The four mares all finished eating and payed for their tab. There was a lot of used napkins on the table covered in ketchup for some reason.

"Huh," supposed Saty. "I guess that baby dragon is quite the hoofful." She took to busing the table.

Outside Spike was mortified. Not only did he cause a huge mess at lunch this afternoon but he was pretty convinced his friends, especially Pinkie Pie, knew about his little secret.

"Bye everypony!" Twilight called out to her friends.

"See 'ya Twilight! Bye Spike!" waved Applejack.

"Baiiiiiiii you two!" bellowed Pinkie Pie somersaulting into a cloud of confetti.

"Later guys," Rainbow Dash took to the sky.

With that Twilight Sparkle turned to her assistant who was having a pretty bad day insofar and task managed him further. "What do you say we head on back home, Spike? We need to drop off a couple of things there anyways."

Twilight looked curiously at her baby dragon. It seemed like he wasn't even paying attention.

"Huh? What's that? Oh, home. Yeah," Spike let out a yawn. "Let's do that."

"Spike are you sure you're feeling alright? You must be pretty tired after all those fries you ate." Twilight laughed to herself at the ketchup incident.

"No way, Twilight. I'm not even tired honest. I could work well on through the rest of the afternoon." Spike rallied behind some feigned confidence.

"Are you sure?" Twilight started heading towards the castle. She took notice of Spike rubbing his eyes, a sign that meant they were getting harder to keep open and that he needed a nap. "Why don't we put you down for a nice nap once we get home?"

"A nap?," Spike sounded almost offended. Spike tried to scurry up to his caretaker but his little legs just didn't have the energy left in them. "Come on Twilight I don't need a-"

*Flomp*

Just as Spike was about to finish his rebuttal he fell over dead tired right there in the middle of the market square. Ponies passing by saw him lying there and snickered into their hooves.

Awwwwww, somepony's tired..., they thought.

Spike was out cold. And can you blame him? He had a busy, mentally exhausting morning.

Twilight smiled and picked him up off the ground, not with her magic but with her mouth. She did so by biting him above the back of his neck just like her mother used to do for her when she was Spike's size. Twilight placed him carefully on her back and took the scroll out from under his claw. His claw was now free to be sucked and Spike certainly didn't waste any time in doing so. Twilight could hear tiny suckling sounds coming from him as he went to town on his favorite claw.

"Oh Spike," Twilight delighted at her peacefully sleeping assistant. "How do you stay so cute?"

She gave the list a once over and resumed her walk to the castle. She was careful in her stride so as not to disturb Spike. But she also knew that Spike could sleep through just about anything.

She started humming a tune to herself to pass the time along. Twilight always wondered how it was birds were able to hold tunes so easily. Twilight supposed it was a characteristic of their ability to communicate with others of their own kind. She reminded herself to research some ornithology later. Or better yet ask her animal expert friend Fluttershy.

Twilight opened her large castle doors with a spell of her magic and immediately the inside illuminated in a crystal hue of brilliance. Twilight walked over to Spike's room where she placed him in his basket. The basket has since been giving fresh sheets and Spike's favorite baby blue blanket had been freshly fabric softened. Spike curled up into a ball of warmth underneath his familiar blanket. Twilight floated his favorite plush of Rarity next to him and he instinctively latched onto it. Spike thinks that Twilight originally sewed Rarity together for him but only she knows the truth that it was Fluttershy who did the deed in secrecy. With one of his hands on his plush friend and his other hand dutifully sucking its claw Spike dreamed his little dreams. Twilight took a motherly moment to stare down in admiration at her adorable baby dragon snuggling in his basket with a plush sewn of her friend. She kissed him sweetly on his head just beneath his spines.

"Sleep well, Spike. I'll be in in an hour to check on you."

Twilight carefully navigated her hooves around all of Spike's toys which were always everywhere on the floor. Twilight made a mental note to tell Spike to pick his room up one of these days. She got to his door and made sure to half close it. That way if Spike needed anything at all she'd hear him.

Twilight went to the kitchen to unload her saddle bags. She took out the ink wells, parchment paper, fresh quills, mulch, and tea.

"Well I suppose I have some time before Fluttershy gets here," Twilight said to herself while setting her favorite tea on the counter. "Maybe I even have time to start a cup of brew?" Twilight brought out the tea kettle and her favorite sweet golden honey. She poured water into the kettle and heated it up rapidly with some kind of incineration spell. Once the water came to a boil she strained the tea leaves and buds through it and stirred it with just the right amount of honey.

"Ah," Twilight took a sip. "Always worth the trip."

Twilight took to making sure the other items her and her assistant gathered were put in their proper places. She deposited the study utensils into the library and was sure to make sure everything down to the parchment paper was placed in the correct spot. In her mind there was no such thing as too organized. Satisfied, Twilight cruised back to the kitchen where she had set the mulch and proceeded to head on up to her crystal garden. It was up a long flight of stairs that spiraled around her bedroom. Having just become mid-afternoon, the sun was high in the sky and shining beautifully through all the glass that was strategically placed over her flower beds and gardens. It was a sanctuary up there. Another one anyways in addition to that of her library.

Twilight opened the smelly bag of mulch and was instantly reminded of her early days with Spike when she had to change his diapers. Then again the mulch wasn't quite that bad.

"Here you go," Twilight sing songed at her crystal eyed susans. "Nothing like some fresh nutrient rich soil to get you going!" She scattered it around her flower beds not just where the trouble spots were but everywhere. She wanted to ration it well because she wasn't sure how well it would work or even how much they needed. She was just happy to be up there in the glass enclosure where the sun beamed on her mane and the room smelled just like the fields beyond Sweet Apple Acres.

Twilight was putting the finishing touches on some sunflowers when she thought she heard a soft rap at her front door. She tied the bag of mulch back up and placed it in the corner of the greenhouse next to her other gardening supplies.

"Bye everyflower! I'll see you tomorrow!" Twilight knew to try and be more vocal with her plants just like Fluttershy and Roseluck. If it worked for them there's no reason it shouldn't work for her.

The flowers and garden specimens quietly thanked her for the attention.

Twilight paced slowly down the steps where her suspicions were confirmed. There was indeed a visitor here to see her. The same soft knock could be heard coming from her castle's main door.

"I wonder who that could be." Twilight wiped her hooves off with a rag as she passed by the kitchen counter to her main hall and entrance. "It couldn't be Fluttershy with Owlicious already, could it?"

She stepped into the foyer and opened the door to reveal her pet owl and a timid yellow pegasus.

"HOO." The owl was smiling atop Fluttershy's head.

"Hey, Twilight. We're not too early are we?"

I know she's good with animals but wow! That was fast!, thought Twilight.

Author's Note

I just realized that after importing my body's text into the fimfiction template all of my italicized words got deleted. Zephyr Breeze and I are a lot alike in that we're both very lazy ponies. So I'm going to continue to just leave it to the reader's ability to determine what sections represent a character's thoughts. I know I know.... I'm awful.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all related characters, ideas, logos are trademarked and copyrighted by HASBRO.