//------------------------------// // Twilight! In public, no less. // Story: Gah! Bucket please! // by StormDancer //------------------------------// Sitting in her sun room, Twilight Sparkle poured over yet another tome of forgotten lore. Three small hourglasses slowly drained of their sand as she turned a forth over and took a small sip of tea from a very small tea set on a stand nearby. Outside, the birds sang and the soft murmur of the village wafted in on the gentle morning breeze. The smell of Sugar Cube Corner's bread ovens caught the Princess' attention, but she glanced back at the stack of books around her. So much to learn and such a wonderful day for reading... maybe later she'd visit Pinkie and the others. Right now it was time for science! And a checklist. And through it all, Twilight blushed. ----- Spike and Twilight sat alongside Fluttershy and Applejack, listening as Rainbow Dash regaled them with with an action packed play by play of her latest stunt. Somehow, she had managed to use a lake to rebound after a dive and increase her speed into near rainboom velocities, all while trailing smoke flares. The effect was, apparently, AWESOME, since the pegasus' speed was enough to drag the smoke trails up along with her, resulting in a vertical column of exploding smoke which she could buck to flash lightning just at the point before she lost momentum. Twilight took a bite of her sandwich, nodding politely while she internally tried to work out the math of such an acceleration as well as the magic required to activate a lightning strike from dry, uncharged, smoke rather than a storm cloud. Applejack called her a liar and threw her hat at her friend. Rainbow laughed. Fluttershy smiled. Spike reached for another nacho. And Twilight blushed. ----- Spike continued scribbling as Twilight dictated the results of her examination of the magical composition of parasprite wings. Four pages on the chemical structure, 3 on the thaumatic resonance, 6 on the micro-mechanical variance between different zones on the wings, and an additional 2 pages on the theoretical application towards assisted flight for Earth Ponies. Spike had long since tuned out listening and was blindly copying sounds into shapes that would later be decipherable by those who could follow what was being said. And through it all, Twilight's face remained a deep, deep red. ----- After a long day of saving Equestria from rampaging briar-rabbits, upset about the use of walnut shells as gardening supplies, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, was taking the last, long, steps towards the blissful bastion of rest that was her bed when Spike stepped out and stopped her with a gentle hand to her leg. "Sorry Twilight, you know I have to do this," he said with a soft voice, waiting for her dejected nod before trotting over to the bedside and pulling a box out from underneath. With little in the way of fanfare, he deftly popped the top open and pulled out a shimmery ice-colored wad before kicking the box back under the bed and unfolding a large plastic sheet. Hopping up, he drug the sheet across the mattress before hopping back over and running across, dragging the edge back over and folding the top half back down. With a comforting pat on her side, he quietly walked out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him. In the dark, Twilight heard the soft quack of a rubber squeaky toy as the room was quickly bathed in the pink red glow of her full body blush. Laying in her plastic covered, waterproof, bed, Discord sprawled with a rose clenched in his jaws. One eyebrow raised and a dirty grin plastered across his face, he beckoned her forward with an eagle claw. Blushing even more brightly, Twilight begrudgingly walked forward, each step feeling more like a walk to the gallows than the meter long trip to her bed. "On come now Twilight, it's not that bad! I'm reformed!" A tiny set of Tirek's appeared upon his mismatched horns, working together to hold up a flickering halo made of collectible glow-in-the-dark toys. "And besides, there's no helping it. The only cure for a case of the Smoozy-Oozies is to squeeze all the Smooze goo out of you." Discord patted the squeaky covers for just a moment as the rose leapt from his mouth and turned into a sponge. Tiredly, Twilight Sparkle climbed into bed, turning her back to Discord as she lit up even brighter. "There there, Princess. Was that so bad?" He crooned. "Oh well, either way, it's time for your nightly cuddles!" Discord reached out, grabbed Twilight, and squeezed her to his chest, eliciting an even brighter embarrassed blush from the glowing, oozy, alicorn, before smirking and having the floating sponge wick away a thin layer of glowing goop. "And just think, Twilight, we can do this for as long as it takes to get you all cleaned up!" His head snaked around to come nose to nose with her. "I'm guessing that'll only be a few months." He grinned, "Two years, tops!" Twilight remained quiet despite the giggling of the Spirit of Chaos, and sighed - At least she wouldn't have to ask for any more samples. ----- At 2:38 am, Carrot Top muttered darkly as she stomped across her room. "I don't care how much beta carotene I have, THAT is NOT my eyes playing tricks on me. That castle is glowing!" And with that, she slammed her bedroom window and pulled the shades before stomping back to bed. "Blasted alicorns and their sky-glowy-magic."