There was nothing ahead but darkness; one so deep the noonday sun dared not touch it. A single pony stood staring into that darkness. She was unlike any before her and any beyond her.

White head lowered as she entered the cave. The ceiling stretched up higher than her, but still she felt the need to shrink. Only dragons roosted in caves such as these.

Ponies from the town below had cried out for her aid. A dragon, they said, was roaring in the night. A dragon, she knew, that had every right to disturb them.

The glimmer and glow of gems and jewels did not greet her as she delved deeper. A faint sound of wind was all that could be distinguished in that blackness. She did her best to resist the urge to magically create a light. The current occupant wished for this darkness, and so it was.

Ahead, the wind startled. Her celestial mane whipped forward as the air around her was sucked in. The darkness broke around a massive eye.

“Who goes?”

It had been so long since she had seen a dragon. She had forgotten how they took her breath away…

“WHO GOES?!”

The walls shook. “Celestia!” she said, her voice found.

Lid half closing, stealing away the light, “Celestia…I suppose you’re here to tell me to leave?”

“I came on behest of the ponies of Ponyville, who wish for nothing more than a good night’s sleep,” the alicorn explained, her voice level throughout.

The dragon snorted, pushing the pony back a step from the rush of air, “I have not slept well for 100 years, why should they fare any different?”

“They are your friends-”

“MY FRIENDS?!” again the cave shook under the dragons words. Rocks shifted overhead and pebbles spilled down. “My friends died decades ago! I have no friends!”

A soft glow surrounded the pony’s horn as she protected herself from falling debris, “All pony kind are your friend. I thought you would have learned that long ago.”

This time a snarl was his response. “Lies. All you tell are lies.”

“I have never once lied to you.”

The eye opened fully and came within feet of her, “But you never told me the truth, either! Not me, or the others!”

It took all her willpower to stare unblinking into that eye and say, “I told you what you needed to hear to live in happiness.”

The eye rose. Silhouettes of the sharpest teeth she ever saw outlined from a fire contained inside the beast’s mouth appeared before her eyes. “I would love nothing more than to end you now for what you have done.”

“Was it all my fault? Did you not have a hand in what transpired?” Wells of courage overflowed, “You’d seen adult dragons, knew how long you would live. You knew and loved regardless.”

“I’ll not have you come into my home and lecture me!” the fire illuminated more teeth as it gained strength. “Speak your business and be gone!”

Breath coming quick now, heart beating faster, “You do not belong here anymore. If you wish to wallow in despair then do so far from here!” With that, she turned 180 and began to leave.

“This is my home! You would drive me out!?”

The pony stopped. “A home,” she spoke softly, “is where friends and loved ones live. As you said, this place holds neither for you any longer.”

As she started walking again she sensed something inches away from her that she hadn’t noticed before: a claw. It did not close on her as she moved past it.

Sighing, Celestia turned back once she was past the massive claw, “There are caves up north-”

“I will not leave my home.”

“Wha-…this is no longer your home!”

“It is, and forever will be…and I have been away from my friends for far too long.”

“What are you-” swift movement rent the air deeper in the cave. A sound like water gurgling down a stream followed after. Something wet and sticky, a lot of something, hit her face and upper torso.

Sounds of shuffling came from the dragon. The pony summoned light to her horn, unable to stand her blindness any longer.

Green eyes stared at her as the dragon twitched in death. Blood flowed freely from its throat.

“Spike!”

She ran to him. She knew healing spells, magnificent healing spells, but dragons were so complicated! Resistant to some magics and responsive to others…it would take time to find one that worked.

There was none. Perhaps he wished to tell her one last thing, but his method of death forbid it. He had always been a brash one, never thinking things through to their fullest.

“Spike!” she cried again, tears coming to her eyes. She didn’t even try to heal him, too smart for her own good. It was over for him. He was returning to his friends, at long last.

His twitching lessened. Approaching, she touched her head to his snout. Perhaps he had always known this was his way out of the pain, the loneliness. Perhaps he was just waiting for someone to give him a reason.

“…hurry,” she spoke quietly, “they’re waiting for you…hurry…”

Her eyes never left his throughout it all. She released the light from her horn. Light continued to emit from his half-closed eyes for a long while.

When they died, when it all faded to black, all that was left was her.

“…take the path I cannot…”