“Hurry up Spike!” exclaimed Twilight. “They´ll be here anytime soon!”
Spike flew behind Twilight, trying to go as fast as she did. They were cleaning and ordering the whole castle. The reason why? They were having two important guests: Starswirl and Stygian.
In his most recent letters, Starswirl had told Twilight that he and Stygian, who has become his apprentice, have been travelling together throughout Equestria and beyond. As they were travelling, he reflected on Twilight´s lessons. Thanks to them, he fixed his friendship with Stygian, became a much tolerable pony and learnt so many things. An old unicorn´s knowledge is never satisfied, after all! He was so grateful to the princess of friendship. But he needed one last favour, which was the reason why wrote to her. He didn´t specify what was the issue, but he promised to tell her when they were face to face. This issue couldn´t be communicated by letters.
While they were setting the table, Spike observed Twilight. Seeing that the princess was struggling to keep it together, he left out a small chuckle. As much as she denied it, she still got a bit nervous when a big event was about to happen.
“I thought you were over your twilighting.” said Spike in a teasing tone.
“I am not twilighting!” protested Twilight. “I´m completely calm.”
“Look, Starswirl´s coming!” he exclaimed while pointing at the window.
“WHAT?” asked Twilight with a panicked tone.
She rushed to the window and took a quick detailed vision of the horizons. Much to her suprise, nopony was coming to the castle. Spike was just teasing her
She glared at the dragon, who was covering his mouth in laughter. Although she was a little angry, she joined the fun. She rolled her eyes as she flew towards Spike.
“Ok, you got me there. Very funny Spike”
Spike dried a tear.
“You can deny it all you want, but I know that deep down, you´ll always be the same old Twilight.”
“Yeah, I guess a bit.” Twilight laughed nervously. “But it´s not that easy, you know? Sometimes you are confident, yet there are times you can´t ignore that little voice in your head that tells you that things will go wrong!” Twilight sighed. “I just hope it doesn´t take over my mind when I´m Equestria´s ruler.”
“That might be true. But the important thing is that you´re managing to control them. I mean, you did fantastic at the Festival of the Two Sisters! And if that voice doesn´t get out of your head when you´re ruling Equestria, don´t worry! I´ll be there to settle you down to earth.”
“You will?”
“Of course! I´m your number one assistant, don´t you remember? I will always be by your side.”
“You´re more than that, Spike. You´re my little brother” said Twilight, pulling Spike towards her with her wing.
Spike always got so happy when he heard that from Twilight´s and Shining Armor´s mouths. It made him feel more as part of their family. Family… That word meant so much to him. He´s been seeking it ever since he began to wonder about his origins. He went through so many challenges and perils to find it. And he finally has. It might not be his biological family, but he doesn´t need it. Not anymore. Looking for them has only brought him pain, especially the Sludge incident. After that, Spike decided to stop searching for his parents and conform with what he has: Twilight´s family and her friends. They´re his family.
He returned the hug to his older sister. He felt the soft caress from Twilight´s wing feathers on his scales. They gave him warmth, safety… He felt like nothing could ever make him separate from his sister. That was until Twilight smelt something weird.
“Do you smell something?” she asked after sniffing.
Spike span his head backwards. He left out a small yelp when he saw a slight cloud of smoke.
“The cupcakes! I forgot to take them out!”
He rushed to the kitchen, Twilight following behind. She waited for Spike on the kitchen´s door. Once he took the cupcakes out of the oven, Twilight nervously entered the kitchen.
“How do they look?”
After taking a quick look on the cupcakes, she didn´t need his response. The cupcakes were burnt and black as coal.
“I think it´s better if I start all over again.” mumbled Spike.
“Agreed.” replied Twilight.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Twilight gasped in a mixture of joy and nervousness.
“It must be them! I´ll go open.”
“Ok! I´ll serve you tea in the meantime.”
She opened the door excitedly. Finally, after a long time, Twilight saw her two awaited guests. They had huge smiles in their faces.
“Twilight!” exclaimed Starswirl joyfully.
“Starswirl! It´s so good to see you!” she said while hugging him.
“It´s good to see you too, Twilight” said Starswirl between laughs of joy. He saw Spike approaching behind Twilight. “Hello young dragon.” he greeted Spike. “I see you grew a pair of wings”
“Yeah! Aren´t they awesome?” said Spike as he showed them off with a huge pride.
Twilight rolled her eyes playfully and Starswirl laughed. Stygian nodded in agreement.
"Indeed they are."
"It´s been so long since we last saw each other, Stygian." Twilight stated. "The only thing I know about you is that you´re a great writer. How are you doing now?"
“Actually, I´m doing great, thank you. There are some ponies that have written to me to tell me how much my books have helped to face up to their problems.”
“Really? That´s amazing! Um…. One little question Stygian” She laughed sheepishly “When is the next book coming?”
“I… haven´t thought about it. I haven´t begun writing yet! In fact, I decided to travel with Starswirl to get some inspiration”
“Yeah, but do you have an idea in mind or…”
“Why don´t you show us your castle, Twilight?” Starswirl interrupted, seeing that Twilight was overwhelming poor Stygian.
“Oh right! Come in!” Twilight welcomed her guests.
Spike giggled at Twilight´s excitement.