Darkness. Emptiness. Loneliness. Spike grew angry as he realized that he was once again in the deep corridors of his own mind, the very mind that had tormented him for years, and was now intervening in his life more than ever. Much more than he wanted. For the longest of times, he was always able to hold back his depression and anger, he could no longer do it. He was at the mercy of his greatest enemy - himself.

Thoughts danced around inside the dragon's head. When he had entered his subconscious many times before, he was always suspended by chains or forceful magic. This time, however, he just felt like he was floating. He couldn't feel his body at all. He couldn't see his body at all. Is this Luna's doing? Why is she trying to torture me?

He maintained that explanation for the longest of times, awaiting the voice of his captor to come and lecture him. After he had floated there for hour after hour, it became apparent that no such assailant was there this time. Come to think of it, this isn't what everything is usually like at all...

He could hear nothing. He could see nothing. The corporeal enclosure that his mind had kept him in every time he visited it no longer existed. No pain, no confusion. He was completely isolated this time. Panic set in as Spike considered his fate. What if he was stuck here forever now? No. He couldn't let that happen.

The dragon let out a fit of rage as he began to speak out into the blackness. "I don't have time for this! Whoever you are, show yourself this instant! Say whatever you want to say and let me leave for Aumean's sake!" bellowed the massive beast.

Absolute fear and dread engulfed Spike. What had just happened was the worst possible thing he could have expected from his outburst. He could not hear himself talk. It was obvious now that he had no physical form whatsoever, and he had never spoken anything at all. He was truly alone. All he could do nothing but plea within his own mind.

Whatever I've done... I'm so sorry... Please let me go...

No response.

Do I deserve this? I will make amends for anything and everything, please, please, just free me. I will do anything.

The painful silence continued. Spike was defeated. All hope he had was drained as the next few hours passed by uneventfully. He wanted to cry so much, but he couldn't. There was nothing to cry out of. He was just a spirit, an essence, floating in a sea of impenetrable fog.

His slowly deteriorating mind could only think of one thing through all this loneliness. The one thing he had been trying so hard to avoid after his most recent run ins with who he thought, up until now, was Luna. The one thing he lived for. The thing he would die for. His entire world, his entire happiness, everything he had. The thing that he had just been told he had to give up.

Celestia.

Spike's emotional assault grew too much for him to take, but there was nothing that he or anypony could do in this abstract place. He thought about how he should have done so much more, and all of the mistakes he had made that he would fix if he could just escape this place. He thought about how he could have been better for Celestia. How he could have comforted her when she needed him to. He thought about his entire life. If only I could see her face... Just one more time...

Then, he saw it. Spike didn't notice it at first, but a very small, dim spot of light had begun to illuminate the seemingly endless black aura. At first it was almost nothing, but as time passed it continued to grow in volume and intensity.

The small speck of light now engulfed the entire universe. It was so bright. So painful. For the first time all day, Spike wished that the room was once again a sea of nothingness. He would have well preferred being scared and alone to being blinded, scared, and alone.

As the light reached it's breaking point, all Spike had in mind was to just die and have it over with. He couldn't do this. Nopony could do this. It broke him. The once strong, powerful dragon, broken by empty space and blinding light. The worst of it was, the ever cruel irony. He didn't understand what was going on at all, or why. He should have, though. He should have been able to figure it out and escape by now. The dragon let out a single tear as he accepted defeat for the final time.

Wait.

Spike realized what he had just done. He had just cried. At that moment, he ripped his eyes open, and the light vanished. His floating body fell to the transparent surface that was apparently the ground. It was cold, metallic. It was... Glass? He didn't think about it too much, he was so happy to be feeling anything. The familiar black emptiness had returned, but he was solid. He was corporeal. For the first time in the twenty hours he had been trapped here, he felt an undeniable sense of joy.

The dragon breathed deeply and took a good look at himself. Same old me. He felt around at his scales to make sure he was really there, and after some quick confirmations to himself, he let out a sigh of relief. For some reason, he felt like just lying on the dark glass and falling asleep. Maybe that would fix all of his problems.

"Spike." called out a familiar voice. It was deep, coarse. It was oddly familiar, but the dragon couldn't put his finger on who was talking to him.

Spike smiled at the thought of his captor finally interacting. "Who's there? Thank you so much, thank you. I thought I was alone all this time. Can we get on with this now?"

Breaking silence followed. The dragon grew very suspicious of his situation. "Uhm... Hello?"

"Spike." said the voice. It was closer now. Much closer. He still could see nothing.

"What do you want? Why have you trapped me here so long? Who are you?" asked Spike, nervously.

Spike's captor chuckled. "I think you know who I am, Spike."

"No... No I don't. Your wrong about that." he replied.

As he said that, a large, purple and green dragon emerged from the dark smoke. Spike trembled as he stared into what appeared to be himself. His captor was much different however, his scales were wrinkled, and his coat had grown darker. A small, white beard hung below his mouth. Spike backed up and stretched out his wings, his body preparing to fight the intruder at any means. The dragon only smiled and looked at Spike with concerned eyes.

"Be at peace, my friend. I am not here to cause you harm." said the elder dragon.

He didn't know why, but that simple statement had calmed Spike down a lot. He lowered his wings and hung his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's quite fine, my child." responded the dragon.

One question came to Spike's mind. "Am... Am I dead?"

The elder dragon laughed in response. Spike had a confused look on his face as the dragon regained his composure and began to speak. "No, son, you are not dead. But I fear you will be soon if you do not snap out of this."

Spike slowly lied down and looked up at what he assumed to be some illusion of Luna's. "What do you mean?"

The dragon sighed. "It hurts to watch you go through all of this pain. I don't think you can tell what is real and what is not anymore, Spike. You've been consumed by your own mind. Would you bet on your life that any of the events that took place at the battle of Appleoosa, actually happened? Would you swear to it that you were not just imagining it, or hallucinating?"

Of course I... No... No... The thought of his own collapsing grip on reality sent a chill down Spike's spine. "I can't say I would."

The old dragon rested his arm on Spike's back. "What is troubling you so much, my child?"

"Don't you already know? I thought you things could read minds." challenged Spike.

Spike got another laugh in response. "No, no. I can enter your mind, I can communicate with your mind, but I can only read what you write for me. So, would you take a letter Spike? From yourself to me."

The young dragon cringed as he thought of Twilight, his past, and the adventures they shared. All the friendship letters to Celestia, from his childhood. "I don't know what to write. I'm just so confused. The entire world is against me."

"It would be good for you if you vented your frustrations, Spike." advised the elder.

He fancied the idea. "To you?"

"Why not? We haven't much else to do." said the dragon, smiling.

A switch flipped in Spike's mind as he unlocked his repressed anger. His eyes were wide open as he involuntarily screamed into the distance. "I hate all of this! I hate this world I live in! I wish that everything could just go back to the way it was, but NO! I need to go on some pointless trip in this Aumean forsaken desert just to find some annoying pony who won't help at all, in order to rebel against an infinitely powerful alicorn that could crumble us into dust by blinking!"

Spike hadn't noticed it, but he was now pacing back in forth in front of the elder dragon, who was staring intently at him. Spike exhaled a large bit of smoke from his nostrils before continuing.

"And that is simply the tip of the iceberg! I can't go five minutes without some insane voice locking me inside my head and giving me a god damn lecture about how I need to give up the only thing that actually makes me happy! I get it, my life is shit. Can't everyone just leave me alone for once? Let me make my own fucking decisions, how to deal with my own problems and what to do about Celestia."

The dragon smiled warmly at Spike. "Anything else, my friend?"

Spike openly sobbed as he thought of the last thing on his mind. "Yes. Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. If you had not been so arrogant as to go off and fight Luna alone, none of this would have happened! Did you even think for a moment about how I would feel? What would happen to me? I was a child back then! You were everything I had! But you were so content to just leave me stranded, hurt, and alone, on some conquest to save Equestria all by yourself?! I suffered my entire life without you, and it is YOUR FAULT."

Spike fell to the ground and cried harder than he ever had before. He had never revealed his true emotions to anyone, not even Celestia. For some reason, he felt safe here. He felt protected. Only one conclusion came to him. Why did you leave me...

He jolted up his head as he felt the elder dragon's wing rest across his back. "Do you feel better now, Spike?"

"Actually... Yes, I do feel better. Much better." said Spike.

The dragon let out a small chuckle. "If you had kept all of your feelings in any longer, I fear you would have jumped off of some cliff or something."

"Up until now, that was very tempting. I wanted to ask you something, sir." admitted Spike, ashamed about considering suicide regularly. He hung his head and turned away from the dragon.

"Hm?"

"Who are you? Why do you look like an older version of me?" asked Spike.

"That is because I am an older version of you, Spike. At least, that is what my form is. I am only what you allow me to be, I am what you desire to be. Wise, old, and happy." said the aged dragon.

Spike let out a sad sigh. "So, you're just another figment of my imagination?"

"Maybe I am. But I could be real."

Spike's eyes narrowed and he stared at the elder dragon. "How? What do I have to do to be happy? I need your help. Please."

The old dragon laughed. "What advice do you seek, child?"

Spike thought for a moment. "The last few times I have been imprisoned like this, a spirit spoke to me about Celestia. How she was immortal. How she would hurt when I died. The spirit told me I had to leave Celestia to protect her, but I don't want to. What do I do?"

"Hmm. What does your heart desire?"

It was obvious. He didn't have to think at all to respond to that question. "I want to be happy with Celestia. I want to live with her for a thousand years, to comfort her, to be there for her, to make her as happy as I am when I'm around her. I don't want her to be lonely anymore, and I sure as hell don't want to be lonely. I would burn for ten thousand years, for every one day of her life that was good."

The elder dragon looked Spike dead in the eye. "Then you must fight to keep her. You must fight any force stopping you, and you must never doubt yourself. She needs to know about everything. She needs to know what she means to you. She needs you to be open with her. You need to tell her about everything that you have been through in your own mind. Allow her to fix you."

Spike looked up at the dragon and smiled. "I... I think I understand what I have to do now. Thank you... Spike?"

The dragon laughed. "You are very welcome, my son. Now, do not sit here and wallow in self pity. Take charge. Go fight for her."

And at that, the glass shattered beneath Spike, and he fell into the black abyss.