Chapter III: Fanning the Flames

Twilight rarely woke up before Spike, but today was an exception. She sat up in her bed, holding Spike's diary in front of her- the depth of his imagination was truly staggering. The day before, the two had refrained from any further intimacy after their bout of lovemaking (as much as they didn't want to) so Twilight could catch up on her lagging studies. Determined to make it up to him, she searched through his diary for any sort of fantasy she could act out for him. After scanning a few pages, she struck gold- it was sweet, slow, she was certain both of them would enjoy it. So with care, she stuck Spike's journal back into his basket and waited for the baby dragon to awaken.

Spike began to stir a few moments later. As he yawned and stretched, Twilight said to him, "Good morning, Spike."

"Oh, hey Twilight. You're up early. Were you trying to sneak in some early-morning studying without me?"

"No, it wasn't anything like that. I just wanted to see what the next few sections would be about," she lied.

"Okay." He hopped out of bed, and as always, resisted the urge to jump back in when his feet touched the cold floor. "I'm gonna get breakfast started."

"Hold on just a second, Spike. There's something I need to ask you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Spike, would you like to… brush me?"

Twilight swore that she could see a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, would I ever!"

She smiled at his enthusiasm. "Alright. Just hold on for a second while I get things ready for you." A minute or so later, Twilight laid down on the freshly-made bed, tucking her legs beneath her; Spike sat across from her, a wide assortment of brushes at his side. His face burned as he did his best to make the fluttering in his chest go away; he'd wanted to brush Twilight for almost as long as he could remember. But how did she know he wanted to do this? He never told her, either yesterday or any other time before that. She must have… but, she wouldn't do that again, would she? Well, there was no other explanation. Eh, he'd chew Twilight out for secretly reading his diary again later.

He suddenly realized Twilight was staring at him. "Oh! Um… comfy?" Spike asked nervously.

She nodded. "Start anywhere you'd like."

Spike merely nodded in reply, his face bright red. Cautiously, he picked up a brush, and slowly began to brush her mane. She shivered- ordinarily, she used magic to brush herself. She never thought having somepony else brush her would feel so… pleasant. She smiled at him, letting him know she was perfectly comfortable; in response, his brushstrokes became faster and more firm, taking care to avoid her horn. She let out a content sigh as Spike finished brushing her mane. He switched brushes and began working on her coat- his brushstrokes were firm and vigorous, like a massage. She let out an involuntary groan as she felt the tension in her neck and shoulders melt away under Spike's capable claws. As he began to brush her back, the deepest feelings of relaxation Twilight had ever had washed over her, and she fought to stay awake.

However, as he brushed around her hips, Twilight was snapped back into full alertness when Spike asked, "Twilight, can I tell you something?"

She looked back at him. "Sure. What is it?"

"…You're really pretty."

She blushed and looked away. "No I'm not…"

"Of course you are! You're the prettiest pony I've ever met. Could you roll over please?" She rolled onto her back, and he began brushing her neck- she had no choice but to look him in the eye. "You're just saying that…"

He moved down to her chest. "I am not! I'm telling you because it's true."

"…Do you think I'm prettier than Rarity?"

Spike stopped brushing up her foreleg for a moment, before switching to the other and replying, "Absolutely."

Twilight couldn't help but blush at this. "Am I… prettier than Princess Celestia?"

He finished brushing her belly, and made his way lower. "…Yes."

"Now I know you're lying." She was glad he couldn't see how red her face had become, and it wasn't because she was completely exposed to him.

"I am not! You know… you really need to learn how to take a compliment." He brushed around her love, without touching it. "Twilight… you really are beautiful." She blushed again as he began working on her hind legs. "I just wish you could see that for yourself." After a minute or so, he finished brushing her thighs and calves. "Okay, we're almost done. Just have to get your tail."

Twilight rolled back onto her stomach- Spike switched brushes again and began to brush her tail. He brushed it for a good long while, ensuring each and every hair was perfectly straight; a part of him wanted nothing more than to sit on that bed and brush Twilight's tail forever. It took some effort, but eventually, he managed to make himself stop, and set the brush down. "There we go. All done."

"Thanks Spike." Twilight couldn't help but feel disappointed- she'd never been the subject of such lavish attention, and she would have been lying to herself if she said she hadn't enjoyed it immensely. "You know, you're really good at this; you should see if you could get a job down at the spa."

An idea suddenly popped into Spike's head- he asked excitedly, "Oh, can we give each other massages later?"

"Not today, Spike." When she saw his frown, she quickly added, "We'll want to take a whole day off for that."

Still, Spike sighed in disappointment. "Okay…" For several moments, the two simply at on Twilight's bed in silence, until Spike asked, "Twilight, can I ask you something?"

"Ask me anything."

She saw him blush. "Well, can I… um…" he said something else, but his voice faltered and became inaudible.

"Uh, what was that?"

"Can I… suck on your horn?" His voice faltered again, but this time she caught what he said.

She blinked. It certainly was an odd request- she could understand why Spike might be so reluctant to share it. "Um… sure, Spike."

He moved around to her front; Twilight lowered her head so he could reach her horn, but rather than setting to work right away, Spike asked, "You're… sure you're okay with this, right Twilight?"

"Of course, Spike."

"Okay, I-I just wanted to be sure." He brought his face up to Twilight's horn, and after a moment to collect himself, brought his mouth down around it. For a few moments he sucked on it forcefully, maybe a bit more forcefully than he should have, but if Twilight was uncomfortable, she didn't say it. As a matter of fact… she didn't say anything at all. He looked down- Twilight merely looked back up at him, a confused expression on her face. He began rubbing his tongue against its rough surface, but still, Twilight gave him no indication that his actions had any effect. Finally, he bobbed his mouth up and down her horn. He nearly gagged- how had Twilight been able to take his member so easily? But, just as with his last attempt, it was seemingly all for naught.

He stopped. "Is anything happening yet?" he asked, his words slurred by the horn in his mouth.

"Nothing yet," she replied. Twilight wasn't sure what Spike was trying to do- horns weren't exactly an erogenous zone… well okay, horns didn't even have nerves in them. But for some reason, she just didn't have the heart to tell him that. However, she did have the heart to stop him from getting her mane all slobbery. She concentrated, preparing to lift Spike off of her with her magic, completely unprepared for what was about to happen.

When Twilight had been in school in Canterlot, her teachers had always warned to never let anypony touch her horn, or touch it herself, while she was casting a spell. Twilight had just assumed it was to prevent spells from becoming unstable. She couldn't have been more wrong.

It felt as though pure, undiluted pleasure had been injected directly into her brain- she screamed and bucked forward, nearly goring the back of Spike's mouth with her horn. He pulled away, jut narrowly avoiding such a fate and stumbled back, gagging and choking- even if he avoided being stabbed, the horn had still scraped against the back of his mouth. "Oh my gosh Spike, are you okay!" Twilight asked, moving closer to him; the pleasure had dissipated as soon as Spike pulled away.

It took a few moments, but Spike recovered enough to reply, "I was about to ask you the same thing."

"I'm alright." There was silence for a few moments, and then Spike asked, "What happened? Did I… hurt you?"

Twilight could see the concern on his face. "No, it was just… really good. I… I wanna try it again."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. Just… don't use your mouth- I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay." He approached her and took his horn in her hand. Twilight concentrated again- she didn't have any spell in mind, but her horn began to glow brightly with magical energy regardless. Spike looked on, confused, but she merely said, "I'm ready now." He nodded, and began to lightly stroke Twilight's horn with his hand.

Even this light touch was almost completely overwhelming for Twilight. She shrieked; Spike clapped his free hand over her mouth to silence her. "Twilight, shh!" She quickly composed herself again. "We need to keep quiet- you don't want someone busting in here, do you?"

"No, but…" Just then, a solution came to her. She concentrated; after a few moments, a ball gag appeared in the air in front of her, and she used her magic to put it on. Spike stared at her for several moments, incredulous, before saying, "…You can't be serious."

"Mmmhmph hhhnng mmm dnnnn mmfhh nnng mmph," Twilight replied.

"Uh… could you repeat that?"

She spat the ball gag out. "I said, it's not like we have many other options. Now, could you put it back in for me?"

"Uh, yeah…" Spike put the gag back, and asked, "You're sure about this, right?"

"Mm-hmm." She nodded.

"You're sure you don't want to make a whip or some ropes too?"

"Hnnngh!" she said angrily, glaring at him.

He grabbed hold of her horn again. "Okay, I was just kidding Twilight. Now could you…" She nodded again, and her horn began to glow. After a moment, Spike began to stroke her horn again.

Even with the ball gag, Twilight's screams were still rather loud, and her leg began to thump furiously against the mattress as he stroked. Spike couldn't help but feel concerned; although she said it felt good, Twilight's screams sounded a lot like screams of pain. But after a few moments, her muffled screams devolved into deep moans, and her eyes rolled back so Spike could only see whites; the thumping of her leg also came to a gradual stop.

"Twilight, is everything alright?" Spike asked, continuing to stroke her horn. Twilight's only reply was a low, very satisfied-sounding moan. She'd never felt better in her entire life- as much as she didn't want to say it, their lovemaking hadn't felt anywhere near this good. The pleasure of Spike stroking her horn seemed to flow through her entire body; it was almost overwhelming, but she was able to hold on, just barely.

Spike remembered what had happened only a few minutes before, but still, he was undaunted. He would just have to take things slowly. He brought his face up to her horn again, his strokes gradually coming to a stop. Then, he ever so lightly began to circle his tongue around the tip. Twilight jerked- not a lot, but enough to let him know she was aware of what he was doing- she looked up at him, asking "Mmm?" Spike took no notice of her however, becoming lost in his own little world as he began to lick up and down the length of Twilight's horn. For some reason, it tasted… sweet. He never would've guessed that magic had a taste. Before he could stop himself, Spike took the horn in his mouth; Twilight let out a muffled cry and tried to pull back, but stayed put once he began to rub her ears.

Twilight closed her eyes and let out a content sigh. Now that she'd adjusted, having her horn sucked on felt absolutely wonderful- and having her ears rubbed wasn't too bad either. She groaned as his tongue wrapped around it, and nearly cried out when he began bobbing his mouth up and down its length, her leg thumping helplessly against the mattress again. But before long, Twilight felt something… strange. It felt like there was some kind of pressure building up in her head- it didn't hurt- quite the opposite, if fact- but it was strange nonetheless. It felt like… like… why was it so difficult for her to make a simple comparison? All of a sudden though, the pleasure became overwhelming again- her whole body tensed and she cried out. If Spike had noticed, he gave no obvious sign as he continued to suck her horn. She cried out again, louder, as the pressure began to mount. Twilight was legitimately frightened now- was her head going to explode? Would she shoot off some spell that would hurt Spike? She tried to pull back, but her body wouldn't obey. She could only lie there, making muffled cries as Spike sucked on her horn, the pressure growing stronger and stronger, until…

Twilight let out a loud cry. Suddenly, Spike felt something fill his mouth. It felt like the inside of his mouth was on fire and filled with ice at the same time. His tongue tingled, like live wires had been touched against it, and felt both as heavy as lead and as light as a feather. He felt something rush down his throat- he gagged and pulled back, revealing a strange cloud of green smoke around Twilight's horn that rapidly dissipated. After coughing up a few puffs of smoke, Spike asked, "Twilight, what was that? What just happened?"

Twilight didn't respond immediately. She was slumped against her bed, glassy-eyed, her breaths shallow. She was trying to wrap her head around what just happened. It was just like an orgasm… but inside her head. Was that even possible? It seemed ridiculous, but what else could it have been? She suddenly became aware that Spike was asking if she was alright; she righted herself and took the gag off. "I… I'm okay, Spike."

"What happened?"

"I-I don't know. It was like some kind of…" She struggled to find an appropriate word. "…brain-gasm!"

For several seconds, Spike only stared at her, wide-eyed. Then, he spluttered, and burst out laughing, falling onto his back. "Ahahahaha! Oh-oh, it hurts! Hahahaha!" Twilight watched as he literally rolled with laughter for several moments; it wasn't long before she joined him. It actually had been pretty funny. Eventually though, he composed himself, wiping a few tears from his eyes. "Oh, I… I'm sorry," he said. "That-That was just too funny."

At that moment, a terrible idea popped into Twilight's head. "Oh really?" A menacing smile broke across Twilight's face, one that made Spike shiver, and her horn began to glow. "Well, I know something that you're going to find… a lot less funny." Suddenly, a pair of ropes appeared in the air; then, with blinding speed, they tied themselves around Spike's wrists, before tying themselves to the bedposts. Spike jumped from happy to terrified in a heartbeat. "Uh, Twilight, please tell me this is a joke."

"That's Mistress to you." A riding crop appeared the air next to her. "Now get ready to scream."

"N-No Twilight, please!" he shouted. "I'm sorry I laughed! It was just really funny! I'll do anything you want, just please don't hurt me!"

"Spike, I was only kidding." The riding crop began to spin in circles. "You don't have to apologize, and I'd never really hit you… well, unless you wanted me to."

"Don't. Please don't."

She tossed the riding crop away. "As you wish. Now then…" She laid her body on top of his much smaller one. "Are you ready for your punishment?"

Spike nodded vigorously- he was starting to like this game. "Oh yes, Mistress. I've been a bad boy."

She smirked and told him, "I know you have," before pressing her lips against his.

"Alright, now just stand right here, and try not to move around too much."

"W-Wait, hold on Twilight, you haven't even told me why you're doing this."

"The spell only works on living things- I'd test it on a plant first, but, you know… it's the middle of winter. Besides, aren't you even a little bit curious about how you'll look when you're all grown up?" A few days had passed- two days before, as Twilight had been skimming through one of her spellbooks, she came across an age-changing spell, and decided that she had to try it. She'd spent the rest of that time learning the steps to prepare the spell and reading up on dragon biology, so she'd know what to expect. Mostly she wanted to see for herself what Spike would look like as an adult, but she would have been lying if she said she didn't have any… ulterior motives.

"Well yeah, but… you're a hundred percent sure this is safe, right Twilight?"

"Of course I am. Now, are you ready?"

Spike still had his misgivings, but if Twilight was certain he would be safe, then he would believe her. He nodded. "Yeah… fire away." Twilight's horn glowed as she concentrated, and a glowing white beam shot out of it. It completely engulfed Spike- she had to squint because of the light, but Twilight could see the baby dragon's silhouette grow larger and pointier, dwarfing his old self. After a few moments, the beam faded away, and she looked at Spike. He was bigger now- not as big as some other dragons, but he still absolutely towered over her now. His scales were darker, and his ridges and claws were longer and sharper than before. His neck had grown longer, and two long black horns had sprouted from the top of his head- Twilight couldn't help but shiver when she saw the long row of fangs in his mouth glisten in the light. Although short and stubby compared to the length of his body, she could see the taut muscle beneath the scales of his arms and legs. The room had become a fair bit warmer- Twilight didn't doubt even for a moment that Spike himself was the cause. Everything that she'd expected was there.

The spell was successful. Spike was now a fully grown dragon.

Spike looked down at himself. "Uh, Twilight? Did you… skip a step or something?" he asked in a much deeper voice. Sure, he was much bigger than he was before- if he had to compare to somepony, he thought he was maybe just a little bit smaller than Princess Celestia. But he was still absolutely puny in comparison to the dragon he had encountered after running away from home.

Twilight shook her head. "Sorry Spike, but based on all the research I did, that's as big as you're going to get. Naturally, at least."

"Aw… are you telling me that I don't even get any wings?" He craned his neck, looking at his wingless back.

"No. But if you really wanted to, you could give yourself some."

He looked back at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, while I was doing research for this spell, I found out that your dragon breed is very skilled in magic."

He sat down on the floor. "Really? Do you think you could teach me some then?"

"I'm not sure. Dragon magic and unicorn magic might be totally different. I'll have to ask the Princess about it."

"Do you have any idea when I'd be able to start using magic?"

"The books I've read said your abilities would develop right around your age, so you might be able to use magic right now."

A wide smile broke across his face. "Alright! I can't wait to try out-"

"We should wait until the Princess can answer our questions first- I don't want you to blow up the library by accident."

Twilight had a point. "Fair enough. Well, at least I know I'll be handsome in the future. Well, more handsome than I am now," he said, ignoring Twilight's snickers. "Uh, you can turn me back to normal, can't you?"

"Come on, Spike. Have I ever given you a reason to doubt me?"

There were in fact more than a few reasons, but Spike elected to keep those to himself. After looking down at himself one last time, he said, "Okay, you can change me back now."

"Are you sure? You don't want to 'test out' your new body first?"

Twilight's euphemism wasn't lost on Spike. "No thanks. I'm starting to feel really… heavy." Twilight nodded. Her horn began to glow, and as before, a beam of white light shot out of it, completely engulfing the dragon. He slowly began to shrink back down, and after a moment, the light faded. Spike looked down at himself again, quickly realizing that he wasn't quite back to normal. "Twilight, I don't remember ever being this tall." Indeed, his arms and legs, and even his body were longer and skinnier than he remembered.

Her only response was a devious smirk, before she threw herself at him. It was then, with Twilight lying on top of him, that he remembered something- just the other day, he said that he wished he was bigger, if only so that he could kiss Twilight when they made love. That wish had just been granted.

He blushed. "Oh… I think I like this spell…"

She gave him a quick kiss and another devious smirk. "No more talking."

"Argh, this is impossible! How do you do anything without hands!" the young earth pony asked, frustrated. He was rather short, with a purple coat and a green mane; curiously, his cutie mark was the image of a dragon. He wobbled unsteadily as he wandered around the library.

"How do you do anything with them! They keep… touching everything!" a small dragon said back- she was rather short as well, with purple scales and a ridge of dark purple spines running down her back. Like the pony, she wobbled unsteadily as she walked- after a few moments of walking, she had to stop and sit down. "I never thought walking on two legs would be so hard. How do you do it so easily, Spike?"

"Well, I've been doing it for a while Twilight," Spike replied, sitting down as well. Twilight had come across a transformation potion the day before- Spike had agreed to try it before she'd even had a chance to finish asking him. Neither Spike nor Twilight wanted to take the potion before the other, so both ended up taking it at the same time. He brought up one of his new hooves and looked at it, trying to flex fingers that no longer existed. "Really though, how do you get anything done?"

"Well magic makes it easier," Twilight replied, touching the spot where her horn would have been if she were still a pony. For a long while, neither said anything, and simply stared at each other in silence. Then, Spike pushed Twilight onto her back and lay down on top of her, being careful to keep his weight off the small girl dragon. "Spike," she began, "we can't-"

"Twilight, I just want to be close to you." He paused for a moment. "…I wish we could do it. I just want to… make love to you right now."

"I do too. But it would never fit. You know that."

He sighed sadly. "Yeah." A small smile appeared on his face. "But that's okay. There're lots of other things we could do instead, you know." He kissed her, and she cradled his muzzle in her hands. But after a moment, sooner than Twilight would've liked, Spike pulled away.

"Oh… you're so warm…" Twilight whispered, resting her forehead against his, savoring the warmth of his body. "How do you keep your hands off me?"

"Years of practice," Spike replied, pressing his lips against hers again- she gripped his neck tightly as their kiss deepened. But suddenly, remembering something, Spike pulled himself from Twilight's grasp. "W-Wait, we have to stop," Spike said as he pulled away.

"What? Why?" Twilight asked, trying to pull Spike's face back down.

"I was supposed to go help Rarity today."

A horrified expression spread across Twilight's scaly face. "Oh no, what are we gonna do? We can't go out like this- the potion doesn't wear off for another two hours!"

"You can't go out like this. I'll go tell Rarity I can't work today. You'll have to stay here- I think a new stallion in town would be a lot easier to explain than a new girl dragon."

Twilight got back on her feet. "What are you going to tell her?"

"I'll just say that you got sick, and that I had to stay here to take care of you. Well, not me as in how I am now, but me as… y-you get my point!" He grabbed Twilight's scarf off its hook; after failing several times to wrap it around his neck himself, Twilight approached and did it for him. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Go hide somewhere and don't come out until I get back." With that, Spike opened the front door and headed out into the snow.

Spike got some rather strange looks as he walked through Ponyville- obviously, nobody had expected a new pony to roll into town during the winter. He ignored them as best he could and made his way to the Carousel Boutique. When he arrived he knocked on the door, nearly falling over as he tried to balance on three legs. Inside, he could hear someone approaching the door. "You're rather late today Spike," Rarity's voice said as the door opened. "Did something happen this-" She stopped as soon as she saw the baby dragon wasn't standing at her door. "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were somepony else."

"That's alright," Spike replied. "I came here to deliver a message. It's from Spike."

"Oh my. What is it?" Rarity didn't know why, but something felt very familiar about this pony.

"He wanted me to tell you that Twilight got sick, and that he had to stay to take care of her."

"Oh, the poor dear. I understand- you can go back and tell him-"

Spike suddenly belched; a small jet of fire emerged from his mouth, before a scroll appeared and dropped to the ground. He brought his hoof up to his mouth, blushing and absolutely mortified; Celestia had blown his cover without realizing it. Rarity stared wide-eyed at him for several moments before she stammered, "…Spike? Is-Is that you?"

There was no point in trying to hide it anymore. He hung his head. "Uh… hi, Rarity."

"J-Just… come inside, please." She stepped aside to allow him into the boutique. Her eyes raked across him as he entered- she had to admit, Spike didn't look half-bad for a stallion. Almost as soon as it had come, she pushed the thought away. Where had that come from? she wondered.

She pushed the door closed as soon as he was inside. "Now Spike…" she began, "…what in Celestia's name happened to you?"

"Well, Twilight wanted to test out some transformation potions that she made. They worked- I'm a pony, and Twilight turned into a dragon." He deliberately chose not to mention why they were experimenting with transformation potions to begin with.

"Good heavens! You're not going to be stuck that way forever, are you?"

"No, no. Twilight said that we should turn back to normal in a few hours."

Rarity regarded him for several moments, before replying, "…I see. Well, I suppose you could have the day off- I don't think you'll be much help to me in your state."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then, Rarity." Rarity let him out of the boutique- once she closed the door behind him, he ran back to the library as fast as he could, from a combination of wanting to get back to Twilight and not wanting to run into any more of their friends. Before long, he re-entered the library, but not before taking a quick look around to ensure nopony was watching.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to take so long," Spike said as he took off and hung up Twilight's scarf. As he turned around, he continued, "It just took a little- Twilight!" In the middle of the library floor, Twilight was lying flat on her back, her new hands buried between her legs. She looked over at him and asked "…What? I wanted to try them out."

"What're you doing? I thought I told you to go hide! What if somepony else saw you like this?"

"Spike, the library's closed. Didn't you see the sign?" Spike opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again and blushed, embarrassed that he missed something so obvious. Twilight rose to her feet. "So, did she buy it?"

"Yeah, don't worry, she believed me." He approached Twilight, a little gleam in his eye. "Now, where did we leave off? Oh, I think I remember…" Twilight giggled as Spike nuzzled his face against her much smaller body. "Spike? Do you want me to brush your mane?" she asked. He didn't reply- instead, he tossed Twilight onto his back (almost dropping her in the process) and galloped up to the bedroom.

Back at the Carousel Boutique, Rarity couldn't help but feel suspicious. She'd noticed that Spike had been in an unusually good mood for the last several days. Well, in a better mood than usual. And Twilight had been acting fairly strange as well. Something must have happened between them, and something had to be done about it. Rarity grabbed her favorite scarf and wrapped it around her neck- she was going out.

It was time for a meeting.

About a half hour later, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were sitting at a table set up in the middle of the boutique. A few moments later, Rarity emerged from her kitchen with a tray laden with teacups and a teapot. She set the tray down on the table before taking a seat as well.

"I'm glad everypony could make it on such short notice," Rarity said to the others.

"It ain't nothin', sugarcube," Applejack replied.

"It's been a while since you've called a meeting, Rarity," Rainbow Dash said. "I mean, it's been… uh…" She turned to Fluttershy. "How long has it been since our last meeting?"

"…almost two years, I think," Fluttershy whispered back.

"Yeah, it's been almost two years. What's the occasion?"

Rarity set her teacup down. "Well, before I begin, I need to ask you all something very important- have any of you noticed anything… unusual between Twilight and Spike?"

Rainbow Dash brought a hoof up to her chin. "Well, they haven't been going out of the library that often. But considering the weather, I don't really blame them."

Pinkie Pie then interjected, "When they stopped by the bakery a few days ago to pick up an order, they kept giving each other these weird looks."

The group was silent for a few moments. Then, Applejack said, "Alright, so we got funny looks and them not comin' out of their house in what ponies are sayin' is the worst winter in Ponyville's history. So what?"

Rarity took another sip of tea. "Well, just this morning, a strange pony stopped by the boutique to deliver a message. …It turned out to be Spike."

The others stared at her, incredulous. "What? How?" Applejack asked.

"Apparently, he and Twilight had been… experimenting with transformation potions."

"…Well," Fluttershy began, "Twilight makes all sorts of potions for her studies… doesn't she?"

Rarity sighed in frustration- she'd tried to be subtle, but instead was just beating around the bush. "Alright, I'll just say it. I think that Twilight and Spike are… oh, how do I put this in a way that isn't vulgar? …I think that Twilight and Spike might be… well… fornicating."

The others stared at Rarity in shock, with the exception of Rainbow Dash, who looked at her in confusion. "Forna… forni… w-what?" she asked.

"Rarity means to say that she thinks Twilight and Spike might be having sex," Pinkie replied bluntly.

"Oh. …Oh, that's disgusting!"

"Now now, settle down Rainbow," Applejack replied. "I know yer barn door don't swing that way but-"

"That was one time, Applejack!" Rainbow shouted. She rested her head in her hooves. "Are you ever gonna let me forget about that?"

Applejack smirked. "As long as I keep gettin' that reaction out of ya? No."

"Girls, focus," Rarity said. "We have a serious problem."

"Dashie is right, it is disgusting," Pinkie Pie said, with a sudden solemnness. "And not just because it's between a boy and a girl, not even because it's between a pony and a dragon. Spike's only a baby dragon, remember?"

It didn't take too long for the implication to sink in. "Oh goodness," Fluttershy said meekly. "You don't think that Twilight… forced herself on Spike, do you?"

Silence fell across everypony at the table for several moments. Finally, Applejack replied, "I really hate to say this about Twilight, but we definitely can't rule that out."

"Well, what should we do? Should we tell the princess?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Pinkie Pie began. "We need to go to the police right away."

"No, not yet," Rarity replied. "We need to be sure that something's happened before doing that."

"Are you kidding me? We need to do something about this now! Before it gets any worse!"

"…why don't we just… ask?" Fluttershy asked.

"I gotta agree with Fluttershy," Applejack said. "I say that we go over to Twilight's, we sit her down, and we don't let her go 'til she gives us a straight answer."