Rarity's sobs came quietly. Her hooves, pressed against her eyes, felt hot and rough against her face. Beside her, Sweetie Belle sat gently stroking her mane, murmuring meaningless comforts into her ears.

Rarity sniffed. The smell of smoke filled her lungs.

"Spike."

Twilight's voice was caught somewhere between a choke and a sob. Eyes blurred and bloodshot, Rarity looked up into Twilight's face.

Her eyes were full of horror and regret. She spoke three words: "Rarity, I'm sorry."

And then she was gone.

Rarity watched the purple haze fade away. In the aftermath of Twilight's teleportation, she rather felt as though her mind were filled with haze as well.

Twilight stumbled across the dirt road, half running and half tripping as she blew through the countryside. Every so often, her horn would flicker with the light of a teleportation spell, and she'd vanish with a pop of air and appear fifty feet farther along.

She didn't know where she was going. Pictures swam through her skull, rendering coherent thought impossible. Spike, towering above the villagers below him. Rarity, sobbing into her hooves. Herself...

Twilight shut her eyes, tears welling up at their corners. And she, Twilight Sparkle, who'd screamed at her little brother instead of comforting him, instead of apologizing for her mistake—

She swallowed. Scratch that. She knew exactly where she was going.

After all, where else would he be?

The Everfree Forest was a scarce fifteen-minute walk from Ponyville; at a brisk canter, it became more like ten. When taken at a full gallop, and with scattered teleportations—some of which took her along the road, and some of which took her a quarter mile to the side; her thoughts were too chaotic, eyes too clouded to possibly care—it only took about four minutes and thirty-three seconds.

Thankfully, it wasn't far. Unthankfully—she momentarily considered the word's status in the Official Trottingham Dictionary before tossing it aside—it wasn't far enough.

She wasn't going into the Everfree itself. She didn't need to. That was probably a good thing, especially considering the fact that she didn't really know if she could muster up the will to defend herself against a wayward cockatrice right now. Instead, she came to the side of a small hill just before the border. Here, the grass still grew green and sweet, while twisted ferns blossomed in the darkness barely a quarter-mile away. Scattered rocks dotted the slope, and her hooves pressed into the soft dirt as she made her way toward the top.

She saw his silhouette first. It towered above even the largest boulder, his shadow stretching across the muddy grass as the sun descended in the sky. He sat facing away from her, great wings folded across his back.

He gave no reaction as she trotted closer, her hooves padding upon the crisp grass below. As she approached, she was again overcome by just how big he was; it hadn't fully registered back at the Boutique, while she was still overwhelmed by the destruction of the Boutique, but here, standing alone on the outskirts of civilization, she was reminded of how, even sitting down, he towered over her, the muscles on his back and shoulders rippling beneath his enormous wings.

She stopped. He still gave no sign that he'd noticed her, and truth be told, she wasn't quite sure how to change that. She bit her lip, the words swimming through her mind.

Spike, I'm sorry.

Spike, I hope you're okay.

She stood there, silent, looking up at his mountainous form and wishing for the words to make themselves appear. The sun was beginning to approach the horizon, and the sky had turned a richer, deeper shade of blue, speckled with spots of gold.

Ultimately, it was Spike who spoke first.

"Applejack saved my life down there once," he murmured. His face was turned away from her. The wind blew across his spikes, and Twilight shivered as it blew through her mane. "A whole pack of Timberwolves were chasing me, and she saved me from them."

He paused. "I don't think I have to worry about Timberwolves anymore, though."

Twilight swallowed, trying to muster up the will to speak. Come on, Sparkle. "Spike, I—"

"I destroyed the Boutique." Twilight couldn't see Spike's face, but she could hear the tremor in his words. "I almost hurt Rarity, not to mention Sweetie as well. If they hadn't gotten out in time..." The words hung in the air like a guillotine, poised over his neck.

"You were the one that got them out safely." Twilight squared her shoulders, standing up straight and tall—though, admittedly, the effect was somewhat lessened by the fact that even with her increased alicorn height, she still only came up to his kneecap, and when he was sitting down, to boot. "Without you, they'd be in the hospital. You saved them, Spike."

Spike gave a harsh bark of laughter. "Without me, they wouldn't even be in that mess, Twilight."

Twilight opened her mouth, and then closed it again.

"Do you know what the worst part was?"

She looked up.

"I enjoyed it." Spike looked over his shoulder, and for the first time, Twilight realized that his eyes were brimming with tears. "In some way, I knew that what I was doing would destroy the Boutique—and I didn't care. It just felt too good."

His voice sounded haunted. "It's like...you know how you've described what magic feels like when it's rushing through your horn? It felt like that, except fifty times more. Fifty times bigger." He shook his head and laughed, though it came out sounding more like a choked sob.

"I felt good—good all over. My arms and legs kept stretching out longer, bulking up until it should've looked ridiculous, but it didn't. I felt strong—stronger than I ever had before. It felt like I was on fire, and the thing was, I liked it. I wanted more and more. I wanted to keep growing and growing. I wanted to show the world how big I could get. I wanted it to keep going and never stop." Spike jerked his head away from her, letting a fat dragon tear fall to the ground. It steamed as it hit, cooking the grass below it.

"I didn't care, Twilight. Today, in the market, I knew that eating everything in sight was just taking advantage of Rarity's generosity. I knew that I shouldn't have gone into Rarity's place. But I did anyway."

She heard a muffled sob. "Is this what I'm supposed to be for the rest of my life? Just like when I was a kid, but this time, having it creep up on me and want more, even when it's turning me into something else? Just eating and growing, getting too lost in how good it feels to care about any ponies or houses that I stomp on?

"I'm a monster."

Those words hit Twilight like a slap across the face.

"Don't you dare." She bit out the words, nearly surprising herself with the sheer amount of venom within them. "Don't you dare call yourself that. Ever."

"But I am."

"Absolutely not!"

Twilight's chest heaved, each breath of air sounding like a strangled gasp. She looked up into Spike's big, wide eyes and glared. "Never say that about yourself again."

"Twilight, I liked it." Spike put his head in his hands. "I told you—I didn't even want to care about Rarity or her house. All I cared about was getting bigger. What kind of pony would do that?"

He gave a harsh bark of laughter. "I guess that's the answer. I'm definitely not a pony."

"You stop that." Twilight steeled herself, scowling up at him. "I'm not going to stand around here and listen to you talk about yourself like that."

"I'm a dragon, Twi." Spike shook his head, refusing to meet her eyes. "All those other dragons we've met—the one on Smokey Mountain, or the one in the Everfree Cave. Or hay—even the ones in the Great Dragon Migration. Would you say that Garble was a particularly nice guy?"

Twilight looked taken aback. "...No," she sputtered. "But—"

"Those dragons didn't care. They knew what they wanted, which was to just keep eating and hoarding until they were bigger than everything else." Spike's eyes glimmered with unshed tears, and he choked back a sob. "Maybe I've just been lying to myself. Maybe that's what I'm supposed to be."

"You aren't...that," she spat, stomping a hoof on the ground for emphasis. "You're my little brother, and that's something that will never change."

"Face it! I'm not your little brother! I'm a dragon, and you're going to have to live with it!"

Twilight took a step back, her coat still standing on end from the force of Spike's voice. He'd stood up on the crest of the hill, his mountain of a body towering above her. With each thunderous breath, thin curls of smoke wafted from the ends of his nostrils, and his wings trembled against his back. On reflex, his arm came up high, enormous claws glinting in the light of the setting sun.

He opened his eyes.

Twilight stood below him, horn raised as if to defend herself from attack. For a moment, he was amazed by just how small she seemed—at his newest size, she was barely wider than his foot—but within an instant, he realized what he'd done.

What he'd almost done.

"Oh, my gosh." Spike took a step back, eyes wide and fearful. He yanked his claws back and held them against his chest. "Twilight, I'm so sorry—I would never—I mean, you have to—"

"A monster, huh?"

He froze. Twilight's face was downcast, but he could catch the barest sign of a smile.

"Would a monster hold back? Would a monster still care?" Twilight looked up at him.

Tears were running down her face.

Spike swallowed.

"Spike, you're not a monster. And no matter how big you get, you'll always be my little brother." Twilight wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry—so, so sorry—that I yelled at you like that. I don't know what I was thinking.

"Can you please forgive me?"

Spike was dumbstruck.

Here he'd stood, claws bigger than the entirety of Twiligt's body outstretched, with fangs poking between his teeth that had to be three feet long. He'd towered over her, a titanesque mountain of muscle and size whose every step made the earth shake—

And she'd only stood her ground, looked up at him, smiled...

...And asked for his forgiveness.

The words were out of his mouth before he even knew what he was saying.

"I forgive you."

Tears glimmered at the corners of Twilight's eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.

Spike slowly sat back down. He squatted into it, bending down to make sure that he didn't break the cliff or sit on Twilight by mistake. Even at this lower elevation—it felt weird talking about his height with a word like "elevation"—his face was still a good six feet above hers.

He bit his lip. "And I'm sorry for destroying the Boutique. I'm sorry for losing control, and I'm sorry for..." He winced. "Well."

Twilight looked at him expectantly.

"I guess that's not important right now," Spike said, bringing a claw to his eye. To his surprise, it came away wet. "But Twilight, can you ever forgive me? A big, stupid lunk like me, who's got more muscle than actual brains?"

Twilight shook her head. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: there's nothing to forgive." She sniffed loudly, beaming up at him. "But Spike, if it makes you feel better, then yes. I forgive you."

Wordlessly, he held out his arms. With a flash of purple light, she was atop his bicep, gazing into his giant eyes with what he could only describe as endless trust and love.

He curled his arms protectively against his chest. She felt so small like this—like a stuffed animal that had shrunk in the wash—but her presence felt so huge. He wanted to hold her forever, never letting go of that smile, or those eyes, or that magic that he felt whenever she was around.

"I promise you, Spike." Twilight's voice was easy to hear, with her face pressed up against his chest like this. "No matter what happens, we'll find a way through this. I'll always accept you for who you are."

"And that is?"

He could imagine the soft little smile on her face. "My number-one assistant."

He chuckled.

"I love you, Spike."

There was a lump in his throat, but he ignored it. In this moment, there were no regrets, no worries about the future, and no fear or anger for the things to come. Instead, there was only the setting sun, and that feeling of warmth and love against his scales.

"I love you too, Twilight."