The sounds of pages turning and a scribbling quill filled the air of Twilight's study as she worked furiously deep into the night. The stars dotted the nighttime sky, and moonlight shone softly through her window. A lamp warmly illuminated her desk and the papers scattered randomly across its surface, providing just enough light for her to read the textbook laid on top of them. In the times between her scribbling, the sounds of crickets could be heard from outdoors, signaling that the time to go to sleep had long since passed. The cold air from outside seeped through the crack, but she was far too busy to close it. Her determination to continue her research kept her awake, but only for so long.
Twilight continued reading paragraph by paragraph, writing nearly illegibly on a roll of parchment nearby. She dipped the quill in her ink reserves, which were almost run completely dry. Then, she was reading sentence by sentence, struggling to keep her concentration. Then every word became a battle, and she found herself needing to re-read a sentence every so often. Suddenly, a yawn and a stretch followed by a dead heaviness in her eyes caused her to blink slowly in exhaustion. She enjoyed the feeling of resting her eyes for a few short moments until she dropped the quill. As the magic in her horn stopped glowing and her eyes tried to focus on the next word to read, she found herself slowly gravitating closer and closer to the book laid out in front of her. The words became blurry and unreadable as her snout gently nuzzled its way into the space between the pages, and the last thought she had before falling asleep was that it smelled heavenly.
Moments later, she was sound asleep with her hooves laid atop the desk and her face literally buried in a book. Spike came into the room to say goodnight, but a warm smile grew across his face when he saw her sleeping peacefully. He walked silently over, ensuring his claws didn't make a sound on the floor in the process. He felt the cold chill of the air outside the window and closed it gently and the sounds of the crickets outside disappeared.
The air was completely still and silent as he grabbed the blanket from his bed to pull over Twilight, so that she would stay warm throughout the night. As he did so, he fondly remembered the times she used to do the same for him every evening. From the start, Twilight had shown him that he was immensely cared for, and he loved every chance he got to return that favor. But not as a duty, as if he had some sort of debt to repay. Memories of offering himself as a personal servant for Applejack resurfaced in his mind and he couldn't help but laugh at himself. Rather, he felt compelled to return the favor because he genuinely wanted to. Twilight was his first friend, and he was her's.
After ensuring the blanket was wrapped snugly around her, Spike flicked the switch on the lamp to turn off the light. When the room had gone dark, the light from the stars and moon shone through the window and illuminated her beautifully.
More fond memories surfaced in his mind. The times when he would write her letters to Celestia when she was her pupil, and the times when they would laugh together in the library into late hours of the night. The moments of their arguments seemed small and distant; overshadowed by the multitudes of happy memories they shared. He remembered every adventure he went upon and wondered about the adventures he would have with her in the future. He thought about what he may grow up to become, where he might go and how he could ever even think about leaving to be on his own. He was still a small dragon, but dragons didn't age in the same way as ponies. They could either amass size by falling to greed, as he had experienced once long ago, or they could grow by being in community with other dragons. At least, that was what Twilight told him once from an old, dusty book.
But he didn't want to leave. This was where he felt at home. Any dragon could amass size and become enormously powerful, but no other dragon had the special bond he shared with Twilight. She was his sister and his protector and he had no desire to ever leave her. Spike found himself just watching her sleep soundly beneath the ray of moonlight that shone through the window. Her body moved slowly up and down as she breathed softly, her snout still snugly buried into the book and a small dorkish smile on her face.
Suddenly, her hoof slipped from the pages and clacked against the desktop.
Twilight stirred briefly, mumbling something nerdy and incoherent. She shifted forward and wrapped herself around the book, snuggling it into oblivion before falling fast asleep once again.
Spike's smile grew even wider and he had to stifle a laugh from escaping his mouth as Twilight buried her snout further into the pages like a lover's embrace. He thought for a moment about grabbing a camera, but quickly decided it would be best not to keep evidence of something she would feel embarrassed about. He watched for a few more moments until finally leaving the study, gently shutting the door behind him. Then he brushed his teeth and hopped into his bed.
Twilight awoke gently in the dead of night with her snout in the book. Her eyes gradually adjusted to being open as she groggily came to from her slumber. She felt the sense of warmth on her back suddenly dissipate as she leaned upwards from the desk and the blanket slid downwards. She looked at it for a few moments and smiled after seeing it was Spike's. Activating her magic, she levitated the blanket and quietly made her way to where Spike slept. She entered the room as silently as possible and saw him sleeping soundly.
Seeing him sleep reminded her of when she first began taking care of him. It had been ages since then, and at this point they took care of each other equally. In fact, she sometimes felt like Spike took care of her more than she took care of him. He was an amazingly faithful companion and she knew that he would do anything if it meant helping her. Likewise, she would do the same for him. He was so loyal and kindhearted, and seeing him in this moment made her feel both pride and thankfulness. Pride for raising such a sweet and loving young dragon, and thankfulness for the friend he was to her when she had few others.
She recalled the time before she moved to Ponyville and met all of her new friends. The days when she spent all of her time with her snout buried in a book, sometimes literally. She wondered at her past self and how she got by with so little social contact, and felt immensely grateful for the vast multitude of friends she had now. But Spike was the first, and so they shared a special bond. And they always would.
As she came to his side, she brought the blanket over him and laid it gently over his body. He shifted ever so slightly in his sleep and clutched the blanket with his claws to bring it in closer for snuggling. Twilight smiled and allowed herself a few seconds to appreciate the cuteness of what she was seeing, but quickly decided to leave him be. If he knew she saw him like this he would be really embarrassed, so she shut the door silently and readied herself for bed.
Minutes later they were both fast asleep. They dreamed peacefully throughout the rest of the night as the nighttime sky faded and the sun arose on the horizon, awaiting to begin yet another day together.
