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// Hearts and Hooves Day 
// Story: Where Was Spike? 
// by powerpony 
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Twilight was walking through Ponyville on her way back to her library. She had just gotten her book about the history of Hearts and Hooves Day back from the Cutie Mark Crusaders and couldn’t help but laugh after hearing the adventure the three fillies had with it. She found it extremely funny when they told her about the mushy baby names that Cheerilee and Big Macintosh called each other. She decided that when she got back to her library, she would write a letter to the princess, telling her what happened, knowing that she would probably get a laugh out of it as well. 
Twilight finally made it to the library and went inside. She then walked up to her writing desk only to stop dead in her tracks and let out a horrified gasp at what she saw. Her desk was a complete mess. It was covered in glue, glitter and bits of red construction paper. Twilight soon started to get angry as she started to realize who did this. 
“SPIKE!”
The small dragon heard his name being called and he walked up to Twilight, who could tell by the bits of glitter stuck to his belly that she was right about who the guilty party was. 
“Is something wrong, Twi?” Spike innocently asked. 
“Yes, there’s something wrong,” snapped Twilight. “Look at my desk! It’s a mess! And I was about to write a letter to the princess! What were you doing?!
Spike’s ears soon drooped as he looked at the ground in shame. 
“I’m sorry, Twilight,” he said. “It’s just that it’s Hearts and Hooves Day and I was making a special something.”
“Let me guess,” said Twilight, still angry. “You were making a big card for Rarity.”
“No, actually it was for…” Spike started before Twilight cut him off. 
“I don’t want to hear it! I don’t care how great your card is! You ruined my desk!”
“I’m sorry, Twi,” Spike said for a second time. “I’ll clean it all up.”
“No,” Twilight snapped. “I think you’ve done enough. I’ll clean it myself. Just get out of my sight.”
“But Twi…”
“I said leave!”
Spike just stood still in shock. He had never seen Twilight so angry before, especially at him. He soon started to feel tears forming in his eyes. And before Twilight could see him cry, Spike ran upstairs to the bedroom. 
Twilight used her magic to pick up all of the bits of construction paper and put them in a nearby waste paper basket. She then went into the kitchen, placed a bucket in the sink and filled it up with water that she would use to clean up the glue and glitter. 
Twilight was just about to leave the kitchen when she saw something on the table. She went up to it and saw that it was a bunch of pages of red construction paper glued together like a book. In the middle of the front page was a big red heart with bits of glitter sprinkled around it. Twilight soon realized that this was what Spike was working on and even though she thought he did a good job on it, she was still a bit mad that Spike made such a mess in order to make it. That is until she saw what was written inside the middle of the heart. Twilight was expecting to see Rarity’s name on it, but instead the heart said TO TWILIGHT. 
Twilight flipped the book open and saw that the first page was a letter which read. 

Dear Twilight, 
Since today is Hearts and Hooves Day, I decided to make a little something for you to show you that whether or not you have a special somepony to spend the day with, you will always be special to me. 
Love, your #1 assistant and close friend,
-Spike. 

Twilight flipped through the rest of pages of the book and was amazed at what she saw. Each page was filled with photos of Twilight and Spike doing things together over the years. There was one of Twilight holding onto Spike when he was a baby and feeding him a bottle and one of Spike sitting in a high chair while Twilight fed him a spoonful of crushed gems. There was a photo of Spike snuggling up next to Twilight as she read him a story, one of a teary eyed Spike with a scrap on his knee and Twilight kissing it better and one that took place during the Nightmare Night festival that showed Twilight and Spike bobbing for apples with Princess Luna. The final photo showed Spike and Twilight sharing a big hug with each other.  
A small smile appeared on Twilight’s face. She was so touched that Spike had done something so thoughtful for her. But that smile soon disappeared when Twilight was reminded of how mean she was Spike just now. She felt terribly guilty over how she treated her little dragon friend. He had worked so hard on his gift for her and she just yelled at him. Twilight knew that she had to go to Spike and apologize. She just hoped that he wasn’t too upset with her. 
Twilight made her way upstairs to the bedroom and her heart simply broke at what she saw.  Spike was sitting on top of Twilight’s bed with small tears dripping from his eyes while Owlowiscious sat beside him and gently rubbed his back with his wing. When the owl saw Twilight, he could tell by the look on her face that she wanted to talk to Spike, so he gave Twilight a small nod before flying off and resting on his perch. 
Spike looked up and saw Twilight staring back at him. Neither of them said anything for a second until Spike finally spoke. 
“I’m really sorry, Twilight. I didn’t mean to make a mess.”
And before Spike could say anything else, Twilight ran up to him and embraced him in a tight hug. 
“No, Spike. You don’t have to apologize for anything,” she said. “I’m one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have been so angry with you.”
Spike looked at Twilight and saw that she was getting teary-eyed. 
“Do you really mean that?” he asked. 
Twilight slowly nodded her head before talking again. 
“I had no right to yell at you like that. You were only trying to make me something nice. I saw the little photo album you made.” 
“Did you like it?”
“I loved it. It was the most thoughtful gift I have ever gotten.”
Spike soon smiled after hearing what Twilight said and soon returned her hug. 
“Thanks, Twilight. That means a lot.”
The two just stood in the room hugging each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then Twilight let go of the embrace, wiped the tears from her eyes, and smiled at Spike. 
“I want to make it up to you though,” she said. “How about I take you down to Sugarcube Corner? Pinkie Pie told me that she baked a bunch of fresh heart shape cookies for this day. My treat.”
“Sounds great,” said Spike as he jumped off the bed. 
Before they left, Twilight saw that Spike still had some glitter stuck to his belly. 
“Let’s get you cleaned up first.”
Twilight then used her magic to lift up a nearby feather duster which she used to clean the glitter off of Spike.
As soon as the duster touched him, Spike went into a big giggle fit. 
“Hey! Twilight cut it out! That tickles!”
Twilight found Spike’s laugh to be quite contagious because she started giggling as well. When she finally put the duster away, she could see Spike looking at him with a mischievous grin on his face. 
“Two can play that game,” he said. 
“Don’t you dare,” said Twilight. 
Spike then pounced right onto Twilight, causing her land on her back, and he began to viciously tickle her belly, causing to Twilight to laugh hysterically. 
“Spike, stop! Please! I give! Uncle!” 
Spike stopped his tickle attack and smiled at Twilight, who couldn’t help but smile back, and the two shared another hug. Twilight couldn’t help but feel proud that she had such a loving and caring dragon for a friend. 
“I love you, Spike.”
“I love you too, Twilight.”