A poor foal tossed and turned in his small bed, producing anxious sweats as he swatted and whimpered at the horrors in his dreams. He dreamt of flames and strange, grotesque figures that spread destruction upon entire cities. He dreamt of rattling bones boasting red eyes slowly creeping upon towns and dark streets. He dreamt of snarling soldiers and armies rushing to rip each other to pieces on charred fields.

The bones and figures gazed at the colt as he ran, screaming for his mother, down impossible long roads that stretched to nowhere. The chief horror, however, appeared only when the foal reached the end of the interminable highway. The colt looked back, and saw that the road vanished, leaving nothing but rippling dark fog surrounding him. He trembled and panted as the black smog stalked closer and closer, until he was completely swallowed by the sea of black.

Two shining, piercing, blue dots penetrated the black, and slowly dispersed the mist with their harsh luster. The foal nickered and backed away as the glaring entity carrying those eyes wandered closer. Its eyes examined the colt with a curious tilt of the head. Its head bore a single, white horn on one side, curving towards the sky. The rest of its face was obscured by an iron muzzle, but the mystery only added to the terror.

The creature rasped as it took a breath in preparation for its words, sending a tingle down the colt’s spine, “Oh, child. I promise you, there is more to this nightmare... but will you beg for my mercy?”

It extended its hand covered in five, slender claws, and reached for the quivering child. As the index claw was inches from his sweating forehead, he opened his mouth and let loose an echoing shriek.

The foal’s shrieks carry into reality as he wakes from the ominous nightmare. His screams slows to a heavy pant as he realizes the dream is over. His lips quiver, then the hot tears begin to roll down his cheeks and dampen the cotton blanket warming his small frame.

The sound of a mother’s frantic hooves pounding on the hardwood floor of the hallway boomed in his ears. She flings open the door and rushes to the bedside of her weeping foal.

She lightly caresses his head, slick and cool with sweat, slowly bringing comfort with

each gentle sweep, “Was it another one of your nightmares, sweetie?”    

“Yeah, again...” the colt sits up, sniffles, and wipes the rest of his tears away from his bleary eyes, “they always feel so... so real.”

“But they aren’t, are they?” she says with a hint of a smile, “You always wake up, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but..!.. I don’t ever get nightmares. Not since…”

“...what happened to Canterlot.” his mother quietly finishes, “I know it’s frightening that something so awful can happen in Equestria, I really do. But you need to know that the Princesses won’t let something like this happen again, now that we’re all prepared. And even if they all fail, I’ll still be here to protect you in the end.”

The colt ruminates on the soothing words for a while, before leaning up and giving his mother a cozy hug around her neck, “I… I think I can sleep now. Love you, mom.”

She smiles, returns the nuzzle, and gives him a kiss on the forehead, “I love you too, sweetie. Remember I’m only a few steps away if you need me. Sweet dreams.”

The mother clip-clops out of the room and slowly shuts the door. As she quietly walks back to her bedroom, she thinks of her son and his night terrors.

She also thinks of her own dreams of the ghastly, single-horned being. She fully understands the pain her son goes through quite easily, considering she shared the nightmares.

Why? Who knows. All she knows is to stay strong for the sake of her child.

She walks through the open door to her room, and heads for the soft covers. She stops

as the newspaper of the day laying on the nightstand catches her watchful eyes. She reads the big, bold letters of the headlines once more, still unable to completely shake the disbelief of the disaster.

        “Canterlot of all places… at least he doesn’t know about what happened to Princess Twilight..”

        ESCAPED PRISONER SETS FIRE TO CANTERLOT AND KIDNAPS THE NEW PRINCESS!

That irritating, monotone beeping was the first thing the weary dragon woke to.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

“Nnngh…. ngh.”

Beep.

“T...turn it off..”

Spike groans and stirs his scaly head. He feels the somewhat scratchy linen sheets and lumpy mattress rub his sore back as he turns to lay on his side. Spike thinks that the sleeping position he initially found himself in to be strange. He never sleeps sprawled out on his back like that; it is much too uncomfortable for his spines.

Then Spike notes the thin, loose, white tunic adorning his small frame. He pulls a face and picks at the fabric with his right claws. Spike stops as a clear wire inserted into his wrist obstructs his examination. The wire is secured with a small square of medical tape, holding down a layered nozzle in the process.

Spike grinds the drowsiness from his closed eyes with a closed fist and relooks the dreary, white bed he finds himself in. Then he looks to the cushioned chairs on the left side of the bed, the white tiles, the beeping machines, the heavy door enclosing the small room, and finally, the nightstand occupied by a simple glass vase filled with a few yellow lilies and clear water.

        He strains himself to lean his head forward, and sniffs the air. With a crinkle of his nose recoiling from the strong scent of antiseptics and medicine, his suspicions are confirmed.

        “Whoa, why am I in a hospital?”

        No response.

        Spike manages a shrug. He decides to see what he was put in the gown for himself, since no one would answer. Normally, he would be a bit more shaken up at the situation, but he felt perfectly fine. They put ponies in hospitals for anything nowadays anyways.

        He brushes off his blanket, and braces an arm on the edge of the nightstand. He slowly swings his legs over, and begins to slide off of the bed. However, the instant his feet sensed the icy touch of the tiles, a volley of nauseous enervation assailed his nerves.

        Spike’s legs became as stable as a poorly constructed house of playing cards and buckled beneath him, “Agh!”

He flailed his arms and grabbed for any possible anchor on the nightstand to prevent a painful fall, sweeping the vase full of lilies off the stand, and onto the floor, evoking the loud, shrill pitch of exploding glass, permeating the quiet atmosphere of the ward with the harsh sound.

        Spike grips as hard as his drained body could to the end of the stand, screwing his eyes shut and pressing his shoulders to his ear-frills in an attempt to escape from the vase’s angry scream.

        Not but a few seconds later, a herd of hooves clopping upon the hospital floor sounded towards the door of Spike’s room. A doctor stallion bursts through the door, followed by an orderly and two nurses, each ready to war with the medical problem at hand.

        Instead, they found a shivering, weak, baby dragon clinging to the edge of a bedstand, surrounded by broken glass, water, and limp lilies.

        Spike cranes his head towards the gaping medical ponies and gives a nervous laugh, “Heh heh… can I get some help, please?” The doctor’s open mouth closes into a wide smile, and opens once again to chuckle. The others join in his mirth, leaving Spike even more confused, “Not what I meant by help…”

 The orderly ties his chortles down to help Spike off of the nightstand and onto the bed, while the nurses begin to sweep the glass in a neat pile.

        Spike thanks the burly aide before shouting to the doctor, “Can you tell me what I’m doing here, please?”

        The doctor puts a hoof on the doorknob, looks to Spike, and grins, “You’ve been asleep for a couple of days, Mister Spike. I’ll fully explain after I fetch your friends. They’re gonna be really happy to see you!” He swiftly exits the room, and trots down the hallway.

        Spike cocks his head to the side as he perused the doctor’s limited diagnosis, “Asleep for that long? What the hay did I do? Hope Twilight wasn’t too worried.”

        “Enter quietly,” the physician warns, “startling him could cause the delicate recovery to react badly. So, please, put the cannon away.”

        Pinkie’s ears droop as she pushes the party cannon to the side, “Aww….”

        The doctor rolls his eyes and quietly pushes the door to Spike’s room open, peeking inside to see the dragon asleep again. Luckily, this slumber was the normal sort that accompanied young drakes. “Spike, you’re friends are here..!”

        Spike’s eyelids slowly uncover his green eyes, blinking out the sleep behind them. He groans, stretches his arms, and shifts his body to an upright position, “Unnngh… who’s here?”

        Spike’s eyes widen as he sees five of his friends enter his stale haven. His eyes picked out Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Cadance, and Shining Armor, each bearing raised eyebrows and and slightly open mouths in anticipation of some important event.

        “Uh, hey guys?”

        They emit a unanimous, joyful call upon hearing his tentative and puzzled voice, “SPIKE!” they then ran up to swarm the dragon with thoughtful words rendered incoherent in their impatience and simultaneous speaking. It did not matter too much, considering they all said the same positive message, but the noise was too much for Spike anyways.

        “GUYS!” Their chattering instantly dies down to his command. “While I appreciate that you all came to visit me, I sure would love to know how I got here. Do you know how weird it is to suddenly wake up in some hospital without knowing a single thing about how got you there? And where’s Twilight?”

        Spike had no idea that silence could be even quieter. He certainly learned that it was perfectly capable of doing so when he mentioned his guardian’s name.

        “Spike… you haven’t remembered yet, have you?” Shining sadly whispers.

        “Remembered... what?” Spike’s thoughts traveled back to when the vase shattered when he woke. That memory of shattered glass triggered another memory of shattered glass. A stained window, to be precise. And a great big bird that destroyed it. And the one-horned prisoner  it ferried. And a dark hand the prisoner conjured.

        And the princess that the dark hand stole.

        A vain reach for a mysterious kidnapper. A fall to the Canterlot streets filled with fire. A weighty weakness was pushing on him as he gazed at the blaze. An enervation had consumed his being, and he fell asleep.

        “Judging from the accounts and state of the guards present in the prison,” the now somber doctor dictated from his clipboard in hoof, “you were caught in the blast radius of an exploding, multi-layered shield spell powered by the Captain of the Guard and the Princesses of Equestria. The Guards present were fitted with the regular, enchanted armor, so the steel absorbed most of the impact, meaning they only left the scene with a bit of weariness and a bad headache. You, on the other hand, were not wearing any protective vestments. Your draconic constitution appeared to have been able to sustain the incredible magic blast, but your body’s maturity only allowed you to hold for a few hours. The trauma from your fall, however, shortened that time, and your body was forced to shut down and recover. Despite the fact that you’ve woken up, you’re still dealing with the effects of the damage done by the magic, but the weakness can be cured with therapy, so there shouldn’t be any permanent effects afterward as long as you don’t place too much stress on your body.”

        The long and thorough explanation was ignored as Spike focused on one question, “But where’s Twilight?”

        Shining’s frown deepens, “Spike—”

        “Someone got her back, right?” Spike interrupts while scanning everypony’s eyes with a desperate smile, “Someone saved her, right? I’m sure one of the Pegasi….”

        “It took her.” Shining bluntly says, “We were all too distracted by the fire. If we didn’t give it our undivided attention, over half of Canterlot would have been burnt to the ground. The Royal Guard didn’t even know about the Great Raven taking off until we received the citizens’ accounts.”

Spike shifts closer to the edge of the bed, looking to Shining with dilated pupils filled with the same desperation that his former smile held, “N-n-no one got her back..? Then we n-need to get her!” The drake pushes off of the bed a second time that day, before anypony could stop him.

Except this time, he fell flat onto his face.

Spike ignores their cries of surprise and brushes off their helping hooves with the little strength he has left. He uses the cold metal frame of the bed to support himself as he half-crawls, half-walks to the door.

“We need to save her, guys! We need to tell the Princesses, we need to—”

“SPIKE!” Applejack’s sudden hoof sweeps the limping dragon from the floor and back onto the bed. Spike blinks a couple times to register the stern orange hoof thrusting towards his face, “Didn’t ya just hear what the doctor just said? You’re WEAK right now, and if’n ya pull anymore falls or stunts like that, you could face permanent damage. Ain’t none of us havin’ you hurt yourself anymore. Understand?”

Spike winces from the rapid and unforeseen admonishment by Applejack’s tongue. He peers at her visage to see that her expression betrays more than simple disapproval. There are bags under her reddened eyes, and her breathing is ragged with soreness. She looks tired, very tired.

“But, what about…”

        “We know, Spike.” Fluttershy softly cuts in from behind Applejack. Applejack moves aside to make room for the pegasus to step forward, and she places a gentle hoof on Spike’s head alongside a small smile , “But right now, you’re our primary concern. If something else were to happen to you, well, I don’t think Twilight would be very happy. I promise you, we will save Twilight, but, before we can even do that, we need to make sure her Number One Assistant will be there, healthy and unharmed.”

        Spike absorbs Fluttershy’s words in silence, calming down, and understanding everypony else’s position.

He still could not stop thinking about Twilight being carried away by that awful demon.

“Now, Spike,” Applejack’s face softens with the address, “Ah’m sorry for bein’ so harsh, but you heard what Fluttershy said. And, Ah know that this is gonna be real hard for ya, but we’re gonna need ya to do something else for us.”

Spike squints at the farmer, “What is it, AJ?”

“We need to know what happened, from your words.”

Spike freezes.

“You were the only one with Twilight, up until she was kidnapped, and anymore details would be really helpful for the search.”

Fluttershy immediately noticing Spike’s haunted eyes, quickly says, “B-but if it’s too much right now, you can...”

*Creak…*

A tall, white Alicorn peers through the opened door and into the room with wide eyes, an open mouth, and held breath, an expression that Spike’s visitors bore before, stopping all activity within the small, beeping space. Her eyes scan the visitors, and eventually spots the awoken whelp.

“Spike?” Princess Celestia strides to his bedside, the visitors respectfully parting before her.

“Princess Celestia!” Spike blinks, shakes his head, and attempts to find a suitable way  to perform a bow while stuck in a bed.

 But he is stopped by her sudden hooves and long neck thrown around his little body in a warm nuzzle.

“Luna and I were so worried for you,” Celestia whispers, “but I knew you would be alright. She wanted to be here too, but she is assuming my duties for today, and I will do the same so that she may visit tomorrow. You put us in quite the tizzy, Spike!”

She lets go, leaving Spike with flushed cheeks, “Aw shucks, Princess, you know I’d be alright, I’m a dragon! And I’m sorry about making you mess with your important schedule just to see me, but, what about Twilight?”

Her smile disappears.

“You’re gonna save her, right?”

A frown replaces the grin.

“Princess?”

Princess Celestia flinches, and quickly repairs her fallen expression with the smile she had grown so accustomed to assuming in front of loyal subjects and obnoxious dignitaries alike, “Of course, Spike. All is not lost. However, for that very task, I still need something from you.”

Spike sighs, “You’re gonna need to know what happened down there, aren’t you?”

Princess Celestia closes her eyes, recoiling from the pain emanating from the young dragon’s words, “Yes. Would you be able to do that for me, Spike?”

“Yeah, I can—” Spike pauses as a shudder passes through his spine and the memory of cracked eyes flashes in his mind.

“Curious.”

At once, Spike begins trembling and cringing while the evil eyes pierce his soul. Princess Celestia takes a deep breath upon observing the effects of the events on the poor child, and turns to the other ponies.

“Would all of you please leave me and Spike alone for a minute? I feel that talking to him by myself would be best, so as not to overwhelm him questions. I will give you all the details later, but for now...”

Pinkie frowns, realizing that her long-prepared song for Spike’s health would now be cut off, “But—”

“—We understand, Princess Celestia,” Shining performs a quick bow, before leading everypony out into the hallway so that the Princess may comfort the drake with her own capable hooves.

Princess Celestia turns back towards Spike, and gives him another, but longer. embrace. Spike feels her warm neck and soft fur on his face, and better memories fill his head, instantly dispelling his shudders. Memories of a motherly Alicorn playing with and comforting him and a young Twilight Sparkle on particularly scary nights.

Of course, Twilight had been there then, and she wasn’t here now.

“Are you alright now, Spike?” Princess Celestia softly asks.

“Yeah.” Spike responds with a nod, “I can talk now.”

        Princess Celestia silently nods back, waiting for the dragon to continue.

        “It started when Twilight decided to sneak back down into that cell. She said she wanted to study that thing, but I told her not to go. She said she wanted to be prepared if another Discord or Sombra situation happened. You know how she gets when she wants to research something.”

        The Princess allows herself a small chuckle, remembering nights when Twilight studied stacks of books well past her bedtime.

        “I followed her because I didn’t want her to get into any trouble. After we made it past the guards—”

        “How, exactly?” Princess Celestia interrupts. “I gave them very specific instructions to NOT let anypony inside.”

        “I convinced them that they’d be in trouble if they disobeyed a Princess of Equestria… eh heh.”

        She raised an eyebrow at this.

“ Anyways, Twilight started taking notes and stuff. She didn’t really learn much, and I actually managed to persuade her to get us out of there! Well, that’s when things went… bad. He started talking to me and Twilight.”

Princess Celestia inhaled sharply, but betrayed no emotion on her face, “What did he say?”

“All sorts of w-weird stuff, it was like he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not!” Spike shouts while clutching his head, “But he didn’t really freak out until we started to leave. He kept saying, ‘there it is! There it is’ And we tried to bail, but, you know what happened at THAT point. We ran, and we almost made it out, but, that thing summoned some weird black hand and grabbed us!

“It was dragging us towards him, but I don’t think he wanted me. Twilight got me away, but he didn’t really care. Then he got her, and used some Dream Spell on her. I think, he said something about it being Luna’s? But, oh, Princess Celestia, she was in p-p-pain!” Fresh liquid rolled down Spike’s cheeks, “She was screaming and was hurting so much, but he d-didn’t care! I tried to stop him, but he didn’t care either! He k-k-kept going until she fell asleep. Then he carried her up to the Throne Room, so I chased after him.

“He wouldn’t tell me why he wanted Twilight, or where he was going either. He just ignored me and looked at the stupid stupid stain-glass windows! Then that humongous bird came out of nowhere and grabbed him! I tried to get on the bird too, but… I fell, and ended up here..”

Princess Celestia tenderly strokes Spike’s spines, waiting for him to calm down from recalling the dreadful encounter. “Is that all, Spike?”

Spike sniffles and wipes his nose, “Well, there was this one other weird thing. He was repeating this the whole time. He kept calling Twilight his…. burning star?”

Dozens of memories of her own played in Princess Celestia’s head from the mention of the strange words. Memories and notions she never thought she would ever think. A deep frown accompanies the memories as she exhales in tiredness.

“I was so focused on him leaving with that bird I almost forgot... Princess, what was that thing?”

“Huh?” Princess Celestia blinks strongly and breaks herself from her thoughts.

The eyes appear in his mind once more, but Spike pushes that aside in favor of the question, “I said, what was he? What was that… monster? And why did he take Twilight?”

The Princess forces the stock smile upon her face for the dragon whelp again, “The prisoner was an old enemy I had to keep a close eye on, just like all the other prisoners in Canterlot. And he took Twilight because of her exceptionally high status. After all, what better way to attack Equestria than to take a Princess and escape?”

        Spike’s mind ground to a halt. “No, I mean, what is he? I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

        Princess Celestia moves her head closer to Spike and asks him something that he would remember for a long time, “Spike, are you loyal to me? Do you trust me, and believe in me?”

        Spike chuckles, “What are you talking about, Princess? Of course I do! You’ve raised me and loved me with the others since I was a little drakeling. So, yeah, I love you and trust you and all that other stuff.”

“Thank you, Spike. Then I’m going to tell you what I said before. He’s just a monster of a prisoner that should have stayed asleep.”

Spike’s gears cease their whir again, “... huh?”

Celestia rises, turns, and begins her stride to the door, “I must leave now, lest Luna becomes overburdened. I’ll see you again soon, Spike. Get well!”

Spike raises an arm towards her receding form, “But, Princess..?” before the door closed behind her, leaving him with no sound but that infernal….

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

        Princess Celestia gives Spike’s account to the visiting friends in the hallway. She tells them she has to leave for her sister’s sake, says goodbye, and strides down the hallway towards the stairs.

        She inwardly sighs for the umpteenth time today. For many decades, Celestia had to deal with nobles and snooty “important ponies” with their infinitesimal complaints over money, land, and blood. She also had to deal with an outraged nation that lost the shared-rule of her sister in a single night. Because of those dealings, Princess Celestia learned to wear a mask. A mask of somepony who truly cared about unimportant feuds, or one who truly had the confidence to rule alone.

        She was praying that she never had to use that skillful mask to sin against an innocent child.  

At least she was rid of that horrible beep.