Chapter IV: Snuffed Out

Two days passed. Rarity and the others had spent the rest of their meeting going over the finer details of their plan. First, they would have to separate Twilight and Spike- Applejack and Rarity were able to convince their younger sisters to invite Spike to play with them that day. Next, Rarity elected herself to speak to Twilight, with Fluttershy trying to sweet-talk her as necessary- Applejack would be on standby to restrain Twilight if it came to that (Rarity didn't think that would be much help, but Applejack insisted, not wanting to feel useless). Finally, Rarity agreed to write a letter to the Princess explaining what Twilight had done, to be sent if the worst-case scenario was indeed true- Rainbow Dash would deliver it. Pinkie Pie had been chosen to keep an eye on Spike and away from the library. After the meeting was adjourned, the five ponies went home, spending the next two days preparing themselves for what they had to do.

Rarity wasn't sure how to feel when she woke up that morning. She had to admit, she didn't look forward to confronting Twilight. Most likely, things would be difficult, things would be unpleasant… but it was necessary to do them. After wishing Sweetie Belle a good day, she began to gather her things together when there was a knock at the door. She opened it, allowing Rainbow Dash inside. "Hey," she said. "Did you finish the letter?"

"I have it right here." Rarity grabbed a small scroll and gave it to Rainbow- she tucked it under her wing for the time being, then asked, "Rarity, are you sure we shouldn't bring Pinkie Pie to the library with us? We'll need all the help we can get if Twilight gets… violent." She hated to say that about Twilight, but she wasn't likely to take the accusation well- who knew what might happen?

"You saw how worked up Pinkie got during the meeting, didn't you? It's obvious to me that she has some kind of personal stake in this, so I think it's best that she stay out of it. For now, at least."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. About that… you think we should talk to Pinkie about it? This whole thing really did seem to bother her."

"That can wait. We have a much more pressing matter to attend to."

"Right. We should go." Rarity and Rainbow Dash left the boutique. On their way to the library, they passed a snowball fight between some of the town's foals in front of Sugarcube Corner, with Spike amongst them- he waved excitedly to the two when he saw them. They waved back, with much less enthusiasm. Before long, the two arrived at the library; Fluttershy and Applejack were already waiting for them outside. "Hey," Rainbow Dash said as she and Rarity approached.

"So, everypony ready?" Applejack asked.

The others nodded. "Right," Rarity began, "we know what we have to do here."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash replied. "You know where I'll be." She took her position by the door. The remaining three ponies looked at each other, nodded, and entered the library. They found Twilight with her face buried in a book- Rarity cleared her throat to get her attention. Twilight jumped, but relaxed once she saw it was only her friends. "Hey there," she said as she shut her book, glad to have a short break from her studying. "I wasn't expecting any visitors."

Rarity sat down in front of Twilight, with Fluttershy at her side- Applejack remained by the door. "We're sorry to drop by unannounced," she began, "but we… we need to have a talk."

When she wasn't working on any big projects, Rarity would sometimes stop by the library and share various tidbits of gossip she'd heard with Twilight, the two even sharing spells with each other on occasion. However, the utter seriousness in Rarity's voice, along with being accompanied by Fluttershy and Applejack, told Twilight that this was not one of those times. Wary, Twilight replied, "Alright. What did you want to talk about?"

Rarity was silent for a few moments, trying to figure out how to best phrase her question- there really was no way to put it lightly though. "Twilight… has anything happened between you and Spike?"

Twilight's heart skipped a beat when she heard the question. She tried to brush it aside. "I… don't know what you mean."

"I think that you do."

Twilight could feel the color drain from her face. She couldn't speak. Rarity continued: "Now Twilight, I'm going to ask you again, and I want you to answer us honestly. Has anything happened between you and Spike?"

Twilight couldn't help but grow defensive. "Are you accusing me of something?"

Before Rarity could respond, Fluttershy stepped in. "Twilight, nopony's accusing you of anything. We… we just want you to answer a few questions. That's all."

Fluttershy's words began to calm Twilight down. She wasn't too keen on answering the question, but she realized they were never going to get anywhere until she did. She could feel her cheeks burn, but Twilight held her head high- she was not ashamed of what she had done with Spike.

"If you mean to ask whether or not Spike and I have been… intimate, then yes. We have."

Applejack's eyes visibly widened, and her jaw dropped. Fluttershy brought a hoof up to her mouth. Rarity's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Clearly, nopony had expected Twilight to be quite so forward with her admission.

"Well, that was… unexpected," Rarity said, and looked back over her shoulder at Applejack. She understood the signal; the orange pony reached back her hoof and knocked on Twilight's door several times. Outside, Rainbow Dash heard the knocks, and unfolded her wings- that was her cue. Right after, she heard Twilight mention something about Spike's diary-of course, she had to leave right when it was getting to the good part. But regardless, she had a job to do- she finished stretching her wings, and with a single strong flap she was airborne.

"I gotcha now!" Applebloom shouted. She threw her snowball with all her might- it sailed right over Spike's head, to his relief. He dived behind a small wall of snow, ending up alongside Snips, Snails, and Pipsqueak. "You okay man?" Snails asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," Spike replied. He peered over the wall, ducking down when one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders tried to pelt him with snowballs. "Okay, I've got a plan. Snips, Pipsqueak, we'll make a distraction. Snails, while they're distracted, you go around and flank them."

"Aye sir!" Pipsqueak said, saluting.

"You want me to what?" Snails asked.

"Flanks…" Snips mumbled to himself.

"Just sneak around and get behind them, Snails. Snips, get your mind out of the gutter. Now get ready to move, Snails." Snails crouched down, though because of his height he would still be rather visible. "Okay guys, on three." The remaining three grabbed a hand- and hoofful of snow each. "One… two… three!" They all popped up at once, only to simultaneously pelted by snowballs; they all collapsed into the snow, "dead."

"Hah, I got Thpike!" he heard Twist shout.

"I think I nailed Snips!" Applebloom replied.

"I see you, Snails!" Scootaloo shouted. "Get down on your knees and put your hooves behind your head!" Spike turned his head, seeing that Snails had complied. Coward, he thought to himself- he would never let himself be taken prisoner. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle came into view and escorted Snails away. A few moments later, he heard Sweetie Belle ask in a hushed voice, "Hey, do you think we can get cutie marks for snowball fighting?"

"I don't know, maybe," he heard Applebloom reply. She cleared her throat. "Alright, we've taken Snails prisoner!" Spike and the other colts got back on their feet. "Don't do anything stupid or else he dies!"

Despite losing three snowball fights in a row now, Spike had never felt better in all his life. He was finally with Twilight, the way he'd always wanted to be, and even better, she returned his feelings- even though it had been nearly two weeks since then, he was still walking on clouds. But it wasn't just Twilight- every mare in town seemed to be quite taken by the young dragon. Just the other day, he could've sworn that Derpy Hooves had flirted with him as she made her delivery rounds. And a few days after that, Mrs. Cake had given him a whole box of expired muffins for free, "just for being so cute," in her words. Even the "special friends" Lyra and Bon-Bon weren't unaffected; both had paid him a compliment as he passed them in the street more than once. It seemed the only mares in town immune to his new charms were the fillies, but even then, he couldn't help but notice the touch of red that appeared on Applebloom's cheeks whenever he was around.

All of a sudden though, the fight came to a stop when Rainbow Dash dropped down in front of Spike. "Hey there, little guy," she said, hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.

"Hey Rainbow Dash. What's up?"

"Not much." She gave him what she hoped was a convincing smile. "Twilight asked me to give this to you." She reached back and handed him Rarity's letter with her mouth. "She wanted you to send it to the Princess." She felt bad about lying to him, but there wasn't any other choice- she wanted to stay nearby in case Twilight got out of hand, and he was the only pony (well, dragon) in Ponyville who could get a letter to Celestia right away, other than Twilight herself.

The young dragon examined the scroll. "Did Twilight write a friendship report without me? I guess it's been a while, but-"

"She didn't say what it was," Rainbow interrupted, just as he was about to open it- Spike couldn't know what was happening at the library, not yet at least. "All she said was that it was important, and that she needed it sent right away."

"Oh, alright." He breathed green fire on the scroll, and in a flash it was gone. He looked up at the pegasus- when their eyes met, she made the sudden realization that the young dragon was rather… cute. How had she never noticed it before? She pushed the thought away- there were more important things she needed to focus on.

"So uh, is that it?" Spike began. "Twilight doesn't need me to come back to the library or-"

"No," Rainbow Dash replied, a bit more forcefully than she'd intended. She laughed nervously. "No. You can stay out here for a while longer." She took off, heading towards her house, but as soon as Spike was out of sight, she doubled back and returned to the library. She couldn't help but worry when she saw that the windows were dark- when she landed, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. Her jaw dropped at what she saw. Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were being held in the air by the ceiling- Twilight stood at the library's heart, her eyes and horn glowing brightly. Almost as soon as she'd stepped inside, Rainbow Dash was seized by an invisible force and held up in the air- as hard as she fought, she couldn't break free.

"Twilight please, be reasonable about this!" Rarity called.

"Yeah Twilight, just be civil and let us all down!" Applejack called after.

However, Twilight did no such thing. "How dare you! How dare you imply that I'd ever do something so horrible!"

Applejack shouted, "Fluttershy, do somethin'!"

She tried to think of something, anything that might make Twilight stop. Something came to her- a trial for a teacher back in Cloudsdale who had been in a relationship with one of her students. "Twilight… y-you… you don't want people to think that you're a… a… foal-fiddler, do you?"

Twilight suddenly lowered her down and looked her straight in the eye. "What did you say?"

"…I… I said… eep!" She squeaked when she saw how angry Twilight had become.

However, before anything bad could happen to Fluttershy, Rarity picked up where the pegasus left off. "She's right, you know. Surely you've heard of consent laws, haven't you Twilight? Spike's much younger than you are- he couldn't say yes even if he wanted to."

The realization hit Twilight like a ton of bricks. All of her anger evaporated instantly. Her horn stopped glowing- Fluttershy and the others immediately dropped to the floor in response. It had never occurred to Twilight, not for one second, that what she was doing with Spike might have been illegal. Her mind suddenly jumped to the night when she had first kissed Spike- she couldn't help but feel… horrified at the way she had manipulated him.

All of a sudden, the library was filled with a flash of blinding light, and a voice called, "Twilight Sparkle!" Everypony in the library looked to its source- there, standing by the stairs, was Princess Celestia herself. Her flawless white coat seemed to shine in the darkened library, and her glittering mane and tail waved lightly as thought caught in a breeze, despite being indoors. However, her expression was stern and implacable, causing a jolt of fear to strike every pony present.

"Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said again, "I just received this letter." She held up Rarity's letter for all to see, before looking it over. "It says that you and Spike have had… relations." The library was silent for several moments. "…Is this true?"

Twilight lowered her head in shame. It was true- if breaking the law hadn't been bad enough, no matter what his diary had said, it didn't change the fact that she… forced herself on him on that very first night. Tears began to well up in her eyes- she was a monster. An evil, evil, evil monster that deserved whatever punishment the princess gave her. She hung her head and prepared for the worst, replying, "…yes."

The princess said nothing for several seconds; then, she sighed. "Twilight… I'm very, very disappointed in you." Twilight began to sob openly- the princess's disappointment hurt her more than her anger ever could have. "With your confession, I must hereby charge you with the crime of… pedofoalia." Celestia visibly winced- it hurt her to have to lay such a grave charge on her pupil. But, the law was the law, and it was her solemn duty to enforce it. Twilight merely stared on, not even trying to argue in her defense. "From this time forward, I'm placing you under house arrest, and removing Spike from your care. Fluttershy…" She looked to the timid yellow pegasus. "Until things are sorted out here, I'm entrusting Spike to your care."

Fluttershy jumped when the Princess turned her attention to her, but quickly nodded and replied, "Y-Yes Princess."

Twilight's shock had faded just enough for her to finally stammer, "I… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…"

"Be that as it may, nopony is above the law. Not even you, my most prized pupil." And with a flash of light, she was gone.

Twilight could only stare in stunned silence at where the Princess had stood, her jaw agape. Her mind felt frozen, still trying desperately to process everything that had just happened, to the exclusion of everything else. She didn't even react when Rainbow Dash walked up and stared her right in the eye.

"Uh, Twilight? You okay?" she asked, shaking the purple unicorn. Twilight did not respond- she simply slumped to the floor, her jaw still agape, her eyes glassed over. "Um… Fluttershy, I think you should grab Spike's bed."

"R-Right," Fluttershy replied, flying to the upper part of the library to grab Spike's basket.

Silence fell on the library for a few moments and Fluttershy grabbed Spike's bed. "Twilight, just so ya know… I don't think any less of ya," Applejack said. "I'm not gonna stop bein' yer friend over this."

"I agree," Rarity replied. "I… we only did what we had to. You can understand that, can't you?"

Fluttershy returned with Spike's basket. "…It was for your own good. Yours and Spike's. We did this because we care about both of you."

Twilight still did not respond- she simply remained slumped against the floor, her breaths shallow. "Guys, I think I should stay here and keep an eye on Twilight," Rainbow Dash said.

"Very well," Rarity replied. "…We're going to help Fluttershy get her house ready for Spike." The three ponies left the library.

Rainbow Dash was now alone with Twilight. She looked down at the purple unicorn- she hadn't said anything or budged an inch since the Princess had left. "Twilight…" she began, "I… l-listen…" She struggled to find something appropriate to say- comforting ponies wasn't exactly one of Rainbow's strong points. "Look… things might seem bad now, but don't worry. I-I'm sure the Princess will figure things out, and you'll be able to see Spike again. He might even be able to move back in! Come on, you trust the Princess, don't you?"

Twilight paid no mind to the blue pegasus's words. In her mind, she was alone.

Completely, and utterly, alone.

Slowly, she curled up into a ball, and cried harder than she ever had in her entire life.

"He's scramblin' away, get 'im!" Applebloom shouted. While Snails was being pelted by snowballs, Spike tried to make a run back to his base; but after only a few seconds of running, Spike was nailed right in the back by a snowball. "Noooo!" he cried melodramatically, before collapsing face-first into the snow. "Got him!" Scootaloo called. He heard snow crunching as somepony approached before he was rolled onto his back, finding himself face to face with Applebloom.

"Thought'cha could get away, didja?" she asked, a slight red tinge on her cheeks. "Well not on my watch. Get up." Spike got to his feet. "Now move it. And keep yer hands where I can see 'em." She pushed him towards their base. "Now, are ya gonna be a good hostage this time around, or am I gonna hafta-" She was interrupted when somepony tapped her shoulder. She began to turn around, saying, "Snails, if ya throw another snowball at me from up close, I'm gonna-" She stopped, when she saw the pony standing behind her was in fact Fluttershy. "Oh, I'm Sorry Fluttershy. What can I do ya for?"

"Um, well… can I ask Spike a question?"

"Sure ya can." She stepped aside to let Fluttershy speak to Spike.

The pegasus approached the young dragon. "Um, hi… Spike," she began nervously. She had a good reason to be nervous- since the Princess had appointed her as Spike's new caretaker, Applejack and Rarity had decided it fell to her to be his bearer of bad news.

"Hey Fluttershy," he replied cheerfully. "What's up?"

She couldn't look at him. "Spike, could you…" She tried to think up an excuse to get him alone. "…could you help me with something at home?"

"Yeah, okay." He said goodbye to his friends, to their disappointment, and began to follow the pegasus back to her cottage. When they arrived, Fluttershy said, "Thanks for coming Spike. Would you like to sit down?"

Spike sat down on Fluttershy's couch as she had asked, but then said, "I thought you said you needed my help. Shouldn't we get started on that?"

It took a little while for her to respond. "To tell you the truth, I… don't actually need any help. I just wanted to talk to you alone. I'm sorry for lying to you, Spike."

"Well, if you wanted to talk, you could've just asked."

She wished he wouldn't look at her so innocently- the news she had to deliver was bad enough as it is. A part of her wanted nothing more than to just say, Never mind, and let him go back to the library- even though she had confessed to the Princess, a part of her simply refused to believe that Twilight could do something so horrible to Spike. But, she knew she couldn't do that. She took a deep breath, and began by saying, "Spike…" She had to take another deep breath before continuing. "…I know about… what happened between you and Twilight."

Spike's face reddened. "Oh, you do? You weren't… spying on us, were you?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No. She… confessed everything to us. To the Princess."

"…What?"

"The Princess charged Twilight with pedofoalia and put her under house arrest. She also appointed me to take care of you in Twilight's place for the time being."

"…W-What?" he repeated, tears welling up in his eyes.

"You… can't live with Twilight anymore. I'm sorry, Spike." Immediately, Spike leapt off the couch and sprinted for the door. Fluttershy grabbed him in her forelegs and held him tightly against her body. He struggled to break free of her grasp with all his might; he kicked, he scratched, he even bit her at one point, but still she held him tight. It wasn't anything she hadn't experienced before- Fluttershy had built up a surprising amount of strength from holding down… less-than-cooperative animals.

"I'm sorry Spike," she repeated softly, "…but it's for your own good."

"No it's not!" he shouted back, the anger in his voice as clear as day. "You don't know anything! I love her! And now you… you…" He degenerated into a fit of uncontrollable sobbing. Fluttershy couldn't bear to hear him cry- so, she held him tightly against her chest as he continued to fight against her, and began to sing:

"Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to lay your sleepy head,
Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to go to bed,
Drifting off to sleep,
Leave exciting day behind you.
Drifting off to sleep,
Let the joy of daylight find you…"

As she sang, Spike's struggling grew weaker and weaker, and his cries grew softer. By the time Fluttershy finished her lullaby, Spike was fast asleep, his snores interrupted by the occasional sniffle. With care, she lifted the sleeping dragon onto her back and carried him to his basket. She felt bad about using the lullaby against him like that, but she was on the verge of bursting into tears as well, and that wouldn't have helped the situation. Fluttershy placed him in his basket, and tucked him in- she had to look away when she saw tears leaking out of his eyes as he slept.

Spike woke up a few hours later. The sun had set some time before, and Fluttershy had busied herself preparing dinner for both herself and her possibly long-term guest. She was just finishing up when Spike walked- well, not so much walked as staggered- into the kitchen. "Oh, Spike," she said when she saw him. "You must be hungry. Just hold on just one minute, and I'll have dinner ready." Spike stumbled over to a small breakfast table nearby and took a seat.

A few moments later, Fluttershy set a bowl of vegetable soup down in front of the dragon. "Here you are…" she began nervously, "I'm sure some soup will help you feel better." She sat across from him and began to eat, but after a few moments, she noticed something. Wiping her mouth, she said, "Spike, you're not eating." Indeed, he wasn't- he was sitting motionless in his chair, staring at the wall just over her left shoulder. "Y… you need to eat something, Spike. You need to keep your strength up." Spike did nothing. "Spike, eat, please." He continued to do nothing.

Fluttershy began to feel a strange sensation growing inside of her. It took a few moments for her to recognize it- she was… growing frustrated with him. "Spike, Celestia chose me to take care of you," she began, "and that's exactly what I'm going to do." Had Fluttershy not been so wrapped up in the moment, the firmness of her statement would have surprised her. And she also would never have said what she told Spike next: "So if you're not going to feed yourself, then I'll spoon-feed you, like a baby. If that doesn't work, I'll feed you mouth-to-mouth. And if that doesn't work, then I'll take you to the doctor's office, and have them feed you intravenously. Do you want me to do that?"

Spike finally responded- he didn't say anything, but he dipped his spoon in his soup and brought it up to his mouth. Satisfied (and feeling a little guilty now), she began to eat as well. She was genuinely surprised by what just happened- ordinarily, she would've used "The Stare" to make Spike comply. This time though, she… well she didn't yell at him, but she'd never talked to anypony the way she'd talked to Spike. What was wrong with her? Was she ill? She didn't think so- her forehead didn't feel hot when she brought her hoof up to it.

Before long, she finished her soup. She looked over at him- Spike had finished his soup as well, and was sitting stock-still in his chair, staring blankly in her direction. She noticed the wet lines travelling down his face and made a sudden realization- she galloped over to his side of the table and took him into her forelegs, feeling tremendous guilt. "Oh Spike, I'm sorry!" she cried, just now realizing how hurtful her words must have sounded to him.

After a moment, she released him. She looked at Spike; she'd never seen Spike… she'd never seen anypony ever look so defeated, and it broke her heart. She had to do something, but… what could she do? An idea popped into her head, but she brushed it away- she could never do… that. But she had to do something, and the idea popped right back. It's only to help Spike, a small voice inside her head told her. And besides, you're all alone- who's going to know? Fluttershy took a deep breath, telling herself she was doing this only to help Spike, before leaning forward and kissing him on the lips.

She held the kiss for only a brief moment before pulling back. "…that was my first kiss," she whispered, watching his surprised expression grow from behind her mane. "You don't give that away to just anypony, you know…"

Finally, for the first time since she'd put him to bed, Spike spoke. "…she… she didn't take advantage of me," he said.

"I believe you." His jaw dropped. She then looked away in shame. "…This is all my fault. At the meeting, I asked the others if they thought Twilight had forced herself on you- I knew she would never, ever do something like that, but I brought it up anyway. I'm the reason you were taken away from Twilight, Spike. I… I'm sorry." She completely turned her back on him, unable to face him, tears rolling down her face. "You… you must hate me now… don't you?"

"What? No! I'd… I'd never hate you!" Spike climbed out of his chair and walked the pegasus's front. "This isn't your fault, and I… I understand why you did it. You, me, Twilight, the others… we'll all figure something out."

Fluttershy built up the courage to look him in the eye again. "But, I still feel bad about it. And I… I want to make it up to you. Can I? Please?"

Spike could see a hunger in Fluttershy's eyes, one he was now very familiar with. He knew he should've turned her offer down- they could both get into serious trouble if anyone found out. Plus, it would be… cheating on Twilight. But, for a reason he would never be able to adequately explain even to himself, Spike nodded and replied, "…Okay." Before Spike could change his mind, Fluttershy took a deep breath and kissed him again.

Kissing Fluttershy was much different from kissing Twilight. The first thing he noticed was her scent; Fluttershy smelled like grass, and trees, and sweet flowers. It was different from Twilight, who always smelled like soap and old books and ozone from her magic. She tasted different from Twilight as well- it wasn't better, or worse, just… different, in some way he couldn't quantify. Fluttershy's kiss was surprisingly firm compared to Twilight's- for that matter, the gentle pegasus was acting much bolder than usual. He wasn't sure what had come over her, but in all honesty… he actually kinda liked it. Fluttershy began to push Spike back until he was pinned between her and a cabinet. She… nibbled his lip- he giggled, liking the strange new sensation. He put one claw under her chin while he ran the other through her long pink mane. He liked to run his fingers through Twilight's mane as well, though in all honesty, he always thought she'd look better with a longer mane.

Fluttershy and Spike literally jumped to opposite sides of the kitchen when there was a sudden knock at the front door. Another, much louder knock followed a few moments later. "Oh um, I'll… get it," Fluttershy said, and went to answer the door, fixing her tousled mane- Spike went to sit down on the couch, trying to calm his heart.

"Just a minute," she said to the visitor as she approached the door. Opening the door, she found Rarity at her doorstep, bundled up against the cold. "Oh Rarity, what brings you out this late?"

"I just wanted to check up on Spike. May I come in?"

"Oh, of course." Fluttershy stepped aside to let the fashionista into her home. She approached Spike. "So, how are you feeling?"

Spike was unsure how to answer that question. "Uh… well, I guess I'm feeling better…" In spite of his efforts, he began tearing up. "I… I just want to move back in with her again."

"Well with any luck, I'm sure you'll be able to do just that soon enough."

He wiped his eyes. "…How's Twilight?"

"Not well, I'm afraid. Rainbow Dash told me Twilight threw her out of the library- now she's holed up in there and refuses to see anypony."

"Oh goodness. Someone should keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't make any… rash decisions," Fluttershy replied.

"Rainbow Dash has already volunteered to do just that. She and Applejack will take turns keeping an eye on her until she's better."

"…Do you think she'd see Spike?"

"Perhaps. But he should ask the Princess before going to see her." Rarity turned. "Well, I'm glad to see that at least one of you is holding up. I'll be sure stop by often and let you know how Twilight is doing. Oh, and Spike…" She looked back over her shoulder. "You don't have to help at the boutique tomorrow if you're not up to it- I understand if you need some… time to yourself." With that, Rarity left the cottage.

Fluttershy waited for a few moments after Rarity had shut the door, before turning to Spike and saying "That could've been bad. Spike, we don't tell anypony about what happened in the kitchen. Not a soul. Agreed?"

The young dragon nodded. "Agreed."

Later that night, Spike was just finishing his letter to the Princess. He rolled it up, and with a quick plume of green flame, sent it on its way. "There we go," he said to himself, then looked back and said out loud, "Alright, I sent it."

"Good. I'm sure Twilight will feel better when she finds out that you can visit her." The two had moved up to Fluttershy's bedroom; her fireplace was lit, filling the small room with very soothing warmth.

The two were silent for several moments, before Spike hesitantly began, "Uh, Fluttershy, can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can."
"Can I… sleep in your bed?" he asked. He then quickly explained "Twilight said it wasn't safe for me to sleep on my own during the winter."

"I… don't think that would be such a good idea." Considering what had happened earlier in the kitchen, she was a little afraid of what might happen if she and Spike shared a bed. "Besides, the fire can keep you warm much better than I ever could."

"Alright then." She could hear the disappointment in his voice. "Well, I'll see you in the morning." She heard rustling as Spike rolled over his basket. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Spike."