Spike hadn't known exactly where to start, so he started as close to the beginning as he could remember: the day that Twilight had told him that their planet went around the sun, and that there were planets beyond theirs. He proceeded to explain how Twilight set up a telescope to observe the universe beyond the mysterious forcefield and decided to build a spaceship to fly beyond, just like in the science fiction novels she liked to read. Through Spike's whole explanation, Celestia had just sat there next to him, sipping her tea every so often. She mostly didn't look at him—the alicorn seemed content to gaze out at a nonspecific location in the courtyard.

The rain had thinned slightly over the past several minutes but not by much; Spike wasn't even sure whether it had actually thinned or whether he had just gotten used to its repetitive tapping.

"So then it took Twilight quite a while—something like six months, I think—but she finally had the ship nearly done. And all that time, Scootaloo had been helping her. You remember Scootaloo, right?"

Celestia nodded. As his explanation went on, Spike had been sneaking in little questions like that to make sure the alicorn was actually listening—and, apparently, she was.

"Well, basically, just a few nights before Twilight and I were going to fly this ship out into space for the first time, it disappeared. It was there when we went to bed and gone when we woke up. And... so was Scootaloo."

Celestia cocked her head. "Do you mean to tell me that Scootaloo of Ponyville is currently flying a spaceship built by Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

Spike gulped. "Well... not exactly. It's been nearly a month since she left and since then, she landed on the next planet in the solar system and Twilight's made contact with this guy named Doc Zed and—"

CRASH!

Spike jumped back as Celestia let both her teacup and its saucer fall free from her magic; they both fell onto the stone below the bench and shattered into shards of china large and small. Spike looked down at them, heart still racing. "P-Princess?" he stammered.

"I apologise, Spike," Celestia murmured quietly, looking down. "I was just startled, that's all. Please forgive me."

"It's... fine," Spike said. "Really what Twilight sent me here to ask about is the forcefield. I guess we just wanted to know... um..." The dragon knew that if it hadn't been raining, he'd be sweating heavily. "We want to know about the forcefield. It's kind of obvious that the only way it could be maintained is with alicorn magic." He paused to take a breath. "N-not to insinuate anything, but... um..." Spike trailed off.

Princess Celestia looked up. "Spike, do you want to know why I was out here in the rain?"

"Erm... sure...?"

"Because I can," Celestia replied. Her magenta eyes stared straight at Spike's; the dragon felt unnerved. "The rain is cold and wet, and ponies don't usually like to be out in the rain without an umbrella or something like that. But I can do whatever I want, yes?"

Spike nodded.

"Good, Spike. I want you to go back to Ponyville tomorrow, or in a few days—whenever you were planning to go back, okay? And I want you to tell Princess Twilight that, if she has any complaints about the way that I do things, she can come talk to me herself. She doesn't need to send a letter or even an assistant to talk instead of her." Princess Celestia looked away. "And please, tell her that I know what I'm doing. I've been doing... what's best for everypony for more than a thousand years. There's no need to change that now."

"I will," Spike croaked. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest and he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Celestia sat there silent for a moment, unmoving. "Alright, Spike. I thank you for your time; this had been a most enlightening conversation, and I hope to see you again soon. You may now take your leave."

Not needing to be told twice, Spike immediately shot up from his seat, mumbled a "Goodbye, Princess", and bolted out of the courtyard. He didn't stop until he was halfway down the dry inside hall, at which point he doubled over with his hands on his knees and tried to calm down.