> Growing Pains
>  by Trenton
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Bit of Advice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

~*~*~*~*~
Spike woke with the sun rise, as he had every morning since he could remember.

The purple and green scaled baby dragon always liked to get a head start on the day, and was fortunate enough to always get a room facing a window; whether it was Twilight Velvet and Night Light's moderate Canterlot House, Twilight Sparkle's Canterlot Library, The Golden Oaks Library, or the Castle of Friendship, in which he now resided.

His current room, he had to admit, was his favorite, if only because it was his and his alone. The drake would always have to share one with Twilight in the past, either because he was too young or there weren't enough rooms for the both of them.

Though he would never admit it, Spike actually missed sleeping in the same room as Twilight the first few days she had given him this room, but that quickly gave way to the excitement of having a private space to call his own. And boy, what a space it was. The walls and floor were crystalline, and a large bed dominated the room. The base was made of crystal, growing out of the floor itself, then a mattress rested on that, and then his blanket and pillows.

Other than the bed, he didn't have many decorations in his room. There was, of course, the bookcase where he kept his comic books and favorite books. Other than that, a dresser held his tuxedo, among other bits and pieces that Rarity made for him over the years. And finally, the basket he had slept in when he bunked with Twilight was sitting in the corner, unused and forgotten.

Stretching, the young drake hopped out of bed, making sure to make it neatly before leaving his room.

Whistling, Spike walked down hallways and rounded corners until he found himself entering the rather large kitchen. The Palace of Friendship wasn't one-tenth the size of Canterlot's Royal Castle, but it was still rather immense, definitely earning the title of castle. Or maybe it was simply like a large Mansion. Spike wasn't absolutely certain on the semantics of building size.

What Spike was certain about, was that breakfast was going to be good. Putting on his Kiss the Cook apron, He quickly set about gathering all the ingredients he needed. A buttered pan soon rested on the stove as he poured Pancake mix in. They began sizzling.

The young drake then brought out two cups after climbing on top of the refrigerator and opened a cabinet high above the countertop, before hopping down and landing on his draconian feet. He briefly contemplated a third before he remembered that Starlight was visiting Sunburst in the Crystal Empire today.

Regardless, The fall made him lose his balance for a moment, but he quickly stabilized himself before setting the cups at the table along with orange juice from the fridge.
He was just in the middle of pulling out a basket of apples that Applejack had given them when Spike heard a soft yawn. He looked towards the doorway closest to the bedrooms as Princess Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic, trotted into the kitchen; she was sniffing at the air.

"Wow, Spike! That smells really good." Twilight said as she sat at the table. She was carrying a mane brush in her magic, straightening her near midnight blue hair, the pink violet stripes sticking out near her horn. The alicorn's lavender coat almost seemed to shine from the interior lighting, and her wings looked recently preened.

Spike flipped the pancakes onto two plates, gathered silverware and syrup, and brought it all to the table, placing one plate in front of Twilight before sitting down before his own.

"Of course it's good. I made it!" He grinned, pulling off his apron before digging in.

Twilight rolled her eyes good-naturedly, a smirk on her face.

"Cool the ego, Rainbow Dash," This prompted Spike to giggle.

The two ate in companionable silence, the only sounds being the scraping of forks on plates and clinking from glasses, and also the soft hum of magic coming from Twilight's Horn as she manipulated the utensils, considering the lack of hands. Finally, Spike broke the silence.

"What are you gonna do today, Twilight?" The drake stood to go put his plate in the sink, before noticing that Twilight had finished and took hers as well. He took them over to the sink.

Twilight thought for a moment, walking over to the sink as well.

"I'm not sure. I don't really have anything planned for today. I ordered a new book yesterday so I think I might just wait for that to show up."

Spike washed his hands before grabbing a sponge. Suddenly he gasped when Twilight finished her sentence. He suddenly remembered. The newest edition of power ponies came out today, and he had to get his hands on it. He turned to Twilight who was looking at him rather expectantly after the gasp, before levitating the sponge out of his hand giggling.

"I'll go ahead and do the dishes. Why don't you tell me what you're so excited about?"

Spike opened his mouth, about to ask Twilight for some money so he could buy a copy of the comic from the book store in town, but stopped and furrowed his brow. Why couldn't he buy it instead of asking his guardian for money? He was sure that Twilight would be more than happy to give him a few bits to buy his comic, but at the same time, something stopped him.
Why did he have to ask to have things bought for him? The purple lizard frowned as he realized that he wanted to purchase the comic book himself. If Twilight just gave him money for things he wanted to buy, that only felt like he was spending HER money.

Spike realized that he wanted to feel like he earned that money, and there were definitely other things than comic books that he wanted to buy once in awhile without asking Twilight. He looked up at her and finally asked:

"Can I have an allowance?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her scaly assistant, scrubbing away at the plate in her magic. "An allowance? I'm not saying no, but why this all of a sudden?"

Spike leaned up on his toes, gripping the counter ledge in his claws. "Well, y'know, The new Power Ponies comic came out today, and I was originally just gonna ask you if I could have money for that, but then I realized that sometimes there was other things I wanted too and I do so many chores around here - Not that I mind - And I think I deserve one for working so hard for so long!" He took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't want to feel like I'm just spending your money."

Such a large amount of words in a single breath. He could give Pinkie a run for her money at this rate!

Twilight giggled at her assistant's antics, before mulling it over. It's true, Spike had been doing chores for her since Canterlot, and they've increased somewhat with their bigger home. Dusting, Reshelving, Dishes, Garbage, Scrubbing…

Of course, she split the load with him, working on these chores herself sometimes, but Twilight knew the split wasn't a perfect 50/50. She decided that he definitely deserved what he was asking for.

"Alright," Twilight said before setting down the clean plate and picking up another. "I agree. You've been working very hard lately, and should receive a monthly stipend to spend on whatever your heart desires."  She finished the second plate and decided to do the silverware later, turning to Spike and looking him seriously in the eyes.

"I hope you'll be smart with the money, though, Spike. You know how to save and not be  frivolous. I mean, of course be frivolous to an extent, it's yours to spend for your comfort, but make sure you're sure about what you're buying. Realize the importance of saving."

Spike nodded eagerly grinning, before his face was serious and he saluted. "Yes, ma'am! I know how to manage money!"

Twilight giggled. "At ease soldier," she stopped and tapped her hoof to her chin for a moment.
"I'm not sure what to give you. I've never had to dole out an allowance before."

Spike got a devious look on his face as he nonchalantly leaned back against the fridge. "I've heard 100 bits a week is the norm."

Twilight deadpanned, before chuckling and shaking her head. "That's nearly one tenth of our monthly royal stipend. You know what? I think I will go out today, Spike. I'm going to go ask our friends for their opinions. Would you stay here and watch for my package?"

Spike wilted a little, really wanting to go get the comic today, but perked up again and nodded. He could wait a little longer, especially if Twilight asked him to. Especially especially if it would get him his own money. "Will do!"

The lavender mare smiled warmly and hugged Spike before walking through the opposite kitchen doorway into the room where the six friendship thrones sat. Spike followed as she walked to the door and out, waving back as Spike waved her off.

~*~*~*~*~

"Applebloom's Allowance?" the orange earth pony huffed, wiping sweat off of her forehead before speaking in her customary southern drawl. "Now why do you wanna know somethin' like that?"

Twilight watched as Applejack walked over to buck the next closest tree. The lavender alicorn helped while they talked, picking hordes of apples off trees with her magic while putting those that didn't fall into baskets in their proper places.

"Well, Spike was asking if he could have one, and I agreed. He's been working harder than ever to keep the castle clean and tidy," Twilight spotted a stray fallen apple and put it in one of the tens of buckets applejack kept around for harvesting. "And frankly, now that I think about it, I feel bad about not paying him sooner. He does more than the fair share of chores around on top of being my assistant."

Applejack nodded and gave a grin, taking a break under the shade of the apple tree she had just bucked.

"Ah reckon that's a good idea. Hard work should always be rewarded. Applebloom works hard on the chores ah gives 'er. 's why ah pay her 20 bits a month. Ah think that's more than fair for an honest month's work."

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Twenty bits a month? I'm not sure if that's a lot or not," she shook her head. "I'll need a larger sample pool. What does she spend it on if I might ask?"

Applejack shrugged and started piling baskets filled with apples into a nearby cart. "Don't rightly know. Whatever she wants, I don't pry. Though ah made sure she knows how important money is. Ah think she's savin' it for somethin' big," she smiled proudly. "Make sure Spike knows the value of money, Twah'. A Bit goes a long way."

Twilight nodded, helping Applejack load the last of the baskets into the cart. "I will. Thanks for the talk, Applejack. I should go find Rarity and see what her parents do for Sweetie Belle."

Applejack nodded right back in acknowledgement, hooking herself to the cart. "Right. See you later, Twah'. Good luck!"

The magical mare waved with a big smile before turning and trotting back to Ponyville proper.

There was a boutique she had to visit.

~*~*~*~*~

The walk to Carousel Boutique was a rather uneventful one, save when Cheerilee wove hello.
Twilight stood before the door and knocked.

A pitter patter of hooves came to the door which then opened, revealing a white unicorn with green eyes, and a two tone pink and purple mane. "Oh, hi Twilight!"

The alicorn in question smiled. "Hi Sweetie Belle. Is your sister home?"

Sweetie Belle nodded, opening the door wider and trotting inside. Twilight followed her in.
"You know, you don't have to knock when it's business hours," the filly had gone back to coloring in a coloring book with a marker. The colors were well chosen, and not one strayed outside the lines. Not a surprise given that Sweetie Belle wasn't that young. She and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders were around the age of 10, almost on the cusp of young adulthood themselves. "Rarity's in her room."

Twilight laughed sheepishly, before trotting for the stairs. "Thanks, Sweetie. I'll keep that in mind."

Twilight went up the stairs and paused at Rarity's room. She knocked on the door and opened it, sticking her head in. "Hello?" She smiled when she saw the mare she was looking for in front of an active sewing machine. Once she heard the voice, the mare turned around.

"Twilight darling!" Rarity exclaimed with glee.
She turned off the sewing machine and motioned her in. Rarity's pure white coat was pretty, her pristine pony hooves looked polished and pulled an air of purity, almost as perfect as her dark purple mane.. Her look turned to an apologetic one.
"I would have came as soon as I heard the bell on the door ring, but I was a little focused on finishing this dress. I told Sweetie Belle to be a dear and fetch me should a customer show. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

The lavender mare stuck out a hoof. "No, it's fine. I came to talk about Sweetie Belle actually."Oh dear, that just makes it sound like Sweetie did something wrong."Or rather, Spike." Ditto. "Or, actually, money." And that's not polite!"I mean-"

Rarity chuckled, placing a hoof on her tongue-tied friend's shoulder.

"Take a moment and process what you want to say, dear. Now, what do Sweetie Belle, Spike, and Money have to do with what you want to speak about?"

Suddenly, fear gripped Rarity, and she gave a nervous gulp, pupils pin-pricking.
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't rope Spike into another cutie mark attempt, did they?"

Twilight shook her head quickly, giggling.

"No. Not since Cutie Mark Crusader Gem Eaters. I think the painful process of fixing teeth and mouth cuts with magic taught them that they shouldn't emulate or drag Dragons into their adventures."

The mare continued. "No, I'm here because Spike said he wanted an allowance, and I'm willing to give it to him on a regular basis. The only problem is, I'm not sure what's acceptable for somepon-err, one of his age."

Rarity tapped her chin with a hoof. "My my, that is a dilemma. Have you asked Applejack? I think she has an allowance for Applebloom."

"She's actually the first pony I went to. I wanted to get a broader sample pool before giving Spike a number."

While she was speaking, Twilight had already brought out a bar graph, a pie chart, a line chart, various other mathematical tables, and a paper journal to do work in. Applebloom was graphed at 20 bits across the boards, and Twilight was writing into the notebook furiously.

Rarity looked at Twilight a little worriedly. She looked around at all the mathematical charts around her, and decided this needed to stop when she saw a protractor. "Um, Twilight darling, isn't all this a bit... unnecessary?"

The mare in question looked up from her notebook. "Data is always necessary," Twilight said with a glare.

Rarity nodded with a placating expression, and raised a hoof as a sign of peace.
"Of course. Well, I wish I could help, but as far as I know, neither I nor my parents pay my sister anything. Of course, Sweetie Belle helps with the laundry sometimes, and she's always wanted to help me out, but otherwise I do not think she is as adamant about chores as Applebloom or Spike. And, frankly, she doesn't seem interested in money or buying things at all."

Rarity chuckled. "She's much more interested in anything I own. You could try and buy her make-up and she'd rather spend all day at my vanity."

Twilight furrowed her brow and nodded, plotting a 0 on multiple graphs in marker while writing in her notebook. "Twenty for hard work and zero for little work. That's quite a noticeable gap. I should find another source at the least."

"Hmm..." Rarity hummed to herself." Ah! You could ask our young Scootaloo. I don't know her parents, but I know that I can usually see her scooting around this hour of the day from my window."

Twilight smiled and nodded, packing away the graphs, charts, and notes, which was actually rather quite the feat considering she didn't seem to have saddlebags. Before Rarity could question how in the world Twilight accomplished this Pinkie worthy feat,  Twilight was already walking for the door. "Bye Rarity! I'll see you later!"

Rarity sighed and put on her red glasses. A smile adorned her face as she returned to her work. "Goodbye, dear." She said to nopony in particular.

~*~*~*~*~

Twilight exited the carousel shaped building thinking a singular thought to herself.

'If I was an orange pegasus pony, where would I be?'

Her thoughts were soon answered as an orange and purple blur sped past. "SCOOTALOO!"

Riding up a nearby ramp, the pony in question did a wicked cool scooter trick that was probably a lot cooler to see than to hear it described by a narrator's monologue. Executing a perfect landing, Scootaloo, skidded to a stop and turned, coming back the way she came towards Twilight.

"Hey Twilight! Watcha need?" The daredevil asked as she got close.

Twilight smiled, already getting prepared to pull her data out of the pocket dimension she made.
"Do your parents give you money as an allowance?"

Scootaloo glared suspiciously at Twilight for a moment, hanging over the handlebars on her scooter. "Isn't talking about finances impolite? What's this about?" She accused.

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Oh, that's just something corporations make up to get their employees not to talk about money, so that they can pay two people different amounts for the same job. It's actually a pretty big problem in most industries among the large cities like Manehatten, and-"

The pegasus groaned and put her face to her handlebars, preparing herself for a half-hour lecture
.
~*~*~*~*~

"And that's why Equestria has more communist economic roots than capitalism."

The filly's eye twitched as evil words of bureaucracies and financial working filled her brain in no apparent order, sitting a few feet from her scooter. Eventually, she noticed that Twilight stopped talking and shook her head.

"Huh? Are you done?"

Twilight nodded her head. "Do you need me to go over anything again?"

Scootaloo's face filled with horror. "NO! Uh, I mean, that was really informative, but I think I got it. Uh, why did you need to know my allowance again?"

The unicorn gave a wicked grin as she pulled out the charts, graphs and tables from seemingly nowhere
.
"Spike needs an allowance! I need to know how much to give him. Applebloom gets 20 bits a month, whereas Sweetie Belle gets 0. As you can see, results have been highly inconclusive, as there's a major gap in between the two data points; I need at least one more variable before I'm satisfied with the results. Though maybe it's not enough..."

She hummed to herself. "Maybe I should get data from EVERY child in ponyville..."

Scootaloo's eye twitched and blocked out most of Twilight's math mumbo jumbo. What she DID take away however, is that this was all for Spike. Maybe she could help out a friend? Twilight had the money to spare, certainly.

She grinned mischievously before coughing and putting on a neutral face, primping her right hoof as she did so.

"Well, my parents give me 50 bits a month, and I don't work as hard as Spike..." She lied. (1) "I think he deserves 100 bits!"

Twilight's mouth gaped incredulously. 100 bits?!? That was enough to nearly buy out the market! Even 50 seemed rather extreme for a child from her very limited sample pool. And Applejack knew her finances! Spike was obviously joking when he said the same thing. She quickly gave Scootaloo a non-amused look.

"Scootaloo... Are you lying to me?"

Scootaloo tried to look Twilight in the eye and shake her head, she really did... But the look from the Princess of Friendship proved too much. Sighing, Scootaloo lowered her gaze and nodded, tears beginning to form in her eyes as her chin wobbled.

Twilight softened her glare and put a hoof around the filly's shoulders.

"Scootaloo, forget the money for a moment... Is everything alright?"

Scootaloo managed somehow to lower her head further, sniffling as tears escaped her eyes.
"I can’t just forget the money, that’s the problem. We're... We're p-poor. I don't ask for money 'cause they have a hard enough time paying bills as it is. I don't have much... But I do get about 5 bits a month by helping Mr. Couch Feather at Sofas and Quills sometimes. I’m s-saving it up for Scooter improvements..."

Twilight looked down at the young charge with sympathy. She quickly resolved to buy Scootaloo a few toys or books or something before plotting 5 bits onto the graphs, charts and tables.

"Thank you. I know how hard that must have been to share. I can see why you wouldn't want to. You don't want to look like a charity case, do you? Got that Rainbow pride." She shook her head with a giggle, wiping her own tear from her eye. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Scootaloo quickly looked up with happiness on her face once again. She quickly hugged the princess enthusiastically.

"Thanks, Twilight..."

Twilight chuckled and patted Scootaloo on the back until the pegasus let go
.
"Now that that's over, how about I tell you the pros and cons of socialism? You see, it all comes down to..."

Scootaloo quickly got back on her scooter and buzzed away, screaming.

(1.) Lied about the bits, that is.
> Growing Gains
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

The mail stallion looked up from his roster sheet to the purple dragon standing in the open doorway of the Castle of Friendship.

Spike just looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Uh... No, I'm her assistant. If you have  a package, I can sign for it."

The Stallion either ignored his look or didn't care, because he smiled and gave Spike the clipboard and quill, which Spike used to scrawl his name on the first free line.

A wrapped book was pulled from the mail-pony's saddle bags, placed promptly in the purple dragon's paws. Almost immediately the mail pony left, on to greener pastures. His next delivery was at Sweet Apple Acres.

Spike smiled and brought the book inside, closing the door behind him. Walking up to the map table, he set it down and sat back in the smallest throne amongst the septuplet of thrones. Pulling out the last edition of Power Ponies, he kept reading; He was trying to make sure that he remembered everything for the comic book tomorrow. Also, it was a REALLY good one.

He was at it for a while before he finished the comic again, at which point he simply did chores around the castle, Waiting impatiently for Twilight to come home.

Spike was very disappointed when Twilight didn't come home until it was getting dark with saddlebags full to the brim with fruits and vegetables. At that point he was lying on his throne upside down, wishing he had a painted wall to watch dry. He supposed he could have found a book to read, but... The only person who came close to reading as many books as Twilight from the library was Spike.

When she walked through the inner doors, he eagerly sat up straight and looked at her expectantly.

Twilight giggled at him and turned for the kitchens.

"Give me just a moment to put all this stuff away, Spike. I'm sorry I took so long. I decided I might as well restock on food while I was out."

Spike looked over her full saddlebags again with a raised eyebrow while they walked.

"Did you need to buy the entire market? I'm sure other families need some food this season too."

Twilight gave her assistant the stink eye,smirking.

"I know you're being sarcastic, but there was plenty of food at the Market today. Scarlet Tomato had an overabundance of tomatoes and they were on sale. How could I NOT take advantage of it?"

When they reached the kitchen, Twilight put away everything away into various cupboards and the fridge.

Spike pretended he was patient, but he was just the opposite. He stood there, rocking on his feet back and forth while waiting for Twilight to talk to him.

After what seemed like Aeons, Twilight finally turned back to leave the kitchen, and saw Spike still standing there. She blinked. "What?"

Spike looked like he was ready to claw his face off.

Twilight chuckled at his expression and started walking, patting spike on the shoulder as she went.

"Just kidding. I asked around to collect data and came up with a number I'm sure you'll be happy with.  I'll give you 15 bits a month. How does that sound?"

Spike quickly caught up and walked by her side, looking up at her as they walked. "Like I need more money. How about 30?"

Twilight grinned down at her number one assistant. "I'm not a market stall, Mister. No haggling. 15 is my final offer. Take it or leave it."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Gee, I dunno Twilight, when you say it like that. Getting paid for working seems like a hassle, better leave it."

Twilight's grin turned mischievous, then into a poker face as she walked ahead of Spike, picking up the pace to imply the conversation was over.

"If you insist." Twilight retorted.

Spike's eyes widened. "Take it! Take it!" he shouted at her as he sprinted forward to catch up again.

Twilight's mirthful laugh filled the corridors as she stopped outside of a door.

"Alright, alright, I was joking. "

Spike looked up at her expectantly "Do I get it now?"

"What? No. Do you realize how dark it is outside? Why do you think I brought you to your room."

Spike looked up and realized where they were. "Oh... Please?"

Twilight shook her head firmly.

"You may have scary claws, razor sharp teeth, and a fire breath, but I wouldn't care if you had the Magic of Princess Celestia herself. I don't want you outside after dark. Around 80% of all crimes take place after the sun sets, you know," she stated factually.
Spike's expression turned quizzical.

"But crime in Ponyville is virtually non-existent."

Twilight glared down at him.

"Virtually being the keyword here. Besides, you need your sleep. You can buy your comic tomorrow, okay? Promise."

"Pinkie Promise?"

Twilight rolled her eyes and went through the motions of crossing her chest and putting a hoof on her closed eye.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Spike finally relented and yawned. He chuckled to himself. "Wow, guess I was tired anyways. Goodnight, Twi," he opened his bedroom door.

Twilight kissed him on the cheek and giggled at his disgusted expression, before turning and  walking away. "Goodnight Spike, I love you. Sweet dreams."

And they were sweet. Spike drifted off to Power Pony-filled dreams.

Before he slept he thought, tomorrow is going to be a good day.

~*~*~*~*~

The following day was not a good day.

Spike woke, for the first time in years without the sunrise. When he did wake, it was already noon, and he could tell because it was light outside, yet the sun wasn't in his eyes.

But that wasn't the weirdest thing. Even half asleep, he could tell he felt pretty sore. It felt like someone had strapped him to the torture device that stretched out your limbs. His legs and arms even felt longer and heavier, which he thought was a very weird side effect of sleep.

Sitting up, the day only got weirder. The room felt... different. Off somehow. He looked down at the blankets covering his lower half but couldn't tell anything different. But looking around the room, everything seemed out of place since yesterday. It felt almost as if everything was lower to the ground.

Did Rainbow prank him by shaving the legs off his bedroom appliances or something?

Spike pushed the covers off of him completely and scooted to the edge of the bed, pushing himself off. He landed on his feet and wobbled; his sense of balance completely out the window for reasons he didn't understand, spike fell forward and instinctively put his hands out to catch himself.

He did, but as he did so his eyes bulged. His arms were much, much longer than they used to be. Swiftly pushing himself to his feet, Spike looked at his arms with both awe and trepidation, turning them this way at that. He quickly looked at the rest of his body to see if it was normal

It wasn't.

Spike's legs were just as long as his arms now, adding to his height by a couple of feet. His core and chest were also taller giving him a ganglier appearance. The spines on his back were longer from what he could see, and his tail had shot out a foot more. Spike suspected that if he could see his reflection, he would notice his head was somehow different, too.

It wasn't nearly as big as he had looked before when he was corrupted by greed, but was still a lot bigger than he was. If he had to say, Spike thought he'd be about eye level with Twilight now, but still smaller than Big Mac, Celestia, or Luna.

This is... Bizarre. Why am I like this? I haven't been like this since my greed made me steal stuff...

Suddenly, Spike became horrified. What if that was happening again?!

He quickly rushed for the door

Only for it to open when he got to it. Twilight stood on the other side, doorknob caught in her magical glow. Her eyes became as big as saucers as she looked at her favorite Dragon.

"S-spike?!"

The drake in question grabbed and shook Twilight.

"TWILIGHT, HELP! I'M A SINNER!" he wailed.

Twilight blinked and would have shook her head to clear her mind had she not been shaken already. She put a hoof on his chest.

"Spike, breathe! We can't find out what's wrong if you keep acting crazy."

It took an enormous amount of effort, but Spike stopped shaking twilight, and eventually let go of her all together. He copied Twilight's usual breathing technique. To his surprise he actually felt a lot more calm.

Twilight's mind in the meantime, while not erratic, was far from calm. Her analytical mode was in overdrive, trying to think of what could have happened. Would he not have freaked out, she would have already accused him of stealing and hoarding again.

But as it is, I don't see anything in his room. I suppose he could have hid everything elsewhere. He did say he was a sinner... Greed. I suppose the only way to find out...

"Spike," she said, moving her hoof to his shoulder. "I need you to be completely honest with me, okay? Did. You. Steal. Again?"

Spike looked down at his claws and clenched them.

"I-I-I don't know! When I went to sleep last night just fine, and when I woke up... I was like this! D-did I sleep steal?"

Twilight was pretty sure he wasn't lying. On top of that, Spike had never shown signs of sleepwalking before. She didn't know if that could just start at any age, but she found the idea highly unlikely.

What else could it be, though?

She sighed to herself. Normally she loved a good puzzle, but not when it involved the pain of her closest... Friend.

She blinked. No, Spike was more than a friend. Just like her 5 friends weren't just friends. They were family. But Spike... He was even more so. What even was he to her? A brother? A son? And more importantly, where did these thoughts come from? Never before had she contemplated their relationship. He was Spike and she was Twilight, and that was it, but now she couldn't help but wonder exactly what they had.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she decided to focus on the now; her number one assistant was in trouble, and it was up to her to try and fix it.

"Come on, Spike. I don't think you stole in your sleep, but we're going to get to the bottom of this, I promise you."

The 'promise' reminded him of last night, when she Pinkie Promised to let him buy his comic tomorrow, but he pushed that aside. This was much more important. Spike did not want to rampage and destroy the town again. It was destroyed enough without his help.

"Where are we going?"

"Fluttershy's."

~*~*~*~*~

Spike and Twilight were sitting on Fluttershy's couch with tea in their hands and magical aura respectively. The buttercream colored pegasus herself was sitting in a comfortable chair, cradling her own cup while still shaking a little.

Spike rubbed the back of his neck with a free hand.

"I'm really sorry about startling you, Fluttershy. I know you weren't expecting me to be as big as you now."

Fluttershy managed to put on a kind smile, and took a sip of her tea to calm her nerves. She stopped shaking a little, the warm liquid flowing through her.

"Oh, that's okay, Spike.... I know you didn't mean to."

Twilight coughed and set her cup down on the coffee table.

"Actually, that's what we came over here to talk about. Might as well address the elephant in the room."

Fluttershy blinked and tilted her head.

"Why do we need to bring Jerry into this?"

Twilight's face scrunched up with confusion, until a baby pachyderm bounded over at the mention of her name. When she reached Fluttershy, she trumpeted her horn proudly. Fluttershy giggled and pet the baby elephant affectionately.

Spike was still a little upset over recent events to laugh, but Twilight found it slightly amusing, covering a smile with her hoof. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Seriously, though. Spike is bigger and we don't know why. You remember the last time he got bigger, right?"

The animal caretaker nodded, sending Jerry the Oddly Named Female Elephant away as she did so. "He stole a bunch of stuff for his hoard and grew out of control because of dragon greed."

Twilight nodded affirmatively.

"Right, except this time he went to bed last night, and when he woke up... He was like this with no hoard to be found!"

Fluttershy hmmed, unsure of why exactly they had come to her.

"That sounds very odd twilight, but, um... Why did you come to me? I still don't know much about dragons that I haven't learned from Spike..."

Twilight sighed and lowered her head.

"I know, but you're still the best with animals in all of Equestria, even sapient ones."

Fluttershy blushed at the compliment and hid behind her long pink mane..

"Well, um, I don't know about all of Equestria, but..."

"And I just don't know what to do... I mean, what if it is his dragon greed?"

"What if it's not?" Fluttershy pointed out. "This time, he didn't wake up on a pile of stuff, so maybe he's just growing up? Uh, For real this time?"

Twilight blinked and look over at the oddly silent Spike, who was fidgeting with his cup while they talked. It was quite the growth spurt, but maybe that was normal in dragons. He also wasn't near as big as he was last time, so it was feasible that he was just getting a little bigger naturally. Spike looked up from his cup to her eyes, and she shot him a smile before turning back to Fluttershy.

"I suppose that's a possibility. It's also the best working theory we have since he doesn't remember stealing anything."

Spike contemplated it for a moment. Was he really just... not a baby dragon anymore? Ponies and other races had to grow up little bits at a time, but nopony knew what dragon biology was like.

The trio sat in companionable silence for a time before a thought struck Twilight. A terrifying thought.

"Oh no! I promised him an allowance. What if I give it to him, and he gets even bigger and starts hoarding again! I didn't even think of that! What if it's not safe to give him money?"

Spike looked up, a tad upset at that.

"But Twilight, you Pinkie Promised..."

Twilight looked guilty and upset herself. "I know Spike, and breaking a promise is one of the fastest ways to lose a friend—"

"FOREEEEVERRRRRR!"

All three of them jumped, startled at the sudden entrance of Pinkie Pie from a birdhouse hole that was way too small for her to possibly fit through and still obey the laws of reality.
But this was Pinkie Pie, so that didn't matter.

Fluttershy looked the worst as she clutched her chest with a hoof.

"U-um... P-pinkie, how long have you been in my b-birdhouse?"

Pinkie popped out of the bird house entirely and sat on the floor, since everywhere else was taken. "Since yesterday. I had it off, so I thought, hey, I've never been a bird before! How does it feel to be a bird? So I broke into your house and slept in your Birdhouse for a day. Duh!" She grimaced. "The birdseed you put in here was not very good." That out of the way, she quickly rounded on Twilight, a glare on her face.

"If you break a Pinkie Promise, I will do unspeakable things to you... And don't ask me what! They're unspeakable because I don't know what they are yet!"

Twilight's coat looked like it got a few shades paler, and she gulped nervously.

"Surely there are some rules or conditions about Pinkie Promises that allow them to be wavered in times of extreme conditions? Like the sudden possibility of catastrophe?"

Pinkie's eyes narrowed for a second, causing Twilight to sweat, before returning to their normal wide and expressive selves. A grin returned to her face.

"Yep! But Twilight, why not just give him the bits and find out? You'll never know if you don't try!"

Spike looked hopeful at that. "Yeah! What she said!"

Twilight sat for a period of time uncomfortably, mulling it over, before finally groaning and nodding.

"Alright, I guess that makes sense. I'll give him the allowance."

Spike's expression lit up with glee.

"On one condition!"

And it fell.

Twilight turned to Spike, poking him in the chest with a hoof.

"You have to prove to me that you can handle having the money without being greedy or grabby. We'll work out the terms when we get home."

Spike's face lit up again.

"That doesn't sound too hard to me. Alright!"

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't have to break her Pinkie Promise. She stood up and turned to Fluttershy.

"Glad that's over. Thanks for having us Fluttershy. I'll see you Thursday for the picnic with the girls?"

Fluttershy nodded with a smile, very glad that she was able to help out a friend.

"Of course. See you later, Twilight. And good luck Spike!"

They both left for the Castle of Friendship.

~*~*~*~*~

"Here's the deal Spike. Take this bag of 15 bits," Twilight hovered said bag over to him.

Spike quickly snatched it out of the air with a predatory grin, sniffing the large velvet bag before releasing a heavenly sigh. He could already tell it was made by Rarity. A deep royal purple with highlights of green dashed here in there, and his name was stitched on it in a very elegant and familiar style. Also, it smelled like her.

Twilight looked at him oddly for a second before placing a much heftier burlap sack on the table in the map room.

"This bag contains 100 bits. If this bag is still here and full in the morning, then I'll let you both keep the money you have, and give you more in the future. However, if it's gone, we'll just assume that your dragon greed overpowers your self-control. At that point your allowance will be suspended indefinitely, and you'll ask me to buy you things again. Is that clear?"

Spike saluted. He was still a little upset at not being able to buy the comic book again today, but he reasoned that it was for a good cause. As much as he wanted the book, he also wanted to not cause thousands in financial damage again.

"Yes ma'am!" Twilight smiled, having a good feeling about the situation.

"Then you are dismissed."

Spike relaxed the salute and walked to his room, ready to show that sack of gold just who was boss around here.
> Comics and Curiosities
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again, the light against his eyes and his internal clock simply weren't enough to make Spike wake up at his usual time. He briefly considered what he read about how teenagers slept more to assist in their development and then considered going back to sleep. Spike thought of just going up to sleep and ignoring Twilight.

What woke him up was the lavender mare herself squeezing him tightly with a bright smile on her face. Spike drearily rubbed an eye and wrapped the other arm around her to reciprocate the hug as he sat up. "Twi? Not that I'm complaining, but what's this?"

Twilight pulled back with sparkling eyes. "The bag's still there, Spike. I'm extremely proud of you," she glanced down at the bits she could see under him, spread out over the mattress that he wasn't laying on anymore. She read that dragons liked sleeping on their hoard, so that wasn't too surprising, but she made a mental note not to touch his money without washing it first.

Twilight knew she’d seen him sweat before.

Spike got a big grin on his face as he took in what she had said. "That's awesome! I was awake for like, four hours after you sent me off and I didn't even feel anything!"

Twilight tilted her head, a quizzical expression on her face. "Nothing?"

"Nope."

Twilight's eyes gleamed as she released him and teleported away in a pop. After a few seconds — that Spike used debating whether to shower and eat before going to the comic store — she reappeared with a flash of light in front of his bed, writing on a piece of parchment.

"That is simply fascinating! I hypothesize that a dragon grows more and more resistant to their greedy natures as they get older. This would also explain why that green dragon in the Everfree Forest you saw had such a small hoard, and why we don't see dragons on the regular trying to tear Canterlot apart for all the gold it uses in its architecture. I suspect a dragon regards his or her hoard with the pride that they accumulated it over a large period of time through the hard work of either finding unclaimed mines, abandoned ruins, or as payment for something. This would also explain why I haven't read anything about theft in the very few dragon books in the world! Oh, Spike, this is amazing! I could write an entire book on my own just by watching you grow up!" She gave a squee as she pranced in place excitedly. "In fact, I think I will!"

Spike smiled at his guardians excitement, and pushed himself off the bed completely. He gathered the bits he laid down and pushed them into the decorated bag Twilight gave him yesterday - He would really have to thank Rarity for making it - and looked back at her.

"That's great, Twilight, really. But, uhhh... I've kinda been waiting for three days to buy this comic book, sooo..."

"Oh! Right, erm, sorry," She chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with a forehoof. "I'll get out of your hair now. I gotta go pick up Starlight from the train station anyways. Have fun, Spike!"

Spike grinned and walked for the door. "Will do!"

~*~*~*~*~

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. On days like this, kids like him... Should be buying comic books! Well, young adults like him now, he mused.

He also wondered why he had the gut feeling he was going to have a bad time.

As Spike walked through ponyville, he garnered quite a few stares, but he couldn't really blame them. He was looking quite different. Spike and Twilight had been living in Ponyville for a few years now, and the entire town was used to seeing Equestria's Friendliest Dragon out and about, but never like this. Quite a few of his friends around town said hello, and most of them commented on his new appearance.

"Lookin' good Spike!"

"Thanks Vinyl!"

"Wow, Spike! Don't you look bigger!"

"Thanks for noticing, Cherilee!"

"Hey, Spike! Something's different about you... Oh, you have new glasses!"

"I... Don't wear glasses, Derpy."

"OH NO! SPIKE IS GETTING BIGGER AGAIN! THE HORROR, THE HORROR! EVERYPONY RUN!"

The flower trio bolted, making Spike feel pretty bad, but he couldn't blame them for thinking that. The last two times he had grown larger than a few feet tall, he caused property damage. The first was only the magic school's roof during Twilight's entrance exam and his hatching; the second time however was entirely his fault, and he destroyed many a business as he wandered through town grabbing everything in sight. He was just glad that not too many people heard them. Hopefully after they saw him walking through town a few times, they'd realize he wasn't a threat. Then again, maybe not... They had fainted to a bunny stampede of all things.

He was brought out of his musings by a truly terrifying sight: Ponyville's own infamous Cutie Mark Crusaders. Scootaloo stopped her scooter and unstrapped her helmet as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom jumped out of the wagon it was pulling.

"Wow, Spike. Y'all look massive. What the hay happened?" Applebloom asked as she approached, for once looking up at the drake. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were in step on either side of her.

"Yeah! You look wicked cool now! Not that you didn't look cool before, but now you actually look like you could be menacing or something!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

Sweetie Belle just stared with an open jaw for the most part.

Spike smiled and put a hand to his chest proudly. "We can't tell for sure, but I'm probably growing up... For real this time. I don't think I'm a baby dragon anymore."

Scootaloo tilted her head. "Wait, so you're like, a toddler dragon now, or are you like a kid dragon now?"

"Or a preteen? Or a teenager?" Applebloom helpfully added.

Spike blinked and rubbed the back of his neck with a claw. "I'm... Not entirely sure. I know I'm small, but I've already been a toddler like anypony else. Maybe baby dragon was a misnomer, and-"

"A misnomenclature what now?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetie Belle finally spoke up. "Misnomer. It means that the name originally given to the term doesn't really describe it at all, or actively suggests the opposite.... How did you even get that confused with a word with two more syllables?"

Scootaloo looked at her white coated friend, seeing an opportunity for some teasing. "What are you, a dictionary?"

Sweetie Belle, used to being called a dictionary at this point, simply rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, words like 'dodo' and 'chicken' occasionally becoming clear before falling silent again and focusing on Spike, who was starting to speak again.

"Right, anyways, if I had to guess, preteen or really young teenager. I think young adult definitely fits," Or at least, he hoped it did. "I don't really feel very different, though."

Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Well y'aint just gonna change overnight, Spike."

Scootaloo gave Applebloom a blank stare, before pointing at Spike.

"Oh for cryin' out- I meant mentally!" she exclaimed, exasperated.

Spike scratched at his chin. "I suppose that's true... Guess we'll just have to see how it goes."

Scootaloo nudged her fellow crusaders. "Well, it was great talking to you Spike, but we gotta go crusading."

"Huh?" Spike asked, scratching his head. "But all three of you have your Cutie Marks already... What are you going to do?" It was true. Three similar shield symbols were stamped on their flanks with very slight differences.

"True, true, but we still have the most fun crusading anyway. Now we just do it to find fun new things to do. And this time, we're becoming Cutie Mark Crusader Medical Waste Disposal Specialists... Wanna help-"

He immediately turned and continued his trek to the comic shop, both to get out of there as soon as he could, and also so they couldn't see the etch of horror written on his face. "Welp, sounds like fun but I gotta go too. Later!"

"Bye, Spike!" Applebloom and Scootaloo said in unision. They glanced at Sweetie Belle, who was still staring at Spike with an odd expression. They shared a look and got sly grins on their faces.

"Gee Sweetie Belle," Applebloom nudged their friend in the ribs, immediately grabbing her attention. "You sure like starin' at Spike."

Scootaloo nudged her from the other side teasingly. "Sure seemed pretty quiet around him, too."

Sweetie's face progressively got redder, until the two fillies sang in unison, "You liiike him!" at which point she could stand against Big Macintosh in a contest for "Reddest pony in Ponyville."

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"DO NOT!"

"DO TOO!"

Sweetie Belle looked down at her hooves in embarrassment and curled her tail around them protectively (Unintentionally causing three heart attacks in the immediate vicinity in the process), before finally relinquishing. "Okay, fine, maybe a little..." she mumbled. Her redness levels had ascended beyond that of a fireruby.

Her two friends hugged her with massive smiles on their faces, giggling.

"Don' worry, Sweetie Belle. We'll find a way to get you two together. Crusaders Promise," Applebloom Swore. Scootaloo nodded.

Sweetie Belle gulped nervously. "I'm not sure if that's inspiring, or terrifying..."

~*~*~*~*~

Finally, finally, Spike got to the comic book and magazine store and entered, giving a sigh of pleasure as he smelled the sweet smell of comics. The decent sized interior was painted a thick beige, had no windows, and was cooled by a single overhead fan spinning overhead. Besides the showing glass window at the front, the only light came from blinded windows on the walls and back.

Having been here many times before, Spike walked through the building down familiar book stands, albeit from a new perspective: He could now see the top shelves whereas before he would have hat to be a few feet away from to be able to clearly see the top shelp. Whistling all the while, he came upon the Power Ponies section and smiled. There was one copy of the newest edition left. He quickly grabbed it and started back the way he came.

But something distracted him. As he was looking around, enjoying his new height, he saw something he never had before thanks to it. A different kind of magazine. A scantily clad pegasus mare was on the cover, and the title said "Playmare." It was different because ponies usually didn't wear clothes, and when they did it was either to make a fashion statement, or to be... erotic.

Spike gaped and looked around furtively to make sure no one was watching him. No one else was inside the store besides him and an acne ridden young stallion, who was 19 if he had to guess, he had never seen before here flipping through a comic at the purchase counter boredly. He never saw anything like this here before either. He gulped before walking over to it and picked the magazine up curiously. Opening it, he flushed and closed it again. He walked up to the counter with the two items and set them both on the counter.

The stallion looked up from the comic book to Spike's and the adult magazine. He rose an eyebrow and looked up to Spike himself. "Are you even old enough to buy this?"

Spike wasn't a very good liar, but he tried for it anyways. He tried to act enraged. "Are you saying I look like a child? Do you even know how a dragon is supposed to look at any given age?"

The stallion gave Spike a nonplussed look, and glanced at the comic again. "Ahuh... Then who's this for?"

Spike blustered and blushed again. He was calling his bluff. "A man can have different interests."

The stallion just stared at Spike for a few seconds. It was quite obvious he wasn't believing Spike. He sighed and shook his head. "You know what, dude, I don't even care. They don't pay me enough for this. 6 for the comic, 7 for the magazine."

Spike grinned and fished the bag out of his scales pocket, placing thirteen bits on the counter. He picked up the magazine, hid it inside the comic book and walked out of the store while the stallion pocketed the money.

The young drake's heart was beating a mile a minute. He knew what this was; he wasn't stupid or naive, nor innocent to many difficult and mature topics — a result of living with a librarian who also made an excellent teacher and had a very expansive selection of books to read — but this was still a new to him. Even for Spike, this was pretty compulsive. He didn't know why he picked up the magazine and he didn't know why he lied.

Spike looked down at the stupid thing, nestled between the pages of the comic book. He flushed again and the grin fell from his face. What would Twilight say about him buying something like this? He suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of shame. Curiosity had gotten the better of him. The dragon looked down sadly to the ground. He knew what Twilight would say. She would be furious. Tears pooled at his eyes as he imagined his guardians complete disappointment in him.

He wiped his eyes before anypony in town could see him crying and ask what was wrong. He clutched the comic book/magazine duo to his chest tightly and quickly went home, filled with determination. Spike vowed that as soon as he got home, he would throw it away.
... after looking through all the pages. He did buy it after all.

~*~*~*~*~

When Spike got home, he was immediately accosted by Starlight Glimmer in the Map Room. He made sure that no visible parts of the magazine were visible, only the comic book was, as he greeted her. "Hey, Starlight! How was your trip?"

Starlight grinned excitedly. "Amazing! I tell you, Spike, the Crystal Empire never gets old. And visiting Sunburst always leaves me... Bursting with excitement," She chuckled at her own pun, as good punners should oft do.

Spike grin turned nervous. "Sounds great! Can't wait to hear more about it, but I gotta go, like, now, so maybe in a little bit heheh..."

Starlight looked down at his claws and pointed at it with a smile. "Hey, is that the new Power Ponies? Strange, it seems a bit thicker than they usually are, doesn't it?"

Spike gulped and really, really hoped that was the only odd thing she noticed about it. "I don't know but I intend to find out! I'll let you read it after as usual, but I really, really want to read it now so, you know, if we're done talking..."

She nodded and walked off to find Twilight. "That's fine, Spike. I'll just talk to Twilight. I know how excited you can get over those. Have fun."

~*~*~*~*~

Later that night after reading the comic, Spike was looking at the magazine with wide eyes, flipping to a new page every few moments. The things he saw made his head spin, and he was having difficulty breathing. Mares posed in a variety of sultry poses, drawing his gaze to places normally covered in polite company. The models were gorgeous, but none of them looked quite as appealing as Rarity in his opinion.

Rarity... Spike wondered what she would look like in these kind of poses, and imagined it for a second, before rapidly shaking his head. "No!" He would not think of Rarity like that. She wasn't just some toy for his sick pleasures. She was a loving and kind individual who didn't deserve to be objectified like the mares he was seeing now. He had way too much respect for her to even begin to think about breaking her trust like that.

He was broken out of his mental whirlpool when the door started to open. Panicking, Spike immediately shoved it under his pillow as fast as he could.

Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough. When Twilight barged in, she saw him quickly stuff something underneath the pillow, and got an extremely suspicious look on her face.

"Spike... What are you hiding?" she said slowly, approaching.

"N-nothing!" he panicked, guilt plain on his face.

Twilight's expression became stern. "Don't lie to me Spike. Please. Don't we have a better relationship than that? You shouldn't have to feel like you need to lie to me," her look turned sad, upset that he distrusted her that much.

Spike's eyes brimmed with tears as he slowly reached underneath the pillow, pulling the adult magazine out and handing it to Twilight, who grasped it in her magic, sitting down. She looked over the cover and opened it up, looking at a couple of pages before closing it again. She looked up at Spike and he immediately closed his eyes, unable to bear to see her reaction to his folly.

"Spike, where did you get this?"

He gulped. "T-the comic b-book s-s-store..."

He could hear Twilight's sigh and opened his eye. He immediately regretted it as he saw the look of absolute betrayal on Twilight's face.

"Spike... I'm so disappointed in you. What possessed you to do this?"

That was it. It was over. He could feel his heart breaking into a million pieces. He thought about what he would need to pack when she kicked him out. What would he take? Could he survive on his own? Pinkie, Cheese Sandwich, Applejack... They all left when they were young, and he was older than they were when they left by a couple of years! Surely he could make it too. This couldn't be the end. But he would miss Twilight so much...

Twilight continued. "Why did you steal this? I thought you were over your greed."

Spike blinked and wiped tears out of his eyes, sniffling. "W-what? No, I bought it... It was s-s-seven b-bits."

Twilight's expression relaxed. "Oh. Good. I was really worried there for a second," she gave him a smile and handed the magazine back with her magic.

Spike took it, and looked down at the cover, extremely confused. He blinked again and tried to understand what just happened.

Spike.exe has stopped working.

Eventually he looked back up at her smile. "W-what? You were mad because you thought I stole it?"

Twilight nodded, smile never wavering. "Well... Yeah, what did you think I was mad about?"

Spike looked at the purple mare inanely. "Me buying it in the first place!"

A snicker escaped the alicorn. Then a giggle. Then full a full blown blithe hurricane, complete with gales of laughter. She wiped a tear out of her eye. "You thought I'd be upset with you for being curious? Jeeze, Spike, you really are still a child. You should know I'd never be mad at you over something like this."

"B-but what if it was what you assumed and I s-stole it?"

Twilight shook her head. "I was a little disappointed Spike, but I thought you really couldn't help yourself. I wasn't mad."

Noticing the tears in his eyes for the first time, Twilight pursed her lips. He was shaking too. Was he actually this upset over it? She quickly stood and wrapped her forehooves around him tenderly, at which point Spike started bawling, leaning into the embrace. She hushed him gently, rocking him all the while as she climbed into bed with him.

"Shhh. It's okay. I'm sorry I laughed. I didn't realized how upset you were. It's okay, okay? You know I could never hate you. I love you Spike, with all my heart. And that's unconditionally."

Eventually, with the help of Twilight's soothing words and enough tears to fill a swimming pool, Spike calmed down and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. His eyes felt puffy and sore and he felt emotionally drained. Spike just wanted to sleep. He let go of Twilight, who withdrew with a gentle smile on her face.

"Better?"

Spike sniffed one final time. "Y-yeah... I... I'm pretty tired. I think I want to get some sleep."

Twilight patted his shoulder and got off of Spike's bed, wandering over to the door. "Alright. Just remember that if you need to talk about anything, I'll always be there for you, okay?"

It hurt Spike to smile after frowning so much, but he did it anyways. "Yeah."

Before she closed the door, Spike spoke up.

"A-and Twilight?"

Twilight turned back to him. "Yes, Spike?"

He fumbled with his blanket and looked down, blushing. "I love you, too."

Twilight's gentle smile turned into a beam, and she closed the door to let him rest.
> Heartmender
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day Spike was woken from his sleep by a knock. He groggily sat up and rubbed at his eyes. "Who is it?"

"Twilight," the voice on the other side called, and it did sound like Twilight to his surprise. The only pony who knocked was Starlight. Spike briefly wondered why she wasn't just barging in like she normally did, before he remembered what happened yesterday and blushed.

He looked to where the adult magazine rested on his bookshelf and shook his head. It was embarrassing for Twilight to be thinking he'd be doing that at any point and time, especially since he hadn't yet. But Spike supposed it wasn't a total loss if it meant Twilight started knocking.

"Come in," he grumbled, and the door opened.

Twilight was shaking her head as she did so, a plate of hay fries in her magic. She set it down on the bed before sitting next to the bed.

"I've never had to wake you up before. Well, besides yesterday, but still. Are you feeling okay? Y'know, besides the whole 'I'm suddenly two feet taller' thing," she chuckled a little.

Spike nodded and rubbed at his eyes again. "Yeah, it's just that I'm feeling so tired lately and I'm not sure why. I'm not feeling sick or anything, if that's what you're wondering," he picked up the plate and started eating.

"Hmm," Twilight hummed. "Well, at any rate, I'll be buying you an alarm clock since I'm pretty sure two bits won't get you one," she shook her head.

"I can't believe the Comic Book and Magazine Store let you buy that thing. That's why I was so sure you had stolen it. You'd think there'd be an age verification step or something. But I digress. Alarm. I can't have you being a slug now. You gotta work for that allowance, remember? Plus, your friends will miss you," her smile softened. "I'll miss you."

Spike nodded again. "Of course, Twi. As good as sleeping in feels, I'll probably miss all the hours in the day if I do."

Twilight nodded. "Excellent. Get a move on, then. Morning chores are yours, and I'll pretend to see if there's anything I need to do before pawning off mopping on you."

Spike's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Hey!"

She giggled. "Just kidding. I seriously do need to see if there are a few letters Celestia or anypony else sent me before anything though, so don't just leave when you're done."

Spike sighed and nodded. "Alright. Don't worry about the mopping either way, then. I'll take care of it."

Twilight tilted her head. "You sure?"

Spike put on a smile and got up from the bed, now empty plate in hand. "Yeah. I know you have a lot to do."

Twilight leaned in and hugged him, and his smile became a genuine one, no longer caring about the increased workload he volunteered for. "Thanks, big guy. I'll see you around dinner then."
She left the room.Spike cracked his back and claws, getting ready to start his day.

"Welp. Number One Assistant Spike, go!"

~*~*~*~*~

Trash came first, which he hefted outside to place in the larger dumpster behind the castle. Waving to a few ponies he knew as he walked back inside, he started on the mopping, as it was the most laborious task on his list.

He finished the first floor in good time, and made even better on the higher floors. The higher they went, the more flooring became covered in carpet rather than crystal and the less ground floor in general. He finished after about two hours of work, heading down to the kitchens.

He looked at the stack of plates in the sink and decided he'd do them after dinner to be most efficient. Spike made sure they had enough for lunch and wrote a quick note to Twilight on his reasoning and placed it in front of the sink.

He then went to the library of the castle and began putting books back into their proper places, marking them off a "Checked Out" list as he did so, and marking the ones that weren't here but on the list as "Late" if the date next to the names were past a certain date.

All in all, by the time he had finished for the day, it was about 2 P.M. He observed the time based on the sun’s position in the sky, and decided he'd go and thank Rarity while he had nothing else to do, if Twilight didn't need him for anything else.

He climbed multiple staircases to Twilight's room and knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" came Twilight's muffled voice from the other side. He took this as confirmation to enter, and came face to face with Twilight touching herself.

She prodded at the patch of green fur on her forehoof, a test tube filled with a liquid of the same color inside her magical aura. She was wearing safety goggles and sat in front of a wooden desk, lined with all manners of magical concoctions just like the one she held.

He didn't want to know, so he didn't ask. "I'm done. Do you need anything, or can I go hang at Rarity's?"

She looked up at him and thought for a moment. "A sandwich if you wouldn't mind making one. Actually, no, I'll get it myself. I've been at this for too long anyways."

Standing, she placed the test tube on the desk even as the fur on her hoof was burning away. Spike pointed a claw at Twilight's hoof wincing. "Uhhh, Twilight, your hoof."

Twilight looked down at it even as the goop on her skin became visible. "Oh, no worries. If this  works it should regrow." Twilight beamed. "I could be the first pony to cure hair loss!"

He snickered. "You'll need it by this time next year. I think I can already see some gray hairs."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Very funny. Now shoo before I find a way to get this to work on scales.

Spike shook his head good-naturedly and left for Rarity's.

~*~*~*~*~

Spike made good time on the way to Rarity's, and seeing the open sign walked right in.

Rarity looked up at the sound of a store bell, looking to see who entered the display room, and smiled at the sight of her favorite dragon. "Ah, Spike! Come in dear, come in!" She was drawing  a rather elaborate looking dress in ink. She looked down at it as he approached and frowned, using magic to remove some of the ink before redrawing that spot.

A few feet to her left, Sweetie shared the table with Rarity, drawing her own picture with a quill in her magic. It wasn't nearly as good as Rarity's, but she tried her best anyways. When Sweetie Belle looked up and saw Spike, she blushed and immediately looked back down, drawing harder into the paper until it ripped, at which point she panicked and bolted from the room.

Spike watched her strangely for a moment before turning back to Rarity, who addressed him, looking up and getting an actually good look at him. "Did you need something, deAR CELESTIA!" eyes widening to unprecedented levels, she looked him up and down. "When Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle told me you grew, they didn't mention how big you'd gotten! Why Spike, you look so dashing!"

Her eyes took a hungry, almost predatory gaze as they trailed over him, dressing as they went. Her mouth watered at just the thought of all the clothing she could make for him. "Just think of what kind of clothes I could make you now... That tuxedo will have to be modified. Or maybe a new one. A new one in white this time... Yes, you'll look absolutely stunning!"

Blinking, Rarity went back to smiling at Spike. "Oh, yes, um, did you need something, darling?"

He shook his head. "I just wanted to thank you for this," he pulled out the bag with 2 bits still left in it.

Rarity put down the pen and got a big grin on her face. "Oh, Twilight finally gave it to you, did she? She had me make it for you the other day when you were asleep. I believe the same day she was asking for your allowance?" she looked at it lovingly.

"I've never made a bit bag before, but for a first attempt I think it came out stunningly, don't you?" Rarity said, beaming at him.

He blushed and nodded, grin on his face. "Anything that you make is amazing, Rarity."

Her smile only fell slightly at his blush and compliment, before returning full force. "Oh, Spike, you are such a charmer. I'll have to make more for other ponies then.

Spike scratched the back of his head. "So, uh... Do you need help with anything?"

Rarity looked back down at the drawing and started working on it again. "Afraid not, dear. I'm in the 'drawing and designing' phase for my next line, not the 'creating' phase as it were. Thank you, though. I will let you know if I am in need of an assistant."

"Oh," Spike said, a little disappointed. On top of really liking Rarity, she was also his only plan on spending the day, "Are you sure? There must be something you need done," he said, rather insistent on spending the day with his crush.

Rarity looked up at his pleading expression, sighed, and dropped the quill.

He wouldn't be asking to help any of our other friends this much. She thought, I... I can't keep letting this go on, can I? It is not fair to him or me. Plus... He can handle it now, can't he?

"Spike... Sit down for a moment, would you?" and so he did.

"SWEETIE BELLE!" Rarity called upstairs. A few moments passed before the filly in question bounded down a few steps at a time. Sweetie Belle managed to avoid Spike's alluring eyes as she answered Rarity.

"Yeah, Sis?"

Rarity passed her a bag of bits. "I need to talk with Spike privately for a bit. How about you go play at the arcade and get some snacks or something?"

Sweetie blinked, looking between her sister and her friend, a bad gut feeling passing through her. "Is Spike okay?" she asked worriedly.

Rarity faked a smile. "Of course dear. Just go play, please?"

It was at this point that Spike had a bad feeling that he knew what this was about.

"Uh, okay," she took the bag in a green aura and left, closing the door behind her.

Rarity breathed in through her nose, preparing herself for the unpleasant conversation she was about to have. "Spike, dear. You know I love you, just as much as any of our friends," she spoke, putting more emphasis onto the second sentence.

Spike winced, but kept the wide smile on his face. This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening...

"I love you too, Rarity. You're one of my best friends too. Just... A best friend."

Rarity smiled sadly at him. "That's not true, is it Spike? I'm not blind and I'm sure everypony in town knows. In fact, before when we were falling to our untimely demise, you were about to tell me—" she prompted him to finish the sentence with a hoof.

Spike dropped all pretenses that he didn't know what's going on, just like he dropped his smile. "That I have a... a c-crush on you."

Rarity nodded, placing a hoof on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you for being so brave to say it, but I want to know that you understand why... Why we can't be together."

Spike's eyes filled with tears as she told him the words he never wanted to hear. "It's... It's because I'm not what you're looking for," he lowered his head as he tried to keep them inside and his dignity intact.

Rarity's heart was breaking just as surely as she was breaking his. She never wanted this to happen, but she couldn't just keep leading him on. Though she wasn't sure if he helped her as an assistant so much because he was a good friend, or if he was expecting her to return his feelings, he couldn't let him believe it would be the second, even if it was true.

His comment only further hammered the nail that was obviously pushing through her heart, as only that could explain why she felt so much pain.

"No, Spike! You mustn't think that for a moment! You're kind, loyal, loving, charming, and every bit the polite gentlestallion of my romance novels! You would be the perfect special somepony."

Pause.

Spike blinked away tears and met her gaze again. "T-then w-why?"

She moved the hoof from his shoulder to his other one, leaning in and embracing him in a hug as she did so.

"Because you're too young, Spike. I love you, more than I'd care to admit to anyone, but... I'm an adult. And only just very recently, you've turned from a child into something more. But I still couldn't call you an adult now. Even if dragons age different physically, You're still the same mentally. I'm twenty-one and you're twelve. I can’t be with you. It... It just wouldn't be proper."

She smiled softly as he embraced her back, him still struggling to save face in spite of this horrible situation. She wasn't fairing much better as her own eyes started to fill. "And please don't ask me to try anyways, Spike. I might just do it, and I could go to Tartarus for doing so. So please, try to understand Spike. Try to understand that we can't be together, and try to understand why you can't ask that we do."

Try to understand that while I don't want a relationship with you at the moment, I still love you, and want for us to stay friends."

Rarity leaned in, mascara flowing from her eyes just as surely as her tears. She kissed his tears away as he crumpled and cried himself.

They sat there for only Celestia knows how long in each others embrace. Days seemed to pass as they shared the warmth of embrace and the cold of heartache, resulting into what felt like a void of nothingness. Time itself fell prey to the melancholy of the moment.

Eventually, Spike's waterworks reduced to nothing as he left her embrace a little unwillingly. Rarity herself burnt out about a minute before. He chuckled sadly to himself.

"This is the second time I've cried in the past two days. Maybe I really am still a child," he shook his head.

Rarity put a hoof on his mouth sternly. "You mustn't think that either. It's okay to cry Spike. It's always okay to cry," she used the hoof to draw attention to her own eyes, where obvious black streaks ran under them. "Sometimes we just can't help it."

Seeing her mascara lines, he realized how hard this was on her too. He just got his heart broken, but she had to break one of her best friends’ hearts in the process. All in all, he felt a lot more sorry for her than he did himself.

Spike managed a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Then... T-then don't feel bad about hurting me, o-okay? I know you d-didn't want to."

She smiled back, already feeling a lot better. "Then Spike, I need to tell you and have you promise one more thing for me, okay?"

Spike grabbed her hoof and held it with both of his claws. "Anything."

Rarity chuckled weakly at the affection and continued. "If, by the time you're eighteen, you still want to try it, and neither of us has found a Special Somepony by then, We will give it a chance."

Seeing the light in his eyes, she hastily continued. "But you must promise me, Spike, that you won't wait specifically for me. I won't allow it. You must try and find somepony before then, Spike. Somepony near your own age. I cannot let you be lonely only for you to find I found somepony myself when the six years are up. I won't be a part of you throwing all that time away, understand? Promise me Spike."

Spike hesitated. A moment ago he was so sure that he'd wait forever for Rarity. Now? When she said it like that... What would happen if he waited all that time and she was with someone else? He couldn't let his heart get stomped like that. But... She was basically asking him to fall out of love with her. That would be a lesson in futility, right?

But he had to think of Rarity here, not himself. That was why he liked her at all in the first place, right? She was so generous and giving that she oft forgot to keep for herself. So he would give her what she needed. A fire ruby. A friend. An assistant. One day, he hoped, a love. But for now it would have to be a source of stability, not another source of pain and sorrow. He would not be selfish like that. He would not be Blueblood She needed her friend Spike.

Even as he was thinking, Spike realized that he was more mature than he used to be. He was sure that few days ago, he probably would have disregarded her words and just kept waiting for the day they could be together.

But now he knew that he couldn't let her feel like she broke his heart again.

He had to try for her sake.

He still loved her so much, but... If she was asking him, nay, begging him to try somepony else before then... Well, he would. For her sake. "I... I Promise, Rarity."

She beamed and stroked his face with a hoof sadly. "That's all I ask."

They sat for a few moments as Spike released her hoof. Rarity sighed and picked the quill up again. "I better get back to work, Spikey. If you need something to do, Sweetie is probably still free. Why not go, uh, 'hang', is that the term you kids use these days?" she chuckled to herself. "With her. She said that her friends couldn't play today, so she's probably pretty bored."

Spike shrugged, feeling pretty good for just getting his heart shattered. He still felt pretty numb and unhappy, but he wasn't depressed like he thought he would be. "I guess. Thanks, Rarity. For everything."

"No problem, darling. And... For what it's worth, I am sorry."

Spike walked outside and closed the door. Looking up, it was still only about 2:30. Strange, it seemed like what happened inside took an eternity. Seeing that he had a whole half a day left to kill, Spike decided to follow Rarity's advice and set off to where Rarity told her sister to be.

~*~*~*~*~

It wasn't the resolution he was hoping or asking for, but it was a resolution that was better than expected all things told. He always knew Rarity was a little old for him, but even so he couldn't have helped but hang onto that childish hope that Rarity and him could be together forever.

Spike slowly walked to where the Ponyville arcade was, kicking a rock as he did so. A metaphorical rain cloud hovered overhead, but at least it wasn't raining or thundering.

Spike was unhappy, but all things told, could be much worse off right now.

As he reached the outdoor arcade, he heard the giggles of fillies and colts all playing against each other or themselves on any of the various primitive video game systems that dotted the area. It hadn't rained recently, so the tarp and poles that kept the area dry were off to the side, unused.

Spike wandered through the games, watching as any and all pony races and genders of children tried their best to get the high scores on a number of games, or just have fun. He found Sweetie Belle on a two pony Prance Prance Revolution playing against Button Mash, a brown colt with a beanie hat, an ever spinning propeller included on top.

He was the resident gamer colt, so he held the high score on nearly all the games at the arcade. It also explained the decent point difference between him and Sweetie as he seemed to fly across the buttons with a blinding speed, earning perfect after perfect.

On Sweetie's side, she wasn't doing as well as Button, but she was still holding her own. Sweetie and Button hung out at the arcade quite a bit from what he could tell, and while she didn't have the natural talent of Button, she still had plenty of practice. A lot of perfects lit her screen, spread with Greats and goods, and rarely misses.

When eventually Button Mash beat Sweetie Belle, he cheered and held a hoof out to her to bump, which she did good naturedly. "Well, I better get home. Good playing with you, Sweetie. See you later! Hey, Spike!" he said as he passed the purple dragon, who responded with a smile he didn't quite feel and a nod. The two brohooved as they passed each other.

Sweetie Belle was waving after Button with a smile, until she realized what he said and looked at who he just passed, at which point Sweetie squeaked and dropped the hoof in startlement, before raising it again with a nervous grin. "H-hey, Spike! What are you doing here?"

Spike approached the machines and shrugged. "Rarity said you were bored and she was busy, so I should come hang with you."

Her face lit up like a Hearthswarming tree, in the color more reminiscent of strawberries.

Spike came to hang out... Just with me? Oh wow... Oh Jeeze, I'm sweaty, aren't I? And my mane is a mess, and... and... he's looking at me, oh feather. Say something, dang it!

Sweetie grinned and pointed to the machine. "Wanna play then? It's on me!" she shook the still nearly full bag of bits.

Spike shrugged, not exactly looking forward to the coming hours but not hating them either.

Who knows, he thought. Maybe this'll get my mind off Rarity...

"Sure, why not?" he stepped onto the PPR and selected the bipedal option.

~*~*~*~*~

All things told, Spike wasn't doing too terribly for his first time. It was mostly goods sprinkled with a few greats and misses. But it didn't measure up to the score Sweetie was belting out.

But he pushed on. Sweetie's encouragement and praise for doing well helped. He slowly forgot about Rarity as his competitive mode kicked in.

Game after game they played, whittling down the bits until the bag was empty. At the end, Spike was doing much, much better, Perfects and greats lined the screen, and while it wasn't at the accuracy Sweetie was going, it was still a quite smaller gap.

They finished, and Spike and Sweetie walked away from the arcade, sweating and panting. Sweetie grinned genuinely at Spike. "Wow, Spike! I've never seen anypony improve at PPR that fast!"

Spike chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. He was feeling a lot better. "Well, what can I say? I had a good teacher."

Sweetie Belle blushed and beamed blithely.

Spike noticed his sweat, and the beat of the sun as they walked, and looked over to Sweetie, who was also quite sweaty and flushed. She caught his gaze before she quickly lowered it, flushing evermore.

"Hey, you doing okay? I know it's hot out today. C'mon, let's go to Sugarcube Corner for a milkshake."

Sweetie looked up again at him, before glancing at the empty bag that hung from her saddlebags. "But I'm out of bits..."

Spike shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm paying."

Wow, that's pretty generous of him. Though I suppose I did just waste a sack load of bits on games with him...

"Well, I..."

"SWEETIE BELLE!"

She turned and smiled as her two bestest friends in the whole world skidded to a stop in front of them, glancing at Spike as they did so. Scootaloo was carrying a bow and a quiver full of arrows on her back, getting concerned glances from ponies who passed who really, really hoped they were blunt-edge arrows.

"What are y'all doin'?" Applebloom asked, curiosity etched on their face.

Sweetie blushed and tried to force out a response, but Spike managed for her. "Oh, you know, just hanging out. Why, what are you two doing?"

Scootaloo raised a forehoof in excitement. "We were gonna ask Sw—"

Applebloom harshly elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ow! Hey, what was that—"

Applebloom quickly whispered in her ear, "Don'tcha see? They might not even need our help. We can Crusade with Sweetie Belle later. Let's let them be, right?"

Scootaloo's face dawned with recognition and nodded. "Nevermind, it's not important. We gotta go, Sweetie. Have fun!"

She and Applebloom immediately turned tail and ran before either Spike or Sweetie Belle could ask what was going on. They looked at each other.

"That was weird," Spike said.

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle agreed.

"Sooo... Milkshakes?”

"Yeah!"

~*~*~*~*~

The duo sat at a table inside of Sugarcube Corner after ordering a couple of milkshakes, much to the delight of Pinkie Pie for some reason.

They hadn't said much since their entrance a few minutes ago. Just Spike asking her what flavor of shake she wanted. Vanilla, she had said. Sweetie Belle wasn't sure whether the silence was a comfortable one or awkward. She also wasn't sure what to say at risk of making it awkward.

Wait a second... I'm acting Silly. I've never wondered if I should talk with friends before, and Spike is definitely a friend. This isn't even a date or anything...

That in mind, Sweetie Belle cleared her throat, causing Spike to look up from his chocolatey drink. "So... How does it feel to be that tall?"

Spike grinned as his mouth let go of the straw. "Pretty cool. I can look most ponies in the eye now without craning my neck. I can see further and see on top of things pretty well now too. Like, at the Comic Book and Magazine Store... Uh, well... Nevermind that example. But it's still an upgrade."

Sweetie Smiled at his discription before pouting. "You're lucky," she looked down at her diminutive form. "I gotta grow normally. I swear I'll always be this small..."

Sweetie Belle was a little self conscious about her size. Both Applebloom and Scootaloo had some girth to them. Applebloom from working on a farm and doing various strenuous chores, and Scootaloo was just under her. Sleek yet firm, muscles obvious under the fur to anyone who payed enough attention. She was well on the fast track to becoming an athlete like Rainbow Dash, and her skill on a scooter proved it.

Sweetie Belle however, while not that different at first glance, was obviously a lot slimmer if you payed enough attention. That wasn't to say she was anorexic — She had the appropriate amount of protective fat for her age — but she just wasn't built like her two friends were. Of the three, she weighed the least. She was pretty sure that without her horn she'd be the shortest, too. It didn't help that very recently they seemed to be getting even bigger at an alarming rate.

It was so stupid. She was a year older than them! Why wasn't she bigger?!

Spike watched as her playful pout turned into an actual look of discouragement. He snapped his claws to get her attention back. "It doesn't matter if you're small. I was small once too," he gave her an encouraging smile. "You'll get there."

Sweetie Belle looked up at him, joy on her face. "You really think so?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah. In fact, I read in a health book that Ponies normally hit a growth spurt shortly after getting their Cutie Marks. It's actually supposed to coincide with their first heat, which also happens shortly after getting your cutie mark. At least, for fillies. For colts they just get the growth spurt. You'll catch up with your classmates sooner than you think. You got your Cutie Marks a week ago, right? So about another week to three for late bloomers," he chuckled to himself.

The filly herself blushed and whined. "Spiiike! You're not supposed to talk about stuff like that in public. Sis says it's impolite."

Spike just shrugged and went back to his milkshake, obviously not caring one way or another. It might have had something to do with the fact that they were the only ones inside of Sugar Cube corner at the moment besides Pinkie at the counter and a stallion and his filly standing in front of her, ordering. None of them were in earshot.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle was suddenly worrying over her own puberty, which according to Spike was going to come in under a month. She shuffled in her seat.

Noticing her discomfort, Spike cleared his throat and made an effort to change the subject. Sweetie Belle beat him to the punch though, and asked, "How can you be sure everything will turn out okay?"

Spike actually paused and thought about that for a moment. "I... I'm not sure everything will turn out okay. For anything. I just hope it does... I choose to believe it does."

"I've been through a lot, Sweetie Belle. I've had to watch Mo—... Twilight time and time again face fears much larger than her. Nightmare Moon. Discord. Tirek. I even managed to help against Sombra. I was a hero. After a while, I've just learned to stop worrying about what could happen, and believe the best will happen. That's not to say I believe everything is going to be sunshine and rainbows forever, but... I think at this point, it's a waste of energy to not believe and hope for the best. I guess... You can call me an optimist."

Even now, after Rarity... Maybe it was for the best.

Sweetie Belle gaped at him. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before finding her voice again. "Wow, Spike... I never thought of it that way. That's... A really cool way of looking at things... Y'know, I read there were four main archetypes like that. Optimistic, Cynic, Realist, and Apathetic. I'm not sure which I am."

Spike nodded and chuckled. "I bet Twilight probably thinks I'm the Cynic because of how sarcastic I am, and for a time she was right. You... I had you pegged as the optimist of the group and Applebloom the realist, but now I'm not too sure. Scootaloo's obviously the cynic," they both rolled their eyes. "I guess you gotta decide for yourself what you are."

Inside Spike was surprised at how smart and engaged in the conversation she seemed. He didn't know many ponies who could tell him the four main archetypes of personal philosophy.

Sweetie Belle similarly found herself intrigued by Spike. He made her think in ways she never had before. She wondered what else he thought.

So she asked. And he told her.

They sat and joked and laugh as only two young friends truly can. Hours passed as the two bonded over anything and everything. They told stories of stories, and sang songs of old that everypony knew. As the ever-present sun drifted through the sky, so did their conversations until they had tackled nearly every topic they could think of. Sweetie Belle was drawn to Spike's words as he gave his opinions on serious subjects such as morality, life and death, and the proper way to hang the toilet paper. Over, he insisted, not under.

Spike found himself similarly listening to Sweetie Belle as she talked about hobbies and and what it was like to have an older sister. She talked about her best friends and what she did daily, and he couldn't help but be intrigued at some of the stories Sweetie Belle told him of their crusades. He thought she was actually a little immature before today, but after sitting down and talking with her at length, Spike realized just what a very intelligent and down-to-earth filly Sweetie Belle was, especially compared to her friends. Spike was friends with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but he could see himself growing closer to Sweetie in ways he couldn't with the other two. Best friends?

Eventually, they were telling the cheesiest jokes they knew to finish off the day.

"... "So the lawyer says, 'I'm not in this bar to drink, I want your hardest test. I'm here to take the bar exam!' " Spike finished with a grin.

Sweetie Belle descended into fits of giggles and her sides ascended into orbit. "Okay okay, you win!"

Spike smugly took another sip of his milkshake. Thank you 1,001 Jokes for Dummies.

The two sat in companionable silence, reflecting on the long and fun day they had.

Eventually, Spike said, "You know, today started out poorly, but... All things told it was pretty fun. Thanks, Sweetie Belle."

Sweetie beamed. "You don't gotta thank me for being a friend. You made my day, too! If you didn't show up when Button left, I probably would have been pretty bored."

She thought on his words for a few moments longer. "What... What happened earlier today... to make it so bad? If you don't mind me asking... Was it the reason Rarity wanted to talk to you?"

Spike's smile dipped slightly, but not entirely. "I... Well... Rarity rejected me."

Sweetie Belle gasped, genuinely surprised. She knew Spike had a crush on Rarity. Everypony did. She never thought they would actually talk about their feelings, though. "That's so sad! I'm sorry, Spike," she hoped she sounded genuinely sad.

And inside she was genuine... To an extent. She was sad at the pain he had to be feeling, but she wasn't really sad that Rarity had rejected him. Really, Sweetie Belle was experiencing a range of emotions. Sadness at how he had to be feeling, anger at Rarity for turning him down and causing those feelings, pleasure that she had turned him down so that Sweetie still had a chance, guilt for the previous thought. Sweetie didn't know which to focus on.

He sighed and shrugged. "It was a long time coming, I guess. She was right. The age gap was too big."

Sweetie inwardly shivered. How big of an age gap is too big? Applebloom and Scootaloo are 10, but I'm 11, and Spike's 12... That's okay, right? It's just a year... No, this isn't about me! Spike's hurting. Comfort him.

Sweetie reached out a hoof and touched his shoulder comfortingly. "Well, she doesn't know what she's lost. You're kind, funny, generous, and, u-um..." she swallowed and blushed, "H-handsome..."

Spike looked at Sweetie with a blush of his own. Even if he took an optimistic outlook to events in life now, he was still a little self-judgemental about his personality and looks."You really think so?"

Sweetie Belle nodded firmly. "I know so."

Spike blinked. Wow. No one's really... Said anything about me like that before, besides Rarity a few hours ago, but she was trying to spare my feelings while letting me down...

Sweetie Belle looked outside at the darkening sky. She looked down at her now empty milkshake and then up to Spike. "I, uh, better get home. It's getting kinda dark out."

Spike stood and left the two bits on the table. "I'll walk you home," he started leading her to the door.

"Y-you don't have to do that." She scratched the back of her head with a hoof before following him. "It's not that far..."

Spike shrugged and opened the door, letting her go first. "I don't need to, but I want to."

And so the duo left for the Carousel Boutique, exchanging small talk all the way.

When they both got to the carousel boutique, the sun was almost below the horizon. It didn't bother Spike any. His draconian eyes meant he had excellent night vision.He still needed to get home soon, though. Dinner was his turn tonight.

Sweetie Belle on the other hand was very grateful to be inside the lit interior. She beamed up at him. "Thanks for walking me home, Spike."

Spike smiled back. "No problem. We should hang out like this again, sometime. It was a lot of fun."

Sweetie Belle giggled. "Definitely. Are you, um... Doing anything tomorrow?"

Spike frowned. "Yeah, actually. Twilight, the girls and I are having a picnic tomorrow. But I should be free the day after that. After you get home from school?"

"Sounds good. See ya Spike!" she closed the door quickly to hide the grin that grew from the smile, getting larger at a pace that outmatched Rainbow Dash's ever growing ego. Sweetie Belle squealed happily and pranced in place.

"Sweetie Belle? Are you home? Could you help me with something, please?" Rarity's voice called from upstairs.

"Yeah! Coming!"

~*~*~*~*~

Alone in the Castle of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic or Friendship or maybe even puppies — She honestly didn't know, Celestia never gave her a title — cackled like a stereotypical comic book villain. A large whiteboard that would fill the map room when she enlarged it with magic sat in front of her, filled with lists, charts, and massive paragraphs, complete even with diagrams. A magnifying glass and a miniature marker released from the flow of magic from her horn and settled onto her dresser.

"Yess.... Just a few more days, and it'll be complete. My best, my ultimate presentation..."

Twilight's eyes narrowed and she rubbed her hooves together, wicked grin in place. She looked down at the white board covering most of her bedroom floor.

Dominating the top read the words, "Spike's Talk."
> Spike Gets Spiked
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day started out fine, all things told.

It was too bad that by the end of it, Celestia's room, and and by association, Celestia herself, was filled and covered with the contents of various rooms from the Castle of Friendship. And even more peculiar: food.

As Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria picked bits of salad from her ever flowing mane, a tuft of emerald flame appeared before a bowling ball fell. She quickly moved out of the way, eyes wide with astonishment as it crashed heavily into the floor below, denting the marble. It wasn't as bad as the knife that injured a maid earlier that day, and it probably wouldn't have harmed Celestia regardless; due to the entire, "living goddess of the sun" bit, Celestia was near indestructible, but she could still be startled by weapons. And she decided a bowling ball out of nowhere definitely fit that description.

Looking around at the piles of chairs and even some large furniture, she figured most of it did.

Celestia's eye twitched even as a guard poked his head in at the noise. "Are you okay, your majesty? What was that noise?"

"A bowling ball this time, Sergeant Sun Spear. Prep my chariot, please. I want it ready to leave for Ponyville within thirty minutes."

The pegasus guard in question saluted with a wing. "Yes, Princess," he quickly left the room.

The other white pegasus stallion standing outside the door looked over at his commander. "So?"

The sergeant grumbled and slipped 5 bits towards Private Steel Wings. "Bowling ball. I don't know how you called it, but you did. Go get some other guards to cover her private quarters for us. I need to get the chariot ready. I am not leaving Celestia for long after all that's happened today."

Private Steel Wings smiled smugly, slipping the bits into his armors pocket. He left for the barracks with his orders.

Celestia herself followed them out a few moments later, bowling ball in tow. She rounded corners and passed various guards and servants going about their business before coming upon the entrance to Luna's chambers.

She shivered after she passed over the magical runes inscribed to the ground. On any changeling it would immediately drop their disguise. For anypony else it was just semi-unpleasant. She nodded at the two batpony guards standing at the door, who saluted in return, satisfied that this was their actual princess. Though one raised an eyebrow at the bowling ball. "If you don't mind me asking, your majesty, what's with the ball?"

Celestia knocked on the door thrice and waited for it to open in a blue glow. "Enter!" came the curt voice from within. She smiled sweetly at the guards. "Oh, you know, just practicing for the upcoming tournament. We're using guards who ask too many questions as pins," she chuckled at their expressions and walked into her sister's room. It was so fun to mess with her little ponies, sometimes.

When the room wasn't enchanted to bring you straight into the dream realm where Luna normally resided, it opened up into a large suite not unlike Celestia's. The decorations were all blues and blacks, and of every hue in between. Purple highlights dashed the space occasionally. Rock band and dubstep dj posters lined the walls, and various gamer swag hung everywhere. Celestia was glad Luna was having little troubles adjusting, even if her tastes were… Eccentric.

The room's most prominent feature was the massive round bed, filled with an assortment of pillows of all kinds; most of them a regal purple with gold highlights. Other than that, some throw pillows were in front of an active fire place, filled with a magical blue fire, casting an icy glow over the room that belied its burning nature. Various bookcases lined one wall, and a large vanity sat next to the bed.

Princess Luna was standing in front of her vanity, brushing her midnight flowing ethereal mane with a mane brush. The flowing field of stars went splendidly with her navy blue coat. She had just awoken and was preparing for a long night. Celestia smiled strainedly at the sight of her sister. "Lulu."

Luna smiled and looked at Celestia in the mirror's reflection. Noticing the look on her face, she set down her mane brush and turned to face Celestia. "Good afternoon. Whatever is the matter, Tia?"

Celestia raised the bowling ball to show her sister, but was interrupted by the familiar feeling in her gut that something was about to appear by dragon fire. She sat on the floor and closed her eyes to be dramatic. When she felt it pop into existence, she waved a hoof forward. "This, dear sister," Celestia didn't hear whatever it was hit the ground, but did hear the thrum of magic being poured from a horn, so she only assumed her sister caught whatever it was.

Pause.

"... Sister, why have you brought us pornography?" Luna questioned. The sound of a page rustled.

Celestia immediately opened her eyes, seeing that indeed a rather adult magazine was in Luna's magical grasp. She blinked at it. Once. Twice. "What."

Luna turned a page with a bored expression. "Rather tasteless, too. This is a little soft for our tastes, but we appreciate your gift nonetheless. We must ask, though. Is it normal for thine sisters to give arousal inducing gifts in this age? T'wasn't a very popular idea before the banishment."

Celestia just sighed, and standing, turned. She grabbed the wretched thing that had spawned such an awkward moment out of Luna's magic, along with the bowling ball, and decided to leave to gather the rest.

She had some things to return and some questions to ask.

~*~*~*~*~

8 HOURS EARLIER

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. Perfect weather for a game of catch.

For some reason, Spike really wanted golden flower tea, now. He also felt the weirdest sense of deja vu.

Eight mares and one dragon were walking to the hill where they normally held their picnics. Spike was carrying most of the supplies, as he had volunteered. He had always carried everything anyways, but now that he was bigger it was much easier. Various baskets hung from his arms as he carried a pie tin in his hands. Other than him, Applejack was carrying a basket of apples on her back, and Rarity was floating tea, cups, and a picture in her magical aura while she walked. She was also carrying a small cooler that he didn't know the contents of. Rainbow Dash, too, was carrying a miniature cooler as she flew above them.

Spike gazed at Rarity for a moment, still somewhat conflicted. It was impossible to fall out of love in one day. She had asked him to try and find somepony else, and for her sake he would, but it would be so hard to look at that beautiful face and not feel his heart leap with joy. Every little thing she did gave him shivers. Her musical laugh gave him goosebumps, and even her talking voice was a melody to his ears. She was a symphony, seemingly designed to his tastes. Every time she looked his way, he could hear the orchestra pick up, and she plucked his heartstrings. She was his overture.

He wilted for a moment, falling back further. Spike shook his head and refused to let tears fill his eyes. He blinked them away quickly. Spike was smitten, but he couldn't be any more. Not for another six years at the least. If he was ever going to have a healthy dating life, he would have to let her go and stop making sappy musical references whenever he thought of her.

Instead, Spike looked over the rest of their entourage, trying to drag his mind off Rarity while they walked. He first looked at the newest and most hesitant member of their group, Trixie Lulamoon. He noticed he fell even behind her, and she was dragging along at the back of the back, feeling out of place. He couldn't really blame her, not with what happened at their first meeting. Since then she had made amends with Twilight and her friends, but even so he could tell she was feeling awkward.

She's quite pretty, he thought to himself, seeing the way her hair waved over itself. He had to admit that the cloak and hat she wore went pretty well with her coat and eyes.

His eyes then traveled again, to the pinkest member of their group, laughing and talking with the others, and he smiled. Pinkie Pie was definitely one of his favorite ponies ever. She represented each of the elements of harmony rather well, even if her talent was bringing laughter. She was kind; he didn't think Pinkie had a mean bone in her body. She was generous and loved to give presents, and she was bluntly honest, even when she didn't mean to be. A loyal friend to the end. She was also quite the looker.

Her baby blue eyes seemed to sparkle in the daylight. Her cotton candy-esque mane was puffy and crazy, just like the candy she ate so much. Thanks to said candy and living in a bakery, she was a smidge larger than their friends, but she worked most of it off by what he thought was her hyperactivity and a good metabolism. What she did gain in weight was very well placed through either pure luck or Pinkie somehow finding a way to distribute body fat wherever she wanted — He wouldn't put it past her —adding to her feminine curves. Spike watched her flank especially bounce in the daylight, the balloons of her cutie mark moving ever so slightly as she walked.

Spike suddenly realized what he was doing and looked around furtively, wondering if anyone saw him ogling Pinkie's flank. To his great dismay, Rainbow Dash had somehow managed to hover next to him without him noticing, and was smirking widely. He quickly looked down at what he was carrying, suddenly intent on not focusing on any of his friends any more until they got to their destination.

These hormones are getting very annoying...

~*~*~*~*~

When the group finally reached their normal picnic spot, everything was set up quickly. Spike, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash dropped their hauls on the red and white checkered blanket Twilight had set out. The group cheered and crowded around in a circle. Twilight started, followed by Spike who sat next to her, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Trixie, and Starlight, who completed the shape by sitting on Twilight's other side. Everypony dug into the baskets, pie, tea, and so on.

Twilight gave her best winning smile and addressed Trixie. "Thanks for coming, Trixie. I'm sure you've made Starlight very happy, and the more the merrier."

Trixie put on a nervous grin that didn't reach her eyes and she scoffed. "It is nothing. The Great and Powerful Trixie is always there like a good friend. Trixie dares to declare that she is the best friend a best friend could be."

At the influx of glares she received, she quickly amended her statement. "Um, thank you for allowing Trixie to tag along, though."

Starlight chuckled at her friend and nudged her. When Trixie looked up, Starlight beamed at her, letting her know just how happy she was to have Trixie there.

Trixie noticed everypony and dragon staring at her, albeit with softer smiles this time, and grimaced. Trixie was a show pony and performed for crowds of hundreds before, but she didn't want the attention of Twilight and her friends squarely on her. Putting on another smile, Trixie cleared her throat. "So, Spike the Dragon. Trixie can't help but notice you've gotten taller."

Spike looked up from the daffodil sandwich he had picked out of one of the baskets and scratched the back of his neck, blushing slightly. "Uh, yeah. Suppose I did."

Trixie's smile became genuine. "Trixie thinks it is fitting. You're looking more like a proper dragon now."

Spike's face flushed a little more at the compliments, unsure of what to say. Getting a compliment from 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' was like pulling teeth, so it kind of meant a lot to him.

Rainbow Dash hovered out of her spot and floated above Spike, grinning. She gave him a playful noogie, which he struggled to get out of. "Y'sure do, squirt. I don't think I'll be able to take you flying anymore. I remember when you used to be able to ride us. Seems like it was just last week."

Rarity set her tea down back on a plate after her sip. "Um, Pardon, Rainbow Dash, but it was last week..."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and retook her position next to Applejack. "Whatever. When do you think you'll get your wings, Spike?"

Applejack threw the applecore she had finished behind her for the ground to use for nutrients. "Gotta admit, I was wonderin' the same thing. Y'all grew a lot, but yer back is still barrer than the trees after we buck 'em."

Spike looked at his back forlornly, and back to Rainbow Dash to look at her wings with envy. "I'm not even sure how or when a dragon GETS their wings," he looked to Twilight, hoping for an answer.

Twilight shrugged. "Sorry, Spike. I haven't read anything about that in the few dragon books that exist."

He looked somewhat disappointed by that before Fluttershy spoke up. "Um, don't worry, Spike," she wore a soft smile. "I'm sure they'll come in soon..."

His own smile returned, and he remembered his conversation yesterday with Sweetie Belle. Always believe and hope for the best. "Yeah... Yeah! I bet you're right."

A lull in the conversation happened as everyone kept eating.

Rarity was fidgeting. Applejack noticed and looked at her with a concerned expression. "Y'all alrigh', sugarcube?"

Rarity put on a fake smile and nodded. "Well, yes, I just..." She couldn't take it anymore. Sure turned to Spike. "Are... we're okay, aren't we, Spike? i know how much that must have hurt. This hasn't changed our relationship at all has it?"

This was news to the others. All attention was on Spike and Rarity as they wondered what was going on.

Spike grimaced as she brought up yesterday. "It's... It's fine. Yeah it hurt, but what were you supposed to do? Of course we're okay, Rarity. Best friends. Promise."

Rarity's expression seemed very relieved and was about to speak, when Rainbow Dash cut her off. "Woah woah woah, what happened here?"

Spike looked down, unsure if he wanted to explain or not. Rarity tactfully took the reigns and cleared her throat. "Yesterday Spike and I had a talk about his, erm... feelings for me. It ended as it only could. He was very mature about it."

There were a myriad of responses. Pinkie Pie's mane deflated a little, and she looked pretty disappointed. Fluttershy had a face of sympathy, and looked like she wanted to comfort Spike. Applejack was the same. Trixie and Starlight looked like they didn't really know what to feel. Rainbow dash shook her head. "Jeeze, that's rough buddy."

Twilight's eyes widened, and she immediately wrapped a wing around her scaly assistant. "Are you doing okay?"

Spike nodded, not feeling much of anything sad really at the moment, so it's not like it was untrue. "I'm fine, Twilight."

Twilight looked at him with uncertainty. "Are you sure? It's not everyday the pony you were pining after for two years breaks your heart."

Spike smiled at her, wishing they could all just stop talking about it. He voiced his opinion. "I'm fine, Twilight. Pinkie Promise. Can we just stop talking about it and enjoy the day, please?"

Twilight still looked a bit unsure even as he went through the Pinkie Promises motions, but dropped it as he wished.

Rarity smiled and tapped her now empty teacup with the spoon she used to dole out sugar. "On that happy note, I brought a treat–"

"Ooh! What kind of treat? Is it caramel apples, or black forest cake, or ice cream cake, or chocolate cake? Or Vanilla cake? Or peanut butter cake? Or strawberry cake? Or a face cake? Ooh, ooh, is it red velvet cake?!" Pinkie seemed to bounce in place excitedly.

Rarity smiled, taking Pinkie's interruption in stride. "Nope! I brought wiiiine~!" She sang and pulled the fancy looking bottle out of the cooling bag she had brought.

Rainbow Dash winced. "Well, crud. If I known you had brought that, I wouldn't have brought these wine coolers," she pulled the package of a dozen of them out of the somewhat larger cooler she had brought.

Rarity shrugged with a smile. "No reason we can't have both!" she eyed Rainbow's wine cooler with slight distaste, "Although I doubt your coolers will agree with my palate as well as my bottle, dear. I've been aging this for a while."

Twilight and the rest of the gang smiled at this surprised. A little fine wine with a picnic, what could be better?

Even as Rarity was passing out new cups for everypony and pouring the red liquid in, Spike eyed it curiously. He never had alcohol before. He wondered what it was like...

Spike looked over to twilight, pulling gently on her shoulder to get her attention and succeeding. "Um, Twilight... Could, I uh... Try some?"

Twilight blinked. "Oh! I, uh..."

"Aw, let him have a little, Twi'. What's the worst that can happen?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Somewhere, a pony named Murphy's Law sneezed.

Rarity nodded, in the very rare situation that she actually agreed with her brash and bold-as-her-mane friend. "Indeed. Not to tell you how to parent or anything, darling, but I don't see the harm in it. I let Sweetie Belle have a small glass on special occasions. Our parents do not mind."

Twilight smiled. "Well, sure. Why not? As long as you're with me and I can safely monitor you, I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

With a wide smile, Rarity poured another glass for Spike, reaching it out to him with her magic.

Before Spike could grasp the glass with a grin, it suddenly pulled away in a lavender glow replacing the blue. He pouted and looked to Twilight, who was suddenly very stern. "Only when I'm here, Spike. If I find out you were drinking alcohol with anypony or anywhere else, a certain dragon is going to be in a lot. Of. Trouble."

Spike quickly nodded. Easy enough, he thought. I’ve heard and read the stories about what alcohol can do to people... I won't let this become a habit.

Satisfied, Twilight finally levitated the glass into his hands. Spike quickly and eagerly took a sip.

The rest of their group watched as he pulled it back with a smack of his lips after a second. Spike's brow furrowed. He had read about what alcohol was supposed to be like before, and this wasn't really it.

Rarity grinned at the dragon. "Well? Tell us, darling, how is it?"

Spike scratched the side of his head with one claw. "I'unno. Bubbly. It's got a good flavor. I thought alcohol was supposed to be really harsh going down?"

Applejack chuckled a little. "Shoot, Spike. It's wine, not Vodka," she took a hearty sip of her own.

Starlight nodded. "What Applejack means is that wine is definitely not like most alcohols you've probably heard about. There are a lot of harsher drinks out there that really burn when going down and take a while to enjoy, but everypony loves wine for its flavor."

Spike swished the wine glass around a few times and took another sip. A smile came to his lips. "I like it."

~*~*~*~*~

A few hours, a glass of wine, and many snucken wine coolers later, Spike was very dizzy. He took another sip from the bottle and giggled as Rarity talked to Trixie about designing a new outfit for her or something. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were locked in their own conversation, and Pinkie had gathered Twilight's attention for a while now. Starlight and Applejack simply sat and put in their two cents every once in a while, enjoying the company.

Twilight nodded to Pinkie's last long-winded sentence. Or was it a question? Pinkie could talk a mile a minute and it was a little hard to keep track of what she was saying sometimes. She glanced at Spike to see how he was doing and saw his flushed face and unfocused eyes. She also saw that somehow, the wine cooler she had allowed him was more full than it was last time.

She quickly glared at Rainbow Dash, who caught her eye and broke the conversation off with Fluttershy, whistling innocently.

"Rainbow! How many of these things did you give him?"

Rainbow stifled her grin. "No idea what you're talking about, Twi'. I blame Rarity. She's probably been passing him them all day."

Rarity sputtered, her own cheeks a little flushed. "Moi? Why I would never endeavor to see our little Spikey drunk! It was obviously Rainbow Dash!"

Twilight sighed and shook her head. "Well, what's done is done."

Spike chose that moment to let loose a massive burp, belching out a torrent of flame that consumed the bowl of salad in the middle of the blanket, making it disappear completely.

Everyone stared at the burnt patchin awe. Even the bowl was gone.

~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile, in Canterlot...

Princess Celestia nodded sympathetically to the griffin ambassador as he told her about the problems with their increasing population, and lack of available farming land.

"You know I'll do whatever I can to help our closest neighbors, Ambassador Talon. For now we can import salads and fruits while we work on terms of expanding your territory for crop growing. Unfortunately, there are very few meat eaters in Equestria, as I'm sure you know we're a herbivore country, so there's nothing we can provide you with in that direction," Princess Celestia diplomatically explained.

Ambassador Talon smiled. "Any help at all would be a huge blessing, Princess Celestia. If our diets must resort to mostly fruit, we will manage."

Princess Celestia smiled. "Excellent. As I said, I'll begin having food exported immediately. I will need you to return, or perhaps speak to King Bloodbeak about territory negotiations," she chuckled to herself. "I hope you enjoy salad."

It was at that moment that in a tuft of emerald flame, a salad bowl appeared and immediately fell, splattering both of them in a lot of lettuce, a tonne of tomato, oodles of onions, and pounds of parsley.

The ambassador stared at her in shock, almost certain she did this on purpose based on her last comment.

To Celestia's credit, her smile only twitched once.

~*~*~*~*~

Spike and Twilight walked back home by themselves. Starlight had decided to hang out with Trixie some more. The group had disbanded once the sun started to fade behind the horizon.

Well, Twilight walked and Spike stumbled as he leaned on Twilight for support. His head was swimming and he was having trouble concentrating on anything, but he felt very warm inside. very warm. He giggled to himself. "I'm a shpace heaterrr."

Twilight rolled her eyes and pulled Spike ever along, one of her wings draped over his shoulders. "Sure are, Spike."

She opened the castle doors with a key and led him inside, pulling him into the library and placing him at one of the tables. She checked his forehead and looked into his eyes. "You feeling okay?"

Spike nodded, and then shuddered at the sudden movement. "Achtually noo, that made me naushiousosis," he slurred.

Twilight nervously grabbed a trash can in the corner with her magic and levitated it over, placing it next to Spike. "Well, if you need to throw up, make sure to do it in the trash can, right?"

Spike managed a thumbs up as he covered his mouth.

Twilight sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe Rainbow sometimes. What a prank. Get a kid drunk."

Spike's face was turning greener by the second. He barely managed, "Teenager" before leaning over and emptied the contents of his stomach into the trashcan.

Twilight winced and patted his back gently. "There there. Not yet. You don't turn thirteen for another two weeks."

Spike groaned into the trash can and let loose another torrent. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "'felt so goood," he whined. "Whyssit so baad now?"

Twilight simply rubbed his back in sympathy, sad that he was hurting.

After his little episode, Twilight got him a cup of water to taste the bile out of his mouth. He chugged it and breathed heavily, before his face churned.

Twilight's eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do, and quickly moved the trash can out of the way. She had a working theory that Spike couldn't exactly control his fire breath at the moment, and that included the aspect of control of what got sent to Celestia. And she did not want to be responsible for letting her ex-mentor get covered in dragon bile.

Instead, she let her get covered in various library tables and chairs, as Spike consumed them all in a torrent of emerald flame.

~*~*~*~*~

After apologizing to the griffin ambassador for what must have been the twelfth time, Celestia was finally able to get away to her next task: open court. Normally it would have started around noon, but she had to meet with the griffin ambassador as soon as possible.

She sat upon her dias and sighed, before putting on a fake smile, resigned to dealing with nobles bickering over what money should be used where for the next few hours. "Send the first one in."

The unicorn guard at the door nodded, and opened it. He read off the list he hovered in front of him. "Announcing Restore the Diamond Districts Statue and their request for..." he squinted, "Jet Set and Upper Crust."

Celestia resisted the urge to plant her head in her hooves. The first ponies of day court had somehow managed to get their name and request boxes mixed up too. This was not a good sign.

As the two approached, Celestia steeled herself diplomatically.

As soon as Jet Set opened his mouth once he and Upper Crust stopped in front of the throne, Celestia was suddenly attacked by library furniture. Before anypony knew what to do, one of the diarchs of Equestria was trapped under many pounds of wooden tables and chairs.

Celestia's smile turned into a grimace as her horn lit up.

~*~*~*~*~

Twilight carefully walked Spike to his bedroom. He had already somehow managed to burn a few more rooms contents and even the only bowling ball they had in the castle. The final signal was when they were in the kitchen and Spike accidentally sneezed on a knife, so she decided he ought to be in bed before he could accidentally destroy/send anything else to Celestia. She ignored his protests.

Opening the door, she lifted him with her magic and set him gently in bed. She made sure that a garbage can was right next to the bed. "Alright, you should be fine. You'll wake up with a killer head-ache tomorrow, but for now just get some rest."

Spike didn't think that would be too hard. He felt extremely out of it and tired, especially after losing the days food in a fight with a trash can. "O-okay."

Twilight kissed him on the forehead and gave him one last sympathetic and worried look before turning and heading for the door. "I'll be camping outside your door tonight, so if you need anything, just call, okay?"

Spike nodded sleepily. He pulled his blanket up layed on his pillow, facing the bookshelf away from the door, which Twilight closed.

He sniffled and wrinkled his nose as he felt the sudden urge to sneeze. He wrestled with it for a moment, before claiming victory and settling back down.

Or so he thought. The sneeze came out of nowhere, and a jet of emerald flame shot out and managed to hit the wall just above his bookshelf it was so intense.

Unfortunately, Spike had rearranged his bookshelf that morning, sorting them alphabetically rather than size like he had before. He was having trouble finding certain books and comic books based on their size alone. The Playmare magazine was left on top of the book shelf as he forgot to place it back in.

Spike only remembered this ten seconds after the sneeze, and when he did his bloodshot eyes shot open. "Aw horsheapplesh."

~*~*~*~*~

Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia sat in the hall on a couple of cushions that Twilight had procured. Once Celestia learned of Spike's predicament, she was more than happy with the less than desirable seating situation. Private Steel Wing and Sergeant Sun Spear passed them again, once more carrying a table from outside in.

Celestia sipped at the tea Twilight had prepared as she sat outside Spike's door and smiled. "I am relieved to hear this is all that happened. I was expecting Spike had somehow lost control of his fire's magical facilities on his own."

Twilight shook her head. "Thankfully not. I expect he'll regain full function by morning," she sipped at her own tea before smiling slightly. "Well, after the hangover."

Celestia smirked herself and shook her head, amused slightly at the thought of the suffering Spike were to come to. "Poor dragon."

Twilight chuckled as well. "I remember my first experience. Daddy had left a bottle of something out one Hearthswarming and asked Shining to watch me while he and Mom went out for some reason or another. I was probably six at the time. So Shining, being a big brother, instead asks me if I can stay out of trouble while he went to visit Cadence and wish her a merry Hearthswarming real quick," she rolled her eyes and Celestia giggled gently. "And, of course, like any child, I decided I was thirsty, see this big bottle of something on the counter, and decide I need to have it. When Shining got home half an hour later, covered in lipstick might I add, I was on the couch with an empty bottle of something. I don't even remember what it was, but I knew it was a lot stronger than Spike had. That was probably the most miserable Hearthswarming of my life, and Shining got in big trouble," they both laughed.

They sat for another moment, with the only sounds behind the clinking of teacups and the clopping hooves of the two pegasus guards as they returned things to their rightful places.

Princess Celestia spoke up once more. "Would you mind if I talked to him? Perhaps I can alleviate his condition a little."

Twilight twitched her nose. "I almost want to say no, as a lesson about what happens when you drink too much, but I don't like to see him suffer... Also, I could never say no to you."

Princess Celestia smiled warmly at her ex-pupil. "A habit you must break, Twilight. We are equals now. Do not forget that."

Celestia stood and knocked firmly on Spike's door. A groan was the only response. Celestia decided to enter anyways, and found Spike touching himself.

Spike rubbed at his head as he tried to gain some clear semblance of thought. He was extremely tired now as well as drunk. But he couldn't sleep because voices were talking outside, and then knocking.

Suddenly, his vision cleared, as did the throbbing in his head and the boiling in his blood. Instead of being a furnace inside, it felt like somepony were giving him a warm hug. He watched the golden aura work around him, and then recede into the regal white horn. He blinked as he realized who it was connected to, and sat up. "P-princess Celestia!"

Celestia smiled down at the young drake. "Good afternoon, Spike. I've heard you've had a long day."

Spike groaned as he recalled the contents of the past few hours. And then days. "More like a rough couple of days, Celestia," she didn't mind the dropping of her title. Spike was as familiar with her as Twilight was. Twilight was only a child herself when she managed to hatch Spike, so Celestia helped Twilight with the responsibility of raising him. Celestia was almost as much a surrogate mother to him as Twilight was.

As he sat up she noticed his larger frame and pursed her lips. "I see. Would you like to tell me about it?"

And so Spike did. He told her about the allowance, and growing, and his heartbreak at the hooves of Rarity. He kept out the embarrassing tale of the magazine that he had accidentally destroyed. She didn't need to know everything, after all.

Celestia smiled at him once more. "Sounds like quite the adventure. And somehow, I can tell that this is only the beginning."

Spike chuckled to himself. "Yeah. How about you, Princess? How was your day?"

Celestia smirked. "Well, there was a bump here and there, but it was fine."

Spike smiled, eager to return the favor of a listening ear, "Wanna tell me about it?"

Celestia's smirk grew ever wider. "Sure. It started when I was meeting the griffin ambassador, which ended up with salad on my head that had appeared out of nowhere. The only sign of where it came from being an emerald flame. Probably just a freak accident," she looked at him pointedly, and grinned. "Who knows where it could have come from?"

Spike rubbed the back of his neck, smile turning sheepish. "Gee, that's strange."

"Oh, but not the strangest! Oh, no. Later, in day court, I was attacked by furniture. Can you believe it?"

Spike's face grew red. He faintly recalled maybe setting a table or two on fire in the library.

"Oh, but my favorite part?" The princess's voice took a teasing tone. She slid the playmare magazine from under her wing and put it on the bed. "This appearing in front of me and my sister. I don't suppose you know who this could belong to?"

Spike's face was in his claws faster than you could say 'embarrassment'.

Why, he mentally berated himself and the universe.

Celestia's laugh was musical. She regained her composure and ran a hoof gently down his head. "You're growing, Spike. And you're facing many challenges you've never had to before. I was not kidding when I said I believed you would face many more. But know that your friends are with you through these trying times, as am I." She smiled as he looked back up to her. "I know Luna would like to talk to you more too. With everypony by your side, you can't go wrong. Fret not, Spike. You'll get through these Growing Pains."

For a moment, Celestia could have sworn she heard a ding, and someone saying "Roll credits", but she shrugged it off as a trick of the wind.

Spike's expression turned happy once more "Thank you Pr- Celestia."

Celestia yawned and turned for the door. "Now I must bid you adieu. It's already getting far past my bedtime. Running a country is a full time job, you know."

Spike chuckled lightly as he lay down again, resting his head on the pillow. Even if he wasn't plastered anymore, he was still quite tired. "Good night."

"Good night, Spike," and Celestia closed the door.

Spike thought to himself now that he wasn't nearly as burdened by alcohol and thought over what she said. He was going to face some challenges, that was for sure. But he truly believed that with the help of his family and friends, he could do anything.
> Love is a Seven Letter Word
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo exited Ponyville Schoolhouse, laughing and talking about what happened in that day as they trotted down the road toward ponyville proper. Even as the afternoon class of teenagers came.

Nopony truly understood how hard Cheerilee worked for the education of ponyville. After a full 7 hours of teaching the littler ones, she held a second class after dedicated to the older minors of Ponyville. It was shorter, only taking up 3 hours on the weekdays. Cheerilee never really did allow herself a break, except for holidays, sundays, and only after grading the papers for any given day. But she did it all with a grin as she shaped their futures.

The young stallions rough housed with each other, and flirted with the young mares who rolled their eyes and gossiped in groups. All of that attention turned to the boisterous laughing of the trio as they passed. It was crazy to think that next year, the younger crowd would be taking their place.

Well, two of them were laughing, at any rate.

"W-what evin happened?" Applebloom struggled to talk over her laughing fits as they walked. Scootaloo was staring at the ground, fuming.

Sweetie Belle struggled to reign it in long enough to give a detailed explanation. "So I saw Scootaloo napping during math, right? And Miss Cheerilee didn't see her yet, so being the good friend I was, I thought I'd wake her up and save her from getting in trouble. So I throw a paper ball at her when Miss Cheerilee's back was turned, and she just w-wakes up and-and blurts..." Sweetie Belle was actively struggling to breath at this point; and Applebloom was holding her stomach with one hoof as they walked, holding back tears. "TWENTY FOUR!" The two burst laughing again. "T-the question was, 'What’s one-hundred-fifty-two multiplied by sixteen!' "

"She wasn't going to notice," Scootaloo rolled her eyes and finished under her breath, "No one really does..."

Neither of the other two heard the heartfelt statement. Whether that was fortunate or not,Scootaloo wasn't sure.

Sweetie Belle shook her head, calming down. "She caught you napping last week during lunch hour."

Scootaloo was flabbergasted. "That doesn't count! I'm allowed to do what I want durring lunch and recess! She was just making sure I was okay! The only one who did I might add. You two just kept on chatting!"

Sweetie Belle scrunched her nose, and Applebloom wore a worried expression. "Are y'all alrigh', Scoots? We thought ya jus' needed sum more sleep."

Scootaloo looked back to the floor dejectedly. "It's whatever," she raised her head again with a better expression, "Are we still helping out that grey colt with his Cutie Mark problem today? I'd rather just focus on that."

Sweetie Belle suddenly wore a guilty expression and stopped. "Oh, feather. I'm sorry, girls. I just remembered I promised to hang out with Spike today. You'll have to help him yourselves."

Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at each other and grinned. Scootaloo's definitely seemed more genuine now. "Ooooh!"

"Looks like ya didn' even need our help after all," Applebloom giggled.

Scootaloo shuddered. "After the entire love poison thing, just... I think it’s best if we let these things handle themselves."

Sweetie Belle was blushing but nodded with a determined glare. "I definitely don't need you two trying to help unless I ask for it, okay? I think I can do this... I hope."

Applebloom grinned and nudged her friend in the side. "Ya gonna kiss 'im?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes even as Sweetie Belle covered her burning face. "Don't be stupid, Applebloom. You don't just start a relationship with a kiss out of nowhere. That only happens in cheesy romance tales and to really, really lucky people.First you gotta be their friend. And then You gotta ask them out first on a date! Then you gotta see what you have in common and then have a good time, and THEN you kiss them!"

The farm filly tilted her head. "That seems like... almos' good ahdvice. Where'd you get so knowledgeable about datin'?"

The pegasus fumed and hid her own blush. "I don't check out good romance novels from the library and you can't prove it! The only good books are Daring Do!"

Applebloom looked back to Sweetie Belle. "Wait a tic'. Y'all asked to hang out with 'im... Isn't this a date?"

Sweetie Belle looked unsure of herself. "Is it? Neither of us really said,'date...' "

"Better kiss him at the end to be absolutely sure, then," Scootaloo nodded sagely.

Sweetie Belle struggled to find her voice. She felt like a fish out of water. "I-I can't just do that! Besides, isn't it the colts job to start things?"

"Nope!" Scootaloo grinned. "Another stupid cliche. If you wait for him to make the first move, you might wait forever. If you got feelings, show it filly!"

Applebloom squinted. "It's like ya somehow raided Rarity's bookshelf."

Sweetie Belle groaned to herself. "I still don't know if I can..."

Scootaloo got a dirty grin on her face. "Well fine. I guess we know who the new group chicken is now..."

The unicorn filly glared at her friend. "I am not a chicken."

Applebloom joined her friend with a grin of her own. "Bawk bawk bawk!"

They circled her in a manner reminiscent of sharks. "Chiiicken~" Scootaloo whispered in her ear.

"Grrr.... ALRIGHT, FINE, I'LL DO IT!"

"Wha'?

"What?"

The other two stopped their chicken act with raised eyebrows. Applebloom looked at Sweetie Belle with surprise. "But we hadn't even really started ta mock ya. Why’d ya give in so quick?"

Sweetie Belle grimaced. "It's not like I could actually tell him. That's way harder! Words and feelings are just really difficult to express. A kiss is simple, clean, and gets the message across. And maybe if he doesn't mind it, I'll have the courage to tell him.

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and put on a determined expression she didn't quite feel. Her stomach fluttered as she answered them. "If we have a lot of fun today, I'll do it. I-I'll kiss him."

~*~*~*~*~

The morning after the picnic left Spike with less than stellar feelings. And it wasn't just the hangover.

Yes, Spike still had a hangover, despite Celestia's efforts. She was able to lower his blood alcohol content enough to make him coherent enough to talk, but she was unable to flush his system entirely. Or if she had the power to, he figured that the ramifications for doing so were too unwieldy to attempt. It was hard for Spike to imagine there was anything impossible for Celestia. Over six-thousand years old and able to move a celestial body millions of times bigger than their planet with just her magic.

But she apparently couldn't or didn't want to spare him entirely from the headache that now throbbed in his head as he worked, dusting. Twilight had given him some kind of aspirin over breakfast. She mentioned he should take the day off, but he refused. The work was good. It kept his mind off the real hurt.

Rarity.

Apparently, based on the hints she was dropping, Rarity loved him in the same way he loved her, but to have a relationship was illegal. After finishing every chore in the castle he could think of, Spike was lying in his bed, feeling rather bleak. He wanted to go do research on these kinds of things in the library but ever since he laid down he didn't really feel like getting up again. He had felt somewhat fine after hanging out with Sweetie Belle, and yesterday. But now? It was as if the depression took a day or two to hit.

He thought over her words. 'It wouldn't be proper' she had said. 'I could go to Tartarus.' The fact that you could get thrown in Celestia's Special Hell-on-Equis for loving someone sounded ridiculous to Spike. But maybe he just wasn't seeing the bigger picture.

He rolled over as he thought. Pedophilia wasn't rampant in Equestria. No crime was. But it still happened, albeit very, very rarely. Spike picked up enough mentions from books to know they were the most hated individuals on earth. Past even Serial Killers and torturers. He tried to think of an adult stallion and a twelve-year-old filly in the same situation, and immediately felt squeamish. Maybe he really didn't know what he wanted. But then again, Spike figured he wasn't really par-for-the-course as far as these things went.

Spike sighed and looked back up to the ceiling. It's for the best, He repeated to himself. It's for the best... It's for the best. It's for the best.

He started thinking about her other words. 'Find somepony else. Somepony your own age.'

Somepony his own age... But who?

He thought over every filly he knew, which wasn't many. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came to mind first. He immediately blanched over that idea. Even with their now better attitudes, they used to be bullies. Spike adamantly believed everypony deserved a second chance, but they had offended him personally one time by mocking him. He didn't have that much an issue with them, but...

~*~*~*~*~

"Hi! What are your names?" Spike the Dragon said cheerily to the two fillies in front of him. He was exploring the town on his own after Twilight had said it was okay, and that she was studying something, when they had stepped in front of him. One was a pink much Lighter than Pinkie Pie's, and was wearing a diamond encrusted tiara on her two tone lavender and white mane. A similar tiara rested on her flanks. The other was a deep grey, with silvery hair, and an elaborate and expensive looking spoon made her cutie mark. She wore cute glasses, he decided.

They were only here for a few days and he was already making new friends!

The two looked at each other and back to Spike with rather nasty expressions. The pink filly lead with a posh, better-than-you tone. "I'm Diamond Tiara," the other one started to speak up, but was rudely silenced by her friend. "And this is Silver Spoon. What's yours?" Silver Spoon seemed slightly put out by her friend, but then wore a resigned expression.

"Those are pretty names. I'm Spike!" he smiled.

"Pfft... PFfahhahahaha! Spike! L-like a dog, can you believe it, Spoony?" Diamond laughed cruelly. Silver Spoon seemed a lot less amused, but laughed anyways for Diamonds benefit. Spike looked at them, bewildered.

"W-why are you..."

Diamond Tiara cut him off and looked his still diminutive form up and down. "So, like, do you belong to the new librarian? I didn't even know you could keep a lizard as a pet."

Spike looked hurt. "I-I'm not a pet! I'm Twilights..."

Diamond Tiara took advantage of his hesitance with a sneer. "You sure, Spike? You sure look like one. You smell like one too. I'd even be willing to bet you eat dog food. How disgusting."

Spike looked like he was on the verge of tears. He never had to deal with anypony saying anything near as cruel to him in Canterlot. "Shut up! I don't eat dog food! I'm not a pet! I'm a dragon!"

Silver spoon started circling him like a shark as Diamond Tiara stepped forward, pushing him back. "Well you certainly aren't a pony. And I've seen Dragons in picture books before. They have wings, Dumbass," Spike's eyes widened at the expletive. "So I have a lot of trouble believing you're a dragon. This is a pony town. And you?  You're just a big. Overgrown. Stupid. Lizard." 

She punctuated each word with a stomp forward. She finished it with a shove. Silver Spoon had stopped behind him, and stuck out a hoof, making sure he tripped backwards into the mud that was made from the rain the previous day. He sat up, propping himself with his arms after the nasty fall, and looked down at his now filthy self. Spike desperately looked around for somepony to help him, but nopony was on the less-than-busy back street they were on.

"You'll never fit in around here,"Diamond Tiara said coolly. Before it was a nasty teasing tone, but now... It was filled with such conviction and malice. The only thing colder than her tone was her eyes as she stared down at him with loathing. "You're not a pony. You aren't even a second class mule. You're an oddity. Even less than a pet. You're a nobody. And that's all. You'll ever. Be," She spat on his face. It was like an exclamation mark for everything leading up to this point.

Spike couldn't hold it anymore. That was the last straw. Tears started streaming down his eyes as he got up and ran. Diamond Tiara just laughed at his crying and torment. "Cry lizard boy, cry!" she taunted as he ran for the safety of the library.

Except he stopped after turning the corner and peeked back around to check if they were following him.

Silver Spoon was staring at her with a dumbstruck expression. Diamond Tiara turned to her and snapped. "What." It wasn't a question. It was a challenge.

"D-Diamond... That was pretty harsh, even for us..."

She glared at her friend. "So?"

Silver Spoon glanced after Spike. "N-nothing! It's just... Why did he deserve that much? You weren't even that rude to the pool-colt who spilled the tea on you..."

She narrowed her eyes and looked back to where he was. Spike immediately went back around the corner for safety. "He's a dragon. Bloodthirsty stupid animals. The lot of them. I'll never forget what they did to Grandma Rich..."

Spike just heaved and bawled, trying to silent himself. He made his way back to the library.

~*~*~*~*~

Okay. So maybe he still had plenty of issue with them. And from what Diamond had said at the end, it sounded like she'd still have issue with him anyways. He was willing to try friendship once again, but he promised with a glare at the roof that he would never consider dating them. He also promised to himself that if they were to try bullying him again, they would see why you don't Bully a Dragon. Literally.

Other than that, there weren't that many fillies he knew, and Spike was confident enough in his sexuality that he knew he wasn't gay or bi. There were many fillies in the village due to the three to one mare/stallion ratio, but he was friends with a select few of them.

He supposed there was Pina Colada, a pink coated and mauve maned earth pony, daughter of the town drunk Berry Punch. Berry, despite her alcoholism, was a very loving and kind mother, and it showed in her daughter. Pina Colada was friends with everyone and shared her mother’s love for grape punch; Berry Punch made wines that were famous throughout equestria, but she had been known to make a fruity punch as well. She was who Pinkie had often employed for her parties drink catering. Pina Colada had made punch once and brought it into the class for show and tell, the Crusaders told him. They said it was excellent. Spike loved to cook. Maybe he could teach her how, and she could teach him how to make punch.

There was Dinky, daughter of the wall eyed Derpy Hooves. She was a grayish purple with a golden blonde mane, very like her mother in appearance. Except she was a unicorn where her mother was a pegasus, and her eyes always moved together. Dinky was kind, if a bit shy. She loved to learn and, when you got her to open up, wouldn't stop talking about anything and everything. A true curiosity that only a wonderstruck child could have, but about everything. Spike could see him having conversations with her. He loved to think.

There was also Sky Tempest, who had moved here from Cloudsdale last month with her parents. A pure white pegasus filly, both in coat and mane. He didn't know much about her yet, but greeted her at her family's Pinkie Pie Welcome to Ponyville Party™. She seemed nice enough.

And of course, who could forget about the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The Crusaders...

Applebloom was a hard and diligent worker, and it showed in her work. She nearly single handedly rebuilt their clubhouse from scratch. He was almost certain she would be a carpenter before she got her mark in being a Cutie Mark Therapist with the other two. He really liked her determination to better herself and others around her. Also, the bow was pretty cute. He had to consider all the positives here.

Scootaloo was pretty. Pretty brash, that is. She looked fine, but her personality was a bit too... Rainbow Dash for him. She was a very good friend, but he couldn't really see himself dating her. The wanna be athlete would probably try and say that extreme roller blading was a good first date, and include a fire ring and shark pit while she was at it. Spike really liked keeping his scales on his body.

And finally, Sweetie Belle...

Spike felt his throat catch. She was probably the prettiest he knew. Sparkling green eyes, a coat nearly as white as Celestia's, and a curly mane. Sister of Rarity, the most beautiful pony he knew. Spike was envious of their obvious superior genes. She also had a really pretty smile that she wore nearly constantly; Despite her worrying two days ago, he was sure she was the optimist. She definitely lived up to her name. “Sweetie." Boy was she ever sweet. One of the kindest he knew. 'Belle' meant beauty, and he couldn't fault that. She was pretty smart too. His mind recalled the conversations they had recently.

Spike suddenly shot up in bed. "Crap crap crap! I'm late!" While thinking of their talks, he remembered what he said about meeting up with her today after she got done with School. His new alarm clock said 2:40. Twenty minutes after she got out. He quickly got up and opened the door, running through the halls until he made it to the massive castle main entrance. Twilight was standing at the open door, and she looked back at his approach and smiled. "It's for you," she said as she backed to the side.

Sweetie Belle was smiling and greeted Spike, who walked up to the door. She backed down the steps as he walked out. "Hey, Spike!"

Spike put on his own smile and finished the steps to the ground. "Hey, Sweetie Belle," Sweetie went straight to his side.

"Just a moment, Spike!" Twilight said before they had taken any steps. He looked back and she waved him back up.

"I know it's my turn to cook but I really don't feel like it tonight. I have a lot to do. Could you pick up some take out? You know the restaurant. Starlight just wanted a salad. Get me a couple of those Veggie Burgers," her eyes rolled to the top of her head and stayed there, and she rubbed her stomach. "Sooo good!"

Spike snickered at her expression. She really loved the restaurant's veggie-burgers. She blushed and immediately took a neutral pose. "Sure, Twilight."

She passed him a decent sized bag of bits. "Should be more than enough in there. Why don't you treat yourself and Sweetie Belle while you're out too?" She gave him a sly smile. "A gentlestallion always treats the mare."

Spike blushed lightly. It had only been a day since they had all learned of Spike and Rarity's confrontation, and she was already teasing him about hanging with girls! He turned and quickly walked back to Sweetie's side.

Twilight waved after them with a grin. "Be home by 8 Spike! Have fun!"

"Will do!" he called back. He nudged Sweetie Belle while they walked. "So where are we going?"

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "I didn't really have any ideas. Why don't we walk around and see what's up?"

Spike nodded. "Sure."

As they walked, Sweetie Belle thought over how easy it was to talk to Spike now. Over the past couple of days when she realized her crush, she could barely speak to him without blushing up a storm and stammering. But after two nights ago when they had bonded, she had realized how easy it was. Just as easy as before she realized her crush.

They walked through town and chit-chatted, looking for something to do.

While they were walking through the main square, they walked past Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, laughing to themselves, and Spike warily watched them. Normally, before they changed, Spike did his absolute best to avoid them. When he walked with Twilight or the girls, he always made sure to hide before their larger forms. Now though? He was with Sweetie Belle, and he didn't want her to worry.

Besides, for some reason now he was feeling disgusted over his previous interactions with them. Twilight hadn't taught him anything about fights, and he had never been in one. He thought that running away was the right thing to do at the time, but... Something in him was different now. Ponyville was his home and he had just a right as any to walk through it. If they thought they could push him around now, they were dead wrong.

There were lights in their eyes and they seemed to generally find something funny. This didn't seem like their cruel laughter.

The two fillies spotted the other duo, and smiled and waved at Sweetie Belle who waved back. Silver Spoon also shot Spike a smile, which he returned half-heartedly. But as soon as Diamond's eyes wandered over his face from Sweetie Belle's , her smile dropped. It wasn't a look of anger, sadness, anything really. Just a pure blank look, as if she couldn't decide what to feel. Or as if she felt absolutely nothing about him. Somehow this felt even worse than blind hatred; her look made it seem as though he wasn't even worth considering. Did she remember and feel bad about hurting his feelings now that she changed? Or did she still hold malice for dragons and dragons only? Or did she feel simply nothing at all where he was concerned?

The moment passed them, as did the two fillies. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon started talking to each other again while Sweetie Belle and Spike went in the direction the fillies had just came from. Spike felt extremely uneasy as he remembered that blank look. Just... nothing. It was an extreme contrast from the carefree giggling only seconds before she saw him.

Sweetie Belle glanced up at Spike and noticed his expression. "Hey... Are you doing alright?"

Spike grimaced. On top of the hangover that was still making him wince in pain every few minutes, and the feelings of depression over Rarity, he didn't want to add 'upset by a few ex-bullies' to the list. He didn't really have the energy to lie to Sweetie Belle either. "Not really. But I will be. Let's find something fun to do, yeah?"

Sweetie Belle nodded and got a determined look on her face. If Spike didn't want to talk about what was troubling him, that was fine. She was going to make sure he had the best day ever.

~*~*~*~*~

Sweetie Belle suggested they should go find Rainbow Dash and see if she had any new tricks for them. Spike thought that was an excellent idea. A private showing from Rainbow Dash sounded fun.

"Where would she be, though?" Sweetie Belle pondered. It wasn't a misplaced question. Finding the prismatic mare in ponyville was like finding a polychromatic needle in a thatched-roof haystack.

It didn't help that she had a penchant to nap anywhere that she felt was suitable. Spike had found her in every random tree at Sweet Apple Acres, various clouds over ponyville, and once even in the library, on one of the tall book-cases. Luckily, he had practice in finding the mare.

Spike quickly pulled a gold pocket watch from a pocket in his scales and checked the time. 2:52. Rainbow Dash had quit her job as Manager for the Ponyville weather team when she joined the Wonderbolts. She should be free right now. And based on her previous sleeping habits...

He looked directly overhead. There was a singular solitary cloud in town, and Spike could see a rainbow falling off the side. Jackpot.

He looked to the side to Sweetie Belle, whose face was scrunched up with confusion. "Where'd you get that Pocket Watch?"

Spike blinked. "Uh, from Celestia. It was a gift."

"No, I mean... You just pulled it from... Uh, Nevermind."

Spike shrugged and placed the pocket watch back in his scales, earning a twitch from Sweetie Belle. He shouted up at the Cloud. "Yo, R.D!"

The rainbow tail flicked, before pulling itself onto the cloud. Then the entire cloud lowered itself to about ground level, Rainbow Dash lazily pushing it down with her wings. "Yeah, what's up, Squirt?" she looked at Sweetie Belle and amended. "Squirts."

Spike grinned. "Got any new tricks to show us? You know how much I love seeing you perform."

Rainbow Dash thought about it and stood on the cloud, stretching out as she did so. "Yeah, I guess I got a few. It was about time to end my power nap and start training anyways. Alright, meet me out by the fields in about ten minutes. I'm gonna go home and get my water gallons. And don't be late 'cause I'll start without you."

Without even waiting for a reply, the Roy G. Biv herself flew off to prepare.

Spike and Sweetie Belle grinned to each other. This was going to be cool.

~*~*~*~*~

"That was so uncool..." Rainbow Dash shivered to herself as Spike and Sweetie Belle busied themselves by picking thorns out of various areas of her body. It sounded as if she was more upset that she failed her performance than she was injured. Knowing Rainbow Dash, Spike wouldn't put it past her.

"Well... I thought it was awesome until you crashed," Sweetie Belle interjected helpfully, pulling a thorn from Rainbow Dash’s wing with her magic, earning a yelp and a glare from the mare. The filly grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah! The way you turned from a barrel roll into a downwards corkscrew spin and pulled out at the last second was amazing!" Spike explained. He quickly pulled another thorn from her foreleg to get her attention on him.

The colorful Scootaloo NEO grimaced at the feeling of the two adolescents pulling brambles from her in places she couldn't reach, before smirking at Spike's choice of words. "I'm sure you know allll about how awesome pulling out is, Spike."

Spike immediately lit up red and punched her in the shoulder with all of his strength. Before it probably wouldn't have hurt her, but now with his increased size, it left her arm sore, and it was already covered in bruises from the thorns. "Hey, hey, easy. It was a joke," she hissed. "Like you could get laid anyways ya dweeb."

Spike looked concerned. "Woops. Sorry."

Sweetie Belle looked over at the thorn patch that Rainbow Dash had fallen into in thought. "I don't get it."

Spike and Rainbow Dash looked at eachother, as if asking who was going to explain it. Eventually, they both just stared at Sweetie Belle expectantly.

Sweetie Belle frowned, sitting on her haunches, and thought. Then she blushed as well. "Oh. OH."

Rainbow Dash snickered and stood. "Yeah, oh. A'ight, did you get them all?"

Spike glanced over her form, and Sweetie Belle swallowed and did the same. "Yeah, that's all- Oh, wait," he pulled one last thorn from the side of her flank, directly on the  tip of the Lightning Bolt in her cutie Mark. The flying gay pride advertisement yelped and jumped in the air, not expecting that one. Her wings snatched open.

"AARGH, I hate thorns, Please PLEASE Tell me that was the last one!"

Spike looked over her athletic and toned form carefully, eyes lingering on her muscles longer than they needed to. "Yeah, you're good."

Rainbow Dash grinned. "Great. I'm gonna go hit up a shower then. Show's over." She stretched and took off for her elaborate cloud-house.

Spike called after her. "THANKS FOR THE SHOW, DASH!"

Sweetie Belle looked after her colorful trail as it followed the fastest creature alive. "Does she always leave without waiting for goodbyes?" Sweetie Belle had talked to Rainbow Dash plenty of times, but always part of a group with her sister and her five friends, or with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. This was the closest the filly had spent to one-on-one time with the blue speedster.

Spike shrugged. "Yeah, that's kind of her thing. Well that was a good way to kill..." He checked the pocket watch. "An hour and a half. What next?"

Sweetie Belle hummed, glancing around the field. "Well, I picked the last one, so you pick."

Spike noticed her humming and smiled. That was right! Sweetie Belle had such a lovely singing voice. He was almost certain that she'd become a world-famous singer before she became a Cutie Mark therapist. "I'd like to hear you sing."

Sweetie Belle flushed and covered her face. "W-what? You want to hear me sing? It's... It isn't that good, Spike."

Spike frowned. "Yeah it is, and I'm not gonna sit here and listen to you defame yourself. If you don't want to sing in front of people that's fine, but trust me when I say that I really, really love hearing your voice."

Sweetie Belle felt that if any more blood went from her brain and into her face, she'd pass out. She was already pretty dizzy. He really likes my voice that much? Oh jeeze... I really don't like singing in front of anypony else, but... Well, he asked. And if you won't do it for Spike, who will you do it for?

Spike watched her expectantly, and she cleared her throat. "A-alright. If... If you really want me to..."

"I do." He said quickly with a grin that put butterflies in Sweetie's stomach. She imagined those exact same words coming from his mouth in an entirely different situation. Her in the prettiest white gown her sister could make, him in a tuxedo so dashing that Rainbow would have to change her name. She quickly cleared her head and gulped, making sure nopony else but Spike was near the field.

She thought of something to sing. Spike smiled encouragingly, sitting in the grass.

Eventually, she opened her mouth...

"I've been starin' at you again...

Tryin to find out where I fit in...

I really like bein' your friend...

But half written love notes fill the bin..."

Spike's smile ever widened as memories of the familiar tune played from radio's speakers. He decided it sounded much better from her voice.

"And I just want you to know...

I'll always be there for you...

And I just really hope that one day you will feel it too..."

When the chorus hit, Spike closed his eyes and just let the waves of her melodic voice crash over his bay.

"So where you wanna go?

How much you wanna risk?

We can bet our friendship on a magic kiss...

And we can share it all through the hits and miss...

I want to say, 'I love you' but I think you get the gist...

Do doo doo, do doo dooo...

Do do doo do dooo...

Do doo doo do doo dooo...

Do do doo do dooo..."

Sweetie Belle finished with a shy smile, finally opening her eyes to see Spike's reaction.

Spike started clapping and whistled. "Sweetie Belle, that was great! I wish you could hear what I hear when you sing. It's absolutely beautiful."

Sweetie Belle rubbed one forehoof with the other, and smiled at the ground. She felt on top of the world.

"So why that song?"

Sweetie Belle immediately looked up and cringed at his curious face. "U-uh, well, h-heh, everybody loves Coltplay! I just really liked the song... It had no special underlying messages or anything..."

Spike's face scrunched up. "Yeaaah... Uh, I like it too. They're one of my favorite bands."

Sweetie Belle's false grin hid her inner turmoil as she inwardly screamed. 'AHHHHHHHH'

She coughed into a hoof and pushed past the awkwardness. "So, uh... I really like Green Hay too... What else do you like?"

Spike's face returned to its neutral smile. He absently picked at the grass as he thought. "Oh, I have a favorite band from every genre, but I personally like classical music the most." He cracked his fingers. "Don't know if you ever knew, but I can play a mean piano."

Sweetie giggled. "Rarity told me how well you played after you all came back from Appleloosa. She said you were the best part of Pinkie's performance."

Spike let loose a tittering laugh and shrugged. "Well, when you have fingers, and a piano built for a minotaur, it's a lot easier to make songs sound good. Ponies only have two hooves to work with."

"Well, I'd love to hear it sometime," Sweetie offered.

Spike grimaced. "I'd love to, but I still haven't found a minotaur piano like the one in Appleloosa. The music store in town only has the big ones built for hooves."

Sweetie Belle pouted. "That's too bad."

Spike sighed, "Yeah."

Sweetie Belle frowned. It didn't seem like Spike had any ideas, and it seemed like he was getting discouraged again, so she decided to take the reigns.

"Wanna play video games again?"

~*~*~*~*~

"Dear Equinity. We regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Equis. And we most definitely regret that the corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!"

"HOORAH!"

Rarity grimaced at the brutish language, looking at the metropolis that made Manehatten look like Ponyville. The unicorn on the television wore a green suit of armor and was levitating what appeared to be a streamlined canon in his aura. All of it was displayed on the magically powered TV, gritty colors dancing across its crystal display.

"I really regret buying you this, Sweetie Belle. It's so uncouth."

Sweetie Belle huffed and rolled her eyes, controller levitating in her magical aura. Spike gripped another in his claws

"Come on, Rarity. It's all fake and good fun. It's no different from reading a book. Admittedly, a really gory and science-fictiony book, but still."

Rarity grimaced at Spike's description. "It's not the video games I find uncouth, Spike. Sweetie Belle gets out enough that I don't mind her playing them when she stays with me. But I just don't understand why it has to be so... So drab! Why, all you do is kill aliens! How either of you find this entertaining is beyond me."

Sweetie Belle sighed. "It isn't about the gameplay in this one, sis, although that's good too. It's the story! It's so good."

Rarity picked up the case for the game in her aura and lifted to her face. She grimaced as she read the description. "Oh absolutely. Because the imminent destruction of all life makes such a good plot device," it didn't take a genius to hear the sarcasm in her voice. "If I find you emulating any of this, I'm giving all your games and the Xtrot to our parents, and they can lock it up when they get back."

Sweetie Belle was exasperated. "I'm not a child anymore, Rarity!"

Rarity pursed her lips and glanced between her and Spike. It was obvious she didn't want to make this an issue. "I suppose not. Are you staying for dinner, Spike?"

Spike glanced at his pocket watch again. 7:30 PM. Half an hour. He wilted a little. Spike didn't realize he was having so much fun. The time was passing by way too quickly. "No. I'm supposed to bring dinner back home around 8."

She gave him a small smile. "Very well. Will you be free within a day or two? I'm finally making those dresses and I could use the assistance."

Spike furrowed his brow. She almost sounded... hesitant. Did she think he wasn't going to help her simply because of their talk the other day?

"Of course, Rarity... You didn't think I was helping you just because I thought we could be in a relationship, did you?"

Rarity laughed nervously. "Now, Spike, why would you say something like that? I may have been a tad worried I might have to conscript Sweetie Belle again because you were busy, but I know you aren't that selfish... Now, I must return to dinner posthaste," she trotted back into the kitchen.

Sweetie Belle paused the game and yawned. Spike looked over at her. "Tired?"

She shook her head. "Just a little bored. We've been at this for a few hours now... Want to go for a walk? You gotta go pick up dinner at that new restaurant anyways, right?"

Spike gave a confirming nod and stood. He and Sweetie Belle left the Carousel boutique and began walking in the direction of the restaurant..

The sun was lowering in the sky, almost touching the horizon. The sky slowly melted from its normal blue to a soft dull orange as time passed. The air was chilly and crisp, and Spike could taste Autumn around the corner. The sunset was beautiful today, he decided.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle was nervously shuffling while she walked. "So... Did, uh, did you have fun today?" the nerves were back in full force at the thought of what she was about to do.

Spike looked over at her. Her green eyes caught the light from the sun, making them sparkle. Golden light spilled over her white frame, painting her in a Variegated of colors, and Spike realized that the sunset wasn't the only beautiful thing out tonight. He thought over the day they had. He really did have a great time. Sweetie Belle was a lot of fun to hang out with. They shared a lot of common interests. They both loved music, and talking about anything and everything, and Spike did like video games too. He felt his heart fill with a warmth that it only had with Rarity before. He'd love to just keep hanging out with her all night.

"Yeah. I had a great time. How about you?"

Sweetie Belle blushed and nodded. In the dripping orange light, it seemed like Spike's scales shined.When he talked and grinned, his pearly white dagger-like teeth gave her goosebumps when she looked at them. The light filled his draconian eyes, filling them with amusement, and Sweetie knew he was being truthful about enjoying himself. He even really loved her singing. She watched as he brought his claws over his head, cracking them all the while. She wondered if she was weird for liking Spike despite all his differences. He wasn't a pony. When he looked at her again, wondering why she wasn't answering, and she stared into those beautiful orbs of white, green and black, she realized that she honestly didn't care if she was weird. She beamed and answered him. She just wished she could tell him the extent of it.

"Yeah... Me too."

The restaurant came into sight. Before that, though, Spike saw an ice-cream vendor packing up for the day, and a bench. He remembered what Twilight told him.

She gave him a sly smile. "A gentlestallion always treats the mare.”

He smiled and ran for the vendor. Sweetie widened her eyes as he ran ahead and picked up her pace to follow him. When he got to the vendor, he pulled out the bag of bits Twilight gave him. "Before you go, can we get something?"

The mare lowered her parasail and smiled down at the pair. "Sure. What can I get you?"

Spike looked over the flavors on the magical cooling-cart and pointed at one picture. "Double fudge. How about you Sweetie?"

Sweetie Belle looked up at Spike, as if to make sure it was okay. When he nodded encouragingly, she looked back down to the flavors and pointed with a hoof. "Rocky Road."

The mare used her magic to quickly scoop the flavors into a pair of ice-cream cones, which she held out to the duo. "Two bits, please."

Spike took the cone in his hand, and pulled the bag out of his pocket, and opened the sack.

The mare frowned and leaned in to Sweetie Belle, who had replaced the orange aura on the cone with a light green one. She whispered to the filly, "Does... does he have pockets?"

Sweetie Belle giggled airly, heart still fluttering, a silly smile in place. "I've been wondering that all day."

The mare chuckled to herself and accepted the money that Spike passed to her, placing it in a bulging bag on the cart. "Dragons," she shook her head and walked to the side of her cart, pushing it home.

Spike lead Sweetie Belle over to the bench and sat on it, watching the sun dip ever below the buildings. Sweetie joined him, and they both went to town on their ice-cream cones.

While she ate, Sweetie Belle mustered her courage. This is it... In just a minute he'll pick up their food and we'll go our separate ways... It has to be now...

She quickly finished, and waited for him to finish, too. The suspense was killing Sweetie Belle as she twitched in place. If he didn't finish soon, she might lose what courage she gathered.

Finally, finally, Spike finished his ice-cream, cone and all. He smiled over to Sweetie Belle, about to explain that he had to go and they should do this again.

Instead, he couldn't get a word out, in no small part to the lips that suddenly found themselves pressed against his. Spike's eyes widened as he stared into Sweetie's now closed eyelids, and her muzzle pressed against his face. Her fur tickled his cheeks, and he tasted the cold still on her lips, the sensation adding to the shivers now flowing through him for an entirely different reason. It was a stark contrast with the warmth that billowed through him as she pressed her breast against his, both hooves planted sideways on the bench.

A torrent of thoughts flew through his mind and he had no idea which to focus on. Surprise at what was happening, and surprise that Sweetie Belle was doing it. He never imagined she would have feelings for him. Wonder at the thought that this was his first kiss. And a fire that filled him to his core. It felt... Right.

Sweetie's mind was blank as she simply lost herself to the sensation of his scales. Despite the ice-cream they just ate, he was burning hot against her mouth, and her stomach was doing flips. Indeed, it seemed as if all her internal organs had decided to host a circus. Apparently, her stomach had experience as a butterfly tamer, too, as she felt light and giddy inside, butterfly's tickling her all the while.

Eventually, she realized the world around her,and the fact that Spike hadn't moved once since she pressed herself to him. He hadn't returned her affections in the slightest. The warmth drained out of her, replaced with cold sadness. Her breath hitched, and she released Spike with a shudder, keeping her eyes closed all the while. She sadly backed her head away.

Only to moan in  appreciation as Spike closed the distance again, mashing his lips against hers. He deepened the kiss, and her inner circus had obviously decided to start an act with rings of fire, as she felt her blood boiling all over. She tasted a myriad of flavors as she opened her mouth to accept his. The chocolate that he had eaten only moments prior mixed with the minty taste of toothpaste. Spike wrapped his arms around her barrel, and Sweetie Belle reciprocated the gesture, placing her hooves around his shoulder.

Eventually, they broke away, panting all the while. Sweetie Belle had a look of pure happiness, and Spike had a goofy grin on his face. They made up for lost air, just enjoying each other's embrace.

Spike broke the silence first. "W-wow. I... Sweetie, I had no idea."

Sweetie Belle struggled to find her voice. Her voice was almost cracking with how dizzy she felt. "N-neither d-did I unt-til a few days ago."

Spike released her except for the one arm he kept over her shoulder, and pulled her closer. He thought about checking his pocket watch, but realized he really didn't care about anything else at the moment except for their conversation. "Since... Since the growth spurt?"

Sweetie Belle turned forwards on the bench again and leaned against Spike. "Y-yeah... But if I'm being completely honest, I think even before then, too. Remember a year ago when we danced at Princess Cadence and Captain Armor's wedding?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah," he smirked to himself. "I learned to shuffle for it... That long? Really?"

Sweetie Belle giggled, "I thought that was so cool, the way you danced. I didn't realize it was a crush, but I definitely felt funny whenever I was with you after that."

The two sat even as the sun was three quarters of the way down now. Sweetie Belle frowned and shuffled nervously in his embrace. "S-so... Where does this leave us? I mean, I know I'm not my s-sister, but..."

Spike thought for a while. And then he smiled.

He smiled a lot today. For a lot of different reasons. Amusement. Encouragement. Happiness. But this? This was a smile of contentment. He wanted to feel that smile for as long as he lived. He squeezed Sweetie Belle to him.

"You know what I realized, today? I don't want you to be Rarity. I'm just happy to be with you just the way you are."

The tears that streamed down Sweetie Belle's face were that of pure, unadulterated joy.

~*~*~*~*~

Spike walked home, feeling lighter than air. A few bags of veggie-burgers and a salad were stacked in his claws. The sun had since fell below the horizon, and Spike knew if he checked his Pocket Watch it would probably be well over 8. He simply couldn't muster any reason to care, though. It was well worth whatever punishment Twilight might have had in store.

When he reached the castle, he opened the doors and walked in through the quiet entrance hall. It being dark wasn't very weird.

What was weird is that the map room was dark. Twilight didn't turn out all the lanterns and such until at least midnight. Spike made his way through the inky blackness to where he knew the table was. He suddenly jumped as a spotlight opened up onto Twilight's throne. The lavender mare herself was sitting in the chair, seeming quite serious.

Spike wandered up to where he'd thought the table to be and set the food down on top of it. "Uh, Hey, Twilight.... What's going on?"

The alicorn greeted him neutrally. "Hello, Spike. Take a seat."

Another light opened up onto his throne, on the opposite side of Twilights from the table. Somepony had moved it into the empty spot there. The lights were odd in the fact that they literally only revealed what was directly beneath them. They seemingly stopped when they hit the ground and didn't reflect off any other surfaces, leaving the rest of the room in a magical darkness. Spike gulped and sat down in the throne opposite Twilight. Was she really that upset for him being a few minutes late?

"You're late." she said without any sort of tone.

Spike rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah.. I was out with Sw-"

"You almost missed the presentation." she interrupted.

Spike scrunched up his snout. "Presen...tation?"

Twilight's mouth finally took a grin as the entire room flooded with light. Behind her, a massive whiteboard filled the chamber, nearly touching the remains of the Golden Oaks Library tree stump at the top. Discord was above even that on metal scaffold that weren't there before, holding a now deactivated spotlight in his paw/claw. Grinning and with a snap of a claw, the metal railing disappeared, as did he. Spike sat alone in front of a very happy Twilight.

"It's time we had a talk," Princess Twilight Sparkle said with glee.

~*~*~*~*~
BONUS SCENE
~*~*~*~*~
Scootaloo stepped inside her house with a sigh.

The day hadn't been a very bad one. She and Applebloom had managed to help a Colt get his Cutie Mark. That was the highlight.

Now it was time to hit the worst part of her day.

The young pegasus walked through the moderate house's hallway into the Kitchen. Her mother, a cream pegasus with a purple mane glanced up from the the finance book in front of her with a frazzled smile. Her mane stuck up in a million places. "Hello, dear... How was school?"

Scootaloo faked a smile and stepped up to the fridge, taking a glance inside. She stopped pretending and glanced at the daisy sandwich with distaste as soon as her back was turned. Another simple flower sandwich for dinner. Surprise, the rest of the fridge was empty. "Hey, Mom. Good. How was work?"

"It was work." She stared back down at the finance book with a pen in her mouth and let out a slightly distressed noise.

Scootaloo abandoned the food for now and trotted into the living room, where her father, an orange pegasus with brown mane sat in a chair, staring at the newspaper. He lowered it and glanced at his daughter when she came in, putting on a smile. "Hey, champ. How was school?"

"Hey, Daddy," she sat in front of his recliner at looked up at him. I don't know why I even bother... He isn't going to say yes. "It was fine. Do you have time to go play hoofball today?"

Scootaloo's father looked down at her in sympathy. "I know I promised, but..."

"Yeah, I know," she said with a frown on her face. She knew she was being unreasonable, but that didn't make her feel any better. "Manual labor is killer on your back. Whatever."

Scootaloo's father felt a jolt of pain in his heart as she started trotting away to her room, content to wallow in self pity over her emotional neglect. The worse part was she couldn't even blame her parents. They were trying their very best. "Scootaloo, wait!"

Scootaloo paused without turning around. "Yeah?"

He pointed to a package that sat in the corner. "Somepony sent mail for you."

Scootaloo furrowed her brow and turned, trotting over to the box he pointed out. Nopony's ever sent me mail before...

She opened the lid, and saw a large amount of burlap sacks inside. There must have been a dozen, each bigger than her head. Resting on top was a letter. She picked it up, opened it, and began reading.

Dear Scootaloo,

Forgive me if this is presumptuous, but after you told me about your financial problems, I may have done a little bit of digging. Being a princess gives you a lot of leeway with things like that. As you probably know, your parents took out a loan a while ago to buy the house you're living in at the moment. It's very difficult clawing your way out of debt, isn't it? I have no doubt that after a few years of scrimping and saving, your family would have come out on top again. But I also took the liberty to check with both of your parents places of employment and pulled their work history.

That's a lot of hours not being spent at home. I can't allow that.

Inside you will find the approximate sum of 5,000 bits. I don't spend it on much anyways. It was all just lying in the castle coffers. It'll be full in a few weeks again anyways, and I'm going to start looking into charity organizations soon so it doesn't get that way again. So I don't want to hear a single word about not being able to accept this from you or your parents.

Your friend,
Princess Twilight Sparkle.

By the time she had finished, the page was covered with tears, and the ink began to flow. "MOM, DAD!"