As Spike wiped the sleep out his eyes, everything blurry came into focus. With the noonday sun overhead, he shuffled through the kitchen’s warm light. Spike yawned as he plucked a bowl from the cupboard. He yawned a hum as he set the bowl on the table.

“Psst! Spike!” A familiar pony peeked her head through the tablecloth.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Starlight? What are you do-”

“DON’T make any sudden movements.” She instructed slowly, “Hop under the table- if you want to live.”

Spike chuckled, “Starlight, if this is another one of your spiteful pranks, you’re wastin-”

“Hiya Spike! Top of the mornin’ to ya!” A high-pitched voice greeted behind him.

Spike smiled, turning toward the familiar Alicorn, “oh, thank goodness, Twilight. Star is acting a little w-” 

Without warning, something large and heavy sucker-punched him in the snout, sending him tumbling toward the ground. His head slammed against the edge of the table… and his vision went black.

[hr]

“HOOO!” Owlowiscious cried in protest as he flew across the room.

“I gotcha!” Starlight caught the hurtling owl and peeked through the cracked binoculars, “looks like we are in over our heads. Literally” 

“What did you do to her?!” Spike duct-taped a colander to his head, minding the wound on the back of his head. 

An ink pot shattered overhead, coating them in black rain. 

“I DON’T KNOW!” Starlight dipped her head, narrowly evading an airborne dictionary. “I was having a quiet breakfast with her, taking careful notes! The next thing I know, I was knocked over the head with a microscope!”

“So it happened when you two were recording yesterday’s experiment?” Spike scratched his chin. “Did Twi have a crazy look in her eye?”

Starlight nodded. “Like the one Pinkie has? Oh yeah.”

“I think I know what set her off…” Spike peeked his head over the table, spotting the Alicorn doing cartwheels in midair. A shell of orbiting books followed her every move, shielding her from the impacts on the walls.
 
“Hey Twi, are you alright?” Spike shouted.

“Eeyuperie! I never felt more alive!” Twilight flung a dozen dictionaries out the valence shell.

Spike flinched as one hit his colander helmet. “Twi, are you in over your head with assignments?”

The Alicorn answered in a singsong voice, “nothing goes over my head! I’d catch it first!”

“Apparently not.” Starlight cradled the Owl in her hooves, shushing his pained ‘hoo’s

Spike flashed a glare at the unicorn. “Have you been messing with time travel magic again?”

“What? Of course not!” Starlight rummaged through a damaged first aid kit. “I Pinkie Promised!”

“Dang it” He snapped his claws. “So, that eliminates Future Twilight.”

“Future what?!”

“Tell you about it later,” Spike waved a dismissive claw. “What about Parasprites? Even pictures of them give her nightmares…”

“You mean those little blobs that eat everything and vomit copies of themselves?” Starlight cocked an eyebrow. “Why in the world would they be here?”

“You got a lot to learn, Starlight.” Spike snatched the nearest set of dictionaries. “Are you sure it wasn’t any of those things?” 

“I’m about as clueless as you are…” 

“Winter Wrap up! Winter Wrap up!” Twilight bounded up and down her book shell, flashing a toothy grin. “Foolish mortals! Knowledge is power!”

Spike threw the dictionary at Twilight, only for it to glance off her ‘Knowledge Shield’. Spike’s second effort proved futile as the smaller dictionary didn’t get past the second shell. He picked up a Styrofoam cup from Sugarcube Corner, about to throw it.

His eyes caught onto the colorful cursive on the label. He examined it closer. “Uh, Starlight…”

“What?” She glared at him, working quickly to nurse Owlowiscious.

“What did you get Twilight for breakfast?”

“Oh, just a bagel with a cup of Cocoa…” Starlight wrapped the owl’s wing in a bandage. “Why?”

“I think you got the wrong order.” Spike pointed to the label.

“Sweet Celestia…” Starlight’s blood drained as she read the ornate pink writing.

[i]~Expresso for Miss Pinkie Pie - Extra caffeine for a hard-working number one mare - made with love~[/i]