Spike and the girls

When they went back to the others, everyone had the most fake smile on, only Fluttershy looked nervously back and forth between Rarity and Twilight as if one of them was about to explode and there was still a conflagration-like tension in the air that no one was aware of could overplay.

Twilight gave Spike a look like she did when he snacked unnoticed. A look that said: I don't know what you've done, but I'll figure it out.

"I found them at Donut Joe's," Starlight lied with presence of mind, which the dragon boy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders confirmed with vigorous head nods. “Spike tried the new mango-pineapple-tomato milkshake.”

Spike wished she had left that last part out. He hated tomatoes and Twilight didn't seem to have forgotten that. Her eyes narrowed a touch.

"What's wrong, Spike?" Rarity asked. Concerned, she placed a hand on his forehead. "You're very pale."

Using unicorn magic, Spike was pulled away from Rarity and a second later found himself floating in the air next to Twilight.

"He's fine," she said, a smile sharp as a knife flashing across her lips. "He must have just had a long and exhausting day."

"Yes, exhausting is a good word for it," Spike sighed, without anyone noticing.

"If that's really the case, then I'll be happy to help you carry it," Rarity offered.

"No!"

Luckily, Twilight let him sink back to his feet. He didn't even want to imagine what people would say about him in Dragon Land if it came out that he had to be carried home like a small child.

"Guys," Applejack said in a warning tone, and Spike didn't miss the fact that her eyes were clearly on him. “What were we just discussing?”

Rarity's shoulders straightened as if she had to suppress a retort. Then, with all the politeness at her disposal, she said, “Of course. I'm sorry, Twilight."

Applejack and the others seemed to sigh internally. Spike decided to follow Starlight's advice and not interfere.

"But you certainly don't mind if I go next to him, do you?" Challenge was suddenly in Rarity's voice and once again the breath was held in unison.

Twilight's mouth twisted as if she had bitten into a lemon.

“Of course not,” she replied with the same distant politeness.

"Man, that's kind of creepy," Scootaloo muttered.

And Spike couldn't agree more.

When they finally set off, Spike was taken into the middle by Rarity and Twilight. He should have been happy about that, but to be honest, he didn't feel at all comfortable about it. He could practically feel the tension between the two.

An almost endless five minutes later, they had finally reached Twilight's castle. They gathered in front of the large archway.

"I'm looking forward to a hot cup of tea," said Spike, who suddenly had an idea and added, turning to the others. “Are we having a tea party?”

"Oh yeah," said Twilight, leaning on Spike's shoulders in a welcoming voice. “Everyone just come in, please.”

Strangely enough, everyone suddenly turned pale at her words and seemed to be in a hurry.

“I still have sooooo much to prepare,” Pinkie Pie said with a sweeping gesture that made her breasts jiggle up and down.

“And I still have some things to do on the farm,” Applejack sighed, putting her hands on her hips.

Rainbow Dash stretched with pleasure. "I think I'll take a little nap before we start."

»I still have to feed some of the little animals. I'm sorry, Spike,« Fluttershy whispered.

"And I think I still have some preparation to do," said Rarity, her gaze not directed at Spike, but at Twilight. "Don't I?"

Twilight's fingers dug harder into Spike's shoulders as she stepped closer. "I think so," she replied.

Spike looked questioningly at Starlight, who made a gesture with the palm of her hand. It seemed to mean staying calm.

Spike was a little disappointed. He had hoped to be able to sort out Twilight and Rarity's differences over a leisurely tea session.

"Do not worry. The Cutie Mark Crusaders will figure out what's going on," Sweetie Belle whispered in his ear as she hugged him goodbye.

"We'll have the best welcome back party you've ever had," Pinkie promised, skipping away happily.

Rarity also hugged him again, even though he didn't feel comfortable because he heard Twilight growling for some reason.

Spike waved after Rarity until Twilight suddenly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into the castle.

"Come with me. There is still a lot to do,” she said. “You have to tell me everything about Dragon Land.”

“You mean right now?” He had imagined he would first have a bite to eat and then hit his ear. But knowing Twilight, she had already planned the entire day in great detail.

“Of course!” Twilight beamed from ear to ear. Her thirst for knowledge was ignited and wanted to be quenched immediately. Suddenly she seemed to be her old self again.

"Twilight," Starlight said cautiously. “Perhaps Spike would like to arrive and unpack his things first.”

Twilight glanced at Spike's bag, which he was carrying over one shoulder. Then her horn lit up for a second and the bag disappeared in a flash of light. Another flash and suddenly all three of them were sitting in soft armchairs around a round table in a study. The entire room was filled with stacks of books that almost reached the ceiling (Spike could decipher Matty Mayham's Dragonlike Democracy, A Thousand Interesting Things About Dragon People, and The Far Isles), as well as labeled boards and piles of paper. Apparently Twilight had dedicated this study entirely to the study of dragon people.

"Problem solved," Twilight said happily, levitating several pages of paper and a quill to her. “So we'd better start with a comprehensive report. I hope you took notes. How was your first day in Dragon Land? Or should we start with something simple? I made up a little true or false game. I'll mention some common claims about Dragon culture and you'll either bear witness to them or refute them as clichés. But we could also put together some statistics. On a scale of one to ten, how hard do you think it would be for the average pony person to make a dragon person a friend?"

"Twilight." Sighing in resignation, Starlight let her forehead fall into her palm. "That's not actually what I meant by arriving."

Twilight, who had a page-long list of self-written questions in front of her while sorting through a stack of cue cards, looked up.

“Oops,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “I think I got a little carried away.”

"Everything's still the same," Spike grinned.

Starlight rose pointedly and said, "I actually meant something like having a cup of tea or something."

"Great idea," Spike said, jumping to his feet as well. »Anything better than throwing yourself straight into work.«

“All right,” said Twilight, putting down her papers a little disappointedly and following the two of them.

Spike was very grateful to Starlight. He probably wouldn't have been able to talk Twilight out of an endless round of quizzes on his own. Even if that was more or less her way of welcoming him.

In Dragon Land he hadn't had to worry about any statistics or meticulous lists and, to be honest, that was what he missed the least.

Spike was just about to squeeze through the piles of books and papers strewn across the floor when he stumbled. He hit a particularly thick tome with his toes and lost his balance. He slammed headfirst into a tall tower of books, followed by a strangled scream. The tower began to sway and Spike could already see the wall of pages and leather bindings rushing towards him when something soft trapped him. When he opened his eyes again, the books were floating frozen in the air, only half an arm's length away from him and the soft thing that was around him was Twilight, who was hugging him protectively. Her and Starlight's horn glowed as they placed the books back on the stack.

Spike's breath hitched. Not because he had just been nearly beaten to death, but because he could feel Twilight's fingers through his shirt and her pressing his head right into the well-endowed spot above her heart.

His face burned almost as much as his inner flame.

"Is everything okay, Spike?" he heard Starligt's dull voice.

Spike could only utter a quick, slurred, "Everything's fine."

»It's okay, Twilight. You can let go of him now.”

But Twilight wouldn't let him go. She tightened her arms around Spike and he felt her nose in his hair.

“T-Twilight?”

Then she let go of him and stood up again.

"You smell," Twilight said with a twisted mouth.

Spike's reddened face paled. In all his time in Dragon Land, he hadn't even bathed with water. Dragonmen preferred bubbling pools of lava to tubs of heated water, which Spike understood all too well. But hot lava didn't have the same effect as water and soap, which is why Spike still had the heavy smell of smoke and molten rock. An aroma that dragon people preferred to the pony people's bottled floral scent.

"Time for a bath," Twilight said sternly, and before Spike could run away, she had sent him into the air again with her magic.

"No Twilight, please don't!" he screamed desperately. “Please no bathe!”

"Don't act like that, Spike," Twilight said, leading the struggling Spike with her and Starlight waving sympathetically after him.

"Please Twilight," Spike pleaded. “Dragon people who bathe with water, that’s unnatural!”

“Oh, you’re just making that up.”

“No, that’s really true!”

"Come on, Spike, this will be fun," Twilight said, then added, "I can't remember the last time we bathed together."

For a moment Spike thought he had misheard.

“You want to bathe with me?!” The last time they had done that, Twilight herself had been a child. "Really now?!"

"Naturally. You can also tell me all about Dragon Land while you're bathing. Or would you think it's so bad to bathe with me?" Twilight's voice actually sounded a bit offended.

"No, well, that wouldn't be bad," Spike stammered hypocritically. Of course it would be bad for him. Dragonmen liked to bathe, almost exclusively, in company, but with a few exceptions, this only ever happened with members of their own gender. He had always bathed with Ember blindfolded, but Spike was sure Twilight didn't have a blindfold ready for him. Besides, there was a small part of him that would definitely enjoy it. His Inner Flame was literally dancing with excitement at the mere idea.

If she were serious, Spike, despite all his moral values and intentions, would not be able to help but react accordingly to the sight of her naked body. After all, he wasn't so small anymore.

Foam. foam and steam. Everywhere.

Spike wondered how he could have ended up in this situation. He sat in the bathtub, or rather in the huge heated basin that filled almost half of the bathroom, with a towel around his waist, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible as he stared at the tiles on the wall. The water was literally up to his neck.

Twilight hadn't lied when she said she wanted to bathe with him. She was just undressing. Spike could clearly hear the rustling of their clothes. When she closed the door, all he could think of was to run forward and Spike jumped into the pool as quickly as possible. At least there was enough room to avoid Twilight.

Anyway, what was the point of all this? Why did Twilight suddenly want to get in the tub with him?

But that question lost all its meaning when he heard Twilight approaching.

Oh, damn! She was really serious!

Luckily it was a long bubble bath and Spike gathered as much foam around himself as he could and pretended to be busy building foam castles.

Sighing, Twilight sank into the water. There was no escape now. And mixed in with his excitement was something else; the appeal of perhaps taking a look.

But he couldn't just stare at her like that. Something like that was simply not appropriate. He would just concentrate on the whitecaps. Exactly. Beautiful soft whitecaps stretching up in front of him. Spike had always been a good foamcap designer. He could build entire palaces and sailing ships out of the white foam, mountains and valleys and whatever else came to his mind. But at the moment he was trying so hard not to look at Twilight that he didn't really pay attention to his hands and was quite surprised when his creation was two huge round mounds. He smashed it before Twilight could get a look at it.

He had to admit one thing, you couldn't do something like that in lava.

Twilight stretched her arms above her head and lifted her leg out of the water.

Concentrate on the foam, Spike kept telling himself, piling up a large white tower in front of him. Focus on the foam.

For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence for Spike.

Then Twilight suddenly said, "And Spike, how did you like Dragon Land?"

“Pretty good,” he said without turning around and tinkered with the foam tower.

“Just okay?” Spike could practically feel Twilight raising an eyebrow. "That's all?"

"Well, I learned a lot," he added. »The way dragon people are. Why they do what they do. Why they don't do what they don't do. And why they do things the way they do or don't do them."

He instinctively grabbed the spot where Ember had punched him.

"I really learned a lot, including about myself."

In Dragon Land he had dared to do things that he had never even imagined and suddenly he felt much closer to his distant, unknown clan. He looked thoughtfully at his hand, which was covered in thick calluses, and clenched a fist. The dragon people had somehow... brought him further. He couldn't describe it any other way.

While he was silent, Twilight had apparently approached him quietly and Spike jumped when she came close to him. Her slender legs flanked him left and right. If he would just turn around now... No!

Spike wanted to flee to the safety of the sea of foam, but two hands gently pushed him to the ground.

"T-Twilight, what are you doing?" Spike grabbed a large pile of soap foam and pulled it in front of him.

"I know you're not going to like it," she said, and two bottles appeared in front of him, "but we need to give you a good wash."

A second later, Twilight's fingers were running through his soapy hair. At first Spike wanted to protest. He's been able to wash himself for years. But then he found it quite relaxing. Just like before. In any case, Twilight really didn't seem to see it as anything other than a reminder of the time they both planned in a small, cramped tub. So why shouldn't Spike take it the same way? After all, he had been gone for months.

He let the flame be in his inner flame and enjoyed the cozy warmth and Twilight's hands running over his head.

“Did you like it in Dragon Land too?” asked Twilight.

"Yes, very much so," Spike said bluntly.

“And did you miss us too?”

The question puzzled Spike a little. “Of course I missed you.”

Twilight's hands moved down his neck and with a sponge she rubbed his shoulders, which had the dragon people's farewell gifts emblazoned on them, as well as his back and arms.

"Did it hurt?" Twilight asked.

"A little," Spike admitted. "But in Dragon Land you have to be tough." He also liked all those markings on his body. He could identify the originator of every mark and scratch on it.

"That's not what I meant," Twilight argued, which puzzled Spike even more. "I meant whether..."

She became quieter and fell silent.

"Twilight?"

"Now look at how dirty you are," she suddenly said in an unusually high voice and scrubbed at Spike so hard that he thought she was trying to skin him. “It all has to go down very quickly.”

The water around Spike became more cloudy with every second and Twilight only washed his shoulders.

"What kind of dirt is all this?" Twilight's question sounded more directed at herself than at Spike, but his answer was almost automatic.

»This is ash sand. This is what dragon people rub themselves with after every lava bath.”

A thick, solid layer had fallen on him and now the soft skin underneath was revealed again.

“So the lava bathing thing is really true?” Twilight asked curiously.

»Oh yes! Hot water is nice and all, but there’s nothing like a real lava bath.”

“Because you don’t have to wash your hair,” Twilight teased.

»Foam and lava just don't work together. But a lava bath is much more important than you might think. The dragon people have their own culture. The best pools are reserved for the clan heads and no one else is allowed in there. Ancient dragon people even prefer to die in a lava bath because it is said to be very pleasant. It’s called taking the last bath.”

"Aha," Twilight said interestedly. "Stand up."

Spike stood up, fingers digging tightly into his towel so Twilight could wash his back. A brief moment passed. Maybe because Twilight looked at the bruises on his back, or because she saw that he had gotten a better figure during his time in Dragon Land. Twilight propped herself up on her knees, holding him with one hand as she cleaned his back. “Go on,” she said.

It took Spike a moment to find the thread again. She was so close to him that he could feel her breath on his skin. A blast of air that fueled his inner flame.

“Others sit in it so long that they grow attached to the stone,” he finally continued. "Besides, such a bath is said to have an... amorphdisiac effect."

Twilight paused. “A what?”

"An amorphdisiac effect?" Spike said uncertainly. “Or was it maphrodisiac?”

“Do you mean an aphrodisiac effect?”

Spike missed Twilight's slightly strained voice and was about to continue talking to distract himself from the increasing heartbeat in his chest, but Twilight beat him to it: "So all dragons bathe together and not separately?"

Was there a reproachful coolness in her voice?

"Almost," Spike said quickly. »Most dragon people bathe separately, men and women. But there are exceptions..."

"What exceptions?" Twilight asked immediately, her grip tightening as if to stop him from running away.

"Sometimes entire clans bathe together," Spike explained quickly, starting to feel a little uncomfortable. "And clan leaders often share a pool with several women."

"With several women?" Twilight repeated and although Spike couldn't see her, the hairs on the back of his neck still stood up.

"Yes. Dragon people often have several wives or husbands. And when they get married, they spend their wedding night in a private lava pool.”

This only seemed to make things worse.

“And you?” Twilight asked, her face now very close to his ear.

"What?" Spike asked.

Twilight's voice shook as she said, "Have you bathed with another... dragon girl?"

"No I have not!"

Twilight gave a long, unconvinced "Hmmm," but raised the sponge again.

“Except with Ember,” Spike slipped out.

The sponge fell into the water with a splash and Twilight pulled Spike around towards her.

"You bathed with Ember?!" She shook him by both shoulders as if she could get his answers out of him quicker.

“Yeah,” said Spike, who had his hands over his eyes.

“And then what happened?”

»Nothing happened! We just took a bath!”

“And she was naked?!”

»Yes, of course she was naked! It was a bath like the one we both have now!”

"Yes, but I'm not naked!"

Spike paused. “You're not?”

"Of course not."

Spike slowly put his hands down and peered cautiously at Twilight. Her hair was pulled up into a bun, her eyebrows were drawn together, and a tinge of red shone on her cheeks. And she actually wasn't naked.

She was wearing a simple, halter-less, dark blue swimsuit that seemed a little too small for her and looked worn, if not completely battered. In any case, the faded fabric stretched dramatically around her breasts, while some of the seams were baggy, such as between her legs.

"Is that your old swimsuit?" Spike asked.

“That’s not the point, Spike!”

“Why are you wearing this old thing?”

"Spike, I want to know from you-"

“Why aren’t you wearing Rarity’s?”

"I fixed it myself. Not everyone needs things from Rarity," Twilight snapped at him angrily and shook him again. "What's more important is the question of what you and Ember were doing together in the bathroom!"

And Spike, completely unaware of the ambiguity of his words, shouted back, "What do you think she and I did? Exactly the same as the two of us now!”

At that moment three things happened:

Twilight's poorly mended swimsuit slipped under her breasts, Spike's towel also couldn't hold up due to the shaking and came loose from his hips and fell into the water and at the same moment Starlight, who had been worried about the noise, stepped through door and froze when she heard Spike's words.

For an almost endless moment, there was silence. Starlight stared wide-eyed at the half-naked Twilight, who was holding a completely naked Spike by the shoulders and returned her gaze with a stone expression.

Spike, momentarily distracted by the sudden exposure right in front of him, dropped back into the water with a yelp as Twilight tried to pull her swimsuit over her bust.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," he heard Starlight say in a carefully controlled tone as the blood rushed to his face and then the door closed.

"Wait Starlight! It's not what you think!" Twilight jumped out of the water to follow Starlight. "Sorry Spike," she said before throwing open the door and running down the hall.

Spike remained stunned in the hot water. The image of Twilight's bare chest was burned into his brain and would probably have given his Inner Flame reason to burn hotter than ever before if the whole thing wasn't so damn embarrassing.

Starlight and Twilight had seen him naked! They had simply seen everything about him. How would he ever be able to look them in the eyes again? The very idea was completely impossible.

Spike remained stunned in the hot water. The image of Twilight's bare chest was burned into his brain and would probably have given his Inner Flame reason to burn hotter than ever before if the whole thing wasn't so damn embarrassing.

Starlight and Twilight had seen him naked! They had simply seen everything about him. How would he ever be able to look them in the eyes again? The very idea was completely impossible.

What had changed since he left? Why did Twilight have a fight with Rarity? And why had she insisted on bathing with him, just like in old times, and then put on a bathing suit? And why had he stayed naked himself?

Spike scratched his head. "Damned."

As if by himself, he reached for Ember's tooth that he wore around his neck and he wished he could climb into a pool of lava from which he would never have to come out again.