Spike tore at the vines that hung from the trees, his heart racing as thoughts of Rarity thundered through his head.

She might be dead...

He shook his head. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't.

He tore viciously at another vine, rage building up within him.

Endangered by a bucking plant...I'll tear it to shreds before it hurts her...

He tore at another vine, catching the limb of a tree as he did so. It splintered, and he smiled, proud of the destruction.

He tore at another branch, taking that down as well.

And another.

And another.

Leaving wanton destruction in his path, Spike searched for a Stallion Eater. Something he could kill...

And then, he found something alive, and breathing.

Unfortunately, it wasn't what he wanted to kill, which he found soon enough, his claws tearing at the creature's white hide.

He fell to his knees, looking down at the bloody mess.

What...what have I done!?

Spike stared at his reflection in the murky water of the greenhouse. A single, clear tear, cloudy with actions that could not be undone, disturbed its surface as it fell.

"What have I done..." he whispered, more to himself than to the lavender unicorn beside him.

"Spike, Rarity's going to be fine, okay?"

Spike tore his gaze from the monster in the water, and directed it to the unicorn who had been his mother for all those years...

"Twilight, what if she rejects me for what I did? I mean...I almost killed her, Twilight. I almost killed her. How does somepony look past that?"

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder, trying her best to comfort him.

"Listen, you were angry, and-"

She recoiled in fear as Spike turned, a crazed passion burning in his eye.

"I was more than angry, Twilight. I wanted to kill something, to destroy...everything. Look at me!"

Twilight nodded. She was looking, and what she saw was a scared, baby dragon, trapped in the body of an adolescent.

"I've become a monster! I am a monster, Twilight! I almost killed Rarity, and who knows if I'll hurt somepony else!?"

He sighed, and returned to his position of leaning on the railing, staring down at the murky depths. Another tear fell, disturbing the waters of contemplation.

"I think everypony would be better off if I just...died..."

Twilight's heart picked up momentum. It wasn't just the fact that he said it, (which was a rather large part of it,) but the tone that he had said it with. It sounded truly forlorn.

Twilight decided she had to do something, something motherly.

She smacked him, right across the face with a hoof, the both of them crying as Spike shrunk back, hurt more emotionally than physically.

"Don't ever say that, Spike! Don't ever say that! Nopony would be better off with you dead, do you hear me? Don't you ever dare say that!"

Spike sniffed, and took a stunted step backwards.

"But...it's true, Twilight! It's true! All I would do is hurt somepony else, or even worse, kill somepony else!"

Twilight shook her head.

"That is not true, and you know it."

"No, it is! I would just hurt somepony else! I mean, did you see how scared Rainbow Dash was of me?"

"Not of you. Of Rarity's condition, and of something huge."

"What?"

"Peter proposed to her. That, and she's pregnant. Well, kinda. She was in heat when she had sex, roughly about...two, three hours ago..."

"What!? But...they've only been dating for a few days!"

"That's why I told them to think it over before they made any big decisions. But, that's besides the point. Spike, you would not be better off dead. Your inner dragon just came out a bit, that's all."

Spike sighed, and scratched the back of his head.

"...Okay...I'm sorry, Twilight...but...how will I tell Rarity?"

Twilight placed a supportive hoof on his shoulder, then pulled him into a hug.

"I don't know. But I know that she'll forgive you."

Spike sniffed, and, after a few moments, pulled himself off of Twilight.

"I want to check on Rarity..."

Twilight nodded, and the two of them continued towards the pneumatics block, where Pinkie Pie had told them to go to leave her mane.

A few moments later, they arrived in the pneumatics block, and were quickly expelled by a sudden gust of wind. As soon as Spike was back on his feet in the real world, he quickly went over to the bed on which Rarity slept, her wounds healed by Twilight back in the odd world of Pinkie Pie's mane. He traced the curves of her face, while deciding something crucial.

I'm never going to go into Pinkie Pie's mane again.

He turned, and looked up at the closed-off hammock. He smiled, only able to imagine what the two lovebirds were doing up there...

Peter and Rainbow Dash lay on their backs, thinking hard before they spoke. Peter's hand rested on Rainbow Dash's belly, the other holding her hoof. The flower he had given her was still in the curve of her ear.

Peter sighed, hoping that Spike and Twilight had came back okay...

As soon as they had left Pinkie Pie's mane, the last thing they had seen was Spike running off, towards the greenhouse, and Twilight following him, as Rainbow Dash, Peter, Applejack, and an unconscious Rarity were pushed out of the pink party pony's mane. Peter smiled, wondering how Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie would react to the proposal, seeing as how the five conscious marauders of Pinkie Pie's mane had agreed not to tell neither Fluttershy nor Pinkie of the proposal, at least until they had made up their minds about it.

Which they were doing now. Using Twilight's advice, they searched for every conceivable reason to be married.

Peter's thought process proceeded as follows:

Well, first is moral obligation...I totally broke my self-promise to never have premarital sex, so I kind of need to redeem myself...

And not only that, but this is my child...my little pony...

Wait...

It's not just my child...

It's our child...

We're both going to raise this child, and we're both going to be parents, and we're both going to raise this child...

But wait, is that all I'm marrying her for?

Am I only marrying her for this child?

If so, we might as well just live together and raise the child, and see where life takes us from there...

But, I love her...

And I love this child, even though it isn't even a fetus yet, it's still a zygote...

Well, I think it's still a zygote...hell, I don't know, the cells have sixty four chromosomes by now...

Wait, what? Why am I...fuck it. Anyway...

I mean...

Just laying with her like this...

Holding her hoof...

I feel...complete. I feel like, if I just did this for the rest of my life, I couldn't be happier.

...

Okay, let's think of why I am morally inclined to marry Rainbow Dash...

This is our child, and I can't leave her like this.

We had premarital sex, and that's just not right.

But...

I'm only fifteen...I mean, I'm twenty something here...

Oh, wait, if Rainbow Dash is twenty two, then, back on Earth, she's fifteen as well. Okay, then. Our marriage would be morally sound...at least to me...

Now, then, as to why I want to marry her...

I love her. I want to be with her forever. I never want to leave her side. I love this child. I love her. I love us. I love our family. I want to be there for her, and I want to be there with her at all times. I want this, what we're doing now, to last forever. And if that means marriage, then I would gladly marry her.

If that means marriage...

Then I will gladly marry her.

At the same time, Rainbow Dash was riding a somewhat similar train of thought:

I love him, and he helped me...

He was open to what I had to say, and he let me cry on his shoulder...

He loves me so much, and I love him just as much, if not more...

I can be the old me with him, the me that Fluttershy thought was gone...

And, when I had those...horrible dreams, he helped me. He was there for me, and with me.

And now, because of him, those dreams are gone. Because he stayed there for me, more than anypony else ever had...he was there for me...

I love him. And I want to be with him, like this, forever.

Plus, we have a foal together...we can be in a family together, and...

And we can be together.

With a foal.

With our foal.

And marriage will allow us to do that.

Marriage will let me be with him.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she reached a conclusion. She opened her eyes, and nudged Peter with a hoof.

"Peter, you done?"

"Yeah."

"What...what are you going to do, Peter?"

Peter patted her belly, squeezing her hoof with his hand. He kissed her on the cheek, smiling wide.

"I love you, and I love our child. I'm going to ask you again:

"Rainbow Dash...will you marry me?"

Rainbow Dash smiled, and kissed Peter's cheek in return.

"Yes."

Peter smiled, and rolled onto his side, drawing her into a loving, passionate kiss.

As they parted, Peter asked a question.

"Are you sure you can do this, though? I mean...you'll probably have to give up the Wonderbolts..."

Rainbow Dash felt as though a spike had been driven though her hearts. She hadn't thought of that...

I mean, I'm the only Pegasus to ever do a Sonic Rainboom...how could I possibly give that up?

She thought of both of her fantasies. Either flying with the Wonderbolts, happy and free...

Or tied down to a foal, having to care for it, having to pander to its needs...

But, at the same time, loving the foal as her own, with Peter, and all of her friends to help...

She nodded, smiling as she said, "Yes. I'm ready to give that up. I never thought that I would be ready to give that up...I mean, the idea of a family...before this, I used to think as a family as something that would tie me down...but now...that I'm going to have one, with you and this foal," she placed her hoof on the hand rubbing her belly, "I see it totally differently. Because now, the idea of having a family is just so...so...awesome!"

Peter smiled, and voiced his single concern.

"It is, isn't it? But...I just can't help but marvel at just how...how...how fast this is all happening..."

Rainbow Dash smiled.

"Well, whad'd'ya expect? I'm the fastest in all of Equestria, and one day, the Wonderbolts will ask me to join them!"

Peter raised an eyebrow, and Rainbow Dash looked down at her belly, smiling wistfully.

"Or rather, our foal..."

Peter smiled, still unable to believe that-

"Holy shit."

"What, Peter?"

"This is all happening...before breakfast."

Rainbow Dash smiled, chuckling as she realized how hungry she was...

"So, we had sex, realized that I'll-sorry, we'll-have a baby, and decided to get married...all before we had any bucking breakfast. Wow."

Peter shook his head, chuckling as well.

"Best day ever? Definitely."

Rainbow Dash sighed, and looked back down at her belly, wondering what it would look like with a baby stretching its walls.

"Well, let's get some breakfast..."

Rainbow Dash nodded.

"And, we'll tell everypony about our decision over breakfast, okay?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, and Peter tugged at the screen, kissing his fiance on the cheek as the vinyl shot back into place with a satisfying flap.

They descended, smiling as the train conveniently stopped for breakfast at the same moment that they had left the hammock.

Peter smiled as the aroma of pancakes reached his nose. This was just one more thing to add to the list that was making the day amazing...

Besides, of course, Rarity being hurt...

He looked around at the ponies at the table, begetting odd looks as he smiled in the midst of the pain that Rarity and Spike were currently enduring, the screen pulled across their compartment as Spike sat by her side.

"Peter, I...I don't mean to be rude, but...what's with the happy face? And you too, Rainbow Dash. Rarity was horribly wounded, I don't see how the two of you could be so happy..."

Peter put an arm around Rainbow Dash, and cleared his throat.

"Everypony," he began, placing a hand on Rainbow Dash's flat belly, "we have some news."

Yo.
Yeah, this chapter kinda sucked. Sorry.
I just thought I needed to show how both of them justified the marriage.
Anyway, I'm gonna shift a bit away from Peter and Rainbow Dash...
But don't expect to see much of the Elders for a while.
They're doing just fine.
However, somepony else ain't.