A Winter Romance

by pmcollectorboy

Chapters

Make Up and A Dragon Tail
How Does Your Dragon Grow
Crush
A Winter Blunderland
Love Is A Many Splintered Thing

Make Up and A Dragon Tail

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

A Winter Romance

Rated: MA

by pmcollectorboy

aka Mario Rodgers

Make Up and a Dragon Tail

Twilight Sparkle cursed the hardwood as her chin met the stairs several times in rapid succession. In one final, teeth-jarring cacophonous collision, the bookworm landed in a heap at the bottom step, her right hind leg stretched out at an awkward and painful angle and her square, purple tail cascading down the end of her flank and resting on the top of her head.

As the room spun, she suddenly regretted her haste.

She risked a cautious peek and blinked away dancing sparks of light and twirling stars and objects that appeared to divide and merge at odd angles. She could only barely grasp the orientation of the room with her inner ears ringing like an incessant alarm clock. As her mind returned to her, the muted colors and fuzzy edges that peppered her vision sharpened and gained cohesion with the mud finally clearing away. However with her senses back, pain was the next sensation to come. It hit her like a willow switch in the back of her neck.

"Ow." Twilight slowly crawled her way forward as she reached with an outstretched hoof. "Spike, I... overslept! Forgot to..."

A familiar purple face with reptilian scales, chubby cheeks and rounded green spines appeared around the corner of the study room, looking somewhat alarmed. However at first Twilight didn't even notice the concern on the dragon's face, for she couldn't even be sure just how familiar the face was to her. The features resembled that of her dragon friend Spike, but they somehow seemed a little more elongated. She also noticed that the face appeared slightly higher off the ground than what she expected. However the voice that left the dragon's mouth she most certainly recognized.

"Are you okay, Twilight?"

The unicorn slowly forced herself to stand up through the pain and stiffness in her neck. Then, content that she could at least move without doubling over again, she walked over to the purple dragon in the next room, staring intently at him and giving him the occasional pat on the head with a hoof. A gnawing sensation in the back of her skull coerced her to grab some level of certainty. Another part of her wished she was still asleep. After some time, the dragon finally got fed up with the poking and the prodding and batted away Twilight's hooves.

"Twilight! What's gotten into you? Why did you fall down the stairs?"

Twilight took a step back, blinking in confusion a few times before gaining her presence of mind. "I overslept again," she stated, low and subdued at first. Then her tone suddenly became more agitated. "Gnnnnngh! I tried so hard to finish that spell Princess Celestia asked me to figure out. She was expecting the written portion by early this morning, but I stayed up so late working on it that I must've fallen asleep and now the deadline is past. She must be sitting there waiting and thinking the worst things about me because I'm tardy!"

The harried unicorn trotted in place, bouncing up and down on each leg as she tended to do when aggravated.

Spike didn't seem impressed, and he quietly walked away, apparently back towards whatever he had been doing inside the kitchen. "Are you hurt?" he added flatly as he slid a couple blueberry and daisy pancakes from a frying pan and into a plate.

The invitation of breakfast calmed the frantic unicorn down. Twilight trotted closer and inhaled, savoring the aroma that tantalized her stomach with its delicate balance of the sweetness of the blueberries and the light earthiness of the daisies. As she watched Spike tip the frying pan and the pancakes slide off its metal surface, her mouth watered when she spotted the tiny, delectable fruit speckling the cooked batter and the white of the flower petals peeking out to tease her taste buds. Suddenly she remembered that Spike had asked her a question.

"Um. I'm fine, Spike," she said as she gave him a glance. "Is... Is there something you want to tell me?" She paused and gave a hard swallow. "Have you been hoarding again?"

Spike looked up from the plate and blinked, the empty frying pan dangling by his side in his right hand. He then turned around and carefully placed the pan into the sink. "Are you talking about my new size? No, Twilight. I haven't. I think I just went through a growth spurt." The dragon faced her and pointed at the plate. "I made that for you. I noticed that you've been losing sleep lately and was worried that you might be burning out, so I thought you would like the pancakes."

Twilight couldn't help but become touched by the gesture. Her hunger made itself apparent with an audible growl, and she took a couple steps forward, her mouth hanging open as she allowed a small string of drool to collect in the corner. Realizing she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday's lunch, she eagerly fell forward into the stack of pancakes, devouring them with energetic glee.

"By the way, I was just wondering..." Twilight said in between gulps. "Did you carry me into bed?"

Spike nodded swiftly, almost as if the answer made him uncomfortable. "Well you know. You're not heavy or anything and I couldn't have very well left you sleeping on your desk and drooling on it," he said as he shifted about on his heels.

Twilight's response was to touch the corner of her lips. Then, feeling embarrassed at the idea of her drooling on her work desk, she promptly decided a suitable distraction was to fall forward and chomp on another bite.

"Rarity stopped by earlier," Spike said as he watched Twilight enjoy her meal. "I told her you were still sleeping."

Twilight polished off one pancake just as Spike finished his sentence. She looked up and gently wiped away a few crumbs. "Oh? What did she want? And how did she take seeing you, uh, a little more grown up?"

The dragon nervously rubbed the spines on the back of his head as he chuckled slightly. "She took it pretty well, but I had to explain to her several times that it was me. And she came over to tell you that she had won a few extra tickets to a prestigious winter resort. She wanted to know if we wanted to come along as guests. I was actually in the middle of writing out ideas for gifts to give her, but I'm nowhere near as good as Rarity in picking out things."

"Hmm." She gave her chin a few quick taps. After a few moments, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Spike. We'll be much too busy. She'll have to find some other pony to go as guests."

"Aww." Spike's cheerful demeanor immediately melted into a disappointed frown as he turned back around to wash dishes in the sink. "I've never been to a winter resort," he mumbled under his breath as he worked a rag back and forth across the pan.

Twilight finished the second pancake as Spike did the dishes. As she gulped down the final piece of pancake, she levitated her plate over to the sink and then walked over to give Spike a gentle hug from behind.

"Thank you, Spike. That pancake was just what I needed."

Spike felt a warm blush briefly come to his cheeks. Feeling a bit awkward, he then shrugged her off his shoulders before bringing the dishes out of the sink to dry and place in their proper spots. As he did so, Twilight left the kitchen to head back towards her study room. Situated near one of her front windows and across from a bookshelf was her study desk. She blinked a couple times when she spotted what was on its slightly slanted oak surface, which was absolutely nothing save for a coating of dust and the twin wells, one for the ink and one for the midnight candle. Last night then finally registered in her brain, and she gave a slight gasp.

"Spike!" she exclaimed as she turned back towards the kitchen. "What did you do with my research?! My papers and books! They're not here!"

The young dragon peeked his head out of the kitchen doorway one more time. He then took a couple steps past the door frame and put a claw to his chin. "Um... Well the books should be shelved, but your papers... I think I put them in the drawer."

Twilight yanked open the drawers of her study desk with her mouth and breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted a stack of papers inside. "Did you read them?" she called back to Spike over her shoulder.

"No, Twilight. You know I'm not like that, but..."

Her head snapped up, and she swallowed. "But?"

"I did kinda sorta maybe possibly use some of your blank paper to jot down gift ideas."

"Guh! Spike! That's almost all the paper I have! Why did you do that?"

She wheeled around to face Spike, and the young dragon took a couple steps back, withering under her stern gaze and avoiding any prolonged eye contact. He shuffled a foot a couple times before opening his mouth to speak.

"Well, uh... I mean if I had used the parchment paper then you would've..."

"Nevermind, Spike." She lowered her head as her tone softened. "Just bear with me if I seem a bit short, Spike. I'm just so tired. I was nowhere near close to finishing it, and now my time has run out. I will just have to write a letter to Princess Celestia explaining why I'm tardy."

Another short, sorrowful sigh escaped Twilight's lips.

"Would you like another pancake?"

Twilight opened her eyes and lifted her head towards her young dragon friend. She smiled as she felt a warmth surround her heart, brought on by Spike's naive concern for her. He looked her in the eyes this time, his smile tiny and shy, his hand back on the door frame to the kitchen as if he would readily go back inside to cook for her once more.

"No thank you, Spike. Just help me take that letter."

"I got you covered."

Spike's feet went pitter-pat across the floor of the library as he went to fetch a scroll of parchment from one of the many drawers that Twilight used as storage for supplies. It wasn't long before he returned to Twilight, presenting a fresh parchment and bringing a quill to its surface.

"Dear Princess Celestia..." Twilight began.

She heard the scritching of the quill as Spike wrote. She then paused and furrowed her brows, and the writing stopped. Spike gave Twilight a glance, and that was when the pacing started. Twilight, burdened by her thoughts, walked from one end of the room to the another, lines of worry forming on her brow as she seemingly pondered her words. It didn't take long for Spike to realize that Twilight was lost to him when he saw her lips working up and down, as if she had something to say, but with no words coming out. After several painfully long seconds of nothing but muttering and the sound of her hooves clip clopping on the library's hardwood floor, Spike ventured to interrupt her.

"Twilight. You're wearing a hole in the floor. Again."

The purple unicorn looked down and found the floor had somehow risen up to the level of her pasterns. She hung her head momentarily. "I'm sorry, Spike. I just can't do it. I can't find any words that won't disappoint Princess Celestia."

Spike brought the quill and paper down to his side as he looked at his friend with a sorrowful gaze. "Did she say that she needed it now? As in NOW now? Wasn't this just for extra credit?"

"Yes, Spike. I realize that. But Princess Celestia entrusted me to complete this assignment and I'd hate to let her down."

"Well..." Spike began, raising the quill back to the paper. "I mean what is it that's causing the hang up? Maybe if you explained to Princess Celestia what the delay is she might give you more time?"

Twilight gave Spike a bit of a sour gaze and a pout. "It's a bit complicated, Spike. It's also not as simple as just asking Princess Celestia for more time. For one thing..."

A dull commotion just outside Twilight's front door distracted her from her conversation. She heard a pony make a fuss and a couple whines as several muffled thuds could be heard. Twilight exchanged a glance with Spike, who raised an eyebrow, before a teeth-jarring crash rattled every major bone in both their bodies and briefly sent the two of them several inches into the air. Predictably, a cascade of books fell from every shelf in the study. In a fit of aggravation, Spike forcibly applied the palm of his right hand to his forehead.

"That sounds like Rarity," Twilight said as she turned towards her front door. Before she could open it, however, she turned her head back towards Spike. "Could you clean up these books while I go check to see if Rarity is okay?"

A groan escaped Spike's lips as Twilight walked through the door and closed it soundly. He heard the sounds of conversation outside, but the words were muffled by the library's walls and the distance between himself and outside. He then glanced at the parchment still clutched in his hands, the words "Dear Princess Celestia" still the only thing written on it, the letters scrawled in a flowing and elegant cursive. He then gave the books scattered on the floor a look and wrinkled his nose. It was another thankless effort that had been casually ruined.

"Meh," came his disinterested reply.

He then made his way over to the window. Rarity stood in the walkway, looking somewhat upset and rather frazzled, with her normally vibrant indigo hair no longer smoothly coiffed. Scattered about her feet were some of her possessions, including, oddly enough, a rather large chest. Spike mused that this object must've been what had caused the large crash he and Twilight had heard. Behind her was a cart, loaded to the railing with the largest collection of her items he had ever seen. The white unicorn had stepped out of the harness to watch Twilight do her magic. It was then that Spike realized just how tired Twilight was. She squinted to focus her concentration as she wrapped her levitation field around all of Rarity's items that had spilled on the ground. Try as she could, however, Twilight could only lift middle-sized objects and only one at a time. The chest proved to be the most difficult to lift. Spike knew that Twilight should've been able to easily lift it on a normal day, but that moment saw her struggling to clear several inches.

"Darling. You seem to be having some difficulty. Are those bags under your eyes? Gracious you look horrible," he could hear Rarity say through the window glass.

Rarity approached Twilight and started inspecting her all around, finally settling on her face as she checked around the eyes and starting pulling and prodding at Twilight in different places in much the same way Twilight had done to Spike. Twilight's reaction was just about the same as his, as well. She lowered the large chest to the ground to bat away Rarity's hooves.

"Rarity! Cut that out!" Twilight then lowered her head slightly to catch her breath. "I'm fine. Besides you're the one to talk. Your mane is a royal mess."

The other unicorn wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes. She then turned to the side and dove into her cart, her back legs swinging back and forth as she pushed objects aside and rummaged around. "Just a minute, Twilight. I simply will NOT leave you in that dreadful state. I have my compact in one of these bags here. I just have to find it and then I'll fix you right up so that you look good as new. Now where is it? Ah ha!"

Rarity pulled out a fuscia handbag and then grabbed Twilight by the neck, pulling her along on a mad dash towards the door. Spike hurriedly backed away from the window, dropping his quill and parchment on the study desk, before frantically dashing towards the books in an attempt to look busy. He made it to a book just in time to hear the door fly open. It then slammed shut a second later as a white unicorn hurried by, dragging a purple unicorn by the neck on the way to the stairs.

"Hello there, Spikey Wikey. I'll be just a minute," Rarity cooed.

"Hmph. Gurk. Not so rough, Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed as Rarity dragged her along. "Spike! Take the... Ack!" Twilight disappeared upstairs as her friend vigorously pulled her into the bathroom.

The young dragon heard the door slam shut and the sounds of movement and conversation upstairs.

"Take the... Take the what?" Spike asked himself, bringing a claw up to his chin. He cast his gaze across the room and spotted the rolled up parchment still on the desk. "Take the letter? Does she want me to write the letter myself?" Spike strolled over to the desk and snatched it up, along with his quill. He then headed upstairs before cautiously opening the bathroom door. "Say Twilight? What exactly did you mean with... Whoa!"

Spike took a step backwards when he saw what had become of Twilight.

"Don't say another word, Spike."

Twilight's eyes had narrowed slightly from disinterest as Rarity fussed with her. Spike could smell the faint chemical aroma of blush and powder, and he coughed as the peppery particles tickled his nostrils. However, it was how Twilight looked that gave Spike a mixture of slight amusement and shock.

A small, clam-shaped compact kit hovered in a bubble of blue light next to Rarity as she stood across from Twilight, who sat on top of a small stool near the sink. Tiny test spots of different colors dotted Twilight's face, giving her the appearance of a cheetah. Rarity squinted as she stared into the compact, seemingly mulling over choices. Spike could see a big well for foundation and several smaller spots for cover up and eye shadow.

"I can't seem to find a color in here that goes well with the hue of your coat, but I simply can not leave you in that state with those dreadful bags under your eyes," Rarity moaned as she glanced from one color to the other in her kit.

"Rarity! Just mix pink and blue! That should give you something close to lavender! Spike! Take the letter before I lose all sense of identity!"

Rarity glanced up and looked back, immediately smiling when she spotted the young dragon. "Oh speaking of mixing and pink and blue," she continued as she looked back in Twilight's direction, lifting up a couple applicators and other tools from her compact as she spoke. "I can't wait to 'mix it up' as it were with all the stylish and athletic ponies at the very fashionable, very chic, very fun, and very romantic winter resort tomorrow. Plus I have a couple gifts for all of us waiting in the cart, all color coordinated and all very darling. The one I have for Spike is what I'm most proud of, especially since I had to adjust at the last minute for his sudden new size. I think he's going to love it! And I was mindful of his feelings this time. It isn't too frilly, and it's very gender appropriate, but oh... is it ever so cute. I... oh dear."

"Spike! The letter!" Twilight snapped growing more frustrated with each passing second as Rarity continued to use her as a canvas.

Spike wasted no moment bringing the quill to the surface of the parchment.

"Dear Princess Celestia. I know you were expecting my written portion hours ago, but I'm afraid that I must disappoint you, and I am to inform you that I was nowhere near coming to a satisfactory conclusion. In my endeavors to discern a spell capable of divining the nature of the constellations, starting with the one you specifically requested, I ran into a bit of a snag concerning..."

Rarity backed away from Twilight's face, bringing a hoof up to her mouth as her eyes widened. "I... I can fix this."

Twilight gave a slight pause. Her own eyes widened, and she turned slightly to face Rarity. "Fix this? Fix what? What did you do?"

The white unicorn took another step away from her friend, the red on her face growing deeper. "Well it would seem that I had been distracted by my going on about Spike's gift while trying to apply make up on your face and... So Spike! Are you both going to the winter resort with me?"

Rarity had turned away from Twilight towards Spike. A bead of sweat had formed at the edge of her brow, but she tried her best to appear happy and unaffected by her indiscretion. Spike, remarkably enough, kept writing.

"No he's not. I mean WE'RE not," Twilight exclaimed, motioning with a hoof in an attempt to bring Rarity's attention back to her. "Quit changing the subject. What do I look like?"

Twilight moved to turn around in her seat and glance at the mirror, but Rarity reached out and vigorously grabbed her by the cheeks, keeping her from swiveling around.

"Oh never mind about that. You said you weren't coming with me to the winter resort. Why not?!"

Twilight's teeth vibrated painfully as the rising tone of Rarity's whine played havok on her ear drums. She swiftly batted Rarity's hooves away and then completed her attempt to face the mirror. All Twilight saw was a sea of the most hideous shade of orange she had ever seen anywhere, let alone on her eyelids. It reminded her of the color of a strange snack she once saw Pinkie Pie eating called "Cheddar Squares", and the color was all over her eyes. She turned around and glared at Rarity, who shrank away, biting her lip in a gesture of shame.

"Just... Just let me..."

"Rarity! What have you done?!" Twilight exclaimed, pointing at her eyes with her hooves. "I've got cheetah spots on my face, and my eyes look like the color of a Martian sunrise!"

Rarity curled one corner of her mouth downward and briefly averted her gaze from Twilight, tapping the floor with a front hoof in a fit of awkwardness. "I, uh... You seem awfully stressed. Don't you think you deserve a vacation with me and Spike at this winter resort?"

She chanced a gaze back at Twilight and flashed a nervous half smile.

Something inside Twilight seemed to snap, and she lowered her head slightly before hopping off the stool and edging close to Rarity's face, almost coming nose to nose. Rarity, unsurprisingly, flinched at the sudden movement of Twilight's face into her personal space.

"Yes of course I'm stressed! I'm running low on sleep and even lower on patience! Princess Celestia had given me this strange assignment, and I wanted to make a good impression, but I've come nowhere near close to finishing it, and the deadline has already passed, and so now I've got to write a letter explaining my failure and risk disappointing her, and on top of which, you keep pressuring me about this winter resort, to which I've already told you no because I'm kind of busy, AND...!" Twilight got even closer to Rarity. "You made my face look like an industrial accident! I mean could this day possibly get any worse?"

Rarity's lips quivered ever so slightly, and her eyes started to mist. She didn't sniffle, but her words came out quiet and subdued. "Well I can see you're upset so if you'll just let me fix your make up..."

Twilight shoved away Rarity's hooves. "I think you've done enough. I'll just use magic to match the color."

She suddenly found herself with her hooves a bit full, entangled as they were by her friend as she threw herself prostrate before Twilight and glanced up at her with the piercing, ice blue eyes Twilight knew so well. Tears streamed from the white unicorn's eyes as she blubbered and pleaded.

"Oh please, Twilight. Please let me fix it. I don't think I could live with myself if I let such a tragic mistake of fashion go uncorrected by my own hooves. Oh please, Twilight. I beg of you."

Spike finally looked up from where he had been scrawling on the parchment and noticed the awful state Rarity was in. Seeing her bawling her eyes out, with tiny rivers of tears ruining her mascara, tugged at his heart and triggered some sense of chivalry inside, some deep need to do something to help her and comfort her.

"Aww come on, Twilight. Look at her. You know she can fix the make up. Give her a chance."

Twilight felt her coat start to get damp around her left front hoof and realized she was getting soaked by Rarity's tears. Slightly unnerved, Twilight lifted her hoof and gave it a slight shake before backing up slightly to extricate herself from Rarity's grip. She then gave Rarity a nervous smile.

"Sheesh, Rarity. Don't cry. I'm sorry, all right? I didn't mean to upset you. You can try again."

Rarity sniffled and silenced a sob before wiping her eyes. She gazed up into Twilight's eyes as her own dried out. Twilight's expression seemed apologetic. A more open smile parted her lips, and she had a hoof extended, offering help to allow Rarity to stand on her feet.

She accepted Twilight's hoof and stood up, smiling as she prepared her compact again. As the compact levitated to Rarity's side once more, Twilight examined Rarity more closely before pulling back to stifle a snicker.

"We start from the beginning," Rarity squeaked as she raised up a puff. Then she tilted her head when she noticed Twilight's guilty grin. "What's with the smirk?"

"Well now I don't feel so bad about my face. You could use some touching up yourself."

Rarity blinked and then turned her head, giving the mirror a look. Dark streaks, like oily rivers, ran from her eyes and mixed with the purple of her eye shadow, staining her lovely white fur with splotches that were the color of bruises. Despite her unkempt appearance, she couldn't help but smile herself. She had to admit to herself that she was a hideous cryer.

"It would appear that you're right," Rarity said with a laugh. "I'll just fix up myself at the same time I'm doing you."

"Fair enough. Spike? Would you please read back the letter to me before I have it sent out?"

"Okey dokey!" He cleared his throat and then held the letter up to the light. Then upon seeing his words, he balked. "Whoa." Then he blanched. "Uh oh."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Uh oh? Uh oh what?"

"Powder!"

Twilight felt something soft, almost feathery hit her face. This was followed by a chalk-like dust which flew up everywhere and irritated her nose. It seemed to irritate Spike as well, for he sniffled, tilted his head back, wrinkled his nose and promptly sneezed onto the letter, vaporizing it into a cloud of green dragon magic.

"Oh no," Spike moaned as he watched the letter turn into sparkling mist head out the window.

* * *

Spike walked behind Rarity and Twilight as they exited the library, looking better with fresh make up. Rarity was all smiles and had a bounce in her step, but Twilight looked grim. Spike could feel her disappointment from the look in her eyes, and he had his arms outstretched as he followed her.

"Aww come on, Twilight. I said I was sorry. I was in the zone. I didn't know I would write down everything that went on between you and Rarity."

Twilight turned her head and gave Spike a grimace and a wrinkling of her nose. "And you sent it out! Who knows what kind of reaction Princess Celestia would have reading that mess? You probably made me look like a fool!"

"I sent it out by accident! I didn't mean for it to happen! You've got to believe me!" the young dragon wailed, a tear coming to one of his eyes.

"Oh Twilight," Rarity chirped, halting and turning around to grab Spike by the neck and playfully rubbing his head spines. "Go easy on my little Spikey Wikey. Well... he's not so little anymore." When she saw the dragon blush, she released him and turned towards Twilight. "I really wish you'd reconsider not coming with me to the winter resort. It's such a shame to waste all that hard work on my creation. Ah well." Rarity sighed when she approached her cart and noticed her things were still on the ground. "Oh dear. There's still the matter of my things on the ground, especially that large chest."

Twilight nodded. "Yes. You're right. I'd help you with some of the smaller items, but I still don't know if I have enough energy to tackle that big chest. I'm sorry, Rari..."

She was interrupted by a sudden rush of wind and a purple blur that rushed past her. When she looked again, Spike had made his way over to the cart, diligently picking up Rarity's items and placing them in the cart. He picked up clothes and gifts and catalogs and bolts of fabric. They were all stacked neatly into Rarity's wagon. Finally he tackled the chest. Twilight mused the young dragon must've been feeling extra strong with his new slightly larger size. Even still, she gave one her hooves a nervous bite, worried that her no-longer-quite-a-baby dragon would over-exert himself.

Spike leaned forward slightly across the breadth of the chest, his trunk draped across the curvature of the lid as he reached around with his claws to grab the corners at opposite ends. He then flexed his legs to give himself some leverage. That was when Twilight heard Rarity give a muffled yelp. Twilight turned her head towards Rarity and saw that the white unicorn had her head cocked slightly to the side. Her cheeks were fully flushed and her mouth had dropped just slightly open, her tongue occasionally touching the roof of her mouth. She also gave a couple hard swallows. Twilight followed Rarity's gaze to figure out what had gotten her so flustered and noticed Spike's tail, which was longer and more sinuous since he had gained his new size, was being held straight up in the air as Spike worked himself around the chest. It then dawned on Twilight that Rarity had found herself fascinated by a view of Spike's backside. She immediately stepped in between Rarity and Spike, breaking the fashion pony's trance.

Twilight frowned and wrinkled her nose at Rarity. "Rarity. What are you doing? This is Spike, our friend and little brother. Why are you staring at his butt?"

Rarity's jaw dropped once more, but this time from embarrassment. The flush in her cheeks disappeared, and she lowered her gaze to the ground. "Twilight. I'm sorry. I don't... I'm sorry," Rarity stammered.

"I got it!" came an exclamation from Spike.

Rarity glanced up, clearing her throat and trying her best to regain a sense of composure in front of the dragon, so that he wouldn't suspect her indiscretion. Twilight looked over as well, and the both of them saw that Spike had indeed managed to lift the chest and hoist it into the wagon. When Rarity saw that everything had been neatly stacked and returned to her cart, she squeaked with delight and rushed over to hug him.

"Oh thank you, Spike! I don't know what I'd do without you!" Rarity then levitated out a small box that had been wrapped in a purple, metallic wrapping paper and topped with a shiny gold bow. "For you, Spike. I should probably give this to you now, seeing as how you won't be able to come with me to the resort where I might give it to you."

The young dragon's eyes shimmered with emotion as he saw the carefully wrapped gift hovering there. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her neck, giving her his own hug. His display of affection lasted a good deal longer than Rarity's, and the white unicorn eventually had to wrap his arms in her magic and pry him away so that she could carry on with her business.

"Thank you, Rarity. It's just so wonderful how a pony as beautiful as you could be so kind and generous to a dragon like me," Spike said as he grabbed the gift. "I don't know what it looks like yet, but I'm sure I will cherish it."

Rarity's cheeks turned red again. "Oh Spike. Stop."

Twilight stepped in between Rarity and Spike and nudged the young dragon backwards to give Rarity some space. "Okay, Spike. That's quite enough." She then gave Rarity a glance. "I'm so very sorry that we couldn't take you up on your offer to go with you to the winter resort. You should probably find somepony else to go with you. Is everything okay with you and your cart?"

A small pout came to Rarity's lips as she nodded. She then sighed and made her way to the front of her cart, fastening the buckle after she had stepped into the harness. When she was satisfied that her cart was secured, she looked up at Twilight and Spike.

"Well if that's the way you feel, I guess there's no sense in forcing you to change your mind." Rarity muttered. She then brought a hoof up to her chin to think. "Now whom should I bring with me? Well I guess there's always... Oh no wait. She's making preparations for the first snowfall of winter. Well then perhaps..." Rarity then scrunched up her face, tossed her muzzle to the air and gave a long wail.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Rarity's sudden outburst. When Rarity saw Twilight's rather perturbed expression, she gave a small cough before trying to set Twilight at ease with a smile.

"I'm having trouble coming up with somepony. Most of our friends are rather busy. But don't you worry! I'm sure it'll turn out all okay."

Twilight nodded and returned the smile, her eyes reflecting her reassurance. Spike stood near the open doorway and happily clutched at his gift, holding it tightly to his chest. The young dragon gave a small wave, to which Rarity cheerfully nodded. A twinkling came to her horn, and a flash of blue light surrounded a lavish velvet bag located in the cart behind her. The tiny silk twine keeping the bag cinched expanded outwards, and a small pamphlet levitated out.

"Oh Spikey!" Rarity exclaimed as she passed the pamphlet over to the dragon. "I almost forgot. Here is a pamphlet with some information about the winter resort, just in case either of you change your minds, but I've also written down the address of the winter resort and my cabin number on here. Could you please write me while I'm there? Maybe you could tell me how you like your gift!" Eagerness crept into her voice as she broached the subject of Spike and herself writing each other.

Twilight Sparkle jerked her head backwards slightly as she gave Spike a hard glare. She had been caught surprised by the sudden appearance of specks of light and color shaped suspiciously like hearts, and they fluttered around Spike's head like butterflies.

"I will write you every hour that I can spare it," Spike muttered, a dreamlike softness in his voice.

Twilight reached out with a hoof and swatted the hearts away. "Okay there, Romeo. Don't get too distracted from your duties, though." She tried her best to shove the slightly-more-grown dragon through the doorway. "We'll see you when you get back, Rarity."

Rarity waved as the two entered the library, the door closing behind them.

How Does Your Dragon Grow

Spike busied himself with picking up the rest of the books that had fallen off the bookshelf from the ruckus with Rarity earlier. He had only managed to previously pick up a few here and there before being interrupted by Twilight, but now a tower of books rested on his shoulders. The tower stood a dozen books high and wobbled a bit at the top, but Spike couldn't help but marvel at his newfound strength. His heart still fluttered with pride from his earlier feat of lifting Rarity's item chest. He stood up just as he grabbed the last book, stumbling slightly under the new addition. As he teetered about to the left and right, a bead of sweat formed on his brow as he suddenly wondered if he had taken on too much too soon. He swiftly moved towards the bookcase, trying his best to keep the stack of books steady. In a blur of motion he never knew was in him, he tossed books at the bookcase in rapid succession, if only to relieve himself of their collective weight. Remarkably, they all landed in their places, upright and arranged correctly.

The dragon let a proud whistle fly from his lips. After he had finished admiring his handiwork, he craned his neck around to search for Twilight.

"Hey Twilight. Did you see...? Twilight?"

Spike spotted a splash of purple peeking out from behind the study desk. He smiled and proudly strolled over, a beaming smile on his face as he called over.

"Twilight! What are you doing hiding under there? You completely missed it when..."

The dragon heard some paper shuffling briefly before Twilight exclaimed in alarm.

"Ah! Don't come over here, Spike! Not yet!"

He never got a chance to bother Twilight about her unusual words. The next thing he heard was a familiar popping sound followed by the faint smell burnt candles. When he peaked around the other side of the desk, no pony sat there.

All Spike was left with was an empty room.

"Huh? Why'd you teleport?"

The young dragon heard a thump coming from above him, and he smiled a little.

Not wanting to miss a chance to gloat, he sought out his unicorn friend. He made his way upstairs, where he discovered their bedroom door closed. As he approached the door, he paused from grabbing the handle when he heard the sounds of sniffling through the door. Concerned, the young dragon pulled his right claw up to his mouth, his lips parting slightly. For several moments that seemed to stretch out to minutes, Spike stood outside the bedroom door, doing nothing but staring. After some time, it seemed to be silent, so he reached out for the handle again, only to hear the sniffling again.

He slowly pushed the door open. It creaked as he stuck his head in.

Ahead of him lay the smaller study that was situated just beneath Twilight's bed, which was nestled on top of a wooden terrace built into the side of the room. This study had several smaller bookcases, one of which was actually inside the wall beneath the bed chamber, than the main study downstairs. These bookcases held Twilight's personal collection of fictional stories and her most favorite books. Across the room and on the opposite side of where he peeked in was the smaller stairway that curved slightly around and led towards the opening into Twilight's bed area. The low height of the terrace made the stairs seem almost pointless. Spike sometimes witnessed Twilight forego their use and simply jump down from the bedroom area and into the study.

Spike heard the creaking of one of the bed's springs. There was also some muttering that he couldn't quite make out. As he got closer, though, the muttering stopped.

"Is that you, Spike?" Twilight finally said out loud.

He spotted Twilight sitting on her bed, her back towards him and her head facing the octogonal window which overlooked her sleeping area.

"Um... It's me, Twilight. I guess you heard me walk in. Were you crying in here or did you catch a cold?"

There was a slight moment of silence.

"I wasn't crying, Spike," came Twilight's response. "And I'm not sick."

"Oh." Spike swallowed once, a little uncertain on whether to believe her tale. "You should've seen me with the books down there. I was all like pow pow pow! Books flying everywhere. I didn't even know I could move that fast. I'm getting pretty awesome." He gave himself a moment to grab at one of his biceps as a smug grin parted his lips. "Anyway. The books are done," he then said as he looked back up at Twilight. "What's next on the agenda?"

"That's good to hear, Spike. Sounds like you're getting..." Twilight muttered, a certain rawness in her voice.

The silence that followed as her words fell away was heavier than the previous one.

Spike lifted up a claw, even though he knew her back was turned. "Uh. Twi...?"

"Yes! Next on the agenda! We need to get some more writing paper!"

Twilight swiftly turned around in her bed, staring at Spike and bearing a plastered smile. The sudden shift in the tone of Twilight's voice and change in topic made Spike feel uneasy and sent his thoughts off kilter.

"Uh... What?" Spike asked, blinking a couple times. "Where did that come from? What were you saying before?"

"It doesn't matter, Spike." Twilight hopped down from her bed and then into the study.

The young dragon followed behind Twilight as she made her way towards the bedroom door.

"But..." Spike interjected.

"Spike! Not another word! We've got work to do!"

Spike slowly sighed but nodded just the same. Twilight then headed downstairs, and he followed for a bit. However, just as Twilight walked through the door, Spiked paused and gave a glance backwards. Twilight didn't see that Spike had stopped behind her, and she kept on walking. Spike took the opportunity to backtrack towards the bedroom.

"Now. What's gotten Twilight so upset?" Spike mused to himself as he poked and prodded around.

He started with the study, pulling books and checking behind them but taking care to put everything back in its place. He then moved on to the bedroom area. He dreaded the thought of undoing Twilight's carefully made bed, but his curiosity outweighed his fear. He pulled up her pillow, dumped it out of the pillowcase, checked inside the pillowcase, and upended sheets and comforters. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. After everything had been done, he realized the only thing that was there was his own mess. He pursed his lips as a moment of guilt came to him, his cheeks burning. He decided he should remake Twilight's bed but wanted to check one other location first.

Spike took a step backwards, lifted the sheets up from the near side of the bed, and bent over, looking underneath the bed frame. He spotted something that looked like a shoe box. His interest piqued, he got down on the floor and scooted in closer to try and grab it. However, a sudden shout from outside sent him on a trip towards a world of pain as he lifted his head and banged it against the edge of the bed.

"Hey y'all! Twilaht! Are ya in there?!" came a call from outside that sounded like it belonged to Applejack.

Spike stood up and grabbed the top of his head. His spines felt like they were on fire, but he sucked in a quick breath, blinked away the tears, and fought through the pain to fix up the bed as close as possible to what Twilight had. He then headed to the balcony and stared over the railing. Directly below him was the front door, and he could hear Twilight's voice through the space where it was situated. A familiar, flaxen-haired orange earth pony stood in the pathway leading up to the library. Next to her was another earth pony, one who was nowhere near as smoothly calm as her orange friend but instead bounced up and down in a vibrant display of giddy energy that almost reminded Spike of a sugar high.

"Hello there, Applejack. Pinkie Pie. What brings you here?" Twilight asked.

Applejack gave a warm smile and crossed her front legs as she tended to do. "Pinkie Pie and ah were wonderin' if ya had any books on traditional crystal pony cuisine. Ya see, it would seem that the crystal ponies had uh bit of good luck with their crystal berry harvest, so much so that they don't know what ta do with it all. Princess Celestia asked us to travel to th' Crystal Empire so that ah can show them how ta do a proper banquet and maybe even help build a storage building for their berries. An' Pinkie Pie here made a friend last time we were over there, an' she thought she could come along and catch up."

The pink earth pony with the mane like cotton candy never stopped bouncing up and down. "Ooh! Twilight Twilight Twilight! Earlier today when we were over at Rarity's house to pick up some scarves and winter coats for the trip to the Crystal Empire, she told us all about this winter resort that she was getting ready to head to. She asked the both of us to come along because she had extra tickets, but we both told her that we couldn't because we were going to the Crystal Empire, and oh my goodness, Twilight, you should've seen her. I mean she was SO heartbroken. She said we were her last hope for finding ponies to go with her. I mean Rainbow Dash can't go. Fluttershy doesn't want to go. But we had to let her down, which wasn't any fun because I hate letting ponies other ponies down, and it sounded like such a super super fun thing to go to, and..."

"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, her patience thoroughly shot.

Pinkie Pie ceased her bouncing, giving Twilight a perky smile and a wide-eyed gaze.

"Can you get to the point? Or more importantly, can we get back to the original point?" said Twilight.

Twilight's bubbly earth pony friend smiled. "Oh! Ha! Silly me! The point! I mean you should so totally go with Rarity to the winter resort! Spike too! I mean how could you NOT go? You might get to do so many way fun activities! Maybe ice skating! Or skiing! Or even just riding up and down those funny looking cable car things! Or fall in love! Or have a dragon fall on you!"

Applejack cocked her head sideways and gave Pinkie Pie a glare as Twilight leveled her own.

"What?!" Applejack and Twilight exclaimed in unison.

"What?" Pinkie Pie answered back, disturbingly nonchalantly. "OH! Speaking of which! Twitchy tail!"

Applejack and Twilight angled their heads towards Pinkie Pie's backside. Sure enough, her puffy, cotton candy-like tail was twitching.

"Twitchy tail!" she repeated.

Spike, high above them on the balcony, scratched his head. "Twitchy tail?"

The dragon's eyes widened in horror as he heard a cracking sound and felt the railing in front of him, where he had rested one of his arms, suddenly give way. "Whoa!"

Spike saw Twilight look up as he fell to the ground below, her eyes meeting his. Fortunately, she had learned from her previous experiences with Pinkie Pie's twitchy tail warnings and had teleported out of the way. Twilight then tapped into what little energy she had and turned the ground beneath Spike into a small pile of hay. The dragon gratefully accepted the relatively rough and prickly landing of the hay pile over the bone-jarring landing of hitting the ground. He met the pile belly first.

"Heavens to Betsy!" Applejack exclaimed, her eyes going wide. "Rarity was certainly tellin' the truth when she was goin' on about Spahk's new size. What have ya been feedin' him?"

Twilight ignored Applejack. Her only concern was her dragon. "Oh my goodness, Spike. Are you okay?" Twilight asked as she approached from the side.

Spike coughed out a couple straws and nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay. Urp!"

The dragon's cheeks puffed up as he reached out and tried to clamp his mouth shut, but the dragon flame forced itself through with an unglamorous burp. A rolled up parchment, tied with a bright red string and sealed in wax, materialized in front of Twilight.

"A letter from Princess Celestia?" Twilight muttered.

Spike stood up and grabbed the parchment before hopping down from the hay pile. He unrolled it and started reading.

"My dearest, most faithful student Twilight Sparkle. Your last letter was certainly very, ah, unusual." Spike gave Twilight a glance and blushed momentarily before continuing the letter. "I am fully aware that you missed the deadline for the written part of your spell and am more than willing to offer an extension. My immediate concern is your health. It sounds like you are working yourself too hard, and I think a short vacation might do you some good. Therefore, I am asking that you and Spike should join Rarity on her trip to the winter resort. Who knows? Maybe you might find the answers you seek over there, to several of your pressing questions. Always your teacher, Princess Celestia."

Spike clasped the letter to his chest as he jumped up and down for joy. Twilight, however, sighed.

"Fine," Twilight said flatly.

"Well then," Applejack bellowed happily as she clapped Twilight on the shoulder. "Sounds like ya've got yerselves a vaycay! But, uh... We still need that book."

"Oh! Right! Fortunately for the both of us, that kindly crystal librarian gave me a couple books on the Crystal Empire, including traditional cooking. Otherwise, my library would've been completely empty on the subject of their lands, seeing as how nopony knew anything about them until recently." Twilight then turned her attention back towards Spike, who was jumping up and down in time with Pinkie Pie. "Hey, Spike! Go and find Rarity and tell her that we will be coming along after all. I'm going to get a book for Applejack and then pack for the trip."

Spike turned around to face Twilight and smiled, giving a cheerful salute. "Okie Dokie!" He started to bound away, a cheerful spring in his step. He then stopped halfway up the walkway and turned around. "Oh Twilight! Could you please remember to pack Rarity's gift to me?"

Twilight turned from where she had been conversing with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. "What? Oh! Okay, Spike. Will do. Now go on and grab Rarity!"

Spike cheerfully nodded, a smile on his face, and continued on his way.

* * *

The corners of Rarity's brows peaked upwards, forming lines of worry on her forehead as she watched Spike.

The dragon knocked back his second glass of water, slugging the drink with such speed that it alarmed Rarity. She brought her right front hoof to her chest and regarded Spike as he slammed the glass on the circular table.

"Goodness, Spike. Just how thirsty are you? I hope you don't have a problem with bedwetting." She then saw the expression on Spike's face and waved her hoof as if to divert attention from the awkward situation. "Not that that's anything to be embarrassed about. Why I remember the first time Sweetie Belle... Well that's not really a topic for discussion right now. So what do you think?"

Spike traced circles around the rim of the glass, working his incisor teeth into his lower lip as he regarded Rarity. He dared not speak what had been on his mind at the moment. He also dared not mention the reasons why he had been crossing his legs like a filly and trying to be discreet about his nervous demeanor as he rocked back and forth in his stool.

A suave stallion with a slicked back mane approached from the side. Spike stopped his rocking and looked up, immediately spotting a muzzle bearing the sharpest pencil moustache he had ever seen.

"Would monsieur like another glass of our FREE water?"

Spike couldn't help but notice the agitation forced into the waiter's voice.

'No,' said his mind.

"YES!" his mouth exclaimed.

The waiter nodded and disappeared.

Spike wasn't the least bit thirsty. Rather, he found that ever since he had been alone with Rarity, he started feeling a slowly growing heat in different parts of his body. Being a dragon, he normally wasn't alarmed by heat. Heat was his element.

This heat was different. It sort of crawled and tingled. It buzzed in his brain and swirled in his heart. There was also the perplexing feeling of his veins expanding in size and a growing embarrassment. It almost felt like his body was talking to him, without the use of words and in ways he had never felt before.

It didn't help when Rarity had wrapped him in the biggest, most affectionate hug he had ever received from her. He remembered she had also squealed with delight when he told her the news that both he and Twilight were coming after all.

Now the fashion pony sat next to him at the restaurant table, gazing at him expectantly with those eyes of icy blue that turned his heart in knots. She batted her eyes a few times and leaned forward, propping up her chin with her hooves. The new pose only served to accentuate Rarity's curves, and Spike found his eyes wandering over every perfect line, from the nape of her neck, following her dainty spine, and moving on down to the half circle of her posterior.

The heat built up even more.

His mind fixated on her beauty, he didn't notice his water being served or Rarity moving her face into his field of vision.

"Spike. Eyes up here."

"Huh? Oh sorry," Spike said as he shook his head. "What's happening to me?" he thought to himself. Then aloud, "What do I think? I think it's quite unlike Twilight to fail in finishing an assignment. I think she may be hiding something."

Rarity pulled back slightly and furrowed her brows, looking somewhat perturbed. "What? No no! I was asking you what you thought of my new outfit!"

Spike went back to inspecting her physique. Rarity wore an odd coat and ensemble. It was bright red, almost the same shade of red as Applejack's barn, but trimmed with a soft, white fuzzy material around the trunk and the two short sleeves. She also wore a floppy red cap that came to a point at a small, fuzzy ball, which was also white. What attracted Spike's attention the most was the skirt.

Actually it was a miniskirt.

Actually it was two circles of the same plush fuzzy trim, one slightly larger, spaced very, VERY close together with fabric in between. It was bright red just like the rest of the outfit.

It was at that moment that, as his gaze wandered from her skirt back to the perfect curvature of Rarity's bottom, Spike spotted another strip of fabric peeking out from underneath the splayed tube of the skirt, gently caressing her backside in a fashion that was not too tight or too loose.

Spike swallowed a lump and then mustered his voice. "Wha... What are you wearing on your b..." He found his concentration kept returning to the brink of fading everytime his eyes wandered back there, and he tried his level best to snap his gaze back to Rarity's face.

Rarity leaned forward even more. Spike knew it was just a trick of the sunlight, but he swore that the blue in Rarity's eyes had gotten deeper at that moment.

"My what, Spike?"

"What are you wearing on your, your down there?"

Rarity arched her back and turned her head to glance down the length of her spine. Using her magic, she hiked up one corner of her skirt. "My behind? I'm not sure what to call it just yet, but I made this in a flash of inspiration. It came to me after our first trip to the frozen north to save the Crystal Empire. There are simply not enough words to describe that kind of cold, and while I DO love my winter coats, there is nothing most ponies wear that could protect against the cold and the wind for my... my backside. So I crocheted this thing out of llama wool and viola. It's very warm and soft and oh so cuddly." Rarity released a girlish squeak as she wrapped herself in a hug. Then, spotting Spike's curious tilt of his head, she cleared her throat and continued. "Well it fits the silkiness of the jacket and skirt very well. They're made of plush and velvet. So? What do you think?"

Spike crossed his legs even tighter as the heat built up to an almost intolerable level. He also started to regret drinking so much water as another urge suddenly hit him. He raised a shaky index claw as he slowly and carefully stood up from his stool.

"I uh... What I think is... I really need to use the little boy dragon's room."

Rarity blinked and jerked her head back as she brought a hoof to her chest, taken slightly by surprise with the rather mildly crass declaration. She was only momentarily flustered, though, and eventually managed to find her words. "I uh well okay. I'll wait for you here then."

"No no. That's okay. Go check to see if Twilight is done," Spike muttered through gritted teeth as he stood up from his chair and hobbled forward in a rather awkward way.

Before Rarity could reply, he darted for the main building of the restaurant, where an outhouse awaited around the back.

Rarity's lips fell into a pout as she watched Spike disappear. She turned to the side and almost came to the decision to pull off her outfit and stash it away until she gave the restaurant a second look and saw the fleeting image of Spike's tail waggling to and fro as he ran. It amused her to the point that her bad mood disappeared, and she forgot all about stowing her outfit.

She turned her head to the road just a few dozen feet from the outside table she sat at. She spotted her cart full of her things.

"Well it's still a few hours until our train, but I suppose checking on Twilight won't be out of order."

An uncomfortable sigh distracted Rarity, and she turned her head to the other side to spot the waiter, now in a state of gloominess.

"Is there anypony going to spend some bits?" he muttered.

"I'll take a lemonade. Thank you."

* * *

Spike wasn't sure what it was called, but he was sure it was something that he couldn't possibly begin to ask Twilight about. It was just but one thing in a series of embarrassing changes his body had been going through since he grew slightly in size.

It had been coming for the past five minutes or so, starting as a growing heat in various parts of his body and building toward something like a mix of a throbbing in his groin and feeling an increase in blood flow to his face.

His backside was planted firmly over the opening of the toilet, his tail tucked neatly away to the side. Ponyville toilets weren't designed with the stiffness of dragon tails in mind, but he had gotten used to it over the years while living with Twilight. Now that Rarity and her outfit and especially her backside were fully on his mind, he seemed to have grown a second stiff tail out of the front of his body. His little boy dragon part had grown out of its sheath, just like he would do whenever he answered the call of his kidneys, but this time it was standing at attention. He gazed at it, almost admiring it, like it was some monument to dragonhood.

The heat in his body caused the deeper parts of his brain to buzz different ideas, urges and thoughts to the more cognitive parts. Most of these thoughts involved Rarity somehow.

His bladder also called, or more like complained, from all the water he drank, and Spike felt conflicted. He supposed he had better answer the more pressing concern first, for fear of bursting, but found setting about to the task much harder than it should've been, with his member at an angle not proper for the business.

He first thought of doing it standing up. This brought back memories of when he was six weeks, two days, ten hours, fifteen minutes and thirty eight seconds old, and he had wanted to show Twilight his new trick, which apparently involved him showing her his new ability to take off his diaper by himself. It had ended badly for Twilight when a jet of yellow liquid knocked a rather expensive vase off a shelf and onto Twilight's young head.

He decided against it and tried lying cross ways and face down on the toilet bowl, with his member pointing into the hole, but he found his balance to be slightly wonky like this. His tail kept thumping on the side of the outhouse, and with his back legs swinging slightly off the ground, he had to keep touching the floor in front of him with his claw tips every now and then to keep balance.

Doing it just sitting and having his boy part stand straight up was out of the question. He couldn't even imagine how angry the restaurant owners would be if he had made a mess that way.

He settled on a good position that involved sitting on the seat but leaning forward like he was going to hug his knees. It allowed for his member to remain relatively close to the bowl while still keeping his balance. He reached in with one hand and pushed down on his member to ensure his aim. It didn't hurt too much.

Satisfied, Spike relaxed his bladder and heard the splashes of liquid on liquid. It started off as a trickle and then escalated into a stream. After he had finished, he sat up and grabbed a square of toilet paper and used it to dab the end of his dragonhood.

He was relieved that one problem had been solved, but he was still left with the much bigger problem of his upright boy part. He wasn't even sure what to make of it. It wasn't a subject Twilight had educated him on. Something about Rarity brought this unusual change in him, far beyond the playful puppy love he used to feel. He didn't have the foggiest idea about mare parts, but he had an inkling about the mechanics.

The buzzing in his brain grew more frantic. He had to answer his urge. It couldn't be resisted any longer. The image of Rarity and her skirt that just barely covered her posterior entered his mind again as he gazed down at his member. His lips parted slightly and a flush came to his cheeks as he reached out and touched the tip. The head of the shaft became engorged, and he pulled his index claw away to find a strand of some kind of sticky liquid clinging to it. He pulled his hand closer to his nostrils and gave the liquid a sniff but smelled nothing. Intrigued by the gooey property of this new liquid escaping from his boy part, he determined that it wasn't pee and rubbed his claws back and forth, smearing the liquid on the other digits of his hand.

He felt his member throb and tingle. He touched the main shaft and sucked in a quick breath when he felt a jolt of pleasure. It was so sensitive. The buzzing in his brain became matched by the tingling in his dragonhood by intensity. His whole body felt like it had turned to fire and that he needed to push this sensation down into himself so that it could release outward all at once.

Acting on instinct, he wrapped his whole right hand around the fullness of his member. Every single claw embraced a piece of it, one digit after the other. The tingling intensified around the outside edges of his digits, but he was far from done. He sucked in another quick breath of pleasure as pushed down. The liquid he had smeared on his claws provided a small bit of lubrication, allowing him motion without much friction. His lips parted even further, his tongue barely passed the end of his teeth, and he panted as he reversed direction and worked his hand up and towards the tip, increasing pressure on his grip on the way.

He thought of every part of Rarity. Her wonderful smile. Her coy way of winking. Then his mind moved on towards other territory. He found himself almost half embarrassed to be thinking them. He still saw Rarity as a friend, and his thoughts were something he was too shy and felt too dirty over to risk something ruined by opening up about private thoughts. However, with his mind swimming with this newfound sensation, he felt no desire to inhibit himself and let his thoughts and body run with only the barest amount of control.

The image of Rarity winking at him came again, but he imagined her standing slightly sideways, looking over her shoulder at him and giving him a view of her backside. Her mane hung more loosely than usual, with the coils not as close to each other as she usual kept them. It covered one eye and the other eye she kept half closed in a rather seductive fashion. He saw her carefully styled tail cascade down past her backside like a small waterfall. She lifted her front right hoof and cocked it in a playful pose as she lifted her tail slightly and gave her rump a small wiggle.

"Hunh. Ah," Spike groaned as he worked up and down.

The pleasure and tingling and heat grew and grew inside him as he rubbed. As his hand became slicker and his thoughts became more ravenous, he picked up speed and intensity of the pressure. It wasn't long before he imagined himself close to Rarity at her backside as she brought her front end close to the ground and angled her rump upwards. He imagined himself tenderly grasping her backside as he rubbed up against her. He followed his thoughts by using his hips to thrust up against his hand with each rub in the opposite direction. Faster and faster he worked. Rubbing. Squeezing. Thrusting. His tail slapped the side of the toilet. His eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth opened wide with his body sensations flooding his brain. His tongue hung loose as he panted. He became lost to the pleasure. He turned his rocking and bucking motions loose onto almost automatic.

"Unnngh. Ha. Nuh. Uh! Oh! OH! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Spike felt something open up deep inside him, followed by a rushing sensation. He arched his back as the pleasurable tingling hit full tilt and sped from his toes up to the tip of his snout, and he gasped as he became taken by surprise from a rhythmic throbbing that seized his member, squeezing the base of the shaft with involuntary spasms and defying the grip of his hand. He curled his toe claws as a white, sticky liquid shot out of his boy part, despite his hand wrapped tightly around the girth.

The first glob hit the ceiling of the outhouse, rocketing out of his dragonhood with a power that almost scared Spike. The second glob shot past his head and landed on his spines. The third got him square in the face. Squirt after squirt. Shot after shot. It came and came and poured and poured. Most after the third squirt landed on his chest, but Spike accidentally shifted positions, and a couple globs shot past the toilet and landed on the outhouse floor. He clasped his hands to the front of his member in an attempt to get it to stop but only succeeded in getting the substance all over his hands and claws. Finally it slowed to a trickle before stopping by itself. He gave one final gasp of pleasure, marvelling at what he had experienced as his member shrank away back into its sheath.

After a quick pause to regain his presence of mind, he glanced down at himself and all around and smirked, immediately feeling a different kind of burn--the burn of shame. He had made an extremely big mess. White goo covered his chest, and he felt some on the top of his head and on his face. A small puddle of the substance was on the floor in front of the toilet.

A loud knock at the door of the outhouse made the shame burn even hotter. He felt his heart thump louder and a dry lump leap into his throat.

"Um. Still occupied!" Spike exclaimed, panicking.

Running short on ideas, he started grabbing toilet paper like there was no tomorrow. After a sizable wad of paper was in his claws, he started wiping and dabbing, first his head, then his face, then his chest and finally the floor. When he had made sure everything was nice and clean, he tossed the paper into the toilet and flushed, hoping against hope that it would all go down. He breathed a sigh of relief when, strangely enough, it did.

Glancing up at the ceiling, he spotted a moist spot in the grain of the wood where his first glob had hit. There wasn't anything he could do about it. He blushed at the thought that he had just created a new unique feature in the outhouse through an act of indecency.

Another knock came at the door, more insistent than before, startling him.

"I'm done! I'm done!" he shouted as he opened the door.

A stallion strolled past him as Spike hustled out of the bathroom. The stallion glared at him with a scowl on his face.

* * *

Twilight slowly sighed as she gazed at the bassinet that served as Spike's place to sleep. It still lay in its usual spot, which was on the floor directly at the foot of her bed. She gave a hard swallow.

"Should I buy a bigger bassinet?" She then paused. "A bed? A small pile of gold?" Her words then died away to just above a whisper. "Find a cave somewhere? Oh Spike."

Twilight felt like her heart had grown twice as heavy inside her chest. She regarded the cushion in the bassinet that made up the bulk of the bedding area. She noticed the indentation had become slightly larger than she last remembered, a sign of her assistant's new size.

"How much had he grown? Six inches? A foot?" she mused.

Over to her left, down near the study level, she spotted her saddle bags and a couple smaller suitcases, all lying open. Most of the saddle bags were nearly full, save for a few spots for a couple odd items that Twilight could probably think to pack. The suitcases only showed a few items.

"I suppose I should pack some things to keep track of Spike's growth, but..." Her mouth curled into a sour frown when she realized her situation. "I'm all out of writing material. Oh wait! I know!"

Twilight kneeled down and glanced underneath her bed, spotting a small, brown box. Snagging it with her magic, she dragged it out and popped the lid off. Inside were a couple items and various odds and ends. Her attention was drawn to a small book that was several inches thick and about nine inches tall. She lifted it out of the box with her magic and turned the book over several times. It wasn't very ornately decorated, which suited Twilight's love of simplicity, but her name was etched in silver thread on the front, cursive letters carving shallow paths into the plush velvet binding. The simple contrasts of the two colors and the textures of rough thread on soft plush brought Twilight a small sense of delight. The words had small flourishes here and there that weren't too elegant, making Twilight feel like the book still had a personalized touch that was balanced enough to satisfy her tastes.

She delicately opened up the small book, the binding creaking slightly and the paper softly rustling. Inside were various scrawls of her thoughts and feelings, all dated in a journal fashion and going back farther than she could remember herself. There were also scraps of paper hanging past the edges of the book, like they were loose notes taped into the book's pages, and also a few photographs peaking out as well. A tiny corner of the image on one photograph caught her attention, and she turned to the page containing it. A fine veil of tears came to her eyes. It was a photo of her and Spike when they were much younger. The two of them stood in front of the remaining shard of the egg that had held Spike as a hatchling. Twilight looked into the camera, all smiles and with a hopeful glimmer in her eyes. Spike merely sucked on his tail. As Twilight regarded the photo, one corner of her mouth pulled upwards slightly in a bittersweet smile, but the tears started to flow freely.

"He always did have the cutest eyes, and he still has that winning smile. When it's not stuffed with gems," she said with a mild chuckle.

She quickly turned past the page and headed towards the back of the book, pausing briefly to browse a part towards the middle that seemed stuffed with various smaller loose leaf papers and notes glued to the pages, causing that part of the journal to bulge slightly. She wrinkled her nose when she read a few lines and noted that they were not things she wanted repeated to her friends. She then continued flipping pages until she came to a section near the back with blank sheets. Satisfied, she nodded to herself and then closed the book, only to nearly drop it from her levitation field when she became startled by the sound of Rarity's voice filtering up from downstairs.

"Yoohoo! Twilight! Are you done packing? It's almost time for us to leave for our train. I've got our vacation packages all ready."

"Um... Not yet!" Twilight called as she hurried over to her saddle bags, her journal in tow.

She frantically searched about in her bags for a place to pack her journal. She pushed and prodded the book into various spaces, but she found no luck as her bags were packed to nearly full. She then heard her bedroom door open. Turning her head, she spotted a smiling Rarity trot on in, sporting a bright red outfit Twilight had never seen before and levitating a half-empty glass of lemonade next to her.

"Let me help you!" Rarity exclaimed.

Rarity placed her lemonade on a side table before eagerly approaching closer to Twilight. Twilight promptly placed her journal on the floor and sat on it. Rarity browsed the saddle bags, making mental notes of what Twilight had already packed.

"It looks like you're almost done," Rarity said. "I mean you've got a couple warm things to wear in here. You've also got... Twilight!" She whirled around and gave her friend a stern gaze. "Did you pack some things for experiments in here? This vacation is so you could relax!"

Twilight shifted about uneasily. The book felt really uncomfortable to sit on.

"It's just a few gadgets! Nothing more!" Twilight said as she nervously waved at Rarity.

"You should bring something to entertain yourself. And don't forget poor Spike as well! Like maybe a book like the one you're sitting on. Is that book for Spike? May I see it?"

"No!" Twilight held out a hoof as Rarity approached to satisfy her curiosity. "This book isn't for anypony! There's absolutely nothing in it for you or Spike or anypony else!"

Rarity paused and gave a tilt of her head, looking somewhat perplexed. "It's not like you not to share a book with your friends. What is that?"

She trotted over uncomfortably closer and craned her neck downwards, tilting her head this way and that in the hope that she could see underneath Twilight's posterior. Twilight shifted around as she sat on top of the book to keep Rarity from taking a peak.

"It's nothing!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Is that your diary?" Rarity cooed in a sing song fashion.

Twilight reached out with her magic, grabbing the brim of Rarity's bright red hat and pulling it tightly down over the eyes. With Rarity suitably distracted, Twilight quickly levitated the book back to one of her saddle bags and crammed it underneath one of her coats.

"Now that that's out of the way, help me pack for Spike," Twilight urged.

Twilight headed back up to the level where her bed and nightstand were situated. Rarity looked around Twilight's bookshelves.

"Are you going to bring along a book for Spike? I might borrow one of your books myself to unwind and relax at the end of each day. Visiting all the shops and spas isn't exactly easy business."

Twilight briefly looked up from her doings and rolled her eyes at Rarity's ideas of hard work. "I've already formulated a plan on how to keep Spike busy so that I can go about the things I need to do. I just need to get it on paper. Er." Twilight glanced down and saw the furrow in Rarity's brows. "I might also pack some puzzles and coloring books in his suitcase." She then went back to levitating some knick knacks out of her nightstand and browsing some more.

"Kiddie stuff? Honestly, Twilight. What about...?" Rarity furrowed her brows once more as she examined one of Twilight's private bookcases, spotting a book that seemed to stand apart from the rest and levitating it out. "Unstrapping the Saddle and Strapping the Stallion? Oh Twilight! I know this novel! This is..." Her bright, excited tone of voice suddenly fell slightly hushed. "This is... obviously not for Spike."

"Gwwaaaaaaaaah!"

Rarity looked up just in time to see Twilight in a heap at the bottom of the stairs leading away from her bed.

"By the living daylights, how many times am I going to fall down stairs today?" Twilight then got up and levitated the book away from Rarity. "I didn't mean for you to see that. That's... I don't even read that... all that much." Twilight then chuckled nervously.

Rarity snatched the book back. "Oh Twilight. Having a saucy romance novel isn't anything to be ashamed about. If you're not reading it, then please let me borrow it."

Twilight bit her lower lip as she eyed the book floating in Rarity's magic. "Are you sure I can't ply you with something else? Like maybe, um..."

She scanned the bookshelf. Her entire collection of Daring Do novels had been borrowed by Rainbow Dash. Most of the other books were nonfiction pieces of very technical topics that Twilight surmised wouldn't interest Rarity. Then Twilight spotted a book and pulled it out.

"What about this book on ice skating?"

"Well that's very thoughtful of you, Twilight, but I already know how to ice skate. It sounds like a book that you should probably take along to this winter resort."

Twilight flipped the book around so that she could look at the cover. The image of a cheerful snowbound wonderland and a happy couple skating on a frozen pond greeted her.

"Hmm. Well maybe you've got a point. Perhaps Spike would like to learn as well."

Rarity smiled broadly. "There you go! So may I borrow this one?"

Twilight nervously furrowed her brows as she rubbed the back of her head. Then she slowly nodded. Rarity squealed with delight while Twilight levitated the ice skating book and the various knick knacks she had pulled out of her nightstand over to the suitcases, packing them away. She then slid her saddle bags on her back while Rarity took the suitcases.

"Have you got everything?" Rarity asked as she gave the bedroom a quick scan. "If you want to pack some more things, you could always make use of my cart."

Twilight couldn't help but smile at this thought. "I think I'm good."

Crush

Rarity and Twilight left the library to head back to the restaurant and found quite a scene in the form of a line of grumbling, anxious stallions waiting near the boys room.

"What in the world?" Twilight exclaimed, standing in the road with her mouth agape.

Rarity headed to her cart and placed Spike's suitcases inside. She then looked around. "Where's Spikey Wikey? Is he still in that bathroom?"

"I'm done! I'm done!" the two of them heard a familiar voice call.

A small purple dragon darted out of the outhouse, looking somewhat red in the face as an angry stallion hurriedly muscled past him and headed in.

"H-hey guys. Are we all ready to go?" Spike muttered as he approached, still half out of breath.

The young dragon pasted on a plastic smile that Twilight raised an eyebrow at.

"What have you been doing, Spike?" Twilight asked.

The dragon clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth on his heels. "Doing? I haven't been doing anything. Just, uh, just using the bathroom."

Twilight tilted her head and wrinkled her nose, wondering on whether to accept his explanation. "From the looks of that line, you were in there quite longer than usual."

Spike's defenses seemed to falter, and he stuttered and tried to find the right words. "Um... Well I was, uh... When Rarity..."

Rarity's high-pitched call distracted Spike from his embarrassment.

"Come on, dears! We're going to be late for our train! Spike. Would you be a dear and help me with this cart?"

Spike wasted no time in eagerly bounding towards Rarity, his flustered frown replaced by a toothy grin. In a few energetic steps, he was over by Rarity's cart in a flash and grabbed the harness, slipping his arms through. Rarity smiled and laughed as she saw how clumsy Spike looked, flailing his arms and twisting his body this way and that as he struggled to fit his two-legged self through the loop of straps designed for a four-legged pony. Then, in a huff, he gave up and reached to the sides to grab the two wooden beams projecting from the cart's base. Leaning forward, he strained against the cart's weight, his back legs sliding a few time until he finally won the battle against momentum and felt the wheels turn.

Twilight and Spike followed Rarity over to the train station, where Rarity pulled out their vacation packets and produced the travel tickets part of their packet. Twilight glanced back from her place on the boarding platform and saw her young dragon friend heave and place the last few lumbering steps until the cart was secure on the wooden structure. With a weeze, he dropped the twin arms of the cart and fell forward on his belly to nurse his spent energy. From his viewpoint on the ground, he could see through the forest of pony legs the massive cylinder of iron that was the train, hissing steam like a dragon would weeze out smoke while snoring. As he lazed on the platform floor, deciding upong whether to muster up the strength to stand up, he also saw Rarity ahead of him, dealing with the business of giving the train tickets to the conductor. Her back was turned to him, and as he craned his neck up, he found his eyes becoming drawn to her bottom once more. He didn't get to dwell on his view of her rear for too long, as Twilight entered his field of vision, bending down slightly and offering a helping hoof.

"Come on, Spike. Stand up," Twilight urged.

Spike accepted Twilight's hoof and allowed her to help him to get to his feet. He then pulled the cart a bit closer to the train, and that was when he noticed that Rarity seemed to be arguing with the conductor.

"Madam. I'm afraid that you can't bring that cart onto this train. It is much too large for any car on this train, and we have a weight limit. Even if you managed to separate all your items, which I doubt you'd be able to do in time, registering and stowing all those bags will probably cost you more than a hundred bits. Your limit is five bags. Please choose or leave the cart here."

Rarity's steely glare looked like it could take the conductor's head off at the neck. "Don't even talk to me about 'too large'. If Pinkie Pie can fit a three layer cake into the dining car and Applejack can fit a tree of all things into the caboose, then I can fit my cart full of my things."

A bead of sweat formed at the corner of the conductor's brow as he weathered Rarity's demands, trying to keep his composure and his sense of customer service. "I... I'm not aware of those events. I wasn't the conductor for that train. B-but I'm afraid... Uh..." The conductor swallowed hard as Rarity got closer and her stare intensified. "I have a schedule to keep. Please madam."

Rarity backed off, puffed her cheeks into a pout and stomped a hoof. Spike walked a little closer.

"Um. Rarity?" Spike piped up. "I've only got two suitcases. I could take a couple of your bags and maybe your large trunk and then you could take five of your own bags."

She tenderly rubbed the top of Spike's head. "Oh what a gentlecolt you are, Spike. But..." She gave her cart a glance. "There are so many bags, and I'd still have to choose." She then gave a short whine.

Shortly afterwards, a blue unicorn stallion with a flowing black mane muscled his way in between Twilight and Spike, shoving them to the side as he made his way to Rarity. "That won't be necessary, my good lady," the stranger said.

Spike's jaw dropped, but he couldn't be sure whether it was from his intrusion or how slick and deep his voice was. Rarity looked up and seemed to become lost in the stallion's eyes. Her eyes narrowed in a manner somewhere between sultry and shy. Spike had seen it before when Rarity first described "him", or Prince Blueblood before Rarity discovered what a jerk he was, to Twilight.

"Oh my. Hello there," Rarity squeaked. She bounced her locks once in one of her front hooves.

"Who's this joker?" Spike muttered.

"Let's skip the formalities. My name's Sky Sparks."

Rarity's voice exuded a subdued smoothness. "I am..."

"That's great. Conductor! You can fit her cart in the utility car behind my private compartment. I'll pay the weight fee."

Rarity's eyes widened with excitement and her smile became broader. "You have a private car?"

The stranger flashed a big smile full of straight, flawless teeth. "I had it reserved weeks ahead of time. It's for passengers who desire to be alone during the trip. Although I don't have to be alone now. Are you doing anything later this evening?"

Rarity's mouth dropped, and she elicted a gasp. "Well I..."

"You are now. Join me for dinner in my private compartment at six."

"I... I..."

"That's great." Sky Sparks then turned his head towards the conductor, who stood gobsmacked. "Conductor!"

The conductor snapped out of his stupor and then realized Sky Sparks' demands. He made his way over to the porters, but Spike didn't see what had happened after that.

"Twilight. Can you believe this...? Twilight?" Spike had turned his head to talk to Twilight, only to find she was no longer standing next to him. "Where are you?"

Spike headed down the length of the train towards the other end of the boarding platform, moving his head this way and that to scan the bustling crowd.

"Over here, Spike," came Twilight's voice.

The dragon looked in one direction and spotted Twilight standing in front of one of the loading doors. She turned her head towards him.

"What's up?" Twilight asked.

Spike furrowed his brows. "Why did you come all the way over here?"

The bookworm glanced down the length of the boarding platform back towards where her friend Rarity stood. She saw the fashion unicorn still chatting it up with the newcomer. Against her better side, Twilight started to bristle, but she quickly regained her composure to avoid Spike seeing her that way. To satisfy Spike's question, she opted to tell him the more mundane version of her story.

"I like the air better over here," she said.

It hadn't been a complete lie. The engine was in the opposite direction.

"So what's got you all upset, Spike?" Twilight continued.

"Huh? Oh! Him! Well that jerk over there..." Spike turned around and started to point but dropped his claw soon afterwards. "What is he...? Hey! I'll bite his head off!"

The impulsive dragon darted forward, his longer legs propelling him almost out of reach of Twilight's magic, catching her slightly off guard. Twilight gasped as she stumbled back slightly but then quickly reached out and snagged Spike by the tail in a levitation field. The dragon had his arms outstretched, as he were trying to catch something, and he continued dragging claws on the floor and going nowhere. Twilight would've found it more amusing if Spike's anger didn't irritate her.

"Whoa-ho there, tiger. Cool your heels. Don't go starting trouble. Come on. Let's go meet up with Rarity and see what's what before we board the train. Did he say what his name was?"

Spike slowly calmed down when he realized Twilight had him restrained. Twilight released him when he dropped his arms and stopped pedalling. The two of them then started walking back towards Rarity's location.

"He said his name was... Sky something. Skyquake? No that's not right."

Twilight cast an incredulous eye at Spike as she walked beside him. As they approached Rarity, Spike noticed that the interloper had gone and that Rarity walked towards them. A cheerful smile parted her lips, and her eyes possessed a dreamy, far away kind of look.

"Oh Twilight!" Rarity crooned. "Sky Sparks is magnificent! He offered to keep my cart safe and paid the extra weight fee. Isn't that wonderful?"

Her eyes moved to Spike, who looked slightly away. She then looked Twilight.

"Uh... That sounds very generous. What else is he like?"

Rarity's smile faded slightly. "You sound a little..."

"Well it's just that this stallion just sort of dropped in out of the blue, and you don't know him from anywhere, and NOW you're trusting him with your cart, which might I add, contains some of Spike's things?"

The white unicorn opposite Twilight drew her head back, eyes wide and her right front hoof pressed to her chest. "Twilight!" she squeaked. "I would've thought by now you trusted my judgment of character. I'm surprised at you!"

Twilight's lips parted slightly, the slight beration catching her by surprise. She could see the indignation and hurt in Rarity's eyes. She then wondered to herself if she was slipping in her lessons on friendship but kept her thoughts to herself. She opened her mouth to offer an apology, but a retort from Spike pierced the air first.

"Like Prince Blueblood?"

Rarity released a pained gasp, and her jaw hung like the following silence. Twilight cast a wide-eyed glance at Spike. The only sound that passed between them was a loud zip as the young dragon found himself with his mouth tightly secured.

"I am SO sorry, Rarity. Spike didn't mean that. Let's board our train, and I'll make it up to you. Would you join me for dinner later and allow me to pay for it?"

Rarity watched as Twilight struggled with Spike, but Rarity's mind was elsewhere. She seemed rather surprised at what Twilight felt was an ordinary prospect.

"Dinner? But..." Rarity started. She then glanced back at the crowned private car in the rear of the first class section.

"Is that not convenient for you?" Twilight asked, her words punctuated by grunts as she fought to keep Spike in place.

Rarity looked back at her friends and gave an awkward smile. "Sure! I'd love that from a good friend such as you. I'll join you in a few hours in the dining car. Let's say five?"

"Good! Come on, Spike. Let's go..."

"Actually, Spike!" Rarity piped up, interrupting Twilight. "I know most of my things are packed away on my cart, but how would you like to help me put away and organize my personal effects?"

The dragon's eyes went wide with excitement, and he pulled away from Twilight's grip to reach up and undo the magic zipper keeping his lips restrained.

"Absolutely!"

It was Twilight's turn to seem indignant. "Spike!"

Spike turned back towards Twilight and gave a sly grin and a casual shrug. The three friends then heard the shriek of the train's whistle pierce the air.

"All aboard!" the conductor bellowed.

"Quick! Let's get on the train!" Twilight exclaimed.

The conductor waved the three friends into the train as they hurried through one of the loading doors of a passenger car. Twilight headed towards a seating section and found a bench to sit down on. As she stowed away her saddle bags and got herself settled, the train lurched forward once and then slowly built up speed. Soon she heard the huffing and chugging of the train's powerful engine as it pulled away from the station. Several seconds later, Spike passed by her and waved as he gaily followed Rarity towards a sleeper compartment. They quickly moved by her, keeping her from getting a word in. She lightly sighed when she heard the door close behind them. Left all alone, she decided to reach down into her saddle bag and retrieve her book on ice skating.

The cover gave her a warm if somewhat bittersweet feeling. A romantic winter setting, rendered in a somewhat soft, impressionistic fashion, graced the cover of the book. Twilight's eyes drew towards the focus of the wintery scene, a young pony couple who skated side by side. Their bodies drew close to each other, neither seeming like that pony would drift from the other's side. Their legs kicked out in perfect unison as they seemed to glide across the ice, the picture suggesting a graceful, fluid dance. Though their bodies were painted with light pastel colors and brushed with an airy stroke, Twilight could still make out happy, loving smiles on the ponies' faces. She played out a couple scenes in her head as she regarded the book, one of which was that the ponies must've been a loving couple. Then she suddenly thought of the couple as being her and Spike, skating side by side in graceful poetic motion and having a good time, and this brought a slight blush to her cheeks.

"What am I doing?" she muttered to herself. "I'm supposed to be working on my spells with Spike. Oh Spike." She gave half a sigh after breathing his name and turned the front cover back.

The first few pages talked about the technical parts of an ice skate, such as how to lace up and parts like the toe pick. She flipped past these and read a part on gaining confidence near the skating rink wall and feeling the outer edge of the skate's blade.

"Well that seems easy enough but we'll probably be doing our skating on a pond or a lake."

She flipped some more pages before giving a glance up from the book and out the window next to her seat. A serene autumn scene unfolded before her as the train steamed away from the familiar, bustling town life of Ponyville. The landscape returned spots of red, brown and gold that were the season's vibrant palette. Snow hadn't fallen yet, but Twilight surmised there would be plenty of wintery activities at her destination to keep Spike and herself occupied.

"Oh that reminds me!" Twilight exclaimed as a thought came upon her. "I should probably get some more information on this winter resort from Rarity so that I can formulate a plan of events for Spike and me. I hope she won't mind me dropping in on her while she's busy. Maybe I can give Spike's gift while I'm over there. I just need to find it in this saddle bag somewhere."

Twilight shifted in placed and leaned over to retrieve her saddle bag. She wrapped the straps around her hooves, lifted it up from where it rested under her bench and opened up the flaps. After shuffling around a couple items a few times, she found the gift and retrieved it. It looked as shiny and extravagant as ever, its wrapping paper glimmering with a metallic luster in the sunlight streaming through the window. It's golden bow displayed perfect symmetry. Not a single loop was larger than its neighbor, and the bands crossed each other over the box's perfect center. Upon closer inspection, Twilight also noticed that the wrapping paper seemed to be embedded with a fine powder of blue crystals that she hadn't noticed before. The microscopic facets of the coating of gems scattered the light in a dazzling hue, enhancing the metallic sheen of the paper and going well with the purple and gold.

The unicorn pondered that it must've been something for Spike to wear when she remembered how Rarity had been going on about the gift. Yet Rarity could've given him any warm coat from her boutique, and Twilight herself packed scarves and coats. Twilight felt Rarity didn't need to trouble herself with giving a gift just for Spike to have something to wear.

"Well it must be something super neat. Like maybe a hat or a scarf with some kind of design? Or even a warm woolen vest? But... this box is too nice for anything like that. Rarity gives away things like that all the time, but this gift is so extravagant. I hope Rarity didn't have to work too hard on it. I wonder what it is."

Like a little filly on Hearth's Warming Eve, Twilight did the one thing all fillies did with gifts. She gave a it small shake. She heard several muffled thuds but nothing to indicate that anything hard was inside.

"What are you doing, Twilight?" she chided herself. "Friends don't snoop around the gifts given to other friends." She sat back down on the seat, kicking her thoughts down a flight of stairs she had constructed in her head. "But on the other hand it's not exactly a special occasion. I guess one little peek couldn't hurt."

Her thoughts crawled back up the mental staircase.

"Oh wait!" she exclaimed as she stood up again. "I don't even have to open it! I know a sight spell! It'll let me see inside the box! Ha ha! Perfect!"

She levitated the gift in front of her then glanced to the side. She spotted a couple incredulous stares from some of the passengers in the other seats. Twilight merely flashed a brief, toothy smile before turning her attention back towards the gift. She closed her eyes and pointed her horn at the gift as it levitated in front of her, a warm pinkish purple aura of light wrapping around her horn and the gift. As she tapped into more magic, the light intensified, and she squinted her eyes tighter in concentration. Finally the spell resolved itself, and glittering sparkles danced across Twilight's shut eyelids. She opened them up and looked at the gift again. Her jaw went slack and a gasped escaped her mouth when she saw the image that materialized.

"Why... but... this is..." Twilight stammered.

An assortment of extravagant and gorgeous clothes displayed themselves before her in a glowing image bubble centered on the box.

"I can see some kind of dark dinner jacket, possibly grosgrain. High Canterlot wool for the fabric. A poplin weave cotton shirt. A silk dress scarf with her logo on it. No cumberbund or neck ruffles. Well she did promise it wouldn't be too frilly. I do see a top hat, though. There's also a warm winter sweater in here. Seems to be also made of wool but of a coarser texture. And is that...?" Twilight gasped and ran the tip of her tongue across the end of her palate. "Is that a deep ocean sapphire in that tie? Why they're one of the rarest sapphires around and rumored to act as magic energy charges. This is so... so..." Twilight released her magic and let the gift drop unceremoniously onto the bench. "This isn't fair."

As the gift soundly plopped onto the seat, a retangular piece of paper became jostled out of its hiding spot and started peaking out from behind the bow.

"Hmm. What's this? An envelope?" She snatched the new item in her levitation and examined it closer. "I'd better not open this."

Inspecting the envelope revealed that it was just an ordinary, decidedly unfancy post office envelope, of a small size perfect for taping onto gifts. Twilight gave a couple quick sniffs and detected the faint presence of Rarity's favorite perfume. When she turned it to the other side, Twilight spotted writing in a flowery, elegant, flowing cursive, written in an azure ink.

"To the most gracious of gentlecolts, my dearest heart of ember, Spikey Wikey," Twilight read to herself. "Rarity's calligraphy. No doubt that letter is filled with gushy gooey romantic fluff that Spike will adore." She tucked the letter back underneath the ribbon. She then turned around and proceeded to stare out of the window again. A faded image of her reflection stared back. "Twilight. You are j... je... You are... No that's ridiculous!" Twilight shook her head vigorously and whirled back around to look at the gift.

It seemed to sparkle even more radiantly than before.

"I think... I think I should put this away for now."

* * *

Spike dreamily followed Rarity around with his gaze as she milled about her sleeping compartment, arranging her smaller items that she didn't leave in her cart. With each new item placed, Spike half-mindedly reached into the saddle bag at his feet and pulled another item for her to take. He felt on top of the world, knowing he was doing something, however small, to assist Rarity. However as he gave her more and more items from her saddle bags, he started wishing he could be even more helpful.

"Rarity?" Spike asked slowly, cautiously.

He felt half afraid that he would interrupt Rarity's creativity, and it seemed a shame for her flow to be cut short or for her to rearrange a misplaced item. However, she remained as graceful as ever, and her rhythm stopped for nary a word.

"Yes?" she asked, not giving Spike a second look as she took another item from him with her levitation and found a place for it.

"Well. I know you're doing such a great job, and you're so graceful at the way you organize."

"Oh thank you, Spike."

"Yes, but uh..." He tapped his index claws together. "When you asked me to help you organize your things, I assumed that, you know, I would actually help you do the organizing."

The final thing Rarity put away was an elegant, transparent camisole that she hung up in a small closet set aside for passengers. She then finally spared a glance at Spike. His tender, doe-eyed look returned the gaze. She felt a familiar pitter-pat in her chest.

"That's very kind of you, Spike, but you're not exactly the most careful or meticulous dragon, and uh..." She faltered when she saw Spike's eyes start to look sorrowful. "And I'm quite done anyway! So it's not a problem. Thank you!" she said hastily.

"Are you sure there's nothing else?" Spike asked, starting to sound frantic.

"Well..." Rarity started, rubbing the back of her head as she glanced from Spike back towards her items. Her eyes then wandered over to where she had kept a few of her gowns that were folded up and stowed away. "Oh my stars! Is that a hole?!" she exclaimed as her eyes went wide. "Several holes?!"

"What? What happened?" Spike asked, growing a bit frantic.

Spike then suddenly felt his cheeks being grabbed, and he found himself looking into the icy blue orbs that entranced him so. His fears slowly started to melt away from the sight of the eyes he adored.

"Spike listen to me. I have to do a couple patch jobs, but I need to grab some materials from my wagon. Do you think you could keep an eye on my articles while I'm gone like a good little gentlecolt?"

The dragon raised a cautious claw, all the while never taking his eyes off of Rarity's face. "Uh. But aren't your things in..."

"Yes I know where they are, Spike. Could you do this for me, please? Pretty pretty please, my darling sweet dragon knight in purple armor?"

Spike's heart melted like so many campfire smores. "I will do it for you."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!"

Rarity drew Spike in closer for a big hug, and she gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek. When Rarity released her grip, Spike weaved and wobbled about in love sickness, feeling like the very heavens were dancing in his sight.

"Find something to keep yourself occupied if you get bored while I'm gone!" Rarity said as she headed for the door of the sleeping compartment.

As the dragon regained his composure and shook the love sickness from his daydreaming mind, he nodded and sat on the bed. "Okay, Rarity. Just remember that we have a..."

The door slammed closed. Rarity had exited.

"Dinner date with Twilight later," he finished.

Spike sighed. The high he experienced a few minutes earlier had evaporated, replaced with quiet but unorganized thoughts since Rarity was no longer in the room. His eyes meandered around the room, gazing at every article of clothing and item that Rarity had stowed away to keep them safe from the movement of the train. He was quite content to take his job literally, thinking it would please Rarity if he really did "keep an eye" on her things. He imagined himself as some kind of sentry, guarding the precious crown jewels of a beloved royal princess.

"Our love is forbidden, my darling Rarity, but I will find a way to make it not so, and then I will come for you. I will sweep you off your feet and take you away from this mad palace world. I will gather all the stars in the sky and fashion a glorious cloak of star dust for you." He then dropped his character moment and sighed, looking down at his feet as they dangled from the edge of the bed. "Yeah right, Spike. You haven't told Rarity your real feelings yet, and you're in here playing make believe. I mean does she even know? You always chicken out when you find the opportunity. What do you think, Miss Pillowcase?"

Spike turned to the head of the bed, a rather economically-sized model meant to conserve space in the sleeper car, where one of Rarity's plush, feather soft pillows she had brought along with her. The pillow presented an image of Rarity's head printed on the case. It smiled back at him but said no words.

"Not helping," Spike exclaimed as he picked up the pillow and hurled it to the other side of the bunk room.

The pillow hit a cubby hole built into the compartment's wall. Spike drew in a sharp breath when he saw it hit. The netting of the cubby hole flexed with the impact of the pillow, and single item fell out. He winced and averted his gaze, but when he heard a loud thud, he opened his eyes and sighed in relief when all that had fallen was a book.

"Guess I'd better pick things up," he mused.

He got up and quickly grabbed the pillow, setting it in its proper place on Rarity's bed. Then, whirling around, he spotted the book laying on its back cover on the floor. It didn't seem to be the kind of book that Rarity would normally have. It had no pastel colors. There were new gems adorning the outside, nor any frills. It also didn't seem to be either a catalog or a book on fashion, not that Rarity required the second. However, the book intrigued him. He stepped closer and regarded the cover. He spotted the image of a beautiful young mare enticing a strapping, muscular stallion with a provocative pose. The mare lay on an expansive bed, her unkempt mane cascading down her shoulders, her sultry eyes gazing through her let down hair at her powerful companion, who stood smiling at the foot of the bed, seemingly ready to climb in himself. Spike then read the title of the book and started wondering.

"What a strange looking book. I wonder what kind of story this is."

Spike sat down on Rarity's bed and started flipping through the pages to find out.

* * *

Twilight stifled a cough as the chill fall air whipped past her body, sped on to an even icier briskness by the forward chugging of the train. Up in the sky behind her loomed the towering cumulus city of Cloudsdale, its snow factory puffing away full steam for the onset of winter just around the corner. Twilight paid no mind to the prospect of the coming season or the pegasi hard at work. She remained lost in her thoughts as she gazed over the railing of the train's caboose, watching the town of Ponyville become even smaller in the distance and the rolling hills wizzing by.

The caboose provided a place for the crew to keep their gear and other belongings but also had a handy lookout point for those who wanted to gaze at the sights or even take in some fresh air. Twilight propped her body up against the barrier, leaning forward and staring solemnly out, but the fresh air and collecting her thoughts together provided no ease. In fact she felt as if the conductor had been eyeballing her suspiciously, even though he had said nothing more menacing than muttering to himself as he double checked the supplies and went over the time table to himself.

Rarity's gift to Spike levitated next to her. The wilderness seemed wide and lonely. It would be such an easy place for a certain small object to get lost in. For a few brief moments, as Twilight watched the trees and fields speed past her, she thought of the gift floating next to her with envy and turned a few malicious ideas in her head. She then gasped and made a few cautious steps away from the lookout when she found the place her thoughts had been in seemed too scary for her.

"Get a grip, Twilight," she muttered to herself after shaking her head. "You came here to collect your thoughts." She stared back out into the hills. "Okay. So you almost tossed your best friend's gift to your other best friend. Inside is something very beautiful and most assuredly very special. Spike will most likely adore it, and you should be happy that he would be happy when he gets it." Twilight gave herself a hollow, half-hearted laugh, almost as if to chase away some kind of fear and render it as nonsense. Then when the laugh died in an echo, she muttered, "Why am I feeling these things? What should I do?"

The hills returned no answer.

The unicorn caught another cough as she turned to her side where her saddle bag lay open. She pulled out a small book and a pencil and brought the graphite to the surface of a blank page. She started to mentally prepare herself to jot down some words when the sounds of speaking startled her out of her thoughts.

"Are you not cold, miss?" exclaimed someone behind her.

"Waaaaaaaaaaah!" Twilight said, almost dropping her book and the gift. She whirled around and spotted the conductor. "Don't do that!"

"Quite terribly sorry," the conductor said as he touched the tip of his hat. "I merely asked if you were not cold."

Twilight whipped both her book and the gift around to behind her back and fixed a firm and disapproving gaze on the conductor. "No I am not. I am quite fine."

The conductor nodded politely but didn't move from his spot.

Twilight's eyes narrowed as she regarded the conductor. When it seemed to her that he wouldn't leave any time soon, she cleared her throat, putting as much of her annoyance into the act as possible.

"Ahem!" she said.

The stallion raised an eyebrow, lines of concern on his brow. "Are you sure you're okay out here? That seems like quite the nasty sore throat you've got there."

Twilight started to feel exasperated. Although the conductor had every right to utilize the caboose, Twilight desired some privacy, and it seemed the indirect method wasn't going to work. She briefly lowered her head and grunted out an icy cloud of her breath. She tried her best to calm down before speaking again, to avoid saying anything premature towards the conductor.

"Conductor. I'm trying to find a moment of quiet reflection over here, and before you interrupted me, I was in the middle of writing something, uh, a little private. Hint hint."

The conductor met her gaze with a glimmer in his eyes. A broad smile parted his lips, a kind of knowing smile that made Twilight feel uneasy.

The stallion opened his mouth and proceeded to start his tale. "Oh. You've got yourself a little journal, do you? Why I remember my first journal. It was forty some odd years ago, I believe. I got it for my birthday. Would you believe my first entry was about a filly? I think her name was..."

As the conductor prattled away, Twilight blanched at the thought of hearing some more.

"Ugh! Nevermind!" she exclaimed gruffly before teleporting away.

When Twilight materialized, she found herself inside relative darkness. Scant beams of sunlight came in through small square windows. Upon casting her horn's light spell and looking around, she noticed that she must've been in one of the baggage cars. However, it seemed to be a little bit smaller than the train's other baggage cars. As she turned her head to survey her surroundings, she spotted a familiar cart.

"That looks like Rarity's cart. What's it doing here? I know Rarity said her new friend offered to pay the excess fee to store her cart, but this doesn't look anything like the regular baggage carts." Twilight turned her gaze up, following the huge mound of Rarity's belongings, and spotted where the last of her items barely brushed against the train car's ceiling. "And such a reckless way of storing her things. Why there's barely enough room in here." She then sat down and propped her back up against one of the cart's wheels. "But it is pretty quiet in here. Actually..."

A thought crossed Twilight's mind, and she looked around on the floor. She spotted Rarity's gift and levitated it up to her eye level.

"Hmm." She gave a hard swallow when she caught the dazzling shimmers of the wrapping. "I don't know what to feel about this. I can't bring myself to give this to Spike, even though I should. Rarity will be expecting me to, or she'll ask for it eventually. And yet this gift... it's so..." She screwed her eyes shut and swallowed the rest of her words. "But if I take it to my compartment or leave it in my saddle bags, Spike or Rarity would probably stumble upon it. This place actually looks like it would be good to hide the gift for a while until I can sort myself out."

She looked up and scanned the baggage car left and right, using her horn's light for guidance. She found what seemed like a pair of long but narrow rectangular boxes and a green sack tucked back in the far corner of the train car. With a casual whistle, she levitated the gift over to this collection of items and slowly slipped it behind them, shoving the gift cleanly out of sight.

"Oops," Twilight muttered, slightly mischievously.

She then looked around after she had done the deed, almost worried that some pony might have seen her, but she was the only soul around. Then, picking up her journal, which she spotted on the floor in front of her, she got up and headed towards the baggage car's exit. However, she paused just before she reached the door and gave a glance backwards, her brows steepled with sadness. She only gave the feeling just a moment before she finally willed herself to leave.

* * *

Spike placed the book to his side on the bed. He had been passing the time waiting for Rarity to come back by reading a strange romance novel he found among Rarity's belongings. Rarity was still away, but he found he could no longer keep reading the book after a couple chapters. There were feelings he couldn't describe welling up inside him, words he wanted to know the meanings of, and pages knitting out scenes of desire and love that caused his brain to buzz and his body to grow warm. Through it all, though, with the words he had read before bringing himself to stop, they mostly grew a sadness within him. He wiped his eyes profusely from time to time and sniffled, but the mist of tears still came, never really falling down his cheeks but never really going away either.

"That poor stallion," Spike said with a sniffle as he recounted the parts he read. "He'll never get to see the love of his life anymore. Why would his step sister do that? Why would she lock him away in a far away place?"

After a time, his tears dried, and he gave the book another glance. Slowly he reached out to pick it up again. Part of him wanted to continue reading or even to skip towards the ending. Instead, he walked it back over to the cubby hole he found it in. Before he could slide the book back inside, however, Rarity burst through the compartment door, startling Spike into dropping the book on the floor.

"Waah!" Spike exclaimed, as Rarity threw the door open and hurried past him.

"I am SO terribly sorry for taking this long, Spike. Thank you once again for being a dear and watching my things for me. Now I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

As Spike calmed down from his startle, he noticed that Rarity had towed in her levitation bubble a box of sewing tools, a pair of scissors, several squares of fabric, and some ribbon for good measure. It seemed she hadn't noticed he had taken her book and had just then dropped it on the floor, for she had walked right past him and turned her attention on her materials, which she had placed on her bed.

"I... uh. What?" Spike stammered. "What took you so long?"

Rarity made a dismissive gesture with her front hoof. "Well, it's... you know." She gave a hollow chuckle and then turned around, her tone becoming serious. "Spike? Have you been crying?"

The young dragon took a quick step backwards, almost tripping on the book. He tried his best to feign a casually cool expression but in reality felt awkward and helpless. "What? No way. What made you think that?"

It was his turn to laugh nervously.

"Your eyes are puffy and red," Rarity said, bringing a hoof up to point at her own eyes as an example. "I would fix you up, of course. It's just that I really need some privacy to concentrate, and I can't very well just leave my blouses in that state they're in. So if it so pleases you, could you leave me be?"

A character moment took a hold of Spike, and he gave a low bow. "It doth please me, milady," he spoke in an eloquent manner.

When he lifted his head while still keeping his torso lowered, he saw that Rarity had her back turned towards him and was fussing with her items.

"What was that, Spike?"

Spike sighed and then straightened up. "Nothing, Rarity. I'll go now."

Before he departed, he quickly turned around and scooped up the book on the floor. He backed towards the door and paused briefly enough to look up at Rarity. She still seemed preoccupied, so Spike gave the book in his claws a glance. He swallowed hard. He knew the right thing to do was to return it, as it belonged to Rarity, but something about the book called to him to read some more, to take it for even just a little while.

Spike clutched the book to his chest and kept an eye on Rarity as he slowly reached behind his back and opened the sleeping compartment's door before stepping back outside.

* * *

Twilight put her pencil down and gazed at the wall behind her compartment's bed. Her lower lips quivered underneath her teeth as she pondered her feelings and the process of putting them into words by putting graphite to paper. She then grasped her pencil again, and on tenterhooks moved it over to the surface of her journal's open page. Twice more she pulled it away before jotting anything down, when it seemed the emotions that sprang forth would overwhelm her. She tried to a chart a path through her mind, to pick out words that might cause the least damage to her bruised heart, but the task proved elusive. Finally, when she became fed up with her indecisions, she brought the pencil up to the small book that lay before her, its blank white page on the right taunting her into filling it with scrupulous words and making it more like the page on the left.

Scritch scratch went the rough carbon tip on the page's grain, leaving gray traces. Slowly the words formed as Twilight poured all her thoughts into it.

"Dear journal. Well where do I begin? Let's start with the whole snooping into my best friend's gift to my dear... to Spike. Why did I even want to look? It feels like such an invasion, now that I think about it. Well I mean it wasn't like I physically opened the gift, but even still... I guess something about how extravagant and shiny it looked just taunted me. I mean sure. Rarity gives gifts all the time. Thoughtful gifts. Because that's exactly how she is, and I like that about her. However they're often gifts to other ponies. With Spike, she'd often just give something cute like a bow or maybe even a hat with her face on it. You know. Child..."

Twilight stopped and gazed at the last word she wrote. Frowning, she flipped her pencil over to the other end and started erasing.

"Kiddie..."

Erase.

"Baby. Oh good gravy, Twilight."

She erased the word one final time and closed the journal. Her lower lips quivered as she sat in silence, nursing her frustrations by staring at the wall across from her bed, pretending to burn holes into it. Her mind felt jumbled, like a jigsaw puzzle that had been scrambled. The guilt of her recent actions brought a numbness to her mind that made it hard to think. Her hunger also didn't help things either. A sharp growl emanated from her stomach.

"Oh shut up," Twilight told her gut. She then snatched up the pencil one more time and opened up her journal. "Something befitting Spike's young age."

The pencil dropped unceremoniously from her magic field to the plush covers once more. Twilight continued verbalizing her thoughts to herself but didn't write them down.

"Why couldn't I say it? Childish. Or is it childlike? It's such a simple word. After all, Spike is a..." Her voice trailed away. "Isn't he?" She flipped to the page containing the photo from their younger days. She bit her lip and sniffled once but somehow managed to keep her composure long enough to write some more. "Dear journal," Twilight started, dictating to herself a bit louder than she had intended. "Rarity's gift made me start to question whether Spike really is still a child. It was exactly the kind of gift she would give a grown gentlecolt. This brings me to my new confusing feelings about Spike. I have always viewed Spike as sort of like my little brother and have always attempted to raise him like a brother and shelter him from the... less innocent things in life, such as Spike's often unrequited attempts at romancing his way into Rarity's heart. In the past, I would've written off such forays as Spike just being a bit goofy and Rarity being a tease but meaning well. However recent events have led me to worry over Spike and how soon he will wind up with a broken heart. I will have to face facts. Spike is growing up and will eventually have to deal with grown up pains." Twilight paused momentarily and gave a hard swallow. "In many ways, Spike is still much like a child. He does goofy things like find joy in new ways to stack books but still complains about the dust. Still, every now and then, he'll do something completely sweet and thoughtful like..."

There came another heavy pause, and she continued without putting new thoughts into her book.

"Like fix me breakfast when I am feeling down," she added to herself.

A fresh stream of unwelcome tears sprang to her eyes. She reached up and wiped her eyes before curling herself closer towards the welcoming softness of her bed's top covers. It provided a small bit of comfort for her anguish, but she still gave a throaty sob.

"I've done something terrible," Twilight said with a sniffle. "I should be happy that Rarity has given Spike such a beautiful gift. If I give it to Spike like I promised, he is almost certain to fall in love with it, and fall in love with the mare who gave it to him." She pressed her teary eyes into her front hooves, burying her face into them to let them catch the teardrops as they started falling even more profusely. "Yet I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Spike just couldn't handle being teased by Rarity just to be let down. But if I leave the gift where it is, they might not ever talk to me again."

Twilight lifted her head and tried to find the clock on the wall through the mist of her tears. When the blurs cleared away, she saw that the time drew close to her dinner date. She vigorously wiped her face and quickly snatched her pencil up in her levitation field again.

"I must figure out how to keep Spike occupied with activities during our excursion at the winter resort," she said as she wrote. "Even if it comes down to finally giving the gift to him, with any luck he'll be so busy that he won't have time to fall for Rarity's charms, and I might be able to get closer to him." Twilight paused and shoved the eraser end of her pencil underneath one of her teeth, gently gnawing on it as she pondered the rest of her words. "To study his growth, of course. Unfortunately, this requires that I approach Rarity sometime and ask her for information about the winter resort. I hope she doesn't grow suspicious of the gift."

She concluded her writing and gingerly closed her journal. She then gave the clock a hard glare.

"I might get my chance at dinner, but do I risk being late to go back for the gift?"

The clock on the wall hit the top of the hour.

"Aww crumbs. Nevermind."

She tucked her journal into her saddle bag and bolted from the sleeping compartment.

* * *

Twilight sighed in a melancholy way as she stared blankly at her uneaten salad. The dining car bustled with the energy of many ponies, but she heard nothing beyond her own thoughts. The clock on the wall ticked past five forty-five, and she kicked a cherry tomato back and forth on her plate with her right hoof with each second that audibly ticked away. A passing Canterlot elite glared down her nose at Twilight as she made her way past, causing the waiter to take a clumsy sidestep. The tray of food in his levitation field wobbled as he negotiated the aisles. A gasp escaped his lips, and Twilight could see a bead of sweat pool on his forehead as he milled about with ungraceful trots. Twilight reached out with her own magic and helped the poor waiter steady it again.

"Thank you, miss. That was much appreciated," the waiter exclaimed, a growing smile on his face. "I don't think that upper crust pony enjoyed seeing you toying with your food."

Hearing him point out her discrepancy in eating etiquette caused her to look down briefly and blush.

"Is there something wrong with your food? Should I take it away?" he finally continued.

"Huh? Oh no! Um. Forgive me. It's just that I was expecting a dinner date with a couple friends since five o'clock, and they haven't shown up yet." Twilight waved a hoof dismissively and allowed a small smile to momentarily peek through her gloom. "Oh don't let me trouble you with my burdens. I'm quite fine. Thank you," she added with a forced chuckle in her voice and a rigid squareness in her jaw.

The waiter cocked his head and regarded her for a few moments, looking uncertain but finally nodded and carried on with his job, taking food to passengers and cleaning tables.

Another minute ticked by, bringing the clock closer to six o'clock, and Twilight sighed. Then she perked up her head when she saw the door of the dining car open. Spike walked in and made his way over to Twilight's table, giving a half-hearted wave on the way.

"Spike! You're here!" Twilight exclaimed as he sat down. "But where's Rarity?"

The young dragon shuffled over to the table and took a seat opposite Twilight. His eyes were kept low, and he avoided looking up at her, preferring instead to look at the table cloth.

Twilight tilted her head down slightly, trying to get a glimpse of Spike's face and coax him into giving her eye contact. "Spike? What's wrong? Is Rarity coming or not?"

"I... I don't know," he started, his voice a bit subdued. "Last I saw of her, she was in her compartment. She spotted a couple holes in her dresses and became somewhat distressed. She went to grab some things to fix them up and then told me to leave her room." Spike then leaned forward and started twirling circles in the linen with his index claw.

Twilight furrowed her brows and went from looking at Spike to craning her neck over him and towards the door again. "Sounds like she could be running late. I hope she shows. But is there something bothering you?"

Spike finally looked up at her. "Well..." He gave a pause. "No not really."

"Are you sure?"

He bit his lip and looked away again. "What do you make of that Sky Sparks character?" Spike finally said at length.

Twilight took a moment to collect her thoughts but after a time, merely ended up shrugging. "I can't rightly form an opinion of him, good or bad. If Rarity sees something in him and wants to associate with him, then that's her prerogative. Why do you ask?"

He continued twirling circles in the linen, so much so that his claw had started wearing a whole in the fabric. His mouth sported a grimly serious line, and he made no effort to reply.

Twilight reached out with a hoof and gently touched Spike's left arm. "Spike. If there's something on your mind..."

"Rarity took a long time coming back from getting her materials to fix up her dresses," Spike said at last, cutting her off. "I mean... Well I don't think she's going to show. If she's not still fixing her dresses, then she's probably at her other dinner date with that... what's his face."

Twilight's face seemed to fall into disappointment. She pursed her lips before giving her salad another absent stare. "Oh. I didn't know she had made other plans," she muttered, her words dry and weak. "Shall we cancel this dinner and just retire to bed?"

"Uh? N-no. I'm fine. I want to have this dinner with you."

"Really?" Twilight glanced up and met Spike's eyes with hers. "Thank you, Spike. That makes me feel so much better after everything earlier."

Spike barely noticed when the waiter approached him and offered him a menu, and he absent-mindedly grabbed it and flipped it open before looking back towards Twilight. "What was that? Everything earlier? Why's that, Twilight?"

Twilight fidgeted slightly and brought a hoof up to her mouth, as if to keep herself from saying anything more. "Um. Nothing, Spike. Figure out what you want so that I can finally dig in."

The dragon turned his attention back towards the menu and glanced from one side to the other before casually giving a gesturing wave to Twilight. "Oh you go ahead and start eating. There's no reason to wait for me."

Twilight shrugged and then lit up her horn to grab a fork from within a folded up napkin. She held the pointed end above a piece of lettuce. A satisfying crispness rewarded her ears when she secured it with her utensil. With a quick sniff, she took in the tantalizing aroma of the sweetness of the lettuce combined with the tangy hint of the salad dressing that coated the leaf in a thin, blue and white speckled sheen. Lifting the green up closer to her mouth, she spotted not a hint of wilting or browning. Upon taking a bite, she felt her spirits lift up and knew she had to hand it to the chefs of the train. The salad really hit the spot for Twilight and slowly improved her mood.

"Say Spike?" Twilight called while she still enjoyed her bite. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean... I'm glad we're having this dinner together, but..." She finally swallowed. "It seems like you're upset with me or something. Is it something I did wrong?"

Spike pointed towards the menu item he wanted to order when the waiter came back around before glancing back up at Twilight. He pursed his lips somewhat and hesitated but then finally shook his head. "Uh... no, Twilight. It's fine." Then after a pause, he tossed his head back and pointed with a claw, giving a healthy chuckle. "Boy, Twilight. It's good to know your Canterlot manners haven't rubbed off."

She gave Spike a blank stare. "Huh?"

"You have a tiny bit of lettuce and ranch dressing on your chin."

Twilight blushed and levitated a napkin to her face. She dabbed away vigorously at her chin until the offending bit of food finally came off.

"Did I get it all?" Twilight asked after she lowered the napkin to the table.

Spike looked up when the waiter approached and lowered a plate of hay fries. Then he looked back at Twilight and squinted his eyes. "Yeah. You got it all."

"Thank you, Spike. I'll be sure to eat like a proper lady from now on," Twilight joked, putting on a false upper crust accent in the middle of her phrase.

Spike laughed as Twilight did, but then after a few chuckles, his laughter died away, until he became grimly silent. He reached out and grabbed a hay fry and stared at it for a few moments. As he sat there with his thoughts, he found that the hunger pangs which had earlier caused rumbles inside his stomach were slowly diminishing.

"Hmm. It's just not the same without Rarity here," he said as he twirled the fry in his claws, looking at each of its four sides.

Twilight placed her fork down and looked up from her salad, her mouth hanging slightly open. "Spike?" she said at length.

"I'm suddenly not hungry anymore. I can't possibly eat knowing that Rarity promised to dine with us and she's missing out." Spike then banged the table surface with a fist. "I have a good mind to go find Rarity and tell her that she should come dine with us."

"Spike. Don't go causing trouble," Twilight cautioned, reaching out with a hoof to stop Spike from getting out of his seat.

"But Twilight!" Spike exclaimed.

Twilight narrowed her eyes and made a motion with her right front hoof. "You sit down, mister," she said brusquely.

Spike took his place back on his chair, but he had puffed his cheeks out and pulled his lips into a pout. He poked a claw at one corner of his pile of hay fries, pushing the small bits around to work out his disappointment. After a couple prods, one side shifted enough to cause the pile to flatten.

"Spike. Quit playing with your food."

The young dragon ceased his poking and immediately brought his hands to his lap. He fidgeted back and forth a few times as he looked at Twilight, but he was silent otherwise. His lips were pulled into a tight, wiggly line and the corners of his brows were steepled up in sadness.

Twilight took another bite but then let the food piece fall back to the plate when she saw Spike's expression. She leaned in closer.

"Spike? What's wrong?" she asked, her words breaking a bit.

He maintained his silence for a bit, but then before Twilight could interject, he finally spoke.

"Twilight. What does Rarity think of me?"

Twilight's jaw fell open in a quiet gasp. Her mouth hung that way as she mulled over Spike's question and pondered her response. "Um... Well Spike." She swallowed a dry lump. "I imagine that Rarity is quite fond of you as a friend, but uh..." Twilight looked around nervously, trying to think of ways to deviate the conversation from the uncomfortable territory she had found herself in. She suddenly wished she knew of ways to talk about her salad.

"But that's all she sees me as? A friend?"

"I didn't say that. It's just..."

"I mean I've done so many things for her. I've helped her find gems when she asked me to assist her, and she even gave me a kiss when I gave her that heart-shaped fire ruby as a gift. What more could I possibly do? What can a simple guy like me do to win the heart of such an elegant mare like Rarity?"

As Spike talked to Twilight, he started getting louder and more frantic, and it almost looked like tears were starting to well to his eyes. Twilight grew concerned and pursed her lips but felt uncomfortable with Spike's prying. She charted her words among the emotional storm she found herself in but found nothing she wanted to say to be a good fit.

"Spike. Um..." Twilight muttered, stalling.

"Tell me, Twilight!"

Twilight flinched and looked over her shoulder before drawing her head lower and closer to her plate. "Spike. Keep it down. You're drawing attention."

"But Twilight!"

Another glower came from Twilight, and the young dragon relented, finally slumping in his chair as he quieted himself by shoving hay fries into his mouth. He picked up the pace as he ate until Spike reached a speed of eating that terrified Twilight. Her jaw dropped slightly as she watched the dragon grab food like a conveyor belt, worried that he might start choking.

"Spike. Slow down. You might..."

Spike gave a swallow, causing an obscene amount of hay fries to vanish down his throat. He then squinted his eyes, as if in some discomfort, and gave a short hiccup.

"Oh. Are you okay, Spike?"

Wetness shimmered around the corners of his still closed eyes, and his hiccups slowly turned to sobs.

Twilight remained silent as he cried, unsure of how to comfort him but furiously gnawing on her lower lip with her teeth.

"I'm sorry, Twilight," Spike said after a time, finally calming himself down from his quiet crying. "I've made a fool of myself and a mess of this dinner date."

"Oh Spike," Twilight muttered, half-subdued with sorrow.

"Why him, Twilight?" Spike asked. "Why can't it be me? Doesn't Rarity like me?"

Spike finally looked up at Twilight, a pained expression in his eyes.

Before Twilight sat the innocent child she knew so well, not the confident dragon with the mask of bravado he had built up over the past few days.

"Spike," Twilight started. "I honestly don't know what to say. I'm not really comfortable talking about how Rarity feels about you, and I certainly don't know about her dating habits and the kinds of ponies she wants to see."

Twilight's voice was low but still possessed the firmness of a motherly tone.

"I just need to know if I stand a chance!" Spike wailed.

By then, Twilight had forgotten all about her hunger and the salad she was going to eat, as she was starting to get annoyed with him.

"Spike! I think you're making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be!" she exclaimed.

The young dragon bit his lower lip as his eyes flitted back and forth a few times, thoughts seemingly turning in his mind. Then he suddenly seemed to perk up a bit, his eyes opening a bit wider and taking on an optmistic light. "Well what about that list I made back at the library, Twilight? Rarity did something nice for me. She gave me that gift, so I should do something nice for her, something that only I can do but that nopony else can. You still have my list, right Twilight?"

Twilight fidgeted in her chair. She didn't want to be reminded about the gift.

"I didn't forget your list, Spike."

"Well perfect!" he bellowed. "I can spend time with Rarity once we're at the resort and get an idea of the kinds of things that she likes and put them down in my list. Then maybe you can take me shopping one day, and..."

"Spike! Honestly, I don't think that's going to be a good idea."

Spike's mouth fell open, a renewed expression of sorrow on his face.

"Why not?!" he wailed.

Twilight scrunched the end of her nose, her face an intense mask of concentration. "Well..." 'Be careful, Twilight. Don't hurt his feelings,' she thought to herself. "What I mean is that we'll only have a few days at the resort, and we'll be a bit busy with our own activities. We'll have fun, just you and I."

By then Spike had picked up a napkin and proceeded to wring it into tatters. The frown on Spike's face was all Twilight needed to know that she had not succeeded in sparing his feelings.

"So what are you saying, Twilight?" he huffed, a slightly belligerent edge in his voice. "Are you saying we won't spend any time with Rarity? We wouldn't even BE at this resort if it wasn't for her!"

"And she's made it perfectly clear that she's quite fine heading off to do her own things."

The napkin in Spike's claws finally ripped in half. Twilight heard murmurs coming from a table somewhere behind her, and she felt as if everypony on the train had turned their attention turned towards her. She blushed a deep red, her eyes darting about a few times, before she finally looked back towards Spike. Spike glowered as he huffed, the muscles in his face pulled tight in anger, the frown wrinkles in his forehead deepening into even more and more ridges. In all the years she had known Spike, she had never seen him this angry. Twilight felt an ache in her heart for making him so upset, and she suddenly wished the conversation had remained on the topic of food. Even when not outright saying what she felt about Spike chasing after Rarity's affections, she had still managed to touch a nerve within him and made a mess of things.

Then, as quick as Spike's anger came, it melted back into sadness just as quickly.

"No!" Spike exclaimed as he stood up. He pointed a claw at Twilight. "You're wrong! Rarity does want my company! And I will get her something nice! You'll see!"

Then with that, the young dragon stormed from the dining car, tears streaming from his eyes. Twilight was left all alone with her plate of half-eaten salad and her confused thoughts bouncing around her head. Suddenly, the waiter walked up next to her. He gave her a look and raised an eyebrow.

"Is everything okay there, miss?"

Twilight sighed and hung her head low, slowly giving it a shake. "No. No everything is not okay." She gave a sniff and then raised her head to look back at the waiter. "I'm sorry about your napkin," she said.

The stallion held out a hoof. "Oh don't trouble yourself. Would you like some dessert?"

Twilight glanced towards the door through which Spike had stormed in his upset state. Her mind was full, but her heart felt as empty as her stomach. It didn't feel right to her to start dessert without her number one assistant, but at that moment, she felt like doing something selfish, even if for just a little while, if only for the sake of easing her pain. Twilight looked back at the waiter and slowly nodded.

"Yes. I would love some dessert."

A Winter Blunderland

"Welcome to Coltorado!" Twilight heard the conductor bellow. "The elevation is five thousand feet. The weather is clear and a balmy twenty nine degrees."

Twilight grumbled at the conductor's cheerfulness as she shuffled out of the door onto the loading platform. After a day's worth of train travel, a mattress that felt as hard as a cutting board, cramped train cabins that seemed to have gotten smaller as the hours went on, and the memory of her fight with Spike still fresh in her mind, Twilight felt out of sorts and cranky, but she still felt grateful to finally be stepping hoof into the outdoors. She shivered against the brisk cold as Spike bounded out next to her. The young dragon craned his neck and looked about here and there, seemingly eager to find something. Twilight glanced down at Spike, rolling her eyes a bit in annoyance at his anxiety.

"What's gotten you so antsy?" Twilight asked as he darted around her legs.

"Where's Rarity?!"

Twilight wrinkled her nose. "Would you relax? She'll show up. I have to talk to her as well. She's probably still on the train retrieving her cart. Look. There she is now."

Spike followed Twilight's gaze down the length of the train, and they spotted a white unicorn exiting one of the utility cars, her large baggage cart in tow. Spike left Twilight behind, scampering up to Rarity as Twilight walked instead.

"Hey, Rarity! Do you need help with that?"

Rarity turned to smile at Spike but was interrupted by Sky Sparks stepping in between the two of them.

"Stay out of the way, you little squirt!" Sky Sparks bellowed.

Rarity's jaw dropped in a gasp, and her eyes went wide as she looked at Sky Sparks.

"Sky Sparks! Really. Be nice to my little Spikey Wikey. He is only trying to help."

Spike's eyes narrowed as the cocky stallion rudely patted him on his head spines.

"I mean... We've got this, little dragon," Sky Sparks said, a plastic smile on his face. "In fact, I will pull the cart the rest of the way."

Sky Sparks flashed a toothy smile at Rarity as he levitated two rectangular boxes and a sack out from the baggage cart and placed them into the cart. Rarity lowered her eyes and blushed as she returned her own smile, one that was a bit sheepish. Spike smirked at the flirtatious display while Twilight finally approached.

"Say Twilight? Did you see what Sky Sparks...?" Spike started.

"Oh Twilight!" Rarity exclaimed as she stepped out of the harness of her cart. "I know you've already packed your own things, but honestly I felt so bad about standing you up that I couldn't help but do something nice for you and Spike. Here you go."

"Oh you don't have to do that Rarity, but I need to..."

"Tut tut," Rarity said, holding up a hoof as she levitated several articles of clothing out from her cart. "It's frightfully cold out here, and I might as well make you warm and fabulous at the same time."

As Sky Sparks hooked himself up to the cart, Spike watched as a red and white plush ensemble similar to the outfit Rarity wore levitated over to Twilight. Twilight raised an eyebrow in skepticism as she watched the outfit make its way closer to her.

"Honestly, Rarity. I'm not sure I can accept a gift like this," Twilight stated.

"Oh please, Twilight?" Rarity pleaded. "It's very warm, and we'd both look so cute in matching outfits. The only thing that's missing is..." Rarity looked at her backside. "Well I still haven't come up with a name for it, yet." She then returned her gaze back at Twilight. "Please step into it. Oh Sky Sparks! Don't leave yet!"

Twilight glanced from Rarity to her dark-haired companion, who was starting to pull the cart away from the train platform.

"Oh don't worry, Miss Rarity! I'll get your things to the resort! I know the way, and I'm a bit of a legend there!" Sky Sparks exclaimed with another flash of a smile.

Spike had been mesmerized when Rarity drew attention towards her behind again, but his spell broke when he noticed Sky Sparks flirting with her. He wrinkled his nose.

"Oh my! Is that so?" Rarity squealed with delight. "Well thank you very much!"

As Sky Sparks rolled away with the cart, Rarity turned back towards Twilight.

"Now. Let's get back to getting you into this darling outfit," she cooed to Twilight.

Twilight took a couple quick steps backward as the fashionista brought the red and white sweater and skirt ensemble closer. Before Twilight knew what happened to her, she found herself enveloped in a bright flash of blue light. Rarity cast her quick change spell, and as Twilight blinked away the dancing sparks of light, she found herself wearing the outfit. Twilight looked herself over and then glanced up at the goofy hat atop her head, becoming particularly perturbed by the funny ball of fuzz that hung at the end of the hat and dangled just outside of her vision. She tossed her head back and flipped the fuzzy ball towards the backside of her head, which proved more satisfactory to her. With a bead of sweat on her forehead and a crooked smile, Twilight looked at Rarity and nodded her reluctant acceptance.

Even though Rarity had made Twilight's skirt longer than her own miniskirt, Spike's jaw still dropped in awe. He quickly tamed confused feelings of arousal and interest, bringing them down to a manageable admiration of how Rarity's work somehow complimented Twilight's natural shape and beauty. He set his jaw back against his upper set of teeth before Twilight saw, but he reluctantly admitted to himself that Twilight did look adorable, even ravishing.

Rarity smiled at her accomplishment and then turned her attention towards Spike. "Now for you, Spike..." She levitated a crocheted woolen poncho over to the smiling dragon and slipped the head circle around his neck. "I know I prepared something extra special for you, and I know you're probably excited to receive your gift, but I made this little thing for you to wear in the meantime because I couldn't bear the thought of you walking around in the cold with nothing to protect these darling arms and shoulders of yours."

Spike looked down at the article of clothing on his body, his face all smiles. It draped around his trunk like a parachute, a little red heart with his name in cursive on the front. His head and neck fit through a circle in the middle of the poncho while his arms peeked out from tiny sleeves on either side. Crocheted with soft wool, the poncho warmed his body, but he also felt his heart warming with gladness. The bitter feeling of the fight with Twilight the day before seemed more and more like a distant memory.

Rarity's face, however, didn't seem anywhere near as ecstatic.

She tilted her head from one side to the next as she watched Spike show off the poncho before pulling her lips into a contemplative pucker.

"Is something wrong with the poncho, Rarity?" Spike said.

Rarity looked up at Spike and then showed him a broad smile. "Oh no! Not at all, Spikey Wikey! It's just that... I know it's nowhere near as fabulous as the gift I got you," Rarity exclaimed.

Spike glance up at Twilight before looking back towards Rarity, an eager glimmer in his eyes. "Can I get your gift now, Rarity?" he asked excitedly.

Rarity giggled demurely, but Twilight's eyes went wide as she gulped. She then shrank away the next second, pulling her head in close to her shoulders and feeling not too unlike a wad of chewing gum stuck underneath the park bench. She had actually forgotten all about Rarity's gift.

"Where did I put that thing?" Twilight mumbled low to herself.

"You will have to show a little patience, Spike," Rarity said. "I plan on giving it to you for a special occasion."

"Oh boy!" Spike exclaimed. By then the young dragon was bursting with such unbridled happiness that he bounced up and down with giddy energy. "I just know I'm going to love it, and I love this poncho too, Rarity. Thank you so much!"

Spike rushed forward, arms outstretched to embrace Rarity in a hug, but Twilight quickly seized him in a magic bubble and pulled him backwards.

"Cool your heels there, Romeo," Twilight said. She unceremoniously dumped the young dragon in a snow pile on the platform behind her, drawing out a volley of grumbles and complaints. "Rarity," Twilight said, turning back towards her glamorous young friend. "I really wish you wouldn't spoil Spike like this."

Rarity waved a hoof. "Oh pish posh. You are both my friends, and it is completely my pleasure. The gift is still safe in your possession, is it not, Twilight? Shall I take it back from you?"

"No!" Twilight abruptly exclaimed. "I mean yes," she added, a bit more softly. "I mean..." She scuffed the ground nervously. "Yes it is still in my possession. I actually still want to hold onto it for the time being, if that is okay by you."

Rarity was speechless for a few moments, but then after a while, she slowly nodded. "Well okay, Twilight. If that is what you wish, then I will leave it with you."

"Perfect!" Twilight said, suddenly chipper.

At that moment, Spike managed to extricate himself from the snow pile. "Feh!" he exclaimed, sounding a bit incredulous.

He then pulled on his tail, bringing it towards his mouth before blowing a jet of fire onto the tip to warm it up. Twilight gave Spike a stony gaze before turning back towards Rarity.

"Well Rarity, now that we're here, there is something that I need to ask you."

"Well what a coincidence," Rarity squeaked. "There is something I need to tell you as well, but I think that we should get going so that we can catch up with Sky Sparks. We will need to walk to the resort from here, but I have our vacation packets, so don't you worry."

"Then we can talk on the way," Twilight affirmed. "Coming Spike?"

Spike nodded and drew the poncho closer to his body before picking up the backpack that Twilight had given him. He walked beside Twilight as they all stepped away from the train platform, but Rarity took the lead, walking just slightly ahead of the two of them as they made their way through town.

Coltorado was a picturesque place, with it being half again as big as Ponyville but nowhere near as large as Manehatten or Canterlot. It lay nestled among the Gold Saddle Mountains, where the wondrous aspen trees bathed the town in the glow of their yellow leaves. At almost a mile above sea level, it also received the first winter snow from the pegasi far earlier than Ponyville.

As the three friends made their way through town, they could see that most of the ponies who lived here were big, muscular and very athletic, with many of the stallions sporting long and coarse fetlocks. Twilight pondered that the ponies here must've grown longer fur and extra muscle mass to guard against the cold, but Rarity remarked that the coarser, shaggier look of the ponies were "a fright" and "uncouth".

"Have they never heard of salons over here?" Rarity asked with a sniff of her nose. "Long hair or not, there is no excuse for unsightly hygiene."

"And they're also missing out on the joys of seven hour bubble baths," Spike added. "I mean have they even heard of hot water?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure they have hot water here, Spike."

"Mmm! Speaking of hot water!" exclaimed Spike as he put his nose in the air. "I think I smell cocoa, and..." He continued smelling the air. "Is that the smell of cookies?"

"It's probably just coming from a house somewhere," Twilight said.

Spike shook his head. "No it's not. There!"

Twilight and Rarity followed Spike's pointed claw and spotted a quaint little shop at the end of the street. An inviting electric open sign glowed in the window with a warm red and yellow light.

"Oh how charming!" Rarity squeaked. "And it does smell nice, too. I think I smell cinnamon. And ginger bread. Sugar plum. Spiced maple, too."

As Rarity listed off all the different aromas she smelled, Spike rubbed his belly.

"Rarity. You're starting to make me hungry. I wonder if that's a sweet shop like Sugar Cube Corner." Spike then gave Twilight a look. "Can we go inside for a bit, please Twilight?" he pleaded.

Twilight shook her head. "I don't think that would be a good idea, Spike. We have to check into our lodges, and Rarity has to catch up with that stallion."

"Awww," Spike wailed. "Really?"

"Isn't that right, Rarity?" Twilight asked, sounding a bit insistent.

"Well I..."

Spike looked at Rarity with big doe eyes, clasping his claws together in a pleading manner. The effect was immediate. Rarity smiled in that mushy, sentimental way she got when she saw something cute or endearing.

"Oh!" Rarity cooed, bringing a hoof up to her chest. "Well I suppose we can stop for a little bit."

Twilight wrinkled her nose and gave Spike a hard glare. She then softened her expression a bit as she looked back at Rarity. "Rarity, please! I think I can feel another headache coming on. I just want to check into our lodges and, I don't know, read or something."

"Well perfect!" Rarity exclaimed. "If you're getting a headache, then there's nothing better than a hot cup of cocoa! Coming, Spike?"

Rarity turned and winked at the young dragon before heading towards the shop. Spike followed close behind, unable to resist her siren call. They left behind their sputtering and exasperated friend.

"I never agreed to this!" Twilight shouted, giving the snow a sound stomp as she strained her neck to bring forth more volume. She then saw her friends near the shop door and trudged after them in a huff. "Ugh!"

The door chime jingled as Rarity and Spike entered, smiling and enjoying the inviting warmth. They heard a gruff voice to their right deliver a sales pitch.

"Welcome to creature comforts, where we sell comforts to feed the mind and the body! How may I help you?"

An earth pony stallion with a coat the color of an eggplant stood behind a counter with a cash register. Situated to the left of the register was a large bowl.

"Well, mister..." Rarity began, putting on the cautious smile she typically reserved for strangers she deemed unattractive.

The stallion nodded. "Call me Taffy," he exclaimed heartily.

"Mister Taffy," Rarity reiterated.

"Do you have any cookies?" Spike interrupted, staring up at the gruff shop owner with hungry eyes.

"Spike!" the dragon heard the voice of Twilight call from behind him.

Spike and Rarity glanced over their shoulders and saw their bookworm friend at the door, kicking snow from her feet. Spike then looked back at the counter and eyeballed the bowl. It had been filled to the brim with strange square wrappers.

"Hey what's in the bowl?"

Immediately Spike felt himself being pulled backwards and dumped on a chair.

"Sit down and don't touch anything, and you and I are going to have a little talk when we get to our lodges, mister," Twilight said, a searing frown on her face.

"Whoa! Sounds like somepony needs one of our relaxation treatments!" went the shop owner.

Twilight looked up and smirked when she saw the shop keeper standing behind the point of sale, shaking his head and chuckling rather smugly.

"Say what IS in this bowl?" Rarity asked, levitating one of the wrappers up to get a better look.

The wrapper was perfectly square but small, about the size of two bits placed end to end. She spotted perforations on either side, as if the wrapper were meant to be torn off from others like it. The plastic of the wrapper was opaque, but Rarity could still make out a raised circular ridge from the object inside. A graphic was on the surface of one side. The image was of two hearts linked together.

"What? You kids have never seen a bowl of condoms before?" said the Mister Taffy with a wry smile. "Only five per customer," he added in a more serious tone.

Immediately, Twilight and Rarity launched into protests.

"Ew! Ick!"

"My stars!"

Rarity brought a hoof to her forehead as she almost swooned.

"What kind of operation are you running here? You're not a sweet shop?" Twilight queried.

Mister Taffy laughed and slapped the counter surface. "Well we do sell candies, but they're the fancy kind, they only come in boxes, and they're a bit expensive."

"Well then what was the source of those delightful aromas we detected outside a bit earlier?" Rarity added. She still looked a bit uneasy to her stomach but no longer seemed off balance.

"Oh! Well you probably smelled our selection of lotions and essential oils!" said the shop owner, making a sweeping motion with his front hoof. "If you had glanced at our shelves instead of gawking at my bowl of willy wrappers, you would've known that."

Rarity's jaw dropped as she glanced up from the counter and looked around. What she spotted took her breath away. Up and down the walls and stacked in shelves and arranged on floor displays were rows of some her fondest indulgences. There were scented lotions and bath oils and even candles and creams and "sensual rubs". Some of these things did indeed smell like what she thought were bakery goodies outside. Curiously, on one side of the store, she spotted glass cases with various edible treats, such as exotic chocolates and the candies the store owner mentioned. As she looked around, the smile on her face became broader and broader with each new delight that she spotted.

"Oh Twilight! I think I've died and gone to Elysium! Come! Come look at this stuff!"

Twilight groaned as she walked over to where Rarity moved from one shelf to the next with pure glee.

"Is that really necessary? I can see these things just fine from where I was sitting. And for crying out loud. Would you stand still? You're making my headache even worse."

Rarity turned around and vigorously grabbed Twilight by the shoulders. "Help me choose!" she exclaimed. She then glanced back up at the shelves. "Or maybe I should just one of everything."

Twilight's eyes went wide at the thought of Rarity's shopping tenacity. "One of everything?!" Twilight gasped.

The shop owner's ears perked up, and an eager gleam entered his eyes. With a smile on his face, he walked over to where Rarity and Twilight were.

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance!" he bellowed.

"Oh no. That's quite all right. We are perfectly fine," Rarity said sweetly.

Taffy took a step backwards, giving Rarity and Twilight some space, and tilted his head a tiny bit as he regarded them. "Are you sure? I can make some good recommendations."

"Yes, we were just about to leave anyway!" Twilight barked.

Rarity brought a hoof up to her chest and stared at Twilight, looking decidedly wounded. "Leave? Really, Twilight. You need to learn to relax." She placed her hooves tenderly on either side of Twilight's body, giving her a gentle shake as if to loosen her up.

"How can I relax?" Twilight exclaimed, pulling slightly away from her friend. "We haven't checked into our lodges, yet. I can't stop thinking about my homework. On top of that, I still don't see any cocoa!"

As Taffy was suitably distracted with trying to work his salesponyship on Rarity and Twilight, Spike took that opportunity to investigate the bowl of wrappers further. It didn't seem to Spike that there was any candy inside each of the wrappers, as they were a bit on the flat side and didn't smell of sugar, but he wondered about the reactions they gave Twilight and Rarity. His curiosity getting the better of him, he reached out and grabbed a few before stuffing them into his backpack. One he kept out, however, holding it between his thumb claw and index claw and flipping it from one side to the next as he investigated it. Then, after a quick glance back at Twilight and Rarity to see if they were still distracted by the shop keeper, he tore open the wrapper and pulled out its contents. Out popped a strange balloon-like thing, its sides seemingly rolled up so that at the open end was a ring. Opposite the open end, the balloon thingy terminated in a tiny rounded tip.

"Well that's definitely not candy, but it..." He put the object to his nose. "Smells like fruit. It's not fruit, but it's not candy. Is it edible?"

Spike didn't wait long to put the question to bed. He opened up his mouth and promptly popped the strange object in. He found it chewy, almost remarkably resilient in its composition. A flood of strawberries entered his nasal cavaties, followed by the sensation of his tongue becoming coated with a slick, lubricating feeling.

After about ten seconds of chewing, he became convinced it would never break down in his mouth, so he gave it a swallow and smacked his upper palate a few times afterwards. He blinked a few times as he felt it work down his short throat, tumbling towards his stomach like a tiny loop-the-hoop. As he pondered his experience, he still wasn't sure if it was candy or even candy. However, he concluded that he had enjoyed it, at least where flavor was concerned.

"Oh! Cocoa? Well why didn't you say so?!" Spike heard Taffy exclaim from the other side of the room. "What's a comfort shop without the number one comfort drink in all of Equestria?"

Spike jumped a little at the sound of Taffy's voice and made a beeline back towards his chair.

"So what is your pleasure?" went the shop owner. "We've got peppermint, cinnamon, nutmeg, and of course, good old cocoa with marshmallows."

Twilight glanced once at Spike, who twiddled his thumbs and played innocent. She then turned back towards Taffy. "I'll take a cinnamon. Thank you."

Rarity looked over from where she had been taking a delicate sniff of a ball of bath aromas. "This smells delightful," she remarked.

"Would you like a cup of cocoa?" quipped Taffy.

"Oh! Oh sure! I'll take a peppermint!" Rarity replied, a twinkle of delight in her eyes.

"Spike?" Twilight said, turning her head towards her young dragon friend. "Would you like some cocoa?"

Spike quickly zipped up his backpack and looked at Twilight, smiling sheepishly.

"What were you looking at in there?" went Twilight.

"Nothing!" he replied abruptly, giving a quick, stilted chuckle. "I'll take a peppermint as well. Same as Rarity."

"Oh and Mister Taffy!" went Rarity. "I've made up my mind! I would like four of these gingerbread scented candles, this lavender massage oil, this vanilla bath ball, two of these boxes of chocolate, one for me and one for my good friend Twilight here, and um..."

Twilight stood with her mouth agape, staring at Rarity in bewilderment. Once again, Twilight found herself on the receiving end of Rarity's generosity, and Twilight found herself simultaneously touched by her giving and doubtful over whether she could be receptive to such an extravagant gift.

"Rarity," Twilight started as she craned her neck to try and get a glimpse of the chocolate box's price. "I don't want to seem ungrateful, but you really don't have to..."

Rarity blocked Twilight's view of the box of treats and immediately pulled it off the shelf, along with similar box just for herself. "Tut tut!" Rarity chastised. "You've been uptight, lately. You deserve to treat yourself. I won't take no for an answer."

"Excellent!" Mister Taffy exclaimed. He then made his way over to where another set of counters were located, pressing a button on a strange machine and bringing a couple tins of cocoa forward from the back of the counter. "Hey why don't you bring those items to the point of sale while I make those drinks for you? Was there anything else you wanted? Anything at all? I could've sworn I heard a little doubt in the pretty white lady's voice. Are any of you seeing anypony? Perhaps you were looking for one of our his and hers sensual lotions but were just too embarrassed to admit it? Or hers and hers if you're into that sort of thing."

Twilight scoffed indignantly as the store owner worked with the appliance, a machine that crackled and sputtered loudly before shooting a stream of milk into the cups, hissing all the while.

"I assure you that we are all single, some of us moreso than others," Twilight said with an irritation in her voice.

Spike wrinkled his nose at Twilight, but Rarity could only blush a deep red.

The shop owner must've seen Rarity acting embarrassed, for he gave a hearty, from-the-belly kind of laugh. "Well then. I will give the three of you one sample size pack each and fifteen willy wrappers to boot. You know. Just in case." He turned around and dumped a heaping spoonful of cocoa into each of the mugs, giving them quick stirs to mix them well before continuing the conversation. "Oh and about those chocolates. Some of them are rumored to be aphrodisiacs. My wife makes them, so I wouldn't know. Honestly, I'm not even sure which is which. Anyway! Enjoy!"

* * *

The three friends drank well at the shop. Twilight tried her best to resist the soothing warmth, but eventually she allowed herself to succumb to a little bit of euphoria, acknowledging that the silkiness of the warm cocoa sliding its way into her belly chased away her dark moods. The happy feeling was not to last, however. When they departed the shop, Rarity somehow encouraged Spike to carry the merchandise she bought at the store. It proved to be a struggle for Twilight not to interject. She didn't want to hurt Rarity's feelings, but on the other hoof, Twilight wasn't too keen on how Rarity took advantage of Spike's affections for her. As if that wasn't enough, when they finally arrived at the resort, Rarity asked if she could borrow Spike for a bit to assist in taking her things to her cabin.

"Rarity! I'm tired!" Twilight whined.

"I understand that, Twilight. Really I do," Rarity said. "I won't be too long. I just need some assistance." She then looked as if a new thought crossed her mind. "Oh by the way! Earlier you said you wanted to ask me something. What was it?"

Twilight heard a dull, almost plastic-like click next to her. She turned her head and saw that a small key card had been placed on the desk before her. The three friends had made their way to the guest relations building and were currently checking in to receive their cabins. On the other side of the desk stood a well groomed, pearlescent and cream colored young mare, who greeted them with a broad and cheerful smile.

"There you go. Your cabin number is 125. I do hope you enjoy your stay!" the desk clerk said with great pride in her voice.

Twilight retrieved her key and then nodded at the clerk before turning back towards Rarity. Twilight rubbed the end of her nose and furrowed her brow for a second or two before realization found its way to her.

"Oh! I've just been meaning to ask you what you knew about this resort so that I can form an itinerary for Spike and me, but now that we're all here, there doesn't seem to be any point. I could always just look at the map and grab some of the information pamphlets."

The broadening smile on Rarity's face suggested that something had struck her funny bone. "Twilight Twilight Twilight..."

The clerk then gave Rarity her key, and Rarity quickly snatched this up and nodded appreciatively before continuing with Twilight.

"As always, ever the stoic and organized Twilight Sparkle. You're on a vacation! You should relax! Be spontaneous! Enough with the planning! If you want to do something, just go out and do it!"

Out of the corner of Twilight's eye, she spotted Spike approach the desk and moved to head him off. "Oh miss? This little dragon is with me. Is there any way he can room in my cabin and just get an extra copy of my key?"

Rarity reached out and gave Twilight a gentle shove on the shoulder, causing her to stumble back from the desk. "See? This is another thing I've been meaning to talk to you about! Enough with this 'Spike and me, little brother' routine. Spike is a growing dragon. Give him a little independence. Maybe he doesn't want to do everything that you do. Let him be free to make his own choices."

Twilight furiously stomped the floor with her right front hoof. "I DO give him independence!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'll let him do the things that he wants to do!"

Rarity narrowed her eyes and cast a sideways glance at her. "Is that so? Please, pray tell, in what way? You just said so yourself that you were planning on constructing an itinerary for the both of you."

"Look, Rarity! I appreciate you showing concern for Spike, but there really is no need. Stop concerning yourself with my affairs and start worrying about your own affairs, like figuring out how to find that stallion whom you let take off with your cart of things."

Rarity circled her head upward and then to the side, like an exaggerated eye roll. "Oh my. How silly of me," she muttered. "I've almost forgotten." With a quick smile, Rarity turned back towards the desk clerk, whom Spike couldn't help but notice seemed completely enamored with Rarity. "Excuse me, miss," Rarity said with a honey-dipped voice. "I don't know if you are allowed to give out information concerning other guests, but I am looking for a friend of mine. Perhaps you could tell me if he checked in. His name is Sky Sparks."

In a flash, the languid look in the clerk's eyes vanished before Rarity could see, and she straightened up, putting on a more appropriate and business-like demeanor.

"Are you miss Rarity?" the desk clerk said, an irrepressible bubbliness in her voice that made Spike feel like somepony had poured champagne down his ear flap, which made him all the more cautious. "Sky Sparks left a message for you. I believe he said your, ah, your cart was with him. He left you a note on how to find him, and... Oh hold on!"

The clerk briefly disappeared behind the counter and came back up a few moments later with an envelope between her teeth. She dropped this on the counter and pushed it forward towards Rarity.

"There you go. I believe this is an invitation for you to join him in a small soiree at his luxury cabin."

Rarity snatched up the envelope in her levitation field. "Oh how wonderful," she said.

The desk clerk wrinkled her nose. "Well maybe you see something in him that I don't. He seemed like a bit of a cad to me."

Rarity didn't hear the clerk. She busied herself with investigating the invitation. Rarity noted to herself how garish it looked. The envelope was a bright red, not delicately colored like something she expected a gentlecolt would give to a lady. A silhouette of what looked like a set of skis crossed themselves in one corner of the envelope. From them stemmed an orange racing stripe, which zig-zagged to the other corner. The harsh musk of a strong, masculine cologne hit her nose, slightly irritating her delicate sense of smell. She coughed a little as she broke the glue on the flap and retrieved what was inside. She pulled out a letter and opened it up. To her disappointment, she found no flowery or romantic prose written therein.

"You are invited," Rarity read. "Please come to my luxury suite at cabin 800." After flipping the letter back and forth a few times, she folded it up and tucked it back into the envelope. "Well that was a bit drab," she uttered while putting her invitation inside her saddle bags. Rarity then glanced up at Twilight and Spike. "Well it seems I've been invited to some kind of party."

A frown came to Spike's face. "Aww!" he whined. "Do you really have to?"

Rarity pursed her lips upon seeing Spike's sad eyes. She affectionately rubbed his head spine. "I DO want to go, Spike, and he still has my cart."

"Well then I will go to his cabin and take the cart back for you!" the young dragon said gallantly.

"Oh Spike," Rarity sighed.

She couldn't help but smile in amusement at how devoted Spike was. Twilight, however, seemed to bristle at the idea.

"I'm afraid that is simply not possible, Spike. But don't you worry your pretty little head," Rarity soothed, giving the little dragon's head spine another stroke. "I still need your assistance in taking the things I bought from the store back to my cabin."

This seemed to cheer up Spike tremendously, for he wagged his tail up and down like a faithful dog.

"I will serve you well!" he remarked.

Twilight deflated her anger and sighed. "Fine," she said flatly. "I will just head to my cabin, then. Try not to keep him out too late."

Rarity reached into one of the shopping bags held within Spike's claws and levitated out one of the boxes of chocolate. "Don't forget this!" Rarity said as she passed the sweets off to Twilight.

Twilight balked a little as she looked at the candy, a bead of sweat pooling along her brow. She then looked up at Rarity, who was smiling broadly and sincerely. The familiar sting of a little bit of guilt found its way into her heart as she looked back at the chocolate. With a cautious smile and a slow nod, she took ownership of the chocolate box and wrapped it in her own levitation field.

"Thank you, Rarity. I still don't think this is necessary. But thank you anyway."

"Oh you are quite welcome, darling! I know that I myself have a hard time resisting a good box of rich, creamy, decadent chocolate. Of course I always remember my limit. I have a figure to keep."

Spike felt like his heart could melt much like a piece of chocolate. Once again, Rarity talked in that sing song, romantic way that set the young dragon's heart aflame. Sometimes he felt like he could hang on every word she said, every delicate and unique intonation that felt like a song to him, no matter what she said or how she said it. His daydream didn't last long, however, for he soon saw both Twilight and Rarity walking away from him and heading towards the door.

"Are you coming, Spike?" Rarity called. "Why does it seem like you are in a faraway land?"

"Because you send me there," Spike whispered, his mind still in a haze. Then, realizing Rarity was still staring at him, he shook his head and continued in a more conversational manner. "I mean, um, yes I'm coming!"

* * *

Rarity wasn't sure what to make of how stiff he was.

If Spike hadn't been wearing a smile, she would've confused him for a scarecrow. The young dragon stood stiff-legged in the middle of the living room, his arms spread out like a tee as shopping bags and dresses hung from them.

"Goodness, Spike! You didn't have to try and take on all my things at once!" Rarity exclaimed.

Rarity had just come back from using the little filly's room and from undressing out of her plush ensemble to find Spike had gathered up almost every single one of her things in an attempt to please her. He stood there quite happily, seemingly waiting for some command or suggestion on what goes where.

"I'm sorry, Rarity! I'm just so excited to be here with you and to help you out!" Spike said.

"Oh that's very sweet of you, Spikey Wikey, but if you don't relax pretty soon and unlock your knees, you're likely to pass out and fall over where you stand."

"Oh pshaw!" Spike returned jokingly. "Just tell me where everything will go!"

"How about this?" Rarity calmly asked. She levitated the shopping bags off of Spike's arms. "I will put away the chocolate and these other items while you see if you can find a place for my dresses in that wardrobe over there."

Spike's eyes went wide, and he started breathing faster, almost looking like he would hyperventilate. "You really mean it?!" he squealed. "I get to help you? As in actually really help you?"

Rarity briefly laughed as she headed towards the bedroom. "But of course, darling! What did you think I meant?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity swore that she saw Spike practically skip for joy on his way to the wardrobe. Once inside the bedroom, Rarity busied herself with finding places to put the merchandise she bought. The chocolate she decided to put on the nightstand next to the bed. With the bath aroma and the massage oil, Rarity felt that it would've been best to keep them in the bathroom. Finally she got to the condoms and the sensual lotion, and upon seeing them inside the shopping bag, she started blushing like crazy. Despite feeling a little scandalous at the idea of owning such risque items, she didn't feel the desire to get rid of them. They found a place inside the drawer of the nightstand.

A knock on the door slightly startled her just as she was closing the nightstand to keep these items out of sight. She quickly cleared her throat and checked the vanity mirror opposite the bed to see if her face was still crimson. Satisfied that she looked presentable, Rarity turned to address the door.

"What is it, Spike?" Rarity called.

"I found your makeup thing in one of the pockets of your saddle bags," Spike answered on the other side of the bedroom door.

"It's called a compact, darling. Thank you for getting it. Could you bring it to me? I need to brighten up my face a bit."

There was a brief moment of silence before the dragon on the other side spoke again.

"So you're letting me come into your room?" Spike asked.

Rarity grew touched at how considerate Spike was. "Oh what a gentlecolt you are, Spike. Yes, I am letting you come in."

Rarity heard the door handle turn and the creaking of hinges. A young dragon's head slowly peered around the edge of the door before it opened wide all the way and revealed the rest of the dragon, who smiled and took a couple steps forward with his arms outstretched and palms face up. Rarity saw her compact nestled within Spike's upturned claws, and she levitated it towards her. Spike lowered his arms as he was relieved of the item and stuck his chest out proudly.

"I think I did a good job putting away your dresses, Rarity," he crowed.

Rarity took the compact over to the vanity mirror and flipped a switch to shine some light on her face.

"I'm absolutely sure you did, darling, but if you could be so dear, I need another favor from you."

Spike gave a low bow. "Anything for you," he said.

Rarity looked away from the mirror momentarily to address Spike. "Could you be kind enough to pick out a dress for me to wear to the party? I'm very very sorry to put you through all this trouble of stowing away my dresses only to ask this of you. Oh but don't pick out the long, sleek evening dress with sequins. It's a bit showy, and it's not the right time for that one. Thank you, darling."

She went back to facing the mirror to start on her makeup, so she never saw Spike's face fall into a disappointed frown. However, she heard his heavy sigh.

"You're really going to that party at Sky Sparks' cabin, huh?"

"Why yes, Spike. I've already said that before. Are you feeling okay?"

Spike never doubted the sincerity of Rarity's concern for him, but the fact that she never took her eyes off the mirror while addressing his feelings somehow stung a bit. The young dragon hung his head low.

"Yes. Yes I'm feeling okay. I'll pick out a dress for you now."

Spike glumly headed back to the wardrobe and left Rarity to her makeup. He slid the doors of the wardrobe open and glanced around, looking for something suitable for Rarity to wear. He smirked when he saw all the dresses. Even though Rarity packed light by her standards, more than likely leaving the rest of her outfits with her cart of things, there were still quite a few to choose from, with each dress just as elegant as the one next to it.

As he thought about a gorgeous mare such as Rarity being anywhere near a scoundrel like Sky Sparks, Spike had a brief moment of selfishness in which he actually wished Rarity had an ugly dress.

"I wonder which of these dresses is drab and plain," Spike muttered to himself as he looked at each dress in turn. He then shook his head and chastised himself. "Why are you thinking that? Rarity deserves to look her best, even if it's for somepony else."

Spike picked out a classy, sleeveless blue dress which shimmered in the light. It didn't have too many frills or unnecessary accents, and its knee length skirt provided just enough coverage. It seemed beautiful but sensible.

"This matches Rarity's eyes," Spike said as he pulled the dress down from its hanger.

With dress in claw, he made his way back to Rarity in the bedroom. She still seemed busy applying her makeup.

"I picked out a dress for you, Rarity," Spike called, sounding especially pleased with himself.

Rarity waved a hoof at him but never took her eyes off the mirror. "That's fine, darling. You can just lay it on the bed."

Spike approached the bed but stopped midway to give Rarity a look. He raised his eyebrow at the sight of her lifting what appeared to be a pencil and aiming the sharp point straight at her eyeballs. It was such a worrisome sight that were Spike to possess hair, he was sure they would be standing on end. He couldn't stand to watch her put herself through such a dangerous ritual without speaking up.

"Rarity? What...?" the dragon started.

"Not another word, Spike. I need the utmost concentration while doing this. I can't afford a distraction while I'm applying my eyeliner. I'm liable to poke my eyes out."

"Well we can't have that. Your eyes are the best part about you."

Rarity blushed and all but completely dropped her eyeliner pen. "Th-thank you, Spike." Rarity cleared her throat and then aimed her eyeliner again. "Well get to it, then. Then when you've laid my dress down, could you please excuse yourself for a bit and close the bedroom door on the way out?"

Spike felt his spirits start to fall again. "Oh. Oh okay, Rarity."

With a sigh and an encumbered heart, Spike placed the blue dress on Rarity's bed, headed towards the door, and briefly turned around to give a quick bow which Rarity never saw. He held his bow as he slowly backed across the door threshold. Once on the other side, he reached up and pulled on the handle.

Each passing second of silence on the other side of the door seemed to become heavier than the last for Spike. The more he waited for Rarity to get done getting ready, the more restless he became. After about a minute of waiting, Spike decided to look for a way to keep himself occupied. His attention turned towards his backpack laying on the couch. Making his way over to the furniture, he grabbed his backpack and sat down, his legs swinging back and forth freely but grown just long enough to barely scrape the floor. He worked on a dry spot in his mouth with his tongue as he undid the buckles of the flap. The spot only became drier still when he saw his prize inside. He reached in and pulled it out.

"This is that book I took from Rarity back on the train," he muttered to himself as he looked at the cover. "Why do I even have this?" He hopped off the couch and turned towards the bedroom door, holding the book out at arm's length. "I should return this to her. No. I should confess to what I did," he said as he took a couple steps towards the bedroom. Then he paused, and after a beat, he sat back down. "Right after I read this chapter!"

Spike turned to where he last left the story before departing the train. The last chapter tugged at his heart, leaving him to the point where he almost cried in front of Rarity. It had been lucky for him that she only took the briefest notice of his tears and didn't pry into what had caused his crying. It would've been most certainly awkward had Rarity discovered Spike had been reading her book. In addition to the sad parts that had made him cry, there were also a few parts that made him feel kind of funny and gave him the same strange heat he felt around Rarity at the restaurant. Spike discovered words that confounded him and defied his ability to define them. He read scenes that gave him an odd tickle and strange urges. He couldn't figure out why he had been feeling these tumultuous emotions as he read the book. They frustrated him just as much as they amused him. The more he thought about the book, the deeper his shame felt over taking it and keeping it a secret from Rarity.

He delved deeper into the next chapter. It seemed to building up towards even more of the kinds of scenes which gave him the funny feelings. Spike liked the main hero of the story, a young stallion named Nightshade. He identified with this shy but powerful pony who had a hard time expressing his feelings to his true love.

"Okay, so in the last chapter," Spike recounted to himself as he flipped through the pages of the book. "Our hero Nightshade had been kidnapped and locked away in a tower, kept away from his true love by order of his step sister, who is a powerful enchantress." He flatly added, "Boy does THAT sound familiar." Then, he continued with, "She may keep him away from the one he was meant to be with, but I hope true love wins out in this chapter."

Spike read a few paragraphs and then pumped his fist.

"Yes! It looks like he escaped the tower through a clever ploy and some heroic fighting! Now all he has to do is make it back to the love of his life."

Spike read more and more to himself, getting caught up in the exploits of the book's hero. Finally he came to a scene where it seemed like the hero had finally found his mare.

Nightshade gave Meadowlark a long and loving embrace.

"Oh my dear Nightshade, I thought I would never see you again."

"I've traveled hundreds of miles just to be in your loving presence."

Meadolowlark turned away from Nightshade and raised a hoof up to her forehead as she became overcome by her emotions. "Oh Nightshade. All those years we've known each other, and you've never told me your honest and true feelings. You keep on dropping hints, but I desire more than that!"

Nightshade fell forward to his knees, ignoring the sores that covered them. "Oh my dear Meadowlark. Forgive me! I was afraid you would reject me, and my stubborn pride kept me from telling you. But no more! I want you to be with me for the rest of our lives. My only regret is that I am a broken shadow of my former self. I have nothing to give you to make you my wife!"

Spike pulled his head away from the pages and pursed his lips, a feeling of uncertainty coming over him. "Sheesh. I can't tell if this is the good part. This is actually getting kind of corny. So why can't I stop reading?"

Meadowlark whirled back around to face Nightshade, her face a mask of raw emotion, tears streaming from her eyes. "You are the only thing I need in this world! But there is something you can give me."

"Name it!"

Meadowlark gave her love a long and passionate kiss, feverishly letting her lips and the softness of her tongue relay her desire to him. She then playfully brushed a hoof against the tufts on his chest before leaning forward and whispering in his ear, "Make love to me, Nightshade. I want to be the mother of your children."

"But... But we're not..."

Another loving kiss silenced him, and Nightshade was all but lost to Meadowlark's affections and her sweet perfume.

"Tradition can hang," Meadowlark replied.

She reached out and grabbed him by his broad shoulders with her front hooves and started walking backwards, gently guiding him towards her canopy bed. When they reached their destination, Meadowlark fell backwards until both were nestled within the mattress's softness. Joy filled their hearts, and they each gave a gleeful laugh. Gentle play was not Meadowlark's desire, however. When the giddy feeling had subsided, she nuzzled Nightshade with the tip of her nose, gazing into his eyes with her own eyes half closed in a smoldering, seductive manner.

She gave Nightshade one prolonged kiss after another as she sought out her prize with her right hoof. Giving him more guidance, she used her left hoof to coax him to lie on his back. It didn't take her long to find the button to press down below. The reaction was instantaneous. Nightshade rolled his head back against the sheets and grunted. Out came his member, standing fully ready to start some action. He arched his back as his darling got to work on his shaft, applying pressure up and down the length with both of her front hooves. As she did this, she kissed his chest and made her way up until her lips found his lips once more. When a sticky liquid poured from the end of his stallionhood, she knew that he was ready.

Spike felt the familiar heat building up inside him again as he read the sultry chapter. He read several paragraphs of steamy romance and foreplay, of kissing and nuzzling and caressing of different body parts. The deeper he read into the scene, the more he got into it. The more he got into it, the worse the teasing and annoying but wonderful heat got. Absent-mindedly, his right hand drifted downward, and he continued reading the book held in only the other. He became vaguely aware that his own member had grown stiff as well.

"Unh. Oh no. Not here," Spike panted. But he didn't stop. He continued reading the scene and feeding his arousal. "Meadowlark lay down on her belly and exposed her backside to Nightshade. She lifted her tail to entice him. 'I am wet, Nightshade,' Meadowlark said. 'See how it drips from me. I beg of you. Please mount me. Make love to me and give me your baby.'"

Spike gasped as the stiffness of his little boy dragon part grew even harder and the buzzing of hormones flooded his brain, almost keeping him from reading even further.

"Nightshade placed his two front hooves firmly on his lover's hindquarters as he positioned himself. His member stood fully erect, and his heart beat faster at the thought of the intimate activity they were about to undertake and of the obligation to her he would most likely fulfill. His arousal reached a feverish high when he inhaled and took in the scent of her sex. Meadowlark bit her lower lip and prepared herself as she felt his tip press up against her. The wetness of her made the entrance easy, but a brief pain came when she felt her maidenhead give way with the first thrust. 'Keep going, Nightshade. The pain is nothing,' Meadowlark cried. Nightshade did as he was co... commanded and... kept thrusting against... against her... slow at first, almost tenderly as he... kissed... UNH! Her neck at the same time! Then.... he..."

Spike dropped the book to the floor and glanced down as his confusing and terrifying but wonderful state of being he wasn't even sure what to call. He oozed a clear liquid, and worried he might stain the couch, he grabbed the end and tried covering it up. He saw that he wasn't succeeding in stopping it from dripping, so he lowered his head and closed his eyes as tears streamed from them, some from the guilt but some from the intense sensitivity and the electrifying feeling throughout all of his body.

"Rarity!" Spike wept.

"Spikey!" came a chipper voice from the bedroom. "Could you come here, please? I need help with something!"

Spike quickly rubbed his face to dry his eyes but managed to smear some of the sticky liquid on his face. "Um... Okay, Rarity! I'm coming!"

He took a deep breath, got up from the couch and approached the bedroom. His penis was still out of its sheath and standing erect, seemingly not wanting to go down any time soon.

He gently braced his shoulder against the door and placed a quivering claw on the handle before pausing in anticipation of what would come upon opening it.

Spike felt terrified. He respected Rarity as a friend and as a dignified, cultured lady. Yet everything about Rarity drove Spike crazy and sometimes caused his body to reach strange new feelings and sensations against his bidding. He just couldn't bear to sully her refined gentility, but there he was, standing in a shameful way and in no state to show himself to her. However, he also couldn't just stand there. Rarity had called him to come. He also didn't feel like staying in the living room would've done any good. If she didn't need him inside the bedroom, she likely would've walked out and discovered him sitting on the couch, either dripping fluids or covering up his awkward body part.

So he turned the handle and then he looked down.

His little boy dragon part was still out and still stiff.

He completed the turn of the handle and opened the door a tiny bit. He then stuck his head in a tiny bit, hoping for the slim chance that Rarity didn't turn to look at him. It seemed that he caught a bit of luck, as Rarity had her back turned towards him, her eyes still on the vanity mirror.

The young dragon started sneaking inside, his body turned slightly away from her and his palms cupped desperately over his crotch area.

Rarity looked over her mirror image intently, scouting for any imperfections in her makeup. She had checked her finish for color blemishes and made sure that her eye shadow was nice and even and not too thick. Finally, she checked to see if her false eyelashes had alignment problems. They didn't.

She clopped her hooves together with a smile; everything was to her satisfaction. She admitted to herself that she wouldn't accept anything less than making herself a regular stunner, radiating fabulosity like the sun radiated light.

As her eyes drifted to the side and focused on the mirror image of the room behind her, she spotted something that made her breath catch in her throat. Her little Spikey Wikey had entered the room.

He was sporting a raging erection.

Rarity quickly brought a hoof up to her chest and breathed out to compose herself. Part of her wanted to pry into why Spike was in such an unbecoming state, but she also remembered that she was a lady as well as his friend. She balked at the idea of hurting his feelings to get her answers. Faced with very little good options, she decided to start out playing coy and act like she hadn't seen him.

Rarity hummed a small tuned and swung her legs back and forth as she sat on the stool in front of the vanity, delicately touching her front hooves to her knees like a shy debutante. She then ruffled her skirt a bit and leaned closer to the mirror.

"Are you there, Spike?" Rarity called, pretending not to see the young dragon try to inch his way past her. "You can come in, now!"

Spike stopped in his tracks but kept his back turned towards her. He swallowed a raw lump and took a couple steps backwards, making his way towards Rarity tail end first, his shaky knees slightly tucked in to try and hide his embarrassing problem. He stood behind where Rarity sat, hoping that she wouldn't turn around and that her body would hide him from her view in the mirror. Fighting his nerves, he inhaled a ragged breath and opened his mouth to speak.

"I'm here Rarity," Spike muttered, his words coming out rather dryly. "You needed help with something?"

Rarity squealed with delight at the sound of Spike's voice. She glanced up in the mirror and spotted his adorable dragon tail peeking out from behind her body. She smiled and nodded. "Why yes, Spike. Could you be a dear and help me with that zipper in the back of my dress? It seems to be stuck. Oh but take your time, darling. I wanted to talk to you about something while you do that."

Spike gulped and turned his head to look at Rarity over his shoulders. He spotted the sensual curve of her spine peeking out through the zipper of her dress and the delicate nape of her neck behind the cascade of her coiled up locks of hair. The perfect, feminine and beguiling landscape of her back seemed alluring to him, with its every subtle curve and measure of symmetry. He felt a renewed rush of blood to different parts of his body, including his part down below.

He then chanced pulling his hands away from his throbbing little boy dragon part to take a look. The clear, sticky liquid coated his claws, and his boy part still leaked the strange stuff.

"Um... Are you sure you want that? I mean you are a unicorn."

"But I'm asking you, darling," Rarity cooed, still keeping her body facing the mirror. "You can sit on the bed if it's too high for you. I'll sit down next to you so you can help me."

Spike gave a small, high-pitched whine.

"Okay, Rarity," he replied.

In a fit of desperation, he grabbed a pillow from off the bed and used it to cover himself up. He then hopped up on the bed and awaited his fate.

'She's going to see me. I'm so busted,' Spike thought to himself.

To his surprise though, Rarity got up and started walking backwards towards the foot of the bed before finally sitting down on it. The springs creaked with the weight of her backside as she settled in. Spike blinked at Rarity's unusual behavior when he realized she had kept her back turned towards him the entire time. Clutching the pillow tightly to his crotch, he got up and walked across the top of the bed and kneeled down behind her.

He tried pulling on Rarity's zipper with one hand so that he could keep the pillow against his body with the other, but he found that he couldn't get leverage that way.

"Do you have it, Spike?" Rarity asked, turning her head slightly to the side to look at Spike out of the corner of her eye.

"I uh... Yeah I've got it," Spike replied.

He then took a deep breath and lifted his other hand, letting the pillow drop and exposing his dragonhood.

"So Spike," Rarity said as he got to work on the zipper. "I was wondering. How did you get so bi...? I mean, uh... I mean where did this new size come from?"

Spike wiggled the zipper a bit before stopping to ponder what to say. "Well... I'm not really sure."

"Well what led up to it?" Rarity asked.

He pulled his hand away from the zipper and brought it up to his chin, tapping it with an index claw as he thought a bit. "A few weeks before I hit my growth spurt," Spike began. "I had been having some strange dreams."

He then went back to fiddling with the zipper.

"Oh I see. Are they dreams about me?" Rarity added.

"Um... Well..."

Rarity swallowed a hard lump.

"I apologize. I'll rephrase the question," she interjected. "Did you start getting new feelings or new sensations?"

Spike blushed a deep red, which Rarity couldn't see, but there was enough hesitation in his voice that Rarity must've picked up on his awkwardness. Spike started to sputter out an answer, but Rarity interrupted him.

"Spike. I just want you to know that with whatever changes your body is going through, I'm sure that it is perfectly natural, and you have no reason to feel ashamed in talking about it. I promise you that I will not laugh or put you down."

"Why do you want to know so badly?" Spike added.

"Well because I care about you."

Spike stopped working on the zipper and dropped his arms to his sides. The admission was something he had longed to hear, but it still took him by surprise. He smiled but clasped his hands in front of his crotch, still feeling a little exposed and awkward but also cautiously optimistic.

"Really?" he asked.

"Well of course, Spikey!" Rarity exclaimed.

Spike's heart skipped a beat, and a pleasantly warm feeling grew in his chest. He felt his defenses slow slip away from him, and he took a couple steps closer to Rarity, stopping just before the tip of his member touched her back.

"You can't believe how glad I am to hear you say that!" Spike said, his voice bursting with the joy inside him.

"Well I'm glad to be saying it, Spike!" Rarity replied. Then after a pause, Rarity turned her head to the side again. "Would you like to talk about something else?"

Spike shook his head and then grabbed the zipper again. "No no. I'm fine, Rarity. I just want to get this zipper already."

Somehow, Rarity found humor in Spike's persistence over the zipper and laughed. Spike chuckled as well, delighting in Rarity's happiness. He then got a bit closer to get a better look at where it was snagged. As he did so, he heard Rarity gasp.

"What was that?" she asked.

Fearing the worst, Spike looked down and noticed that the tip of his thing was touching Rarity's back. He blushed and quickly backed up a few steps. He sputtered a bit as he struggled to find the words to say before thinking of an excuse that seemed somewhat plausible.

"It was... my knee?"

Somehow, Rarity kept her composure enough to keep her ruse up. She politely nodded and stayed silent, daring not to do anything to arouse his suspicion. Despite her efforts, though, she still felt a blush come to her cheeks. She quickly brought her front hooves up to cover the deepening redness.

"Please keep going, Spike," Rarity said, barely squeaking out her words.

Spike wiggled the zipper and finally managed to walk it up the teeth a few notches. He knew that Rarity was gifted with a trim and sleek figure, but the zipper was still snug against her back.

"Well yeah," he continued. "It feels kind of like a buzzing, I guess. It's also a bit like a tingly feeling, like electricity, but at the same time, it's also a warm feeling, like fire. Well I'm probably not making much sense."

He fell silent again, once again feeling too awkward to continue talking. He used that moment to wiggle the zipper again.

"Go ahead! What else?" Rarity urged.

Spike heard his heart pounding loudly in his ears, and his body felt hotter than ever. His anxiety fiercely returned, and the near accident with his little boy part made him feel even more self-conscious and shy.

"I... uh... Can I ask you some questions first?"

Rarity blinked, surprised by this new turn in the conversation. She felt unsure on how to proceed. She intended since the moment she sat down on the edge of the bed to be in full control of the flow of the conversation. She would entertain any questions he gave her, but with the topic at hoof and Spike's seeming defensiveness, she hoped that Spike would avoid certain kinds of questions pertaining to the sensitive nature of their discussion. She wasn't sure if she could find the heart to answer of these. Hesitantly, she turned her head to the side again so that Spike could see her nod.

Spike brought the pillow in close to his body again before continuing. "Well... What are your plans while you're staying at this resort? I mean besides going to this party with... him. Anything special?"

Rarity raised an eyebrow at the caustic way Spike said the word "him" but decided not play the possessiveness card. "Um... Anything special?" she replied in a stilted fashion. "Why no. Not really. I mean... I want to see the sights. Maybe just ride the cable cars or do some shopping."

"Yes! Shopping!" Spike exclaimed, almost a little too eagerly to Rarity's ears for something he had never previously shown interest in. "Can I do that with you? What are the kinds of things that you like?"

"Woah woah, Spike!" Rarity replied, growing a bit alarmed. "Slow down a bit. Why did this turn into twenty questions all of a sudden?"

Spike pulled the pillow in tight against his body, his lips downturned and quivering. "Well I just wanted to do things with you and maybe find something that I can get you for being so nice to me."

Rarity touched a hoof to her chest and softened her voice, moved by his sincere affections for her. "Oh Spike," she whispered. "The only thing that you can do for me is to just be your sweet and adorable self."

It was Spike's turn to blush, and he quickly covered up one flushed cheek with a hand, even though he still hid behind Rarity. "Well I still feel that it's right to get you something," he asserted. "After all, YOU gave me something, even though I haven't seen it yet."

He then grabbed the zipper tab and wiggled it again.

"Hmm," Rarity muttered, becoming lost in her thoughts. "Spike. About that gift. I want to be the one to give it to you, so please don't go asking Twilight about it."

"You got it, Rarity," Spike said with a nod.

Rarity quietly sighed. Spike seemed happy enough, but Rarity's heart felt heavy in her chest. She imagined herself to be much like her own squares of fabric while she split them in two with her scissors. So, too, was her mind just as torn between her adoration of the dragon and her uncertainties over the reciprocation of the proper feelings. She loved making him happy and giving him things, but occasionally, such as now, she wondered if she wasn't what he needed but only what he wanted and would only let him down.

She drew in a sharp, emotional inhale and steeled herself to continue the discussion. "Spike. I promise you that we will do something together before our time here at this resort is up, and we will have a wonderful time. But I want you to realize something..."

Spike finally managed to get the zipper all the way up and then withdrew back under the safety of the pillow. "Yeah yeah, I know," he said, sounding defeated. "What..." He paused to swallow again.

The words had never felt so raw. Except during the times when he had found himself caught in his infuation of her, he almost always found it easy to talk to her. He didn't much care for expressing his feelings, however, and at that moment, he couldn't recall when he felt so vulnerable.

"What am I compared to Sky Sparks? I mean... uh... You said you cared about me, earlier, but what does that mean exactly? I mean... nevermind."

'What the hay was that? Stupid stupid stupid,' Spike mentally berated himself.

The young dragon felt clumsy, tossing barely coherent words around and stumbling over his intended iterations like they were cacti. He couldn't even say the name of Rarity's new friend without effort. He had to drag the name out everytime in an almost scornful way. He figured he probably seemed like a jealous fool to Rarity at that moment.

Rarity reached back with a front hoof and touched the nape of her neck, feeling the secured zipper. She smiled.

"That's a bit of a complicated, Spike. However, I will try my best to say my thoughts on this if you tell me something."

Spike rocked on his tail, a habit that he found comforting. "Yes. What is it?"

"You were about to tell me about these new sensations and feelings that you've been getting since your growth spurt. I suppose to save time, I should just 'cut to the chase' as it were. You see I've been wondering, ever since I saw you've grown, I mean..." Rarity brought a hoof up to her lips, hoping that he didn't take her words the wrong way. "Spike just how much do you know about..."

The final word withered away on her tongue.

"About?" Spike urged.

Rarity lowered her eyes, suddenly feeling bashful. She then turned her body around. Spike drew the pillow in as tight as he could muster, but Rarity looked into Spike's eyes instead.

"How much do you know about sex?"

The question flustered Spike a bit. He remained silent for several beats, sitting there staring at Rarity and blinking in wonderment. He then came to realize that he didn't even know what she meant.

"I don't know anything about sex," he finally answered.

She pursed her lips and gave a small sigh. "Well that's disappointing to hear." Rarity started to wonder that perhaps there was no way to approach Spike about his little problem for the time being.

"What you mean? Does it have something to do with my body? Can you tell me what it is?"

Rarity shook her head and then drew the fringe of her dress lower across her knees. "I'm afraid not. Then to answer your other question, you are Spike, my dear friend and loyal gem hunting companion. Whether you are more than that, I honestly can't find the heart to say right now. You are..."

Her cheeks grew hot and flushed again. Something more came as well. She fought the tears working their way towards her eyes and successfully kept them from falling.

"Yes. You are attractive. You are very attractive. Ever since you've grown a bit, I couldn't help but admire your exquisite shine and exceptional curves. However, I can't handle that right now. It compounds my feelings. Sky Sparks is also attractive. But I don't want you to feel like you need to measure up to him or compare with him." She looked up and spotted the time by the clock on the vanity. "I must go now, but for the present, just think of this as a friendly get together and not worry about it. I..." She bit her lip. "Thank you for helping me with the zipper." She leaned forward and lovingly placed a kiss on his largest head spine.

Spike felt his dragonhood stiffen up once more.

"You are done here, now. You should go back to Twilight before she starts to worry," Rarity added as she got up from the bed.

He shook himself out of the stupor over being kissed and looked up to see her walking towards the bedroom door. "Ah? Oh!" He suddenly remembered the book he took from her was still out there. "Wait! Don't!" He quickly hopped off the bed and followed her, fearing the worst as he brought the pillow along to continue using as a cover. "Wait, Rarity!"

Rarity gathered up her saddle bags and then paused at the exit. "What is it, Spike?" she said as she turned around to look at him.

Spike stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the couch where he had been reading the book. He felt like he could start sweating bullets when he spotted the tiny, dark stains on the couch fabric, but the book was nowhere to be seen, so he felt a small reprieve and thought that maybe she didn't suspect anything yet.

"Spike, darling. You look a little silly holding onto that pillow like that."

Spike gave an audible gulp and turned to look back at Rarity. "I just want to hold onto it a bit," he replied, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.

"Oh is that so? Well are you going to take it with you back to Twilight's cabin?" she asked, a wry smile on her face.

Spike tipped his head up slightly. "Actually, can I stay here and wait for you to come back?"

Rarity gave a small smirk and fidgeted. "I don't know, Spike. Twilight asked me to send you back as soon as you were done helping me. I don't think she's going to like that very much."

"Oh please?!" the dragon whined.

Rarity felt her heartstring go twang. She looked at Spike and saw him with big, wet doe eyes. With his pleading and standing there while clutching onto the pillow like a child's safety blanket, she relented at one of the cuter and more endearing things she had ever seen. She figured that, at any rate, he wasn't in any shape to go walking out the door with his kind of problem.

"Oh okay," she muttered. "Perhaps if it's not too late when I come back, you can help me with my cart."

The young dragon's eyes shimmered with joy.

"Oh thank you!" he exclaimed.

Rarity started to turn the handle of the cabin door but then stopped halfway to look at Spike. She tilted her head slightly to the side. "I will try not to stay too late, but what will you do while you wait for me?"

Spike looked down at the pillow he held to the front of his body and blushed. "Oh, I can think of one or two things."

Rarity gave a quick and jovial laugh as she left.

Love Is A Many Splintered Thing

Love is a Many Splintered Thing

Twilight Sparkle slammed the compass down on the coffee table in a huff. The needle spun around wildly before settling down to find magnetic north again. The energies of her divination spell fizzled, leaving her practice session for object location absolutely ruined. She had meant it to be a short exercise to help her with her project for Princess Celestia. Her will just wasn't there, and her frazzled mind compounded the problem. She couldn't work because she was too grouchy, and despite earlier telling Rarity that she just wanted to relax at her cabin, she couldn't rest because she was restless.

Her thoughts had been on Spike and Rarity ever since she tried to settle down in her room. Not even reading her book provided comfort. As one final measure, she tried mixing up some more of the cocoa she had bought from the comfort shop at the edge of town. However, the mug sitting on the coffee table next to the rose compass was already her third, and that one was already halfway to the bottom.

As Twilight fumed at her failure, she decided to lift the mug to her lips and drain the rest.

"Why do I feel so terrible?" she said after she swallowed. "Yeah well maybe it's because you lied to your friends and misplaced the gift Rarity got for Spike. Oh I was only thinking of Spike! Well congratulations! Either you hate yourself for letting Spike become led on by Rarity, or Spike hates you for almost throwing away his gift and then actually misplacing it later on!"

She gave a melancholy sigh before getting up to toss the mug into the sink. She then made her way from the kitchen back to the living room and glumly sat down on the couch.

"So what am I going to do?" she asked herself, her voice subdued. "I can't study for my project because all my books are back home. I can't practice or even relax because I'm so stressed and my mind is all agitated. I can't even stop thinking about what I did." She shifted about to sit down prone and drew her legs in close to her body self-consciously. Feeling low, she rested her head on the couch pillow beneath her. "I mean what is the big deal with that gift, anyway? Spike should know by now that Rarity only views his feelings casually. She could very well make him happy with her generous gifts while still playing the field elsewhere, like with her new boyfriend over here. What is this, her fifteenth? Wait a minute."

Twilight lifted her head up and furrowed her brows as she thought.

"I remember throwing the gift behind some bags in that baggage car in my attempt to get rid of it. That baggage car was the one her boyfriend told the conductor to store her wagon in. I bet those bags probably belonged to that Sky Sparks pony, and he probably picked up the gift by mistake." She got up from the couch and put on one of her own winter coats from her saddle bags, forgoing Rarity's strange and somewhat goofy-looking red and white outfit. She felt right at home in its simple plainness. "If I can track him down, I should be able to find the gift. Didn't Rarity say he was staying that luxury suite at cabin 800?"

She left her cabin and headed out into the cold, shivering briskly against the chill air's wintery greeting as she opened the door. The winter resort had maps scattered about at various intersections. They made finding the cabin easy, yet Twilight didn't look forward to the walk when she saw how far it was. The cabin was located near the back of the resort, a snowball's throw from the lift to the ski areas and nestled far away from the other cabins. It was a lavish building and big, with two full stories and a pyramid roof, all built with some of the most richly colored and deeply marbled wood she had ever seen. A part of the front of the cabin had a two-layer effect, with an enclosed deck up on the roof of the section underneath. Twilight could see a bubbling hot tub through the glass of the deck. Also adorning the front were severaly ornately carved wooden pillars, which sort of reminded Twilight of the Greco style columns of Cloudsdale.

"Okay, Twilight," she breathed, releasing an icy wisp of air. "You can do this. Just walk up to the front door and knock." As Twilight approached, she came to the realization that her fate in the eyes of her friends was based on the assumption that Rarity hadn't shown up yet. She stopped in her tracks. "Oh shoot," she said. "That's probably not such a good idea." She tapped her right hoof to her chin. "On the other matter, I don't want one of my memories of this vacation to be of breaking and entering." Thinking a bit more, she looked to the right and spotted a leafless oak tree overlooking a side window. "Hmm. Well then I won't break. I will just enter."

She made her way over to the tree and climbed up, moving over to the branch near the window and inching out as far as she dared to go. From her vantage point, she was able to look through the window and could see that it was a bedroom. There didn't seem to be a pony in sight.

Reaching for her magical energies, she tapped her teleportation spell, hoping it would be on the mark in her exhausted state. The air crackled with electricity before releasing with a satisfying pop. When she rematerialized, she bumped her head on something hard immediately above her. She rubbed the top of her head and opened her eyes to look around. All she saw was some kind of draped fabric.

"Great," Twilight grumbled, feeling her agitation increasing with all the day's earlier frustrations. "Seems I've materialized underneath a bed. Time to crawl out."

She proceeded to put in the effort into wriggling out like a caterpillar but stopped shortly before reaching the edge of the bed frame. The sound of a door opening froze her blood, and she quickly wriggled back towards the middle. She tried her best to quiet her breathing and heard the sounds of two distinct set of hoof steps, one the heavier clip clop of a stallion and the other the pat pat of a mare. The mare tittered while the stallion chortled, and both sounded a bit inebriated to Twilight. Twilight grimaced when she heard the bed creak and felt the weight of the springs on her back.

"Oof," Twilight said, struggling to breath while still avoiding becoming heard. "Oh I hope they're not going to start mating. Well I'm not sticking around to find out."

Twilight attempted another teleportation, knowing very well the risk of a blind teleport. When she materialized, she found herself in a hallway. Looking around, she saw nothing but doors in every direction. The sounds of conversation and some merrymaking drifted up from downstairs. They were somewhat muffled to Twilight's ears, which she took as a good sign that her intrusion wouldn't become heard and that the occupants below were a fair distance away from her endeavors and distracted by the party.

"This cabin is huge," she whispered to herself as she looked around, trying to decide which door to try first. "What a silly work of extravagance. There must be close to fifty rooms here."

Upon hearing the sounds of grunting and bucking emanating from the bedroom she had just teleported from, she wrinkled her nose in disgust but also nodded at the door to mark it in her mind for avoidance. She decided to start at the end of the hallway opposite of that room.

"I could try that location spell exercise I came up with for my project, but I haven't really had much luck with it, and I also left my compass back at the cabin. Well... here goes nothing."

Twilight gathered her thoughts as she concentrated on the necessary energy and connected the lines of magic in her mind. She had meant this to be an exercise to expand her perception for whenever she would get around to finishing her project for Princess Celestia, but she wasn't really looking forward to exerting herself on anything else, and certainly not for something as simple as trying to find a missing gift. Even so, she continued on, and as she worked on the magic, she felt things around her start to grow somewhat sparkly.

She struggled to shape the spell as her sensations started to twist. Appearances became textures. Textures became sounds. Sounds became appearances. As the spell unwound, she felt an unexpected burst of energy, and a multitude of tiny sparkles seemed to cover everything in the entire cabin.

She opened her eyes and immediately grew dizzy.

The spell didn't give her the desired effect. Instead, she stumbled about and struggled to keep her balance as her scattered senses gave her all the coordination of an inebriated pony. Undeterred, she decided to continue searching for the gift in each room the old-fashioned way. However, her very first step resulted in her falling on her face. Panic set in when she heard more jubilant and rowdy voices getting closer.

Some more ponies were climbing up the stairs, and she remained stuck in a compromised way, sprawled on the floor with her legs akimbo. She pressed her front hooves to the floor and struggled to get up. It was an effort too late.

"Hey there, sweetie. Are you enjoying the party?"

Twilight froze but then realized a moment later that the voice was addressing her and didn't sound like the pony speaking suspected her of not belonging to the party.

"Um..." Twilight began.

"Well you must be because you look like you've drank just a little too much."

At that moment, Twilight changed her mind and decided not to get up and turn around. She remained on the floor, playing the part of a drunk partier. "Yeah," she muttered, giving a small hiccup for good measure.

"Hey don't take this the wrong way," she heard the voice behind her continue, "but you've got a really cute butt. Do you want to join me and my girlfriend for a little fun?"

Twilight grimaced and then looked over her shoulder. She noticed that her posterior was indeed up in the air and that the pony behind her was staring at it. She quickly scrambled to her feet. Turning around, she faced a tall and lanky dark brown stallion and a sleek, curvy unicorn mare with a peach-colored coat.

The stallion had blood-shot eyes from being drunk but also sported a broad grin. The reason for his smile soon became apparent. The mare behind him giggled incessantly as she propped herself up on his backside. One of the mare's front legs reached around underneath him and firmly pressed up against the sheath where his boy part would be. From the look on the stallion's face, Twilight could tell that he was getting close to full arousal. Despite her mind being a little out of sorts from her spell's backlash, Twilight's senses were completely electrified. Through the noise of her thoughts, she saw the look of lust on the mare's face and watched the gentle rubbing of the stallion's private parts, and against her better judgment, Twilight couldn't help but slowly become a little turned on.

She promptly crossed her back legs and politely shook her head.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn you down," Twilight replied.

The stallion grimaced as his mate pressed even harder, but then he smiled at Twilight and shrugged. "Well suit yourself. I'd better check into a bedroom before I pop out right here and now."

The stallion nodded before opening up one of the doors lining the hallway and heading inside. His girlfriend followed closely after, still giggling all the while. Twilight then blushed as the door closed behind them.

"Just what kind of party has Rarity come to?" She then cleared her throat and briefly looked around before stumbling to another door. "Oh I wish I hadn't cast that spell," Twilight wailed as she clumsily reached for the door handle.

Opening the door gave Twilight another shock. Inside the room, a young female pegasus had her lips buried into the private parts of a unicorn mare, who seemed to be kissing the lips of a young female earth pony, who was in turn being penetrated from behind by a unicorn stallion. The stallion grunted as he bucked and thrust up against the earth pony girl, his eyes screwed shut from ecstasy. Twilight ran a tongue across a dry spot on her palate and swallowed nervously as she watched the spectacle. She felt a strong tingling near her back legs as her heart thumped quite forcefully in her chest.

She took a couple of shaky, awkward steps backward and immediately fell over again.

Only the pegasus looked up. She frowned at Twilight. "Either step inside or go away!"

Twilight blushed and hastily stood up, grabbing the door handle on her way out of the room. She then exhaled a ragged sigh and whimpered. Biting her lower lip, she reached back with a front hoof and touched underneath her hind quarters. She gasped as a wave of intense pleasure hit her brain. This was followed by a feeling of embarrassment, and she immediately pulled her hoof away. Looking down, she wrinkled her nose when she spotted a clear, sticky liquid coating the end of her leg. She hated feeling so naughty at such an important time, and she had to make sure no other pony saw her.

"Oh! I'm already sick of sneaking around this party, but I'm afraid of checking the next room!"

She closed her eyes as she reached for the door handle and opened the door. When she heard nothing, she dared a peek with one eye. Then she opened both eyes and smiled at the sight of an empty room. She walked inside.

The bedroom she found herself in seemed to be the main bedroom. A double king sized bed dominated the middle of the room. It was easily far bigger than the beds she had seen in the other rooms. A blue canopy over the bed provided a romantic touch. Twilight could only imagine to herself the kinds of things that would go on with such a bed. She wondered if Sky Sparks had plans to seduce Rarity, considering what she had already seen at the party.

She then turned her head to the left and spotted a large closet across the room. It was open and mostly empty, save for a few coats and the two long boxes she spotted back on the train.

"Hmm. He must be some kind of skier," she noted to herself. "I still don't see the gift, though, but this is definitely his room." She looked around some more and spotted a small dresser along the wall nearest to her. She saw the familiar, delicately wrapped gift box on top of the dresser. "There it is!" she said with a smile.

She hurried inside the bedroom and closed the door. She pressed her lips together as she lifted the gift up and examined it all over. Conflicted feelings bubbled up within her once again.

"Oh!" Twilight huffed. "I should just tell Rarity that Sky Sparks took this gift from me and be done with it!" She then lowered her head sadly. "However, Rarity would never forgive me if I told her something about her new boyfriend she didn't want to hear. And I'd never forgive myself if I told her something about him that wasn't true or broke my promise to keep her gift safe."

Before Twilight could stuff the gift into her saddle bag, however, she heard the bedroom door slowly creak open. She became startled, and in a fright, she headed for the closet and pulled it shut. It wasn't until she had backed up to the farthest corner of the closet that she realized she had left the gift back on the dresser.

"Oh no," she whispered. "I didn't take it with me?" She frantically looked all around but saw no gift box. "I must have been so taken by surprise that I think I left it on the..." She stiffened and fell quiet when she heard a familiar and boisterous voice outside of the closet.

"Oh my ponies! What a disappointing party! This headache is killing me, and I didn't even get to bed that knockout of a mare with diamonds on her flank!"

Twilight frowned inside her hiding spot. "That knockout mare you want to bed is my friend," she grumbled.

"Well at any rate," the stallion on the other side of the closet exclaimed. "I hope she likes skiing because tomorrow, I get to show her my stuff! She's bound to swoon for me. First, I just need to check on my skis, here."

Twilight became frightened. She was trapped in a closet she wasn't meant to be in after crashing a party she hadn't been invited to, and the host was walking straight towards her. She knew there was no time to worry about the gift anymore. She had to teleport without it or risk being caught.

She concentrated hard, hoping there was still some tiny shred of magical energy inside her. Despite her mind being as frazzled as it was, she still found just enough strength to cast her spell. She drained the last dregs of energy she could muster and disappeared in a burst of light. Her landing after exiting the teleportation was extremely clumsy. She tumbled out of the ether and landed quite forcefully in a big pile of snow.

Twilight grumbled as she proceeded to pull herself out of the snow drift. As she stood up, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Twilight? What are you doing here?"

It was Rarity.

* * *

Rarity tried scooting away from Sky Sparks, who seemed quite determined to get close and wrap his body around her. Under any other circumstance, Rarity wouldn't have minded a sweet cuddle, but for much of the length of the party, Sky Sparks had spent his time talking about little more than himself and his prowess in skiing, a subject which Rarity had grown to find increasingly dull. He had also spent the better part of the last few hours getting somewhat loud and very drunk. Presently, he reeked of a very strong whiskey called Midnight Rider.

Rarity herself had imbibed a few drinks and was feeling a bit tipsy as well, but Sky Sparks behavior, in no uncertain terms, just plainly embarrassed Rarity. Her unfinished glass of Chardonnay sat on the coffee table that was in front of the couch where she and Sky Sparks were seated. It would have been her third, but she had been put off finishing it.

She didn't recall the last time she was at a party where she had felt so out of place. A couple on the opposite side of the coffee table stared at her across the rim of their drink glass. They shared a large margarita together, each sipping on individual straws tucked into the beverage. Rarity imagined that they were either judging her as a potential mate for Sky Sparks or judging her ability to hold her alcohol.

In a back corner near the fireplace, she overheard another pony trying to discuss the finer points of selecting snowboards. As she looked around at how the party unfolded, she saw a bunch of fabulous ponies all looking like high society but not acting or talking like high society. She couldn't recall the last time she ever felt so lonely.

In a fit of disgust, she turned back towards Sky Sparks and attempted to steer the conversation to more familiar territory. Something amusing one of his friends had said sent Sky Sparks into a fit of laughter. Rarity took that opportunity and promptly shoved a hoof into his mouth.

"Say Sky Sparks," Rarity began after he had been suitably stifled. "Did I ever tell you about this one time I made a princess cut dress for a very important...?"

Sky Sparks pushed Rarity's leg away from his face. "Oh come on, Rarity! Nopony wants to hear about that!" he exclaimed. He then turned towards his other party guests. "Isn't she something, though? A toast to Rarity!"

This sent a celebratory cheer from the couple.

Rarity blushed and covered up her face, but she didn't feel flattered. Unseen by her, Sky Sparks raised another glass of his favorite whiskey and drank it back. Rarity looked up when she heard the clink of the glass on the coffee table. Looking to the side, she saw Sky Sparks trying to lean in even closer, his eyes slightly narrowed in a way that Rarity was all too familiar with.

"Come on, Rarity," Sky Sparks crooned in a suspiciously smooth manner. "I'm feeling a little amorous. Why don't I take you upstairs and show you my ski pole?"

It was all Rarity could stand. She angrily got up from the couch, her brow pulled into the fiercest frown she could muster.

"Were I even in a better mood, I'm afraid I would still have to turn you down!" Rarity shouted. "Now I'm in a bit of a stormy mood, and I haven't had any fun since arriving at this soiree. I'm going to have to excuse myself and head back towards my cabin. Thank you for keeping my cart safe."

As she finished her somewhat gentle tirade, she looked at Sky Sparks more closely and could tell that she had frightened him, which was never her intention. He looked pale and his eyes were wide. He glanced back over at his two other party guests, giving them a nervous look, seemingly watching for some sign that he hadn't lost face in front of them. He then looked back over at Rarity and gave her an awkward smile. She turned her back towards him.

"Oh but Rarity," she heard him start to say.

"I think you've had quite enough to drink," she interjected. "You should just go to bed. Alone. What your other guests do for the remainder of the party is of no concern of mine, but I am leaving."

She took a couple steps towards the entrance of the foyer.

"Wait!" Sky Sparks exclaimed.

She thought she heard a crack in his voice. It was enough to get her to stop, but she still kept her back towards him.

"You're right. I've had too much to drink," he wheezed. "But I don't think I could stand it if you didn't want to see me anymore, so I am inviting you to come join me at the top of the west slope tomorrow morning. Please bring something cute, and I might bring a surprise as well."

Rarity started to sneer but then let it die. She pursed her lips and thought a little before slowly nodding. Despite her foul mood, she didn't want to seem rude, and at the very least, she was curious about what he had in mind with his surprise.

"Very well," she said. "Tomorrow morning at the top of the west slope. Say ten o' clock?"

"That will be good. Will you let me walk you to your cabin?"

"No! You may walk me to the front door and no farther!" Rarity then caught her tone and softened her voice. "Ahem. I mean I can manage my way back to my cabin just fine. Thank you."

Sky Sparks grumbled but did as he was asked and escorted Rarity to the front door. Upon reaching the threshold, Rarity did her best to maintain an appearance of dignity and politeness, even though on the inside, she felt like squirming. She could feel the weight of his stare as he stood before her just inside the doorway, pursing his lips like he expected a small kiss or some kind of tiny romantic favor. Rarity kept her head held high as she looked back at him, trying not to betray the jitters she felt inside, but when she opened her mouth, she spoke in a hurried manner.

"Well thank you for inviting me to the party and for walking me to the door and I will see you tomorrow okay bye!"

She then soundly closed the door in his face.

She took a couple steps backwards and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he didn't reopen the door. She then turned around and sought out her wagon. She found it around the back of the cabin, curiously neglected of any kind of covering. She clicked her teeth in disapproval and checked over her belongings. Happily, she found everything in place and not damaged. She hooked herself up and started pulling her cart towards the street.

She didn't even walk one hundred feet down the road before she heard a strange thump next to her, like something hitting the snow very hard. Rarity looked to where she heard the sound and saw a familiar purple tail sticking out of a snow drift. Curious, she unhooked herself from her cart and walked over. Just as Rarity expected, her friend Twilight popped out of the snow in front of her.

"Twilight? What are you doing here?" Rarity asked.

Twilight turned around to face Rarity only to lose her balance and fall over again. Twilight grumbled under her breath before reaching up and grabbing the hoof Rarity offered in assistance.

"Good heavens, Twilight. Are you okay?" Rarity said as she pulled Twilight to her feet. "Are you drunk? You weren't invited to the party."

Twilight pushed Rarity's hoof away and then steadied herself on her own four legs. "No I'm not drunk, Rarity. I just had a less than desirable reaction with a spell. And you're one to talk. You look a little glassy-eyed yourself."

Rarity pulled her lips into a pout. "I am only a little tipsy, darling. Now what did I tell you about coming to this resort and doing anything other than relaxing and having fun?" She then approached Twilight even closer and prodded her in the flank. "Come on. Let's walk you back to your cabin." When Rarity placed a hoof around Twilight's body to help steady her friend, she wrinkled her nose at something and frowned. "On second thought, my cabin is closer, and well... How do I put this delicately? You kind of sort of smell. As a matter of fact, I'd wager to say that the way you smell is almost like that of a pony in heat."

Twilight drew away from Rarity and brought a hoof to her chest as she dropped her jaw. "Why whatever are you suggesting, Rarity? Are you saying I've been up to things unbecoming of a studious and productive bookworm like myself?"

Rarity parted her lips with a smile. "If the horseshoe fits. I won't pry for details, but you smell horny, darling. That's nothing to be ashamed of."

Twilight tossed her head back to give an exasperated grunt. "What is it with you and this big sexual liberation thing going on? How many romantic partners have you had in your life?"

The smile suddenly faded. Rarity bottled her feelings but didn't cotton to the implication of being an easy mare. "A lady does not kiss and tell," she snapped. "My very few sexual encounters are my own business. Now are you going to follow me so that I can indulge you in a decadent bath, or am I going to have to drag you by your tail?"

Twilight glowered at Rarity for a few moments but soon gave in. She lowered her head and nodded before sighing out, "Okay." She then lifted her head back up. "At the very least, I just want to get out of this cold, but I couldn't possibly deprive you of that bath aroma thing that you spent your hard earned money on. I just want a quick shower."

Rarity shrugged and then walked back to her cart to hitch herself back up. "Suit yourself," she said. "Come on. Prop yourself up on my shoulder so that I can help you walk back to my cabin."

Twilight frowned and took a couple steps towards Rarity. "I can walk straight just fine, Rarity."

Twilight ate her words as well as some more snow when her next step sent her tumbling towards the ground again. Rarity leaned into the harness to get her wagon rolling but then stopped next to Twilight.

"Goodness! Whatever it was that you drank certain did a number on you," Rarity said with a playful giggle.

"I told you I'm not drunk!" Twilight exclaimed, causing Rarity's joking smile to fade. "Just..."

Twilight brushed the snow from her face and then looked up. With Rarity standing just in front of her, Twilight felt she finally understood Spike's emotions and thoughts concerning Rarity. For just a brief little while, Twilight found herself looking up at Rarity's behind, and to her embarrassment, Twilight couldn't stop thinking how attractive it was to her. She felt an intensely hot blush come to her cheeks, and she quickly threw more snow onto her face.

"On second thought, I think I will find some space in your cart and ride in there," Twilight said.

Rarity made a dismissive wave with her front hoof. "Oh pish posh! I will have none of that. You can drape yourself across my back and ride on top of me. I won't mind."

Twilight gulped and forced her gnawing awkwardness aside. Her dizziness caused by her spell's backlash didn't feel like it would go away anytime soon. Neither did her intense arousal. Staying on the ground or sitting in the snow would certainly give her the death of cold, yet her friend's offering of a pony back ride felt too strange and provocative, and given her current turned on state, a bit perverse.

As she slowly stood up and approached Rarity, Twilight's thoughts almost became consumed once more with the fixation on the perfect half circle of Rarity's posterior. It was enough to get her to hestitate some more.

"Twilight. I must declare that you are taking forever. Not to mention that you seem to be redder than the color of beets. Whatever is the matter?" Rarity called in her delightfully sing song way.

"Um..." Twilight swallowed hard and place a shaky hoof on one of Rarity's shoulders. "Are you sure I'm not too heavy for you?"

"Well I would prefer one to ride sort of side saddle like," Rarity replied, "but you'd be back on your face on the ground in no time if you did that. And no. You're not heavy for me at all."

Twilight blushed at the vague compliment and continued on by placing her other front hoof on Rarity's other shoulder. Twilight then bit her lips and took a deep breath before completing the maneuver by hopping up and bringing her near hind leg up and over to the opposite side of Rarity's flank.

She was now completely riding on top of Rarity's body, her front legs draped across Rarity's shoulder, and her back legs dangling on either side of Rarity's flank.

The beams of the cart that connected to the harness Rarity wore made balancing on her back far easier. Rarity set herself in motion again, and Twilight inhaled a ragged breath when it dawned on her that Rarity's backside was directly underneath her, and that it was wiggling.

"Uhhh hunnh hmmmmm..." Twilight crooned.

"Did you say something, darling?"

Twilight remained silent for a small bit, mulling on her feelings and the proper words to say. "Rarity? Don't take this the wrong way, but..."

"What is it, darling?"

Twilight could smell Rarity's scent. Vanilla was in her hair. Lavender wafted from her neck. It drove Twilight crazy.

"Did I ever tell you that sometimes I'm extremely jealous of you..." Twilight silenced the words and adjusted her stream of thought. "Of your butt?"

Rarity gave a strange, high-pitched noise that Twilight couldn't tell if it was a titter or a shocked retort. "I beg your pardon, Twilight? You're jealous of my butt? Whatever do you mean by saying...?"

"I'm sorry. Forget I said anything."

"Hmm. If you say so, darling."

The rest of the trip carried on in awkward silence. Twilight felt it was more awkward for her than for Rarity. Every now and again, she mentally back kicked her inner self for bringing up Rarity's butt, as if that was something to be brought up in everyday conversation. Presently, the only thing conversing was the chattering of the wagon wheels as they rotated and spoke their language of wood and the crunching of snow.

Twilight tried her best to relax and enjoy the ride, but every little swaying of Rarity's hips made the task a little more difficult with each passing minute. She suddenly became aware that her strange little problem had caused her to drip on Rarity's fur. Twilight decided to remain quiet, feeling foolish enough from the last awkward thing she said. She merely bit her lip and whimpered throughout the whole trek.

"My goodness were you making quite the noise back there," Rarity said when she finally came to a stop.

"Well I couldn't help it," Twilight replied. "All my nerve endings are just super sensitive right now." She then lifted her head and saw that they were no longer moving. "Are we here?"

Rarity nodded, and Twilight took that as a cue to slide off her back.

"Indeed we are, darling. We have arrived at my cabin," Rarity replied as she got to work unhooking herself from her cart. "Just let me step out of this harness first, and then I can help you to the front door."

Twilight looked around and then noticed that Rarity left her cart around the back of the cabin. "Was all this stuff really necessary?" Twilight asked, an eyebrow raised in a quizzical manner. "What are you going to do with all this now that it is here?"

Rarity seemed to positively glow with pride as she regarded her cart. "Well of course all this is necessary! I'll never know when inspiration might strike me and I feel the need to create! I only brought the essentials!" She gave her mane a jubilant toss, beaming a smile that put dimples in her cheeks. "And don't worry about my things. Spi-i-i I mean I will arrange them later on. Myself, that is. That was what I meant to say."

She gave Twilight a nervous chuckle as Twilight furrowed her brows slightly and returned a slightly doubtful stare.

"Well! Shall I assist you to the front door?" Rarity chirped.

Twilight slowly nodded and then steadied herself on Rarity's shoulder. The two of them made their way around the building towards the front door, where Rarity used her key card to open it.

"Well I must say, I think you are making a huge mistake not taking advantage of my offer to treat you to a luxurious bath and instead settling for a boring old shower. You can barely stand up, and I honestly think that..." Rarity paused.

She held the door halfway open and stood looking through the door frame at something, but with her standing directly in front, Rarity blocked Twilight from seeing what she currently stared at.

Rarity whirled around to face Twilight and gave another paper mask smile.

"Could you excuse me for a teeny tiny bit and wait out here for just a tick?" the fashion pony asked in a suspicious sing song way. "I... ah ha... My cabin is an absolute mess."

"But it's cold out..."

"Okay thanks for understanding!"

The door shut in Twilight's face and clicked.

Twilight blinked.

"Here."

Somewhere to Twilight's right, a shallow mound of snow received a new hoof-shaped hole.

Inside the cabin, Rarity clicked her teeth and shook her head at the sight before her. Spike had fallen asleep on the living room couch, and she no longer had to wonder what became of the romance novel she had borrowed from Twilight. Spike clutched it to his chest as he slumbered like a colt would a teddy bear.

"Well now I know what caused Spikey Wikey's strange behavior earlier," she said as a small and knowing smile crept to her face despite herself. "I must not let on that I had known. Or let Twilight see him with this, for that matter. What a thing for him to be reading." She cautiously levitated the book away from his grip and tucked it back into her saddle bag. "Well Twilight is bound to find out sooner or later that I let Spike stay up even when she asked me to send him back to her cabin. I guess I'll just make this as simple as possible and tuck him into the bed. That way it'll look like he just wanted a nap."

Rarity did just that and levitated him off the couch. He still snored away as she carried him from the couch and into the bedroom, where she lovingly slipped him under the covers.

When she made certain that Spike was good and tucked in and sleeping soundly, she made her way back to the front door, where she opened it to the sight a slightly miffed and very cold friend.

"Well what was that all about?" Twilight asked as she stepped inside. "You didn't need to shut me out. I wouldn't have minded what your cabin looked like. You know that." She stomped the snow off her hooves near the door's threshold and shed her winter coat, hanging it up in the wardrobe. "Ugh. I feel so cranky, and that snow is causing my skin to chafe. I'm dying for that shower now."

Twilight turned her head from the wardrobe to see Rarity disappear around the corner of the bedroom door, but she still heard her voice from the other room.

"Well I'm working on that right now, darling. It shouldn't take too long. I just need to gather the proper things. Oh look at this. Such a drab color, and these towels are made of such a rough cotton. Why it's almost like sandpaper. Now that I think about it, I should've gotten some soothing lotion at that comfort shop. What do I get? A massage oil. Can you imagine?"

"Rarity!" Twilight called, craning her neck to project her voice. "I'm sure whatever is in that bathroom will be fine! I don't need pampering or anything fancy! I just need a shower!"

Rarity appeared in the bedroom door and furrowed her brows, giving a stern "no" with a shake of her head. Twilight cocked her head to the side.

"What are you shaking your head at me for? I didn't do anything."

Rarity brought a hoof up to the tip of her lips. "Be a little quieter, darling. Spike is asleep on the bed."

She then went back inside the bedroom, and Twilight followed her, still tottering around a bit clumsily. Rarity then made her way back to the bathroom, but Twilight stayed near the entrance, letting her eyes scan over the peaceful image of her slumbering dragon assistant, who lay neatly tucked under the plush and deep covers of Rarity's bed. He slept all curled up much like a cat, which hadn't changed much from when he was younger, and the way he slept produced a series of folds in the covers that hugged his body in a general mound shape. Her lips quivered when she thought to herself how much more grown he seemed. Perhaps the way he slept seemed more open and sure, less childlike. Perhaps it was the way the shape of the covers clinging to the form of his body seemed at that moment to be even larger to her eyes than how she remembered him just a few days ago. For whatever reason, Twilight found that she had to suddenly stifle being emotionally overcome by a need to reminisce about the young dragon.

The sounds of running water coming from the bathroom next to her snapped her out of her daydream about Spike. Rarity poked her head out and smiled broadly.

"One plain, boring, ordinary shower is ready for you, darling," Rarity chirped.

Twilight smiled and nodded as she made her way past Rarity, who slid by her on her way out of the bathroom. Twilight then gasped as she felt a sharp smack on her backside just as she was about to enter the bathroom. She turned her head and saw Rarity flashing a toothy smile and giving her tail a quick flick. Twilight realized that she had just been tail whipped in the behind by her friend, who had her right front leg gently held up in a ladylike sense of poise.

"I left a little something to make your boring shower a little more interesting," Rarity said, throwing a small purr at the end for good measure.

Twilight cocked her head slightly to the side and blinked as she tried to process Rarity's intentions and her rather strange act of endearment. "Um... What do you mean by...?"

"You'll see!" Rarity replied quickly, her words dancing with sunshine.

"Hmm. I guess I will. Oh and Rarity. What is Spike still doing here at your cabin when I asked you to send him back to my cabin as soon as possible?"

Rarity still held her beguiling smile. It made being angry at her a tad difficult for Twilight.

"And yet I caught you outside when you said all you wanted to do was rest in your cabin. What would Spike have done if I had him return to your cabin then? Hmm?"

Twilight opened her mouth for a retort but lost the heart for it soon after. She continued on her way into the bathroom, maintaining eye contact with Rarity all throughout until the final moment when she closed the door.

The rushing sounds of the water pouring from the shower head and the soothing heat of the rising steam did wonders for Twilight. Already she anticipated her cares and worries leaving her body as soon as she stepped under the water. Her body felt stiff from fatigue and, she had to admit to herself, her general grumpiness as of late, and she couldn't wait to relax these away as well as wait for her supercharged senses and the disorientation to subside.

She looked about the bathroom to spot what items were there. There was a big towel, the one Rarity said was drab and rough. There was a bath mat to keep the water off the floor and to make sure she didn't slip stepping out. Inside the bath tub itself, she spotted a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of body wash, and one of those shower puff balls.

"Good. Good. Everything is in order. Thanks Rarity."

It didn't take long for Twilight to discover what Rarity was on about earlier, though. Towards the very back of the bath tub, she spotted an odd, curved bottle, which was very small in size, with a clear gel on the inside. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity and stepped inside the bathtub to get a better look. She felt the rush of the warm water pouring over her body and her mane, but her focus was on the bottle. On it were the words "Magic Heat" and some smaller words about it not being a contraceptive and for it to be used as lubrication.

"While it heats the body and..." Twilight levitated the bottle and squinted to read the rest. "Excites your pleasure zone? Um..." She popped the cap and quickly gave quick, nervous glances behind her before giving the top a sniff. "No unpleasant odor. This must be that lotion sample Rarity got from the comfort shop. But my senses are already excited as it is. Do I really need this? Gah. What am I saying? I don't even know what I'm doing with this thing."

She set the bottle down and turned around, giving a sniff of her nose before getting to work on wetting her hair some more. As she cleansed herself and started to relax, however, her mind wandered back towards the strange party she had crashed earlier and the few ponies having sex in the upstairs bedrooms. Then she thought about Rarity's perfectly adorable backside. Despite her best efforts, Twilight had failed in stifling her horniness she had built up earlier. She felt a tingling sensation arrive at her nether regions as her arousal came back full tilt. She bit her lower lip and struggled to concentrate on her shower. She found that the water sliding down her hind legs only intensified her pleasure.

She elicited a sharp, whimpering kind of gasp as her thoughts took over and she sat down on the floor of the tub. She couldn't stand the pleasure anymore and immediately turned around and levitated the bottle of the sensual gel towards her, popping the cap and squeezing out a dollop onto the flat part of her right front hoof. She then slid her hoof down and gently applied the gel onto the area of her private parts.

She gasped again when the sticky substance entered the crevasse of her marehood, coating the inside liberally. A pleasant warmth radiated within her, and the tingling soon became like electricity. She moved her hoof away to keep the sensation from becoming too intense. She panted, almost breathless as she sat in the shower's rain, trying to compose herself. Before too long, she moved her hoof back down but brought it in slow, sliding her hoof across her taut belly and stopping a bit over her teats. Rubbing the small nubs hidden underneath her fur brought a pleasant tickling sensation.

Twilight arched her back as she lowered her hoof even more and went in for another attempt at her marehood. She started with a light touch and a gentle brush, and her body rewarded her with a jolt of pleasure. She then touched the slit again, bringing the edge of her hoof deeper into the folds but working it in slowly. Her hoof met no resistance, as her marehood felt suitably slick from both her own fluids and the lotion she had rubbed in.

"Hunnh. Ugh. N-no. My friends will hear me, but..." Twilight whimpered as she felt the intense sensations build.

She continued rubbing slowly, making sure not to become overwhelmed by the pleasure too quickly. She closed her eyes and tucked her head forward feeling the shower wash away the mist of tears that were driven to her eyes by the intense pleasure. She bit her quivering lower lip as she worked her hoof up and down. Her breathing soon became quick inhales and gasps. Then it became gulps and bigger breaths. Before too long, she was panting profusely, with the occasional crylike whimpers coming from her mouth.

Her head rolled back with a sharp grunt as her rubbing picked up speed, her pleasurable feelings increasing along with it.

"Hmmm. Unnnnhhh. Haaa haa!" Twilight groaned as her hoof continued its pistoning.

She felt her slit produce more and more fluids until she almost poured.

In her state of heightened sensations, a tiny but remarkable bit of awareness came to her, brought on by the remnants of the spell she had tried to cast and ultimately misused back at the party. She felt the presence of another nearby, and the image of Spike soon entered her mind.

She gasped and stood up, but thinking of Spike in her lustful way somehow didn't fill with her with revulsion. She opened one of her eyes just the tiniest bit and looked backwards, chancing a brief glimpse through the veil of her eyelashes. She spotted her dragon brother in the doorway, peeking his head around the corner, his jaw dropped slightly.

'Unnh. Spike. He's watching me? But why?' Twilight thought to herself.

Despite Spike's act of voyeurism, Twilight continued. She dipped one of her front legs down, bringing her rump up higher than her head. A naughty idea then entered her head, and she tapped into a conjuration spell and materialized a phallic object before immediately inserting it into her marehood.

"Aaaahhhhhhh!" Twilight exclaimed as a rush of pleasure flooded her brain.

She looked back and smiled when she realized the phallic object she had created almost looked like Spike's penis.

Behind her, Spike's eyes widened, but then he clasped his claws in front of his crotch to keep his boy part from stiffening yet again. He then pouted when he saw she the strange object that looked suspiciously like his penis that Twilight had materialized was several sizes too small. He realized that Twilight hadn't seen his boy part since he was very small, but he still felt unappreciated and insulted.

"It's not that small," he whispered in a huff.

Twilight continued working the toy penis in and out of her. She didn't fear any pain. She was thoroughly slick. She moved at a feverish pace, working the phallus in and out at an even faster rhythm than when she moved her hooves. Her rump moved up and down as her play continued, her mind almost giving control over to her body as pleasure flooded every bit of her and she put all her focus into her girl part and the increasing feeling of fun she felt.

'I... Ah! I have to... I have to tell him. Tell him that I sometimes feel this way about... Ah! About him. But... But I don't want to lose him as a friend,' came Twilight's thoughts as her image of Spike in her mind became more emotional and intimate.

"Ah! Ah Spike!" she shouted inadvertently.

Spike gasped before clapping a hand over his mouth to silence himself. A small bit of fear entered his heart, fear that he might have been discovered, but this fear fell away when Twilight continued on, her butt still pointed towards him. It became replaced with a mix of curiosity and confusion, the first over why he was watching this strange and alluring act from Twilight and the second over why she had called his name in such a state.

The up and down and rolling motion of Twilight's rump reached its peak speed. As she worked the toy penis in and out of her slit, going deeper and deeper with each pass, she brought the phallus higher up her girl part and brushed up against her clitoris in the final shove.

A wave of electricity hit her brain, rocketing forwards from the base of her private parts, and her efforts were finally rewarded.

"Uhh. Unnh! I... I... AH! I think I'm... COMING! I'm coming! Hnnnngh! Spiiiiiiike!" Twilight screamed in ecstasy.

She collapsed on the ground as a jet of fluid shot from her lady bits. Unknown to Twilight, her convulsions were so powerful that the first glob shot back towards the door and landed squarely on Spike's nose. Afterwards, her slit merely quivered, but the juices kept pouring and pouring onto the bathtub floor.

Spike, meanwhile, reached up and brushed the tip of his nose. He rubbed off a strange sticky liquid that seemed similar to the liquid his boy part had oozed in the restaurant bathroom but that smelled a bit different. His curiosity getting the better of him, he brought his hand up to his mouth and licked the liquid off. To his surprise, he found it somewhat tasty.

"This stuff came from Twilight?" Spike asked as he glanced at the remnants of the liquid on his hand.

He licked off the rest but grew embarrassed at the idea of a piece of Twilight inside his mouth and decided to retreat from the door before she saw him. He turned around and spotted Rarity behind him, looking at him with her jaw dropped and a deep blush on her face.