Spike of All Trades

by Ariamaki

The Party: Part 1

Author's Note:

Chapter 77
The Party: Part 1
- OR -
Perfectly Punctual Pre-Preparation

"Wait!"

Twilight's outburst nearly (emphasis: nearly) made Spike drop the plates he was moving into the sink as they finished a well-deserved lunch. Both of them had managed to spend the entire morning doing nothing excessive or focusing on their worries: Spike had caught up on two weeks’ worth of comics and Twilight had (on his recommendation) buried her nose into her new personal copy of On The Arrangement of Elements. Then they had eaten, and now they were cleaning up after the meal.

Were, past tense, before the interruption.

"What?"

"I know I told you not to worry about going overboard with the food for tonight, but I just realized you're not even getting any of it done in advance! I'd hate for you to be stuck in the kitchen working on that the whole time while we're hanging out and celebrating!"

Oh, right: He hadn't told Twilight everything about his little trick.
"I finished cooking days ago."

"...What?"

Spike reached over into thin air and then pulled his claw back... but with a near-frozen glass of rose quartz spritzer in his hand, condensation almost immediately forming on the edges.
"We did a short-term test on it the other day, but further testing reinforced our findings: My Inventory is totally cut off from the outside world. Time doesn't pass and heat doesn't move between things, no entropy or enthalpy. I cooked everything in test batches until I hit a recipe that worked, then I made it in bulk and just... kept it. I've got enough stored to feed everypony and more to spare!"

The manic light of science twinkled in Twilight’s eyes, and he had a feeling his own smirk felt the same.
"Spike, we are going to have a lot of experimentation to do with that... Later."

He definitely agreed: Especially with the 'later' part, since mere seconds after he finished putting the last of the plates up to dry (literally the last, given how many were currently in his Inventory: the cupboards were bare) they heard a knocking from the Library's front door. They exchanged glances and took a moment to think about who would be arriving here and now... And came to the same conclusion.

"Pinkie?"

"Pinkie. Dash wouldn't have knocked with a syncopated rhythm like that, and nopony else would have shown up so early. Hay, even Dash wouldn't be early for a big sit-down party."

Spike went and got the door, and there was the proof: Pinkie Pie in the flesh, brightly smiling per usual. Less usual was the black silk top hat precariously pushed into her mane: Maybe she had figured out his plan for the dinner service tonight? It would be just like her to make it a shared theme...

"Hey Spike! How ya doin'?"

"Great, especially now that you're here: I'm excited to get this all set up."

"Awww Spiiike. Don't you worry your not-so-little head: We're gonna knock it out of the park!"

She bounced her way through the open door and into the Library's main room, which was stripped down to its usual 'weekly night with the girls' form. When Twilight hosted, they used the main area with just a few adjustments: Draped curtains covered the shelves to avoid any distraction or risk, the centerpiece on the central table was removed, and nicer chairs were brought out of storage so everypony had a spot to sit.

"Good evening Pinkie: Thank you again for your discretion on the... topic. Did you leave the party things outside?"

"Nope! You said to be ready to decorate the Library at the drop of a hat... so I brought a hat!"

After a few years of continual exposure to both Pinkie in general and party cannon shenanigans in specific, Spike and Twilight both knew how to respond. As soon as Pinkie went to doff the hat from her head, they dove for cover (teleported, in Twilight's case) and waited for the smoke to clear. The brim of silk hit the floor, there was a tremendous hollow percussive ~THUMP~, and...

The foyer of the Library had been transformed into a perfectly Pinkie party 'pecimen. Specimen. The table bore a proper cover, each chair had a small cloth headrest with their friends' Cutie Marks emblazoned (Spike's seat bearing a green curl of fire), and the place-settings were all in place. Quite literally above and beyond all of that, however...

Twilight buried her face in her hooves to try to hide the blush.
"Oh my gosh Pinkie, maybe you could have been a little more subtle?"

"Aw come on Twilight, I didn't even put any writing on the banner! This is plenty subtle."

"Pinkie. There are crowns in this motif!"

"It's all the rage in Neigh Orleans!"

Spike had to hold back a laugh as he looked over the streamers, banners, and other decorations: There seemed to be a theme of the sky at twilight, with a mix of suns and (six-pointed) stars. Those celestial bodies were joined by scrollwork, books, and crowns. Anypony who didn't know better would probably pass those symbols off, but since Spike and Pinkie had been the first to figure out what Twilight wanted to announce tonight... Well, he had to admit it was pretty funny.

"I think it's perfectly fine, Twilight. If anything, this'll throw the girls off the trail!"

"...Seriously?"

Pinkie blinked and shuffled her hooves.
"Yeah, what she said! Only I mean it in more of a surprised-excited tone as opposed to like a dry sarcasm with a hint of disbelief."

"Seriously. Double-seriously! Think about it: They'll be way too distracted by the fact that you decorated at all. That'll stop them from even thinking about what the decorations are."

That gave Twilight pause, and even had Pinkie thinking for a minute... Which was all the time Spike needed to complete his own transformation to match the decor. Plenty of down-time practice and dreamspace work using Dragon's Scales had improved the ability to turn his scales into useful tools and protective clothing. While he couldn't make anything that hit all four major notes of function, comfort, style, and durability yet? Two out of four’s a pretty good start.

When the 'smoke' cleared (the power left purple powder in the air, which implied his pseudo-shed scales were somehow broken down to make the new material), Twilight was already giggling.

"Oh! Pfft. Well that's a perfect outfit if you're going to be acting as our waiter tonight. Don't you think, Pinkie?"

Twilight nudged the other mare with one shoulder, to which Pinkie responded by nearly toppling over onto her side. She was staring at Spike's suddenly-appearing outfit with eyes wide, nodding vigorously non-stop. He blushed, but had to admit he hoped for a reaction like that.

Creating things with Dragon's Scales (and his dragon scales, of course) had started out... less than impressive. Dusty, dinky purple knives that shattered or dissolved within minutes: He would have been better off sharpening the scales straight up. But with fastidious practice things got better, and Spike slowly gained the ability to shift the colors and textures to create different items. Things really kicked off once he developed a proper Crafting skillset, and now every level in either skill led to huge shared dividends.

The result is that he was currently wearing a formal suit to match his planned role as the service waiter: He'd been to enough of Canterlot's fancy restaurants to know how to dress the part. Unlike those ponies, he couldn't really get away with the whole 'half outfit' thing without looking ridiculous, so he had made himself a pair of well-fitted slacks and a slim suit jacket, with a silken shirt underneath.

Spending so much time with Rarity over the years had given him an eye for inseams and stitches, so even if he was making the outfit with Gamer powers? He knew how to make it look right. The 'fabric' of the suit had the texture of cotton, dyed deep blue to offset his natural purple and green shades. The crisp white shirt underneath gave it some distinction, and all in all he was pretty proud with the results of his work... Doubly so, given that Pinkie was only just shaking herself back to normal.

"Wow Spike. T-that's a real slick getup!"

"Thanks. I could swear something's off though... Right! I almost forgot the finishing touch."

Another flourish and a roll of his arm topped the outfit with an accessory: A bowler hat. Come to think of it, most of his history with fancy hats always boiled down to time spent with Twilight and Pinkie. First the incident with Twilight’s testing of concentration-based spells all those years ago, and then...

"That looks a little familiar..."

Twilight trailed off while trying to recall when she had seen him wearing a hat like that before, while Spike was entirely focused on Pinkie's reaction. Initially he'd just picked this hat to practice with before because he associated top hats with taking a rock to the skull. But as he thought back to their little ill-fated concert in the Western territories? He wanted to wear this and see what memories it stirred up.

Pinkie's expression became far harder to read, and he refused to use Observe and cheat. That... he wasn't entirely certain if Pinkie would care, given how she could be. But he would care! So he waited until she spoke up, even if Twilight beat her to the punch.

"Oh, right! That was from when you two tried..."

Apparently a year spent courting Princess Celestia had given Twilight some ability to recognize emotional awkwardness, since she trailed off once she saw how he was looking at Pinkie, and how Pinkie looked at him. They'd been getting a lot closer recently, and they had been spending more time together cooking and hanging out even before he became the Gamer. Now this was just Spike trying to push a little, the same way he believed (hoped?) Pinkie had been with him.

Her voice came out quieter than usual, soft and serene behind her smile.
"I still have the real one, you know. And the dress."

Pinkie's voice was a lot more subdued than her usual cheer, but if anything the bounce of her mane and the color in her eyes seemed even more vibrant... Maybe that was just his bias? He gave her the winningest smile he could manage and took a short bow.

"I'll have to upgrade from this imitation when we get the chance: Maybe I can come try it on, see if it still fits?"

Pinkie smiled right back at him, and Twilight hurried off to go do something that was probably just a thinly veiled excuse to not be in the middle of... whatever this was. He'd have to thank her later.

"I'd like that...”

At first her trailing into quiet made him think she was waiting for a reply... But then she burst back into a more typical ball of pink party pony power, shoving him across the room with both forehooves.
“Buuuuut first, you've got a party to host Mr. Fancy-Pants-And-Shirt! So I'm not gonna let any nagging nostalgias get the better of me, not before I give you a crash course in consummate concierge classics!"

"Hah! You know, I think I'd like that myself: Lead on, Pinkie Pie!"

Even ignoring their mutual blushes and the sudden warmth in his chest? This saved him from having to make any other plan to kill time before the rest of the guests arrived.

Comments

[Black--Soul]

Pinkie Pie the living unpredictebel action cheatcode of Equestria.

Damn Spike! Never hunger or suffer thirst again. Passing desserts or thundras are no longer hindered do to supply. Darin Do etc. would love to have him as item box user in there team.

Great chapter and i look forward to more.

Happy new Year ♡

[Booster Spice]

Twilight is goingto want to science so much out of Spikes Inventory and Access systems, how hot, cold, is it more stasis than petrification, does it react with objects in stasis, can Spike access the unstasised object thats placed in Inventory while still in stasis as in tiered stasis fiekds in Known Space?

Im now wondering if Pinkie has a Party Hat cannon and how many party hats per minute it can fire.

Spikes Dragon Scale abilities are coming along nicely, but he needs to realise, work on bringing the effect, powder remains within himself, to make the action first more subtle, then nonexistant, then nondetectable as in passing between image frames?

Going to be a chapter per freind arriving before the party?

[DarkDMan]

YES!!! Pinkie X Spike! Spike X Pinkie!
It has been confirmed!!!
Twilight recognized and approved!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO US, BITCHES!!!

[Big Whoops]

I, for one, fully support this pairing of pink ponies and dandy dragons

[Spark Plug]

...yeah, I ship it.

[HB_DS2013]

If Spike wasn't around, Twilight would just starve to death from only experimenting. It also doesn't help that her cooking has a tendency to occasionally summon eldritch abominations.

[jen_lee_hattie]

Even ignoring their mutual blushes and the sudden warmth in his chest? This saved him from having to make any other plan to kill time before the rest of the guests arrived.

SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jen_lee_hattie]

10609184
Yup and right back at you.

[1batman4u]

The practice of EMC without a magic-controlling organ or bodily system is very taxing.

Will unlocking [Internal Alchemy] let Spike create a magic-controlling organ or bodily system?

[Detsella Morningdew]

Love this ship.

Well, not necessarily this specific pairing (though it is great), but the actual relationship in general. I don't know what it is about shipping Spike in particular, but when it's done well, it's done really well.

You also write Pinkie really well, which is hard to do while keeping her humor, so I guess a relationship with her being good is not surprising, but it's not often I find a good Pinkie ship, and it's refreshing.

[RusselTheJimmies]

10610041
i dont know wether that would work hed have to create an entire organ but maybe a receptacle like a staff or wand

but its up to the author so we will see

[shirotora]

All aboard the S.S. Spikie Pie

[Black--Soul]

- Spike can feed the world. Or a City...
- Spike can breed the world. All the spunk for semem banks. Gallons worth...
- Spike can gift the world, Santa Clause Spike?

Spike is priceless...

[Black--Soul]

The result is that he was currently wearing a formal suit to match his planned role as the service waiter: He'd been to enough of Canterlot's fancy restaurants to know how to dress the part. Unlike those ponies, he couldn't really get away with the whole 'half outfit' thing without looking ridiculous, so he had made himself a pair of well-fitted slacks and a slim suit jacket, with a silken shirt underneath.

Spike get the code name 'Naked Snake'