//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Peek 
// by CalebH 
//------------------------------//

The pen lightly tapped against the scroll, leaving a small dot of ink. With that small dot the scroll was suddenly thrumming with power; suddenly very much more than poetic nonsense, the spell scroll felt alive in Twilight’s grasp. It wanted to be cast.

Well if the scroll insists, thought Twilight as she licked her lips nervously. Her horn lit up and probed the scroll experimentally, letting her magic feel out the pathways of ink and arcana. No. I must follow procedure. 

Twilight let out a small sigh of disappointment. Temporal magic hadn’t even been studied since Starlight’s spell and had always been focused on the past. This was the first spell in history that would let somepony look into the future. Oracles and prophecies didn’t count; they were always a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a poem. The only thing this spell would be wrapped in was scientific rigor.

Twilight pulled a dusty blackboard to her and began the tedious process of checking the finished scroll against the lengthy equations written there. Each word, each letter down to the dotted i’s and the crossed t’s had to be perfect. Time was nothing to be played with. Starlight had taught Twilight and Spike that lesson the hard way.

Minutes and hours seemed to fade away in seconds as Twilight poured over the scroll, double, triple, and quadruple checking every last detail. Many spells were almost instinctual for most unicorns. They could be learned as easily as riding a bike. Those few spells that were truly magical, that tied the impossible and reality together and made them play nice, those spells needed more precision than one mind could bring. 

It was perfect, everything about it was perfect. The spell would execute without flaw and in less than a second the world would be changed forever. Twilight shook her head to dislodge the thought. Actions that explicitly changed the world forever were normally planned with a bolt of lightning and some mad cackling, this was no more world changing than Rarity deciding on greenish-blue over blueish-green for Fluttershy’s next dress.

On an absolute scale the world would be changed, as it was every nanosecond. On a relative scale Rarity was an extremely gifted dressmaker and Fluttershy wore a burlap sack well. The world would change, one of it’s alicorn princesses would have a tiny little peek into the future.

“Spike get the kit,” Twilight called out the door. 

With reverent care Twilight carried the scroll downstairs. There was a flurry of activity around her as Spike rushed to find the kit that had somehow migrated beneath a pile of warm quilts. Twilight only smiled in response to Starlight’s rapidfire questions as the two made their way down the castle’s stairs.

She met Starlight and Spike in the map room. Spike had a towel over one shoulder and carried a large cardboard box filled with a random assortment of items and bearing the label “Hearth’s Warming  Emergency Science Kit”. A fire extinguisher and first aid kit made plenty of sense, but the seemingly random assortment of foodstuffs only made sense to those who were extremely prone to magical mishaps. A small bowl of rice, several sticks of uncooked spaghetti, Three slices of stale bread, one and a half sticks of cinnamon, three balls of lint, and two chicken feathers taken from Fluttershy’s friendliest hens. 

“Hold up,” Spike said putting the box down and walking over to the window. He reached up and flipped the ‘Library is open’ sign to the side saying ‘Monster attack (back in a half hour)’.

“Could’ve sworn that was the ‘closed for science’ one,” Spike muttered to himself as he rummaged in a nearby basket for the correct sign.

Finally the correct sign was placed in the window and under her assistants’ watchful eyes Twilight cast the spell.

Twilight barely recognized the group of old mares walking down the hall in front of her. Her friends would wear the next fifty years well but the simple fact remained, they had gotten old.

Still Twilight was glad to see the bright smile on each of their faces, and hear the merry chatter of friends glad to be with each other. Some things wouldn't change and never should.

They stopped to greet a white alicorn that Twilight mistook for Celestia for a second. Flurry Heart would grow like a weed and forget when to stop.

With an acrobatic leap Flurry jumped over the whole group and ran for the end of the hallway. The hapless purple dragon didn't know what hit him until he was wrapped in her bone crushing embrace.

Spike had grown somewhat less than Flurry but Twilight’s jaw still dropped at the change. Even on all fours he was still taller than almost any pony. His shoulders had grown broad and strong. Cords of muscle moved beneath his scales as he struggled for air. Twilight gaped at his wings. Folds of leathery purple membrane draped over his back like a dashing cape. She smiled to herself, he must have had no end of fun playing with his now built in cape.

Finally he gave up on fighting an alicorn strength and cheated. Spike’s claws had a nimbleness that put even the most dexterous ponies to shame. He could give massages that left ponies as relaxed puddles on the ground and he was absolute murder in a tickle fight.

As soon as Spike began running his claws along Flurry’s ribs her eyes widened and her victorious laugh choked off. In only a few moments Spike had completely turned the situation in his favor. Flurry was splayed out over the floor in a mess of helpless giggles. Her lanky limbs made walking nearby put a pony in danger of an accidental kick but Spike dodged nimbly away from any stray hooves or wings.

Finally Spike punctuated his victory by running a messy claw through Flurry’s mane. He stood over her as she gasped out protests through fading giggles. Twilight shook her head. Spike didn't so much cheat as he changed games mid play, something any alicorn should consider before hug-tackling him.

Ever the gentledragon, Spike helped Flurry to her hooves and hugged her warmly. The two surreptitiously ran a wing and a claw over their backs feeling for any stray bits of paper with embarrassing slogans that may have mysteriously appeared. 

Twilight heard a gentle chiding and turned to see Shining Armor and Cadence making their way towards the group. Happy greetings were exchanged all around. Spike hugged Cadence tenderly and bumped his fist against Shining’s hoof. Both recoiled and faked a mortal injury dealt by the other.

Twilight shook her head. Shining had grown into a striking figure of a guard, a dedicated captain, a capable prince, and a doting father. But the persistent truth remained, Shining Armor would never really grow up.

The gathered group continued further into the castle and seven ponies chatting happily became ten. Two more princesses approached the group and once again happy voices rose in greeting. A grave threat, they say. The dignity of Equestria’s royalty is reduced to a giggling mess at the flick of a dragon’s claws. Flurry resembles her mother as she greets the two.

Seven ponies had become ten and now are twelve. The purple dragon among them listened happily to their chatter as he escorted them down the long hallway. A final door opens up and a blue dragoness peeks her head through.

Adult dragons were much too large to run, Twilight observed, but Spike and Ember certainly hurried towards one another. The Ember Twilight knew had always shied away from any sort of affection in embarrassment. The dragon lord had certainly come out of her shell. Spike had picked her up bodily and spun her around himself until her serpentine body was wrapped around him and their smiling faces were a hair closer than Twilight thought friends would be.

The ponies gave each other looks. Twilight could see bits exchanged in the flick of an eye and the turn of a lip. She couldn’t decide whether to be surprised or not when Princess Luna summoned a heavy sack of bits and passed it to Princess Celestia. 

Twilight almost didn’t hear the dragons greet each other. They were not loud or boisterous as everypony else had been. The murmured words were warm and intimate. Finally they separated and extracted themselves from each other’s embrace. Ember greeted the ponies happily but even as she gently hugged an aged Fluttershy there was none of the breathless closeness she had with Spike. 

Finally the group reached the end of the hall and stood before a set of wide and stately double doors. Ember slipped through them quietly. Spike kept them cracked watching for something Twilight couldn’t see. 

Twilight’s other self came to stand beside her. “Quite the group of old mares don’t you think,” She said.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer back but a raised hoof cut her off. “We both know I can’t hear you,” her other self said. “I’ve had fifty years to remember where I was standing and to figure out what to say, or to remember what I said. You may want to make a note once you get back. Fifty years can sneak up on you.”

Twilight’s other self looked back at the group that was staring at her. “Like I’ve never talked to myself before,” she snipped at them. They all shrugged and turned away with an ease that raised far too many questions for Twilight’s comfort. 

“Without spoiling anything we all do good. There’s other bad guys and more fights but friendship wins in the end. Starlight keeps getting more and more brilliant and we all become better friends every day. We all grow and so do our families. Rarity even learns to accept a certain amount of wrinkles.”

“We all do well, and we all do good,” Her other self said with a smile, “But Spike, well Spike does even better.”

Spike flung the door open and walked boldly inside. Twilight gasped at what she saw on the other side. A vast assembly of royalty from all across the world. Twilight struggled to find a species that was not represented as Spike went about greeting each of them by name.

“He becomes much more than a number one assistant. Already you have friends in Ember and Thorax that you never would have made without him. He grows so much, not just in body but in wisdom, in kindness, and in courage.”

With each greeting he politely welcomed that being and exchanged some small comment or friendly joke. Twilight gaped, Spike the Dragon was personally friends with seemingly every world leader. 

“He started having these friendship summits. At first it was just Thorax, Ember, and I talking about how I could help them. Then they started helping each other. Then Queen Novo and Prince Rutherford joined and it just kept growing from there. There was never any politics or posturing. We weren’t rulers for a while, just friends trying to figure out how to make the world better.”

His greetings finally run out, Spike turns and introduces Cadance, Shining, and Flurry as they walk through the door.

“There were a few rough patches but he always pulled through in the end. Now there’s a whole new generation of rulers that grew up seeing their parents meet as friends. It seems like just yesterday Pinkie volunteered to take care of the children during the meeting. Everyone left that nursery as friends and had gotten into some sort of trouble.” I could hear the good natured eye roll in my doppelgangers voice. I swear Pinkie winked at me.

Spike introduced the Princesses and all of Twilight’s friends, leaving only Twilight and her other self behind the door.

“He learns to be a friend, a real friend. Supporting and caring and true. And everyone in that room finds out at one point or another that that’s exactly what they need, more than power and influence. We are supposed to teach Equestria about friendship, Spike is teaching the world. He’s so smart, so wise, so powerful now. I almost feel redundant.”

“...But enough of me bragging about her, here’s the mare herself: Princess Twilight Sparkle!”

Spike’s hands were gestured grandly to the door waiting for her other self to come through, to a rising applause.

“He always says I need to learn to take a break. I think it’s time I take him up on that.” 

Twilight watched her other self walk through the door and favor a much larger Spike with a warm hug before taking the podium herself.

“Thank you, thank you everyone,” she began. “And thank you especially, Spike. You have made me so proud of all that you’ve done and all that you’ve learned. You’ve grown more than I could ever imagine and I know that I can trust you with anything. Which is why it is with such great pleasure and hope for the future that I say this: I’m re-”

Twilight blinked and she was back. Starlight was so pink and vibrant. Spike was so small, so much the baby dragon she had hatched. She dove and pulled him into a fierce embrace, trying to get as much snuggle out of her little dragon as she could before he grew up, up, up. 

“Umm, Twilight?” She could feel him squirming with embarrassment like he always did when she held him in public. “You can let go of me now.”

“Mmm mm,” Twilight hummed her disagreement as she nuzzled the soft spines on top of his head. “You're my little dragon and I’ll hold you for as long as I want.”

A nimble tickly little claw running along her ribs told her she was wrong.