Spike made the biggest yawn he ever made as he walked to the tower with the room where he and Twilight sleep. It's been a long day for him, the huge adventure to get some help to save Equestria from Tempest Shadow, or the Storm King since his secret of him using her was revealed, and the Songbird Serenade concert. Now, that the day's over, he can finally sleep.
"Spike.", Twilight called with a basket hanging on her left hoof.
Spike faced her lavender friend. "What's up, Twilight?", he asked.
"Rarity wanted me to give you this basket of gems.", Twilight said, handing the basket over to Spike. "It's a reward for being a trooper throughout our whole journey."
"Sweet.", Spike said, preparing to grab a gem and eat it. But, Twilight stopped him.
"Wait until tomorrow, Spike.", Twilight said. "You shouldn't eat anything before you go to bed." She began heading toward her tower where her bedroom is.
Spike was disappointed that he couldn't eat a gem, but he is happy that he got them from Rarity. "You know, in the morning, tell Rarity I said thanks for these.", he said. "And speaking of Rarity, including our other friends, do you think you should continue your make-up with them?"
Twilight froze and turned around to face Spike. "Huh?", she asked. "I thought I already did."
"That was during the battle between us and the Storm King.", Spike said. "Rainbow Dash interrupted you before you can finish."
Twilight remembered that moment, she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash when they were facing the Storm King. "Oh, now I remember, I was interrupted.", she said as she started to go the opposite direction of where she was going. "I'm going over to the castle to apologize to my friends. You should go to bed, Spike. If I don't come to the room and I'm sleeping somewhere else, I'll come to the room and wake you up in the morning."
"Ok.", Spike responded.
"I'll see you in the morning if I don't show up, Spike.", Twilight said, continuing to go to the castle.
"Good night.", Spike said, waving to her friend. He turned around, only to get scared by three tall creatures and scaring them as well. It was Capper, Captain Celaeno, and Princess Skystar. Spike took a deep breath in relief. "It's just you three."
"Yup, it's just us, we ain't going to harm you.", Capper reassured.
"Of course we're not. Besides, we saved the home of those ponies, including this little guy.", Skystar chirped.
"Yeah, the little guy who almost ran into us.", Celaeno chuckled.
Spike chuckled sheepishly with a blush on his face. "So, what are you three doing here?", he asked as his blush faded away.
"We just overheard you talking to Twilight.", Capper said.
"About what?", Spike asked.
"It was something about an apology.", Celaeno said.
"Oh, right.", Spike said. "When we left the undersea kingdom, we rested on a beach, and Twilight lashed out at her friends, because we were banished by that strict queen. Oh... uh... no offense, Princess."
"None taken, shortie.", Skystar said. "And you are right, my mom does get strict at times, and that one time was the worst time she became so shocked and mad. Your purple friend was stealing our pearl."
"She thought it was her only chance to save Equestria.", Spike said. "But, what I know is that she's sorry for stealing."
"Thanks, kid.", Skystar said, winking at the little dragon.
"Anyways, Capper.", Spike said.
"Hm?", Capper responded.
"I want to apologize for misjudging you... in my head, when we first met.", Spike said. "It's just that-"
"No worries, boy.", Capper interrupted. "And it's probably for a reason. It's about that white unicorn with the purple hair, ain't it?"
"Rarity?", Spike guessed.
"Yes.", Capper responded. "Which brings me to a certain question that I want to ask you. Do you have feelings for her?"
Spike froze with sweat coming down the sides of his head. "M-Me? Feelings f-for R-Rarity? H-How did you k-know that?", he asked.
"I can tell by the jealous rage in your eye.", Capper said. "You have feelings for her this whole time and never even spoke up. Is that correct?"
"Yes, I do like her, but she's not into me.", Spike said shyly. "I hope you're not mad."
"Don't worry, no need to feel afraid, I'm not mad.", Capper said.
Spike was surprised. "You're not?", he asked.
"Nope, because I never had a crush on her to begin with.", Capper said. "Because, since the beginning, I had a crush on somepony else."
Spike was slightly shocked to hear Capper say the word 'somepony'. He became a tad bit curious of who he has a crush on. "You're kidding. Is it Applejack?", he asked.
"Nope.", Capper said. "She's a farmer. Besides, she's not as beautiful as a princess. Don't tell her I said that."
"Pinkie Pie?", he guessed.
"No.", Capper said. "Nice guess though."
"Fluttershy's my last guess.", Spike said.
"Nice last guess, but no.", Capper said. "I'm talking about Twilight."
Spike froze in shock. "Twilight? My caretaker, Twilight?", he asked. "You have a crush on her?"
"That's right.", Capper said. "She's my special lady."
"How come you didn't tell her or us before?", Spike asked.
"Well, if I said it in front of Rarity, she might get upset and start whining and crying asking me to marry her.", Capper said.
"Okay then. Rarity's doesn't get too dramatic at times, but ok.", Spike said. "Anyways, I should go to bed, I'm getting exhausted." He passed them and began walking up the stairs. Before he can reach the top, Celaeno called for him.
"Hey, kid, thank you.", the pirate captain said.
Spike turned around to face them one more time. "What was that?", he asked.
"Listen, we just want to thank you for letting us stay here.", Skystar said.
"Well, it's not me you should be thanking, it's Twilight you should be thanking.", Spike said. "I never owned this place."
"Yeah, but still, it's kind of nice living in a beautiful area like this.", Capper said. "The towers do have nice features."
"Yeah.", Spike agreed. "They sure do."
"Good night.", Capper said. "Also, if you want some tips on how to charm a lady, I'm your guy. Just call me anytime.
"Good night.", Spike repeated back to the three, before he turned back around and continued to walk up the stairs. But, he stopped for a moment to say one last thing. "And thank you guys for sticking with us in that battle."
"No problem, kid.", Skystar chirped.
"And if your friends go through another battle and wants us to stick with them again, we trust them and you.", Capper said, before he and the other two strange creatures walked away.
Spike smiled. He then made it to the top of the stairs, opened the door, entered the room, and closed it behind him.
In the castle of Canterlot, Twilight knocks on the door to the room where her friends are about to sleep in. "Girls, are you asleep yet?", she asked.
"No, not yet.", Rainbow Dash said from the other side of the door. She, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were tucked in their beds and were about to go to sleep until they heard Twilight knock on the door.
"You can come in, Darling.", Rarity said. "If there's something you want to talk about."
"But, it better be quick, we're getting sleepy.", Fluttershy complained.
"Fluttershy, that wasn't a way to talk to your friend like that.", Applejack scoffed. "There could something important Twilight needs to talk about."
Fluttershy chuckled. "Applejack, it wasn't serious, I was just being sarcastic.", she said. "Sure I would want to listen to what Twilight needs to tell us."
Twilight opened the door and entered the room. "Did you girls just get tucked in?", she asked.
"Well duh.", Pinkie Pie said as she and the other mares got out of bed and walked up to Twilight. "But, now that you're here, we can listen to you talk."
Twilight took a deep breath and let her words fall out. "I want to continue my apology to you girls.", she said. "I was about to complete it until Rainbow Dash interrupted me."
"Oh, right. Hehe.", Rainbow Dash chuckled sheepishly. "Guess this is your good time to continue."
"Well, the apology is mostly to Pinkie, because I lashed out at her.", Twilight said. "Pinkie, I really am sorry that I lashed out at you in front of our friends."
Pinkie smiled and pulled her in a side hug. "Oh, Twilight, it's okay, you didn't mean it.", she cooed, nuzzling her cheek into Twilight's.
"And there is a little bit of an apology to Rainbow Dash.", Twilight said. "Rainbow, I should've blamed you for that sonic rainboom when we were on Celaeno's ship."
"Oh, no, Twilight, no need to apologize.", Rainbow Dash assured Twilight. "I knew Tempest was going to find out where we were, I wanted to show it to the pirates, and I probably should've done that."
"You know, Twilight, you're going to have to owe some apologies.", Applejack assured. "For example, Queen Novo for stealing her pearl, Capper for accusing him of selling us out, and... Maybe that's it, I don't know if you did anything to anypony else."
"Look, girls, the reason why I'm apologizing, is because...", Twilight paused for a moment, waiting for tears to come out of her eyes. She then started to sniffle. She made the biggest sniffle she can make, before she can continue to talk. "I thought I lost you girls forever. I love you girls so much and I felt so stupid to rant on you. Don't you girls understand? I'm miserable without you girls. It was all my fault." She stumbled on her flank and began crying while facing the ground.
Fluttershy walked up to Twilight and stroked her mane. "Oh no, Twilight.", she comforted. "It's ok. You shouldn't blame yourself for that."
"She's right, Sugarcube.", Applejack agreed. "You were just upset."
"Sure you didn't trust us when we were having fun with our new friends, but you were right, we should've focused on the mission.", Rarity said.
"And just so you know, WE were about to be miserable when we thought we lost you in that wind storm.", Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, even though what you did was wrong, we forgave you.", Pinkie Pie assured, lifting Twilight's chin up with a hoof. "Just remember that, ok?"
"Ok...", Twilight sniffled.
"Come on, show us that smile, Darling.", Rarity cooed.
Twilight tried to make a happy smile, but the smile she made was pretty weak, because she still felt ashamed of what she did to snap at her friends. After a few seconds, it disappeared, then Twilight faced the floor once more.
Pinkie Pie scratched her chin, thinking to herself. "I don't think that helped, there's got to be some other way.", she thought. She then gasped as she glanced at Twilight's tummy. She made a smug grin. While Twilight wasn't looking, she whispered in Rainbow Dash and Rarity's ear about the plan. Rarity whispered in Applejack's ear, then Applejack whispered in Fluttershy's ear.
"Hey, Twilight.", Pinkie said. "What's that right there?" She pointed at Twilight's stomach.
Twilight looked down. "What's what? What am I looking for?", she asked.
Pinkie prodded Twilight's stomach, making her yelp. "Hey, what did you do that for?", she asked.
"Are you ticklish?", Pinkie crooned, batting her eyelids.
"Huh?!", Twilight gasped, spreading out her wings and forming a blush on her cheeks.
Applejack snickered and approached Twilight. "How about right here?", she asked, prodding her side to make her giggle.
Rainbow Dash chuckled and went to the backside of Twilight. "How about the backside?", she asked, prodding her back to make her yelp.
"Hey, instead of the prodding, how about we make this twelve units higher.", Pinkie announced, pouncing on Twilight and began to tickle her with a hoof, making the purple alicorn burst into laughter.
Applejack joined in by tickling another spot on the purple pony's belly. Rainbow Dash joined in by using her wings to tickle her left side. Fluttershy joined in by doing the same thing Applejack did by tickling the lower part of her belly with a hoof. And Rarity joined in the tickling, but instead of using her hooves, she used her magic, she gently plucked a feather from Fluttershy's wing and used it to tickle her right side while holding her hooves down with her magic.
"Hahahahahahahaha! Gihihihihihihirls!", Twilight laughed. Her laughter was hard to control with all the tickling from her friends.
"Don't talk, Twilight.", Pinkie cooed. "Just laugh."
"That's right, we're trying to make you feel better.", Rainbow Dash snickered. "So deal with it."
"You are so ticklish, Twilight.", Rarity teased. "It's so adorable."
"Coochie Coochie Coo. Hehehe.", Fluttershy giggled.
"How do you like that, you silly whipper snapper.", Applejack teased.
Twilight did nothing but laugh her heart out. She didn't used her magic, nor she used her wings to tickle one of her friends back, they were just too strong to hold her down.
"Girls, lets all stop now, poor Twilight can't take it much longer.", Rarity assured her friends.
The girls stopped tickling Twilight to let her breathe. "Whew, boy, that was a lot of fun.", she sighed with content.
Fluttershy came over to Twilight's left side and gave her a hug. "Feeling better?", she asked, patting her friend on the head.
Twilight giggled. "Yes. Hehe.", she responded between small laughs.
"Well, now that that's all out of the way, we can all go to bed.", Rarity said.
Twilight stood up on her hooves. "Looks like I'll be walking all the way back to my tower.", she said, facing the doorway. "Goodnight, girls." She started to walk towards the door and leave the room, but Applejack stopped her.
"Twilight.", she called.
"Hm?", Twilight responded.
"You can sleep with us if you want.", Applejack said.
"Oh my.", Twilight said, joyfully. "Really?"
"Yeah, we owe you one for not focusing on the job and making you feel bad.", Rainbow Dash said.
"Actually, I made myself feel bad for the lash-out, but thanks, girls.", Twilight said. "You girls have no idea how much this means to me."
"We're just letting you sleep with us tonight, because... we love you too.", Pinkie said.
Twilight's eyes began to tear up again, but this time they were happy tears. "Oh, girls.", she cried, rushing up to her friends and giving them the biggest hug she made. "I would never want to leave you, ever."
"That's what friends are for.", Fluttershy assured, as she and the others broke the embrace. They walked back to their beds and got tucked back in, except for Twilight. There was no sixth bed for her.
"There's no bed for me.", she said.
"Come on, Twilight.", Pinkie said, opening up some space on her bed for Twilight. "Get in here."
"Aww, Pinkie.", Twilight said, walking over to Pinkie's bed and getting in. "That's so sweet of you."
"Like we said, we owe you one.", Pinkie said, snuggling into her pillow.
"You girls are the best friends I've ever had.", Twilight said.
"You too.", Fluttershy said.
"Goodnight, Twilight.", the five mares said.
"Goodnight, girls.", Twilight said, before they turned out the lights drifted off to sleep.
