Spike peeked outside his trash can, still shaking. Outside, the glass prison containing his friends shimmered in the mid-afternoon light. He scanned around; trying to see every corner of the square to make sure it was empty. It had been a few hours since Trixie’s speech, and he really didn’t think anypony could see him, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. At least THAT lesson from Twilight stuck, he thought as a partially-deflated soccer ball popped up next to him.

“Whaddya think, Bally? Does the coast look clear?” He asked his new friend.

The soccer ball, being a piece of trash he’d found at the bottom of a garbage can and befriended in hopes of retaining his sanity, said nothing.

“Man, you’re right; Trixie could have all sorts of booby traps around that bowl! And besides, it’s not like I have any way to get to that opening up top,” he sighed and slunk down to the bottom of the can. “I guess it was stupid to think a baby dragon could do something that the Elements of Harmony couldn’t.”

He looked around the inside of the can hopelessly, his eyes eventually falling on a broken eggshell. “What’s that, Engelbert?” He asked, scooping up the shell with his free hand.

The eggshell, also being a piece of trash he’d found at the bottom of a garbage can and befriended in hopes of retaining his sanity, also said nothing.

“Well, okay! Yeah! You’re right! Everypony’s depending on me!” Spike’s gaze hardened as he poked his head back out of the can. He smeared some of the grime from the lid’s bottom onto his cheeks as he surveyed the Town’s Square. “It’s like Sweetie said: I’m the only one in Ponyville that doesn’t have a collar, which makes me the only one who can get around unnoticed!”

Suddenly, his eyes softened. “Sweetie…” he mumbled. Just what was wrong with him? He’d never thought about Rarity’s sister this way before! The idea had never even crossed his mind! So what the hay was going on? Was it still Rarity he loved, or…

Suddenly, the soccer ball popped up next to him bonked him on the head. “Ow, Bally! What was that for!?”

Once again, the soccer ball said nothing.

“Right, mare issues later! Everypony needs rescuing, so I have to stay focused! Thanks, Bally!” Taking a deep breath, Spike hopped out of his can and tucked and rolled to his feet. Still looking around, he spied across the square towards the massive, curved surface of the bowl.

“Gyaah!” He coughed in an attempt to summon a battlecry as he dashed across the square, his baby dragon legs carrying him as fast as they could (which still wasn’t much, but it was nice to see him try). His eyes squeezed shut for fear of running into some sort of magical trap; Spike stumbled around in the darkness, trying to keep his bearings and his hold on his newfound, inanimate friends. He only stopped when something rose up and struck him in the face, bouncing him back and knocking him off his claws.

“Don’t hurt me! Please! I’m too young to die!” He gasped, pushing himself up onto his knees and assuming a begging position faster than you could say: “Open your eyes, you wuss!” Sadly, nopony was around to say something along those lines, so Spike had to remain kneeling for a full two minutes before he worked up the guts to look.

The swirling, red mist of Trixie’s prison filled his view. He stumbled back again as he stared up at the massive glass structure that dominated Ponyville’s square, the perpetual storm boiling away inside it. Bolts of red lightning appeared from the clouds inside randomly, shooting out at him. “Okay Spike,” he muttered to himself. “On the upside, you made it to the prison…dome…thing. On the downside…”

He gulped. “You’re starting to wish you hadn’t.” He took a few steps backwards and felt something crack beneath his weight. He looked down and scooped up the shattered remnants of one of his garbage-based friends.

“You’re right again, Engelbert, everpony’s counting on me,” he sighed dejectedly, dropping the shells. “So, all I have to do is figure out how I’m gonna…”

He stopped as his hand rested on the surface of the prison and stuck fast. He looked down, noticing a bit of yolk stuck to his palm. His face lit up. “Engelbert, you’re a genius!”

He picked up the soccer ball and dropped it next to the small pile of eggshells, smearing more goo from the shells onto his hands. “You guys stay here and keep watch: I gotta go in there alone.” And just like that, he threw himself on the glass and started the long climb up with his new friends watching in awe and fear. Or they certainly would be if they had eyes, or brains, or feelings, or any of the basic stuff required to watch or feel anything. As it was, the two objects just sat there awhile before a gentle breeze managed to roll the partially-deflated soccer ball away, crushing the remnants of the eggshells as it rolled lopsidedly into a darkened alley. It had quite a few adventures from there, but that’s a story for another time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took nearly a full half-hour of climbing, but Spike managed to reach the top of the bowl, wheezing with the effort. “Dragons…were not meant…to climb…” he huffed as he finally reached a point where he could stand, balanced precariously on the opening’s edge.

Sweat dripping off his body and smearing away the remnants of the egg on his hands, Spike gazed down into the swirling, misty depths of the prison. Up here, he could hear the random crackle of bolts of energy dancing around beneath him, blasting all throughout the bowl’s depths. “W-well,” he sighed, trying to calm his shivering knees. “No time like the present.”

Taking a deep breath, the baby dragon took one step and leapt right off the ledge, his knees tucked into his chest as if he were pulling off a cannonball. The air inside rushed by his body as he fell, and for a few panicked moments, he was afraid he was just going to splat against the floor, a little purple mess for Trixie to clean up later. Holy sweet Celestia, I’m an idiot! He thought, tears brimming in his eyes from the wind. Why did I think this was a good idea!? And now everypony’s gonna stay locked up and they’re only gonna find me when they wake up and I’ll never get to practice that tongue-thing with Rarity and I’ll never…

Just a few yards short of the bottom, a couple bolts of lightning raced out of the mist and encircled the baby dragon, lowering him gently to the ground. He remained curled up in a little ball there for a while, holding his breath until his face turned blue and forced him to let it out with a gasp. Choking, he started thrashing about as if he were succumbing to poison gas, his mouth foaming. Eventually, his thrashing stopped, his eyes glazing over and staring blankly up at the roof.

Then he licked his lips and sat up. “Huh,” he muttered. “I guess the air’s breathable after all. And I guess Trixie installed a safety net to catch all the ponies, which makes sense since she did sorta toss ‘em in here.”

He stood, looking around. “But then, where are they? It’s not like they just…” Something bumped against the back of his head, interrupting him. Steeling his nerve once more, he twisted around with a gasp, fists raised. Silver Spoon floated by, snoring loudly. “Oh,” he said, pushing her body away. As he looked around, he noticed even more dark shapes off in the mist, their silhouettes lit up by the occasional flash of lightning.

“Well, that explains it!” He exclaimed proudly. “Magically induced comas! I’m sure that makes things easier for Trixie to manage in here.”

Taking a few, unsure steps forward, the baby dragon waded through the mist, searching for his friends as more snoozing ponies drifted by. “Oh, finding them will be like looking for a needle in a haystack! How am I even s’posed to…ow!”

Scootaloo’s hoof bucked against the side of his head. He glared at her in annoyance. “Scootaloo, why dontcha try being more…SCOOTALOO!” He gasped in joy, grabbing the little orange pegasus and pulling her in for a hug. “And where you’re at, odds are the rest of the Crusaders aren’t far behind!”

Sure enough, hovering just a few feet overhead, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom snoozed peacefully. Nearly jumping out of his scales in joy, the little dragon grabbed the remaining fillies and hugged them close. “We’re back together again!” He grinned, only to realize they were all still sawing logs. “Aaannnnnd you’re all out like a light.”

He arranged the three foals on the ground and scratched his chin. “How am I supposed to wake you guys up? If I had Pinkie here, it’d be a snap, sure, but hey! I got my dragon breath!”

Positioning himself so that his mouth hung right over all three of the little faces in front of him, he reached down inside his gut for a good ol’ pocket of gas, eventually summoning a putrid belch that echoed off into the distance, smelling of the onion and garlic chili he’d eaten the day before. The three foals continued sleeping peacefully. “Huh, that usually wakes Twilight up in a flash,” he muttered, scratching at his chin again. Then another idea hit him. “Maybe I just need to think of something that would definitely get you all up!”

Running up to Scootaloo, he started jumping up and down next to her head. “Scootaloo, Scootaloo! You’ve gotta come quick! Rainbow Dash says she’s giving free flying lessons to everypony who just asks, but it’s only for the next five minutes! And oh, Sweetie Belle! Rarity says she just made a plate of cookies with a contract on them saying she’ll admit to the whole town that you’re the better, more talented, sister! But you have to eat ‘em all in the next five minutes or it’s no deal! And Applebloom! Babs is coming to Ponyville and she says she’s bringing her chapter of the Cutie Mark Crusaders with her! But they can only stay for five minutes before their train leaves!”

The three ponies remained fast asleep. Spike sighed and inhaled, preparing to scream his little lungs out. He’d been saving this for an emergency, a time of dire crisis in Ponyville, but if this wasn’t an emergency, he didn’t know what was: “EVERYPONY! TWILIGHT’S FOUND A WAY TO GIVE YOU ALL CUTIE MARKS WITHOUT ANY EFFORT ON YOUR PARTS WHATSOEVER!”

The ponies gave no reaction whatsoever. “Aw c’mon,” he sighed, kneeling dejectedly at their sides. “If that didn’t work, what will? C’mon Spike, think!” What did he know about magically-induced comas? Well, not very much. Twilight was the research pony of the group, not him. Still, he HAD seen stuff like this before, in movies and stories and the like. But how accurate were those? They always ended with the big, strong hero arriving to break the curse with…

”…With a kiss,” he gasped, turning back to the crusaders. They all dreamt peacefully, snuggled up on the floor, but somehow, Sweetie seemed…especially peaceful. Something about her set her apart from the other ponies, and it wasn’t just her lighter coat. Spike gulped. What was wrong with him!? Why was he just starting this now? Could it be…

“No,” he said stoically. “My heart belongs to Rarity. I can’t…” Of course, the best way to find out if what he felt was love was to…go through with it. In the stories, the brave prince always awakened the sleeping beauty with true love’s kiss. So, if what he felt was anything like that, then maybe, just maybe…

“Welp, it would be killing two birds with one stone,” he figured, his claws shaking. Reaching down, he slowly wrapped his arms around Sweetie’s shoulders and pulled her in close. Palms drenched in sweat, the little dragon lowered himself, entire body quaking, eyes slamming shut, lips puckering up for the kiss. He slowly made his way towards Sweetie, their lips growing closer and closer. He let out a breath to keep himself calm, and immediately Sweetie bucked back, her hooves slamming into his stomach. “Guphaw!” He gasped and dropped to his knees, arms wrapped around his middle.

“Spike?” A sweet little voice asked.

The baby dragon opened his eyes, making Sweetie Belle’s face out through the tears of pain. “Sweetie?”

“Oh, I knew you’d come!” She gushed, wrapping her hooves around his shoulders. As she held him close, the pain screaming through Spike’s body didn’t seem to matter so much, at least until they both came to their senses and pushed away. “Uh-hum…yeah…” she stammered, blushing.

“Well,” Spike said, also blushing. “Wh-what happened to you guys?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were in this weird, magical coma! I couldn’t wake you all up and I…” his cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red, still visible in the red tint cast by the mist surrounding them. “…Uh…started getting desperate…and…stuff.”

“I dunno,” Sweetie shrugged. “I just remember this awful smell, like…onions and garlic…”

Spike’s eyes lit up. “My dragon’s breath! It must not’ve worked before because I wasn’t close enough!”

“Say what now?”

“Nothing, just hold on,” the little dragon ran up to Applebloom and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her in close. As Sweetie watched with jealous rage growing on her face, Spike lowered his face over the little Earth pony’s nose and exhaled.

“Guh-hoh!” She coughed, one of her hooves whipping around in a right hook that caught Spike across the chin. The baby dragon dropped, a bit of blood trailing from his mouth as Applebloom returned to her senses. “Ugh…what’s goin’ on…”

“Applebloom!” Sweetie sang, wrapping her hooves around her friend.

“Sweetie Belle!? Aw shoot,” the little Earth pony looked around. “Where are we?”

“Inside Trixie’s prison,” Spike explained, trying to stem the river of blood flowing from his mouth.

“Oh what the…” Applebloom galloped up to the little dragon and held his chin. “What in the hay happened t’you?”

“You did. Apparently, you’re not a morning person,” Spike snickered, cringing with her touch.

“Aw consarn it Spike, Ah didn’t mean…” she looked up, noticing the obvious glint of jealousy growing in Sweetie’s eye just over Spike’s shoulder. Two and two instantly slammed together in the Earth pony’s head, and she grinned, releasing the dragon. “Welp, what’s say we get goin’ then, huh? So, where’s Scoots?”

“We were about to get her,” Sweetie replied flatly, pointing to the little bundle of orange feathers on the ground.

“Well, that’s just great! Why don’t we…”

“Nonono, wait,” Spike said, running over and grabbing Scootaloo. “It’s a magical sleep. There’s only one way to wake her up!”

“Ooh!” Applebloom said, her eyes lighting up. “Lemme guess: true love’s first kiss!?”

“Actually,” Spike said as Sweetie glared at her friend. “It’s more like a combination of onions, garlic, and the fact that Twilight hasn’t been around to brush my teeth for two days.”

“Oh. Well, what’re y’waitin’ for?”

“In a minute, but first, couldja guys maybe hold her down? I’m not sure I have any more body parts to spare.”

“Sure, Spike,” Sweetie said, pinning down the hooves on Scootaloo’s left side while Applebloom took the right. Giving them each a thumb’s up, he smiled hopefully and lowered himself over the little pegasus’s body, exhaling all over her face in a long, drawn-out breath filled with the worst stenches of whatever he’d eaten over the past couple days. After a few short moments, the pegasus’s head suddenly butted forward, smashing into his nose and sending him flying back.

“Three times!? How is three times in a row even fair!?” He cried, now trying to block the flow of blood from his nostrils too.

“Oh man, did anypony catch the number of that chariot what hit me?” Scootaloo moaned as she sat up woozily.

“Scoots!” Her friends shrieked, wrapping their hooves around her.

“Woah, easy girls, easy,” the pegasus said as she stood up and glanced around. “Wow, where are we? Did one of Pinkie’s parties get totally out of control?”

“Naw, this is Trixie’s prison fer all the fillies and old ponies,” Applebloom replied.

“Wow, for real? Jeez, how come I can’t remember getting thrown in here?”

“Trixie apparently put a spell on everypony goin’ in. By the looks of it, they’re all asleep!”

“Jeez,” she looked around, spying the silhouettes of ponies drifting about in the distance. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s get ‘em up!”

“Not so fast,” Sweetie said. “I’m all for that, but would getting everypony up really help us here?”

“Huh?” Her friends asked.

“She’s right,” Spike said, dabbing at the blood running down his face. “There’s just a bunch of old ponies and little foals in here. Before long, we could have a bunch of ponies screaming for their mamas and a few geezers with no idea how to handle ‘em all. Doesn’t that sound like it might attract a bit of attention? Besides, I don’t think I got enough breath (or intact body parts) to get them ALL up.”

“Dangit,” Applebloom fell to the floor. “Then what’re we s’posed t’do?”

“Well, if we can’t wake everypony up, we’ll just hafta bust out ourselves!” Scootaloo said, grinning confidently.

“How in Equestria’re we supposed t’do that?”

“I guess we could start by finding the exit?”

“Oh, I already did,” Spike sighed dejectedly.

“Really?” The pegasus leapt to his side. “Why didntcha say so? Where is it?” The baby dragon simply pointed upwards. Scootaloo followed his claw up, up, and up all the way to the hole at the top of the dome, now just a tiny pinhole of light somewhere far off in the mist.

“You’re kidding me.” She moaned.

“I really wish I was.”

“How’n the hay are we s’posed t’get up there?”

“I dunno, I dunno,” the baby dragon sighed and took a seat on the mist-covered ground. “If any of us could just fly or had some teleportation magic…”

“Well, we could always build somethin’,” Applebloom suggested. “We’ve always been good at that.”

“Great idea, genius,” Scootaloo said sarcastically. “And just what’re we supposed to build something with? A few puffs of fog and some magic lightning?”

Spike’s eyes lit up. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea!”

“Huh?”

“When I fell down here, something caught me,” he explained, pacing back and forth through the mist. He pointed as a bit of lightning flashed off to their sides, silently piercing the mist without any thunder. “It felt all tingly and weird, kinda like I think that lightning’s supposed to feel like.”

“You’re sayin’ the lightning saved ya?”

“Well, Trixie still wants everypony alive in here, right? Otherwise, she couldn’t use them as hostages to get everypony out there to work in the Diamond Dogs’ mines. And she was sorta just tossing you in here all willy-nilly, so she probably has some sort of safety net in place...so…”

“So what if we use that to our advantage?” Scootaloo said brightly.

“Spike! If that stuff before didn’t prove you were a genius, this totally does!” Sweetie gushed, wrapping her hooves around his shoulders.

“Heh…thanks…” he said, his face turning a bright red while Applebloom shot Scootaloo a knowing look.

“One thing you’re missing here, genius,” Scootaloo said, remaining totally oblivious to Applebloom’s look. “We’re not exactly electricians here. We don’t know how to even get the bolts to appear, much less use them to throw ourselves around.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I have a tough old dragon hide!” He exclaimed, patting his belly. “It’ll give us plenty of room to experiment with!”

“Girls, you know what this sounds like?” Sweetie said hopefully. “It sounds like a Cutie Mark-finding quest!”

“That’s good enough for me!” Applebloom cheered. “Let’s cue the montage, everypony!”

And so, after a few tries that ended with Spike landing flat on his face, the trio of ponies discovered that if they all stood on their shoulders they could get their dragon friend high enough to trigger the net when he leapt off, and at the same time he discovered that a few pegasus feathers could stop any nosebleed. After figuring that out, they needed to spend another couple hours tracking down the supplies they needed to manipulate the net and give Spike a line he could drop down to them once he was safely outside. A few more hours passed and the sun’s light at the top of the prison faded away while they gathered enough clothes and rags to tie into a rope, along with a few shovels that had been dragged along by some of the ponies when they were being tossed into the prison.

“Okay,” Sweetie said, giving the knots on her clothes-rope a tug. “Are we ready?”

Spike wrapped the rope around himself like a bandolier. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Then let’s do this,” Scootaloo said, positioning the shovels into a random order sticking out of the ground before climbing onto Applebloom’s shoulders. Sweetie followed suit, allowing Spike to climb atop the tower of ponies and take a long, hard look down, just in time to realize how insanely stupid this idea really was.

“Guys, I dunno if…” he started, shaking nervously.

“Don’t worry Spike!” Sweetie chimed right below him.

“We believe in you!” Scootaloo said.

“And hey, if y’got yer marefriend under ya, what could be goin’ wrong, right?” Applebloom asked, grinning mischievously. Sweetie Belle glared down at her as she beamed up at them.

“Yeah…wait, what?”

“Fly like the wind, lover-boy!” The country pony chimed, bucking her shoulders to topple the tower. The purple dragon screamed as he plummeted through the air, hit the net, listened to the lightning sizzle around the metal and wood of the shovels they had positioned, and was promptly slammed into the ground with greater force than he’d ever felt before.

“Oooohh,” the Crusaders grimaced.

“Is-is he alive?” Applebloom asked.

“Tough old dragon-hide,” Spike replied, lifting his blood-covered face off the ground. “Remember?”

“That looked like it hurt…” Sweetie said concernedly.

“Naw, naw, I’m table monkey cranberries China.”

“What?”

“I said I’m fine.”

The girls beamed. “Attempt number two?” Applebloom asked as they rebuilt the tower.

“I’m ready when you are,” he said, immediately rocketing up on top of their heads. This time, he tried hitting the net with his shoulder, allowing less of his body first contact. It promptly sent him tumbling through the fog off to the side, screaming the entire way. Their only clue that he was even still in the dome was a loud thump somewhere in the distance, echoing throughout the prison.

“Spike?” Sweetie asked cautiously. “Are you dead this time?”

There were a few moments of tense silence before the reply echoed back to them: “Gimme a second to figure that out for myself, will ya?”

The Crusaders all sighed with relief. “Jeez, that’s one tough little dude,” Scootaloo said.

“Yep, great choice in stallionfriends, Sweets,” Applebloom said, nudging Sweetie Belle and raising her eyebrows.

“He’s not my stallionfriend!” The unicorn said defensively.

“Aw wait, what? You and Spike? When’d that happen!?” Scootaloo gasped.

“It never happened! We’re not…he’s not my stallionfriend!”

“Ah dunno, Sweets, the writin’ seems t’be on the wall here!” Applebloom snickered.

“There is no writing! He’s just a friend! I mean…I mean…” she sighed and took a seat on the ground. “A pony and a dragon? Has that ever happened before? And how would it even work?”

Her friends’ expressions immediately turned to concern. “Aw jeez, Sweets, have you…been thinking about this?” Scootaloo asked.

“Just since we danced together at the wedding. I sorta started thinking about it, like, playing with the idea in my head. I mean, he does hang around Rarity a lot, and I’ve seen how sweet he can be, but I just…some things have been going on that made me start to really think about it…what if he and I…y’know…”

“Can’t hurt to ask,” the pegasus said with a shrug.

“But it can! I mean, he still might have a thing for my sister, and even if he gets over that,” she sighed again, holding up her hooves. “He’s a dragon, I’m a pony, is it even possible for those to go together?”

Applebloom trotted up to her friend and rested a hoof on her shoulder. “There’s only one way to find out,” she said with a knowing smile.

“I dunno you guys, I still don’t…”

“Okay!” Spike exclaimed, appearing from the mist and immediately noticing the looks on everypony’s face. “Hey guys, c’mon! Keep your spirits up! I’m sure I’ll get it this time!”

“No Spike, it’s not that, it’s…uh,” Applebloom took one look at her friend, who promptly shook her head. “It’s…nothing. So, how’s about we get this goin’?”

“Okay,” Spike said, waiting patiently as they rebuilt the tower. “I think all I have to do is land feet-first to get what I just got, but upwards!”

“Sounds good,” Sweetie said, offering her hoof to help him up. “Ready?”

He tightened the rope around himself and wrapped his claws around her arm. “Absolutely,” he said, and just then, he looked like some sort of warrior to the little unicorn. She saw a flash of him scaling a mountainside, the grime on his face now camouflage makeup, a bandana wrapped around his head, blowing in the wind as he gazed up at his goal with a determination in his eyes she’d never seen in anypony before. “Oh my,” she blushed as he climbed past.

“Okay,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Here I go-OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The little dragon screamed as he was suddenly shot straight up into the air, the bolts catapulting him right towards the little ring of fading daylight.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders all fell atop one another in joy. “Cutie Mark Crusader: Electrical Engineers!” They sang, high-oneing before gazing at their flanks expectedly. After a few minutes passed, they each realized nothing was going to happen.

“Darn, I guess you really can’t win ‘em all,” Scootaloo sighed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

High above their heads, Spike sailed through the air, the circle of light growing bigger and bigger until he suddenly burst out of the mist, landing on his face just on the lip of the hole. “Woah, woah,” he gasped, arms wheeling around as he struggled to keep his balance. Eventually, his stance calmed, and he sighed with relief. “I honestly can’t believe that worked,” he mumbled as he untied the cloth rope around himself and started lowering it through the hole.

“Guys, I’m sending the rope now,” he called into the mist. “Be careful!”

“Alright Spike, we will!” Sweetie sang. Ah, there she was again. Oh wait. Crud.

Oh no, just what was he gonna do here? He could only give his love to one pony, but who would that be: Sweetie or…

Something rushed past behind him, quick as lightning. He paused and turned, scanning around. The entirety of Ponyville lay before him, eerily quiet in the late-evening light. “Is everypony still in the tunnels?” He mumbled.

“Spahke?” Applebloom’s voice this time.

“Right, sorry,” he continued lowering the rope. “I’m getting distracted up…”

A whisper travelled by his ear, like the razor-sharp edge of a pegasus wing cutting through the air at supersonic speed. Dismissing it as paranoia this time, Spike didn’t even look up, continuing to lower the rope until he felt a tug.

“Alright Spike, we got it!” Scootaloo said cheerfully.

“That’s great! I’ll just need to find someplace to tie this off and…” he was interrupted by a pair of thumps on the glass behind him. Shivering in fear, the baby dragon slowly turned to their source.

“Ruh-Rainbow Dash? Twilight?” He asked.

The Elements of Loyalty and Magic stared back at him, their collars invisible in the evening light.

“Oh, I’m so glad you guys are here! Especially you, Twilight!” He beamed as the rope stretched taut in his claws. “Well, no offense to you, Rainbow, I mean, I’d hug y’both if I wasn’t kinda in the middle of something.”

Suddenly, the cyan pegasus darted forward and swooped right over Spike’s head, bringing her hooves down on the rope and stopping it short. “Hey, what’s the big idea?” The cyan pegasus turned to him, eyes wide. Now that she was facing away from the sun, he could see the red glow in them. “Oh no,” he groaned.

“Mistress Trixie has commanded that nopony be allowed to leave the Trix-Dome,” the Element of Loyalty droned. Twilight trotted up next to her and promptly sliced through the feeble rope with a small bolt from her horn.

“No!” Spike gasped, lunging forward to grab the rope, but just a bit too late to keep it from slipping away into the red mist.

“Spiiiiikkkke!” The Crusaders screamed as they suddenly plummeted away into the darkness below.

“Guys!” He sobbed. A lilac hoof stomped the glass by his face. He turned around fearfully.

Twilight gazed down at him, her eyes completely blank. “As Mistress Trixie commands, we obey,” she said in the same, robotic tone as she pressed a hoof against Spike’s backside.

“Twilight!” He cried. “It’s me, Spike! For Celestia’s sake, snap out of it!”

There was a moment of hesitation on the unicorn’s part. If Spike had turned around just then, he might have noticed red-tinted tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. But it was only a moment. “As Mistress Trixie commands,” she repeated, nudging the dragon forward and sending him plummeting into the mists below. “We obey.”