The Castle of Friendship was one of the largest structures in Ponyville, boasting enough space to hold half the town’s population within its crystalline walls. And yet, it was the home for only two of Ponyville’s residents: Spike and Twilight. When they first moved into their new home, they were overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place, as well as the slew of changes that came with it.
One such change for Spike was that for the first time, he had a whole room all to himself. Although he would miss sleeping next to Twilight’s bed in his basket, his room was located right next to Twilight’s. He was a growing dragon, and the extra space and privacy his new room offered more than made up for the altered sleeping arrangements. Best of all, he would not have to worry about Twilight nagging him to stop reading his comics so late into the night.
That still left them with a multitude of rooms to use as they wish. Spike did not need any more space because he already had everything he needed in his room, and he was trying to curb any hoarding habits. Twilight filled a few rooms with the plethora of books she accumulated, and she also dedicated another room for both her science and arcane research experiments. However, even with Twilight’s pursuit of knowledge, there were more than a few rooms that were left bare. There was so much space that they did not know what to do with it all. In truth, there were times when the huge castle felt empty and lonely when it was just the two of them.
But that was how it always had been, just the two of them.
Right from when Spike had been hatched, he had attached himself to Twilight, never leaving her side. He followed her everywhere, staying with her at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, moving to Ponyville, and even journeying all over Equestria for all sorts of friendship adventures. While they now had a bunch of great friends, other than the occasional sleepover, it was still pretty much the two of them at the end of the day.
That is, until Twilight started dating Rainbow.
Soon, Rainbow was over at the castle almost every day, even sleeping overnight more often than not. Eventually, as Twilight and Rainbow’s relationship grew, Rainbow moved into the castle as a permanent resident. With a bit of magic and some remodeling, Twilight had expanded her room to house both her and her marefriend.
Even though it took some time for Spike to adjust to the change, he was glad to have Rainbow around. The castle had become much livelier, and more importantly, Twilight was happy.
Although, there was a period of time where Spike wished it was not so lively at night. Fortunately, some soundproofing spells around Twilight and Rainbow’s room promptly ended his complaints.
They were a happy family of three, albeit an odd one. However, it would not be long after things started to settle down before their family was about to grow yet again.
For the past few weeks, Twilight and Rainbow had been working to grow their unconventional family by adopting. Spike was fully behind the idea when Twilight and Rainbow first broached the subject with him, even before they told him who they were thinking of. It was a filly, and it was not just any filly. It was a filly Spike knew well and was even friends with.
While he had known the filly was an orphan, the topic was hardly, if ever, brought up. Part of the reason was because the filly herself did not really want to talk about it, and with how happy and healthy she looked, there were no real worries or concerns. Of course, when the filly was told who was finally adopting her, she quite literally bounced off the walls with excitement.
After much paperwork, the fated day had arrived, and Twilight and Rainbow went out to finalize the adoption process and then bring home the lucky filly. Spike had stayed at the castle to make sure the new room for his soon-to-be little sister was all ready for her.
It had been busy for the last couple of days, but the other room next to Spike’s had been cleaned and set up in preparation for the filly. Given the familiarity they all had with the filly, the room was decorated with many of her favorite things besides the basic furnishings.
Posters and pennants of various athletic themes were plastered on the walls, but the premiere flying team, The Wonderbolts, were the dominant force. Twilight, being the staunch supporter of education, also managed to sneak in a little of her influence in the room by putting up a picture of some famous researcher, as well as a motivational poster that encouraged more book reading.
The room was also filled with various pictures of the filly with her best friends. There were even a few of the filly with Rainbow, which was no surprise given their relationship even before the whole adoption process began. In time, Spike hoped that they would be able to add some more pictures that would include him and Twilight standing by the filly’s side, and not just in this room.
With Twilight and Rainbow coming home with the filly any minute now, Spike was giving the room one last check, but in truth, he had already done three “last checks” before this one.
Moments ago, he had found out that the anticipation from waiting for his little sister’s arrival was driving him stir-crazy. He had to keep his idle claws busy, even if meant going after that nonexistent dust bunny under the bed. It was a flimsy distraction, but it was a distraction nonetheless. Anything to keep him from thinking too much.
While he was excited that he was going to get a little sister, he was also afraid. He was going to be a big brother, and this was new territory for him. His behavior and actions could very well influence how the filly grew up. He really did not want to let his little sister down, so he did his best to prepare for this day. He talked to Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy on what it was like to be the older sibling. He wrote a letter to Shining Armor, his own big brother, for advice. He even took a page out of Twilight’s book and actually tried to read as many books as he could on the subject and creating a checklist.
Eventually, with so many differing opinions and ideas from all of his sources, Spike was overwhelmed by all the information and almost had a meltdown of Twilight proportions. In the end, Spike discarded all of his findings in favor of the one piece of advice that everypony gave him. Trust his instincts.
He might be a baby dragon, but he was just as capable and mature as any of his friends. He even had quite a bit of experience taking care of a pony, namely Twilight. Besides being Twilight’s assistant, he was kind of also her caretaker. With her obsession with books, Twilight sometimes neglected some of her bodily needs, and Spike had to remind or even help her with them, such as food, sleep, and calls of nature. Yeah, there were a few times when things were not so pretty.
Hopefully, he would not have too much trouble with his little sister. He already knew that the filly was a bit of a troublemaker with her impatience and brashness. There was no doubt that there was also going to be some teasing going around, but years of sarcastic banter with Twilight prepared him well for that. Unfortunately, with Rainbow around, pranks of all kinds were inevitable.
Spike looked up from his room inspection when he suddenly heard the creaking of the front doors opening, followed closely by the sounds of Twilight’s and Rainbow’s voices. But what really drew his attention was a third voice.
His little sister had finally arrived.
Spike scrambled out of the room and down the hall to greet everypony, but just before he exited the hallway into the foyer, he paused. He took a moment to check that his scales were grime-free and that his spines were not out of place. He had to look good for his new sister, after all.
Satisfied with his appearance, Spike took a deep breath and then walked toward the stairs leading down to the castle entrance.
Standing by the doors were Twilight and Rainbow, but Spike’s eyes zeroed in on the orange pegasus filly standing between them. The filly’s magenta-maned head was slowly looking left, right, up, and down, her mouth agape with wonder. Even though she had already visited the castle a couple of times, it was like she was seeing it in a whole new light. She was so wrapped up with taking in the sights, she did not even bother getting off the scooter she was riding on nor take off her blue saddlebags. Eventually, the filly’s attention went up the stairs and stopped right on Spike.
The filly smiled at him.
The knotted feeling that had been present in Spike’s stomach all day faded away as he gazed upon his new sister, and a huge smile of his own blossomed on his face. He was now officially a big brother, and he knew the perfect words to commemorate the occasion.
“Hi, Scootaloo. Welcome home.”