More than a friend, more than a assistant

Dawn came and as if like clockwork, Twilight woke up at 7:00 am and with her fumbling about the room, Spike woke up too. He yawned and scratched his head as he looked about the room, he saw Twilight making her way downstairs and that the sun was peeking over the hills of Ponyville. He got out of bed and walked up to Twilight's mirror, he looked at himself and wasn't amused. He was short for his age and he showed little muscle, Twilight's diet and his daily carrying of large amount of books which he was proud of. He began to remember what he said the night before and felt determined to go to Canterlot and speak to Princess Celestia.

He went downstairs and saw Twilight rushing about the kitchen, putting out two fires, "Twilight?! What did you do now?!"

Twilight used her magic to pour buckets of water over the two fires and frowned, "I tried making bacon and eggs...needless to say it didn't go well. Why can't I ever learn to cook?!"

Spike grinned and began to clean up the burned food and cooking wares, "You'd starve without me Twilight. I worry for when I get married."

Twilight smiled and hugged Spike as he washed the dishes, "Hehe, I won't allow some woman to take my special little cook." She kissed his head and left him to begin cooking breakfast, she silently left the kitchen and made her way to her special reading room which Spike rarely got to enter. Once inside she took out a pencil and paper and began to jot down gift ideas that she was planning to go look for that day. She wanted to get the gift quickly as to find something to wrap it up with and have it hidden in her special reading room before Spike notices. When she stepped out, she could smell scrambled eggs with ham and chopped onion mixed in and bacon. Her mouth watered and she walked to the kitchen table to see Spike already served her a plate and he was already stuffing his face with bacon.

Twilight sat down and began to eat with Spike when Spike stopped eating and looked at Twilight, "Um, hey Twilight, would it be alright if I head to Canterlot today? I wanna go visit mom for a bit, alone....ya know, mother/ son time."

Twilight paused and thought for a bit before nodding her head, "Sure thing Spike, do you want to take the train or do you want me to teleport you there?"

Spike was surprised she so readily agreed but he wasn't about to complain and he didn't know Twilight was actually planning to boot him from the library for two days as to get the place ready for his birthday party. Pinkie asked Twilight for Spike to not be home the night before because she wanted to plant some "surprises" for him. "Well, can you teleport me to the castle but can you please not teleport me to the royal bath house again...I still can't look at Princess Luna without remembering that time."

Twilight blushed and giggled, she remembered she used him as practice for teleporting a living being over a long distance and she miscalculated the distance of the Throne room thus Spike was teleported on top of Princess Luna as she bathed which earned him a slap and an hour in the dungeon. "Hahaha, sorry, I'll do better this time. I promise."

Once they finished eating and Spike rewashed the dishes, he got dressed and stood in the middle of the library, "Alright Twilight, I'm ready to go!"

She smiled and closed her eyes as she focused on the spell, she imagined the Throne room in Canterlot castle and she shot Spike with a magic bolt and with a bright flash, he was gone. She opened her eyes and smiled, "Welp, time to go shopping!" She walked outside and made her way to the town center of Ponyville.

Princess Celestia sat on her throne as she read the morning paper with a cup of coffee and a slice of cake on a small table beside her when a bright flash pulled her attention to it. She smiled as she saw a dazed Spike wandering around blindly, "Good morning Spike, nice to see you."

As Spike regained the ability of sight, he turned to the Princess and bowed, "Hello your highness! Nice to see you too." He walked up to her as she got up and hugged him warmly.

"So my son, what brings you here today? Twilight isn't due for royal court for another month and besides your birthday, I'm not aware of any major events coming up."

Spike smiled and looked up at her, "Do I need a reason to see my mom?" Celestia smiled and kissed his forehead and Spike blushed happily.

"Oh Spike, you really are an adorable child, makes me really wish you were my child." She smiled and began to lead him out to the royal garden so they can walk and talk.

They spent time catching up with current events, Spike talked about his daily life as Twilight's janitor/cook and Princess Celestia talked about how annoying the upper class is and how they whine about almost everything. Once they stopped at a bench to relax, Spike grew a bit nervous, "Princess...I have something I'd like to ask and it's a bit of a big request."

The Princess' interest was peeked and looked at Spike curiously, "Alright Spike, I'll hear your request. What is it that you would like to ask of me?"

He cleared his throat and felt nervous, "Well...I have thought about this for a while now and I feel like this is something I truly want. I want to be made older, I wish to be of age like Twilight and Pinkie and Dash."

Princess Celestia nodded her head and knew where he was going with this, "...and Rarity? Spike, I know you like her and it seems you are dead set on being with her but changing your age is rather difficult and irriversable. Once I set you as a certain age, there will be no going back."

Spike closed his eyes and sighed, "I understand but I really want to become older, I feel like I am older already but my body just doesn't seem to match it."

Celestia looked at him, "Well Spike, you are right. You are actually older than you think, much older than anypony in Ponyville." Spike looked at her puzzled and in shock, "You see...you weren't born on your birthday, you were transformed back into an egg on your birthday only to be hatched by Twilight 300 years later. You are a dragon, you only have had contact with them once before and saw how they were but you Spike...you were much worse than them. You dominated the area that would become Ponyville in two hundred years, you chased away all who approached and burned down hundreds of acres of the Everfree. I took it upon myself to stop you but...I saw how your kind was and how you didn't follow their ways. You never horded gold or gems, rather, you horded seeds and had planted trees. You didn't have a cave but slept under trees. I had hope for you thus I made you into an egg, to be born again with the help of a pony who would not only learn about friendship but could easily teach you it as well."

Spike stared at the ground in shock, he did always feel like he was older than most ponies but never did he imagine he really was a full grown dragon. He took a minute to compose himself and looked at Celestia, "I...I trust your judgement Princess, if you say I was a bad dragon before and you did what you did to protect your subjects...I'll believe you. I just want to be old enough for my friends and those I love. Twilight has taught me a lot and I know there is more to learn, I have you and Twilight to keep me on a good path."

Celestia smiled and a few tears of joy ran down her cheeks, "I'm so relieved to hear that my sweet Spike. I was worried you'd be angered by the news. I do hope this doesn't dampen your birthday plans and I will help you with your wish but I am afraid I can't advance your age too much as to not enduce anything unwanted with your body. Please follow me to the throne room, this kind of magic is kept a secret amongst powerful unicorns and alicorns."

Spike nodded and swallowed, he just began to realize how serious this was going to be. They returned to the throne room and Celestia asked the guards to leave for a while, she took out an old book from within her throne and read it carefully as Spike nervously sat on the ground.

"Alright Spike, this spell will indeed grant age progression but...I cannot decide what age you'll advance. You must think of what age you wish to be and focus on it till the spell is over. Please do your best." Spike nodded and closed his eyes as he focused on the age of 21, it is how old Twilight and Rarity are so he wanted to be that age.

Celestia began to chant an olden spell and a dark purple light began to encase Spike, a loud wooshing sound blasts into Spike's ears and he struggles to think about the age of 21 but he kept on. The light became brighter and Spike began to feel his body ache and a massive heat come over him, "Ahh....oowww! M-my body! My body burns!!"

Celestia began to worry but she knew cutting off the spell would be dangerous so she continued while hoping Spike would stay strong. She kept hearing him groan and yell in pain till she finally finished the spell and the bright light began to fade, the area around Spike was charred and smoke filled the air. Celestia got closer and waved away the smoke till she was able to see a figure in the middle of it all.

The figure stumbled to get close to her, "D-did it work? Have I become older?"

Celestia looked over what stood before her, "What age did you wish for?"

The figure grew worried, "I did my best to focus on age 21, I kept focused like you asked! Please tell me it worked mom!"

Celestia sighed in relief and hugged Spike who was now tall as her, "You did it son! You are now 21 years old and my, my; you are quite the looker might I say."

Spike smiled and Celestia conjured a mirror before him and he began to look at himself. He certainly was taller, his old clothes tightly fit him, his body looked more masculine with larger muscles and a five o'clock shadow on his chin. He was so surprised by the turn out that he couldn't believe the image in the mirror was even him. "I can't wait to show Twilight and the others!"