Epilogue

"Spike! I'm home!" Twilight called out as she entered the main lobby of the castle, her legs weak from all the walking. Those conferences and meetings and all those private discussions had really taken their toll on her, much more than she would have thought. Being a princess was never easy, but since when did it get this hard? Or was she just having a problem focusing on what she needed to do, whilst also worrying for Spike for all these days? She'd only been gone a week, yet it had felt like nearly half a month.

It likely wasn't easy for him, being a strange man in a strange land. Sure, he'd grown up here, but more often than not, she could tell his "fitting in" was just a cover for his anxieties. He worried about much the same things a young man his age might worry about; looks, girls, popularity, girls, finding a good job, and especially girls. However, in regards to girls, he often was quiet on the subject, and while he frequently told her he was indeed into girls, she just assumed he'd never worked up the courage to ask one out.

He didn't really like to talk to her about it, but she never prodded more than she needed to on "that" subject. In time, she was sure he'd come around and ask her for some information. She'd already prepared him several books on the subject, as well as penning her own thesis and several papers on it.

You know, if he ever got curious.

"Spike?" she called again. Was he still up on the couch? Or had Zecora moved him to his bedroom? Hopefully whatever remedy she had come up with had helped him. The poor dragonman had had such a hard time with his condition, even more than in previous years.

"Twilight, your return almost felt overdue," a voice said, and Twilight turned to find Zecora, positively glowing, pulling a large cart behind her, carrying many jars filled with thick, opaque liquid. A byproduct of the remedy, perhaps? "I would keep my voice down, if I were you."

"Why?"

"Spike is asleep, all alone in his room. My remedies are working, it is safe to assume."

Twilight smiled. "So he's feeling better? That's great, I'll be needing him shortly for a few things."

For some reason, Zecora's smile faltered, ever-so-slightly, for reasons the princess could not fathom. "Twilight, for work, Spike is not yet ready. He is progressing well, slow but steady."

"What do you propose then? I don't want to rush him out of anything he's not quite ready for. I need him healthy as can be, and the dragon's breeding season won't last much longer than another week or so, maybe two at the most."

"Take advantage of that, then, I must, for once it is done, my schedule, I must adjust. When the season ends, he should be well. He'll be even better, I think; this, I can tell. Now, send him to me every other day, out to my hut. I have... other remedies to use, to help him out of this rut."

Twilight couldn't put her mind to it, but as the witch doctor walked away with her cart of liquid-filled jars, she could have sworn the medicine woman was... walking a bit funny, more so than she remembered last week.

Author's Note

Just a short, silly piece to help wrap things up.