It was starting to get late in the day, and Spike had been through the most miserable week of his young life. Save for his mother figure, all of his closest friends had been brutally murdered by the vengeful spirit of who he once thought of as the most carefree, fun-loving pony he would ever know.

Even though he believed all of his tears were spent, his thoughts drifted to his beloved again. Her pristine shimmering coat, her delicate flowing mane, her sparkling eyes so blue that one could fall into them and drown. They were all gone. Just gone. Spike had lost count at how many times he cried that day.

The heartbroken dragon looked around the detective's office for the hundredth time that early evening. With Private Eye's permission, as well as an armed escort, Spike was allowed to run home to the Golden Oaks Library and pick up a few things for himself, as nopony was sure how long the baby dragon would be under Private Eye's care. Bundled in the corner was his bed, some snacks, and a few books, mostly dealing with dreams and sleep patterns, to pass the time. He had thought about picking up one of the books and skimming through it for Twilight, but his depression got the better of him.

While the vigilant cop filled out forms and filed various paperwork away, Spike's eyes started to get heavy. Back when things were.. well, normal, Twilight would have Spike doing random chores or help her with her books to keep busy. Here, at Private Eye's workplace, there wasn't really anything the young dragon could do. He didn't know where any of the files went or who to give them to if they needed to be moved to another department.

Spike leaned against the wall and rolled his eyes up at the ceiling. He glanced at the busy detective and sighed. Long hours at work was something Private Eye, as well as his loving wife, was used to. For Spike, it was a rare occurrence for things to go this late into the day. He should have been asleep by now. The moon had come up an hour or two ago and it was getting late for the dragon. The combination of the hour, the boredom, and the stresses of recent events finally got to Spike, and with a loud yawn, he slumped over, fast asleep.

Rarity walked alongside the chivalrous young drake through the meadow to the crystal clear lake located on a small hill to the south of Ponyville. Pools of brand new, vibrant yellow daisies and dark violets welcomed them when they arrived. The cool, crisp air carried a cornucopia of heavenly scents and fragrances. They sat down side by side at the shoreline and took in the beautiful scenery.

They looked up at the bright blue sky, and the sun's warm rays caressed their faces. Today was the type of day where one was thankful to be alive. Everything was perfect, and Spike was with the perfect mare.

"Thanks for coming with me to the lake today, Rarity," the little dragon said. "I know you probably had some orders to fill and all, but the fact that you decided to join me here.. it really means a lot to me."

"Best decision I've made in a long time, Spike. I just couldn't miss out on such a gorgeous day with such a wonderful gentledrake." She leaned over and gently nuzzled his cheek.

He reached over and laid his claw at the base of her neck. It was a touch so subtle, she squeaked in surprise but soon relaxed. The unicorn smiled sweetly and averted her gaze, her cheeks becoming flushed. Spike's one little motion was more sensual and caring than any stallion's before. Even with his sharp talons, she knew she had nothing to fear from him. Her heart began to beat passionately.

"Spike, I know I've.. probably done some things in the past that have hurt you, and for that I'm sorry."

"Rarity, it's alright. We– "

"Please," she whispered. "I need to do this. I've been incredibly foolish. I chased shallow, selfish imbeciles like Blueblood or that jerk from the newspaper and always ended up hurt. But every time, there you were to help me forget about them. I've had something wonderful in a scaly purple suit this entire time and I should have realized it before now. I wish I knew why it took me so long. I don't honestly know how you've been so patient with me. Most other ponies would have given up and moved on, but you always stayed by my side."

"Rarity, I would have waited my entire long life for you. I love you. I always have."

Her eyes began to water and overflowed. Almost instinctively, Spike brushed his finger on her cheeks and tenderly wiped away her tears. "I love you too, my little Spikey Wikey."

He took her cheeks in his claws, confidently leaned in and kissed her deeply. Their lips parted and their tongues danced together in harmony. The unusual texture of Spike's tongue was a welcome change from the untalented boors Rarity had been courted by. Moaning softly, their breaths quickened and their hearts raced as they got lost in their passionate embrace. Neither of them wanted the moment to end.

When their kiss finally broke, Spike opened his eyes and gazed lovingly into the most amazing pair of blue eyes he would ever imagine. Then, she spoke.

"Mmmm, you're good, Spike! It's a shame Rarity never got to find out. But, I won't tell her you kissed me! Pinkie Promise!"

"Gaaah!"

A grinning pink face with a flattened pink mane sat an inch away from his face. He shrieked and fumbled his way backwards away from the monster that killed four of his closest friends, including his beloved.

The lake and the open meadow were gone. He now found himself in a darkened version of Rarity's inspiration room, and it was in the same state as he saw it last in the waking world. Two of the ponyquinns were knocked over, rolls of fabric were unwound on the floor, and a familiar stain of blood was embedded in the carpet that he sat on.

The terrified baby dragon shook as Pinkie slowly approached him. "I-i-it's you! Twilight was t-t-telling the truth the whole time! I'm sorry for whatever I did, Pinkie! Please don't kill me!" he screamed as he slammed his eyes shut and braced for the inevitable. Despite crying out of fear, a part of him almost wished she would do it. At least then, he could be with his angel once more.

"Oh, there's no need to worry, Spike!" the maniacal pink pony said, patting his head. "You're not on my list. If you're smart and play your cards right, you may just avoid finding yourself on it at all!"

"Y-y-y-you're not gonna k-kill me?"

"Nope!"

Spike slowly dropped his guard and eyed the deceased pony curiously. "Th-then why are you here?"

"Because you're just the dragon who can answer a question for me!" she said, gently poking his snout.

"What's that?"

"A couple nights ago, Twilight and I were spending some time together in her dream! It was such a fun game! But then, something happened. She decided she wasn't going to play anymore and left me all alone," she explained, staring vacantly at nothing as she went. Spike noticed the distant look in her eyes and cringed a little.

She continued, "I'm assuming that Celestia must have gotten to her. Who else would she call out to for help in such a situation? What I want to know is, do you happen to know where Twilight may have gone off to? I've been searching high and low all day long and haven't found a trace of her! I do still need to talk to her. It's awfully rude to just up and abandon someone when you're trying to have fun with them!"

"I-I honestly have no idea where she went. I know she's with Celestia, but I didn't hear what they were going to do, I swear!"

Pinkie rubbed her chin and squinted, deep in thought. What could those two be up to? No doubt trying to figure a way to get to her. Fortunately, she had yet to discover anything that could put a stop to her version of justice. She shrugged and chuckled maliciously.

"Eh, regardless if you're telling the truth or not, I have a little message for you to give to Twilight. By the way, if I learn you're not telling me the truth– "

"No, no, I am!" he said, panicking, knowing exactly what Pinkie implied. "What did you want to tell her?"

"Twilight can't stay away from here forever. Even with Celestia around, they're bound to mess something up eventually. It's only a matter of time before I run into her again. But, until then, I'm going to take a little trip out of town! There are wrongs against me out there that still need to be righted, and they will suffer for it! After all, everypony sleeps, and everypony dreams. Now, run along, Spike! You've got an errand to run!"

She grabbed the rug with her teeth and yanked it out from under him. He fell, but not onto the floor. Somehow, Spike just kept falling into a sudden empty abyss, as if he had been thrown from a zeppelin. He screamed as his descent into the blackness continued forever.

The young dragon was laying up against the wall, panicking and clawing at nothing. Private Eye knelt beside him, trying to shake him awake. Nothing seemed to be working.

"Spike! Spike! Wake up!" Frustrated, he grunted and darted his eyes around the room. "Fire... fire... something that burns. Dammit!"

An idea occurred and he raced over to his desk and yanked the top right drawer open with his teeth. He quickly shuffled through the various office supplies and found a letter opener. Grabbing it in his mouth, he returned to Spike and aggressively poked it into his belly, doing his best not to jab him too hard and accidentally injure him.

"Aaah! Aa-oow!" Spike was torn out of the dream and back into the real world.

The detective spat out the opener and grabbed the dragon's shoulders. "Spike! Look at me!" His attention was immediately grabbed. "You OK, kid?"

Slowly, his heart rate returned to normal as he looked around and realized he was awake again. The little drake was so panic stricken and shaking like a leaf, he didn't even bother to wipe his brow clean of the sweat that started accumulating. He rubbed at the spot on his stomach that Private Eye had stuck him and cringed at the barely lingering pain.

"Yeah, I.. I think so," he sighed.

"You saw her, didn't you?" Private Eye asked, despite already correctly assuming the answer.

"Y-yeah. She– " He cut himself off and held back crying again. All he could think about was the object of his affections suddenly mutating into a killer.

"Spike," the hard-snouted cop said softly, trying to calm the shaken youth, "what happened in there? Did she say anything?"

He took a deep breath and collected himself. The worst may have been over for the moment, but the pain was going to linger for a while. At first, he believed Pinkie only showed up to torture him. To toy with him and laugh. But then, she mentioned a message.

"She said she was going away for a little while on a trip outside Ponyville. It almost sounds like she's going to find other ponies in other towns."

"Anything else?"

Spike rubbed his temples. His head had started throbbing over all this. "I think she mentioned wrongs that she needed right, something like that."

Private Eye released Spike and sat down, deep in thought. Could Pinkie have had run-ins at some point in her life with others that were so negative she could harbor ill will toward them? He needed to do some research into her history, if there was any available. He knew the first place he'd have to go, but there was something else that needed to be done first.

"Spike, do you think you could write some letters and send them away for me?" the detective asked. "Twilight told me about that ability of yours in one of our interviews."

"Uh, y-yeah, I think so. How many are we talking?"

"A lot, I'm afraid. If Pinkie is going to be attacking others elsewhere, we need to inform the police departments around Equestria before she can strike. If that's at all possible."

"You're really going to tell them about the whole killing-you-in-your-dreams thing? They'll never believe that."

Private Eye returned to his desk and found a multitude of blank sheets of paper in the large lower drawer to his left. He slammed them down and removed his quill from its holster, setting it next to the paper. "Not exactly. We'll tell them somepony dangerous escaped our prison the other day and unfortunately, we have no idea where they went or if they're going to go after anypony. We'll mention she tended to attack her victims at night and was particularly brutal."

"But, how is that going to stop her at all? All they're going to do is find more bodies!" Spike argued.

"I don't know!" Private Eye yelled. He rubbed his forehead and sighed heavily. "Look, I'm aware that they're going to end up in the same position as us. If we can find a pattern somehow, then maybe we can get to some ponies we think she'd have it in for before she can get to them. It's.. not much, but right now, from what you told me, it's one of the only options we have."

"You're just sacrificing ponies then!" the dragon yelled.

"Do you think I like knowing that?!" he snapped back. "I have no idea how to combat this! Assault charges I can handle! Petty theft is easy enough! We're talking about a murderer that I can't even physically touch! What do you expect me to do?!" Private Eye slammed his hooves down on his desk to drive his question home.

Spike opened his mouth to answer, but couldn't think of anything to say. He slouched, realizing his guardian had a point. Dejectedly, the detective slowly sat back down on his pillow and pursed his lips. He shouldn't have yelled, but the last week had been exceptionally frustrating.

"Come on," Private Eye spoke up, "we've got some writing to do, and my plate's already full tomorrow. Need to get home and get some rest soon. I just hope that Twilight or the Princess can do something from their end."

Celestia led the way through the Everfree Forest with her student a step behind. Barely a word had been said between the two of them as they went. It wasn't the first time either of them had been through the mysterious woods, but it still didn't make it any less creepy. At least, not according to Twilight. The fact that her mentor hadn't said much wasn't helping matters either. She noticed that the Princess' gaze seemed cold yet focused, almost as if she didn't want to be going to wherever it was they were heading, but Twilight couldn't blame her. There were a million other places she'd rather be as well.

The unicorn did notice one thing, however. Something felt familiar about the direction the Princess was going. Twilight could swear she had been there before, but she couldn't place why or when. Several trees in a row that they passed were broken, laying dead on the ground by their stumps. Judging by the condition of the leaves and branches, it seemed that they had been snapped off a while ago. Another oddity. Twilight knew she had seen those trees that way before, but why?

Finally, after hours of trudging through the woods and the unicorn picking burs off her legs, they came across a clearing where a large, dark cave greeted them. It all suddenly came flooding back to Twilight.

"No..." she whispered.

"We're here," Celestia said bluntly.

"Princess," Twilight hissed under her breath, "you.. you don't mean to go in there, do you?"

"Yes, my faithful student. Inside is where we will hopefully find a means to stop Pinkie, and.. somepony I wish I never had to think about again. Stay close."

With a nervous gulp and a nod, the lavender mare walked in beside her teacher, barely six inches away. Celestia's regal horn lit up as they stepped inside, illuminating the darkness several yards in front of them. Shadows danced upon the walls as the two trekked deeper into the hole, giving the impression they were not alone. An occasional drip echoed in the distance, breaking the eery silence. Twilight began to sweat, but not because of any moisture. Strangely, the cave seemed to have exceedingly little of it. Her surroundings were simply making her skin crawl.

The only tunnel the cave seemed to have took them straight ahead. For whatever reason, through natural means or not, there were no twists or turns inside. Without seeing terribly far ahead of them, Twilight had no idea how long they had been walking. She knew now exactly where she was, but was too frightened to figure out exactly how far in they were. It had been a long while since she first went there.

She turned around and couldn't even see the entrance anymore. Though, the way the Everfree Forest blocked off the sunlight must have had a hoof in that. Four steps later, a trio of low, gutteral growls emerged from the darkness in front of them, causing the mares to come to a sudden halt.