Burning The Midnight Oil

by Kaidan

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike
Length: 1146

Twilight and Spike have a great system for finishing papers late at night. What Twilight doesn't realize is just how much Spike helps her after she passes out at her desk.

Twilight and Spike have a great system for finishing papers late at night. What Twilight doesn't realize is just how much Spike helps her after she passes out at her desk.

Published 2018-04-07 00:40:13 UTC
Last updated 2018-04-07 00:40:13 UTC

1. Friendship Report

Twilight yawned and took another sip of coffee as she wrote another line on the parchment in front of her. “Hmm, what do you think Spike? Would it be easier to justify friendship as a fundamental need if I quote the work done by Maslow Longmane? It’s a little dated, but so much more approachable.”

She began to chew on the end of the feather she was writing with, breaking the spine in the process. Spike was used to listening to Twilight talk to herself as she worked, and knew that the question was rhetorical. He pulled out another quill and walked over to the desk, holding it up for her out of habit. Her aura grabbed the quill without thinking as she got back to writing.

The desk was covered in layers of parchment and reference materials. Two candles had already melted down to the base, with a third nearly burnt out. Puffy sacks had formed under Twilight’s eyes as she strained to continue reading and writing in the dim light.

“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight crossed out a line and blew on the ink to help it dry more quickly. She resumed her writing while flipping through a book in search of just the right analogy to use.

He watched her work, recognizing the book she held open in the air. He had read it a couple of months ago while Twilight and her friends were off having an adventure. Spike had always taken his role as her assistant seriously, and wanted to be up to date in case the day came where Twilight’s questions began to be of a less rhetorical nature.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Twilight! After all, isn’t this like your tenth draft of the report?” Spike asked.

“Actually it’s my fifthteenth, this report is going to the leaders of all our neighboring kingdoms to express the importance of friendship and cooperation! It has to be perfect Spike!”

Spike began to read his comic again, following along with the adventures of his favorite super heroes. He couldn’t help but wonder if the Power Ponies had basic needs, or if the writers were content for them to be nothing more but masked vigilantes whose only desire was to stop the villain of the week every issue.

The scratching noise of quill along parchment began to slow down, catching Spike’s attention. He put a claw between the pages of his comics and closed it, intently watching the pony write. It was late at night, the moon already approaching the horizon to set. At about this time every night that Twilight tried to cram in a little more work, she would pass out at the desk.

It was another part of the duo’s routine, a part Twilight didn’t know about. As her quill stopped moving it fell silently to the desk, followed with a soft thud as Twilight passed out on top of the letter. She began to snore softly and drool onto the parchment, smearing the wet ink.

Spike smiled and got up, ready to do his part as her number one assistant. He got a fresh candle out, a few extra quills, and a little coffee for himself. Once he had set it all up on the desk he pulled a few books over to sit on.

“Hmm, Maslow’s hierarchy? That could work,” Spike mused. He began writing the report for Twilight, starting at the page she had left off on. He had gotten very good at mimicking the quill strokes and style of Twilight’s writing over the years.

Her drool was slowly seeping into the paper, so he quickly copied everything Twilight had written. Spike then began to go off on his own, explaining how friendship was the cornerstone of the fundamental 3rd step in the hierarchy.

“Yes, that works. Without friendship, there is no foundation for self-esteem—” Spike froze as Twilight twitched and stopped snoring. She didn’t wake up, instead scratching at an ear before going back into a steady rhythm of snoring.

Spike resumed his writing, making his way through several pages as he addressed concerns that had been raised by various diplomats from the other kingdoms. He lost track of time, only realizing his candle had burned out when the streaming rays of sunshine from the window began to get in his eyes. He finished up the paper with a compelling conclusion, leaving space for Twilight to sign at the end of the page.

He stood up, joints popping and cracking as he stretched. Spike straightened up the papers and cleaned up his mess, leaving the completed report on friendship next to Twilight, but far enough away to avoid the puddle of drool.

“There we go, another friendship disaster averted.” Spike jumped off the table, ignoring the comics strewn about his bed from when he was reading earlier. It made Spike feel great to have helped out, even if Twilight never realized it. He climbed into his basket and was out like a light.

Twilight heard a knocking noise, and jerked awake. “Who’s there?” she mumbled. A loud yawn escaped as she flexed her legs and wings, reaching with her magic and fumbling with the door handle until it opened.

Starlight Glimmer walked in. “Good morning, Twilight. I hope you don’t mind, but I didn’t see Spike this morning so I brought you some coffee. Don’t you have to deliver a report soon? Wouldn’t want you over-sleeping!”

She got out of her chair and walked towards Starlight, taking the coffee in her magic and quickly emptying the cup. She was feeling much better already before the caffeine had even taken effect. “Ah, thanks Starlight.” She looked over at Spike. “I guess he was up late reading comics again and couldn’t start the coffee this morning.”

Twilight levitated the stack of papers from the desk over and quickly glanced over them. A quill soon joined the parchments in mid-air, and she signed the last page. “Thank Celestia I was able to finish my report before I passed out last night.”

“You always seem to be barely finishing reports, maybe I could help?” Starlight asked.

“Oh, thank you, but me and Spike have a system. He really likes to stay up and help while I write,” Twilight responded. “It sure does tucker him out though, so we’ll let him sleep in.”

Starlight opened the door and let Twilight walk through, glancing back at Spike. There was something in his bed with him. Starlight picked it up with her magic, recognizing the quill and the dried ink on the tip. She floated it over and dropped it in the jar on the desk, then walked out and closed the door.

Author's Note

Just a little something to get back in the habit of writing, and familiarize myself with the new layout of the site.