“That was totally awesome!”

Rainbow Dash sounded ecstatic as she glided with Spike through the early evening skies. Spike nodded and called back, “Yeah, Fleetfoot’s moves somehow manage to get more and more impossible each show.”

Although only the moon illuminated them, Spike could see Dash’s eyes shimmer as the mare grinned giddily. “Tell me about it. She’s the fastest Wonderbolt in the team.

“She hasn’t pulled off a Sonic Rainboom, though,” Spike pointed out.

For a moment, Spike could have sworn he saw Dash blush, but before he could say anything, she had recovered.

“No Wonderbolt’s laid claim to that title. There’s only one pony in Equestria who’s owns it,” Dash said proudly, “and you’re looking at her.”

Spike had heard the boast a million times before, but each time it was music to his ears. Rainbow Dash was a legend amongst pegasi, something he’d discovered while on his trips to Cloudsdale.

He was about to reply when he spotted Rainbow Dash’s house ahead of them in the distance. Dash had spotted it as well, and the pair glided down towards the soft patch of cloud outside the front door. Her house was more like a mansion; it looked far too large to house just one pony and her pet tortoise. The rainbow waterfalls in front of her home glimmered faintly in the moonlight, and large pillars supported the cumulus infrastructure. At the center of the building, a large tower stretched upwards into the sky, further defying gravity.

“So,” Dash said eagerly, interrupting the tranquil silence, “on a scale of one to ten, how awesome would you say that date was?”

Spike ran a claw under his chin. “Well, I don’t know…” he said slowly, debating how honest he should be. The date had, of course, been more amazing than he’d ever hoped, and he always enjoyed spending time with Rainbow Dash.

But he didn’t need to tell her that.

“Hey! It was better than your last date. What made you think I’d like red wine?” Dash asked, raising an eyebrow in concern.

“I thought it’d make a nice change…” Spike said defensively.

“But… wine?” Dash muttered as she opened her door and stood tentatively in the doorway. “Do you even know me?” Despite the hurt in her voice, a playful smile danced across her lips, betraying her upset facade.

“Well, I bet I could pull off a better date this time!” Spike said quickly, his mind formulating possibilities and scenarios. They’d seen the Wonderbolts together all of once, so that was way overdone. They’d already done the cliché restaurant. No, Spike knew exactly where they would go.

“After the last one? Not sure I wanna risk it.” Dash smirked.

“Why? You worried it’s gonna be better than yours?” Spike challenged. He could admit that their previous date had been less than perfect, but he was confident he could turn it around for their next one.

She raised her eyebrow and grinned. “Oh, you’re so on. When did you have in mind?

“This weekend,” he replied sanguinely. “Meet me at Ponyville station Saturday morning. I’ll get some specifics tomorrow.”

“Sounds pretty big,” Dash said slowly, a curious smile tugging at her lips.

“You bet,” Spike replied smugly. “So, you in? Is it a deal?”

“Do you think I’m gonna miss out on this?” Dash laughed. “It’s a deal.”

The two locked gazes for several seconds before Dash spat on her hoof and held it out. Spike spat on his own claw and bumped it firmly against her hoof in return, cementing the deal. The pair shared a short laugh before a chilly gust of wind blew in and cut the mirth short.

“Heh, well night, Dash,” Spike said. “It was a good night. We should do this again sometime.”

“Yeah,” Dash agreed, scuffing her hoof against the ground, “we should.”

The two stared at each other silently, the silence quickly turning awkward as Spike realized he should probably say something rather than stare dumbly. .

“Thanks for the evening,” he said. He leaned in awkwardly and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Rainbow Dash giggled, rolling her eyes. “You’re such a prude.”

Before Spike could respond, she stepped out and kissed him on the lips. The dragon was caught off-guard and almost stumbled as they broke apart.

“You make it look like this is the first time I’ve kissed you,” Dash giggled as she stepped back into the doorway, the warmth from inside the house flooding out invitingly. “You know this isn’t the first time, right?”

Spike blushed and scrambled to organize his thoughts. “I-I know that!” he insisted. “I was just… I wasn’t expecting that.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. It wasn’t the usual cheeky grin or a cruel smirk; it was just a small, genuine smile. Spike couldn’t help but smile as well, his embarrassment ebbing away.

“You have pretty boring expectations,” Dash laughed again, the smile never leaving her muzzle.

“Right, yeah, sorry. I guess I should probably go,” Spike mumbled, stumbling over his words. “So… I’ll see you tomorrow, maybe?”

“Yeah,” Dash replied as she hung in the doorway. “That sounds cool.”

Spike nodded and turned around to leave, readying his wings.

“Wait,” Dash called out suddenly, catching Spike’s attention, “I was just wondering…” she began, fidgeting nervously with her hooves. “Look, I know you probably have things you wanted to do, but I was wondering if you wanted to come in and, you know, hang out?”

Spike blinked. “S-sure!” he replied eagerly. “I mean, it’s late, but I’m sure I can stay a little while.

“Well you can stay the night, if that’s easier?” Dash offered, gently tracing circles on the floor with a hoof.

Spike felt his heart leap. She wanted him to stay the night?

“Although if you do stay,” she continued, “you’re making me breakfast.”

“I-I can stay the night,” Spike said quickly, trying to avoid sounding too enthusiastic. “I mean I’d be happy to make breakfast.”

“Awesome,” Dash said, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Now c’mon. I want to get inside. It’s freezing.” She reached out and pulled Spike inside, closing the door behind them.

Dash’s house was large, and yet the clouds made it feel cozy and inviting. Ever since Spike had first learned to fly, he found that he loved clouds, and Dash’s house was almost entirely made of clouds—from the carpets to the furniture. He could see why Dash liked living here.

“You hungry? I can throw together a snack, if you want?” Dash offered.

“After that all-you-can-eat buffet at the afterparty?” Spike couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow incredulously.

“Pff, lame excuse for a buffet. I’m gonna go find something.” Dash trotted towards the kitchen before she suddenly stopped and turned around. “Hey, wanna watch a movie? I know I have some of those sappy romances you’d like.”

Spike wrinkled his nose. “Sappy?” he complained. “They’re not sappy.”

“I think I got one… Getting Over Her?” Dash continued, ignoring his comment. She continued into the kitchen, her voice carrying across the house. Meanwhile Spike made his way towards the living room.

“Oh! That’s supposed to be a good movie.” Spike called back as he hopped onto the cloud couch. “Even Canterlot’s snobby newspapers were impressed by it and gave it good reviews.”

The living room was ridiculously cozy. The carpet was made of clouds, the couch was made of clouds, the pillows were all made of clouds. In fact, the only things not made of clouds was the small table against the wall and the TV in the corner of the room.

Dash glided in with a bag of potato chips in tow. “You actually read those papers?” she chuckled.

“No, but it was news enough in itself to make headlines—‘Canterlot Snobs Actually Impressed By Movie!’  “

That was an actual headline?” Dash laughed.

“Nah, Twilight just catalogs every newspaper. I saw it when I was going through the double-check checklist—”

“Hey, catch!” Dash interrupted and threw the chip bag at Spike from across the room. He didn’t even see it coming before it hit him square on the snout.

“Hey!” Spike complained, rubbing his nose.

“Too slow, Spike,” Dash giggled as she moved to find the movie. “You don’t need me to kiss your nose better, do you?”

“N-no,” Spike said quickly. “I mean, unless you want to?”

Dash laughed as she turned on the TV and retreated to the couch where Spike was. “Sometimes I wonder who the stallion in this relationship is,” she jibed, pecking the dragon softly on the nose.

“I’m a dragon, Dash,” Spike pointed out. “Who knows,

“You know, maybe that’s not such a bad idea…” Dash teased and moved back to the TV to start the movie.

“Well, good luck finding a dragon who won’t chomp your tail off and steal your hoard.”

“If I ever keep a hoard,” she said. “C’mon, let’s just get this movie on.”

“You sure you want to watch this one? It’s a little… well, sappy, I guess,” Spike admitted, rolling his eyes. “Even for my standards.”

“I’m sure I can sit through this one without throwing up.”

“But you hate—”

“We’re watching it, Spike,” Rainbow Dash interrupted with a smug smile. “Deal with it.”

“Fine,” Spike sighed, “But only because I really want to watch this. Next time, though, we’re watching what you want to watch.”

“Deal,” Dash replied with a grin, hopping back to the couch. “Right.” She pointed at Spike. “Budge. I need room.”

“But I just got comfy!” he complained.

“I don’t care. I need somewhere to sit,” Dash huffed. She grabbed Spike’s tail and tried to pull him further down the couch.

“Nooooooooo,” he whimpered, grabbing desperately for the comfy couch and soft pillows

“Dammit, Spike!” Dash laughed and decided to hop and lie in front of him.

“Now I can’t see the movie, and it’s starting,” Spike complained again.

“Then gimme some more room!”

A moment of silence passed before Spike sighed. “Fine,” he replied and moved further back against the couch, leaving just enough room at the edge for her.

“That’s not what I—” she cut herself off. “You know what? I don’t even care. Let’s just watch this.”

She lay down on the sofa in front of him and shifted to get comfortable. Just as the starting credits rolled on, she grabbed one of his arms and pulled it over herself.

“You feeling okay?” Spike asked.

“What do you mean?” Dash asked.

“Well, you’re not normally so touchy-feely,” he pointed out.

“You’re warm,” she explained nonchalantly.

“Small side effect of being a fire breathing monster, I guess.”

“Maybe we should convince Twilight to zap you into a pony, then?” Dash smirked, poking his stomach with the edge of her hoof. Spike recoiled. He couldn’t stand it when ponies jabbed his stomach.

“What, just so I can’t tickle you like this anymore?” Spike asked as he ran a claw down her side.

“Hey! Quit it!” Dash giggled, “I thought we reached an agreement!”

“Hmm,” Spike purred. “I may have to extend the conditions.”

“What to?” Rainbow Dash pouted.

“I’m hungry now. I demand a potato chip!”

Dash wrinkled her nose, “You mean this potato chip?” She plucked the largest chip out of the bag and held it up in front of him. “You’ll have to beg for it.”

“Beg for it?” Spike complained, eyeing the chip hungrily. “What are you, some kind of sadist?”

“Maybe.” Dash winked. “Now, beg!”

Spike sighed, “Pretty please?”

“Bah,” Dash snorted, “your begging is pathetic.” She threw the chip, which hit him square on the snout.

“Not again!” Spike whined melodramatically. “My poor snout is being abused! I think it needs another kiss.”

realize we’ve just missed the first scene, right?”

Spike shrugged. He’d been vaguely paying attention to the white noise in the background. “All that's really happened is that Dusty has just been dumped by his girlfriend.”

“Who's Dusty?” Dash asked.

“Only the main character,” Spike chuckled.

“That's a bit of a lame name for the main character.”

“And yours is so original,” Spike teased, flicking Dash's mane in front of her eyes.

“Care to explain what your name means?” Dash retorted.

Spike waggled his eyebrows at her, “Oh, you know…”

The mare groaned and pressed a hoof to his mouth. “You know, I don’t wanna hear how that sentence ends.”

“Intimidated, huh?” Spike chortled as he batted her hoof away and winked.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the TV, although a visible smirk danced across her lips.

Returning his attention to the movie as well, Spike tried to fill in the blanks and work out what had happened. Dusty appeared to have decided to make the move to Manehatten to start a new life in the city. Although it was obvious that he wasn’t yet over his last relationship.

“How can he be so cool with a breakup like that?” Dash complained. “His ex just embarrassed him in front of his whole family.”

“I think he’s faking it,” Spike replied. “This whole ‘new start’ thing is just a facade.”

“Why would you fake something like that?”

Spike shrugged. “I guess he just doesn’t want to let it get him down—oh hey, it’s that mare.”

A blond mare walked onto the scene, accidentally bumping into the protagonist and spilling his Manehatten double espresso. She apologized and quickly dashed away as another stallion called after her.

“Boooooring,” Dash complained. “Why didn’t he say anything?”

“You can’t rush a good romance, Dash,” Spike tutted as Dusty sighed and drank what was left of his drink.

“So if our relationship were a movie, then it would suck?” she offered.

Spike opened his mouth to retort, but he realized that she was kind of right. Their relationship had been kind of sudden. All of their friends had been quite surprised by their announcement.

“Yeah, I guess our relationship would kinda suck if it was a movie,” Spike replied. “But that’s probably because you’d be in it.”

“Hey!” Dash pouted, feigning a hurt look. “If I was in a movie, it would be a runaway success! I mean, just look at how well Daring Do did once I was introduced as a character.” She puffed her chest out proudly for emphasis. “Everypony can’t get enough of the Dash!”

“Daring Do was already a worldwide sensation before you were introduced,” Spike pointed out.

“And it was even more of a worldwide sensation after I came in,” she concluded.

“Oh really?” Spike challenged. “You got any statistics to back up this claim?”

“C’mon,” Dash complained. “It’s common knowledge. You’re just disagreeing with me for the sake of disagreeing.”

“Maybe I am,” Spike chortled. “You know we never agree on anything, Dash.”

“We agree on some things,” she pouted.

“Like this movie!” Dash replied, pointing to the TV that was once again being ignored.

“That wasn’t really much of an agreement. You held a knife to my back and insisted we watch it.”

“You exaggerate too much. I bet you ten bits that we agree on something before the end of the night.”

“That’s a dumb bet,” Spike said. “You’re on. I’m going to make it my personal goal to disagree with everything you say from now on.”

“What if I say that you’re looking pretty attractive tonight?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “I can’t refute facts, Dash.”

“Oh you are so full of yourself,” she laughed.

“Touché, Miss Wonderbolt,” the dragon replied.

“Hey, I’m the only pony to pull off a Sonic Rainboom,” Dash pointed out. “I know I’m awesome.”

Spike grinned. “And I’m a fire breathing dragon. Beat that.”

The pegasus snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, a fire breathing dragon that wears a frilly apron when he bakes cupcakes."

"Aw c’mon! Don't insult the apron! That thing’s saved me from more stains than I care to count.”

“Why, you scared you’ll get a few crumbs of cupcake in your perfect spines?” Dash teased, flicking one of the frills on his head gently.

Spike snorted in response, a small gout of smoke puffing out of his snout.

Dash wrinkled her nose. “Hey, keep that outside,” she chided. “Otherwise I’ll make you clean my ceilings with that apron."

Spike frowned before he noticed where his claws were. He smiled roguishly and ran a claw across her back slowly.

“Hey!” she laughed. “I thought we agreed that you’re not allowed to tickle me. You know I hate it when you do that.”

“You keep poking my stomach. It’s only fair,” Spike replied nonchalantly, poking the groove in her hoof.

“Gah!” Dash yelled, her hoof recoiling. “No way! That’s not fair. I’m allowed to poke you.”

“Are you?” Spike asked. “Are you sure about that?”

“You think you can stop me—argh!” Rainbow Dash cried out as Spike tickled her relentlessly.

“No!” she wailed. “Stop! I swear I’m going to kill you, Spike!”

He didn’t let up, however; he pounced on her and held her down, tracing a claw across her side. Rainbow Dash squirmed under his grasp, yelling loudly as she tried to escape.

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, SPIKE!” she roared, her face quickly turning red as she struggled to breathe through her intense laughing fit.

Dash wasn’t weak, however, and she managed to twist herself around and swat Spike’s arm away with her hind-leg. But she had made a fatal mistake, and Spike took complete advantage. He grabbed her extended leg before she could react and began to mercilessly tickle her vulnerable hoof.

“SPIKE!” she howled, panicking and trying to buck him away. This was probably a really bad idea; Rainbow Dash was a very strong pony. Spike’s strength didn’t compare at all. The next thing the dragon knew, he was lying on the floor.

“Ooft,” he grunted as he spun into the table, knocking his head. He moaned as pain shot across his skull. He rolled over to look at Dash who was glaring at him from the couch.

“Suck it up. You deserved that,” she said smugly.

“That doesn’t make it hurt any less,” Spike moaned, thankful that the cloud flooring had provided a soft landing.

“Well, you’re still conscious, so you can’t have hit your head that hard.”

“You’re so unsympathetic!” Spike complained. “I could have severe amnesia!”

“You know sometimes you’re more of a drama queen than Rarity,” Dash said with a frown. “That’s not a good thing.”

“Woe is me!” Spike cried. “Woe is meeeeee!”

“Buck up, Spike,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “And we’re getting distracted again. What’ve we missed?”

“I don’t know,” Spike moaned, returning to the sofa and collapsing pathetically onto it. “I think Dusty saw that mare again.”

“The blond one?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“So nothing important, then,” Dash snorted.

“That’s not true,” Spike protested, forgetting about the pain in his head. “Some of the most crucial dynamics of the relationship are introduced in encounters like this.”

The pegasus raised an eyebrow at him. “Dynamics?”

“Yeah, like the little things that really make the relationship.”

Dash shrugged. “Surely either it works or it doesn’t?”

“Any good relationship needs good foundations,” Spike retorted. “You know, you’ve got to carefully build the personalities of the characters from the ground up, then show how they interact together. If you don’t do that, then you can’t convince the audience how the relationship would work, and the whole thing feels forced.”

Rainbow Dash gave him a hard look. “Aaaaand you’re an egghead,” she announced proudly. “Here’s that chip you wanted—you’ve earned it.”

“Very funny,” Spike grumbled, pushing away the chip. “You need to watch more romance, Dash.”

“Romances are cool and everything, but they usually don’t have really awesome things like action, explosions, killer robots and zombies. You can’t say those aren’t awesome.”

Spike couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, they are kinda cool, but romance—”

“See? We can agree on something! I win! Ten bits, pay up.”

Spike blinked. “You can’t be serious? I only made that bet as a joke!”

“So did I,” Dash replied nonchalantly. “But now I’ve won, I want my ten bits.”

Spike’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not fair.”

“Who makes the rules around here, bud?” Dash smirked.

“There’s no way I’m giving you ten bits for that bet.”

Dash’s own eyes narrowed. “Oh really?”

“No way. I only—ooft!” Spike was cut off as a large pillow slammed into his face. It fell back onto the couch feebly. Spike looked up to see Dash hovering in the air with a devilish grin on her muzzle.

“Cough up, bud. I’ve got plenty more where that came from.”

Spike’s eyes darkened. “No.”

He only had just enough time to dodge the next projectile hurtling towards him. As fast as lightning, Dash had bucked another pillow in his direction. It sailed past his tail and collided harmlessly with the couch as he leaped for cover.

Upon landing, Spike realized that Dash was now between him and the couch, so he lacked ammunition besides what she gave him. He searched for cover and prepared to defend himself.

“Ooft!” he yelped as another pillow hurling towards him, this time hitting him hard in the snout.

“No kisses or magic rubs this time, Spike,” Dash mocked, grabbing yet another pillow.

“Don’t think I’m gonna go easy on you,” Spike growled as a sly grin slipped onto his face and he grabbed the pillow lying at his feet.

“You’re going down!” Dash shouted and launched her projectile straight across the room. Spike dived out of the way, dodging the pillow by mere inches. As he landed, he used his own pillow to soften the fall.

Spike laughed. “Nice throw, but—”

He was cut off as another pillow slammed into his face.

“Too slow, Spike!”

“Dammit!” Spike cursed as he rolled over, still disoriented by the blow. Getting to his feet, he saw yet another pillow flying straight towards him. Blocking the pillow with his own, he dived behind a table for cover.

“You think you can hide?” Dash jeered. “Just give me the ten bits and we’ll call it even.”

“Never!” Spike war-cried, rising from behind the table and launching his pillow. It sailed gracefully through the air… and hit the floor to Dash’s right.

The two stared at one another. After a moment, Dash broke the silence.

“Are you serious? What was that?” she laughed and landed on the ground. “Even Fluttershy can throw better than that.”

realized he was out of ammunition.

“Er,” Spike mumbled. “I just didn’t want to mess up your perfect mane with a pillow.”

He yelped and ducked as two more pillows hissed straight past his head, hitting the wall behind him.

“You were saying?”

He grabbed the pillows, clutching them tightly against his chest, and prepared his counterattack.

“You can’t win this,” Spike called as he sat against the table leg.

“Oh yeah? Is that a challenge?” her voice called.

Spike jumped up and threw a pillow straight at her. She took to the air, just as he anticipated, and he threw the second pillow at her. It collided with her in midair.

Rainbow Dash gasped and dropped the pillow she was holding. Taking advantage of the situation, Spike dived out from behind his cover and lunged for the pillow pile that Dash had collected.

“You’re doomed!” he yelled, grabbing the first pillow with both claws. Dash’s eyes widened as the barrage began.

She managed to dodge the first projectile, but the second hit her foreleg, and the third skimmed her muzzle.

“I say you owe me ten bits, Dash!” Spike jeered.

“No way!” the pegasus yelled back, diving for cover behind the couch. She poked her head up to grab more pillows from the couch.

“Just admit it, you’ve lost!” Spike grabbed two last two pillows from the pile and scurried back over to the table.

“Never!” Rainbow Dash war-cried, flying across the room, pillow in hoof. She swung the pillow around and smashed it into Spike’s gut, taking him by complete surprise.

“Argh!” Spike gasped as his breath was momentarily knocked out of him, and the two of them collided. Over and over, they rolled across the floor until they hit the wall. Rainbow Dash was on top, pinning Spike down.

“Gotcha.” She grinned triumphantly.

Spike stared up at Rainbow Dash before he began to laugh. He couldn’t help himself.

“Okay! Okay! You win!” he laughed, looking up into her large, magenta eyes. She stare back and the two locked gazes for a moment. Then she leaned down and kissed him, taking him by surprise again.

Spike had a habit of being surprised by Rainbow Dash. She had him pinned down with her hooves so that he couldn’t move, even if he had wanted to.

He closed his eyes and silently wished that he’d never have to open them.

All too soon, Dash pulled away and Spike was forced to open his eyes. The pegasus was smiling coyly at him.

“We burst a pillow,” Spike mumbled, spotting the broken casing near his head, the cloud contents covering the floor.

Dash simply shrugged. “I’ve got loads of them. They’re not hard to make.” She looked at the small tufts of cloud that was already condensing into a fine. mist. “I’ll clean that up later.”

“Not gonna lie, Dash,” he panted, “you really know how to beat up ponies with a pillow.”

“It’s a hobby.” She smirked and got off from him. “C’mon, we’re missing the movie again.”

Spike had been acutely aware of voices and strings playing from the TV. “Oh yeah. You know we can turn it off and do something else, if you want?”

“What? No way!” Dash responded. “This is your movie so we’re watching it.”

Spike sighed. Rainbow Dash had to have been one of the most stubborn ponies he’d ever met.

“Don’t sigh at me!” she laughed. “I feel bad for making you watch that Daring Do movie, so this makes us even.”

Spike rubbed his chin, “I guess that’s fair. Although it’s not really ‘forcing’ when Twilight bought it me for my birthday.”

“C’mon. I know I chucked that bag of potato chips somewhere.” Rainbow Dash glided over to the couch and dug around the edges. She grinned when she found her prize. “Found ‘em.”

“What’ve we missed?” Spike asked. He dived onto the couch and stretched his legs, his claws clicking loudly.

“Probably not much,” Dash snorted before jabbing him in the stomach.

“Hey!” he complained.

“Move up. You’re hogging the couch again.”

Spike grumbled but shuffled around so she could hop onto the couch, next to him.

“Whoa,” Dash gasped. “She’s at his house. How did that happen?”

Spike eyed the screen. It was true: the blond mare was in Dusty’s house, stifling giggles as he gave her some slightly burned toast. The two began talking about the events of the previous night. Apparently Dusty had drunk a little too much the night prior and had ended up bursting into tears, sobbing into her withers—not the best third impression.

“I have no idea,” Spike mumbled, staring blankly at the screen. It seemed like a strange predicament to end up in.

“Maybe he invited her in to stay the night so that she could make him breakfast?” Dash suggested, flashing Spike a sly smile.

“Well if he can’t even make toast, I don’t blame him,” the dragon replied.

The two continued to watch the screen in silence, absorbing the scene before them. The mare was called Buttercup. She was the eccentric type, perhaps somewhat akin to Pinkie Pie. Spike smiled as he made the comparison. Buttercup was a restaurant and food critic for the Hummingbird Post and she spent most of her time writing articles. She had asked Dusty if he wanted to come with her to the next restaurant—

“Well this isn’t generic or anything,” Dash grumbled.

Spike didn’t answer that. He could see that the pony wanted to go, but something was holding him back. Was it a fear from his previous relationship. Was he scared of getting into another? Spike considered the possibilities. He knew it hurt to try and get into another relationship. He’d been through that. The dragon couldn’t help but frown uneasily as Dusty gently rejected the offer.

He knew Rainbow Dash probably thought that was dumb, but he also knew Dusty was just trying to play it safe. He could understand that.

The movie continued on, passing by mostly in a blur. Spike hadn’t really been paying much attention. Usually movies like this had his rapt attention, but today he found himself distracted. He kept glancing over at Dash to see her reactions. She appeared to be getting increasingly bored with the movie.