“Mmm, ice cream,” Spike said, still dreaming. He was about to take a bite out of his chocolate cone before being roused awake by the screeching of a bat.

“Huh, what?” he said, surprised to find himself in near complete darkness. He couldn’t tell where he was at the moment, but definitely knew that it wasn’t the library. Stepping out of his bed, he found his foot touching a cold cavern floor.

“Maybe I sleepwalked here,” he said, knowing that it couldn’t be true. After all, his bed was with him. Actually, it made no sense how he’d gotten here. The only caverns he knew were in the Everfree Forest, and that walk would’ve been dangerous half-asleep. Feeling around, he found what appeared to be a large stick and breathed some fire onto it, making himself a torch.

“Spike, Adventurer Supreme!” he said, holding his torch out in a victory pose. His confidence was shot however when he heard a snarl.

“Help!” a voice yelled out. Spike could tell where the voice was coming from and found himself wondering if he should go and help out with whatever was snarling around. “Anypony out there?”

“I’ll help! Hold on!” Spike said, his heroic side winning out. He ran as fast as he could, jumping over precipices and carefully moving through spiky areas. He felt himself going down into the cavern, trying to find where the voice was coming from.

“How’d I get into this?” Spike asked, realizing that it was a pretty good question. As he tried to recall what could have landed him here, the ground gave way, causing him to fall to the area below. “Gah!” he yelled out. When he landed, he managed to regain balance and stand up again.

“Well, that was painful,” he said, rubbing his back. While rubbing, he saw the shadow of a pony run by, followed by an even larger shadow. He knew that that’s where he needed to go and chased after them.

“Stop!” the pony yelled. Spike finally got in range of the pony to finally see the figure of a male unicorn. He decided that the details on that were probably not as important as the giant spider that was currently looming over him. Seeing the source of light, the spider turned its attention to Spike, who was now trying to find a way to fight back. It seemed hopeless for the dragon, until he realized that he was a dragon. With a flaming stick.

“Eat stick, spider!” Spike said, trying to come up with another one-liner. He found that he couldn’t come up with much at that moment and knew he’d figure out some lines right after he finished the fight. The spider retaliated, trying to use its pincers to grab him. Spike ducked and breathed a stream of fire straight at the belly, causing the spider to screech out in pain. Using this opportunity, Spike whacked his stick with all his might, striking the spider repeatedly. Soon it faltered on its legs and fell, unable to stand up again.

“That takes care of that,” Spike said, moving over the body to approach the pony. He was still shivering from fright, hiding in the corner of the cave. “So, who’re you?”

“I’m-“ before the unicorn could answer, another loud rumble was heard, shaking the ground. “Oh no. It’s still after us!”

“Wait, so the spider didn’t make that rumble earlier?” Spike asked.

“No! It’s a dragon! We’re in a dragon’s cave and it’s after me!” the unicorn said, running as fast as soon as he could get to his hooves.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Spike followed after him, trying desperately to catch up. He felt like he was losing sight of him in the darkness and pushed his tiny legs to the max. Soon the unicorn was out of sight. Spike knew that he’d lost him and tried to catch his breath. Not five seconds later, the unicorn was galloping right at Spike with all his might.

“RUN!” he yelled out as he passed by. Spike looked on in confusion as the unicorn had run right by before he saw the dragon he was running from. He couldn’t actually see the outline, but he knew immediately that this was larger than any dragon he’d ever seen.

“Wait up! No, actually, go faster! Just… LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!” Spike yelled, somehow managing to now catch up to the unicorn. The two went as fast as they could until they both spotted an exit.

“Let’s go through there!” the unicorn yelled out. The both of them jumped through the hole, falling deeper into the cave. They tumbled down for about a minute before finally coming to a rest.

“What’s with this cave and falling!” Spike yelled out, popping his back into place. “You okay there?”

“Yeah. Just glad that we got out of the way. Did you see that dragon?”

“Only the shadow of it. Pretty big. Wonder how it can move around in this cave.” Spike thought the idea over before remembering something. “Say, I never got your name. What was it?”

“Oh. I’m Ideal. Pleased to meet you, Spike.”

“No problem.” Spike looked around with his torch, searching for an exit. “Hey, wait…”

“I found an exit!” Ideal yelled out. He went through, Spike following after him. “I think I see a way out. Come on!”

“Alright. Say, how did you know my-“ Spike was suddenly cut off with the shadowy appearance of the dragon. In less than a second, the creature suddenly ate Ideal, eating away the path to the exit along with him.

“SPIKE!” the dragon yelled. Purpled fire spurted out of the dragon’s mouth, covering it’s body and lighting up the cavern. Spike was absolutely terrified and was about to run away before the dragon destroyed his way back. Rampaging, the ground started to crack and soon broke, sending Spike plummeting once more.

“Hey! Spike! Come on! You need to wake up,” a familiar voice told him.

“Huh? Wait, Ideal?”

“Yeah. Come on. We need to go, man. I think the dragon might show up again soon.”

“No!” Spike yelled out. “Ideal, I just saw you get eaten. You’re dead. Not only that, but somehow you know my name.”

“Duh. You told me it,” Ideal replied.

“No, I didn’t. I specifically remember not telling you my name.” Spike felt like he knew the truth, but couldn’t say it yet. “Ideal, do you know that dragon?”

“What makes you say-“

“Do you?” Spike was staring down Ideal. He knew that something was wrong. Something had always been wrong.

“Well, since you’re pushing me, I’ll tell you what I know. The dragon’s name is Ideal.”

“What?” Spike’s mind just broke.

“Yeah. Confusing, isn’t it? I still try to figure that out, but I don’t know how we both can appear at the same time.” Ideal stopped talking before continuing. “Well, I think it’s because we’re the same guy, but completely different. Either way, I know who’s gonna win this fight.”

“What are you talking about?” Spike asked, confused at everything he was hearing.

“There’s always that fight we have. I know he’ll win because, well, look at you! He’s more like you than I am.” Spike finally managed to get a look at Ideal, seeing that the unicorn had a purple coat with a green mane, just like him.

“But…I don’t wanna be a dragon. I’m a pony. I was raised pony. I can’t be that thing.” Spike was started to get dizzy.

“Really? Not to burst your bubble, but we don’t have several important features. I guess the big difference being pretty much everything that a pony would actually have.” Ideal laughed at that statement, silencing when he saw Spike blankly staring at him. “Pretty much, you have to accept that thing is what you’ll have to be. Or maybe not. You’re still trying to decide, but really you can’t be what you want. It just doesn’t work that way.”

“NO! I’m what I want to be!” Spike yelled out in defiance.

“Oh? So you want to be a dragon and a pony? Let’s see how that works.” Ideal suddenly grew twenty time his size and sprouted dragon wings. Sitting down on his hind, dragon legs grew out of his haunches, the hooves moving up to the belly. The fluffy tail also became scaly and the pony face suddenly stretched while still maintaining its form. “Now, let’s see how this work out.”

Ideal started breathing fire onto Spike, his tiny body somehow not able to take the heat. Spike tried to find something to work with, before realizing that he could do the same. With all he had, he began to breathe fire onto the beast’s stomach.

“That won’t do much good,” Ideal said, readying himself for another attack. Spike knew this was true and tried to find something to help him. Otherwise, he was doomed.

“Come on, Spike. Use your head!” Spike remembered when he had fought the spider and beaten it by bonking his head, remembering that he still had the torch. His revelation soon died though when he saw that the torch had been incinerated. Still hoping to use the idea, Spike then grabbed the nearest stalactite and charged forward, trying to avoid the fire. What seemed hopeless soon became possible as Spike stabbed the belly of the beast with the point.

“GAH!” Ideal yelled out, black liquid pouring from the wound. Spike knew he needed to continue attacking and let loose. Each new stab created an opening from where the fluid came out. Soon the cavern was flooding with the liquid, causing Spike to float.

“Get away!” One of Ideal’s hooves knocked Spike against a wall and attempted to pin him, but they lacked any real reach. Spike swam back to the belly, carefully dodging the hooves and striking with the rock.

“Eat rock!” Spike said, realizing that he was terrible at this. Soon the liquid rose to the level where it reached the head of the dragon.

“Certainly!” the dragon said, gobbling up Spike. Spike realized that he was going to die if he didn’t do something and scrambled quickly, flinging his arms around as he plummeted down the throat. With luck, the weapon he had got stuck in the throat wall, Spike clinging on for dear life. Regaining his composure, he managed to grab onto the lining of the throat with his claws, tearing it up as he went up. Slowly but surely, Spike had reached the mouth of Ideal. Ideal was now chocking from the impaled weapon in his throat and breathing coarsely. Spike heard one large wheeze and jumped out of the mouth just as it closed on itself.

No more liquid came out of the corpse, the creature finally falling. Spike was exhausted from his fight, but knew that he still needed to get out.

“Now what?” he asked. As if listening, Spike saw that the liquid had risen to the point where he was now at the level where he’d seen the previous exit. Using the last of his strength, he climbed up to the mouth of the exit and looked at the blinding light that burst forth, walking into it.

“Spike! Come on and wake up,” Twilight said from downstairs. Spike rubbed his eyes as the light from outside streamed on his face.

“Ugh. What just happened?” Spike thought back to his dream and what he just did. He’d killed a version of himself that he hated. Actually, there were two versions of himself that he hated, but never realized.

“I fought the pony me, but also the dragonish me. What’s that mean?” He looked in a mirror and saw his reflection. “No. I am a dragon. I need to accept that about myself. I might fear what I could become, but that doesn’t mean I’m not who I am.” He puffed up his chest and did a playful roar. “Bet no pony I know could do that.”