Sour Dreams

by PieDisliker

Worse

Night Four:

Spike opened his eyes and rose out of bed.

“Twilight, you awake?” Spike asked.

No response. It was complete silence in the library.

Guess she’s not, Spike thought. I wonder when she’ll get out of b- Wait.

Spike changed his thoughts on account of the fact that he noticed Twilight wasn’t sleeping, or in her bed, for that matter. Instead of a mass under blankets, there was just a note.

Dear Spike,

I won’t be living with you in Ponyville anymore. You’ll have to take care of the library now. I know you can do it. I also left some extra bits under my bed in case you get off to a rough start. Good luck being in charge.

Twilight Sparkle

…What? Nonononono. This was insane. How could Twilight simply leave Spike to take care of himself all alone, with so few details at that? Dozens of ideas were running through Spike’s mind, and perhaps more questions than anypony could answer.

So, Spike thought to himself. This is really it. Twilight left without leaving a reason. I’ve only known her for… my whole life. Wow… umm… I guess I need to make sure the library stays at its best. Better be prepared.

How could she just leave him like that? This wasn’t like Twilight. What could be so important that he wasn’t told about this ahead of time? Spike felt like crying and showed it, as small puddles of water started to appear near his feet. Speechless as he was, he headed for a broom to do some sweeping when he heard a knock on the door.

“Coming,” Spike groaned to the mystery guest. Although he was caught up in thoughts about Twilight, he still wondered who would be at the door.

He opened it to find a wide-grinned Rainbow Dash. She looked more excited than usual, probably because of a new Daring Do book that must’ve come out.

“Hey Rainbow, haven’t seen you in a bit. Are you looking for-”

“Daring Do and the-” Rainbow Dash was cut off even quicker than when she interrupted Spike earlier.

“Gotcha, new Daring Do book came out. I’ll head over and see if I have it.” Spike wasn’t exactly eager to hear about what adventures Daring Do was going to go through next. Sure he enjoyed her company, but when she was on the topic of her favorite series…well…she could go on about it for a while.

Despite the distaste for the series, he knew exactly where the books belonged. He grabbed a book entitled ‘Daring Do and the Triumphant Tiger.’ And walked back over towards the door, where Rainbow stood.

“This the one?” Spike asked, handing it over .

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see what happens next! Thanks Spike!” Rainbow Dash turned around and was getting ready to fly.

“Wait Rainbow! I need some help! Twilight -” Spike was once again interrupted by the sound of perhaps the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria, but this time at the worst possible time.

“-left…me.” Spike shook his head. He tried to pull himself together and tell himself that everything was okay, maybe somepony else could help him out. He went back towards the broom to tidy the place up, when he heard another knock.

“Coming,” Spike said, once again. He was greeted by none other than Mrs. Cake.

“Hello Spike, I’m working on adding some new recipes to our menu and I was wondering if I could borrow a specific cookbook.” Mrs. Cake looked eager, but not nearly as eager as Rainbow Dash had. Spike looked back over to the shelves, thinking of which cookbook would be best suited for Mrs. Cake.

“Sure, though I’m not entirely sure which cookbook-” Spike was interrupted.

“I’m looking for a cookbook as well,” said somepony with a blue and pinkish mane. Bon Bon, was it? They never really spoke much, but he recognized her when he turned around.

“Well uhh… sure. What can I-” Spike was interrupted once again.

“I’m looking for a book on time,”

“I need one on ice skates,”

“I need a book that will show me how I can get hands!”

Waaaaaaaaay too many requests. Spike started to back away as the amount of ponies at the library was increasing at an unbelievably high speed. This was even more than when they had that exclusive release on a book involving one of the comets, and ponies from all over Equestria came!

“BOOK…PAGES…ANIMALS…SPACE…CANDY…” Spike couldn’t even make out who was saying what, and could barely hear words come from those ponies anymore. All he heard was a crowd rumbling.

“At least things can’t get any worse,” Spike muttered.

As if cued by the cruelty of the universe, Spike heard glass shattering. He searched around and spotted three unicorns dressed in black and carrying sacks in their mouths by the window, trotting in uninvited. They started moving miscellaneous items with their magic and brought them to their bags. The ponies who were requesting for books started to scream.

Spike’s jaw dropped. He didn’t know what to do, but this could be the end for the library itself. He couldn’t think of anything but to just stand there and scream.

“HEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!”

~ ~ ~

Day Four:

“HEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!”

“Spike! Snap out of it!” Twilight shouted. Spike woke up to a mare grabbing him by his back shaking him back and forth. It was a rather unsettling way to wake, but effective.

“What? Whaaa…Twilight?” Spike was lost for words with how surprised he was. He needed a moment to take in the fact that what he went through was another nightmare.

Twilight released her hooves from Spike. She was grateful that Spike had finally woken up from his latest nightmare, but she needed information, and by the fact that Spike was screaming for help in his sleep meant that this became even more important.

“Spike,” Twilight spoke carefully. “I know you’re probably tired and have trouble thinking right now, but I need you to tell me everything you can remember about your dream.” She had a quill and notepad ready, enveloped in her magic.

Spike rubbed his eyes and waited a moment trying to remember everything he could. It didn’t take very long for him to tell Twilight, even if it wasn’t easy. At least the confessions with Applejack made it easier to tell Twilight what was on his mind.

“Well, in my dream, you left a note for me saying that you left Ponyville. I was put in charge of the library.”
Twilight’s eyes widened.

“Did I give any sort of reason why I left?” Twilight questioned.

“No. It was unexpected and on short notice. Anyway, I was visited by Rainbow Dash who was looking for a new Daring Do book. Then Mrs. Cake came and was talking to her about some sort of cookbook. Next thing I know, there’s a ton of ponies outside the door all wanting books. Way too much for me to handle on my own.”
“That sounds awful.”

“It gets worse. Three unicorns…at least, I think they were all unicorns, dressed in black broke into our home. They started stealing things with their magic, and the crowd started panicking, and then I woke up.”

“I see,” Twilight said, lowering down her quill and notepad. “This dream sounds a bit more dramatic than your past ones.”

“I… I’m just glad it’s over.” Spike lowered his head slightly, sighing gently.

Twilight rested a hoof on Spike’s shoulder, causing him to look back at Twilight. It must have been awful to have gone through with the experience of his closest friend to just… leave him all by himself.

“It’ll be okay, Spike,” Twilight said encouragingly. “It was just a dream. You’ll still live your normal, peaceful life during the day just like always.”

Spike just smiled. Twilight stared back at him, relieved with how well he was handling the situation. Spike was still just a baby dragon, and she didn’t even know if she would be able to handle nightmares this well as an adult. Still, no matter how the situation looked, Twilight was determined to help Spike fix his problem.

Twilight broke the silence. “Oh I know! Spike, I think I have an idea as to why you’re having these nightmares.”
This intrigued Spike. “How so?” he asked.

“It might be because of your species. Ponies don’t normally have nightmares, but this may be different for you since you’re a dragon. Maybe this is a part of you growing up.”

“I certainly hope not, but it could be.” The idea of this made him worry. Would this go on for the rest of his life, making an unpleasant sleep each night something he’d have to get used to?

Twilight pondered a bit more, tapping a hoof on her chin. “Zecora might be able to figure it out. She seemed to know about dragons the last time we asked her. Maybe she knows what’s going on.”

Spike nodded. “Makes sense, it sounds like she’d be good with that kind of stuff.”

“Alright, we’re going to visit Zecora. We’ll have to be careful in the Everfree Forest, though.”

* * *

The Everfree Forest was mysterious and dark like always, though it didn’t seem to creep Twilight out as much as it did to Spike. Twilight had been there more often and was more familiar with the area. Because of her familiarity, she led the way to Zecora’s.

The walk through the Everfree Forest didn’t seem like it would be a fond memory for Spike earlier. Anything could pop out in the darkness and probably make Spike jump out of his own scales, even if it was harmless. He didn’t know what could come out, whether a manticore, cockatrice, or even worse… a zombie pony.

What they actually ran across was much less threatening. They spotted a patch of blue leaves on the ground, blocking their way.

“Poison joke,” Twilight indicated. “Looks like we’re going to have to change our path. If we head left we should be able to-”

“Poison joke?” Spike interrupted. “You mean that plant that made the six of you…hehehehe…HILARIOUS?!” Spike broke out in laughter, lying on the ground and unable to control himself.

“Please don’t bring that up again,” Twilight requested. “Come on Spike, we need to get going.” Twilight started to turn around and head off.

“Hehehe, sorry,” Spike settled down, stood up and started to maintain control of himself. “Hey wait, this stuff made you all radically change. That gives me an idea.”

“Spike you can’t be serious,” Twilight said as she turned around, only to see Spike running through the poison joke.

“Spike!” Twilight used her magic to pull Spike by the tail towards her and away from the poison joke, lifting him in the air as he dangled by his tail, pulling him out of the blue leaves. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Don’t you get it, Twilight? The poison joke might change up my dreams from those nightmares into something sillier! How come I didn’t think of this before?” Twilight set Spike down on his feet, and the two of them continued walking, away from the poison joke.

“Poison joke doesn’t work that way. You have absolutely no idea what you got yourself into! Poison joke doesn’t affect the mind, it changes your features on the outside and we have no idea what will happen!” Twilight was beyond annoyed; she just hoped that Spike wasn’t going to change too drastically. At least she knew the cure. Some dragon was going to get a bubble bath.

“Let’s just get to Zecora’s,” Twilight continued.

* * *

Zecora’s door swung violently open, startling the zebra. Spike and Twilight found her on the floor surrounded by beads and a mostly empty sack.

“Oh my gosh, Zecora,” Twilight quickly apologized. “I’m so sorry, we didn’t realize you were busy.” Twilight used her magic to move the beads back into the sack, and also tied up the opening of the sack securely. Zecora stood up momentarily, not seeming to let the incident bother her.

“It’s alright, Twilight Sparkle. The door slamming was all but harmful,” Zecora stated respectfully.

“We didn’t mean to interrupt what you were doing,” Twilight claimed. “Spike’s been having nightmares every night for the past four nights, and we thought it may have had to do with him being a dragon. Last time we came to you for help you knew about dragons and their greed. Maybe you could help us out with this?”

Zecora patted her hooves on top of Spike’s head, and then rustled them down a couple of Spike’s scales, one by one. She then proceeded to spin him, leaving him a bit dizzy afterwards. Neither Twilight nor Spike understood what this was about, but they didn’t come to question her methods. They remembered the last time her acts were confronted.

The zebra grabbed some bottles and started to pour them into her cauldron. Green, blue, clear, each one falling in at the same speed, but having a different effect when landing. Sometimes it would bubble, other times the formula inside the cauldron changed color. When she finished, she turned toward Spike.

“Please forgive me, but this is needed to be” Zecora rhymed as she poked Spike in the left eye with one of her front hooves.

“Ow!” Spike cried, holding a claw up to his eye.

Zecora got what she needed, as she balanced a tear drop from her hoof to fall into the cauldron. It fell gently, but then the cauldron started to squeal. Steam rose high up to the ceiling, crowding the area of the pot before expanding further across the room. It became hard to see past the steam.

“This is getting pretty weird,” Spike said fearfully, gripping his arm around one of Twilight’s legs.

The steam toned to more of a reddish color, within that red there was an image starting to form. It was a dragon, no, multiple dragons surrounding a volcano, similar to when Spike participated in the Dragon Migration. But what did this mean? The image started to zoom in on one dragon in particular. It was a full-grown adult yellow dragon, with orange scales. It looked vicious. The image grew closer, panning towards the dragon’s face, then its eye. It just… stared. There was no blinking. It was as if it were a statue, or a picture of some sort. Then above all, something made that dragon stand out among the rest, aside from the fact that he was being zoomed in on. A single tear drop formed and rolled down from that same eye.

The steam vanished, returning the room to its original state. Spike was blinking a bit more excessively, due to the vapors irritating his eyes, on top of the fact that Zecora poked his eye moments ago.

Zecora stood still and smiled, preparing for conversation with Twilight and Spike. “There is nothing that reveals a fear quite like a dragon’s tear.”

Twilight and Spike were both puzzled by Zecora’s response, though not much more than usual.

“I don’t get it,” Twilight pondered. “What was that all about? Who was that dragon and why is Spike’s tear significant?”

“Yeah, and did you have to poke me in the eye for that?” Spike agreed, as he continued to blink.

Zecora seemed prepared for questioning, and continued to answer so. “In order to find the source of your problem, you must find those whose thoughts are in common. If you go ahead and find the dragon shown, Spike’s nightmares may vanish, along with his moans.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Twilight said as she collected her thoughts. “But how are we supposed to find this dragon anyway? We don’t know his name or what volcano they were at.”

“As the Element of Magic, you should know. To your library, you must go.”

Twilight looked over at Spike, considering what he had to go through. It must be so painful to have to deal with that type of stress night after night, and have perhaps his own closest friend abandon him, to live off his own. These nightmares only seemed to be getting worse and worse, and if something wasn’t done, who knew what may-

“Twilight?” Spike interrupted her train of thought.

“Sorry, zoned out a bit… Yes, I’ll gladly check for that spell. I’m sure I can track down that dragon and help Spike out. Come on Spike, let’s get out of here! Thanks for the help, Zecora!”

Twilight took off out the door, with Spike trailing behind.

“Bye Zecora,” said Spike as he ran off to catch up with Twilight.

“Yes, good bye as well, my friends. I hope I will see you again!” Zecora waved, even though their backs were turned away and probably didn’t see her.

* * *

The walk back to the library wasn’t very long. Once they arrived, Twilight scurried straight towards the bookshelves. She pulled out a few books, flipping through the pages and skimming through them as fast as she could.

“No… no… no… not this one… let’s see here… aha!” she exclaimed. “Detection spells! Hmm… Gemstones, flowers, ponies…”

“Anything on dragons?” Spike inquired, curious about how this spell would help them.

“Not that I see… hmm… I guess it would be classified under this category right here.” She set the book down and pointed a hoof at a black picture that shaped out to be a manticore with a white question mark in the center. Underneath the picture were the words, “Other Living Creatures.”

“I think I’ll be able to pull off this spell,” Twilight confirmed. “However, it doesn’t look easy to remain in control. Might as well round up the others, I think we may need them.”

Twilight stood in front of the door and looked back at Spike before she left. “I’m going to tell them all to meet up here tomorrow, how about you sort those shelves and feed Peewee while I’m gone?”

Spike sighed and lifted his head. “Okay, Twilight.” Hopefully tomorrow would be a whole lot more interesting. Just who was that dragon? What was Zecora saying earlier? Something about… Having a common problem? Spike had a lot to think about for tomorrow.

“I’ll be back shortly,” Twilight replied, as she shut the door and hooves clopping on the ground could be heard, becoming softer after each step.

I’ve never seen another dragon cry before, Spike thought as he started to pick up the books, becoming lost in his thoughts.

Author's Note:

Hey guys. Sorry I haven't updated in a while... you know... school. I'll try to get the next chapter out much sooner. Till then, I hope you keep reading and enjoy this!

Comments

[PieDisliker]

1830400

It's not that Applejack understands nightmares, it's that Applejack thinks she understands nightmares. Hopefully you'll enjoy how it turns out later, though. Thanks for the criticism! Sometimes it doesn't feel like people are reading my stuff.