• Published 12th Jun 2013
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His Vector Grey - Darkryt Orbinautz



Sequel to Her Void Pink. Twilight's and Pinkie's relationship is a secret, but Spike's curious to know what's been driving Twilight so nuts lately.

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Friends and Family

His Vector Grey

Chapter 6

Friends and Family


The next morning, everypony woke up and did their usual routines. For some, it was brushing teeth, then doing chores and eating breakfast. For some, it was attending to their passions – watering the plants, practicing some morning stunts, or designing a faaabulous new dress. For a very select few with a talent for multi-tasking and no shortage of ambition, it was doing all of those things at once.

But Applejack was a simple pony. She didn't have any ambition to rise up to the top of the fashion market, somehow stitching together an evening gown at the same-time she was skiing down a mountain with an avalanche chasing behind her, nipping at her tail with its snowy fury.

Applejack's choice was the first one, brushing her teeth and tying up her mane in her signature ponytail.

"Ah . . . " She sighed into the mirror's reflection once her hair was done up just the way she liked it. "Now that's more like it." She headed out into the orchards, grabbing her hat along the way, and begin the long process of bucking them with her hind legs until they released their delicious apple-scent quarry into the empty baskets waiting below.

Like every morning, she planned to continue this routine until either one of her friends came by and gave her a distraction, or she got all the apples for the day into all the baskets.

Whichever came first.

It was around afternoon, and she only had a few more trees to go, when she caught sight of Spike waddling his way into her orchard. She looked between him and her trees.

"Only a few more to go . . ." Applejack observed. "Eh, 'pose Ah can walk and talk." It would be a derivation of the norm, but sometimes variety was good in life. Applejack waved Spike over. "Howdy, Spike! Come on over, pardner!"

Spike smiled and ran up to her, trying to catch her at such a pace that he could walk alongside her as she continued bucking apples.

"What can Ah do ya fer?" Applejack offered to the small dragon.

"Do you know what's going between Twilight and Pinkie?" Spike asked unabashedly.

Applejack was so confused by his random question that she stopped mid-buck, her hind legs raised into the air in a manner most ridiculous. Rarity would've loved to capture in a picture, and then use it for modeling, Applejack would be sure. "Wut do you mean? Ah haven't noticed anything goin' between Twilight and Pinkie at all."

"They've been spending an awful lot of time together . . ." Spike mumbled.

"Ah'm sorry, Spike, but Ah can't help ya." Applejack apologized, resuming her buck.

"Okay . . ." Spike turned around and wander back to the entrance. "Thanks for trying, I guess . . ."

Applejack pouted. She didn't like seeing Spike so down. "Hey, pardner!"

Spike stopped and turned around, scaly brow raised.

"How about y'all go inside and wait fer me a li'l while, and then after that, Ah'll make y'all a nice fresh glass of cider? How does that sound?" She winked at him, trying to persuade him to come in so she could cheer him up some.

"I'll pass." Spike muttered, before turning back around.

"Mmm . . . " Applejack pursed her lips. A good idea seemed to be forming in her mind to charge up to him and drag him inside, then force him to enjoy some good ol'-fashioned sweet cider, but she thought better of it.

"Mmmm . . . Ah know! This calls for a little round-up of the gang!"


Apple Bloom wobbled, her legs moving so fast as to be a blur of pale olive yellow, trying to balance the tray of apple and orange juice on her nose.

Gathered around the table of the Apply Family house were Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, while Applejack went around making sure they had everything they would need for company.

"Everpony settled?" Applejack asked as she prepared to take a seat. Everypony nodded. "Good, good . . . Ah guess y'all are wonderin' why Ah called you all over here."

"Mh-hm." Chorused from the table with another round of nodding.

"Well, it's about Spike. He came by earlier, and he was right depressed about sumthun'. Wouldn't even take an offer of cider." Rainbow Dash took particular umbrage to this. "And he said sumthun 'bout Twi and Pinkie hanging out together at lot."

Twilight's eyes went blank for a moment, before blinking.

Everypony else turned to look at Pinkie and Twilight.

"Wha-why are you all looking at us!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Can't you understand sometimes friends like spending time together? Hmph!" Twilight turned her tail and left the table.

From outside the house, they heard a frustrated, piercing scream.

"I'll go . . . talk to her." Pinkie volunteered, getting up off her seat and going after her secret beau.

"Why should you go to talk to her?" Rainbow Dash asked accusingly, flying up into the air. "The problem here is that you two have been spending a lot time together, isn't it!?"

"Well . . . maybe." Pinkie reluctantly answered, almost soft-spoken. "But I did just spend a whole Celebratory Week getting to know her, didn't I? I'll bet I know her better than any of you do!"

Rainbow Dash slammed herself on the table, lowering her wings and standing up as a tall eagle with her eye on finding an opening in Pinkie to exploit, a wound already open that she could pour salt in. Applejack became distraught that Rainbow Dash standing on her family's table with whatever her hooves might have tracked in from the dirt. Applejack was normally fine with dirt, but not in her family's plates.

"R.D, I'd appreciate if y'all would git off the table mah family, y'know, eats at?"

"Oh yeah?" Dash snarled at Pinkie, Applejack's words' worth as much as lint on a carpet rug very badly in need of a thorough dusting off. "Is that a fact?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie answered, stepping up to the challenge and slamming her hoof on the table. "Rainbow Dash, do you know what separates a fact from an opinion?"

"What?" Dash questioned, honestly not sure if she cared.

"Facts . . . can be proven." Pinkie said with a smarty-pants tone reminiscent of a certain librarian, that reeked with the idea she knew something Rainbow Dash did not. "Do you know what's always on her mind all day?"

"Uh . . . pleasing the Princess?" Dash answered.

It's me.

"Do you know that she's currently sick with a special type of magic flu that the only cure for is a party and some laughs? In other words, my specialty?"

"No . . ." Dash answered, turning her head away. "What is it?"

Pink Fever.

"Well, I know what it is, and you don't." Pinkie concluded, pushing Rainbow Dash backwards to the other edge of table, towards the seat Rainbow Dash had abandoned. "So there. That's why I should be the one to talk to her. Hmph!"

Pinkie turned her head up as she scooted her chair out and jumped off. Her nose remained firmly stuck in the air as she walked outside, a reminder to Rainbow Dash of how she lost this fight, and would again if she was so foolish as to try it in the future. Rainbow Dash scooted off the table, back into her seat and crossed her front legs. She huffed.

Pinkie made her way outside, deliberately making sure the door she opened creaked as loudly as was feasible, so that Twilight could hear it and be warned somepony was approaching her. Enough of a warning bell that Twilight could get her act together. Her facade of being in total control of herself.

The irony of it all was not lost on Pinkie, the way Twilight's necessity in making sure her feelings for Pinkie were kept under control . . . had been going on so long that Twilight has gone completely out of control of her control.

Pinkie stepped out the door, and she was able to hear Twilight's sniffling lightly, crying over the idea that everypony had pierced their facade, provoking suspicions that everypony would soon be voicing as they poked and prodded both of them for the truth. Pinkie ran up to Twilight the instant she saw a lavender back.

"Twilight! What's gotten into you!?"

"It's Spike!" Twilight explained. "He knows something's going on, Pinkie Pie! I don't know what to do . . . I might have to go away from you . . . we've been spending too much time together, everypony is starting to suspect something, but oh . . . being away from you is . . . Pinkie!"

"I'm here, I'm here . . ." Pinkie assured her as Twilight fell into her chest, murmuring a vast number of silly and sillier pet names for her poof-maned girlfriend. "It'll be okay."

"No it won't."

"It'll be fine. We just . . . have to play along. Here. Come here." Pinkie cupped Twilight's chin and brought their lips together. Twilight cried a little, imagining that this would the last time they kissed for weeks, if not months. "Feel better?"

"Mm-hm . . . a little." Twilight wiped a tear from her eye and looked up at Pinkie Pie. "But what do we do now?"

Pinkie stroked Twilight's mane, talking with a swan's level of etiquette, comforting Twilight like she was mother, not her lover. "We go back inside. We come with an excuse for why you freaked out like that, and then we help with the conversation. Understand?"

Twilight nodded. "Umm . . . I was actually upset, but, um . . . that freakout was entirely fake . . . you know . . . " Twilight scuffed her hoof. "So we could get out here and talk to each other."

"That's . . ." Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "Impressively manipulative of you, Twilight . . ."

"Yeah, well . . . I had to learn a lot of tricks when I had to keep my crush on you hidden from you." Twilight sheepishly chuckled, trying to laugh it off. She turned and calmly trotted back inside, while Pinkie stayed behind and tried to fathom the depths of how far Twilight was willing to go.

Staging a freak-out like that, so that Pinkie and her could talk alone . . . that required an intimate understanding of how her friends saw her, how her friends understood her . . . an understanding of how Pinkie would react to what Twilight's actions.

Pinkie had s startling realization. If Twilight had that much understanding of Pinkie's reaction to things, and how her friends react to things . . . the calculating, brainy intelligent unicorn could easily manipulate the entire group into doing something without them realizing it.

And if she could do that . . . what couldn't she do?

Pinkie took in a deep breath and put her hooves together, silently muttering a prayer Celestia to that Twilight's morality would keep from using this power to control the group and trick them into doing something amoral, or against the law . . .

Of course, Pinkie didn't think about that, if Twilight were to try to manipulate them into carrying out a heist, the stress of trying to not get caught would wear her out and cause her to breakdown, in turn causing the whole operation to fail.

Pinkie turned and went back inside, retaking her seat next to Twilight at Applejack's table. Applejack was serving Twilight some apple tea, which sounded kinda gross to Pinkie, but Applejack was confident it would "put a lasso on those jittery nerves of yers." Pinkie still declined, though from the sips she was taking, Twilight actually found it quite tasty.

"So, before I lost it, what were we discussing?" Twilight asked, tilting her head as the steam from her cup wiggled through the air.

"Well, Spike's upset." Applejack answered. "Ah don't know wut y'all did, or if he's using ya as a target to blow out some steam on sumthun else that's bothering 'im, but Ah do this; we need tah find some way to cheer up and get 'im better."

"Hmmm . . . " Rang through the room, as everypony put their hooves to their chins and began brainstorming, the cogwheels and gears in their brains turning and grinding, intending to come with something really cheerful. Individually, they all their own unique set of skills, but together, there was nothing they could not accomplish.

The longer it took for anypony to come up with an idea, the more Applejack frowned. Spike looked really downcast, so she wanted to do anything she could to help.

The ceiling fan quietly squeaked, its whirring becoming the most audible thing in the room from the silence. Normally it would be entirely silent, drowned by the talkative voices of enthusiastic mares below. Now, those mares were anything but enthusiastic, quiet in their thinking of Spike and what he would like for a surprise gift. Rainbow Dash had gotten so bored she got off the table, took an apple from of the Family's baskets, and began bouncing on her all four hooves while lying on her back.

"I've got it!" Rarity exclaimed, raising her voice and her hoof to the air. "I'll make him a fabulous suit! I do need some way of repaying him for getting me that fabulous case."

Everypony blinked, except Twilight who shifted her eyes.

"Um . . . no." Applejack said. "Pardon me, Rarity, but Ah just don't think Spike's interested in that sort of thing."

Rarity looked flabbergasted that anypony could 'not' be interested in obtaining her fabulous, groundbreaking clothes designs. Apple Bloom tugged on her older sister's leg and asked if she could be excused. The enlargement of Applejack's eyes made clear her distress that her little sister had been there the whole time with nothing to do while they brainstormed.

"I know what to do!" Pinkie exclaimed proudly. "We'll throw a party!"

Everypony was torn between either showing their enthusiasm for that idea, or being embarrassed it took them this long to come up with it.

"Annnd . . ." Pinkie added, putting her hooves on the table as she prepared to deliver an ultimatum of ultimate mischief making. "We'll do something really special for it."

Everypony oohed, wondering how Pinkie meant to set about and achieve that particular goal.

"We'll throw it at Fluttershy's."

Everypony shared a collective blanching as unanimously as an colony of ants with a single mind.

"What?"

"Um, Pinkie Pie, darling . . ." Rarity said softly, wondering how to be tactful about this. "Spike is a young boy . . . he likes . . . " Rarity circled her hooves through the air. "He likes games, hanging out with friends, big events . . . he'd like a party that's eventful and lively . . . "

"Yeah?" Pinkie nodded, eager for Rarity's input.

"All of which are things that are very . . . loud." Rarity said.

"Uh-huh . . ." Pinkie nodded.

Rarity pursed her lips, contemptuous and trying to hold it in, but she grew tired of how Pinkie was being dense enough she could sink like a stone in a kiddie pool's shallow water.

"FLUTTERSHY DOESN'T LIKE LOUD NOISES!"

"EEEP!" Fluttershy squealed and hid under the table, her pink tail waving to and fro as she ducked under the furniture, proving Rarity's point.

"Oh . . . oh my." Rarity realized what she had done and cleared her throat. She ducked under the table to coax Fluttershy out. "Fluttershy, darling, you can come out . . . I'm so terribly sorry, I didn't mean to yell at Pinkie like that."

Fluttershy nervously crawled out of her hiding space, putting her hooves on the table and looking between Pinkie and Rarity. "No. . . no more yelling?"

"No more yelling." Rarity promised.

"Um . . . loud noises would upset my animals . . ." Fluttershy mumbled. "But I want to help Spike feel better to . . . so, um, I guess I could, um, move my animals away into my chicken house for a little while. Just long enough to have Spike's party and be done with it."

"Then it's settled!" Twilight declared. "We'll move Fluttershy's animals and throw a Spike a great big cheering-up party, with cake and sweets and games and weapons of mass confectionery!" Twilight's tail wiggled from side to side, excited at the prospect.

Applejack raised her eyebrow at Twilight's behavior, but she dismissed it as simply the result of her wanting to see her assistant cheer up.

"All right, y'all! Let's hop to it! Everypony start getting everythang ready!"

"I'll do décor!" Rarity exclaimed, rubbing her hooves anxiously.

"I'll start moving my animals . . ." Fluttershy mumbled.

"I'll organize the preparation." Twilight said calmly.

"I'll . . . well, I don't know what," Pinkie admitted, "but it'll be LOUD and cake-y!"

Applejack turned to the strangely quiet pegasus in the room, the one that was known for being very loud and brash, and not at all quiet. "An'. . . wut are y'all gonna do, Rainbow Dash?"

"Hmm?" Rainbow Dash said, admiring her hoof the way a bipedal species would admire their nails. "Oh, yeah, yeah . . . don't worry, I've got a plan."

"That only makes me worry more . . ." Applejack muttered.


Applejack went out of the house and went back to her orchard, bucking the apple trees for extra surplus of the red fruits. She needed some extra hauls in to give her enough to make some extra apple cider, apple tea, apple juice, and all sorts of other variety of apple-tastic beverages.

"Hiiiii-yeah!" Applejack brazenly charged at one of her trees, swerving around so her hind legs were at the location of her front legs at the last minute and bucking one of the trees with all her might, causing its apples to cascade down in a glorious rain of stemmed crimson orbs.

"Hi, Applejack!" Pinkie said, appearing from thin air behind and startling Applejack so badly she jumped up straight into the now-empty branch of her tree.

"Oh!" Applejack said, looking down as she hugged the branch like a koala bear. "Pinkie Pie! Y'all startled me, eh-heh."

"Oooh . . . sorry." Pinkie apologized. "Just wanted to see how everything was coming along for the party."

"Fine. Just fine. Thank y'all for checkin' up on me." Applejack said, salvaging her pride. The branch she was began to creak, and she flailed to grab out and reach onto adjacent one before the one she was on gave way, but she couldn't reach it in time and fell down to earth with the branch as it snapped under her weight, leaving her as messy pile of oranges limb tangled up in a twisted knot of branch.

"Ah'm okay!"

Pinkie had already walked away to another part of the orchard, so Applejack was reassuring only thin air of her condition.

Pinkie bounced merrily along the orchards until she suddenly bumped into a familiar feeling chest . . .

"Oh!"

"Twilight!"

"Pinkie!"

The two of them immediately began stammering excuses for themselves.

"I, uh, I didn't see you there . . . "

"I was just checking on Applejack's progress. You know, for the party!"

"Oh. Really? I was about to do that."

"Well, I just did, so I guess you don't have to!"

"All right . . . here. Let me- get out of your way."

"If you'll just step to the side a little, I'll-"

The two of them began an awkward dance, stepping to the left, right, diagonally, horizontal, vertical, and for Pinkie, some odd combination of the first two and last one. As a result of their clumsy attempts to by the other, Twilight tripped on Pinkie's hoof and fell onto her back, making her fall right into Pinkie's mane . . . Pinkie's deliciously-sweet scented mane.

"Mmm . . . !" Twilight moaned as she took in whiff after whiff of the desirable-smelling pink hair. She couldn't help herself. She grabbed Pinkie's sides and pushed herself up, then stepped backwards and readied herself to jump. Once she had enough distance, she bounded into the air, tackling Pinkie to the ground and causing them to tumble around the orchards until they were safely behind a tree, where nopony could see them . . . unless they came right next to them. Pinkie wasn't sure what just happened, until her eyes focused on a lavender nose that was pressing up against hers.

"You are so sweet." Twilight complimented, rubbing Pinkie's cheek. "In more ways than one! I mean . . . throwing this party for Spike. It's so . . .you, but I think it's just the thing we need for him and us."

"Uh-huh!" Pinkie nodded enthusiastically as Twilight's hoof trailed down her chest. They began giggling mischievously. Twilight was so caught in the volume of it she didn't notice Pinkie's giggling was much less mischievous and much more anxious than hers.

"Uh . . . wut are you two doin'?"

Twilight's and Pinkie's widening in unison. They turned to see Applejack standing there, barrels of apples over her haunches, looking at them from over by the tree, with a confused stare.

"Uh . . . uh . . ." Twilight stammered. As she had done more than a few times before, Pinkie came to her rescue.

"We were playing and didn't watch where we were going, so we tripped over one of your tree trunks." Pinkie explained, hoping that would make Applejack go away. Instead, it brought her closer.

"Tarnation, gurls! Didn't yer mama teach ya not to play near the really big ones?" Applejack rushed over to help the two of them. "Did ya hurt anything? Broken nose? Sprained ankle?"

"We're fine, just a little dizzy." Twilight answered, attempting to shoo away the hoof Applejack was extending to help them up.

"Be more careful next time!" Applejack scolded as she walked away to the next portion of the farm, easily seeing her help was neither needed nor wanted.

Twilight slowly scooted upwards, and for once, was able to drag herself off Pinkie Pie. She helped Pinkie Pie up to her hooves, only for Pinkie to turn around and scold her.

"That was way too close." Twilight reflected.

"Yes, it was!" Pinkie snapped. "You need to be more careful next time!"

"I know . . ." Twilight whined, crossing one of her legs in front of the other as her tail curled around her Cutie Mark shyly. "I'm sorry . . ."

Seeing so apprehensive, Pinkie felt bad for getting on to her. But like any motherly figure in charge of teaching her young charge the difference between right and wrong, 'okay' and 'not okay', it needed to be done. Which was not to say an apology could not be offered afterward.

"Come on." Pinkie put a hoof to Twilight's neck. "Let's go the library."

Twilight smiled, overjoyed at the thought of being able to get some quality cuddling time with Pinkie. Her Pinkie.


Spike waddled towards the Carousel Boutique, meaning if maybe his crush knew anything about Twilight and Pinkie's recent activities and behavior towards him . . . and each other. From the sounds he heard as he approached, she must have been busy. He heard thwacks of wood smacking against other words, likely a discarded ruler being carelessly tossed into a drawer, having outlived its usefulness to her. He heard rustlings and tearing of clothes, rustling of linen, but none of that deterred him from wanting to see her.

"Rarity?" Spike asked, knocking on the door. "Rarity, are you in there? I sort of need your help with something!"

The door opened, but it was Sweetie Belle, not Rarity. Spike felt a syringe full of awkwardness and inadequacy unload into his arm upon seeing her again. Her black eye had gone down considerably, on the very brink of being completely gone, but that didn't make him feel any better about remembering he had hurt her in the first place.

"Hey." Spike shifted his legs, uncomfortable and nervous. "You all right?"

"Yeah?" Sweetie Belle nodded, missing the cues that would've let her know what was upsetting him.

"That's good . . . that's good!" Spike nodded his head. "So, um . . . I know I already gave you that apology sundae, but...do you forgive me?"

"Yes." Sweetie Belle answered.

Spike's held his claw in the air, disbelief rising out of his belly like he was about give off a huge belch. "Wha-really?"

"Yeah . . ." Sweetie Belle rubbed shyly at the base of her ear. "I've had some time to think about it, and . . . it's not like you did on purpose, right? Accidents happen...at least, that's what Applejack says, according to Apple Bloom. Besides, we Cutie Mark Crusaders haven't been without our share of accidents!" Sweetie Belle swung her hoof through the air. "So, uh . . . can I help you?"

"Yes! I want to ask Rarity a question . . ." Spike rubbed his claws together. "It's . . . kind of important."

"Ooh, I don't think that's such a good idea right now . . .she's not still mad at you, but she is, um...busy." The whir of a sewing machine buzzed from behind Sweetie Belle, before it somehow turned into a klaxon alarm followed by an exclamation of "Drat!"

"See?"

"Please?" Spike begged, getting on his knees. "It really means a lot me I ask her about this!"

Sweetie Belle stilled seemed uncertain, but seeing Spike on his knees seemed to change her mind. "All right." She nodded and went back inside, calling her sister's name as Spike followed behind her. "Hey, Rarity?"

"Yes, darling?"

"Spike's here! He wants to ask you a question!"

"What!?"

Rarity came rushing out to meet them, her beautiful sharp eyes holding a twinge to them Spike had come to understand met she was in the zone. Not 'in the zone' in the way Rarity normally got in, but actually in the zone, like so far gone in her passion for fashion there was no use trying to beg or reason with her. "You can't be here right now!" Rarity shrieked, pointing at Spike.

"But . . . I thought that you forgave me!" Spike protested.

Rarity scoffed. "Oh, psshaw, darling, it has nothing to do with that. Sweetie Belle, get him out of here, now!"

"Uh, okay. How?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't know!" Rarity snapped, walking towards the other room. "Distract him! Kiss him or something, just get him out!"

Sweetie Belle turned to Spike and pursed her lips, indecisive between obeying her sister's will and not putting her lips to Spike's scaly own. Spike decided it was best to just be nice and surrender before she could make her decision. He threw his arms into the air. "Okay, okay! I'm going, I'm going . . ."

Spike stepped out the door, Sweetie Belle closing it behind while passing along a quiet apology for Rarity kicking him out.

Spike signed, not sure where to go next or who to turn to. He had been hoping Rarity would know about Pinkie and Twilight, since this seems like her kind of thing (and Twilight and Pinkie had been going to her for advice for some reason, over something. . .)

He saw Rainbow Dash sitting on a cloud, sitting in a position otherwise abnormal for ponies unless they were holding something nearly as big as they were.

Spike heard a string go twang somewhere nearby, but he wasn't sure where.

He didn't think Rainbow Dash would know anything about Pinkie's and Twilight's behavior. The same way it was Rarity's thing, it was soo not Rainbow Dash's thing, but she was just a few steps away, and he already tried Applejack, he couldn't ask Pinkie or Twilight themselves, certainly, and Fluttershy was on the other end of town . . .

So he stepped forward and called her name. "Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash, can you hear me up there?"

"Hmm?" Rainbow Dash's ears perked up, and she rolled over to look down at the lowly earth beneath her to see what eternally earthbound mortal was desiring her attention today. Spike's attention was caught by the presence of a guitar in her hooves.

The guitar had a long neck that ended in a blue plastic – or metal, Spike couldn't tell from the ground – 'V', and the body of was round and covered in the same blue material. Its neck was long, but thin.

"What's that?" Spike asked, pointing at the guitar.

"Oh, this?" Rainbow Dash said like the guitar was nothing special. "Just a guitar I happened to find lying around. Been trying to make it work off and on since. Can't you believe somepony threw this bad boy out!?"

Rainbow Dash began strumming a tune on the guitar, using the edges of her hooves to draw the strings. She got a good start, especially considering that she had no fingers or claws, but something occurred to Spike;

What if it was thrown away for a reason?

His thoughts prove correct, as Rainbow Dash's nice start didn't last, as she guitar suddenly went out of tune, producing harsh metallic sounds that Spike found painful to listen to. Rainbow Dash didn't even seem to notice, as she kept playing without a care in the world.

Spike then noticed a sight most unwelcome approaching him. A little white ball of fluff mounted on another white ball of fluff. A rabbit. A rodentia. A bunny.

Angel Bunny.

Evidently, he had come for revenge for Spike scaring him yesterday, and was ready to to deliver some serious payback to the dragon. Spike balled his claws into fists and got ready to engage in a ball of violence, clawing and poking at each other.

Angel Bunny got to Spike's feet and shook his fists at Spike. Spike got his dukes ready, and was about to strike when something unexpected happen.

"Hey!"

Angel and Spike turned to see a young colt approaching them. He had a dark beige coat and scraggy black hair that covered his eyes, making Rainbow Dash think of a bully she knew named Hoops. This colt was almost a dead ringer, except he wasn't a pegasus and was wearing a black shirt with a vague white picture on it, along with a red sports cap.

"What do you think you're doing, bunny?" The colt hissed at Angel, an indignation in his voice as he snarled the name of Angel's species name. "Trying to take on somepony who didn't do nothing wrong, I'll bet?"

Angel leered, chittering his little bunny teeth angrily, probably swearing in his secret bunny language. He thought better of trying to pick a fight with both of them and hopped away from them.

"Thanks." Spike thanked his unusual rescuer. "You hate Angel, too, huh?"

"Angel?" The colt questioned. "He has a name? . . . Sorry, no, no, see I just- I just hate rabbits, is all. Bad experience with them when I was younger. And I just so happened to hear somepony playing some pretty rock-out tunes, so I came over to find out what the deal was."

"Uh, yeah." Rainbow Dash affirmed arrogantly, lowering herself to the ground. "That was me." She held the guitar up proudly.

"Oh, dude!" The colt exclaimed. "Where did you find that? My mom threw it out by accident a few years ago!"

"Oh . . . so that's why it was in the trash." Rainbow Dash's tone turned dejected, as she realized this colt would probably want his guitar. Spike, meanwhile, wasn't so sure it was an accident, given how out of tune it was. Rainbow Dash held it up. "I guess that means you'll want it back, huh?"

"Nah." The colt waved his hoof. "You can keep it. She got me a pretty sweet replacement. So you were the one playing it, huh?"

"Uh-huh!" Rainbow Dash nodded and set about playing again. Spike, taking precautions, put his claws over his ear holes, much to the colt's confusion, and began sneaking away. The colt liked what Rainbow Dash was pumping out, at least until the guitar suddenly turned out-of-tune again, forcing the colt to put his hoof on the strings to stop when Rainbow Dash wouldn't.

"Dude, what is wrong with you?" The colt questioned. "Can't you hear that this thing is waaay out of tune?"

"It is?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"Yeah. Here . . . if you'll give me it, I'll see about fixing it up a little bit . . ." Rainbow Dash willingly surrendered the guitar to its former owner, who sighed at its touch. "Ooh . . . this brings back memories . . . anyways . . ." He began fiddling with the tuners on the guitar. While he worked, Rainbow Dash got an idea.

"Hey . . ." Rainbow Dash called for his attention. "Me and some friends of mine are throwing a party of that little dragon that just walked off."

"Oh?" The colt lifted his head up, and Rainbow Dash knew she had him hooked. "Is it his birthday?"

"No, no . . ." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "He's just feeling down is all. But I was thinking . . . you must have some friends of your own, right?"

"Yeah?" The colt answered, curious where Rainbow Dash was going with this.

"Well . . . think you could round them up and bring them to the party?" Rainbow Dash said teasingly. "You know, liven it up a little?"

"Yeah. We could do that. . ." The colt said as he handed the guitar back to Rainbow Dash.


Twilight, lying with Pinkie on her couch, was startled by Pinkie's body suddenly engaging in wild motions that shook her about, like Twilight was trying to ride Pinkie like a bronco.

"Pinkie!?" Twilight exclaimed, her love shaking like jello in her hooves. "What's wrong!?"

"Pinkie Sense!" Pinkie answered.

"What's it saying?"

"That our friend of ours is about to inadvertently completely ruin something for another friend of ours!"

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth and worried, as with what was going, she could only reach a few, only slightly varying conclusions. "I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the party . . ."

"I hope so too." Pinkie said, wrapping her leg around Twilight's neck.


Spike waddled over to Fluttershy's house, despite his suspicions Angel was somewhere around here, waiting for Spike to pass by and then spring from the dirt and grass to take a terrible revenge on him.

As he got closer to the shed, Spike noticed that it seemed quiet. Almost too quiet, even for Fluttershy. It wasn't until he was at the door and about to knock did he realized what was wrong.

There were no animals around. Normally, there were at least some animals around, even if they were so much as just butterflies butterflying into the wind from one plant to another. They were there, usually, which is something they most certainly were not now.

"Hmm..." He rested his claw against the door, accidentally scratching it with his long draconian nails. Spike grimaced and hoped that the damage he did to the door was negligible, or at least easily fixed. Both fortunately and unfortunately, Fluttershy heard the scratch and mistook it for somepony, so she opened the door...slamming Spike into the wall.

"Hello?" Fluttershy asked the air. "Is-is somepony there?"

"Mmm mmmhf mmhpf!" Spike protested, flailing his limbs about to get her attention before she retreated back inside and dismissed it all as a freak accident.

"Oh!" Fluttershy pulled the door back, giving Spike a much desired look at fresh air and sunlight again. "Oh my goodness! Are you all right, Spike?"

"Yeah . . ." Spike put his claws on his knees. "Just need...to breath...for a second."

"Why don't you come inside?" Fluttershsy kindly offered.

Spike glared, remembering yesterday and how well him coming inside had turned out for him. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Fluttershy nodded. "I promise Angel isn't going to be upsetting you."

Spike raised his eyebrow. He knew Fluttershy was a generous and gracious host, but short of locking that rodent in a box and throwing him over a cliff (and preferably into a pit full of manticores, dragons, giant spiders and whatever else Fluttershy could find) Spike didn't think there way any way for Fluttershy to guarantee Angle not upsetting him.

But seeing her stare at him so expectantly, Spike sighed and gave in. "Fine." He followed her inside the door to her home.

Spike had been here before, of course, yesterday and a few times before that. So he understood what the place looked like enough that he couldn't get over how off something was...something he couldn't quite put his claw on... what was it...

"Where is Angel, anyway?"

"Oh, he's out right now." Fluttershy answered, going into the kitchen and pulling out a teapot. She set the teapot on the stove and turned on the burner underneath it. "We're throwing you a party at my house to cheer you up, so all my animal friends are elsewhere. Angel wasn't too happy about it . . ."

Spike's first thought about this was that may have the actual reason Angel was looking to pick a fight with him. He didn't want revenge for yesterday, he wanted to vent his frustration he'd been kicked out today.

Although with what went on in that rabbit's mind . . . who knows? Spike briefly wondered how Fluttershy put up with so much and why she doted on him even more than her other pets.

Spike's second thought was that was a very generous thing for Fluttershy to do. He knew she didn't like loud noises, and he also knew how much each and every one of her animal friends meant to her, so for her to send them away at all must have been incredibly taxing on her . . .or, there was something he wasn't aware that factored in her ultimate decision.

His third thought was that everypony was throwing him a party.

"A party? For me?" Spike asked. Fluttershy nodded, before turning back to the tea kettle. "What for?"

"Well . . . " Fluttershy pursed her lips. "We've noticed you've been sad about something lately, so we decided to try to cheer you up. Pinkie said throwing it at my house would make it 'special'."

"That's awfully sweet of her . . ." Spike muttered, blushing that Pinkie would take such extreme lengths just to make him feel better.

There was a knock on the door.

"Is that-?" Spike asked eagerly, rubbing his claws in anticipation.

"I hope so!" Fluttershy answered. She rushed towards the door and opened it. Spike closed his eyes, trying to brace for the disappointment of it being somepony besides their friends.

"Hey, Fluttershy!"

Spike opened his eyes. That was Twilight's voice.

"Ready for the party?"

"Oh, your timing is perfect! I just told Spike all about it!"

"Yeah! Maybe a surprise would've nicer, but surprise parties are loud, and it is your house..." Twilight muttered.

Soon, everypony came pouring in – Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, the whole gang, except for Rainbow Dash. Spike wondered why she didn't show up.

Pinkie must have read his mind, as the first thing she said was "Has anypony seen Rainbow Dash?"

Everypony answered in the negative.

"Huh . . ." Pinkie muttered. "That's weird . . . normally she loves parties."

"She probably thought something rude." Twilight said skeptically. "Like, 'Party at Fluttershy's? Ugh! Dullsville'!" Twilight shook her and snorted.

Fluttershy grew concerned. "Are you okay, Twilight? You're not usually this...cynical about Rainbow Dash."

Twilight sighed. "No, Fluttershy, no, I'm not. I'm very stressed out." Twilight wrapped her legs around the shoulders of her number one assistant. "But this party is about making Spike feel better, not me."

"Aww . . .Twilight!" Spike lifted Twilight's leg off himself. "Who says you don't deserve some cheering up of your own?"

Twilight's lips faltered for a second. In that second, Spike might have been able to catch a glimpse of the strenuous control she was exercising each and every day, but he wasn't as socially trained as Rarity or Twilight was, so he missed it.

Seeing as they were at Flutterhshy's, and not somewhere spacious like the library or Sugercube Corner, everypony forewent the usual party options of raucous games and all just sat down for tea. Applejack gave Spike a cup of odd-smelling brown drink, which he discovered to be apple scented upon sniffing it.

"What's this?" Spike questioned.

"Apple tea!" Applejack answered proudly. "Soothes the nerves and calms the heart, Granny Smith used tah tell me."

Spike eyed it warily. Apple tea? That's like putting a banana inside a sapphire cupcake; it just doesn't work that way.

"Try it!" Twilight insisted, holding in her magic a cup of the same stuff. "It's actually quite good!" She sipped at her cup to prove her point.

There was another knock to the door.

"Ah . . . Rainbow Dash, unfashionably late as always." Rarity wittily remarked.

Twilight levitated her cup down and pulled open the door, to be met with Rainbow Dash . . . as a well as whole bunch of other ponies! They all some resemblance to the guitarist Rainbow Dash met earlier, with simple T-shirts and manecuts that put either some or all of their hair in front of their eyes.

"Wha-!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Rainbow Dash! Who are these ponies?"

"Some cool guys I met today." Rainbow Dash answered. "Figured I'd bring them along. Y'know, liven things up a little."

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight chided. "This is supposed to be a quiet party!"

"Aw, come on!" Dash insisted, as the rowdy bunch behind began exchanging murmurs and whispers as to what was the hold-up. "It's only six or eight guys, and who knows?" Rainbow Dash wiggled her eyebrows. "Maybe we could even find a few coltfriends out of them, huh?"

Twilight was not amused, and not just because swung the other way. "Very funny. Take this crowd go to a concert where they belong!"

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash insisted again, whining this time. "I brought them all the way out here, and it'll be fine!"

"It will?" Twilight asked, extremely doubtful Rainbow Dash could back up that assurance.

"Yeah!"

Twilight pursed her lips. Any condition she set, was more or less guaranteed to not be met, so it was less like giving Rainbow Dash a condition she had to meet to let these colts inside and more like trying to warn Rainbow Dash what her punishment would be that Twilight would carry out.

"Fine. Fine. But if things get out of hoof, you will be held responsible, and I will . . . I'm still working on that."

Twilight stepped aside, reluctantly, allowing Rainbow Dash and her new 'posse' to rush in, much to the startling of Fluttershy and Rarity. Pinkie's eyes widened when she saw what Rainbow Dash had done. Spike was just confused, caught in the middle of it all . . . as usual.

"What's going on?" Spike asked, confused and not recognizing any of these ponies.

"Rainbow Dash." Pinkie snarled, clenching her hoof around her ceramic cup so tightly it shattered. "Oop! Uh . . . I'll pay you for a replacement, Fluttershy."

Little did they know, the mess of ceramic shards and spilt apple tea that pooled at Pinkie's feet was the first test of Fluttershy's resolve. "It's fine . . . just . . . clean up what you spilled, would you, please? Um, if that's okay?"

"Of course!" Pinkie answered, departing to look for a broom. She shot a filthy glare at Rainbow Dash. Spike noticed Pinkie and Twilight were both shooting Rainbow Dash glares. Matching glares, with the exact expression in the exact same position, and he could read from their eyes they were thinking the exact same thing. They were imagining doing to Rainbow Dash something very pleasant to be thinking of doing to somepony, but not so pleasant for that somepony to go through.

"So!" One of the hipsters Rainbow Dash had dragged gave Spike a scare by poking his head into the conversation he was having with Fluttershy. "I hear this party is for you?"

"Uh . . . yeah." Spike stammered, a little rattled from the surprise guest and their abrupt way of addressing.

"Well . . . come on, little dude!" The hipster picked Spike and lifted the dragon onto the back of his neck, and whisked him away to the center of the living room floor, where they were engaging in free form break dancing. (The horror!) Spike was dropped into the middle of it. He was hesitant, but after awhile, he got into the swing of things, while the crown began doing more typical party things, like Twister and cranking out the tunes on a boombox.

"Mmnnnee . . ." Fluttershy whimpered when the colt in questioned pressed the power button on said boombox. He kept it low, as the house wasn't all that big, and therefore, did not have a whole of ground for the vibrations of sound to cover.

"Honestly . . ." Rarity said, drawing up to Rainbow Dash alongside Pinkie Pie and Twilight. "What were you thinking, Rainbow Dash?"

"I was thinking these guys could liven up the party some!" Rainbow Dash replied, unaffected by how upset everypony was with her. "I mean, who wants to just sit down and talk while drinking apple tea? Boooring!"

Twilight narrowed her eyes, subtly trying to regain control before she said something she'd regret.

"Besides!" Rainbow Dash elbowed Rarity. "Who knows? We might be able to score a few coltfriends in this crowd!"

"Well . . . I suppose." Rarity admitted, latching onto the idea that something worth her valuable time might come from Rainbow Dash's roguish behavior. She took a quick glance over a the crowd. "No, no . . . not my type, none of them."

"What about you, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Think you see one of these handsome boys in your future?"

"Actually, Twilight and Pinkie already have boyfriends." Rarity informed Rainbow Dash.

"Whoa! No kidding? Really? Who are they?" Rainbow Dash's wings popped up, she was so excited at the idea of Egghead and Pinkie the Party Pony at having boyfriends.

Twilight continued to not be amused, but she exchanged a knowing glance with Pinkie and smiled.

"Actually, Rainbow Dash, my boyfriend is already in this crowd." Twilight smugly told her.

"Really?"

"Oooh!" Rarity squealed. "Which one is it? Is that in the corner with the overbite? Librarians love the overbite." She added as an aside to Rainbow Dash.

"No." Twilight answered, drawing her neck back. "First name is Nunya, last name is Ofyerbisness."

"What kind of name is Nunya Ofyerbisness-!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, but saying the name all together let her realize the pun. "Oh. Haha. Very funny."

Nopony noticed Fluttershy's whimpers steadily grow louder, er, quieter and more high-pitched. She tried to handle the loud noise, the music, and all these ponies she didn't know. She didn't want to ruin Spike's party. She held her hoof and took a breath to calm herself before putting her cup of tea down and trotting towards the owner of the boombox.

"Um, excuse me, sir?" Fluttershy said gently, waving her for his attention. "Could you turn the music down?"

The colt seemed not to hear her, as he turned to the nearest other hipster on his right. "What? What did she say?"

"I think she said for you to turn the music loud!"

Fluttershy went bug-eyed. "NO! Turn the music down!"

But her panicked shout fell on deaf ears – which were quite possibly actually deaf, at least one side, but she wasn't sure, and it was rude to ask- and the colt hit the volume button on his device until it was so loud that it literally threw Fluttershy backwards into the wall.

Despite the music now threatening to tear apart Fluttershy's house by a sound-induced earthquake, Spike noticed his yellow friend go flying into the wall and rushed over to check on her.

"Hey . . ." Spike said softly to her, getting on his knees to bring their faces closer to each other. "You okay?"

Fluttershy looked at him, her big innocent green eyes growing in size considerably. "Ooooh!" She turned around until she was right-side up on her hooves again and slammed her hoof on the ground. "Spike, I am so so sorry. I really didn't want to ruin your party, but I can't take it anymore!"

Fluttershy began to march towards the colt and the boombox, and Spike found that he was genuinely worried for the colt's safety. Hope his parents have a good life insurance policy...

Fluttershy stomped towards the boombox, the floor beneath trembling 'neath every powerful step. An angry force of nature had been awoken by amoral shames and ambitions druids to wreak havoc on mere mortals, and its name was Fluttershy.

Fluttershy took in a deep breath like she was going to scream her head off until the colt's ears jumped off his head and ran away...and calmly placed her hoof on the boombox's power button, turning it off so she could speak. Since she had turned the music off, she had all of the colts' attention.

"Um, I'm so sorry to ask this of you, everypony, but I don't like loud noises . . . or loud music, and this is my house, so I'm going to have to ask you all to GET OUT! . . . Please. If-if that's not too much trouble."

Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy, then, realizing she may have made a mistake in bringing all those colts here, started to creep towards the door.

"Oh no you don't." Twilight noticed and used her magic to grab Rainbow's tail and pull her back inside. "You're going to stay here and see this to the end, you little-"

Pinkie quickly lashed her tail around Twilight's head before she called Rainbow Dash something unsavory, making it look like Twilight had put on a big pink scarf. Put it on wrong at that.

Thankfully, everything turned out actually rather well. The teens all took their hats (at least the ones wearing hats) and admitted they may have took things a little too far. They all surrounded Fluttershy and asked what they could do to make it up to her. Clean around her house, go out and pick her up some stuff from the store, maybe take care of her pet for a week while she went on vacation. (Oh, if only they knew what that entailed!) Needlessly to say, Fluttershy was overwhelmed at all the request, but also a little surprised they were being so humble. She set them about doing the first suggestion; cleaning her house.

As they scrambled to get to work, and tried in vain to figure out where the ever-tidy Fluttershy kept all her myriad cleaning supplies, Fluttershy went to talk some more with Spike, feeling repentant about her actions. Even though they were entirely justified, and Rainbow Dash should have been the one to feel guilt.

"I'm sorry for ruining your party, Spike."

"Aw . . . it's okay." Spike assured her with a wave. "At least I got to try to breakdance. That was kinda cool...you know, while it lasted." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Fluttershy asked, wanting to make things up.

"Ah, you don't have to do any of that! Although . . ." Spike looked at Twilight and Pinkie over in the corner, and leaned in to whisper. He pointed at the two mares. "If you could tell me what's going on with those two..."

"I, um..." Fluttershy stammered, and Spike's heart skipped a beat as he imagined that finally, somepony was going to tell what was going on!

"I think Twilight noticed you pointing at them."

Oh, for the love of Celestia- oh dear. That meant Twilight had noticed him pointing at them. Twilight stomping towards him, looking not at all pleased.

"I hear you've been asking around about Pinkie and I are doing . . ." Twilight said to Spike suspiciously.

Spike gulped, swallowing hard in fright. "Y-yeah."

"Well, let's clear this up right now; what Pinkie and I are doing are adult things that do not concern you. As much you may not want to admit it, Spike, you're still a baby dragon." Twilight turned and left on that sour reminder.

Spike looked down at the floor, Twilight's words ringing in his head.

Pinkie saw his downcast expression as Twilight walked back up to herself. Pinkie reached around Twilight's neck and pulled her somewhere they could talk without anypony hearing. "Twilight . . . are you sure that was the right thing to say?"

"No." Twilight said with a sigh. "But he's not ready for the truth yet."

"How do you know?"

"I don't . . ." Twilight admitted. "While we're still living in Canterlot, it . . . it never came up."

"Hm. Well . . ." Pinkie looked away, not looking Twilight in the eye as she prepared to deliver the crippling blow she was about to. "I have to be honest with you, Twilight . . . I don't know if Spike is ready or not . . ."

Pinkie started walking towards the direction of the door, and looked over her wither at her beau.

"I just know that you're not."

Twilight was about to protest, but she couldn't think of one. She resigned herself to just standing with her face pointed at the ground, just like Spike currently was in another part of Fluttershy's house, as Pinkie walked out the door.

Author's Note:

That ending represents a running theme I have, that Pinkie - space-minded, air headed, doesn't think like a normal pony Pinkie- is somehow more down to earth in a relationship than logical, rational raised by high society Twilight.

There's also a running idea I have in this...continuity family of mine that in the process of being in a relationship, Twilight and Pinkie start to pick up and do the others' traits.