From within the crystal walls of the Castle of Friendship, inside the bedroom of the princess who resided there, a bright pink orb materialized from thin air and simultaneously burst, revealing the presence of said pony princess and her faithful dragon assistant, both noticeably exhausted from a long and particularly eventful day.

But as per the norm on a quiet evening of such an eventful day, the exhaustion they felt was accompanied by an unmistakable sense of pride. They had yet again managed to overcome a perilous challenge, and thus not only would Equestria be safe from any dragon attacks for the foreseeable future, but they were also on amicable terms with the new Dragon Lord, and an abundance of dragon knowledge was now more accessible to ponykind than it had ever been before.

They both reveled silently in their victory, and were now more than ready to reward themselves by lying down for a peaceful night’s rest as they bid the evening farewell and welcomed the presence of the moon. That is, until the young dragon realized that something was missing...

“Where’s Rarity?!” Spike cried with sudden alarm, fearing that Twilight had failed to include her in the teleportation spell, leaving her stranded within the dragon lands where any rogue dragon, unaware of the new regime, could have scooped her up for his evening meal.

“Don’t worry. I teleported her home while simultaneously teleporting us here,” Twilight reassured, almost entirely out of breath due to her substantial magic use. “I’ve never tried a two-way teleportation spell over such a long distance before. Looks like it worked.”

Spike still looked unconvinced, wondering about the possibility that Rarity had ended up another one of Twilight’s magical mishaps with the teleportation spell landing her someplace on the other end of Equestria. Still, he took some comfort in the fact that he had never known Twilight to fail when it came to teleportation, and so he decided to sweep the thought from his mind.

“I have to know, Twilight. How were you and Rarity able to follow me so closely the whole time?” Spike asked after allowing Twilight a few moments to catch her breath. “And for that matter, where did you get all of those disguises?”

Twilight’s mouth gradually curved to form a sly grin, and the cocky look in her eye let Spike know instantly that she had no intention of disclosing this information with him.

“Well, Spike, when explaining the details of unicorn or alicorn magic to non-magic users, there’s this old saying we have. I believe it goes: ‘A magician never reveals her secrets.’”

Spike rolled his eyes grudgingly. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised if you found some spell to hollow out tree trunks and rocks. But I didn’t know you could teleport to places you couldn’t see.”

“Sorry, Spike,” Twilight said, shaking her head while maintaining the cockiness in her expression. “I’ll not say another word. It’s classified.”

Spike shook his head, knowing that he would ultimately have no choice but to let it go, at least until he had the kind of leverage he would need to receive an answer.

“Well, I’m pretty tired,” Spike said with a yawn. “I’ll see you in the morning, Twi.”

The infant dragon made to exit Twilight’s bedroom, still wondering to himself whether he would have found it worth the effort to continue serving as Rarity’s unneeded bodyguard and rush over to Carousel Boutique to ensure that Twilight’s spell had indeed saw her home.

“You’re not going anywhere, Spike!”

The anger-laced tone of Twilight’s voice nearly made Spike jump within his scales as he whipped around. “Huh?”

Without saying anything else, Twilight’s horn went alight, and Spike immediately knew what was coming in the millisecond before it happened. The encompassing sensation of her magic surrounded him, and he could do nothing as his feet were lifted off the ground and he was thrust directly into Twilight’s open hooves, where she clutched him as though he had just declared that he intended to leave her forever.

“You could have died today, Spike, and because of that, you’re not going anywhere until I hold you for a while,” Twilight said, her cocky stare having been replaced with a pair heavy and anxious eyes.

Even when he was released from the aura, Spike was still unable to move. Twilight’s firm grasp left it nearly impossible for him to squeeze through her overly protective hooves.

“It wasn’t that big a deal, Twilight,” he said almost nonchalantly. “It was just—”

The infant dragon paused as he felt the splash of a tiny droplet making contact with his head. He quickly looked up, but Twilight had already closed her eyes, permitting no additional tears to pass from them.

“Twilight?” he said with a growing concern, tenderly placing his hand upon her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just so proud of you,” Twilight whispered, her eyelids lifting to reveal her wet eyes again, which was accompanied with a prideful smile. “I just can’t believe how good you are, Spike...”

“What do you mean, Twi?” her curious dragon asked as he slowly removed his hand.

“You were willing to put yourself in real danger to save Equestria,” Twilight said, her voice barely concealing her incredulousness towards the situation. “You knew exactly what you would have to sacrifice if you won, but you did it anyway just to save all of ponykind. You also didn’t hesitate for even so much as a second to save Ember when she was in danger of drowning. I didn't even know it was possible for a dragon to be so selfless, but you truly proved me wrong today, Spike.”

“I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done, Twi,” insisted Spike. “If you were a dragon, I know you would have chosen to do the same thing.”

His response urged a chuckle out of her, and she nodded her head firmly in agreement.

“Well, I guess I should also be proud of myself, then,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I never knew I had that much of an affect on your morals.”

Spike responded with a troubled frown. “Does it....really surprise you that much?”

“Well, yes, it does,” Twilight answered. “You’re still quite young, Spike. I still remember the day I hatched you and it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago to me. I can still recall when I was giving you reading lessons and trying to get you accustomed to eating pony food. And now here you are, throwing yourself into harm’s way to save ponykind, knowing exactly what you would have to sacrifice by doing it. So yes, I'm more than a little surprised by that, Spike. When did you grow up on me so much?”

She squeezed her infant dragon slightly tighter, and Spike’s troubled expression was overridden with one that displayed the deepest affection for his favorite pony in the world. Twilight’s words were as the calmest and most soothing of music to his ears, and knowing that he had once again earned her approval left a tingling feeling within the depths of his stomach. It was the sort of feeling that he constantly longed for—the very thing that made his occasionally-arduous work as her assistant worth every last modicum of effort he put into it.

“Hey, Spike?” said Twilight.

“Yeah?”

“If you had chosen to stay in the dragon lands instead, what would you have done as the new Dragon Lord?” Twilight asked.

Spike scratched his head, almost surprised that this thought had never once crossed his mind as he pushed himself through danger to get to the Bloodstone Scepter before any other dragon could claim it.

“Well....first I would order that there be no further attacks on ponies,” said Spike.

“I’m sure we ponies would appreciate that,” Twilight replied with a chuckle.

“After that, I think I would suggest that all dragons have to give at least one hug per day to another dragon,” said Spike.

Twilight shook her head with a simultaneous eye roll with amusement at how silly the idea seemed.

“What?” Spike responded with a casual shrug. “I think if dragons showed more affection towards each other, they’d probably end up being a lot less aggressive.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Twilight said with an acknowledging nod. “Anything else?”

Spike delved back into his thoughts for a moment, only to eventually reply with an uncertain shrug.

“Oh, come on, Spike,” said Twilight, appearing skeptical that he could be out of ideas already. “Just picture yourself ruling an entire land of dragons. I’m sure you don’t have any shortage of things you’d like to change.”

“Hmm…” Spike shifted his eyes in several directions as he tried even harder to rack his brain for more ideas.

“Well, I think I would probably set new standards for personal hygiene,” he suggested, then cleared his throat to speak in a more commanding voice. “By order of Dragon Lord Spike, there shall be no more burping in public!”

“That’s a good one,” said Twilight. “I’m sure Rarity would approve.”

“I would also try to make pillows available to all dragons,” said Spike. “But they’d have to earn them first, and the only way they could earn them is by following my rules.”

“Oh no, not our pillows, Spike!” Twilight pleaded in the most dramatic voice she could feign. “Anything but our pillows!”

“Well, you have to admit, the dragon who was planning to take our pillows by force did have a point,” Spike replied. “Maybe dragons don’t really deserve to sleep uncomfortably on rocks each and every night. Our scales may be hard, but that's still quite uncomfortable to us. Sharing our pillows will help them get a good night’s rest, and a good night’s rest might also go a long way to make them less aggressive.”

“Okay, okay, I see what you’re saying,” noted Twilight. “I suppose we ponies could spare a few pillows. Would four or five be enough?”

Twilight giggled at her own joke, and Spike responded by playfully rolling his eyes.

“Oh, I know!” he suddenly exclaimed. “By order of Dragon Lord Spike, there will be no more stealing of phoenix eggs! In fact, there will be no more stealing or harming any animals of any kind at all.”

“Good thinking, Spike,” said Twilight. “Anything else?”

“Oh, oh, you’ll love this one!” Spike said with a confident grin. “By order of Dragon Lord Spike, every dragon must read at least one book per year.”

Twilight managed to gasp with a greater sense of drama than she had before. “First our pillows, and now you want to give them our books?! Oh, say it isn't so, Dragon Lord Spike!”

“Well, I don’t think most dragons even know how to read,” said Spike. “After all, I wouldn’t know how to read if it weren’t for you.”

Twilight rubbed beneath her muzzle, delving into thought deeply enough to suggest that this was no longer a simple hypothetical scenario, but instead a legitimate decision she was being urged to make.

“That one might be going a bit too far, Spike,” she said after a few moments. “I just can’t help but feel that many of those books would simply end up as ashes. Truly, only the most deserving of dragons should be able to experience the pleasure of reading a book.”

Spike could barely resist rolling his eyes. “Okay, fine. Reading a book would be the biggest requirement for earning a pillow. That would give the dragons a lot more reason to do it. Is that better?”

“Hm, I suppose so,” Twilight conceded with slow nod. “But then again, I’m not exactly sold on the pillow thing either, Spike.”

“Yeah, yeah….” Spike said with feigned annoyance.

“Well, is that all, Mr. Dragon Lord?” Twilight asked again.

Once more, the infant dragon fell silent to ponder, and his eyes brightened as a last idea eventually crossed his thoughts.

“By order of Dragon Lord Spike, the Dragon Lord shall receive a daily claw and foot massage!” he said boastfully, a nervous smile spreading across his mouth.

Twilight pierced him with a stern look, her eyebrow cocked and lips tightened.

“What? I’m doing a lot of hard work here!” the infant dragon insisted. “I think I deserve it!”

“Maybe you do,” Twilight said with a chuckle. “In any case, I think you’ve proposed some very good ideas. To think that my little Spike would be the one to change dragon lifestyle and put an end to the age-old hostility of dragons against ponies...”

Spike smiled affectionately as images of a society of dragons living in harmony with ponies flashed through his mind, and the notion that he himself was responsible for it filled him with unmistakable pride, even if it would never actually happen. He closed his eyes and softened himself to Twilight’s embrace, no longer minding if he remained right where he was all night long. Yet although his body was at gentle peace, something was buzzing around his mind like a fly, and he knew that he would not likely receive any rest until he had made some effort to swat at it.

“Twi?” he said, staring back up into her eyes.

“Hm?”

“Why do you think Ember wasn’t like most other dragons?” Spike asked. “You yourself said that her behavior contradicted everything you knew about them. Why do you think that was?”

Twilight fell silent, her eyes shifting in all directions as she pondered for an answer.

“I don’t really know, Spike,” she replied after a few moments. “I guess I didn’t gather enough information on her to figure it out.”

“Well, I’d really like to know, as soon as we possibly can,” the infant dragon said vigorously. “Up until now, I’ve always thought that I wasn’t like other dragons because of the influence you’ve had on me. But what about Ember? She was raised by the Dragon Lord!”

“That is a good point, Spike,” Twilight said with an nod. “Then again, the dragon lord seemed quite merciful enough himself. After all, he did let you go…”

“It just makes me wonder whether or not there are more dragons out there who are good like me,” said Spike. “I’ve always thought that I only turned out good because I’ve lived around ponies all my life, but now I wonder if there’s a chance that I still would have turned out good if I had grown up with my own kind.”

Twilight frowned as she saw her baby dragon’s eyes growing heavy with distinct uncertainty. She knew how much Spike hated the thought that he had just narrowly been rescued from a bitter life with other dragons by simply being the lucky egg that had just happened to be found for her entrance exam to Celestia’s school.

“Spike…”

“I’m okay,” he reassured her, wiping at tears in his eyes which had yet to appear. “I try not to let it bother me, but I really don’t want to believe that my entire species is nothing but greedy bullies who terrorize other creatures. I want to believe that there are some dragons out there who wouldn’t give into their instincts to be greedy and mean. I want to believe there are dragons out there who are capable of good, and Ember is the first proof I’ve ever had that there are…”

Twilight unwrapped one foreleg from the infant dragon’s body and lifted his hung head.

“You’re not who you are because of me, Spike,” she assured. “You are who you are because of you.”

“How do you know that for sure?” Spike responded, his face still overwhelmed with doubt. “You were the one who taught me right from wrong. If I had been told all my life that I could take whatever I want and bully others, how can you really know that I would resist that?”

“Because I know you, Spike,” Twilight answered warmly. “I may have been a positive influence, but I know without any doubt that you already had good within you from the moment you were born.”

“Well, it’s not like I’ve never given in to my instincts to look out for only myself...” Spike replied .

“Yes, you make mistakes sometimes. Everypony does, Spike.”

“I also know that I still have an instinct to give into my own greed,” said Spike. “I know it’s inside me, and maybe one day it will come out again. Even after all the effort I’ve made to ensure that it never happens again, sometimes I just can’t help but feel that it’s only a matter of time…”

The infant dragon shuddered within Twilight’s grasp, still loathe to think about the day he had lost himself to his greed, a day he would likely be reminded of with his each and every subsequent birthday.

“Don’t talk that way, Spike,” Twilight demanded as she felt her young dragon’s fearful uncertainty transferring over to herself. “Neither one of us is ever going to let that happen again, are we?”

“No. Never,” Spike said, shaking his head with vehement intensity. “I don’t care if it means that I never get another gift for as long as I live. I never, ever want to….be like that again.”

Twilight smiled, his response thoroughly eroding her fear almost as quickly as it had came. “You see? That’s how I know that your good was already inside you, Spike. I never taught you to be so willing to sacrifice yourself for others, but that’s simply an instinct you possess. It has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with you.”

Spike waited a moment for Twilight's words to grip him as tightly as her protective hooves, and once they did, he allowed himself to smile, now appearing convinced.

“Even so, I still need an answer for Ember,” he said.

“We’ll write to her soon,” Twilight ensured. “Believe me, I’m more than a bit curious to know myself.”

Nothing more was said between them for a long while, and Spike’s mind was now at enough ease to allow himself to enjoy the tender protection Twilight’s embrace. He closed his eyes and soaked in her presence, from her familiar scent to the familial love that fully encompassed the both of them. But as though a switch had suddenly been flipped within Twilight’s emotions, all signs of happiness vanished from her face, and she now also looked as though she would also be unable to rest or even release Spike from her grasp before she had some form of her own closure to the day’s events.

“Could I ask you something, Spike?” she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

Even in spite of how low her voice was, the young dragon was able to sense concern in it.

“Yes?”

“You had the chance to be Dragon Lord, which I think is something that all dragons would desire,” she pointed out. “You had won, and the title was rightfully yours. You could have stayed to become the next Dragon Lord, but you chose not to. Why?”

“It really wasn’t a difficult choice, Twilight,” he said, almost surprised that she would ask. “Giving Ember the title would not only keep Equestria safe, but it would mean I wouldn’t have to leave my life here behind.”

“So you would rather remain as my assistant than choose to rule over all dragonkind?” Twilight asked.

“Of course, Twi,” insisted Spike, still curious. “Why do you ask?”

Twilight shrugged with discomfort.

“Sometimes I can’t help but wonder whether or not you want something more out of life, Spike,” she answered. “I’m not really sure what else you could aspire to that would be greater than become the ruler of all dragons. I just want to be sure that giving it up isn’t something you’ll come to regret later.”

“I won’t,” Spike said, shaking his head firmly. “I love my life as it is, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything, not if I don’t have to.”

Though she knew she had little reason not to trust the sincerity of his tone, Twilight looked at Spike as though she knew that he was not being entirely honest.

“Are you absolutely sure, Spike?” she asked. “There’s nothing else you’d rather be doing with your life?”

“Twilight, no matter what I would get as the Dragon Lord, it wouldn’t make me as happy as being here with you, helping you however you need me to,” answered the infant dragon. “It’s the same reason why I don’t stay in the Crystal Empire. It’s nice to be treated like royalty, but not even the appreciation of each an every one of the crystal ponies means as much to me as being appreciated by you.”

Spike’s words managed to strike Twilight squarely in the heart, and any doubts she may have had about their sincerity were instantly cast away.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” she said, “because I’d be completely lost without you.”

“Well, of course you would!” Spike exclaimed.

They shared a laugh, putting a final end to any and all lingering concerns between them. There was no longer a single thing left to stop them from enjoying this moment together, however long it would last.

“You know, if I do end up writing a book about my studies on dragons, I’m going to include you in it, Spike,” Twilight said, offering up a final thought.

“Really?”

“Mhm,” she replied with a jovial nod. “You’re all the proof I need that dragons have the potential be kind, selfless, and completely lovable. To think that all this time I’ve been dying to have a chance to study dragons, and only now am I realizing that I’ve had the most special dragon in the world to study right here with me.”

Spike dipped his head slightly as the flattery conjured a red heat to rush up and meet his cheeks.

“Well, by order of Dragon Lord Spike, I forbid you from mentioning my weekly seven-hour bubble baths in your book!” he said with a smirk. “I...uhh...still don’t exactly want Ponyville to know about those.”

They shared another momentary laugh, then turned their heads to the window to watch as the moon’s gradual rising simultaneously called forth the stars to the sky and the beginning of the night.

“So….could you reveal your secret now?” asked Spike. “Please, Twilight?”

Twilight sighed to herself, yet she felt that her infant dragon had indeed earned an answer.

“Oh, all right, since you want to know so much," she said. "What I did was….”

The End?