This is a non-profit fanfiction created for entertainment purposes only. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and Lauren Faust. This story contains content of an adult nature and is an Alternate Reality take of the characters Twilight Sparkle and Spike as humans (both characters I do not own). Please support the official release.

Twilight's Treatment - Chapter 6 - Confrontation

"Okay so I think that's all of them." The blond woman with the eyes that refused to meet smiled as she handed the pile of letters over to Spike, who was holding them in his hands like a terrible burden was being shoveled onto him. "What's the matter, didn't I give you enough?"

"No no, I think you gave me enough it's just... well lets see." Spike sorted the pile into one neat stack quickly an efficiently like a card dealer, then began to leaf through them rapidly. "This one's ours, this one's Sugarcube Corner's, this one's Lyra's, this one's ours, this one's for Sweet Apple Acres, this one's yours." Spike sighed looking at the pile as the mail woman watched on confused like she'd done something wrong she couldn't understand. "Here, how about this." Spike sorted through again just as quickly and separated the four letters that actually belonged to the library apart from the rest of the stack, handing the others back to Derpy. "I think that sorts it out."

"Wow Spike, you're really good at handling letters." Derpy smiled impressed and Spike smirked at the praise.

"Well I work with letters a lot myself what with Twilight always sending them to the Princess. Thank you again Ms. Hooves."

"No problem! Oh Spike, Dinky is having her birthday party this week at Sugarcube Corner, did you want to come? I know she'll be passing out invitations later." Spike pondered that for a moment. He didn't really know Derpy's daughter, he'd barely ever seen her. Still a party is a party and Pinkie usually made just about any of them fun.

"Well sure, I'd love to come."

"Great! Should we invite Twilight too? I haven't seen her in a while." Derpy looked around inside of the library but there was no sign of the purple haired woman. Spike let out a sigh.

"I'll pass it along to her. Twilight hasn't been feeling too good lately. She's been holding up inside the library for almost a week now and I don't know what's wrong with her."

"Oh that's awful." Derpy voiced her concern, her bright smile dropping. "Well I hope you don't both get sick. Who would take care of you then?"

"I don't think she's sick, just... depressed." He didn't know how to describe it. She'd been this way for some time now and when Spike asked what the cause was she'd only say that she wasn't feeling well and dismiss his concerns. It was hard watching someone you cared about suddenly lose all of their energy and motivation. Worse yet he had no idea how to treat the problem. "It's okay though, thank you again for dropping the mail. And the invitation."

"Okay, I'll see you around Spike!" The woman turned from Spike, promptly fell over herself into a pile and scattered her mail along the ground. Spike helped her gather it up as she apologized for the trouble and proceeded to fall over again as she departed, thankfully keeping the mail in her bag this time. He watched on until she'd made it out of sight stumble free and safe. Afterwards proceeding back into the library and sat at the table alone.

Twilight's depression was getting to him as well, he hated seeing her like this. She didn't read, she didn't study or do experiments and she certainly didn't leave the house. It was like she was avoiding something in the outside world and didn't want to leave the safety of her home. "Okay Spike, lets think this through. There has to be something that happened that started all of this." He thought back to the original day. Twilight had come home after going to Rarity's to help with a dress and deliver a book. When she arrived she said she didn't want to have any dinner and went straight to her room. Since then it's been like pulling teeth trying to get her up to do anything.

"Okay so she first started acting weird after she came home from Rarity's house." Spike tapped one sharp finger against the table as he thought. "So maybe they had a fight or something happened on the way back from her place. But what would those two..." Oh. No that couldn't be it. There's no way. "It isn't... me is it?"

He looked up at the door to the bedroom from the main lobby of the library. It had been almost as long since that day over at Rarity's that they tried to "cure" his problem. Probably had been the very best moment of his life thinking back about it. Still when he left Rarity had seemed so warm and loving but also concerned. She said she had to think about things and Spike had respected that. He hadn't seen her though since then due to Twilight acting as she was and Spike helping around the house more than ever. Thankfully only a few people had come by recently to check out or return books but he'd been managing that almost full time now as well.

He had to do something, whether it was his fault or not. He couldn't leave Twilight like this and if he could somehow solve the problem then it was his job to do so. After all he was her number one assistant and that meant more than just helping with studies. Rising from his chair Spike decided that he had to go back to Rarity's house to find out what happened that day. But before that he needed to check on the other most important purple haired woman in his life.

Climbing the stairs Spike quietly stepped into the bedroom. Twilight was still laying in her bed, the drapes drawn closed to keep the sunlight from peeking in on her. Closing the door behind him he walked over to the bed in the dark and got on his knees next to it. "Twilight?"

"Yeah Spike?" Her voice sounded so sad, it was heart breaking. "Did you need something?"

"I just wanted to ask if you wanted some breakfast?" He wanted to get going to see Rarity about all of this but if Twilight was willing to accept anything from him that would cheer her up he'd gladly give it. He'd give his left hand right about now to make her happy.

"No, I'm okay. Thank you though." She said quietly, facing away from him on the bed as she laid under the covers. Spike sighed a little finding his offer to her rejected.

"Alright. I'm going to go out for a little bit. Did you want me to let people know the library is closed today?" Twilight sighed now as she shifted under the blankets and settled in again.

"No... I'll open it up later. You don't have to worry about it."

"Okay, if you say so." He watched on sadly as he stood up getting ready to depart. "I guess I'm going to head out then. I love you Twilight." Spike turned to leave before he heard her voice again.

"Spike." He stopped as she shifted around to face him and sat up, putting her arms out for a hug. Spike leaned in and gave it to her happily. It felt good to give her something, even if it was this small. "I love you too Spike. I'll see you when you get back."

"Okay Twilight. Eat something okay?" She nodded quietly and the two kept hugging each other for a while before finally separating. Twilight laid back down in bed again as Spike quietly left the room and in turn the library. He made sure to leave the sign up to signify they were closed until Twilight got up to open it.

The streets were filled with the normal crowd of people heading to their daily jobs and errands. It was a weekend so kids were out of school today. Not that Spike ever had to worry about that sort of thing, his own education was handled by the Princess and Twilight. Still it might be fun to see what a normal human school was like, even if he was well ahead of the level someone his age would be in. Benefits to having a sun goddess and a magical genius as teachers is you picked up on things yourself pretty quickly with them.

Other than spotting Derpy running her route Spike's trip was uneventful, getting him to arrive quickly at his desired location. Standing before the Carousal Boutique Spike let out a sigh and prepared himself. Both for seeing Rarity again for the first time after his "first time" and also for what he might find out. He really hoped that whatever was bothering Twilight wasn't related to him. Raising his fist he knocked at the door and awaited for it to be answered.

The door opened shortly after but it wasn't the girl he was expecting. "Oh hey Spike, what are you doing here?" Sweetie Belle stated surprised, looking just about as cheerful as Spike felt.

"I was wondering if Rarity was home, I had to ask her something." Sweetie opened the door for him to come in and he accepted the offer, coming inside as she closed the door behind him.

"Sis is home but I don't know if you'll get a chance to talk to her, she's not doing too well." Sweetie's expression was parallel to Spike's as she was clearly worried about her big sister. "She's been just staying up in her room for days now. She never wants to come out or even play games or anything. I even tried asking her about her fashion magazines and she didn't want to talk about them."

"Oh... I guess my hunch was right then." Spike looked at the floor thinking that clearly something must be up between them. He was probably the problem too.

"You know what's wrong with Rarity?" Sweetie asked suddenly very intrigued with Spike's words.

"Well... not exactly no. But Twilight's been really depressed lately and she doesn't want to do anything or leave the library. She started acting like this after she came over to visit with Rarity." Oh and after I had sex with your big sister. Life changing event for me that may have somehow been a big mistake that's upsetting everyone, making it all my fault. But I wont tell you that, because I'm a big coward that's scared to death that I upset the most important women in my life.

"So Sis and Twilight were over here together and something happened that's made them both depressed? Maybe they got into a fight?" Sweetie tried to deduce and it seemed like the most logical conclusion.

"Probably, but I don't know what about exactly." Just a really terrible hunch the problem is right in front of you. "I've tried asking Twilight what's wrong or if I can help but she wont even talk to me about it. She just says everything is fine."

"Rarity is the same way." Sweetie said sounding annoyed now. "She just pretends like everything is okay when really I know she's sad but she wont admit it. How come adults are always so difficult when they're upset?" She frowned looking at the stairs that lead up to Rarity's bedroom. "If they'd just talk I bet it would help."

"Yeah but that's impossible. We don't even know why they're upset, and they're not going to leave the house to talk to each other." Twilight's magic could teleport here anywhere in the world she wanted and she was choosing to stay locked up in one room with books she wasn't even reading. Rarity already spent a lot of time inside working on her dresses, and she could always call on someone to bring her groceries and anything else she needed. These two could hide away forever if they wanted to.

"Well what if we ask Fluttershy or Applejack to help out? Maybe they can get them to talk to each other again?" Sweetie suggested optimistically but Spike wasn't so sure.

"They'd probably just not admit anything was wrong to them and send them away with some excuse. Twilight has a million of them when she needs them." The two crossed their arms and both frowned as they attempted to find a way to help their respective elder sibling figures. Sweetie Belle glanced around the room till something caught her eye. "Hey, what's this?"

"Hm? Oh that, that's the book Twilight brought over for Rarity a while back when she came to visit. Before this mess started." Sweetie Belle looked over the book, it was resting on a small table perfectly set up next to a lamp and a chair for reading. It had been placed in such a way that it matched the setting perfectly like a decoration. "I guess she was reading it earlier?"

Sweetie Belle picked the book up and looked it over, flipping through the pages until she got to the front cover. Suddenly she got a smile on her face as if a light bulb went off in her head. "Ideaaaa!" She sang out catching Spike by surprise. "Spike can you change the date on this book so that it's overdue?" Spike scratched his head but nodded.

"Well yeah... it shouldn't be too hard to just alter it. Why would you want to do that though?" Sweetie smiled with her clever grin as he asked.

"Simple; Rarity is a perfectionist. The idea of leaving a book overdue in her house will drive her crazy. If she has to go back to the library to return it then her and Twilight will have to talk. Then they'll be able to get over their fight." Sweetie Belle said feeling very proud of her little plan. Spike wasn't as confident in it however.

"Well... I guess yeah but how do we know for sure she's going to be that bothered by a book not being returned on time." Sweetie just gave Spike a glance and he sighed. "Okay yeah so she is a perfectionist, but that doesn't mean she wont just wait for me to take it for her."

"That's why you're not going to let her see you, or me. Now we just need to lay down the bait." Sweetie put the book back in its place, slightly crooked with the front cover opened up to show that it was currently past its due date. For added effect she slid the lamp over a bit on the table and tilted the lamp shade. "There, now she wont miss it for sure." Spike still wasn't feeling very confident in this plan but it would have to do as Rarity's voice came from upstairs.

"Sweetie Belle, is that you down there?" Sweetie's eyes got wide as she looked around the room and suddenly grabbed Spike by the hand.

"Hide!" She pulled him into the storage closet, the one he'd loaded the rolls of fabric into the last time he'd been over here. As they slipped into the small, dark room she pulled the door closed but left it just a crack open so they could hear what was going on outside.

"Sweetie Belle? Are you there?" It sounded like Rarity was down the stairs now and hadn't spotted them. There was just enough room that the two of them could stand comfortably but the only light was coming from beneath the door. "Goodness I know I just heard her, where did she run off to in such a hurry? Sweetie Belle? Hm?" Her voice suddenly perked up and they heard the lamp slide back into place. Sweetie looked at Spike in the dark with a smile now that she was hearing that the plan was working. "Oh that's just perfect. Sweetie Belle, are you around? I need you to run an errand for me." Spike felt a pang in his heart knowing that Rarity was just outside needing help and he wasn't there to do it. Still if this plan actually worked then it could solve all their problems. "Well if you need something done, do it yourself." Rarity sighed and started walking through the room. Sweetie gave Spike a thumbs up in the dark, which lasted only a moment as the closet door was suddenly pushed close by Rarity as she left the room and the building. Spike and Sweetie Belle stood in the dark silently for a short while after once they were sure Rarity had left.

"I can't believe that actually worked." Spike admitted and sounding relieved. "You're a genius Sweetie Belle." The girl was surprisingly quiet considering her plan had succeeded. "Well I guess we should get out of... hey where's the door handle?"

"Um... yeah I was afraid of that." Sweetie said sounding a bit nervous. "I got locked in here once before when I was a lot younger, I guess since it's a closet they didn't build it with a door knob on the inside." Spike let that information sink in for a second as he felt around in the dark for where the tool of their escape should have been.

"Wait a second, you mean to say we're stuck in here!"

"Only until Rarity gets home." Spike fell against the wall on his side of the closet, looking at the shape of the girl in front of him with the little light they were given from underneath the door. "I guess I kinda didn't think this part through." She said trying to laugh it off but sounding worried Spike would be angry. To his credit he tried not to get upset over it.

"Well that's just great. I guess we're going to be hanging out for a while then if she decides to go anywhere else after visiting Twilight." Spike sighed feeling around in the storage closet for all the random things that had been stuffed in here and forgotten. "What do we do till then?"

"I have an idea." Sweetie said in her flirtatious voice and even though she couldn't see it Spike's eyes widened.

Rarity looked the book over simply confounded by the fact it was overdue. She knew it hadn't been that long since Twilight had brought it over that day they... well that day she'd left abruptly. Still it needed to be returned and the thing would nag at her in the back of her mind until she did just that with it. Even if that meant facing the one person she'd been trying to avoid this whole time.

"Now calm down Rarity, maybe it wont be so bad. Spike might be there." Not that the idea of facing him for the first time after giving him his "first time" was inspiring confidence. He hadn't been by the boutique since that day either and she only assumed Twilight was making sure he stayed away from her. What with her being a sexual deviant now and causing all of this in the first place. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she tried to get her confidence back. "Okay, I'm just going to return this book and go straight back home. No cause for alarm, nothing out of the ordinary. No reason to start having a panic attack." Her pep talk wasn't doing much for her.

Much to her dismay no one had been around to stop or interrupt her on her journey to the library and she found herself before it in short time. Rarity stood looking at the door and gathered up her courage, raising her hand to knock at it. She didn't feel right just walking in and it was also a calculated move. Often Spike would be the one sent to answer the door instead of Twilight, helping her avoid the confrontation further. So naturally she was disappointed when Twilight was the one that opened the door. "Rarity?" It's okay, she had prepared for this. Now it was time for your natural defense mechanism Rarity; talking a person's ear off.

"Sorry to intrude but I noticed this book was overdue. Naturally I don't want to be a bother to you or the library or be in debt so I've prepared my overdue fee for you as well." Rarity talked quickly to try and not give Twilight an opening to speak in response. She pushed the book and money into Twilight's arms. "I believe that should cover it, if it's more than necessary you can simply keep the rest as donation towards our public services. Now then I'm sure everything is in order?" Twilight looked down at the books and up at Rarity seeming more confused than angry. "Good to hear, well I'll be seeing you around. Good bye darling, take care of yourself." With that Rarity spun around on her heels and began walking away from the building. She was feeling pretty good about herself, Twilight hadn't even gotten a moment to counter attack. Good show Rarity!

She was making her way back home when she felt a hard tug on her wrist. Rarity stopped and look down to notice it wasn't anyone's hand but a haze of pink magic surrounding her arm. Apparently her escape hadn't been as ensured as she first thought. Looking back Rarity could see Twilight's hand up using her magic to hold her in place. Sighing Rarity turned to face her and walked back, though Twilight was keeping her eyes looking down towards the ground. "Well, did you need something? Was the money not a sufficient amount?" Rarity was keeping on an offense with her words but it was mostly out of fear. Her confidence had been shattered by Twilight the last time they'd seen each other. "Twilight?"

"Rarity..." Twilight hugged the book against her chest, the money that had been placed on top of it spilling to the ground but she didn't seem to notice or care. "Would you come inside a moment please?" Her voice was heavy and serious and Rarity knew causing a scene outside would be the worst thing she could do. But an angry Twilight was a scary proposition with her magic. Just how much had she upset her? "Please?"

"Very well." Rarity walked into the room keeping up her shield of false confidence, wishing she could teleport like her other magical friend. As she came in she saw on the table a cup of tea and a half eaten piece of toast. It seemed Twilight's appetite had been as strong as Rarity's had been the past few days. Sitting in one of the chairs at the table Twilight sat across from her. Rarity crossed her arms and attempted to look strong before her. "If you're going to insult me or... or tell me how awful I am then please get on with it. I can use this time to be working for my clients instead of being reminded of the fact I'm a terrible person." Twilight kept her head looking towards the ground even after she'd sat down, putting the book on the table. After a few moments Rarity heard her sniffling and noticed the tears streaking down her cheeks. "Twilight?"

"Rarity, I'm sorry!" She suddenly blurted out, looking up at the purple haired woman with tear stricken eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I hit you! Please don't hate me!" Seeing her friend fall to pieces set off Rarity's own emotions, pushing her chair over to Twilight and pulling her into a hug. She held her friend as she cried out into Rarity's shoulder, asking for forgiveness repeatedly. There was no way Rarity could refuse.

"Twilight, of course I forgive you. I love you, you're one of my closest friends." Twilight returned the hug and squeezed tightly, still letting her emotions flow out against Rarity. "You don't need to apologize, it was me."

"No." Twilight said as she pulled her head up to look into Rarity's eyes. "No don't apologize, you don't have to. It was my fault, I never should have hit you. I've been such an awful friend to you. I've been an awful friend in general." She started sobbing again and Rarity held her tightly, giving them both a comfort they'd been longing for since this terrible situation began.

"Twilight I... I acted out of turn." That was a light way to say it, face it Rarity you practically molested the boy. It wasn't like he was going to refuse once you put it in front of him. "What I did wasn't appropriate and I deserved to be punished."

"I did it too." The words hung in the air as Twilight's sobs became sniffles and Rarity sat dumbfounded at what she'd heard.

"...come again?" She asked more shocked than anything.

"I... I did it too. I've been... I've been doing sexual things with Spike, for a while now." Rarity eventually broke the hug as she looked into Twilight's eyes to see if that was indeed the truth. There wasn't any denying the confession though. "It started out small. I gave him... um... hand jobs." Twilight was flustered as she was putting into words the actions her and her assistant had performed together. "It was just to help him get to sleep at first, when he was having trouble or couldn't rest it was the easiest way to get him to settle down. But then it turned into something else." Rarity was still amazed by the confession but she sat quietly and listened.

"I didn't think anything of it but then I got the idea to... to use my mouth." She took in a deep breath, diverting her eyes to the ground now. "Before long when Spike needed it I was always using my mouth... then I was encouraging him to let me do it even when he didn't need it." Twilight glanced up quickly to see Rarity's expression and then looked down again. Afraid of what she might see. "I told him it was okay, and we only ever did it in the dark. I figured as long as he never saw me do anything it was alright. I don't know what I was thinking." She hugged herself as she sat there, bracing herself to continue. "But then Spike started having his issues with the fire outbursts, I didn't know it at first but Zecora found out before me."

"Oh, yes that's right. I remember him specifically mentioning you were helping him with that problem and giving him medicine." Rarity recalled the reason for her own actions with Spike and felt a comfort in diverting it back to a cause to help the boy rather than just the two women enjoying him for themselves. Twilight wouldn't be able to leave it alone at that though.

"Yes, and it worked. It was helping him stay in control of his outbursts. But I... I was jealous." She brushed some hair behind her shoulder getting ready for the big confession now. "I was jealous it was replacing me and what I could do for him. So I switched his medicine with regular tomato juice without him knowing."

"Twilight..." Rarity couldn't believe it; she had lied to Spike. She never thought Twilight would do anything like that in her life. They loved each other so much and so closely.

"I was so upset! I couldn't think straight knowing that he didn't need me anymore. So after I changed his medicine I... I invited him to sleep with me. I let him watch me. Watch me use my mouth on him, while I was naked." Twilight was shrinking into her chair, she pulled her feet up onto the seat with her as if to provide herself with extra protection from Rarity's judgement. "We never actually had sex... but I was going crazy. I wanted it so much and then you and he... you and he... you took it first." There it was, the real reason. The reason for Twilight's anger and depression, her sorrow and her jealousy. Rarity had beaten Twilight at her own game and she couldn't stand it, with ease no less and in a single day. "So now you know what I really am." Twilight admitted and hugged her knees to her chest. "A monster."

"Twilight, don't say that." Rarity moved to hug Twilight again but she didn't release herself from the ball she was in.

"It's true Rarity, I've become so crazy from all of this. Even now that you're right next to me I'm still feeling the same way and I hate myself for it." She dropped her head down to avoid making eye contact with Rarity, having confessed all her sins. "What's wrong with me? How could I have done so many terrible things to someone I care about?"

"Twilight, I'm no expert on these sorts of things but it sounds like these problems of yours are very deep in your heart. You can't just ignore these feelings and continue on your way." Rarity moved herself directly in front of Twilight now. "Listen, this is the first step so I need you to look at me okay?" It took Twilight a moment but she managed to raise her head to look Rarity in the eyes. "I forgive you."

Rarity leaned in and kissed Twilight on the forehead, pulling back with a gentle smile. It threatened a whole other batch of tears from Twilight but the girl managed to hold them back and find her words.

"Thank you Rarity!" She blurted out, dropping her legs down finally. "I can't believe after me telling you everything you still want to be my friend."

"Twilight, you're practically my family. We've had a serious misunderstanding I know but I can't abandon you or ignore when you're in pain. I can see now you need my support more than ever." Twilight nodded to her and Rarity felt a renewed strength in her heart; she had her friend back. "But I guess that leaves a problem still doesn't it? With another person we know.

"I don't know what to do about that anymore." Twilight admitted to her friend sadly.

"Well then, why don't we try something to see if it helps?" Twilight perked her head up wondering what it could be that Rarity had in mind. There was hope in Rarity's eyes, and that filled Twilight with hope as well.

For Sweet Apple Acres it was almost always better to sell their product directly to the consumer over selling it to one of the stores. Overall they generally made more of a profit and could sell it for a higher price than doing discounts for larger bulk sales. It was why they still went about selling their famous cider directly from the orchid as opposed to just providing the barrels to a restaurant. Still Applebloom found she'd be happier not having some folks come onto the farm to get their products, and she didn't mean just the guys that came by to watch her sister work in the field in her short shorts. Which she totally knew they did but they seemed to think they were being clever and she didn't catch on. Freaking jerks Snips and Snails.

No she was concerned about another repeat client they got from time to time. It was just the way he always smiled when he was over, to the point Big Macintosh always made sure he was near by when this guy was around. Applebloom loaded his purchase into his sack for him. "Now lets see, that there's a dozen jars." Applejack counted as she took the money from the man. "Was there anything else ya be needing today Mr. Smuckers?"

"No. Thank you." The smiling, jelly obsessed man picked up his sack full of jars of jelly and nodded to the girls. "Thanks again, your farm always makes the best apple jelly."

"No problem at all, come on by the next time ya need a refill." Mr. Smuckers waved as he walked out the Apple family's door and off of their property. Applebloom waited until he was far out of ear shot before she spoke.

"That guy gives me the creeps."

"Yer not the only one." Her elder sister commented and went back about her business now that the uncomfortable sale was over. Applebloom headed outside herself to a much more welcome sight coming down the road on a scooter.

"Oh hey Scootaloo! Ya made it." The girl pulled up on her scooter and slid to a stop, popping off her helmet and shaking her hair loose. "Where's Sweetie Belle at?"

"Beats me, I thought she'd have gotten here first anyway. We were all supposed to meet at the clubhouse fifteen minutes ago." That didn't make sense, she was sure Sweetie would have been on time out of all of them.

"Well ah got mah chores all done already so why don't we go lookin fer her?"

"Okay, lets go by Rarity's place. She's been going over there a lot to help her lately." Applebloom nodded and jumped onto the scooter along with Scootaloo. Between their combined foot power and Scootaloo's expert steering the duo made it down the road into Ponyville in no time. Applebloom was always a little impressed with how well she handled herself on the scooter, doing some very impressive tricks. Scootaloo always said it was to be like her hero Rainbowdash but Applebloom had a feeling she'd be good at it no matter what.

They swerved through the streets passing by several people, including Derpy who shouted out a reminder about her daughter's birthday party coming up. They rode all the way to the front door of the Carousel Boutique and came to a sliding stop, looking around the building. "It doesn't look like anyone's home."

"Maybe they're just inside workin' on somethin' in the back." Applebloom hopped off the scooter and tried the door, seeing it was unlocked. She shrugged and pushed it open with Scootaloo following behind. They looked around the store and although the lights were on it really did look like no one was home. "Guess ya were right, ah don't see nobody 'round here."

"Hey, do you hear that?" Scootaloo stopped and listened closely, Applebloom doing the same. "It sounds like voices." They looked around to see who it could belong to but no one appeared to be in the room. Still the distinct sound of two people talking was coming from somewhere.

"Ah think it's comin' from over there." Applebloom began to approach the closet, noticing that yes the voices were getting louder. She looked to her friend confused but Scootaloo didn't have any more answers than the red head. Putting her hand on the door knob the two braced themselves as the opened up the closet and backed up. Seeing something they didn't expect. "Sweetie Belle! And... Spike?"

"Oh thank Celestia!" Spike cried out crawling out of the closet from his sitting position, his shirt was off and he looked like he was sweating. "I wasn't sure if we were ever going to get out of there."

"Applebloom, you're our hero!" Sweetie Belle said coming out of the closet as well after standing up, her hair was frazzled and she looked like she'd been sweating as well.

"What the... what in the hay are ya two doing in there?" Applebloom asked clearly confused.

"Together?" Scootaloo chimed in from behind her, sounding a bit annoyed at the idea that they had been in that state. "And how come Spike had his shirt off?" He was currently laying on the ground as it was a lot cooler than standing up, not really paying any mind to what they were saying. Sweetie Belle answered for them both.

"Oh well we were hiding from Rarity in a plan to get her to go over to Twilight's so that they would make up and stop fighting with each other. But then Rarity closed the door on us, and we couldn't say anything or else then she'd send us over instead of going over herself. So we had to stay together in the closet till someone found us." That wrapped up things pretty well except for one part that was on the girls' minds.

"So why do ya'll look like yer sweatin' like ya ran a mile?" Applebloom asked pointedly as Spike was putting his shirt back on, an idea crossing her head about what the two of them might have done together in that closet.

"That's my fault." Spike said still laying on the floor. "There's no air conditioning in the closet and I give off a lot of heat, so I warmed up the closet pretty fast." Spike got to his feet, running his fingers through his spiky green hair and looking around the room. "Wow, have we been in there that long? Hey guys sorry but I got to get back to the library, I'll catch you later okay?" Spike waved to the girls and Sweetie waved back with a smile, the other two still looking on suspiciously. When Spike ran out the door Applebloom turned her gaze back to Sweetie Belle.

"So... what did ya'll do in there together while ya were stuck?" Sweetie kept up a smile so innocent it was suspicious.

"Oh you know; played twenty questions, talked about stuff. The only kinds of things you can do in a small, dark room that you're forced to get close together in." She giggled and suddenly got a devious smile on her face that Applebloom and Scootaloo didn't miss. "We should get to the club house right?" She started walking out the door and the other two girls shared a glance, Scootaloo following behind her.

"Hey tell us more about it, was that all you really did? Hey Sweetie Belle I'm asking a question here." Applebloom looked back at the open closet wondering what kind of answers it could give if it could talk. Still Spike had said nothing had gone on so... that was it then right? He wouldn't lie about that just cause him and Sweetie were in a dark place all alone together by themselves with no adults to get in the way... okay maybe she should stop thinking about this.

"Wait up girls!" She called out chasing after her friends, looking to put her unusual discovery behind her.

Spike felt relieved to be out in the open air and free from the confines of the storage closet. Dragon-blooded beings are pretty resistant to heat, to the point their skin is fire proof. However it wasn't just the building body heat that had him sweating in the closet since they got locked in. His company had achieved that feat.

As Sweetie Belle had said they didn't do much of anything else other than talk. After all there wasn't a whole lot the two of them could have done while they were in there. Thankfully she hadn't used her flirty voice with him and Spike had taken his medicine this morning so he was under control in terms of that. Not being able to really see her in the dark kept him from feeling any outbursts either. So that left them with the option of pleasant conversation.

So they talked and talked and talked. They talked about their home lives and their hobbies and anything else that came to mind. Their mutual respect for Sweetie's big sister as well as their hope their plan would work out and the promise to hang out more together in the future. Through all of that talking Spike was starting to find that he kind of liked spending time with Sweetie Belle. It wasn't like hanging with one of the guys or with Twilight's friends but it was different and he enjoyed that.

Why shouldn't he enjoy it? As he walked lost in thought Spike was reflecting on the fact that he'd been avoiding Sweetie Belle for her flirtatious ways but she was actually pretty cool. Not to mention she was pretty, and she did have a really nice voice, and when he thought about it from what he'd seen of her before she was actually kind of sexy. Not sexy like Rarity who was a curvy knock out but she was still pretty curvy for her age... okay maybe he was losing focus on the things he should be thinking about right now. Like getting to Twilight and Rari...

"Hey Spike!"

"Gaaah!" Spike jumped into the air at the sudden arrival of big blue eyes surrounded by pink curly hair.

"What's up Mr. Serious Face? Cause your face was all serious, it was all like 'grumble grumble I'm Mr. Serious Face and I'm thinking serious face things' cause that's what you looked like." The pink haired woman rambled off as Spike got his heart to slow down from the sudden surprise.

"Oh, hey Pinkie Pie. Sorry, I guess I was just thinking about Twilight. I'm on my way back to the library to see her now."

"Twilight, why would you be Mr. Serious Face when thinking about her? Is she doing okay?" Spike had to be careful of what to say on this one. He knew not to reveal too many details about what's been happening but he didn't want to lie to Pinkie for just caring about her friend.

"Well she and Rarity were having some problems, so they've hopefully been talking about it since then and are working it out. I'm heading back just to check on them." Pinkie suddenly got a serious face herself as she rubbed her chin and Spike couldn't tell if it was legitimate or if she was making fun of him.

"You know what Spike, don't you worry about it. Your Auntie Pinkie Pie is on the job to make sure Twilight and Rarity are going to be back to their old selves again." Pinkie put an arm around Spike as she reassured him, looking proud of herself in whatever she had in mind. Spike wasn't as optimistic though.

"Well I think they might have worked it out themselves so..."

"Pinkie Pie is on the case! Operation Rarilight is on the way!" Pinkie declared out as she departed from Spike at amazing running speeds to Celestia knows where. Spike let out a sigh, just thankful the insane encounter with Pinkie had been shorter and tamer than it normally was. Getting back on track Spike headed straight for the library.

He arrived pretty quickly and noted that the sign for the library still read closed and he wondered if Twilight had ever opened it. Trying the door he found it unlocked and proceeded inside. "Twilight, are you in here?" Walking in and shutting the door behind himself Spike looked around for evidence that a conversation took place. He wasn't disappointed.

On the kitchen table sat a half eaten piece of toast, a cup of tea and the book he'd seen at Rarity's house. So she had been here. "Twilight, are you okay? I'm home now." Still no answer and no sign of the girls either. He was about ready to head back out when he heard something from upstairs. It sounded like female voices. "Twilight?" Spike started up the stairs, walking slowly to be sure that yes he was hearing two women. Carefully he put his hand on the door handle and took a deep breath. He didn't know what kind of state the girls were in after they'd talked; maybe they were still angry at each other, maybe they were both angry at him. Either way he had to be sure that they made up and were okay. So bracing himself Spike turned the handle, and opened the door to what was waiting for him on the other side.