A/N: Hello, all! This is my first feature length story, and the first in my nice, long, expansive head canon of a world that is Equestria. I hope that you all like it and you'll be kind enough to let me know what you think, as well as stick around for future chapters. c:

"Twilight Sparkle? C'mon, you have to wake up! It's important!" chides Spike, giving the young mare another shove.

Twilight groans in her sleep and rolls over, pressing her face further into the pillow. She doesn't wake up.

"Twilight," whines Spike, shoving a little harder. "You have a letter from Canterlot!"

That wakes her up a little more, and she gives a slight sigh before opening her eyes. "Mhm...Spike? It's really early, can't I sleep a little longer?"

The dragon gives an impatient huff, and stomps his foot down. "No! I already told you, you have a letter from Canterlot! It's probably the Princess!"

Giving a large yawn, Twilight shakes her head and sits up. The heavy blanket slips from her shoulders and she gives a bleary blink. "Princess Celestia?"

It isn't unusual for Celestia to send her a letter now or then, but Spike doesn't normally get so excited over it. Then again, her letters usually come in the evening and only after Twilight has sent her own off to the esteemed alicorn.

"Yes, that's what I said!" Spike waves the scroll that he was holding through the air, only to blink when it vanishes from his hands, appearing in the unicorn's mouth instead.

Slipping off of her bed and into her slippers, which were soft and the lightest blue that she had been able to find, Twilight Sparkle pads out of the room and down the stairs. It takes a moment for her to find an empty spot on any of the tables, because most of them are filled with the books from her studies and previous letters that Celestia has sent.

"Hey!" Spike calls from upstairs, running to catch up with the mare. He takes the stairs two at a time once he reaches them. "Don't open it until I'm there! I wanna see what she says!"

Twilight has already broken the seal though, watching as the crisp paper unfolds and the words begin to write themselves. They are looped and curved and distinct, written in a bold black ink that makes a stark contrast against the paper.

"Dearest Twilight Sparkle," she reads out loud, voice raised so that Spike can hear her. "How are you? Well, I hope. I know that this is short notice, and you have my most sincere regards for that, but I must see you as soon as possible. Please send a letter back to let me know both that you recieved this, and what date I can expect you."

Spike grabs onto the edge of his table, stretching up onto his tiptoes to try and peer at the scroll, as if the words might change. They don't, and he frowns. "That's really weird. I wonder what the Princess wants to see you for?"

Nothing good, they both know.

It is never a good thing to be summouned to Canterlot, no matter how much Twilight enjoys seeing Celestia. There is also pain and darkness and bad news lurking around the corner, and she is brought in as an Element and a guide and an apprentice.

Never a friend though, even though that is all that Twlight Sparkle wants.

She sighs and halfway through it changes into a yawn.

Spike pats her on the shoulder but doesn't smile. "Do you want me to write her back? Or do you wanna get breakfast first?"

And Twilight pauses for a moment, she'll admit that. There was a time where she would do more than pause. Where she would get dressed and get breakfast and maybe read the next chapter in her newest book first, because, really, Celestia could never know when that letter arrived.

That was before Discord, though. Before Apocalyptica and Black Cloud and the hatred that once swept through her country, dragging her into politics far before she was ready. Dragging her friends into a life they never should have been made to lead.

So, yes, she pauses for a moment, but it is brief and fleeting and she is soon shaking her head. "No, you'd better write her back now. I have to go either way, so there isn't much sense in putting it off."

A flicker of a smile crosses the dragons face and he nods. Scrambles through the room until he has both paper and pen, and then holds them up for the mare to see. "Alright! What am I writing?"

"Dear Princess Celestia," begins Twilight, taking a seat at one of the nearby chairs. Slowly, she lets each slipper fall from her hooves. "I recieved your letter early this morning, and will be departing from Ponyville as soon as possible. I should arrive in no less then three days. Sincerely yours, Twilight Sparkle."

The scritch scratch of pen on paper pauses, and Spike glances up from his scroll. "That's it?"

"That's it," confirms Twilight.

"But...don't you want to say anything else? Or ask what's going on?" prods Spike, and he still has not signed the letter.

Twilight shakes her head, and she looks very tired indeed. "Not really. I really do want to see Celestia again, but I don't want to have to tell everyone that there's another issue. Not after the last time. I don't...I don't know if they can do it again, Spike. I don't know if /I/ can do it again."

And this, this is what the little dragon has always dreaded to hear. That his young unicorn, his brave filly, is starting to lose faith in herself. As a dragon, it's a deep rooted fear of his. As a protector, it's something that makes him sick to hear. As a friend? All he can do is sign the letter and toss it into the air, so that his burst of dragon fire can carry it off to its destination.