The Hard Question
Twilight smiled warmly as she watched the dark night sky, with twinkling stars glowing at her and her friends. She whispered a word of wonder as her gaze followed a bright star, flashing brightly before her eyes and streaming across the sky. It wisked away, then fluttered and faded as its fire burned out.
A huge smile spread farther across Twilight's face and her eyes widened as the shooting star was followed by another, which was followed by two others, more adding on until the whole sky was filled with streaks of light, like streamers falling from the night. Twilight dragged her eyes away from the light show for a moment to gaze at her friends.
Scootaloo was fluttering her wings for balance as she wobbled on Rainbow Dash's head, who was struggling to hold her up with only her neck. She began laughing as Scootaloo started to fall forward, before Dash caught her in her own hooves and they both tumbled to the ground, laughing and smiling warmly at each other like sisters should. SweetieBelle was curled up on the ground, barely resisting the urge to sleep. Rarity had her back to SweetieBelle's, and her neck was turned and tilted to view the sky. Applebloom stood confidently on Applejack's back, and kept pointing to particularly bright stars. Pinkie Pie was bouncing excitedly, and Fluttershy kneeled on the ground with Angel tugging at her hair.
Though it was dark out, soft, warm light fell on all of their bodies, dimming and brightening randomly as the meteors came and went. It reflected off of their manes and pelts, illuminating the scene like the glow of fireflies would do. Twilight smiled, and she felt like tears were about to spill from her face. This is what she thought it felt like to be truly happy. She glanced at the book that lay at her feet, and at the small candle that burned for her to see the letters. She had stopped reading to watch a while ago, and now it lay untouched on the ground in front of her. Spike lay on her back, snoring softly. It was late, and he couldn't stay up.
Twilight turned as she heard the noise of hooves crunching through the grass, and she looked up to see Rarity coming towards her. SweetieBelle was completely asleep now, and Rarity must've gotten up after she had finally given in to slumber. Twilight smiled as Rarity stopped in front of her and sat down, folding her legs under her body and sitting neatly on the grass. She cast a glance at Spike, and then gave a warm but sad smile that confused Twilight.
"Hi, Rarity! Is...everything okay?" Twilight said softly, her voice showing some of the concern she had for her friend. Rarity nodded slowly, and she sighed. Her eyes scanned the ground, moving back and forth from random places before she looked Twilight in the eye and began.
"I'm fine. But are you?" Rarity paused, and Twilight puzzled over what Rarity meant. Rarity stuttered once before starting up again, the sadness creeping slowly back into her voice again. "Twilight, Spike surely had grown some these past years. Even now he can barely fit onto your back." Twilight nodded slowly, not completely sure where Rarity was going with this. She looked at Spike, and after truly looking for a moment, she realized that Spike had grown much more than she noticed. Rarity started speaking again. "Twilight, Spike is growing up whether you like it or not. So, I guess the question is.."
Rarity shifted and stared at her hooves for a moment, going through the words in her mind before speaking them out loud. "So the question is... what will you do?" Twilight's mouth opened slightly at the question, and Rarity decided to elaborate. "I mean, what will happen when Spike grows as large as the other dragons? How will he fit in the library?"
Twilight thought for a moment, and then replied simply, "You don't have to worry. It will never be a problem for him or me." Twilight said these words, and she instantly began daydreaming of the future, of Spike and her, and she left Rarity thinking about her response.
Twilight laid on her stomach, reading a shorter book with a cup of coffee beside her, with steam slowly rising off of the hot liquid. A scroll was rolled up next to her, and was sealed, ready for sending. Heat was rolling off the being beside her, and she cast a small glance at Spike, who was slumbering against her body. He was even larger now, and his wings had finally begun to grow out. He couldn't use them yet, but he would soon. He was just slightly shorter than Twilight in length now, and she smiled as he stirred and flipped around.
"Wake up sleepy head," Twilight purred, and Spike grumbled as his eyes slid open. He propped himself up on one elbow and glared silently at Twilight, and she laughed at his grumpiness. "Don't worry, I just need you to send this, and you can go back to sleep."
Spike rolled slowly away from Twilight, and he picked up the scroll in his claws. He flopped onto his back and held his arm straight in front of him, and he blew a quick puff of fire. The scroll was gone the next moment, and Spike curled up to sleep once more.
Twilight lifted her hoof up as she chatted, talking about her friends and the day in a bouncy tone. She quickly ended that discussion, and decided to write her friendship report for the day. She leaned back against Spike, pinning his wing softly against his scaly body as she began.
"Spike, take a letter," She started. She paused as she felt Spike begin to move his fore arms as he reached for an empty scroll, a quill, and some ink. He had surpassed Twilight in size a couple months ago, and he was now large enough for her to ride on his back. When he stopped shuffling around, Twilight continued her report. "Dear Princess Celestia, today I realized that friends are not something to take for granted. It is surprisingly easy to lose a friend, as I learned today. Don't waste time with petty arguments, and enjoy the time you have with them before something takes them away from you. Don't drive them away yourself. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight waited in a content silence as Spike scribbled down the words she had just spoken. He asked gruffly if she needed to add anything before sending off the letter in a burst of flame.
Twilight giggled as Spike jerked his head wildly around, trying to escape the feather tickling his ear. His wing stretched out over Twilight, and his tail lifted into the air and thumped back down on the ground. He arched his back as the tickling continued, and he snorted as Twilight's magic moved the feather faster.
Spike had grown even larger than before, and Twilight had begun writing the letters because Spike's hands were to large to hold the quill without crushing it. Now she and a few of her friends could ride on his back, and she was about as long as a third of him. Spike took up a little more than half of the front room of the library now, and he was growing rapidly larger. Twilight never even noticed this though, because he was still the little Spike she used to see two years ago. She finally set her quill down as Spike yelled to for her to stop, shaking the whole building with his booming voice. She smiled and laid her head on her hooves as Spike wrapped his tail around her.
"Twilight," he said, "You know I'm getting bigger." Twilight nodded numbly at his words, and she began trying to block out the conversation she didn't want to hear. "Twilight, you can't ignore it," Spike continued, "I'll be too big to live here soon, and I'll have to..." Spike thought better of the situation and closed his mouth as Twilight squeezed her eyes shut and turned away from him. He curled up next to her and sighed.
"Twilight? Are you okay?"
Twilight broke her hazy daydream for a second to look at Rarity. It took her a moment to focus in the dim light. "How...how long was I out for, Rarity? A few hours?" Twilight asked.
"A couple seconds," Rarity said in a suspicious tone.
"Oh, well like I said Rarity," Twilight repeated, "It will never be a problem..."
Twilight didn't finish her sentence before she slipped off to dreamland again.
Twilight sniffed softly and creaked open her eyes for a second. She scanned the library in a dreamy haze, taking in all the books. It was late at night, and all of the lights were out, leaving Twilight and Spike to slumber in darkness. Twilight yawned and smacked her lips together before flipping over onto her belly.
She felt Spike's soft wing cover her completely like a leathery blanket, and she snuggled up close to him in the curve of his body. His tail curled around in front of his body, and his hind leg stood just outside of her body. His head lay on the ground, and he was snoring softly. The tip of his nose nearly touched Twilight's, and she felt tears coming on. This is what she thought it felt like to be truly happy.
Twilight stood outside, craning her neck up in order to see. Spike loomed above her, and she came up to about the hight of Spike's hind leg. Spike was sitting back on his haunches, peering down at Twilight with a sorrowful expression on his faced, mixed with regret and painful love. His wings were suspended half open, and his spiky tail curled up into the air. His eyes were shiny and big, and water seemed as if it were building up, just about to fall down his face.
Twilight choked back her own tears, and looked up to Spike, meeting his eyes. She offered him a warm smile, obviously forced and tinged with grief. They stood there for a moment, savoring their last moment together.
Twilight said subconsciously to Rarity,
"Because one day, eventually...."
Twilight stood still as stone, the tears streaming down her face, forming a small puddle on the ground. She sobbed as she saw her best friend, her assistant, her little brother open his large wings and lift into the sky. He was gone in less than a minute, using his powerful wings to propel him over the mountains faster than Rainbow Dash could manage. The tears dripped down, leaving little darkened streaks of water on Twilight's fur. She couldn't stop the gasps or the little animal noises coming from her as she watched him go. When he was out of sight, she began imagining and reliving all of their memories they had together.
Spike being a dragon for Nightmare Night, always being there, when she first hatched him, how he was the best...
All she could manage now were small shivers and intakes of breath, and she crumpled to the ground. She hunched over and sniffled, and whispered in a tiny voice, "I'll never forget you, Spike. And I'll never stop wishing you hadn't gone."
"Spike will live as a dragon...and fly away..." Twilight finished.
She snapped back into reality in an instant. Rarity was struggling not to cry, and that's when Twilight realized that tears were already spilling down her face. Her eyes were open wide in realization, and her face was blushed. She turned her head slowly to look at the baby dragon sleeping on her back, the precious little dragon that she took for granted. The little brother, her helper, her best friend for life. And she realized right then...that she had to cherish every moment with him before he was gone.
Twilight looked at him, his purple scales and cute baby face. She saw the warm glow of stars shine off of his face, and she smiled as he grinned in his sleep.
Then she closed her eyes and reached her neck forward, to place a small, light kiss on his cheek.