"Water's getting a lil choppy, everyone. So, the going's gonna be a bit slower than planned." The boat operator called back, adjusting the boat's speed as he did. "Looks like you'll be having a rainy arrival too, if those clouds mean anything."

"So much for sunbathing today." Rarity pouted some.

"Hoping to catch a few rays beside a certain dragon?" Tempest smirked, glancing over at Spike, who'd nodded off.

Rarity blushed a little. "P-perhaps. If anything, I can at least do what I can to make up for...well, being less than honest about how I felt." Her head hung a little as she continued. "To be blunt, after a while, when he started growing up, I honestly did find myself getting attracted to him. Except I was too bull-headed to let myself admit it, so I convinced myself to just be happy that he was eager to help. That and I was more concerned about how my peers and 'high society' would react to the idea of me dating a dragon." She let out an unladylike snort. "Some 'Element of Generosity' bearer I am."

"If it helps...we're kind of in the same boat, Rarity, so to speak." Fluttershy piped up next. "I-I'm not proud of it, but even though I was starting to like him myself, and I thought I'd gotten over my fear of dragons, it was still there in the background. After what happened that time on his birthday, it came back and...I found myself worrying that he'd become like Garble and the others." She rubbed an eye, sniffling some. "I let myself paint him with the same brush...I was even relieved a few times when he was chased off during our sleepovers."

"Ain't much worse then the rest of us, Shy." Applejack replied. "Heck, back when Ah was a filly, me an' Coloratura had our own sleepovers on occasion. We knew Big Mac'd come to tease us some 'bout it, so we took to banin' him from the area. After seein' Spike as an 'Honorary Apple', Ah started treatin' him the exact same way with even thinkin' 'bout it. Now that Ah am, assumin' he'd act the same was really...what's the word Ah'm lookin' for?"

"Presumptuous?" Twilight offered.

"Yeah, that." She found the floor of the boat rather fascinating right then.

Rainbow adjusted her wings a bit. "Same here. You guys know I'm not the kinda mare who's into all that mushy 'I love you' stuff, but...I'm just gonna come out and say it. When he started getting older, even I started thinking of him as 'new cute guy in town' instead of 'Twi's little sorta-brother' and..."

"You figured you'd attempt to flirt by way of pranks and poking fun at him, right?" Trixie asked.

"Bingo. Looking back, that wasn't one of my brighter ideas." Rainbow winced a tad. "Guess I wasn't imagining those couple times where he looked like he wanted to slug me."

"Think I'm in the same boat as Dashie, figuratively speaking." Pinkie joined in. "At least with the pranks. I guess my biggest mistake is, when me and my sisters were still little, our parents told us that 'good fillies don't go to sleepovers or 'special parties' with guys their own age and good colts don't try to set them up or crash them'. So, I thought not involving him..." She trailed off, her hair rapidly loosing its poofiness. " Except I never thought about actually talking to Spike about it...I just assumed like AJ, and forgot what happens when you do that. I goofed, big time."

"All six of us did, Pinkie." Twilight sighed. "When Spike and I were little, he was fine with going to do something else while I was spending time with other girls. Just didn't realize how much that changed the older we got."

"Make that seven, Twi." Starlight spoke up. "Only defense - if you can even call it that - is I figured that that was standard with you guys and didn't think it was my business to say anything..."

"Thankfully, Trixie...I-I mean, I can say I don't have a hand in that mess, thankfully. I'm mainly coming along to try and curb my 'me,myself, and I' attitude." Trixie added. "Though, that brings up something: if all this is about you not thinking about his reaction, then why didn't he say anything?"

"I tried; more than once." Spike said, startling all of them. "But after being ignored every time, I gave up trying." He gave them all a glance before gong back to sleep.

The girls all looked at each other. Despite how things were going, they could tell he still felt a little sore about the whole thing. Plans were promptly reinforced.

Meanwhile, Tempest considered what they'd all admitted. She had hand it to them; at least they were willing to admit where and how they goofed. But, it was gonna take a lot more than just admitting, as far as she was concerned. 'You lot may've patched things up a little, but you still gotta show you mean it.'

A little smirk appeared on her face. She could tell that their guilt wasn't the only thing that was making them wanna do this. The way that they'd all dressed for that game of poker was proof enough. 'Heh, I'm gonna be sure that you all get your chance to prove it. Every. Little. Bit.'

"All right, you lot!" The boat operator called out. "Here she be. Gimmie a few minutes and you'll all be in teleporting distance.

"Whoa, look at that!" Rainbow called out. The main resort building was visible from where they were, along with a good-sized beach and dock off to the side. Everything beyond was thick forest. A few birds could be seen fluttering in and out of the thick foliage.

"Kinda wish Ah'd brought my camera now." Applejack said.

After a moment, the boat came to a stop a couple hundred yards from the shore. " Here we go. I'll be back to pick you up in a couple of weeks."

"All right, everyone, get your things and group up tight!" Twilight called out. "These group teleportations can be tricky when your spread out."

"Oh, this looks positively marvelous!" Rarity squealed, quickly gathering up her bags.

Pinkie was right behind her. "It may just be us, but I got a feeling way down in my cutie mark that we're gonna have a lotta fun while we're here!"

As Twilight's horn lit up to transfer them to the island, Tempest fought the urge to laugh. "Pinkie, you have no idea."

Author's Note

Well, my muse hasn't exactly been friendly to me in regards to this one, but I finally got something. Hopefully now I got a start on it, I can keep things going.