I awoke to see the sun bleeding through the window to my room. ‘Boy, I slept like a filly last night,’ I sat up letting out a long stretch,

“Ouch!” I screamed while grabbing my left side, “Right, I’m still hurt,” I said while rubbing my side.

I slowly worked my way to the edge of the bed before I climbed into my wheelchair and headed for the door. I opened it to find Spike getting ready to enter my room.

“Oh! Hi Spike, how are you?” I said with joy to the little purple and green dragon.

“I’m good Twilight, and you?”

“I’m fine, just a little sore.”

I completely forgot about Spike the day before. I was so caught up with what happened I lost track of him when the girls and I went to get the Elements.

“Spike, what happened to you yesterday?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Princess Cadence took care of me after the changeling attack. I think I fell asleep shortly after I visited you in the medical wing.”

“But I didn’t see you when I woke up.”

“I visited you before you woke up; I was so worried about you Twilight,” I could tell he was on the verge of crying.

“I know Spike.”

…

“Anyway how about we get some breakfast?”

“That sounds great!”

Spike walked around me and grabbed my chair and we worked our way to the dining hall. After a short walk full of mixed thoughts. We entered the dining room. I could see the Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Cadence, Shiny, and my friends, all gathered around the table.

“Good morning everypony,” I said with glee.

In unison I everypony said, “Morning Twilight!”

“So, what’s for breakfast?”

“Pancakes, I hope that’s alright with you?” asked Princess Celestia in response to my question.

“That’s fine Princess.”

As I sat there waiting for my food I can’t help but wonder, ‘Is the creature going to be alright? ... Did I really just think that?’

“Hey Twily”

‘Am I really that worried about it?’

“Twily!”

“Huh, what?” I asked while looking around the room.

“Are you okay?”

I focused on my brother, “Yeah I’m fine... just lost in my thoughts, I guess. What is it Shiny?”

“I have something you might be interested in,” he says while reaching into his saddlebag that sat next to him at the table.

I watched as he pulled out this little object and put it on the table. I look at it for a second before I used my magic to levitate it over in front of my face.

“What is this?” I asked out of curiosity.

“I don’t know Twily. We found it on the creature. I’m not sure what it does, but it looks pretty harmless. So I thought that you would want to look at it.”

I gave it another glance before putting it back on the table. I heard a door open to see a waiter pony walk out with a large stack of pancakes.

“Well that was great. The castle cooks never fail to impress. Isn’t that right girls?”

“Mmm hmmm,” respond my friends in unison.

I pulled up the little object that Shiny gave me earlier and look it over again. It kind of looked like a toy, but to be honest, it was also kind of cute.

“So Twilight, what do you think that thing is?” Rainbow said,, asking the question that I had no answer to.

“I don’t know Rainbow, maybe that creature can elaborate when it wakes up,” ‘If it ever wakes up’

I put the object away and realized there was one thing I could look at.

“Hey Fluttershy, can I see that dog you’re taking care of?”

“Of course Twilight, she’s in my room. Why don’t we all go say hi to her?”

We worked our way to Fluttershy’s room. I couldn’t stop myself from worrying. I knew she said the dog was friendly, but Fluttershy’s always been good with animals. What if it attacks me… or the others?

We opened the door to her room and stepped inside.

“Storm, are you up?” asked the little yellow pegasus.

I watched as this large blue creature rose to its feet and charged right for me.

“AHHH!”

I panicked and closed my eyes and hid behind my forelegs, ‘This is it, this is the end,’but instead of being mauled I looked up to see her sitting on her haunches, head tilt with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. She's was just acting like a normal house pet.

“See Twilight, what did I tell you?” Fluttershy asked with joy and a smile.

As I examined the dog I notice one very definitive thing.

“She’s huge," I said stating the obvious, while looking her up and down.

I lifted my hoof slowly to give her a pet. She didn’t turn away or bite me, she just, let me pet her. Then again why would she be worried? She is twice if not three times my size and probably weighs just as much. As I examined her I noticed that she was blue in color, had a bright, metallic red collar on the back of her neck and she had black strips. Not like a zebra more like they swirled around perpendicular to her body. I have never heard or seen a dog this big or have this type of fur pattern and color.

As I continued, she began to roll over on her back revealing her belly so I continued to pet her more and more. I could tell she was really enjoying herself. That’s when I look at her paws.

“Woah, look at her paws.”

Everyone turned to give them a look; they don’t look like a normal dog’s. They had appendages much like Spike. As I examined them more she rose to her feet and barked happily.

“Oh, you probably want to go for a walk?” asked Fluttershy

The dog barked happily in response.

“Okay, let’s go for a walk,” she said before she hovered over to a nearby table and grabbed a leash and a collar. She fluttered back and put it around Storm’s neck. After Fluttershy got her ready, we head for the door.

While we walked around the castle we just so happened to walk past the medical room with the creature in it. That’s when Storm began to whine. She tugged at the leash and drug Fluttershy over to the door and continued to whine and began to scratch at the door. I could tell she was clearly worried about it.

“Oh dear, you’re worried about your master, aren’t you?”

The large animal whimpered twice while she kept scratching the door.

“I’m sure that he or she will be fine,” replied Fluttershy with a hint of sorrow.

…

Fluttershy perked up, “I know, who wants to play fetch?”

Storms ears twitched. She turned back to Fluttershy and barked twice happily before dropping to the floor and wagging her tail excitedly.

“Okay. let’s go outside," Fluttershy responded with a happy smile.

Once we were outside we spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon enjoying the nice day playing fetch with Storm. It felt nice to relax. So much had happened over the last few days. I mean, I was sent to the mines underneath Canterlot. Where I ended up finding the real Cadence. Then we escaped to find Chrysalis attacking the city. And finally we ran into that creature, and helped him defeat the changelings. Then I woke up to see that we won the fight and that being was unconscious.

“*sigh*… I hope it wakes up.” I whispered with a hint worry.

“Are you ready to go Twilight?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m ready Rainbow.”

Once again we walked the halls of the castle. o be honest I was beginning to get tired of this wheelchair. But the doctor wanted me to take it easy for a few days. If only easy was actually easy. Ever since the Nightmare Moon incident we have been getting sucked into various dangerous situations. I'm a little surprised that we haven't been hurt more or worse.

“So girls, I’m kind of curious, are you worried about that creature?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Kinda,” responded Rainbow.

“A little,” answered Rarity.

“Mmm hmm,” mumbled Fluttershy.

“Yeah,” responded Pinkie Pie and Applejack in unison.

Storm whimper twice as a response.

There was no way she could understand us. That was just way to coincidental. She must have been able to sense our worries.

“Yeah me too,” I said with sadness. “Why don’t we check up on it?”

“Okay,” my friends answered in unison with sadness in their voices.

Once again we went down the hall to the room in silence. As we get closer, my worry began to grow, ‘What if it died?’ The closer we got to the room, I couldn't seem to figure out why there weren't any guards posted. But I didn't dwell on it for long. We entered the room, not knowing what to expect. But it was just the same as the day before. It was still there. it hadn't moved at all. We surrounded the bed and looked at the being. I could tell that it was still unconscious. We looked at it and watched as Storm laid her head on the bed, nuzzling up to her master.

I looked at her and said, “I’m so sorry Storm,” she looked at me with sadness in her eyes. She really missed her master.

I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose somepony like that. She loved him… a lot. At this point, I didn’t know what to think anymore. I just wanted to make sure that it woke up.

I heard Spike speak up; I was amazed at how calm he was.

“So this is the creature everyponie's been talking about?”

“Yes Spike,” I said in response to his question

He looked at it with curiosity, but I could tell he too was sad. No life deserves to be taken, especially one that saved ours. I could feel tears in my eyes, even though I didn’t know this thing, I still cared for it. My emotions began to take over; I cried more and more. I heard my friends beginning to join me. We spent what felt like hours in a sobbing silence, but in reality it was probably just a few minutes. I looked up to examine the room, and made eye contact with each my friends. Without words, we began to leave the room.

Once again we walked the halls in silence. And with a sniffle I asked, “Spike, could you take me to the dining hall? I think I’m going to have an early dinner and then head to bed.”

“Sure Twilight,” he said responding to my question.

“Thank you.”

Yet again the silence returned. It was eventually broken by Spike opening the door to the dining hall. I didn’t even notice that my friends had all gone their separate ways. Anyway, he wheeled me up to the table and sat beside me. We sat there in silence until the waiter pony arrived.

he walked up to us, “What would you like to eat Miss Sparkle?” he asked, not knowing what I was going through.

“I’ll have a hay burger please.”

“And what about you Mr. Spike?”

“I’ll have the hay fries, extra crispy.”

He nodded, “I’ll be back shortly with your food,” he said while turning to leave.

Once again the silence returned and it stayed like that until the waiter returned with our food. I just sat there and stared at my meal. Spike dove in without hesitation.

“Twilight, Spike, may we join you?” asked an all too familiar voice

I looked up and turned back to face the door, “Princess Luna… of course you can join us. Please, sit down,” I said while gesturing to the chair opposite of us.

I watched her while she joined Spike and I at the table.

“What seems to be troubling you?” she asked while taking her seat opposite of us.

My head dropped before I looked back at her, “I’m just worried about the creature princess… I mean, no pony deserves to die like this!” I could feel tears beginning to form, “I know this might sound stupid, but how can I just ignore something that saved me! I owe him my life.”

She took a deep breath, “We know Twilight… *sigh* if he does not survive; we will make sure he is given a hero’s parade, and a memorial will be made in his honor.”

That surprised me, “Really?” I asked out of confusion.

“Yes.”

“But… why?” I asked out of curiosity while holding a hoof up.

“Because my sister and I learned that the creature had no intention of harming any of our little ponies. It was only after the attacking changelings. No pony reported suffering any harm from the being.”

I thought about that for a moment, “Why are you telling me this?” I asked while raising an eyebrow

“Because my sister and I believe that there is good in its heart.”

I sighed and look down at my food once again.

“Twilight, did the creature show any intentions of harming you or your friends when you first met with it?”

I looked back up at the blue alicorn, “No," I answered while shaking my head, "When we opened the castle door, we immediately froze and watched as it turn toward us with that strange weapon it was wielding. But after a few seconds, it turned back to the changelings. It just ignored us and acted like we were never there.”

“I see,” responded the Princess while she rubbed her chin and looked to the side, “Anyway, we'll leave thee be.”

The princess rose from her seat and began to leave. That’s when I remembered something important. Something very unique that only Luna can do. And it could be a key asset in this situation.

“Princess, have you been able to make contact with the creature via the Dreamscape?”

…

“No Twilight Sparkle, we tried to access its mind when we first learned about it... but something has prevented us from entering.”

That means only a few things can do that. Special spells or rare artifacts.

“Could it be some type of advanced spell?”

“No. We could sense no form of magic; we do not know what is causing this.”

I looked at the floor in defeat, “So there’s nothing we can do then?” I asked with more sadness in my voice.

“That is not true,” Luna said trying to life my spirits. I looked up at her, “There is always hope.”

And with that she left.

…

…

…

…

…

Hope, a four letter word, yet it can make the all the difference in the world.

“Spike, when you’re done, could you please take me back to my room?”

he swallowed his current bite, “But Twilight, but you haven’t even touched your dinner,” he said while pointing toward my burger.

“I lost my appetite.”

For the next few minutes I watched while he finished his “meal”. When he was done he rose from his seat and grabbed my wheel chair before he began to wheel me towards my room. After a short ride we stopped in front of my room. He opened the door and pushed me in. He closed the door he placed me next to the bed and I crawled out of my chair and under the covers of the soft bed.

I rested against the backboard, “Spike, could you come here please, I need a hug,” the sadness in my voice was pretty clear

“Of course Twilight,”

He walked over and climbed onto the bed before he gave me a big hug.

“I love you Spike,” I could feel the tears beginning for form once more.

“I love you too Twilight.”

I laid down holding him tight in my forelegs. Before I fell asleep I remembered a quote from a wise old lama ‘I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.’

Dalai Llama

Author's Notes:

I don't care what people say about the quote on the bottom, I wanted a quote, and that one from the Dalai Lama fit, mainly because I didn't have to come up with some name to replace some famous person. So deal with it.