Spike bathed in the warm sunlight filtering through the window onto Twilight's old bed. He lay wrapped in the warmth of the sheets and blanket. He breathed a deep sigh into his soft pillow and wished he could stay all day. This warming light was a gift from a Goddess herself! Surely this must have been a personal gift to him, from his dear friend Celestia.

Snuggling deeper into the bed, he longed for the days of his youth, sleeping away the long Sunday morn in his little basket. These days he got the bed.

“Spike!” He sat up, startled by an unexpected voice just as the alicorn tackled him back to the bed. “OhImissedyousomuch!”

“Twi—light?” Spike groaned confused. He drew her into a hug.

Twilight glanced around the room, examining the tall piles of books perched precariously around the room. “I do hope none of these are library books, Mister!”

“Nope, they’re all mine! Pinkie Promise.” Spike grinned sheepishly.

“Aww, who’s my little bookwyrm,” she chuckled.

“What are you doing back early? I thought you weren’t coming home until this afternoon.”

“Luna and I returned to Canterlot last night.” Twilight laid next to Spike. “Luna will be coming later today, but I couldn’t wait to see you and all the girls. I was hoping we could go see them when you got up.”

‘Oh buck!’ That woke Spike up. “Uh, no! We can’t.”

“Why not?” Twilight looked curiously at him.

“I, uh,” Spike stammered.

‘Okay, think Spike, think. I have to give the girls time to set up the party. And I absolutely have to keep Twilight away from Sugarcube Corner.’

“The library!” Spike groaned internally for what he was about to do. “I forgot to– uh– do the reshelving yesterday.”

“You what?” The nervous tic Twilight started to display told Spike his gambit succeeded. “Oh Spike– No, how could you forget that? Quick, get up, we have to get started right away.”

“Twilight, I haven’t had breakfast yet… you think you might be able to put on a pot of coffee?” Spike tried to put on his best puppy-dog eyes, but the intervening years had hardened his facial features, and sharpened his already draconic eyes. “Pleeeeeeeease. I haven’t had your coffee in so long.”

“Oh, of course Spike.” Twilight nuzzled his cheek. “But then it is straight to work!” Twilight got up and made her way downstairs.

“I’ll be right down, I promise.” Spike scrambled from his bed, and dashed to his bureau. He quickly scratched out a letter.

Pinkie Pie,

Can’t make it, Twilight here early. Delaying her in library. Send help when you can.

Spike

He opened the window, and breathed flames over the note. He watched the magical fire whizz in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.

Spike groaned as they finished quadruple checking the reshelving. Even with Twilight’s magic, it had taken them all morning.

“I’m very impressed Spike,” Twilight praised. “You’ve done a good job keeping the shelves sorted.”

‘Of course, I sorted them yesterday!’

“Though I still can’t believe you had Fifty Shades of Hay in the foal literature section. How could I have missed that on the first check?”

‘Well, if I hadn’t moved it while you weren’t looking, you’d might not have checked over everything four times.’

“You have to understand the importance of a well maintained library. Could you imagine what would have happened if a foal found that. What would the parents think?”

Spike switched off as Twilight entered lecture mode. He was thankfully interrupted by a knock at the door. He moved to open it, and found two guards.

“Princess, you have a…” the guard stopped mid sentence. “Dragon!”

“Protect the Princess!” the other guard yelled, as they both lunged towards Spike. Three very solid thunks resounded throughout the library, as two guards and a dragon tumbled through the door.

“Stout Shield! Tower Defense!” Twilight employed the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Unhand my brother this instant!”

Two very shocked guards, and one slightly less shocked dragon got to their feet. The two guards bowed, apologizing profusely to the princess.

“Our deepest apologies, your Majesty.” Stout scraped.

“We were informed your brother was librarian.” Tower offered. “We must have misheard when our CO said dragon.”

Twilight Sparkle huffed impatiently. “Spike, might I introduce my guards: Stout Shield and Tower Defense.” She turned to the guards. “This is my brother, Spike. Yes he is a dragon and Ponyville’s number one greatest librarian.”

Spike couldn’t help but laugh at their embarrassed apologies. The ponies around Ponyville had become accustomed to his presence, but for most of Equestria, a dragon meant bad news. Having spent some time with Garble and his dragon crew, Spike could not blame their attitudes.

“Look at it this way, gentlecolts,” Spike said with a flourish, “you’re the first Royal Guards to have saved a Princess from a rampaging librarian in the last four hundred years.”

“Three months, actually.” Spike turned to the very embarrased Twilight. “Jade Singer was not happy when I fell asleep with my head in the original Griffon-Equine compact.”

The guards winced as Spike fell the to floor laughing again.

“Ahem, excuse me gentlecolts?” A sweet and refined voice drifted in through the door. “May I come in, or will I be tackled too?”

“Rarity!” Twilight bounded past the guards, and pulled her friend into a tight embrace. “Oh it’s so good to see you! Spike and I were just about to come and see you girls.”

Spike and Rarity avoided each others gaze.

“Well, my dear. I saw your two strapping guards,” she flashed an award winning smile to the now blushing guards, “and surmised you were here. I bought cakes, if you’d like some tea?”

“Oh, Rarity, that would be wonderful. Let me put the kettle on.” Twilight dashed into the kitchen.

“How are you this morning, Rarity?” Spike asked awkwardly.

“Very well, thank you.” Rarity shuffled about, looking everywhere but at Spike. “Pinkie sends her thanks for the note. She expects you to make up your missed cooking date later. She also asked if you could come and help. I am here to relieve you.”

Spike stepped toward Rarity, who tensed up nervously.

“Rarity,” Spike sighed. “We need to talk about what's happened. I don’t want things to be awkward between us.”

He pulled her into a hug. “Congratulations on your relationship. Fancy Pants is a wonderful stallion. Only noble I know without his nose stuck up his own patootie.”

Rarity sniffled into Spikes shoulder. “You-you’re not mad?”

“Of course not. I am happy for you, you deserve a good boyfriend,” Spike let her go. “I told you. I was hurt when you turned me down, but that was three years ago. I’m a big dragon, you know. If I can survive a bath in a pool of lava, I think I can survive a little rejection.”

“You are such a good friend Spike,” Rarity smiled. “Not many would be so understanding.”

Twilight entered the room, levitating a tray of tea cups, and Spikes ridiculously oversized mug.

“What’s going on with you two?”

“Oh, nothing.” Spike laughed. “I was just telling Rarity I had to go out. She’ll keep you company, Twi.”

“Oh, and as a good friend,” he turned back to Rarity as he stepped through the door, “I’d advise next time locking the door.”

Spike left the library roaring in laughter, leaving behind a beet-red mare and her princess friend asking ‘what all that was about’.

After ensuring he had not been followed, Spike knocked on the rear door of Sugarcube Corner. Any other pony could walk through the front doors inconspicuously, but as a dragon Spike did not have that luxury.

“Pinkie, it’s Spike,” he said in hushed tones through the door.

“No entry without the password!” Pinkie giggled through the door.

‘Password?’ Nopony had told Spike there was a password. He decided on the first word that came to mind. “Party?”

The door burst open, Pinkie spilling out. “Did somepony say party?” She looked at the laughing dragon in front of her. “Heeeeey! That’s not the password. You tricked me, Mr smarty-drake!”

Spike stepped through the door pass the pouting pink pony. “And for future reference, the password was ‘banana’.”

The smell of the bakery filled Spikes nostrils and made his mouth water. He became very acutely aware of having only had coffee for breakfast. He started forward, reaching a claw towards a tray of cupcakes that had his name written all over it, only to be stopped by a surprisingly strong Pinkie Pie.

“Nopey-dopey!” Pinkie pushed the grumbling dragon through the kitchen, the delicious baked goods now out of reach. “Kitchen is for bakers only!”

“But Pinkie,” the dragon moaned as she pushed him through to the front of the store. “Twilight didn’t let me have breakfast. We’ve been reshelving books all morning.”

Pinkie stopped. “I thought you reshelved yesterday.”

Spike groaned. “I did. But I had to do something to keep her from finding out about this party.”

“Awww, poor Spikey,” she passed him a muffin. “This is for helping keep the party a surprise.”

Spike looked down at the small, stale muffin. “Hey, this is stale!”

“And that –” Pinkie Pie sung as she skipped through the double doors back into the kitchen “– is for standing me up this morning!”

Shrugging, he flicked the muffin in the air and swallowed it on one bite.

Spike was the last to leave Sugarcube corner. It was early evening, and everypony had to get ready. Spike was stopped at the door by two different guards, a pair of bat-winged ponies. Stout and Tower were standing with them, but they made no sound.

“Halt dragon! Come no further!” One of the bat-winged guards called.

Spike looked to Stout and Tower, but they showed no sign of helping him out. Spike could see Stout biting his own lip, and Tower’s eyes were particularly watery. Spike guessed that he was going to get no help from either of them. He’d play along with this hazing amongst the guards.

Drawing himself up to his full height, he bellowed, “Royal Guards of the Night Princess. You have trespassed upon my territory. If they shall deny me entrance to my own domicile, then I demand you extricate yourselves, and your princesses from my domain forthwith!”

The two bat-winged ponies moved forward, their spears at the ready. Stout Shield broke into laughter, and Tower Defense knocked on the door with his rear leg. “Your highnesses. The rampaging librarian is back. Shall we dispatch with the ruffian, or will you allow him an audience?”

“Allow me an audience?” Spike scoffed with mock hurt. “Why, this is sovereign territory they have invaded, and they are the ones that will allow me to return? Do they not know that the Golden Oaks Library is capital of the small nation of Spikeopolis?”

Twilight poked her head through the top of the door. “What’s all this noise out here? Oh, Spike! You’re back. Come on in, Luna can’t wait to see you.”

Spike stepped through the doors, nodding to Luna’s guards, and sharing a chuckle with Twilight’s guards.

“Warm evening to you, Spike,” Luna smiled as she greeted the dragon.

“Good evening Princess Luna,” Spike swept into a bow. “It’s very good to see you again.”

“As it is to see you too, my friend.”

Twilight stepped around Spike and sat next to Luna on the new sofa. “Spike, if you have a minute. I wanted to speak with you earlier, but you ran off.”

Spike felt a dry catch in his throat. This sounded like a serious discussion. He didn’t want a serious discussion to spoil this night. Tonight was supposed to be a celebration party, Twilight’s welcome home.

“Sure Twi, what’s up?”

“I have some good news, and some bad news,” Twilight sighed. “I won’t be moving back to Ponyville. I'll be moving to Canterlot Castle, permanently this time.”

Spike had guessed this would happen someday. Twilight had been spending far more time at Canterlot Castle and abroad with her royal duties than she had spent in Ponyville. These days, the guest bed stayed mostly packed away.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Twi. I know it’s hard to keep up with your royal duties from here in Ponyville.” He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness. “Just promise you’ll still come and visit us every now and then. The girls and I will miss you, alot.

“You’ll always have a home in Ponyville.” He smiled weakly.

“Spike, the reason I need to move is not because of my royal duties,” Twilight looked nervously towards Luna, who nodded. “It’s so I can be closer to my fiancé.”

“Oh, that’s okay-” Spike stopped dead in his tracks. “Wait! Fiancé?!”

Twilight draped a wing over Luna’s back, and Luna leaned against Twilight.

“Other than Our sister, you are the first to know.” Luna smiled at the dumbstruck dragon.

“You? And Twilight?” Spikes thoughts were slowly coming back up to speed. “Really?”

“Yes?” Twilight answered nervously.

The next second Twilight was tackled to the ground, Spike on top of her. “Twilight! That’s amazing. Oh congratulations!”

“Spike! Heavy!” Twilight struggled. Spike rolled off of Twilight, holding out a claw to help her up. The second she was on her feet again, he pulled her into another hug. Twilight laughed as he cried happy tears into her shoulder. “We wanted to tell the girls while we were both in town, but I wanted to share it with you first.”

“That is so wonderful Twi!” He turned to Luna and pulled her into the embrace too. “And congratulations to you too. Oh that’s so wonderful!”

An idea came to him. “We have to go out and celebrate tonight! Let me go get ready. I’ll organise somewhere for the girls to meet us.” He opened his wings and beat hard as he flew to the second floor. Twilight rebuked him for flying in the library, but he just craned his neck and poked his forked tongue at her.

He slid into his room and stepped towards the bureau.

Pinkie

Pull down welcome home banner. Party just got better. Tell you when I see you.

Spike

Next Chapter: Chapter 3 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes