horn began to glow and the dark aura returned. However, she sent it to cover Garble.
"What--?!" He asked in fear. "What is this?! What are you doing?!"
Nightmare Moon didn't respond. Instead, she laughed evilly into the night sky as Garble's screams are heard. He then flies away out of fear and she soon turns to Spike, who is quaking in fear and has his head buried in between his legs.
"P-p-please!" He screams in fear, tears falling from his eyes. "Don't hurt me!"
As he pleads, Nightmare Moon stands before him. She doesn't attack him or scare him anymore than he already is. Instead, she pulls him into a hug and transforms back into Princess Luna. "Shh, shh, little dragon," she says calmly to Spike. "It's alright now. I've got you. The nightmare is over."
Hearing "nightmare" caused Spike to look up at her and stop crying. "Nightmare?" He asked in confusion as he looked up, then turned his head and looked at the land around them. "This is all just a dream?"
"Yes. A bad one, too. And I'm afraid I come to you with a mission," Luna answers, looking down at Spike. "You must return to the land of dragons."
Spike's eyes widened from hearing this and he immediately starting shaking his head furiously. "No, no, no, no, no!" He denies. "I refuse to go back there! No matter the reason!"
"You must go, Spike" Luna declares. "There is a dragon there who needs your help. Only you can do this."
"Me? Are you sure?" Spike asked curiously, and Luna answers his question with a smile and nod.
"I'm very sure of this, Spike. You're the dragon for the job."
Spike then smiles confidently and replies, "Alright, Princess! I'll do it!"
Luna smiles back. "The night will end soon. I must go. I wish you luck on your quest, young dragon." Spike then bows and she bows back, as well as knighting him with her horn.
Spike the stands and hugs her. "I'll do my best, Princess. Goodbye."
Luna hugs him back before flying off. "Goodbye, Spike."
As Luna flew away, a white flash was given and the last image that Spike saw that night was a burning heart. He then woke up in his bed. "Twilight?" He calls out, looking around the room. She is nowhere to be seen. "I should go find her and tell her about my mission." Spike then gets out of bed and goes off to look for her.
"Whew!" exhales Spike, having finally made it to the land of the dragons. "I don't remember the walk being as long as it was." As Spike sits down to rest his feet, his stomach growls.
"Hmm....wasn't there a huge mountains of gemstones around here last time?" he ponders to himself as he looks around the land. He soon spots the gems, unguarded as the teenage dragons were all in the lava pool. "I need to be quiet," Spike says as he sneaks down to the mountain, each step making him more and more nervous as he got closer and closer. "Almost there..." Then, as Spike reached the mountain of gems, he trips on a rock and goes headfirst into them, causing the mountain to fall and alert the other dragons.
"What was that?" asked Garble, who got out of the lava pool and went towards to investigate. "No wind could've done this."
Hearing Garble's voice made Spike tremble in fear as he remembered the nightmare, and he hid as well as he could in the gems. Unfortunately, Garble spotted his spikes and pulled him out.
"Well, well, well!" Garble says, grinning evilly as he drops Spike onto the ground. "Isn't it little Spikey from Pony land! The other dragons laugh at that remark and join Garble at his side. "You've got a lot of nerve coming back after that phoenix heist!"
Spike, still scared, stands up and tries to look as unafraid as possible. "I only came back to find something. I could care less about you guys."
Unfortunately for him, the dragons didn't take kindly to that answer and they begin to close in on him.
"You'll regret saying that, Peewee!" yells Pudge, the large brown dragon. Then, as Garble grabs Spike's tail, they hear someone yell "STOP!!"
Spike looks around, wondering who out of the dragons could've saved him. He then sees a red alicorn colt, with purple eyes, blue and red hair, and light-red scars all over his body, as well as a torn black cape. "Let him go!" he exclaims as walks to them.
Grable scoffs and drops Spike. "You again, pony boy?" He chuckles as the pony walks past them and stands in front of Spike. "Come for another beating?"
The pony only shakes his head. "Get it through your thick skull, Garble," he answers as he spreads his dragon wings and growls at them. "I'm a Dragon-Pony!"
Spike stood there dumbfounded at the discovery of a new species. As he stood behind the Dragon-Pony, he saw his cutie mark, which the burning heart from his dream.
'The burning heart!' Spike thinks to himself. 'But who is this pony? Why did Luna want me to find him?' As Spike wonders this, Garble and the other dragons just laugh and walk away.
"Forget it! You two losers can have each other!" Garble laughs as he and the other fly away.
As the dragons go out of sight, the young pony turns to Spike. "Are you alright, sir?"
Spike nods and smiles. "Thanks to you!" Spike answers as he happily gives his hand. "The name's Spike! I'm from Ponyville!'
The foal puts his hoof in Spike's hand and shakes it. "I'm Shadow. And did you say Ponyville? My mom's from there!"
Spike's eyes widen from hearing this. "I guess that explains why you're part pony. But listen. This may sound weird, but I've been sent on a mission to find you from a princess named Luna."
Shadow nods in understanding. "Nothing weird about it. I always had a feeling that somepony would come for me. Let's just go to my home first. My parents will want to know where I'm going."
Spike nods. "Lead the way, Shadow!'
Shadow smiles and walks to his home, with Spike following behind him.
'I did it!' Spike thinks to himself cheerfully. 'That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be!'
As the sun rises, birds start to sing and everypony is starting to wake up. "Mmm....," groans the groggy Spike, having not slept that well because of the nightmare, as well as Luna giving him the mission. "Morning already?" He then sits up and yawns, not yet opening his eyes as he gets out of his bed. After, he walks around the Golden Oak Library looking for Twilight, who appears to be out in Ponyville. "I better find Twilight and the others before I leave," Spike says as he gets out of bed. He sees Peewee, the little phoenix he adopted still asleep in his cage and smiles as he walks out of the library.
As Spike enters town, he sees Twilight and company walking into Rarity's boutique , and he quickly follows suit. "Twilight!" he calls out, causing Twilight to turn around with a smile.
"Good morning, Spike!" she says with a smile, only to then give Spike a look of concern after seeing how poorly he slept. "What happened? Was it a bad dream?"
Spike yawns and nods to this. "Princess Luna visited me with a mission. I have to go back to the dragon lands." After hearing this, the Mane 6 then gasp in shock.
"But why, Spikey-Wikey?" asked Rarity in horror. "Why would the princess ever ask such a task?"
Spike yawns again and answers, "I'm not sure. But when she left, I saw a burning heart. It can only be found there, and I have the be the one to retrieve it."
Worried for their little friend, the Mane 6 look at each other in anguish. After a minute or so, Twilight then says, "If that's what the princess wants, then we must respect her decision." She then gives a Spike a tight hug, and the rest of the Mane 6 do the same. "Be careful, Spike."
"And bring back that burning heart!" exclaims Rainbow Dash, "That sounds awesome!"
Spike nods and smiles. "I'll be careful! I promise!" he answers as he breaks the hug and begins his journey.
Rainbow then whispers to Twilight, "Are we gonna follow him again?"
Twilight shakes her head no as a response. "Not this time. I have faith that he'll be fine on his own."
