Spike was in a staring match with the library door. It was as if he was waiting for it to open by itself, leading him into the impossible conversation he was about to have. As the seconds ticked in time with the increasing pace of his heart beat, it became evident the door would win the match, and Spike would have to make the first move.

As opposed to his earlier entrance, he stepped into the library with forced confidence. I am going to make things right with her, even if it kills me… which it might.

“Twilight? I’m back!” Spike shouted into the empty room. “Are you here? We need to talk!”

Glancing around, he was unable to find her, so he made his way upstairs. “Twilight! Twilight, are you–” He stopped when he heard the faint sound of sniffling coming from her room.

He peered in to see the purple alicorn sitting on her bed, looking at something spread out in front of her. Gently, knocking on the door to announce his arrival, he walked in.

“Twilight?” Spike asked, gingerly approaching her.

“Huh, what?” Twilight said, jumping up in surprise. “Oh, Spike! You’re back?”

Spike took a seat next to Twilight on the bed. “Yeah, I just needed to cool off for a bit and think about some stuff.”

“Yeah, I suppose, um, I owe you an apology for yelling like that,” Twilight said, sniffling..

“No, I owe you an apology. I was out of line, and I did do some really stupid stuff. I’m sorry.”

Spike reached out and wrapped Twilight in a gentle hug. A hug that she quickly returned. He nuzzled into her neck fur, just as he used to do when he was a baby. It still felt just as soft as ever.

Opening his eyes, however, he noticed what Twilight was looking at. There were some old photographs laid out from when they first moved to Ponyville, and even from when she first got him in Canterlot.

“What’s this?” Spike asked, smiling as he pulled away from the hug.

Twilight looked over at the photos and smiled. “Oh, I was just looking at them. Things seemed so much simpler back then.”

“Yeah, they sure were,” Spike replied. “You remember this one?”

Twilight looked down to the picture Spike was pointing at. It was a slightly faded photograph depicting a baby Spike with cake all over his face. He was being tightly hugged by a filly Twilight. “Of course! Your first birthday.” Her smile widened as she continued to look at the photo. “You got a little messy when trying to eat your cake.”

“What can I say?… I love food,” Spike said with a chuckle.

“Something that hasn’t changed to this day,” Twilight responded, stifling a giggle.

“Yeah, yeah, so I like to eat,” Spike said with a mock eye roll. “What about this photo?”

“Oh, well this one was from when I used to read to you, to help you fall asleep. Remember?” Twilight pointed a hoof at the photo of Spike and herself curled up together on her bed.

“Yeah, I do. I remember I really liked the story about the dragon who fell in love with the pony. What was it called?” Spike asked.

“‘Hold Me In The Dark’. At least once a week, you’d have me read that one.” Twilight chuckled lightly. “But I loved it just as much, so I didn’t mind.”

The two shared a brief laugh, something that they hadn’t done in ages.

Spike’s head drooped and he slouched his shoulders. “What went wrong, Twi? Things used to be so different. Now… well, now it seems like we don’t do anything except argue. What happened?”

Twilight let out a deep sigh, and her eyes fell to the mattress beneath her. “I wasn’t ready…”

“Ready? For what?”

“For the crown, and for the responsibility that came with it. It’s taken longer to get used to than I had thought.” Twilight wiped a stray tear from her eyes. “And the entire time, you’ve been growing up, and I wasn’t ready for that either.”

Spike searched for words to say, but his mind was running on empty. Instead, he just scooted closer to Twilight and rested his head on her side.

“When I look at you, I still see the same baby dragon from all those years ago. It’s like, with all the other changes, I didn’t want to accept that you were changing too,” Twilight said, wrapping her hooves around him in a tight embrace. “I mean, I still remember when you would always ask me before going out, and you’d always tell me what you did. I still remember how you used to want to spend your time helping me. Now it seems my work isolates me, and since you’ve grown, you want more freedom. I don’t know, I guess I just miss the way things were when you actually needed me.”

“So, these past couple years, you’ve been worried about me growing up, because you’re afraid I won’t need you anymore?”

“Yes, but not just that. Also, Spike, I didn’t realize how much I depended on you for everything until you started becoming independent. Like, when you started going out with Flitter every night, I realized I wasn’t very adept at cooking.”

“Ha, that’s putting it mildly. Ow!” Spike rubbed his now sore shoulder where Twilight had just felt the need to hit him.

“Anyway, I also realized that I depended on you to keep things clean around here. Not to mention you always made sure I had some form of social activity every day. But before, I never gave it any real thought. I was just so caught up in everything going on in my life that I never realized what I was doing to you.”

Spike looked over at her—his only real family—and gently stroked her fur. “It’s alright, Twi. I promise. Doing stuff for you never bothered me. I like helping you.” He turned her head towards his face. “But I also need to start living my own life. I’m not a kid anymore. I have a job, I’m making new friends, and I have to be able to live my own life.”

“I know that. I realize that now. Even recently, I’ve been trying to ignore it, hoping it would go away. But when you came home today, after being gone all night, it hit me just how things were going to be, and what I was doing to you. And then, when you stormed out, I realized that you might not come back home...” she breathed, tears freely streaming from her eyes.

Spike was once again lost for words. This was definitely becoming a recurring theme for the past twenty-four hours. And what’s worse was the longer the conversation went on, the worse he felt. For all intents and purposes, he felt like the bad guy.

“Twilight, I promise I would never leave you like that. Not now, not in a hundred years, and not even in a thousand years will you have to be afraid of me pushing you out of my life like that.” He wrapped her in a tight embrace.

“Spike… thank you,” Twilight said, tightening the hug. “Thank you for putting up with me and thank you for being there for me. I don’t think I’ve ever really told you how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

“Well, you don’t need to, Twi. Everything you’ve done for me makes it clear that you love me, and of course, I still love you. Even if we’ve both forgotten it for awhile...”

After a few more seconds of their embrace, Twilight finally released him.

“Hey, Spike?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah?”

“Can we just talk for a little bit? Like, seriously talk? It seems we haven’t really gotten to talk in a long time.”

“Yeah! That sounds awesome,” Spike replied.

“So, tell me a bit about what you do at your job with Vinyl.”

“Really? You’re actually coming around to the idea?” Spike asked.

“Well, I’m not really ecstatic about it, but I suppose it couldn’t hurt to learn more considering how important it is to you."

"Awesome! Okay, let's see... Basically, I help Vinyl at her shows. You know, handling the wiring, mic checks, equaliser and volume control—you get the gist."

Twilight tried to hide the confusion on her face and nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, so those are the basics. But I've also been able to use Vinyl's synth and keyboard equipment to play live and fill in during some of the songs!"

"Wow, Spike. So she lets you play in front of all those ponies?"

"Yeah! It's so awesome. I told her I knew how to play keyboard, so when the first opportunity came up, she gave me a chance."

“Weren’t you nervous? I know how you get stage fright sometimes,” Twilight said.

“Well, yeah. At first, when I stepped onto the stage and saw the crowd standing, waiting for me to play, I was terrified. But when I actually started to play, and the crowd started screaming and jumping in rhythm with the beat, I don’t know… I felt alive.” Spike could feel his heart race just by thinking about the sensations he experienced on stage. “And then when I would look over at Vinyl, and she’d be rocking out with me, it was beyond words. It’s like, I know for sure now that this is what I want to do with my life.”

“Wow,” Twilight said, eyes wide.

“I never knew this was such a big deal for you, Spike. I guess I needed to pay more attention,” Twilight said with a sheepish smile.

“Well, yeah. Ever since I learned I had a knack for music, I always wanted to do something with it. Vinyl says I’m becoming ‘a real performer’ now,” Spike replied, cheeks flushed.

“Well, that’s great Spike, but…”

“But?”

Twilight let out a sigh and turned to Spike. “Well, I still can’t get over the fact that this job is dangerous. And honestly, I’m still having issues being comfortable with the idea of you spending so much time with Vinyl. I don’t even know anything about her, much less whether she’s going to be a good influence on you in the long run.”

“Oh, c’mon, Twi. Don’t you trust me not to do anything cr‒ wait, don’t answer that,” Spike said, facepalming himself. “Well, would you feel better about it if you got to meet Vinyl? Like, you know, if I invited her over sometime for dinner or something?”

Twilight stroked her chin for a moment. “I guess that couldn’t hurt. But you’ll have to give me some time to work out when exactly I’ll have time. But yeah, I think that sounds like a great idea.”

“Seriously? Twilight, you’re the best!” Spike said, tackling her in an embrace. “I promise, you’ll love her, she’s the coolest and nicest pony ever! Like, for real!”

Twilight chuckled to herself briefly, then pushed the dragon off her. “Alright, alright, settle down. I take it you really like her, huh?”

“Well, yeah. What’s not to like?” Spike said sheepishly.

Any time he thought of Vinyl, his heart seemed to jump out of his chest. Every time they hugged or touched each other, he felt like his brain was melting and all coherent thought would dissapear. It seemed like such a sudden development, but he hadn’t felt this way about anypony in a long time. He wanted to tell Twilight, but the memory of his past relationship and how it ended squashed any notion he may have had of telling Twilight about it. That could come later, when he was more sure of his feelings.

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to find out," Twilight said with a sly wink. "I'll let you know the dates I can do it tomorrow, alright?"

"Awesome! I'm seeing Vinyl on Wednesday, so I can tell her then," Spike said, his words traveling a mile a minute.

"Wait, you're seeing her Wednesday? What for?"

"Oh, you know, to hang out, play some music, go out to dinner..."

"Dinner?" Twilight asked, eyes snapping open. "You mean, like on a date? You? With Vinyl?"

"Woah, calm down, Twi. Just as friends..." for now.

Twilight had to fight to hold back every protective instinct in her body. She may as well have been trying to fight off an Ursa Major.

"Just, be careful, okay?"

"I promise. Heck, I Pinkie Promise! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Alright, I trust you. Anyway, I've had a long day, as have you, so I think we should get some sleep," Twilight replied, stretching out her hooves and letting out a loud yawn.

Letting out his own yawn, Spike quickly nodded his head in agreement. "I'll second that. G'night, Twi." Spike wrapped her up in a tight hug and Nuzzled her cheek before exiting.

On his way to his room, however, he quickly brought an idea to his mind. He dashed down the stairs as fast as his short legs could carry him, retrieved the item he needed, and made his way back to Twilight's room.

"Hey, Twilight?" Spike asked, nudging open her door.

Having just gotten comfortable in her bed, Twilight merely turned her head to address him. "Yes, Spike?"

Spike waddled his way across the room to Twilight's bedside, and presented the item to her. "I don't suppose you could read me this story tonight?"

A tear found its way into Twilight's eye the moment she read the words on the cover. “Hold Me In The Dark.” She levitated the book up and scooched over to make room for Spike on her bed, which he happily curled up into.

When the two had gotten comfortable, curled up with one another, Twilight opened to the first page.

"Once upon a time, there was a dragon and a pony…”

Author's Notes:

Howdy. Sorry that this one is a bit shorter, but you know, that's how things go sometimes. Well, get ready for some awesome SpikeScratch (or whatever it's called) coming up! Yay!

Special thanks to my boys Avox, LightningBass and Notestretch for making it readable! :)