Another Day in Ponyville

by AnOrdinaryWriter


S͢t̞o̸r̯̘y ̡̰̝̜1̱͝0̛̙̞

the baby dragon sighed, folding the pillow over his ear, but the sounds of trotting and objects moving weRe still audible. he pushed the pillow harder against his ear to block off the sound, but knew he wouldn’t get any sleep that way. he let out a frustrated groan, opening his eyes and rolling onto his back.

this was the third time this wEek that twilight had kept spike up in the middle of the night because of her research. he didn’t even know why twilight had to do her research during the night. irritated, he puzzled over why she couldn't just wait until the morning and do it then. she had all morning and all afternoon to do whatever work she needed to do, but she decided to stay up at night and bother spike.

he angrily kicked the blanket off him, and jumped out of his crib. rubbing his eyes groggily, he made his way to the bedroom’s door, opening it and stepping out into the long, confusing corridor. the door across from him was wide open, the room it led to brighTly lit. he walked weakly towards the room, squinting because of the immediate increase in brightness. once his eyes had fully adjusted, he stepped into the room and looked around.

a large number of books were strewn about on the ground, several open with folded pages and others piled on to each other in an unorganized mess. the bookshelves were filled with gaps of different sizes, almost completely devoid of any actual books. over to the right of the room, a table carried tall stacks of different sized books. the stacks looked to be almost a few feet long each. and then there was twilight sparkle, with a book in front of her and drowned in literature. her mane was disheveled, strings of blue and pink untidily sticking out. spike thought about how rarity would react if she saw twilight right now, depleting a bit of his irritation.

every few seconds, a page would be encased in an aura and flipped over to reveal more words. every so often, she sighed, most likely because she was finding useless information. eventually, twilight shut the book she was reading and tossed it over her head. the book hit the floor with a thud, pages dancing as it bounced once and landed, open and with bent pages. spike learned that muSt have been how most of the other books ended up in the condition they were in. twilight fired up her horn again and levitated a book off one of the piles, opening it to the first page and lowering it onto the table.

spike Approached the book twilight telekinetically threw, and examined the page it landed on. at the center of the left page was a pony’s brain. the cortices and lobes were separated with different colors, and on the top and bottom of the page were brief paragraphs describing the tissues in the diagram. on the right page was the same thing, except the header read, ‘the griffon brain.’

checking out the rest of the books on the floor, he found books that dealt with psychology and studies of the mind, which struck him as odd. he’d never seen her so interested in these topics before.

something suddenly landed right next to spike, causing him to yelp and jump back in surprise. upon hearing this, twilight turned her head, seeing her assistant by the door to the room.

“spike?” twilight said. “what are you doing in here? you should be in bed.”

spike looked up at twilight, who had bags under her eyes and had pieces of hair hanging over her eyes. he was surprised by his mentor’s appearance, and could tell she definitely needed sleep.

“i can’t sleep,” spike answered, furrowing his brow. “all the noise you’re making is keeping me awake.” he approached twilight, looking around at the mess of books practically making the floor invisible. “why do you have to do research now?”

“i’m sorry for waking you, spike; i probably should have cloSed the door.” twilight said, but spike’s gaze was still focused on her like he was expecting more from her.

“you didn’t really answer my question yet. why are you reading and tossing books around now when you could be doing that in the morning? you should be getting sleep right now.”

“i’m sorry,” twilight apologized again. “just know that what i’m doing is very important.”

spike glanced once again at the mess of books throughout the room. ”what are you even reading psychology books and doing all this research for anyways?”

“it’s for, um—listen, you don’t have to worry about me, alrIght? you should go back to the bedroom and get some sleep. i’ll close the door so that i don’t bother you. you’re a baby dragon after all, you need rest.”

“and you don’t?” spike retorted. “i mean, have you looked at yourself? you’re a mess, and you look exhausted. and let’s not forget that you’re a princess. princesses need lots of rest just like baby dragons need a lot of rest.”

twilight couldn’t help but appreciate how much spike cared about her wellbeing, whether in dangerous situations or just getting some sleep. his spirit reminded her of the rest of her friends. she let loose a smile, looking back at the stacks of books on the table, and once again at spike.

“alright, you win. i’m coming with you.”

“good,” spike said, his frown disappearing and a smile adorning his face.

twilight lit her horn, and spike saw a purple aura surround all the books on the floor and on the table. she gave her head a quick nod towards the right, and all the floating books returned to their respectable places on the shelves. any evidence that there had been chaos in this room before was now gone. with a yawn, twilight followed spike as he walked out of the room. twilight lit her horn for a second time, and the light in the room turned off, followed by the room’s door shutting.

the two walked through the opposite doorway in the hall. spike made his way to the crib while twilight’s horn glowed for a third time, causing the bedroom door to shut. she headed over to the bed, climbing in and draping the covers over her, up to her flanks.

“goodnight, spike,” twilight said, in a whisper.

“night, twilight,” spike costume said back, and twilight slid her way deeper under the covers. the overwhelming comfort of the mattress pressing against her back, combineD with the warmth of the sheets immediately dropped her into a deep slumber.