Spike hunched over, trying to make himself smaller. He scraped the claw on his big toe back and forth, drawing a long gouge in the floor.
Twilight slowly turned toward the dragon. Her ears were pinned back and her lips pressed into a thin line. "Spike," she said quietly.
"Yes, Twilight?"
"Care to explain yourself?"
Spike squirmed in place. Applejack was carefully looking anywhere but at her two friends, and Rainbow Dash had developed a sudden fascination in the grain on the tabletop.
"... I love you, Twilight."
"Oh, no you don't!" Twilight slammed a hoof down on the table. "You're not getting out of this that easily, mister! You write up a disaster code that makes me look bad, pass it off as mine, then go behind my back and tell all my friends about it?! I don't think so! You are GROUNDED!"
"But Twilight!"
"No buts! No friends, no helping Rarity, no gemstones after dinner, no nothing! Now go up to your basket and think about what you've done!"
Rainbow glanced over at her friend. "Um, Twilight? Fluttershy and that thing..."
"The guest room, then! I don't care! Just go!"
Spike stormed off, tears in his eyes, and disappeared down the hall. Just as he rounded the corner Twilight called out, "And no more books by H.P. Lovecraft, either!"
SLAM.
Twilight kneaded her forehead with a hoof. "I swear, that little dragon..." She sighed and shook her head.
"Shucks, Twi, it's not as bad as y'all are making it out to be."
"Yeah, Twilight. You didn't have to be so hard on the little guy. I mean, it's not like ALL of the codes are about you."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Yeah! I mean, there's that one about Discord turning evil again, or the one where Nightmare Moon returns."
"Really?" Twilight deadpanned.
"Oh, yeah. There was that one about Princess Celestia turning into the Sun Tyrant, too. That one was pretty awesome. Or about somepony getting her hooves on the Alicorn Amulet, or the one..."
Twilight waved her hoof , cutting Rainbow off. "Ok, ok, I get it." Twilight sighed. "So how many of them were about me?"
Rainbow shrugged and looked over at AJ, who looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I dunno, Twi. Let me think. Something like a third of 'em? There were a couple, but it's not like it was ALL of 'em."
Twilight snorted. "A third, huh? I'm not sure if I should be flattered there are so many or disappointed there aren't more."
"Oh, come on, Twi. Don't be like that. Everypony had at least a couple, an' you bein so magical an' all just got you a few extras. Why, RD has more than half a dozen about her crashing and getting hurt or picking fights with dragons..."
"Hey!"
"I've got some about the farm gettin' flooded or Winnona runnin' off. Heck, there was even one about Fluttershy getting lost in the Everfree forest."
Twilight smirked. "The little guy certainly covered his bases, didn't he?"
"That he did. It was all so thorough that of course we thought it was yours," Applejack said. "An' it's really helpful, too. When Spike told us what was goin' on at Fluttershy's cottage, we knew exactly what we were up against."
"All except for the fact that the code had nothing to do with what was actually happening."
"That don't mean the whole idea was bad, just that he got a little excited in the heat of the moment. He put a lot of effort into makin' this system so we could communicate right quick in case of a disaster, and now you're getting all mad at him for it."
"All right, all right. I'll talk to him about it after we get this whole thing with that... Whatever it is up there gets sorted out."
"Speaking of which..." Rainbow slid closer to Twilight and nudged her with an elbow and winked. "I should have figured you were into crazy creatures like this, Twi."
Twilight shook her head. "What are you talking about?"
"No need to hide it from us, Twi. Everyone needs a little lovin' now and then, even eggheads like you."
Twilit gaped at her friend. "What?! No! Thats disgusting! How can you even...? No, just no, Rainbow!"
"It's all right," Rainbow said grinning, wrapping her foreleg around Twilight's shoulders. "We've always known you were a little strange. No shame in letting it out."
Twilit shoved the pegasus away. "Ew! Ew, ew, ew!"
Rainbow laughed, watching her friend's face turn bright red.
"Come on, Applejack! Help me out, here! You two can't seriously think that I... That I would..."
Applejack laughed halfheartedly.
"Not you too!"
"Well, Twi, you do always have your nose in a book, and as long as you've been here I ain't never seen you ask a stallion out..."
"I've been busy!"
Rainbow chortled. "Sure you have."
Twilight glared at her friends. "I'll have you know that I saved that poor creature's life. I did NOT," she said, stomping on the ground, "summon it here to fulfill my carnal needs. Besides, I'm just as interested in stallions as you two are."
"Sure you are," giggled Rainbow.
"Rainbow..." Twilight said, her ears flat against her head and her eyes narrow.
"Ok, ok. I'll shut up. Seriously, though, how did that thing get here?"