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And we're back to the Clop.

You know, it was only a few years ago that I clued in to the shower-trick. Possibly after having to replace the damn thing three times inside of a month, and always after leaving the house for a few days for work and coming home to find my 'house sitter' had gone and gotten the most girly replacement I could imagine.

AND THEN I FIGURED OUT WHY THEY ALWAYS HAD THAT SPECIFIC SHAPE!

CHAPTER 15

Luna wasn’t quite sure if Twilight’s plan to ‘drop in on’ the Apple family was working as intended, given that Applejack looked like she’d just eaten something that violently disagreed with her, but she had to admit, these fritters were magnificent.

And then the ancient Mare, Granny Smith, had busted out the maple syrup.

To Tartarus with the diet! As wonderful as the food was in Canterlot, Luna was always so self-conscious about eating, due as much to the need to keep her incisors, one of the last remenants of her Thestral heritage, out of sight of the squeamish Ponies of this age, as to the irritatingly small portions of elegantly-placed food she had been served back at Canterlot.

Celestia got her own buffet table. For the first year of her return, Luna had got … tiny piddling serves that looked like they should be framed, not eaten. And when informed that the portions were ‘too small’, the head chef had threatened to quit over her ‘complaints’, that cooking was art, and art was not to be questioned!

Thankfully, Celestia had interceded, ‘promoted’ the Head Chef to a distant ambassadorial post in Labyrinthia where his ‘art’ could be exposed to the Minotaurs and their omnivorous diets. Needless to say the Chef had quit and gone into seclusion no less than a week after his new ‘posting’ began.

After that, Luna got her buffet-tables, however the foods she knew and loved a thousand years ago were all but forgotten or ignored by the ambitious chefs all looking to please the ‘Lunar Princess’ with their culinary geniuses. And even then, the constant array of servants all getting under-hoof and insisting on their irritatingly servile little rituals meant that Luna had to wrap herself in the same soft compulsions that Celestia used so as not to look absurd whilst shovelling whole plates of food down, which took all the enjoyment out of the meals as she had to focus constantly on maintaining the compulsion, rather than on the delicious food.

Here, however, she found herself doing just that, to which Twilight and Granny Smith could only laugh and joke about ‘complimenting good food is eating it and enjoying it’, and right now it was a competition between herself and Big Mac to see who was ‘complimenting’ Granny Smith’s cooking the most.

Breakfast, such as it was, ended with a struggle over the last fritter, with Big Mac tugging the plate one way, Luna the other, both of them gritting their teeth and straining before a purple glow encompassed the fritter and neatly dropped it onto Applejack’s plate, who looked at the ‘prize’, then the two Ponies staring at it, and her, and then pushed the pastry into her mouth moments before two hooves slammed into her plate, trying to snatch up the prize.

It has been an age since I had a meal that was so … lively. Warm and lively. Luna thought to herself as she shared a laugh with Big Mac over ‘losing’ to Applejack, the Farm-Pony in question in the kitchen with Twilight washing dishes, while Granny Smith delicately chewed her way through her oat porridge, something soft enough for the old Mare to eat with so many teeth missing.

Big Mac, for his part, was delighted that he wouldn’t have to take the morning off to recover the family wagon from the Forest, but seemed to shy away from questions about how Fluttershy and Zecora were doing, and rather than make a member of the family that had just fed her uncomfortably, Luna quickly tried to change the topic to something safer, like his work.

“I’ve always wanted to know, how exactly do you manage to buck the apples into the buckets?” Luna asked, dragging the discussion away from the two Mares, and Big Mac’s obvious uncomfortableness on the topic. “How do you get an entire tree’s worth of apples to fall into a few buckets, and not all over the ground?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Big Mac replied, a look of unease on his face. “We just … do. When I was younger, I thought it was just practice, but I’ve seen farm-hands who’ve worked on orchards all their lives and can’t do what we can.”

“Perhaps it’s your Innate Magic …” Luna murmured, snagging a mug of coffee and adding a generous serving of milk and sugar. Straight black coffee always made her too ... aggressive, first thing in the morning.

“Beggin’ your pardon, Princess, but we’re Earth Ponies, not Unicorns.” Big Mac said after several moments of awkward silence.

“Oh, not magic as in spells or rune-circles. Pegasi channel their Innate Magic into their hooves and wings, allowing them to fly far faster than their wings should allow, and to walk on and manipulate clouds.” Luna explained, feeling now very confused herself. Had the Ponies truly forgotten all of their own secrets? “Unicorns manifest their Innate Magic through their horns, channel the natural energy of the world into spells. Earth Ponies channel their Innate Magic through-out their entire bodies, rendering them stronger and more resilient than any other type of Pony.”

“If I had to guess, I would suspect that, subconsciously, when your family is bucking the apple-trees, you’re sending small traces of your Innate Magic into the trees, asking them to drop their apples where you want them to. Generations of living in the same area, with the same trees and slowly refining their craft, your family has developed a method to channel their innate, internal magic into external objects.” The Lunar Princess finished, taking a sip of her coffee to give herself time to think about where to steer the conversation next, when she sneaked a glance at her conversation partner, who was looking at his hooves as if they’d suddenly turned to gold. “Do they … does nobody remember the old teachings?”

“If you mean magic, then only Unicorns are taught about that.” Big Mac replied in a soft voice, slowly, reverently putting his hooves back down onto the table. “It’s the first time I ever heard anyone talking about Earth Ponies having any sort of magic.”

“Back when the Three Tribes first came to Equestria, the Tribes were at war, Big Mac. Surely, you must have wondered how the Earth Ponies and Pegasi fought the Unicorns, and each other, to a stand-still if only the Unicorns possessed magic?”

“Honestly, there’s not a whole lot of information on that era, and I remember as a Filly, there was a group of historians that got into a knock-down drag-out verbal brawl with Celesita over her attempting to ‘re-write’ history when she questioned the books being used in the public history teaching blocks.” Twilight said, coming back from the kitchen with suds in her mane. Apparently dish-washing was not one of her specialties.

“Wait … Ponies were trying to tell my sister, who had been there when it happened, what the true history was?” Luna asked, incredulous, while Big Mac tried vainly to stifle his laughter at the mental image of Celestia in any sort of brawl.

“Canterlot is a Unicorn city, regardless of what Celestia tries to say.” Sighing, Twilight sat herself down at the table, a quick flash of her horn and soap-scented steam began to rise out of her mane. “I was quite young, so I don’t remember everything, but I do remember it was an all-Unicorn group trying to tell Celestia she was wrong, and at least three of them were senior lecturers at the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns. After that, Celestia quickly started ‘home schooling’ me on a lot of subjects, and I only went to a few classes at the school, really.”

“That sounds suspiciously like the Unicorns have managed to erase the knowledge of the Innate Arts from the public domain.” Feeling a massive headache coming on, Luna rubbed at her temples, then took a long drink from her mug of coffee. Why had Celestia let something like this slip through the cracks?

“So you’re saying my family can … use magic?” Big Mac asked after several moments of awkward silence. Indeed, the burly farm-Pony seemed at once both utterly confused and very excited. “I could do something else, other than kick apples down from the trees?”

“Well … given time and training, yes.” Luna replied, wishing to give the young Stallion something positive to focus on. “I remember many of the Knights of Old Equestria were Earth Ponies, and possessed intense stamina and physical resilience. They often wielded lances of living wood, which they could then shape into other weapons. Gallant George was infamous for being able to actually enlarge his lances mid-charge, literally flattening his opponents with a massive oak-tree where they had expected a mere lance. I also recall a small monastic order who master of their Innate Magic actually allowed them to mend injuries by using their Innate Magic to manipulate the Innate Magic of their patients, and together the two forces would heal the physical injuries of the patient.”

“Odd. Celestia said that the ‘Old Magics’ had been lost, but surely she would know of them?” Twilight asked softly as the three Ponies sat at the breakfast table together, united in their confusion.

“That is impossible. You see, Celestia is older than the Three Tribes, and her Tribe had a very different kind of Innate Magic.” Luna replied, equally softly, the only other noise the clatter of Applejack and Granny Smith washing and drying the dishes in the kitchen. “Her kind could alter probability. They could change their own luck, to a certain extent. As such, she could never learn the Innate Magic of the Three Tribes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chatting with Applejack as she ‘escorted’ the two ‘strangers’, Twilight’s mind swum with revelations.

Celestia didn’t belong to any of the Three Tribes, or the Thestrals, but instead a mysterious ‘Fifth Tribe’, there was an ancient secret magic that Earth Ponies and Pegasi could use, but it had vanished into history, and Celestia had done nothing to preserve it.

And yet, this was the same Mare whose collection of antiques was so vast it doubled as the National Equestrian Museum. Her collected tomes spanned almost every topic, and dozens of Races and civilisations, and every year scholars from all over the known world competed for a chance to gain access to that library to translate and copy the rare, often unique books and scrolls Celestia had collected.

So why had Celestia allowed the knowledge of these ‘Innate Magics’, as Luna called them, to fade out of public knowledge when the Unicorns had managed to hold onto their own magical arts?

Not that Applejack’s news helped settle Twilight’s mind. Trixie and a pony called ‘Sun-something’ were coming to Ponyville today for help with a faulty spell, a spell that Twilight had incorrectly translated, and one she thought she’d burned all the copies of.

And given it was one of those Neighponese spells, she had a horrible suspicion that she knew exactly what spell was to blame.

Although I wonder why Trixie would want another Mare? She seemed to be … well … fixated on Snips and Snails as her servants. The newest Princess, now disguised as a vivid-pink Unicorn with white hair, mused as she let Luna and Applejack carry on the conversation, Luna begging Applejack for recipes and Applejack promising that Luna hadn’t really had ‘Apple cooking’ until she’d tried Granny Smith’s apple-pie, made with real Zap Apple jam and piled high with whipped cream.

It was a wonder that Luna, disguised as a lime-green Unicorn with a white mane and tail, wasn’t drowning in her own drool, but the sight did make Twilight giggle a little, and lift her spirits.

Who would have thought that three years ago, the Mare that she and Applejack, as well as the other Bearers, had battled and then liberated from the Nightmare Spirit would be drooling openly at the thought of apple-based baked goods, or would have opened Twilight’s mind to the chaotic maelstrom of a romantic relationship?

“Twilight?”

“Whuzzat? Sorry, sorry, was just … processing some things.” Twilight yelped, flushing with embarrassment as she realised she had been ignoring her friends.

“Ah was sayin’, what kinda spell do yah think Trixie’s messed up?” Applejack asked again.

“Hmmm, if one of the failed spell-scrolls did survive, I would say it’s probably one of the combat-spells, or one of Weeaboo’s 'Beauty Enhancer' spells?”

“Ugh, yah mean that thing that made mah eyes get so durn big?”

“Trust me, Applejack, when I say that was one of the least awkward members of that group of spell. Some of the others are just plain … well, weird.” Twilight gave a small, sickly chuckle. “There’s a whole host of spells that, quite frankly, confused the heck out of me until I busted Spike’s little stash of ‘Ecchi’ comics. Never doubt the ingenuity of a very horny Unicorn, pun not intended, trapped on an island with nothing but himself and a Mirror Pool.”

“Really? Weeaboo was always so very sweet when Celestia and I went to visit him.” Luna asked in shock, almost missing a step as Applejack and Twilight turned and gave her ‘the look’. “Very socially awkward, but sweet and helpful to a fault.”

“Yeah, well the ‘Pervy Sage’ and his … kinks … really got under the skin of the rest of the Nieghponese, so they were quite happy to give him a small island for his ‘studies’, so that nearby Ponies wouldn’t get zapped by his experimental spells and get turned into caricatures, or worse. They even erected a mystical barrier to ensure he couldn’t be disturbed … or leave without a direct edict from the Empress. They’re still trying to deal with his addition of a third gender to their ranks …” Twilight muttered the last, blushing furiously. Meeting one of those as a child had utterly confused the hell out of ‘Filly’ Twilight, and it had only been Celestia’s lessons that had stopped Twilight committing a social faux-paus and possibly souring relations between Equestria and Neighpone.

“A third what?” Now it was Twilight’s turn to get incredulous looks from her friends.

“The Spear-Maidens? The Empresses’s elite guards?” Twilight ventured, but still only got bug-eyed looks. “Oh-kay then. Uhm, around twelve hundred years ago, the Neighponese had some very … bloody … feuds during Weeaboo’s era, which unfortunately ended up with almost all of the Colts and Stallions of their Nobility either dead or unable to continue their lines. In desperation, the Empress of that era asked Weeaboo to come up with a solution to prevent the Nobles from dying out, and the Pervy Sage did just that, by cursing the eldest two daughters of each family to turn into hermaphrodites, so that they could still carry on the family bloodline while also … uhm … being able to ‘water the flowers’.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaa?” Applejack yelled, flushing bright pink across her face.

“Wait, you mean to tell me all those wonderfully stoic, dutiful soldiers guarding the Empress were …” Luna asked, somehow managing to look mortified even as she blushed. And my sister and I bathed naked in-front of them, more than once, when we visited Neighpone to convince them my return was a good thing! Auuuuugh! And they refused to stand in our presence … I thought it was honouring us, but what if they were … they were … AUUUUUUUGH!

“Yep. It threw their whole society outta whack for a good two hundred years, because Weeaboo didn’t think to compensate for the insane sex-drives the curse caused as a side-effect. Well, he had planned for the original Spear-Maidens to be insatiable, to overcome any hesitation or 'conflicts' between the new Hermaphrodites who had belonged to rival Clans, Clans who had just about slaughtered each other into extinction, but I believe Weeaboo never expected the overwhelming sex-drive to carry on to the next generations, is what I'm trying to say."

"After three generations of his curse being in effect before he managed to 'undo' that part of the curse, one-in-four Neighponese were born natural, irreversible hermaphrodites, regardless of social status, due to the insatiable urges of the hermaphrodites. Even the current Empress is one, or so the rumor goes.” Twilight explained, trying to not burst into nervous laughter. “Some of the Neighponese have built shrines to him as a God of Prosperity and Fertility, because all the energy the Neighpone Nobility were using to slaughter each other over territory and insults to each other’s honor was now being used to more … earthy pursuits, which meant they didn’t have the time or energy to keep fighting each other. Others build effigies of him and burn them to ward off his influence, believing him to be the Spirit of Misfortune for what he did to their families.”

“To try and save face for what she’d unleashed on her people, even without meaning to, the Empress insisted that all such ‘blessed’ children serve as members of her Personal Guard, which was and still is a huge honor, but given how quickly they reproduced, and how fast the curse spread amongst the Neighponese, she couldn’t very well have a quarter of the population serving as her personal guard, so most of their gender instead serves in the general Military or at least works to support the Military. And of course, when one of the succeeding Empresses weakened to all those talented, honourable warriors that served her every whim … well, thereafter, all the Empresses were hermaphrodites as well.”

“AND YAH TRANSLATED HIS SCROLLS?” Applejack really did yell this time, looking horrified. “What if one of us turned into them perm-afro-dykes?”

“Uh, one, I’d never cast such a dangerous spell, especially not without asking your permission first. And two, while I did consider Weeaboo’s ‘Spear-Maiden’ spell as a possible answer to Equestria’s desperately low Stallion-to-Mare ratio, the side-effects were just not worth it.” Twilight protested as she tried to defend herself as Applejack began to chase her, the Farm-Pony whacking at Twilight’s flanks with her beloved hat.

“Twilight, you are not permitted to turn Equestria into a nation of randy hermaphrodites!” Luna shouted, aiding Applejack in chasing a half-laughing, half-protesting Twilight all the way into Ponyville.

Gasping and lathered, Twilight and Luna limped into the Ponyville Library, still laughing about the silliness of their argument and complaining that it wasn’t fair that they were utterly knackered, but Applejack had barely broken a sweat.

“Uh, sorry, but the Library doesn’t actually open to the public for another two hours …” A familiar, high-pitched voice sounded from the counter, where an irritated-looking baby Dragon glared at the two illusion-covered Princesses over the top of a Power Ponies comic, a half-eaten bowl of gemstones in his lap.

“Glad to see you’re ontop of things, Spike!” Twilight said, grinning brightly as she kicked the door shut behind herself and Luna, and then dispelled her illusion. “How’s my favourite assistaaaack!’

“YOU’RE HOME!” Spike yelled happily, having launched himself from the counter and clamping himself to Twilight’s neck, propelling Twilight into Luna and knocking all three of them to the ground. “You’re done with this Sympathy-thingy? We can organise the library again? Is Luna gonna move in with us?”

“Can’t … breathe …” Luna whimpered from the bottom of the pile, while Twilight found herself with the unenviable position of having one of Luna’s illusion-hidden wings pressed into her throat.

After untangling themselves from each other, although Twilight found it considerably harder that Luna with an unrepentantly clingy Spike hanging off her neck the entire time, the two disguised Alicorns managed to stagger their way up the stairs to Twilight’s bedroom, where hopefully some random passer-by would not repeat their ‘invasion’ of the library and stumble upon the two Princesses.

“Ah … Spike, I take it from the ‘moving in’ comment, you know about Luna and my … about our … relationship?” Twilight stammered, looking to Luna nervously for confirmation when she mentioned the dreaded ‘R’ word.

“Y-yes. It’s a … relationship. That we’re … both still quite nervous about … about how to proceed.” Luna stuttered, blushing furiously but forcing herself to keep meeting Twilight’s eyes, and was rewarded with a brilliant smile. “Spike, I must ask you don’t spread the news just yet. Twilight and I are still … we are not sure if mastery of the Sympathy will affect our feelings or not.”

“Oh please, you’re two adorkable princesses, you’re perfect.” Spike said without a trace of shame, utterly oblivious to the furious blushing of the two Mares as he hugged each of their necks and inadvertently brought their faces together, cheek to cheek, above his head. “So long as you leave a coat-hanger on the door or something, we’ll be fine.”

“SPIKE!” Twilight wailed in embarrassment, turning an almost incandescent pink from nose to tail, while Luna simply wondered what a clothes-hanging tool would signify.

“I suppose I should move my bed …” Spike murmured, utterly ignoring Twilight’s spluttering, incoherent protests. “Do you think I should move into the spare room, or the basement? Hummm … basement, definitely basement. Thicker walls, different level of the house.”

Luna wasn’t quite sure what was going on between the Pony and Dragon, but she was certain it was some sort of private joke at her expense as Twilight jumped away, levitated a pillow into the air and began to slap Spike with it while spluttering incoherently … and then her mind finally caught up and realised what the young Dragon was suggesting.

Then it was two Alicorn Princesses turning bright pink and using the nearest pillows to pummel the precocious little Dragon, eventually sending him fleeing, and laughing, from the room.

“Oh my Faust, Luna, I am so, so sorry …” Twilight apologised, feeling absolutely mortified even as her mind came up with methods to get back at Spike, such as transmuting all his precious gems into salt-crystals and seeing how he like chomping down on those!

“Its fine, Twilight, Spike is only thinking of making things less awkward for everypony. After all … you are quite loud in your praises when I am mrph!” Luna replied, giving Twilight a cocky grin, and receiving a pillow to the face for her efforts.

And thus began the first Equestrian Princess Pillow War in the last thousand years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several burst pillows and an inconclusive tickle-fight with the feathers contained therein, the two Princesses had called a truce, made Spike clean up the mess as punishment for embarrassing them, and had retreated to the bathroom to make themselves presentable for Trixie and her companion, and debating the use of their illusions during the attempt to cure them of this mysterious curse, when Luna looked up at the shower-head, and then gave an appreciative glance at Twilight.

“Wh-what?” Twilight asked, feeling very much like a canary before the cat as Luna’s mouth quirked up into a mischievous grin.

“Did you buy this shower-set, Twilight?” Luna asked, using her magic to unhook the head of the set, a slim pink plastic affair with a recessed, multi-nozzle head, and then turned on the water, slowly heating it to a pleasant temperature before washing down her own mane, and gesturing for Twilight to join her in the stall.

“Uh, no? Rarity bought it for me, after the existing one starting to leak too badly to fix. She said it would be perfect for relaxing … the ‘blast’ setting is good for working on sore muscles.” Twilight said as she stood under the water, sighing as the hot water soaked into her coat, soothing sore muscles that she hadn’t even known had been strained, and Luna then rubbed hoof-fuls of coconut-scented body-wash into her fur.

“Hmmm, rather bold of her.” Luna muttered, but before Twilight could ask what she meant, the purple Alicorn gave a startled yelp as she felt the silken touch of Luna’s luminous tail across her belly and inner flanks, shuddering as her body quivered between the delicious sensation of hot water pounding up and down her body and Luna’s teasing touch, never actually going directly to her erogenous zones but instead circling them slowly, firmly. “Tell me, Twilight, how much time till the Canterlot Train arrives in Ponyville?”

“Aaaaah … you’re askiiiiing that now?” Twilight whimpered, her hips twitching as Luna smiled, and her tail began moving faster, slowly circling inwards … “Aah-haah! It’s about se-seven now, so the traiiiin should arrive about nine-ish! Gah! Lunaaa … that’s cruel! You said we wouldn’t be doing this till we got the … mouthwash!”

“Ah, I won’t be kissing you on the mouth, Twilight.” Luna whispered in turn, leaving her face just out of range as Twilight leaned forwards for a kiss, levitating the shower-head back up towards Twilight’s head, washing the coconut-scented suds down over Twilight’s flanks and Luna’s own tail, before raising the head to just below Twilight’s neck, the soft click of the recessed head as the dozen hot streams of water were replaced by three thicker, harder blasts of water as Luna toggled the ‘massage’ mode. “And besides, I need to help you.”

“He-help me with what?” Twilight asked, wide-eyed, as Luna slowly levitated the shower-head under Twilight’s body, shivering as she felt the three harsh streams roughly part her fur, going from her chest, down to her belly, pounding roughly at her small, firm breasts before beginning to work on her treasure, making her give a high-pitched whinney of surprise and delight as the hot, furious streams of water came into contact with her pearl.

“Why, helping you decide just what sort of toys you prefer.” Luna whispered, grinning wickedly as Twilight’s eyes bulged and her mouth opened in a surprised gasp as the slender, pink shower-head came in close, and then was worked slowly up and down the crease between Twilight’s hind-legs, the overflow of water streaming over her inner thighs and breasts, before Luna’s magic took a firmer hold and pressed in.

“Holy FAUUUUUUUUST!” Twilight yelled, only just stopping her hind-legs from giving out as the slender pink invader slowly worked its way in just a little further with each thrust, the hot streams of coarse water pounding at her uncharted folds, and when Luna twisted just right and the streams pounded right there, it was all Twilight could do to lurch forward, bury her face in Luna’s flowing mane to muffle the delighted yell that burst from her lips despite her best efforts to remain in control.

“Right now, I think it should be my name you should be calling out, Twilight.” Luna teased, holding Twilight close with her forelegs as she used her magic to push harder and faster, Twilight’s body quivering against hers, the sweet odors of musk and coconut filling the steam-filled room.

“Luuuuu-oooooh! Luunaaaaah! LUNAAAA!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, should I move my comics first, or the stash under Twilight’s bed?” Spike wondered aloud, all but skipping up the steps.

Even though he was ‘moving out’, so to speak, a part of him felt sad that he’d no longer be able to have Twilight’s presence nearby as he slept. It wasn’t that long ago that he’d be sneaking into Twilight’s bed whenever a thunder-storm passed overhead, or a particularly bad binge of ice-cream gave him nightmares, and lying curled up under the blankets, with Twilight holding him close in her sleep, always made the world seem safe and warm to him.

Now, however … a different part of him, a part that had awoken when he’d seen Rarity, was rejoicing at finally being ‘alone’, to have privacy, to make a ‘man-cave’ for himself in the basement, where he could put his things where he wanted, rather than where Twilight’s ‘organisation skills’ deposited them.

And the rest of his being quailed at the thought of walking into Twilight’s room and catching her and Luna in an intimate act. They were both very attractive Mares, and now both were Alicorns to boot, the supposed height of Ponykind’s beauty, but still Twilight was somewhere between older sister and mother to Spike, and Luna felt more like a cousin, a distant one, but there was a sense of … kinship? If not for their love of games, then because if there was anyone who knew how it felt to be an outsider in your own society, it was Spike, a Dragon growing up amongst Ponies, who could sympathize with Luna, an Immortal who had spent a thousand years apart from her people and was expected to just automatically adapt to a society so different from the superstitious, barbaric age she knew.

“Holy FAUUUUUUUUST!” Somebody screamed from the second storey of the library.

That sounds like Twilight! Spike blinked, the shock of the piercing tone of that shout making all thought flee his mind for several seconds before he finally recalled the whole reason that Luna and Twilight were out here: The Sympathy. Where uncontrolled magic from either one would seek out the other and cause ‘symptoms’, whatever they were.

“Hold on Twilight!” Spike shouted, charging up the stairs, images of Twilight and Luna being assaulted by uncontrolled magic, being simultaneously burnt, frozen and shocked all at once, being transmuted together, being turned to stone, whirling through his mind.

His claws were inches from the door-handle when he heard more shouting.

“Luuuuu-oooooh! Luunaaaaah! LUNAAAA!”

There are moments in every young male’s life, when fate conspires in ways most foul to tempt them into actions that will taint their minds and befoul their relationships, where hormones war with kindness and empathy, the impulses of the flesh contest the dominion of rationality and the pure love of those closest to them.

The part of Spike’s mind that had awoken after seeing Rarity urged Spike to put his eye to the key-hole in the door and see just what was going on … just in-case Twilight needed his help, of course.

The part of Spike’s mind that remained the gentle-tempered young Dragon protested that this was icky and gross, and Twilight was going to punish the hell out of them all if they were caught.

The rest of Spike, thankfully, was neither callow nor indecent, and thus did the only thing any sane, rational younger brother could do when exposed to this situation.

Sticking a claw in each ear, Spike turned smartly on his heel, heading for the stairs, loudly saying “NOPE NOPE NOPE!” as he retreated to the safety of the basement.