Prologue - Sleepless Night
“Ahhhhhhh! Help meeeeee!” Spike cried. The baby Dragon was running as fast as his small legs could carry him across an open, seemingly endless field of grass. “Somepony! Anypony! Heeeeeelp!”
With the crescent moon casting down its dim light, Spike looked down in horror to see that his shadow was now obscured by a much larger one. Still in the midst of his escape, the purple dragon looked back, his eyes widening in utter terror.
“You cannot escape me forever, Spike!” roared a humongous dragon, its length over thirty times Spike’s height. The dragon was flying above him, casting its dark shadow on the fleeing drake. He had scales of pitch black, and the underside of his body and wings were ivory in color. The fearsome creature’s glowing red eyes were locked on the prey below him, as he flew in a speed matching Spike’s running.
“Leave me alone! Twilight! Everypony!” Spike cried to no avail. The huge dragon continued its pursuit.
“You cannot outrun your fate, Spike!” the dragon roared once more as it swooped down, his fearsome jaws open wide, and the many sharp teeth inside glistening in the moonlight.
“Twilight, heeeeeeelp!” Spike cried once more.
Just as the huge jaws were about to close in on Spike, a lavender beam shot out at the black dragon and hit him square in the nose, causing him to shake his head and fall behind.
“Leave Spike alone, you monster!”
Spike looked up, a smile of hope spreading on his face as he made out the form of Twilight Sparkle, flying down at him from high up.
“Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re here!” Spike cried.
The purple Alicorn landed down on the grass, her back towards Spike as she focused on the black dragon. “Get out of here, Spike! Now! I’ll hold him off!”
Spike skidded to a stop and turned back to Twilight. “W-what are you saying, Twilight?! You can’t stop a huge dragon like that by yourself!”
“I don’t need to, Spike!” Twilight retorted as she momentarily looked back at him. “I just need to hold him off long enough for you to escape!”
A deafening roar sounded all around, forcing Spike to cover his ears and look once more as the dragon began closing in again.
“Get out of here now, Spike!” Twilight repeated before soaring up and towards the dragon, her horn lighting up once more as she began channeling her magic.
Spike bit his lips in distress as he looked around. “Oh, what should I do?! What should I do?! Isn’t there anything I can do to help Twilight?!”
“Stay away from Spike!” Twilight shouted as she released a violet beam of magic from her horn, aiming at the dragon’s head.
The dragon turned around, and quickly shielded himself with his right wing. The beam ricocheted up to the sky.
“Out of my way, puny pony!” the dragon roared. Turning around once more, his tail flew up and whipped down at Twilight in a fracture of a second. Twilight screamed as she fell down and crashed at the ground, forming a small crater around her.
“TWILIGHHHHHHT!” Spike hollered as he started running towards her.
Spike reached the fallen Princess not long after, and hugged her as tightly as he could. “Please be alright, Twilight! Please!”
Twilight slowly opened her eyes, her breathing slow and heavy. “S-Spike… I told you to… run away…” she mumbled.
“B-But I…”
“You cannot run away, Spike!” the dragon roared once more as he hovered in the air not far from Twilight and Spike.
“Run! Now!” Twilight ordered, as she shakily brought herself back to her hooves.
Looking once more between Twilight and the dragon, Spike turned away from Twilight and began running away again. “I… I’m sorry, Twilight! I’m just so scared!”
“Please be okay, Twilight! Please!” Spike thought desperately as he ran away. He turned around once more, his eyes widening once more to find that the dragon was nearly upon him once more.
“This is as far as you go, dragon whelp!” the dragon called. He then opened his mouth wide. A faint light appeared from deep inside his throat, which quickly began growing brighter and brighter.
“DIE!!!” the dragon roared.
“It’s… over…” Spike thought, his eyes blank and emotionless. His running slowed down until he eventually stood still. He turned around to look at the dragon, accepting his fate.
Seconds later, a humongous blast of fire burst out of the dragon’s mouth, hurdling straight to Spike. Time seemed to nearly stop as the inferno got closer and closer to the purple dragon, lighting up his field of sight more and more, until almost everything seemed white.
“NOOOOOO!” Twilight screamed as she flew towards Spike, pushing him out of the way just as the flames had reached where he had been.
“…huh?” mumbled a baffled Spike. He looked around, for a moment unsure what happened to him. He slowly got up. “Who… who pushed me?”
The purple dragon slowly turned to look at where he just stood. There, in a circle of burnt grass, was a silhouette of a pony.
“T-Twilight?” Spike muttered, staring blankly at the figure. “H-hey… Are you alright, Twilight…?”
Spike slowly began walking over to her, the huge dragon watching his every move from the sky above him. “T-This isn’t funny, Twi!” he called, as he began running to her faster and faster.
Tears began welling up in Spike’s eyes as Twilight’s image became increasingly clear. “Twilight… Twilight! TWILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!”
*****
“TWILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!” Spike screamed as he jumped out of his bed. Running out of his room he headed straight to the door across from it in the hallway.
Slamming the door open, he ran across the room towards the large, comfortable bed at its middle and jumped on it.
“YOUCH!” screamed the bed’s occupant as she jumped up. She looked down, frowning to see that her previously private bed had been invaded by a dragon.
“Spike?” Twilight asked. “What are you doing he—”
Twilight immediately silenced herself and arched her brow when she noticed the sparkle beneath Spike’s eyes. The little dragon quickly wiped them and turned to look at her with a meek smile. “So, uh… What’s up, Twi?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing much,” Twilight replied. “Just had a nice dream about re-organizing my encyclopedias. I couldn’t get past ‘M’, though, because I had a rude awakening.”
“Sorry about that,” Spike said, scratching the spikes on his head. “So, umm… How about that quantum physics lesson you taught me yesterday? That Shiredinger’s monkey was really something, huh?!”
“Shiredinger’s cat,” Twilight corrected. “And since when are you so interested in quantum physics? Especially in the middle of the night.”
“Well, uh… You know…” Spike stuttered. “I just kept thinking about it… So I couldn’t sleep?”
“Uh-huh…” Twilight said slowly, staring at Spike. “Because that would definitely explain why you were cr—”
Twilight’s eyes widened in realization. “Wait a second… Don’t tell me you had that nightmare again!”
“W-w-w-what?! N-n-nightmare?! I-I didn’t have any nightmare!” Spike cried, pulling up Twilight’s bedcover over his head.
Using her magic, Twilight levitated the bedcover away and lay down beside Spike. “Come on, Spike. You know you can’t hide this kind of thing from me,” she said quietly, looking straight into his green eyes.
Spike sighed and looked down, fidgeting his claws. “Yeah, you’re right… I had that nightmare again…”
“That’s the third night in a row already, Spike! This can’t go on!” Twilight said.
“I-I’m sorry!” Spike cried as he stood up on her bed. “I know that a dragon like me isn’t supposed to be afraid of this kind of stuff, but I can’t help it! Every time I have that nightmare, you—”
Spike’s words were cut short as Twilight pulled him in an embrace. “I didn’t mean that it’s not okay for you to be afraid, Spike. I bet even grown-up, big dragons have something they’re scared of.”
Twilight released Spike from her grip and stared at him again. “What I mean is that I’m worried about you. Listen, first thing we do tomorrow morning is go talk to Princess Luna. Maybe she can help us shed some light on that nightmare of yours.”
“Well… alright,” Spike said. He slowly got off the bed and made his way out of the room, his head hung low.
“Hey, Spike?” Twilight called.
Spike turned back to her, a tired expression on his face.
“I think I could use a big, brave dragon to protect me tonight,” the Alicorn winked.
A faint smile spread across Spike’s face. “Well, I guess I could,” he said as he turned back to her and got up on the bed.
Twilight moved a little aside, allowing both her and Spike’s head to fit on the silk pillow. After Spike settled himself comfortably, Twilight placed the covers over themselves.
“Hey, Twilight?” Spike whispered.
“Yes, Spike?” Twilight replied.
“Best big sister ever,” he said quietly as he closed his eyes, smiling peacefully.
“Best little brother ever,” Twilight replied, closing her eyes as well.
Author's Note
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