“Now, this book was hoof-written by Princess Luna herself before she was banished to the Moon; it contained the movements of the stars for the next thousand years!” Spike chuckled. “Of course, now that she’s back, it’s out of date, though Twilight told me that Luna asked for her help figuring them out for the next thousand years.”
“That’s a thousand years old?” Sweetie Belle stared at the lonely blue book on a long, empty shelf. “It doesn’t look that old.”
“That’s because it was protected with magic. It actually was sitting out in the Everfree Forest for the last thousand years getting rained on.” Spike waved his claw at the book. “You could probably throw it in the ocean and it wouldn’t smudge.”
“That’s so cool!”
“It’s nothing, really. All the Princess’s books are protected like that. Water, lightning, evil magic…” Spike said, counting off on his claws. “Pretty much everything but fire.”
“Wow! You know, I wasn’t expecting this to be so interesting.”
“Heh, you make it sound like you thought it was going to be boring.”
Sweetie Belle rubbed her mane. “Well, I only asked you to show me around the library so we’d have something to talk about. I didn’t think you could make them, you know, exciting.”
“Oh. Uh… thanks? I think?”
“The way you talk about them, it sounds like you’ve read all of them!” Sweetie Belle said, smiling.
Spike shuffled awkwardly. “Well, I haven’t read all of them. I’m expected to know what books Twilight needs before she does. Part of my job as her assistant. I’ve looked at some of the others once or twice, but a lot of that is just Twilight rubbing off on me.”
“Oh. Well, you still seem to know a lot!” Sweetie Belle beamed at the dragon for a moment before blinking. “Wait. If you’re only a year younger than us, why do you spend all your time working? Why don’t you go to school with us?”
“Twilight teaches me. And Princess Celestia, sometimes, when I visit her in Canterlot.”
“Do you help her too?” Sweetie Belle asked, her face inches from the dragon’s.
Spike turned his head to reply, starting at the sight of her face so close to his. He stepped away from Sweetie Belle a little too quickly, the filly stumbling as her support abruptly vanished. “Nah. I’m Twilight’s assistant. She has ponies to do that stuff for her. We just hang out.”
Sweetie Belle straightened up, shaking her head and pouting for a moment before quickly adopting another smile. “I didn’t know you were friends with Princess Celestia!”
“Yeah. It’s no big deal.” He shrugged. “I mean, I used to spend time with her all the time.” Spike tapped his claw to his chin as he began to walk down the aisle. “Come to think of it, the only time I haven’t really seen a princess every day was when me and Twilight came to Ponyville. Though, heh, she’s a princess now, too.”
“Do you think you could teach me how to be an assistant?”
Spike stopped in his tracks. “What? What brought that up?”
“Er, nothing,” Sweetie Belle said, quickly trotting up next to him. “I just thought, you know, since you’re such a good assistant, maybe we could spend some time together and, uh, you know…”
“No way,” Spike said, waving his hands at Sweetie Belle. “Twilight already has two assistants.”
Sweetie Belle’s ears fell as she looked down at the floor. “Oh.”
Spike watched the filly for a moment before sighing. “Why do you want to be Twilight’s assistant, anyways? I mean, I get that you want to learn magic, but…”
“I don’t want to help Twilight, I just want to help my big sister.” She shifted on her hooves. “Plus, I…”
“You…?” Spike tilted his head.
“Uhm, nothing.”
“Well, I don’t know what I can teach you that you don’t already know. Rarity tells me that you help her all the time.”
“She’s just being nice,” Sweetie Belle said glumly, poking at the floor with her hoof. “She always says I’m such a big help, but she doesn’t really mean it.”
“Well, why are you asking me?”
“You help her all the time! She likes it when you help her!”
“Well, of course she does!” Spike straightened up to his full height, before deflating slightly at Sweetie Belle’s expression. “But, uh, that doesn’t mean you can’t help, too.”
“But she won’t let me help!” Sweetie Belle bounded to her feet, turning her head to the side and sweeping back her mane with her hoof. “It is always, ‘Thanks, Sweetie Belle,’ or ‘Could you grab me the crimson fabric, Sweetie Belle?’ and then I grab the red one instead and she had to do it herself anyway.”
“It happens.” Spike shrugged. “I mess up and grab the wrong stuff too, sometimes. I could lend you the book we have on—er, I mean, I could see if Celestia could send us the book on colors I read to get them straight.” He chuckled a little. “Did you know that there are over fifty different shades of—”
Sweetie Belle stomped her hoof on the translucent floor. “I’ve tried reading one! It didn’t help either!”
“Well, uh… have you just tried asking?”
“But she hates being interrupted!”
Spike scratched his head. “Well, then don’t ask when she doesn’t need help.”
“But I want to help! She always likes your help!” Sweetie Belle rose up on her hind hooves, swaying as she spoke in a high-pitched falsetto voice. “She’s always like, ‘Oh, Spike helped me dig up these lovely gems.’”
“She does?” Spike leaned forward eagerly. “What else does she say about me?”
Sweetie Belle’s ears drooped. “Oh, stuff,” she said, falling back to all fours.
Spike’s expression fell and the small dragon shuffled his feet before putting a clawed hand on the filly’s shoulder. “Maybe next time I go over and help Rarity, you can come along and see what I do?”
“You’d do that?”
“Sure. I mean, what are friends for, right?” Spike smiled.
“I’m your friend?”
Spike blinked, rubbing at his spines with his claws. “Well, yeah. What else would we be?”
Sweetie Belle turned her face away from the dragon. “Uhhhh… hey, look, there’s Apple Bloom!” The filly took off like a shot, galloping over to her friend. “Hi! Did you bring some cocoa?”
“Uh, I couldn’t find the mix. But I found something even better!” Apple Bloom turned her head, reaching back before offering up a red bow attached to a slender stalk of greenery, white berries gleaming between the leaves.
Sweetie Belle gasped. “Where did you get that? Did you take it from over the door? Oh no, we’re going to get in so much trouble.”
“Relax. I found it in the kitchen. Somepony must’ve forgotten it there after they were done with the decoratin’.”
“Oh. Sorry.” Sweetie Belle sat back on her tail, rubbing at her mane with her hoof.
“Nah, it’s alright.” Apple Bloom grinned. “Ya know what this means, don’tcha?”
Sweetie Belle blinked, looking down at the mistletoe, then over at Spike, her cheeks flushing.
“So, think he’s ready to kiss you yet?” Apple Bloom asked, smirking.
“Uh… we didn’t really, you know…” Sweetie Belle tapped her hooves together.
Apple Bloom sighed. “Ya didn’t tell him ya liked him, did ya?”
“I didn’t have a chance!”
“You’re tellin’ me that I spent fifteen minutes hidin’ in the kitchen searching for cocoa and y’all didn’t say a word ’bout how you felt ’bout each other?”
“Well…” Sweetie Belle shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, “we talked about the books, then about Twilight and Rarity, and he offered to help me the next time my sister needed help because he’s my friend. At least, he thinks he’s my friend?”
Apple Bloom throw her hoof over her face, the mistletoe falling to the floor. “That was yer chance! You shoulda just told him!”
“Er, oops?”
Apple Bloom sighed loudly. “It’s fine. Seems we’re gonna need this after all,” she said as she bent down to retrieve the sprig. “Mnn,” she began, before spitting the mistletoe back out into her hoof. “Now, I need you to go over and distract him while I sneak up behind him with this here mistletoe.”
Sweetie Belle rubbed her hoof against her shoulder. “I don’t know. Does it count if you’re just holding it over their head?”
“Of course it counts! Now, once I get the mistletoe in place, I want’cha to kiss him. Then he’ll know you want him to be your very special somepony!” Apple Bloom paused. “Or, somedragon. Whatever!”
“But when I kissed him before, he just fell over! What if he falls down again?”
Apple Bloom grinned. “Then I guess you’ll just have to catch him, won’tcha?”
“I dunno…”
“C’mon. You ain’t chicken, are ya?”
“Do I look like Scootaloo?”
“So what’s the problem? Go on, act casual.” Apple Bloom pushed her friend over towards Spike before ducking behind one of the bookshelves, her yellow coat taking on a ruddy cast behind the crystal.
“Uh, hey, Spike,” Sweetie Belle said awkwardly as she slowly walked back over towards the dragon.
“Uh, hey. What’s up with Apple Bloom?”
“Oh, she just found something she wanted to read.”
Spike glanced over at Apple Bloom, who was studiously examining the empty shelves. “Uh huh.”
“So, uh, want to sit here together with our backs turned to Apple Bloom and talk more about these books?”
The sound of Apple Bloom’s hoof smacking into her own face echoed throughout the library.
“You mean the one book?” Spike waved his claw at the lonely tome.
“Uh... maybe we could read it?”
Spike looked over at Apple Bloom again suspiciously, narrowing his eyes, before turning back to Sweetie Belle and smiling. “Or… maybe I could show you my comic collection! I put it down here instead of up in my room so it wouldn’t seem so empty. Come on, they’re over here.” Spike began backing away from the filly, beckoning her to follow with his hands.
“Uhm, alright,” Sweetie Belle said, her eyes flicking over to Apple Bloom as the other filly began to skulk between the shelves towards their destination.
“She does realize that we can see her through the bookcases, right?”
Sweetie Belle sighed.
“So what’s up with her, anyway?” Spike asked as he made a right-hand turn to walk between the shelves. “Is she like, trying to spy on us or something?”
“So what were those books you wanted to show me?” Sweetie Belle asked loudly, tearing her eyes away from the progress of her friend across the room.
Spike chuckled. “They’re more magazines, really. Never really figured out why they call them comic books, really.” He set his hand on the empty shelves, idly trailing his claws over the crystalline furnishing as he walked towards the end of the row where the colorful works filled half a shelf.
“Oh.”
Spike stopped. “You don’t like comics?”
“Uh, well… Apple Bloom has these comics she really likes, and she keeps trying to get me and Scootaloo to read them, but…”
“Don’t like them, huh?”
“Yeah. I mean, the ideas are kind of cool, but… I dunno, it was just boring.”
“Hey!” Apple Bloom shouted, stealth forgotten as she trotted out from between the bookshelves.
Sweetie Belle recoiled, ears falling. “Oh, hey, Apple Bloom.”
“Don’t hey me! You told me you just didn’t have time to read ’em. Why didn’t ya tell me you didn’t like ‘em?”
“I just… you know…” Sweetie Belle poked at her faint reflection in the floor with her hoof.
“You coulda just told me.”
“I know. But you were so excited! I didn’t want to disappoint you.” Sweetie Belle turned away.
“So uh, what comics were these, exactly?”
“My Power Ponies comics,” Apple Bloom said, turning towards Spike.
“But I’m sure yours will be way more interesting!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “What were they called?”
“Uh…” Spike stuck his thumb towards the colorful comics. “Power Ponies?”
Apple Bloom stepped in front of Sweetie Belle. “So what’s your favorite arc?”
“Oh, that’s easy. When the Maneiac steals the Electro-Orb from the Maretropolis Museum and the Power Ponies all get captured and I-er, I mean Hum-Drum saves them!”
“Really? I don’t remember that happenin’.”
“Oh. Er, well… it was a, uhm… limited edition.”
Apple Bloom’s ears drooped. “I’m guessin’ you don’t have a copy anymore, do ya?”
“Nah. Twilight set it on fire after we finished reading it.”
“She what?”
“What was your favorite arc?” Spike said quickly. “I bet it was the one where we got to see why Mistress Marevelous made all her stuff, her being your favorite character and all.”
“How’d you know that?”
Spike paused for a moment. “Lucky guess?”
“Actually, Mistress Marevelous is my favorite character, but I found that bit a bit uh, what’s the word? Lazy? I mean, I get that tragic backstories an’ all, but settin’ her whole life on edge on account of her parents’ passin’ is a bit much. I liked her more when she just, you know, did it and didn’t let it bother her none.”
“Oh, right.”
“Actually, my favorite bit was when Fili-Second ate every hayburger in Maretropolis to stop anypony from eatin’ the Gluemaker’s poison, then had to burn it all off.”
“Oh, yeah, that was hilarious! Do you remember the look on Gluemaker’s face when she couldn’t fit into her uniform anymore?”
Sweetie Belle’s ears sank lower and lower as Spike gesticulated wildly and Apple Bloom laughed and grinned. Biting her lip, she stepped between them. “Will you excuse us for a second?”
“Uh, okay,” Spike said, blinking and taking a step back as Sweetie Belle pulled Apple Bloom over between the bookshelves.
“I thought you were supposed to be helping!” Sweetie Belle hissed once they got halfway down the row.
“I was helpin’. Butterin’ him up is important, don’tcha think?”
“But I don’t know anything about those books!”
Apple Bloom blinked twice before smirking. “You’re jealous, ain’tcha?”
“I’m not jealous!” Sweetie Belle half-shouted, hopping forward.
“Alright, alright.” Apple Bloom waved her friend down. “Don’t worry. Just ‘cause we like the same books don’t mean we’re sweet on each other.”
“I’m not jealous,” Sweetie Belle muttered, turning away.
Apple Bloom stepped up next to her friend, casting a hoof around her shoulders. “And to think, not five minutes ago you were worried ’bout me danglin’ this mistletoe over his head. Now you just can’t wait, can ya?”
Sweetie Belle blushed.
“Aw. Well, why don’t you go over and distract Spike for a bit so I can sneak up on him?”
“Alright.” Sweetie Belle set off slowly back towards the dragon, glancing back over her shoulder at her friend, who shot a smile at her before waving her on.
“Er, hey, Spike.”
Spike blinked, glancing over at Sweetie Belle before folding up his comic and setting it back on the shelf. “What’s with you two today?”
“What do you mean?”
Spike glanced over at Apple Bloom, who smiled innocently at him around the bookshelf.
“Private conversations, running off all the time… do you just not want to hang out with me?” Spike rubbed the back of his head. “I mean, it’s okay if you don’t, but—”
“We want to hang out with you!” Sweetie Belle said quickly, pressing up against Spike’s side. “We just uh… were planning a surprise!”
“A surprise, huh?” Spike narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Apple Bloom isn’t going to sneak up behind me and yank my tail or something, is she?”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No! This is the good kind of surprise. But Apple Bloom can’t go get it for you if you’re watching.”
“Uh huh. Well, alright then. I guess we can go over and look at the wall over there for a few minutes.” Spike gestured vaguely towards the far end of the aisle.
“Yeah! You uh, go do that. And I’ll come with you, to keep you company.” Sweetie Belle smiled innocently, turning back towards Apple Bloom and beckoning her forward before she trotted forward to walk alongside Spike.
“Leg’s feeling better, huh?”
“Huh? Why would my leg hurt?” Sweetie Belle stopped, looking down at her legs for a few seconds before she winced. “Uh, ow?”
Spike snickered. “Ow, huh?”
Sweetie Belle’s cheeks flushed as she ran a few steps ahead of the dragon. “Uh, I mean, yeah, it’s feeling better.”
“Why’d you even do that, anyway?”
“Uhm, well…” Sweetie Belle fixed her eyes on the passing bookcases.
“Lemme guess: it was part of the surprise?”
“Well… it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I just told you, would it?”
“Nope. But it can’t be a present; if it was, you could have just wrapped it and put it under the tree.”
“Uhm… maybe it is a present, but just the kind that doesn’t go under the tree?” Sweetie Belle said as they reached their destination, the pair facing the crystalline bookcase at the end of the aisle way. She glanced back over her shoulder at Apple Bloom, the other filly creeping between the shelves with the mistletoe grasped firmly in her mouth.
“Well, that’s easy then. Cadance used to give those to Shining Armor all the ti—” Spike’s eyes widened as he looked first at the bookcase, then at Sweetie Belle, staking a step back.
“What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked, blinking as she turned to look from the dragon into the crystalline furnishing, where her reflection stared back at her. “I don’t see... uh oh.”
Spike whirled around to face Apple Bloom, the filly quickly spitting out the mistletoe into her hoof and pushing it back into her mane behind her bow. “Hey, Spike,” she said innocently.
Spike glanced from Apple Bloom to Sweetie Belle, his cheeks flaming.
“I uh… think I hear Twilight calling,” Spike said, retreating from the two fillies, hands fidgeting in front of his chest.
Apple Bloom strode forward insistently. “C’mon, Spike, it’s just one kiss!”
“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle stomped her hoof, her face as red as her friend’s bow.
“No, I really mean it. I mean, you know, with all the guests here, she probably needs the help of her number one assistant, right?” He took another step backwards, then another, glancing back over his shoulder towards the door.
“That’s funny. I don’t hear a thing.” Apple Bloom began to grin, a predatory gleam in her eye as she reached back to grab the mistletoe once more.
“I don’t know about this…” Sweetie Belle shifted awkwardly.
“Come on, Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom said muffledly around the sprig as she began to trot forward, Spike wheeling on his heel as he fled from the two fillies.
“Help!” he cried out as he reached the doors to the main hall, reaching up to yank on the iridescent handles. “You locked them?”
Apple Bloom smirked around the mistletoe as she prowled towards the dragon, Sweetie Belle lagging behind her friend.
“Apple Bloom! Wait!”
Spike looked around, eyes flicking between the gleaming bookcases before he focused on the half-opened door at the far end of the room. As Apple Bloom advanced, Spike took off once more, dashing towards the sliver of hope that was the kitchen, the filly hot on his heels.
“I don’t think this is how mistletoe is supposed to work!” Spike shouted as he grabbed onto the edge of a bookcase, skidding around the end of it to make a flat-out sprint for the door.
“Apple Bloom, wait!” Sweetie Belle called, falling further behind her friend as the determined earth pony raced after the dragon, the sound of claw and hoof pounding against crystal echoing through the aisles.
Spike threw himself forward, the faceted door slamming into the wall as he skidded across the floor of the kitchen into the counter. Scrambling back to his feet, his eyes widened as Apple Bloom slid between him and the other door, the sprig of mistletoe still firmly clenched between her teeth. Holding out his hands, Spike slowly began to back away.
“Now, uh, let’s not be too hasty here,” he said as he stumbled back into the corner.
“What’s the matter, Spike? ‘Fraid of a little kiss?” Apple Bloom said, the movements of her mouth making the mistletoe jiggle against her chin.
“Well, it’s just, you know, you’re supposed to go out on a date first!” Spike wrung his hands as his back pressed up against the cabinets behind him.
Apple Bloom spat out the mistletoe into her hoof. “I don’t think that’s how mistletoe works, Spike. You’re just supposed to kiss her. Or get kissed.” She grinned.
“Look, you’re really cute, and you’re my friend and I like you and stuff, but I mean, I don’t think—”
“C’mon, it won’t be that bad. It ain’t like she—wait, what?”
“It’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? Sneaking off, getting Sweetie Belle to distract me… I mean, it’s not that I don’t think you’d be a good kisser! I bet you’d be really good at kissing! It’s just, you know…” Spike fidgeted awkwardly, pressing his claws together.
“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle shrieked as she ran in through the door, her small hooves finding no traction on the polished floor as she tried to come to a stop, the filly instead colliding with the side of the counter.
“Are you okay?” Spike asked, stepping towards the downed unicorn.
“I think I actually hurt my hoof that time,” she muttered as she stood up shakily. “Huh. Nope, still good.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.” Spike relaxed for a moment, before glancing back up at Apple Bloom and scooting around to interpose Sweetie Belle between himself and the other filly. “Say, uh, Sweetie Belle, how about we go and hang out with Twilight and Rarity? Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“What, you don’t want a kiss first?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Er, well,” Spike said, grabbing Sweetie Belle and holding her up as a shield between himself and Apple Bloom, “Like I was saying, you’re a good friend and all, but I’ve already gotten one kiss tonight, and uh, wouldn’t Sweetie Belle get jealous?”
“What?” the two fillies chorused.
Spike stared. “Wait, you aren’t going to kiss me?”
Apple Bloom fell down laughing. “What made you think a fool thing like that?”
“Well, you kept whispering stuff to Sweetie Belle, you kept spying on me, you chased me down with the mistletoe… I mean, who else would I kiss?” Spike’s nervous laughter trailed off as his eyes fell on the filly slumped in his claws. His cheeks burned as he let go of her, his arms falling back to his sides.
Sweetie Belle sighed. “It’s alright, Spike. You don’t have to worry.”
“I don’t?”
“Yeah.” Her ears drooped. “I already kissed you once, and you didn’t like it. I know you don’t like me.”
“Well, it wasn’t that bad.”
Apple Bloom shook her head at the dragon. “And here I thought Sweetie was the only one who liked to taste the floor thataway.” She glanced over to Sweetie Belle. “You ain’t gonna give up that easy, are ya?”
“What’s the use?” Sweetie Belle asked as Spike hunched his shoulders.
“Nope, I didn’t come this far just to let you down now.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “But I think Spike’s right; he’s already got a kiss this evenin’. Ain’t fair to make you kiss him again.”
“It’s not?” Spike asked, blinking.
“Nope, now it’s your turn to kiss Sweetie Belle instead!” Apple Bloom grabbed the mistletoe between her teeth once more.
“What?” Sweetie Belle squeaked as Apple Bloom scooted around behind her and gave her a shove forward, the filly’s hooves finding no purchase as she slid across the smooth floor and collided with the small dragon. Smirking, Apple Bloom set her hooves on Sweetie Belle’s shoulders and stood up behind her, dangling the mistletoe directly over her friend’s horn.
Eyes large as saucers, Spike’s gaze flickered from the greenery overhead to the squirming unicorn in front of him, licking his lips as Sweetie Belle’s eyes met his own.
“Uh, Sweetie Belle? I—”
“Oh, there you are!”
Apple Bloom staggered against Sweetie Belle’s back at the sound of Rarity’s voice, the earth pony toppling over onto her friend as the older unicorn trotted up behind them, blinking at the sight.
“It wasn’t my idea!” Sweetie Belle squealed.
“Was so!”
“And what idea was this?” Rarity asked, before her eyes fell on the small patch of green on the floor. “Is that mistletoe?”
“Uhm…”
“Tut, tut. Were you two fillies torturing poor Spikey Wikey?”
Spike’s face grew redder, if it possibly could.
“It wasn’t like that!” Sweetie Belle shouted.
“Uh, well, actually, it kind of was,” Spike said, shuffling his feet, wincing when Sweetie Belle’s head slumped to the floor. “It wasn’t that bad, though! Honest!”
Rarity paused in the middle of helping Apple Bloom back to her hooves. “Oh, really?” Rarity said, grinning the same sort of grin that Apple Bloom had worn minutes before.
“Er, what I meant to say was it wasn’t, you know, torture. It was more like, you know, Pinkie torture, like that time she tied me to a chair and fed me gems!”
Rarity shook her head. “I must have words with that mare,” she said, her horn glowing for a moment to help pull her little sister up. “However, I’m afraid that must wait. Someone set fire to the Hearth’s Warming tree and let it burn out of control, and I’m afraid it is little more than a pile of ash now, just waiting to be cleaned up.”
“Really? That’s horrible!” Spike waved his claws. “Who would do something like that?”
“Who indeed.” Rarity took a step back to look archly at the trio.
“You don’t think it was us, do ya, Rarity?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yeah! They were with me the whole time.”
“You were, huh?” Twilight said sharply as she stepped into the kitchen from the main hall. “Then I hope you can explain this.” A small, blackened lump of glass floated forward in her magic towards the youngsters.
“Uh, what is it?” Spike asked, tilting his head.
“That was the ornament you made me when you were six. I found it so hot that it was still glowing when the tree was on fire.”
“Uhm… maybe it was from the tree being on fire?”
“Wood only burns at a few hundred degrees, Spike. Glass doesn’t begin to glow until it is over a thousand degrees! Do you think a wood fire got the glass to a thousand degrees, Spike?”
“Uh… maybe?”
“No! That’s not how combustion works. I asked you to do one thing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. What was it?”
Spike sighed, looking down at his feet. “Don’t burn down the castle.”
“And what did you do?”
Spike scratched at the back of his neck, looking around the room. “Well, the kitchen still seems to be okay.”
Apple Bloom giggled quietly.
Twilight stomped her hoof. “The only reason that the entire castle didn’t burn down was because Pinkie Pie noticed that the tree was on fire!”
“Crystal can burn?” Sweetie Belle asked, tilting her head.
Apple Bloom tapped her chin. “I don’t think it can, at least not proper-like.”
“Diamonds can burn.” Sweetie Belle lowered her head. “I know that from experience.”
“Yeah, but diamonds ain’t nothin’ but a pretty bit of coal. The castle ain’t made out of diamond, I don’t think.” Apple Bloom tapped her hoof against the floor. “Quartz, maybe? That stuff won’t melt from a little fire; I use that in my chemistry set.”
“The flash point of my castle is not the point! The point is that the nice Hearth’s Warming tree we picked out is a pile of ash, and all of the ornaments Mom gave us were destroyed! It was totally irresponsible!”
Spike waved his hands. “I didn’t do it on purpose, honest! I don’t even know how it happened.”
Twilight lifted herself to her full height. “Oh really? And what were you doing before you left the great hall?”
Spike lifted one claw for a moment before it fell back down to his side, the dragon slumping back on his tail and staring at his reflection in the faceted floor. “I was showing them how to blow glass.”
“Now, don’t you think the three of you should go and clean up the tree?”
“Aww…” the three of them chorused, before slowly making their way across the room.
“Don’t worry. I put brooms and dustpans out for all of you,” Twilight called as the trio trudged out of the kitchen, her own ears falling a little after they left as she fell back on her own rump. “Ugh. Now I know how my mom must have felt when I tried to make the tree glow when I was eight.”
“Oh?” Rarity asked, stepping forward to put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “What happened?”
“I set the tree on fire. Turns out that spell wasn’t meant for use on wood.” Twilight shook her head, rising back to her hooves. “Oh, well. I guess I’ll just have to get new ornaments next year.” She sighed. “Do you think I was too hard on them?”
“Not at all. I’m sure that cleaning up after themselves will make them think a time or two before they do something like that in the future.”
Twilight smiled at her friend. “Thanks.” She turned her head towards the cabinets. “Well, I guess it’s time to start cooking. You can go back and talk to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie if you want.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Rarity stepped up beside her friend. “This is your first Hearth’s Warming dinner away from home, and I will make sure that it is a good one.” Her horn flared as she surreptitiously picked up the mistletoe from the floor, pinning it to the ceiling over the doorway. “Besides, I’m sure that each and every one of our friends would like to come in and help in their own special way.”
Rarity allowed herself a most unladylike smirk at the sight of the green leaves and white berries trapped in the glow of her magic.