Standing the Heat

Twilight smiled happily as she closed the door and locked the castle up for the night.

"It looks like you had a good day," said a familiar voice from behind her.

"Oh, hi Spike," said Twilight, startled. "I didn't think you'd still be up."

"I'm almost not," Spike yawned. "But I couldn't sleep until the castle was locked up and I couldn't lock up until you were back."

"Thanks Spike," Twilight reached down to give the young drake a hug. "You really are the number number one assistant."

Her compliment was met by a shrill hoot from elsewhere in the castle causing Spike to grin.

"One of the number one assistants," clarified Twilight. A second, happier hoot could be heard through the castle.

"So, how was your afternoon?" asked Spike.

A dreamy smile unconsciously appeared on her muzzle as she thought back over the events of the afternoon. Reading the book with Richard had been far more fun than she had expected and she found herself enjoying his company more than usual.

"It was good." Twilight started towards the castle's kitchen, doing the best to hide the blush rising to her face.

"Just good?" probed Spike.

"What do you mean by that, Spike?" Twilight looked at him innocently.

"You were out later than the other girls. I heard Rainbow Dash flying home at least 2 hours ago."

Twilight froze in place, her eye twitching slightly.

"Well, I was having fun reading a book with Richard, and I guess we didn't notice the others leave."

"Oh, fun 'reading' with Richard?" Spike could barely stifle a chuckle as he rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Spike" she replied bluntly. "I had fun spending time helping explain a book to Richard as we read."

Spike began to laugh openly as Twilight stormed off and disappeared through the door to the kitchen. The sound of laughter filled the entrance hall and echoed all around, only coming to an end when he hiccuped a burst of fire and nearly set a nearby tapestry ablaze. Looking around sheepishly to make sure nopony saw him, Spike waited a moment and when he was sure the coast was clear he wiped his face with claw to remove the tears that had poured from his eyes during the laughing fit.

Spike made his way towards the kitchen, entering just as Twilight closed the door to the fridge, a carton of milk held aloft in her telekentic grip.

"Want a hot cocoa?" she asked Spike dryly.

"Um, sure," Spike scratched the back of his claw nervously. "Want me to make it?"

Twilight eyed him carefully for a second, making him shift under her gaze before softening and sighing and breaking into a smile. "Sure."

Placing the milk down on the side, Twilight took a seat at the kitchen table as Spike scampered over to the stove and took the kettle down and moved it over to the milk carton to fill it. Crossing back over to the stove, Spike placed the kettle on the hob and set it going.

"Right," he said as he joined Twilight at the kitchen table. "Shouldn't be long."

Twilight nodded, "Thanks, Spike." Twilight smiled at him before sighing sadly.

"Whats wrong, Twilight?" asked Spike.

Twilight shook her head.

"It's this business with Richard."

"Which business? The fact he's stuck here forever or the fact he's madly in love with you? Because if it's the latter, you could do worse."

"He's not in love with me, Spike." Twilight glared at him.

"Is that your opinion, or just wishful thinking?"

Twilight opened and closed her mouth repeatedly to try and come up with an response when she was interrupted by the whistling of the kettle.

"Saved by the 'bell'," Spike chuckled as he scampered to go and make the hot cocoa.

The next several moments passed quietly with Spike preparing the cocoa, the only noises coming from the clatter of the spoons in the mugs. Soon though, the drinks were prepared and he returned to the table with his hot beverages.

"For you," he said placing a drink in front of Twilight. "And for me." He said as he placed the other drink in his space before hopping back into his chair.

"Thanks, Spike," Twilight clutched the mug between her forehooves and raised it to her lips, blowing briefly across the liquids surface before taking a cautious sip. "You're wrong though, Richard does like somepony, but it isn't me."

"Oh?" Spike replied with a hint of humour in his voice before taking his own first sip of his drink. "Who is it then?"

"I don't know," replied Twilight. "But... promise me you wont breath a word of what I'm about to tell you, not even to Rarity."

"Dragon's honour," Spike claimed, raising his right claw.

Twilight took a deep breath and nervously took a drink of cocoa before beginning to speak.

"Okay, last night, when I was trying to comfort Richard after he read that letter he let slip where he had gone yesturday."

"And where was that?" asked Spike, looking at her intently. "Wooing a secret sweetheart?"

"No," Twilight shook his head. "Apparantly he had gone to the Crystal Empire to speak to Cadance. He wanted her to help him work out how he felt about somepony."

"And did she?"

Twilight gave him a scathing look. "Of course she did, Spike, she's the Princess of Love. It's what she does." Twilight's withering remarks caused Spike to shrink back a little.

"Okay, but surely the issue isn't with her, it's with Richard. He might have refused to accept those feelings. Especially if they're for someone of a different species."

"That's true," said Twilight. "But I'd like to think we've helped him overcome any issues he's had with the species difference."

"Being a friend isn't the same as romance, Twilight," said Spike, his mind firmly fixed on Rarity. "Sometimes the possibility of interspecies relationships just isn't in their heads."

The room fell into silence as he finished speaking and they both continued to drink. Finishing first, Spike set his mug down with an 'ahhh' and turned back to Twilight.

"Still, you must be relieved, right Twilight?"

"Hmmm," Twilight hummed over the top of her mug. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you must be relieved if he doesn't like you?"

Twilight shrugged and began to nervously tug at her mane.

"You are relieved aren't you?"

"I don't know!" She threw her hooves up in the air before clutching her head on the table. "Everything is so confusing, I've never had anyone like me before and it would be nice to have a guy like me."

"What about Flash Sentry?" asked Spike. "The one through the mirror, I thought you and him hit it off."

"We did Spike," Twilight answered, memories of her journies to Canterlot High School filling her head. "But he only knew me for a couple of days, and never got to know this me, the real me. I've known Richard for months, and he's seen more than a couple of my 'episodes'."

"He's also seen your flank..."

"Everypony has seen my flank, Spike, we don't typically wear clothes. Yet I've not exactly had stallions queing up to court me."

"True," Spike nodded. "But that's probably because of Princess Celestia, you've been her student since you were a little filly. I imagine she's kept suitors away from you."

"Maybe," Twilight smiled slightly before frowning again. "But being a shy bookworm doesn't help. And I'm not her student any more."

"No, now you're a Princess who could imprison anypony who offends you," Spike rolled his eyes. "Look, all I'm saying is don't go jumping after the first stallion to show you any attention."

Twilight moved her head in what might have been a nod before silently drinking the rest of her hot chocolate. She swirled the warm liquid around her tongue, savoring the rich; sweet flavour before swallowing it with a gulp. Putting the empty cup down, she looked at it mournfully for a second before getting up from the bed.

"I'm off to bed, Spike, see you in the morning."

Spike opened his mouth to ask her a question, but she dissapeared in a flash of light before he could utter a single syllable.

"Oh, fine!" he shouted to the ceiling. "I'll do the washing up shall I?!"

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, shutting them again quickly and raising her foreleg to block the light streaming through the open curtains. Groaning, she resisted the urge to dive back beneath her bed covers and instead hurled them back, exposing herself to the slightly chilly air in the room. Hauling herself out of the bed, Twilight's hooves hit the gemstone floor with a light clatter and she began to make her way to her bathroom.

Reaching out with her magic, she turned the shower to hot and set the water running as she turned to face the mirror over the sink. She studied her own reflection for a few moments and hummed as she processed what she saw. She pulled several faces until the mirror began to fog over from the steam filling the room. Shaking her head, she turned away and entered the shower, releasing a pleasant sigh as she felt the hot water hit her fur.

"I still don't know what Rarity is talking about," she muttered as she just let the water wash over her. "There's no reason for Richard to like me."

'Why does it matter?' a little voice in her head asked. 'You don't like him, do you?'

Twilight just shrugged her shoulders in response and closed her eyes. Reaching out with her magic, she turned up the flow of water until the cascade falling down on her felt like it was massaging her muscles. Smiling, Twilight began to run through her regular daily routine.

She managed to push all thoughts about Richard aside as she finished up her showering and stepped out of the shower, carefully stepping onto mat to make sure she didn't drip any water over the crystal floor. She didn't know why exactly, but whenever she saw mess she felt an itch behind her eyes. Not when she had an entire library to scour for more things to help Richard learn the basics of Equestrian magic.

For a second she considered towling herself off but she thought better of it and instead scrunched her face up and, with a flash of magic, evaporated the water off her body. Now clean and dry, Twilight continued with the rest of her morning routine, including cleaning her teeth and combing her mane.

She'd just finished getting ready when she heard the distant sound of breaking glass, followed by the high pitched screech of the intruder alarm kicking in. Frowning in annoyance, Twilight reached out to the enchantments woven into the castle and teleported to the location of the intrusion.

"Alright, whoever you are, stop what you're doing..."

"Twilight!"

The breath was knocked out of Twilight's lungs as she was tackled to the ground by a rainblow blur.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight looked at her friend confused, her eyes stained with tears. "What are you doing? Have you been crying?"

"It's Richard," Rainbow Dash gasped a lungful of air. "They've found it."

"What did they find, Rainbow? And what about Richard?" Twilight studied her friends face carefully, whatever it was clearly upset her.

"The portal to take him home," said Rainbow. "They found the portal to his home world, they're getting him ready to send him home."

Darkness began to close in around her vision, panic clawing at the at the edge of her mind. For some reason the sudden thought of losing Richard forever filled her with sense of emptiness.

"But they can't..." she muttered. "They can't send him home."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "They've been preparing all night, he's all packed and ready to leave."

"Why did no one tell me?" asked Twilight, grabbing Rainbow and shaking her. "Why didn't anyone tell me?!"

"It was chaos, I only just found out about it myself." Rainbow let out a brief sob. "I rushed to tell you as soon as I found out. You need to be there he goes."

"How..." Twilight paused and took a deep breath to try and push back the encroaching darkness. "How long do we have?"

"I don't know," Rainbow shrugged. "No one knows. Like I said, it's been chaos. You have to come now."

Twilight nodded and stood up.

"I just need to get one thing."

"Twilight, there's no time..."

"I won't be a minute, Rainbow, he can't leave without this."

In a flash of light Twilight teleported back to her personal chamber and started searching it in a frenzy.

"Where is it," she muttered. "I know I had it in here somewhere."

Then, just as she bent down to look under her bed, she saw it. A little brown book, on the floor under her dresser. She quickly ran over and scooped it up in her wing before teleporting back down to Rainbow Dash.

"Take me to him," she said before Rainbow Dash could get a single word in.

Rainbow Dash didn't even nod, she just took wing and flew back out of the broken window, knowing that Twilight would be right behind.

As they flew through the early morning sky, Twilight couldn't help but fall into a trance like state, her mind constantly drifting to the thought of Richard leaving. Just the idea of it filled her with dispair, like a bottomless pit opened beneath her and she was standing right above it, waiting to fall.

'Why do I feel like this?' she thought to herself. 'I knew he'd be going some time, and he's just a friend.'

Yet, even as the thought filled her head, she began to doubt it. After everything that had happened over the last couple of days she had no idea how she really felt about Richard. All she knew was he couldn't leave, he just couldn't.

Twilight followed Rainbow Dash as she flew away from the town and over the Everfree Forest. The canopy of trees looked eerily beautiful in the early dawn light, the shallow angle of the sun causing deep shadows just below the top layer of leaves. Further and further they continued on, until the town was nothing more than a dot on the horizon. She was just begining how much longer they were going to be flying when Rainbow began to slow down and started to descend towards a clearing.

As they landed, Twilight looked around in confusion. The clearing was completely empty.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Twilight asked Rainbow. "There's nopony here."

"I'm positive," Rainbow nodded. "Over there." Rainbow pointed a hoof towards a large tree on the edge of the clearing.

It looked ancient, its trunk worn and pitted with age and weather, and at the base of the tree there appeared to be some sort of entrance to a chamber. As she looked on, Twilight could almost swear she saw a tiny, almost impercetible glowing light coming from within.

Twilight looked at Rainbow as if to ask 'do we go in there', to which she nodded and started walking towards the opening. Twilight quickly checked she still had her package before following.

The entrance to the whatever lay beneath the tree was tight and Twilight had to be careful not to damage her wings as she entered. She barely had time to register quite how dark the space beneath the tree was before she heard a ear piercing scream.

"Twilight!" a pink shape sped out of the darkness to quickly pull her into an embrace and Twilight felt wetness against her shoulder as Pinkie Pie pressed her face against it.

"Oh Twilight, it's all wrong." Pinkie sobbed.

"It's okay, sugarcube," said Applejack, appearing out of the darkness to lay a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "We all knew this day could come."

"But the Princess' said they were going to stop looking for the portal." Pinkie sniffed. "And I didn't even get to throw him his party."

"Well, that is a travesty," said Rarity, "But sadly life can't all be parties."

Twilight did her best to look at her assembled friends over Pinkies mane but couldn't see Richard, instantly she began to worry.

"Where's Richard?" her voice came out strangled. "Did I miss..."

"You haven't missed anything, my faithful student." The warm and soothing voice of Princess Celestia filled the chamber as she appeared from behind a rock in the corner of the chamber they were in, a pale blue glow also coming from somewhere behind. "At least, not yet. Richard's just waiting through here."

Princess Celestia smiled at here before silently going back through to the other room, Twilight and her friends following quickly behind. As they came to the rock, Twilight noticed there was a second, larger chamber beyond with a bright blue disc of something that looked like water floating in the middle. There, standing next to the portal, was Richard currently in the middle of hugging Fluttershy.

Twilight watched as Richard looked over towards her, a huge smile spreading across his face as he saw her. The sight of him standing there looking at her like that filled her with a weird feeling. It felt like her stomach was doing cartwheels while her heart was dancing a cha-cha.

"Twilight, you're here!" the sound of the joy in his voice caused her to blush. "I was worried you weren't going to make it in time."

"How long do we have?" asked Twilight as she slowly approached him.

Richard shrugged. "The Princess' did all they could to stabalize the portal, but Princess Luna said it's likely only going to last for another ten minutes."

"About nine minutes now with all your chatting," said Luna from the other side of the room. "You arrived just in time, Princess Twilight. Please say your goodbyes so Richard can leave."

"Luna!" Celestia chided her sister. "You're not ordering around your Night Guard right now. Can't you see this is an emotional moment."

"My apologies sister, and to you both, Richard and Twilight. I merely meant that Twilight would need to say her goodbyes with haste so Richard doesn't miss the portal."

"That's better," Celestia nodded. "But my sister is right, Twilight, you two must be quick."

Richard let go of Fluttershy and turned to face Twilight, his smile faltering as he looked at her eyes.

"Twilight? Whats wrong?"

Twilight shook her head and launched herself at him, quickly wrapping her hooves around him.

"Please don't go, Richard," her eyes began to fill with tears. "You don't have to go home, you could stay here."

"Oh, Twilight," Richard knelt down and wrapped his arms around her. "You know I can't do that."

"But you belong here," Twilight sobbed.

"No, Twilight, I don't." Richard sighed, pointing towards the portal. "That's where I belong, with my family and my friends."

"I thought we were your friends." cried Twilight, looking down at the floors.

"Of course you are," Richard raised her head with a hand, cupping her face gently as he looked into her eyes. "Don't you ever dare say you're not. But put yourself in my shoes, what would you do if you were stuck in my world and the portal back here opened up."

"I guess," Twilight gave a small smile. "But I'm still going to miss you."

"And I'll miss you, Twilight, and the rest of you of course," he said, looking over her shoulder.

"We'll miss you too," the others said in unison.

"Well, I'll better get going," Richard let go of Twilight and started moving towards his bags.

"Wait!" Twilight yelled, "You can't go yet."

Richard stopped and turned to face her. "Twilight?"

"I got you something," Twilight pulled the small book from under her wing and presented it to Richard.

Richard took the book, his mouth falling open as he started glancing through it.

"Twilight, you did all this for me?"

Twilight nodded, "I thought you'd want to have a way to remember your time in Equestria."

Richard leaned down and kissed her cheek, causing her to turn bright red.

"Thank you, it's wonderful."

"Y-you're welcome," Twilight stammered.

For a moment the two just stood and stared, the chamber filled with an awkard silence until Luna broke the tension with a cough.

"I'm sorry, Richard, but it's time to go."

Richard nodded and picked up his bags, quickly zipping the book away.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye, then."

Twilight watched as Richard took one last solemn look at everyone before stepping into the light. Then everything went black.

"Richard!"

Twilight sat up with a start, looking around in confusion.

"Where am I?" She asked aloud to nopony in particular. The room was cool and comfortable, a slight breeze blowing through an open window. The movement of the curtain allowed just enough light in so Twilight could see she was in her own bed chambers.

"My bedroom?" She muttered, "But how?"