What's in a Family?

by Mindscape

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike
Length: 3467

While cleaning up the castle on Hearth's Warming Eve, Spike starts thinking on Hearth's Warming's past, and the meaning of family.

There are so many memories captured in the chandelier in Twilight's castle, memories of Hearth's Warmings old and new.

While cleaning up for Hearth's Warming Eve, Spike finds himself reminiscing over the time he and Twilight have been a family. However, there is one niggling question he's kept to himself for a while now.

Written for MooseWhisker for Jinglemas 2023
I hope you enjoy!

Published 2023-12-26 20:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-12-26 20:40:00 UTC

The Question

Dusting was a job that Spike found surprisingly relaxing. It was one of those jobs that were never really over. Dust always had a way of coming back given enough time. But it was still oddly satisfying in its simplicity, with a sense of accomplishment when it was done.

Of course, it felt different now with the castle compared to their old home in the library. There were now a lot more rooms to cover, and they were much larger too. Thankfully, Spike didn’t need to clean every room, just the main rooms that would be open for Hearth’s warming, the rooms that were currently used, and one or two guest rooms. He didn’t need to bother with the Library. That was used and cleaned (and organized and reorganized) far more regularly and didn’t need the extra attention.

In truth of course, all the Hearth’s Warming preparations had been completed already. All the decorations were up, the tree had been adorned, tinsel and baubles that covered the walls and pillars in festive colours, another of his jobs made easier with his wings. Spike just felt the need to go over the dusting one last time. Twilight had her studies to obsess over, Spike had his cleaning and finishing chores to keep him occupied.

Landing back on the ground from dusting the high alcoves with his trusty feather duster, he gave his wings a stretch before going through the door to the map room. The last room before he could feel satisfied in saying the job was finished.

The great door creaked open as he entered, and he gazed up at the brilliant display above the map.

The gnarled roots of the Golden Oak Library turned into the chandelier in the map room of the castle, still decorated with the many memory crystals of their time in Ponyville. Even now looking up evoked the memory of awe on that day when they returned to see what Twilight’s friends had put together, and the promise of making more precious memories here in their new home.

True to intention, there were many more memory crystals hanging from the chandelier since that day. Moments worthy of preservation in the ever expanding collection of Twilight and Spike’s time living here in the castle. As well as a few other memories Twilight had picked from her personal recollections of their time before coming to Ponyville, which she had decided to crystalize and hang amongst the most important ones of their home.

With so many memories, and more being made every year, they might have to start packing some away. Almost a shame they didn’t have a second tree home blown up by Tirek to turn into another chandelier.

Spike shook his head at the errant thought, and flapped his wings again to bring him up. He had loved the old Library treehouse almost as much as Twilight had. He briefly wondered what Hearth’s Warming would be like if they still lived there. Quieter and homelier for one, away from Twilight’s responsibilities as a Princess.

Each flutter of the feather duster jostled the many crystals, reflecting light like a mirrored disco ball as the hanging chains swung gently.

He noted from the strength of the glow that there wasn’t much dust up here, but enough he could spend a few minutes really making them shine. Spike wasn’t sure what magic gave the memory crystals their glow, or if it was just some way the light reflected around the room. He was sure Twilight knew and would be willing to give a lecture on how it all worked. Which was of course the main reason he avoided wondering such questions out loud in her presence.

His eye caught on one of the purple crystals, a sign it came from Twilight, and he found himself taking a closer look, drawn in by curiosity. Taking it in his claw, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw it depicted one of their earliest Hearth’s Warming celebrations back in Canterlot.

Within the captured memory Spike himself still wasn’t out of diapers, and he was reaching his stubby little claws out to reach a new rattle Twilight was holding in her magic. He obviously couldn’t remember this memory himself, being so young, but he couldn’t help but smile at the moment.

“Spike?”

“Guh!” Spike jumped in surprise, accidently knocking the chain of memories off its perch, and he quickly scrabbled to catch them before they fell, dropping his duster in the confusion. The duster clattered to the ground and he saw Twilight watch it roll on the ground a moment before turning back up to him.

“Twilight? I’m almost done here, I was just… fixing a couple that were loose. I’ll just… just… grr,” he growled, trying to detangle himself from the jumble that had wrapped itself around his arms and shoulders.

With a flap of her wings, Twilight was hovering up beside him with a gentle smirk on her face. “Getting lost in memories?” she chuckled.

“More like getting stuck in them now,” he grumbled, giving up for the moment and giving her a tired look. “Lend a hoof?” he asked, thankful none of them had tangled around his wings.

She giggled again, and with just a little application of magic, she extracted him from the chain of crystals and straightened them out, clearing any knots.

“I know the feeling. I still come up here now and then to reminisce. Anything in particular?” She asked raising an eyebrow at the chain of memory crystals still in her magic.

Drawn to them himself, Spike looked at the rest of the chain, finding them almost entirely to be memories of him as an infant.

He shook his head, making a show of it. “Why’d you have to put together so many of them of me as a baby?”

Twilight smiled cheekily as she levitated them back to their perch with a deft touch. “It’s like bringing out the baby photos. You were so cute back then!”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Great, another thing I have to worry about come the holidays.” It was hard enough getting the others to see him as anything but a baby dragon without actual baby photos - or memories in this case - coming out.

He fluttered down to the ground with Twilight close behind him, and picked up the feather duster abandoned on the floor. “And with that, Hearth’s Warming preparations are all finished.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. “Weren’t we done a couple of days ago?” In a flash of magic Twilight now had one of her many lists hovering in front of her as she scanned it. “Yeah, the last job finished was trimming the tree in the main hall for the guests. Dusting was finished days before that.”

Spike smiled dryly at Twilight, crossing his arms. “Twilight, do you know how quickly dust comes back in a castle this big?”

“Surely not that quickly.”

“Oh?” he asked, smile widening smugly. “And when was the last time you did the dusting?”

Twilight drew back, briefly caught off guard. “Well I uh… I’ve been busy with research and… princessly duties,” she stammered, not sounding convincing in the slightest.

“Uh huh. Maybe you just leave it to the number one assistant. This way, we get the best Hearth’s Warming ever this year with no chores in the way!”

Twilight relaxed into a smirk. “Spike, you say that every year is the best Hearth’s Warming ever.”

“That’s because every year gets better and better! More presents, more memories, presents, hot cocoa, and presents!”

Spike craned his neck to look back up at the chandelier. Every Hearth’s Warming Eve and Day since coming to Ponyville were up there.

An odd thought came to him in that moment and he felt the urge to voice it. “You know, if you didn’t stop me going along with Sludge, I might never have had another Hearth’s Warming.”

“Sludge?” Twilight asked. “You mean that lazy dragon that pretended to be your father to take advantage of our kindness? Why bring him up now?”

Spike shrugged. “I don’t know. It just popped into my head. I’m just glad you snapped me out of it and reminded who my real family is.”

She smiled warmly at that. “Anytime Spike. I’m glad that you’re part of the family too,” she remarked confidently as she went to step past him.

A tiny twinge of guilt twisted in his gut. It wasn’t much, he barely realized it himself. But the moment he did, he recognized the stray question he’d thought of a few times in the past, but never had the courage to ask.

Although this time, Twilight must've noticed. She stopped and frowned at him. “Spike? What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, shaking him out of his reverie and painted on a smile he hoped was convincing. “Huh? Oh no nothing’s wrong. Everything’s great!”

Twilight paused and frowned, looking down to his claws. “Then why are you destroying your duster?”

Pausing in confusion, he looked down to the duster in his claws. He had absently been twisting his claws around the feathers, and quite a few had been bent or torn out of place.

“Guh!” he yelped in surprise, quickly depositing it on the table behind him. Well that sealed it. There was no way Twilight was going to leave him alone now.

“What is it? I can tell something’s bothering you,” Twilight asked, the concern clear in her voice.

“Well…” He hesitated. He silently cursed himself, this wasn’t the way he wanted this to go. He wasn’t prepared! This wasn’t the kind of question he wanted to mess up. He knew that one way or another things could very well change the way she saw him.

He took a deep breath and exhaled. “We’re family. Nothing will ever change that, right?” he reassured her.

“Of course,” Twilight nodded, still unsure where this was going. “I hatched your egg myself. We’ve been together for almost as long as I can remember.”

“I know, but beyond that…” he stalled or a second as he hopped up onto the map table with a flap of his wings and sat with his legs dangling off the side. “Beyond family… what are we?”

Twilight’s eyebrows narrowed in confusion and her mouth opened to question, but couldn’t form the words. “I… I don’t. What do you mean?”

“It’s nothing bad,” Spike insisted. “It’s just… are we siblings? Or…” He felt his face flushing in embarrassment, and he felt a sudden need to occupy his claws scratching his spines at the back of his head, giving him a reason to dip his head and avoid eye contact. Why was this so hard to ask? “Or… are we… mo-… uh, parent and child?” he managed to squeak out, still unable to say the word.

It still felt weird to think about. This was Twilight after all. She was really only a few years older than he was.

Twilight’s eyebrows slowly rose as she realized just what Spike was asking her. “Oh.” Twilight was quiet as she put a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “Is this… something you’ve thought about a lot?”

“No,” he assured her. “Well, not that much. Every now and then I guess,” He gradually admitted. “After the whole thing with Sludge… I don’t know. Maybe some part of me just wanted a dragon I could call my father, and I was willing to ignore the obvious red flags.

Twilight came over and sat there beside him considering for a moment, rubbing her hoof across his spines. She always knew the best way to calm him down. He let himself lean into her, and they just stayed like that for a moment in silence.

“I’m not sure I’ve really thought about it that much," Twilight eventually said. "Shining Armor has always been my BBBFF. But I cared a lot for you in a different way. I was so young myself, but you needed all the support I could give you. I guess part of me assumed you’d see Mom as your mom too.”

Spike shrugged. “I guess growing up, I never really saw Velvet as my mom. She always felt a little more distant than with you and Shining,” he pondered.

“Maybe that had something to do with how she avoided getting too close after you hiccupped and set her hair on fire,” Twilight chuckled.

Spike burst into laughter too, breaking the tension in the air. “Why couldn’t you make that one a memory?” he asked looking up at the chandelier again. “I only remember hearing about it. I’d love to see how that looked.”

“She made me promise to never bring it up!” Twilight laughed, joining in. “It didn’t help that Shining thought it was hilarious and told everypony at school the very next day. How she forgot to get a promise out of him too, I’ll never know.”

The two of them were lost in laughter, and Spike felt himself relaxing. He'd asked her, and she hadn't pulled back or found it strange. That had been the thing he had been dreading most of all, but deep down he knew that she wouldn't think any less of him.

“So, not to ruin the mood,” Twilight ventured as the laughter calmed down. “You’ve asked what I think, but how do you feel?”

Twilight was right about one thing, the question did get Spike’s smile to fade as the topic was brought back into contrast. “I don’t know,” he admitted after a moment. “You’re only a few years older than me, so calling you my… parent, feels weird. But at the same time, all of my earliest memories involve you being there for me. It’s been hard to even ask about this, because it feels weird to ask."

"I see," Twilight mumbled thoughtfully. They sat there a bit longer in silence. Just existing in each other's company. "What would you like do?" she eventually asked.

The question caught him off guard. "What do I want? I don't know! That's the whole problem!" he exclaimed. "Some part of me wishes I could just forget the whole thing. Just go back to when everything was simple."

Twilight shook her head. "Well, we clearly can't just leave this alone. It's clearly important to you one way or another."

"So... what do we do?"

“Well, how about this,” Twilight said, jumping up to stand with a clack of her hooves on the floor. “We’ll play it how you feel. You've always just called me by Twilight, but maybe you could try calling me your sister, or your mother, and see how it feels? And it doesn’t have to be now, or even this week if you don’t feel up for it. However you’re comfortable. And then if it’s too weird, like you thought, we can pull back or try something else.”

“Really?” Spike asked, a little sceptical she was so casual about this. “But what if it doesn’t work out?”

“Then it’s not for us, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Twilight shrugged with a confident smile. She stepped up close to him and placed a hoof on his cheek, pulling his eyes to hers. “We don’t need any more labels than we require to tell us how we’re family. It’s like you said, we’re family, and nothing can ever change that.”

Spike blinked as he stared at her, but found himself smiling. She made it sound so simple, and it was a plan he could get behind. “Thanks Twi, you’re the best,”

“Although for now though,” she began, drawing back and picking up Spike in her magic to put him on her back, before heading out of the map room and down the hall. “I think there’s one thing that would make you feel better. Frankly I’m surprised I haven’t had to come up with any plans to keep you away from the tree already.”

He beamed, realizing what she was talking about. “We can start opening presents early now?!”

“Hearth’s Warming Eve tradition,” she confirmed, her own smile growing to match.

Spike grinned ear to ear as they made their way past the great hall and the grand tree and various boxes underneath that took central stage. He didn’t spare the display a second look, as this one was only here for the general public for the Hearths Warming events that would be held over the coming days. Instead they had a smaller, cosier tree for themselves off in one of the corner parlours of the castle, just for them and their friends, away from the public events.

A fire was already lit, casting a warm glow across the small room. The tree here was less than half the size the tree in the great hall, but it was trimmed with more personal items and decorations from friends and family.

Spike leapt off Twilight’s back to gaze at the arrayed presents under the tree as Twilight sat down on her belly on the carpet before the fire. There was more than just Twilight and Spike’s gifts under the tree, but the other girls would be arriving for theirs tomorrow. Right now it was just the two of them, and Spike scanned his eyes over the number of gifts that had his name on the tag.

Spike reached over picking up a brightly wrapped package, and felt the familiar heft of a book. Struggling to hide the disappointment in his voice, he smiled. “Oh gee, I think I can tell what this is. Heh heh.”

Twilight gave a knowing smile. “Don’t worry Spike, I know you’re not as excited for a good book as I am. But I have a feeling you might enjoy this one.”

Blinking in confusion, he gave it another look before tearing into the wrapping paper. It was indeed a book, as he thought, but his eyes widened as he recognized the iconic O&O logo just above the title of the book. The glossy cover of the book flickered in the firelight, but he could see it was well illustrated with the well-dressed figure of a sinister Zebra with pointed teeth, red eyes and a wineglass with a red liquid that was unlikely to be wine.

He gasped as he realized what he was holding in his claws, his wings flapping in excitement, lifting him off the ground. “Is this Curse of Straw?!”

“I heard from Big Mac that your Ogres and Oubliettes game was nearing its end, and this adventure had some of the best reviews. I can’t say I know much about your game myself, but I hope you enjoy it.”

“Of course I will! This is one of the greatest adventure modules where your party face off against the iconic vampire Straw Von Zebravich in a cursed land of perpetual darkness!”

“Oh,” Twilight said, her eyebrows furrowing with concern for a moment, as she tried to keep up her smile. “And that’s… good?”

He lunged into a hug, squeezing her tightly. “It’s great! I know the guys are going to love this game, just as much as I will! Thank you so much!” he said, as she hugged him in return. “…Mom,” he added ever so quietly under his breath.

Despite the volume however, he felt Twilight flinch in his embrace.

He chuckled nervously. “Too weird?”

Twilight was silent a moment, but while he couldn’t see her face while they sat in the shared embrace, Spike felt her relax again, and he could hear the smile in her voice as she squeezed him back. “Maybe a little. But, I think I could get used to it. You can call me Mom if you want to.”

In that moment, something welled up inside Spike that he couldn’t quite explain, but it brought happy tears to his eyes.

He had somepony to call Mom. And before that very moment he wouldn’t have thought it was that important. He had no context, like describing a rainbow in all its beauty to the blind. Now, his eyes were open, and he couldn’t imagine how he survived without it all this time.

“Spike?” Twilight asked, clearly noticing his tears.

Spike sniffed loudly, burying his tears into the side off her neck. “I love you… Mom,” another wave of relief flowed through him.

Her hoof stroked along the back of his head soothingly. “I love you too Spike. Happy Hearth’s Warming.”

Author's Note

Happy Hearth's Warming Everypony! :pinkiehappy:

A little heartwarming story of family and what that means to everyone involved.

Jinglemas is always a fun challenge and I love contributing and seeing all the wonderful talent on display.

Thank you all for reading, and I wish you a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays all! :twilightsmile: