Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to The Hub, Hasbro, Studio B, and Lauren Faust. I do not own any of these characters in any way or how, nor do I claim ownership to the pony franchise. These characters are simply my toys.
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"Lately, I've been feeling like a monster."
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A Dragon's Tale
Chapter 3: Night
Twilight Sparkle found herself limping as she paced back and forth in front of the five ponies. Each of them were taking long looks at her bandaged body when they thought she wasn't looking. Whispers were head among them, all except for Rarity, about what had happened. She paused, her body steadily swayed back and forth and her brow was covered in sweat, her purple mane sticking to her forehead. She looked ill.
The lavender unicorn had bandages going from her neck, where the claws had initially dug in and had the worst possible cuts, down to her cutie mark. She wasn't ready to tell her friends why she had them, nor was she willing to show them the four claw marks underneath the red-tinted bandages. She looked tired, a little pale, as if she were sick and about to pass out. Her steps were staggering, but she kept her head held high, even though the unicorn winced with every step.
"Twilight… I um… are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, hiding behind her curtain of a mane as she finally became brave enough to ask the question everypony had been wondering about.
"Yeah, what's up with the bandages?" Rainbow Dash asked, her cyan wings flapping so she hovered a foot off the ground. "This isn't Nightmare Night; you aren't a mummy, what happened?"
Twilight stopped her pacing; taking a moment to catch her breath, even slight movements caused her to become fatigue quickly. She needed serious medical attention, that much was obvious.
"I've gathered you all here tonight because we have a crisis," Twilight stated, ignoring her fellow friend's questions as she continued "I can't go into detail at the moment, but Spike is in trouble, and I have no idea where he went, and I know I can trust you all more than anypony else in this entire town." She stated, looking over her friends faces to see their reactions. All showed worriment at the name of Spike's trouble, but seemed a little frustrated about the lack of detail, all except for Rarity who remained stoned faced as she nervously adjusted her mane, no doubt the screams from both dragon and unicorn haunted her mind.
"Now wait jus' one horseapplin' minute sugarcube, ya'll can't just tell us he's in troubl' without nothing else!" Applejack stated, lifting up her cowpony hat with a hoof as she stared at her unicorn companion with sympathetic eyes "It's the middle of the night, what happen'd? And what's with that der bandages, why'd ya hall us all out here?" She asked, flustered at her friends lack of detail.
"I don't have time to explain everything in detail, he could be anywhere by now..." Twilight growled angrily at her friends, lowering her head in apology to all of her friends "He's afraid, lonely, and I can't do this on my own!" She cried out "He can be anywhere in Equestria with those wings, I have no idea where to even start, and if anypony found out, and it reached the princess what he did…" Twilight was keeping her eyes squeezed shut to prevent the tears.
Twilight snapped her eyes open when she felt the nuzzling of a certain mane, she opened her eyes to see Pinkie Pie, giving her a big smile "It's alright Twilight, we can talk later, just tell us what to do and we can find him easy-pleasly-cupcake-squeezy!" She said "Alright?"
The unicorn nodded slowly, tears in her eyes, wincing at the pain in her neck, she looked at all of her friends sternly as Pinkie hopped back into place. They looked ready for orders, understanding the seriousness of the situation with ease. Twilight gave one final, painful sniffle before looking at her friends seriously.
"Rainbow, I need you to take to the sky and try to spot Spike from above, you're familiar with the skies around Ponyville, and so night-flying shouldn't be too much of a problem." Twilight said, to which the cyan pegasus saluted her and took to the skies, gone in a heartbeat.
"Applejack, the Apple Acers are even bigger than Ponyville, he might have run and hid in the apple tree forest, go check and see if he is there." The orange pony galloped off in an instant.
"Fluttershy, you can communicate with the animals differently than us, try and see if any of them have seen him run past in any direction." Fluttershy saluted the same as Rainbow did "Got it!" she said, flying off toward the fields of animals near her house.
Finally Twilight turned to Pinkie "Pinkie Pie, your senses may be able to help us find which direction he went toward, gallop around town for a scent."
"Eye flutter, tail spin, then knee buckle means tracks!" Pinkie said happily before hopping off once more, bouncy and full of life even in this dire situation.
That left Rarity. Twilight honestly had no orders to give the marshmallow colored unicorn, but she could tell Rarity had guilt in her eyes, the lavender unicorn began to walk up when Rarity spoke.
"You really need a doctor…" She mumbled, scanning Twilight's wounds "My fabrics are not nearly enough for something so serious, no matter how much they feel like bandages, they aren't!" She cried.
"Rarity…" Twilight said "If we go to the hospital, they will ask how I got hurt, and that information will reach the princess eventually, how do you think she will react to him hurting me, she would personally come here this very second and take him away from us if she knew!" Twilight cried, stamping her hoof down "No, I'm not going to let that happen to him!" She suddenly winced painfully and looked like she was about to pass out from the pain, the makeshift bandages grew a tad darker in red.
"Twilight… oh this is all my fault!" She said, putting a hoof over her face dramatically, yet somehow remaining serious about the problem at hand "I was only trying to help, I knew you would be looking, and you would never look at my place without my help and…" Twilight held up her hoof "It's alright Rarity, you did what you thought was best." The unicorn looked a tad sick, wanting to collapse and pass out to relieve her pain.
Rarity trotted forward and her horn glowed as she lifted up Twilight slightly to take the pressure off of walking "Thanks…" She mumbled, leaning on Rarity for extra support. Just like the element she represented, generosity, Rarity looked her friend in the eyes, her eyeliner slightly smudged from the tears in her eyes, but she remained strong, for Twilights sake, who looked like she wanted to sob herself to sleep this very moment.
"Still…" Rarity said, looking up at the starry sky "He could have flown anywhere, he might not even be in Equestria anymore for all we know! Good heavens he makes me so worrisome at times…" She trailed off, her hoof messing with her mane once more.
"I… I hope he isn't crying…" Was the first thing Twilight could mumble, the image of a tiny baby dragon crying tore her heart up, and she didn't even question why, because she already knew "I… I always tried to keep him civilized, not spoil him like n-normal Canterlot ponies, o-or neglect him… why… how in Equestria could the p-princess not see… he isn't going to hurt anypony…"
Rarity glanced at the bandages on Twilights neck before gently nuzzling her friend, it was obvious she was delirious, fighting to stay awake. "I would think telling you to go get rest wouldn't work." She mumbled, earning a small smile from her unicorn friend with teary eyes, she blinked them away and nodded glumly.
"Still… I didn't know what to do or say to him…" Rarity mumbled "I suppose I should have comforted him better, but I have no idea what to say, you're the better one with words, I just had to think of something to distract him till I could slip off and find you…" The unicorn sighed "It feels like a dream, and it's so tacky and unfabulous that it makes me positively sick!" She stated, stamping her hoof on the ground gently.
Twilight chuckled, it was a tad forced, but it was partly real "We'll find him." She said, wincing with each step she took, even with the help of her unicorn companion "But I… I don't know what I'm supposed to do…"
Rarity gently nuzzled her friends cheek "Celestia won't lay a hoof on his scales, now try and take it easy darling, you look simply horrid, and we need you for when we find Spike…" Rarity mumbled. Twilight looked at Rarity, leaning on her with more weight as her knees tried to buckle.
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Rainbow Dash felt the wind whipping through her rainbow mane as she flew through the sky. She grumbled to herself as she looked below, unable to see anything or anypony on the ground, even a bright purple dragon who hiccupped out fire with his sobs. She grumbled, unable to spot any sudden bursts of flame or see a dragon in the sky around her.
Twilight was upset… the pegasus had never seen her unicorn friend so distressed before, and what was up with all of those bandages? The cyan pony grumbled as cold winds whipped through her wings, causing the feathers to tremble in the wind. She wasn't fond of flying in cold, it made her exhausted far too fast.
It didn't make sense. Why in Equestria would Spike run away, he had no place to go, she herself had been there to see him call her and her friends his family, only her, Rarity, and Twilight knew he really felt that close to all of them. She felt anger rising in the pit of her belly as she flew, and she only got angrier as she realized she couldn't direct it any anypony, or any dragon, she knew!
Rainbow huffed out in anger when she heard a high pitched screech that caused her feathers to tingle and become ruffled. She paused as the owner of the voice clicked in her mind
"Pinkie Pie!" She shouted, and suddenly dove down into the town.
She couldn't see anything, and cursed herself for being so weak in the time her friends needed her. It wasn't until yet another scream erupted, this time little more than a squeak in Rainbow's sensitive hearing, that she zoomed in the direction of the sound and found a ball of pink curled up on the ground, trembling in fear. Pinkie Pie was in the middle of the street, yet nopony had come to check on all of the noise as of yet.
"Pinkie!" Rainbow shouted in fear, yet quietly, making sure not to wake anypony up. (Although Pinkie Pie's screaming might have done that already.) She rushed over to her friend, her rainbow mane bouncing when she lied down in from of her. The mare's usually frizzy and fluffy hair had gone flat, and her eyes were wet in tears, not the sobbing, miserable kind, the kind that only hit when you were truly terrified.
"Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash asked, gently stroking her friends flat mane "What happened, you alright?" She asked, gently, not wanting to startle the flustered filly.
Pinkie looked up, she looked unnatural with a face full of tears, almost as if she didn't belong.
Pinkie sniffled loudly "I…" She began "I felt something…" She mumbled.
Rainbow reached out a hoof and helped Pinkie up, the mare's eyes were wide "I felt a twitch that I've never felt before…" She mumbled "I… I can't say for sure, but I think Spike is in danger… I think he's… he's really REALLY scared for some reason, I don't know why but I feel like he's in trouble."
Rainbow Dash blinked, living in Ponyville for quite some time had taught her the same lesson as everypony else. When Pinkie's twitching, you better be careful "What do you mean, i-is he hurt or something?"
"I don't know." Pinkie said, looking worriedly at her cyan friend. "But I think… I think the twitch came to me from the Everfree forest."
Rainbow looked down, hiding the sudden bolt of shock running through her "Why would he go through the Everfree forest, why not stay someplace safe?" She growled to herself. She couldn't help but feel like Twilight knew something, knew something that she wasn't telling anypony else simply because Spike was in deeper than any of them had thought.
"Darn it," She growled out through grinded teeth "We gotta go and help him!" She suddenly jumped in the air and took off before halting and flying back to Pinkie "Wait here, I'll get the others then we can search for him!" Rainbow Dash might have not been the smartest one in the group, and it was true that Spike was in danger, but she had learned more than enough times to tell that she needed her friends for this.
Pinkie Pie's mane suddenly exploded back into frizzy fluff "Oki Doki Loki!" She said, giving a salute, bouncing back to bright and happy in less than a second. Rainbow still hadn't quite comprehended how that was possible yet, but she didn't have any time to ponder on the matter.
Rainbow took a deep breath before shooting off "Damn it." she grumbled as the wind rushed past her as she dodged house after house.
"Damn it, Damn it, Damn it, be alright Spike!" She yelled, trying to fly with every ounce of her strength, without doing a Sonic Rainboom to wake up the entire town of course.
"I'll kill you if you die!"
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Spike sniffled loudly as his own scaly feet splashed into a puddle of water, he shivered slightly, however he wasn't positive it was the water that had done it in the first place. Maybe he was trembling, he didn't feel much cold anyways since his entire body had flames built up inside.
A sudden howling caused him to jump as he took a quick three-sixty swing around him only to spot nothing. He looked down and clamped his claws shut into a fist. His hand was red… red with Twilight's blood.
His stomach suddenly felt queasy, and his head began to spin as the memory flashed before his eyes. How long ago was that? A second, minute, hour, month maybe? He couldn't tell, it seemed that ever since he crash landed back in the forest that he hadn't stopped even once to sleep or look for food. He was starving, his rumbling belly told him that, but if he even thought about food, his mind replayed the scene again, and he became scared and dismissed any thought.
He lightly kicked a pebble and watched it fly out into the darkness of the forest. He glanced up into the sky and saw Luna's moon, it was bright and full tonight. Her power must be at its maximum. Even so, the Everfree forest was dark as black.
Would anypony miss him if he ran away with his tail between his legs, would anypony even care for his wellbeing? He could imagine Twilight being upset, but then moving on and hatching another little assistant simply to cast him away as well when the time came.
"Number one friend my scales." He mumbled. He got down on the ground and picked up a small stick. His eyes watered and a few tears slipped out against him will. He growled and snapped the stick in half, feeling a disgusting satisfaction at the snapping noise, almost like a bone. He blinked and realized what he was doing, but also realized he didn't care. He snapped the half in half, then the other half. Halfway through he was breathing slightly heavily.
He suddenly imagined Twilight, and how he had wanted to do this to her the moment his mind snapped in anger.
The dragon stopped, he threw the sticks as far as he could and fell on his behind "No!" He shouted, covering his eyes as he whimpered and sniffled. He didn't want to imagine Twilight like that, regardless if everything she had ever told him, everything she ever did that was nice for him was fake… he still… he still thought of her as…
He couldn't say the word. He couldn't even think it, not after these past two days. He sniffled, realizing just how short his happy life had gone by. He never once had a friend back in Canterlot, and now he had so many he thought he might burst with joy at times, but he always kept his cool outside of being near Rarity.
Spike let out a small chocked out sob, tasting ashen flames. He didn't want Fluttershy to see him as a monster, he didn't want Rainbow to choose between her princess and him, he didn't want Pinkie Pie to throw a goodbye party where everypony cried, he didn't want Applejack to hate him, he didn't want Twilight to get hurt because of him, but most of all, he didn't want Rarity to think of him as a cold and heartless beast, not like the last time he became greedy.
He wanted to die, wanted to disappear, just so none of this would happen. That was why he kept walking, he wanted to remember all of his friends… as nice, and loving toward him, disregarding the horrid memory of Twilight, he wanted to think they cared about him, and would stand up for him if the time came.
"I'm… sorry… everypony…" He whimpered out, wiping his tears away with the back of his arm as he forced himself to stand up "Monsters… belong here… don't they?" He asked, more to himself than his invisible friends. As he said this, he glanced at his hand. Blood… her blood was still on it.
A loud, screeching sound suddenly made him jump. He jumped once more as he heard footsteps. Right where he threw the wood chunks. It was only a pair of bright yellow eyes and the simple sight of teeth that forced him to turn around and run in fear.
Spike spread his wings, ready to take off and fly. However a pair of teeth clomped down on one, and he felt himself be thrown to the ground. Blood poured from his damaged wing as it twitched slightly. It hurt… a lot. He felt pain for a change, instead of the numbness.
Something tackled into him and teeth bit down on his side, more warm liquid trailing down his body.
Monsters belong with other monsters.
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It took Rainbow Dash thirty minutes to round up all of her friends. Twilight limped heavily on one of her legs as Rainbow Dash practically drug her through the down. She was breathing heavily, and dizzy, sick, and tired, but something kept her moving. Spike, her friends? She didn't know.
Rarity was galloping behind them "Slow down, Rainbow!" She said, her voice in anger.
Rainbow rolled her eyes as she merely sped up, and Twilight felt herself be lifted off the ground. "Spike could be getting mauled by an Ursa Major as we speak; we have to M-O-V-E!" She spelled out to the unicorns.
They reached the forest a minute later. It was the same entrance Twilight used to get to Zecora's when she wanted to visit somezebra else intelligent like herself. Her friends weren't… bad… she just liked it when the zebra used bigger words.
Twilight breathed out heavily as she felt herself be dropped gently on the ground. She lifted her five ton head to see Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack, and even Fluttershy were standing tall. Even Fluttershy was ready to go into the Everfree forest, albeit she was holding onto Pinkie Pie like to tomorrow, but she wasn't quivering on the ground.
This for some reason motivated Twilight as she forcibly got to her feet with a grunt. Rarity ran to her and supported her with magic.
"C'mon slow pokes, let's G-O N-O-W!" Rainbow said, once again spelling as she pointed toward the Everfree forest, throwing her hooves in the direction. Pinkie Pie was nodding with such bouncy energy, one might think she was heading into a fun house she seemed to excited!
Rarity glared at the floating pegasus before glancing back to Twilight "Darling, are you ready for this, it won't be easy."
"F-F…" Twilight paused "For Spike."
"So um," Applejack began "How do we fin'dis scent?" She asked "I mean, the Everfree forest is huge!"
"Oh, Oh, Oh!" Pinkie suddenly said, slamming her face into the ground as she began to sniff much light a dog. The others looked at her in pure confusion before Applejack got the idea, pulling a rope out of seemingly nowhere and lassoing it around Pinkie's neck. The strange pink pony tugged on the rope and began to lightly bounce forward like a frog.
"She got a scent!" Applejack shouted happily "Ho, nelly, let's go!"
Fluttershy needed a tiny reassuring push from Rainbow Dash in order to get her to follow into the large, mysterious forest.
Rarity helped Twilight along with a tiny nudge, and the lavender Unicorn limped along, only one word screaming in her mind.
"Spike."
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Spike whimpered gently as warm breath hit his body. He felt pain, unimaginable pain. There were teeth and bite marks covering his blood bathed body. A creature that looked like a wolf made of wood with razor sharp teeth stood above him. His mind raced, trying to remember something, anything that Twilight might have said in order to describe these things.
Timber-Wolf was the only name coming to mind.
The wolf's log body seemed to move on its own, no magic, no nothing. It was somehow alive, and it had found a snack it seemed. Spike realized that if he wanted to, he could escape, however his will to live had vanished. He silently wished that the creature would sink its teeth into his soft neck so he could simply stop causing all of his friend's trouble.
He felt the razor teeth sink back into his arm once more, breathing through the scales as if they were nothing. Even if he wanted to fight, he couldn't, the amount of blood he had lost was too great. He simply squirmed and whimpered gently, thinking of Rarity, imagining her beautiful mane, her baby talk toward him. It always made him feel better, but this time it only hurt more, because he would likely never see her again.
Spike felt the teeth rip out of his arms. The wolf was teasing him with death. He closed his eyes as he felt the breath hit his neck, and could feet a small trickle of blood leak out. He wondered briefly what it was like… to be dead…
"Yee Haw!" A sudden shouting noise came as Spike saw out of the corner of his eye a rope lasso its way around the Timber-Wolves neck as he forced his head to turn, and saw Applejack kicking the wooden creature with all of her might.
He tried to sit up, but found it impossible until a sudden swoop came and two pegasus grabbed him, one was breathing heavily with tears going down her cheeks and the other was flying swiftly and fast as he was swooped out of the area. He felt himself slam into a tree and words being franticly sputtered out.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, there's s-s-so much b-blood!" Fluttershy squeaked as her hooves hovered around Spikes ruby red stained body, unsure of where to treat first. She looked frantic as Spike blinked slowly, still somewhat in shock.
"That's it, now it's personal!" A cyan pegasus shouted as her and her bright rainbow mane shot out of the tree like a bullet and down onto the Timber-Wolf, smashing into its body and knocking it to the ground.
Fluttershy frantically glanced around the tree and grabbed one of the large leaves and pressed it to the dragon's chest "Spike, just try and keep the blood from flowing." She wasn't sure if the dragon heard her, he seemed to be in a daze. She whimpered gently as she heard Rainbow Dash cry out in pain, and she turned her head to see both her and Applejack be shot back to the ground.
"Oh no." She cried out, Spike looked down, his vision blurry. He kept looking for Twilight, but couldn't see her. He didn't care about the fight, he wanted to see Twilight, to see she was alright.
"Take that you ruffian!" Spike heard Rarity scream. He turned just in time to See Pinkie Pie holding the wolf down by its head as Rarity kicked it with her back legs, only to have it roar in her face. She made a disgusted face before saying "Ew, someone needs a head to toe makeover, and your breath, my Celestia!" she cried.
Suddenly the wolf reached out a paw and swiped at the unicorn, knocking her back as it threw its head off to throw Pinkie in the other direction.
"Rari-" Spike began to call before Fluttershy flew down from the tree right in front of the wolf.
"Um… hello, normally I would um…" Fluttershy squeaked as a paw swiped at her, but she managed to avoid it "I would n-normally, a-avoid this k-kind of t-thing, o-o-or try and tame you, b-but… you hurt my friends." Another paw swipe that she dodged easily "And all you are is a big. Dumb. Meanie!" she shouted, tackling the creature to the ground with such force that the ground itself shook.
The creature stood up and threw Fluttershy off. He growled and looked around him, heading toward the pegasus he just threw off, Fluttershy's burst of energy gone as a ball of pink was curled up on the ground trembling.
"Wait!" A Tired voice called.
Spike glanced lazily toward the sound, however his eyes lit up as he saw a purple mane with a single pink strip. Her body was lavender, with a Cutie Mark of stars. She was limping, but her voice was still strong.
The Timber-Wolf looked at her, as the unicorn's horn suddenly began to glow. It stopped as she began to heave out air, the horn gave several sparks, and then died out. It was at this point that Spike realized just how tired she looked. She was about to faint, and in the blink of an eye she was lying on the ground, whimpering and breathing out in pain. The wolf lifted a paw, ready to strike.
Something snapped once more.
"TWILIGHT!" The dragon shouted, spreading his damaged wings and diving out of the tree. He crashed into the wolf with full force, wood meeting his body. He raked his claws down the bark, finding a strange, green blood covering up the previous red hand of his. He clawed and bit in anger, ignoring his searing pain.
He was breathing heavily, the animal sounding like it was crying softly. Spike took a deep breath, and breathed out a giant ball of fire and rolled off, breathing heavily as the creature burned and squirmed, howling in agony before it slowly became very silent, and the fire simply burnt.
Spike was silent for several moments. He blinked slowly. He had killed something… he had… taken something's life, an animal, a living creature. He… he was truly a monster.
He sat up just as his friends started to come around, except for Twilight, she was still limp on the ground.
Spike forced himself to get to his feet as he began to limp off as fast as he could. A rope suddenly lassoed him "We ain't lettin'… ya leave so soon." Applejack's voice came. She was hurt, her cheek and flank were both bleeding.
Spike tugged at the rope, but Applejack pulled harder. He didn't say anything, just trembled as tears began to well and spill from his eyes. He must be dehydrated, he had cried a river full these long, hard, two days.
He slashed his claw down on the rope, feeling it snap as he spread his wings, wincing slightly as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy grabbed his arms "Please…" Fluttershy asked, her eyes begging. Rainbow growled "You aren't leaving." She stated.
Spike whimpered gently, and shook off the two with enough force to knock them to the ground. Why did they care anyway? He spread his wings, and flapped them. But before he could take off, a body crashed into his back.
"Why do you want to go?" Pinkie Pie screamed, her usual self gone "After we looked for you, after we saved you?" Spike whimpered gently as tears ran onto his shoulder. He growled and threw her off "Stay away!" He cried out, his eyes watering as he turned to face the four. Tears flowed freely from his eyes. Why did they care, why didn't they hate him, they should want him dead after hurting Twilight so badly.
He took a step back before bumping into something, something warm. He did a one-eighty as he saw Rarity eye to eye, he suddenly fell back onto his rump. "Why?" He whimpered "Why won't you just… l-l-let me go?" He cried out.
Rarity blinked, and got down in front of Spike before suddenly questioning him "Why would we do that?"
"B-Because…" Spike spit out "I-I-I'm just a monster, I-I-I d-d-did those things to Twilight, I-I killed that Timber-Wolf, no wonder Celestia wants me gone."
He almost didn't register the gasp from the others at the last line, but it was clear, they hadn't been filled in.
Rarity smiled warmly, and leaned down to wrap her arms around him "You are not a monster, you are our friends, and my little Spikey-Wikey, nothing will change that." She assured.
Spike should have been blushing. He should have been fighting to escape. Something! But all he managed to do, was let out the sobs contained in his aching heart. He hugged Rarity back with all of his might and cried out loud for what seemed like the first time in his life.
"I-I-I don't… I don't want to go!" He wailed out.
He suddenly felt a body at his side, and glanced to see Fluttershy hugging him, to his other side Pinkie soon followed, and he felt Applejack hug him from behind. Soon he was in the middle of a group hug, and all he was doing was sobbing like an idiot.
"D-D-Darn it!" Rainbow cried out, sounding upset, almost as if she was crying, she suddenly flew into the hug and wrapped her hooves around his waist "I don't g-get what's goin' on with the princess, or what happened, but why in Equestria are you making me so soft?" She cried out.
And so they sat, the five ponies hugging the hurt dragon as he began to feel the blood loss hit him, and he hung on only for simply something to show him he wasn't worthless. Twilight was still passed out close behind them, but nopony was willing to let go to check on her, afraid Spike might leave.
The sounds of hoovesteps came from behind them, as the five ponies glanced toward the noise to see a shadowy figure. It was cloaked and the mist made it impossible to clearly see. However, Spike found he didn't have the energy to care as he gently tightened his hold on Rarity, and closed his eyes as the blood loss took over him, and he passed out in the middle of all his friends.
"What is this, for it is not bliss?" It asked, emerging from the mist.