See You In The Morning

by Swefn

See You In The Morning

"Hey Spike! Breakfast is ready!" Twilight levitated plates full of pancakes to the table, followed by mugs full of creamy coffee.

"Spiiiiike, wake up!" She called again, her ears perking up in radar waiting for a reply.

Nothing.

"Ugh," Twilight groaned as she stood back up. She started her way down the hall, an army of echoes marching along with her. Her ears still scanned for the pitter patter of claws against the marble floors.

Her march ended at the drake's door. "Spike," she called at the door, knocking on it softly, yet firm. "Wake up sleepy head!"

Still nothing.

"Fine." She slowly pushed the door open. "I'm coming in, Spike.-" she started walking towards his bed "-I know you're twenty now, but that doesn't mean you can keep sleeping in like this!"

The drake didn't respond, still lying comfortably in his bed. Not a groan, moan, or snore. Not a single muscle moved on his body.

"Spike?" She tapped his shoulder.

Dead silence.

Twilight lifted him up with her magic and started shaking him softly, "Spike, wake up. This isn't funny." After a few moments, soft turned to violent as he was shook like a rag doll. "Spike, wake up!"

A moment later the drake's eyes shot open as he gasped for air. "Twilight, stop! What's going on," he yelled.

Twilight stopped and let him down on his bed gently. "Are you okay, Spike?"

"Yes, I'm fine! But are you okay? Is something going on?"

Twilight let out a relieved sigh. "I'm fine, and nothing's going on." She glanced over the drake, "Have you been staying up late recently?"

He hopped out of his bed and started getting dressed. "No, I've actually been trying to get to bed early so I can get better sleep."

This isn't right, Twilight thought to herself. She went to speak, but cocked her head as she watched her dragon sniff the air around her. "Do I smell or something?"

Spike giggled, "Now I see why you woke me up in such a hurry."

"And that is?"

Spike stormed out of the room, yelling from down the hall, "Pancake day!"

"Oh, Spike," she laughed to herself. As she left the room, her eyes were pulled back to the drake's bed. This isn't right. I need to find out what's causing this.

"So, Twilight, why are we doing this," Spike asked as he sat back in his chair, flipping through last month's 'Foody Specials' magazine. The ambience of occasional coughs and a ticking clock made waiting in the doctors office that much more unbearable for the dragon.

"Because," she started, "I've decided to work on studying dragon biology again."

"And why couldn't we do this at home?"

Twilight shuffled her wings. "I'm not a doctor, Spike."

The drake stretched his arms behind his head as he let out a bellowing yawn. "You really like to be thorough with your research, huh?"

Twilight snorted. "You should already know that about me, silly."

The double doors at the end of the room swung open, "Miss Sparkle, we're ready to take Spike in for his checkup."

Spike pulled himself up in another full-body stretch. "Alright, let's get this over with."

The two walked through the doors, following the pale yellow mare into one of the many rooms that lined the hall. "The doctor will be here soon to start the full body checkup on Spike. Please wait here for a moment."

"Full body checkup," Spike looked at Twilight with the most confused face he could subconsciously muster. "They're not gonna probe me, right?"

"You're not fifty, silly. I'm sure they're not going to do tha--"

The door opened again, this time revealing a brown stallion dressed in white. His silver mustache bounced as he opened his mouth, "Hello, Spike," He greeted as he set his clipboard down on the counter. "I hope you're ready-" he snapped a glove onto his forehoof "-because this may take a while."

"Twilight!"

Twilight tapped her hoof against the plain white counter, mimicking the ticking clock above her. The ambiance of faint shuffling hooves and muffled conversations filled the examination room. I hope he's okay, she thought to herself.

The door opened again, and the doctor followed by Spike entered the room.

"Gosh," Spike started, "that was the longest checkup I've ever had!" His stomach roared ferociously. "Think we can grab a snack after this?"

Twilight smiled, "Of course we can."

The doctor waved to get Twilight's attention. "Ma'am, could we talk outside for a moment?"

Her smile slanted downwards slightly. "Yes."

The doctor held the door open for the mare and turned to Spike. "Wait here, this will only take a moment."

Spike slumped down in the chair, "alright."

The door closed behind the two, and the doctor began flipping through the papers on his clipboard.

"Miss Sparkle," he began, "has Spike been showing any signs of sleep deprivation?"

Twilight thought back to earlier that morning, "He's told me he's been going to bed early every night recently, but for the past week or so it's been getting hard to wake him up."

The doctor shuffled through more of his notes. "Could you explain?"

"Well… this morning, he wouldn't get up. I called for him at first, but he didn't get up." She looked at the door, "tapping his shoulder didn't work either. He was completely still. It took me shaking him in the air to get him."

"Has he had any accidents in the past two weeks?"

Twilight shook her head at first, then pressed her hoof to her chin. "The only thing I can think of is he told me while he was running errands a few weeks ago, he was talking to one of the local pones. He said he was walking along the bank of the river heading towards the bridge when he tripped and fell."

"And this was after winter wrap up?"

Twilight paused, "No…"

"Right." The doctor read over the last page of his notes. "Miss Sparkle, I need you to listen to me closely and calmly."

Twilight looked at him, "What happened?"

"Now, Miss Sparkle, we still don't know much about dragon anatomy. But what we do know is dragons tend to live in places that are usually very hot. Your dragon is the exception." He looked at the door himself. "He might have adapted to how the weather is in this area, and his core temperature shouldn't be affected much by the outside air. Especially if he's dressed correctly." He passed the clipboard to Twilight.

"What are you saying?" Twilight began flipping through the notes.

"The river water was twice as cold as the air around him, and him falling into the river caused a sudden sharp drop in temperature in his body." -He put his hoof on her shoulder- "Spike's heart was permanently damaged do to a mix of his core temperature sharply dropping way below normal and his heart trying to pump as hard as it could to keep the warm blood flowing through his body. Every time his heart drops in rate, usually when his body fully relaxes for sleep, it worsens. And at the point his heart is at now-" he pulled his hoof back "-he might not wake up the next time he falls asleep."

With a loud thud, the once floating clipboard fell to the ground. Twilight stared blankly forwards as her eyes rose to meet the stallion's. "There...there has to be something we can do, right? Heart surgery? Transplant? Anything?" Her words began to falter. "I h-have the bits to pay for anything! Even if it t-takes everything in the castle!"

The doctor shook his head, picking the clipboard up off the floor. "As I said earlier, we don't know much at all about dragon anatomy. Any form of surgery we'd try to perform could do more damage than good. And we wouldn't have another dragon heart to begin with."

Twilight's bottom lip quivered, all the words trying to pour out fell into quiet stuttering. "P-please…" is all she could get out.

His eyes met hers. "I'm sorry, Miss Sparkle. I truly am."

This can't be happening. This has to be a mistake. There's no way that can happen, right? Dragon's are supposed to be resilient to this sort of stuff! He breathes fire for Celest-

"Hello, Equestria to Twilight, you in there?"

Twilight shook her head quickly and looked up at her assistant. "Y-yes Spike?"

The sounds of clanking plates and ponies talking around them slowly faded back in. While Spike's plate was empty, on Twilight's sat an untouched hayburger.

"You know you can't eat your food with your eyes, right Twi?"

"You're right," she said. She slowly levitated the burger to her mouth, and took a bite that wouldn't feed a mouse.

Spike cocked his head to the side slightly. "Twi, are you doing okay? You've been a million miles away since we left the doctors office."

She let the burger back down on her plate. No, I can't tell him. How am I supposed to tell him? 'So yeah the doctor told me you're going to die tonight.' I just can't!

"Twilight?"

She forced the faintest smile she could. "I...I'm fine, Spike. I'm just tired is all."

"Well," Spike started as he stretched his back against the chair, "wanna go home and take a nap?"

"No!"

The dinner went silent, a hundred eyes now on the pair. Spike jolted back a good half a foot and looked around before leaning down towards the table. He whispered, "You didn't have to yell if you didn't want to."

Twilight ducked down, covering her face with her wings. "We should go, I'm getting claustrophobic with all of them staring now."

Spike stood up and walked over to Twilight, grabbing her hoof. "You're fine, Twi. Let's get out of here."

Twilight hesitantly stood up from her chair, wings still shielding her face, as Spike led her out of the dinner.

A cool wind blew, gently swaying the trees back and forth along the path. Each one a different shade of green as the new leaves had just begun sprouting. A sunny spring day for most of Equestria.

Spike looked over at Twilight, watching her as her eyes traveled aimlessly over the ground. "Hey, Twi?"

Twilight pulled herself away from whatever space she was staring into. "Yes?"

Spike wiggled his arm, "You can let go of my hand if you want."

"O-oh, sorry." She pulled her hoof away. "I didn't realise."

Spike smiled, "Don't worry, I don't mind."

The two walked in silence. Another guest of wind brushed through the trees. Spike unfolded his wings, letting the breeze push against them. "Where do you wanna go," he asked.

"I thought we were going back home."

"Nah, don't feel like going home right now." He rested his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, still keeping in pace with her. "And what happened to studying dragon biology?"

"Oh, right." She paused, glancing over at her saddlebag. They walked in silence until they reached the fountain in the middle of Canterlot.

Spike sat at the edge of the fountain. "Well, we could always go to the market. We're running low on food anyways." He looked back at the flowing water. "Especially coffee beans. Think we had the last of it this morning, right?"

"Coffee," Twilight lit up. "That's it!"

"What?"

"Spike, I need you to run to the market and grab about a month's worth of coffee." She tossed him a pouch full of bits from her saddlebag. "And get yourself some gems as well."

Spike caught the pouch and stood up. "What about you?"

"I'm going to go home and get something set up. You'll see when you get there." She turned and unfolded her wings. "See you soon!" And with a quick hop in the air, she was off.

Spike looked down at the pouch, put it in his jacket pocket, and started down the path towards the market. The edge of his lips creased up into a faint smile. "I hope you never change, Twi."

"I'm sorry, Twilight."

"But you're the God Of Chaos. Can't you at least try?"

"I already told you I can't. I can cause clouds to rain chocolate and create fantastical worlds with the snap of my fingers. But healing someone, especially their heart, is a very delicate task that even I couldn't perform."

Twilight sunk down into her seat as the world around her fell darker. Discord's words ran through her head like a train smashing through her hope.

"He doesn't know, does he?"

Twilight looked up at him, her eyes desperately pleading. "Please, keep this between us. I don't want him to suffer like this."

Discord rolled his eyes. "Fine, but that doesn't excuse you from doing it yourself. He deserves to know."

"But I don't know ho-"

The doors of the castle creaked open as Spike walked inside. "Hey, Twi, I'm back," he called.

"Why, hello there my scaly friend."

Spike whipped around to see a tall, slender figure standing in the living room doorway. "Discord?"

"Long time no see." The old draconequus stepped forward and pat Spike on the back. "Twilight invited me over."

"Invited?" Souke raised an eyebrow.

Twilight entered the room, picking up the bags of coffee from Spike's hands with her magic. "This is part of my 'experiment'."

"And that is?"

"How sleep deprivation can affect dragons! I figured that since dragons and ponies are different biologically, staying awake for multiple nights at a time would affect them differently." She pulled out a notepad, writing down the current time. "And I'll be staying awake as well, so we can compare how it affects both of us."

Spike looked over at Discord, then back to Twilight. "I can understand that, but what does this have to do with Discord?"

Discord laughed, "Isn't it obvious? We're going to spend the whole night playing Ogres and Oubliettes!"

"Mhmm!" Twilight chimed in.

Discord turned to the living room. "I'll go set up the world. See you in a moment, Mr. Paladin!" The Draconequus vanished into what used to be the living room.

Spike turned to Twilight. "So what are you going to do?"

"Well first I'm going to put all this coffee up in the pantry-" she waved the bags around over her head, "-then I'm going to go upstairs and do some studying. And in-between I'll go to the kitchen to get snacks and coffee for everyone." She turned, headed towards the kitchen. "You go and have fun!"

Spike smiled, "I'll try not to die in there!"

"Please don't--" Twilight turned around, but Spike had already walked into Discord's Ogres and Oubliettes world. "...say that."

She turned back, heading for the stairs, but a tap on the shoulder pulled her attention away from her destination.

"I promised you earlier that I wouldn't tell Spike, but you do know you can't keep this from him forever."

Twilight turned to face the Draconequus. "I'm doing everything I can, Discord. I'm not going to give up on him."

Discord let out a sigh. "And if you don't find anything?"

"There has to be something, I just know it!"

Discord leaned down, matching her height. "As much as I'd want to believe that, I think we both know the only thing we can do for Spike."

She stared into his eyes while trying to keep hers from glazing over. "And that is?"

"You already know."

"Bu-"

"End of conversation."

A snap echoed through the now empty hallway.

Dammit, Discord.

Celestia's sun shined through Twilight's bedroom window, though it didn't go far. A wall of books and scrolls piled high next to her desk. A personal makeshift library of everything medical and dragon. But not one sat in front of her.

Nothing. Not a single thing. She looked up at the clock hanging above her. How long have I been…

Like a tornado through a barn, she burst through her bedroom door, a trail of paper following suit. Her wings carried her down the stairs to the main hall, coming to a screeching halt at the living room doorway. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light, looking into what's now a normal room again.

"Spike," Twilight called, but nothing came from the room. She ran inside, flipping over every couch cushion, table, and drape.

"Spike!" Her voice crackled in desperation. Please no. Please. Where are yo- Her nose twitched as she took a deep breath. Coffee?

She took off out of the room and shot around the castle until she reached the kitchen, crash landing into the island in the middle of the room.

A familiar laugh hovered over her. "That desperate for coffee, Twi?"

The mare shot up on her hooves and gave the dragon a hug that would strangle a bear.

"T-twi, you're h-hurting me!"

Twilight pulled back and coughed, looking off to the side as she wore a crimson mask. "Y-yes, coffee."

Spike stretched, his back popping in several places. "Well, your coffee is just about ready. Wanna take a seat while I finish breakfast?"

Twilight nodded and walked over to the table. She sat facing the drake. "So...did you end up falling asleep?"

Spike flipped a slice of bread on the skillet, sprinkling cinnamon over it. "Wouldn't that have ruined the experiment of yours if I did?"

She nodded again. "Right, it would have."

Spike smiled. "Plus, it's kind of hard to fall asleep while fighting a mutated skeleton army in a maze dungeon!"

Twilight let out a snort, the smile resting on her face. "Well I'm glad you had fun."

Spike walked over, balancing plates and mugs, and placed them on the table. Cinnamon sprinkled toast placed in front of the mare, and a gem sprinkled toast in front of the drake. They ate in silence, enjoying each other's company.

Twilight took a sip of her coffee before breaking the quiet streak. "So, what happened to Discord?"

"He went back home to rest." He took a sip from his mug. "You should've seen the guy! For the 'God of Chaos', he could barely keep his eyes open passed seven! I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't wake up today!"

Twilight spat out her coffee, spraying the poor dragon.

Spike jumped back, his white jacket now spotted brown. "Great," he sighed.

Twilight covered her mouth, reaching for the closest cloth with her magic. "I-I'm sorry."

Spike laughed. "Don't worry, Twi. Forget your coffee was hot again?"

Twilight ran the cloth over the table, though it stuttered as the purple aura around it flickered. "Y-yeah, I should have let it cool down," her voice faded as she stared down at the mess.

"I'm gonna run up and grab another jacket," he said as he walked towards the doorway. He stopped just before making his exit. "Is there anywhere you wanna go when I get back?"

"I'm not sure, Spike," she said as she looked up.

"Hmm." Spike rubbed his chin. "Ah, I know! What about the park?"

"That sounds good," Twilight said with as much enthusiasm as she could force.

"Alright, be back in a flash!"

And then Twilight was alone, again. She took another sip of her lukewarm coffee. Her reflection off the rippling brown liquid stared back at her. There has to be something out there. Anything.

The two walked down the worn path, passing by other ponies as they enjoyed the warm sun during the cool spring morning. Twilight's pace began to slow as she looked up in the sky, eyes searching for something she couldn't find.

Spike turned his head, looking back at Twilight as she trailed behind. "When's the last time we were here?"

Twilight pulled herself back down and caught up with the drake. "The last time we were here," she paused, trying to make out anything in her scrambled brain. "I believe it was Nightmare Night a few years back, right?"

"Yep! I remember that because somepony spooked you and you jumped out of your skin," he said as he laughed.

Twilight whipped his back with her wing. "I did not! You think a kid in a costume is going to scare me?"

"It definitely seemed like that," he teased.

"Well if anything does scare me, I'll have my assistant to prot-"

Bark!

"Ah!" Twilight jumped back into Spike as he caught her in his arms. She looked back to see a dog dressed in white fur hopping around, happily wagging his tail before being called back by his owner.

Spike smirked. "Scaredy cat."

Twilight stuck her tongue out at the drake, laughing at herself.

"You good now?"

Twilight, now realizing their position, let herself off of him wearing a crimson mask across her cheeks. "Y-yeah," she stuttered.

A few moments of silence passed by before Spike broke the sudden awkward tension between the two. "So...what now?"

She looked around for a moment, spotting an empty bench close by. "How about we go sit down for a moment. My hooves could use the rest."

Spike stretched out his back and let out a drawn out yawn. "That sounds like a good idea, Twi."

"So, how is this going to help with your experiment exactly?"

Twilight giggled, watching her assistant try to maintain balance as he carried a pony-sized crate above his head. "It's more studying material. Books, scrolls, papers, quills and ink, the essentials."

"That's great and all but-" Spike shifted so the crate didn't topple him over "-why is it so heavy?"

"Just a few more books than I usually get."

Spike looked up at the crate. "Yeah, a 'few'," he said sarcastically.

After a long wobbly walk, the two made their way back to the castle.

Spike dropped the crate on the marble floor, letting out a sigh of relief. "That was one heck of a workout!" His stomach grumbled almost as loud as the crate hitting the floor.

Twilight closed the door behind them. "Well give me a minute and I'll make us sandwiches for lunch. Extra gems in yours for helping me out."

Spike's eyes lit up. "Sounds good!"

Twilight smiled and lifted the crate with her magic, carrying it behind her as she made her way up to her room.

"Hey!"

Twilight laughed, "I'll be down in a moment, Spike."

The dragon walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table, pulling a paper and quill from his jacket pocket. He tapped his chin, and scribbled onto the paper. He folded the paper and stuffed it all back into his pocket just before Twilight came through the doorway.

She looked over at her assistant. "I see you're ready to eat."

Spike pat his stomach. "When am I not ready to eat?"

Twilight snorted as she opened the pantry door. Ingredients for their respective sandwiches floated to the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"So," Spike started, "what's the plan for tonight?"

"I'm not sure." Purple aura lifted the extra helping of gems and placed them on the bread. "Have any ideas?"

Spike thought for a moment, though humming from across the room pulled him out of it. "Aha!" Like a lightbulb going off, an idea popped in his head. "You like to sing, right?"

"Of course! But I haven't in a while. Not like how it was a few years ago with the girls busy all the time now." Twilight brought the plate to Spike.

"Well, a new karaoke bar opened up in town. You wanna go?"

Twilight's face lit up. "That sounds great!" She brought her daisy sandwich over and sat across from Spike.

"It's a shame the others are out on a map mission, would've been awesome to have them come."

Twilight looked down at her sandwich and let out a sigh. "Yeah…I'd like that too."

Luna's moon shined through the front doors as Twilight and Spike made their way inside. With a quick flash of Twilight's horn, the candles inside the castle all lit at once.

"You killed it in there!" Spike jumped in the air, hovering for a moment.

Twilight blushed softly and smiled. "You're one heck of a vocalist yourself, Spike! When did you learn how to sing like that?"

Spike floated back to the ground, folding his wings behind him. "I've had a lot of time to practice, duh. What do you think I'm supposed to do when I'm home alone doing chores?"

Twilight giggled as she closed the doors behind her. "Well, I'm going to go upstairs and keep myself up with studying again. What are you going to do?"

Spike let out a long deep yawn. "I'll go make some coffee for us. Been a while since I've pulled all nighters like this before, let alone multiple days in a row."

Twilight went to reply, but like a train, the reality of this whole situation hit her. What am I doing? Having fun when I should be trying to save Spike?

"Umm, Twilight?"

"O-oh, yes. Make sure it's black though. I need it as strong as possible."

Spike turned towards the kitchen. "Yes ma'am!"

Twilight watched as her assistant disappeared behind the kitchen doorway before making her way up the stairs. She opened up her room to a mess of papers and books scattered everywhere from the previous night. The crate she brought in sat in the middle of the room. But after a few minutes of cleaning and organizing, her room was almost back to the way it was.

She opened the crate and levitated it's contents next to her desk. A new pile of books with varying medical and dragon related labels. There has to be something here. There has to...be…

Her thoughts trailed to a crawl as she let out another yawn. She quickly looked through her saddlebag and pulled out a scroll, bearing the words 'Stay Awake Spell' in her writing. I haven't used this since the last time I had exams. But I know it works.

Twilight held the scroll to her chest, activated the spell, and moments later she was wide awake. Now all I need to do is use this every twelve hours and I'll be-

Her bedroom door swung open. "Hey, Twilight, your coffee is re- are you okay?"

Twilight, covered in quill ink, blew her matted hair out of her face as she pulled herself up from her toppled over desk. "You scared the crap out of me! Why didn't you knock?"

Spike laughed as he put her mug down on her nightstand. "Well my hands were full, so I pushed the door open with my foot!" -He looked back at the door- "A little harder than I meant to, heh."

Twilight sighed. "You need to be more careful, Spike."

"I'm not that clumsy, right?"

Twilight bit her lip, thinking back to when Spike came home with his teeth chattering and tiny icicles hanging off his frozen clothes. Having to sit him by the fire while he shook under a heavy blanket. "I wish you were more careful…"

Spike walked over to her and pat her head, leaving a black stain on his hand. "I'll be more careful from now on, I promise."

Twilight looked up and smiled and the dragon, holding back a stray tear.

Spike stepped back towards the door. "I'm gonna go make myself a snack." He looked down at his hand, then back to the mare. "And I think you should go take a shower. I don't think black suits your mane that well."

She stuck her tongue out and laughed. "I'll be sure to remember that."

Spike left, closing the door behind him. Twilight sat there in the middle of the room staring at the door as she listened to his footsteps slowly fade away.

Silence.

As she stood back up and turned to her desk, a crumpling under her hooves pulled her attention. She peeled it off her hoof, inspecting the ink-covered paper.

Oh no...

Tick.

Hundreds of books on dragons; nothing on dragon biology. Twilight found two spells about dragons, but they were about tracking them and putting them to sleep. Useless.

Tock.

The scrolls were worse. Not a single one on dragons, not a single mention. Drakes were brought up, once, but it was a stray sentence. Not even a paragraph.

Twilight glanced up at her clock as she went back to the books. Seven hours.

Tick. 

Twilight lost ten minutes crying. She found herself looking through books she'd already read, trying to find something, anything, she might've skipped.

Tock.

Ten hours researching and nothing to show but the dried up tears left behind on her face and the papers below her.

Tick.

"Twi," Spike called from the other end of her bedroom door. "Can I come in?"

Twilight, being pulled from yet another book scanning session, trotted up to the door and stepped out, quickly closing the door behind her. "Is everything okay, Spike?"

The dragon gave the mare a quizzical look, eyeing at her bedroom door and then back to her. "Well, I came to bring you this." He lifted a mug of hot coffee and a plate. "You've been in there for hours, so I figured whatever you were doing was super important. So I thought I'd bring lunch up to you so you could keep on working."

She looked down at her meal, a homemade hayburger.

"I'll go back downstairs so you can keep on at it."

"N-no, Spike. Hold on." She turned back towards her room, pressed her hoof against the door, and sighed. "I'll be down in a moment."

Spike went to reply, a mouth full of words that wanted to come out, but all he could do was smile. "I'll wait for you then, Twi."

She watched as he walked away.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Gone.

Twilight walked back into her room, quietly closing the door behind her, and fell onto her side in tears. Why? Of all the creatures in Equestria, why did it have to be…

Yawn.

Tock.

Twilight sat in the kitchen, her stomach full, her mug dry for the fifth time, and her mind couldn't be running any faster. She refilled her mug again as she held her heavy eyes open. The 'stay awake' spell's side effects coming in full swing as the weight of fifty six hours of sleep deprivation hit her all at once.

She yawned.

Spike walked in, letting out a bellowing yawn as he stretched out his whole body. He picked up his mug and took a sip before looking down at Twilight. The rings under his eyes noticeably darker than the rest of his scales. "You find anything interesting during your experiment yet?"

Nothing.

"Twi?"

Nothing.

Spike walked over and tapped her shoulder. A moment later she was three feet away as she jumped to her hooves.

"O-oh, Spike. Sorry, I was...deep in thought."

Spike let out a soft chuckle. "So, about this 'experiment'. Did you find anything out?"

She looked up into his eyes and hers glazed over. "Nothing."

"Hmm?"

"Spike...I need to tell you something."

Spike cocked an eyebrow.

Twilight sat on her hind legs and looked to the side. She couldn't look at him, not like this. "This whole thing...it's becau-"

Ding.

"Hold that thought, Twi. Gotta pull our dinner out of the oven."

A few moments later, after some clings and clangs of ceramic and silverware being put into place, Spike walked up to Twilight with two bowls of soup, one sprinkled with daisy petals, the other with gems. "Let's go to the dining room, I already set up the table for us."

Twilight quietly nodded and followed her assistant into the dining room. She stopped in her tracks as she gawked at the almost romantic scene. The light in the room was dim until candles surrounding a vase of flowers were lit by Spike's fire.

He placed their bowls on either end of the table, and sat at his respective side. "Well? Gonna keep staring or join me?"

Twilight shook her head quickly as she walked over, sitting down in front of her meal.

"Hope you like it! I came up with the idea if the soup earlier today."

Twilight lifted the spoon with her magic, taking all of her concentration to keep it from shaking, and brought it to her mouth.

This...this is…

"Well?"

The spoon slowly drifted back down to her bowl. And as she watched it float down, a tear escaped from her eyes. A thousand words came up to her throat. I don't want you to go; You mean so much to me; I love you; all fighting to come out. She wanted to scream, she wanted to spill her heart out.

"It's amazing," is all she could muster.

She yawned.

"I'm glad you like it."

She smiled. A smile accompanied by tears streaming down her face.

A smile that struggled to hold as her eyes traveled down to vase at the center of the table. "S-Spike, what kind of flowers are those?"

"Oh, those? They're called scorpion grass."

Twilight went to open her mouth to speak, but yawned instead.

"They're pretty, aren't they?"

She stared at them. Pink and blue flowers, five petals each. "Spike, they're-"

"Forget-Me-Nots."

Her core grew cold as her heart sank. Her mind raced a million miles a second until it came to an abrupt halt. It was the only answer that made sense to her, the one she feared the most.

He knew.

She went to stand up, to run up to him and hold him tight, to tell him she was going ti make everything right. But her body refused to move a muscle. All she could do was look into his eyes as hers drained in soft tears. "I...I…"

Spike stood up, smiling softly. "Twi, I think you've done enough for me."

"What...what do you mean?" The mare mustered all of her strength just to sit up a mere few inches higher.

Spike walked over and ran his hand over her mane. "You really need to stop pushing yourself so hard."

Twilight went to argue, but she could barely open her mouth. The world around her was hazy as her mind clouded with tired pleas for help.

Spike pulled her up onto her hooves and picked her up off the ground with a grunt, carrying her in his arms. "You're a lot heavier than I thought you'd be," he chuckled.

"Spike..."  Her voice grew quiet.

He turned towards the hall, walking slowly towards the stairs. "I'm going to tell you a bedtime story, like what you used to do for me."

She let out a subdued yawn. No…

Spike got to the steps and yawned himself, before opening his mouth to begin. "There was once a dragon who was raised by a pony."

Step.

"A mare who he looked up to, literally and figuratively."

Step.

"He started out small and weak, doing chores and the like for her. Wanting to prove that he can be the number one assistant she claimed him to be."

Step.

"She was super strong. Fighting monsters with her friends and saving Equestria multiple times. Even the dragon got to save an empire."

Step.

"But he wanted to grow stronger. He wanted to be able to protect her, no matter the costs."

Step.

"But one day, the pony took him to a doctor. And when the doctor pulled her away, he had to know what was wrong."

Step.

"He knew he shouldn't have eavesdropped, but it was too late. At first he was scared. He didn't want to die, he had hundreds of emotions running through his body, but then something happened. Something he feared more than dying."

Step.

"He heard her crying from the other side of the door."

Step.

"So, he made a decision."

Step.

"He wanted to make sure that, no matter what, the last memories she had of him was happy."

Spike made his way to her bedroom door, opened it slowly, and stepped in. A small chuckle escaped his yawning mouth as he looked over the tornado of a mess in the room.

"And that the last night would end like normal, like nothing had changed."

He laid her down on her bed as she groaned. Her eyes not able to open more than a wince as she reached out for him.

"Sp..i..ke…"

He pulled a paper from his jacket, folded it to stand up right on her desk, and walked back to the bed laying beside her.

Her eyes now shut as she whispered for him, a desperate last plea. He smiled, snuggled up next to her, and closed his eyes.

The room was quiet. Luna's moon shined through her window. And the two slowly drifted off.

"See you in the morning, Twilight."