The room felt so empty and silent after Celestia left.
I sat by the window for a while, watching ponies hurry along Canterlot’s streets so far below. My adventure was just about over. It turns out I didn’t have to walk to the edge of Equestria and beyond to find my family. The trip gave me some answers and experience, but most of all it gave me a greater appreciation for what was right in front of me.
I picked up the quill and parchment on the windowsill. Celestia had already started the letter for me with “Dear Mom,” and insisted that I write as often as I felt like. I touched the quill to the paper briefly, noting the black dot it left behind. Writing a letter wasn’t quite the same without Twilight or some other pony dictating the words. I took a deep breath and started to write.
I feel different now. I’m pretty sure it’s a ‘better’ different, but it’s all so new it’s too hard to tell. I think I had it all wrong when I was talking about not being a dragon anymore, and not being a pony. I’m both. I’ve got some dragon in me, and some pony too. I’m unique, and that’s okay because I’ve got you, Twilight, and Luna as my family. I couldn’t ask for a better one! I’ll write again soon.
Love, Spike.
My quill hovered over those last two words. They belonged there, of that I was certain.
I rolled up the letter and tucked it into one of the few serviceable pockets on my bag. I’d send the letter later in the day, hopefully while Celestia was having lunch. That way she could read it right away without interrupting anything, and maybe even write back. The thought of reading her reply was almost as exciting as the thought of going home.
I threw the bag on my shoulder and smiled. I didn’t feel the same, and I never would. Being happy didn’t mean I had to forget everything that happened; I just had to be able to deal with it. With Twilight and Celestia helping me, that’d never be a problem.
As I turned to leave, a series of horizontal lines on the wall caught my attention. I stepped closer and peered at the scribbly writing. Twilight would be so embarrassed to see how messy her fillyhood penmanship was. She’d drawn the lines with chalk, after Celestia told her that she could of course. Each line was labeled, and as my gaze traveled up the wall, all the way to my present height, the penmanship improved dramatically.
I started at the bottom and read my way up. “Spike, Age - 12 Moons. Spike, Age - 24 Moons. Spike, Age - 36 Moons…”
The lines did more than chart my growth. I’d been too young to notice, and Twilight probably wrote it off as me waiting on a growth spurt, but the lines weren’t spaced evenly. The jump between twelve moons and twenty four moons was nearly a quarter of my height. The next jump was smaller, and the next one smaller still. By the time the lines came up to my forehead, Twilight had had to get inventive to make her writing small enough. The last line was barely distinguishable from the previous three. My growth had been slowing down all along, and not just because I wasn’t a baby anymore. My present height is where everything stopped, probably for good.
I retrieved the chalk that Twilight had left on a nearby table and made a new line to the right of the growth chart, perfectly aligned with the last time Twilight had measured me, but far enough away to preserve her careful record keeping. I lifted the chalk off the end of the line, and labeled it appropriately: “Spike.”
---
I took my time heading back home, which might’ve just been me being nervous again. I bought a ticket for the last train of the day and whiled away the afternoon in some of my old Canterlot haunts. I would’ve bought my friends presents if I’d had enough gems; I'd barely been able to cover the train ticket.
Most evenings in Ponyville are pretty quiet. When the busy day ends, Ponyville ponies go home, eat dinner, and go to bed. Walking down the empty streets, my path lit by warm window lights, couldn’t have been more different from my nightmare.
Something still felt wrong. Even at a distance I could tell Twilight wasn’t home. No light, not even a single handle, flickered in the library windows. Where could she be at this hour?
A quick walk around town provided the answer. Familiar laughter emanated from Rarity’s boutique, the sound of my friends having a good time. Meeting them all at a party meant I wouldn’t get the quiet reunion with Twilight that I’d been expecting, but getting to see all my best friends at once would be just as good.
I walked up to the door and knocked. The voices inside quieted down, and hoofsteps approached the door. For a moment I started to panic. What would I say? I’d definitely been gone longer than anyone expected, but I couldn’t tell them the whole sad story in the middle of a party.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, Spike: focus! This is Rarity’s place, so she’s probably going to answer the door. Just play it cool. You’re great friends and you always will be. You’re great friends and—”
And then the door flew open. Rarity walked towards me and, without a word, gave me a hug that seemed to go on for minutes, minutes worth more than all the kisses in the world. The fire ruby I’d given her so long ago, the one she’d turned into a necklace, was pressed between us. All of my self-imposed notions of us never being more than friends had never sounded so absurd.
“Welcome home, Spikey-Wikey.”
Eventually my arms unfroze, and I returned the hug. “H-hi, Rarity. Sorry I’ve been gone so—”
“Sssh, not another word. Princess Celestia informed us that you were coming, and at this point there’s only one fitting way to welcome you back home.”
“Huh?”
She nudged me across the threshold and into the midst of a deserted party scene. The front room of the boutique looked more like Sugarcube Corner. The only thing missing was all of my friends. “What’s going—”
Ponies burst out of hiding all around me, shouting two words: “Happy Birthday!”
Confetti flew everywhere, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hoisted a banner into the air. I read the two words on it again and again. “Happy Birthday?”
Pinkie gave me a hug that made it hard to breathe. “Well, more like ‘Happy Birthday Plus Two Days Because You Weren’t Back Yet And Sugarcube Corner Is Booked Tonight And The Library Is A Mess!’ ”
I did my best to nod.
The second Pinkie released me, Twilight took her place. “I’m so happy to see you, Spike! How was… Never mind. That can wait. Tonight is all about you being back home where you belong!”
I laughed. “That sounds great! What did Princess Celestia tell you, anyway?”
“Just that you were coming home tonight, and that you’d really like to have some quality time with your friends.”
Applejack hugged me next. She twisted her hoof against my forehead and laughed. “ ’Bout time, Spike. Puttin’ up with all these worrywarts is—”
Rainbow Dash appeared overhead and pressed Applejack’s hat over her eyes. “Hey, I wasn’t worried! There’s no stopping this dragon.” Her nod of approval told me everything I needed to know: we were cool. There weren’t any hard feelings. “So, Spike, are you ready to rock this birthday party?”
I grinned. “More than ever.”