Words can hurt too, ya know?

~Twilight Sparkle~

When the spa trip finally ended, I was left with questions.

It would have been good if Rarity had been able to help me out, I still didn't know who it was that I had seen or even if I had actually seen a mare, but the only thing I had come out of there knowing was that it wasn't her. I also had left knowing that that Fluttershy was in a relationship with her, which was something that confused me even more.

How could you be with somepony and not be in love with them? I still couldn’t figure it out, it just didn’t make any sense to me at all.

And Spike loved her, Rarity, but I didn't get the impression that she loved him back. Or did she? At the very least, she hadn't said anything about that. And I couldn't bring it up, because she would have likely wondered what it was that caused that. Then there was the question of who I actually wanted to be with Rarity, or if it was even my business. I considered Spike to be my brother, but Fluttershy has always been there for me.

This confused me more and more as time went on.

Friendship was quickly becoming something that I understood, but this romance thing was going to be the death of me and it wasn’t even a romance that had to do with me, it was a few of my friends and my little brother. At least all of this made me realize that it would be best if I just didn’t bother thinking about love at all.
It was way too complicated.

“We should do this more often, Rarity. It was fun.”

“I completely agree, darling, I’ll make sure that we go out almost as often as I do with Fluttershy – in a different way, of course.”

I wondered if this was always going to be that way, it seemed awkward.

“That’d be great.” I turned and looked at the path ahead of me, part of me couldn’t help but be a little afraid of what was going to come from the trip. Everything else had been so complicated so far. If my luck continued as it had, then things definitely wouldn't be good for me. If things continued as they were so far, my luck didn't seem to be so good so far, then Chrysalis would have been the one who I had seen that night.

Why?

Because it seemed as though my life wasn't complicated enough.

There was actually only one thing that was certain. Well, actually, there were two things that were certain. I was certain that Chrysalis wouldn't really be there, and I had to do everything I could to be there for Spike. There was absolutely no way that he would tell me anything if he thought that I was going to be anything less than completely supportive. Part of me knew that he would tell me the truth if I asked, he rarely lied to me.

~Rainbow Dash~

I couldn’t believe that it had been so easy.

I had been feeling horrible the entire day, I had thought that he would tell me to leave. Fluttershy had told me to leave, and I had deserved it. Even though it hadn’t been as bad as it seemed, I still felt horrible. But something about the kiss, something about the fact that he still wanted me there, it was enough to melt the worry from my mind.
If this was what love was, then I didn’t want to ever lose it.

“So, what now?”

Out of every question, that was the loudest one in my mind. Aside from a few incidents, I didn't plan things. I just simply wasn't good at it. Part of my mind was still focused on what had happened the last time.The date was still on my mind, I wasn't sure if it would ever leave it. That was something I was okay with, though. The consequences were things that I was still dealing with, in terms of what Fluttershy now thought of me. All of that aside, I still didn't know what it was that we were going to do now.

Dinner would have been nice, but I didn't know if it was a good idea to invite myself to dinner.

We both stared into each others eyes, as if the two of us were pondering the same question, and then I made a move. I planted my lips against his, it was the first idea that came to mind. It had been the thing that had come to my mind during the date, and it had turned out well then. This sort of thing obviously wouldn't become old for a while, the feeling was better than almost anything I could think of right then and there.

It was awesome.

Rainboom-level awesome, really, but who am I to measure?

I didn’t even notice how the door started to open. It was pretty obvious that Spike didn’t notice it either, or maybe he just didn’t say anything.

~Twilight~

On the other side of the door, there was the potential for answers. Spike was a smart dragon, but he was also a child. He liked ice cream, he liked gems, he liked so many things that I knew I could use. Part of me fought against that idea, that part knew that it wouldn't come to that. All I had to do was ask, and I knew that he would come up with some sort of an answer. I couldn't just ask, though, I had to get to the subject.

I had to come up with a reason to broach the subject.

I opened the door, poked my head in. For a few moments, it was almost as if my brain had just stopped working. That might have seemed to be the most unbelievable statement, considering who I was, but it happened. I saw the mare, saw the mane and the color, saw what she looked like, and it's sad that it took a few moments before I recognized who it was.
This had been the last thing I had expected to see.

I didn't know what to think of it all. I knew that Spike was growing up, he was maturing. There couldn't be an argument that he wasn't growing. Every time I looked at him, even now, I saw the baby dragon that I had taken care of for years. I didn't know what to think when I saw him like this, his lips were pressed against the lips of one of my friends. I had never thought of him as a romantic before, yet that was exactly what he had been without my knowledge.

The other problem, or more accurately the thing that I saw as a problem, was the exact friend of mine that his lips were pressed against.

I liked to think of myself as one of the most reasonable mare in Ponyville. There hadn’t been a single incident of favoritism in the past few months, and I had been one of the few who hadn’t thought that Zecora was an evil enchantress initially. Everything along those lines fell apart, though, when I looked at what I saw in front of me.

This was Rainbow Dash.

To say that the little incident with Spike, where she had taken him from my care, wasn’t in my mind would be a lie. It was there. That had been the second thing, I knew that she had something to do with him getting injured in the first place. It hadn’t been her intention, but that didn’t change the fact that she had something to do with it.

Without thinking, my horn started to light up. I had done this same thing once before, and things like this only became easier when repeated. I was going to do this for Spike’s good, he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Neither did I, but at least I was an outside party in all of this. I was unbiased, I was looking for out his best interests.

I cleared my throat, and the two of them looked at me. It only took a second for Rainbow to realize what was going to happen, and another second for it to actually happen. Part of me knew it would have been a better idea if I had just given her some time to explain what she was doing here. That wasn’t true, I knew what she was doing here. The better explanation would be why she thought it was a good idea.

But it was too late, the blast was shot off at her.

~Rainbow Dash~

Well, this was awkward.

I didn’t think that many ponies would be coming to the library. It wasn’t as if the group of ponies that were in Ponyville had a big reading habit. It took a moment, actually, for me to recognize the sound of the voice that was being cleared.
Twilight.

She was my friend, I knew that. There had been some friction between us, or maybe a lot, but she was still my friend. I knew she probably still held some resentment for what happened to Spike. I also knew that she tried to be fair about these things, and that meant that she would totally move on. Heck, this might have even brought us closer together.

If she knew I loved Spike, she would totally forgive me for what had happened.

I turned, though, to see a horn that was glowing. This had happened before, this had all happened before. Part of me thought about heading off at that point, I might have been able to get a few feet away and out the window. There was also the chance that her magic was going to hit me before I could move.

What? Twilight scared the heck out of after what happened before.

I wanted to say something, but part of me knew that there was no time. he hadn’t said anything to me, asked any questions, she was just firing off her magic to deal with what she likely perceived as a problem. I didn’t hate her for it, I couldn’t, but something always seemed to happen to me when she overreacted like this. Or maybe I was just unlucky enough to actually continue to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Either way, I tried to change my expression to one of defiance the moment before the beam hit me. If I was going to be trapped still, not able to do something as simple as flex my legs, then I was going to try to make sure that I was trapped in a way that looked cool. It wouldn’t be hard, considering it was me.

Then again, I was assaulted by one of my best friends. There was so much about this that could easily be described as uncool.

The only upside to being right, and it being exactly what she had done before, was that it wasn’t painful. I had done a lot of things that were painful, it wasn’t pleasant. Instead, it was more like everything was getting shut off at once. I couldn’t move, couldn’t really talk. The only things I could do was breathe and blink, which I’m certain are kind of necessary for me to have continued to live.

So, there’s that.

The second part of the spell was one that I knew would take me back to my house. At least, that was what I assumed would happen. Maybe she just wasn’t thinking clear enough for that, and soon enough I was falling about ten feet to slam into the ground. That had been painful, but there really wasn’t a lot that I could do about it. I couldn’t even make any noise, or check where I was. If this was anything like what had happened last time, I was going to be in for a wait while this wore off.
If last time was any indication, this was going to be a long wait.

And that was the downside, I was going to be stuck wherever she had put me for however long it took for the spell to wear off.

~Spike~

As soon as the beam shot out of Twilight’s horn, something in my mind told me to push Rainbow out of the way.
I didn’t know why, it wasn’t as if my big sister would actually hurt one of her friends.

Actually, one time came to mind that was almost like this. Twilight had caught her trying to bring me back in, and the next thing I knew Rainbow was gone. That turned out to be exactly like this, really. Before I could say anything, Rainbow had completely disappeared. I tried to remember what she said about the spell before, the effects that she had told me that it had, and I really hoped that it was different from last time on her end.

I knew it would be different on my end.

Last time it had happened, she had explained everything to me. I had taken it all in, listened, and then I ended up quickly forgiving her. How could I have stayed mad? Twilight had just been looking out for me that time, she had felt as though I might have gotten hurt out there. That was more understandable than this, where it seemed as though she just assumed the worst out of her friend.

“How dare you?” I couldn’t believe that she would have done that sort of thing. I still couldn’t think of a single reason for her to think that this was okay. It just didn’t make any sense. “I thought she was your friend.”

“This is my library, and thus my rules.” She wasn’t even going to try to apologize this time, it seemed. “And I’m just doing what I have to do to protect you. I had to take care of you the last time that something happened, not her.” It seemed, to me, that she was going to do anything to justify to herself what she had just done. Maybe an apology would come later, or maybe it wouldn’t.

Right now, all I got was that she was right and then a few reasons as to why.

My vision actually started to get a little hazy, but that wasn’t the thing that was on my mind. I couldn’t believe she would be so full of herself. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that second part anymore, because I’m going somewhere else.” I could see the shocked expression, and part of me just wanted to continue talking. It turned out that it was the larger part of me, so I did. “I just don’t feel safe around here.”

I didn’t give her any chance to say anything, I just walked out.

She didn’t even try to stop me, she was just stunned as I walked by her. The thing was, I couldn’t even stay mad as I started to walk by. There was something about her that made me feel kind of sorry for her. I didn’t realize it, but that was something that had shown through my expression.

“B-but you can’t.” Finally, I heard something. I was right outside of the door when she said it, and I turned to look at her. Did she really think she was going to stop me? I glared at her, and she shrank away. “Where will you go?” I couldn’t look at her, she actually looked sad at the concept of me leaving. If I looked too much, I might have lost my will to actually go through with it. “Who will take care of you?”

At that, I turned completely away from her and started to walk away. I had to do this now, I had to get away before she did what I knew was going to happen.

“I need my number one assistant!”

It pained me to hear that, almost as much as it pained me to hear the sobbing that came with it. I had to do this, though. I didn’t know where I would go, not yet, but at least I could get a message to Rainbow and she could actually see me without being zapped by Twilight. I had to come up with somewhere that I could stay, at least for a few days, until I was finally able to figure out a longer-term plan.

I was going to have to plan things on my own now, that was definitely not something I liked.
I could have headed over to see one of our friends. Rainbow was out because of the fact that her house was in the clouds. Rarity was out for other obvious reasons. That left Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack. I looked up at the sky, this was going to be a difficult day I knew it.

~Twilight~

How could this have happened?

All I had wanted to do was protect him. I had heard his words, they had sounded so accusatory. There had been an edge to them, or maybe that had simply been a twinge of guilt. My words, I had made sure that they were the right words. They told everything about how I felt, why I had done what I did. I had hoped that he would accept it, maybe he would have moped for a few days. I had hoped all of that, but it hadn't come to that.

I tried again, tried to make sure that he wouldn't leave. Part of me knew that, at that point, there wasn't anything that I could have said. My little brother was mad at me, and there wasn't much of anything that I could do about it.
I was still crying, wasn’t I?

I just don’t feel safe around here.

Those had been the words that hurt the most, I hadn’t expected him to say that. I hadn’t actually expected any of it.
I still didn’t know what I did wrong.

The only thing that went through my head was how this was all my fault. My explanation had been short, it had been the words that I had thought would be enough. My words hadn't been enough, though, I knew that now. Spike was gone, and it was all because my ability to properly explain myself had disappeared when I had needed it the most.
Maybe I had just assumed too much.

My mind moved on to what else was possible. I tried to think of laws that were relevant to this problem, and nothing came to mind. I looked over him, but I wasn't legally his parent. I played the role of big sister my entire life, and that was my legal status as well. Princess Celestia would probably have some advice if I wrote her. Either that, or the letter that I got back would say that I messed things up big time.

I didn't need to let down two of my family at once.

“G-get it together, Twilight. He’ll be back tomorrow.” If a pony can't believe their own words, then nopony else would either. It didn't matter much to me if anypony else believed them anyway, but it might have been nice to be fooled by them for a short while. I was alone now, and had been for a few minutes. Spike had left, and it had been completely my fault. This was something that I had to fix.

The only problem was that I had no clue how to fix it myself.

“Maybe I should read something, get my mind off of it.”

By this time, I had barely stopped the crying. It wasn’t easy, but the thought of doing something that could take my mind off of my problem was enough. I didn’t even have to know what book I was reading, I would just walk over to a section and pull out a book. It probably needed to be nonfiction, since I always loved when I learned something. Even if it was something old, I always focused on something that could be called a lesson.

This was my first book, I knew it wouldn't be the last. An aura surrounded it, and soon it came to me. I probably needed to read the cover, but I didn't. I just opened the cover, moved some paper over to me, and then glanced at the first page. A book was good, but I needed to take notes if I was going to use this as my new focus.

A Study on the Anatomy of Dragons

It didn't take anything more than a couple of seconds for the book to hit the floor. I didn't care if it got back to the shelf. The lavender aura had surrounded it, and then it had been thrown with as much force as I could have mustered. Spike was out there somewhere, and it was completely my fault.

I had failed him, and I had failed myself. I still didn't know what I should have done, but something should have been done.

“I hope you're safe out there at least.”

Our choices don't just affect us

View Online

~Spike~

It felt like it had only been a couple of minutes since I had left, but I knew better. I knew that it had been an hour, at least. For all I knew, more time than that had passed. It would have been good if, by this point, I had some idea of where it was that I could go to spend tonight at.

The only good news was that the sun was still up, I have a few hours before I have to make the decision. That didn’t mean that I wanted to take the rest of the day, I actually wanted to decide at that point.

So I decided to sit down and do just that.

There was always Applejack. I thought about whether or not she would support me staying there, and if she would support what was happening. In my mind, there was something about her that screamed ‘old fashioned’. I thought about it some more, trying to figure out if I was being unfair.

I probably wasn’t, and this was something that was too important to be put out there on a hope.

The next person was Fluttershy. I knew that she was nice, and that she probably wouldn’t say anything if I went there. The real question, the one that was in my mind, was what she would really be thinking. I didn’t know if she would approve, or if she would be happy. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be down there right now, given the situation with her.

Then there was the fact that I was sure she would try to get me to talk to Twilight again.

That wasn’t a horrible idea, but I wasn’t ready to do it yet. I knew that she wasn’t going to listen to me, that she would just steamroll me, it wouldn’t end well. Part of me still wanted to head back, to try to talk, but that was something that overall didn’t seem like a great idea yet.

That left Pinkie Pie, really.

I thought about everything that Pinkie Pie might have to say about the situation. and it wasn’t horrible. I knew, in my heart, that she would want me to talk to Twilight. I also knew that she would help me out, that she wanted every one of her friends to smile. It would also be something that could have ended up helping with me seeing Rainbow later on.

Pinkie Pie definitely would help me find Rainbow.

That actually didn’t take as long as it could have. Or maybe it had, I really didn’t know how long I had been sitting there. The fact that my legs were numb, from the way I was sitting, told me that it might have been longer than I had thought. Either way, I successfully made a decision that was going to stick.

Maybe Pinkie Pie would also be able to help me figure out how to get a place for myself in the future, and a job that could help out with that. As hard as it was to think about moving out for good, I still haven’t come to terms with the idea, it was something that might have to happen. Part of me wanted to go ask Celestia for help, but that would come later.

Right now, I needed to go talk to Pinkie Pie and figure out if I could spend some time there.

It didn’t take long for me to walk over to Sugarcube Corner, and it took even less time for me to get the Cakes to let me talk to Pinkie Pie. I knew that the thing that would take a long time would be when I had to explain everything to her. There was a lot to explain, and part of me knew that she was going to ask a lot of questions.

Some of the questions might have even been relevant.

~Pinkie Pie~

This had to be the most amazing part of today, and that was saying something. I had taken care of the twins today, I had baked one of the largest cakes I had ever baked, and there was something else that I had forgotten. I think it had to do with a spider, but I couldn’t remember it for the life of me. Maybe it would come back later.

This thing had to do with Spike.

It was always super-terrific to see my super-awesome dragon friend. I was used to seeing him with Twilight. I almost immediately went to get a cupcake for him, and maybe some brownies for Twilight. They always came in here together. This time, though, he was alone. As soon as he walked into Sugarcube Corner, I walked out from behind him.

I liked surprising my friends, and now was no exception.

“Hey there, Spike.”

It was always super-awesome to see my friends’ expressions when I surprised them. I didn’t startle Fluttershy much, but everypony else got the same treatment. This time, I got to see Spike jump at least six inches into the air before he landed on his feet. I couldn’t help myself, I started to giggle.

Apparently, he didn’t find it as funny and he simply glared at me.

“Ooops, I’m sorry. Need some cupcakes? Brownies? Cake? Pie? Stru-”

I was cut off with a shake of the head, and a few fingers pressed against my mouth. This was so much better than when Rainbow cut me off. When Spike did that, cut me off, it didn’t taste like ground. That is one taste I didn’t like, dirt. Maybe it just wasn’t sweet enough, I wasn’t sure. Either way, I have to know what it was that he had stopped me for.

“Sit down, Pinkie, I need some advice.”

“Well, the first thing you have to do is make a giant batch of cupcakes. Then you hand them to whoever’s mad at you, and they’ll stop being mad at you.” That was the good advice that had always worked for me. I couldn’t think of a single incident that couldn’t be solved with cakes or cupcakes or brownies or some sort of sweet.

“It’s not that, it’s something... a little more complicated. Nopony’s mad at me.”

“Then you could give the cupcakes to me … wait, where are the cupcakes again?” I looked at him, confused. I could have sworn that this had something to do with cupcakes. Had he made cupcakes yet? Wait, no, it hadn’t happened yet.

“There are no cupcakes, Pinkie.” It looked like he was frustrated, but that didn’t even make any sense. I was the one who wasn’t getting any cupcakes.

Wait.

He never mentioned cupcakes before, that was my mistake right there.

“Oki-doki-loki. So, tell me what you need advice about then...”

I couldn’t remember the last time he looked so serious. Not only that, but there was a hint of melancholy. I think that would be how I would describe him. Or maybe angry would be a much better description. No, no, my final answer would have been conflicted. I saw him look conflicted.

“Promise me you won’t repeat any of this to anypony?”

I still didn’t like secrets. At the same time, I didn’t like the idea of letting down a friend. There wasn’t even a second wait before I started. I zipped my mouth, locked it, took the key. Then I dug a hole, put the key in the hole, then built a library over it. All of those motions should have been obvious, but all I got was a confused look.

That same thing had happened with Twilight, and I was forced to explain it again. This was the least fun part about it. All of that seemed to be enough for Spike, who smiled and took a deep breath.

“Alright, it starts off a few nights back. I had gone to tell Rarity how I felt, it was going to be so amazing.”

This was the type of thing I had wanted to hear. It might not have had anything to do with Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy or Twilight, but this was always good. I had always been cheering Spike on, in a meteorological sense anyway. Or was it metaphonological? Either way, I had been hoping that this sort of thing would have happened. This was also an awesome reason for a party. I knew they would all show up, everypony I invited.

The only thing that took the idea of a party put was when I saw that Spike didn’t look happy in the slightest.

“Did she tell you no? Why, I have half a mind to go over there and -” Again, I got to taste Spike’s fingers. They didn’t have a unique taste, really, aside from dragon sweat. If I had to describe that, it would be something really bad.

“It turned out that Fluttershy had gone there before me, and told Rarity that she loved her. And by the time I got there, I saw them kissing.”

I was so confused. There were new ponies in Ponyville that I apparently knew more about than my friends. Did they all have secrets that they kept from me? In my head, there was a file on everyone. This isn’t some metaphorical reference, I had once taken a look inside my head. Secretary Pinkie did a lot of good work, and I sometimes gave her some time off.

Right now, she was trying to figure out when it was that Rarity had started to look at Fluttershy like that. It was actually pretty organized up there, all they had to do was look up Rarity and cross reference Fluttershy and all that mumbo-jumbo that I remembered Twilight saying at some point. It sounded business-y enough to be real, and my head was serious business.

Nothing, there was nothing.

All of that aside, this gave a perfect opportunity for me to throw more parties. I couldn’t think of a better use for news like this.

“By the end of the night, I had gone out with Rainbow Dash and we really hit it off, and …”

I couldn’t stop myself anymore. This all made no sense. There were a lot of things that I was thinking about, I really tried to put it together, but I couldn’t. “Woah, woah, woah. Slow down there, Spikey. I thought you said you had gone there to tell Rarity about your feelings. Then you went out with Rainbow Dash? Don’t get me wrong, she’s my best-est friend in the whole world, but this whole thing just makes about no sense to me.”

Spike looked at me for a couple of moments, and then he took in another breath. “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I thought that I was just taking her out because I had booked it anyway, but... well, she’s awesome. She’s fun to be around.” I noticed that he looked up, and blush showed on his cheeks. “And I hadn’t really noticed how beautiful she can be.”

This wasn’t happening, I was sure of it.

“Pinch me.” This was the only thing I could think to say. If none of this made sense, it had to be a dream. This was a weirder dream than the others, and it didn’t have any chocolate-alligators, but this was still a weird dream. I wouldn’t feel pain if this was a dream, so obviously I had to make sure that he did this.

And he looked at me like I was crazy.

“Huh?”

“Pinch. Me.”

Apparently, the second request was the charm. Spike reached over, grabbed my cheek in between his fingers, and squeezed.

It hurt more than I thought. That also meant that this was all real, which didn’t make any sense. I would have to fire Secretary Pinkie if she kept this up, and I didn’t like that idea one bit. Maybe I would just have to make sure that I remembered that knowledge from now on, she would just have to work harder to make sure that everything was up there safe.

“Oki-doki, you can continue.”

Spike continued with his confused look for a moment, and then I saw him shrug.

“Twilight... well, she hasn’t been happy about all this.” My question had pulled him from his thoughts, it seemed. “See, it started off a while back. I might have accidently caught Rainbow Dash and got a couple of injuries. I think she was doing some stunt.” I noticed that he had started rubbing the back of his head, and the smile had become a smirk. “Well, Twilight had me bandaged up way beyond what made sense. In the end, Rainbow helped spring me out and we spent some time talking. I even ended up getting some advice from her.”

“Was this before or after you guys went out?” This was more to make sure everything fit in my head. I was finally starting to remember everything that had happened, and now I just needed a few more details.

“Long before. So, she finally brings me back.” His tone was becoming more anxious, and I was actually starting to become excited by this story. “And then Twilight overreacted and sent her straight to her house with magic... after doing something that stopped her from moving. It ended up being ten hours instead of ten minutes, something she apologized for profusely.”

I remembered that. The reason why I remembered it, aside from the work of Secretary Pinkie, was because I remembered the giant party that I had thrown afterward. At least now I knew the cause of the entire problem.

“Fast forward to today, and it kind of happened again. Twilight walked in on Rainbow kissing me, and she freaked out. She decided to do the same thing, send Rainbow away while also paralysing her.” His smirk was gone, though I couldn’t blame him. I couldn’t even smile at the idea, this sort of thing was something that could end friendships. I really hoped that Rainbow would forgive her, but that didn’t even turn out to be the problem.

“Actually, that was kind of why I came here in the first place.”

This was the type of thing I was born to do. I was so glad that he came to me, this would be something that I could fix. All I had to do was go over to Twilight, talk to her, and everyone would make up. Then I could throw a party, and maybe another for the two couples. It might be good to throw them separate parties, I would have to figure that out later. “Oki-doki-loki, I’ll head down to Twilight’s right now a-”

“Woah, woah woah.”

I felt my tail being grabbed as I moved past him. It wasn’t the best feeling, I could have sworn a couple of hairs got pulled out. Had I forgotten something? Oh yeah, I forgot to bring the cupcakes, or the pie or something else that would have gotten her talking.

“Well, we might have gotten into a fight, and I might have just walked out. I was kind of hoping I could stay here a couple of days... and then work on getting a job.”

For some, this might cause some conflict.

For me, this wasn’t something that I had to think about twice. It might have been because he has my tail, or because I knew that he would talk to Twilight in time. Maybe the most awesome thing was that I’ve never had a slumber party with a dragon before. And here Spike was, he wanted to have a prolonged slumber party. Oh, I was so excited that I was barely able to keep it contained.

Actually, I didn’t keep it contained. I jumped up into the air, my hooves being pumped as I jumped. This was the best idea ever.

Or it was the worst, sometimes I mixed those two.

“Let me go talk to the Cakes about this. I’ll do anything to help my friends.” It was only when I started to walk away that it all hit me. I didn’t know what I was doing, or why I was doing it. Was I betraying Twilight by helping out Spike? Would I have been betraying Spike if I helped Twilight? Then there was Fluttershy and Rarity and Rainbow to think about, and each of them brought a different angle into all of this.

Right now, friendship was complicated.

I needed at least one cupcake, maybe two, and maybe a bag of candy.

~Spike~

She was a lot calmer about this than I thought she would have been.

Now all I could do was wait, and hope for the best.

It turned out that me waiting meant that I was going to curl up and take a nap. When I woke up, I didn’t know how it happened. I was looking up at the ceiling, all I had been doing was thinking about what was going to happen, and then apparently I fell asleep.

Then Pinkie Pie woke me up.

“They said yes. But only until we get this whole thing fixed.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but it was likely something that would involve Twilight. That was probably for the best, really. I would have to talk to Twilight eventually, and so would Rainbow Dash. Right now, though, I thought that it would be in my best interest to get a little more advice.

This time, it wasn’t from Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, hey, Pinkie. I was wondering if you could help me with something to write with .. and on.”

“Oki-doki-loki.”

Soon enough, she came back with a quill and some colorful paper. It certainly looked normal enough, at least for Pinkie Pie. I took the quill, and I tried to think about the best way to word this.

Dear Princess Celestia,

This is not Twilight, this is Spike. I have something that I need to talk to you about at your earliest possible convenience. If you could please come down to Sugarcube Corner, whenever possible, I would very much appreciate it.

This has to do with Twilight, as well as Rainbow Dash.

Thank you in advance.

Your loyal subject, Spike.

It felt bad being so vague, but this was something that I didn’t think would be good to put in a letter. I quickly sent off the letter, and Pinkie soon led me to her room. Apparently, she had set up a cot for me to sleep on while I was there.

That was nice of her.

It would be a few hours before I went to sleep, but at least I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping outside tonight.

Misunderstandings Abound

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~Rainbow Dash~

Of all the places I could have landed, I had to land here.

Where was here?

I actually didn’t know! There were trees of some sort, so that lowered it to one of only a million places. Since I didn’t know where Twilight was able to send me, she had sent me to my cloud house before, it could have been anywhere with trees. It might have been better if I had been paying attention when I had been falling.

If Applejack were here, she’d be able to tell me where I was based on the bark of the tree or something.

But she wasn’t, and I wasn’t in any position to be able to see much more than the bark of the tree that was three feet in front of me.

There was only one thing that came to my mind, to keep it focused. I had to figure out why Twilight had bugged out so much. If I figured it out, then maybe I could do something about it. Even if she had gone crazy, or seemed to have gone crazy, she was still my friend. She was my friend, and Spike was my special somepony.

Or was it special somedragon?

Either way, they were both a part of my life.

Some time later

I still had no clue.

Not only that, but I didn’t know how much time had passed. I knew that it felt like forever, but that’s because I had developed this itch that I just couldn’t scratch. It was times like this that I wished I could do magic. I could have magicked away the itch, that would have been awesome.

Either that, or maybe I could have stopped this from happening. One of the two might have happened.

I needed to know what it was that had caused Twilight to freak out. That thought was still on my mind, stronger than ever. It didn’t make any sense to me. I could only remember one time when she had freaked out like this.

The two didn’t mesh in my mind, though.

More time passes

At least the itch was gone.

I still didn’t know what it was that I could do. There didn’t seem to be an easy answer for the Twilight problem, and I had gotten bored trying to think of one. The only thing I could think to do now was take a nap and hope I could move whenever it was that I woke up.

That was a good answer for just about anything, really. Sleep solved a lot.

There was actually one new thought, before I nodded off to sleep. I wondered how Fluttershy was doing, if she was still mad at me.

~Fluttershy~

I felt awful.

I looked in the mirror, and it just made me feel worse. Part of me really wanted to go talk to Rainbow Dash, to figure out what had happened, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t even move out of the house, even though I knew that I needed to go get some things from the market.

Rarity had even come over a little earlier, even she hadn’t been able to cheer me up.

I felt so awful about feeling so awful.

A rumble of my stomach told me that I needed to eat. Another thing on the list of the things that I needed to do that day. I needed to plan another date with Rarity, with the hopes that it might have brightened my mood. I needed to go find Rainbow Dash and I needed to talk to her. I needed to go get my animal friends more food, because we were running low.

All of these things, and yet I couldn’t find the will to leave my bedroom.

I looked at the door, I had to do at least one of those things. If nothing else, I had to get some food for my animal friends. I knew that my friends, even Rainbow Dash, would understand if I didn’t go see them today. Rarity was busy with one of her orders, and that meant she probably had enough to deal with. She also probably had Spike to deal with, who I partially blamed for my current problems.

No, no, I shouldn’t have thought that.

“I have to do this. You can do this, Fluttershy. You can do this.”

I slowly opened the door, and looked out. It wasn’t as if there was anypony there, even my animal friends were out and about. Even Angel-bunny wasn’t there, but it was probably because I hadn’t gone out to get him food yet. He’s normally really supportive, but I knew how he got when he was hungry. Step after step, and it only took five minutes for me to get to the door.

I had gotten there even faster than I thought I would have been able to.

Before I opened the door, I went through my list. I needed to get very specific vegetables, and some bird seed, and some eggs. I also needed to get some cherries, since that was something that I knew Angel-bunny liked. After I got back, maybe I could head over to see one of my other friends. It would have been good if I could have invited Rarity over, but she was busy.

I probably should head over there tomorrow, she probably wouldn’t be busy then.

~Three hours later~

I never wanted to leave my house again.

I just felt so nervous out there, and everypony was staring at me. They saw that I had been crying, they had known. I thought I heard a couple of ponies say something, and it wasn’t nice. Or maybe they had been talking about something else. Oh, I might have just over-thought everything. That would be just like me, I always did that sort of thing.

At least I had the groceries, and I didn’t run into any of my friends. I just needed a couple more days, then I would probably be able to go out again.

At least, I thought it would only be a couple more days before I would be able to go outside again.

For now, though, I had a few things I needed to do. I needed to set up the food for my animal friends, and then I needed to take a nap. Today had been one of the most tiring days this month, but I was sure that tomorrow would be better.

~Rainbow Dash~

The sound of ponies woke me up.

Well, okay, it didn’t wake me up at first. At first, I was able to ignore it. I would have rolled over and went back to sleep, but I couldn’t roll over at that point. There was some movement, I could feel it, but some things were still beyond me. Actually, this time was going to be another of those times when I just did my best to go back to sleep.

I was actually able to move this time.

I didn’t even bother opening my eyes this time, I just went back to sleep.

I awoke, this time the sight in front of me was something awesome. I hadn’t known where I had been, all I had seen was the tree. Apparently, if this is to be believed, it was a tree that was close enough to where Spike was. He probably even said something to Twilight for me, it was awesome.

How do I know this?

I ended up waking up next to Spike. He was a such an awesome special somepony-dragon-whatever. I actually still didn’t feel like waking up, so I snuggled up close to him and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

Strange, he felt hairy. I wouldn’t have expected that.

“WHAT THE HAY, RAINBOW!”

That definitely wasn’t the voice I had been expecting. It only took a moment for me to realize what voice I had just heard yell that out. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who heard that. Well, that actually made sense. Applejack had yelled really loud, loud enough that her sister had soon opened the door to see me in her sister’s bed.

“Oh, hey there Rainbow. Whatch-” Applebloom’s expression quickly changed, as if she had just seen a ghost, and then she walked away. I didn’t want to know what she saw, though it was probably just the wind with something that was in the room.

I rubbed my eyes, and looked over at Applejack.

“What was that about?”

“Ah don’t wanna know. What ah do wanna know is why you thought it’d be a good idea to kiss me.”

“Ehhh...” I wasn’t sure what I should tell her. If I told her it was a dream, she might have asked what it was about. Of course, that didn’t mean that I had to tell her about what was in the dream itself. I just had to give her something that would explain everything. “Sorry about that, AJ, it was a dream. I didn’t even expect to be here, really.”

Applejack didn’t look amused, or even very satisfied, by that answer. “Well, ah saw ya out there in the South Field, and ah just thought somethin was off. So ah took ya in here and ah thought the bed was big enough to where ah could squeeze in there too.”

I looked over to my side to see about half of the bed left. Apparently, I had moved while I was asleep. I just hadn’t realized it.

“So, why were ya here anyway? Doncha have a house of yer own?”

I rubbed the back of my head, and let out a chuckle. There wasn’t any time for me to think of some better response, so the truth seemed to be the only thing. “Well, Twilight might have teleported me here... after she para...” I normally knew this word, but I was too tired. “Made it so I couldn’t move...”

Generosity and Kindness

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~Rarity~

I looked at the mirror, the bags under my eyes were absolutely dreadful. Even my makeup could not hide it. I had bags under my eyes, and there was a noticeable shade of dark blue. I did not care much about it while I had been working, but now it just seemed wrong.

I knew that it had been worth it, though.

My eyes drifted to the thirty dresses, all of which I had made that day.. If I played my cards right, this work would bring me even more business. That would continue the never-ending cycle, with each happy customer being somepony who brought me another customer to make happy. There was something that popped into my mind, though, as I looked away from the dresses.

I had not seen my friends at all today.

The biggest shock was that Spike had been absent all day. It usually seemed as though he knew when I needed help. I knew that it was likely because I usually told my friends, much as I had today, and they told him.That was what made it even more surprising. I actually missed having him around. Of course, the more I thought about it the worse it became. I knew that I should have remembered when he last showed up, but I just couldn’t.

It had to be at least a few weeks, but there had to be a better way to remember. The only thing that I thought might help was if I looked at my planner. I was nowhere near as bad as others, but a planned day was always a good idea. It helped with days like this, and it helped to make sure that I did not overwork myself. A look at my planner told me that it had been the last big dress order, which I remembered was almost three weeks prior to this.

I wondered if it was the sign that I had put up. That idea was quickly removed when I thought about what the closed sign did for my friends, or more accurately how their absence today likely had little to do with whether or not the sign had been outside. Rainbow, at the very least, seemed likely to show up regardless. There was Applejack, she also showed up whenever she needed something. All of them showed up on occasion, especially when I shut myself in like I did today.

Even Fluttershy did it on occasion. Actually, I was most surprised when I thought about the fact that I had not seen her all day, she had more reason than any of the others to show up. And that was when another fact hit me, much to my own dislike. I had not seen Fluttershy all day.

I was turning out to be the worst marefriend ever. Of all the worst things that I could have done, this was the worst possible thing. I should have invited her over, maybe she could have helped me out with the dresses. If I wanted to try to force this relationship to work, it was going to be with hard work and sacrifice. Also, I would have to get used to the idea of being in a relationship with her in general.

I hoped that I still had time. If I headed over there as soon as I woke up, then it would be possible to fix it.

I thought briefly about making a dress, but that did not seem like a good idea in the slightest. I had been doing it all day, I needed a break.

Tomorrow, that was when everything would come together. I would invite Fluttershy over, and then … I was not sure what would happen then. If I thought about it like it was just us spending time together, but that it was us spending really special time together, maybe I could do it. I still thought that Fluttershy deserved at least that much, if not infinitely more than I could do.

It would have been good if I could get advice on this, but I remembered when I had last spoken to somepony about it. I had left without much more knowledge that when I had gone into it.

I could feel that the day was drawing to a close. Part of me wanted to just go to bed, to forget anything else that needed to be done, but I could not do that. A day without a bath before I went to bed? It was more likely that Applejack would stop applebucking than it was that something like that would happen. Not only would it make sure I was clean, but it would also help me to relax after such a long day. The only thing that was better than that was a massage.

I imagined a combination of the two, and that was the greatest thing I could have imagined.

When the hot water was done filling the bath, I slowly submerged most of my body. I didn’t even notice that it was hot, at least I did not notice it for long. Soon enough, the cares of the day had started to melt into the recesses of my mind. I actually started to relax even more than I thought I would, my eyes started to close on their own as time continued. I would have to wrap this up, I needed to go to bed.

It would not be right if somepony found me asleep in the bath, they might assume something. I would feel absolutely dreadful if that happened. There was also a part of me that knew I would awaken with such a stiff neck if I did not sleep in my bed. My pillow had just the perfect support, it was magnificent.

I had to finish washing up first, though.

By the time that I was finished rinsing my mane, it was becoming unbearable. There was no chance for my skin to prune up, thankfully, but that was never my only concern. I needed to get to my room, and I needed to get there quickly. If I didn’t go soon, I would definitely not be able to leave this bath..

Either way, this time it only took twenty minutes. Maybe I had rushed it a little, I was getting more tired as time went on. It was almost as if my bed was calling to me, as soon as I entered the room. My blankets were perfectly flat, they only moved when I started to wiggle under them. Oh, I still remembered the sleepover at Twilight’s. As I got right where I needed to be, I wondered if that lesson was doing any good right now.

The next morning

Out of everything that could awaken me, I did not expect a knock on a door to be one of them. There were a couple of reasons for that. One of them was that the front door was actually far enough away to where I barely heard it from my room. Another reason was that the ponies who normally showed up this early just walked in. This would not have been the first time somepony got anxious for me to open, but it was the first time they knocked.

Actually, no. As my mind started to function more, I realized that it was far too loud to be the front door. This was my bedroom door, which lowered the number of ponies it could have been significantly. That meant it was probably important. A lady did not yawn, and neither did I, as I shook myself awake. If this was important, I needed to make sure that they stayed.

“Cooooooming.”

I quickly peeked out of the door, to see that it was one of the few ponies that always found a way to make a morning interesting. Out of anypony that awoke me, I was actually glad that this was the way she was doing it today. The only thing that could have made me happier was if she didn’t seem to take the open invitation to my house as meaning that she should show up early. I put a smile on my face, though, I knew that it was the right thing to do. After all, she was just here because she loved me.

And I loved her.

The fact that I actually looked out should have been a clear enough sign of that. I did not have any of my makeup on, my eyelashes were still waiting to be applied. In essence, I looked like I had just awoken. This was probably because I just had been awoken by the knocking. “Oh, good morning Sweetie Belle.” If there was not anything else good about this, the fact that she seemed to be happy was something that made me a little happy. Part of me was afraid of that smile, I knew all of the things that it could mean. Yet today, perhaps against my better judgment, I felt like this could only lead to good things.

“We get to spend all day together Rarity. School is out for Celestia’s Birthday.”

Was it? I tried to think about whether or not this was a lie. I could not remember that being much of holiday, and I could not even remember when exactly it was that Celestia celebrated her birthday. It probably was today, actually. I knew Sweetie to be the type to do a lot of things, but I still did not think she would just skip school. Even if that was true, though, I did not think I could spend the whole day with my sister. One of us would go insane, and I knew that it would probably be me.

Excuse! I had to have an excuse.

“My apologies, Sweetie.” That was always something that robbed her of her smile, but this was an emergency. “I was going to deliver the dresse-”

“Already done, big sister. I knew where they had to go, and I got them. Nothing is too hard for my big sister.”

I gulped, that had been the main part of it. I had not considered the fact that everypony who got a dress from me was either in Ponyville or had to have it shipped. Wait, no, that was not the main part. I had an idea. “And then I was planning on getting ready to spend the day with my special somepony.” I felt horrible about using that, really. Fluttershy’s relationship with me should not have been used like some club. At the same time, though, I had thought about spending the day with her.

I had thought that it was likely that Sweetie Belle would be upset by this, and that a frown was going to quickly show up on that adorable face of hers. It turned out that, despite hearing ‘awwww’, I was completely wrong.

The ‘aww’ that I had heard did not accompany a sad face, but a smile. It was weird, but she was soon giving me a big hug. “I understand, Rarity. You go out there and get ready, I’m gonna head over to Sweet Apple Acres and see if Applebloom knows anything we can do. Good luck, Rarity, I hope to meet him someday.”

Oh dear, I had not told her yet. “Actually, it’s Fluttershy.” Perhaps I should have given her time to react to this, but I soon closed the door. I had a lot of things I needed to do. The art of putting on my makeup, and my eyelashes, was one that took awhile to figure out. It was a science, really, as much as it was an art. That was something that I was not going to tell Twilight, she would have tried to make it more efficient. .

Everypony seemed to like the way I looked, changing the process would not be good in the slightest. Besides, I knew that I was getting faster with it. This time, I was sure that it would only take around an hour.

Four hours later...

I was done.

I might have taken a little longer than I thought I would, but it was worth it. Everything was going perfectly. My clients had their dresses by now, I was completely done with my makeup, and now I had to go down there and do what I told Sweetie I was going to do. Part of me still felt weird about all of this. I still didn’t know what to think of the idea of being somepony’s marefriend, and being Fluttershy’s was even more bizarre. As I had told Twilight, though, this was something that I was willing to do until it started to feel natural.

Oh, this date was going to be amazing. At least. I was going to try to make it that way. Fluttershy deserved it, for putting up with a busy mare like myself. Besides, a great date would make everything better. If I had fun with her, it would help wipe away the doubt and unease.

The only question was what I was going to do.

I still had no idea what it was I was going to do, yet I was walking over to her cottage. I had to take a few minutes, and I could probably put something together that was not awkward in the slightest. Perhaps I could start by inviting her to lunch, that would be simply divine. After that I could say that we should spend some time with her animals, she would love that. Next could come a spa date, which we needed to do today anyway. Finally, it could end with a dinner. If I looked at my romance novels, all of that was romantic. At the same time, though, none of those things were completely awkward.

I often invited her over, usually after a spa date, to taste some of my cooking. It helped me learn what ponies liked, and it was a way to make sure that the day ended on a nice note for the two of us.

Today, though, I was going to have to think of it as a date.

That was not going to be hard, I just had to keep doing what I had been doing. Up until now, faking it had been something that just happened. I had a role to play. This was just like another play, though hopefully not like the only one I remembered playing a role in. I still had my costume for Juliet, it was in my closet. This likely would not end like that, I was sure.

Oh, while I had been focusing on what today was going to bring I had actually gotten to her cottage. I knocked on the door a few times, it would simply not be ladylike to just walk in while she was not around. There was also her guard, Angel-bunny, who probably would not like it much either. I knew he would likely answer the door, he usually did. Today did not turn out to be an exception, though I was shocked to see that he actually seemed happy to see me.

“I was wondering if Fluttershy was available. I was hoping that I might take her out today. It’s been a few days, far too long to be sure, since I’ve seen my marefriend.” That last word probably would not feel right for a while. Oh Celestia, I would do anything if that word started to feel right sooner rather than later. I wanted to make Fluttershy happy, that would have made her happy.

Either way, it was not going to happen today.

An enthusiastic nod from the bunny was all that I needed, but I was soon being led to Fluttershy’s room. It was almost noon, though, there was no reason for her to be there. Well, I knocked again on her door and hoped for the best. “Fluttershy, darling, it’s me, I was hoping we might spend today together.”

~Fluttershy~

There was a knock on the front door, but I knew Angel-bunny would get it. He had been so supportive these past few days, even more than I could remember him being in the past. I was so lucky to have a friend like him.

Wait, was that Rarity’s voice? Her voice had a certain sound to it, almost song-like really. I could listen to it all day, and I would not have wasted it. It was likely just my imagination, though, I had probably just wanted Rarity to be here so bad that I heard somepony that was not here.

Oh, but if she was... I needed to spend time with my marefriend eventually.

The knock on my door was soon followed with Rarity’s voice again. I had heard it the first time. This was even better than I could have hoped for, she was asking me out on an all-day date. She must have gotten her orders done already, and they were delivered. Oh, today was just going to be one of the best days that I could remember.

I proudly walked over to the door and opened it. That word, opened, did not describe the force that I used or how quickly it opened. I could not help myself, I soon pounced my love and gave her the biggest kiss I could. There was something about Rarity that brought this out in me. It did not even matter that she had a shocked expression, that there seemed to be a few moments of hesitation.

She probably was not used to this side of me, I knew I was not.

“Oh, Rarity.” I said as I pulled my lips off hers. “I would love to spend the day with you.” Nothing could have made this moment any better, nothing at all. “So, where are we going for today, love?” I was so happy, I could barely contain it. Part of me wanted to just spend the day here with her, it would have been a lot better than going out there with anypony else.

Then again, she probably had a lot planned.

“I’d like that to remain a surprise, darling.” She winked at me, and I felt my face get a little warmer. The only way I could respond was with another kiss. Oh, I wished that my confession had come earlier, this could have been happening already. At least I was going to be spending the rest of today with her.

This day was going to be perfect.

A son and his mother

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~Spike~

It was time, finally.

I looked at the clock, it had been a few hours since I had gotten here. There had been a part of me that thought it would have been possible to simply ask Pinkie Pie to go get Rainbow Dash for me. That would have made everything better, at least I would have known what was happening with her. If anyone could have found her, it was Pinkie Pie.

That hadn’t turned out to be a possibility, though.

It wasn’t even ten minutes after I was done speaking with her that Pinkie Pie was called off to go take care of the twins. I didn’t even get to see her for almost the rest of the night, which was definitely a frustrating end to a frustrating day. It seemed like nothing was going to go right for me. And if it was bad for me, it was probably ten times worse for Rainbow.

Oh, this was just so annoying.

It was only right before I was about to give in, and just go to sleep for the night, that Pinkie Pie finally showed up. The biggest shock was that she didn’t look tired, though that could have been because she never looked tired. I was convinced that it was because she ate all of those sugary treats, they probably replaced her blood at this point.

“Oh hey Pinkie. Thanks for letting me stay.”

At least somebody was happy, it was always good to see her smile.

“No problem-o, Spikerooni. I just wish I knew where Dashey was, that would be such an awe-” It was weird, I was sure she would have known. If anyone had the ability to track down their friends, it was Pinkie Pie. She just didn’t follow the rules of physics, I was sure of it. I waved my hand, though, right as she had stopped talking.

“Don’t worry about it, Pi-” I had closed my eyes for just one moment, yet she wasn’t there when I re-opened then. Pinkie just wasn’t right sometimes, the window was open from what had obviously been a quick escape. The question that came to mind, though, was why she had quickly escaped.

Did it have something to do with what she had been talking about? For all I knew, it might have been something along the lines of somepony breaking a Pinkie Promise. Or it might not have been that serious, she might have just seen something shiny outside and quickly rushed to meet it. Regardless of what it was, I was alone right now and there wasn’t much I could do beyond sleep.

At least, I would have slept if it wasn’t for the bright light that decided to flare up.
00
It took a moment for it to register with me what that was. I hadn’t even gotten up at first, but almost immediately after I realized what it had to be, I leapt out of the bed. Part of me had thought that it might have been Twilight, since she was probably out looking for me, but it turned out that I was in for a much more pleasant surprise.

It was my mom.

A lot of ponies wouldn’t be calling her that, or even understand why I did. To every other pony, this was Princess Celestia. To every other pony, she was seen as a goddess. I looked at her for a few moments before I started moving again. A smile covered my face, and it only took around ten seconds before I was giving her a big hug.

There was something off about this hug, I just couldn’t place it at first. It was only when she said something to me that it clicked.

“You’ve grown since I last saw you.”

When I looked at her face, there was a smile looking back at me. I didn’t realize it, but she was right. I was hugging her neck, not her leg as I would have been back when I had lived in Canterlot. That was something that I hadn’t put a lot of thought into. I knew I had been growing, but this was something beyond what I had actually thought.

She was still way bigger than me, though.

“I’ve missed you, mom.” I took a step back as I said that, and I could see a second of shock on her face. It had been a long time since I had called her that, and I didn’t think that many others called her that. Was she an actual, biological, mother? It wasn’t any of my business, so I wasn’t going to ask. I didn’t think I had ever asked.

“And I missed you too. I wish I could see you more often, and Twilight as well.”

Had she gone to see Twilight? I didn’t want to bring it up, the fight hadn’t happened all that long ago. I hoped that she didn’t know much about it. Would she understand if I told her? Mom was the type that tried to be fair, but I knew this would be hard for her. She loved the two of us like family. Maybe that was another reason why I didn’t want to bring it up.

Mom didn’t deserve to have to deal with this right now.

Still, I had sent her that letter for a reason. I just hoped that she wouldn’t be too upset when I actually did get around to telling her what had happened.

~Celestia~

I didn’t want to say anything, but this was difficult.

There were very many things that I knew I could do. I was a powerful Alicorn, a goddess by some measures, but I just stood there with a smile on my face. I knew that I had to be there for my son, I knew I had to wait for when he was ready to tell me whatever it was on his mind. At the same time, though, I could barely stand to just wait for him to finally tell me.

He was hurting, that much was obvious.

Then there was the fact that I was here instead of the library, where my son generally stayed. It was usually his home, after all, and I hoped that it still was. I almost went there, or I would have had I not been able to see where the letter had come from. This was something else I wanted to know, that I knew he would tell me if I asked about it.

Why was he here and not with Twilight?

Perhaps it would be best if I just came out and asked. I normally tried to be diplomatic, things had to be said in a certain way, but I just couldn’t do it. I loved my son, and I also loved my daughter. It was my fondest wish that they love each other as well, siblings needed to have that bond. That had been part of the reason why I liked the idea of him being her assistant.

I hoped that this wasn’t a sign that things had gone horribly awry.

“It’s curious to see you here. I almost went to the library.” It was even weirder when I had seen Pinkie Pie flying out of the window, it had been as if gravity hadn’t meant much. Of course, I knew Pinkie Pie was different to say the least. Right now, though, I had to focus on the problem in front of me. Or, well, the thing in front of me that might have been a problem.

From the way he looked away from me, I knew it was a problem.

“You can tell me anything, you know that. I won’t judge you.” It felt weird that I had to say this, but I knew it needed to be said. Something had happened that Spike wasn’t equipped to deal with. It didn’t take my infinite wisdom, which was good because I didn’t have infinite wisdom, to realize that I was going to have to be really careful with this. “I’m going to be here for you, for as long as you need me to be.”

That seemed to move him a little, at least not he was looking me right in the eyes again.

“I wanna start with some good news first, mom.” The fact that he said first was good enough for me, so I nodded. His worried look faded, and I could see true happiness. That was something that I liked, even if the bad news was likely going to wipe it away. I still loved to see my son smile.

“I have a marefriend.”

That was great news. I hoped that it was somepony who could take care of him. I also hoped that it wasn’t Twilight, that would have been awkward. Of course, he would have been over there if it had been her. I wondered who it could have been, the list of mares in this town was huge. This town was worse about it than most towns, but that seemed to be a growing trend. “Oh? I’m so happy for you. Do I know her?”

A nervous look overcame his face for a moment, as if he was trying to decide if he wanted to tell me. It wasn’t Chrysalis, was it? That wouldn’t make much sense. I knew what it was like to be nervous about this sort of thing, though, so it might have just been that. Actually, the fact that he was here told me who it might have been. “It’s Pinkie Pie, isn’t it?”

That got me a smirk, and then a chuckle.

“No, no. I’m just staying here for a few days.” I heard him clear his throat, and then he said a name that I actually hadn’t expected. “Actually, it’s Rainbow Dash.” I remembered the rumors, the ones that said that she really liked mares. That wasn’t what caused me shock right now, it was something else entirely. Up until now, I had always thought that she was completely uninterested in this sort of thing.

A few moments later, it hit me.

I remember my sister’s snickering. I remembered that she told me that one of our subjects, one of the ones that I would least expect, was having dreams about her beloved. At that time, I had expected that it had something to do with somepony who worked at the castle. Before I had left, there was the chef who had given me a rather large serving of cake.

Obviously, though, she had meant Rainbow Dash and Spike.

Now I was curious.

“I couldn’t be happier for you, Spike.” I kept a measured tone, like always, but this wasn’t easy. I wanted to run over and give him a big hug. This was the type of news that every mother wanted to hear. I knew that Rainbow Dash would take good care of him, I just knew it. If she didn’t, I could always just send her to the moon.

I was sure there would be another bearer of the Element of Loyalty if we really needed one.

My initial plan of being measured actually went right out the window. I couldn’t help myself any longer, I was soon heading over to give him a big hug. It didn’t matter anyway, there wasn’t a single pony here to say anything. Even if another pony had been there, though, I would have done it. This was my son, I was allowed to give him hugs whenever I wanted.

“Tell me all about it, I don’t want to miss a single detail.”

~Spike~

I barely stopped myself from crying, this was so refreshing.

I had thought that maybe Celestia would say something about this whole thing. I didn’t know what she would say about Rainbow being my marefriend, or even if she would have an opinion. Part of me had been afraid that she wouldn’t approve, which would have been the most terrible thing that could have happened. As much as Twilight freaked out about her approval, right now I was probably ten times worse.

I lucked out, though, and she just wanted to know what had happened.

“Well, it started off with me going over to ask Rarity out.” That earned a confused look, which made sense. I wouldn’t even have believed it myself if somepony else started their story like this. “I had everything ready, it was perfect. I had a tuxedo, flowers, poetry, reservations to a nice restaurant. Everything was set up to be the best date I had ever gone on.”

“Why would she turn you down? It sounds to me like you had everything perfect.”

I rubbed the back of my head, and actually chuckled. Maybe there was something about mom, but I wasn’t sad when I thought about it this time. “Actually, I didn’t get to invite her. When I was just about at her door, I saw something in her window.” A small pause, I held my claws up. “I didn’t mean to look in her window, but it turned out for the best because I saw Rarity and Fluttershy kissing. So… that kind of ruined the idea of asking her out.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that. Nopony should see that sort of thing, especially not if they’re about to ask them out.” I didn’t mean to make her sad, this was supposed to be the good news. The bad news was going to come later, when she asked again about why I was at Sugarcube Corner.

“It had to happen. I mean… if it hadn’t, I would have never figured out that Rainbow loves me.” Something about mom, just the fact that I was around her, seemed to make this whole thing easier. I wasn’t sure if I would even be like this tomorrow, but I hoped I would be. “And we just sort of ran into each other. I asked her out, not wanting to waste the reservations… well, that’s why I thought I had asked her out at first. Either way, it turned out to be the best date I’ve ever had.”

“And the only, if I remember correctly.”

“Heh, yeah, you’re right. But I still can’t think of anything that could have made it better.” Of course, that was probably something. I couldn’t think of anything right then and there, though. “That was a few nights ago.” The end of the story was coming up soon, but that didn’t mean I had to move on to the bad news yet. There was no reason why I couldn’t just talk about Rainbow for just a little bit longer.

“You should have seen her, mom. She was so beautiful. She wore that dress that she wore to the Grand Galloping Gala. You remember the one, right?” Part of me thought that she might not have, but she gave a nod. That was good, because I didn’t want to have to describe it. “And she got her hair done, not that it isn’t normally beautiful. She’s amazing.”

I heard a chuckle, but it wasn’t mocking me. “And that’s why you love her? Because she’s beautiful? Isn’t that what got you into the situation with Rarity?”

I hadn’t given the best impression when I had just spoken about how she looked. There was more to it than simply how good she looked. “Well, it isn’t just that. I also enjoy being around her. There’s just something about her, she’s fun. You should have seen this one time when we pranked Pinkie Pie.” I thought back to it myself, and could barely stop myself from laughing. It had been so much fun.

“That’s perfect. I was afraid for a moment. I’d hate it if somepony turned out to be just beautiful.” I looked at her with a confused look. “What? I can’t let anypony hurt you.”

Hurt me? I didn’t think that would be something that would be easy. With a smirk on my face, I scratched on my own scales. “Nothing can hurt me, mom, not anymore.”

“Physically, no. I don’t have to worry about that.” I saw the smile fade a little, but not much. “But you seem to be doing well enough. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to tell me. I’ll get Lulu to take care of everything in Canterlot if I need to, remember that.”

That was a very comforting thought for some reason, though I knew that she did that sort of thing for her family when she was needed. Maybe that was why, though. I couldn’t remember the last time I had asked for her help, it felt good to hear that she would just be there for me if I needed her.

“Now, are you going to tell me about why you’re here.”

That was something that I knew had to be said, or more accurately it had to be explained, but that wasn’t going to make it easier. I even thought about trying to lie to her, to make everything seem not as serious as it really was, but I knew she would know. The only thing I could do was tell her the truth. “Well, I kind of ran away to live on my own. I just sorta had a fight with Twilight.”

“Oh, it couldn’t have been that bad. I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.”

I took a deep breath. She didn’t know what had happened, she probably assumed the best case scenario. I knew that my mom wasn’t trying to make this seem like nothing because she felt like it. Mom just didn’t know what her daughter had done. “Actually, it was horrible.” I didn’t even notice that I had clenched my claws, there wasn’t any pain to signify it. It wasn’t like I was bleeding.

“She walked in on me kissing Rainbow, and she lost it. She shot Rainbow with some magic, and then Rainbow just disappeared.” I normally would have put in more detail, but for some reason I just didn’t. “And this isn’t the first time she’s done that sort of thing … to Rainbow. She even says that she paralyzed her, which I think makes it at least a thousand times worse.”

Maybe I had exaggerated a little, but likely not much.

“I mean … would you stay where you’re not happy?” That sounded weird when I had said it. This thing, this act, took away my happiness from the area. Everything else Twilight had done wasn’t so bad, but this was just above and beyond what could be described as acceptable. “I said a few things that I wished I wouldn’t have said before I left, though. I was just so mad.”

Before I knew it, I was getting a hug again. As mom’s wings draped over me, I couldn’t help myself. Everything just sort of hit me at once, and I started to cry. This whole thing wasn’t fair at all. Twilight was my sister, she should have tried to look at things from my point of view. “I… I don’t know what to do, mom. I don’t wanna live in my own, but I can’t go back. Not if Twilight’s gonna keep me away from Rainbow.”

Part of me wished that mom could just fix this. She could, right? Mom was all powerful, she could fix anything. This time, there wouldn’t be some changeling there to attack her. This was something that I knew she could fix, all I had to do was let her fix it.

~Celestia~

I had no idea what to tell him.

It would have been nice if this was simple, like just about everything else I had to deal with, but this wasn’t. Twilight was basically my daughter, just like Spike was essentially my son. There was no way that I could choose one over the other, I just couldn’t. There was more to it than that, though. This wasn’t about choosing one over the other, I knew who was more wrong than the other, but about how to bridge that gap.

I had to fix this.

“Oh dear, this isn’t what I expected at all. I don’t know what to tell you, Spike, but I’m going to go talk to Twilight about this. There has to be something that I can do.” I turned away, and I was going to leave. There had to be another side to this, there had to be some way where I could actually come up with a solution. At the very least, I wanted to know how all of this had affected my favorite pupil.

Then I felt my tail being pulled.

“Don’t go. I’ll go talk to Twilight tomorrow, but just stay here tonight... please, mom?” I looked at him, and Spike looked horrible. I couldn’t leave him now, even if I wanted to. I really needed to find a way to say no to my son, but maybe I couldn’t because he didn’t really ask for much.

“Okay, but I still have to raise the sun tomorrow. I’ll have to leave before then.”

That seemed to make him happier, and that made me happier. At the very least, I could make sure that he went to sleep before I left. That wouldn’t take long at all.

When you ignore anything negative...

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~Rarity~

Whenever Fluttershy kissed me, that was when everything became infinitely more difficult. I was hardly a bad actor, not that I liked the idea of this being something that was simply another role, but each kiss felt just as awkward as the one before it. I was sure that Fluttershy would discover on her own eventually, there was no way that this could become natural in time for it to matter.

Or I might have been overthinking things, she did not seem any more suspicious than before.

Was it a good thing, though, that she had no idea? I had no real idea what I would do if this continued to feel so foreign. I knew what the romance novels said. The romance novels told me that one of us would have to really sweep the other off their hooves, and then would come the unmentionable acts. It was true that my novels were written with another audience in mind, I still remembered that it was a handsome prince that did the sweeping.

As much as I cared for Fluttershy, I did not feel as though she had swept me off my hooves at any point.

I was sure that I would feel that eventually.

For now, I just had to fake it. Maybe it would be the events of the day that made this easier. Either way, we were both soon outside of her cottage. I had not said much in the past few minutes, since she had agreed to go on this little date, and she had seemed to be focused on her attempts to figure out what the secret was.

I looked up at the sky, I knew it was up to me to break the silence. “It is a beautiful day, if I do say so myself. I sure am glad you were not too busy to join me. I know sometimes your animal friends get in trouble.” I looked at her, she really was a beautiful mare. I thought back to her time as a model, as fleeting as it had been, and that only affirmed my ideas. She was also very kind, the aforementioned animals were a testament to that. She was also very smart, the fact that she took care of all of those animals all the time told me that.

“Oh Rarity, you should know that I always have time for you. Besides, it’s a good thing that you showed up when you did. Angel was just saying something about me needing to get out of the house. At least this way I get to spend the time with my special somepony.” I looked into her eyes, she looked so happy. She was so sweet, I wanted to be able to give her what I knew she deserved.

Yet I still could not say that I was really in love with her. Part of me thought that this was a fault of my own, I knew that anypony would have counted themselves lucky to be where I was today. Of course, I reasoned that it was because this was still something new. I just had to weather through the uncertainty, within a few months I knew it would have become normal.

I hoped so, anyway, for both our sakes.

Otherwise, this would end horribly.

The first stop was lunch, which meant that I had time to think of a conversation. We both had to order our meals, and then when the meals arrived we had to eat. I normally tried to keep things fresh, but I knew it was important to come up with something. The topic of the day likely needed to be Fluttershy. If I talked about her, I might have been able to convince myself that my love was true. All I had to do was remember what it was about her that deserved to be loved.

Unfortunately, that was not what ended up happening.

Almost the entire time we were there, another couple was arguing. It seemed as though the mare in the relationship had caught him when he looked at the waitress’ flanks. That was both rude and uncivilized, and I would have given him a piece of my mind if Fluttershy had not been there. Instead, I spent most of the time between the order and the arrival of the food in an attempt to make sure that Fluttershy felt safe. Even though I could not give her what she deserved, I could at least do this.

~Fluttershy~

This was horrible, absolutely horrible.

Out of all of the times for something like this to happen, it had to be today. I had to be out on my date when something between two ponies happened. There was yelling, I heard that, and I couldn’t help myself. If I hadn’t been on the date, I probably would have just left. I stayed there, though, and Rarity held my hoof. That was a little embarrassing, I knew I should have been stronger when it came to this sort of thing. I knew I should have been able to get through something like this without being so needy.

I felt awful, I knew that I probably ruined our date.

Rarity probably wanted to leave as soon as possible.

The fact that the food arrived didn’t mean as much to me as when the waiter walked over to the couple. I hoped that he asked them to leave, I think he did. Regardless of what he said, they left. I was so happy about that, and that almost made me feel bad. I shouldn’t have wished them to leave, I should have wished that they would have found a way to solve their problem without the need to yell. Yet I hadn’t, I just wished that they would have gone sooner to go deal with it somewhere else.

This relationship was making me a bad pony, yet I didn’t really mind. I knew that I deserved just as much happiness as everypony else.

That thought had to be pushed to the side, though, this was my first normal date. That meant that there was no time for me to be sad, happiness was what I had to be. And I was, because Rarity was there with me. “These salads look delicious, I’m glad we came here.” Part of me thought that it might have been better to get some sort of noodles, the books that I had read recently all pointed to noodles that led to a kiss that led to everypony being happy.

Maybe next time.

“Of course, darling, I’ve been coming to this place for a long time. They have one of the best salads.”

Something about that, the word darling, seemed plain. She had called me that before we had started dating. I thought that she would have come up with something a little more special by now. That wasn’t the case, and for the first time in a while my expression changed to one of disappointment when I looked at Rarity. I hadn’t even realized that it happened, yet apparently she had noticed it enough to get a concerned look on her face as she asked the obvious question.

“Is something wrong, dear?”

I knew I couldn’t say anything, it would have seemed to be so petty. “It’s nothing at all.” There was a chance that my lie would be believed, that she wouldn’t push. Another thought came to my mind, though, I hadn’t given her a new name either. “I was just thinking of something that happened yesterday.” A moment passed, and I still didn’t have anything. I had to say the first thing that came to mind. “Don’t worry about it, Rari-bear.”

That wasn’t good at all.

It caught her off guard. The fact that she smiled soon afterward was something good, but I knew she wasn’t going to drop what she had seen.

“You can tell me anything. Is there something wrong with the salad? Are you still thinking about that couple? Is it something you’d like me to help you with back at your house?” The guesses continued for what seemed to be forever, but was really only five minutes, each question for either a no or a simple shake of my head. In the end, though, I had to tell her.

“I just wish you had a special name for me... if it’s not too much trouble. I mean... you call all of our friends dear and darling and.” I looked away for a moment, I knew she wouldn’t realize how much it meant to me. I knew she loved me, but all of the romance novels had this sort of thing. “If you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

Things sometimes just happen

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~Rarity~

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

This was not going to be good at all. I was being put on the spot, a pet name for Fluttershy. That was the type of thing I normally would have been able to do within a second, but that was before I had heard hers. I simply did not want to tell her that it was bad, especially since it seemed like she had come up with it right then and there.

Fluttershy had such an adorable face when she tried to think about something.

Rari-bear was, without a doubt, one of the worst pet names I had ever heard. I remembered a few books that had given things that bad, but they were meant to be... a little cheesy. The type of things that happened in those stories just simply did not happen in real life. At least, they I thought that they did not. Then again, recent events normally would have been considered abnormal to me.

Maybe I needed to re-think things.

All of these thoughts could not stop one big one from being certain, and that was that I was expected to say something. Fluttershy expected that I would say something any second now, and a chuckle was not going to be enough. I still did not have a good name, but there was one thing that appeared in my mind. “I am afraid that I cannot give you a pet name, Fluttershy.”

That look, that crushed look, was enough. I had to continue, an excuse had to be made.

“I would rather give you a name that come with time, with thought, with love. Something befitting of somepony with your charm, grace, something that truly shows how much I love you.” If I said it enough, it would become true. I already loved her, though not in the way I knew was needed, but the rest would make it that way. There had to be a way where she could go from best friend to lover in my eyes, I just had to wait to find it.

~Fluttershy~

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

I had pushed it on her too quickly, she hadn’t been ready. I probably looked like some crazy mare to her. At the same time, though, I knew that it was something that I had needed to say. There was no way that I would have gotten such an eloquent answer if I hadn’t said the right words. I knew that she loved me, even if she sometimes stumbled over that word, but this was something that had clenched it.

She wanted to hold off on the name because she wanted it to be special. Yet I had just wasted it on something as simple as Rari-bear. It had seemed like a good one at the time, but those words disarmed it completely. “Can we pretend that I never said mine, then? I think you’re right, it’d be so much better if this was something that came later.” It felt good to say what I was thinking, and every second I was with Rarity was slowly bringing that to the front.

When I was with her, I was confident.

“Of course, darling. There’s no rush to a name. It isn’t like our relationship is that weak.”

Her voice sounded less confident than her expression. Wait, no, I was probably just mistaken. Or maybe it was because she always looked so confident, and nothing could possibly match it. That thought had to be removed either way, forgotten. I wasn’t going to let anything happen, no doubt was going to plague me. I had doubted myself before, and it had led to so many horrible things.

Never again would I let my doubts mean anything. I had Rarity here to help me, and I knew I always would.

I had to come up with something to talk about, though. I could always have asked her about her business, but that didn’t seem like something that you spoke about on a date. It just didn’t feel right. The same could be said about how Sweetie Belle was doing. Actually, maybe there was one thing that I needed to say that would help out.

“To be honest, I really don’t know how these sorts of things are supposed to work. I mean … I’ve never really even had a crush before.” I looked up, it felt good to get this out in the open. “Somepony’s used to think that I liked Rainbow Dash. And she’s great and all, but that sort of thing just... well, it wouldn’t have even happened even if she did like mares that way.”

I looked down at the table for a moment.

“That didn’t stop ponies from making so many rude jokes. It’s part of the reason why I’m really glad that I’m down here instead of up there.” I couldn’t say I was the only one who ever got bullied, nor could I say that it had been done worse to me. I knew that I just wasn’t strong enough to deal with them, I didn’t have anypony there to lean on the way that I did now. I held my hoof out, and Rarity soon grabbed it.

“I had no idea darling. I wished you had told me before.”

“I looked into her eyes, a smile on my face. “I didn’t want to bother you, Rarity. Besides, it happened so long ago. I tried to put it behind me, but sometimes things just don’t stay where they should...” My eyes moved from Rarity for a moment, they caught sight of a dragon that I knew. To say that Spike was still a baby dragon would be a lie, yet I wasn’t afraid of him. I knew him well enough, and it helped that he was changing off in the opposite direction.

He was heading toward the outskirts of town, where Sweet Apple Acres was.

~Earlier that morning, Spike~

Words couldn’t describe how amazing it was to wake up with mom watching over me. I had thought that she would have left, that she would have gone back to Canterlot. She had even said that she needed to head back, if only to raise the sun. I had expected that she would have watched to make sure that I went to sleep, and then she would have left.

“Good morning, my handsome son. I didn’t know you liked to sleep in...”

“Yeah, I normally have to wake up early to make sure that I get everything ready for Twi...” My heart sank when I remembered why I had been able to sleep in. This was no time to be sad, though, this was a time to cherish. It wasn’t likely that I was going to get to see my mom again soon, she always seemed to be so busy. “Not that I’m complaining, but didn’t you say something about needing to leave?”

“Oh, I still probably do need to leave soon.” I tried to make sure my disappointment didn’t show. “Those nobles need direction, they need somepony to complain to. Besides, my other subjects need a Princess that’s awake during the day I just figured I could raise the sun from here... or anywhere, really.” She took a couple steps closer to me, and nuzzled my cheek.

“I really don’t see you enough, Spike.” She took a step back, and I looked her in the eyes. “It might be good if there wasn’t some sort of disaster next time we meet. Maybe I could see you and your sister at the same time next time. Without a disaster, without a crisis, just the two of you.” That sounded good, but I was starting to doubt if something like that was actually going to happen. Maybe it would happen after I talked with Twilight.

Everything would happen after I talked with Twilight, it seemed.

Everything hinged on how well my talk with Twilight went, if she saw what she did was wrong. I hoped she would, but part of me still doubted. I knew there was the chance that she would see herself as completely justified. That was something that could only lead to my permanent residence anywhere else. There was no time for such thoughts, though, they would only hold me back when the time finally came to talk to Twilight.

Sooner was better than later.

“I love you, mom. I have to go talk to Twilight right now, though. This has to get settled.”

“Indeed it does. I really hope you two can work things out. If things don’t get worked out on their own, though, I’m going to step in.”

That was something that no foal ever wanted, and I was no exception. I didn’t want this to be another thing that I couldn’t fix on my own. To me, this was even worse than if it was somepony else. The idea that my mom had to swoop in and save the day was something that I didn’t want to have to go through if I could do anything about it. In fact, I actually watched her leave through the window before I moved out of Sugarcube Corner.

Then again, there was always the chance that she was watching.

There was no time to focus on that though, I had to head straight back to the tree house. It was really more of a tree library if I wanted to be specific, but I had lived there for the past couple years now. Whatever the name, all I had to do was walk about fifteen minutes to get there. I turned the corner, it was actually about five blocks away. There was something in the corner of my eye, though, that made me turn.

More accurately, there was somepony who was in my eye that made me turn.

This wasn’t fair in the slightest. I probably should have found a different route, went around. I should have somehow known that this sort of things was going to happen. Of course, that didn’t make any sense. I couldn’t have known that Fluttershy was going to be there. More importantly, I couldn’t have known that Rarity was going to be there. The two of them were obviously on a date, that’s what I knew couples did on occasion.

This was a pain that I couldn’t describe, worse than almost anything I remembered. It wasn’t a physical pain, that would have made this easy. I was a dragon, that meant that physical pain meant nothing. I could have dealt with arrows, swords, maybe magic, but this was something that my thick scales couldn’t offer any protection from. This was something that bypassed any defenses that anypony had, and it went straight to the heart.

When that happened, logic was gone.

If I had been ruled by logic, I would have just walked past and continued on. I might have ran, if it was really bad, but that wasn’t how it went. I didn’t run past, walk past, but ran away. My first instinct was to get away from Rarity as quickly as I could. I knew I couldn’t be around her, not right now. Fluttershy was my friend, Rarity was... I didn’t know what Rarity was to me. Maybe it didn’t matter, maybe I needed to just head back and see what would have happened if I tried to get Rarity for my own.

Maybe Rainbow would have understood.

Really, that was who it came down to. If it wasn’t for Rainbow, I probably would have turned back instead of the continued to run. I didn’t even know where I was heading at this point, all I knew was that I didn’t want to stop running until I had to. All I knew was that I had to try to be happy for Fluttershy, even if it really wasn’t happening for me at that point.

I had to go see Rainbow, I knew everything would be better after that.

I didn’t know where Rainbow was, really. She could have just went to Sugarcube Corner for all I knew. That didn’t seem likely to me, but it was possible. There was also a chance that she was sleeping in a tree somewhere, or that she had gone home. For the life of me, though, I just kept walking toward my impromptu destination. I had asked Pinkie Pie to help me with one thing, and I hadn’t seen her in a while anyway, so she was out. Fluttershy was out. Twilight was definitely out. I didn’t know where Rainbow was.

That left Applejack, whose residence I hadn’t even figured out until a couple minutes ago I was heading for. Luck, I had it.

I knew that I shouldn’t have had to do that. I was in a relationship with Rainbow Dash, and I was happy. There wasn’t anything for me in Rarity’s life, aside from a previously eager worker. There had to be something that I could have done other than run, yet that’s what I had done. I was so pathetic. The only upside to my introspective thoughts, or more accurate the fact that I was being a bit self-depreciation, had given me something to think about while I was walking for Sweet Apple Acres.

This was where I needed to go, right?

Pinkie Pie was looking for Rainbow, so after I got the advice she would be back at Sugarcube Corner.

Applejack wasn’t the type that would judge me, I knew she’d hear everything out before she said anything.

~Roughly 2 AM, Rainbow Dash~

I hadn’t known that coffee was so good before today. Applejack hadn’t actually believed me when I had said that I hadn’t had any coffee before in my entire life, but it was true. I preferred to deal with being tired by via the time-tested method of napping. It always worked for me. Right now, though, I had given up one of the worst secrets that I could have given up. I had mentioned what Twilight had done to me, and now Applejack wasn’t letting me go back to sleep.

If it wasn’t for the coffee? Everything was bad enough with it, I didn’t want to think about how bad it would have been if she hadn’t mentioned the drink. I probably would have been asleep right now, which still didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

“So, tell me again about this whole situation with Twilight? None of it makes any sense ta me? Ah know that she can be a bit... err... wound up when it comes to Spike.” I shot her a look after she said that, a smirk on my face. We both knew that she was way more worried about him than almost any other pony. “Alright, a mite wound up. But she doesn’t seem like the type that would just...” I saw her motion from her head, outward. I hoped that she meant something about magic.

It was either that, or she didn’t think that Twilight shot hoops out of her forehead. Actually, that one was true to my knowledge. It would look pretty cool for... actually, no, it wouldn’t. Maybe this coffee wasn’t keeping me as awake as I needed it to. “I don’t know, AJ. I think she just... freaked out. I mean, she still treats him like a baby. She probably didn’t like the idea of Spike kissing anypony, I just happened to be the one who did it.”

I saw her hoof rub her temple, and then Applejack took a drink of her coffee. “Yeah, ah reckon that didn’t make ya her favorite pony to see right then. Not that it should matter none, as long as Spike’s bein taken care of.” Suddenly, she looked at me. There was a look of concentration on her face, one that I couldn’t remember seeing a previous time. “Actually, ya never explained to me why ya even put yerself in this situation to begin with. I mean, Spike is bigger an’ all, but... ah didn’t see ya as the romantic type.”

There it was, one of the things that I hadn’t thought she would ask. I knew it was possible, it was something that only made sense to be asked by so many ponies. Something about Applejack asking it seemed weird, though. Maybe I was just overthinking. Either way, I lightly slapped my own cheek to make sure that I was awake. “Well, there are just... I don’t know how to explain it … but there’s something about spending time with him that draws me in.”

“Sugarcube, yer soundin like ya just want a good friend. What makes him a special somepony?”

I hadn’t anticipated that she would be like this, so questioning, but I needed to answer it. The words weren’t coming to my mouth, so I held out my hoof. “It’s not easy to explain, Applejack. It’s just... he’s smart, he’s kind, he’s really.. dashing.” I mentally facehoofed at that word, it was just so horrible. “Not only that, but I just can’t stop wanting to be by his side. I mean... just wait until he gets his wings. Then he can stay up at my cloud house whenever he wants, it’ll be the most awesome thing.”

I looked out of the nearest window, and I couldn’t help but smile. It was totally a cool smile, obviously. I imagined what it would be like if he were able to see me whenever he wanted. With any luck, that was something that would be in my near future. Tomorrow seemed like a good time for me to find a way to get to him, and then we could both head to Zecora’s to find some way where his wings would have grown quicker than they would on their own.

I didn’t even know if Spike would grow wings on his own.

“Ah think ah’ve heard enough.” Applejack wasn’t the type to judge, but maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. She was a good friend to all of us, I didn’t like something that would put her in the middle of something. “Ah don’t know what she was thinkin’ Ah’m gonna head on over to her house tomorrow. Me ‘n Twi are gonna have a heart to heart an’-

I put up a hoof.

“Please, please don’t. I don’t want you guys to fight because of me. That’d be horrible, terrible. As Rarity might say, it would be the worst possible thing.” I fake swooned, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe it was a combination of being tired and coffee, but I heard a chuckle coming from my orange friend. “Besides, I have to fix this. It’s my problem.”

“Now now now, Rainbow. We’re friends, an’ friends look for fer each other.” I shot her a look, almost pleading that she didn’t do anything. “Ah’m gonna let ya try this on yer own, but this ain’t the end of it. If somethin’ doesn’t come out of it tomorra, ah’m gonna make sure that ah fix this. Ah wouldn’t dare let mah two friends fight.”

“Thanks, AJ, you’re the best.”

“Shucks, Rainbow, does that mean ya think ah’m more awesome than you are?”

I grinned, right after I let out a yawn. “Puh-lease, we all know I’m wa-” With that, my eyes closed and I felt my head hit the table. Maybe the coffee hadn’t been able to keep me up as much as I had hoped that it would. Since we were at the kitchen table, I was sure that I would be woken up within a few hours. And then I could go find Spike, or maybe a tree to take a nap in. Either of the two were possible when it really came down to it.

~Spike, current time~

There was something about this farm that had a calming effect on me. Maybe it was the plantlife, maybe it was the fact that disasters happened everywhere else more than her, but there was something about this place that helped me focus. I needed to get that advice from Applejack, get back to Sugarcube Corner, and then tomorrow I needed to try again to get to Twilight’s. Everything made sense when I thought about it like that.

This farm was amazing for thinking.

Soon enough, though, I was knocking on the door. I didn’t know her schedule perfectly, but I knew that today was one of those days that Big Mac was the one who sold the apples. It seemed like these days were says when a lot of mares bought apples. There wasn’t any time to figure out why, though, I was here for some advice about what to do with... this whole situation in front of me.

I knocked a few more times, it didn’t seem like anypony was going to answer.

“Hold yer horses. Ah’m a comin’.” That was obviously Applejack. There weren’t a lot of Apples to begin with, and I could have picked her voice out of a crowd if needed. Good thing it wasn’t, though, and she might have been the only pony awake in there. I knew that Granny Smith was getting up there in the years, she probably napped almost as much as Rainbow did.

I knew never to make that joke around Rainbow.

The door soon opened, and Applejack looked at me shocked. “Oh, hey Spike. Whatcha doin here?” Out of all of my friends, Applejack was the easiest to read. She looked incredibly nervous, it didn’t take a genius to see that. And it was good that it didn’t, otherwise I probably would have missed it. I wished that I knew what she was nervous about, it might have been something that I could have helped with after I got my own advice.

“I was actually hoping to get some advice.” This didn’t make her seem any less nervous. “I mean, you’re pretty honest... and that’s what I guess I need right now. Honest advice.”

I heard a gulp, but she motioned for me to come in. “Whatever ah can do ta help ya, just let me know.”

I had a lot of problems that I needed to deal with, but they fell into three basic categories. One of them was that I hadn’t seen Rainbow lately, but that was something that was being dealt with. Pinkie Pie was obviously back at Sugarcube Corner with her. My second problem with Twilight, I knew I would have to tread carefully with that one. The third of the problem was Rarity, or more accurately the fact that I had a hard time being around her.

Which first?

“Well, the first thing to say is that I’m going out with Rainbow.” I noted that she didn’t look surprised, or at least not as surprised as I had thought she would have been. It looked more like a faked one, but maybe I shouldn’t press that one further. If Twilight told her anything, she might have already known before I even came down here. I still knew that she would do her best to give good advice, regardless of what she was told.

Applejack was dependable.

“Ah heard about that. Why have ya given up on Rarity?” It seemed as though everypony had known about my crush that wasn’t Rarity. That was a question that brought a frown to my face. This was something that I had to deal with, right now.

“Actually, that’s part of the reason why I’m here.” That seemed to catch her attention, she looked curious. “I mean, it all started when I saw Fluttershy and Rarity smooching it up. I mean, that kind of thing is enough to tell anypony that there isn’t really a chance.” It might have been the farm, but it didn’t hurt as much to remember as it had before. It still hurt, fiercely, but it felt somehow good to get this out in the open. A few tears also fell, maybe that was it.

“It doesn’t end there, though.” This next part, that was going to be hard to say. “I know I should be happy for them. I mean … I’m happy because I’m with Rainbow. But I saw them, Fluttershy and Rarity, and I just couldn’t pass them. I ran in the opposite direction.” I wiped a couple of tears away. “I’m a horrible friend, I’m not happy for two of my best friends. They’re happy with each other, I’m happy with Rainbow, but I’m not happy for them.

What’s wrong with me?”

This was a question that seemed to take her off guard. Within a second, I felt myself being hugged. “Ah don’t know what ta say. When ya really want somethin, it might take some time for ya to ferget ya wanted it.” Applejack backed up, and I looked at her eyes. She seemed like she was remembering something as well, something that obviously wasn’t a happy memory. “Would ya like ta hear a story?”

I wasn’t sure, yet I nodded anyway.

“When ah was younger, ah went up to Manehattan. Ah had wanted to be up there with Aunt ‘n Uncle Orange.” This was the start of a story that I had heard. Part of me wanted to say something, to bring up that I knew that this was how she got her cutie mark. “Turns out that mah trip helped me get mah cutie mark, but that ain’t what this here story’s about.”

My attention was focused even more now.

“Many ponies have no idea just what they want, until it’s too late.” This wasn’t the accent I knew, it was entirely too fancy. It sounded more like the way that Rarity or maybe Fancypants up in Canterlot would speak. Either way, this didn’t sound like Applejack. “Ah learned how to talk with the best of ‘em, dine with the best of ‘em. Spent a couple’a months up there, longer than ah let anypony know.” She winked at me, a smile on her face. “Let’s keep that our little secret.”

This was another side, one that I doubt many ponies actually knew. I definitely had to keep ths secret. “Don’t worry, Applejack, your secret’s safe with me.”

“Ah haven’t even gotten to tha good part.” She cleared her throat, then took a breath. “Ah don’t let any of them know, but ah met somepony there.” An unexplainable expression showed up on her face, the type a pony gets when they’re remembering something good. “He was everything ah thought ah wanted. He was smart, sophisticated, darn good lookin, and he liked me. Ah met him when we were at a party fer my Uncle’s birthday.

Ah didn’t think ah’d ever want to leave, and ah almost didn’t. Ah still don’t know what it woulda been like if ah had stayed behind. Maybe ah would have become more comfortable around there. Maybe it woulda just turned out to be a crush that a filly has, and we’da both been mad.” I still didn’t see the smile go away. “Ah still wonder about that, to this very day. Sometimes ah regret mah decision, but then ah see Applebloom ‘n that regret gets swept on back.”

I thought I saw a tear form, but I was probably mistaken.

Also, I had no idea how that was supposed to help.

“Sometimes, ya can’t focus on what coulda been. If ya don’t keep with whacha got, what keeps ya happy around ya, it ain’t never gonna get easier.”

That made perfect sense.

“Anything else ah can help ya with, Spike?”

I nervously chuckled, then looked into her eyes. “Well, Twilight might have discovered that I was going out with Rainbow on her own... when she walked in on us kissing.” Another situation where shock would have made more sense. This was another time when I probably should have asked why she didn’t seem shocked at all that I was saying what I did. “And she reacted like she did back when I got hurt and had Rainbow take me out for the day... she teleported Rainbow away. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she was paralyzed for ten or so hours afterward. Twilight’s magic isn’t too stable when she’s mad.

So, anyway, I need to figure out how I can talk to Twilight... and I need to figure out where Rainbow is. Well, actually, Pinkie said she was going to figure out where Rainbow is... I mostly need to figure out how to talk to Twilight.” I didn’t know how to word this next part. “She can be kind of scary when she’s mad, and she certainly isn’t happy.”

Dependable Applejack would probably help come up with a solution that involved being a part of it. I knew I would have to talk her out of it, I needed to do this myself. Yet the answer that I got was something that I hadn’t thought I’d get.

“Ah cain’t help ya much with Twi, but ah do know where Rainbow is. Ah found her here yesterday, and ah brought her in. Had to stop Pinkie from wakin her up this mornin, she wanted to carry Rainbow all the way to Sugarcube Corner.” That sounded like Pinkie to me. “Ah told her that once this whole fightin thing was done, she’d have a party ta throw. She sounded like she knew, but ah said the party’d have to be bigger if it was gonna celebrate the fight endin’.

That’d been enough to get her to go.”

I couldn’t stop myself, I chuckled for a good five minutes before it hit me. Applejack knew where Rainbow Dash was. “I hope you don’t mind talking me to Rainbow... it’d make my day to see her.” Before I had finished, Applejack had already nodded and was already leading me up the stairs. Apparently, Rainbow Dash was already there and was still asleep in Applejack’s bed.

“Ah really hope this is worth it.”

“It is.” The only thought that came to mind, as I watched Rainbow sleep, was to soon head over to the bed myself. I liked napping, and soon enough I was napping with my marefriend. She even seemed to enjoy it, the two of us were soon cuddling. I really hoped that Applejack didn’t mind, I hadn’t exactly asked her if I was allowed to lay down. Yet she hadn’t said anything, so it was obviously okay.

I could ignore my problems for now, as long as Rainbow Dash was with me. Tomorrow I could head over to see Twilight. I had thought about doing it today, but some things were just more important than that.

~Rarity~

I could not believe how happy I was when Angel-bunny had come up to tell Fluttershy something. I should not have been so happy, especially when the reason for his arrival became apparent. From what I had been able to discern, it was something about a sick animal. Fluttershy was always so kind. The biggest problem, the one that caused this happiness, was the cloud that had seemed to hang over us since she had asked that question.

I was silent, I did not have a clue what to say. She seemed to be the same way, sadly.

There had even been a moment when she had spaced out, and she seemed to have been looking off at something. When I had looked, she had said it was nothing. When I looked, I actually did not see anything either. It was alright, though, because she had needed to leave to help take care of some sort of animal. This gave me some time that I hadn’t anticipated, which meant I had to go to the thing I rarely did.

I had to go figure out what this whole pet name thing was all about. I knew better than to think that this was just another thing that I had to listen to those novels about. Life needed something a little better than that, and I was going to provide. Of course, without a point of reference I could only go to the place that had information about everything.

I had to go to the library.

The good thing was that I actually was fairly close. In fact, it took me little time before I was standing in front of the door. The good thing about a library was that there was no need to knock when it was open. The only bad thing was that I saw a ‘closed’ sign. Oh, this simply would not do. I knew I had to get in there to get some sort of book. Not only that, but I simply could not think of a single reason why the library would have been closed in the middle of the day.

It made absolutely no sense to me.

Something was wrong, and I had to do something about it.

Part of me said that I should have knocked, but that part was smaller. I could not remember the last time it was closed during the day, even her departure from the library happened without it being closed. The doorknob turned, and I peeked inside to see that there was a lavender unicorn that looked as though she hadn’t moved from her spot in a while. There was just a look, a defeated look, as she was sprawled out on the floor around five feet from the door.

She was also pointed at the door.

As the door was opened, I saw movement. Her eyes opened, and I saw something that hurt me. Her eyes were red, bloodshot. If it hadn’t been for a few other signs, I would have merely thought that she had studied for too long. Something about her face made me think that this was something worse than my own problem, something that I needed to help her with as a good friend. Even though I needed to fix my own problems, this was something that came first.

I had to be a good friend to somepony today.

When she looked at me, there was a few moments of a smile. It seemed as though I wasn’t the pony she had wanted to see, however, as the expression quickly changed to what it had once been. I knew this was something that was not meant to be personal, yet it did hurt a little to think that I was not able to ensure that my friend actually smiled for more than a couple of seconds. Next came a mumble, something that I simply had no idea what it was.

“My apologies, dear, could you repeat that?”

“Go away.”

That was straightforward enough, that much was certain. Whoever she had expected was somewhere else, and I was there. I took a couple of steps forward, and I did my best to show that I was determined to help out however I could. “I am afraid I simply cannot do that. What type of friend would I be if I left you here like this? If there is anything that I can do, please tell me.” I knew there had to be something that could be done, there just had to be. Aside from being a good friend, I knew this was the only way I could ever get any advice from her in the future.

That was greedy, I knew, but it was honest.

“No, go away.” I saw her put her head back down, face first, onto the floor. This simply was not the way that I expected her to act. Twilight had a lot of problems, most of them had to do with her near-obsession with studying, but this simply could not have been caused by that. I had to get to the center of whatever it was that caused this problem.

“Pleeeeeeaaaaase.” I knew the best way to get what I wanted, and that was to annoy. It might not have seemed like the ladylike thing to do, but it most certainly worked. “Please, please, please, please.” I knew that she would eventually have caved in if I continued for long enough. I was determined to do just that, it was a skill that I had.

“FINE!” When I saw her look up at me, she looked incredibly angry. No, anger probably was the wrong way to put it. She looked as though she had been hurt by something, or maybe somepony. If it was somepony, they would be destroyed. “I ruined my... I ruined my life....” In a split second, tears started to roll from her eyes. I had no idea what to say, especially considering the fact that I had no idea how she could have possibly ruined her entire life. Part of me wondered if she had failed a test, that most certainly would have been enough to freak her out.

This seemed worse than anything I had seen previously, though.

“Whatever it is, I doubt it can be that bad.” I knew that probably was the wrong thing to say, so I had to continue. “Why don’t you tell me about it? If I know what went wrong, I can do something.”

“Spike left me... he left me. And it’s all my fault.”

I thought about it, and I had not seen much of Spike in the past couple days. I generally assumed that he could have been found here, but that turned out to be an incorrect assumption. Something had happened between the two of them, and now she was alone. “I’m sorry … did you say left you? Oh, that simply doesn’t make any sense. Why would Spike just leave you? You’re family.” I probably was not helping at all, but I had a point to make. “Are you sure you aren’t just overreacting? He might have just gone out for a few days to go … do things.”

I had no idea what it could be, but it made absolutely no sense to me that he would simply leave her like this.

“He … he told me that he didn’t feel safe around here, and it’s all my fauuuuult.” The crying only intensified, her words were barely decipherable at this point. If this were anypony else, I would have simply tried to find a way to leave without them knowing it. I tried to be generous, but sometimes ponies needed a little time to themselves when they were dealing with problems. Not only that, but these were not the types of situations that I normally found myself dealing with.

There was no way that I could leave now, though, Twilight needed me.

“Oh, he was probably overreacting then.” I put on a smile, fake as I had no idea whether or not he had actually overreacted much, and took a couple of steps forward. “Why don’t you tell your Aunt Rarity all about what caused it? This could all just be a teenager thing, after all.” I had hoped that my words would have done something, yet the effects were minimal. Her crying diminished, but not enough to have actually been considered really progress.

That turned out to be wrong.

Over the course of the next few hours, I was told everything. I was told about how Rainbow’s stunt had caused Spike to get injured, and then how she had taken the poor dragon from his bed. It was possible that she might have overreacted with all of the medical equipment, but that was what family did when they were worried about each other. The part that worried me, though, was Twilight’s reaction to when Rainbow finally returned the young dragon.

It was easy to forget how strong she was, especially when she was broken down as she was in front of me.

That wasn’t even the end of the story. Apparently, Rainbow was the center of this little drama. While I had been courted by Fluttershy, or at least she had attempted, it seemed as though the same had happened between Spike and Rainbow Dash. That was a pairing that I had not considered possible, but I was not the end-all-be-all decision maker when it came to the relationships of other ponies. That made the timing of the move by Fluttershy make more sense.

I should have been mad at Rainbow for all of this. There was something about it, the two of them seemed happy together. As much as I wanted to be mad, and I probably would have been justified, I simply could not bring myself to be angry at either of them. If I had known, I likely would have made a dress for her and a tuxedo for him. The fact that she had worn the dress that I had made for Gala was something that wasn’t intended at all.

No time for that, I had to remain focused.

The story came to a close when Twilight caught the couple kissing. It was something that did not end well, with Twilight teleporting the pegasus away with a paralyzation spell. This ended the same as their previous encounter, of which I had known little about before today. Now I knew everything about it, up until the point that he had left.

Now I was even more confused than ever.

There was the fact that Twilight had overreacted when she had seen the two kissing. That was something that could have been explained by the need to protect. I still did not know if even that was enough to warrant something like that. For all Twilight knew, she could have sent her somewhere that was dangerous. I knew better than anypony that casting while you are emotional is something that simply should never be done. It never ends well.

Part of me wanted to say that Spike overreacted, which he did a little. I assumed that Spike knew that his protection was her number one concern. When I heard that he had told her that he felt unsafe there, that felt like it had gone too far. Of course, I probably had no room to judge him because I had no idea what it was like to be in love enough to have pushed aside somepony who was your family for it. I might have pushed aside Sweetie Belle earlier this morning, but that would have happened even if I had needed to make something up.

She was tiring sometimes, even if I loved her.

All of that aside, I had no idea what needed to be said. If I did not take her concerns into consideration enough, that simply would not help. Twilight seemed determined to blame herself, but there was a need to ensure that she knew it was not all her fault. I really did have to word this perfect, or the entire thing would crumble. It really was incredibly difficult to be me, that was certain right now.

It was strange. I had come here for advice, yet it seemed more likely that I was going to end up the one that gave the advice.

Guilt

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~Twilight~

I knew this was all my fault, there was nopony else to blame. I had failed them, I had failed them all. Most importantly, though, I had failed him. The worst part was that I had done this before, this same exact failure was still fresh in my memory. Even though I couldn’t remember how long ago it had been now, the last time I had failed Spike like this was still fresh in my mind.

Now Rarity was here.

When I had heard the door open, it had been the best moment of my day. It had been enough to wake me up, to put a smile on my face. That hadn’t lasted, though, there hadn’t been the pony that I had hoped to see. Actually, it hadn’t been a pony that I had hoped to see. That was what made it horrible when it had been Spike’s old crush that was standing there.

I told her to leave, but she didn’t.

Why didn’t she leave?

She had bugged me to tell her the story. Oh, so much of me had wanted to just make her leave. I could have done it. All I had to do was charge up my horn, and she would probably have ended up at her house if I was able to focus enough. Then again, that was what got me in this situation in the first place. If I hadn’t done that before, Spike would still be here. If I had just been more considerate of what he thought and felt, he wouldn’t have left.

Maybe that was why I didn’t do anything beyond tell her to leave.

Maybe that was why I told her everything.

There had actually been a hope that she would have passed judgment on me as well. I blamed myself, Spike blamed me, and so would everyone else. I knew they would have blamed me if they knew everything. Maybe one of them would feel bad enough for me that they would help me out. Actually, no, that didn’t even make sense to me right now. Without that, though, I didn’t know why it was that I told her every single detail about what had happened.

I certainly didn’t do it to make myself feel better, because I didn’t feel better at all. If anything, the fact that I just told somepony else about it somehow made me feel even worse. It was almost as if the simple act of repeating it made it more real. It was almost as if I had just made myself see the experience again. All of this had taken a few hours, almost completely full with me talking about what I had done to the two of them.

It was only at the end that I started to cough. How long had it been since I had last gotten up to get a drink of water? Had it been a few hours? Maybe it had been a day, I didn’t know. There had been at least one time that it had happened, I knew that. I licked my lips, and tried to move, but I just couldn’t. This turned out to be the first time I was glad that somepony else was there.

It only took a look from me for Rarity to realize what was wrong right now.

Did I really look that pathetic?

It made sense, really, in a way. I certainly felt pathetic. The fact that I needed somepony else to help me out wasn’t even the thing that made me feel that way. No, it was something more than that. I had chased away the only family I had out here. Even though I knew my friends, minus Rainbow, would have been for me … it didn’t matter to me. None of it mattered if I was going to have to live here alone for the rest of my days.

And it seemed as though that was probably going to be the case.

Rarity soon returned with the cup, and within ten seconds it was empty. Oh, that had felt so good. It had been far too long since I had drank water. When it had first touched my lips, it had hurt pretty bad. The more I drank, though, the more I wanted to drink. “Thank you, Rarity.” I managed to say something, and even better I managed to move. “Could you... could you watch for Spike for me?” That probably sounded like a weird request, or maybe it just seemed like that because of the weird look that she gave me.

“If Spike comes here and nopony is here to greet him then he’ll just go away.”

I knew it would happened eventually, it just had to. There was no other way I could apologize, no other way that I could make sure that he knew that I felt bad. Even if I knew that I was looking out for him, there was something about this whole thing that came back to me thinking that the things I did were the things that had pushed him away. Even though I had the best intentions at the time, that didn’t mean that the things I did had been the best thing I could have done.

Everypony told me that a good relaxing shower helped them out. I hoped that it would have had the same effect on me, I needed it. Besides, I knew that I probably stank a little. I was actually surprised that Rarity hadn’t said anything about it. Then again, she had done little beyond listen as I told her how I had ruined everything that could possibly be ruined. But after my shower, I would probably go out there to see that Spike was there.

Yeah, that’s it. I had to be positive, I had to think positive. A turn of a few knobs, and the warm water started to fall on my mane. It wouldn’t be good if I wasn’t ready for when Spike came back. I knew he had to come back eventually, and I had to be there to make sure that everything was alright. The biggest problem was still Rainbow, I still didn’t know what I thought about the idea of her kissing Spike. Nopony could kiss Spike, he was still a baby dragon.

No matter how big he got, I always saw the old Spike that I had brought with me to Ponyville only a few years ago.

~Rarity~

I really worried for that mare.

It was not simply one single thing. When I had gotten her water, it seemed as though she had not drank any for a while. There was something about her eyes. There was something about the way that she laid out on the floor, how she had been pointed at the door. There was something about her mane, her coat. There was something about everything that she said, especially the way that she said it. There were so many things that worried me, I almost wanted to stop her from going off.

Yet she had told me to stay and wait for Spike, so I knew that she would be coming back as quickly as possible.

I still had no idea what I needed to say to her. There had been a book that I had wanted to get, or it might have been advice. After I heard what had happened between her and Spike, and then was asked to wait for him, my own goal had quietly slipped from my mind. I knew it was something about Fluttershy, so it was not completely gone. It was something about Pet Names, I thought, or it could have been any number of problems that had come up recently.

I looked up for a few moments, and remembered that it had been all about the fact that I did not have an understanding of Pet Names at all. I had read some romance novels, but I knew that there was likely more to them than that. After all, this was Fluttershy. If there was somepony, anypony, that deserved better it would have been Fluttershy. Of course, I was now being forced into a role of somepony who was not actually solving their own problems.

That had been what had gotten me into this, I believed.

“I only hope all of this has a more happy ending than beginning.” I thought aloud, maybe because I knew that nopony was around to her me. Whether it was Spike and Twilight, Fluttershy and me, or even Rainbow Dash and Twilight, it seemed as though there was a giant problem in our group that could have ruined everything for everypony. I had no idea what to say to Twilight to help her with her problems, nor did I know how to solve my own. Well, actually, I knew how to solve mine. I just had to remain faithful to Fluttershy. I knew I had to force the embers of love to become a fire.

First I had to find the embers of a more romantic love.

I wished that all of this could be more simple. Relationships always seemed to be so straightforward in those novels that I read. Everything was always more simple in those books. I would have given anything right then and there for life to be so simple. Of course, that was not going to happen. Life stayed true to itself, it kept as complicated as ever.

Maybe that was what made it beautiful.

Beautiful yet complicated or beautiful because it was complicated, I was probably not in the right state of mind to figure that out right now. What was it about being alone that made me philosophical at times? It made no sense, really. I knew that it was better to think of that than focus on the day that had preceded it. Though I apparently needed to focus on the world around me more, because when I looked away from the door I noticed that Twilight was staring right at me.

She looked a lot better, at least physically. There was still something about her that looked off, looked defeated. It might have been the fact that there was still a slight puff to her eyes, or it could have been the expression that was on her face. A couple of times, she tried to smile when I looked at her. That was not something that had worked, though. Feigning happiness was something that came with time, effort, and practice. I highly doubted that she had enough of any of them, barring effort potentially, to be able to say that she pulled it off.

Or maybe I had just over thought things.

Why were these problems not as easy to overcome as the others we had faced. Easy was more definitely not the right word, when I really thought about it, but simple most certainly was. If there was ever something big that threatened Equestria, all we had to do was talk the elements and it was soon defeated in a rainbow. This, though, this was something that was going to need a lot more than the Elements of Harmony provided.

I did not know what it needed, really.

The sound of somepony coming down the stairs got my attention. It was Twilight, of course, clean from her short shower. She looked as though that had helped her, if only a little. There was even a fake smile again, as if she needed to put on a brave face about all of this. Either that, or she did not want her friends to see her like this. Today might have been one of those days when she was going to go out, which would have been an improvement.

Then she sat down next to me and looked at the door.

“He’s coming back today, I can feel it. And when he does, I’m going to be here … right here.” The smile widened, but not in a way that gave me any confidence. There was something about it that just made me feel uncomfortable about the fact that I was this close to her. I knew it would not be that hard to move away, I just had to use an excuse. Either that, or maybe it was for the best that I just sat here and comforted her in any way I could.

“Then you two can talk, and everything will get better after that.” Her eyes moved over to me for a moment, right before I continued. “That’s my feeling, of course. After all, if you talk about things then they get resolved. If you simply hide them away, nothing ever changes.” It was lost on me the irony of that statement. I was the one who had not planned on talking to Fluttershy about my own little problems.

Then again, it was my refusing to talk that had really put these problems into play in the first place.

“B...but what will I say?”

It seemed that just as quickly as she had seemed to regain some confidence, it was shot again. Twilight really was a delicate mare, it seemed. This was something that I should have already known, given the multiple times that something small had been able to set her off. Tests were the most common thing, but it really varied. This was tied to one of the things that I knew she really cared about, it should not have been a surprise that she simply could not handle this sort of thing.

“The question before me seemed so simple to me.

“That should be obvious, darling.” When she looked at me confused, I simply gave her my best smile. “This problem came about because the two of you kept secrets from each other. If the two of you had simply been more open about everything, then we would not be in this situation at all.” Once again, my picture likely would have been found in the dictionary next to irony, but once again I was blissfully unaware of the fact that the things I said could be deflected back toward me.

“B-b-but I didn’t hide anything from Spike. I’ve been honet with him from the very beginning. I told him I did this because I worry about him, because I do.” It seemed as though I had hit a button, something that she did not like being said. Twilight honestly thought that she had told him everything, that her simple words about how she worried about him were enough to make sure that he knew and understood. Perhaps I needed to explain it to her. Twilight was a bright mare, I knew she would understand.

“Oh come now, Twilight, there had to be more to it than that.” Her confused look turned to a wary one, so I knew to quickly continue. “I worry about Sweetie Belle al the time, but I hardly stop her from going out there to spend time with her friends. Even when I’m not busy, I know that sometimes she just needs to spend time with Scootaloo and Applebloom.” Inwardly, I was proud of myself for not messing up Scootaloo’s name. I did that occasionally, and Sweetie Belle never could stop herself from making jokes when I said Scooterloo.

“But that’s because she’s your sister. Spike’s more than that.” It looked like I had hit root of the problem. I did not know I was such a good psychiatrist, but it seemed as though that was not too difficult for me. Or maybe I had just gotten lucky this time.

“Whatever do you mean, darling? I thought Spike was like a brother to you?”

For a moment, she looked as though she was going to start laughing. “A brother?” That word was stated as though she was confused by it. “Shining Armor is my brother. I don’t take care of Shiny every day, I don’t feed him, make sure he gets to bed on time, make sure he washes behind his ears. Spike is more than a brother, he’s like a son to me.”

That was something that I should have been able to foresee her saying. It was something that made sense in a way. Twilight took care of him, even if she did falter at times. She did a really good job of doing so, too. Of course, something told me that this wasn't even the entire cause of the fight. I had to be a good friend, I had to get her to tell me why she was so protective. Even our mother was not as protective about either Sweetie Belle or myself.

It is because she trusts us.

“But Twilight, getting hurt is just part of growing up. My mom did not shield me from everything, and I turned out alright. Who is to say that Spike would turn out the same way.” That made perfect sense to me. If I had never tripped, I would have never learned to stand back up on my own. Sometimes that trip was a literal one, and sometimes it was a metaphorical one.

“Exactly!” When she said that, it was my turn to be confused. “The sooner he learns how to do things on his own, the sooner he’s going to... he’s going to leave me to live with Rainbow Dash. And she doesn’t live safe at all.” Part of that was true, really. Rainbow Dash did not know the meaning of the word safety, I was sure of that. either that, or she simply thought that it was not something that she needed to worry about in the slightest. The other parts, though, they came across as paranoia to me.

“Ah, now I understand.” I could not help myself, I reached over and pulled Twilight into a hug. “I might not have been a mother, but that does not mean I know nothing about that. I worry about that same thing sometimes, that Sweetie Belle will just grow up and move on. It could very well happen if she were to start singing more.” This was something that I normally kept inside, but Twilight needed to know that she wasn’t alone. “But I know that the time I do spend with her is all the more precious because of that.”

Of course, I probably needed to spend more time with her, but that was a problem for a different day.

This problem, the one that was here today, was probably just about solved.

“All you need to do is be honest with him, tell him everything about why you are acting the way that you are. That is what you should say.” With that, she pulled away with an angry look on her face. Something told me that I had definitely struck something of a raw nerve. There was something about her anger that made me recoil a little, maybe it was because I knew that she was capable of things that most unicorns only dreamed of doing.

~Fluttershy~

I had been so stupid.

I had pushed Rarity into making up a name on the spot, but not before I had come up with one that had seemed good at the time. Now it just seemed as though it wasn’t thought out at all. I needed to go talk to her, but maybe I needed to give myself some time to think about what it was that I had done wrong. I didn’t want to rush back into the same mistake, after all.

That, and there was a sick animal that really needed my attention.

I really had no idea what it could have been, though. I normally didn’t help out Timberwolves, they scared me so much. Most of them were scary, but this one was just a little cub. I couldn’t have pushed it out, even if I had the strength to do it. It would have just been wrong. That still brought me back to the problem of not knowing anything about what could have affected this Timberwolf. It could have been something small, or it could have been something big.

All I knew was that it kept scratching, it felt warm to the touch, and there were a few splotches. Actually, those last two were the one that confused me the most. I didn’t even know that Timberwolves could get fevers. I definitely hadn’t known what it would look like it one got anything like a rash. It had looked something like moss, the color at least, but it wasn’t moss. I had to figure this out, it could have been something serious.

If this was something serious and I didn’t fix it, I didn’t think I could have lived with myself.

The only thing that came to mind, though, was to hope that Twilight had a book on Timberwolves. If she did, I definitely needed to find a way to get one for myself. I had thought that I had every book that I needed, but I had never needed anything about Timberwolves before. They probably needed special medicine, too, so I was probably going to head over to Zecora’s soon afterward.

First, though, I needed a book. Oh, I was becoming such a … what was it that Rainbow had called Twilight? An egghead? That wasn’t a bad thing, was it? Even if it was, I knew Rainbow wouldn’t make fun of me for it. She didn’t make fun of me when she knew it really hurt my feelings.

By now, the library was in sight.

Since it was dusk, I wasn’t sure that she would be awake in there. Yet as I got closer, I heard two ponies talking. Maybe talking wasn’t the best term, it seemed a little more … heated. That was the term that I had heard Rainbow say when she had been arguing with Applejack. This wasn’t an argument, though, or at least I hoped it wasn’t. I knew those voices, they were definitely Twilight and Rarity. Oh, raised voices definitely meant that I needed to go home.

No.

I needed to get that book, I needed to make sure that I did what was right. Maybe my presence would have stopped it if I was inside. At the very least, they would have stopped while I was there. As I got closer, though, I was finally able to start to understand what was being said.

“Honest? I really don’t think you have much room to talk about being honest.”

A grimace overtook my face. How dare she say something like that. There was obviously something wrong between the two of them, but it was probably a misunderstanding. Twilight shouldn’t have attacked Rarity like that. I needed to get in there faster, to tell Twilight to back off.

“I beg your pardon! I simply have no idea what you could be talking about.”

“Oh, don’t play dumb with me. You told me all about your problem with Fluttershy.”

I felt my ears droop down. She had told Twilight about our little fight? I hadn’t thought that she had needed to go talk to somepony else. It kind of hurt that she didn’t think I could help. That was one of things that I knew relationships were about, honesty and communication. Wait, that was actually two things. Either way, I needed to talk to her later about that. I wouldn’t be mean about it, she didn’t need that after what Twilight was doing here, but she needed to know that I was there whenever she needed somepony to talk to.

I needed her to feel safe to tell me anything.

“That is completely different, and you know it.”

I heard a chuckle, then a full-blown laugh. Whatever was the problem that Twilight was dealing with, she thought it was the same as Rarity’s. Did she have a special somepony too? Oh, that would have been so wonderful. She hadn’t told any of us about him, or maybe her, but that didn’t mean that the special somepony didn’t exist.

Maybe this was just nervousness, they weren’t really fighting.

“Oh come on. You’re telling me that my problems would be gone if I told Spike why I act the way I do.” That didn’t make much sense. Spike was like a brother, or maybe a son. I hadn’t known that the two of them were special someponies. “He knows we’re like family anyway. Unlike Fluttershy, who really thinks everything is perfect between the two of you.”

“It will be, Twilight, it will just take time.” Something about Rarity’s voice didn’t sound as sure as I wanted it to. Something about it sounded as though she was trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince Twilight.

“Don’t lie to me!” I … I couldn’t move. It became difficult to do much more than simple breathe. What was it that was being hidden from me? “You can’t make yourself fall in love with Fluttershy. Either you are in love with her or you’re not in love with her.” That felt like a hoof to the face, really. “And you don’t. But you just keep saying to me that you just need more time and it’ll happen.” This was actually more painful than anything that had happened in flight camp.

I needed Rarity to deny everything. One she denied everything, I needed to burst in the door and just let Twilight know what I thought. It wouldn’t be hard, but it took into account that Rarity denied everything. That’s all it would take, the simple words that Twilight was wrong.

“You’re wrong, Twilight.” There they were, I started to move again for the door. “I will be able to do it. I will fall in love with Fluttershy, and give her everything she deserves.” That was when I stopped. It didn’t make any sense to me. I had kissed Rarity so many times, and she had kissed me back. It didn’t make any sense. I thought back to the few happy moments that had come up already. We hadn’t been together for years, but each moment had still be precious to me.

No, it all made sense now.

Rarity had always been a little slower to the kiss. I didn’t know why I hadn’t noticed it before, but I hadn’t. Now that I was thinking back, it all seemed so obvious.

Rarity had never loved me like I loved her. She never would.

I had come here for a book, but I couldn’t go in there now. I couldn’t really do much here. There was no way that I was going to be able to see Rarity right now. The only thing that made any sense was if I went back home and tried to get that timberwolf better on my own. Of course, that was if I made it back home at all. Tears were streaming down my face, and I turned only to trip and tall. As soon as I got back to my feet, I tried sprinting off away.

It didn’t matter how often I’d stumble, I had to get away quickly.

~Rarity~

What was that?

I moved to look through the window in time to see a certain yellow pegasus that seemed to be in quick retreat. “Oh no.” At that, the mare that I had just been arguing with quickly moved to the window as well. I was so mad at her right now, so mad at myself. Oh, this was not supposed to happen. This was not supposed to be the way that she discovered my feelings. Actually, I had been hoping that she would have never discovered these feelings at all.

That hope had died.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Rarity. I didn’t know she was there.” I knew a forced apology, and a fake apology. This was neither of those. At the same time, I turned to her with a grimace on my face. If she had simply kept her voice down, this whole thing might not have happened. “I don’t know what came over me. I just … I was so mad. It felt like when I was a filly again, and Celestia would lecture me about something I did wrong.” With those words, she turned and walked away. “I’m a horrible friend.”

Now that simply would not do.

I knew she had done something wrong, it had caused a problem between Fluttershy and myself. I had no idea if our friendship could weather this, but I hoped that it would. At the same time, though, part of me felt that it was the right thing. Fluttershy deserved to know the truth, and I shouldn’t have kept it from her. I just needed to go talk to her, but first I needed to finish what I started here. I couldn’t leave her thinking that this was her fault.

“No, you are not. You are simply flawed like the rest of us.” That probably was the wrong way to go about this. “And besides, she deserves to know the truth. If you are indeed correct, then I would have told her eventually. If I had been honest with her from the start, none of this would have happened.” Or perhaps I would have kept my doubt hidden away, that was always a possibility. “I really do wish I could have done it, she deserves somepony to love. She definitely deserves somepony who can love her the way she loves them.”

Before she could say anything else on the matter, I took this as an opportunity to leave. I had left her with something to think about, I had consoled her, and now I had to go find my ex-marefriend. That was even more awkward to think of her as. Perhaps I just needed to think of her as my friend. Maybe that was something that would have been at least a little less awkward. Of course, I needed to go talk to her first before I was able to call her my friend again.

The only thing that stopped that was the reaction that I got when I finally got to Fluttershy’s house. It had been weird enough that I had gotten glares from nearby animals. They had looked like they were glaring anyway, which seemed strange for the ducks and hummingbirds. It only got worse when I finally got to the door, only to find that it was locked. A knock on the door didn’t even bring Fluttershy.

The knock had brought Angel-bunny, and he definitely didn’t look happy.

As soon as the door opened, it was closed in my face. It even hurt my muzzle, the sheer strength that this bunny had was almost scary. Either way, I knew that I needed to talk to her eventually. Perhaps this was something that I had to work on over time. Regardless, Fluttershy was going to have to talk to me eventually. I just needed to wait for that time to finally show up. I had no intention of abandoning her now, I would have waited for years if I had to.

Fluttershy’s friendship was far too important to me.

Happiness

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~Rainbow~

I really needed to stop sleeping so much.

My entire day had basically been shot, I had stayed up the night before explaining everything to Applejack, and now I had been sleeping for quite a long time. It all seemed a blur to me really, the past few days. That might have been because of everything that happened, it certainly hadn’t been easy to deal with, but something still felt off about this entire thing.

There was something good waiting for me, though, when I opened my eyes.

Spike might have been asleep, but at least he was there. I wished I would have been awoken when he came here, or maybe when he got into the bed, but neither of those had happened. Maybe Applejack had tried to wake me up, I knew it wasn’t an easy task. I remembered hearing a story about how I had actually slept through a tornado that had come near Ponyville.

Part of me wondered if that was just a story to get a laugh.

All of that aside, Spike was here and he was laying with me. Almost on their own, my wings moved to wrap around him. I had heard from several ponies, and some griffins, that other ponies really enjoyed how soft feathers were. I normally didn’t think about it, really, but they were probably right.

And, weirdly enough, I stayed there and watched him sleep for a little before I faded back to sleep myself. It was a good thing that nopony was here, really. I might have been able to take a lot of things, and this was likely one of them, but I didn’t want to test that one. The only ponies that might have come in here, though, were the Apple family.

Obviously they could be trusted, so the worry was actually pretty silly.

At some point, I felt something try to push me away. It might have actually been one of those bad dreams that I remembered ponies telling me about. Either way, my only response was to try to hold on as tightly as I could have. I didn’t even wake up, I didn’t need to. It was almost subconscious, at least that was the word I thought would probably have been used to describe it.

By the time I woke back up, it was morning again. Not only that, but I knew what it was that had caused me to feel as though I had been pushed away. This had to be the coolest thing I had ever seen. Something about seeing the purple scaled wings brought a wide grin to my face. Awesome didn’t even begin to describe what this was.

I knew it would be awesome to teach Spike how to fly.

That wasn’t the only thing on my mind. There had to be a way that he could be convinced to live with me if things didn’t work out with Twilight.

~Spike~

There was something incredibly comfortable about sleeping here. It could have been the fact that I was with Rainbow, or it could have been her incredibly soft feathered wings. There was only one thing that I noticed, though, and that was a perpetual itch that continued. It even woke me up twice, not that I stayed awake long enough to actually figure out what it was that was causing it.

At least it wasn’t bad enough to wake me up for long.

Of course, maybe that would have been a good thing. I liked the idea of taking a nap, it was one of the many things that I agreed with Rainbow about, but there was such a thing as taking it too far. I rolled out of bed quickly, out of Rainbow grasp, and stretched. It was going to be like a lot of other days, aside from the part where I had to go confront Twilight about her behavior.

Wait, no, something didn’t feel right. There was something not quite right when I stretched, almost as if there were new muscles that weren’t used to being stretched. That didn’t make any sense, though, I didn’t feel much different than I did the day before. I turned to look at Rainbow, and she was giving me this amazed look that confused me.

I probably should have asked her.

“So, we’re heading to see Twilight today.”

“We.”

I didn’t know what to think of her repeating that, it was probably just agreeing with me. Either that, or she was still tired. That didn’t make much sense, unless she hadn’t slept as long as I had. When I had come here, it hadn’t been morning. Now it was.

“Yep, we’re going to get this fixed, one way or another.”

She still seemed to be looking at me for some reason, I just couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t until I passed by a mirror that something looked off. I stopped, backed up, and then it hit me like a load of bricks.

I was going to have to figure out how to fly.

“Woah, when did this happen?” There wasn’t much of a chance that she knew, but I couldn’t help myself when I asked that question. Something about having wings now just felt weird, especially when I had never had them before. I had even grown into a giant, but there hadn’t been a time when I had wings. If Twilight were here, she would have been able to tell me something about it, maybe.

“Hey, Rainbow, I feel like procrastinating. How about we go to the library tomorrow?”

She looked as though she was considering it for a moment, then she shook her head. “I know she’s important to you, Spike. We should get this done as quickly as we can.”

There was one weapon that I hadn’t used yet.

“But I just got wings. I figured this would be an amazing time to learn how to fly…” Not only the words, but I gave my best pout. It had gotten me so much in the past. That was something that I needed to thank Rarity for, I had learned that from watching her over the past couple years. It was almost always successful, and it didn’t look like it was going to fail today.

I knew that expression, it was the one that came right before somepony caved in.

“Oh, fine, but it isn’t going to be all fun and games.” I looked at her as she gave what was likely the most serious expression that she could give. I even started to wonder if this was the right thing, but she quickly busted out laughing. “You should have seen the look on your face. There’s really nothing more fun than learning how to fly… except maybe the awesome flying afterwards. Ya might be a bit sore afterwards, though… I really don’t know how dragon wings work.”

Rainbow stretched as she got out of bed, and quickly moved over to look at my scaled wings. Her hooves ran over them, almost as if she was trying to feel for muscles. I really didn’t know what to say while she did it. Her hooves felt warm on my wings, and it kind of tickled when she went over a couple of areas. It took everything I had to not laugh.

I knew that wouldn’t have ended well.

“Well, I guess we’re gonna have to start with the basics…”

-By the end of the day-

I didn’t think it would have been this difficult. In the end, the moon rose and I was laying on a cloud. That was actually something amazing, I hadn’t been able to lay on clouds before.

They were really comfortable.

“I can see why you do this. It was amazing.”

As I looked up at the stars, holding Rainbow in my arms this time, we both started to drift off. I couldn’t quite say why, but I felt amazing. My wings were sore, my whole body ached little, but there was something about the day that couldn’t be replaced. It was more than that, really, I knew that days like this would continue.

I have known Twilight for years, eventually she always came around to reason.

Bonus Chapter: Training Day

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~Spike~

Start with the basics, that made perfect sense. Of course, it would have been better if I had known what the basics were. It likely wasn't going to be anything that I couldn't do, that would ruin the concept of them being the basics. I turned around, looked at Rainbow with a confused look, and she smirked as she looked back.

I was more than a little concerned.

"First thing's first, we need to figure out how strong those wings of yours are." I wondered how this was going to work, but it quickly seemed like that wouldn’t come up yet. Rainbow looked up for a few moments before she looked back down at me. "Wait, no, this is something new for you. I need to make sure that you know how to move your wings at all."

That made perfect sense, I guessed. It wouldn't matter how strong they were if I couldn't get them to move at all. But how was I going to figure it out beyond moving them myself? And if I couldn't think of how, what did that mean. I tried too concentrate on trying to make the new apendages on my back move at all, but they were fighting back in a completely expected way.

They were doing nothing.

"Ah come on!" If that didn't make it obvious that I was frustrated, nothing would. The response that I got was less than great, chuckling as my wings refuses to do anything. "I'm sure you did this perfectly your first time." I snapped, not thinking about the fact that she probably did this first as a foal.

"Well, yeah, of course I did." Another thing that I had forgotten was that she was almost as sarcastic as I was. "But you're probably just thinking about it too much. I mean, it's like moving a leg." I barely noticed that she had gotten closer, until she touched my wing again. "Here, this should help." With that, she started to move my wing as if it was being flapped. That was the type movement that I was going to make, if I could ever get it to do anything at all.

"New muscle, just have to get a feel for it."

Another five minutes passed, and the wing just kept flapping. It felt kind of weird, but at some point it just became something that was happening. I hadn't even noticed that she had stopped forcing it, and it had instead become me. Only when she stepped in front of me, and put her hoof on my shoulder, did I suddenly stop.

"See? I knew you could do it."

It seemed my reward was a kiss on the cheek.

"Now that you can do that, let's just see you fly." That seemed like a fairly obvious thing, I just had to start flapping both wings until I started to move up from the floor. It was actually just as simple as I thought it would be, though the sheer exertion that I had to put into it was more than I expected. Part of me wondered if there was some sort of reason why pegasi flew so much if this was the case.

"Good, good, now I'm going to see if you can actually fly anywhere. Follow me!"

She didn't seem too understand that this might have been difficult for me, or maybe she just believed I could do it anyway. Either way, the window was soon open and I was haphazardly following behind her. It was obvious that she was going slower, just to make sure that I could keep up. The one thing she didn't seem to be cutting down on, though, was how high she was going. Ponyville was blurry from where we were, yet at the same time I was mainly looking at the sky around me.

"It's so nice up here."

"Okay Fluttershy." No matter what, I knew she would never stop teasing ponies. She probably also wouldn't stop teasing me sometimes. "It is pretty nice, though. And it gets even better when you figure out how to do things with clouds..." That was something that I was definitely looking forward to doing, but something told me that it was going to make everything else seem like a simple exercise. I didn’t know why, but just something about shaping clouds seemed difficult.

That was what she had to be talking about, right?

"Alright, we're going to test your stamina. For the next three hours, I'm going to need you to just hover above this cloud." I didn't know what to say, that seemed like a weird idea. It did make sense from the idea that this would be something that would help out with my stamina. Not only that, but I got the impression that this would help make sure that I got into the habit of actually flying. I had seen Rainbow do this sort of thing before, though not for a few hours.

Less than a minute after I started hovering over the cloud, Rainbow started to chuckle. "You're too cute, you know that? Never change." I didn't know what to say to that, but a quick hug took away the need for me to say anything. "As fun as it would have been to see if you could do that, we're going to do some more exciting things." I noticed a grin on her face, and a strange look in her eyes.

Part of me was worried.

By the time an hour had passed, my wings were starting to hurt. Maybe there was something about the fact that I weighed more than her, but it wasn't easy doing a lot of the things she did. The loopty-loop was easy enough, but most of the things she wanted me to do took precise turning. More than once, I actually slammed into her.

That hadn't been my greatest moment.

The thing I was best at was anything that involved few turns. I was probably going to have to do something about that, maybe it would become easier if I kept working on it. My wings needed to get stronger after all. I doubted that Rainbow started off being able to do what she could do now. A final loopty-loop, and then I heard a yawn coming from my instructor.

"Meh, this is starting to get boring. Let's see if we can't make this a little more exciting." When I heard those words, I was worried. "We're going to prank Pinkie Pie." That had me worried a little more, but only because I wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. At the same time, though, it did sound pretty fun. A wide grin overtook my face as I thought about getting a little revenge for all the pranking she had done on me.

It was all in good fun, after all.

"Okay, we're going to need to get a couple of things from my house. It shouldn't take that long."

~Time passes~

I didn't know what we needed the dye for, but I had the impression that she would tell me soon. A few eggs were another weird thing. The last thing was the vegetable oil. I looked at the basket, then to Rainbow, and back to the basket.

"The eggs are a cake. Apparently she isn't allowed to use the ones from Sugarcube Corner anymore after an accident." Rainbow shrugged, then looked forward. "I didn't ask, she didn't say." That still left the other things, but she quickly told me about that as well. "Remember. Oil in the shampoo bottle, dye in the soap bottle." A green coat, that would be hillarious if it worked.

"I will play the role of awesome distraction."

Everything made perfect sense, I couldn't really say anything. None of this would be bad enough to be anything more than good fun. I didn't know what the oil in the shampoo bottle would do, but I mentally shrugged and ust followed. "So you're going to bake a cake with her? Didn't see you being a baker... no offense."

"None taken." She shrugged, not even stopping for a second. "It isn't like I do it a lot, mainly for Pinkie. You should have seen my first baking attempt... the cake didn't turn out as awesome as I would have hoped." I quickly decided to not ask for details, she probably wouldn't have given them. Besides, I just needed to ask Pinkie later. That way I could have gotten all of the details.

It couldn't have been that bad.

"Just fly up after I get Pinkie's attention."

As soon as I saw Pinkie, that was my signal to move. I might not have been the fastest fllier, but I moved fast enough to get to the window. I had to carefully open the window, move in, and then try to hover over the floor. All of this was far more difficult than I thought it would be, but it was fun as well. Dye in the soap bottle, vegetable oil in the shampoo, and soon enough I was starting for the window.

It was at about that time that I heard the words. "Oooo, Spike, what're you doing in my room? Is it a surprise?" A smile was on her face. "Come on, you can tell me. I won't let anypony know." My eyes moved to the window, ye I had just seen Rainbow motion me to try to get out of there.

"Ummmm... can't tell ya, gotta go." I pushed myself to fly faster than I had, which for me was going at adecent speed instead of slightly slower than my walk, and I rushed out the soon open window. It was only when we were about five minutes away that I stopped and landed. "I... thought... you... could... distract.... her." The worst idea I had was trying to catch my breath and talk.

"Some-dragon was a little too loud." I hadn't noticed making any noise, but there seemingly wasn't any time to argue. Rainbow looked worried when she looked away from me. "Oh feathers, Pinkie's following us. Let's get a move on, Spike. She's faster than she looks." That was enough incentive to get moving, and soon enough the two of us were speeding through the air with a pink earth pony following behind.

Well, this looked like it was going to be an interesting day.

Not Everypony will be Happy

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~Spike~

There was a part of me that didn't want to get up, didn't want to move from where I was at. I was comfortable, and I had Rainbow with me. It was dawn, the time that I had almost been trained to wake up over the years. The sheer fact that I was comfortable was only one of the reasons why I didn't feel like moving much. Another one of the reasons had more to do with what had happened the day before.

My wings were still sore.

Still, there was no way that I could just sit there. There was a mare out there that we needed to go talk to. I knew that it would have to be both of us, that I wouldn't be able to talk Rainbow out of going with me even if I wanted to. Of course, it could only be the two of us, I wasn't sure if any of the others should actually be brought in to deal with the problem that had been caused by our little fight.

I wasn't sure I wanted to bring them into it even if they wanted to be, their friendship with Twilight was likely something that meant a lot to them. I didn't want to be the cause for something like that to happen. Part of me was already starting to feel guilty that I might have ruined a friendship as is. It had really dawned on me the night before, hit me hard, that nothing would be the same between Twilight and Rainbow even if they were able to talk things out.

A pony didn't get zapped and just forget about it.

That wasn’t even taking into account the fact that Rainbow was the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. She didn’t seem to be taking this too hard, but I kind of wondered if it was just something that she did. She didn’t seem like the type that let others know about her problems. That was something that we would have to work on, if it turned out that I wasn’t overthinking things.

There was always the chance that I was just overthinking things.

I really hoped I was.

Regardless, it was time for the two of us to get up. "Hey, Rainbow, wakey-wakey." As I kissed her cheek, I heard the tell-tale signs of somepony who didn't want to get up. To most ponies, though, it would sound like incomprehensible grunting. To me, as somepony who had dealt with Twilight when she was smaller, I was able to translate it out to a want to stay asleep for at least five more minutes. If it were any other day, and there wasn't any other reason to wake up, I probably would have been the same way.

Today, though, was going to be an important day.

By the end of the day, I was going to have fixed my relationship with my big sister. That was enough by itself to make sure that I nudged Rainbow again. “I’d give ya another five minutes if I could, but this is important. We need to go meet with Twilight today.” This time, the response that I got was a yawn and a stretch. That had been enough to make sure that she had gotten up.

I gave her another kiss on the cheek. “Good morning.”

“It’d be an even better morning if I could have slept another five minutes…’

I couldn’t help but chuckle. Rainbow turned to me for a moment, her expression couldn’t hide the fact that she was still tired. I didn’t know if five minutes would be enough to change that, but I couldn’t tell her no now. There was something about that expression that I just couldn’t say no to. I didn’t do well with pouty expressions at the best of times, and she was just so cute when she did it.

“Okay, fine, five more minutes.” I really couldn’t let her know it was that pout. If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to get anything. Then again, there were worse things that I could lose on. I nuzzled her cheek as she went back to sleep. I stayed awake, obviously, because I knew that I would need to be the one that woke her up in those five minutes. If it were up to her, she’d probably have slept all day.

~Rainbow~

I didn't think today was going to be great at all. It might have just been a bit of paranoia, but the last few times I went to see Twilight hadn't ended all that well. The first time had been better than the second, with my cloud house being a lot more comfortable than the ground had been. Of course, the worst part about the second time was that there was a second time at all. It had been bad enough once, but I could have put that one on her worrying about what had happened to Spike.

I still couldn't figure out why the second had happened.

The best question was what would happen this time. I knew that this was something that had to happen, it just had to. Spike didn't want to leave Twilight for good, regardless of what had happened. The two of them were family. Twilight was my friend, or at least she had been my friend. I didn't know if she considered me a friend anymore, since she was the one that decided to assault me with magic. No, that was understating, she had decided that the best course of action was to attack one of her best friends twice.

I wanted to be there for Spike, though, so I was going to be.

"I'm awake, I'm awake. Let's just get this thing over with." Even though I was going, that didn't mean that I was going to make it seem like I was looking forward to this. There was a chance that it would end well, but there was just as equal of a chance of this ending with me being sent somewhere by a certain lavender unicorn. No, no, don't be paranoid Rainbow. The same thing won't happen three times, that would just be horrible.

Spike shot me a glare, and my response was to yawn. "I'm just a little worried, that's all. I got attacked twice, after all."

"I'm sure she thought she was looking out for me."

This was something that I hadn't expected. Out of everything that I expected Spike to say, the idea that he would be coming up with an excuse had actually been the furthest down on the list. I really didn't know how to respond to that. It did make a little sense, though. The little guy … no, I didn't think I could call him that anymore. The fact that he was a little taller than me shot that down. Regardless of how tall he was, Spike saw her as family. This meant he was going to do anything to try to make his life iron itself out.

Right now, that seemed to mean that he was going to try to excuse Twilight's behavior.

I really hoped that this turned out well for him. Even if things didn't end up working well between Twilight and me, I hoped it worked out well for Spike. He needed as much of his family as possible, or at least it was obvious that he wanted them. Spike had a lot of love, and he liked to share that love with those that were close to him. That might have been the worst part about all of this, I definitely could see some signs that it wasn't exactly easy on him.

Maybe I was overthinking things.

"You're probably right." I knew that I had to be supportive. This was going to be the day that changed everything between the three of us. The best case scenario was that we all became closer. The neutral option was that Spike and Twilight became as close as before, but she still didn't want to have anything to do with me. The worst case scenario was … I didn't want to think about the worst case scenario. It wasn't going to happen anyway.

Spike had said that she had acted out of worrying for him, and there was a great chance that he was right. Twilight always came across as somepony who worried far more than she should. This could have easily been a situation where her worries just had negative consequences. If that was the case, then we just needed to be there for her and talk to her. The alternative was that our friendship had ended, that she wouldn’t talk to me ever again.

I really didn’t like to think about that possibility.

And that was me also using the same excuse for Twilight. It turned out that Spike wasn’t the only one who was going to do that. “Well, we might as well head over. The sooner we start this, the sooner everything gets resolved.” With that, the two of us rolled off the cloud and glided down to the ground. This wasn’t going to be something easy, we both knew that, but it was something that we both knew needed to be done.

Not only that, but it was something that we both wanted to do. We both wanted this to end.

It was weird, though. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw some orange. It was only for a split second, and when I turned I saw nothing. Maybe it was just in my mind, maybe it thought that I needed to have something else to focus on for a moment. I turned for a moment, that couldn’t have just been my imagination. Then again, I didn’t see anything, or anypony. That meant that it had to be.

Maybe this would have been a perfect excuse to stop for a minute and say something. “I know that we have to go there, we have to get this done, but I was wondering something.” I knew that it would have sounded paranoid, and the orange that I saw wasn’t even the only thing that had just entered my mind. There had been something else in the back, something that I knew I needed to get out into the open before the two of us went to see Twilight.

Spike stopped, and looked at me. “You can ask me anything.”

I rubbed the back of my head. “Actually, it’s more than just one thing.” I looked back where I had thought I had seen something, and pointed. “Did you see anything while we’ve been walking? Because I really coulda sworn I saw something." I looked at Spike, who shook his head no. “Alright, that’s a relief. The next thing is more… about what we’re going to go do. You’ve been with Twilight your entire life, I feel awful coming between you two.”

Why did that thought have to pop into my head right then and there? It should have been something that I talked to him about before we went to go talk to Twi. Spike looked at me, a concerned look on his face. Part of me really didn’t want to know what he was thinking, but I knew I needed to know. Not only that, but I knew he was going to tell me.

The first thing he did, though, was take a single step that put him in front of me. That was weird enough, but then he wrapped me in a big hug. “She’ll always be family, Rainbow, and I will always love her like family.” So far, I still didn’t know where this was going. “But she has to know that you’re the most important mare in my life now. Even when everything works out with the talk, I’m still going to spend as much time with you as I can.”

When he stopped, I realized how silly I had sounded. I couldn’t help but nuzzle him, planting a kiss on his lips. “I should have known you’d say something like that. You’re an awesome guy, ya know that? I’m pretty lucky.” I winked. With that little problem out of the way, I knew we couldn’t slow down any more. The two of us had to go see Twilight.

At least now, though, Spike had out my mind at ease.

~Twilight~

It had taken the entire night. Rarity had left, Spike hadn’t shown up yet, and I was stuck by myself. Several things happened that night, a few of them amazing. I had come up with how to travel in time and do something, I had discovered cloning, and I had finally discovered the problem that need to be solved when Spike finally showed up again. I knew that he would, I had always known that he would eventually show back up.

The only question had been when, but that didn’t matter right now.

Everything had become crystal clear after a night of thinking, and some coffee. I had thought that the problem was Rainbow Dash, and then maybe that Spike had just made a mistake, and finally myself. The thing that I hadn’t thought about was the most obvious thing. I actually felt a little foolish right now, knowing that I actually hadn’t been able to figure it out initially. With the history that I had with Celestia and Cadance, it only made sense that it had to do with them.

Celestia was always testing what I had learned and Cadance was the Alicorn of Love.

The glue that held it together was just how random it seemed to me. There had been no reason for me to think that Spike loved Rainbow Dash. He had always seemed to have a crush on Rarity, but that was all it had ever been. Then the night that he goes to ask Rarity out, he just happens to run into Rainbow Dash and just happens to realize that he loves her. That didn’t make any sense to me. Part of me had initially thought that Luna might have had something to do with it, but the idea had been shot down just as quickly as it had come into my head.

That was just crazy to think she would have done that.

So, now the solution. I had to tell the two of them what I had figured out. I would have to apologize to Rainbow about what I had done, of course, but the important thing was to let the two of them know that they were being used. Neither of them likely had feelings for the other, it had all been a test for me. If the two of them saw this, then there was still the chance that I hadn’t failed. Everything was going to be alright after today, I just knew it.

All I had to do was wait for Spike to show up. Then I would have to wait until he had gotten in touch with Rainbow Dash, unless I was lucky enough that the two of them showed up at the same time. That was the only part of my plan that relied on luck. Then again, I would have ended up talking to them both eventually either way. Luck would have just helped to make sure that I didn’t have to wait for the other one to show up.

I really needed to stay up more often, it obviously made me brilliant.

Right now, it had become a waiting game. While I knew that Spike would show up, I still had no idea about when he would show up. If only there was a spell that would allow me to see into the future. Of course, that didn’t exist yet. Maybe after all of this, Spike would help me out with some research about what I needed to do to make that possible.

First, though, he had to show up.

~Spike~

It was a nearly silent trip as we went there. I didn’t know what Rainbow was thinking, but something told me that it was going to come out when we finally got there. I wished she would have told me more about how this was affecting her, I really did. I looked at the door, the open sign seemed welcoming enough, and then I turned back to Rainbow.

“This will be fine.” I don’t know if I was trying to convince her or myself, really. Maybe it was a little bit of both. “We’ll just go in there, lay out our positions, and then we’ll all do a group hug.” That seemed a little cliché, and it didn’t really sound like something that was going to happen, but I said it anyway. It was almost as if I hoped that saying it would make it happen. That wasn’t really how life worked, but that wasn’t important.

I said it, so at the very least I could tell myself that it might have been the end of this little discussion.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m sure of it.” Rainbow didn’t sound any more convinced than I was, but maybe she had the same hope that it might end like that. She looked at me, almost waiting to see if I was going to be the one that opened the door, and then she moved to push the door open. As she did it, there was a split-second when it looked as though she was watching out for any stray magic that might have been coming her way.

When none came, she pushed the door open more. I quickly moved to take the first steps into the library. This wasn’t because I thought that something bad was going to happen, I really hoped that nothing but good things came from this little discussion, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to be careful. If anything happened to Rainbow because I hadn’t taken the lead, I would have felt terrible.

Nothing happened.

I saw Twilight stand up, a gleeful smile on her face, as she rushed over toward us. There was something off about her. It only took a second for me to remember when I had last seen her like this, or at least something close to this, and that was when she didn’t sleep for long periods of time. I normally fixed her some coffee when she needed to stay up to study. Maybe she had stayed up, got a lot of work done, and she was happy about that.

There was something I noticed about Rainbow, though, out of the corner of my eye. When Twilight started to move toward us, she flinched at first. Maybe it took a second to realize that she wasn’t going to do anything if she was rushing toward us. If she was going to do anything, she probably would have done it laying down.

“Oh my gosh, I missed you two so much.” Those words didn’t register for a moment, but I was soon being hugged. It was pretty obvious that Rainbow was just as shocked as I was, but neither of us really were going to say anything about it. In fact, both of us did the only thing that it seemed like we could do. We both hugged her back. “And you’ve gotten bigger, mister.”

I was starting to get worried, she might have lost it over the past couple days.

“Err… it’s nice seeing you too, Twilight. I did miss you.” I looked over to Rainbow for a moment, I had no idea what she thought of all of this. “I would have come by yesterday, but I lost track of time learning how to use these.” With that, I flexed my wings. That wasn’t a complete lie, I had lost track of the time when it came to the flying. It had been fun, really, it had taken my mind off of what I had assumed was going to be a difficult thing.

Maybe I had worried too much.

“It’s probably a good thing that you did.” I wasn’t sure why she would say that. “After all, learning is a worthy endeavor. Besides, if you had showed up yesterday I might not have figured out the thing that I figured out last night.” Another thing I wasn’t quite sure of was whether or not I had just seen what looked like an eye-twitch. It was probably just my imagination.

“That’s awesome, Twi. Why don’t we go sit down and you can tell us all about your discovery.” Rainbow vocalized what I had thought about saying right then and there, though she didn’t seem as worried about this as I did. I remembered some of the times when she had come up with something that eventually had to be cleaned up by me. I wasn’t looking forward to that again, definitely not.

~Rainbow~

“You’re right, Rainbow. I can get the two of you some coffee to drink while we talk.” I didn’t know how Twilight could stand the stuff. It was bitter, and it wasn’t really that good for you. I shook my head.

“No thanks. Never drank the stuff.”

“I could use some, though.” Maybe I needed to convince Spike that the stuff was bad for him, but that wasn’t what today was about. I looked back to Twilight, and she was already moving to fix two cups of coffee. Since I wasn’t going to drink any, obviously that meant she was going to be drinking another cup while she told us about whatever it was that she had discovered.

The three of us were soon enough sitting. I looked over to Spike. Part of me wanted to just run out of there as quickly as possible. There was just something about the way that Twilight had been acting this entire time that freaked me out. At the same time, though, I did my best to not show that. There was no way that Spike should have to see that I was freaked out by a mare that had obviously had a little too much coffee and not enough sleep.

“So, Twi, what’s this big discovery?” I looked at Spike, who had just taken a sip of his drink, and then back to Twilight. Obviously I wanted to know too. “It’s gotta be big, you didn’t take too well to Rainbow when you first saw her with me.” Then again, I thought back to what she might have learned. Twilight might have gone to talk to Celestia, or Cadance, or maybe even Luna. If she had gotten good advice, maybe there was nothing to worry about.

I was just being paranoid.

“I figured out that this isn’t either of your faults, and that I had completely overreacted due to not having all of the facts.” That made sense to me. Twilight had a history of overreacting. It wasn’t as if love could be blamed on any one thing, either. Love was just something that happened. I hadn’t even known that Spike had cared for me before our date.

“That’s good, Twi, because Spike and I-“

It was then that I got cut off. “Actually, Rainbow, I’m going to have to ask you to let me finish.” I had thought that she had been finished already. Apparently the gap of time was just meant to ensure that we were listening. “After that, I tried to figure out what else it could have been. I mean, there had been no indication that the two of you loved each other before that night.”

“Act-“ But it seemed as though I wasn’t going to be given much of a chance to talk yet. Twilight glared right at me, cleared her throat, and continued. This was already starting to go downhill, but this needed to be done. This wouldn’t be the first time somepony had glared at me, or told me to quiet down. This was the first time that somepony had accused me of not knowing how I felt, though. I wondered what Twi was going to come up with.

I was sure it wouldn’t be good.

“With all of that information, I realized that the only possible reason that all of this happened was a test.”

It was more than just ‘not good’, this was one of the worst things she could have said at this point. I didn’t know what to say, but I quickly moved as close as I could to Spike. The closer I got, the safer I felt. I knew that nothing would happen to me while he was around, he just wouldn’t let it. I wondered how Spike was going to react to this, my eyes mobbing to look at his expression.

That expression didn’t look happy.

~Spike~

It had been bad enough when she had cut off Rainbow, multiple times, but this was just getting ridiculous. I didn’t know what she could possibly mean by a test, the only way that I could figure it out would be to ask. At this point, though, I didn’t have much hope for what was going to be said. At this point, I just wanted to let her get through her little explanation before I told her how wrong she was.

It had been a couple of days since I had been this angry, and surprisingly enough it had been because of Twilight that time as well.

My eye twitched as I said the next words. “So, what is this test you’re talking about?”

“I’m so glad you asked, Spike.” I wasn’t, but it had to be asked. “See, all of my lessons so far have been about friendship.” I noticed that she shook her head, as if she was trying to regain her focus on something. “But the thing that she hasn’t done is actively play a role in those lessons. And so the best way of having a hand is to see if I have learned lessons about accepting the decisions that my friends make.”

I felt conflicted at this point. This was obviously a lesson that she needed to learn, but this felt wrong. I didn’t like the idea that she was trying to brush all of this aside as some sort of lesson. That would have cheapened what she had done, if she really believed it. What was I thinking? She probably believed completely what she said. The only thing that I could hope for was that she learned from the experience and grew.

“That’s why she did the only thing she could think to do, and she sent Cadance to make the two of you fall in love.”

That was it. That was seriously the thing that caused me to question whether or nor any of this was real. I didn’t think I could have followed such strained logic even if I wanted to. According to this weird logic, nothing could have possibly happened to where the two of us fell in love. It had been bad enough when she had initially said that the decision had been some sort of a lesson, maybe she could have said that Celestia had pushed us into doing something we were already going to do. That was how my mind had started to rationalize this.

And now that rationalization died.

Part of me wanted to yell, to scream, to let her know that everything she had just said was wrong. I didn’t really think that would help a lot, though, so I just simply looked over to Rainbow to see if she had anything to say. The look in her eyes was one of shock, that she couldn’t believe what had been said either. I had come here with the idea of trying to talk to Twilight, but that idea might have just been killed in front of us.

I really didn’t want to just walk out, though. I had to say something. “”That has to be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Why would mom get Cadance to do something that would affect two of your friends just to teach you a lesson? That doesn’t seem like her at all.” At the mention of the word mom, she seemed to reel back a little. I didn’t get it, really, but maybe it had been something else. Maybe she had just finally figured out how silly she sounded.

“She sent me to go save the Crystal Empire as a test, Spike. She seems to have really big tests.”

“But they’ve never hurt your friends, or me.” I had to do something to do something. Without thinking, I walked up to her and gave her a hug. Then I said a few words to try to get to her. It wouldn’t be about just trying to convince her. “Think about it, sis. She cares about us, she wouldn’t do something to hurt any of us.” Of course, that probably wasn’t going to be enough on its own. “I love Rainbow, that’s just how it is.”

A bright flash, and she was a little ways away. “Nope.” I didn’t expect that response. I had tried to make her seem how silly it was, then I tried the more sincere sounding way. I had figured that if I called her sis instead of just ‘Twilight’ or ‘Twi’, then she would realize I was being serious. “There’s been nothing to make it seem like you even had any interest in Rainbow, and it didn’t seem like she had any interest in you. According to the talk around town, she is interested in Applejack.”

This felt like it was just going to be a circle, no progress was being made.

There was nothing more that needed to be said. I had moved away from Rainbow for a moment, but within half a minute I was standing beside her. I didn’t know what she was thinking of, but right now I needed to be where I was. I turned to look at Rainbow, not sure how to explain what her expression meant. Maybe she was as confused as I was when it came to how this trip was turning out.

It had started off ad what might have been the simplest trip. The idea, when I had come here, was to try to talk to Twilight. I didn’t feel like I was going to make any progress, though. I had seen Twilight be a lot of things, and react a lot of ways, but this sort of thing was completely new. It was like she was refusing the reality around her and trying to substitute her own.

It was like that because it was exactly that.

There was nothing else for us to do. As soon as I turned, Rainbow followed suit. I knew that neither of us wanted to just leave, but this was how it was going to be. Neither of us even said anything else as we walked out, leaving a stunned Twilight just standing there again. The last time I had left, I had heard her beg me to stay. This time, it seemed as though she was too stunned to do anything other than simply stand there gawking.

Out of the corner of my eye, as I walked out, I noticed that Applejack was standing there. I didn’t know how long she had been there, and in a way it didn’t matter. The only thing that really made it matter was one hope. Even if I wasn’t getting along with her, I hoped that the rest of her friends would. I even planned on trying to get Rainbow to make up with her.

“So, Rainbow, how would you feel about me staying at your place from now on?”

“Sounds awesome to me.” She put her hoof out, which I took with my hand. With one final glance at Twilight, the two of us flapped our wings and flew off toward Rainbow’s home. Wait, not, we flew off toward our home.

~Twilight~

None of this made any sense.

I had figured it all out. There had been no way that I could have been wrong. And not only did they just walk out, but there was something worse. It was even worse than the repeated idea that I was wrong. In fact, it might have been the worst thing to happen to me in a long time.

Spike demoted me.

I wasn’t just his sis, I had never been just his sis. That role was one that hadn’t been filled, and possibly never would be. I took care of him. Celestia had helped when I was younger, but eventually I was his primary caregiver. Then he called me his sister, and he had called Celestia his mom. He hadn’t even referred to himself as one of my friends at the end.

What did it all mean?

There had to be some sort of lesson that I was supposed to learn from all of this. Everything so far had been a lesson, this couldn’t be any different. As I continued to try to think of what it might have been, I kept going back to the word sis.

How had everything gone so bad so quickly? And why had they just left? Everything I had said to them had made perfect sense, they just hadn’t been paying attention.

Did that even matter now? I was all alone.

Bonus Happier Ending

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~Spike~

My wings were still sore.

A pony didn't get zapped and just forget about it.

There was always the chance that I was just overthinking things.

I really hoped I was.

Today, though, was going to be an important day.

I gave her another kiss on the cheek. “Good morning.”

“It’d be an even better morning if I could have slept another five minutes…’

~Rainbow~

I still couldn't figure out why the second had happened.

I wanted to be there for Spike, though, so I was going to be.

Spike shot me a glare, and my response was to yawn. "I'm just a little worried, that's all. I got attacked twice, after all."

"I'm sure she thought she was looking out for me."

Right now, that seemed to mean that he was going to try to excuse Twilight's behavior.

Maybe I was overthinking things.

I really didn’t like to think about that possibility.

Not only that, but it was something that we both wanted to do. We both wanted this to end.

Spike stopped, and looked at me. “You can ask me anything.”

At least now, though, Spike had out my mind at ease.

~Twilight~

The only question had been when, but that didn’t matter right now.

Everything had become crystal clear after a night of thinking, and some coffee. I had thought that the problem was Rainbow Dash, and then maybe that Spike had just made a mistake, and finally myself. The thing that I hadn’t thought about was the most obvious thing. I actually felt a little foolish right now. Maybe there was something in the coffee, or something in the fact that I had been up all night thinking about it.

The problem had been me.

There had been something about the idea of Spike having a special somepony that hadn’t seemed right to me, especially if it wasn’t Rarity. I had also thought that it would be somepony I wasn’t best friends with if it wasn’t Rarity. Then there had been the fact that I had heard so many rumors surrounding Rainbow Dash, some of them also involving Applejack. I really shouldn’t have thought about any of that at all, but those thoughts hadn’t been able to be squashed fast enough.

All of that made me seem like a silly-head.

I looked at the clock, then back to the door. This was something that needed to be in a letter, and it needed to be sent to Celestia. I knew that she enjoyed it when I sent her a letter. I wasn’t sure whether it was the letter itself, the less inside, or something else. Maybe I should have asked her, but it never seemed important enough. Another look to the clock, and I realized that this day was going incredibly slow.

A look around made me realize that the library wasn’t looking so good.

I really hoped that Spike showed up soon. Part of me wanted to start cleaning right now, but I had a feeling that he was going to show up soon. I wasn’t the one with Pinkie-Sense, but it was still a feeling that I couldn’t shut down.

~Spike~

I said it, so at the very least I could tell myself that it might have been the end of this little discussion.

Nothing happened.

I was starting to get worried, she might have lost it over the past couple days.

Maybe I had worried too much.

“It’s probably a good thing, too.” I wasn’t sure I knew where this was going. Why wouldn’t she have wanted me to come by yesterday? “I had some time alone, after I got into an argument with Rarity.” That was something I would normally have said something about, but I knew better today. Right now I had to focus on making sure that this entire problem was solved. I saw her turn to Rainbow, a sad look in her eyes.

“I don’t deserve a friend like you.”

That was the line that took me aback. It also seemed to do the same for Rainbow, who quickly moved over to try to hug Twilight. I wasn’t entirely sure about this, why she would have said that, but Rainbow stole the question before I could have asked it. “Why would you say that? Yeah, you kind of overreacted... okay, you really overreacted.” Maybe she had seen the fact that I had glanced over to her.

“But nothing. You didn’t deserve that, either time.” Twilight seemed to really be beating herself up over this. “I mean, at one point I had thought that this might have been some big practical joke, or maybe Cadance made it happen.” Her voice was shaky. “She can’t even do that!” I heard her voice crack, which was something that hadn’t happened in a long time. “And all because there was something I couldn’t understand.”

I had to ask. “What do you mean, something you couldn’t understand?”

When she tried to look at me, she quickly looked away. “I didn’t understand how the two of you could be together. It didn’t make any sense.” I knew I had to let her finish her thought. “You like Rarity, and Rainbow … I don’t know anything about Rainbow liking anypony like that. And that’s not even going from the rumors about…”

Rainbow cut her off. “I’ve heard ‘em all, and they’re all wrong.” She let Twilight go, and backed up a couple of steps. “And the reason I didn’t show it was because I hadn’t realized it myself initially. But when I think about it, it just sort of fits.”

This seemed to take Twilight aback.

“I can’t believe you’re forgiving me after what I’ve done.” She looked at me for a moment. “And you, either. I made a big mess of things.”

I walked over to her, and I gave her a big hug.

“Why do we fall, Twi?” That was something that I had read in a motivational book once, minus the name. It looked as though she understood what I was going to say.

“So we can learn to pick ourselves back up.” She finished as I did. “You two are the greatest friends I could ever ask for.” I could see that she was tearing up, and I wiped it away. “I promise from now on to never overreact like that ever again!”

Rainbow looked at me, then back to Twilight, and we all shared a laugh.

We all knew she would eventually overreact about something.

“So… would either of you like to join me for lunch?” I looked as Twilight moved over to the window. When she opened it, I looked over to see that Applejack was outside. “You’re more than welcome to join us.”

“That’d be mighty kind of ya, Twi.”

“I hope you all like sandwiches, that’s the extent of my cooking prowess.” When Twilight said that, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Don’t worry, I know just what to make.”

She looked at me surprised, but I waved it off.

“What are friends for?”

By the time that I had finished cooking, I noticed a finished letter that was just about to be rolled up. That obviously meant that she was going to ask me to send it, just like she always did. “Mind if I read it?”

“Go ahead.”

Dear Princess Celestia,

Sometimes I feel like these lessons have helped me to become a better pony. Other times, it seems to take me more than one go at it before I figure it out. Over the course of the last few days, I have learned that my number one assistant, no… my best and closest friend Spike is in love with Rainbow Dash. And instead of being happy for the two of them, I threw it in their face.

I made a big mistake.

Today I learned a few things. I learned that love isn’t something that goes by conventional logic. While I hadn’t been able to see it before, that doesn’t make it any less real. Another thing I learned is about the capacity for forgiveness. It astonishes me how amazing my friends are, how they were willing to forgive me after everything I have done.

I feel as though they’re making me a better pony, just by being around them.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

A fear tears welled in my eyes as I sent the letter to its destination. Today had turned out exactly as I had hoped it would. Today had turned out perfect. I pulled the two of them in for a hug. I couldn’t ask for anything more than this.

Not everypony will be happy

by Lenora Goff

Words can hurt too, ya know?

Our choices don't just affect us

Misunderstandings Abound

Generosity and Kindness

A son and his mother

When you ignore anything negative...

Things sometimes just happen

Guilt

Happiness

Bonus Chapter: Training Day

Not Everypony will be Happy

Bonus Happier Ending

Addendum