"Twilight, I've got to go."

No, please, not those words. It hadn't been long enough yet. He wasn't all that tall, honest! He was still the same as he'd always been inside.

Twilight tried speaking, but couldn't hear the words that came out of her mouth. It was as if she were muffled under blankets of thick fog, like nopony, not even he, could hear her. She begged, she wailed, yet even though she could feel the tears cascading from her eyes, she couldn't seem to utter a single sound.

He turned his back to her, each spine overtaking her being and stretched his wings. The shadows seemed to overtake all of Ponyville, shrouding empty houses into a void. Broken windows shone with the last remnants of the evening sun like fresh stars in a new, sorrowful night sky.

Twilight felt her body move forward, running towards his towering stature. She was screaming, she knew that much, screaming out any legitimate reason she could grasp onto as to why he should stay. There was so much left for him to do. Confessions would never be made, birthday parties never again held, dust would gather in her library. Dust would gather on her heart like it would an untouched book.

She was so close now, maybe he had heard her, maybe she had a chance! There was only a hairs breadth separating her from the spade at the end of his tail, if she could just touch him with an outstretched hoof he would turn around and sweep her into his claws.

However, with a single flap of his great wings, Twilight was flung back with a mighty gale. Her body flipped and dragged on the lifeless soil, picking up filth as it rolled. Every desolate leaf upon her library burst off in all directions, turning what was once their happy home into nothing more than a skeleton. Windows burst inward with the sound of shattering hearts, coating the floor inside with impassable shards of glass.

As the dust cleared, Twilight looked into the sky through clouded eyes to see a murky shadow gradually disappearing into the horizon.

He was gone. He was flying away and she would never see him again.

Spike was...

"Spike..."

In the cold atmosphere of her bedroom, Twilight Sparkle shot up from beneath a pile of twisted blankets, panting clouds of mist into the frigid air. To make a quick check of her physical validity, she patted her hooves all about her uncovered body, relishing in the knowledge of her own consciousness. She brought her hooves up under her eyes to rub the sleep from them, but stopped at the feeling of a distinct heat running down her face. It was no surprise she'd been crying, but it was definitely no comfort after a nightmare.

A quaking sigh emanated from her as fragmented images from the dream played themselves like broken records behind Twilight's eyelids. The mere thought of them actually occurring brought worse shivers than the cold ever could.

That nightmare couldn't come true, it was just too much for the pure unicorn to bear. Therefore Twilight did what any sensible mare would do, at least in her opinion, she found somepony to talk to. Or rather, awoke some dragon up to talk to.

Twilight shook her blankets back upwards to drape over her shoulders before letting out a whisper towards a basket with blankets piled a foot high atop it. "Spike?" She called, yet no response came. Twilight waited respectively, knocking her hooves together before whispering again, "Spike? Psst, are you awake?" She looked towards the shifting pile of blankets with an expectant smile, hoping she would see green spines followed by a scaly purple head rise from beneath the sea of cloth.

However, the only response that came was a muffled, "Nope."

The anticipative smile dropped from her face and found itself replaced by an exasperated stare. Twilight let out an aggravated sigh and began to wriggle her way beneath the mountainous heap of her blankets. Throughout her winters in Ponyville Twilight had learned a few major lessons. One, winter, no matter how many heat runes you place into the boughs of your home, will always find a way to seep in. Once she was fully beneath her covers, Twilight stood up in her bed, forming a misshapen mountain of cloth atop her mattress. A muffled expulsion of magic could be heard under the comforters as a lilac glow pulled them about Twilight's head like a cloak against the cold. With her uniform full set, Twilight hopped off her bed and instantly regretted her brash decision.

The second lesson she had learned throughout the frozen season, the floors get cold. Once she had finished steeling herself against the waves of cold that rose into her legs from the floor she made her way towards the blanket bearing basket. Once she had reached its edge she could see the rise and fall of cloth, signifying the sleeping drake below. The sight was enough to bring a sweet smile over the minor irritation she had earned from the reply to her earlier plea. "Spike", she whispered, "hey, are you up?"

The only reply to erupt from beneath the mountain of quilts was a disgruntled groan and something about a house made of ice cream.

"Well, so much for that", Twilight muttered to herself. After a calm wait of four seconds, she reached out with a hoof and jabbed at the basket.

After she Twilight had amply shaken the basket the blankets began to stir and rise, revealing an haggard and perturbed Spike. One eye blinked out of sync with the other above his bleary eyes giving Twilight cause enough to smile at her success.

"Oh, Spike, you're awake." Twilight chirped, a childish smile rising on her lips.

Spike stared at her, steadily gaining his composure along with a steadily forming glare. "The question is, why?" He asked with a grumble as he glanced towards a clock hanging stoically in a ray of moonlight. "It's after midnight", he sighed.

Twilight put on her best puppy-dog eyes and looked beseechingly at Spike. "I had a nightmare." Spike only stared with a half open jaw. Twilight couldn't suppress a giggle as his claw appeared from beneath his shell of blankets to plant itself firmly in his face.

"Twilight", he murmured through his palm.

"I mean it, Spike, it was really scary. You were huge and-"

"Twilight, aren't you a little old for this? For that matter, aren't I a little old for this?"

"But, Spike", Twilight plead, laying down in front of his basket.

"Seriously, Twi", Spike sighed, closing his eyes and snuggling into back into his warm niche. "You've said yourself dreams are nothing to be scared of." With that the majority of Spike's head disappeared below his covers, leaving only the tips of his emerald spines showing.

Twilight sighed dejectedly and began prodding the floor with her hoof, staring longingly at the green tips that lay in the cold air. As if feeling her eyes on him, Spike turned over and let out a concerned growl. He didn't want to wake up, but Twilight had put him in a situation in which his honor as Equestria's Number One Assistant was on the line. If he wasn't there for Twilight, what kind of dragon would he be?

With a diligence he had practiced over his time with Twilight he stood up in his basket and spilled a pile of quilts onto the cold floor before Twilight and sat down on them. "Okay", he sighed, waiting for Twilight to begin her story. However, Twilight only stared at the floor and knocked her hooves together like a guilty filly. A gesture that forced Spike's face back into his palm. "Come on Twilight, I'm awake thanks to you and I'm here for you. You can talk to me."

She looked up from beneath her bangs with her bottom lip slightly protruding from under its counterpart. "But", she muttered, "I woke you up and-"

"Come on, Twi, cut to the chase", Spike interrupted before waiting calmly for her reply.

"Well, you flew away."

"Flew?" Spike asked, confused already.

"You had wings", she added quickly, looking up at the still confused Spike. "You were big, too. Bigger than you were on your birthday." Spike winced a bit at the harrowing memory, but kept silent for Twilight's sake. "All you said was, ' Twilight, I've got to go'", Twilight quickly dropped her voice an octave in hopes of imitating the dream Spike's voice, "and you flew away without listening to me!" After her brief synopsis Twilight hung her head again, sniffling at the fictitious memories.

Spike let out a sigh and stood up, gently grabbing his caretaker's muzzle in his hand. "Twilight", he said with a smile, "you're an idiot."

Spike's quip brought twilight out of her despondent demeanor as she snapped with a quick, "Hey!" Right as she was about to go into a rant about being quite knowledgeable, and tremendously modest, Spike poked her nose with an extended claw.

"Honestly, Twilight, I've told you a million times I'm not going anywhere."

Twilight sharply took in air through her nostrils before staring down at the adolescent dragon. "Really?" She asked, tears threatening to well outwards from her eyes.

"Really", Spike reassured the unicorn. "Even if I get too big to sleep in my basket I'll stick around. Celestia knows you can barely take care of yourself without me." He chuckled a bit, "Who else is going to wake up every morning to make breakfast so you don't manage to light the kitchen on fire?"

"That was only one time", Twilight muttered.

"You'd have a complete mental breakdown for just about everything in Equestria if I weren't around." Spike broke his confident grin and took a quick breath, "And I'd get pretty lonely without you."

At the end of his speech, or rather its decided cutoff point, Twilight pulled Spike into a hug and stuck her muzzle into his shoulder. "I'd be lonely without you too", she mumbled, hugging her dragon all the tighter and ignoring his claws slapping against her body in search of purchase.

"Twilight", Spike gasped in the embrace, "air. Need air!" Twilight quickly dropped him on his rump in realization that her assistant needed oxygen. However, the moment Spike touched the wintry floor, he jumped directly upwards to tightly embrace Twilight and relish in her warmth. "Stupid cold blooded butt!" He shouted through chattering teeth, making Twilight giggle at him. "It's not funny, Twi. Some of us don't have nice warm fur all around our flanks."

"It really is funny, Spike", she said between chuckles."

Spike swallowed his pride and stepped back from his guardian. "Feel better?" he asked, making sure his feet were positioned firmly on his toppled covers.

Twilight's eyes shot open for a bit before she let her gaze fall to the floor, knocking her hooves together nervously. "Yeah", she said, "but..." She trailed off, muttering inaudibly.

"But what?"

Twilight looked up and stared Spike directly in the eye without a hint of comedy in her demeanor and asked, "Can I sleep in your bed?" For a time, everything was silent all through the house, not a single creature stirring, not even a mouse. Spike opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it as he turned to look from his basket to his caretaker and back again. He took a few double-takes, each time making it a point to try and say something. Eventually though, he gave up and flung his claw to his forehead with an audible clap. Twilight, upon seeing his disbelieving stare from behind his claws, shouted, "I'm serious!"

"Twilight!" Spike groaned with one arm spread outward, "It's a basket that barely fits me, there's not a chance that even you alone would even be able to fit in the thing."

"Then, then", Twilight glared around the room as her mind searched for an explanation, "then you'll sleep in my bed." She declared this by prodding Spike in the chest.

Spike's incredulous stare threatened to permanently affix itself onto his visage before he shook his head and put his arms up like a victim in a robbery. "Alright, my job is done. I'm going to-"

"Nope", Twilight cut him off, lifting his scaly body into the air with a sufficient grasp of magic. She turned to her bed, readying a trajectory in her mind, and jumped atop her mattress. Spike was pulled to her chest as a plethora of heavy blankets descended atop the duo's heads. Seeing as they were in total darkness, Twilight lit up her horn with a gentle burst of magic to see her number one assistant glaring at her. Twilight responded with a smile and a kiss to Spike's scaly forehead. "Thanks, Spike", she whispered.

Spike let his glare dissipate and exhaled all the frustrations he could find and replied with a simple, "You're welcome", before settling himself in Twilight's embrace. Right as he closed his eyes he felt a hoof prod his snout, forcing his eyes open to see a pouting lilac unicorn.

"Where's mine?" Twilight asked indignantly.

Spike rolled his emerald eyes before closing them and leaning forward to press his lips to Twilight's in a light peck, bringing a blush to her cheeks. "There", he said, nestling back into the warmth of her foreleg "now will you go to sleep?" He raised his eyes one last time to see Twilight setting her head into the mattress, already beginning the steady descent into sleep. "I swear if, if anypony knew about us they'd have a fit." The moment the words left his mouth he felt Twilight pull him closer to her, their heartbeats matching between their chests.

"We can tell them after this years Winter Wrap Up", Twilight whispered before trailing off into a light snore. Eventually Spike followed suit, unconsciously pressing his snout to hers as he floated into dreams of his own.

"Twilight, I haven't finished with that page yet."

The lilac unicorn looked back towards the dragon curled around her body in total disbelief. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she brought her hoof out and flipped a page backward in the light novel held by one of Spike's talons. "Is the sexual tension in this scene that palpable to you, Spike?" She quipped, grinning mischievously at her accomplishment of making a fully grown dragon blush.

"He's getting a haircut, Twilight! This isn't some kind fantasy put on paper, it's light romance and it just so happens to be my favorite book by this Inkblot guy. I wanted to read the first book with you before the second is published."

Twilight patted the top of Spike's head and turned back towards the book. Sure she would've preferred to be reading Starswirl the Bearded's documented notes on the manipulation of intrinsic magic rather than an unfinished romance series by some author under a pseudonym, but so long as she was wrapped in the clutches of her big scary dragon she could read anything.

As Spike kept reading Twilight turned again to look at him, following his emerald green eyes as they leisurely scanned over the words printed onto their shared book.

He was right there, curled around her and keeping her warm in the winter. He would always be there to assist her, to read with her, to dance with her or to laugh with her, and he would always be there to love her.

Spike wasn't going anywhere.