There's a princess under my bed!

Spike grinned and puffed out his chest as he pushed open the door to his bedroom. This was his favorite part of the day. After all, there would be no list checking for Twilight, no dealing with nobles, no spell testing with Twilight, no crystal empire stuff, no shopping, none of that.

He yawned.

No. For the next few hours, it would just be himself and his bed, sleeping away the day's worries and floating into Luna's world of dreams.

With a few twirls and a graceful double back flip, he landed perfectly in the middle of his bed. And with his excess momentum, he grabbed the bed sheets as he rolled to his right, and flung them over as he rolled back to the middle.

*snicker*

What was that? Did he land that heavily? No, that wasn't possible; he was more than practiced by now. That meant only one thing: he was growing! His muscle mass would soon be great enough to shatter the heavens. There was just one thing to check, and since he was feeling so good, he might as well do it gracefully too.

He rolled to the right, unblanketing himself in one fluid motion before standing up. Then he held his front paws together before running to the edge of his bed and bouncing off for a perfect triple front flip.

*clap* *clap* *clap*

Spike looked back and forth for the source of the sound and noticed the window. It must've been the wind or something, or maybe his window was about to break if he didn't check it now. But that sort of stuff could wait.

He walked over to the mirror, but he didn't walk like a simple common drake. No, he walked like a dragon, practically oozing manliness as he let his knees come within inches of the ground before going on to the next step. But before he could truly enjoy it, he was already as close as he could get to his favorite mirror.

He looked himself over. His biceps were as huge and sharply defined as ever. His gut had a nice pack of muscles, if he run his paw over it. His head fins were as shiny as ever.

He smirked. "Lookin' good Spike." He looked up and down once again. "Lookin' real good..."

"PPFFFFTAAAAHAAHAaaa..."

Spike whipped around, finding the source of the sound in an instant.

Beneath his bed was one Twilight Sparkle, covering her mouth with her hooves, complete with blankets and... was that a Pinkie Pie plushie. What? Why would Twilight be cuddling with a plushie of one of her best friends? Why would she even have that? And if she did, wouldn't it be more of a secret? He'd never even heard of such a thing.

There seemed to be a more pressing question, but he couldn't quite remember it after seeing that plushie. So he just blinked a few times as Twilight hid fully under her blankets and placed the pinkie plushie out front to guard... Oh yeah!

"Twilight?" He walked towards the plushie and the lump of blankets. "What are you doing under my bed. I mean, first: it's totally weird, and second: you have your own bed, so why take... the floor beneath mine?"

Twilight popped her head, and only her head, out from under her blankets. "I-- I uh..." She tapped a hoof to her chin. "I'm playing hide and seek." She smiled.

Spike squinted.

Twilight widened her smile.

"Okay." Spike shrugged and crawled up on his bed. "Just don't make too much noise, okay?"

"Sure thing."

And he stared out his window, peacefully gazing at the clear blue sky... Well, it would be peaceful if he didn't have another question begging to be answered. "Twilight?"

"Yes?" She said.

"Why do you have a Pinkie Pie plushie?"

...There was an unusually long pause...

"Good night Spike."

He shrugged. If she didn't want to talk about it, then she didn't want to talk about it.

Now with all of his questions answered, he could truly rest. But it was hard to sleep with a Twilight Sparkle under him, so he stared out the window instead. That was when he noticed the incoming Rainbow Dash.

He hopped to his feet. "Look out for the--"

But Rainbow Dash was ready. With one hoof, she backhanded the window into dust and flew through without a scratch. Now inside, she banked up until she was stable and descended slowly, turning to spike with a serious look.

"Rainbow Dash, what--"

Once Rainbow Dash landed, she reached a hoof up to her head and pulled. What was once rainbow dash was revealed to be just a costume, and inside that costume was none other than Pinkie Pie.

Spike gaped. "Pinkie? But how--"

"No time to explain," She interrupted. "Where's Twilight?" She glared intensely at Spike.

In his panic and confusion, he almost blabbered his sister's location. But what kind of brother would he be if he was that untrustworthy? So he closed his lips, held his ground, and glared right back at Pinkie.

Pinkie took a menacing step forward. "This isn't a game, Spike. This is life and death stuff. You may think you're being brave for your sister, but really--"

"I don't care if Equestria falls into tartarus," Spike interrupted, "I'll never give my sister up to you!"

Pinkie glared back for a second, but it was obvious she was no match for Spike's hard resolve. She sighed. "Then you give me no choice..."

Out of nowhere she pulled out a minotaur glove and attached it to her scalp. Then she put a hoof into her mouth and blew, inflating the glove on her head. Once it was large enough, she grabbed the bottom with her other hoof, and with a third hoof, she tied it off. At the same time with a fourth and fifth hoof, she rubbed the back and front of the glove. Finally, she let go, and the glove stayed in the air like a balloon.

"What?" Spike rubbed his head, trying to make sense of what he just saw.

"Look at it." In less than a second, Pinkie was right next to Spike, holding the balloon in front of him. He closed his eyes instinctively.

"LOOK AT IT!" Pinkie held open his eyes.

In the clear spots Pinkie rubbed away, there was an image of Ponyville. Except, it had been almost completely reclaimed by nature, save for the large building entirely made out of Pinkie Pie plushies, with Spike's bed on top. Suddenly, the plushies lit on fire. Hundreds of ponies ran out of the building to escape the fire, but they took the flaming plushies with them.

"IS THIS THE FUTURE YOU WANT!?" Pinkie screamed. "IS THIS THE WORLD YOU WANT TO LEAVE FOR YOUR CHILDREN!?"

Spike just stared back at her, dumbfounded.

"YOU CAN CHOOSE TO FOLLOW YOUR LOYALTY TO YOUR SISTER, BUT WOULD YOU FOLLOW THAT LOYALTY SO FAR THAT YOU'D LET HER DESTROY EVERYTHING SHE LOVES WITH HER GOOD INTENTIONS?" Pinkie continued screaming. Spike put his paws over his ears.

"NO! YOU SHOULD CHOOSE PINKIE! YOU SHOULD CHOOSE TO LIVE!" Pinkie bared her teeth at him, panting. Then she swiveled her head up and tried to change her expression into a charming smile.

As Spike stared at Pinkie's sweating body and barred teeth smile, something inside him was changing. That was the first time he'd ever seen something so brutal, so powerful, so dominating. The sound of Pinkie's voice reverberated through him, and his body pulsed like he was jolted with an electric current. It was strange, it was alien, it was like nothing he had ever experienced. As a fairly young drake, he didn't know much for certain, but right now he knew one thing: he wanted more.

Slowly, he moved the claws on his right paw, and pointed down to Twilight.

"Good choice." PInkie winked at him.

Now that she was caught, Twilight charged past Pinkie with Pinkie Plushie held in her magic with a vice grip. But Pinkie was ready.

Standing on two hooves, Pinkie pulled what looked like a cherry out of her mane and threw it at the ground. Once it popped, white smoke like whipped cream exploded out, covering everyone. When it cleared, only Spike and a sad looking Twilight remained. There was no Pinkie, and there was no plushie.

Twilight looked up with what had to be the saddest look Spike had ever seen. "Spike..." she croaked.

Spike shrank back. What had he done? His sister put his trust in him, and he threw it all away because of Pinkie, and the way she was, and how she-- Okay, he didn't regret anything. That was totally worth it. But still, he had a sister that probably needed comforting right now.

"Yeah, Twilight?" Spike said quietly.

"Breaks over." She smirked back at him. "Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom are coming over for some lessons soon, it'd be wonderful if you could cook up some snacks."

"Aww..." He groaned, but followed anyway. His break had been completely ruined. Except for that Pinkie thing. No, his break was perfect.

"And thanks," Twilight interrupted his thoughts.

"For what?" He asked as he waddled by Twilight.

"Letting Pinkie take that plushie away. It must have had some sort of spell on it or something."