Interlude

It had only been a few years since the destruction of Golden Oaks Library at the hands of Lord Tirek, and a few years since Twilight Sparkle had taken up residence in Friendship Castle. The crystalline structure allowed visitors to overlook the entirety of Ponyville, something Twilight's assistant had come to appreciate. Especially so since he'd grown enough to look out one of the windows without having to stand on a chair.

Spike leaned on the windowsill and let the breeze tickle his fins while the evening sun warmed his scales. He liked to do that. He didn't know why, but had some suspicions.

Even after he'd grown tall enough to look most mares in the eye, he'd showed no signs of wing development. Every doctor or scholar they consulted seemed baffled. All mentions of dragons in writing—what little there was—always spoke of them taking flight at some point in their lives, but he... didn't. For all intents and purposes, it appeared he would be grounded for the rest of his life. Twilight didn't say anything when they received the news; probably because she already suspected something along these lines. After all, she'd seen him all grown up before. And then again. And then again. She'd made notes about it every time, but never did he show even a hint of wings no matter why he grew.

She still bought him a bucket of saphire-sprinkled ice cream, though!

And it wasn't so bad, really. He didn't miss flying that much. He had no idea what flying by yourself was like, he'd only ever ridden one of the girls when he needed. That wasn't really an option anymore, with his weight giving anypony but Rainbow Dash pause. Plus, he had the castle windows if he really wanted to feel the wind on his face.

He'd never tell Twilight, but it was one of the reasons he actually preferred their new home over the old. True, the library held many fond memories for the both of them, from Twilight's first party (which she spent curled up on her bed with a pillow wrapped around her head and complaining) to the time he gave Rarity the fire ruby he'd been saving up, but it wasn't the same as living in their very own crystal castle. He liked crystals! They tasted good, and they reminded him of other happy times, like the Equestria Games in the Crystal Empire. Or Rarity's flanks.

Spike worked hard to suppress a giggle. Twilight surely would've called him immature for thinking about her friend like that. But who could blame him? Rarity still had some of the nicest flanks in town! Maybe he wasn't quite as head over heels in love with her as back then, but he could still admire how beautiful the Unicorn was from afar. Besides, watching the town from up here and thinking about his old crush beat—

"Spike, Where did you put the Almanac of All Things Arcane And Alchemical?"

"... Reshelving," he muttered. Ah well, back to work it was! "Coming, Twilight!"

He found the mare in question orbited by over a dozen tomes of various sizes, colours, and ages. She'd grown since her transformation, now standing taller than any of her friends by several inches. Despite the fact that she had to buy new clothes because her old ones wouldn't fit anymore, she kept to the same nerdy bookworm style. Sweater vest, plaid skirt, the only real concession to vanity was anything Rarity gifted, and those things she wore regardless of how badly they clashed. Rarity had noticed quickly and only gifted her with fitting accessories accordingly.

Even if they didn't actually live in a library anymore, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, would sooner trade in her crown than to be forced to live away from her beloved books. She'd immediately decided to equip the castle with its own library, with rather impressive results over the years. The castle library stretched across several rooms by now. They still didn't see as much business as they used to, much to her chagrin. But really, who went to a castle to borrow a book?

Well, Twilight probably would, he thought. He pointed a thumb behind him, at one of the shelves already filled.

"It's right there, under 'A'. Where else would it be?"

The Alicorn's face went blank. Spike's eyes followed her as she trotted over to checked for herself. Since he knew the book was there, he took the opportunity to lean back against the wall and look smug. For all her genius, she tended to get lost in her own archive system.
That's where her number one assistent came in!

In the face of ironclad evidence, she finally had no choice but to admit defeat. Spike took only a small amount of satisfaction from how she seemed to deflate.

"You're right, Spike. It's exactly where it's supposed to be."

"Told ya." He made as if to polish his claws on his shirt. He blew on the nails and faked inspecting them, and Twilight didn't hold back her giggle as she floated the rest of the books on top of another pile. She'd been at it even before he'd been awake, he knew. She was probably tired and hungry, and tired Twilight tended to make stupid mistakes. The trick was to allow her to work enough to satisfy her needs, but not too much for it to become a problem. Right now, it was time to put in the brakes.

"How about we stop for today? The books won't run away any time soon." He made a gesture in the rough direction of the shelves of books they'd already filled.
"Look, we've already done a lot in one day. If you keep going now, you'll lose track of where you put what, and that means we'll have to do half of it over tomorrow anyway."

Twilight hesitated. She pondered his question, he could see that. Gears in that brilliant mind of hers shifted lanes, new information was accessed, disseminated, stored away again... Thinking Twilight was, in many senses, quite a sight to behold.
A sheet of paper, most likely a checklist, floated over to the pondering Alicorn. She squinted to make out the words written on there, likely
barely readable by now. Tired Twilight also had horrible hand- and hornwriting, another reason she had to rely on Spike.

That, and there was a chance that she needed glasses. But he didn't want to tell her that just yet.

"You're right," she muttered. The royal checklist floated away, while Twilight slumped and lumbered over to one of the chairs not yet occupied by the Party of Itinerant Books. She plopped down awkwardly; even her wings drooped, and sighed deep from within her chest.
"We can finish this tomorrow. Or... the day after tomorrow. Not like anypony visits for books anyway."

Spike put a hand to her shoulder.
"Hey, it's alright. You can always order a royal grant for a new library or something."
The corners of her lips curled upwards.

"Like... in a big tree?"

"The biggest around."

That made her laugh. She took his hand gratefully and sighed again.
"Thanks, Spike. It's been years, but I still miss the old place sometimes. Even with all the touching up the girls did, it still feels a little empty sometimes. Canterlot Castle never felt this way." Twilight turned her stare to open doors leading to open halls and open rooms.

Spike shrugged.
"You could always put in a few guards. They make for a nice room decoration. Maybe ask Cadance if she knows anypony in particular," he said. The last part came with a smirk the dragon hid behind a fake cough. Of course he had a certain somepony in mind, and from the blush lighting up her cheeks, so did Twilight. And as if on cue came the cute stammers.

"N-no, I don't think that's, really, we shouldn't, um. Let's table this discussion, okay?" she finished lamely. She pushed her index fingers together, like a mare half her age. Or Fluttershy.

"Works for me," Spike answered. And it did. Twilight would work this out in her own time. And if she didn't, there was still the backup plan in the form of Princess Cadance, Alicorn of Love and All Things Shippy.

A single ringing tone shook them both from their thoughts—the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" he told her, pointing down at her seat when Twilight made to rise. "You stay here and get some rest, okay?"
Twilight only nodded gratefully, clearly too tired to disagree. Spike chuckled to himself as he went to greet whoever decided to visit them at this time.

As it turned it, said visitor was Sweetie Belle. He blinked at the expression on her face when he opened the door and caught her in the process of turning away from the entrance—something between relieved and a tiny bit panicked.

"Hi, Spike," she squeaked. Her voice broke right at his name. He had to admit, it was quite adorable.

"Hey, Sweetie," he smiled, leaning against the door frame, "what brings you here?"

He let his gaze travel over her body, taking it all in. Her miniskirt did nothing to hide her beautiful legs, her two-toned, bouncy tail, or her Cutie Mark in the shape of two bells before a heart. Her top was also cut low enough to offer a nice view. She shared with her sister what he'd come to call the 'marshmallow look': A brilliantly white coat covering gentle and inviting curves. But where Rarity had a sultry air about her, Sweetie Belle was... well, sweet. A very sweet, very pretty young mare just coming into her own.

She blushed a bit. Whether it was his words or the look, Spike couldn't tell. He was ready to apologise for either, but Sweetie beat him to the punch with a raised hand and a deep breath. Spike nodded for her to go ahead.

"W-well, I... I wanted to ask you whether you would... like to hang out with me? Maybe tomorrow? We could go for a picnic..." Sweetie Belle gave him the most hopeful smile he'd seen since Rarity had first lay eyes on his birthday fire ruby years back. Spike felt his heart melt at the sight.

"Um, sure. Why not?"

He did his best to act nonchalant. However, that became almost impossible when he saw the sheer happiness radiating from the filly. Her smile turned as wide as only Pinkie's normally would; any bigger and her lips would've met somewhere at the back of her head. She clapped her hands and bounced in place and sparkled her eyes at him. It was an effort to will not to lean back from her. Why was she acting like this?

"Oh thank you thank you! I'll have everything prepared for tomorrow! Oh, this is so great!"

Spike tugged at his collar. Was it getting warm in here..?

Sweetie Belle lunged for a quick hug that lasted only a few seconds at most, before she about-faced and skipped away, still giggling and waving to him. He waved back, still a bit confused. When she was out of sight, he went back inside.

Twilight had let her head drop down on the table while he'd been gone. He would've thought she was asleep, if not for her ears shifting in his direction.
"Who was it?" she asked.

"Well, that was Sweetie Belle."

"The Crusaders?"

"No, just Sweetie." Spike crossed his arms and glanced back the way he'd come from.
"She asked if we could hang out tomorrow for a picnic... Ah shoot! I forgot, we still need to organise the rest of your books!"

He wanted to go back to Sweetie Belle and call the whole thing off, but Twilight stopped him before he could take another step.
"It's alright, Spike. Like you said, they're not going anywhere. And you deserve a day off anyway." She made a shooing gesture, all without raising her head.
"So go, have fun with her!"

"Tomorrow, Twilight," Spike chuckled, "for now, let me make us dinner. I don't even want to know what you cook up when you're like this."

"Oh, hah hah."

He moved around the downed Alicorn, mindful not to trip over one of her hooves or any stray books.
There was something still bothering him, though. Something about what happened with Sweetie Belle. He chewed the inside of his mouth, but no matter what he couldn't quite tell what it was.

Perhaps Twilight has any idea?

"Twilight?"

"Yeah?" came her muffled answer. Spike struggled not to laugh.

"Yeah, well, there's something that's a little confusing. When Sweetie Belle asked me just now and I said yes, she was very happy. Like, exploding and then exploding again happy. I have no idea why she did that."

Twilight grunted.
"Maybe she just really wanted to spend time with you?"

"You think so?" Spike looked down at the ground, wondering if it was as simple as that. The way Twilight said it did make it sound that way.

"And let's not forget," she blew her bangs away from her eyes, which now held a mischievous glint, "Leash Day is coming up."

Spike nodded. That's true, it's Leash Day soon. Maybe Sweetie Belle is interested in me...