That night, under the blanket of stars, Spike and Arizona slept soundly, resting for another day of adventure.
But poor Spike was having trouble doing so. A horrendous nightmare plagued him in his sleep.
In his dream, Spike found himself lost in a series of dark caverns, with nothing but rows of lamps that pulsated with eerie glows as his only source of light.
"Hello?" Spike called out, his voice bouncing off the cavern walls. "Is anyone here?" No reply. "Arizona? Are you here?" He called, hoping to hear a word, or even a moo, from the young calf.
After realizing he is all alone, Spike summoned every amount of courage he could muster and cautiously navigated his way through the tunnels. But no matter where he goes, or which caves he picked, the young dragon always found himself back to where he started, or in another unfamiliar room. Something is always turning him back.
"How do I get out of here?" Spike asked.
"Is that you I hear?" A voice called.
Spike instantly stopped in his track, feeling his heart was about to burst out, "Fluttershy?!" He called out hopefully. "Is that you?"
"No, stay! Don't leave again!"
"I'm not leaving, Flutters," Spike said happily, as he tries to search the tunnels for the buttercup pegasus. "But where are you?"
"Hush now, it's alright," Fluttershy's voice said. "Where did you go?"
"I'm right here, Fluttershy!" Spike called out, in which the sound of footsteps was audible, and he looked in the direction to see a familiar coat of soft pink and yellow buttercup coming into the light.
Spike could feel any happier to have seen a familiar friend from home, again. But that joy quickly died, when Fluttershy's appearance suddenly twisted into a large, ravenous wolf.
"Good feelings gone," Spike whimpered, watching helplessly as the wolf snarled hungrily, with drools dripping from its mouth.
Before he had time to react, the wolf pounced with lightning speed, jaws wide open to clamp its fangs on the little dragon's throat. Out of impulse, the first thing Spike did was duck his head and rolled underneath the wolf, dodging the attack. He quickly got up and looked back to see the wolf landing on its feet, turning its head and sets its hungry eyes on the little dragon, once again.
Naturally, for a dragon, and a youngling at his age, Spike could barely think straight. He felt cold with his entire body going numb with fear petrifying him in place, as if he became a statue. Spike has never felt this scared since the time he got lost in the Everfree Forest, and how he nearly became a meal to a pack of Timberwolves. He would've been dead too, had it not been for Applejack. Trouble is, Applejack's not here.
"Arizona?!" Spike whimpered desperately for the calf, watching as the wolf prowls closer and closer to him, until its snout was barely an inch from the dragon for a sniff, "Please don't eat me," Spike pleaded to the wolf, as he slowly backed away from the ghostly specter of the vicious canine predator, who followed, "Believe me. I don't really taste that good! In fact, you wouldn't eat a fellow predator too, right? I mean look! I've got claws like you. I also have sharp teeth. We're practically cousins, right? Right?" In response, the wolf lets out a snarl to show its fangs.
Without a doubt, Spike was certain the wolf was going to eat him right then and there. Then, out of impulse, the little dragon slashed his claws at the wolf, scratching its snout. With that, the wolf let out a loud howl that echoed throughout the cavern walls, as it thrashed its head and paws about in fury of the injury it sustained from the little dragon's claws.
Spike immediately bent down to the ground, clutching his claws over his ears, shutting his eyes, struggling to block out the wolf's loud wail of agony and pain, which lasted for what felt like hours. The entire cavern walls shook, with tiny pieces of rocks coming loose from the ceilings and falling onto the ground, close to where Spike and the wolf were standing.
At last, when it was over, the room stopped shaking. Spike opened his eyes and parted his claws away from his ears as he got up to his feet and was greeted with the eerie silent of the caverns that are, admittedly, more pleasing than cry of the wolf. However, Spike's nightmare run was far from over.
Standing before him was an ancient monument meticulously carved with stone visages of vicious predators.
"What is this?" Spike asked, when suddenly, the eyes of the stone carved predators suddenly lit up, as if they had been awakened by his presence. Though startled at first, Spike gazed deeply into their eyes, shining with otherworldly light, beckoning his approach.
As if he was enchanted by their hypnotic gaze, Spike slowly walked towards the monument, holding his claw out, placing it on the front. Then, in the blink of an eye, the monument suddenly splits apart into two, to reveal a swirling vortex that pulsated with an intense, threatening, but mesmerizing aura from within.
The mesmerizing glow of the pulsating portal drew Spike inward. But by the time his rationality kicked in, it was too late, Spike felt himself falling and tumbling through the air, as if he's fallen off a cliff at a tremendous height.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! WHOOAAAAAAAA!!!!!" the young dragon wailed as he once again experienced another seemingly life threatening interdimensional travel. "HEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPP MEEEEEEEEEE!!!! OOF!" with a big crash, the young dragon landed face first on the floor.
Disoriented, the young dragon stumbled as he got back on his feet, slowly regaining his balance until he managed to compose himself.
"Now where am I?" Spike asked, looking at his new surroundings, cloaked in darkness with little to no lightings. The only light sources were the moonlights, streaming down from the skylights in the ceilings, "Hello?" He shouted, and his voice echoed throughout the cavern interiors.
The little dragon shook his head in dismay as he slumped to the floor, "Why? Why did it have to be me?" He asked himself. "Why couldn't it have been someone more deserving, like Trixie? I didn't cast that spell. I don't even know how to fight, and here I am. Far away from home, in a world that's being threatened by an upcoming invasion of massive army of predators that will eat everything and anything, dead or alive, with me being caught in the middle of it. And I thought I could never be more scared than being alone without Twilight, or her friends. But at least things can't get worse from here, right?"
Unfortunately, Spike spoke too soon, when a loud howl pierced the air, and echoed around the cavern, "I just had to open my big mouth," Before long, the floor beneath Spike shook and most of the rocks danced and fell from the ceilings. Some small pebbles landed and bounced off of Spike's head.
And then, he heard it. A low, rumbling growl was heard in the darkness, followed by, what sounded to be, the thunderous footsteps of something large and menacing.
"Oh Celestia, please no!" Spike whimpered in fright, as he slowly navigated his way through the blinding darkness, searching for someplace to hide, as the footsteps grew louder and louder.
Then, stepping into the moonlight, was a large, dark furred, hulking, ghostly figure of a bear. The very sight of the massive predator was enough to trigger a flashback in Spike's memory, as he recalled an incident when Ponyville was under the threat of an angry magical bear called an Ursa Minor – an offspring of an even bigger, Ursa Major – which was caused by the stupidity of the two colts known as Snips and Snails. While the bear isn't as big as an Ursa Minor, or even an Ursa Major, it didn't quite help calm the little dragon, knowing that it's still potentially just as dangerous, if not, life threatening.
The bear continue to trudge on into the cave, when it suddenly stopped in its track, and sniffed the air. Spike quivered in fright, watching as the bear followed the newfound scent with its nose, moving closer and closer to where Spike was hiding. The young dragon immediately covered his mouth his claws, not daring to breathe, in case the bear could also be listening for his rapid breathings. Baring its fangs, growling and drooling even more hungrier than the wolf from before, the bear was almost on top of him.
Thinking fast, Spike held his claw out to the floor, searching desperately for whatever he could use to drive the bear away. He felt a small lump of a tiny pebble, which he didn't hesitate to throw it across the room, emitting a loud crash that caught the bear's attention. With that, the bear backtracked from the little dragon and followed the pebble. Spike took that as his chance to escape. With a kick of his legs, the little dragon quickly darted forward to where the bear came from. Unfortunately, his escape attempt didn't go unheard.
The bear let out a loud roar, setting its sights on the little dragon, before it charged towards him with every thunderous stomps of its legs.
"YIKES!!!! Legs don't fail me now!" Spike hyperventilated, running as fast as he could. During his run, Spike screamed and shrieked at the sight of bones lying on the floor. No doubt, they must've been the unfortunate victims who've been eaten by the bear.
The bear was drawing closer and closer to the little dragon, up to the point Spike can feel its warm hot breath steaming from the back of his neck. With a lurch of its head, the bear snapped its jaws at Spike, only for the little dragon to duck his head down in time. But the nightmare has yet to end, when Spike tripped on a rock and tumbled to the floor. Before he had a chance to get back up, the bear had him pinned down beneath its heavy paws. Not wasting a second, the bear opened its mouth, ready for the kill.
"AAH!!!" Spike yelped, panting heavily as he jolted up, wide awake and alert.
After a moment to catch his breath, Spike slowly calmed himself, when he finds himself back in reality, safe in his sleeping bag, with Arizona sound asleep, close by.
"Oh boy," Spike sighed, slowly slumping back into the bag, struggling to go back to sleep. Of course, after that nightmare he had, he was frightened beyond all reasons to even close his eyes.