“No, no, no,” Twilight Sparkled hummed as books were tossed over her shoulder. A pile larger than her had already developed. Still, she shook her head. “It has to be around here somewhere.” She galloped upstairs and began her search around the bed.
Just then, Spike crawled up the stairs wearily, dropping his last load of books on the floor after lugging them up the steps. He panted, bending his back forward with a loud crack. “Th-They’re all here,” he puffed, finally collapsing on the ground.
“Excellent!” she grinned, lifting a blue book into view. “I knew it was around here somewhere.”
“So you found the book, now what?” he groaned.
“Now it’s time to show the other ponies something incredible,” she smiled proudly.
“Wait,” he sat up promptly, “you’re not really going to try to learn another spell, are you? And from that book?”
“What’s wrong with the book?” she wondered aloud, flipping through the dusty pages.
“You’ve already learned seven spells today. Do you really think it’s wise to try another, especially from that book? If you’re going to do it, at least pick an easier one.”
“So it’s got some of the toughest spells out there. After today, I think I can do it.” She was not usually so confident, but one thing she learned is that confidence is a must with learning something as difficult as magic.
He shrugged. “Okay, I hope you’re right.” He smiled and bounced over, returning to his usual self. “So, have you picked one out yet?”
“Uh, not yet,” she admitted. “I was thinking of something like this.”
The book floated to his face and he read the page silently before shaking his head. “Learning how to make flowers come alive? Come on, Twilight, you can do better than that.” He snatched the book out of the air and skimmed through. “Hmm, how about this one?”
She raised an eyebrow at his eager grin, but stepped over anyways and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. She would never do that again.
“Hypnosis? No way, Spike. That’s too risky. And who would I even try it out on— let alone who would be willing to let me try it on them?”
“Oh, I know! How about Rarity?” He peaked down the stairs at the beautiful horse. Hearts filled his eyes and a string of drool dripped from his chin.
Twilight shoved a hoof on the underside of his jaw, closing his mouth. “I don’t think Rarity will be half as excited or willing as you are.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun. You can hypnotize her and then tell her to do something crazy like kiss a chicken, or eat a book, or,” he scuffed his foot sheepishly, “kiss me,” he mumbled.
“I’m not doing this just so you can get even more googly eyed over her. Besides, I don’t think she’ll do it.”
“Well, why don’t we go ask her?” he squeaked, practically leaping down the stairs, the book still in his hands.
“Spike, wait!” she hollered, chasing after him, but he was already at Rarity’s tail, tapping her.
“Oh, hello, Spike,” she smiled down before fluffing her mane. “I do wish Twilight would hurry. This humidity cannot be good for my mane.”
“Actually, you might be able to speed things up,” he grinned cheekily. “You see, Twilight is having a hard time deciding which spell to try out to impress you guys, so I looked around and found a really neat one called Hypnosis. Thing is, she doesn’t want to try it on any of you guys ‘cause she thinks it’s too risky, but I volunteered you—she still didn’t want to do it! But if you tell her you want to do it yourself, maybe she’ll try it!” All the while, he bounced around in an attempt to display the entire scene. It was all too dizzying.
Rarity’s eyes followed his wobbly trail before she shook her head and blinked perplexedly. She smiled sweetly. “Well, Spike, from what I could gather from your erratic story, it all sounds good to me but I am not sure I can.”
His smile dropped. “How come?”
“There may be risks involved, that’s why,” Twilight Sparkle interrupted.
He swiveled around to Rarity, his lower lip trembling. “But…But…!”
Her eyebrows furrowed sympathetically, only causing the lip quiver to increase. “I-I suppose I could give it a try.”
“Yes!” he exclaimed.
He stood on his toes and flicked the light off. All the ponies whispered and muttered, curious as to what was going on. A single light flickered on, to be more precise a spotlight. Spike stood on top of the table, head bowed behind a cape dramatically. His eyes, mere slits, peered out from the shadows and lingered from one pony before moving on to the next.
“Prepare to have you minds blown,” he said lowly. “We all know her as Twilight Sparkle, the friendly unicorn. But there is more than meets the eye! Today you shall witness the incredible powers of—!”
Twilight threw the light back on. “They get it, Spike,” she groaned.
He blinked, startled, and blushed. Rubbing the back of his neck, he shrugged. “Every magic show needs an introduction, right?”
“This isn’t a magic show,” she replied, readying herself. “Stand back, everyone.”
All moved away except Rarity who stared uncertainly. She faced Spike. He gave her a thumbs up and a cheeky grin. She smiled and nodded, hiding the doubt she still felt within.
The orb of light on the end of Twilight’s horn grew bigger and bigger before it poured out across the room, zapping Rarity in a booming flash. She yelped from the impact, more startled than harmed. Everyone watched with wide eyes at the black silhouette among the white fog of light. The light grew too bright, and they looked away. Before they had the chance to look back, the spell was finished. Rarity swayed from one hoof to the other, eyes closed.
“Rarity,” Twilight said, “are you okay?”
“Oh, I know you shouldn’t have done this,” Spike cried, receiving a glare from Twilight.
Rarity groaned. “Oh, my. What happened? The last thing I remember is—” She gasped. Her eyes grew as they focused on Spike. She approached him slowly, eyes glued. Taken aback, Spike chuckled nervously. She smiled, batting her eyes lightly. “I remember you…” she whispered.
“Y-You do?” he whimpered, afraid she was catching on to his plan.
She nodded and held him still as she kissed him on the cheek. Spike instantly stiffened, eyes wide.
“Um, did I miss something here?” Applejack wondered.
“Yeah, Rarity is never that sweet!” Pinkie Pie giggled. “She’s sweet, like sugar! Don’t you like sugar?”
“Get a room!” Rainbow Dash yelled.
“What spell did you use on her, Twilight?” Fluttershy inquired.
Twilight stepped over to Spike, bowing her head lowly.
“Uh, this wasn’t supposed to happen,” she reminded. “I didn’t even get the chance to tell her what to do, Spike. Spike?”
Rarity pulled back, giggling. Spike fainted instantly before sitting up groggily, biting his lip adoringly.
“Okay, this has gone too far,” Twilight interrupted. She ended the spell, ignoring Spike who tugged on her pleadingly. When the light died down, all the ponies, including Rarity, swayed uneasily.
“Oh, what happened?” Rarity wondered.
Shaking her head loosely, Applejack winked.“That was quite the show there.”
“Show? What on earth are you talking about—why is there lipstick on your lips, Spike?”
Rainbow Dash tried to contain her laughter but soon fell over on her back, rolling as she gulped in air and said, “You really don’t remember? You, oh, boy, just kissed him!”
She galloped over to the mirror, finding that her lipstick was a bit smudged. She glanced back at Spike, and both blushed.
“It’s okay, Rarity,” Pinkie Pie bounced over. “I think it’s sweet that you have a crush on Spike!”
Rarity gasped, about to protest when Applejack looped her lasso around her and the small dragon. Tightening it, she nodded approvingly at her work which consisted of Spike squeezed awkwardly against Rarity.
“They do look pretty convincing, don’t they?”
“Enough!” Rarity said, loosening the rope and freeing herself. “Spikey-wikey and I are nothing but friends, right, Spike?”
He gulped and nodded slowly, biting his lip to contain his feelings.
“Ah, don’t go tying your mane in a knot, sugar cube,” Applejack chuckled, retrieving her rope. “We’re just messin’ with you.”
Fluttershy yawned. “I think I need to head home to feed Angel, if you don’t mind, Twilight.”
“Not at all. I think Rarity needs a break, too,” she giggled.
They said their farewells and the door was shut, leaving Twilight and Spike to head upstairs to bed. He sighed dreamily as he thought of Rarity’s kiss over and over.
“I wish I could have her that way every day,” he breathed out slowly.
“Be careful what you wish for, it may come true,” he heard Twilight warn groggily.
“I can only be so lucky,” he smiled, pulling the blanket over his head and flicking off the light.
Light poured in on the slumbering house, soaking the shelves of books in a creamy froth of color. Birds flapped and pecked outside the windows, a pleasant sound and sight to wake to. Spike stretched, still smiling from his dreams. Yet when he opened his eyes, he jumped back and yelled.
“Rarity, what are you doing here?”
Indeed, it was her. Her smile was too big; the same could be said for her eyes. Her eyelashes fluttered charmingly.
She pinched his cheeks. “Good morning, Spikey- Wikey!”
He sputtered and moved away, eyeing her uncertainly. “Um, are you all right?”
“How can I not be when you’re near?” she breathed, prancing down the stairs. “Breakfast is waiting for you, my little smoochey-poo!”
“Smoochey-poo?” he wondered. From behind, Twilight groaned and snuggled deeper into the nest of tangled blankets and sheets. He leapt onto her bed and bounced up and down, all the while shaking her. “Twilight, come on, wake up! You’ll never believe this!”
Her eyelids peeled the sleep from her eyes as they opened to find a little purple dragon smiling madly. “Ugh, what? What’s going on?”
“My wish, it came true!” He rolled her off the bed until she was sitting up.
She frowned, rubbing her back. “What is all this about—” But she stopped when she heard distant humming. It was coming from downstairs. “Who’s in the house?” She asked, swiveling around.
He pointed, jumping wildly. “Go see for yourself. Oh, I hope I’m not dreaming!”
Lo and behold, there stood Rarity, a spring in her step, as she hummed quietly to herself. The kitchen table was covered with every breakfast food imaginable, from pancakes to sausages to yogurt and fruit. There were even decorated napkins folded neatly next to the three different types of spoons, knives, and forks. A vase of fresh flowers stood at the center.
“Oh, there you are!” she exclaimed, rushing towards the pair.
“Yeah, I was a bit surprised to see you, too,” Twilight chuckled. She stepped out of the way, though, as Rarity picked up Spike and plopped him on one of the chairs.
While tying a napkin around his neck, she said, “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up for some time now. After last night, I just couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
He glanced down at the napkin. “You couldn’t?”
“How could I ever forget about my little sugar-honey?”
“Sugar-honey?” he and Twilight both repeated.
“So I decided to wait outside for you, but you were still asleep and it was taking far too long. I hope you don’ mind that I picked the lock. Anyways, after that—”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Twilight paused. “You picked the lock?”
Rarity nodded excitedly. “And after that, I cleaned the house, made you a fabulous new bowtie, cooked breakfast, and then watched you while you slept.”
“You watched me sleep?” he scratched his head before he sighed. “My dream did come true.”
“Um, can I talk to you for a minute?” She dragged him away. Rarity waved and blew a kiss that floated over and smooched his cheek. He giggled and fell over. Twilight growled, placing him back on his feet. “Spike, don’t you see anything different about Rarity?”
“I know, isn’t it great?”
“No, it’s not. She’s not acting like herself at all and I’m beginning to get worried. What went on between you two before you woke me up?”
He shrugged. “Nothing, she just giggled and called me some weird love names before going downstairs to serve breakfast. Speaking of which…” He made a beeline to the table, stabbing his fork into a tower of pancakes. Twilight grabbed him and headed to the door.
“Rarity, we’ll be right back. You just wait here, okay?”
“Hurry back, my little turtledove!”
He waved. “I will, my fluffy marshmallow!”
Twilight slammed the door and shook her head at him. “Fluffy marshmallow? What sort of name is that?”
“It’s a name only those in love can understand,” he stated, crossing his arms. “You wouldn’t get it.”
“No, what I don’t get is what’s going on. Come on, let’s go see what the other ponies think.”
First on the list was Pinkie Pie. They made their way to the bakery. Just as with Rarity, they found her humming to herself. Unsurprisingly, she was busy working on a cake and hardly noticed as the pair walked in. The surprise was that the cake had a picture of Spike on it, with dozens of little hearts and cupids dotting the icing everywhere.
Before she had the chance to question the perky pony, Twilight covered her ears and cringed at the ear-shattering squeal that split the windows. In an instant, Spike was gathered up into Pinkie’s arms and tossed through the air. She giggled and trotted about excitedly, squeaking something about missing the small dragon and growing happier by the second due to his presence. Several kisses speckled his face.
“Pinkie Pie, what’s going on?” Twilight managed to ask between the fits of giggles and squeaks. But she was ignored as Pinkie Pie continued to mush all over him. She shook her head, chuckling down at the invisible clock strapped to her wrist. “Oh, would you look at the time? Spike, we’re going to be late.”
He gagged as another hoof-full of cake was shoved into his mouth. “Late for what?” he muffled.
“Late for our appointment. Let’s go!” She ripped Spike from Pinkie’s arms, causing the small pony to fall back on her rear. Tears welled up and her lip trembled. Twilight looked away when the puppy eyes came into play. “Must…resist…” she groaned, rushing out and slamming the door behind her.
“This wasn’t part of my wish,” Spike muttered, wiping the icing from his mouth.
“There has to be a logical explanation for this,” Twilight replied. “Pinky Pie has always been affectionate and giggly, but that still doesn’t explain Rarity’s odd behavior. Let me think—” But there was no time to think. A strip of color, or should I say colors zoomed by, scooping Spike off the ground on the way. She gazed up, trying to keep up with the blur of colors. “Rainbow Dash!”
“I thought I would find you here!” Rainbow Dash yelled before kissing his face and hugging him harshly.
He struggled to get away, his claws pressing her face away. “Make it stop!” he whimpered.
An orb of light surrounded both Twilight and Spike and they disappeared, leaving Dash too busy to focus on where she was flying. She crashed right into the bakery and fell to the ground with a thud.
Spike was still shielding his face when he realized they were no longer anywhere near Rainbow Dash. He sighed, relieved. “Thanks, Twilight.”
“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to figure out what’s going on.” She tapped her hoof thoughtfully against her chin, yet stopped when two little birds landed on Spike’s shoulder. Two more came, and rabbits joined the group of animals. Pretty soon, they were surrounded by small woodland creatures.
A shadow flooded over them from high in the sky. Peering past the light of the sun, Twilight smiled. “Fluttershy, thank goodness. It’s nice to see one face that isn’t busy kissing Spike.”
“Now that I found you,” Fluttershy said lowly, “you’re going to be all mine.” She swooped down, tackling Spike. Holding him straight out, she landed on the ground and stroked a wing across his face. He shivered, shaking uncertainly.
Before she had time to protest, Twilight sighed as she watched Fluttershy liter his face with kisses. Without any other option, Twilight used her magic to transport Spike onto her back. Fluttershy gasped, before growling at Twilight.
“I-I think we need to get out of here!” she said, spinning on her heel and running in the opposite direction.
They raced through the streets of Ponyville, ignoring the curious stares and whispers of the citizens. Something was wrong and she was determined to find out what. So far every pony had mysteriously become infatuated with the little dragon, ever since last night it would seem.
“Wait a minute,” she hummed. “Maybe something went wrong with the spell…”
“What do you mean?” Spike asked, holding tightly to her neck.
“Think about it. They’ve all gone nuts over you ever since that hypnosis spell was cast on Rarity. If we can just make it back to the library, I’m sure we can find a solution.”
She peered over her shoulder when she heard the thunder of the hooves grow and found that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had joined Fluttershy in the chase.
“But I don’t get it,” he said, “I only wanted Rarity to like me. How come the others are acting like this?”
“Something must have gone wrong with that spell. We need to get you away from the other ponies. I just can’t seem to shake them!”
“You get your paws off of him!”
Twilight skidded to a stop when the chase abruptly ended. Spike was thrown from her back by the impact and rolled across the ground, moaning as he held his head.
All three ponies were entangled in a rope, a lasso to be precise. Standing behind the pile of mangled ponies, Applejack smirked, a hoof resting on top of Rainbow Dash’s head.
Twilight stepped forward hesitantly. “Applejack, are you yourself?”
But the creepy smile crossing her face told her otherwise. “That there dragon is mine,” she leered.
Pinkie Pie bit the rope in half, and squeaked, “No, he’s mine!”
“Whoever gets to him first claims the prize!” Fluttershy shouted.
“Think you can keep up?” Rainbow Dash spat.
A huffing Rarity appeared from behind. “I saw him first, so he is my Spikey-Wikey!” She lifted a cape into view. “This cape will look lovely with your scales, don’t you think, my little turtle dove?”
“Hey,” Applejack said, “where’d they go?”
Twilight and Spike were gone. Not too far away, they ran as fast as they could to the library.
“There it is!” Twilight huffed.
They were approaching the door when a rope was thrown around her legs. She instantly tripped, falling to the ground and fluffing dirt into the air.
Spike stumbled into the library and turned towards her. “Twilight!”
“It’s okay,” she said, biting the rope off, “just find the book quickly, before it’s too late!”
Spike nodded and began his search.
Applejack stepped up behind her. “So, you thought you were goin’ to keep him all to yourself, did ya?”
The little dragon scanned everywhere, yet could not find the book. Finally, he spotted in beneath Twilight Sparkle’s pillow. “I got it!” he exclaimed, then he frowned. Applejack was stuffing an apple into Twilight’s mouth, Rainbow Dash was pushing clouds over to rain on her, Pinkie Pie sat on her back, a war cry ringing from her throat as she littered her mane with icing, and Fluttershy floated nearby, watching her woodland creatures peck and bite Twilight.
Rarity was dressing her in a horridly colored dress. “Take that!” she screeched. “There is no punishment worse than a bad fashion statement!”
“Have you all gone mad?”Spike growled loudly. He realized his mistake a little too late when all five ponies gasped and rushed towards him, screaming, “It’s him!”
Luckily Twilight was able to grab him and head into the library, sealing the door with a force field. “I can’t hold this up forever,” she panted. “Quick, give me the book so I can see what went wrong.” Her eyes scanned over the text. “Well, it’s no wonder…” she glared.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t give me the spell for hypnosis, you gave me the spell equivalent to a love potion!” She shoved the book in front of him. “And not only that, but it affects everyone in the room. So it wasn’t just Rarity who fell in love with you, but all five of them!”
“B-But I know I saw a hypnosis spell.”
“Yeah, on the previous page,” she said, flipping backwards. “In all of your excitement, you must have accidentally flipped the page when you were rushing down the steps to Rarity.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” he frowned. “How do we fix it?”
“Hmm, it says here that to break the spell you must present to each affected character the thing he or she loves most.”
“So, what do we do?”
She smiled. “I think I have an idea…”
Wooden beams previously barricading the windows were split apart. The splintered lumber sprinkled into the library, causing Spike to gulp. The first to arrive was Fluttershy. Her eyes were wild, accompanied by a threatening scowl.
“You are going to love me!” she screamed.
Rainbow Dash pushed her aside. “No, you’re mine!”
“I’m his first and only love!” Rarity retorted, picking the lock on the door with a bobby pin.
“I’ll make sweet treats for you!” Pinkie Pie chirped.
“Who needs tooth-decaying sweets when you can have apples?” Applejack scoffed. “Remember, an apple a day keeps the dragon away—but if the dragon is cute, forget the fruit!”
They circled closer, cornering him.
“Uh, T-Twilight? I think it’s time,” he said, teeth chattering.
Twilight hopped down, a box landing beside her. The five ponies blinked confusedly, yet continued to grow closer. Twilight smirked and pulled out a folded paper. Opening it slowly, Spike shrugged.
“How is that supposed to help—"
Rainbow Dash screamed, causing him to flinch. “Oh my gosh! Is that what I think it is?” She ripped the paper away. “A poster autographed by The Wonderbolts? No way!”
“Twilight, look out!” Spike cried.
She was way ahead of him, though, and pulled out a little baby bird, resting in its silver cage. Fluttershy gasped, gently plucking the cage from Twilight’s grasp. “Oh, my,” she said shyly. “You poor little thing. You need someone to care for you, don’t you?”
For Rarity, she simply removed the ugly dress given to her by said horse and handed it her way.
Rarity scoffed. “Twilight Sparkle! I cannot believe you would even think of being seen in such a thing!” she scolded. “You’re lucky I arrived just in time!”
Applejack’s lasso looped around her neck, and tightened with each passing second. Twilight quickly presented a golden apple, something you could only find once every decade. Her eyes widened as she cradled it softly. “There, there,” she cooed, “mommy’s got ya.”
Twilight smiled. “And that only leaves…”
Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere and jumped from the ceiling. Before she was tackled, Twilight nonchalantly held out a sugar cube. Pinkie Pie froze in midair, grabbing the cube and munching on it delightfully.
Every pony had returned to their original selves. Their murmurs floated about as they were confused on how exactly they came to be in the library.
“You did it, Twilight!” Spike whooped. “I can’t believe—Twilight?”
Her back faced him, yet he could see her begin to lightly tremble. He slowly approached, tapping her shoulder and calling her name timidly.
“Now that they are out of the way,” her voice quivered as she slowly faced him, “I can have you all to myself!” She laughed manically and crawled towards him.
He cringed, holding up a piece of paper and a quill. She froze and relaxed on the ground, lifting the items with her magic and trotting away peacefully. “You’re right, Spike. I should write a letter to Princess Celestia about our crazy day.”
Spike sighed.
The quill inked one last letter and clattered to the table. “There,” she said, holding the paper out proudly, “finally finished.”
“Thank goodness that nightmare is over,” Spike said, deflating in a nearby chair.
“You can say that again,” she laughed.
He stretched and yawned, cracking his back in the process.
She assumed he was going to sleep, yet frowned in disbelief when he said, “So now that that is over, you want to try learning that new spell?”