Chapter 1: Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Empty, were the long, winding corridors. A faint ringing developed in the thin and musky air, piercing the eardrums of the young drake. Life was not an option of freedom or peace, but instead a pain and bore. Eyes flickering back and forth between the halls of the dungeon indicated no signs of pony-lifeform. Worry of loss and regret were the only real options to ponder inside of this deathtrap of a building. Spike scratched at the rocky and brittle ground, its solid and vibrant texture etched at his claws. Pulling away at the pain, Spike slammed his head on the equally discordant cell wall. Spike made a single wish, then and there. 'A light... something to free me..' The dragon seemed hopeless and distraught. He knew better then to make wishes at this point of time. His pains everywhere on his scales told the tale even more so. Tears began to freeze back onto his face, but the few that did manage to fall, clumsily crashed to the ground. A soft 'clink' as the ice met stone.

But to his shock, suddenly, as if a god answered his prayer, he heard it.

Faint, yet strident hoof steps beat against the floors outside of his tyrant of a cell. Spike felt the air become sharper, and he froze. Listening as the hoof-beats sounded off louder then thunder, his breath became short and nervous. Deafening, nefarious calls of a brash pace came closer, and involuntarily, retreated to a stop. A high-pitched screech broke the silence once more. Wails of broken souls cried through the rusting gates. Once the locks and latches were opened, the howl of the jail door swung open and crashed into the metal of Spike's cell door. Trying his best not to let out a yelp of scare, after jumping outright nearly out of his burning scales, he inched his way to the door. His intensions were small, but he was desperate as to see what was happening just on the other side of the entrance-way. The other side of freedom.

For Spike, time stopped, his trail of breath vanished as words were sputtered on the other side of the the walls.

A figure, which was cloaked and nearly hidden, had gave a grimacing shove to another figure. The fall in the cell next to him made certain that the pony had tripped, possibly over their own hooves. Spike had to dive back out of sight as the door that collided into his was quickly slammed. This time he was prepared for the screams of rust. Locks were churned, and sealed. A squeak of pain rang one last time as the cell door was latched firmly into place.

A few seconds later, after the pony in the cell next to him whimpered, he heard the voice."You-You M-M-Monster!" A familiar cry wailed in a defenceless, and breaky voice. "Why would yo-you do this to me?" The question was held out in the air, along with the silence. What seemed minutes later, the shadowed figure Spike saw previously boiled up a yell of rage and impatience.

"How DARE thou! Thee should be thankful, it was a challenge for me to even get thou here, so I suggest to shut thy damn mouth!"

The drake glanced shocked, at the figure. Large white shapes, which must have been eyes, were sliced into slits. A flicker of fire danced wildly through the emptiness of the eyes. With a single motion, the angered figure abandoned the cells, taken away by a wave of darkness. Spike heard the pony in the room next to him slump down, broken sobs echoing through hallways. Choking and gasping for breath, the cries died down, and softened, leaving only Spike to hear the pain. Earlier, Spike had listened to the words of this lost pony, and at that exact voice, for the first time sense he was captured here, his ears had pricked upwards. Now here he was sitting mindlessly and guilty, as the mare next door was crying. And at that, one he knew, and he knew could comfort in any situation.

Building up a confidence, for the abandoned mare, he stood slowly and wobbly. Spike's legs hurt like crazy, from being tousled around by his fears, but he stood what he thought strongly, and attempted to squeak out a word of comfort. As the drake spoke, his throat burned, from all the icy air he had breathed those couple months. Clutching at his throat, his stinging neck on fire, he swallowed hard and spoke once more for the mare.

"R-Rarity..?"

Spike's voice rung through the halls, and the pony in the cell next to him had gone silent. "Rarity? Are you alright!?" Spike heard the sound of hoofs, raising themselves off the brittle ground. The sobbing had died down to a small case of hiccups, only occurring once in a while. Spike, getting slightly nervous from his current train wreak of emotions, he called out demandingly, yet loads of worry toned in him.

"Rarity!? Please! It's me! Spike!" lowering his voice as to avoid drawing attention to his 'pony of shadows' he waited for the mare's response, throat burning more.

"Spike? Oh, thank goodness, my Spikey-Wikey..." Rarity's voice had cracked, from a happiness and joy she had newly felt. "I thought I was alone in this...dreadful place!"

Spike sighed, relieved to hear her voice. He felt himself warm up inside, his friend, to comfort him through this...hell. "Yes, Rarity...I'm here, I've been for a while..." He felt himself smile weakly. "You have no idea how worried I was about you and the others!

Rarity, alarmed, propped her head up fast. "Yes that's right! The others!" Glancing down the halls to look for filled cells. "Where are the others!?"

"..." Spike once again felt slightly discouraged. "You and I...Lets say we are the only ones here..." Spike then remembered something. "-On this floor! I remember Fluttershy was brought in around the same time I was, two months ago!"

"Oh, thank Celestia! I can't imagine what I would do if she was hurt and alone out there! But that leaves to question dear, what about our other friends?" Rarity waited herself, afraid of the answer in her honesty.

"Rarity, I know they will be fine! better then fine!" Thinking about his other friends put him to ease in a way, trying to sooth the unicorn next door. "AppleJack and Rainbow Dash are strong, and can fight for themselves so well, heck, those two are probably looking for us as we speak!" He suppressed a chuckle continued. "Twilight is a leader! She is head strong and knows how to handle this forest, even when it acts up, she can make it through anything! And Pinkie Pie...she's..well, Pinkie Pie! She isn't scared of this place, and can defy the laws of physics to take to her advantage!" Spike had filled himself with hope, and had passed it to Rarity, but this time 'round, it wasn't a false thought.

Rarity, for the first time in two months, smiled widely, her irises large and thoughts running smoothly. "Oh, my Spike. why would i ever doubt you? our friends will be safe and sound, we will find a way through this! You here is just what I needed! I can't say we will be able to escape this-" She stopped momentarily as to shudder. "-Dungeon... but we can find a way to be together! as friends!"

"Rarity? How do you intend on-"

"This!"

Rarity had abruptly cut him off, total change in her character from minutes previously.

"That barred window, between our cells, there is a broken bar. It would be large enough for you to climb through!"

Rarity's voice sounded so sure of herself and hopeful, Spike, despite the sharpness of those broken bars, could not abandon her spirit. He took a sigh and looked at a moulding cardboard box he left undisturbed at the far left of his cell. Pinching his nose with his claw, he walked over to it and slid it across the hard floor to the other wall on his right.

"Okay, Rarity...I'm...I'm coming in!" Standing on the box, which basically began melting under his weight, he scrambled and leapt up at the barred window, skimming the top of his scales on his head along the roof of the small rock window. Sliding along on his soft stomach across the deathly walls was torture, these ponies who built this must have been medieval to create something so painful to be on. His arms pushing him forward, he constantly scraped his hands against the sharp, rusting metal of the bars. Bringing his hand back sharply a few times after sliding too much weight on it. Not watching the last inch of where he was sliding, he fell down, after escaping the brutal window, falling what would have been flat on his face if Miss Rarity had not supported him and caught him on her back.

"..."

"..."

Taking the shortest glance at the beautiful mare, he instantly wrapped his arms around her neck, giving her a warm hug. Without hesitation, Rarity wrapped one of her forelegs around Spike's back, returning the embrace, then letting him down. Glancing at Rarity's way, he noticed her rough appearance. Her mane and tail was much limper then its perfect curls, her cyan blue eye shadow was not there and her mascara was faded very dimly and run down her cheeks from probably weeks of weeping. Spike could only imagine he looked no better.

"My dear! Spikey! Are you alright?!" The alarm in her voice made it clear he looked like total rubbish. Irritated, but smiling he rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine, Rarity. No need to fuss over me." He noticed her eyes smile. "Come on Rarity...It's late, why don't we try to get some sleep? we can talk about this all when the sun is up...or..when we wake up..." Rarity nodded and walked slowly to a crisp blanket, which was the twin to Spike's, but hers wasn't damp and smelly.

"I must agree, it has been an awful long evening already." Throwing the blanket over herself and Spike, she snuggled under it and turned her head to Spike. "Have sweet dreams my dear..." leaning in peacefully, she kissed his cheek lovingly, then turned her head back around and closed her eyes. "Thank you." she whispered before falling into sleep as Spike stood there in complete awe. Touching his cheek tenderly with the tips of his claws, he curled into a ball next to Rarity.

"No...Thank YOU" he whispered back, and quickly fell into sleep.


Spike was woken in the middle of the night to the sound of more on coming hoof steps, limping ones at that, opening his eyes, his gaze locked upon Rarity, who slept delicately. Trying his best to inch away from Rarity without waking her he stepped small steps and waited for the pony to come. after what seemed hours, the cloaked figure finally arrived, three hooves down, one lifted up and in their mouth, as if they were cut and stopping the blood. Frozen on the spot, Spike watched as the figure laid out one single tray and disk of water on the ground, but the figure then froze upon seeing Spike. Instead of saying anything, the cloaked pony let their sight scan him, eyes narrowing after seeing him. Lowering the hoof which was in its mouth, the pony moved its forearm to motion Spike to come forward.

Spike gulped, afraid of what the pony would do to him, but more scared what it would do if he DIDN'T go forward. Each agonizing and clumsy step after the other, he advanced towards the bars, looking at the pony's face. Despite the dragons horrid night vision, he could see this pony's main features. The eyes were narrowed yes, but not of anger, but of almost worry and anticipation. The dark hood of the cloak was still bringing darkness over its face, but he could squint to see the outline of a small muzzle. Great now he had made so much progress in unravelling the mystery. It was a mare. She was hidden identified. And she wanted Spike. He moved ever closer until he was inches away from the bars. His legs kicking at the ground, he heard the girl take a breath.

"Give. Me. Your. Claw!

Her gravelly voice was deep and rockier. It alarmed Spike how different it sounded from earlier screaming, which had been more throaty and high. Slowly, hesitantly, he lifted his arm and stuck it through the bars. Quickly she swiped at his claws, taking it in her firm grip.

"...This might hurt a bit..." She whispered, the gravel of her voice gone again. Rubbing her hoof against his claw, he felt a small pain. Looking down, he saw the state of his claws, which he didn't concern earlier. From crawling through the window, he had scraped it up, and cut it on the sharpness of the actual broken bars. Orange rust had printed on his scales and gotten into his gash. Suddenly, he hurt a lot more. Holding back a few cries, he managed to get through the touching of his gash. She let go of his claw, and rummaged around in a black, stained saddle bag. Getting out a second food and water dish, she slid the four under the bars and glanced at him. Spike stared back at her cold gaze, then looked at his claws. She had wrapped his hand in a magic. It intrigued him how it was so dark, and different compared to what he's seen Twilight's. It seemed thick, and sparked with a small black lightning. She must have cleaned and and wrapped his cut, so it wouldn't be infected by the rust.

"Umm...thank you..." Spike mumbled while looking up.

But she was not there.

Spike was alone with the night.