Dear Twilight,

Sorry about the long wait, but Shining and I wanted to let Owlowiscious rest up a little before sending him back. As for your letter:

WAY TO GO, GIRL! WOO-HOO! I KNEW you'd find someone before long! And Spike no less! Shining got just a tad sulky about it, but I was quick to set him straight (Threatening three weeks of no access to the 'royal treasury' is pretty effective, hehe.) Anyhow, you'll be happy to know that I do know a spell that'll do the trick for what you two are looking for. If he's reading this with you, just come up here as soon as you're able, Spike, and I'll cast it on you.

Love,
Cadance

Twilight simply rolled her eyes and snickered as she reread the line about her brother

It wasn't until late last night that Owlowiscious had returned with the reply, so neither of them had the chance to read it until that morning. Of course, Spike was eager to head out to get it done; figuring with the spell overlapping the potion, they wouldn't have to worry about forgetting when it'd wear off.

After breakfast and a brief (but vigorous) make-out session to tide them both over, Spike once again headed off to get a longer-lasting solution to his problem.

Meanwhile, Twilight got dressed herself and was on her way to a certain fashionista's home for a much needed chat.

---------------------------------

Rarity hummed to herself as she worked on a dress order, for the first time in a week all the worry and unease she'd felt at Spike's abrupt change in habits was currently one of the farthest things from her mind.

The tinkle of the door opening brought her out of her work, though. Seeing just who it was brought her out of it even more, "T-Twilight! What brings you here?"

"Rarity, can I talk to you for a moment?" Twilight said, letting out a sigh, "It's kind of important."

"Oh, of..of course." She put the garment down.

"Listen, I..I wanna apologize for snapping at you like I did yesterday." She started, "I know you didn't mean it how it sounded. like I said, I know I'm not built like a lot of mares out out there and never really had any stallion look at me like Spike does now. I just took what you said the wrong way, like it was saying there's no way I should be liked in that way, and..." She trailed off.

Rarity chuckled slightly, "Well, I really should have phrased it better. In all honesty, I was so sure you two only saw each other as siblings, given how you normally acted around each other. When I saw you in...in that situation, my surprise overcame my sense of decorum."

Twilight smiled, "So, are we ok?"

She nodded, "We are. I must admit, I'm still rather surprised about the whole thing."

"Still letting it sink in some myself." Twilight looked over at the half-finished dress nearby, "Well, I should let you get back to work. Mostly just wanted to smooth things out between us over that."

"Well, I'm quite grateful my faux pas did no permanent damage"

"Me too, in more ways than one." Twilight thought herself, "Anyway, I'll let you get back to work. I have a couple of hopefuls for the herd to talk to before Spike gets back. I hope Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Pinkie aren't busy.""

"Quite all right, dear. Have fun." Rarity smiled as her fellow unicorn headed out and she went back to work. She had just resumed her embroidering when...

"Wait... 'herd'? Rainbow Dash? 'Hopefuls'!? PINKIE PIE!?" She blurted out, an abrupt twitch forming over her eye.

-----------Crystal Empire-----------

Spike did a quick look around once he had gotten off the coach, "Heh, place hasn't changed a bit." He said, making his way to the palace. True to its name, the Crystal Empire had the appearance of its buildings being made from solid gems. He found himself blushing in embarrassment remembering the first time they had been there after Sombra's defeat; he'd given in to temptation and Applejack caught him trying to take a bite out of one of the windowsills.

Deciding to take in the sights a bit on his way to the palace, he started his way towards the main square. Along the way he began to take notice of how the crystal ponies were reacting when they saw.

"Is..is that..??"

"EEE! It's him!"

"It's Spike! Th-the hero!"

"SIR!"

It made him chuckle the first couple of times he heard them. And being saluted by the guards he passed was kinda cool, though it did sound like they were making a deal out of not much, "Technically it was Cadence who gave everyone the pep talk to get the crystal heart working again. All I really did was grab it and run like Tartarus."

*wonk!*

"Ow!" He was brought out of his thoughts when he accidentally bumped into something. Something large, hard, and slightly translucent; the statue they had made of him afterwards.

Rubbing his nose from the impact, he looked up at it. Almost sixty hooves tall and the same color as the heart, it was portrayed holding it out in a heroic fashion, a look of determined confidence on the face.

"Wow, was I really that skinny back then?" Looking it over, he spotted a plaque imbedded in the base.

HERO OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE
In Honor Of The Dragon Spike
And His Hand In Defeating
The Evil Sombra

"Uhh..heh.." Spike chuckled weakly. Back then, Spike would've been on cloud 9 to be called a hero. Now, though, this seemed just a tad much.

Fortunately for him, a distraction came in the form of a small voice to his left. He glanced at a little blue filly looking up at him, holding a little book.

"Hey." He crouched down to her level.

"M-Mistah Spike....Could I...could I have your autograph..?" She asked timidly.

"I really need to hurry, but... ahh, one autograph can't hurt." He chuckled lightly, "Sure." Taking the book and offered pen, he found a mostly empty page, "What's your name, kiddo?"

"H-Hopscotch.."

"Let's see...'To Hopscotch:" Feeling cheeky, he added 'never stop being cute' above his name and handing it back, getting a hug and excited squeak in return before she ran back to who he guessed were her parents.

On the other hand, that caused additional remarks to start piping up.

"So good with kids!"

"He'd make one heck of a father!"

"Welll..maybe someday..." He said sheepishly to no one in particular as he got back up, "I'll settle on working at being a decent boyfriend right now."

"Mmm, maybe I could help you there, Handsome." A voice purred behind him.

Spinning around to see the owner, Spike promptly felt a lump in his throat; before him stood at least a dozen mares, and a couple of stallions. While most appeared to be between his and Twilight's ages and a little older, he could have sworn some were old enough to be Twilight Velvet's sisters-not that he'd say she wasn't attractive-, as well as few who where noticeably younger than him.

And all of them eying him in a rather....hungry manner.

The one that had spoke smirked, "What do you say we go somewhere private for a little playtime."

"P-P-playtime...?" He gulped, beginning to feel like a plate of cookies Pinkie Pie just spotted.

One of the younger mares giggled, pushing her arms together and almost forcing herself out of the low cut shirt she had on, "And I have a lil toy I'm sure you'll have fun with.

Sweat began beading on Spike's face as he recalled similar comments he had received after Sombra, "So THAT'S what that one mare meant by asking if I'd like to 'play with her kitty'...And that one who offered me of a mouthful of 'moist crystal' oh dear...I thought she meant candy!" He had been too young to really know what they meant back then, but now... "At least that explains why Twilight almost zapped her when I asked if she or the other girls wanted any."

"Well, heh...your offer is generous, but I have an appointment..."

"I'm sure it can wait another hour....or eight." Another mare sauntered up, this one noticeably older, if the hint of grey in her orange mane was any indication. Though, the centerfold body she was packing made that point VERY moot.

"Mom! Wait your turn!" The first one retorted.

"Oh, sweetie, who's to say we have to take turns, hmm?" She grinned. The way all their eyes lit up told him they knew what she meant.

"Oh...oh my..." An almost perfect impression of Fluttershy whispered in his head. Normally, a stallion his age would kill to be in his place, but he didn't even know any of these mares! And like he told Twilight, he had no intention of hooking up with just anyone.

Besides, one-night stands weren't really his mug of cider, anyway, "Ok, think, Spike, think! Need to get outta here! I gotta divert their attention. Um..." With that in mind, he did the first thing that came to him: "Look!" He yelled, pointing behind them, "It's forty-two scintillating blue distractions!" The moment they all turned, he took off running full-tilt.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for them to catch on and gave chase.

-----------Back in Ponyville-----------

Twilight scrunched her nose up in frustration, "Where could that pegasus be?' She muttered, a three hour long search through town had turned up nothing. She had asked Thunderlane to see if she was home; her pet turtle Tank confirmed she wasn't there. None of the Apples had seen or heard her on the property (She also took a moment to ask Apple Bloom to let Scootaloo know she'd like to talk to her later, luckily), and Derpy hadn't seen her anywhere during her rounds. "She's got to be around somewhere."

She tried to think of other spots to look, but unfortunately her searching had given her stomach reason to become a distraction. "Maybe a bite to eat will help. I can clear my head some; and hopefully think of something in the meantime." With that plan in mind, she made her way to Sugar Cube.

"...And I'm telling you it's all up in your noggin, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie's voice called out the moment she opened the door, "You know Twilight and Spikey wouldn't do anything that mean!"

"And I told you what he said, Pinkie." Dash replied from her seat at the counter, her voice a little scratchier than normal. "I've seen enough movies to know the words 'what do we do with her' tends to mean."

"And I'VE seen enough to know 'we can't just leave her there' usually follows. I..." She stopped when she spotted Twilight at the door, "Twilight!" She yelled happily, "C'mere, you can show Dash she's being a silly filly about all this!"

Taking the seat beside Dash, Twilight glanced at her, "Um, Pinkie?"

"Oh! Say no more Twi!" The party mare saluted and immediately vanished into the back, leaving them alone in the room.

Once she was gone, Twilight started to say something. Dash, however, beat her to it, "You don't have to, Twi. I already know. I heard you two talking when I woke, so I'll just go ahead and leave. I won't bother either of you anymore." As she stood up, she rubbed the corner of her eye where Twilight could clearly see a bit of moisture, "Stupid loose eyelashes..." She muttered, ears drooping.

She forgot Twilight Sparkle wasn't one to leave things like that be, "He was talking about you sleeping on the table, Rainbow Dash."

"Hu..huh?" Came the confused response.

"After you left, I got a little curious and asked him what he meant by it while we were cleaning up. His words were, and I quote: 'In hindsight we probably should've put her in bed or on the couch. I mean, that table isn't exactly sleepworthy, Twi.'"

Dash's jaw dropped slightly, "So he...he was just talking about...?"

"Putting you on something a bit more comfortable, yes. Dash, you really think Spike would've done all that to his 'Little Rainbow'..." She grinned at the blush Dash quickly tried to fight down, leaning in "If he didn't feel about you like that?"

"W-well...no, I guess not." Dash replied in a low tone.

"Dashie, we both care about you." Twilight gently cupped her cyan friend's face, "And that's the reason I've been looking for you."

"For me? Why?"

"Well, you already know about me and Spike. We talked about it and..." This time she blushed, "We've decided to start up a herd."

"A herd!? S-seriously?" She almost yelped.

"Seriously." Twilight could sear she heard a muffled squeal of glee, but shook it off, "And, to be quite blunt, I'm here to ask if you'd like to be the first to join."

"ME!?" Came the uncharacteristic squeak, "I...I mean, I'm not really complaining, but...why me?" She sighed and ran a couple of fingers along one of her mane longer locks. Unknown to her, Twlight's eyes widened a bit at that, "You know I've never exactly lived up to the term 'feminine', Twi. I mean, wouldn't you want a more girly pony, like Fluttershy or Sea Swirl?"

"Because, like Spike..." She leaned in, their lips touching briefly, "I care about you as well. I wouldn't have done all of this if I didn't. I might not have had any romantic feelings for you before yesterday, but aside from him, you're one of the few I could always consider one of my dearest friends and damn near a sister." Twilight's blush deepened a little, "And, well, after what happened I can honestly see you being a part of our lives life as more then just a friend. I don't know exactly when it showed, but there was a spark during our time yesterday and that's why it went as far as it did. And to be frank, I don't regret one moment of it."

Dash just stared, a mix of surprise and unabashed relief on her face as her lips slowly turned upward.

"However." She quickly added, "While I would love to have you as you as my herd sister, the only way this relationship will really work is if you come clean about your feelings. Not only to yourself, but to Spike as well."

"Sure...I..I can do that! No...no problem." Rainbow puffed her chest out, trying to get back her usual cocky demeanor, "I..should probably go and start planning out how, shouldn't I?"

"That might be a good idea." After watching her hurry out, Twilight glanced over when the muffled squealing came up again, "All right, Pinkie, you can come back out."

-----------Back at The Crystal Empire-----------

"Maybe I should ask about his workout. That's what..the third time they've circled the statue so far?" Shining Armor commented as he and his wife watched the chase from their balcony, "Gotta admit, I'm still kinda surprised by it. I mean, Spike and Twilight?"

Cadance simply grinned, "I'm not. I always had a feeling about them. "

"Really?" Surprised laced Shining's voice.

"It's that spark; that little something that ignites between certain ponies; or in this case, dragon and pony. It's what can give birth to relationships between strangers or cause childhood friends to blossom into lovers." She clapped when she watched Spike successfully leapfrog over a guard, "I picked up on Spike and Twilight's years ago. It was just a tiny thing back then, too small for them to really notice it themselves. but I could feel it growing. Drove me nuts more than once, actually. You have no idea how often I was tempted to just yell at them to kiss already."

"Well.." Shining chuckled, "Guess that does kind of explain things."

Her smile widened considerably, "Doesn't hurt that he was cute as all get out when he was younger, and now he's quite the heartthrob."

"Ooh, that one almost caught him! Yeah,he always was a bit of a smooth talker, especially when he was trying to help someone out."

"I know." She purred, "Who do you think talked me into going out with you?'

"Really??" He almost did a double-take, "I always thought it was my natural charm and great pick up lines."

""Of course, Dear." She patted his cheek, "Well, I better pop down there and help him. Looks like he's starting to run out of steam and I sincerely doubt Twilight would appreciate us letting her boyfriend get passed around like a copy of Playmare in prison."

Author's Note

Whew, this one kinda took a while, but we got it done.