A Dragon Grieving

Spike slept fretfully, tossing and turning until, rather suddenly, the scenery changed from his bedroom, to the outskirts of a clearing in a forest, where he saw a lavender alicorn among 5 large stones, each with a different engraved image…

~~~

“Twilight! STOP!” He shouted, reaching the clearing. The princess was hovering a bottle in her magic, slowly lifting it to her lips for a drink. “I’m here! I’ll listen. Please.”

But she didn’t hear him. He ran up to her, tugging at her mane, harder and harder with each plea.. “Twilight! Please! Please stop it! This isn’t the way, they wouldn’t want this!”

How she didn’t feel her, he didn’t know, but in one last effort to stop her, he took a deep breath and released fire from his mouth in attempts to melt the bottle that she had had hovering in her magenta aura, but it was no use. The bottle looks as good as new, the contents inside weren’t even boiling as he would expect.

All he could do was watch and lay next to her and sob, slowly feeling the life drain from her as her body got colder and colder.

“Do you have something on your mind, Spike?” A voice seemed to float from the trees, he looked around until he was another alicorn, Princess Luna, emerging from the shadows.

“Princess Luna?” Spike slowly began to understand. “Oh, this is a dream.” He sighed.

“You have been having this dream rather frequently, Spike. Is anything on your mind?” She repeated.

Spike shrugged and continued to sit in silence. Luna sat with him for a while, until she had to go and visit another dream. ‘Spike, I must depart, but do remember if you wish to seek comfort in the waking world, to call for myself, Celestia, or even Luster Dawn,'' Spike nodded, his eyes puffy now, but said nothing.

In his dream, Spike shut his eyes and sighed sadly and deeply.

~~~

Spike joined the three of the mares at the dinner table one evening, about a week later, far earlier in the day than Luster Dawn would expect.

“Oh?” Luster Dawn looked up from her meal as the dragon sat down. “Hi Spike, how are you feeling?”

Spike sighed. “Better I guess.” One of the staff ponies quickly brought him a large dish of gems and he took one of the smaller ones, holding it in his claw and examining it before popping it into his mouth and chewing. “I’ve just been doing a lot of thinking.”

“About what. Spike?” Celestia spoke up.

“Tell us what is on your mind, perhaps we can help you?” Luna was the next to speak.

Spike glanced over at Luna, looking slightly embarrassed. “I think you know. You’ve been visiting my dreams often lately.”

“Well, that is true. But I will not speak of it unless you wish to. What happens in pony’s, or dragon’s dreams is between myself and the one who's dream I was in.”

Spike sighs. “I just…” He shook his head. “What… I mean to say is…” The three mares sat in silence patiently. “What if I followed her that day?” Spike asked. He meant to wait a bit to see their reactions but it all started pouring out. “What if I listened to her when she was upset? Would she still be here? I should have been a better friend. It should have been me. She's far too important…” They let him go on like this for several minutes, he went over so many different ways the scenario could have played out, every one ending with Twilight still being alive and sitting at the table with him today.

It was Luna who spoke first. “Spike, not even we knew what was bothering Twilight at first. In fact, I think she came to us after her mind was made up." Luna looked over to Celestia who nodded. "She obviously felt so alone, even though she had you.”

Spike sniffled, “But if she had just said something. Anything. We could have… I don't know, taken her to see a therapist or something. Somepony who could have helped her."

"Nopony knows what could drive a pony to that choice." Celeste spoke up. "But until we have a way to talk to the dead-"

"MAYBE THERE'S SOMETHING IN ZECORA'S HOUSE!" Spike interjected. "We could-"

"Absolutely not!" The three mares cut him off in unison.

"For one, the forest is still a dangerous place-" Celestia started.

"We don't know what has even become of her home." Luster Dawn continued.

"It is rather disrespectful to Zacora to go rummaging through the belongings she left behind when she left the mortal realm." Luna concluded.

Spike sighed sadly, "It was just a thought." The four of them sat together in silence for a while. "Maybe there's a book in her library…"

"Spike, do not go looking for answers for things she did not want you to know." Luna spoke with finality.

"But if I could have stopped this…" He started.

"There will always be the question of if we could have done anything to help her. We'll never know.” Luster Dawn spoke softly.

Spike fell silent and walked out of the castle, leaving the three mares behind and letting the door shut loudly behind him.

“I should follow him.” Luster Dawn said and the two princesses nodded in response.

“If you need us, don't hesitate to write.” Celestia said as she and Luna took their leave.

“Spike, wait up!” Luster Dawn trotted quickly behind him. The dragon, however, ignored her and kept walking towards Everfree forest. She gasped and teleported in front of him. “Spike, stop!”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Spike growled and pushed past Luster.

“Fine. If I can’t stop you, I’m coming with you.” She said, now walking alongside him as the only sounds around them were those of the forest.

Spike said nothing for a while as the two of them walked through the forest unbothered by the many creature inhabitants. No creature would bother a nearly fully grown dragon. Eventually, he broke the silence. “I know that I can’t bring her back. I just want… I don’t know… closure, I guess.”

Luster Dawn chose her words carefully. “I understand that. I really do. But sometimes, life gives us questions that have no solutions and all you can do is lean on those you care about.” Spike stopped walking. “...so, do you still want to go to Zecora’s hut?”

Spike stopped walking and stood in silence for a while. “Well, yes. But maybe Luna was right. It would be disrespectful.”

Luster Dawn stood in silence with him for a few moments until she broke the silence. “So… what should we do now?”

Spike sighed, letting out a puff of smoke. “We’ll… go to her library I guess. Any library, really.”

“Still want to find a way to try to talk to her?” Luster Dawn asked, gently resting a hoof on one of his legs.

Spike nodded and the two turned around and walked out of the forest without another word.

Several hours later, the pair were in the library of the Ponyville castle, digging through piles of books to find any way to talk to a dead pony, so far neither of them had any luck.

“This library just has fewer books than the other two had! The only place now is the abandoned ruins of the old castle in the forest…” Spike tossed the final book over his shoulder then looked down at Luster Dawn who had caught the book he just tossed over his shoulder and was sliding it into place.

“But Spike, the treehouse it-” She started

“I don't care. It’s the only place left that could possibly have the answers we seek. It wasn’t in the castles of Canterlot or the Crystal Empire. That is the only place I can think to look. The only place other than Zecora’s hut. The rest of the ruins are still there, and we already decided we weren’t going into Zecora's hut.” Spike said, making his way out of the castle. Creatures of all kinds cleared a path for the much larger dragon.

“Okay, Spike. Whatever you say.” Luster Dawn said at barely above a whisper.