I'll Show Mine...

"I don't believe you, Spike. I honestly don't believe you! This is without a doubt the worst thing you've ever done!" Twilight ranted, pacing in front of the couch after she made him and Tempest get dressed and had them both go into the main hall. The others were standing a little ways off; Applejack was using her hat to fan Rarity and a still wobbly Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rainbow were whispering and gesturing a bit, glancing toward the new couple on occasion

"Hold on a sec-mm!" He drew back in surprise when his mouth was suddenly clamped shut by her magic.

"I don't want to hear your excuses, Spike Drake!" She snapped, "I saw the bottle on the table, as well as how much was still in it! Drinking THAT much alcohol like that...you have any idea how reckless that is!? Since it was NEARLY EMPTY, I'm going to be generous, and give you the benefit of the doubt that the answer's 'no' to that question."

"Mmmm-hhmm!" Spike tried to respond, but his mouth was still sealed shut, so all he could do was give her a ticked-off glare.

"But dragging Tempest into your little stunt!?"

"Ok, Twilight." Said mare cut her off, " First, that was my booze, the stuff AJ'd given me. I invited him to come have a drink with me. Why? Because he was in a foul mood and looked like he needed someone to talk to. Plus, I don't like drinking by myself.

"Twi...the stuff Ah gave her; Special Edition...it ain't really that much stronger that normal cider." Applejack chipped in, "Jus' call it that 'cause it's from our first couple of Zap Apple bushels."

"It's still alcohol!" The irate princess looked back at her before snapping her glare back to Spike, "But that's not the worst of it...no...what you did next is one of, it not THE, most irresponsible, despicable, and dishonest things imaginable! You have SEX with her while your drunk. And since dragons are said to have a higher alcohol tolerance than ponies, basically VIOLATING her!" She almost got right in his face. "I taught you better than this!"

"Princess Twilight." Tempest once again cut in. This time, however, she was standing up and glaring at Twilight herself. She marched up until both the alicorn had to look up slightly. "With all due respect..." Her voice took on the familiar hard, icy tone she used back when they were enemies, "SHUT UP!"

"T-Tempest?" Twilight's voice halted a bit, the near scowl the taller mare was giving her was unnerving.

"How about you explain to me how what happens between two friends, who are also both consenting adults, is any of your business! Plus the fact that I'M the one who made that offer to Spike to begin with!"

"Y...y-you??"

"Yes, Princess. Me." Tempest let out a chuckle with zero humor in it, "And after all those sleepovers, are you really surprised he was so pent up? Especially when you wouldn't even let him read a Celestia's Secret catalogue, burning the one he had?"

"Celestia's...?" Fluttershy spoke up with a bit of disbelief, "Really, Twilight? You got upset over a Celestia's Secret? That's the tamest lingerie catalog in Equestria, I buy half my underwear and pajamas from them. Rarity makes more revealing pieces."

"Wha...?? Fluttershy??" Twilight almost cricked her neck wheeling around to look at her friend, "But...it-it's lingerie! It's still...!"

"Princess Celestia and Luna pose for a lot of their items." The normally shy pegasus continued, the two names making Twilight blanch, "Did you even look in the catalog before destroying it?"

"Well...um...no...I saw the cover and reacted..." She gulped, "I..I burned pictures of the princesses..?!"

"Pretty much. You know it's quite hypocritical of you to get upset with him over that given what we've read sometimes, Twilight." There was no small amount of disapproval in Fluttershy's voice.

"Yeah...I don't get what the deal is about lacy underwear, but that wasn't cool, Twi." Rainbow threw her two bits in.

"But...I..." Twilight trailed off, the fact that she overreacted seeming to sink in. She was jostled out of her thoughts by a hard poke in the shoulder.

"And take the damn muzzle off my boyfriend!" Tempest demanded, pointing at the still silenced dragon.

Still discombobulated some by what she'd just been hit with, Twilight absentmindedly shut off the spell.

Spike worked his jaw around a little before adding a comment of his own, "Don't even think you're out of hot water yet, Twilight!" He growled, "I'm still peeved about how you found it in the first place!" He quickly turned to the others, "And while that seems to be gelling for her, the rest of you aren't really innocent either!"

"Us..? What'd we do?" Pinkie asked, "I thought you two were really 'wrasslin', cross my heart and-"

"Not that, Pinkie." He said, "I'm talking about some of the junk all six of you have pulled..."

"GIRLS!" The slightly high-pitched cry of Starlight Glimmer drew everyone's attention as the panting unicorn came running into the room, "You won't believe what I saw! Spike is...he and Tempest...no shirt...pecs!" She tried to get out, only to blush brightly when she saw him, the two wads of tissue paper up her nose turning even more red.

"Starlight, what happened to you!?" Twilight asked, "And why do you have toilet paper...?"

"I...I was walking past Tempest's room and saw Spike...he pulled off his shirt and..." She sighed, "Whoa momma...! I...I....needed to go cool off...and clean off the bathroom sink and mirror when I thought about what else he might be hiding under those clothes..."

"Ok...." Spike glanced at her for a moment before turning back to the others, "Anyway, how about we start off with the slumber parties? You have any idea how frustrating it is to be around a bunch of half-naked mares and get the stink-eye whenever I get near?" He sighed in aggravation, "Even if I have no choice but to go past when I'm just going to get something to eat!?'

"But, Spikey, you never looked interested in joining," Rarity replied, biting her lip uneasily, "Especially something....well, 'girly'..."

"None of you ever even asked, Rarity!" The heated tone in his voice made her recoil a little, "There's never a 'Spike, you wanna join in?' or 'We breaking out a game, you wanna play?' Even if I didn't feel like it, at least an offer on occasion would've been appreciated, but no...soon as you all arrive, it's just 'Shoo! Go away!'..." He accentuated it with the matching gesture.

Tempest followed up, "And if you sent him away and didn't invite him to participate, maybe you shouldn't involve him in you little dares or pranks." She gave Rainbow and Pinkie the stink eye as she said it.

"Come on, Tempest," Rainbow held her hands up in a placating gesture, "We didn't mean anything by 'em."

"Yeah, we thought maybe a little fun would get him to wanna join in." Pinkie added, but stopped at the look Spike and Tempest were giving her.

"Fun??" Spike spat, "Supergluing my door closed? Stealing all my underwear and hanging it all on the balcony? NONE of that was 'fun! All that stuff did was make me feel unwelcome in my own home! Hell, Pinkie, your last sleepover 'prank' left me unconscious for two hours!" He looked at her sourly, "And hearing you two laughing with the others about it hurt...in more ways than one."

As soon as the h-word left his mouth, Pinkie's mane quickly lost it's normal floof and her voice cracked a little, "It..it hurt you...?"

"Along with making him fix most of what you all eat, then running him off...yeah," Tempest shook her head, "Doesn't really encourage me to wanna join you on your next one."

"But, you know the bit that kind of really hurts? I've overheard you at some of the sleepovers, talking about some of the local stallions and colts." He chuckled humorlessly again, "The way you'd all giggle, squeal or swoon over some of them, I didn't really have much doubt that if it was somepony like Soarin or that Flash guy, you'd all practically drag him over to join the party, but Spike...?" He was trying his hardest to just sound aggravated or annoyed, but the bitter resentment cut through, "He just gets told to go away...'cause I'm not one of your 'hunky stallions'...?"

The room was dead silent for a while, broken only by a few sniffles from Pinkie and Fluttershy. The others were looking on at him with a mix of shock and regret as what he said started sinking in; Rainbow slumped onto the floor, ears and wings flopping down. Rarity looked on, hands clutched at her chest and eyes welling up some. Twilight just moved her mouth soundlessly, trying and failing to say anything. Tempest had taken the more direct route and wrapped her arms around him.

"Spike..." Applejack spoke up, her voice cracking considerably, "Ah...Ah swear...on mah reputation as a farmer and mah parents' grave...none of us ever meant to make you feel like this...ever."

Spike shook his head, "I want to believe that, AJ, but it's not the only time you've left me out in the cold..." He took a deep breath, "Remember the Grand Galloping Gala?"

There was a sharp hiss of regret from Rainbow as they all remembered what had happened, "Uhhh....that wasn't one of our best moments..."

"Yeah. I really had been looking forward to showing you five around our old home town...at least, until all of you just bailed on me. Honestly, I can understand that all of you had these big hopes and were wanting them to come true at the Gala, but it's the fact you all just scattered and left me in the dust as soon as we got there that gets me."

"He's right..." Fluttershy wiped her eyes, "We were all a little selfish in running off like we like, and leaving him behind...*sniffle*"

"Indeed..." Rarity added, trying to blink back her own tears, "And I dare say we somewhat paid for it...for assuming it would all go our way, at least."

"And Twilight's birthday...when you didn't even bother telling me you were moving the party to Canterlot?" His frown deepened, "And I spent the whole damn day at Golden Oaks wondering what what was keeping you all?"

"No....I-I didn't think...when..." Even though she was barely speaking above a whisper, the room's acoustics let them all hear her, "When I heard Rarity was going to be staying in Canterlot for a while, I didn't think...oh, Spike..." She choked back a sob.

"You're getting that this is a little more than just being left out of something fun, right?" Tempest asked, noticing that from the expressions on the rest of the Mane Six, they were figuring it out as well.

"Going to see A.K.Yearling." Rainbow piped up, any traces of confidence in her voice nonexistent, "Now that I think 'bout it, w-we never told you about we were gonna do that to begin with, did we?" She quickly rubbed an eye, "Don't feel twenty percent cooler at all now...or any cool..."

"Manehatten..." Rarity blew her nose, "I-I just used him for the heavy lifting...and I didn't even have the common decency to inform him about the change of plans when we worked on the clothes."

"Ok.." Spike sighed, "I'm not looking for specific--OOF!" He staggered back as a pink, sobbing mass wrapped round him.

"'I'M SORRY SPIKE!" Pinkie bawled, her face buried in his chest, "I told myself I want Maud to meet all my friends! I SWEAR I didn't mean to forget about you when we went to see her! HONEST!"

"Ok, Pinkie..." He put his free arm around the crying mare, "Look, my point is I just wish you guys would ask, or at least tell me when you go do stuff like that, instead of just leaving me like a busted wagon wheel..."

"He's got a point." Applejack said, hat hanging loosely in her fingers and visible tear streaks on her face, "Y'all remember the promise we when we were stuck in the Power Ponies comic? That we'd always be a team?"

"Yeah..." Fluttershy's face was hidden by her mane, but the light trembling was evident as to how she was feeling, "And then we did the opposite. We made a promise and...and broke it almost as fast...!"

Seeing the way Fluttershy was trembling, Spike felt the more negative sensations: the bitterness, the anger, the resentment, all start eroding away. As left out as he'd felt, these mares were still his friends. He'd let it go on for so long because he didn't want to hurt them, since most of it was just from them not really thinking; something they were admitting to him and themselves. He had just wanted to get across the left out, almost unwanted feeling he'd get when they did stuff like that. With a smile, he held his arm out to her an a silent invitation for a hug.

He wasn't quite prepared for expected nearly everyone to accept the invitation.

Or so eagerly. The loud 'wumpf' of a dragon getting mass tackle-hugged by six mares was almost comical, were it not for the muffled cries of 'I'm sorry!'"

"Sounds like all this needed to come out." Tempest commented, snickering a little at the ponypile Spike was currently engulfed in, "Probably would've been better if Twilight's overreaction wasn't what you guys needed to do it...but, it is what it is."

"She's right..." Twilight murmured from her spot on his back, "I reacted really badly seeing you two like that. It...it's just I have a hard time seeing Spike as more than my little brother. Mix that with the bit of worry I still have at the chance of him losing control again....not a good combination." She winced a little and buried her face back into him, "I'm really sorry, Spike!"

Tempest looked at her, "What, did you think the first taste of sex he got he'd go on a horny rampage to ravish and claim all the mares of Ponyville?"

"Well, it...it sounded logical when I had that nightmare about it..."

"Nightmare? Didn't Luna help you with that?" Fluttershy asked, peeking up from his shoulder.

Twilight's ears flattened as she blushed some, "...she was too busy laughing."

"And that didn't give you a clue that maybe you were being a worrywart again?" Spike deadpanned before sighing, "Sometimes I wonder which one of us is supposed to be the mature one."

"Hey...!" She started to protest.

"And you still owe me a new Celestia's Secret."

Twilight just looked at him, "You know you have a marefriend now, right?"

"You still burned my book." He grinned, "Besides, there might be something in it Tempest might want."

"Dunno about that." Tempest gave him a playful swat with her tail, "I sleep naked."

Once again, silence reigned, except for a stifled giggled and one harshly whispered 'YES!'...

Then a pair of voices piped up, "So...are you two exclusive?"