"Spike! Guess what just came in the mail?"

Spike looked up from his milk-sodden cornflakes. A giddy alicorn grinned at him, holding a thick, white envelope in a levitation field.

"Wo'?" he mumbled around a gooey mouthful of cereal. He swallowed. "Rarity's written consent to marriage?"

Twilight's grin fell into a blank stare.

Spike blinked. "To me. Not you."

"Oh. No." Twilight's grin recovered. She bounded up to Spike and shoved the envelope into his face. "It's a [i]zoning permit[/i]!"

Spike pushed it away, raising an eyebrow. "Yippie. We getting a pool or something?"

"Even [i]better[/i]!" Twilight's wings shook with excitement. "You know how the land where the library used to be has been a smoldering blast crater ever since Tirek came along?"

"I'd actually forgotten until you reminded me just now." Spike listlessly pushed his cereal away. 

"Well, I figured, since nopony's using the land right now, I'd petition for the right to build a house on it. The zoning board just got back to me!" 

Twilight pranced in place, giggling excitedly.

"Don't you still need a building permit?" 

"One thing at a time."

"Why do you even need city approval to build a house?" Spike frowned. "Aren't you literal royalty now?"

"Checks and balances exist for a reason, Spike. You know that. Now..." She cleared her throat. "Drumroll, please."

Spike sighed, and began rapidly drumming his hands against the table. 

Twilight tore open the envelope and shook out a thick stack of goldenrod papers. Her eyes scanned through them rapidly, shuffling from one to the next, her grin melting away with every second. 

"Denied?!" Twilight dropped the papers onto the table with a gasp. "Who would – [i]why[/i] would––"

Spike snatched them up and rifled through them quickly. "Apparently, there are some concerns about what Tirek's 'unholy cataclysm of arcane energy' may have done to the land. Worries about a possible sinkhole..." He shrugged. "Well, I could have told you that."

Twilight released a long-suffering groan and slammed her face into the table. Distress threw off her aim, however, and instead she struck the base of her horn against the table's edge. Pain shot through its length, lancing deep into her head. 

"Ow! Ow! On top of everything else, [i]ow[/i]!"

She heard Spike's feet pitter-patter away, then back. A moment later, she felt a cold, lumpy bag press against the spot she'd struck, and sighed as the pain ebbed.

"...Thank you."

"I was planning on cooking these peas tonight, anyway. Thank [i]you[/i] for helping to thaw them." The bag crinkled as Spike adjusted his grip on it. "Why'd you want to build a house over our old one, anyway?"

Twilight sniffed and placed her hoof on the bag, alongside Spike's. "I had this dream a while back, where I woke up in my old bed, walked onto my old balcony, and watched the sunrise just like I used to, back when we first moved here. Then I woke up, and..."

"Reality disappointed you."

Twilight snorted. "Doesn't it always?"

"It's been known to." Spike hesitated. "Were you planning on moving out of the castle?"

"No, the castle's great. I'd always keep my permanent residence here. It just... would have been nice, is all. To have a place to go where I could get my old view back. Every once in a while. You know?"

"I think I do." Spike's hand left the bag of peas, found her shoulder, and squeezed gently. "Want me to write a frivolous letter of complaint to the Mayor?"

Twilight laughed, despite herself. "That'd be sweet."

She felt the air shift as Spike stepped away, and heard his feet pitter-patter again. Then he stopped. "You know, we don't [i]have[/i] to have a house over that old plot of land just to watch the sunrise."

Twilight looked up at him quizzically.

"How about you and I wake up early tomorrow morning?" Spike continued. "Hike out to our old place, float up to where the balcony used to be, and watch the sun come up, for old time's sake?"

"You'd..." A smile, warm and somewhat teasing, spread across her face. "You'd be willing to wake up that early for me?"

"Don't say I never do nothin' for you." Spike smirked. "And don't spread it around. If people know I'm willing to wake up before dawn, it'll completely ruin my whole [i]'wake not the slumbering dragon'[/i] vibe."

Twilight laughed and pushed the paperwork away, adjusting the bag of peas on her head. "I wouldn't dream of it."