With a flash of lavender light, the dragon and Princess appeared in front of a huge crystal tree that had a castle at the top. Spike craned his neck a bit to stare up at the castle of Friendship in a slight sense of wonder. It was definitely a beautiful sight to behold, the drake honestly did want to visit the castle sometime but never found the reason or resolve to go. Caught up in his musings he wasn't quite prepared for a gentle hand to be placed on his shoulder. With a jerk of his head, Spike looked to see the smiling face of Twilight.
"Well come on I got to show you around, right?" Inquired the lavender-coated alicorn. The wingless drake just turned his head away from her as a neutral expression crossed his face.
"Uh, right lead the way I guess." Mumbled the purple-scaled drake. The Element of Magic's smile falters ever so slightly at his reaction. Pulling her hand away she just nodded and walked to the entrance of her home. Silently, Spike followed closely behind her inside his head the Other was grumbling about being hungry and how he wondered what the mare's brain in front of them tasted like. Spike mentally sighed at his partner's grumbling.
They were roaming the castle in somewhat comfortable silence Twilight occasionally pointing to key areas and rooms and explaining their purposes. Spike only nodded in acknowledgment while taking in the many colors and beauty of the interior. They eventually reached the library where the Princess of Friendship told him this is where they'd most of their work would be done. She showed him where each book section was and how she liked to organize them. Spike also took note that there seemed to be a bit of empty space on the shelves. Pushing that to the side he refocused on Twilight who guided him out of the library and into what he could only describe as a crime scene.
"Holy hell! What happened to your kitchen?!" Exclaimed the drake loudly. This started the alicorn, not expecting the outburst.
"Oh uh yeah I guess it's gotten a little messy. I just haven't had time to clean up, hehe." She laughed a little embarrassed. Spike shook his head he walked over to the Princess and shoved his box into her hands while slinging his backpack on top.
"If I'm going to live here I'm not gonna deal with a kitchen that looks like it's the aftermath of nuclear warfare." Stated the wingless dragon shoving the stunned and confused alicorn out. "You go do whatever you gotta do but I'm taking care of this now." To enforce this statement he shut the door into the still confused alicorn's face. Twilight looked down at Spike's stuff in her hands and sighed.
"I guess I'll put his stuff in his room," Twilight whispered to herself still a bit confused. Back in the kitchen Spike was rummaging through cabinets grabbing as many supplies as he could. His Other began to stretch out of his back.
” Y’know, Nan isn’t here to knock us upside the head for not cleaning, right?” Questioned the symbiote halfheartedly. Spike just shook his head while opening a trash bag.
"Doesn't matter as I said to Ms. Sparkle I will not live in a kitchen that looks like this," he stated picking up a few miscellaneous items and throwing them into the bag. "Remember this will be our 'home' from now on, so I'd like it to be livable."
"I get that, but would we even be in here most of the time? Last I checked you rarely left your room." The drake only hummed in response.
"Well back then I had Nan brought me food if she thought I needed to eat. I doubt, Ms. Sparkle is going to do that." The purple dragon explained. "Here, help me with this and I'll make you something later." He said handing over the box of trash bags. Wordlessly, the Other began to spread out and grab the trash and other random objects that were strewn about.
Back out in the hallways, Twilight was making her way to the room she was planning to give to Spike. As she moved quietly through the halls she began to think more about the aforementioned drake. The teen perplexed the mare, he wasn't anything like how thE other teachers described him. Honestly, she was starting to regret her dependence on others' accounts of the wingless dragon. The main cause was how difficult he was to find outside of the school. Then again if her talk with Rosey Heart was any indication she was convinced the purple-scaled drake mostly went between his room and school and maybe a late-night walk. Which curiously enough has been happening more frequently lately. At least according to the elderly mare.
"Hey, Twilight! What you up to?" Snapped out of her thoughts the lavender alicorn looked up to see her friend and student, Starlight Glimmer. She was a magenta-coated unicorn with a mane and tail that was purple and had pinkish-purple and cyan streaks. She wore a white pullover hoodie dark purple and pink pants with a pair of magenta-colored shoes.
'Oh, hey Starlight did you need something?" She inquired. The unicorn shook her head and folded her arms.
"No, I was just walking around," Starlight stated nonchalantly. Her eyes wandered to the box and bag in her friend's arms. "So, I assume the kid agreed to your little proposition?"
“Surprisingly, yes.” The Princess responded simply. "He's cleaning the kitchen now, so I was just going to leave his stuff in his room." Starlight whistled before walking over to Twilight and nudged her in the arm.
"Damm, already got the poor kid working his tail off, huh?" The white-coated unicorn joked. The Element of Magic's cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
"What?! No, no, no, no, it's not like that he insisted to do it before I continued the tour," hastily explained the lavender-coated alicorn. The unicorn tilted her head with a look of confusion spreading across her face.
"He WANTED to clean up that mess we call a kitchen?" A look of curiosity began to shine in the mare's blue eyes. "I think I'll go say "hello" to our new 'housemate'." With that, she walked past Twilight and towards the kitchen. The Princess just shrugged it off and continued on her trek.
Back in the kitchen, Spike was throwing one of the last garbage bags down the trash shoot. His Other was tying off the last two bags when; suddenly, it stiffened and quickly shot back into the emerald-eyed dragon. This of course caused the teen drake to slightly lurch forward in surprise. Before he could question his partner the sound of the kitchen door opening caught his attention. Turning his head to the noise \he saw a magenta-coated unicorn mare step in. She began to look around the decently clean kitchen with a hum.
"Wow, you work fast, huh kid?" In response, Spike only blinked a few times before rubbing the back of his head in confusion.
"Yeah, I guess I do, hehe," an awkward chuckle slipped through his snout. "Um, ma'am who are you if you don't mind me asking?" Spike asked politely a genuine curiosity in his eyes.
"Starlight Glimmer, student of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you umm-" The blue-eyed mare stated proudly before she stopped and hum a look of realization and embarrassment spread a crossed her face. The purple-scaled dragon just slightly smiled and walked over to her.
"Spike the Dragon, I guess it's nice to meet you too, Ms. Glimmer." He said extending his hand out. The mare smiled and shook it. She pulled her hand away and began to look around the room.
"While it seems you got most of the place fixed up I could lend a hand to speed things up. I'm sure you don't want to spend the entire day in here alone." She offered kindly. Spike smiles nervously before nodding in acceptance.
"Yeah…' alone'," he muttered before speaking up. "Yeah, that'd be great."
About half an hour later the dragon and unicorn were walking through the halls of the castle in somewhat comfortable silence. Spike was just walking with his head down and hood up as usual. He would have been talking to his Other, but it seemed to have fallen asleep. While Starlight was just watching the teen dragon unconsciously. After they were done cleaning she offered to show him to his room where Twilight would most likely be. The emerald-eyed drake piqued her interest. The unicorn had only heard his name occasionally in passing from Twilight. Focussing her eyes on the wingless teen to her right she noticed how he walked slightly hunched over and his snout towards the ground. A slight frown made its way to her muzzle as they continued until they reached a door. Starlight placed a hand on the purple-scaled drake's shoulder she caught how his head slightly jerked up and turned to her.
"Well this is it I gotta go back to my room to catch up on some reading. If Twi needs me tell her that's where I'll be." The mare informed before turning away and walking down another corridor. She looked over her shoulder towards the drake. "I'll see you around if you need any help I'll be here."
Spike didn't respond only really giving a low grunt in acknowledgment. Turning his head back to the door he grasped the knob firmly in his hand before turning it and gently pushing the door in. Walking in he couldn't stop his eyes from widening in wonder at how pretty his apparent new room was. The brightly colored walls and furniture were a stark contrast to his old dimly lit room. He saw his bag on top of the bed and the box on a desk off to the side. However, before he could begin to unpack he heard a soft knock behind him. Turning around to see Twilight standing in the doorframe.
“Hey, I see you found your room. While I know you want to get settled in I think we should finish up the tour real quick just so you know where everything is, okay?" Spike just nodded and followed her out of the room. Another half hour passed as they finished up the tour. They ended up back in the library. "So that's about it. I know it's a lot to memorize, but I'm sure you'll catch on quickly." The Princess said sitting down at a table with a few stacks of books. "I have some research to work on you can head back to your room or explore the castle on your own. I'll probably need your help tomorrow though." She informed sticking her muzzle into an open book.
Spike blinked as the alicorn seem to immediately be drawn back into her work. Shrugging it off the drake walked out into the hall and made his way to his room. Closing and locking the door, Spike sat at the desk he opened the box and began to pull out his toolbox, gauntlets, boots, and sketchbook. His Other stretched out and went to his bag as he began to tinker. Once again getting lost in his work the o=purple-scaled teen didn't notice that an hour passed.
"Hey, I'm hungry. Didn't you say you'd make me something for helping you clean up that crime scene?" Complained the symbiote. Chuckling to himself the wingless dragon just shrugged his hoodie off as he stood up.
"Alright, that is what I said. Let's go see what I can whip up." Spike sighed craving his neck and walked out of his room.
Making their way to the kitchen the pair began to search through cabinets. "Hmmm. There's mostly instant stuff. What are you in the mood for bud?"
"Pancakes!" Internally exclaimed the Other. Snickering the dragon just nodded and gathered the needed ingredients. As he was mixing he felt his partner extend outward before slowly retracting to ignore it, Spike focused on mixing. Suddenly, he felt something slip over his head and tied around his back. Stopping and standing up straight, the drake looked down seeing his partner had slipped a pink frilly apron with a heart on it over his body.
"Really?" Rhetorically asked the wingless dragon.
"It's important to wear the proper gear when cooking." The symbiote stated matter of factly. Shaking his head in slight annoyance before continuing with the task at hand. Soon his efforts were rewarded with a medium stack of pancakes. Dividing up the cakes between two plates, the deadly duo were about to eat when they both heard the door to the kitchen begin to creak open slowly. Freezing up the drake watched as a very tired-looking alicorn wobbled in.
"*YAWN*Oh, Spike I thought I heard something in here," Twilight said drowsily, walking over to the purple-scaled dragon. She was rubbing her eyes trying in vain to wake herself up a bit. Soon, she was standing in front of the drake before her nose began to twitch. "Oh *YAWN*, you made pancakes. Do you mind if I have some?" She asked looking up for her position. Thinking quickly, Spike grabbed one of the plates before offering it to her.
"Sure, here you go." Spike smiled wincing slightly as his other screamed in his head.
"THAT WAS MINE!!!" Complaimed the symbiote.
"Calm down, you can have mine." Spike assured. Twilight took the plate of pancakes with a grateful smile.
'Thanks, Spike, I was so invested in my work I lost track of time and forgot to eat." The lavender-coated alicorn explained before wolfing down Her plate.
"No problem," Spike said subtly sliding his plate to his back allowing his Other grabbed the food off it. The emerald eye drake just waited for the alicorn to be finished.
"Wow these were really good thanks again, Spike *YAWN*," the Element of Magic yawned finishing her plate before, placing next to Spike's, on the counter. "Well…I…should get back to-*YAWN*” An idea then popped into the drake's head.
"Hey, I think you need to get some sleep." He advised. Twilight just waved him off mumbling something about 'just needing coffee'. Shaking his head the teen dragon just gently grabbed the alicorn's shoulders before pushing her out of the kitchen and down the hall.
Spike quickly guided the lavender-coated mare to her room. They were soon outside the ornate door designated as the princess's quarters. The mare gently tore herself from the drake's grasp before turning around to him and giving a small smile. For some reason, the purple-scaled drake also felt one tugging at the edge of his snout. Ignoring the feeling for now the wingless dragon turned his attention back to the mare who was still trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
"*YAWN* Maybe you're right I should get some sleep. I do have to help you with your first day tomorrow." She conceded. Spike just nodded in agreement. Twilight turned around opened her door and walked she went to close her, but before she completely shut it a slightly wider smile graced her face. "Thanks again, Spike, good night.*CLICK*"
Releasing a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. Slowly, they walked back to their room. Locking the door the pink apron that they wore was tossed to the side and replaced with their favorite hoodie. Gauntlets and boots slipped on seamlessly. With a grin, they walked over to one of the large windows and pushed it open. Looking up at the moon he felt his other begin to spread.
"Ready?"
"Always."