Sunrise came. Two hours later, Spike stretched and got out of bed. Two seconds after that, be began to panic.
"Twilight!" he shouted, dashing through the crystal corridors. He threw open door after door, his racing heart rising and falling with each empty room. She had to be here somewhere. She must have come home late and forgotten to wake him in time to plan for the day, and then secluded herself deep within the palace for some early morning study. Spike's legs began to shake. His lungs burned. He could feel his eyes begin to bulge. She had to be here. Somewhere. "TWILIGHT!"
He hadn't meant to yell so loud when he threw open the library door, but he couldn't help himself. Twilight Sparkle stared at him, a quill held in her magic, and three books frozen halfway between her and their respective bookshelves. "Good morning," she said, a look of mild surprise on her face. "Everything OK?"
Spike took a moment to catch his breath. "Yeah," he panted.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. The book began moving again. "You sure?"
Spike's face felt uncomfortably warm. "It's just—I saw that it was late, and I thought..."
Twilight's bemusement broke in a smile. "Oh, Spike." She levitated a cushion beside her, and Spike sat down. "I was just working on a project for Princess Celestia, and I thought I'd let you sleep in."
"Really?" Spike fiddled with his claws. "What kind of project?"
"Oh, just compiling some historical documents," Twilight answered, gesturing toward a pile of deteriorating books beside her. Two more like them lay on the table in front of her. "They were in the package she sent from Canterlot yesterday."
"Should I start sorting them by date?" Spike asked, making his way over to the pile. "Or maybe by location? Or—"
"No!" Spike heard a familiar shimmering sound and felt his body freeze mid-step. A moment passed, and the magical hold faded. "I mean, no thanks," Twilight said with a blush. "They're just.... They're very fragile, and I'd rather sort them myself."
"Oh." A moment passed. "So you didn't want my help?"
Twilight looked over at him. "Well.... It's not that," she said. She cleared her throat. Her stomach rumbled. "I'd really like some breakfast," she said, a little quicker than she needed to. "These books are delicate and hard to read, and I'm going to need my strength to sort through them."
"You got it!" Spike flashed a thumbs-up and headed toward the door.
"Take your time," Twilight's voice called after him. Her quill began moving again. She sighed. That was close.
After breakfast, Spike set himself to cleaning the castle, seeing as Twilight was engrossed in her studies. A part of him wished he could help her with her research, but it wasn't uncommon for her to pursue topics alone, particularly when she knew they would bore him. And pony history was one topic that held little interest.
He began in the map room, carefully sweeping the edges of the room where dust had started to gather. Next, he wiped down the thrones and table, then dusted the tapestries before giving the whole room a fresh sweep. It wasn't polished, per se, but he was proud of the marked improvement he had made.
The effort made him hungry, so he decided to take a snack break.
He could hear Twilight muttering behind the library door as he walked past with broom in hand. He paused to listen, curiosity overpowering his hunger for the moment. Most of it was indistinct, but he heard mention of relics, pony tribes and a castle ruins. The castle in the Everfree Forest? Or something to do with the founding of Equestria? He shrugged and kept walking. Twilight would call when she needed him. Until then, he could keep himself busy.
Upon arriving in the kitchen, he discovered his supply of gemstones was running low. He crammed a ruby into his mouth and headed for the library to ask Twilight for a few spending bits. Her muttering had ceased when he got back to the door, and he gently pushed it open. "Twilight?"
He was only able to catch a glimpse of the papers strewn about the room before Twilight's face blocked his view. "Spike! Uh, is something wrong?"
Spike raised an eyebrow. "No," he said slowly. "I just noticed we're low on gemstones, and I thought I'd go get some more."
"Oh." Again, Twilight blushed and cleared her throat. "Right. That sounds good."
"Yeah." Spike tried to peek around her, but he had no luck. "How's everything going?"
"Oh, fine," Twilight said in her on-edge tone. "Everything's a bit messy right now. Probably best if you stay outside for now."
Spike nodded, unconvinced. "OK, then. I'll see you later."
"Later!" The door snapped shut, leaving Spike alone in the corridor. She had forgotten to give him any bits.
It was a pleasant day in Ponyville, but Spike couldn't shake the dark cloud that had settled over him. He purchased enough gemstones to last him the week, but he didn't feel much like going home, so he decided to make a stop at Carousel Boutique. The store was empty when he entered, and Rarity called from her workroom, informing him she's be out in a minute.
Spike glanced over Rarity's latest designs. Normally, he would have been fascinated by her skillful craftsmanship, but even that was muffled by his uneasiness. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique!" Rarity said as she entered the storefront, a measuring tape around her neck. "How may I assist—oh! Hello, Spike."
"Hey," he answered, tapping his claws together. Now that he was here, he wasn't sure what to say. "Uh, how are you?"
"Busy, as usual," she said, "but I always have time to chat with a friend. How are you?"
"OK, I guess."
Rarity frowned. "Are you sure, dear? You sound troubled."
Spike sighed. "Well, Twilight's been working on this project all morning, and, well, she doesn't really want me to help."
Rarity nodded and walked closer. "I see. Maybe she'll need your help later?"
Spike shook his head, staring at the floor. "I don't think so. It's something for Princess Celestia, and she's being really secretive about it."
"Hmm." Rarity tapped her chin with a hoof. "Well, if you're certain Twilight wants to be alone, would you mind helping me around the boutique?"
Spike looked up at her. Her smile told him she meant it. "You mean it?"
"Oh, absolutely, darling," Rarity replied, rubbing his head in a way that made him blush. "I'm always happy to borrow Twilight's number one assistant."
"Great!" Spike set his things out of the way and followed Rarity to her workroom. "What do you need?"
The two spent a pleasant hour keeping each other company while Spike fetched gemstones and patterns for her latest projects. Their conversation meandered from Rarity gushing about her successes in Manehattan to the latest news from the Crystal Empire. Rarity eventually had to excuse herself to help some customers, and Spike left the boutique with spirits lifted.
Spike had to duck under a flying scroll the moment he opened the door.
The library was a mess. This, by itself, wasn't especially concerning. Spike knew Twilight's mid-study organizational system typically looked like chaos to an outside observer. Twilight still sat at the table, her copious notes now outnumbering her materials by a wide margin. Books from her own collection mingled with maps and diagrams pinned along the walls, with strings connecting seemingly unrelated items—a scene from the traditional Hearth's Warming pageant linked to a map of Everfree Forest, or illustrations of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies arranged in geometric shapes.
Before he could speak a word, Twilight tore the paper she was writing on out from a jumble of scrolls and peered around at her work. The paper in question had been marked with three circles, one inside another, along with scribbles he couldn't read from this distance. "This is the key," she muttered as she fastened the paper to the wall and linked it to what looked like the floor plan of a castle and an artistic interpretation of Clover the Clever, Pansy and Smart Cookie. "Yes..."
"Uh," Spike said.
He meant to follow it up with a question, but Twilight yelled at the sound of his voice. "Ahh! Spike!" She began to take deep breaths to combat her sudden hyperventilation. "You startled me."
"I noticed," he said, hesitating at the threshold. "How's everything going?"
"Fine, fine." He didn't appreciate Twilight's dismissive gesture, but she kept talking before he could protest. "Listen, I need you to do something for me."
Spike brightened at this. "What is it?"
"Princess Celestia is sending a few more records. They should arrive at the train station around sunset," Twilight said. "I need you to pick them up for me."
"Sure," Spike replied, "but I thought you wanted to handle all these old books yourself."
"I would, but I'm not going to be here when they arrive," Twilight answered as she stood and began gathering some of her notes in a neat pile on the table.
"Where are you going?"
"The old castle in the Everfree Forest." The notes were tucked into her saddle bag, which she placed on her back. "You can just leave them..." She paused, then cleared a space near the door. "There. I'll be back tonight to look them over."
Spike felt a little less bright than he had a moment ago. "Yeah. I can do that."
"Thank you." Twilight carefully stepped her way through her research and joined him in the corridor, closing the door behind her. "I really appreciate what you did in the map room."
Spike blushed. "Oh, it was no big deal."
Twilight smiled. "Listen, I'm sorry I've been a little on edge today. This project is a pretty big deal, and I just want to make sure nothing goes wrong."
"It's OK," Spike said. "I understand. Besides, I'm not a big fan of history."
Twilight frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well, some of those drawings looked like they were from the Hearth's Warming pageant, so I assumed..." Spike's voice trailed off.
"Oh. Yeah. You probably would have been bored." Twilight coughed. Spike was beginning to grow suspicious of how much she'd been doing that lately, but he said nothing as the two made their way to the front door. "Don't forget. Train station at sunset," she said.
"Sunset. Got it."
Twilight nodded and gave him a smile. Then she opened her wings and shot into the sky.