Barry awoke feeling nauseous, his head buzzed as his vision could barely make out shapes. His ears rang as he heard a steady beeping sound. His head, as groggy and heavy as it felt, seemed comfortable; he felt as if he were resting on a cloud. He moved his hand back to feel what cradled his head, his eyes widened as a small smile raced across his face. He had only dreamed of comfort like this when he competed for the role of Dragon Lord, but unfortunately his hope was dashed when Spike won and then passed the torch to Ember. A tear welled up in his eyes as he closed them in hopes that this wasn't a dream.
The dragon's eyes shot open as he heard a door open, Barry’s eyes had cleared by this point, so when he saw who walked in, fear swept through his body as his heart sped up. Scribbling on a clipboard was the newly crowned princess herself Twilight Sparkle. The click of the pen was unbearable to the dragon’s ears, but at least, the puny pony princess didn’t reprimand anything that was playing in her gentle pony soul.
“How are you feeling?” she picked up her stare at the teenage lizard. “Last time you were awake, there was an unbearable bellow of your voice.”
“I’M IN EQUESTRIA!?” the dragon shrieked in confusion.
“Shush…” the purple alicorn placed her hoof on the snout. “ You're going to wake Spike up…”
Barry glanced at the bedsheets and spotted something peculiar. His scales took the color of proverbial white with green underbelly.
“W-what have you done to me?”
“I don’t think I have done anything to you, my dear.” Twilight pouted, pointing out a reason. “You have done it yourself.”
“Me? What are you talking about?” Barry asked, confused.
"I found you in the castle last night, you probably don't remember, but I'm guessing you were here of your own volition." The princess said as she magically adjusted his IV bag.
Barry groaned as some pain returned to his body.
"The morphine must be wearing off, I'll give you some more if needed, but we don't want you getting addicted." Twilight responded as she sat down. "Would you like any breakfast?" Twilight asked the young drake.
“I’m not hungry…” the teenage dragon replied dryly, his body again feeling gloomy from the sudden relaxation and disappearance of agonizing strain.
“I’m sure you are starving, but just don’t know it,” Twilight said, her voice pondering about something. “It must be an effect of the medicine.”
“I’m fine,” the dragon rolled his eyes in denial. “I need to go home.”
Barry reached for the IV needle, but the pony princess grasped his claw with her magic aura.
“No, DON’T!” her voice was really stern.
The teenage dragon looked startled by her retort, immediately placing his left arm on the surface of the mattress, as he felt the pressure. How else was he supposed to know that she would react like a real dragon?
“I… Forgive me…” he said meekly, causing Twilight to feel a little remorse for scaring him.
Twilight sighed as she spoke. "I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to scare you. But you mustn't remove that, I still need to make sure you're ok, but also, you can't leave the castle.
Barry awkwardly smiled.
“I guess I’ll have cereal then…”
As the pony princess left the bedroom. The teenage dragon moved his green eyes. He monitored the room in which he laid, he saw an assortment of books he could read, but most importantly, he found himself in a pretty nice room, too nice for somepony or somescaly to break in.
It was her bedroom. Barry thought to himself, 'why would she allow him to sleep in her room' the young dragon just sat there pondering why he's been shown so much kindness.
He peeked down at fingers of his whitened claw in curiosity and then on the other one, just to be sure.
Abruptly, The teenage dragon stiffened up, as Twilight entered the room with a bowl. She was visibly happy for some reason.
“Here you go, Barry!”
The dragon suffered a disturbance, his instincts sharpened, while muscles got steady in self-defense. “How do you know my name?”
“Spike recognized you,” the new princess of Equestria replied, remembering one of her voyages to Dragon Lands. “You were always talking about pillaging Equestria out of their pillows, don’t you?”
Barry blushed. “P-pillows? What pillows?” The young dragon asked, feigning ignorance and also wondering how she knew.
Giggling at the dragon's tomato face, Twilight sat him up so he could eat. "It's ok, I understand why you'd want to steal pillows, to be honest, why don't I send some over to the Dragon Lands?"
“I'm sure they'd like that, ma’am.”
The teenage dragon caught the spoon and started munching on sugary cereal. Twilight picked up her clipboard, still staring up at every motion of the scaly creature. Barry curled an eyebrow. As he was supposed to take another bite, the spoon landed in the bowl.
The dragon, confused by a sudden sound, tried to pick it back, but was unable to.
Something was going on with his arm. It became lighter...
He looked at his right and gasped. His right arm was transparent and light, he could put it through a solid object and it back with the utmost ease.
Barry quivered and did one’s best, like damsel in distress, to make his claw more distinguishable for himself. Waved it both sides, breathed at it and in the meantime, tried to punch the wall behind his bed.
“Fascinating,” Twilight looked crookedly like a puppy. “I need to take a closer look…”
The pony galloped closer to the scaly patient, her gaze searching for something supernatural.
“Show me.”
“W-what?” Barry feigned ignorance once again.
"Your claw, it seems that you have acquired spectral abilities." Twilight said examining the arm.
"Spectu what now?" Barry asked, confused at the wording as he flailed his arms like a puppet.
"Spectral as in ghosts." Twilight said as she put his arm down, jotting down notes on her clipboard.
"I'M DEAD!?!?” Barry yelled out shocked thinking that she just wrote his necrologue, completely misunderstanding anything that caused her to giggle.
"No, you're not dead, just take a deep breath and think solid thoughts. If my hunch is correct, you can turn these powers on and off." Twilight said, placing a caring hoof on his chest.
Barry slowly inhaled as he closed his eyes, his body faded in and out a few times before finally phasing through the phase of airy tenderness. When the dragon opened his eyes, he gasped in terror as he saw that he was somehow melded into the bed.
The teenager was stuck in a footboard top rail. His scaly legs were tweaked under the pressure of the cushion on his face.
Howling in fear, the dragon burst out crying.
“You are making progress, Barry.” the purple alicorn ignorantly spoke, as her experiment suffocated. A spark of realization struck her. “BARRY!?”
Twilight forthwith used her magic aura to raise the innerspring and help the teenage dragon to have a breath.
Inhaling deeply, Barry drew a deep breath as he was held.
"What happened?" he asked as he gasped for breath.
It was a good sign Spike didn’t hear a thing.
After Barry had solidified again, Twilight took notes. "You just phased through the bed, in other words, you became a ghost for a few seconds," Twilight said, scribbling on her clipboard. “For the greatest deal, you will not be allowed to leave this castle.”
The teenage dragon’s face dwindled into a whiter shade of his bleached profile, oversimplified stare. “What? My friends will search for me.”
“About that.” Twilight moved along his bedside. “I wrote a letter to Dragon Lord Ember about your presence and she agreed,” Twilight said as she placed a hoof down.
"So you're keeping me, prisoner, here?" Barry asked, frustrated a bit as smoke started to come out of his nostrils.
"Not by choice, I did some tests on your scales and every time I left the borders of a garden, they would be by fair means or foul sent back here. But, they kept ground with me everywhere I went in the castle. So I can at least give you free roam of that." Twilight said as she explained the situation.
“What do you mean, exactly?”
“Simply put. Some uncanny force will keep you here in this castle, and… make you UNABLE to leave the whereabouts of a street.”
"Bummer!” the dragon pouted. “You are telling me, that I’m stuck here with that ponified hatchling and you? Puny pony princess?”
The purple alicorn grimaced at his words.
“Watch your words, pal,” she said. “On this subject. Don’t worry. You will be able to visit our Canterlot Gardens, since they are a part of our castle. Spike will be happy to greet you and show off some comics about Power Ponies. Everypony will treat you like a prince. Isn’t it great?”
“Bleugh,” Barry exclaimed as he frowned. "If it weren't for that machine, I'd be with my friends." Barry said.
Twilight looked at him, "what kind of friend would just leave another?" She asked, causing the drake to think.
"What do you mean?" Barry asked.
“You felt it yourself, didn't you?” she addressed him. “When you were suffering from pain, were they trying to help you in any way?”
“They turned off the machine!”
“No, they didn’t. You think they are smart enough to do this?”
The dragon’s seemed to be conflicted. His eyes furrowing the brow at his left and deeply staring at emptiness shown at the wall. The teenager echoed with a grumpy and reckless laugh at her face. “What a funny joke.”
“Tell me. I will listen.”
Something was out of the rocker. Twilight didn’t give back the laugh, but only looked apathetically at his thoughts. The purple mare behaved as if she stared at her appearance in the mirror. Barry sensed something different from this princess than usually with his silly friends; his teeth clicked. “Y-y-y… You are lying. They wouldn’t leave me.”
“Maybe. I do not know your friends. But after all, you put yourself in a better position than before.”
“Can you put it in words?”
“You are a smart man, Barry,” Twilight replied “You are half-ghost. Think about it and you will guess yourself.”
The teenage dragon continued to misconduct himself. “You look so proud of yourself, pu-... I mean… Princess Twilight Sparkle…”
The Princess of Friendship smugly beamed. “You finally got my name right. You can see that you are learning as a real prince can.”
“I should take it as a compliment… right?”
Twilight said nothing, but just in case, more in a healthier mood of herself than Barry usually saw her. As she was about to leave the room, the purple mare just smirked.
The next morning, the dragon woke up more comfortably. His eyes closed in coziness but were already aware of the fact that the fresh princess pushed the moon upwards into the sky, giving a beginning to a new morning. The lizard slowly opened his eyelids, but before he could say hello to a new home, he was told in return by a pair of jade eyes.
“Hello, new friend!” Spike said as he stood up and wheeled in a hospital bed.
The teenager recognized. “Hello Former Dragon Lord Spike.”
"Oh, thanks. I made you breakfast."
“Huh… What are you going to serve me, some-.”
The purple drake uncovered the plate to reveal a stack of jewel pancakes, syrup trickling down the side as Barry's eyes widened and his stomach growled with fury. It was such a pleasure to see this.
“-rocks? Okay, you have got me here…” Barry said as he picked up a fork and dug in, he smiled as he tasted the jewel pancakes, his favorite gem was used which made him shed a tear of joy.
Spike smiled as he left the room. "If you need anything just ring that bell," Spike said as he pointed to a rope attached to a bell. "Oh, and after you get done eating, Twilight would like to see you," Spike put in, getting a subtle nod from the other dragon.
Barry ate the breakfast slowly, syrup dribbling down his chin as he ate, the coffee Spike brewed was perfect as he took a sip to wash down the pancakes. Barry finished his pancakes and washed up. He had been unhooked yesterday so he got up and washed up in the castle’s bathroom, then opened the door and walked down the large hallway, making his way to Twilight's chambers.
“I wonder what she wants from me this time…” he pondered to himself as he made his way to the throne only to see that the purple alicorn wasn't there, walking through the castle's hallways, Barry stopped by the window and spotted her presence in the garden.
Walking up to her he saw that she stopped in front of a statue, a pegasus filly with a terrified expression on her face, a demonic centaur who cowered in defeat, and a changeling who was on the verge of attack. Twilight looked at the stone figures with a look of sorrow and loss on her muzzle.
"Morning Twilight," Barry said as he came to her side, witnessing her stare at the statue with interest. Barry let out a chuckle as he stuck his tongue out at the statue. "Hey, where's the threat? Are you protecting this garden?"
Barry laughed at his own joke, up till Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder.
"Don't mock the petrified, these were once living beings." The purple alicorn requested dismally more than her usual bookworm temperament, her expression depressed a little bit from his taunts.
"Yeah right. You have got me there." The dragon, scared at first, grinned about to continue to laugh before seeing Twilight's deadpan stance. The white lizard ceased doing so by recognizing that adequate peer likes the one several seconds in a row. “Hold up…” he uttered constantly. “Are you stating a belief these three were the ones we…”
“Stoned?” The pony moved on with getting rid of the moss on a platform supporting the silhouettes of these three meanies. “What else have you been thinking about, my friend?”
Barry silently connected each dot of her speech together, hovering above every other statue in contact. The crooked expressions and begging faces were such a straining circumstance of witnessing discomfort.
The dragon clutched his heart in revelation and breathed a heavy gasp into his half-ghostly lungs.
"I know it's grim, but for their crimes we had no other punishment, I didn't like that we had to do it, but we had to," Twilight said as she sat down beside him. "Now on to why I asked for you. With your permission, I'd like to study this ability you've acquired." The purple monarch asked.
Barry swallowed and silently cried. “W-W-Whatever you say, but please… Don’t petrify me…”
“Do not worry. In the name of Princess Celestia, I won't.” As the dragon shivered, the princess helped in leading him to her castle.
