“Spike, where is the guard?” A small purple filly asked while levitating a small wooden figurine of a royal guard in front of an equally-small purple dragon. The dragon simply looked at Twilight, completely confused. After a couple of seconds, Twilight shook her head, her soft ears swaying back and forth. With a sigh, she looked back down at the dragon, who had already stuffed his tail in his mouth and begun to suckle on it. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh. As the baby dragon rolled back, she wrapped her hoof around him to keep him from falling and pulled him into her embrace. “Someday, Spike.”
Turning around, Twilight scanned her room, meticulously absorbing every detail to make sure no one had moved anything--which, of course, they hadn’t. Her books sat tight in their order: Biology, Ecology, Biochemistry, Bio Ethics, and so on. In the corner of the room, her bed held up a stack of books on its own, acting as a work station until mommy bought a desk. Until then, she would just have to read under the covers.
Twilight turned to one of the lower shelves and looked at the small white feather that stuck neatly from between her encyclopedias. She shut her eyes and focused on the plume--imagining every little fold and puff. She could feel it shuddering between the books, rocking back and forth until--pop! The feather hovered out from its place, engulfed in a lavender beam. “Spike, this is a quill,” she said while levitating the quill in front of Spike’s nose.
The dragon’s claw clumsily reached up to touch it, but the quill darted just out of reach. But Spike didn’t give up. Rather, he clenched his muscles and tried to reach higher. Just a little more--only a bit more! He planted his feet down on the ground and stretched to the flying feather. Nearly got it! In the moment before he could pinch down the plume, it floated off a few inches further, leaving Spike wobbling on his feet before he plopped back down on his rear.
Twilight watched with fascination as Spike nearly managed to stand, letting out a breath she was holding as he fell down again. He managed to get further than ever before, and she hoped that he was able to stand. Sadly, it was not time yet. Her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed Spike starting to cry. With a slight chuckle, she lowered the quill to the expectant dragon, who promptly stopped crying to put the quill in his mouth.
“Twilight, dear, are you finished packing, yet?” Twilight’s mom shouted from downstairs. Twilight’s eyes widened. She had forgotten to pack. That’s right! She came up to her room because her mother told her to pack for tomorrow. And that’s when she’d seen Spike being adorable. Oh no, oh no, oh no, she thought as she ran around her room, throwing seemingly random books into her saddle bag.
Suddenly she stopped. Wait! Remember what Starswirl the Bearded said in his biography. “Learn to be organized, then you automatically learn to learn.” With a small breath, she started unpacking her bag again. “I need a little more time,” Twilight shouted back to her mother. Searching her room, she found the scroll she was looking for. Unfolding it, she read aloud “List of Packing.”
“Alright Twilight, I’ll come back later. When you need help, just shout,” her mother answered, now just outside her door. She must have been just about to check. Phew. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Twilight concentrated on the scroll, reading out the first point. “Sustenance.” She looked around her room until she found an apple. Stashing the apple into her saddle back, she checked the point, or at least tried to. Where was her quill? Twilight looked down on her bed--not there. “That’s strange, I always put it on top of my bookshelf.” Turning around to Spike, she asked: “Spike, have you se-“ she stopped mid-sentence as she saw the quill in his mouth. Oh, right. She thought while touching her forehead with her right forehoof.
Lightly nudging the quill with her magic, she noticed a frown growing on Spike’s face. A slight tug, and Spike starting to growl silently like a dog. Twilight frowned as well. That was a bad habit. A bad habit makes a bad dragon. With a little more power, she pulled the quill stronger to herself. Spike did not give in and started pulling stronger on the quill with his mouth.
Surprised by Spike’s sudden strength, Twilight lost her concentration and accidentally cancelled her spell. Spike rolled a little bit back and forth like a turtle on its back with a happy smile on his face once more.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed, and her mouth formed a snarl as her ears laid back. Firing up her horn again, she took ahold of the Quill, and this time, yanked with much more strength. Spike, who refused to let go, was dragged up to his feet then slammed forward onto his belly. With a light hiccup when his chest hit the floor, he looked at Twilight, also with an angry face, while still holding the quill in his teeth.
Trying to dig his claws into the carpet, Spike pulled back with all of his might. Twilight felt a bead of sweat run down her brow; why was he so strong? But she needed that quill. She needed it! It was her only quill and she needed to check her list. If she couldn’t check her list, how would she know what she already packed and what she hadn’t? She could pack things twice, or forget to pack something. The results could be catastrophic. She couldn’t lose, no matter what!
Stomping all of her hooves down on the floor to get a better hold, she fired up her strongest magic and pulled on the feather.
Spike lurched forward, his claws screeching as they scratched through her carpet and into the concrete underneath. Ruined! The floor was ruined! Yet Spike only dug in further, slamming his claws into the ground and crouching on all fours. A moment later, he snapped forward, catching the quill between his teeth as he started pulling backwards.
Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes. Spike was standing. She quickly shook her head. Now was not the time to admire him. She had a quill to win. Twilight pulled again, her horn feeling like it was on fire. Yet, she still felt herself get pulled forward. What? How is he so strong? He is just a baby! she thought as she lost more and more footing, Spike gaining more. I cannot lose this quill. How will I know what I put in there? Starswirl help me!
She looked with a mixture of panic and annoyance at the baby dragon, who was still pulling strong. That was his quill, and he would not give it away. Twilight slowly lost her will as she saw how furiously Spike was defending his quill. He really wanted that badly. Maybe, he could have it. She could get another quill from her parents. She looked with defeated eyes at Spike’s arms: they were shaking.
Suddenly, Twilight’s eyes widened. Spike is at his limit! He could lose the grip of the quill any minute now! All her fiery willpower came back and it manifested as fire in her eyes. “THIS! IS! MY! QUILL!” She shouted before pulling with all the strength she had.
Suddenly, there was a snap. Twilight and Spike were both flung onto their backs. Twilight flopped like a sack of potatoes, while Spike just rolled backwards like a ball. After a short while, they both looked at the quill they held in their hands, or at least, what remained of it. The quill was in two pieces.
“My quill… no!” Twilight exclaimed, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Sniffling once, she said “No, I am a grown mare! I will not cry… because of… a…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence. Her throat snapped shut as she gave a sob. Shortly after, Spike also started to wail uncontrollably.
Suddenly the door opened and in came a young colt: Shining Armor. “What is going on in here?” he exclaimed while looking over the mess with disdain. He saw two halves of the quill beside them and immediately knew what happened. With a sigh, he went over to Spike, levitating him to her sister and plopped him down beside her.
Shining simply looked at both of them and sighed with a tinge of annoyance. He levitated the two halves of the quill up to himself, and simply put them back together. A repair spell was not hard, but still too advanced for his sister. Both stopped crying as they noticed the quill being whole again, and not shortly after, they both tried to grab it. Shining held it just out of their reach.
A moment later, the feather popped out of his grasp and down to Twilight, who hugged it happily. Not one to give up easily, Spike immediately lunged for Twilight’s hooves with his claws at the ready. Noticing this, Twilight bit down on the quill and pulled back again. The scenario repeated itself.
Shining Armor simply groaned, left the room, and came back with another quill. He threw it down between the two and watched them both eying the new quill with interest. Against his expectations, they both ignored it and continued pulling on the old quill. Shining Armor just rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe this,” he told himself silently.
Sighing again, he simply went to the scroll at the floor. His mother asked him to help his sister packing her things, and he was going to do just that. He read over the list, and put everything mentioned into her saddle bag. He took his quill and checked everything on the list. He laid the scroll back down and took the saddle bag down to their parents.
-^- .-^-.-^-.-^-/
Twilight slowly stirred in her sleep as the light of a new day shone down on her closed eyes. Quickly turning away from the light and pulling her blanket over herself, she created a protection against the evil light that wanted to wake her up so early. She let out a sigh, as her eyes were cast in darkness again, but not much time passed until the next disturbance arose.
Behind herself, she heard Spike slowly starting to stir in his sleep. Simply ignoring him did not help the situation because he started getting more agitated. Not wanting to be cheated of her sleep, she searched for Spike with her magic. She found him not shortly after, snuggled behind her back. He had fallen out of the blanket.
Suddenly, the door to her room opened. “Wakey wakey, Twilight,” she heard the familiar voice of her mother calling. Twilight simply groaned and pulled her blanket further over her ears.
Her mother looked at the sight and shook her head lightly with a smile on her face. With her magic, she opened the half closed curtains fully, letting the room bath in the light of the morning sun. Her daughter simply stirred further, but mommy would have none of that. With a mighty heave, she pulled the blanket away from her daughter and Spike.
Spike immediately started stirring again, and pushed his head further into Twilight’s coat. Twilight reluctantly opened her eyes to look back at her mother. “Mommy, I don’t want to wake up now,” she exclaimed drowsily, “Starswirl always said, that a scholar needs plenty of sleep.”
Her mother, ever the morning pony, simply skipped over to her daughter and told her softly: “Twilight, you know that we need to leave early today. Have you forgotten that we plan on visiting Trottingen for a short vacation?” This would surely get her attention. Just as predicted, Twilight suddenly perked up, rubbing her eyes some time until she could open them fully.
“Trottingen?” She asked her mother who just nodded. In a split-second, her eyes widened and she remembered everything. How she packed yesterday, how they talked about what they will be doing there. “Oh right, Trottingen!” She nearly shouted as she jumped up in her bed, being happy, but then her happiness quickly died down, being replaced by sadness. “Oh right… Trottingen.”
The vacation to Trottingen was her last vacation together with her parents for a long time. Twilight was accepted as Princess Celestia’s own pupil just a few weeks ago, and she would need to live in the castle for some time--starting the day after tomorrow. She was still not sure if this was worth leaving her home. Leaving her mother, her father, and her brother. She would surely see Cadance more often though, since she also lived in the castle.
Slowly, a white hoof came into her vision and lifted her head upwards. “Aw, don’t worry Twilight,” her mother lovingly exclaimed in a calm voice. “I know this is hard, but I am sure, you will have a lot of fun with the princess. Think about it, you will be together with the princess all the time. It’s almost like you will be a princess yourself. Think about it.”
But Twilight did not care about being a princess. She just wanted to continue living with her family. Her mother noticed the worry and sighed once more. “Listen here. It’s not like we will never see each other again. Have you forgotten that you get Sundays off? You can come any day, any hour to us and we will always have time for you, alright?” She explained while calmly petting her daughter’s mane.
Twilight looked up at her mother with teary eyes. “I know, but it feels so sad. I don’t want to leave you, mommy,” she shouted while grabbing ahold of her mother.
Her mother put her hooves around her and pulled her closer. “I will never leave you, and I also know that you will never leave me. We will always be together, no matter what happens. Whatever comes our way, we can deal with it together. Alright?” She gently nudged Twilight.
Twilight went back a little and looked up at the empowering gaze of her mother. Wishing the tears in her eyes away with her hoof, she nodded her head determined and stood up. “You’re right. No matter what happens, we will always be together mommy. You, me, Shiny, and daddy. Thanks mommy.” She jumped up and put the uncomfortably stirring Spike in his basket, where she wrapped her blanket around him. “'il tomorrow, little brother.”
Giving Spike a little kiss, she turned around and nodded at her mother. “Alright, let’s go,” she exclaimed with enthusiasm as she runs out of her room, down to breakfast.
Author's Note
I hope you guys liked it.
Please tell me what you think of it, good or bad. I am open for any kind of criticism. :D
I want to thank the fimfiction chat for everything they did to help me write this. You are the best.
