11.3k+ words, and Growing

Y'all know the deal.

Blah, blah, blah, school's kicking my ass...Blah, blah, blah....FAFSA....Blah! Same old, same old, nothing's really changed, but life moves on.

Tide Over:

They’d moved from the field to the back of the Golden Oaks Library. The event going on between three of them, getting the others roped up into watching in curiosity.

“Come on Rainbow, you can do better than that!”

“Ah reckon she could, but Ah don’t think she’s going to beat us anytime.”

“Grrr, shut-up you two! Get back to counting squirts.”

Twilight looked on in amusement, as she, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, watched their three other friends try to outdo one another.

“Come on Dash! You can do it! 58!”

“Ah honestly can’t believe that Spike’s beating both of you guys. He doesn’t even look tired! 64!”

“Maybe it has to do with his dragon side? 67!”

And from the back of each of the “contestants”, came commentary. On the ground were Spike, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, each of whom were in push-up position. On the back Spike was Sweetie Belle, while Apple Bloom sat on her own sister’s back, with Rainbow being the one with Scootaloo.

Needless to say, that the prism-separated maned mare wasn’t happy with the results.

“Ugh! Come on!” Rainbow pushed, arms burning something fierce, as she heard Scootaloo shout out a “60!” Sweat decorating her form, the weather captain had seen better days.

Applejack pushed up another time, a grin on her face, as she heard Bloom call out a “68”. Her own form less sweaty than her pony friend’s.

“Come on guys, I’m almost at 100! You just gonna let some little dragon tell beat you!” Spike couldn’t help it, but boast, as he came up for another time. Sweetie’s call of “72” had him smirking the whole way, as he was the least sweaty of the trio.

“Argh! Spike I’m gonna race you into the ground for this! Just you watch!”

“I’m enjoying where I am right now, thank you!”

Twilight couldn’t help, but to chuckle, as she watched on.

Hard to believe this started off, as a simple punishment.
______________________________________________________________________________

Twilight looked on at him in disbelief, as he looked anywhere else but her.

The others were just as shocked. They’d honestly never knew, which made this all the more shocking.

Twilight wasn’t having this.

“Get into push-up position, Wyrm!” Spike’s body seem to run on auto-pilot, as he disappeared from the grips of the others,a nd was already in form before she finished the last word. His wings partially spread out.

Nodding at this, she proceeded to sit on him.

“Dammit, this is going exactly where I think this is going, isn’t it?” He questioned, only to have his adopted sister looking down at him.

“One Hundred for your transgression against the sibling treaty!” He made a face, before he saw her reaching a glowing digit down towards his Black Cross.

He was moving before she even got halfway.

“1!”

“I want you counting louder!”

“2!”

The others just looked on flabbergasted.

“Uh… huh.” Rarity.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy.

“She’s got him whipped!” CMC.

“Heheh. You got that right!” Pinkie.

“Darn, Ah’ve never seen somepony that quick to act, besides my brother when he’s gettin’ told off by granny.” Applejack.

“Hahahha! Enjoying the ground Spike!” Rainbow.

Spike had a few choice words about that.

“Oh, I’m sorry Rainbow. I didn’t realize this looked hard to you. But we can’t all be as strong as I am, so I completely understand- OW!” He stopped mid-push-up, to throw some shade, before being thwacked by a paper fan via his sister. They ignored the “Excuse me?!” they heard from their colorful pegasus friend.

“I didn’t say you could STOP, Spike! Let this be a lesson to you! Never try and hide things from family! I’m going to find out.” He had opinions.

“Blasphemy! Down with the oppressor! Ah!” She hit him once more.

“You made this up when you were ten, smart flank!” He cursed under his breath.

Hindsight was a female dog, as they say.

“Wait a minute, you got something to say to me Spike?!” They forgot about Rainbow.

The duo of pony and dragon looked at the Element of Loyalty, as she sat there with her eyebrow twitching, arms crossed in irritation.

Spike smirked.
______________________________________________________________________________

And here they were. Applejack joined in, because she found the competitive scene too good to pass up. All three of them were in the same push-up position, when they started.

“And this is the last twenty!” Came Applejack’s shout, as she continued.

“Argh!” Rainbow pushed on,a s Scootaloo announced a “74”, in tandem.

“Come no Spike, 15 more to go!” The dragon could hear Sweetie Belle at his back, and he looked over to the mares at his side.

Yes, he’d come a long way under Naruto, and Shining. Workouts like this were easy now, in comparison to what he did in the beginning, and he was all the happier for it.

Even with the gravity turned down from the 3.5 he had to the 2.5 now, he was still outpacing them. Applejack, not by much, but Rainbow he was pretty much beating out of the water.

That said, he still had one more card to play.

Twilight and company, could only watch as the sole male of the group switched from two-handed, to one-handed push-ups, continuing with the same pacing he originally had. Sweetie Belle, being the good helper that she was, adjusted herself, before holding onto the limb.

Obviously there was some reactions.

“Well Ah’ll be.” Applejack.

“Bull! Ah!” Rainbow.

“Rainbow’s really not liking that.” Pinkie.

“That’s impossible!” Scootaloo.

“Spike you sure about that?” Apple Bloom.

“Not to be rude, but is he going to be okay, Twilight?” Rarity.

“He’ll be fine. He’s done worse.” Twilight.

“Ten more Spike!” Sweetie Belle.

Fluttershy merely looked on, in concern.

“Argh, dammit!” Rainbow chose that moment to collapse at the 85 mark, taking deep breaths, as Scootaloo quickly swung off her.

“And done!” Out came the dual calls of Applejack and Spike, as they finished the last push up. Both the fillies on their backs quickly getting off.

Applejack got to her knees, before falling backwards to sit on the ground. Spike on the other hand, stood up, and stretched his back. Looking over at the others, he grinned a cheeky grin.

“And that class, is why we don’t bet against a dragon. Any questions?” He leered down at Rainbow Dash, who gave him the sourest look possible, as Applejack merely laughed.

“Alright, alright Ah getcha, Yer built tough. Now Ah know why you come around to help with the harvest every now and then.” The farm mare supplied, causing the dragon teen to laugh.

“I was always told, that sometimes everything can be training. So why not help a friend, AND get some training in? It’s a win-win for me!” He pushed out his chest, hands on his hips.

Having seen enough, Twilight walked over.

Alright, everypony! I think that’s enough for today. Besides, Spike,” he looked over at her. “I believe you have a date with a certain unicorn, in about… an hour?” His eyes went wide, before he dashed into the library.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They were all back inside, with Twilight offering both Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, the use of amenities of the library.

“That’s right. As soon as me and Spike came, and moved in, we had to call in some construction workers.” Twilight explained, as she and her three friends sat at the table in the middle of the living room. The Cutie Mark Crusaders currently weren’t in the room, probably somewhere near where Spike was.

She hoped they listened, and stay the innocent ponies, she hoped they were. Any funny business in her home, was not to be tolerated.

“I see, there probably wasn’t much room for both of you to have your space. Oh, dear you should have told us. We’d have been fine helping out, and giving one of you somewhere to sleep.” Rarity, ever the generous one, offered. Pinkie and Fluttershy nodded their heads, though due though due to their own living conditions, they might not have been able to do much.

“Yuppers! While I don’t think the Cakes have anymore space, I’m sure I know a few ponies who wouldn’t mind Spike as a roommate.” The baker stated, as she turned in her seat.

Fluttershy simply smiled, but nodded her head.

“I’m sure I could give up some space, if that’s okay.”

“Guys I told you, it’s fine.” The librarian said, as she finished her cup of tea, Spike made apparently before going to take his shower. Just then, the quartet heard a pair of hooves coming down the steps, revealing Applejack with a towel around her shoulders. Wearing a pair of sweatpants, and a white dress shirt.

“Thanks fer the bath Twilight. I’ll be sure to bring back the shirt and pants.” Twilight chuckled.

“No problem.”

“Where’s Spike anyway? Ah figured he’d been up and about already. Unless he left.” The older of the two occupants of the library shook her head, and turned to the direction of a staircase leading to a lower floor.

Seriously what was he doing?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If somepony ever said that he’d have more girls in his room than just Dinky, he’d say… That they were probably right. It was bound to happen with how skewed the gender ratio was in Equestria.

That said, if somepony said he’d have that, and he would be half-naked, well he might be a bit more skeptical, and call that guy crazy.

Turns out, he might need to apologize to that imaginary person.

“Girls please, can I just get dressed in peace?” He pleaded, as he currently rifled through his drawers, searching for a shirt to go along with the dark grey cargos he wore.

“We just wanted to see your room. I mean, it’s not like you haven’t seen ours.” Sweetie said, as he looked at her with a flat expression. The unicorn filly was situated on his bed, staring at his back.

“Last I checked, I wasn’t in the room when you were mid-change.” The male explained, as he pulled out a black tank-top.

“Oh come on, what’s a little skin between friends?” Scootaloo supplied from his side, staring at his wings. Her arms crossed, as she stared at one of the peculiar scars along the wing’s edge.

“Oh sure, why don’t you invite me over next time, when you just get done bathing. See how quickly your parents kick me out, Scoots.” He rebuked her, only for her to grin.

“Sure, we can make a date out of it.” He felt his eyebrow begin ticking, as he threw both the tank-top, and a mesh top on the bed, before he dove back into his wardrobe for more tops. He stepped away from the dresser, before going to his closet, and rifling through its depths.

“Come on y’all, don’t be messin’ with Spike like that. Besides, he already gotta special somepony.” He sighed, as he listened to the lone piece of sanity in the room.

Well, he would call her that, were it not for the fact that she was going through his stuff.

“Bloom I appreciate the help, but would you please stop touching my gear! That’s not a play thing. Scootaloo, don’t make jokes like that. Dinky’s already had to deal with a couple of fillies like that, since she came to Ponyville.” He said, causing the pegasus to blink.

“She does? Who?” She questioned, as Applejack’s little sister stepped away from the sharpening kit he had in the corner of the room, whistling an innocent tune that nobody in the room believed..

“A couple of your classmates, actually. Lily Longstocks, Twist… Silver Spoon.” The admissions caused the three to gawk at him.

“Wait, wait, what? Silver Spoon? As in Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon? When the hay did this happen?” Sweetie and Bloom looked over in interest, as Spike sighed. He pulled away from the closet, bringing a jacket vest with him, that was dark blue in color.

“Believe it or not, this started happening sometime around after the whole Nightmare Moon incident. I kind of helped them out, when I came late. Remember? I didn’t come with Twilight originally to Ponyville.” He began to put on the tank-top.

They watched as he slid it on, the muscled form of one of their male companions being shown off, as he struggled slightly to get the cloth over his wings. They were growing girls after all, and hormones were a thing, as much as they didn’t understand them.

Scootaloo watched this “show” for a little bit, before she went over, and helped him. He muttered a quick thanks, as she did, and shivered when her finger touched a sensitive spot on his wing ridge.

He quickly shoved on the mesh shirt, having her help again, and he shivered once more. He turned his head to look at her, but all she did was grin at him, causing him to deadpan.

“Anyway… Yeah, and Dinky’s not exactly fond of the whole “intrusion on her dragon”.” He grinned, as he finally put on the vest. Walking over to a mirror, he looked at himself, before turning around and presenting himself to the others.

“How do I look girls?” He flexed his wings out a little bit, before they went back to rest against his back.

All three of them sitting on his bed, they each made a square with their fingers, turning them every which way, before throwing him a thumbs up.

“Looking good!” Scootaloo.

“It looks good Spike.” Sweetie Belle.

“It’s nice, though why are ya asking us anyway? You probably been on how many dates this past year.” Apple Bloom.

He shrugged. “It’s never wrong to want a second opinion.” That done, he moved over to his dresser, before prepping some cologne.

“And done. Good job, Spike. Real good.” He self-praised, ignoring the giggles coming from the corner of the room.

“I’m good, and ready to go!”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Spike finally appeared from the depths of the tree home, with the Crusaders in tow, those at the table were the full set of the Elements of Harmony.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the coming teenagers/pre-teens.

“Well if it isn’t the dragon of the hour! So Spike, what’s on the agenda for your date today, hmm?” Rainbow laid it all out on the table, pun not intended, and everypony was paying a decidedly large amount of interest.

The dragon felt his eyebrow begin to tick once more.

“Okay, one, I’m just going to do what we normally do. It’s kind of like a date/hanging out.” He could hear the whine from Rarity’s part of the table, and chuckled. “I don’t know what you guys were expecting. Dinky doesn’t expect any grand, or anything. We’ve been friends since we were kids.” He shrugged.

“Ooh! Ohhh, oooh, ooh!” He stared at the frantically waving pink hand. “Uuhh, yeah Pinkie?”

“Well~ Why don’t you tell us when you guys started dating?!” She asked, and the others began to nod their heads in unison, before they all turned their heads to him.

He rolled his eyes.

“We’ve known each other for years. I know her “dad”, and well, we just decided to try it out. We were best friends, and figured, “why not?”.” He shrugged his shoulders once more. “There isn’t some magical reason to it. We knew each other, we dated and we’ve been dating ever since a year ago.”

His point said, he walked over to the kitchen area, got a large cake from its depths, and set it on the table.

“Eat it with the tea.” Seeing Twilight’s empty cup, he nodded. “There’s more tea on the stove. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He quickly dipped back into the fridge, bringing out a basket of some sort, before he walked to the front door.

“At least now I don’t have to lie to Twilight anymore, about going over to hang with Snips and Snails.” He took several steps towards the front door, before he froze, and realized that he’d just said that outloud.

He didn’t doubt that that slapping sound of paper against wood, was a certain fan.

He was out the door before she could get a word out, edgewise.

“300 PUSH-UPS!”

~TCL~