//------------------------------//
// Part 6: Systems Normal 
// Story: S.P.A.R.K.S. 
// by Cardinal Dan Productions 
//------------------------------//

Spike hurriedly barged through the palace doors, pulling Sparks along by her outstretched hoof. He was instantly relieved to find that Twilight hadn’t arrived yet, so he still had a chance to get Sparks back where she belonged. Together, they made a dash for the princess’ office. The little device was right where he’d left it, squarely situated on her desk. He let go of Sparks’ hoof at last and turned to face her. “Alright, this is it... Go ahead and get in. Twilight’s going to be here any minute, and she can’t catch you out of your box like this.”

Sparks’ gaze fell to the floor, and she observed the gown that still covered her body. Then, she looked back up at him and made a face like a pouting filly. “Perhaps, Twilight Sparkle will not be as upset as you think, Spike. Logic dictates that we should greet her upon her arrival.”

The little dragon shook his head and crossed his arms aggressively. “No way. Twilight can’t know I messed with her work. She hates it when I touch her stuff without asking. She’s gonna-” Down the hall, he heard the sound of the palace doors opening and closing, followed by the clip-clopping of hooves against the crystal floor. Wide eyed, he stared out into the corridor. “That’s her!” Then he spun around to face Sparks. “You have to get in! Please!”

The artificial intelligence nodded her head and faced the little device on the desk. “Affirmative, Spike... Beginning recapture sequence...” Then, in a flash of orange light, she vanished, and the dormant light on the device began to glow once again, just like it had when he first found it.

He let out a sigh of relief, but his problems weren’t over just yet. Sparks’ black gown, now without a host body to fill it, had fallen to the floor in a heap. The hoof steps were getting louder as Twilight got closer. She was almost right on top of him!

Totally out of time, Spike kicked the gown underneath the desk and spun around just as Twilight turned the corner, coming into view. Upon seeing him, she shot him a puzzled look as she stepped into the room. “Hey, Spike... What are you doing in my study?”

He swallowed hard as he prayed to Celestia that she hadn’t seen the gown. “Um... Hiya, Twilight!” Sweat began to trickle down his face as he backed away from the desk. “I was just... uh... I got your letter!” He pointed to the Sparks’ core. “You left that thing in the kitchen while you were packing for your trip this morning, so I thought I’d bring it here where it wouldn’t get hurt... I mean, broken!”

Twilight seemed to have missed his slip up, because her confused look turned into a relieved smile. “Oh, thank you, Spike. That was really thoughtful of you.” Using the magic from her horn, she picked up the device and brought it closer to inspect it further. “I can’t believe I forgot to take it to Canterlot today. I was supposed to show this to Celestia, but I guess that’ll have to wait.” She looked disappointed at first, but her smile quickly returned as she turned to show the device to Spike. “This little thing is going to change Equestria, someday.”

Twilight sounded proud of herself, and Spike couldn’t blame her. She didn’t know about it, thank Celestia, but he’d seen Sparks in action, and every bit of the artificial mare was wildly impressive. “I’ll show you what this thing can really do sometime later, but I’ve still got to work out a few kinks.”

Spike wasn’t so sure. From what he’d seen, Sparks was perfect. Maybe she was a little rough around the edges, and she talked funny, but she was still an incredible mare. As he stared at the device, he couldn’t help feeling that she was in there somewhere, looking back at him. Part of him wondered if she could still hear them. That was how he had activated her earlier that morning, even if it was on accident. He merely said ‘Sparks’ out loud, and she had materialized before him.

He then eyed the gown that was still under Twilight’s desk. He certainly couldn’t get it now. She’d see him for sure, and then the questioning would begin. She’d want to know why there was a dress in her study, then who the dress belonged to, then where it came from, and why he was so eager to get it out of sight, ultimately ending in what he thought would be a bad series of events for him. Spike knew he’d have to come back after dark to pick it up. That is, if Twilight didn’t find it first.

Feeling like his work was done, he began to back slowly out of the room. “Alright, well...” He fished for anything to say that wasn’t blatantly suspicious. “I’ll just be going. Have fun with... whatever it is that you’re working on!” Then, he passed through the doorway and out into the hall, and once he was a considerable distance from Twilight’s office, he let out the biggest sigh he could possibly manage. “Wow... It’s been a long day...”


***


Waiting for nightfall was a slow and anxiety-inducing process, but once he was certain Twilight had left her study, he slowly crept from his room. Like the fog, he drifted across the floor without making a sound. At the other end of the corridor, he spotted light coming from the kitchen and heard the voices of two mares. It was Twilight and Starlight. He tiptoed past the door so as not to alert either one of them, and made his way towards the princess’ office.

“Alright, Spike...” He took several deep breaths. “Get in, grab the dress, and get out.” He pushed the door open, wincing as the hinges creaked slightly. A quick look down the corridor confirmed that Twilight hadn’t heard the noise. He then proceeded, taking several steps into the pitch black study. “Find the dress... Find the dress... Find the-“

He froze. The black gown was gone. It was not where he’d left it. Panic began to set in. Twilight must have found it already, and she was waiting until tomorrow to confront him about it! He’d never get any sleep, now. Everything was falling apart. He turned to leave the office, when he suddenly came face-to-face with a glowing, orange visor shining through the darkness.

Sparks grinned at him. “Hello again, Spike.”

The little dragon almost screamed, but he managed to bite his tongue to avoid alerting Twilight. “Sp-Sparks, what are you doing?!”

Her smile turned sour, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “I should be asking you the same thing, Spike. As you said, Twilight Sparkle will not like you snooping around her work.”

He shook his head quickly. “It’s not like that, Sparks. I just came back to find your gown, but it’s gone! Twilight probably already knows about what we did today, and she’s gonna want to talk about it tomorrow!”

Sparks turned casually towards a corner of the room, and using her horn-less magic, she revealed the gown, all wadded up within an orange, shimmering cloud. “After you left this room earlier today, Twilight Sparkle activated me in order to run some diagnostics on my software. While she was not looking, I hid the gown in a place where I knew she had a zero point twenty-two chance of finding it.” She then passed him the dress.

Spike had never been so happy to see a piece of mares’ apparel in his life. He’d been on a rollercoaster of emotions the past few hours, but now, his secret with Sparks was safe. He looked towards the desk, noticing that the device was gone. “Hey, what happened to your core?”

The synthetic mare nodded towards the desk. “Do not fret, Spike. It is safe. Twilight Sparkle has locked it inside the top left drawer, but while she is working on my programming, I am able to leave the core as needed. This way, I can assist with any changes to my lines of code or answer and inquiries she might have.” She cocked her head to the side as she stared at him. “Do you have any inquiries, Spike?”

He didn’t want to disappoint her, but he couldn’t stay in Twilight’s study any longer than what was absolutely necessary, and standing around while talking to Sparks was a sure way to get caught. Spike shook his head as he began to back towards the door. “Sorry, Sparks, but I gotta get back to my room.”

The look on her face changed suddenly. She put on a saddened frown, and her metallic ears folded back. “When... will you return, Spike?”

He apologetically shrugged his shoulders as he reached the door. “I don’t know... but until Twilight actually introduces you to me, we can’t be seen together, got it?”

This only worsened her frown. She was borderline pouting, now. “Affirmative...”

Unable to stay any longer, Spike stepped out into the corridor and closed the office door behind him. “Mission accomplished...” Then, he began the long walk back to his own room.


***Up Next: Stealth Drives Engaged***