• Chapter 2, The Journal

Spike had already made his way all the way to Twilight Sparkle's library. He went straight for his bed, and wrote in his journal once again. Writing in his journal made him feel like he was opening up to somepony. As if, writing in that journal was the equivalent to talking to somepony about his feelings, and what he can do to feel better. After almost an hour, he heard the front door open and some voices. It sounded like Twilight and Rarity, probably saying goodbye/see you soon, etc. The voices stopped, and he heard the door close. He let out a loud sigh, and rested his body on his bed. He then silently slipped his journal under his bed, and threw the blanket on top of himself. He swayed his body aiming the opposite direction of the staircase, where Twilight would have to come up eventually to put herself to sleep.

"Spike," Twilight began, but was interrupted by the dragon.

"Why did you defend her, after all I've been through?" Spike mumbled, being slightly hard to hear, because he was facing the opposite direction.

"Spike, you don't have to remind me. I should've defended you. I mean, that's my job isn't it? I practically raised you, so I feel like I have a responsibility to be like a mother to you. And I'm sorry I haven't been, I'm just having a difficult time figuring out how to be a good mother... I guess." Twilight Sparkle explained herself, with a smooth, comforting tone of voice.

Spike was silent. He didn't know what to say. If it was her job to be a mother, then it was his job to be a respectable, polite son. But if that was the case, they would technically have to love each other. Knowing this, it lightened him up a bit. He turned his body over, facing the purple alicorn.

"I'm sorry I acted moody. I know she's your friend. I should've been a bit more respectful." Spike said, apologizing for being a bit disrespectful. He felt that if he considered her a legitimate mother, then he should respect all of her true friends. Twilight approached his bed, climbed up, and plopped her plot at the foot of the bed. She looked down at Spike and smiled a bit.

"I remember when I used to tell you goodnight every night." Twilight said, and let out a short chuckle.

"Heh, yeah, I remember too." Spike said, and smiled as well.

"So... Are you really going to that party?" Spike asked Twilight, looking up at her.

"Haha, no, actually, I'm not." Twilight said and looked to the left.

This confused the dragon a bit. Twilight seemed so excited to go, she was even thinking about what to wear, and she wasn't even home yet.

"What? Why not? You seemed pretty excited about it." Spike said as he sat up in his bed, facing the purple alicorn.

"Yeah, I was. Well, at first, at least." Twilight said, now looking down at her hooves.

"Well, what changed your mind?" Spike asked, still curious.

"It sounds like there is going to be a lot of irresponsible ponies there. You know, with all of the drinking, and that stallion... Victor, he is probably going to attract a lot of snobby ponies." Twilight explained her reason on why she isn't going. She was right, though. With all of the drinking, food, and wealthy ponies, it's just a recipe for out of control drunken ponies, who prey on escorts to do everything for them.

"Plus, what would be better than hanging out with a cool dragon?" Twilight asked, and laughed. She was serious, though. She really liked the anatomy and behavior of dragons, but she was always too frightened to approach a fully grown, or almost fully grown dragon, at the very least.

"You don't mean that." Spike chuckled, and looked down to his bed.

"Why do you say that?" Twilight Sparkle said, and began to feel a little bad for him.

"I know you like dragons, Twilight. Not the kind of dragons that lay in bed all day, whine about everything, then write about it in a-" Spike stopped himself, realizing what he was about to say. He didn't want Twilight to know about the journal, either. But, the fact that he was even talking to her about things made him feel more comfortable, in fact, much more comfortable to the fact that he was about to just spill everything about himself, that he didn't want anypony to know, without realizing it.

"W-Write it, i-in their.. Er.. Minds, over again, heh, y-you know?" Spike stuttered, struggling to say something about writing things, that actually made a lick of sense.

Twilight giggled, then raised a brow.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Twilight was confused. She was mixing what he was saying about writing something in a something, and writing something in his mind. She was now curious about the matter.

"W-What? I-I mean like, you know, you- when you think about stuff, it's like... Writing it, in your mind, you know?" Spike explained and stuttered some more, and let out a nervous chuckle, trying to sound innocent.

"Uh.. Still confused. Do you like, write in a notebook or something?" Twilight asked, still trying to figure out what the dragon is talking about.

"Pfft, no, why would I write in a notebook? That's kind of silly, right? F-For a guy dragon, I mean." Spike said, nervously.

Twilight Sparkle gave him an odd look, a look of distrust. She still trusted him, but not about this matter. She connected the links in her mind, and predicted he had a journal of some kind, lying around here, somewhere.

"Well, it's getting pretty late. We should both get to sleep. You sleeping okay?" Twilight asked him. Sometimes the dragon would have trouble sleeping, due to either a nightmare or just the fear of having strange dreams when he slept. So Twilight had got him some medicine that would help him fall asleep, just in case he needed it.

"I think I'll sleep fine." Spike answered. He felt a bit more confident now, thinking that Twilight had put aside what he said a few seconds ago.

"Maybe you should take some of that medicine, just in case, you know? You seemed... Stressed out today." Twilight said, making an excuse. If she could get him to fall asleep quickly, she would be able to search for his journal earlier in the night. That meant, more sleep for her. Plus, the sleeping medicine would knock him right out. Safely, of course. Basically he wouldn't wake up by hearing sounds in the night.

"Eh.. Maybe you're right. I guess so. Sure." Spike answered. Twilight nodded and hopped off of his bed, and down the stairs, to where she kept all of her medicine, herbs, and collectible ingredients.

She came back with a small glass of water, along with a few pills. She used her magic to drop the pills in the dragons maw first, then she used her magic once again to tilt the glass gently into his muzzle, allowing him to take sips of water.

"Thanks." Spike said, wiping his muzzle with the blanket, drying his muzzle off.

"You're welcome. Just let me know if you can't sleep, okay Spike?" Twilight said, letting him know that she would be there in his time of need.

"I will." Spike said, and laid on his left side, closing his eyes, preparing for sleep.

Twilight then hopped off his bed, and then into hers. They weren't too far apart, so she didn't have to shout to get his attention.

"Goodnight, Spike." Twilight said.

"Goodnight, Twi." Spike replied.

Spike had fallen asleep at 11 PM. Unfortunately for him, Twilight was still awake. She was determined to find that journal of his. She wanted to find it so bad because she felt like she barely knew Spike anymore. The only talk they would do was small talk, or just her telling him to grab her some tea, or something along those lines, servant stuff. He still did plenty for her, but he wouldn't call himself a servant, and he doesn't like to be called a servant. She believed if she found a journal of his, she would know much more about him, and be able to bond with him as a relative, rather than a friend.

Twilight Sparkle had retrieved herself a lit candle on a coaster with her magic. The wick was almost completely burnt, so it wasn't too bright, nor was it too dim. It was just right, right enough to not wake up the sleeping dragon. She had the candle and coaster floating consistent with her movement, right in front of her. Far enough for her to see what is in front of her, but not too far that it crashes into everything she looks into.

First, she checks under her bed. She doubts it at first, but she didn't know. It could be a clever place, and it couldn't be at the same time. No luck. It wasn't under her bed. She continues her search to her bookshelf. Maybe he hid it in there, making it look like it was a regular book. She shuffled through each book, quiet enough to keep him sound asleep. And again, no luck. Now all of her books were in the wrong places. She sighed, and continued her search to his side of the room. He didn't have many belongings, aside from his bed and a small end table at the end of his bed. She looks at both sides of his bed, then glances over to the dragon. She sets aside her candle and coaster for a moment, and watches him sleep. The look of him sleeping caught her attention. Spike had his arms wrapped around his second pillow, holding it as if it were a plush toy of some sort. His breathing sounded soft, gentle and clean. He looked so out of it, and it was adorable. Her blank face turned into a slight smile, as she watched him. He was such a gentle dragon, along with a beautiful color combination and 'cute as can be' chubby cheeks. Even though he wasn't her little baby dragon anymore, he still reminded her that he was the cutest dragon she had ever laid her eyes upon. The fact that he was such a sweet, loving, gentle dragon made him special to her. She yawned, beginning to feel tired, then picked up the candle and coaster with her magic, and made her way to the end table. She slowly opened it up, only to find some of his own books that he used to read. She placed the candle and coaster on the end table, and shuffled through the books with her magic. Something of interest shows up. It was a magazine for ponies who model, those ponies who have the perfect body. To her knowledge, he usually didn't get interested in that kind of thing. He usually tried to avoid being 'hip', as you could say. Avoiding popular magazines, music, etc. So this surprised her a bit. She put the books and magazine back to exactly how they were, as if they weren't even touched.

Getting tired of looking now, she decides to end her search after she looked under his bed. And to her surprise, she found something. She noticed it was indeed a journal, so she was right after all. She silently trotted to her bed, climbed up, and sat up on it. She had the candle sitting on the end table near her bed, so she was able to read the sloppily written words in the notebook.

Author's Note

For some odd reason, I feel like I write better after midnight. What do you think? Is chapter 2 written better than chapter 1?