Chapter 4 - Marshmallow Dreams

Dawn had come to Ponyville, and not so far a flight as Sweet Apple Acres, an unnaturally eager pony let out shrieks of joy, piercing through the thick bark from which her home was made.

"It's here, it's here!" squealed the purple maned pony, bouncing up and down on her bed. Twilight had woken earlier than the other ponies of Ponyville today, her excitement just too intense to keep locked away for so long. From down below a tired grouchy voice begged "Twilight, not today, please!" Twilight, with the excitement of now having someone to talk to, launched herself off from the bed, landing heavily next to a small wicker cat basket.  

"How can you sleep Spike? Today is the day!" she lowered her head down to the basket, her face beaming with joy.

"I was dreaming of fluffy marshmallows falling from the sky, that's how." answered spike with lazy cynicism whilst rolling over away from Twilight to find a comfortable spot.

"But you don't even eat marshmallows," a confused look wiped the smile from Twilight's face for a few seconds before a grin once again flooded back through, "besides who needs dreams when today the best day ever!" Twilight began to bounce back and forth yet again before using magic to pick up a nearby calendar off from the wall and whiz it over to Spike's basket.  The sound of hooves striking oak had driven Spike to realise he wasn't going to get back to sleep today, and so with a yawn he picked himself up and fixed on to the calendar that was hovering before him.

"See, today IS the best day ever! Only 3 more days until the Summer-sun celebration." Spike stared blankly at the calendar as a pen floated in front of his face and marked a large 'X' through the previous day.

"Are you going to be doing this everyday?" Spike asked with a sarcastic raising of his claw "I only ask since you've been doing this a lot lately." he rubbed the back of his neck anxiously "Every day in fact." His claw fell from his neck, and as he dropped his posture he glared unforgivingly at the only pony in the room, finally letting out a long sigh he added grudgingly "For the last four days."

Twilight ignored Spikes disapproving looks and continued with her reply "How could I not, Spike?  The Summer-sun Celebration is one of the few days I can talk to princess Celestia, at least without any pony interrupting me." she ended with a snap. Her bouncing had now stopped and had been substituted by an attentive strafe around the bedrooms bookshelves as she repeatedly listed out the name of same book in her head.

"But Twilight you speak to princess Celestia all the time, besides you went to The Grand Galloping Gala, and we all know how that turned out."

"It's not the same Spike. I speak to her in my letters, but those are my reports about the magic of friendship, I only ever get to speak to her about actual magic when I see her face to face."

"And the Gala?" Spike added while lazily pointed towards her with an accusing claw.

"That's different," she uttered, excusing herself of his accusations. "she didn't have time to speak to me at the Gala, but at the celebration she'll be allowed to mingle." Twilight plotted while rubbing her hooves together, then quickly zoned back in as she noticed the book she had been searching for.

"Well okay, if you say so." Spike folded his arms and turned his back to Twilight,  then with his nose held high in the air he added "Just don't come crawling back to me again when things don't go all to plan, alright Twi?" He waited confidently for a response but instead was met only by silence. "Uhh...Twilight?"

Spike turned around to find an empty bedroom, an efficient, yet noisy Unicorn could be heard downstairs loudly running about in excitement whilst packing an assortment of items into a blue saddle bag. Spike walked up to the wooden stair rail and seized the two of the supports, pushing his face between them he spoke loudly "Why are you in such a hurry?" confused as to what any pony could do at this time in the morning. Twilight galloped back and forth between various sections of the library, bringing back a book with each visit till her bag was almost bursting at the seams. "And what's with all the books?" Spike added, hoping this time to get an answer this time.

Twilight raced back to her bag a final time and crammed the last book into her bag "That should do it!" she breathed. At that moment the bag floated into the air and hovered over towards with purple maned unicorn, almost being to much of a burden to lift with magic and as it was finally realised from it's magic binds above her, the bag, along with Twilight herself, crashed simultaneously to the ground.

Seizing the opportunity, Spike skipped down the stairs and lent down on his knee. " So tell me again, why do you need all these books?"

"I'll need to study extra hard if I want to impress the Princess with all my knowledge," Twilight struggled to her feet as one of the smaller books toppled out from out of the two piles "and lately I've been so wrapped up in friendship that I haven't been able to concentrate on real magic."

Spike looked down to see the book that had fallen out of her bag. "The Wonders of Fungi?"

"You never know," she racked her brain for an excuse "I might discover a really interesting...mushroom?" she followed with a dumb smile directed towards Spike, who with raised brow, glared at the purple unicorn. Twilight answered with an awkward chuckle "Hehe, maybe I don't need all of them."    

A few moments later as well as a few books lighter, Twilight was ready to leave for a day of on-the-field magic practice. With glowing horn she hoisted the saddle bag back onto her back, the door in front of her swung open, and as she was about to step through it, she stopped. Twilight stood in shock for short time, eyeing the pony who stood before her, until finally she whispered "P-p-princess Luna?"      

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