As Hearth's Warming approaches, Flitter notices just how many mares are interested in her Spikey...And she doesn't like it one bit. As if that weren't enough, the arrival of two Princesses makes things even more complicated.
It's Hearth's Warming in Ponyville again, a season characterized by joy, merrymaking, and love. Spike is currently toeing the line between Rarity's and Flitter's interest in him, but a strange occurrence in Ponyville soon after the arrival of Princesses Luna and Cadence turns the whole crazy love triangle on its head.
This is a sequel to the smash hit "Rarity Gets Jealous"...I suppose it's not completely necessary to read the first story to understand this one (as most of the plot can be gleaned from context), but I would recommend reading it prior to this one, to get the most fulfillment out of it. Rated Teen for some suggestive passages.
Twilight narrowed her eyes at Spike as she got up. “This conversation isn’t over, Spike.”
Spike finished fumbling with the process of taking off his tie and sighed. “Looking forward to it, Twi.”
Twilight Sparkle pulled open the door with her magic and paled slightly at her guests. “Oh! Y-you’re here early! Welcome!” She pulled the door open all the way, revealing the majestic forms of Princess Luna and Princess Cadance.
“Sorry we’re so early Twilight, but we were able to catch an unexpected express train,” Cadance chirped, pulling her into a hug. “It’s so nice to see you!”
Twilight returned the hug and nuzzled her sister-in-law. She then gently extricated herself. “Don’t worry about it at all, I’m just glad you and Luna could come for the annual Hearth’s Warming Party! I knew it was a good idea to hold it a week early.”
Cadance giggled, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Well, I figured that Shining Armor could use the time to bond with Flurry Heart. They’re going to get our Hearth’s Warming tree while I’m gone! And…It feels good to get out of the Crystal Empire for a few days.”
Twilight frowned and took on a serious expression. “I’m not sure I would trust my brother anywhere near a saw and a baby at the same time,” she replied skeptically.
Cadance smiled sweetly back at her. “Oh, don’t be so serious, Twilight!” She dropped the front portion of her body to the floor, and began a slow chant. “Sunshine, sunshine…”
Immediately, Twilight’s eyes lit up as she fell down as well. “Ladybugs awake!”
Spike, who was seated in view of the entryway, made eye contact with Princess Luna, each individual sending the other a knowing, awkward glance as the two fully grown mares completed their schoolfilly rhyme and shook their rear ends at each other. When they finished, Luna cleared her throat. “Could you show me to where I’ll be staying, Twilight? I have a bag I’d like to drop off.”
Twilight’s countenance appeared to melt as she processed what was asked of her. “Oh. Well, you see, there was a tiny problem with the guest wing…B-but I assure you, it’s completely under control.”
“Twilight was experimenting with an ancient evil artifact and ended up opening a hole into a dimension filled with horrific blob monsters, who are now being quarantined in the guest wing,” Spike tacked on, but only after the guests looked toward him in hope of a more satisfying answer. “Nice to see you both, by the way.”
“Spike! What did I tell-“
“It’s nice to see you too, oh Brave and Glorious one,” Cadence beamed at him. “I hear somepony has got a special somepony, too…You’ll have to tell me all about it later! I am the Princess of Love after all!”
“More like special someponies,” Twilight Sparkle muttered under her breath, scowling.
“What was that, Twilight?”
“Nothing. I’m just trying to sort out where you can both stay while I sort out the problem,” she replied, praising her quick thinking.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Twilight,” Spike commented, crunches emanating from his mouth as he dug into a bag of chips. “Things like this have a way of working themselves out, you know.”
Twilight frowned and turned to his seat in the front parlor. “Spike, that’s not how things work. You can’t just expect-“
“Yoo hoo!” A call diffused through the still open doorway from the chilly outside. A moment later, Rarity poked her head through the entry. “Oh my,” she commented on seeing the Princesses. “Royalty!” She popped over and bowed to them both. “Your Highnesses! Forgive my intrusion, I didn’t expect you to be here quite yet.”
“It’s quite alright, Rarity,” Luna assured her.
“Well, a fine welcome to you both. Nonetheless, I had to stop by as I appear to have forgotten my purse.” She strolled over to the parlor area, revealing that she was wearing an elegant, light blue dress about the same color as Spike’s tie.
“Ah,” she breathed as she used her magic to levitate her pouch from the coffee table and place the strap over her. “Now, I must be…Spikey Wikey! Are you eating chips in your suit!?”
Spike’s eyes widened, like a deer caught in the headlights, his claw paused mid-journey between the bag and his mouth. He looked down at the multitude of crumbs all over his clothes. “Uhhh…” he stuttered, the last defense of a condemned dragon, “…Yes?” She ran over to brush him off, scolding, “You can’t get anything greasy on here, Spike! I made this for you out of a more luxurious material that unfortunately holds stains rather well, and it would be terribly uncouth to show up with a blotted suit to our next date!”
“Oh…so is this the special somepony?” Cadance cooed as she smiled at Rarity.
Rarity opened her mouth, only to be cut off curtly by Spike. “The answer to that is complicated,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“Complicated?” Cadence mimicked, tilting her head. “What does that mean?”
A loud gasp echoed to the group from the doorway, and everypony turned to find the shaking form of a lilac pegasus wearing a pink bow and a matching scarf. “P-P-P-P-P…P-Princess…es!?”
Spike hopped up from his seat and strolled over to Flitter, placing a reassuring claw on her back. “Flitter, this is Princess Luna, and this is Princess Cadence. They’re here for the Hearth’s Warming party the day after tomorrow.”
Flitter fell to the ground in a gracious and fearful bow. “W-wow! The Princess of the Night and the Princess of Love!” She crawled toward Luna, her belly never leaving the palace’s admittedly frigid crystal floor. “You’re so elegant and mysterious, and your skies are so pretty!” She then turned to Cadance. “A-and Love is the most beautiful thing in existence, and you’re the master of it! And you rule the Crystal Empire, and your mane is beautiful, and…” Flitter’s face went pale. “I-I’m gonna…gonna wash my face in the Little Fillies’ Room.” She stood up soberly and wobbled slowly down the hallway to the nearest bathroom.
Twilight had her hoof over her face in embarrassment, certain that Cadance was able to ascertain Spike’s situation. “O-okay, let’s just focus on what we’re going to do. I’m already being an awful host, and I refuse to make either of you sleep anywhere but in a bed.”
“Please don’t worry about us, Twilight,” Luna calmly reassured her. “We wouldn’t be coming out to Ponyville if we wanted to be treated like royalty. We can do that any time.”
Twilight scrunched up her nose. “I’m not sure, it just doesn’t feel right to-“
“Darling,” Rarity interjected, “I have a spare bed and would be happy to put one of them up for the evening.”
“Really?” Twilight’s ears perked up. “Are you sure?”
“Oh, certainly. It’s my pleasure!”
Flitter had returned from the bathroom at this point, smiling wide. “A-and Cloudchaser and I have a guest room too! Maybe one of them could stay with us!”
Luna and Cadance cast a glance at each other and nodded gently. “Alright. Ms. Rarity,” Luna began, “If we are not imposing it would be lovely to spend the evening with you.” Luna hoped that Cadence wouldn’t mind being the one to stay with a near-complete stranger.
Almost immediately, and long before Rarity could reply, Flitter zoomed up to Princess Cadence. “That means you can stay with me! Can I brush your mane?”
Cadence grinned at her, taking everything in stride. “Only if we can gossip about stallions while it happens.”
Flitter squeed happily, appearing to jog in place briefly. “Okay, it’s a deal!” She began to push Cadence out the door, and craned her neck around only briefly to deliver a happy, “See you tomorrow, Spikey!”
Rarity picked up Luna’s bags in her magic, notably more relaxed and upbeat in the absence of Flitter. “Perhaps I could make you a dress, Princess? Something bold! Something that compliments the aura you hold when you walk into a room.”
Luna seemed to blush a little bit. “Umm, perhaps. Thank you for the offer, I’ll consid-“
“Oh, posh! You need a dress like this!” Rarity slammed the door with her magic after her and Luna had entered the icy realm outdoors, leaving only the fading sound of her conversation with Princess Luna as Spike and Twilight’s company.
Twilight exhaled and turned to Spike. “See?”
He met her gaze with mock innocence. “What?”
“You’re lucky it went well,” Twilight commented. “That could have been disastrous! This is exactly why you can’t be dating two mares! Could you imagine if they had gotten into a fight in front of Luna and Cadence!?”
“First of all, these are not yet dating relationships I have with them,” he objected, holding up a claw. “These are romantic friendships with only the potential for something more, and they both understand that. Second, I seem to recall you inviting Celestia over for the express purpose of creating a social disaster at Flitter’s expense. And third, if I wasn’t doing what I am, one of the Princesses would be homeless tonight.”
“This goes even deeper than just this, Spike! You’re toying with their feelings! Look at you. You just got home from a dinner date with Rarity and you’re going to be spending all day tomorrow with Flitter!”
“So?”
“So…So…”
“Listen to me carefully, Twilight,” Spike commanded, strolling up to her and placing one of his claws on the side of her face. “In my entire life, nopony has given me the time of day, especially not mares. I’ve been ignored, patronized, pitied, spat on, you name it. But now, I have two beautiful mares that are both special to me in their own way trying to knock down my door to get to me, and I intend to milk that situation for all it’s worth before I deliver my choice to them.” With that, he patted her muzzle twice gently and turned his back to head upstairs.
“Unbelievable,” Twilight snorted. “You’ve already made your choice!”
“…I never said that.” __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
She finally was able to tear her eyes away from the beautiful, fiery sunset in the distance and gaze into the dragon’s eyes. Spike drew closer, shifting his body on the picnic blanket until it was touching hers. “I know it’s taken me a while, but I had to be sure, and I am now. I choose you.”
Spike leaned in and pushed his lips to hers in a hungry kiss. Her body melted under his touch as she moaned gently at his masterful work. “Oh, Spike…I love you!”
“I love you too. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it.” His claw moved down to her flank as they continued to kiss passionately in their lover’s embrace.
But soon, it was morning, and she opened her eyes…
Spike trudged through the snow covered streets of Ponyville, the gray cover of the sky looming ominously over him. Still, the dragon himself was chipper enough; he was off to a cuddle date with Flitter and barely noticed the somber weather as he clambered through the pristine snow on his way across town.
A grin tugged at his lips as Spike began ruminating about the arrival of Cadence and Luna yesterday. After all, things would certainly be more interesting with them around: Twilight generally got unnerved whenever she had company.
“Hey Spike,” a feminine voice called. “Whatcha smiling about?”
Spike brought his eyes up from the snow and looked into the leaf green irises of one of Ponyville’s many flower merchants. “Hey Roseluck, nothing in particular…” He eyed her curiously, noting that he was still peddling her wares despite how cold it was: she had a long pink scarf wrapped tightly around her neck and even had the flowers covered with a tarp to prevent them from frosting over.
“Well, you’re the first friendly face I’ve seen all day. How about a rose, on the house?”
Spike widened his eyes. “Really?”
“Sure,” she giggled. “I’ll take a hug in exchange though.”
Spike shrugged and walked over to give Roseluck a hug. She shivered gently as she brought a hoof around him, likely glad for the temporary respite from the biting cold.
She nuzzled the side of his cheek before pulling away and sticking her head under her gray flower tarp, only to emerge with a beautiful, long stemmed red rose from inside. She let Spike take it from her before speaking again. “There you are, Spike. Thanks for stopping by! Don’t be a stranger!”
“Thanks Roseluck!” Spike called as he began to walk away. She was really quite a nice mare. Perhaps Spike would give this to Flitter, since he didn’t have much use for it himself. He stuffed it gingerly into the side pocket of his jacket.
Spike continued his monotonous journey through the nearly empty streets of town, only being shaken out of his stupor by a loud crunch in the snow ahead of him which signaled the vertical landing of a pegasus.
Spike lifted his head up and smiled at Rainbow Dash, whose cheeks were a dark red from the cold and wind. “Hey Rainbow! What’s happening?”
“O-oh, not much Spike. H-how’s your...w-where are you off to?”
A small clump of gray matter far at the back of Spike’s skull seemed to notice that Rainbow Dash’s words and delivery were abnormal, but he brushed it off as an after-effect of the bitter wind chill. “I’m just headed over to Flitter’s. What about you?”
“Oh...Well, I’m just, like...flying around town,” she replied with a good deal of melancholy, scuffing the ground with a hoof. “Hey, I wanted to ask, d-did you want to hang out sometime? Like, just you and me? You’re pretty cool and all and I figured we could like, play games at my place and just talk, or something…”
Spike furrowed his brow. “Rainbow Dash, I can’t hang out at your cloud home. I’ll just end up plummeting through it to my death.”
“...Oh.” Her ears flopped to the sides of her head.
Spike’s expression then lightened. “But we can totally do it at the castle or someplace else. Sounds like a good time.”
Rainbow Dash seemed to perk up a little bit at his response. “Cool. I’ll catch you later Spike.” He then pulled him into a tight hug that lasted a few seconds longer than Spike was prepared for before she launched back up into the sky.
Spike stood in the snow with a blank expression. “Wants to play games and talk...And she, Rainbow Dash, hugged me...and in public no less…” A look of grave worry came over Spike’s features as he realized what was going on. “Oh, no...I bet poor Dash’s family is having some issues. It’s the only thing that could get her this upset, except for maybe the Wonderbolts getting disbanded so soon after she got a spot. I hope it’s not a death or a divorce or something…” He muttered to himself as he continued his walk under a darkening gray sky.
After a few more blocks, and receiving one or two more curious glances than was normal, Spike seemingly skipped up the walkway to Flitter and Cloudchaser’s house and knocked on the door.
He heard a faint, thrilled squee from inside and Flitter threw open the door only a moment later. “Spikey!” she cried with an ecstatic smile on her muzzle.
Flitter was wearing green pajama bottoms with a red top, no doubt color coated for the season. They were soft and shimmery, and appeared to hug her form tightly. Suggestively so, although, with Flitter, one could never quite be sure she was edgy enough to intentionally act sexy in any way. Regardless, Spike found himself staring at Flitter’s form a moment longer than was probably respectful.
Within only a second or two though, Flitter had sweeped Spike into a big hug and brought him inside, slamming the door. “You poor thing!” she cried, unzipping Spike’s jacket with her teeth.
Spike blushed as he watched her.
“You had to walk all the way through that cold to come see me! My big, strong Snuggle Scales,” she purred worriedly, clasping him tightly to her chest. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to warm you up and we’ll have an extra special cuddle date!”
Spike couldn’t see well since his face could only see the shimmery fabric of her pajamas, but he felt her collapse with him on the couch and wrap a blanket around them both. For a moment, he let himself soak up her warmth and recover from his trip, taking deep breaths to inhale her pleasant scent.
Eventually he turned his head and scooted up so that he could nuzzle her neck. “Where is Princess Cadence?”
Flitter’s eyes suddenly shone with life. “She left to go to Twilight’s, I thought you may have seen her on the way over. Oooooh, she’s soooo fun Spikey! Last night we brushed each other’s manes and gossiped, and then later ate chips and chocolate spread together!”
“Gossiped?” Spike clarified, amused. “Only good things, I hope?”
“Well,” Flitter began thoughtfully, “she said mostly nice things about her husband, although apparently he’s not a very good kisser unless you surprise him. I said only good things about you! You’re my favorite dragon in the whole wide world, Spikey!”
He chuckled gently in response, running a claw through her mane.
A few minutes later, Flitter cleared her throat and gained her courage. “Hey, Spikey...C-could you give me a massage?”
Spike smiled up at hear immediately, in direct contrast to what Flitter expected to happen. “Sure! Flip over.”
Flitter squeed and flipped on her stomach, exposing her mostly uncovered back to Spike’s claws. She wriggled her body in anticipation and barely suppressed a choking moan when Spike straddled her flanks. Gently, his claws brushed the base of her wings.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Flitter exhaled, but managed to do it gently enough to hide her frustration. “Just a moment, Snuggle Scales!” She hopped up after Spike had removed himself from her and opened the door, revealing the face of Cheerilee.
Flitter tilted her head. “Oh, hey Cheerilee,” she responded, a little confused at why her acquaintance would be knocking on her door. “What brings you here?”
“I saw Spike walk in a little earlier and needed to ask him something. Can I have a moment of his time?”
Flitter lowered an eyebrow curiously. “Umm, sure?”
Cherilee entered the house without waiting for any further invitation and immediately spied Spike under the blanket on the couch. “Hey there Spike! Could you come in and give a lecture on what it’s like to be a dragon for the foals next week? We’re studying the pyschosocial foundations of race perception and its related impacts on societal structure!”
Spike spent a moment marveling at the high quality of the Equestrian education system before answering. “Uh, sure thing Cheerilee.”
“Great! Afterwards, I’ll take you out to dinner as thanks,” she winked at him. “Bye Spike!” she trotted out of the home, closing the door.
“...That was weird,” Flitter said.
“Ponies have been acting a little weird today. Rainbow Dash was acting really sentimental earlier... I thought that maybe something was wrong with her family, but maybe Seasonal Affective Disorder is just making everypony crazy.”
Flitter shrugged and walked back over to Spike, her smile growing with every step toward him. “Now then…” She laid down on the couch again, and Spike set to work almost immediately rubbing her back.
Flitter shivered in pleasure and let out a few high moans at his touch. “Ooooh, Spike, you’re so good at-”
The sound of a door opening further inside of the home resounded through the room and Flitter bucked Spike in the air with her hips and sat up like a rocket. Spike, for his part, fell in front of her with a yelp and she snuggled him with all four of her hooves and both wings, just before Cloudchaser rounded the corner into the living room.
“Oh, hey Spike. I forgot you were coming over today,” she smiled, sitting on the couch next to them.
Flitter blushed heavily, cursing her own luck at almost being caught in a compromising position. “Y-yeah, he came over for a cuddle date today.”
“Oh, sounds fun,” she commented.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Flitter actually let out a groan this time, and furrowed her eyebrows just a touch. “Here,” she turned to Cloudchaser, “hold this.” She placed Spike in her hooves and got up to answer the door.
Spike looked up at Cloudchaser. “Hey, howya been?”
Her face was bright red as she breathed heavily. “I...I’m okay.”
Flitter opened the door a little brusquely and stuck her head outside. “Dr. Whooves?”
“Hello there, uh, Flitter, was it? Yes, I heard that Spike was here and I desperately needed to speak with him.”
“Well, unfortunately he’s not really able-”
“In here, Dr. Whooves!” Spike called from inside.
Dr. Whooves stuck his head in and made eye contact with Spike. “Ah, my boy! Good to see you.”
“What’s up?” Spike asked, tilting his head. He didn’t seemed to be bothered by the somewhat unusual social scenario, which was more than could be said about the fuming Flitter...Or Cloudchaser, who had temporarily stopped breathing in abject humiliation. “Need me to be your test subject, again?”
“Oh, no no my boy. I’ve completely halted my work on lava based dragon-electrode galvanic cells. I simply woke up this morning and the thought struck me that we have never really had a proper stag’s night, wouldn’t you agree? I see you’re tied up with a couple of quite fetching mares at the moment, but the next time you’re free please do stop by my place. I have been a terrible friend to you and it is time we rectify that.” He pulled his head back outside before abruptly shoving it back through the entryway again, as if he had forgotten something. “Spike, I do value you greatly and I want you to know that,” he said, staring deeply into the dragon’s eyes as if caught in a passionate bromance.
“Um...okay?” Spike responded quizzically.
“Excellent. See you this weekend, Kemosabe,” Dr. Whooves offered as a farewell before pulling his head back out of the home again.
Spike looked to Flitter, and then craned his neck up to look at Cloudchaser. “...Kemosabe?”
Dr. Whooves shoved his head through the threshold again. “Have you never heard of the Lone Ranger? My word, you’ve probably never seen Fawlty Towers either. We have so much to do-”
“OKAY, goodbye Dr. Whooves!” Flitter declared, closing the door on his neck and continuing to open and close the door lightly until Dr. Whooves’ polite grunts of surprise were silenced and the door closed all the way. She let out a groan and sat back on the couch next to Cloudchaser.
Cloudchaser stared off into the distance. “I’ve heard that word before...I think it means ‘faithful friend’ or something.
Spike scoffed a little bit. “...Gaaaaay!”
An awkward several moments passed before Flitter cleared her throat and looked over at Cloudchaser with a frown and furrowed eyebrows, motioning with her hoof to herself. “Ahhem.”
“O-oh,” Cloudchaser squeaked as she was brought out of her stupor. She hoofed Spike gently back over to her sister.
“Thanks Cloudy!” Flitter chirped, tilting her head as every last vestige of her earlier dark expression disappeared from her face instantaneously. Flitter began suffocating Spike once more with her affection.
Three loud knocks resounded from the thick wooden door.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Flitter practically screeched as she hoofed Spike back to Cloudchaser and bolted to the door, throwing it open. “WHAT!? What do you want?”
Cloudkicker looked fearful and taken by surprise at Flitter’s behavior. “Uh…”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Cloudkicker,” Flitter breathed, managing to smile at her longtime friend. “It’s been an odd couple of minutes. How are you? Do you want to come in for some tea? I love how your mane looks, by the way, soooo cute!”
“Really?” Cloudkicker replied, fluffing her mane. “You’re the sweetest, Flitter. I won’t bother you, I just heard that Spike was over here and I wanted to ask him on a date, it won’t take me a second!”
Flitter’s eyes widened in anger and her composure darkened considerably. “Cloudkicker. Spike is currently here on a cuddle date. With me.”
Cloudchaser scoffed and eyed Flitter up and down for a minute. “Well...I hope he sees right through you, because those pajamas make you look like a whore.”
Spike sucked in a breath. Flitter was such a sweet, vulnerable mare that he knew that something that mean would have her in tears, and Spike would be the only one able to comfort her. He made a mental checklist of the things he needed: a tub of ice cream, a DVD of her favorite show, some-
“Bitch, what you just say?” Flitter bellowed in a voice far lower than either Spike or Cloudchaser had ever heard her speak in before.
Cloudkicker let out a catty grunt in return. “You heard me, whore.”
“Oh, hell no!” Flitter stomped out the door and right up to Cloudkicker’s face. “You come up in here...on MY turf, when I’m chillin’ with MY crew and MY stallion-dragon-”
“Our relationship is more complicated,” Spike called from inside.
Flitter whipped her head back. “Shut up or your cute, sculpted little ass is next!”
Spike shrunk back in Cloudchaser’s hooves for protection and looked up at her curiously. She had no answers to give him.
“Now, you better STEP OFF before I finish this!” Flitter continued to stomp forward as Cloudkicker backed up. “I don’t like shoveling red snow off my walk and I sure as hell don’t like it when weak-ass posers come up to my door and try to step after they tryna to steal my man, hear? Now beat it!”
Flitter turned around and bared her back legs in a bucking position, and Cloudkicker just barely took off before Flitter kicked, her hooves only a few inches from a serious walloping.
Flitter trotted right back into the house without looking and bucked the door closed.
“Well, that was one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen,” Spike managed to say in little more than a whisper, his mortified face expressing the same sentiment.
“Flitter...are you okay?” Cloudchaser asked gently.
“I can’t believe that! I mean, bitch, the fuck you is? She comes up here, tries to take Spikey on a date when she KNOWS he and I got a thing going on, and then-”
Cloudchaser smacked Flitter with a moderate degree of force across the face. “FLITTER! This is not like you! Do you know how many bits you’re going to have to put in the swear jar you set up for me?”
Flitter’s eyes began to burn with a raging fire. “OH, HELL NO YOU DIDN’T JU-”
Cloudchaser smacked her again.
“Stop i-”
Smack.
“Seriou-”
Smack.
Flitter immediately began bawling her eyes out. “My bestest friend called me a who-ooo-ooo-ore…” She sobbed.
Smack.
Spike pushed Cloudchaser away. “Enough. You let the power go to your head, there.”
Cloudchaser rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, unable to meet Spike’s gaze.
Spike went over to embrace the pitiful form of Flitter, who was balled up on the floor. “Shhh...shhh...It’s okay...You’re nothing like what she said, I promise.”
Flitter’s tears soaked all of Spike’s scales over the next few seconds. “Sp-Spikey? D-do we have any i….i...ice...iaCHOOOO!” She sneezed over his shoulder and immediately stopped crying. “Oh. Oh no. No no no.”
Spike pulled away from the embrace and looked at Flitter worriedly. “What’s wrong?”
Many ponies thought that Flitter was an unintelligent or at most an unremarkable pony, but there was more to her than met the eye. For instance, while she enjoyed Candy Land immensely and would never turn down a challenge, her favorite board game was Risk. Yes, she had gotten her degree in sociology, but she had minored in Cloud Engineering and Economics. Okay, most of the time she just cried when somepony was mean to her, but once she managed to trick them into short-selling some stock that would have been worth millions of bits if they had bought it. Right now, she had finally figured out what was going on.
“Spikey! Somepony has cast a spell all over the town! That’s why everypony is trying to ask you out or become best friends all of the sudden!”
Spike just chuckled in response. “Flitter, dear, I think everypony just finally figured out how great I am,” he examined his claws haughtily.
Flitter shook her head. “No, Spikey! I just sneezed! Remember? I’m only allergic to magical residue...and cats.”
“So, maybe there’s a cat around here.”
“Spikey! I’m serious!”
“I think she’s right, Spike,” Cloudchaser said. “You should at least go ask Twilight if she can sense any big spells that were cast recently.”
Spike groaned. “No.”
At that moment, about ten million knocks sounded at the door.
“Spaaahke? It’s us!”
“We think you’re really cool!”
“We love you Spike! Come play kissing games with us!”
Spike’s eyes widened to unimaginable proportions. “Oh no. What fresh hell is this?”
Cloudchaser and Flitter looked at each other, and then at Spike.
“The Cutie Mark Crusaders…” they all said at the same time.
“That’s us!” Applebloom remarked.
“Yeah! So let us in before I break through a window with a sick scooter jump!”
“I know where you live, Spike! Rarity told me.”
“Go out the back,” Cloudchaser commanded the others. “I’ll hold them off.” Spike clambered up on Flitter’s back. “The cuddle date was already ruined anyway, I suppose.” He turned to Cloudchaser, holding her cheek with an outstretched claw. “Thank you. Future generations will sing of this sacrifice.”
Soon, a shivering Flitter collapsed through the main entryway of the castle, and Spike gingerly hopped off. “Why don’t you lay down by the fire while I talk to Twilight? I think it would have been a better idea for you to bring a coat.”
Flitter just rolled toward the nearby fireplace as Spike began his long trudge upstairs. At the third floor landing, he found Fluttershy calmly reading a book on one of the cushy couches.
“Fluttershy!” he called. “Boy am I glad to see you.”
She looked up from her book, a little startled, but then smiled softly. “Oh, hello Spike! What’s wrong?”
“Well, everypony in Ponyville seems to be in love with me today! The mares are trying to date me and the stallions are trying to form intimate emotional bonds with me. At first I thought I was just having a good day, but then Flitter said it was probably some sort of spell...and I think she might be right.”
“Oh, dear, that sounds awful Spike! I-I’m not sure you want me to help though, that sounds like a job for somepony else…”
Spike smiled at Fluttershy’s absolutely classic behavior. “That’s alright, Fluttershy. No need to help. I just needed somepony to vent to, I guess. I feel better already.”
Fluttershy’s demeanor brightened considerably. “Oh! Well, I’m glad I could help.”
“What brings you all the way to the castle in this weather?” asked Spike. Since most of the animals were hibernating in the winter, it was Fluttershy’s slowest season at home, but the trip from her cottage to the castle was a long one to make without any goal.
“Oh!” Fluttershy’s ears perked up, as if she had just remembered her purpose here. “Well, I came to ask a favor of you.”
“Sure. Some rebellious snakes or turtles need a stern talking to from one of their own kind, again?”
“Oh no, they’re all snug and warm in their hibernation caverns, the cute little guys. I just wanted to ask if you would make out with me on this couch,” Fluttershy motioned gently with her hoof.
“Well su...What?”
“I, umm,” Fluttershy blushed and looked down, “I woke up this morning and started thinking about how nice and cute you were, and, umm, I thought that maybe having our tongues tangled together in passion would be...um...nice.” She looked back up with a spark of hope in her eyes.
Spike stared down at her for a few more seconds before he held up his claws in front of him, almost as if he was displaying to a police pony that he had no weapons. Then, he backed away from Fluttershy and up the next flight of stairs.
“O-okay,” she called after him. “I’ll be here when you’re ready.” She returned to reading her book. “Oh...I hope I didn’t come on too softly,” she berated herself.
Spike continued to back up the stairs until his back bumped into the door to Twilight’s antechamber. He opened it and slipped inside quickly before slamming it as if having escaped from a horrific monster.
“Spike?” Twilight asked from the table in the center of the room where she was having tea with Cadence and Luna. “What’s wrong? Why are you back from Flitter’s so soon?”
“Twilight, thank goodness! I-” Spike halted in his tracks before his eyes took on a fearful expression. “Oh no. Y-you’re one of them, aren’t you?”
“What are you talking about, Spike?” Twilight glared at him. “Is something wrong? You’re interrupting the tea I’m having with our guests.”
“Somepony cast a love spell over the whole town! A-and everypony is trying to go out with me or become weird, bromance-style best friends!”
Twilight snorted. “Spike, that’s ridiculous.”
“Oh yeah? Fluttershy just tried to come on to me!”
“Spike! Lewd!”
“I’m not joking!”
Princess Luna bit her lip and shared a worried glance with Cadence. “Spike, when did you start noticing this?”
Spike had his back to the wall and stared at Princess Luna as if she, too, could pounce on him at any moment. “T-this morning?”
Princess Cadence sucked in a breath. “Uh-oh…”
Twilight looked back at the princesses, suddenly worried. “Uh-oh? What’s Uh-oh!?”
“Twilight, could you cast a spell and check for magical fields around Ponyville?” Luna asked somewhat urgently.
“Why?” She spun to Spike. “Where did you get this crazy idea?”
“Flitter. She’s allergic to-”
“Flitter? Spike! She must be jealous! This is what you get for dating two ponies at the same time!”
“I’m not dating anypony, first of all. Just because we go on dates does not mean we’re dating. Second, she’s not jealous, she’s just being protective.”
“You expect me to believe that!?”
“TWILIGHT!” Luna yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice. She then cleared her throat. “Please, just probe for the magical fields.”
“Fine,” Twilight said, her horn glowing, “but I don’t think th...Woah. How’d I miss that?”
“Oh boy,” Cadence sighed, shaking her head. “Twilight, when Luna and I stayed here there was a problem with our magic overlap.”
“Magic overlap?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.
“Yes,” Luna continued. “Where the realm of dreams and love intersect. We were in close enough proximity that there was probably some constructive interference. Somepony that was in love with Spike must have had a dream about him, I must have amplified the dream, and-”
“And when the dream magic hit me, I must have amplified the love to all of Ponyville,” Cadence finished.
“Conversely,” Luna rubbed her muzzle with a hoof, “I suppose it’s possible that Cadence could have amplified the love from a dream near her, and I inadvertently packaged it into a new dream that was sent out to Ponyville.
“So I guess it could have been somepony near either of us that was the source of all of this,” Cadence told Twilight.
Twilight sputtered in disbelief for a few moments. “You act like this is an everyday occurrence!”
“It happened once before to us, a few months before my wedding, albeit on a much smaller scale. We spent a long time figuring out what happened, but that situation appeared to sort itself out.”
Luna sighed heavily. “We’ve never had to deal with it on this scale.”
“W-wait,” Spike interjected. “Wh-why don’t any of you love me? You know, from the spell?”
“Well,” Cadence giggled, “he is pretty cute.”
Twilight glared at her. “You’re married to my brother. Not. Funny.”
“Cadence and I aren’t affected by the spell since we’re the source of it. There are some other limitations to the spell’s power: it won’t affect anypony outside of Ponyville, or anypony that is already in love with Spike.” Luna glanced at Twilight furtively.
“What?” Twilight blushed. “I’m not in love with Spike!”
“Maybe your friendship is so close that it’s a form of love that the spell can’t change,” Cadence suggested. “Or, you’re just doing an excellent job resisting it. The spell only gets stronger with time. Eventually, even married ponies with true, unbreakable love for each other might be overwhelmed.”
“S-so how do we stop it?” Spike asked. “I don’t like this one bit.”
“Well, last time, we figured it out in a really cliche, true-love’s-kiss sort of way,” Cadence explained. She eyed Spike strangely. “Although hearing about your strange situation, I really don’t think that’s an option this time around.”
Luna looked over at Cadence. “We need to go to the Crystal Empire. I’m sure we can find enough spell books on love magic there to craft a solution.”
Cadence giggled a little bit. “Just can’t get away from home, I suppose.” She got up and took off toward the large balcony opening, with Luna following. “We should be back tomorrow, Twilight. If I were you, I’d hide Spike somewhere safe.”
“Wait!” Twilight cried as the two visiting Princesses rocketed over the balcony and out of the castle. “Shoot. Well, this is just great. The worst part is, we don’t even know who had that love dream about you! It could have been either Flitter or Rarity!”
Spike looked at her angrily. “I can’t believe you! You wanted to use this to guilt me into making a decision!”
Flitter burst through the door. “I heard everything from outside while I was beating Fluttershy’s ho flank! Don’t worry, Spikey, I’ll protect you! Twilight, drop Spike off near the Ponyville Pond in twenty minutes!” She leapt up and began to fly toward the same exit that Luna and Cadence had used earlier.
Twilight growled. “Flitter! I’m not taking him anywhere! He’ll be fine here.”
Flitter looked at Twilight quizzically. “You haven’t looked outside, have you?”
Twilight slowly trotted to look over the balcony railing, where several dozen ponies that had followed Flitter had already gathered outside, milling about and looking through the windows. A broken stream of ponies slowly flooded into the crowd from the town center, making it grow larger with each passing minute.
Twilight blanched a little bit. “Y-yeah, I’ll see you in twenty.”
Flitter took a deep breath in. She exhaled slowly as she steeled herself to do what she must. She wanted to protect Spikey, sure...but it was a burning, unending jealousy that was making her do what she was about to do. She hated seeing others oogle her Spikey without right, and she had heard all about how the spell worked. Everypony in Ponyville was going to be affected.
...Almost everypony.
The enemy of Flitter’s enemy was her friend.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
“Oh! I wonder if somepony actually came out through the snow today to shop! How exciting,” Rarity tittered as she walked from her back work area towards the front door. “Coming!” she sing-songed to placate her waiting customer.
Flitter took a step back as the door was thrown open.
“Good day, and welcome to Carousel Boutique, where-” Rarity halted her intro pitch when she finally was able to analyze who was standing at her doorstep. ‘Oh...it’s you,” she said, trying her best to hide the hostility in her voice.
“Rarity.” Flitter said solemnly. “Spike is in trouble, and you and I are the only ponies that can help him.”
“Spikey-Wikey is in trouble?” Rarity parroted, her eyes softening with worry. Abruptly, she stuck her head back in the air and looked resolutely and coldly at Flitter. “Oh, I’m sure he is. And why didn’t I hear anything from him, hm? We both know I’m the first pony he’d come to.”
Flitter growled at the ground, already hating herself for making the decision that she did. “Rarity, please. Just let me come in and explain?”
Rarity eyed Flitter suspiciously. “Fine,” she said, stepping aside. “Let nopony say that I wasn’t generous enough to offer up my home, but no funny business! I am watching you closely!”
About fifteen minutes later, Flitter stood bundled in a new, fashionable coat near the Ponyville pond. Next to her stood Rarity, clothed in a functionally similar but aesthetically more flamboyant fashion. They rocked back and forth on their hooves in the silent cold, watching the steam from their breath spill into the sky.
“You know, this is quite enthralling, in a literary sort of way,” Rarity commented. “Two opposing forces, uniting temporarily for the greater good…”
Flitter glanced over questioningly. “Uh, I guess so, yeah.”
“It’s quite like the Poniet Union and Equestria, uniting to fight Germaneigh before the Cold War.”
“Uh huh…”
“You will sacrifice so much, while I will fight a war that’s not my own, before we become adversaries again...Gallant. Beautiful.”
Flitter racked her brain for a moment, searching for any history knowledge still left in her head. “Hey...I’M the Poniet Union?”
“Well of co-oo-ourse darling,” Rarity chuckled condescendingly. “I’m quite vibrant, while you’re functional but rather drab, blocky, and overly willing to sacrifice millions of ponies, wouldn’t you agree?”
Flitter looked over at Rarity, frowning. “But you’re wearing a Poniet-style winter hat right now!”
Rarity looked up at her hat. “Oh, well, first off, this style, the sort of long, elegant fur cap with the bolshoi flair, was most popular in the PRE-Poniet Era. It is the epitome of tsarist, capitalist extravagance, dear.”
Twilight skidded in front of them abruptly, having traveled from her impact site twenty feet to their right. “HERE!” she cried, throwing a squirming burlap sack at their hooves. “These ponies are crazy!” she screamed, before taking off once again, several weighted burlap sacks still attached to her.
“There she is!” Rainbow Dash cried from above as she led a team of weather ponies after her. “You won’t get away, Twilight! Let poor Spike go!”
Rarity and Flitter glanced down at the sack as Spike finally wormed his head out and took a deep, racking breath of fresh air into his lungs. “A-are they gone?”
Rarity squealed and leaned down to give Spike a kiss on his cheek and pull him into a hug. “Oh, my Spikey-Wikey! Are you okay, darling?”
Spike looked over Rarity’s shoulder mid-hug and was brought face-to-face with Flitter’s deep, uncompromising and unnerving frown. Spike flashed her an awkward smile and then gently extricated himself from Rarity’s grasp.
“Alright Spikey,” Flitter cooed, “time to go back in the bag.” She pushed his head back inside and he squirmed in resistance.
Ultimately Spike’s efforts were overcome and he was pushed in. Flitter grasped the bag with her teeth and pulled up, but dropped it only a few inches off the ground. “Ow!” she whined, rubbing her muzzle. “Spikey, when did you get so heavy?” “I’m a dragon with bones as dense as rocks and scales that have a higher melting point than lava,” the bag shot back. “Did you seriously just try to pick me up with your teeth?”
Rarity chuckled and walked over. “Don’t worry, my little Spikey-poo, I will get you to safety just fine.” She grasped the bag in her teeth, grunting as she tried to lift the bag off the ground. She failed miserably, unable to lift it even an inch. Glancing over at a frowning Flitter, Rarity quickly covered her tracks by dragging Spike along the ground with her.
Spike hit several small tree roots and rocks as he was slowly towed along. “Aaaah! Are you kidding me!? You have a horn!”
“Oh, dear,” Rarity said, eyeing the train station from afar. “I’m not certain that we’re going to be able to get him up there, much less buy tickets and get him on the train.”
A crowd of ponies was mulling around the train station, seemingly searching for somepony.
“Three guesses as to who they’re looking for,” Rarity said, rolling her eyes. “My word, it’s like one of those terrible, cliche zompony movies that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are so invested in.”
“What? What’s going on?” Spike asked from his burlap prison.
“Shhhh!” Flitter hushed. “They’re going to hear you!”
Rarity looked over at her partner in the uneasy alliance of convenience. “I think that the Canterlot plan isn’t going to work.”
Flitter nodded in agreement. “Time to call an audible. My home won’t work. Poor Cloudchaser is probably tied up in the basement and being interrogated by the Cutie Mark Crusaders as we speak.”
“The Carousel Boutique it is then,” Rarity agreed. The two of them walked along with Spike in the grasp of Rarity’s magic, keeping their distance from the roving bands of crazed Spike-lovers.
Within a few minutes they had reached the boutique. After Spike had gotten free of the bag, they closed the window shades and sat together in the foyer of the boutique.
“...So…” Spike said. “Uh, thanks for rescuing me.”
“Well, I meant both of you. Flitter did an excellent job, too.”
“Thanks Spikey!” She leaned over to nuzzle him.
Rarity practically choked on her on hubris. “Get away from him, you hussy!” She waved a hoof around Spike, as if creating a shield around him.
Flitter was surprised but hardened her face again. “Oh, hell no! Girl you better watch yourself!” She replied sassily, holding up a hoof and rotating her head to accentuate
“AHH! Well, I never. Do you truly believe-”
“RARITY!!!” There was a cry from outside the front door, causing everypony’s heart to skip a beat. Several hard knocks reverberated throughout the first floor.
“Oh no…” Spike breathed. “That’s…”
“Rarity!!! I forgot my key,” Sweetie Belle cried shrilly, banging more loudly this time. “Let me in!”
“Flitter,” Rarity hissed under her breath, “take Spike to the closet. Be quick about it, and be quiet!”
Flitter dutifully nabbed Spike and hid with him in the coat closet just as Rarity opened the door. “My goodness Sweetie, it is not ladylike to yell with such volume!”
“Sorry!” she replied halfheartedly, stomping into the Boutique and throwing her winter gear in a basket by the door. “I had a really bad day.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Rarity sputtered, biting her lip worriedly. “What happened?”
“The Crusaders and I were trying to find Spike today, but we couldn’t find him! We even tied up Cloudchaser and questioned her for hours!” Sweetie walked over to the kitchen sink and washed her hooves. “Finally she broke and helped us look for Spike, although I think she just wanted him all to herself. Sis, is there a good way to remove bloodstains from your coat?”
Flitter looked horrified in the dim light of the closet, and Spike laid a gentle claw on her hoof to keep her quiet.
“Sweetie Belle! What’s all this about?”
Sweetie Belle whipped her head around to face her sister. “I know that YOU know where he is! Where is he!?”
Rarity scoffed indignantly. “How dare you! First you torture Cloudchaser, and now you’re trying to steal my Spikey-Wikey after you know darn well that he is mine!”
“We didn’t torture her!” Sweetie Belle squeaked back. “We kept showing her pictures of Spike during our interrogation and she got a nosebleed all of the sudden!” She looked off into the distance, tapping her muzzle thoughtfully. “It must be that dry winter air. The blood got everywhere.”
“Do you know how many communicable diseases you can get from blood, Sweetie Belle!?” Rarity scolded. “And especially blood from Cloudchaser! I mean, who knows where she’s been?”
Flitter growled from inside her hiding place. “Let me at her!”
Spike covered her mouth with a claw quickly and held her back from the closet door. Thankfully, Flitter’s relatively minimal strength and light pegasus frame made it an easy task. “Flitter!” he hissed. “Remember whose butt is on the line here!”
“I don’t care!” Sweetie Belle cried. “Spike is mine! I won’t even share him with Applebloom or Scootaloo! They’re just pawns in my ultimate game!”
Rarity stomped over to her. “Sweetie, do you really believe that Spike would fall for you? I mean, you can sing, sure, but your style is, how should I say, atrocious? I mean, when is the last time you even wore a decent cocktail dress out on a Friday night?”
“Spike will like my style! It’s functional!”
“Functionally horrific. And what about your body? I mean, your horn is squat and you simply haven’t developed your curves yet, darling. It would be like dating a cardboard box.”
“Well!” Sweetie screamed, her eyes looking about the room frantically as she thought of a retort, “Well...At least my flanks are the same size!”
Rarity inhaled in horror. “HOW DARE YOU?”
“You don’t think it’s noticeable! Well, I noticed, which means HE definitely has!”
Flitter looked down at Spike, the light rays from the slotted door revealing only certain sections of her face as Rarity and Sweetie Belle continued to bicker shrilly. As far as Spike could tell, Flitter’s expression was a mixture of disgust and confusion, with maybe a hint of interest. “Spikey,” she whispered, “is Rarity having an argument with her eleven year old sister about their sex appeal?”
“I thought she was ten,” Spike commented off-hand, looking back to peer through the door. “This type of thing happens more often than you’d expect.”
“That is it!” Rarity cried after a few more repeated salvos. “My sister is not allowed to insinuate ANYTHING about my genitalia! OUT!” She flung open the door with her magic.
“Fine!” Sweetie Belle replied, frantically putting on her winter gear. “I’ll go have a sleepover with my friends who DON’T dye their mane two shades darker than natural!” She sprinted away as Rarity slammed the door behind her.
“I CANNOT BELIEVE HER!” Rarity cried, opening the closet with her magic and turning her backside to Spike. “Spike, you can’t tell any size difference, can you?”
Spike stared in awe for a few seconds before Flitter let out a jealous grunt, bit his ear frill and dragged him out of the closet by force.
“Ow, Ow, Ow!”
“Rarity!” Flitter frowned, “Why would you say such things to your little sister?”
“She started it!” Rarity defended. “What, was I supposed to just let her win?”
“She’s ten!”
“Ten and three-quarters,” Rarity corrected. “And who exactly are you to comment on my relationship with my sister? Of course you’ll take her side! You’re the younger sister at home!”
“By forty-five seconds! I weighed a pound more than Cloudchaser at birth, too! The doctor said I was blocking her access to the placenta!”
“I don’t care, and, gross. Spike! You’ll be sleeping in my bed tonight! I cannot let you be anywhere near this interloper!”
“Not a chance!” Flitter nabbed Spike around the neck with a hoof and pulled him close to her.
Spike tore himself out of her grasp and ran to the front door, slapping his claw on the nob. “ENOUGH!” he bellowed. “You two are going to hug each other right now or so help me I will run right into the center of town!”
“No!” they both cried, holding out hooves to Spike.
“I swear I’ll do it! I am so SICK of this catty bullshit!” he yelled, his face turning red. “You are both perfectly nice ponies. You will hug each other in front of me, and then stop bickering for the duration of this crisis. Understand?”
Flitter and Rarity looked at each other, both frowning.
Spike turned the doorknob.
Rarity and Flitter leapt toward each other and wrapped a hoof around each other’s necks, squeezing their eyes shut to avert the dual horrors of Spike being swamped by a mob of adoring mares or seeing the back of their arch nemesis.
Spike let his claw fall from the knob. “See?” he asked as they separated. “Was that so hard?”
Flitter and Rarity shared a look that held less hostility than usual.
“Great,” Spike continued. “And for the record, Rarity, I didn’t notice that your flanks were different sizes...until Sweetie Belle said anything.”
After a somewhat touch-and-go night of hiding from the entire town in the Carousel Boutique, morning arose and an eerie calm settled over the town. Most of the population was up late looking for Spike, and had seemed to retreat back into their homes to rest by the time the sun rose.
After a very quiet breakfast, Spike was once again flung into his burlap sack and floated out the door and across town. Of the few ponies still out, not many seemed to be searching for Spike anymore, and there was only a single pair having a conversation about him. Most seemed to be doing some morning shopping or traveling with some other clear purpose.
“Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose,” Rarity commented, mostly to herself. Flitter nodded solemnly in response.
A minute or so later the duo of ponies and the floating, occasionally writhing sack were on the doorstep to Ponyville’s castle. Flitter rapped on the door a few times and after only a few seconds, a disheveled-looking Twilight Sparkle stuck her head out of the door. Her eyes brightened immediately. “Good! Good, it’s you! Come in!”
“Goodness, Twilight, you look terrible!” Rarity said as she walked in and dumped Spike on the floor. “Whatever is the matter?”
Twilight seemed to twitch. “The matter? What mattered was that I was chased around by a bunch of crazy ponies all night! They wouldn’t even let me get to sleep! Kept banging on the door and asking for Spike! Luckily, Cadence and Luna got back an hour ago. Come on!” Twilight immediately turned tail and headed for the castle library.
She flung open the doors, revealing a chaotic sight. Books were strewn everywhere, several chalkboards displayed poorly-drawn diagrams, and empty coffee mugs were piled high all over the place. Princess Luna was sleeping on top of a foal-sized bookshop, while Cadence stared blankly into a large, heart-shaped tome.
“I was working all night,” Twilight explained with a hint of pride. “They were up late too, researching in the Crystal Empire. Princess Luna!” she called. “We have guests!”
Luna shot up from her slumber and rolled off the bookshelf onto the ground. A moment later, she popped back up, eyes wide in surprise. “WHAA!? Who-” she eyed the newcomers warily. “Oh, good,” her expression softened. “You’re here. Start setting up for the party.”
“What?” Spike asked, shocked. “We’re still having the party?”
“Indeed,” replied Luna. “It would be a shame to cancel a royal Hearth’s Warming party under any circumstances, but it is even more vital for our situation.”
“We think we’ve found a way to reverse the effect of the magic,” Cadence explained, looking up from her book. “But we need everypony affected to show up in the same place for it to work.”
“You THINK you’ve found a solution?” Rarity enquired. She cast a glance at Twilight, who merely bit her lip.
“We’re almost certain,” Luna revised. “We just can’t be sure without a test, and it’s simply not feasible to do on a small scale.”
They all turned to Spike, who looked at the ground worriedly. “Maybe...maybe we should ask for Princess Celestia’s help? I mean, if we’re not sure.”
“NO!” All three Princesses in the room cried in terror.
“We can’t tell Princess Celestia!” Twilight incredulously cried. “Can you imagine how poorly it will reflect on me?”
“Love magic is my domain and dreams are Luna’s,” added Cadence. “I don’t think Celestia would be of much help…”
“She’ll just sit there and nag!” Luna complained, both of her front hooves on placed her head in horror. “She’ll be all, ‘I know I can’t help but being responsible would have prevented this’, and, ‘I have a Principality to run and you just had to distract me’!” Luna fell on all fours on front of Spike. “Please! Don’t subject me to her pestering! It’s so annoying!”
“Okay! Okay!” Spike relented, holding up his claws defensively. He sighed. “What do we have to do?”
Twilight, who had evidently been briefed on the plan, turned to Flitter. “We need to get everypony in Ponyville here for the party, but last year only about thirty percent of town showed up. You need to fly around town and convince everypony to come. Tell them that Spike will be there, if you have to. Just, uh, don’t tell them that he’s here now.”
Flitter gulped, closing her eyes. If she was going to keep her Spikey to herself, she needed to make the temporary sacrifice. She was sure it’d be hard work, too.
After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked around to the rest of her group. “What will you guys be doing?”
That evening, amongst a backdrop of stunning decorations, all sorts of cakes and treats, and a thirty foot tall tree topped with a dazzling, magical star, a large crowd of ponies gathered.
Unlike a normal Hearth’s Warming party, which would be filled with joyous mingling, chatting, and possibly even outright revelry, the mood here was different. It was not necessarily somber, but certainly very tense. The sea of ponies rolled only very slowly. A few ponies chewed on hors d’oeuvres, but the food remained largely untouched. Instead of playing gaily, the foals in the crowd appeared to be stalking something, winding in a serpentine fashion between the legs of the older ponies.
Twilight placed her front hooves on the bannister at the top of the first flight of stairs, giving her a grand view of the unnerving phenomenon. Just about the whole town appeared to have shown up; Flitter had done a good job. Twilight looked down at her hooves, then to her left. Rarity and Cadence were in position. She then glanced to her right, glaring as she saw Flitter adjusting her bow, her tongue stuck out in concentration. After a few moments, Flitter’s glance caught Twilight’s, and she sheepishly held up a hoof in the ‘ready’ signal.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Good evening everypony!”
Normally, it would take the better part of half a minute to quiet such a large crowd. This time, the few quiet conversations that were going on ceased immediately, and Twilight fumbled with her Santa Hooves hat awkwardly in response. “Uhh...Welcome to the annual Ponyville Hearth’s Warming Party, hosted by yours truly!”
She let that sink in for a moment. Somepony coughed.
“We have a couple of special guests tonight,” Twilight continued, holding a forced, wide grin across her face.
Immediately, the crowd began to murmur.
“Bring out Spike!” a mare’s voice sounded from the back. The crowd was whipped up into a frenzy at the mention of Spike’s name, beginning to yell.
“Yes, yes,” Twilight tried to calm frantically, “don’t worry, Spike will be out soon. I was talking more about Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, who will be here mingling amongst everypony here tonight!”
“...Where’s Spike!? I want him to be the best man at my wedding and to move in with my fiance and I!”
“I want to kiss his cute little spines!”
“I just like complimentary colors!”
More and more raucous cries of romance and bromance sounded from the crowd, overpowering any of Twilight’s attempts to restore order. “Alright,” she groaned. “That’s it!”
Twilight cast a nod at Rarity, who used her magic to untie a nearby robe from a pillar.
“AAA-AAAA-AAAHHHH!” cried Spike as he descended, tied to a rope, right in the center of the party, stopping abruptly about twenty feet off the floor.
The crowd grew wild and seemed to lurch toward Spike, and the entire crew lurched into action. Flitter flew out toward Spike, pushing away the pegasus ponies that were trying to reach him. Rarity, for her part, used blasts of magic to knock over the pony-pyramids that were starting to form in an attempt to reach Spike from below.
Twilight closed her eyes and shot two beams of magic out of her horn; one to Cadence on her left and another to Luna on her right. They shot their own beams, creating a triangle which, when viewed from the first floor landing, contained the entire crowd below. Slowly, the beams grew brighter and brighter.
Flitter, unfortunately, was overwhelmed at the sheer amount of pegasi trying to reach Spike. Already, Spike had received several kisses from pegasus mares before Flitter could manage to push them off.
Rarity, too, was having problems. She had plenty of experience using her magic to thread needles and gently move fluffy dresses, but decidedly less expertise in combat spells. Slowly but surely, the hundreds of ponies piled on each other and came closer and closer to Spike.
Suddenly, a pegasus stallion with a pocket knife cut the rope holding Spike from above, sending him careening into a tower of ponies. Rebounding off of them, he landed face down in a fruitcake on the main crystal table. Without any delay, he was swarmed and the others lost sight of him.
“Spike!” Rarity and Flitter cried in horror.
“Now!” Twilight cried from above. The beams expanded rapidly and soon the entire room was encased in a bright light.
The light faded naught but a second later, leaving several hundred confused and embarrassed ponies, who began to disperse into the room once more.
Spike, with fruitcake sticking to his face, sat up gingerly to protect his many bruises, only for Cloudchaser to glomp onto Spike. “Spike! You’re finally mine!”
Flitter, Rarity, the Princesses, and several ponies still close enough to Spike to hear him gave Cloudchaser a few curious glances.
“Uhh…” she removed her hooves and clopped them together nervously. “I mean, the spell is broken...Yay…” she clarified.
After a little bit of cleanup and explanation from the Princesses present, and a lot of tears from Fluttershy’s red-faced apology to Spike, the party was up and swinging. Spike, for his part, made sure to give Fluttershy a big hug to let her know things were okay before he walked away.
He glanced around the room, almost in a trance as he smiled at all the happy holiday fun that was going on around him. He felt a weight lift off of his shoulders as Twilight berated some of the local academics about one thing or another she felt she was more qualified at. Deciding not to get involved in that cataclysm, he continued roaming around the room. He found a long line near the photo area, where Princess Luna had agreed to exchange kisses on the cheek under the mistletoe with any stallion who wanted a photo. Naturally, at least 75% of the males in the room over the age of eight (and a few under) stood waiting in line.
“Spike!” Luna waved him over, holding up the velvet line-keeper for him to slide under. “Want to cut the line?” she winked at him, fluttering her eyelashes.
Spike rolled his eyes, getting the feeling that Luna was liking the attention she was getting here. “Well, I guess, since you’re offering.”
Luna smiled at him mischievously. “Of course, just since I offered. So, want to get a kiss on the cheek, or give one? Or both?”
Spike thought for a minute. “I think I’ll take a kiss. I need a little souvenir to help me remember this whole fiasco by.”
Spike did his best to look as cool and aloof as possible as Luna bent down and placed her lips on his cheek, holding them there for a number of seconds so that the photographer could take a shot of them.
“Thanks Luna!” he said, grabbing the picture as it came out. “Where is Cadence? I figured she’d be all over something as lovey-dovey as this?”
“Apparently Shining Armor can get a little bit jealous,” Luna said, waving over the next stallion in line. “That doesn’t keeper from dancing, though.”
Spike glanced over to the dance floor, where Cadence was slow dancing with a local stallion. The song ended and she was promptly swarmed, although in a few seconds she found a new partner and went back to dancing.
He shrugged and ducked under the velvet again, attempting to make a beeline for the food table. Rarity, however, intercepted him, taking a claw with a hoof. “Come with me, Spikey-Wikey.”
She brought him over into a corner of the room that was sparsely populated and motioned upward with her head. Spike looked up and saw a spring of poisonous, parasitic herb laced with white berries.
“Now Rarity,” Spike chided. “You know my rule on this. Everything has to be perfect.”
“Come on, Spikey-Wikey,” she whined back, pouting. “Please? It’s traditional…”
Spike sighed. “Alright. Alright.” He moved forward to wrap his arms around Rarity’s neck in a hug, looking into her eyes.
They both hesitated for a moment before their lips met. It felt like there were fireworks going off in Spike’s chest as the kiss deepened. Rarity wrapped a hoof around his back and pulled him closer. Then, she let her tongue brush against his lips once, then twice, before pushing her way in gently and playing with his. Spike’s whole body felt electrified before he finally pulled away to gasp for air...Not that he couldn’t breathe, of course, but it turned out he had been holding his breath.
“I waited a long time to do that, Spikey-Wikey,” Rarity whispered to him.
He scoffed, smiling. “Yeah, YOU were the one who waited a long time.” He pulled back a claw and prepared to deliver a playful smack to her flank, but thought better of it and let his claw fall to his side.
Rarity pulled away from his grasp and returned to a dignified disposition. “Remember, Spike, you promised that we’d exchange gifts privately before we celebrate with Twilight and the others on Hearth’s Warming.”
“I know,” he rolled his eyes. “We have a few days to make it happen.”
She trotted away, but halted briefly to turn back and wink at him. “Let me know if you want to see me under the mistletoe again later, Spikey-Wikey.”
He nodded dumbly, beginning to stare off into space as the reality of the situation hit him. Everything about the kiss was tantalizing...He felt so stimulated and alive kissing her, and he never wanted it to end. It was an eye-opening experience, and he ran over it in his head a few times to make sure that it actually happened.
Meanwhile, Cloudchaser spotted Spike standing alone under the mistletoe and sucked in a breath of anticipation. This was her chance! She leapt into the air and glided directly toward him, hoping to nonchalantly start a conversation and play dumb as to the existence of the mistletoe...that would end in a passionate kiss and a profession of love.
Flitter turned the corner and stopped right in front of Spike when Cloudchaser was only ten feet from Spike, forcing her to immediately make a hard right bank to avoid crashing into her sister. She landed, refusing to look back, and trotted toward the punch bowl to drown her sorrows.
Flitter, meanwhile, only sweetly smiled at Spike. “Oh, Snuggle scales! You just waited here under the mistletoe for me?” She batted her eyelashes and swished her body side to side innocently as she looked at him lovingly.
“I...uh…” Spike said, being awoken from his trance and looking quickly between the mistletoe and Flitter.
She giggled sweetly. “It’s okay, you don’t have to be shy about it,” she whispered, inching her lips closer to his. “It was my plan too.”
She kissed him suddenly, letting her silky lips press tightly but softly against his. Spike’s body seemed to heat up slowly, as if he was simmering, and his senses seemed to blur together. He lifted a claw to her face and she stepped forward to press her body up against his, occasionally letting her tongue touch his lips in a sweet tease. Spike felt like his heart was going to melt, and he thought for the briefest of moments that it would be wonderful to stay like this forever.
Then, Flitter pulled away and flashed him a big smile. “That was fun! Happy Hearth’s Warming, my favorite dragon! Come dance with me later, mmkay?” She cried, skipping away.
Spike shook his head and went back to enjoy the party.
Cloudchaser groaned as she finished off another cookie, and turned to the front door of the castle. The party was still in full swing, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to stick around anymore after embarrassing herself in front of Spike, and not even getting the chance to kiss him. Her life was depressing enough as it was.
Still, she let a small, melancholic grin tug at her lips. It had been nice to see everypony in one place, after all, and she did get to have a dance with Thunderlane after he saw that she was feeling down.
She put on her scarf and hat as she prepared to leave. So it hadn’t exactly been the best Hearth’s Warming party...but it could have been worse.
“Cloudchaser!” she heard Spike call as she put her her hoof on the door. She turned slowly to face Spike, forcing a smile onto her face. “Are you leaving already?” he asked.
“Yeah…” she replied, running a hoof through her mane. “I’m a little tired. I-it was fun while it lasted, though!”
“Ah, alright,” Spike said, tossing his arms around Cloudchaser’s neck and giving her a big hug. “I never got the chance to thank you for rescuing me from the Cutie Mark Crusaders ,” he mumbled in her ear. “Thanks.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and pulled away, smiling. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Cloudchaser. You’re the best.”
With that, he walked back into the party. Cloudchaser stumbled out of the door, feeling a little lightheaded, and took off, promptly crashing into a tree.
“Spike!” Twilight called to him through the crowd inside, “Did I see you kiss BOTH Rarity and Flitter under the mistletoe earlier?”
Spike blinked and looked up at her. “You did, yes. Are you going to lecture me?”
“Spike!”
“Don’t know why I even asked.”
She frowned deeply at him. “You’re just playing with them. How do you ever expect to finally choose!?”
Spike regarded Twilight curiously. “That’s a real good question.”
"And that's why, all I want for Hearth's Warming is you," Spike told her, cupping her cheeks with a claw. "I'm just sorry that it took me so long..." he looked away in shame.
She leaned forward and kissed him. "Oh Spike, it's okay...we're here now."
He leaned in to kiss her again, pressing her down against the floor with some force. "I want you...Do you want me?"
"Yes, Spike! Please!" Their lips met again.
Suddenly, there were multiple knocks at the door. "Cloudchaser! Wake up! It's Hearth's Warming Eve, and we have to go babysit Rumble in a few minutes!"
"Okay!" Cloudchaser cried, frustrated. "Just gimme a minute!"
"Sure thing Miss Grumpy pants! Just don't make us late, or your crush Thunderlane won't be happy with you," Flitter giggled, trotting away down the hallway.
Cloudchaser sat up with a groan, rubbing her temples. Two full days had passed since Spike had kissed her on the cheek, and still it seemed to take up every waking thought.
Cloudchaser went to the bathroom to begin her morning routine. Oh well, she couldn't much help it. Besides, a new year was coming up.
