Mistletrapped

by Titanium Dragon

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sweetie Belle, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Romance, Spike, Comedy, Rarity, Slice of Life
Length: 24666

Spike’s attempt at getting a kiss from Rarity with a sprig of mistletoe backfires when he gets kissed by Sweetie Belle instead. Meanwhile, Rarity thinks Twilight set it up to try and win a kiss from one of their friends. Where did it all go wrong?

Spike is going to get a kiss from Rarity this year, he just knows it – and the mistletoe he just put over the front door is going to help him do just that. But when Twilight lets Rarity into the castle in his place, Rarity believes that Twilight is trying to get a kiss from one of her friends. Too bad Twilight has no idea what Rarity is talking about.

And when Spike answers the door after Sweetie Belle shows up to join her big sister for the Hearth Warming party, he finds his trap backfiring as he gets a kiss from the wrong unicorn.

Now Rarity is pestering Twilight about her love life and Spike can’t get away from the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Where did it all go wrong?

Published 2014-12-24 21:40:17 UTC
Last updated 2015-10-18 20:40:58 UTC

Chapter 1: Hearths and Hearts

“So, who is it?” Rarity asked as she folded her legs underneath her body and laid down on one of the cushions set up in front of the fireplace.

“Who is who?” Twilight tilted her head, taking a seat beside her friend.

“Your crush, of course!”

“Ugh. I thought we stopped talking about this.”

“I’m just curious, that’s all.”

“For the last time, Rarity, I don’t have a crush!”

Rarity opened her mouth to reply.

“And I’m not infatuated with anypony, either!” Twilight thumped her hoof into her sitting cushion for emphasis. “I don’t even know where you got the idea!”

Rarity smiled, rising back up from her cushion to walk over and put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Twilight, dear, no offense, but you are not exactly being subtle.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s obvious. Your nerves. The expression on your face when you answered the door. The decorations!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “The decorations?”

“Yes, of course. Did you think I didn’t notice?”

“I don’t see how decorations tell you that I have a crush on somepony. I mean, they seem like perfectly normal Hearth’s Warming decorations to me.” Twilight paused. “Don’t they?”

“Twilight, the display at the door screamed that you wanted a kiss.”

“Really?” Twilight peered over at the doorway in question, where Spike was busily adjusting the décor from his stepladder. “I didn’t notice anything strange about it.”

“There’s no point in denying it. Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”

“Right,” Twilight said flatly.

“Now, who is it? At least give me a hint.”

“Rarity, if I did have a secret crush on somepony – which I don’t – and I wouldn’t tell you about it – which I haven’t… why would I give you a hint? Wouldn’t that make it kind of obvious?”

“Maybe I could help.” Rarity said, settling down on the cushion next to her friend. “I know! I could make you a new dress, to draw their eyes to all the right places… hm. Well, if it’s Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash, you probably want to draw attention to your wings…”

Twilight groaned, pressing her face down into the embroidered cushion and covering her head with her hooves.

“Sheesh, what’s up with her?” Spike asked as he trundled over to the pair, playing with the mistletoe he was holding in his claws.

“Oh, Spike, just the dragon I wanted to see.” Rarity beamed at the little dragon, Spike nearly fumbling the mistletoe out of his nerveless claws.

“R-really?”

“Of course! We were just discussing Twilight’s love life.”

Twilight made a muffled sound through the cushion.

“Well, that doesn’t sound good. Still upset over the Flash thing?”

“No.” Rarity sighed. “But she refuses to tell me who it is she has a crush on.”

“Oh, I am not gonna go there.” Spike made a hacking motion with his claw through the air.

“But Spi-ike,” Rarity wheedled, leaning forward and pouting, “If she refuses to tell me who it is, how will she ever find true love?”

Spike fidgeted, one of the leaves falling from the mistletoe as he rubbed it in between his claws. “Uhh…”

Twilight lifted her hooves from her face to glare up at Spike from the floor.

“Heh, how about I get you two some hot cocoa?” The little dragon gave the pair a too-wide grin before running off towards the kitchen, shedding several more leaves in his wake.

Twilight sighed. “That did nothing to help my case, did it?”

“Not at all.” Rarity said, giving the alicorn a pat on the back.

“Ugh.” Twilight sat back on her haunches. “Why is this so interesting to you anyway?”

“Well, believe it or not, I want all of my friends to be happy.”

“But it doesn’t work that way.” Twilight shook her head. “I mean, you might like somepony, but you know it is totally inappropriate and it would never work out anyway. Or you might like somepony you know isn’t right for you. Just because you have a crush on somepony doesn’t mean that doing something about it would make you happy. I mean, you remember how it was with Prince Blueblood, right?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.”

“See?”

“But that’s different! I didn’t know him.”

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s any better.” Twilight leaned back, looking up at the ceiling, her eyes following one of the strands of garland across the wall. “I mean, what if the pony you had a crush on drove you crazy? Or would be mortified if you said that you liked them?”

“You don’t have a crush on Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said firmly. Her eyes flicked over to her friend. “Do you?”

Twilight snapped her head back towards Rarity. “Of course I don’t have a crush on Pinkie Pie! I don’t have a crush on anypony! I keep telling you that! I was just… argh.” Twilight drug her hoof through her mane. “I mean, what if I had a crush on you? That would be really awkward, right?”

Rarity opened her mouth to respond, then froze, her eyes wide.

“Right?”

“W-well, I… you are a very attractive mare, Twilight, but… and you are a princess… and very nice… but I’m afraid—”

Twilight slapped her hoof into her face. “Rarity, I don’t have a crush on you.”

Rarity sagged. “Oh, what a relief!”

Twilight arched an eyebrow.

“Er, what I mean to say is that I entirely understand how awkward it might be to have a crush on one of your friends.” Rarity cleared her throat, pointing with her hoof. “Oh, look, there’s Spike with the cocoa.”

“And not a moment too soon.” Twilight rose from her sitting cushion with a grin, purple magic wrapping around the steaming mugs in the dragon’s claws, pulling them over to the mares.

“Two cups of hot cocoa, as requested,” Spike said, twirling one claw in front of his chest as he took a bow.

“Thanks, Spike.” Twilight breathed in deeply, shivering as the steamy heat filled her lungs. “This smells delicious.”

“I must agree with Twilight; this is positively divine.”

Spike puffed out his chest. “I used milk with the chocolate, and added just a bit of whipped cream, just the way you like it.”

Twilight lifted the mug to her lips, sipping noisily. “Mmm.”

“You’ve got a little something right there,” Spike said, pointing with his claw towards foam clinging to the tip of Twilight’s snout.

Twilight crossed her eyes and giggled. “So I do,” she said, flicking out her tongue to lick it off.

“So, Rarity start fitting you for a wedding dress yet?” Spike asked, leaning over and nudging Twilight in the chest with his elbow.

“Ugh, don’t get her started again.” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Heh, say no more.” He paused, glancing over at Rarity before standing up on his tip-toes and whispering, “You know, I’d be happy to distract her while you get away.”

Twilight laughed and wrapped a hoof around Spike’s shoulders to tug him into a hug. “Nice try, Casanova, but I think I can manage.”

“It was worth a try.”

Twilight giggled before glancing over at her other guests. The two fillies zipped away from the Hearth's Warming tree and put on their best angelic smiles, the ornament they had been playing with bobbing precariously under one of the branches. “Say, Spike, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are looking kind of bored. How about you show them around the castle while we’re waiting for everyone else to arrive?”

“Aw, do I have to? I like hanging out with you guys.”

Twilight rubbed the top of Spike’s head. “You don’t have to, but I bet they’d appreciate it. Besides, I thought you liked Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. You seemed to get along okay when they came over for Twilight Time.”

“Oh, they’re okay I guess,” Spike said, lowering his head and scuffing his foot on the floor, “but they’re just kids!”

“You’re ‘just a kid’ too, you know,” Twilight said, giggling.

Spike waved his claws in front of him. “No way! I’m way older than they are.”

“Oh really?” Rarity smiled mysteriously over her cup, not a single drop of cocoa staining her pristine white coat. “Well, then, I’m sure a mature young dragon like yourself would be more than happy to show my little sister and her best friend around the castle. You wouldn’t want a couple of fillies getting lost in the castle, would you?”

“Aw, you’re just saying that.”

“But you’re always such a big help to me. And you’re so erudite.”

Spike blinked. “Eru-what now?”

Twilight leaned forward, whispering loudly. “It means you’re well-spoken and well-educated.”

“Aw, thanks.” Spike rocked back and forth on his feet, tilting his head to the side a little before he stopped. “What, that’s it?”

Twilight laughed. “Fishing for compliments, are we?”

Spike shrugged. “Hey, I get ’em where I can.”

“Well, if you’re looking for compliments, I’m sure Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom would be happy to assist.” Rarity leaned forward. “Why, with a gentledrake like you leading them around the castle, I’m sure they will be simply gushing.”

“Twist my arm, will you?” Spike chuckled, then sighed. “Alright, alright, I’ll go give them a tour.”

“Aw, don’t be like that.” Twilight patted him on the head. “You really could use more friends your age.”

“Heh, did you decide that, or did Princess Celestia tell you to?”

Twilight smiled crookedly. “It was Cadance’s idea, actually.”

“I bet she used to tell you that when she was your babysitter.”

“Well… yes. But she was right.”

“Fat lot of good it did you.”

“Hey! I got friends. Eventually.” Twilight stepped away from Spike to hook her hoof around Rarity’s shoulder.

“Indeed you did, Twilight. And we are forever grateful for your friendship.” Rarity leaned over to rub her cheek against her friend’s.

“Oh, gag,” Spike said, opening his mouth and pointing to his tongue, though he was still grinning when he closed it. “Alright, alright. I’ll go show them around.”

“Thanks, Spike.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Twilight grinned. “So, twice then?"

Spike pointed his claws at Twilight as he walked backwards towards the two Crusaders. “At least twice. And maybe some sapphires, too.”

Twilight laughed. “Just make sure they don’t burn down the castle, okay?”

Spike gave her a little salute before he spun around on his heel to walk over to the fillies, who seemed to have lost interest in sitting on their cushions and had instead gone over to more closely examine the Hearth’s Warming tree.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom. What are you up to?”

“Oh, howdy, Spike! You have some amazin’ ornaments here.”

“Yeah, where did you get them?” Sweetie Belle squeaked from her precarious perch on Apple Bloom’s back, the stacked fillies swaying unsteadily next to the tree.

“Canterlot, mostly. Can’t get stuff like that in Ponyville.”

“How’d they make things like that train?” Apple Bloom lifted an unsteady hoof to point at a large glass ornament; inside, a miniature version of the Friendship Express chugged around the base of Mount Canterlot, sending little puffs of smoke up to join the clouds hanging over the top of the mountain.

Spike opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the two fillies began to topple over, Sweetie Belle yelping from her place on her friend’s back. The small dragon lunged forward, trying to steady Apple Bloom just as she overbalanced. Her shoulder collided with Spike’s chest, and a moment later the two fillies were lying in a dazed pile on top of the groaning dragon.

“Are y’all alright?” Apple Bloom asked, scrambling to get off Spike and kicking him in the jaw in the process.

“Ow!” Spike tried to sit up, only to find himself pinned beneath the weight of the other filly. “Yeah, I’m okay.” He leaned back a bit, looking at the tree from his position on the floor. “Phew. Well, at least you didn’t knock that over.”

“Sorry I fell on you,” Sweetie Belle said as she wiggled around on top of the dragon, trying to get her hooves back underneath her.

“Ahh-choo!” A gout of green flame narrowly missed the filly’s face, the tip of the nearest branch turning to ash and raining down onto the floor.

“Sorry!” Sweetie Belle said again, her voice raising at least an octave, making Spike wince.

“It’s alright.” Spike wrinkled his snout, blinking. “Are you wearing… perfume?”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened as she leaned forward over the dragon, grabbing him by the shoulders with her hooves. “Please don’t tell Rarity! I took some from her because I thought it smelled nice and I ended up using the whole thing!”

“Hey, hey, it’s alright!” Spike said, raising his claws in front of him defensively. “My lips are sealed.”

“Oh, good.” Sweetie Belle relaxed, her soft weight resting on Spike’s chest.

“Uh, Sweetie Belle?”

“Yes, Spike?” The filly turned her head slightly to face him, looking down into his eyes, her warm breath tickling his snout.

Spike’s entire face flushed as he ducked his head down towards his chest, only narrowly avoiding bumping noses. “Uhm… mind getting off?”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes flicked down to her hooves on Spike’s chest, then shot wide open. The filly launched herself backwards off the dragon, stumbling back into Apple Bloom before regaining her footing.

“Well, that’s one way to do it,” Spike said, rising slowly back to his feet. He turned his face to the side and coughed into his claw a few times before he dusted himself off. “At least the tree’s okay.” He eyed the scorched branch for a moment. “Mostly.”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Sorry about that, Spike. We were just trying to get a better look at the ornaments.”

“It’s alright.” Spike waved his claw. “If you want a better look, I can go get the stepladder.”

“Oh, I can help!” Sweetie Belle sprung forward, her horn coming to life and wrapping the delicate ornament in a green field of magic. The glass sphere first rose slightly, then floated down from the tree until it hovered in front of the filly’s face. “See?”

Apple Bloom put her hoof on the bridge of her muzzle. “Why didn’t you do that in the first place? We almost knocked over the whole tree!”

“I, uh, forgot.” Sweetie Belle reached up to rub at her mane sheepishly.

“Ugh.”

“Heh, you sound like Twilight,” Spike said as he carefully plucked the ornament out of mid-air. “Well, that’s a pretty cool ornament, but it isn’t exactly unique; there’s this old unicorn up in Canterlot who makes a whole bunch of them. Every one’s a little bit different, but they’re all little trains going around something.”

“Yeah, but how does he make ’em?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head.

“Eh, beats me. Probably magic or little gears or something.” Spike shrugged. “You want to see something really unique, take a look at that glass ornament up there.”

Sweetie Belle lit up her horn again. “Up where?”

“Right up there near the top, that purple one.” Spike pointed with his claw, before wincing as Sweetie Belle’s magic unceremoniously yanked the delicate ornament off the branch. It descended in a field of green light before Spike reached up to grab it as well, letting it hang from his other claw. “Now this is something you don’t see every day.”

“What is it?” The two fillies crowded forward to peer at the misshapen ornament, a stretched out piece of twisted pink-and-purple glass.

“That is Twilight Sparkle.” Spike slowly rotated the ornament, the thing spinning slowly, legs more clearly coming into view, along with a too-pointy head and lumpy horn.

Apple Bloom gagged. “Ugh, who made something like that?”

“Uh, I did.”

Apple Bloom’s ears fell. “What I meant to say is, uhm, it’s awful nice.” She elbowed Sweetie Belle.

“Uhhhh…” Sweetie Belle squinted at the ornament. “I really like… her mane?”

“I’m not even sure it has a mane,” Apple Bloom whispered, before wincing as Sweetie Belle elbowed her back.

“Nah, it’s fine. I made it when I was like, six.”

Apple Bloom winced. “Oh, great. Now I feel really bad.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Spike started to wave his other claw before remembering the other ornament, only barely keeping ahold of the glass orb as it wobbled dangerously, the Friendship Express nearly derailing from the tracks inside. “Oops.”

“But how’d ya make it?” Sweetie Belle asked, peering at it more closely. “It’s made out of glass.”

“Watch this.” Spike carefully hung the other ornament back up on the tree before grasping the piece of twisted glass carefully between his claws. Taking a few steps away from the tree, he opened his mouth and exhaled a thin stream of green flame. Slowly, the ornament began to faintly glow as the fire licked around its shiny surface before the dragon closed his mouth.

Holding the ornament in one claw, he reached up with the other to gently pluck at the figure’s side, tugging on the molten glass. The fillies’ jaws dropped as the glass began to deform, stretching out into a flat plane as the dragon pinched it between two claws, pulling it straight out from the figurine’s side. Flipping the ornament around, he blew out another little bit of flame before repeating the process, carefully pulling on the glass with his claws until he had formed another flat sheet of glass. Gently, he pulled on first one side, then another, curving the panels, shaping them into broad wings which slowly began to regain their former coloration as the glass cooled.

“Whoa.” The two fillies glanced at each other before they began to clap on the crystal floor, the glassy sound reverberating strangely through the great hall.

“Thank you, thank you.” Spike took a bow, still carefully clutching the glass ornament in one claw as its dull glow subsided.

"That's pretty neat." Apple Bloom's smile grew as she leaned forward. "Say, you think you could teach us how to do that?"

Spike chuckled. “Sure. Just need to find a bit of glass, some forceps, and, uh…” He glanced over towards Twilight, his shoulders falling a little. “Oh, right. Twilight said no setting anything on fire inside the castle.”

“Awwwwww,” the fillies chorused.

“Sorry, no can do. She told me I’m not supposed to burn down the castle.”

“It would just be a little fire,” Apple Bloom said, raising her hoof an inch off the floor.

Spike chuckled. “That’s what I always say.”

“So, can we?” The two fillies lined up next to each other, giving Spike their very best eyes.

“Hmmm… well, I can’t help you make glass ornaments,” Spike began, turning around and setting the cooling glass on one of the inner branches, “but I can give you a tour of the castle by its coolest resident.”

“Twilight’s gonna give us a to—ouch!”

Sweetie Belle stomped on Apple Bloom's hoof, pushing in front of her friend. “We’d love for you to give us a tour!” Sweetie Belle said, smiling her sweetest smile.

“Uh, I mean, of course we’d like a tour, Spike.” Apple Bloom winced as she lifted her hoof, giving it a look before shaking it a few times.

“Alright then, just follow me.”

As Spike began leading the two fillies towards the back of the great hall, there was a loud knock on the door. The dragon turned around reflexively, beginning to rush over towards the door before Twilight called out to him.

“It’s alright, Spike, I’ve got it.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” Spike gave a little salute as he turned back around. “Now this room will really knock your socks off. Figuratively speaking, of course,” he said, as he flung open a pair of crystalline doors and led the fillies out.

Twilight smiled before returning her attention to the front doors, her horn flaring as she blinked across the room. The golden doors glowed briefly as they swung inward, revealing the smiling faces of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

“Hey, Twilight! Happy Hearth’s Warming!” Pinkie Pie shouted, springing forward and wrapping Twilight in a hug, the gift boxes Pinkie had been carrying showering to the ground behind her.

“It’s good to see you too, Pinkie.” Twilight said, smiling as she gave her friend a squeeze. “And you as well, Fluttershy,” she said, bobbing her head.

“Are we early? Oh, I hope it’s alright; we can come back later if we’re interrupting.”

“Nah, you’re fine. Rarity has actually already been here for about fifteen minutes. Spike already finished decorating, so all we were really waiting for is you girls.” Twilight smiled proudly. “He really outdid himself this year. It looks really great.”

“I’ll say!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she sprung inside. “I’ve never seen a burning tree used as a Hearth’s Warming decoration before!”

Chapter 2: The Coolest Room in the Castle

“Now, this room will really knock your socks off. Figuratively speaking, of course.”

“That’s what you said for the last three rooms,” Apple Bloom grumbled.

“And the closet,” Sweetie Belle added helpfully.

“Hey, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t there the last time I was in that room.”

“Are you sure you live in this castle?” Apple Bloom asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.

“I’m sure! Really! I just don’t go into that part very often. There’s not much over there.” Spike chuckled nervously.

“I noticed,” Apple Bloom grumbled. “So why did we go into that half of the castle?”

“Uhh… because we were facing that direction to begin with?”

Apple Bloom rubbed her face with her hoof.

“But this room really is cool!”

“All the rooms have been really pretty,” Sweetie Belle said as she stepped forward, “but kind of… empty?”

“Sweetie Belle’s right. I mean, I never thought I would get tired of seein’ rooms in a crystal castle, but—”

“I really mean it! This is probably the coolest room in the whole entire castle!”

“Fine,” Apple Bloom said, sighing. “It better not be another broom closet.”

“Nope! This room is…” Spike paused for dramatic effect as he leaned forward, flinging open the doors. “The library!”

Apple Bloom squinted. “Uh, it’s dark.”

“What?” Spike whirled around, his shoulders dropping. “Oh come on. Stupid magic castle.” Grumbling, he stepped into the room, stomping his clawed foot on the floor a few times before the room lit up, scintillating with the light of a thousand diamonds.

Shelves covered the walls of the room, rising up three stories high, their smooth, angular forms gleaming with a faint blue light. Others stretched across the floor, semi-transparent shelves revealing hallways wide enough for two ponies to walk side by side between them. Colossal archways stretched across the ceiling far above, buttressing the great crystal walls from inside. Three great balls of crystal hung suspended from the arches, shedding pale blue light over the walls as they rotated slowly on their chains.

Spike smirked as he stepped back to the two fillies, putting a claw under each of their chins to push their mouths shut with a click. “So, better than a closet?”

“Mm-hmm!” Sweetie Belle bobbed her head rapidly.

“I gotta admit, Spike, this place is pretty neat.” Apple Bloom said as she stepped around past the dragon, turning her head to slowly scan the shelves. “Big shelves, nice construction.” Hooking her hooves over the edge of a shelf, she stood up on her hind legs. “Seems awful empty, though. Where are all the books?”

“Eh, they haven’t arrived yet. These are pretty much the late returns and a few books Celestia sent us after… you know.”

“Oh, right.” Apple Bloom’s ears drooped. “Sorry about that, Spike.”

“Yeah, we didn’t mean to remind you that all your stuff got blown up.”

Apple Bloom shook her head at Sweetie Belle. “You’ve sure been practicin’ your flexibility to let your hoof shake with your tonsils.”

Sweetie Belle flinched.

“Nah, it’s alright. I mean, it’s just stuff. Books, notes, letters from Princess Celestia, all my comic books, my b-basket, the bits of my shell that *sniff* Twilight had been keeping…”

“Aw, it’s alright,” Sweetie Belle said, stepping forward and putting her hoof around Spike’s shoulders. “It’s not like you lost everything, right?”

Apple Bloom stared at her friend.

“Oh. Well, uhm…” Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “…You got a new castle?”

Spike laughed weakly. “It’s really Twilight’s castle.”

“But you live here.”

“Well,” Spike rubbed at his face with the back of his claw as he straightened, “I did get my own room!”

“See!” Sweetie Belle gave Spike a squeeze, before pausing. “Wait, you didn’t have your own room?”

“Nah. I always slept with Twilight. I mean, it’s not like the library had more than one bedroom.” Spike rubbed the back of his head.

“Oh, well… I guess I didn’t get my own room until my big sister moved out…”

Spike rocked back and forth on his feet awkwardly. “Yeah, uh, just part of growing up.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Sweetie Belle leaned forward, looking into Spike’s eyes. Her snout inches away from Spike’s, Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened before she abruptly pulled away, jerking her hoof from around the blushing dragon’s shoulders to return to all fours.

Spike shuffled a few steps away from Sweetie Belle. “Er, yeah, right. So like I was saying, the library isn’t full yet, but it will be.”

“Well, it is still kinda neat to see what books you’ve got,” Apple Bloom said, strolling over to one of the few shelves which was filled with books. “Alkahest’s Advanced Alchemy. Lucky this survived the fire, huh?”

“Oh, no,” Spike said, shaking his head. “Twilight had to order that special from Celestia. She said you’d need it for when Twilight Time started again.” Spike pointed his thumb towards his chest. “I read it a couple years ago.” He glanced quickly from side to side. “Just between you and me, I could barely keep my eyes open past chapter three.”

Apple Bloom blinked. “Ain’t that a bit advanced for somepony your age?”

“Heh, I should be asking you the same question. Though, I guess you’re probably about the same age as I was when I read it.”

Apple Bloom gave the dragon a strange look. “You were hatched when Twilight got her cutie mark, right?”

“Right.”

“And that was when my sister got her cutie mark, right?”

Spike scuffed his foot on the floor. “I guess. That’s what Twilight told me.”

“Then it ain’t too much for me at all, on account of my bein’ older than you.”

Spike laughed.

“I’m serious!” Apple Bloom stomped her hoof. “I’m almost a year older’n you are. Be pretty hard for me not to be, on account of my parents passin’ ’fore my sister got her cutie mark.”

Spike stopped laughing. “What?”

“You didn’t know? I thought everypony knew about my parents.”

“I knew about your parents!” Spike said a bit too loudly before he lowered his voice. “Or, I guessed, I guess. But I thought it was, you know, recent.”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “I never knew ’em. That’s why my sister went to Manehattan in the first place.”

“But… you can’t be older than me!”

“Sure I can. And am. Heck, if I’m older’n you are, so’s Sweetie Belle.”

Sweetie Belle blinked. “Huh. I just thought dragons aged slower or something.”

“But you’re just kids!” Spike said, waving his stubby little arms.

“Well, Twilight always called you a baby dragon. I always figured that was a bit weird, but I guess you really are a baby.” Apple Bloom smirked, leaning forward to pat Spike on the head with a hoof. “Just a itty-bitty cutie, aint’cha?”

“Stop picking on him, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle stomped her hoof. “He’s just a little kid!”

“A little kid you kissed.”

“He’s not that little!”

“I ain’t the one who called him that first!”

“Yeah, that’s because you called him a baby!”

Spike sat down on the floor between the two arguing fillies, clutching his head between his claws as he stared down at the floor.

Apple Bloom opened her mouth to shout at Sweetie Belle again, then stopped. “You alright there, Spike?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

“You sure?” Apple Bloom set her hoof on his shoulder. “We’re just funnin’ ya.”

“I just can’t believe you two are actually older than I am.”

“Ooh, and Scootaloo is too!” Sweetie Belle said, clapping her hooves.

“Gee, thanks.”

Apple Bloom gave Spike a gentle pat. “Aw, don’t be like that, Spike.”

“Yeah, we still like you!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

“Right. It don’t matter none that you’re just a kid, we don’t mind you hangin’ out with us.”

Spike sighed loudly.

“I know what you need! A nice warm cup of cocoa! That always cheers me up!” Sweetie Belle beamed at the dragon.

“Well, cocoa does sound pretty good,” Spike said, lifting his head. “But I haven’t finished showing you the library yet. The kitchen was going to be the next stop.”

Apple Bloom glanced around for a moment before smiling. “I know! You can show Sweetie Belle the library and tell her about all the neat books you have while I go get the cocoa!”

“But you just said the library was empty. Besides, I thought—” Sweetie Belle squeaked as Apple Bloom bumped her with her shoulder.

“’Scuse us for a moment,” Apple Bloom said, pushing her friend down the aisle of empty shelves before rounding on her. “Now’s your chance!”

“My chance to what?” Sweetie Belle asked, blinking.

“Ya know, be all romantic or whatever.” Apple Bloom waved her hoof.

“Alone?” Sweetie Belle’s voice rose, drawing a wince from Apple Bloom.

“Well, yeah. Ain’t that the point?”

Sweetie Belle drug her hoof across the crystalline floor. “I don’t know…”

“What’s not to know? C’mon, ya like him, don’tcha?”

“Of course I like him! I just… you know…” Sweetie Belle sat back on her haunches, rubbing her hooves together. “It’s embarrassing!”

“Oh come on, don’t be shy. I bet he likes you too. He’s probably pinin’ for ya right now.”

The fillies both looked over at the small dragon, standing some distance away with his arms crossed, watching the pair impatiently as he leaned against one of the empty crystalline bookshelves.

Spike arched an eyebrow. “What?”

Apple Bloom turned back to the other filly. “Alright, so maybe he ain’t.”

Sweetie Belle buried her face in her hooves.

“But that’s no reason to give up!”

“Of course it’s a reason to give up! I kissed him and he didn’t say anything! What am I supposed to do, just shout that I like him?”

Apple Bloom rubbed her chin. “Now that you mention it, why don’tcha just tell him you’re sweet on him?”

“Are you nuts?” Sweetie Belle leapt to her hooves. “I can’t tell him!”

“Why not?”

“A lady has to be approached,” Sweetie Belle said, tossing her head and pawing at her mane with her hoof.

“You’re takin’ advice from Rarity?” Apple Bloom shook her head. “No offense, but she ain’t exactly swimmin’ in stallions.”

“Huh? How could you swim in a pool full of ponies?”

Apple Bloom rubbed the bridge of her muzzle with her hoof. “What I meant was, your sister ain’t doin’ too good either in the datin’ department. Not to mention, I remember when that fancy feller Trenderhoof or whatever his name was came to town, she weren’t exactly subtle in showin’ her interest in him.”

“And she didn’t end up with him! See?”

“Hm. Ya got a point.” Apple Bloom tilted her head to the side, glancing over the gleaming shelves in thought.

“What is it?”

“I was just tryin’ to think, that’s all. You know, let my eyes wander. It always seems to work for Twilight. Works better when there’s books on the shelves.”

“Ugh, what’s the use? He’s just going to keep chasing after my sister.” Sweetie Belle flopped to the floor, hiding her head underneath her hooves.

Apple Bloom trotted forward to put a hoof over her friend’s back. “C’mon, nopony ever bucked an apple without plantin’ a seed first.”

“I thought you said that your parents planted most of the trees at Sweet Apple Acres, but Applejack bucks them all the time!”

“Whatever. Look, point is ya gotta do somethin’ to impress him.”

“What am I supposed to impress him with?” Sweetie Belle sat up and waved her hooves around. “My great magic? My awesome cooking skills? My perfect designs? Being pretty?” Sweetie Belle smoothed her mane down for a moment, posing for a moment before her hair sprung back into place. “Let’s face it, the only reason he’d even pay attention to me is because Rarity told him to.”

“Y’all danced at Princess Cadance’s weddin’. Did Rarity tell him to do that?”

Sweetie Belle dragged her hoof across the crystalline floor. “No. I just asked him, and he was like, ‘Sure!’ Probably because Rarity was already dancing with somepony.”

“Well, Rarity ain’t doin’ nothin’ right now. Ya kissed him and ya asked him to dance. Why don’t you just go ask him to go do somethin’ romantic? Whatever ponies do on dates.”

Sweetie Belle glanced from Apple Bloom to Spike, then back again, ducking her head a little when Spike raised his eyebrow again. “But I’d have to say that I like him. It’s different!”

“Ugh. You’re makin’ this way harder than it needs to be.” Apple Bloom sighed.

“I’m sorry,” Sweetie Belle said, her eyes locked on the floor.

“Well, what can you do to get his attention? There must be somethin’.” Apple Bloom turned her head, staring off blankly through the semi-transparent shelves before her eyes widened. “Hey, Spike helps Rarity out, don’t he?”

“Yeah, because he has a crush on her.”

“But he helps Twilight, too. And he always made us food when we came over for Twilight Time.”

Sweetie Belle lifted her head. “So?”

“So…. Maybe he just likes helpin’ ponies! If we could find somethin’ for him to help you out with, maybe he’d spend more time with you.”

“Helping me do what? Find my cutie mark?”

“I was thinkin’ somethin’ a little more immediate, like helpin’ a wounded lady ’round the library after she hurt her hoof. You just gotta have a little accident first.”

Sweetie Belle retreated back against the bookcase. “But I don’t want to hurt my hoof!”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “It’s just pretend. I won’t really hurt ya.”

“Oh. Okay. So what are we—”

“WELL I GUESS I SHOULD GET GOING THEN,” Apple Bloom shouted, turning back towards Spike before deliberately stumbling into Sweetie Belle, knocking her back into the empty bookcase.

“Hey!”

Spike jumped forward. “Are you two alright?”

Sweetie Belle popped back up to her hooves. “I’m fine.”

Apple Bloom shot a glare at her friend. Sweetie Belle stared for a few moments before her left leg visibly gave out.

“I mean, ouch! I think I hurt my leg.”

Spike crouched down on his knees to examine it. “It looks okay.”

“Yeah, but, uhm… it hurts when I stand on it.”

“Sorry, Spike. Looks like you’re gonna have to help her ’round the library while I go get some drinks from the kitchen.”

Spike shook his head. “She really should stay off her hoof if she hurt it.”

“But I really want to see the library.” Sweetie Belle crouched down to look the dragon in the eye. “Please?”

Spike sighed. “Alright. But you really should go get some ice for it, Apple Bloom.”

“But then I won’t be able to carry the drinks!”

“The kitchen is in the next room,” Spike said, waving his claw towards the far end of the library. “You can just make two trips.”

“Oh.” Apple Bloom glanced towards the indicated door. “Well, alright then. Just uh… don’t wait up for me, okay? I might be a minute.”

“We have ice in the freezer. Just stick some in a bag and come back.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes slid away from Spike’s face. “What I meant to say was our sisters might want to know what happened, so I may have to talk to them for a spell.”

Spike crossed his arms across his chest. “Really?”

“Yup!” Apple Bloom nodded her head with conviction before she turned to trot off.

“Well, that was weird.” Spike glanced over at Sweetie Belle, who immediately lifted her leg back up off the floor. “So, I take it you need help walking?”

“If that’s alright,” Sweetie Belle said, her ears falling back against her mane as she blushed.

“It’s fine.” Spike stepped up next to the filly, pressing up against her shoulder. “Come on, I’ll show you the books we brought back from the forest.”

“Alright,” Sweetie Belle said, biting her lip as she hobbled along awkwardly on three legs, leaning against the small dragon.

“Sweetie Belle?”

“Yes, Spike?”

“You’re limping on the wrong leg.”

Chapter 3: Chasing Kisses

“Now, this book was hoof-written by Princess Luna herself before she was banished to the Moon; it contained the movements of the stars for the next thousand years!” Spike chuckled. “Of course, now that she’s back, it’s out of date, though Twilight told me that Luna asked for her help figuring them out for the next thousand years.”

“That’s a thousand years old?” Sweetie Belle stared at the lonely blue book on a long, empty shelf. “It doesn’t look that old.”

“That’s because it was protected with magic. It actually was sitting out in the Everfree Forest for the last thousand years getting rained on.” Spike waved his claw at the book. “You could probably throw it in the ocean and it wouldn’t smudge.”

“That’s so cool!”

“It’s nothing, really. All the Princess’s books are protected like that. Water, lightning, evil magic…” Spike said, counting off on his claws. “Pretty much everything but fire.”

“Wow! You know, I wasn’t expecting this to be so interesting.”

“Heh, you make it sound like you thought it was going to be boring.”

Sweetie Belle rubbed her mane. “Well, I only asked you to show me around the library so we’d have something to talk about. I didn’t think you could make them, you know, exciting.”

“Oh. Uh… thanks? I think?”

“The way you talk about them, it sounds like you’ve read all of them!” Sweetie Belle said, smiling.

Spike shuffled awkwardly. “Well, I haven’t read all of them. I’m expected to know what books Twilight needs before she does. Part of my job as her assistant. I’ve looked at some of the others once or twice, but a lot of that is just Twilight rubbing off on me.”

“Oh. Well, you still seem to know a lot!” Sweetie Belle beamed at the dragon for a moment before blinking. “Wait. If you’re only a year younger than us, why do you spend all your time working? Why don’t you go to school with us?”

“Twilight teaches me. And Princess Celestia, sometimes, when I visit her in Canterlot.”

“Do you help her too?” Sweetie Belle asked, her face inches from the dragon’s.

Spike turned his head to reply, starting at the sight of her face so close to his. He stepped away from Sweetie Belle a little too quickly, the filly stumbling as her support abruptly vanished. “Nah. I’m Twilight’s assistant. She has ponies to do that stuff for her. We just hang out.”

Sweetie Belle straightened up, shaking her head and pouting for a moment before quickly adopting another smile. “I didn’t know you were friends with Princess Celestia!”

“Yeah. It’s no big deal.” He shrugged. “I mean, I used to spend time with her all the time.” Spike tapped his claw to his chin as he began to walk down the aisle. “Come to think of it, the only time I haven’t really seen a princess every day was when me and Twilight came to Ponyville. Though, heh, she’s a princess now, too.”

“Do you think you could teach me how to be an assistant?”

Spike stopped in his tracks. “What? What brought that up?”

“Er, nothing,” Sweetie Belle said, quickly trotting up next to him. “I just thought, you know, since you’re such a good assistant, maybe we could spend some time together and, uh, you know…”

“No way,” Spike said, waving his hands at Sweetie Belle. “Twilight already has two assistants.”

Sweetie Belle’s ears fell as she looked down at the floor. “Oh.”

Spike watched the filly for a moment before sighing. “Why do you want to be Twilight’s assistant, anyways? I mean, I get that you want to learn magic, but…”

“I don’t want to help Twilight, I just want to help my big sister.” She shifted on her hooves. “Plus, I…”

“You…?” Spike tilted his head.

“Uhm, nothing.”

“Well, I don’t know what I can teach you that you don’t already know. Rarity tells me that you help her all the time.”

“She’s just being nice,” Sweetie Belle said glumly, poking at the floor with her hoof. “She always says I’m such a big help, but she doesn’t really mean it.”

“Well, why are you asking me?”

“You help her all the time! She likes it when you help her!”

“Well, of course she does!” Spike straightened up to his full height, before deflating slightly at Sweetie Belle’s expression. “But, uh, that doesn’t mean you can’t help, too.”

“But she won’t let me help!” Sweetie Belle bounded to her feet, turning her head to the side and sweeping back her mane with her hoof. “It is always, ‘Thanks, Sweetie Belle,’ or ‘Could you grab me the crimson fabric, Sweetie Belle?’ and then I grab the red one instead and she had to do it herself anyway.”

“It happens.” Spike shrugged. “I mess up and grab the wrong stuff too, sometimes. I could lend you the book we have on—er, I mean, I could see if Celestia could send us the book on colors I read to get them straight.” He chuckled a little. “Did you know that there are over fifty different shades of—”

Sweetie Belle stomped her hoof on the translucent floor. “I’ve tried reading one! It didn’t help either!”

“Well, uh… have you just tried asking?”

“But she hates being interrupted!”

Spike scratched his head. “Well, then don’t ask when she doesn’t need help.”

“But I want to help! She always likes your help!” Sweetie Belle rose up on her hind hooves, swaying as she spoke in a high-pitched falsetto voice. “She’s always like, ‘Oh, Spike helped me dig up these lovely gems.’”

“She does?” Spike leaned forward eagerly. “What else does she say about me?”

Sweetie Belle’s ears drooped. “Oh, stuff,” she said, falling back to all fours.

Spike’s expression fell and the small dragon shuffled his feet before putting a clawed hand on the filly’s shoulder. “Maybe next time I go over and help Rarity, you can come along and see what I do?”

“You’d do that?”

“Sure. I mean, what are friends for, right?” Spike smiled.

“I’m your friend?”

Spike blinked, rubbing at his spines with his claws. “Well, yeah. What else would we be?”

Sweetie Belle turned her face away from the dragon. “Uhhhh… hey, look, there’s Apple Bloom!” The filly took off like a shot, galloping over to her friend. “Hi! Did you bring some cocoa?”

“Uh, I couldn’t find the mix. But I found something even better!” Apple Bloom turned her head, reaching back before offering up a red bow attached to a slender stalk of greenery, white berries gleaming between the leaves.

Sweetie Belle gasped. “Where did you get that? Did you take it from over the door? Oh no, we’re going to get in so much trouble.”

“Relax. I found it in the kitchen. Somepony must’ve forgotten it there after they were done with the decoratin’.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Sweetie Belle sat back on her tail, rubbing at her mane with her hoof.

“Nah, it’s alright.” Apple Bloom grinned. “Ya know what this means, don’tcha?”

Sweetie Belle blinked, looking down at the mistletoe, then over at Spike, her cheeks flushing.

“So, think he’s ready to kiss you yet?” Apple Bloom asked, smirking.

“Uh… we didn’t really, you know…” Sweetie Belle tapped her hooves together.

Apple Bloom sighed. “Ya didn’t tell him ya liked him, did ya?”

“I didn’t have a chance!”

“You’re tellin’ me that I spent fifteen minutes hidin’ in the kitchen searching for cocoa and y’all didn’t say a word ’bout how you felt ’bout each other?”

“Well…” Sweetie Belle shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, “we talked about the books, then about Twilight and Rarity, and he offered to help me the next time my sister needed help because he’s my friend. At least, he thinks he’s my friend?”

Apple Bloom throw her hoof over her face, the mistletoe falling to the floor. “That was yer chance! You shoulda just told him!”

“Er, oops?”

Apple Bloom sighed loudly. “It’s fine. Seems we’re gonna need this after all,” she said as she bent down to retrieve the sprig. “Mnn,” she began, before spitting the mistletoe back out into her hoof. “Now, I need you to go over and distract him while I sneak up behind him with this here mistletoe.”

Sweetie Belle rubbed her hoof against her shoulder. “I don’t know. Does it count if you’re just holding it over their head?”

“Of course it counts! Now, once I get the mistletoe in place, I want’cha to kiss him. Then he’ll know you want him to be your very special somepony!” Apple Bloom paused. “Or, somedragon. Whatever!”

“But when I kissed him before, he just fell over! What if he falls down again?”

Apple Bloom grinned. “Then I guess you’ll just have to catch him, won’tcha?”

“I dunno…”

“C’mon. You ain’t chicken, are ya?”

“Do I look like Scootaloo?”

“So what’s the problem? Go on, act casual.” Apple Bloom pushed her friend over towards Spike before ducking behind one of the bookshelves, her yellow coat taking on a ruddy cast behind the crystal.

“Uh, hey, Spike,” Sweetie Belle said awkwardly as she slowly walked back over towards the dragon.

“Uh, hey. What’s up with Apple Bloom?”

“Oh, she just found something she wanted to read.”

Spike glanced over at Apple Bloom, who was studiously examining the empty shelves. “Uh huh.”

“So, uh, want to sit here together with our backs turned to Apple Bloom and talk more about these books?”

The sound of Apple Bloom’s hoof smacking into her own face echoed throughout the library.

“You mean the one book?” Spike waved his claw at the lonely tome.

“Uh... maybe we could read it?”

Spike looked over at Apple Bloom again suspiciously, narrowing his eyes, before turning back to Sweetie Belle and smiling. “Or… maybe I could show you my comic collection! I put it down here instead of up in my room so it wouldn’t seem so empty. Come on, they’re over here.” Spike began backing away from the filly, beckoning her to follow with his hands.

“Uhm, alright,” Sweetie Belle said, her eyes flicking over to Apple Bloom as the other filly began to skulk between the shelves towards their destination.

“She does realize that we can see her through the bookcases, right?”

Sweetie Belle sighed.

“So what’s up with her, anyway?” Spike asked as he made a right-hand turn to walk between the shelves. “Is she like, trying to spy on us or something?”

“So what were those books you wanted to show me?” Sweetie Belle asked loudly, tearing her eyes away from the progress of her friend across the room.

Spike chuckled. “They’re more magazines, really. Never really figured out why they call them comic books, really.” He set his hand on the empty shelves, idly trailing his claws over the crystalline furnishing as he walked towards the end of the row where the colorful works filled half a shelf.

“Oh.”

Spike stopped. “You don’t like comics?”

“Uh, well… Apple Bloom has these comics she really likes, and she keeps trying to get me and Scootaloo to read them, but…”

“Don’t like them, huh?”

“Yeah. I mean, the ideas are kind of cool, but… I dunno, it was just boring.”

“Hey!” Apple Bloom shouted, stealth forgotten as she trotted out from between the bookshelves.

Sweetie Belle recoiled, ears falling. “Oh, hey, Apple Bloom.”

“Don’t hey me! You told me you just didn’t have time to read ’em. Why didn’t ya tell me you didn’t like ‘em?”

“I just… you know…” Sweetie Belle poked at her faint reflection in the floor with her hoof.

“You coulda just told me.”

“I know. But you were so excited! I didn’t want to disappoint you.” Sweetie Belle turned away.

“So uh, what comics were these, exactly?”

“My Power Ponies comics,” Apple Bloom said, turning towards Spike.

“But I’m sure yours will be way more interesting!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “What were they called?”

“Uh…” Spike stuck his thumb towards the colorful comics. “Power Ponies?”

Apple Bloom stepped in front of Sweetie Belle. “So what’s your favorite arc?”

“Oh, that’s easy. When the Maneiac steals the Electro-Orb from the Maretropolis Museum and the Power Ponies all get captured and I-er, I mean Hum-Drum saves them!”

“Really? I don’t remember that happenin’.”

“Oh. Er, well… it was a, uhm… limited edition.”

Apple Bloom’s ears drooped. “I’m guessin’ you don’t have a copy anymore, do ya?”

“Nah. Twilight set it on fire after we finished reading it.”

“She what?”

“What was your favorite arc?” Spike said quickly. “I bet it was the one where we got to see why Mistress Marevelous made all her stuff, her being your favorite character and all.”

“How’d you know that?”

Spike paused for a moment. “Lucky guess?”

“Actually, Mistress Marevelous is my favorite character, but I found that bit a bit uh, what’s the word? Lazy? I mean, I get that tragic backstories an’ all, but settin’ her whole life on edge on account of her parents’ passin’ is a bit much. I liked her more when she just, you know, did it and didn’t let it bother her none.”

“Oh, right.”

“Actually, my favorite bit was when Fili-Second ate every hayburger in Maretropolis to stop anypony from eatin’ the Gluemaker’s poison, then had to burn it all off.”

“Oh, yeah, that was hilarious! Do you remember the look on Gluemaker’s face when she couldn’t fit into her uniform anymore?”

Sweetie Belle’s ears sank lower and lower as Spike gesticulated wildly and Apple Bloom laughed and grinned. Biting her lip, she stepped between them. “Will you excuse us for a second?”

“Uh, okay,” Spike said, blinking and taking a step back as Sweetie Belle pulled Apple Bloom over between the bookshelves.

“I thought you were supposed to be helping!” Sweetie Belle hissed once they got halfway down the row.

“I was helpin’. Butterin’ him up is important, don’tcha think?”

“But I don’t know anything about those books!”

Apple Bloom blinked twice before smirking. “You’re jealous, ain’tcha?”

“I’m not jealous!” Sweetie Belle half-shouted, hopping forward.

“Alright, alright.” Apple Bloom waved her friend down. “Don’t worry. Just ‘cause we like the same books don’t mean we’re sweet on each other.”

“I’m not jealous,” Sweetie Belle muttered, turning away.

Apple Bloom stepped up next to her friend, casting a hoof around her shoulders. “And to think, not five minutes ago you were worried ’bout me danglin’ this mistletoe over his head. Now you just can’t wait, can ya?”

Sweetie Belle blushed.

“Aw. Well, why don’t you go over and distract Spike for a bit so I can sneak up on him?”

“Alright.” Sweetie Belle set off slowly back towards the dragon, glancing back over her shoulder at her friend, who shot a smile at her before waving her on.

“Er, hey, Spike.”

Spike blinked, glancing over at Sweetie Belle before folding up his comic and setting it back on the shelf. “What’s with you two today?”

“What do you mean?”

Spike glanced over at Apple Bloom, who smiled innocently at him around the bookshelf.

“Private conversations, running off all the time… do you just not want to hang out with me?” Spike rubbed the back of his head. “I mean, it’s okay if you don’t, but—”

“We want to hang out with you!” Sweetie Belle said quickly, pressing up against Spike’s side. “We just uh… were planning a surprise!”

“A surprise, huh?” Spike narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Apple Bloom isn’t going to sneak up behind me and yank my tail or something, is she?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No! This is the good kind of surprise. But Apple Bloom can’t go get it for you if you’re watching.”

“Uh huh. Well, alright then. I guess we can go over and look at the wall over there for a few minutes.” Spike gestured vaguely towards the far end of the aisle.

“Yeah! You uh, go do that. And I’ll come with you, to keep you company.” Sweetie Belle smiled innocently, turning back towards Apple Bloom and beckoning her forward before she trotted forward to walk alongside Spike.

“Leg’s feeling better, huh?”

“Huh? Why would my leg hurt?” Sweetie Belle stopped, looking down at her legs for a few seconds before she winced. “Uh, ow?”

Spike snickered. “Ow, huh?”

Sweetie Belle’s cheeks flushed as she ran a few steps ahead of the dragon. “Uh, I mean, yeah, it’s feeling better.”

“Why’d you even do that, anyway?”

“Uhm, well…” Sweetie Belle fixed her eyes on the passing bookcases.

“Lemme guess: it was part of the surprise?”

“Well… it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I just told you, would it?”

“Nope. But it can’t be a present; if it was, you could have just wrapped it and put it under the tree.”

“Uhm… maybe it is a present, but just the kind that doesn’t go under the tree?” Sweetie Belle said as they reached their destination, the pair facing the crystalline bookcase at the end of the aisle way. She glanced back over her shoulder at Apple Bloom, the other filly creeping between the shelves with the mistletoe grasped firmly in her mouth.

“Well, that’s easy then. Cadance used to give those to Shining Armor all the ti—” Spike’s eyes widened as he looked first at the bookcase, then at Sweetie Belle, staking a step back.

“What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked, blinking as she turned to look from the dragon into the crystalline furnishing, where her reflection stared back at her. “I don’t see... uh oh.”

Spike whirled around to face Apple Bloom, the filly quickly spitting out the mistletoe into her hoof and pushing it back into her mane behind her bow. “Hey, Spike,” she said innocently.

Spike glanced from Apple Bloom to Sweetie Belle, his cheeks flaming.

“I uh… think I hear Twilight calling,” Spike said, retreating from the two fillies, hands fidgeting in front of his chest.

Apple Bloom strode forward insistently. “C’mon, Spike, it’s just one kiss!”

“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle stomped her hoof, her face as red as her friend’s bow.

“No, I really mean it. I mean, you know, with all the guests here, she probably needs the help of her number one assistant, right?” He took another step backwards, then another, glancing back over his shoulder towards the door.

“That’s funny. I don’t hear a thing.” Apple Bloom began to grin, a predatory gleam in her eye as she reached back to grab the mistletoe once more.

“I don’t know about this…” Sweetie Belle shifted awkwardly.

“Come on, Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom said muffledly around the sprig as she began to trot forward, Spike wheeling on his heel as he fled from the two fillies.

“Help!” he cried out as he reached the doors to the main hall, reaching up to yank on the iridescent handles. “You locked them?”

Apple Bloom smirked around the mistletoe as she prowled towards the dragon, Sweetie Belle lagging behind her friend.

“Apple Bloom! Wait!”

Spike looked around, eyes flicking between the gleaming bookcases before he focused on the half-opened door at the far end of the room. As Apple Bloom advanced, Spike took off once more, dashing towards the sliver of hope that was the kitchen, the filly hot on his heels.

“I don’t think this is how mistletoe is supposed to work!” Spike shouted as he grabbed onto the edge of a bookcase, skidding around the end of it to make a flat-out sprint for the door.

“Apple Bloom, wait!” Sweetie Belle called, falling further behind her friend as the determined earth pony raced after the dragon, the sound of claw and hoof pounding against crystal echoing through the aisles.

Spike threw himself forward, the faceted door slamming into the wall as he skidded across the floor of the kitchen into the counter. Scrambling back to his feet, his eyes widened as Apple Bloom slid between him and the other door, the sprig of mistletoe still firmly clenched between her teeth. Holding out his hands, Spike slowly began to back away.

“Now, uh, let’s not be too hasty here,” he said as he stumbled back into the corner.

“What’s the matter, Spike? ‘Fraid of a little kiss?” Apple Bloom said, the movements of her mouth making the mistletoe jiggle against her chin.

“Well, it’s just, you know, you’re supposed to go out on a date first!” Spike wrung his hands as his back pressed up against the cabinets behind him.

Apple Bloom spat out the mistletoe into her hoof. “I don’t think that’s how mistletoe works, Spike. You’re just supposed to kiss her. Or get kissed.” She grinned.

“Look, you’re really cute, and you’re my friend and I like you and stuff, but I mean, I don’t think—”

“C’mon, it won’t be that bad. It ain’t like she—wait, what?”

“It’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? Sneaking off, getting Sweetie Belle to distract me… I mean, it’s not that I don’t think you’d be a good kisser! I bet you’d be really good at kissing! It’s just, you know…” Spike fidgeted awkwardly, pressing his claws together.

“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle shrieked as she ran in through the door, her small hooves finding no traction on the polished floor as she tried to come to a stop, the filly instead colliding with the side of the counter.

“Are you okay?” Spike asked, stepping towards the downed unicorn.

“I think I actually hurt my hoof that time,” she muttered as she stood up shakily. “Huh. Nope, still good.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.” Spike relaxed for a moment, before glancing back up at Apple Bloom and scooting around to interpose Sweetie Belle between himself and the other filly. “Say, uh, Sweetie Belle, how about we go and hang out with Twilight and Rarity? Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“What, you don’t want a kiss first?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Er, well,” Spike said, grabbing Sweetie Belle and holding her up as a shield between himself and Apple Bloom, “Like I was saying, you’re a good friend and all, but I’ve already gotten one kiss tonight, and uh, wouldn’t Sweetie Belle get jealous?”

“What?” the two fillies chorused.

Spike stared. “Wait, you aren’t going to kiss me?”

Apple Bloom fell down laughing. “What made you think a fool thing like that?”

“Well, you kept whispering stuff to Sweetie Belle, you kept spying on me, you chased me down with the mistletoe… I mean, who else would I kiss?” Spike’s nervous laughter trailed off as his eyes fell on the filly slumped in his claws. His cheeks burned as he let go of her, his arms falling back to his sides.

Sweetie Belle sighed. “It’s alright, Spike. You don’t have to worry.”

“I don’t?”

“Yeah.” Her ears drooped. “I already kissed you once, and you didn’t like it. I know you don’t like me.”

“Well, it wasn’t that bad.”

Apple Bloom shook her head at the dragon. “And here I thought Sweetie was the only one who liked to taste the floor thataway.” She glanced over to Sweetie Belle. “You ain’t gonna give up that easy, are ya?”

“What’s the use?” Sweetie Belle asked as Spike hunched his shoulders.

“Nope, I didn’t come this far just to let you down now.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “But I think Spike’s right; he’s already got a kiss this evenin’. Ain’t fair to make you kiss him again.”

“It’s not?” Spike asked, blinking.

“Nope, now it’s your turn to kiss Sweetie Belle instead!” Apple Bloom grabbed the mistletoe between her teeth once more.

“What?” Sweetie Belle squeaked as Apple Bloom scooted around behind her and gave her a shove forward, the filly’s hooves finding no purchase as she slid across the smooth floor and collided with the small dragon. Smirking, Apple Bloom set her hooves on Sweetie Belle’s shoulders and stood up behind her, dangling the mistletoe directly over her friend’s horn.

Eyes large as saucers, Spike’s gaze flickered from the greenery overhead to the squirming unicorn in front of him, licking his lips as Sweetie Belle’s eyes met his own.

“Uh, Sweetie Belle? I—”

“Oh, there you are!”

Apple Bloom staggered against Sweetie Belle’s back at the sound of Rarity’s voice, the earth pony toppling over onto her friend as the older unicorn trotted up behind them, blinking at the sight.

“It wasn’t my idea!” Sweetie Belle squealed.

“Was so!”

“And what idea was this?” Rarity asked, before her eyes fell on the small patch of green on the floor. “Is that mistletoe?”

“Uhm…”

“Tut, tut. Were you two fillies torturing poor Spikey Wikey?”

Spike’s face grew redder, if it possibly could.

“It wasn’t like that!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“Uh, well, actually, it kind of was,” Spike said, shuffling his feet, wincing when Sweetie Belle’s head slumped to the floor. “It wasn’t that bad, though! Honest!”

Rarity paused in the middle of helping Apple Bloom back to her hooves. “Oh, really?” Rarity said, grinning the same sort of grin that Apple Bloom had worn minutes before.

“Er, what I meant to say was it wasn’t, you know, torture. It was more like, you know, Pinkie torture, like that time she tied me to a chair and fed me gems!”

Rarity shook her head. “I must have words with that mare,” she said, her horn glowing for a moment to help pull her little sister up. “However, I’m afraid that must wait. Someone set fire to the Hearth’s Warming tree and let it burn out of control, and I’m afraid it is little more than a pile of ash now, just waiting to be cleaned up.”

“Really? That’s horrible!” Spike waved his claws. “Who would do something like that?”

“Who indeed.” Rarity took a step back to look archly at the trio.

“You don’t think it was us, do ya, Rarity?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah! They were with me the whole time.”

“You were, huh?” Twilight said sharply as she stepped into the kitchen from the main hall. “Then I hope you can explain this.” A small, blackened lump of glass floated forward in her magic towards the youngsters.

“Uh, what is it?” Spike asked, tilting his head.

“That was the ornament you made me when you were six. I found it so hot that it was still glowing when the tree was on fire.”

“Uhm… maybe it was from the tree being on fire?”

“Wood only burns at a few hundred degrees, Spike. Glass doesn’t begin to glow until it is over a thousand degrees! Do you think a wood fire got the glass to a thousand degrees, Spike?”

“Uh… maybe?”

“No! That’s not how combustion works. I asked you to do one thing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. What was it?”

Spike sighed, looking down at his feet. “Don’t burn down the castle.”

“And what did you do?”

Spike scratched at the back of his neck, looking around the room. “Well, the kitchen still seems to be okay.”

Apple Bloom giggled quietly.

Twilight stomped her hoof. “The only reason that the entire castle didn’t burn down was because Pinkie Pie noticed that the tree was on fire!”

“Crystal can burn?” Sweetie Belle asked, tilting her head.

Apple Bloom tapped her chin. “I don’t think it can, at least not proper-like.”

“Diamonds can burn.” Sweetie Belle lowered her head. “I know that from experience.”

“Yeah, but diamonds ain’t nothin’ but a pretty bit of coal. The castle ain’t made out of diamond, I don’t think.” Apple Bloom tapped her hoof against the floor. “Quartz, maybe? That stuff won’t melt from a little fire; I use that in my chemistry set.”

“The flash point of my castle is not the point! The point is that the nice Hearth’s Warming tree we picked out is a pile of ash, and all of the ornaments Mom gave us were destroyed! It was totally irresponsible!”

Spike waved his hands. “I didn’t do it on purpose, honest! I don’t even know how it happened.”

Twilight lifted herself to her full height. “Oh really? And what were you doing before you left the great hall?”

Spike lifted one claw for a moment before it fell back down to his side, the dragon slumping back on his tail and staring at his reflection in the faceted floor. “I was showing them how to blow glass.”

“Now, don’t you think the three of you should go and clean up the tree?”

“Aww…” the three of them chorused, before slowly making their way across the room.

“Don’t worry. I put brooms and dustpans out for all of you,” Twilight called as the trio trudged out of the kitchen, her own ears falling a little after they left as she fell back on her own rump. “Ugh. Now I know how my mom must have felt when I tried to make the tree glow when I was eight.”

“Oh?” Rarity asked, stepping forward to put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “What happened?”

“I set the tree on fire. Turns out that spell wasn’t meant for use on wood.” Twilight shook her head, rising back to her hooves. “Oh, well. I guess I’ll just have to get new ornaments next year.” She sighed. “Do you think I was too hard on them?”

“Not at all. I’m sure that cleaning up after themselves will make them think a time or two before they do something like that in the future.”

Twilight smiled at her friend. “Thanks.” She turned her head towards the cabinets. “Well, I guess it’s time to start cooking. You can go back and talk to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie if you want.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Rarity stepped up beside her friend. “This is your first Hearth’s Warming dinner away from home, and I will make sure that it is a good one.” Her horn flared as she surreptitiously picked up the mistletoe from the floor, pinning it to the ceiling over the doorway. “Besides, I’m sure that each and every one of our friends would like to come in and help in their own special way.”

Rarity allowed herself a most unladylike smirk at the sight of the green leaves and white berries trapped in the glow of her magic.

Chapter 4: More Mischief with Mistletoe

“Wow, you’re really good at this, Rarity,” Twilight said as she trotted across the kitchen. The cupboard glowed briefly as she swung open the semi-transparent doors and levitated a small sack of flour out onto the crystalline counter in the center of the room.

“Precision has its place in the kitchen,” Rarity said primly. A blue glow enveloped a small measuring cup before it flew over and slid inside the top of the small sack. A knife joined it, and a moment later a perfectly level cup of flour hovered back over to the unicorn.

“I don’t do very much cooking; Spike always does it for me.” Twilight’s horn lit up once more to fold up the top of the sack of flour and return it to its place. “I was kind of hoping that I would let him sit back and relax for once, as a sort of Hearth’s Warming present.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Rarity said, flashing Twilight a smile. “What did you get the dear?”

“Oh, a few books. He’s really been doing well in his studies, so I also got him a whole set of comics he’s never read before!” Twilight paused. “I think, anyway; he said he didn’t have them. I looked all over Canterlot to find them; apparently they’re out of print.”

“Hm.” Rarity paused for a moment, tilting her head before she slowly shook the flour out of the measuring cup into the bowl. “It does seem nice, but is that all? It seems a little…”

“Cheap?” Twilight sighed. “I mean, I have access to the royal treasury, but I really don’t feel comfortable splurging, especially after I spent so much on furnishing the castle. Besides,” she looked away, “it’s not like I can buy him a whole lot anyway. You remember what happened at his birthday.”

Rarity’s ears drooped. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. Turning into a giant beast and destroying the castle is hardly the best way to celebrate Hearth’s Warming.” She began to stir the contents of the bowl, the slurry thickening as the flour was added. “Though I suppose had there been a dragon at the time of the founding of Equestria, the Windigos might have met their match.”

“Maybe so. Then we’d all be singing about the fires of friendship and probably setting trees on fire on purpose.” Twilight grinned.

“Perhaps.” Rarity tapped the beater she had been using to stir against the side of the bowl. “Twilight, could you be a dear and ask Pinkie Pie to come in and check to see if this is the right consistency? I’m afraid I don’t make pie crust very often, and I think it may be a bit thin.”

“Okay. Thanks again, Rarity. I wasn’t really expecting you to do all the work.”

“Tut, tut, darling. It is my pleasure. Besides, you’re most certainly helping by finding all the ingredients for me; this is hardly my kitchen, after all.”

“Heh, you’re lucky I knew where the butter was,” Twilight said before she stepped out into the main hall.

Rarity looked over her shoulder for a moment before grinning, setting the beater aside before her horn glowed, tugging the sprig of mistletoe out of its hiding place. “Well, now, what do you think?” she asked, smirking down at the little piece of greenery in the purple-and-silver kitchen.

“Who are you talking to?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Rarity yelped, whirling around as she tucked the mistletoe into her curly tail. “Nothing! No one!” She blinked a few times. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I’m always quick to come help my friends in the kitchen, silly!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing over to the bowl of batter Rarity had been working on. “What is this?”

“It is supposed to be crust, but I’m afraid it is not coming out right at all.”

“How much flour did you use?”

“Well, just one cup, but—”

Pinkie Pie gasped. “One cup? That’s nowhere near enough! You need at least three!” She zipped over to the cupboard.

“Oh, how silly of me,” Rarity said, scooting out of the way as the pink pony went to work, rapidly pulling out the bag of flour and pouring it directly into the bowl.

“I see Pinkie is already taking over,” Twilight said, smiling fondly.

“Oh, yes. She knows all about this sort of thing. Apparently I did not use enough flour.”

“Really? It looked okay to me.”

Pinkie was over in a flash, her snout pressed against Twilight’s. “Okay to you? Do you even know what crust is?”

Twilight blinked. “Yes, Pinkie, I know what crust is.”

“And you thought that looked like crust?” Pinkie jabbed her hoof accusingly at the pale liquid in the mixing bowl.

“Well,” Twilight said, rubbing at her mane, “it did seem a little liquidy, but I thought it would set in the oven.”

“No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!” Pinkie grabbed Twilight bodily around the shoulders, dragging her over next to the bowl. “You see how thin this is?”

“I guess?”

“Well, it has to stick to the edges of the pie pan; it can’t just slide off, then you’d just get burned filling! It has to be thick. You have to work it, Twilight! It has to push back! Here,” Pinkie Pie shoved the beater into Twilight’s hoof. “You stir, I’ll pour in more flour.”

“Don’t you have to measure it?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.

“Well, you can measure it, but the best way is to keep putting more in until it feels good.” Pinkie paused for a moment. “Well, the best way is to do the flour and the sugar first, but we’ve already got it like this. C’mon.” Pinkie Pie tipped the bag up higher, dumping more of the white powder into the bowl as Twilight pushed at it with the beater.

“It’s starting to get really thick,” Twilight said, grunting as she leaned into it. She paused for a moment, leaning back and wiping at her brow with her hoof before she lit up her horn. The beater began to turn around the bowl on its own, once, twice, before Pinkie Pie leaped over and grabbed ahold of it.

“You can’t do it that way! You have to do it by hoof.”

“But I don’t know what it is supposed to feel like!”

“Come here.”

Twilight found herself being tugged forward once more, Pinkie Pie leaning against her back as she grabbed Twilight’s hoof and guided it to the beater, taking her other hoof and setting it on the side of the bowl to hold it steady.

“See? It’s getting all sticky now.” Pinkie Pie dumped a little more flour into the bowl. “Once it gets nice and firm, then it starts to feel really good, see?”

Twilight nodded her head.

“Now, next you want to get the butter down so that you can’t even see it. You want to keep going until it forms a ball; otherwise, it’s too thin.”

Rarity smiled at the pair as Pinkie Pie guided Twilight through the motions, the pink pony plastered to the alicorn’s back as Pinkie peered over Twilight’s shoulder to keep an eye on the dough. The earth pony didn’t even seem to notice how close together their cheeks were as she held Twilight’s hooves in her own.

Could it be? Was this the pony Twilight had been pining for? Smiling to herself, Rarity’s horn began to shine once more. Plucking the mistletoe carefully from her tail, she slowly guided it through the air to make it hover over Pinkie Pie’s puffy mane.

“See? It’s not so hard, right?”

“Not at all. Thank you, Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie leaned further forward. “Now, see, it’s trying to form up into a ball, but it actually is too thick now; you can see that it isn’t quite right. You keep the milk in the fridge, right?”

“Uh, where else would I keep it?” Twilight asked, blinking.

“Okay dokie!”

Pinkie Pie sprung away from Twilight, prancing over to the door as Rarity guided the mistletoe through the air after her, shooting a grin over at Twilight.

“Ooh, you have cream in here! Too bad this isn’t the right kind of pie for that.”

As Pinkie Pie leaned further into the refrigerator, Rarity jerked her head towards the earth pony. Twilight glanced at Rarity, then turned to look at Pinkie before her eyes widened in shock as the mistletoe swayed directly over the oblivious pink pony’s hindquarters. Rising up on her hind legs, Twilight made a cutting motion across her chest while Rarity only smiled all the more.

“Oh, here it is. Silly me,” Pinkie Pie said, tugging a carton out of the fridge and pushing it shut with her rump. “Now, we just need to add a little bit—”

Pinkie Pie stopped, staring at Twilight, who was now blushing furiously as she returned to all four hooves. “Hehe, what’s wrong, silly?”

“Nothing!” Twilight said quickly, straightening.

“You didn’t stick a note to my tail or something, did you?” Pinkie Pie asked, bending around to look behind her even as Twilight quickly made another chopping gesture at Rarity with her hoof.

“Nope! Don’t see anything.” Pinkie turned back around to Twilight and grinned. “You know, with your face that color, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were Pinkie Pie.” She paused, looking down at her own pink hooves. “Of course, then I don’t know what I’d be. Probably blue, if I didn’t even know my own name.” She tilted her head, then shrugged before prancing back over to the bowl with her carton of milk, the mistletoe bobbing along directly overhead. “Oh well!”

Twilight smacked her hoof into her face as Rarity smiled and nodded encouragingly. Twilight shook her head sharply before Pinkie Pie hooked her hoof around her friend’s shoulder, pulling Twilight back around to face the bowl once more. “Now, this is important. You want to add just enough liquid that the crust begins to ball up, but not so much that it gets too thin again. Not too soft, not too hard; you want it to be juuuust right.”

Grabbing Twilight’s hoof again, Pinkie Pie guided it back to the beater as her other hoof carefully tipped over the carton of milk, adding just a splash of the white liquid to the mix before pushing Twilight’s hoof back into a stirring motion. “There. See? Just a little bit more and… perfect!”

Pinkie Pie set the milk back down on the counter with a grin as the crust formed up into a thick yellow ball in the base of the bowl. “Now, all you have to do is stick that into the fridge for half an hour and it will be nice and set. And then you can put it across the bottom of a pie pan!”

“Thank you, Pinkie,” Twilight said, her voice shaking a little as her eyes flicked back over to Rarity, giving another little shake of her head at the smirking unicorn.

Pinkie Pie grabbed the bowl in one hoof, the milk carton in the other as she backed up towards the refrigerator, spinning her body to throw open the door before shoving both containers inside. “There!”

“Thank you for your help, darling,” Rarity said graciously. “I don’t think I could have done it without you.”

“Oh, I’m sure you could have.” Pinkie Pie bounced over to Rarity, leaning over to whisper loudly. “Just between you and me, you should probably have Rainbow Dash or Applejack help Twilight put the dough in the pan. They’d be way more likely to give her a kiss.” She paused. “Or maybe you could help out. I mean, you’ve always wanted to be a princess, right?”

Twilight hid her face in her hooves while Rarity licked her lips.

“Uh, thank you, Pinkie,” Rarity managed after a moment.

“You’re welcome!” Pinkie beamed cheerfully at her friends before she pranced back out the kitchen door.

Twilight slumped back against the counter and groaned. “Well, that was embarrassing. What were you thinking?” She lifted her head from her hooves to glare at Rarity.

Rarity shifted on her hooves. “Well, darling, I was just thinking that it would be cute. The baker and the princess? It is sweet.”

“It’s crazy, that’s what it is!” Twilight gesticulated wildly. “Pinkie Pie and I have practically nothing in common!”

“Well, you are friends with her, dear. And you do seem to spend a lot of time together, and according to Spike, you did spend a week ‘studying’ her. I thought there might be something there.”

Twilight rubbed her face. “Do you mean when I was trying to figure out how her Pinkie Sense worked?”

“Well, that was hardly the only time you’ve spent together.” Rarity shrugged. “Truly, for two ponies with nothing in common, you do seem to enjoy one another’s company. I’ve never seen you miss one of Pinkie’s parties.”

“Nopony misses her parties. Not after that one time.”

Rarity smiled uncomfortably. “Well, yes, but…”

Twilight sighed. “Why are you so obsessed with this, anyway?”

“I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy!” Twilight snapped.

“Well, there’s no need to yell about it.” Rarity sighed. “Oh well; on to the next one.”

“…you’re going to call another one of our friends in here and embarrass me in front of them?”

“Of course not; I meant the next recipe.” Rarity lit up her horn, flipping open Twilight’s cookbook. “Besides, Applejack and Rainbow Dash aren’t here yet.” She paused. “Unless you like Fluttershy?”

Twilight sighed loudly. “Really?”

“Uhm…”

The two ponies started, whirling to face the door at the sound of Fluttershy’s voice.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight half-shouted. “I, uhm, didn’t mean to say you weren’t attractive! You’re very attractive! I just—”

“Oh, it’s alright.” Fluttershy smiled, turning her head slightly to hide her eyes behind her bangs. “I don’t really like mares anyway.”

Twilight sank to the floor with a groan.

“Anyway, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle finished cleaning up the tree, and were wondering if they could use your bathroom to clean up.”

“Oh dear,” Rarity said. “How bad are they?”

“Uhm… well, you can still kind of tell which is which?”

Twilight sighed again. “I’ll show them,” Twilight said, rising back to her hooves.

“Oh, no, it’s alright. Spike already gave me directions. I just wanted to make sure it was okay.” Fluttershy flashed Twilight another smile.

“Oh, it’s not a problem. Feel free.” Twilight waved her hoof.

“Thanks.” Fluttershy turned away, then paused. “Oh, uhm. Spike said he wanted to talk to you. If you don’t mind, that is.”

Twilight shook her head. “Sure. Send him in.”

“I suppose I should have seen that coming,” Rarity said as Fluttershy turned away.

“What? That the Cutie Mark Crusaders would end up looking like little balls of ash?”

“Oh, that too. I meant Fluttershy, darling. I mean, the way she was looking at—”

Twilight snorted. “Can we not talk about somepony’s love life for five minutes?”

“Er, I can come back later.”

Twilight’s head snapped to the door. “Oh, it’s alrig—Spike! You’re tracking ash everywhere!”

Spike glanced down at his ashen feet, then turned his head to look behind him at the trail of black footprints he had left on the crystalline floor. “Sorry?”

Twilight’s horn lit up as the dragon was lifted from his feet, gliding through the air across the kitchen before being deposited in the sink, the knobs turning as clean, clear water gushed down onto the small dragon.

“Hey!”

“You brought this on yourself,” Twilight said, enveloping one of the scrub brushes in her magic before bringing it to bear on the hapless dragon.

“Twilight! Not in front of Rarity!”

Rarity giggled. “I’ll step out,” she said, smiling as she made her way to the door, the small dragon relaxing as she left.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you not want to be around her,” Twilight said, smirking down at her charge.

Spike flushed, tapping his blackened claws together under the stream of water. “Uhm, about that…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Spike. You know Rarity isn’t going to—”

Spike shook his head vehemently. “No; it’s not about her.” He glanced over towards the doorway, lowering his voice. “It’s actually about… well, I was talking to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and, uhm....”

Twilight frowned. “They weren’t teasing you, were they? Rarity mentioned something about—”

“No! Nothing like that.”

“Oh? Okay then.” Twilight sat down as her magic pulled at the water, pouring it over Spike’s head. “Sooo…”

“So…” Spike swayed nervously, rocking back and forth. “What if somepony likes you, and you aren’t sure if you like them back?”

Twilight blinked, then grinned. “It sounds like somepony has a crush,” she sang gleefully, before pausing. “Wait, now I’m starting to sound like Rarity,” she groaned, resting her chin on the edge of the sink.

“It’s not me!” Spike’s eyes flicked nervously between Twilight and the door. “Does it count as a crush if her friend pretty much tells you that she likes you, and she keeps doing weird stuff to get your attention?”

Twilight smiled a little. “That’s exactly how a crush works, silly.”

“Oh.” Spike looked down at his toes, which were rapidly returning to their proper color as gray water swirled down the drain. “I thought they were, like, supposed to be secret or something.”

“Well,” Twilight said, setting her hoof on Spike’s shoulder, “ponies often try to keep their feelings a secret if they don’t know how the other pony feels about it. They usually aren’t very good at it, though. Not like a certain dragon I know.” Twilight smirked.

“Yeah, yeah.” Spike lifted one claw to wave it half-heartedly before he sighed, frowning.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, it’s just…” Spike turned the palms of his hands up. “Do you really think Rarity doesn’t like me? Like, that I don’t have a chance at all?”

Twilight stared at Spike for a few seconds, her eyes hardening slightly. “Spike. I’ve already told you how Rarity feels. But you really shouldn’t be going after Apple Bloom just because Rarity doesn’t like you.”

“No! That’s not what I—wait, Apple Bloom?”

Twilight blinked. “Wait, Apple Bloom doesn’t have a crush on you?”

Spike fidgeted. “Why did you think Apple Bloom had a crush on me?”

“Well, you both like reading.” Twilight tapped a hoof on the counter, as if counting. “Applejack told me that Apple Bloom likes the same comics you do. She’s smart, she’s trying to figure out her place in the world, she is a little bit snarky—”

“No, actually, it’s Sweetie Belle,” Spike said, shifting uncomfortably in the sink.

“Oh.” Twilight blinked. “Well, uhm. She’s very nice, too.” She flinched at Spike’s skeptical look. “What? There’s nothing wrong with you liking Sweetie Belle!”

“I’m not even sure that I do.” Spike shook his head.

“It’s okay.” Twilight held up her hooves. “So, that’s what you’re trying to figure out?”

Spike turned away from Twilight, twisting the handles to turn off the water. “It’s just… like… I’ve tried, you know? And, well, if Rarity liked me, and then some other filly came along and was like, ‘Hey, you’re cute,’ and I was like, ‘You’re cute too,’ and then we were all—”

“Wait.” Twilight held up a hoof. “You’re afraid that Rarity would be jealous?”

“Well, yeah. I mean… it would be pretty lousy to like, try and do something nice for a girl and then go off with somepony else, wouldn’t it?”

Twilight stared. “Spike. Just because you have a crush on someone doesn’t mean that you have to go after them forever.”

“I know that! I just…” Spike swung his arms, flicking several drops of water across the counter. “Look, I’ve never had anyone who actually liked me before, okay? I’m not used to it.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Come here.” Her horn lit up, pulling a dish towel out of one of the drawers and rubbing it over the small dragon’s scales. “So what do you like about her, anyway?”

“Well, she’s pretty smart. She likes books. She’s been trying really hard at the whole magic thing. She’s kind of cute, in a clumsy sort of way, you know. I dunno.” Spike shrugged as Twilight let the towel drop from her magic. “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Twilight said, smiling with far too many teeth as she quickly retrieved the dirty towel. “I guess that crazy psychologist really was right,” she muttered.

“Right about what?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t worrying about me again, are you?”

“Nope! I’m definitely not worried about whether I permanently marred your psychological development because I didn’t dress up like a dragon when you were a baby.”

Spike stared at Twilight for a moment. “Riiiight.”

Twilight coughed. “So… Sweetie Belle, huh?”

“I dunno,” Spike said, his claws fumbling against each other in front of his chest. “I mean, she’s nice and all, and she likes me, but… well, what do you think?”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, I don’t exactly have a whole lot of experience with this either. Maybe you should talk to Rarity about it; she knows more about this sort of thing.”

“No-o way.”

“Spike. She’s your friend. I’m sure she’d be happy to help.”

“It’s not that,” Spike said, standing up and shaking himself a bit. “It’s just… it would be weird, you know?”

“Weirder than my ten-year-old assistant trying to bring her flowers?”

Spike chuckled nervously, his eyes falling. “You heard about that, huh?”

“Yeah, Rarity told me. That was very sweet of you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Spike sighed.

“Look, Spike,” Twilight said, her horn lighting up to pluck the dragon out of the sink and set him down on the floor. “You aren’t obligated to Rarity in any way, but don’t go after Sweetie Belle just because Rarity doesn’t like you.”

“I know! I’m not. I just…” Spike sighed again. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Well… that’s really up to you, Spike. Only you know how you feel.”

“I guess.” He bit his lip.

Twilight smiled encouragingly. “What is it?”

“What should I do if she ends up under the mistletoe again?”

Twilight’s eyebrows shot up. “Mistletoe?”

“Yeah. Like, earlier, when she and Apple Bloom had me cornered. I know I’m supposed to kiss her, but—”

“Spike. You do realize you don’t have to kiss anyone who is under mistletoe, right? It’s just a made-up tradition. If you don’t like the pony, you don’t have to do it. It’s not like the mistletoe is going to sprout legs and hunt you down if you don’t.”

“But Cadance told Shining Armor that if he didn’t kiss her, the Windigos would—”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure Cadance was making that up.” Twilight said dryly. “If any Windigos do show up, I’ll be the first to apologize.”

Spike shifted his weight from foot to foot silently, licking his lips.

Twilight blinked. “You aren’t actually thinking about kissing her, are you?”

“Well… maybe a little?” Spike looked up plaintively.

“Spike. Come here.”

Twilight spread her arms open wide for the dragon. Spike hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and leaning against her chest as she wrapped him up in a hug.

“Spike. If you really do like Sweetie Belle – and I mean really do, not just like, are feeling lonely – it is okay to give her one kiss under the mistletoe. One. Kiss.” She held up one hoof. “If I see you two kissing more than once, you and I are going to have words, mister. Are we clear?”

Spike nodded his head.

“Good.” Twilight gave Spike a squeeze. “Now remember, you don’t have to give her a kiss.”

“I know! I just…” He stepped back, smiling. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Twilight rubbed the top of his head with her hoof. “You’re a good little dragon. I know you’ll do the right thing.”

“Heh, thanks.” He took another step back before turning away and walking back out into the grand hallway, Twilight trailing in his wake as she watched him go.

“He’s really growing up, isn’t he?”

Twilight glanced over at Rarity, smiling wryly. “You were standing right there the whole time, weren’t you?”

“Well, after what I saw earlier, I just had to know how he was feeling.”

“Mmm-hmm. And I’m sure the Crusaders torturing Spike with mistletoe had nothing to do with what you tried with Pinkie Pie.”

“Why, whatever do you mean, darling?” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Come on. We have a pie to bake.”

Chapter 5: Couches and Cherry Pie

Rainbow Dash burst into the castle through the front doors, wearing her best grin as she slid across the faceted floor. “Hey, the party start without me?”

“Heya, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie waved frantically at Rainbow Dash from her seat on the far side of the hall.

Rainbow Dash looked around the otherwise ponyless great hall expectantly. “That’s it? Where is everypony?” Rainbow Dash sniffed. “And why does it smell like somepony set a tree on fire?”

“Because somepony did set a tree on fire!”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Really?”

“Yup! It was neat, too! I’ve never seen magical ornaments burn before. You should have seen it!” Pinkie Pie gesticulated wildly. “There were all these lights and colors, and one of the ornaments exploded, and a train came out!”

“A train?” Rainbow Dash glanced around the room. “I don’t see any trains. Or train-sized holes.”

“That’s because it was just an eensy-weensy train,” Pinkie Pie said, holding her hoof an inch off the floor.

“Lame.” Rainbow Dash sat down on the other cushion. “Huh, it’s warm.”

“That’s because Fluttershy was sitting there.”

“Ah.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes flicked across the room again. “Uhm, so where did she go, anyway?”

“Oh, she was just helping Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wash the ash out of their mane.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “I see. Some things never change.” She lay back on the cushion, relaxing. “So where’s Twilight?”

“Oh, off in the kitchen with Rarity.”

“And Applejack?”

“Not here yet!”

“Ugh. I thought this was going to be a party.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “It is a party, silly!”

“More like, it’s going to be a party in forever,” Rainbow Dash grumped, crossing her hooves across her chest.

“Well, at least Spike’s here!”

“Huh? Where?”

“Over on the couch.”

Rainbow Dash glanced over, blinking at the small dragon sitting in the center of the large, fluffy piece of purple furniture. “Since when has there been a sofa in here? It wasn’t here before.”

“We moved it out for the party!”

“So, uh, why didn’t we do it in the room where we all already have chairs?”

“Because Twilight didn’t want our butts to start glowing during the middle of a party.” Pinkie Pie smiled cheerfully. “Oh, plus there aren’t chairs for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.”

“Oh, right. Good call.” Rainbow Dash glanced over at Spike, who kept fidgeting and glancing towards the hallway. “So what’s up with him?” she asked, jerking a hoof in his direction.

“I dunno! He said he had some super-secret thing to say to Twilight. He seemed kind of worried about it.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nopony should be worried on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“Spike’s not a pony, silly! He’s a dragon!”

“Same difference.” Rainbow Dash spread her wings, springing from her cushion to flit over to the little dragon, hovering over the back of the couch. “Yo! What’s eating you?”

“Whoa!” Spike started, his head jerking up at the sound of Rainbow Dash’s voice. “Uh, nothing,” he said, grinning awkwardly.

“Nothing, huh? I dunno, that whoa sure sounded like something to me.”

“No it didn’t! Whoa and something don’t sound the same at all,” Pinkie Pie said as she pronked over to join them, resting her forehooves over the arm of the couch.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I meant he didn’t sound very convincing.”

“Ohhhh. That makes much more sense.”

Spike rubbed his head. “That obvious, huh?”

“Yup.” Rainbow Dash sank to the floor, hooking her front legs over the back of the couch.

“Well, it’s just, you know…” Spike gestured vaguely.

“Nope! That’s why we’re asking!” Pinkie Pie grinned.

Spike chuckled nervously, his eyes flicking from side to side. “It’s, uh… the tree! I’m feeling guilty about the tree! So guilty, you know, because it was nice. And stuff.”

“Oh, Spike, we forgive you!” Pinkie Pie jumped over the arm of the couch to wrap the little dragon up in her hooves. “And I’m sure Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom forgive you, too, now that they’ve got the ash out of their manes.”

“They’re back already?” Spike squeaked.

“Uh, yeah. It ain’t like it took that long,” Apple Bloom said as she stepped into the room, lifting a hoof to her still-damp mane. “Though I gotta say, nice place you got here. Even the bathroom’s fancy.”

“Yeah, it’s, uhm, really nice,” Sweetie Belle said as she snuck into the room behind her friend, Fluttershy stepping in behind the pair and smiling sweetly down at them.

“Oh, hey!” Rainbow Dash grinned at the fillies, glancing between them before looking at Fluttershy. “So where’s Scoots?”

“She’s doin’ somethin’ with her folks,” Apple Bloom said as she glanced towards the couch. “You know, family stuff.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “I thought she did that last week.”

Sweetie Belle sat at the foot of the couch. “Well, most ponies celebrate Hearth’s Warming with their families. I’m just glad my sister let me come here instead of going with my parents to Cobburg.”

“Aw, but I thought you liked visiting your grandparents,” Apple Bloom said.

“Are you kidding? I hate visiting my grandparents!” Sweetie Belle threw her hooves in the air. “My grandpa always makes these weird jokes about donkeys, and my grandma keeps mixing me up with Rarity! And their house smells funny, like dead mothballs or something.”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “I don’t think mothballs were ever alive.”

“Whatever.”

Apple Bloom glanced at Sweetie Belle, then back towards the sofa, a devious grin forming on her lips. “Say, Spike, you think there’s enough space up there for a couple more ponies?”

“Er, I guess,” Spike said, glancing over at the large empty space beside him. “It is a pretty big couch.”

“It’s okay, Spike,” Sweetie Belle said quickly, her horn glowing as she tugged two of the sitting cushions over towards herself and Apple Bloom. “We wouldn’t want to crowd you.”

“You know, I’m sure there’s at least enough space for one pony up there.” Apple Bloom jerked her head towards the open cushion.

“I don’t mind sitting on the floor,” Sweetie Belle said, taking a seat on one of the cushions.

“No, really, there’s plenty of space. I can even scoot over so you don’t have to sit next to me,” Spike said, doing his best to make more room as he crowded up against Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow, glancing over at Apple Bloom. “Are they like, fighting or something?”

“Uh, why would you think we were fighting?” Sweetie Belle asked, rubbing her mane with her hoof.

“Well you don’t want to sit next to each other,” Rainbow Dash said, glancing from one to the other. “Am I missing something?”

“More like they are,” Apple Bloom said, stepping over to yank on the corner of Sweetie Belle’s sitting cushion.

“Hey!”

“Why don’t you sit on the couch, Apple Bloom?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“Because then Sweetie Belle would get jealous again!”

“Would not!”

Rainbow Dash glanced between Sweetie Belle and Spike before cackling. “Oh, I see what’s going on.” She leaned over the couch, grinning. “Still going for the older girls, eh, Spike? Guess Twilight’s rubbing off on you.”

Spike choked as the two fillies on the floor blinked and looked up at Rainbow Dash curiously.

“What do you mean by that?” Apple Bloom asked.

Rainbow Dash waved her hooves in the air. “Everypony knows Twilight has the hots for—”

“Ahem,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Oh come on! She’s about as subtle as Spike is with Rarity!” Rainbow Dash gestured with her hooves at the small dragon.

“Gee, thanks,” Spike muttered, looking down at his feet.

Sweetie Belle blinked. “Twilight likes somepony?”

“Yeah. Somepony tall and white and good at magic, if you know what I mean.” Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“Twilight likes my sister?” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

Rainbow Dash smacked her hoof into her face. “Princess Celestia.”

“Oh.”

“Now Rainbow Dash, we don’t know that. I don’t know if she even likes mares.”

“Whatever.” Rainbow Dash waved her hoof dismissively.

“Maybe we could find something else to talk about?” Fluttershy said quietly.

Pinkie Pie grinned eagerly. “Ooh, I know! Rainbow Dash can tell us about the weather crews! I bet they have tons of juicy gossip!”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. Half the weather ponies from Cloudsdale won’t even talk to me anymore.”

“Awwww. Are they angry because you made winter come early?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Rainbow Dash rubbed her mane. “Well, kind of. I mean, the regular workers don’t care – they’re salaried – but the uh, seasonal weather workers were pretty angry, because they’re paid by the hour, and it was supposed to take all week.” Rainbow Dash winced. “Plus we might have gotten just a little more snow than we were supposed to.”

Fluttershy leaned forward. “I also heard they got fined for safety violations in the weather factory.”

“Oh, yeah! I read that in the paper! The factory inspector was really steamed when he went up there! I guess the lightning fell into the water all at once.” Pinkie Pie tsked.

“I know, right? Somepony could have gotten hurt!” Rainbow Dash spread her hooves.

“Uhm, somepony did get hurt, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, yeah. But the doctors said he’ll make a full recovery. They’ll be able to take the bandages off any day now.”

“Ugh, I can’t take it anymore!” Apple Bloom shouted, throwing her hooves up in the air.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Sheesh. I didn’t think our conversation was that boring.”

“It’s not that! It’s them!” Apple Bloom waved her hooves at Spike and Sweetie Belle, who were studiously avoiding looking at each other. “They’re supposed to be two fruit bats in an apple tree, but instead they’re like… in an oak tree! And they ain’t even in the same tree!”

“Huh?” Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “But there aren’t any trees in here! Well, there used to be a tree, but then you set it on fire. It did look really nice, though.”

Apple Bloom groaned. “That ain’t what I mean! Don’t you know? Spike and Sweetie Belle, sittin’ in a tree…”

“Oh! I see.” Pinkie Pie paused. “I always heard scree, myself.”

“It’s sky for pegasi,” Rainbow Dash added.

“How can it be sky? That doesn’t even rhyme with kissing!”

“You know, spreading wings and flying high?”

Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “I don’t get it.”

“It’s a pegasus thing.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Apple Bloom smacked her hoof against the floor. “It’s a metaphor!”

“Ohhhh, I see.” Pinkie Pie nodded her head sagely. “Sweetie Belle should be sitting where I’m sitting!”

“Huh? What are you – eep!”

Sweetie Belle squeaked as she found herself wrapped in pink hooves and hauled up onto the sofa next to Spike. Pinkie Pie grinned at the pair expectantly as every head in the room swiveled to stare at them.

“Well?”

“Uh, hey,” Spike said, twiddling his claws.

“Hey,” Sweetie Belle replied, glancing over at Spike before turning her head to examine the far wall.

“Wow, you’re right, they are lame.” Rainbow Dash sprung up into the air. “Okay, bored now. Anypony want something from the kitchen?”

“I’m good!” Pinkie Pie chirped.

Fluttershy shook her head. “That’s okay, I don’t really need anything.”

“Got any backbone? I think somepony might need some,” Apple Bloom said, glancing at Sweetie Belle.

Rainbow Dash smirked. “I don’t think they keep that in the refrigerator.”

“Shucks.”

Rainbow Dash burst into the kitchen through the side door, wearing her best grin as she slid across the faceted floor, her wings flared. “Hey, the party start without me?”

“You do know that’s really hard on the doors, right?” Twilight said without looking up as she rolled some dough out across a cutting board.

“Really, Rainbow Dash. This is a castle. You could at least show a modicum of decorum,” Rarity said as she carefully measured out some sugar before dumping it into a bowl of her own.

“What? You mean like when you stuck that giant painting of us up in Twilight’s throne room?”

“That was a work of art,” Rarity said, sticking her snout up into the air.

“What painting is this?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Oh, just some painting that Rarity dug up somewhere of us. And Spike, I guess. It looked like the artist forgot about him and just stuck him into the corner.”

Rarity muttered something indistinct under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing!” Rarity said with false cheer before unscrewing the lid on a small bottle and sprinkling its contents into her bowl.

“Okay, cool. In that case…” Rainbow Dash hopped into the air and floated across the kitchen, peering down into the bowls on the countertop. “What’cha making? Anything ready to eat?”

“Rainbow Dash! You didn’t come into the kitchen just to steal food, did you?” Rarity said, brandishing her wooden spoon at her friend.

“Of course not!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “It isn’t stealing if they give it to you.”

“Well, if you must, perhaps you could help Twilight with the pie she’s working on, hm?” Rarity shook her head as she put the bottle away, only to pull out another one full of some brownish liquid and carefully measure out its contents into a spoon.

Rainbow Dash blinked before landing next to Twilight. “Sheesh, what got into her?”

“Oh, she’s just being Rarity.”

Rarity glanced over at the pair. “Say, Twilight, didn’t Applejack mention she was going to be bringing over some apples to make apple pie with?”

Twilight blinked. “Uh, maybe. Why?”

“Well, I was just thinking, would you be a dear and help Rainbow Dash make another pie crust?”

“Oh, no. I see what you’re up to. Rainbow Dash can uh… work on the filling for this one. You know how to make cherry pie, right?” Twilight laughed nervously.

“Cherry pie? I love cherry pie!” Rainbow Dash beamed.

“So you know how to make it?”

“Uhhh…”

“It’s easy. You just have to follow the recipe,” Twilight said, her horn glowing as she picked up a thick dog-eared cookbook and plopped it down in front of Rainbow Dash.

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said, eying the ragged cover as she prodded at it with a hoof. “So, Spike does all the cooking, huh?”

Twilight’s ears fell. “How can you tell?”

“Because if you cooked, the book wouldn’t have bent pages like that.”

“Oh.”

Rainbow Dash looked from side to side. “So, uh, what am I supposed to be doing again?”

“Making pie filling,” Twilight said, bobbing her head.

“Well, yeah. But like, what am I supposed to do?”

“Oh, right. You’re going to need cherries, and a knife, and sugar, and a bit of flour, and a pan…” Twilight’s horn glowed as cabinets and doors swung open and various ingredients and cutlery floated out and deposited itself on the counter.

Rainbow Dash stared. “What am I supposed to do with all this, exactly?”

“Well, first off, you’re going to need to pit the cherries,” Twilight said, smiling.

“Uh, pit?”

“You know, remove the seeds?”

“Oh.” Rainbow Dash looked down at the bag of cherries. “Uhm…”

“All you have to do is take the knife, and set it in the little valley on the cherry, like so,” Twilight’s magic brought a cherry and the knife up to eye level, the sharp steel digging into the fruit. “Then you spin the cherry around, like this, and then pull it apart.” Twilight deposited the bisected cherry into the metal pan and the pit into one of the bowls.

“Great. And how am I supposed to do that without magic?”

Twilight opened her mouth, then hesitated. “Huh. How do earth ponies pit cherries?”

“I think they have a special machine for it,” Rarity said, her own horn glowing as she worked.

“Oh.” Twilight rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof. “How about you mix up the ingredients while I pit the cherries?”

“Okay.” Rainbow Dash took to the air before landing on the other side of Twilight. “So…”

“It’s in the cookbook,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, right.” Rainbow Dash glanced down at the page, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. “Let’s see… a cup of sugar…” She bent down to pick up the cup in her mouth by the handle, carefully sticking it into the bag before pulling back and cautiously dumping it into the mixing bowl. As she pulled her head back up, Twilight suddenly went from glaring across the table at Rarity to focusing on the cherries floating in front of her.

“You alright there, Twilight?”

“Yup! Totally fine!”

“O-kay,” Rainbow Dash said slowly, pulling the bag of flour over in front of her before dipping her head once more, dusting the tip of her snout in white as she pulled her head back carefully, spotting another flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye as Twilight went back to studiously – and very rapidly – bisecting her cherries.

“Uh, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash said muffledly around the handle of the measuring cup.

Twilight’s face was red. “Still totally fine!”

“Er… I was wondering, does this look like a quarter cup of flour to you?”

Twilight looked over and blinked. “What? Rainbow, you’re supposed to use a quarter cup!”

“Well, that’s why I was asking!”

“No, it means you’re supposed to use this!” Twilight jabbed her hoof at a smaller measuring cup lying out on the counter.

“Ohhhh. I was wondering what that was for.” Rainbow Dash glanced between the cup on the table and the cup she was holding in her mouth. “But that’s pretty close, right?”

“Ugh!” Twilight threw her hooves up in the air. “Just let me do it.”

Purple magic yanked the cup out of Rainbow Dash’s mouth as Twilight moved over in front of her, swiftly picking up the smaller measuring cup and sticking it into the flour.

“Sheesh. What ruffled your feathers?”

“Somepony keeps trying to embarrass me.” Twilight shot another sharp look across the counter top, drawing an innocent smile from Rarity.

“Whatever do you mean, dear?” Rarity asked, batting her eyelashes innocently.

“I mean you keep floating that over ponies’ heads.”

Rainbow Dash glanced up as Twilight pointed, her eyes locking on the sprig of mistletoe trapped in a blue field of magic overhead. “Hah! Is that why your face is so red?”

“Yes! It’s embarrassing!”

Rainbow Dash cackled. “I bet if Princess Celestia was here, you’d be puckering up.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight stamped her hoof. “I’m not secretly dating Princess Celestia! I have a boyfriend!” Twilight paused, her ears falling. “Well, had a boyfriend.”

“Oh, yeah, your boyfriend from another dimension. How could I forget him.” Rainbow Dash smirked.

“He’s real!”

“Yeah. Right.” Rainbow Dash threw a hoof over her friend’s back. “Come on, Twilight. Everypony knows you made him up after you became a princess so that you’d have an excuse to say no if anypony started hitting on you.”

“That’s not true!” Twilight flared her wings defiantly.

“Oh, really? Your boyfriend from another dimension who totally exists? Who we were all supposed to meet before you mysteriously broke up with him? Gee, how could we ever think you made him up?”

“Really, darling. You must admit it was a little suspicious.”

“Well, he was real, okay? We kissed and everything.”

“Uh huh.” Rainbow Dash leaned forward, grinning. “So what was his favorite color?”

“Uhh…” Twilight rubbed her mane. “I never really asked.”

“Okay, what was his favorite food?”

Twilight’s ears fell. “We never really went out to dinner…”

“So what did you guys do when you hung out?”

“Uh… save the world?” Twilight smiled sheepishly.

Rainbow Dash smacked her hoof into her face. “I meant for fun.”

“Well, we didn’t really hang out all that much…”

“See! You can’t tell me a single thing about him!” Rainbow Dash pointed accusingly.

“I can too! He liked music!”

“Okay.” Rainbow Dash leered. “What kind of music did he like?”

Twilight took a step back. “Uh, well… I mean, I know he played the guitar, but I don’t really know what kind he likes specifically…”

“Ha! See! He totally doesn’t exist.”

“But I told you what he looks like! You even met the pony version!”

“Yeah, who was a random guard in the Crystal Empire who you bumped into like, once. If he was basically the same, why didn’t you date him?”

“You know, she does have a point, darling. You hardly seem to know him at all.” Rarity tilted her head at Twilight.

Twilight slumped as she stared down at the floor.

“Not that I don’t believe you, dear. But now that I think about it…”

“Not you, too,” Twilight groaned.

“Well, it would explain a few things. I mean, you said you kissed him, but you hardly ever spoke about him. It is hardly what I would expect out of a boyfriend. Or even a crush, really.”

“I mean, we never really went out on a date, but…” Twilight rubbed her mane with her hoof.

“Pardon me, but how can you say he was your boyfriend if you didn’t go out on any dates?”

“Well, I mean, we did sort of hang out a couple times…”

“But you said you kissed?”

Twilight blushed.

“Well, to be fair to Twilight, it’s not like you need to be dating a pony to kiss them,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging.

Rarity gasped. “Rainbow Dash!”

“Oh come on! You of all ponies should know that’s true.”

“Well, yes, but a peck on the cheek is very different from, well, kissing.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rainbow Dash leaned back casually. “But it’s not like you can’t do that, too.” She smirked.

“You’ve kissed somepony?” Twilight asked, finally glancing up from her hooves.

“Er, yeah. Of course. Lots of times.”

Rarity smirked. “And who might this mysterious pony be that you kissed?”

“That’s none of your beeswax, okay?” Rainbow Dash swiped her hoof through the air. “But we totally kissed. It was hot.”

“So what? I can tell you the name of my boyfriend, and point out the pony version of him, and you don’t believe he exists, but when you talk about ponies you kissed, we’re all just supposed to believe you?” Twilight huffed.

“Hey! Just because you made up an imaginary boyfriend doesn’t mean I did!”

“Twilight does have a point. It is hardly fair of us to claim she didn’t have a boyfriend when you—”

“Well, unlike Twilight, there are not-imaginary ponies who can tell you that I have actually gotten kissed before. So there.” Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue.

“Oh, really?” Rarity grinned. “And just who are these ponies who can tell us?”

Rainbow Dash deflated slightly. “Well, you know. Ponies.”

“Oh-ho-ho. We can’t just leave it at that. And I think I know just the pony to ask.” Rarity’s eyes sparkled as she turned away from her mixing bowl and trotted towards the main hall. “Oh Fluttershy!” she sang.

“No, wait! You can’t ask her!”

“Why not?” Twilight asked.

“Because – ugh!” Rainbow Dash shook her head and ran out of the kitchen, quickly taking to the air in the great hall.

Rarity grinned as she walked over towards where Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat on their cushions giggling amongst themselves. “Oh, Fluttershy, darling, sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I was wondering if you could clear something up for us, hm?”

Fluttershy blinked, turning away from Pinkie Pie as she tilted her head at Rarity. “What is it?”

“She just wanted to ask you where you got your mane done!” Rainbow Dash said quickly as she soared towards her friend.

Rarity tittered. “Oh, darling. I already know that.”

Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Well, Twilight and I were having a delightful conversation—”

“I wouldn’t call it that,” Twilight groused as she walked up behind her friends.

Rarity cleared her throat. “As I was saying, a delightful conversation about past romantic liaisons, and Rainbow Dash—”

“I didn’t say anything about kissing!”

“O-oh.” Fluttershy lowered her head, half-hiding her face behind her mane.

Rarity smiled mischievously. “So you do know something. Tell me, Fluttershy, just who was this mysterious pony that our Rainbow Dash kissed?”

Fluttershy’s head drooped further as her whole face turned bright red.

“Hee-hee! Their faces match!” Pinkie Pie said, pointing up at Rainbow Dash, who quickly looked away.

Rarity blinked for a few seconds in bemusement before smirking, her horn glowing once more. “I see,” she said, as the sprig of mistletoe floated out of the kitchen door and hovered directly over Fluttershy’s head.

Chapter 6: Kisses are Complicated

Fluttershy wilted under the floating mistletoe, her mane pooling on the floor as she stared down at her hooves.

“Not cool, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash scowled as she landed next to Fluttershy and spread her wing protectively in front of the other pegasus.

“Yeah, I have to agree with Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, snatching the mistletoe out of Rarity’s magic with her own and tucking it under her wing. “What were you thinking?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Obvious you’re being a meaniepants!” Pinkie Pie said, sitting back on her haunches and crossing her hooves disapprovingly across her chest.

“It’s alright,” Fluttershy said quietly.

Everypony blinked as they turned their head towards Fluttershy.

“Really?” Twilight asked skeptically.

“Really.” Fluttershy straightened up and nodded her head. “Rarity was just trying to make her friends happy. Isn’t that right?”

“Of course,” Rarity said quickly.

Twilight jerked her head back around towards Rarity and narrowed her eyes, making the unicorn flinch.

“All right! Maybe I was teasing, just a little.”

Fluttershy frowned.

“But I really do want you to be happy! If you liked somepony, I wouldn’t want you – or anyone – to feel that they had to hide it from the rest of us. I just got a little carried away.”

“I understand. But I don’t have a crush on Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said firmly.

“I should have known, dear. Forgive me?”

Fluttershy smiled. “Of course.”

“Thank you.” Rarity paused for a moment. “So, who did Rainbow Dash kiss?”

“Rarity!” Twilight groaned.

“Oh, that was me. Though, uhm, actually, I was the one who kissed her.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight’s eye twitched as she glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who was grinning shamelessly.

“Ooh! I didn’t know you two liked each other!” Pinkie Pie smiled, then frowned. “Wait, I thought you said you didn’t like Rainbow Dash.”

“I don’t. But, uhm, I thought I did. Or, uhm, thought I might have.”

“When did this happen?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, this was before you moved to Ponyville.” Fluttershy sat back on her cushion, her tail flowing out behind her over the crystal floor. “Rainbow Dash had just helped me move all my things from Cloudsdale into my little cottage, and I had just met those two nice musicians who live in that funny house on the other end of Ponyville.”

Twilight tilted her head. “You mean the house that’s painted in two different colors?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re just roommates,” Twilight said cautiously.

“Oh, I know. But I didn’t know that then. I didn’t even know that mares could like other mares! Or stallions other stallions, for that matter.”

Twilight rubbed her face. “How can you not know that?”

Fluttershy fidgeted. “Uhm, you haven’t met my parents.”

“Yeah, they’re giant—”

“Rainbow!”

“What? I’ve met your parents. They said I was a bad influence on you.” Rainbow Dash smirked.

Fluttershy giggled. “Well, maybe a little.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you kissed Rainbow Dash!”

“Yeah! Why did you kiss her?” Pinkie Pie leaned forward until her snout was almost touching Fluttershy’s before Twilight yanked her back with a tug of her magic.

“Oh. Well,” Fluttershy poked at the edge of her sitting cushion with her hoof, “You see, she’d been really nice, and I thought maybe she liked me, and I liked being around her, and, well, uhm…” Fluttershy’s cheeks turned red. “I didn’t really have many friends.”

“I see.” Rarity stepped forward to put her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “You confused your feelings of affection for feelings of, well, affection.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh, that must have been adorable!”

“Actually, I had a bruise on my snout for like, two days afterwards,” Rainbow Dash said, grinning sheepishly.

Rarity turned her head at the pegasus. “You what?”

“Oh, yeah. I totally didn’t see it coming, turned around, and WHAM! Right in the face.” Rainbow Dash smacked her hooves together for emphasis.

“Oh dear. Was she alright?”

“Oh, yes. Once Rainbow Dash realized what had happened, she was very, uh, sweet.” Fluttershy blushed.

“Yeah. The second time went way better.” Rainbow Dash got a faraway look in her eye. “I totally gave her some tongue.”

Rarity’s mouth fell open. “On your first kiss?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Hey! I thought she was totally into me. I mean, it’s not like I’d really been kissed before that, either. We were still kind of figuring out what we liked.”

“Oh, I was so embarrassed!” Fluttershy giggled softly. “I went and hid upstairs in my room.”

“Yeah, that part was kind of awkward. It took me like three hours to get her to come out of the closet.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her mane.

Twilight’s brow crinkled. “Wait, wait. I thought you said you didn’t like mares, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, I don’t.”

“Yeah. She was kind of trapped underneath all the stuff she kept in there. But I totally helped her out. You know, once I figured out that she was stuck.”

“Oh, I see. You meant literally—”

“And then we made out.”

Twilight choked. “What?”

“Well, you didn’t think we figured it out after just two kisses, did you?” Rainbow Dash leered.

Fluttershy ducked her head, pawing at the floor with her hoof.

“Goodness,” Rarity said. “I didn’t realize you two were so… enthusiastic.”

Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest. “It was totally hot.”

“It was kind of awkward,” Fluttershy muttered.

“Well, that too,” Rainbow Dash said, deflating. “But mostly hot.”

“You know, there are children in the room, right, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said, arching her eyebrow.

Apple Bloom waved her hoof at the older ponies. “Oh, don’t worry, Sweetie Belle and Spike are too busy not kissin’ to listen.”

Twilight sighed and pressed her hoof against the bridge of her muzzle.

“Wait. So, did you two… date?” Rarity asked, glancing from Rainbow Dash to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh, no. After that, I kind of realized that I don’t like mares.”

Twilight held up her hoof. “Wait, so you figured out you didn’t like mares… by kissing Rainbow Dash?”

Fluttershy nodded her head slightly. “Yes.”

“Wow, Dashie must be a really bad kisser then,” Pinkie Pie said, stroking her chin. “I wonder if that works on boys, too?”

“Hey! I wasn’t that bad! Come on, back me up, Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy looked back down at her hooves, shifting on her cushion. “It was… uhm… nice?”

Rarity tittered.

“Oh, whatever.” Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue. “At least I’ve kissed somepony. Heck, even Twilight has. I guess that makes you the odd mare out.”

“Humph. Well, at least I have standards.” Rarity lifted her snout.

“Yeah, ponies with horns stuck in the wrong end.”

Twilight and Fluttershy giggled, while Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “I don’t get it.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks colored before she leaned over to whisper in Pinkie Pie’s ear.

“Ohhhh. See, with earth ponies, we just say they have sticks up their—”

Rarity cleared her throat. “Shouldn’t we be getting back to the kitchen?”

“Oh no, not that again,” Twilight said, tucking her wing in more tightly against the mistletoe. “Rainbow Dash and I can finish making the pie ourselves.”

“Wait. Why me?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Because the refrigerator is in the kitchen and you can eat whatever you want out of it?”

“Hah! Last one there’s a rotten egg!” Rainbow Dash zipped off to the kitchen, leaving a multi-colored trail behind her.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Twilight spread her wings and swooped after her friend. By the time she flew in through the door, Rainbow Dash already had her head in the fridge, her tail flicking behind her as she reached inside.

“Don’t you have any juice in here?”

“There should be some down on the third shelf.”

Rainbow Dash lowered her head, pushing around the food before finally leaning forward to remove one of the boxes and set it on the counter behind her before leaning down to examine it. “Orange juice? Better not tell Applejack.”

“Ha ha.” Twilight’s horn glowed as she pushed the door shut, then watched as Rainbow Dash awkwardly fumbled with the straw, poking at the top of the container repeatedly, her mane hanging over her face.

“Here, let me.” Twilight said, her horn beginning to glow again before Rainbow Dash growled and grabbed the juice box with her hoof.

“I’ve got it.” Rainbow Dash gave the juice box a few more pokes with the straw before finally pressing it in. “Aha! See? Told you.”

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine.” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I know you guys didn’t mean it about the kissing. It’s not important anyway.”

Twilight fidgeted awkwardly.

“What’s up?” Rainbow Dash sipped noisily at the juice box.

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it. “You know, I didn’t really tell the truth about kissing, either.”

“Huh?”

“I never actually kissed Flash. I mean, we were going to kiss, but—”

“You chickened out?”

“No! We just got… interrupted.”

“Heh. Well, you missed your chance.” Rainbow Dash’s smile returned as she lounged against the kitchen counter.

“Yeah, we broke up. Not that we were ever really together together, but—”

“Nah, I meant earlier in the kitchen, when Rarity was waving the mistletoe over my head.” Rainbow Dash waved her hoof airily. “I mean, I know I don’t have legs like Princess Celestia—”

“Oh please.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I even like mares.”

“Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.” Rainbow Dash grinned and nudged Twilight with her wing. “I thought you were all about ‘experimenting’ anyway. Isn’t that why you took the mistletoe?” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“No!” Twilight’s face flushed as she glowered at Rainbow Dash, but her heart wasn’t in it. “I took it to keep it away from Rarity.”

Rainbow Dash took a step back. “Wait. So you mean we’re actually going to make pie?”

Twilight blinked. “Uh, yeah. What did you think I meant?”

“I dunno. I thought it might be a euphemism for something.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Why would you even think that?”

Rainbow Dash held up her hooves defensively. “Well, it’s not like I know anything about making pie. Plus you did bring the mistletoe.” She glanced at Twilight. “Say, what’d you do with it, anyway?”

“I just tucked it under my—” Twilight glanced back at her wing, then sighed and smacked herself in the face with her hoof. “I dropped it.”

Apple Bloom grinned to herself as she skulked along the edge of the room, the sprig of mistletoe clenched tightly between her teeth. She paused mid-step as Sweetie Belle briefly glanced in her direction, then continued to creep forward once her friend looked back over at Spike.

Apple Bloom giggled to herself. “Won’t she be surprised.”

“Surprised about what?”

“Gah!” Apple Bloom started, dropping the mistletoe on the ground.

“Hey, you dropped something!” Pinkie Pie stepped forward to look down at the sprig of greenery on the floor. “Ohhhh. I see.”

“Please don’t tell Sweetie Belle!”

“Oh, don’t worry! My lips are sealed.” Pinkie Pie drew her hoof across her snout, then made a tossing motion before pawing at the floor with her hooves.

“…Right.” Apple Bloom glanced nervously back over to the pair on the sofa. “This is gonna be harder than I thought.”

“It’s easy!” Pinkie Pie said, grinning. “All you need is a distraction! And I know just the pony.”

“…You?”

“Yup!” Pinkie Pie leaned forward and whispered loudly. “On the count of avocado cupcakes, go.”

“What?” Apple Bloom sat back, blinking as Pinkie Pie smiled at her before pronking back over to the sofa.

“Soo, who here likes avocado cupcakes?”

Apple Bloom stared for a moment before rubbing her face with her hoof. Bending down to retrieve her precious cargo, she gripped the stem tightly between her teeth and trotted along the edge of the room. As she crept up behind the sofa, she slowed her pace to a crawl, slowly creeping along the floor to her destination.

“…and that’s why I always use ground rocks when making them!”

“Huh. No wonder they taste so good,” Spike said, rubbing his chin.

Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “Isn’t eating rocks bad for you?”

“Of course not, silly filly! How else do you think ponies grow big and strong like me?” Pinkie Pie leaned forward to pat Sweetie Belle on the head.

“But Rarity doesn’t eat rocks!”

“Of course she does! What did you think the secret ingredient in all my recipes was?”

“You gotta hand it to her, she does make the best cupcakes,” Spike said, waving his claw at Pinkie Pie.

Sweetie Belle swallowed audibly. “Uh, yeah. Of course.”

Pinkie Pie beamed at the pair, then gasped. “Is Fluttershy opening her card already?” The pink pony trotted away, leaving Spike and Sweetie Belle alone on the couch.

“I hope my teeth are okay,” Sweetie Belle said, fidgeting.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Spike waved his claw. “I mean, I eat gems all the time, and it’s never hurt my teeth.”

“Who puts ground rock in cupcakes, anyway? And cake!” Sweetie Belle gesticulated wildly.

“Uhm… Pinkie Pie?”

“Ugh.” Sweetie Belle slumped.

“Hey, look at it this way,” Spike said, patting her on the back. “If you’ve been eating them all this time, obviously they can’t be that bad for you. It’s not like your mane is falling out or anything. You’re looking pretty good for a pony who was eating something that they shouldn’t.”

“You think I look pretty?” Sweetie Belle said, instantly brightening up as she looked over at Spike.

“Er, yeah! O-of course!” Spike said, smiling a bit too widely and showing off a few too many of his totally undamaged teeth. “I mean, uh…” His eyes flicked back and forth across the eager filly’s face. “I’ve always thought you had a really nice mane. What do you do to keep it all curly like that?”

“M-my mane? O-oh.” The enthusiasm seemed to drain out of Sweetie Belle as she slumped forward, looking down at her hooves. “Nothing special.”

Spike blinked. “What’d I say?”

“Nothing.” Sweetie Belle’s voice wavered.

Spike heard a quiet smack from above and looked up to see Apple Bloom leaning over the back of the couch, her hoof pressed over her face. Lowering her hoof, she glanced over at Spike, then tapped her hoof to her snout, shifting the sprig of mistletoe she held between her lips.

Apple Bloom smirked at the dragon’s wide-eyed expression before gesturing with her hooves towards the slumped filly on the couch, the mistletoe dangling dangerously from her mouth.

“Uh, Sweetie Belle?” Spike said cautiously.

“It’s okay. Ugh, why did Pinkie Pie make me sit here? It’s embarrassing!” She smacked her hooves into the couch cushion. “I know you don’t like me.”

Spike pressed his claws together nervously as Apple Bloom jerked her head down towards her friend, leaning further forward over the couch and letting the greenery hang high over Sweetie Belle’s head.

“No, it’s not like that! I just never, you know, thought about it like that before. It isn’t like you’re not nice and stuff.” Spike winced at his own words.

“You don’t have to pretend,” Sweetie Belle muttered, staring at her hooves. “I know you’re just trying to make me feel better.”

Apple Bloom jerked her head more rapidly, pointing her snout down at Sweetie Belle.

Spike’s cheeks flushed. “Sweetie Belle?”

“Yes?” she said, straightening up a little as she blankly stared across the room.

“I… uhm… to heck with it!” Spike closed his eyes and pursed his lips, leaning forward to peck her on the cheek.

Sweetie Belle turned. “What—” She squeaked as scaly lips found hers, eyes growing wide and cheeks flaming.

Spike’s eyes shot open, his field of vision dominated by a glistening pair of emerald eyes as he fell back onto his tail. “Buhhh. I… uhh…”

“Wow,” Sweetie Belle said, lifting one hoof to touch her lips.

“I didn’t mean to – I mean, I did, but – the mistle—” Spike pointed up, only to realize that Apple Bloom was gone, the only sign of the filly the sound of faint giggles from the other side of the couch.

“It’s alright, Spike,” Sweetie Belle said, smiling as she looked back down at her hooves, her cheeks red as roses.

“You mean, you don’t mind?”

“Of course not!” She looked back down at her hooves. “I just didn’t expect you to just kiss me.”

Spike looked down at his own feet. “Well, I mean, under the circumstances—“ Spike clamped his mouth shut as he felt movement beside him. Glancing over, he could see Sweetie Belle scooting closer, sliding from her cushion to the edge of his, close enough he could almost feel the warmth of her flank.

“You want to try that again?” she asked, smiling coquettishly.

Spike gulped.

Epilogue: Late to the Party

“Howdy, Rarity!”

Rarity squeaked, yanking her head back out of the kitchen door. “Applejack! When did you get here?”

“Just a few minutes ago. You seen my sister?”

“Oh, yes. I believe she was over with Spike and Sweetie Belle.” Rarity gestured vaguely.

Applejack turned her head towards the fluffy purple sofa. A flustered Sweetie Belle and an even more flustered Spike occupied the couch. Even as Applejack watched, the unicorn filly shifted a few inches closer to Spike, only for Spike to scoot a few inches further away towards the other end of the couch.

“Heh, well, will you look at that. Finally told him he don’t have a chance with you?”

“Actually, no; he did this on his own. Or rather, our sisters did.” Rarity smiled fondly at the pair. “It is rather cute, isn’t it?”

“Cutest thing I’ve seen all day.” Applejack smirked as the pair executed another half-synchronized shift along the sofa. “Too bad he’s gonna run out of room.”

Rarity giggled. “Indeed.”

“Though I gotta admit, I always figured it’d be my sister who’d be sweet on him.” Applejack tapped her chin with her hoof for a moment.

“You know, Twilight said the exact same thing.” Rarity’s eyes drifted back towards the kitchen.

“Is that who you were spyin’ on in there?” Applejack grinned.

“I wasn’t spying! I was simply observing, that’s all.”

“That explains why you yanked your head back like a bee stung ya in the nose when I walked in.”

“I did no such thing!” Rarity said, stamping her hoof on the floor.

“So why weren’t ya just in there talkin’ with her? That mystery stallion of hers in there?”

Rarity shook her head. “Oh, no. He isn’t coming.”

“What a shocker.” Applejack glanced from side to side. “So she fess up to him not existin’ yet?”

“She said they broke up,” Rarity said quietly.

“Now ain’t that a shame. And he was comin’ to see us and everything.”

Rarity tilted her head up. “You sound just like Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack chortled. “I bet her five bits that Twilight’ll come clean by New Year’s.”

“Yes, well, I suspect that’s a bet you’ll both lose,” Rarity said, peering back into the kitchen.

“So why are you spyin’ on her anyway?”

“Oh, she’s in there with Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack blinked, then smirked. “Rainbow Dash? Now this I gotta see.” Applejack leaned around the door frame for a moment, peering into the kitchen before frowning. “They’re makin’ pie.”

“I know!” Rarity sat back on her haunches, throwing her hooves up into the air in despair. “After I spent all evening trying to figure out who Twilight liked, she said she doesn’t even like mares!”

“Ya know, Rarity, just cause we ain’t never seen her express interest in any stallions don’t mean she likes mares. She’s always kinda seemed like the private type ’bout that kinda thing anyway.”

“But she had mistletoe set up over the front door and everything!”

Applejack arched an eyebrow. “Really? Huh. I didn’t see any when I came in.” She glanced back towards the now mistletoe-less doorway. “You sure you weren’t just imagining things?”

Rarity looked back towards the door and blinked. “But it was there! I swear! And then… oooh.” She glanced back over towards Sweetie Belle and Spike. “I bet that’s where Apple Bloom found it.”

Applejack snickered. “Sure, sure.” She reached over to pat Rarity on the back. “Look. It’s nice of you to want our friends to find somepony they like, but they gotta do it on their own time, not yours. It ain’t right for us to go interferin’ in other ponies’ love lives and tryin’ to set them up like that. They gotta figure it out on their own.”

“I know. I just… want them to be happy, that’s all.”

“And have somethin’ to gossip about with the girls, I’d wager.” Applejack’s smirk returned.

“Well, we need something to talk about, darling.” Rarity winked.

“Heh. Still, it was sweet of you to try.”

“Thank you darling. Now—” Rarity turned her head to look back through the kitchen door at her friends, only to feel the soft touch of lips on her cheeks. Blinking, she turned back towards Applejack, her cheeks flushed, before her ears fell back against her neck and she sighed.

“Apple Bloom is dangling the mistletoe over my head, isn’t she?”

Applejack's eyes twinkled as she leaned into Rarity's side. “What mistletoe?”

Author's Note

Special thanks to Horizon and Bribri for helping me to edit this story on ~~Christmas Day~~ Hearth's Warming Day, and on many days thereafter.

Soge read over chapter 4 for me prior to it being posted as a final pass after my editors, and made some suggestions as well.

I'd also like to thank blagdaross, Magello, and Plumander for reading the first chapter over for me.

Finally, I'd like to thank all of you for sticking around and reading this. Thank you! I hope you enjoyed it.

Prologue: The Mistletrap

“Perfect,” Spike said, leaning back on the stepladder and admiring his handiwork. Sparkling strands of garland hung from the walls all around the grand hall of Twilight’s new castle. Multicolored lights lent their glow to the interior of the crystalline structure, and green wreaths and holly hung from every available surface on the ceiling, announcing to all who entered that Hearth's Warming had truly arrived.

But the pièce de résistance hung directly over the golden gate which lead into the heart of the castle: a single sprig of mistletoe, tied with a ribbon, its white berries glistening dully over the door.

“Heh, when Rarity walks in, won’t she be surprised,” Spike said as he began to climb down the ladder. He hopped off the last few steps, landing on the floor with a quiet thump before he folded the ladder back against the wall.

“Spike! Have you finished hanging up all the decorations?”

“Yup! I just put up the last one.”

Twilight trotted out of the kitchen. She slowly turned around, her head tilted up towards the ceiling as she surveyed the room. “Oh, wow, it looks great. Good job, Spike.”

“Well, you know, you can always count on me.”

“I know.” Twilight beamed at the little dragon, before her expression slipped for a moment. “Hey, do you know where that book Princess Celestia sent me went?”

Spike blinked. “Do you mean that copy of the list of royal holdings that she sent you? I thought you finished reading that.”

“No, the other book. The Primary Principles of Pony Politics!”

“Oh, that.” Spike shrugged. “You left it out on the table when we were setting up; I put it up in your room so you wouldn’t lose track of it.”

“Would you mind bringing it down to me?” Twilight tilted her head.

“Uh, why? Your friends are going to be here any minute.”

“Exactly! I told Princess Celestia that I would be done with it by tonight and I’m not even halfway done!”

Spike sighed. “You do realize she said she doesn’t need it back until next week, right?”

“Every minute counts, Spike!”

“Really?” Spike crossed his arms. “You’re going to spend all night with your nose stuck in a book while we party?”

“Of course not!” Twilight stomped her hoof. “That’s why I need it now, so I can get another chapter out of the way before they get here.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll go get it,” Spike grumbled, walking slowly towards the stairs, looking back over his shoulder at the dwindling shape of the doorway with the mistletoe perched on top.

Twilight shook her head as she turned away from the baby dragon, trotting over to the table they had set up earlier and flattening out the tablecloth with her magic. Turning her head, she pulled out her list and counted the items perched on top, mentally checking off each item as her eyes flashed between the scroll and the cards and candies spread out over the table.

A firm knock on the door brought Twilight’s ears up to full attention. Turning her head, she set the list down on the table before spreading her wings, floating over towards the door. Her horn lighting up as she landed, Twilight smiled as the golden doors parted to reveal the face of her friend. “Rarity! You’re here early.”

Rarity laughed. “I would have been here earlier still if Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom hadn’t had to say goodbye to Scootaloo. I thought you might appreciate some help with the decorations.” The unicorn smiled radiantly, turning her head to the side, before her smile slipped a little. “Unfortunately, Scootaloo’s parents decided that she would not be spending the evening with her friends.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Twilight tipped her head. “Where are Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, then?” She leaned to the side, trying to peer past Rarity down the street.

“They’re still saying goodbye and exchanging their gifts. I thought I might give them a moment to themselves.”

“Well, that was nice of you.” Twilight smiled a bit too broadly before she realized what she was doing. “Sorry,” she said reflexively.

“Oh, there’s nothing to be sorry about. Perhaps with just the two of them your castle might be standing in the morning.” Rarity blinked as Twilight shifted from hoof to hoof. “Nervous about something, darling?”

“It’s nothing,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Just, this is the first time I’ve done a Hearth’s Warming Eve party of my own. Before, I was always in Canterlot. I even did that play with you last year.”

“Ah, I understand. Well, there’s nothing to worry about. Your castle is looking quite festive, even if it still is a bit…” Rarity lifted her hoof, rolling it through the air.

“Yeah, yeah,” Twilight grumbled. “Everyone in town has told me.”

“Well, it certainly looks better with all these ribbons on it.” Rarity glanced up, her eyes focusing on the little green leaves hanging over the doorway, a smirk tugging at her lips. “Well, well, someone is eager for a kiss. Is that stallion of yours coming?”

Twilight’s ears drooped. “Flash? Nah. We broke up.” She shuffled her hoof against the floor. “Not like we were ever really together in the first place.”

“What?” Rarity’s voice rose an octave as she stepped forward. “But I thought he liked you?”

“He did,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “But he kind of freaked out when I took him to Equestria the first time. He said I looked… freaky.”

“Freaky?” Rarity screeched. “Freaky? You?”

Twilight winced. “Yeah. He said it was kind of creepy dating a horse.” She lifted her hoof to rub at the back of her mane.

“Well I never! The nerve.” Rarity rushed forward to give Twilight a hug. “When did this happen?”

Twilight tensed as she was suddenly wrapped in white hooves. “Oh, it was a few weeks ago. I mean, I thought, since we kissed, I might as well take him to Equestria for a date.” Twilight laughed nervously.

“That’s terrible, darling!”

“Oh, it’s alright. I’m fine.”

“But I thought you liked him!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s not like it was true love. He was just kind of nice, that’s all.”

“Yes, well, I’m certain your opinion of him has changed now.”

“Heh, I guess a little.” Twilight’s shoulders fell. “It’s alright, though, I’m over it.”

“You are? But…” Rarity trailed off, her eyes flicking upwards once more before she smiled. “Of course you are!” The unicorn squeezed her friend all the more tightly. “So, who is it?”

“Who is who?”

“Your new crush!”

Twilight jerked back, pulling herself out of Rarity’s grasp. “My what?”

“Oh come now. There’s no need to hide it from me. This is so wonderful!” Rarity trotted in place.

“I’m not hiding anything! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Of course, of course.” Rarity stilled herself and took a deep breath. “So who did you invite? Is it Big Mac? Thunderlane? Ooh, is it—”

“What?” Twilight stared. “I didn’t invite anyone but you girls. And the Crusaders; Spike really could use some friends his age.”

“But…” Rarity glanced up again, before her eyes narrowed. “Oh, I see,” she said sultrily.

“You see what?”

“We just have to talk!”

“Rarity…”

The two ponies slowly walked into the center of the great hall as Twilight’s horn lit up, swinging the great doors shut with a loud thump behind them. They made their way across the room, Twilight shaking her head as Rarity laughed loudly, nudging Twilight with her shoulder.

Upstairs, Spike ran out onto the staircase, taking the steps two at a time as he bounded down. “Hey, Twilight, I found your book!” he called, waving the item in question before stopping short at the sight of Rarity. “Aw, nuts.”

“Oh, thank you, Spike! But Rarity came right after you went upstairs.” Twilight nodded to the pony standing beside her. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Spike muttered, scuffing his foot against the smooth floor as he walked over towards the pair.

“Why so down in the dumps?” Twilight asked, stepping forward.

“Oh, no reason.” Spike looked down at the floor before leaning forward, speaking in a low voice. “Did you give Rarity her card yet?”

“I was just getting to that.” There was another knock on the door. “Would you mind getting it, Spike?”

“Sure,” Spike said unenthusiastically, shaking his head as he trudged across the floor to the doors. Standing up on his tip-toes, he leaned forward, pushing them open. “Oh, hey, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom.”

“Howdy, Spike,” Apple Bloom said. “Applejack said before I left that she was gonna be late; somethin’ about clearin’ the snow from the trees in the east orchard ‘fore their branches break.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I’ll let Twilight know.”

“Is Rarity here yet?” Sweetie Belle leaned to the side, trying to look past the dragon.

“Yeah.” Spike pointed his thumb back over his shoulder. “She’s talking with Twilight about something. You two want to come inside?” He took a step back.

“Why, certainly,” Sweetie Belle said, before Apple Bloom stuck a hoof out in front of her chest.

“Nope. Look up.”

Sweetie Belle stopped in her tracks, tilting her head back to peer up. Her cheeks flushed.

“Ya see it?”

“Yup.” Sweetie Belle looked to over to Apple Bloom, who had adopted a predatory grin.

“See what?” Spike asked, peering up over the doorway before he realized, too late, what it was that she had seen. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw Sweetie Belle move forward, and felt something soft and warm press against his cheek. The young dragon staggered backwards, falling back onto his tail as Sweetie Belle giggled before trotting past him into the castle.

“Woah,” Spike said, raising a claw to touch his cheek. “I should take that down before somebody gets hurt.”