//------------------------------// // Extramarital Bliss // Story: ‘Til Sunday Do Us Part // by BlazzingInferno //------------------------------//         Twilight materialized inside the shop with a teeth-rattling bang. She danced from hoof to hoof and looked around. “Spike? Rarity? It’s Sunday, I’m back! Please tell me you’re both here. Please tell me it’s not too—”         A clang and some shouting from the kitchen answered her. She burst through the door and felt her panic-fueled heartbeat double its pace. Spike was hiding behind a chair with a pot-lid shield in one hand and a toast throwing star in the other. Rarity was behind the overturned kitchen table with a selection of breakfast-turned-ammunition floating overhead.         Twilight ran into the fray and held up her hooves. “Stop! Stop fighting! Don’t worry, you can still be friends. This isn’t anything that an annulment and a few memory-modification spells can’t fix!”         Rarity dropped her weaponry. “Twilight? You’re… back?”         Twilight rushed to her side. “Oh Rarity, Spike… I’m so sorry! Ever since I wrote that nasty note and got on the train, I’ve felt so horrible. I-I tried to get back right away but the snow was so deep the train couldn’t run, a-and I couldn’t even fly through it. P-please forgive me!”         By now, Twilight was bawling into Rarity’s shoulder. A few days prior, Rarity might have used this opportunity to put her in a headlock. Instead, she stroked her friend’s mane and cooed into her ear. “There there, Twilight. You’ve gotten yourself worked up over nothing, I assure you.”         Twilight shuddered. “B-but you’re having a fight! You hate each other! This isn’t what I wanted. I-I’m supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, and look what I’ve done! I’ve ruined yours!”         Spike ran over and hugged her. “Twilight, it’s okay. We don’t hate each other.”         “You must hate me, though… for what I did.”         Rarity and Spike stared at each other, wide-eyed. Rarity smiled and shook her head. “Never. This ‘fight’ that you interrupted was actually a friendly game of sorts that happened spontaneously after breakfast. I’ve been told that an occasional bout of over-the-top silliness is good for a relationship.”         Spike grinned. “Yeah, and it’s lots of fun, too!”         Twilight stood and looked at them. She clearly wasn’t in the right shop. Could she have crossed some sort of dimensional rift during that last teleport? Either that, or she was actually half-buried in a snow bank, hallucinating much more pleasant versions of her friends. “B-but what about… everything? I-I can annul your marriage right now, just give me the contract and I’ll sign it.”         Spike held up a hand. “Wait, before you do… can I talk to Rarity for a second, in private?”         For a moment, Twilight was ready to panic again. “J-just talk, right? No yelling? No… plotting my demise?”         Rarity smiled. “I can assure you that all is forgiven, Twilight.”         Spike sighed. “Yeah, even making me clean out the whole castle.”         Twilight curled up into a ball on the ground. “I’m sorry, Spike.”         Rarity frowned at him. “Now, Spikey, I thought we agreed to forgive.”         “Right, sorry. It’s okay, Twilight. I get that you were mad and everything. You might have to help me with the last three floors, though… I kind of ran out of time.”         Twilight forced a smile. “Of course, Spike! In fact, I’ll do it all on my own. You just take some time for yourself. As soon as you’re both ready, I’ll take care of that pesky marriage contract.”         Rarity followed Spike into the next room and shut the door. “Yes, Spikey? We’ve already said so much, for good and ill alike.”         He faced her with his hands clasped behind his back, smiling a nervous smile. “Rarity… was being married to me this week really that awful? I’ll agree to the annulment and everything, but I just want to know if I made you as happy as you made me.”         She pulled him into a hug. “Come now, Spikey-Wikey, do you really need to ask? You were the best thing about the weekend in Canterlot.”         “What about this week?”         “Hmm… That’s another matter.” Rarity glanced up at the rings encircling her horn. “I’d say this week has made a few things abundantly clear: I’m clearly not ready for marriage, I don’t think you are either—” she leaned in until their noses almost touched “—and I care for you more now than I ever have before. Even first thing in the morning, you are the dependable and sweet sort of dragon that I thoroughly enjoy spending time with… unless elitist pie fights or surprise marriage counseling is involved.”         Spike blushed. “So… what do we tell Twilight?”         She stood back and batted her eyes. “What would you like to tell her?”         “That… that she can sign the contract so we’re not married anymore, and that we’re going out on a date tomorrow night. If… if that’s okay with you.”         She kissed him on the cheek. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll agree, so long as we set some ground rules, as Twilight once put it.”         “Ground rules?”         “Outside the bonds of marriage, we will not be sharing a house, a shower, a bed, or much more than an affectionate kiss. I do intend to behave like a lady during our courtship.”         He nodded. “Okay. Can I set some too?”         “Of course.”         “When I mess up, you tell me right away so I can apologize.”         “Provided you do the same for me. Is there anything else?”         Spike twisted the ring off his finger and held it out. “Instead of returning this to the store, could you hold onto it for me? Just until I can pay you back? I… kind of want to keep it.”         In response, she removed her own rings and dropped them into his hand. “Only if you hold onto these for me, just in case you find reason to offer them to me again.”