Spike awoke to a constant pinging against a nearby window. It just kept happening over and over. ‘Ugh… is it raining? I don’t wanna get all wet on my way to Rarity’s, it had better let up by then’ Spike thought, but the noise only grew louder and more consistent. Twilight was still in her bed, fast asleep, so it must still be early, but after a half hour or so of failing to fall back asleep, Spike admitted defeat and dragged himself out of bed. Upon doing so, he noticed that the noise he heard was indeed rain, as he had thought. “Great…” Spike muttered just above his breath, as to not wake Twilight. His stomach growled, to which he responded with a rub and a dragging-like motion of his feet towards the stairs. “…food…” he mumbled, as he started to climb down the stairs. When he arrived in the kitchen, Spike was met with a fully stocked pantry. Twilight must have gone out shopping yesterday since she couldn’t study with that headache.
“Pancakes sound good…” Spike said, reaching for some pancake mix. He proceeded to gather everything else required, which wasn’t much, and began cooking. Soon after, Twilight came downstairs, her noise leading the way.
“Something… smells good…” Twilight said, entering the kitchen. “But why,” Twilight said, pausing for a moment to yawn, “are you up so early? It’s only six-o-clock!” Twilight asked, her eyelids droopy.
“Is it really only six? Geeze, this is getting a little unnatural… Anyway, the rain woke me up, and I couldn’t fall back asleep. So I decided to come on down and just start my day” Spike replied steadily, having woken up a bit more since starting to cook.
“Good a reason as any, I suppose” Twilight said back. “As long as you’re making food, I’m happy right now.”
“Yeah, me too” Spike said, laughing. “So did you sleep well? Sorry about teasing you last night, it was just too good to pass up.”
“More or less… It wasn’t as bad as yesterday, but I didn’t quite sleep like I usually do” Twilight responded.
“Well that’s good, I guess” Spike said with a weak chuckle. “Hey, did you hear about this storm from Dash at all? Did she say when it’ll stop?”
“No, she didn’t mention it, sorry Spike. It’s not even a storm really, just some rain” Twilight replied, gazing out the window.
“Suppose you’re right. Hey, do you need anything done in the library? I got five hours until I’m supposed to be at Rarity’s, and I haven’t really been here as much as I should be lately...” Spike asked.
“Well, the whole place could use a bit of a general cleanup, but I do need something really big done. I’ve been getting into some chemistry lately, and I think it would be interesting to try a couple of experiments. The basement would be perfect, but I don’t think anypony has gone down there in months… It’s just absolutely filthy” she replied. “If you could clean up down there real good, it would cover more than just the past few days. It would take a while, but I’d really appreciate it and you would get a couple more days off in return.”
“I like this plan!” Spike exclaimed, heading for the closet for cleaning supplies and then the basement. “I’ll get started right now, it can’t be that-” Spike started to say, but cut himself off as he opened the door to the basement. “Celestia help me…” Just as Twilight had said, it was atrociously filthy. A thick layer of grime and Celestia-knows-what on the floor, and in one corner there appeared to be a bit of mold. “May I ask how the HAY this happened?” Spike asked as he briskly turned his head around to face Twilight with eyes the size of the moon.
“Well, there may have been… complications… of a kind…” Twilight responded sheepishly, looking away as she did so.
“Uh huh… Well, I can tell you now, this’ll take me a couple days. I’m still up for it though, I feel kinda bad about not being here the past few days” Spike replied, his eyes still agape. “I’ll get started now, the sooner I start, the sooner it’s over…”
“I really appreciate that Spike. I’ll call you up around noon so you can, uh… get ready for your date…” Twilight replied, blushing slightly.
“Thanks Twilight. Before I do start, would you happen to have a hazmat suit? I don’t want to get radiation poisoning and have to cancel my date” Spike said, laughing a bit at his own joke.
“There are some gloves in the closet where the cleaning stuff usually is” Twilight replied after laughing a bit.
“Thanks, I’ll go grab those and get started. See you in five hours…” Spike said dreadfully, grabbing the gloves and heading downstairs.
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“Spike, it’s about time for you to get ready! Come on up and take a shower, but try not to track anything over the floor” Twilight yelled down the stairs after a look at the clock told her it was around twelve-o-clock.
Spike climbed slowly up the stairs without a word, his lower half completely covered in the same substance that adorned the floor of the basement.
“Are you okay Spike?” Twilight asked, concern covering her face.
“Yeah… just so… gross. I’m just gonna… just gonna go take a shower now. I’ll be a while, so if Rarity comes by because I’m late, tell her it’s probably because this stuff takes as long to get off scales as it does whatever is under that layer of stuff in the basement...” Spike said in a monotone voice, heading straight upstairs with his back stiff like a soldier’s.
“Oh… okay then” Twilight replied with a look of confusion and deepened concern. “Well, try to hurry up so it won’t come to that, it’s impolite to keep a mare waiting, you know!” Twilight said, trying to brighten the mood.
“Yeah, you’re right… I’ll be down… eventually” Spike said with just the slightest bit more emotion than previously. He then finished his way to the upper level of the house, where he grabbed a towel and went to the bathroom. His eyes did not move from straight in front of him once.
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Twilight had begun reading a book on common fungi and bacteria to see if she could find out what the grime in the basement was. She then heard the water from the shower turn on, followed by what sounded like a choir of angels…
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Spike stepped out of the bathroom, still dripping a bit after toweling off from his shower. He went downstairs, and looked at the clock on the wall first thing. It was only about 12:35, so he had time to talk before heading out to Rarity’s.
“Twilight, it has never felt this good to be clean in my entire life. Thank god that stuff came off my scales easier than the basement floor, but it still took forever!” Spike said with various arm motions to emphasize his rant.
Twilight laughed a bit before replying, “Well, I think I found a way to make it a bit easier for you once you get started on it again. You said it was really hard to get off, so I found a book on common fungi and bacteria, and found what we have. This book said that it’s nearly impossible to scrub off, unless you use a compound of-”
“Twilight, you’re losing yourself to the science… I don’t understand half of what you’re saying” Spike interrupted, a tease scowl on his face.
“Sorry Spike, you know how I get when it comes to science” Twilight replied with a quiet squee. “Hey, it’s almost 12:40, you should probably head on over to Rarity’s so you’re not late.
“Yeah, I was just about to, but I wanted to say hi first, I was kinda messed up earlier” Spike said, laughing through his speech during the second half.
“You were, and I appreciate your concern” Twilight said after sharing a giggle with Spike. “Well, have fun, and I’ll see you later!”
“Bye Twilight!”
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Spike was walking through Ponyville, taking a more scenic route to the Carousel Boutique, as he still had another fifteen minutes or so before Rarity was expecting him, and once again, his thoughts began to wander. ‘Hmm, I wonder what Rarity has planned? I need to get her something nice, or maybe take her to a nice restaurant… But I need bits to do that. Maybe I could get a job? People will probably say no because I’m too young if I go to a restaurant and ask for an application, but maybe I could get a paper route at the Post Office, I dunno. I’ll have to think about it…’
Before Spike knew, he was at Rarity’s. ‘Geeze, why do I always end up here without even realizing it when I think? It’s getting kind of weird… Oh well, who cares?’ He then proceeded to walk up to the door and knock, awaiting Rarity to answer the door. A few moments passed, and Sweetie Belle answered the door.
“Hey Spike, are you here for Rarity? She said she was expecting you any time now” Sweetie Belle asked with her usual crack in her voice.
“Hey Sweetie Belle, and yeah, I’m here for Rarity. Where is she?”
“She had to go to the bathroom, so I’ll have to entertain you until she’s done, I guess” Sweetie Belle said.
“Oh, okay. So… how exactly did you find out about… us?” Spike asked, having been wondering ever since Rarity told him.
“Well, when you came over Rarity told me to go upstairs until she told me I could come down, but you know that. You know how you two were…. Yeah…. For about four hours? I got bored, so I tiptoed down the stairs to see what was going on. I watched for a few minutes, but then you turned, so I ran back to my room” Sweetie Belle explained.
“I KNEW I saw something on the stairs! I could’ve sworn I saw something flash by out of the corner of my eye, but it wasn’t there when I turned to look. Well, thanks for understanding and keeping it a secret so far” Spike replied.
“Sure thing, I may be a little filly, but I know which secrets deserve to stay secret.”
“Spike, are you here? Sorry, I was caught up with an order I wanted to finish up” Rarity said as she came down the stairs. Spike knew she was lying from what Sweetie Belle told him, but decided to just go along with it so Rarity could keep her dignity.
“No problem, I was just talking to Sweetie Belle here” Spike said, nodding towards Rarity’s sister. “So, did you have anything planned out in particular? I have no idea what to do today, really.
“Well, I thought that maybe we could just walk around until something came to us” Rarity replied.
“You couldn’t think of anything either?”
“Not in the slightest.”
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Spike and Rarity strolled through Ponyville’s center. Stalls of various goods and services dotted the streets and walkways here and there, where their tenders stood shouting to passersby about their quality.
“So, how’s the Boutique been doing?” Spike said drawn out like, deciding to break the silence between the two.
“Well, it’s been a little busy like I’ve told you, but I’ve managed, especially with your help the one night. I got so much done, even though it wasn’t due for another week. More like a few days now, though. I might have to stay to my own devices tomorrow so I may finish them up, I don’t want to end up leaving it for the last minute” Rarity replied, nuzzling Spike quickly when she came to the part about his help.
‘Huh, maybe I can look around for some odd jobs tomorrow, since Rarity is gonna be busy. I still have to clean the library’s basement, though.’ Realizing he had not responded yet, Spike then quickly responded, “Yeah, I get what you mean. Twilight’s giving me a huge job to do that’ll get me some time off, so maybe I can work on that tomorrow.”
“That seems to work out pretty well, I’m glad you’re not upset” Rarity said, nuzzling Spike once again in the process.
“Why would I be mad? But Rarity… why are you being so affectionate? There are a lot of ponies around…” Spike said, looking side to side.
“Oh… right. Sorry, you’re just so cute!” Rarity replied, blushing a little.
“Hey! I prefer handsome, or dashing” Spike said, exaggerating the adjectives and puffing his chest out.
“You’re those too” Rarity said back, giggling throughout her short reply.
“Heh, thanks. You’re pretty cute yourself, though. Well… cute isn’t quite the right word… Maybe more like, beautiful” Spike replied, beginning to blush lightly.
“Thank you Spike, you are just too nice!” she replied.
“No, I really do mean it Rarity” Spike said, having newfound confidence in Rarity’s gratitude. “You are one of the- no, the most beautiful mare I have or ever will lie my eyes upon. You are truly-” Spike was cut short by a kiss from Rarity. It was not a short, subtle kiss that they had shared discreetly, but a long, passionate kiss. Ponies were starting to stare after about five seconds. Gasps could be heard from throughout the gathering crowd, to which Rarity and Spike were unaware in the simple bliss of love.
“What in the hay are those two doing!?”
“Whew Spike! Get some!”
“What’s going on?”
These were just some of the various outbursts that could be heard. When Rarity finally broke away from Spike, she blushed harder than science could care to prove, and took Spike’s arm and started dragging him towards the Carousel Boutique. Spike, still dazed from the kiss, simply went near limp and dragged his feet across the ground.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am so sorry for how long this took to write. I had up until the date started for God knows how long, but could not think of a decent date for the life of me. So I decided to go along with that! Also, I feel like I really did this chapter really half-assedly, but I really needed to get a chapter to you guys. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I've decided to try my hand at a cliffhanger! Thanks for reading, and please leave some feedback!