Two months had passed and it was now the fall season. While the citizens of Canterlot were preparing for the upcoming fall festival, Celestia spent her time in Spike's hospital room. She opened the blinds on the window allowing the brightness of the sun to shine in before she made her way over to his bedside. Looking at his peaceful body, she leaned in and planted a small kiss on his forehead while caressing his cheek. Celestia spent everyday in the past two months by Spike's side whenever she got the chance. The only time she ever enters the castle is for the royal court, after that, she returns to the hospital in hopes that when Spike wakes up, she's the first one he sees. As she sat next to Spike, something happened that nearly caused her heart to stop. Spike took a deep inhale then exhaled hard. "Spike?!" she nearly yelled. The princess moved to grab his face while saying his name over and over, but there was no change. She was sure that Spike was getting better; any second now, he'll open his eyes, but when that didn't happen, Celestia was heartbroken again. She felt as though somepony out there was playing a cruel joke on her. Holding him close, she broke down crying; her tears falling on his face as she rested her head against his.

Her cries continued on for a few more minutes until she felt something touching and squeezing her hand. With a gasp, her head shot up and she saw a purple claw latched onto her hand. "Spike?" she whispered.

"I....can't....breathe." he groaned.

Celestia, now fill with so much joy, screamed Spike's name, while tightening her embrace around his neck; nearly smothering him between her massive breasts as she cried tears of happiness; eventually letting him go so she could climb in bed and cuddle him close. The warmth of her body and the softness of her breasts caused Spike to melt in her embrace. He wondered why Celestia was crying so much and holding him like something bad had happened to him. He just just fell asleep for while; no need to get upset over........ "Wait, a minute." he thought. "This isn't my room." Spike looked around, and upon further observation, he realized that he was in a hospital room. "W-Wha....how did I end up here?" he thought. Spike started to shift his body to face Celestia, but her embrace tighten a bit.

"No....don't move." she said softly.

"Why am I in a hospital room?" he thought. "How'd I get here?" He began to think back to before. "Let's see, I know I was with Twilight and the others, then I was with Pinkie, then I was brought to Canterlot......and that's it. I don't remember anything else." Celestia's soft crying turned into sniffles as she held Spike even closer to her; his face nearly buried in between her massive mammaries. He could feel his inner male instincts telling him to pull down her dress and release at least one of those orbs from their prison. Before he could do anything, Celestia placed her hand over his and gave it a light squeeze. "No, Spike, not now." she said softly. Spike was sure she was reading his mind. How else could she have known what he was gonna do before he even did anything. Oh well, guess he'll just have to settle with having half of his face against those soft pillows of hers.

Some time had passed and the two of them remained cuddled in bed until a soft rumbling noise caught both their attentions. Celestia slowly lifted her head and looked down at Spike. "Spike, are you hungry?" she asked.

"A bit." he answered before another rumbling sound came up.

Celestia giggled. "I'll go get you something to eat then." She was about to move out of bed, but Spike grabbed her. "Spike, what is it?" she asked.

"Before you go, I gotta ask, how did I end up here?" he asked.

"Don't you remember?" she asked. Spike shook his head no and Celestia lowered her head; wondering if she should tell him or not. "What am I thinking?" she thought. "Of course I should tell him, he deserves to know." Celestia slowly moved to sit up and gave Spike a serious, yet worried look. She was unsure how he was gonna take the news, but found it best to just tell him now rather than wait. Taking a breath, she placed a hand over Spike's and started to reveal everything to him; the attack on Ponyville, his fight with Stargazer, everything. She even revealed to him that all of that happened two months ago and that he's been in a coma since then due to a large amount of blood loss he suffered. Spike was in shock after absorbing all that information; so much so that he didn't move an inch. Instead, he just laid there staring into space with a blank look on his face after hearing about being in a coma for two months. Celestia called out to him multiple times, but he didn't respond. She leaned down wrapped her arms around his head; bringing him in between her breasts. Only with the lack of oxygen did Spike snap out of his trance and squirm around; prompting Celestia to let go of him. As Spike started to catch his breath, Celestia nuzzled her cheek against his. Spike soon started to think about Twilight and the others, and what they must've been thinking, seeing him in this hospital bed, not knowing whether or not he would wake up; it must've been terrifying for them. If only there was some way he could let them know he was okay. "Don't worry, Spike, i'll send word to Twilight and the others soon." Celestia said.

It's official. Celestia IS reading Spike's mind.

****************************

Later on that day, Spike's room was filled with crying mares. After receiving Celestia's letter, Twilight and the others wasted no time in making their way to the hospital and throwing themselves on top of Spike; clinging to him as if at any second he would be taken away from them. Spike, admittedly, was enjoying the softness of their bodies against his and wanted to at least touch them, but couldn't due to the fact that they had him pinned down to the bed so moving was out of the question. One thing Spike DID notice, was that his urges wasn't as bad as they used to be. Yeah, he still wanted to to touch the mares inappropriately, but he was in full control of himself. The urges he felt were just normal natural instincts; not backed up by his earlier instincts. Maybe it was because he mated with everypony and regained his sanity before he completely lost it. At least that's what he thought at first before another thought entered his head. Celestia had told him that two months had passed, and if he remembered the dates right, then that would make this the fall season. Which means, his cycle has ended. He was free, that is until next year, but what would that mean for the others. The only reason they allowed him to claim them was so that he wouldn't lose it and go after somepony. They all have a special somepony in their lives, it wouldn't be right for him to keep them to himself, but does he really want to let them go?

Spike was pulled from his thoughts when Twilight and Pinkie began planting small pecks all over his face; Fluttershy, Rarity and the others soon joining in. After that was done, everypony was placed in a magical grip and pulled away so that Luna and Cadence could cuddled against him next. For two months, two long excruciating months, Luna has tried and failed to enter Spike's dreams. It wasn't until later that she discovered the reason she wasn't able to, was because he wasn't dreaming. Spike had been in a dreamless state the past two months; a state in which all you see is nothing but a black void until you wake up. Luna tried to break that void, but to no avail. The only thing she could do, was wait until Spike woke up on his own.

Cadence had spent the past two months visiting Spike whenever she could. It was hard for her to do so since she had an empire to run, but when she was able to, she'd leave in a heartbeat. Cadence would sit by Spike's side and just talk to him; hoping that he could hear voice. From singing to him to retelling his favorite childhood stories, she hoped that doing these things would trigger something inside that would caused him to wake up, but sadly nothing had worked. The tears she shed were that of extreme happiness as she held Spike close; bombarding him with kisses all over his face. After a while, both princesses were pulled away by Celestia so that Spike could breathe, but it wouldn't be long before they were all over him again.

****************************

Later that day, Spike was alone with Pinkie while everypony had to leave. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence had to handle some political crap while Twilight and the others were called away to solve another friendship problem; the tenth one this month. For some reason, Pinkie wasn't called away for this mission, but at least Spike had somepony to stay with him. He really didn't want to be alone after all that's happened. Pinkie happily climbed into bed and cuddled up against Spike with her signature giggle. As they two of them laid together, Spike started to realize that neither Dizzy nor Pearl came to see him. Okay, he didn't expect Pearl since he had a feeling that the unicorn didn't much like him, but he'd hoped to at least see Dizzy. Maybe something happened and he couldn't make it, Spike started to wonder.

"Say, Pinkie?" he said.

"Hmm?" she answered.

"How come Dizzy and Pearl didn't come with you guys?" he asked. Pinkie said nothing; opting to remain uncharacteristically quiet. "Pinkie?" Spike said as he realized she was keeping something from him. "Pinkie, what happened?" he said like a parent knowing their child did something they weren't supposed to. Pinkie continued to remain quiet while refusing to look at him. Spike moved to sit up and grab Pinkie's face; forcing her to look at him. Spike gave Pinkie a stern look which caused her to cave in.

"Okay, okay, i'll talk." she said.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Spike, it's just.....it's been so long since i've had sex with him, and Blueblood keeps stealing my shtick and pissing my off....." she started. "So I.....I....."

"Pinkie.....where's Dizzy?" Spike asked; scared to know the answer.

"He's.....he's a few rooms down the hall from you." she confessed; lowering her head as her mane deflated a bit.

****************************

In a hospital room down the hall, there laid a stallion in a full body cast with the only visible part of his body being his tear filled eyes as loud sniffles filled the room.

****************************

"Pinkie, you didn't." Spike said as he face palmed.

"I'm sorry." she said in a low tone. "I didn't mean to wreck him."

Spike sighed heavily before giving Pinkie a head pat. "What am I gonna do with you?" he said. Pinkie said nothing and enjoyed the head pat for a while before Spike asked another question. "So where's Pearl? It's kinda weird to see Rarity without him." Pinkie slowly turned her head away from Spike with an upset look.

"Spike, remember when I nearly broke things off with Dizzy?" she asked.

"Yeah, from what he, Pearl, and Stargazer tried to do on the night of the meteor shower, right?" he answered.

"Well, turns out, Rarity didn't know." she explained. "Pearl kept it a secret from her."

"So how did she find out?" Spike wondered.

"We were helping Twilight clean up the castle when we came across Stargazer's journal." she explained. "We read through it and came across a page where he explained everything the three of them had planned that night. I've never seen Rarity so angry before. I assumed he'd talked about it with her in private like me and Dizzy did."

"So what happened after that?" Spike asked.

"Well, Rarity stormed out of the castle and........" she started to tell her story.

**************flashback**************

Rarity stormed throughout Ponyville looking for Pearl; purple sparks of lightning shooting through her fists as each step she took left an imprint of her foot in the ground. Everypony in her path immediately got out of her way as she passed them by. Rarity knew exactly where Pearl was and once she reached him, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. She made it to her home where Pearl had just walked out. A smile form on his face once he saw Rarity, but it was quickly wiped away once Rarity's hand came in contact with it. It all happened so fast, first he was greeting her, and now, he was on the ground with a large hand imprint on his face. Looking up with confusion, he saw Rarity with a look of pure anger. "R-Rarity, what the Tartarus?!" he said.

"How long were you planning on keeping this a secret from me!" she yelled.

"Keeping what a secret?!" he asked. Rarity conjured up Stargazer's journal and threw it Pearl. When the book landed, it conveniently opened to the page where Stargazer explained everything on the night of the meteor shower. Upon reading it, Pearl's face went pale as he quickly realized that he was in some deep shit right now.

"R-Rarity, it's not what you think." he said. Pearl was captured within a magical grip and lifted up off the ground. "I....I can explain!"

"I had a feeling that the you didn't like Spike, but to go that far?!" she yelled as she tighten the grip. "It's one thing to not like him for whatever reason you have, but to actually go along with Stargazer's plan and then keep from me?!" As Pearl struggled to to get free, his eyes turned towards Pinkie and the others were just now making it on scene.

"W-Wait, R-Rarity, I wasn't the only one." he said. "D-D-Dizzy was there too. He just as much apart of it." This was his plan, to attempt to throw Dizzy under the bus so that his punishment was less severe? How pathetic could one pony be? Rarity released her magical grip and Pearl fell to the ground. The unicorn quickly rose to his feet just in time to see Rarity turn her back towards him. She was so angry that he attempted to use her like that. The only reason it didn't go any further is because she noticed Twilight stopping Stargazer's advances and followed suit. If Twilight didn't stop him, then it would cause a domino effect in which everypony would've wound up doing it in front of Spike since he was the only one there without a significant other. Realizing this, Rarity felt disgusted with not only Pearl, but herself for not realizing what was happening that night. The fact that she even allowed it to go that far caused her to feel angry with herself. Pearl moved closer to Rarity and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away from him.

"You didn't even stop to think that Spike suffered enough, did you?" she growled. "You just wanted to pour more salt in the wound, and what's worse, you wanted to use ME to do it!"

"Rarity, please....." he started as he once again moved to grab her. Rarity quickly turned around and and delivered a hard slap to his face. The echo of the impact could be heard throughout the area. It even caused the others to cringe a bit. "Don't touch me!" she growled. "Don't come near me!"

"But, Rarity, I love you." he said.

"If you loved me, then you wouldn't have tried to use me like that!" she said. It was then Pearl remembered certain words that was spoken to him by Big Mac on that night. If he didn't give up his jealousy towards Spike, then he'll lose Rarity, and right now, that's what's happening. Rarity slowly backed away from him and towards the comfort of her friends while he stood alone. He started to wonder if this was what Dizzy went through when he and Pinkie broke it off. They eventually got back together after she had time to cool off, so maybe the same will happen with Rarity. All she needs is time to cool off and then things can go back to normal between them, or so he thought. Applejack and Rainbow stood in front of Rarity and acted like a shield to prevent him from coming any closer towards her. "I don't wanna see you anymore!" she said. "GO AWAY AND NEVER COME BACK!"

**************flashback end***************

"It's been a month and a half since then, and Pearl still believes he has a chance with her again." Pinkie said.

"I....I thought the two of them had talked it over." Spike said. "You know, since it never came up."

"I thought so too." Pinkie confessed. "Guess Pearl figured if he didn't say anything then it would he'd never have to worry about. Guess he didn't expect on Stargazer having a journal since he was surprised to see it."

"I bet Stargazer won't be happy once he finds out you girls found his journal." Spike said with a chuckle. Pinkie let out a nervous chuckle with caught Spike's attention. He wanted to press the issue, but was stopped when the doctor walked in. It wasn't long before he and Pinkie got into a argument about her leaving. All he wanted to do was his job, but these mares keep getting in the way of that. Spike had enough of the arguing and asked Pinkie to let him work, at least for a few minutes. She glared at the doctor for a few seconds before reluctantly agreeing to Spike request; promising to come back and cuddle him hard. After Pinkie left, Spike started to wonder if something had happened to Stargazer while he was in coma. By the way Pinkie laughed, she definitely knew something.

****************************

It was almost sunset when Twilight and the others boarded the train to Canterlot after handling their friendship mission. "Okay, can somepony tell me what the tartarus just happened?" Rainbow asked. "How was that even a friendship problem?"

"Best not ta think 'bout it to much." Applejack answered.

"Who cares, we got it done, and now we can get to go back to Spike." said Rarity.

Seconds later, the train started to move and the mares couldn't wait to see Spike again. Along their travel, Twilight noticed Fluttershy looking concerned about something. "Is something wrong, Fluttershy?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's about Spike." she answered. "Summer's over, and that means his cycle ended too.....so.....does that mean we no longer have to be his mates?" The was a brief moment of silence between everypony as they came to realize that their time as Spike's mates, though brief due to everything that's happened, was about to come to an end. It's not like they didn't know this gonna happen, they just didn't expect it to happen so soon. It still feels like they just mated with him and haven't had the chance to truly take it all in; at least that's how Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow felt. Amongst all of them, Twilight was the only who's been with Spike the longest, and even she felt like time passed way too fast. It wasn't long before another thought entered their mind. How was Spike gonna take this? Poor dragon's been through enough already, and now he was gonna have to free them from his mark; thus leaving him alone once again. While it would be sad to see Spike end up alone, it wouldn't be fair to him since Pinkie and Fluttershy have their own special somepony, while Applejack and Rainbow are in a relationship of their own along with Cadence. As for Celestia and Luna, the mares doubt that they would want to risk the possibility of a scandal if it ever came out that they were sexually involved with their son/nephew. And then there's Twilight, who had her heart broken just like Spike and who was the first to be claimed by him, by why did she go along with it? She claims that it was to help Spike gain control of himself, but deep down she knew the real reason.

She was just filling the void in her heart left by Stargazer. She knew it wasn't right, but the pain she was feeling, not to mention the pain Spike was in, was just too much. If they continued on this way, then it would just be a relationship built on lies, and neither of them deserved to go through that again. "So, what are you girls gonna do?" asked Starlight.

"When ever Spike id discharged from the hospital, we'll get him to remove the marks." Twilight said. "After that, hopefully, we can ALL start to move on."