Peaceful. That was, by far, the best word to describe what was going on in the confines of the Golden Oak library right now. Spike, sitting upon a wooden chair near the corner, was quietly reading to himself, looking over a small comic book while smiling. Nearby, Trixie too was busy, concentrating on a new spell of hers. Her horn glowed its usual pink as she pointed it to a nearby pot of flowers. There was a brief flash of light and, within moments, the flowers had transformed into a bright green pear. Although an astounding feat of magic, the blue mare nevertheless looked more than a little frustrated at the sight of the fruit, and lit her horn up to try again. Spike, seeing this, shook his head a little before getting back to his comic. She's been trying that spell for ages, but still no orange. Pears, apples, grapes, heck even a pumpkin at one point. But, she'll get it eventually. Well, either that or we'll have to put up with a surplus of fruit in the next few days. Chuckling to himself, he got back to his comic, reading with great anticipation as the heroes within did battle with their foe, only to end up hanging over a cliff. Huh, a literal cliff-hanger to end the story. Neat. As he closed the comic, Spike instead opted to watch as Trixie attempted her spell again, this time choosing to aim at the pear. The young dragon watched with anticipation, but, as the spell was about to be shot, the door flung open.

"My sister is driving me crazy!"

Spike turned to see a very angry-looking Sweetie Belle enter the library, utterly oblivious to what she'd just barged in on. Needless to say, Trixie was distracted just long enough that she accidentally set off her spell, sending it blasting forward and striking a mirror on the nearby wall. The reflective surface sent it flying back, leading to Trixie ducking just in time to avoid being hit. Now, the spell was flying off, shooting right over Sweetie Belle's head and out into the streets of Ponyville behind her. All three watched with some concern as this happened, especially when they began to hear a very concerned voice screaming from outside.

"By all that's holy! Who turned my pineapple cart into a giant pineapple?! That's just mean...and ironic! I hate ironic!"

Looking somewhat guilty, Trixie turned to Spike.

"Um...Trixie will be right back."

Needless to say, the mare immediately sped off, running past Sweetie Belle and out into the streets, no doubt to undo what she'd accidentally unleashed. As for the two youngsters, Spike looked to Sweetie with some uncertainty before, after clearing his throat, finally speaking to her.

"So...er...Sweetie. What's up?"

Using her hind leg, Sweetie slammed the door behind her before walking over to Spike, fuming all the way.

"Rarity is...argh! And then she...ugh! But I just wanted to...gah!"

Seeing this, Spike folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay...I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark here and say that your sister has upset you."

Looking up at the young dragon, Sweetie's expression softened considerably.

"I'm sorry. It's just...things haven't been that great between the two of us lately."

Spike nodded, putting on a small smile before patting the space beside him, inviting Sweetie over. Smiling back, the young filly trotted over before taking a seat next to Spike. There was a brief silence between them, with Spike waiting patiently for Sweetie to say what she needed to. Eventually, the unicorn filly let out a sigh before starting to explain herself.

"My parents are out of town for a bit, so they decided I should stay with Rarity while they're gone. I was really excited and stuff...but..."

A slight frown crossed her brow before she continued.

"...stuff just keeps going wrong! I tried helping her with everything, but none of it is good enough for her! I tried helping to make breakfast, I tried helping to wash her outfits, I even tried making this super-nice picture of her and me. But...she just didn't like any of it!"

The filly slumped, resting her head on her hooves before starting to pout a little.

"She's just...ugh! All she wants is what she wants. When she does want me to help, she always takes over, making sure everything is exactly how she likes it. It's like nothing anypony does is enough!"

Spike watched her, nodding every once in a while. Yeah...Rarity can be a little...demanding at times. A small look of concern appeared on his face as he considered that. To think, I actually used to crush on her. Who knows how much of that kind of behaviour I'd have had to put up with if I'd tried going after her for longer than I did? He turned to Sweetie, seeing how despondent she was, and raised a clawed hand, gently placing it upon her shoulder. When she turned to look at him, she watched as he began to speak softly to her.

"Sweetie...when I was living with Twilight, back in Canterlot, I used to try everything under the sun to help her and be a good assistant."

Sweetie raised an eyebrow, showing clear confusion over where Spike was going with this. Seeing this, the young drake continued.

"Sometimes...I was too eager. I'd do things without thinking and...every once in a while...I just made things worse. Needless to say...Twilight wasn't always happy with what I did."

He looked down at the ground, a slight look of melancholy in his eyes.

"When she scolded me...I got angry. I'd keep telling myself that she didn't appreciate what I was doing."

After having said that, his face softened considerably.

"But...I came to realise that, by trying to help by doing things I couldn’t do...I wasn't helping her at all. I was just...being a nuisance. After that, Twilight helped me to get better. To succeed where I'd failed before. She made me the assistant I am today."

Sweetie frowned after hearing that.

"But this is different! Rarity really isn't appreciating what I do."

Spike turned to her, his face completely neutral.

"When you made her that breakfast...how was it?"

A smile formed on the young filly's face.

"It was delicious!"

There was silence between the two youngsters for a moment, with Spike simply staring at her. In time, Sweetie's smile faded somewhat.

"Well...I mean...it was kinda burned and stuff. But at least I did good at the cleaning!"

Yet again, the drake continued to stare silently, leading to Sweetie darting her eyes left and right.

"I mean...I guess I did kinda ruin it by making it shrink, but...the picture was good!"

And again, more staring.

"Okay! I used up some gems I shouldn’t have been playing with. There! Happy?"

She looked away, seeming to be deep in thought over what she'd just said. Eventually, her expression became one of slight sadness.

"I guess...I kinda messed stuff up, didn't I?"

Spike sighed, nudging her slightly. When she turned to look upon him, she saw that he was wearing a soft smile for her.

"It's okay. I mean...you're her sister. Even if she's upset, she'll know you did it because you love her. Maybe it'll just take time for her to realise that."

Upon hearing that, the filly turned, a look of guilt crossing her face.

"Well...actually...we kinda got into a big fight, and I walked out. I think she hates me right now."

Spike shook his head.

"She doesn't hate you, Sweetie. I know she can seem overbearing...and selfish...and sometimes inconsiderate. And yes, it seems like she's being overly harsh with you, but..."

He paused for a moment. Wait...where am I going with this? Eventually, he just shook his head before carrying on.

"Look, the point is that you're sisters. You know you love each other. This is just a little anger you're both going through. Give it time and things will calm down."

He reached forward, placing a hand upon her shoulder again, causing her to turn in his direction. When she did, he spoke in a somewhat hushed manner.

"Ask yourself...do you really want you and your sister to be at each other's throats forever?"

Sweetie looked down at the ground, saddened by the drake's words, which, needless to say, was a look that caused Spike to feel no end of guilt for having caused. However, after some time had passed, Sweetie let out a sigh before looking up to him again, smiling softly.

"No. I guess...I'd better go back and try and talk to her, shouldn't I?"

Spike smiled and nodded at that, silently voicing his approval of that plan. Sweetie smiled back before hopping off her chair, ready to head on out. However, before doing so, she turned to him, looking more than a little mischievous. Although confused at this, Spike watched as she approached him, leaning forward and planting a tender kiss upon his cheek. As usual with this sort of thing, Spike's face became as red as a tomato, causing Sweetie to giggle happily. She looked at him, giving him a look that shouted "that's for making me feel better", before she spun around and began to run out of the library, closing the door of the place behind her. As Spike came down from his redness, he held a hand to his cheek and smiled. I say again, how I ever crushed on Rarity I'll never know. However, he was interrupted from that line of thought by the sudden sound of somepony opening the door ferociously. Looking up, he saw that Trixie had returned. However, Spike gained a look of great confusion as he saw that, not only was her mane unkempt in appearance, but that she had a fake moustache and beard combo hanging precariously off her face. She turned, seeing the young drake staring at her, before closing the door and then charging forward. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she looked to him.

"If anypony asks, tell them that Trixie is out of town for a few days and that the only pony living here is a stallion called Gutierrez!"

Before Spike could respond to that, the mare rushed upstairs, with the sound of her closing her bedroom door being heard not long afterwards. Needless to say, Spike seemed more than perplexed at this. What in the name of Faust happened out there when I wasn't looking? However, he shook himself from that thought, instead getting off his chair and walking to the nearest window, looking out at Ponyville. More specifically, he watched as Sweetie Belle continued to walk away, heading straight for Carousel Boutique. Seeing this, he began to wear a warm smile.

"Please make things better with your sister, Sweetie. Because trust me..."

He paused, looking over to his right to see a small desk; a place where Twilight usually did her night-time studies. Seeing this, his face became one of sadness.

"...I know how hard it is to have family further away from you."