It was yet another peaceful afternoon in the small town of Ponyville, with most of the ponies taking it easy, save one for Twilight Sparkle who, having become an alicorn, was eager to find out just how far her magical abilities could. Spike did not share her excitement.
"Twilight, if you're so persistant on trying these spells, why don't you just do 'em?" Spike asked.
"Because I need a living object to cast the spells on, Spike!" Twilight pleaded with a smile. Spike wasn't at all phased by her plea. Crossing his arms instead, he creased his brow, wanting to make it clear how much he did not want to be a part of her experiments. Not since 'that' day. Twilight reinforced her argument with a deep frown.
"Come on, Spike. Rarity and the others are busy with their work, and Fluttershy doesn't want to lend me any of her friends, no matter how safe I tell her it is! Please," Her eyes shone brilliantly. Her final card. "just this once...?" Spike's right eye twitched. It was all she'd needed to know she'd won. Turning away, Spike sighed deeply, refusing to look her in the eyes.
"Ifnoonewantstohelpiguessilldurhertt..." Twilight's ears perked as her eyes gleamed with joy. Cupping an ear, she crooned.
"What?" Spike frowned.
"...I said, If no one wants to help, iguessilldoit..." Twilight could hardly contain her excitement. Coaxing Spike with a mischevious smile, Twilight leaned close to him, crooning.
"What did you say...?" This time he snarled.
"I said if no one wants to help, I guess I'll d-ack!" Spike could hardly breathe as Twilight swept him into a tight embrace in her arms, spinning them together as she chanted.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! You have no idea how much this means to me!" After a final few seconds of her excited stupor, Twilight settled Spike on the ground, dazed and confused, before stepping back a ways and commanding, "Okay, stand over there!" Stumbling, Spike groaned before walking a few meters away from Twilight, turning to face her, but did not hesitate to show her how much he hated helping her with her experiments, frowning. It went unheeded. "Alright, first up, a gender switching spell!"
"Wait, gender switch wha-?" Before Spike could finish, a flash from Twilight's horn caused his green shirt and brown shorts to shift into a green blouse and brown dress. Spike's mind thought hard to fathom just what Twilight had made him as a continuous cackle of unfiltered words began to leak from his mouth. Twilight cupped her chin in bewilderment.
"That's strange. The spell didn't mention anything about changing your clothes. There must be a note som-"
"AAHHHHHHH!" Spike wailed uncontrollably in an abnormally high-pitched voice. "What did-You just-Why would-I'm a...!" The vile sorceress giggled as Spike feared he'd been subjected to a traumatic experience.
"It's not so bad, Spike. You're like the sister I never had! Well, aside for my sister-in-law Cadance." Spike gritted her teeth as she grasped the bridge of her snout.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, you're my friend and all, but if I don't get turned back into a boy in the next thirty seconds-!"
"Okay, okay, geez!" Twilight sighed as her horn lit up once more. As quickly as he'd switched genders, Spike and his clothes switched back to normal in an instant. Without a second to spare, Spike hugged himself dearly. Twilight sighed.
"Fluttershy wasn't kidding when she said, 'Huffy the magic dragon.'" Taking a second to glance back at her spells, a grin soon spread on her face. Spike's eyes narrowed cautiously.
"I know that look..."
"You always seem to read my mind, somehow." Twilight complemented. With her horn glowing a bright purple, Twilight commanded, "Minotaur!"
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Hours passed, and after many form changing spells, Spike was at his wit's end.
"Plphubluglumphlum."
"Hmm? Oh, sorry." With a quick apology, Twilight's horn glowed it's familiar indigo before Octo-Spike was returned to normal. Back to his dragon-loving self, Spike collapsed on his back in exhaustion, out of breath from endless transformations. Twilight's humming forced a surge of strength to come from within the tired beast.
"Twilight...please...no more..." One look at his mentor brought his greatest fears into realization. She had resorted to 'the face' again, looking back at him with her ears drooped to her sides and her eyes pleading brightly. Spike let his body collapse in defeat.
"...fine...which one?" Finishing a miniature happy-dance, Twilight scanned her book briefly. She frowned when she couldn't find the spells name.
"I'm not sure, Spike. It doesn't say."
"Just make it quick...end the torment..." Making a note to reward her assistant for his bravery, Twilight set the book down before breathing calmly and activating her horn's magic. As the energy flowed through her, Twilight was caught off guard as a sudden spike of power forced itself into her horn. Without a second to react, the charged horn fired on her prone assistant, sending the exhausted young dragon reeling back in a cloud of magical fumes. Shocked, Twilight gasped, taking only a second to realize what had happened before running to her coughing and sprawling friend.
"Spike! Are you alright!"
"Y-Yeah, that wasn't so bad." Spike coughed from the smoke, massaging his head. He arose, asking, "Please, let's just stop. I don't like do...doing...do...what?" His voice was deeper. Why was it deeper? Hoping it was a side-effect, Spike turned to Twilight, annoyed and ready to express it. Instead of looking up at Twilight however, Spike found himself needing to look down, nearly at an equal level.
"...since when are you shorter than me? And...why does my voice sound like this? And when did my shorts look like daisy dukes?!" Twilight remained unresponsive. Instead, she gave him a look of bewilderment that he had always recognized. A very not-good look of bewilderment. Without waiting for her to respond, Spike raced to the bathroom, unaware of the mess his longer-than-normal tail was causing and slamming the door open to find himself face to face with the result of Twilight's experiments. His scales were darker. His spines were sharper. His Iris' were narrower. He was definitely larger. He was older.
"..." The cry of shock that erupted from Spike's toothy maw was enough to echoe far and beyond the many valleys that littered Ponyville's outskirts.
"What. Did. You. DO TO ME?!" A teenage Spike was now shouting at Twilight.
"Okay just calm down Spike." She said hesitantly.
"CALM DOWN?! I'M A FULL. GROWN. DRAGON!"
"Okay okay! I'm sorry! Look, here's the book, I can find how to turn you back okay? Just hang in there." Spike was just shaking at the sight of his now undersized clothes on his now oversized body.
"Twilight!" He shouted in agony.
"I'm looking, but I can't find anything! I think we're gonna have to go to Zecora's, but it's kinda..." Spike took no time in forcefully grabbing Twilight's arm.
"Then there's no time to waste!"
"LAAAAATE!" She shouted as they were running out the door. 'Wow! Spike sure is...strong!" She thought. Soon enough they passed through the Everfree forest and barged into Zecora's hut.
"Sweet celery stalk! Hasn't anypony taught you to knock? Twilight Sparkle who is that person? He looks like you're assistant Dragon."
"Spike, and yes that is indeed him." She said as she rubbed her arm.
"Oh. Well is there something I should know?" Twilight rubbed the back of her head.
"Well you see, since I became an Alicorn I've been anxious to try out spells I couldn't as a Unicorn. So when no one was around to help me, Spike volunteered. One thing led to another and well, caused me to accidentally forward his age."
"So do you think you can help us?" Spike asked. Zecora pondered for a moment.
"Very well, as long as you can stay for a spell." Twilight comfortly wrapped her arm around a nervous Spike's shoulder, while Zecora grabbed a big book of spell cures. "Now let's see, an age spell remedy. Ah here, knowing about the spell is the key, and how long the results last is..."
"What? How long does it last?!" Zecora looked up sadly.
"...indefinitely." Twilight and Spike both gasped.
~BACK IN THE LIBRARY~
"Well that's great, juuust great. I'm stuck like this forever." Spike said with a moody tone.
"Look I said I'm sorry and besides, Zecora said she'll do everything she can and so will I. So in the mean time, why don't we try to get some sleep huh?" Spike may have been upset, but that was an offer he couldn't refuse.
"Well what do I do for sleepwear? I can't just sleep in these." Twilight thought for a moment and walked to her closet to pull out a blue V-neck with the big dipper on it and red sweatpants with 'love' written on the pantlegs. "Gee thanks." He said in a sarcastic tone. Once he changed he walked back into their room to the sight of Twilight, who was wearing a green tanktop, white shorts and her reading glasses.
"Well goodnight Twi." He then tried to arrange himself into his old bed. This caused Twilight to look over and giggle.
"Um, what are you doing?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Well where else am I gonna sleep?"
"Duh. Up here with me." This caused Spike to spring up and and blush hard. Luckily only the lamp was on so Twilight couldn't notice. "A-are you sure? We haven't done this since we lived in Canterlot."
"Yes, I owe you, besides, that bed's too small for you now." Spike was still having mixed feelings about her offer.
"Maybe I can just call one of our friend's to sleep over with."
"It's too late for that Spike, just get in."
"Oh! How about I just make a bed of books like when we went through the mirror?" Twilight was getting angry.
"Spike it's fine, get in the bed."
"Well I could probably just..."
"NOW!" She shouted angrily.
"Okay." Spike just shyly got under the covers with ease.
"There you go, not so bad is it?" She asked with a bright smile.
"I guess not. You sure you don't mind?"
"Of course not. I've been needing a bunk mate since I...y'know, lost Smartypants." Twilight looked down in sadness. Spike couldn't have felt more sympathy for her. So he leaned over and gave his friend a hug.
"I'll be you're new Smartypants." This caused them both to chuckle.
"Heh. All right we'd better get some shuteye." With that she took off her glasses and turned the lamp off. "Goodnight Spike."
"Goodnight."