Resent.

Twilight woke to a delicious smell. Her mind activated as soon as her nostrils caught the scent of breakfast. It was so enticing that she soon found herself fluttering her way downstairs. And indeed, there was Spike, chomping away at a nice, big bowl of gems, along some nice toasts and a sweet smelling cup of coffee.

"Good morning Spike." Twilight sat at the table.

"Morning." Spike answered between mouthfuls. Twilight noticed something. The table was set for one. A one that was already finishing his own food.

"So...where's my breakfast?"

"In the kitchen." Spike answered. Twilight tried to process his answer.

"In the kitchen?"

"Yep." he jumped off his seat, heading towards the door. "I figure you could learn to prepare your own breakfast for once. Don't worry, its not so hard."

"Where...where are you going?"

"Out. I'm taking a day off today. I mean, I did work pretty hard yesterday, right?" Spike chuckled. "Be careful with the milk. Stains are a bit hard to remove as you might soon discover." He left, leaving a confused Twilight alone in the library. Many things were going through her mind. Like how Spike didn't wake her up, or how he had blown her off without a second thought. Glancing at the kitchen, she felt some irritation bubble. Spike always made breakfast. She didn't have the faintest idea how!

"Well, it can't be that hard..." she walked towards the kitchen. "He does it everyday."

Spike was outside. He pressed his ear against the door. It wasn't long before a plate crashing was heard, followed by a curse. He grinned. That'll teach her.

"Okay now. A hole day to myself." he started exploring town. "What to do, what to do..."

"Hiya Spike!"

Of all the ponies he didn't want see right now, Pinkie Pie was high on the list.

"Hey Pinkie. What are you doing here?"

"My leg itched, and that meant that milk was going to be dropped around here somewhere!"

"So you came to help?"

"Thats right! Milk is a very important ingredient when making cake, so any milk spill is must be treated like a serious emergency! Can you imagine what would it be like if we had no milk because we spilled all of it?!"

"Not really, I mean, its not I would really care." Spike answered.

"Don't care?! How can you not care?! What about the cakes?!"

"Well Pinkie, some of us don't need a diabetes inducing diet in order to good with ourselves." Spike said. "Or having parties twenty four seven to validate ourselves. Twilight is inside by the way. She's probably the one responsible for the milk spill."

Spike walked past Pinkie. Who was trying to assimilate the words that the baby dragon had said.

"Have fun fixing the milk spill."

Spike didn't wait to hear Pinkie Pie run to the library. He had better things to do. What things? He had no idea, but it didn't really matter. He would think something out. Meanwhile, he could appreciate the beauty of the town. Like the rebuild town hall, the Sugarcube Corner. Ponyville was one of the few places that was naturally beautiful, a fact that Spike was always thankful for.

"Stupid cloud." Dash mumbled. Spike had reached the outer side of the town and, to his surprise, there was Rainbow Dash, trying to lift a cloud from the ground.

"Whats wrong Dash?"

"Just this cloud thats..." Dash tried lifting it, but the cloud merely fell from her hooves. "... just not cooperating!"

"What happened?"

"Well, somepony was supposed to take of the clouds today. But she didn't show up, so they stuck me with the job, and this cloud is to dense to float but to shallow to be pushed!" Dash tried lifting it again in vain. "And I can't blow it away because we need clouds for rain!".

"Its no so bad, right? I mean, its not like you work a lot anyways." Spike teased.

"Uh? Whats that supposed to mean?" Dash retorted angrily. Spike grinned to himself. Dash always felled for it. And he was going to take every advantage he could.

"Well, since you spend a lot of your day napping, I don't think it you have time to work a lot now do you?"

"Hey! If Derpy wants to take a day off, all she has to do is say so! I don't have to be cleaning up her messes everytime!"

"If she did, would you listen to her?" Spike said. "Or would you be too busy being cool and napping to listen to somepony else who is not your own reflection."

Dash open her mouth to say anything, but closed it. The cloud had faded by now. That would come to bite her later. Dash rose on the air, with few parting words.

"Not cool Spike."

Spike had to cover his eyes from the dust that rose from the wingbeat of the pegasus. She wanted to be childish and leave? Fine by him. He had better things to do. As he walked over the grass, he saw the cutie mark crusaders. They weren't happy or laughing, or crusading. They were visibly downcast, and Sweetie Belle seemed to be on the verge of tears. No doubt that Diamond Tiara had something to do with all this.

"I'm gonna have to speak with her. They crusaders messed up alright, but they weren't that bad. At least, not as much as Twilight and her friends."

Seeing the crusaders drag themselves across the grass, an idea popped into his head. He now knew where to go. If he was lucky, the mare would still be there by the time he got there.

Meanwhile, Twilight did her best to make heads of the situation. First, she had tried making breakfast, which, even with her magical prowess, was an absolute disaster. Her wings knocked everything to the floor, no matter how careful she was, her magic just kept crushing the fragile cereal under the pressure and she was just plain awkward when moving inside the small kitchen, all culminating in a box of milk being sprayed all over the place. Then, Pinkie Pie had burst into the library, visibly stressed about Spike saying some really nasty stuff to her, and then, after managing to clean the milk spillage, merely an hour later, Rainbow Dash had flown through her window, with the same problem on her mind.

Spike.

"He said that I don't work enough. I work my flank off every day thank you very much!" Dash shouted. "And why was he defending Derpy? He doesn't even know her!"

"Yeah! He as all grumpy and meany-weany with me and said some really bad things too." Pinkie complained. "He was really super-duper grumpy!"

Twilight was having a hard time believing what she was hearing. "Spike? My Spike? He's doing all this? Why? Why now? Whats wrong with him?" Her mental train was stopped as the door opened, letting a visibly irritated Rarity inside.

"Twilight. We need to speak immediately."

"Wait, don't tell us." Dash snarked. "Spike found you and started saying some really bad stuff about you, right in your face, and left am I correct?"

"Yes! That is exactly what he did! he said I was really shallow, putting all my attention in gems and diamonds, never really focusing my attention on the important stuff like, like my sister!" Rarity was breaking a little. "H-he said that I was so petty I didn't even notice that she was being bullied at school! Is that true?!"

"Whoa there Rarity, calm down." Twilight put a wing around her friend, guiding towards the kitchen. A small nod to Pinkie told the pink mare what to do. Both the pegasus and the alicorn watched their friends enter the kitchen.

"See? Something is wrong with him." Dash said. " He's been going for us, one after the other. I wouldn't be surprised if Fluttershy and Applejack showed up next."

"Your right. There is something wrong with. But what?" Twilight scratcher her head in worry and confusion. "I know Spike. he wouldn't do something like this out if the blue."

Another knock echoed through the library. Dash groaned and Twilight sighed. She felt rather guilty at the fact that she could predict who was going to be there and why. Not wanting to delay the inevitable, Twilight magically opened the door. And indeed, just as predicted, Applejack and Fluttershy stood there. The earth pony was visibly angry, while the pegasus was in tears.

"Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Spike." Applejack answered before walking inside, followed by the teary Fluttershy. Twilight frowned. This had gone too far. She was going to speak with Spike. This had to stop right now!

Meanwhile, said purple dragon was happily enjoying a nap on a tree branch. He had dozed off for a short while before waking up. No wonder Dash took so many naps. He felt great! No, scratch that. He felt awesome! He had woken up feeling like a different dragon. He could stand up to any of his so called friends now! Not even Applejack could talk back to him.

"What are you doing up there?"

Spike glanced down. Diamond Tiara was below him, giving a serious glare. Her tiara was still gone. Silver Spoon was nowhere to be seen. Even better. Snowdrop had suggested that any talk between should be kept a secret for now.

"I'm enjoying my day off." he answered, returning to his original position. "I should this more often."

"For working for such a workaholic, I figure you would be a lot more proactive, like and Derpy."

"I am being proactive. I'm just doing it my way. And speaking of ways..." He jumped off, landed besides the filly. "You should cool it a little with the crusaders. They have messed up, but not that much. The idea is that we show that we suffered, not make them look like martyrs."

"Then what am I supposed to do? This is the only way I know how!" Diamond Tiara growled, making Spike step back a little.

"Hey, easy. We're meeting with Snowdrop tonight, right? We can ask her then!" he said. Diamond Tiara calmed down, but it didn't stop he frown.

"Don't be late."

Spike sighed as Diamond Tiara turned and left. Snowdrop wanted him to be friends with her? It was going to be a lot harder than what he thought it would be. Still. he had accomplished something today, and that was good enough for now. Looking up, he could see the the sun leaving the midday, starting the afternoon. The felt good, warm and comfortable, even more so under the leaves and branches of the tree.

"Another nap wont hurt..."

Twilight, however, couldn't ask more for the contrary. Rainbow Dash had accompanied Fluttershy home, while Applejack did the same with Rarity. Pinkie Pie had stayed and help her finish cleaning around before leaving, since the the six of them had lunch together, this time prepared by Applejack. The topic was, of course, the baby dragon and his actions in the morning. None of them could understand why he was acting like that. Twilight herself had no idea and was as confused as her friends. Apparently, the only way she was going to get some answers was when Spike arrived back at the library.

If he arrived, since the sun was already setting, and there was no sign of the dragon. So there she was, on her bed, trying to read book. Her mind was so busy with today's events that she hadn't changed the page in twenty minutes, a far cry frm her usual four. She closed the book, realizing it was futile attempt. All she could concentrate on was the door, eagerly expecting to open.

Like right now.

"Phew. Ponyville is a lot bigger than I thought." Spike said as he closed the door. He was tired. But happy. He had a nice nap, he ate some gems on the way here. What more could a dragon ask?

"Ehem."

Spike glanced up. Twilight standing on the edge of the second floor, glaring directly at him. She did not look happy at all. In fact, she seemed downright furious. Spike didn't even flinch by her gaze.

"Hey Twilight. Had problems with the milk?" he asked as if nothing was going on. Twilight didn't answer. What she did do was teleport him, a stool and a pillow right to the the center of the library. She sat Spike on the stool, placing him in the middle of the room, while she sat on the pillow, right in front of him.

"Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy came today. All of them met with you on the way." Twilight explained sternly. "And they all said you were a complete jerk to each of them. Now, I want to know why." She leaned one him, staring as hard as she could.  "And I want to know now."

Spike stared back. This was it.