It's A Lonely Cause

by FamousLastWords

If You're Gonna Take a Chance

Spike looked at his watch. It was nine-twenty and the hunt was just getting started. All the couples had just received their slips of paper, detailing the first stop on their quest to win the scavenger hunt. What was amazing was that no two ponies would have the same path to victor, each with different clues to find and locations to visit. This at least assisted in making the game more fair to where everypony had their own challenge to tackle.

But Flitter could care less about being fair. No matter the circumstances getting laid out in front of her, she just wanted to beat her sister. Whatever path it took to get there was fine by her. Victory needed to be in her grasp, and by victory in her grasp, Flitter meant Poptart holding her in his hooves, and she would do whatever it took to make it happen. Hence the fact that she showed up with a dragon she officially met for the first time the night before.

“Hey, Flitter?” he asked.

“What?” Flitter asked. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a mental monologue?”

“Ah, gotcha,” he replied. “I mean, that’s cool and all, mental monologues are important now and again, but don’t you want to get started? Your sister and Poptart already looked at their clue and left the park.”

“Huh?” Flitter looked up and sure enough the bane of her existence was far out of her field of vision. Curses! She monologued for too long! “Thanks for the heads up, Spike! We gotta be on the edge of our hooves with this. No time for messing around.”

Flitter popped open their designated small piece of paper and read over it. “Okay, let’s see what’s up.”

“What’s it say?” Spike asked.

Flitter held up the paper where he could read it along with her and she began to read aloud: “‘A place where happiness is only a cupcake away!’”

The two both eyed the cryptic clue on the piece of paper. Cupcakes, happiness? Where could this first clue be leading them? As far as Flitter was concerned, it could be anywhere in Ponyville. This was no ordinary starting clue.

“Alright, Spike,” she stated, pulling the clue closer to her own eyes. “This is going to be a hard one, but maybe if we dissect each word on its own, then maybe the picture as a whole will become more—”

“Sugarcube Corner!” Spike called out aloud. “That’s an easy one!”

Flitter’s eyes burst open. Of course! Happiness and cupcakes - two personality traits commonly associated with one pony and one pony only: Pinkie Pie! That had to be it!

“I think you’re right, Spike!” She cried aloud. “Come! We have no time to waste!” She grabbed a hold of his claw with one hoof and began to drag him behind her as she took off.

They were off to Sugarcube Corner where part one of her victory tour would begin!

---

“So, as I was saying… this is really easy and—”

Flitter grit her teeth as she and Spike walked up the steps of the Sugarcube Corner. She was already anxious, her mind racing at the thought that other ponies sounded like they were ahead of them. If she hadn’t lived in her head so often she wouldn’t have these mental breakdowns of hers. They were derailing her sanity, at this point. Thankfully, she had Spike with her—

“Flitter, are you—”

“Yes, Spike, I’m just thinking,” she said, groaning. “Come on, let’s get inside!”

Quickly, she pushed the doors of the establishment open, thrusting the pair into the world of sweets. The smells of cupcakes, muffins, and other assorted baked goods tickled Flitter’s muzzle, the scent making her drift towards the counter.

Spike followed close behind, although he wasn’t so enamoured by it. The aroma was sweet, but he was hungry for some gems… but he wouldn’t mind a cupcake from Pinkie. Speaking of, where was she?

They looked around the establishment. She wasn’t behind the counter, or at the tables to their right. They didn’t hear any sort of commotion in the store at all. Where was she?

“Pinkie Pie?”

Spike called out to the abyss, yet it didn’t answer back.

“Weird, I thought she would be here. Where would she—”

“Surprise!”

Suddenly, a pink fluff monster that just so happened to be named Pinkie Pie jumped out from a random corner above them, sailing down directly next to the couple. She somehow didn’t break the floorboards with her landing. The two nearly jumped out of their own skin, Spike stretching his arm out to protect Flitter, while Flitter almost banged her head on the counter. Luckily for her, she was able to shove herself off the wall with her wing, but she wasn’t happy about it, grimacing as she gripped her wing.

“Whoops! Too much surprise?”

Flitter rolled her eyes. “More like a heart attack, if you ask me.”

“Ignore her, she’s just injury prone,” Spike replied dryly, earning a glare from Flitter. He shrugged and turned his attention to Pinkie. “So! Hey, Pinkie! Is this your clue?”

“I don’t know, silly! Tell me, what is the clue?”

Spike took the note from Flitter and read it out loud, “‘A place where happiness is only a cupcake away.’”

Pinkie Pie grinned ear-to-ear. “Yep! That’s mine!” She giggled to herself. “So, guess I’m going to be serving you up one of my special cupcakes!”

Spike and Flitter watched as Pinkie hopped behind the counter with a bit too much spring in her legs. She almost somehow hit a light fixture in the process, which made Spike wonder if she was part pegasus.

“So! Are you both excited?!”

Spike raised a brow. “Kind of. More like worried. You haven’t told us what this ‘special cupcake’ is.”

Pinkie let out a hearty laugh. “It’s something that will make you both crazy in love!”

Flitter’s eyes widened. That was not part of the plan. She did not want to fall in love with Spike, even though he wasn’t too bad on the eyes, he wasn’t…sigh...Poptart. Her heart fluttered at even thinking of his name now, either that or she was feeling like she was about to barf. She couldn’t tell sometimes, but maybe that’s for the best. She didn’t want any of the other ponies that they’d run across to think something was wrong, that she and Spike weren’t a couple. That would completely ruin everything.

Spike laughed too, his voice cracking as he spoke, “I b-bet! Listen, if your cupcakes can actually do that, make sure you do not let Twilight or Cadance know. I swear, that’s nearly close to magic warfare you’re about to weaponize there.”

Flitter shook her head. That’s so goofy. A cupcake? Being weaponized? If Pinkie actually made this work, maybe she could request a few to… well, be a bit more geared towards her sister. Of course, it wouldn’t be based in love. That would be totally uncool.

“Trust me, I’m the only pony that could do that,” Pinkie declared, smirking. She threw a cupcake pan into the air. The pan landed on the counter with a loud CLANG, which echoed in Spike and Flitter’s ears.

Spike recovered first. He had shook his head, only to realize that Pinkie, somehow, with any time passing, had a cupcake ready for the two to devour. It had purple and light blue frosting intermixing in a swirl, and in the center laid a pink cherry, which matched Flitter’s bow. Spike stared at it in wonder, while Flitter still looked like she had seen something crazy, which Spike wasn’t ready to ask her about. It wasn’t his place, was it?

Flitter was unaware of it, but Spike was right: she was seeing something. She saw three Pinkies and three Spikes. Somehow that pan clanging against the counter top scrambled her vision to the point of no return. She was worried that if it didn’t change up soon, she was going to be permanently stuck with everything in threes. Now she definitely wanted to barf.

Luckily for her, Spike had turned to check on her. He cupped her cheek a bit, pushing her muzzle up for him to get a better look. “Everything okay, Flitter? You look a little messed up. Just being honest here.”

Flitter shook her head out of his grip. Now there were only two Spikes. Still one too many. “I’m totally fine!” She chuckled awkwardly to herself. “Look, I can walk this off.”

Spike smirked. “Okay, do it.”

Flitter took her first step and gasped. Her foreleg had wobbled when she tried to move it. She almost met the floor for the first time today, but she saved herself by shifting her balance toward the wall, leaning gently up against it. She turned to see Spike still wearing that smirk, only it was starting to morph into one of those grins that Cloudchaser wore whenever she caught Flitter putting her hoof in the cookie jar.

That back then irritated the heck out of her, and she didn’t want Spike to emulate it.

“Don’t say it—”

Spike shrugged. “My bad. When you said ‘walk it off’ I thought you meant with like... actual steps.”

Blood coursed through Flitter’s veins, and slowly but surely, she became flushed. She growled low, hopefully low enough that Pinkie didn’t hear her, but knowing her luck, that mare would hear her and—

“What was that noise? It sounded like a hungry pony!”

Flitter facehooved. She facehooved hard.

Spike laughed, and grabbed the cupcake off the counter. “How much do I owe you, Pinkie?”

Pinkie shook her head so hard, Spike thought she almost snapped her neck. Thankfully, after the mare’s eyes stopped spinning in her head, she added, “No can do, Spike! This is all part of the clue!”

Then, Pinkie’s muzzle contorted, as if someone had tried to graze her muzzle like a guitar, only for all the strings to get plucked.

Spike tilted his head, ignoring Pinkie’s now expensive fix. “I can sense a but here, but I’m not sure if I’m thinking of the right one—ack!”

Flitter decided to interrupt him with a quick wack of a wing to the back of the head. “That’s completely uncalled for, Spike!”

“Got you smiling, though,” Spike replied, watching as Flitter started to smile. She slowly stepped away from Pinkie and the dragon, watching from a far distance.

“Anyway—”

“Awww! You two are so cute together!”

And now Spike felt a heat grace his cheeks. He tried to regain his dignity, that one that made him a true dragon, but it got murdered brutally by a dancing tree named Flynn. Not sure why it was named Flynn, but it just rolled off the tongue, so to speak.

Flitter was the first to respond, “We are not cute—”

“Aww, you denying that you’re not cute is even more cute!”

As if on cue, Flitter’s muzzle scrunched up like an accordian. Spike looked over and nodded. Yep, she was cute right there.

Then his eyes widened, and he envisioned himself standing in lava.

Pinkie gigglesnorted. “Alright, I need to stop or you all will faint before you even eat the cupcake!”

Spike picked what little was left of his dignity off the ground, while Flitter shook her head, now only seeing the one dragon that kept her grounded. The two looked at her and tilted their heads. “So, what’s that catch of yours?”

“Well, you both need to take the first bite.”

Spike blinked.

Flitter blinked.

The cupcake would have blinked if it wasn’t an inanimate object.

“What.”

Pinkie shoved the cupcake in front of them, which was now placed on a nice plate with a bunch of hearts on it. “Ya! You both need to take the first bite for it to taste like the love you have for each other!”

Spike and Flitter both blushed. That could’ve been taken in several ways, which both of them decided to imagine instead of what was actually said. Flitter hid herself behind her wings, while Spike just looked up at the ceiling, thinking the decor was nice, even if there was none hanging on this day, for some reason.

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Wow, I didn’t think you two would both be living in the Sugarcube Corner’s gutters, but I’m more surprised that my tail didn’t twitch to warn me of this!” She gripped at her own tail with her forehooves. She nudged it, and it sagged back to the ground. “Darn tail is broken! Guess I need to fix it with a little sugar!” She turned her attention back to Flitter and Spike, who were still stuck in the gutters. “Hope you two enjoy the cupcake! Don’t make too much of a mess!”

With that, the Pink fluff monster that Flitter deemed as the devil incarnate hopped out of view, leaving Spike and Flitter alone with a cupcake of their ‘relationship’.

The two spared a look at each other. Both of them were worse for wear with all that teasing. Flitter’s heart almost leaped out of her chest with how fast it was racing, while Spike felt like he was burning up in a volcano. However, they both were alone, finally, with a cupcake that they could eat.

Spike spoke up first, “Well I guess we can finally start eating that cupcake.”

“Y-Yeah,” Flitter stammered out. She cursed herself underneath her breath, before she continued, “Can’t believe we survived that.”

“Well, I’m an expert at playing survival mode, so of course I survived,” Spike replied, smirking. He pointed a claw at Flitter. “I was just worried about you. You know, since you’ve been stuck in the tutorial for most of the time we’ve been together.”

Flitter rolled her eyes and strolled up to the counter. “Please, never say that again.”

“Gotcha. I’ll say that again next time you mention surviving.”

Flitter groaned. She grabbed the plate off the counter. “I’ll go find us a seat, while you get the napkins.”

Spike saluted the mare. “Gotcha! Not sure why you made that sound like a punishment though, but you do you!”

Flitter ignored him and moseyed on over to a table. For some reason, all of them had a long pink candle in the center. It was being separated by a long silver centerpiece, and a few flowers to boot. There was a sign that said, ‘You may eat the flowers, just be careful of thorns.’ Sure enough, there were a couple of thorns on one of the flowers. Flitter rolled her eyes and set the plate on the table and waited for her drakefriend, err, fake drakefriend, to bring over the napkins.

She sighed. Today had already been hectic, and it was just getting started. How this whole clue just riled her up and having her blush like a bride was insane to her. She would have never thought that she could do this, especially with Spike. He was such a good fake drakefriend… well, not exactly fake, more like pretend, but that didn’t bother her. Semantics weren’t her strong suit, and neither was fly—

Suddenly, the table shook. Spike slammed the napkins down on the counter, nearly sending the plate flying, that is, if Flitter didn’t have her hoof still on it. The candle and flowers that had a few thorns on them, however, did not survive. They sailed into the air, and landed almost perfectly on a table across the room.

Spike whistled. “Wow, I actually pulled that off. That must be, like, a one in a million chance or something.”

Flitter rolled her eyes. “You almost got thorns in my eyes, Spike.”

“Oops, sorry,” Spike said apologetically.

Flitter just scoffed at him. “Let’s get this over with…”

Spike picked up the cupcake, his eyes scanning over it, visually testing it systematically for areas of weakness, most likely areas where they could both bite without things getting too awkward. It was easier said than done: his eyes could only do so much before he had to at least squish it a bit. He had to be careful, he didn’t want to waste any napkins.

After a few more seconds of Spike undressing the pastry with his eyes and poking at it with his claws, Flitter rolled her eyes and snatched the cupcake from him. “Look Spike, it’s not that complicated. We just both take a bite, wipe the frosting and shame from our lips and move on with our day.”

“Got it,” the dragon replied. “So, I guess we should just… do it.” He gulped and inched his mouth closer to the cupcake being held in Flitter’s hoof.

Flitter did the same, moving closer, inch by nerve-wracking inch, centimeter by painful centimeter. The tension was growing and her face began to heat up. She tried to just focus visually on the cupcake, but she couldn’t help but get distracted by the dragon snout on the other side of it. Lined with teeth… and smooth scales…

Luckily, her quickly regressing train of thought was cut off by the feeling of the sweet icing and warm pastry touching her teeth. She had made it to the cupcake. Her lips snuggled closely around it, engulfing exactly one half of the dessert. Of course, that wasn’t all she had to worry about as the dragon’s lips were coming in for a landing.

And then it happened. He took his bite.

Their eyes locked for just a moment, neither daring to pull away yet whilst their lips were mere millimeters away from each other. He had really nice eyes. They were such an inviting and interesting shade of green. There weren’t that many green eyed ponies in the world, well, other than Applejack… and Daisy… but not the green that he had. Maybe if she moved a bit closer, she could see them even bet— Wait, was touching her lips and why did it feel… scale-ish?

Oh my gosh…

Their lips were touching. They weren’t just close to each other, they were actually touching lips. This was not good.

A muffled squeak emitted from Flitter as she quickly chomped down on her half of the cupcake and shot backward into her seat. “Okay, we’re done.”

Spike, on the other hoof, was still left with half the cupcake in his mouth, looking just as awkward and confused as his partner. He shook his head briefly and chomped down on his part of the cupcake,

“Yum!” He exclaimed, an obvious attempt at changing the unspoken topic. “Oh, wait a sec..” he muttered, tidbits of cupcake flying out of his mouth. “I think there was something in there.” The dragon stuck his claw into his mouth, much to Flitter’s distaste, and he pulled out a small piece of paper. “A contaminate!”

Spike got up from the table as if to throw it away when his foolishness finally dawned up on Flitter.

“Spike, wait!” She said, dashing up from her seat and grabbing the piece of paper. “Don’t you know what this is?”

“Hmph,” he replied. “A poorly executed attempt on my life.”

“No…” she replied, uncrumpling said paper and holding it out in front of him. “It’s our next clue, ya ding dong.”

“Oh,” he stated with a sheepish grin. “I guess it makes sense. Putting the clue inside our cupcake is a very Pinkie Pie thing to do.”

They both resumed their seats at the table, but before Flitter could just move on and go over the clue, Spike just had to open his mouth. What was it about ponies in her life not being able to just shut their mouth when they needed to?

“So,” he started. “We totally kissed. Just saying.”

Flitter set the clue on the table and slammed her hoof onto said table. “That was not a kiss!”

“I dunno,” he replied. “You were all looking at me in the eyes and stuff and then your lips touched mine. I think that counts as a kiss by most definitions.”

“No,” she said. “It was just an incidental touch of our snouts, nothing more, nothing less. And I wasn’t looking in your eyes. I was just distracted by a fly I saw in the background. That’s all.”

“Okay, sure, whatever you say,” he replied with a snort. “But it was totally a kiss. A weird one, but a kiss nonetheless. You totally enjoyed it, don’t even lie.”

Flitter’s heart raced just a tad as she thought about it. Was it actually a kiss? Did it really count? Or was it just an accident? Well, of course it was an accident… but did she want it to be an accident?

Her brain was taking her down a very weird path that would surely require months of counseling after this day was over, so Flitter decided it was high time to change the subject.

“Look, believe whatever will help you sleep tonight.” She held up the small piece of paper. “We’ve wasted enough time here already! Cloudchaser and Poptart are probably on the next clue!”

“Fair enough, I mean, I’ll be sleeping well tonight knowing that you’re in denial, but go figure.” He eyed the piece of paper too. “So what does the next clue say?”

“I don’t know, I’m having to deal with your teasing, you goof,” Flitter said, pointing a hoof at Spike. The dragon laughed. Flitter ignored him and flipped it around. “Looks like it says, ‘She’s not the Equestrian Average, she’s the type of pony everypony should know.’” Flitter’s muzzle collapsed on itself. “What does that mean, Spike?”

Spike chuckled. “That’s a bit tougher, but I think I know who that is. She sang a really catchy song about everypony knowing her, once. You might not like what she has to say about us, though.”

“Oh great,” Flitter said with a groan. She threw her hooves in the air. “A previous marefriend of yours?”

“Marefriend? I don’t know if you forgot that I hadn’t had a relationship because of Twilight, but just letting you know, I’m just drowning in virgin tears.”

Flitter nearly keeled over at that one, her stomach forgetting what air was. She laughed and laughed and laughed. It was one of the best laughs she ever had, and it was all due to Spike saying he was drowning in…

Then, she laughed again. “V-Virgin tears!”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Hey, your track record is pretty unscathed too.”

“R-Rather would be unscathed than whatever you s-said!” Flitter struggled to get out due to fits of laughter. She sighed from her life high and wiped her liquid pride from her eyes. “M-Mind helping me up?”

“I don’t know if I should,” Spike replied, pretending to look elsewhere.

“Oh you baby,” Flitter cooed as she picked herself off the ground. “Guess I’ll do it myself then.”

Dusting herself off, she then returned to Spike’s side. “Well, since you know where this next clue is, lead the way, my dragon.”

“Woah, you’re already saying I’m your dragon?” Spike asked. “Careful, I might believe you, and a certain pony behind the counter might too.”

Flitter scoffed at that one, waving a hoof at him. “Oh, puhlease! Pinkie’s not listening in on us and—”

As if she summoned the devil himself, Pinkie Pie appeared in front of them. Flitter nearly jumped out of her fur once again, while Spike, who knew that mare’s presence was lingering, watched as Flitter tried to register what just happened.

“P-Pinkie Pie!”

“Yep, that’s me!”

Flitter was clutching at her own chest. She needed to be careful, her words were powerful, as if they were part of a powerful incantation. “Please, don’t jump out of nowhere again. I don’t think my heart can take it.”

“Okee-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie said. She had a camera dangling around her neck and a grin that threatened to leave her face with how wide it was.

Flitter became worried. Very worried. “Uh… Pinkie, what’s with the camera?”

The pink pony gigglesnorted and held the camera up for Flitter to look at. “Oh, I took a picture of you and Spike eating the cupcake together! It was sooooo cute! That’s going to go up on the relationship wall where everypony after the hunt will come and see their love on full display!” Pinkie Pie squee’d as she hopped in place. “Ooooh! It’s so exciting to see everypony so happy! It makes me happy and all mushy inside, like when I eat cupcakes! They’re always so chewy and fluffy!”

Flitter snatched the camera and looked closer. “Oh great, you got it when our lips… did the thing…”

“Of course, silly!” PInkie pleasantly squeaked. “It was the most adorable part!”

Flitter found herself heating up. She felt like she looked like those apples she picked earlier: completely and utterly red. However, Spike looked like he was more curious than embarrassed. In fact, he had his head tilted, looking like he wanted to say something.

Then, Spike opened his mouth, “So wait, let me get this straight…”

Pinkie turned her attention to Spike. “Okay!”

“You took a picture of us.”

“Yep!”

“And I didn’t see a flash?”

“Well of course not, silly! They made this thing called a flash hider, you know.”

Spike’s mouth formed an ‘o’. “Guess I should get myself one of those…”

Flitter rolled her eyes. “I think we have more to worry about than a flash hider, Spike! Pinkie, please don’t post this on the relationship wall.”

“Awww, why?” Pinkie asked, walking up to Flitter.

Flitter took a step back. She did not need Pinkie up in her space. That was asking for trouble. “Because… I don’t want everypony in town to know that we kissed!”

“Ha!” Spike shouted. “I knew it was a kiss.”

Flitter gave him a glare, one that said, ‘if you open your mouth one more time I’m going to stab your eyes out’. She smirked when Spike pretended to whistle to himself, looking away from her and Pinkie.

However, Pinkie was unaffected. In fact, she was even closer now, her muzzle almost bumping into Flitter’s.

Pinkie stole Flitter’s smirk. “Sounds like somepony’s embarrassed. You shouldn’t be embarrassed, Flitter! When love is in the air, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of kissin’!”

Pinkie punctuated her point by making little kissy faces. It would’ve been fine if she was like, on the other side of the room, but she was so close to Flitter’s face, that they were almost recreating that kiss she had with Spike but without the cupcake.

Flitter hopped away from her, nearly launching herself into the wall. “Uh, can we not do that?”

Spike chuckled, but he kept his mouth closed. Pinkie, on the other hoof, just shrugged. “Okay…” she began, only to snap her attention right back to Flitter. “But that won’t stop me from posting the picture on the wall!”

Slowly, Pinkie brought out the picture for the couple to see. “Wait! I’ll do anything! Please, please, please don’t put it on the wall!”

Pinkie raised a brow at Flitter. “Annnything?”

“Yes. Anything, Pinkie.”

The pink party pony purposefully inched closer to the purple wall labeled ‘relationship wall’ and smiled. “If you can get first in the scavenger hunt, I won’t post it on the wall.”

“Deal,” Flitter said, offering her hoof to Pinkie.

“Nuh uh, Flitter!” Pinkie replied. “That’s not all. If you don’t get first, I also get to make extra copies and send them to everyone in Ponyville!”

Spike’s eyes widened and shoved Flitter, who was about to pummel Pinkie, aside. “Okay, Pinkie, that’s a bit overkill. How about I propose a counter-offer?”

Flitter felt like her heart was beating out of her chest. She was about to knock the picture right out of Pinkie’s hooves with a tremendous leap, but Spike had shoved her aside. He also had, for once, said something that didn’t sound like he was going to smite her existence. It made her feel elated, as she breathed out a rather shaky sigh of relief. She smiled and began her appreciation for her partner, “Thank you, Spike, I’m so glad you’re here to help me make sure the picture doesn’t—”

“Give me the extra copies. Then I’ll hand them to whoever asks for one.”

Flitter groaned. “And just like that, my appreciation for you just got burned to a pile of ash.”

“Hey, my stomach resembles that statement!” Spike exclaimed, chuckling. He gave her a grin. “It’s just a kiss though. I don’t see why you’re upset.” He patted her on the head. Besides, was it really that bad of a kiss?”

Flitter shook her head. “Not really, but at the same time…”

Poptart… Her heart ached. He didn’t want her to get the wrong idea!

Spike put a claw on Flitter’s shoulder. “It’s okay. Don’t worry.” With a smile, he turned to Pinkie. “So, do you mind if I take the extra copies if we lose?”

Pinkie hummed quietly to herself. She held a hoof there, rubbing it against her chin, as if she was living in a bubble, one filled with cotton candy, chocolate syrup, and sprinkles that cascaded down a chocofall into an ocean of vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

“That totally works!”

Flitter looked on, dumbfounded.

Spike looked on, smiling, his eyes drifting to Flitter’s face.

The picture, which had them totally kissing on it, stayed still, because it was a picture.

Spike spoke up first, “Great! And man, that’s a really good picture. That totally shows the beauty of the moment and—oof!”

Flitter had batted Spike upside the noggin with her wing. “Shut up and let’s get going.” She gave Pinkie a smile. “Thank you for the cupcake. Have a good day!”

Pinkie bounced in place. “You too Flitter! And make sure you keep her close, Spike!”

“Of course,” Spike began, giving Pinkie a thumbs up. “I don’t have a choice at this point!”

Flitter rolled her eyes at Spike. “Let’s keep moving.”

Spike glared at her as she walked past.

Flitter finally felt a sense of victory wash over her. Together, they had completed their first clue. Sure her dignity was being thrashed about like she was on a cruise ship during a bad thunderstorm, but that didn’t mean her dignity was lost forever. In fact, it was only just the beginning. Since Spike was the one who was trying really hard to sell their relationship, why couldn’t she try to sell it too? It might even keep him focused on this hunt instead of everypony else.

A smirk wormed onto Flitter’s face. She knew just how to do it too. She saw it in a movie once, and it got that stallion to shape up easily as he stuttered and watched the mare leave. All it required her to do was show a bit of tail.

Before she left the Sugarcube corner, Flitter looked over her shoulder and flicked her tail at Spike’s snout.

That heat from before felt like it was resurging, so she quickly looked away, and raced out the door. She didn’t need to see Spike’s face to know he was flustered. She did it as the mare did in the movie, after all. What other reaction could he have?

Little did she know, Spike wasn’t flustered. Somehow, someway, Spike was spellbound. His eyes watched her tail sway as she raced out of view. Pinkie saw this frozen dragon and giggled. She walked up in front of him, her lips mirroring Flitter’s smirk.

“Looks like she’s not embarrassed anymore…”

Spike blinked rapidly. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting that…”

He shook his head and looked down at Pinkie. He quickly grabbed one of her forehooves and shook it rapidly, while he rambled off his goodbye, “Thanks again for the cupcake, Pinkie! I’ll talk to you tomorrow!”

Pinkie Pie grinned. “Okay! Let her know she’s more than welcome to swing by!”

Spike laughed. “I’ll let her know!”

The dragon waved happily to Pinkie as he exited the Sugarcube Corner, its doors gently clicking to a close.

Comments

[Scyphi]

Flitter had batted Spike upside the noggin with her wing.

I suspect Spike's going to be getting a whole lot more Gibbs Slaps in his near future...

[Sky Charmer]

“Hey, my stomach resembles that statement!” Spike exclaimed, chuckling. He gave her a grin. “It’s just a kiss though. I don’t see why you’re upset.” He patted her on the head. Besides, was it really that bad of a kiss?”

Think this should be 'resents'

[Cervidaevian]

10222847
No, it shouldn't. He's a dragon. Internal fires and all that.

[Ice Star]

“No…” she replied, uncrumpling said paper and holding it out in front of him. “It’s our next clue, ya ding dong.”

Flitter shouldn't be using language like that in a SFW story! Also, I have to say that one of the things I like most about this is that even though they're both using the whole 'fake significant other' ploy it's not done in a way that comes across as hurtful to either party, which is something a lot of mediums do when going with this element in their plot. It's actually helping to build up their chemistry too.