Once upon a time...

Hello, my dearest readers, if there are any. Before we begin, I would like apologize for what will most likely be a huge pile of mistakes. At the moment, I lack an editor, as my old editor, Skittles, never got back in touch with me - I presume he's as busy as any other student in September. If anyone's interested, feel free to message me.

Now that we sorted that out, I hope you enjoy this collection of classic ponified stories.

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The water in small pot started to boil. Twilight Sparkle put out the fire with ease and threw a couple of cubes of sugar as well as chamomile flavored tea bags into the steaming water before covering it with a lid. It was the first time in quite a while that she was the one making tea, instead of her draconic friend. While she waited for the tea to receive its proper color and flavour, she went to get another pillow and an extra blanket from the closet. Once the tea finally brewed properly, she used her magic to bring it all up to her bedroom. There, instead of Spike's usual sleeping basket stood a much larger one, filled with several blankets and pillows. Among that pile of bedding lied Spike, sweating profusely and every once in a while letting out a small moan that clearly indicated he was in pain.

"Spike? I brought you some tea. And an extra pillow. And a blanket. And if you need anything else just say. I can-" Twilight didn't even realize she was rambling slightly until she heard the dragon let out a weak chuckle.

"Twilight, you already brought an extra one, remember?" He asked in raspy voice, unable to speak normally due to sore throat.

"O-oh, right..."

"... I could use the blanket though. And the tea sounds like a treat."

She helped him sit up. The circles around his eyes and his thinned frame was a clear indicator of his sickness. He barely ate anything for the last few days and had a lot of troubles sleeping, even with Twilight's sleeping spell and Zecora's special mix that was supposed to relieve his head of ache. Alas, his dreams were mixed with hallucinations, turning them into nightmares and his head throbbed despite the zebra's medicine.

Twilight helped him drink the tea, his own arms being too weak to assist him in doing so. He let out a grateful, soft moan into the cup as the hot liquid soothed his throat and plopped back into the pillows.

"Much better." He said, finally producing a small, but sincere smile. Twilight returned it nervously and shifted uncomfortably, feeling all too aware of the fact she could do nothing else to help her little assistant - and that gave her probably just as much pain as Spike's head did to him.

"Well... if that is all, I... I guess I'll leave you to rest."

"Twilight, wait!" His voice sounding almost desperate, Twilight swiftly turned around, eyeing him in worry. He hadn't been sick like that in... well, actually, he had never been that sick.

"Yes, Spike, what do you need?"

"Could you... um... heh..." He chuckled a bit nervously, but finally managed to say: "Tell me a story, Twilight."

Twilight Sparkle blinked in surprise, as the sudden memories flashed before her eyes. How long has it been since Spike grew big enough to be interested in more serious readings? But surely, he couldn't mean that kind of story, right?

"What kind of story, Spike?"

"Um, well...," the dragon chuckled shyly again, this time following it with a cough, "...one of those you used to read me when I was small."

It was funny hearing that coming from somepony who was technically a baby dragon. Still, Twilight gave him a nod. If he wanted to hear a fairy tale of some sort, who was she not to oblige him?

"Sure thing Spike. What would you like me to read? There are... wow, there are so many books with fairy tales and legends here." She chuckled as she summoned several books before her. "The Tales of Brothers Rhyme and Hay Mandersen fairy tales, though, are probably the most famous ones I know. We can start with those, huh?"

"I-I actually remember some of those." Spike frowned as he tried to recall the memories from his early childhood. "Wasn't there one about... about the most beautiful pony in the world?" He asked, his mind without a doubt filled with scenes of a specific pony he personally found to be the most beautiful one.

"Why, yes there was. It is called 'Sunny Gold and the Seven Fillies'. Would you like me to read that one to you?"

"Yes, definitely!" Spike smiled and got cozy in his basket, all of a sudden looking much brighter. It was more than enough to inspire Twilight to read to him to his heart's content.

"In that case, let's begin." She cleared her throat and opened the book, instantly finding the right page. She smiled fondly as she recognized the ages old drawings she hadn't seen in such a long time. "Once upon a time..."