//------------------------------// // Chapter II // Story: Final Twilight // by Zeg //------------------------------// Final Twilight by Zeg Chapter II Spike glanced up from his sitting spot on a crimson velvet pillow in the library over the top of a book he had been reading when he heard the door swing open. "Evening Twilight! How did everything go?" the dragon spoke cheerfully as he dropped the book face down on the central reading table near him and sprung up to scurry over to meet her. "Ugh," Was the only greeting that Twilight could manage as she used a back hoof to kick the library door shut. She had just walked in, her head hanging a bit low. Spike coiled back slightly at the response. "That good huh?" He asked a bit sarcastically. "Why can't anypony just follow a schedule!" Twilight grumbled loudly as she used her magic to lift her saddlebags off her back and drop them on the floor. Spike quickly ran over to collect the bags and followed closely behind Twilight. "So.. what happened?" Spike asked cautiously. "Two cancellations, one reschedule, and Mr. Cake practically begged me on his hooves and knees to keep an eye on the little Cakes for half an hour while he made a quick delivery that ended up taking him two and a half hours, causing me to be late to the presentation and speech I was supposed to be giving today!" Twilight drew in a breath of air after the long spiel and let out a sigh as she approached and flopped on the pillow that Spike had been using earlier before continuing, "Sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to be organized when everypony else makes it so difficult." "Aw come on Twilight, everypony knows they can count on you to keep things together when it counts. So you had an off day, it happens. Don't let it get to ya," Spike tried to speak comforting words as he placed Twilight's belongings on a shelf. He then scampered over to another near by shelf full of books and started looking them over. "How about some fiction? Maybe something with some action?" Twilight shifted her head on the pillow and smiled as she glanced at Spike. "Thanks, but actually I'm feeling pretty tired from getting my schedule wrecked today, so I'm thinking about turning in early for the night after a little something for dinner." "Oh yeah!" Spike said as he dashed off into the kitchen returning a moment later presenting a plate with a few muffins on it, "These were dropped by earlier by Pinkie. Said she was sorry that you got saddled with foalsitting. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I guess it makes sense now." Twilight magically lifted one of the muffins from the plate as Spike was setting it on the table. She took a quick nip of the muffin, and commented on the flavor. "Oh, blueberry," she chirped before taking a large bite of the baked good. With the help of her number one assistant, Twilight was able to unwind a bit to a plate of one of her favorite treats and a cup of cinnamint tea, a sweet tasting but strong tea brewed with cinnamon sticks and mint leaves. She always could count on her little helper to help her relax after a tiring day. --- The library had darkened for the night many hours earlier when Twilight and Spike had turned in a bit early for the evening. Other than a quiet whistle from the breeze outside, the first floor of the Golden Oaks Library was completely silent. It was among this silence that a tiny shadow crept along the floor having decided to bring itself out from its hiding spot. The tiny black dot approached the stair way that lead up to the second floor of the library where the baby dragon and unicorn were resting peacefully. Extending its whip like tendrils from its body, it grabbed on to the step above itself and, with some effort, managed to pull itself up. Again and again, the small black glob used its shiny, oily tendrils to hoist itself up a step. One more closer, and another, and another. It finally crested the highest step where it found itself before a door that appeared massive to its tiny body. Of course it would have no chance of opening such a thing under its own power, but it wouldn't need too. Flattening its goo-like body, the black glob dribbled itself into the seam between the door and the floor. Once it had gathered itself on the other side the glob slowly slinked around in the darkness of the bedroom. It located the stairs that lead up to the loft, and once again pulled itself step by step upwards. Once it had reached the peak of its climb, it crawled up to the side of a basket which had light snoring noises coming from a mass of blankets. The tiny black ball seemed to regard the basket for a moment before it continued slithering on past it. It reached a taller object in the room; a bed post at the foot of a bed. Turning itself into something that looked more like a black earthworm, the goo began to curl around the bed post and slithered up it like a snake. It finally came to the top of the bed sheets and gathered itself back into a ball before continuing its silent trek to its target. Undetected by the sleeper, the goo slowly rolled its way up the sheets, scaling Twilight's side, and then continuing on until it rested just on her right shoulder. Twilight seemed completely unaware of its presence as she laid there cuddled under her covers, quiet breaths escaping her as her sides slowly heaved in and out. If it'd had eyes, it probably would have been staring with them. For long moments the glob simply sat there perched on Twilight's shoulder, doing nothing other than waiting. And then as if it had suddenly come to a conclusion, it struck. The black glob extended multiple tendrils outward that grappled Twilight's ear. With a swift pull, it launched its little body forward, landing itself just in the cup of the unicorn's right ear. And with one fluid motion, it slipped and vanished completely into the ear canal. The strike was so swift it happened in a matter of only a few seconds. Twilight's right ear flicked as she let out a quiet grunt. Her face seemed to scrunch up for just a second before it relaxed again. --- It was bright. Far too bright. Annoyingly bright. Twilight scrunched her face up as she tried to ignore it and when that failed to bring her peace she managed to pull the edge of her bed sheet over her face. The annoyance having been swiftly dealt with, Twilight relaxed as her mind slipped back to the edge of sleep only for it to be yanked back forcefully. Twilight jerked under the covers as her back legs kicked at a loud thumping sound. The loud noise had taken her off guard scaring her fully awake in an instant. She remained under the covers for a few seconds letting her racing heart calm a bit before she let out a growl. The sound repeated itself, revealing its location at the bedroom door. Casting her cover aside, Twilight rolled out of bed and stomped down the loft stair way over to the door. The door flung open suddenly when Twilight grasped it with her magic and pulled revealing a wide eyed Spike on the other side, his small clawed fist raised just as he was about to knock on the door again. "Good... morning," Spike said unsure when he caught his first glimpse of Twilight. Her mane and tail where a knotted mess of bed hair and she didn't seem all that pleased at the moment. "Why are you making racket so early?" Twilight complained as she ran one of her hooves through her bangs to brush them out of her sight. "Uh.." Spike said as he glanced back into the main library room. He eyed a clock that was on the far wall reading it as a few minutes past ten o'clock. "I didn't think this was early?" Spike answered as she shrugged his shoulders. Twilight's eyes widened and she poked her head out of the door to look at the same clock that Spike had. "Ohmygosh! Why didn't you wake me up!?" Twilight squeaked as she darted back into the bedroom and made a gallop for the bathroom door, slamming it shut behind her. "That's what I'm doing," Spike said mater-of-fact like. "You should have woken me up earlier! I have to take care of the reschedules today and now I'm already late!" Twilight's voice rang from behind the bathroom door. "You seemed kinda worn out yesterday so I thought I'd let you sleep in a little bit. I figured you could use it." Spike stood outside the door as he listened to the sounds of a hurricane.. or Twilight getting herself ready for the day, one of the two. He really wasn't sure which. The door to the bathroom flew open a moment later causing Spike to jump back. Twilight's bed-mane had been hastily brushed out leaving a few stray hairs still sticking up. Twilight dashed out into the center of the bedroom and skidded to a stop right in front of the baby dragon pushing her face right up against his. "But I have work to get done! I can't just sleep the day away! You should have gotten me up!" Twilight rambled between her panicked gasps for air. "Whoa whoa, It's not that big a deal Twilight," Spike said as he took another step back. "Maybe for you! I have ponies counting on me. I can't just lay around the library all day," Twilight said as she nosed the dragon out of the way and quickly trotted down the stairway to the main room of the library. Once there she began filtering through the items in her saddlebag that was resting against the wall at the foot of the stairs. "Don't sweat it, I already got everything packed for you, and-" "Well at least you did one thing right this morning," Twilight growled through her teeth as she slapped the saddlebag on her back. She then trotted over to the front door and with her magic snatched a clipboard off of a nearby table. Without eying it, she shoved it into her saddlebag as well and opened the front door to leave. "Wait, Twilight," Spike protested as he scampered down the stairway after her. However the door slamming shut forcefully enough to rattle pictures on the walls was the only answer Spike would get in response. He wasn't exactly sure what had just happened and stood there stunned for a minute. A frown crept across his face as he tapped his index claws together in front of his chest. Turning to walk back into the main room he approached the table there and picked up a plate with muffins on it and a glass full of orange juice. He huffed a 'whatever' and took them with him as he made his way to the kitchen. --- "Out of everypony in Equestria I would have expected at least Spike to understand how important it is for me to keep my commitments," Twilight grumbled to herself as she cantered along the streets of Ponyville at a quick pace. Her assistant had successfully made her late and made her miss breakfast, and as a result, had successfully fouled her mood only minutes after she had woken up. Today was not going to be a good day. "Well what's first," Twilight huffed as she slowed to a stop and used her magic to grab her schedule clip board from her saddlebag. She flipped through the first couple pages which were remnants of the day before and made it to the page for the current day, which was a mess of scribbles. Because of the reschedules from the previous day everything had to be shifted around. There were lines drawn through some tasks, times marked out and changed, arrows drawn here and there showing how things had been reordered. It was chaos on a piece of paper. And most annoyingly, Twilight couldn't find what her morning tasks were supposed to be. "Ugh, where is it?" She complained as she used her magic to flip to the next page. There were more of the same scribble marks there as well, but nothing about the day's schedule. Flipping back, Twilight took another look over the page more carefully and noticed that nothing had a time scheduled before noon. Then she tilted the clipboard and read an extra note along the bottom corner of the page that wasn't in her horn writing. "Moved back to twelve," she quietly mumbled as she read it and then followed the arrow that pointed up to a line that read 'Help with Sweet Apple Acres inventory', which had its original time scribbled out. Twilight stared at the words on the page for a few seconds and then her ears drooped as she lowered the clipboard. "Oh no.." --- "Yep, the little feller was here earlier. Asked if the inventory could hold off til noon. Didn't he tell you?" An orange coated earth mare with blond mane and tail both tied to pony tails asked Twilight. The farm pony had her iconic Stetson hat on her head and was pulling a wagon that had over half a dozen bushels of apples of various colors loaded on it. Twilight's fears had been confirmed now. She had gone to seek out her friend Applejack, the hard working earth mare of Sweet Apple Acres, and one of her close friends. She had originally made an appointment with her friend to help do an apple inventory at the ranch this day around nine o'clock, but located her pulling a full wagon from one of the ranch's many apple orchards instead. "So Spike did ask you to change it," Twilight mumbled as her ears flattened to the sides of her head. "Was he not s'pose to? I thought he was just helpin ya out Twilight, said you had a doozy of a day yesterday and could use some restin," Applejack eyed her unicorn friend's hair for a second before she added, "looks like ya need it, no offense." "None taken. And yes, I did have a doozy yesterday. My schedule got wrecked. When I woke up at ten this morning I thought I was already late for the inventory, so I kinda rushed out before Spike could say anything," Twilight continued her dejected glance at the ground as she walked along side Applejack. "Well, I'm not really ready to start now cuz I thought I had til noon, but yer welcome to stick around the farm til then if ya like," the farm mare offered warmly with a smile, but that smile faded quickly as she watched Twilight closely. She could tell something wasn't quite right and decided to prod for an explanation. "So.. ya sure that you ain't mad at him for movin the time?" Twilight glanced up and looked at Applejack with a bit of surprise. "Why would I be mad? He was just trying to help me out." "Sounds like ya ended up in a bit of a panic." Applejack took a right turn as the trail forked off, following along side a white picketed fence that lined the path just outside her ranch. Twilight continued to walk along side her remaining silent for a few seconds as she exchanged glances with her friend and the ground a few times. "Well, I did kinda panic.. and I may have accidentally snapped at him a bit," Twilight mentioned not seeming all to proud of her behavior this morning. She glanced back and forth between the ground and her friend a few more times still seeing Applejack's gaze on her. With a huff she decided to confess more. "By a bit.. I actually mean I kinda said that he wasn't really doing his job right.. in a not so nice way. And then I slammed the door in his face." "Dang Twilight," Applejack said with a quick shake of her head. "I know I know! It wasn't nice and even if I had been late I shouldn't have done that anyway," Twilight hung her head low as she continued, "I didn't mean to take my stress out on him but I think I kinda did and now I feel like a dork." "Well I'm sure the little feller will forgive ya without a second thought. You and Spike have been like two peas in a pod all his life. And 'sides, I think he's got the right idea for ya." Applejack had crossed under the Sweet Apple Acres archway that marked the front gate of the apple ranch. She continued on toward one of the red barns with her wagon in tow and was starting to turn the wagon in front of it. Twilight stopped nearby as she watched her friend start to back the wagon up to the side of the barn. "Right idea?" Twilight asked at her friend's comment. "Sure! You need a.. break!" Applejack grunted the last word as the wagon bumped against the wall of the barn. Lowering her neck and taking a step back, she ducked out from under the wagon harness and then trotted up to her friend. "A vacation would fix you right up." "I-I don't know. I mean I'm really busy and.. I've taken a vacation recently anyways," Twilight casually drew a circle on the ground with her fore-hoof as she seemed to try to invent an excuse. "Really? Name one." Applejack commented flatly as she stared at he friend with furrowed eyebrows. "Uh... well.. lets see. There was... oh! My brother's wedding! Yeah we all took time off for that, remember?" Twilight grinned from ear to ear forcefully hoping her answer would suffice. However, her farm mare friend's expression seemed far less than impressed. With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head Applejack turned to start walking toward her house. Twilight cautiously followed behind her. "Let's forget for just a moment that the weddin happened somewhere bout a year ago already," Applejack said as she eyed back at Twilight with a displeased look, "even then, it was hardly what I'd be callin a vacation. I mean all that weddin plannin, the cookin, us bein picked for brides maids, you bein picked to be best-mare, then not to mention that yer sister-in-law to be had been foalnapped and replaced by some evil chainglin queen." Twilight laughed a bit nervously as her friend went on about the event. "Well, yeah I can see that. OK, bad example." "No it ain't," Applejack said as she stopped short of her home's front door and turned to face Twilight. "It's a perfect example.. of how you are needin yerself a vacation." "But," Twilight started to protest, "my schedule-" "Will be there when ya get back," Applejack interrupted as she put a hoof out to touch Twilight's shoulder. "Listen girl, if yer gettin riled up enough to be snippin at Spike just cuz he let you sleep in a bit, you gotta take a break 'fore you up and just explode." Twilight sighed, feeling defeated. Her friend was right of course. She hadn't had an extended break from things for a very long time now and it was obviously wearing her down. If her actions this morning toward Spike were any indication she really had no excuse left for foregoing some kind of break from her obligations. Perhaps a trip to Canterlot, your old home? Twilight blinked at the stray thought that had popped into her mind. Yes, the last time she had been there for anything resembling fun was the wedding, which really had been almost a year past. The time sure had flown by while she had busied herself with tasks in Ponyville and elsewhere, and she hadn't taken a trip to her old home town for any other reason than 'official business' since then. She scratched at her chin with one of her fore-hooves as she pondered the thought for a moment with a low hum. However, her thoughts were noisily interrupted by a growling noise coming from her stomach. She blinked at the uncontrolled noise as her face brightened with embarrassment and then grinned to her friend, who was staring back at her with a raised eyebrow. "You hungry or somethin?" Applejack asked. "Well.. I kinda didn't eat breakfast," Twilight said as she tried to control the reddening of her face under her lavender coat. Applejack made a 'tsk' sound between her teeth before she turned to nose open the door to her home. "Why don't yall come in and have a bite then, since we got the time. Granny Smith baked some fresh fritters just this mornin. Bet ya can talk her outta one if ya try." "Sure, if you don't mind," Twilight said as she happily followed her friend inside. --- The sun was now hanging low in the sky on its final decent to the horizon before the moon would take over for the night. It had taken a little extra effort but Twilight had not only managed to take care of every task on her clipboard for the day, she had also made enough time to get a special order pastry prepared from Sugarcube Corner. She balanced a small white box on her back above her saddlebags that she had just picked up as she made her way home. I really hope he isn't mad at me. Well you did throw his kind gesture back in his face. I didn't know! And you didn't give him the chance to tell you. Twilight wrestled with her inner thoughts as she approached her home. She stopped at the front door for a moment trying to fight down the feeling of anxiety. After spending most of the day thinking about it, she really was scared that Spike might not forgive her for her earlier actions. Drawing in a calming breath, Twilight used her magic to push open the door to the library. “I'm home,” she said with a grin on her face. Glancing around, Twilight attempted to locate her assistant but was unable to find a trace of him on the first floor. “Spike? You here?” Twilight asked as she walked into the center of the room. She then noticed the parchment sitting on the reading table. Using her magic to lift it up, she read the short note. “Went to visit Rarity. Will be back home soon.” Twilight recognized her assistant's claw writing right away, and let go a sigh as she put the paper back down on the table. I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to be here when you got home either. Twilight frowned at the thought and tried to dispel it with a shake of her head. Spike often went to visit Rarity, this wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Taking the white box off her back, Twilight gently set it down on the table next to the note. She then levitated her saddlebags over to the side of the table and dropped them there. Even though she had gotten a little extra sleep earlier that morning, her efforts to try and stay caught up had still drained her of energy. Finding the nearby velvet pillow, Twilight flopped down with a groan. You should rest. Yeah.. I should. --- A sudden knocking sound caused Twilight to snap back to consciousness. Blinking her eyes, she stood and took a few steps off of the pillow as she glanced around. Obviously she had dozed off after she had gotten home, though she didn't see Spike anywhere near by. Then her eyes darted over to the front door when the knocking sound happened again. “Just a minute,” Twilight called taking notice of the darkness outside the windows. It was night time now which meant she had been asleep for a while now. Maybe it was Spike finally coming home, she pondered as she crossed the room. But then if it was him, he should have just let himself in. Taking the door handle in her magic, Twilight gave the door a tug to open it and see who it was. “Hey there sugarcube,” Applejack said with a nod as she walked in right away. Twilight stepped back and allowed her to pass, then looked out the door behind her friend to see if her assistant was anywhere nearby. When she didn't see him she slowly closed the door and walked back to the main room to speak to her friend. “Uh.. hey AJ. What brings you here?” Twilight asked as she craned her neck to look through the doorway of the kitchen. Spike didn't seem to be in there either. Applejack stopped near the middle of the library and then turned to face Twilight with a smile. “Oh just stoppin by to see if you decided yet.” Twilight turned her full attention to her friend and tilted her head. “Decided what?” Just then another knock came at the door which grabbed Twilight's attention away again. “Hold on just a second,” she said as she trotted quickly over to the door and pulled it open. “There you are darling, how have you been?” A white unicorn with a perfectly styled purple mane and tail came prancing in. “Rarity? Oh, is Spike with you?” Twilight asked as she glanced outside the door. When she saw nothing she once again pushed the door too. “Heavens no! And besides, I came here to see you. You just have to let us go along with you on your vacation to Canterlot. We could make it into a girls' getaway. It would be fantastic!” Rarity seemed to twirl and dance on her hooves as she spoke. “Wait.. when did you-” Twilight started to ask, but was then interrupted by yet another knock at the door. With a low growl Twilight grabbed the handle of the door yet again with her magic and yanked it open. Just on the other side, a butter colored pegasus mare with long locks of pink for a mane and tail cringed back from the door. “Oh.. um.. sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm interrupting aren't I?” The shy mare spoke softly as she stepped back. “Fluttershy? Why are you here?” Twilight asked the quiet pegasus. “Well.. I heard about the vacation, and thought it would be fun if we all went. But if you don't want too.. that's fine too,” Fluttershy mumbled as she kicked her fore-hoof against the ground. “Uh.. honestly I'm not sure what is going on. Why don't you come in and we can all talk about this,” Twilight offered as she gestured inside her home with a hoof. “Oh, thank you so much,” Fluttershy said with a joyful smile as she walked inside to join the group. Twilight let go a sigh as she started to close the door with her magic, but just as it was about to latch it suddenly flew back open and slammed against the wall as a rainbow streak plowed Twilight to the floor. Twilight let go a moan as she tried to push herself up. “What hit me?” said as she looked to her side and noticed a light blue hoof extended to her. “Sorry Twi, didn't realize you were closing the door and I couldn't slow down in time,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “Let me help you up.” “So you're here too. Let me guess,” Twilight said as she took her friend's hoof and stood up, “it's about the vacation.” “You bet! I wouldn't miss a chance to go to Canterlot for a get away. The Wonderbolts have been doing their performances there all month! This could be my chance to hang out with them again,” Rainbow Dash was grinning from ear to ear as she spoke, but then noticed all attention was on her. “Oh well uh.. I'd hang out with you guys too.. of course.” “Of course,” Rarity chipped in to the conversation. Twilight let go a forced laugh as she started walking to the wide open front door. She took hold with her magic, but paused for a second. Her mind was doing the math and something didn't quite add up, other than the fact that all her friends seemed to be visiting at odd hours asking her about a vacation that she hadn't really told anypony about yet. No, there was something missing. Twilight squinted at the door way, and then closed it and reopened it quickly. “Pinkie,” Twilight said plainly as she stared at the pink party pony standing on the other side of the open door way. “Heya Twilight!” Pinkie said as she bounced through the door's threshold and glomped her unicorn friend in a hug. “How did you know I was here?” “I just had a feeling,” Twilight said with a smirk as she allowed herself to be hugged. This was the only event this evening that actually seemed somewhat normal so far. “Wow you're good! You need to teach me that trick some time! But first, there's something more important,” Pinkie seemed to take on a more serious expression as she let go of her friend and walked into the center of the library. Twilight eyed the open doorway suspiciously and carefully took hold of it with her magic again. She slowly closed it, and right as it latched she pulled it back open slightly and peaked out through the open gap. When she didn't see anypony there, she shrugged and closed the door all the way. Satisfied that there wouldn’t be any more surprise visitors, she followed Pinkie into the main room to join the rest of the group. Pinkie had found a place to stand on the reading table in the center of the room, and had nearly knocked the unicorn bust sculpture off in the process. She cleared her throat to draw attention to herself, and everypony gave their full undivided attention. “So! Now that we're all here, we can get started.” “On what?” Twilight asked, feeling like she was probably the only pony who wasn't in on what was happening. “The pre-vacation party of course! I mean duh, what else did you think I was here for?” Pinkie said as she pointed a hoof at Twilight, touching her nose with it. “But you still haven't officially made it all official by invited us all yet! Time's a wasting!” “Uh I really don't know what you're talking about,” Twilight took a step back as she pushed Pinkie's hoof away. She then noticed how the group of mares around her seemed to be looking at her as if she had just said something horrible. “Well.. here I thought we were all friend,” Applejack huffed. Twilight was a bit shocked by the comment. “We are! But seriously.. how did you guys all find out about this? I hadn't told anypony that I was thinking about going to Canterlot.” Twilight said as she took another step back. “So now you're keeping secrets from us?” Rarity questioned with a gasp as she began to approach Twilight. “That's.. not nice,” Fluttershy added as she too started walking toward Twilight as well. “Yeah no kidding! And here I got my hopes up thinking I might get to see the Wonderbolts perform,” Rainbow Dash joined in. Twilight found herself back peddling away from the group as they began to close in on her. Something was off. No, everything was off. Nothing about this seemed right. They shouldn't know. Why did they know? Twilight's thoughts began to race looking for an answer. However she jumped slightly in surprise when she ran out of room and found her back up against a wall. The entire room seemed to be spinning, and all sound seemed to be drowned out by some strange high-pitched ringing in Twilight's ears. She couldn't make out exactly what her friends were saying, but the looks on their angry faces as they yelled told her none of it was good. She wanted it to stop. She fell to the floor, her hooves over her head as she cowered there praying for this to stop. But even though she was covering her ears through the head-splitting ringing sound, she could still make out the angry voices of her friends yelling her name. --- “Twilight?” Spike asked as he prodded Twilight's shoulder with one of his claws. Twilight let go a scream as she suddenly snapped to alertness. The outburst caused Spike to fall back off his feet to his back as he too let go his own scream. At this, Twilight let go another scream of her own as she back peddled off the pillow, hiding herself behind it. “Why are you screaming!?” Spike shouted as he hid his face behind his claws, peaking out through them. “Why are you screaming?” Twilight shot back, her voice still sounding alarmed. “I asked first!” Spike said as he sat up and pointed a single claw at himself. Twilight looked around the room quickly from her hiding spot from behind the pillow. Her eyes darted back and forth as she tried to find them, but they weren't there any more. Then her frantic mind began to catch up as reality started to work it's way back in. It was still barely light outside and Spike was here. And she had just been laying on her pillow. Letting go a relieved sigh, Twilight flopped her fore-hooves and chin down on the velvet cushion. “Oh.. it was all a dream.” “Didn't sound like a good one,” Spike commented as he stood up and walked over to the other edge of the pillow. “You were all moaning and saying stuff like 'no' and 'don't' and stuff. So I thought I'd wake you up from it. Then you screamed in my face twice.” Spike crossed his arms as he finished his recount of what had happened. “I'm... sorry,” Twilight said as she placed a hoof against her forehead. “I must have dozed off, and then that nightmare happened.” “Nightmare huh?” Spike asked as one of his eyebrows perked up. “Wanna talk about it?” “No.. not really,” Twilight immediately said as she shook her head. “Oh well.. alright,” Spike shrugged and turned to walk off. He was starting to make his way to the kitchen door way. Twilight watched him walk away for a moment before her gaze moved over to the white box sitting on the table next to her. She then remembered something important. “Oh hey Spike, come here.” Spike stopped just before the kitchen door and turned his head around. When he saw Twilight sitting back up on the pillow and gesturing with a hoof for him to come back over, he spun around and waddled his way back. “So you do wanna talk about it?” He asked as he approached. “Not exactly. There's something else I want to talk to you about. But first,” Twilight pushed the white box on the table closer to Spike, “open this.” “What is it?” Spike asked as he hopped up on the table and walked over to the box, setting his claws on it. “A box,” Twilight said plainly. Spike looked back at her with a glance that said 'are you serious', which caused the lavender unicorn to let go a giggle. “Open it, silly.” “Alright,” Spike said as he rubbed his claws together. Popping the lid on the box, Spike slowly opened it up wide and the size of his eyes seemed to grow wider as the opening did. “Whoa! A sapphire cupcake!” Spike reached into the box and hoisted out a large cupcake with sapphire colored frosting and actual sapphire gem chips sprinkled on top. “Jumbo sized,” Twilight pointed out. The cupcake was nearly as big as Spike's head. “I had Pinkie make it special order today.” “This is awesome Twilight!” “Yeah, well, after all the trouble you went through to try and give me half a day off, I figured that you deserved a little something,” Twilight said with a smile. That smile dimmed slightly and her ears laid down against the sides of her head as she added, “that and.. I'm really sorry about how I treated you.” Spike noticed the change in Twilight's mood, and quickly set the cupcake back down in its box. “Hey it's cool. You've been stressing out like there's no tomorrow. I probably should have told you what I was doing earlier. Then you wouldn't have had a freak out when I woke you up 'late'.” Twilight giggled at her little assistant and reached a hoof out to him. “Come here you!” “Ah OK..” Spike said as he feigned annoyance. Taking a few steps to the edge of the table, he leaped off and landed on the pillow with Twilight, who hugged him tightly in her fore-legs. “No matter what you're always going to be my number one assistant, don't forget that.” “I won't.” Twilight embraced the little purple and green dragon for a while, gently running a hoof through his spikes along his back every so often. She was content to just stay like this for the rest of the night, but something in the air drew her attention away. Sniffing at the new smell, she asked a quick question. “What's that?” Spike glanced up to see what Twilight was looking at, but when he noticed she had her nose pointed into the air he figured out quickly what it was she had noticed. “It's celery stock stew. I just got it started before I came in here to wake you up,” Spike explained as he hopped off of the pillow and began scampering over to the kitchen door way. “Oh good I'm starving!” Twilight said as she too sprung up from the cushion and began to trot toward the door. She stopped for just a moment to levitate the white box onto her back, and then continued onward into the kitchen.