It was early in the morning and Spike had barely slept a wink. After last night's guy's night he thought he had gained some peace of mind. But then Big Mac had told him of a rumor that was going around Ponyville. The rumor concerned Sweetie Belle who he had feelings for may actually be dating somepony else, Button Mash.
Button Mash was around their ages and had actually gone to the same school as Sweetie Belle. Spike didn't know much else of Button Mash, besides the fact that he liked playing games. Mostly the video variety. Spike had hardly played any of those games before he has only ever played Pegasus Rely.
Other then that one racing game he hasn't taken an interest in those kind of games sticking mainly to board games. What had kept him up most the night was the thought of Sweetie Belle and Button Mash together doing “things” of all sorts. He couldn't stop himself form imagining their daily life as a couple. Not even a cup of Emerald Tea could calm him down.
He was just imagining for the hundredth time Sweetie Belle and Button mash kissing when there was a knock on the castle door. He made his way to the door trying, along the way, to look normal.
When he opened the door he was surprised to see the young filly Mica. Big Mac and Marble's daughter. Her body shape, personality, and mane style were the spitting image of her mother, yet she had her fathers coat and hair color. Yet unlike her parents she had Orange eyes instead of Marbles purple or Big Macs green.
“Hey Mica what brings you here today?” Spike asked genuinely happy to see the young shy filly, he is one of her guardians after all. And he was very protective of the young filly.
“mm-mm.” she replied gently nodding her head moving a note she had in her mouth.
Spike took the note and unrolled it. It was a note form Big Mac concerning two things. The first was that Mica had just gotten her Cutie Mark. Spike lowered the note and looked at Mica's flank where sure enough, as she was proudly displaying, was her Cutie Mark five rock shaped apples that were gray in color.
Since it has appeared Marble and Big Mac were trying to figure out if it has to do with apples or with rocks. Mica likes to do both apple farming and rock farming.
Which brings up the second issue, Marble wants to start mining precious stones and crystals. She recently found a vein of quartz crystal when she was helping to dig some new holes for apple trees.
She believes there is a richer deposit of crystal and possibly gems near the farm and with the okay from Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom she's getting ready to start the process. But first she need's some help locating the deposit.
That's were Spike comes in. Spike has an affinity for finding precious stones a bonus perk is that he can dig them up to. However, Spike thinks Rarity would be better suited to this task as she has a spell to locate gems.
But with Rarity gone for another few days its up to Spike. “Alright, well lets get going then Mica.”
Spike said as he stepped out of the castle and closed the door behind him. He lead Mica past the new guards and out towards Ponyville. It was just another peaceful day in Ponyville. Derpy was delivering mail, the entire Cake family was busy with the morning rush at Sugar Cube corner. Apparently Pinkie Pie was still out where ever she was at.
They walked through the new district of Ponyville were new homes were built an dare still being built. Many of which belonged to families of guards that were transferred form Canterlot assigned to Twilight or to Luna. Some were private homes of Wonderbolt's team here in Ponyville.
Twilight over the years has made many enemies and in doing so has needed a higher security guarantee. Which was fine with Spike as he and Twilight were family and when anything bad happened to her he was hurt along with her. Be it in body or in mind.
They finally made it to the country side were the Apples lived. Some other ponies lived out on the outskirts of town like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Recently some other farming ponies had set up smaller farms around Ponyville supplying fresh food to the town and its citizens.
They were close to Sweet Apple acres now Mica as usual wasn't talking the entire way, but Spike didn't mind it's just how she was. As they headed to the barn spike could make out that at least six ponies were gathered around and talking. But when Spike added it up in his head it seamed like their was one extra and it was somepony with a white coat.
Mica ran to her mothers side and Spike called out a greeting to everyone, “Good morning everypony.” He said raising his claw to wave slightly to them. As they turned to look at him he completely froze in place the one pony he didn't want to see today of all days was here. But he should have know she would be here after all Sweetie Belle often helped out her best mare-friend's out when they needed help.
He recovered and started to walk towards them again and as he did he glared at Big Mac. Sending a silent message to him that he was pissed that he hadn't told him Sweetie Belle was going to be here. Big Mac simply smiled and winked at him.
“Well hey there Spike whatcha doin' here today?” asked Applejack.
“Well Big Mac sent Mica to get me to help out Marble.” Spike said glancing over at Sweetie Belle who appeared to be arguing with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.
“Ah ya here to help find the right spot fer that mine of her and Mica's.” said Applejack.
Applejack looked over at Sweetie Belle and the others with a confused look on her face then to Big Mac and said, “I thought that why y'all called Sweetie Belle since she got that gem findin' spell Rarity uses.”
Big Mac said back to her, “Yup.” and then looked to Marble.
Who agreed by saying “mm-hmm.”
“Y'all wanted both of their help Sweetie Belle using her magic to locate um and Spike digs the hole.” with only that form both of them Applejack understood what they needed done.
“It always amazes me how you and Pinkie Pie can understand yup and mm-hmm.” Spike said shaking his head.
“Well y'all get it after a while, ya understand Big Mac sometimes don'tcha Spike?” Applejack asked Spike.
“Only sometimes.” he said back stretching his arms and tail out.
“So how ya doin' Spike after the whole Rarity thing at Twilight's reception?” Applejack asked honestly wanting to check on her dragon friend, who is like a little brother to her.
“Applejack!!” said Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. While Big Mac, Marble, and Mica made distressing gasps.
Applejack was about to defend herself but Spike responded before that saying, “Uh oh I'm fine I got something else on my mind now. Lets get started on finding the spot shall we?” he said in a confident and sure tone saying the lat part to Sweetie Belle as he started to head off towards eastern side of Sweet Apple Acres.
Sweetie Belle trotted over to catch up, “I'll come wit-” Applejack was beginning to say but got stopped by the others before she could say more or move closer to them.
Spike was walking side by side with Sweetie Belle as they walked along the path towards the spot were Marble wanted them to investigate. Neither of them said a word to one another why Sweetie Belle didn't say anything he had no idea. But Spike only ha done question on his mind and that was wondering if that rumor was true. Were Sweetie Belle and Button Mash dating.
“W-we're getting close to the spot so once were out side of the apple trees we'll start looking right?” asked Sweetie Belle with a slight hint of nervousness in her voice. Which in his current condition Spike missed.
“Uh, ah yeah sounds good to me, lead the way and I'll handle the digging.” Spike said standing taller.
Sweetie Belle smiled at him before pulling out in front to lead the way. Spike as soon as he saw that smile melted on the inside, on the outside he grinned like an idiot in love. Which he quickly shook away as he tried to recompose himself before fallowing after her.
Once they were clear of the apple trees a little ways away Sweetie Belle's horn begun to glow signaling she was using magic. Then she walked a few steps here or their moving her head form side to side searching for gems or crystals. Both of them didn't find anything right off the bat. The spell does have limitations however only able to go down so far.
“Let me dig a little bit here, I'll make it big enough so you can walk in and check if there's anything deeper down.” Spike said after awhile of searching and finding nothing.
“Okay I'll leave it to you.” Sweetie Belle said as she stepped back giving Spike some room to dig.
Spike dropped down to all fours like a pony then sniffing the ground he walked a few step's until he smelt something besides dirt. He started slowly digging into the earth checking to see if he was throwing dirt at Sweetie Belle at first. But after seeing he wasn't getting anywhere close to her he begun to dig full blown as he dug down a little ways.
Then he extended out the hole slightly so Sweetie Belle could walk in and out with out trouble. All in all it was a relatively quick job instead of digging a tunnel he simply made a giant hole with a ramp down into it. And once it was done he called up to Sweetie Belle, “Alright I dug it down to as far as the spell can detect and I made a way down, so when ever your ready.”
It wasn't long before Sweetie Belle was poking her head over to look down into the hole. She walked over to were Spike started digging at and walked down the slight earthen ramp until she got to Spikes side at the bottom of the hole. Again her horn lit up as she searched for gems and crystals.
She was closing her eyes as she was searching, concentrating on feeling the magical pull of when a gem was discovered. Spike was taking this moment to gaze at her longingly more and more now he found that he was looking at her something was driving him to simply look at her. Then he realized what it was it was his dragon instincts. Normally he had them under control he'd been working on it since he went crazy one time on his birthday and had stolen others belongings growing larger and larger every time.
But right now that same feeling had broken free of his control and he had a good idea why. Since he was obsessing over if Sweetie Belle and Button Mash were dating or not he had a feeling that she was something he could ever have and that just brought out his dragons greed. She was something that he could probably never have and it drove his dragons basic needs crazy.
But he had to scold himself, as not only was Sweetie Belle one of his closest friends she was also not a possession he could simply take or buy for himself. He was slightly depressed as he was scolding himself when Sweetie Belle suddenly opened her eye and started to stomp the ground excitedly.
“I found it, I found it there's a large deposit of crystals and gems just a ways in and then down deeper and then it goes off in several directions.” she looked over to Spike with a beaming smile and still stomping the ground in excitement said. “It was hard to detect it because it was behind some metals but I slipped through the cracks and found the vein.”
She was enthusiastically happy and Spike couldn't help but get infected by it he smiled as well and was going to pat her on the head in a sort of friendly congratulations. Instead he found himself with his claw on the side of her face gently caressing her. Sweetie Belle stopped in surprise and looked up at Spike both of them staring into each others eyes.
With out really noticing both of them started to get closer and closer to one another their mouths just a hair's space away. It was slight but Spike defiantly heard, felt, and smelt something dangerous he had only a split second to yell out. 'Look out!” before shielding Sweetie Belle with his own body as several medium sized rocks that were embedded in the soft soil came free.
They would have hit Sweetie Belle on the head and back if not for Spike using his own body to shield her. Since his latest growth spurt his scales had become stronger which meant right now as these rocks fell on his back it only felt like he had just stubbed a claw on his foot. The small landslide didn't last long and once it was over he pulled back form Sweetie Belle then said. “Lets get out of here before more rocks fall.”
He let Sweetie Belle go first and fallowed up behind her once back up on top of the hole they both let out a sigh. Spike soon found himself being looked over by Sweetie Belle and barraged by questions as she did. “Are you okay? You're not hurt? Are you bleeding? Is anything broken?” and many other similar questions fallowed to all he said no or I'm fine.
He allowed her to look at his back closely and he even stretched out his body to prove everything was okay. He was touched that she had cared so much about his well being and above all else he was relived that she was not harmed. “Well we'll have to warn them about the lose soil but we did manage to find the deposit so shall we head back to let them know?” He said intending to lead the way back but stopped after feeling a hoof on his side.
When he looked back he saw Sweetie Belle with her head lowered siting on the ground and her hoof on his side. “You okay Sweetie Belle?” he asked a bit worried that he hadn't actually shielded her like he had thought. But his worries were in vain, as she stood up and raised her head to look him in the eyes.
Normally he was taller then her but right now he was slightly hunched down, he had lowered himself when he had seen her sitting and her head lowered. But now they were face to face and she had a strange look in her eyes, she begun to lean in closer and closer to him angling to the side of his face. He realized she was going to kiss him on the check and time seamed to slow to a near halt. But as she was stepping slightly closer to him she tripped.
Ending up with both of them kissing on the lips, which surprised them both. Sweetie Belle after she realized what had happened quickly pulled back and made various embarrassing sounds unable to talk until she just ran off as fast as she could back towards the Apple family house. Spike was still stunned form the kiss he was going through the stages of surprise, then happiness, then giddiness and then only realizing that Sweetie Belle had run off.
By the time he had actually chased after her she was gone and everypony but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo was in a small semi circle near the road back to Ponyville. When he approached they all turned to him and Applejack asked. “What in tarnation happened?”
Spike caught his breath before answering back, “We found the deposit and I dug down a bit it goes back in then down and then off in different directions. But you need to be careful of landslides the soil is lose and we had a small one before coming back.”
Applejack didn't seamed to be satisfied with that answer so Spike continued on, “I Shielded her form the landslide and when we got out of the hole she tripped and we ended up kissing each other.”
“And that's why she bolted faster then a sheep in a round up?” asked Applejack.
Spike simply nodded and Applejack sighed walking back towards the farm offering a counseling pat on the back to Spike as she passed him. Spike then wondered if she knew how he felt, it was highly likely after all she had known he was in love with Rarity only second to Twilight.
Marble and Mica fallowed after leaving Spike and Big Mac to talk. Spike was trying to go over things in his head about how this could have happened and then it hit him. “Discord!!” Spike yelled out in a bit of anger.
But instead of his usual laughing and then appearing out of nowhere to claim his little prank or push nothing happened. Spike looked around though waiting for Discord to appear convinced he had something to do with all of this.
“He was around this mornin' Spike but he had some stuff to do and he would be away for awhile, he wanted Applejack to tell Fluttershy that when she came back tomorrow. He didn't have anything to do with it.” Big Mac said to Spike.
Spike juts simply looked at him stunned but he eventually accepted that it was nothing more then an accident and yet again he was excited. It was short lived though as he thought back again to how Sweetie Belle may be dating somepony else. Maybe that's why she ran off as fast as she did.