“Wow, you’re really good at this, Rarity,” Twilight said as she trotted across the kitchen. The cupboard glowed briefly as she swung open the semi-transparent doors and levitated a small sack of flour out onto the crystalline counter in the center of the room.
“Precision has its place in the kitchen,” Rarity said primly. A blue glow enveloped a small measuring cup before it flew over and slid inside the top of the small sack. A knife joined it, and a moment later a perfectly level cup of flour hovered back over to the unicorn.
“I don’t do very much cooking; Spike always does it for me.” Twilight’s horn lit up once more to fold up the top of the sack of flour and return it to its place. “I was kind of hoping that I would let him sit back and relax for once, as a sort of Hearth’s Warming present.”
“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Rarity said, flashing Twilight a smile. “What did you get the dear?”
“Oh, a few books. He’s really been doing well in his studies, so I also got him a whole set of comics he’s never read before!” Twilight paused. “I think, anyway; he said he didn’t have them. I looked all over Canterlot to find them; apparently they’re out of print.”
“Hm.” Rarity paused for a moment, tilting her head before she slowly shook the flour out of the measuring cup into the bowl. “It does seem nice, but is that all? It seems a little…”
“Cheap?” Twilight sighed. “I mean, I have access to the royal treasury, but I really don’t feel comfortable splurging, especially after I spent so much on furnishing the castle. Besides,” she looked away, “it’s not like I can buy him a whole lot anyway. You remember what happened at his birthday.”
Rarity’s ears drooped. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. Turning into a giant beast and destroying the castle is hardly the best way to celebrate Hearth’s Warming.” She began to stir the contents of the bowl, the slurry thickening as the flour was added. “Though I suppose had there been a dragon at the time of the founding of Equestria, the Windigos might have met their match.”
“Maybe so. Then we’d all be singing about the fires of friendship and probably setting trees on fire on purpose.” Twilight grinned.
“Perhaps.” Rarity tapped the beater she had been using to stir against the side of the bowl. “Twilight, could you be a dear and ask Pinkie Pie to come in and check to see if this is the right consistency? I’m afraid I don’t make pie crust very often, and I think it may be a bit thin.”
“Okay. Thanks again, Rarity. I wasn’t really expecting you to do all the work.”
“Tut, tut, darling. It is my pleasure. Besides, you’re most certainly helping by finding all the ingredients for me; this is hardly my kitchen, after all.”
“Heh, you’re lucky I knew where the butter was,” Twilight said before she stepped out into the main hall.
Rarity looked over her shoulder for a moment before grinning, setting the beater aside before her horn glowed, tugging the sprig of mistletoe out of its hiding place. “Well, now, what do you think?” she asked, smirking down at the little piece of greenery in the purple-and-silver kitchen.
“Who are you talking to?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Rarity yelped, whirling around as she tucked the mistletoe into her curly tail. “Nothing! No one!” She blinked a few times. “How did you get here so fast?”
“I’m always quick to come help my friends in the kitchen, silly!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing over to the bowl of batter Rarity had been working on. “What is this?”
“It is supposed to be crust, but I’m afraid it is not coming out right at all.”
“How much flour did you use?”
“Well, just one cup, but—”
Pinkie Pie gasped. “One cup? That’s nowhere near enough! You need at least three!” She zipped over to the cupboard.
“Oh, how silly of me,” Rarity said, scooting out of the way as the pink pony went to work, rapidly pulling out the bag of flour and pouring it directly into the bowl.
“I see Pinkie is already taking over,” Twilight said, smiling fondly.
“Oh, yes. She knows all about this sort of thing. Apparently I did not use enough flour.”
“Really? It looked okay to me.”
Pinkie was over in a flash, her snout pressed against Twilight’s. “Okay to you? Do you even know what crust is?”
Twilight blinked. “Yes, Pinkie, I know what crust is.”
“And you thought that looked like crust?” Pinkie jabbed her hoof accusingly at the pale liquid in the mixing bowl.
“Well,” Twilight said, rubbing at her mane, “it did seem a little liquidy, but I thought it would set in the oven.”
“No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!” Pinkie grabbed Twilight bodily around the shoulders, dragging her over next to the bowl. “You see how thin this is?”
“I guess?”
“Well, it has to stick to the edges of the pie pan; it can’t just slide off, then you’d just get burned filling! It has to be thick. You have to work it, Twilight! It has to push back! Here,” Pinkie Pie shoved the beater into Twilight’s hoof. “You stir, I’ll pour in more flour.”
“Don’t you have to measure it?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.
“Well, you can measure it, but the best way is to keep putting more in until it feels good.” Pinkie paused for a moment. “Well, the best way is to do the flour and the sugar first, but we’ve already got it like this. C’mon.” Pinkie Pie tipped the bag up higher, dumping more of the white powder into the bowl as Twilight pushed at it with the beater.
“It’s starting to get really thick,” Twilight said, grunting as she leaned into it. She paused for a moment, leaning back and wiping at her brow with her hoof before she lit up her horn. The beater began to turn around the bowl on its own, once, twice, before Pinkie Pie leaped over and grabbed ahold of it.
“You can’t do it that way! You have to do it by hoof.”
“But I don’t know what it is supposed to feel like!”
“Come here.”
Twilight found herself being tugged forward once more, Pinkie Pie leaning against her back as she grabbed Twilight’s hoof and guided it to the beater, taking her other hoof and setting it on the side of the bowl to hold it steady.
“See? It’s getting all sticky now.” Pinkie Pie dumped a little more flour into the bowl. “Once it gets nice and firm, then it starts to feel really good, see?”
Twilight nodded her head.
“Now, next you want to get the butter down so that you can’t even see it. You want to keep going until it forms a ball; otherwise, it’s too thin.”
Rarity smiled at the pair as Pinkie Pie guided Twilight through the motions, the pink pony plastered to the alicorn’s back as Pinkie peered over Twilight’s shoulder to keep an eye on the dough. The earth pony didn’t even seem to notice how close together their cheeks were as she held Twilight’s hooves in her own.
Could it be? Was this the pony Twilight had been pining for? Smiling to herself, Rarity’s horn began to shine once more. Plucking the mistletoe carefully from her tail, she slowly guided it through the air to make it hover over Pinkie Pie’s puffy mane.
“See? It’s not so hard, right?”
“Not at all. Thank you, Pinkie.”
Pinkie Pie leaned further forward. “Now, see, it’s trying to form up into a ball, but it actually is too thick now; you can see that it isn’t quite right. You keep the milk in the fridge, right?”
“Uh, where else would I keep it?” Twilight asked, blinking.
“Okay dokie!”
Pinkie Pie sprung away from Twilight, prancing over to the door as Rarity guided the mistletoe through the air after her, shooting a grin over at Twilight.
“Ooh, you have cream in here! Too bad this isn’t the right kind of pie for that.”
As Pinkie Pie leaned further into the refrigerator, Rarity jerked her head towards the earth pony. Twilight glanced at Rarity, then turned to look at Pinkie before her eyes widened in shock as the mistletoe swayed directly over the oblivious pink pony’s hindquarters. Rising up on her hind legs, Twilight made a cutting motion across her chest while Rarity only smiled all the more.
“Oh, here it is. Silly me,” Pinkie Pie said, tugging a carton out of the fridge and pushing it shut with her rump. “Now, we just need to add a little bit—”
Pinkie Pie stopped, staring at Twilight, who was now blushing furiously as she returned to all four hooves. “Hehe, what’s wrong, silly?”
“Nothing!” Twilight said quickly, straightening.
“You didn’t stick a note to my tail or something, did you?” Pinkie Pie asked, bending around to look behind her even as Twilight quickly made another chopping gesture at Rarity with her hoof.
“Nope! Don’t see anything.” Pinkie turned back around to Twilight and grinned. “You know, with your face that color, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were Pinkie Pie.” She paused, looking down at her own pink hooves. “Of course, then I don’t know what I’d be. Probably blue, if I didn’t even know my own name.” She tilted her head, then shrugged before prancing back over to the bowl with her carton of milk, the mistletoe bobbing along directly overhead. “Oh well!”
Twilight smacked her hoof into her face as Rarity smiled and nodded encouragingly. Twilight shook her head sharply before Pinkie Pie hooked her hoof around her friend’s shoulder, pulling Twilight back around to face the bowl once more. “Now, this is important. You want to add just enough liquid that the crust begins to ball up, but not so much that it gets too thin again. Not too soft, not too hard; you want it to be juuuust right.”
Grabbing Twilight’s hoof again, Pinkie Pie guided it back to the beater as her other hoof carefully tipped over the carton of milk, adding just a splash of the white liquid to the mix before pushing Twilight’s hoof back into a stirring motion. “There. See? Just a little bit more and… perfect!”
Pinkie Pie set the milk back down on the counter with a grin as the crust formed up into a thick yellow ball in the base of the bowl. “Now, all you have to do is stick that into the fridge for half an hour and it will be nice and set. And then you can put it across the bottom of a pie pan!”
“Thank you, Pinkie,” Twilight said, her voice shaking a little as her eyes flicked back over to Rarity, giving another little shake of her head at the smirking unicorn.
Pinkie Pie grabbed the bowl in one hoof, the milk carton in the other as she backed up towards the refrigerator, spinning her body to throw open the door before shoving both containers inside. “There!”
“Thank you for your help, darling,” Rarity said graciously. “I don’t think I could have done it without you.”
“Oh, I’m sure you could have.” Pinkie Pie bounced over to Rarity, leaning over to whisper loudly. “Just between you and me, you should probably have Rainbow Dash or Applejack help Twilight put the dough in the pan. They’d be way more likely to give her a kiss.” She paused. “Or maybe you could help out. I mean, you’ve always wanted to be a princess, right?”
Twilight hid her face in her hooves while Rarity licked her lips.
“Uh, thank you, Pinkie,” Rarity managed after a moment.
“You’re welcome!” Pinkie beamed cheerfully at her friends before she pranced back out the kitchen door.
Twilight slumped back against the counter and groaned. “Well, that was embarrassing. What were you thinking?” She lifted her head from her hooves to glare at Rarity.
Rarity shifted on her hooves. “Well, darling, I was just thinking that it would be cute. The baker and the princess? It is sweet.”
“It’s crazy, that’s what it is!” Twilight gesticulated wildly. “Pinkie Pie and I have practically nothing in common!”
“Well, you are friends with her, dear. And you do seem to spend a lot of time together, and according to Spike, you did spend a week ‘studying’ her. I thought there might be something there.”
Twilight rubbed her face. “Do you mean when I was trying to figure out how her Pinkie Sense worked?”
“Well, that was hardly the only time you’ve spent together.” Rarity shrugged. “Truly, for two ponies with nothing in common, you do seem to enjoy one another’s company. I’ve never seen you miss one of Pinkie’s parties.”
“Nopony misses her parties. Not after that one time.”
Rarity smiled uncomfortably. “Well, yes, but…”
Twilight sighed. “Why are you so obsessed with this, anyway?”
“I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy!” Twilight snapped.
“Well, there’s no need to yell about it.” Rarity sighed. “Oh well; on to the next one.”
“…you’re going to call another one of our friends in here and embarrass me in front of them?”
“Of course not; I meant the next recipe.” Rarity lit up her horn, flipping open Twilight’s cookbook. “Besides, Applejack and Rainbow Dash aren’t here yet.” She paused. “Unless you like Fluttershy?”
Twilight sighed loudly. “Really?”
“Uhm…”
The two ponies started, whirling to face the door at the sound of Fluttershy’s voice.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight half-shouted. “I, uhm, didn’t mean to say you weren’t attractive! You’re very attractive! I just—”
“Oh, it’s alright.” Fluttershy smiled, turning her head slightly to hide her eyes behind her bangs. “I don’t really like mares anyway.”
Twilight sank to the floor with a groan.
“Anyway, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle finished cleaning up the tree, and were wondering if they could use your bathroom to clean up.”
“Oh dear,” Rarity said. “How bad are they?”
“Uhm… well, you can still kind of tell which is which?”
Twilight sighed again. “I’ll show them,” Twilight said, rising back to her hooves.
“Oh, no, it’s alright. Spike already gave me directions. I just wanted to make sure it was okay.” Fluttershy flashed Twilight another smile.
“Oh, it’s not a problem. Feel free.” Twilight waved her hoof.
“Thanks.” Fluttershy turned away, then paused. “Oh, uhm. Spike said he wanted to talk to you. If you don’t mind, that is.”
Twilight shook her head. “Sure. Send him in.”
“I suppose I should have seen that coming,” Rarity said as Fluttershy turned away.
“What? That the Cutie Mark Crusaders would end up looking like little balls of ash?”
“Oh, that too. I meant Fluttershy, darling. I mean, the way she was looking at—”
Twilight snorted. “Can we not talk about somepony’s love life for five minutes?”
“Er, I can come back later.”
Twilight’s head snapped to the door. “Oh, it’s alrig—Spike! You’re tracking ash everywhere!”
Spike glanced down at his ashen feet, then turned his head to look behind him at the trail of black footprints he had left on the crystalline floor. “Sorry?”
Twilight’s horn lit up as the dragon was lifted from his feet, gliding through the air across the kitchen before being deposited in the sink, the knobs turning as clean, clear water gushed down onto the small dragon.
“Hey!”
“You brought this on yourself,” Twilight said, enveloping one of the scrub brushes in her magic before bringing it to bear on the hapless dragon.
“Twilight! Not in front of Rarity!”
Rarity giggled. “I’ll step out,” she said, smiling as she made her way to the door, the small dragon relaxing as she left.
“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you not want to be around her,” Twilight said, smirking down at her charge.
Spike flushed, tapping his blackened claws together under the stream of water. “Uhm, about that…”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Spike. You know Rarity isn’t going to—”
Spike shook his head vehemently. “No; it’s not about her.” He glanced over towards the doorway, lowering his voice. “It’s actually about… well, I was talking to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and, uhm....”
Twilight frowned. “They weren’t teasing you, were they? Rarity mentioned something about—”
“No! Nothing like that.”
“Oh? Okay then.” Twilight sat down as her magic pulled at the water, pouring it over Spike’s head. “Sooo…”
“So…” Spike swayed nervously, rocking back and forth. “What if somepony likes you, and you aren’t sure if you like them back?”
Twilight blinked, then grinned. “It sounds like somepony has a crush,” she sang gleefully, before pausing. “Wait, now I’m starting to sound like Rarity,” she groaned, resting her chin on the edge of the sink.
“It’s not me!” Spike’s eyes flicked nervously between Twilight and the door. “Does it count as a crush if her friend pretty much tells you that she likes you, and she keeps doing weird stuff to get your attention?”
Twilight smiled a little. “That’s exactly how a crush works, silly.”
“Oh.” Spike looked down at his toes, which were rapidly returning to their proper color as gray water swirled down the drain. “I thought they were, like, supposed to be secret or something.”
“Well,” Twilight said, setting her hoof on Spike’s shoulder, “ponies often try to keep their feelings a secret if they don’t know how the other pony feels about it. They usually aren’t very good at it, though. Not like a certain dragon I know.” Twilight smirked.
“Yeah, yeah.” Spike lifted one claw to wave it half-heartedly before he sighed, frowning.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well, it’s just…” Spike turned the palms of his hands up. “Do you really think Rarity doesn’t like me? Like, that I don’t have a chance at all?”
Twilight stared at Spike for a few seconds, her eyes hardening slightly. “Spike. I’ve already told you how Rarity feels. But you really shouldn’t be going after Apple Bloom just because Rarity doesn’t like you.”
“No! That’s not what I—wait, Apple Bloom?”
Twilight blinked. “Wait, Apple Bloom doesn’t have a crush on you?”
Spike fidgeted. “Why did you think Apple Bloom had a crush on me?”
“Well, you both like reading.” Twilight tapped a hoof on the counter, as if counting. “Applejack told me that Apple Bloom likes the same comics you do. She’s smart, she’s trying to figure out her place in the world, she is a little bit snarky—”
“No, actually, it’s Sweetie Belle,” Spike said, shifting uncomfortably in the sink.
“Oh.” Twilight blinked. “Well, uhm. She’s very nice, too.” She flinched at Spike’s skeptical look. “What? There’s nothing wrong with you liking Sweetie Belle!”
“I’m not even sure that I do.” Spike shook his head.
“It’s okay.” Twilight held up her hooves. “So, that’s what you’re trying to figure out?”
Spike turned away from Twilight, twisting the handles to turn off the water. “It’s just… like… I’ve tried, you know? And, well, if Rarity liked me, and then some other filly came along and was like, ‘Hey, you’re cute,’ and I was like, ‘You’re cute too,’ and then we were all—”
“Wait.” Twilight held up a hoof. “You’re afraid that Rarity would be jealous?”
“Well, yeah. I mean… it would be pretty lousy to like, try and do something nice for a girl and then go off with somepony else, wouldn’t it?”
Twilight stared. “Spike. Just because you have a crush on someone doesn’t mean that you have to go after them forever.”
“I know that! I just…” Spike swung his arms, flicking several drops of water across the counter. “Look, I’ve never had anyone who actually liked me before, okay? I’m not used to it.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Come here.” Her horn lit up, pulling a dish towel out of one of the drawers and rubbing it over the small dragon’s scales. “So what do you like about her, anyway?”
“Well, she’s pretty smart. She likes books. She’s been trying really hard at the whole magic thing. She’s kind of cute, in a clumsy sort of way, you know. I dunno.” Spike shrugged as Twilight let the towel drop from her magic. “What?”
“Oh, nothing,” Twilight said, smiling with far too many teeth as she quickly retrieved the dirty towel. “I guess that crazy psychologist really was right,” she muttered.
“Right about what?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t worrying about me again, are you?”
“Nope! I’m definitely not worried about whether I permanently marred your psychological development because I didn’t dress up like a dragon when you were a baby.”
Spike stared at Twilight for a moment. “Riiiight.”
Twilight coughed. “So… Sweetie Belle, huh?”
“I dunno,” Spike said, his claws fumbling against each other in front of his chest. “I mean, she’s nice and all, and she likes me, but… well, what do you think?”
“Well, if you haven’t noticed, I don’t exactly have a whole lot of experience with this either. Maybe you should talk to Rarity about it; she knows more about this sort of thing.”
“No-o way.”
“Spike. She’s your friend. I’m sure she’d be happy to help.”
“It’s not that,” Spike said, standing up and shaking himself a bit. “It’s just… it would be weird, you know?”
“Weirder than my ten-year-old assistant trying to bring her flowers?”
Spike chuckled nervously, his eyes falling. “You heard about that, huh?”
“Yeah, Rarity told me. That was very sweet of you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Spike sighed.
“Look, Spike,” Twilight said, her horn lighting up to pluck the dragon out of the sink and set him down on the floor. “You aren’t obligated to Rarity in any way, but don’t go after Sweetie Belle just because Rarity doesn’t like you.”
“I know! I’m not. I just…” Spike sighed again. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Well… that’s really up to you, Spike. Only you know how you feel.”
“I guess.” He bit his lip.
Twilight smiled encouragingly. “What is it?”
“What should I do if she ends up under the mistletoe again?”
Twilight’s eyebrows shot up. “Mistletoe?”
“Yeah. Like, earlier, when she and Apple Bloom had me cornered. I know I’m supposed to kiss her, but—”
“Spike. You do realize you don’t have to kiss anyone who is under mistletoe, right? It’s just a made-up tradition. If you don’t like the pony, you don’t have to do it. It’s not like the mistletoe is going to sprout legs and hunt you down if you don’t.”
“But Cadance told Shining Armor that if he didn’t kiss her, the Windigos would—”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure Cadance was making that up.” Twilight said dryly. “If any Windigos do show up, I’ll be the first to apologize.”
Spike shifted his weight from foot to foot silently, licking his lips.
Twilight blinked. “You aren’t actually thinking about kissing her, are you?”
“Well… maybe a little?” Spike looked up plaintively.
“Spike. Come here.”
Twilight spread her arms open wide for the dragon. Spike hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and leaning against her chest as she wrapped him up in a hug.
“Spike. If you really do like Sweetie Belle – and I mean really do, not just like, are feeling lonely – it is okay to give her one kiss under the mistletoe. One. Kiss.” She held up one hoof. “If I see you two kissing more than once, you and I are going to have words, mister. Are we clear?”
Spike nodded his head.
“Good.” Twilight gave Spike a squeeze. “Now remember, you don’t have to give her a kiss.”
“I know! I just…” He stepped back, smiling. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Twilight rubbed the top of his head with her hoof. “You’re a good little dragon. I know you’ll do the right thing.”
“Heh, thanks.” He took another step back before turning away and walking back out into the grand hallway, Twilight trailing in his wake as she watched him go.
“He’s really growing up, isn’t he?”
Twilight glanced over at Rarity, smiling wryly. “You were standing right there the whole time, weren’t you?”
“Well, after what I saw earlier, I just had to know how he was feeling.”
“Mmm-hmm. And I’m sure the Crusaders torturing Spike with mistletoe had nothing to do with what you tried with Pinkie Pie.”
“Why, whatever do you mean, darling?” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Come on. We have a pie to bake.”