It was early past midnight under a still sky and its bright lights that I listened to the lost call of Victory's tale. Games had lasted deep into the darkness, with cheers and sweat, left happy ponys return to their homes. Ponyville was flickering with lights returning to black one by one and to quietness. Spike held the lantern; she still had her cheerleader uniform on her; when he closed the door behind them, put out the wick in the library illuminated, he was smiling and she was not.

The room had been cleaned neatly, books shelved as if untouched, no dust and not an object misplaced. Most of all it was bright and safe, she fretted, and through the windows so was the town. As if guards and forest had never existed. The baby dragon by her side was still loudly remembering the games, paused surprised when she quickly crossed the room towards the stairs. Her pace was nervous and first, he wondered, her face seemed tired. But quickly he caught the worriness and sighed.

"Twilight!" He called before running after her, at the first steps. "You're like a turkey on a tree. Seriously! Everypony had fun, and you can't even wait until tomorrow to frown?"

"Technically it's tomorrow." She answered.

But he wasn't letting go, and by saying that the young mare had only gained a few steps, stopped again to listen as Spiked repeated, how things had got tremendously better. He enumerated, first and foremost, how ponies were smiling again, as team played on the field and as they performed, how relieving that felt. Twilight Sparkle paced away, through the door and in her room, forcing Spike to follow. He continued, how the forest was quiet, and how the whole day, even through the night, not one spider had been spotted, as if Widowline had never existed, up to the sky where the thick clouds seemed to break. He crossed his arms, smiling wrily and convinced that at this pace all would quickly be back to normal again. The room was tidied with just a much care, leaving no trace of her past days work.

She turned, revolted: "How can you say that?! You know what's out there! You know..." she closed her eyes and breathed, let the anger sink for some sort of false calm.

The studious unicorn agreed, that things would return to normal, but not through waiting. What the day had offered her was some rest and clear thoughts to put the last pieces in place. She looked at the stored books, then turned to her assistant and said, she now thought she could cast the spell that would save Ponyville. "What spell?" Spike asked and the student almost chocked at the question. It was the very spell she had been working on since the crisis began, the one that would defeat the monster and its swarm. It was the spell that had put Tartatus to its knees, Victory's curse and Ponyville's hope. "Are you for real?" Spike again asked as she was about to take a book.

He approached, touched her shoulder and, with that stern worried tone the dragon never knew he had, that could sway her resolutions, he asked her to stop. To, at the very least, wait until the morning, get some sleep. What he wanted to say was for her to abandon the idea entirely, as he looked at her and she read his beastly eyes, but he repeated, just the night.

She hesitated. Twilight seemed to wake up just as the tiredness took hold on her face, on her entire body, suddenly shaking her and rendering her hooves heavy. It wasn't just the late hour; her eyes were trembling; it was all the time she had been working, that she was emerging from, like a run out adrenaline leaving the colt stunned. Suddenly Spike was there and there was Ponyville, an entire town with its flickering lights. She bit her lip, eyes almost begging the little dragon to let her go but he would keep watching her, quietly, caring for her. She tensed even a bit more, in a bit of disarray, but gave in. The mare turned and paced to the windows, opened it on the fresh night sky to look at the stars and their house counterparts. There were little left, only those of patrols, street lamps and a few reluctent windows.

"I feel like there will be no Ponyville tomorrow." She whimpered.

Spike rolled his eyes: "Towns don't disappear overnight. Now go to bed."

She muttered some answer so weakly that the baby dragon didn't even notice, then she paced to her bed, pushed the covers with her muzzle to slip in and grab the cushion. Spike made sure she was cozy before plunging into his basket, saying goodnight as he welcomed his dreams. Suddenly she realized that the room was dark, that it was the night and the burden of sleep crushing her. The young mare gritted her teeth, rubbed the cushion, groaned and turned and turned, alarmed. She couldn't even keep her eyes closed entirely, yet sleep was gaining on her, adding weight to her moves until the mare would barely fret, and her sight stopped to gaze into the darkness. Her nightmare was slowly unfolding, taking form before her before her eyes closed and, body at ease, she was asleep. Only a frown betrayed what thoughts she had in the quiet night.

The room was peaceful in the peaceful town, as if not a single second had slipped, when she fretted again. As if a cold wind had whipped her bed. Yet all was silent, bare rumors afar of the town and its lunar guards. She whimpered. Almost nothing, but she did, and her forehoof near her head trembled slightly. Rumors heightened, deafened through the window. The young student whimpered again, cushion tight between her legs. A tiny spark erupted from her horn as the barrier broke, and she seemed about to cry. Rumors turned to shouts, gallops and lights slashing the moonbeams, agressive.

A shadow hid all. A whole side of the room turned pitch black before the leg began scratching the glass, hissing against it loudly. Twilight seemed caught in her nightmare, couldn't wake up. It was Spike who opened his eyes, rubbed them and turned to look around, still unaware. He looked at the window, unsure of what it was. Two legs, three thin legs were scratching the glass, suddenly smashed it, breaking it into pieces. He shouted out of surprise, got up and yelled: "Twilight!" The baby dragon perked up even more as the street rumors had become clear, a fight of hooves and metal, the guard's voices, orders, pain and rage. But Spike barely gave attention to it, scared by the thin legs stretching through the window, scratching the wood. The legs were dripping sick bile that looked black in the black night.

"Twilight, wake up!" He turned to the bed were the mare was still asleep, moaning and trembling. "Wake up!"

She got through, opened her eyes and immediately turned them to the window. From a nightmare to another, she froze and watched the legs extend, four, five of them, leaving like acid trails with their sick smell. She could hear a hissing, that of the giant spider, she could almost see its head. The wood cracked, letting the legs gain a few inches.

Near her Spike shouted something that she couldn't hear.

When he realized that the spider would get through, when he saw Twilight and the terror on her face, panicked, Spike left his basket and ran to a shelf, to pick the heaviest book he found. He didn't think, ran back towards the legs and, yelling, just as the spider's face appeared behind the window, he smashed a leg's tip with it. The monster shrieked, hissed and fell back, then a bright light blinded the dragon. It lasted an instant, when he looked again he saw the spider still clinging to the great tree, her side ablaze. It was oil, burning oil on her wicked dark blue fur. And behind, the dragon could hear, the fight was still raging.

He approached the window, but carefully, step by step. The book between his paws was reassuring. He could see the beast move furiously, and it had become a shadow among outside shadows, in a scene the dragon barely understood. Spike turned to Twilight but she was still frozen in terror, clutched in her bed.

He turned back, made one more step before the monster entered again. In an instant the baby dragon got surrounded by the legs, put the book before him as a shield. He felt drops falling on it, molding the cover, burning the pages. But before a leg could touch him another light blinded them both, this one strong and lasting, with the purity of the Moon.

The beast tensed, then its legs slipped and it fell down from the tree. Stunned for a second, Spike quickly ran to the cracked window, not even feeling the shards of glass on the floor. He looked outside, immediately caught the princess of night flying high over the fight. The beast was down among flocks of spiders of all sizes. The dark armors of the guard seemed spread through the flocks, torches at their mouth, stomping them. There were a few fires, oil and powder alike in the grass making flames roar amid the melee. And there were guards running wild, enraged, and armors on the ground that the moonlight would reveal.

But the beast was down, legs tense until the bright light of the princess weakened. Then the baby dragon could smell it, the horrible smell of bile, and he felt a surge of emotion, something like anger, boiling his blood. Everything was hazy, everything was too fast, he looked powerless as the giant spider turned back on its legs, hissed and slowly sunk into the ground, leaving a sick pool of green. The spiders scampered off in disorder, fleeing in every direction, pursued by the guards. All around and far all the houses' windows were alight, but all was over already. Luna landed and at her light the pools of bile left evaporated.

"It's not possible" Twilight muttered behind him.

Spike turned and looked at the young student clutching her cushion tight.

"Zecora's work, the guards, Luna, my spells!" She sobbed. "And that monster was there, in the middle of Ponyville!"

The baby dragon said nothing. He didn't even know what to do. He was just staying there, watching her now crying, the burnt book in his paws. His blood was still boiling, anger slowly receding. All around him the wood was scratched, burnt and sick. The book fell. He slowly paced towards her bed, and she suddenly left her cushion to jump out and clutch him. She was crying, her dark mane disheveled, and he couldn't even react. That was shock, and he told her he was okay but she said: "No you're not, no you're not" and she kept crying until finally, the smell gone, waking up fully, the baby dragon too broke in tears.