The Pony Dead

The dragon flt awake, but he couldn't tell. All he could do was stare into the darkness and wonder what had happened, where he was. All he could think of was the shine in Rarity's hair, and how beautiful the dress making pony's voice was. Soon, a voice came into his head.

"Please," It asked, "Tell me about yourself."

“My name, is Spike." he began, I’m a dragon from a land called Equestria, a land ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I had six friends: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Diane Pie, and... Rarity. I had a job, assistant to Twilight Sparkle... I was happy.”

“Good,” another voice called from what seemed like nowhere, “Now tell me, what happened Spike? Why are you here?”

***

It had been a long trip, but they where almost there. Twilight had been planing this trip for weeks with Spike’s help, and it was finally about to pay off. The purple unicorn had invited all her closest friends to join them on a week long trip to the Everfree Forest. At first the others had protested...
***

“Isn’t it too dangerous Twilight?” Fluttershy had said in her own soft demeanor.

“Yeah Twi,” Applejack added, “that forest is crawlin’ with Celestia knows what, and you want us to stay in a cabin up there?”

“Girls, you arn’t listening,” Twilight was starting to get a bit frustrated, this argument had gone on for hours now, “Princess Celestia offered us a chance to use her own personal cabin.”

“I never thought of the princess as one who enjoys *blech* getting her hooves dirty.” Rarity piped up, she had obviously been the first to reject the idea of going anywhere that may have dirt in it. As for camping, she literally shuttered at the thought of it.

Twilight shook her head and turned to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, the only two who had jumped at the chance of camping. Rainbow looked Applejack in the eye and laughed a bit, “Never thought I’d see you chicken out cuz of a little thing like Manticores AJ. Guess that proves who here is the toughest and fastest pony in Equestria.”

“Now wait just an apple buckin’ minute!” the farm pony walked up to her blue pegasus friend, “Just because I don’t want to end up part of a four piece meal doesn’t mean I’m chicken!” At that moment, Scootaloo walked by and looked over at the group, then walked on wondering why her ears where ringing.

“Then prove it.” Dash just smiled as she saw how red Applejack’s face was getting in anger.

“Fine then! Twilight, I’m in!” The Stetson wearing pony then took her place next to Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing with excitement.

“Oh this is going to be so fun!” the pinky pony called out, “I’ll pack marshmallows and chocolate bar and we can make s’mores! Then, we can tell scary ghost stories! And give each other make overs!”

Rarity’s ears perked up and she turned to Pinkie, “Make overs? Did you say make overs Pinkie darling?”

The party pony nodded, “Yep, make overs. You know, with facials and mani...”

“Yes darling, I know what a make over is.” the fashionesta proudly held her head high, “But, I suppose that you still need to buy all the various products for them?”

“Well... Actually...”

“Say no more! I’ll come along, and bring my own. I’ll have you girls looking fabulous in your hiking books or my name is Mudd!” Rarity then rushed to the boutique to quickly gather her supplies. The only pony left was Fluttershy, her face almost hidden behind her long pink mane. As she looked up, she saw Twilight smiling warmly. The purple unicorn’s eyes begging the yellow pegasus to some along.

Rainbow Dash landed next to her old friend and smiled, “Hey, I promise I’ll protect you ok? And we have Applejack too, so you’ll be fine.”

“Hey! What about me?” Spike chimed in, he had been busy putting the last of Twilight’s books about camping into her saddle bags.

“Yeah, that a good point! We’ll have a dragon with us Shy, so what do you say?” Rainbow’s eyes jointed Twilights, begging for the timid pegasus to come.

“Um... well...” Fluttershy, put a hoof to her chin. She trembled as she thought of all the scary things that could be out in the woods, but she would also be surrounded by her friends.

“We’ll play spin the bottle.” Pinkie said, seeming to have teleported in front of Fluttershy. A seductive look on the pink pony’s face as she smiled.

“Oh... Oh my...” Fluttershy blushed and looked up at Twilight and Rainbow Dash, both still begging with their eyes.

***

Needless to say, Fluttershy agreed to come with, but only if everypony agreed to let her cook the meals. They did, mostly because the last time anypony else cooked they wound up eating nothing but sweets the entire time... Then again, it was their faults for asking Pinkie to cook. Twilight couldn’t help but smiled as she looked around the carriage at her friends, all of them talking amongst themselves as they went deeper and deeper into the woods. Finally, the carriage stopped and the six ponies and a dragon got out. The wooden thing was powered by the combined magic of Rarity and Twilight, as well as a little extra pull from Rainbow Dash and Applejack every now and then. Still, it was nothing compared to the cabin.

“ What a dump!” Pinkie Pie piped up as she stepped out of the carriage, and she was right. Princess Celestia’s cabin looked like it had been banished to the moon and back: chipped wood, tiles coming off the roof, not to mention the smell coming from the trash can. It almost made Rarity faint on sight, but thankfully, Twilight had a plan. In a matter of moments, the purple unicorn had the old cabin looking habitable, if not brand new. As the seven entered, the sun was beginning to fall, leaving the cold shadow of the moon hovering above them.

Spike looked outside around nine and shuttered, the shadows from the trees outside looked like nightmarish demons getting ready to attack the cabin. It took all his courage just to lay down and get some sleep next to Twilight. The baby dragon slowly closed his eyes, hopping his dreams would take him away from the strangeness of the unfamiliar bed, but as he drifted off he couldn’t shake the dread that tickled the back of his next. Suddenly, he heard a voice, barely over a whisper, echo in his ears. It was a deep, rugged voice, and it only told him one thing.

“Get out now... Or they’ll die...”

***

The next day, Spike woke to the smell of pancakes that , for once, he wasn’t cooking. The purple and green dragon rushed out the door and into the kitchen, where Fluttershy was already putting out plates full of her special recipe Super Deluxe Oat Pancakes. The baby dragon’s mouth was watering as he sat down next to a unicorn, but it wasn’t until his first bite when he realized it was a white one. He bit his lip as he looked down at Rarity’s hoof, and if it weren’t for his scales the dress maker would see his blushing face.

“Good morning Spike, did you sleep at all last night?” Rarity asked, her voice sounding frazzled and tired.

“A bit,” Spike replied and looked up at the unicorn’s face, even with the bags under her eyes she was still beautiful to the baby dragon. Spike smiled at her, but his only reply was a slight nod. He wasn’t sure if it was because Rarity was tired, or because of...

“Spike dear...” The fashionesta said, “What’s your tail doing?” Spike looked behind him, and saw that his tail was slowly sliding up Rarity’s flank. He quickly stopped, but something in Rarity’s eyes told him to keep going. So he did, but it wasn’t until the tip of the dragon’s tail was inches away from what he desired that Spike sighed and shook his head.

“Time to wake up yet?” He asked himself, then the room disappeared as the baby dragon slowly returned to the land of reality...

Once awake, Spike noticed that the bed was empty and it was still dark. Slowly, he walked into the main room of the cabin and saw Pinkie Pie kissing Fluttershy. The baby dragon couldn’t help but laugh, after all it was Pinkie’s mention of spin the bottle that was the last push for the yellow pegasus to join the camping trip.

“Have a nice nap Spike?” Twilight asked, floating upside down, much to the dragon’s confusion. “Truth or Dare.”

“Ah, makes sense... Can I?”

“Sure,” the purple unicorn smiled, then turned to her friends, “Spike’s in!”

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash quickly landed next to the baby dragon, “So, truth or dare Spike?”

“Um... Dare.” Spike replied.

“Ok, I dare you to kiss Rarity.” the blue pegasus said, right before the dragon pinched himself. It hurt, so he wasn’t dreaming... It was finally his chance! All he needed was a jewel the size of his head to make his moment perfect. He slowly walked up to Rarity, who was lying on a couch on the wall near him.

“Are you ready?” Rarity asked, smiling shyly.

“Y...yeah...” Spike answered, leaning in slowly... inch by inch... until...

“Hey ya’ll!” Applejack yelled from the next room, “Come and check this out!” And just like that, the five ponies in the room all ran towards the sound of their friend’s voice. Spike, on the other hand, was so enraged that he blasted a small trophy on the wall with a ball of green fire. (Moments later, in Canterlot, Princess Celestia was knocked unconscious by the same trophy.) The baby dragon finally joined the group, only to be disgusted at what he saw.

There, on a small table, was a book. But it wasn’t the fact that there was a book there that made him feel sick to his stomach, it was what the book was made of. From the smell and look of the tome on the bedside table, the book was bound in the tanned skins of ponies. The cover itself showed that more then anything, as it had the pained face of a pony nearly burnt on the cover.

“Wh...what in the name of all of Equestria is that?” Rarity asked, looking completely green. The group all looked at Twilight, the smartest of the bunch, but even the purple unicorn shook her head.

“I... I have no clue girls...” Twilight replied, “But it feels... evil.”