Dragon Sadnessby Lord DicoChaptersCrusaders Find Out!Pinkie Pie's On the MoveApplejack and Rainbowdash Find Out!Fluttershy Mixed Up the CrushWhat's Wrong with Green Peppers?They're In Deep Now!Ohhhhh boyPoor SpikeContagious TearsThe Secret's Out!Fixing Things UpAll's Well, Ends WellCrusaders Find Out!xxxxxxxxx It was a nice and sunny day in Ponyville, as the many ponies and fillies enjoy the nice atmosphere around town. Thankfully, the pegasus ponies were on schedule for a bright and shiny day, until... The sky suddenly turned pitch black, many stars appearing, causing the ponies confusion at first, but that confusion turned to panic, when the buildings were suddenly being engulfed by a dark cloud. The ponies started to scramble all over, as a sudden figure appeared from the darkness, revealing itself to be Nightmare Moon. She looked down at the debris, spreading throughout the village, and the ponies falling one by one. Soon after, she encountered Twilight Sparkle and her friends on the ground, writhing in pain. She looked up, her vision blurry from the amount of damage she took, to see Nightmare Moon staring down at her, with a menacing glare. “Looks like you aren't as lucky as you were BEFORE, little pony,” Nightmare Moon said, “THIS time, I WILL plunge all of Equestria into eternal darkness!” “You'll...never get...away with this...” Twilight said, with what little strength she had left in her. “Oh, but I believe I have, and there's no one else, who can stop me now!” “That's where you're WRONG, Nightmare Moon!” a sudden manly voice called. Nightmare Moon looked up to where the voice was coming from and gasped greatly at who it was. There stood in a red cape, huge muscles, and lance of pure gold, was Spike the Benevolent, riding his faithful bird the size of a house, Owloysius. “Oh no, not YOU again!” Nightmare Moon shouted in fear. “Oh yes, me again,” Spike said, in mockery, as he prepared his lance, “Let's go, Owloysius!” Soon, the giant owl swooped down towards Nightmare Moon, who was now shooting dark arrows towards the great hero. The arrows were soon deflected by Spike's lance, as he came closer towards Nightmare Moon. The villain had decided to go with the obvious choice to win, so she used her darkness to grab Rarity, who was still injured, and in a sparkly new dress mind you, closer to her. “Don' move, Hero,” Nightmare Moon said, “or do you want to see your little friend, get SCEWERED like an apple?” “Spike, help!” Rarity called out. Spike saw this as he jumped down from Owloysius, and grew mad. But as he was about to approach, Nightmare Moon used her darkness to shape into a sword, threatening to slice Rarity. He didn't know what to do now, as he dropped his lance, and knelt down. Nightmare Moon couldn't help but chuckle at the dragon's defeat, tossing Rarity aside. But just as Nightmare Moon was about to use her darkness to strike Spike the Benevolent down, Owloysius swooped down in time, to scratch at her eyes. She then soon yelped out in pain, giving Spike enough time to grab his lance and strike Nightmare Moon down. Suddenly, the darkness was soon engulfing her and all the debris with her. “I'll get you for this, Spike the Benevolent,” she cried out, “You haven't seen the last of MEEEeee...” Soon, Nightmare Moon had vanished, and all of Ponyville, along with the citizens, had been restored. Everyone was now cheering for Spike and his sidekick, as the mayor approached. “Thank you, Spike,” she said, “if it wasn't for you, then we wouldn't have been here right now. You and Owloysius are true heroes!” “It was nothing,” Spike the Benevolent said, “but the real credit does go to Owloysius. If it wasn't for him, I would've been taken out easily.” “But,” Rarity said, approaching Spike, “you'll always be MY hero, Spike.” Spike then leaned down towards the beautiful unicorn, and leaned in for a kiss, and... “Spike?” The dragon suddenly snapped out of his fantasy. He was on the floor with a bunch of crayons and a small pile of papers of his drawings, all of which are of Rarity. He then gathered them up, and hid them behind his back, as he turned to face Twilight Sparkle, with Owloysius on her back. “What are you-” “I wasn't drawing pictures of Rarity, if THAT'S what you're thinking!” he exclaimed quickly, cutting Twilight off. Twilight then had a bewildered look on her face, which soon turned into an expression of disinterest. Spike couldn't help but fake smile, with a slight blush on his face, sweating very nervously. “Okay then,” Twilight said, “Anyways, I need you and Owloysius to go down to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie's been constantly telling me, that I have to try this new cake she's made. She says it's something to die for.” Spike then soon calmed down a bit, and put his drawings away. That is, except for three, which he decided to work on, on the pathway. As he headed towards the door, Owloysius soon joined him, landing on his head. “We'll be back as soon as possible,” Spike said, before closing the door. As he walked along the path, he pulled out one of his unfinished drawings, and started to color it a bit more. Owloysius looked down at the drawings, with the same expression he's had, and then looked down at Spike. “Hoot,” he said. “What?” Spike asked, looking up. “Hoot.” “What? The drawings? Oh, it's just Rarity, the most beautiful pony in the world,” he said, in a love state voice. “Hoot.” Spike looked at Owloysius with an annoyed expression. “Oh no, I'm not falling into THAT cycle again,” he said, going back to his drawings. “Hoot.” Spike now had a displeasing look on his face. 'Just ignore it,' Spike thought, 'Just ignore it, and it won't cause any-' “WATCH OUT!” Spike's thoughts were interrupted, when he heard someone call out to him. He turned around, only to meet someone crashing into him. When he got out of his daze, he looked to see that the ones who crashed into him, were Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle. He also saw their scooter and wagon a little out of place. “Sorry about that, Spike,” Scootaloo said. “It's okay,” the dragon said, getting up, as Owloysius flew back onto his head, “I've been through worse, so this is nothing.” “Well, if you say so,” Applebloom said, then sees a piece of paper on the ground, “Hey, what's this?” The wind then suddenly blew the paper over, to reveal itself as Spike's drawing of Rarity, only a quarter of it, left unfinished. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo looked at it, and started to chuckle at it a bit. They looked up at Spike, who was dusting himself off, and seeing two other drawings right by him. “Hey Spike,” Sweetie Belle called, “are these YOUR drawings?” “Huh?” Spike asked, looking at them. When he saw that his drawings were out, his eyes widened, and he quickly gathered them up. His face was now completely flushed, as he looked back at the little crusaders who were laughing. “Wow, Spike,” Scootaloo chuckled, “I didn't know you had a thing for Rarity.” “No I don't!” Spike exclaimed, still blushing, “You saw nothing!” It didn't help though, as the crusaders started to taunt him. “Spike and Rarity, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” “Stop it, guys!” Spike said, his face now completely red. “You know, I wonder what my sister would think of this,” Sweetie Bell said. Spikes eyes widened at what he heard, and instantly turned pale. He started to think of what would happen if Rarity know about this, and it wasn't a pretty thought. He then got in front of the crusaders as they were about to leave, kneeling. “No! Please don't tell Rarity!” he begged, “I can't honestly tell her about my secret feelings for her, yet!” The crusaders thought about it, but then started to get an idea. They then gathered around for a group huddle, so Spike couldn't hear. “What do y'all think?” Applebloom whispered, “Should we really take advantage of this?” “Definitely!” Scootaloo whispered back, “If we keep this little secret, in exchange to help us find our talents to get our cutie marks, this could be our lucky day!” “I'm not sure,” Sweetie Belle whispered, “What if Rarity get's into the fray of this? I don't like always keeping secrets from my sister.” “Not to worry,” Scootaloo whispered, “We'll just stay away from your place, that's all.” “If you say so.” The crusaders then turned back towards Spike, with mischievous looks on their faces. “Okay, Spike,” Scootaloo said, “We won't tell Rarity, one ONE condition.” “As long as you don't tell Rarity, I'll do anything!” Spike exclaimed. “Anything?” “Yes, anything!” “Well, in that case, you can help us with getting out cutie marks then!” Spike was bewildered by their request, but then decided to deal with it. As long as they didn't tell Rarity about his feelings for her, he'd be safe. xxxxxxxxx Pinkie Pie's On the Movexxxxx "Fine," Spike said, "I'll help you find your special talent." "Yay!" the crusaders exclaimed, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS WITH DRAGON ASSISTANCE ARE GO!" Spike sighed, and rolled his eyes back, as he followed the little fillies to where ever they were taking him. "This is going to be a LONG day," Spike said to himself, as Owloysius followed. "Say, before we DO get started on this crusading thing, or whatever, can I at least go down to Sugarcube corner, to get that cake Twilight wanted me to pick up?" he then asked. "Well," Scootaloo said, with a little sarcasm, "I don't know...Would probably take too long, and we'd stop by to see Rarity." Spike's eyes soon widened and his pupils shrank, when he heard Rarity's name, not paying attention to the other fillies glaring at Scootaloo. There had to be a better way to convince them not to tell her about his crush on her. But until then, he had to do what they said. "Okay, fine," he said, pulling out one of his drawing, and writing a note on the back. "Owloysius, looks like your on your own for this," the dragon said, handing his owl buddy the note, now scrolled up, "Take it to Sugarcube corner, then take the cake to Twilight, okay?" "Hoot," Owloysius said. Spike was about to say something into it, but then decided not to, and just had another annoyed expression. "Just take the note," he said, emotionless. With that, Owloysius took the scroll and flew off. Once Owloysius was out of sight, he then turned back to the crusaders, who for some reason had an amused expression on their faces. Spike soon had a worried look on his face, as they slowly walked towards them. "Guys? Why are you looking at me like that?" Spike asked. "Oh, no reason," Sweetie Belle said, lowering her eyelids a bit. Spike was still worried, not aware of Applebloom behind him, with a sack in her mouth. She then gave a wink to Scootaloo, as the winged filly clenched and her eyes looking serious. Spike slowly started to back away, until... "NOW!" Scootaloo shouted. The next thing, Applebloom jumped over Spike, covering him with the sack so he would be inside, and Scootaloo pushed him over. The young dragon tried to squirm his way out, but it was futile, as he felt himself being rolled away by the crusaders. "Won't Twilight get suspicious?" Applebloom asked. "Don't worry," Scootaloo said, "That brainiac won't notice a thing." xxxxxxx Back with Twilight, she was busy reading a book on 'Cake recipes', when suddenly she sneezed. "Am I catching a cold?" she asked herself. xxxxxxx "We'll just need him for something so amazing, we'll HAVE to get our cutie marks by then," Scootaloo said. "If you say so," Sweetie Belle said. xxxxxxx Meanwhile, Owloysius arrives at Sugarcube corner, with the note still in his clutch. He sees the 2nd floor window open, and proceeds towards it. Inside, Pinkie Pie was on the floor, with a hoof at her chin, pondering. She then looked at whatever it was she was looking at with deep thought. Suddenly, she smiled greatly, and moved her hoof to move something, revealing it to be her and her alligator, Gummy, playing Chess. "Checkmate! I win again!" Pinkie exclaimed, raising her hoofs in the air. "Hoot!" Pinkie then let her sudden victory was then interrupted, when she heard a sudden noise. She then looked over at the window sill, to see Owloysius with the scroll in it's claws. Pinkie then smiled at it, and hoped over to the fellow bird, with Gummy not too far behind. "Hey Owloysius," the party crazed pony said, "What's the scroll for?" The bird then responded by hovering a bit into the air, and dropping the scroll to the floor, letting it roll out. Pinkie looked at it, and gasped. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, "I never seen a drawing of Rarity like THAT before!" Turns out, the note had the drawing side facing up, showing Pinkie Pie the unfinished sketch that Spike made. "It just looks so...incomplete!" Soon, Gummy stepped forward, and bit the bottom of the paper (even though he has no teeth), and turned it over, to reveal the written part. "What's this?" Pinkie asked, reading the note. 'Dear Pinkie Pie, I was originally sent by Twilight to retrieve a certain cake recipe for that cake you were talking about. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it, due to some 'problems' with Applebloom and her friends finding out my secret about Rarity. Make sure that Owloysius gets the cake delivered to Twilight, and if you're not to busy...I could use a little help, if that's okay. Burningly yours, Spike' As Pinkie Pie finished reading the note, she then narrowed her eyes, looking serious. She then rushed down stairs to get the cake, safely in a box, and exited the front door, with Gummy on her back and Owloysius descending down. "Come on guys," the pony said, "We've got a cake to deliver!" "Hoot!" Pinkie then looked up at Owloysius, and then chuckled a bit. "Oh right," she said, "And make sure Spike has the right unicycle for his current situation." xxxxxxxxx Applejack and Rainbowdash Find Out!xxxxxxxxx As Pinkie Pie arrived at Twilight's, along with Gummy and Owloysius, she then pressed her hoof against the door, three times. After a while, Twilight opened it, to see Pinkie at the front door, with Gummy and a box on her head. She found it normal, if it wasn't for her riding the unicycle. "Oh, hey Pinkie Pie," the unicorn said, "what's in the box?" "It's the cake I was talking about earlier this week," she said, getting off the cycle, "It's to DIE for." "I see, but didn't I send Spike and Owloysius to go get it?" Twilight asked, with a confused look. "Ooh! That reminds me!" she exclaimed, as Owloysius swooped down onto a nearby branch. Pinkie the pulled out the note she got from Spike, and showed it to Twilight. When she looked at, she became unamused by it. "Why did Spike send you one of his drawings of Rarity?" she asked. "Oh, oops," Pinkie said, chuckling, "Wrong side." After turning the paper, Twilight started to read the note, and looked a bit irritated. "So Spike needs help with Applebloom and her friends blackmailing him?" "That's the plan!" Twilight then sighed at this, and looked back up at Pinkie, with a tired look. "Alright," she said, "Let me just put the cake in the fridge and we'll go." Once she took the cake away and stored it in the fridge, Twilight, Pinkie, Gummy, and Owloysius set off to find Spike. As they approached town squared, Twilight had stopped in her tracks. "Wait, do we even know WHERE Spike could be?" Twilight asked. "Well, if I was him, I'd probably be at-" Pinkie started, until Twilight cut her off. "Let me guess...Sugarcube Corner?" Twilight said, not interested. "Yeah! How'd ya know that?" "Lucky guess, I suppose." "Hey y'all!" Twi and Pinkie then turned to the voice that called, to see Appplejack, carrying two baskets of her family apples. "So what's new so far?" the blond pony asked. "Well, we're currently looking for Spike," Twilight said. "Yeah! He sent me a note that your sister and her friends are working on a circus project, so he needed to get a unicycle for it," Pinkie said, jumping off the said wheel. "Applebloom? Circus Project?" Applejack asked, "I know my sister's done some doozy things, but consarn it Pinkie, that's just ridiculous. Besides, why would Spike want to work on something that silly?" Before Pinkie could answer that, Twilight cut her off, and just showed Applejack the note that Spike sent. As she was reading it, she grew very irritated by every passing word. "Dooh, when I get my hands on Applebloom, she's gonna be in a whole MESS of trouble!" she yelled, "Blackmailing Spike like that. The nerve of her!" "So...does that mean we won't need the unicycle?" Pinkie asked. "For golly sakes, darlin', will you forget the unicycle already?" Applejack exclaimed. "We'll focus on that later," Twilight said, "But right now, we need to find Spike." The two ponies looked at Twilight, then lowered their head down in understanding. "By the way, what 'secret about Rarity' was Spike talking about, anyway?" AJ asked, earning a bewildered look from Twilight. "You mean you don't KNOW?" the unicorn asked with surprise, "He has a..." Twilight was then cut off by Pinkie, who stuffed in apple in her mouth, then getting a glare from the party pony. She would've suspected Pinkie would've forgotten by now, but it looks like she was wrong. "Oh, it's nothing, really," Pinkie said, "Though I think Spike might tell you, if you asked him nicely." "Uhh...okay then," Applejack said, then looking at Twilight, "you're paying for that, you know?" Twilight then lowered her eyelids, and spat out the apple to the side, unexpectedly hitting Derpy Hooves, fixing her eyes a bit, but then became crossed again. "Okay, so where should we look, if were going to find them?" Twilight suggested. "Maybe we could ask Rainbowdash to do an aerial search," Pinkie suggested. "Well, I guess that could work," Applejack said, "But the only problem is, where is she?" "I think I know," Pinkie said. "It's not Sugarcube Corner, if that's what you're thinking," Twilight said, irritated. "No, I was thinking up there." Pinkie then pointed her hoof upwards, to the cloud above the three pony's heads. Upon the cloud, lies Rainbowdash, sleeping peacefully and dreaming about being one of the Wonderbolts, but then remembering the embarrassment at the gala. "Rainbowdash!" Pinkie called. No answer. "Looks like we're going to have to use 'Plan B'." "What's 'Plan B'?" AJ and Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie's response was pulling out a jack-in-a-box, laying the door side facing down. She then lifted Gummy by the scruff of his neck, and placed him on the box. She then started to turn the crank, and when the music started to end, the jack sprang out, suspending the box upward, and launching Gummy into the air. Soon enough, Gummy was just above Rainbowdash and opened his mouth, clamping it onto her face. Rainbowdash soon felt something on her face, as her eyes widened slowly, only to be greeted by an alligator trying to swallow her face whole. Rainbow's eyes widened greatly, as she started to flail her arms frantically and scream off the top of her lungs. After squirming so much, she started to fall to the ground, to scared to think of flying, and soon landed on the ground. Gummy then jumped and clamped onto her back left hoof, suspended in the air, causing Rainbowdash to chuckle a bit. As the pegasus pony got to her feet (or...hooves), she saw the others, just as Gummy jumped again, and clamped onto Dash's back, making her chuckle again. "Pinkie, could you control your alligator?" Rainbowdash said, still chuckling, "The thing scared me to death, and you know how I feel about him clamping onto me all over." When Gummy pounced again, Pinkie Pie used her tail to catch him, and bring him more towards her. "Sorry," the party pony said, "I forgot that you were pretty ticklish." The moment Applejack heard what Pinkie said, she gave a mischievous glare and smirk towards Rainbowdash, only to receive a hoof in her mouth and a menacing glare. "Try anything, and you can kiss your main goodbye," she said, then turning to her with a smirk, "Besides, you should speak for YOURSELF, you know?" Applejack then felt very nervous, taking a few steps away, her smirk gone. "Sorry about that Rainbowdash," Twilight said, "But we need your help. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are blackmailing Spike, and we need you to find them." "Blackmailing?" Rainbowdash questioned, "Why? What will they do, if he doesn't cooperate?" "His crush on-" Twilight was again interrupted by Pinkie Pie, stuffing her mouth with the same apple from before, and receiving the same glare as before. Twilight then spat out the apple, and looked back at Rainbowdash, who was now trying to hold in her laughter. "Spike's got a crush on someone?" said pony chuckled at. "No, he doesn't! Who said anything about a crush? What is that anyway?" Pinkie said, ducking down, eying the area. "Is THAT what this 'secret about Rarity' is?" Applejack asked, bewildered. When Rainbowdash heard what Applejack said, she was now bawling with laughter. Pinkie then gave Applejack the same glare she gave Twilight, only shaking her head. AJ didn't understand it, but then looked back at Rainbowdash, who was still laughing hysterically. "Oh man, that's rich," she said, as she was getting up, teary eyed with laughter. "How could you NOT have known it before?" Twilight asked, with a harsh tone, "He's always been lovey-dovey every time he's around Rarity." "Well, I usually get sidetracked from those two. But oh man, I just GOTTA tell Rarity about it." Just as Rainbowdash was about to jet over to Rarity, she was stopped by something heavy on her tail. She looked back to see Pinkie Pie, biting on it. Before Rainbow could fly higher to get Pinkie off, she was then pulled to the ground and tackled by the same pony. "You can't! Spike would be hurt if she found out! Plus, he told us to keep it secret!" Pinkie exclaimed, then getting thrown off by Rainbowdash. "Alright, alright," she said, "I won't tell her. Wait, does Rarity even know?" The only responses she got from Pinkie and Applejack were shrugs. "You know...I'm not sure that Rarity DOES know," Twilight said. "Does know about what?" a familiar voice said. The four of them looked over, to see Rarity, with two packs with her, coming towards them. Pinkie grew very nervous, as she looked over at Rainbowdash, who had a big smirk on her face. She was probably holding in her laughter. As Rarity approached the other ponies, she started to grow curious. "Well? Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Rarity asked. "Well-" Rainbowdash started, but was then cut off, by Pinkie Pie stuffing an apple in her mouth. This only caused more confusion for Rarity. "What she was going to say was," Applejack said, "your sister and mine are blackmailing Spike about something, and we need to find them." "What?" Rarity questioned, "Oh dear. I know it might seem important, especially when Sweetie Belle's involved, but I'm sorry girls. I'm afraid, I'm going to have to sit this one out." "How come?" Twilight asked. "Well, because my schedule is REALLY packed. I've got orders up the wazoo, due in Canterlot, after what happened at the gala last week." Bringing up the events at the gala, made the others shutter at those events, even though the princess (who should be a friggin queen, mind you) had no trouble with it. Soon, Rarity was continuing on her way to her shop. "I'm sorry girls, but I've got to get back to the shop. By the way, I'd suggest getting Fluttershy to help. She'd tame those girls better than anyone, you know." "Alright then, Sugarcube," Applejack said, "Thanks for the advice!" With that, the four ponies ran over to Fluttershy's cottage. xxxxxxxxx Fluttershy Mixed Up the Crushxxxxxxxxx As the bag was pulled off of Spike, he looked so dizzy that it looked he was about to throw up. After a while, he shook his head to snap out of his daze, and looked around. He was outside and apparently was surrounded by nothing, until he saw the cutie mark crusaders by some giant thing, covered up by a sheet. "Uh...what is that thing?" Spike asked, confused. "It's just something we thought could work, with you around," Scootaloo said, pulling the sheet down, by her teeth. Unfortunately, the sheet got a little stuck, so Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had to help pull it down. Spike seemed curious about what was under that sheet, so he decided to go see where the problem. Apparently, part of the sheet was caught on, what looked to be a steak in the ground. He then used his claws to cut the part of the sheet that was stuck, causing to be launched up, uncovering what was under, and having the cutie mark crusaders fall backwards. Spike then looked with surprise, to see a hot air balloon in tact. He then looked back at the crusaders, who were picking each other up, and gave out a confused expression. "So what are you going to do, to get your special talent?" he asked. "Sky diving!" they all answered, and getting parachutes out of the carrier basket. "Oh...kay then, but can you tell me at least HOW you got a hot air balloon?" "I know someone," Scootaloo said, narrowing her eyes away. Her thoughts then lead to Derpy Hooves, bringing them a huge crate over to them at the cliff. She then came back to reality as she turned her attention back to Spike. "You see, we WERE going to get a book of matches to get the fire going, but since you're already with us, you'll do it TWICE as better," Sweetie Belle said. "Well, even if I WASN'T part of this, it's still pretty dangerous, don't you think?" Spike asked. "It feels like you WANT us to tell Rarity about your little crush on her," Scootaloo said, in a teasing tone. Spike's eyes then widened again, as he sighed, getting into the basket. xxxxxxx Elsewhere, during that same time... xxxxxxx As Twilight and the others arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, they saw her tending to some of the rabbits nearby. She had chopped up some of the carrots, for the new baby bunnies, worrying that it would be hard to eat for them. "There you go, little fellas," she said, in a quiet tone. She then looked up to see the others arrive, and glided towards them. "Hey Twilight," she said in the same tone, "Enjoying the day so far?" "Well, we would be," Twilight said, "But we've got a problem. Applebloom and her friends got Spike to help them try to find their special talents, and we kind need your help." "Well, I'm not sure. How bad could it be? It isn't dangerous or anything, is it?" "We don't know yet. But what we DO know, is that they threaten to tell..." Twilight was then cut off, when she saw Pinkie Pie giving off her glare again. She then sighed, and turned back towards Fluttershy. "...Tell one of Spike's secrets to...a CERTAIN pony, that Spike doesn't want to know." Fluttershy then was in surprise by it, but then looked at Twilight with caution. "It's not his crush on Applejack is it?" she asked. Everyone then looked at her with disbelief. It wasn't long, before Rainbowdash started to burst with laughter, holding her sides with her front legs. Fluttershy seemed a little confused by it, until she looked back at Twilight. "Wrong pony, Fluttershy," Twilight said, "Though why did you think it was Applejack?" "Because I once saw him almost kiss her, when Rarity got kidnapped," she answered. Twilight and Pinkie's expressions were now in real confusion, as they turned towards Applejack. "Now that just leads to another question," Twilight said, to Applejack, "How come YOU didn't think Spike liked Rarity, when he was daydreaming and almost kissed you by mistake?" "I...kind of forgot that," AJ said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Well, isn't that just..." Pinkie started, before she started to shutter and feel her tail twitch suddenly, "...Uh oh." "Wait, was that your Pinkie sense?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, but this time...*shutters*...it's gonna happen somewhere in Ponyville!" Everyone was now in shock, even Rainbowdash who had stopped laughing, as they rushed towards town as fast as they could. xxxxxxx Back where we left Spike and the crusaders... xxxxxxx As Spike entered the basket, the crusaders soon jumped in, with a sack and three parachutes. "What's the bag for?" Spike asked. "Well, we figured, since spicy foods can make your breath a lot hotter, and that you're a dragon, we thought that it would make your breath hot enough to fill the balloon," Sweetie Belle answered. "Wait, don't hot air balloons have some sort of metal thing, that can spark up a fire or..." Spike started, but then realized that there wasn't one. "There was," Applebloom said, "But it kind of got a little busted up, from when it was being delievered." Spike's eyelids lowered, as he looked at the three fillies. "Alright, so what spicy food did you get?" he asked. "Green peppers," Scootaloo said, opening the bag. Spike was now shocked, as he started to back away. "Oh no," he said, "! No way!" "Why Spike?" Applebloom said, teasingly, "Do you want Rarity to know you love her THAT badly?" "No, guys, you don't understand! I can NOT even be NEAR green peppers!" "How come?" "Well, it happened like this, three days ago..." xxxxxxxx What's Wrong with Green Peppers?xxxxxxx It was just four days, after the incident at the Galloping Gala, and Twilight had the others over for a slumber party she was having, and even let Spike be apart of it. Only downside for him, was that he had to make the party food. It was a lot of hard work for him, but thankfully, Pinkie Pie was generous to help him out, as long as everything wasn't JUST sweets. While that was going on, the others were playing a game of 'Twenty Questions', with Applejack being the one it, and the others only having three questions left. "Is it bigger than your hat?" Rainbowdash asked. "Nope," Applejack responded, shaking her head. "Is it smaller than a parasprite?" Fluttershy asked. "Nu-uh," Applejack said. The others ponies were now stumped. What was she thinking? They only had one question left, and who else, but Twilight, would use it. But before she could say anything, she noticed something right by Applejack. It looked to be one of Owloysius's fallen feathers. The unicorn started to smirk at this, using her magic to levitate it. Applejack noticed Twilight's horn glowing, but didn't notice the feather slowly floating towards her back hoof. xxxxxxx "Okay, so all we need left for the pizza is the toppings," Spike said to Pinkie, who the both of them had chefs hats. "Then it's a good thing I bought a bunch of them," Pinkie said, getting out a bag. "Alright, let's see...olives?" Spike asked. "Check!" Pinkie exclaimed, getting out the toppings called. "Mushrooms?" "Check!" "Pineapple?" "Ew, who eats pineapple on their pizza?" Pinkie asked, with a disgusted expression. "Twilight and Applejack," Spike answered. "Oh. Let's see...check!" "Okay, good," Spike said, looking back at his list, "Alright, I think that's it." "What about green peppers?" Pinkie asked, looking over his shoulder. "Green peppers?" "Of course! A pizza's not a pizza, without green peppers!" "I didn't even know you LIKED green peppers," Spike said, stepping back a bit, "let alone, green peppers on pizza." "Have you ever TRIED them on pizza?" Pinkie asked, "It's DELICOUS!" "Is it?" Spike asked, looking away, "well...I guess I COULD give it a shot. Let's do it!" Suddenly, they heard a loud crash, and loud laughter coming from the other room, causing a few things on shelves to fall onto the floor, and shatter. The dragon and earth-pony looked at each other, and where the noise was coming from. "I think we'd better hurry, before things get out of hand." With that, they started to put the toppings on the unbaked pizza, and pop it into the oven, as Spike started to sweep up some of the shattered pieces. After the time was up, Spike got his mitts on, taking out the work of art that had a smell, that nopony could resist. That, and a slice had gems on it, as he continued to drool with hunger. Soon enough, he snapped back into reality, and started to bring the pizza and some of the other refreshments into the other room, where the others were. "Soup's on, everypony!" Spike said, "Or rather, pizza's on." Twilight and the others soon started to gather round the table, letting the delightful aroma fill the area around them, as they each grabbed a slice. Spike got his, since his was the only one with gems on it, but then noticed that Applejack wasn't there. "Hey, where's Aj?" the dragon asked. "She's using the bathroom right now," Fluttershy said, in a quiet tone. "Yeah, she had a bit of an accident, but she'll be okay," Rainbowdash said. "Oh, alright then." As Spike synced his teeth into his slice of pizza, the green pepper taste was astounding to him, as he let the flavor dance all over his taste-buds. "See?" Pinkie said, noticing Spike's happy expression, "I told ya so!" "You were right Pinkie," Spike said, swallowing his bite, then finishing off the rest, "That really was..." Spike was then cut off, when he started to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He tried to ignore it, but suddenly cause more trouble for him, as he started grunting a bit. "Spike, are you okay?" Twilight asked. "Oh yeah, I'm...I'm fine...Ooh!" Spike said, then feeling another cramp-like pain in his guts, "oh jeez." "Are you sure you're alright, darling?" Rarity asked. This time, Spike didn't reply. He simply grunted, making an intense face, until he started to turn pale. Suddenly, Pinkie's ears started to flop. Then her eyes fluttered. And as Spike started to rush towards the bathroom, Pinkie's knees were twitching, causing her eyes to widen and gasp. "Spike, wait!" She called, "Watch out for the..." But as Spike was about to go through the bathroom door, it swung open, pancaking him between the wall and door, as Applejack started to exit, with a gloomy look. "...door." "Boy," she said upset, as she continued to walk, "If I knew Twilight was going to tickle me silly, I wouldn't have drank all that apple juice. So embarrissin'." As the door to the bathroom slowly departed from the wall, with Spike still stuck to it, it made it's way inside, with him landing on the floor. He then got to his feet and locked the door. Applejack soon approached the other ponies, giving Twilight and Rainbowdash a mean glare, as they returned with nervous smiles. Applejack then looked over at the pizza, which lightened her mood. "Pineapple," she said, grabbing the last slice, "my favorite." (A/N: Probably should've brought this up a while back, but...get it? It has 'apple' in it's name.) "I wonder if Spike will be okay," Fluttershy muttered to Twilight. "I'm sure Spike's fine," Twilight said, "He's probably just got a bad case of dia-" Twilight was then cut off, by a sudden explosion, with the bathroom door plowing into Applejack, sending her crashing into a wall. The other ponies looked over, to see Spike, covered in soot and ash. "...rrhea." "Twilight," Spike started, "We're probably gonna have to get a new bathroom." Everypony was now started to get a disgusted look, feeling kind of sick. "Oh Spike, don't tell me-" "No, really. Look." Twilight then looked over, to where Spike was pointing, and was surprised. There was, literally, nothing there, but a big hole in the wall. Twilight, then looked made over at Spike, who chuckled nervously in response. "I'll...I'll get a mop," he said, walking away. xxxxxxx "And that's pretty much it," Spike said, finishing his story. "So...the reason you won't eat green peppers, is because it will cause an explosion?" Scootaloo asked. "Yep. It's just gas, but with a dragon, it's pretty dangerous." "Well, that would explain why sis had an icepack on her head, when she came home that night," Applebloom said. "Glad we had this," Spike said, "Now if you'll excuse me-" Just as Spike was about to exit the basket, Scootaloo dashed up ahead, blocking the door. "Oh, don't think you're off the hook yet, Spike," she said, "I realize what you were REALLY doing. You made that story up, so that way we could get distracted enough for you to slowly scat away. Well, it's not going to happen...or do you want fair Rarity to know about your little...secret crush?" Spike was now backing away from the basket door, to the other fillies, one of which, Sweetie Belle was glaring at Scootaloo, for bringing up Rarity. It may have been funny the first time, but now it was starting to get a little irritating, to use her sister into forcing someone. Scootaloo, then gripped the bag with her teeth, dragging it towards Spike. "Come on Spike." "I told you, no!" Spike exclaimed, folding his arms and turning away, "And bringing up Rarity won't make me change my mind." Scootaloo started to pout at this, thinking that maybe she SHOULD jump on her scooter and tell Rarity. THAT, or she could try something else. "Okay Spike," She said, "you asked for it." She then looked through the bag, getting out some rope, and Spike still not paying attention. As for the other crusaders, they saw this and tried to block Scootaloo, but no luck. She then pounced over at Spike, causing a cloud of smoke and a lot of noise, only to have Spike appear, tied up and struggling. "Let me go, Scootaloo!" he exclaimed. "No. And if you won't eat them, we'll just FORCE ya too!" xxxxxxxx They're In Deep Now!xxxxxx "Don't ya think forcin' him's a bit too much?" Applebloom asked. "It's only this one time, Applebloom," Scootaloo argued, "Besides, it'll be fun." "How's forcing him to eat something he DOESN'T want to eat fun?" Sweetie Belle asked. "He probably just made it up, to escape!" "I didn't make it up," Spike said, still tied up, "Now untie me!" "I don't believe you," Scootaloo said, her face close-up on Spike's, "But if you ARE, then we need to prove it." Spike responded by turning his head away, which started to irritate Scootaloo. "Okay Crusaders, looks like we have got go through with it," the pegasus filly said, as the other crusaders approached. "Are you sure about this?" Applebloom asked. "I'm sure." The two fillies then looked at each other and shrugged, as they got closer towards Spike, which he was apparently getting nervous about, but tried to not show it. "W...what do you plan on doing?" Spike asked, in a little startled tone. Apparently his answer came, when he started to feel something brush against his soles. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had gotten two large feathers from the bag, and started stroking both his feet. He tried to hold back laughing, as his lips curled into a smile, as he bit his lower lip. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder for him to keep it in. It started to become unbearable, as tears were now welling up in his eyes, and he saw Scootaloo smirking. He had finally cracked, when they reached his toes, and he burst out laughing. But it was soon cut short, as Scootaloo took the chance and got as many green peppers as she could hold in her hoofs, which were seven at most, into his mouth. Before he could spit them out, Scootaloo blocked his mouth with her hoofs. Spike tried to shake her hooves off his mouth, but the sudden taste of the green peppers, even if they were uncooked, delivered that same desirable satisfaction that he had before. Try as he hard, he couldn't stop himself from chewing and swallowing it, which he was wide-eyed about. "Uh oh...this isn't good," he said. "That should do it, for now," Scootaloo said. Spike was about to argue, but then felt a twinging feeling in his guts. Though it was cut short, when Scootaloo took out a bottle of soda, and had him drink it. (A/N: Logic? What's that?) When the bottle was finished being downed, Spike felt like he was going to be sick, when the other fillies got him on his feet, and Scootaloo having him look up. "Okay, Applebloom," Sweetie Belle said, "Go for it!" The next thing he knew, Spike was then kicked in the stomach by Applebloom, and let out a loud belch and a roaring fire going into the balloon. Soon enough, they started to feel the ground beneath them feel lighter, as they levitated off the cliff towards Ponyville. "Alright!" the three of them shouted, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SKY DIVING IS IN SESSION!" xxxxxx As that's going on, Twilight and the others were still going through Ponyville, trying to see what the doozy was that Pinkie was sensing. "Any closer yet, Pinkie?" Twilight asked. "N-n-n-n-n-not y-y-y-y-yet," Pinkie said, shuttering. "This is hopeless!" Rainbowdash exclaimed, "We've searched almost every inch of Ponyville, and it's cutting into my sleep schedule! Plus, weren't we suppose to be looking for Spike, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle?" "Yes, but-" Twilight was then cut off by the sudden crowd of people looking up at the sky, muttering things like "What is that?", "What's going on?", "Are those fillies insane?". They soon looked up, only to see the hot air balloon, and the crusaders ready to jump off the edge. Their eyes were wide at this, gasping in horror. "APPLEBLOOM!" Applejack shouted, "WHAT IN TARNATION ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?" Unfortunately, Applebloom didn't hear her, due to being too high up. Without hesitation, the three of them jumped off the ledge, thankful that they had their parachutes, diving down. Rainbowdash soon did the first thing that came to mind, and flew towards them as fast as she could. The crusaders started to do a couple air tricks as the fell, and just when Rainbowdash could catch them, they opened up their parachutes, with Rainbowdash passing under them. "What the...?" she said, trying to stop herself, causing a screeching noise. (A/N: Hey, if she can cause tiptoe noises in the sky, then she can cause screeching noises to stop herself in the sky.) As Spike watched from above, he couldn't help but admire some of their tactics as they descended before pulling out their parachutes. "Huh," he said, "That's kind of..." Unfortunately, Spike soon felt himself feel again uneasy, but soon let out another stream of fire onto the basket, as he burped a bit. He then started to back away, because if he got anywhere near the fire, then it would be in the danger zone after eating green peppers. But as the fire started to circle around the basket's brim, having some of the strings supporting the basket catch fire too. Spike was now in serious trouble now. Either he lets it all out, causing an explosion, or let the strings burn slowly. "Might as well get it over with anyway," he said to himself. As Rainbowdash finally came to a stop, by a nearby cliff tree, she looked back, just after hearing a sudden explosion, and seeing seeing some fireworks too. It looked impressive for a while, but then remembered to get the crusaders as she dashed towards them. xxxxxx "Ooh! This is the best sky show I've seen in a while," Pinkie said, with sunglasses and a bag of popcorn, shuttering again. As for the rest, they had to cover their eyes from the sudden brightness of the explosion, to a point were even Twilight can't even see it with her magic. But she knew it was trouble. "I hope Applebloom's safe," Applejack said, praying for Rainbowdash to save her. "Hey, Pinkie," Twilight said, "Was THIS the doozy?" Before she answered, Pinkie Pie checked all around her, chasing her tail for a bit, then coming to a stop. "Yep, looks like it," she said, then starting to feel her tail twitch. "But looks like we're not out of the woods yet!" "Pinkie, we're in town, how would we be in the woods?" Applejack asked. "Aj, she means we've still got trouble coming," Twilight corrected. xxxxxx As Rainbowdash got closer and closer, she swooped the fillies up, even though their parachutes were still open. "Rainbowdash?" Scootaloo said in surprise. "That's right!" said pony answered, "You have no idea...wait, where's Spike?" Her question was answered, as she saw Spike, screaming, and the flaming basket fall out of the cloud of smoke. It then landed into the open parachutes, pulling tightly onto them. The crusaders and Rainbowdash soon were in terror as they saw it. "Oh crud," Rainbow said, looking at the forth wall, scared, before getting pulled down with the fillies. xxxxxxx As the brightness cleared up, the others soon took their hoofs away from their faces, except Pinkie who kept her sunglasses on, and looked up to see the others falling, and gasped greatly. "Oh no! Twilight, do something!" Applejack exclaimed, shaking Twilight. "I would teleport them," Twilight said, "but I'm even NEAR close range, and...Oh no." "What is it?" Fluttershy asked. "If I'm right, then...they're right above...RARITY'S!" With that, they all charged towards Rarity's show, as quickly as they could. xxxxxxxxx Ohhhhh boyxxxxxxx "Alright then," Rarity said to herself, working on her last dress order, "I'm finally done." As she put in the final stitch, she then took the dress in with the others and got it all ready. She then started to make sure it was neat as it could get, and close the box, tape sealed and everything. She then used the magic, that she learned from Twilight, to shrink it down so it was easier to carry in her bag. "It's a good thing Twilight taught me that spell. It makes the delivery ten times less stressful." Suddenly, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy came through the doorway in a huge panic. "Rarity! Listen you have to-" "Upupup!" Rarity exclaimed, cutting Twilight off, "What's the number one rule about entering the boutique?" "Rarity, we don't have time for-" "DO IT." They all backed up to the mat outside, wiping the dirt off their feet, then going back in. "That's better," she said, "Continue." CRAAAASH! Before any of them could explain anything, they suddenly felt a huge crash up above them, that it had picture frames almost crash to the floor, if Rarity didn't catch them. Everyone was now in deep panic. "What in Equestria was that?" Rarity exclaimed. The five of them raced upstairs, arriving at Rarity's room, but once they opened the door, they were speechless. It was a disaster. The curtains were ripped apart; the sewing machine was in pieces; the ceiling had a huge gaping hole in it; the bed completely destroyed; wallpaper ruined; the carpet catching a bit of fire, from the burning, blown-up, balloon basket, covered by the deflated balloon; but what struck Rarity the most, as she walked towards the object she picked up by her magic, was that she saw her dress. The dress that she wore for the Gala, that her friends helped finish for her, was now in a worse condition than it was when she left. As the crusaders got out from under the balloon, along with Rainbowdash, getting out of the rubble that was next to Twilight and the others, and Spike coming out of the basket, right by the crusaders, they saw Rarity in 'that state', and started to back away; Sweetie Belle on the other hand was being terrified the most, since she never saw her sister like this. "Guys," Twilight started, "I think she's gonna blow." "SWEETIE BELLE!" Rarity shouted, as she stomped over to the little fillies cowering in fear, "LOOK. AT. WHAT. YOU. AND. YOUR. FRIENDS. DID!" "It...it..." Sweetie Belle tried to explain, but was too scared. "It was an accident," Applebloom said, finishing for Sweetie Belle, "We didn't actually expect something like this to happen." "You think falling from the sky and destroying my room could be considered an ACCIDENT? I mean, LOOK at this place! You are GROUNDED, young lady! You hear me? Two weeks!" Twilight and the others were jaw-dropped at this. This was the first time that they saw Rarity go this berserk, and at her sister no less. Rarity then turned her attention towards Spike, who had the same scared face as the others. "Spike, could you escort the others and Sweetie Belle's friends out?" she asked, in a calmer tone, "I've got some cleaning to get done now." "Uh...sure, Rarity," Spike said, still kind of nervous. As he and the others started to exit the room, he couldn't help but feel the need to help Rarity clean up, or at least ask the crusaders to see if there's anything they could do to make it up to her. But with how angry he saw her, he thinks he should keep a bit away. "Man, she was FURIOUS," Twilight said, closing the door as Spike passed it, "I've never seen her that angry before." "I did," Pinkie said, smiling. "What? When?" "At the gala, when the princess's nephew humiliated her." Twilight's eyes then widened, then remembering Rarity talking about how much of a royal pain Prince Blueblood was, and started remembering the events that night. xxxxxxx Poor Spikexxxxxxxxx As the others were about to leave, Spike, who was still by the door, started to hear Rarity talk about something. Or rather, someONE. "I couldn't believe they got Spike involved with this," Rarity said, in an upset tone. Spike's eyes then widened, as he turned and opened the door slightly, to hear better. Twilight saw this, curious about his actions. "...I mean, the things I would have imagined him would've worked out, but NOO, he just had to go and RUIN everything! If I ever see that royal, no good, unforgivable, jerk, who had ruined my one chance at my happiness, yet it's wasted because of him!" Spike was now in complete shock at what she said. Did the crash really get her mad at him too? He then started to feel a sharp pain in his heart, as his eyes started to well with tears, and bite his lower lip. "Spike, are you okay?" she asked in a worried tone. Spike's response however, was him running out of the boutique, passing by the others. "Spike! Spike!" Twilight called, running after him, with Owloysius following behind. "What's gotten into him?" Rainbowdash asked. "Not sure, but I'm sure Twilight can deal with it, easy," Applejack said. xxxxxxxx As Twilight arrived back at home, she started looking for Spike, since he ran back here. She looked around, until she started to hear a sudden noise come from upstairs. It sounded like crying. She walked upstairs to her bedroom, to see Spike in his bed. He was sitting upward, curled up with something. Twilight moved in front of him, to get a better view of it. It was the jeweled bow-tie that Rarity gave him. Not only that, she saw Spike crying heavily, as he held the bow-tie, wet from his tears. His cheeks were red and puffy, so it looked like he was crying a lot. "Spike?" she asked, calmly, "what's wrong?" The little dragon looked up at Twilight, still having the same heartbroken expression, and with tears still pouring out of his eyes. He sniffled, and tried to calm himself down enough, so he could talk. "R...Rarity *hic*," he started, still sobbing and hiccuping, "...I heard...*sniff*...I started to hear Rarity *hic*...talk about me...saying I was...*sob*...said I was a complete jerk to *hic*...to her." "What?" She said, kind of disbelieving it, "Why would she say that?" "Be...*sniff*...because of the *hic*...crash..." "Spike, she's not mad at you for that. Besides, I told her that you were blackmailed into it." "You what?" Spike exclaimed, with wider and sadder eyes, "You told her my secret?" "No, I said that you were being blackmailed. But even if I did tell, it's probably not going to make a difference, Spike. She just only looks at you as a friend." "But you don't think I know that by know?" Spike exclaimed again, crying more, and startling Twilight, "You don't think...that I *hic*...already know, she's not returned my love by now? Why *hic* why do you think I kept trying all this time? But now..." he then started to calm down, and get back into his sadder state, "...*sniff*...now that chance is gone...this is the *hic* worst day of my life..." After his little breakdown, Spike then went back to crying his eyes out, remembering the things that Rarity had said. Twilight couldn't help but feel sorry for her little dragon assistant. "Say, Spike?" she asked. "*sniff*...ye...yeah?" "Is there at least anything I can get you?" "*sniff*...could..." he then opened his arms up towards her, still very teary eyed, "could you...*hic*...hug me?" Twilight looked into her friends incredibly sad eyes, and did as he wanted, wrapping her hooves around him, as he wrapped his arms around her. In the process, his tears were now soaking her shoulder coat wet. But she didn't let it bother her, as it did make Spike a little calmer. "Th...thanks Twilight," Spike said, in a croaked tone. xxxxxxxx Contagious Tearsxxxxxxxx "Hghnn...dah!" As sunset was coming, Applejack was having Applebloom help gather fresh apples, as punishment for the trouble she caused. Applejack still had a mad look on her face, as she looked over at Applebloom, who was still having a little trouble and was barely getting any apples of the tree. "Come on, Applebloom," she called out, "Put more leg into it!" "I...can't..." she said, panting. "Well, I'm sorry, but this is your punishment, so you gotta," Applejack said, walking over to her. Applebloom then got herself together, and prepared herself. She then brought her hind legs in, then brought them out to make contact with the tree. It eventually did work, but then Applebloom suddenly felt a sharp pain in her right hind leg. "Ow! Owowowowowowow!" she exclaimed out. "What is it this time?" Applejack asked. "I think it's a cramp, ow!" Applejack looked at this, as she was getting the fallen apples into the basket, and her response was kneeling by Applebloom. "Come on, climb up," she said. As Applebloom did, Aj got on her feet again, and started to walk towards the house. She looked back at her little sister, who was still holding onto her leg, and still couldn't feel a little shed of guilt. "Look," she said, "I'm not doing this just to be mean, you know that? But you gotta understand that Rarity was real upset about destroying her room like that, and so was Spike getting blackmailed into this." "I know," Applebloom responded, still with a sore leg, "Maybe tomorrow I can make it up to the both of them somehow." "That could work. Besides, Rarity's going to be out of town tomorrow afternoon, so it would be nice to help her fix up the mess before she leaves, AND go over to Twilight's to apologize with something he'd like." "Okay, Applejack..." she said, then dozing off from exhaustion. 'I sure hope Twilight's doing alright,' Applejack thought, as she was entering the barn. xxxxxxx Twilight still kept a good hold on Spike, who was still crying a bit, but had let go when she saw that the sun had finally finished setting. "Feel any better?" she asked, as the little dragon looked up at her, with teary eyes. "A...a little..." he said, sniffling. "Well, you wait here, and I'll get each of us a slice of the cake, Pinkie had brought over." With that, Twilight started to head downstairs to the kitchen, looking back at Spike, still sad as a hurt puppy. As she reached downstairs, she started to feel a sudden ache in her heart. She didn't know why, but she kept moving on into the kitchen. She then used her magic, to get the cake out, and a knife, when she suddenly started to feel a lump in her throat. "What the heck?" she said, her voice suddenly cracking, "What's going on?" She tried not to lose focus, cutting two slices for her and Spike, when she started to see tears welling up in her eyes. As she was heading back to the stairs, she tried to look for a book on dragons, thinking something might be causing it. As she did, she was just close to breaking down, as she found an article on 'dragon sadness' saying: 'Dragon Sadness' is resulted, when a baby dragon has experienced a enormous amount of sadness, whether it be by a loved one, hateful or passing on, it causes it's tears to be contagious to any living creature, who is exposed to a large amount, to feel the same amount of sorrow that dragon has experienced.' As she was barely able to read it, due to her eyes being watery every five seconds, she was struck by this, and know knew Spike's pain. She had to find something to cure it, but that's when she finally started to break down in tears. Spike, still heartbroken and sad, heard this, and went downstairs to see what was troubling her friend. "Wh...why are YOU crying now?" Spike asked. Twilight's response was showing him the book, and his eyes widened and got even sadder. She looked up at Twilight, thinking it was now his fault that he caused her to cry, and brought her into a hug. "I'm...I'm so sorry, Twilight," he said, then breaking down into tears with her. "No...It's not your fault, Spike," Twilight said, trying to keep herself together, even when crying, "We'll...we'll find a way to fix things...I...I guarantee it." After that, both of them hugged each other, crying their eyes out through the night. For them, it'll be a long one. xxxxxxxx The next morning, Applejack and Applebloom, who was caring a bag with something she made herself, started to head towards Rarity's, still seeing the big hole in the roof, and approached the door step. "Now remember," Applejack said, "No funny business with Sweetie Belle, got it?" "Yes, ma'am," Applejack said, ashamed. As the door opened, in the doorway was Sweetie Belle, still looking sad. "Sweetie Bell?" Applejack said, surprised, "Where's Rarity? Isn't she still here?" "She left to deliver the clothes to Canterlot last night," she explained, "She was so frustrated after you guys left, she realized that she was late to deliver them early." "Deliver them early?" "Yeah, she wanted to get it over with, since the princess and her nephew were taking care of some things in Philly-delphia." "So, I guess fixing her room will be kind of a surprise for her," Applebloom said, a little excited. "It would, but she kinda put a spell on the door, so we wouldn't enter, until she gets back tonight." "Man, Twilight's REALLY been teaching her a lot of spells, hasn't she?" Applejack said. "You're right on that." "Well, we might as well head over to Twilight's anyways." With that, both sisters started walking over to Twilight's, hoping she could help, and for Applebloom to get things straight with Spike. As they arrived, Applebloom knocked on the door, baked goods still in the bag, and as the door opened, they saw Twilight, eyes red and saggy, and tears still spilling out of her eyes. "Oh...hey guys," she said, sniffling a bit. "Twi, are you okay?" Applejack asked, "What's wrong?" "Well *hic* I think it's best if I show you..." she said, leading them in. As the walked in, she used her magic to bring the book from yesterday to the others. As Applejack read the article, she had a confused expression on her face. "Is that why you're all upset?" she asked, "Seems a little weird if you ask me." "If...if it was stupid, then *hic* why don't you go up to Spike and find out for yourself." "Alright then," Applejack said, "Applebloom, come on." They both passed Twilight, and went upstairs to find Spike, still in his heartbroken state, hugging his jeweled bow-tie, which looked to be incomplete. Their guess was that, he picked some of them off. But the reason why, is what they were going to find out about. "Spike?" Applebloom called, in a quiet tone. As the little dragon turned around, they both saw his tear-stained face, and were in a bit of shock at it. "You okay, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "*sniff*...no," Spike answered, sniffling. "S...Spike?" Applebloom said, pulling off the bag she had, "I came to apologize for getting you into all this trouble...I'm sorry." He brought the bag closer to him, to reveal some muffins. He sniffed them, teardrops falling onto the crust, and looked up back at Applebloom. "Th...thanks, Applebloom," Spike said, still choked up, "I forgive you, but...I don't know if it's gonna make me better." "Then what's troubling you then?" Applejack asked. xxxxxxx 3 minutes after explaining, and many tear-shedding moments later... xxxxxxx After explaining why he was upset, and many tear-sprinkling moments later, he finally broke down again, most of his tears spraying over the others, and even they started to cry, now affected by the exposure to dragon tears. They then walked downstairs towards Twilight, who was still crying as much as they were, and hugged Applejack, as she did the same. It was then, another knock at the door came, and before one could answer it, Pinkie Pie and Rainbowdash were pulling another prank, leaving a basket at the doormat, and hid by the bush. As Twilight answered it, she noticed the basket, and saw that part of Rainbowdash's tail was sticking out. "Rain-*hic* Rainbowdash, I can see you in," she said, still in a croaked voice. The two ponies then came out of their hiding place, a little bugged that they were found out, and came out of the bushes. "Look you two, I *sob*...I'm currently not in the mood for any pranks today, alright?" "Why? Something up?" Rainbowdash asked. "Well...*sniff* If I tell you what it is, then you might get caught into this mess too." "Twilight, if you're a little upset about something, then there's nothing that a little party can't fix!" Pinkie said, stepping in with a ton of party supplies. xxxxxxxx Another 3 minutes later... xxxxxxx Pinkie then exited the door, crying a river (literally), and hugged onto Twilight, who was too now bawling her eyes out. Rainbowdash was confused by this, and decided to go check on this herself. Along the path, Scootaloo, who was going to get some shopping done, sees Twilight and Pinkie and tears, and decides to investigate. As she grabbed a nearby ladder, she got it positioned near the bedroom window, and climbed up. She then saw Spike, who was sadder than before, tell Rainbowdash what he was upset about, and she got sprayed by Spike's tears, an then she started to cry too. Scootaloo's eyes widened as she heard this, and rushed back home, before anyone could see her. 'Oh jeez,' she thought, 'I have to tell Sweetie Belle about this, quick!' xxxxxxxxx The Secret's Out!xxxxxx As sunset was finally coming, Scootaloo finally came in good range of the boutique, rang the doorbell, and was now panting heavily. "Come on, Sweetie Belle," she said, "Please be home!" As the door opened, to reveal Sweetie Belle, her eyes were in shock, at seeing her friend. "Sweetie Belle, you'll never believe what I found out!" She said, looking serious. "What is it?" she asked, eyelids lowered, "Another person's secret? Look, we have to drop the blackmail thing. I mean, just look at how much trouble I got into!" "But it's about why Spike is upset!" "Well, it was because YOU just had to make him eat green peppers, when he told us it would be dangerous!" "Curiosity kills the cat, you know?" she said, getting a growl and glare from Opalescence, "But that's not the point! The point is, Rarity had said horrible things about Spike, when we left!" "How do you know?" "Because, I just came back from Twilight's, and I heard him say it himself!" Sweetie Belle looked at her friend with a suspicious look, but something didn't feel right to her. If Spike really WAS hurt by Rarity's words, then she needed to find out. "I'll need proof," she said. "Okay, I'll be right back," Scootaloo said, then rushing back to Twilight's. After a while, Scootaloo returned with Applebloom, still crying heavily, due to the dragon sadness still. Sweetie Belle, was now starting to get worried. "Is Applebloom okay?" she asked. "She's fine," Scootaloo said, "Now Applebloom, could you tell Sweetie Belle what you heard from Spike?" "*sniff*...o-*hic*-okay," she said, sniffling. xxxxxxx A small teardrop falls onto a picture of Rarity, that Spike was holding in his claws. Just seeing the pictures that he drew of her, only made him sadder. If she was mad at him for what he did, then maybe not seeing her again, was for the best. He then gathered up all of his drawings, and started to tie them all up with string. He then noticed Owloysius right by the bed post, and walked over to him. "Owloysius," he said, trying his best not to break down again, "Would you *hic*...would you take these pictures away from me?" "Hoot." "I don't care who, just take them away from ME!" Owloysius then started flapping his wings, and grabbed hold of the strings, which were a little heavy for him, as Spike opened the window for him. As Owloysius flew off, Spike could only watch, as his friend carried off the many drawings he made of the one he loved so dearly. He then looked over the stairs, hearing some of the others, who were still crying, start to head off for home. As he returned to his bed, all he could do was cry himself to sleep. xxxxxxxx Nightime came, and everyone was now in bed, or just inside. Along the path, Rarity was now arriving back home, after her trip from Canterlot. She looked exhausted, like she barely got any sleep at all. "Oh, thank GOODNESS," she yawned, "I'm finally home." As she opened the door to the boutique, she saw sitting in one of the stools, was Sweetie Belle, who had a sour expression on her face. "Sweetie Belle? What are you doing up this late?" She asked, irritated. "Sis, we need to talk," Sweetie Belle answered, getting off the stool. "Look, can we at least talk about it in the morning?" Rarity said, very tiresome, walking towards the stairs. "But it's about Spike," Sweetie Belle said, following her sister, "He's been very upset ever since the accident." "Well, he might be upset, because you blackmailed him into you and your friends' shenanigans, and DESTROYING my room!" "Well, Applebloom and Scootaloo-" "Didn't I say that you weren't allowed to be playing with them, since you're grounded?" Rarity exclaimed, turning around. "Well, Applebloom was brought by her sister, to fix up the roof," Sweetie Belle said in defense, as they continued up the stairs, "They were originally going to get Twilight, but when Scootaloo brought Applebloom, she told me that you had said something mean to him." Rarity was then struck by what she had explained, and looked at her curiously. "I don't remember saying anything bad about Spike, this past week." "Well, Applebloom told me that you called Spike a...'royal, no good, unforgivable, jerk, who had ruined your one chance at happiness', or something like that." Rarity then stopped dead in her tracks, which was just a few steps from the door. Her eyes were wide, as she looked at her little sister with worry and shock, like she was a ghost or something. "Uh...Sweetie Belle, are you SURE Spike heard that?" "I'm sure of it. Why?" "Oh dear," Rarity said, placing a hoof on her cheek, "Uh, I think I need to explain something." xxxxxxxx As Spike and the others started to exit Rarity's room, she then started to use her magic to pick up the balloon, and pieces of wood. "I couldn't believe that they got Spike involved with this," she said, "I mean, why HIM of all people? I would've expected Rainbowdash to be the one to get into all of this. Though, then again, it's not as bad as what happened at the gala..." She then started to remember the events from last week. She then started to feel her inner rage started to rise at a rapid speed. She tried to hold it back, but since she was alone, she decided to let it all out. "To think Prince Blueblood could be such a spoiled brat! I mean, the things I would have imagined him would've worked out, but NOO, he just had to go and RUIN everything! If I ever see that royal, no good, unforgivable, jerk, who had ruined my one chance at my happiness, yet it's wasted because of him!..." she then stopped herself, as she calmed down, and finished up cleaning up. "Oh jeez, frustration's really making my words jumbled." As she finally got the place cleared up, she then put away her now destroyed dress, giving it a sad look. The dress she worked so hard on and that her friends helped finish. She then sighed and looked up at the hole. But her thoughts were interrupted, when she heard her cuckoo clock go off five times. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, "It's Five o'clock! I've got to get the delivery done!" She then grabbed her bag, and closed the door. She then used her magic to create a barrier around it, and dashed downstairs. As she was exiting, she noticed that the others probably left. Before she left, she used another spell to have a written letter for Sweetie Belle, placing it on the table, and dashing out the boutique. xxxxxx "So...You DIDN'T insult Spike?" Sweetie Belle said, in shock about the explanation. "Yes," Rarity answered, "But I don't think Spike would've taken something like that TOO hard, if he misheard." "He did, Rarity! More than you think!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "And why is that, young lady?" Rarity said, using her magic to take down the barrier. "Because..." the little filly paused, remembering about Spike, begging not to let his secret be told. She had to tell her. As she was about to say it, she and Rarity saw a pile of papers, right in the middle of the room. They walked over to it, and were both wide eyed by it. The top paper was a picture, and not just any picture. It was a drawing of Rarity and Spike, with a heart in the background. Rarity found it a little weird, and started to check the other papers. It was another drawing of Spike and Rarity. And the next one. And the next one. And the one after that. And the one after THAT. Rarity was now in deep awe at this, seeing an entire pile of drawings, with her and Spike and a lot of hearts and kissy stuff. "He loves you," Sweetie Belle said. "What?" Rarity asked, turning towards her. "He loves you. That's why he took it so hard, because he feels like you hate him, because of the accident." Rarity now felt very guilty about herself. Even with the simplest insult she gave wouldn't affect him, but if he broke down after hearing her rant, then he must really love her. She then used her magic to shrink down the drawings into her bag, and started to head out. "Where are you going?" Sweetie Belle asked. "To fix up a problem I made," Rarity answered, exiting the boutique. xxxxxxx Fixing Things Upxxxxxxx As Rarity arrived at Twilight's, she knocked on the door, hoping that they weren't asleep yet. After a while, the door opened to reveal Twilight, who was still crying while under dragon sadness. "Oh *sniff* Rarity you're *hic*...you're back," Twilight said, sniffling, "How'd *hic* how'd it go?" "It went quite alright," Rarity answered, "But um...Twilight, I came to see Spike. I heard about what happened, so I came to fix it up." "*sniff*...okay, come on in." As Rarity stepped inside, the door closing behind her, she then followed Twilight upstairs, and there she saw him with shocked eyes, Spike in the deepest misery she's ever seen him. "Oh my goodness," she whispered, "He really does love me." "Wait," Twilight said, now wide eyed, "How *hic*...how do you know that?" Rarity's answer, was pulling out Spike's drawings and resizing them. Twilight was in shock, seeing Rarity with them. Not to mention, very confused. "I found these on the floor of my room," Rarity said, "I don't know who brought them, but it helped prove that I DID hurt him. Now I've got to fix this." She then put the drawings on the ground, and walked over to Spike. He didn't notice her, until she tapped his shoulder, and looked up, eyes sad and wide. "Hey Spike," she said, in soft tone. The little dragon's eyes then grew sadder as he looked at her, and turned away. "Go away," he said, crying, "Let me just wither away, like you want me to." "Spike, listen, I need to explain something to you." "Explain what? That I'm worthless? That I should just leave town and just die? Would that make you happy?" Rarity was now in shock at what Spike had just said. She started to feel hurt by his words, but didn't want to let it get to her. "Spike, if I thought you were worthless, then why would I even be talking to you in the first place?" she asked. Spike then turned back at Rarity, with his eyes filled with realization. He still had tears in his eyes, but it was still filled with doubt. She then gave him a sad smile, as she got closer to him. "Why don't we take a walk?" she asked. "*sniff*...well...I *hic*...I guess," Spike answered, still sniffling. "Is that alright, Twilight?" "*sniff*...well...if it'll help *hic*...help Spike," Twilight said, still crying. "Thank you." With that, Rarity and Spike walked downstairs and headed out the door into town. Twilight watched them, as they exit the building, and decided to get some sleep. She crawled into bed, and gently cried to sleep. But after a while, she started to feel lonely, and get some coco to calm her down. xxxxxx As Spike and Rarity strolled through the quiet town, she started to explain who she was mad at. Spike was still crying, but as Rarity went on, he started to feel his sadness weaken. She then explained that it was Prince Blueblood that Rarity was saying was the jerk she was really hating on. "I'm glad I was able to explain it to you, as soon as I heard," she said, "Though, mind telling me, how your drawings got into my room?" Spike then started to feel his heart stop. His drawings of Rarity in her room? He then noticed, by one of the roofs, Owloysius was there on the edge, and gave Spike a wink, and flew off. The little dragon then turned back towards Rarity. "So...So that means..." he stammered, still having tears in his eyes. "Yes, Spike, I know your secret," she said, simply, "But that's not going to change anything between us." Now he was confused. "Spike, I do think it's cute that you'd fall for me, and..." she then paused for a minute, "...I just want to say, I'm sorry if I hurt you." "S...so, what happens now?" Spike asked. "Well...how about this. Next week, I've got to head down to Philly-delphia next week, and I was thinking...maybe you'd like to lend a hand with the packages?" "You mean...like a da-" Spike started, then covering his mouth with his claws, before he said that one word. "Like a what?" Spike then grew nervous, blushing heavily. He then gulped dryly, and tried again. "A Detour. Uh...yeah! That's what I meant!" Rarity then looked at Spike with a curious look. She knew what he was really going to say, but didn't feel like hurting him again. "Sure, if that's what you want to call it." As they arrived back at Twilight's, Rarity then turned towards Spike, who was a little less sadder than usual. "Feel any better?" she asked. "*sniff*...you...you know what?" he said, as he realized he had stopped crying, and smiled, "...yeah...I do feel better." "Good. I'm glad we had this talk." Spike then felt happy, but it wasn't done yet. The next thing he knew, completely surprised him on all levels. Rarity gave him a quick peck on his cheek, which was now red, along with his entire face. The unicorn then chuckled a bit, and started to head off for home. "Have a good night, Spike." It was then Spike stood there, placing a hand on the cheek Rarity had pressed her lips against. He then brought his hand away, and was completely speechless about it. He then walked inside, and saw that Twilight was asleep with a mug of coco right beside her. Spike only smile at it, as he went over, and got Twilight back in bed, as he too went to sleep in his. xxxxxxx All's Well, Ends Wellxxxxxx As the day began, Twilight started to open her eyes slowly, hearing some strange sounds. She couldn't tell what they were, due to her being very tired, and got up. It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen, so she dashed downstairs to it. As she entered, her eyes widened, as she saw Spike, making breakfast, while wearing a chef hat and apron. "Oh, morning Twilight," Spike said, turning towards her, in a cheery mood, "Glad you're awake. I made you some breakfast." He then handed her a plate of eggs and toast, with a glass of orange juice. Twilight just looked back at him, noticing something different. He was happy. He wasn't crying. Twilight then realized that SHE wasn't crying either. Her eyes were dry, she wasn't hiccuping, and didn't have the sniffles. "I take it Rarity fixed things up?" she asked, smiling. "You bet!" Spike answered, finishing his breakfast. "Well, I'm glad that everything's back to normal again." Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The two of them walked over, and opened the door to reveal Fluttershy, Rarity, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies also had a cake with gemstones on it.. "Go on, girls," Fluttershy said. "Spike, we brought this cake, to show how sorry we are," Scootaloo said, looking down. "I even got the gemstones, since you like them so much," Sweetie Belle said, as Spike took the cake, with a hungry expression, but then turned back to the three of them. "Thanks guys," Spike said, "And I forgive you. I'm just glad that my love for Rarity is the same again." Scootaloo and Applebloom gasped at this, but Sweetie Belle only smiled sadly. Spike saw their reactions and chuckled at it. "Relax guys," he said, "She knows, so there's no point keeping it secret." "At least, you've learned about ease-dropping, right?" Rarity asked, with a raised eyebrow. "I have." Twilight looked at this, and smiled softly. "Spike, care to take a letter?" she asked. "With pleasure, Twilight!" Spike exclaimed, pulling out a piece of paper, and a quill pen, writing down everything Twilight said. "Dearest Princess Celestia, I am proud to announce that, not one, but TWO lessons about friendship have been learned today," she started, going over the crusaders, patting each of their heads, "For three of your loyal subjects, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they learned that teasing about one's feelings for another into something they want in return, doesn't get you anywhere, but trouble, and that if they want help, they should ask." She then turned towards Spike, who was still writing, as Rarity walked over, "The other lesson, that my faithful assistant, Spike, has learned, is that ease-dropping on someone's thoughts on another, doesn't always mean it's you, and that you shouldn't always jump to conclusions on something, and ask them about it. And who knows? It could even lead to a stronger friendship. Your Faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" "Got it!" Spike said, finishing up the letter. But before Spike could sent it, they heard a loud crash, coming from over by the fields. They soon rushed over, to see Pinkie Pie, with a bag of popcorn, watching a very awkward scene. Rainbowdash was tickling Applejack. "Come on! Admit you cried more!" Rainbowdash said, as she continued her assault. "Hehehehehehe n-no way!" Applejack laughed, pushing herself up to get the upper hand, getting Rainbowdash. "Hihihihihihi st-stop!" The others just watched in confusion, as Pinkie Pie chowed down on her popcorn. "They've been going at it for a while now," Pinkie said, with popcorn in her mouth. "Oh my goodness," Fluttershy said, in a frightened tone, "Shouldn't we stop them?" "There's nothing wrong with a little tickling," Pinkie said, getting up, "Here, let me show you!" The next thing she knew, Fluttershy was tackled by her friends, and started to get tickled by her, furiously. Fluttershy tried her best not to laugh, but ended up bursting out laughing. The others started to chuckle, as Fluttershy started to fight back, tickling Pinkie and having her laugh hysterically. "Well, I guess we now have FOUR of us, that have the same weakness," Rarity said. "Oh yeah?" Sweetie Belle said, as she and the others got ready, making Rarity nervous a bit. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TICKLE ATTACK!" The three fillies shouted, as they pounced on Rarity, tickling her furiously, as she laughed loudly. As Twilight and Spike looked at the many tickle fights, they couldn't help but laugh at the situation, with how funny it is. But it didn't matter as much anyway, since the whole situation was resolved well. xxxxxxxx
Crusaders Find Out!xxxxxxxxx It was a nice and sunny day in Ponyville, as the many ponies and fillies enjoy the nice atmosphere around town. Thankfully, the pegasus ponies were on schedule for a bright and shiny day, until... The sky suddenly turned pitch black, many stars appearing, causing the ponies confusion at first, but that confusion turned to panic, when the buildings were suddenly being engulfed by a dark cloud. The ponies started to scramble all over, as a sudden figure appeared from the darkness, revealing itself to be Nightmare Moon. She looked down at the debris, spreading throughout the village, and the ponies falling one by one. Soon after, she encountered Twilight Sparkle and her friends on the ground, writhing in pain. She looked up, her vision blurry from the amount of damage she took, to see Nightmare Moon staring down at her, with a menacing glare. “Looks like you aren't as lucky as you were BEFORE, little pony,” Nightmare Moon said, “THIS time, I WILL plunge all of Equestria into eternal darkness!” “You'll...never get...away with this...” Twilight said, with what little strength she had left in her. “Oh, but I believe I have, and there's no one else, who can stop me now!” “That's where you're WRONG, Nightmare Moon!” a sudden manly voice called. Nightmare Moon looked up to where the voice was coming from and gasped greatly at who it was. There stood in a red cape, huge muscles, and lance of pure gold, was Spike the Benevolent, riding his faithful bird the size of a house, Owloysius. “Oh no, not YOU again!” Nightmare Moon shouted in fear. “Oh yes, me again,” Spike said, in mockery, as he prepared his lance, “Let's go, Owloysius!” Soon, the giant owl swooped down towards Nightmare Moon, who was now shooting dark arrows towards the great hero. The arrows were soon deflected by Spike's lance, as he came closer towards Nightmare Moon. The villain had decided to go with the obvious choice to win, so she used her darkness to grab Rarity, who was still injured, and in a sparkly new dress mind you, closer to her. “Don' move, Hero,” Nightmare Moon said, “or do you want to see your little friend, get SCEWERED like an apple?” “Spike, help!” Rarity called out. Spike saw this as he jumped down from Owloysius, and grew mad. But as he was about to approach, Nightmare Moon used her darkness to shape into a sword, threatening to slice Rarity. He didn't know what to do now, as he dropped his lance, and knelt down. Nightmare Moon couldn't help but chuckle at the dragon's defeat, tossing Rarity aside. But just as Nightmare Moon was about to use her darkness to strike Spike the Benevolent down, Owloysius swooped down in time, to scratch at her eyes. She then soon yelped out in pain, giving Spike enough time to grab his lance and strike Nightmare Moon down. Suddenly, the darkness was soon engulfing her and all the debris with her. “I'll get you for this, Spike the Benevolent,” she cried out, “You haven't seen the last of MEEEeee...” Soon, Nightmare Moon had vanished, and all of Ponyville, along with the citizens, had been restored. Everyone was now cheering for Spike and his sidekick, as the mayor approached. “Thank you, Spike,” she said, “if it wasn't for you, then we wouldn't have been here right now. You and Owloysius are true heroes!” “It was nothing,” Spike the Benevolent said, “but the real credit does go to Owloysius. If it wasn't for him, I would've been taken out easily.” “But,” Rarity said, approaching Spike, “you'll always be MY hero, Spike.” Spike then leaned down towards the beautiful unicorn, and leaned in for a kiss, and... “Spike?” The dragon suddenly snapped out of his fantasy. He was on the floor with a bunch of crayons and a small pile of papers of his drawings, all of which are of Rarity. He then gathered them up, and hid them behind his back, as he turned to face Twilight Sparkle, with Owloysius on her back. “What are you-” “I wasn't drawing pictures of Rarity, if THAT'S what you're thinking!” he exclaimed quickly, cutting Twilight off. Twilight then had a bewildered look on her face, which soon turned into an expression of disinterest. Spike couldn't help but fake smile, with a slight blush on his face, sweating very nervously. “Okay then,” Twilight said, “Anyways, I need you and Owloysius to go down to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie's been constantly telling me, that I have to try this new cake she's made. She says it's something to die for.” Spike then soon calmed down a bit, and put his drawings away. That is, except for three, which he decided to work on, on the pathway. As he headed towards the door, Owloysius soon joined him, landing on his head. “We'll be back as soon as possible,” Spike said, before closing the door. As he walked along the path, he pulled out one of his unfinished drawings, and started to color it a bit more. Owloysius looked down at the drawings, with the same expression he's had, and then looked down at Spike. “Hoot,” he said. “What?” Spike asked, looking up. “Hoot.” “What? The drawings? Oh, it's just Rarity, the most beautiful pony in the world,” he said, in a love state voice. “Hoot.” Spike looked at Owloysius with an annoyed expression. “Oh no, I'm not falling into THAT cycle again,” he said, going back to his drawings. “Hoot.” Spike now had a displeasing look on his face. 'Just ignore it,' Spike thought, 'Just ignore it, and it won't cause any-' “WATCH OUT!” Spike's thoughts were interrupted, when he heard someone call out to him. He turned around, only to meet someone crashing into him. When he got out of his daze, he looked to see that the ones who crashed into him, were Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle. He also saw their scooter and wagon a little out of place. “Sorry about that, Spike,” Scootaloo said. “It's okay,” the dragon said, getting up, as Owloysius flew back onto his head, “I've been through worse, so this is nothing.” “Well, if you say so,” Applebloom said, then sees a piece of paper on the ground, “Hey, what's this?” The wind then suddenly blew the paper over, to reveal itself as Spike's drawing of Rarity, only a quarter of it, left unfinished. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo looked at it, and started to chuckle at it a bit. They looked up at Spike, who was dusting himself off, and seeing two other drawings right by him. “Hey Spike,” Sweetie Belle called, “are these YOUR drawings?” “Huh?” Spike asked, looking at them. When he saw that his drawings were out, his eyes widened, and he quickly gathered them up. His face was now completely flushed, as he looked back at the little crusaders who were laughing. “Wow, Spike,” Scootaloo chuckled, “I didn't know you had a thing for Rarity.” “No I don't!” Spike exclaimed, still blushing, “You saw nothing!” It didn't help though, as the crusaders started to taunt him. “Spike and Rarity, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” “Stop it, guys!” Spike said, his face now completely red. “You know, I wonder what my sister would think of this,” Sweetie Bell said. Spikes eyes widened at what he heard, and instantly turned pale. He started to think of what would happen if Rarity know about this, and it wasn't a pretty thought. He then got in front of the crusaders as they were about to leave, kneeling. “No! Please don't tell Rarity!” he begged, “I can't honestly tell her about my secret feelings for her, yet!” The crusaders thought about it, but then started to get an idea. They then gathered around for a group huddle, so Spike couldn't hear. “What do y'all think?” Applebloom whispered, “Should we really take advantage of this?” “Definitely!” Scootaloo whispered back, “If we keep this little secret, in exchange to help us find our talents to get our cutie marks, this could be our lucky day!” “I'm not sure,” Sweetie Belle whispered, “What if Rarity get's into the fray of this? I don't like always keeping secrets from my sister.” “Not to worry,” Scootaloo whispered, “We'll just stay away from your place, that's all.” “If you say so.” The crusaders then turned back towards Spike, with mischievous looks on their faces. “Okay, Spike,” Scootaloo said, “We won't tell Rarity, one ONE condition.” “As long as you don't tell Rarity, I'll do anything!” Spike exclaimed. “Anything?” “Yes, anything!” “Well, in that case, you can help us with getting out cutie marks then!” Spike was bewildered by their request, but then decided to deal with it. As long as they didn't tell Rarity about his feelings for her, he'd be safe. xxxxxxxxx
Pinkie Pie's On the Movexxxxx "Fine," Spike said, "I'll help you find your special talent." "Yay!" the crusaders exclaimed, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS WITH DRAGON ASSISTANCE ARE GO!" Spike sighed, and rolled his eyes back, as he followed the little fillies to where ever they were taking him. "This is going to be a LONG day," Spike said to himself, as Owloysius followed. "Say, before we DO get started on this crusading thing, or whatever, can I at least go down to Sugarcube corner, to get that cake Twilight wanted me to pick up?" he then asked. "Well," Scootaloo said, with a little sarcasm, "I don't know...Would probably take too long, and we'd stop by to see Rarity." Spike's eyes soon widened and his pupils shrank, when he heard Rarity's name, not paying attention to the other fillies glaring at Scootaloo. There had to be a better way to convince them not to tell her about his crush on her. But until then, he had to do what they said. "Okay, fine," he said, pulling out one of his drawing, and writing a note on the back. "Owloysius, looks like your on your own for this," the dragon said, handing his owl buddy the note, now scrolled up, "Take it to Sugarcube corner, then take the cake to Twilight, okay?" "Hoot," Owloysius said. Spike was about to say something into it, but then decided not to, and just had another annoyed expression. "Just take the note," he said, emotionless. With that, Owloysius took the scroll and flew off. Once Owloysius was out of sight, he then turned back to the crusaders, who for some reason had an amused expression on their faces. Spike soon had a worried look on his face, as they slowly walked towards them. "Guys? Why are you looking at me like that?" Spike asked. "Oh, no reason," Sweetie Belle said, lowering her eyelids a bit. Spike was still worried, not aware of Applebloom behind him, with a sack in her mouth. She then gave a wink to Scootaloo, as the winged filly clenched and her eyes looking serious. Spike slowly started to back away, until... "NOW!" Scootaloo shouted. The next thing, Applebloom jumped over Spike, covering him with the sack so he would be inside, and Scootaloo pushed him over. The young dragon tried to squirm his way out, but it was futile, as he felt himself being rolled away by the crusaders. "Won't Twilight get suspicious?" Applebloom asked. "Don't worry," Scootaloo said, "That brainiac won't notice a thing." xxxxxxx Back with Twilight, she was busy reading a book on 'Cake recipes', when suddenly she sneezed. "Am I catching a cold?" she asked herself. xxxxxxx "We'll just need him for something so amazing, we'll HAVE to get our cutie marks by then," Scootaloo said. "If you say so," Sweetie Belle said. xxxxxxx Meanwhile, Owloysius arrives at Sugarcube corner, with the note still in his clutch. He sees the 2nd floor window open, and proceeds towards it. Inside, Pinkie Pie was on the floor, with a hoof at her chin, pondering. She then looked at whatever it was she was looking at with deep thought. Suddenly, she smiled greatly, and moved her hoof to move something, revealing it to be her and her alligator, Gummy, playing Chess. "Checkmate! I win again!" Pinkie exclaimed, raising her hoofs in the air. "Hoot!" Pinkie then let her sudden victory was then interrupted, when she heard a sudden noise. She then looked over at the window sill, to see Owloysius with the scroll in it's claws. Pinkie then smiled at it, and hoped over to the fellow bird, with Gummy not too far behind. "Hey Owloysius," the party crazed pony said, "What's the scroll for?" The bird then responded by hovering a bit into the air, and dropping the scroll to the floor, letting it roll out. Pinkie looked at it, and gasped. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, "I never seen a drawing of Rarity like THAT before!" Turns out, the note had the drawing side facing up, showing Pinkie Pie the unfinished sketch that Spike made. "It just looks so...incomplete!" Soon, Gummy stepped forward, and bit the bottom of the paper (even though he has no teeth), and turned it over, to reveal the written part. "What's this?" Pinkie asked, reading the note. 'Dear Pinkie Pie, I was originally sent by Twilight to retrieve a certain cake recipe for that cake you were talking about. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it, due to some 'problems' with Applebloom and her friends finding out my secret about Rarity. Make sure that Owloysius gets the cake delivered to Twilight, and if you're not to busy...I could use a little help, if that's okay. Burningly yours, Spike' As Pinkie Pie finished reading the note, she then narrowed her eyes, looking serious. She then rushed down stairs to get the cake, safely in a box, and exited the front door, with Gummy on her back and Owloysius descending down. "Come on guys," the pony said, "We've got a cake to deliver!" "Hoot!" Pinkie then looked up at Owloysius, and then chuckled a bit. "Oh right," she said, "And make sure Spike has the right unicycle for his current situation." xxxxxxxxx
Applejack and Rainbowdash Find Out!xxxxxxxxx As Pinkie Pie arrived at Twilight's, along with Gummy and Owloysius, she then pressed her hoof against the door, three times. After a while, Twilight opened it, to see Pinkie at the front door, with Gummy and a box on her head. She found it normal, if it wasn't for her riding the unicycle. "Oh, hey Pinkie Pie," the unicorn said, "what's in the box?" "It's the cake I was talking about earlier this week," she said, getting off the cycle, "It's to DIE for." "I see, but didn't I send Spike and Owloysius to go get it?" Twilight asked, with a confused look. "Ooh! That reminds me!" she exclaimed, as Owloysius swooped down onto a nearby branch. Pinkie the pulled out the note she got from Spike, and showed it to Twilight. When she looked at, she became unamused by it. "Why did Spike send you one of his drawings of Rarity?" she asked. "Oh, oops," Pinkie said, chuckling, "Wrong side." After turning the paper, Twilight started to read the note, and looked a bit irritated. "So Spike needs help with Applebloom and her friends blackmailing him?" "That's the plan!" Twilight then sighed at this, and looked back up at Pinkie, with a tired look. "Alright," she said, "Let me just put the cake in the fridge and we'll go." Once she took the cake away and stored it in the fridge, Twilight, Pinkie, Gummy, and Owloysius set off to find Spike. As they approached town squared, Twilight had stopped in her tracks. "Wait, do we even know WHERE Spike could be?" Twilight asked. "Well, if I was him, I'd probably be at-" Pinkie started, until Twilight cut her off. "Let me guess...Sugarcube Corner?" Twilight said, not interested. "Yeah! How'd ya know that?" "Lucky guess, I suppose." "Hey y'all!" Twi and Pinkie then turned to the voice that called, to see Appplejack, carrying two baskets of her family apples. "So what's new so far?" the blond pony asked. "Well, we're currently looking for Spike," Twilight said. "Yeah! He sent me a note that your sister and her friends are working on a circus project, so he needed to get a unicycle for it," Pinkie said, jumping off the said wheel. "Applebloom? Circus Project?" Applejack asked, "I know my sister's done some doozy things, but consarn it Pinkie, that's just ridiculous. Besides, why would Spike want to work on something that silly?" Before Pinkie could answer that, Twilight cut her off, and just showed Applejack the note that Spike sent. As she was reading it, she grew very irritated by every passing word. "Dooh, when I get my hands on Applebloom, she's gonna be in a whole MESS of trouble!" she yelled, "Blackmailing Spike like that. The nerve of her!" "So...does that mean we won't need the unicycle?" Pinkie asked. "For golly sakes, darlin', will you forget the unicycle already?" Applejack exclaimed. "We'll focus on that later," Twilight said, "But right now, we need to find Spike." The two ponies looked at Twilight, then lowered their head down in understanding. "By the way, what 'secret about Rarity' was Spike talking about, anyway?" AJ asked, earning a bewildered look from Twilight. "You mean you don't KNOW?" the unicorn asked with surprise, "He has a..." Twilight was then cut off by Pinkie, who stuffed in apple in her mouth, then getting a glare from the party pony. She would've suspected Pinkie would've forgotten by now, but it looks like she was wrong. "Oh, it's nothing, really," Pinkie said, "Though I think Spike might tell you, if you asked him nicely." "Uhh...okay then," Applejack said, then looking at Twilight, "you're paying for that, you know?" Twilight then lowered her eyelids, and spat out the apple to the side, unexpectedly hitting Derpy Hooves, fixing her eyes a bit, but then became crossed again. "Okay, so where should we look, if were going to find them?" Twilight suggested. "Maybe we could ask Rainbowdash to do an aerial search," Pinkie suggested. "Well, I guess that could work," Applejack said, "But the only problem is, where is she?" "I think I know," Pinkie said. "It's not Sugarcube Corner, if that's what you're thinking," Twilight said, irritated. "No, I was thinking up there." Pinkie then pointed her hoof upwards, to the cloud above the three pony's heads. Upon the cloud, lies Rainbowdash, sleeping peacefully and dreaming about being one of the Wonderbolts, but then remembering the embarrassment at the gala. "Rainbowdash!" Pinkie called. No answer. "Looks like we're going to have to use 'Plan B'." "What's 'Plan B'?" AJ and Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie's response was pulling out a jack-in-a-box, laying the door side facing down. She then lifted Gummy by the scruff of his neck, and placed him on the box. She then started to turn the crank, and when the music started to end, the jack sprang out, suspending the box upward, and launching Gummy into the air. Soon enough, Gummy was just above Rainbowdash and opened his mouth, clamping it onto her face. Rainbowdash soon felt something on her face, as her eyes widened slowly, only to be greeted by an alligator trying to swallow her face whole. Rainbow's eyes widened greatly, as she started to flail her arms frantically and scream off the top of her lungs. After squirming so much, she started to fall to the ground, to scared to think of flying, and soon landed on the ground. Gummy then jumped and clamped onto her back left hoof, suspended in the air, causing Rainbowdash to chuckle a bit. As the pegasus pony got to her feet (or...hooves), she saw the others, just as Gummy jumped again, and clamped onto Dash's back, making her chuckle again. "Pinkie, could you control your alligator?" Rainbowdash said, still chuckling, "The thing scared me to death, and you know how I feel about him clamping onto me all over." When Gummy pounced again, Pinkie Pie used her tail to catch him, and bring him more towards her. "Sorry," the party pony said, "I forgot that you were pretty ticklish." The moment Applejack heard what Pinkie said, she gave a mischievous glare and smirk towards Rainbowdash, only to receive a hoof in her mouth and a menacing glare. "Try anything, and you can kiss your main goodbye," she said, then turning to her with a smirk, "Besides, you should speak for YOURSELF, you know?" Applejack then felt very nervous, taking a few steps away, her smirk gone. "Sorry about that Rainbowdash," Twilight said, "But we need your help. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are blackmailing Spike, and we need you to find them." "Blackmailing?" Rainbowdash questioned, "Why? What will they do, if he doesn't cooperate?" "His crush on-" Twilight was again interrupted by Pinkie Pie, stuffing her mouth with the same apple from before, and receiving the same glare as before. Twilight then spat out the apple, and looked back at Rainbowdash, who was now trying to hold in her laughter. "Spike's got a crush on someone?" said pony chuckled at. "No, he doesn't! Who said anything about a crush? What is that anyway?" Pinkie said, ducking down, eying the area. "Is THAT what this 'secret about Rarity' is?" Applejack asked, bewildered. When Rainbowdash heard what Applejack said, she was now bawling with laughter. Pinkie then gave Applejack the same glare she gave Twilight, only shaking her head. AJ didn't understand it, but then looked back at Rainbowdash, who was still laughing hysterically. "Oh man, that's rich," she said, as she was getting up, teary eyed with laughter. "How could you NOT have known it before?" Twilight asked, with a harsh tone, "He's always been lovey-dovey every time he's around Rarity." "Well, I usually get sidetracked from those two. But oh man, I just GOTTA tell Rarity about it." Just as Rainbowdash was about to jet over to Rarity, she was stopped by something heavy on her tail. She looked back to see Pinkie Pie, biting on it. Before Rainbow could fly higher to get Pinkie off, she was then pulled to the ground and tackled by the same pony. "You can't! Spike would be hurt if she found out! Plus, he told us to keep it secret!" Pinkie exclaimed, then getting thrown off by Rainbowdash. "Alright, alright," she said, "I won't tell her. Wait, does Rarity even know?" The only responses she got from Pinkie and Applejack were shrugs. "You know...I'm not sure that Rarity DOES know," Twilight said. "Does know about what?" a familiar voice said. The four of them looked over, to see Rarity, with two packs with her, coming towards them. Pinkie grew very nervous, as she looked over at Rainbowdash, who had a big smirk on her face. She was probably holding in her laughter. As Rarity approached the other ponies, she started to grow curious. "Well? Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Rarity asked. "Well-" Rainbowdash started, but was then cut off, by Pinkie Pie stuffing an apple in her mouth. This only caused more confusion for Rarity. "What she was going to say was," Applejack said, "your sister and mine are blackmailing Spike about something, and we need to find them." "What?" Rarity questioned, "Oh dear. I know it might seem important, especially when Sweetie Belle's involved, but I'm sorry girls. I'm afraid, I'm going to have to sit this one out." "How come?" Twilight asked. "Well, because my schedule is REALLY packed. I've got orders up the wazoo, due in Canterlot, after what happened at the gala last week." Bringing up the events at the gala, made the others shutter at those events, even though the princess (who should be a friggin queen, mind you) had no trouble with it. Soon, Rarity was continuing on her way to her shop. "I'm sorry girls, but I've got to get back to the shop. By the way, I'd suggest getting Fluttershy to help. She'd tame those girls better than anyone, you know." "Alright then, Sugarcube," Applejack said, "Thanks for the advice!" With that, the four ponies ran over to Fluttershy's cottage. xxxxxxxxx
Fluttershy Mixed Up the Crushxxxxxxxxx As the bag was pulled off of Spike, he looked so dizzy that it looked he was about to throw up. After a while, he shook his head to snap out of his daze, and looked around. He was outside and apparently was surrounded by nothing, until he saw the cutie mark crusaders by some giant thing, covered up by a sheet. "Uh...what is that thing?" Spike asked, confused. "It's just something we thought could work, with you around," Scootaloo said, pulling the sheet down, by her teeth. Unfortunately, the sheet got a little stuck, so Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had to help pull it down. Spike seemed curious about what was under that sheet, so he decided to go see where the problem. Apparently, part of the sheet was caught on, what looked to be a steak in the ground. He then used his claws to cut the part of the sheet that was stuck, causing to be launched up, uncovering what was under, and having the cutie mark crusaders fall backwards. Spike then looked with surprise, to see a hot air balloon in tact. He then looked back at the crusaders, who were picking each other up, and gave out a confused expression. "So what are you going to do, to get your special talent?" he asked. "Sky diving!" they all answered, and getting parachutes out of the carrier basket. "Oh...kay then, but can you tell me at least HOW you got a hot air balloon?" "I know someone," Scootaloo said, narrowing her eyes away. Her thoughts then lead to Derpy Hooves, bringing them a huge crate over to them at the cliff. She then came back to reality as she turned her attention back to Spike. "You see, we WERE going to get a book of matches to get the fire going, but since you're already with us, you'll do it TWICE as better," Sweetie Belle said. "Well, even if I WASN'T part of this, it's still pretty dangerous, don't you think?" Spike asked. "It feels like you WANT us to tell Rarity about your little crush on her," Scootaloo said, in a teasing tone. Spike's eyes then widened again, as he sighed, getting into the basket. xxxxxxx Elsewhere, during that same time... xxxxxxx As Twilight and the others arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, they saw her tending to some of the rabbits nearby. She had chopped up some of the carrots, for the new baby bunnies, worrying that it would be hard to eat for them. "There you go, little fellas," she said, in a quiet tone. She then looked up to see the others arrive, and glided towards them. "Hey Twilight," she said in the same tone, "Enjoying the day so far?" "Well, we would be," Twilight said, "But we've got a problem. Applebloom and her friends got Spike to help them try to find their special talents, and we kind need your help." "Well, I'm not sure. How bad could it be? It isn't dangerous or anything, is it?" "We don't know yet. But what we DO know, is that they threaten to tell..." Twilight was then cut off, when she saw Pinkie Pie giving off her glare again. She then sighed, and turned back towards Fluttershy. "...Tell one of Spike's secrets to...a CERTAIN pony, that Spike doesn't want to know." Fluttershy then was in surprise by it, but then looked at Twilight with caution. "It's not his crush on Applejack is it?" she asked. Everyone then looked at her with disbelief. It wasn't long, before Rainbowdash started to burst with laughter, holding her sides with her front legs. Fluttershy seemed a little confused by it, until she looked back at Twilight. "Wrong pony, Fluttershy," Twilight said, "Though why did you think it was Applejack?" "Because I once saw him almost kiss her, when Rarity got kidnapped," she answered. Twilight and Pinkie's expressions were now in real confusion, as they turned towards Applejack. "Now that just leads to another question," Twilight said, to Applejack, "How come YOU didn't think Spike liked Rarity, when he was daydreaming and almost kissed you by mistake?" "I...kind of forgot that," AJ said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Well, isn't that just..." Pinkie started, before she started to shutter and feel her tail twitch suddenly, "...Uh oh." "Wait, was that your Pinkie sense?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, but this time...*shutters*...it's gonna happen somewhere in Ponyville!" Everyone was now in shock, even Rainbowdash who had stopped laughing, as they rushed towards town as fast as they could. xxxxxxx Back where we left Spike and the crusaders... xxxxxxx As Spike entered the basket, the crusaders soon jumped in, with a sack and three parachutes. "What's the bag for?" Spike asked. "Well, we figured, since spicy foods can make your breath a lot hotter, and that you're a dragon, we thought that it would make your breath hot enough to fill the balloon," Sweetie Belle answered. "Wait, don't hot air balloons have some sort of metal thing, that can spark up a fire or..." Spike started, but then realized that there wasn't one. "There was," Applebloom said, "But it kind of got a little busted up, from when it was being delievered." Spike's eyelids lowered, as he looked at the three fillies. "Alright, so what spicy food did you get?" he asked. "Green peppers," Scootaloo said, opening the bag. Spike was now shocked, as he started to back away. "Oh no," he said, "! No way!" "Why Spike?" Applebloom said, teasingly, "Do you want Rarity to know you love her THAT badly?" "No, guys, you don't understand! I can NOT even be NEAR green peppers!" "How come?" "Well, it happened like this, three days ago..." xxxxxxxx
What's Wrong with Green Peppers?xxxxxxx It was just four days, after the incident at the Galloping Gala, and Twilight had the others over for a slumber party she was having, and even let Spike be apart of it. Only downside for him, was that he had to make the party food. It was a lot of hard work for him, but thankfully, Pinkie Pie was generous to help him out, as long as everything wasn't JUST sweets. While that was going on, the others were playing a game of 'Twenty Questions', with Applejack being the one it, and the others only having three questions left. "Is it bigger than your hat?" Rainbowdash asked. "Nope," Applejack responded, shaking her head. "Is it smaller than a parasprite?" Fluttershy asked. "Nu-uh," Applejack said. The others ponies were now stumped. What was she thinking? They only had one question left, and who else, but Twilight, would use it. But before she could say anything, she noticed something right by Applejack. It looked to be one of Owloysius's fallen feathers. The unicorn started to smirk at this, using her magic to levitate it. Applejack noticed Twilight's horn glowing, but didn't notice the feather slowly floating towards her back hoof. xxxxxxx "Okay, so all we need left for the pizza is the toppings," Spike said to Pinkie, who the both of them had chefs hats. "Then it's a good thing I bought a bunch of them," Pinkie said, getting out a bag. "Alright, let's see...olives?" Spike asked. "Check!" Pinkie exclaimed, getting out the toppings called. "Mushrooms?" "Check!" "Pineapple?" "Ew, who eats pineapple on their pizza?" Pinkie asked, with a disgusted expression. "Twilight and Applejack," Spike answered. "Oh. Let's see...check!" "Okay, good," Spike said, looking back at his list, "Alright, I think that's it." "What about green peppers?" Pinkie asked, looking over his shoulder. "Green peppers?" "Of course! A pizza's not a pizza, without green peppers!" "I didn't even know you LIKED green peppers," Spike said, stepping back a bit, "let alone, green peppers on pizza." "Have you ever TRIED them on pizza?" Pinkie asked, "It's DELICOUS!" "Is it?" Spike asked, looking away, "well...I guess I COULD give it a shot. Let's do it!" Suddenly, they heard a loud crash, and loud laughter coming from the other room, causing a few things on shelves to fall onto the floor, and shatter. The dragon and earth-pony looked at each other, and where the noise was coming from. "I think we'd better hurry, before things get out of hand." With that, they started to put the toppings on the unbaked pizza, and pop it into the oven, as Spike started to sweep up some of the shattered pieces. After the time was up, Spike got his mitts on, taking out the work of art that had a smell, that nopony could resist. That, and a slice had gems on it, as he continued to drool with hunger. Soon enough, he snapped back into reality, and started to bring the pizza and some of the other refreshments into the other room, where the others were. "Soup's on, everypony!" Spike said, "Or rather, pizza's on." Twilight and the others soon started to gather round the table, letting the delightful aroma fill the area around them, as they each grabbed a slice. Spike got his, since his was the only one with gems on it, but then noticed that Applejack wasn't there. "Hey, where's Aj?" the dragon asked. "She's using the bathroom right now," Fluttershy said, in a quiet tone. "Yeah, she had a bit of an accident, but she'll be okay," Rainbowdash said. "Oh, alright then." As Spike synced his teeth into his slice of pizza, the green pepper taste was astounding to him, as he let the flavor dance all over his taste-buds. "See?" Pinkie said, noticing Spike's happy expression, "I told ya so!" "You were right Pinkie," Spike said, swallowing his bite, then finishing off the rest, "That really was..." Spike was then cut off, when he started to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He tried to ignore it, but suddenly cause more trouble for him, as he started grunting a bit. "Spike, are you okay?" Twilight asked. "Oh yeah, I'm...I'm fine...Ooh!" Spike said, then feeling another cramp-like pain in his guts, "oh jeez." "Are you sure you're alright, darling?" Rarity asked. This time, Spike didn't reply. He simply grunted, making an intense face, until he started to turn pale. Suddenly, Pinkie's ears started to flop. Then her eyes fluttered. And as Spike started to rush towards the bathroom, Pinkie's knees were twitching, causing her eyes to widen and gasp. "Spike, wait!" She called, "Watch out for the..." But as Spike was about to go through the bathroom door, it swung open, pancaking him between the wall and door, as Applejack started to exit, with a gloomy look. "...door." "Boy," she said upset, as she continued to walk, "If I knew Twilight was going to tickle me silly, I wouldn't have drank all that apple juice. So embarrissin'." As the door to the bathroom slowly departed from the wall, with Spike still stuck to it, it made it's way inside, with him landing on the floor. He then got to his feet and locked the door. Applejack soon approached the other ponies, giving Twilight and Rainbowdash a mean glare, as they returned with nervous smiles. Applejack then looked over at the pizza, which lightened her mood. "Pineapple," she said, grabbing the last slice, "my favorite." (A/N: Probably should've brought this up a while back, but...get it? It has 'apple' in it's name.) "I wonder if Spike will be okay," Fluttershy muttered to Twilight. "I'm sure Spike's fine," Twilight said, "He's probably just got a bad case of dia-" Twilight was then cut off, by a sudden explosion, with the bathroom door plowing into Applejack, sending her crashing into a wall. The other ponies looked over, to see Spike, covered in soot and ash. "...rrhea." "Twilight," Spike started, "We're probably gonna have to get a new bathroom." Everypony was now started to get a disgusted look, feeling kind of sick. "Oh Spike, don't tell me-" "No, really. Look." Twilight then looked over, to where Spike was pointing, and was surprised. There was, literally, nothing there, but a big hole in the wall. Twilight, then looked made over at Spike, who chuckled nervously in response. "I'll...I'll get a mop," he said, walking away. xxxxxxx "And that's pretty much it," Spike said, finishing his story. "So...the reason you won't eat green peppers, is because it will cause an explosion?" Scootaloo asked. "Yep. It's just gas, but with a dragon, it's pretty dangerous." "Well, that would explain why sis had an icepack on her head, when she came home that night," Applebloom said. "Glad we had this," Spike said, "Now if you'll excuse me-" Just as Spike was about to exit the basket, Scootaloo dashed up ahead, blocking the door. "Oh, don't think you're off the hook yet, Spike," she said, "I realize what you were REALLY doing. You made that story up, so that way we could get distracted enough for you to slowly scat away. Well, it's not going to happen...or do you want fair Rarity to know about your little...secret crush?" Spike was now backing away from the basket door, to the other fillies, one of which, Sweetie Belle was glaring at Scootaloo, for bringing up Rarity. It may have been funny the first time, but now it was starting to get a little irritating, to use her sister into forcing someone. Scootaloo, then gripped the bag with her teeth, dragging it towards Spike. "Come on Spike." "I told you, no!" Spike exclaimed, folding his arms and turning away, "And bringing up Rarity won't make me change my mind." Scootaloo started to pout at this, thinking that maybe she SHOULD jump on her scooter and tell Rarity. THAT, or she could try something else. "Okay Spike," She said, "you asked for it." She then looked through the bag, getting out some rope, and Spike still not paying attention. As for the other crusaders, they saw this and tried to block Scootaloo, but no luck. She then pounced over at Spike, causing a cloud of smoke and a lot of noise, only to have Spike appear, tied up and struggling. "Let me go, Scootaloo!" he exclaimed. "No. And if you won't eat them, we'll just FORCE ya too!" xxxxxxxx
They're In Deep Now!xxxxxx "Don't ya think forcin' him's a bit too much?" Applebloom asked. "It's only this one time, Applebloom," Scootaloo argued, "Besides, it'll be fun." "How's forcing him to eat something he DOESN'T want to eat fun?" Sweetie Belle asked. "He probably just made it up, to escape!" "I didn't make it up," Spike said, still tied up, "Now untie me!" "I don't believe you," Scootaloo said, her face close-up on Spike's, "But if you ARE, then we need to prove it." Spike responded by turning his head away, which started to irritate Scootaloo. "Okay Crusaders, looks like we have got go through with it," the pegasus filly said, as the other crusaders approached. "Are you sure about this?" Applebloom asked. "I'm sure." The two fillies then looked at each other and shrugged, as they got closer towards Spike, which he was apparently getting nervous about, but tried to not show it. "W...what do you plan on doing?" Spike asked, in a little startled tone. Apparently his answer came, when he started to feel something brush against his soles. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had gotten two large feathers from the bag, and started stroking both his feet. He tried to hold back laughing, as his lips curled into a smile, as he bit his lower lip. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder for him to keep it in. It started to become unbearable, as tears were now welling up in his eyes, and he saw Scootaloo smirking. He had finally cracked, when they reached his toes, and he burst out laughing. But it was soon cut short, as Scootaloo took the chance and got as many green peppers as she could hold in her hoofs, which were seven at most, into his mouth. Before he could spit them out, Scootaloo blocked his mouth with her hoofs. Spike tried to shake her hooves off his mouth, but the sudden taste of the green peppers, even if they were uncooked, delivered that same desirable satisfaction that he had before. Try as he hard, he couldn't stop himself from chewing and swallowing it, which he was wide-eyed about. "Uh oh...this isn't good," he said. "That should do it, for now," Scootaloo said. Spike was about to argue, but then felt a twinging feeling in his guts. Though it was cut short, when Scootaloo took out a bottle of soda, and had him drink it. (A/N: Logic? What's that?) When the bottle was finished being downed, Spike felt like he was going to be sick, when the other fillies got him on his feet, and Scootaloo having him look up. "Okay, Applebloom," Sweetie Belle said, "Go for it!" The next thing he knew, Spike was then kicked in the stomach by Applebloom, and let out a loud belch and a roaring fire going into the balloon. Soon enough, they started to feel the ground beneath them feel lighter, as they levitated off the cliff towards Ponyville. "Alright!" the three of them shouted, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SKY DIVING IS IN SESSION!" xxxxxx As that's going on, Twilight and the others were still going through Ponyville, trying to see what the doozy was that Pinkie was sensing. "Any closer yet, Pinkie?" Twilight asked. "N-n-n-n-n-not y-y-y-y-yet," Pinkie said, shuttering. "This is hopeless!" Rainbowdash exclaimed, "We've searched almost every inch of Ponyville, and it's cutting into my sleep schedule! Plus, weren't we suppose to be looking for Spike, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle?" "Yes, but-" Twilight was then cut off by the sudden crowd of people looking up at the sky, muttering things like "What is that?", "What's going on?", "Are those fillies insane?". They soon looked up, only to see the hot air balloon, and the crusaders ready to jump off the edge. Their eyes were wide at this, gasping in horror. "APPLEBLOOM!" Applejack shouted, "WHAT IN TARNATION ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?" Unfortunately, Applebloom didn't hear her, due to being too high up. Without hesitation, the three of them jumped off the ledge, thankful that they had their parachutes, diving down. Rainbowdash soon did the first thing that came to mind, and flew towards them as fast as she could. The crusaders started to do a couple air tricks as the fell, and just when Rainbowdash could catch them, they opened up their parachutes, with Rainbowdash passing under them. "What the...?" she said, trying to stop herself, causing a screeching noise. (A/N: Hey, if she can cause tiptoe noises in the sky, then she can cause screeching noises to stop herself in the sky.) As Spike watched from above, he couldn't help but admire some of their tactics as they descended before pulling out their parachutes. "Huh," he said, "That's kind of..." Unfortunately, Spike soon felt himself feel again uneasy, but soon let out another stream of fire onto the basket, as he burped a bit. He then started to back away, because if he got anywhere near the fire, then it would be in the danger zone after eating green peppers. But as the fire started to circle around the basket's brim, having some of the strings supporting the basket catch fire too. Spike was now in serious trouble now. Either he lets it all out, causing an explosion, or let the strings burn slowly. "Might as well get it over with anyway," he said to himself. As Rainbowdash finally came to a stop, by a nearby cliff tree, she looked back, just after hearing a sudden explosion, and seeing seeing some fireworks too. It looked impressive for a while, but then remembered to get the crusaders as she dashed towards them. xxxxxx "Ooh! This is the best sky show I've seen in a while," Pinkie said, with sunglasses and a bag of popcorn, shuttering again. As for the rest, they had to cover their eyes from the sudden brightness of the explosion, to a point were even Twilight can't even see it with her magic. But she knew it was trouble. "I hope Applebloom's safe," Applejack said, praying for Rainbowdash to save her. "Hey, Pinkie," Twilight said, "Was THIS the doozy?" Before she answered, Pinkie Pie checked all around her, chasing her tail for a bit, then coming to a stop. "Yep, looks like it," she said, then starting to feel her tail twitch. "But looks like we're not out of the woods yet!" "Pinkie, we're in town, how would we be in the woods?" Applejack asked. "Aj, she means we've still got trouble coming," Twilight corrected. xxxxxx As Rainbowdash got closer and closer, she swooped the fillies up, even though their parachutes were still open. "Rainbowdash?" Scootaloo said in surprise. "That's right!" said pony answered, "You have no idea...wait, where's Spike?" Her question was answered, as she saw Spike, screaming, and the flaming basket fall out of the cloud of smoke. It then landed into the open parachutes, pulling tightly onto them. The crusaders and Rainbowdash soon were in terror as they saw it. "Oh crud," Rainbow said, looking at the forth wall, scared, before getting pulled down with the fillies. xxxxxxx As the brightness cleared up, the others soon took their hoofs away from their faces, except Pinkie who kept her sunglasses on, and looked up to see the others falling, and gasped greatly. "Oh no! Twilight, do something!" Applejack exclaimed, shaking Twilight. "I would teleport them," Twilight said, "but I'm even NEAR close range, and...Oh no." "What is it?" Fluttershy asked. "If I'm right, then...they're right above...RARITY'S!" With that, they all charged towards Rarity's show, as quickly as they could. xxxxxxxxx
Ohhhhh boyxxxxxxx "Alright then," Rarity said to herself, working on her last dress order, "I'm finally done." As she put in the final stitch, she then took the dress in with the others and got it all ready. She then started to make sure it was neat as it could get, and close the box, tape sealed and everything. She then used the magic, that she learned from Twilight, to shrink it down so it was easier to carry in her bag. "It's a good thing Twilight taught me that spell. It makes the delivery ten times less stressful." Suddenly, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy came through the doorway in a huge panic. "Rarity! Listen you have to-" "Upupup!" Rarity exclaimed, cutting Twilight off, "What's the number one rule about entering the boutique?" "Rarity, we don't have time for-" "DO IT." They all backed up to the mat outside, wiping the dirt off their feet, then going back in. "That's better," she said, "Continue." CRAAAASH! Before any of them could explain anything, they suddenly felt a huge crash up above them, that it had picture frames almost crash to the floor, if Rarity didn't catch them. Everyone was now in deep panic. "What in Equestria was that?" Rarity exclaimed. The five of them raced upstairs, arriving at Rarity's room, but once they opened the door, they were speechless. It was a disaster. The curtains were ripped apart; the sewing machine was in pieces; the ceiling had a huge gaping hole in it; the bed completely destroyed; wallpaper ruined; the carpet catching a bit of fire, from the burning, blown-up, balloon basket, covered by the deflated balloon; but what struck Rarity the most, as she walked towards the object she picked up by her magic, was that she saw her dress. The dress that she wore for the Gala, that her friends helped finish for her, was now in a worse condition than it was when she left. As the crusaders got out from under the balloon, along with Rainbowdash, getting out of the rubble that was next to Twilight and the others, and Spike coming out of the basket, right by the crusaders, they saw Rarity in 'that state', and started to back away; Sweetie Belle on the other hand was being terrified the most, since she never saw her sister like this. "Guys," Twilight started, "I think she's gonna blow." "SWEETIE BELLE!" Rarity shouted, as she stomped over to the little fillies cowering in fear, "LOOK. AT. WHAT. YOU. AND. YOUR. FRIENDS. DID!" "It...it..." Sweetie Belle tried to explain, but was too scared. "It was an accident," Applebloom said, finishing for Sweetie Belle, "We didn't actually expect something like this to happen." "You think falling from the sky and destroying my room could be considered an ACCIDENT? I mean, LOOK at this place! You are GROUNDED, young lady! You hear me? Two weeks!" Twilight and the others were jaw-dropped at this. This was the first time that they saw Rarity go this berserk, and at her sister no less. Rarity then turned her attention towards Spike, who had the same scared face as the others. "Spike, could you escort the others and Sweetie Belle's friends out?" she asked, in a calmer tone, "I've got some cleaning to get done now." "Uh...sure, Rarity," Spike said, still kind of nervous. As he and the others started to exit the room, he couldn't help but feel the need to help Rarity clean up, or at least ask the crusaders to see if there's anything they could do to make it up to her. But with how angry he saw her, he thinks he should keep a bit away. "Man, she was FURIOUS," Twilight said, closing the door as Spike passed it, "I've never seen her that angry before." "I did," Pinkie said, smiling. "What? When?" "At the gala, when the princess's nephew humiliated her." Twilight's eyes then widened, then remembering Rarity talking about how much of a royal pain Prince Blueblood was, and started remembering the events that night. xxxxxxx
Poor Spikexxxxxxxxx As the others were about to leave, Spike, who was still by the door, started to hear Rarity talk about something. Or rather, someONE. "I couldn't believe they got Spike involved with this," Rarity said, in an upset tone. Spike's eyes then widened, as he turned and opened the door slightly, to hear better. Twilight saw this, curious about his actions. "...I mean, the things I would have imagined him would've worked out, but NOO, he just had to go and RUIN everything! If I ever see that royal, no good, unforgivable, jerk, who had ruined my one chance at my happiness, yet it's wasted because of him!" Spike was now in complete shock at what she said. Did the crash really get her mad at him too? He then started to feel a sharp pain in his heart, as his eyes started to well with tears, and bite his lower lip. "Spike, are you okay?" she asked in a worried tone. Spike's response however, was him running out of the boutique, passing by the others. "Spike! Spike!" Twilight called, running after him, with Owloysius following behind. "What's gotten into him?" Rainbowdash asked. "Not sure, but I'm sure Twilight can deal with it, easy," Applejack said. xxxxxxxx As Twilight arrived back at home, she started looking for Spike, since he ran back here. She looked around, until she started to hear a sudden noise come from upstairs. It sounded like crying. She walked upstairs to her bedroom, to see Spike in his bed. He was sitting upward, curled up with something. Twilight moved in front of him, to get a better view of it. It was the jeweled bow-tie that Rarity gave him. Not only that, she saw Spike crying heavily, as he held the bow-tie, wet from his tears. His cheeks were red and puffy, so it looked like he was crying a lot. "Spike?" she asked, calmly, "what's wrong?" The little dragon looked up at Twilight, still having the same heartbroken expression, and with tears still pouring out of his eyes. He sniffled, and tried to calm himself down enough, so he could talk. "R...Rarity *hic*," he started, still sobbing and hiccuping, "...I heard...*sniff*...I started to hear Rarity *hic*...talk about me...saying I was...*sob*...said I was a complete jerk to *hic*...to her." "What?" She said, kind of disbelieving it, "Why would she say that?" "Be...*sniff*...because of the *hic*...crash..." "Spike, she's not mad at you for that. Besides, I told her that you were blackmailed into it." "You what?" Spike exclaimed, with wider and sadder eyes, "You told her my secret?" "No, I said that you were being blackmailed. But even if I did tell, it's probably not going to make a difference, Spike. She just only looks at you as a friend." "But you don't think I know that by know?" Spike exclaimed again, crying more, and startling Twilight, "You don't think...that I *hic*...already know, she's not returned my love by now? Why *hic* why do you think I kept trying all this time? But now..." he then started to calm down, and get back into his sadder state, "...*sniff*...now that chance is gone...this is the *hic* worst day of my life..." After his little breakdown, Spike then went back to crying his eyes out, remembering the things that Rarity had said. Twilight couldn't help but feel sorry for her little dragon assistant. "Say, Spike?" she asked. "*sniff*...ye...yeah?" "Is there at least anything I can get you?" "*sniff*...could..." he then opened his arms up towards her, still very teary eyed, "could you...*hic*...hug me?" Twilight looked into her friends incredibly sad eyes, and did as he wanted, wrapping her hooves around him, as he wrapped his arms around her. In the process, his tears were now soaking her shoulder coat wet. But she didn't let it bother her, as it did make Spike a little calmer. "Th...thanks Twilight," Spike said, in a croaked tone. xxxxxxxx
Contagious Tearsxxxxxxxx "Hghnn...dah!" As sunset was coming, Applejack was having Applebloom help gather fresh apples, as punishment for the trouble she caused. Applejack still had a mad look on her face, as she looked over at Applebloom, who was still having a little trouble and was barely getting any apples of the tree. "Come on, Applebloom," she called out, "Put more leg into it!" "I...can't..." she said, panting. "Well, I'm sorry, but this is your punishment, so you gotta," Applejack said, walking over to her. Applebloom then got herself together, and prepared herself. She then brought her hind legs in, then brought them out to make contact with the tree. It eventually did work, but then Applebloom suddenly felt a sharp pain in her right hind leg. "Ow! Owowowowowowow!" she exclaimed out. "What is it this time?" Applejack asked. "I think it's a cramp, ow!" Applejack looked at this, as she was getting the fallen apples into the basket, and her response was kneeling by Applebloom. "Come on, climb up," she said. As Applebloom did, Aj got on her feet again, and started to walk towards the house. She looked back at her little sister, who was still holding onto her leg, and still couldn't feel a little shed of guilt. "Look," she said, "I'm not doing this just to be mean, you know that? But you gotta understand that Rarity was real upset about destroying her room like that, and so was Spike getting blackmailed into this." "I know," Applebloom responded, still with a sore leg, "Maybe tomorrow I can make it up to the both of them somehow." "That could work. Besides, Rarity's going to be out of town tomorrow afternoon, so it would be nice to help her fix up the mess before she leaves, AND go over to Twilight's to apologize with something he'd like." "Okay, Applejack..." she said, then dozing off from exhaustion. 'I sure hope Twilight's doing alright,' Applejack thought, as she was entering the barn. xxxxxxx Twilight still kept a good hold on Spike, who was still crying a bit, but had let go when she saw that the sun had finally finished setting. "Feel any better?" she asked, as the little dragon looked up at her, with teary eyes. "A...a little..." he said, sniffling. "Well, you wait here, and I'll get each of us a slice of the cake, Pinkie had brought over." With that, Twilight started to head downstairs to the kitchen, looking back at Spike, still sad as a hurt puppy. As she reached downstairs, she started to feel a sudden ache in her heart. She didn't know why, but she kept moving on into the kitchen. She then used her magic, to get the cake out, and a knife, when she suddenly started to feel a lump in her throat. "What the heck?" she said, her voice suddenly cracking, "What's going on?" She tried not to lose focus, cutting two slices for her and Spike, when she started to see tears welling up in her eyes. As she was heading back to the stairs, she tried to look for a book on dragons, thinking something might be causing it. As she did, she was just close to breaking down, as she found an article on 'dragon sadness' saying: 'Dragon Sadness' is resulted, when a baby dragon has experienced a enormous amount of sadness, whether it be by a loved one, hateful or passing on, it causes it's tears to be contagious to any living creature, who is exposed to a large amount, to feel the same amount of sorrow that dragon has experienced.' As she was barely able to read it, due to her eyes being watery every five seconds, she was struck by this, and know knew Spike's pain. She had to find something to cure it, but that's when she finally started to break down in tears. Spike, still heartbroken and sad, heard this, and went downstairs to see what was troubling her friend. "Wh...why are YOU crying now?" Spike asked. Twilight's response was showing him the book, and his eyes widened and got even sadder. She looked up at Twilight, thinking it was now his fault that he caused her to cry, and brought her into a hug. "I'm...I'm so sorry, Twilight," he said, then breaking down into tears with her. "No...It's not your fault, Spike," Twilight said, trying to keep herself together, even when crying, "We'll...we'll find a way to fix things...I...I guarantee it." After that, both of them hugged each other, crying their eyes out through the night. For them, it'll be a long one. xxxxxxxx The next morning, Applejack and Applebloom, who was caring a bag with something she made herself, started to head towards Rarity's, still seeing the big hole in the roof, and approached the door step. "Now remember," Applejack said, "No funny business with Sweetie Belle, got it?" "Yes, ma'am," Applejack said, ashamed. As the door opened, in the doorway was Sweetie Belle, still looking sad. "Sweetie Bell?" Applejack said, surprised, "Where's Rarity? Isn't she still here?" "She left to deliver the clothes to Canterlot last night," she explained, "She was so frustrated after you guys left, she realized that she was late to deliver them early." "Deliver them early?" "Yeah, she wanted to get it over with, since the princess and her nephew were taking care of some things in Philly-delphia." "So, I guess fixing her room will be kind of a surprise for her," Applebloom said, a little excited. "It would, but she kinda put a spell on the door, so we wouldn't enter, until she gets back tonight." "Man, Twilight's REALLY been teaching her a lot of spells, hasn't she?" Applejack said. "You're right on that." "Well, we might as well head over to Twilight's anyways." With that, both sisters started walking over to Twilight's, hoping she could help, and for Applebloom to get things straight with Spike. As they arrived, Applebloom knocked on the door, baked goods still in the bag, and as the door opened, they saw Twilight, eyes red and saggy, and tears still spilling out of her eyes. "Oh...hey guys," she said, sniffling a bit. "Twi, are you okay?" Applejack asked, "What's wrong?" "Well *hic* I think it's best if I show you..." she said, leading them in. As the walked in, she used her magic to bring the book from yesterday to the others. As Applejack read the article, she had a confused expression on her face. "Is that why you're all upset?" she asked, "Seems a little weird if you ask me." "If...if it was stupid, then *hic* why don't you go up to Spike and find out for yourself." "Alright then," Applejack said, "Applebloom, come on." They both passed Twilight, and went upstairs to find Spike, still in his heartbroken state, hugging his jeweled bow-tie, which looked to be incomplete. Their guess was that, he picked some of them off. But the reason why, is what they were going to find out about. "Spike?" Applebloom called, in a quiet tone. As the little dragon turned around, they both saw his tear-stained face, and were in a bit of shock at it. "You okay, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "*sniff*...no," Spike answered, sniffling. "S...Spike?" Applebloom said, pulling off the bag she had, "I came to apologize for getting you into all this trouble...I'm sorry." He brought the bag closer to him, to reveal some muffins. He sniffed them, teardrops falling onto the crust, and looked up back at Applebloom. "Th...thanks, Applebloom," Spike said, still choked up, "I forgive you, but...I don't know if it's gonna make me better." "Then what's troubling you then?" Applejack asked. xxxxxxx 3 minutes after explaining, and many tear-shedding moments later... xxxxxxx After explaining why he was upset, and many tear-sprinkling moments later, he finally broke down again, most of his tears spraying over the others, and even they started to cry, now affected by the exposure to dragon tears. They then walked downstairs towards Twilight, who was still crying as much as they were, and hugged Applejack, as she did the same. It was then, another knock at the door came, and before one could answer it, Pinkie Pie and Rainbowdash were pulling another prank, leaving a basket at the doormat, and hid by the bush. As Twilight answered it, she noticed the basket, and saw that part of Rainbowdash's tail was sticking out. "Rain-*hic* Rainbowdash, I can see you in," she said, still in a croaked voice. The two ponies then came out of their hiding place, a little bugged that they were found out, and came out of the bushes. "Look you two, I *sob*...I'm currently not in the mood for any pranks today, alright?" "Why? Something up?" Rainbowdash asked. "Well...*sniff* If I tell you what it is, then you might get caught into this mess too." "Twilight, if you're a little upset about something, then there's nothing that a little party can't fix!" Pinkie said, stepping in with a ton of party supplies. xxxxxxxx Another 3 minutes later... xxxxxxx Pinkie then exited the door, crying a river (literally), and hugged onto Twilight, who was too now bawling her eyes out. Rainbowdash was confused by this, and decided to go check on this herself. Along the path, Scootaloo, who was going to get some shopping done, sees Twilight and Pinkie and tears, and decides to investigate. As she grabbed a nearby ladder, she got it positioned near the bedroom window, and climbed up. She then saw Spike, who was sadder than before, tell Rainbowdash what he was upset about, and she got sprayed by Spike's tears, an then she started to cry too. Scootaloo's eyes widened as she heard this, and rushed back home, before anyone could see her. 'Oh jeez,' she thought, 'I have to tell Sweetie Belle about this, quick!' xxxxxxxxx
The Secret's Out!xxxxxx As sunset was finally coming, Scootaloo finally came in good range of the boutique, rang the doorbell, and was now panting heavily. "Come on, Sweetie Belle," she said, "Please be home!" As the door opened, to reveal Sweetie Belle, her eyes were in shock, at seeing her friend. "Sweetie Belle, you'll never believe what I found out!" She said, looking serious. "What is it?" she asked, eyelids lowered, "Another person's secret? Look, we have to drop the blackmail thing. I mean, just look at how much trouble I got into!" "But it's about why Spike is upset!" "Well, it was because YOU just had to make him eat green peppers, when he told us it would be dangerous!" "Curiosity kills the cat, you know?" she said, getting a growl and glare from Opalescence, "But that's not the point! The point is, Rarity had said horrible things about Spike, when we left!" "How do you know?" "Because, I just came back from Twilight's, and I heard him say it himself!" Sweetie Belle looked at her friend with a suspicious look, but something didn't feel right to her. If Spike really WAS hurt by Rarity's words, then she needed to find out. "I'll need proof," she said. "Okay, I'll be right back," Scootaloo said, then rushing back to Twilight's. After a while, Scootaloo returned with Applebloom, still crying heavily, due to the dragon sadness still. Sweetie Belle, was now starting to get worried. "Is Applebloom okay?" she asked. "She's fine," Scootaloo said, "Now Applebloom, could you tell Sweetie Belle what you heard from Spike?" "*sniff*...o-*hic*-okay," she said, sniffling. xxxxxxx A small teardrop falls onto a picture of Rarity, that Spike was holding in his claws. Just seeing the pictures that he drew of her, only made him sadder. If she was mad at him for what he did, then maybe not seeing her again, was for the best. He then gathered up all of his drawings, and started to tie them all up with string. He then noticed Owloysius right by the bed post, and walked over to him. "Owloysius," he said, trying his best not to break down again, "Would you *hic*...would you take these pictures away from me?" "Hoot." "I don't care who, just take them away from ME!" Owloysius then started flapping his wings, and grabbed hold of the strings, which were a little heavy for him, as Spike opened the window for him. As Owloysius flew off, Spike could only watch, as his friend carried off the many drawings he made of the one he loved so dearly. He then looked over the stairs, hearing some of the others, who were still crying, start to head off for home. As he returned to his bed, all he could do was cry himself to sleep. xxxxxxxx Nightime came, and everyone was now in bed, or just inside. Along the path, Rarity was now arriving back home, after her trip from Canterlot. She looked exhausted, like she barely got any sleep at all. "Oh, thank GOODNESS," she yawned, "I'm finally home." As she opened the door to the boutique, she saw sitting in one of the stools, was Sweetie Belle, who had a sour expression on her face. "Sweetie Belle? What are you doing up this late?" She asked, irritated. "Sis, we need to talk," Sweetie Belle answered, getting off the stool. "Look, can we at least talk about it in the morning?" Rarity said, very tiresome, walking towards the stairs. "But it's about Spike," Sweetie Belle said, following her sister, "He's been very upset ever since the accident." "Well, he might be upset, because you blackmailed him into you and your friends' shenanigans, and DESTROYING my room!" "Well, Applebloom and Scootaloo-" "Didn't I say that you weren't allowed to be playing with them, since you're grounded?" Rarity exclaimed, turning around. "Well, Applebloom was brought by her sister, to fix up the roof," Sweetie Belle said in defense, as they continued up the stairs, "They were originally going to get Twilight, but when Scootaloo brought Applebloom, she told me that you had said something mean to him." Rarity was then struck by what she had explained, and looked at her curiously. "I don't remember saying anything bad about Spike, this past week." "Well, Applebloom told me that you called Spike a...'royal, no good, unforgivable, jerk, who had ruined your one chance at happiness', or something like that." Rarity then stopped dead in her tracks, which was just a few steps from the door. Her eyes were wide, as she looked at her little sister with worry and shock, like she was a ghost or something. "Uh...Sweetie Belle, are you SURE Spike heard that?" "I'm sure of it. Why?" "Oh dear," Rarity said, placing a hoof on her cheek, "Uh, I think I need to explain something." xxxxxxxx As Spike and the others started to exit Rarity's room, she then started to use her magic to pick up the balloon, and pieces of wood. "I couldn't believe that they got Spike involved with this," she said, "I mean, why HIM of all people? I would've expected Rainbowdash to be the one to get into all of this. Though, then again, it's not as bad as what happened at the gala..." She then started to remember the events from last week. She then started to feel her inner rage started to rise at a rapid speed. She tried to hold it back, but since she was alone, she decided to let it all out. "To think Prince Blueblood could be such a spoiled brat! I mean, the things I would have imagined him would've worked out, but NOO, he just had to go and RUIN everything! If I ever see that royal, no good, unforgivable, jerk, who had ruined my one chance at my happiness, yet it's wasted because of him!..." she then stopped herself, as she calmed down, and finished up cleaning up. "Oh jeez, frustration's really making my words jumbled." As she finally got the place cleared up, she then put away her now destroyed dress, giving it a sad look. The dress she worked so hard on and that her friends helped finish. She then sighed and looked up at the hole. But her thoughts were interrupted, when she heard her cuckoo clock go off five times. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, "It's Five o'clock! I've got to get the delivery done!" She then grabbed her bag, and closed the door. She then used her magic to create a barrier around it, and dashed downstairs. As she was exiting, she noticed that the others probably left. Before she left, she used another spell to have a written letter for Sweetie Belle, placing it on the table, and dashing out the boutique. xxxxxx "So...You DIDN'T insult Spike?" Sweetie Belle said, in shock about the explanation. "Yes," Rarity answered, "But I don't think Spike would've taken something like that TOO hard, if he misheard." "He did, Rarity! More than you think!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "And why is that, young lady?" Rarity said, using her magic to take down the barrier. "Because..." the little filly paused, remembering about Spike, begging not to let his secret be told. She had to tell her. As she was about to say it, she and Rarity saw a pile of papers, right in the middle of the room. They walked over to it, and were both wide eyed by it. The top paper was a picture, and not just any picture. It was a drawing of Rarity and Spike, with a heart in the background. Rarity found it a little weird, and started to check the other papers. It was another drawing of Spike and Rarity. And the next one. And the next one. And the one after that. And the one after THAT. Rarity was now in deep awe at this, seeing an entire pile of drawings, with her and Spike and a lot of hearts and kissy stuff. "He loves you," Sweetie Belle said. "What?" Rarity asked, turning towards her. "He loves you. That's why he took it so hard, because he feels like you hate him, because of the accident." Rarity now felt very guilty about herself. Even with the simplest insult she gave wouldn't affect him, but if he broke down after hearing her rant, then he must really love her. She then used her magic to shrink down the drawings into her bag, and started to head out. "Where are you going?" Sweetie Belle asked. "To fix up a problem I made," Rarity answered, exiting the boutique. xxxxxxx
Fixing Things Upxxxxxxx As Rarity arrived at Twilight's, she knocked on the door, hoping that they weren't asleep yet. After a while, the door opened to reveal Twilight, who was still crying while under dragon sadness. "Oh *sniff* Rarity you're *hic*...you're back," Twilight said, sniffling, "How'd *hic* how'd it go?" "It went quite alright," Rarity answered, "But um...Twilight, I came to see Spike. I heard about what happened, so I came to fix it up." "*sniff*...okay, come on in." As Rarity stepped inside, the door closing behind her, she then followed Twilight upstairs, and there she saw him with shocked eyes, Spike in the deepest misery she's ever seen him. "Oh my goodness," she whispered, "He really does love me." "Wait," Twilight said, now wide eyed, "How *hic*...how do you know that?" Rarity's answer, was pulling out Spike's drawings and resizing them. Twilight was in shock, seeing Rarity with them. Not to mention, very confused. "I found these on the floor of my room," Rarity said, "I don't know who brought them, but it helped prove that I DID hurt him. Now I've got to fix this." She then put the drawings on the ground, and walked over to Spike. He didn't notice her, until she tapped his shoulder, and looked up, eyes sad and wide. "Hey Spike," she said, in soft tone. The little dragon's eyes then grew sadder as he looked at her, and turned away. "Go away," he said, crying, "Let me just wither away, like you want me to." "Spike, listen, I need to explain something to you." "Explain what? That I'm worthless? That I should just leave town and just die? Would that make you happy?" Rarity was now in shock at what Spike had just said. She started to feel hurt by his words, but didn't want to let it get to her. "Spike, if I thought you were worthless, then why would I even be talking to you in the first place?" she asked. Spike then turned back at Rarity, with his eyes filled with realization. He still had tears in his eyes, but it was still filled with doubt. She then gave him a sad smile, as she got closer to him. "Why don't we take a walk?" she asked. "*sniff*...well...I *hic*...I guess," Spike answered, still sniffling. "Is that alright, Twilight?" "*sniff*...well...if it'll help *hic*...help Spike," Twilight said, still crying. "Thank you." With that, Rarity and Spike walked downstairs and headed out the door into town. Twilight watched them, as they exit the building, and decided to get some sleep. She crawled into bed, and gently cried to sleep. But after a while, she started to feel lonely, and get some coco to calm her down. xxxxxx As Spike and Rarity strolled through the quiet town, she started to explain who she was mad at. Spike was still crying, but as Rarity went on, he started to feel his sadness weaken. She then explained that it was Prince Blueblood that Rarity was saying was the jerk she was really hating on. "I'm glad I was able to explain it to you, as soon as I heard," she said, "Though, mind telling me, how your drawings got into my room?" Spike then started to feel his heart stop. His drawings of Rarity in her room? He then noticed, by one of the roofs, Owloysius was there on the edge, and gave Spike a wink, and flew off. The little dragon then turned back towards Rarity. "So...So that means..." he stammered, still having tears in his eyes. "Yes, Spike, I know your secret," she said, simply, "But that's not going to change anything between us." Now he was confused. "Spike, I do think it's cute that you'd fall for me, and..." she then paused for a minute, "...I just want to say, I'm sorry if I hurt you." "S...so, what happens now?" Spike asked. "Well...how about this. Next week, I've got to head down to Philly-delphia next week, and I was thinking...maybe you'd like to lend a hand with the packages?" "You mean...like a da-" Spike started, then covering his mouth with his claws, before he said that one word. "Like a what?" Spike then grew nervous, blushing heavily. He then gulped dryly, and tried again. "A Detour. Uh...yeah! That's what I meant!" Rarity then looked at Spike with a curious look. She knew what he was really going to say, but didn't feel like hurting him again. "Sure, if that's what you want to call it." As they arrived back at Twilight's, Rarity then turned towards Spike, who was a little less sadder than usual. "Feel any better?" she asked. "*sniff*...you...you know what?" he said, as he realized he had stopped crying, and smiled, "...yeah...I do feel better." "Good. I'm glad we had this talk." Spike then felt happy, but it wasn't done yet. The next thing he knew, completely surprised him on all levels. Rarity gave him a quick peck on his cheek, which was now red, along with his entire face. The unicorn then chuckled a bit, and started to head off for home. "Have a good night, Spike." It was then Spike stood there, placing a hand on the cheek Rarity had pressed her lips against. He then brought his hand away, and was completely speechless about it. He then walked inside, and saw that Twilight was asleep with a mug of coco right beside her. Spike only smile at it, as he went over, and got Twilight back in bed, as he too went to sleep in his. xxxxxxx
All's Well, Ends Wellxxxxxx As the day began, Twilight started to open her eyes slowly, hearing some strange sounds. She couldn't tell what they were, due to her being very tired, and got up. It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen, so she dashed downstairs to it. As she entered, her eyes widened, as she saw Spike, making breakfast, while wearing a chef hat and apron. "Oh, morning Twilight," Spike said, turning towards her, in a cheery mood, "Glad you're awake. I made you some breakfast." He then handed her a plate of eggs and toast, with a glass of orange juice. Twilight just looked back at him, noticing something different. He was happy. He wasn't crying. Twilight then realized that SHE wasn't crying either. Her eyes were dry, she wasn't hiccuping, and didn't have the sniffles. "I take it Rarity fixed things up?" she asked, smiling. "You bet!" Spike answered, finishing his breakfast. "Well, I'm glad that everything's back to normal again." Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The two of them walked over, and opened the door to reveal Fluttershy, Rarity, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies also had a cake with gemstones on it.. "Go on, girls," Fluttershy said. "Spike, we brought this cake, to show how sorry we are," Scootaloo said, looking down. "I even got the gemstones, since you like them so much," Sweetie Belle said, as Spike took the cake, with a hungry expression, but then turned back to the three of them. "Thanks guys," Spike said, "And I forgive you. I'm just glad that my love for Rarity is the same again." Scootaloo and Applebloom gasped at this, but Sweetie Belle only smiled sadly. Spike saw their reactions and chuckled at it. "Relax guys," he said, "She knows, so there's no point keeping it secret." "At least, you've learned about ease-dropping, right?" Rarity asked, with a raised eyebrow. "I have." Twilight looked at this, and smiled softly. "Spike, care to take a letter?" she asked. "With pleasure, Twilight!" Spike exclaimed, pulling out a piece of paper, and a quill pen, writing down everything Twilight said. "Dearest Princess Celestia, I am proud to announce that, not one, but TWO lessons about friendship have been learned today," she started, going over the crusaders, patting each of their heads, "For three of your loyal subjects, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they learned that teasing about one's feelings for another into something they want in return, doesn't get you anywhere, but trouble, and that if they want help, they should ask." She then turned towards Spike, who was still writing, as Rarity walked over, "The other lesson, that my faithful assistant, Spike, has learned, is that ease-dropping on someone's thoughts on another, doesn't always mean it's you, and that you shouldn't always jump to conclusions on something, and ask them about it. And who knows? It could even lead to a stronger friendship. Your Faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" "Got it!" Spike said, finishing up the letter. But before Spike could sent it, they heard a loud crash, coming from over by the fields. They soon rushed over, to see Pinkie Pie, with a bag of popcorn, watching a very awkward scene. Rainbowdash was tickling Applejack. "Come on! Admit you cried more!" Rainbowdash said, as she continued her assault. "Hehehehehehe n-no way!" Applejack laughed, pushing herself up to get the upper hand, getting Rainbowdash. "Hihihihihihi st-stop!" The others just watched in confusion, as Pinkie Pie chowed down on her popcorn. "They've been going at it for a while now," Pinkie said, with popcorn in her mouth. "Oh my goodness," Fluttershy said, in a frightened tone, "Shouldn't we stop them?" "There's nothing wrong with a little tickling," Pinkie said, getting up, "Here, let me show you!" The next thing she knew, Fluttershy was tackled by her friends, and started to get tickled by her, furiously. Fluttershy tried her best not to laugh, but ended up bursting out laughing. The others started to chuckle, as Fluttershy started to fight back, tickling Pinkie and having her laugh hysterically. "Well, I guess we now have FOUR of us, that have the same weakness," Rarity said. "Oh yeah?" Sweetie Belle said, as she and the others got ready, making Rarity nervous a bit. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TICKLE ATTACK!" The three fillies shouted, as they pounced on Rarity, tickling her furiously, as she laughed loudly. As Twilight and Spike looked at the many tickle fights, they couldn't help but laugh at the situation, with how funny it is. But it didn't matter as much anyway, since the whole situation was resolved well. xxxxxxxx
