"Oh..."
Spike groaned as he slowly came too; his entire body felt heavy and tired. Slowly but surely he managed to open his eyes.
He was still in Ponyville, which was good.
And he wasn't dead, which was also good.
Looking up from his position on the ground, he realized that a half-dozen Ponies surrounded him; all of them either looking down at him or over in one direction he could not see, all of them with a shocked expression on their faces.
Slowly and with a lot of effort, he rose to his feet; his tired muscles straining from the effort. When he finally stood up, he got a good look at what everypony had been staring at.
His house.
Well, Twilight's house.
It wasn't as damaged as Spike thought it would have been, which was weird considering that the explosion was strong enough to send him out of the house and a few feet away. The front door was completely destroyed, little more than a few shards scattered around the front of the building, every window was shattered from the force of the explosion, even a few windows in other Ponies homes were cracked, and some of the thick wooden walls of the tree house had holes blown in them.
Spike looked at the destruction and sighed, it was okay, Twilight had magic insurance in case of things like this happening. Looking back he realized that nopony was looking at the destruction at all.
They were all looking at the pink mist that was pouring from the building. It poured from ever opening in the house, some of it rolling along the ground while most rose up into the air, forming a sort of giant cloud.
Spike gulped.
A number of the Ponies had stepped forward to investigate the strange mist that spread out towards them, some of them being so brave as to smell the mist that spread around them.
"Stop!"
Everypony stopped and turned to the panicking Dragon who was stepping gingerly away from the mist.
"Don't go near the mist!" He shouted to them.
"Why?" A mint colored unicorn asked, Spike recognized that she was Lyra; the town musician.
"SPIKE!!"
Suddenly, out of the mess that used to be their house, stumbled Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn, despite being at the epicenter of and explosion, was none the worse for wear then she already was. She staggered over the ruins of her door and pointed a weak hoof at her assistant.
"Where do you think you're going, dream boat?" She grinned wildly, a crazed look in her eyes.
All of the Ponies gasped.
Spike nearly puked.
"Dream boat?" He gagged.
All of the Ponies turned back to the Dragon, staring at him with eyes demanding an explanation but everypony suddenly began to cringe, some of them clutching their heads in pain.
"Oh no..." Spike whispered again. He looked down at the mist that still reached out for him; the Ponies must have taken in enough to be affected.
One by one, the Ponies slowly stopped cringing and opened their eyes; a swirling mix of purple, pink and red replacing their usual eye color.
They were all looking at Spike.
"Oh no..." He repeated.
Lyra stopped clutching her head and opened her eyes; they too were a mess of pinks and reds.
"Hey Spike." She giggled. "I just love how your scale color contrasts your spines."
Spike stuttered, feeling the panic setting in again. "Uh...thanks?"
Other Ponies slowly stepped towards the Dragon, they too gave him compliments and praise. Spike was getting very uncomfortable under all of the Ponies half-lidded gazes.
"Lyra?"
Spike turned to the sound of the voice to see an Earth Pony standing behind him; she had light beige fur with a dual-colored mane, one part pink and the other part dark blue. Her cutiemark was three wrapped candies.
Spike instantly recognized her as Bon Bon; one of the rival candy makers in Ponyville to Pinkie Pie and Lyra's marefriend.
"What's going on here?"
Oh dear.
"Lyra, what are you doing at the library? What's that mist?" She asked her marefriend.
Lyra ignored her and kept moving towards the Dragon; the fires of love in her, and all of the other Ponies, eyes.
"Lyra?" Bon Bon pushed past the Dragon to in front of the unicorn.
"Get out of my way, the love of my life is right there!" She growled, pointing in the direction of Bon Bon, who blushed.
"Awww!" She cooed. "That's so sweet of you."
"Move!" She yelled at the Pony, shoving her away and pointing at the cowering Dragon. "He's the love of my life!" Multiple Ponies shouted the same thing in agreement.
"ME?!" Spike yelled.
"HIM?!" Bon Bon shouted unbelievably at her marefriend, more confused than angry.
Before they could say anything else, the ponies behind Lyra were suddenly lifted into the air and tossed aside into a big pile. Twilight stood behind all of them; her horn glowing brightly and her eyes burning with jealous rage.
"Is it just me or does she look angry?" Bon Bon whispered to Spike.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" Twilight growled at the other unicorn as she approached.
"I'm spending time with my schmopy-doo." Lyra replied calmly.
"Schmopy-doo?" Spike gagged again.
"But...but I'm your schmopy-doo." Bon Bon despaired.
"No, He's mine!" Twilight shouted at the musician.
"No, mine!" Lyra shouted back.
The two faced each other; their horns glowing dangerously and emitting sparks as their eyes glared daggers at the other.
Bon Bon watched the scene unfold with mixed anger and curiosity. She slowly turned her attention to Spike, who was also watching the scene.
"What did you do?!" She whispered demandingly.
Spike chuckled sheepishly. "Well, I may have made a love potion but this!" He pointed a claw at the group of enamoured mares and colts creeping towards him. "This is not my fault!"
"Really?" Bon Bon snarked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
"Yes! I-Ah!"
Spike was suddenly plucked from the ground and pulled through the air to Lyra, who hugged him tightly.
"Be with me, Spike!" She insisted. "Together we'll make beautiful music!"
A swift rabbit punch from Twilight sent Lyra flying back, dropping Spike in the process, who was just scooped up again by his not-sister.
"Be with me Spike! We fit together like the sticky ends of recombinant DNA."
"Uh..." Spike did not know how to reply to that.
Before Twilight could recite another pick up line from 1000 scientific dating lines and more, she too was sent flying back, this time by an irritated Bon Bon who picked up Spike, put him on her back and ran off.
"Where are we going?" Spike clung to her mane in fear, looking back at the group and the expanding cloud.
"Anywhere other than there!" Was all she replied.
Back behind them, Twilinght and Lyra were slowly getting to their hooves.
"Look!" Lyra pointed at the Earth Pony and Dragon, racing off into the distance. "That Pony's trying to take Spike for herself!"
"That will not stand!" Twilight shouted teleporting to her hooves instead of just standing up. She pointed a hoof at the group of Ponies. "We must destroy the pony that stands in the way of our love!"
The other Ponies cheered at this, running off after Bon Bon. Lyra and Twilight hung back.
Lyra giggled. "Nothing will stop us from getting Spike back!" She too then ran after the duo. When she was out of earshot of the other unicorn, Twilight let out a bout of insane cackling.
"Wrong, unicorn. Soon, Spike will be all mine!" She muttered under her breath before teleporting after the group.
Little did she know that the musician was muttering the exact same thing about her.
***
"I...think..we lost...them." Bon Bon panted, dropping behind one of the buildings of Ponyville to hide and rest, Spike dropped off her back and sat beside her.
"This is all my fault." He sighed, now everypony in Ponyville was going to be affected by the love potion and who knows what was going to happen.
Well, he did know but he really didn't want to think about it.
There was an old stone well near them, Spike stepped towards the well and leaned against it.
"What am I going to do?"
"Wow, You're the most popular guy in Ponyville now Spike!"
Spike shrieked, jumping away in shock from the voice. Pinkie Pie; party Pony extraordinaire and all around strange Pony somehow stood beside him, she looked completely fine save for a strange mask that hung around her neck.
She giggled in her always cheerful way. "Sorry if I scared you Spike." She turned to the other Pony present. "And sorry to you too, Bon Bon."
Bon Bon was against the wall of the building clutching her heart and breathing heavily.
"Pinkie..." Spike slowly composed himself again. "How did you find us?"
Pinkie took a moment to look around at their surroundings, thought for a moment and shrugged.
"No idea, but that's not important."
She plopped a party hat of the small Dragon. "We need to celebrate your newfound popularity!" She blew on a party horn that, like the pink Pony, had come out of nowhere.
Spike swatted it away. "Pinkie this is serious!"
"We need to get everypony that's not under the spell out of town!" Bon Bon added.
"Ohhhhhhh! Serious story then." Pinkie mumbled before smiling again. "Don't worry, I'll help!"
"Pinkie...What are you wearing around your neck?" Bon Bon asked, pointing to the strange mask that hung on her neck.
"Oh! This is my emergency breathing mask!" She grabbed the mask and positioned it on her face with a snap; it was a simple gas mask, with one respirator and two large black eye windows that kept the Ponies eyes from being visible.
"I have them stashed around Ponyville for love mist outbreaks!" She reached behind her back and gave them two identical gas masks.
"Of course you do." Was all Spike could respond with while Bon Bon just stared at the Pony as if she grew a second head. They both took a mask and strapped them on.
"...Huuuuhh......Huuuuhh.....Huuuuhh...Huuuuhh..." Pinkie breathed deeply, making it hearable and raised a hoof towards Spike.
"Spike, I am your babysitter." She spoke in an uncharacteristically low voice before breaking into high pitch giggles.
"Did you get that reference?" She laughed, her laughter muffled by the mask. "Did you? Did you?"
"Oh yeah, totally." He replied with sarcasm.
"Hey." Bon Bon pointed at Spike's hand. "What's that?"
Spike looked down and to his great surprise, saw that he was still holding the love potion in his claws.
"The potion!" He cried, holding the bottle up. "If I can get this to Rarity, I can still-"
He was cut short when a gust of air blew the bottle out of his open hand and into the well. Pinkie, Bon Bon, and Spike peered into the well, it was to' dark to see but they could very clearly hear the cracking of a breaking bottle and the splashing of water.
"Well there goes plan Z." Spike mumbled.
"And we're back to comedy."
Pinkie jumped up and pointed in a general direction, as cheerful as ever. "Well, looks like it's like to go to Sweet Apple Acres!"
"The home of the Apple family? Why would we need to go there?" Bon Bon asked confusedly.
"Because." Pinkie explained. "That well and all of the wells in Ponyville connect to the water system the Apples use for their crops."