Secrets Behind The Letters

Name:

Age:

Town/City of Residence:

Race:

Skills:

Spike was sitting alone in his room, looking intently at the personal information sheet the recruiter at town hall had given him. The questions seemed easy enough. Simple, straightforward and understandable.

“Let’s see here. Um, I guess I can just put ‘Spike’ here on the first line…” The dragon hesitated for a moment as a troubling thought came to him. “But what do I put for my last name? I could put ‘Sparkle’, but that won’t necessarily strike fear into my enemies hearts,” he chuckled to himself. “Pfft, yea, watch out for the Sparkle! Eh, oh well. It’ll have to do. Twilight’s pretty much my family, so it makes sense I guess.”

Content with his progress so far, he quickly moved on to the next question.

“Alright, age. Ugh, this could be tricky.” Although it had been several years since Spike and Twilight had moved to Ponyville, and he was now in his later teens, he was still a baby by dragon standards, and he still had a very young appearance.

“Well, I’ll just be honest and put seventeen. If they don’t believe me, I’ll just show them my hatch certificate.” Spike quickly jotted down his age and moved on to the next part.

“Current town/city of residence? Ha, that’s easy. Ponyville. Okey-dokey, what’s next? Race…hmm. I suppose I could just put dragon, but I wonder if they want me to be specific with what breed of dragon I am. Oh geez, I don’t even KNOW what type of dragon I am! Twilight could probably help me with this, but I don’t really feel like explaining everything to her right now. Anyway, we’ll just put ‘dragon’ for now."

Spike looked over the paper quickly. Everything seemed to be in order so far. Just one last area to fill out.

“Skills. Oh, where do I even begin? Cooking, dancing, piano playing, cleaining…” Spikes appearance went from that of elation to crestfallen as he realized one very important factor. “None of my skills would really be useful for fighting in the Royal Guard though.’ Spike threw the quill he was writing with back on the desk, and slumped down in his chair, snorting a cloud of smoke from his nostrils in annoyance.

‘I’m sure there’s some talent that I have that could be useful,’ Spike thought. ‘I’ve stood up to Timberwolves before, and Diamond Dogs too. I guess I can put ‘bravery’ on here.’ Spike quickly jotted it down and resumed his thought process. ‘Well, being a dragon, I have exceptionally tough skin, so I’ll put ‘toughness’ on here, too. That sounds impressive! Oh, how did I forget?! I can breathe fire! That’s bound to be useful somehow.’ The young dragon finished writing the rest of his skills, and quickly rolled the piece of paper up after one last look-over.

‘Now, to find a place to hide this. Don’t want Twilight finding it before I have a chance to explain everything. A-ha!’ Noticing his bed, the dragon quickly tucked the paper away under his pillow for safe keeping.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Twilight, or that he was afraid to tell her what he was planning to do, but it was that he knew it wouldn’t be easy for her to take. Although he had grown older and was fairly self-sufficient at this point, she was still very protective of him, and cared a lot for him. Telling her he volunteered to fight in the unavoidable war that was approaching, it would hurt her. A lot.

“Maybe I shouldn’t even do this,” Spike thought aloud. “I mean, I’m not exactly fighter material, and it’s not like I’d actually be much use, and…” His mind suddenly brought up images of the town meeting. Rarity’s face- her mouth was suck hanging open, her eyes frozen in place. She was scared. Same with Twilight. Not much ever seemed to frighten them, but this did. The two ponies he cared the most about in the entire world were threatened by this evil. Choice was irrelevant.

“I have to do this. I have to protect them, at all costs.” A jolt of confident determination, a sense of purpose was surging through him.

‘…But how am I gonna tell Twilight? Ugh, I guess I’ll just tell her tomorrow after I get the info on where and when I’ll be going first. Then she at least won’t be able to keep me from going.’

Spike walked out of the room and headed downstairs to get something to eat before retiring to his basket for the night.

Twilight was sitting in the living room at her reading desk pouring intently over some book. Hopefully she was deep enough in her studies not to notice him. He didn’t exactly feel like talking too much at the moment.

His suspicions were correct, and he was able to get to the kitchen unnoticed. He quickly made himself a daisy sandwich and grabbed a glass of water before starting to head back to his room.

Walking back through the living room, he quickly glanced again at Twilight, who hadn’t moved an inch. Upon a quick inspection, he noticed something- she was asleep. Apparently, she had fallen asleep during her study session, which also signified he had been up in their room thinking about things a lot longer than he thought.

He just stood there for a moment watching her, his best friend- his family. She looked so worn out, but so peaceful, lying there slumped over on one of her books. His heart melted at the sight, and his resolve strengthened. He knew what he was fighting for.

Spike set down his food and drink on an end table and grabbed a blanket from the couch. He brought it over to the passed out unicorn and draped it over her huddled body, causing her to stir ever so lightly.

“Oh, Spike. I must hav-“ her sentence was interrupted by a rather loud yawn, “erm, sorry. I must have fallen asleep. It’s just since Celestia sent that letter about the enemy’s magic immunity and such, I’ve been trying to find different strategies to use.” The bags under her bloodshot eyes clearly evidenced the intensity of her studies.

“I’m sorry I woke you up, Twi. Are you gonna come up to bed?” Spike asked, noticing the exhausted body language Twilight was displaying.

“Uh, I will in a little bit. I have a bit more reading on defensive tactical measures I want to read up on.”

“Oh, well alright.” Spike resumed his way up the stairs with his food. He quickly realized there was something he needed to tell Twilight.

“Hey, Twilight?”

“Yes, Spike?” The purple unicorn looked up from her book, giving a tired smile toward the dragon.

“I just wanted to say that I love you. I’m not sure I say it that often.” The purple drake gave his sister a sincere smile.

“Oh, Spike. I love you, too.” Twilight got up from her chair and walked over to the dragon, giving him an affectionate nuzzle. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell me. Your actions show me that every day with how much you do for me.”

“Well, I wanted to actually tell you. Anyway, I’ll see you in a bit, or in the morning if I fall asleep before you come up. G’nite, Twi.” Spike gave her a quick smile before resuming his trek up the stairs to the bedroom.

“Oh, Spike. I’m not sure what I’d ever do without you.” Twilight smiled to herself one last time before returning to her studies for the night.

Up in the bedroom, Spike was lying in his basket, curled up, beginning his descent into sleep. One thought prevailed in his mind however. ‘I’m gonna miss you so much, Twilight.’