A Canterlot Apology

by yodajax10

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Main 6, Princess Luna, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 5381

Twilight's friends feel serious regret after they treated the unicorn at the Royal Wedding, can they make amends?

A collaboration between me and SuperPinkBrony12. Based on ideas from The VClaw's What Could Have Been Lost, and given his permission.

It's been almost a week after the Royal Wedding, and their victory against the changelings!

But the Mane Five still feel regret about how they left Twilight behind when she tried to warn them of Queen Chrysalis' treachery! Can they all find a way to reconcile, or will their lives go on full of misery and regret?

Published 2018-09-26 04:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-09-26 04:30:01 UTC

Saying Sorry

It had been a few days since the royal wedding in Canterlot, and for Twilight she had gotten the sense that things were more or less back to normal. She was still a little upset that her friends hadn’t believed her when she tried to tell them Princess Cadence was not what she seemed.

But as she lay in bed that night, Twilight was about to get her first sense that things weren’t quite as back to normal as they should be. All of a sudden, she woken up by what sounded like a yelp! “Gah!” She screamed as the covers of her bed flew off! It took her a moment to realize she was still in her home, the Golden Oak Library, and she blushed at her overreaction.

Turning to look around for the source of the yelp, Twilight noticed the nearby basket that housed her number one assistant and best friend, Spike.

Looking down at the basket, Twilight quickly noticed something was not right. Spike was clearly sweating and even panting a little. Probably suffering a nightmare. Twilight nudged a hoof to Spike. “Spike,” She softly called to him. “Is something wrong? ”

But Spike said in response. “What are you talking about, Twilight? It was just a nightmare. Everyone gets ‘em from time to time. Everything’s fine, just fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to sleep.” And then he threw the covers over his basket and pretended to snore loudly.

Reluctantly, Twilight decided it was best not to pry. She didn’t want to force Spike to tell her something before he was ready. But even as she lay in bed afterward, she started to grow worried. “I know something’s wrong with Spike. But how do I get him to tell me?” She thought.

Next morning, Applejack payed a visit to Sugarcube Corner and was greeted by Mrs. Cake. The plump baker had a noticeable frown upon her face, which was rare considering her chipper attitude. “What’s wrong, Mrs. Cake?” Applejack reluctantly asked. “Everythin’ okay?”

“Well, no, actually,” Mrs. Cake confessed with a sigh. “Could you maybe have a talk with Pinkie Pie? Ever since she came back from Canterlot, she hasn’t been herself. It’s like the bounce has gone out of her step. I haven’t seen her this down in the dumps since the time she thought everypony was avoiding her parties.”

Applejack could well remember that dreadful occasion, never before or since had she or anypony else ever become so terrified of Pinkie. To see the usually cheerful party pony suddenly acting distant and angry had been quite a shock. Had things gotten that bad again?

Well, there was only one way to find out. “I guess I’ll see what I can do to snap her out of her funk,” Applejack vowed. “Just hope it ain’t anythin’ too serious.”

But when the farm mare stepped into the kitchen, she could see just why Mrs. Cake was so worried. And Applejack had a sad feeling as to why that was.

There was Pinkie Pie, frantically dashing about the kitchen and collecting various baking supplies: Flour sacks, egg cartons, cake mix, you name it! “Ooh, maybe I should make a triple decker chocolate fudge cake?! Or maybe a six flavor surprise?! No wait, an extra super-duper sized strawberry and vanilla cake with ice cream on top!” She could be heard saying to herself!

“Pinkie, what in tarnation’s goin’ on here?!” Applejack demanded, alerting her friend and fellow earth pony to her presence. “You’re turnin’ this whole place upside down!”

“Sorry, Applejack, can’t talk right now!” Pinkie quickly replied as she continued to dash about! “I’m hard at work making the biggest apology cake in the history of apology cakes! If it’s for Twilight, it has to be just right! Something that truly says ‘Sorry we didn’t listen to you about Cadence when she was actually an evil changeling queen trying to steal all our love’!”

Applejack sighed. “Pinkie, there’s really no need for any of this. Twilight’s already forgiven us, sugarcube. No need to make such a fuss. It’s time to let bygones be bygones.”

At that Pinkie stopped in her tracks and glared at Applejack! “You don’t understand, Applejack! You weren’t there the night after the invasion!”

“The night after the invasion?! What in the name of wormy apple cores are you on about, Pinkie?!” Applejack remarked.

With a sigh, the pink party pony explained. “It was right after the invasion, right after Shining Armor and Cadence combined their magic and blasted that no good Chrysalis to kingdom come!” And as she spoke her mind began to flashback to that very night, a night that had started out so innocent and peaceful.

With the royal wedding now back on, preparations were once again underway to get everything ready for tomorrow. Twilight was in her room of the Canterlot Castle, looking unhappy. She had returned to her original position of best mare, but inside, she still felt empty. Twilight then heard a couple knocks at her door. Twilight walked over to the door to answer it, and was greeted by loud music.

“HAPPY TWELVE HOURS UNTIL THE WEDDING!!!!!” Pinkie cheered happily as confetti flew in the air.

“Pinkie, what are you doing?” Twilight asked in a rather annoyed and exhausted tone.

“Well, since we stopped a new group of baddies from invading Canterlot, I’m going door to door around the castle of how soon the Royal Wedding is! And since you knew of the invasion first, why not go to our heroooooo!! Ready to shake your groove thing?!” Pinkie resumed playing her one-mare-band, but started to slow down when seeing Twilight walk back in her room and to her window.

Pinkie hopped over to Twilight. “Aww, Twilight! You’re not sore at us for not listening, are you? Because we’re really REALLY sorry!” But Twilight didn’t respond.

An idea than flashed in Pinkie’s mind. “Hey, Twilight! Look what I got!” Pinkie pulled out a cupcake from her back. “A cupcake! I know how much you love them! I even asked you earlier! Ain’t that right, Twilight?”

“Why thank you, Pinkie,” The sock puppet Twilight happily replied. “I love cupcakes! Nom-nom-nom-nom!”

There was still no response.

Pinkie started to grow worried. Twilight was still quiet, even after a puppet act! “That usually knocks her out!” Pinkie thought.

“Come on, Twilight!” Pinkie asked, in a tone that was starting to sound desperate, despite her big grin. “Just a bite! A small bite? A teensy-weensy bite? A teensy-weensy-itsy-bitsy little bite?”

At that moment, Twilight finally spoke. “Shut up.” She mumbled.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear ya.” Pinkie asked.

Twilight then whipped around and smacked the cupcake on the floor. “I SAID SHUT UP!” She yelled. “Can’t you get that through your thick head?!”

Pinkie was shocked by Twilight’s tone and words. “...Twi-Twilight...I-”

“After everything that happened, can’t you see you’ve done enough for one day?! Uuuugh!!! Leave me alone!” Twilight turned around and grumbled. But when turning around again, she saw Pinkie, looking devastated and speechless. “What are you looking at? Why don’t you go annoy somepony else?!” Twilight snapped.

Pinkie’s eyes began to water up with tears as she silently walked out of Twilight’s room and closed the door.

Alone in the hallway of the castle, she pulled out a checklist. “Twilight...check…Next up is…” But Pinkie let out a sigh and silently walked to her own room with tears streaming from her eyes, her party mood officially crushed.

Having heard the story, Applejack sighed and tried not to frown. “No offense, sugarcube, but you’re makin’ too big a deal out of this. Don’t you remember what happened after that?” Applejack was referring to the day after the incident:

Cadance was checking up on Pinkie’s party preparations, and after dancing with her she smiled at the simplicity of them, and hugged the party pony. “This is wonderful, Pinkie! It’s more than I ever wanted from my wedding celebration!”

“Aww, well, it was nothing.” Pinkie spoke, blushing.

“You ready to check up on the next things, my soon-to-be sister-in-law?” Cadance turned to Twilight.

“You bet!” Twilight grinned. She began to exit with Cadance, but turned back to Pinkie as her happy mood slowly faded once being alone, and Twilight had an unfortunate feeling why.

“Cadance?” Twilight asked. “You go check out the next thing, I’ll be right back.”

“No problem.” Cadance smiled. As Cadance left, Twilight walked back into the party room to Pinkie. The pink pony was slowly moving a streamer with her hoof.

Twilight gulped. This wasn’t going to be easy. “...Pinkie?”

Pinkie turned and saw Twilight. “Oh, hi.” Pinkie spoke, sadly.

Twilight stood next to her, looking down. After a couple seconds, she spoke up. “...Cadance really loved your party ideas! You really outdid yourself!”

Pinkie uncomfortably nodded. “Mmm-hmm.”

Twilight then sighed. “...Pinkie, I owe you an apology for last night.”

Pinkie’s eyes widened as she flipped around to Twilight. “Why are you apologizing?! I’m the one who made things worse after I-”

“No, no.” Twilight put her hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “You were only trying to make up. I...I had no right to yell at you like that.”

“But, Twilight!” Pinkie spoke. “The rehearsal! You were just sitting there like a sad puppy! And we pretty much kicked you!”

“Well, this sad puppy wants to forgive and forget,” Twilight spoke in a sincere tone. “I wasn’t in the best mood last night and I regret what I said. So come on. You wanna celebrate the next two hours until the wedding?”

Pinkie looked up to her friend. “Sure, Twilight.”

“Thanks, Pinkie.” Twilight pulled Pinkie in for a hug, as Pinkie put her hoof around Twilight’s back. But in her mind, she was still convinced this wasn’t enough.

“Don’t you understand, Applejack?!” Pinkie protested, interrupting the flashback. “This apology cake is important! I never got the chance to show Twilight how sorry I am for not listening to her, and if I don’t show it soon, my entire friendship with her could fall apart! The entire future of my friendship with Twilight rests on getting this apology cake just right!”

Applejack frowned ever so slightly. “No offense, sugarcube, but you’re overreactin’. There’s no need to bake an apology cake to show Twilight how sorry you are.”

At that Pinkie jumped in front of Applejack, making her hat fall off. “You’re closer to Twilight than any of us are, you should be worried too! And instead you’re just sitting around, doing nothing!”

“That’s because I know Twilight well enough to know this isn’t what she’d want!” Applejack protested. “She’d want us to move on, and that’s exactly what we should be doin’!”

Pinkie snorted. “You’re just jealous of the fact that I’m putting more effort into my apology than you are!”

Those words caused Applejack to stumble back, as something inside her snapped and her face glowed red as steam escaped from her nostrils. “Oh, that’s it, huh? Alright then, be that way!” She growled as she put her hat on, not caring it was upside down. “Y’all can deal with this doggone stupid cake stuff alone!” And with a flick of her tail she turned and trotted out the kitchen door.

“Oh yeah?!” Pinkie yelled as Applejack left. “Yeah... well... I hope you slip on the icing on the way out! The icing that’s... been on the floor for three days! Ihopeyouslipondirtyicing!!!” Pinkie flailed her hooves, before slamming them on the kitchen counter as she continued to look at her cookbook. But sadness filled her up again as she threw her head into the cookbook in misery.

Having observed the whole thing from afar, Mrs. Cake could only frown and sigh. “I’ve never seen those two get so worked up before. They tend to get along so well, it’s almost like they’re related. I just hope they can patch things up eventually.” She thought to herself, and made a mental note to try and talk to Pinkie one on one. Once the young baker had calmed down of course.

Applejack trotted through Ponyville in annoyance, while taking care to avoid making eye contact with anypony. She was rightfully peeved off.

Along the way, the farm mare kicked at every loose stone and spec of dust that crossed her path. All the while she complained loudly. “Pinkie...Hmph! That Pinkie!...Just where the hay does that she go off...thinkin’ she knows Twilight better than I do?!...” She then stumbled across a can. “What are you lookin’ at, Mr. Stupid Can?!” She kicked it against the wall. “Go mind your own darn business!” She looked up and noticed another pony staring at her, before that pony walked away, whistling nervously.

Applejack continued walking until she got to a lake. “If I say Twilight wants us to move on, that’s what she wants and everyone should listen! Who cares if she just wants to sit there and be stubborn?”

But eventually, Applejack sighed. “I do...” Then she sighed and put her hooves to her face. “Maybe Rainbow Dash will know what to do. She and Pinkie like to hang out all the time, after all.”

Making use of the balloon, and the knowledge that Twilight’s cloud walking spell was permanent, Applejack made her way up to Rainbow’s house. But when she set her hooves down on the clouds and approached the front door, she saw to her great disappointment, a sign hanging on the door knob. It read: “Sorry, not available right now, weather emergency. Kind Regards: Rainbow Dash.”

“Consarn it all, what else can go wrong today?!” Applejack loudly groaned as she went back to the balloon. Unknown to the farm mare, Rainbow actually was home. She’d simply put up the sign to try and fool Twilight, she’d never anticipated any of her other friends to come by.

Rainbow was currently dealing with her own dilemmas regarding the royal wedding. She laid in her bed, looking up at the ceiling. She glanced over and saw Tank sleeping on his own pillow.

“Tank?...” Rainbow asked, causing Tank to stir and wake up. “...Was I wrong to...just leave Twilight like that?”

Tank just let out a yawn.

“You’re no help.” Rainbow grunted as she turned on the other side of the bed. But Tank still flew over to Dash and laid by her side, not wanting her to be sad.

While all of that was going on, Spike was paying a visit to Fluttershy’s cottage. On any other occasion he’d be at Carousel Boutique, trying to spend time with Rarity. But this was a situation that called for Fluttershy’s expertise. She had been the first pony to get to know him when he moved to Ponyville, after all.

Spike knocked on her door, and the yellow pegasus answered it. “Oh, hello, Spike.” Fluttershy spoke, sweetly.

“Hi, Fluttershy.” Spike spoke. “May I come in?”

“Of course!” Fluttershy gently pushed Spike inside with her wing. “Make yourself at home!” It was at that moment, Fluttershy got a good look at the baby dragon

Fluttershy seemed much calmer and more cheerful compared to the dragon who looked like he hadn’t slept a wink all night. Scratch that, all week. “What’s wrong, Spike?” She asked him as she set to work on boiling some tea. “You look terrible,” Fluttershy leaned over to Spike. “Why the long face?” She chuckled nervously.

Harry Bear glanced over at Angel Bunny, looking confused. But Angel just looked annoyed.

Spike opened his mouth to speak, only for the cottage door to suddenly swing open. And who should come bursting in but Rarity, still wearing her ruby red sewing glasses and her measuring tape resting over her shoulder? “Fluttershy, thank heavens!” The fashionista exclaimed! “I really hate to ask such a favor on such short notice, but I need your help! I need you to try on some apology dresses I’m making for Twilight! I need to make sure they’re just right!”

“Oh, well I’d love to, Rarity,” Fluttershy nervously replied. “But Spike was just about to tell me if something was wrong with him. He doesn’t look like he’s been sleeping well since the royal wedding, that’s not a good sign.”

“Now that you mention it, poor Spikey-Wikey looks positively frazzled,” Rarity commented. “Is something the matter, darling? You can tell me, I promise not to tell Twilight if that’s what you’re worried about.”

But Spike immediately blushed and started to clam up. Telling Rarity was a whole lot different than telling Fluttershy, and something told him the shy pegasus wasn’t going to be free to chat with for some time. “Nothing is wrong, Rarity! Everything’s just fine!” He nervously laughed.

“It’s alright, Spike.” Fluttershy put her hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “Tell us. We want to help.”

“I’m alright, girls!” Spike said in defense. “Now I… need to go and… order some more scrolls for Twilight! Yeah, that’s it!” And he left before either Rarity or Fluttershy had a chance to question him.

“Well, getting back to the subject at hoof,” Rarity coughed. “Fluttershy, would you be willing to model for me one more time? I wouldn’t ask this of you unless it was absolutely important, and it is.”

But Fluttershy shook her head in protest. “I don’t want to try on dresses, Rarity. Everything’s just fine between us and Twilight, it’s all been fixed. Twilight’s not the type to hold a grudge.”

Rarity wouldn’t listen. She just shoved Fluttershy out the door and dragged her all the way across town to Carousel Boutique. She immediately began to shift through the various dresses she’d made over the years, trying to find the ones she intended to serve as Twilight’s apology dresses.

Suddenly, her eyes fell upon a dress. “Oh, look at this, Fluttershy!” She grinned. “I remember this dress! It’s the first I made for Twilight to wear at...at the Gala,” Rarity then remembered, she used this dress to try and bribe Twilight into taking her to the Grand Galloping Gala. The fashionista froze right on the spot and her heart sank.

Fluttershy wasn’t aware of any of this, all she knew was that Rarity currently had her back turned (something the unicorn seldom did). And she became concerned. It wasn’t like her friend to just sit there in silence and say nothing. “Rarity?” She inquired, lightly tapping a hoof on her friend’s back.

“Oh, Fluttershy...I’m sorry for dragging you into this,” Rarity glumly spoke up. “You probably had other plans today. You should go, I...I don’t want to intrude."

“Oh, Rarity,” Fluttershy softly spoke up. Now knowing what kind of pain her friend was in, the pegasus knew what she had to do. “It’s okay. I’ll stay and help. Because that’s just what friends do.”

“You’re one of the good ones, Fluttershy,” Rarity looked to Fluttershy. “I really don’t know what I did to deserve a friend like you.”

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was sitting underneath the shade of her favorite apple tree, thinking back to the events that had transpired earlier in that day. In particular, she was thinking about what Pinkie had said about not taking the invasion and its aftermath seriously.

As the farm mare thought and contemplated, her wandering eyes happened to notice Apple Bloom and her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders happily playing without a care in the world. It made her smile, to see them enjoying the fine day the pegasi had brought forth.

But upon staring down at her reflection in a nearby creek, Applejack remembered that the CMC had been the flower fillies at Cadence’s wedding. Not just the real Cadence’s wedding, but also the imposter Cadence’s wedding. Suddenly, waves of horror washed over the previously unconcerned farm pony! Her little sister and her friends had been put in harm’s way, held hostage along with everypony else, and all because she hadn’t listened to Twilight’s warnings!

And to make matters worse, how was she supposed to look her little sister in the eye and explain why honesty was so important, when Applejack herself had ignored a blatant lie pointed out to her?! If it had been any other occasion, she’d have been frustrated beyond belief that someone had tried to lie to her!

Angrily, Applejack pounded the water with a hoof. “How could I have been so stupid?!” She thought to herself! “Maybe Pinkie was right after all! Maybe I didn’t make much of an apology before, even though I should’ve made a darn big one! I messed up when Twilight needed me, and the most I did was say ‘Sorry, sugarcube.’ Well sorry ain’t gonna be enough to fix this!” And it was then that the farm mare knew what she had to do.

Pinkie was quite surprised when Applejack came trotting into the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner a short time later. She didn’t look angry upon seeing her, she stood in silence, giving Applejack a chance to explain.

Applejack walked over to Pinkie. “Pinkie...before you say anythin’...I’m sorry I stormed out on you earlier, sugarcube. It wasn’t right of me to say what you were doin’ was stupid.”

“That’s alright, Applejack,” Pinkie nodded back. “I shouldn’t have accused you of not taking the apology seriously….You wanna help bake the cake?...‘Cause it’s gonna be super duper hard to work on an apology cake if we’re not speaking to each other.”

Applejack agreed. “Of course we’re friends, Pinkie. Friends who owe another friend the biggest apology of her life.”

Back at the Golden Oak Library, Twilight found Spike looking rather depressed. Not one to leave such a matter alone, the unicorn approached her baby dragon and asked him. “Is something the matter, Spike?”

“Nothing is wrong, Twilight!” Spike protested. “Honest! I don’t know why-”

Twilight put a hoof to Spike’s mouth to silence him. “You’ve been moping for almost a week now, Spike, so it’s not nothing. Something’s bugging you, and I want to know what’s going on. Please, you have to tell me. I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

Before Spike could answer, there were a couple knocks at the door.

“Give me a minute, Spike.” Twilight walked over to the door and opened it, revealing Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, hello, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight spoke in a cheerful tone. “How are you doing, today?”

Rainbow looked up. “Can I come in, please?...I need to talk.”

Twilight was concerned by how Rainbow was acting. “Sure,” Still, she allowed Rainbow inside as she put her hoof on her back. “Are you okay, Rainbow?”

“Twilight?” Rainbow started. “Remember how I...how I left you behind at the wedding?”

“Yes, but it’s all over now, Rainbow,” Twilight replied. “It’s in the past.”

“No!” Rainbow stomped one hoof on the ground as she began pacing. “All I could think about was my Sonic Rainboom and how cool I’d look in front of the Wonderbolts!...You counted on me and I let you down...And we are gonna fix it.”

“I don’t understand.” Twilight commented.

Rainbow raised her head. “...Punch me in the face.”

Twilight was horrified. “What?!”

But Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Don’t try to talk me out of this, Twilight! Just do it, get it over with! I deserve it!”

“Rainbow...” Twilight tried to reason with her.

“The faster you do it, the sooner we can call it even!” Rainbow said.

Reluctantly, Twilight looked down at her hoof and began to raise it in preparation to strike. But after only a second she found that no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t get it to move even an inch. She lowered her hoof and protested. “What am I doing? Why would I even want to do this?!” Tears began welling up in Twilight’s eyes.

Rainbow looked at how distraught Twilight was. “No-no-no-no! I’m sorry! I put this on you, but I didn’t mean it. You don’t have to punch me, I-I’m sorry! I was just acting stupid!”

Frustrated, Twilight looked up at Rainbow. “Stop calling yourself stupid!”

Just then, the rest of Twilight’s friends came rushing in through the open door! Applejack and Pinkie Pie started babbling on and on about an apology cake waiting for Twilight at Sugarcube Corner, and Fluttershy and Rarity kept mentioning something about apology dresses they wanted Twilight to try on.

Unable to take it anymore and with days worth of pent up range finally boiling over, Twilight bellowed at the top of her lungs. “QUIET!”

Everyone immediately stopped what they’d be doing, and looked at their friend.

Twilight, now calm after getting that out of her system, looked up to her silent friends. “This is all about what happened at the royal wedding, isn’t it?” She asked, and all her friends nodded in confirmation one by one. “Why is this still going on? It’s been almost a week now!”

“Because we don’t know what else to do, Twilight!” Pinkie explained. “We hurt you and we hurt you badly. We wanted to find a way to make it up to you and show that we’re sorry we didn’t listen to you like we should’ve.”

At that Twilight’s mood changed to sorrowful. With a long, drawn out sigh, she looked at her friends and said to them. “You’re right, I was hurt by your actions. But you know what? I know you’re all sorry for what you did, and right now, it proves my point,” No one dared to say a word, and so Twilight added to Pinkie. “Look, I meant it when I said during the wedding preparations after the invasion, that I wanted to bury the hatchet. We all regret the things we said and did back there, and there’s nothing we can do to take them back. The best we can do, is to learn from it and move on. In the end, our friendship survived, and I think that’s what truly matters.”

That speech was enough to bring Pinkie to tears as Twilight brought her party planning friend in for a hug. One by one the rest of Twilight’s friends joined in as well, and so did Spike. It really felt good to be able to hug it all out after all this time. Not a single eye was tear free during the whole ordeal, but no one cared. This was one of those occasions were tears were expected, even for those who tended to cry on the inside.

When the hug ended and everyone in the room had pulled themselves together, Pinkie commented. “I guess that means I worked on that cake for nothing.”

“What kind of cake are you talking about, Pinkie?” Twilight inquired.

At that, Pinkie’s mood brightened and for the first time in days she truly felt happy again! “What kind of cake? WHAT KIND OF CAKE?!!” Pinkie hopped in the air with joy. “Come on, let’s get to Sugarcube Corner, Applejack and I just put the finishing touches on it!”

And all seven individuals in the room immediately made a mad dash for Sugarcube Corner, eager to share some cake like good friends did.

That evening, as Twilight was putting Spike to bed she apologized to him. “I’m sorry for putting so much pressure on you to talk. I realize now that it was wrong of me to force you to confess. I’m ready to talk about whatever’s bothering you, but only when you’re ready,” She then kissed him gently on the forehead as she tucked him in. “Sweet dreams, Spike.”

As Spike drifted off to sleep a little later, he still didn’t feel comfortable talking to Twilight just yet even after what had transpired that day. But there was one other pony he knew he could call on for help, a pony who specialized in helping those during the night. And a pony who had been made his official dragonsitter just a few months earlier.

“Luna?” Spike called out in the darkness and emptiness of his dream. “It’s me, Spike...I know I’m not alone at the library, and you may be helping somepony else…” Spike began to get choked up. “But I could really use your help right now...I don’t know what to do...I feel alone and scared...I feel stuck and you always know how to help. That’s why I could really use your help and-”

“Spike.”

Spike wasn’t even startled by the voice he heard. “I’m babbling aren’t I?”

The voice chuckled. “Just a little.”

Spike turned around and saw the Princess of the Night, smiling warmly at him.

“Hi, Luna.” Spike said.

“Greetings, dragon youngling,” Luna greeted Spike with a nuzzle. “I understand you need my help. What’s the matter?”

“Well,” Spike nervously began. “Do you… remember what happened at the royal wedding?”

Luna nodded. “My sister told me everything, Spike. My deepest apologies for somehow managing to sleep through the whole thing. I don’t know how all that commotion failed to arouse me from my slumber, and I pray it never happens again,” Then in a gentle tone she added. “But I also know that you, Twilight, and the others have all apologized for what happened. So why are you still in sorrow?”

“Because,” Spike gulped and swallowed hard. “I’m worried that Twilight will send me away. I should’ve been there for her after all the times she’s been there for me. But I ditched her! I can’t tell Twilight, she’ll just brush it off and say that of course she’s not gonna send me away. But what if she does?” Then he looked down as tears welled up.“That Changeling Queen was right, I was so stupid!”

Luna pulled Spike’s chin up. “Spike, is the changeling queen your best friend?”

“No!” Spike immediately protested. “Why would you ever think that?”

“Well then, never mind what she said,” Luna explained. “Forget the words of that beast. She was just trying to stir up discontent and rub salt in your wound. She has no power over you if you don’t dwell on what she said,” Then the night princess added. “Let me ask you something, Spike. Does Twilight think you’re stupid?”

“Luna, I-” Spike tried to say.

“Did Twilight Sparkle ever call you stupid?” Luna asked.

Spike shook his head. “No. Twilight always calls me her number one assistant and friend. Sometimes, I think she even sees me as more than that.”

Luna smiled. “I went through a similar experience when I came back from the moon and was freed from my darker self,” She explained. “The first pony to reach out me afterwards, in my weak and defenseless state, was my big sister, Celestia. She could’ve easily destroyed me for my crimes, or-”

Luna paused when she felt something grab her leg. It was Spike, giving her a look of fear. Luna realized what she said and gently petted Spike’s scales. Of all he's been through, death was the last thing he wanted to hear. “Or...a punishment that doesn’t involve death.” She added with a kiss on his forehead to soothe him.

Once Spike felt calm again, Luna continued. “The point is, she didn’t do any of that, she instead reached out to me and forgave me, because in that moment she saw not an evil entity bent on destroying her, but the little sister she’d always known and loved. The little sister she would never fail again. So do you see now, dragon youngling? Much as my sister never stopped loving me after my fall to the darkness, Twilight will never stop loving you. You’ll always hold a special place in her heart."

At that, the little dragon’s worries began to ease ever so slightly.

“Is there anything else I can do to help you, Spike?” Luna offered.

“Well, sometimes… hugs help.” Spike explained.

Luna just smiled and used her magic to pull Spike close, enveloping him in a warm hug as she stroked his scales delicately, as Spike nuzzled himself in Luna’s fur, feeling comfort for the first time in days. And then, Luna began to sing.

]

Meanwhile, in the real world, Twilight was stroking Spike’s scales in the same motherly fashion she’d always stroked them in as she herself finished singing the same song as Luna’s. “I’m always here for you, Spike. Always.” She whispered softly into his ear.