Not too long after fledging, Spike sort of had an epiphany; he had wasted so much time in his life trying to fit in with ponies, he never got to do much of what he really wanted to do. One of these things was to explore the gem mines of Equestria and beyond, searching for the most delicious gems to bake into jewel cake. (The real reason was to get away from Rarity. He’d fallen head over heels for her, and although she never made an effort to make it clear, she was never going to be with him. It broke his heart when she got together with Maud and had a kid with her, so he had to get away from Ponyville for a while. I’ll touch on them more later cuz that’s some serious shit.)
Spike, as a social dragon, hates to be alone. So he decided to reconnect with his old pen pal Gabby. He asked her if she wanted to join him on this journey, and of course the ever-enthusiastic griffin said YES. Well, they did find gems, but they also found love in each other.
They’ve gotten married since then, and now live by Horseshoe Bay (though they’re pretty nomadic and kind of go wherever for long periods of time). They’re unbearably dorky, collect too many action figures/comic books and eat too much ice cream and pizza. They’ve had two babies so far; the twins Pearl and Jewel Cake, two little cookie-thieving champions. They’re pretty small, so they want for little more than their parents’ hugs and kisses, good bedtime stories, lots of playtime and an endless supply of snacks.
(Origin of baby names: She’s Jewel Cake cuz not only does she look like a white cake with sapphires, the perfect jewel cake is something Spike set out to bake and I’d say he did end up making the perfect Jewel Cake. Pearl was named by Gabby, who simply always wanted to name her child Pearl but half-heartedly laughed the idea off cuz “how silly does Pearl Griffin sound huhh?? That would be uh, so crazy!” Of course Spike would have nothing else.)
Oh! And uh, as you can imagine, Spike was gone for quite a few years with minimal correspondence with Twilight. Of course this drove Twi half crazy. Luckily she had her own family to tend to to keep herself distracted enough, but holy crap was she about to throw one hell of a homecoming party for Spike. She planned everything perfectly. Just one little thing she didn’t plan on…Spike being married, with two adorable babies in his arms.
Edit: I would still like for Spike to see Rarity again, partially as a bit of closure, and particularly cause I want to rub this right in Rarity’s f#####g face how much he succeeded with Gabby and his kids, creatures that truly love him unconditionally…
Edited because: I guess I'm an antagonistic bastard; I'm truly sorry. :-(