After a few minutes of star gazing, he headed back to the castle and entered the building. As he walked around he realized that Twilight was nowhere to be found, though he assumed that she was just asleep. As he walked down the hallway, he saw one of the doors open and glanced over in the room, curious. Inside Twilight was sitting in a chair, reading a book, seeming very much absorbed in it. Surrounding her were massive bookshelves with thousands of books stocked. She looked up and noticed Spark, smiling and waving a hoof for him to come in.

He looked around the room as he entered, his eyes wide with amazement. "Wow, this is...a lot of books." He said.

She nodded. "These books originally came from Canterlot. Princess Celestia thought it'd be nice to give me a few."

He nodded as he looked at her with a small smile, tugging his hood instinctively as he did so. Even now he kept his hoodie on, something Twilight has noticed, and while she didn't wish to push him on it, she did think he doesn't really need it when around her. After a few moments of thinking it over she spoke up.

"Maybe you should try walking around the castle without your hoodie?" she suggested, smiling.

He paused as he looked at her with surprise before he quickly shook his head. "I-I kind of...p-prefer to keep it on, if that's ok? It helps to keep me calm with...l-large groups and to hide my...um, y-y-you know..." he said, looking down at his hooves in slight shame.

"But Spark, you don't have to worry about it here. Everypony who would be here knows about your...you know." she reminded.

"I-I know, but-"

"Please?" She asked again, giving him big puppy eyes.

He looked at her, stuck between a rock and a hard place as he tried to resist, but sadly his lack of dealing with such things proved to be his undoing as he sighed and nods his head. "O-Ok...I-I g-g-guess."

He slowly took the hood off, and soon he places it on the floor for the time being, looking at her with a nervous look.

She smiles in satisfaction. "Doesn't it feel good? You don't have to wear it all the time."

"Um...I-I guess." He said, though his voice didn’t share her conviction. His horns, having not bothered to cover them up with his mane this time, poked out on top of his head, the sight just begging for her to examine them. After a moment she placed the book down and got up, taking a few steps to looking at them closer, which caused him to back up a bit. "Um...w-w-what are you doing?"

She squinted her eyes as she studied them. "They're just such a curious sight. If you'd like, I want to run some tests." He shuffled on his hooves, but before he could protest, she once again gave him those big eyes of hers. "Pleeeaaase?"

He blushed as he once again tried to resist...and once again failed. "Ok, ok!" He said. "I-I'll...you can d-do some tests."

She squee'd in joy and ran out the room. She eventually returned with a large machine on wheels. "I haven't used this in a while!"

He gulped as he looked at the machine in worry. "Um...i-it won't h-hurt me...will it?"

She looked at him, looking smug as all Tartarus. "This old thing? Nah. It's harmless." She floated a few stickers from the machine onto Spark's forehead, near his horns.

He could feel himself starting to breath rapidly as she takes the stickers closer to his head, but before he can panic he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. After a few minutes of keeping his eyes closed and calm, he looked back at Twilight, seeing that she stopped what she was doing and was patiently waiting for him to calm down. He gave her a nod of thanks and allowed her to continue. As she placed the stickers on him, he shivers at how close they are to his horns, but otherwise he remained still.

Twilight switched on the machine, the metal box beeping and buzzing for a few moments before it spat out some paper from a slot in the side. She picked up the paper and read it over, becoming confused a few moments later. "Hm... that's definitely odd."

He blinked as he looked over at her curiously. "Um...w-what's odd?" He asked.

"Your magic output," she said. "It's higher than the average unicorn..."

This caused him to give a surprised look. "B-But...but I'm a pegasus, not a unicorn..." He said, confused.

"Exactly, that’s why it’s so odd...Perhaps it’s the horns?"

He gave a small shrug. "M-Maybe? I really don't know." He sighed as he sat down. "I-I mean...t-there is that one time that they..." He started to say before falling silent.

The purple unicorn noticed this, however, and was quickly curious. "That they what?" she asked, looking at him with more interest.

Spark, clearly anxious about such a subject, was gonna decline when he saw her preparing to do the puppy eyes. Not wanting to suffer such cuteness, he quickly starts to answer. "W-Well...t-they...I..." He hesitated again, still having a hard time telling it, and this time Twilight walked up to him and sits before him, offering a wing to his side for comfort. She can see that it wasn't a good memory, whatever it was.

"I'm here for you. You can tell me," she assured. "It will help if you tell me about it."

He nodded and after he took a few more moments to calm himself down, he finally continued. "I-I...I know that they keep growing back n-no matter what...w-what happens to them." He said. This got her curious as she tilted her head at him.

"They... grow back?" She shook her head with a small chuckle. "Spark, that's ridiculous. They shouldn't be able to...I mean... Well, how can they..." She tried to say, but as she looked at him and noticed the serious look on his face, she fell silent and stared back. “They...they do?”

He nodded. "T-They do. I...I've tried to...t-to..." He looked away once again in shame, though this time the Alicorn realized just why he was so upset about telling her this, her eyes going wide with shock.

"You've...tried to..." She went silent, tightening her wing's grip on him. "Why?"

He stayed silent as he remained looking away from her. "I-I...I was two years into my self isolation, if you want to call it that." He started. "I-I...I got so s-sick and tired of all the ponies either staring at me, o-or just...just refusing me any sort of help outright. I...I j-just..." He sniffed as his eyes start to water. "I couldn't take it anymore. So I...I b-bought a knife a-and..." he fell silent as he quietly teared up, a few of them falling and landing on the floor as he took in some shaky breaths.

Twilight was speechless, her eyes wide as she just sat there, frozen in shock. To think that he would be so desperate as to try and cut off the horns himself, using a simple knife. Of course there is such ways like having a surgeon help, and she has heard of a few ponies do such things, but to do it by himself, with no help or medicine? The next moment she quickly wrapped her forelegs around him, giving him a sort of double hug with both wings and legs. She could feel herself shivering a bit from this sudden information intake.

He closed his eyes as he felt her hug him, a bit unsure what to do. Eventually he returned the motion, his forelegs wrapping around her as he rests his head against her shoulder, slowly calming down. At this point Spike walked into the room, noticed the moment they were having, and then slowly walked backwards out of the room. Twilight shook her head at his actions before she turned her attention back to the pegasus. "We're here for you, Spark. I promise you won’t go through anything like that again." She promised him.

Spark didn't even notice when the dragon entered and left the room, so focused he is on the mare before him and the tears he was shedding. After a few minutes he finally calmed down enough to pull back. Glancing at her, he looked away before finishing his story. "N-No matter how many times, they would just grow back within a f-few minutes." He shivered as his wings tighten on his sides. "T-There was...s-so much...so much b-b-blood..." He coughed as he thought back to that, another shiver going down his spine.

She winced sympathetically as she heard the word "blood", knowing that unicorn horns actually bleed quite a lot when damaged or broken. If his horns are anything similiar to a unicorns biology wise, then there would be lots of it. She rubbed his back a bit longer and then pulled away. “Just relax, I’m here to help. No one will make you go through that again.” She said again. As the minutes ticked by, wanting to think of something to change the subject, an idea popped into her head...along with her stomach. "Why don't we get something to eat? You must be hungry."

At this his stomach growled, causing him to blush as he shuffles on his hooves., the mare just gave a small giggle at the sound "J-just a bit..." He said, already starting to calm down a bit at the mention of food.

She smiled at him and led him into the kitchen, a room he had never seen before. There was a variety of pots and pans hanging from cabinets, and there were stoves made from pure Crystal.

He looked around curiously at the many crystal objects before looking at the purple mare curiously. "S-So...so what's for dinner?"

"What would you like?" she asked. "We've got beans, celery, eggplants, radishes, daisies-"

“Actually...” He looks around the kitchen for a few moments before he continued. Looking back at Twilight, he tried again, "A-Actually, can I make something for us?"

She blinked in surprise. "What?"

He nodded. "Please Twilight? It's the least I can do after all you have done for me." He explains.

Seeing how he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, she giggled and nodded. "Alright. You can make us something."

Smiling, Spark was quick to start working on grabbing a few items before getting ready to cook. He was eager to make something for his hostess, considering how nice she and her friends had been this entire time. As the minutes ticked by, he was so focused on making the food that he barely notices Twilight still standing there, watching him work.

Twilight smiled and waited, watching Spark work. She figured that since he travelled a lot, he'd have picked up some recipes from other locations. She was rather excited to see what he made. Plus Spike would most certainly appreciate the break.

It took some time, but soon he has a pot simmering with hot water, along with a few chopped up veggies inside. As he stirred, he glanced over at the Alicorn, noticing that she was watching with interest, which caused him to blush. "U-Um...y-you can come and watch if you really want to." He says as he focused back on the pot.

She grinned excitedly and walked over, watching. "What do you cook when you're travelling?"

He shrugged. "Nothing special. When I travel...ah, was traveling, I would make simple things that didn't require a lot of supplies. I had to save up and manage my food, if that makes sense." He said, to which the mare gives a nod of understanding. "In this case, I'm making a simple stew I learned from a griffon a while ago, minus the...the um...m-meat..." He shivered a bit before shaking his head. He had nothing against meat eaters, he just would rather not see the insides of an animal if he had a choice. "A-Anyways, it's just a veggie stew, which can be filling without needing to use so many ingredients."

She frowned as she heard "meat". "I'm sorry... meat?" She asked, glancing at the pot suspiciously.

He nodded. "Griffins eat meat, and I was taught by a griffin how to make this. The first time he made it was with meat...though I-I...um..." He paused as he looked away for a moment. "I-I didn't realize it when I...tried it."

Silence fell down as she looked at him in shock, though he was quick to add, "I-I got real sick afterwards when he realized his mistake, so he taught me a more vegetarian friendly stew." He motioned to the pot. “Like I said, no meat in this stew, just veggies and some spices.”

"Oh wow... you should never try meat," she said. "It can hurt us really bad."

He nodded. "I-I was only ten, s-so...didn't really know at the time." He admitted.

Twilight looked at him with wide eyes once again. "Y-You ate meat that young?!"

He nodded again. "Y-Yea. I, um..." He stopped what he was doing as he just stared down at the pot before looking back at her. "I-I guess I didn't really say how I left the town...did I?"

She shook her head. "If you'd like to share?" she asked.

He slowly stirred the pot a bit as he thought it over. They already knew so much about him, he wasn't sure if he should share any more, still afraid of what they may think. However, feeling a wing on his back, he looked over and saw her smiling, kind face, making him realize that they wouldn't judge him.

With a sigh, he nodded. "Ok...b-but no more questions for tonight after that, ok?"

She nodded. "Of course." She stepped back, giving the red pony some space.

He continued to stir the pot for a few moments before he spoke up. “I...I was eight when I left my town.” He finally said. Her eyes, once again wide, mouth agape in shock as she just stared at the pony, who went back to focusing on his cooking. She wanted to ask more questions, to ask ANY question, but she remained silent, knowing that she promised no more questions for the night. Instead she just placed a wing over his back and nuzzled him a bit, which caused him to blush and look back at the mare, who just nodded her thanks before pulling herself back.

He gave a small smile of thanks before he went back to stirring the pot. After a few minutes the food was soon done, and he carefully filled a couple of bowls with the stew before carrying it over to the closest table, motioning her to join him. "Food is ready." He said. She smiled as she walked over to him and takes the seat, the pegasus watching her carefully and a bit worriedly as he hoped that she does end up enjoying it.

She took a bite, smiling brightly as she savored the flavors. "Wow! This is really good!"

He blushed as she smiles at him, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof. "I-I mean, it's ok..." He said, only for her to shake her head.

"No really, it's great!" She told him, taking another bite and just enjoying the taste.

He smiled shyly as he nodded his thanks and started to eat his own stew, just glad that she did indeed enjoy it.

Spike walked in, smelling the meal. "Twilight? You cook something?"

The purple mare shook her head. "Not me, it was Spark. He made some veggie stew."

"There's plenty more if you want it." Spark adds.

Spike nodded. "Sure!" He sat down with Twilight and grabbed a bowl, tasting.

"Eh... it's okay," said Spike.

This caused Spark's heart to sink a bit, but before he could hide it, Twilight was already slightly scolding the dragon."Spike! He worked hard on that just for us!" she said.

"What?" Spike seemed surprised. "I didn't mean to offend. I'm just saying it has room for improvement."

He motioned Spark over and he looked into the stew. "What you wanna do is grind up some daffodils. They help bring out the flavor," he said, trying to give sincere advice.

Spark tilted his head as he looked at the stew with thought. "I-I...I didn't think of it like that." He said as he rubbed his chin,

Spike gave Spark a thumbs up. "If you want, I can teach you other recipes as well."

He stroked his chin a bit more as he thought it over before he gave the small dragon a nod. "Ok, I...I wouldn't mind that." He said as he gave a small smile.

Spike added the ground-up daffodils to his bowl and resumed eating, making Twilight roll her eyes with a smile.

"So, Spark. Think you could share some of your travels?" She asked before quickly adding, “Only if you want to of course. I know I said no more questions, but...”

He blinked as he heard this, a bit unsure as to what he should say. After a few moments of thinking it over, he nodded, deciding that it wouldn’t be that bad to tell some of his stories. "I-I suppose, but...I'm not sure where to begin...or what to tell in the first place." He admitted before he looked at his bowl sheepishly. "I..I just don't think my stories are that amazing really."

"I know that's not true. You must've encountered some things with all your years of travelling."

He shrugged. "Besides Cuddio, I tend to keep to myself." He admit. He paused as he recalled something. "Though...there was this one time with a chimera..."

Twilight's ears perked up upon hearing this. "A chimera?"

"Yea. It was interesting to say the least." He said. "I was walking down the path, doing normal traveling stuff, you know? I heard these strange voices in the distance talking about all sorts of things, though I couldn't hear what they were talking about. Curious, I got closer and soon, when I peered out from some bushes, I saw this chimera arguing with itself...himself?" He paused as he tried to think what the gender would be before he gave a shake of his head. "Anyways. I noticed that they were arguing about how one would be so annoying and such, and basically just mad at each other, so...I kind of...stepped up and said hi and offered to talk to it." He admitted, turning away to his stew as he gave a sheepish smile.

"And what did it say? Did it hurt you?" asked Twilight, hanging onto every word.

He shook his head. "No...thankfully. It almost did but I was able to talk with it. After a while, I got to know it a good amount just with talking, and soon even had its heads in a better mood. Once they were all better, we just went our separate ways" He gave a shrug at the end of his tale. "It was one of my more...interesting tales, I guess."

"Wow! I cant believe you befriended a chimera!" she exclaimed. "Any other creatures?"

He shook his head. "None that I know of. At least not to that degree. At most I was neutral with the other creatures. You know, the whole 'stay out of each other's way' sort of thing." He admitted.
"Huh... that's interesting..." she said, deep in thought.

He nodded as he looked at her for a few moments. He blushed as he turned away when he realized he was kind of staring at her. "I...did you really think that was interesting?" He asked.

"Yeah. Most monsters would just try to harm ponies," she said. "Maybe we're just doing things wrong."

He nodded. "W-well, it kind of helps when we are both monsters." He said as he gave a painful chuckle, his hoof automatically slid up to his horns and touched them lightly before going back down as he focused on his stew.

This caused Twilight to frown. "You need to stop viewing yourself like that," she said.

"But it's true..." He sighed, looking away. Seeing how he needed some comfort, Twilight got up from her seat and walked over to him as she wrapped a wing around him yet again.

"You're not a monster. I've fought many of them. You're just misunderstood."

He remained silent as she hugged him, his mind in thought. They stayed like that for a few minutes before he glanced at the stew, realizing that it had started to get cold. "L-Let's finish the food, it's getting cold." He said before shyly adding, "A-And after we finish eating...can you...show me some magic?"

She smiled and nodded, glad to see he was feeling better so quickly, and just as happy to perform some magic for him. They finished eating in silence, and later on, she led him into the library, Spike following as well. Once in the room, she sat down and looked at him eagerly. She floated out several books. "I think today I’ll teach you about magical artifacts."

He smiled eagerly as he leaned in, ready to learn. Spike, on the other hoof, gave a small groan as he waved at them. "I think I'm just going to head in for the night." He said, walking out of the room. "Night Twilight, night Spark."

"Goodnight, Spike," replied Twilight. "Now, where were we?"

"We were going to talk about artifacts." He reminded her rather eagerly.

"Ah, yes!" she said, smiling. She brought out a small crystal sphere. "See this?" He nodded. "This is a memory sphere. It takes a memory and turns it into a picture that you can see inside the sphere."

His eyes are wide as he looked at the crystal before him. "Woah...how does it work?" he asked.

"And all you have to do is touch your head to it," said, touching Spark's forehead with it as a quick example. He half expected to see something, but when nothing happened he looked at her curiously.

“Um...nothing happened...”

“You also need to focus on a certain memory for it to work.” She added with a giggle, getting a sheepish nod from the pegasus.

“Oh...” He simply said, and when he looked up at her, she just motioned for him to think of a memory. Seeing no harm in it, he pondered over his choices for a few moments, his mind going over all the possible memories he had. It was rather hard, however, since he hadn't had many memories that he wished to recall. However, after a bit of thinking, there was one that did pop up, and with a nod, he lets her know that he is ready.

She took the crystal and placed it against his forehead as he closed his eyes. Slowly, the crystal glowed for a bit before dimming down.

"Let's see if it worked," said Twilight. "Tell me what you see."

He looked into the crystal for a few moments before his eyes widen and he let out a small gasp. There, plan as day was the memory he was thinking. In the crystal was him, as a young foal laying in his bed, an elderly mare sat by him. She held a book open in her hooves as she was reading a story to him, the younger Spark smiling lightly as he cuddled against her.

Twilight couldn’t help but stare curiously at the memory, even giving a small smile as it reminds her of the times her parents or even her brother would read her a story. When she went to speak to Spark, she saw he was just staring at the crystal in shock, even taking the crystal and holding it in his hooves. Worried, she gently poked his shoulder with her hoof to get his attention. "Spark...?" He shook his head as he looked at the mare. “Mind telling me what this memory is about?”

He returned his gaze to the crystal before responding to her. "I-It's me with...w-with Sweet Heart. One of my more fonder memories of her. She was reading one of my favorite books before bed." He told her, giving a sad smile.

Twilight walked up to Spark and carefully took the orb in her magic, looking at it carefully. "You really miss her, don't you?"

He nodded, letting out a sigh as he does so. "Y-yea..." He said, his eyes started to water.

She patted Spark gently on the back with her wing, giving a sad smile. “Hey, I bet if she saw you now, she would be happy for you.”

He looked at her questioningly. “Really?”

“Of course! Not only are you a kind stallion but you are helpful as well. And you have us as friends who will always help you out.” She said, giving him a nuzzle, which caused him to blush even more, though he doesn’t pull back.

He remained silent as he looked at the orb. Even as his tears gently slid down his cheek, he can't help but to smile at the mare. Gently, he leaned in and hugged her, nuzzling her neck back. "Twilight...thank you for this. It...it showed me that despite my harsh past, I...I had a few good things to remember."

It was her turn to blush as he nuzzled her, feeling uncertain again. After a few seconds of processing, she just smiled, letting him nuzzle her. It was only far after all.

It took a few moments to realize what he was doing, and when he did, he backed up, blushing as he shuffles on his hooves. "Um...s-sorry."

She smiled at him. "It's fine." She then looked at the memory orb before holding it out to him. "You may keep that if you'd like."

Eyes going wide, he looked at the orb before looking back at her. "R-Really?"

She nodded. "Of course! I don't need it and I think you will like it more than me."

Spark looked at the orb once again, looking at the picture of Sweet Heart reading that story. His heart ached as he smiled, and Twilight can't help but to look at it with him. They just sat there, looking at the image for a good while, neither of them saying anything.

Finally, after a good while, the red pony spoke up. "I...I wish I could read that story again..." He sighed. He smiled as he tucked the orb away under his wing before giving a small yawn. "I...I'm rather tired now. I think I'll head to bed."

She nodded. "You get a good rest, Spark. I'll be here in the morning."

Giving a smile, he turned and left the room, waving night to the mare. After a few minutes of walking, he placed his things to the side and got into the bed. As he started to get comfy, he paused and grabbed the orb, once again looking at it.

"I...I miss you Heart..." He said, letting out a small sigh as he held the orb close, feeling his eyes lightly water as he started to fall asleep.

Author's Note

Happy Nightmare Night, y'all. Dylan's story comin' up soon. Am finally over my depression.