//------------------------------// // His Number One Secret... // Story: Her Number One Assistant // by Aura Zero //------------------------------// It was another great day in Ponyville. The weather was wonderful; nice and sunny with a few clouds for shade, courtesy of the weather team and Rainbow Dash. Everypony was up and about, going on with their daily routines whether it was selling goods at the market, purchasing food for themselves and others, or just simply mingling with others to pass another day. As things were progressing normally in Ponyville, so was the case in the towns library where two new occupants for the past few months were living. Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's prized student stirs from her slumber at the smell of something and groggily opens her eyes. She sits up, rubs her eyes and looks at a nearby mirror. Her eyes grow slightly at her disheveled look and she makes it her first priority to clean herself up. She slowly climbs out of bed and trudges towards the bathroom. After a few minutes, she exits the bathroom cleaned and ready for the day's agenda. As she walks out however, she notices that her bed, which was once messy due to her immediately heading to the bathroom, is neatly made and tidy. She also notices now that her study is clean as well. She smiles knowing exactly who is responsible before she walks towards her door and exits the room. As soon as she leaves, she is assaulted by the smell of food and knew that same one responsible is making breakfast as well. She happily trots down the stairs and straight to the kitchen. Once she rounds the corner, she notices quite the feast on the table: blueberry pancakes smothered in syrup, two tofu eggs, hay bacon, toast and strawberry jam. She lit up at the assortment and turned happily towards the one responsible. "Looks great Spike. Thank you." Spike the dragon, the only other occupant of the library smiles in return to her. "No prob Twi. Shall we dig in?" Spike says happily as he puts the orange juice on the table. "Of course. Although I am rather surprised at the amount. What's the occasion?" Twilight asks as she sits at the table. Spike merely smiles at her. "I guess you can say I woke up realizing how lucky I am, ya know?" Twilight raises a brow in confusion. "Lucky? How so?" Spike looks at the table as he speaks. "Well, just being here with all my friends. I'm just really glad to have everypony in my life. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity... and especially you Twi." Twilight smiles warmly at him as he continues. "You all have been really great to me, even though I know you guys can be like everypony else when they see a dragon roaming around. I guess I just wanted to thank you is all, so, thank you Twi." At hearing that, Twilight gets up and walks over, pulling Spike into a comforting hug. "Aww Spike. You know I'll always be here for you no matter what. I love you Spike." Spike smiles as he holds her tight. "I-I love you too Twi.... more than you will ever know..." After dinner, Spike gets to work cleaning the library right away. Twilight watches him in slight surprise; he is working much harder than normally. Merely an hour passes and everything needing to be done was finished. She smiles as she realizes what day it is and what Spike has planned later. After Spike finishes putting the last book in, Twilight walks over to him. "Wow Spike, you did an amazing job today. I don't think I've seen the library this clean before." Spike turns to her with a large, yet exhausted smile. "Well, I thought that maybe I should go all out today. Phew, Hopefully it can stay this way though. It was a little tiring." Twilight giggles as she sees the expression on his face. "Oh Spike. You didn't have to go all out. I'll always appreciate what you do. Now I haven't forgotten what you have planned today and since you finished so quickly, you now have more time to spend with you know who." She nudges him playfully getting a confused expression out of him. "I had plans? With who?" Spike says quizzically. Twilight raised a brow. "You know, the dinner." Spike didn't react. "With Rarity," still nothing. "The mare you've been pining over since we got here?" Spike seems to remember after hearing that. "Oh! That's today? I kinda forgot." That surprises Twilight. "Wait, you forgot? You've been trying to convince Rarity to go to dinner with you for weeks! How could you forget that?" Spike doesn't answer immediately, but then turns and smiles. "Heh, I know right! I guess I was so nervous that I kinda forgot. Thanks for reminding me." Twilight looks at him with concern. "Is there something wrong Spike?" Spike hesitates before he shakes his head quickly. "N-No! Nothing is wrong. Everything's great! I'm healthy, I got a date with Rarity, and it's a nice day outside." Spike says as he walks towards a window. "Everything is just peachy..." Twilight notices something in his tone but can't quite place it. "Well, I wish you luck on your date. I'll be out as well so-" "Wait, where are you going Twilight?" Spike says rather quickly as he walks over. Twilight blushes slightly. "Well, you're not the only one who has a date planned." "What?!" Spike yells rather loudly. She notices that Spike eyes grow rather wide at this information. She pouts at his surprise. "It's not that surprising. Believe it or not, some stallions do find me attractive." Spike turned away quickly at that. "I-I didn't mean it like that Twi. Of course you're beautiful and anypony would be lucky to have you..." Twilight blushes slightly at the unexpected compliment. "Oh, well thank you Spike." Spike didn't turn around. Instead, he spoke up facing away. "Who is he?" Twilight takes a moment, wondering what he meant but realizes it quickly. "It's Caramel. He asked me when I decided to go get more material for the weekly friendship letters." Spike didn't reply. He just stands there for a moment. Twilight grew concerned. "Spike?" All of a sudden he turns around with a smile on his face. "Well that's not a surprise. I could tell from a mile away that Caramel liked ya. Well I hope everything works out Twi. I gotta go and get ready for my date. See ya later!" And with that, Spike quickly scurried out the door. Twilight merely stared at the door with slight confusion. "See you, Spike..." Spike quickly runs away from the library and stops once he know he's far away enough. He then leans on a wall and sighs. "Well that's just great..." Spike says as he sits down sadly. Spike has a secret. One that nopony, not even Celestia herself knows about. It's one he has never and plans to never speak of. It's one Spike has had for a very long time. "And I plan to keep it a secret. No one will find out, especially not her..." Spike mumbles as he looks down sadly. "I can't tell her... I just can't." "Tell who what?" Spike jumps as he hears the voice. He turns and sees one of his close friends and the Element of Honesty, Applejack. She was pulling a wagon full of apples and was looking at him with concern. "Yew alright there sugarcube?" Spike gets up and smiles at her. "I'm great! Why do you ask?" Applejack frowns. "Spike, yer crying..." Spike wipes his eyes and indeed she was right. "Oh, I just got something in my eye. No biggie." Spike said as he turns to clean his eyes completely. Applejack unhooks herself and trots in front of him. "Spike, ya know ya can talk ta me about anything right?" Spike looks at her with a rather forced smile. "Of course Applejack. Like I said, it was just something in my eye." Applejack wasn't buying it, however, she decided not to press it further. "Alright then. Well the next time ya find that ya gonna get somethin' in yer eye again, make sure ta come to me. I'll make sure ta take care of ya." Spike looks at her as she gave him a small smile and nod before she connects back to the harness and trots away towards Sweet Apple Acres. "I wonder..." Spike says thoughtfully but then shakes his head quickly. "No, she can't know...can she?" Spike looks back at the retreating pony one last time before he turns and walks rather slowly towards the Carousel boutique. Spike approaches the Carousel Boutique with a smile. "All right. You can do this Spike." He says to himself as he takes a deep breath and extends a claw. He's about to knock, but then remembers something. "Oh, I can just walk in, can't I?" And with that, Spike strolls right in, the bell ringing signaling his arrival. As he comes inside, he is greeted by a white unicorn, although not the one he planned to see. "Hi welcome to Carousel Boutique! Where everything is chic, um... I forgot the rest." Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister says as she smiles at him. "Hey Sweetie Belle. Is Rarity here?" "She sure is! She's upstairs getting ready for your date." She says and she nudges the dragon. Spike smiles at her. "Okay. I guess I'll just wait here for her." "That won't be necessary darling." Spike turns and sees his date walking down the steps. He notices that she is wearing a simple blue scarf and some diamond stud earrings. Along with her radiant beauty, Spike thinks they complement her nicely. "You look great Rarity." Rarity smiles at him. "Why thank you Spike. I do hope I'm not too under dressed for our dinner arrangement." Spike smiles as he gestures to himself. "More dressed than I am. I couldn't find anything casual to wear." "Well we are going to have to fix that problem later now wont we?" Rarity says as she nuzzles the dragon. Spike nods happily. "That would be great. Thanks Rarity." "Anything for my Spikey. So, shall we go?" Spike walks toward the door and opens it. "After you, milady."