//------------------------------//
// Ch 5 Thanks and sweets and marriage, oh my! 
// Story: The Cryssaling pt 2 
// by storm the castle 
//------------------------------//

	Cheerilee, after some coaxing, eventually released her death grip on Spike, allowing him to (gasp for) breath. “Spike, you beat those things?!” she asked, eyes darting wildly in search of more of the devil hounds, in case his answer was no.
He nodded sheepishly. “Y-yeah, though only the one.” He gestured to the pile of sticks. “The rest ran away.”
Rainbow trotted to him, making a point to avoid the pile in case it spontaneously came to life, face still filled with awe though. “That’s still, like, majorly awesome!” she told him, patting him on the back. Spike accepted the praise, still a bit embarrassed, but also very unsure of what had actually happened. ‘Did I just suck the magic out of that thing?’ he wondered to himself. Then a horrid thought possessed him, making him slightly sick. ‘Oh, Celestia, I’m a vampire!!’
Rainbow, though, interrupted his thoughts when she suddenly got angry and smacked him on the top of his head, causing him to rub the spot, though mostly out of surprise rather than pain. (Having a suit of armor built in had its benefits.) “But don’t you ever scare us like that again!” she yelled at him, the emotions she had felt catching up with her now “We thought you were gonna get eaten or something, little dude! What would we have done if you’d gotten hurt?” she demanded.
Spike kicked at the dirt nervously. “Avoid Twilight like the plague?” he asked with a dumb grin, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.
Unfortunately, the older mares were having none of it. “That’s not funny!” Cheerilee scolded. “We were all really worried! Me and the-” suddenly, she gasped loudly, drawing the attention of Spike and Rainbow. “The children!” she exclaimed, immediately turning on her hind hoofs and bolting for the direction of the school house, Rainbow and Spike hot on her heels.
Once they arrived, it was obvious that the chaos that had engulfed the school was still in full swing, with children crying loudly and huddled together. At a far corner, the Cutie Mark Crusaders could be seen huddled against Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon; Scootalloo and Apple Bloom, as the stronger of them all, were trying to help the others calm down, though it was obvious they themselves were visibly shaken by the event.
“Children!” Cheerilee tried to regain order. “Children, it’s over now, you’re all going to be fine!” she ushered Spike before her, presenting him to the group of frightened foals. “Our own little Spike chased them off, so there’s nothing to worry about now!” though many continued to sniffle and cry, they all turned to their teacher and savior. Spike waved at them awkwardly, unsure of himself and not used to all the attention.
From the back, where the Crusaders and the school bullies lay together, Sweetie yelled “Spike!” she hopped up and ran to him, wobbling on her scared and already uncoordinated little legs. She tackled him, her two friends not far behind, and they all ended up in a pile of nuzzles and affectionate hugs. Soon, some of the other students, even Tiara and Spoon, ran over and joined the dragon pile. From the bottom, Spike gasped for breath, wheezing out “Too. Much. Love!” the children began to giggle atop of him, and some began to extricate themselves from the pile. Soon enough, Spike sat surrounded only by those he had most directly saved from danger.
“Spike, you were so brave!” Sweetie told him, her voice cracking with emotion. “We were all so worried!”
Nodding her assent, Apple Bloom added “Yeah! You was like a hero from one o’ them stories granny tells me!”
“No way!” declared Scootalloo. “He was way cooler than some knight! He was even cooler than Rainbow Dash!”
Immediately, sensing her rep was in danger, Rainbow herself inserted herself into the group. “Heh, heh, let’s all calm down now!” she told them. “Maybe we should start getting you kids home, right Cheerilee?” she turned to the Mulberry teacher, who had gone over to some of the more frightened children. (Poor Weepy would never be the same.)
Cheerilee faced the prismatic pegasus. “Oh, yes, of course!”  She stood and approached Dash. Once before her, she leaned in to whisper into her ear. “Do you think you can go tell their parents to come get them?” She asked her. “They probably shouldn’t be walking home alone in the state their in.”
Rainbow nodded and saluted before she took to the air and zipped off, taking a head count from the air of the children whose parents she needed to find.
Taking their opportunity in the lapse of excitement, Tiara and Spoon approached Spike, Silver Spoon sniffling from behind Diamond Tiara, who herself didn’t look much better off. Knowing enough to recognize that even though the two were notorious bullies and snobs, they were still little fillies and even their egos could take a back seat to fear, Spike bit his tongue on the snarky remark with which he always greeted them. “H-hey, Spike.” Tiara said, unusually quiet. “T-thanks for saving us, and all that.” She gestured Silver Spoon to her side.
With a little prodding from her stronger half, Spoon looked up to Spike, and he now saw she had been one of those crying by the red color of her eyes. “Y-yeah, Spike. T-thanks a ton.” She shivered a little, but smiled at him.  “The dorks were right, you were like some story book hero.” Swiftly, before her courage failed entirely, she scooted up and gave him a quick nuzzle on the cheek.  She ran off then, leaving both Spike and Diamond Tiara to gape after her.
They looked at each other for a moment, as if to confirm it had happened. All at once, as if deciding not to be outdone, Tiara herself ran up to Spike and gave him a peck on the cheek, running off with her pink coat a little brighter around the cheeks.
Rainbow, finishing her account of the children as well as her giggles at Spike’s predicament, prepared to fly off to gather the parents of all the children. However, all parties stopped as two new ponies trotted to the front gate of the school building. A large, tired looking stallion and his young daughter walked to the front gate, and the father opened the door for his daughter. Realizing something was a bit off, they started when they saw the whole school gathered before them, with even a dragon in attendance, and they looked about in surprise. The filly let her mouth drop open, saying “Wow, you guys really know how to welcome new students.”
***************************
As the final parent led his crying filly from the school grounds, Spike sat beside a mulberry school teacher and multi-colored pegasus, all three tired from the trying past few hours. “Well, that’s the last of them.” Spike said. “Need anything else right now, Cheerilee?”
Cheerilee shook her head. “No thank you, Spike. For now, I need to compile an incident report for town hall and the authorities. Though,” she raised a hoof in remembrance, “now that you mention it, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootalloo said you might be looking for some work?” Spike nodded at her, having completely forgotten his original quest in all the excitement. “Well, with the number of children in Ponyville increasing lately, my workload has become a bit unbearable. Since you’re the personal assistant of a princess, you’re perfectly qualified to be a teacher’s assistant.” She nudged him a bit. “I can only pay you about three bits an hour, but it’s a start. What do you say?”
Spike nodded excitedly, happy with something he could be a bit familiar with. “Yeah,” he told her animatedly, “sounds great! When do you need me?”
She thought on it for a bit. “Well, I’ve pretty much got the system figured out for the week, but the kids get pretty rowdy on Friday, so I could definitely use an extra set of eyes then. If you could come by on test days, that’d help a lot too, and a few hours on Saturday for grading would be what I really need help with.” (Poor girl didn’t have a weekend to speak of these days.)
Spike only took a moment to think. “Alright, I can do that, as long as Twilight isn’t on a study binge.” He held out his claw to her and she took it with a giggle, and they shook on it.
“Oh, I had the children turn in an assignment as they arrived today, and most of them got here before the Timber wolves attacked, so if you could come by tomorrow and stay after school to help grade, that’d be great.” She paused for a bit. “You do know proper MLA format, right?”
Spike shivered a bit, before saying “More than you, probably. Twilight drills me on it weekly.”
Cheerilee gave a sympathetic smile before continuing. “Well, good then. We’ll be grading their essays on format instead of content, though particularly good papers should get a gold star.”
Spike nodded, to which Cheerilee nodded back. She walked away, entering the school house, stopping at the door-jam to give a friendly wave goodbye to the other two. They waved back to her, and then began to trot away themselves. Shortly into their walk together, Spike felt the first pangs of hunger, and so turned to Rainbow Dash and asked her “Hey? Wanna go to Sugar Cube Corner? I could use a snack after all that.”
Rainbow heartily agreed and they picked up the pace. As they walked, Rainbow gave Spike tips on just starting to fly, giving him minor demonstrations to help him along. Partway through, they hit the problem of Spike having no differentiated feathers with which to alter his flight pattern or catch drafts, but soon enough, they managed to break it down to the absolute basics that any winged creature could use. By the time the sweets shop came into view, Spike had managed to hover in place for a few seconds, receiving praise from Rainbow on his swift progress. (“Though personally, I was doing loopdy-loops on the first day, but hey; I’m awesome.” she told him.)
Once inside, they found themselves tackled by a fluffy pink blur. At first thinking some patron had thrown a wad of cotton candy at them, they recognized Pinkie Pie when she began to babble excitedly about something neither of them could decipher, as well as by the rapid heartbeat that accompanied her. 
“Pinkie.”  Spike tried to get her attention, muffled by the fur of her chest. “Pinkie.” He tried again, pushing at her barrel to gain some speaking room. However, even with his superior dragon strength, he could not remove her, and finally resorted to yelling “PINKIE!!”
“-and that’s why the fourth balloon in my cutie mark is invisible now.” She finished her thought, continuing to be oblivious. However, the struggling duo beneath her finally garnered her attention, and she removed herself from them without a hint of humility for nearly smothering them. “Hey you two!” she exclaimed, the pair rubbing their heads after the assault. “I was hoping you might come by! We heard about what happened at the school, and the cakes said I could hold a ‘Spike and Dashie are hero’s’ Party!”
“But Pinkie,” Spike interjected, “how in Equestria did you know about that? It only just happened!”
She grabbed him by the cheeks and pulled him snout to snout with her, her eyes wide and seeming to see into his soul. “It’s my job to know.” She said in all seriousness. She held him there for a few more seconds, Spike too afraid to break eye contact, when she suddenly gave a feline smile and licked the tip of his nose.
“Aww, Pikie, what’d you do that for?” he asked, blushing and wiping his nose vigorously. “that’s totally gross!”
“No time!” she declared, and Spike looked up to find her trademark Party Cannon pointed directly at him. He had time only to straighten out in alarm before she yelled “It’s PARTY TIME!” and suddenly, Spike found his vision filled with color and confetti.
***************************
Mrs. Cake was wiping the last of the cake splatter from Spike’s scales, with Pinkie in the back still saying “-Sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-”  as fast as she could.
For the tenth time, Spike reassured her that it was ok and that he wasn’t hurt in the slightest, just sticky. “Still, though, that was kinda fun getting blasted across the room like that.” He said thoughtfully, a grin on his face. “And now I taste like cake too!” he gave a little giggle while Mrs. Cake rolled her eyes.
“Still, deary, that was very dangerous.” She admonished Pinkie. “We’ve always been okay with that contraption of yours since it made the decorating process easy around here, but we can’t have you pointing it at ponies like that!”
Pinkie’s ears drooped along with her head, and Rainbow patted her on the back. “Hey,” she told the downtrodden party enthusiast, “It’s alright. Spike’s fine, the mess is all cleaned up, and the two of us got some snacks like we wanted anyhow. Everypony wins.” Pinkie smiled appreciatively at her friend.
“Yeah, I guess.” She said finally. “I didn’t really have time to invite other ponies anyway, so it wouldn’t have been the super-diliotious party like you two deserve.” She trotted over to Spike and nuzzled him a bit apologetically. “Still, I’m really sorry Spike. It wasn’t nice to blast you across the room like that, even if it was with cake.” Spike reached up and patted her under the jaw. However, she continued to nuzzle him longer than was necessary.
“Uhh, Pinkie?” all of a sudden, she licked him again, this time on the cheek, and he once again was left rubbing the spot furiously in embarrassment. “Oh, come on!” he exclaimed. “What was that for this time?”
She grinned happily and licked her lips. “Your right,” she told him, “you do taste like cake now.” The three mares in the room giggled at his embarrassment and misfortune, the blush on his face only deepening.
However, as they laughed, a thought came to Spike. ‘Didn’t Luna mention Pinkie for a job?’ he thought about it a bit more. ‘Honestly, helping Cheerilee would really only be part time; Working here would really rake in the dough.’ (heh,heh, dough) He grinned a bit and decided to ask Mrs. Cake for a job. ‘Alright,’ he thought, ‘gotta be careful. If I don’t deliver it right, she might turn me down, so I gotta use tact, timing, solid reasoning, and-’
“Hey, Mrs. Cake, would it be cool for me to work here?” he blurted out. ‘-and someone else entirely.’ He finished thinking lamely.
The store owner gave a small start in surprise, before the question registered a moment later. “Excuse me deary?” she asked in confusion. “Why would you need to work here?”
Spike shrugged. “Meh, figured it was time to stop mooching off of Twilight.”
Rainbow leaned in. “Yeah, that, and Rarity won’t date a deadbeat.” She smiled at him mischievously as he grumbled at being called out on the truth again.
As Pinkie giggled uncontrollably at his position, Mrs. Cake smiled gently at him. “Oh, deary, I’m sorry, I’m afraid we don’t really need any help right now.”
“Nonsense!” chimed in a cracking male voice from behind the stores French doors. “You heard Rainbow, dear!” Mr. Cake told his wife as he walked to stand before Spike. “If that’s true, then who are we to stop a young colt-” he did a little start, and gave Spike a funny look, “dragon, from perusing his lady-love!” Mr. Cake struck his hoof against the hardwood floor in finality, and addressed Spike. “Don’t worry, Spike.” He told him. “If you need a job to get the girl, then I’ll be happy to lend a hoof.”
Spike’s eyes sparkled as he looked upon the gangly stallion in awe. ‘Oh, Cake Sama, you’re my hero!’ he thought.
In short order, Spike was outfitted with a fresh apron and assigned to help Pinkie in any way she asked. At first, as expected, they had some trouble figuring out what in Equestria he could do, so Pinkie had him just mix up some extraneous batter for a batch of display cupcakes. Undaunted by his third wheel status, Spike took to his task with gusto, even adding some ingredients to turn the uninteresting batch of batter into the basis of his (relatively) famous cider cakes, cupcakes that had a tendency to tingle on the tongue like cider might. Pinkie subsequently praised his ingenuity and changed the display label to match.
However, they ran into a problem when the time came to bake the treats, as the large oven was currently being occupied by a rush order birthday cake, which still had several levels to be cooked. “Awww,” sulked Pinkie, “bummer. Now we gotta wait to cook ‘em.”
Briefly just as saddened as his pastel counterpart, Spike suddenly realized how best he could be used in the under furnished	 kitchen. “Pinkie, do you have a spare cooking rack? And maybe a fireproof spot in the kitchen?” he asked her slyly. Taking a moment to realize what he had in mind, she gasped in excitement, then ran off to get the tray, pointing him in the direction of the brick oven they used for bread. Once the tray of batter had been situated, Spike breathed in deeply, then let loose a torrent of his flame on the treats, flash cooking them, and when he was done a batch of perfectly browned cupcakes was steaming and waiting for them. “Wow, Spikey!” exclaimed Pinkie, “That was great, and you saved us so much time, too!” Mr. Cake, supervising his new cake as it baked, nodded approvingly, glad that his good deed had paid off for them all.
“That’s not the end of it, Pinkie!” he told her confidently. “That cake is supposed to be on rush order, right?” he gestured to the four tins next to Mr. Cake. Pinkie nodded excitedly, and quick as she could she got an oven mitt and removed the fresh baked cupcakes so they could cool and be frosted. 
Mr. Cake brought over the tins, balancing them carefully on his nose. Seeing another way he could expedite the cooking process, he raised his arms and offered to take the full tin from the elder pastry chef, his strong and dexterous fingers promising more control of the depositing process than Mr. Cakes Schnoz.  Gladly passing the tin, the two of them got that and another tin in the oven and ready to be cooked in Spikes flames. He once again cooked them both perfectly, as with the cupcakes, prompting Mr. Cake to ferry over the next two. The tins were replaced successfully and without incident, and Spike once again dowsed the brick oven with his maw fed blaze.
However, before the results could be verified, Pinkie called out “Wait!” in alarm. Startled, Spike and Mr. Cake both looked to her in bewilderment.
“What is it Pinkie?” the employer asked.
“The displays are supposed to be a baker’s dozen, right?” she asked her boss nervously. He nodded, unsure of why such an experienced assistant would need to ask such a simple question. She answered by presenting the tin of cupcakes. Within was  the cupcakes, perfectly cooked as they had been before, but now that they examined the tin closely, they noticed what was amiss. 	“There’s only ten.” Pinkie spoke all their thoughts.
Suddenly alarmed, Mr. Cake ran to the oven. While there was no chance they had missed something on the first two since they had carried them out themselves, the two in the oven were still not a sure bet. He pulled out the hot rack carefully, but quickly, and they all crowded around to see. On the right, there was a perfectly cooked and browned piece of vanilla cake, just as there should be, and on the left, in contrast, was a perfectly empty cake tin.
Spike immediately fell to his rump in shame. Quick to head off further disaster, Mr. Cake placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Spike, we always make an extra to test how the icing interacts with the cake body, it’s just good business practice. 	Besides,” he winked, “You should have seen how many cakes Pinkie ruined on her first day. Baking isn’t her Special Talent, after all.”
Pinkie, apparently oblivious to the attack on her reputation, instead waved at them to get them back to the empty tin. “Hey, there aren’t any ashes.” She told them, and indeed the tin was spotlessly clean in addition to being empty. They all looked at each other in confusion, Pinkie finishing her thought by asking “So, where’d it go?”
***************************
“Sister!” called a very regal, but very distressed voice in the halls of Canterlot castle. “Sister, we’ve needs to speak with thee! Tis a matter most urgent!”
Celestia just tutted at her sister, mitigating her distress. “Come, now Luna, how many speech tutors have you gone to?” she admonished. “We both know you can speak modern equestrian, now start using it. “
Luna rolled her eyes in frustration, but complied. “Fine, Sister. I have something important to talk to you about.” She repeated in a modern fashion.
Celestia nodded approvingly. “And what might that be, dear sister?” she asked her sibling.
Luna produced with her magic two fresh, but otherwise uninteresting, cupcakes, though they could have been muffins given the lack of frosting. “I Just received these via Spike’s flame teleportation, sister.”
“Oh how nice!” Her sister giggled obliviously.
“No, not nice!” Luna slammed her fore hoof on the ground. “I fear he has realized my identity as the dragon from his chryssaling, and he now seeks to gain my affections with bribery!” Again, she presented the cupcake/muffins.
Celestia took one in her magic with a sigh, and began to inspect it from all angles. She seemed to make a decision and her horn gave a sudden flare. In an instant, a tub of vanilla icing and a spreading knife materialized next to the pastry, and Celestia popped the lid off the tub, spread a healthy slathering of the icing on the treat, and took a bite, all in short order. She smiled and licked her lips. “Mmm,” she hummed happily, “definitely a cupcake. “ she confirmed.
“Sister!” Luna whined. “This is serious! What if he sends more gifts like this?” she demanded.
Celestia shrugged, having fun with her sisters flustered attitude. “I don’t know, eat them.”
Luna, however, was in no mood for games. “Sister. I can’t allow myself to be bought with pastries!” she told her older sibling.
“I don’t know. “ Celestia said, more to herself than to her sister. “It’d work on me.” Then suddenly, a burst of glittering magic dust darted into view, settled between them, and instantly materialized into a large, if slightly thin, cake, devoid of icing. Catching it in her grasp, Celestia brought the large surprise before her, Luna blushing and affecting an angry face. “Huh.” Celestia started. “Are we entirely sure he’s not trying to seduce me, and not you?”
Luna glared at her sister, looking more adorable than actually angry. “Tis not funny.” She grumbled. Celestia only chuckled in response, as it was obvious that it most certainly was. Once again, she slathered icing on part of the cake, broke it off and ate it. She started in surprise, then suddenly took on a very serious mannerism, levitating the partially eaten cake and cupcake far to her side.
“Luna.” She commanded her sisters attention. “As high princess and your older sister, I hereby order you to marry this boy. Immediately.”
“SISTER!!!”