My Little Spike: Epilogue

"Thanks again for helping out Twilight. I really appreciate the help." Spike stated as he dropped a pile of wooden planks he was carrying.

"No problem at all Spike. Anything to help." she replied as she gently placed a bag of luggage on the ground, "I'm still a little hesitant in letting you do this, but I suppose you're old enough to make you're own decisions now."

It's been roughly 10 years since the whole transformation spell incident that trapped Spike in an earth pony body for about a week, though he does look back on those days with a sense of happiness. In fact, multiple times he's actually had Twilight change him into a pony for several reasons including taking a new perspective during holidays, trying some of the magic that he's seen Twilight perform, and give the Apple family a piece of mind when he's around Applebloom. They always seemed a bit more relaxed when he did, and it's only recently Applejack and Big Macintosh had begun to relax a bit more.

Now 10 years older since, Spike had really grown, standing a head taller than Twilight when he chooses to walk on all four. Most of his more dragonic features have begun to show, such as his quills and claws have become sharper, and his wings have begun to grow in. He had also lost his baby fat, giving him a more streamline looking body than before. His wings at the current moment were rather...weak. He can fly, but was better off as a pegasus. It was a matter that Twilight was looking into, and her current best guess was that it was the circumstances of his upbringing. Had he grown with dragons instead of ponies, Spike would've been able to fly. So Twilight thinks.

Both were currently standing in front of a building that was still under construction, but quite close to completion. It was a project that Applebloom was working on, approved by Mayor Mare, and was going to be her and Spike's home. They both would still help around at Sweet Apple Acres and library.

"Don't worry, I'll still be around Twilight. Besides, you're not going to be completely alone you know, you have your own daughter now to take care of."

Twilight shot Spike a look. "She's your sister as well Spike."

Spike silently chuckled. "I know Twilight, and I couldn't ask for anypony better for a sister."

"Yeah..." Twilight sighed before steering the conversation back. "So it's not completely, if you can pardon the expression, an empty nest." She stated with a slight chuckle, "Still gonna miss having you around Spike."

"I'll be coming back everyday to help out. I may be calling you my mom Twilight, but I'm still gonna be your best assistant." Spike said proudly. "If you want though, you and Sis can come by every night for dinner."

"I don't want to be a hassle for you Spike, besides I've learned a few more recipes ever since I started calling you my son."

"Uh-huh." he replied with a slight smirk, "And for every recipe you know, I know about 10 more." he added as he gave his mom a toothy grin.

Twilight just gave an irritated, but amused, smile in reply.

"But, you're right though Twilight. I am going to miss calling the library my home."

"Well the door is always open to you Spike." she replied with a smile and hugged him, which he gladly returned.

"Howdy, y'two!" the two heard Applebloom's voice call out.

They both turned to face Applebloom and saw both her and Granny Smith following right next to her. Applebloom, now older, had actually grown up to be quite a lovely mare, one that made Spike quite happy to be calling her his marefriend. In comparison to her sister, Applejack, she was slightly more lean since she didn't help much in the harvesting apples outside of being the discerning eye in place of Granny Smith on several occasions. As an apparent result, she lacked the strength and development of muscles that Applejack had. She still chooses to wear the pink bow she had worn as a filly in her mane, mostly for aestetic and sentimental reasons, though of course it didn't quite look as big on her anymore, and she wore it slightly lower than she use to. She did own a large bow though, it was a joke item she had received from Spike and Scootaloo as a birthday gift. She mostly wears it just to humor old friends.

"Hey Applebloom. Hello Granny Smith." Twilight greeted

Spike and Applebloom gave each other a quick peck on the lips as a greeting, before Spike turned to Granny Smith and greeted her, "Hello Granny Smith. Didn't quite expect to see you out today."

"Ah ain't about ta let mah own grand-daughter leave without me seein' where she's gonna be livin'." the elderly mare simply replied with a smile

Twilight gave a nod in understanding before turning her attention to the structure, "I have to say, it's rather impressive just how much has been done since you started two weeks ago Applebloom."

"Well, Spike an' mah sister helped out too, so ah can't take all the credit." she stated, "And there's still a few things ta do, like finish the flooring, paint it, and wire'n the place. Reminds me 'ah oughta find somepony to help me with the wires."

"Are you sure it's ready for you two to live in? Sounds like there's a lot that needs to be done."

"Ah'm sure. It's just a few small things that needs to be done."

For the next couple of hours Applebloom continued finishing up the flooring, with some assistance from Granny Smith, who mostly was checking the quality of the wooden planks Applebloom was using. It also gave the elderly mare a small chance to prove that Applebloom still had a few things to learn from her as she judged each piece with on so many much more than Applebloom had originally considered. While the two Apple family members were busy with that, Spike and Twilight were working on the roof and arrangement of what essential furniture Applejack and Big Macintosh had brought over the day before.

Twilight did take a little time to inspect each room in the home, mostly just to get the feel of the place if she ever decides to hold Spike to that offer of his, or just plain visit. At the moment only a couple of the rooms were worth noting for her, of which included the bedroom area and what had appeared to be a workshop for Applebloom.

The bedroom caught her attention, not only for the fact that there was two beds, indicating that while sharing a room, the two weren't sharing a bed just yet, but for the fact that it was the one that looked most complete. Aside from the essentials and normal furnishing you'd expect to find in a bedroom, it was also currently the most decorated room in the house. Twilight had recognized several trinkets she had allowed Spike to have such as a book of his favorite story, a picture her daughter had drawn of Spike, a gemstone she had given him as a gift, and a perch just off in the corner for Spike's pet, Peewee. Equally, Applebloom had brought a few things as well, including, a medal Applejack had let her have, a small wooden shield she had made while she was experimenting with a sanding machine, and a journal of simple natural remedies she had learned from Zecora.

The workshop was relatively smaller than most, but it certainly looked functional, and was well stocked on tools and materials. Twilight did have to commend Applebloom to trying to branch out and open a business for herself that she was quite good at, despite not having earned her mark yet. Applebloom decided to try at least doing what she knew well enough to at least try moving on in life, much like her's and Spike's friends had done.

About seven years ago, Scootaloo had earned mark when she was just going through Ponyville on her scooter. She was trying to blow off some steam from her frustration of not meeting personal goals in her flying, especially with Spike, who was a pegasus at the time, seemed to be improving faster than her. They were both being taught by Rainbow at the same time, the same exact way, but somehow Spike was making better progress than her, granted he still need to learn turning and stopping. In any case she ended up earning it after almost crashing into both Applejack's and Carrot Top's carts in the square. There was a slight gap in between, but Scootaloo ended up using part of her flying to jump over both, and almost did a front flip as she tried landing perfectly back onto her scooter. She still remains in Ponyville, but now is rather busy teaching a few ponies that want to learn her scooter tricks and a few asking for flight lessons now that her flying is much better.

Sweetie Belle had actually earned her mark two years after Scootaloo did after she was caught singing to herself as she was trying to clean the classroom by their entire class, and she decided to give the class a private concert, especially after Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon insisted. The looks on their face after the concert, and hearing her excellent singing voice, was somewhat worth it. It still took some time for her to fully accept her unique talent, and start working towards it. At the moment she's with her sister Rarity in Canterlot on business. The two tend to be gone from Ponyville about a week or two each month.

Spike and Twilight's friends still actually reside in Ponyville, the only major exception is Rainbow Dash who had succeeded in obtaining her Wonderbolt wings only two years ago, and was renting out her home to another pegasus in-between seasons. She actually was rejected after her first attempt 7 years ago due to failing at an important flight test, which devastated her, but persisted and earned it 2 years afterwards. Surprisingly though to both her friends and the Wonderbolts, she had second thoughts and refused acceptance afterwards, saying she had some personal business she wanted to take care of first, which Spitfire just gave a grin to and nodded in understanding. She just had to agree to keep practicing some basics till she was fully ready to join. Afterall, just because she passed doesn't mean she's allowed an extended vacation.

Once Granny Smith and Twilight had taken their leave, Applebloom and Spike decided to take a break and catch their breaths.

"Hopefully that takes care of the roof. I'm not interested in having to take it apart and putting it back because of a leak." Spike rang out as he sat down on a couch.

"If there is one, ah'll take care of it." Applebloom replied with a gentle smile, she was currently just sitting on a pillow on the ground that Twilight gave them

He gave a sigh as he looked around, mildly taking in the fact that this is home now, his and Applebloom's. He still doesn't exactly know why he had agreed to this, the two of them weren't married, they still had obligations to be at Sweet Apple Acres and the library, and the two were actually still relatively young in comparison to Twilight and her friends when they first all met each other, though it wasn't exactly infrequent for anypony their age to try owning their own place. His best guess was because Applebloom always did show this level of confidence and independence over the years of which he learned to respect and love her for, which is why he kind of always thought of her as the impromptu leader of the Crusaders; and, probably because, true to Rarity's words those years ago, his feelings were now mutual to Applebloom's, and much to her happiness, he now willing to show it to her. He's still hesitant about showing it in public though.

"I have to admit, I'm still baffled how quickly you managed to build this place Applebloom." he stated, "At ground-breaking, I thought I had at least a month to plan things out. It's only been half that time. The phrase "that's impressive" doesn't even amount to how quick the project went.

Applebloom just gave blush and smile at the compliment, "Shucks, it ain't that good. Ah 'ad some help afterall. Ah'm just good at it ah suppose."

"Are you sure this isn't your special talent?"

"Ah'm sure." she replied with a sigh, "Ah thought it was at first, but...ah didn't earn one after all those other times I tried. Ah just can't help but start wonderin' if ah'll even earn it. Ah mean ya got yer cutie mark without even tryin'."

"Right..." he scratched the back of his head as he looked away, recalling how he had actually earned it. It was during the busiest day he had seen at the library to date, a new order of books had come in for them to organize, and at the same time Twilight had to structure her schedule for next month and Mayor Mare had to ask a favor for them to help organize and file piles of paperwork. At the time he was a unicorn due to an interest in practicing a very simple trick he saw Snails do, and was helping Twilight by organizing the new books, categorizing and cataloging each one, and with some of the paperwork from the Mayor. It was fairly easier to do each task by using magic. By the end of the day both gave a sigh of relief it was all done, for Spike it partially short-lived before Twilight gave him a near bone-break hug, telling him he had gotten his cutie mark. It really didn't matter much to him, but he was happy otherwise considering it was one of the major milestones for ponies. It looked to be a quill and a piece of parchment. Also, it's also logically only visible while he's a pony.

"I'm sure you will Applebloom. It just takes time is all." he stated

"Now I've heard that from every dragon I know." she simply exclaimed before getting up and going into the kitchen.

As she passed, Spike noticed something and stared blinking a few times before giving a toothy grin as he thought about something then followed her.

"Applebloom, if I can ask, in terms of carpentry, what did you do?"

"Say what now...?" she asked, just before she shoo-ed Peewee away from a jar of cookies. Apparently the firebird had been hiding out in the kitchen for some time now trying to get a cookie to appease his personal sweet-tooth.

"Woodwork, what did you do? Did you fix something? Build something?"

She put a hoof on her chin as she thought of the question, "Well..., ah repaired and maintained the ol' Crusader clubhouse, fixed a table fer Fluttershy, fixed Applejack's cart after ah broke it's wheel, fixed a wall in mah old room, stuff like that."

"By any chance did you do anything that wasn't your fault and was for somepony else?"

Again Applebloom waited a moment to think about the question, "None ah could recall right now. Ah'm sure ah did though. Why are ya'll askin' anyway?"

"Just curious." he replied with a grin, "Afterall, it would be nice to know what you did differently to earn that cutie mark on your cute flank there."

For a moment Applebloom just blushed, wondering if and how long Spike had been staring at her, before it went away and looked. Almost instantly a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Ah got it! Ah got it! Ah finally got mah mark!" she cheered and ran over to Spike to hug him out of sheer joy.

"Told ya." he simply stated as he smiled and hugged her back

"But...how did ah get it? Ah didn't see how ah got it."

"I think it's because you were building the house, and all those other times you were fixing something you broke or it was for you."

"How is the house different? It's fer me too. Ah'm gonna live here."

"Yeah, that's true, but I'm going to live here too, remember? So, you did somepony else a favor at the same time." he replied as he gave a toothy grin.

She give a wide, warm smile and affectionately nuzzled Spike's neck as she hugged him tighter.

He did the same and nuzzled her mane as he said, "Congratulations Applebloom."

As the two sat there, Spike looked at the corner of his eye to see Peewee move so he was now sitting on top of some cabinets. The phoenix was still relatively young, and still rather small, but was now capable of flight. The firebird just had a smile on his face as he jokingly stuck a tongue out and pointed a feather tip at his mouth, gesturing he was about to gag.

Spike just shot Peewee a look, saying 'Shut up.' and thinking why did he think it was a such a great idea to let him befriend the occasionally mischievous Philomena.