A Midnight to Remember
Twilight's Castle was quiet, a soft breeze blowing outside in a gentle, midnight wind. All of its occupants in a peaceful sleep, mostly anyway.
Spike the Dragon tossed and turned in his soft bed, groans and whimpered cries passing through his lips as he suffered a nightmare,"...please...Twi..I....you..." He muttered pitifully, tears forming on the brim of his closed eyes, leaking from under his eyelids and flowing down his cheeks like a gentle stream. After a few pained moments of restless sleep, the baby dragon found himself shooting into a sitting position, gasping for breath, "It...it was just a dream...?" He asked nopony in particular as he clutched his blanket firmly in his claws. This wasn't the first time his mind had been plagued with horrible visions of being abandoned by Twilight, but this time was different. He knew he couldn't just leave it be and just try to go back to sleep, he had to talk to Twilight about it, no matter how much his stubborn pride tried to convince him otherwise.
Scooting himself out of bed, he found his small wings drooping at his sides. He had seen it happen to Twilight when she was upset before, though this was rare, as the princess often kept her feelings to herself, wanting to remain as sophisticated and composed as possible, especially in public. Wanting to look composed too, mostly to himself, he forced his wings against his back as he quietly left his room, and walked down the hall toward Twilight Sparkle's room, his tiny claws making a small tapping sound with every step.
Once he reached the bedroom, he reached up and turned the doorknob quietly, and with only slight difficulty, as he was trying to remain silent, creaked the door open.
Stepping inside, he slowly approached the bed, wiped any stray tears from his eyes, and hoisted himself onto the bed using his claws and wings, "T-Twilight?" He whispered, crawling over to the alicorn and tapping her shoulder slightly. Twilight shifted a little, but didn't quite wake up, "Twilight!" He whispered again, though with more force than question as he shook her again, this time with both claws.
This time, Twilight's eyes fluttered open and she rubbed her eyes while yawning, a confused look on her face," Spike? What are you doing up? What time is it?" She asked. Even though she sounded slightly annoyed, the look on her face was genuine with concern.
"I...I had a nightmare..." Spike whispered, looking ashamed. Twilight smiled sympathetically.
"I'm sorry, Spike. Come here," The alicorn replied as she sat up and pulled the young dragon into her hooves, giving him a gentle hug, "Want to tell me about it?"
After a moment, Spike nodded and snuggled closer to the only mother figure he had in his life, "Well...I...I dreamt back to when I first got my wings...you...you told me that since I was grown up, I could survive on my own, and you were sending me away to fend for myself, saying to either live in the forest or move to the Dragon Lands," Twilight sat in shocked silence as she listened to what had been going through the small dragon's mind, "You said that...you no longer needed me...and that you were glad you no longer had to take care of me...and could focus on more important things, now that I was no longer going to be around...I woke up after you, Rarity, and Zecora left me in the woods," Spike said. About halfway through the retelling of his nightmare, fresh tears had begun to roll down his face. Twilight also found herself fighting back tears of her own.
"Spike...I...I'm so sorry you had to go through that, even if it was just a dream," As the princess spoke, she held the dragon closer, rubbing his back rhythmically, "I promise I will never do that to you, though I'm sure you know that. You've always been like my son and I could never let you leave like that. You don't understand how devastated I was when I thought you were going to move out with Sludge...it broke my heart. I honestly thought I was never going to see you again. I love you, Spike, I truly do. You mean more to me than anypony else in the world, and seeing you grow up and mature makes me proud, but it also hurts, because I know I have to take less and less care of you. If it were up to me, I'd keep you a baby dragon forever, but I can't. So I try to spend as much time with you as possible," Spike only hugged Twilight tighter as she spoke, the two silently crying in each other's embrace.
"I love you too, Twilight. I'm scared of growing up too...I don't want to be like other dragons. It feels wrong, but as I grow up, grow wings, get bigger, I grow more and more afraid of the future."
"Don't be Spike, I promise that no matter what happens, no matter how old or how big you get, you'll always be my baby dragon, and I'll always love and care for you like you're my son."
"Thanks, Twi...but it doesn't change the fact I'm legally an orphan. That's why I'm so scared of losing you because then I'll really be orphaned and alone..." Spike sighed while looking down at the mattress, occasionally wiping tears from his eyes.
The alicorn thought about what the dragon had said carefully, before a loving grin spread across her face, "Well...what if I adopted you?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Spike's mouth fell open in shock as he looked up at the mare next to him, "Are...are you serious?"
"Why not? I treat you like my own anyway, and as you said, you're legally an orphan anyway, so there wouldn't be many complications. What do you think?"
"I...I would love that...!" Spike jumped into the princess' hooves, throwing his arms around her neck, burying his face into her mane. Laughing, Twilight returned the embrace, holding the small dragon in her hooves like she would a baby foal.
"Why don't you sleep in here tonight? We'll go to City Hall first thing in the morning," Twilight said as she laid back down, pulling the dragon into a hug, before she draped the blanket over both of them, the two of them quickly drifting off to sleep. Just before he let sleep take him, however, a single thought passed through Spike's mind.
'Thank you for everything, Twilight. I'm so glad you can put up with and care for me, no matter what I do. I love you...momma.'