[s][i]And they lived happily ever after. And that was the end of that. That’s all, folks![/i][/s] “Ugh!” Spike tossed his pencil to the ground. “TWILIGHT! I need help again!” It took only a moment for Twilight to find her favorite baby dragon, sitting at his desk with a pile of papers strewn about him. She chuckled. “Still having trouble with your story, Spike?” “Yeah… well, no. I mean, I’m done!” He gestured at the heaps of scrawled-upon paper. “But now I don’t know how to end it. Everything I write just seems cheesy, or lame. You know?” Twilight arched an eyebrow. “You’re writing a children’s story, Spike. Isn’t it okay if it’s a little cheesy?” Spike frowned. “No, I… aww, nevermind. You don’t get it.” He turned back to his story “Forget it, I’ll figure something out.” Twilight trotted in front of his desk, forcing him to look at her. “Come on, try me. What’s wrong?” Spike looked away with a pout, but after a moment he sighed and turned back toward her. “Well, it’s just that… so, I said I’d write a story for the Cake twins, right? And Mr. and Mrs. Cake were all like, ‘Oh, Spike, that’s so sweet of you, We’re sure they’ll love it, you’re so talented,’ right? I mean, talk about pressure, right?” “They’re babies, Spike! I don’t—” “So am I!” he yelled, and Twilight’s wings flared out in surprise. “I mean…” he continued, more quietly, “you always call me a baby dragon, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care, does it? Just because someone’s still little, that doesn’t mean they can’t have something nice.” He looked down at his feet. “I guess, I just—” He was stopped short as Twilight pulled him into a tight hug. “You’re right, Spike,” she said as she held him. “I guess I forgot that just because they aren’t adults, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try your best." Spike didn't answer, but he nodded into her shoulder. After a moment, she released him, and her eyes drifted down to the page. “So, what’s wrong with ‘happily ever after?’ You wrote them a fairytale, didn’t you? That seems like a pretty good ending.” Spike shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what I thought at first, but…” he grabbed his pencil off the floor, gesturing as he spoke, “...but it doesn’t really seem like it fits. Sir Pound and Lady Pumpkin saved Stableton, but when you say ‘happily ever after,’ it just…” he ground his free hand into his temple. “Arg! I don’t even know what I’m trying to say.” Twilight looked thoughtfully at the page. “Maybe the problem is that the story’s not really over.” Spike gaped. “You mean I’ve got to keep writing?” “No! Not unless you want to.” Twilight scrunched up her nose as she thought. “What I mean is… well…” Her eyes lit up as the words she was looking for came to her. “If you were going to write a story about you and me, where would it end?” Spike shrugged. “I don’t know. When you became a princess, maybe?” Twilight nodded. “Right, that would be a good place to stop the story—but it wouldn’t be the [i]end[/i], would it? It’s not like nothing else happened after I got my wings.” “Yeah, I guess… maybe it could end after you and the girls beat Tirek, and we got this tree-castle?” “That would be another good place to stop—but it’s still not the end.” Spike threw up his hands. “What, am I supposed to end with, ‘and then she asked me what the end of the story should be?’ That’d be a terrible ending!” Twilight beamed. “Exactly. Because that’s not the end either, is it? You and I have so much more to do, and so much more to see. Things we can’t even imagine yet! You can’t really tell the [i]end[/i] of our story at all. All you can do is tell a part of it.” “So… your advice is ‘it’s impossible?'” “My advice is ‘don’t worry about the last line so much.’” She tousled his scales, then trotted toward the door. “It’s not the end, after all. Just the end of the part you’re telling.” Spike turned back to his story as she left the room, frowning at the page. For a long time, he thought. Suddenly, a smile crossed his face. Setting pencil to paper, he wrote the final words: [i]And they both had many more wonderful adventures… but that’s a story for another day. [/i]