“Are you sure you’ll be alright be yourself?” asked Twilight. She stood at the castle’s door, bags at her side. “I can get one of the girls to come over, if you want.”

“Come on Twilight,” groaned Spike, “I don’t need a babysitter. I’ll be fine by myself.”

“I don’t know…” said Twilight worriedly. “It wouldn’t take long to ask Rarity to stop by…”

Spike’s eyes went wide as he imagined it…

Rarity came into the castle, a dazzling blue dress on. “Oh, Spike!” she said, swooning. “That nasty Twilight has left you all alone!” She grabbed the dragon and pulled him close. “Not to worry. Rarity’s here to make everything better.”

“R-Rarity…” said Spike breathlessly.

Rarity grabbed Spike’s face and lifted it up to meet her eyes. She leaned in close, giving him a smoldering look. “And now that we’re all alone…in this big castle…just the two of us, do you know what we can do?” She leaned closer.

“W-what can we do?” asked Spike nervously. He was very aware of Rarity’s lips just centimeters from his own.

“We can feed you!” said Rarity, shoving a baby bottle into Spike’s mouth.

Spike choked and pulled the bottle out of his mouth. “W-what?!” said Spike. “Why do you have a baby bottle?!”

“To take care of you, of course!” said Rarity happily. She picked Spike up and cuddled him. “I am you babysitter, after all. It’s my job to take care of the baby!”

“But…” began a horrified Spike, “But I’m not a baby! I can take care of myself!”

“Oh!” said Rarity, looking at the dragon in her arms. “It sounds like someone’s getting grumpy-wumpy! I know just what to do to cheer you up!” She used her magic to lift Spike. She started walking away, the floating dragon following her. “We’ll give you a nice bath and then we’ll get you changed and then we’ll put you to bed!”

“NOOOOOOOOOO-”

“-OOOOOOOOOOO!” screamed Spike, his eyes wide. He grabbed the shocked Twilight. “Don’t get Rarity! I’ll die if she has to babysit me!”

“Now Spike,” said Twilight in a disapproving tone, “I know Rarity’s not the most nurturing pony, but she’s not that bad.”

“I don’t mean it like that!” yelled Spike. “I’ll die of embarrassment! How’s Rarity going to see me as a mature, grown-up dragon if she has to babysit me?”

Twilight looked out of the open castle door and saw that Princess Celestia’s chariot was touching down on the castle’s lawn. She sighed. “Ok, ok. You can stay here by yourself. I’ll only be in Canterlot for one night, anyway.”

Spike smiled at Twilight and gave her a massive hug. “Thank you, thank you!”

“You’re welcome…” choked Twilight. She put her arms around the dragon. “Do you need anything before I go?”

“Nope!” said Spike happily. He pointed to a bowl full of gems on a nearby table. “I’ve got food and I’ve got…” He pointed to several books on the shelves. “Those!”

“Those?” repeated Twilight. She used her magic to bring one of the books closer to her. She read the title out loud, “The Trotting Dead?”

“Yeah!” said Spike, breaking the hug. He grabbed the book. “I’ve got the whole collection of these! All of the trade paperbacks! They’re about zombies and a small group of surviving ponies.” Spike opened the book and showed Twilight the inside of it.

Twilight frowned at the violent page Spike was showing her. “Why is that pony cutting his hoof off?” she asked.

“Oh!” said Spike. “That’s Trick Crimes. He’s the group’s leader, but his hoof was bitten by a zombie. He had to cut it off so he wouldn’t be infected!” Spike closed the book and smiled happily. “Pretty cool, huh?”

Twilight fought the urge to gag. “Spike, don’t you think those comics are a little bit too violent for you? You might get a little freaked out by them.”

“No,” said Spike, shaking his head, “I’m old enough to read them without getting freaked out. Just like I’m old enough to be home alone!”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but she heard Princess Celestia call her name from outside. She sighed. “Ok fine. Just promise me that if those comics get too violent, you’ll stop reading?”

“I think that’s the first time you’ve ever wanted someone to stop reading,” replied Spike.

“Spike.”

The young dragon sighed. “I promise.”

“And that you won’t eat too many gems? The last time you had a bowl full of them, you got a stomach ache.”

Spike sighed again. “I promise.”

“And that you’ll go to bed at your normal bedtime?” continued Twilight.

“Twilight, you’re going to be late!” said Spike desperately.

Twilight laughed and pulled Spike in for another hug. “Ok, ok. I’m going.” She broke the hug and used her magic to pick up her bags. “I’ll be back tomorrow, ok?” she said as she walked out the door.

“Alright,” said Spike, walking to the door. “Bye!” he called after her. He gave a wave to Princess Celestia, who was sitting in her chariot, chatting with the two guards that pulled it. She noticed the wave, smiled warmly, and gave a wave of her own. Smiling, Spike walked back inside and shut the door behind him.

“Ok,” he said, grabbing the bowl of gems off the table. He picked up the volume of The Trotting Dead off the floor and walked over to the bookshelves.

After the library had been destroyed by Tirek, Princess Celestia, as a thank you to Twilight, had replaced nearly all of the books that had been destroyed by the explosion. Twilight had nearly gone into shock after the books were replaced, seeing how much more book shelves their new castle had as opposed to the old library. Even with all of the books, there were still plenty of empty shelves.

Spike’s comic collection was on the bottom shelves of the book cases, well within reach for the small dragon. He set his bowl of gems and the first volume of the comic on a nearby couch and walked over to the book shelves. Grabbing volumes 2 and 3 of The Trotting Dead, Spike walked back over to the couch and began to read.

Time passed as Spike flipped read page after page, panel after panel of the series, which only grew more and more violent as he read. Finally, a couple of hours later, he closed the book with a grimace. “I can’t believe what Miponne did to the Governor.” He shuddered.

Spike heard a loud growling noise. He held his stomach and looked over at the bowl of gems. He had been so absorbed in reading, he hadn’t touched one. “I’m starving!” he said. He reached out and grabbed a nice red ruby. He opened his mouth, about to put the gem inside.

There was a flash of lightning followed by the boom of thunder. Surprised, Spike dropped the gem. “What the hay was that!” he yelled. He looked out of the window and gasped.

Black clouds darkened the sky, lit up only by the occasional flash of lightning. Spike saw trees get blown back by the wind and ponies rush to get home and away from the storm. “Geez…” muttered Spike, looking away from the window. “How did I not notice that?” He walked over to the wall and flipped on the lights, illuminating the room. He then walked over and grabbed a few more gems out of the bowl and chewed on them. Swallowing, he turned back to the couch and looked at the three volumes of the comic laying on it. “I should probably put these away,” said Spike out loud. “I think I’m done for today.”

As Spike grabbed one of the volumes, there was a loud banging noise.

Jumping, Spike dropped the book on his foot. Hissing in pain, Spike hopped up and down on one foot while he clutched the other. “What was that?” he asked out loud.

The lights flickered and died, darkening the room.

“Perfect…” muttered Spike. He sighed. “The storm probably knocked out the power. And that was probably just thunder that-”

There was a loud banging on the door.

Spike jumped again. “Or maybe not!” He took a deep breath. “Ok…just calm down. It’s probably just someone who wants to get out of the storm…yeah…” He looked down at the open comic book. A splash page of a zombie banging on a door greeted his eyes. Spike gulped.

A dark shape moved in front of the window.

“Spiiiiiiike…” it moaned. “Leeet meeeee iiiiiiiin…”

Spike screamed. Turning away from the window, he ran wildly to the stairs. Quickly rushing up them, Spike ran straight for his and Twilight’s room. He ran to his bed and jumped into it, throwing the covers over his head.

“No no no no no no no…” he muttered, curling up into a ball and shutting his eyes.

Something poked his back and ripped the covers off of him.

“DON’T EAT ME!” screamed Spike, fully expecting a zombie to bite into his flesh.

There was a long silence.

“What do you mean, ‘eat you’?” asked a familiar voice.

Spike cracked open one of his eyes and saw a familiar purple pony. “Twilight!” he yelled, opening both eyes. He rushed out of bed and tightly hugged the Alicorn. “It’s you!”

“Yeah…it’s me…” choked Twilight. She pulled away from Spike and raised her eyebrow at him. “Why didn’t you open the door? I was knocking for a while. I even went to the window to see if I could see you.”

Spike chuckled sheepishly. “Sorry…I kinda thought you were…a zombie…kinda?”

Twilight sighed. “…Those comics freaked you out, didn’t they?”

Spike looked down at the floor. “A little…”

“I don’t blame you,” said Twilight. “Just the page you showed me earlier freaked me out. Just keep in mind that zombies aren’t real.”

Spike looked up, surprised. “Wait. That’s it? You’re not going to tell me that you knew I was too young to stay home alone?”

Twilight looked confused. “No. Why would I? You got scared from the comic, sure. But, from all I could see, you were just reading this whole time. You weren’t getting into trouble, you weren’t eating every gem you had, you weren’t staying up until tomorrow.” She rubbed Spike’s head, giving him a warm smile. “While you may want to lay off the violent comics, I think I can trust you to be home alone.”

Spike smiled back at her. “Thanks, Twilight.” He paused for a minute. “But what are you doing home? I thought you’d be in Canterlot by now.”

Twilight sighed. “We were heading to Canterlot, but this storm blew us off course. By the time we managed to get out of the worst of the storm, we just decided to come back here for the night.”

“We?” asked Spike.

Twilight nodded. “Princess Celestia and those guards are downstairs. They’ll be staying here for the night. Anyway, when you didn’t let us in, I just teleported us inside.” She gave a big yawn. “And teleporting four ponies at once is a little tiring. I’m going to go to bed.” She walked over to her bed. “Night, Spike.”

“Wait!” said Spike. He blushed a little. “I’m still a little freaked out from that story…C-can I sleep in your bed tonight?”

Twilight smiled as she pulled down her covers. She got in and patted the space next to her.

Spike walked over and hopped onto the bed. Twilight pulled the covers back up and wrapped her arms around Spike. Within minutes, the two of them were asleep, wrapped in each other’s arms.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Princess Celestia was underneath one of the spare blankets Twilight had given her. She was resting on the couch while the two guards were reclined on the arm chairs by the bookshelves. A lit candle bathed the room in a soft light.

Celestia idly flipped to the next page of The Trotting Dead. “I think I like the TV show better,” she commented.