Those words struck deep inside the hearts of the 3 crusaders. They knew that Spike was dating them, and were very grateful that he was. But they were suprised still to hear that he wanted to spend his life by their sides.
"Oh Spike, I love ya'll too!" said Apple Bloom, hugging Spike.
"Alright, alright! Quit the mushy stuff." Scootaloo said, blushing slightly and looking away.
"Me too!" Sweetie Belle promptly said, also hugging her boyfriend.
"Glad you feel the same." Spike grinned, pulling the 3 fillies in for a kiss.
After a passionate minute or so, The 4 lovers pulled away to catch their breaths.
"What now?" inquired Sweetie Belle.
"What do ya'll mean, Sweetie?" Apple Bloom questioned.
"Are we just going to keep living like this, Spike? I'm not quite fond of being hot whenever we're not swimming like we are now." She said.
"I know how you girls feel, but we can't go back until Twilight and the others convince the ponies in Ponyville that our relationship is okay." Spike replied.
"They must have had SOME progress by now, it's been, like, 2 days!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Well, let's go check then. It's not like they'll attack us, we're only young teens." Sweetie Belle added.
"Okay, okay." Spike said, finally agreeing with the 2 persistant mares.
He gave them a kiss and they all left the tent, ready to enter Ponyville to assist Twilight and Darkwind in getting The citizens of Ponyville to accept their harem relationship.
-----------Back with Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash:------------
Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash walked with Twilight down the road to Ponyville from Sweet Apple Acres, ready to defend their sister's rights to a relationship. (Accept for Rainbow, Scootaloo is only her student in flying.)
Twilight was also ready to defend Spike at all costs, and was determined to do so.
At last, the friends arrived at their destination, and were preparing their speech to gain the side of the citizens in question.
"Twilight, y'all do the talkin' and we'll back ya up when ya need us." Applejack compromised, Her southern accent combined with slight concern for her friend and fellow Element of Harmony.
"I understand Applejack, and we'll do just that, right girls?" Twilight said.
"Right!" The others enthusiastically responded.
Just as they finished speaking, Twilight walked onto the statue platform in the middle of town and motioned for her friends to join her.
"May I have your attention?" Twilight shouted, gaining the interest of the passerby. As she spoke, other ponies stopped what they were doing and looked at the purple mare expectantly.
"I would like to talk about 3 fillies you may know. Their names are Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. You see, they all fell in love with a dragon named Spike some time ago. But once they started dating him all at once, many ponies of Ponyville discriminated against them for who they love. However, may I ask: does it really matter who they love?"
As Twilight asked this, many of the crowd, now about 30 or so, exchanged quick glances before returning their attention to Twilight.
"Exactly! Several ponies here love the same gender, so why discriminate against these 3 fillies and their boyfriend, Spike?
"I must agree with my wonderful friend, Twilight. I myself love mares and I've almost never had anypony tell me it was wrong. So why not show the same respect for these fellows, hmm?" Rarity stated.
The ponies and the crowd stopped for a moment, but then started clapping their hooves in agreement.
"Thank you all for listening, and now if you'll excuse us, we have buisness to take care of." Rainbow Dash said, Flying after the other as they exited and headed for the infamous Everfree Forest.
----------Back to Spike and his Marefriends---------
Spike and the 3 crusaders walked down the path through Everfree forest, planning to head back to Ponyville to protest for their rights.
As soon as they were able to see a dim light in the distance, Spike bumped into something.
"Ow..." said whatever Spike had bumped into, followed by Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight? What are you doing here?" asked Spike, as he helped himself and Twilight up.
"We were tryin' to find y'all and tell ya that we convinced the ponies in Ponyville to not discriminate against y'all for lovin' eachother." Applejack answered.
"Wow! How did y'all do it, sis?" asked Apple Bloom, followed by nods of interest from her companions.
"All we had to do was gain their attention and tell em' the TRUTH!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, doing a small trick in mid air.
"Heh heh. I guess you could say that, Rainbow." Twilight chuckled.
"That's so cool, Dash!" Scootaloo responded, looking at her mentor and (sort of) sister with wide eyes of appreciation.
"I know, squirt." Rainbow Dash said with a laugh.
"So are you finally going to be coming home?" smiled Rarity.
"You bet, sis!" Sweetie Belle replied.
"Then let's go everypony!" Spike said, smiling and heading for Ponyville, followed by his friends, and most importantly his Marefriends.
When everypony got back to Ponyville, It was late at night. Spike gave Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle a kiss and said goodbye as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle went home with their sisters and Scootaloo was taken by Rainbow Dash back to her parent's house.
As Spike laid down on his bed to sleep later on, he thought of his 3 wonderful marefriends, and wondered what we be in store for them as their life together continued.
It had been 2 years since the events that took place. Spike is now 17, with the crusaders clocking in at 15 each. They are still dating, and have begun a more serious relationship.
Apple Bloom walked happily up the dirt road to Ponyville, in hopes of enjoying a day with Spike and her fellow "crusaders". Her friends had finally gotten their Cutie Marks not long ago, and her's was a wrench over an apple. (Which symbolized that she was a builder, and an apple.)
As for her friends, Scootaloo eventually learned to fly after being taught by Fluttershy, but was much better with her scooter. So her Cutie Mark became a Scooter with wings flapping on it.
Finally, Sweetie Belle got her Cutie Mark as a junior music teacher at her old school, as she was now in High School. She hoped to become an real teacher someday, specializing in music.
Apple Bloom sighed as she reached Spike's door and knocked. Spike, (In teenage form, but not looking stupid) came out and happily greeted her.
"Hi, AB! Nice to see you, the others are inside!" Spike grinned, motioning for Apple Bloom to come indoors. "Thank ya kindly, Spike!" Apple Bloom said, giving her boyfriend a peck on the cheek as she entered. Apple Bloom trotted through the doorway, excited to spend time with her boyfriend and fellow marefriends. "So... how is everypony? sung Sweetie Belle as Apple Bloom entered Twilight's library. Apple Bloom replied, "Ah'm just fine, thank you. Spike, can we do our special kiss? Ah haven't seen you guys in a few days." Spike smiled and leaned in, as his marefriends leaned in as well. "I actually have an announcement guys. I'm going to Canterlot's College, Princess Celestia made sure I could get in despite me being a... well, dragon."
The crusaders were shocked. "Spike, how are you going to see us if you're all the way in Canterlot?" Scootaloo asked. "It's ok, I'll make sure to come back often now that I can pay for a train on my own. I'll try to visit every week or so." Spike insisted. "Ok, but please don't lie to us Spike." Sweetie Belle said, slightly downhearted. "No worries." Spike smiled.
Weeks later, Spike left on a train for Canterlot as his marefriends watched and prayed to Celestia for his success and return.
