Every Dragon Has His Day

Spike fell back hard onto the floor. His eyes opened wide, and he could only stammer gibberish as the wind from the window blew through his wings. They shuttered closed on his back. “I-I...what happened last night?” His mind went straight to that one birthday that he would never forget. How would Twilight react to this? Another growth from greed? Would he be sent away from his friends in Ponyville, and the one mare he depended on more than anything? They'd already seen what happens when a dragon grows, they couldn't possibly want to deal with that situation again.

     “Spike, come on!” Twilight screamed again, interupting his train of thought. He heard her walking up the stairs excitedly.  “If you come we'll stop for ice cream and...” She stopped at the top of the stairs to see her number one assistant standing gaze fixed upon her mirror.

As she stepped around him, he was silent. “Spike, did..did something happen?” she asked with an inquisitive look on her face. Spike scrambled away from the mirror.

“Oh, it's nothing Twi! I was just making my bed and nothing strange was going on up here, no ma'am.” He leaned up against Twilight's bedpost and tried to act “cool.” Unconsciously, his wings unfolded and expanded to their full lengths, much to his horror.

“SPIKE! What in the name of Celestia happened? You grew wings! Did you-” Before she could finish her sentence, Spike broke down in tears.

“P-please don't send me away! I love all of my pony friends and couldn't live without all of you!” he managed to get out before collapsing into a fetal position on the floor. Twilight got down on the floor and laid her hoof on Spike's newly formed wings.

“Spike, why would you ever think that I'd send you away for this?” she asked, holding him closely.

“B-because dragons are giant beasts that hurt ponies and-and I can't control myself and-” Twilight put her hoof on his mouth, and levitated  a tissue down from a shelf to wipe the tears out of his eyes. “It's not my fault, Twi...” he said with a whimper as the tissue wiped away his tears.

“Spike, I know it's not your fault. Dragons don't grow wings from greed, after all.” A look of shock shot over Spike's face.

“So it really isn't my fault?”

Twilight laughed. “No, you're just becoming a big dragon.” Spike's tears stopped and he began jumping up and down with joy. He began to flap his wings, slowly lifting into the air.

“Sweet! Now I can fly with you and Rainbow Dash and maybe Fluttershy if she feels like it and I can help Scootaloo-” He seemed to wobble in the air for a few seconds before crashing down back onto the ground. “Now you know how I felt,” said Twilight with a giggle. Spike dusted himself off and followed Twilight, who was heading back downstairs and out the door.

“Come on, Spike. I think I can afford a treat for my big brave dragon assistant,” she said as she put on her saddlebags. Spike eagerly began to spread his wings slowly in an attempt to glide down to the first floor, before falling face first.

“I'm okay!” he cried as he picked himself up again and rushed out the door. Twilight looked at him and patted him on the head.

“Note to self,” she thought, “buy more pillows.” They walked out the door and headed into town, two pairs of wings flapping in the wind.