The week after Spike had returned home had been more or less the same for Twilight as it had been for the last ten years, save for a few things. They were minor, really, nothing really noticeable in her daily schedule.

Not important at all, really.

First, Spike was gone all night, arriving back in the wee hours of the morning. He was almost beyond exhausted, barely managing a weak “good morning” to her at her coffee table before he collapsed on a sofa and fell asleep within seconds. Trying to ignore his ferociously loud snoring the best she could, Twilight had continued on with her day the best she could; sending and receiving letters, meeting with some diplomats or local governing officials, doing taxes, the usual. It had been extremely awkward at first when the diplomats saw the snoring dragon on the couch, but thankfully they were too polite to say much about it after she explained he was merely tired from a "long journey".

The next day, when he finally woke up and plodded on all fours downstairs, Spike had immediately raided her refrigerator, scarfing down nearly half of the food inside before he stopped. He claimed he “needed to make up for all the calories Luna expelled from him” or something slightly more crude than that. Also, he had told her he hadn’t seen that much food in one place and had access to it in a long time, so he just couldn’t help himself. Spike had at least washed his hands before he ate, thankfully; walking around on all fours like he had been doing for years often left the taste of where he had been on food he touched. Thankfully, she had managed to get ahold of some magical soap that kept oneself clean for extended period of time, and was able to convince him to to use it regularly.

Then, by the third day, he had all but redecorated his room in his own new style (without even mentioning it to her), declaring “a dragon isn’t at home without a lair” and that he’d be available sometime the next day, after he was done of course. Later, when he was asleep, she had snuck in to find he had indeed arranged everything into some amalgamation of both organized chaos and a den of some kind. She had barely restrained herself from magically putting everything back where it should be, but knowing Spike, he wouldn’t like that, and would just “mess” it all up again anyway.

On the fourth day, luggage started arriving by the cartload, and much to Twilight’s dismay, it was not only all for Spike, but came with letters from some, if not all, of his former flings. Most of what they sent was rather touching in Twilight’s opinion; mementoes of the place they originated from, (mostly) non-risqué pictures of him with the senders or the senders themselves, well-thought out letters thanking him for being such a wonderful companion, even bits of treasure here and there that apparently he had asked them to hold onto for him. Oh, and the gems; lots and lots of gems in just about half of the luggage. This entire collection he added to his “lair”, carefully arranging it all exactly where he wanted it, and without any input from her whatsoever.

Thankfully for her, day five meant she had to leave for Canterlot for the weekend, and so, after an uneventful weekend filled with talking with Princess Celestia about economic growth and failing to avoid Princess Luna’s long talks of Spike’s apparently incredible endurance and tongue dexterity, she had returned home to find the palace more or less the way she had left it.

However, the noises coming from Spike’s room left little to the imagination, and to the alicorn, enough was enough.

“Spike, open this door.”

“Twilight, I’m busy.”

“I heard voices.”

“Um... no you didn’t.”

“Yes, yes I did.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“I’m coming in.”

“Please don’t.”

Twilight groaned in frustration as her magic opened the door, walking inside just as the sound of rustling sheets ceased to be. Spike seemed to be taking up more space under the covers than usual, and upon seeing that, warning signs went off in the alicorn’s brain. “Spike,” she began slowly, walking carefully towards the bed. “Who do you have in there with you?”

He smiled at her weakly whilst trying not to look suspicious as fuck, which he of course failed at miserably. A shifty glance every now and then, deep breathing, mouth slightly agape, obviously raised pulse; all the signs were there. Plus, the sheets were moving slightly, as whoever was under there was breathing, and whoever they were, they weren’t terribly small...

“Um... nobody...”

“I don’t believe you Spike,” Twilight said simply, sitting down and crossing her legs in front of her. “I want them to show themselves right now.” She didn’t sound angry, but she wasn’t happy; she sounded more like... like she was in charge, and there would be no ifs, ands or buts about it.

“What?”

“Right now, Spike,” she repeated. “Tell them to come on out. If you’re going to have any visitors of any kind, I need to know who they are and why they are here. This may be your room, but this is more or less my castle, and although you are an adult, you still live under my house, so please, humor me this.”

Spike looked from the alicorn before him, then down to his sheets, then up to Twilight again, and then down once more. “Hey, uh, um... you can, you know... come out now.” He paused for a few seconds, glancing back to Twilight. “Please?”

“Oh, okay,” a voice said. “Just be glad we’re too exhausted to argue with you about your house rules.”

“We?” Twilight repeated as one, then two, then three heads total came out from underneath the sheets...

“Wait... are you a... a... a...”

“Yes, honey, we’re a chimera,” the tiger head said, glancing over at the goat head on her other shoulder who nodded in agreement. “Don’t be scared, we’re not going to eat you; we’re full enough as it is.” At this, all three heads glanced over at Spike, who by now was smiling sheepishly and likely wishing Twilight had not come home so early.

Eww, did not need to know that, definitely did not need to know that. “So... ladies,” Twilight said, surprised at her own calm manner. “May I ask why you are here?”

If she had not more or less been “broken” by Spike’s tales earlier in the week, she might have completely broken down right then and there and started screaming or hitting stuff or maybe read a book. Sometimes her responses to situations varied regardless of precedent, like the time she had turned an orange into a flaming cantaloupe because Pinkie Pie had accidentally eaten one of her science-made cupcakes.

It had taken her three months to perfect that sugar-free sugar spell. Granted, Pinkie had more or less told her that it tasted like sadness, but all that work...

“We were just in the neighborhood and decided to drop by,” the snake end said simply.

“And why were you in the neighborhood?”

“Because, silly little pony, we were sent this way by a friend of ours.” The tiger head said this as she casually scratched the underside of her belly.

“Who?”

This time, it was Spike who spoke. “Hey, Twilight, remember how I more or less “proved” to you I’d been with every sapient race? Well, apparently I had more or less told the Windigo Empress this at some point when asked about my “experience”, so she sent out word to some of the more... “beastly” sapient creatures out there that I was here, or would be at some time, and that I was available.”

“Oh, really?” Twilight couldn’t believe this, or at least, she didn’t want to believe it.

“Yes dearie, she has quite the connections in the animal kingdom, or at least with those of a higher intellect,” the tiger head said. “You wouldn’t believe the number of creatures out there willing to fuck a dragon, especially one so... skilled between the sheets.” She purred as she affectionately rubbed her head against Spike.

“Alright... Spike, have you had any other... visitors while I’ve been away?” the alicorn asked.

“Well... other than the sister of one of Iron Will’s goat sidekicks... no, not really.”

“Wait, a goat?”

“Yep.”

“Jeez Spike, what’s next? A talking tree?”

“Well...”

“Wait, you didn’t.”

“Well, no, I didn’t fuck a tree Twilight. I was just about to say exactly that because I thought it sounded ridiculous.”

“My whole viewpoint on you has become ridiculous,” Twilight said, her wings flapping occasionally, indicating exasperation. “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore; you’ve become a veritable stranger to me.”

Sensing a problem unfolding in front of them, the three chimera heads looked at one another and then to Spike. “We’ll just be going now,” they said, slinking out from underneath the sheets and out of the window, taking extra care to climb down the side of the castle. When that didn’t work, there was a loud thud from outside, followed by some rustling in the bushes and a shout of “we’re okay!” far below.
Spike looked at Twilight as her magic gently shut the window. “Twilight, what are you saying?”

She sighed. “I’m not sure, Spike, but please, try and understand where I’m coming from here. I don’t see you for ten years, and during that time I rarely got a letter from you; maybe once every three or four months if I was lucky. Yet, in all that time, you didn’t deem fit to even hint to me that you were seeing someone, or in this case, many someones? Spike, I know that you’re growing up, but why? Why did I have to find out about all of this well after it all happened? I worried about you all the time, and was overjoyed every time you sent me a letter saying you were okay and all was good. Here I had thought you were doing just fine, and yet, during all that, you were doing every sapient species out there from dawn til dusk? Do you have any idea how hard that is for me to accept?”

The dragon was silent for several minutes, idly glancing at his hands as he smoothed out the covers of his bed. “Twilight,” he began, slowly crawling out of bed. “I... I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s something you need to.”
“What?” she asked.

“I... okay, this is going to sound weird, but hear me out, okay?” Spike said. “Once, in a cave near where those dragonesses and I... had some fun, I came across this really weird pool of water. I drank from it, and well, I either fell asleep or went somewhere really weird, because next thing I know, I’m talking with you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you, only... it wasn’t quite you. You were in the form you took all those years ago when you found Sunset Shimmer after going through that portal. I... I talked with you for hours, for days, I think. We...”

“... bonded?”

“You could say that,” the dragon muttered. “Twilight, it felt so real, so deeply connected to myself that I just did not, could not, want it to end. But eventually, it did, and I don’t know if I woke up or if I left, but some part of me Twilight despises m for what I did. I mean... for all I know, that was you, the other you, from that place. Yet even if it wasn’t, then... Twilight, you’re like my sister, and I don’t feel that way about you. Maybe it’s just my natural instinct to do so, but... I could never do that with you, the real you.”

“Then why do you despise this part of yourself?”

“Because it felt like you, and knowing it wasn’t you, and yet it seeming like you made me feel disgusted that I had done that in the first place,” the dragon said with a shrug. “I mean, maybe that’s why I started bedding more and more females after that; maybe it was a part of me trying to get rid of the guilt I felt for doing that, or just trying to forget the whole thing with others. Yet I haven’t forgotten, not because it was so special to me, which it wasn’t all that much, but because I’m terrified of the possibility it really was real.”

“But Spike, it couldn’t have been me; I never left while you were gone, or at least, never left Equestria,” Twilight said, touched at his conflicted heart. He had obviously been holding this in for some time now, judging from how easily it just seemed to spill forth.

“I know, I know, but... hey, I can’t stop feeling like that,” Spike said with a sigh. “I mean, I remember every relationship I’ve ever been in these past ten years, and not one of them, not one of them, scared me like the one in that cave. I do not regret a single female I’ve been with, nor do I wish to forget about them. I will always hold them in my heart, as they have done for me, but Twilight. I just... I just need you to understand something.”

“What would that be?”

“Several days before I left that cave to return home, I went to the pool again, and this time, I wasn’t with you, or Not-Twilight. I was with... someone else. Three someones, actually.”

“Sirens?”

“Yep. A few days after that, met a nice Saddle Arabian mare and her donkey attendants, and had some fun with them. About a month after that, met an actual horse mare who didn’t want me to leave for a while. That was why I was a little late, as my letter said.”

“Oh, okay; wasn’t expecting all that, but hey, you’re here, and that matters more than being here a few days earlier. So... what about that do I need to understand about all of this?”

“That no matter how many females out there I bed, no matter how many relationships I’ll have, I’ll always have a place for you in my heart, Twilight. When I was gone, your absence was like a hole that maybe I kept trying to fill, but ultimately couldn’t. I know, I know, that sounds kind of sappy, but hey, give me credit; I learned a lot trying to fill that hole.”

“By filling a lot of other holes along the way?” Twilight said, a grin cracking even as her eyes began to moisten from all this sappy confession.

Spike snorted. “Sometimes I swear you’re worse than me,” he muttered, walking over and pulling her into a hug.

“Oh, I highly doubt that.”

“Regardless, Twi, you’re the sister I’ll always have, and you’ll never have to worry about being replaced.”

“What? Why would I worry about being replaced?”

“Because I promise I’ll never be that stranger to you ever again,” the dragon said with a smile. “No matter how far, I’ll always be there for you, in some way. Now, where’s breakfast? I’m starving.”

“Yeah, gotta refill the “tank” after all that “conversing” with the chimera, eh?” the alicorn said with a smile, gently poking him in the sides of his stomach.

“Well, yeah, but be thankful it wasn’t a Nightmare,” the dragon said as they left his room. “They are almost as insatiable in bed as they are at a dinner table. Luckily the host knew how to cook like a fiend, or else we’d have run out of stuff to eat in no time.”

“Yeah... wait, what?”

Author's Note

Yeah, some people pointed out some problems. Hopefully this chapter can rectify some of those issues.

Sorry for the sudden insertion of "feelz". Not really sure what came over me while writing this (mostly in one go), but hey, now it's finally finished.

Unless people point out more sapient species, or if more are introduced in the next season.

Or if people keep asking for me to write detailed scenes of everything mentioned. For now, I'm leaving that up to another writer, who I will collaborate with on such things ~~instead of doing them myself~~ for the time being.