In which Spike ...

Chapters

In which Spike enjoys working to please Others
In which Spike gets a Surprise
In which Spike hands out some Gifts
In which Spike gets to Sleep

In which Spike enjoys working to please Others

Author's Note

Thanks for editing help goes out to Princess Amore Dudette and diealein.

In which Spike enjoys working to please Others

Spike had some trouble waking up. He wasn’t a morning person and the sun was just barely rising. But he had lots of plans for today, so he determinedly fought through the cobwebs. By the time he came out of the bathroom, he was bright and ready to face the day.

First off were the household chores. He was spending more and more time outside the house, so those had a bit of a tendency to pile up. Twilight hardly ever did any … not that she could really be trusted with them. When she did, she always wanted to make things “quicker and easier” with magic, which already had left their home uninhabitable twice. The second time it had taken all their friends to stave off the magically induced disaster. It really was just a lot easier for Spike to do the chores himself from the get go. Recently, he had started to worry a tiny little bit about that, though. If Twilight found herself a nice gentlecolt to go steady with, it would be time to move out – everything else would just be really awkward. Or maybe, just theoretically, if he and Rising Up were to move in together, then who would look after Twilight? That was the natural progression of things, was it not? He didn't want to rush Rising at all, but he did like the idea of making breakfast for her, of waking up next to her and watching her fall asleep. But Spike worried: there weren't all that many colts around who would be fine with a mare who never ever lifted a finger around the household … even one as smart, beautiful and renowned as Twilight. All this and more was going through Spike’s head while he was scrubbing the floor and dusting off the shelves … not really activities that required all his mental concentration, so that left him time to think and ponder.

When he came to Twilight's study, he puffed up in anger. She had done it again! There she was, snoring softly over an open book. She was going to wreck her health and eyesight with the way she would just keep working until keeling over from exhaustion!

Spike sighed, his anger only born from worry for the pony he loved so dearly. He thought that glasses wouldn't diminish Twilight's attractiveness – Rarity certainly looked very alluring and refined wearing hers. But Twilight's extremely irregular sleeping schedule and tendency to constantly overwork were going to take a toll on her health eventually, and Spike really did not want to let that happen.

He watched the purple mare silently for a moment, debating whether to disturb her or get her to bed so she wouldn’t be so sore when she woke up. As he stood there in thought, Twilight shifted slightly in her sleep so that her chin rested squarely on her crossed arms. She must have been dreaming something pleasant, for a broad smile formed on her face. When he saw her dribble onto the book she was lying on, however, he knew what Twilight would want. She'd already smudged an important text passage in a book twice this way, one instance of which caused an adventure of its own when they had to find another copy of a rare, ancient text … Spike knew her prized books held one of the highest positions in Twilight's heart. Carefully, silently, Spike moved closer, still wanting to avoid waking the pony he cared so deeply for. After thinking for a couple of seconds, he finally came to a solution – one that would have been impossible just a few years ago. Carefully, he bent down and scooped Twilight’s lithe frame up into his arms, grunting a little with exertion as he lifted her. Twilight wasn't exactly the type to work out, and Spike concluded that the meals he cooked for her probably made her gain a couple of pounds in recent months. She always quite liked his cooking, and she had ever been on the underweight side, so gaining a bit of weight might be good for her.

Confused and sleepy, the unicorn opened her purple eyes to look at the larger dragon.

“Don’t worry, Twilight, I’m just getting you to your bed.” Spike reassured the tired pony. Recognizing her adopted little brother … well, not that little any more, taller than her, in fact … Twilight relaxed and snuggled closer to his broad chest, closing her eyes again and mumbling something unintelligible.

Now, it wasn't that holding Twilight's body tight, her pressing her hand or the way her face leaned against his chest felt bad – quite the opposite in fact – but that brought problems all of its own. He was very acutely aware that he was holding a beautiful, intelligent and charming pony in his arms. The prolonged touch, amplified by her rubbing against him and her own unique smell, which seemed a bit stronger since she probably hadn't showered in almost a day, caused something to stir that definitely wasn't supposed to react.

'She's your sister, for Celestia's sake!' Spike chided himself. Well, not biologically, but they had basically grown up as siblings, and he wasn't supposed to react to her like that, especially now that he had a girlfriend. Yes, reactions such as this were supposed to be limited to Rising Up only, even if she currently chose not to do anything with that. But Spike could be patient: he didn't want to rush or pressure her and make her feel uncomfortable. Still, being pent up like that made it hard not to be aware of just how desirable the pony in his arms was, and to keep his member sheathed where it belonged.

As Spike gently laid Twilight in her bed, he was both relieved that the immediate temptation was over but also secretly a little sad to let her go. Now that he had grown so much, having finally become an adult, he and Twilight touched much less often than they used to. Twilight had blossomed into a beautiful young woman all of her own, and the close physical contact they often shared when they were younger would now be more than a little awkward, so they kept a respectful distance. Which Twilight did when she was awake at least.

Spike tried very hard to forget how Twilight had rubbed her face against his chest and, well, basically groped his breast in her sleep as he had carried her, and just how good that had felt. This was made even harder when she tried pulling him down into bed with her as he rose to leave. He was still really tired, and didn’t want to go back to doing his chores, so the idea of cuddling with Twilight was just so very, very tempting. But he had responsibilities and promises to keep, so he gently extricated himself from Twilight’s hold, ignored whatever she was mumbling in her sleep, and kissed her gently on the forehead.

“Sleep well, Twilight. There will be breakfast waiting for you whenever you wake up.”

Either what he had said or just the sound of his voice put a smile on Twilight's face, and carefully covering his sister with a blanket, Spike left her room quietly and returned to his tasks.

After he finished cleaning as much of the house as he had planned for that day, Spike carefully prepared a cold meal, which she probably wouldn’t have until around noon. He set it on a tray and a thick soup off to the side that Twilight could reheat later. Before he left, he placed a handwritten note on the tray, explaining that he would not be around for dinner:

Dear Twilight,

I should know by now that it is useless to ask, since I have done so several dozen times already, but could you please not work until you collapse in the early hours of morning? You are really making some of us very worried.

In case you forgot, I am off today doing various chores around town, and I'll be meeting Rising Up in the evening, so I won't be around for dinner. There is soup in the pot on the stove – you just have to reheat it on low flame and remember to stir it every couple of minutes. Don't bring something to read while you wait for dinner to be ready, or you'll forget to stir and the soup will burn (again). Also, please remember to actually have dinner at a reasonable time and don't just forget about it (again).

Take care, Spike.

With a sigh, Spike left the house and started to jog towards his next destination. He had a strong premonition he would come home to either find that Twilight hadn't eaten dinner again, or to a pot with coal on the bottom. Still, the air was fresh and Spike was happy he was on time – it would allow him to take a break later, as it was supposed to get quite hot that day despite only being spring.

“G'mornin', Spike!” he was greeted cordially as he reached his destination. “Glad you could make it.” Applejack had obviously already been working for hours, probably getting up as early as he did if not sooner. She was positively glowing from her workout, the thin sheen of sweat a testament to her far more strenuous chores.

“Sure thing, Applejack. What do you need me to do?”

“Well, I don't want to ask you for too much, but if it ain't no trouble, it would really help me out if you'd plough the wheat fields over there. Meant to do it maself, but I ain't even half done with this one yet.” Everyone knew that Applejack still hated asking for or accepting help, but she had gotten a lot better about not letting that show.

“Sure, I can do that. I'll just get the plough from the usual spot?”

“Yeah, it's in the barn.” the earth pony confirmed. “You're a real treasure, Spike. Wouldn't know what to do without you.”

“Always glad to help, Applejack!” the dragon responded with heartfelt warmth. As he made his way over to the barn, he tried hard not to gaze too obviously at Applejack's muscled form straining against the plough stuck in the ground. He had heard a number of colts were rather intimidated by just how strong and well muscled she was. Spike, being stronger than almost any pony not only because he happened to be a dragon, but also because of the regular workouts he got while helping others, couldn’t quite empathise with their feelings, and thought that whoever eventually won Applejack’s heart would be in for quite a treat. Spike himself, at least, could certainly appreciate the beauty of a well-muscled mare.

With some difficulty, Spike carried the heavy plough to the acre that Applejack had just asked him to take care of. He’d been over fairly regularly to help in the past two years, so he had gotten plenty of practice in working the tool. It had been two rough years in a row and the farmers’ crops took a big hit. Some of them had laid the blame on Rainbow Dash, but while she could somewhat influence the weather, she couldn’t work a miracle. Rain couldn’t be summoned with no clouds in the sky, after all, and she certainly had no control over the bugs that had wrecked last year’s harvest. But when people were tense with anger and disappointment, sound reasoning was often the first thing to go. Fortunately, Applejack could get the farmers who were accusing Rainbow Dash to calm down.

Spike could understand where the farmers were coming from a little better now, though. He hadn’t appreciated just how hard the work was until he started doing some of it himself. Sure, he had always had the greatest respect for Applejack as a responsible and hardworking pony, but he hadn’t quite realized just how exhausting this work was until he started doing it himself. The long hours of manual labour day after day took a toll on his aching muscles. It was a struggle to even get up some days despite being dog-tired the night before. And though he would sleep soundly, it never seemed enough. Because of this, he understood earth ponies’ connection with their fields better now, and the disappointment and anger of the farmers as they saw their crops wither and die with nothing they could do. That didn't make them putting the blame on Rainbow Dash okay, but Spike could understand how their pain had clouded their judgement.

Every second row of hard earth that Spike pulled the plough through, he was treated to the sight of Applejack sweating and straining her muscles doing the same one field over. He was aware he probably shouldn’t admire her quite as much as he did, but her occasional grunts and panting wasn’t making this any easier. In an attempt to keep his mind from wandering the young dragon threw himself into the work. He managed to get himself into a work trance – his body moving without conscious effort, his mind removed from the exertion he was experiencing. He stopped pretty much all conscious thought until a soft voice interrupted him.

“Wow, you've really managed a lot. Wanna have a break and some cider?”

Spike shook off his reverie and found himself looking at one of Applejack's warm smiles. As he turned back the dragon saw that he had already managed to plough more than half the field in just one morning. Not too shabby, if he said so himself.

“Yeah, a break sounds nice, actually.” The sun was at its zenith, and the heat was quite intense. Applejack led her dragon friend over to a tree where she had laid out a picnic lunch of honey covered bread and some cider. Spike sat and started to wolf down the meal a bit faster than was probably elegant – he hadn't quite realized just how hungry he was until he took the first bite. Applejack watched her friend and laughed amicably: “I'm glad you like it.”

A bit embarrassed, Spike looked up and mumbled through a mouth full of bread: “It's really good, thanks.” One more bite and a gulp later, he realized that he had quite ungentlemanly started first without waiting for the others, and asked: “Where's Big Mac?”

“He's working on the Three Acorns field. Apple Bloom is bringing him lunch there.”

Applejack settled down against the tree and helped herself to a large slice of honey covered bread, helping Spike relax a bit. For a while the two were busy filling their hungry stomachs, but even after the bread was gone, the two continued to sit in silence in the shade of the tree for quite a bit longer. Spike looked out over the meadows, the fields and the small patches of wood, and thought to himself that this really was a remarkably beautiful part of the world. It was easy to see why the Apple family loved it so much.

“I've said it before, but … Thank you, Spike.” Applejack interrupted his musings, surprising him. “You have really helped us out a lot these last two years. I honestly don't know how we would have managed without you. We … probably would've had to sell some land.” It was obvious how agonizing that thought was to her.

Spike reached out and reassuringly put his hand over hers. “Never. Not as long as I'm around. I'd go and beg Rarity for a loan before I would allow for you to go through that.”

Applejack was touched by Spike’s candid honesty. “Really? You'd do that … for us?”

“Yes.” Spike answered without hesitation. “I think all of us would – Rarity might pressure you herself into accepting some money. We know that living without owing debts and achieving things on your own and through your own work means a lot to you, but none of us could bear seeing you in pain from having to part with your beloved acres.”

Applejack's voice was thick with emotion. “Gosh, Spike … You …” Words failed her, and she sniffled a bit, turning away. Spike let her be and gave her the time she needed, only gently squeezing her hand to reassure her, and he was delighted when she returned the gesture. Not wanting to increase his friend's embarrassment, he let his gaze wander over the fields again, just enjoying the view and the feeling of holding Applejack’s warm hand in his own.

It took a few minutes of coughing and snorting and definitely not crying for Applejack to sort herself out, and when she turned back, her eyes still a bit red, her tone was almost angry: “Rising Up better appreciate what she has in you!”

Spike just laughed in response: this wasn't a topic he wanted to discuss.

Applejack wasn't quite ready to let it go yet, though: “I'm serious. You've done so much for us over the years! You really are a treasure.”

Spike started to rub the back of his head as he often did when he was embarrassed: “Hey, I think I'm the one who can be called lucky. After all I get to be around six beautiful girls so much, it's quite a treat.”

“You really think I'm beautiful?” Applejack responded somewhat surprised. While she wouldn't show it, the earth pony was actually rather self conscious – she knew that being as tall or even taller than most every colt around, as well as having more defined muscles, too, made her intimidating to be around. The only person who wasn’t affected was Rainbow Dash: the smaller pegasus was near fearless and loved putting up a challenge for both of them where they could compete and grow through their struggle.

Spike's response came without hesitation: “Hell yeah!” Applejack couldn't help but laugh at Spike's enthusiastic statement. Spike, after realizing what he had just blurted out, stammered embarrassedly: “I mean … yes, I do think you are quite a beautiful pony, Applejack. Oh geez … I guess that's why Rarity could never really like me. Underneath it all I'm just not truly a gentleman.”

“Hey, I don’t wanna hear any of that! You’re a fine gent, that you are, and any girl that can’t see it don’t rightly deserve another second of your thoughts.”

Spike returned her look despondent: “Applejack … I’m a dragon. That alone is already more than most ponies can be asked to put up with.”

Seeing her good friend almost fold into himself with self-consciousness made Applejack angry: “I'll say it again: you are a fine gent, and there's nothing wrong with you at all. You are kind, giving, responsible, reliable and since you admitted to having checked me out I'll let you know that I've been looking at you as well, and you have a fine ass and nice broad chest and back muscles.” Applejack closed her mouth deftly. She had not just said that! It was the truth, that it was, but actually saying it out loud …

Spike on the other hand seemed to grow an inch or two with taking Applejacks words in: “You really mean that? Wow … Um … Applejack, coming from you, that really means a lot to me! Thank you. I know you wouldn't just say that to make me feel better if it wasn't true.”

Applejack was still fighting a blush that would turn her from orange to bright red. Fortunately Spike was not the kind of guy to tease her about what she had said – too innocent to even make much out of it. Applejack had to admit to herself that she had been thinking about Spike ever more often in recent months … he had all of the qualities that she would look for in a colt: reliable, hardworking, dependable, honest, loyal, trustworthy, kind, nice muscles and taller than her (okay, so the last two were possibly a bit shallow, but Applejack was honest enough with herself to admit that she really wanted that in a lover). But he was a dragon. Applejack liked to think of herself as open and progressive, but the mere thought made her uncomfortable, so maybe she wasn't quite as open as she wanted to think herself to be. Either way, it wouldn't matter. Spike was with Rising Up now, and Applejack was not the kind of mare who would steal a colt – or in this case a dragon – away from another mare: a stallion that could be stolen wouldn't be worth the effort anyways. Just being good friends with Spike was much better, and Applejack definitely didn't feel jealous at all towards Rising Up. So maybe she had once or twice when she touched herself lying in bed thought about how Spike's muscles moved when he worked, but that meant nothing! It certainly was at least better than thinking about her brother's muscular form!

Spike sighed contently next to Applejack, and looking over at him she blushed furiously as she realized that they were still holding hands. But Spike seemed … happy, content, and ultimately that's what was most important to Applejack: that her good friends were well.

“Well,” Spike said, looking over at the field he had been ploughing for most of this morning, “I think it's time I get back to work. If I put my back into it, I bet I can get this field done before I need to head off to help Rarity. I learned from you that it's no good to leave work half finished.” Spike smiled at Applejack who suddenly found her stomach doing all sorts of strange things. The earth pony found that Spike really had matured splendidly into a responsible and reliable young man. The dragon gave Applejack's hand one last friendly squeeze, then got up and moved back to work, leaving the earth pony behind to sort out the wild jumble of feelings she was experiencing.

With significant effort Spike did manage to finish ploughing the field in the early afternoon, put up the scarecrows for later, then went to take a quick shower: he wouldn't want to have too strong an odour when he showed up to help Rarity. Applejack happened to stroll by and hear the sound of water splattering to the ground at their outdoor shower. Curiosity got the better of her, and she peeked around the corner to see Spike enjoying the cold spray of water cascading down over his muscular form. It wasn't the first time that Applejack had seen Spike nude, but his glistening wet scales somehow made it look even nicer, and biting her lip Applejack had to admit she wouldn't mind seeing that more often. No! she chided herself sharply, yanking her hand out of between her legs where it had somehow found itself without any conscious effort of her own. Spike was a good friend who was in a steady relationship with another girl, nothing more! Twilight would throw a fit if Applejack made a move on her kid brother – the earth pony was quite certain that her brainy friend still had great trouble accepting that her little brother was now going steady with another girl. With a pleased sigh Spike turned off the shower, and Applejack quickly ducked behind the barn, cursing herself as her rapid movements made unnecessary sounds.

“Applejack? I'll be leaving now.” she heard Spike calling out.

“Eh... Ok! Thanks again for coming by!” Applejack pressed herself against the barn, feeling her cheeks flare up and her heart doing a drum solo in her chest. She couldn't face him. Not right now. After a few moments, when her heart had returned to a normal rate, the young mare peeked around the barn again to see Spike, his torso still bare as he was carrying his shirt over his shoulder, walk off with a skip in his step and his tail swishing from side to side – she could just barely hear him humming a melody to himself as he walked. Applejack gripped the wood of the barn tightly as feelings she couldn't describe tumbled in her chest. She couldn't deny it any longer: the young dragon did have an effect on her. But she wouldn't … couldn't act upon that. Spike was finally in a relationship, finally happy, and she wouldn't ruin that for him, or risk their great friendship by doing something stupid. But as she made that decision Applejack felt an unnameable pain gnaw at her heart.

Spike meanwhile was walking towards Ponyville at a brisk pace. To be perfectly honest, he was rather tired already, almost exhausted, but singing to himself allowed him to push past that and overcome his desire to just lie down, call it a day and relax. He had promised Rarity he would help her and later he also had a date with Rising Up, so lazing about was not an option. The thought of the date did fill him with a little bit of trepidation … he hoped it would go well.

“Hey Spike! What's cookin'?” His favourite training partner's call pulled him out of his reverie.

“Heeey Rainbow Dash! Good to see you!” his response was candid and heartfelt.

The young pegasus flew up next to him and glared pointedly down at his wings: “Why aren't you flying? You won't get better at it if you don't do it!”

Spike rubbed the back of his neck as he often did when he didn't want to answer a question directly or was embarrassed: “I've been working on the Apple Acres farm for hours. To be honest I'm a little tired.”

He couldn't possibly tell her the real reason. That if he flew over Ponyville he could hear the occasional panicked scream or see ponies hiding their foals. Walking around was ok, but if he flew up then often the ponies couldn't immediately identify him or accurately judge his size against the sky, and their instincts against airborne predators took over. He didn't want to cause discomfort for his fellow neighbours, or those visiting the city that somehow hadn't heard of him, and hearing screams of fear from those he had fought to protect physically hurt.

“What have you been doing, Dash?” the young dragon asked, partially in an attempt to change the topic.

“Oh, I was over at Fluttershy's.” It seemed to Spike like she wanted to say more, but didn't.

“And? Did you have fun?” Spike wanted to encourage her to talk without prying.

“Yeah. Sure.” That definitely wasn't the whole story. “Maybe you might want to pay her a visit on occasion again, too? I think she misses you.”

Thinking about it Spike realized that he actually had barely seen Fluttershy in over a month. Somewhat embarrassed he acceded: “Yeah, I should do that. With all the tasks between Twilight, Applejack and Rarity and what time I can get with Rising Up I've not really talked with her in quite a while. Which is a shame, really, she is always so nice. There are just always so many things that need to be done!”

Rainbow Dash gave the young dragon a friendly punch: „Come on, Spike, living ain’t only about work! You don't want to look back and find out you missed your own life because you were too busy doing something else.”

“You're right, of course, Dash, it's just …” the purple dragon fished for words, “These are my friends who are relying on me! I'd feel terrible letting them down. But you are right, I’ll make sure to find some time to visit Fluttershy at the earliest opportunity, and I'd really like to spend some time hanging out with you again as well. There's still so much I want to learn from you about flying!”

“I'd be glad to show you some more tricks. Let me know when you've talked with Fluttershy!”

“Will do! And I'll take your advice to heart! It was really good seeing you, Dash!”

Rainbow Dash felt disheartened as she watched Spike walk over to Rarity's boutique. A very large part of her just wanted to tell Spike how Fluttershy had cried and cried after finding out that he was going steady with another mare, but Fluttershy had made her promise not to tell him, and she could not betray her good friend's trust.

Dash had pushed and pulled for Fluttershy to talk to Spike, to let him know of her feelings, but the young pegasus adamantly refused, stating that she'd never want to get in the way of Spike's happiness. All Dash's arguments that she thought Spike's happiness might lie with Fluttershy, that he always seemed to have liked the yellow-coated pegasus a lot, couldn’t get the timid girl to confess to Spike. Whenever Dash had finally gotten her friend to leave the house, she would soon after collapse back into a nervous shivering wreck, somehow convinced that confessing to Spike now that he was in a relationship would ruin the friendship the two had forever. This made Dash almost furious: Spike was the man she respected and liked most of all, so she felt it would make sense that, for Fluttershy to be happy, she should be with the young dragon! A number of colts initially stated that they found Rainbow Dash 'cool' – of course they did, because she absolutely was – and liked that she was into many of the things that were usually primarily enjoyed by males, like sports, racing, fighting or burp competitions. But somehow very quickly things always devolved into “I'll show you mine, you show me yours” if they didn't just outright try and tear her clothes off. Rainbow dash had had to break a couple of jaws on occasion to get her point across that she had no intention of having sex with someone on the first date (not that she minded breaking jaws too much). Spike was just about the only male she could hang out and have fun with who didn't immediately try and get in her underwear (not that she would have minded too much … since she respected and really liked Spike, she would have actually been willing to let him if he tried).

Dash sighed deeply as she watched her dragon friend enter Rarity's boutique. She had done what she could. She really wanted to see Fluttershy happy, but if her pegasus friend adamantly continued to refuse talking to Spike, then the only other option was for her to get over her feelings for the young dragon.

As Spike entered he was still mulling over what Dash had said. Something was amiss, that much was clear, but he couldn't quite figure out what that might be.

His musings were interrupted by the soft melodic voice of the pony that he had his first crush on for so many years: “There you are, my darling, right on time like clockwork. Such a wonderfully dependable assistant!”

To Spike, Rarity hadn't changed a bit in all those years. The primary reward for his assistance was still her sweet praise that she gave in a voice like golden honey. Of course he knew that she was playing it up for effect, but he yearned for that kind praise, for the words of appreciation nonetheless. It had been childish infatuation that had led Spike to hope he would succeed where rich and renowned nobleponies had failed.

"How is my favourite gentle-dragon today?" Rarity interrupted her friend's musings.

“How could I be anything but well when I get to spend time with the most classy pony in town?” Spike asked with a bow. He eventually had learned to respond to her offhanded flirts in kind. That was a while after he had finally accepted that no matter how kind she was to him, she would always stay out of his reach, just as she did for almost every colt in Equestria. It had hurt, quite a lot, for a while, and then eventually he had lived on.

“Always such a charmer, my dear.” The blue-haired beauty smiled. “Can I get you a drink? Some cookies, perhaps?”

Spike shook his head: “Thank you, Rarity. I'm fine. I know you wouldn't have asked me to come unless there was a lot of work that needed to be done. How can I be of assistance?”

“What a responsible and diligent dragon!” Rarity almost gushed, “Rising Up is very lucky to have you! Could you be a dear and move that table to the corner of the room?”

“For you, Rarity, I'd move the moon.” the dragon replied, and meant it, though it would need A LOT of wheedling with Princess Luna.

Being with the beautiful white unicorn always hurt a little, inside, that faint pain of knowing what never would be, but Spike wouldn't want to miss his time with Rarity for the world.

As Spike moved to pick up the table, his gaze fell on some flowers and the remnants of a broken vase in the trash can.

“Fiendishly Rich?” he asked, nodding towards the bin. While the number of Rarity's suitors was steadily high, only a select few could afford to import orchids in spring.

The fashionista looked decidedly uncomfortable: “I really tried to let him down gently. Yes, he has money and comes from a noble house with a good name, which is fine, but … Oh, I don't want to badmouth him. It's enough to say that we just wouldn't have worked out together. Unfortunately he had some trouble understanding when I said 'No'.”

Spike's wings flared up protectively: “He didn't …”

“Oh no, nothing like that.” the unicorn reassured him. “I just had to be a bit more … expressive so he would understand I meant 'No', not 'Later'.”

Spike had gotten used to hearing about Rarity rejecting potential suitors. Over the years many a colt had tried to woo the classy and successful mare, but none of them found enough favour under her critical gaze to even get past the third date. Finding someone who had all the qualities Rarity expected in a partner had proven to be a challenge even for the element of generosity.

Rarity watched with interest as Spike’s muscles bulged when he picked up the heavy table. He had grown up very well, and Rarity felt a little proud of him. He was good looking, responsible, loyal, why anything that one could wish for in a gentleman (except the heritage, of course). If he wasn't a dragon, Rarity herself might even have reconsidered her feelings for him. It had been surprising just how upset she had been when she had learned that he now had a steady girlfriend in Rising Up, but all in all she was really happy for him. A high class mare like her and a dragon, that just could never be; so it was good that he finally got over her and found himself a nice girlfriend he could be with, even if Rarity missed him endlessly fawning over her a little. If she was entirely honest then she partially had asked him to help not only because the schedule of what she needed to get done for the gala was tight – though it was – but also just to enjoy his company for a little while, even though she knew that he was terribly busy, but it was oh so sweet of him that he would make time for her anyways.

With a slight grunt Spike sat the desk down where she had asked him to, the muscles on his arms and back relaxing. The fashionista thought to herself that she could spend all day watching him carry that desk back and forth for her … and he would do it, too, but of course she would never ask such a thing of him. Not wanting to overindulge in watching her muscular friend work – it would be classless to stare, and there really were still so many things to do – Rarity sat down to sew on one of the creations she wanted finished for the gala while directing Spike with kind words and plentiful praise in rearranging the room so the exhibits for the gala would be in the perfect position.

As Spike carried and repositioned furniture until Rarity found it just right he watched her, a picture of poise and grace even as she worked on her newest design. Twilight was without a doubt one of the most intelligent ponies probably not just of Ponyville but of all Equestria, and her ability to focus had often impressed Spike. When Twilight concentrated, she could block out the entire rest of the world to use all of her remarkable brain in tackling a problem. Rarity on the other hand was a mistress of multitasking: she was directing her draconic helper and imagining how the room would look on the evening of the gala, working on her design which was yet unrecognizable to Spike, and keeping up the banter without dropping a beat all at the same time.

As always when he was assisting Rarity, time flew by for the young drake. It didn't feel like work at all, just being able to enjoy the company of the beautiful unicorn transformed it into quality time for him. As the sun began to set, however, he started glancing at the clock ever more often: he would feel terrible if he was late for his date with Rising Up. He didn't need to say anything: Rarity, perceptive as always, quickly realized what his behaviour meant, and, already grateful for the help he had provided and not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable, soon spoke: “Thank you, Dearest, your help has really been invaluable. This should be most of what needs to be done,” (that was a bit of a lie out of politeness, but surely that could be forgiven) “and I would feel bad keeping you any longer.” After a moment's hesitation – Rarity both wanted to know and somehow wanted the answer to be 'No' – the unicorn asked: “I assume you will be meeting Rising Up later this evening?”

As was his habit when he was embarrassed, Spike rubbed the back of his neck: “Yeah, we'll be having dinner at Hooves and Gables. I still need to pick up flowers, too.”

“Always such a gentleman!” Rarity's praising voice could have made steel melt. She stood up and walked over to the wide-eyed young dragon, barely swaying her hips more than was absolutely necessary, and gently placed her hands on his broad muscular chest. It still took a little bit of getting used to that he now was actually taller than her, but it opened up so many fun possibilities. She leaned forward, pulling Spike's head down so she could kiss his cheek, quite accidentally brushing her chest against his – really, there was no way she could avoid that when kissing his cheek. With Spike's face angled down Rarity could see his pupils being the size of saucers. She suppressed a smile as her lips glided softly over his cheek: he definitely had noticed she was not wearing a bra under her generous cleavage.

“Thank you so much for helping me, and I hope you will have a wonderful time at your dinner!” After a second of smiling at the dragon, she left his personal space again and returned to her work. She rarely ever went without a bra: her quite copious bust, outdone only by Fluttershy amongst her close friends (much to Rarity’s chagrin), meant that she would be uncomfortable without. They just needed the support. But Spike had been so kind to set time aside to help her, she really wanted to treat him to a special reward for all his hard work. And while she would never admit it, Rarity enjoyed the idea that when he later ravished that other mare, he might be thinking of her big, shapely, white breasts.

Spike had to swallow several times – his throat had suddenly gone dry and his mind was wiped. “Uh … Right. Always glad to help you, Rarity. Have a nice evening.” He was barely forming coherent sentences, and he knew it. He quickly left the Carousel Boutique before he'd embarrass himself even further, and half way to Hooves and Gables remembered that he still needed to pick up flowers. Even though he tried to stop it, his mind kept going back to the sight of Rarity pressing up against him and how soft her breasts had been, and what he thought he had been able to feel through the thin layers of fabric separating them.

Spike was just barely on time. Rising Up was not. The young dragon was slowly going through his third glass of apple juice when he finally spotted his girlfriend's mint coat. He was quite glad to see her: while he was beginning to get used to her being late on dates he always started to worry if something might have gone wrong – a bit too many adventures with his dearest friends, perhaps – and after he'd been sitting alone at his table without ordering food for almost an hour the waiter was eyeing him with more and more disapproval. He waved so his girlfriend would find him more easily, and she almost ducked back out the door. Somehow Rising Up seemed to get ever more crowd shy the longer their relationship went on. To call her pace 'unhurried' as she approached the table would be stretching it.

“Hey Rising! It's good to see you! I brought you some flowers.”

“Oh.” Back when they started seeing each other, Rising would thank him profusely for these little romantic gestures of appreciation. “They are nice.”

Maybe she didn't want any more flowers. “So how are you? Had another busy day at the Major's office? How are things going?”

Spike, ever observant about his girlfriend, noticed a slight scowl as he mentioned her new job.
“It's ok.” She hid her face behind the menu. Did something bad happen? Maybe she actually didn't like the job now, even though she had asked Spike to help her get it, and she felt it would be ungrateful of her to quit?

Carefully Spike reached out and took her hand: “Talk to me, Rising! What’s wrong? I’m your friend. I’m always glad to help you.” Maybe all of this could be resolved by just talking about their problems openly. If she actually didn't like the job then she should not feel indebted to stay regardless of the trouble he went through.

The green-haired mare quickly pulled her hand from the young dragon's grasp: “Please, Spike! I told you: not in public!”

'But we never meet in private!' Spike thought, trying not to look upset.

Rising Up practically grabbed the waiter walking by and rattled down her order. From appetizer to desert she had chosen the best the menu had to offer. Maybe she was just hungry? Some ponies could get a bit irritable when their stomachs were empty.

“Just one serving of gems for me, please. Opals, if you happen to have them.” While Spike was literally the only individuum in Ponyville who ate them, most restaurants in town kept a small supply of gems. They didn't spoil and were easy to store, and not having them might mean losing the famous Twilight Sparkle as a customer, which just wasn't worth the risk.

The two waited for their meals in silence. Spike wanted to ask her what was going on, he wanted to know so he could cheer her up, make her happy, fix whatever problem weighed her down, but if she chose not to tell him then as a good boyfriend he should accept that. He had asked and expressed interest once – any more would be pushy.

Spike felt like there was a small lump of poisoned ice in his stomach. Rising Up obviously wasn't happy, and if she wasn't happy then he wasn't happy. The purple-scaled dragon wondered what had happened to their relationship, what he had done wrong: He had been elated beyond words when Rising had confessed she had feelings for him and first asked him out, and she seemed so happy in the first weeks after they had gotten together. But now he could barely get a smile out of her and the timespans between their dates grew ever longer. Spike knew this might well be his only chance to make a romantic relationship work: he would never get along with dragons due to his upbringing (and he didn't want to), and most ponies were downright frightened of him, now that he had grown a bit in size and more resembled an actual dragon. He was determined to do what it took: relationships weren't always easy and sometimes required a bit of sacrifice, but Spike was a hard worker and willing to give up a lot if it would mean happiness for his dear Rising.

She seemed in a slightly better mood after the main dish. Not really talking, still, but at least she was no longer scowling. Maybe she was just hungry after all. The gems were bland, not a bit of seasoning on them. Spike tried not to let on. The date was going far from perfectly as it was already. The young dragon tried to do a little bit of conversation, asking about Rising's food, telling her a little about his day, primarily the rewarding work on Apple Acres, but his girlfriend's monosyllabic responses quickly convinced him to stop talking. She seemingly was in no mood for that, either.

When Rising was done with her food, she asked the waiter for the bill, together rather than split up, and Spike was a little surprised since as a gentleman he would usually pick up the tab just as he had learned to do from Rarity. Maybe she wanted to show him a gesture of appreciation, make it up to him that she was in such a bad mood today? As she pushed the bill over the table towards him with an expectantly raised eyebrow, any such thoughts were dispelled. Spike suppressed a frown as he got out his wallet: he didn't mind paying, but it would have been really nice if she had given him any indication that she cared.

“Thanks.” Rising nodded towards the waiter who was picking up the tab. Turning back to Spike she stated: “Oh, I've seen a new green jacket at the store that I've been wanting to try on. They barely have any, so I had planned to go over there before they close, or it might be sold out.”
Spike eyed the dwindling reserves in his wallet and swallowed a sigh. Of course she would expect him to pay for that, too. He managed to get a warm smile on his face before answering: “Of course, Rising. I'll be glad to come with you.” At least Rising always seemed to be happiest when going shopping, so this should raise her spirits and distract her a little from whatever was weighing her down.

The article Rising Up had wanted to try on was a racing jacket, produced by one of the leading fashion companies in Manehatten. Looking at it, Spike figured that Rainbow Dash might like it, and made a mental note to tell her about it when he next met her. It was artificial leather with lots of pockets and zippers – a piece of clothing Rarity would have scowled at, but Rising Up had already stated she disliked all that “old fashioned stuff” that made up the core of Rarity's style. Its price tag certainly could compare with those of Rarity's creations, however. Shopping actually did seem to have lifted Rising's spirits a little, she was smiling when they left the store. Spike also noticed she had left the flowers in the changing room, but decided to keep quiet.

“Thanks for buying that for me, Spikey-Wikey! You really are a dear!” Spike strongly regretted the day that Rising had learned about that particular nickname of his. It was one that Rarity had used way back when he was still a lot younger and smaller, and his attachments to it had slowly faded as he got over Rarity rejecting him. He just really didn't feel it fit him any more, and he didn't like it, but he sure as heck wouldn't bring that up now that Rising finally was in a good mood.

“You’re welcome. It really suits you.” Spike smiled and reached out to take her hand, but thought better of that after a withering look from Rising. “You want to take a little walk out to the ponds? They are quite beautiful in starlight.”

“I'm sure that would be nice, Spike, but I'm just swamped with work. I still need to do the dishes at home, and then I'll call it a night so I'm not completely wasted at work tomorrow.”

Since their date was right after she got off work, that meant the dishes had been there since at least yesterday. Gross. Spike had learned just to take care of work like that immediately. His tone didn’t let on any of what he felt, however: “I could come help if you like. I'm fairly good at housework, actually.”

“That's very sweet of you, Spikey-Wikey, but I couldn't ask that of you. My flat is currently a bit of a mess, I don't really want anyone to come inside.”

“Oh. I'd love to help! But if you … well, do you have any plans for tomorrow? Tomorrow is Friday and you have Saturdays and Sundays off, right?”

“I'm pretty sure I had something planned, but I don't have my calendar with me right now! I'll let you know as soon as I have time for another date!” Rising Up's tone was bordering on aggressive.

“Ok. I'll … Uhm … It was nice seeing you, Rising. Good night, and sleep well!”

“Good night, Spike.”

As Spike walked home, he tried very hard to figure out what it might have been that caused Rising Up to be in such a sour mood the entire evening. Was it something he had done? Maybe something he forgot? Her birthday was still half a year away, so that couldn't be it. Flowers, dinner … What had he done wrong? Maybe he should have brought chocolate instead of flowers? But bringing sweets to a dinner just seemed kind of weird.

Spike hadn't found an answer when he had gotten home. The light was still on in the unicorn's study – no surprise there. Spike was actually back a bit earlier than he had expected. Cleaning off his feet, he quietly made his way to the kitchen. Lifting the lid of the pot he had prepared this morning he sighed lightly as he found not one spoon of soup missing. In the silence of the kitchen he patiently warmed up the soup and put a bowl on a tray before going to Twilight's study. The purple unicorn was so absorbed in her reading she didn't even notice Spike coming in.

“Hey Twilight. Dinner is ready.” Spike called out to her softly.

Surprised, his adoptive sister looked up from the tome she had been studying. “Oh, Spike, thanks! Good timing, I'm starving!”

'Of course you are.' Spike thought silently. 'Normal dinner time was hours ago.'

The unicorn dug into the meal without hesitation, explaining while she ate about the fascinating details of this tract on magical transmogrification that she was translating. Spike didn't really understand too much of what she was saying, but he was happy that it was making her feel so enthusiastic and that she enjoyed the soup he had cooked for her. She was almost through the entire bowl when she looked up, her nose scrunched: “Somehow I vaguely remember something about you not being here today …”

“Yes.” Spike confirmed. “But I'm back now.”

That seemed to reassure Twilight, so she returned to explaining how these foreign texts opened up a whole slew of new magical possibilities. Spike silently hoped they would survive Twilight’s experiments.

When the unicorn was finished, she leaned back with one hand on her stomach and suppressed a small burp. “Oh, that was really good, Spike.! Thanks for the meal.”

“I'm glad you liked it.” Spike looked at Twilight intently until his older sister caught on and fully turned her face to him. “Twilight, can I ask you for a favour?”

“Certainly, Spike. What is it you need?”

“Could you please go to bed within the next hour? You have been staying up past midnight way too often, and the way you keep overworking will cause health problems for you eventually.” Spike smiled gently as Twilight looked a bit embarrassed. “I promise the book will still be there in the morning.”

“Ok, you win. I'll go wash up then head to bed.” Twilight smiled. “What would I do without my precious assistant?”

“Probably starve or work yourself to death.” came Spike's dry reply. “Seriously, I need you to take care of yourself. Please?”

“I will. Promise.” Twilight's smile was mirrored by her adopted brother.

“I'll go wash the dishes then come check if you're back in here with your nose in a book again.” Spike said as he got up, answered by a raspberry blown at him from Twilight.

Life wasn't easy, but it also had its good sides, Spike thought to himself as he was washing the dishes in the kitchen, and if he worked hard then he could make tomorrow be a better day than today. He and his friends had overcome so many challenges together, if he really put his all into it he'd be able to steer this whole story towards a better ending for sure.

In which Spike gets a Surprise

Author's Note

Warnings: this chapter contains swearwords, references to very violent acts, and a clinically insane Pinkie. Thanks for help with editing this go out to Princess Amore Dudette.

In which Spike gets a Surprise

Another early morning, another tired dragon. Spike hadn't been able to fall asleep for a long time the night before and had decided to change his plans for the day. Today was Rising Up's and his two month anniversary, and while that was a bit of a weird anniversary to celebrate, he wanted to do something for his girlfriend. She had mentioned her calendar the night before … maybe she had been in a bad mood because she thought he did not remember? Rarity had strongly cautioned him that forgetting an anniversary might seriously disappoint his romantic partner.

An additional benefit would be that it gave him a good excuse to visit Rising Up at work. She obviously wasn't happy, and while she was not willing to talk about it, her irritated reaction when he had mentioned her new job had not escaped his attention. He was her boyfriend, it was his task to find out what was bothering her and help her! He wanted to put a smile back on his girlfriend's face.

Spike had decided to bake Rising Up a cake – flowers were obviously a bad idea – and bring it to her to work. He'd be a little late to helping Applejack, but he knew his good friend would forgive him for that if he told her he had wanted to do something romantic for his girlfriend. He would just have to work a little longer in the evening to make up for lost time … maybe not take such a long break for lunch as yesterday. He could do this! All it would take was a little effort and some hard work!

Spike's feet hurt as he shuffled through the kitchen, preparing the ingredients. He seriously considered flying to the Apple Acres later to take some strain off them: there weren't many ponies around, so he probably wouldn't bother anyone. But flying was really exhausting. Spike was amazed how Rainbow Dash could do it for hours on end before getting tired.

Spike worked on two carrot cakes: a bigger one for Rising Up, she might want to share it with some colleagues, and a smaller one for Twilight. His baking skills weren't on Pinkie Pie's level, of course, but his cakes were always well-received and never lasted long. He wouldn't have to worry about preparing lunch for Twilight: the soup from yesterday was still good.

Twilight still being asleep, he prepared a little arrangement for her to find when she woke up. Table already set, flowers in a vase and in front of the cake a little note that read:

Dear Twilight,

I'm off again to help at Apple Acres and later the Carousel Boutique, but I'll be back before sundown to cook dinner. Here is some cake as reward for being a good pony and going to bed before midnight for once! I hope you slept well, and I look forward to hearing what new uses of magical transmogrification you have uncovered when I come back.

Love, Spike.

Spike hurried towards town carrying his cake. He didn't want to show up at Applejack's later than he had to.

Rising Up had mentioned that there was a lot of work at the major's currently … maybe Spike could find a way to reduce workload there as well? He and the major had always gotten along well. It was Twilight's recommendation that had gotten Rising Up the job she had now – written, of course, because of the begging of a certain purple dragon. The powerful sorceress was highly respected, and a bit of her fame fell off for Spike, too … he had been helping in saving the people a number of times, so Spike felt that was not entirely unfair. If he asked the Major what was causing problems in her workspace, maybe he could beg Twilight for help again: his older sister was, after all, legendary in her skills of organisation. Perhaps all the dark clouds that had been starting to overshadow Rising Up and his relationship recently could be dispelled just like that, as if Rainbow Dash had just flown through them. Yes, he had to be like Rainbow Dash now: courageous, unhesitating, decisive and quick to action. He could do this!

Spike arrived as the first employees of the major were just beginning to unpack their handbags, which was good: Spike wouldn't have wanted to interrupt Rising Up while she was working. Nodding and greeting he quickly moved through the house towards the room where he knew Rising Up was working. He could hear her and one of her female colleagues talking through the slightly ajar door.

“… saw you and that dragon at Hooves and Gables yesterday.” was the first thing Spike could make out from the conversation, spoken by Rising Up's colleague Lickedy Stamp.

Smiling, he reached out to push the door open and greet his girlfriend. It was the downright acidic tone of Rising Up's voice that made him freeze in his tracks.

“Really? Oh damn! As if being in public with that freak wasn't embarrassing enough already, now I get seen by people who actually know me!”

She … what … Surely she must have been talking about someone else! Her next words confirmed the truth, however: “He is such a doormat! Oh my God! I've been trying for weeks to get him to dump me, but he just puts up with any shit I put him through.”

What … No! Spike felt as if he was staring in a cockatrice's eyes. His entire body was petrified, unable to move, a faint pain somewhere, but like it didn't even really belong to him.

Oblivious, Rising Up rambled on: “I mean at least I get some half decent stuff out if it, like this jacket. But no money in the world could compensate for dating that loser. If I had any chance of getting this job without his owner's influence, I wouldn't even have considered it, but I needed that letter of recommendation. And now I just can't get rid of him: he sucks up everything I throw at him! And not just me, you should hear what else he told me! Seemingly our great and powerful Twilight has essentially been keeping him like a slave since he was born – or hatched actually, that snake-like freak: he's doing all the chores for her so she doesn't have to lift a finger. He actually told me the first time he had two days in a row off was when he turned ten, and then he didn’t even know what to do with them! And guess what he does now, that dumb shit? Goes off and works his ass off on a farm like some degenerate dirt-digger, and he's too stupid to even get paid for it. Dragons just aren't meant to be free … disgusting creatures. At least no one but you knows I actually kissed him once to get this job … yucky as it was, scaly lips and his tongue all weird and forked. Touching him … I get shivers just thinking about it! I'd piss on the creep, but I'm afraid he might just like it!”

Something had happened. Spike was sitting under a tree, legs pulled up against his chest with his arms around them, his wings spread over his head to block out as much of the world as he could. There were tears streaming down his face. He had a vague memory of porcelain shattering as a cake hit the ground, of faces of ponies whisking by, blurred by tears, the town disappearing behind him, running, just running, some horrible, fiery roar trapped somewhere in his throat, wanting to get out, to burn everything until there were only ashes left. He'd kept it inside, not wanting to hurt anyone else, and now all that remained inside him was ash. The pain felt strangely distant, remote, like it was eyeing him patiently from afar. Come, Pain! Spike said in his mind. Come! I'm only ash now. You can't hurt me any worse. Maybe that was why it didn't come. He was distasteful even for pain.

Translating ancient gryphonic glyphs was hard, even for Twilight. While it was basically a mathematical system, a series of equations that could be solved, there was meaning and subtext to every single symbol and it's positioning on the page. That was in part why they had been abandoned: writing this way was almost as much work as reading it.

The first and second time there was a knock on the door, Twilight just ignored it. The third time she called out “SPIIIKE!” aloud, hoping her assistant would handle whatever. By the fourth she figured that today might be another one of those days when Spike wasn't home … those were becoming quite frequent lately. “I’m coming!” she yelled, slightly annoyed that she was dragged from her research.

“Applejack! Rarity! Rainbow Dash! Welcome! Come in!” Twilight said surprised, not having expected her best friends to show up on her doorstep.

“Hello Twilight.” Applejack was obviously worried, looking around the house as she entered. “'ave you seen Spike?”

“Not since …” Twilight did a quick search of her memory, “… yesterday.”

“Is that from this morning?” Rainbow Dash held up a note that had lain next to the dirty dishes on the table.

Twilight was getting more confused by the minute. “Yes, why?”

“So he didn' forget.” Applejack mumbled, concern tingeing her voice.

“Have you been neglecting your sleep again, Dearest?” Rarity asked sternly, reading the note. “You'll get wrinkles!” It was obvious that the thought to her was much more frightening than another run in with the Diamond Dogs.

“Would you please tell me what in Equestria is going on?!” Twilight was beginning to lose her patience.

“Sorry, Twi.” Applejack explained, “See, Spike'd promised he'd come by 'n help me a bit on the Acres, but he didn' show up, so I thought that maybe Rarity needed him for somethin' after yesterday 'n maybe he'd just gone straight to her an’ come by later but then he didn't show up so I walked to town to check with Rarity an' on the way I met Rainbow Dash an' she hadn't seen him either an' when I came to the Boutique Rarity told me Spike'd promised to come by 'n help but she hadn't seen him since yesterday 'n Spike normally never ever stands you up, so we're all really worried.” Applejack took a big breath to refill her lungs. Her worry made her accent come out even thicker than normal.

Twilight quickly absorbed the information. “Well, let's check his room first.” No reason yet to get panicked; maybe they were just overreacting. As she approached Spike's room, however, her nostrils picked up a scent that actually had been with her for a while already: smoke and the scent of burning. The books! Spike! Twilight broke into a sprint, closely followed by her friends.

“Spike!” she yelled as she threw the door to the young dragon's room open. There he was, lying on his bed, his head pushed through a hole that he had burnt right through his bed. There were scorch-marks all around the room … fortunately no glowing embers to be seen.

“Spike!” Twilight called out, not as loudly this time, as she rushed to his side. “Spike, what's up? What happened?”

Her friends stared at the room in shock and increasing concern as no answer was forthcoming from the dragon. At least he was breathing.

“Spike, talk to me! Tell me what happened!” Twilight's mind quickly searched through a list of things that might upset her dear little brother so and almost immediately narrowed down on the most likely possibility. “Was it Rising Up? Did something happen?”

A small gout of flame gushing out from under the bed made Twilight raise her legs and Rarity jump back with a yelp. Her suspicion confirmed, the purple unicorn rubbed her brother's back between his wings. When had he become so … muscled? A question for later.

“I'm sorry if you two had a fight. Would you like to talk about it?”

The movement of his neck suggested that he was shaking his head.

“Sweetie, we're here for you! We're all … We'll all help you feel better if there's something we can do. Is there anything we can do to help?”

Another head shake.

“Can we … Do you want to be alone?”

Nodding, this time.

“Okay, Spike. Just … remember, if there's anything we can do, please let us know, okay?”

A smaller nod.

Sighing, Twilight gave him another squeeze – could he even feel it through the scales? – and got up, looking at the others to leave the room. Applejack had tears in her eyes and was snorting as she left, Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to punch a hole in the wall. Rarity stood to the side, looking at an enlarged picture of herself, framed and hung on the wall, untouched by any of the devastation that had wrecked the rest of the room.

“Rarity?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, Dear. I'm coming.”

Twilight gave way so that her unicorn friend could leave the room unimpeded, and with a wistful glance back at her little brother literally burying his face in the bed, carefully closed the door.

“Ooooh, that little …” Twilight could hear Rainbow Dash raving already as she walked back to the living room. “I'm going to punch her to tomorrow! I'll kick her teeth in! How dare she …!”

“Rainbow Dash, we don't really know what’s going on yet.“ the magician attempted to calm her friend. “Maybe it's just a minor hiccup. Maybe all of this can be resolved by just having a good, honest talk.”

“A minor hiccup?!” the pegasus asked incredulously. “You saw Spike!”

“Yes,” the purple pony agreed. Staying rational and reasonable was hard for her, too, and Dash should have understood that. „but we don't know yet what actually …”

A rhythmic, almost melodic knock on the door interrupted the sorceress.

“See? Maybe that's her. Perhaps she's come to apologize and there's no need to …” Twilight eyes widened in surprise as she opened the door. “Pinkie. Hello.” While Twilight liked and valued Pinkie as a friend, the party pony wasn’t the immediate solution for her brother’s problems she had hoped for.

“Hello Twilight! Hello Applejack! Hello Rainbow Dash! Hello Rarity! Hello Twilight's house!” Pinkie sang as she danced into the room. “And helloooo again Fluttershy!“

“Uhm … hi?” the yellow pegasus carefully offered as she tentatively put her head into the room.

“Hello Fluttershy.” Twilight couldn't find it in her to respond with elation. “Please come in?”

“Yes,” the small pony entered the room, staying near the wall, “sorry.”

Pinkie meanwhile looked from one pony to the next, then put her hands on her hips. “You sure look like you could use some cheering up! Why so many frowns when Pinkie’s around?“

“Spike had a bit of a rough day.” Twilight tried to explain, unsure of how much she could give away without discomforting her little brother.

“Oh … that explains everything! I saw Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity run through town to Twilight’s house and thought that maybe you might be having a party without me, but that would be absurd, of course!”

“That little stupid mudface of a donkey Rising Up hurt our Spike!” Rainbow Dash was obviously much less concerned with protecting Spike's privacy than Twilight.

“Rainbow Dash! Language! Please!” Rarity attempted to reign her friend in.

Pinky took on a thinking pose, one hand against her chin, and said in strikingly uncharacteristic contemplation: “Then I guess he wasn't fine with her having sex with Fiendishly Rich …”

Five ponies stared open-mouthed at the new owner of the Sugarcube Corner for several seconds. It would have been the perfect moment for crickets to chirp, but nature did not oblige.

Twilight was the first to recover to the point where she could speak again: “I'm going to banish the slut to Pluto.” It was the lack of emotion with which that statement was said that made it so threatening.

“Now we're talking!” Rainbow Dash was quite obviously all for the idea.

“Why the heck didn't you tell Spike?!” Applejack asked the pink earth pony.

“Oh, but I tried to! I just couldn't get a hold of him since he was always running either towards you or to Rarity, and I thought maybe he likes it, since I know there are some colts who much prefer watching the mare they love get fucked 'til she faints by another …”

“Pinkamena Diane Pie!” Rarity yelled at her friend, “That is a lot of information that we never, ever needed to hear!”

“I need to write a letter to Luna about how to petrify using the Elements of Harmony. And then I need to get a really big hammer.” Twilight was still in tactical planning mode.

“Oh! Oh! I'll help with that!” Rainbow Dash was giddy with excitement.

“... please be QUIET!”

All of the ponies obeyed instinctively, but it took them a couple of seconds to connect the powerful command to the shy, yellow pegasus still standing next to the doorway who had been unsuccessfully trying to get heard for the last minute. Fluttershy looked around, seeming almost surprised with herself that this loud voice had come from her own small body. After coming to a conclusion, she had tears of defiance in her eyes as she spread her legs slightly as if preparing to weather a rainstorm: “I know we are all hurt and upset because of what happened to Spike, and we want to take action against the one responsible. But we really do not even know half the story yet, and we should not hastily do or say something that we can’t take back later. Maybe this is all Rising Up's fault, and maybe we should do something, but we mustn't judge someone else until we know for sure. I am sure Rising Up has her own situation to deal with. Even if she is the one fully at fault here, let's not forget that it is easy to have compassion and mercy for someone who is fundamentally a good person, but showing the same towards a being that is deeply flawed is hard, and it is the hard things that are usually the most important.”

Fluttershy drew a couple of shaky breaths, her nose still raised defiantly even though she had her eyes closed during the latter half of her speech. She would stand up for her ideals if she had to, but doing so was still very hard for the shy pegasus.

“Um, girls?” Spike's raspy voice made her eyes shoot wide open, and together with her friends she stared at the young dragon who had appeared in the doorway. “I kind of heard you yelling, and … Fluttershy is right. This isn't Rising Up's fault. This is my fault. I broke up with her. So can you please … just leave her alone?”

After a second of silence, Rarity was the first to speak: “Spike …”

But the purple dragon interrupted her by just raising his hand. “I'm sorry, but I'm going to lie down again. I have a really bad headache.”

Spike could feel the unhappy gazes of his friends on his back like branding irons as he left. He couldn't deal with what Rarity would say right now: ‘Oh Spike, you are such a Darling!’ ‘A true gentleman, any lady would be happy to have you!’ Lies. All lies. But lies he wanted to hear. Lies he had been listening to until he managed to convince himself to believe in them.

That he would go to bed was also a small lie, just like that he had already broken up with Rising Up. Spike quietly opened the back door and slipped out to turn one of the things he had said to reality. He spread his wings and took to the cool night air. By now not many ponies would be about, and it was unlikely they'd look to the sky and he couldn't face anyone right now. Fluttershy. So kind, so gentle, so good at heart. Spike didn't deserve to be in her presence, he didn't deserve to be in the presence of any of the Elements of Harmony. But he'd convinced himself that he did, he had even dared to hope for something more, for happiness for himself, for someone to share his life with. Stupid. Idiotic. He was a dragon. Dragons didn't get to share. Rising Up wasn't happy being with him – of course not, he was a dragon. No matter how hard he tried, there was nothing he could do, the problem lay within what he was. Only one thing to do. The gentle moonlight reflected off the tears on the young dragon's face as he said goodbye to a brief chapter in his life. He would end what should never have started.

The gentle knock brought Rising Up to the door. “Spike!” she hissed in surprise as she opened, then looked left and right to check whether anyone was around to see the young dragon come to her flat. “What are you doing here?”

She could tell something was wrong. Of course she could tell something was wrong. Spike would never come to her flat uninvited, she had made it clear that she did not want him to.

“Hello Rising.” Spike said, his voice still a little hoarse. “I'm … I've come to … I think we should … reconsider our relationship.”

“What? Why?” Rising's voice was still an angry hiss.

“I was at your office this morning. I heard what you said to Lickedy Stamp.”

Rising's eyes widened for half a second. It was clear she knew exactly what he was talking about. “So what, now you've come here to demand I let you in? Take my shirt off for you?”

“What? No, Rising … No, I just … You are not happy being with me, you never really wanted to be with me, so I think we should … end it.”

Rising Up was obviously surprised, but played over it very quickly: “Are you trying to be the noble hero now, the poor victim? Don't shit yourself Spike: You knew full well that your only chance of ever having a relationship was taking advantage of me! I refuse to believe that you'd actually be stupid enough to think that I would want to be with a dragon. You really thought I was going out with you for yourself?! What mare in her right mind would ever want to be with a scalie?!”

Spike gently shook his head towards the pony who was almost frothing with rage: “I guess we never really knew each other. Good bye, Rising Up.” He turned around, spread his large purple wings and took off into the night sky.

In which Spike hands out some Gifts

Author's Note

Warnings: contains some darkness. Thanks for editing help goes out to Princess Amore Dudette.

In which Spike hands out some Gifts

Spike's room was a mess, but he couldn't find the energy to clean it. He had eventually fallen asleep after leaving Rising Up, but it had been a restless and haunted night. Now the sun was already nearing its zenith. He hadn't made breakfast for Twilight. He hadn't shown up to work for Applejack. He hadn't gone to help Rarity. Bad dragon. Stupid dragon. Worthless dragon! Maybe, if he just kept lying here, if he didn't get up to eat or to drink, he could just die?

No! He was Twilight’s assistant! He had his tasks, things that his friends needed him to do. Spike fought to rise from his bed, but felt like there was an invisible, incomprehensible weight crushing down on him, making it impossible to move. He wanted to get up, to rage and be angry, but it seemed like his outburst yesterday had consumed the last flickers of flame inside of him. Again and again and again Spike tried to get off his bed, to force his muscles to move, but it still took more than an hour before he finally succeeded.

For Twilight! he thought to himself as he dragged himself through an invisible swamp. For Twilight! It started to get a little easier, especially once he had gotten to his feet, though he was still unsteady. For Twilight! he repeated it like a mantra, like a prayer for strength and willpower. Spike managed to blink away his tears and hide his crushed spirit, so he wouldn’t worry his adoptive sister. By the time he reached the kitchen, it was as if he had left his shackles in the bedroom, and it felt like he was moving almost normally as he prepared lunch for his dear, purple magician.

A knock on the door caused him to walk to the living room, but to his surprise he saw that Twilight had already answered it. Normally it was a fight to tear her away from her beloved books. Realizing that he was a source of worry for Twilight, that his stupidity was keeping her from doing the things she loved, tore at his heart like a wolf’s maw. Four ponies were talking with Twilight – inhabitants of Ponyville: Spike had seen them before, but had never gotten into a conversation with any of them.

“So you see,” one of them explained to the sorceress, “Rising Up is levelling some very serious accusations against your dragon, that he tried to blackmail her into having sex with him or he would get her fired from her current position. Given what happened a couple of years ago, we are all very worried. I want to bring up my foals in a nice, clean neighbourhood, not one where a predator can just extort sexual acts from an innocent mare!”

“What?!” Spike couldn't hold it in. Both Twilight and the villagers turned to him in surprise. “I didn't do anything! I didn't know she thought kissing me was gross! She was the one who started it! I never made her do anything!”

The young dragon saw his sister’s pupils so wide with anxiety that her purple irises were barely visible. As she turned back to the other ponies, he could see her telltale twitch of an onsetting nervous breakdown he had come to know so well.

“I’m sorry, I need you to leave now. And please don’t spread any more lies like that around.”

“But this is clearly …” one of the earth ponies started, but was cut off by Twilight yelling at him: “I said LEAVE! Now! Don’t make me force you!”

As Spike sunk to his knees putting his hands on his head he could hear the villagers talking as they were walking away: “Well, we see now how something like that could have come to pass.“ “Abuse of power, really.” “She wouldn't get away with it if she didn't have such good connections to royalty. Nepotism hard at work.” “A mare in her position shouldn't be friends with someone who is accused of such heinous acts!” “We'll have to talk to the mayor, rally the town if need be ...”

He was ruining everything. EVERYTHING! Now even Twilight was getting damaged by this smear campaign, and only because he had been so stupid, because he had believed it was permissible for him to strive for happiness, for a relationship. He was supposed to help her, to be useful to her, and now he was only causing her sorrow and trouble.

“Spike. Spike! Don't listen to them! They are just some stupid jabbermouths clinging to the latest rumour! There will always be some idiots, just ignore them! I know you! You did nothing wrong!”

Twilight had put her arms around him, trying to comfort him. She was crying. He had made Twilight cry!

Spike felt something inside of him break and shatter.

The one person that he had gotten out of bed for. The one person that he'd fought through the swamp for. The one person that he had served all his life. He had harmed her and caused her to cry.

There was only one thing left to do.

He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, sniffled and then looked up at Twilight. It wasn't a smile, but it was as close as he would get to one for now. “I'm okay, Twilight. Please don't cry?”

Twilight gazed at his face through her tears, stroking his head as she did so: “Spikey. Spike. …” What should she say? What could she say?

“It's okay, Twilight. You are right. I must not listen to these ponies. I need to remember who I truly care for, and focus on them.”

Twilight was still worried. But Spike seemed … calmer now. As if he had worked through something and come to a solution. That was good … probably. These accusations were horrible. She was glad that Spike had realized she was right and that he should pay them no heed: she would deal with this issue personally.

Spike rose, and held out his hand to help Twilight to her feet. “I'm sorry I caused you trouble. I've actually started to prepare lunch in the kitchen, and I need to get back so it won't burn. Food will be ready in about half an hour.”

Twilight took her younger brother's hand and pulled herself up using his strength. “Spike! It's never trouble! I love you, and I'll gladly take care of you whenever.”

Spike smiled at her and turned towards the kitchen. “Thanks, Twilight. I'll be back soon.”

As Twilight watched her adopted brother leave, she couldn't shake the feeling that something still was very much not all right.

“Food's delicious!” Twilight mumbled with a full mouth half an hour later at the kitchen table. Spike's cooking was universally good, so she never needed to fib her compliments, but today he had made her favourite, nachos, and they were as mouthwateringly awesome as they had ever been.

Spike smiled and nodded towards the heavy book that was resting next to his sister on the table: “Glad to hear it. I see you've replaced the griffon-text. What's that new thing you are reading?”

Twilight quickly covered part of the book with her sleeve and barely managed to stop her impulse to hide it under her chair. She couldn't possibly let her adopted brother know that she was reading up on dragon psychology since something still felt off to her. The fact that the only book she had been able to find on the topic had been written by a Pegasus who obviously had a very poor opinion of dragons made her all the more eager to keep it a secret.

“Uhm … It's … sort of related. Trying to make sense of some things, and this one is also about flying creatures.” Twilight had never been a good liar.

“All right.” Fortunately for her, Spike did not seem intent on pursuing the topic. “I'll need to go to town later to deliver some things and do some shopping. Is there anything you need?”

Twilight was seriously relieved that Spike was starting to feel better. She had heard him rummage in his room for the last hours, probably cleaning up the mess. After thinking briefly, she replied: “No, thanks, I think I have everything I need. And I just want to say that I think you are really brave in how you are handling this.”

The sad smile that Spike gave her as he picked up her dish to bring to the kitchen almost broke Twilight's heart: “Thank you, Twilight. I'll … try to be brave. When you see Applejack, please tell her that I am really sorry for not finishing the work at her place.”

“I will, Spike. And I'm sure Applejack will understand.” Twilight wouldn't have been able to verbalize how she could discern her brother’s pain by how he moved, but she felt it cut into her soul.

Rarity was trying to complete one of the designs she had been slaving over for the gala, but her heart was not in it. The white unicorn's mind kept returning to that framed picture of her, surrounded but untouched by devastation.

It brought her mind back to Spike's first birthday in Ponyville, when he went on a rampage that threatened to harm anyone who got in his way … anyone except her. Even when his basest instincts overtook him, when he was reduced to barely more than a powerful beast, his love and devotion to her would stay true.

Stopping her work for a moment, Rarity fanned herself: there was something like a source of heat in the centre of her chest.

She had been very briefly tempted to even accept her cute dragon-friend's confession that day … but he was still oh so young, and a dragon. She had stopped him from speaking his heart – an actual romantic relationship between them was just impossible – and only now, years later, she wondered what might have happened had she let him talk on. It wouldn't have worked, of course, it couldn't have, she was looking for a proper gentlecolt to share her life with, someone who matched her in refinement, style and class, and she just couldn't imagine herself showing up to a celebrated social event on the arm of a dragon, even if he had been lauded as a hero! Yes, Spike had a number of admirable qualities and quite in secret she would admit that his strength and sort of … bestial nature maybe held a bit of a rather primal allure, but sharing one's life wasn't just about following one's baser instincts that caused animals to be in heat. Ultimately, she had turned Spike down for his own sake: he needed to find a girl that would love every aspect of him, no matter how hard that might be.

Rarity couldn't shake the thought of a quite disturbing possibility, though, one that haunted her: had maybe her display of affection the day before, her generous reward for Spike's hard work for her, been the cause of the final break between the dragon and Rising Up? Now of course, Rising Up was at fault for having had a sidestep with Fiendishly Rich, which should never, ever happen, but even the very best of ponies make mistakes sometimes, and if she was truly sorry, and willing to make up for her mistake with a lot of tender loving care for Spike, then she should be forgiven for her transgression. Fluttershy had very appropriately reminded her dear friends that they were supposed to be the Elements of Harmony, not some violent vigilantes.

Maybe the sight of her enticing bosom, and knowing that she was presenting it to him without wearing a brassiere, had pushed Spike to deciding that he wanted to end his relationship with Rising Up rather than exercise forgiveness?

Her worry about that possibility was amplified by her knowledge of how she had felt about the relationship from the start. When she had first heard of it she was actually upset, rather than happy for Spike as she should have been, and wistful that at least some of his desiring attentions would now be aimed towards another mare. It hadn’t been made any better by that Spike started to spend all his free time with Rising up. That made sense, of course, but … Rarity had to admit that she loved Spike fawning over her, even more so because he knew that he would never, ever have her, yet he would continue to dote on her anyways. So romantic! No stallion in her entire life had been as devoted and as courteous as Spike. When he had any free time – rare enough as that was with him doing all the housework at Twilight's place, and cooking for her, and working as her assistant – he would come over to spend time with Rarity. He would do the hard manual labour when they went gem hunting, or carry supplies for her, or even support her when she was designing clothes. He was an oh so wonderfully and adorably patient helper.

And he didn't just go with her out of some sense of obligation or with ulterior motives, like some stallions had when they accompanied her on her shopping trips or when she went to inspect other designers’ creations. All the while they would look bored, just waiting for it to end. No, Spike found joy in these activities, not because they necessarily aligned with his interests, but because they were with and for her. Rarity could feel the loving smile on her face, and felt like the fine clothes she was wearing were restricting her breathing slightly. Spike truly was a fine young dragon, no, the finest.

Rarity remembered being a little unhappy when Spike started spending more time helping Applejack as well, but could understand how that was needed. She had heard that the farmers were going through a spot of trouble because of the weather recently, so Spike's hardworking nature was doubtlessly appreciated at the apple acres. The white unicorn slightly disapproved that he was … basically digging around in dirt, but all that farm work did have the effect of him building up quite an impressive physique. She saw him a little less, but when she did he no longer was the oddly proportioned little baby dragon but a muscular man in his prime with broad shoulders and a wide chest. This would have been fine, but then out of nowhere he suddenly had a girlfriend that she had never, ever heard of! Rarity had been shocked, and in fact not happy at all for Spike like she should have been. A fine Element of Generosity she was! Of course she fought and overcame this initial impulse: Spike finally having a ladyfriend was wonderful (though from what she had seen the young – oh so young – mare lacked a couple of qualities to actually be considered a proper lady), and she wished the two of them happiness together – Spike had certainly earned that. It had been a surprise, of course, that a mare could see past his … well, species, and appreciate the wonderful gentleman hid inside … but a good one, really! If anyone deserved to be in a happy romantic relationship, surely it would be Spike! Rarity just wished she could also find her own prince charming. Time was waiting for no one and she wasn't getting any younger! But … Spike! He had still come over regularly to help, but his time had ever more dwindled, and he had actually become a bit more resistant to Rarity's … sentiments of appreciation (those were not teasing, certainly!). Oddly enough, when Spike was no longer available and stopped endlessly fawning and chasing after her, that made him … more interesting to Rarity, somehow. So maybe her confoundment that her teasing … her sentiments of appreciation! were no longer quite as effective as they used to be, and her missing the devoted attention of the young dragon had led her to be … a bit more forward than she probably should have been.

Rarity sighed, putting down the dress she had been slaving over for the past hours: a lovely evening gown of dark blue silk, embroidered with silver lilies stitched in as if they were growing from the hem, one of her best creations, no doubt, but the stitching was a major piece of work.

She owed Spike an apology. Thinking back over the past years, the hundreds, no, thousands of hours he had spent helping her, maybe she owed him more than that.

A soft knock on the door caught her attention. Who might that be, at this hour?

“Come in, please, it's open!”

She was truly surprised when she saw her young dragon friend. Spike had seemed so devastated yesterday that he was the last person she would have expected, but he appeared to be a lot better.

“Spike, Darling, how wonderful to see you. Believe it or not, I was just thinking about you right this moment!”

Spike's tone was firm, it held a seriousness that she wasn't used from him: “Hello, Rarity, I'm sorry to bother you. I know you have a lot of work to do, so I won't keep you for long. I just wanted to quickly bring you this, then I'll be on my way.”

Spike was holding a basket of some sort.

“Oh, Spike, that's very sweet of you. You didn't have to do that.”

Rarity's automatic gift appreciation routine kicked in as she moved over to receive whatever Spike had brought her.

“And you know that you are always welcome here and I am always happy to spend time with y...ou.”

Her last word came out a little mangled as she saw what actually was in the rather unimpressive wooden basket. It was filled almost to the brim with an assortment of colourful gems.

“Why Spike, that is very, very sweet of you, but I am not even quite sure if I can accept such a gracious gift. I do not have anything with which I could return the favour.”

“That's ok. I just want you to have them. That was all. I know I haven't been around as much to help you with gem hunts, and that you really like using them for your dresses. I am sorry that I am not able to help you more.” The young dragon's speech came with quick determination, Rarity discerned that he probably had already thought about this for a while.

“Why, Darling, that is remarkably generous of you. You are such a nice and helpful young man, any Lady would be lucky to have you …”

“Then would you?” Spike cut in. “Would you like to have me?”

“I … why …” Rarity stuttered, utterly unprepared for the young dragon to interrupt her, or to call her out.

“I thought so.” Spike's voice held a lot less hurt than she would have expected. “Thank you for everything, and good bye, Rarity.”

He was out the door before Rarity had managed to compose herself.

That had been odd. Spike never interrupted her, or pressured her as he had just now, and Rarity quite did not like it. His gift was really nice, and her mind was already thinking of several of her creations that she could improve with this quite eclectic assortment of gems, but she felt a tiny bit guilty accepting it, since this basket must have contained most gems that Spike owned. She was a little torn, but returning it now would be exceptionally awkward as well. Contemplating what had happened, Rarity came to the conclusion that Spike was probably just acting a little out of it because he was still affected by his breakup with Rising Up … that poor boy.

Rarity thought she had seen Spike hold one last gem in his hand as he left, a blue sapphire if she wasn't mistaken, that somehow seemed a little familiar.

Because Spike usually handled the shopping, Twilight didn’t come into town often. She spent most of her time reading and studying, so she didn't know where Spike usually made his purchases. He hadn't been at home, so the next logical place to look for him was where he had said he would be, and that was in town. Asking around all the shopkeepers would take an unacceptable amount of time, and most would have closed by now since it was already dark, but fortunately it was almost inconceivable that Spike would come to the main part of Ponyville without paying a visit to the Carousel Boutique.

Twilight had finally found information that might pertain to Spike's situation – not in that stupid book about dragons, but actually in a book about pony psychology. Twilight couldn’t be sure, but she was very, very worried that it did. She wanted to speak to Spike to either confirm or alleviate her fears. Her knocking on the door to Rarity's boutique was both urgent and insistent. It did not take too long for her to hear the fashionista's voice: “Coming, coming!”

Rarity eyed Twilight nonplussed as she opened the door: “Twilight, Darling, what a nice surprise to see you! What brings you here on this fine evening?”

Twilight pushed past Rarity urgently looking for her younger brother: “Things are not ok. Please tell me that you have seen Spike!”

“Why yes, he was here maybe an hour ago. Such a sweet and delightful boy, he actually gave me this whole basket of gems! And I desperately needed them to spice up some of my creations …”

Twilight was obviously no longer listening: “Oh no ...”

Rarity was somewhat peeved by this, her tone getting slightly sharp: “What do you mean, 'Oh no'?! They are his gems, he can give them to whoever he wants. And if he so happens to be inclined to gift them to me ...”

Twilight interrupted the white mare with a grave tone: “Rarity, the reason he gave you these gems is because he plans to die!”

“Nonsense, Spike would never …” Rarity stared at Twilight, the sentence hanging unfinished between them for several seconds while Rarity's eyes slowly grew in diameter, before she suddenly raced out the boutique as fast as she had ever run in her life.

Twilight quickly caught up with her. The beautiful high heels Rarity was wearing were excellent in accentuating her already long slim legs and her enchanting derrière, but they certainly were not made for running. Rarity didn't even know where she was running, only that she had to find Spike before … something unimaginable happened. Twilight overtook Rarity, she seemed to know where she had to run. As Twilight’s lead grew, Rarity stopped and kicked off her shoes to somewhere in the darkness … they had been fine shoes, expensive shoes, adorned with blue sapphires as befitted her, but she just couldn't run fast enough in them. She grit her teeth as she picked up the pace, feeling fresh tears running down her face. Applejack and Rainbow Dash might be fine running barefoot, but Rarity's feet were pedicured to perfection, soft and smooth and supple to the touch. Definitely not meant for running over rough ground. It really hurt, but she would not slow down.

At the junction where the small path to their yellow-coated pegasus friend's abode strayed from the main road, Twilight briefly stopped and yelled at the top of her lungs, “FLUTTERSHY!” She then rushed on without waiting for a response. The momentary pause gave Rarity the chance to catch up with the purple sorceress.

Twilight actually ran to her own house, throwing the door open without bothering to close it, which allowed Rarity to pass through soon after her. She could see the purple pony run to the back of the house, to where Spike's room was, and as Rarity followed she noticed to her chagrin that she was leaving bloody footprints behind. The white unicorn had always abhorred dirt and hated that she was staining her friend’s fine floor, but right now was not the time to worry about such things. Without slowing down, she followed Twilight all the way to Spike’s room, nestled in the back part of the house.

The small enclave had been cleaned from the inferno as much as possible, and there were four neat piles each of which had a little sign on them: “For Applejack”, “For Rainbow Dash”, “For Fluttershy” and “For Pinkie Pie.”.

There were about a dozen crumpled papers in Spike's trash can, and a single note on his desk that simply read:

I'm sorry, Twilight.

I love you

Spike

In which Spike gets to Sleep

Rarity was still reeling from shock as Twilight ripped the picture of hers off Spike's wall and ran back towards the living room.

Following her, the white unicorn asked, fighting her panic: “What are you doing? What are we going to do?!”

Sweeping the table clear heedless of the books clattering to the floor, Twilight answered: “Cast a spell to find Spike.”

Carefully, Rarity attempted to point out: “Darling … I think you got the wrong picture. That one is a picture of me.”

Clearly this catastrophe was affecting Twilight's ability to think straight as badly as it did Rarity's.

Twilight shot her a withering glare: “I need an item of Spike's that he had strong emotional attachments to!”

“Oh.” Rarity felt an ocean of guilt wash over her, drowning her beneath its waves.

Twilight worked in silence, arranging her preparations, quickly pulling a book from one of the shelves, then dropped it to the ground without further thought as she realized it did not contain what she needed, grabbed another and flipped through the pages so fast she almost tore them off. The door was carefully nudged further open, and their gentle, yellowcoated pegasus friend peeked in.

“Hello? What happened?”

Rarity glanced at the furiously working magician, and decided she'd answer: “We need to find Spike. Really quickly.”

Fluttershy looked at Twilight, and the grim determination on her friend's face told her everything she needed to know. Her eyes hardened, and she nodded briefly: “I'll go get Rainbow Dash!” Her small, yellow wings fluttered rapidly as she sped off to fetch the fastest flier in Ponyville.

“Ah HA!” Twilight exclaimed loudly, slamming the book down. Purple light began to waft around her horn as she chanted:

A magic line for me to see,
A path of gentle magic light
be drawn from me to owner thee
to aid him in his arduous plight.

As the echo of Twilight's voice faded, the glow from her horn began to extend in a thin line to the picture residing on the table. From there it continued, out the door, and after barely a seconds hesitation both mares followed. The line of light progressed fast enough that the two had to maintain a slow gallop to keep up with its leading end, and vanished when Twilight reached its trail. Rarity still had to bite her lip from her feet hurting, but she managed to keep up. The magic led them away from town, through rural areas well known to them. The enchanted scarecrows on the fields next to the road seemed to lean in towards them, their wood emitting an ominous creaking, and while she knew it was foolish, Rarity felt as if those constructs knew what she had done and were judging her.

As they passed the Apple Acres farm Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs: “APPLEJACK!” but would not slow down. Rarity felt fear grip her heart as she saw the outskirts of the Everfree Forest appear on the horizon. It was quite clear where the magic was guiding them. Rarity tried to console herself with that the spell would not have worked if … something unthinkable had happened. But the grim look on Twilights face did not allow her to cling to that illusion.

Following the magical trail of light, the friends approached the huge trees of the Everfree Forest, growing gnarled and twisted, suffused with magic foreign and frightening to the ponies. Many a dangerous creature dwelt here – from cockatrices to timberwolves – some of which the carriers of the Elements of Harmony had already faced together, some which they hoped they would never see.

As they approached the outskirts of the forest both girls slowed down, their pace reduced by the anxiety they felt. Repeatedly their adventures had forced them to face fears and monsters under the dark canopy. There was no telling what they would encounter this time, whether they were even in time to affect anything. Without conscious thought both of them reached out, grasping the hand of the other. Feeling their friendships reassuring warmth, the two girls exchanged a quick glance and a nod. A wordless understanding was reached: they would do whatever it took, face whoever they had to, in order to find their Spike and bring him back, wherever he might be now.

They had barely entered the forest and reached the first clearing when Twilight let out a shocked gasp. Following her friend's gaze, Rarity saw a heap of purple scales and leathery wings, dwarfed by the huge, gnarled tree towering above it.

“Spike!” Twilight screamed in fear.

To both the girls' surprise, the heap untangled and Spike's tear-stricken face became visible.

“Twilight?” he asked astonished, but then recoiled in horror: “No!”

“Spike, please, you have to come with us! It isn't safe …” the purple unicorn implored.

A wail of agony from the young dragon interrupted her. “I'm so sorry, Twilight! I–I failed you! I'm a disgusting, stupid monster, and now even too much of a coward to kill myself! I mustn't harm you any more! Please, just leave me!”

Twilight shook her head firmly, standing her ground: “I'm not going anywhere without you! You haven't harmed me, you have helped me. I need you, Spike!”

“Please, Twilight! Please!” the shaken dragon continued to beg, and to their horror the girls noticed him holding a sharp piece of wood next to his throat, his hands shaking visibly.

“SOMNIA PERMANE!”

The wave of light and sheer power that radiated from Twilight made Rarity take a step sideways. Instantly obeying her command, Spike collapsed on the ground, fast asleep. Rarity was slightly shocked: due to Twilight's reluctance to use her full abilities Rarity occasionally forgot just how powerful a magician Celestia's most prodigious student had become. The look on Twilight's face, however, quickly convinced Rarity that all was not well.

“We have to carry Spike out of here.” the sorceress stated with worry tingeing her voice. “Using such strong unicorn magic in the Everfree Forest is very unwise. It attracts … things.”

Rarity decided then and there that she really did not need to find out what things were. She quickly moved over to the sleeping dragon, attempting to lift him up, but even with assistance from her magic found that she did not have enough strength.

After glancing around warily for a second longer, Twilight came to join her, and together they finally managed to move the dragon, though it was a slow and arduous process.

“What the heck is goin' on here?” Applejack's voice made both ponies look up in surprise which quickly turned to relief.

“I'll explain later.” Twilight stated. “First I need you to help us carry Spike to my house.”

“Got it.”

Applejack moved in front of Spike, and with a grunt of exertion shouldered the bulk of the weight of the young dragon. Twilight and Rarity still helped as much as they could, but this made them appreciate just how much stronger their earth pony friend was. Applejack set out at a steady pace, panting and sweating a little but never slowing down. As they left the Everfree Forest, Rainbow Dash flew towards them at great speed, followed in some distance by Fluttershy.

“I saw some light coming from the Everfree Forest and figured you'd be there!” the blue-coloured pegasus explained. “Who needs a butt-kicking? What happened to Spike?”

Twilight looked pained: “I don't know yet. Spike …” she took a deep breath, slightly shaking her head, “Spike tried to kill himself.”

There were shocked intakes of breath from all the other ponies with the exception of Rarity, but Twilight continued before any questions could be asked: “I need to obtain a full understanding of the situation before we decide to take any action. I have an idea of how to proceed, but I want all my best friends around me when we make that decision. Rainbow Dash, could you please fly ahead and bring Pinkie Pie to my house?”

Dash's face held grim determination as she nodded: “Leave it to me! I got this.” before speeding off as fast as she could towards Ponyville.

Fluttershy tried to help carry Spike as best as she could, but apart from her not really muscular physique there just wasn't much space left to really assist. In the end she settled for carrying Spike's tail so it wouldn't drag over the ground, crying softly and silently.

As they approached Twilight's house, Pinkie and Dash were already waiting for them. Pinkie looked the unhappiest the other ponies had ever seen her.

“Oh Twilight, I am so, so sorry!” she exclaimed, “I feel horrible about not having cheered Spike up as well as I should have. I shouldn't have left him alone. I should have organized a huge break up rebound party!”

The sorceress shook her head: “We were all blindsided by this. Spike actually seemed to be doing better this afternoon … It wasn't until I read some books on psychology that I finally started to piece together what was going on. I am the one who feels guilty about what happened … I thought that I should leave him alone, give him some privacy, and now he …” Twilight trailed off, her voice breaking.

Both Rarity and Fluttershy reached over to console their friend, which left the weight of Spike solely on Applejack's shoulders, forcing a strained grunt from the orange earth pony. Twilight immediately caught herself, and used her magic to help lift Spike again: “Oh! I'm sorry! We need to get Spike inside first, then talk after!”

As Pinkie pushed the door open, Fluttershy immediately noticed the bloody footprints on the floor, and quickly connected them to Rarity's light limp and lack of shoes.

“Rarity! Your feet!” the yellow pegasus voiced with concern.

“It's nothing!” Rarity tried to brush it off, still grimacing a little as they moved inside.

Fluttershy however was not ready to let the issue of her friend's wellbeing go: “Rarity, please sit down! Please let me at least look at your feet and make sure everything is all right.”

Rarity was aware that it was pointless to argue with Fluttershy when she was in nurse mode, so she let herself be pushed on a chair next to the door, the pegasus kneeling down to inspect the source of the bloody footprints. As Applejack and Twilight carried Spike forward, Pinkie moved to Fluttershy: “Can I help you any with this?”

“Not right now, but thank you.” the pegasus replied with a timid smile.

The living room the ponies entered featured – much to the unicorn's embarrassment – the framed picture of Rarity on the center table, surrounded by the books that Twilight had swept aside or dropped in her frantic search for the spell to find Spike. Twilight twitched slightly as she saw the books lying in chaos, some on their pages, the paper folded or torn. With a deep breath she pushed the disorder and probable damage to the valuable books as far from her mind as she could. She would deal with that later: no book, no matter how rare, could ever be as important as Spike to her.

“Let's place him on the sofa.” Twilight decided, and after a bit of effort the dragon was resting on his side at the aforementioned spot.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, had been gently inspecting Rarity's feet, carefully cleaning out the objects stuck in her flesh. She disappeared to Twilight's kitchen briefly, then returned with a rag, a bucket of water and some bandages.

“It's going to be fine, Rarity.” she told her friend softly. “But this might sting a tiny bit. I need to disinfect the scratches to make sure there won't be any inflammation.”

Reassured that she need not be concerned about Rarity's feet, Rainbow Dash asked: “How long is he going to sleep?”

“Until the first light of morning at least.” Twilight was quick to answer. “Magically induced sleep is not really restful, it's more like a coma than actual sleep, and if you use it too often it may actually cause brain damage …”

Twilight's nervous tirade was interrupted by Rarity's hand touching her softly. Looking at Rarity, Twilight found her smiling gently.

“You did it for Spike.” her unicorn friend reassured her. The sight of her friend's smile and her kind words made some of the tension leave Twilight's body.

“So, um, …” Applejack asked carefully, “is this all 'cause of his breakup with Rising Up?”

Twilight cringed: “Some other stuff happened as well … I'm not entirely sure, I'll tell you more about it in a moment. Spike wouldn't tell me what is up … I have this spell that I have been thinking about using, which would put him in a trance where he will not lie, but it's sort of an invasion of his privacy so I'm really not sure if we should …”

“Let's do it!” Rainbow Dash was as quick to decide as she usually was. “We need to actually understand what's going on, and why Spike did what he did. Going into the Everfree Forest is no joke.”

Twilight looked at her courageous friend, and seeing nodding faces all around, agreed to go ahead with the course of action she had wanted to take all along: “All right, but you all need to promise me you won't say a word. We will be communicating directly with Spike's subconscious mind, so we need to be very careful.”

Another round of nods later, Twilight began casting the spell:

Talk without waking, without fear.
This now be your single task:
Speak your mind for us to hear,
Answer all that we might ask!

The purple unicorn's horn glowed briefly with magic, then the light faded. After a few seconds, Pinkie Pie broke the silence with a remarkably loud whisper: “Did it work?”

A number of angry glares and “Shhhh!”s later, Twilight turned back to Spike and asked imperiously: “Spike, do you hear me?”

There was a definitive reaction, the dragon moved and groaned, but not a clear verbal answer.

Twilight tried again: “Spike, why did you … why did you try to kill yourself?”

This time, there were words. Burying his face in his hands, Spike mumbled: “… failure. … harmed Twilight. Made Twilight cry.”

Twilight started: “You didn't …” but interrupted herself before she finished the sentence. Taking a deep breath, she asked instead: “Why do you think you harmed Twilight?”

Spike's whimpers of pain were heart-rending for all the ponies to hear: “So dumb! So stupid! I'm a dragon! Disgusting monster, scaly, unkissable … Why did I believe that I could be allowed to hope for romance? So stupid!”

“Why do you think you are disgusting or unkissable?” Twilight continued to query.

“Rising Up said it … heard her talk with Lickedy. Why did I believe the lies that I could be a gentleman? I knew what I am! I can't ever have love! But I want to so bad! Mustn't cause harm any more! Mustn't …”

Spike trailed off into groans and whines rather than actual words, and dug his claws so hard into his arms the girls worried he might draw blood.

“Somnia permane!”

Twilight recanted the spell again, much softer this time, sending Spike back to his magically induced sleep.

After a few seconds looking at Spike the sorceress turned to her friends: “Well … that did tell us why he broke down. For now I want to make certain that Spike is never alone until we are convinced he is better. There are other issues that I need to deal with, so I'll have to ask that some of you help me and keep an eye on Spike when I'm gone.”

Rainbow Dash was shocked: “Other issues than Spike?!”

Twilight gave her a sharp look: “Other issues concerning Spike.”

Spike's adoptive sister took a couple of deep breaths: “You all heard Spike about making me cry. What actually happened was … today, shortly before lunch some ponies showed up, claiming that Rising Up accused Spike of trying to blackmail her into having sex with him. Spike heard them before I could deal with it and had a nervous breakdown, so I told them to get lost. He screamed that he never did anything and never intended to do anything and that he did not know that Rising thought kissing him was gross, and also that she started the kiss. Spike was really distraught over the whole thing, and seeing him break down was what made me cry.”

As the other ponies stared at Twilight open-mouthed, Applejack was the first to find her voice: “You're kidding, right?”

“Do you think I would joke about a matter like this?!” Twilight all but hissed.

“Eh … no, sorry! It's just … That someone would … She actually accused Spike of tryin' to blackmail her for sex?!”

Applejack still had great trouble believing that anyone would be capable of such an act.

Rainbow Dash was beginning to work up a righteous fury: “Oh, that little … We should … We should …”

“We should kill her.”

The words, spoken calmly and quietly, shocked five of the ponies in the room. Turning to the source, they saw Fluttershy, a few tears escaping her eyes, but elsewise calm as an iceberg.

“Fluttershy …” Rarity was just this side of horrified, and tried to reason: “Weren't you the one who said that we should have compassion, even with those who are flawed? Shouldn't we show her kindness and consider forgiving her?”

Rarity desperately needed Fluttershy as representative of the Element of Kindness on her side to calm the impending fury of her friends.

But Fluttershy shook her head: “She is not only harming Spike with her slander to the point where she almost caused his death, her lies are harming every girl who actually was pressured, every girl who is being pressured now to do … those kind of things, and she is using their suffering as a shield to hide behind and as a weapon against Spike. If she is the cause of so much misery, if she deliberately hurts others and only cares to use them and then throw them away, then the only kindness that can be shown is to grant her a quick and painless death.”

Rarity felt lost. If Fluttershy joined Rainbow Dash and Applejack in wanting to lash out, then who should she turn to to reign them in? To her surprise, help came from Twilight: “Trust me, Fluttershy, I will do something, and I will not let this go unanswered. But for now, I need your help in saving Spike. Will you please leave dealing with Rising Up to me and aid me in taking care of Spike, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut and drew a deep breath, a few last tears running down her face. With a shaky sigh she looked back at Twilight, smiling again: "Ok."

She could see the other ponies who had been looking at her with shock and concern relax as they again saw the kind and friendly expression on their friend's face that they were so used to.

Rainbow Dash was still a bit worried about her longest time friend: "Are you all right, Fluttershy?"

"Yes, I'm fine. We should focus on Spike. Twilight knows what she's doing."

Choosing to trust the pink-haired girl, Applejack asked a question that had been lingering on her mind for a while: "Can't we just use that spell to talk to Spike's subconscious and tell him that he did nothing wrong, and that he is a fine guy?"

Twilight shook her head with decisiveness: “No. That would be incredibly dangerous, and we would probably do more harm than good. Do you know what cognitive dissonance is? Anyway, using magic to manipulate someone else's subconscious is highly unethical, and went horribly wrong in every single case that I have read where it was attempted.”

Accepting that Twilight just had way superior knowledge on any magical issues, Applejack continued: “I don't get why Spike thinks he ain't prime material. I mean the man's friggin buff!”

Once again the earth pony's brain only caught up with her mouth once the latter was done talking, and she started blushing profusely. Why the heck couldn't she just keep her yabbering trap shut?

Rainbow Dash, however, seemed to see nothing wrong with agreeing: “Yeah, he's quite hot, and really a great guy which is even more important.”

Twilight shook her head lightly: “Spike has been doting on Rarity for years. He is now convinced that whenever someone says something that would improve his self image, they are just trying to be kind rather than truthful.”

Rarity reacted somewhat angry: “So this is all my fault, now?”

Twilight had some anger of her own: “You cannot really deny that you were sending him mixed signals, can you?!”

Rarity yelled in tears: “Well, what was I supposed to do? He was still so small, it would have been like I was robbing a cradle! And he's a dragon!”

The book on dragons Twilight had read was still very fresh in her mind: “So?! Does that mean he is worth any less? Does that make him less of what you call a gentleman? Or is it all just about outward appearances and social status with you? What is it that Spike did wrong? Where did he fall short of those inachievably high standards you set?”

Fluttershy meekishly tried to dissolve the developing argument: “Can we please not fight? We all want to help Spike, right? If we start to get mad and yell at each other that will not make anyone get better. I … Please! Can we not fight?” She seemed to be on the verge of tears herself.

Rarity, no longer able to deal with the stress and the tension building in her soul, just broke down and started to cry: “I … I'm sorry!”

Twilight, her anger from seeing Spike hurt calmed by Fluttershy's words and the sight of Rarity crying, sighed: “No, Rarity. I am sorry. What I said was uncalled for. And you are right. He was so young … too young. It wouldn't have worked. And it will not now, if you just have no feelings for him. I am sorry for lashing out at you, I just …”

Twilight had to stop and swallow, overcome with emotion. “I hope you can forgive me knowing that it was because of how upset Spike's pain is making me. I shouldn't have taken this out on you.”

Rarity looked up, offering Twilight as much of a smile as she could under the circumstances, and the two shared a hug with Twilight shedding a few tears of her own.

“Daaawww!” Pinkie swooned, putting her arms around Applejack and Rainbow Dash and pushing them over to where Rarity was sitting. “Group Hug of Friendship!” she declared, and after a few moments of hesitation from Applejack and Rainbow Dash the two accepted there was no overruling the party pony and put their arms around the other girls as much as they could. Fluttershy staid to the side at first, looking a little lost and forlorn, but when Pinkie, smiling, beckoned her with her hands, she also joined in after just a few seconds of hesitation, putting both her arms and wings most gently on the backs of her friends.

As they calmed down, Pinkie Pie returned to the problem at hand: “So we need to make Spike stop believing no one will ever want to be his mare, but words won't work. Well, the solution is obvious then: we just all need to jump his boners!”

Once again, Pinkamena Pie managed to collect open-mouthed stares from all of her five friends.

Feeling that maybe she hadn't quite made her point clear enough, Pinkie attempted to elaborate: “Rock his world, do the naughties, let him plough our fields or more accurately twats, fuck him senseless …”

Rarity yelled at the top of her lungs: “PINKAMENA PIE!” She thought her head would explode from all the blood rushing into it: “I cannot believe you just said that!”

Rainbow Dash however quickly connected the dots, and saw how she could finally help one of her longest time friends: “Well, I get that you want to make Spike feel better about himself, but isn't it sorta weird if we all start to … um … do it with him? I mean, shouldn't we rather pick one of us who'll be his girlfriend?”

Fluttershy could hear Rainbow Dash yelling at her without moving her lips: 'Come on, Fluttershy! Speak up!'

Pinkie shook her head so vigorously that her red hair was flying. “You all admitted that you find Spike sexy – would you feel good getting hammered by him while you know one of your friends also wants to but can't, because you took that opportunity from them? Isn't being friends about sharing? And if only one of us rutted Spike, he would bond with that person exclusively and if those two then ever have a fight, we'll need to run into the Everfree Forest again! That's not healthy! Friends need to be able to have good, proper fights, so that there can be hot and heavy make up sex after!”

Fluttershy, still keeping eye contact with Rainbow Dash, nodded silently, slowly but with decisiveness.

Applejack broke the brief silence with an awed voice: “Ya know … it always scares me when Pinkie is the one of us who actually makes the most sense.”

Feeling that her good friend went a little to far with that statement Rainbow Dash gave her a nudge and a stare that the earth pony knew all too well: “Hey!”

Applejack rubbed the back of her neck embarrassedly, and apologized to Pinkie: “Sorry. I meant nothin' by it. It's just that if you make more sense than Twilight, then the situation's way off the rails. Your nature's just way better meant at dealing with things getting to that level of crazy.”

Pinkie did not seem to be bothered by any of this, grabbed a notepad and a pen from a desk nearby and began to scribble: “We'll have a raffle! Twilight said Spike shouldn't be alone, so we'll draw names and each of us will in turn spend a day with Spike to watch over him and do as much naughties as we can manage.”

After a second of hesitation, there were nods all around from the other ponies. They could give up one day out of six to make sure Spike was all right, and while it wasn't quite what Pinkie had meant, 'as much as we can manage' sounded fair: if they found that they just weren't comfortable in getting physical with Spike, there wouldn't be any pressure.

Pinkie was taking quite some time writing each of the girls' names on slips of paper she ripped off the notepad. The earth pony's speciality was throwing parties rather than academics as it turned out.

As they waited Rainbow Dash could not resist the urge to boast and banter: “Oh, I will be the one to make Spike completely loose his mind! I'll ride him like a cowgirl.”

Applejack shook her head: “This isn't a competition, Dash. Also, you don't know a thing about ridin'.”

Rainbow Dash struck a pose, hitting her own flank: “What, you scared of competing against the hottest ass in all of Equestria?”

In response Applejack also delivered a solid smack on Dash's ass, drawing a pained yelp from the girl, and laughed: “Hah! You can't even take a single swat from me! If Spike wants to give you a solid spanking, you'll be cryin' uncle 'fore he even gets to thirty! It's on, baby!”

Fluttershy watched the exchange with her hands clasped over her mouth and nose and eyes as large as saucers. Spike might want to … hit a ponies behind? Oh … Oh my …

Pinkie having finally finished putting the names on notes, quickly grabbed Applejack's hat before the blonde could protest and threw the pieces of paper in. She jumbled them around for a while as she fished for one, her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth while she somehow still managed to imitate a drum-roll noise with her throat. After a few seconds her eyes lit up, one of the slips of paper was pulled out, Pinkie brought it to her face and announced:

“And our first winner iiiiiis: APPLEJACK!!!”

The blonde earth pony took the wrinkled paper drawing a deep breath: “Whooo-boy.”

With shorter theatrics the pink earth pony extracted and read the second name:

“And our second winner iiiiiis: RAINBOW DASH!!!”

Her pegasus friend snatched the note from her hand with decisiveness: “Leave it to me!”

Seemingly dissatisfied with just how smoothly that went Pinkie spent a bit more time on selecting the next name to pull out of her hat:

“And our third winner iiiiiis: RARITY!!!”

Rarity was still a little hesitant. “Do we … really …” she trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Twilight's tone was calm and collected: “Don't force yourself to do this if you don't want to. We'll do it without you if you say that you just do not feel comfortable with this.”

“No.” Rarity took a couple of deep, shaky breaths. “This is fine.”

Pinkie had no time for this conversation to continue as she was getting into her finest wrestling announcer imitation:

“And our fourth winner iiiiiis: FLLLLLLLLLLLLLLUTTERSHYYYY!!!”

Fluttershy took the small piece of paper with wide eyes, and held it with both hands in front of her mouth as if it was a treasure.

Pinkie's mind had by now completely slipped to the act she was delivering. She now sounded more like a circus announcer:

“And our fifth winner iiiiiis: The Mysterious TWILIGHT!!!”

Twilight was working hard to suppress a nervous twitch. The paper slip in her hand read 'Twilit'.

“And our sixth winner iiiiiis: …” Pinkie had a little bit of trouble unfolding the crumpled paper, then making out the scribbling on it. As she did, her eyes widened and she started jumping up and down gleefully: “Meeeee!!! I won! I won! Do you believe that? I won!”

Twilight facepalmed.

Author's Note

Just to clarify: i don't think that Pinkie is a retard, but rather that she enjoys pranking Twilight.

This turns out ot be the end. I will end this story with the climax of the first arc – a lot is already written for the second, including a practically finished 5th chapter, but i have decided not to continue. Should someone care why, a more detailed explanation can be found in this blogpost.
I apologize for the shortfallings that remain in this fourth chapter. My thanks go out to JulianTheDreamer who helped a lot with fixing some of the major issues i was struggling with. Please be advised that several parts of the earlier chapters got rewritten due to editorial input from diealein and Princess Amore Dudette. I would like to thank them for their contributions as well - while no events were fundamentally changed, there were some significant improvements through fixing details, and i hope some people who have read the story before will enjoy it even more now.