It was late at night, and the room was completely dark, save for a small flickering candle on a desk beside the nearby window. For many pones, such light wouldn't have been enough to do any real reading, but for Twilight, she'd grown used to it. This was not the first late-night study session she'd done, and it wouldn't be the last. She was occupying herself with her latest book, a tome on all the knowledge ponies had about dragons, the most ferocious creatures known to their kind.

Recent events had made her realise just how little she knew about them. For it was only a few short hours ago that she and her friends, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, had been given a first-hand experience with a few dangerous specimens. But the experience had all been worth it, because now, they'd managed to save one who was very dear to her. Spike, her "number one assistant", who had gone to the dragon migration to find out more about what it meant to be a dragon, as well as to perhaps find others of his family. The experience had not been pleasant for him however, and he'd come away from the whole thing assured that his life here was far better than that led by his kin.

As she read over her book, a thought came to Twilight. She and her friends might have been happy that their young dragon friend was back with them, and Spike himself might have been content with his life amongst ponies, but that still didn't change the fact that the young drake was still disconnected from his own people. Whatever desire there might have been to be among them was gone forever because of his recent experiences with them. And Twilight was happy about that. When Spike had first gone out of the library's door to go to the migration, she felt a genuine pang of worry for him, that knowing more about his people would lead to him becoming less a part of her own life.

Twilight hated herself for thinking that. Her assistant, despite what he told her, was undoubtedly feeling a great disappointment that his journey didn't have the happy ending he was hoping for. And she was happy because her oldest friend stayed with her afterwards. Sighing, she closed her book and got up off her chair. She began to make her way upstairs as quietly as she could, before reaching the library bedroom. Entering, she saw the young dragon himself, sleeping soundly in his small bed. Quietly, Twilight approached him and knelt down beside him, watching him sleep.

"You've been with me for so long. I can't imagine my life without you."

This young dragon had indeed been with her for a long time. The two had first met at what was perhaps the most important day of Twilight's life, back when she was first accepted as Princess Celestia's personal protégé. It was through her magic that Spike's dormant egg had hatched, and he'd been born as a result. The two youngsters had been inseparable since then, and Spike had grown in a trustworthy friend and assistant. In fact, for almost all of her life, Spike was Twilight's ONLY friend, apart from her beloved brother, Shining Armour. And even after everything else that had happened to her afterwards, he'd always been there, at her side.

It was as she thought of that when the pang of guilt returned. Leaning forward, she spoke again, her voice hushed to almost a whisper.

"All my life, not once did I ever ask. I never wondered what being a dragon meant to you. Some days I would even forget you were a dragon. There was a whole other side to you, whose needs and wants in life I never once considered. I'm....."

Her face began to bear a look of sadness, and she lowered her head closer to him, her eyes closed.

"......I'm sorry".

She imagined how difficult it would be for her to have gone through what Spike had endured today. To go to a people you would consider you own, only to have them reject you because of how you've been brought up, and who you've lived with. It was not a pleasant thought to say the least, and though Twilight and her friends had secretly been there to observe what Spike had been through, it would never be the same as actually being him in that one moment when he realised that, despite what he might have wanted, the other dragons would never accept him for what he was. A dragon brought up by ponies. He was a stranger to them. An outsider. And though he'd put on a smile and a brave face for her, she knew that that's exactly how Spike now viewed himself.

Many thoughts came to Twilight as she considered this. Was she and everypony else right to do what they did with him? To have him grow up among them instead of his own people? Would he have been happier among dragons, and to have never had ponies like her come into his life? She didn't know the answers to those questions, and neither was she sure she wanted to hear them. But what she did know was that the thing that Spike had wanted to discover most about himself, he had not found at all. And, knowing this, Twilight whispered once more.

"And I'm sorry that you never found your father and mother."

That was all she needed to say. If Spike ever wanted to talk to her more about this, she would be there to listen. But for now, she was willing to accept that he was content with the life he'd always led. And so, she began to get up from her kneeling position, ready to go back downstairs to continue her studies. However, before she could walk away, she felt something grab onto her hoof. Her head shot down at she saw, to her surprise, that Spike had awoken. His claw was reaching out and holding onto her leg. But what surprised her most was his face, as his eyes were welling up. She didn't know how to react to this, but she didn't have time to, for Spike then spoke words she'd never have thought he would say to her.

"I already have a mother.......and her name is Twilight".

The young unicorn's mouth hung open, her mind unable to grasp what she'd just heard. His mother? Is that how Spike saw her? She tried thinking about it from his perspective. His hatching had been her doing certainly, and she'd been there with him almost every day since. Twilight had been the one to raise him and look out for him, even before he officially began his duties as her assistant. Thinking about it, Twilight's expression became one of realisation, and she now understood that he spoke truly. He was a dragon and she was a unicorn, but even so, they were family to each other. And to this tiny creature, Twilight was more of a parent to him than any dragon could be.

Looking down at him, at the tears in his eyes, Twilight's own eyes began to well up as the realisation of just what their relationship was washed over her. She gave a small smile at him, one which he returned. A few moments ago, Twilight had only ever thought of Spike as her assistant and close friend. But now, in this moment, he was so much more than that to her. He was a child, and her his parent. That's how he viewed them, and thus, that is now also how she saw the two of them. Kneeling down again, she brought her head forward and muzzled him affectionately, a gesture which he returned, as she spoke the only words that needed to pass between them now.

"And I'll always be here for you........son".