Prologue

Dawn's early light seemed to always awaken her from slumber, the slight light that emitted from the sun combined with the warmth of it's fragile rays that wormed their way into her room to hold her within their grasp was always something special to her. Some mornings, like this one, she loved to sit in her bed and look up at the morning sky. Displayed before her eyes was a wonderful shade of red that was plastered against the clouds, with a slight hue of purple mixed in, while the clear sky was a definite shade of orange.

A deep sigh of content escaped her pursed lips as she took in the image before her, almost as if she was looking at a magnificently done painting. Behind her she could hear the door open to her room, with it carried a slight breeze from all of the open windows on the lower floor. She caught the scent of the outside world, the smell of freshly fallen rain, of the wet morning dew on the grass, of the one pony who had captured her heart, and the delectable smell of mouth watering food.

Not a word was said as she looked over her shoulder to see who had entered her room, giggling slightly when she saw that it was none other than her Royal Guard and special somepony, Flash Sentry. His orange coat seemed to glisten in the light that caught it, while his deep ocean blue eyes pierced deeply into her very being, displaying nothing but compassion and love towards her.

Almost as if by simple magic, Flash made his way across the room to sit beside Twilight on the bed, draping a wing over her as he looked up to the morning sky. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Twilight only nodded before she pressed her head against his, loving the closeness that they were sharing. "But, not as beautiful as you."

Their breathing seemed to fall into unison as they looked towards one another, letting their feelings blossom forth as they slowly leaned in towards one another, their eyes closing ever so slowly. Twilight smiled inwardly when she felt her lips connect with his, her heart starting to soar out of her chest while she felt like butterflies where flying around inside of her stomach. Neither one broke their kiss as the sound of claws against wood became very prominent within the room, signaling that someone had entered.

Standing in the doorway to his shared room with Twilight was none other than Spike the dragon, her number one assistant. His purple scales seemed to capture the light of the sun, then reflect it back with so much intensity that it created a hue of bright purple on all of the walls within the bedroom. His light green underbelly displayed a light hue of green blended in with the purple, creating a wonderful mixture of color.

In his little hands (paws) was a tray laden with two plates, each one holding a stack of stomach churning hay pancakes, honey syrup drizzled over them with crushed rose petals sprinkled on top. Next to each plate was a tall glass of freshly made orange juice and a ripe apple. Noticing that the two were rather busy at the moment, Spike placed the tray onto one of the many studying stands that were placed sporadically throughout the bedroom.

Taking his leave of absence, for he had told Twilight the night before that he head to leave early, he made his way downstairs and headed out the door.

Upon leaving his tree home, Spike took in a deep breath of air, with it he caught all of the scents that he could. Being a dragon had some perks, like the simple fact that he could smell more scents than any normal pony could, giving him a slight advantage over anyone who tried to sneak up on him. Within his breath he was able to smell the most prominent smell, freshly fallen rain, though it was laced with fear from ponies who wanted nothing more than sunshine. Though it was not as overpowering as everything else, he could detect that not far off some ponies were working hard, trying to get a cart unstuck from the mud. If the scent alone did not give that away, the grunts and groans surely would.

Taking another deep breath and holding it, he started to make his way into town, where he hoped to head over to the Carousel Boutique and help its owner. As he had promised the day before, he was going to stick by his word and dragon code, if not only for the sake of trust, as well as the love that he held for the owner. Over the course of the last few weeks he had hit a growth spurt, so he was now standing a little taller than Twilight, while his courage had yet to even get hear his size.

Day after day he was tortured with the fact that he was only allowed to look at the love of his life, but he had not the courage to tell her how he felt, for the simple fear of being rejected. Though he knew that if he ever wanted to be with her, he would have to overcome this fear, he could not bring himself to do it, no matter what. Thus he was left with nothing but a heart full of love and spending his night alone, while Twilight and Flash Sentry went out on dates.

Today though, he hoped to change all that. He hoped to find the courage within himself and tell her how he felt, and hope to Celestia that she felt the same way as he did. No matter what she said to him after he told her his feelings, he would at least feel good about the knowledge that she knew how he felt.

Rounding another comer, he could see the Carousel Boutique, in all its glory. His heart began to beat faster, while he could feel his stomach start to churn and threaten to expel his breakfast.

A flash of lightening in the distant mountains behind the Boutique drew his attention away from the shop for a moment, making him focus on the small flash and wonder what had caused it.

As if by some sort of cruel joke, he could hear a large wooden cart heading full speed down the road, spraying up water as it rolled through a small hole filled with rainfall. The smell of apples quickly became strong in the air, as did the scent of fear, but not for fear of rain, but for fear of him. Turning around quickly, Spike was only able to see a cart full of apples before it slammed into his right side, nopony could mistake the sound of cracking bones from the force of the hit.

Spike watched with what remained of his conscious mind as he flew through the air for a few feet, at the end of which he landed flat on his back and slid in the mud. Stopping the sliding dragon was the wooden door to the Boutique, which shattered into pieces when his head shot through it like a horn. A deep groan escaped his lips before he looked up slightly and saw a beautiful silvery-white coated mare rushing to his aide, her elegant royal purple mane nicely groomed as usual. Her blue eyes seemed to do nothing more than show both fear and heart ache at the thought of him in such a state.

"Rarity." His voice was weak and course, though she was still able to hear his call.

Getting down close to him, she placed her head beside his own as she said, "I'm here Spike, just talk to me." To her horror, she got a choked gurgle back in return. When she looked over. She could see that his eyes were closed and that his breathing had slowed down tremendously. "Spike! Come on Spike! Stay with me!" Though she knew that she was not always a particularly strong mare, she also knew that the little dragon was not going to get the help that he needed any other way.

A blue aura slowly surrounded the baby dragon, originating from none other than Rarity, who now had tears falling from her eyes. She braced herself before she set the dragon down upon her back, realizing now just how heavy the little guy was. Pushing that thought aside, she ran out of the Boutique in such a hurry that one would have thought she was either Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash.

Tears clouded her eyes as she ran in the direction of the hospital, knowing full well that it was close due to the fact that she lived in town not far from it. Out of the corner of her eye she caught two ponies joining her, one was Applejack, an orange mare with a long blonde mane and tail, both tied off at the end. Atop her head was her normal brown cowboy hat. Running beside her was her older brother, Big Macintosh, a cherry red pony with a shorter orange mane, but long tail. Tears were in Applejack's eyes, while she could see that Big Mac held his head sort of down, for they both knew what had happened.

Rarity could not hold her tongue as she raced into the hospital, screaming for a doctor to help. "Help, please! I need a doctor now!"

Luckily, almost as if fate was waiting for her, a doctor had just released a patient after giving them a few pain pills. He sprinted over to Rarity and asked, "What happened to him?"

He turned towards Applejack as she cleared her throat, speaking softly through her sobs, "Spike, Spike was hit by a runaway apple cart, going very fast."

The doctor's eyes widened slightly before he pressed his stethoscope against Spike's breast, listening to his lungs and heartbeat. Within an instant he called out to the orderlies that were walking by, "Quickly, get a gurney! We need to get him into surgery now, he has a few broken ribs and is bleeding internally, move!" The orderlies wasted no time in rushing past the doors marked 'Authorized Personnel Only' and returning a moment later with the gurney and another doctor and nurse.

They moved Spike onto the gurney before wheeling him away, leaving Big Mac and Applejack to hold back Rarity, seeing as how she was not allowed to follow. She was forced to watch as Spike was rolled away from her forelegs, away from her hooves. Her heart sank as she began to hope and pray to Celestia that he was going to be fine, but she knew deep in her heart that it was going to be a miracle if he ever made it.

Oh Spike, you can't leave me, you can't go without knowing how much I truly, deeply, love you. Nopony can ever be you, nopony can ever compare to having you as one whom to love. Please Spike, come back to me. Her tears fell like a raging river now, her eye liner running while her normally well kept mane was a mess, though she took no notice as she whispered, "Spike, I love you..."