Twilight Sparkle sighed happily as she reclined in her folding chair, staring out the large bay window of the Canterlot Library where she worked and lived. An incredibly expensive, high-powered telescope sat just at her side, positioned perfectly to catch sight of the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon she was about to witness just as it began.

“Spike!” she cried, glancing over her shoulder to the small set of stairs leading to their shared bedroom. “Are you sure you don’t want to watch this with me!?”

“No thanks, Twilight,” Spike, her younger dragon brother, replied, sticking his head out into the hallway. “You know how I feel about the Gaster Comet. It gives me the creeps.”

“Oh, Spike,” the mare chuckled, shaking her head. “You know it’s not a real skull hurtling through space, right?”

Spike paused, turning to glare at her lightly. “One, this coming from the mare who still believes that the Mare in the Moon is real?” he sniped. “And two, it’s not just a skull - it’s a Dragon skull the size of this library. How can that not creep you out just a little?”

Twilight twitched, rounding on him and jabbing a hoof in his direction. “First off, there is plenty of scientific evidence behind the Mare in the Moon being a true tale!” she shrieked, catching herself seconds later and taking a deep breath. “And second, it fascinates me more. What circumstances could have made the comet take such a form?”

“Someone killed a Dragon and sent its head into orbit.”

“Spike!”

“What?” the drake cried defensively. “It could’ve happened!”

Twilight just groaned, smacking her hoof to her forehead in exasperation. “Just… if you’re not staying up with me, then at least keep it down. Seriously, you’ve been making weird noises at night lately and I want them to stop.”

Blushing profusely, Spike turned tail and sprinted back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Twilight sighed, turning back to her telescope and peering through it for a moment. She squealed with glee when a white object surrounded by powder-blue flames came into her view, soaring slowly across the night sky.

“The Gaster Comet…” the mare breathed, staring at the spectacle in awe even as her quill and notepad floated over in a lavender glow of magic, the quill scratching away seconds later. “Interesting, it seems all the documents are true. It is shaped like a large Dragon skull.”

Twilight watched the comet as it crossed the sky, noting down observations the whole time. After a while, she decided to try and zoom in more, focusing her gaze on one of the ‘eye sockets’ of the skull-shaped hunk of what was clearly just a large clump of space rock.

“How peculiar…” Twilight muttered, frowning slightly and zooming in a little more. “It seems as though the comet is hollow… but if that were the case, it would have broken up a long time ago purely from its continued reentry into various atmospheres. I wonder how- GAH!” The lavender mare let out a loud yelp of surprise, scrambling away from the telescope. She fell backwards, landing heavily on her flank and gasping for breath as she attempted to process what she had seen.

“Was…” she gasped, finally managing to regain control of her breathing a second later. “Was there somepony… in the comet!?” Thinking it over for a few moments, Twilight shook her head, climbing to her hooves. “No, no, that’s preposterous! How could somepony even survive inside of a comet hurtling through the vacuum of space?”

Twilight laughed at the absurdity of the idea. Surely, if somepony had figured out the solution to space travel, Ponies would have already flown out to investigate the surface of the Moon, or even the next planet over! No, she was obviously just imagining things - Spike’s stories must have gotten to her at some point, that was it.

“Honestly,” Twilight chuckled, climbing into her chair once more and re-positioning her telescope from where it had landed, having been knocked over in her panic. “The idea of a Pony traveling in a comet is just ludicrous.” She smiled, giggling to herself as she once again pressed her eye to the lense. As she thought, the figure within the comet was gone, clearly just a figment of her-

“Okay,” Twilight deadpanned. “Either Spike is playing an incredibly convoluted prank on me, or the comet now has a gigantic, glowing, powder-blue eye staring back at me.”

Twilight took a step away from her telescope, standing and trotting up to the large bay window of the library’s second floor. She squinted, glowering up at the comet that one could just see the vague shape of in the sky… which had stopped its flight, slowly turning to point in her direction.

“...Spiiiike?!” Twilight called unsurely, starting to sweat nervously. Her breathing became erratic as she watched the comet, which merely sat in the night sky for a time, watching her back.

Twilight watched in horror as the ‘mouth’ of the comet opened, the lower jaw splitting in half as a white energy began to build. She backed up quickly, overstepping the top of the stairs and tumbling down, all while her horror grew each time she caught a glimpse of the growing ball of unstable-looking energy in the comet’s gaping maw.

“SPIIIIKE!!!” the mare cried, turning and galloping towards the door just as the comet’s eye seemed to flash, the energy being released in a concentrated beam heading straight for the library. Momentarily forgetting her magic, Twilight slammed bodily into the door, being denied her exit by the simple fact that the library had been locked for the night.

Turning back to the window, Twilight gulped as she saw the energy closing in rapidly. ‘Goodbye Spike…’ she thought to herself, tears in her eyes. ‘Goodbye Princess Celestia… Goodbye Mom, Dad, Shiny…’

Closing her eyes tightly as the energy tore through the large bay window, slamming into her and continuing on through the floor of the library into the mountain itself, one final thought passed through Twilight’s mind. One that made her final moment one of pure, SOUL-crushing despair when she realised what it truly meant.

‘I never even made any friends…’

Twilight shot up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily as she glanced hurriedly around her bedroom.

“This…” the mare breathed, eyes wide. “This isn’t right… I…” Pausing for a second, Twilight gripped her head in pain as the events of the previous night rushed through. She let out a soft whimper, huddling up just as her bedroom door flew open and the pain subsided. Spike strode in, smiling brightly and carrying a tray full of pancakes.

The drake paused when he saw his sister, setting the tray down and rushing to her side. “Twilight?” he asked in concern, placing a claw on her shoulder. “Twilight, what’s wrong? Tell me, please.”

Twilight froze, focusing on the comforting presence as she calmed down. Slowly, she came out of her little ball, looking up to the emerald green eyes of her brother. “Spike…” she muttered, before throwing herself at him, wrapping her forehooves around his neck in a tight embrace.

“Woah!” Spike cried in response, managing a small chuckle as he hugged her back. “You okay there, Twi?” he asked, the concern returning.

Twilight sniffled, pulling back and dropping to her hooves again as she wiped her eyes. “Y-yes, just…” she replied, pausing as another image flashed in her mind, one of a short, bipedal, skeletal figure with a single glowing blue eye. “Just a bad dream.”

Spike was silent for a moment before his normal, beaming smile exploded on his face. “Oh, good!” he said, returning to his tray and bringing it over. “You seemed really tired this morning so I made you breakfast in bed!”

Twilight managed a soft chuckle as she climbed onto her bed again, her brother taking a seat next to her. “Thanks Spike, you’re the best,” she said, her magic flaring as she rolled up one of the pancakes and brought it to her muzzle, taking a large bite. “Mmm, chocolate chip! My favourite!”

“Heh, I know,” the drake chuckled, nudging her as he took a pancake of his own. “That’s why I made them.”

The siblings sat there for a time, chatting and laughing as Twilight slowly shoved the dream to the back of her mind.

Up in the rafters of Twilight’s home, however, a short, stocky figure sat, leaning against a support beam with one skeletal leg pulled up. His two pure-white eyes watched the mare intently, a slight frown on his ever-smiling skull.

‘She shouldn’t remember…’ the figure thought to itself, it’s frown increasing as is shoved its bony hands into the pockets of its blue hoodie. ‘Not even in a dream… I need to keep an eye on her.’

Turning to the open air above the two, the figure waved its hand, conjuring a small, Dragon-like skull with a pair of tiny white dots for eyes, not unlike itself. “Watch them,” the figure said with a deep, masculine voice. The skull nodded, turning to go before the figure spoke again. “But don’t be seen!”

Nodding again, the skull floated into another of the rafters, settling down and hiding there. Nodding in satisfaction, the figure simply leaned to the left, allowing itself to fall…

Only to vanish as it passed out of it’s own creation’s line of sight.