The sun was not even close to it's peak, yet it was already baking hot over Ponyville. Even worse by the fact that there no summer breeze, making the air dry which only added to the dragon's problems. Spike didn't really care though as he trod along the cobbled pavement, all he cared about was making his way to Fluttershy's cottage.

It was quite strange, he thought. It seemed like the dragon hadn't seen Fluttershy in months, his best-friend. Spike thought about all the times those long years ago, when they both used to bask in the sunlight on weekends, go for picnics and read books together - however boring they were. The list was virtually endless. Despite her being a shy pony, she opened up to the dragon a lot, sharing secrets, dreams, deep thoughts. It almost felt that they were closer than best-friends, closer than siblings would be. But all of that had slowly faded as time passed by as the unicorn succumbed deeper into her abode.

Blankly, Spike walked passed all the other ponies, he had no time to make idle conversation with them like he usually would and reminded himself of what Twilight said to him before the dragon stormed out.

"...you have to leave Ponyville."

Did she really mean that? Spike thought. Twilight sounded serious when she said it, but it all seemed rather pointless and crazy. It must have been something deeper than just a petty obsession over power; still he couldn't rule that out.

Carefully, he held that thought for a long while, until Spike approached the edge of Ponyville. The dragon looked up from the ground to see an almost desolate abode in the distance. A small meandering stream beckoned around the small cottage, of which half-dead trees protruded in front. An acute, dirtied track emerged straight towards the cottage. Shock overwhelmed the dragon, he didn't expect Fluttershy's home to look so different, so awful. As he moved in closer an aura of unkemptness dragged him in with interest. Spike gave a sigh of relief as thankfully, small billows of smoke plumed from the house – it was occupied.

The weather wasn't as it seemed in these parts, grey skies dominated and a coldish chill swept over the dragon as the path led into the woods. He passed over a small dilapidated bridge, where the stream was situated and examined the Pegasus' cottage further. Spike looked at the moss growing on the outer-walls, the blackened-out windows until something blatantly obvious stuck out. A massive, red stroke. A marking perhaps? Whatever it was, it triangularly dissected the door, but couldn't have been a good sign. His claw pushed through the door gently, opening it. Sunlight invaded the cottage, revealing large amounts of dust in the air.

"'shy? You in here?" The dragon said, tentatively.

He paused for a moment, aiming to not make a noise to see if he could hear a response.

Nothing.

The floorboards gently creaked as Spike resumed his search through the cottage. He didn't have to look far. Slowly, he peered his head around the corner and noticed a small, ragged pony that lay next to fireplace.

"Fluttershy... It is you!" Spike exclaimed in relief. He ran over to the yellow Pegasus, readying himself to give her a massive hug.

"Spike, w-what are you doing here?" The pony sniffed.

"I'm here for you 'shy, I know about everything that happened – I think."

It was just now that Spike had realised how worse-for-wear his best-friend was looking. The dried tears down her eyes, her tattered mane and fur - coarse and rough. She was thin and looked almost exhausted. The dragon not only felt sorry for the Pegasus, but extremely guilty. He thought that he could have, and probably should've done something earlier to at least prevent some of this, instead of remaining oblivious over the past months.

Spike continued, "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up."

Slowly he picked up the pony in his arms, almost cradling her and made their way to the bathroom. A nice soothing bath would wash away the physical occurrences of her friends' abandonment, but the ones inside would remain for a long time.

Stroking her mane, Spike reassured, "It's all going to okay, 'shy."

Fluttershy remained quiet, and could only muster up a slight whimper before becoming more exhausted. The dragon reached for the light, then entered into the bathroom and then placed the frail pony in the tub. Spike then turned on the tap, releasing a torrent of hot water, which he then balanced with turning the cold tap on. He wandered over to a small, white cupboard to fetch out some bottles; Shampoo, Conditioner and some Bubble Bath.

Soothing the Bubble Bath into the water, he looked up noticing the still ever-present gloomy look on Fluttershy's face as she stared down into the soapy liquid. He extended out his arm and caressed her cheek with the back of his claw.

"Hey..."

The Pegasus looked up into Spike's emerald eyes.

"Everything's going to be fine, I promise you. Okay?" He insisted.

The pony mumbled, "Mhmmm." and slumped onto her back.

The dragon felt quite nerved by this, but he couldn't think what Fluttershy went through, and of course she was almost unconscious the state she was in. Quickly, the water had filled up about half of the bathtub, bubbles filling the rest. Spike lifted himself up into the bath and lowered down - turning off the taps - his long legs surrounding the Pegasus. Leaning back, he gently swayed the pony towards his chest, in the process slowly wrapping his arms around her abdomen. They both liked the feel of their skin and fur together, cushioned by the warm flow of water between them.

Spike ran his claw through Fluttershy's wet, scraggily mane, aiming not to catch it on the back of her neck. She gave a comforting sigh as the pony slowly sank lower. The dragon's other claw still held a tight grasp around her body, he couldn't stop but notice the bulging out ribcage - she looked famished. After this he would make her something to eat, she would need that energy for later on.

"Eh, when was the last you ate something?" Spike asked.

"Uhh, I'm not sure. I-I haven't really had an appetite for eating much recently."

The dragon gave another touch of her ribs, feeling more prominent as she breathed in. He brought down his claw which was combing the pony's mane to cuddle her tightly some more. Spike hated to see Fluttershy like this, but it wasn't her fault. He brought his head down so their cheeks were touching.

"Do you remember 'shy, years ago when we used to play on the fields together, have picnics, look after the animals, y'know?"

"Yeah..." The pegasus responded with a faint smile.

"...when we were best-friends?"

Spike thought for a moment as they both turned to look into each other's eyes.

"Well, we still are best-friends... because I never left you 'shy."

The dragon leant in towards the yellow pony, dragging a kiss from her mouth. They both tingled with warmth inside as Fluttershy raised a hoof onto Spike's cheek, rubbing it softly. Moaning quietly, they shuffled on their sides, still maintaining their passionate hold. The dragon lowered his claw down the pony's small body – in comparison to Spike's – until he reached just behind her cutie mark, and gave an almost jolting squeeze. All the Pegasus did was moan louder as they exchanged tongues, making some of the water exit the bath as they moved about to get comfortable.

The pony released their embrace for a moment.

"Spike, I-I don't we should be doing this. You know, with Twilight 'n all."

"Oh, well. I was gonna tell you later but we kinda had a big row."

"About what?" She questioned.

"About you."

"Oh."

"She basically said if I knew about what happened to you, I had to leave. So I thought the best place to come first was to see if you were ok. And I'm glad I did." The dragon replied with a massive smile.

"Aw Spike, I'm really glad you came as well, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I-I love you, 'shy" The dragon uttered, both of their nose gently touching one another.

"I love you too, Spike. I always will." Fluttershy divulged as they resumed their kiss, more passionately this time. This was the best the teenage dragon felt in ages, but probably the best the pony had felt in years.

###

"Nope, nothing in here." Spike said dejectedly. Another cupboard in the kitchen bare.

"It's okay, I-err.. don't feel that hungry any..." She replied.

"Oh here's something." The dragon interjected. Some sort of cereal, it looked edible despite being layered in a small coating of dust. He poured out the contents of the box into a bowl and added in some cold milk.

It didn't look at all appealing.

"C'mon 'shy, you've got to eat something or you'll starve."

"Have you ate anything today?" The pony countered.

"Err, nope."

"Well, won't you starve too, silly?"

"Meh, you're more important. Plus I'm sure I can last a while longer with food anyway." He urged.

"If you say so."

Fluttershy slowly picked off some of the cereal, increasing as her hunger quickly came back to her. In no time she scoffed down the contents of the bowl, despite how unappealing it might have been, she didn't care. All she needed was to get her energy back.

"You sure ate that down in a flash, didn't you?" Spike marveled.

"Mpf-mmm." Fluttershy agreed, she could only mumble as her mouth was almost full with the remainder of the food.

Spike looked down at the table they were seated at, thinking his argument with Twilight earlier today. After a brief moment, he looked around the kitchen. Dirt almost everywhere, all the objects in the room had a shade a grey enveloped around them as the only dimmed light illuminated the dust in the air.

"We have to leave, 'shy." Spike declared.

"What?"

"We can't stay here. It's awful. And it's definitely not a state anypony should live in."

"Hmm... Maybe you're right Spike. I've got nothing here. My animals have left me, my friends have left. Almost everything dear to me has gone." Fluttershy admitted, sadly.

"Everything except me." The dragon smirked.

"Yeah, I guess that's all I need."

They both smiled at each other, and Fluttershy gave Spike a small peck on the cheek.

"I have to be serious for a second though. We have to leave Ponyville. Because I think something real bad is going to happen."

"Like what?" She questioned.

"Well, apparently because what I found about what happened between you and Twilight. A pact was formed that if anyone other than Twilight - and the other 5 ponies - revealed what had happened, they would be caught. Then locked away I assume, but she didn't go into that much detail.

"So what. We're being hunted down right now?" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Not right now, Twilight said she would buy us some time. I-I think she still has feelings for me."

"Well, don't you?"

"Not until I found about what she did to you." Spike admitted

"Oh..."

"...Well, I think we'd best get going then." She proposed.

"What? It's pretty late in the day don't you think?"

"Hmm, not really. I have rested a lot and feel a lot better now. Plus Twilight stalling is not gonna last forever. Is it?

"I guess not."

"Is there anything we can take, like supplies or something?" The dragon asked.

"Well everything in the house is virtually bare. I think it would be nice to start afresh." The pony reckoned.

"Where do we play on going? It's a long way away any other town, especially on foot."

"I think I'll take a few bits, enough for a train journey and some food anyway. Manehatten sounds nice, I've never been there but I've heard things about it from the other ponies."

"Then I guess it's settled." Spike praised. He'd love to get as far from Ponyville as possible.

Both the dragon and pegasus leaped from the table and made their way to the wooden door, a spring in their step as they were about to make the single most important decision. Leave Ponyville, possibly forever. As soon as Spike reached for the handle though, a sharp pain ran through his right forearm. It started shaking rather rapidly. All the dragon could do was look down, close his eyes and sharply inhale a large breath.

"Spike! You okay?" Fluttershy said urgently.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It just happens every so often." The dragon reassured.

"Well, when does it usually happen?"

"Just randomly I think, I don't know why either."

"Oh well, that's not good. Do you take any medication for it?"

"Ermm, just some pills Twilight used to give me. They used to stop it for a while but then I'd feel pretty sick."

"Hmm.. wait one second."

Quickly, the pegasus rushed back into the bathroom. A clatter of noise was followed by the emergence of the pony once again.

"Are these them?" She asked.

"Yeah, that's them!.." Spike replied. The box she was holding looked really familiar. The pain had already gone though; all that the dragon could feel was a small tingling feel in his wrist.

"...We'd better keep them for later. Y'know, in case it comes back."

"Okay, sure."

They then both walked again back to the door, the pegasus looked back to have one last glimpse at what had been her home for so long. She gave a brief sigh and looked back up at Spike.

"Let's do this then." Fluttershy nodded.

Spike closed the door of the pony's cottage, hoping never to return back to it. Despite knowing the mountainous problem that lies ahead of them, they both set into the dying sunset ready to escape the woes that trapped them in Ponyville in the first place.

This is just the start of it all...