A young Spike smiled, sitting upon the balcony of The Golden Oaks Library. The sun had been warming the wood planks he sat upon through out the day, his claws traced the grooves in the wood. It was late in the afternoon, Celestia's sun barely peaking from behind the horizon with the dark of the sky playing it out.
The balcony looked over the town's marketplace, young emerald eyes watching as the towns shops packet up and closed their stands.
A cool breeze blew past the young drake, a shiver flowing through him and bringing surprise. Almost in that instant he felt the warmth of a blanket layed across his small shoulders. He smiled, embracing the blanket's warmth as Twilight joined beside him with a book.
"Why am I never surprised to find you up here?" She said with a furrowed brow, a smile on her face.
Spike smirked. "Because I always watch the sunset and always forget to bring a blanket?" As the lavender librarian laid beside him, he fell against the warm comfort of her side. Twilight giggled as the drake got comfortable beside her. "Did you get everything patched up between Dash and AJ?"
Twilight sighed, opening her book. "Yes. Those two can be so stubborn at times." She pointed a hoof at one of the pictures within, it illustrating the two before mentioned mares eyeing each other down besides a finish line. "They raced around two Celestia knows how many times before I finally sat them down and got them to make nice."
Spike giggled. "What are you, their mom?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "I might as well be, Spike."
"Well, you do have that mom personality at times." He said, rolling over to face the unicorn. "At least with me, does that make you my mom?"
Twilight pondered this, raising a hoof to her chin. "Hmm...I guess so." She smiled.
Spike laughed, pointing a claw at Twilight. "Ha, you're a mom."
"Your mom." Twilight grinned, poking a hoof into Spike's abdomen and causing him to giggle. "I don't mind that, actually. Never really had time to think about having foals in the future..." She turned to the sky, darkening now that the sun had fully retired, leaving the sky in the night's hooves. "I've only just realized I have the coolest son ever."
Spike groaned playfully, waving a claw. "Wow don't get all mushy, Twi."
"Aw." Twilight pouted, with a hint of amusement. "Do you not like mushy?"
Spike slapped a claw over his face, a smile creeping onto his face. "No. Stop."
Twilight laughed, pulling the drake closer and wrapping the blanket around both of them. Eventually, Spike drifted off to sleep whilst wrapped in his play mother's embrace.
----
Spike sighed, his eyes scanning the mirror before him as he stood in Rarity's bathroom. His scales had roughen and grown over the years. He extended a claws and trace his more ridged jaw line and grinned, the confidence in his appearance growing inside and inflaming his ego.
But it deflated, like a lung exhaling air and another sigh dragging past his lips. Something wasn't right, and has been that way for awhile. It couldn't have been that big, he would sometimes find himself thinking. Him and Rarity couldn't be better than ever. She was happy, which in turn made him happy.
But for as much as he loved that mare, for everytime her deep blue eyes meet his and sent his heart into back flips, for every moment he spent with her in his arms, for every bliss filled night laying by her side...
...there was a hole he knew he left open by walking out of that library without as much of a word.
He gripped the sides of the sink in an instant, his muscles tensing as a flame of anger formed a small pit in his chest. He was wrong, so wrong. And he knew it, he knew it to fullest, and he knew that he didn't hold the courage to walk back and face her.
His emerald gaze met the reflection once more, the sides of his mouth beginning to hurt. The disappointment fairly visible. A shuttering sigh left him as knocks sounded at the bathroom door.
"Spike, darling!" Rarity's voice chimed in. "I'm off to the market!...Spike?"
Spike stayed silent for a moment, before turning to open the door to face his beloved.
"Dear, are you alright?" Rarity asked, seeing the crestfallen expression on her love's face bring out concern. She reached out with a hoof to Spike's chin, lifting so that his eyes met hers.
"I..I'm alright." He said, fighting his way to meet her gaze. "I was just about to head out too."
"Oh, well do you want to come with me?" Rarity asked, a smile on her face. "It can get awfully lonely at the market without my Spikey-Wikey."
Spike grinned, grasping the hoof at his chin softly in his claws. "Of course, let me just...uh, freshen myself up a bit."
Rarity smiled brighter, leaning in a pecking her drake on the cheek. "Okay, darling. I'll be in the living room."
Spike watched as Rarity turned away and walked away, eventually hearing her transcend down stairs. His head dipped, turning back towards the sink and turning the knobs. He splashed water into his face, shivering at the sudden cool liquid meeting his scales. Turning the knobs again to cease the water's flow, he turned to the towel rack and wiped his face with one of the towels hanging.
"I'll make it right." He said aloud, but meant it to himself. "Just...give me time."
----
Her bedroom balcony doors had creaked open, a chill filling the room. The soft, distant sounds of flapping wings grew less distant and then ceased. Sounds of hooves hitting wood whispered just outside and crept into the room, the balcony doors creaking as they were pushed open.
Pages littered the floor beside the bed, the night's wind must have blown them off the nightstand. A slow breathing form laid beneath the covers as the soft moving figure approached the bed.
The pegasus gazed around the room, a basket of baked goods hung from her mouth. She took note of how cold the floor was, almost as if the balcony doors had opened during the night.
Now worried, she saw the sleeping form shaking and stirring. The pegasus set the basket on the ground and turned to close the doors, gently so she didn't wake the sleeping pony.
"Ugh..." She heard suddenly, leaving her frozen in her tracks. The noise was followed by subtle movements, but they soon settled and her standing ears were greeted with light snores.
Content with this, the pegasus sighed with relief. She walked back towards the bed and reached into the basket, pulling out a glass cup, a small bottle of orange juice, a muffin, a bagel, and placed the items on the nightstand by the bed.
She walked over to the other side and with shaking anxious hooves, lifted the blanket slightly, revealing the sleeping form. Twilight Sparkle's nose scrunched up and her eyebrows furrowed, her hooves jutting out weakly. The pegasus couldn't tell if it was from the cold or she was dreaming.
She laid the covers back down over the lavender mare but only up to her neck, leaving her head exposed. Making sure the items were placed just right, the pegasus turned to exit out the balcony before stopping at the foot of the bed.
The pegasus noticed a book laying on the floor beside the bed. She tiptoed over to get a closer look, picking it up in her hooves. She turned to the sleeping Twilight, whose hooves reached out towards the spot where the book laid.
With a smile, the pegasus gently placed the book in Twilight's sleepy grasp. Her smile widened when she saw the unicorn hold the book closer to herself, her shivering ceasing almost immediately and a warm smile grazing her lips.
The pegasus opened the balcony doors and stepped out onto the balcony, making sure they closed behind her before taking off, a stern look on her face.
I'll make this right, Twilight. I promise...