Land of Balloons

“Twilight! I’m going out for a bit!”

Spike had no intention of waiting for an answer. He knew that Twilight was usually deep in a book at this time of day, and to stand around and wait for her to acknowledge his call was an incredible waste of time that could have been spent at his destination. He was just about to zip out of the room when…

“Are you going to see Pinkie?”

Spike turned back to look at Twilight, giving her a nervous chuckle.

“Uh…yeah. I am.”

“I don’t get why you feel the need to be secretive about it,” Twilight said, getting up from her chair and walking over. “You’ve been dating her for…four months now, I think?”

“Four months and five days,” Spike corrected her, earning himself a pat on the back.

“And I’m sure she loves that you remember that detail,” Twilight said warmly. “But seriously, you don’t have to be so clandestine about your meetings. We all know you two are together. You both told us right away. So why the sneaking?”

Spike couldn’t help a small blush. Everything Twilight said was true. As soon as Twilight had fixed his little mishap the day after their first date, the two were more than happy to let her know that they were going to see how they worked as a couple. With Pinkie’s typical level of excitement, the rest of their friends knew as well within a few hours.

“Heh…I don’t know, really,” Spike replied, giving a little shrug. “I guess it’s still kinda embarrassing saying that to my older sister?”

“Then you’d best get over that,” Twilight said through a grin. “Because I can see how much you two care for each other, and I love to hear about my little brother and one of my best friends being so happy together.” She gave Spike another pat on the back. “So let’s hear it.”

“I’m…going to see Pinkie Pie,” Spike said, blushing lightly.

“Ahh, and why is that?” Twilight asked cheekily.

“Because…she’s my marefriend,” Spike said, his grin growing.

“Aaaand?” Twilight continued. Spike’s blush deepened.

“And…I love her,” Spike said. It wasn’t the first time he’d said it. He’d made those words very clear to Pinkie about a month ago. The pure delight on her face the first time he spoke those words to her was permanently nestled into his memory.

“Awwww,” Twilight cooed. She gave Spike a hug, one which he was happy to reciprocate. “Was that so hard?”

“No…not at all,” Spike admitted. “It felt great, actually.”

“Good,” Twilight said, letting go of him. Suddenly, a book was levitated into his hands. “Now would you mind bringing this to her? She asked for it and I was going to go myself, but as long as you’re already going…”

“Errand boy, got it,” Spike joked, earning himself a playful poke from one of Twilight’s wings.

“Oh, shush,” Twilight teased. “Now go on, don’t keep your marefriend waiting.”

“You’re the one who stopped me,” Spike reminded her.

“That’s entirely irrelevant,” Twilight said through a smirk. “Go!”

Spike chuckled, giving Twilight a wave as he left the castle. He briefly wondered if he should have just asked Twilight to teleport him to Sugarcube Corner to save time, but it wasn’t that long of a walk. Besides, the time spent walking just made the eventual arrival that much sweeter.

It was hard to top a first date that had turned out the way Spike and Pinkie’s had, but somehow it felt like every date after that was just as great, regardless of whether or not they ended in one of their bedrooms. Every single day with Pinkie had been an adventure, and he truly knew that he couldn’t ask for a better marefriend. Sweet, caring, fun-loving, absolutely beautiful…Pinkie had it all, and was more than willing to share it all with him. He had to be the luckiest dragon in Equestria.

As Spike knocked on the door, he finally took a look at the book that Twilight had placed in his hands. It was a title that he’d never seen before, something about a pony named Gulliver? He glanced at the first few pages as he waited for her to answer. The first illustration made him raise a brow, and just as he was about to investigate further, the door opened.

There, in front of him, stood Pinkie Pie. Her smiling face and her cute little outfit were the first things that grabbed his attention, as usual, but his eyes were soon drawn up to the item dangling from her hand. A small vial, clearly the type of vial that Zecora often put her spell ingredients in. And within it, a very familiar powder.

“Oh Spikey-poo!” Pinkie called, spinning the bottle around in her fingers. “Look what I got~!”

Sometimes, just sometimes, there were immense negatives to living in a land full of magic.

But more often than not, the positives outweighed them.