Blink.
A small spot of white twinkled far above his head, casting light into the otherwise dark forest.
Blink.
He was lying on something soft, not like a pillow or a blanket, but more like grass. Not exactly grass, but something similar.
Blink.
Spike became fully conscious. He got up, and looked towards what he had been resting on. It was a bed of what have once been beautiful golden flowers before he had fallen on them. Somehow, this bed of flowers had broken his fall. Broken his fall...that's right, he had fallen down Mount Everhoof, hadn't he? Spike checked the area and grabbed what he was looking for. Seemed like his backpack was still intact, although its contents weren't, including his lunch, which meant he had no food for the time being. With his first obstacle placed before him, Spike began to examine the area more closely.
It appeared to be some kind of forest - not a particularly pleasing one, either, more like the ones Spike had heard about in ghost stories; the ones that the kids dared each other to enter even though it clearly wasn't a very good idea. And while he had laughed to himself at their blindness to obvious danger, the fact that he himself was now in a forest that looked like it could hold a monster or two made Spike silently take it all back. Even worse was the legend of Mount Everhoof that he was slowly starting to recall - supposedly, this mountain held some sort of horrifying abomination, and anyone who fell down Mount Everhoof would fall into its prison, never to make it out alive, which was seeming more likely to Spike as he looked around, the haunting atmosphere filling him with fear.
However, there was no food in sight. So, against his better judgement, Spike walked out of the area in search of resources. He walked slowly, glancing at the trees to make sure there wasn't any glowing eyes following him, feeling as if he was in danger somehow. That's when he saw it. He looked, and there in the distance was a pink sheep. Spike blinked in surprise. He wasn't an expert on farm animals, but he was pretty sure sheep weren't supposed to be pink. Curious, he began to walk over. As he got closer, he began to notice more details. For instance, the sheep appeared to have purple hair with a light blue stripe running between it, and it also happened to be humming a calming little tune, it's feminine voice confirming the sheep to be female. He was pretty sure sheep couldn't talk, either. Then, as Spike got closer, the sheep turned around, revealing her startling blue eyes. At the sight of Spike, the sheep gave a friendly grin and waved. Or, at least Spike thought it was a friendly grin. Something seemed...off about it. But he didn't see anything wrong with the grin, so he dismissed it as the sheep being nervous.
"Why, hello there!" the sheep greeted. "I'm STARLIGHT. STARLIGHT GLIMMER! You're new to the underground, aren't you?" Spike nodded. Starlight 's grin changed to a small frown as she thought for a moment, then her grin returned. "Well, I suppose someone's going to have to teach you how things work down here, and since no one else's here at the moment, I guess that'll have to be me!" Suddenly, the world faded into a dark void, and a glowing red heart appeared before Spike, surrounded by a white frame. Starlight appeared just behind the heart, but now she appeared to be black and white.
"You see that? That's your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!" Starlight explained. Spike scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, looking at Starlight with a clueless expression. For a split-second, Starlight's eyes flashed to a different color, but Spike didn't have enough time to notice. "Imagine that heart's you." Starlight clarified. Spike nodded slowly.
"Now, as you can see, your SOUL starts out small, but with a bit of LOVE, it can grow!" Starlight continued. "You want some LOVE, don't you?" Spike nodded happily. Any thoughts of Starlight being untrustworthy were forgotten. Starlight winked.
"Well, I'll share some LOVE with you!" Five blue balls of some sort of energy Spike couldn't recognize appeared around Starlight's head. In their odd light, Starlight's grin seemed...malicious? Then Spike realized what was wrong with Starlight's grin.
It was fake.
"Run around, grab as many as you can!" Starlight told Spike cheerfully, firing off the blue spheres rapidly. Spike panicked, quickly dodging the balls - well, to be more accurate, his soul did. And as he felt their heat as they whizzed past him, Spike was sure the balls were meant to hurt him. He looked at Starlight once again, and he saw something terrifying - Starlight's face contorted into an expression he could guess was pure rage. What was scary about it was that her face had changed somehow. Her eyes were a sickly yellow with jagged, red pupils, and her teeth were sharper than anything he'd seen in most animals, definitely sharper then they should be for a sheep. But it was only for a second, before Starlight's face returned to her fake smile. It was enough for Spike to try running, only to find he couldn't, the only result being his soul running into it's confines in an attempt to escape.
"Oh, you saw through my little lie there! Very good!" Starlight complimented, clapping her hooves together. "Sorry about tricking you like that - see, in this world, it's kill or be killed, whether you like it or not. I was just following the underground's rules, you see; I was hoping to give you a quick and painless death." Spike calmed down a bit. Maybe she was telling the truth. It would explain her fake smile, after all, and why she acted so friendly. Suddenly, Starlight turned her head to something behind her.
"Oh, here comes another monster! They may not be as merciful as me. Here, let me just do something real quick..." The darkness cleared around Spike, revealing four boxes. labelled with the words FIGHT, ACT, ITEMS, and MERCY. "There we go! Now, when they get to you, you can fight back! Good luck!" Starlight vanished with a flash. There were a few moments of silence. Then Spike heard footsteps heading towards him. He prepared himself for a fight, his fists shaking. Then a figure came into view. It - no, she looked like a woman, except her hands were covered in white fur, she had hooves for feet, and as Spike looked up, he saw that she had the head of a pony.
"Oh, hello there..." the pony started. She knelt down so that her eyes meet Spike's. "A HUMAN child like you shouldn't be in a place like the Everfree Forest; it's rather dangerous here. I am CELESTIA; follow me, and I shall take you to a safer place." Celestia held out her hand for Spike to take. He looked at her, and saw her warm smile, and unlike Starlight's, he knew it was genuine. Without hesitation, he grabbed her hand and let her lead him to what appeared to be the ruins of a castle. Spike's senses of adventure and curiosity were perked, filling him with DETERMINATION. And as he walked into the ruins, he didn't notice Starlight glaring at him from behind.