Finale: In The Open
This has been one of my favorite stories to write, and I’m amazed so many of you liked it too. I hope this ending is satisfying to all of you, but don’t worry because S.P.A.R.K.S. is not going away forever. She’ll be back along with Spike for some more antics, shenanigans, and silly romantics. Thank y’all again for your endearing support, because without it, this story would not have been possible. Take care, and I’ll see y’all for the next story. 
Spike awoke with a splitting headache and a sore throat. Other than that, however, he was warm and comfortable in the confines of his own room. Nestled under the covers in his bed, he sat up shakily and looked out the window across the room. Sunlight poured in through the open curtains, but the red sky outside told Spike that it was nearing evening and would soon be night.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but unpleasant memories began trickling back, reminding him of just how harshly he exploded towards Rarity and Sparks. Everything had to come to a head eventually, he thought quietly to himself. Spike wondered what to say to the mares when he saw them again. He wondered if they would even still be his friends at all.
Then, while his gaze was still fixed on the window and the world outside, the door to his room opened. He wasn’t ready to face Sparks just yet. Without looking, his eyes narrowed. “I’m not in the mood...”
“Not in the mood for ‘what’, Spike?”
His ears twitched. It wasn’t Spark’s voice. In a flash, he turned and came face to face with Twilight. She took several steps into his room with a glass of water suspended in her cloud of magic.
“You were out cold for a few hours, Spike. You had me worried for a little while.” Twilight came to his bedside and placed the glass down on his nightstand. “When I got back from Canterlot, Rarity and Sparks were watching you around the clock.” Then, her look of relief turned stern. “Sparks told me everything, Spike.”
Spike’s gaze lowered from her eyes to his own hands in his lap. That was another thing he expected to happen eventually, but now that it had happened, he hadn’t the slightest clue of how to respond. He only hoped his punishment for messing with Twilight’s research would be mitigated by the slightest bit of mercy. “Are you mad?”
Twilight let out a sigh and sat down on the bed beside him. “Mad? No, Spike. I might have been, but my trip to Canterlot taught me a lot about the patience Celestia has had with me over the years.” She looked him in the eyes, and Spike saw more mercy than he ever could have hoped for. The look on her gaze told him her words were sincere. “My work is important to me, Spike, but not as important as your well being.”
Then, something in her face changed, and he saw a hint of sparkling in her eyes. Could it have possibly been excitement? He wasn’t sure.
“Then again, you did help me in my research, in a way. I was worried over putting my first ever attempt at artificial intelligence to the test, but you did that for me, taking her out and around Ponyville was a stroke of genius. Removing the inhibitor chip was a bit risky, considering she’s completely unshackled now and there’s no way to reel her back in again, but I can’t argue with the results you’ve come up with.”
Spike was utterly speechless. Not only was he not in trouble for seemly destroying what must have been ages of research, but he was actually being praised for it! He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but as it looked now, things would be able to work out between him and Sparks after all. “So... What’s going to happen to her then?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at him. “To Sparks, you mean? I’m not sure. I’ve had some long talks with her, and she seems adamant about staying around to help me with my work. Plus, there’s always the possibility that I could use the progress I’ve made on Sparks to make improved models in the future.” Spike thought that was ridiculous. To him, Sparks was already perfect. There were no improvements that could possibly be made. The princess smiled warmly at him. “I know you’re fond of her, Spike. She really seems to like you too, but she’s upset. I’m no expert on comforting an artificial pony, but you might be, since you’ve spent more time with her than me. You should go talk to her, Spike. She’s been waiting for you in my study since you were brought back to the palace.”
Excitement and the thrill of seeing Sparks again arched through him now that a sliver of hope burned in his heart again. Thoughts of what he should say when he saw her rushed through his mind at a million a minute.
Spike reached for the glass of water and lifted it to his mouth before taking several long sips. The soothing liquid washed down his throat, instantly improving his state of being. After setting the glass back down, he shot up from the bed and hopped to the floor.
Together, he and Twilight traveled out of his room and down the corridor, making their way across the palace to her personal office. Outside the door, Twilight looked back at the dragon and offered him a reassuring smile. “I’ll be in the map room.” Then, she opened the door with her horn and took several steps back, allowing him to enter. “Go on, Spike. It’s alright.”
Without another word to be said between them, she turned and began walking down the corridor, leaving him in front of her office. Spike swallowed hard and looked into the dark room. As he took his first steps inside, he remembered the everything he had said to Sparks before falling unconscious. He had called her a liar and accused her of controlling him. Such accusations said in anger surly would have been enough to hurt anypony. “Sparks?”
The dark room did not respond. He stepped closer to the desk in the center of the room. It looked exactly as he had left it on the day he first found the synthetic pony’s core, and on the desk, the core sat, it’s lights dark and quiet.
Spike let out a tired sigh and sat on the floor in front of the desk. He looked up at the motionless core, and his lower lip began to quiver. “Sparks, I... I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me. Even if you don’t want to come out, would you please hear me out?” He didn’t know where to begin, but he concluded that the best place to start would be an apology. “I’m... I’m sorry, Sparks. I’m really sorry for the things I said to you. None of it was true. I was angry, scared, stressed out by all of the secrecy, and...” Spike bit his lip. “... stupid. I was very stupid.”
His gaze fell, landing on his own hands as the rested in his lap. The room seemed darker, but his chest felt a little lighter. Coming clean felt good, even though the pony he was groveling towards didn’t wish to show herself.
“Twilight says you’re going to stay. If that’s true, I hope you’ll forgive me someday. Maybe, we could even be friends again. Maybe...” Spike stood up and stared at the dark core. He had hoped for a reaction. Something, anything at all, but nothing happened.
Even though he’d just gotten out of bed, he was already tired and ready to seclude himself in his room once again, figuring what he needed was some more time alone. He sighed and turned to exit the room, but a tall pony blocked his path.
Spike let out a sharp cry and fell back against the desk. When he looked up, his eyes met Sparks’. She stared back at him through her digital visor, numbers and other unrecognizable symbols flying across her eyes.
“Spike...” Her synthetic voice caused his ears to twitch. “There is no need for me to forgive you. You never wronged me.” Then, she smiled sadly. “I am the one who should be asking for your forgiveness, my dear Spike. I put you in an impossible position. I demanded you to choose between me and Rarity, whom I believed you still had feelings for. I was jealous and selfish of you, and I should have been otherwise.” Sparks paused, and her gaze fell to the floor. “She... Rarity, I mean, is with Miss Twilight and Miss Starlight. If you love her, I will not interfere again.”
Spike shook his head and reached forward, placing his hands on the outer plates of her chest. “I do love Rarity, Sparks. She’s one of my closest friends, just like I love Twilight, and Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, and everypony else, but Rarity isn’t who I want to be with.”
Her ears perked up, and the visor covering her eyes flickered. When her eyes met his again, they looked into his intently. “What are you saying, Spike?”
He swallowed hard and let out a shaky breath. “You know exactly what I’m saying. I love you, Sparks. I mean I really, really love you.” In the dark room, all he could focus on was the glow of her eyes. “Something tells me you feel the same way...”
Sparks nodded her head quickly. “Yes, Spike... I love you as well, more than anything.” Her visor flickered. “Spike, my sensors tell me that you’re body temperature is rising. Are you experiencing distress?”
It was nothing of the sort. What Spike felt was butterflies in his stomach and his heart performing backflips in his chest. “No, I just... I just really wanted to do this.” Then, he stood on the tips of his toes, giving himself just enough height to plant his lips on hers before dropping back down again.
Sparks looked surprised by the sudden kiss. “Spike... I did not expect such lewd and romantic actions so soon after making up, considering the calculated probability of this ending was low.” He looked up at her, baffled by what she said, but she simply scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Is that all, or do you wish to kiss some more?”
Spike felt weightless as she pulled him in, wrapping a hoof around his back and drawing him closer. Their mouths connected again, and he threw his arms around her neck. In the dark study, they kissed tenderly, and their muffled moans echoed throughout the room.
***
Much later, Spike and Sparks emerged from Twilight’s office and made their way to the map room where the princess was waiting for them.
Twilight sat on her throne, and Starlight stood by the map in the center of the room alongside Rarity. The three mares looked up from whatever it was they were doing at their arrival. Twilight was the first to speak, boasting a cautious but hopeful smile. “I hope everything went well?”
Spike shared a glance with Sparks along with wide grins, and the synthetic mare nodded enthusiastically. “Affirmative, Miss Twilight. Spike and I are happily bound in an intimate relationship, and I wish for my programming to reflect this. I have made the necessary changes to my code to prioritize his well being above my own, to keep him happy and be there for him when he is otherwise not.”
Spike turned red with embarrassment. “You could have left out the ‘intimate’ part...”
Twilight beamed and rose from her throne. “That’s wonderful, you two. I’m so happy for you.” She circled around the map to address Sparks, grinning as she looked her in the eyes. “I know you’ll be good to Spike.”
Rarity cleared her throat and joined Twilight by her side. “As do I... Sparks, you are a very special mare. I’d have nopony better for my Spike.” Then, her gaze shifted to him. “Darling, I’m truly sorry for what happened earlier.”
Spike at her and waved her worries away. “It’s fine, Rarity. This is a better outcome than I ever could have hoped for. I’m just glad we’re still friends.”
Rarity tisked at him and brought the dragon into a short embrace. “Parish the thought of such a thing, darling. Nothing could stop us from being friends, and I hope you’ll remember that.”
The dragon nodded his head as they separated. “Always...”
And just like that, what seemed like a week of burdensome stress was lifted in an instant. Spike had never felt more relieved to see and hear that things were not only back to normal, but far better than they were before. Sparks was his, and he belonged to her. The two of them were inseparable now, and even that seemed like an understatement. He knew deep down that he loved her, and from the way she kissed him in Twilight’s study, he knew she loved him too. She wasn’t bound by any core programming any longer, so he knew her choice to be with him was sincere.
Once he had wrapped his mind around this he turned to look at her and found her looking back. “What now, Sparks?”
Twilight looked to Rarity and Starlight and motioned with her head for them to leave. “Come on, girls. Let’s leave them alone for a while.”
She blinked several times, and her visor flickered on and off rapidly before returning to a steady orange glow again. “Unknown, Spike. Perhaps, now that we are together, you could show me a little more of that maneuver you pulled in the study.”
Spike’s heart flipped in his chest. “Yo-You mean... Sparks, I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t even thinking. I was just-“
Sparks silenced him with her lips, pressing them into his. The kiss lasted briefly, but when she finally pulled away, Spike noticed a new look in her eyes that he hadn’t anticipated. It was a look that he wasn’t sure frightened him or caused him excitement.
She leaned in closely, grinning wildly. “More relevant data is needed, Spike...”
***The End***
***Sparks Will Return***
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Of ALL creatures (and this includes Garble and Gilda) ... SPIKE is supposed to tell her how to be a good friend?
... why does this remind me off: this one
Great work i love it can’t wait for next story
smooth
Nice story and wrap up!
Although, having Twilight and the others be there to hear what Sparks had said and did may have been funny.
Great job overall, later!
That's the nerdiest flirt I've heard since "consider the null set" over in I think it was one of FoME's.
A what, now?
10188413
I’m Southern, so my text autocorrects y’all a lot. Corrections have been made, thank you.
"outing my first ever attempt at artificial intelligence to the test" - was this supposed to read "putting...to the test"?
"The princess smiles warmly at him." - sudden tense change!
10188611
Both errors have been fixed, thank you.
10188630
And thank you for a fun story!
And that's how Twilight pioneered the sex robot industry in equestria.
What about physical changes? 👌👈
This was wonderfull. Thank you!
I was so worried, when I saw that this was gonna be the last chapter, considering this story disappeared for along time... Lucky it didn't feel rushed, but I wished this story would've continued on, instead of waiting for a sequel. Good job, tho.
This was a good story. I look forward to what you do in the future!
This was a very touching story. I hope to see a sequal
Error. This tale is not yet complete. Necessary data needed to correct this oversight. Please assign another tale to this series immediately. (Psst! That means sequel!)
I regret having to say it, but I'm a little disappointed.
It's a fine little romance as is, but I guess I was just expecting more. Chapter after chapter I kept expecting the other shoe to drop. Everything was moving along so smoothly, I was eagerly anticipating something to go dramatically wrong that they'd then have to fix and become closer in the process.
For instance, up until the last couple chapters I was solidly confident that Sparks was faking it all and manipulating Spike into getting her way.
"Oh Spike, I can't travel far from my core, could you carry it for me and grant me the freedom to move?"
"Spike, could you be a dear and remove my inhibitor chip?"
"Dearest Spike, I need your help to rewrite my core programming. Don't worry about what I'm doing and why."
There were so many teasing moments like that that I was convinced that she had, at the very least, some sort of ulterior motive.
But then... nothing. They're just happy together. No secret deception. No accidental corruption from tinkering in her own brain.
And there were plenty of other potential plots that were teased along that never manifested. Like Sparks getting aggressively protective (even dare I say, yandere) over Spike. She had one quick flare-up at Rarity, but it could have been a whole arc. Another would be Twilight's discovery of their relationship. Keeping the secret was paramount for the whole story, but when the reveal finally came she was just "eh, yeah I'm fine with it".
For what it is, it's not a bad story and I did enjoy reading it. It's just filled with plot threads that felt like the author had big long-term plans in mind, only to end it with a sudden "and they all lived happily ever after" without addressing everything they'd foreshadowed. Like it was a commissioned story they were only writing out of financial obligation and the buyer refused to pay any more.