Twilight was in tears.
Her own assistant, Spike, lay before her in a bed. They were in the Ponyville Hospital, Twilight having used her teleportation spell to get there quicker. The staff were doing everything they could to save Spike; healing herbs, antibiotics, even a few healing spells, but strangely enough, nothing worked.
Twilight was not the only pony there. As soon as the news spread, Twilight's closest friends practically raced to the hospital. Rarity was sitting in a chair at a corner, just as upset as Twilight, if not moreso. Pinkie Pie, the usually happy go-lucky mare, was sobbing away, her usually curly mane now hanging down her shoulders. Rainbow Dash was facing away from Spike, tears streaming down her face as she punched the wall in her fit. Applejack was trying, and failing, to calm a simply bawwing Fluttershy, the Earth pony herself crying away. Everypony was worried for Spike, and were praying to Celestia and Luna that the dragon would survive.
Finally, Nurse Redheart entered the room. She herself was close to tears, but the mare had barely managed to keep herself calm enough to deliver the news. Everypony else turned to face her. Twilight stepped up to her.
"How is he, nurse? Will *sniff* he live?"
Nurse Redheart took a deep breath, and spoke.
"We have some good news and bad news. The good news is that, thankfully, spike is going to live."
This brought cheers from everypony else, Rarity hugging Twilight as she kept crying.
"However, the bad news is that he's going to need extensive care and attention. He would have to be here for several weeks."
Rainbow Dash clearly didn't look pleased by this, but said nothing. Applejack then walked up to Redheart.
"Do ya have any idea what near killed Spike?"
"We're not sure, but Doctor Hooves claims that it was the work of some kind of creature. He managed to collect saliva found on Spike and concluded that the creature that is responsible was some kind of big cat."
Twilight's heart stopped. Big cat. The unicorn slowly let herself speak.
"Do they know what kind of cat?"
"We're not sure. But if you want to know more, you can ask Doctor Hooves."
And so, the Mane 6 reached Doctor Hooves' office and were now discussing the situation. The doctor was clearly not proud of his discovery, but still talked with the other ponies.
Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"So what you're saying is that Spike almost got his throat torn out, but you don't even know what kind of cat did it?"
Doctor Hooves sighed, before he spoke again.
"I'm positive that it's the work of a big cat. But the DNA tests show no exact match, and the damage done to Spike isn't like normal cats."
Fluttershy asked the doctor as soon as he finished speaking: "What do you mean?"
"Well, big cats have predictable ways of attacking, and each kind hunts in a different way from each other. A cougar would've made a grab at Spike, probably mistaking him for a prey item, but it would've pounced from behind or above, since the attack occurred in the Everfree Forest. Also, cougars always go for a neck bite that severs the windpipe, but since dragons have such thick scales even at Spike's age, a cougar's teeth wouldn't get through."
Applejack spoke next.
"What 'bout Manticores? Manticores hunt here, don't they?"
"Well sometimes, but most of the time almost never. And if a Manticore wanted to make a meal out of Spike, it would've. Period. If a big Manticore attacked Spike, it would've sheared him in half, or pump him full of acidic venom to dissolve him. Manticores hunt like scorpions: they usually go for injecting their prey and consuming them later. We wouldn't find Spike with his throat being torn at. In fact, it was mostly his throat that was clearly targeted. And the DNA tests show that there's only one big cat that this creature's DNA becomes closest to a match with."
Twilight's heart quickened.
"What kind?"
"A tiger. Tigers can be found in Equestria, or in far off Asia, since tigers have been imported here. Tigers attack as quickly as possible, and usually go for a neck bite. Based on the size of the hole in Spike's neck, I'd say that the tiger that attacked him must've been a big one, probably a Bengal tiger or a Siberian tiger."
Twilight and Rarity started tearing up again. A tiger was responsible for their Spike's condition. And there was nothing they could do.
Rarity looked up at Doctor Hooves.
"Is there anything we can do to help Spike?"
Doctor Hooves let out a sad sigh.
"I'm sorry, but for now there's nothing we can do. You should go home now. It's getting late."
Slowly, the Mane 6 walked out of the room. They wanted so badly to stay with Spike, to comfort him and try to help him. But there was nothing they could do.
Twilight slowly stepped into her library home, before her legs quivered and she ran up the stairs, jumping onto her bed, curling up into a ball and breaking down into tears. This was all her fault. She sent Spike off into the forest with nopony else to keep him safe. And now he was in the hospital, probably dying as the minutes went by. And it was all her fault. Twilight slowly cried herself to sleep.
The security guard slowly walked down the halls. The light blue stallion slowly brought the flash light across the surroundings, finding nothing out of the ordinary. He had heard of how Spike was attacked by what could possibly be a tiger, and he wanted badly to go out and hunt down that beast, but it was his duty to guard the hospital, so here he walked.
It was then he heard a strange noise coming from down the hall. The guard followed the sound, which seemed to be growing louder by the minute. Soon he came to the door leading to the room at the end of the hall.
Spike's room.
The guard brought the key that unlocked all the doors to the knob, slowly unlocking the door as he opened it up slowly. Stepping inside, the guard brought the flash light upon Spike's bed…
And it was empty.
Empty.
The guard's heart began racing as he stared at the bed where Spike was supposed to be. Then he heard the sound again: a shuffling noise, like pads moving across the floor.
Something was in the room.
The guard swung the flash light around. All he could make out was a strange outline, before there was a flash of black. For a second, the guard felt pain, then the feeling of being slammed into the wall. Then, as he died, the last thing he felt was the bizarre sensation that he was being eaten.
It needed to feed. And it feed until it could feed no more. It spilled out the mammal's intestines, feasting upon the organs and chewing upon the flesh. It fed on the corpse until there was only an empty space in the mammal's midsection and no flesh on the upper body.
Once nourished, it was still confused. It stood upright, looking around for anything familiar in the strange surroundings, but found nothing of the sort. It then spotted it: an opening to the outside, it's home.
It smashed through the stone-like thing blocking it, and jumped down from the opening, landing on all fours before running off towards the woods. There it could dwell. There it could hunt.