//------------------------------//
// Zero Hour: Part 24 
// Story: Spike of All Trades 
// by Ariamaki 
//------------------------------//

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

Previously Spike would have gone out of his way to share his new discovery, but this one felt different.
"Nah, just breathing."

His trainer looked him up and down, clearly not believing him... But also apparently trusting him, since she dropped the subject immediately.
"It's not getting too late for you, right?"

"I was actually going to ask you the same thing: For all the talk you did earlier about me spending time with a weird mare in a weird dojo... You basically spent your entire day hanging out with a dragon. I didn't take up too much of your time or anything, right?"

Lyra pfft'd his concerns away, waving her hoof through the air in a flagrantly Rarity-esque manner.
"Nah man, I had today set aside for training anyways. Which worked out pretty well, because doing this whole ground-up training thing with you has probably helped me more than anything I could have been doing solo."

He flicked his claws in the air as if shaking off some dust, fake-trying to look casual.
"So does that mean you are willing to keep teaching me?"

"Dork. Also no. Maybe? I dunno: I'm starting to see the potential appeal, but I still want to take a few days to think about it. Also to uh, make sure I didn't forget any plans with Bon Bon. Would not be the first time, but I'd like if it could be the last if you know what I mean."

"Naturally."

That segued cleanly into their cooldown, after which Spike left the dojo. They had a few more parting exchanges (verbal and combative alike) on the way out, and he dropped off a small pouch of bits at the counter: Lyra would have probably stopped him, but he was pretty sure he managed to do it without attracting any attention. It just felt like it would be weird taking up all that time and space without actually giving anything back.

Lyra waved her goodbye and rushed on her way back into town, which left Spike to take a more leisurely route back home. Part of him wanted to check in with Pinkie Pie and see if she was free to chat... Even if not, he could probably tease her a bit and just enjoy her company before leaving. Other parts of him had their own arguments, but in the end? The so-far unspoken bond between him and the party pony won out.

Ponyville at (heh) twilight was not a bustling burg or dead-quiet, but a nice mix of sparse strolling ponies and lingering scents from restaurants and markets alike. The lights were on in windows on some houses, out in others: Sometimes on a night like this he'd see a night shift worker just barely starting their day as other ponies went to wrap their own up.

He'd been totally prepared to make the walk all the way to Sugarcube Corner, but got saved the trouble by his old friend 'coincidence'. Pinkie Pie was already out and about on her own, a pair of plain tan saddlebags uncharacteristically draped over her barrel. Spike caught up with her by one of the side-roads leading off to various homes: He could just barely spy a weird two-tone-fronted house at the end of the nearest paved path.

In a really uncharacteristic moment, Pinkie almost let him get the jump on her: He managed to get a few feet behind before he saw the first twitch-a-twitch, and a quick pounce sent him around her side to land right in front. Pinkie Pie reared up on her hind hooves and then dropped back down in an instant, her cheeks flushed cherry-red.

"Heeeey! Pretty sneaky Spike: What's got you ambushing poor innocent mares in the street, huh?"

"I dunno if that was an ambush, given that you jumped before I did. Then poor? I don't think the Cakes pay you badly at all. As for innocent..."

She whistled in the silence he left for her.
"Heyo. Gosh, confident Spike is real darn cute and I've got to say I like it."

Now it was his turn to blush, or at least he hoped that came through: His Gamer's Body was pretty inconsistent about signs like that. This definitely felt like blush time.
"Right back atcha: What're you doing this evening?"

"Was that rhetorical, conversational, or probing?"

He wiggled one claw in the air, making sure not to block any nearby walking paths with his knife-hands.
"Like a ten-sixty-thirty breakdown?"

She rolled her eyes at that, but it was done with a big smile so he took it as a compliment.
"Doing some personal shopping and then heading back home to reset a little. Been a long day, and I didn't sleep off Twilight's party as well as I expected: You cook a mean feast."

Spike gave her a little half-bow, ignoring how that might look to the passersby.
"Glad to be of service. Anything for my friends, really!"

Rather than rolling her eyes this time Pinkie just levelled her view on him and smoldered.
"Don't tempt me, Spikey-wikey."

This time Spike felt the blush on his cheeks without having to check: Hearing that nickname from Rarity in the past was one thing. Hearing it from Pinkie today? Yeah that was another thing entirely.

They kept bantering back and forth for a bit, Spike following Pinkie's path as she hit up a few of the still-open market stalls. He picked up ingredients for dinner with Twilight since the opportunity had presented itself, and they pivoted from teasing into talking quite easily. Things were comfortable and easy in a way they had never really been with anypony but Twilight before, and even then...

"So uh, Pinkie Pie?"

Her ears perked and swiveled at the formal name.
"Mmhmm?"

"I really do want to come over soon. Maybe... try on that hat?"

Most ponies would have a hard time picking out one small motion in Pinkie's endless energetic sea of twitches, but Spike was neither most nor ponies. Pinkie's mane shivered, and then the ripple moved all the way down her back until the tip of her tail flicked the air like a cracking whip.
"I said it before: I think I'd like that! Got a date planned?"

"Do you mean like on the calendar or-"

"Yes! Scheduling."

"Week or two from now? I've got a lot of stuff on my plate right now that I need to take care of, and any further out might interfere with a potential trip out of town."

Pinkie nodded at that, first once and then a few more times until eventually her head just kind of bobbled itself back into position.
"Roger dodger! On that note I absolutely gotta go get... one last thing. Have a good trip home, Spikey, and be safe for me OK?"

"Sure th-"

Before he could even say anything resembling the word 'thing', Pinkie Pie had already darted away and beat feet (shooved hooves?) raced down a nearby side road. Despite how their shopping trip had brought them back around full-circle to the very spot he first ran into her? That wasn't the path back to Sugarcube Corner or any shortcut that he knew of... As far as he could tell, it was just the winding front drive to Vinyl and Octavia's home. Vacation home? But they were often still doing music there... Home-away-from-work.

He tried to decipher why she would be rushing so urgently to ‘get one last thing’ at their house, and then sighed. At the end of the day, even their growing closeness left him with the occasional chance to shrug and put something down as "Pinkie being Pinkie". Spike made his way back to the Library with a smile on his face regardless, letting the past few days percolate through his body and mind alike.

- - - - - 

Seeing Twilight again after his trip to the Warrens felt surprisingly refreshing... Well, ponies did like using the phrase 'like coming home again', and this was definitely his. Even if Spike had plans for something a little more personalized in the future, his real home would always be with Twilight.

She met his return with an immediate hug, pulling him inside the library with a surprisingly Pinkie-esque spin before setting him down. He quickly realized her actual motive when he saw the glint in her eyes: That was the look that presaged science.

"So! A certain somedragon has been going off on adventures of his own, which I totally expected. What I hadn't seen coming was the promise of research materials, and biological ones at that!"

Twilight's manic gaze softened briefly into a frown, and she brushed imaginary dust off of his scales with her hooves.
"Is everything alright?"

"Absolutely: You know me, I wouldn't hurt a fly that didn't deserve it... Ugh, that just made me wonder if there's going to be giant angry flies down there too. But really, it's fine Twilight: I already had the whole 'fighting living things' talk with Lyra earlier-"

"Lyra was there? Lyra Heartstrings?"

"Sometimes. I mean sometimes Heartstrings, not sometimes there: I went and visited her here in town once I got back. Long story! And also off-topic: Aren't you still interested in the samples?"

That got her attention refocused (even if he had to admit it was kind of a dodge), and the two of them made their way down into the basement. He filled her in on more specifics from his trip as they walked, and continued as they hauled various slides and storage units out of... storage. Once she realized the sheer scope of material he had brought back into town, Twilight sighed.

"This would probably be less of a chore if we both had levitation magic to move all this stuff: I really have to apologize. My sorting system for all this equipment had been based on me being the only one doing major work in the lab-lab, so-"

Before she could continue with any self-recrimination, Spike puffed out a silvery breath and then focused his mental image of the world. The cloud swept in to lift all the items he'd been carrying.
"It's a little cumbersome but I do have something similar now!"

"...OK, as much as I hesitate to say it? We have to put off doing the sample list. Sequencing is important, so first: What was that!?"

He gave the best explanation he was able given that he didn't have a full understanding himself. It really did not help that he still hadn't fully digested (consumed? devoured? integrated?) the Unihorn over the last few days. There was a constant ever-present reminder of it in his guts... which actually doubled as a reminder that he hadn't visited, or needed to visit, the restroom since he became the Gamer...

Yeah that particular revelation was going onto a shelf way in the back of the old mental logs and then never coming off: Chalk it up as 'convenient' and then walk away, that was the right call.

"Hrm. So you can create a magical field, but it's a finite resource that you need to replenish with manual breathing... And it is usable for TK at the very least."

"And projectiles! First thing I tested, actually. Had a ratty old pillow that needed getting-rid-of anyways, and... Well now I don't."

Twilight smiled sheepishly, obviously thinking back to her own early experiments with missile spells and 'target practice'. They eventually settled on using scrap paper as targets after much argumentation. Why the fuss? The family fruit budget had gotten out of control but even as a filly, Twilight refused to dispose of anything even adjacent to a book without good cause and proper procedure.

"How much practice have you gotten in with it since then?"

"Basically none: I figured trying to use it without practice in a dangerous situation would be kind of risky, and doing a lot of focused grinding without any idea what I was doing... Well, it's not good to build a house on bad foundations, right?"

This time her smile was wry verging on exasperated.
"I don't exactly disagree, but... Sheesh Spike, just about anypony who got magic for the first time would jump at the chance to figure it all out. I'm surprised you didn't dig in already!"

"What, and pass up the chance to learn the basics from the best unicorn there ever was?"

"Flatterer. If you insist, I guess we'll have to start in on the remedial magic lessons ASAP."

He frowned.
"...What about the samples?"

"They can wait: Your Inventory keeps things preserved just fine on its own. I'd much rather spend this time teaching my favorite dragon."

There was that manic expression again, but this time it was aimed squarely at Spike. Knowing how Twilight could get when it came to her favorite topics, this had every hallmark of a long story waiting to be shortened on future retellings...