The sun had long since set beyond the horizon, and all about the town of Ponyville, mares, stallions and foals alike were getting ready for sleep after their various days. In the centre of town, in the Golden Oaks Library, one solitary unicorn was not, like the rest of her neighbours, planning on resting. Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia, was getting ready for yet another late-night study session, alongside her trusted owl companion. Already she had a massive pile of books that she needed to get through, and was preparing a number of candles to help light the main room of the house so she could read better. As she was preparing though, a sound of footsteps caught her attention, and she turned and smiled to see that it was none other than her number one assistant, Spike. The young drake had a massive pillow tucked under his arm, a clear sign that he was heading off for bed. Chuckling to herself, Twilight addressed him.

"Getting in an early night, Spike?"

The dragon smiled back at her.

"You know it. After all that stuff we did today, I think I've earned it."

Twilight nodded at that before turning back to her books, using her magic to open the first of them before speaking to her young assistant once more.

"Well, goodnight. Sleep well."

Spike nodded in response to that before making his way up the main staircase of the house, after which he soon found himself in his and Twilight's bedroom. He found his bed, a large basket at the foot of Twilight's much larger bed, and carefully placed his pillow on one end of it. After slipping in under the sheets, he got himself in a comfortable position before resting his head into the pillow, closing his eyes with a look of contentment upon his face. He began waiting for himself to fall asleep, but after a few moments, he found himself being distracted by a new sound he hadn't noticed before. It was some kind of tapping, which caused him to open his eyes. Turning his head, he saw that it was one of the many tree branches of the house, the tip of which was repeatedly pressing against the window thanks to the wind outside.

Grumbling, Spike got out of bed and walked over to the window, crawling onto it's ledge so he could reach the handle and open it. With the window now open, he reached out and grabbed onto the tip of the branch, trying as hard as he could to snap it off. Unfortunately, the wood wasn't exactly brittle, and the best he could do was bend in it one direction, then another, before it finally resumed it's normal shape. A look of frustration crossed his face, but soon became one of inspiration. Although it might have seemed silly to say so, there were times when he briefly forgot that he was a dragon. With that knowledge now in the forefront of his mind, he inhaled deeply before letting out a torrent of green flame, engulfing the offending area of the branch, which then promptly disintegrated after a few seconds of being exposed to Spike's flame.

Although momentarily pleased with himself, Spike then noticed that the stump of the remaining branch was still aflame, and it was here that he remembered, to his dismay, that their entire house was made of wood. A look of shock and horror crossed his mind as he frantically looked around, before his eyes focused on a nearby glass of water he'd prepared earlier. Reaching for it, he ran back to the window and threw the water out, putting out the fire and preventing the risk of it spreading. Although he felt deep relief at having undone his blunder, this ordeal had nevertheless caused a great deal of stress in the young dragon, and so now he sought to just go back to bed and forget this. His expression one of discomfort after this, he got back between his sheets and planted his head against his pillow far more vigorously than before.

Sadly, this was short-lived as Spike's then began to hear yet another sound. This time though it was coming from inside the house. Sitting up in his bed, he looked around, trying to see where it was coming from. After a few minutes of searching, he soon realised that the sound, which greatly resembled scratching of some sort, was coming from downstairs. Leaping out of bed, he got down on all fours and pressed his head against the floorboards of the room. After a few more moments of listening carefully, he realised that the sound was, in fact, the sound of Twilight writing on parchment with her quill. Either Twilight's writing is really loud or these floorboards are paper-thin, he thought to himself. Knowing he couldn't simply go down there and ask her to stop her late-night research, Spike instead just grumbled and got back to bed, lifting up the pillow and covering his ears in an attempt to drown out the sound.

However, it was not long afterwards that the young dragon found out that sound was not his only issue, as he could see some kind of bright light coming in through his eyelids. Snapping his eyes open, he turned his head to see that a bright pale light was beaming in through the window. Letting out another groan, he walked back over to the window and peered out of it. The source of the light was clear, as the clouds had disappeared from the sky, revealing the full moon. Although undoubtedly a beautiful sight, it was nevertheless too bright for Spike right now. Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't do anything with the moon as he had with the branch, so instead he simply reached over and pulled the curtains closed. Although, he soon noted that this did little to block out the torrents of light the moon was letting off right now.

He was about to give up on the matter when an idea struck him. He knew it was a foolish idea, but at this point he was willing to try anything. So, he dropped down to his knees and clasped his hands together in a sort of prayer motion, before looking up at the sky through the window and speaking in a hushed tone, his eyes closed.

"Princess Luna? I don't know if you can hear me, but I was wondering if, maybe, you could turn the lights down on your moon just a teeny bit?"

Opening one eye slightly, he looked out of the window yet again, hoping beyond hope that his prayers would literally be answered. One moment passed, then another, and another, before finally, to his utter shock, he began to see that the light of the moon was indeed becoming less bright. Getting back to his feet, his expression was one of sheer joy as he punched the air, happy that something had gone right for him. However, just as soon as he'd finished that, the moon's light not only got back to the same level of brightness as before, but actually seemed to get brighter, with the light actually focusing specifically on the window of the bedroom. Shielding his eyes from the near-blinding beam of light, Spike's face was one of fury now.

"OH COME ON!!!"

........................................

Morning had arrived in Ponyville, and the residents of the town were starting their day happy and rested after a long night's sleep. In the Golden Oak's Library, Twilight Sparkle had finished her study session and was now making her way up to her and Spike's bedroom. Opening the door, she entered with a cheery look on her face. Unbeknownst to her, Spike, who was lying with his face pointed away from her, had his eyes wide open, and the dark rings under his eyes made it clear that he had not one moment of sleep last night. However, not realising this, Twilight walked beside his bed and gently nudged him with her hoof.

"Wakey wakey, Spike! It's a beautiful day today. And I imagine you'll want to burn off all that energy you've got from a good night's sleep."

Needless to say, Twilight earned herself a thrown pillow to the face after saying that.