“It’s three in the morning,” Twilight grumbled as she walked through the library main room. “Whoever that is, they have some nerve to disturb me at this hour.” Her magic lighted a candle and she opened the door. “Do you have any idea …” Outside stood a really wet and tired looking baby dragon. ”Spike, I was wondering when you’d come back. It’s three AM, I have just started my second pot of tea. Come in, let’s get you dry before you catch a cold. You should have been in bed hours ago.” Twilight took a step back and let the dragon walk in.
The dragon whelp suppressed a yawn as he walked in. “I know, but Rainbow Dash wanted to complete the latest chapter of her story. You know that novel she has been obsessing over for the last weeks?”
A towel floated over from the bathroom in Twilight’s magic. Spike grabbed it from the air, and started to rub his skin until he was dry again. Then he opened a closet and got a mop to clean up the small puddle he had left on the floor.
Twilight sat down at her desk and shooed away Owlowiscious before he could swipe a cube from her sugar bowl. She gave the bird a hard stare. “Oh, I know what you’re up to, mister!”
“Who?”
“Yeah right, just keep it up with that attitude.” Twilight placed the lid on the little treasure trove of sweetness. She turned back to her dragon assistant. “I thought that novel was a joke, you know, to pull my horn. It’s been -,” she looked at her calendar and did a little arithmetic, “one year, three months, and fifteen days, four hundred sixty days, since she actually started reading. At all! A story for foals if you remember. And now she’s writing her own?”
This time Spike yawned to his heart’s content. “What can I say, Rainbow Dash is that committed. And the story is not bad either. It’s about a young weather pony from a small town who goes on an epic quest, meets new friends, overcomes enemies, grows up and eventually fulfills her dream of becoming captain of the Wonderbolts.”
Twilight did not seem overly impressed. “Aha. Sounds rather like an adventure novel. I don’t know if I would want to read that. It takes years of experience to write good action. Even the first “Daring Do” is not a masterpiece. Too many authors lose their stories in lifeless fights and boring coach chases.”
“Oh no, it’s not just action, there is a lot of deep stuff, too.” Spike defended Rainbow Dash’s idea. “You see, one of the companions is a really wise earthpony, and she always has some clever idea or sage advice. I haven’t even thought about some of those things in years. I thought I had it all figured out, ever since you had me clean up the “Philosophy, Religion, Metaphysics” section back in Canterlot. But this book … a whole new perspective, I tell you.”
“Hmm.” Twilight tapped her forehead, Spike saw that she still had doubts about this.
“There’s great humor too. The main adversary has two henchmen and they always mess things up. One is a large donkey and the other is a small unicorn. And when they get into trouble the donkey always says "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!". They crack me up every time,” Spike giggled.
“So we have coming of age, adventure, comedy and some food for thoughts,” Twilight nodded. Then she knitted her brows and darted a doubtful look at her assistant , “Don’t tell me there is a love story in it, too.”
Spike avoided her gaze and looked to the ground, “Actually, no. Dash wanted something like that in it, but I remembered ‘Writing 101’ and ‘The pen and you’.” He looked up and faced Twilight “‘Don’t write about emotions you haven’t experienced. You’ll get them wrong.’ if I remember correctly.”
Twilight seemed very pleased. “Very good Spike. If you had so much influence in that novel, I might even read it,” she smiled.
Spike’s face glowed with pride. He hurried over to a window and opened it. “She said yes,” he blared into the night.
Before Twilight could say anything a whirlwind of drenched cerulean feathers, soggy paper and rain hit the library. Rainbow Dash so much as pressed the bundle into Twilight’s hoofs. “Please make a list of all issues, logical, grammar or spelling and give it to my editor. I’m so glad to have you on the team, pre-reader number one!” She hugged Twilight in a quite wet embrace and was gone the next second.
Twilight turned to her dragon assistant, but all she caught was the sound of claws on wood and a closing bedroom door. Her groan startled awake half of Ponyville.