On a cold winter night
“Twilight…”
Spike cautiously poked Twilight's side, positioning his body in case the mare’s wings slapped his head. When Spike first tried to wake Twilight from her all-night studies with his usual methods, he more often than not had to deal with getting a face full of feathers for his trouble. It took him a few more tries to figure out where to stand, but the work final paid off as he could wake her up and only get whapped two times out of ten.
“Twiiiliiight…”
“nnnuuughh…” the mare in question groaned and waved a hoof in the general direction of the prodding, but without any visual to focus on, it failed to touch anything. The hoof then flopped back down onto the desk and eventually slipped off to dangle in the air. “No, Shiny, no more pie…”
Spike spared a glance toward a nearby window with a sigh, drawing patience from the snowfall outside. After a moment, he cupped his claws over his mouth and raised his voice a few notches higher. “Twilight!”
“Ngh, uh, what?” Twilight groggily blinked and lifted her head off the table. She looked around until her hazy vision settled on Spike’s vague form. “Spike, what are you doing up?”
“I should be asking you the same question,” the dragon huffed, folding his arms over his chest. “I know you feel like you can do even more late-night study sessions than ever thanks to being an alicorn, but don’t you remember what tomorrow is?”
“Tomorrow? Tomorrow is…” Twilight wiped drool off her chin, then glanced around the room. She got as far as seeing the snowfall outside the window before she gasped in realization. “Winter Wrap-Up! It’s tomorrow! I completely forgot about it!”
She looked around nervously, and eventually grinned sheepishly at the dragon. “I guess I got a little too into studying, Spike.”
“I can imagine.” Spike stepped back to let Twilight hop down from her chair and stretch. Though she had only been a princess for a scant few months, Twilight Sparkle had acclimatized to the idea rather well. She still felt self-conscious whenever she saw ponies she knew as friends or acquaintances as a unicorn bow to her now that she was a princess, and she certainly had not been able to fully stop everypony in Ponyville from attempting the motion when they saw her, but at least she had gotten most of Ponyville to stop addressing her as “Princess Twilight” or “Your Highness” whenever she had to buy things.
The two of them put her study books back on the shelves, leaving the ones that went to other rooms in a couple of stacks near the door. After they finished with this room, Spike turned to Twilight with a slight frown. “You know Princess Celestia has been telling you to cut back on these all-nighters,” he began, trying to sound disapproving.
“Yes, Spike, I know,” Twilight said with a yawn, gathering the stacks of books near the door in her magic and trotting out to the main area of the library. “I know the Princess—I mean, Celestia means well for me, and I’m trying not to study so late anymore, but there’s so many topics to look into at night! Besides,” she added, stopping to glance out the window and watch the flecks of snow drift lazily from the sky. Every so often a small gust struck, whipping the snow around in a display of natural wonder. “The weather outside is perfect for reading!”
“I think it’s perfect weather to snuggle in bed and stay warm,” Spike muttered, a comment that earned him a playful nuzzle from Twilight.
“Alright, Spike, how about this? Let’s get these books shelved and then we can go to bed. Deal?”
“You got it!” With a newfound vigor in their steps, the librarian and her assistant made short work of the pile they needed to reshelf. As the snow outside began to abate and eventually stop altogether, the two completed the reshelving and clambered up the steps to their beds. Twilight helped tuck Spike into his basket and, despite his grumblings, gave him a peck on the forehead. She then slid into bed herself and stared out the window as the snowfall receded, transfixed by the swirls outside. However, the drifting of flakes past her window did not give her as much of a soothing effect as she hoped. With a sigh, she began to turn away from the window and carefully tucked herself in.
“Twilight?” Spike’s call from his basket snapped her out of her trance, and she glanced over to see him watching her with a raised eyebrow. “Are you worried?”
“What? No! No, I’m not worried!” Twilight sputtered, her checks flushing. “Why would I be worried about the Wrap-Up? Because I’m not!” She finished with a quick smile that she hoped was reassuring.
“Right,” Spike replied dubiously, keeping a level stare on the princess until the smile faded and Twilight resigned herself to explaining.
“All right, I am a little worried, Spike,” she admitted. “I know I’ve been the organizer for the past three years, but that was when I was a unicorn! Even though I was…Celestia’s student at the time, I never felt like they listened to me because I had some kind of royal authority, but because I was perfect for the role. But, now I can’t help but think that with my ascension to a princess they won’t look at me as ‘Twilight the Team Organizer’ anymore, but as ‘Princess Twilight the Team Organizer’. And then I would feel like being an organizer is now part of my princess duties instead of it being part of something I enjoy doing, and the extra pressure would make me feel, and do, worse!”
“Twilight, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Spike said encouragingly, turning around 180 degrees in the basket to face Twilight. “I know you’ve been worried about being a princess, but you’ve been acting as Team Organizer for three, soon to be four years! Surely the fact that you became a princess won’t get in the way of that.”
“But that’s the thing! I am a princess now!” Twilight objected fretfully. “It’s not like I took over for Mayor Mare! If that were the case it’s almost expected for me to help organize things.”
“But, Twilight, they know all about your ability to organize. By Celestia, I know about your ability,” Spike grimaced as Twilight gave him a reproving glare for that comment, but he pressed on. “My point is that they know about your abilities already. They won’t attach it to your status as a princess if you don’t.”
“Are you sure, Spike?” Twilight asked nervously, her front hooves fidgeting in front of her.
“Positive,” Spike nodded in affirmation. “Now, let’s get some shut-eye for the big day.”
“…Okay, Spike,” Twilight said as she smiled, and the two of them turned over and got comfortable under their blankets.
“Good night, Spike.”
“Good night, Twilight.”
The two of them settled into sleep, ready to see what the next day would bring.
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- WhisperWoods · 17k words · 66 5 · 2.6k views
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Nice story! I love the way you describe things when you write. Keep up the good work!
I want more please
It was really good. I hope you write more!
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Thanks.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
I'm afraid to know the details of Twilight's dream.
But yeah, that was good. It's nice to see you've finally got the courage to post this.
That would make a good introductory chapter to a longer story, if you feel like writing more.
4751797 Admittedly not the reaction I was primarily gunning for (then again, this was less a meaningful story and more something to tell myself "I can do this"), but I like it.
4757015 It depends. Do you like pie?
4760158 Not really. I'm honestly not even sure what else could go past this point beyond a 2nd chapter detailing what happens in the Wrap-Up proper.
4772219
Just a thought. The theme of "Twilight learning how to handle being a princess" hasn't been entirely worn out by fanfic writers yet. Your story doesn't really need anything more as it is. It's just the sort of story that gets people thinking, "What could happen next?" with the Winter Wrap-up being only a sort of background of events through which Twilight's next story is showcased.
Or not.
4772288 It's not a bad idea, but there's...there's just no hooks there that I can use, and I'm not really keen on making up ones when they aren't available.
Like I said, though, it's not a bad idea. But it's not something I plan on following unless I mean to.
And then, right after I post that, my traitorous mind begins concocting semi-plausible theories that begin to fade as soon as write this, but my thoughts stand! My mind shall not object my mind!
4772668
Oh! Ooh! I just LOVE playing with my mental blocks! My parents wouldn't give me any real ones!
4773203 Dude, you don't know how evil mental blocks are! They never play nice!