“I am so super-sorry Spikey,” the pink mare wrapped her forearms around the dragon’s neck.

“It’s okay, Pinkie.” Spike laughed as he pulled away from the hug. Sitting on his hind quarters put him taller than her; he'd hit another growth spurt he was only just shy of being as tall as Big Mac. “So you knew about Rarity and Fancy Pants then?”

“I wanted to tell you, but Rarity made me Pinkie Promise,” Pinkie shuffled nervously.

“It’s okay. I wish she had trusted me enough to tell me herself.” Spike nodded sagely. “But breaking a friends trust is the fastest way to lose a friend–”

“For~~~ever~~~~~” the pink mare finished.

They both laughed. Spike poured another bottle of cider into the two glasses. “For milady!”

“Hay of a way to find out though.” Spike chuckled darkly.

Pinkie Pie held a hoof to her muzzle, trying to stifle the giggle. “Were they really on the fainting couch in the middle of the store?”

“I swear! When I knocked at the door,” Spike blushed furiously, “I thought she yelled out ‘Come in!’”

Spike awoke the next morning feeling extra groggy. He and Pinkie had spent a good deal of the night drinking. They’d moved from Sugarcube Corner to the Parched Saddle, where they’d met Big Mac and Caramel. His memory got fuzzy around the point somepony mentioned hoof-wrestling for the tab. Somehow, Pinkie Pie had beaten them all.

The malevolent sunlight flared through the open curtains, burning away all remaining hopes of sleep. Princess Celestia was no benevolent ruler, she was a tyrant, and her sun scorched all dissidents in her path.

Grumbling, Spike dragged himself from the comfortable bed, careful not to topple any of the piles of books dotting his bedroom. He made his way towards the bathroom, got in the shower and let the warm water flow over his aching body.

Drying himself, he stared at his reflection in the mirror.

“Looking good Spike.” He raked a claw down his muzzle. “Looking real good!”

Truthfully, he didn’t look good. He looked hung over. Which was appropriate, he guessed, given the current pounding in his head. He gargled some mouthwash, and spat it in the sink. Holding his claw to his face, he breathed out and sniffed at his own breath. Not bad, or at least no worse than usual.

“Alright, time for breakfast!”

Spike cracked four eggs into the skillet, and fried them over a low heat with some hay bacon. Buttering a few slices of bread, his hay bacon and egg sandwiches were ready.

“Oh sweet merciful Celestia,” he groaned, as he bit down into the first sandwich. “Forget Zecora’s potions, this is a hangover cure-all!”

Egg yolk dribbled down his claws and onto his forearm.

“No, that won’t do at all!” Checking that no one was watching, he licked the yellow goo from his arm. He loved his foster-sister, but he was glad she was busy in Canterlot. She’d have fussed over him doing something so gross and boyish.

He managed to finish the three other sandwiches without making any more of a mess of himself. He cleaned the rest of his arm off in the sink well enough that he wouldn’t need another shower. He wouldn’t have minded another shower, but he had work to do today.

With a sigh, he sat down with quill and paper. “Right, item one. Start checklist. Check.” It was a useful habit he had picked up from Twilight, though he’d never admit it to her.

Spike went through the jobs he had to do for the day. It was reshelving day today. Since taking over as librarian, he’d assigned on day a month for reshelving, rather than once a week like the previous librarian. He’d long since come to terms with the former librarians craziness, but he loved her for it.

He also had flying practice with Rainbow Dash in the afternoon. His wings had come in, but he was still learning how to use them. He had the wingpower, but not the finesse.

The last item on the list he was looking forward to the most. Visit Pinkie Pie to help with Twilight’s 'Welcome Home' party.

Owlowiscious flew down and landed on Spike's marginal convert. Spike leaned back and nuzzled the bird. “Looks like I’m not the only night owl, huh?”

“Who?”

“Me, that’s who!” Spike grinned a toothy smile. He no longer fell for the owls joke, but they both still enjoyed playing along. “You going to get some shut-eye? Twilight will be coming home tomorrow, so you should be nice and rested.”

Owlowiscious hooted with delight as he flew the short distance to his perch.

Spike moved about the library as quiet as he could. No longer needing a ladder for the top shelves made sorting a lot easier. Thanks to the greasy breakfast, and his draconic constitution, the last vestiges of his hangover were dissipating. He suspected Pinkie, Big Mac and Caramel were not faring quite as well.

“Hello, Spike? Are you around,” a voice filtered through the door.

“Cheerilee,” Spike whispered enthusiastically when he reached the door. “Sorry to be so quiet, Owlowiscious has just fallen asleep. Please come in.”

Spike led Cheerilee through to the library main. “Can I offer you a cup of tea?”

“Oh, that would be delightful. Thank you!”

Spike set the kettle on boil and returned. “It won’t be a few minutes. Now, how can I help you?” Spike had a good idea of why Cheerilee was there. She had come with the same request every year. In truth, he looked forward to it every time.

“Well, I was wondering if you might be able to spare some time next week to come in and visit my students. We’re doing a project on dragons, and well…”

“Of course I’d love to come in. How does Monday sound, after lunch?"

Cheerilee clapped her hooves, earning a 'hoot' from the slumbering owl. "Oops, sorry. Yes, that would be perfect!"

"I’ve gotten some new books from Canterlot the students might enjoy too. Twilight sent me a few that weren’t too offensive.” Spike smirked. Equestrians still had some misgivings about dragons, but the only ones they seemed to encounter were the roaming miscreants during the migrations. “I also have a special surprise planned for the students this year too.”

“Oh, really? What do you have planned?” Cheerilee’s eyes lit up. “Nothing too scary, is it?”

“No, nothing scary at all. I am sure you will all enjoy the surprise.” Spike let out a deep, rumbling laugh. Owlowiscious hooted in indignation at being awoken again. “Sorry, Owly. I’ll keep it down.”

“You aren’t going to tell me, are you?” Cheerilee looked at him suspiciously.

“Oh dear, there’s the kettle.” Spike left for the kitchen. A moment later he lumbered back, holding a tray in one claw. “Sorry, I only have teabags. How do you have yours?”

“White and one thank you.” Cheerilee smiled as he poured the water into her tea cup. He then poured the remainder of the water into his own oversized ‘Yes, I like coffee this much’ cup.

“Thirsty, are we?” She grinned.

“Only mug built for dragons.” Spike let out a quieter laugh. “Actually, Pinkie Pie found it in the joke shop and bought it for me…”

“Oh, what a thoughtful gift! It must be hard finding things for someone of your stature.”

“Yeah, and it would have been a nice thought. Except she bought it for me when I was still a baby. It’s impracticalness was the probably the only thing that didn’t spurt another greed growth.”

He downed the tea in one gulp; despite the size of the mug it was still a little small for his tastes. Without the tray to carry, he walked to the shelves with far more grace, and started picking out a few books. Clutching three books with one arm, he lumbered his way back to the table. Cheerilee couldn’t help but notice how much dexterity Spike lost when he couldn’t walk on all fours.

“Okay, we have Dragon Physiology. That has some interesting chapters on how we make fire. I’d skip chapters four and seven though. I’d prefer not answer any of those questions in class again.” Spike blushed, remembering a particularly curious filly the previous year. Cheerilee had the sense to flush red too. “This one is interesting, Fall of the Draconian Empire. I’ve read a lot about it, and I've written to Princess Celestia at lengths about it too.

“And last but not least, the surprise.” Spike pulled out an old tattered book. “One from my personal collection. Song of the Ancients. It was a suggestion from Princess Luna last year, and has become a personal favorite.”

Cheerilee looked carefully through the book. The lettering looked mostly like stylized claw scratchings. She raised an eyebrow, looking at Spike.

“I thought a nice poetry reading might be enjoyable, I’ve been practicing my Draconic. Though we might want to do that outside.” He laughed at Cheerilee’s inquisitive look. “Dragon poetry is supposed to be loud. I’ll keep this book with me, so I can write out a few in common Equestrian for the class.”

“Well Spike, this definitely goes beyond my planned lesson.” Cheerilee beamed. “Thank you so very much, Spike. I really appreciate this.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he chuckled. “Hopefully the new foals won’t be so scared of coming to the library after this.”

“Thank you so much for the tea, but I better get going. I can’t wait to go through these books and revise my lesson plan.” Cheerilee waved farewell.

Spike noted the look on Cheerilee’s face was akin to Twilight’s when somepony mentioned the words ‘research paper’. “Have fun, and don’t stay up too late.”

“Hmmm, yes.” Cheerilee was already engrossed in thought as she was walking out the door. “Oh, wait, I mean no. No I won’t. Bye Spike!”

The rest of the morning was uneventful. Spike had a visit from Written Script who dropped a book off that Spike had ordered. Davenport and a few work ponies dropped off a new sofa. Spike had been tired of trying to fit on the small pony-sized sofa, so had ordered something for himself. Owlowiscious hooted as the ponies noisily moved the couch into the room.

By the time lunch came around, he was happily finished with the resorting. He would not, as Twilight would have insisted, double and triple checked his work. Without her around to mess things up, the books were always in their right places.

Just in time, as his next appointment crashed through the front door.

“Ready to go, Spike?” Rainbow Dash bellowed. “Time waits for nopony!”

Owlowiscious let out his loudest, most indignant hoot yet. He flew from his perch and out the door, most likely to find a nice, quiet branch where he could actually sleep.

“What’s up his beak?” Dash laughed.

“He was trying to sleep,” Spike coughed. “Not everyone just woke up, you know.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I was up at the crack of dawn today!” She puffed her chest out proudly.

“And you’ve not napped since then?” Spike knew his friend well.

“Are we going to get flying or not?” Dash attempted to deflect the question. Spike roared with laughter. Rainbow caught a strong whiff of the previous nights cider. “Woah, Spike buddy. You going to be alright to fly? How much did you drink last night.”

“Don’t you worry about me,” Spike winked. “I’ve got a bigger tolerance for cider than you fur-flanks!”

“True that,” Rainbow laughed. “Shame I was doing drills this morning, else I’d have joined ya. What were you celebrating.”

“Sorry Dash, can’t tell you.” Spike let out another burst of laughter. “Pinkie and I were… well, lets just say we were celebrating for somepony.”

Without another word, Spike stepped out of the library, and took to the air.

Rainbow Dash made sure to punish the dragon for keeping tight lipped. The latest of her torturous exercises was to have Spike hover between two clouds. She’d placed one below him, and one above him. He had to keep himself between the two clouds without disturbing either.

He was certain this was not 'endurance training' as she had claimed it was, but simple revenge. She’d made it obvious when she continued to prod Spike for information.

“Come on,” Dash laughed, lounging on the cloud below him. “I know you’re hiding something. This’ll be all over if you just tell me what you guys were celebrating.”

“You think… this’ll… make me… crack?” Spike laughed, sweat beading from his forehead. “You got… to come… up with… more than… this.” He could admit to himself it was close, but he’d not let Rainbow win this battle of wills.

“A few little words. That’s all it’d take, and it’ll all be over.”

“I can… think… of something… else.” The dragon knew he was at his limit. But he’d still not let Dash win.

“Yeah, and what’s that, dragonboy–” Rainbow Dash’s words were cut off by the smirking face of the dragon dropping straight through the cloud currently acting as her current bed. Her cloud obliterated, she found herself in free fall.

“Race you!” The dragon below her shouted back, having already spread his wings and diving for the nearby lake.

“Oh, it is on, scale-brain!” Rainbow snapped her wings open and dove.

“I can’t believe you beat me!” Spike groaned. “I had at least a fifty foot head start!”

“It’s going to take more than a fifty foot head start to beat a Wonderbolt.” Dash laughed as Spike drew in ragged draughts of water from the lake. “And might I remind you the consequences of pranking your commanding officer?”

Spike curled up his claw and held it out, and Rainbow dapped it with her hoof.

“Still, that was pretty awesome.” Rainbow nodded. “You’ve never done a suicide-dive like that before. And you came out of pretty well too.”

“Hey!” Spike shouted. “I meant to do that flip… ish.”

“Yeah, you gotta watch out for the extra weight you’re carrying down there.” Dash gave his flank a light kick, which did not give under her hoof. “Celestia, what’re you made of, rock?”

“Well, I do have a steady supplementary diet of gems,” Spike laughed. “So yeah, maybe?”

Dash looked up to the skies. They’d been flying for a while, and the sun was getting low. “Up for one more round, recruit?”

“Yes Ma’am.” Spike sat on his hind quarters with a mock salute.

“Keep this training up, and we might have our first fire-breathing Wonderbolt.” Rainbow Dash sniggered. “You’d look hilarious in one of the blue speed suits.”

“I think I’d prefer my job as a librarian, thanks.”

“Whatever,” Dash gave him a grin. “Egghead.”

The two took back to the skies.

Freshly washed, Spike landed just short of Sugarcube Corner. After his training session with Rainbow Dash, he’d decided to go back to the library and shower again. It was almost certain the Cakes would not appreciate the fine odour of dragon sweat permeating their place of business. Spike could barely stand the stench himself.

He stepped through the door, only to be stopped by the forearms of Sweetie Belle.

"Spike!” she screamed with joy.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, long time no see.” he smiled, returning the hug. “What’s a big-time Applewood star like you doing ‘round these parts?”

“I’m just visiting Sis before my next tour.” Sweetie Belle was still the unbridled bundle of energy she had been when they were young.

“And what ‘m Ah? Chopped lettuce?” Apple Bloom stepped beside her friend.

“Oh, and I’m visiting Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle blushed. She stepped away from the hug.

“Hey Bloom, how are you doing?” Spike ruffled her hair. “How’s your brother feel waking up this morning.”

Apple Bloom smirked. “Very, very, very ill. Fluttershy wanted to let him sleep, but Ah dragged him out to the fields.”

“So you girls coming tomorrow night? Pinkie and I are only planning the best party ever.”

“Yeah!” The two mares cheered.

“Did somepony say party?” Pinkie had appeared between the girls.

“Oh, Spikey’s here! Time for our party planning party!” Pinkie stood up on her rear legs, and whispered into Spike’s ear. “We have balloons. I repeat, we have balloons.”

Grabbing the dragon by his claw, Pinkie dragged Spike upstairs. Spike waved farewell to the girls. “Gotta go, apparently. See you tomorrow night!”

Pinkie dragged Spike into her room. Before he could even stop to say ‘Hi’ to Gummy, Pinkie turned to him wearing a pointed purple party hat. “Spike, get ready to make a checklist.”

Spike was so taken by her impersonation, he found a quill and parchment already in his claws. How exactly it had got there, he wasn’t sure. But ponies had long since learn not to question such things around Pinkie.

“Okay Pinkie,” he chuckled, quill at the ready. “What’s the plan?”

“Step one. We organise the bestest, most funnest, Welcome back to Ponyville Twilight party ever!”

Pinkie sat there in silence. Spike continued to wait.

“What’s step two?” He asked, after the silence had gotten to him.

“That’s it.” Pinkie giggled as she skipped around the sitting dragon.

“That’s not a plan, Pinkie. That’s a goal!”

“That’s the same thing, silly.” Somehow Pinkie had ended up hanging upside-down from the ceiling, talking to Spike. No, not hanging. Standing on the ceiling, upside down.

Spikes eye twitched, and he closed them before his mind could comprehend the new reality his eyes were being presented with. It had become somewhat of a reflexive action when he was around the party pony.

“Aww, is Spikey sleepy?” He opened his eyes when he felt her weight across his shoulder. She was arched over his back. “We can plan the party later, if you need to sleep.”

“I am okay Pinkie. I was just worried you were going to fall.” He looked away, hoping to hide the heat he felt in his cheeks.

“Why would I fall, silly?” Pinkie was sitting on her bed. Spike turned to the spot on his back Pinkie had been leaning on. He could still feel the heat from her body. When had she moved?

“Are you certain Twilight hasn’t been teaching you her teleport spell?” he asked nervously.

“Nopey-dopey! I can’t cast spells. I’m not a unicorn. Or an alicorn. Or a gypsy.” Pinkie drew in a sharp breath. “Oh! Wouldn’t it be super-duper-funerific if I could though?! Then I could have fun with all my friends and not have to choose between them or have to make more me’s with a mirror pool…”

Spikes brain seized up. Whatever it was Pinkie did, she didn’t seem even the least bit conscious of what she was doing.

“…are you crazy?” Pinkie continued.

‘Oh hay!’ Spike realised he missed Pinkie’s non-sequitur. He decided to sit in silence for a little longer. Maybe he’d catch the next one.

“And that’s the story of how I got my Cutie Mark!”

‘There we go!’ Spike mused to himself. Out loud, he asked, “So Pinkie. We have decorations; Applejack said she was bringing the cider. What can I do to help?”

“Well,” Pinkie shuffled about on her hooves. “I was wondering if you wanted to come over tomorrow and help me bake the cake?”

“Yeah! That sounds like a lot of fun!” Spike sat up. “I don’t cook a lot with Twilight away so much. It’s a date!”

“Yay!” Pinkie Pie pulled Spike into another Pinkie Pie hug. “We’ll make chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes and raspberry muffins and a biiiiiiiiig vanilla mud cake with whipped cream and strawberries.

“Thank you so much Spikey!” Pinkie planted a small kiss on the side of Spikes cheek. “We’ll make this the best party ever. Oh, no! I have to go get more streamers for the party cannon…”

Spike turned to find Pinkie gone. He sat there dumbfounded, holding a claw to the spot Pinkie had kissed. A furious blush covered his face.

“No,” He shook his head. “That was just her being Pinkie Pie.”

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