Chapter Two:
Twilight Sparkle stopped. There was a book on the floor.
There shouldn’t be. They had just cleaned up the library.
"Spike?" She called, uncertainly.
There was no reply,
"SPIKE?" She called again, a little annoyed.
There was a thump. Spike scrambled into the room.
"What?" He asked, worried.
"What's this?" Asked Twilight, staring down at the book.
Spike looked at the book and groaned, slowing his pace. "How did that get there?" He muttered, looking up at the shelves cautiously. "Did it fall from one of the shelves?"
Twilight was silent, considering the book with thought. "Hmm."
Dismissing this, Spike continued his line of inquiry. "Did someone drop it there, when we weren’t looking?" He'd gotten to Twilight by then, and reached down to grab the book.
"Spike." Twilight muttered, jerking out of her riviere. "Something's off…"
And then the book slammed open and out of it poured darkness in huge billowing tentacles. Spike was enveloped in an instant, his panicked cry echoing though the crystal caves. The Changeling Queen cackled down at her, and Twilight stood, small and foalish, staring at her reflection in the floor.
A miserable grey face stared back at her, reminding her of how she had no friends. She was alone, trapped down here with no way out, and now it was Dischord laughing at her. She leaned forward and stumbled-
And woke with a gasp, finding herself beside her bed, her back aching from having hit the hard floor. Spike howled, fighting his own blankets.
"Spike! Wake up!" Twilight exclaimed, scrambling to her hooves and hurrying over. Spike's eyes shot open and flicked around wildly, finally finding the soft purple glow of Twilight's horn as she used her magic to unwind the sheet from around him.
"Twilight." Spike gasped, rolling out of the bed and stumbling over to her. "I had the worst dream."
"So did I." Twilight admitted, still quivering. "Tell me about it."
"Well, first it was an eternity of cleaning up after you did that massive study on changelings, and then you called me back and there was a book on the floor you wanted me to put away. But when I went to pick it up it pulled me in with these big black hairy spider legs, and you just stood there and watched!"
Twilight jerked and strained to look at him. He had taken a hold of her left leg and was hugging onto it.
"So, what was yours about?" Spike inquired, and Twilight sighed. "Come on!"
"Well, it started the same...you got attacked by a book that pulled you in, and then...I was back in the caves, and the Queen was laughing at me, and I was a foal again, I didn't have any friends again. And when I saw my reflection in the mirror, I was washed-out, like when Dischord- he was laughing at me…" Twilight trailed off, frowning.
"Wow, that sounds horrible." Spike gasped, letting go of Twilight's leg. Twilight didn't watch him leave, instead the image she'd seen in the floor danced in her mind's eye, something elusively strange with it, something wrong…
Twilight sighed and followed after Spike, finding him fixing a midnight snack for himself. He held an smooth dark stone, and was staring at it hungrily, but when he saw her, he froze. She smiled and walked towards him, only to freeze, staring in horror at her face in the jewel. It wasn't her in that reflection!
"What do mean, Twilight?" Spike was confused. He went and held the gem close to her face. "Of course it's you! That's your reflection…Twilight?"
"It was someone else." Twilight told him, her eyes wide. "That wasn't me in the caves. I saw someone else…Spike, I need to go to Canterlot!"
Spike gaped at her, and then his gaze was dragged back to the gem. When Twilight turned her back and raced back to the shelves, Spike relaxed. Taking advantage of his open mouth, he stuffed the gem in and crunched on it. He wasn't going to get possibly dragged off to Canterlot on an empty stomach!
Dear Princess Celestia
Twilight paused, thinking hard, and then wrote fiercely, stopped and turned to stare at her collection of books. The quill, freshly dipped, was still hovering over the page and while she thought, the drip of ink swelled and dropped into the page, spreading darkness out over the words. Twilight turned back to see the result and growled. Dipping the quill again, she swept the letter aside and copied out a new one, shorter. She gave a much smaller account of her dream; why she was coming and then rolled the letter up and sealed it.
"Spike!"
Spike trotted out and took the letter, sighing. He sucked in a great breath, his head pulling back as his stomach swelled. Then he let loose with a blast of green flame, which dissolved the letter into a cloud of sparkles. The sparkles zoomed out the window.
"Come on, Spike!" Twilight ordered, already running a list though her head. "Packing quickly to catch the Nightmare express!"
The two slipped out of the library in silence, and sped silently down the road. The full moon cast everything in silvery light, and silhouettes. They met no-pony and saw no-pony their way to the train-station, and there, unsurprisingly, was no-pony-else boarding the train that night. It was chilly there, but not enough for Twilight's breath to mist. She stomped and skittered anxiously, staring up and down the tracks.
Finally, there was a distant screech-whistle, and the Nightmare-Express huffed into the station. With a subtle-hiss of steam, it slid to a halt. Twilight trotted to the door and jumped though as soon as they slid open. Spike raced in after her, gripping his tail. Settling onto a bed, Twilight curled up and stared out the window.