It was around lunchtime when Spike sat at his desk in the castle library, two scrolls spread out in front of him. Part of his new responsibilities was to scour the latest book releases for titles to add to the growing collection.

Since this was still Twilight's royal library, at least in name, she had allotted a generous monthly budget for new purchases, but even that was finite. So it fell to Ponyville's new librarian to make the selection.

But for some reason, he just couldn't concentrate on the task at hand as his quill hovered indecisively above the parchment that was gonna hold his choices. “This is impossible,” he said seemingly to the empty air around him. “How am I supposed to do this when...”

“Oh, Great and Honorable Spike!”

The dragon jumped slightly in his seat, the quill falling out of his claw. He looked at the Crystal Guard who was trotting up to the desk. “Crystal Spear, this is still a library. Would you please keep your voice down?”

The young mare gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry,” she whispered. “But I had a question. I found some books that seem to be in the wrong shelf, but according to the inventory number they're in the right spot.”

“Show me the spines.” She placed the three tomes on his desk, so he could see. “Ac235 to Ac237. And which shelf did you find them on?”

“General Spellcasting,” she replied. “But all three are about the pre-classical history of the three pony tribes.”

“Well, that explains it. General Spellcasting is A001 to A349. That's the regular shelves. Anything that has a 'c' in its serial number is from the Castle of the Two Sisters. They've got their own special shelves on the second floor.”

“Oh, I see. I'll put them where they belong then,” she offered.

He nodded. “Please. And ask one of the pegasi from the Royal Guard to lend you a hoof. Those shelves are pretty high.”

She frowned at that. Even though he'd been dealing with the guards camped in the library for a few days now, their strange rivalry still puzzled him. To keep them from reigniting the Great Ponyville Library War of 2015, he had taken the simple measure of drafting them. Neither Celestia nor Cadence had objected to that. Truth be told, they were probably happy that Spike had found a way to keep them out of trouble. As long as they kept busy, there would be none of that idleness that generally tends to lead to foolishness.

“Please, do it for me?” he asked plaintively.

“As the Great and Honorable Spike commands,” she said a little stiffly. At least his reputation in the Empire did help greatly in keeping that particular side in check, as they would never openly go against his wishes. Crystal Spear turned to leave, but gave him another look. This time she seemed slightly worried. “Are you alright, Great and Honorable Spike?”

He grimaced. “I told you that it's alright to just call me Spike. Anyway, I'm fine. Why do you ask?”

“It's just that you've been clenching the side of your desk really hard.”

Spike looked down. His left claw was actually digging into the wood. He hadn't even noticed. “I always do that when I'm thinking hard,” he told her.

“Oh, okay then. Sorry for disturbing you.”

After she was gone, Spike took a deep breath. Though it didn't noticeably help to calm him down. Picking up his quill again, he whispered to his desk: “Now, if we can just finish this before...”

“Sir Spike!”

Grumbling, the dragon put his quill back down as one of the Canterlot Guards approached him. “What?” he asked shortly.

The unicorn stallion stopped abruptly a few feet away from the desk, seemingly taken aback by Spike's tone. “Uhm, sorry to bother you, sir. There's somepony with a delivery out front. Quills. Ink. Parchment. That sort of thing.”

“What of it?” the dragon asked, taking deeper breaths now.

“Um, did you want to inspect it?”

“I've been dealing with Quills&Sofas for years now. I'm certain the order is fine. Just get the stuff and put it away in the supply closet. I'm sure Canterlot's Finest can handle that much without my supervision,” he added, just a little sarcastically.

The stallion looked a little hurt at that. “Have I given offense somehow?”

Spike sighed. “No, Splintering Shield. I'm sorry. I'm just a little short-tempered right now, since what I'm working on is rather important. Didn't mean to take it out on you. Would you please take care of the delivery for me?”

“Of course.” The stallion hesitated for a bit.

“What?” Spike asked between clenched teeth.

“What do you want me to do if he asks for payment?”

“Just tell him I'll come by the shop in the afternoon. I gotta give him that order for the new books anyway, so we can just take care of it then. He knows I'm good for it.”

The stallion nodded, saluted and walked off to take care of the matter.

Spike put his elbows on the desk and buried his face in his claws. His chest was heaving with deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down. “I just can't do this if somepony is gonna interrupt every five...”

“Spike! There you are!”

He looked up with a groan, but forced a smile when he saw his two friends approach. “Hey, Rainbow Dash. Hi, Fluttershy. Back from your trip to Cloudsdale?” he asked in a strained voice.

“Is it true?” the blue pegasus asked directly.

“Is what true?”

She rolled her eyes skyward. “That you and AJ got married! What did you think I was talking about?”

He scratched his cheek. “Oh, yeah. It's true. I guess it's been almost a month now.”

She looked at her friend. “I told you it was a bad idea to go to Cloudsdale now! I said we were gonna miss something awesome!”

“Well, it couldn't really be helped,” Fluttershy replied. “Weather ponies do need to take that three-week refreshment course at the Department of Weather every five years. If you hadn't kept putting it off till the last minute...”

“Whatever.” Rainbow Dash waved her hoof, then she turned back to Spike. “But couldn't you have waited until we were back? I thought we were friends.”

“Well, actually … ngh!” Spike winced suddenly.

The two pegasi looked at each other with puzzled expressions, then Fluttershy asked: “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” he replied between short breaths. “Just stubbed my toe. Anyway, the wedding was sort of a spontaneous affair. But we're gonna have the reception and party this weekend, since we wanted to wait until the two of you are back in town.”

“Oh, that's so thoughtful,” Fluttershy said with a gentle smile. “I'm gonna have to see Rarity about a dress.”

“I think she's already gotten started on dresses for the bridesmaids.” He looked at Rainbow Dash, who was clearly unimpressed with that prospect. “Incidentally, Princess Celestia will be officiating. And she's got it in her head to make the whole thing a big deal. So I sorta got the impression that you're gonna be asked to perform another Rainboom.”

Now that cheered the cyan pegasus right up. “Awesome! I gotta talk to AJ right away. Is she at Sweet Apple Acres right now?”

“I … don't think so ...” He closed his eyes for a moment.

“Spike, are you okay?” Fluttershy asked carefully. “You look a little flushed.”

He shook his head. “Just a little stressed, with the new job and the wedding preparation stuff. Tell you what, why don't you come by our new house for dinner tonight? AJ and I can bring you up to speed on what's been happening over the past couple of weeks.”

“You got a new place? Cool!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Fluttershy nodded her agreement. “I'll bring a housewarming gift.”

“Oh, Fluttershy,” Spike tried to wave that notion off. “That's really not … nffh … necessary. Now … if you'll excuse me, … I've got some important work to …” Suddenly his eyes went wide. Unable to hold it in, he looked upward and bellowed out a huge jet of green flame. Finally, he was able to take a deep breath as he slumped back down into his chair.

“Where's the letter?”

“Huh?” he asked, groggily looking back at Rainbow Dash.

“Well, you just breathed fire,” she stated, searching the empty air above his head with her eyes. “Doesn't that mean you got a letter?”

“Uh, no,” he said, scratching his head. “I just … sneezed,” he said lamely. “You know how it is with libraries and books. Dust, dust, dust.”

“Gesundheit,” Fluttershy said simply.

“Thanks.”

“Well, I guess we'd better leave you to it,” Rainbow Dash decided finally. Great, now they're getting ready to leave, Spike thought to himself. “We gotta get unpacked. See you tonight, then. Oh, and congrats on getting married.”

After the two mares had left, Spike passed a weary claw over his eyes, finally able to breathe normally again.

“Ain't that awfully hard?” a voice asked him out of nowhere.

“Is what hard?” he replied.

Applejack stuck out her head, licking her lips. She looked around to make sure they were alone, then crawled out from underneath the desk she'd been hiding under the entire time. “All that lying. It's so much easier to just tell the truth, ain't it?”

He gave her a withering look. “Yeah, cause the words 'My wife was feeling frisky during her lunch break, so she decided to surprise me with a blowjob at work. She's under the desk, sucking my dick right now,' just roll off the tongue so naturally. Especially when you're talking to total strangers and/or good friends.”

She tapped her hoof against her chin with a thoughtful expression. “Well, not if you're gonna put it that way.”

“How else would I put it?”

“Well, ya could say that yer beautiful, considerate and charming wife is on yer mind every waking moment, and even now she's quite literally taking yer breath away,” she offered expansively.

He mulled that choice of words over in his mind for a moment, then he suddenly laughed in spite of himself. “It's not actually a lie, is it?” He raised his eyebrow. “Were you this devious and liberal with the truth before, or is this something I've done?”

Applejack shrugged. “A little you, a little yer aunt.” Then she gave him a sly look. “But it was kinda fun, hearing how hard ya tried to cover for us. And that was some incredible self-control. Ah really had to break out all mah best moves to make ya finish before they left. But ah do like a challenge.”

“I'm glad I could keep you entertained while you were down there, honey.”

“Aw, don't be like that, sugarcube,” she said in her sweetest voice. “I know ya enjoyed it, too,” she added with a naughty smile, lightly brushing her tail against his now limp pride.

He looked away with a blush. “I guess so.”

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then picked up her hat. “Guess ah'd better run along now.”

“Already?” Spike asked in surprise. “But you didn't … you know … get to... yourself.” He left it hanging in the air.

She winked at him. “That's alright, sugarcube. Ah'll get mine in bed tonight. After all, ah know you're good for it. But ah probably should get started on dinner early. Don't be late.”

He simply chuckled and gave her a wave and a smile as she walked off. He sighed again, remembering what Twilight had told him a while ago. She was right, of course. She always was. A marriage took work. But it was certainly worth it.

Then he looked down at his desk, and his good mood faded again. “Oh, come on. Are you telling me I still have to finish this?” Picking up the quill, he got back to work.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. For the longest time, I couldn't quite figure out how to integrate Dash and Fluttershy's initial reaction into the story, and I definitely wanted to get those before moving on to the ceremony.

I guess I should just stop putting it off. Time to move the main plot forward. But before the wedding, we still have a belated bachelor party to take care off. (As well as the bachelorette party, of course. )