A magical purple aura lit a framed photo as the sound of ignited magic filed the silent room. The photo was about the size of a school folder and had five elderly mares surrounding an alicorn smiling as they huddled and faced forward with a smile on their face. The lavender alicorn sighed as she started staring at the picture intently as memories of the times the group had spent together filled her head.
Her once straight, long mane was now a mass of tangled, knotted hair that looked as though it had not been tended to in quite a long time. Her violet eyes had large, dark bags under them that could be seen clearly from a good distance. After a minute passed, the happy memories had been replaced with the images of each of their deaths played inside her head, causing tears to fall down her cheeks. Moments later a purple dragon that was much taller than her had been that long time ago walked into the room. He was carrying a small scroll as he called out to the alicorn.
"Hey Twilight, Celestia sent you a letter, it's been a while, huh?" With a small shriek, she jumped up onto a wooden table, stopping her magic and accidentally dropping the picture. Spike rolled his eyes with a chuckle in his deepened voice as he ran to the table so it didn't fall.
"Jeez, you must be reeeeeally happy to see me if you're shrieking like that." With a sigh, she got off the stool, quickly wiped the tears off of her face before turning to him and faked a smile. "Sorry Spike, I was just doing something....." She trailed off as she slightly turned her head and gazed at the wooden picture she had dropped on the floor. Curious as to what she could possibly be distracted with; Spike too turned his head and looked at the picture. He gave a sigh as his smiling face turned to one of both sympathy and annoyance as he walked over to it, carefully making sure there were no fragments of glass and picked it up in his claws. He thoroughly inspected the frame and picture and gave a small smile, relieved that it had not been broken.
"Good news, it's not broken, not even a scratch in fact," He looked back at Twilight who was unblinkingly looking into the direction of where the photo was previously laying. He walked over to the mare and waved his arms up and down in front of her face in a fast motion.
"Twilight, you there? Helloooo, Dragon to princess pony of friendship, any pony home??" With no response, he decided to poke her face and touch her horn. Just as before, this had no effect on Twilight as she still continued to stare into the distance. Feeling he had no choice, Spike stood in front of front of Twilight and shook her as he started to scream.
"SNAP OUT OF IT!!!"
Twilight blinked her eyes and looked around the room as if she had no idea where she was. She looked at Spike and rubbed her head with her fore-hooves as she spoke in a somewhat weak voice. "Uuugh. What happened? It felt like I was out forever..." Spike gave a relieved sigh as he backed away from her and pointed to the picture.
"It's only been five minutes, and you were staring at the picture. You were so deep in your thoughts it was like you were in another world..." Twilight's eyes shifted from the photo to the letter in his other hand.
"Spike, what's that in your hand?" Spiked looked down as he remembered the reason he came to see Twilight.
"Oh. Oooh, the princess sent this, I guess you didn't hear it come since I had to come out to show you." Spike stuck his hand out and handed it to Twilight, who lifted it with her magic and read it.
My dearest Twilight,
I am writing you this letter to request your presence the Tuesday of next week at Canterlot Castle so we may discuss your new duties as a Princess. My best judgment suggests that you have been able to cope with the deaths of your friends just as I, my sister, and Princess Cadence, who will also be attending the meeting have been able to do. We feel that it has been enough time since then and that you are ready to discuss this face to face. Spike may also come as well if he cares to join you. We will assign him some tasks as we think he could help as well. We shall eagerly await your reply and hope to see you soon.
Sincerely,
-Princess Celestia
Twilight's eye twitched in anger as a tear rolled down her cheek. She crumpled the letter using her magic and threw it in a trash can on the other side of the room.
Spike stuttered and backed away in fear of her reaction and gulped. "Uhh...Twilight are you O-"
"Spike....take a letter...." She said, gritting her teeth together as she breathed slightly heavier than before.
"Twilight, don't you think you should calm down-"
"NOW, Spike." With that, the dragon zoomed around the room, getting all the supplies ready to write the letter. She levitated a nearby calendar and looked to make sure she was free. She hoped in the back of her mind she would be busy but sank after seeing she was indeed free. She sighed and looked at her assistant who sported a nervous smile and a slightly sweaty forehead.
"W...whenever you're ready..." Twilight huffed and slowly paced around the room as she told her assistant what to write.
Dear Celestia,
I am happy to say that I will be available to attend the meeting next Tuesday and am also excited to see all of you. I will bring my own writing supplies to take notes and Spike will also be coming with me. I feel we both need responsibilities to keep us occupied and productive with our days. We will see you next Tuesday and absolutely can’t wait!
-Twilight
The dragon repeated what she said to himself as he finished writing. He looked up at her and smiled.
"Finished!" Twilight took a deep breath and turned to him faking a smile.
"Good. Now, would you please send it to the princess?" Spike gave a small chuckle shook the letter in her face.
"Don't you mean 'please' send the letter Spike the most awesome and handsome number one assistant ever?" Twilight sternly cleared her throat loud enough for him to hear it clearly. She again narrowed her eyes as she glared at Spike, who stopped laughing and ignited green flames onto the letter, sending it to the princess.
The mare gave a quick nod of her head to him and closed her eyes and gave a satisfied smile. "Thank you, now if you’ll excuse me I'll be taking that photo if you don't mind." With that, she levitated the photo along with Spike who refused to let go of it.
"The photo was what got you upset in the first place; do you really want to look at it again just to get upset again?" Twilight rolled her eyes and shook it, trying to make him let go of it.
"Like I said before, I'm fine, I don't need you to baby sit me. I know my own limits." Spike let out an irritated sigh and gripped it harder.
"I'm not letting go, you're not going to get upset again, and I won't let you." Twilight stopped shaking it and smiled at him as she let him free gently on the ground.
"You're right Spike; thanks for making me realize I was wrong." Spike smiled and walked over to the shelf the photo was previously placed.
"Aww, it was nothing Twilight. I'm here for you; you should know that by now, I'm just glad you feel better." Twilight sneaked up behind him as he placed on the shelf. As soon as it was on the shelf, Twilight started a spell but was interrupted when Spike turned around, clearing his throat.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" Twilight stopped the spell and smiled nervously and blushed a bit.
"Oh...nothing, I was just you know...getting some water." Spike raised an eyebrow at her as he crossed his arms.
"Oh really, because it sounded like you were casting a spell to me." Twilight tried to keep a straight face but failed as he continued to stare at her.
"Fine, I was trying to get the picture I guess you win...” The lavender mare held her head down and sighed. Spike walked over to her and rubbed her shoulder.
"That's what I thought, why don't we go to bed? It's getting pretty late after all, you need your rest." Twilight opened her mouth as if to rebel, but after a moment just sighed again and walked towards the stairs.
"Fine, you win. I'm exhausted anyway maybe I'll have a good dream tonight..." Twilight's horn began to glow as she concentrated on her spell. After being surrounded magic, both she and her assistant were in their room, both landing on Twilight's bed.
The dragon got out of the bed and lifted the blanket. He wrapped it around Twilight who slowly fell into a deep sleep. The dragon stretched his arms out after tucking her in and went to his home made bed on the floor. He patted it with his hand and laid on it, almost instantly falling asleep.