Author's Note

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(5) It was a solid plan at least

"Aw who am I kidding, Twilight'll probably just take Rarity anyway."

Spike sighed, letting the beautiful vision fade away from his mind. Odds were Miss Fluttershy wasn't into short guys in the first place (Moondancer certainly wasn't, ooh boy...).

'Still, wouldn't hurt to ask to help out with her animals or whatever. Right?'

Now that Spike had thought about it, he had never seen the mare's home himself. Of course, he had a rough idea of where it was but he was quite certain only creepers invited themselves into another pony's home. And an excuse as obvious as "oh just wanted to check in on your rabbit!" wouldn't sound convincing to even the most dimwitted individual.

The dragon winced as his toe collided with a rather stout rock he had tried to kick, his pride telling him not to cry. Overhead the afternoon sun blazed on, reminding him of how much time he had left to think of a means to get his claws on the tickets.

"Maybe Twilight, wouldn't mind if I just......hmm.....no." Spike thought aloud, giving a small wave to Lyra who skipped by with a sack of brocolli bouncing merrily upon her back. His thoughts entertained him the rest of the way to the library, where finally a slight growl in his stomach reminded him of his ruined lunch. Trottting up the rest of the way to the door he paused.

A sound, small at first but rising occasionally, resonated beyond the door. At first Spike suspected thieves, but he nontheless carefully rested an ear spine against the door, his claws splayed against the wood to keep his balance.

"...and then I tell her, as I turn out the light, I say my darling you are wonderful tonight....."

Spike recognized the voice instantly, but was still surprised for its adeptness at singing. It was soft but rang clearly, so much so that Spike edged the door open softly, hoping to get a look at the mare who shouldn't have been there.

In one hoof Fluttershy held a featherduster, and the other was held to her chest as she sang. Her wings carried her effortlessly up to the top shelves of Twilight's book case where several squirrels ran about carrying scraps of parchment, discarded quills, and what appeared to be discarded sweet wrappers (no doubt left behind by Twilight Sparkle in her late-night, and often absent minded study sessions).

"Oh goodness me, Twilight really shouldn't let that dear baby dragon eat so much sugar at once," Fluttershy said softly to one of the tiny rodents. Spike rolled his eyes, thinking of all the times he was denied even extra syrup on his pancakes.

"Oh Angel, thats a wonderful idea," said the mare, her eyes still thankfully following the featherduster, "I'm sure Twilight would love some salad." The rabbit staring up from the floor twitched its nose once and ran off to the kitchen, bewildering Spike who hadn't heard a voice let alone one that could possibly belong to a very small rabbit.

Momentarily forgetting that he was supposed to be watching the mare from the cover of the library door, Spike pushed it open to venture inside. All around him were an assortment of brightly colored songbirds and chittering rodents, each carrying wet cloths and cleaning supplies. And much like a maestro, Fluttershy hovered in the middle of them all. Had Spike not lived with a Unicorn since he could remember, he might have called the scene unfolding in front of him magic.

The mare switched the featherduster to the other hoove as she struck up a new tune in her throat, humming bright and poppy notes the dragon didn't readily recognize. Taking a deep breath, reminding himself "don't look like a scrub", he closed the door quietly behind and walked forward to stand directly under Fluttershy.

Now it would safe to say that the poor pegasus got a bit too wrapped up in the song she had heard that morning, for she managed to hum as much of it as she could remember before she noticed the small purple lizard staring up at her. Upon seeing the bright green eyes staring up into hers, she noticed that the particular path Spike's gaze followed to reach her's just so happened to take a short cut through her legs.

Immediately dropping the feather duster and swinging her tail up through her backlegs, Fluttershy forced out a greeting to the little dragon.

"W-why hello Spike! Sorry we just barged in like this." Fluttershy floated down lightly, hoping her cheeks weren't too red. "We just thought, u-um that is --Angel and I, thought that maybe we'd clean up the library for you and Twilight." The mare finished her sentence with a wide, nervous smile.

"Are you sure this doesn't have anything to do with the ticket?" Spike gave the pegasus a knowing smile that broadened that much more when he saw how Fluttershy retreated ever so slightly into her mane.

"Oh my, is it that obvious?" She asked quietly, letting her eyes wander about the library.

"A little bit," Spike made a gesture with his thumb and index claw, "but I'll forigive ya. I kinda wanted them too."

"Oh, I'm sorry Spike, if you really want them I shouldn't be trying to win Twilight over. What exactly did you want to see at the Gala?" Fluttershy placed the featherduster down on Twilight's old desk, which Spike noted was void of its usual coffee rings.

"Well....um...." Spike tapped a claw on his chin. Of course he hadn't thought that far, after all his plan involved him AND another pony. So the goal was a date, but goodness knows he was way too out of Fluttershy's league to be telling the truth.

"I wanted to meet Princess Luna." Spike said with a wide smile, patting himself on the back for coming up with a good lie and looking tough all at the same time.

"Oh goodness Spike, ever since I saw her as Nightmare Moon I think I'd be too scared to talk to her. Has Princess Celestia told you she was safe?"

"Well...." Come to think of it, Princess Celestia hadn't spoken once of her recovered sister to anypony, let alone him and Twilight. "No, but I'm sure she can't be that scary anymore right?"

"I'm not so sure, she didn't really seem all that happy after Twilight made Nightmare Moon go away." Fluttershy rubbed at the back of one hoof, avoiding eye contact with the dragon.

"Yeah I guess she didn't huh? You know what, how about I just help you get that ticket Ms. Fluttershy?" Spike offered, once again praising himself for his quick wit.

"Well, I mean if you really don't wanna go, then I'd appreciate it." The mare smiled warmly, giving a little signal to the squirrels overhead that had stalled to listen to her address the dragon. "And I suppose I could ask Princess Celestia and Princess Luna...that is, as long as she isn't there."

"Well I guess I should just forget I saw anything then." Spike smiled as he placed his claws over his eyes, his last image being Fluttershy floating back up to the bookshelf and a certain rabbit giving him a rather rude gesture from behind the safety of the kitchen doorway.

****

"Fluttershy its summer." Twilight said with a scowl on her face, kicking the door closed behind her.

"Oh, well better late than never right? It was Angel's idea, isn't he just the sweetest?"

'Wow,' Spike thought as he watched from the window, Fluttershy happened to be a good liar afterall. And the rabbit didn't miss a beat either.

"You're not doing this for the ticket are you?"

"Oh no, I'm doing this because you're my very best friend. Right Angel?" Spike clapped his claws over his eyes as the rabbit gave a glare at Fluttershy. "Oh yes, we ARE just doing this for the ticket."

Spike jumped down from the old milk crate he stood upon and sighed. He supposed a mare that had a hard time following through on a lie was a good thing afterall, and maybe all was not lost yet. There was still, oh--roughly three more hours of daylight left anyway.

As Spike contemplated what exactly in the world he would say to Twilight on Ms. Fluttershy's behalf, reminding himself to take out the trash due to the empty bins to his right, a chorus of party horns erupted from the front of the library. He took off in a sprint towards the sound (that in a few months would become so very natural to him), leading him to a small crowd where a pony none other than Pinkie danced around. Spike could see Twilight bouncing around in the middle of the crowd, presumably being thrown about by the other ponies in Pinkie's entourage, as Pinkie belted out a rather jovial tune Spike couldn't help but wonder if was spontaneous.

"PPPPPPPPPPIIIIIIINNNNNNKKKKKIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!" Spike cringed as the ponies stepped away from Twilight, her scream cutting through Pinkie Pie's tune like a blade through paper. She fell a good two feet before she landed square on her back, her outstretched legs seeking something to grab onto crumpling down like burnt confetti as she landed.

Spike watched as Pinkie bent down over Twilight, the two exchanging words that Spike couldn't readily register from the distance, that is until Pinkie began shouting about a certain "ticket" enthusiastically to all the other ponies. A group of ponies that were all female no less, who would more than likely be a bit more than severely interested in such a topic.

Twilight fell back on her haunches, a cold feeling sinking into her stomach as the mares drew in, each one offering her assortments of money and promises of all different kinds. For a moment, she considered if she knew any magic to help her, but was distraught by her lack of studies into escapes and other such practical magics. Just as she was about to try sprinting away, a certain dragon came barreling throught the crowd, grabbing her hoof and pulling her to her feet.

"Maybe you should just get rid of those tickets Twi." Spike said as he sprinted next to the unicorn, dodging by a pony offering a bushel of carrots.

"I can't Spike, Princess Celestia is expecting me or at least somepony I know to attend!" Twilight led them down what Pinkie had often referred to as Sugarcube Corner. The street was uncharacteristically deserted, no doubt due to Pinkie Pie's efforts at amassing a mob.

"Well then...." Spike steeled himself as he ran, hoping his voice sounded strong despite feeling a bit winded now. "Why don't you just give a ticket to Fluttershy?"

"Yeah? And who will I give the other one to?" Spike gulped as he heard Twilight's counter. Just how hard was it going to be to simply say 'How about giving it to me?' How could he even make it sound natural at this point, with a crowd of screaming mares at their hooves?

"W-well, you could always just, um give it to-"
"Hey Twilight, jump on and I'll get you out of here lickety-split!" From out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash landed in front of the two like a bolt of blue lightning. Her wings remained stretched out with her open back serving as an invitation for Twilight to climb on. As Twilight skidded to a halt, she just managed to see Applejack soaring from the second floor window of the Cake's bakery, as if she were auditioning to be a stunt pony in a slow-motion diving sequence.

"Oh no ya don't!" She yelled through gritted teeth as she yanked a lasso from her foreleg and sent it spiraling into the air. Rainbow Dash barely managed to groan "aw man..." as the rope closed down around her and locked into place around her hips. AJ rolled into the fall and recovered into a sprint as Rainbow took to the sky. The Apple farmer's hat flew off as she sprinted up the side of Milky Way's ice cream parlor and jumped into the air, the momentum from the jump and the yank from the rope carrying her forward faster than Rainbow could fly.

Spike watched in fascination as AJ screamed out a "YYYYEEEEHHHAAAAAHHHHH!" in triumph as she landed on Rainbow Dash's back, and the two sailed about in the sky like an eagle who decided a bit too late that he got airsick rather easily. He was so enthralled by the two dots in the sky that he didn't notice the crowd of mares that had caught up behind them.

"Come on Spike, I don't know if this will work but...," Twilight bit her lip and boosted Spike up from the ground and onto her back with her neck. The next few seconds were quite literally a blur, color quickly melted together into a swirling purple vortex and Spike felt much like someone or something was yanking his scales in every which direction. Then all at once, the swirling purple opened up again, and the nuetral colors of the library flooded forth.

Spike bent over and retched, his empty stomach heaving painfully as his head swirled.

"Warn me next time you're gonna do that Twi!" He said as his bearings began to return. To his side, Twilight sat back on her haunches rubbing her temple with a hoof.

"I honestly didn't think that was gonna work again." Spike huffed as he fell backwards, the cool wooden floor feeling comforting on his scales. He listened with his eyes closed as Twilight got up and trotted over to the lightswitch, flicking it up with the tip of her hoof.

"We should probably lock up for now Spike, at least until this blows over." Twilight said, letting her head bow and hit the wall. The dragon nodded and opened his eyes again.

A thunderous crash then rang out as two figures burst through the second floor window and slammed into the wall on the opposite side. Rainbow Dash's limp form fell and crumpled onto the library floor, with AJ landing neatly beside her. AJ smirked at her handiwork as the broken glass from the window fell and shattered like pieces of ice on the floor below.

"Told ya you ain't tough enough to take that ticket." Applejack said as she shook out her mane, the tie holding it together having fallen loose at some point during the struggle.

"Ugh...fine, whatever." Rainbow answered back, rolling over and running a hoof over her back.

"Now what'd yall do with my hat--" Applejack stopped abrubtly as she trotted over a broken piece of glass, finally noticing the destruction that lay around her. As she looked up, she saw the aghast look upon Twilight's face.

"Um. I can fix this."

"You could have just used the front door dahling. Honestly Applejack, I don't see why you can't control yourself in polite company." Rarity's voice came from overhead, revealing her as well as Pinkie and Fluttershy watching from over the banister.

"Oh, um I hope you don't mind Twilight. I let Rarity and Pinkie in a little while ago." Fluttershy said, clicking her forehooves together nervously.

Twilight simply let out a frustrated scream.

*later that evening*

Spike's brow furrowed as Applejack trotted happily out of the library. He hadn't expected to get to go to the Gala anyway, it was just that now everypony was going BUT him. He sighed as he watched the other girls canter happily out into the illuminated streets, off to go celebrate over cupcakes and tea.

Just as he was about to kick the door closed and fish out some old noodles from the pantry, he felt another harsh buildup in his stomach. The buildup made its way upward and escaped from his mouth in an emerald flame...

Quickly reaching forth into the fire, he pulled out a second scroll. The flame subsided as he pulled forth the parchment, like bathwater as the plug was pulled and he quickly unrolled the letter.

'You didn't think I'd let the girls have all the fun did you Spike? I hope to see you too at the Grand Galloping Gala.

-Sincerely,

Princess Celestia of Canterlot'

Spike stifled a giggle as he held the golden ticket out at arms length. This was it, he thought, somehow and/or someway this ticket would help him win Ms. Fluttershy's favor.

Hoping he could still catch up with the girls he ran outside into the dimly lit streets, pulling the library door closed as he went.

"Now what exactly could ya want at a shindig like the Gala Spike?" Asked AJ, who had kindly waited for him by the library mailbox. She had crossed her legs as she leaned into the box, watching as Spike changed his excited run into a cool and collected stride.

"Oh you know, just thought maybe I'd check out the castle gardens. You know, guy stuff." Spike said with a smile. AJ just rolled her eyes and followed behind, wondering briefly if maybe they'd find her hat lying around someplace.