Disclaimer: I dont own My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic


"Sweetie Belle just gave the signal, let him go!" Apple Bloom said to Scootaloo, and Scootaloo let go of the little fiery yellow and orange bird.

Spike's baby phoenix flew to the window, saw a flash of light coming from the upper window of Carousel Boutique, and flew towards it.


'Perfect!' thought Rarity as she put the finishing touches on her newest creation. Surprisingly, it wasn't a dress. After her glitter bottle was spilled several times yesterday, she had devoted a portion of the morning to building a little shelf/cubby for all of the bottles she had scattered around the shop. 'I really should have done this a long time ago, considering how often these bottles get spilled.'

Suddenly she heard a commotion coming from upstairs.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity called up the stairs, fearing the worst. "What are you doing up there?"

"It's not me, Rarity" her sister answered. "I don't know what it is!"

Suspicious, Rarity started to climb the stairs, when suddenly a small yellow, orange and red blur flew past her into the main room, landing on her newly built shelf, followed soon after by her little sister Sweetie Belle.

"Is that…" Sweetie Belle started to ask.

"Peewee?" Rarity finished, wondering what Spike's phoenix was doing in her Boutique. Then she noticed what was in his claws.

"My fire ruby!" she gasped. "Now Peewee…" she began gently, trying to coax the bird down from her shelf. Thankfully, she had always gotten along quite well with the bird, thanks to her close friendship with Spike. But she didn't know how he would react to having his new prize taken from him.

As she inched towards the shelf trying not to startle him into flying off, Peewee grew more and more skittish.

"I'll get him!" Sweetie Belle shouted, suddenly bounding towards Pewee.

"Sweetie Belle, wait!" started Rarity, but it was too late. Peewee had taken off, and was now swooping about the room, followed close behind by her sister.

Was it Rarity's imagination, or was Sweetie Belle deliberately trying to agitate him? Rarity tried to come at the bird from the opposite direction, but that just made Peewee fly straight across the room to the other side, avoiding both girls.

Keeping her eyes on the bird, she did not notice that she was on a collision course with Sweetie Belle.

CRASH!

Rarity was buried under rolls of different colored cloths. Apparently, Sweetie Belle was not, because she could hear her calling "Don't worry sis, I'll get him!"

As she dug herself out, she heard a muffled scraping sound, and her sister cried out "Oh no!"

She quickly cleared the rest of the fabric off of her.

"What happened?" she cried, not seeing him anywhere. "Where did he go?"

"I'm sorry sis…" Sweetie Belle said softly, hanging her head so that Rarity couldn't see her eyes. "He got out the window."

Rarity's eyes widened as panic started setting in. She rushed out the door to chase down the bird, determined to get her ruby back no matter how long it took.

As she exited, she saw Peewee in the distance, flying toward the Everfree forest.

"Sweetie Belle, wait here!" she called behind her as she chased after the bird.

"Whatever you say sis!" a surprisingly cheerful sounding Sweetie Belle yelled back.

Although Rarity didn't have time to wonder why her sister sounded so cheerful about this all of a sudden, she couldn't help the fact that one nagging thought kept floating around in her head… 'I could have sworn that that window was closed!'


Rarity didn't know how long she had been out in the Everfree forest looking for Peewee, but it was late afternoon before she finally caught a fiery flash through the trees.

She ran towards it as fast as she could, rounding a tree, and ran straight into…

"Spike?" she asked, astonished.

"Rarity?" an equally astonished Spike asked.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked, recovering before Spike.

"I was looking for Peewee" he said, pointing to the top of the tree, where Rarity noticed the phoenix was perched, the fire ruby in his beak. "Apple Bloom and Scootaloo saw him flying out here. What are you doing here?"

"I was following Peewee too!" she answered "Somehow he got into my shop, and he stole my special fire ruby! He won't…" She hesitated for a moment. "He won't eat it, will he?"

Spike chuckled a little, then made a chittering noise to the phoenix. Peewee immediately came down from the branch, and landed on top of one of Spike's green spikes. He held out his hand, and Peewee dropped the fire ruby into his outstretched hand.

"Don't worry Rarity," he said. "Phoenixes don't eat gems. I think Peewee just likes the fire frozen inside of this one."

He handed the gem to Rarity, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank you Spike" she said, clasping the gem around her neck. "I just don't know what I would have done if I hadn't gotten this back. And you!" she said to Peewee this time. "Don't think you'll get off this easily if you ever try to take my ruby again!"

The three of them started walking back to town, Spike and Rarity easily conversing with each other. As they rounded a bend in the trail, Ponyville came into view, and they stopped talking for a moment, both relieved to have the town in their sights once more.

As they started walking again, Spike, unsure of how to ask this, started trying to talk.

"Uh, Rarity?" he started. "Can I ask you something?"

"Why of course Spike."

"Did you… did you mean what you said back there?"

Confused, she answered "Why Spike, what do you mean? What did I say?"

"Well, when I asked why you were out here, you said that Peewee had taken your special fire ruby… Did you mean it? That it was special I mean."

Rarity smiled. "Why of course Spike. It's my most favorite gem!"

"Because it's so valuable?"

"Well, it is rather valuable, but no. It's my favorite gem because it was a gift from my special little Spikey-Wikey!"

Spike blushed as she kissed him on the cheek. He was about to say something else, but he was interrupted, when Pinkie Pie called out to them.

"Hey Spike! Hey Rarity! Aren't you just ever so excited about my party tonight?" Pinkie laughed, bouncing around the three of them.

"Party? What Party?" Rarity asked, a little put off by Pinkie's sudden appearance.

"You didn't hear? You're both invited of course. Can you both be invited? I mean obviously you can be invited Rarity, but Spike? I'm not sure, what are the rules, do you know? But of course you don't, cause you didn't know about the party until just now, cause I just told you about it! Which is really weird if you think about it, because everypony's been getting ready for the party all day, and I know I invited you, didn't you get my invitation?"

Pinkie gasped, sucking in all the air she had neglected during her run-on sentence.

"I'm not sure I got all of that, but I haven't been in my shop since this morning. You're throwing a party tonight? And why wouldn't Spike be invited?"

"Because it's a Sadie Hoofkins party silly!" she laughed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Mares ask the Stallions! If nopony asks Spike to go with them, is he still allowed to go?" She considered her own question for a moment. "I suppose Spike can come without a date... it is at the grazebo* after all, so it's not like we could keep him away from the party easily anyway, but I bet he would be the only pony there without one. Well Spike and you too of course Rarity! I can't think of anypony in town who doesn't have one by now!" She considered again. "Well actually, I don't think Twilight has one, but then again, she hasn't asked anypony. When I asked her about it, she said it was a waste of time to get one cause she was trying to study. But I do know she is going. She practically yelled at me right before she pushed me out her door! She seemed kind of annoyed… Maybe she read something she didn't like in one of her books!"

She gasped again. With Pinkie Pie, talking was almost a Pony-lympic sport!

Rarity had stopped listening after she heard there were no more dates.

"What?" she gasped loud enough to give Pinkie Pie a run for her money. She ran off toward Ponyville in a panic, leaving a disappointed Spike, Peewee and Pinkie Pie (still mid-sentence) desperate to find a date somewhere in town.


The door opened, and Twilight looked up from her book to see who it was. When she saw it was Spike, she smiled. 'At least somepony who won't interrupt me while I'm reading.'

Then she frowned. 'Not this time' she thought.

"Hey Spike" she said, waiting for the right moment. "Did you find Peewee?"

"Yeah." he said and Peewee flew in behind him, landing on his perch. "He was – "

She pounced on him mid-sentence, wiping the lipstick off his cheek with a washcloth she'd hidden behind her back.

"Gee, thanks Twilight" he groaned.


Notes:

*grazebo... I think in the Hearts and Hoofs Day episode when they had the gazebo, it was just called a gazebo, but come on! How could they ignore such an obvious pun!

Also, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last two chapters! (BTW, to reviewer ultimateCCC: when you say misspelled names, do you mean when i spelled Apple Bloom as one word? If so, it should be fixed now)

Anyway, should i let Rarity find a date, or do you think she should go stag? (go stallion? go mare?) I already know which it will be, but let me know what you think anyway!

As always, please read and review!