Twilight was lying in bed, extremely grouchy. Cleaning up after a disaster one of your best friends had caused isn’t an easy task, and she was exhausted. Spike had showed some interest in talking about it, but Twilight wasn’t really in the mood earlier. She felt a little bad about it now, but it seemed like Spike had managed to fall asleep alright.
A few minutes later, Twilight heard a slight gasp from the bed beside hers as Spike woke up from a nightmare , and then felt a rustling of sheets as the small dragon crawled into bed with her.
“Twilight?” A not-yet-matured voice whispered into her ear. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”
The alicorn softened and flopped over to face her closest friend and snuggled him close to her with her hooves. “Of course you can.” The small body let out a contented sigh and drew in even closer to her. “That must have been pretty creepy, huh?” Twilight murmured to the dragon, rubbing his back. Spike didn’t answer. Instead, his breaths grew steady and Twilight began to close her eyes too. Poor Spike. She was sure he’d be better in the morning. The lavender alicorn fell asleep, still holding Spike’s body close to hers.
Twilight woke up to find her hooves clutching not a dragon, but a pillow. Spike must have had another nightmare and decided to read a comic book or something instead of trying to fall asleep again. As she headed over to the mirror to give her mane a quick brushing, her nose quirked, smelling something rich coming from downstairs. That was unusual. Normally in the mornings, she just made herself and Spike a bowl of oats with milk. The smell was so different that she decided to skip the brushing for now and investigate.
As Twilight started heading down the wooden stairs of the library, the smell grew even stronger. She still couldn’t quite identify it, but it sure smelled good! She licked her lips a little without thinking as she trotted towards the kitchen. When she finally emerged around the corner to the kitchen, she stopped in shock.
Spike was standing in the kitchen, cooking a delicious looking breakfast of eggs, toast, and oatmeal. As she stared, the dragon skillfully flipped an egg in a frying pan before placing it back on the stove. Turning around to get another egg, he saw Twilight still gaping in the doorway.
“Morning, Twilight!” He chirped cheerfully. The alicorn forced her hooves to move her forward a bit and rubbed her eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. Spike cracked another egg into the frying pan and used his tail to push two pieces of toast into the toaster. "Did you sleep well?" He added with his back to her.
"Spike," Twilight questioned, still a little surprised, "What are you doing?"
"Just making some breakfast! You were still sleeping when I woke up, and I didn't wanna wake you."
"But... you're cooking?" It came out like more of question than she wanted it to.
"Yep! I guess you could say I was inspired to!" Spike chuckled heartily at his joke for a few seconds, then returned to his cooking. "You can sit down if you want to." He called over his shoulder.
Twilight made her way to one of the chairs at the small wooden table and sat down. A few minutes later, a tasty looking plate of scrambled eggs and a bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with sugar along with a piece of perfectly buttered toast were set in front of her. Twilight looked at the food suspiciously. It seemed alright, and it smelled great, but the last time Spike tried to make breakfast early in the morning she ended up eating something at tasted like burnt orange juice. She cautiously levitated a small forkful of eggs up to her mouth. To her surprise, they were delicious, and she looked up at Spike curiously.
"Spike? I didn't know you could cook so well!" She said while eating another forkful of eggs. They were really good!
"Of course I can cook!" Spike smiled at Twilight, laughed a little, and sat down across from her with his own plate of food.
It did seem a little odd that Spike had suddenly developed such a great talent in cooking, but Twilight didn't complain. It sure was good, and definitely better than the breakfast she usually had. Spike did seem a little weird, but it was probably just an urge he had to do some cooking. She knew she did some things that were a little odd for her sometimes! So instead of worrying about it, she decided to just enjoy her breakfast. It was so good, and she savored every bite. It would probably be a long time until she ate another breakfast like this one.
A few hours later, Twilight was levitating a very interesting book, Creatures form Tartarus and You, over to a table to do some light reading when she tripped over something on the floor and fell flat on her face, her wings unfurling too late to stop her fall and flapping near her face uselessly. The heavy volume went flying out of her grasp and hit a bookshelf, causing a few other books to fall on top of it. She stood up, slightly annoyed by the interruption in her self-imposed schedule, and turned around to see what she had tripped over.
Spike lay sprawled on the floor, seeming to not have even noticed her tripping right over him. He had a box of colored pencils in one claw and was absorbed in drawing something on some sheets of paper that he had lying on the ground near him. Twilight peered over the dragon's shoulder to see an expertly drawn comic about what looked like some mares in Canterlot chatting and drinking tea together. From what she could read of the cursive writing, it seemed very well written, despite the story being a little weird for a comic book. It didn't really seem like Spike's style, though. He was usually into intense battles between heroes and villains and explosions. She cleared her throat a little and Spike looked up from his drawing, grinning when he saw the alicorn.
"Hey there, Twilight!" He beamed up at the mare.
Twilight couldn't think of a gentle way to phrase the questions 'When did you learn how to draw?' and 'Why are you making a comic about some mares in Canterlot?' without sounding rude, so she just gave him what she hoped was a natural looking glance.
"Hey, Spike," She said slowly, "What are you doing?"
"Just starting a little comic book," Spike replied, turning back to his papers and adding the mane to a pale blue unicorn with a quick swirl of a pencil.
“And it’s about some mares’ lives… in Canterlot?” Twilight asked in the same awkward tone.
“Of course it is!” Spike smiled innocently. “I was reading one of my comic books and I thought, ‘All the plots in these always seem so similar!”. You know, with the explosions and stuff. So then I thought, ‘Why don’t I just make my own?’, so I did. I think it’s a nice change of pace from most comics these days.
“Yep, it sure is!” Twilight laughed nervously. “I’m just gonna go over there and read my book now.” She quickly made her escape and trotted over to the pile of books on the floor. She grabbed the first one she saw and levitated it over to the table, still keeping an eye on the dragon. He sure was acting strangely lately. She looked down at the book she had grabbed, Fashion: How to Always be in Style. She’d loaned this book to Rarity just a few weeks ago! She looked back over at the dragon who was busy drawing away. A very slice-of-life style comic seemed like something Rarity would do. Maybe he was trying to do something to be nice to her, especially after that crazy thing happened a few days ago. The thought made her smile a little. It was easy forget that Spike was still so young, but sometimes he really did act his age. She returned her attention to the book. It didn’t seem like something she’d be very interested in, but it would look suspicious to Spike if she put it back now. She opened up to a random page and began reading.
After a pretty average rest of the day, Twilight slipped beneath the sheets of her bed, yawning. Spike was still awake downstairs, probably still working on his comic book. She was sure his making that book for Rarity might help them both start to get over what happened the other day. The randomly gained cooking and drawing talents were still a little bizarre, but she could ask him about that in the morning. Twilight snuggled into the sheets a little more. She was sure that everything would be totally fine the next morning.
Twilight woke up to the smell of another delicious breakfast cooking. A pit immediately formed in her stomach, and she rubbed it with a hoof, trying to force the unpleasant sensation to go away. Everything was probably fine, she tried to reassure herself. Spike was just in a cooking kind of mood, that was all. And he just learned how to cook somehow. Her reassurances didn't help and she headed down the stairs cautiously.
In a repeat of yesterday morning, Spike stood in the kitchen, doing an impressive job of doing multiple things at once as he made breakfast, this time pancakes with homemade whipped cream on top. Without even turning around, Spike greeted the now officially freaked-out alicorn.
“Good morning, Twilight! You slept well, I hope!” Something about his voice had changed, but Twilight couldn’t quite put a hoof on what it was.
“Morning, Spike,” She replied in as normal of a tone as she could.
“Twilight, about that,” Spike started as he finished placing a sprig of parsley on each pancake. He slid one plate in front of Twilight and one on his side of the table before sitting down himself. “I’d prefer it if you called be Unique from now on.”
“Why?” Twilight blurted out before she could stop herself. She’d given Spike his name herself, and couldn't help but feel a little hurt.
“I just don’t really think the name Spike suits me anymore,” Spike (or Unique now) said nonchalantly. “Unique is far more original.”
“Well, if that’s what you really want, of course I’ll call you that,” Twilight tried to smile but couldn’t quite muster it. It was like had gotten an insane personality swap two nights ago, and she couldn’t figure out what had caused it.
The rest of breakfast passed mostly in silence, with Spike making a passing comment about the weather or other small talk just before the silence became awkward. Twilight just picked at her food and thought hard about what might have happened. After the meal, she still hadn’t figured it out, and started flipping through a book about forbidden spells on the off chance that something was written in it that might help her.
Later, Twilight had just finished two fillies find a book about how wagons worked when Spike came up to her.
“Twilight, I think I’ll head out for a walk, if that’s alright, I’ll be back soon.”
Twilight hesitated before replying. Spike had always been fine on his own before, but she was more worried about him now. She didn’t really want him going out on his own, but she didn’t want him to think that she didn’t trust her. And it would give her some uninterrupted time to look through more books for something that could help her.
“Sure, Spike, you can go.” She smiled down at the dragon, although a little sadly.
“Twilight, I told you, it’s Unique now.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” Twilight had completely forgotten about that. Her frown deepened slightly. Unique walked out of the library, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts.
An hour later, Twilight had gone through a large pile of books with no luck. It probably would have been easier if she at least knew what section to look through, but she didn’t know if what had happened to Spike was magical, natural, or something else entirely. She was about to flip through Handling your Teenage Foal when a knock came at the door of the library. Without waiting for Twilight to answer the door, Rarity burst through it, breathing heavily like she had just been out running.
“Twilight!” She shouted at the alicorn. “I came as fast as I could. Something strange is going on!”
Twilight hadn’t seen Rarity since she and the other princesses were reversing the damage done to Ponyville. Rarity had insisted on helping, although she couldn’t really do much other than levitate waste material into the trash. The sentiment was there, though. Her head shot up at Rarity’s sudden cry.
“Rarity, what happened?”
“It’s Spike. He’s in the Carousel Boutique and he’s acting very strangely!”
“Strange how?” Twilight questioned. Spike had said he was just going out for a walk!
“Mind if we talk on our way over there? I feel a little nervous about leaving him in the Boutique alone.” Rarity looked towards the door and shifted a little on her hooves.
“Of course we can.” The two mares galloped out of the library and started heading towards the Boutique. Neither of them was in great physical shape, and it didn’t take long before they were both out of breath. “So, what was wrong with Spike?” Twilight asked between gasps.
“Well, he came in and asked if he could help me make the dresses I’m working on, and of course I said yes, it’s always nice when he helps out. But then he told me to call him Unique and not Spike, and when I asked him if you knew where he was he said no. Then he started taking over making the dresses, so I snuck out to get you.” Rarity explained.
The two slowed as they approached the Boutique. “I don’t he realized that I left, so we’ll have to kind of sneak in.” Twilight nodded and Rarity creaked the door open using a very light levitation. The mares crept inside and made their way upstairs.
Unique sat in a flurry of cloth, using all of his limbs and tail to cut and sew fabric at very fast speeds. Two dresses sat finished on dress molds, one purple and green with a feathered pattern, and the other blue and green with a pattern of scales on it. Rarity's eyes widened and she made a motion to walk over to the dresses to examine them. Twilight stopped her with a hoof, shaking her head. Unique heard the sound and spoke without turning to face the mares.
“Oh, hello, darling! Here to give me a hoof with these dresses?” He turned and noticed Twilight also standing there. “Twilight, you’re here too! What a pleasant surprise! Let me just finish this up and we can talk.” He turned back around and crafted a bow out of pink ribbon with one claw while creating a lovely petal pattern on a piece of cloth with the other one.
Rarity laughed lightly and cleared her throat. “Umm, Unique, we’re going to go downstairs for a moment. Excuse us.” She then pulled Twilight out of the room with a hoof, almost having to drag her away. They stopped a little way outside of the doorway. “Do you see what I mean?” She hissed at the purple mare. “What should we do?”
Twilight tried to think for a moment. She was a bit overwhelmed by everything that she had just seen. “The creating, the style of speaking, the multitasking…” She suddenly realized something that she couldn’t believe she missed before. “He’s acting like you!”
“But why?” The other mare questioned. “I know he wasn’t like this the last time I saw him!”
“I know, it just started after the issue with that book. Think, do you know of anything that happened then that might have caused this?”
Now it was Rarity’s turn to think. A grimace appeared on her face as she ran through the memories. They must have still been pretty unsettling. After a few moments, she turned back to face Twilight. “Well, there was one thing. You know that book? Spike may have… ingested it.”
“He WHAT???” Twilight shouted. Rarity clamped a hoof over her mouth to quiet her.
“I think he may have thought it would help. With me.” The grimace was back for a second, but was quickly pushed away.
“That book had very strong magical power, and it was tied so closely to you.” Twilight tried to think through the situation. “The spell you used was broken, but the pure power from the book must have leaked into Spike! That’s causing him to essentially turn into you!”
“Well, what do we do?” Rarity questioned.
“I-I don’t know! There was nothing like this in any of my books!” Twilight began to hyperventilate. “I’ve never had to deal with something this severe before! What if it can never be reversed? What if-“ She was stopped by Rarity gently placing her hoof on the other’s shoulder.
“Twilight, I’m sure you’ll be able to work this out. Spike is your closest friend.” She stared into Twilight’s eyes with a slight smile on her face, and Twilight realized what she had to do.
“Can you hold down Spike for me?” She asked. Rarity nodded, completely in tune with what Twilight's plan was. Twilight took a deep breath, and the two mares stepped back into the room Unique occupied.
Unique had finished the pink and green petal dress, and was starting on a yellow and green leaves pattern. Unique heard the two mares enter and spoke them while cutting out the individual components of the dress. “Twilight, I’ve almost finished my entire spring line! I think the use of one color as an anchor really adds to the designs, don’t you?”
Twilight took in another deep breath and nodded to Rarity. The unicorn cantered behind Spike and grabbed using him using her magic. She couldn’t sustain this for long, so she deposited him on the floor and held his claws down with her hooves.
“Hey, what are you doing!” Unique shouted. “Let me go!”
Twilight approached the dragon, stepping lightly up to him. He stopped struggling and turned to look at the alicorn. “Twilight, tell her to stop!” He pleaded.
Even though it hurt her to see her closest friend in what looked like obvious pain, Twilight had to focus. “I’m sorry, Unique. It’s for your own good.” She closed her eyes and leaned down close to him, touching her horn to his head.
She thought hard about all the good times she and Spike had shared, and a flow of energy traveled from her horn into Spike. She attempted to increase the flow, pouring in even more positive memories. The time she had slipped on an apple peel and Spike laughed until he slipped on the same peel trying to walk over to help her up. Sitting together in the library late at night after everyone was asleep, making up silly stories. Back when they were both young and had caused all kinds of mischief in Canterlot. The glow in her horn increased, and eventually she felt them breaking past the wall in Spike’s mind. She stopped the flow and opened her eyes to see a small mass of green energy floating out of Spike and dissipating into the air.
The two mares were both breathing heavily from the exertion and stepped away from the dragon. Spike opened his eyes and saw the two mares around them. “Twilight? Rarity? What just happened?” He asked, shaking his head.
Twilight scooped up the dragon in her hooves and hugged him. “I’m so glad you’re back, Spike,” She said into his scales.
A few days later, Twilight had fully caught Spike up on everything that had happened. Today, she had gotten up early and was trying to make waffles for breakfast. If Spike could do it those two days, so could she!
She was attempting to free a gummy mass from the waffle iron when Spike emerged downstairs, yawning and rubbing his eyes. “Howdy, Twilight. I’ll just take a quick breakfast, I gotta get started on some of the chores ‘round here.”
The spatula Twilight was holding fell to the floor with a clatter. It couldn’t be happening again! She stared at Spike, prepared to use magic if necessary to bring him back.
Spike burst out laughing. “Ha ha! Gotcha!” He beamed at the alicorn, still chuckling a little. "You should've seen your face!"
Twilight relaxed and grabbed the dragon, pressing their bodies together in a hug again. “I’m so glad that thing is over!” She said into his ear.
“Me too.” Spike said back. “I’m happy just being me, Spike the dragon!” The two held each other close as the scent of burning waffles filled the air, both perfectly happy with just who they were at that moment.