Spike watched the pebble drop into the small river that runs through Ponyville. He listened to the plop and watched how the ripples painted a strange pattern into the darkness under the bridge beside him. He wasn’t lonely or angry or broody, he just wanted some time to think, some time alone. BUt it wasn’t meant to be. When he heard the sound of metal on stone he already knew who would soon look over the bridge’s hoofrail. There were only a few ponies who used this special kind of hoofshoes, and they were very easily to discern because of their different size.
“Down here, Princess Cadance,” he called, but didn’t look up. If she was looking for him then only because Twilight had asked her to. Probably because she herself was too busy with being a Princess now. For some reason he couldn’t remember, he and Cadance had never clicked, not like him and Shining Armor, or almost all ponies in Ponyville, for that matter. Maybe because they had met when he was still a baby dragon? A very young baby dragon. Maybe the idea of a pony princess of love was something that he felt wasn’t for a brave dragon like him? For a moment he wondered when his thoughts about Princess Cadance and the whole love thing in general had changed. When he had fallen for Rarity? When Cadance and Shining Armor married? When she had rescued him from King Sombra? Or when Twilight herself had become a Princess? He didn’t know, but if she was in Ponyville, he could make friends with her now.
But as he opened his eyes the pony that looked down on him wasn’t the Princess of the Crystal Empire. “Twilight?” He raised both eyebrows. “Since when do you wear the metal shoes again? Didn’t you say they gave you blisters?”
For just a moment emotions flashed over Twilight’s face, some mixture of embarrassment, sadness, relief and a note of anger. Or maybe it was just the memory of the day after her coronation, when she hadn’t been able to walk at all because her hooves had hurt like crazy? “I thought I’d give them another try. I’ll have to get used to them eventually.” She placed her fore hooves on the rail, and the golden shoes gleamed in the sun. “Also Cadance gave me this ointment. It smells funny but works wonders.” Her eyes darted left and right, not looking at him, even avoiding him. “Do you mind if I sit with you? Just for a minute?”
At first Spike felt a bit unsure about this question. On the one claw he had come here for some privacy, to think about things, and to clear his mind. But on the other claw he knew that Twilight knew this and she wouldn’t disturb him for something trivial. He waved her to come and soon the two sat on the banks together, looking out on the small river.
“Do you ever wonder about what could have been?” Twilight asked. Spike had to look at her again. Something about Twilight was different from usual. Was she taller, or was it that just the shoes? Was there a twinkling in her mane or were those just reflections from the water?
“You mean like ‘What if we never met?’ or ‘What if I had fallen for Rainbow Dash instead of Rarity?’” He scratched his chin, as he pondered this. “No, don’t think I do. I’m pretty happy with things the way they are. And even if I was unhappy about something, it’s not like I could go back into the past and change things the I we want them, right? I’m some Spike’s future-Spike, after all.” There it was again, that strange expression on Twilight’s face. Spike picked another pebble and threw it into the river. “I’m a bit worried about the future, though,” he whispered.
“Who isn’t?” Twilight answered. She sighed and ruffled her wings, a gesture Spike had come to associate with uncertainty and anxiety in pegasus ponies. Twilight had gotten used to those wings pretty quickly. “Spike, I don’t know how to say this, but I feel there may be more, much more adventures ahead. Every day will be full of things to do, ponies to meet and, well, schedules. I know that I don’t tell you this often enough, and I might say it even less in the future, but you are my most important friend. I’m unsure about so many, many things, Spike. But there’s one thing I know for sure: I want you — I need you by my side. You know this, right?”
Spike was about to answer with a wave of his claw and Of course, silly, but then he saw the tears glistening in Twilight’s eyes. He just held out his arms and a second later Twilight hugged him like she hadn’t hugged him for years. He could hear her heart beat next to his own, feel her soft coat on his scales and smell the soap in her mane; it was still the same smell of lavender, just like when she was ten years old.
But then she folded her wings around him, just like Princess Celestia used to do it. And suddenly he knew, deep down in his burning guts, in his bones and in his very dragonsoul that she would protect him from everything. She would make sure that every story had a happy ending and every adventure would be exciting, maybe even dangerous, but it would end with smiles for everypony.
He didn’t know how long they had hugged like this, but when they finally let go of each other, the sun had not moved even a fraction of the way he had expected. “Yes Twilight, I know. And I feel the same way for you.”
There were some red rims around Twilight’s eyes, but she smiled a smile so bright, Pinkie Pie would have thrown her a party on the spot if she had seen it. “Thank you so much, Spike,” she said, the cleared her throat. “Well, I said I’d only take a few minutes of your time, so I’d better go back to the palace now.”
“You mean the library, right?”
That strange mix of emotions flashed over Twilight’s face again, but she just smiled and turned to leave. As he heard her hoofsteps on the bridge, he remembered something and called out for her. As he looked up to her, high on the bridge, it felt like talking to Princess Celestia when he was just a whelp. “You know, there is one thing I’ve been thinking about.”
“Yes, Spike?” Now she even sounded like Celestia. Or was it just the reverberation under the bridge?
“Princess Cadance, is she my cousin or my sister-in-law? Because I grew up with Princess Celestia and your parents. Hey, even you acted like a mother from time to time.” He scratched his forehead. “That would make her my aunt, right?”
Twilight’s laughter echoed under the bridge. “Why don’t you ask her herself? I have an inkling we’ll visit the Crystal Empire again soon.” The her head disappeared over the the railing and Spike heard the typical pop of a teleportation. The smell of ozone was unusual, though.
***
Twilight looked at the checklist she had just completed and nodded. It was a really long one, but it had been worth it. The sound of the door opening and closing made her look up. From across the room Spike asked, “Twilight, do you know what kind of teleportation leaves a smell of ozone behind?”
“Teleportation only smells if the unicorn puts too much energy in it, and then it smells burned. You only get ozone with really high-energy spells, time-spells for example. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no reason,” Spike answered, “No reason at all,” and fled to the kitchen.
Twilight gazed after him and took her quill to add another point to the list.
Everyday mysteries, 1139: What does Spike do all afternoon when he leaves the library?