//------------------------------//
// What am I to You 
// Story: What am I to You? 
// by Yosh-E-O 
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	Spike, the ‘baby’ dragon, was going about mopping the main hall of the Castle of Friendship when a very exhausted Princess Twilight Sparkle entered into the room.
“Twilight!” cheered Spike.  “How did everything go on your friendship mission?”

The purple alicorn worked to keep herself on her feet as she met up with Spike.
“Good,” she yawned.  “But not much pancake.”
“What?” asked Spike.
“Baltimare’s good,” she replied.  “Need sleep.”

Spike had really hoped to have had an opportunity to talk with Twilight about what had happened on her friendship mission.  However, he knew getting her to bed was what she needed most.

***
Once Spike got Twilight tucked into bed, he returned to his chores.  The only sounds heard were those of his mop swishing about the floor along with the occasional flapping and hooting of Owlowiscious.
“I really wish I could spend more time with Twilight,” said Spike.  “Time that doesn’t involve books, research, chores, or going through checklists.”

The purple dragon kept at his work until the main hall’s floor had a perfect shine.
“Done,” he sighed while wringing out the dirty mop one last time before dumping out all the dirty water.

Spike felt quite dirty as he finished putting away his cleaning supplies and tossing his apron into the wash.
“I should draw a bath,” he said with a yawn.

The green-bellied dragon groggily made his way to one of the castle’s many bathrooms.  Along the way he thought of how nice it would be if Twilight would’ve been the one taking him to get his bath.  How it must feel to have that mother-and-son bond that would help soothe him beyond any amount of time spent in a tub filled with warm, bubbly water.

Spike went through the motions of bathing himself.  All the while he felt very lonely.  
“Did Twilight ever help bathe me?” he asked.  “Did she ever spend time with me to make sure I washed behind my ears?”

The young dragon finished his bath a lot earlier than he normally did.  It just didn’t feel right to spend seven hours alone in a tub.  He could nap, but that really didn’t seem right.  It wasn’t what his heart wanted.  
“I want,” he sighed while draining the tub.  “Someone to take care of me.”

***
Spike returned to his room.  He felt very cold after having just spent thirty minutes in scalding hot water.  This only made the emptiness of the room feel worse.
“Mommy,” he said while looking at the picture Luna had brought to his attention a few nights before.  Seeing himself surrounded by those he felt were like family while Twilight looked down upon his newly hatched self with a smile brought a tear to his eye.
“I have to know,” he sniffled as he rubbed a claw around Twilight’s form in the rocking chair.  “Am I Twilight’s son?  Does she see me as her child?  Or am I truly nothing more than her assistant?”

The green-eyed dragon grabbed his pillow, blanket, and the picture before leaving his room and heading towards Twilight’s bedroom.  Inside, he heard her muttering in her sleep something about counter spells and apples.
Spike looked down at the picture.
“I’ve got to do this,” he said softly.  “I’ve got to know.”
The young dragon placed the picture on the nightstand nearest to where Twilight was resting.  He then tip-toed to the other side of the bed, slid up his pillow and blanket, and carefully pulled himself up alongside the purple alicorn.

***
Spike found it hard to rest as he lay mere feet away from the Princess of Friendship.
“Perhaps…?” he thought aloud softly as he moved closer to Twilight.  

Twilight didn’t budge.  However, Spike could now more clearly hear her breathing.  
“Do I…?” he nervously asked himself while lifting away some of Twilight’s blanket.
THWUMP
Spike held back a shriek of fear as Twilight suddenly rolled over.  Her hooves reaching out as she let out an exhausted moan.

Spike watched as Twilight’s chest went in-and-out as she breathed in-and-out.  The way her hooves were placed would make it so easy for him to just slip under one.  
“It’d be like…,” he thought as his heart started pounding.  “Like she was holding me.”

The young dragon trembled from head-to-toe.  Everything in him wanted to have his ‘mommy’s’ front hooves on his body while he felt the natural warmth that came from her furry coat.
“Would she...?” he wondered.  “Would it be…?”
Spike thought more on the picture.  The image of him in pink pajamas as Twilight smiled so warmly down upon him.
“I must,” he said while pulling his pillow as close as he could before expertly maneuvering himself in between Twilight’s front hooves.
“Hmm,” moaned Twilight in her sleep.  It wasn’t an unhappy moan, or one of discomfort.  It was one that sounded like she would normally make when she’d take the briefest of moments to give him a hug of support while they were going about their daily duties.

As Spike worked to get himself as comfortable as possible, he couldn’t help but notice how he was starting to feel very soothed.  
THA-THUMP
THA-THUMP
Spike soon realized he was hearing Twilight’s heartbeat.  It sounded so relaxing.  So welcoming.
He then began to feel Twilight’s body heat as her furry chest gently pushed into him with each breath.  
“Mommy,” he mumbled before finding himself quickly brought to slumber.

***
Twilight awoke in the middle of the night.  She was very warm and felt like she had a really stiff pillow between her hooves.
“Huh?” she asked while raising her one hoof and finding that her other was being more firmly held down.
“Spike?” she asked upon noticing the young dragon resting peacefully with his arms and legs wrapped around her leg.

Twilight didn’t remember much of what happened after she got back from her friendship mission.  Perhaps Spike had again worked himself so hard that he fell asleep after helping her to bed?
“Oh, Spike,” she said softly while using her magic to lift him up.  It was at this point she noticed that his beloved, blue blanket and his pillow were also in her bed.
“Spike…?” she asked quietly.  Was he sleeping in her bed when she was gone?

Twilight was feeling far too tired to worry about how Spike’s blanket, pillow, and the young dragon himself were in her bed.
With a yawn, Twilight wrapped Spike up in his blanket and raised his pillow to his head.
“D’aww,” she cooed.  Something about Spike all wrapped up in his blue blanket with the facial expression he had on his face made her feel something.  She couldn’t explain it, but it felt familiar.
Spike yawned and stuck his claw into his mouth.
“So much for no longer sucking your claw at night,” the Princess giggled.  She then lowered the young dragon back down onto her bed.
“I’ll take you back to your room after I-” 

Twilight stopped in mid sentence as her eyes caught a picture she wasn’t familiar with sitting on her nightstand.
“What’s this?” she asked while magically bringing the picture in front of her face.  She then cast a light spell that illuminated the image before her.
“I…,” she said with surprise.  “I remember this.”

Twilight took in the image.  The picture of Celestia smiling down at her while she rocked an infant Spike in a rocking chair as her brother, Shining Armor, and his girlfriend, Cadence, admired the marvel that Twilight now held in her lap and hooves.
“Ah, Spike,” she smiled while admiring how he had his claw in his mouth in the image.  She then lowered the image to see that the ‘baby’ dragon looked almost just like he did in the image.

Twilight looked the image very closely.  As she did more memories came into her mind.  Most of which were of those moments she spent with Spike shortly after she started her studies at the School for Gifted Unicorns as Princess Celestia’s prized pupil.
“I couldn’t find any books on raising a baby dragon,” she said.  “And not even Princess Celestia knew what to do since she herself had never been a parent.”

Twilight allowed the memories to surface from deep within her mind.  The more they did the more she started to rethink how she felt about Spike.
“Oh, Spike,” she said as tears formed in her eyes.  “What have I done?”

Twilight thought on how the more she got into her studies, the more she neglected the young dragon.  The only exception was when he would come to her and she’d tell him to find something for her, or showing him how to write.  
“My mom was right,” she said.  “I’m great with books, but not with…  not with…”

Twilight couldn’t finish her own sentence.  She had become too emotional in realizing how she had taken an innocent child and turned him into an accessory.  Spike wasn’t an assistant, or friend.  He was her son.  She hatched him and she raised him until she got too caught up in living up to what she perceived to be Princess Celestia’s expectations.
“It would seem I do still have a lot to learn,” she said while eyeing up Spike.  “And it isn’t anything any book could ever teach me, or any pony for that matter.”

The purple alicorn eyed up a chair in her bedroom.  She magically brought it closer to herself, sat in it, and then levitated the wrapped up Spike onto her lap.
“I love you, Spike,” she said while nuzzling his covered back with her muzzle.  “I know it’s been a long time since I genuinely told you that, but I truly do love you.”

Twilight placed a kiss on Spike’s soft, light-green cheek.
“Momma?” he asked in his sleep as he suckled on his claw.
“That’s right,” said Twilight as she gently rocked herself while rubbing Spike’s covered back.  “Momma’s here, Spike.”

It wasn’t long before Twilight, too, succumb to sleep.  Spike comfortably rolled up against her chest to listen to her beating heart while taking in her warmth.  Just as he did when he had first hatched.