Twilight's Spontaneous Day
The first thing that Spike noticed when he awoke was that the sun was already well over the horizon. The second was that he had awakened on his own. The young dragon tried to remember the last time he had awakened on his own when it was not because of a tummy ache, or being startled awake by a nightmare.
The usual routine involved having the blanket whipped off of him at unpleasant-o-clock in the morning - usually right in the middle of a happy dream involving lava and endless jewel hoards. Sometimes he would complain and reach for the blanket again, but invariably he would feel the familiar tingling of magic surrounding his body as he was lifted unceremoniously out of his warm bed, with an accompanying admonishment of, "Rise and shine, sleepyhead. We've got a busy day ahead of us, and these books won't re-index themselves!"
Spike lay quietly for a moment, staring at the daylight streaming through the blanket that he had apparently pulled over his head in the night. Though not normally prone to noise, the library was unnaturally quiet this morning except for... was that breathing he heard nearby? Slightly puzzled, the little dragon reached up a claw and slowly drew the blanket back from his face. He blinked twice against the harsh glare of light and then let out an involuntary yelp as the face of Twilight Sparkle resolved itself a foot from his own.
"Gah!" he said, jumping up from the bed and a step away from the unicorn who had apparently been standing, silently staring into his bed. "W-what's going on, Twilight?"
"I'm waiting for you to wake up," said the pony, in a manner that suggested that she had just said something obvious. "Now I can cross that off my list. Let Spike sleep in. Done." As she spoke, she willed a quill across the parchment list on the floor beside his bed. Spike leaned over and peered dubiously at the short list. It was in the pony's familiar, sloppy scrawl, and two of the items had already been crossed out.
"You made a list without my help?" he asked incredulously. "Are you feeling all right? Should I call somebody?"
Twilight lifted the list and quill, and levitated them ahead of herself as she turned and trotted primly back toward her writing table. "I feel fine, Spike. Great in fact!" she said with a slightly affected cheeriness that suggested she felt anything but great. "I just thought I would mix things up a bit today."
Spike grabbed a ruby from his bedside snack bowl, then rejected it for a sapphire. He had a niggling feeling that he was going to need something a little stronger than a ruby to start his day. "OK Twilight, what's going on?" he asked. "When I hear you say something like 'mix things up', I get a bit nervous."
The pony sighed with an air of exasperation, and for a moment Spike was afraid that she was going to clam up on him, but she sighed again and turned to face him.
"It's just something that Rainbow Dash said to me yesterday got me thinking," she said after a pause to gather her thoughts. "She accused me of not having a spontaneous bone in my body. And I assured her that there was no such bone. I started listing off all the bones in a pony's body, but she interrupted me and said that I was incapable of doing anything without extensive planning."
Spike quietly agreed with the pegasus, but kept his mouth shut because the unicorn had a gleam in her eyes that he had learned to recognize as dangerous. "There's nothing wrong with being well-organized," he began, tapping his claw tips together tentatively.
Twilight Sparkle stomped emphatically. "Of course there isn't," she said triumphantly, "and I told her just that, but she just laughed and said she was going to head up to the park with Tank, but I was welcome to join her later with my pets if I could fit it into my schedule."
"Pets?" said Spike indignantly, emphasizing the plural. "Did she really say..."
"But what if she's right?" interrupted Twilight Sparkle. "What if a real emergency comes up, and I can't respond without having everything planned out in advance?" She stomped her hoof again. "Well, I'll show her. I can be spontaneous if I like. Here I am - look at me being spontaneous. It's right here on the list."
She whisked the list off the table and hovered it in front of the little dragon's face. Spike snatched the list out of the air and began reading through it aloud.
• Go through a whole day without making a list.
• Let Spike sleep in.
• Add spontaneous activities to the list as required.
• Go and buy a silly hat because that is spontaneous.
• Return the silly hat because I don't wear hats.
The list went on, but Spike's eyes went back to the first item and he read it again to himself as a feeling of horror slowly crept over him. The pony had made a list that would be impossible to complete.
Spike quickly realized that once Twilight Sparkle realized that she had presented herself with a paradox, it would drive her to distraction. The young mare would not sleep until she found a way to solve it. Worse, she might just solve it and nothing good could come of that. Even at his tender young age, Spike had a well-developed sense of self preservation, and if that sense did not exactly give him wings, it certainly empowered his legs. The little dragon quickly crumpled the list between his hands.
And he ran.
Pinkie Pie and Applejack looked up from their work as a little, vaguely dragon-shaped, green and purple streak blew past them, followed by an angry purple unicorn who was shouting, "SPIKE! GET BACK HERE WITH MY LIST!"
"This is for your own gooood." shouted the streak, with a hint of Doppler effect as it passed. "I'm saving Equestria!"
"She sure does work that poor little guy, don't she?" said Applejack, shaking her head as she watched the spectacle.
"She sure does!" agreed Pinkie Pie. "And if you ask me, she's a smart girl, but sometimes I think she's a bit loco in the coco from spending too much time in that library by herself. Now enough with the chitchat and help me stuff the rest of the cupcakes into this tree!"
And so began another typical morning in Ponyville.
