“Well, in all fairness, tonight has still gone quite a bit better than I had expected it to,” Rarity said as she sat at a table and watched Spike pike his head out the ballroom doors into the void beyond. Upon hearing this, Spike promptly pulled his back with a look of concern.
“Are you serious? How bad did you think tonight was going to go?” Spike asked, mentally calculating how many impending diplomatic fiascos Rarity may have had prior knowledge of.
“Considering I arrived fully expecting to hear how you had fallen out of love with me, fairly badly,” Rarity replied before letting out a dreamy sigh. “After hearing you tell me you love me, I don’t think there’s anything even Discord could do to ruin this night.” No sooner did those words leave Rarity’s lips, however, than a look of sudden horror fell over her features as she realized that she may have a certain, mishappen eavesdropper. “That statement was not meant to be a challenge!”
“Why would you have thought…wait, was this one of those things where everypony could have avoided a whole lot of stress by just listening to Applejack?” Spike asked.
“Maybe?” Rarity said, her face flushing with embarrassment, before quickly changing the topic. “You know, I was thinking there’s something rather familiar about the décor in this room, but I can’t quite put my hoof on where I might have seen it before. Do you happen to recall who was responsible for the decorating here?”
“Actually, I was the one who directed everything in here, but the design itself kind of came from you,” Spike admitted. “I tried to have everything match up with how you decorated Ponyville Town Hall for the Summer Sun Celebration when Twilight and I first arrived. It’s supposed to be a tribute to when we first met. I know it’s kind of cheesy, but—” Spike abruptly found himself enveloped in a light blue aura as Rarity levitated him into an embrace.
“Oh, Spikey-wikey, that’s the most romantic thing anypony has ever done for me,” Rarity said. “I cannot believe you actually remembered how I was decorating back then.”
“It was one of those moments that I’ll never forget,” Spike said. As Spike moved in for a kiss, however, he was interrupted by the sound of somepony knocking on the door to the ballroom. “Oh, come on, really?”
“Don’t worry, we can always pick up where we left off later tonight,” Rarity consoled him. “In fact, I can assure you that I plan to do exactly that.” The tone Rarity used contained implications of what was to come that left Spike practically floating as he moved over to the door and opened it to reveal a grinning spirit of chaos.
“Hello, I do hope that I’m not interrupting anything,” Discord said, earning murderous glares from both Spike and Rarity.
“Discord…” Spike growled through tightly clenched teen. “Where are we and where is the rest of the castle?”
“Well, the rest of the castle is still in Canterlot. I certainly wasn’t going to do something to the entire castle, not after promising Fluttershy that I wouldn’t ruin any of Twilight’s little summits,” Discord replied as if offended by the insinuation. “As for where we are right now, why, we’re in the ballroom you had set aside for your romantic declaration to the fair Rarity. I figured that part would be obvious, but I understand romance does tend to make creatures a little softheaded sometimes. Congratulations to you both, by the way. I’ll admit part of me is a little disappointed there weren’t more wacky misunderstandings, but I can always find entertainment elsewhere.”
“I’m so relieved you’re able to keep yourself amused,” Rarity said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind, could you please explain that!” As Rarity spoke, she pointed a hoof at the expanse of nothingness behind Discord.
“Oh, that? That’s nothing,” Discord replied dismissively, as if stating the painfully obvious.
Spike opened his mouth to object, only to silently close it again as he realized that Discord was technically correct, and that arguing the point would accomplish nothing (beyond providing Discord with a bit of entertainment). “Okay, we can see that it’s nothing. But, why is it nothing and not the rest of the castle?”
“Fine, if you’re going to take all the fun out of this, I moved the ballroom here so you and Rarity could have a bit of alone time while working out your whole…romance thing. I had assumed the two of you weren’t going to want to be bothered by any nosy diplomats or crystal mares or what have you.”
“That…actually, that was pretty considerate of you,” Spike admitted, albeit a tad reluctantly. “Now, could you please put the ballroom back where it’s supposed to go?”
“Ah, yes, about that. Well, I certainly would do that, but I’ve run into this one little, teeny tiny issue there…”
*********
“So, Discord did something to the ballroom Spike set up for his thing with Rarity, and now he can’t figure out how to undo it?” Thorax asked as he, Pharynx and Moonwhisper stood in front of what should have been the doors to the ballroom in question. “I’m not sure I understand, though, what exactly did Discord do to the ballroom?”
“See for yourself,” Moonwhisper grumbled as he threw open the doors. Beyond the doorway, instead of what should have been a small ballroom, there was only an iridescent haze, a sort of melding of a thick fog and the opaque sheen of a soap bubble.
“I don’t see what the big deal is, it looks like Discord just filled the place with sparkly clouds. But, if a bunch of fog is too scary for you ponies, then I’ll deal with this,” Pharynx said as he approached the doorway and pushed his head into the mist.
“Pharynx, wait, I don’t think that’s a very – oh, he never listens to me,” Thorax grumbled.
“Well, maybe if you ever said anything quick enough I might.” Thorax and Moonwhisper spun around to see Pharynx’s head seeming emerging from the wall directly opposite the doorway. “I guess I do have to admit, this is kind of weird,” Pharynx said as he watched himself shift his weight on his hooves. After another moment of two, Pharynx’s head retreated back into the wall as he pulled back from the doorway. Moonwhisper, meanwhile, approached the wall where Pharynx’s head had emerged and gave it a few cautious taps with his hoof before letting out an irritated snort.
“It’s some sort of one-way portal, which probably shouldn’t be possible, but that’s par for the course for Discord,” Moonwhisper said before letting out a deep sigh. “Of course Discord would cause an issue he can’t snap away during Twilight’s summit. I’d really prefer to avoid disrupting everything, especially with the centaurs here. Alright, for now I’ll have the hallway cordoned off and call it a maintenance issue. Then, if Discord hasn’t figured out a solution to this whole mess by the end of the summit I’ll ask Twilight to take a look and see what she can come up with.”
“So, you’re just going to leave Spike and Rarity in…wherever it is they are?” Thorax cried out.
“No, I’m going to have Discord work to fix the mess he mand until he either succeeds or somepony who has a vague idea as to what they’re doing can look at this. And, as there only five or so ponies in Equestria who even might meet that last criterion, only of whom is in Canterlot at the moment, we are somewhat at the mercy of said pony’s schedule. So, unless you happen to know of somepony else with a working knowledge of transdimensional magic who happens to be in Canterlot…” Thorax thought for a moment before shaking his head. “In which case we’re going to wait for Twilight to take care of her responsibilities to the rest of Equestria. Who know, in the meantime Discord might actually fix this on his own. It’s not as though he has anything else to worry about at the moment.”
*********
“WHEN I GET MY HOOVES ON YOU I’M GOING TO WRING YOUR MISERABLE NECK!”
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rarity that angry about anything before,” Spike remarked mildly as he hovered in the air next to Discord, who was clinging to the ceiling for dear life. “Not even the time that critic from Manehatten called her dresses ‘gaudy dress-up costume pieces’.”
“Well, I’m glad that at least you don’t seem to be all that upset,” Discord said.
“Oh, I’m absolutely furious,” Spike replied mildly. “I just think Rarity’s angry enough for the both of us right now.”
“Spike, darling, would you be a dear and try prying Discord off the ceiling so I can throttle him?” Rarity asked sweetly, complete with a flutter of her eyelashes.
“Now hold on just a moment, I can understand that you’re both a touch peeved with me at the moment –”
“You’ve trapped the two of us in another dimension!” Rarity snapped.
“And I can understand why that might make you a wee bet testy. But, I just want to remind you that I’m the only one who can fix this whole debacle,” Discord said.
“Twilight,” came Rarity’s immediate reply.
“Actually, Rarity, I hate to admit it, but Discord does kind of have a point here. Twilight might be able to fix this, but she’s going to be tied up with the summit for Celestia knows how long,” Spike said. Rarity wordlessly opened and closed her mouth several times as she tried to think up a good argument to this before finally giving up and pouting in frustration.
“If its any consolation, you two do make an adorable couple,” Discord said, earning him glares from both Spike and Rarity. “Hmph, some creatures just can’t take a compliment. Anyway, if that’s how you’re going to be then I’ll just go to work someplace else and leave you to whatever romance you plan on getting up to, meeting each other’s parents and whatnot.” Discord made a gagging sound as he vanished from sight, leaving Spike and Rarity along with a pair of sudden, horrifying realizations.
“We’re going to have to talk to Twilight about this,” Spike groaned.
“I’m going to have to actually introduce you to my parents,” Rarity shivered before giving Spike a quizzical look. “What’s going to be so dreadful about telling Twilight about us? I have to imagine she’s known about your feelings for me for quite some time, and it won’t be as though she has any reason to find me objectionable.”
“Yeah, it’s just…well, you know how Twilight tends to get about things, especially things she doesn’t expect. And I’m pretty sure Twilight never really expected us to…actually be an ‘us’,” Spike said.
“Oh dear Celestia, you’re absolutely right, Twilight’s liable to go on a full Twilighting spree when she hears about us. Well, I imagine we should probably tell her as soon as possible. If I recall correctly, Twilight didn’t react particularly well to being surprised by Shining Armor’s surprise wedding invitation, and I doubt she’d handle the news about our relationship any better.” Rarity scrunched up her face in distaste. “And after that I’ll have the pleasure of telling my parents as well.” This time it was Spike’s turn to react with confusion.
“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned introducing me to your parents. I’m not sure I understand, what would be the big deal, I don’t think I’ve ever really talked to your parents but they seem nice enough,” Spike said.
“Oh, they are, and I’m certain they’ll absolutely adore you. It’s just they can be a bit…how do I put this delicately? I suspect we can look forward to a number of thinly veiled questions about when we can expect to get married and how many grandfoals they can look forward to. At least father’s questions will be thinly veiled, I imagine mother will likely just come out and ask us,” Rarity muttered.
“Married? Grandfoals? Um, isn’t it a little early for – I mean, we only just – I hadn’t even –” Hearing Rarity’s concerns regarding her parents had left Spike in a babbling stupor as his mind tried to process the potential implications and failed miserably.
Rarity let out a sigh at Spike’s sudden discombobulation “Spike, darling, I understand things are moving a touch fast at the moment, and it is a bit early to be worrying about starting a family. Perhaps for the moment we should focus on seeing if there’s anything we could possibly do to get out of this room.”
“Uh, right,” Spike said as he shook himself to try and clear his mind. “I’m not really sure there’s all that much that we could do, though. This sort of thing’s really more what Twilight’s good at dealing with. At least as long as she doesn’t have a meltdown dealing with Discord, anyway.”
“And as much as I know about fabric, the fabric of space-time is a bit outside my area of expertise as well,” Rarity admitted as she trotted over to Spike and sat down. “I suppose there isn’t much we can do other than wait for our friends to get us out of here, then. Still, at least we have each other. And time to think of how we’re going to tell our families about all this.”