“So you’re Spike…right?” Flash began as they walked down the hallway.
“Um, yeah…” Spike replied nervously. “H-how do you know who I am?”
“Well, there aren’t many other baby dragons around Canterlot…especially not ones with the student of Princess Celestia” Flash chuckled. “I’m Flash Sentry, by the way.”
Glancing back, he realized that Spike’s shorter legs kept him from keeping up with a more athletic, full-grown stallion and paused to give him time to catch up before adopting a slower pace.
“You know I’ve always been kinda interested in dragons and I have few questions I wanted to ask-if you don’t mind.” he added, looking over at Spike.
“Okay, I guess…what did you want to know?”
“How do you do that thing with the letters?” he asked. “I mean, I thought dragon fire was supposed to burn things…does yours work differently or…?”
“Nah, I can still use it to light fires for heat and cooking, but Princess Celestia taught me a special way to use it so Twilight and I could send letters to her whenever we were off running errands for her or if something came up when she wasn’t in Canterlot.” Spike replied.
As they left the guest room area, there were noticeably less guards which made him a little uncomfortable.
“So you’ve fought these Changelings…right?” Spike asked, anxiously wringing his claws as his eyes darted down the hall, as if he were worried one of them would pop out of nowhere and attack.
“Yeah…this past week has been pretty crazy.” Flash sighed before noticing Spike’s apprehension.
“Hey, don’t worry-I’m not about to let anything happen to you.” He reassured him.
“So, what’s your job in Ponyville?” Flash asked, noting that it didn’t work very well with Spike glancing over his shoulder.
At the question, Spike’s chest swelled with pride.
“I’m Twilight’s number one assistant, anything she needs help with-I’m her dragon; cooking, cleaning, writing lists for her, writing lists for those lists, helping her organize, running errands…”
“Wow, that’s quite an impressive résumé for such a little guy…” Flash commented as they approached Twilight’s room.
“Huh…”
“What is it?” Spike asked, nervously.
“Strange…I wonder why there isn’t any stationed here?” Flash commented before pushing the door open.
“I wonder why Twilight didn’t lock the door she left…” Spike murmured as he entered the bedroom, leaving Flash to stand awkwardly in the doorway before Spike turned back to face him.
“Um, Flash…can…can you stay here with me until Twilight gets back?” he asked, nearly whispering as his eyes darting around the room once more in case Changelings had hidden themselves under the bed or in one of the dresser drawers.
“Yeah,” Flash replied as he entered the room and shut the door behind him, he really wouldn’t have felt all that comfortable leaving the kid alone in a room that was completely unguarded with everything else that was going on.
Spike pulled up a wooden stool that he would use to perform some of his duties from back when he and Twilight still lived in Canterlot as sat in it as Flash sat on his haunches directly across from him.
“So is it hard?” Flash asked, “Doing all the things you do for Twilight?”
Spike shrugged.
“Sometimes…but, it’s not like she has me do everything-she can do a lot of things herself like research and note taking-a lot of it is advanced magical stuff, that I don’t really understand. Besides, she’s got Owlowicious to help her with a lot of the stuff she needs when she’s up working late at night.”
“Who?”
“Owlowiscious, he’s Twilight’s pet owl.” Spike replied. “Her night assistant.”
“Does he cook and clean, too?” Flash pressed, causing Spike to snicker.
“No, he mostly just gets books for her.”
At this point, Flash’s expression became serious as he leaned forward and lowered his voice.
“Why did Twilight leave you alone with me-what it she doing that’s so important?”
“W-what do you mean?” Spike stammered.
“Look, with all of these Changelings popping up recently we can’t really be taking any chances when someone display suspicious behavior.” He continued. “So, what is Twilight doing right now?”
“She said that our friend-Rainbow Dash-was acting weird and she wanted to check up on her.”
Flash cocked an eyebrow.
Maybe she suspected Rainbow Dash was a Changeling? But, if that were the case-why didn’t she speak to him or any of the other guards stationed around that area-there were more than a few of them, which than capable of handling a single Changeling. Then again, if she was close friends with Twilight, then she would probably know if anything was off better than any guard.
Flash’s ears perked up as he caught the sound of hooves approaching the bedroom and stood as he moved away from the door, which magically flung open as Twilight entered the room with her head hung.
Spike recognized this look, it wasn’t so much moping as much as it was Twilight contemplating something-though, she did seem a little disturbed.
“Hey, Twilight….is Rainbow Dash okay?” he asked softly.
“Huh?” her head lifted slightly as she turned to face him, as if she had been snapped out of a daydream.
“Oh, yeah….she’s fine…” Twilight replied, as her drifted down towards the floor.
Spike crawled towards the end of the bed and gripped the footboard with his tiny claws, an expression of concern on his face.
“Then why do you look so sad?” he pressed.
“It-it’s nothing…” she sighed.
“Even if that’s true, I still think we should know about it.” Flash commented, causing Twilight to jump.
When she entered the room she didn’t even notice him-in fact, with everything that had been revealed eavesdropping on Rarity and Rainbow Dash-she had completely forgotten that she had even left him with Spike.
“Well, it’s not really any of your business.” She replied, irritably. “I appreciate you looking after Spike, but what I’m dealing with isn’t really something I feel like talking about right now.”
“Look, I’m not trying to pry.” Flash insisted. “But, with all of the Changelings that might be running around I’m afraid that it is the Royal Guard’s business to know what’s going on in case of Changeling infiltration, so we can protect both the castle staff and the citizens of Canterlot.”
“It has nothing to do with Changelings!” Twilight growled.
“That may be,” Flash conceded, approaching her. “But, if there is even the smallest possibility-”
“What goes on in my family is nobody’s business, but our own!” she shouted. “If it’s that important to you-then yes, I will talk to my brother about it-but it’s not your or anyone else in the stupid Guard’s business!”
Flash glared at her before making his way out as Twilight slammed the door behind him.
Spike’s heart was racing, after that outburst he was even more worried about her than before.
Twilight just stood there for a few moments, staring at the door before quietly repeating herself.
“It’s nobody else’s business…”
“Well, you didn’t have to rip his head off…” Spike commented before he could catch himself, fearing a similar verbal backlash.
“I know.” She sighed, slowly making her way around to the other side of the bed before collapsing next to him, her horn only barely missing the footboard.
“It’s just that....this is kind of a private issue and I don’t really want anyone else outside our family knowing about it.” She looked up at him. “Do you remember when I let it slip that you had a crush on Rarity?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, after you guys left I went to listen in on Rainbow and Rarity as planned-and I heard something…something I wish I hadn’t because after I finished listening to their conversation, Rainbow caught me and got mad at me for spying.” Twilight continued.
“And? What happened?” Spike prompted.
“It turns out that she has a crush on Shining Armor and she went to Rarity looking for romantic advice because she’s worried about ruining her ‘tough girl’ image if she’s in a relationship.” She sighed.
“Wow…that’s…wow.”
“Oh, but wait! It gets better! She wants to know what I think about it before she does anything because she’s worried about ruining our friendship.”
“So…what do you think?” Spike asked, cautiously.
“That’s just it!” Twilight exclaimed, throwing her forelegs up, “I don’t know!”
“I mean she’s one of my best friends but, he’s…he’s my brother, it just feels so complicated…and I can’t tell anyone else about it because when they were talking Rainbow said that if Rarity told anyone what they were talking about that their friendship would be over and she would never speak to her again.”
“But, you told me…” Spike pointed out.
“Yes, because this is a family matter-Shining Armor is probably going to find out sooner or later-if he hasn’t picked up on her feelings already and if they do get together, Mom and Dad are probably going to meet her at some point once they’ve been dating for a while…”
“I still don’t get you’re so weirded out by this…I mean, you’ve known about my crush on Rarity almost as long as we’ve been in Ponyville and you didn’t really make a big deal out of that…what makes this any different?”
Twilight averted her gaze.
“Wait a minute!” she exclaimed, jumping up. “That’s it! Spike, you’re a genius! Rarity!”
“Uh, thanks?" he replied. "I’m all for anything to do with Rarity, but how is she going to be able to help?”
“Don’t you see?” Twilight asked, excitedly. “Rainbow had the right idea when she went to Rarity for help, with all of those romance novels she reads and the personal experience she’s had, she probably knows how to deal with these kinds of emotions better than any of us, besides Rainbow already talked to her about this, so I won’t be violating her trust if I get advice from Rarity!”
Twilight then got off the bed as Spike followed suit before turning back to face him.
“Which reminds me; please don’t tell anyone else about this-things are already complicated enough.”
“My lips are sealed-now can we go see Rarity?”
“Alright,” Twilight chuckled, “How about after dinner?”