//------------------------------//
// Tranquil Tempest 
// Story: Ophidiophobia; the Slithering Terror 
// by charyoshi 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight raced back to her home, the scent of ozone and rain soon to fall wafting around her in the humid spring air like a thick miasma. Ponies all around her were finishing their preparations for the coming storm. Doors and shutters were sealed tightly, carts were covered up, and the last of the clouds were brought into place by the weather pegasi. As raindrops slowly began to fall around her, Twilight quickly plotted out the fastest way to get back to her home. Twilight dashed around the corner of a house and found herself standing in the middle of an almost completely barren street. She focused her magic and closed her eyes, disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye at the end of the street.

Twilight landed squarely on her hooves out of the first teleport and built up magic in her horn for another. Before she could cast it, however, her concentration was interrupted by a muffled hiss coming from her back. Shivers shot down Twilight's spine as her mane and tail stood on end for a split second--until she remembered that the snake she was carrying on her back was safely sealed inside a jar. She heaved a sigh of relief and brought it around front of her to inspect it.

The thing inside moved about in a way that seemed strange even for a snake. It coiled itself around its own head only to unwind itself again a moment later and writhe about without actually moving anywhere. Twilight cocked an eye and, trying to determine it's motives, spoke more to herself than the snake:

"What are you doing? Are you hurt?" The snake turned it's head towards Twilight and flicked its tongue towards her. Twilight continued her monologue as she trotted forward. "Is he sick? Is it even a he?" Twilight brought the snake to her head and looked it straight in the eyes. "Are you a he?" The snake merely flicked it's tongue out towards Twilight once more and raised its tummy upwards along the side of the jar. Twilight carefully inspected its underbelly, almost becoming mesmerized by the multiple horizontal blade-like scales. She shook it off and smirked at the trapped reptile. 

"You know, when you can't bite anypony, you guys are actually pretty cool looking. Hold on now, we're gonna teleport again!"

Twilight stuck the snake on her back once more and concentrated her magic as a powerful gust blew her mane and tail back. With a flash of bright pink light and a loud pop, Twilight poofed once more, ending up further down the stormy road. The situation repeated: she landed on her feet and heard a faint hiss coming from her back. She sighed and inspected the snake once more. It was writhing and coiling much in the same fashion it was before.

The gears began to turn and Twilight cried out triumphantly; "Ohhhh, you don't like to teleport! I suppose you did just ride through a pretty intense trip to the emergency room. Sorry!"

Twilight gently replaced the snake jar on her back and took a deep breath, focusing a different magic into her horn and created a faint pink bubble of force around her--just in time for the storm to really take hold. Raindrops pattered in the village streets, and Twilight carefully trotted down the cold road, trying to not jostle the snake too hard. To occupy the rest of her attention, she stared at the patterns the rain droplets made as they trickled down her barrier in ornate twisting streams.

She suddenly realized that the state of tranquility in Ponyville was stronger than usual. She glanced in the windows of houses she passed and was greeted with pleasant scenes such as ponies quietly curled in blankets near fireplaces, snug with books and hot chocolate. Under those windows, newly sprouted plants and flowers were growing from neat and well maintained gardens, a few early spring blooms popping out brightly against their dark surroundings.

In the upper story of one house, two matching indigo fillies sat next to each other, their violet manes swaying gently. The twins sat with their elbows on their windowsill, sharing the same expression of apathy towards their gray, wet town. Their eyes followed Twilight as she slowly trotted along below them--as she must have been the most interesting thing to cross their path in a while.

The soaked ground soon sent dull shivers up Twilight's spine with each step; but inside her force field, the air was still thick and humid. A bead of sweat grew on Twilight's brow, and the lavender mare realized she was growing uncomfortably warm. Looking up to the dark skies above her, she sighed, closed her eyes, and let her forcefield quick dissolve away. Though she braced herself as she let down the shield, she was still shocked by the gust of cold crisp air that whipped over her and the torrent of rain that quickly soaked through her coat and mane. The sky flashed brightly in the distance, sending a loud low echo rumbling throughout Ponyville and far beyond.

It was welcome, though. Twilight drank in the crisp spring air and shivered gratefully at the sudden temperature shift. She gently brushed her mane aside with a hoof and took a deep slow breath. Her shoulders fell as she relaxed for the first time since that afternoon. The cool rainwater dripped down her body and took her worries and cares along with them. A powerful squall blew Twilight forward a couple of steps, making her leap forward unexpectedly. The forced, impromptu motion caused Twilight first to giggle then to burst out laughing wholeheartedly as she jumped and splashed about in puddles like a schoolfilly.

"Ha! No wonder Pinkie bounces around all the time!" Twilight magically held the snake jar steady at her side while bounding forwards. "I'm alright! It wasn't poisonous! Hee hee! It wasn’t poisonous!" Twilight cried out happily as the low rumble of a thunderbolt echoed in the distance. "This is the best storm ever!"

A few minutes earlier, Spike had barely managed to reach the Golden Oak Library as the storm had begun to fall. He had panted heavily and slammed the door behind him, trying his best to stay calm. All sorts of different thoughts were darting back and forth through his mind.

"Will she be alright? I know Twilight said that I should stay here, but is that really what I should do? How poisonous was the snake?" Spike gently set the picnic basket down by the door, flipped on the lights and began to pace back and forth. "Where did that snake even come from!? Don't snakes know any better than to sneak up on ponies!? Oh if only I had seen it coming! I could have grabbed it, or- or maybe I could have scared it off! No way a snake as puny as that could bite through my scales, but it got Twilight! Why did it have to get Twilight?" Spike sighed and plopped down on the bottom step of the library staircase, burying his head in his hands.

Spike's self-accusing rants were interrupted by the airy sound of fluttering wings from overhead. Spike was treated to the sight of Owlowiscious as his large brown wings effortlessly cut through the air.

"Oh.. it's just you." Spike sniffled and wiped his nose with a claw. 

"Who." replied Owlowiscious.

"..It's you. You know, you?"

"Who."

"You! Agh! Just go away, Owlowiscious, I'm too worried to play guessing games with you." 

Spike buried his face in his knees, drooping even more and letting out another sigh. Owlowiscious descended onto the step Spike was sitting on and gently stretched his wing out across the melancholy dragon's back. Spike looked up again to see Owlowiscious's piercing brown eyes seeming to stare through him. Spike sighed and leaned into the screech owl's feathery chest, hugging him back with a claw.

Spike rose from Owlowiscious's side, sighing again out of both relief and worry. "It's Twilight, Owlowiscious. When we went out today, she got bitten by a snake, and she teleported away to the hospital. She said it was poisonous, and..." Spike swallowed back tears and continued, trying his hardest not to cry in front of his would-be rival. "...she said that she wanted me to wait here for her. I just wish I could have done something! If only I had noticed it before it got to her, or if it had found me first! I just-" Spike was once again interrupted, this time by the sound of a muffled scream coming from outside. Or... was it laughter?

Spike ran to the nearest window on the library's ground floor with Owlowiscious close behind. Owlowiscious perched himself on Spike's head as Spike moved the curtain aside. Down the street was Twilight, a look of pure happiness painted across her face, laughing so hard she was snorting. She had a hoof wrapped around the base of a lamppost, and she was twirling around it. Her other hoof stretched out into the rain as the snake jar slowly revolved around her in the opposite direction just beyond the reach of her hoof.

"Who!" Owlowiscious beamed.

"It's Twilight!" Spike cried. "She's alright!"

However, relief quickly turned into confusion. "Uhh, Owlowiscious? You're seeing this too, right?"

Owlowiscious stared along with Spike and responded with a slow (and somewhat disparaging) "Whooo."

"Maybe the snake venom was causing her to... but no, that was impossible. She'd gone straight to the hospital, and she wouldn't be back here unless they'd cured her! So she was alright! ...Right?" Spike blinked and rubbed his eyes, making sure the Twilight in front of him wasn't a hallucination, or some other pony. 

Twilight sped her revolutions slightly and jumped away from the light post, landing hard in a big puddle. An explosive torrent of water shot out from under her feet soaking her even more. Panting, Twilight took a break and looked up to the rainy sky, beaming with an eccentric smile, happy to be alive. Fortunately, she spotted Spike and Owlowiscious staring at her from a window. Twilight locked eyes with Spike and gasped. 

"Oh no! I spent so long getting home that I forgot about telling Spike!" She sprinted towards her front door as hard as she could with the snake jar in tow. Twilight ignored the sting of the wind and rain hitting her eyes as she trotted up to her door panting slightly. Spike rushed over to let her in with Owlowiscious still on his dragon spike perch.

Once under the natural eave atop the Golden Oak's entrance, Twilight violently shook the rainwater off herself. Spike opened the door only to be met with a cold spray of water, causing him to fall back and Owlowiscious to jump off of his head to avoid it. Without a single 'who', Owlowiscious quickly flew off upstairs. Twilight gasped even louder when she looked up this time, seeing Spike soaking wet on the ground. 

Twilight leaped inside and pulled the door shut to stop the wind from howling loudly throughout the library. Twilight stepped up to Spike and offered him a hoof up. "Sorry, Spike, I didn't see you there!" Spike didn't even have time to process the words. He grabbed the offered hoof and scanned over Twilight's bitten hoof, noticing the bandage in place over her snakebite.

"Twilight! Why are you here!? What about the snakebite? Are you ok?!"

"It was a false alarm, Spike; it turns out the snake wasn't poisonous- thats right! I almost forgot!" Recalling Dr. Stable's advice, Twilight carefully undid the lid of the snake's jar to give the snake air, confident that the snake couldn't climb up that vertical, glass wall. She set it down on the windowsill behind her and faced Spike again, who was about to jump out of the shoes he wasn't wearing with fret.

"I-it wasn't..?" Spike gasped. "...but you said that-"

"I know that's what I said," mumbled Twilight, hanging her head, "but I didn't actually know at the time. I kind of freaked out and assumed the worst. I'm really sorry I worried you so much."

Twilight pulled her best assistant into a tight hug--which he wholeheartedly returned, just glad to have his best friend back. He pulled himself hard into Twilight's wet fur, not even minding the strong scent of wet pony fur. He gratefully nuzzled her chest and smiled. Twilight giggled and returned the affection for as long as she could stand before she had to push him away:

"Spike, stop! That tickles!"

Spike blushed and looked to the side, fiddling with his thumbs for a second. "...um... so now that you're alright, can I ask, well ...what exactly were you doing out there?" Spike gestured towards the lamp post with a claw as a fresh towel fell on it from above. "Oh! thanks, Owlowiscious!" Spike gave a happy nod at the fluttering owl as Owlowisious draped the other blanket over Twilight.

Twilight gulped and gave Spike a nervous smile, shifting her eyes from side to side. "What, out there? ....You saw that?"

Spike crossed his arms and looked at her flatly. "Uh huh. With the lamp post. Don't try to get out of it."

Twilight gulped, and a rosy blush spread in her cheeks. "Oh! Um, that! Yes... you see... I was... kind of.. pretending to be a solar system?" 

Spike gave Twilight several nonplussed blinks. "...But why?"

Twilight grinned sheepishly. "Well... I don't know. It was fun, though!"

Spike blinked again. "You? Having fun for no reason?" But then he continued seriously: "...Well, whatever. I'm just glad to have you back, Twi."

Spike leaned into Twilight once more and wrapped his arms around her neck, hugging her stronger this time. He carefully turned his head to the side, staying mindful of his Spikes as he rested his head against her chest and listened to her heartbeat. Twilight smiled and hugged him close, realizing that this was the real reason she was happy to still be around. To have the love of her friends.

His affections were cut short by the sound of glass being tapped on. The purple duo turned to see Owlowiscious pecking at the side of the jar. The snake inside coiled up and hissed, it's pinkish-purple tongue flickering towards the owl. Owlowiscious pecked at it once more, causing the jar to rock slightly. The snake lunged at him, the same sickle-like fangs protruding outwards in a mossy colored flash, and knocked his tiny head against the glass, augmenting the jar's momentum.

Twilight magically caught the jar as it was falling from the sill and carried it over to the wider table. "Alright, that's enough, you two!" Twilight set the jar down, turned around, and gave her chestnut owl a stern glare. 

"Owlowiscious, this snake is a specimen for academic research, and you will leave him alone. Understood?"

Owlowiscious glanced at the jar sitting on the table behind Twilight then back to Twilight and nodded, giving a melancholy "whooo" before flying off to his perch in the dining nook.

Spike stood at Twilight’s side. "Uhh, Twilight?"

She turned to him. "Yes, Spike?"

"Why exactly do you still have the snake?"

"Ah! I'm glad you asked. Spike, if there's one thing I have learned today it's that just being afraid of something doesn't mean you shouldn't study it." Then Twilight blinked and brought a hoof to her chin in contemplation. "Actually, now that I think about it, that might make a good letter to the princess!"

Spike expression quickly brightened, and stood saluting at Twilight's side. "Should I go get a scroll and quill?"

"Maybe later, Spike. There's studying to be done of this little guy!" Twilight glanced at the jar once more with a smirk.

Spike's grin fell once more. "You're going to study that ...thing? What good would that ever do? It's just a snake in a jar! What do you think you'll learn from it?"

"The doctor at the hospital said this was a garter snake, so I suppose I'll start there and read more about them. C'mon Spike! There's studying to be done!" Twilight escaped without really answering the question. She ran up to her room, a smirk on her face and a sparkle in her eyes, carrying the jar in front of her as if to get a head start on studying it. Spike groaned and dejectedly followed Twilight upstairs, bracing himself for the duties of one of Twilight's all-day studying sessions.

Within a matter of minutes Spike had procured four different books that were likely related to the 'leçon du jour'. He had placed them in a neat stack in front of Twilight on her reading desk, just within Twilight's view so she knew they were there but not so much so that they would be distracting while reading. Spike knew Twilight's studying habits by now. He had also organized the books according to the order in which she would want to read them. Twilight magicked up the first book and set it in front of her. "A Guide to Common Household- and Garden Animals." She opened to the short section on snakes. Twilight kept the jar to her side, glancing to it in between short periods of reading.

"Thank you, Spike; these should work just fine. Would you please make me a studying snack?" Spike jumped right on the chance for escape, lest Twilight require more reading materials. He saluted Twilight, and Twilight buried herself back into her book.

"Ah, here we are. Garter Snakes! Lets see..." She frowned. There was barely more than a page on the entire species! What kind of valuable information could there possibly be in just over a page?! Unimpressed with this book, she skimmed the information, mumbling. "Most common reptile in Equestria... highly adaptable and can live almost anywhere, some even nearing The Crystal Mountains... Diet consists of insects and small animals... This is it? This can't be all there is." 

She quickly opened the next book. "Snakes and Serpents; Then and Now." Twilight smiled as she skimmed over the table of contents before moving to a chapter about early species of snake and their evolution over millenia. Twilight read on through ancient ecologies and food chains for a couple hours before finally reaching the book's section on modern day garter snakes. It was just another page long snippit of text! Twilight was now slightly more knowledgeable about ancient snake ecology, but her knowledge of garter snakes was still lacking. Twilight closed that book and dove straight into the next, finding yet another short basic chapter on garter snakes that didn't tell her anything that she didn't already know. 

She finished the third book's short section and looked up, sighing. "All things considered, I barely know more about snakes than this morning! There’s gotta be more!" Twilight turned to the index and skimmed through the listing, double checking that she had read everything. Twi was about to close it and move on to the next when she turned the page and noticed four peculiar words she had overlooked before, words which she had originally regarded as irrelevant.

"Mating Habits, Garter Snake."

Twilight blushed brightly, feeling like she was about to intrude into sacred territory--or at least the snake's private business. She glanced up from her book, ensuring that she was alone, that no one would be watching her reading the embarrassing entry. Seeing nopony but the snake, Twilight hungrily dove back into her book, driven by the pursuit of this devious knowledge.

She carefully read the valuable words: "Garter snakes go through a process called brumation before they mate, which is essentially a two-week fast. Once their stomachs are completely emptied, they will emerge from brumation and look for pheromone trails from female snakes. Females contain powerful mating-specific pheromones which can attract males in droves, leading into mating balls which can end up with twenty-five males per female snake." 

Twilight's blush deepened without her really being sure why. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to imagine what life would be like for ponies if they mated in the same way. She quickly shook the image out of her mind and turned the page, only to be greeted by a far worse one.

It was what must have been a rare photograph of a horrible, writhing mass of breeding snakes. It was more than Twilight had ever seen before, and she nearly slammed the book shut in fright and disgust that so many would gather in one place, but she didn't. She couldn't! Her eyes were irrevocably glued to the page. Her ears drooped, and her eyes widened. Her heart began to race, and sweat beaded on her forehead. Entire portions of the ground were blotted out as thick layers of snakes slithered on top of each other. The image started swirling in front of her as she imagined them jumping out and biting her.

She desperately pushed the book away, too stunned to even jump out of her seat. She tried to regain her composure and forget about the image--to think about something else, anything else! Her efforts only cemented the image of the living net of snakes in her mind.

Her mind raced out of control, contemplating every horrible snake-related thing that she could possibly imagine. "What if I were falling into a pit of snakes like that, or if somepony dumped them on me from a giant bin as a prank? Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie wouldn't do that to me, right?! What if somepony locked me in a room filled with snakes?! What if another unicorn like Trixie turned me into a snake?! What if a snake crawled in my bed while I was asleep?!"

The thought of waking up from a relaxed sleep to scratch a faint tickle on her nose only to find that it was a giant snake's tongue, his poisonous fang filled mouth mere inches away and ready to strike at any time, pushed her over the edge. Twilight leaped up from her chair, bucking and knocking her chair over backwards, scanning the surrounding area for snakes apart from the one safely in its jar.

Twilight gulped, sweating, and tried to relax, remembering to practice her deep breathing techniques.

"C'mon now, Twilight," she murmured to herself, "n- nothing to be afraid of; it's just a book, a book about snakes, which are just a part of nature! It's all natural, it's all natural..." Twilight glanced over to her captive who was wrapped tightly in a coil, its forked tongue flicking outwards occasionally. Twilight glanced to the jar for the umpteenth time, eying the open top nervously. Twilight sighed and laid her head on her desk, her eyes tracing the detailed lines in between his scales.

"Y- you guys aren't all that bad, right...? I-I mean this picture is just what you do, right?" Twilight's inquiries were just met with a blank stare from the snakes beady eyes. "It's not your fault that you're a snake or that snakes are just so..." Twilight shuddered and wrapped her hooves around her head.

Twilight moaned loudly into her hooves, then pushed herself up onto her haunches. "No. No! This is getting ridiculous! I am Twilight Sparkle, and, with Celestia as my witness, I will never fail to study a book!"

Twilight stomped the ground and took one last deep breath, steeling her nerves for the trial at hoof. She set her chair back upright, sat back down, quickly pulled the offensive book to her, and pinned it to the table. She stared down the diagram as though she might be able to make the book give up trying to scare her. Her resolution held and she read the fist paragraph underneath the image, and then the next. With Twilight's focus and dominance re-established, she brought herself to study through the remaining page on the mating habits of garter snakes.

"Ha!" Twilight triumphantly closed her book and shoved it aside before grabbing the last, which was significantly thinner than the others had been. She opened to the table of contents and read aloud: "Equestrian Snakes: A Guide to Identification and Behavior." Twilight glanced down the catalogue of chapters; though it seemed like the shortest book on the table, everything from "Basic Identification and Sexing" to "Pet Care" was in here. Twilight cocked an eyebrow at that last header. "Pet care? Who would want a snake as a pet?"

Twilight mentally lectured herself on where she should focus her studies. "Today's incident happened because I didn't know what kind of snake I had been bitten by or how to identify it. What's more, if it had been poisonous, I wouldn’t have known what to have done about it."

Twilight flipped to the identification guide and was greeted with a collage of detailed illustrations and diagrams of snakes of all different kinds. The book detailed some of the main species of poisonous snakes in central Equestria and their physical traits.

"Solid-colored snakes are generally safe, but snakes with pointed heads are poisonous. Some venomous snakes will also have a small indentation between the eye and nostril called a pit (hence the term 'pit viper'). The pit augments their vision, allows them to sense heat in their prey. Finally, if the snake is swimming, check its body. Non-venomous snakes swim with their bodies underwater and heads poking out while venomous snakes swim with their whole bodies at the surface of the water."

After about 3 hours of dedicated study, Twilight sat up proud of the fact that she was now well on her way to successfully identifying any snake that crossed her path. Twilight rubbed her back and stretched out, glancing at the snake on her desk once more. "You know, once I get to know you, I bet it'll turn out you guys aren't that bad after all!" Twilight levitated the jar from her desk to eye level and peered at her captive, a tiny smile growing across her face.

Cautiously, Twilight turned the jar onto its side causing the snake to flop over onto its back. It lazily straightened itself out and slithered towards the end of the jar, poking its head out and looking at its surroundings. Twilight slowly inched closer, observing the snakes almost mesmerizing flicking of it's tongue back and forth. Twilight's nose was only a few inches away from the snake's as the unmistakable feeling of scales brushed up against Twilight's back leg.

Twilight screamed almost as loudly as she did as when she had been bitten earlier that day and bucked her rear hooves violently. Her magic instantly dissipated and the jar fell to the ground with a loud clank; its lid lying to its side. Spike didn't even have time to blink before Twilight bucked the muffin he was holding hard, sending it careening against a wall with a muffled splat. Spike glanced at Twilight with shock, and even more shock when he realized that his claw was empty. Twilight whipped her head back and forth between the jar and her surprised assistant, blinking momentarily before she charged towards the jar.

The snake's tongue was flickering around curiously as it's head crept out of the edge of the jar and it began to slither out. It's efforts were for naught as Twilight grabbed the snake and jar with her telepathy, holding them both in place midair until she was confident that the snake was in the bottom of the jar and couldn't escape. Twilight heaved a sigh of relief and set the jar back down on the desk, placing a hoof over her pounding chest.

Spike watched Twilight's swift movements in a dumbfounded state, his arm that held the muffin still being held up until Spike glanced towards it and lowered it to his side. He glared at the unicorn, who looked at her hooves guiltily and shifted about nervously.

"Twilight! What gives?!"

"Spike! I'm so sorry! I... You... Are you okay!?"

"Yeah, barely!" Spike dusted himself off pretty angrily as he stood up. "If I was about two inches to the left, I don't think I'd have a head right now!"

"Well, I'm sorry," criticized Twilight, "but you should know better than to sneak up on ponies!"

"Like I had a choice! You were so deep in your book that you didn't answer the first fifteen times I called your name!"

Twilight gulped and gave Spike a nervous smile. "Well... you know how I am once I get in a good book."

Spike crossed his arms, stared at her, and snorted, unimpressed with her excuse. "You're worse than Rarity when she's making a dress! At least she doesn't try to buck me in the head!"

Twilight sighed and frowned, realizing she'd broken the innocent dragon's trust. "I really am sorry, Spike. You know I'd never try to hurt you."

Spike looked away indignantly.

Twi gave a sheepish smile and tried to change the subject. "What did you want anyway?"

"You asked me to bring you a snack, remember?"

"Huh..?" Twilight didn't remember asking him for that, and she was about to protest, but her stomach betrayed her, rumbling loudly as if on cue. Twilight blushed upon realizing that she had been acting foolish--for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. "Forgive me, Spike. I guess I just haven't been myself since-"

"Since you thought you were bitten by a poisonous snake?" Spike approached her and put his hand on her side. "I understand."

Twilight sighed and smiled meekly. "Thank you Spike. You must be starving too. Lets go out and get something to eat."

Spike's frills perked up. "Right behind you Twi!"

Spike ran up to Twilight and jumped on her back, balancing himself as Twilight smiled and began to walk down the stairs. She barely managed to take a few steps before a blinding flash of lightning erupted outside followed by an enormous blast which shook the library to it's roots. The two screamed and tried to hold themselves steady as best they could. Spike almost fell off of Twi who in turn almost stumbled down her own staircase. 

Twi panted. "T- today seems like the day for sudden frights. Are you alright, Spike?"

Spike scrambled fully back up onto Twilight's back and steadied himself. "Yeah, I think so. This storm is insane! Why did the weather ponies let it get so bad?"

The low rumble of the thunder echoed out into the distance. The library's electric lights flickered for a second before going out, leaving the pair standing in the dark. Spike's face drooped, but Twilight calmly lit up her horn and trotted into her kitchen.

She glanced what of her kitchen she could see by the gentle, lavender glow of her horn. Owlowiscious stared at Twilight from his perch, greeting Twilight with a soft "Whooo." Twilight smiled to him and levitated a few logs onto each other in a loose pile. 

"Spike, could you start a fire for me while I make us some dinner?"

"We're having a fire?"

"I can do it if I have to, but sustaining a light spell gets a little annoying after a while."

"Good point."

Spike climbed down from Twilight's back and kneeled in front of the fireplace, taking a deep breath and bathing the logs in bright green flames. The fire turned from green to orange as it caught on the logs, and the kitchen was illuminated by the dancing flames. Spike sat back from the fireplace and admired his handiwork. 

"Starting fires was kind of fun!" Though Spike. He smiled as Twilight sat down next to him, levitating two plates in front of her. She set her a plate of grass and dandelion salad in front of her and gave spike a muffin with a topaz on top. Spike unwraveled his tongue and wrapped it around the gemstone before suckling on it, then biting it with a loud crunch. He repeated the process again with the muffin, eating the entire thing in one bite before snuggling up against Twilight's side as she quietly munched on her food.

He laid an arm across her side in a loose hug watched the dancing flames. He yawned, soon becoming drowsy. He glanced up to Twilight as she bit off a particularly large dandelion.

"Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes, Spike?"

Spike yawned again. "Don't you think you're going a little overboard with all this snake stuff?"

Twilight swallowed and lifted up a small clump of grass, using her magic to squish it into a tight ball which she rolled around in midair. "Not particularly. What do you mean?" She popped the ball of grass in her mouth and began to repeat the process with a dandelion.

"Well.. It's just strange is all. You're scared of snakes; you get bit by one; and now, all of a sudden, it's the only thing you can think about! Not to mention that you've still got that snake trapped in your room. Remind me why you're doing all this again?"

Twilight sighed and let her dandelion ball fall back into her plate of grass. "Because I'm still afraid of snakes, Spike. I'm trying to get myself used to seeing one first-hoof so that maybe, if I see another one, I won't panic as much."

Spike looked up to Twilight, trying to empathize and gently rubbing the unicorn's side as they spoke. "But why are you even afraid of them in the first place? You're way stronger than any snake, Twilight! Even without your magic!"

"I guess I... It's called a phobia, Spike. They don't make sense, they just fill you with fear once you come into contact with the thing you have a phobia of. They're irrational by definition!"

Spike didn't understand, but he sighed and glanced down at the floor, disappointed that he couldn't help his best friend. Twilight took another nibble of her salad as Spike laid his head down against Twilight's side feeling slightly defeated. His eyes drooped as he watched the flickering flames' dull reflection in his stomach- and leg scales. Spike slowly dragged a claw across his stomach, feeling the ridge of each armor-like scale ever so closely connected to the next. Spike sat up and looked to Twilight again as she ate up her dandelion ball.

"Twi, why, exactly, are you afraid of snakes?"

Twilight cocked an eyebrow at her young assistant. "Spike? Didn't I just explain this?"

"I know you said it was a phobia, but what about snakes is so scary to you?"

"Oh." Twilight swallowed and gazed at her half eaten salad in contemplation. "Well, I guess it's mostly how they move."

"How they move? What do you mean?"

"It's just not natural looking! It's like they try to squirm out of their own body!" Twilight shuddered at the mere thought of a snake slithering away, flailing it's entire body in fluidly moving coils.

Spike opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Twilight with another sudden outburst. "And their mouths!"

"What about their mouths?"

"They're full of fangs! Poisonous fangs!" Twilight gave Spike a fearful look while waving her hooves back and forth for dramatic effect.

Spike stared at Twilight, unimpressed. "Is that all?"

Twilight blinked at Spike's reaction and stopped her waggling hooves long enough to take a breath and collect her thoughts. "They're also pretty hard to spot; they can creep right up under you, and you wouldn't know. I don't even want to think about the different effects the bite from an actually poisonous snake could have." Twilight quickly went back to her salad to spare herself from having to continue her thoughts lest they grow out of control.

"So why aren't you scared of me?"

Twilight looked back down at Spike with the last of her salad in her maw. "Whufgh?" She swallowed and tried communicating once more with an empty mouth. "What? Why would I be scared of you, Spike?"

"Well, I'm kind of like a snake."

"No you're not; you're a baby dragon!"

"I know, but, when you think about it, I’ve got the same skin, the same eyes, and even the same tongue!" Spike let his long, ribbon-like, forked tongue slither out and touch Twilight's nose before quickly snapping back into his maw like a measuring tape. He giggled a bit, which elicited a similar giggle from Twilight. 

Twilight sat up and looked at Spike with a smirk. "Alright, you win, Spike; you're a snake."

Spike laid on his stomach and looked up at Twilight, doing his best snake impression as he flicked his tongue out towards her. Spike crawled on his belly towards Twilight's face, letting out a quiet hiss as he crawled onto her back. He lay draped over her side, keeping his arms and legs as straight as he could while he swayed his tail back and forth against Twilight's haunch.

Twilight laughed and looked back at her assistant with a lighthearted grin as Spike flicked his tongue into the air once more. "Oh no! Somepony save me! I'm trapped under a massive Spike-scale snake!" Spike attempted to worm his way up to Twilight's neck but lost his balance and flopped onto his ground on his side with a thud. Twilight looked at her assistant and did her best to keep a straight face but failed miserably. Twilight laughed so uncontrollably, that it grew contagious. Spike joined in with a giggle fit of his own, which caused him to roll over across the ground, holding his sides.

Eventually, Twilight heaved a sigh of relief and sat up, wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye. "Oh boy, Spike, I think I needed that." Spike calmed down too, and he straightened back out from the giggling ball he'd rolled into at her side.

"Heheh, so do you think that snakes can be alright now?"

"Yes, Spike. Thank you." Twilight leaned forward and pulled Spike into a hug that let both of them catch a much needed breath.

"So what now?" Spike asked.

Twilight yawned and watched the fire begin to reduce itself to warm embers. "I think that we should head to bed Spike."

"Aw, already? We can't add even one more log to the fire?"

"No. It's getting late, Spike."

Spike looked down slightly downcast and disappointedly scuffed his right foot back and forth across the floor. "Well... I guess..."

"What is it, Spike?"

"I don't know. What if that snake was poisonous? What if that was really the last time I'd see you!?"

"Oh, Spike..." Twilight wrapped her leg around him, brought him close, and smiled. "I guess we could spend a little more time together. I never get to show you how much I appreciate you when I just study all the time. Besides, I think there's a little fire left."

Tears began to well in the corners of Spikes eyes as he was hit with the full force of how scared and worried he'd been all day. He nodded thankfully and swallowed back tears until he couldn't anymore. Spike buried his face into Twilight's side, quietly sobbing into her coat as he clutched at her short fur with his claws. Twilight sat quietly, listening to her assistant's sobs and the low crackle of the embers as the foul storm outside continued on.

Twilight gently rubbed Spike's back and asked him in a quiet motherly tone. "Spike, is that what you were thinking the whole time I was studying?"

Spike nodded again, whimpering a bit as he managed to stop his tears. He backed up out of the embrace and wiped his face with a claw. Twilight leaned forward and gently, meaningfully kissed Spike on the top of his head. "Spike, I promise nothing's going to happen to me."

Spike gulped and faintly nodded at her through watery eyes. Twilight smiled softly as Spike sat back down and leaned against her in the warmth of the dying fire, his sniffles eventually turning to quiet snoring. Twilight used her magic to snuff out the fire out before giving Spike one more hug and lifting him gently onto her back with her magic.

Up in their room, Twilight laid Spike down lightly in his bed and pulled his blanket over him before climbing into her own bed. She closed her eyes and listened to the dull roar of the wind and rain outside battering against the outside of the library. Twilight began to muse over the wording of her next letter to the princess, and what exactly she had learned. After a semi-conscious brainstorm, she had managed to come up with the subject of her letter; sometimes neither facing your fear nor studying it will make it go away. But a good friend always will. Twilight quietly muttered something about "sounding good" before drifting off into a deep sleep.