Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

----

A cup of flour, a splash of water and an egg were the three things Spike mixed together in a bowl.

The stove nearby had a skillet sitting on the burner, a splash of oil heating up over a low flame.

Carefully, he spooned out almost half the batter he'd made and set the rest aside. He snagged a nearby spatula and sat down to wait.

This, right here, was where Twilight and cooking began to disagree. Doing nothing but waiting as food cooked was, in her eyes, time better spent reading.

Then she'd get caught up reading and the food burned and they called the Ponyville fire department.

Good times, good times.

Small bubbles began to form and pop, telling him it was time to flip what he was cooking.

"Sweetie Bell? Dear, you know you're not supposed to be-" Rarity cut herself off as she entered the kitchen.

There was a purple colt with a green mane standing in front of her stove and humming.

Not her little sister.

Her mind churned like a set of rusty gears, trying to remember yesterday.

Something, something, Spike, pony, coffee.

Well, that wasn't particularly helpful.

He flipped the pancake off the skillet and on to a plate, drizzling a thin zig-zag of honey all across the top and placing it on the table in front of her.

She'd worry about it later, he could stay for now.

"Do you want something to drink, Rarity?" She mumbled something in response, two syllables long and starting with a C.

He began filling a fancy looking, chromed coffee pot with water and set it on the burner next to where the hot skillet still sat. He was humming something while he poured the rest of the batter into the pan.

If she wasn't currently enjoying light, golden-brown, fluffy heaven she'd likely find herself irritated. The sun was shining brightly, she was up too early and there still wasn't any coffee.

No, wait, the nearby rattling indicated her overused coffee pot was still raring to go. The colt seemed to have a knack for the kitchen, using an over mitt to snag the handle and pour of cup of steaming black liquid.

"Cream and sug...ar?" She upturned her mug and chugged, burning black liquid vanishing into the abyss. He poured another cup into her waiting mug before taking his own breakfast off the stove.

"Delightful breakfast, Spike. Have you been awake long?" She perked right up, her eyes filling with life and a smile gracing her face.

"Not too long. I noticed you weren't up yet and I started making breakfast. Did you... Did you like it?" Her smile shrunk just a hair.

A lovestruck baby dragon doing his very best to help you with your every need?

Absolutely adorable.

A lovestruck colt doing everything he could to please you?

Still adorable, she supposed, but it bordered much more closely to 'Creepy' than she was really comfortable with.

"It was absolutely divine, Spike. My own attempts at making pancakes usually end up a touch more... Flat. How ever do you do it?"

"Oh that?" He puffed up in pride, his eyes closing and a hoof crossing over his chest. "It's all about the batter. If you stir it too much, that's what happens. Gets all the air out of it or something I guess."

"Like over stitching I suppose. Too much as bad as too little..." She waited calmly as he hurriedly hoofed his own food into his mouth. She supposed she could forgive his lack of grace this once, since his body was only just a day old.

But only just this once.

"Well come along then. We'll put a note on Twilight's door that you're here, much simpler than running back off to try and catch her before she and Luna go off again, no?"

----

"Luna!" Twilight wasn't bothering much with social norms in her emotionally heightened state.

Social norms such as etiquette, like not shouting at a sleeping pony at the top of her lungs.

Or teleporting in the house. Hotel room, in this case.

"Five more minutes, Celly..." Luna tangled herself further into the bedding, unwilling to awaken so early into the day.

"Luna! You need to get up, it's about Spike!" A lesser pony would have simply bowed and walked away when given a drowsy dismissal from their princess.

A lesser pony wouldn't, as a theoretical, wrap her hooves in the diarch's blankets and pull them off.

Under normal circumstances, Twilight Sparkle, a princess herself, is one such lesser pony. She was raised to be polite and courteous, though from time to time her curiosity and isolation would find a way to shine through.

Then there's this.

When Luna had managed to focus her eyes after picking herself up off the ground, she made a conscious choice to hold her tongue.

She wanted to lambaste the feckless fool who'd disturbed her slumber with the harshest recriminations she could muster. Truly she did, from the deepest, foulest part of her tarnished soul.

Instead she sighed.

Twilight was a mess. Her hair was out of sorts in every direction, eyes wide and shining with something and her smile...

Pinkie Pie did not smile that wide.

"Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and aspirant Arch-Mage, for what reason have you awoken me from my slumber?" Titles were almost meaningless among equals. Saying them for anything other than the sake of formality was just a waste of breath.

Or a stalling tactic.

Do you have any idea how many hors d'ourves can be shoveled on a plate while all forty seven of the titles for the High Apostate of Yakyakistan are said?

Enough to go back for seconds.

Here it offered Luna a spare moment to shrug off some of the haze of fatigue from her mind.

She had a feeling she wasn't going to like this.

"Spike's alive!"

She was right.

"Twilight, I watched the nightmare of Garble. I saw the thing devour the poor dragon. I doubt-"

"He's in Ponyville! I talked to his employer and he said-" Luna closed her eyes for a brief moment and inhaled slowly. "-So Spike turned into a pony and went to ponyville to see the princess about magic to turn him back."

She worked that last sentence over in her mind a few times.

Still not making sense.

"Could you repeat that, Twilight? I'm afraid I wasn't quite following there." She shouldn't have been surprised when Twilight teleported.

Twilight landing on her back threw her. The teleport afterwards? She really should have expected it.

Author's Notes:

The segments were actually written in reverse and then swapped for the sake of literary flow. Slice of life before drama.