Spike hummed to himself happily as he worked the broom back and forth. His hips swayed as he worked, cleaning up map room. Council of Friendship Room? They had never really come up with a full proper name for it yet, did they? Well, whatever it was, it was in the middle of being cleaned.
Last night's Guys' Night had been pretty fun, but it had also been one of their longer and messier games. Admittedly, it may not have been the best idea to put Discord in charge of refreshments, but when he claims that he can get "the best pizza in not just Equestria, but the entire dimension!" it was just asking to be tested. The fact that Spike got one with rubies and something called pepperoni was a bonus.
But, now he had to clean up, and was almost done: the leftover pizza was in the fridge, minus one slice that was for breakfast; unfinished soda had been poured out; the game materials were put away until next time; and the trash had been cleaned up. Just had to finish sweeping, then mop up, and he was done.
As he finished with the broom, a humming noise and flash of light got the young dragon's attention. It was coming from the table as The Friendship Map appeared. Curious, he set the broom down and walked over, looking to see who was being summoned and where they were supposed to go.
Seeing the answers caused him to stare wide eyed, mouth falling open. That... was not what he expected. Was it possible that the map had made a mistake? Maybe it was a prank of some kind? The map was able to pick ponies and locations, so maybe it had some sort of intelligence and personality?
"SPIKE!" Twilight Sparkle's voice called out, echoing through the castle. "I'M HOME!"
A yelp escaped the young dragon as he stumbled back, nearly falling. Twilight! Twilight could not see this! She might blow up the map. She might teleport herself to a cave deep beneath the earth. Whatever was going to happen, Spike was certain that Twilight would absolutely not be able to handle it in a mature and reasonable fashion. The mare was going to do something insane!
As fast as his little legs could carry him, Spike bolted through the map room and for the door. Throwing them shut behind him, he continued on until Twilight came in sight. With a lunge, he tossed himself against Twilight's chest, pushing her back a few steps while wrapping his arms around her neck.
With a small laugh, Twilight wrapped one of her forelegs around Spike, hugging him back.
"I'm glad to see you too," she said with a smile. "Anything exciting happen while I was gone?"
"Nope," Spike answered. "Everything has been all quiet." He grinned. "Yep. Nothing happened at all. Not one thing for you to worry about."
Taking a step back, Twilight looked down at him, brow furrowing and muzzle scrunched up. Oh no! Oh no! He messed up! He messed up! That was the look she got when--
"What's going on?"
"Nothing!" Spike answered, and realized that he sounded panicked even to himself. His claws reached for his tail, grabbing a hold and twisting it as he continued to stand there.
Leaning down, Twilight's eyes narrowed further.
"Oh?" she asked. "Then what were you doing in the map room?"
"Uhm... cleaning up?" Spike answered.
"Ohhhh!" Twilight said as she straightened up. "I get it." She gave a small smirk. "Your 'guys' night' got a little out of hoof and the room is a mess." She then poked the young dragon in the stomach. "That's why you slammed the door, you don't want me to see it."
A sigh of relief escaped Spike as he looked down, giving a nod.
"Something like that," he mumbled.
It was not entirely a lie, technically. The issue was in the map room, he did have Guys' Night last night, and it did get a little messy. If she was assuming that he had not cleaned most of it up yet, that was all on her. Admittedly, he was not trying to correct it, but that was all.
"Come on then," Twilight said as she moved to walk past him. "I'll help you clean up."
Jaw locking shut, Spike's eyes went wide as he mentally screamed in terror.
"No!" he cried out moving to get between her and the door. "No! Don't do that." He licked his lips, glancing around. "Uh... it's my mess so it's my responsibility. I should clean it up myself. Besides, you just got back. Don't you want to take a little time and relax?"
Again, Twilight looked down at him with her brow furrowed as she studied him. He just had to hope that she would accept the idea and let it go. Otherwise, he was either going to have to come up with a better -- actual -- lie, or deal with her finding out the truth.
After letting out a hum, she relaxed and nodded.
"Alright. I guess--"
There was a loud BOOM! as the doors were thrown open, slamming into the crystal walls beside them. Standing on her hind legs in the doorway was a familiar light blue unicorn, dressed in a hat and cape.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie has arrived!"
This was followed by a series of fireworks exploding in the air...filling the hall with echoing booms and smoke.
"Trixie!" Twilight coughed out, waving her wings to try and clear the smoke. "What are you doing?"
"Well," Trixie said as she strutted further into the room, "I was having a lovely time with Starlight and Maud, when all of a sudden, this --" turning to her side, she showed off her cutie mark that was glowing with smaller versions around it "-- started happening." She grinned wider.
Twilight's eyes bugged out and mouth fell open. Several noises escaped from her throat, but there was no way of knowing what -- if anything -- she was trying to say.
"I know!" Trixie squealed out. "Once Starlight explained what it meant to me, I was speechless too!" She tilted her body, looking back at her glowing cutie mark, and chest swelling with pride. "Can you believe it? Me, The Great and Powerful Trixie, selected to go on a Friendship Mission!" Hopping up, she clapped her front hooves together excitedly.
Twilight continued to stare wide-eyed, mouth hanging open as she let out a strangled noise.
"So, where am I going?" Trixie asked, still grinning wide.
Twilight let out another noise, but otherwise did not move.
"Come on," Spike said, stepping away from Twilight and heading toward the map room. "I'll show you."
With a giggle and dance in her step, Trixie followed after the young dragon to find out where she was being sent.
Alone in the hallway, Twilight finally snapped out of her shock enough to do something.
She fainted.
Starlight Glimmer made her way downstairs toward the kitchen. Another yawn escaped her as she continued to wake up. Already she was looking forward to breakfast.
That was assuming Twilight had not kept Spike up all night while trying to study the table... again...
"Starlight!" Spike called out. "Hey, Starlight."
Turning to the sound of her name, Starlight found the door to the map room open. The map had vanished, leaving the table looking more like regular one (albeit a large one made out of crystal). On it were three plates, and now that she was paying attention, she could smell the aroma of freshly cooked hay bacon.
Licking her lips, she made her way toward the waiting plate of hay bacon, potatoes, and cheese toast. A small moan of joy escaped her as she took a bite. Spike was a dragon of many talents, and cooking was one of her favorites.
Starlight turned to Twilight Sparkle as she swallowed.
"So, does this mean you're done trying to figure out how The Friendship Map 'malfunctioned?'"
Twilight's ears pulled back as she looked down at her plate, letting out a rumble of frustration.
"I still don't get why it would choose Trixie of all ponies." She glanced at Starlight. "I know she's your friend and she's doing better, but there has to be some mistake to send her to deal with a friendship problem alone."
Starlight took another bite of her food as she chose not to say anything. While Twilight and Trixie did not exactly get along, things were getting better between them. They were by no means friends, but were starting to tolerate each other. From what Starlight understood, the two would eventually work things out to at least have a respect for each other with the occasional friendly jab. And Trixie accomplishing a friendship mission on her own would go a long way toward that. Plus, as much as she liked Trixie, Starlight was by no means oblivious to the show mare's flaws. Yes, under the right circumstances Trixie would and could be willing to help others out of kindness, but it was not exactly her first instinct. As such, she could not hold Twilight's skepticism against her.
"But," Twilight continued, "I guess that she dealt with whatever the problem was, because the map disappeared." She poked at one of her potato bites. "Trixie should be catching the morning train, and should be here sometime this afternoon. Unless she decided to stay around Rainbow Falls for a while for some reason."
There was a loud BOOM! as the front door was thrown open, followed by the doors to the map room being kicked open.
Standing in the doorway was... maybe Trixie? It was a unicorn, and look very much like a mare. The problem was that the coat was a splotchy mess of dark blues, purples, and greens. The mane and tail hung limply, covered in big spots of different colors like somepony had thrown buckets of paint on it. Teeth bared and purple eyes burning with rage, she stomped her way over to the table, glaring at Twilight.
"You!" Trixie growled, poking Twilight in the chest with a hoof. "Since it was your stupid map that sent me on a stupid friendship mission, you owe me a new HAT AND CAPE!
"O-o-okay," Twilight said, eyes wide as she took a step back. "I'm sure Rarity will be happy to make you a new set."
"What happened?" Spike asked.
Trixie turned to glare at him, causing him to sink back.
"That is something that Trixie is never going to tell anypony EVER! Trixie is taking it to her grave!" She then turned back toward Twilight. "And if your table sends me on a mission like that ever again, I will get out my old rock hammer and smash the stupid thing into a fine crystal POWDER!"
With that, she turned around and stomped toward the door.
"Now, I am going to take a nice hot shower to try and get all the rainbow out of my hair and coat, then taking one of the bedrooms to sleep until I can forget the whole thing ever happened."
Horn lighting up, she slammed the door shut behind her.
Several seconds passed in silence as the three of them stared at the now shut door.
"I should probably go check on her," Starlight said as she moved away from the table.
Before she could get too far, the table lit up, The Friendship Map appearing on the surface once more. An icon appeared above it, floating up across the surface toward the north. Shifting, Starlight moved to get a better look.
"That's Maud's cutie mark! And it's floating over The Crystal Empire?"
Twilight let out a sob.
