Most ponies just didn’t understand how hard it was to make something really shine, not like Spike did. They thought you just had to scrub it, but there was more to it than that. Through all his years as Twilight Sparkle’s dutiful assistant, Spike had mastered the art of making something shine. He had learned all the tricks of the trade, which he had tirelessly unleashed upon his scales. Now the bright ray of sunlight passing through the window glanced off the perfection of his scales, as they glimmered defiantly. In fact, if Spike peered very closely he was certain he could make out the vague outline of his head.
Or, was that too shiny?
It might make Rainbow Dash uncomfortable if while talking to him she could see a replica of herself on his scales. That said, though he adored her, she was quite a fan of herself. Maybe admiring her own reflection on the go would make the date go even better.
Okay, this is ridiculous, Spike admitted to himself, his polished claws hanging over the edge of Twilight’s bed. They’re not that shiny.
“I need a mirror,” he resolved aloud.
Spike dropped onto the wooden floorboards with a short, muffled thump and waddled quickly over to the tall wooden desk atop which Twilight kept her mirror. With a bit of scrambling and muttered curses about being so short, he hauled himself on top. Straightening himself up, he turned to gaze at his reflection, and immediately smirked.
“Ha! I was worried for nothing. I’m looking good,” he put his hands on his hips, and demonstrated a few poses for the other him in the mirror. “Yep, no way Dash is going to be able to resist this fine dragon.”
“Oh, that’s good, because she’s waiting downstairs.”
The clear sound of Twilight’s voice cut through Spike’s momentary calm like a knife sharpened to a deadly point. He let out a loud yelp, his feet moving on their own to launch him a foot into the air, before immediately dropping again and landing hard on his rear.
Ouch. He winced. Recovering from the stinging pain, he turned to the source of his surprise, who was currently standing in the doorway, giggling into a hoof. “Twilight! Don’t do that!”
“Sorry, Spike,” she said, but her smile told otherwise. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to tell you that Rainbow’s here.”
“Dash is here?” Spike exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Without waiting for an answer, he rushed over to the open doorway where Twilight was standing, ready to rush to his date. Then he paused. Straightening his back, Spike to a deep breath and counted to ten, then calmly walked through the door and started down the stairs.
Rainbow Dash was casually leaning against a bookshelf when he walked in, apparently very interested in something on her hoof. Her mane was in its normal scruffy style, slightly more windblown than usual from what he assumed was the flight over. He gulped, his heart doing a nervous flip. She hadn’t noticed him, it seemed. He needed to say something.
What do I say? He wracked his brain for an answer, but it had deserted him at the sight of the mare.
At that moment, Dash glanced over and caught sight of him.
Say something! Anything! “H-hi Dash.”
She grinned, strutting over with a clear bounce in her step. “Yo, Spike! How’s it hanging? Sorry to keep you waiting. I bet you were dying to see me, huh?”
Spike smiled back shakily. “Yeah. So… how are you?
She shrugged. “I’m cool. Now let’s get going. We’re going to have a super awesome date!”
With wasting another moment, Rainbow Dash trotted back over to the door. Spike scurried after her, glancing behind him to see Twilight mouthing the words ‘good luck’. He nodded and stepped outside.
The sun hovered high in the sky, sending its warmth and light down to the ponies below who were out enjoying the nice day. Mares and stallions sat outside of cafes in the shade, sipping cool drinks. They looked on while little fillies and colts played gleefully, shrieks of laughter ringing through the air. Rainbow Dash inhaled deeply before turning to Spike with sparkling eyes.
“Isn’t summer awesome? There’s nothing like a sunny day to make a pony feel full of energy. You get me?” she beamed as she finished her sentence, her expression one of pure happiness.
Spike’s cheeks flushed pink. Celestia, she’s real pretty. Gotta keep it together, Spike. Be cool. “Uh-huh, I know exactly what you mean. And we have Celestia to thank for it. It’s real nice of her to, y’know, raise the sun and stuff.”
“And the weather ponies,” she added with a wink. “We’re pretty important too, y’know.”
“Oh! Yeah! The weather ponies, of course,” he laughed, hoping it didn’t sound too forced. “Uh, you do a great job.”
“I know, right?” Rainbow began to trot ahead again, her hooves making a rhythmic and strangely soothing clip-clop on the ground. Spike hurried to catch up to her, not wanting to be left behind. “The others would all fall apart without me. Didja know, before I came, Ponyville had a reputation for having such badly maintained weather?” he shook his head. “That’s why when I joined I was so good, that I was promoted to head in just a week.”
Feeling daring, Spike smirked up at her. “A whole week? I would’ve expected quicker from you, Dash.”
Rainbow Dash looked down at him mischievously. “Oh? Is that a challenge I hear?”
“It depends.”
“Hmm,” she gazed off, as if in deep thought. “I guess you couldn’t be a weather pony anyway, since you don’t have wings. Oh!”
“Dash?” Spike said, puzzled by her sudden exclamation. “What is it?”
Dash stopped all of a sudden, and before Spike could enquire into what she was doing, she knelt down and placed a hoof on his lips. “It’s a surprise.”
Once again the blood rushed to his cheeks, leaving him speechless as she continued on her way with a little hum. Then he realized he was just standing there, watching her walking ever further away. “Ah! Dash, wait!”
She paused in her stride to let him catch up. “What’s wrong, Spike? Did you fall asleep?”
“Of course not,” he huffed. “You just walk too fast.”
“You just got little legs.”
“Hey!”
Dash chuckled. “I’m just kidding. Though, you do have short legs. That’s part of the reason why I’m faster than you.”
“Oh yeah?” grinning, he stepped backwards, feeling Rainbow’s curious gaze on him. Turning around, he pressed his hands into the soft curve of back as a leverage and pulled himself up, scaling the short distance upwards to land on her back. He patted the scruffy rainbow mane. “Looks like I’m taller than you.”
Rainbow Dash twisted his head round to smirk at him, raising her eyebrow impressively high. To his embarrassment, his cheeks turned red as all his bravado melted away like thin ice on a hot summer’s day. He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.
Oh, shoot, was that a bad move?
To his surprise, she didn’t seem angry. Instead, she chuckled merrily. But all the same Spike felt a dark feeling inside his gut, like there was some looming danger coming to get him. “Heh, you think you can take this pony for a ride? Well then, get ready for one heck of a ride!”
Spike had just enough time to wrap his arms tightly round Dash’s neck and bury his face in her rainbow mane before a pair of feathery blue wings rose on both sides of him. In a single, sharp flap, the pegasus rocketed into the air, leaving behind a cloud of rising dust.
Spike couldn’t hold back a shocked cry, the wind blasting again him relentlessly as Dash shot through the air like a cannon. He held onto Rainbow Dash like his life depended on it, which it probably did. He would not like to fall off her back at that moment.
After a terrifying minute of break-neck flying Spike’s breathing eased and he shakily raised his head from Dash’s mane, narrowing his eyes against a gust of wind that made his eyes water. The breeze carrying his words away so he had to shout, as he glared down at her.
“Dash!” he yelled. “That’s not funny!”
“No, it’s very funny,” she laughed from under him, but to his relief her wing beats slowed to a gentle flap. “But hey, I’m impressed you managed to hold on.” She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
Spike smirked. “I’d never let go of you, Dash.”
Her cheeks turned a pleasing shade of pink, though Spike looked away, embarrassed. Where had that line come from? He hadn’t thought he was the type to say things like that, and yet, he couldn’t say he wasn’t happy with the look on Rainbow Dash’s face.
“Huh?” she said, then smiled slyly, seeming to get over her initial surprise. “Well, I certainly didn’t expect to hear that from you.”
“Sorry?”
She laughed. “Don’t be. I like surprises.”
He smiled, shifting himself into a more comfortable position on her back. He was suddenly reminded of that very recent day when Rainbow Dash took him for a spin among the clouds to confess why she was feeling down. If he hadn’t pressed the issue, would this be happening now?
“Stop dreaming, Spike, we’re here,” her light teasing tone brought him out of his memories and he realized that they landed.
“Thanks for the ride, Dash,” he grinned, sliding off her back with ease and turning to look at their surroundings. Rising in front of them was a huge building, labelled in big letters as the ‘Ponyville Rollerdisco’.
Spike’s heart sunk, but he forced an excited smile and turned to look at a beaming Rainbow Dash. “Wow, rollerskating! What a surprise.”
“I know, right? So glad I thought of it,” Dash said proudly, trotting towards the shiny plastic door. “C’mon, let’s go!”
“Right,” he sighed, following after the mare, who hadn’t seemed to notice the worry in his voice. “Let’s go.”
She strutted over to the doorway, shoving it open and allowing the slightly colder air of the air-conditioned inside to wash over him. Taking a deep breath, he followed her into the building.
The inside of the rollerdisco was neat and clean with a counter at one end where a bored stallion watched over the customers, looking as if he was about to fall asleep, and a few seats around for ponies to sit on while they put on their skates.
“I’ll go get us some skates,” Dash said. “Just wait here, ‘kay?”
“Yeah, sure thing,” he muttered before she trotted away, leaving him to scowl at the groun.
Not long after, she returned with six rollerskates dangling from her mouth, dropping the smaller two by Spike. “Here, see if these fit you.”
Spike slipped his feet inside the tough, padded shoes, doing up the traps. He gripped onto the seat, letting them dangle below him, shocked at how heavy they were, as if they were trying to yank him down to the ground. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had already slipped on all four of hers and was looking over him with an approving eye.
“Yeah, those seem good,” she said, pushing off towards the door that led into the main room. “Come on, slow poke!”
“I’m coming!” he called after her.
Thankfully Dash had drifted away to wait for him so he had time to get his bearings. Tenderly, he placed with heavy feet on the ground and tried to stand up. The ground lurched beneath him, the wheels spinning alarmingly, and he fell backwards, gripping the sofa with his hands. Spike’s claws sunk deeply into the padding. His eyes widened and he quickly pulled them out.
“Okay, Spike,” he whispered to himself. “I know you haven’t done this because, but you gotta do your best. Just one step at a time.”
Once again, he unsteadily pulled himself to his feet, holding himself there for a few moments before he tenderly let go off the chair again, ready to grab on if he slipped. After he was certain he had mastered the act of not falling over, he took a step forwards. This time he didn’t fall, but walking in rollerskates was decidedly a weird and abnormal sensation.
Step by shaky step, Spike made his way into the main room. A large surface area of hard flooring surrounded by padded barriers took up the majority of the space, with the area around it left for ponies to sit on chairs and rest their worn out hooves. Rainbow Dash was waiting by the nearest gap in the barrier, clearly impatient to get going and join the others inside.
“There you are!” she said when she spotted him in the doorway. “What took so long? Come on, let’s go.”
“Y-yeah, I’m on my way,” he responded, beginning to walk over, which he was proud to say he’d gotten much better at. “I’ll just be a moment.”
“Why are you walking? It’s much quicker to skate,” as if to prove her point, she glided over smoothly to his side. “Don’t you know how?”
Spike briefly considered lying, but there’d be no point because she’d soon find out the truth no matter what he said. “No,” he admitted. “I’ve never been.”
“Then you’ve been missing out!” she declared. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you. I’m like, the best rollerskater ever, so you’ll soon be a master. Though, not as good as me of course.”
“Really?” he said hopefully. “You’ll teach me?”
“No, I just said that because I felt like it and I didn’t really mean it,” she responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes, but her smile told him that she wasn’t really annoyed. “Of course I will! Now, hobble on over quickly, you’re about to learn how the master does it,” she flashed him a confident smile. “An example is the best way to learn, right? Like… well, Twilight probably has some egghead way of explaining it but you don’t need to worry about that.”
Following her instructions, Spike continued his previous task of awkwardly walking to the barrier until he could throw himself onto it and cling on tightly to his support. Rainbow Dash was waiting inside on the hard floor, a few talented ponies whizzing by her frighteningly close, but she wasn’t fazed.
“Watch and learn, Spike,” she turned, shifting herself into a ready position. “Prepare to have your mind blown.”
With those parting words, she was off, not even the slightest sign of discomfort at being on wheels. She glided along easily, her stance that of a confident pony who knew she had an admiring gaze fixed on her, this time her boyfriend’s. Woah, wait what? I’m getting way ahead of myself. I’d love to have Dash as a girlfriend, but this is only the second date. She might not like me enough to actually enter a relationship, the thought hurt like he was being hit with a sack of bricks, imagining his new growing feelings being cut off.
“How was that?” Dash came to a sudden stop in front of him, her ever-present confident smirk lighting up her lips.
Spike jumped, momentarily annoyed at the fright she had given him, but that was quickly replaced by a slight twinge of guilt that he hadn’t really been watching. “Uh, great! I totally get it now!”
“Oh really?” Dash skeptically raised an eyebrow. “Then why don’t you let go and show me what you can do?”
Hesitantly, gripping the barrier as tightly as he could, he could, he inched out across the hard floor, struggling to find his balance on his wheels. Under Dash’s watchful gaze, he push them experimentally across the floor, onto to stumble and just managing to save himself from falling flat on his face.
“Look, it’s like this,” Dash said, her warm breath flickering over his scales, causing heat to bloom in his cheeks. “You don’t need to, like, move forwards. You gotta sort of push backwards. D’you get it?”
“Uh… maybe?”
She smirked. “Alright, I think it’s time for another awesome demonstration. Keep your eyes on my hooves!”
Eager to do as she said, Spike fixed his gaze on the little wheelie shoes. She glided off strongly, swaying slightly as she pushed herself forwards from side to side. She’s amazing.
Dash stopped after a short, turning round neatly and gliding back to him before coming to a stop besides him. “Do you get it now?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he said, smiling softly at her. Just because you make it look so easy. He wrenched his eyes away from eyes. “Okay, so I just..”
A clear image of Dash in his head, he tried to imitate what she had down, delighted to feel himself moving forwards, only to once again feel the spinning swiftly and tipping him backwards. He squeezed his eyes tight shut, preparing himself for the doubtlessly painful experience of falling.
Instead of the rock-solid floor he’d been expected, a strong wish effortlessly caught him, soft feathers tickling his back. Spike cursed himself for blushing so easily.
“Heh, good thing I caught ya,” Dash said, pushing him forwards slightly so he could shakily stand on his own two feet. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he mumbled. “Thanks. I’m really bad at this.”
“Don’t be stupid,” she stuck her tongue out at him. “You’ve never skated before, right? ‘Cause you were doing pretty good before you fell. And don’t protest, I don’t give out compliments that easily,” her trademark arrogant grin stretched across her face. “After all, when you’re this awesome, you find that other ponies just don’t compare.”
Spike chuckled warmly. “Guess that’s true. I’ll give it another go then.”
For the second time, feeling optimistically confident, he began to skate. He was moving slowly, wobbling and once even stumbled, but the important thing was that he was doing it. Spike smiled widely. Even though he was admittedly still bad at it, he was beginning to see why Dash liked it. At that moment she was hovering nearby, ready to catch him if he fell again.
Maybe he’d been getting too confident and losing control, but he suddenly found himself pitched forwards. His heart leaped in his chest, his hands flailing around for something to hold onto. Sure enough, he grasped tightly onto Dash’s shoulder, her eyes wide with shock as her hooves skidded from under her and they both went down.
He landed atop her fuzzy blue chest, one forehoof knocking him in the side of his head. “Ow… Dash! Are you okay?”
She grunted, brushing her mane out of her eyes. “Yeah, it’s cool. I’m used to crashing.”
“R-right,” Spike said, meekly crawling off of her and pulling himself up using the banister. “I’m really sorry.”
“Like I said, it’s fine,” she chuckled, already back on her hooves. “I think it was pretty impressive. We should both be proud of ourselves for making such a mess.”
He sniggered. “What? Don’t you go hogging the credit, it was all my fault. You didn’t do anything.”
“Pfft. If I wasn’t there, you would’ve looked totally lame.”
“So you made it cool?”
“I made it radical.” In one smooth movement she was by his side again. “Now come on. I’m bored of sitting here and talking, so let’s get a move on. Betcha can’t catch me!”
She shot of like a bullet, weaving effortlessly between other ponies. He sighed. There was no way he’d be able to catch up with her, but she’d be annoyed if he didn’t try. Here goes nothing.
Spike hurried clumsily after her, slightly surprised by the fact that he was actually skating, disregarding how bad he was at it. Heh, maybe Dash was right. I might get to be quite good at this.
“How’s it going slow-poke?” Dash said, coming up besides him and matching his pace. “I’ve already been around once. What have you been doing?”
“It’s only my first time,” he complained. “You can’t expect me to be as good as you.”
“Hmm, I suppose that true,” she pursed her lips thoughtfully. “How about we make a deal- you get around in five minutes, and I’ll give you a kiss.”
“W-what?” his cheeks lit up like a hot flame. “C’mon, Dash. Even for me, that’s not… that’s not hard.”
She winked, then with just a couple of parting words was off. “I know.”
Damn it! She’s trying to throw me off. And it’s working… no, concentrate! It’ll be fine just, just keep on going. Staying at the same slow and steady pace, Spike made his way around to where Dash was waiting for him.
“Great! You did it,” she cheered. “Well, I wasn’t timing, but you probably did and that’s good enough for me.”
“Right, so..” he fumbled for words, not sure what to do say. In the end he decided to just blurt it out. “Do I get my kiss now?”
Dash grinned. “Sure you do! Come here.”
She leaned down, lightly pressing her lips to his forehead, making his heart flutter in his chest. “There.”
***
It was late in the afternoon when they finally left, both giggling like schoolfillies as they swapped stories and jokes back and forth between. There was a skip in Spike’s step and he was wearing a smile so large Pinkie Pie would be proud. He couldn’t help it. Despite his nervousness that morning, he just felt so comfortable with Dash, like something had clicked into place.
“Ah,” Dash sighed, calming down after their latest bout of laughter. “That was great. We should definitely go again some time.”
“Definitely,” Spike agreed. “Who knows, I might even beat you in a race.”
“You wish,” she said teasingly, flicking him with her tail. “I’m fastest in everything.”
“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” he said. “One day, when I beat you at something, I’m going to bring this up.”
“Please, that’ll never happen,” there was a moment’s silence before she spoke again. “But… if it does, then I’ll become better and beat you.”
“Of course,” he looked up at her, suddenly realizing just how close together they were walking. “I wouldn’t expect any less of you.”
“Hmm,” she murmured. “Y’know, I think I prefer this.”
He waited for her to continue, letting the silence drag on. When it became clear that she wasn’t, he had to prompt her. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, right,” she grinned. “I mean like our first date. It was great, and it was a new experience and everything, and you were awesome… but when we can just hang out and laugh like this, I prefer it. More comfortable. Do you get it?”
“Yeah, I do,” he nodded. “Today was a lot of fun. How did you come up with the idea?”
“Oh, when we left the library this morning, I thought you’d look funny on rollerskates.”
Spike covered his mouth with mouth with his hand as laughter bubbled up within him. She came up with it on the way?
“What?”
“Oh, nothing, it’s just… you didn’t have a plan?”
She looked slightly sheepish, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “Well, uh, no, not really.”
For some reason he found himself laughing even harder. “I-I’m sorry. That’s so… so you.”
Soon enough Dash joined in and once again they were both laughing madly, not caring about anything that had happened or would happen and just enjoying the moment.