It was one of those rare days in Ponyville. A gray and gloomy Spring day where going outside was not impossible, but still made unpleasant by the constant light drizzle of rain. The weather team had missed their quota of rainfall the previous month so the next week was scheduled for light rain showers off and on to make up for it.
Inside the Castle of Friendship one figure paced nervously in a circle.
As per Twilight's usual habits, as soon as she'd been gifted with the castle she made a list of all the rooms as well as their uses. Some were clear, such as the library with all it's shelves, and some where empty and left for her to fill. When the count had been done the shocker had come in. Including broom cupboards, attic space, basement, and several spare guest rooms and bathrooms, all total Twilight had 198 rooms in the castle.And with so much space she'd set about putting it to use. Getting especially creative with the purposes of some rooms.
In this case the room presently occupied was the designated 'Worry Room'. A place where anxieties could be let out, pillows could be sat on or thrown about, and no sharp objects or corners were close by in case of a potential panic attack. Twilight had even padded the ceiling after her first few freakouts as an alicorn had her flying up nervously until she banged her horn.
However today it was not being used by Twilight.
"Oh what am I going to do do?" Spike groaned as he unknowingly completed his fiftieth circuit around the room in the faint groove Twilight had worn into the crystal with all of her own pacing.
"Well for starters you could talk to me," Spike jumped a bit, having not heard Twilight enter the room, "What's wrong Spike?"
The young dragon fidgeted and tried to brush off her concerns. "Wrong? Why would anything be wrong? Everything's right, right? And if everything's right then it can't be wrong, right?"
"Wrong," Twilight replied bluntly, "You've been pacing for almost an hour now. Just tell me. You know I'll help if I can Spike."
The young dragon sighed, "It's about our guest coming today."
"Oh you mean Ember?" Twilight smiled but her look turned to concern, "I thought you'd be happy to see her?"
"I am!" Spike nodded, "It's just... I was hoping I'd have grown some before we saw each other again."
Twilight gave him a good-natured chuckle, "Spike you shouldn't fret over that. Dragons take thousands of years to grow. Ember's father probably took a good ten thousand years to get as big as he is. I'd guess Ember herself is a couple hundred years old at the very least. You're not due for your next growth spurt until you hit fifty.
"But that's just it, she's so much bigger and cooler than me, I was hoping I might grow some and at least be her equal if not a bit bigger and more impressive."
"Spike," Twilight smiled and drew him into a hug against her chest, " You don't have to worry about that, you impressed her plenty when you met and worked together. And you more than won her over when you gave her the leadership of the dragons."
"Maybe, but isn't there some magical way I could be bigger before she arrives?"
"We've talked about this, Spike," Twilight sighed as she let him go, "Magic on Dragons is extremely risky. Especially if it changes their physical being. The mustache I gave you was just a simple trick compared to trying to change your whole body."
"You don't remember what happened when I hatched you," she continued, "That surge of magical energy made you grow into a full sized dragon temporarily, but you were under developed, A newborns mind in an adult body."
"But you could do it again, with more control this time," Spike suggested, "You were just a unicorn filly and now you're an alicorn princess."
"It's not that simple Spike," Twilight began a slow pace of her own, "When I hatched you my magic became linked to you. That's's why Celestia had me practice by doing things like giving you a mustache or changing your colors."
"Ugh, I looked terrible in pink," Spike muttered in an aside.
"By practicing on you my magical powers got stronger, but at the same time your body has built a resistance to magic as well, primarily my magic."
"So you can't do it then?"
"Even if I did, my magic would be no stronger or more controllable on you then it was back then," Twilight explained.
"Isn't there anything that can do it?" Spike asked, almost sounding desperate.
"Even if there was I wouldn't recommend it," Twilight sighed, "Dragon growths aren't something that should be messed with. Remember your greed growth spree?"
Spike winced, "I try not to think about it."
"It's natural that you feel the desire to grow, Greed Growth is an important survival mechanism for lone dragons in the wild, but it's led to more feral dragons than intelligent ones like Ember and those teen dragons we met."
Again Twilight pulled Spike into a hug, "Just relax and enjoy Ember's visit. I'm sure she'll be excited to see you."
Spike just nodded as Twilight left the room. The small dragon sighed. He knew Twilight was probably right but the desire to be bigger to impress Ember was still burning inside him. He just had to try something.
Choice 1: Spike searches the library and finds a spell book with a possible way to grow, but Twilight doesn't have all the ingredients, so he makes a few substitutions with unpredictable results.
Choice 2: Spike goes to Zecora, hoping she might have an answer and either sneaks a potion from her or stumbles across something on the way there.
Choice 3: Spike can't find anything before Ember arrives, but he's determined to find something during her visit that will make him bigger and more impressive.
Choice 4: Pinkie arrives in her usual odd way with a new baked treat for Spike (and maybe Ember) to try that has some rather 'exotic' ingredients.
Choice 5: Something else.
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