//------------------------------//
// Dating and caring. 
// Story: To Observe is Science! 
// by Crimson Star 
//------------------------------//

It was a couple months after Nightmare Night. Geo's trial came, and a guilty verdict was rendered. Twilight gave birth to a pair of new Unicorn foals, and everyone was trying to help her out with them. Dr. Sorou even offered to rent out both of his Nurse-bots to her, since they helped him out so much with the Cutie Mark Crusaders whenever they were over. Twilight and Ace discussed the details in private, and ultimately, Twilight accepted, especially after Ace Generously lowered his standard rental fees.

Spike had been helping out as well, taking care of the foals with the instruction from Twilight. But the more he spent time with Twilight, Applejack, And Pinkie, the more he yearned to have a marefriend of his own. And there was obviously one mare that he'd like to date, but he wanted some advice about how to get her to notice him. He scratched his arm, shedding his old scales. This was an annual event with him, shedding his scales and letting new ones grow in. It was like that with most reptiles, as Twilight told him, so it's to be expected. But as one scale fell off, he remembered something. Taking the scale, Spike went off, in search of a human.

Spike walked toward Sugarcube corner, looking around as if trying to find someone. Sugarcube corner was cloed for today, but the Cakes kept the doors open for friends who wanted to visit. He expected to see one of the Cakes, but when he opened the door, he found a familiar blue pegasus waiting. "Hey, Dash!"

"Hey, Spike!" Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof at him.

"What are you doing, here?" Spike asked, entering.

"I had to bring something over to Pinkie, and I decided to stick arouned for a bit to keep an eye on the place while the Cakes were out." She explained. "What about you? What brings ya here?"

Spike glanced down at the scale in his claw, then looked back up to Rainbow. "I'm looking for Dr. Sorou."

"Ace?" Rainbow questioned. "He and Pinkie just left."

Spike huffed in exhasperation. "Aw, man! Really?"

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. I saw 'em come out of the basement."

"Where that creepy movie set is?" Spike asked, cocking a brow. "The one where you shot that amateur movie with Pinkie a couple years ago? What were they doing down there?"

Rainbow rubbed a hoof behind her head. "Eh...I dunno. I think Ace is writing a book on Pinkie's Party Cannon."

Now Spike was confused. "What makes you say that?"

Rainbow shrugged. "Well, I asked Pinkie what she was doing down there with Ace, and she giggled, and told me they were 'making something cannon.' Then Ace just started spewing all this egghead stuff involved in a book he's writing, and to be honest, all of it pretty much flew over my head."

Spike blinked. "That must've been confusing."

"Yeah, I checked down there a little later, and all I found was a bunch of confetti on and around the table." Rainbow cocked her head. "I couldn't find any kind of cannon, anyplace."

"Huh." Spike mused, before dropping the subject. "Well, I gotta go find the doctor. I need to ask him something."

Rainbow looked up, as if remembering something. "I think Pinkie said they were gonna go back to his lab."

"Really?!" Spike huffed in frustration. "Aww, I was just there! Well thanks, Dash!" He said, going for the door.

"No problem, Spike!" Rainbow said, waving goodbye.

*****
Spike approached Ace's lab, and thanked his luck, seeing the doctor standing outside. He went up to him, and tugged at his coat. "Um, excuse me Doctor. I nee-wah!" Spike jumped back, seeing that this wasn't the doctor, but rather, a robotic imitation. There was no nose to speak of, beady red lights for eyes, and a screen depicting a line that rapidly trembled whenever the machine spoke instead of a mouth.

The robot looked down at Spike. "Query: Can I help you with something, little meatba-er, dragon?" It asked.

Hesitantly, Spike grabbed his arm, and looked down. "Uh, sorry. I'm looking for Dr. Sorou." He mumbled.

"Statement: The master is currently down in his lab." The Robot stated with a large degree of confidence. "Luckily for you, he is currently accepting visitors. I shall open the door so that you may see him." The robot turned to the door controls.

The frightened little dragon nodded quickly. "Er, uh, thanks."

The doors slid open, and the robot returned it's attention to Spike. "Parting Statement: Have a good visit."

Spike quickly moved inside, going down the staircase leading into the doctor's lab. "Uh...Doctor?" He called out descending the staircase with a bit of apprehension. He found Ace working on a project at his desk, whistling a little tune, as he used a toothbrush and a pair of tongs to assist him in building some sort of motherboard.

Ace looked up from his work, and turned to Spike. He let a small smile out, greeting the dragon warmly. "Oh, hey, Spike. What's up?"

Spike sighed. He has always been a bit nervous around Dr. Sorou's robots, but he always felt comfortable around Dr. Sorou himself. He had this sort of charm that made everypony friendly and happy around him. Spike shrugged. "Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to ask you something."

"What did you want to ask me?" Ace said, putting down his 'tools' and turning to face the dragon.

Spike scratched his head. "Well, you, Geo and John all have ponies for girlfriends. Geo's even married to Twilight. Really, I think it's amazing that everypony is practically getting a special somepony that isn't a pony."

Ace cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that."

"Well..." Spike tried to find the words to ask Dr. Sorou about his thoughts, trying not to reveal too much of his secret to him. "There's just this...mare, that I want to be my special somepony, and you're in a relationship with a pony yourself. So I was just wondering, how do you do it? How do you get a girl interested in you?"

Unbeknownst to Spike, everypony in Ponyville knew who Spike's crush was, except the said crush. Ace nodded knowingly, but hesitated to speak. "...I'm probably not the best person to ask, Spike." He admitted. "John's the Double-Ot. I hear they're good at getting women to fawn over 'em."

"Well, how did you get Pinkie interested in you?" Spike insisted. He didn't want too many people knowing he had his eyes set on somepony.

Ace shrugged. "To be honest, Spike, I wasn't really trying, at first. But once I saw a lot of similarities between us, and I felt a small connection, that's when I started chasing her tail, if ya get my drift."

"But I never saw you do anything Pinkie would appreciate." Spike observed. "You never held the door for her, you never went out of your way to help her, you never devoted yourself to her-"

"That's just it, Spike." Ace said, cutting him off. "Women don't want a servant for a lover. You have to act like they're not the most important thing in the world to you. If you do what you just described, they're going to remain oblivious to your attempts at seduction, and you'll be 'Friendzoned.' You gotta put yourself, first. And when they see that you're not some single-minded, devoted servant who's wrapped around their finger, or in this case, hoof, they'll begin to take an interest in you. It drives women crazy if they can't get to you. They consider you a challenge, and try to get you to notice them, if they really love you. But if not, they give up, usually after the first try."

"I dunno, Doc." Spike said, reaching behind his head. "What you're saying sounds kinda...rude. It's like you're describing mares as...uh..."

"As what?" Ace asked, picking up on Spike's hesitation. "I believe that every woman wants to be strong and independent if she chooses to be."

Spike shook his head. "But the girl I'm after...I mean, I actually care about her."

Ace shrugged. "So? I didn't say that you can't care about her. In fact, it's better that you do care about her. If you do what I told you, then it'll really test yourself, just as much as it tests her. You have to care enough about her to want her to be her own woman. If you can't do that, then you don't have a chance with her."

"I think I can understand that." Spike nodded. "Thank you, Doctor."

"No problem, little man." Ace said, smiling as he patted Spike on his head. "Now, was there something else you needed?

"Uh, yeah!" Spike said, looking at the item he was holding. "Remember a few months back, when that thing you were building malfunctioned, and I got hit?"

Ace's smile faded. "The prototype particle beam rifle. I remember. And I'm still sorry it happened."

"And I wasn't hurt, so I still forgive you." Spike smiled up at him. "I remembered you saying you were impressed by my scales being able to deflect the blast?"

Ace shook his head. "I wasn't impressed. I was amazed. The beam just stopped, and the beam never stops, not even at obsidian. I wanted a sample of your scales to make a compound capable of replicating the feat."

"So that you could develop armor for the Equestrian Royal Army." Spike chimed in. "I remember you saying that."

Ace nodded. "I saw a means of both helping Equestria, and making a profit. But you didn't have any spare scales."

"Well, Doctor-"

"Spike, you've known me for a while." Ace said with a smile. "We're bros at this point. You can call me Ace."

"Alright." Spike nodded, smiling back at him. "Well, one of my scales fell off today, and I thought you'd want it." He held out the scale for Ace to take.

Ace's eyes lit up, as a large grin formed on his face. "Thank you, Spike!" He exclaimed, snatching the scale away. Ace immediately returned to his work desk, moving themotherboard out of the way too make room for new plans. "Now, with the research and materials available to me, I should be able to perfect a cloning process within a week! Oh, this is magnificent! If I can somehow determine the minimum penetration value for something like dragon scales, and get a sample of royal army's standard issue armor, I believe I can come up with an alloy far stronger than what is currently issued!" Spike, seeing that Ace was going on another one of his tyrades, decided to leave him alone, and left Ace's lab. "Oh, I'm bound to make a profit with this! Why do they call it profit, anyway? It sounds too much like prophet, which has a completely different meaning. I mean, I wanna help my country all the same, but I just wanna make some money, not predict the future. That's Pinkie's territory, with her fortune teller job. Actually, if I were to predict the future, I'd predict that I should be able to make a lot of money! In that case, would I be a profits prophet? No, I think the proper term is economic forecaster. But that doesn't sound like me. What do you think, Spike?" There was no answer. "Spike?" Ace turned around to see no one there. He shrugged. "Meh, his loss. I was about to offer him a cut, but if he doesn't want it..."

*****

Ace was busy drawing up plans for a cloning machine. He had been spending the rest of the day studying up on cloning, and genetic research. He was so excited by the prospect of new technology, he had not even noticed it began to rain outside, and was rapidly turning night. Stifling a yawn, Ace looked up at the clock, seeing it was close to ten. "Jeez." He said. "I reallyneed to take more breaks before I burn myself out." He sat back in his chair, and sighed. "I wonder what Pinkie's up to? She really wanted to get home quickly after that mailmare gave her that letter. Is something going on?" He wondered aloud.

At that moment, Ace heard a knock on his door. It was raining, so instead of going over to his computer to check who it was, he simply went to the door directly. He opened the door to see Pinkie standing there, soaking in the rain. She had an umbrella saddle on, protecting her from the rain, but her hair was down, long and straight. He was surprised that she didn’t look like her normal self, and she seemed to have been crying. He quickly ushered her inside, wondering what was wrong. “Pinks?” He asked, removing her saddle, and kneeling down to her level. “Is there something-“

She shushed him, putting a hoof over his mouth. “I…don’t wanna talk about it.”

He shook his head in confusion. “Well…” he was at a loss for words, he didn’t know what to do. “Is there any way I can-“ She silenced him with a kiss, a tear streaming down her eye.

She broke away, looking at him sorrowfully. “Please, Acey. No questions. Just spend the night with me.”

He picked her up, and held her close in his arms. “Are you absolutely sure, Pinkie?” He asked her.

She nodded, snuggling up to him. “Yes. Please, let’s just share this night together.”

He nodded. He didn’t know what was going on, but it was clear she needed him right now. Without another word, he took her in his room, and closed the door behind him.

*****

The next morning, Ace woke up, his lower half covered in confetti. He looked over to the other side of the bed, but he didn’t see Pinkie. He sat up quickly, looking around the room. “Pinkie?” He called. There was no answer. throwing on his clothes, Ace rushed out of his room. “Pinkie?!” He called again. He fruitlessly searched his lab, before finding, attached to his blackboard by a magnet, a note left for him. He took it, sat down, and began reading.

Dear Acey,

By the time you read this, I’ll be long gone. I…have to leave you. I have to leave Ponyville. I don’t want to, Sweet Celestia, I really don’t want to, but…It’s my family. I can’t go into details, and I wish I could tell you what’s going on. But my family’s in trouble, and if I don’t leave, they’re…something bad will happen to them.

I’m going back to the rock farm. I have to. I…I can’t ever come back. I just want you to know, that no matter what happens, I’ll always love you. It’s hard enough to say goodbye to you, and I couldn’t stand saying goodbye to anypony else. But I’ve made lots and lots of friends here in Ponyville, and I hope they all will remember me, and my fun parties. I wanted to spend as much time with you as I could before I left, Acey. You…You’re the stallion of my dreams. I just wish I could stay with you longer, even if it was only for one more minute. Remember me, will you? And take good care of Gummy for me.

Hugs & kisses,
Pinkamena Diane Pie

This letter ripped him apart on the inside. He couldn’t believe what he was reading. He began to analyze it. She needs to go, but she doesn’t want to leave? Her family’s in trouble? Why can’t she come back? There’s no rhyme or reason not to come back unless…

“No…” It had finally dawned on him. He stood, and looked up in disbelief. “It can’t be…” His mind flashed over all the facts.

*****

“I grew up on a rock farm outside of Ponyville.” Pinkie said. ”Those were sad times. Nopony smiled.”

*****

Twilight shook her head. “I just know that I can’t find anything about rock farming.” She told him. “If the library doesn’t have anything on it, then it might not be an officially recognized term.”

*****

“Around a year ago, a buncha Diamond Dogs ponynapped Rarity. They wanted to force her to work in their mines, but she ended up rescuing herself.” Pinkie recounted.

*****

“The raids have always been bad.” Said Shining Armor. “ Diamond Dogs take ponies as slaves to work in their mines. Sometimes, they ponynap entire families.”

*****

“After I found out what my special talent was, my family wanted me off the rock farm.” Pinkie told him. “They didn’t want my happiness to be stifled there.”

*****

She was smiling at him solemnly, and she bowed her head. “You’d better keep your promises. I’m not losing anyone else.”

*****

All at once, the tumblers fell into place. It all made sense, now. A large and horrific crime was being committed right under their noses. No, right under their feet. And nopony knew, because those who escaped it were too afraid to tell anypony. “Well,” he concluded, staring off grimly. “She doesn’t have to fear them anymore.” He grabbed his coat and goggles, and donned his attire. “I’ll make sure nopony ever fears them again. Hang on, Pinks. The Doctor’s making a house call.” He said, marching out the door of his lab.