Twilight sat at her desk, focused completely on the sheet of parchment. Her quill moved around swiftly, spelling out her deepest fantasies. Her words flowed from her mind onto the parchment in beautiful prose. Her mind was intent on finishing her best work; it wasn’t until Spike’s claw lightly tapped her shoulder that she realized that she was no longer alone.

“Twilight What are you doing?”

Twilight yipped like a startled dog and threw her scrolls into a pile on the desk. She began frantically shuffling papers into one of the desk drawers. “Nothing Spike, just... uh, research!”

Spike just shrugged it off. “Oh, I was just at Rarity’s and she told me to tell you that she needed you down at the Boutique.”

“The Carousel Boutique? Why would she—”

“She says it’s for some modeling or something.”

Twilight’s face lit up.

“Spike, I’ll be back in a few hours!” Twilight exclaimed as she galloped to the door.

She tripped over a few books scattered on the ground, yet she didn’t care. Twilight grabbed her coat and darted for the door.

“Okay, bye then,” Spike turned to pick up the books Twilight knocked over. His curiosity then perked up. What were those strange scrolls Twilight was reading?

His head turned to the desk, eying the crack in the small cabinet. Okay, maybe one little peek...

Dead leaves of assorted colors littered the ground. The sun's golden rays were just breaking over the hilltops, showering Ponyville in a brilliant orange tint as Twilight hurried towards Rarity's boutique. Ponies were going about their business as usual, carrying shopping bags or baskets filled with food, drinks, and even some rather fancy clothes. Lyra and Bon-Bon waved to Twilight as she passed.

Twilight put a hoof to the door, pushing it open with a light shove. “Rarity? I’m here!” she called, grinnin. Rarity was nowhere in sight. “Um... Rarity?”

There was still no answer. Twilight walked out into the clear morning. Twilight was disappointed, wondering why Rarity would summon her, yet not even be there to meet her.

The roads of Ponyville were starting to clear, so Twilight sat down on a bench in a quiet park to be alone. As I had thought... not possible. I really need to clear my head of these dreams.

There she sat, alone on a bench in the cold park. It was on the verge of becoming winter, meaning that the temperature fell rapidly as time went on, and being under the shade of a tree did her no good. Her heart beat rapidly, recovering from her disappointment.

“Twilight, what are you doing out here in this weather?” Rarity's voice drifted on the wind, causing Twilight to perk up.

“I went to your boutique and couldn’t find you. I just wanted to wait out here a bit.”

“Well, forgive me for mentioning, but you weren’t supposed to be over for another hour. Sorry to keep you waiting, however.”

Twilight looked up and smiled. “It’s perfectly fine, Rarity. I thought something happened to you!” she said, her hopes starting to rise again. “Let’s get to modeling, then!”

Rarity smiled a little at the sudden perk of Twilight’s mood.

“Come now, Twilight, we have a lot of work to do.”

“Oh man, oh man, oh man!” Spike paced around the room in a panicked frenzy, tripping over debris strewn across the floor.  “Oh man, oh man, oh man! Okay, think Spike, how can I cover this up?” Spike paced even harder, hitting his head on the wall in front of him. His face contorted in pain, but he really didn’t care about that. “Maybe I could send a letter?” Spike discarded that plan almost immediately. “ No, that wouldn’t work.”

Spike looked back at Twilight’s desk, examining the charred surface. First things first, he had to clean up the burns. He snatched a washcloth from the kitchen, wet it in the sink, and scurried over to the desk. He dropped the rag when his stomach rumbled, shooting a letter from his fiery gullet.

A letter from Princess Celestia!

Spike, with a trembling hand, unfurled the letter from the wrapping. He read aloud, “Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I don’t know if this is a joke or not, but I do need to explain that not everything has to be sent to me. If you would care to explain, I’d be happy to listen.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia”

“Oh man, I can’t let Twilight see this, she’ll be so embarrassed! What if she gets mad at me? Or blames me again?”

At the thought of Twilight being mad at him again, he went into a fit. His claws dug into the mattresses and the walls, and in this blinding rage, he threw the picture of him and Twilight tussling to the ground. After taking deep breaths, as Twilight once advised, he went over the events.

Spike sat down, taking heavy yet constricted breaths. Putting a claw to his forehead, he thought about what happened.

“Okay, I read the scrolls. There was a page with her and Rarity.” Spike shuddered, and continued, “Rarity was reaching down with her hoof, and I burped fire at it in surprise.”

The self consolation didn’t help Spike at all. In fact, it made him even more upset about Twilight’s fantasies. His face became red, and his little fists clenched tightly again. Twilight was in love with Rarity. He was less alarmed about this fact, but more threatened by the idea that he could lose any hope of being with Rarity.

“Why did I have to be so stupid! I could’ve just listened, not touched the scrolls! I really messed up this time...”

“Yes, Twilight, just like that. Ooh, keep it there. Wonderful! I’ve finished with the measurements, now... if you could just stay still while I get my twine?” Rarity motioned toward a homologous pile of utilities in a corner.

“Sure thing.” Twilight grunted, stretching from being in the same position for so long.

“Is there something wrong, Twilight?” Rarity inquired, genuine worry in her tone. “You seem a little upset.”

Twilight considered revealing her secret. Maybe she could. “I, well... it’s just that I—”

“What, dear?” Rarity inched closer, a roll of blue ribbon in her magic’s grasp. “Really, tell me anything! I’m here to help.”

Twilight looked up, blushing profusely and shuffling her hooves on the rug of Rarity’s boutique. “Well, I’m in love with somepony, but I’m too afraid to admit—”

At this statement, Rarity’s eyes grew very wide, and she smiled ear to ear. “Oh, who is it? Who is it!? You must tell me!” Rarity spouted, realizing she wasn’t letting Twilight speak up. “Sorry, darling,” she cleared her throat, “who is this pony?”

With a burning developing in her cheeks, Twilight spoke up, “Well... I don’t know how to say this. It’s, well, gah!”

Twilight’s ears folded back, and she held a guilty look. Her throat began to convulse, nearly spilling out her last meal. Instead of speaking further, she ran for the door, ignoring Rarity’s pleas for her to come back.

While she walked, she thought absently. I should have just came out and said it, Rarity would never...

Her mind began drifting as she walked back to the library. She thought of her day, how well it had been going, before she ran from Rarity, of course. She thought of how beautiful the sun looked over the hills. She thought of Spike. She thought of the warmth of her bed, which seemed so inviting right then.

Arriving at the library, Twilight started to yawn as sleepiness began to overwhelm her. The front door opened, slowly at first until she saw Spike still awake. Patting him on the head and walking past him, she didn’t notice the ice pack placed on his forehead.

She crawled up the stairs slowly, weakly lighting the way with her magic. She covered herself with her blanket, situated her head on her pillow, and mumbled with a slacking jaw, “Good night, Spike.”

Hearing a noise from the kitchen, Twilight opened her eyes to see Spike. Seeing that he was right next to her, she closed her eyes again. She heard the shuffle of blankets just before sleep took her in.

“Spike.”

Spike heard the voice as if he were in a cave, it echoed in his head. The tethers of the dream world’s barriers began to break, and he felt himself waking up.

“Spike!”

He jumped in the air, clinging to the support beams on the ceiling.

“You sent all of my stories to The Princess?!”

Twilight grew enraged, bursting into flames. Her breath became deep and hot, and the air hissed through clenched teeth. Twilight’s mouth was foaming as well.

“I told you not to touch those! And yet you deliberately disobeyed me!”

Spike’s eyes filled with tears, and his lower lip shriveled. He had to hide his face in his palms and quiver in fright. He’d never seen Twilight so enraged.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

Spike remained quiet, looking up at Twilight guiltily.

“Spike, what do you think Celestia’s going to say? I never wanted anypony to read those, especially not my teacher! Spike... I’m extremely disappointed in you.”

“Twilight, please! I didn’t want to send them, I only wanted to know what the big deal was!”

“J-just leave me alone to cool down. I need to see Celestia.”

There was a long and drawn out silence. Spike’s eyes welled up, and he broke for the door. The thought of Twilight and Rarity being together resurfaced. Finally, he couldn’t hold them back any more and he openly cried.

Spike found himself staring at the wooden wall of the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse. There wasn’t a single sign of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the area. It was the perfect place to take a nap.

Light from the sun broke through the small cracks in the clubhouse’s walls. The sun’s warming rays shone perfectly onto his scales, and Spike found himself quickly drifting off to sleep. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie’s voice came from the window. “Hi Spike! I didn’t know you napped here too!”

Spike found himself clinging to the roof again.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Was I interrupting something? Hey, where’s Twilight? Shouldn’t you be at the library?”

“Pinkie! I-I um... I had plans and... uh—gah, forget it!”

“Spikey? Are you okay?”

Spike looked sullenly at Pinkie, who was smiling innocently at him. He felt that it was okay to tell her, minus the steamy parts. With teary eyes, he told Pinkie what happened. She sat on her haunches, listening intently to every word of Spike’s story.

“Oh, Spike, I feel your pain. Once I had a coltfriend who was in love with my best friend who was a filly and I felt betrayed, but I got over it soon and now all three of us are friends! I threw us all a party when they got married!”

Her wide smile faded to a blank and thoughtful expression.

“Um... Spike? Can I sit in here with you? I... locked myself out of Sugar Cube Corner,” she explained.

Spike nodded slowly.

After a good few hours, Pinkie Pie finally spoke up. “Spike, I think the Cakes are home. I gotta,” she yawned loudly, “head to bed. See you tomorrow!” She bounced off through the window. Spike was still asleep.

“Spiiike! Spike, where are you?”  Twilight called loudly. Her loud voice annoyed the citizens who were trying to get a good night’s rest, and the slamming of window shutters could be heard throughout the streets.

“I never should have been so angry with you...” she muttered to herself, cutting off the illumination spell.

Luna’s moon looked especially beautiful this night, with the silver shine of it lighting up everything so elegantly. Normally, Twilight would be glued to this scene. However, the thought of Spike in danger was all she could focus on right now.

She walked around town, looking into every single crevice of the town with the light of her horn to illuminate her path. Hours passed as she searched for her assistant. It took until she was right outside Applejack’s house that she gave up. The cold started to get to her, and she still couldn’t keep the guilt away.

“Oh, why on Equestria did I do such an idiotic thing! I could have just kept calm and talked to him! Celestia, darn it all! Alright, I need to go talk to Pinkie.”

Twilight watched the field as Pinkie came running up to her. She waved slowly, until she saw the urgency on her face. “Twilight!” she yelled, “Spike’s at the clubhouse, still asleep! I need to get back to the shop, but hurry before he gets away!”

“Ungh... Pinkie? Where’d you...” Spike muttered, still half-asleep.

Spike began to hear whispers from around him. They sounded small, like that of a little filly’s voice.

“What do you think we should do?” one voice asked in a southern drawl.

“I dunno, scoot him over?” another replied.

“Hey, girls, Spike needs his beauty sleep as much as me and Rarity!” a final voice reasoned.

Spike’s eyes shot open when he felt a light tap on his knee. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were surrounding him. Pinkie was nowhere in sight.

“Spike, why are you in our clubhouse? Dont’cha know we meet here?” Apple Bloom asked sweetly.

“Sorry! I needed sleep, and your club was closest to me.”

Sweetie leaned towards Spike, and asked him innocently, “Why aren’t you at Twilight’s?”

Spike decided it best to tell the half-truth. “Me and Twilight got into an argument and I wanted to leave to let her cool down.”

The fillies nodded, before Apple Bloom and Scootaloo went over to their drawing board.

“Okay, then. Well, don’t you think you should go back? I mean, it’s not like she’s gonna be mad at you forever.”

Spike nodded, and headed towards town, contemplating his return.

The town was buzzing today, ponies walking off in every direction with groceries in mouth and carts hooked onto their backs. Winter was almost here, and everypony had to stock up. Spike walked through the busy streets, wandering around aimlessly through the thick crowd.

The crowds were thinning as he wandered to the less populated side of town, giving Spike a better view of Ponyville’s streets. There, in the distance, he spotted Sugarcube Corner. He ran towards the building, hoping Pinkie wouldn’t be too busy, and also hoping he wouldn’t have to explain to the Cakes. He was still mad at Twilight, but he didn’t want to get revenge on her.

The counter at Sugar Cube Corner was barren save a sign reading “Catering at party, back at ten”, and an illuminated display case holding one cupcake labeled: “To Twilight, if you could give this to Spike, that’d be super! From: Pinkie Pie.”

Spike happily took the cupcake, tossing the wrapper into the newly lined trash-can. Spike looked around the shop, clapping his hands together to get rid of the crumbs. The kitchen was empty, unusual for a business day. The top floor had been deserted, lights off down each way in the hall.

As he licked the last of the frosting off his fingers, the thought of Twilight popped in his mind, shoving every other thought to the back of his mind. All the good times he had with her, Owlowiscious, her calling him her number one assistant... Celestia, how he missed that.

“Spike? Celestia, ah’ve been lookin’ all over for ya!” Spike’s focus shot back, and he noticed Applejack racing towards him.

“Applejack?” Spike called.

“I heard what happened. Twilight tol’ me all about it.”

“She... she told you about it?” Applejack nodded.

“You’ve been out here a while, ‘bout a day or so, and she’s worried sick. Actually, all of us were. Pinkie said you were over at the clubhouse, but looks like you’ve gone and left. I know you may still be a little mad, but could you go talk to Twilight? Maybe you and her can make up? Ah can vouch for her, she is really sorry.” Applejack explained.

Spike looked at her after thinking for a beat. He found her smile to be comforting and supportive. It seemed to say that he should go home. He hopped down from the bench, feeling Applejack’s hoof guide him along to the middle road. “Now, you get to her, she should be at the library. I need to go back to th’ farm.”

“Bye, Applejack...” Spike gulped, “I... thanks.” He slowly walked for the library.

Upon arrival, Spike found the place completely deserted; every light was off, two packages stood unguarded in front of the door, and every window was covered by their respective curtains. He tried to open the door, but no matter hard he pushed, it wouldn’t budge.

Rats. Where’s Twilight? I thought Applejack said she was here? Spike picked up the packages to give to Twilight later. I hope Pinkie’s finally back at the shop.

“Hi, Spike! Whaddya need?” Pinkie exclaimed after jumping from behind the counter, much to Spike’s relief.

“I just want to know where Twilight is,” Spike explained, nearing the counter inch by inch. “Have you seen her lately?” Pinkie raised an eyebrow, and opened her mouth slowly.

“She just said earlier that she was going to stay home to figure out where you were! I told her yesterday that I was with you in the clubhouse, but she came back and said you were gone! Oh! But she did drop this!” Pinkie went under the counter, and came back up to reveal a thin book.

Opening the book, Spike found dates scrawled on the top of each page, paragraphs describing certain days he remembered. Such as this one here: Winter Wrap Up,

I was excited for a day with my friends, to clean up the town of Ponyville. All of the different teams—Weather, Animals, and Plants— I tried to help in any way possible. I had no wings to fly with, however, and was grounded. I tried my hoof at making a birds’ nest, but ended up making an ‘outhouse’, as Spike called it. Celestia, I messed up everything, and almost killed the ponies working at the fields with my faulty spell. It worked out in the end, however.

“Thanks, Pinkie.” Spike took off to read the entries. Maybe there’s something about me in here?

Spike turned each page until his finger landed on today. He read quickly, skipping the random details about the day until a certain sentence caught his eye. It read, “Even if I have to go to the Everfree Forest, I will find my assistant.”

Did she? Is she there, waiting for me? Spike dropped the book, I need to find Twilight. The book landed on the dirt, page opened to a final sentence of the book.

“Today I go all the way find him, though I wish there was some other way. Celestia protect me.”