Spike staggered a little when his teleportation spell took effect. "Woo..." He held his head to stop the spinning. "Mom wasn't kidding when she said the first jump's a tilt-w-whirl." Still looking a little off-balance, he turned to Twilight. "How far did I go?"
No answer.
"Twilight?" A closer look showed she was staring off into space, like she was deep in thought. Her cheeks taking on a pink tint, the same tinge you get from being outside on a cold day. "Twi?" He gently poked her.
"YAH!" She squealed, bolting upright in shock. "Huh!? Wha!?"
"You ok? You were zoning out." He leaned in a little.
Her face turned neon red and she quickly waved her hands in a defensive/dismissive way. "No! No! I'm fine! Hehe, j-just thinking about, ah...ah-a-about what Princess Celestia'll teaching us next after we get this down! That's it!" She laughed anxiously, mentally praying that he couldn't see her sweat. 'Dang it, Mom! WHY did you have to take that photo!?'
"You sure? You're turning red; really red." She squeaked when he gently pressed his hand on her cheek and forehead. "Whoa! Twi, you're burning up!"
"Ahh...ahh..." That proved to be a bit more than what the poor filly could handle right then. "WAZZAFA!" With an incoherent squawk, her eyes rolled back, then she topped over in a dead faint.
"Twilight!? Mom!" Spike yelled, scooping up the insensate unicorn and running out of the room. "Twilight's sick!"
"Wakey, wakey." A familiar voice singsonged as Twilight woke up a short while later, in a bed in the palace infirmity.
Rubbing her eyes to clear the blurriness, she spotted a familiar pink alicorn beside her, flipping through a comic. "Cadance...?" She said, sitting up. "What happened?"
"You fainted when a certain prince was getting...'hands on'" Cadance chuckled. "He ran straight to the medical wing carrying you, thinking you had come down with something."
"Carried...?" Twilight's eyes widened at that bit of info.
"Good news is, you haven't caught any illnesses. Of course..." Cadance's smile went into 'mischief mode' as she held up a familiar photo. "That's not to say there's evidence you haven't caught a certain 'bug'."
"Where'd you get that!" She squawked, lunging to try and get it away from her. Unfortunately, Cadance was quicker and she danced out of range. "Give it! What if Spike-eep!" She promptly clammed up.
"Heh, you may be good at magic, but you still need work at secrets, kiddo." Cadance looked at the photo. "Aw, you two look adorable together. Latched onto him like he's a big purple teddy bear."
"Cadance...!" Twilight whined.
Seeing the pleading look on the face of the filly she used to babysit, Cadance decided to show a little mercy. "Come on, Twily. You know I'm just poking at you." She put the photo back on her purse. "Why are you so worried about him seeing it? He was awake when your parents arrived."
"It's just...I don't know..." Twilight's hands flopped on the bed helplessly. "I'm not really sure what's going on. I-I should be too young to be feeling something like this, but..." Her cheeks pinked. "I can't help but feel those butterflies more and more when he's nearby..."
As she said this, deep within the recesses of Cadance's mind, past the picture of Shining Armor, beyond the bust of Blueblood, wearing clown makeup and a dayglow wig, there sat a special screen. A screen showing Twilight's picture and an empty frame, with a bright pink 'X' setting between them. And in the empty frame, an image was rapidly drawing itself in.
"Twilight!" The room door swung open, revealing Spike, who looked like he just ran from the other side of the palace. "The *huff* doctor said you *pant pant* you woke up, but you weren't sick with anything! *huff* You sure you're all right?" He swallowed to try and catch his breath and rushed over. "Mom said something about how you just got bit by some kind of bug, but I don't know any that can make a pony pass out! Oh, H-hey, Candance." He said, finally spotting her.
"Spike." Her grin widened the more she watched her cousin fret over his friend, who was trying to assure him she was ok, despite the way her face once again looked like a cherry.
And back on the screen, the second image formed, along with two words:
TwiSpike: CONFIRMED'