Twilight Sparkle closed the front door of the Golden Oak Library behind herself and looked around the room. "Spike?" she called. "Are you home?"
No response.
She climbed the ladder to the loft and looked over the edge. Spike was sitting on his bed hunched over, looking down at something in his hand. Twilight approached him and knelt beside his bed.
Spike wiped a tear from his eye and looked at her. "Hey, Twilight. I was just… thinking." In his hand was a fragment of his shell, something that he'd always kept close.
"Wondering about your family?"
"If I even have one."
After a moment of silence, Twilight ventured, "I thought you thought of us as your family, after that crazy Dragon quest you went on a couple months ago."
He shrugged. "Being a Pony is great, but… there are still some things I don't understand, things maybe Dragons could teach me… like why I don't have wings." He stared sadly at his back.
Twilight sighed. "I know what you mean. I really wish I had the answers for you." She took a breath. "Sometimes I worry that I hatched you prematurely, and that…"
"I'll never grow wings," he finished, not looking into her eyes.
Sorrow settled in her heart. "Oh, Spike." She rested her hand on his knee. "I'm sorry. I just wish I knew more about Dragons! Maybe…" She swallowed back tears. "Maybe you should go live with them. I just… don't know how to take care of you. I don't know how to relate to you! I'm not a Dragon! And I… I know I'm not your mother."
Spike's eyes glistened as he gazed into hers. "Twilight, I don't wanna leave." He stared regretfully at the shell fragment. "I know what I said must've hurt you, but I didn't really mean it. I don't know if my real parents are out there somewhere… but you're my family." He smiled at her. "You adopted me. And… if you hadn't… I might not have one at all."
Tears rolled down Twilight's cheeks. "Oh, Spike. You really mean it?"
He nodded.
She stood and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you."
Spike wrapped his arms around her waist. "I… I love you, Twilight," he whispered.
A smile sprang from the corners of her mouth and she squeezed him more tightly. "I love you, too, Spike."