Spike of All Trades

Chapters

Chapter 1: Statistical
Chapter 2: Observance
Chapter 3: Invention
Chapter 4: Questing
Chapter 5: Shaving
Chapter 6: Inheriting
Chapter 7: Orienteering
Chapter 8: Mystery
Chapter 9: Check Engine
Chapter 10: Acquisitions
Chapter 11: Legendary, Mythic
Chapter 12: Masterwork
Chapter 13: Correspond
Chapter 14: Navel-gazing
Chapter 15: Hopeless
Chapter 16: Sorting
Chapter 17: Stagnation
Chapter 18: Expansion
Chapter 19: Correction
Chapter 20: Arcadia
Chapter 21: Arcana
Chapter 22: Marker
Chapter 23: Maturity
Chapter 24: Confirmation
Chapter 25: Penetration
Chapter 26: Ping, Pong
Chapter 27: Departure
Chapter 28: Purchasing
Chapter 29: Blind Eye
Chapter 30: Listing
Chapter 31: Shifting
Chapter 32: Crusading
Chapter 33: Quantifying
Chapter 34: Snacks
Chapter 35: Smacks
Chapter 36: Stacks
Chapter 37: Exposure
Chapter 38: Affections
Chapter 39: Returns
Chapter 40: Confusion
Chapter 41: Confrontation
Chapter 42: Explanations
Chapter 43: Cornered
Chapter 44: Distribution
Chapter 45: Fed
Chapter 46: Whispered
Chapter 47: AWAKE
Chapter 48: Returned, Revealed
Chapter 49: Bookend
Chapter 50: Epilogue, END OF ACT 1
Chapter ????????
Chapter 52: Closed Circle
Chapter 53: Metal Map
Chapter 54: Merry Maid
Chapter 55: Wards, Woks
Chapter 56: Deflagrative Departure
Twilight's Perspective (1)
Twilight's Perspective (2)
Chapter 59: Plans...
Chapter 60: ...and Ponka
Chapter 61: Abrupt Arc
Chapter 62: Rapid Return
Chapter 63: Musical Manipulation
Chapter 64: Dinner Dash
Chapter 65: Droning, Delivery
Chapter 66: Dreaming Discussion
Chapter 67: Waking & Whittling
Chapter 68: Gaming Gamified
Chapter 69: Acres Advice
Chapter 70: Dark Dreaming
Chapter 71: Hearts and Hands
Chapter 72: Crunchy Creation
Chapter 73: Gillie's Gold
Chapter 74: Diverted Disappointment
Chapter #...#?
Chapter 76: Respiration & Reassurance
The Party: Part 1
The Party: Part 2
The Party: Part 3
The Party: Part 4
The Party: Part 5
Zero Hour: Part 1
Zero Hour: Part 2
Zero Hour: Part 3
Zero Hour: Part 4
Zero Hour: Part 5
Zero Hour: Part 6
Zero Hour: Part 7
Zero Hour: Part 8
Zero Hour: Part 9
Zero Hour: Part 10
Zero Hour: Part 11
Zero Hour: Part 12
Zero Hour: Part 13
Zero Hour: Part 14
Zero Hour: Part 15
Zero Hour: Part 16
Zero Hour: Part 17
Zero Hour: Part 18
Zero Hour: Part 19
Zero Hour: Part 20
Zero Hour: Part 21
Zero Hour: Part 22
Zero Hour: Part 23
Zero Hour: Part 24
Zero Hour: Part 25
Zero Hour: Part END
One if By Land: Part 1
One if By Land: Part 2
One if By Land: Part 3
One if By Land: Part 4
One if By Land: Part 5
One if By Land: Part 6
One if By Land: Part 7
One if By Land: Part 8
One if By Land: Part 9
One if By Land: Part 10
One if By Land: Part 11
One if By Land: Part 12
One if By Land: Part 13
One if By Land: Part 14
One if By Land: Part 15
One if By Land: Part 16
One if By Land: Part 17
One if By Land: Part 18
One if By Land: Part 19
One if By Land: Part 20
One if By Land: Part 21
One if By Land: Part 23
One if By Land: Part 24
One if By Land: Part 25
One if By Land: Part 26
One if By Land: Part 27
One if By Land: Part 28
One if By Land: Part 22

Chapter 1: Statistical

All credit for the concept of The Gamer and ownership of the associated light novels and webtoon belongs to Sung Sang-Young. A debt of inspiration is owed specifically to Ryuugi at Spacebattles for his seminal work 'The Games We Play'.

Spykoranuvellitar, Grand Paladin of the Order of the Scale, found himself barreling down the corridor faster than even his fantastic Move Speed could carry him. That was because he wasn't moving of his own volition: Rather, he had been hit with an attack so powerful it sent him flying. The blow in question came from the gigantic hewn tree-trunk club of the ogre in front of hi... No, scratch that. As he felt the terrible impact of the wall against his spines, he re-adjusted his thinking. It came from the ogre at the other end of the hallway. He had been thrown thirty, maybe forty feet (the corridor was ten tiles long, but he was too dazed to do the math) in one enormous slap of its club, and his fellow adventurers were not faring any better. A sickening crunch radiated out as somepony was battered into a wall, although it was quickly followed with the soft yellow glow of the party Cleric's healing magic.

Now they were all scattered across the field of battle, nopony in range to flank the beast, their best ranged units forced into melee, their best close-combat fighters struggling with the huge distances it could throw them. There had to be some kind of guiding intelligence for this beast: No ogre was capable of coming up with such tactical fighting, much less implementing it. It was far more likely that the Master of this Dungeon was toying with them, strings beyond strings, keeping them on their toes. At this rate, the next Wizard they fought might have a level of physical Strength to rival his own.

"Regroup! We-"

He hesitated, something in his head felt wrong. As a leader, he had an instinctive knowledge of what the group was able to do. And that information was looking more bleak with every passing moment. The realization hit like lead shot to his gut, more sickening than the ogre's club had been.

"We're... I don't think we can win this. We're running out of options."

A faint blue glow permeated the Paladin's mind... Or to be more correct, it flickered in front of Spike the dragon's actual eyelids somewhere else. This was just a daydream, after all: He was half-sleeping (he had hazily woken up half an hour ago and decided to stay in bed) and somepony was shining a light in his actual eyes. Spike knew Twilight wasn't awake yet, and she really wouldn't do something that mean to him anyways. He flipped over muzzily, trying to get away from it: Maybe a window got opened? Regardless, the light seemed to follow him. He growled and burrowed his head down between blankets and pillows... And it followed. He closed his nictitating membranes, the slightly cloudy eyelids beneath his eyelids, and still he could see the light. That... that was almost certainly a problem.

He blinked once, then twice, before finally cracking his eyes open and staring. Nestled deep into his pillows, slightly raised so that he could see it all in the tiny space, was a blue box. Not a package, but a two-dimensional window in three-dimensional space, like a heads-up display or a menu in a video game or a sci-fi comic (see 'Power Ponies: In Space! Issue 37', he absent-mindedly recalled). The text was written in basic Equiform, clean and crisp as if it was from a typewriter: Again, like he'd see on a game menu.

OPTIONS

GAME
AUDIO
VIDEO
SOCIAL

Spike popped his head out from underneath the bedding with a frustrated grimace.
"Cut it out! I get it everypony, it's very funny. Sure I've been playing too many games and reading too many comics, but come on! I was getting some well-deserved... beauty... Um."

Twilight status: Yeah, totally still asleep. Room status: Nobody here but us dragons. Window status: Still floating weirdly at a sort-of comfortable distance from his face. In fact, it moved with Spike's eyes, always staying within view but not whipping around so fast as to dizzy him. He could see through it partially, so it wasn't even obstructing him that badly. Waving a clawed hand through it... Didn't disrupt it in the slightest, and he didn't even feel that faint tingle of trying to touch magic. It stubbornly refused to disperse, leaving him muttering in confusion.
"Why do I have an options menu?"

And as soon as the words left his lips, it was gone. He blinked again, thinking back. When he'd been dreaming, and then again now...
"No way. Was it because I said... Options?"

The window returned as if it had never been gone. He started grinning.

"... Game."

Nothing. But... Button. Oh! It's a button. He reached out and hesitantly 'clicked' the empty space with his finger, the same way he'd select it with a joystick or a gamepad. The button-of-sorts really did depress as he did so, at least visually, and the screen changed to match.

GAME OPTIONS

DIFFICULTY AND MODES
HUD MANAGEMENT
DUNGEON OPTIONS
CONTROLS / INTERFACE
BACK

"OK, as weird as this entire situation is, let's mess with something less weird, relatively. Back."

No dice. Another click button, or... Actually, if it worked the first time, it should have worked this time. Well... Spike put a bit more oomph into his voice this time, not with volume but with emphasis and mental focus. He wasn't just saying the word, he was issuing a command.
"Back."

And that did it: The menu transitioned back to the previous state. Seemed to accept touch or emphasized vocal inputs, but not just casually saying the words. At least, that was a hypothesis: He'd have to test it more later.
"Sweet. Audio."

AUDIO OPTIONS

SFX VOLUME> BGM VOLUME> DIALOGUE VOLUME
LANGUAGE (DISABLED)
SUBTITLES
BACK

Volume... Yeah, hitting those just showed him sliders. BGM was all the way at 0, and after he slid it to 10 he could actually hear music... Pretty catchy, too. He dropped it back to around 2, just in case, um, well, he wasn't quite sure in case of what (maybe it had battle transitions?), but he never turned it all the way off in games anyways. Of course he also had no idea what was even going on, but he was never one to look some gift weirdness in the mouth, especially when nopony else was involved yet. He just didn't get to have as many adventures as everypony else, and even if this adventure was entirely in his own head and ended with him in Ponyville Sanitarium?

He'd take what he could get.

"Subtitles... Right, OH, yeah, neat. Let's change the color a bit though. Turn on the outlines... Extra neat. Um. How quiet can I be and have this still work?"

A minute or so later, Spike was barely even speaking, unable to so much as hear his own voice over the music... But the faint purple-and-black letters at the bottom of his vision still spelled it out perfectly, all in clean crisp Equiform. This was cool, but he was a little irked that his own brain had better clawwriting than him. Next step for testing that... He'd need somepony else to be talking where he shouldn't be able to hear it very well, or even in another language. But that's for later... Regroup, take stock, think about Twilight's lessons about science. Not her lessons about, like, chemistry or astronomy, but her lessons about the science of science.

Lessons like 'Study things from every angle available to you, seeking first to cause no harm, second to leave no traces, third to come away having learned something.' Or the classic 'Any test in which you learn something and nopony gets hurt is not a stupid test, even if it might seem like it. Try everything, within your means and within reason.' And of course, 'It is always valuable to maintain your skepticism in the face of the impossible, but evidence is evidence, and until it is shown otherwise, arbitrary skepticism is the same as willful ignorance.'

Well then, he could temporarily exclude any ideas that required another pony to test: Like if this was only visible to him, if his subtitles worked on other ponies or if they translated other languages, and so on and so on. Leaving him with the more immediate issues, like if he could work on figuring this out without looking crazy to anypony looking. So! Test #1: Are the menus just voice-and-touch driven, or could he command it in his head somehow?

Spike concentrated hard and thought the word "Back" with as much emphasis as he could. It didn't work. He 'clicked' a random space near the button. Nothing. Space between the buttons? Nada. Poked the screen with a nearby quill. Not-a-thing. He said the word "Back", without any emphasis. Still the same. He said the word "Rear" without emphasis. Nu-uh. Said "Rear" with emphasis... Nope. Finally, he went back to the tried and true method of saying the right word with the right emphasis... There we go. Theory confirmed.

"Verbal controls it is. So... Why were some of those menus disabled? I mean, one of them was just sound related, it wasn't even a game thing. Lemme see here, it was... Audio, Language."

The menu shifted once, but then a new box came up, a small lemon-yellow alert.

You do not meet the requirements to change this setting.
Required Intelligence: 125
Alternate requirements: ???

"Whaaat. OK, intelligence. Capital I Intelligence. Like a statistic? Um. Character sheet? Stats. Attributes. Traits... Status?"
And there it was. This... was a lot bigger than he'd even thought.

Name: Spike
Class: The Gamer
Title: The Gamer

Level: Lv 1
HP: 100/100
MP: 50/50

STR: 10 (-) (+)
DEX: 10 (-) (+)
VIT: 10 (-) (+)
INT: 10 (-) (+)
WIS: 10 (-) (+)
LUK: 10 (-) (+)

POINTS: 0

(Confirm?)

Author's Note

Welcome aboard! This is certain to be a wild ride, and unlike my previous endeavors (which are not dead, merely sleeping: 'That is not dead which can eternal lie' and all that jazz) this one is pre-written in advance to a truly ludicrous degree. I've got enough to keep posting for a long time, so... keep your eyes peeled.

As for why I'm publishing at 1:30 in the morning after working on this for... plural years now? Finale. :V

Chapter 2: Observance

Yeah, that... That was a character sheet.

Absorbing that information slowly, his eyes chanced upon a few 'tabs' of several other windows attached to this one, with names like INVENTORY and SKILLS. For now, he focused on what was in front of him: Six stats, most of which he recognized even by abbreviation: It wasn't quite the Ogres and Oubliettes set, but he figured it out. Next to those were buttons to raise them, a button to confirm the change, and buttons to undo mistakes before confirming... So any decision made here was probably permanent. Not that he had any 'points' to spend.
"Ten, ten, ten... Tens across the board. And nothing to spend. Is ten high? Is ten low? Am I... do I suck?"

"Spike, of course you don't! Where did you even get the idea? ...Also, what did I say about using phrases like "I suck"?"

Whoops! He woke Twilight up with all of his menu-navigation, so that was a problem. His (highly complex still-hypothetical relationship-word that encompassed employment, friendship, family, and still-weirder things) Twilight Sparkle was rolling herself out of bed and looking at him... sadly? She probably only heard the last bit of that and just assumed he was putting himself down for whatever reason... Aaand she'd heard him swear. Well, sort of swear. As bad as he ever got, anyways, and normally he was pretty good about keeping even that much under wraps.

"Oh! No, sorry, that was out of context, I swear. Um. Also I did swear, sort of? I'm sorry, I swear."

She giggled at the puns, and Spike turned around to actually face her at the same time... Which brought him to a cold stop. Above her head, words floated much like his new-found menus.

[Faithful Student]
Twilight Sparkle
LV 27

So this... Either it was spreading, or this whole 'thing' had broader applications than just giving him menus. Spike looked her up and down, trying to see some detail that might explain it, but he really wasn't able to discern it. But there was one way to check, and it would help him try to explain.
"Twilight, can you really focus for a second and say the word 'Options'?"

She scrunched her muzzle and shrugged.
"Sure! I'll assume it's for some kind of project, you can tell me about it afterwards. Options. OK, was that good?"

Spike watched Twilight's expression, and nothing changed, so it was a pretty good bet that it hadn't done anything on her end. And she hadn't really reacted to looking at / above his head, so (if he even had one, not like he'd seen a mirror yet) she didn't see anything there either.
"Yeah, that's fine. How do I put this... I woke up with a bit of a problem this morning."

Twilight's expression became a bit more motherly and she plopped back onto the bed with a sigh.
"Oh Spike, I thought we'd already talked about-"

"NOPE, no, nope, Spike noping, not what I meant. Yes we already talked about 'that', and 'that' is not what's happening. I mean, any moreso than usual."

"Huh. Alright, fair. So what exactly..."

"I'm seeing things. Um, and hearing them. And maybe feeling them? But not like I'm sick or being tricked with an illusion, I don't think? But you probably aren't seeing them. I'm not phrasing this well."

This time, her horn flared up as she looked him over, the faint tingles of magic on his scales making him shiver. He could still clearly see his Options menu, and the words over her head, and if she could detect all of that in some way it would save him a lot of trouble and confusion. But the spell faded before he saw any reaction, and Twilight shook her head.
"Sorry Spike, but I'm not noticing anything out of the ordinary. What kind of 'things' are we talking about here?"

It's not like I even know myself, he groused in his head. But still, he owed her an explanation for waking her up, and maybe she could even help him.
"Alright, so I was having a dream about that 'Oubliettes and Ogres' campaign that Shining ran for me and the Crusaders last time he was in town..."

Twilight rolled her eyes, and he felt a very brief flare of anger and indignation, although it sputtered into nothing within a moment. She had every right to be disbelieving of him, especially given how much he'd been binging lately, but so fast? He hadn't even gotten a full sentence out, and she was the pony who taught him to always keep an open mind when shown... Evidence. Right. He could talk all he wanted, but-
"Spike, like I said, I didn't notice anything, and I feel like my diagnostic spells are pretty accurate. I think you just need to cut back on the comics and games for a bit, alright? Here, actually!"

She trotted out of bed and over to one dresser, removing a small pouch with her magic. He stared at it curiously, wondering if it had bits, some kind of gem-based apology, or something else inside. If only he could see it a little more clearly...

A skill has been created through a special action! Through continuous observation, a skill to discern information about your target, [Observe], has been created!

His attention was torn away from the bag, Twilight's words, and everything else. This was new. And this was big. A skill. Not just options or a status screen but a power. He had an ability. All he had to do, if it was anything like the rest of this, was say:

"Observe."

[Sparkle Family Allowance]
A well-worn pouch, used to store money to give to children. Currently contains: 20 Bits.

Well, that answered that question, although this situation still asked far more than it answered. If he could get a skill like that so easily, what's to say he couldn't get another? What would the limits be? Before that though, he had to finish trying to convince Twilight.

"Here you go! I've got some business up in Canterlot today, so I've got to get on the train in a bit, and I'm not going to be back until after dinner. I know you can handle cooking on your own just fine, but until then? Have fun in town, alright? I'm sorry I couldn't give you more notice."

...Oooor convincing would have to wait until later. At least now he had the whole day free to figure this out, experiment, and visit the shops. Oooh, he could visit Rarity, too! This was shaping up better and better, even if Twilight didn't believe him yet. Still, it was worth a shot at resolving early.
"So, uh, what about all the stuff I'm experiencing?"

Twilight was already trotting down the stairs by then, so he followed her to the Library's foyer as they talked.
"Spike, you are my Number One Assistant, and I really adore you, but... I don't think it's a concern. If you're still having these problems once you've really woken up, then we can talk about it again tonight before bed, OK? I promise that we'll do some thorough science to it then."

That was better than nothing, Spike supposed. And if he was lucky, this problem would solve itself with itself: Twilight would leave and come back, and he'd have figured out some more about what was happening, maybe even a way to prove it was happening. Or several, if he was lucky.
"Sure. Thanks, Twilight."

She smiled, her magic already levitating a pair of well-stuffed saddlebags off of the rack.
"Hey, don't thank me yet: If you're right and I'm missing something, I'll owe you an apology."

He hugged her quickly, only separating as she began walking towards the door.
"No apologies necessary. And have a nice trip, alright? I'll stock up the groceries, take care of the mail and stuff, and get us a nice midnight snack while I'm at it!"

Their conversation had made its way outside of the library entirely at this point, so he was a little annoyed when she laughed at him: What if somepony heard? Oh well, he was used to little things like that at this point, and he had to admit...
"Midnight seems like a bit of a stretch, Spike. I'll be back by eight or nine, and I know you'll be awake then, but midnight?"

Well, she wasn't wrong: Even with age, his sleep pattern still hadn't caught up to everypony else.
"OK, you got me, I am wounded, etc. So... See you later?"

"Of course."
A quick peck to his spines and she was off.

Chapter 3: Invention

One beat, two... He waited until she was completely out of sight and then immediately wheeled around and went back into the Library. He had some things to figure out and test that would probably be best done in private, in case he embarrassed himself or broke something. Even in the brief moment he had been outside, however, he had seen dozens of names and levels, as well as a small handful of... Titles, he guessed? So he had to go check himself, and that meant a mirror.

When he finally got to the bathroom, it wasn't as big of a surprise as it could have been. He'd already seen his status window, after all, so it had all been written right there. Still, there was something very... final about seeing it in those stark blue letters floating gently overhead.

[The Gamer]
Spike
LV 1

"Well. That answers that. Level One, though. How do I even level up? I didn't... Wait. Status."

There it was, nestled in among the other things: A thin empty bar, unlabelled, that he normally associated with XP in video games. He tapped it thoughtfully with a claw, and was only caught a little bit off guard when a description popped out, a window on a window.

Experience
0 / 1,000
This tracks your experience towards levelling up as The Gamer. Experience towards levelling is earned by completing quests, solving conundrums and defeating enemies. The growth of EXP for levels and all skills is modified by WIS and certain WIS-related skills.

"Wait, skills that level up with their own experience? I mean, I guess that one Power Ponies game had something like that, with the superpowers... Right, skills! Um, Skills."

Here was a huge bank of square boxes for displaying icons... Most of them empty. There were, however, three icons shown: A brain overlayed with some kind of futuristic video game controller (six buttons and two joysticks, plus the arcade cabinet wasn't anywhere in sight!), a silhouette of his own body wreathed in what looked like green fire, and an open stylized version of one of his own eyes. He ignored the eye for now, since he had an idea what it must be. So the other two...

Gamer's Mind Lv MaxEXP: N/A
Allows the user to calmly and logically think through any situation with a peaceful state of mind. Grants total immunity to psychological effects.

Gamer's Body Lv MaxEXP: N/A
Grants the user a body which lives through real life as though it were a game. All damage is taken to the user's HP without visible or functional injury. Sleeping in a bed restores all HP, MP, and negative status effects.

"OK. This is totally getting weirder, but not a bad weird. That thing about injury, though..."
Well, it was bound to happen by accident at some point anyways: Spike bit down on the corner of his tongue. There was the usual wince of pain, accompanied by a red bar appearing over his head and ticking down by a tiny fraction... But no taste of blood. Hooking a claw into his lip and pulling it wide, he stuck his tongue out (not out-out, but enough to see) and... No blood, no injury. A few seconds later, even the pain was gone faster than usual, and the bar a moment after that.

"Huh."
That was cool. Some kind of healing factor, although how good of one... He brought up his Status again and tapped at the health meter to see more details, like he had with the Experience bar. Yeah, more details... He apparently recovered 1% of his HP per minute, and he had 100 total health right now, thus 1 HP per minute. Wait, really? Did that mean he could get seriously messed up and be fine in less than two hours? That wasn't quite superhero levels, but it was way more than normal, even for a dragon. Looking at the details of his other bar, called MP... Yup, it was mana points (just like Sweetie's class in O+O) and it was the same deal, 1% per minute.

But his MP was only 50, so not only did he have less of it, the recovery was worse too. That seemed weird, since his VIT (Vitality, he assumed) would logically govern his HP and his... INT, probably? Intelligence made sense as the one for MP. Back on topic: That seemed weird because the two stats were the same, but the bars were different, implying MP was more valuable, or at least harder to come by.

Wait, why even bother wondering what stat did which thing? He could just tap one and... Tap one and... Um. Tap one of his stats and not get any response apparently. Fine, so there were limits to this user interface. Probably something he should have expected sooner. Although maybe it was less a problem of limits, and more that he needed to think of a new solution. He had a feeling that a lot of things might be that way, not just in games or this situation, but as a general rule. And Spike also felt that he was pretty well-equipped to handle lateral thinking by those same games.

It turns out that a lot of the most popular games in town weren't actually very fun, but instead required a lot of pattern recognition, memorization, or outside-the-box thinking. Bit-eating instant death adventure games, hard puzzlers with weird solutions, that kind of thing... Not to say that everypony didn't also like a good fighting game or a cloud-kicking topscroller! But there was something that really drew you in about those sadistic challenges. Spike had beaten one or two of them over the last few months, even the timing-based memorization-heavy Basilisk's Domain, making him and Button the only two with winning scores on that vicious monster of a machine.

And that wasn't even getting into what Shining Armor could do to the party when he ran a game of Oubliettes and Ogres after a hard week training the new recruits. Spike had been introduced into one of Shining Armor's Canterlot groups as a sort of henchman side character only to end up making his own PC by the end of the night, and things just escalated from there. Soon after, it wasn't limited to Spike's trips to Canterlot: After a few months, he and Twilight had convinced her brother to come down to Ponyville every few weeks, take some time off, visit family, and run games. The Elements had been considering trying it out one day, but for now? It was Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and every session was a whole new experience.

And his gaming relationship with Shining wasn't all O+O, oh no! Spike's surrogate-big-brother-sort-of-pony had been a big influence in his life over the last year or two, getting him even further into games, comics, and all of Shining's old hobbies. It had made Spike feel like an even closer part of the family, and it had also made him feel... Smarter. Smart enough, anyway, that this felt more exciting than frustrating. So what was the first rule of solving a puzzle in those games? Look where you aren't supposed to. Get as much information as possible, especially if you're not on a time limit. And, leaving the bathroom to look at the clock, Spike did a little math. If Twilight wasn't getting home until after dinner, he had at least twelve hours to do his chores, go into town, and figure out as much as possible about... this.

Because whatever this whole thing was? It had quickly gone from being a mystery to being a challenge, and he had no intention of backing down.

For starters, since he was looking at the clock anyways...
"Observe."

[Wall Clock]
A round clock manufactured in Ponyville, designed for hanging on walls.

Observe's level has risen by one!

The system message popped between him and the box he had been reading, so he quickly closed it with an irritated tap... But he noticed the text behind it was slightly different than when it had first opened.

[Wall Clock]
A round clock manufactured in Ponyville, designed for hanging on walls. It currently reads 7:23

"Three good pieces of news there. I can read clocks without looking at the face now, skills level up just from being used, even a little, and if I use a skill it updates... automatically? Wow, sure is a step up from the buffs in O-and-O. Oooh, that reminds me, I should be writing this all down."

Spike quickly made his way back up into the bedroom he and Twilight shared, finding what he was looking for a minute later. For his recent birthday, he had gotten a journal from Twilight, along with a sappy hoof-written card about how it was like giving him a book, but one that he could write himself and decide how things turned out... Sap or not, he had carefully glued the card into the front cover so he'd never lose it. That, plus a good sturdy travel quill and a bottle of ink and boy his claws were full now. So now he'd need somewhere to... put it...

"Status."

Looking over the screen again reminded him that there were other tabs: SKILLS, he'd already checked. MAP, that would be good to investigate later. QUEST LOG, currently dark and probably unusable. But INVENTORY, that was definitely an attractive idea. Clicking it (after setting down the journal to free up a claw) revealed a few dozen empty boxes, like the ones from his skill window. There was no prompt or other message, so he took the quill (easily replaceable if something went wrong) and gently pushed it towards one of the boxes. There was a faint vworp of motion across the vision as the quill vanished, quickly replaced by an image of itself.

"...Observe?"

[Travel Quill]
A feather writing quill made by Davenport, reinforced for carrying without splitting the tip.
Currently stored inside of your Inventory.

Not only did he have an inventory, he could see the things inside. And he didn't feel the quill anywhere on himself, didn't have any pockets... Was it just a sort of storage space? There was a word Twilight would use here, nebu... something, but he understood the gist on his own. Honestly, this might be the biggest thing he'd discovered yet. And a few minutes later, that became very literal: He went on a spree of Observe'ing everything he could think of that wouldn't be noticed if he put it away for a while and then stashed it. Spare snacks, a few more quills and inkwells (the quills even stacked into one space!), the journal, his backup blanket, a few comics, and so forth.

By the time he was finished with his little rampage, Observe had gained a handful of levels and he had a dozen filled inventory slots. He went back to the clock and gave it another look with his newly-levelled skill.

[Wall Clock]
A plain black and white round-framed clock manufactured in Ponyville at Time Twister's Chrono-Emporium, designed for hanging on walls. It currently reads 7:28, even though the current local time is 7:26.

"...that's going to bug me."

Chapter 4: Questing

Thankfully the clock was an easy fix, although it took a bit of verbal fumbling before he figured out ‘Time’ was the exact command to see his own 'built-in' clock. Not long after, it was 7:30 sharp and every clock in the house agreed on that fact: Something Twilight would certainly appreciate when she got home. The only reason they'd been off at all was because it was getting close to Rewinding Day anyways.

With that taken care of, it was late enough that he could handle breakfast and begin running down today's checklist. His journal's first act had been to contain all of his current information (summarized severely and working from the back forwards) about what he was already thinking of as 'The Gamer'... It gave him a title, he might as well run with it.

His journal's second act would be to hold a full itinerary of the day ahead. And that meant...
"A list!"

So, categories first. Broad strokes went down on the page, dividing it into quarters, top to bottom:

Chores
Food
Gamer
Free Time

After all, he had a lot of things to do for Twilight today, and he (probably) still had to eat and stuff. So those were all givens. Then after that, he could work on figuring this power out, and kinda do... whatever. Visit the CMC, visit Rarity, spend his allowance, that sort of thing. But before he did any of that, it was best if he made a list: Not just because Twilight had hammered the importance of it into him so many times. No, it was good to make a list for posterity. He had already figured out a lot of things that would be hard to keep track of, so best to track it early and often to cut down on the problems. First up, the chores.

Sort new book shipment (boxes 1-4 in the foyer)
Reset clocks (already done!)
Serve overdue fines (see List F7)
Make beds (mine and Twi's)
Do dishes (from own breakfast)

That wasn't too bad, he felt. It could have been a bit worse if the Library actually had to be open today, but Twilight had been planning this trip out of town for a little while, so... Actually, wait. She had been planning, but never got around to telling Spike what or why. So she was just leaving on an early train and coming back fourteen-odd hours later? That was... well, he'd ask about all of that when she got back. 14 hours... Not only would this be his longest day in a while (counting naps as going to sleep), but that much time meant breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the promised snacks.

Breakfast (at home)
Lunch (Hayburg's Hayburgers or Sugar Cube Corner)
Dinner (wherever I didn't have lunch, I guess)
Snacks (for Me and Twilight)

Not the most complicated of lists, but having objectives felt good. It gave him a sense of direction to what could otherwise have been a day of lazing about. Plus, there was this weird tickle in the back of his head, like this was more important than it seemed... Of course it was! Because the next step was figuring out this new... thing. And he had a good idea of how to break that down.

Investigate Menus (just at least check them all, write it down. Draw it?)
Work on Observe (use it on everything. no cost!)
Look at Ponies (titles? levels?)
Get XP if possible (quests?)
Figure out more skills (got observe by observing... duh)

There, that seemed pretty complete. No, there was a better word... Comprehensive! That was it. And that was it, all of the things he absolutely needed to do. Which left a quarter of the page for him to do whatever he wanted. Given the options available to him, that seemed pretty obvious...

Visit Rarity (<3)
Visit Cheerilee + CMC (before class lets out)
Visit Other Ponies (as needed)
Hit the Arcade, Look at RPGs (research!)

Spike frowned at the list for a moment, because it seemed incomplete. There was something... Oh, right. It had been at the back of his mind for a while now, but it was actually going to be relevant soon. He hadn't convinced Twilight this was actually happening... Hay, he hadn't actually convinced himself until he saw Twilight's level and his power corrected the clocks. But even given that, could he convince other ponies? Should he?

Eventually, he put one last line on the page. If there was any one pony he could rely on for weird, it was her. Well, and one non-pony, but they were currently kinda occupied being evil. And a statue. In Canterlot. So that was off the table for multiple reasons. Still, his first choice would have been to go this route anyways, even if other options were available. It just... felt right.

Talk to Pinkie about The Gamer

There was an enormous sound in his head, like the ring of a porcelain bell scaled up to the size of a building. At the same time, a strange thrill-and-chill ran up his spine (and out his spines) as the list in front of him changed colors... No, not changed. It was just overlayed with a colorful window full of mostly identical text. The added words were what really caught his attention, though.

STORY ARC: My First Day As The Gamer
By making a concrete plan of action to tackle a situation far outside of your understanding, you have begun the first step of your epic journey. Spend your first day grappling with your new power as effectively as possible, and reap the rewards: It's a boost up the ladder to get you started!

Objective: Do all 4 Quests (Chores, Food, Gamer, Free Time) by completing all 19 Sub-Quests.
Failure Condition: Leave more than 0 Sub-Quests incomplete by 9:10 PM today.
Reward: All Sub-Quest Rewards, All Quest Rewards, 50,000 EXP, 200 Bits, ???, ???, 'Proof'

For a while, all he could do was stare. He had only meant to make things more clear in his head, more organized... But this? He'd found something huge. So many zeroes, such big numbers... And, if this thing was right (could it BE wrong? he had no idea), it would give him what he needed to prove to Twilight that this was all real. A grin started spreading, slow but sure, until his smile was bigger than it had been in months.

"...Oh. OH GEEZ. I... OK. Calm down Spike. Just... Deep breath. Coil up the tongue. Brush the scales. Journal into inventory. And then let's get started!"

Chapter 5: Shaving

First things done first, of course: What could he handle fastest? Making the beds was trivial, but he wanted to give the eggs time to warm up out of the fridge for breakfast, so... Food preparation. Eggs out and on the counter, chives too. Parmesan (from the pantry) and cheddar (fridge) came out, some spices from the rack, two pots went down on the stove: Milk and butter. He could leave all of this for a few minutes, which was more than enough time to take care of upstairs chores.

See, Twilight wasn't exactly an absent-minded professor stereotype, but it got close some days, and so Spike had gotten very used to doing the chores and cooking whenever possible. Especially over the last two years, she had relied on him more and more until eventually he barred her from the laundry room entirely: Organization was neat (heh) and all, but socks did not need filing. The nice thing was that today wasn't a laundry day, so all he'd have to do was the beds... And they were already done by the time his thoughts caught up to his claws. It helped quite a bit that neither of them was a nervous move-around-all-the-time sleeper (anymore).

In the back of his head, he could feel rather than see the sensation of one of his objectives being marked off. There was no reward to go with it, but that was to be expected: The simplest items on the list were probably just parts of a whole, instead of having any real impact on their own. A lot of the missions in games like Unicorn Alley worked that way, with the payoff being at each big step.

Make beds

Beds taken care of, dishes not dirtied yet, too little time to do the boxes... Although there was enough time for him to mutter a quick "Observe" at each one of the containers, practicing his whispering and his skill at the same time. According to the skill readouts, it looked like they were all low-cost (but decent quality) copies of magic-related textbooks, split up into a box each for the three pony races and then a fourth 'general' box. That would be for Twilight's new education wing, then. He could take care of that after breakfast, get everything done at the library in one swoop, and then head out into Ponyville for the rest of the day.

Back in the kitchen, Spike stopped and took a deep breath. This was, if not his favorite place in the Library, definitely in the top three. Despite catching flak for it sometimes, he enjoyed cooking and every related thing. There was something very cool and kinda awesome, about making things everypony relied on to get by each day. With that in mind, he continued his original plan: A super-duper cheesy breakfast souffle! A little extravagant, sure, but he could afford to spend some time on it, especially since he was multitasking. With a little fake Prench accent, he began narrating his own cooking to a nonexistent audience, spamming his lone active skill all the while.

"Observe as I take this spare butter and use it to grease up a nice one-serving dish. Then I'll Observe with care to coat all that butter in delicious parmesan without letting any spill. Off that goes to the... Yes, the freezer! Very Observeant of you. And you can Observe that I've already heated the butter and the milk, and I can start adding the spices to the butter. Soon we'll Observe the milk and butter getting combined, but first I'll beat the egg yolks, get them nice and smooth... There we go!"

It was a contrived way to do things, but he had fun trying to mix the term in to every step of the process. Eventually he hit a point, somewhere between tempering the yolks and whipping the whites, where he had to start just saying "Observe" over and over until he sounded like a broken record. But that only lasted a minute or so, because then he was folding the whites in, filling the souffle dish, and scooting it all into the oven.

"Let's see here..."
He went to clear his view of the various pop-ups that had appeared while he was working. Level up boxes for Observe, a good four or five of those (its growth had started to slow down even as he used it more), and... Oh wow, he had wondered what that flurry of smaller boxes had been...

By [Cooking] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 10%
By [Cooking] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 10%
By [Cooking] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 10%

And on and on like that, until he hit 100%, gained the Cooking skill, and then a solid three levels in it to boot. Apparently starting off with such a hoity-toity recipe had been worth it, speeding up the process of creating... A skill for Cooking. Spike was already pretty confident in his food game, but had a feeling it was going to be a lot more literal in the future, not to mention even better. One day his muffins would induce fear and respect among all who witnessed their buttery glory.

"Heh, I slay me. OK, that takes like half an hour to bake, and the quest didn't update, so I guess the food has to be finished for it to count? Or eaten. Either way, I can go manage those books."
Snipping open the tape with his claws was easy: They may not have looked it, but the tips were wicked-sharp. Made some things a lot harder, but it was nice to have his own tools. Actually... Tools, or weapons? Or both? Whatever they counted as, maybe he could get a skill for them.

"...OK books, you're going to have to wait. I've got a date with some leftover gems. Ooooh man, come to think of it, shaved citrine would be fantastic on my breakfast! Two birds one stone, heh."

A trip over to his gem stash, and then a brief shrug before he tipped the entire thing into his Inventory. The gems automatically sorted themselves out into separate stacks by grade and color, which was cool... Unfortunately, it also made it a bit of a mess, since these were mostly castoff gems that weren't worth keeping or giving to Rarity. A little searching for crisp orange-yellow led to him finally finding the main stack of citrines and withdrawing one. Problems or not, at least his inventory made it easy to split stacks up like that.

Now for the hard part. Letting the tip of his tongue dangle out one corner of his mouth, he squinted at the gem in deep concentration. Before he carved, he should see what he could learn with his newly-levelled skill.
"Observe."

[Citrine]
A quartz variant with a brilliant yellow luster. Like all Equestrian gemstones, it comes straight out of the ground in a simple cut and polish (in this case, radiant cut with a clean finish). This stone in specific is of decent quality, not good enough for jewelry yet bearing very few major flaws.

After the description, there was a brief list of what he guessed were chemicals or elements in the stone, and a vague summary of where the biggest single flaw was. That would be useful if he wanted to destroy it, he guessed, but his goal was a little more controlled.

Gripping the gem in one clutched claw, Spike slowly rotated it against one edge of his other claw. He did this a lot when Rarity needed specific cuts or thin little scraps of gem to make some of her more flexible outfits, and whenever he wanted a good snack. That was casual, however: Now he was focusing hard on the action, trying to clearly see if this could get him a skill.

It was slow going, since he was making an effort to think about the process instead of just doing it by rote. By the time the entire gem was whittled into a few dozen pieces of varying thickness, he hadn't gotten anything... But the biggest chunk of it contained what his Observation told him was the gem's most significant flaw, and now it was very close to the surface.

"Here goes nothing..."

Author's Note

Early publish of the next chapter to celebrate the ol' frontpage reappearance. :V

Chapter 6: Inheriting

"Here goes nothing..."
Spike tapped one claw-tip hard against the spot, piercing directly into the stone like it was butter. A moment later, it split jagged across three different faults, all centered on the tiny piece of impure dirt at the center. A trio of windows popped up, and he had to restrain himself from cheering.

By using [Craft] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 10%

A skill has been created through a special action! Through fastidious shaping of stone, a skill to carve the world, [Earthshaper] has been created!

A skill has been created through a special action! Through discovery of your own finesse, a skill to sharpen your heritage, [Dragon's Claws] has been created!

Figure out more skills

'Heritage', was it? That... There was a faint pain in his heart as he looked at the final window. It had been a long time since he really thought about what it meant to be a dragon, his 'heritage'. Most of those thoughts had been about how decidedly un-dragon-like he was. Maybe this was a sign that he'd be changing that? Maybe he'd become a proper dragon without having to abandon his friends... Or he already was one. He'd have to discuss it with Twilight, but for now, skills!

Earthshaper Lv 1 EXP: 0.0%
A skill given to those for whom working with dirt, rock, gems and all the other products of the earth comes naturally.

Passively improves the quality of your work with all earthen materials by 10%
Passively reduces the difficulty of working all earthen materials.
When used as an Active skill, you may consume Stamina to double the passive benefits of this skill and increase the speed at which you work. Stamina costs and speed increases vary.

Stamina? He had Stamina? I mean, obviously he did, he got tired... He got tired more often than he'd like, frankly. But the game hadn't said anything about it... Maybe it was a hidden stat, derived from one or more of the others? That would make it like his Defense Total in O+O, or the sprint meter in King Blaster... That made a lot of sense, since Stamina was normally something you only think about when it's gone. And maybe his new nature would make it easier for him to stay awake! Wishful thinking, but hey: This was already like a wish come true. And part of it...

Well, part of it was this.

Dragon's Claws Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
To a dragon, their claws are proof of their dexterity and skill. They hit harder than the hooves of a pony, have more control than the hands of a minotaur, and show the claws of a griffon to be the mockeries they are. None shall face the claws of a dragon unscathed, and this skill is that fact given form.

Allows for precise control of your claws, as well as the ability to retract the tips and edges safely.
Passively increases all other effects that benefit your claws by 10%
When used as an Active skill, your claws are enhanced to strike vicious blows or work even the most durable materials, dealing increasingly more damage based on the MP spent.

This skill will grow with DEX and skill levels, gaining new features over time.

He whistled softly as he read over the details, and then flipped back to Earthshaper's description. Nothing about it had changed, but... He had a feeling that as long as he worked with his claws, these two would combine awesomely. Right now it would just be another single percent, in total, but... Shining Armor had taught him the importance of force multipliers and stacking numbers, especially when it came to building game characters. Even a simple base like 10% of 10% could quickly grow, especially if he found a way to work on increasing both skills together.

Maybe he could go out with Rarity, hit the quarries, and dig for the gems the long way around, through the stone instead of the relatively-soft dirt she usually directed him to. While he was at it, he could incorporate gemstones into his Cooking (which he was already thinking of as capital-C "Cooking") more often. And by Observing every gem for the weak spots, value, and other details (he was hoping for flavor), he could 'optimize' his training, as Rainbow Dash would put it. There weren't a lot of things she would get nerdy about, but training and exercise topped the list (with Daring Do as a close third).

This felt like good progress: It left him with a long-term plan and the means to accomplish it.

Careful planning caused your WIS to increase by 1!

He stared. He blinked. Blink. Stare. Blink. Smile.
"...Oh, so it works like that, huh?"

Even more big news: Normally in games, especially in more 'crunchy' ones like O+O or Unicorn Alley, stats were fairly fixed unless you got more for levelling or used some super-major artifact. But if he could just get stats by exercising them... Well hey, that was how it worked normally, right? So now he could think of all that work in his original skill plan as being stat improvement too. The plan he had already made would cover Dexterity, for sure, and maybe Strength. Vitality, if he worked himself hard enough.

Speaking of Vitality, he totally had a way to drain his own Stamina at will now, so that might be, in the words of Button Mash, "bah-roken". Wisdom from making plans and strategies, probably Intelligence from... studying? He'd have to ask Pinkie how you improved Luck, though: Even if she didn't know what was going on when he asked, she'd almost certainly have an answer. So the good news so far was that he had learned a ton in just an hour or so, but he had a feeling that was only because he knew so little to begin with: Large gains relative to a small base.

Yeah, the quest had even said this was a little boost-along to smooth out the early game, like the scaling experience in a lot of games. Any time now this parade of sweet discoveries would fade into the longer slog of working up individual skills or desperately studying his own menus for hints and clues... Weirdly, that had its own kind of appeal to it. The last time he made a character (for a superhero game that Shining brought as a breather between campaigns), he spent nearly two days poring through different 'splatbooks' to find the right mix of fun and useful for the sake of the group. This was even better, because he'd be improving himself, for real.

Checking his Time... There was a good twenty minutes left before the souffle finished, so he could spend the rest of this time messing with menus. At the very least, he wanted to get drawings of them all down, or at least written lists, so he could talk about it with others more easily. Starting from the top, then...

OPTIONS

GAME

DIFFICULTY AND MODES
HUD MANAGEMENT
DUNGEON OPTIONS
CONTROLS / INTERFACE

AUDIO

SFX VOLUME > BGM VOLUME > DIALOGUE VOLUME
LANGUAGE (DISABLED)
SUBTITLES

VIDEO

COLOR BALANCE
ASPECT RATIO
VISION TYPES (DISABLED)

SOCIAL

PARTY OPTIONS
COMMUNICATION OPTIONS
FRIENDS LIST

Yeah, that looked like everything. Another disabled menu, too: But hitting this one told him he needed INT 101 or any of... a bunch of unknown alternate requirements. What caught his interest the most, in the end, were the Game and Social options. Experimenting with Audio had been fun, but while he was in that menu, Spike turned off the subtitles and music he had left on earlier. And Video didn't have many options to begin with, plus neither of them were things he wanted to mess with. But the Social options implied he could make a party, just like in a tabletop game, or that one fancy multiplayer game he saw in Canterlot last year... Plane of Battleforge or something like that.

Now that had been a cool idea for a game: There were a dozen cabinets all placed together, and anypony could sidle up to an empty one and pick up their character from the last time they played, dropping into a connected game with everypony else at the same arcade. Allegiances formed and broke in mere minutes, but the progress made was stored forever in the magically-infused crystal nodes that made it all work. Spike hadn't gotten a chance to play, but he had seen a lot of things similar to what his ability was showing him: Menus, parties forming, inventory that didn't care about size or shape or weight, skills being levelled with use.... It was enough to make him wonder.

Well, maybe he could look into that game and its makers next time he was in Canterlot. For now, he would make do with what he could learn by himself, from himself, of himself.

"Game, Difficulty and Modes."

Another one of the small pale-yellow alert boxes.
NOTE: All contents of this menu are for reference only. There is no user-controlled ability to change the difficulty or mode of a particular scene. Instead, they change contextually.

And then it listed a lot of things he couldn't see, obscured under a strange haze and a wall of ???. That was... Less useful than he had hoped. So apparently his game did have difficulty, but not in the "Are you playing on Hard Mode" sense, instead more like "Stage 7-2 of this game is harder than Stage 8-3 even though it's earlier, because 7-2 is an underwater level". It would change on its own, and he had no clue what that change even did. So one mystery down, another up, no net gain of information: This really was like one of the arcade's nastier puzzle games.

The next piece of the puzzle was "HUD Management"... Ooh, he could make his HP and MP visible in the corner of his eye, that was kind of nice. It would also make his... Stamina...
"Really? It's not even on my character sheet but I can make it visible here? Gah, I hate when menus hide stuff like that! Step up from not being able to see it period, I guess."

"Dungeon Options" was all ??? again, probably because he'd never so much as seen a dungeon, unless the one under Canterlot counted (he was pretty sure it didn't). Games tended to use dungeon less to mean "deep underground multi-purpose prison" and more to mean "contained adventure space", which Spike preferred. Seemed like his menus agreed, but he wouldn't be able to see how or why anytime soon. It's not like he'd stumble into a dungeon on the way across town... Right?

The Game category ended with what Spike guessed might be the biggest, most important section of them all... And he was right. Just looking over the "Controls / Interface" section (although it took him a moment to realize he was not supposed to say "slash") revealed such fantastic concepts as "Subvocal Command" and "Focus-Based Buttons", not to mention controls for changing his handedness, tail prehensility, and tongue articulation. The good news? The first two worked, and turning them both to 'ON' allowed him to control his menus and use his skills without anypony else being any the wiser. The bad news? All of the others were locked behind assorted levels of DEX, INT, VIT, and unknown ???-coated prerequisites.

And so all that was left of his menu adventure was the Social options. He wasn't surprised when the Friends List ended up being empty: Which is not to say that he had no friends, but rather, this interface probably had some special way of declaring a person a "friend" officially, in the system. Communication Options had a lot of submenus that were locked down behind more stat and (he assumed) skill requirements. And Party Options... Brought up a message telling him to form a Party first. To make up for that small setback, however, it told him how. The error message spelled it out right there:

To access Party Options, first form a party with others using the command "Invite NAME". Note that some features are only available if members are within certain level ranges.

Chapter 7: Orienteering

As Spike wrote that information down in the back of his journal, he felt that slight shiver again and saw the quest popup.

Investigate Menus

The shiver redoubled itself a split-second before the little clock by the oven went off.

Breakfast
Reward: A good meal is its own reward, 10 XP
Cooking 'Recipe' Registered

Right. Rewards. His previous quests had been so simple that he hadn't thought about them for a little bit, but this one... Maybe he had complicated the process so much with his fancy breakfast that it was actually worth the bonus? Either way, he had gotten some XP, which meant any minute now... And there it was, a third quest ping, thankfully spaced out from the others.

Get XP if Possible

That helped support his theory of rewards only being given when it was hard enough to justify it. And it knocked another item off of his list. That only left two more that he could realistically do in the Library, unless he felt like using Observe on every single book or something... Actually, that might not be a bad idea for later. Maybe a shelf a day or something? Planning later, getting his precious food out of the oven now. There was a bit of leeway on that, since he set the timer to go off a little early: Let's be serious, he was all about crunchy burnt pieces, but souffles did not mesh well with them, especially because of the whole deflating thing.

Spike popped open the oven and took a look: The cheese-infused and very eggy column of flavor was safe... For now. But once he extracted it, gave it a moment to stabilize, and began the attack? No, there would be no safety in deliciousness. The citizens of Single Serving Souffle Dish-town learned that quickly as the dragon attacked, laying waste to their parmesan battlements at the same time as his vicious claws cracked the sky of their home... To make a long and fairly ridiculous story short, breakfast today was extremely good.

Between every few bites he sprinkled in the shaved citrine pieces from his earlier practice, creating a really great mixture of smooth, crunchy, gemmy-lemony and savory. Spike was a bit surprised by the other thing it created: Another level-up for Cooking. Was it because the skill was so low, that just seasoning food would count? Did the game consider it to be 'improving' the dish in some special way? Or was it because of the other box that had popped up in front of his eyes...

[A Satisfying Meal]
By eating food of a quality and quantity above the minimum required to get by, you receive a small buff for a short period. The buff's nature varies based on the kind of food consumed.

Cheese-Citrine-and-Chive Souffle: Enhanced movement speed, 4 hours.

That was something worth testing, and he did: As soon as the food was done, he tried dashing from place to place in the kitchen, gathering and cleaning the dishes and cookware as quickly as he could. The end results were, well, a little bit good and bad. He could definitely feel the change and appreciate it, but it didn't seem as strong as it could be. And a quick check of his Status showed why: The effect was percentage-based, so it only had his (poor) base speed to work with. On somepony like Rainbow Dash, this would probably be a huge boost, but he was not Rainbow Dash... OK, apart from that one time when he was.

Less-than-helpful buff or not (although now he had the idea stuck in his head: COULD he give this buff to Rainbow Dash, or anypony else for that matter? It could go either way: Was it unique to him because it was his power, or could he share it because it was his cooking?), he got another quest completed in record time thanks to the little boost.

Do dishes

That left the books here in the library, and then he'd be off and out for the day. Everything he had done so far had been pretty... arbitrary, things he could have done first or last without a lot of time difference in the long run. Now though, Spike had to figure out a sequence: Even with the speed granted by the food in his belly, Ponyville was kind of sprawling for a small town, and doing things out of order could completely wreck his schedule. In fact...

"You know what? The books can wait. I've gotta come back home to make the snacks later anyways, not to mention dropping off the overdue fines I collect... Yeah, that makes sense."
In fact, the fines were probably the first thing he needed to check up on: It's not like repeat offenders of book not-quite-theft all lived in the same neighborhood. He could route out his other stops based on both timing (no sense visiting the schoolhouse before classes were close to letting out) and the location of the fines. Of course, actually doing that would require him to have a map... Wait. Waait.

"Map."
There it was, even more transparent than most of the other menus (probably so he can keep it up while moving): a respectable map. It was an unlabelled overhead view, sure, but he could recognize the room he was in when he saw it. And this made sense: Even adventure games like Cloudedge had a map, so it would be a bit strange if he didn't. Right now it showed the inside of the Library, but he was able to zoom it out to show the neighborhood. Presumably, another zoom would expand it to Ponyville as a whole, and another to the whole region, then Equestria, and... Well, given the little greyed-out parts inside a lot of houses, probably not a lot. At a glance, it seemed like the map only showed places he had personally been.

For now, anyways.

Cloudedge had given the player all sorts of options to move from one spot to another eventually, and even at the very start of the game? Getting a quest to go somewhere usually put it on your map even if you had never been there before. Which probably meant he could zoom his map out another step and... Not see anything special. So he didn't have that type of objective markers, either "yet" or "ever".

...Or was it because he hadn't actually checked the list of fines? Video games could get away with creating information out of thin air, but maybe this new ‘ability’ of his was more discerning.

Since he had to do it anyways Spike tromped his way up the stairs, eventually flicking through the little rotary file Twilight kept near his writing desk until he found it: List F7. He started reading the names and addresses as well as the books involved and the actual amounts of the fines. Then he checked his map again... Haha! No need to take the list or memorize it: His map did spawn a set ofmarkers showing the details he'd just read. No extra information, or tracking the ponies in question... But It was more than enough for what Spike was doing right now.

They were all over town, and none of them could have possibly owed enough bits that him carrying the fines home would be a problem... even before he got an Inventory. So if he went from here to the first house, then to Sugar Cube Corner to talk to Pinkie (he could hit SCC again for dinner on the way home), that would swing him out past the second and third houses before he got to Carousel Boutique to talk to Rarity. From there to Gillie's open-air arcade (man, he hadn't been over there in FOREVER), then to the fourth and fifth houses and the school. Sure, he might have to kill some time before classes let out, but he had a lot to work on anyways.

Chapter 8: Mystery

From there, things got a little fuzzier, because the odds were very high the Crusaders would haul him off in who-knows-what direction as soon as he got there. And then he'd tell them... What? That he had somehow become a living video game character? Up until now, he hadn't actually considered what might come as a consequence of telling ponies what was going on. Since the Crusaders were his close friends and also the most likely ponies to spill the beans if he tried to keep it secret... If he was going to make a decision on the matter, now was the time. Twilight's advice settled down onto his mind in the usual way, and thus Spike considered the angles.

Pros: He'd have a social group close to him that he could talk about the whole thing with. He'd have ponies to show off to. Maybe he could help them get their Cutie Marks. Maybe they could help him pick up and train new skills. It would be fun.

Cons: He'd have a social group close to him to talk to anypony they felt like about the whole thing. He'd have ponies to show off to. He might end up helping them get their Cutie Marks. They might help him develop new skills. It would be dangerous.

...Well, that was a pair of distressingly similar lists. Arguments about "fun" and "dangerous" being synonyms aside, this really did feel like an arbitrary choice. Telling them could get them all into odd situations, not telling them could hurt feelings, they'd probably find out eventually anyways... It was that last bit that he felt was the most important. Be it through deliberate focused meddling or just bad luck, the Crusaders would positively absolutely certainly get mixed up in whatever he chose to do. Heck, the odds would probably increase along with the danger he got into (asymptotically, the Twilight-trained part of his brain chimed in), so keeping them in the dark would be worse and more dangerous for them and others.

Why did he think of danger now instead of earlier? That was simple (to him, anyways): Before thinking about this particular wrinkle this had been his problem, and his mostly-alone. As soon as he got other ponies (especially ones his own age) involved? Then the risks actually mattered. But hey, as far as risks went, how much worse could this be than anything the CMC had already done? He himself probably was not a danger or a threat, and he wasn't planning to do anything too insane. Even if he were going to do anything risky, this is a group of fillies who have already dealt with basilisks and worse. And maybe...

Maybe nothing would happen. Just because he happened to have an ability that told him about his HP, gave him damage resistance and regeneration, and defined his claws in terms of their attack power... None of that meant this had to be a dangerous game. ...That was a pleasant thought at least, but his life had already been weird and dangerous even before today! From general Ponyville madness to the Everfree Forest, the Changelings, Discord... There was always risk in life, but maybe now he'd be better suited to face it.

Honestly, his power could probably be used to help protect ponies from all those things. He had MP after all, and a lot of games had buffs. Plus breakfast had just proven he had the ability to get and maybe give perks (albeit small ones) with food alone, much less spells.

So it was probably reasonable to chalk up the "danger" side of the equation as being, um, not much worse than usual. He didn't have any real concerns about keeping it a secret, so long as ponies respected his privacy as much as they already did. Getting the CMC their Cutie Marks... He'd be lying if the thought didn't have a kind of appeal. It's one thing to say that you and your friends were always meant to be together, it's another to have literal evidence of it the way Twilight and the Elements did. And as far as skills went, well... Here's hoping this game has a way to track tree sap resistance.

As for telling other ponies, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. But for now, there was no question that he was going to tell the Crusaders and the Elements: He'd already told Twilight, he had a quest to tell Pinkie, he'd never keep that kind of secret from Rarity... No questions about it, it felt best to just get ahead of any misinformation, confusion, or drama. 'Tell early tell often', or something like that.

That might be easier than it seemed: If he ended up walking Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom to their houses after school, and then took Scootaloo to Rainbow Dash's place... That would actually run him by all the Elements except for Fluttershy. And the list of fines was going to force him out towards her place anyways, so there it was: A solid plan!

Now to just hope and pray nothing wrecked it.

Spike's first trip out of the Library since his new powers came to light was... Well, enlightening. He learned many useful things in those first few seconds. There were two dozen or so ponies milling about on their way to work, getting breakfast, or doing chores in the early hours of the morning... And only a tiny handful had a 'Level' higher than 7, with nopony breaking double digits. All told he saw three or four titles, universally attached to the rare outliers who were closer to 10 than not.

On top of his inherent sight of titles and levels, using Observe told him a fair bit more: Now that the skill had a decent level, it was showing him a Status screen much like his own, only slightly less detailed. Level, title, class, stats, a brief personal history, and any status effects they were under (he saw a few colds and decided to steer clear). No skills or other tabs, but perhaps that would come in time. Even the few things he saw were a bit weird. He didn't know a lot of these ponies that well, but he still saw cold details about their history, their work, their families...

Something to get used to, he supposed. It certainly wouldn't get in the way of how he saw or treated them, nor would it get in the way of his training.

Spike continued to watch ponies and use Observe on absolutely everything, even clouds and garbage, as he made his way to the first house he had to visit on "the patrol". Twilight usually did the collection of fines and overdue books herself, but sometimes it all piled up and Spike ended up taking a big list and heading out into town. Today's wasn't so bad, only seven or eight ponies, even if a few of the fines were pretty sizable. Plus the weather was great for the season: Seems like the Pegasus patrols had scheduled a nice spring shower overnight, leaving the town cool but not too chilly outside, and the ground was just a little soft under his claws.

The first target was within a stone's throw of home, so he only gained a few Observe levels on the way... Still, it seemed to be getting a bit irate about how often he was using it on 'meaningless' things. The descriptions of rocks, clouds, and random objects started to give more detail in an almost sarcastic tone... Which brought up the question of where this information was coming from.

Yeah, he was sure it was all true (he'd never seen or heard of a game that lied to the player in the UI: there was a bond of trust there), but how did his power obtain the facts? Was it just reading it from their 'profile', in some way? Was the information just... there, already true and merely waiting to be learned? He remembered Twilight going to a symposium about some kind of 'information body' outside of physical reality... The Akashi... something-or-other.

All of that was over his head right now, and even if it weren't, he had a schedule to keep. Dealing with the first fine and the accompanying overdue book was a breeze (Ms. Marker was a bit new to town, and hadn't realized it was a book her son had taken out from the library for a project), and it was doubly easy since he could just surreptitiously tuck them both in his Inventory as soon as he was out of sight. From their house it was a quick zig and zag across the street (making sure not to run into anypony, since he was a little faster than usual) to the front of Sugar Cube Corner, where he could see Pinkie hoofing out samples of some new creation.

Observing the samples showed that they were some kind of breakfast dumplings. She was passing them along to ponies along with little tiny dabs of hot sauce or lemon glaze, seemingly at random. Either that was just traditional Pinkie Pie cuisine, or she could tell which ones were savory and which were sweet without so much as looking. Even odds of either, actually...

Regardless, Spike went to Observe Pinkie herself and was not very surprised to get an abnormal response. He was a little surprised by the kind of response. After using his skill, he felt a terrible crack of static, like a detuned radio that had been slammed into the ground, and saw absolutely nothing except a brief blip of pink and blue, like a window struggling to open before being slammed shut in the same instant. That was new and worrying. Looking above her head, he saw an... explanation?

[A Magenta Mystery]
Pinkie Pie
LV 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375...

Chapter 9: Check Engine

[A Magenta Mystery]
Pinkie Pie
LV 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375...

...Well, it was the closest thing he'd ever get to an explanation where Pinkie was involved.

Her title, name, and level were all written in an almost painful neon pink instead of the now-familiar sky blue, and her level kept going, far into the distance outside Spike's field of view. Hoof it to this pony in particular to break through expectations and leave nothing but confusion in her wake... Well, maybe she'd be able to help clarify some things he was thinking about. After all she enjoyed a lot of games herself, plus she helped out with various birthday parties at the arcade...

Beyond all that it was Pinkie. If she didn't have a weird insight into the situation he would eat his hat. If he had one. Scratch that: He'd go get himself a hat, and then eat it. One made of diamonds! Or sapphire, obsidian, whatever. He wasn't gonna be picky.

Given that strange burst of whatever from his Observation, he felt cautious about approaching. In the end he trusted his friends: He put his best foot / claw forward and stepped over to the pony.
"Hey there, Pinkie!"

"Oh! You're up and about super-duper early today Spike: More chores from Twilight, huh?"

Spike wavered one claw in the air ambivalently, reaching for a sample at the same time.
"Mmmaybe. She had some kind of all-day thing up in Canterlot, personal business."

She nodded sagely at that while Spike popped the morsel into his mouth.
"I totally know how that goes! Does it have anything to do with those blue words?"

Aaand a bystander got showered with dumpling debris.
"Sorry, what?"

"The bluewords! Over your head. They're very blue. And kinda words."

"Iiiii think we need to go inside and talk. Um. Whenever you're done doing... this."

Looking around, they realized that everypony had seen Spike, the dragon notorious for eating everything up to and including Baked Bads, spit-taking one of the samples. Weirdly, that led to far fewer ponies (you could even say zero ponies) coming up to take a sample of their own.
"Eh, now's probably fine. I mean, I've gotta get started on today's biiig project anyways!"

She did an about-face and trotted into her home / work, and Spike followed, if a little reluctantly.
"How big are we talking? Because if it's MMMM-level, I'm out."

"Um, not that big. Still big though! Feeds more ponies, but isn't quite so..."

He dodged his way around furniture and ponies alike as Pinkie took as obtuse a path through the store as she possibly could. Thankfully, most of the place was empty, so he got to keep his apologizing to a minimum.
"Complex? Sugary? Enticing? Shrouded in marzipan and / or mystery?"

Pinkie dropped off the remaining dumplings on the counter with a wide smile. The smile, and the rest of her, quickly vanished below the counter a moment later.
"All of the above and below, so shall it be!"

"...Riiight. So it's relatively simple and not brain-meltingly sweet. Would it be alright for us to talk about the, ah, blue words, while you work?"

When Pinkie popped back up, she was wielding an apron, which quickly found its way onto him: He didn't question it, nor did he question the brief pop-up box telling him that he had equipped a 'tabard-slot' item which gave him very minor protection from heat and a Cooking buff. If anything, Pinkie seemed to care more about the notification than he did.
"Oooh, a yellow one this time! What's it say?"

Spike moved to shush her, but it was futile: Even if anypony had been listening, it was still Pinkie. He knew to pay attention to most of what she said because he was a friend, but a lot of ponies in town just wrote it off as Pinkie-being-Pinkie. Which... They weren't wrong, but that didn't mean she was wrong either. It did mean they could talk freely, safe from concerns about ponies wondering what was going on. If that failed? The tried and true standby: "We're just talking about a game."

"Wait, I thought you were really good at reading backwards."

"Uhhu! And upside down. And backwardsupsidedown... cake? No, that'd be too tricky to make in four dimensional space. But all I can tell is that it's got words on it, not what the words are."

...So even to somepony like Pinkie, Spike's UI was something only he could truly see. That was actually kind of a relief: It meant he'd basically never have to worry about being peeped on while he did Gamer things. Pinkie was his gold standard for being able to see the imperceptible after all.
"Let's go to the kitchen and get started on this big project of yours, OK? We can cook and talk."

"Aaww that sounds great! We haven't cooked together in a while~! What was it last, the Morose Muffin Monsters of Maudagascar for my sister's birthday care package?"

"Yeah, that was a good time. Hey, she never did come visit after that."

"Mmmh, yeah. Busy with rock troubles."

"I'll... take your word for it."

The kitchen at Sugar Cube Corner was always immaculately clean when it wasn't being used that exact minute: Pinkie always cleaned up after herself, and the Cakes were very good at watching each other's backs while they worked. Spike had a fair feeling it would get a lot nastier in here by the time they were done, especially if the gigantic him-sized stack of banana leaves had anything to do with what they were making.
"Speaking of words, let's speak some words now!"

Spike was planning to tell his friends about this, but he didn't see any reason to let the information spread too much outside of his own control.
"You sure nopony can hear us back here?"

"Deffo! So spill the beans!"

"Wait, like, metaphorically or literally? Because for all I know we're cooking beans."

She blinked a few times while mulling that over.
"Oh. Right! Mmmmnope, no beans. Leaves, dough, onions, peppers, garlic, squash, more onions, different peppers... but no beans. I meant word-beans."

"Word-beans. Sure. Well, it started this morning with a bad dream about a game, and then I woke up. The bad dream was over, but the game part just kept going..."

He ran down the entire thing so far, each aspect he had discovered or experienced. With some other ponies, he would probably tell them a brief summary or even just the concept alone. But it felt like Pinkie (and likely Twilight, later) would be the kind of pony who would ignore information overload and just wanted to know it all. So Spike told her every last detail, sparing nothing. She was quiet throughout, which didn't surprise him: There was nopony like Pinkie Pie when it came to listening to your problems.

By the time he was finished talking, they were up to their respective wrists and fetlocks in thick corn dough, enough to cover the entire counter... Which was actually the plan, apparently. In the same way that Pinkie had let him speak, he just kind of let the concept of the cooking wash over him without worrying about the details. She knew what she was doing, and he trusted her as a friend. He did almost question it when she broke out the blood-orange dye, because at this point it looked as if the dough under their hands / hooves was kinda... flesh-like.
"So yeah, that about sums it up so far."

"Huh. I guess you're... Nope, I went to make a joke about what kind of game engine you run on, but I couldn't quite get there. Oh well!"

"Pfftha! Yeah, that..."

That... that brought up a good question. All of the game machines he'd ever seen ran on engines: Complicated rigs of pistons, magical capacitors, steam valves and other mechanical oddities. Even the most compact one Spike had seen was barely smaller than a bathroom stall, and they were probably pretty expensive to make and maintain. The only reason Ponyville, being a small village off-mountain, even had an arcade was because they were a "test market" with a direct rail line from Canterlot. So if he was living his life as if it were a game, was it just metaphor? Or did he have an engine somewhere, somehow?

"Gimme a second here Pinkie."

His body certainly didn't feel any different, but given the risks involved in helping Twilight with her experiments, he knew how to check and check thoroughly. All he had to do was zone out, take a deep breath, and relax. Another breath, and relax. Follow the air from his nose down past his palate, throat, lungs, body... And then exhale, tracing back the same path until the air exited his mouth. Feel yourself (not like that) and relax.

It was an easy pattern to fall into, easier now than ever before, and he quickly found his mind racing through the passages of his own circulatory system. Twilight had helped him figure out a lot of dragon biology over the years (his biology, at least, with no other dragons to compare to) so he could visualize it all. Compare the images to the form, follow the patterns, all biological life is based on patterns, remember the lessons. He'd just check this real quick and get back to... whatever it was he had been doing. Already it felt detached from his thoughts, so he shrugged (not physically, mind you) and carried on as he was.

...

Pinkie Pie gently prodded the dragon, who seemed for all the world to be sleeping at a standstill. His eyes were half-closed (in that two of his four eyelids were totally shut) and his claws were curled against the floor. Spike rocked gently when pushed, but did not fall over or respond. After a minute she shrugged and got back to work: He'd probably be awake in time to finish assembling the project. And hay if all else failed, the smell of roasting food would wake him up when she got that far. Pinkie took pride in her roasting.

Chapter 10: Acquisitions

When Spike finished tracing the routes of his nerves, veins, muscles and other systems, the air was filled with a faint cacophony of dinging and a thick miasma of delicious odors. The slightly bitter caramel tang of golden-hot onions, the earthy blast of peppers exposed directly to flame, the mellow butter of deep browned garlic, all of it flew around and knit itself into a scent of perfection. That seemed right, to his calm and centered mind. That was good. That...
"That smells really freakin' awesome! What... Wait, what did... Oh crap Pinkie, I didn't mean to zone out like that!"

"No worries Spike! You seemed super busy making all of those boxes come out, so I just left you to it and started on the veggies!"

"I still... Boxes? OH GEEZ BOXES."

A skill has been created through a special action! Through precise self-observation, a skill to know the inner world, [Omphaloskepsis], has been created!

A skill has been created through a special action! Through knowing your own self to be true, a skill to embody your heritage, [Dragon's Heart], has been created!

A skill has been created through a special action! Through absorbing the lessons of a mental master, a skill to remember everything, [Eidetic Memory], has been created!

A skill has been created through a special action! Through acquiring flawless recall, a skill to learn your heritage, [Dragon's Mind], has been created!
This has consumed [Eidetic Memory]

Work on Observe
Reward: You gain a level of Observe without raising its XP requirements

Talk to Pinkie about The Gamer
Reward: Being exposed to {ERROR} has led to the acquisition of a special reward!
Unlocker x?, Late Bloomer's Ticket x1

On top of that shocking mess, he saw a good twenty or so level-up boxes and notifications across all of those skills, and Observe for good measure. Spike was stunned back into stillness, eyes trying to draw it all in at once, until eventually he just hammered his attention against the "close" buttons on every single window, deciding to figure all of that out later. He had just wasted a bunch of his friend's time staring into space and worrying about his own problems... Not cool.

"Awww, no more boxes."

"Yeah, we can look at the boxes later. Late... Oh man, how long was I out for?"

"Hour-ish! And a half-ish. And seven minutes-ish. And-"

Spike quickly waved his claws, trying to take in his surroundings beyond the confusion.
"No, I get it, that makes sense. Well, it doesn't, but I'm just trying not to like, hyperventilate here."

The kitchen looked totally fine, and Pinkie had clearly been working around him as she prepared pan after pot after large casserole full of various lightly-seared and deeply roasted vegetables. The light from outside was coming in at a bit of a higher angle than before, and the clock agreed with Pinkie: So did his 'system' time, which cinched it. He really had just... turbo-slept? Power-meditated? Explosively napped? Blown through ninety-seven minutes standing in a kitchen... Not even his kitchen!

...Yes, his kitchen: after an exhausting month of arguments, Twilight had ceded that section of the place entirely to Spike, citing his insistence on making so much spicy food. He had a feeling it was actually all the quesadillas and the quatro-queso dip. In return for that conciliatory gesture, he had to forfeit his section of basement so she could convert it into more lab. Long run? Totally worth it.

Digressions aside, that still left him down on time, up on confusion, and kinda neutral on the 'friends helped' index. At least one of those he could fix right now.
"Pinkie, is there anything I can do other than stand here? I kinda feel bad about conking out."

"No sweat! Although I could use somepony to sweat these onions. So... some sweat, please?"

"On it!"

Spike moved over to the pan and went to it, while Pinkie went back to the dough they had formed earlier and began turning it out onto a massive blanket of those thick banana leaves. Their work continued in a peaceful silence for a few minutes until Pinkie wound up at his end of the leaves. He kept working over the onions as she approached, only stopping when she tapped his scales gently with one hoof.
"You doing alright?"

"Yeah, they're not quite caramelizing yet so I think I'm in the clear. Heh, clear, sweating onions, good one me. Just another minute or-"

Pinkie's voice took on an unexpectedly serious tone.
"Spiike, that's not what I meant and you know it. Are you doing alright with... Everything you've told me? Because if it just started this morning, you must have been running yourself ragged thinking about it all."

"Even if I weren't, I think I'd be OK: Remember, I told you I started out with some skills? The 'Gamer's Mind' means I'm totally immune to mental effects. I don't know if that counts, like, normal worry or stress or whatever, but it really seems like it. I still feel them, but they don't affect me."

"...Alright. I'll take your word for it. But I bet you didn't come to me just for delicious food, cooking experience, and a shoulder to vent on, did ya Spike?"

He whistled nonchalantly as he stirred the onions around the pan, keeping them moving.
"Well, I wouldn't mind having a friend to give me advice on the stranger side of all this. But even if I want that, what pony could possibly wrap her head around all this, take it at face value, and love games at least as much as me? Turns out I knew just the mare, and so here I am."

She slung one hoof around his shoulder and squeezed him in a somewhat-lingering hug.
"It means a lot that you came to me first, Spike. And of course I'll help you. In fact, I had a great idea while you were birthing all those boxes!"

"I oppose that concept and regret having that mental image. Deeply regret."

"That was the plaaan~! But seriously: Do what I'm doing!"

"Make some kind of enormous mockery of the concept of the tamale?"

"Hey! The zacahuil is a classic Minotauri dish, and I worked very hard to learn the recipe. I had to mix it up a bit for pony palates, but still. It's tradition."

"Really? Fair, in that case. OK, what else are you doing... Be almost comically neon pink?"

"It would look good on you, but no."

He pulled the onions off the heat and turned, theatrically scritching his claws along his chin.
"Well, I'm stumped."

Pinkie whipped a sheet of paper out from (mumble) and flourished it proudly.
"My character!"

"...The one for Shining's game?"

"Mmhmm!"

"The one you never showed me or told me about until now?"

A small bead of sweat dripped down her forehead as she glanced around nervously.
"Mmhmm?"

"For a campaign that hasn't even happened yet, so there's not a chance anypony else told me either?"

"...Aw, dangit. I thought I had been really clever there, but that was just one of those dumb puzzles where you can't see the answer. Sorry about that Spike."

"Eh, no worries: It was still a funny setup. So, what is your character idea?"

She tilted the sheet in his direction, preferring to speak with actions instead of words this time. Spike Observe'd it out of habit and then read it properly, ignoring the skill popup entirely: It was more for the experience than the info right now. A moderate score in all stats across the board, a gigantic spread of random skills, a passel of utility powers and buffing abilities... It didn't look like this character would be able to do anything. He turned back to Pinkie in confusion.
"I still don't think I get it."

"I help! And that's it. I'm just a big ol' walking Assist Other bonus slapped onto some health and a little pool of spells. I even took a bardic instrument that's made up of every other instrument in the book strapped together with Adventurer's Adhesive so that I always have the right tune on hoof!"

He was still a bit skeptical, although the character idea definitely suited her.
"And you think that's what I should do?"

"Well, it doesn't have to be that exactly! But think about it: Everypony has a special talent, and everypony has something they're really good at. But it doesn't look like you have any kind of limit on what you're doing. I bet you could do pretty well at everything."

"Heh. Be a Spike of all trades, sort of thing?"

Pinkie whipped around and looked up and off into the distance, eyes disconcertingly wide.
"Oooh, title drop! That's sneaky."

"What?"

"Nothing."

He caught himself before being totally lost in thought, but the idea was pretty appealing.
"It does make a lot of sense... It's not like I could go toe-to-hoof with most ponies in their special talent even if my power let me do some crazy things and I spent a lot of time practicing. So why not just take advantage of it turning everything into a skill and letting me level anything with XP, and run with it? Thanks, Pinkie: that actually helps a lot!"

Her smile was brilliant and a bit goofy as she trotted closer to him.
"Think nothing of it, Spike! Here, help me dump all this squash in. To celebrate!"

All of the various browned and glazed and burnt vegetables had gone into creating sauces, glazes and seasonings for these cubes and chunks of butternut squash: He could practically feel the fantastic barbecue-esque scent rolling off of them as they poured pan after pan into the tamale. That was followed up with pan-loads of fresh onions and peppers, as well as the occasional clove of garlic dotted along the pony-length of red corn dough.
"Huzzah! Now we just need to finish wrapping it up, seal it real good, and then get it into my new oven out back!"

"You have a new oven?"

The look she shot him could probably have cooked a meal with its sheer sarcasm.
"Does anything in this kitchen look like it could hold or cook a tamale the size of my body?"

"Point."

Chapter 11: Legendary, Mythic

Author's Note

Just a quick note that there's a blog post up looking for input on a potential FAQ / release of background information in the future. Head over and give your feedback, if you'd like.

Chapter 11: Legendary, Mythic

Making their way out of the kitchen's back exit a minute later (tamale carefully balanced between them), Spike saw exactly what she was talking about: A new shed had been built in the yard, and its doors were wide open to reveal an enormous clay oven, and not much else.

"I've been experimenting with so much foreign food that the Cakes decided I should have a place to do it in! So I saved up the proceeds and they kicked in some as my birthday present, and now I've got my own little mad food-science lab!"

"That shouldn't be as scary as it is, but you are the pony who brought Equestria the concept of a fifth-dimensional sugar sculpture."

"The fifth dimension was flavor!"

A moment after that they slid the leaf-wrapped beast into the oven, and Spike thanked his lucky scales that said scales were, well, lucky: Also heat-proof. That oven was scorching, and if Pinkie noticed she didn't say anything. Instead she just dusted her hooves off, turned, and offered one hoof in his direction. Spike shook it with a smile, honestly glad to have helped and even happier, if a bit selfishly, that he had gotten useful advice. Not to mention new skills, and...

[Legendary Recipe: Zacahuil]
This meter-long shell of flavorful blood-red nixtamalized corn dough surrounds the maker's choice of fillings, providing the normal benefits of all of its contents as well as being able to fully satiate up to 100 citizens of one community, regardless of their hunger or the size of their portions.

Cannot Learn: Insufficient Cooking (30+), Intelligence (15+), and Luck (25+)
Recipe has been saved and will be registered when requirements are met.

And that, apparently. It made sense that his Cooking skill would be able to help him track recipes, and Pinkie had said it was a classical, traditional dish. He wasn't quite sure about the "legendary" bit, but if it really could feed, oh say, a hundred ponies as hungry as Big Mac after a day at work on the Apple farm? It was a fitting title. Even apart from the special properties, his mouth was watering over the idea of taking a big slice of that home later...
"Hey, how long does something this big even take to cook?"

"Oh, I think it's like... Probably eight hours? Could be closer to ten."

"Woof. Good thing I'm going to be busy through the day then. I guess I'll come back and pick some up towards the end of the day?"

"Absolutely! If you make it in time, you'll even get the honor of cutting the first slice!"

"Sweeet. And hey, speaking of slice... This is totally one of those pizza ovens like they have in Canterlot, isn't it?"

Pinkie grinned as she stepped aside to give him a better view of the clay behemoth.
"Abso-dupely! Got it for a song off of a shop that was shutting down so they could move back home: Shame, he was a pretty nice pony, but this is a very nice oven, so it worked out!"

It was an extremely nice oven indeed: Old red clay, solid as a brick (in a very literal sense), stained in some places with soot and age. This thing had character, and given that he lived in a library surrounded with some seriously old books? Spike appreciated character.
"I like it! Maybe pizza next time, huh?"

"Oooh, or popovers!"

Well, if they were suggesting unusual food ideas...
"Ceviche?"

"You know most ponies don't like fish. I kinda do, though. Buuut I thought we were making oven plans! White bean chili?"

"That's not very oven-friendly either."

"Darn. Um, pecan blondie?"

That piqued his interest.
"Wiiith?"

"Honey sauce!"

Spike's mouth was watering, so he had to concede now or he'd end up with a second breakfast.
"Throw some ice cream on there and you've got yourself a date. Deal! You've got yourself a deal."

Pinkie fell back in a giggling fit at that, just barely avoiding the oven mere inches behind her. He helped her up despite the blush on his cheeks, both glad and a little annoyed that Gamer's Mind didn't seem to be keeping him from tripping over his words. When the laughter subsided she looked back at him with bright eyes and a faint wry smile.
"Aww Spike, I know what you meant. After all, well..."

"Hmm?"

Her smile just now was off, and it left a pang in his chest that he didn't quite understand.
"Nothing."

"I... OK. Hey, do you mind if I spend some more time with you before I get back to work? I wanted to look over some of the things that I got earlier."

Rather than a verbal reply, Pinkie stepped away from the oven and slid down to the ground, curling herself up in a corner and inviting him to sit nearby. He happily followed, leaning against her (shame there wasn't any furniture out here yet, it was nice and warm by the oven, or maybe that was mostly Pinkie) as he pulled up his Inventory and Skills. It made sense to check on all of this while he was still here with Pinkie, in case he wanted to get any advice on it all. Plus, this was a lot more comfortable than trying to check it all while on the move.
"Let's see here. I got four skills, some quests done, and an item from that quest reward. So..."

Omphaloskepsis Lv 1 EXP: 0.00%
Ever since they gained self-awareness, living things have sought to look inwards for answers to questions, within and without. The answer they found, through great effort, was themselves. To some this would seem self-evident, but so is this skill: The art of self-contemplative meditation.

Increases HP recovery per minute by your WIS while meditating.
Increases MP recovery per minute by your WIS while meditating.
Increases Stamina recovery per minute by your WIS while meditating.
Meditating acts to directly train your HP, MP, Stamina and 'Dragon's' skills.

This one made perfect sense: It was just like Twilight had taught him, explaining that meditation was the act of purifying and centering yourself in the world, and the world in yourself. Practicing it was the same as practicing magic or exercising, only deeper and more personal. She hadn't put it in game terms like this description did, but he was getting used to how his power behaved.

Dragon's Heart Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
As a dragon of Equestria, you are just as much magic as flesh. Your nature as a truly magical creature, even in a magical world, enables you to bridge gaps that others cannot. With age and experience, this skill will blur the lines between mundane and mystic even further.

Passively increases STR, DEX, VIT, INT, WIS and LUK by 10%
You may expend MP to further boost your STR, DEX, VIT and HP regeneration.
Precise benefits depend on MP spent.
Meditation can train your HP and Stamina in addition to MP.

This skill will grow with VIT and skill levels, gaining new features over time.

This skill wasn't surprising either. The research and hunting they'd done over the years to try and figure out just what kind of dragon he was had led them to lots and lots of individual dead ends, since even two dragons from the same family could be wildly different. This explanation made it even clearer to Spike, who had never quite grasped the reason before today... Dragons are magic itself, like a pony's Cutie Mark. And if that was the case, they were probably just as unique. Hay, even this Gamer ability might turn out to just be "his" nature as a dragon. He'd have to write that down at some point: It felt like a solid lead.

Dragon's Mind Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
The dragons of the Equestrian plane are primal forces, as old as the world itself. Some would even say they are older, predating all other things. Regardless of which is correct, the true age of a dragon lies not in time, but in the mind: Something unique and eternal, tied intrinsically to magic.

You can study and learn the magic of all species, in addition to your natural magic.
You can expend MP to perceive magic and attempt to learn the spells you see.
Meditation can train your 'Dragon's' skills in addition to MP.

This skill will grow with INT and skill levels, gaining new features over time.

Merged Skills: Eidetic Memory
You have true eidetic memory and cannot forget or be caused to forget anything.

Despite the incredible power of meditation, or the insane potential stat bonuses of the Dragon's Heart, it was probably this skill that had the most impact on Spike as he read it. Growing up for literally your whole life around Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle didn't leave you ignorant of how magic worked to say the least... And a lot of it was very complicated on a biological level. Unicorns used their horns to channel power into the world around them, Pegasi guided their magic into the air through limbs and wings, and Earth Ponies were solid loops of self-improving magic that could lash out into nature with a moment's notice, affecting plants and animals alike.

To be able to actually learn those processes, despite not having the body to match? To see them with his eyes, beyond just seeing the magical aura? That was... He couldn't even think of the words. 'Completely bonkers' was one option, as was 'So freaking cool', but they didn't quite have the gravity he needed. Speaking of gravity, he had managed to sink back a little into Pinkie Pie as he read, leaving him much more comfortable. It seemed like she didn't mind, so Spike stayed in that position as he flipped over to his inventory screen to see what that quest reward had been.

[Late Bloomer's Ticket]
Rank: Mythic Consumable
This special pass allows for those with a slow-growing power to surpass their boundaries one time, and one time only, creating a skill, item, or other mark on the world beyond their current potential.

It may only be used once, but the creation born from it is permanent.

Chapter 12: Masterwork

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 13: Correspond

The sun was still high in the sky as Spike found himself back on the main streets of Ponyville. A few hours had passed and he'd gotten a lot done in that time, but there was still plenty on his plate... At this rate today would be the busiest he'd been in months, and that was including a very hectic Winter Wrap Up. He'd gotten years of experience with checklists in that single week, that was for sure... Speaking of lists, it wouldn't be the worst idea to double-check his lists.

Chores

Sort new book shipment (boxes 1-4 in the foyer)
Serve overdue fines (see List F7)
Food
Lunch (Hayburg's Hayburgers or Sugar Cube Corner)
Dinner (wherever I didn't have lunch, I guess)
Snacks (for Me and Twilight)
Game
Look at Ponies (titles? levels?)
Free Time
Visit Rarity (<3)
Visit Cheerilee + CMC (before class lets out)
Visit Other Ponies (as needed)
Hit the Arcade, Look at RPGs (research!)

So out of 19 subquests, Spike had knocked out 9 in the first few hours of his day... mostly the smaller ones. He was nearly done with the "Game" section, which left him hopeful that he'd get a significant reward for doing that whole bundle. As for how to do it, that was another question: He was looking at every pony that passed already, so that one? He'd just have to accept on faith that it would complete eventually. The others he'd already figured out more or less. At this point it was more of a waiting game than something he needed to put more thought into, making it a far cry from his new handful of skills. And speaking of his skills...

There was a pattern to the 'Dragon's' skills, one he had suspected from the first and then all but confirmed with the newest ones. One keyed off of Dexterity, one from Vitality, one from Intelligence. If the pattern held then there were also skills for Strength, Wisdom, and Luck... Plus maybe one or two more overarching it all, come to think of it: A lot of games had bonuses for completing "sets" of items or skills. That would hold up so long as he didn’t get a pattern-breaking skill that wasn’t associated with a statistic or the overall set. At that point? All bets would be off.

So far he had the Claws, the Heart, and the Mind. If he thought about what "normal" dragons had that made them, well, dragons... Scales, definitely. And fire breath: He hadn't even used his today, so that could easily be a skill waiting to happen: It seemed like he only got skills upon using them enough, even if he had a lot of prior practice before this morning. Tail could be another option. Wings maybe, and a weak maybe at that: Even during the 'incident' with his growth spurts he didn't get wings... But he did have a hoard. That made thematic sense for Luck actually, especially if it affected item drops or bit-finding, things that wouldn’t normally exist in real life but fit perfectly to the game logic of his power.

So that would leave Strength and Wisdom... Wisdom made sense for fire breath if you squinted a little... At least for Spike specifically: His breath involved communication. And Strength could be wings, tail, scales, or something else entirely. Bones? He'd heard some chatter about dragon bones being powerful in terms of magic, but they were so rare as to make the conversation moot.

Also they were kind of inside him, which didn't help.

So was his heart though, so that didn't rule bones out as being the skill... But he wasn't exactly excited about what getting that skill would involve. All of those Strength options aside, there was a 0% chance that his breath wasn't going to yield a skill somehow, whether it was part of the cycle or just... Wait. What would it even do?

"Eh, only one way to find out, and I've been meaning to do this anyways."

Halfway between Sugar Cube Corner and his next destination for collecting fines (which was, according to his map, the house of D. Whooves and D. Hooves), Spike took a quick detour and planted himself beneath a sizable tree. Nestling into the shade, he silently withdrew a quill, ink, and some loose parchment from his Inventory and began to draw up a letter to Princess Celestia.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm going to skip the usual opening today, since this is kind of a special occasion. I've been experiencing some very strange phenom... things since this morning, and while Twilight was not able to give it any attention (apparently she had business in Canterlot?), it's pretty serious. I can tell you more about it later, but for now I had three questions:

- Can I send you a few random letters and objects from now on? I want to test how this 'thing' is messing with my fire, if it is at all.
- Have you ever seen or heard of a dragon developing a strange power when they got older? It's my pet theory as to 'why this' and 'why now'.
- Do the words 'The Gamer' mean anything to you?

Thank you again!

Ever your faithful subject,
Spike T. Dragon

He ended his half-joking signature with a little caricature of his face with its tongue stuck out, just for emphasis. As far as anypony who actually knew him was concerned, he was just Spike, and that was good enough for him. It was only when official documents and boring medical papers had to get filled out that they ever added anything else, and even then it was usually just "Dragon" as a last name. Having his middle name be "The" was a running joke between him, the Sparkle family, and Celestia after a royal announcer introduced him when he stumbled into the Day Court after a nap. It wasn't like most ponies even used family names like that, but there were expectations when you came from Canterlot or had a reputation: The Sparkles, the Belles, the Pies, the Apples, etc.

After puffing a wave of fire across the letter, Spike kicked back and settled in against the tree... quickly lamenting how it wasn't as comfortable as Pinkie. Still, it was nice to take a break while he waited on a reply. He could relax in the shade, feel the cool spring air, finish off that (fantastic) muffin... Belch up a little green fire and have Celestia's letter already? Yeah, that seemed reasonable. Well no it didn't, but it was what was actually happening. As he spit out the flaming scroll, he felt a thrill up his spine and heard the faint ding of success, but reading the reply was more important than checking the skill.

Dear Spike,

I will dispense with formality myself, although I do hope you are well. Your situation, if I grasp it well enough from what little I could infer, is indeed unique and strange. Twilight is coming soon, so I will speak to her then, but in the meantime here are your answers:

~ Yes, go ahead. I will arrange my reception magic so that everything you send me is set aside until I can view it properly, or dismiss and return it if it seems to be arbitrary practice material.
~ I have indeed noticed that some dragons, maybe even most, come into a unique power as they age. The common theory had been that they were passed down lineally by some rite or ritual, but if you are correct and it is biological, that alone would be a breakthrough.
~ Unless we are referring to my sister by way of her latest obsession-level hobby, I am afraid not.

I wish you the best of luck, Spike, although I must go now. Business awaits, and so I shall get busy.

Your (Princess-Mother-Egg guard-Friend-Confidant-Etc.),
Princess Celestia Invictus

"Yes!"
Spike was excited on a few different levels. Celestia had heard of dragons with weird powers, so that was a point in favor of his idea. She didn't know about The Gamer, which was a shame in one way, but at the same time it meant he was probably truly unique. And... back up. 'Twilight is coming soon', she said. That definitely implied that Twilight was going to Celestia's today, but Twilight herself hadn't said anything about it. Weird weird weird... Oh well, he could bring it up when she got home later. And now, with Celestia's permission, he could practice this.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through exuding the flames of dragon-kind, a skill to communicate your heritage, [Dragon's Breath], has been created!

Dragon's Breath Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
The breath from a dragon's maw is infused with their magical nature, and this manifests as flame. The color and power of the flame varies from dragon to dragon, but it is said that those who dare can learn to harness colors beyond their nature. Dragonfire of any color represents solutions spoken and answers enacted: It is the embodiment of wise decision-making.

Allows the user to breathe fire. Damage, range, spread, and duration vary based on MP spent.
Allows the user to expose themselves to certain conditions in order to learn new colors of flame.
Allows the user to breathe 'things that are not fire' based on their elemental affinities.

This skill will grow with WIS and skill levels, gaining new features over time.
Known Colors: Pure Orange Flame, Green Sending-Fire

Green Sending-Fire Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
The fire associated with the ancient elder Vorvadoss, lord and master of dimensional spaces. This flame "sends" away that which it burns, acting as everything from communication to transportation to an incredible defense. To those with an innate tie to the Green, their fire may even act as an exit portal for items sent by other kinds of magic.

Items burnt by your green fire may be sent to any destination within 100 yards.
Items burnt by your green fire may be sent to any registered target. (Current Max: 1)
Those who know the proper spells or abilities can attempt to send green fire to you in return.
You may access the MAIL subsystem to deliver, receive, and manage letters and packages.

Chapter 14: Navel-gazing

Of course, saying he could practice using his mail-sending breath "now" was a stretch. As exciting as these skills were he still had a full quest chain to mow through in the next nine-and-change hours. Next in that process was taking care of more fines... Thankfully the W/hooves family lived just down the road, which kept his route simple and clean.

Spike pulled himself up from the base of the tree with a quick "Hup!" and started jogging his way there. On the way, he passed a few notables as far as titles and levels were concerned: [Sister of the Flowers] seemed to apply equally to Lily, Roseluck, and Daisy, despite all three of them being below average level, while Davenport (who had no title despite a level in the teens, Spike’s first double-digit sighting since Twilight... Pinkie weirdness aside) seemed to be happily returning home with a newly-repaired bit of upholstery. Apart from them and a small cafe, the streets were quite calm for this time of day, making his trip easy going. And when he arrived at his target, an unassuming cottage despite the crazy things Spike had heard about the inside...

[The Nth Doctor]
Doctor Whooves
LV 19

[A Perfect Companion]
Derpy Hooves
LV 19

Well, there was... a big spike up from the average. Heh, spike.
"Good afternoon, D&D!"

Doctor Whooves looked up from the messy tangle of schematics on his patio table. Until Spike's arrival he had apparently been lost in thought, occasionally taking a bit of food or a drink proffered to him by his wife. His mane was just about as much of a mess as the plans, and Derpy seemed a little tired, although her ever-present smile hadn't faded an inch. If there was ever a scene to make Spike glad that Twilight was at least a little self-sufficient during a studying binge, this was it.

"Oh hello there young Spike, how nice to see you! Can I hope this is just a surprise house call as opposed to anything else?"

"Naw, you know me Doctor: It's business or nothing."

They laughed at his usual joke, politely, until Derpy nudged her husband with one hoof.
"Ah, right! I assume this is actually about, how to say, my late return?"

"Returns plural, actually. Twilight has you both down for one."

Derpy blinked a few times, eventually sighing in defeat as she remembered... whatever it was she had forgotten.
"I knew I kept meaning to wear those saddlebags to work for a reason. Sorry Mr. Spike: I'll go get the book."

Spike lifted his claws defensively, not wanting to cause any problems.
"Oh no, no apologies needed! Once we're all settled up you can still hold onto the books for the full checkout period starting from today. Standard Golden Oaks policy."

"No, that wasn't the problem. See, I finished the book the day after I took it out, but once I put it in my bags I sort of forgot about it. I just don't know... Well, you know."

The Doctor hoofed over his own book briefly, from underneath the pile of blueprints, before withdrawing it again a moment later.
"I might still need mine for reference purposes. Should I go get the bits, darling?"

"I've got mine covered, they'll be in my other bag. Just two shakes and I'll be right back out. Want me to rifle through your wallet to cover yours?"

"If you'd be ever-so-kind."

It was only a moment later that Derpy returned and hoofed over two small pouches. Spike dutifully took the money, threw it in his Inventory, wrote a note about the Doctor keeping his book for now, and then stowed that as well. It was only when he looked up to see two surprised ponies that he realized using his new power in such a blatant way might be problematic.
"Ah, heh..."

"Wonderful trick, young fellow! I must say I haven't seen any pony do something quite like that before. Well, outside of some rather risky experiments. How exactly did you manage it?"

"It's... related to my dragon fire, actually. The stuff I use to send letters to Celestia?"
Not technically false, especially now that he had the skill for his Breath set up.

"Fair play! Shame: I'd love to study it, but that's not terribly practical."

"Well hay, we can talk about it another time alright? For now I've got other fines on my plate, and you've apparently got an actual sandwich on yours."

Derpy shoved the plate further across the table into Doctor's field of vision.
"Brought it along with the bits. Custard and fish sticks!"

"Fantastic! I'll get right to that: Have yourself a good day!"

"You two too!"

There was probably a better way to phrase that, but he really did want to hurry, schedule aside, because next he was going to be visiting Rarity. Rarity... He'd matured over the last few years, and while he had grown out of some things (sleeping all day, object hoarding, a fair bit of general immaturity, etc.), his affection for the fashionista of Ponyville had never gone away. It had evolved here and there, picked up nuance, especially as he hit hallmarks of age (none of which included gaining much height), but it was running strong. It was just running tandem with other concerns.

These days his general sense of emotional attachment, to all sorts of ponies, often had to struggle against physical attraction for space in his thoughts. Growing up around ponies his whole life had shown him just how many of them were cute, beautiful, handsome, hot, or otherwise appealing. Other dragons, for contrast, just didn't factor into his mental images.

There was probably some word Twilight could dredge out of a developmental psychology book to describe how he felt, but the result of it all was that Spike’s (currently hypothetical)love life was just a little weird. Hopefully the Gamer's Mind would make it a bit easier to deal with? But that wasn't likely given how he had felt lying down with Pinkie earlier.

Maybe lust and love weren't "psychological effects" as far as his game engine was concerned... Wouldn't be surprising. Every hero needs a weakness, after all, and one of his weaknesses was currently hanging fabric outside her house as he absent-mindedly approached.

Rarity was just as stunning today as always: mane perfectly coiled, tail equally bright, humming a faint tune he couldn't place under her breath. A dozen individual clouds of magic floated from basket to line, from clothespin to line, from line to table... She was working at a capacity most unicorns would never even be able to dream of, and that was even more beautiful, in Spike's eyes.

"Eyes..."

Without really thinking, he whispered "Dragon's Mind" and knew how to use the active side of the skill. His "MP", as the game called it, began flowing through his body in a different pattern, coming together behind his eyeballs and quickening, drifting into the nerves and structures back there as if it were the most natural thing. It only took a split-second, but once it settled he could see Rarity's magic in an entirely new way. Streams of equations and tiny rune-laced circles danced in the air, the natural current of Equestria's magic being drawn into the pony's body with each breath, culminating in her horn before flowing out in patterns to enact change in the world.

Spike had seen diagrams of the invisible parts of magic before, had even seen Celestia and Twilight making simulacrums and illusions to demonstrate during lessons. Even the unicorn using a spell couldn’t see this aspect and didn't think of it: To them magic was instinct and memorized formula. Seeing the process with his own eyes was... pardon the obvious joke, but it was magical.

He couldn't understand the details at first, but as he watched? More concepts filtered into his head. This equation represented the application of physical force while this other string of symbols, repeated throughout, was Rarity's mental short-form for opening and clasping the clothespins... Whether it was Dragon's Mind, Gamer's Mind, or some interaction of the two? He was getting it.

Not a soul in Ponyville would have been surprised to see Spike stopping and staring at Rarity, that much was for sure. And he certainly didn’t care about being caught in the act. But today he quit watching after a mere few minutes: Not out of embarrassment, being caught, nor being interrupted.

No, he stopped because he physically could not continue. The spirit was willing but the MP bar was weak, and his paltry 50-odd mana just wasn't going to cut it in the long run, even for just watching. He deactivated the skill before he bottomed out completely, watching his Status screen with interest as it slowly began to bounce back.

Dragon’s Mind had levelled several times in the process of watching Rarity work, and since he was still a fair bit away from the Boutique he decided to rest and test his new meditation skill before actually greeting her. This would double as a good opportunity to figure out how to tell her about all of, well, this.

A mute recitation of "Omphaloskepsis" turned the skill on (despite the word looking like a tongue twister, it felt totally natural in his head, and he was certain he was 'saying' it correctly), although it wasn't that simple on another level. Sure, it seemed like his skills just worked when he said their names, but he felt the process taking place on top of that. It was just smoother, more certain, and definitely faster than when he had done it by accident at Pinkie’s place. And even that had been easier than when Twilight had drilled the concept into him as part of their lab safety procedures.

He wasn't surprised by the soft ping of a system message once he settled in. Reading it through his eyelids (a nice bonus of being a dragon) confirmed that he had entered what the game called a 'Meditative State', jacking his HP and MP regen up like mad and slowly granting experience to all of his Dragon's skills (not to mention the newly-born miniature experience meters attached to his HP and MP).

From a less direct perspective Spike felt the flow of Equestria's natural energy through his body, refining itself with each breath. It passed from lung to vessel to bone to meat, to scale and tooth and eye and brain. Even the parts where he was fairly sure oxygen didn't go directly from his blood (Twilight's tutelage aside his biology scores were kinda dismal) were flooded with greenish-purple light, rimed with silver.

Chapter 15: Hopeless

A scant five minutes later he sprung up from the bench, his newly-expanded health and mana pools shiny and full. Sure, some gamers would probably say his meditation "only" added his weak Wisdom to his regeneration levels... But when you recover one-half of a point of mana per minute naturally, +11 more is completely insane. He didn't turn the Dragon's Mind Eyes back on, especially because as soon as he opened his physical eyes he realized his spring up from the bench had a witness: He’d almost landed right on top of Rarity, who was staring at him curiously.
"Gah!"

"Oh, I'm quite sorry Spike! I had merely been wondering what you were doing on that bench alone on such a nice day: It had never crossed my mind to think you were using Innervision."

Spike took a moment to clear his head and look over Rarity again. She didn't seem any different from usual, same striking features, same crisp blue eyes, beautiful mane, flawless eyelashes... Although now it was all joined with a title and a level above her head, which made him appreciate her strength and beauty more than ever.

[Truly Outrageous]
Rarity
LV 25

"The whatnow?"

She scuffed a hoof across the dirt between them, very carefully sketching images into the surface without actually getting herself, well, dirty.
"The, ah, meditative practice? I suppose you might have learned it under a different name, or maybe even some variation on it knowing Twilight: I certainly didn't recognize your posture, but how could I? I'm not exactly bipedal myself, hehe."

Her little giggle brought a smile to his face effortlessly, and he finished dusting himself off and examined her drawing. It showed a pony curled into a sort of half-upright seated position while looking down their own barrel. There was an image of an eye floating detached, above their head.
"Oh! Yeah, sorry about that, I had just needed a little break after walking over here. The way Twilight taught me is called 'Omphaloskepsis' apparently... I think it's an older name?"

"Mmmh, that would make sense. But why did she teach it to you to begin with? I've only ever heard of ponies using it for magical exercise, and rarely at that."

"Decontamination checks, if you'd believe it! It's part of her whole lab safety setup."

Rarity tapped a hoof along her chin at that, eventually nodding.
"Well, if it is Twilight's idea of a safe procedure, I'm sure it's extremely well thought-out. But we're getting ahead of ourselves, Spikey-wikey! What brings you here today, so early to boot?"

"That... Can we head inside? Because it's going to be a looong story. Longest five hours of my life so far, anyways."

He could see the concern in her eyes, but only briefly: A moment after that she was already ushering him towards the Boutique, putting her concern for a friend before formality or questions. It was one of the things she might not have done when they first met, but if there was one thing Spike knew about his friends, it was that they were still growing up, just like he was. They had a head-start, but that didn't mean they weren't developing and learning and changing over time.

The doors of the Boutique clicked open, then shut, and then locked in three quick swipes of blue magic as Rarity dashed into her kitchen.
"Tea, darling?"

"Yes please! And if you have any gem dust that would be sweet. No cream, no honey."
Settling into the chair at Rarity's dining room table gave him one last chance to think this over. He hadn't managed to get through to Twilight earlier, with what little he knew and how short a time he had. Pinkie had understood everything from the first beat, being Pinkie. But with Rarity, he would not only need to explain what was happening, but actually prove it again as well.

The good news on that front was that he had a lot of options now. The Gamer's Body would be a bit drastic, but kinda cool. Carving up some super-hard gemstone for her would be helpful and beyond his usual abilities. Using his sending-fire to teleport objects across the Boutique instead of to Celestia would be a new thing too. And... Well, there was one absolute surefire way, but he wanted to save that one for when it would have the biggest impact.

Visit Rarity

He dismissed the window out of reflex, although it was good to know that the 'visit' requirements were going to be pretty mild, just in case his schedule started to pressure him. When Rarity came back out from the kitchen he took his tea gratefully, the first sip slow so he could savor the flavor. Ginger, lemon, a tiny dash of honey and a dusting of citrine... It brought back memories of his breakfast, and it even refreshed the movement speed buff. Spike had a feeling there'd be a payoff to that if he kept it up, so he silently moved the stack of citrines in his inventory closer to the top.

"So, take your time, but... Tell me what happened, if you can? I want to help."

Looking away from her, he took a deep breath.
"It's not a bad thing! I just, well... This morning I had a dream, and I was woken up by a strange blue light-"

It was nearly half an hour later when he finished describing everything that had happened, albeit in a shortened form. Rarity had stopped him twice, once to pour another round of tea and then again to supplement her cup with a quick slug of hard liquor.
"The Gamer."

"The one and only! I think. I hope."

"And you were out on the bench meditating in order to... to figure out a way to prove it?"

He shrugged a little sheepishly.
"I mean, it's not like I don't have any options. I just wanted to have a good one, one that made sense."

Rarity sighed as she stood, stepping across the table to give Spike a brief hug. She moved away shortly after, but the warmth lingered, much like it had when he rested with Pinkie earlier.
"Spike, you need to remember that I am your friend. I believe you simply because you are honestly telling me."

"Does that mean Twilight isn't my friend?"

"That's being deliberately obtuse and you know it, young dragon. She's just... very analytical, and was probably quite anxious to get to Canterlot. Mercy knows why, if it was an event so formal she needed clothes for it."

That brought him short.
"Wait, clothes? Did you help her prepare for the trip?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, she requested a few simple outfits, rather negligible but still quite beautiful, the other day. Didn't even take an afternoon of my time, given how little fabric I used."

"I guess that makes sense... Maybe it was some new book debut or a play or something? She's not coming back until late tonight, and she went by train rather than taking a chariot, or even using her magic."

"A mystery you can solve when she gets back. For now... Do you still want to prove your story to me, even if you don't need to? Because I think I may have something just right for the job."

He put a claw up to his chest in mock offense.
"Why, if I did not know better I'd assume you were going to use this as an excuse to get me to do manual labor!"

It had been meant as a joke, but Rarity's wince reminded him that when he was younger, she had done just that... He'd been more than willing to help, but she had still grown to dislike her former treatment of him as time passed.
"Spike, I had honestly not-"

"Nono, I misspoke. That was supposed to be a gag, a chuckle, a joke. I hadn't been thinking."

"Nor had I. Shall we consider ourselves even?"

"Even steven! Come to think of it, how has Steven been?"

Rarity paced near Spike's chair, expression brighter but still a bit downcast.
"Fluttershy says Mr. Magnet has been doing quite well. I naturally don't get to visit him often, but we do trade grooming tips by letter every few months. Seasonal haircare, and so forth."

"Gee, I wish I'd thought of that. I could probably get some good scale advice from him!"

"I am sure I could arrange for that! He is quite proud of his luster, and does so love to share his knowledge."

"Thanks again. For that, the tea, for trusting me, and whatever your plan is... Speaking of which..."

Her earlier discomfort seemed to have cleared now, or at the very least it was hidden behind a coy smile and a jocular tone.
"Alright dear, I confess my motive: I did have some rather... stubborn pieces in my collection that could use the touch of a dragon such as yourself. Just a shake while I fetch it down."

As Rarity trotted off into another room, Spike wondered how stubborn a gem could be. Or was it clothes? She hadn't said what collection, and the idea of being a model for Rarity's rejected and non-traditional outfits was... Actually not bad. If anything, he'd have some fun trying out clothes with her, as weird as that sounded. It would be a nice way to kill time in its own fashion (heh), even if her 'stubborn' items were embarrassing: It's not like he'd be wearing it in public. Plus, the apron Pinkie had loaned him earlier had been worth a decent stat bonus, and if he was going to live his life anything like the way he played his games? He'd wear anything for a stat bonus. Hay, he'd do it for as little as some alternate dialogue.

That train of thought became moot when Rarity entered levitating a case full of gems. There were dozens, maybe hundreds or more, in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The case itself was clear, probably made of glass or some kind of stone, split into various compartments. Some of the contents looked more like metal samples than anything, which was intriguing. Spike had never eaten much in the way of metal, but it was probably possible, right? Could be a good opportunity to find out, or at least to pick up some kind of 'Indigestion Resistance' skill.

"Well, here we have it: This is my Hopeless Case."

Chapter 16: Sorting

"Well, here we have it: This is my Hopeless Case."

"That pun is... wow. I'm stunned. Did Pinkie Pie replace you when I wasn't looking?"

Rarity scoffed as she popped open the case and began spreading its compartments (smaller individual boxes resting in the case, as it turns out) around the table.
"Quite droll, truly. But to be serious, this is where I keep the pieces that intrigue me, but simply aren't... workable. I was thinking that if your new eyes are as good as you say, you'd be able to tell me why, hmm? That 'Observe' function you mentioned should be able to reveal things that neither of us know, and that would be ample proof to me."

It wasn't a bad plan, and he'd never pass up a chance to improve a skill. Of course, proving and impressing weren't too far apart, so this might be a neat chance to just push himself.
"It's a pretty quick skill, and I can remember everything I see thanks to Dragon's Mind, so... Could you get other things for me to use it on? Just, really haul out anything: Clothes, decorations, food, whatever as long as they're individual objects. I even had a dumb plan I wanted to test if you're OK with it."

"Tit for tat, I suppose: What's the plan?"

Spike started firing off Observe as quickly as possible into the pile, but only for a moment. He stopped and looked towards Rarity again.
"Um, I don't have to keep this all organized like it is, right? I can shuffle it around based on what I see?"

"Of course! I only had it sorted by when I found each piece. The useful items get sorted more functionally, but that's after I separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak."

"Gotcha. With that covered..."
He returned to spamming his skill, taking only a moment after each text box popped up to confirm that he could remember the contents before clicking it shut.
"Um, the plan was to see if I could Observe a dress or something you made, and then have you... unmake it? Take it apart and make a new dress from all the same pieces. Then see if Observe actually considered it a different item. Because it doesn't get any experience from looking at the same thing over and over, but that made me wonder what 'the same' means in context."

Rarity's eyes lit up and she clapped her hooves together happily.
"That's a fantastic idea, darling! I've often wondered what it takes in the eyes of fashion for something to be considered new, and to have that experiment validated would be delightful. I'll fetch the materials right away while you continue, um, Observing, I suppose."

She didn't have to tell him twice. There may have been hundreds of pieces (Observing the pile as a whole said 247 plus thirteen dividers and the original case) taken individually, but he could get off several Observes a second if he was casting it subvocally. Reading each box took ten more seconds at most, and then he could clearly remember it without effort. Adjust piles based on what he learned, repeat. Twilight hadn't needed to teach him about minerals and the like, that came naturally. He studied it in his own time, in order to find out what was the most delicious or nutritious out of each type.

After half an hour of constant rapidfire skill usage, he was grateful that Observe had no MP cost, and the entire pile was sorted based on rudimentary categories. Across the room, Rarity was working on putting together a simple outfit for his experiment, while he just had his head in his claws at the table trying to sort things further. He could probably do it given time, but the sum of the patterns... was a mess. Some samples fit in as many as five or even six different categories: This was an orange¹ igneous¹¹ gemstone¹¹¹ with high cleavage¹¹¹¹ the size of a pony's hoof¹¹¹¹¹, for example. Dragon's Mind let him grasp the details even if he didn’t understand them, and also helped him remember what Observe told him. Despite that, the skill didn't make it easier for him to do the physical job of sorting... That would require raising INT or WIS, probably?

It would be a lot easier if he had some way to see the patterns, but without any stat buffs or a level up, that seemed unlikely. If only he could get a buff... Wait. Could he? He hadn't experimented with deliberate skill creation yet, but the messages that came up when he did get skills suggested it would be possible. 'A skill has been created through a special action', it said. Did that mean he could strive towards it on purpose? And what kind of action would even count as a buff anyways?

Exercise was more about long-term improvement, studying was the same. Mages in games usually just waved their horns around or used artifacts. Clerics did the same but with prayers to whatever higher power existed in the setting. Alchemists had potions, and Bards... Bards. Singing. He could sing, and pretty well if you asked him (nopony ever did). It was natural in Equestria to lose yourself in the flow of communal songs, especially when there was some event going on. Hearth's Warming Eve, Winter Wrap Up... Ponies just had a tendency to break into song at the drop of a hat. And the important thing was that it worked. Phrases like "whistle while you work" and "a song in your heart" were very literal things to pony culture, and the very concept of the magically-empowered Bards in games like O+O came from that.

Maybe if there was some deeper inherent truth to that magic, he could make it work for him. All he needed was to figure out the song and the method, and it was worth a shot. Even if it failed, he'd just embarrass himself, alone... Although Rarity would notice. And he'd hate to interrupt the song Rarity was... humming...
"Excuse me, Rarity? What's that tune?"

"Oh, I apologize! It's just a little ditty I slip into when I'm concentrating sometimes. Was it bothering you?"

He shook his head vigorously, although he was careful not to mess up the sorting he had done.
"No, more like the opposite! Could you start it again from the top? I want to see if I can follow."

"Certainly!"

Hmm hmm hmm, dadada da dum daaa... Spike listened carefully, paying less attention to the notes and pitch and more to the pattern. His whole problem right now was about patterns, and the tune that Rarity was humming had a strong one. It reminded him a bit of the internal thrum and buzz of power he saw when he was meditating earlier. A few passes in his head and he was putting together a shorter loop, something iconic. There was the core thread of eight and then the slow trailing ninth: A section where it rose strongly, plateaued, and then dropped again back to the start. It was like raising water out of a jar, taking a deep sip, and then lowering the dipper again... Or like the pattern of his breathing during Omphaloskepsis. It felt right. Which meant this was it: Either he had figured it out, or he would just abandon the idea for now.

He continued humming as he dropped down into meditation, letting the notes ride his breathing. This made it easier to feel the flow of MP inside of him, and by feeling it, he could handle it. It made it so he could try to direct it, letting the flow hook into his new musical pattern instead of going into the rest of his body like it normally would. The sensation was extremely strange, yet energizing... and difficult to grasp. It slipped from his control periodically, and sometimes those slips hurt,as if he was burning inside. Other times it felt right, as if his body was trying to tell him something. Eventually he let the pattern bleed out in those directions on purpose, flowing into his muscles and his head, gently looping back into his song pattern with a soft ding, then another.

No, that ding wasn't the MP, he realized. That was the sweet sound of success! Some eyelids flicked open while the others remained closed, practicing the skill even as he learned of its existence for the first time. He was so thrilled that he'd be jumping for joy if he wasn't occupied.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through the merger of Heartsong and mana control, a skill to bring forth blessings of song, [Cantus], has been created!

By using [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 1%

...One percent? That must be some truly far-off power. But now he had a vague idea of how to strive towards it, and a new trick up his... sleeve? He didn't actually have sleeves at the moment, but maybe Rarity could fix that. Worth considering, maybe even pick up a sewing skill. First things first, however... Skills, Cantus.

Cantus Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Special
The nature of Equestrian magic gives music a special position as the strengthener of all things. Every task made easier, every burden made lighter, every hurdle made shorter, and it is all done through cooperation and song. This skill allows the user to trigger this effect at will, first for themselves, and with practice, for others as well.

The user gains a bonus to MP recovery as if they were using their strongest meditation skill.
This MP may be redirected, based on their song, into bolstering different traits or attributes.
Can be used while taking other actions, so long as the user does not stop the song.
At higher levels this can apply to others, up to all allies within hearing range.
Mutually exclusive with using meditation skills or other Heartsong skills.

Current best meditation skill: Omphaloskepsis
Current song: "Art of the Dress" (+WIS, +INT, +DEX)

Chapter 17: Stagnation

"Art of the Dress huh? It's fitting. Hahhaha, fitting, dresses: Good one me!"

Rarity's head shot up and she stopped entirely, looking at him with a nervous expression.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Oh! My bad this time, I was just looking over... I got a new skill while I was trying to sort this pile out. It lets me make music to get bonuses, in short. I based it on that song you were humming, and I guess my power gave the song a title?"

Her expression got darker as he spoke, especially at the end.
"Nooo, I'm afraid not. It already had that title. It's not... It isn't just an idle ditty I hum. If you remember back before the Gala, the first one after you and Twilight came into town? I may have put the song together while working on everypony's dresses. It helped me concentrate through the stress... And that was the name I gave it, although nopony else has ever heard me sing it."

"Oh. Alright, um... Give me a second."
He hadn't closed the skill description, so he took the opportunity to tap the bolded song title. Normally descriptions didn't have that kind of texturing, so if it did, it probably meant... Bingo.

"Did it go something like this? Sorry if I botch it, I don't sing that often... Thread by thread, stitching it together! Twilight's dress, cutting out the pattern snip by-"

What had been a dark and nerve-wracked expression shifted into outright shock, and she staggered back and away from him.
"How!? I... No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be having this much of a problem with it after telling you I'd believe you, but I simply... This is a step beyond!"

The concern was evident on his face as he watched her dart away from her project, grabbing the teacup from earlier and the flask that had gone with it, taking the booze straight this time.
"I, uh, the skill had lyrics? In a little submenu. And sheet music, actually, which is kind of weird? It's not like you had instruments going when you sang it, right? I mean, other than the usual sort of thing when a song takes somepony. Which, it looks like the menu is calling those 'Heartsongs'."

Rarity fell back down into one of her chairs, eyes a bit glazed as she took a slow sip from the cup.
"Right. Well, I don't think I need you to finish with the Case. I've gotten the impression that I'm in a bit over my horn with this whole thing."

"Are you sure? I would feel pretty bad if I just shocked you and then... I dunno, I already feel kind of bad if it's making you feel this weird."

"No, Spike, that's not... I'm just worried and confused. I'm worried about what this might do to you, what it means for you, and I'm confused about where you...r power could be finding these things. Nopony, I promise you, nopony has heard that song before, certainly not the opening."

It made sense in a way. He'd been taking it mostly in stride so far, but this was the first time his power had shown him something really uniquely private, as opposed to just 'something he didn't know already'. There's no way that wouldn't freak somepony out, and he probably should have thought more before saying it... But Rarity's reaction was still pretty over the top, or so he felt.

"How about this: Let's sing it together. Or at least hum it. We can get back to work, I can try out the skill, and then we can just finish our work together. It'll be a way to relax and vent, right?"

Rarity took a breath and sighed.
"I do suppose it is a comforting piece, especially with the memories. And it's not like there's anything that could undo you knowing it... I'm sorry for the outburst."

He put a claw on her hoof with a smile, which got wider when she didn't withdraw. The contact was nice, again reminding him of Pinkie's closeness earlier when they had been working and talking together. This was something he could get used to for sure.
"No apologies necessary. So... let's get back to our stations, and then on three?"

She finished her drink with a nod and strode across the room to the incomplete clothes. Her expression narrowed and hardened, getting back into the working mindest. Spike raised his own claws as he looked down at the assorted bins, containers, and minerals on the table. He had done some things like this before, helping Twilight organize things back home in various collections, like the chemicals in the lab. It was going to be a lot harder now, obviously, but still: A familiar task.
"Shall we?"

Rarity picked up cut cloth and threaded needle in her magic.
"We shall. A-one and a-two and a-one two three..."

It took a moment for them to synch up but once they did, he could feel it. The music grew a bit heavier, a bit sweeter. There was a resonance building, and it flowed over them with each line. He didn't even have to look at the lyrics, since the natural magic of the song was sweeping it into and through his mind. A moment later he felt the buff take hold again, but stronger, stacking onto itself and rocketing his Dexterity, Intelligence and Wisdom up even higher than they'd already been.

A skill bonus has been activated! You are being [Accompanied].

[Accompanied]
Music is an embodiment of harmony and discord alike, all depending on how it is used.
By singing in harmony while using [Cantus], all users receive the full bonus from one another.

It was hard to describe the feeling of the changes in his head, the sensation of his mind gaining strength and clarity, his decision-making becoming tighter and more precise. The changes in his body, however, were far more evident. Muscles became more fluid, nerves began reacting more quickly. His motions were quicker and more practiced, his claws sharper and more refined (that probably had more to do with 'Dragon's Claws' than the buff itself), his breathing more regular. And his breath felt like there was something in it, not just the flow of mana but a kind of potential.

Without even questioning it, he breathed a line of green fire into one claw and began laying it out onto the table like a delicate thread. Lines began to form, and then circles, and then full Venn diagrams enclosing each category. A different flame this time, pale orange, tracing out the letters for each. He knew that the fire wouldn't burn the table or attempt to Send anything unless he let it. That much control would have been beyond him a few minutes ago, but with Rarity's help, it was like second nature. He wasn't sure how or why it worked, but by the time the song was over and Rarity approached with the completed clothing he had also finished his work, laying out her entire 'Hopeless Case' in an array of types and definitions, all connected by threads of unmoving fire.

He leaned back with a sigh, wondering why the fire was still so... well-behaved, even after the song and its benefits faded from them both. A quick glance above his work explained that.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through continuous manipulation of unstable elements, a skill to corral them, [Stagnet], has been created!

You have discovered your [Earth Affinity]!

You have discovered your [Fire Affinity]!

Rarity looked down at the flame-coated table and bit back a shriek. After realizing the fire was not spreading in any way, she managed to calm herself down in order to look over his notes.
"Glass, gems, ore, stones, metals... These pieces are magical, hmm? This one on the outside is supposedly impossible to work or break, which would explain the chisels I lost trying to shape it. High cleavage, low shear, flexible but highly impure... You really did figure out quite a lot here, Spike. This certainly surpassed my expectations."

He nodded, still a bit numb from falling out of the skill's embrace. He wasn't dumber, so to speak, it was just like... There was fog, or blinds, blocking the light he knew was there. The difference between potential and reality? When he fully snapped back to normal thinking, Rarity was holding the outfit up against him. It was a plain piece, not unlike the uniforms that you'd see at a sporting event. Very straight-forward shorts, a clean shirt with a repeating V pattern, a simple sunhat... It was nice in a bland sort of way, which made sense if Rarity was just going to remake it anyways.

"Shall we see if you meet my other expectations? I haven't measured you in a while, but I imagine your size won't have changed that drastically."

"Yeah, you're not wrong. It's kind of like I've been stuck ever since... Well, you know."

She winced, the clothes retreating in her telekinetic grasp.
"I'm sorry darling, if it's a sore spot I'll stop tea-"

"No, no! That's not what I meant."

Spike stood up in order to take the clothes, thinking about his size as he did. Sure, he was still about as large as when he had first moved to Ponyville: Definitely a bit slimmer, a little taller if you fudged it. The one time he'd ever gotten to grow up was when a hoarding (heh) incident had sent him careening through a dragon's full maturity (sort of) in one day, and back. And his body still hadn't grown in right, probably because of the unnatural way it had all happened. But that was in the past, so he waved Rarity's worries off with one claw and took the outfit with the other.

"It isn't that it bothered me. It's that not growing is just something I grew used to, heh... Anyways, I think I'll make some kind of breakthrough now that I've got this power. After all, we know I can grow because of that time. It's just down to figuring out how."

One of Rarity's hooves traced around the patterns of solid fire on the kitchen table as she spoke.
"Well it's not as though the mechanism would have changed."

Spike was struggling his head into the shirt, spines giving him grief for it, as he tried to parse that.
"What?"

"All I am saying is that we know what caused your growth the last time. Just because we undid it then doesn't mean it won't work again. Which does give me a sort of idea... Mmmh, later."

Spike finally got his assorted protrusions to cooperate when Rarity started collecting the empty pieces of her Case. He slipped the hat on and struck an (only slightly) ridiculous pose.
"How do I look?"

Rarity looked him up, down, and up again before smiling. A sudden flash went off nearby and when his vision cleared he could see a flashbulb camera floating in her magic.
"Quite fetching! Speaking of which, would you be a dear and help me clean up the table?"

"Oh, dang, sorry about that. I can get the fire taken care of pretty easily, I think."

She set the camera down with a thin frown on her face.
"You think? 'Think' may be good enough for some ponies, but it is my table on the line."

"Ah, heh... Lemme double-check the skill, juuust in case."

Stagnet Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 10% of original spell's cost
Starswirl the Bearded understood that spells are, by their nature, fleeting dynamic constructs. But like water becoming ice, he also knew that these flowing things could turn solid if given the proper encouragement. This skill allows the user to 'freeze' magic in a fixated form by infusing additional mana, so it can be released or utilized later using variations on the original command.

This skill stabilizes magical creations into temporary concrete forms.
Can be used together with skills that produce unstable phenomena.
The result is stable for the spell's original duration, longer in high-magic environments.

With further skill levels, fixated magic can be manipulated in new ways.
Current Commands: Stagnet, to Fixate. Vanesco, to Vanish.

Chapter 18: Expansion

"OK yeah, looks like the fire is gonna disappear when I release it. Just give me a second."

Rarity turned her camera on the table and got a cleanly squared shot of the tableau before he could dismiss all of the information. He could remember it all now, but it would probably be nice for her to have a reference... Plus, the assorted gems and metals were pretty beautiful like this, caught in the light of flickering flame from dozens of angles.

"Good, good. I will admit the light and heat is quite pleasant, but it's nerve-wracking when I see the tabletop 'smoldering'. Gives me flashbacks to the last time I let Sweetie Belle make breakfast."

"She can't possibly be that bad."

The look she shot him was withering.
"Remember those 'delicious' charcoal snacks I 'found' for you last fall?"

"Oh yeah, those were great! They had this great aftertaste of hay bacooooooh."

"Yes, quite."

Spike was thankful for the clothes, since it gave him a sleeve to pick awkwardly at during the lull in the conversation. The good thing was, maybe he could ask Sweetie for some food, given his own tastes in terms of burnt and ruined food... Or would she mess up at messing up and make him a totally normal plate? Either way, once he was done feeling sorry for Sweetie (and anypony she tried to feed), he still had to clean up after himself. The skill said it just had command words, and if it was anything like his menus then all it should take was to concentrate on the word...

One by one, the flames began to wink out, snuffed from full roar to total absence without so much as ash. He went methodically around, removing all of the lettering before pausing. Rarity noticed the pattern of circles he had left behind, nodded to him happily and took another picture. Next he cleared the dividing lines, until eventually only the actual contents of the Hopeless Case remained.
"There we go! I think that was pretty enlightening across the board, huh?"

"Certainly. Now, you may notice I already took away the case itself."

"Yeah, are you going to put this all away on your own time? Because I'd be glad to clean it up!"

"No, that wasn't my intention Spike. I'd like you to have these."

He choked on his response, looking at the table again. Sure, it had all been things Rarity rejected due to being unusable in fashion, but giving it to him? There were hundreds of pieces, and most of them probably had value for other purposes. And with the things he had Observed she could even reclaim most of them, finally make them work... And she was just going to give it all to him?
"I... really?"

"Really. I wrote these all off as losses long ago, and you have always been able to put gems to better use than I. A dazzling dress is beautiful and selling them can put food on my table. But it doesn't feed a pony the same way that it can for you."

Spike could have said something, maybe tried to argue in favor of her work and its value, but he was just too overwhelmed by the gesture. He nodded silently (afraid his voice would crack if he said anything) and took the pieces into his Inventory. It would have been faster to just sweep it in as one mass, but he wanted to take it one piece at a time, show proper gratitude to his friend for what she was doing. Coincidentally, doing it that way actually sorted them in his inventory as well, applying the 'tags' he had defined with his sorting to the description of each piece. Finally, he swept the last piece in, the one that had been outside all of the other circles.

He hadn't been able to identify it properly, this stone. Metal? Gem? He couldn't tell, and that was probably a big part of why Rarity had never worked on it. He could tell it was hard, maybe indestructible even. At first he had just categorized it with the other incredibly-tough samples. But Observe, even with its levels in the 20s, couldn't tell him anything about it, other than what he could see with mundane vision: It was grey leaning green and slightly translucent, metallic yet gemlike at the same time, with a weird clarity for something so cloudy. It was full of contradictions, and that was intriguing him more than it was worrying him.

"Rarity... Thank you. Sincerely, this is so... I don't really have words."

"Think nothing of it, Spike. I daresay this might be the real purpose of me keeping this little collection, even if I only realized it just now."

He took another look at the strange final piece, rolling it between his claws. Observe failed again, producing only a vague blurry nameplate with no textbox. It wasn't the same as it failing normally... Not that it had ever failed before, but he had a feeling this wouldn't be the way that looked: That would probably look more like his earlier attempt to use the Languages menu, just a bespoke error message pop-up. He decided that would have to wait for later as he slipped the gem up into his Inventory: Maybe he could study it back at the library, or even in Twilight's lab. The stone entered the strange pocket-space effortlessly...

After which, there was nothing but darkness and pain.

A leaden heavy booming THUD as loud as Canterlot's tower bells crushed up and around him, waves of pressure coursing through his body, then another, and a third. There was a sense of floating suspended by razors, his own weight pressing against the sharp edges harder and further with each passing instant. The pressure grew and evolved into something different, worse. Creaking-slithering-shaking-cracking as his forehead hit the floor, claws failing to find purchase even on the Boutique's carpet. He was probably crying.

He heard-and-felt the sounds of something being shredded and torn almost explosively, it crackled in his ears above the dull pulse of his blood. He couldn't see, the only things he could hear were those around and inside him, and his entire body ached worse than he could ever remember. It felt for all the world like his bones were molten, flowing in his body like a liquid. There was a moment of extreme biological uncertainty...

...Then it passed, and he was left uncertainly stable.

Panicking and with no real idea what had just happened, Spike looked around and saw that Rarity was safe. Relieved of that fear, he croaked out the word 'Status' and looked at the screen. His HP was missing a giant chunk... No, wait; the smaller number was the same. The bar was just a lot bigger than it had been a minute ago, some six hundred HP refilling at a steady clip. Yet his stats hadn't changed, so how...

"W-what..."

The sound of his own voice was louder and deeper than he expected. As his vision cleared, a few things were apparent. Four things all told, each more concerning than the last. One, Rarity's expression was pleased rather than horrified. Two, his new outfit lay in tatters at his feet. Three, his feet were a lot further away. Finally, there was a line of text floating between his eyes and said feet.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through the continuous accumulation of priceless treasure, a skill to expand your heritage, [Dragon's Hoard], has been created!

Chapter 19: Correction

"Oh good, it worked!"

There would be a time for parsing that eventually. That time was not now. At this point Spike was just scrambling to clear his head and find a mirror, ideally in that order. It seemed like no matter how harsh the sudden changes had been, Gamer's Body was dulling (removing?) the pain faster than could ever be natural... Which was nice. Less nice was the fact that most of the mirrors in the Boutique currently seemed too short for him to use. He was looking over their tops... it felt weird. Helplessly unsure of what to do, he stood very still to avoid damaging anything.
"A, uh, a little help please?"

"Certainly!"
Rarity tilted one of the tall dressing mirrors to face him, quickly pulling two more to the sides to give him a roundabout view of his new situation. He stood so tall that he quickly dropped to all fours out of some kind of vertiginous instinct. He was soon shocked to realize that even in that pony-like pose, he basically struck Celestia's own figure. He was massive, towering over Rarity like a full-grown stallion over a filly, or an alicorn over their subjects... Standing on his hind limbs like usual would easily put him at six feet if not seven at the head, not to say anything of his spikes and spines, or his tail (which twitched and roiled behind him impatiently), or...

His train of thought was cut off by the sensation of a light shiver at his side, like an insect or some other random brush against his scales. He quickly swatted it away with one claw, leaving Rarity to pout at the shredded length of measuring tape floating in her magic. He gaped and stumbled to apologize, but she just shook her head, tossing the tape unceremoniously into a basket of cut ends nearby.
"Nono, that's quite alright: I used a cheap one on purpose, darling."

He nodded without thinking, and then paused. Thought back over the last few minutes...
"Speaking of on purpose... You said 'it worked' when this... this-ed. Please tell me you didn't."

"Well, it would be very misleading to say I had no idea going into it. And just look at the results!"

She did. She'd just... done this. Again. On purpose. Deep breaths. Just... explain things. His head was awash with a lot of different feelings right now, but at the core of it there was a kind of annoyed heat he wasn't used to. He tried to push that to the back of his mind as Rarity looked on, but even still, his voice dripped with unfamiliar venom.
"Yeah, look at them. I mean, hay, I'm as big as Celestia right now!"

"I daresay you are, although I don't have her measurements on hoof..."

"Yup, just like her! And hay, She only knows how easy it is to use doors made for regular ponies."

"Ah, I-"

"Not to mention sitting down, using tables, basically every piece of furniture come to think of it... Oh, beds! You know, I have a bed. Had a bed, past tense, considering what would happen if I tried to take a nap in it right now!"

"Admittedly that could-"

"And of course I blew that outfit into tatters, so that was a nice waste of time for both of us. Sure, you did it for me as a favor and I'm grateful, but you could have warned me if you thought this might happen."

"Yes, I-"

"Speaking of warnings, did you stop and think that this might be permanent? I can't turn passive skills off! It's possible you just got me stuck like this forever."

That left her grasping for a reply, and him out of steam. He wasn't... he didn't feel any differently about her after that explosion, and he wasn't so angry as to try and make this into an extended argument. It just felt like he had to let off some pressure, because Gamer's Mind or not? This was unsettling. He was too big, unable to adjust to the space around him, and it was already coming across in his attitude and actions. Ever since he saw his reflection he'd been staying very still, doing his absolute best not to break more things than he already had. Between the outfit and the measuring tape he had caused more damage in three minutes than he had all day before this.

He just felt... off. Even though he should be a lot angrier at the idea of being permanently stuck as a monster among ponies (moreso than before), he mostly said it... Simply because it was true, without any serious anger or investment behind it. Was it because he didn't think that permanence was likely? Or did it come down to the Gamer's Mind stilling his reactions? Either way, he had to know...

Dragon's Hoard Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
One of the greatest weaknesses and strengths of the draconic race is their growth. Tied not to biology but instead to their dominion, their ownership, their hoard... They can grow nearly without limit, but they do not grow at all without acquiring new things, and to lose their holdings is to lose, in a very serious way, a part of themselves.

The user's size category and physical maturity are based on the size of their Hoard.
The user may selectively change the composition of their Hoard from a suite of options.
The user may selectively ignore some of their Hoard in order to take on a more manageable form.
At low skill levels, adjusting size is slow and can lead to pain, loss of health, and status effects.

This skill will grow with LUK and skill levels, gaining new features over time.

Current Hoard: Precious Stones and Metals
Current Control: Within 10% of maximum value (6'3"-5'8" claw to crown, for current hoard)

Rarity's hoof scuffed across the carpet as she spoke, refusing to make eye contact.
"Spike... I admit that I may have been rash, even deceptive, in how I behaved. I hadn't thought about the consequences and for that, I certainly apologize. I suppose it was just... an appealing idea, to help you make progress! Twilight has mentioned to me that you seemed, especially in this last year... dissatisfied with your, ah, growth."

He winced, thinking back to all the times he had complained about his height or his perceived maturity. Owlowiscious had to handle all of the high shelves unless he felt like breaking out the ladder, Twilight's levitation often made even that moot, he couldn't haul back most of the gems he helped Rarity find... There had been plenty of signs that he wanted to be bigger and better, he'd said as much more than once. 'If only I weren't so small!' or 'When am I going to get to grow up?' and such. One time he’d even been talking with Shining after a long night of gaming, and asked 'Why isn't my body catching up to my brain?'

"I'm... I'm sorry too. I snapped at you pretty hard, and while this might be an inconvenience for a while, it turns out I can control it... At least, I can control it enough. I got angry without making sure the anger was really justified. So I guess we're even?"

She looked back to him with a weak smile.
"Completely, dear."

"Alright. Good. Good! Now I can just figure this new skill out, and see how close I can get back to my original size. Then I can work upwards from there and hit somewhere comfortable... Think of this as an opportunity."

Flipping open his Status revealed that he had a new section up with his HP and MP, describing his size and age as well as their impact on his stats. Apparently the 'rules' treated it as an intrinsic enhancement, separate from his base stats and from any other buffs. Being this large was granting significant bonuses to his strength, vitality, and health... at the cost of movement speed, manual dexterity, and reaction time. It made sense: After all, right now he was pushing past eight feet from tail to tip, and standing like he usually did put him over six feet. Getting back down to his original size of three-and-a-bit would require figuring out this new menu...

Which should be pretty easy, a realization that came with a simultaneous sigh of relief. He had been worried about all the games with weird methods of adjusting inventories and categories, thinking about games like Bandit and Gridslash with their arcane keyboard controls the size of an entire cabinet's front shelf... But his option here was just a clean drop-down list, fitting the ultra-modern aesthetic of all of his other menus. It even listed his potential height range next to each option, an extra layer of convenience. Right now, getting back to where he wanted to be would take...

His claw hovered over one option in particular. It was more than his original height even at the lowest end of the range, but he did want to express some growth now that he had the chance. More importantly it was a good kind of hoard. It was one that he didn't adjust too often, one that had nothing to do with greed. If anything, it was the very opposite! Without debate he clicked the option and gritted his teeth against the (lesser, but still significant) heated pain of shrinking and warping back down into a smaller form. Adjusting was going to be difficult and he'd have to explain his growth spurt to others, but this was... good.

Current Hoard: Friends and Loved Ones (4'2"-3'9" claw to crown)

He could have been annoyed at the power valuing his friends so much lower than a pile of rocks, but the truth was? It felt more like his friends were coming through for him when he really needed it. None of his other options came close to hitting the right height range, and with a little training he could get the skill to put him back the way he was using this hoard... If he wanted to. Sure, he'd yelled about the inconveniences of height with Rarity, but that was talking about absurd measurements, when he was as tall as a Princess. Right now he was just... a bit taller, and a bit slimmer. If somepony didn't know any better it would just look like he was taking up a new posture, or that he'd had a growth spurt since the last time they met... Which wasn't wrong. No, he could get used to this.

Chapter 20: Arcadia

To make his situation that extra bit nicer, right now he had a very novel view from where he stood. That is to say he was looking Rarity straight in the eyes. He’d never been able to look an adult pony straight-on like this without him craning his neck or them stooping down. It made it easier to see the details of her features: The subtle lines of makeup, the way her mane framed everything... It was exciting in an all-new way, this unfamiliar angle. This would put him at a proper face-to-face conversation height with just about everypony in town, save for lanky stallions like Mr. Cake, anomalies like Big Mac, and foals like...

"The Crusaders!"

Rarity blinked owlishly, trying to trace back and figure out what he was talking about.
"I'm sorry?"

"I got so caught up in all of this that I forgot I'm still on a deadline. I've gotta get lunch before the school day is over. And I've still gotta hit the arcade, there's fines to collect between here and the schoolhouse, and-"

Rarity put a hoof up to him, pushing his jaw shut.
"Spike, calm down! Just take a moment and relax. It's not so late that you're going to have any problems. Now, go over that again, please?"

It was instinctive to follow her advice and take a deep breath, and it did help.
"OK... I had sketched up this order for my quests, to try and do them... efficiently, I guess? I was going to leave here, get lunch, research different kinds of games at the arcade, collect some fines for the library... Then if I’m ahead of schedule, kill time until school let out so I could talk to Cheerilee and the Crusaders. And I'm worried that I already killed too much time to do all of that."

"Hmm... Normally I would agree with you. However, have you been to the arcade since they closed down for the winter?"

"No, I haven't been out that way since they did that Nightmare Night party last year. Why?"

She shot him a brilliant smile before whirling around to grab a saddlebag and a sun hat.
"I do believe you can solve several of your problems in one go. Shall we?"

Spike's attempts to thank her were cut off by the sudden appearance of another measuring tape in his face, just like the one from earlier.
"Although before we head out, I really should take down your new measurements-"

He rattled the numbers off from memory (thanks to some self-applied Observe), leaving Rarity dumbstruck and a bit annoyed.
"Hmph. You are no fun!"

Everypony knew how much she liked tying ponies up in all of that tape and all of the other things related to making clothes, but that didn't stop him from being on a deadline. He grinned helplessly as he swung the front door open and gestured out into the sunny road.
"I do what I can."

Leaving Carousel Boutique sent them back up and into the hustle and bustle of a Ponyville afternoon. Spike rarely came out onto this side of town when he wasn't visiting Rarity, so a lot of things here were unfamiliar sights. Add in his long and extremely busy winter, and he basically hadn't been out this way in months. Already he saw new homes, businesses, a little apartment set, a few places under construction... The small town he and Twilight had merely 'visited' on the Summer Sun Celebration all those years ago was always changing and growing. All of that change and growth were a big part of why Spike felt so much better here than in Canterlot.

Sure the capital of Equestria was tens of times bigger, brighter, and more glamorous. Yes, more ponies could find it on a map. And yeah, it had more... more, just generally moreof everything. But for all of those perks it was a stagnant place, despite seeming crisp and clean and refined. Canterlot was like pure white sugar, stripped of everything excess. The problem was that those changes, irregularities and impurities had their own flavor and value: They gave things a different texture. Ponyville (by comparison) was more like blackstrap molasses, full of body and flavor, a riot of ever-changing smells and sights. It was a village town growing upwards and outwards with the kind of potential that is unique to small things. Yes it lacked in some of the finer aspects, and it would never have Canterlot's wealth... But it had character.

Of course if Pinkie were here she'd be chastising him for not counterpointing all of the benefits of using refined white sugar in baking and lighter dishes and food that needs to have a very particular appearance, but he was trying to have an internal monologue here and that wasn't helping! Or was it? Imagined interruptions probably still counted as being 'mono'...

Spike shook his head, getting his thoughts back on track as they passed more unfamiliar places. His analogy was proven true now that he focused on taking in the scents as much as the sights. A faint whiff of jasmine near a seasonal flower stall, a musky scent near an unmarked black door, the crisp oily crackle of hay bacon and hash at a roadside diner. He could hear ponies murmur and talk and shout, conversations private and public as they moved their way across Ponyville.

In the distance he saw a huge building around where the arcade's fence would normally be, give or take. Kept going for quite some way, actually... Far past where the open-air arcade he remembered used to be. It had been months since he was last here. And the owner was a pony from the Roama, so it would make sense if he packed up and left to be with his family in the spring... Paranoia crept up on Spike, and he slowly turned to look at Rarity for confirmation.

"Rarity, the arcade... is still around, right? This isn't some cruel joke where it turns out that Mr. Gillie shut it down and moved away, right?"

"Aheh, well, not... Not exactly!"

Spike felt awful for having had the idea, worse for having voiced it, and downright terrible when he heard that.
"Rarity!"

"No, no! Spike, I should be more clear. He is moving away, but the arcade is still... Look, it will take some explaining. Do you want to keep going, or should we talk about this first? I know you had gotten to be good friends with the staff there, and I probably phrased that quite poorly."

He sighed and took a moment to lean on a nearby bench, taking a breath to clear his head.
"OK, yeah, I just... I know I was really focused on helping Twilight this winter. And she needed the help! But if it turned out that I let a friend down because I was too preoccupied with work? I'd feel pretty bad about that."

"Well there's no need to feel bad before you even know what's going on, hmm?"

He knew she was right, on an intellectual level, but some snark still came to mind.
"Rarity, are you lecturing me about overreacting?"

"...Touché. I do suppose that a little panic attack isn't the... worst possible thing."

They shared a laugh, and Spike pulled away from the bench so they could keep walking. The building in the distance, the more he looked at it, definitely did cover the entirety of the arcade's old territory.
"So let me guess based on what I'm seeing. He... got a building set up so he can stay open more, even in winter or when there's bad weather scheduled?"

"Very close! He cut a deal with a new owner, and they put the building up. His family's coming back into Ponyville soon and he decided to spend more time with them. Apparently they're making some headway out in the frontier, near Appleoosa? Regardless, he has sold the arcade, although I’ve been told he's staying on the books as a 'consultant' since the new owner isn't too well-versed in game engines and cabinets."

That made much more sense than his fears. Plus, if Gillie Horse had decided to leave the arcade in the grasp of a new owner while he was gone? The new owner was a good pony, period. Spike had always been impressed by Gillie’s size and strength despite his age, like an elder Big Macintosh in a way... Complete with the soft-spoken voice, used minimally. He was a fierce judge of character, able to pick apart anypony who came in to mess with his games or customers in an instant. The only thing Spike didn't quite get about Rarity's explanation was that last bit.

"So if they aren't big into arcade stuff... why buy an arcade?"

Rarity just smiled at that and picked up the pace, forcing Spike to run to keep up. He supposed that was her way of saying 'follow me, and you'll find out'. They rushed past many different tents and smaller buildings, close as they were to the outskirts of town again. A strong smell of cloves, ginger, and cinnamon near a little tea house... Sparks of light and a very faint pressure in the air as they passed a unicorn-for-hire's small shop... A handful of ponies he didn't properly recognize were milling about with apple fritters and referencing maps, probably tourists... And then the massive building where there was once an open field full of tarps and arcade cabinets.

The new structure stood almost loomingly large from his perspective, done up in blues and blacks and faint dots of white scattered across it all. It looked like a piece of the night sky had fallen down and perched in the field, if he was being hyperbolic. More honestly put? Sure, it was still a new paint job and a new building, but...

It felt nice in the way things do when somepony puts effort into making their craft fit with their tastes. More impressive by far than the aesthetics (at least where Spike was concerned) was the sign hanging over the double-doors. It was a subtle and dimly-lit glass or crystal, something he had not seen done before... But what impressed him far more than the technical aspect was the actual words.

ARCANE AMMO'S ALL-DAY ARCADE

Chapter 21: Arcana

ARCANE AMMO'S ALL-DAY ARCADE

His brain could parse the words. He knew them. He was just having a hard time believing it.
"All day?"

Rarity nodded as she stepped forward, holding one door open in her magic's grasp.
"Indeed! Morning and night, barring holidays I do believe. The new owner is... well, you'll see."

Spike walked in at a slow and solemn pace, almost joking but not quite. He had really loved the old space as plain as it was. In truth? It had been little more than a field with six or seven cabinets and a food cart on busy days, a few trees and umbrellas for shade on the older machines. It had been cozy in a way open spaces usually weren't. Given all that, being here... Somewhere new that was built on that base? It felt right that he should enter like this, eyes wide and head clear.

Putting his remembrance aside, he had to stop and gawk once he got past the entrance. The carpet beneath his claws was dense and riotously colored, the wall to his left stark black, then to his right were... Dozens. Maybe a hundred, even? Arcade cabinets, game machines, engines, exposed engines even, in sizes and shapes he had never seen before. There were tables for not-so-video games he recognized (pool and poker and that one with the little rubber hoofball players on rods), there were tables for sitting and relaxing and eating, there was so much space...

Really, 'space' was the operative word. Just like the outside the interior was decorated in cool dim shades that resembled the night sky. Outside the sun beat down, and yet inside there was no hint of day. Instead there was a pale and pleasant artificial glow, all coming from saucer-shaped lamps and wall-mounted crystal rods.

And that light shone on ponies. A lot of ponies. Even before he saw any of the high outliers in terms of Level, he knew not all of them were from Ponyville. Whether it was the dialects, the clothes, the way they carried themselves... Or the fact that there were too many wings, many leathered rather than feathered.

"w-what?"

Rarity hummed happily as she stepped ahead of him, gesturing out into the crowd.
"For a... variety of reasons, it seems this has become a popular spot for both Luna's Night Guard and the weather-ponies coming to and from Cloudsdale. They used to call Ponyville flyover country in a dismissive way, you know! But now that they have a spot in the middle of their paths to stop for food and drinks, coffee and a break at any time? Their tone has certainly changed. I daresay I've considered opening the Boutique on some sleepless nights just to take advantage of the traffic!"

Spike took a deep breath and just... soaked it in for a minute. Noises, lights, the scent of cooking food and the feeling of the carpet. Brick walls, open vaulted ceiling, no windows. Ponies of every breed and age. He had never, not once in his life, been in any building quite like this one. Even the exhibition arcades in Canterlot didn't have this kind of complex density. But it felt right in a way he couldn't put a claw on, like this was what an arcade should be. He suppressed a small shiver at the scope of it all and then stood straight, turning to Rarity with a smile.

"Alright, since you're so familiar with the place: Gimme the grand tour?"

"Oh nonono, that simply won't do. After all, there's somepony far more qualified than I! One mo, please."

She trotted forward quickly, tail whipping happily as she rounded the corner off into an area that Spike couldn't see from where he stood. He took the opportunity to step down into the lower floor (only a step down from the entrance, but enough of a difference to make headroom for the taller cabinets) and start looking at the place. It's not like he'd be hard to pick out of a crowd, and he'd stick close to the entrance... It was all just so new. Mmmh, not all of it: He recognized the original arcade's cabinets from where he stood. Gillie had probably kept thirty-odd engines in storage even though he only owned ten cabinets, but now it looked like they were all on the floor and then some.

There was Power Ponies: Mares in Space, the one with the power-levelling. There was Martial Mares and Bandit and the latest JewelSmith. There was Haven (with multiplayer!), Treasure Tomb, Sun Seekers and Moondust Wanderer... Spike just marveled at it all for a bit until he heard the distinct quadruple-beat of two ponies approaching: Rarity must have found that guide she was talking about: Maybe an employee, or one of Rainbow's friends from the weather team? He turned to look over his shoulder and... Well, he doubled down on how much he had been staring at things lately.

It was just one shock after another. That was a fitting phrase, really: The mare had a shock of dusty yellow mane over shockingly bright orange eyes, all in the frame of a shockingly fit unicorn mare... Which was made more shocking because she had the grey coat, tufted ears, and bat-like seeming of a Night Guard. Rather than the leathered wings of a normal pegasus affected by Luna's glamour? This mare had a tracery of black thorns running from the tip of her horn down onto her shoulders like a tattooed mantle. Topping off the entire situation was one last, slightly more literal shock: Lightning bolts on her flank, her Cutie Mark showing six of them arranged in a hex pattern.

No, wait. That wasn't quite right.

Really topping it off and really shocking? That was above her, and only Spike could see it:

[A Shot In The Dark]
Arcane Ammunition
LV 39

Thirty. Freaking. Nine. That's nearly forty. Twilight was level twenty-seven. This was somepony who was absolutely not to be trifled with, and he felt nervous just flicking his eyes between her title and her calm smile once. Looking suspicious seemed like a very bad idea right about now. So instead he popped a big bright smile and looked to Rarity as if begging an introduction (easy enough, since he was). She hesitated, reasonably so: He had told her about the whole shebang of The Gamer, including the names and titles. But when he continued to smile, a bit more strained, she relented.

"Ah, Spike... Well, this is Spike-"

The older mare interrupted her with a light cough.
"I do recognize him, although it's only from reports. Pleased to meet you, Mr. The Dragon."

His mood lightened when he realized that level or not, she might be a pony willing to crack a joke.
"Please: Just 'The', or Spike should you prefer."

She dropped into a short and graceful bow, her eyes glinting with a repressed smile.
"An honor! Well met, Spike."

"And you as well, Ms..."

Rarity coughed, apparently at least a little embarrassed about the situation.
"Mrs., as it were. Mrs. Arcane Ammunition, although she prefers to be addressed by 'Ammo'."

Spike continued lightening the mood, breaking into an oversized toothy grin.
"Well then, that seems like an introduction if I've ever heard one!"

"And a long mile better than the ones we get at court, eh?"

Rarity seemed even more scandalized at that, yet Spike himself couldn't help but laugh.
"Trumpeter. Reader. Other trumpeter. And it's so much worse when there's some big shindig."

"If you think it's bad, try writing up the requisition forms for all those extra ponies."

"If you think that's bad, try belching up all those forms!"

Ammo put a mock-offended hoof up to the fluff of her chest.
"So you're the mysterious beast that's always eating paperwork right before it's due!"

"Does that make you the second half of 'Praise the Sun and pass the ammunition?'"

He was 100% sure that Rarity was going to yell at him for that gag, but he couldn't stop himself: The sense of relief from realizing that this over-levelled monster was a nice pony (visual indications aside) had him giddy. It helped when Ammo herself burst out laughing and fell back against a nearby cabinet to wipe at one teary eye. She raised a hoof and Rarity (begrudgingly) helped her up.
"You've got good friends, Rari. I'm so glad we decided to move out here: This is such a great town."

Spike was putting two and two together in his head, although it was honestly nearly as easy as actually getting 4 from 2+2: Rarity knew about the arcade before him. New owner from out of town who doesn't know a ton about video games. The new arcade is open overnight, all day. The structure blocks the sun completely. And now this pony, who speaks to Rarity casually and is apparently either a Night Guard or something very much like it.

"So you're Rarity's..."

"Aunt! Auntie Ammo, isn't that right Rara?"

"Rrrghhhyes to my eternal chagrin, Mrs. Ammo is my father's sister."

"Your father's named after my grandfather, you know! Good ol' Magnum Ammo."

"Since you remind me at nearly every family gathering: yes I do know."

Spike looked askance at Rarity.
"'Auntie Ammo', huh?. Which makes you..."

"Rarity Belle, thank you. I like to hope that I inherited the more gentle side of the family line."

"Pfft, sure. Keep tellin' yourself that Rares. But back on topic... Spike! The Dragon of Canterlot Mountain himself, aide to Twilight Sparkle. What brings you to my establishment today?"

Author's Note

Well, as mentioned earlier, I figured people might appreciate a chance to ask some questions about the background, history, and details of the fic! So now with 20 chapters behind us, here's a chance to ask! Submit your questions at the link, and an answering blog post will go up within the next week or so.

Chapter 22: Marker

“What brings you to my establishment today?"

He replied with his best shrug, gesturing to the cabinets. After all the time he had spent talking and thinking about 'The' Gamer today, it took concentrated effort to call himself 'a' gamer, lowercase.
"I'm... a gamer. Big one, actually. It's taken over comics as my #1 hobby, and cooking too. Which is not to say I let those slide! And I was a regular at the... The old arcade, I guess."

"Aaaah, say no more. And before we get off on a bad hoof, it's not 'old' to me: Gillie'd tan my hide if I didn't make sure this place carried on in his style, ya know? He'll be dropping back in every so often to help us get a grip on things... Maybe you could do the same, if you're so big into it?"

The excitement bubbling up at the idea broke through his cool facade.
"That would rock! I'd totally love to. I've already got all sorts of questions and-"

Ammo put up a hoof.
"Calm, slow, relax. We can talk shop after the tour, and maybe on another day to boot: You've got a friend with ya and I'd hate to bore her with technical talk, right? Doubly so because it would ding my Hearthswarming gift if I get her mad."

Rarity's cheeks puffed a bit in faux-anger.
"I resent the accusation that I would ever scrimp on a gift simply because I was feeling cross with somepony!"

"Alright, fair enough: Not simply because you were mad. Better?"

The annoyance faded, replaced with a slightly devious smirk.
"Indeed. Compounded by other reasons, well, more than one pony has gotten an outfit that's slightly out of trend. Once, even jewelry that was the wrong base metal for their fur-tone!"

"...Even when you're being vengeful you're still our Rara, huh?"

Rarity didn't have a response to that one, giving Ammo the opportunity to lead them back up the stair (singular) and into the foyer.
"Gonna do the tour, might as well start it from the top! Well, front in this case."

Spike was excited at the prospect, especially because he was starting to realize the building was even bigger than he originally thought. Turning around and looking up from the section of games he had been in, he saw across into the space around the corner. They must have combined Gillie's original space with the field next door to give themselves even more space! He turned to make sure Rarity was going to be on the tour as well: He'd hate to leave her alone, doubly so after kind-of sort-of excluding her with their banter and jokes before.

She smiled at him and gestured towards Ammo.
"Well, shall we? I only know what little I do about the place from helping her get set up in town: This is basically my first time inside, just as much as it is yours."

"Sweeeet."

He had a feeling that Ammo was rolling her eyes as she led them back into the building. It would have been nearly literal to call what followed a whirlwind tour: They moved from place to place so quickly that their movement whipped up enough air to ruffle loose paperwork or flutter a curtain. As far as Rarity's reactions went, Spike guessed this was normal for her Aunt. He did his best to keep up, and thanks to the refreshed speed boost he had gotten from the tea earlier, he even succeeded.

Barely.

"So you've seen the entrance, of course, and the first bank of cabinets: Gillie used to keep his really far apart because older engines had heat problems? I sprung for some open-air cabinets to house those ones, and it solved the problem. Saved a lot of space for some of the other stuff: Got a few shop spaces here in case we ever start doing merchandise or sales or whatever, here's the office, check-in, rentals for the table games, aaand pause."

Ammo screeched to a halt, reminding him of a proper Pinkie Pie Ponyville tour, complete with Rarity bumping into her a moment later. They had passed all of the things she described, ending up in a large sort of clear space. Rather than the cabinets and counters and walled-off rooms from the entrance, this central spot was dotted with tables and chairs, a jukebox, and a single large counter built into the wall. Behind the counter he could see a small kitchen, which made this-

"Food service! Drinks too. Nothing hard yet, but I figured it's important for the stopover ponies from the flights and patrols to be able to wet their whistles and fill their bellies on the way in and out. Plus, locals seem to like it just as much: Cuts down on breaks, makes for a nice social space."

Spike nodded absentmindedly, looking over the menu for a moment. Seemed like the right kind of thing: Nothing too messy to keep you from getting back to the games, and nothing that took too long to make. Convenient, cheap, solid stuff.

"And restart. Washrooms are over there, convenient to the food. No bowling lanes, didn't wanna muscle in or try to compete when you guys already have such a nice alley in town. Still, here's where the rest of the cabinets are, there's the basement entrance: It's not finished, but I've got plans for downstairs. More skill games, some specialized stuff for each of the races, and my specialty..."

She pulled up to another stop, this time gesturing to the last section of the building. He could see another rental counter, this one staffed by a sharp-eyed Night Guard pegasus stallion, and behind it... Targets. Paper and metal and rubber and even some crystal, bullseyes and pony silhouettes and clouds, even an exercise bag wired up into a machine he didn't recognize. Rarity went very still next to him, and Ammo was smiling bright as the sun outside.

"Never did tell you about this one, huh Rari? Well... I couldn't not do it, right? I mean, it is my special talent. And really, what kind of fun is life without a shooting gallery close to hoof?"

Rarity chuckled and looked around with an expression Spike didn't recognize. Her eyes were narrow, her mane pulled back in a brief cloud of magic and settled further from her face.
"I suppose you're not wrong, Auntie."

After she adjusted her mane Rarity nodded to the stallion behind the counter, waiting until he waved a hoof in her direction. Taking that as a signal, she stepped up (taking a deep breath as she did) to a spot across from the furthest-out crystal target. It was a long shot, probably the entire depth of the building from the street to the back.

“Spike, it would be lovely if you don’t gossip around town about this. But, well...”

Rarity cleared her throat and took an unfamiliar stance.

"Daddy... Magnum, that is... always told me this. Ahem..."
She took a practiced pause before busting out a solid impression of Magnum Belle, throwing her voice into a range that was sportsmanlike and deep.

"Rara, it runs in the family! It's how I got my Cutie Mark, it's how your mother bagged me, and it's how you're going to rise to the top, in anything you do. I tell ya, metaphor or literal or whatever-"

Spike barely saw the blip of magic, a flare of blue light that cracked out from her horn and crossed the space in an instant. There was a loud *DING* as the magic-sensitive crystal lit up with the color of Rarity's magical aura. The smallest center segment had been pierced by a stem of solid blue mist... And then it was followed by two more shots near-instantly. The second was long and dense, the third a whirling marble, and all three landed with needle-tip accuracy on the exact same spot. The dense second shot pierced the original stem before the spinning orb blew the whole lot into smoke and ribbons, clearing the board as if she'd never fired a shot to begin with. Rarity turned to Spike with a broad smile while he boggled in shock.

"-a Belle always hits the mark."

Chapter 23: Maturity

"-a Belle always hits the mark."

He couldn't respond, still in awe at Rarity’s display. Twilight had a lot of magical power, that was for sure. He'd been at her side as she developed all twenty-five of her original tricks, and dozens more since then. Spike had seen his (that extremely complex word they still had debates about some nights when they couldn't sleep) lift an Ursa in her magic alone, saw her meddle with the very concepts of the world, watched as she saved said world time and again. But this level of miniaturized work, fine control, the range... Rarity might have Twilight beat in this particular game.

Spike took a breath of his own and activated the Dragon's Mind, looking at her with an intent gaze (and ignoring Ammo's curious glance).
"Do that again, please."

She picked up his gist quickly, firing the same shots a little more slowly this time. He watched the magic build and flow, paid special attention to each movement through the symbols and systems that her will established. The first shot was plain, and he could feel rather than know when it was registered into his memory. The second one involved more effort, a spin and the addition of more power. The third... His mana cratered out to 0 in an instant trying to process everything he was seeing. Too many complex details for him to work out, and far too fast in his current state.

Meanwhile Mrs. Ammo was speaking to the Night Guard stallion in hushed tones, eventually turning back to them and clapping one hoof on Rarity's shoulder.
"Not half bad! I had no idea you'd been working on the Maelstrom Shot between lessons, but it's good to see you've got the basics down."

Rarity blushed a bit, dusting off one hoof nonchalantly.
"Well... I had an excellent teacher. Best there is, really."

Ammo threw her into a hug, giggling like a filly a fraction her age.
"Awww you!"

Sappiness aside, Spike was even more excited now than before.
"That was incredible! Could you teach me?"

The owner quirked an eyebrow when he said that.
"I dunno... Could I? Last I checked, dragons can't use magic like that. Or at all? I will be the first to admit I don't know a ton about dragons, aside from what we cover in the Guard."

"Hey, that makes two of us: But I think I'm pretty unique. I pick new things up real well, and I might be able to fake it until I make it."

"HAH, well, that's the spirit. Then again... I'd hate to deprive Rariere a chance to spend quality time with her dragonfriend, so why not have-"

Rarity interrupted with a nervous expression.
"Excuse me, Auntie... That was 'dragon friend', two words, yes?"

"Nooo? One word, no space. Dragonfriend. Like coltfriend, but-"

"Yes, I understand the intent. It's just... not the case!"

Ammo scoffed.
"Seriously? Well, get off your flank and make a move: Some other mare might take him! He strikes me as a perfectly eligible bachelor."

"I would hope not! Spike is still a child!"

That didn't hurt as badly as he expected it would: He knew that she had always thought of him as too young, and it was part of what kept him from expressing his feelings when he was younger. But that was when he was younger, years ago. Even if he hadn't grown up physically, he had matured.
"I am not a child! I mean..."

Wait, no, he HAD grown physically! Just a little while ago, this very day. And it had been Rarity's fault to boot: And remembering that brought a little bit of the anger back from under the surface, with a hint of mischief to temper it. So he was old enough to risk unexplained tricks and magical experiments, but too young to date? Well, two could play that game...
"I mean, you made me into an adult just this morning."

He heard a commotion between the counter and watched Ammo actually faceplant. He'd never seen somepony do it outside of comics, but there it was: She stopped mid-stride as if tripping before vaulting muzzle-first into the ground in shock. Spike just set that aside and focused his attention on Rarity's expression, her stammering, her red-hot blush. Turnabout wasfair play, right?
"I-I, no, that... Phrasing! That is deliberately misleading phrasing, and I object!"

At this point Ammo seemed like she either had to break or resort to humor. She chose wisely.
"Oh how scandalous! The seamstress mare of Ponyville locked in a tryst with a dragon that she herself calls underaged."

"No, NO, I-"

"But Rarity, you made me so big, I couldn't even-"

"THAT is NOT-"

"Listen to this boy go! You must have sent him on such a trip..."

"AUNTIE PLEASE-"

"She even gave me an entire box of gems for my trouble!"

Ammo cracked up at that, curling up into a ball and laughing herself into tears. Even the stallion behind the shooting range counter was hiding a laugh behind one wing, looking anywhere but at their conversation. For her part Rarity just slumped over and smothered her face in her hooves.

"bury me. bury me and send me to tartarus. it'd be better than this. what did I do to deserve..."

Quite a large part of Spike felt like this joke might have been a touch too far. It was outweighed, barely, by the part of him that was still miffed about being forcibly turned large not long ago. In the end compassion beat out bitterness, as it often did around here. Spike he walked over to Rarity, putting a claw into her field of view to help her up from the floor.
"We're joking, Rarity. It's obvious that... well, it's pretty obvious that you didn't, and you wouldn't."

She took the offer and sat up, looking down at his claw with a sour expression.
"...No, I suppose I wouldn't. And what does that say about me, hm?"

He didn't have a response to that, or more accurately he did... But he knew not to say it right now.

"I'm not blind, Spike, and you... you were not terribly subtle, especially in those first years. But that didn't stop me from being misleading at best and callous at worst. I wonder how many hours of work I got out of you, playing on your affection for my own prof-"

There was a sharp -thwack- as Ammo cuffed her niece upside the back of the head.

"None of that! We, and by that I mean everypony and everydragon here, knows better. You're a good pony and self-recrimination doesn't do you or him any good. If you feel bad about how you acted, buck up and apologize. And if it's not that bad? Buck up and shut up, you know how much I hate ponies wallowing in self-pity. I swear, Mag should have never gotten you that fainting couch."

Rarity glared at her aunt with a heated expression and a deep-set frown.
"You are getting socks this year. Not even nice ones. Trashy ones. With holes."

"...Really?"

Her expression softened slightly.
"...Lace, maybe. That has holes, but they’re nice holes. Holes with purpose. I'm not a monster."

"No you're not. And that's my point. So maybe we can all treat this like rational ponies? I know that's a lot to ask from Ponyville, I've seen some things these past few months, but come on."

He sighed in relief, holding up his claws in a gesture of surrender.
"I probably pushed you too far with the jokes, and I didn't mean to bring up... us. The lack of 'us'."

Rarity nodded her head and nuzzled him for a moment, in simple friendly affection.
"I overreacted, again. And I probably should have been more clear, this morning... Or years ago."

Arcane Ammunition pulled one of Rarity's hooves together to one of Spike's claws.
"Good! Now shake. I'm not apologizing for anything though, that was hilarious until the meltdown."

Rarity shook her head with a soft laugh, and then shook his hoof with a fragile smile. Spike's own expression felt stronger, but for all he knew there were tears in his eyes or something. They'd probably need to talk later. Right here was not the place and right now was not the time. But at least they had cleared the air, right?

Right?

Author's Note

The Frequently Asked Questions blog post is live!

Please refer to this if you have any lingering questions about the background, setting, timeline, Levels, small details, or just general cruft that might not get directly discussed in the story. If you have a question that isn't covered there? I plan to do one of these every so often, probably around every 20-30 chapters. So save your questions and be ready for next time. :)

Chapter 24: Confirmation

It turns out that while right there and right then had not been the place and time, leaving that entire situation to fester was equally unreasonable. So mere minutes later the two of them were sitting across from each other in the Arcade’s little food court. They had settled down for lunch and a long overdue talk about their, uh, ‘situation’. Spike’s plate had chili served over pasta with sharp onions, sharper cheese, and even-sharper ruby fragments (those supplied from his Inventory) while Rarity’s had a daisy sandwich with hay fries, no frills. Two glasses of lemonade were sitting on the table, silently sweating... just like the pony and dragon that were sipping at them.

It was Spike who broke the silence, clearing his throat and refusing to make eye contact.
"So. We-"

Rarity cut him off almost immediately, but even after that she took a moment to compose her words.
"Spike, I... we are friends. Close and inseparable friends. And it is... not impossible that we could be something more than that, someday. Romantically. Let's make that clear now."

He leaned back, trying not to let his shock or pleasure show on his face. That restraint became easier when he noticed how unenthusiastic she seemed at the prospect... There was more. Of course there was.

She looked off into the distance, avoiding his gaze across the table.
"The thing is, I would be lying if I said it would be soon, even theoretically. Not even remotely. I know about your... affections. I always have, but I never once considered reciprocating them. You're a sibling-of-sorts to one of my closest friends, and you're so... well, I still think of you as young, like Sweetie if not younger."

"But I'm not just a kid to you? In other ways?"

"Of course not: You’re a dear friend, even if I spent some time showing it poorly. But thinking of you as a romantic prospect or even something close to that... Well, that is an idea I would need to warm up to. I'd never really given the idea serious consideration, you understand! Because everything else I said doesn't even touch into the... issue of...um, well-"

She trailed off and looked back at him: He knew why pretty quickly, and also knew how to emphasize it: He flexed a claw, cracking another ruby onto his food. It was fascinating how she followed the motions as he cut and crushed the stone bare-handed, her eyes wide and fur bristled. It only got worse when he took a bite, a bite taken with teeth sharp enough to cut meat and hard enough to break rocks.
"Species?"

She visibly deflated and turned to look at him... She couldn’t keep the fear completely out of her eyes, now that he knew to look for it.
"Yes, frankly."

"Well... Yeah. I don't think that's a problem. I can see how it would be weird, and I never... I never expected anything, if that makes sense? It was always more dreamlike than real. Twilight would probably say my attraction was 'Fantastical, not actionable', or something like that."

Rarity nodded and took a bite of her food: It felt like it gave her some energy as she continued.
"Right. And given that... This is not ‘no’, and it's not ‘never’. However, it's honestly not ‘wait’ either. Spike... I think of you very fondly, and I want you to be happy. And if that happiness ends up being with me at some point down the line? So much the better!”

There was a pause as she looked away yet again... But he saw her expression curve, just faintly, into a hint of a smile.
“I can see it just a little, imagine it in my mind’s eye. It's a future I can picture, and a happy one in theory. That is more than I can say of most. But I can't guarantee it. I'm barely certain of now in my life much less then. And even in the best case I have a lot of things to work through, between now and then. So what I'm trying to say is... If you find love? Follow it. Please don't wait on me."

His smile felt more real this time, more genuine, as he briefly laid a claw across her hoof.
"Of course. I mean... Well, it sounds weird to say 'I definitely wouldn't', right? Putting it that way feels dismissive. But I mean it! I mean it in a good way: I won't wait, but you will never not be in my heart."

That drew a sniffle out from her and a sigh from them both. They both relaxed, really relaxed, and Spike felt a sense of peace wash over him. This had been weighing on him for a long time. Ever since he’d first come to Ponyville all those years ago, his attraction to Rarity had been something any pony in town could have told you about him. Most of them had never even talked to him before they knew, since he was... unsubtle, immature in his attraction. Of course, that was further cemented during that first incident with his accidental growth, but even before then he’d been...

He’d been selfish, in a weird way. The attraction had never been about Rarity, it had just been another latch-on crush like when he’d been a hatchling. Imprinting like a feral animal would, something he should have realized sooner... Something both he and Rarity had come to regret, clearly. Hearing that there was potential for it in the future kept the spark alive, but it was only that: A spark. At this point he was older and wiser than when he’d first seen her pale fur and purple mane, poise and grace...

But she was her own pony, and he was his own dragon. Spike was a carefree kind of guy, he felt that to be true... But this had always been there in the background, lurking behind his happy moments. And now they’d finally taken one of his only cares, one of the few things that really weighed on him, and broken it down into pieces. Airing it all out like this, to have an answer... It made him feel whole.

A skill has been created through a special action! By living a life dedicated to Harmony and the happiness of others, you have shown that you possess a [Balanced Soul].

He stared. He blinked. He couldn't help himself: He laughed loud and hard, the chuckles barely restraining a scream.
"Aaaaahahahahahaseriously! NOW?"

Rarity was clearly concerned with his sudden outburst, quickly lowering her sandwich.
"What... what? Is everything-"

He clicked the box away, pulling up the Skills menu afterwards.
"Believe it or not, that got me a skill. Cathartic dialogue about our lack-of-a-relationship got me a freakin' skill. I just... I've got no words."

Rarity seemed to recognize what his claws moving through thin air meant even before he said it, but once it was confirmed she clearly had to restrain a frustrated laugh of her own.
"Oh! Well, that.... That is rather gauche, no? Then again, benefits are benefits I suppose... Do you think it's a social feature? You did make a rather touching denouement, and I’ve read enough romances to know from touching."

"I'm not sure. The name is pretty generic, so it could be nearly anything..."
Scroll, scroll... There. Click

Balanced Soul Lv 1, EXP: 0.00%
An ability found in those who truly understand that while Harmony and balance are difficult to maintain, they are worth maintaining. This skill creates internal harmony so that improving one aspect of the user improves them all, granting enormous growth via balanced distribution.

You gain one extra attribute point per level, in the future and retroactively.
Your base attributes are improved by 1%. This factor will improve with increased level.
You gain experience 10% faster and gain 10% more from quests and other bulk sources.

All of your base attributes must be exactly equal to one another in order to reap these benefits.
If one attribute rises higher than the others, this skill’s benefits will diminish in equal severity.
This requirement will become less strict with increased levels in this skill.

"...Or everything. It could also be everything."

Chapter 25: Penetration

Rarity gestured for Spike to elaborate, and he explained it as best as he understood. It was spelled out pretty clearly, and he could see the adjustments it was making (that extra Wisdom from earlier was dinging him down to 9% bonus experience, sadly, but in better news it looked like the 1% boost to his attributes was rounding up to whole points), but the repercussions were harder to grasp. Meanwhile they kept eating, while he thought about the skill and what it meant... Partially to avoid thinking about this change in their friendship and what that meant.

The skill seemed powerful, maybe the best thing he'd gotten so far. Sure it was relatively minor now, but with time... His experience in games suggested that any bonus 'XP' was a thing to be reckoned with. And the same was true of buffing base values, since it would kick in before multipliers. The restrictions were a little worrying, but it honestly just motivated him to stick to the plan Pinkie presented: Balance himself and do everything. It would be a long road normally... But would it, in practice? If this skill was emphasizing that it enhanced the base attributes, then it might even apply the new values to other skills and their requirements. That would be worth investigating for sure.

Lunch (Hayburg's Hayburgers or Sugar Cube Corner)
Reward: A good meal is its own reward

Cincineighti Chili 5-way (with Rubies): Enhanced perception, 4 hours.

Before long they ran out of food to eat and even, at that point, things to say. Spike sat comfortably across from Rarity and sighed with contentment, dismissing the buff pop-up from his vision. That had really hit the spot after a hectic morning, and a little citrine from his inventory helped cleanse his palate (and refresh his movement buff) afterwards. He offered some to Rarity jokingly... but he was surprised when she took him up on it, plucking the inch-long curled shaving from his claws.

"Uh, you do know that you can't-"

"Eat this? Of course not! But I certainly cannot turn down an offer like that: I'll use it as an accent piece in something tonight, a memento by which I can remember today. Keepsakes are important after all."

He nodded with a smile that felt a bit forced... Remembering this particular part of the day wasn't going to be easy for him, no matter how well it had worked out. Still, he had to push that away and look at the brighter side: They had cleared the air and settled things, no hard feelings, fewer regrets than not... Probably better than a lot of ponies managed. A rather Pinkie-like section of his brain supplied a quiet 'Speaking of managed!' as the stallion from the shooting counter earlier came up to their table. Spike could finally get a good look at him, and doing so seemed extra-important. That was because ever since the shooting gallery earlier? He had already been fairly certain this was Rarity's uncle, and thus Arcane Ammo's husband.

[A Shot Through The Heart]
Piercing Ammunition
LV 38

Yeah, fairly certain.

"Food up to your standards, kids?"
He was surlier than his wife, eyes sharp and manecut sharper. A pegasus of the Night Guard, Mr. Ammo was taller than his wife and a little wider at the barrel... Come to think of it, his Cutie Mark was a kind of barrel as well: A guardsman's sighting scope on his flank. Taking that together with his name, Spike guessed the two of them worked as a pair in the Guard, using their skills for long-range recon and combat. Very cool stuff, and uncommon too: It was something he only knew about tangentially from talking to Shining Armor and reading about the 'sniper' classes in games like O+O. He shook his head, getting his train of thought back onto its apparently slippery tracks.

"Yeah! It was actually super good. I'd love to get the recipe, if it's not some family secret."

"Friend of the family's good as family to me anyway, kid: I'll go throw a copy together in a bit, OK?"

He nodded excitedly, both because it had been good food and because the chili would be another addition (admittedly only the second) to his arsenal of buffing food. It was a foundation for more, and Spike could imagine himself throwing entire feasts for himself and his friends... Maybe if he worked on making and testing food long enough, he could even figure out a way to lay the buffs directly, or condense the meals? Worst comes to worst, it seemed like an excuse to pig out on unusual food.

Piercing shook a crick out of his neck and then looked back and forth between Spike and Rarity, eyes still sharp. Eventually he spoke, quite softly, gesturing off towards the shooting gallery.
"Rare, Arc wants to talk to ya. Mind leaving me and you friend for a bit? Figured I'd ask him some questions while we're here, maybe see if he has anything he wants to hear from me in return."

She nodded, only hesitating for a moment. Spike gestured that it was fine: This was a chance to learn more about the arcade, about Rarity's family... He had a lot of questions, so Piercing's idea sounded just perfect to him. And with that reassurance Rarity left them, trotting away to go handle whatever Arcane wanted. Spike watched until she rounded the corner, sighing, just once, as soon as she was out of earshot.

"Going to guess you let each other down easy, huh?"

He wanted to make a biting remark like his jokes with Arcane, but there wasn't any heat behind it.
"...Yeah. There's kinda been this whole... thing, ever since I came to Ponyville. I guess you heard a lot of it?"

"Nope: Just got a good eye for this sort of thing. Don't worry, you'll both bounce back. Rarity's made of sterner stuff than most ponies, and you strike me as a pretty adaptable dragon yourself."

Spike smiled at that, and held a claw out to the older stallion. He got a hoof up from his chair in return, which left Spike standing and... a little uncertain.
"So, you said you had, um, questions? For me?"

"I did indeed: Nothing bad though. Just figured we could help each other out a bit."

"Curious about dragons?"

Piercing chuckled at that.
"Not so much, at least not in the immediate sense. No, I hear tell you're a pretty avid gamer. And I... was. Past tense. But that was when I was a colt, and I'm not exactly getting any younger over here. I'm out of date, and now that it's my job, well... I could use a guide to the modern stuff."

"How out of date are we talking? Like, Mark 1 engines? I know Shining Armor does a lot of griping about how wonky those were."

"Mmm, nope: Pre-engine. The last game I played ran off a hoof-crank, entirely mechanical. The displays were all done with moving crystal overlays and little lanterns. Half of the blasted things had to be scored on the honor system, 'cause the game had no way to tell when you got a point."

"Yiikes."

"Exactly. Now don't get me wrong, I think I've figured out a lot from setting up the place. But it's one thing to hear marketing schpiels and make sure the machines are running, and it's another entirely to get the scoop from a dedicated gamer. So how about it?"

Spike nodded almost before he realized it, glad to be able to show off a little. Plus, he still hadn't knocked out that 'Look at games at the arcade' quest, so this might be his chance.
"Sure thing, Mr... Um. How do you like to be called?"

"Pierce, if ya please. The wife already took the nice simple 'Ammo' for herself, so I've gotta stick to that."

"Hey, Pierce isn't a bad name!"

Spike was pretty sure he’d met one before, in town: Nice enough stallion, if a bit coltish.

"True enough. Now... Where do you think we should start?"

He looked around and thought about that question himself. The quest he had written earlier said "RPGs" in specific, but maybe the angle didn't have to be role-playing games. There were plenty of simulations, puzzle games, god-games, fighting games, combat stuff... There were all sorts of options, and they were all important to show Mr. Am... Pierce. So even if they weren't going to be useful for his own growth as The Gamer, the best solution was clear.

"Show me around all the cabinets, and I'll point out the really interesting stuff as we go. But..."

"Hmm?"

"I won't be able to cover it in too much detail, and I know barely anything about older games or the history of it all. You'd be better off asking Gillie. He's still going to be in town for a while, right?"

Pierce nodded.
"Yeah, he said he'd be here for the rest of the year at least: They're not leaving until the summer, and he'll be back every season or two. We kept in touch a lot during the setup period, too."

"Good! I've got to visit him myself, sooner than later. It'd be a shame to miss the chance."

Nodding again, Pierce gestured towards the nearest bank of cabinets.
"Before that... Shall we?"

Spike followed with a broad smile.
"We shall!"

Chapter 26: Ping, Pong

It was a bit of a blur as the two of them made their way through the arcade. They'd bounce from one set of games (racing, both character and vehicle) and towards another (shooting games, near the range) and then out to a third (adventure games this time), all the while talking about the small details and changes. They were both out of their depth, coming from different directions: Piercing Ammunition didn't really know much about modern gaming, but in return Spike's knowledge of the old ways was just as spotty. They filled each other in as well as they could, occasionally pausing to talk about personal questions. It was a literal back-and-forth, in tune with the way they walked.

"So how long have you been here in Ponyville?"

"About six, seven months. You?"

"...Since Luna came back?"

"Right! Right. Should be hard to forget, but... you and the Elements don't raise a lot of fuss."

"Hah! And you say you've been in Ponyville for six months."

"You know what I mean: None of you go around rubbing it in ponies' faces."

"Oh! Yeah, I guess not, even moreso after dealing with a really arrogant unicorn one time."

"...Just a wild guess, but does the name Trixie Lulamoon ring a bell?"

"Loudly. It's a bit weird hearing it without the 'GREAT AND POWERFUL' though."

"Hah. Haha. Yes, that's... Well, she's getting better."

"You know her personally? I had guessed you'd heard of her, or seen one of her shows."

"Story for another time, Spike. Now tell me about these contact screen games..."

Shifting back into business mode, Spike began explaining what he could. They were pretty new to him as well, but some games used a magical crystal for the whole screen, instead of having a projected image. Not only could it produce much more realistic three-dimensional images, but those games could be controlled with the screen, using direct contact. Most of them still used a mix of buttons and contact control, but it allowed for unique methods of play and easy interaction.

"Hmmm. Makes sense, and it's an improvement over a lot of older games. I remember joysticks so twiggy you had to be a unicorn to play well. Using your hoof is an interesting development."

"Yeah, it's neat! Some games have gotten kind of lazy with it, but the best ones do really cool stuff. And a lot of the designs for modern controllers are an improvement over what you're talking about: I'm not a great judge though, what-with the claws and all."

Pierce rolled his neck with a faint -crck- and started trotting away, letting Spike follow behind.

"Understood. Moving on?"

"Sure! Do you have the time right now, though? I thought you were working the counter..."

"I'm free: I put one of the employees on it, they need the counter practice anyways."

"That makes sense! But, um, how many employees do you even have? This place is..."

"Big? Yeah, we snapped up a lot of the local night owls to cover certain shifts. A dozen, or so?"

Spike whistled. "Pretty impressive! And I guess you're having them all train everywhere?"

"Mmh. Me and Arc can't afford to specialize, so why should they? Everypony does everything."

"That way you two don't have to be here all the time, even as the managers."

"Exactly: It would be a shame to move to Ponyville and not be able to spend any time exploring."

"I take it you both like it, then? A lot of ponies think it's, um, 'quaint', to be polite."

"Yer shootin' straight we like it: Quiet, compact, not too far from Canterlot... It feels comfortable."

"Hah! I was thinking the same earlier. And it's growing all the time, I mean, just look here!"

"Glad to be of service. Speaking of: How much do you know about cabinet and engine repair?"

They came to a stop near a door on one far wall, off in a corner, with a strange flat-looking crystal panel where you'd normally see a handle or a lock or even just a push-plate. Spike looked from Pierce to the door, thought about it, and put two and two together once again.
"...Employee's Only door, and you're about to show me the repair room. Also, not much."

Pierce chuckled and ruffled Spike's spines, putting his other hoof onto the panel. It let out a faint ding and a glow before unlocking the door. Spike watched with curiosity, throwing an Observe at it and shoving the window aside to read later. So cool.
"Got it in one. And we can fix that last bit, if not today then next time. Come on in!"

Their tour of the service area was all ups and downs for Spike. On the one hand, he got to see a ton of things he barely even understood and had never seen before in his life. On the other hand, he got to see a ton of things he barely even understood and had never seen before in his life. He hadn't been so frustrated with the (admittedly ever-shrinking) limitations of Observe before, much less the limitations of linear time. He wanted to understand everything he was seeing, to figure it all out and develop new skills (or even new Skills), but he had a schedule to keep and the same was probably true of Pierce.

Still, Spike didn't let anything go to waste: He fired off an Observe into every single individual object he saw in the tightly-packed room, minimizing all of their windows to make room for more. Asking questions of Pierce and taking the time to look at things with his eyes as well, Spike indulged himself. It was a fun time for him, and the bat-pony also seemed to enjoy it. Eventually, reluctantly, they made their way back out into the main arcade. Spike did manage to extract a promise from Pierce that the next time they were able, he could start studying all that stuff properly.

"Gladly. Should go well, too: I like to think I'm a pretty good teacher, given all this."

The stallion gestured at himself, but Spike didn't understand what he was getting at.
"...Your fur's nice and all but I'm not sure how it makes you a better teacher?"

"Pffft! No, I mean being a Night Guard."

"Also nice, but I don't get what an illusion would do to your teaching ability either."

Piercing Ammunition pulled up short, his posture strangely stiff. A moment later he turned his head back to look at Spike, expression dead neutral and tone undeniably cold.
"What did you just say?"

OK yeah this is a time for backpedalling.
"W-well that's what Celestia told me. I asked her about the Day Guard when I was younger and she said it was just a kind of glamour that she put on them, and they weren't all identical underneath or anything, so I just figured-"

Pierce shook his head, his expression softening.
"I would have expected her... Actually, nono, wait. How much younger is 'younger'?"

"Waaay younger. Like, three or four years before we came to Ponyville, I think? So eight years ago, might have even been nine... I hadn't even been out in public in Canterlot that much, so I mostly saw royal staff and Guard ponies back then. Hence the confusion. Sorry for the offense."

"Hrm. So Celestia keeps state secrets from her state secrets? That makes... a distressing amount of sense. Oh well: None of my business! Not that part anyways. So, let's grab a seat. And no offense taken: I'm not mad. I just, well... What the Princess told you isn't entirely true, and what you said to me might come off as an insult if you said it to another pony on either Guard. Since there's a lot more of us in town these days, best to cut any kind of misunderstanding off at the pass."

Spike didn't want to cause any more problems, so he followed and sat down at the table, listening carefully. Twilight had taught him that the best way to make amends for this sort of mistake was to apologize and pay attention. It's one thing to make a mistake, it's another to fail to learn from it.

"So... The true part is that I'm a normal pony, underneath. A pegasus, just like my wife is a unicorn. If you saw her 'normally', the resemblance to Rarity would probably be a lot more apparent. And that much is obvious: After all, not too many ponies rock natural black and purple color schemes, much less the leather wings or thorn-laced horns, right?"

"Heh, yeah... But-"

"The false part is that it's a glamour or illusion. It's something bigger, something real, something that makes an impact. The spell Celestia uses on her Day Guard, and the spell that Luna used on us Night Guard after her return? Those are a unique kind of power that only the Princesses can bring to bear."

Chapter 27: Departure

“Those are a totally unique power that only the Princesses can bring to bear."

At first Spike had been listening to avoid offending other Guards in the future. Now he was listening with rapt attention for an entirely different reason: This was big, and now he understood why Celestia hadn't explained the details to him when he’d essentially been a baby.

"It's called Benediction. An unrepeatable and irreproducible miracle that cannot be faked, imitated, copied, stolen, taken or broken. In a very real and literal way, it's an investiture of their authority onto their most trusted servants. We carry a fraction of Luna's power, and as such we are like her eyes and ears and hooves in the world. The Benediction is something no normal pony could do, not even a unicorn as powerful as Ms. Twilight. Cadance, maybe... I wondered why Captain Armor never took the call from Celestia, but maybe he's waiting for his lover to make her own version, to be her First."

"Yeah that sounds like something Shiny would do alright."

"Shin- Right, you're basically his nephew. Hah! I guess you could ask him directly, hear it from the horse's mouth. Of course, if the pattern holds true then he might not have an easy time of it..."

"Pattern?"

"Mmh. Celestia's Benediction sort of 'gravitates' towards unicorns. It's why you see so many in the Day Guard, above and beyond Canterlot demographics. And Luna's leans towards pegasi: Hence all the flying Night Guard. Cadance having an easier time laying her power onto earth ponies would complete the little triad, and historically speaking magic likes neat little sets like that."

"Ooooh. That... Wow. This is a big deal. And I can guess it's not a 'public knowledge' sort of thing?"

"Natch: I had assumed you knew, being from the palace and all... I guess when you were younger Celestia might not have wanted to explain the details."

Spike nodded, letting his thoughts drift. It made sense in a lot of ways. And it... Well. The idea of a power that only one single pony in all of the world could use, something just as unique as a Cutie Mark and yet was shared with others by its very nature... It gave him ideas. Not ideas he could act on just yet... But in the back of his mind, the ticket from this morning held an all-new significance.

Further musing was interrupted by Piercing Ammunition standing up and offering a hoof to Spike. He took it and stretched, looking over at the one section of the arcade they hadn't gone through yet.

"Long-term games is all that's left: A lot of the stuff with that 'profile' tech, role-playing games and adventures and building games. These are all pretty much permanent installations, instead of swap cabinets: Made sense to give the games ponies are likely to replay a more permanent home."

"Favorite section, here we come!"

"Heh. Lead the way, little expert."

A blur of cabinets and rapid-fire patter and chatter later, Spike and Piercing Ammunition came out the other side of the 'longplay' island and up into the food court. Pierce, for his part, was mulling over everything Spike had explained about the costs of playing some of the really long-term games, while Spike himself was engrossed in his latest piece of user interface.

Hit the Arcade, Look at RPGs (research!)
Reward: Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance Lv Max EXP: 0.00% MP: N/A
For one who has the ability to claim all things, study all things, learn all things, know all things, and become all things, it is important to make sure that what you do claim, study, learn, know, and become are of the utmost quality. This skill enhances 'Observe' to make sure you don't waste time.

Your Observe is now capable of highlighting objects which pertain directly to The Gamer.
This includes but is not limited to:
Skillbooks, Skillgames, Fuel-for-Fire, Buff Consumables, and Recipes.

"...Who slash what writes these things?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Sure. That aside, think fast: The gals are a-comin'."

Spike straightened his posture and tapped the skill window closed with a quick jab of his attention. Sure enough, Rarity and Arcane were approaching from across the food court, having some kind of animated discussion that he couldn't quite hear. By the time they made it all the way over, their conversation had ended, so Spike put it all out of mind. It wasn't his business, right? But it seemed like Arcane Ammunition had some amount of business with him, from the way she was angling that piece of paper towards his face.

"Here you go!"

He looked down. It was a schedule written onto a copy of the next month’s calendar, a few blocks of several hours marked off on various days, at various hours early and late alike.
"...Um?"

"You mentioned having some interest in Rarity's ranged spells, yes? And I don't doubt that my husband got some ideas into your head as well, so... Those are times we'd be free, if you want to come learn from us. Rara's welcome too: If I'm going to be teaching things anyways I might as well get two birds with one. And we wouldn't mind getting some work out of you in return, of course..."

He cut her off with a surprise hug, smiling wide.
"That's so cool! I'll make sure I can find a time where I have openings and Twilight isn't having me do anything at the library and... Yeah! Thank you so much."

"Nothing to it, kid. You two need anything else before we go our separate ways for the day? It has been one beast of an afternoon for sure."

Rarity shook her head, while Spike stood up and surreptitiously slid the schedule into his Inventory when nopony was looking.
"I think we're good to go!"

The four of them walked to the front doors of the arcade, right back where he had started. It felt like it had been a long time since he arrived, but emotional moments always made him feel that way. In reality, it was still a good forty-five minutes before school was scheduled to let out, so he was right on pace.

"Nice meeting you two!"

"And you as well, kid."

"Keep in touch, huh Rara?"

"Of course. I merely had a fair few spring orders to get through and-"

"No excuses. We literally know where you live, all that jazz."

"Pfffine."

As Rarity trotted away, Spike turned back to take another look at the husband and wife duo. For the sake of testing his earlier Observe grinding, he made an effort to use it anew on both of them. He expected two boxes of information to pop up... What he got was a chorus of dinging bells and seven boxes. Above the two Observes were quest completions and one new message, first of its kind.

Look at Ponies (titles? levels?)

Reward: Indra's Net

"Game"

Reward: 2,500 Experience (+240 from bonuses)

Your level has increased by one!
Your level has increased by one!

His claw shook a little as he tapped the name of the unknown reward: With a name like that, it had equal odds of being an item or a skill. Turns out it was the second...

Indra's Net Lv Max EXP: 0.00% MP: N/A
In the same way that one pearl reflects all others. In the same way that one thread connects all things. Denying the singular vision of Gutei, those who see the world through the filter called Indra's Net are able to perceive the inherent and pervasive interrelationship of all things.

Your Observe is now usable on the relationships between things, as well as the things themselves.
All uses of Indra's Net are automatically compiled into a network of relationships (In a new menu).
Relationships that you know about are automatically added when Observing only one part of it.
Relationships for which you have a false impression will not be corrected until you are corrected.

Indeed, between the two expected Observe boxes was a third, filled with lines of holographic fire that reminded him of his earlier sorting job on the Hopeless Case. In the center of the diagram the Cutie Marks of Arcane and Piercing were connected by various lines (pink for marriage and love to each other, red for familial ties to Rarity, a solid blue for cautious respect of Spike himself, a plain black for ownership of the Arcade, etc) and boundaries.

Without saying anything he Observe'd Rarity again, and watched as a cascade of information added her relationships into the diagram. A swipe of his mentally-imagined claw over the interface moved it all aside, letting him see the vast space prepared for the information he would gather... Maybe with practice and more complex information, he could change this into a three-dimensional model like the ones Twilight used sometimes. Or maybe he just needed the right commands? This was going to take time. And it was also going to have to wait...

Because he had just leveled up.

Chapter 28: Purchasing

He had just leveled up.

That bump of experience had pushed him to Level 3, probably even close to 4. And his Balanced Soul made it so that he got... 6 points to distribute per level, according to the Status screen. The level up hadn't increased his HP or MP like in some games, so that was dependent entirely on skills and stats. Nor had the regeneration of either improved: It looked like the sole benefit of levelling was the points he could spend, which implied that stats were very important. And given that passive skills like Balanced Soul couldn't be shut off (that he knew of yet, anyways), he should probably let the restrictions from those passives guide his spending.

Spending. Hm. This might actually be a time to apply more of Twilight's advice: She had taught him a lot across dozens of subjects, but with a serious emphasis on what she called "baseline" topics, concepts that were applicable in many different situations. Several of them were probably applicable right now, but one in particular stood out. Combining that with the notes he took in the arcade...

Spike had a bedrock of information to work with. None of the games were exactly like his power, but he had seen enough that were similar to be able to make educated guesses, most of which he could test without risk. Taking all those games into account... The odds were high that he'd only get exactly 6 stat points per level up, and that spending them would be permanent with no option to respecialize (except as a quest reward?). The "training" point of WIS had given rise to questions, and he had looked into games with similar mechanics and learned... Disheartening things, mostly.

Without a single exception that he had seen, games where you can earn "free" stat or skill points by training made each point harder to earn based on how high the stat was. And it usually did not matter if those points came from training or from freebies, the difficulty in training went up the same. Which meant if he wanted to squeeze everything he could out of training, and if his system worked like those games, then he had to front-load his training and put off on his spending.

And that's where Twilight's lessons on cost-benefit analysis would come in. The name didn't sound great, but the concept was simple: What was he spending, what was he losing, what doors were being opened, what options closed off? The idea was to measure not just positives and negatives, but the things you spend compared to the things you gain in return. It didn't take him very long to sketch up a preliminary comparison in his notebook.

```

Spend Now and Train Later Benefits: Immediate 20% bump to everything, further bonus XP now, less up-front effort Costs: All of my hard-earned points, when and if I do train I might get less reward for it

Train Now and Spend Later Benefits: Probably more total points in the long run, easier to keep stats even for XP Costs: Requires me to work harder & earlier, unspent points will sit there taunting me

```

To some ponies, that would look like a fairly balanced list. But growing up around Twilight, and even moreso growing up in Canterlot? Spike had learned the value of long-term investment. There was a reason that Celestia still owned ninety-nine percent of the entire Canter Mountain range in her own name, and it was called "2,000+ years of interest". So Spike settled for the reliable old method of training hard and blowing his freebies only as-needed, or once the growth from training stopped.

With his plan of action set in place, Spike nodded to himself and stowed his notebook... With good timing, since he looked up a second later only to run snout-first into Rarity as she abruptly stopped.

"Gah! Sorry, wasn't watching where I was going."

Rarity tutted at him softly.
"Nonsense! This was my fault if anything: I thought you were occupied so I chose not to interrupt you. I myself was distracted by this lovely shop display."

Spike looked over to where she was gesturing and quirked one brow.
"Pouches? I thought you had a very strict NO POUCHES policy after that time with False Field?"

"Mmmh, while his ideas about fashionable clothing design were nothing short of grotesque... I must admit that they have functional purpose. Especially for Aunt and Uncle Ammo: I'm considering a little 'thank you' gift for all of their help today. And there's something chic about a well-constructed tactical vest in its own rugged way, hmm?"

"I... sure? Yeah, that sounds reasonable."

He could picture it, actually. Saddlebags were great when you weren't going to be moving around a lot, but for ponies who jumped and climbed and did acrobatic maneuvers without setting the bags down, they were... counter-productive. And that was being charitable. Come to think of it, this might be a good opportunity to put some of his funds from this morning to use, especially since the idea of what his afternoon would entail was starting to settle down in his head.

"Actually, yeah! Let's head in here real quick. I might pick something up myself... Then I've got to take care of those fines, so don't let me forget."

"Can you forget? I could have sworn you said-"

"You know what I mean."

"Hee, alright. Come along, Spike! Let us go... shopping!"

It was a whirlwind couple of minutes... Somepony might have expected longer, with Rarity involved, but the fact is they both knew exactly what they wanted. Spike socketed his purchases away into his Inventory on the way out, and Rarity hefted hers into a new pair of saddlebags (she saw a set in pink with lace accents that really tickled her fancy, apparently), and that was that: In and out with minimal muss or fuss for a change.

"So, going to hoof those off to the folks next time you visit the arcade?'

"Mmh. If you're able to get in that first date for the training schedule Aunty and I wrote up, that will actually be just a few days from now."

Spike nodded, pushing the aforementioned schedule a bit higher in his inventory.
"Yeah, I'll run it by Twilight's schedule and make sure we're not already doing anything. I bet I'll learn a ton, too, given how powerful they are."

Rarity tilted her head at that, apparently confused.
"Sorry?"

Spike angled them down a different street so they would reach the house where he had to collect his next fine a bit faster, talking and walking.
"Rarity, your aunt and uncle are crazy strong."

"And how would you know that, having only just met them?"

He could have let his deadpan expression say it for him, but since they were still moving he emphasized the point by gesturing above their heads.
"Titles and status screens, remember? First thing I see when I look at anypony."

"Ah, yes. You never did tell me how I stacked up, did you?"

"25. Close to Twilight, more than double the average pony in town, nearly ten times above me even after I just gained a few, and barely over half of Arcane or Piercing."

She pulled to a stop after hearing that tidbit.
"HALF of them!?"

"Not quite that bad, I did say 'over' half: They're both in the high 30s. Which is weird, because we both know what Twilight can get up to. So having her be like a dozen levels behind them..."

Rarity was silent for a while, and he kept walking: They'd get where they were going at the same speed whether they spoke or not. And they did arrive before she spoke again. The library fine this time was another simple one, just one cycle behind: They paid and kept the book, Spike took note in his impromptu ledger, and they moved on. It was only once they cleared the block and hit a stretch of open road that Rarity replied.

"Perhaps... I am admittedly not the most informed pony on the subject, but what is a 'level'? It strikes me as something that could be very imprecise, if it's measuring up every aspect of a pony. Even if it's just based on the total, what would you call them, points?"

"Points, yeah. It looks like 5 per 'level' is what my system thinks of as normal, most ponies I've seen are a little better, probably from training or special effects. But it's within range of being consistent, so the stat spread probably has an impact on how it's calculating things or vice versa."

"Mh. Well, even if the level you see is just 'take the points, add them up, and then divide by 5', that leaves all sorts of room for... outliers. What about specialists? What about skill, talent, dedication, or experience with the situation at hoof? No, I think levels are... Maybe a bit of a generalization."

"I can see that. A lot of RPGs use level as a shorthand for power in some way, but it never tells the whole story unless the game is really simple. And mine decidedly isn't, from what we've seen."

Rarity nodded rapidly, looking around to make sure nopony was in earshot before continuing.
"Their particular focus also has some bearing, I'd imagine: They have seen more combat this year than dear Twilight has likely seen in her life, even counting the Changeling incident. And that's after they moved to Ponyville and switched to being stationed here as opposed to working in the field."

He couldn't help but whistle.
"Daaang. That does make a lot of sense though: Combat power tends to be a big factor in the level you get in most games, even if you're not a major combat player."

"Mmmh. Do keep me informed, however, if you notice any other interesting outliers? I find this kind of comparison fascinating in a way, given what you've told me about my relatives... and myself."

"Sure thing! Oh, one second though: Last fine on this leg of the trip is riiiiight here."

Chapter 29: Blind Eye

They were fairly close to the schoolhouse at this point, and Spike's internal clock showed that he had a decent bit of time: Thanks to combining the arcade trip with lunch and his visit with Rarity, he had managed to come out right on estimate. Once he collected this last fine (significantly larger than the others, list says Twilight attempted to serve this one before and never get an answer) then he would be able to relax a bit on his way to the Crusaders.

A few knocks later, a light-coated stallion ('Blind Eye', no title, level 9, self-employed, lives alone) pushed his way up to the door, frowning deeply when he saw Spike and Rarity.
"What do you want?"

Ah. Because of course it wouldn't be that easy.
"Just making my way around town collecting fines for the library."

There was a very brief flash of something in the stallion's eyes, maybe anger or disgust? It's an ugly expression, but it passed quickly. Almost as quickly, he began to shut the door.
"None here."

The door didn't make it all the way to the jamb, what with Spike's foot in the way... It hurt, but only briefly. He shrugged off the small chunk of HP damage and dismissed the box that popped up to read later.
"Listen, Blind Eye, I-"

That stopped his motion, and the harsh expression came back, his mouth set in a firm scowl.
"Didn't tell you my name."

"Right! But I have a ledger, see. So I know you have one of our books, or had it anyways. So rather than slam the door on my foot again, let's handle this like gentlecolts, alright?"

Blind Eye cocked an eyebrow at the word "foot", which then settled back into a dour expression when he looked down and saw Spike's scaled claw.
"Don't know why my name is on your list, but I hate the library here. Absolutely despise the place. So I don't have one of your books. Go awa-"

Spike didn't need Observe to tell him that this stallion was lying. It certainly helped, but it wasn't necessary. He sighed and reached into a little belted bag on his side (picked up at the pouch shop, a convenient excuse to hide his Inventory's blatant nature) and pulled out the ledger. Looking at it more closely, he was surprised that he hadn't been more worried about this earlier... Then again, at the time he may have just written it off on the assumption that there would be no answer. Again.

"I totally understand that this can be an inconvenience, and normally I'd just come back on a nicer day, but it says here that you owe really quite a lot: We've attempted three previous collections and gotten no answer. So if you return the book today, it will still be twenty-five bits. If you don't, it'll be a flat fifty, given the cost of a new copy of... 'A Skeptic's Field Guide', and the cost of making it shelf-ready."

Somehow the stallion managed to simultaneously sneer and scoff, a real feat all things considered.
"Yeah, you think I believe that? As if your little gambit needs any more money."

"I... what?"

"That place is one of Celestia's little pet projects, run by her little pet unicorn. She pours extra bits into that and ignores the actual problems here in Ponyville. So even if I had your book, I wouldn't pay a single bit. And you know what? I wouldn't give it back even if I could."

Spike didn't react in the slightest, visually, even when Rarity let out an affronted gasp to hear this random schmuck insulting Twilight to their faces. He just sighed and looked down at the ledger.
"Alright then. Thank you for your time: I'm just going to head up the block to the Guard office."

Blind Eye went to close the door on him mid-sentence, but stopped just before it hit the frame.
"What?"

"You know, Celestia's Guard? Nearest Guardhouse is like two streets away from here? If you're right about the Princess putting so much effort and personal funding into a small-town library... And I mean, how could you not be right, Mr. Skeptic? If you're right, then you don't owe fifty bits for fees and defrauding our free public library. At that point what you’ve done is steal government property."

Spike began pacing back and forth, keeping his head turned to face Blind Eye. He never broke eye contact and didn't slow down, so every time he turned around again his neck craned strangely, making it look like his head was moving independently of the rest of him.

"I grew up in Canterlot with that 'pet' unicorn, you know. And geez let me tell you, the Guard really hate it when ponies steal from the government. I remember the last time somepony tried to take a bunch of art pieces from the Palace? Couldn't walk on their front hooves again for months. It was a shame, too: They seemed like such a nice pony. You seem like a nice pony too, honestly! But either way I have to go tell the Guard about this, so I'll see you later."

He stopped dead-center with the door and tilted his head, leaning to one side with his eyes as wide as he could make them.
"Or maybe I won't see you ever again? Doesn't make a difference to me, in the end."

The stallion had already been pale to begin with, but at this point every drop of blood had fallen out of his face, and he turned around on shaking hooves, blinking furiously to get the image of Spike's expression out of his head.
"I-I'll go get the bits. Sorry. sorry."

By using [Intimidate] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 33%

Not even a full minute later, Spike was waltzing away from Blind Eye's house whistling a jaunty tune, tossing the bag of bits from one claw to the other. The book itself was already stowed away in his Inventory, and the bits followed a few steps later. Rarity was looking at him with her face twisted up in... Well he wasn't sure what her expression was, exactly. Wasn't great though.

"Spike, I am not entirely sure I believe what I just saw."

"Hmm?"

"You browbeat that poor stallion as if he had done you some horrible personal offense! I mean, yes, he did say those things about Twilight and Celestia, but... That was excessive! And what was that bit towards the end about the Guard breaking somepony's legs?"

"Oh! Made it up. Sort of? I was reading this comic series about the old Cavaletti crime family in Baltimare, and there was this great scene like that, so I kind of just... went with the flow. Maybe I should try to get into acting, see what skills that gets me!"

She snapped his name out like it was a curse word before catching herself, clearly flustered.
"Spike! I... Spike, listen. It is one thing to make your best effort to get back what is owed to you, and it's another entirely to do so with lies and intimidation. I'm... I was going to say 'disappointed', but given some of my own actions with you perhaps that's not the right word. Disquieted? Worried?"

"Worried?"

"I simply don't want you to be abusing ponies just because you have a little power, is all. I know what it is like to let a rush of potential, or authority... even just popularity get to your head..."

That brought him short. He turned around and smiled, softly, trying to steady his expression.
"Alright. I promise that I won't do anything unnecessary like that in the future, alright? But I can't just say I'm going to avoid doing things when they're needed. Sometimes I might have to-"

"No, no, I understand that. I suppose I've just... seen a lot of you growing up today, in more ways than one. It has left me a bit askew, and that was the last push to full-blown shock in my head."

It made sense. He could understand how strange it was to see somepony go through big changes in very little time: After all, he had been there for so many moments of Twilight's changing life: When Shining left for the Guard, when Celestia sent them to Ponyville, all sorts of times when things were thrown into upheaval. Spike realized that all of these changes hitting at once wasn't bothering him because of the Gamer's Mind, but the ponies in his life watching him didn't have that luxury.

"I promise I'm not going to totally change. I mean, after all this... I'm still me, right?"

She stepped forward and nuzzled his side briefly before pulling away with a smile.
"That you are, Spike."

Chapter 30: Listing

A few minutes passed on their walk before Rarity stopped and gestured for Spike to join her. They were around the mid-point between the school and Carousel Boutique, so this was where they'd part ways for now. Spike had mixed feelings about that, about all of this, but he could get past it.

"And here the road splits, hmm? Have a good time with the Crusaders, and make sure to bring Sweetie back sometime before dinner, alright?"

Spike nodded rapidly, reaching out to shake Rarity's hoof.
"Sure thing! Thank you for... everything."

"Think nothing of it, Spike. Although... I did have one last thing I wanted to mention. I suppose talking with Aunt Arcane reminded me, in the end."

"Oh yeah?"

"A piece of... advice, I suppose? My perspective on your new situation. You already know that I prefer to do things all together instead of one by one: I can multi-task, if I do say so myself, along with the best of them."

Spike recalled the cloud of clothespins and magic working in concert this morning.
"I'll say! I’ve always been impressed by that side of you... Obviously."

"Hah! Well... Consider doing the same. That's my advice, simple as it sounds! It seems like you can use your 'skills' at the same time as one another, yes? In that case, if you’re going to train yourself... Train everything you can all at once. Normally I wouldn't think of things in such utilitarian terms, but... I'm rather curious to see where this all takes you."

His smile was wide and genuine, and he leaned forward to follow their hoof-shake with a quick hug.
"I can definitely get behind that. Thanks again, Rarity: I'll see you when I bring Sweetie back!"

His feet carried him away quickly, almost against his will, as Rarity waved him off.

Spike would be at Ponyville Schoolhouse within seven or eight minutes if he kept full pace... So he slowed down a bit once he had crested the hill. He had some 'menuing' to do, as they called it. Management and reaffirmation of what he had on hand, something he could multitask- Hey, maybe that'd be a new skill! He had been getting them at a pretty fantastic pace so far, although the gut feeling remained that the bonanza would end tonight. His initial quest had even called itself a "jump up the ladder", so it was probably easing him along in order to level the playing field...

Level it against who, or what? He couldn't shake the idea that this wasn't just him growing up and coming into his own as a dragon, if that was even the cause of it all. There was a purpose to what was happening to him. Thus he had to stay alert and smart and keep himself prepared: Which meant it was time to hit the menus and make sure he had a strong grasp of his 'arsenal'. First came skills... No, actually, first came that box he ignored when he was dealing with Blind Eye.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through the power of your body to endure pain and damage, a skill to resist trauma, [Physical Endurance] has been created!

Physical Endurance Lv 1 EXP: 0.00%
This basic skill increases your bodily toughness, but only in regards to mundane damage.

3% decrease in the damage from all physical attacks and hazards.

Well, that was... refreshingly simple. Although it made sense that the descriptions of 'generic' skills were in and of themselves generic: It looked like Cooking had a similarly short summary. And since he had that up, Spike took the opportunity to pull up all of his other skill boxes and take a look at the haul thus far. Probably wouldn't hurt to get a summary of what it all does in writing while he was at it. It would make it easier to keep track of what he needed to test and experiment with in the future, since the descriptions were not 100% forthcoming about specifics.

Skills
Gamer's Mind -- Immune to 'psychological effects'. Still experience them but not affected? (TEST)
Gamer's Body -- No 'real' consequence to injury. After sleeping, recover from absolutely anything.
Observe -- Activate ability to see the description of things. Provided by game's "engine" it seems.
Cooking -- Passive, generally improves my ability to cook, required to learn / use complex recipes.
Earthshaper -- Improves my ability to carve / sculpt / shape rock, stone, and maybe metal? (TEST)
Dragon's Claws -- Claws are stronger, sharper, precise, retractable. Blunt fingertips feel weird.
Omphaloskepsis -- Twilight's meditation, restores MP / HP / Stam, trains them and Dragon's skills
Dragon's Heart -- Passively boosts all stats, lets me burn MP to boost them... how much? (TEST)
Dragon's Mind -- I can see and learn magic, plus it's why meditation can train the Dragon's skills.
Dragon's Breath -- Defines how my fire works, might give more control, learn new 'colors'? (TEST)
Cantus -- Singing a 'Heartsong' gives bonus MP regen, I can redirect it into various buffs per song.
Stagnet -- Lets me freeze, dismiss, and manipulate my fire as well as (apparently) magic. (TEST)
Dragon's Hoard -- Changes my growth based on chosen "hoard", can scale freely within a range.
Balanced Soul -- Passively boosts XP and all stats, but only if all my stats are equal. Free points!
Physical Endurance -- Damage resistance from 'mundane' harm. What exceptions are there?

Spreading it all out like this made him realize just how much he had accomplished in so little time. Still missing that Dragon's (Strength) skill, assuming there isn't an inexplicable gap in the pattern: Probably something good to focus on soon, even if only to confirm or deny his suspicions. Speaking of confirmation some poking around in submenus eventually led to him finding other things he’d acquired with less fanfare over the hours: Elemental Affinities, Masteries, Subskills, and a single Consumed Skill. His 'engine' was showing itself to be more complex every time he looked... Not necessarily a bad thing.

Affinities... He had picked up two, Fire and Earth. Given the timing, it was easy to guess that they were related to the circumstances in which he acquired them. At the same time they made a lot of sense for him in the long term as well: Being a dragon, he could breathe fire, and for that same reason he ate stones and gems. Even an Earth Pony couldn't boast that level of connection to the soil. So those made sense, and expanding his collection of Affinities... Well, it could go a few ways. Those ways, in turn, got another segment in the journal:

1- It's possible those were all he'd ever get: More than one game had that stuff hard-locked at character creation. Decent and depressing odds, although if he had to stick to two elements, that was probably going to be the pair he chose anyways. Shame about Air, if it works out that way...

2- He might be able to learn or acquire them from ponies or other races, especially if Dragon's Mind had a generous definition of 'magic'. This had high odds since he had gained these affinities at the same time as Stagnet, which let him control and manipulate magic and fire.

3- He might gain them naturally by getting new kinds of Dragon's Breath with the self-same skill, or even just through exposure to the right elements or situations. Not the most likely, but also the best one in terms of potential.

As for the Masteries... Well, he had a decent idea there. He had earned Cooking with this system, and was on his way to getting Craft and Intimidate by the same metric. Since they were word for word the same as skills from O+O and the games based on it? Mastery was probably how he got the things most others would consider 'skills': General, mostly passive talents. Earthshaper wasn't in the list, but in O+O that kind of thing was a subset of Craft... and so was Cooking, plus there’s at least one other difference: Spike’s Earthshaper has an Active component.

Given the evidence, Spike was pretty convinced that the Mastery system was for "skills" in the traditional sense as opposed to the hodgepodge of magic and powers his engine called skills. Which left the weird mystery of Internal Alchemy, of course, but that was probably going to bother him for a long time at the rate it was growing. So that was another topic handled.

Subskills, another one with questions attached. He didn't have a lot of data-points to work with directly, although he had interesting counterpoints. The Commands from Stagnet, the Heartsongs from Cantus, the Recipes from Cooking, etc... Why weren't those Subskills, and why were the ones he had? Using his current collection as a guide he guessed that the deciding factor was if the new 'part' merely added to a skill, or if it was a total overhaul to the core concept: A variant of sorts.

By that logic, Quality Assurance was an always-on method of seeing items his power could utilize, Indra's Net let him turn Observe onto the bonds of things instead of the things themselves, and the Green Sending-Fire totally changed his breath (even if it was his 'default', it wasn't mundane fire).

Commands and Heartsongs and Recipes just added to the framework of their skills in a defined way: Different commands, different tunes and buffs, different kinds of food. That seemed like a good way to split it up, although something to take note of? So far all of his Subskills were either inherent to who he was before The Gamer, or had been gained as quest rewards.

And that left his single Consumed Skill, Eidetic Memory. That was the situation that felt the simplest, but simultaneously the weirdest. From what he could tell it was ‘consumed’ because Dragon's Mind replicated its functionality, but if that was the case then did it even do anything? Had he "wasted" a skill, so to speak, or did earning it amplify that part of Dragon's Mind in some way? The Consumed Skill menu didn't even let him see Eidetic Memory's description, probably because he never saw it before the skill was lost to him.

After so many new theories and ideas, it was a bit disappointing that this would remain a mystery.

Chapter 31: Shifting

Spike had been meandering towards the school while trying to run all of that down and produce theories and write down his notes for later. As such, he had made it... Three blocks, if you could even measure Ponyville by the block. It seemed like his multitasking was going to need a lot of work, but that didn't dissuade him from moving on to an inventory management spree. Just that and his quests and he'd have everything totally in order, then he could hoof it. Inventory, inventory... Huh.

A good start: Nothing surprising in terms of actual contents. Gems, comics, books, blanket, pillow, quills and ink, the ledger, the journal, some loose paper, his bits (which resided in a currency tab instead of being ‘items’), the pouch from Twilight, the muffin from Pinkie, the fines (these were an item, either because he didn't think of that as "his" money, or maybe their quest connection?), the books that were returned, the contents of Rarity's Hopeless Case mixed in with his own gems, the gifts he bought for the Crusaders, Pinkie's recipe, and the Ticket. He hadn't mysteriously been burdened with items, hadn't accidentally stored anything, no weird backfires. A reliable system!

Somewhat less good: He still couldn't Observe that piece of metal from the Case to any real consequence. However, all the various stones and gems had been connected in Indra's Net, his web of information filling out with all of their similarities and interrelationships. Spike wondered if his escapade with the Case had been some hidden prerequisite to attaining this subskill, given how much the skill’s display mimicked the results of that experiment.

The best news? Quality Assurance worked, and it worked even in his inventory. He could see four marked items, each surrounded with an orange-gold glow. The Ticket of course, the Zacahuil recipe... as well as one of his books and the strange metal. Attempting to turn Quality Assurance on them directly with Observe, he could see... Errors, mostly.

Late Bloomer's Ticket
Allows for an act of exceptional creation.

Legendary Recipe: Zacahuil
Teaches a new cooking recipe... but you do not meet the minimum requirements.
INT: 15, LUK: 35, Cooking: 30

Able Actor's Advice (an introduction to performance art, by the nonponymous Able Actor)
Teaches a new skill... but you do not meet the minimum requirements.
STR: 40, DEX: 40, VIT: 40, INT: 40, WIS: 40, LUK: 40, LV: 10

???
Improves Dragon's Breath... but you are not powerful enough. Failure Chance: 37%

On the one hand, it was nice to know that this little chunk of metal would be useful... Eventually. But he wouldn't risk that failure chance. Heck, throw a decimal between the 3 and the 7 and he still wouldn't do it: What if this was totally unique? Plus, the idea of eating something he couldn't put a scratch into with his newly-buffed claws? That was the very definition of unappetizing. No, he'd put all this back for now, even the ticket: While he could use it whenever, and he even had an idea of what he wanted to use it on... The plan wasn't perfect yet.

Another block or two of walking done, and all that was left were his quests. That was a lot simpler. He had to serve the last fine (a bit out of town towards Fluttershy's, might as well visit her while he's at it), 'Visit Other Ponies' (hopefully Fluttershy counted, or the Apples when he dropped off AB?), deal with dinner and snacks and the book shipment (all on the way home or even at home), and...

"Hay Spike!"

"Yoooo!"

"Aw hay there Spike!"

"Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, no outbursts in class! And where... Oh. Hello, Spike."

He waved through the open window, leaning across the sill into the classroom. The Crusaders were waving back, as were a few of the others: Button, Diamond, Silver, and Twist. Cheerilee herself was looking at him with a surprised expression, eyes just barely widened.

"Hey everypony, don't mind me, just dropping in."

Cheerilee sighed, putting one hoof to her forehead and setting her pointer down with the other.
"Yes, well, I'm very glad to see you and we can speak after class... But that's after class. Can I trust you all not to cause any more disruptions? Because if not, I'm closing the window."

The class nodded and quieted down, and Spike followed suit.

Visit Cheerilee + CMC (before class lets out)

With that handled, he took the opportunity to look around the classroom, firing off something like several hundred Observes in ten or fifteen minutes. Why so many and how so many? Apart from the motivation that is 'grinding itself', there were 20-ish ponies in the class. 20, times that many desks, times twice that many quills, times four-fold that many books, then the shelves, clocks, Cheerilee's desk...

THEN he had to switch to Indra's Net and do... Oh. He had forgotten that the Net auto-updated when he looked at any part of a relationship he already knew about. That shaved off quite a few Observe casts from the back end. Still! By the time he was done Spike was really impressed.

Over the years the class had grown up and really improved themselves in all sorts of ways. Nowhere was that more evident than in the fact that nopony was on bad terms anymore: Not a single line of hate or disgust or any other purely-negative relationship on his little web chart. Sure, a lot of the colts and fillies in the class were still distant from each other, especially from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. But everypony was civil, which was an improvement over when he first arrived in Ponyville, and even over when he tried to attend the school himself. His sleeping schedule had put the brakes on that plan very quickly either way...

He could think about disappointments later: Right now he had other appointments!

Namely, class was letting out. That meant that everypony except for the Crusaders and Cheerilee began filtering out and heading towards their homes and after-school activities. Nopony was staying behind for remedial lessons or detention from the look of it, so Spike made his way to the double doors and stepped inside. For a lot of ponies the smell and feel of a school hallway was nostalgic or familiar, even at their equivalent to his age: For Spike it felt like a cut-rate version of the Library he lived in.

A jog past the lockers and the water fountain took him to the open door of Cheerilee's classroom. Ponyville's constant growth had lead to the schoolhouse expanding over time, from a one-room setup back before he and Twilight arrived all the way into its current form. These days they had a solid pack of teachers and a veritable swarm of students of nearly all ages. Twilight had considered petitioning for secondary education initiatives, specialized classes for the adult ponies in town.

All of that aside, right now Spike only cared about this one classroom and the ponies waiting inside.

"Come on in, Spike! I apologize for being snippy earlier, but you know how it is trying to keep order."

[Homeroom Teacher]
Cheerilee
LV 19

"Hay! Ah thought ah recognized those claw-clicks walkin' in the halls. What brings ya round?"

[Cutie Mark Crusader]
Apple Bloom
LV 5

"Aw dude as soon as we blow this joint I absolutely have something to show you! Um, no offense Ms. Cheerilee."

[Cutie Mark Crusader]
Scootaloo
LV 5

"Afternoon Spike! Did you see my sister yet today? I know she said she'd be working outside..."

[Cutie Mark Crusader]
Sweetie Belle
LV 5

"No problem, various news, awesome, yes I did and yes she was... In that order."

Spike expected a laugh or even a giggle-fit, after a line like that. What he didn't expect was the dead silence and unabashed staring of the fillies (plus a grown mare)looking at him like he'd gained a third eye. Wait, had he grown a third eye? Twilight had said something about that when she was teaching him meditation but he had thought that was a metaph-

"Spike, when did you get so tall?"

-or. Or it could be the growth thing. Come to think of it, he hadn't run into anypony who knew him very well since the incident at Rarity's. A random bystander would see little amiss, but these ponies knew him. Which means they also knew that he had been fully six inches shorter circa yesterday.
"Ah! Ahha. Funny story, actually! I had a bit of a growth spurt, sort of a dragon thing..."

Sweetie Belle looked at him with a narrow glare.
"Um, I'm pretty sure growth spurts affect ponies too, and they're not so... sudden?"

"Maybe ponies grow up slower?"

Apple Bloom was the next one to fix him in her gaze.
"Ah live down on the farm and lemme tell ya, that much overnight is plain freaky."

"...Dragon thing?"

Scootaloo was too busy looking at his new form from various angles to complain much, but Cheerilee eventually broke up their standoff with a sigh.
"While I admit that Spike's sudden... change is rather... impressive, we should all really let him be. Don't you all remember what it was like when you started growing up and out in various ways?"

There was some unspoken recollection behind that, because all of the Crusaders immediately went quiet and pulled away from him. Scootaloo even blushed, rather uncharacteristically. Their teacher stood up from her desk with a smile and trotted over, putting a hoof on Spike's shoulder.
"I'm glad you came by to visit: Although maybe some forewarning wouldn't hurt, next time? I have quite a few tests I need to grade, so I'm going to have to send you all away early."

"Oh! Sorry about that. And it's no problem: We can head out to the Clubhouse and chat there."

"Very good! Now don't forget girls, the reports are due in three days, and we have a quiz tomorrow."

"Um, Ms. Cheerilee, I don't remember you saying anything about a quiz during class..."

Cheerilee smiled at the four of them before making her way back to the desk.
"Oh! Dear me, I'll forget my head at this rate. It was supposed to be a pop quiz. It would be a shame if everypony found out about it early somehow... isn't that right Snips?"

A muffled "Yes ma'am!" came from the window outside the classroom, then a moment of silence, followed by the distinct sound of Snails' voice, his "Really?" coming a second later.

Cheerilee let her smile shift into a smirk as she winked at Spike and the Crusaders.
"Class dismissed... For real this time. I hope."

They all laughed at the absurdity of it, but Spike internally wondered just how perceptive Cheerilee was. Picking up that kind of detail was impressive even if it was a regular event... He decided to take one more look while she settled in to grade the papers and tests on the desk. At which point he jerked back in surprise, met with an unexpected shift.

[Pass / Fail]
Cheerilee
LV 19

Chapter 32: Crusading

"W-what?"

"What's wrong, Spike?"

He stared for a moment longer, but the title over Cheerilee's head didn't change: Rather, it didn't change anymore than it already had. Chalk up another thing for his notes.
"Nothing. Sorry, it has been... a bit of a crazy day."

The trip to the clubhouse was... uniquely exhausting. Spike didn't have any real problem with the distance, and he'd never begrudge his closest friends for being themselves. But for the entire walk, the Crusaders bombarded him with questions about his new height and why he was being so quiet. They knew they were not going to get answers, all three of them knew, but there were formalities to be upheld. So they asked questions (increasingly arbitrary and silly ones as time went on), Spike filtered out the noise, and they walked together. There was something peaceful about it, in a very weird and uniquely 'them' sort of way.

"Are yah gettin' wings next?"

"Oooh, what about a horn!"

"Are you gonna sprout another-"

"SCOOTALOO!"

"Tongue! I was going to say tongue."

Spike rolled his eyes.
"Suuure you were. It's not like I need a third one of... those."

"What?"

He frantically gestured to the Clubhouse, just ahead.
"Nothing oh hey look we're here!"

Over the years the Clubhouse had grown up and out itself. Apart from acquiring the materials it was all work they had done themselves, and at this point they had something you could call a legitimate 'base'. Two stories and the start of a small basement, an open second-floor deck to 'launch' their various rope and vine swinging crusades from, even a little offset shed for storage and working on interesting things that Zecora or Pinkie happened to pass on. The windows were still free of glass but had picked up bug netting pretty early, and the various entrances and doors had a nice mixture of beaded curtains inside and plain screened doors on the exterior.

They made their way inside, up the ramp and through the doors. Spike had spent a lot of his time in Ponyville here, with these ponies. Spending time with the Crusaders was comfortable in a way that spending time with his older friends (arguably Twilight's friends, but he had gotten closer to them over the years himself) wasn't... It felt more like he was with ponies who had the same perspectives as him, or who had similar problems. Not just friends but allies in the game of life. Which meant this next bit was going to be particularly interesting.

"Sorry for the short notice, but: I hereby proclaim a Crusader Council!"

They had come up with the idea quite some time ago, in response to the arguments and bickering that occasionally derailed efforts at Crusading. There was a mixture of seriousness and comedy behind the entire thing, pomp and circumstance deliberately blown out of proportion: As soon as he said the words, the Crusaders bolted to various corners and began assembling their council folderol. A gavel, a wig (nopony wore it, it was just important that it be present), some robes (enough for all of them, courtesy Rarity), things like that. By the time they were done all four of them had settled into formation, with Spike in the center as the declarator, and had even grabbed drinks out of their icebox (a hand-me-down from the Apple family farm).

"All hooves present?"

Twelve appendages were pointed his way for a moment and then pulled back into their respective robes.

"You know what I meant."

"Present!" "Ah'm here!" "Occupied!"

"That's ALSO not what-"

"I know! I just... I like the joke."

"Fair enough!"

And with that, their meeting was called to order, for a very very tenuous definition of order. For the others, he had settled with summarizing what all had happened: The Gamer, his new abilities, the sheer density of things that had changed in just a fraction of one day. But with the Crusaders, he explained everything. As he went along with his story he also put things into practice, showing off each of his skills in turn. A gem from his Inventory, Observe'd, cut with his claws and Earthshaper. Dragon's Heart enhanced his efforts, Omphaloskepsis restored his MP afterwards. A puff of his Breath held still as a crystal in mid-air with Stagnet, crushed in his palm despite the brief flare of pain to show his Physical Endurance... and of course, his already evident height, explained as the effects of the Dragon's Hoard.

The Crusaders watched silently, never once interrupting. It was part of the rules: Once one of them called a Council, that member got to say their part before anything further was discussed. What was unusual was that after Spike stopped, they were still silent. They looked at him expectantly and he looked back, eventually just shrugging his shoulders and falling back onto his tail.
"So yeah... That's a thing that happened."

Sweetie turned to look at Scootaloo.
Scootaloo turned to look at Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom turned to look at Sweetie.
The three of them all turned as one to look at Spike.
"OK yeah we're gonna have to take a break." "Agreed." "Motion thirdeded!"

They quickly bolted away and scampered up the stairs, leaving Spike to sit there in his robes and question his life. He knew they weren't going to react badly but it was very possible they would still overreact. Although come to think of it, how bad could that be, all told? He’d survived all of their unsuccessful attempts at Cutie Mark hunting in the past, even the really rough ones. This time he had the added protection and power of this new ability: Hay, maybe the Crusaders were the first real way he could test his limits. The only thing that worried him was just how long the three of them were spending upstairs...

Almost in synch with his musings the Crusaders came barreling back down the stairs, their hooves loaded with stuff. They had shed their robes and used them to bundle up all sorts of things: Looking from where he sat, Spike clearly saw rope, wood, nails, a hammer, a knife, a saw, glue, books, a deck of cards, a jar full of marbles, the Treasury (their name for the perpetually near-empty bag of bits hidden under a loose floorboard), masks... He lost track despite staring, and staring meant he almost didn't have time to react when Sweetie Belle tripped and started to tumble. He leapt and... Didn't have a chance to do anything, as Sweetie caught herself on the bottom step with a pirouette and a smile.

"Oh my gosh sorry we just got so excited about testing everything out and seeing all the new stuff you can do that we got caught up collecting stuff to test it out with!"

"So you all..."

"Spike cmon, how could we NOT think this is the best thing ever? Our super-cool dragon friend just got even super-cooler, and we're some of the first ponies to find out!"

"Ah'm really interested in seeing what yer up to, Spike! Ah mean... You know what Ah mean."

He smiled and felt his chest loosen up, worries blown away by sheer enthusiasm.
"Awesome. It means a lot for me to hear that, and-"

Three hooves shot up in front of him before he could finish.
"But!" "But!" "But!"

"...Rehearsed that?"

Three totally innocent grins behind the outstretched hooves.
"Maybe!" "Maybe!" "Maybe!"

They all burst out laughing for a moment before continuing on.
"OK, so... what's the but?"

"You need to look at us!"

"Scootaloo!"

"What? He does! Unless it's just like, proxi... what's that word?"

"Proximity."

"That! Proximity based."

"What we're tryin' ta say, Spike, is that we want ya ta Observe us."

He scratched the spines at the back of his head nervously.
"I sort of... Already did. Didn't pay much attention though, just a grinding reflex. Why?"

"Duh! We wanna know what our stats are!"

"Spike, we just found out that we have character sheets. Imagine trying to play in Shining's game without being able to see your own stats, except you still know that the stats exist."

"Plus ya said ya didn't look at 'em yet! So we're all curious... Right?"

He hadn't considered this issue before. Telling somepony all of their statistics, details, history... Everything that Observe showed to him? He couldn't really think of a good reason not to, but it emphasized for him just how much he was prying into the privacy of other ponies when he used his abilities. The discomfort was brief however, and only gave him a moment of pause before he nodded.

"Alright. Gimme one of the easels and I'll write it all down. Maybe I can get a calligraphy skill!"

The Crusaders cheered as he pulled the ink and quill out of his Inventory (not bothering with his belt pouch charade) to start charting. Before he really got down to it, he turned around to look at them.
"No peeking! If you want to show each other that's cool, but I'm going to hand them over privately."

"OK." "Alright!" "Sure thang."

It only took him a minute before he finished, handing over sheets one after the other. He didn't bother copying over their personal histories, averted his eyes as well: No sense prying more than he absolutely had to. Predictably they showed each other their details right away: He hadn't expected anything else, but it felt proper to have given them the choice. His eidetic memory kept the sheets in his head as clearly as when they were written, so he basically followed along as they read.

Chapter 33: Quantifying

The Crusader’s ‘character sheets’ as produced by Observe were... interesting.

``` Identity: Sweetie Belle, 15, Female, Unicorn Personal Information: Job: Student, No Position Title: Cutie Mark Crusader, ? Specialty Current Status: Status (Normal) Experience: Level 5, XP to Next Level: 978 Attributes: STR: 10 DEX: 14 VIT: 13 INT: 22 WIS: 19 LUK: 22

Identity: Scootaloo, 16, Female, Pegasus Personal Information: Job: Student, No Position Title: Cutie Mark Crusader, ? Specialty Current Status: Status (Normal) Experience: Level 5, XP to Next Level: 760 Attributes: STR: 13 DEX: 29 VIT: 17 INT: 10 WIS: 15 LUK: 18

Identity: Apple Bloom, 15, Female, Earth Pony Personal Information: Job: Student, No Position Title: Cutie Mark Crusader, ? Specialty Current Status: Status (Normal) Experience: Level 5, XP to Next Level: 410 Attributes: STR: 23 DEX: 19 VIT: 23 INT: 17 WIS: 14 LUK: 7

```

In addition to dropping the History segment, Spike trimmed off a few other small sections. The main one was that to his eyes 'Status' also included their emotional state. Not much sense writing that down, it was going to change too often to be useful. It made sense to keep Status line as a whole, just to prove they were all in good condition. Chalk that up as another use for Observe: He could probably do some fantastic diagnostic work at the Ponyville General Hospital. Volunteering might be a good way to grind skills... Onto the list it went. In the meantime, he tried to keep an ear out for what the Crusaders thought about their stats.

"Mah luck is seven?"

"Aw, why am I so... balanced?"

"WHOO! So fast. I mean, probably? Um, what's the base like?

"I started with ten and that seems normal, from the ponies I saw."

"OK, sweet! Then I am very fast. Awesome."

"Seven?"

"I mean, it definitely seems right, but geez, Scootaloo's got twenty-nine dexterity and-"

"-and Ah have SEVEN LUCK. Can we come back around ta that?"

Spike frowned down at the sheets.
"Yeah, about that... Actually... Huh. Give me a minute here, I want to do some math."

"...That is not a normal sentence."

"Ya'll OK?"

"Hey, I like math!"

Tally it all up, carry here... Weird. So if everypony had 10 in each stat to start, and then everypony but him got 5 points to spread on level-up (or got a level when they earned five points? how do levels even work? was it just abstracting these stats from their potential when he used Observe, or was it a static fact that only he could see and understand?), and all the Crusaders were Level 5... Added up that would be 85. But Apple Bloom, despite her Luck complaints (and the fact that everypony started with 10 made seeing a single-digit number even weirder, actually) had the highest total of them... at a staggering 103.

So where did the other 18 points come from? That was more than three levels' worth! They had to come from training, given what he knew about the system... And that made sense. A worrying amount of sense. Their never-ending Cutie Mark Crusade inevitably involved all sorts of high-end strenuous activity, pushing their limits trying to learn anything and everything. As they had gotten older they'd diverted into just as many mental pursuits as physical: Scootaloo spent six solid weeks last year studying old Cloudsdalian war tactics, for just one example.

Spike wondered if the girls would be anywhere near this powerful if they had already gotten their Cutie Marks at a normal age, instead of striving constantly and still lacking. Would they have the same raw stats, except more focused? No, they'd almost certainly be weaker... He felt that there was a lesson here, something about spreading out and confronting your weaknesses instead of just relying on the places where you're already strong. He also realized he was digressing again: The Crusaders all looked at him expectantly, clearly having come to a similar conclusion a while ago.

"So all the crusading and adventuring that we did..."

"Worth a whole mess a' points, huh?"

"...Spike, what are your stats like?"

He looked nervously from the Crusaders to the pile of random implements they had brought down.
"Uh, I think because of The Gamer it... Started me off fresh? So, um, Eleven-ish. All around."

Their eyes lit up with a very worrying gleam, which was when things got a little hectic. Spike remembered agreeing to work on his stats and maybe even grind his skills while they were at it. And he very clearly remembered the setup, making sure they understood his limits, deciding on a signal in case something dangerous happened. The basics, you know? As for what came next...

"Hay Spike can ya Observe how many marbles are in this here jar?"

"Spike, can you lift me? What about after buffs?"

"Oooh! Can you calculate how much buffing it takes, out to two decimals?"

"Carve a stone statue! Doesn't matter how bad, just try it."

"Alright, now that I'm on your back, how much slower are you? Try sprinting!"

"Start using that Heartsong thing! I'll accompany you, that works right?"

"Oooh, that's actually pretty nice. Can ya try to do it up as sheet music? In dragonfire!"

"I'm your training weight for now! Do normal exercises but with me on top of you."

"Croup dock haunch, shoulders hip- How long can we interrupt the song?"

"Ya'll both slowed up real bad there: So... Not long from the lookuvit. Less than a bar?"

"OK, throw me! Just toss me, I'm good at tucking and rolling. See how far I can get."

"That's enough song testing for now: Let's make our way into town!"

Somewhere towards the end there he ended up slipping into a harness attached to a modest sledge. It was something they pulled around town during school fundraisers, or they’d drag it out of mothballs when their families needed help to move things. Spike had helped haul it before, although usually he wasn’t alone and it was full of cloth or produce. Today he had to pull it solo, and it was over-full with three over-excited fillies. They didn't stop testing his abilities and limitations either, save for was some attention paid to keeping his MP stable: With his current stats self-buffing was required to drag them all across town, so testing Active skills right now was off the table.

They got some strange looks, but not much stranger than usual: Ponyville kind of inured you to shenanigans after the first few months. Around halfway to the Library, Spike realized that in a cosmic sense this whole thing was his own fault: The Crusaders had only encountered this kind of ridiculous multi-disciplinary training in comics and games thanks to him, and now it came full circle to bite him. That bite was softened just a little by the constant parade of stat bonuses, skill ups, fresh acquisitions and Mastery system pings. Turns out when you've got the body of a video game character, you can do impossible ridiculous grindy training like one too. Who would've guessed?

Chapter 34: Snacks

Once they got into the Library, they took a bit of a breather. Scootaloo helped him out of the harness and Apple Bloom stowed the sledge out of the way of the road, all while Sweetie Belle moved the rest of their training equipment inside. For his part, Spike had to close-slash-minimize-slash-hide that entire pile of alerts, as interrupting this momentum with minutia would feel wasteful. He'd check it later, anyways. As it is he took a moment to center himself, focusing on taking a few deep breaths and centering himself in the meditation practice Twilight had taught him. That evening in the lab last year felt like it was a lifetime away... Hay, this morning felt like it was a lifetime away.

He went to crack the seal on the packages full of books but was stopped by Apple Bloom.
"Naw, the boxes can sit fer now: We got plans fer those."

Spike put on his best fake-pout to try to convince Apple Bloom, or at least get her to laugh.
"Given that they're library property, shouldn't I at least get a hint?"

Thankfully, he succeeded on both counts: She had to stifle a giggle as she answered him.
"Well, ah know yer Observe trick can see through stuff, right?"

"Yeah, because of the bit bag Twilight gave me. Using it then listed the contents, and it was my first time using the skill too! So it must be way better now."

Scootaloo chimed in from across the room, where she was hoofing her way through some of the flight manuals and aerobic exercise guides on one shelf.
"Right! But like, I could tell you how many bits are in a bag just by lookin' at it. I might have to guess a little, but I could see the coins pressing on the fabric... I said the fabric..."

Sweetie sighed and threw in a quiet "Dumb fabric" for old times' sake when she realized Scootaloo wasn't going to continue until she did... Always worth another shot at the 'running gag' Cutie Mark.

"Thank you! But seriously, what about identifying the books inside that box? Not just the number of them, but the titles? What about the subjects? Could you read them? Could you use Observe on the books themselves just 'cause you're also Observing the box they're in? It's super weird! And it sounded like a really good test with no risks or sweating, so it'll be nice for during our snack break."

Apple Bloom looked anxiously towards the kitchen.
"Speakin' a snacks, how 'bout we-"

Spike remembered, in horrible clarity, Rarity's description of Sweetie's cooking from earlier.
"How about I throw some snacks together! You three can just chill out here. I need to grind on my Cooking skill anyways."

He caught a sigh of relief from AB and Scoots when he said that, while Sweetie just pouted a bit. After seeing their expressions Spike made his way to the kitchen, holding back a laugh. Snacks and drinks... And training. It wouldn't be fitting of him to take a break at this point: The natural way forward is to mix practice with preparation, just like at breakfast. With this in mind, Spike turned his eyes to the cabinets and the fridge. He would be serving for ponies as well as himself, so many of the 'special' items in the fridge were right out, as were gems.

Thinking over what they had been doing and what was available, it wasn't difficult to come to one conclusion. The hard work had been focused on him, but he wasn't the only one working hard: Refreshing drinks and light food, recovery fare, that was the ideal menu today. Start off with some citrus fruit... Oooh, they still had some of those orange slices Twilight had prepared the other night. A fun chemical experiment had dissolved the outer pith and left them with flawless crystal-clear jewels of fruit, no bitterness or stringy toughness.

Follow that up with a bit of salad (they had enough spinach and assorted lettuces to segue into some kind of joke, and he could add daisies for color), throw together a vinegary dressing with capers and lemon and a bit of spice... Pair that off with something fatty, maybe crumble up some good sharp cheddar: It was too late if he wanted to pick up fresh curds at the market. Then a drink and a sweet finisher would round it out. Come to think of it, he hadn't assembled a menu like this in a little while: Twilight hadn't been hosting many of the girls’ weekly get-togethers, and those were the only time he really got to show off his cooking chops for a whole group.

Interestingly, he earned XP for Cooking as he threw together the dressing and assembled the salads, which matched up with his earlier theory. 'Cooking' (to his power) seemed to be a broad umbrella for everything related to food prep, even if it was as simple as a salad. Just taking the already-stripped orange slices and plating them for service didn't trigger anything, so there must be a threshold. Either that or maybe something about intent... No matter how it worked, the amount of benefit he got for each action was starting to go down, and that was a more pressing concern.

Spike had settled on the idea that his enormous growth today was influenced (at least in part) by the quest he was on. That feeling was being backed up with new information as he trained and ground out new skills... It was going to get harder from here. As skills levelled up their growth slowed, hypothetical influence of his quest aside. As Observe went past 20 and up towards 25 it slowed even more. However, Spike wasn't too worried: He had spent a lot of time with the Crusaders and other ponies as they developed new skills and talents, and that gave him an educated hunch.

If his hunch was right then things would actually balance out after that, making 25 a benchmark beyond which things would be a bit easier. The theory made sense if you compared it to actual self-improvement, where there was a rough wall before you hit the plateau of achieving basic mastery. Once you knew what you were doing, getting better was easier as well (up to a point): If his power worked the same way, the experience-per-level might even end up lower after the bump.

The combination of that theory and the much more clear-cut idea that his 'first day' quest was actually boosting his growth provided him a good excuse to do what he wanted anyways: Try and get as many skills levelled as possible before the day was out. This put Spike in an experimental mindset, so he tackled making the drink for their snacks as if it were more a chemical brew than a beverage... Try to find the boundary between Cooking and Crafting, and level them both either way.

Even if he messed up as badly as possible, it couldn't actually out-catastrophe some of the food he'd been exposed to. The Baked Bads alone were a masterstroke of failure: The most his mistakes could do was kneel in their crumbly, wormy shadow.

So to start... Precise ratios, use some lab glass from the washing rack, measure syrup against seltzer with mint and ice. Crush and mix and fuse it together... The experience went into Cooking.

Alright then. Next time be more methodical, step back and look at it like assembly as opposed to mixing... Cooking. Hrm.

Well, if that failed... Spike the mix with some emeralds, hold back on the syrup a bit, focus on the tonic aspects... Crafting! Perfect.

Now he had a few drinks made up, albeit one of them only he could drink safely... But even more importantly he had a good idea what the divide was. There was a line between something you’d eat or drink under normal day-to-day circumstances, and something that was meant as a curative or palliative, something closer to medicine... That's when it shifted from Cooking to Crafting, and vice versa, was when something crossed that line.

A few extra glasses with small variations confirmed his hypothesis and provided a buff notification for the gem-laced version: [Virgin Emerald Julep], granting improved HP recovery. So now he had drinks, fruit, salad... He could grab a bit of bread or some crackers on the way out to get carbs in there. If all of that got finished off and they still needed a refresher, there were dessert fixings in the fridge. Ideally Spike had been hoping to save it for later, but there was no sense not treating friends when he had the chance.

And a treat it very clearly was: As soon as he came back out of the kitchen the usual light-hearted ribbing began, even as Spike could see the hunger in their eyes.

"Awww, food food again?"

"Hey now, that's the rule! We all voted and everything."

"Yah, plus today's looks real swell."

The Crusaders had established a rotation of sorts to cater to all of the four critical food groups: Junk food, fast food, sweets, and ‘real’ food. Apple Bloom could always be counted on to provide the pies and cakes and fritters, Sweetie had a sizable allowance to blow on takeout, and Scootaloo helped Rainbow Dash stick to training diets by 'confiscating' all of the daisy chips, cookies, hay crisps and other unhealthy food she kept 'managing to end up with'. Which left Spike as the only capable cook of them all, alone in charge of Class 4: Home-cooked meals.

"Well, here's hoping! Orange ‘gems’, salad with cheddar and capers, crackers with the leftover cheese, plus mint spritzers to drink. The one in the, heh, pebbled glass is mine by the way: Threw in some emeralds while I was experimenting."

"Niiice! Alright, let's dig in!"

Rather than try to distribute eating into all of the training they had been doing, it was a lot simpler to just take the direct route and take a real break. Time was limited, but not that badly... Plus, it turns out the food was so good that they finished it in mere minutes anyways. A quick trip back into the kitchen to rinse all the glasses and bowls, and then Spike was back in the foyer preparing himself for another bout.

Chapter 35: Smacks

"Oh hey, before we get started... I think we can be a little riskier about damaging me in training. I can regenerate more HP thanks to the emerald drink, so let's push the limits further, OK?"

A portable easel was snapped into place and notes taken, recovery rates combined with what they already knew about his skills. Adding on the buff (and preparing another glass to refresh it once it ran low), they had a few reasonable guesses for how much punishment Spike could take: There was a level of uncertainty to the formulas until they figured out the order of operations. A lot of games showed that stuff, but just as many kept it hidden for the power-users to find... Maybe he was missing a critical submenu somewhere that would clarify those things.

Even with that topic on their minds, it probably should have surprised him at least a bit more when Scootaloo lashed out hard with one rear hoof and bucked him right in the knee. As it stands, he winced at the pain but stayed standing himself: A hit that would have crumpled him flat on his face a day ago was absorbed effortlessly... Somehow. The pegasus blinked and looked him up and down.
"...Huh. I could swear I hit the joint dead-on."

"Uh, I think you did? But it didn't matter. Body of a video game character, right? Hitting a joint is no different from hitting my tail: The only HP that matters is the last. I bet I could cut off a finger or an arm and just sort of... not. You know what I mean?"

"Wait wait wait. So all the damage we'd do is just... numbers, not damage? Aw shucks lemme rejigger the plan here."

Spike had a very distinct feeling he had just made things a lot tougher for himself. That was confirmed when Sweetie Belle came waltzing out of the kitchen, all smiles and whistling... with her greenish-yellow magical aura levitating a broad chopping knife.

"...Um. Let's test the theory on something small."

"Tailtip? Chunk of a limb?"

"Bit of tongue, maybe. I know from experience that I can regrow that even without this new stuff."

There was still an air of nervous tension as he stuck out a modest (foot-long) portion of his tongue and Sweetie lined up her swing. It was one thing to confront the idea that he could deal with this kind of harm, and another to actually enact it. But they'd all suffered worse when out Crusading and he had regrown multiple inches of tongue after a bad bite when he was younger. Twilight had taken notes and done a bit of research on the severed piece, eventually concluding that it was one of the ways in which dragons were kin to terrestrial lizards.

"So here goes, um, not nothing but... something?"

"Masterful speech, Sweetie."

"Shoosh. KNIFE TIME!"

If anything the pain was even more transient the second time around, fading just as quickly as it happened... And there was no piece of tongue on the ground. The fillies looked from the knife to him, to the lack of blood and meat, then back again.

"Did I miss?"

"No, 3 damage. Like I said: Gamer's Body. I just don't... show any harm, and I guess there's no functional damage either? My tonguetip is still just as far along as before"

He stuck out his tongue to make sure, and there was the forked tip, plain as day... Even after Sweetie took it off again with another lazy swing.
"Huh. I totally feel the, like, feedback? Resistance? Whichever word's more cogent. I feel it, but... Yeah. It's like a luchapone no-selling a Gerrmane suplex."

Scootaloo looked over incredulously.
"You watch professional wrestling?"

"Rarity likes the outfits. And the drama."

After that comment, a third sweep removed his tongue cleanly again, or would have if he hadn't been him. Sweetie watched this time from a side-on view, head cocked to one side.
"Yeah, I can see that I'm making impact, passing through... but no severing, no pieces, no blood."

Spike put up his claws and sighed.
"OK, enough tongue lack-of-mutilation. With that covered... that was 11 damage total, plus like 9 from the knee shot earlier... But I recovered 10 already. AB, does that match any of the theories?"

The farmfilly looked at the clock, did some math in her head, and then looked back over to the easel. A moment later she tapped her hoof against one option before circling it with a stroke of ink, although her verbal response was muffled until she spat out the pen.
"Ymmf, Numf... Blegch. Yeah! Number 4."

Sweet. That meant it was based on his natural regeneration but worked on its own, independently ticking his HP up over a period based on his Vitality... all while not replacing the original recovery! It was like having a second ‘dose’ of natural health recovery... Truly the best of all possible worlds.

"OK, let's figure out how high I can get this with Dragon's Heart. Buffing... Now!"

He had been feeling the benefits of the skill's passive side ever since he got it, a constant heated pressure in his muscles and his body, like his blood was running warmer and thicker somehow. But this would be his first time really using the active portion. Spike focused his energy into the proper shape, following the way the skill... Elucidated? It was hard to describe. It wasn't like flexing a muscle, or like channeling his fire breath. It didn't have much in common with a learned motion or a practiced skill, either. Instead he just shifted the way he was, directing what his abilities called ‘MP’ into a different route than normal.

Surprisingly, the effects of this buff were more visible than the damage from their attacks. As soon as he began flowing MP into the skill his HP slapped back up to full in a sudden jerk... No, not quite. The bar extended as his VIT rose, while the regeneration's pace picked up to match it. Aside from the changes in his menu, his body... Well it didn't suddenly swell up or get leaner. It didn’t change at all from a certain perspective. The difference was a pervasive glow around him, like a unicorn's magical aura sans the sparkles. He radiated colorless power for a moment as he stood before the Crusaders. The room was bathed in the pale light only briefly before it sank back into his skin and then faded. But while the light was gone, the changes on his stats remained.

"...So cool."

"Ah'll admit that's a fancy lightshow. But how diff'rent are ya feelin'?"

"How different?"

He flexed one claw and then the other, then an arm... Then lashed back out quickly, snatching the kitchen knife out of Sweetie's magic. A few quick tosses from hand to hand before he passed it back, watching his stats and his movements at the same time. It was hard to split his attention but he could feel the benefits of it, like stretching a muscle. His perceptions seemed slightly sharper, but nothing compared to the change in his reflexes. To top it off, while he didn't want to break anything, it felt like he could have shattered the knife (the handle, at least) if he chose to.

"...Pretty. Um, right, charts. At this skill level, 10 MP a minute gets me another 10% boost and doubles my base HP regen... So the Emerald buff pulses faster and heals more per 'pulse'.

"Both?"

"Yeah: My Vitality is higher and the natural regeneration is stronger: It keys off of both."

Sweetie looked over the tools they had gathered and started bouncing a few small gems between her hooves. He had described his other buffs to them already, and she seemed to have an idea.
"So, all these gem powers seem like... Um. They're not adding to the base, or multiplying it. They're based on the original value but they don't change the statistic itself. I don't know a good term for it."

Scootaloo's eyes glazed over through most of that, but she snapped back to attention at the end.
"Trait-based independent enhancement!"

"...Thank... you?"

"Rainbow Dash keeps drilling me on weather magic and flight boosters and stuff. Apparently I've got 'a good instinct for the framework', or so she claims? I think it all goes over my head when we talk about it, but I guess it is soaking in a bit."

Apple Bloom just rolled her eyes and started making adjustments to the numbers on the board.
"OK ya'll, we’ve got it figured. Sweetie, wanna double-check my numbers?"

Spike grimaced.
"Please do. I know these hits aren't showing, but I do definitely take them and I'm not like that one Outerworlds mechanic: I won't survive with 1 HP and a chance to recover if you kill me on accident."

"Yet!"

"...What?"

"I mean, you've already gotten skills that are like mechanics from real games we've played. So maybe you could get a Last Chance or Undercoat sort of thing!"

His reply was very measured and patient, while his tone made it clear he was serious.
"Yes. Sure. That would be really reassuring, actually. But I don't have it now, is the point."

"Oh yeaaaah. OK, double-checking the numbers! Still not sure why you keep having me do this though: You're way better at math than me."

Apple Bloom frowned as Sweetie came over to the easel.
"Shore, yeah, I guess... But I like bein' positive. And I keep havin' trouble puttin' my numbers inta action."

"And that's why we're a team!"

"Yup! Never fear Apple Bloom: Separately we might be mere Cutie Mark Crusaders, but together!"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were both standing attently near the easel as if they’d prepared for this. Meanwhile their fellow Crusader’s only response was to bury her face in her hooves.
"Aw horsepucky not this again."

"YES! Together, we can combine our unrelated talents to cover each others' weaknesses! In this way we three fillies form..."

Scootaloo and Sweetie arched towards each other and clapped hooves as if doing some kind of fusion technique.
"ONE FULLY FUNCTIONAL PONY!"

"Ah love ya girls. Ah hate ya too sometimes... but ah still love ya, all the same."

"Right back atchya AB."

Chapter 36: Stacks

"Ah love ya girls. Ah hate ya too sometimes... but ah still love ya, all the same."

"Right back atchya AB."

Sweetie nuzzled up to their friend while Scootaloo kept laughing, although their attention never entirely strayed from the problem at hoof.
"Always! And the numbers look good, by the way: The checking has been doubled!"

Spike looked from the board and then to the not-quite-forgotten knife, then to the Crusaders.
"So I'm just going to sit here taking hits?"

Apple Bloom began shuffling through the contents of their cart, trying to find something in particular.
"Naw Spike, yer not just gonna sit around gettin' wailed on."

"Oh good, because-"

She finally came back up with a claw-backed hammer in muzzle. Her initial attempts to speak were totally muffled by the tool, so she spat it out before trying again.
"After all, somepony's gotta calculate how hard we're all hittin'!"

"While being hit?"

Scootaloo hadn't bothered getting herself any kind of weapon, instead relying on her hoof-strikes.
"I mean can you think of a better time?"

The reply that came out of his mouth was so dry Spike was pretty sure his tongue curled.
"Several."

That gave them pause. The Crusaders looked from one to the other, silent for a moment.
"Spike, if you're not OK with this-"

"No, no, I am! I just keep grinding to see if I can get Sarcasm as a skill."

"...Now see, I can't actually tell if that was sarcasm, so are you still..."

"The better question is when am I not. Just... start hitting. I promise not to be flippant about the actual work we're doing."

"Works by me! Who wants the honor of first blood?"

"I don't actually seem to bleed anymore, so I’m not sure that term is copac-"

His little jab got cut off by an actual jab, a stiff hoof to the gut. He rattled off the damage numbers and then took another hit from a different direction. His menus needed him to look to see details, but he had a constant sort of 'knowledge' of his HP and MP even without turning on the visible bars. He closed his eyes and focused solely on that instinct.

Attempting to predict where the next hit would come from was another way to stack one exercise (maybe some kind of threat awareness or blind-fighting skill?) with another (taking damage for Physical Endurance), and yet a third once that started ranking up: As his Endurance rose the damage the girls did went down and the math had to be constantly adjusted. Eventually they learned to pull their kicks and bucks and bites and stabs in order to modulate the damage, and a consistent rain of blows ensued.

Once the damage started getting into a steady flow, with his HP and MP kept in check by the hits and the cost of regeneration, they started getting real experimental. Could severe damage to his limbs lower his DEX or cause a status effect? A pony could be hobbled or crippled, even a dragon could (he remembered a bad fall off a bookshelf back in Canterlot, although it had healed weirdly fast even then), but could a Gamer? No he could not, as it turned out: Even when Sweetie took one of his arms clean off in a massive sweep (the damage so high they had to pause for a minute), Spike maintained full use of the limb that had been 'removed'.

After that, things settled back into a casual groove of beating and breaking, cutting and burning: Every so often the girls would pass their weapons around to each other, and Spike took new hits from different angles as they all learned how to use everything at-hoof. Despite the constant flares of pain (which steadily dropped as they worked), he was actually enjoying this. There was something satisfying about mutual training, to the point where he decided they'd need to make a habit of this. Not just damaging him, he was pretty sure he wasn’t enjoying it that much. No he’d been thinking more of just... training in general.

Towards the end, another plan for an experiment came up, this one much more tentative. Spike reacted to having an arm lopped off the same way most ponies reacted to stubbing their hoof... But what about critical damage? The body had a lot of very important parts, and so Gamer's Body or no they couldn't risk anything that would kill him outright. In the end they compromised on some soft blows to the less essential 'danger zones'.

"Eyes?"

"Eugch, yeah, that'll be on the list for sure."

"Inside the mouth?"

"Well, I don't have a conspicuously loose scale under one leg, but we should check the traditional dragon weaknesses. So yeah, that gets in."

"Yer, ah..."

The hesitation was palpable in the air, and Spike cracked his eyes open to see the Crusaders blushing and shuffling their hooves.
"What?"

They pointed down, he looked down, saw nothing but smooth scales...
"Oh. OH! Nope, nope, not letting knives anywhere near them. A kick would be OK though."

"Them?"

"Just... Let's test the risky spots and move on?"

He got some dubious looks for that, but closing his eyes again ended that conversation... Doubly so when those closed eyes were assaulted a moment later. Details aside (just because he could endure it didn't mean he liked recalling it) it seemed like the weak-spots they had chosen worked. Taking a hit to one gave him a 'Critical Damage' notification, bumped his Physical Endurance XP much faster, and did much more damage.

Further tests showed it was floored: The weakest blow that did any damage at all did a guaranteed minimum on a Critical. Hits which did more than that got a multiplier, although it wasn’t a huge one. Theory suggested that his heart and brain would work the same but with nastier results. Importantly, shots to the eyes didn't blind him even briefly: Whatever way the Gamer's Body worked with these 'critical' hits, that aspect was still purely in his favor.

By the time they were done? The sheet on the easel was totally covered in calculations, the girls had amended their character sheets with damage outputs ("Just for reference!") and their plan to get the rest of the chores and training done had solidified. It turns out that when you spend enough time stabbing somebody who isn't actually getting hurt? The whole thing gets so rote that you don't mind having a different conversation mid-stabs. Not something he'd have believed if you had told him as much yesterday, but neither was... any of this.

"Alright, so we've got everything prepared, right?"

Sweetie Belle hoisted a long poking-stick and gestured to the stack of boxes.
"Ready!"

Apple Bloom finished closing the easels and throwing all the data into a folder for later.
"Eeyup!"

Scootaloo just kicked him in the shins again to keep his HP from topping all the way off.
"Good to go when you are!"

He resisted the urge to kick back, and instead just clapped his claws together.
"OK. Good. But before we do: I've had this little niggling worry in the back of my head, and I wanna take care of it. I've been getting so many skills today, and all so fast... Given how the quest I got was worded? I think the golden age of quick pickups is going to end when the quest does."

"Awwww!"

"Real shame."

"Bummer."

"Yeah yeah, no disagreement here. But, since I know it's coming? I can cram as much as possible before then. So, while I am going to regret this later... Can we go a little harder this time?"

There was no response: Not a verbal one at least. Their intent was made clear by the way they prepared and angled themselves, with almost no visible worry about going overboard. This was... fun, fun in a way Spike didn't quite have a grasp on. Maybe after so many years of being the one being he knew without any direct power, with few adventures to his name? Maybe this was all going to his head... Well, at least he had experience getting that kind of thing back under control.

It was a good thing, too, because 'control' was going to be the watchword here. He went into the trance that activated Omphaloskepsis and let the trance carry him forward as they worked. It was much harder, trying to move and act while staying in that meditative state, but after a few false starts he managed to make it work. It was weaker than normal, and it got disrupted over and over as the Crusaders interfered with him. But instead of letting the distractions bother him (only listening in order to know what to do next), he focused on keeping his mind in that state. He took each distraction as it came and then drifted back to his center.

Spike held the trance as he worked, wove the work into the trance and back. Movements of his limbs matched the interior movement of his blood, the passage of air matched by the passage through rooms. Attempting to Observe the insides of the boxes and packages was mirrored by self-observation. Cutting and being cut, breaking and being broken, reading and being read. He could Observe the world in order to observe himself. Treat the world as a part of himself, as well as the other way around. Twilight had talked to him about this kind of meditation before, but he had never really understood it until now. Now... he fell into a pattern, as the grinding and work continued.

Spit fire (literally, sending test items to the Princess), spit fire (bolstering his Intimidate), Spitfire (Scootaloo delivering Wonderbolts trivia), spit fire (a catastrophically failed attempt at rapping).

Crack rocks (consume more gems, study their benefits), crack rocks (Earthshaper opening the geode Twilight ordered), crack rocks (a box of medical journals, overdose countermeasures...).

Move water (pour drinks, bring them out), move water (try to control his beverage with Stagnet, fail), move water (bathroom break), move water (loads of laundry and glasses to clean).

Fresh air (move the laundry to the line, out on the balcony), fresh air (a break outside, break down the empty boxes), Fresh Air (say hello to their new neighbor, a sky blue unicorn).

Trip light (everything blurs together, he barely remembers the conversations as he worked), trip light (a stumble here and there, as his legs are cut from underneath), trip light (the girls glow on the inside).

Open everything (all of the boxes are clear), open everything (air out the storage closets and the basement), open everything (cry, just a bit, when the Crusaders can't see), open everything...

Spike opened his eyes, raising his eyelids.

Spike opened his eyes, pulling back the membranes beneath.

Spike opened his eyes and something else opened with them.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through immersion in the flow and then safely returning from it, a skill to open oneself to the world, [Exposure], has been created!

Chapter 37: Exposure

Exposure LV1 EXP: 0.00%
By letting their bodies become a conduit between the inner self and the outside world, the user of this skill has learned to treat any regular sustained behavior as a form of meditation. This not only allows for more regular recovery, but improves the depth and power of traditional meditation. In addition, a myriad of future skills may develop from this root...

The user may meditate while physically active as long as actions taken are simple and repetitive.
Your HP, MP, and Stamina recovery are raised a further 10% while meditating 'normally'.
This skill deactivates temporarily if the user is distracted or takes complex actions.

Exposure acts as a precursor to many other skills.
Meditation trains Exposure and all skills that follow from it.

Spike simultaneously felt drained and full, warm and cool, heavy and light. His entire body ran with a slight heat even as he exhaled crisp air, and he could feel a tremor as he whipped one arm out to strike at thin air, the meditative trance breaking along with his stillness. That had been... a bit of a rush. The clock said that less time had passed than he expected (it had felt like they worked for days, but it was only just time to start heading back to drop them off), and his body was refreshed as if there hadn't been any effort involved.

Emotionally, he was... stable. The crying had been a whim, just a little venting to remind himself that it was still a thing he could do. He didn't needa reason to do it any more than Pinkie needed a reason to laugh or Rarity needed a reason to sing. It had felt right in the moment, so it had become a part of the sequence. At the same time, that didn't mean it was something he was going to ignore: It went on the list of things he had to ask Twilight when she got back... Which brought Spike back to his quest, and the schedule it implied.

Sort new book shipment (boxes 1-4 in the foyer)

Quest Time Remaining: 2 hours, 47 minutes

And since he was looking at menus anyways, he might as well sort the haul from all of his efforts with the Crusaders: They'd want to know the fruits of their efforts, so he couldn't put it off any longer. It was just a bit of an intimidating list. Lots to unpack (internal monologue pun fully intended).

"Um, there's... a lot more here than I thought. Can we head back and drop everything off at the Clubhouse now? I'll figure this all out and tell you about it on the way."

"Awww, does that mean we're pullin' the cart on the way back?"

"Only if you want: I do still need to see if I can get a Multitasking skill."

They ended up giving him a break (he took it gladly), so Spike rode in the cart meditating as he went through the haul. He was making a list, and it was a big list. Eventually he trimmed the literal dozens of popups down to a nicely formatted list... Right before he realized that there was a 'Recent Notifications' menu that would have saved him the trouble. Typical, honestly, the things you only figure out when it’s too late to use them. The Crusaders listened as they made their way through Ponyville and out towards the woods.

"Alright, so... A few masteries finished, a few new ones started, made progress on that 'Internal Alchemy' thing. No real surprises there. Looks like doing the last leg of our training with my eyes closed really helped though!"

Craft has become a skill!
Intimidate has become a skill!
By using [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 11%
By using [Sense Danger] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 80%
By using [Detect Bloodthirst] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 80%

"Good. I felt pretty bad kicking somepony who couldn't even see me."

"Somedragon."

"Yeah, he really is some dragon, huh?"

"Oh hush yerselves."

Spike chuckled as he moved down the list, trying to contain his excitement. Thanks to all of the sorting, he already knew about these, but they'd be surprises to the Crusaders. And he hadn't looked at the details, so there were still some things left unspoiled for himself as well.
"Picked up three new skills: Told ya about Exposure already, I'm grinding it right now. And then..."

A skill has been created through a special action! Through showing enduring power, a skill to reinforce your heritage, [Dragon's Scales] has been created!

Dragon's Scales Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
The potency of a dragon lies not just in their magic or in their body, but in how the two intertwine. This natural fusion of powers is embodied by scales: They encompass and surround, support and contain. Scales can block and cut, crush and break, cloak and shield, be worked and be broken. Used well, strength (and scales) can move mountains. Used poorly, they can spell one's downfall.

You are able to perform unusual feats of strength without destroying your tools or surroundings.
You may focus your strength inwards, temporarily improving defenses and VIT based on STR.
Allows you to molt and shape your scales to act as short-lived clothing, disguises, and tools.
Increases the power and efficiency of the active portion of [Dragon's Heart] in regards to STR.

This skill will grow with STR and skill levels, gaining new features over time.

"Ah'm kinda surprised that strength is scales, and not like..."

"Muscle?"

"Yeah, or bones. He's already got Heart, right? That's a muscle... or a few muscles? I forget."

Giving them a moment to finish, Spike continued: It was relevant, after all.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through resisting significant critical harm, a skill to protect your heritage, [Dragon's Bones] has been created!
This has consumed [Physical Endurance]

Dragon's Bones Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
At their core, dragons are unbreakable and unbroken things: unique, singular, whole. Their bones support them and make them distinctly stable, a bedrock on which great works may be based.

All of your past and future resistances become Merged Subskills of Dragon's Bones.
You reduce the bonus damage from critical attacks by 1%, to a minimum of the normal damage.
Skills and attacks that would normally pierce resistances have a 1% chance of failing to do so.
Your ability to resist damage from your Affinity elements is doubled.

This skill will grow based on how many natural and unnatural resistances it has consumed.
Merged Skills: Physical Endurance
Your ability to resist physical harm scales extremely well along with this skill.

"Oooh, that makes sense."

"Wait, so there are Dragon skills with no stat?"

"Aw man, there could be dozens of them!"

Spike blanched at the thought, although he wasn't opposed. Just concerned.
"I don't even have dozens of parts. If it's that crazy, the names might start getting... questionable."

"Hey, you already got Dragon's Bone!"

"Awful. Just awful."

Jokes aside, he realized this was a big deal. Not only was it going to be a huge improvement over the original (already quite good) Physical Endurance, it would only get better as he picked up more resistances... Which, knowing the Crusaders, would happen quickly whether he liked it or not. The bit about resisting his Affinities was interesting, because right now that included Earth. Would that make it harder for him to be hurt by stone weapons? An avalanche? Would it make it easier to eat that mysterious gemstone? All questions in search of answers... Eventually.

"Speaking of Physical Endurance, that got a bunch of levels... a bunch. So did basically everything else, with a heavy emphasis on the meditation skills, Heartsong, all the Dragon's stuff, and... um, Observe. Sort of."

For the first time (that he knew of) since this morning, Spike was massively wrong about how part of his new abilities worked. He had been assuming that the path to a skill's 25th level was hard, but just as a threshold: Beyond that point it would smooth off and get easier, the way normal ponies grew faster once they had base competence. Turns out it was more like the opposite... Observe was barely any higher than when they started, despite him casting it at least a thousand times in the last few hours.

Rather than thinking about how skills and learning worked for real normal ponies he should have thought about Twilight's lessons on sequences, and Shining's discussions about balance in game design. Levelling up skills just plain gets harder. Now that he had more data he could almost see the pattern in his head, an exponential rise in experience with a harsh spike every 25 levels. And then, assuming the curve continued like it was now, the 100th level (if it even goes that high) would take potentially just as much experience as all 99 before it combined.

"What's that put Observe at, like 40? 50?"

"...27."

"Yeeeikes. Bad beats, huh?"

"Eh. Just makes it clear how long-term some of these goals are going to have to be. Especially if I am getting bonus experience for this first quest."

"Well hayfeathers. Did yer stats make it up any better?"

At that, his expression brightened significantly.
"Oh yeah! I'm on par with you three for bonus points now: We nailed our goal."

"Sick!"

"That's going to be a big boost, huh Spike?"

He looked over his new character sheet stats with pride. While he hadn't gained any experience for his personal level during all that, he managed to hit thirteen across the board in his stats. A huge 30% spike (heh) in power for basically everything, even moreso for the Dragon's skills which scaled so strongly to stats. Balanced Soul was at full potency, his earlier Wisdom outlier being evened out by the training they did. And now he was, just like Apple Bloom, 18 points ahead of his level... Or he would be, if he spent the points from levelling.

He didn't spend any, of course: This just added more evidence favoring two of his theories! It helped back up the idea of 'Train First, Spend Later' and the idea that his first day was giving him some real big help along the way. The Crusaders spent 'years' grinding to get just as far ahead of the curve... Assuming they didn't have unspent points themselves. Beyond just the benefit of proof, Spike also confirmed that his HP and MP scaled up off of Vitality and Intelligence, respectively. Every point in VIT had been worth 10 HP, while INT gave 5 MP apiece. Their regeneration was also improved since they were based on a percent of the total, which left Spike feeling much better about his resources.

"Two finished Masteries, big progress on an existing one, two new Masteries, two new 'Dragon's' skills, seventeen points of stats... And then these three little weirdos."

"I represent that statement!"

"... Didj'all mean resent?"

"Said what I meant, meant what I said."

Spike ran his claws across the last line of UI, humming to himself.
"She might not be wrong, either."

"Wut?"

By [???], your Mastery increases by 3%
By [???], your Mastery increases by 3%
By [???], your Mastery increases by 3%

Chapter 38: Affections

"So yeah, three pop-ups, three percent, even more blanked out UI than usual, they were filed away separately from my other improved Masteries under a 'Recent' header... I'd bet anything that these are from you three."

"Wait, so is that three different skills, or nine percent for one?"

Spike was already saying "Three separate skills" before he even thought about it... But when he did think about it he couldn't imagine any other result. Opening his Mastery interface proved his hunch correct: Three unnamed skills were now listed apart from all the others in a distinct category.

"Huh. Well girls, I guess that gives us something ta think about when we get home. Mebbe any new skills or tricks we've been workin' on? Could help go faster if we knew what it was."

"Yeah, I can think on it, for sure. First we need to unload all this crap... I feel better knowing we used all of it at least once, though."

"I'll say! It was hard coming up with a way to train with thirty unspooled yards of random string, but we got there! Also, we got there!"

Spike was going to correct Sweetie, but then he opened his eyes.
"You said that alrea... Oh you mean we're at the Clubhouse. Cute."

"I try!"

Back inside and all exhausted in one way or another, they started hauling things upstairs one arm-load at a time, Spike pitching in extra since he just got off of a break. Working together, it was easy to get everything back where it belonged and quickly too: Over the years the Clubhouse had gotten organized, albeit in a very Crusader-y way. Things had their places, but Celestia forbid any other pony try to figure out where those places were, or why.

"Welp, got all that taken care of with a bit of time to spare. You three doing much tomorrow?"

Apple Bloom sheepishly rubbed behind her head with one hoof.
"Yeah, actually... The rest of the girls are free."

Aaaah, well. It made sense: 'the rest of the girls' meant Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and neither of the two had what you'd call an easy or open schedule. Them being free was a rare occasion, so it took priority for sure. Even after things got patched up (or maybe even because of it) the Crusaders were way closer to those two than Spike was, so he made an effort to give them their space.

"Hey, no worries: You five do your thing, or things. Whatever it is you get up to and into."

Sweetie glared at him.
"I can't tell if that was a euphemism or not."

Over by the shelves, Scootaloo started laughing.
"I mean if it wasn't before, it sure is now!"

"Scootaloo!"

Spike didn't even bother stepping in, instead leaning back into one of the Clubhouse's cushions. Scootaloo wasn't backing down, and they were all still smiling and clearly messing around. This struck him as a regular topic for the three, even if it was his first time hearing about it. Apparently you can’t spend a few hours stabbing a guy without getting a little more free-spirited around him.

"What? It's pretty obvious how hung-up you all are."

"You just mean 'you', yeah?"

"Said what I meant, meant what I said. Isn't that right, Bloom?"

"Ah didn't... Euggh, no, I can't lie ta ya'll. That obvious, huh?"

"AB, if your crush were any more obvious Spike would notice it. Or worse, Diamond would."

Rather than taking offense, Spike just pulled out some of the smaller gems from his inventory, throwing them back like popcorn.
"I should probably object, but this is fun! Also you're not wrong: I wouldn't have guessed it. DT?"

The little farmpony buried her muzzle into her hooves with another groan.
"And ah can't do anything 'bout it! She's always so close to Silver, and..."

Sweetie's grin went wider at that, and she put a hoof on Apple Bloom's withers.
"I could totally help with that!"

"Could ya?"

"Oh sure. I'd just need to get Silver off into a corner and kiss her 'till she can't see straight-"

"That aint' helping!"

"Awww, isn't it though? She can't stop you from smooching Diamond when she's busy with me."

Scootaloo made her way over to Spike as he watched the entertainment.
"Great show they put on, huh?"

"I will admit it's pretty good. But I guess you're used to it, huh?"

"Ugh, yeah, for like the last year. I think it might have been that time we all went camping-"

"IT WAS!"
"NAIL, HEAD!"

"-so yeah. Anyways, I just sort of roll with it."

Spike couldn't help himself from feeling surprised at that.
"Don't you have anypony you like?"

"Everypony."

Spike rolled his eyes and turned to face the filly.
"Aw come on, that's a cop out and-"

Scootaloo stared at him with a strange expression, her eyes wide and her smile a bit too tight.
"No, I mean it. EVERYPONY. E V E R Y. All. The entirety! All the colts, all the fillies, you, most of the adults, Celestia, why is everypony hot‽ I never bothered complaining about it out loud because... What a problem to have, right?"

"...Was there a pause after 'Celestia' or were you like, using it as an exclamation? I have my subtitles off and she's kinda-sorta my mom so whether or not you’re attracted to her seems like a crucial distinction-"

His pegasus friend cut him off with a growl of frustration and stalked into the ongoing Sweetie-Bloom argument, eventually plopping herself down in the middle of it all and just letting the words wash over her. Spike finished off the last of his smallest gems, dusted his claws clean and weighed his options. He could leave this be and not say anything, let them talk it out... Or he could weigh in with his own romantic woes. Because he did have some crush-based news of his own.

"Topical interjection: Me and Rarity talked about my, uh, feelings towards her. Earlier today."

Instant silence, all three of the Crusaders stopping mid-sentences (they had been talking over one another by then) to stare at Spike. It was Sweetie who actually broke the silence, looking at him with a new and near-unreadable expression.
"Aaaand?"

"We, uh... nixed it. Neither of us thinks it'd be a good idea. Mostly. Or if it is, then not now, a-and-"

His explanation was cut off by the sudden hugs from the Crusaders, all three of them tackling him into a pile of fur and scales in the corner of the Clubhouse. At first he thought to protest, explain that it wasn't like that... But it was, if he was being honest. Even if it weren’t, it’d be rude of him to reject this kind of affection. He snuggled the girls right back, resting his chin on top of what was probably Sweetie's flank before they all settled down into a heap.

"...Crushes suck, huh?"

"Eeyup."

"Eh, I'll spit it out eventually."

"Every. Pony. All the time."

They lay like that for a bit, just relaxing in the cool evening air. Eventually the Crusaders climbed off and out from the pile, popping joints here and there, stretching legs and wings. After that Spike was out of excuses for lying around, so he got to his feet. They'd be parting ways for a bit, but it seemed like something was still left. The girls had helped him a lot, and he hadn't done much...

Wait. He did have something for them, apart from character sheets and serving as a punching bag. But the more he thought about giving them their real gift now, the more it seemed like a better idea to wait. After all, right now it was just storebought goods, nothing unique. He could make it better, even moreso if he spent some time grinding or learning new skills.

"...They're not ready yet, but I did get something for you three to thank you all for today."

Some ponies would have expected a polite chorus of denials here, cries of "Oh you shouldn't have" and "You don't have to", but none were there to be had. The four of them had done away with that sort of thing years ago, realizing that it was just... cruft. It didn't actually make you seem more grateful or thankful, and it wasted precious time that could instead be spent with your cool new stuff. As it was, the Crusaders just nodded (and maybe perked up a bit) before he continued.

"I want to finish them up first, though, so give me... I dunno, a week or two? Depends how hard-won some of these skills end up being."

"Yeah, isn't that Alchemy thing still stuck in the teens of percents of being Level 1?"

"Regrettably? Yup. Still short of the teens if we're being technical: Twelve percent mastery."

"Blurfggh. Good luck with that."

Apple Bloom cleared her throat and pointed outside, the setting sun visible in the west.
"Speaking of good luck, aint' we gonna need some to get back on time?"

That was more than enough to get all of them hauling out the door, slowing only to close up shop behind them and make sure nothing was left behind. The doors swung shut behind them, and Spike led the pack as they began to trot and jog (respectively) out of the woods.

Chapter 39: Returns

The dirt roads were harder now, the softness from the overnight rain well and truly gone. All that water had been sent back to the sky to become more clouds again. It lent a pleasant click and clack to Spike's claws as he walked, and a soft familiar clunk and thump to the Crusaders' hooves. He focused on the sounds as they moved, which only threw him off pace a little when Apple Bloom spoke up.

"So ah... We tellin' mah brother an' sister 'bout this?"

"About..."

She gestured at Spike.
"This."

"Oh! Um. Hrm. I had planned to eventually, yeah: I think it would be a bad idea to keep Twilight and her friends in the dark about it. They'd just find out anyways and stuff would get complicated."

"Right, eventually. But right away? Ah know you've got a schedule ta keep."

That was a fair point. He could tell Applejack about it and then make an excuse to bolt, but that somehow felt like it would be worse than not telling her at all. So it'd eat into his remaining time, maybe by a lot. But dealing with a sudden Interrupting Applejack from behind would probably take even more time, and failing that, then the issues of catching her up on the entire thing later...

"I think I'll tell her, but I'll keep it simple. I can wait to spill the whole mess again when we've got everypony we want to tell together at once, right? I mean, I told Rarity and Pinkie the schpiel earlier, and Twilight's going to hear it all later, but... The idea of explaining the whole thing six or seven more times is exhausting just to think about. So I'll give the others the short version"

"What's your 'short version' gonna sound like?"

"Um... Lemme figure that out on the way."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes but didn't press him any further, so he got to work... He was a dragon of his word after all, and he had every intention of being prepared when they got to Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually the short version boiled down to: "I think I woke up this morning with the dragon equivalent of a Cutie Mark, and it made me into a living video game character."

Sure half of that was only theory, but it was both his leading theory and the shortest way to phrase the situation. And it wasn't like he had a lot of time to come up with anything else: They were already at the gates and Applejack was closer than he expected, bucking some of the trees at the edge of the property. She turned to look as soon as the four of them got close, a smile lighting up her face once she realized who had arrived. Out of a newly-growing instinct, Spike looked up to check the words above her hat.

[Steadfast Farmpony]
Applejack
LV 27

"Well hay there! I wondered if ye'd be makin' it back fer dinner, Bloom."

"Ah'd have told you if ah wasn't gonna, AJ!"

"Sure, sure. Not like ah don't know that: Just ribbin' ya a bit."

Apple Bloom stepped away from the rest of the group and made her way over to the tree her sister had just finished, grabbing a loose apple and flipping it up into the basket. Meanwhile, Applejack took another look over the rest of their group.

"Ya'll headin' home too?"

Scootaloo nodded vigorously, her wings fluttering a bit.
"Yup! Spike's accompanying us."

"Oh, now who's the dictionary?"

"That's a normal word and you know it, Sweetie."

"Yeah, yeah, tell it to the other books when you get back to the library."

Just like earlier, both of them were smiling despite their tone.
"If you make a joke about Spike 'shelfing' me I am going to-"

Spike felt the need to interject there.
"Nope! Technical foul: Bringing in a bystander as part of a rebuttal. Match goes to Ms. Belle."

"Aw come on!"

"...I'll re- your -buttal?"

"Nevermind, the point goes to nobody. Everypony loses. We all lose. Equestria has lost just for being the stage of this conversation."

Applejack cleared her throat, looking off to one side as she tried not to laugh.
"Ah'm most definit'ly still here."

"Right! Sorry. Reflex."

"Yeah, force of habit."

"Ah swear ah can't tell if makin' up with Diamond an' Silver was good fer you girls, or plum awful."

It was times like these that Spike wished he had some kind of outfit with pockets: It seemed like a good opportunity to stick his hands in them and shrug. Instead he settled for just the shrug.
"I dunno how they all feel, but to me everypony seemed a lot more... well-rounded, after that? I think they balance each other pretty well, and either way it's nice having more friends and fewer enemies."

"True enough, that's fer sure. Anyway, what brings ya'll over with 'em today? I figured you and Twilight would be workin' up a storm, this time of year."

"Oh! Nope, the official Sparkle Household Spring Cleaning and Organization Festival (Ponyville Regional Edition) is on hold. Twilight had business in Canterlot."

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment any further.

"Buuuut, I did want to tell you why I'm out and about today, even before you asked."

"Well go'on, Ah'm all ears!"

OK, here was where it got tricky... Actually saying any of the things he came up with.
"Well, uh, you know how dragons don't have Cutie Marks?"

He resisted the urge to facepalm at himself. Great job, Spike. Top score! The crowd goes wild.

"Eeeeyup. Ah'm well aware dragons aint' ponies... Not intendin' offense, mind ya."

"Nah, I getcha. I'm just beating around the bush anyways. What I'm saying is... When I woke up this morning, I think I had a bit of a magical growth spurt. So the dragon equivalent."

Applejack looked him over again before nodding.
"And a phys'cal one ta match, huh?"

"It was definitely related, yes."

"Well congrat'lations! But..."

It was Spike's turn to look at his friend for answers.
"But?"

"Whole reason Ah was buckin' the front field this early was all the work needs doin' inside the house tonight. Wouldn't bother ya too much if'n we talk about this later, right?"

Huh. A built-in out!
"Oh, no! Not a problem at all. I'd actually rather explain it to the whole crew instead of explaining it, what, six or seven times all told?"

"Swell! Sounds like that'd be best fer us both then. Just keep me in tha loop, ya hear?"

He nodded and stepped back from the front gate, letting it close and separate their groups.
"Sounds like a plan, Applejack: You all have a good one!"

Apple Bloom shot him a curious expression and Spike shook his head. If they were going to put off explaining things, they might as well put it all the way off. In the end, there was no sense in her telling her folks about what all they did today. Certainly not now, anyways. Either way, that meant she was safely home and he was free to take Sweetie and Scootaloo back to their places.

"Oh yeah, Scootaloo, I'm dropping you off at Dash's place, right?"

"Yup! Folks are out of town again, and my aunts are still on vacation in Neighpon."

Well, that simplified things... If he remembered where Rainbow Dash had parked her cloud house today, the path home would actually be a straight shot across town: From here to the Boutique, from there to Dash's place, back to Sugar Cube Corner to pick up their share of the tamale (zacahuil, he corrected himself in the back of his head), drop that off at home, pick up the last fine near Fluttershy's, visit her to (hopefully) round off that quest... And then back home in time to meet Twilight and complete all of his quest objectives.

The walk from Sweet Apple Acres to the Carousel Boutique had never seemed quite so long... But it was also oddly quiet. None of them really spoke or acted, simply walking and soaking in the events of the day. The birds were as active as ever, the trees flourishing to their full glory, the roads dried brittle-hard after a night of rain and a warm day. As they covered the last stretch of road, Spike wracked his brain for things he could, or should,say...

"Oh! Before I forget: Rarity already knows everything, I told her earlier. And I met your aunt and uncle Ammo, Sweetie, but I didn't tell them the details. Just in case it comes up."

"Right. OK, that seems pretty easy to keep track of: We know and Sis knows, but nopony else."

"And Pinkie, remember? I think I mentioned that."

Scootaloo buzzed up from the surface for a moment, gliding to get a better angle to speak to Spike.
"Yeah you did, but what's up with that? I can get you telling Rarity, but... why Pinkie?"

"Um... She's Pinkie."

Scootaloo blinked and dropped back to her hooves.
"No, you know what? Fair enough."

"Yeah, I know if I woke up with weird powers and was seeing things, I'd talk to her first."

"I mean, it was either that or get Discord back out of the statue."

They all went quiet for a moment. Spike stopped and looked between then two of them.
"You don't think I should ha-"

"NOPE!"

"Oh pony no. No. Just lost my train of thought. I second the 'nope'."

"Then we're all agreed! And here. We are also all here."

"Hey, that's my gag!"

Rarity was unspooling her clotheslines from the poles outside of the Boutique, bringing everything back inside now that the fabric she had hung in the morning was all dry. Well to be more accurate, her magic was doing that. Rarity the pony was kicking back on a delicate pink lounge chair, a glass of lemonade in one hoof and a romance novel in the other. She nodded over the top of the book to the approaching group, her magic still working away across the yard.

"Hello girls! Hello Spike."

For maybe the first time, Spike didn't feel any hesitation or nervousness when he heard that greeting. Instead he just nodded back, with a side of extra-wide smile.
"Hey Rarity. Everything go well after lunch?"

"Oh, yes! I've gotten quite a lot done, if I do say so myself. And you?"

He raised one claw and gave it a slight wiggle.
"Eh, so-so. We had a ton of fun and it helped a lot, but I do think we ran a bit over time."

Rarity's expression was slightly wistful, although he couldn't place why.
"Aaah, isn't that always the way... I suppose you'll be off in a hurry, then?"

Before he could reply, Sweetie looked between the two of them several times before throwing her hooves up in the air and trotting her way over to the Boutique.
"You two being normal around each other for once is weird."

A moment later they all burst into chuckles and giggles, while Rarity set her drink and book aside before walking over to the front of the yard. She looked back towards her sister and sighed.
"Don't let me keep you any longer: I'll just roast my dear sister for the details, hmm?"

Sweetie shouted back from the front door with a frown.
"Hey! I'd have told you without any roasting at all."

"Really?"

"...Bargaining at most. I sure could use a big dessert tonight, hint hint."

"Well that remains to be seen. As for you, Spike... I'm sorry again, about earlier."

He rubbed the spines along the back of his head bashfully, not wanting to meet her gaze.
"No, that's... Well. We can both be sorry, right? I shouldn't have blown up so bad."

"Does that mean I shouldn't have 'blown you up'?"

"...See, I want to blame you for that pun? But I totally walked into that."

"Like a rake in a Vaudeville act, darling. But in all seriousness do come back to visit soon! We should think about making some outfits for your... new situation."

He nodded before he even really thought about it. It was, after all, a generous offer. Even moreso considering the pony herself. Learning clothesmaking from Rarity had... potential.
"Sure! Maybe I could try to pick up some new skills from you? We can talk more about it later, obviously."

"That would be lovely, Spike! And I will see you two again soon: Be good at Rainbow Dash's, Scootaloo."

The filly rolled her eyes, but it was clearly exaggerated.
"Sure thing, Mom. Not like I could mess her place up any worse than she does."

"...Valid point. Ahem, well I... I should probably get started on that dessert. Tata!"

Chapter 40: Confusion

Rarity waved the two of them off and the last leg of their trip began. It was going to be a short walk, which Spike didn't mind: Scootaloo had a tendency to get quiet when it was just the two of them. It wasn't a problem, but it was something that sort of stuck in his head. It especially stood out when she actually did start a conversation, around halfway to the cloud house.

"Do we tell her?"

"I... Hm. That's a good question."

Rainbow Dash was certainly the most brash, outspoken, adventurous, and physical of the group. Even Applejack, who arguably worked harder? Worked with a more dedicated focus. Dash just got out there and did things for better or worse. And sure it had her on the shortlist for Wonderbolts membership. And the Sonic Rainboom, etc. But it also meant she was probably the biggest risk in terms of sharing this kind of secret. It'd be like telling her Daring Do spoilers and then expecting her to not spill it to Twilight on accident. That was what actually settled the decision for Spike.

"Absolutely."

"OK, go- Wait really."

"Yeah! Because, honestly? She'd find out anyways."

"Are you kidding me? I could totally kee... But she'd... Uh. One sec."

Spike waited for 'a sec'. And then a few. And then a minute. Eventually Scootaloo shook her head.

"No, yeah, you're... yes. Yes, she'd absolutely figure it out. Or I'd squeal. Fifty-fifty."

"Alright then. So we tell her?"

Scootaloo went quiet again, and initially Spike was worried that he had made her mad somehow. But that concern went out the window when the filly's expression changed to something more... devious. She was looking up at Dash's lazily-floating house with the look of somepony who just had an idea so glorious and terrible that they don't want to speak it, lest the moment be broken.

"The last time you looked at a house like that we had to replace a window."

"We won't this time! I mean, it's all cloud: Dash can just slap it back together."

"Scootaloo."

She whipped around on all fours and stared him in the eye... Or tried. She was used to his previous height, he guessed, because her initial glare was directed more throatwards than anything. After a second she corrected and then started in on what could only be called a schpiel.
"Spike, when you see an opportunity in this life you have to seize it. Ponies did not get where they are today by keeping their hooves on the ground (no offense). They got here by striving, reaching higher! Daring to do the impossible. We have but one chance to do this. One shot. Are you going to let it slip?"

"...Some of those Cloudsdalian war stories stuck with you, huh?"

"Seriously! But seriously. We have the window, no jokes, for a perfect prank here. Get me up to Rainbow's house. And the timeframe for doing it is-"

It hits him, just then.
"Right. It won't be a surprise once she knows I can buff my Strength. So it's literally now or never. And it is pretty funny."

"Right?"

He starts crunching numbers in his head. He doesn't know an appropriate Heartsong to use with Cantus for Strength or... athletics, maybe? Whatever governs throwing force or distance. He can put his size all the way up to the biggest scale Dragon's Hoard will allow. Dragon's Scale was boosting his Strength, and would make Dragon's Heart boost it even more than it used to. But...

"Even at max size, with my full mana pool, with Omphaloskepsis up, running Dragon's Heart at the highest I can put it, and with Dragon's Scale factored in... I don't know if I'm strong enough. So either we come up with a Heartsong, or I suddenly develop a skill for giving magically-potent motivational speeches... to myself."

Scootaloo frowned and sat back on her haunches, and for a moment they just crunched the numbers, chatting down a hundred or so feet below Rainbow's house. Eventually Scootaloo had him actually write out the numbers he was getting, and that's when she stopped him.

"Right here, you've got Dragon's Heart listed as taking all of your mana for a one-minute buff."

"Yeah, that's the most I can put into it: Cantus gets better efficiency even at the lower level, but again, we've got no rhythm to work with."

"OK, I get that, but... why one minute?"

He blinked a few times.

"Seriously, do you need an entire minute to throw me?"

Spike hadn't thought of it like that before. In fact, he hadn't really thought of that at all. His buffs took away MP from him as a pulse every minute... But why was it in that interval? He could adjust how much mana he put in, why not for how long? A thought pulled up the menu, and he looked over the Dragon's Heart description. Like most of his skills so far, the cost was "MP: Varies". It wasn't the most concrete or useful way for the UI to put it... But that meant there was probably a reason.

And reasons, in his experience (and according to Twilight) were always worth testing. He directed his focus onto the flow of magic in his body. One channel in his mind, in particular, represented the buff he got from Dragon's Heart. A slight 'twitch', so to speak, changed the potency of the effect. He sent it up and down a few times... Then he cranked it up all the way, exhausting his MP. Dialed back, waited, did it again. Spike repeated the process a few times, cancelling the benefits each time so that he could recast it faster. Finally, after a dozen or so cycles, he felt it.

It wasn't obvious. Honestly, if he weren't looking so intently, he wouldn't have noticed it at all. But there was a pace to how the mana moved, like the speed of the blood in his veins (which he could feel when he meditated: it was unsettling). So if he could mentally adjust how much of his mana was flowing into the ability, then surely he could adjust how fast. In his mind, he pushed. He felt channels of energy narrow and focus, trying to find purchase on their potential new shapes... And then a bright flash of blood-red shot across his eyes. He opened them and read...

ERROR: Ability factor 'Timescale' not currently available. Would you like to spend an Unlocker?

His concentration broke when the message window came up, and he felt deeply unsettled. Not just in his mind but in his belly, where there was now a roiling fire as the mana inside of him shook.

You were disrupted during a significant act of internal alchemy! 'Mana Confusion' has been applied.

Whatever that was, it hit him fast. His body was not a fan of the sudden whipsaw fluxes of mana rocketing up and down. Pain wracked him worse than any of the physical injuries from earlier. It hurt far worse than his growth spurt at the Boutique: If it weren't for his new skills he would have dropped to his knees. Even with that, it was impossible to ignore the prickling and popping in his veins. The sensation was like the bursts of fizzing candy on his tongue, elevated a thousand times and inside his blood. His HP took a series of quick hits while his MP recovered at a snail's pace. A moment later, his entire MP bar swallowed itself in a huge gulp...

Scootaloo could tell something was wrong from the outside, but he waved her off with a claw. It didn't seem like he could do anything to end this condition, not in his current state. But The Gamer giveth and The Gamer taketh away: The debuff had a visible timer in his status screen.

So Spike waited it out, thankful that Gamer's Body kept this from doing any kind of permanent harm to his internal organs... Hopefully. His health continued to burn away in fits and starts while his mana alternately burbled upwards and plummeted, both forces burning and sizzling. It went on for a full minute before it settled, leaving him emotionally shaken but physically recovering. He blinked back tears as he tried to stand up straight, failing several times.

After another minute passed Spike took a deep breath, shook himself off, and gave Scootaloo a thumbs-up to signal that he was OK. This had been a valuable experiment, and sometimes progress came at the cost of some pain. Rather than make his friend worry, he kept quiet about what had just happened. Thankfully, she didn’t question it. After making sure nothing around him had been impacted, he turned his attention to the messages.

Before he got back to the Timescale thing, the other window had told Spike that his experiment was related to Internal Alchemy, by name if nothing else. Which meant that his big mystery Mastery was... like alchemy, but inside his body. 'The movement and processing of magic using tools and material substrates', except the tools and the materials were both him. That might have been an easy thing to assume from the name, sure, but he tried not to take things for granted. That would help avoid more mistakes like his assumption about Observe's levelling curve, at least.

When he went to check the Timescale error, his view was blocked by a set of other screens.

By using [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 1%

By surviving [Mana Confusion] without any aid, your Mastery of [Internal Alchemy] increases by 1%

Chapter 41: Confrontation

When he went to check the Timescale error, his view was blocked by a set of other screens.

By using [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 1%

By surviving [Mana Confusion] without any aid, your Mastery of [Internal Alchemy] increases by 1%

There were several copies of each notification, and all told his Mastery had leapt from 12% to 20% in the last minute. That was... surprisingly nice. Of course, it worried him that the text specified survived. Another thing on the list to ask Twilight about: Although the odds of getting lectured on magical safety procedures again were high? He probably deserved it. But he’d deserve it later, too! Right now he had to finish what he had started.

Underneath all of those windows, he found it again. "Would you like to spend an Unlocker?", it said. He didn't recognize the term, and there wasn't any such item in his inventory... No, wait. That wasn't entirely true. Checking his memory and his notes more thoroughly, he had gotten an unknown number of Unlockers as a reward the quest with Pinkie earlier. So they were keys for opening up... system features? He had no other way to use them in sight and it suited his current goal, so Spike hit the confirm option on the window.

The description on Dragon's Heart shifted underneath, the section on the cost splitting to say "MP: Varies" and "Duration: Variable". At the same time he felt the now-familiar channels of magic inside of him that represented the ability... change. They became more supple, more flexible, and he could instinctively tell how to throttle the flow now. It wouldn't apply to any other skills, but given how broadly useful and central Dragon's Heart had been so far? Spike wasn't complaining.

"Um. We can talk specifics later, but long story short I made a very dumb mistake and it worked."

"Like a true Crusader!"

"Heh. But seriously... We shouldn't have any trouble now. It's not quite as crazy as I was hoping, but if we stack everything I should be able to make this shot easily."

Scootaloo looked from Spike to the window and back again before huffing and crossing her forelimbs, her expression shifting along into a (kinda adorable) pout.
"Well then what are we waiting for?"

Spike nodded at that, as sagely as he could manage, and then started cracking open menus. The terrible bone-stretching muscle-flattening pain of sudden Dragon's Hoard growth kicked in again (they had even done some size-changing 'stretches' earlier but it was still rough going), sending him shooting up to an even greater height than his first change at the Boutique. His movement speed dropped sharply, but this wasn't the kind of throw that would benefit from a run-up... Not as much as the striking multiplier to his Strength and Vitality.

He burned out a quick test-blast of Dragon's Heart, throwing all of his mana away for one second of enhancement. The buff wasn't linear, or efficient... Far from both. You'd hope that turning a sixty second effect into one second would mean sixty times stronger, but the reality was closer to six. But combined with his new size, that still meant a comically large uptick in strength, and he could already lift Scootaloo and carry her around without size changes or buffs.

"Ready?"

She looked up at him with an expression that was hard to read, shifting her hooves.
"Rock and roll me, big guy."

Without giving their awful plan any further chances to get more awful (and right in time with his MP hitting the cap again), Spike hammered in the full-strength one-second max-charge Dragon's Heart. It sent his Strength from its base in the teens up into the triple digits, and then he flung his friend and fellow Crusader straight into the air with a primal roar. Scootaloo gave her own battlecry as she sailed through the air... Or maybe it was a scream of primal terror. Hard to tell at this distance.

At first it seemed like Scootaloo's scream had actually doppler'd into another register, but then he realized that was Rainbow Dash's shouting: Her hoarse voice was... pretty distinct. That went quiet shortly though, and whatever was happening up there, Spike couldn't hear a thing. It was a shame he hadn't picked up any more perception enhancements: The buff from lunch was still hanging on (and he crunched a few gems from his inventory to make sure of that), but otherwise he was relying on his same-as-yesterday plain ol' senses.

After a solid minute, he decided to shrink back down and resume his previous form. The pain was a little easier to bear this time, but only barely. After a solid five minutes, he realized that maybe he should be worried that something went wrong. But he hadn't seen Dash leave the cloudhouse, so nopony was hurt, right? She'd have gone for help if so, or called for help if that was off the table. Right around the time he considered acting to figure out what was going on, then, with perfect timing, Dash poked her head out of the window. He couldn't make out her title from down here, but he could sure recognize that mane.

"Hey! You wanna come up?"

Spike looked at her, back down to the ground under his feet, back up to the clouds... A few times. Just for emphasis. Rather than get discouraged, Rainbow just hoofed something out the window that began plummeting towards him. He caught it, although it was close... It was kinda familiar.

"Remember those experiments Twilight did with her cloud-walky-thing spell?"

Oh! He... had actually forgotten. Which brought up a question about how his new Eidetic Memory worked with memories he made before becoming The Gamer, but besides that. Twilight had been trying to get a lot of her spells to behave in new forms, like the way that pegasi jarred lightning. She had made some fascinating (to her and the academic ponies who could understand the details, anyways) breakthroughs in regards to 'alchemizing' certain spells into creams and powders, although no drinkable potions yet.

What he held in his hand was one of the results: Cloudwalking in a jar. The process was way too work-intensive and costly right now to be worth using regularly, but she had given the final results of the first batch (after some safety testing) to Rainbow as a gift so she could bring visitors to her place without bugging a unicorn.

"Sure thing! Should I just slap it on and you'll come get me?"

She nodded, or at least made her mane do a lot of interesting motions... Close enough. Although he knew how to apply this one from when they had worked on it originally, he still double-checked the instructions. A modest amount applied to the head, the heart, and the central joint of each limb would make a sort of external six-point magical seal on the body, running the spell off of a pony's (or dragon's) own energy. Which had the benefit of the spell lasting its full duration even if Spike washed off the ointment itself.

Crude Cloudwalking Cream: Ability to partially interact with clouds as a Pegasus does, 4 hours

"Crude, huh? Probably because this was our test baaaatch!"

Before he could finish the sentence or the thought, Rainbow Dash had started her dive... and finished it. One long swoop took her out the window to the ground, functionally through Spike, and then back up into the window. She hadn't even come to a full stop when she let go, sending him tumbling across the (weirdly squishy) floor. He was already laughing by the time he got to his feet, getting a feel for the sensation of cloud between his claws.

"Dang, you got me pretty good there... Hey, is everything OK?"

That concern was directed at Scootaloo: Even though they had just pranked Dash pretty well and he had come careening through the air, her expression was dark and frustrated. She didn't even answer his question, just kicking her forehooves against the wall and glaring daggers at Rainbow Dash. The grown-up pegasus wasn't looking much happier actually, and Spike was beginning to feel awkward and out of place.

"Yeah. Everything is fine."

"Aw come on kiddo, I keep telling you not to be so sore-"

Scootaloo tensed up at that, dropping into a wide stance with her wings flaring a bit.
"Yeah? Really? Because you say that, but nopony could tell by watching! Or listening half the time!"

"Should I, uh, go? Because I can probably glide down on a piece of windowframe or something."

Both of the mares wheeled around and shot a "NO!" his way, so he just backed down and stayed quiet. This was reminding him of some of the more tense evenings back in Canterlot, usually when Twilight had put off another social event for the sake of her studies. Her parents had appreciated the drive to learn, but always tried to drill in that there was such a thing as balance... And it usually turned into this kind of argument, although maybe not so fast. Then again, Rainbow Dash.

"Look, Spike, I didn't want to drag you up here for this, but I'd have felt dumb leaving you down there on the ground-"

"If you didn't want to drag him into this then maybe you shouldn't have been spying on us!"

Um.

"Oh yeah? Then maybe a certain somepony shouldn't have been so late coming home. I'd have been real worried if I were your Mom."

"Right, and you're not!"

Yikes.

"OK, that's fair, but-"

"No! You don't get to talk about fair to me! Sure I'm supposed to be learning all this stuff from you, but how is it 'fair' when an adult keeps winning against a kid?"

Without giving Dash time to respond (which was saying quite a lot), Scootaloo wheeled around on her hooves and stomped off further into the house. Her idol held out a hoof and seemed like she wanted to stop her, but eventually just dropped it and flopped back onto the cloud-sculpted couch.

"...Sorry you had to see that, dude. Siddown? I'll explain if you want."

Chapter 42: Explanations

He gingerly made his way to a smaller chair across the room, somewhere with a bit of distance from both Dash's seat and the hallway Scootaloo had run down.

"I think that's up to you? I shouldn't pry, probably, but at the same time that was... weird."

"Ugch, yeah, and the weirdness is definitely my fault. I mean, apart from the whole 'Scootaloo getting chucked through my window' bit. That weirdness was all you, right?"

"...Yeah. Sounds like you might have seen it coming though?"

Between Dash's lack of surprise, the anger, and the talk about 'spying', Spike had a feeling he knew how this had started, save for the details.

Rainbow Dash leaned further back into the couch with a sigh and started in with the same tired expression of somepony on a therapist's couch.

"Lil' bit. So, lemme explain this cut and dry. Scootaloo was supposed to come over and stay here after school, like usual. She was a few minutes late, and I figured I should just blast on over to ask Cheerilee what happened. Found out you had picked the girls up, swung out to the Clubhouse, and then waited for you."

"Waited? We went straight from the schoolhouse to the clubhouse! And if you only went to Cheerilee after Scootaloo was already late to get here..."

Dash just looked at him with an exasperated expression.

"No, right, the timeframe checks out because it's you. Got it."

"So anyways, you all showed up, and I kept an eye on things!"

"Without telling us?"

"Yeah, that's the tough bit. So Scootaloo probably told you already, but I've been training her in a lot of traditional pegasus stuff: Speed, maneuvering, weather control, stealth and um, the E word. I can never say it right."

"Earnestness? Eagerness. Effacement. No wait, the context was stealth, so... Espionage?"

"That one! Never took Prench, but I always remember the word because it shows up on a lot of manuals. Anyways, I've been teaching her a lot of stuff, and she takes to it pretty well, but I like to test her in our downtime. Sort of a game between the two of us, right?"

"So you were spying on her, and only incidentally spying on the rest of us."

"Yeah! Which, uh, doesn't sound any better."

"Nope."

"Still! This one has been pretty regular the last few months: We keep tabs on each other and try not to get noticed. And it's good training! She's getting way better, and getting better fast, but..."

"But you're a grown mare with some Wonderbolts training and probably more years of experience than she has years of life."

"...Yeah. And frankly? I'm also still me. So I gloat about winning, without thinking about how that looks, and it's not easy to apologize for that even if I remember in the moment. Reflexes, right?"

Spike thought back to Twilight's little 'Clock. Is. TICKING.' moment a few years ago, plus his own
incidents, and just nodded in response. He knew all about regretting reflexes and instincts.

"Right. So I knew all about your new... gamer-thing. Gratz, by the way! Seems legit. Once this all blows over we can mess around, could be cool. Maybe you can try catching lightning!"

"Sure thing. But I don't think this is just going to blow over."

Dash rubbed her face into the couch with a groan of frustration.
"I know! But... Geez, it's not easy trying to teach her. I love it, and she learns a lot, but most of the time I feel like I'm the one making more mistakes. And it feels ten times worse when I make a mistake around her. Like, at least when I mess up a trick or something alone in the woods, I'm not being a bad influence or letting down my... biggest fan."

"Dunno what you want me to say Dash: I'm just a kid too. Basically her age, give or take."

"Sure, but you're... not Twilight's kid, obviously. Is there a word for-"

"No. Although we do sometimes try to invent one!"

"See, it's stuff like that! You spend a ton of time around Twilight and Celestia and other... smart, problem-solvey-ponies. I don't like admitting it, but I'm just not that. Right now I've got a sulking filly down the hall, and I've also got you here. Asking you for help is better than trying to fix it myself, and faster too."

He wanted to make a joke about speed, but it probably wouldn't be right in the circumstances. Moreso than even the rest of today, his head was buzzing with the information he'd gotten from this. And it wasn't all about the problem between Scootaloo and Dash. That was a lot of it for sure, but... He hadn't noticed anything. Dash had been at the clubhouse, watching them, and neither the Crusaders nor Spike himself had picked up on it. Ever since this morning Spike had been elated and excited about his new abilities, but now it was clearer than ever: They weren't a free pass.

On top of that was the actual problem (his own concerns about shortcomings and awareness could wait), the tension between two of his friends. He hadn't even noticed a single sign of Scootaloo being frustrated with Dash before today, but clearly that whole explosion hadn't just been from one incident. It had been a tipping point after what was presumably weeks or months. He couldn't ask Twilight what to do, but he had some idea how she'd treat it, or how he would...

"I may not be Twilight, but I'll tell you what I think: It's not going to be enough to just say you're sorry. I mean, still do say that, but first you've got to figure out why this happened, how Scootaloo feels about it, and what to do moving forward. This is a straight-up friendship problem, and you know how those are: even once you apologize, if it's not sincere andif the root causes don't change? Nothing will be fixed."

For a while, Dash didn't respond. She sat silently and mulled over what he said, leaving Spike to stand there feeling awkward. He never knew what to do in moments like this, the bit between giving somepony a suggestion and hearing their response. Eventually she stood, nodded, and turned towards the other room. She didn't leave though, instead turning to Spike and gesturing for him to come over. When he did, she pointed down the hall.

"You're one hundred percent right dude. So... you talk to her first, say goodbye for today, and it would be totally cool of you if you softened things up for me... And then I'll deal with this like an adult. Or like an adult that isn't me, anyways."

"Sure thing, Dash: And don't be too hard on yourself. We've all got our gaps, right?"

The kind-of guest room (Scootaloo spent enough time here that Dash had apparently just converted it permanently into a home-away-from-home for the filly) down the hall was firmly shut up, but with the Cloudwalking spell on him, Spike could knock on the pillowy door and even get a decent sound out of it.
"What?"

"...It's me, Scoots. I'm going to head out and let you two handle things: I talked to her about the whole situation, and... I dunno what to say to you about it. But I am sorry it happened."

The door opened a crack and the orange pegasus leaned out just a bit, her face turned away in a fruitless attempt to keep him from seeing how much she had been crying. Even if he hadn't seen her eyes in the brief second she was looking at him, her voice was strained and soft.
"thanks."

"Is this all going to be OK?"

"mmh. Yeah. You talked to her?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to talk a bit more, once I go to leave: Gotta hammer home how much of a problem this is. Did you have any clue it was happening?"

She sighed, but it seemed to put her back into a more stable state of mind.
"Didn't even cross my mind today... I got complacent, is what she'd say."

"Yeah, well... screw her, ya know?"

Scootaloo giggled at that, before lowering her voice even further than before.
"I mean, I could, but I can't tell if that'd be a good idea right now, or a terrible one."

"I was being metaphorical you silly pony. I mean, you-do-you-"

"Or I-do-her?"

While the Gamer's Mind kept him from doing a double-take at the continued only-maybe joke (which was a bit far even for Scootaloo), he still tried to shove the mental image aside, mostly failing.
"What I mean is, don't take it too seriously, and don't be afraid to take her to task for this whole thing. But also try to understand why she did it, right?"

"Right."

There was a moment of quiet as she mulled over his words, but eventually he heard her through the door again: Not deflecting with a joke or sounding nearly as mad as before, but more like the old Scootaloo.
"Thanks man: See you in a few days, alright? Maybe we can jump our training up a step to make up for you losing the quest boost?"

"Any time."

Spike turned and made his way back to the living room, ready to get on Dash's case one last time before he left... but it was clear from her face that she had probably heard him... or both of them. She looked wistful and disappointed with herself, but there was still a core of steely determination under that: This was going to turn out alright.

"...Figured out what you're going to say to her?"

"I'm thinking start with an apology, end with an apology, pepper a few throughout, and... I dunno. I've been thinking about how cocky I can get for a while anyway, so maybe dropping it down a peg or two in general is better for everypony. Think explaining that will work?"

"I think as long as you're still you afterwards, she'll accept it."

Dash's smile was small, but earnest, and she walked over and gave him a brief hug.
"Thanks again, Spike: You really are pretty awesome at this sort of thing."

"Oh yeah?"

Dash (of all ponies) could recognize somepony fishing for compliments, but she just kept grinning.
"Yup: Twilight definitely raised you right. Half the time I'd rather ask you for advice than her!"

That made sense, coming from Rainbow Dash. While Twilight knew a lot more than he did, and she had more experience solving these sorts of problems hooves-on, Spike... Usually he favored fast, direct solutions with clear explanations. Celestia (and by extension Twilight) liked to see ponies learn how to solve a problem themselves, with a little nudge along the way. It turned out that Spike would rather just guide them through it himself and hope they internalized the lesson afterwards.

He didn't say anything further, and Dash ruffled his spines with her hoof before letting him go. It was a nice gesture, and it sent a shock down his back... Not from the contact, but from his power.

You've obtained the title [Number One Assistant]!

[Number One Assistant]
To assist is not just to add to the effort of others, it is to multiply. You have proven that you are capable of the attention, courtesy, thoughtfulness, and skill required to be worthy of this title. Continue on this path, and remember: The best way to help someone is to help them improve.

You gain a special sense of what others need to achieve their goals.
All benefits of your aid and assistance are increased significantly.
Warning: Simple acts of kindness can have far-reaching repercussions.

Spike didn't say anything about it to Rainbow Dash, but inside of him there was a swell of pride and glee. He wanted to help his friends whenever he could, and having it confirmed by things like the Balanced Soul, and now this? If nothing else, The Gamer had been a confidence booster for him. It was also his first Title, and a very well-fitting one... Diving through his menus quickly with a series of subvocal commands, he found that it replaced his 'default' automatically, and was already in effect. And speaking of titles, he looked over at Dash and realized that whatever her title had been when he looked up from the ground, he'd have to find out about it later: Hers was clearly new.

[Penitent Pegasus]
Rainbow Dash
LV 28

Chapter 43: Cornered

The trip back down to the ground was both enlightening and a bit fun: Rather than have Dash drop him off, Spike just waved back to her and casually stepped out of the door and off of the porch. He didn't catch her reaction, instead focusing on pouring mana into his Vitality as he plummeted. The world ripped past him at an ever-increasing speed. It was a feeling he had experienced many times before, but had never gotten a chance to enjoy any of the previous times. And he was definitely enjoying it: If flying was even half as exhilarating as freefall, he knew why Dash was the pony she was. But unlike Dash, he was aiming for the dirt right now, with no assistance or protection except for confidence in his power.

As he expected, the impact was rough, cratering the earth and leaving him staggered by the sheer vibrations through his body... But he didn't even take enough damage for it to have been fatal to him unbuffed! Unless Vitality was a factor in resistances somehow, and not just raw health? Either way, 'any fall you can walk away from' and all that: He was alone again and he had places to be, and not a ton of time to be at them. Spike stood, dusted himself off, and started his way back towards the main square of Ponyville.

Evening was settling over Ponyville in quiet waves, and Spike realized he was surprisingly not as hungry as he'd originally planned. It had been at least a few hours since his lunch with Rarity, but he did have that snack with the Crusaders... and it had been well over eight hours since he had left Pinkie and her enormous tamale at Sugar Cube Corner. Finishing out the rest of his route would involve swinging back to there and picking up dinner, heading to the Library to finish out all of those chores, and then dropping by Fluttershy's place and collecting the last late fee from the address near her house. Unless there were any surprises, that would finish his quests with time to spare.

When he arrived outside of the town's biggest bakery there were a good dozen tables set up outside, taking up the entire stretch from the side of the entrance to the tree across the road. Ponies were gathering with curiosity (and their bit bags) as Pinkie Pie dashed from point to point, laying out plates and utensils in a perfectly-timed cadence. She was humming as she worked (although to be honest, how often was she not?) and Spike began to pick up the tune along with her. It was fast, catchy, and faintly familiar... A familiarity that clicked right around the time his Cantus kicked in, and the Accompaniment buff with it. Pinkie dropped a beat as she suddenly felt the changes roll over her, but Pinkie being Pinkie, she then rolled with it and resumed as she was.

Current song: "Birthday Telegram" (+VIT, +Stamina Regeneration)

It had been towards the end of his training spree with the Crusaders that Cantus had finally levelled up to the point where it worked on ponies other than him. The description promised that eventually it would impact "all allies within hearing range", but right now? It only worked on him and ponies who were actively Accompanying him in the Heartsong. Speaking of those ponies, Pinkie smiled at him from across the table and he waved back, not wanting to interrupt her work. Instead he kicked back and hummed along, using the opportunity to grind out levels on a few of his less-obvious skills.

He was nearly done casting Observe on every pony, plate, utensil and table in the clearing before Pinkie gestured for him to follow her, ponking her way towards the door of Sugar Cube Corner as she did. It made for a fairly lopsided gait, but that just got him laughing as he followed. The door clicked closed behind him and he started picking up his voice, singing more openly since Pinkie herself was still humming along. Her ears perked up and twitch-a-twitched when she heard the lyrics, but instead of freaking out like Rarity she joined in, turning their accompaniment into a proper duet. By the time they hit a good stopping point in the song, they had met back up in the kitchen and Pinkie had fetched down the same apron from his visit in the morning.

"That was a pretty neat trick! And gosh you're tall now. Pinkie very likey!"

"Heh, thanks... Wow, that was after we met, wasn't it? Today has been... a thing."

Pinkie gave him a large wink and cracked the store's back door, gesturing out towards her personal cooking space.
"Well, you've got time to tell me all the things about the things while we finish getting all the sides ready! Although they're not really sides, more like corners? I'd say garnish but you're supposed to eat them not stare at them. Oh and speakin' of starin', did your bluewords change? They're longer!"

Spike had a moment of confusion before nodding, popping up his menus to double-check.
"Yeah, I got a title earlier, and it even has some bonuses... Which makes me wonder about the titles I see on everypony else. But it looks like I can change it back if I want: Can you see this?"

He flicked the option back and forth a few times mentally, making no outward sign of action... But Pinkie's eyes pinged and ponged back and forth as The Gamer and Number One Assistant took turns riding it out overhead.
"Uh-huh! Still can't read it at all, but I totally see it turning all longular and back... Waaait."

"...Yeah? Do you want to go check on the tamale first, or something?"

"No not wait as in stop walking, you can go ahead, I mean wait as in waaaaaaaait! You said you see titles on everypony: Does that mean me?"

He made a wavering gesture in mid-air with one claw, voicing as much hesitance as possible.
"...Sort of? 'Everypony' is actually a stretch, but almost any pony with a double-digit level, and a few without. And then there's you."

"Yup, now here's me! Also now here's some pickled onions, pickled peppers, and a peck of... No, wait, these are soon-to-be carrot medallions. Either way, help me carry all this while we talk!"

Spike looked over all the various jars and containers, shrugging as he picked two of them up. If she wanted to drop the subject, he was fine with it: He still didn't have much, if any, idea of why her title and level were so strange. That is to say, any idea apart from 'It's Pinkie'.
"We're taking out the sid... corners, first?"

Pinkie nodded, the front-most curl of her mane grabbing a small basket of carrots.
"Nah, but I wanna make sure they're super ready before we're done talking. Now hit me with those sweet sweet updates!"

He went over... the rest of the day, slowly working his way backwards. Sure, logically he could have started from the moment he left that morning and moved forward to the present, but that involved two problems. First off Pinkie was never one for 'logically' as an excuse, and secondly, it let him save the biggest doozy for when he got to the way his sudden growth spurt had happened.

"Oooh, I knew that falling object was you!"

"Twitchy tail?"

"Yuppers! 9.3 on the Twitch-a-Twitch Tail Scale: Twitchy Scail for short."

"...9 and a bit seems pretty excessive for what I did."

"The number isn't a fractional whatsit, it's a classifier: 9.x falling objects are 'cool or awesome'."

"Oh. Thanks, in that case! I guess you started that category because of Rainbow Dash?"

"Hee, got it in one!"

Chapter 44: Distribution

Their conversation continued to meander as he sliced and griddled his way through a near-endless march of sliced carrots, Pinkie holding a knife with easy practice in one curled hoof, to keep her mouth free for talking. He left out most of the hoary details of the visit with Rainbow Dash, and kept mum on how much the Crusaders had brutalized him during the training: No sense putting anypony off of their appetite, given what they were working towards.

"Why were you humming a birthday song as you laid out the tables, by the way?"

"Aw Spike, did you forget all that vigorous sweaty effort we put into making our baby?"

"...SO are we not being cautious about how we phrase things anymore, or is this cosmic revenge for the things I did to Rarity earlier?"

"Dunno! Probably the first one. Anyways it's the tamale's birthday, silly!"

"Do tamales have birthdays?"

"When they're six feet long and take a week of my life to prepare they do."

"Fair! Well then, happy birthday to... Does it have a name, too?"

"Well, since it's a zacahuil tamale, its name is Zach! Isn't that right, Zach?"

Thankfully for Spike, the enormous mass of slowly-cooling food didn't speak from within its heavy swaddling of deeply scorched banana leaves... But he wouldn't have put it past this day if it had. He finished the batch of carrots and started in on the last remaining stack of fresh banana leaves, apparently a traditional part of serving the final slices (and coincidentally giving him something to take his and Twilight's portions home in) when they were finished.

"You mentioned doing something to Rarity earlier?"

Spike nodded slowly, using his claws to divvy up and split the leaves as Pinkie directed.
"Mmh, that was coming up soon in the recap anyways. I met her aunt and uncle, and me and her aunt... She's super cool by the way! I need to introduce you two at some point. But, well... we might have made a few fairly crude jokes working together."

"Oooh, I bet Rarity didn't see that coming at all! How silly was her reaction?"

"...Not very. Or at all. We got into a... discussion. The serious kind."

Pinkie's hooves stilled ever-so-briefly before she scurried back to work, getting down various bowls and glasses to serve all the 'corners' in.
"Oh?"

"Yeah. We, um... came to a conclusion. About my crush."

The previous pause had been so slight Spike almost thought he imagined it, but in response to this, Pinkie actively set down everything she was working on... Although she didn't turn to face him.
"A-and?"

"She let me down easy... and I did the same in return? Is that even possible, actually? Can two-"

He couldn't even finish trying to leaven the news with a joke when Pinkie turned and pulled him into a hug. Earlier today that would have buried his face somewhere in her chest fluff, but now his chin rested on her shoulder... It felt more comfortable in a way, and he put his own arms up to return the gesture. Whether it was the lingering shock of the entire situation, the emotional distance of focus on the tasks he had, or the Gamer's Mind... He didn't cry. But he felt relief and comfort, so it wasn't as if he had become an unfeeling machine. He just felt things more subtly, was all: Showed it less.

Pinkie on the other hoof was tearing up already, sniffling the way Rarity had earlier. She really was one of the most compassionate ponies he knew, focused on spreading cheer and making smiles... Even if that ran her ragged sometimes. So he gave the hug back twice as fiercely, squeezing her tight and making sure she knew this wasn't just about him. It seemed to help, and quickly at that: When they pulled apart again Pinkie was smiling at him, eyes bright (if still a bit watery), grin wide.

"If you ever wanna talk about it, I'll drop anything I've gotta drop, OK? I mean, I might not literally drop a jar or a pan of cookies or-"

Some part of him wanted to interrupt her list, but instead he turned and finished working on the pile of leaves, smiling and letting the words wash over him. There was something uniquely relaxing and helpful about how even in these extreme circumstances, Pinkie Pie was still emphatically herself. Eventually she wound down from her spree of dialogue (monologue, arguably) and looked around.

"-or a tamale. Tamale, tamale... Oh geez! The tam... Oh hey you handled it!"

Spike waved one claw at the spread of 'corners' and leaves, all loaded into a tray and cart.
"Yup: I think that was everything we needed right?"

"Trust good ol' Spike to get my work done for my while I'm in a babblefugue."

"...Does that involve some kind of pink mist descending over your vision?"

Pinkie nodded vigorously enough to make her mane whip-crack with a sound like a party popper.
"Lil' bit: But hey, let's go get this literal hot tamale out to all those hungry ponies, and you can catch me up on the 'story of today' later, alright? You have a quest deadline and all that, and I totally know I can end up causing lingering conversations at the best of times..."

"I always have fun lingering with you, but you're not wrong: I'm free tomorrow, if you are."

"Well then that's a date! Deal. It's a deal."

It was a perfect mirror to his own flub that morning, so he couldn't help but laugh as he pushed the cart, while Pinkie bounced ahead to open the doors and tried to hide her blush at the same time. When they made it out the front door, Spike almost worried that the crowd was going to descend on the tamale and on them in equal measure, but his paranoia was disproven: The ponies restrained themselves to a chorus of ooohs, aaahs, and assorted slurpy drool noises instead. While Pinkie got her serving utensils and knives ready, Spike took the opportunity to split open the thick protective layer of banana leaves around their creation.

The fragrance of the heavily-spiced dish had already been seeping out from the edges for a little while, but when his enhanced claws slid across the length of it a pungent punch came wafting out of the incision. The caramelized base notes of the roasted vegetables, the tingling burn of all the different peppers (fresh and dried), and the sweet earthy finish of the masa itself came together to send another wave of awed reactions through the crowd. Even Spike, having been a large part of cooking this all and reinforced by the Gamer's Mind, reeled at the sheer complexity of the scent.

"Thank you, Spike! Ready to take home the first slices?"

Pinkie had finished setting everything out and was trotting over with a sizable cleaver precariously bobbing in the curls of her mane. Spike wanted to say the image was threatening or frightening, but it was honestly just cute. He stepped back and bowed, flourishing with one hand towards the table.
"After you... And thank you."

Her first cut into the surface managed to intensify the smells even further, and two huge slices (the interiors filled with glistening squash and so much more) were tipped out onto leaf-lined plates, then expertly wrapped into loose pouches for him to take away. Spike accepted them gratefully and took his leave, not wanting to linger any longer than he had to: It was her idea, her recipe, and most of all her work, and he already had his reward well at hand. The rest of this shindig was Pinkie's time to shine, and she was already smiling and happily chatting to everypony as he walked away.

Chapter 45: Fed

The short walk across to the Library was almost too much, and he was half-tempted to dig in to the slices of Zach before he even got inside. Key words almost and half, thankfully: This would probably be perfect with a side salad, and he did still have to whip up that 'midnight snack' for when Twilight got back. Two birds, one stone, and a trip to the kitchen later found him with a second helping of the salads he had made for himself and the Crusaders earlier, Twilight's tamale safely stowed away in the heat-holding container she had installed across from the fridge not long ago. It was almost a shame to start eating the beautiful red-and-gold creation on his plate... Again, key word almost.

Its flavor was just as complex and comforting as he had expected, and Spike quickly wolfed his entire serving down within a few minutes, dipping into the salad occasionally to counterbalance the earthy tones of the main dish and chasing both down with a spare glass of the Emerald Julep. A few citrines and a ruby at the end as a palate cleanser, and Spike felt fantastic. That, claws down, had been one of the best meals he could remember. And to make a sufficiently good dessert for the snack later... That meant heading back to the fridge.

Dinner (wherever I didn't have lunch, I guess)
Reward: A good meal is its own reward

For the first time so far, that message wasn't followed up with a Satisfying Meal buff... Which made sense. He had already seen the recipe for the zacahuil, he hadn't made it himself, and there were no gems in it: Maybe if he learned the recipe later on down the line and adapted it he might get a bonus from this tamale, but not today. What he could do today was crack the seal on a container of clotted cream, pull the calyxes off a few dozen strawberries, and take a chopping knife to a nice dark block of chocolate to create a good bowl of shards and fragments... Yeah, that looked nice.

Snacks (for Me and Twilight)
Reward: A good meal is its own reward

"Food"
Reward: Dragon's Kitchen

"Sorry, Dragon's what-now?"

Dragon's Kitchen Lv Max EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
The transfer of energy and sustenance is a huge part of Draconic culture in Equestria, and forms the basis for all of their relationships. The parents invest power in the child, the child returns power to the parents, the community grows in power through mutual competition, and so forth. All aspects of the Dragon culture revolve around power, and nowhere is this more evident than in this unique cuisine, pioneered by a particular whelp of particular parents... Fire in the belly, fire in the blood.

Your Cooking can now consistently produce buffs from food that is made with appropriate gems.
All buffs from this skill are automatically compiled into an index of effects (In a new menu).
Your gem-infused food can be safely served to allies even if they cannot digest gems normally.
The intensity and duration of buffs will vary based on care, attention, gems used, and MP used.
Buff duration can be refreshed by consuming gems directly, but only for the user themselves.

This skill will grow based on how many unique recipes and buffs are registered to your index.

Spike's eyes watered a bit as he read the description of the skill, trying to piece through all the new information it gave him. Hints about the broader culture of his race, suggestions about the rarity of what he was doing... Was hethat whelp? Would that make his 'particular' parents the ponies who raised him or did it refer to the dragons who made his egg in the first place? And the skill itself... This was the exact thing he had been hoping for ever since this morning: A way to pass on these benefits to his friends and companions. Not to mention a new excuse to cook for them!

A sniffle and a subvocal command pulled up his buff index, which ended up being a very tiny grid chart... for now. It was clearly sized based on the number of entries, and had the potential to get quite large if the attached 'search' field was any indication. Right now it showed the intersections of various dishes (like a virgin mint julep) and gemstones (emeralds) and displayed the result (HP regen) where they intersected. He could even see a distinct cross-out in the space where emeralds would cross with Cinci chili, and the space where emeralds would meet with souffle: Appropriate gems meant there were conversely inappropriate gems, and the index made that clear without him even trying the dish. That would definitely save him a lot of wasteful experimentation in the future.

He didn't have a lot of experience with trail food and other portable snacks, but he'd definitely have to find the time to figure it out... Maybe candy as well? Now that his buffs could be shared with others, it would be nice to have access to them in case of emergencies. Given their uniquely edible nature, that meant (ideally) shelf-stable food bases that were easy to carry and eat. Pinkie probably knew enough about candies and energy bars (thanks to helping Dash with training) that he could ask her for lessons. Not to mention their pre-existing cooking plans from earlier...

But right now Spike's focus needed to be on getting everything in order for the now as opposed to a hypothetical later. He had the books sorted, food prepared, library cleaned, clocks set. Subquests remaining? Trimmed down to just "Serve overdue fines" and "Visit other ponies", which also meant he was on the verge of getting two more major quest rewards... and then it would be the end of his whirlwind first day. As for what that ending would mean... Well, that was a ‘later’ thing too.

When he double-checked his list of fines and his personal map, it confirmed that his final address really was right near Fluttershy’s place. Although come to think of it, that address was reallyclose to her house yet he didn't recognize it...

Cutting out from the Library (locking the doors behind him) and making his way towards the marked spot on his Map, he took the time to stretch his new abilities further. While he had a feeling that the 'boost' of his first quest was primarily responsible for the gaining of skills and powers, and not their levelling? It didn't hurt to grind while he walked either way. It was easy enough to run down all of his skills on the way towards Fluttershy's cottage, just like he did with the Crusaders earlier.

Falling into meditation alongside the song Pinkie Pie had given him, Spike could then channel his increased mana recovery into other skills. First create a gem of green flames, carve it with sweeps of his sharpened claws, enhance all of his body from within and without. Watch the entire process with his magic-vision and refine the motions as he went along. Take calculated self-damage as the shards dig into his scales and then burst open into green flame again, hurting him just enough to ding off a bit of HP. To anypony watching it would seem like he was casually whistling, walking, and tossing around little green stones... But in Spike’s eyes, one skill level transitioned into another as he whiled away the time.

Chapter 46: Whispered

He shouldn't have been surprised when he arrived at the address on his list of fines, but he still sort of was. The largest amount of owed bits on his list... and the address was a random animal burrow on the same wide plot of land as Fluttershy's cottage. He supposed it was possible that one of her critter friends had checked out what looked like a dozen books and kept them for a week over the maximum, but Twilight had taught him about reducing possibilities in broad strokes. The more likely answer (not to mention the easiest one to eliminate) was to just ask Fluttershy herself first. Rather than head into the burrow, he cancelled all of the various skills and effects he had been messing with en route (to the rather profitable tune of a dozen skill-ups and a few stat points) and knocked.

They'd known each other long enough that he quickly fell into the established pattern for trying to get Fluttershy to answer the door: First one gentle knock, as soft as possible. Since the top half of her door was closed, he stood far enough back that she could see him by peeking out of a window if need be. When that didn't get a response he followed with three modest knocks, about as loud as he'd use at any other pony's house. The next step would usually be to check around back, but he could already hear the discordant patter of hooves coming down so he opted to stand and wait.

[Behind a Curtain]
Fluttershy
LV 25

Thanks to the way she opened the top half of the door, he actually saw her title before he saw the pony herself (which answered at least one question while raising a few more), until a moment later the whole door swung open. Fluttershy was looking significantly more mellow than usual, and her smile only wavered a little bit when she noticed his new height. She didn't comment on it out loud at all, instead stepping aside to let him make his way inside.

"Oh... Hello, Spike! I hadn't been expecting anypony today, so I was relaxing upstairs. Would you care to join me?"

He stepped inside with a grateful nod and moved well out of her way to stand near the couch.
"I'd really like to, but I do have a bit of a schedule crunch today. It's... kind of a long story."

"I understand: Some days are just like that. If that's the case, what brought you out all this way?"

A quick dip into his pouch (and Inventory, by extension) gave him the original list of fines, which he held towards Fluttershy with only the last entry visible. He was a bit surprised by her immediate reaction, which was to blush and nod rapidly before he could even say anything.

"Ohmigosh, I'll go get those right now! And I need to remind myself to apologize to Twilight, I completely forgot-"

She was still berating herself about it as she swiftly ran upstairs, leaving Spike holding the list up towards nopony... He dropped it back into the inventory and shook his head. Even on her better days, Fluttershy still got nervous when she made a mistake or was confronted with frightening things. Still, it had gotten less common with each passing month, and accelerated as she made new friends outside of their circle of Elements. That had been a development over the last year or two, and while Spike hadn't met many of them personally? Fluttershy spoke highly of them and he trusted her instincts for character just as highly as Applejack's or Pinkie Pie's... Maybe not as highly as Celestia's, but it's a bit hard to step to thousands of years of experience in any field.

Fluttershy came back down the stairs at a canter, a pair of saddlebags over her flanks. She opened one side to reveal a sizable stack of coins, and the other to show him the various books, before shrugging the whole assemblage off at his feet.
"Um, here you go... This should be enough to cover the late fees, right? I got so caught up with my other reading that I just completely forgot I had taken these out."

"No worries! It was a lot of books though, so I'll need a sec to make sure everything is in order..."

He 'counted' the coins first, only bothering with a manual double-check to confirm that Observe was correctly judging the quantity. After that was settled, Spike started flipping through the books in the other bag, trying to ignore the way Fluttershy's eyes darted from side to side as he did so.

"So... assumed name for these, huh?"

His pegasus friend pursed her lips and nodded jerkily at that, letting her hair cover a slight blush.
"Twilight lets me take out my more... personal books under a pseudonym, in return for letting her archive some of the writing I do. It's very nice of her, and keeps the checkout slips from being too terribly... revealing."

Spike vaguely remembered Twilight telling him something about that earlier this year... which was a good reminder that his Dragon's Mind didn't apply retroactively. Compared to even the most minute details of today, that fairly important conversation just a few months ago was a foggy mess. He'd have to be careful about reacquainting himself with things he learned before becoming The Gamer, just to make sure he wasn't taking things for granted and forgetting anything important.
"Gotcha. Well, I don't see anything weird here: Couple of courtroom dramas, a romance piece that Rarity also took out recently: Recommended it on spa day?"

"Oh, yes. It was... nice."

"Glad to hear it! A few Neighponese comics... I should try this one myself-"

"I'd really like that: I don't have anypony in town to talk about that sort of thing with."

"And we wrap it all up with what looks like three volumes on... non-unicorn magic manipulation. You know, we just got in a huge shipment of stuff like this today: Unpacked and shelved it myself with the Crusaders."

Her previous reactions had been couched in the demure and slightly-abashed tone Fluttershy used when she was trying not to get angry with herself over a mistake. That statement, however, got a totally different reaction: She practically leapt over the saddlebags and grabbed one of his claws between her hooves, her eyes filled with vividly bright enthusiasm.
"Really? Oh that sounds wonderful! Do you think I could come check them out later? I know it's already very late in the day, but I've been trying to find more resources on the subject and I guess Twilight got wind of it and-"

"Slow down, Fluttershy! Of course you can check them out... But maybe not tonight? I've got no problems opening late for friends, but... I did just find out a secret of yours. Want one of mine in return?"

She straightened up a bit at that, nodding with a surprisingly solemn expression. Spike grinned and held up his free claw, breathing a gout of green flame into it... and then solidifying it with Stagnet.

"I mentioned being on a schedule today: I might have gotten the dragon equivalent of a Cutie Mark this morning, so when Twilight gets home tonight we have a lot of science to do. It's based on games, to make a long story short... Once we know a little bit more, I'm hoping to tell you and the girls all about it."

The crystalline fire seemed to transfix his friend as she nodded, focused on the strange stone.
"That's fantastic news, Spike! Let me know if you need anything. I may not know anything good about dragons that aren't you, but if any biological concerns come up I'll do what I can to help."

"Means a lot coming from you: And before I forget, this all adds up. These are all the books, and the bits are more than enough to cover your fine."

Serve overdue fines (see List F7)
Reward: Matching Money

"Chores"
Reward: +2 All Stats

"Hold on to the rest yourself: I was going to say it was for the trouble of coming out all this way, but let's call it your cuteceañera gift!"

He tried to muster up some anger about that, but the most he could give was a chuckle.
"I'm not a filly, you know?"

"Well you're not a colt either, and we don't have celebration names for dragon milestones. Honestly it's just nice having an excuse to give a gift to a friend."

Spike pulled his claw away from her hooves, primarily so he could reach out and bring her into a hug. It was good knowing that all of his friends had his back and were willing to take these new changes of his in stride. Even somepony like Fluttershy, the poster-pony for ‘doesn’t do well with sudden change’, was taking it well. That, if nothing else, gave him a lot of hope for how things would turn out when Twilight got back. Fluttershy nuzzled his cheek before they pulled away and he stepped back towards the door.

"I didn't keep you too long, right? I know I took a while getting everything-"

"Nope! In fact, I think it was just long enough: We'll get together again soon and I'll show you all the new books on magic we got in, alright?"

That unfamiliar expression of excitement came back as she waved him out. He took a deep breath of the air outside and tamped down on his nerves. One of the messages for his quests had appeared already, but he was still waiting on...

Visit Other Ponies (as needed)
Reward: Susurration

"Free Time"
Reward: Behind the Curtain

Susurration Lv 1 EXP: 0.00%
Communication, the proper clear and secure exchange of information, is a crucial aspect of any endeavor taken by a group. Subtlety can be just as important, especially in terms of maintaining that security. With this skill, you have a method of reaching out across the relationships that tie you to others in order to share information without any risk of corruption or interception.

You and your party members may communicate subvocally over a distance of 100 yards.
Communication may be 'relayed' through one member to reach a second out of range of the user.
As this skill develops, the ability will be applicable over a wider distance and to other targets.

Behind the Curtain Lv Max EXP: 0.00% MP: N/A
Historically, those who obtain this skill have an affinity for knowing things, especially knowing those around them. This takes it further, to understanding what drives and empowers them. Seeking the meaning behind words, as well as the meanings above them, is a habit worth cultivating.

Your Observe is now usable on the individual statuses and titles affecting yourself and others.
This ability will reveal a variable amount of the history, function, and nature of those effects.
The quality of information is based on Observe's level and the target's relative power.

If the quest rewards hadn't taken so long to pop up, Spike would have probably turned around and asked Fluttershy to form a party so he could test these skills out... As-is, the system almost seemed to have been waiting until that was no longer an option. Regardless, these looked like some of his best pickups yet: A hundred yards was a ludicrous distance to try and communicate over, especially if you weren't Bulk or somepony else with the lungs to scream like that... And the idea of finding out what all of the titles and status effects he had seen really meant felt like one half 'another invasion of privacy power' and one half 'the coolest thing he could think of'... And Spike was hedging towards the second half already.

Chapter 47: AWAKE

That was it. Nineteen subquests and four total quests, that was the last of them... It had been a little bit tight time-wise, and he had gone through so much since this morning, but Spike had done it. His first full 'story arc', his gigantic quest, his push forward into feeling like a proper dragon and a proper adult... It was finished. He braced himself for the flood of message boxes and level-ups that were about to come... But they didn't. Even after a full minute of standing and waiting, there was no ding, no shiver, nothing happened to him. He pulled up the Quest menu to double-check...

STORY ARC: My First Day As The Gamer

By making a concrete plan of action to tackle a situation far outside of your understanding, you have begun the first step of your epic journey. Spend your first day grappling with your new power as effectively as possible, and reap the rewards: It's a boost up the ladder to get you started!

Objective: Do all 4 Quests (Chores, Food, Gamer, Free Time) by completing all 19 Sub-Quests.

Failure Condition: Leave more than 0 Sub-Quests uncompleted by 9:10 PM today.

Reward: All Sub-Quest Rewards, All Quest Rewards, 50,000 EXP, 200 Bits, ???, ???, 'Proof'

Chores

Sort new book shipment (boxes 1-4 in the foyer)
Reset clocks (already done!)
Serve overdue fines (see List F7)
Make beds (mine and Twi's)
Do dishes (from own breakfast)

Food

Breakfast (at home)
Lunch (Hayburg's Hayburgers or Sugar Cube Corner)
Dinner (wherever I didn't have lunch, I guess)
Snacks (for Me and Twilight)

Gamer

Investigate Menus (just at least check them all, write it down. Draw it?)
Work on Observe (use it on everything. no cost!)
Look at Ponies (titles? levels?)
Get XP if possible (quests?)
Figure out more skills (got observe by observing... duh)

Free Time

Visit Rarity (<3)
Visit Cheerilee + CMC (before class lets out)
Visit Other Ponies (as needed)
Hit the Arcade, Look at RPGs (research!)
Talk to Pinkie about The Gamer

It was all done. Even the Objective line was marked as complete. So why... No, wait. It wasn't quite half past eight right now, and the failure condition wasn't going to check until ten after nine. He still had enough time to get to the Library and wait for Twilight to get home... In fact, given how many ponies he had seen with their titles changing throughout the day? The 'Proof' reward made a lot more sense in that context. When Twilight got back, he'd see something about her that he could use to undeniably prove the truth about The Gamer. With that in mind, he started running back to the Library, not even bothering to grind any skills... except the ones that would get him home faster.

Spike had honestly kind of underestimated the changes that had been wrought on him through the course of his day. He was a few hooves taller, his legs were longer, his base DEX and speed were both higher, and his buffs were all stronger and had much more mana to work with... And that was all before the speed buff he had kept persistently active since this morning's citrine souffle. Even taking that into account, he got back to the Library from Fluttershy's place in a fraction of the time it had taken to go out there in the first place, legs pumping but heart strangely calm. He really was making up for lost time... in a lot of different ways.

After he got inside it was a quick enough task to shelf and catalog all of the late books, make a note about the extensions and returns, and deposit all of the fines... And that left him with little to do until the quest finished or Twilight got back. He supposed it would be easy enough to wait at the train station and greet her before she made it all the way into town. It wasn't like he knew the train schedule well enough (yet) to tell if 9:10 was the schedule of the last run from Canterlot anyways, so better to get there now and wait... He could get work in with his more sedentary abilities anywhere, so there was little reason not to.

On the way a few ponies spoke to him, some commenting on his apparent change in confidence, others recognizing the difference in his height and proportions. He chatted with them briefly, only using Observe to pick out a few details here and there. He saw nopony out this late with a title, so he couldn't test that part of Behind the Curtain, but he was able to investigate the specifics of some status effects. There was somepony who had eaten a really fantastic dinner (a weak all-around boost, nothing supernaturally strong), another pony who had the opposite luck (a small HP ding and a constant Stamina drain, which made sense with what he remembered from the Baked Bads), and one with a migraine headache (perception penalties and pain intensified by light and sound).

By the time he got into the station and settled across from the arrivals platform (and checked to make sure that yes, 9:09 was the expected pull-in time) Spike had a little over half an hour to burn in the dying hours of his first-day quest. And he had a solid idea of what he wanted to do with that time: Throughout the day he had gotten clues and leads as to what 'Internal Alchemy' was all about, but the biggest clue had been the accident with Scootaloo. While trying to manually adjust the potency of a buff he had applied to himself, he had gotten distracted and been sent into a state his interface called Mana Confusion.

The consequences of that experiment had been agonizingly painful, but worthwhile in its own way: He had learned how to make one of his skills variable in potency and duration by fine-tuning the mana he put in. And not only had that been considered a part of Internal Alchemy, but even just surviving the event had rapidly enhanced his Mastery of the skill. That almost certainly meant it required a fine-tuned awareness of all of his body's structure, both physical and magical, and how to use that to his advantage... Which meant he could study it again through Omphaloskepsis.

It would be the first instinct for a lot of ponies to say that Spike 'shut out the world around him' as he dropped into his meditation. But he knew better, not just from Twilight's lessons but from his own first-hand experience: This was a union of the user and the world, the world and the user. Twilight had explained it as a mirroring of the microcosm and the macrocosm, but all he felt was a kind of unity. There was a harmony between his body, his mind, and the space around him. Moreso than in any of his earlier attempts, even when he was spaced out beyond belief in the Cakes' kitchen?

He went deep.

Down
down
down we go
No way to stop

Power rode its way through his body in all sorts of forms. He was alive and magical, magically alive, and he felt it now more than ever. Night had fallen over the world outside, and just yesterday he’d have been exhausted at this point... But ever since breakfast Spike had been flush with power, his new nature working to rectify his most hated flaws. He was taller, stronger, better able to give help and support, and most of all he could keep going. Each pulse and flicker of energy made its way through innumerable channels in his body, dimming as they traveled out into his extremities before falling back to the center. There it was all refreshed, purified and amplified, refilling from a spiral core in his gut. Fire in the belly, fire in the blood.

Mixed in with all the other energy, three threads shone clearly and rang out with sweet resonance. Red, green, and gold: His perception, his endurance, and his celerity. The buffs he had picked up throughout the day and kept running constantly. They were still inside his system, not just laid on him as generic enhancements or abstract names in an interface list. Spells, each of them were spells! Magical constructs that were moving and persisting. Spike could reach out and touch them, feel them as surely as he could see any magic with his Dragon's Eyes. But here inside of him, there was a glimmer of potential that hadn't come up before. He had an idea of what it meant, but...

This will lead to excellence
or permanent injury
There's one easy way to know:
Go, go
go

"Stagnet."

The swirling trinity of colors halted dead in the spiral of his gut, and immediately he could feel the burning agony he remembered from his earlier brush with Mana Confusion. It didn't kick him out of his meditation like before, so he continued to focus his will on the stopped powers. At first the stagnating colors seemed like a cross between gems and clotted blood: Crystalline, shining, and not supposed to be in his veins. But the longer he looked, the more he began to see a distinct texture to the stilled magic, a sort of metaphysical 'stop' woven in by his power... Like a sheen of frost on the surface of a pond. And if that was the case? It should be possible to melt the ice again, to let the stones flow like lava. All he needed to do was reach out and start them again...

Put out your claws
as you fall ever-inwards
grasping at something
you should yet avoid...

He didn't know the word. He hadn't even seen the skill window pop up. But as soon as he tried to force the spells back into motion inside of him, he understood what to say.

"Resūmō."

Stained glass, still color, clotted gems... It all thawed back into motion again, flow picking up as if it had never stopped. The colors briefly burned into his eyes and his mind, climbing in intensity and taking on metallic hues. They grew bright enough to blot out everything else, the world painted over in red-green-and-gold like a wave of spring flowers... Sooner rather than later, they all receded back into something resembling normalcy. Not too long after that, the agonizing bursts and stabs of Mana Confusion faded away. Within minutes he was stable enough to open his outermost eyelids and check the windows that had opened in the open air.

A new Command has been added to Stagnet: Resūmō, to recover and restart.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through the persistent maintenance and manipulation of buffs, a skill to form them with raw mana, [Layer] has been created!

Layer Lv 1 EXP: 0.0% MP: 100+ (minimum cost)
Layer as in 'one who lays on hands', a concept often reserved for holy folk and greater magic-users. This skill allows the user to bless those around them with a touch, passing along magical energy to enhance the body. A critical prerequisite in the creation of greater blessings.

Any magical buff the user has received is recorded in an index (shared with Dragon's Kitchen).
By spending a large amount of MP, these buffs may be generated without the need for materials.
Layer buffs always stack with other sources of the same or similar buffs.

That was amazing in its own right, and had the potential to change more than any other skill he’d gained today. But above and beyond what he saw and could contemplate, the biggest change was what Spike felt. Something had shifted, jarring loose and open inside of him. It was like he had an entirely new sense: not-quite-touch / not-quite-sight, a constant awareness of the magic in his body. It was moving, ever-flowing, always an active part of who he was.

Whether he was using it or not.

Whether he was in control of it or not.

Now that you've touched it?
You're back to exclaim:
The spiraling shape
is alive
and it's awake.

And that wasn't the only shift in his ‘new normal’: Either his power was learning to consolidate its messages, or what he had just done was special. Spike had a feeling it was both at once, given...

By creating a new form of [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 25%

By progressively unveiling the truth of your inner world, [Omphaloskepsis] has gained 10 levels.

By refining your heritage, all of your current [Dragon's] skills have gained 5 levels each.

By igniting your internal energy system, you have doubled your base mana capacity.

Chapter 48: Returned, Revealed

That... that was a lot. Too much, even. Rather than try to take in those changes logically, Spike decided to grasp them in practice. As soon as he resumed meditating he felt the upsurge in power: His magic seemed like it was refined, made clearer: A substance that had been purified and elevated to a concentrated form. It also recovered much more quickly than before, and letting that go to waste would be sad. As such, Spike decided this could be his final review before the big test.

At first he directed the power into his 'Dragon's' skills, one after another in the same order he found them. Enhancing his claws, bolstering his stats, turning on his magic vision, lazily expelling a cloud of orange fire... Stretching his legs (and the rest of him), raising his defenses, letting resistances soak away the remaining damage from his growth.

Then he tried out Layer for the first time, since his MP was nearly full even after all of that. Each buff cast on himself felt potent in a way the Satisfying Meals hadn't: The energy was concentrated and put into play directly, instead of spread out and delivered by a physical source. As the description promised, the effects stacked together without any issue.

Spike's perception gained new clarity and stretched further away (enough so that he could vaguely tell the train was pulling into the station, but in his meditative haze he couldn't tell you how he knew that), his movements accelerated sharply, and his health recovered fast enough that the dings and cracks from the Dragon's Hoard weren't lasting even a second.

If anypony had been watching him he'd have looked like quite the spectacle right now. Spike could imagine how he seemed from the outside. A vaguely-familiar dragon, pulled and stretched into proportions easily double his original size. Flame pooled and flickered around his gaping maw, heat radiated off every one of his burnished scales. Wicked claws flickered and shone at each tip of ten long fingers, his hands the size of a full-grown pony's head.

The creature stirred in sudden jerks and bursts of high-speed movement, and despite its eyes being closed it seemed to be... waiting for something. And yet the absurdity of it all was that, even with his imposing frame and strangeness? He was just standing by a bench and waiting for the train like anypony else. He had made himself into easily the most shocking thing in Ponyville (at this exact moment in time, anyways), and-

"Spike?"

One pair of eyelids flew open, and then another. Twilight was standing near the open door of the closest train car, her few pieces of luggage levitating behind her. The angle was strange, she was so much lower than usual... It was like looking down at her from a ladder at the Library. If it weren't for the one thing that hadchanged about her while she was gone? Spike would have taken a moment to appreciate the absurdity of that. As it was? He immediately stopped everything he was doing, unfurling one buff after another and letting his Hoard pull him back down to his (new) normal height. Eye to eye with Twilight, ignoring the trepidation in her eyes... He looked over her head.

[Devoted Lover]
Twilight Sparkle
LV 31

"...Welcome back?"

Everything fell into place before Spike could think. A trip to Canterlot she hadn't told him about until the day-of, yet one that took an entire day from sunrise until deep in the evening. But it was also a trip Twilight had been prepared for: At least prepared enough to get new clothes from Rarity well in advance. Minimalist clothes, based on the things Rarity had said about using 'just a little' fabric. Celestia's letter had said that Twilight was coming, so they spent at least part of the day together, and now this change in her title... Even if Observe hadn't shown him a variety of status effects like Sealed by the Solar Sigil and Invictus Secundus, even if it hadn't displayed her class as Celestial Consort... He knew it.

This was the 'Proof'.

STORY ARC: My First Day As The Gamer
COMPLETED!

Reward: All Sub-Quest Rewards, All Quest Rewards, 50,000 EXP, 200 Bits, ???, ???, 'Proof'

What had been a modest shiver the first time he gained a level now hit like a full head-to-toe quake. An eruption of boxes flooded his vision, and he started going through them one by one: Twilight had made him wait all day, and he didn't want to call her out on the 'Proof' in public. He'd clear this up first and then they could go back home and talk things out over dinner.

The first handful of boxes were all levels, putting him up to 13 in total. It was a huge leap from this afternoon, and enormous compared to how he woke up. He'd gained even more points in all of his stats, more bits racked up alongside his earlier allowance and the matched-value from the fines... A skillbook appeared, but then whisked itself away just as quickly. He minimized the error message that came up as it did, since it wasn't a priority. Weird, sure. Priority? Not as much. The only things left (since his 'Proof' wasn't an object at all) were a few gems and a folded paper map... All of which reacted to his Quality Assurance skill.

Spike had taken a little time to do all of that, and was jarred out of his focus just as he finished.

"Spike, is everything-"

He quickly hammered shut all the rest of the UI pop-ups, turning towards his (there-is-no-word).
"Yeah! I mean, things are obviously a bit weird, but let's talk about that at home, alright?"

Twilight was clearly hesitating, and she scuffed one hoof along the ground and looked down at... Oh, she was looking to where his head height would have been, and was, when she left.
"Are you sure? Because-"

"I know why you went to Canterlot and I don't think you want to have that conversation out here."

She giggled, and it warmed his heart that even in this awkward situation her laughter was still as free and light as usual.
"Oh Spike, I was just-"

Rather than try to explain it the long way around, he just leaned forward and whispered her new title and watched for the reaction. He hadn't even gotten to the '-er' in 'Lover' when the color drained out of her face, and what had been a loose and casual smile turned into a manic rictus.
"AHHAHA WELL LET'S NOT WASTE ANY TIME THEN!"

He couldn't have wasted time even if he wanted to, since her next act was to abruptly teleport them both to the Library. He braced himself and tried to keep his eyes open during the process, hoping to see something of the nature of the advanced spell... But like every time, his eyes forced themselves closed as soon as they popped out of normal space and time, only reopening a half-second later as they arrived. Twilight was already levitating her bags up the stairs and trying not to hyperventilate.

"...Should I go get a paper bag?"

Twilight shook her head and dropped to her haunches, sitting on the floor and staring off into space. A moment passed, and another... Eventually she nodded to herself.
"I-it really says that about me?"

"Among other things, yeah: Want the entire list? I've gotten some practice writing down a pony's character sheet from the Crusaders earlier."

"The Cru- Right. Of course you did. Of course they did. And yes, I actually do want the entire list, although not right away. Can you remember it until later or should you write it down now? I'm not entirely certain how this..."

"I can't not remember it, I think: Picked up a skill for eidetic recall."

That got her attention, and she snapped her head over to look at him with gleaming eyes.
"Really? Oh Spike that's fantastic. I know this is all new and I shouldn't be thinking about the research applications already but think about the research applications!"

"Waaay ahead of you on that one... for once."

There was a moment of peaceable silence, and Spike could tell the earlier tension was dead. They had known each other for too long to let even something like this throw them off for longer than was totally necessary. He and Twilight were too close to break over something as measly as 'one of us has turned into a video game character and the other is sleeping with Equestria's god-ruler'...

"So you and Celestia, huh?"

"Wait it told you thatpart? I thought it just said Devoted Lover, not-"

Spike put a claw on her shoulder, really appreciating their new respective heights.
"It did, but first off: Who else would it be? What other pony, of all the ponies in Canterlot, could even think about being a match for you?"

She blushed at that but didn't stop him, instead just curling in on herself in a fit of embarrassment.
"Spiiike-"

"Also the nitty-gritty details in your status screen might have given me a bit too much nitty gritty, so unless somepony else is causing status effects with names like Invictus Secundus..."

She went quiet except for the sniffling, looking happy-yet-pensive: An introspective joy.
"That... It said that, too? That's quite flattering actually... Well. Yes, Celestia and I. Which means I suppose we both have a lot to talk about, huh?"

Spike nodded and pulled her towards the kitchen, glad for the segue.
"I was going to say 'you're darn straight we are', but then I realized you're now provably not!"

"That joke was awful! Did Pinkie rub off on you that much while I was gone?"

That innuendo was a reminder that whatever Gamer's Mind and Body did for him? Preventing a red-hot blush from creeping across his cheeks wasn't part of it. Twilight took her seat, giggling again, while he turned his face away and busied himself getting out the prepared food and snacks.
"W-well anyways, I saw this coming... sort of. The 'needing to talk' part at least. I went all out: Dig in!"

Chapter 49: Bookend

Spike felt a good bit of (shared) pride as Twilight voraciously tore into the huge slab of tamale, periodically levitating over a mouthful of salad before washing it all down with one of his (gemless) juleps. She sat in content silence while eating, giving him two opportunities. First he gave her a basic run-down of The Gamer as he understood it: The fact that she was busy eating forestalled any questions that could interrupt his rundown. Second, he took a moment to step out of the kitchen and copy her character sheet onto an easel page.

Unlike with the Crusaders before, he had a lot more Observe to lean on, as well as Behind the Curtain... And less of a compulsion to hide details. Not only would Twilight want to research every single avenue of his power as soon as possible, but they had grown up together starting on the shared day of his hatching and her acquiring her Cutie Mark. There was very little they had to hide from each other after all that.

"Spike, this was phenomenal. And given the entire Library doesn't smell like a melange of spiced corn dough and squash, I'm going to guess you collaborated with Pinkie Pie on this?"

"Got it in one: I went over to meet with her pretty early in the day, we threw the zacahuil together, and then that cooked while I was going every-"

He heard Twilight's fork clatter onto the plate and stepped away from the kitchen's entrance so she could come skidding out of it a moment later.
"Really? But the zacahuil is a preserved cultural secret of-"

"The Minotaurs, I know! Pinkie did say she 'worked very hard' to learn it. Let's just hope she means actual hard work and not like, breaking and entering. I'd hate to be an accomplice to food crime."

That got her laughing... Laughter which trailed off when she saw what he was working on.
"Heeheehhh... Oh. So you can even see a kind of statistical profile?"

Spike nodded and put on the last few touches before switching from ink to an erasable graphite.
"Yeah, although like I said earlier? The copacetic name would be 'character sheet', given the source."

"...I really do owe you that apology for how I brushed you aside this morning."

"Eh, thinking about all the stuff I've been dismissive about over the years? I get it. Plus, you were probably nervous about your big day, eh?"

Twilight blushed at that, but she didn't move to correct him either.
"That aside, on top of the apology I do believe I promised we'd 'do science' to this whole thing: Although for once you're ahead of me on that!"

"Hah! Yeah, that's one way to put it. And this is a good starting point for that science: These are your stats, as I see them. Want some baselines for comparison?"

"If you'd be so kind."

That put things back into a footing they were more accustomed to. Spike started drawing out a few more sheets as he went, periodically moving over to Twilight's again in order to underline particularly interesting details. Lack of details in some cases: For whatever reason (although he had a good guess already) a lot of Twilight's sheet wasn't showing up for him in quite the same way as other ponies.

Twilight poked a hoof towards the top of the sheet, at her core attributes.
"These are basically the O+O statistics... I think. I'm a bit rusty on all the different editions."

"Yup: Give or take. The numbers and the scaling are both way off, but most of the names and functions are the same."

"...I'm noticing some conspicuous blanks elsewhere on the sheet."

"Well, you are level 31: I met some of Rarity's relatives earlier (long story, we'll get there) and they were practically in the 40s... while I was still only level one at the time. I couldn't see anything off of them, and while it didn't hit me at the time, I think it's based on the level gap. I'm Level 13 now, so even if you did gain four levels since this morning-"

"I'm sorry to keep doing the straight-mare bit but I WHAT since this morning?"

"Your title wasn't the only change from when you left: You were Level 27 when I woke you up."

She turned away from him at that, letting her mane cover her face entirely.
"Oh. Alright. So... moving on for now? Please?"

"Sure thing: Surprising nopony at all, your level isn't the only outlier. INT is out of control, and your mana is absolutely unreal. A normal pony's baseline, and my baseline this morning, would be five points of MP to every point of INT. I got a perk that doubles that and I can train my base with meditation, so if I compare the numbers... You must have several similar perks, multiplicative to each other, to have this much mana. I mean, you’re well into the next digit."

There wasn't even a perceptible blink as she did the math herself, just a moment where she turned to face the sheet and then a near-instant nod. That INT value wasn’t for show: She was terrifying in her field, something that always filled Spike with pride. It was one thing to have his closest family be such important ponies... but learning from Twilight, a pony basically defined by her knowledge? He recognized what a fantastic perk that was for a growing dragon. It also made explaining things infinitely easier, since once she got on board with the problem it often took only seconds for her to catch up to the details... Pinkie Sense and other oddities aside.

"My VIT, STR, DEX... Vitality, Strength, Dexterity? All better than the baseline minimum..."

"I think it's only a technical minimum: LUK at least, I've seen lower than 10 before."

"... Interesting. But my physical stats are only better than baseline minimum, and barely at that."

Spike did his best to shrug without messing up the new sheet he was copying out: His own. Things had definitely changed since this morning, even if he ignored the gigantic heap of unspent points.
"We've talked about that before Twilight: Your physical prowess isn't what makes you exceptional any more than I'm exceptional because of my height."

That seemed to cheer her up and pique her curiosity, as she started eyeing his new form.
"Speaking of which! I see a certain somedragon has picked up more than a few inches in my absence."

"Had to happen sometime, right? That's what you always said anyw-"

He couldn't finish before she pulled him into a hug, resting her muzzle directly into the crook of his shoulder and his neck. It let him feel, rather than hear, her shuddering sigh and deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I messed up badly this morning, and probably before that, and-"

"Ah! Nope. No self-recrimination, that helps nopony. Or, uh, so I've been told. Let's just... finish the little statistical overview and then talk about things. Would it help if we went to the couch?"

"Yes."

He dutifully turned towards the side room they had set aside for their longer talks. It was easier for both of them to do this kind of thing in a quiet, secluded, and comfortable place. Even at the best of times Twilight Sparkle wasn't the most extroverted pony, and when it came to talking about her own hang-ups and problems... Well, Spike had eventually decided they needed somewhere other than her bed to have those conversations, or they would be back to the days where she just never got out of bed.

Before he left, he put one last touch on the new copy of his character sheet: His signature, spat and shaped in green flames held in place with Stagnet.

Name: Spike
Class: The Gamer
Title: Number One Assistant

Level: Lv 13
HP: 327/327
MP: 413/413

STR: 17 (19) (-) (+)
DEX: 17 (19) (-) (+)
VIT: 17 (19) (-) (+)
INT: 17 (19) (-) (+)
WIS: 17 (19) (-) (+)
LUK: 17 (19) (-) (+)

POINTS: 72 (Confirm?)

Internal Alchemy 45%
[???] 3%
[???] 3%
[???] 3%
Sense Danger 80%
Detect Bloodthirst 80%

Author's Note

Well there we go: Epilogue and wrap-up quadruple-sized chapter next week, and then we'll begin the prep period for Arc II! Hope you're all holding on, given the circumstances at the time I'm posting this chapter.

Chapter 50: Epilogue, END OF ACT 1

The view turns and lurches, perspective changing... There is a room nestled deep into the roots of a massive tree in the town of Ponyville. This is the Golden Oaks Library, the titular oak and the library itself as one. Here in the library is a specific room, deep beneath ground level. In this room there is a table, on which rests a complex crystal structure. Before that table there is a couch, a simple piece of plush furniture sized to hold two or three ponies. It currently holds one pony and something else entirely...

To be specific? Here sat Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia, and Spike the Dragon, her (complex relationship for which no word exists) and confidant. Twilight looking much the same as always, her tri-tone mane arching over one eye and the starbursts of her Cutie Mark standing out bright and clear on her flank. Said flank did shimmy a bit as she adjusted... this very perspective, her magic fiddling with the video-and-audio-recording spell embedded in the crystal..

Spike turned his head to take in a good view of himself, the first he's properly gotten since the mirror at Rarity's (after his at-first-unfortunate, then-appreciated growth incident) that morning. Like Twilight, he wasn't looking terribly different from his past... But he was both taller and thinner than he had been earlier in the day. The ridges and spines on his head now came level with Twilight's horn when they were both standing, and they could see eye to eye without moving at all. Otherwise he was quite the same: A complimentary purple to Twilight's own shade mixed with an acidic green, eyes large and currently sheltered behind a set of semi-transparent eyelids: This thing was bright.

"Are you staring directly into the preview hologram again?"

"I mean, a little bit? We don't exactly break this spell out very often. It's a novelty!"

Twilight scoffed at that, but with a twinge of pride behind it: This was a rare and complex working.
"Yes, well it's also an optical hazard... Or is it a risk for you at all, as a 'Gamer'? We have so much to talk about!"

"We sure do, Ms. 'Celestial Consort'."

His unicorn (lack-of-word) buried her muzzle in her hooves and restrained herself from fleeing the couch, again: Setting up this recording had been their third excuse to get her back into the room after multiple failed attempts to discuss what had changed about her today. Spike was also (if he was totally honest with himself) trying to buy some time: His situation involved a lot of explaining as well, and he had done some things today that would usually get him a dressing-down.

They had parted ways a bit over fifteen hours ago, early in the morning after Spike awakened to find (or so the current theory went) his 'personal Dragon magic' had awakened along with him, creating something uniquely his, akin to a pony's Cutie Mark. He had spent the entire day since coming to grips with this personal magic: The Gamer. It meant that he 'lives through real life as though it were a game', according to the description for one of his skills.

Yes, he had skills, and stats, menus and interfaces and an Inventory and a Map. The works: Like a walking talking arcade machine, a game engine let loose into the world. At the same time, Twilight had been travelling to Canterlot for a previously-unannounced trip. Throughout the day he found out little bits and pieces of her reasons for making the visit, reasons which Spike's power eventually confirmed to be 'consummating her outstanding secret romantic relationship with Princess Celestia'.

Needless to say they both had a lot of explaining to do.

"We're going to put this off pretty much indefinitely if we don't force ourselves, right?"

"As you like to say: 'If past results are any indicator of future outcomes'... Yeah. Very yes."

Twilight nodded grimly and pushed a bit of effort into the spell she was tinkering with. For the first time, Spike was able to really watch the process on a fundamental level, and it was fascinating. Twilight's magic was tighter, smaller, more compact and efficient than the looping whorls and curves of Rarity's symbols. That, and the well-practiced spell went by so quickly that he couldn't even try to comprehend details. If he hadn't already had the magic-sight of Dragon's Mind running, it would have been too fast for him to react.

"Starting recording, Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon present. Topic: The Biggest Day Ever. Starting with Direction Layer... Command:Pause. Does L-4 seem reasonable to you, Spike?"

He and Twilight both had a habit of rambling: It was more common for her but he wasn't immune, and his rambles tended to devolve and digress way further off-topic. To help counter this, they had developed this recorder. Used alongside the recorder was a system that Twilight's official documentation (and yes, there was documentation for something only the two of them would ever use) called Directions, because it was all about getting directly to the point. Layer Zero was detailing the entire topic exhaustively (good for research papers and reports), increasingly positive numbers were more... Concise wasn't the right word, because that implies minimizing the words used to get across the same concepts. The Directions were about ignoring some of the concepts entirely and only talking about the most-important events or results.

Regardless, a bigger number meant fewer details, and the rarely-used negative numbers meant adding detail above and beyond a 1-1 retelling of events.

"I mean, we basically already know the Layer Six version of each others' stories, so yeah let's just start at four and work our way back as needed. Interjections?"

"Interjections are fine, but let's put a moratorium on arguments or compunctions: Just the facts."

"Sounds plan-ish: Should I bring in the snacks and drinks from earlier?"

"Yes please! Dinner was lovely, but I imagine we've both worked up an unusual appetite today."

She only caught her own phrasing a moment too late, and Spike chuckled at her blush as he went to fetch the snacks: Shards and chunks of strong chocolate, some de-stemmed strawberries, and a sizable bowl of clotted cream. Anticipating the potential for this to turn into an overnight project he also brought several extra drinks (bottled), a few blankets, some pillows, and a spare alarm clock. Rather than try to balance that entire haul by hand, he just stuffed it into his Inventory: Intangible storage space that only he could access: Yet another perk of being The Gamer. Twilight hadn't seen him use it much yet, so this would double as a chance to show it off before they got started... Not to mention a good test to see if cold things stored in there stayed cold.

When he got back in and started very blatantly pulling objects out of thin air, he could see Twilight's eyes go wide and her hooves shake... But she restrained herself. Instead of going into a sort of science-fugue questioning how he was breaking every known law of equinity, she just smiled at him and gratefully levitated over one of the drinks and a few strawberries.
"Thanks so much Spike: So, ready to record our days at L-6 and then pack it in?"

"...L-4 and work back from there, Twilight. Why are you so embarrassed? This is awesome news!"

"Spiiiike, this is all really... You just don't talk about this sort of thing!"

He helped himself to a bit of chocolate and cream, all while levelling a very dry glare her way.
"Don't we? Because we grew up together, from the day you got your cutie mark slash the day I hatched. We've confided in each other for waaay over a decade now, and yaknow, last I checked? We totally talk about this sort of thing. Frequently"

"Yes, but..."

"You had a crush on Cadance for like a year and you nearly gored Shining on your horn when you found out they were dating. I had a crush on your Mom for about the same amount of time, and tried to breathe fire on your Dad but just ended up teleporting some of his breakfast down the hall. I know what times of day to stay out of your room, and you know about my 'ice cream dreams'. We talk about this sort of thing."

"...I know."

"Is it because there's somepony else involved? Or because it's specifically Celestia involved?"

"Yes! Kind of. But she also gave me pretty explicit instructions about that, with friends and family."

"Wait, seriously?"

Twilight attempted to impersonate her mentor-turned-lover, and did a decent job all things considered.
"Twilight, I know this has been wonderful for both of us, but don't think you need to worry about secrecy where your friends are concerned: Spike, especially. Given that letter earlier I imagine he'll have quite a lot to talk about with you later, and it would be a shame if you couldn't do the same."

"...Did she actually do that sort of unsettling chuckle at the end, where it's pretty clear she knows exactly what she's telling you to do but doesn't make any effort to soften the blow?"

"Yes. It's ten times more frustrating when... Well. We'll get there."

Spike gestured towards the paused recording spell.
"Well then... I'll go first, give you some time to prepare?"

That seemed to work, and she resumed the spell. Spike took a deep breath and met his own eyes in the hologram, thinking of how to best summarize all the insane things that had happened in the fullest and most complicated day of his life... Which is saying a lot, given how he spent his time.

"Going with an L-4 summary of events to start... I've awakened some kind of magical power, which I have very good reason to assume is the culmination of my dragon heritage. The power calls itself The Gamer, and it has made my life experience into the perspective of a top-of-the-line video game character. I have menus, which I will show a written copy of on-visual now. I have acquired nearly twenty different skills and powers in addition to these menus, first and foremost being the ability to Observe anything and see its game statistics, description, history, and more. Others include..."

He let himself fall into a practiced pattern as he went, using his Omphaloskepsis even as he kept describing and summarizing his day, thanks to the Exposure skill. Twilight reacted, very subtly, when he first activated it... But she didn't interject or interrupt. They'd probably only start talking back and forth about things once they both worked their way back to L-3 or even 2... Neither of them was probably up for a Direction 0 discussion of their days, given the sheer complexity of what Spike had gone through and the privacy of what Twilight had apparently done.

"...And of course, a factor in my new health is my new height, which is significantly variable-"

"How variable?"

"I can demonstrate my min-and-max if you want: It'd be good to have that recorded anyways, right?"

Twilight seemed quite intrigued by that, and so Spike pulled up his Dragon's Hoard. When he first acquired it earlier in the day it had been a problem and a bit of a nuisance... But he was already getting used to having the same height as his older friends, and the potential to change on a whim had a certain appeal.

"The variables are based on different 'hoards' of my property and such, with tolerances that have been getting wider as I train the skill. Minimum is currently..."

Spike winced through the sudden compaction as his body pulled down, down, further down... When it was finished, he was a full head shorter than he had been when he woke up this morning, around two and a half feet tall. Twilight looked him over and gestured for him to stand to get a better display on the recording, but it was clear she was restraining herself from asking too many questions.

"I'd need to stand to show off this next one anyways..."
At which point he braced himself for the real pain, stretching and growing in flares and creaking waves of green fire. By the time he finished his tallest crest brushed against the ceiling of the cozy room, and his chest was wide and surprisingly muscular. He very carefully avoided whipping his tail, since right now it would probably damage the couch behind him.

"Current maximum is roughly nine feet give or take, and my spines put another foot on that easy."

"Why say 'roughly' and 'give or take' when this is part of a menu: Doesn’t it show concrete values?"

"It does, but skills change their values as I practice them, and showing off like that got me a level in Dragon's Hoard: I didn't grind it too excessively earlier, so it's still popping pretty often. The range changed by... like an inch on both sides when it gained that level."

He didn't bother defining the term 'grind' for the recording, or for Twilight: She might not have played games to the same extent that he did, but she had grown up with him and Shining Armor. Not to mention the Sparkle house was within trotting distance of one of Canterlot's arcades. While she scribbled down a few notes, he returned himself to normal size and slipped back onto the couch.

"Alright. That covered your summation pretty well, in terms of end results: I really do want to hear how you got some of these skills though."

"Well, I'll gladly drop back to an L-3 or even an L-2... After you go."

"...Beginning an L-4 summary of today's events and their consequences from my perspective. I consummated my relationship with Princess Celestia. Physically. And repeatedly. We cancelled several plans for lunch, a theater show, dinner, and an anniversary trip to the park for the sake of having more time in bed together. And on the balcony together, and at one point in the palace kitchens together. We ended up un-cancelling the park trip in the end, but that was because we had gotten somewhat creative in our... activities. We also performed a ritual binding that tied our magic together on an intrinsic level, which apparently raised my 'Character Level' several times according to Spike's power-"

"First thing, are you sure it wasn't all the 'exercise' that got you one of those levels? And second, did Celestia really give you her Benediction?"

Twilight startled away from him with wide eyes and scrambled to the console.
"...Command: Pause. Command: Erase last ten seconds. No she did not, but Spike how do you even know about it!?"

"Well, I met Rarity's aunt and uncle who are both Night Guards, and one of them told me the details. Said he was surprised I didn't already know, and made a joke about Celestia 'keeping her state secrets from her state secrets'. It was pretty funny, come to think of it."

"How long ago was this?"

"Oh it was today! After Rarity induced my Dragon's Hoard skill acquisition and the forced growth spurt that came along with it, without my consent... But before the two of us mutually decided we shouldn't pursue my crush on her in the foreseeable future, if ever."

Her expression softened as she stepped back towards the couch, ears flopping down.
"Spike! I... Alright. OK. Clearly trying to make a dry summary of this first was the wrong idea. I'm so sorry to hear... We should start over."

He reached across the couch and picked up one of her hooves, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Yeah, that... would be nice. I'm still definitely of two minds about a lot of things... I’m of three or four minds about that bit in particular."

"Right then... Command: Archive current recording. Reset. Starting recording, Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon present. Topic: The Biggest Day Ever. This is going to be an informal recording for review purposes only, Do Not Release. Leaving blank space for three, two, one..."

"So we're saving any further mechanical testing for tomorrow, right?"

Twilight nodded without speaking, which was polite given her mouthful of strawberries. Once she gulped it down, she gave another brief nod for emphasis.
"That seems reasonable to me, unless you want to... You are doing something right now, aren't you? I can feel something shifting in your magic field."

"Yup! Actually one of the biggest pick-ups of the day was from the meditation you taught me. The benefits are huge, and I got a follow-on skill that lets me meditate while doing simple and repetitive actions. Like simultaneously talking and carving little gem sculptures, apparently."

At this point the two of them had gone fully casual, slumping back against the couch. Twilight was running some simple numbers and moving objects with her magic, and Spike was grinding skills... Really, it was the same way that Pinkie fidgeted or Rarity fussed with the seams of her clothing: Sometimes you just needed to keep yourself occupied during a conversation.

"Really? That's fascinating! It implies that your power doesn't just codify abilities, but can actually intensify and enhance their functionality."

"So that meditation doesn't have any huge day-to-day benefits for a normal pony?"

Her expression soured briefly.
"Well, there are reports and claims, but... I'll admit it. I've never paid too much heed to them, if only because I don't see a lot in the way of peer-reviewed studies coming out of the field."

"That just means we get to be the first ones to publication!"

"...That would be an intriguing take on things. Alright, I'll add it to the docket."

"At the very least, I'm not even slightly tired, despite the way that usually goes for me."

"Neither am I, which is weird given what all I did in Canterlot... Although that investiture of power was indescribable. If I were to try... I feel like it’s only just begun, like a seed was planted."

Spike flipped his claws over and pictured the flow of power through them, a constant undercurrent in his head while he was meditating.
"Do you think my wakefulness is coming from the meditation, from The Gamer, or a bit of both?"

"Spike, would you believe I actually have a third theory?"

"Lay it on me, oh great and wise Twientist."

She stuck her tongue out at him, but rather than reply in kind he just tossed another piece of chocolate onto the outstretched appendage.
"Mmmh, thanks. So, I think you've finally matured. Not just as a person, you did that long ago. I mean your body... You never got much bigger except for the greed incident. Your breath didn't get much stronger. Your natural magic field was always below average. And then today you suddenly come into your own and awaken this power and all of that changes: Now your height can shift freely, your breath has apparently near-infinite potential, your magic field is strong enough that the minor flux from entering meditation pings my senses..."

He could feel his own expression, still turned towards himself, growing dark.
"Are you saying my body was just... holding out on me all these years? Sandbagging me?"

"No! More like the opposite. I think it was just storing up to make this possible, like a capacitor bank. You were always sleeping, you ate heavily, you exercised your body and mind... But all that power just went into preparing the way for this huge change."

That brought him back to feeling more cheerful, the emotions mercurial and quick to fade.
"So now I might actually have a sleep schedule like a normal pony. I mean, assuming that The Gamer even has to sleep. I know I can, Gamer's Body has that insane clause about full restoration when I sleep in a proper bed... But do I need to sleep anymore?"

"We just don't know yet: Maybe you don't even have to eat, for all we know. "

"Heh. Heck of a way to come into maturity: Most ponies get gradual growth spurts, puberty, and weird feelings about their classmates. I have to question whether the basic laws of biology even apply to me!"

Twilight laughed at that, but then pushed away from the couch and gestured for him to stand. He followed her up, meeting her gaze eye to eye... It was going to take a lot of getting used to, but he really liked this perspective. There had been something inherent to being flank-high on adult ponies that led to them dismissing him in conversations, but now he felt properly scaled (heh) up.

"Spike... I did have another reason I went to Canterlot today. So before the clock turns over for tomorrow, I wanted to do one last big thing for you today."

"...Alright."

Her horn went dark for a moment, and then began glowing with an escalating intensity, throwing off the rare spark here and there. One wave of light after another began to wash over him, and he could feel his body try to resist it... He shrugged it off and forced it down: As cool as it would be to get a Magical Endurance skill to match the physical resistance he picked up earlier, this was very much not the right time. When Twilight opened her eyes again, they were the pure glowing white he only saw when she used the Elements or made some other massive working.

"By the power invested unto me by the Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance... By the laws set down in the Equestrian Code and verified by my own hoof... I, Twilight Sparkle, as your warder, your caretaker, and your legal guardian... Formally declare you, Spike the Dragon, a fully-fledged adult in the eyes of all laws and all powers."

Spike could feel the natural loop of the magic closing on him and making itself a part of his own body and aura... But then it stopped, and a flat green plane appeared in front of his eyes.

An attempt has been made to permanently enchant you. Accept this alteration? Y / N

He hovered a claw in front of the buttons, looking at Twilight as he did. She was clearly a bit winded by that... And if the spell did what she said, he could understand why. But given the earlier incident with Rarity, it would be best if he did understand before moving on, just in case.

"So... First off, thank you. I'm sort of overwhelmed? This is... wow. But I thought we couldn't move forward with the whole 'legally declaring me an adult' thing until we had a better idea of what draconic adulthood even is? And I was pretty sure the final adulting process was going to involve a few reams of paperwork, not some massive ritual spell."

"That was the plan, yes. But you did awaken this new power, so Celestia and I discussed it during our... downtime. This is basically a failsafe to make your legal majority undeniable by any means. So even if we run across dragons at some point in the future and they try to make some claim-"

"You mean like an 'Oh, well our adulthood is five hundred years, and adult dragons can claim any foundling as their child-slash-property on sight?' sort of thing? Because yeah, I've read a few stories like that and I wouldn't put it past any of the dragons we've seen or heard of."

"Right! Exactly. But Spike, you've been with us for so long, and rather than try to deal with whatever the dragon nations have for a legal system, or try to make you into some exemption in Equestrian law? We took a more... appropriate route."

"So just how binding is this? Because my system popped up a warning message letting me refuse it, and given my last run-in with abrupt magical transformation today..."

Twilight's face drained of color and she backed away, suddenly looking terribly angry at herself.
"Shoot! Spike, I... Oh my gosh I wasn't even thinking about the parallels to the situation with Rarity. I'm so sorry! I just haven't been able to think straight at all today-"

"Well yeah, not to repeat a joke but I imagine the things you did with Celestia would have been difficult if you had been thinking 'straight'."

“...OK, you’re at least not-mad enough to be cracking jokes. Also you would be surprised.”

He honestly wasn't mad at all: Twilight got ahead of her own hooves a lot of the time, especially when it came to experimental magic, Celestia, and doing things to make Spike's life better. Her growing magic hadn't started out with the intent of creating fake mustaches, after all... Speaking of which, he parsed Twilight's sentence again and then paled himself.
“...I’mma file that one under ‘things I should be surprised Celestia can do, but I totally am not’ and pray the mental drawer doesn’t overflow. Still! No worries. This isn’t even remotely the same as the thing with Rarity, primarily because you and I have a lot more experience with this. I’ve sat through being your test subject for how many spells again?”

“Right. Well... It’s fairly inescapably binding, although from your descriptions of the ‘titles’ some ponies have, I wouldn’t be surprised if it just becomes another toggle in your menu. But if any entity, magic, law or force tries to treat you as anything less than a full-fledged adult (and said force isn’t at least as powerful as Celestia and I working together) it’s going to fail.”

His claw had already been drifting to the left as she spoke, but when she got to the end he gladly dropped the tip down on the Yes button. The change was immediate and strangely imperceptible. He could tell it was working, but nothing about him had changed. It was the kind of definition-setting magic, a metaphorical pavis of law, which would only ever be noticeable if it was tested. In the meantime it sat dormant and nestled under his skin, a comforting non-presence of Twilight’s magic. And just as she had supposed it also sat in his menu: A toggle option for ‘Magically enforce recognition of adulthood?’, right between the titles and his class.

“Also, happy coming-of-age, I got you a present: I did all the paperwork months ago and filed it when I landed in Canterlot this morning. And yes it was two reams of paper, literally. Now we just need to schedule your cuteceañera!”

Spike wanted to grumble and complain about that, especially since he hadn’t been too happy the last time somepony made a joke about it... But coming from Twilight it was just earnest.
“Pinkie hosts or I bail the instant we cut the cake.”

“Spike, this is Ponyville: Of course Pinkie is in charge of the... p-word.”

“Trying not to wake her up at, what, eleven at night? There’s been plenty of times where she doesn’t even get started until this late.”

“You did say she was up all day tending that tamale.”

“Fair! No p-word. I’m surprised she doesn’t show up for synonyms though: Isn’t that basically what cuteceañera means?”

Twilight just shook her head and trotted over to the table to finish off her beverage.
“I’ve learned to stop questioning Pinkie, at least on that level: Her logic is uniquely hers.”

It wasn’t long before they had polished off the rest of the snacks and drinks, sending the two of them back out into the harsh light of the Library to go scrounge up a few more. Clearly they had underestimated just how much there was to discuss. After a few minutes they returned with the last of the fruit, some salty pretzels for balance, and a few more bottled drinks (which were indeed kept cold in his Inventory, which apparently didn’t give a flip about thermodynamics... or it didn’t have anywhere for the heat to move in and out of), including a single bottle that was just for Twilight.

Desperate for any final ways to put this off, Twilight looked to Spike as she levitated a fluted glass down onto the table.
“You sure you don’t want anything hard, Spike?”

“Eh, I’ll save that for the pa... particular event we were talking about earlier. Plus I’ve had enough at Canterlot events to know I’m not a white wine sort of guy: I'll take a few sips tops.”

“We have perfectly good reds too, some mead from Fluttershy’s hives... I’m fairly sure there’s even some of Applejack’s namesake in there somewhere.”

“No hard cider?”

The cork gently pop’d out of the neck of the bottle, almost covering Twilight’s nervous laughter.
“I had a Daring Do reading night with Rainbow last week.”

He vaguely remembered the tipsy giggling from downstairs when he was reading through the latest arc of Power Ponies at the time.
“Aaahha: Say no more. Didn’t you pick up some of that new orange wine Berry’s been selling?”

Her expression went stiff and she turned away, pouring the wine perfectly without looking.
“...didn’t get any.”

“Dare I ask?”

Twilight didn’t reply until after the glass was full, the bottle recorked, and everything was set aside... And when she did, it was with a surprising amount of heat in her voice.
“It’s not made with oranges!”

“Yeah? We knew that: Berry only works with grapes. It’s just that she leaves the skins in so that it all picks up some of the colors and chemicals-”

“I understand that, Spike, but even taking the homonym into account it's still misleading in the context of beverages! So I might have... gotten huffy about linguistics. At the time. Vocally.”

Even with the boosts from his first Story Arc already finished, Spike still half-hoped he’d pick up a skill for Exasperated Facepalm or similar: Celestia only knows it would be easy to grind.
“Do I have to go apologize to the marketponies?”

“No, I did it myself at the time... I was just so stressed out with the preparations for ‘today’. It was an incredibly taxing week or two leading up to... all of that.”

“Speaking of which, are you finally going to start telling me about your half of things?”

“Spike, I’m just concerned that you’re...”

“Not old enough? Twilight, you literally just declared me an adult. Unless, of course, the spell doesn’t apply to dodgy rhetoric and flimsy logic?”

That sent her sputtering and looking for a response, eventually settling on “Dodgy? FLIMSY?”, which just got Spike laughing... and she started laughing as well, both of them going into deeper fits of hysterics before slowly petering out. Twilight levitated her glass over and took a sizable swig before settling deeper into the couch.

“Alright, alright. So all of this started... Well, it started at that first Summer Sun Celebration, if I’m being totally frank. But it started in earnest after my brother’s wedding...”

Twilight spoke for what felt like days, but took only hours. He sat and listened, intrigued and enraptured, through every word of it. Here was how it all went down, as Spike understood it:

Twilight had never felt any shock in her life as complex and intense as the feeling when Celestia was knocked out by Chrysalis in their battle at the wedding. Dozens of thoughts had laid into her all at once, ranging from ‘How was the power she stole from my brother sufficient to let her match Celestia?‘ and ‘I need to stop her now more than ever!‘ to ‘Somepony needs to check on Celestia and move her out of the active combat zone’ and ‘(a series of complex equations for charging up a blaster spell to maximum as quickly as possible)’. But only one thought actually caught Twilight by surprise, both in the moment and afterwards. She had seen Celestia take a nasty hit, watched her fall, seen her crown clatter across the floor... And she had thought ‘What if I never get to tell her?’.

Never got to tell her what, Twilight had lied to herself at the time. She spent weeks afterwards pursuing the little niggling thought, something so inconsequential that had somehow been just as loud as all the others in that time of crisis. Eventually it became very clear: Some part of her mind, her thoughts on Celestia, had been compartmentalized and set aside years ago... And that shock had set it in motion once again, her affections putting their feelers out once more. Twilight had always loved Celestia from the moment she first saw her, even if she hadn’t fully understood it at the time. When she did come to understand it? She was already Celestia’s student, which was reason enough to push the feelings down with ruthless efficiency (and no small amount of regret).

As the years carried on however, it became clear that was untenable. Celestia didn’t just see her as a student, she had already known that much: She was a confidant, a friend, and maybe (Twilight had dared to dream) somepony with the potential to be an equal or even a lover. Years spent in Ponyville had given her the separation and distance needed to realize her side of things wasn’t just infatuation or a perversion of their teacher-student relationship, but legitimate affection. The shock at the wedding two years ago clarified it even further, and Twilight decided (once she stopped running from herself) that she would buckle down and confess.

The self-doubt and subsequent buckling-down had taken the better part of a year. She confessed to Celestia face to face, privately, over a tea-time talk in the alicorn’s bedchambers last year. Her reaction had been calm and serene... ignoring the widened eyes and the slight shake of her cup against the saucer. It was a rare crack in her composure, and Twilight had memorized both the sound and her expression completely before Celestia had replied. She asked for a bit of time to consider it, which Twilight gladly gave her.

A week later they reached parity: Celestia responded to the confession of love by asking Twilight out on a date during their next get-together. It felt like the egalitarian way to handle things, and was precisely as dorky and stilted as one would expect from this particular pair of ponies. With a bit of assistance from Luna and Cadance, the two of them began meeting up as often as possible, dating in a variety of ways and places. Some times it was under the auspices of official business, other times one or both of them would be disguised if it was in public. Once it was quite literally in a dream, a gift courtesy Luna. Mostly, they stayed inside and explored their new relationship... and each other.

Things went on from there and while Spike continued to listen, he also began to play a more active role in the conversation as Twilight emptied her glasses. By the time she got around to recounting some of their more notable dates, Twilight was nearing the halfway mark on her bottle... Which was saying quite a bit given her average-at-best tolerance for the stuff. Spike knew it would still take a fair bit more for her to be properly drunk, but her descriptions were starting to stray further away from safe territory. Each time she started going into any topic he knew she’d regret in the morning, Spike made sure to pull her away from the topic: They had protocols for when ponies were drinking at the Library.

“-and that was the first time we ended up eating e-”

“Twilight.”

“Right! Right. Information overload. Sorry. I’ve been apologizing a lot tonight: Sorry for that, too.”

“The phrase I meant was too much information, but I’ll take what I can get. And no worries about the apologies, sometimes things just all hit at once.”

She nodded in appreciation, blinking owlishly before levitating her glass over again and taking another swig.
“I left off... Right! Dates. We ended up going out together a few dozen times all told since then. In fact, today marked fifty dates sharp. Which was a landmark for us! I mean, most ponies go for chronological landmarks like anniversaries, but... Numbers made more sense to us. We always made sure every decadate was special, for example.”

“Would you chalk that up to you-being-you, or to the two of you having known each other for so long before you started dating?”

“Bit of both, honestly: Celestia’s own irregular free time plays a large part as well. It would be odd to celebrate some long stretch of ‘time together’ when we actually spend time together in such erratic bursts.”

Spike looked at his menu’s system time, and was unsurprised to see a single digit hour well past dayroll.
“Speaking of spending time, you want to call it at a half-bottle and pack it in for the night? We’re not exactly under pressure to cram this all in now, and I’m really interested in hearing more.”

“That... is not a bad idea at all, Spike.”

And without any significant prompting, the two of them made their way up and out from the sitting room and to their respective beds. They could have cleaned up, they could have capped things off with some meaningful words... But they’d already said an unnatural number of meaningful words that day, and cleaning (for once) seemed like it could wait until morning. It felt strangely right to cap off such an absurd day in an unceremonious way.

And thus ended Spike’s first day as The Gamer, properly ended. It ended the exact opposite of the way it started: All of his eyelids drooping closed to the now-comforting blue light of a floating menu screen.

Author's Note

Well here we are. EOA1. I'd make some kind of copacetic Homestuck reference, but... Well, I think we're all sufficiently home-stuck right now. I'm so glad to have taken you all on this trip so far, and don't you fret about the more traditional Adventure aspects: We're moving straight into Act 2, [A Spoiler Title Redacted For At Least A Dozen More Chapters Minimum], once we resume!

Until then? Stay tuned.

Chapter ????????

The sound, although he couldn't describe it or remember it if you asked him, jarred Spike into conscious perception again. Nothing was familiar around him, not his room or his bed or any other part of the Library: He was somewhere else entirely. The last thing he could remember was talking with Twilight, and now...

He whirled in place, trying to take in everything around him: It didn't help. The world was an overwhelming castrophany of stimuli, one terrible display after another. The sky was black as jet, the ground was white as bone, and everywhere in between howled with a million chaotic shapes and shades. Only a few places of seeming stability caught his eye... Blades shone in the distance, the land covered in indistinct shapes that he parsed by instinct as hilts and pommels. Closer to claw there was fire and there was flame, raw combustion in all its uncountable hues. And beneath him?

No one learns of

Water lapped at his feet... No, it was something like water. Yet this substance was entirely without the real thing’s inviting warmth, nor even a refreshing chill. It was dull and present but nothing more; liquid without cause or function. The air itself was thick too, laden with sounds so arbitrary as to be meaningless. But those peaking and variable noises may as well have been silence compared to the constant current that ran underneath, a tone unlike any he'd ever heard. No, not a tone. It was a voice, speaking words in a steady cadence, and it sounded a little like this:

the absence of flames.

The uncountable sparks of fire went out all at once, more colors than anyone had ever known all gone in an instant. Emotionally he felt terrified and dispirited, but physically and spiritually he felt warmed in response; filled with something smokeless but still burning, bright burning. Spike had done nothing yet he knew he had taken those flames into himself, willingly or not. Fire in the belly...

No promise sweeter

His first thought was to figure out what happened. His first instinct was to run and never stop... and we all know which side wins in a situation like this. Waving claws and scampering feet quickly felt insufficient so he dropped to all fours, sprinting like a scaled jungle cat. His tail lashed out behind him with each leap, even as another set of words rose up out of the calamity again.

than a vanishing act.

In the distance, the hillock covered in swords vanished into thin air, streaming upwards like ice sublimating in a pan. He was filled, again, with a sense of rightness and improvement: This time it was the cold surety of metal, the perfection of industry and the work of artificers long since forgotten. Despite that feeling he wept as he ran, eyes blurred with tears. Hurtling around obstacles, he turned sharply to find some new destination.

No morning colder

At some point the earth and sky had exchanged themselves, flipping and twisting to leave his claws buried in black loamy soil and the sky filled with blinding white. The ‘water’ had fled from both sides when his attention was turned away, leaving everything stark and pure. Spike alone stood out with significance in this wide and vertiginous expanse.

than the ones we’ve lost.

And then he didn’t even have that, as the air and sky were obliterated. Everything vanished, and in their wake was left a sea, a sky, a land... An expanse of infinite grey sparks, floating and shifting. Some little scraps of pure white and black could be seen within the tangle of strange patterns, and Spike could feel the old world inside of him, the fire and the blades. But those were inside of him, and outside of him was nothing of substance: The only thing left was himself.

Nothing sharper

This was it. He only had these few moments before the voice carried forward inexorably and he himself would be lost, pulled into his own infinite gravity well. His whole life had been defined by voracious consumption, taking in gems and knowledge and stories and information, and now it ends the same way it began: In a freak burst of magic, unexpected by anyone.

than the God-sent truth-

...Nothing.

But not the nothing he expected.

Instead it was stillness: A freezing in the nature of things. He was stopped, and so was everything (which is to say nothing) around him. The only motion came from a hole in the distance, so very far away... It almost seemed to be a familiar shape. A squashed curve of pink and purple, rimmed with a bit of brown and a flash of white, like a muzzle with a...

“Or is that last line supposed to be ‘than a serpent’s tooth’? I can never keep those straight!”

-and the sky opened up.

Spike had only met Discord in the flesh once, during Twilight’s failed attempt to use him as ‘the new Rainbow Dash’ when Discord broke free... He had seen the statue several times since then in its new home much deeper in the Canterlot gardens. And the creature in front of him was oddly familiar, even if those memories were years old by now. A seamlessly stitched amalgam of some dozen or more creatures, primarily the major species that walked Equestria: A bit of pony here, some dragon there, griffon, minotaur and so forth. His grin was wicked and his eyes were wide as Spike slowly tried to orient himself in the strange void they inhabited.

“Oh Spikey-wikey. What a shame you’ve found yourself here. Terrible nights, curses, all that.”

“...What?”

“I was trying to make a copacetic reference! After all, you’re running around with that new-fangled mish-mash of Gamer powers, I figured I might as well drop some gamer cred into the conversation.”

“Right, sorry, trying logic with the entity of chaos. I meant 'what is this place and what are you doing here'!?”

The not-a-dragon (that distinction felt important, for some reason) casually filed his claws against the sparks in the air.
“Passing along some bits and bobs: Black holes and revelations, that sort of thing. The usual!”

Spike knew something was strange, but he couldn’t put his claw to it. It was more than likely just the presence of Discord being Discord... Wait. How, actually?
“And you got here...”

“Oh don’t worry your little head about that: Just think of me as a convenient mental scapegoat, with an emphasis on the goat! Odds are quite high that I’m not here at all, after all.”

“Right. Those sure were words. Cutting to the chase: What message are you so eager to tell me?”

Discord’s smile was wide and sharp, literally: The edges of the space around his head puckered like paper under a knife and then started to ooze a strange technicolor mist.

“Spike? You’re a mouth. A gaping maw with legs and a snarky personality. Certainly, you chew your food up real nice and spit it back out for the sake of others... But just because a mother bird is feeding its chicks, that means nothing to the worms it plucked or the flowers it crushed.”

“What?”

When Discord’s mouth opened again the sound that came out was Spike’s own voice magnified a hundred, a million, ten trillion times. It was sound as a solid force, crushing and unquestionable. In any real environment that tremendous proclamation would have been the end of all things, but here it was ‘merely’ so powerful that it ripped away the remnants of Spike and the world around him. The echoes alone cast the breadth and depth of his perceptions to the void. The sound was so tremendous and terrible that it even shredded its speaker, Discord’s face and body blown away, drifting off in cartoonish shreds and tatters.

Despite that, the inchoate sound started to take form.

To make words.

They said:

“Listen! Everything I love, I will devour...”

Author's Note

We resume in one week's time. Meanwhile... This. :V

Chapter 52: Closed Circle

Later that day...

The deepest sub-basement of the Golden Oaks Library was locked down tight. A large array of equipment hummed and buzzed, including a small ward generator (which in and of itself was warded with a variant of one of Shining Armor's barriers) and quite a few diagnostic machines of the librarian's own devising. The doors were locked and barred, the shelves were covered with large protective sheets, and the floor was heavily reinforced.

And on the floor Twilight Sparkle and Spike (the Dragon, Spike for short) were circling each other carefully, preparing to strike. Unicorn magic hummed and twinkled along Twilight's horn as she readied another attack, but Spike stayed on the defensive for now. After all, a large part of this was aimed towards improving his defense against projectiles. With each volley Spike was learning to dodge, and dodge effectively. It had initially been a mystery how to avoid such long-range attacks, since the Crusaders hadn't been able to prepare him for it. Now after a few rounds?

He was getting the hang of it, and at this point he was able to use minimal effort avoiding the bolts of fire that snapped through the air around him. The trick was, unless an attack could move mid-air or seek in some way? You just had to angle yourself away from the trajectory. If the attack comes from a long distance, even a tiny adjustment in its origin or the target's position could make a huge difference. It was just like one of Twilight's math problems!

Of course that math was complicated by the huge difference between yesterday morning's Spike and today's Spike: Namely the fact that he was a lot taller now. Adjusting to his new height was certainly going, but not going fast enough for his taste. That lack, and the loss of speed and grace were evident in the wide variety of cracks and scorch marks on his scales. Well, the places where cracks and scorch marks should be but strangely weren't: The Gamer's Body made it so that injuries just... didn't. He took HP damage, but the aftermath was secondary.

Across the room his unicorn opponent was preparing another new spell, and Spike switched on the magic-perception of his Dragon's Mind to try and parse it out. He didn't have a lot of practice interpreting spell circles yet (he certainly hadn't found any books on the subject, which was odd), but the distinct field of jagged-edged twinkles definitely meant 'lightning-power': He had watched Twilight powering all of her research devices before the fight, so that much was familiar. Before the spell finished he tossed a half-bit coin from his Inventory into the air a few feet away, letting the conductive piece of cash eat the attack for him as he dodged.

The massive stroke of electrical energy whipped out at a speed he couldn't even understand, but what he did know was that they were both functionally blind for a moment afterwards. It was just like staring into the sun or seeing a real lightning strike from waay too close for anypony but the pegasus triggering it. Spike took the opportunity to rush forwards, acting on the assumption that his target was being cautious and wouldn't move until their sight returned... And he was right. A blind sweep through the air sent his claw clattering (without much force) against Twilight's horn.

Defeated for the fifth time in under an hour, she sighed and fell back onto her rump. While he moved to clean up the area and recover his money, she blew a strand of stray mane out of her face. She didn't say anything after that, which Spike took as a sign that their practice was done.

"Seriously Twi, for somepony more than twice my Level you don't put up much of a fight."

He didn't even have to look to know she was glaring at his back.
"Spike, as much as I am sure this is helping you and as fascinating as the data might be... I'm not a combat caster and I don't have any intention of learning to be one"

"Why not?"

The second time in as many minutes where she didn't have a response... He was on the way to setting a new record! Plus, her silence left plenty of room for him to keep talking.

"Well I mean, a subject being useless day to day hasn't slowed you down before, Twilight: Never stop learning, knowledge for knowledge's sake, all that jazz. Remember the week we spent reading up on historic Yakistani tax codes?"

His (complex interpersonal relationship for which there is no word yet) tried to hide a blush and failed, while Spike lamented that they still hadn't settled on a good word for their bond.
"I suppose that's a fair assessment. But why are you so interested?"

He ticked off the reasons on his claws, figuring she'd either see it or not care. It made sense to him either way.
"First, Rarity and her aunt offered to train me in ranged attack magic. Can't pass that up! And second, my game system has lots of combat stats with an emphasis on HP and recovery... If my experience with Shining's RPGs and the arcades is anything to go by, a game that focuses that much on combat stats and mechanics is going to HAVE a lot of combat."

A bit of companionable silence passed after that, before Twilight stood up and nodded to him. The room was back in order, everything as good as new... Well, as good as it was before they started sparring. Even Spike's own body was fully recovered from all the dings and scrapes.
"...alright, that is a fairly convincing argument. To be honest, bettering my ability to handle myself in danger is... attractive."

"Awesome! And that's a good segue: It's an attractive idea that might make you more attractive yourself! I mean, you've already bagged yourself a Princess for a girlfriend but-"

Spike's head whipped back against the wall and the rest of him shortly followed: Twilight had cut off his off-color joke with a concussive knockback spell so strong that a normal pony would be unconscious at best.
"I deserved that one!"

"I'll say: Round seven starts now. And while you get up, tell me again about that dream you had."

Retelling his disturbing dream was a long affair, given the constant interruptions of their ongoing battle: He didn't finish until sometime during Round 14 (current score was Spike 9 Twilight 3, one draw). And while many ponies had trouble remembering dreams, his new Eidetic Memory made it as simple and accurate as describing what he had eaten for lunch the day before.

Spike ducked the volley of tiny purple-pink concussion bombs that came alongside Twilight's words, one with each syllable in a steady thump-thump cadence. She frowned in a mix of concentration and frustration, an expression that got deeper with every miss.
"So you think it was actually Discord in your dream?"

Twilight twisted her body to the side to try and present a smaller target when he approached... But that just put her horn closer to his reach. After weaving through the last trio of bombs, he had a clear opening to tap the spire of bone before she could start another spell. Spike 10!
"It would honestly be weirder if it wasn't, yeah? Also, good game."

Twilight sighed and backed up a step, shaking her head: She was getting the hang of it, but Spike had a lot of advantages from his new skills, even if she in return had a lot of age and a few cases of live combat experience over him.
"I was just in Canterlot you know. I saw his statue: He's definitely still imprisoned."

"Right, and I get that. But... come with me on this mental journey."

That got a quick nod as Twilight finished the automatic reorganization spell to counteract the effects of her own explosive spells: She'd developed that particular trick after one too many Rainbow Crashes through the skylight undid hours of work. Now the books (the ones that weren't under glass already, mostly the reference manuals for active devices) just calmly danced back towards their usual shelves. A secondary kick into the spell and they unruffled their pages and slotted back into their proper places.
"Sure! I'm always willing to entertain a reasonable hypothetical situation. Emphasis reasonable."

"OK, so... Discord isn't awake in that statue, right? There's no way he's just constantly screaming into the void, paralyzed and unable to interact with a world he can perceive but never touch."

He could see that Twilight was making a mental note to check what disturbing content he'd been reading lately, but he shrugged that off: Lovecolt had been her recommendation to begin with.
"You're right about that: It wouldn't be very harmonious of the Elements. No, he's probably... oh."

Spike snapped his claws.
"Asleep! Exactly. Exactly. And we already know that he can mess with all sorts of things that are normally reserved for the Princesses, like moving the Sun. And thus..."

"He could be dreamwalking. Spike that is disturbingly possible! We need to compose a warning and send it to Celestia and Princess Luna right aw-"

When she looked back towards him, he was already blowing the last few gouts of green fire across the edge of a scroll, which dissolved into sparks and travelled out the window to Luna, CO: Celestia.
"You were saying?"

Despite the bruises and battering they'd given each other over the last hour, Twilight's smile was as bright as ever.
"Oh Spike, you really are my #1 Assistant."

"Heh, yeah... Speaking of which, I should probably 'assist' you with double-checking the checklist before we run out of time."

They were on a deadline, after all... A looming, pink deadline.

Earlier that morning...

A faint blue glow permeated Spike's mind, or rather... He had a feeling this had happened before. Spike flicked back one set of eyelids, seeing that his Gamer menus were indeed open: In fact, his first memorable (thanks, Dragon's Mind) dream in weeks had been interrupted by them. It wasn't an accidental opening like yesterday: He had set this up on purpose! As he settled into bed last night he had decided to chuck his alarm clock into a slot of his Inventory. The time was already set, and he figured the alarm part (his menus already had a clock function even without it) would work through his menus... somehow.

The test was a success: Rather than the ringing coming from thin air, or his body? He just woke up at the right time, instantly jolted into consciousness as if he had never been asleep. That was going to be real useful in the future, if only to avoid annoying Twilight after a long research bender. Using this as a precedent, he'd have to think about checking out the Library's 'Map and Atlas' section, see if he could cheat out some advantages there.

He had a feeling the day ahead would be packed again, but hopefully not as bad as yesterday: That had easily been the longest day of his life, even counting the whole Discord incident... Which brought the dream back to the engine position on his train of thought. He'd definitely have to talk with Twilight once they were both up and fully conscious. But before that, they went to bed abruptly last night and he'd missed out on all his self-care. Good thing he'd set the alarm real early!

Checking his bed for shed scales took longer than usual because there weren't any to be found. Come to think of it, maybe there never would be again: The Gamer might not shed. He was still laughing about that idea by the time he hit the bathroom, although he had to stop giggling in order to brush his teeth (and he had a LOT of teeth to brush) without choking.

After that came a quick dry bath and brush-down: Showers were more of a luxury for him, and as far as he was concerned dragons and sit-down water baths didn't need to cross paths. With that, his morning routine was pretty much handled! Well... evening routine done in the morning for a change, potato potato.

"Spike, are you up?"

"Walkin' and talkin'! And cleanin'. And... runnin' out of thematic rhymes."

Twilight stepped up to the door with a smile on her face.
"Well if everything is taken care of, are you up for breakfast?"

"Oh sure! We can finish talking about the whole 'you and Celestia' thing over some hay bacon."

"...Maybe we could save that for another time?"

He tried not to growl in frustration, and was surprised to notice that while he still felt the usual reflex, it didn't go all the way through: Maybe his Gamer's Mind or Body was keeping him from embarrassing himself?
"Are we really going to push this off again?"

"I have a good reason this time! Or at the very least some sound logic. We can talk about that over breakfast, alright?"

"Fine, fine."

Breakfast that morning was far from simple: Spike knew in the back of his mind that he still had last night's dishes to take care of on top of the mess he made now, but he couldn't help himself. Access to Dragon's Kitchen and an audience willing to try out gem-infused food (for science!) meant it would have been very silly to hold back, honestly.

He did his first experiments quickly, using shaved curls of gemstones incorporated into very small dishes. All of his previous successes had been based on simple associations of color and what he considered to be a gem's flavor (as Twilight had done some past experiments proving ponies simply couldn't *taste* gems), so he kept up in that vein.

"So yesterday's souffle paired with citrine, but I think eggs are so versatile that I should try more."

"Agreed: Looks like we have opal, marble, quartz, amber, garnet, and aragonite if we want to keep working by color."

Spike thought over that list and tried to bring the flavors into line with egg dishes he could cook. At least in the short term he was sticking with adding gems to existing recipes instead of trying to outright pioneer new dishes. And given that selection...

"Aragonite's sort of salty-savory, so that would be pretty likely! Come to think of it I bet actual pearls would be even better."

"Well then I guess you'll have to stop donating them all to Rarity for dresses and jewelry, hm?"

"...Aragonite it is!"

Even with the 'issue' of his affections effectively handled? Spike was still Rarity's friend, and cutting out all the pearls from Celestia's periodic gem shipments had become a tradition at some point. Friend stuff, right? Although maybe he could get some skills for holding his breath so he could dive for pearls himself... Later.

In the end they had enough eggs available that he tried aragonite and opal and marble: Aragonite powdered and used to season a hard-boiled egg, marble sliced into delicate sheets to add crunch to an egg-cup custard, and a few miniscule opals spread through curds of scrambled egg. While those were underway he made a sandwich of wild greens with nephrite-jade and avocado dressing, and a small chocolate lava cake with some iron-laced brown and black obsidian. Then further effort went into making drinks and dry snacks, gems toasted with spices, so on and so forth: All told Spike tested over twenty different small-batch recipes with nearly thirty different gems.

Once they sat down to eat, Twilight had an extra serving of 'normal' food to supplement her small selection of Dragon's Kitchen results. Although calling them results was a stretch: Despite the effort he put into testing, cross-referencing, and flavor-profiling? There were a measly four successes in the entire thing! FOUR! Twilight said she'd gladly eat the failures, to test if Dragon's Kitchen still made them palatable, but he insisted on waiting until they had a safer way to check.

Even with the extra food available for himself, he was still pretty dour before they started eating... But once he actually tried the successes, he had to admit it was worth the effort. A few ways!

"I'm not exactly a gourmand or a gustatory specialist, Spike... But I really think I can taste the gems in these: Perhaps that's a hidden side-benefit?"

He nodded absentmindedly as he quickly started taking bites of every individual dish. When things worked correctly these new Dragon's Kitchen results produced short buffs (portion-size related?) and vivid flavors. Spike just couldn't think of a better way to describe it. The failures had gems in them and he could taste those like usual, but the successes were infused with gem-flavor in a way he'd never experienced before, even with yesterday's forays into the field. And the buffs...

Green Jade and Avocado Dressing: Increased maximum health, 1 hour

Double-Chocolate Felsic-Lava Cake: Increased physical defense penetration, 1 hour

Rose Quartz Rose Water Spritzer: Increased stamina recovery, 1 hour

Mandarin Moonstone Salmon: Increased magical efficiency, 1 hour

Yeah that absolutely made this morning's effort worth it. He'd have to find a better pairing for the moonstones at some point, because fish was definitely a 'sometimes' food, doubly so for salmon (at least on his previous cooking budget).

"Spike this is all delicious! And our success rate is solid, all things considered."

"Thanks Twi. And yeah that's... I had been hoping for more? But I think I'll get better at figuring out good mixes in time. A hit out of every six-ish is pretty good, given the permanent gains involved."

Twilight took a deep sip of her rose water, marking some information into a notepad.
"Certainly! And you said you can apply these 'buffs' directly with your magic now?"

He nodded and flicked open the appropriate skill description again. He hadn't used Layer since refreshing his buffs in the morning, but applying these four only took a minute. The health boost was significant, and seemed to be a percent of his max. The penetration buff wasn't so easily checked, but he could at least use Earthshaper to test the stamina recovery without getting out of his chair... Although maybe 'physical defense penetration' worked on the hardness of rocks and stones?

As for the moonstone... Well, he'd have to figure out the implications and the logistics of spending so much MP on reducing future MP costs later: He had a feeling the math fell in his favor as long as he cast enough skills over its duration... But he didn't need Twilight to remind him to double-check.

Speaking of which, he had a Twilight to grill... Conversationally grill, not the other kind.
"So why are we putting off our other discussions? You said breakfast, it's breakfast."

She tried not to wince at the reminder that she was putting off things again.
"Well remember how last night we were figuring out what to do about telling all of the girls the details of your whole... situation?"

"Eeeyeah."

"And we realized it was probably a good idea to do the same thing with my whole..."

He still had yet to get a 'deadpan stare' skill, much less one for sarcasm, but it was worth trying.
"Right. And I'm going to pass on the chance to make a crude joke there, but be aware that I could have. Phrasing. Again."

"ANYWAYS, after that I got a bit tipsy, as you know, and... I may have executed on a plan to solve both problems at once."

"While drunk?"

"Tipsy! And yes."

"Is this the kind of 'tipsy' problem-solving where we end up having to remove the frog fractions from an orange-animal hybrid, or have you learned to stick to getting produce at the Market? Metaphorically."

"It's the kind of tipsy problem-solving where I teleport a note over to Sugarcube Corner asking Pinkie Pie to join us for lunch so we can plan a full-scale p-word. Teleported, past tense."

Twilight was avoiding saying 'the p-word', but it was late enough in the day that he knew Pinkie would probably be awake already. Plus, he was pretty certain she wouldn't pop over ahead of schedule when they had plans.
"...You volunteered us for party planning."

She jabbed a hoof at him with an accusatory tone, even as she flinched from the p-word.
"You like helping Pinkie!"

"Absolutely, but you volunteered us. And last time I checked you only barely tolerated party planning because it has the word planning in it. Otherwise it's 'just too exhausting', right?"

"I mean, that level of social thinking does take a lot out of me... But it's worth it. I only get to share the news about myself and Celestia with them once, right? Not to mention your big change! So it's going to be a worthwhile kind of exhausting. Fulfilling, as it were."

"...I can buy that. Speaking of which, I was thinking about killing some time before seeing if Pinkie was free regardless: We made a deal to spend today together anyways, so she would have been free even if you hadn't sent her that note. Given all that... Let's head downstairs and maybe tussle it up a bit, get our spar on?"

Twilight was very evidently hesitant about that, but eventually she acceded.
"Alright. But! Let me set up the recording devices first so we have empirical data to work with."

"Only if you let me watch the playback of myself using my new skills... And if I can buff you partway through the session to see how well the Magic Efficiency buff works on somepony who doesn't have discrete MP costs."

"Deal!"

Chapter 53: Metal Map

Later that day yet again, putting us back in alignment with the passage of linear time...

Spike ticked off their morning accomplishments on his fingers one at a time.
"OK. Spars done, warning to the Princesses done, gem and buff testing done, dream discussed, breakfast cleared, Pinkie invited, I think that's everything handled?"

"Well you do still need to clean all the dishes and flatware from last night and this morning-"

"...after we check out the rewards I got from my 'story arc' quest last night!"

He watched as the warring sides of Twilight's brain (in this instance, 'Cleanliness and OCD' in the blue corner versus 'Curiosity and Selflessness' in the red corner) slug it out until one challenger reigned victorious. It only took about three seconds, but it was always three very fun seconds.
"...Well played. Alright, lay it on me. Or lay it on the table rather, Mr. Stickler About Phrasing."

The last twenty-odd hours had been a lot of a rush, the last few especially: Despite the elation when he had finished his first Story Arc? In the end Spike had just shoved all the popup windows and quest rewards into the equivalent of his 'Read It Later' shelf. Now he brought them all back to the forefront, messages and objects alike. There was a folded map, a few gems, a beautiful plain wooden box (smooth and curved like a clamshell), plus a piece of paper... That last bit seemed wrong. He could have sworn there was a skillbook involved. Well, maybe the various UI messages would explain that difference...

"Alright, do you want me to copy out the interface stuff or just recite it?"

"Recitation is fine! You did say there's a log, after all. We can get copies for my records later."

There was indeed a Log menu in his status screen, although its thoroughness might have been a side benefit of Eidetic Memory. Why jump to that conclusion? The Log contained (in a very well-organized and searchable tab system) every single item description, Observe, menu screen, and popup he had ever gotten as The Gamer. Perfect recall made even, uh, perfecter.

"So I got quite a few levels, putting me up to thirteen. A bunch of my Dragon's skills went up by at least four or five levels each: Maybe they tie into my main XP somehow? My raw stats went up from some of the sub-quest rewards, so they're seventeen across the board. Skills... Oh."

"'Oh'? Abrupt unexplained 'Oh' is usually not a good way to end a sentence, Spike: We've talked about unnecessary ominousity!"

"Well I was just... Look, it's better if I show you this part."

He grabbed a notebook and began sketching out the boxes he could see, and the messages in them. All of which confirmed... Well, the good news is his skill growth was probably going to stay just as fast as yesterday. The bad news was that his skill acquisition might take a turn...

The 40 WIS requirement of [Omphaloskepsis] has been waived due to special circumstances.
The 50 DEX requirement of [Dragon's Claws] has been waived due to special circumstances.
The 44 STR, DEX, VIT, INT, WIS, LUK requirements for [Balanced Soul] have been waived...

On and on the messages went, covering nearly half of the skills he had acquired: Every single one of the Dragon's skills, his meditation, his Balanced Soul, all of them were technically out of reach in terms of the required stats... That had been the real 'boost up the ladder' from the Story Arc of his first day. Not boosted experience or skill growth, but abnormal skill gain. He'd gotten access to a lot of things that should have been well beyond him in order to make up for the long portion of his life where he'd been... less than up-to-snuff.

The only message out of that lot, different from the others, stuck out like a sore thumb:
The 50 WIS requirement of [Dragon's Breath] has been waived due to prior personal affinity.

So his breath had been something natural for him... Maybe related to his species or subspecies as a dragon? They still didn't know nearly enough about draconic biology or magic to be sure, but he (along with Twilight and Celestia) had decided long ago that it wasn't a pressing concern.

"...Alright Spike, that 'oh' was justified. This is great news though! You got some very intriguing and potent skills early, and we know that your growth and progression from here won't be nearly as limited as we'd feared."

"I guess... But what if it's way harder to get skills? These are all fantastic, but I'll be the first to admit I like having more options when possible."

Twilight shrugged (which was always an interesting motion on a pony) at that.
"Then I guess you'll have more reason to double-down on statistical training, so you can be up to scratch for any new skills you come across. It might even speed up some of those Mastery items!"

"...I can live with that. In which case, moving on to the tangible rewards..."

Spike scrolled until he found the message that correlated with him being granted the skillbook from his big story arc yesterday... and the log item immediately following that was an error message.

Due to your skill source affinity, the acquisition of skillbooks has been delayed indefinitely.

"...I knew my power has been behaving like a real game in a lot of ways, but I didn't expect that to include release dates getting pushed back!"

Didn't he already have a skillbook though? He'd found one when using Quality Assurance on his inventory full of random stuff from the morning preparations... That was right, Able Actor's Advice. And it was where he left it in his Inventory, between a flashlight and a blanket.

"Lemme try something. Keep an eye out Twilight, this might go weird-ish."

Spike attempted to retrieve the book... And out came a single sheet of paper. The book itself was still clearly in his Inventory, but now he was holding something that looked like nothing more than a promotional poster. It advertised the book in gaudy colors and made some generic promises about the potential power of it, and had a release date of 'To Be Determined / Not Applicable'. On second glance, there was another matching flyer for the book he should have gotten from the First Day quest rewards in a different Inventory slot.

"Should I have seen something other than you retrieving some paper?"

"...Apparently not, although it's news to me. I guess I don't have an 'affinity' for skillbooks?"

"Well that doesn't seem right! We're all about books here in the Sparkle hou... I mean, at the Golden Oaks Library."

"Channeling your mother again?"

"Hush. But seriously... How do skillbooks usually work in video games? Is there something that would stop you from using them because you're a dragon?"

"Probably not... You just use them, they go away, you get the ski-"

Twilight's eyes narrowed.
"They what?"

"...go away? They're pretty much always consumable."

There was a brief flicker of orange sparks near the bottom of Twilight's mane as she shouted.
"Why!? They're books!"

"For balance purposes, I assume? They don't want you just teaching the entire party some rad skill because you found one copy of it. So the book gets destr-"

"Don't even say it!"

His (yet-invented relationship word) was huffing and puffing and trying not to have a minor panic attack over even the hypothetical destruction of a book... And yeah, given that? Spike could sort of see why his power had made the executive decision not to do skillbooks after all: It was better for his continued health if nothing else.

"M-moving on... I've got a map!"

That seemed to calm the unicorn down a little, and she looked over at it.
"Well, that's a map of the mountains underneath Canterlot... With two Xs on it?"

It only took a second for the facts to come together, and when they did he couldn't stop smiling.
"...Sweet Celestia I got a real treasure map!"

"Yarrharr and such, I suppose: Does it say what's at the marks?"

"Oh Twilight, you're so silly: Half the point of a treasure map is the surprise at the end!"

She was clearly unimpressed, but that was probably because she lacked true pirate spirit.
"Uh huh. And the rest?"

"Of the point of a treasure map, or of the loot? Because-"

"Spike."

"Fine, fine! But just you wait: Pinkie will be excited about my map."

"Spike, Pinkie would be excited by a crudely drawn map of her own house. She is excited, as a base state. She defaults to excitement."

He'd never thought of it that way, but at the same time...
"...That'd actually be kind of a fun gift for her at some point. I need to write that down. Oh wait, no I don't! Haha, eidetic memory jokes."

He stored the map into his inventory and wasn't terribly surprised to notice that his Map menu showed the marked spots now that he had seen and memorized them himself. Of course he'd never even been to that part of the Canter Mountains, but still: Nice to have a reminder.

That left the box and the loose gems... although 'gem' was really sort of a stretch. One was a strange rainbow-oily crystal formation, shaped into a boxy staircase of tiny flat layers, unlike anything he'd seen (or tasted) before. The other was a cute little charm made of carved metal, cold and grey... Maybe iron, or even steel? It was shaped like a unicorn horn, so detailed that even the little pores of the velvet were individually marked out.

"Two loose gems, which would be kind of a strange reward for anyone but a dragon. Still a bit strange that they aren't in a bigger quantity..."

Spike shrugged, very carefully balancing the gems in his palm.
"They're not for eating... Well I mean they are, but not like that. Remember how I said that the weird indestructible stone from Rarity's collection said it would 'improve Dragon's Breath', but had a failure chance?"

"Yes. These are the same?"

"Sort of the same."

Escherian Bismuth
Provides a new skill.
Failure Chance: 0.01%

Unihorn
Provides a new skill and improves Dragon's Breath... but you are not powerful enough.
Failure Chance: 93%

"One of them seems to be bismuth, and it's... usable. Failure chance under point-oh-one percent."

Twilight looked at him dubiously.
"That was .01 and not 'point, oh, one', right? You know how I am about p-value manipulation."

"Despite how much it makes everypony laugh, yes. And also yes: Zero dot zero one. Chance in ten thousand."

She shrugged, which was always fun when ponies did it.
"Acceptable in my eyes, if you were looking for advice. That's basically just a rounding error at this point, so I assume there's another reason you haven't eaten it already?"

"...Aren't heavy metals toxic?"

"One, dragon. Two, bismuth is the least toxic of the heavy metals, although I still wouldn't go around feeding it to a pony. You already eat semi-toxic rocks for fun, pleasure, and sustenance."

Twilight had a really good point: As such, she hadn't even finished her sentence by the time he popped the little staircase into his mouth and started biting in. The flavor was weirdly sour, then mint-cool, then the strange numbing heat of the weirder peppers... It came in waves and bursts until he felt totally set aside from himself, his tongue just kind of soaking it all in. When he finally came back from the Flavor Dimension there was a crisp and colorful skill popup hanging in the air.

Disaffiliation Lv MAX EXP: N/A
Breaking the ties that bind us to certain preconceptions can be difficult. The things we learn are food will always be considered food, the things we learn are dangerous will always be considered dangerous. Severing those pre-established notions can expand the mind into new avenues.

All of the user's abilities that recognize one kind of (Earth) are expanded to recognize all others.
This means that powers which only impacted metals now work on gems, vice versa, and so on.

You have discovered your [Metal Affinity]!

"...Oh. Well that... um. One second."

Pulling the impervious sample out of his inventory showed that its chance of failure had dropped even further than last night's levelling binge had pushed it, bringing it into the mid-30s. And the Unihorn that still lay in his palm... was all the way down to 9%. Clearly Rarity's sample was stranger than modern metal alloys, while refined steel was still a step away from his familiar gems.

Explaining that to Twilight made her grin brighten and grow cheek-to-cheek instantly.
"Spike! That's fantastic: No recorded data has shown dragons directly consuming processed true metals, despite their hoarding tendencies... Which as we both know, are more connected to their growth than anything. This is a big deal!"

"Yeah, I won't deny that... Not to mention the whole 'Better chance of using these other weird pieces' thing. Personally I'm more excited about that part."

"Oh come on Spike, that's because you've clearly become a skill junkie."

"First off, you don't get to borrow insults from Shining Armor like that without knowing the context... and second off, why wouldn't I be? It's one thing to have more options in a game, but this is giving me more options in real life. And last I checked, a certain somepony in this conversation has no room to talk."

She tried to raise an eyebrow at him, but that always looked very silly on ponies... He appreciated it anyways. Having spent his whole life growing up with them, he knew ponies were inherently silly.
"Pardon me?"

"You literally catalogued and numbered the first hundred spells you learned, just because you could. And don't think I don't know you still keep a journal tracking all the new ones: You just stopped calling them by numbers."

Her embarrassed flush was so strong it washed from her cheeks all the way up into her crest, but that didn't stop Twilight from pushing the last item back towards Spike. He'd saved the box for last since an unknown container was only mysterious until you opened it... Savoring that last moment of mystery briefly, he finally relented and popped the lid with his claw.

Samples and pieces of nearly twenty different gemstones lay inside, small high-quality pieces of each surrounding one larger specimen... And every spot in the box was covered with a placard of slightly-transparent paper. The gems below were visible through the top layer, and the cover clearly wasn't just to keep them in place: Each card was inked with details.

In a normal gem collection you'd expect to see provenance, hardness, history, associations for magic and ritual... But here the lists were simpler, cleaner, shorter... And very specifically aimed at him. Flavor profiles, textures, melting points, potential benefits his Cooking abilities could yield from the gems... All of it listed in a tight, neat hoofwriting style he didn't recognize.

Rather than explain it to Twilight he just wordlessly spun the box, enjoying the way the smooth dark wood slid naturally on their table. If he could criticize any aspects of the rewards he had received, quality and craftsmanship were not among them.

"...Oh. I'm noticing that none of the successes from today are in here... In fact, none of the ones we attempted are represented. I wonder if this is like the Shroewinger experiment, where the contents of the box were not causally determined until you opened it?"

"Twilight, this whole Gamer thing has been enough of a headache without bringing arcane quanta theory into this... yet. I mean, we'll get there. Because it's you and me, so it's sort of inevitable."

She tapped the box with a hoof, carefully making sure not to disrupt any of the marking cards.
"Speaking of inevitability, should we..."

"No. Not yet, anyways. I've, well, I've got an idea already. I think I want to train my skills up a lot first, and get a feel for how important my practice is to getting hits when I make new recipes. So for now these are just going to get tucked into the Inventory..."

Twilight's slightly-longing glance at all the data cards in the box gave him pause.
"...after I do all that cleaning and prep we mentioned. Just in case you wanted to record all the details in the meantime."

She stood up with a huge smile, already levitating over ink and quill to do exactly that. She ruffled his spines with her hoof as they went their separate ways.
"Seriously: Number One Assistant."

Chapter 54: Merry Maid

Spike had a pretty hefty load in front of him: Both in the laundry sense and the metaphorical one. Between last night's food, this morning's food (with over four times the normal pots and pans to clean thanks to his experimentation), the sparring, and general upkeep of the surprisingly large library... He sighed and tied on a simple kerchief and apron before settling in to work.

Normally when Spike did his cleaning it all went by in a surprisingly entertaining blur, kinda like cooking but backwards and with furniture. So not like cooking at all, unless you were preparing meals for a time-reversed couchovore... Maybe that dream with Discord last night needed some more checking out? Either that or Pinkie was rubbing off on his sense of humor. That second option was a lot more palatable than the first, but maybe not by the margin most ponies would guess. Pinkie could be scary when she put her mind to it.

Back on track: Cleaning. It often went by in a blur. Today? That sort of honed mindstate kept getting interrupted by his Gamer abilities doing their own thing. The first sign of trouble came when he was elbow-deep in the literally-boiling literal actual cauldron they used for dishes that sat overnight: The sink was fine normally but Twilight didn't cope too well with residue, as a concept. So he was using their thickest-bristled scrubber and some direct clawing to peel gem'd eggs off of one breakfast plate...

And then the window opened. Not the Library window, but-

A skill, [Dish Washing], has been instantly mastered through peerless basic action honed by years of practice!

"HAH!"

"Spike?"

"Nothing, just... thorough. The system is very, very thorough."

Dish Washing Lv 1 EXP: 0.00%
A technique to wash dishes. With higher mastery, you can clean absolutely any stain.
5% increased speed and accuracy of washing dishes.

For anybody else this would have been a little insult stacked up onto all the other weirdness of his new life, but for Spike this was a blessing from above and below. Even if he didn't cook for two most days and far more every week or two? His dietary tastes wreaked raw havoc on the silverware and plates. This would be a lifesaver: Literal minutes or hours of his life saved, especially if the benefits kept scaling at a consistent rate.

So that first time it was fun. But he only realized something was particularly strange however, when it happened again six minutes later after he started the

[Laundry]

and his sense of confusion only grew stronger when he began

[Sweeping]

and... Well. Suffice to say, the time between their meal and Pinkie's scheduled arrival was one box after another. Indeed, it was a complete army of them, all joined with this strange tingling and pulsing in the back of his head and neck. It was like the sensation of somebody watching you from afar amplified a thousand-fold, and it got worse with every skill he acquired.

[Mopping], [Grout Scouring], [Clothes Washing], [Clothes Drying (Draconic)], [Clothes Drying (Delicates)], [Ironing], [Filing], [Weeding], [Mowing], [Dusting], [Lab Safety], [Rune Maintenance], [Ward Maintenance], [Ward Comprehension], [Glass-Care], [Wood-Care], [Hemming], [Stitching]...

By the end of the ordeal Twilight had stopped what she was doing and started following him out of a mix of morbid curiosity and legitimate concern. The sense of outside forces impinging on him hadn't stopped growing, and he'd started having difficulty describing things: Ward Comprehension had become an Observe subskill so he would normally have treated it with more ceremony, but it felt like he was under an enormous amount of literal physical pressure...

Pressure which flew away in a moment of perfect clarity and a single, final notice.

By amassing a veritable hoard of skills for maintaining and improving the home, your efforts have culminated in the [Dragon's Den], a skill to protect your heritage!

Dragon's Den Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
A hoard is not a hoard without a den to keep it, and the draconic race make their lairs precisely fit their comforts. For most that means safety and inhospitability to other races, but it does not have to be that way. A true den is a home and a hearth, a place to rest thy weary head and find the comforts the outside world cannot, or will not, give.

All of your house-care skills and area defense abilities are consolidated into this skill via merger.
You have greater ability to guard and manage temporary 'homes' such as campsites, hotels, etc.
You have the ability to create various wards as well as alarms and monitoring techniques.

This skill will grow based on the skills it has merged with: Their quantity, levels, and practice.

Merged Skills: Dish Washing, Laundry, Sweeping, Mopping, Grout Scouring, Clothes Washing, Clothes Drying (Draconic), Clothes Drying (Delicates), Ironing, Filing, Weeding, Mowing, Dusting, Rune Maintenance, Ward Maintenance, Glass-care, Wood-care, Hemming, Stitching

"...Spike?"

He raised a claw to make it clear he heard, looking at the screen with a touch of wistfulness.
"Yeah... Just got another 'Dragon's' skill. It's, uh, it just got to me a little."

The concern in Twilight's voice was an obvious over and under tone, composing the sub and text.
"If you're worried about the nature of your species, I'm sure we could find some avenues for getting answers-"

"No! Well not no, I mean yes, or yes but... I want to get answers on my own time. And part of that is to say I want to get answers later: We have bigger things to worry about here and now."

"Alright: I trust your judgement, Spike."

He couldn't help but smile at the pride on her face, but to avoid things getting too mushy he diverted the topic to his newly-acquired skill. Given that it directly interfaced with relatively unusual magic like wards? Twilight was interested instantly. Plus, the cleanliness appealed to her on an entirely different level.

"Think of the sanitation! Oh, things cleaner than new... I wonder how many levels it will take in Dish Washing before you can achieve laboratory sterility?"

"I think logically speaking I'm going to let that one... A lot of these, actually. I think I am going to let most of these just grow through normal usage. It'll help be a case study on the difference between grinding and sustainable practice! That, and I do more than enough of this stuff to begin with."

"That is completely fair! Do you at least want to test the warding functionality?"

"Are you kidding me!? The only real question is if I should do the entire library, or just one room."

The reply came from over his shoulder, a little higher than expected, and in a very different voice.
"Oooooh, are we planning a remodel or a makeover or a remodelover?"

Neither of them flinched but it was a damn near thing. Doubly so for Spike, since his senses had only gotten sharper over the course of the last day... So to have Pinkie Pie still be capable of sneaking up on him? That rankled him just a bit.

Of course the offending pony didn't have a single hint of malice on her face or in her heart, so he softened his mood before he even finished turning around. He had been looking forward to this visit after all, even if her method of arrival legally qualified as an ambush. Looking above her head...

[Maid of Heart]
Pinkie Pie
LVs 4, 1, 3

...Yeah that didn't really help anybody, and he's not sure why he even bothered.

"Hey Pinkie! How's the morning treatin' ya?"

He barely finished getting the sentence out edgewise before he's crushed in a fluffy pink greeting-hug, which lingered a bit more than usual before moving on to Twilight.
"Good! Great even, just sort of working off the excitement from yesterday's big feast-o-rama!"

"Not big enough to justify a -palooza huh?"

"Spike, -paloozas are legally required to have at least one musical number in attendance! I don't wanna get my ludicrous-party-license revoked again."

"...Again you say."

She swooned back with a hoof against her brow, sighing dramatically.
"The licensing board is a cruel mistress! Well, it's made up of Cruel Mistress and a few other members of the Clowning Cabinet, but-"

Twilight shook her head and stepped back from the presently-pedantic pink pony.
"I never can tell when you're joking about all of this party stuff, Pinkie."

"Laughing matters are no laughing matter Twilight!"

They all gave that one a second to itself before all of them started giggling, the kind of call-and-response cadence that felt weird until you'd been in Ponyville for a few years. When they settled back down from the outburst, Spike explained what they had actually been planning to do. Twilight, as fit her nature, watched the conversation with her serious-business expression. After all, this was the first chance she'd gotten to see Spike discussing his Gamer nature with other ponies.

Pinkie listened carefully to his explanation and found the plan to be perfectly timed, given her own 'luck' with stepping through and around Twilight's defensive barriers. Not to mention architecture in general, other forms of masonry, social boundaries, etc.

"-so I should totally be your first test-breaker!"

"Pinkie, I don't know if pen-testing an unknown ward schema is a good idea-"

"Oh come on Twililiy, when have I ever been a lover of good ideas?"

"...For about as long as you've known that trying to butter me up with silly nicknames isn't effective. Which is to say, hopefully starting now?"

"Pffthaha, silly! That'd be a causal accident waiting to happen, asking me to have retroactively loved good ideas starting at a present moment. Time just doesn't work that way!"

Resisting the urge to face-hoof with notable force, Twilight just stepped away towards the stairs.
"That... I'm going to concede the point. Have fun you two: I will go watch from a safe distance."

Pinkie shrugged while Twilight trotted away, coincidentally rubbing her mane against Spike. So it was less of a shrug and more of an extremely exaggerated head-tilt, but... Pinkie.
"Okie-doki! How big do you want to make it, Spike?"

"...Hm. Let's be pretty normal for a first test: I know a lot of wards don't like being set up in thin air-"

Twilight's voice echoed down the stairs in outrage.
"Don't like!? Spike, that is often outright catastrophic!"

"Yeah like I said, they don't like it. And I don't know if I even could ward the entire library, especially with Twilight's defenses already being in place-"

"Fat lot of good it does us when ponies just waltz in like they're allowed..."

Pinkie tilted her head again, thus tickling Spike again. He made an effort to ignore it.
"But they are, right?"

"I- What?"

"This is a public library! During open hours aren't citizens of Ponyville just... allowed to be here?"

The only reply they got was silence... Then stomping noises. Rattling, a drawer opening, magic... And the rapid skritch of a quill across scroll paper. Finally Twilight called out again:
"Thank you Pinkie! It's amazing how often we overlook things right under our noses! That has been bothering me for solong... Wait, is that how you set up that surprise party back in the day?"

"Nope! You had only just gotten into town, so I'm pretty sure the defensy stuff wasn't even up yet."

"Right, right, of course. Carry on!"

They both went to shake their heads in exasperation, but Spike decided to be cheeky and leaned over to rub his spines against Pinkie in retaliation for her sneaky rubbings. She jumped and giggled the entire way up and back down, which took far longer than gravity probably wanted.
"Spiiike! What was that for?"

"Well you kept rubbing your mane on me like you were trying to generate static, so..."

"Oh! Hahah, hehee... Whoops. Just feeling extra fuzzy this morning I guess!"

"No worries: But yeah, I think we should find an enclosed room to do this in."

That got Pinkie quiet almost immediately, although he realized (too late) that it might have been an issue of his phrasing as opposed to the pink pony getting into 'serious mode'... Oh well. They'd both said more embarassing things on accident yesterday anyways!

"Aheh... Closet?"

"I'll stay here! Wouldn't be much of a break-in attempt if I was already inside, right?"

"Pfft, yeah. The intruder is coming from inside the house... Which means they're not intruding at all. They're more like a lurker, at most."

"Well I'd hate to be accused of lurking! So get in there and do your business, and I'll try to steal the profits."

Chapter 55: Wards, Woks

Once Spike got inside and shut the door (attempting to ward a space with open doors or windows was an easy, and often costly, mistake) he pushed some effort towards his latest skill. The mana flowed along with the words 'Dragon's Den' whispered under his breath. He could use his skills without saying anything out loud, but sometimes it felt dramatically appropriate to do so... Maybe Pinkie really was rubbing off on him?

He shook off that train of thought and turned his attention to the new menu he'd opened: And it was a menu, quite the complex one to boot. It had all sorts of different sections and parameters, cleanly arranged and neatly color-coded: The type of ward, keys, duration, space, elemental tuning... One option in particular, right at the top corner, caught his eye: A three-position 'switch' that was currently set to ASSISTED. On the left it could be set to MANUAL and on the right, to INSTANT.

Focusing pushing his mental-imagining-of-a-claw to one side, he flipped it to MANUAL... and the entire menu faded away, leaving him to see the room as normal. He could still feel that the skill was active, especially once he moved a claw into position near one corner of the doorframe. His internal energy began to flow and draw down MP almost automatically: The skill would likely improve his natural warding abilities like this, but he'd still be doing the entire thing by hand.

Setting it back to ASSISTED returned the menu to full opacity, where he did a little poking and exploring: There were options for doing basic ground-circle wards, entryway wards, room wards, object and personal wards... He couldn't select those last two, either because of his own lacking experience or the low level of the Dragon's Den skill. Likewise, the variables he could put in for things like duration, break-effect, warnings, alarms and so forth were all pretty limited... But still better than what he could do on his own a week ago.

Spike also noticed a projected MP cost for the currently-selected options (and a button for saving setups for future use, conveniently) with a smaller total next to it: Manual Discount. Presumably the system would have to put some energy into doing all these calculations and prep for him, so doing the same work manually would be cheaper by... Well, right now it looked like a ten percent drop, depending on his options. Not bad at all, given how much it would save him in terms of math time!

Confirming his options (an hour-long room ward that would physically repel invaders and send him an alert, with a different alert if it was broken), the window faded away again... But his system's lights remained. Now they were arranged all across the room, showing him exactly what signs and markers to place, which runes went where and how to connect the flow of magic. It was impressive stuff, but... He was still curious about that third toggle.

Backing up, he switched the marker to INSTANT... And only one thing changed: One number.

"TEN TIMES!? Jeeez... Eh, might as well try it."

The price in MP to set up the exact same ward had gone up by an entire factor, just straight-up slapping a 0 onto the end of the previous cost. So Manual warding was ~10% cheaper, Assisted warding was the baseline price, and Instant warding was tenfold more expensive... But it would be instant, just like the name implied. The new cost was more than his entire MP pool, but it looked like it could drain from his supply while he regenerated more until it hit the required amount.

Hitting the button confirmed it: His MP stayed at max while the number in the menu dialed down. A thirty-second dip into Omphaloskepsis later, then BAM. His entire MP supply dropped out from under him in an instant, recovering shakily afterwards. He felt his body get thrown into the toxic self-destructive state that the system called 'Mana Confusion' once again... With his experience surviving the condition from yesterday, he made no effort to restrain the whipsaw flux of power until it calmed down. Once he had his senses back, he looked at the menu with bleary pain-struck eyes.

"...Note to self: That checkbox for Withdraw entire cost from recovery rate should stay checked."

Thankfully there was no permanent damage, but he was also a little distressed to see that unlike his previous tangling with the assault on his interior systems, he hadn't netted any progress towards the Internal Alchemy Mastery. Was it too short, too low-intensity, or had he just reached the point in the skill's progression where that kind of thing didn't matter?

Eh: All issues for another time. Right now, he had a ward to review! And... Well to be honest, the review was a bit of an anticlimax: It was flawless. He'd never done work better, or maybe even on par, and it was all completed in a second (once he could pay for it) or less. Outside and upstairs, he could clearly hear Twilight's surprised reaction to the sudden shift in the local magic, and once he cracked the door he saw Pinkie Pie's own scrunched muzzle and wide eyes.

"Welp, there you go! Test away, Pinkie Pen."

She blinked off her minor confusion and poked him with a hoof.
"That was terrible: Pens aren't tasty at all! I mean I cooouuld make one with a chocolate-lacquered cookie reservoir using some kind of dyed milk ink, or maybe a cream or a gel icing? But then the nib would be such a chore... Bon-bons would be too large! Nonpareil dots? Ooooh but they're so finicky!"

"...Can I retract my stupid joke?"

"Nope!"

"Fair enough. Well... Still, at your leisure."

He knew that Pinkie did most of her best work (especially the type nopony could explain) when she wasn't being watched. Rather than just turn around, he made his way upstairs to make sure Twilight didn't need help: It sounded like she was writing up a storm. Was in the past tense emphatically, since as soon as he rounded the corner of the stairs she jumped on him like the last pancake.

"SPIKE, did you prepare that ward in advance!?"

"N-no! I just used my new skill and... Before you get too excited, it's incredibly stupidly inefficient."

"Well I figured that much because a lot of thaumic radiation sort of blipped past in relatively short order, but still! That was incredibly fast, and I assume the majority of the time you spent in there was reviewing parameters rather than doing preparatory work..."

"Yeah, more or less. But really: We're talking about a huge leap in input cost."

"...Triple?"

"Way short."

"Sixfold?"

"Think bigger."

Her overjoyed expression deflated as she stepped back.
"...Ah. Even that was a bit of a stretch, but... Yes, alright, I got a little over-excited. Can you blame me? This is a pretty big deal even if it's eight-"

"Ten."

Twilight let her jaw fall slack, then brought it back up with one hoof.
"Ten... Ten times more expensive? No wonder you were so adamant: Even if this method were teachable, most ponies wouldn't have the supply to do wardwork period at that scale, much less doing so safely."

He shrugged and started sketching up the menu from memory.
"Pretty sure it's not teachable even in the best of circumstances: The 'engine' seems to be taking control entirely, in that mode. I also had the choice of an assisted-creation mode that improved a few things, but..."

The two of them quickly lost track of time discussing the minutiae of wards and Spike's new abilities, and were only drawn out of their reverie when Pinkie Pie came upstairs to report back.

"Nope!"

"...Nope?"

Pinkie looked slightly more disheveled than usual, which says quite a bit for a pony who is barely sheveled at the best of times.
"Nada. I didn't wanna go too crazy on it? But all of my non-crazy options super-duper did not work!"

"Hmmm... Any idea why?"

"Explaining too much would involve some 'Pinkie Promise'-level secrets, but I can definitely say that you using a room that doesn't touch any of the building's outside walls made it way tougher."

Twilight was obviously tempted to start taking notes again immediately, but seemed to hold back for Pinkie's sake: They'd already learned the hard way how counterproductive it could be to stare too deep into that particular abyss.

"Well, that's extremely reassuring: If you can't get in? I can trust this power with my life."

Pinkie's grin did a wibble-wobble at that, but straightened back up before he could say anything.
"G-good! But here's hoping you never have to, yaknow?"

"Absolutely, Spike: Just because you've got some new power and confidence doesn't mean you can be cavalier about risk to life and limb!"

"Says the pony who threw herself off a cliff because a farmhoof she'd known for less than a day said it'd work out."

That set them all off laughing again, although Twilight's laugh had that extra little edge of 'I am going to give you a stern talking-to for that later' hiding underneath. Pinkie's was far more genuine, and she even wiped a tear off the corner of her eye by the time they were all done.

"Aaaah... So! I was reliably informed by some paper that the real reason I'm here is so we can eat lunch and make party plans!"

"Party... RIGHT! Both kinds of party, actually."

"Oh Spike, there's so many more than two types of party!"

She wrapped a forelimb around his shoulders and began gesturing into the void. If he hadn't spent the last day literally seeing things in midair that other ponies couldn't? He'd have made some kind of analogy here with the sweeping image she tried to paint with her words. As it is, he just sort of let the comfortable babble wash over and through him: Listening with no intent to interject.

"-and shindigs and hoedowns, oh the hoedowns I have seen!"

"I thought those last two were regional names for the same thing?"

"Nope! The difference comes down to the type of dancing!"

"...So one's as bad as the other where Twilight's concerned, huh?"

"LUNCH! We should probably stop this and handle food. Please?"

While the two of them were just getting on a roll, it made sense to go ahead and focus on food before the jokes got out of hand: Spike had done enough of that yesterday at the Arcade.
"But really, what I meant by the other kind of party was that my Gamer ability lets me bring ponies into a party with me: A group of players going through the game cooperatively, is usually what it means. Want to test that out while we make lunch?"

"Eeeh, Twilight's right: I'm super hungry since I was looking forward to this ever since I got the note! 'Wait until after' is my vote."

"Seconded: I do poorly enough in a kitchen environment without the new research taking up space in my thoughts."

"Motion passes! Lunch prep sans party testing it is."

Pinkie brought a sweet side dish (because of course she did) and produced several containers seemingly out of thin air, or from her mane's not-so-thin hair (because, again, of course she did).

"It's all the stuff to make a diced trifle! Get it? Dice?"

"I'd expect nothing less in terms of puns or desserts."

While their guest set to taking apart her various containers full of cakes, creams, fruits and such? The host took the chance to do her one regularly-successful kitchen task: Mise en place. It wasn't just a Prench phrase that perfectly described how Twilight Sparkle aspired to live, it was also a technique for preparing the ingredients to make cooking easier. And it helped a lot in times Spike was cooking something fast and ambitious: Times like now.

"Alright Spike, here you go: Hot peppers (which are actually chilis) for the oil sweat, then carrots, asparagus, non-hot peppers (no relation to black pepper the seasoning), and onions. Finally the scallions and garlic... Are we doing rice for the base this time?"

"Yes please! I had pasta for lunch yesterday, gotta keep it varied if I want to find more buffs."

"I'll start the cooker up, in that case. We've still got plenty of sauce base mixed... And if you're looking to get another buff, what gem do you plan to use?"

Pinkie popped her head into the conversation, eyes bright.
"OOOH that's right! You told me about getting a real-deal cookery skill for making food all magical, right? I wanna try it too!"

Spike looked between their stir-fry preparations and Pinkie's ever-growing assortment of dessert fixings. It looked like the main course was going to be savory, lightly vegetal, with most of the stronger flavors coming from the dark and spicy soy sauce blend. Nearly black at first glance, but a lighter tawny brown when you held it up to the light...

"Tiger's eye, I think. Lets powder the gems and whisk that into the sauce before cooking."

Predictably, Pinkie's preparations were perplexing. There was an entire cake of some kind that had been cut apart into little cubes and then reassembled for transport, a container of what looked like cream, and a lidded bowl full of...

"Tiny oranges in sugar syrup?"

"Close but nopes: Those are kumquats! I always thought it was a super-funny word and then I realized I'd never actually had one so I decided to try them and WOW are they good. You can eat 'em whole with skin and all, if you cook them first! I cut these ones up and gave them the ol' roast-n-soak so they could make their own syrup."

Twilight took a glance over from the automagic rice cooker she'd developed last year.
"Macerated fruit: I've seen that kind of preparation back in Canterlot, come to think of it."

"Yup! 'Tis but a trifle... Which is me being literal, because I'm gonna assemble it into a trifle! I just need Spike's help to gem it up and then it's whipping time."

"...Wouldn't that only be if I did a bad job of helping?"

Pinkie's blush was so bright that she instinctively shielded the cold fruit and cream from its heat.
"Whipping the cream! Jeez, Spike: Don't make me regret those lessons in advanced jocularity."

"No promises! But as far as gems go... Those kumquats got me thinking of carnelian. It comes in around the same size, and pretty similar shade: Orange isn't a real common gemstone color. As for adding it..."

"Half and half, powder in the whipped cream and pieces with the fruit?"

"Oh, I like that. Hopefully that should be enough involvement for Dragon's Kitchen to work? The description says 'Your Cooking' with a capitalized C, not a lowercase: I'm betting that means the skill and not just the action. Does that Cooking cover instructingother cooks, like a head chef?"

Twilight wiggled a hoof side to side in midair.
"Shining is inconsistent about that ruling, I've seen him call for Leadership checks just as often as the skill being led, so..."

"Eh, worth a shot: You don't mind if we accidentally mess up the batch of ingredients if it does go wrong, right Pinkie?"

She shook her head and pushed the various bowls in his direction.
"All good! It's not like it'll go to waste since it'll still be safe for you to eat, right?"

He nodded and turned his attention to the gems he had on hand. Tiger's eye was common in these parts, barely even considered a gem by pony standards. For Spike it had a sort of deep, spiced note, tasting like a char-black pepper or Minotaur mole. Carnelian was a little less basic, harder to acquire but by no means rare (and for what it was worth, tasted sweet and sour at the same time, and slightly sticky). He had a good amount of both in his normal snacking supply, with no need to dip into Rarity's Hopeless Case or the rewards from his quest.

A little test on samples of the sauce and the cream proved the flexibility of his skills: The gems integrated flawlessly and his MP emptied out to fuel the Dragon's Kitchen. With that confidence he let his mana recover for a bit, and then repeated the process with the entirety of the sauce and cream. Finally, he tossed the macerated fruits with the remaining chunks of carnelian.

The rice would take time to finish, and Pinkie was going to work furiously beating air into the cream mix he'd finished gemming... So now it was time for Spike to burn.

Yesterday had been sufficiently hectic that he never got around to sending more test packages to Celestia: He decided later was better than never, and blew a few miscellaneous items across space with his Breath. Alternating each gout of green with a blast of orange, he worked on grinding the skill and testing how well he could control the flames: How tight, how dense, how hot?

He'd learned the trick of stir-frying from a foreign delegation during one of their trips back up to visit the Sparkle family in Canterlot, years ago. Spike had wandered his way over to the castle and accidentally met up with an ambassadorial envoy and their cooks. They'd been surprised to see a dragon in civilized lands, and rather than take offense he'd struck up a conversation about the huge iron pan one of them had slung across their back.

The ensuing conversation lasted long enough to mess up the timing for their meeting, but Celestia diplomatically handled that in that way she does, and Spike went back home full of curiosity about all the new words and ideas. That had been one of the eye-openers that got him deeper into cooking recently, and for his birthday that same year? His very own wok had arrived courtesy of Night Light and Twilight Velvet.

After the first few accidents, Twilight had fireproofed an entire section of the kitchen and put in some new spells to prevent the heat from overwhelming ponies or damaging the tree itself. An open-air spell wouldn't be able to restrain the heat or smoke, so they'd even put in a separating wall with its own door and a little window-counter to move items between the halves of the kitchen. Just like the new space Pinkie had, Spike had his own place where he could work culinary magic with abandon.

And with his new Gamer skills? Now it was a space where he could push other magical limits.

Twilight's science-minded training was high in his head as he exhaled one giant blast of fire after another: The green would send assorted packages and snacks to Celestia, then the orange would land in a large stone basin. When Spike had used the wok previously he'd only used his breath to light wood or coals and worked from those: Today he wanted to try and use just the raw flame.

Using it directly wouldn't be feasible. Even with his new height and improved proportions, moving the wok with his claws and craning his neck to breathe fire underneath? Yeah, no. Instead he wanted to try breathing his best flames in advance.He could hold them in stasis using Stagnet and work the wok over top of that. He'd still have to figure out a way to keep all the fire from going away in one huge poof, of course.

His current options for the skill were Stagnet to fix things solid, Vanesco to remove them after, and Resūmō return them to their natural form. So far he had only used Stagnet to halt his dragon fire (and his internal mana, but the memory of that pain was still too fresh for a repeat performance) and the results had been mixed. Stabilized dragonfire released light but not heat. He'd vanished the fire from Rarity's table without damaging it, and he'd crushed some in his claws without it igniting...

Well, every experiment had to begin somewhere.

What's the worst that could happen?

Author's Note

Extra-long one today, to help make up a bit for the gap during the outage the other week... that, and I really wanted to use this chapter title but the wok didn't come up until the last few paragraphs so it was really hard to cut it early. :P

Chapter 56: Deflagrative Departure

"...and that was an ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch and a knee pinch all together! So I figured something scary was about to blow a door open, and whaddya know it did!"

Spike did his best not to meet Twilight's disapproving glare, instead watching Pinkie's animated description of the mishap. Which was pretty unnecessary since they'd all been there for it, but he took his distractions where he could find them. Rather than the deadpan stare from Twilight, he could watch Pinkie's mane bouncing with ever-infectious joy... Joy even in the aftermath of a huge gout of flame shocking them all out of their work. To his credit it was more of a mass deflagration than a proper detonation, and that had to count for something!

"So what did we learn here today Spike?"

"Artificially-stabilized magical fire is still entirely capable of fueling destabilized fire unless I go out of my way to prevent it?"

"...I was hoping for something related to personal safety, but I guess a dragon is the wrong type of creature to ask in this situation."

Spike looked up and down his (still flawless) scales and shrugged.
"I mean, it did pop up a new skill, but... Oh! I confirmed one of your theories from last night."

Twilight begrudgingly stepped back, lighting up her horn in order to double-check the fireproofing.
"I'm going to chalk that up as a lesson just so we can stay on schedule."

He was more than willing to take that. Pinkie had already gotten back to whipping her cream and straining her sauce, so he went back to the heat-partitioned section of the kitchen. Twilight gave him the nod to confirm the defenses were still in place, so he lit up the fire... A little more assured of his success this time around. Well, maybe not success but at least safety!

A skill has been created through a special action! By exposing yourself to the conditions of your homeland, a skill to survive your heritage, [Utter Fire Resistance], has been created!

This has been consumed by [Dragon's Bones]

Like he told Twilight, this confirmed one of her theories: Natural features of him just 'being a dragon' would only become skills for The Gamer once he actually exerted them. His Dragon's Breath hadn't codified itself until he used it a few times, and now after taking several would-be-burns he'd gained a skill for ignoring flame and heat. The same seemed to be true for any talents or abilities he had before The Gamer as well: His cleaning-related skills, Cooking, those came naturally after the first uses as well.

New skill aside, the problem stood: Using Stagnet on his fire had (pardon the pun) backfired. He'd breathed out several sizable portions and stabilized them using the skill, then broken them apart. Using resūmō on just a single part had worked to an extent: That single piece, and only that single piece, became active again. Unfortunately the newly-reactivated fire treated the still-stabilized pieces as fuel and the whole thing quickly conflagrated into a real mess.

This time he'd be more cautious: Start with a smaller, cooler chunk for one thing. Regular fire, a solid earthy orange that felt stable on a conceptual level. Rather than break it apart, he'd focus on the moment when he actually got a new keyword for this power in the first place. He'd been deep in meditation, entirely focused on his subject. After bringing everything to stillness he'd had a moment of clarity, a sudden revelatory breakthrough about how to make it... not still.

But that wasn't what he wanted now: The phase-shift from 'stilled' to 'active' was too complicated. He needed either a slow partial release, or a process of release that had more control. From A to C without the intermediaries, no side processes or extra consumption. He didn't want it to melt, he wasn't looking for a thaw. It had to be gradual but not gratuitously slow, the magical solid becoming a vaporous reaction again without consuming itself. Solid, straight to gas...

"Sublīmō."

A new Command has been added to Stagnet: Sublīmō, to elevate and uplift.

The point at the very top of the crystallized fireball, the spot where his eyes focused? It unfolded like a flower, blooming out into living fire without consuming the stable magic beneath. His focus remained unwavering, and the change gradually made its way down as each previous bit burned away. Spike barely felt the change in temperature as the entire thing burned away in his palm, distracted by how hard he was grinning into the blank space.

"Alright: Take two!"

The take-away after all that was simple: Take two was the only other one he needed. The stir-fry turned out fantastically well, and all of them plowed through it (and Twilight's rice and toppings) with speed and focused intent. None of them even took the time to try and hold a conversation while eating it: They were only opening their mouths for more air, more food, or a drink to clear the way.

Eventually Pinkie's fork clattered into the empty bowl with a sigh and she leaned back, a second before Spike followed suit. Twilight had always been a slower, more thorough eater (where fast food wasn't involved), so she still had a bit left at that point. Spike was content, doubly so to see Pinkie smiling across the table: It felt nice to make food that others appreciated.

It felt a little less nice to have the food produce unexpected results, however. A failure he could have brushed off, given that he'd paired the gem with the sauce and not the main bulk of the food. A success, of course he'd be happy. But this...

This dish was unable to reach its full potential. A reduced effect has been granted.
Your Vitality has temporarily increased by two points.

Checking the Dragon's Kitchen... no recipe listed, foggy result at the intersection of the meal and the gemstone. Layer... No buff acquired, no new option available. He'd managed to half-fail and half-succeed, opening up even more questions about how the Gamer functioned. It really drove home why this past day and a half had felt so long: Everything he did raised more questions than it could possibly answer! Even when he was resolving his issue with Rarity, he managed to trip headfirst into a skill that redefined his potential...

"That was fantastic, Spike!"

"I know right? I'm a liiiittle worried that my trifle won't be able to stand up."

He waved his claw at Pinkie to dismiss her worry.
"Eeeh, don't sweat it: I've been staring at that dish this whole time!"

Pinkie giggled and portioned out the diced trifle to the three of them: The powdered carnelian in the whipped cream just barely created a shining sparkle, enough to offset the pale white as it cascaded and melded into the yellow cake and orange fruits.

"Dig in everypony! Well, singlepony and singledragon. And me!"

His fork (a fresh one for dessert, no sense crossing the streams) slid cleanly through the layers and came back with a little bit of everything: Cream, cake, kumquat, a sliver of gem and a slight coating of syrup. The first bite was incredible, and he knew this was going to be a hands-down winner for one of his favorite desserts of all time. The fruits were bright and sweet with a bracingly tart center, the cake was thick and buttery, the cream was soft and melted on his tongue...

"WOW! I mean... Wow. That is something else, Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie blushed, and Twilight seemed like she was going to comment as well but lowered her hoof.

"Awww Spike! It's nothin' super-special, just a little idea I've been sitting on. I should be thanking you, if anything: The gemmy bits take this to another level! I didn't think I'd be able to taste 'em but they sort of pop and shiver like little seeds! But way tastier than most seeds because I'm going to be honest even the best seeds usually need a lot of roasting before they're very tasty."

"Well, you did way too much of the work for this to be a team effort: I'd just be a contributing advisor or something with the amount of input I made."

"Close enough for government work! Although come to think of it despite his reputation Government Work is a really strict stallion."

Twilight looked like she wanted to raise an objection there, except again she stayed silent.

Spike began wolfing down his dish, trying to balance the desire to make it last with just how dang delicious the whole thing was. The fruit had been cooked, roasted and soaked in all sorts of flavors... He'd never thought of it before, but now the idea was running wild through his memories of old standbys and foods-less-eaten. Griddled pineapple on ice cream, slow-cooked lemon jelly, bananas burnt through their skins...

"Spike?"

Twilight had finally said something, and her voice was surprisingly affected: Maybe she was just as fond of this dish as he was!

"Yeah Twilight?"

There was a surprisingly long pause before she finished asking her question.
"Can you tell me exactly what this combination is doing, according to your system?"

Dang, the effect of it had totally slipped his mind! He'd been so lost in the flavor forest that he'd failed to see the statistical trees, or some other fitting malaphor...

"Oh! Sorry, one second..."

He looked at the pop-up and recited it verbatim. Twilight, in response... sat up like a bolt with eyes wide. Her horn flickered and then flared as she teleported away from the table, and they could immediately hear frantic movements from upstairs. Pinkie looked at Spike with concern but he could only shrug: He had no clue why was she so worked up over such a small detail.

Carnelian-Kumquat Diced Trifle: Increased maximum mana, 4 hours.

Twilight's Perspective (1)

Earlier...

"I'm going to chalk that up as a lesson just so we can stay on schedule."

Twilight walked away from Spike and Pinkie while shaking her head... and trying to hide her laughter. Spike had been growing up in a lot of ways for a while now, but this particular day had been a huge shift. Seeing that he could still be a child at heart? That was precious. Subconsciously she'd already started doing a quick circuit-check on her heatproofing (fireproofing was a nominal term at best, as even subcritical heat could do damage to the tree) before giving Spike the 'OK'.

Her own minimalist work on the food preparation was already complete, and the further one stayed out of Pinkie Pie's path when she was working? The better. That left Twilight with little to do, to the outside observer. But the real secret of being Twilight Sparkle is that she was always occupied with something, no matter how trivial. Specifically, yesterday had been yet another mark on the ever-mounting ‘Spike and Twilight get their entire lives turned upside down’ list. A list that, even by the standards of a dragon in pony society and the Student of the Sun... Well, the list had a trend towards updating with greater-than-average frequency.

I get my Cutie Mark, Spike gets born. Either simultaneously or the next day, depending on how generous you are? I get accepted to Celestia's School and now I have Spike to care for! Before that my parents barely trusted me with Ms. Smarty Pants and she's plush. Fast forward through a hoof-full of socially awkward years and I discover Nightmare Moon's return the same day that Celestia (bless her enormous plot...ting heart) sends us both to Ponyville!

Yeah that was a stabilizing event to be sure, just send the neurotic unicorn and her draconic charge to a foreign city out of stone-cold nowhere and let them blind-solve the return of one of history's greatest threats... I mean, it worked out. But that just kept the upheaval train rolling! Become the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Save Equestria. Reform our long-lost second Princess. Face nigh-on-monthly threats to our sanity or safety, ad infinitem, in perpetuity. Discord, DISCORD happened at some point...

And then the wedding, of course. My sweet beautiful dumb-as-a-sack brother and his equally-pretty and equally-forgetful fiancee... Although maybe that late invitation was Chrysalis' fault? I never did think to ask about it in the aftermath, I just assumed 'Yeah Shining would, wouldn't he' and moved on. Trixie came back, and oh my stars I hadn't even thought about the first time! That mare, I swear...

Homeschooling Spike, that was a rough patch... He'd probably be able to try going to school with other ponies again now that his sleep schedule is, well, either non-existent or closer to normal. Then Shining came into town with his O+O books in tow, that probably had a lot to do with starting THIS entire mess. And we can't talk about messes last year without giving some credit to Luna's... guilt incident. Although Spike didn't catch much of the backsplash from that one, come to think of it.

And now, when Celestia and I finally reach 'that' milestone, Spike hits his adulthood... Hits it like a train with the raw power to match. On top of that I have my own new infusion of magic to worry about... Which would probably be a better direction to focus my thoughts on, rather than all of this wool-gathering.

Even before her train of perceptible thought had moved on from its previous topic, Twilight was already returning to her magical 'stretching' exercises... It was called stretching at least, although it had far less in common with muscular stretching than the name would imply! In reality it belonged to a school of what might be called 'useless' magic, or perhaps 'wasteful' magic? Unicorns who grew in power or were still learning to handle their horns needed some form of practice with minimal risk, both to gain control and test limits.

Thus, 'stretching' exercises: Spells that would have as little consequence as possible if they failed, and minimal but measurable impacts if they worked. For normal unicorns this just involved using increasingly-convoluted and degraded versions of basic spells like light generation, or levitation. Levitation was the better example in this case: Either they failed to levitate the object, or they succeeded. Success would (in turn) involve a measurable distance, speed, duration and so forth: Optimal statistical hallmarks of a benchmarking system!

Of course there was only so far you could warp the matrix of a spell before it became actively dangerous to attempt, and Twilight was years past the point of testing herself with bootleg levitation. Attempting a convoluted light-generator spell at this point would almost certainly succeed, but even then the gross inefficiency involved would risk scorching the velvet clean off of her horn. So after her whirlwind one-day weekend with Celestia, she'd broken out a collection of extremely obscure and difficult spells that met her criteria.

She already drew deeper into her reserves than the average unicorn at the best of times, so finding options for this was tough. Eventually she settled on a very old and purely interior spell, recorded as Hoofin Tongue's Cloven Knowledge Condenser... Although she was positivethe spell actually traced back to Snowfall Frost, and the self-styled Cloven Cast was just taking credit for the work she had rediscovered. Which is valuable work! Just, maybe not 'put your name on it' valuable.

The spell's concept was incredibly simple and extremely stupid (even though Twilight tried to avoid using that sort of term about theoretical magic): Just make knowledge appear in your brain. Of course if you actually said you were trying to do that? Most ponies would assume you were weird at best while knowledgeable spellcasters would try to get you restrained for your own safety. The details were... a little more simple.

The mechanisms of the spell had been firmly established in her mind, and she continued what her body was doing (talking with Pinkie and Spike as they finished setting the table, apparently) while triggering the overwrought spell at the same time.

Spike wasn't the only one in the Library who knew how to do waking meditation, after all: She had a very bad habit of doing spellwork in her head while the rest of her was on auto-pilot. That was a bit of a cruel term really, because it assumed she wasn't paying attention to her friends: And she was! Maybe more than anything, these days. But the fact is that her brain was not a single-threaded engine, and she could accomplish both things with what would normally be 'full' attention.

Percentages are relative anyways, and... Calm down. You're not even having this debate with anypony but yourself. Don't get too caught up in the joke Pinkie just made, take your serving of stir-fry and get back on task. Ideally the spell would produce a useful but trivially-acquired piece of information from her environment over time, at intervals dependent on the successful execution of the matrix. And even if it failed? The worst she'd get was a mild headache.

Within three minutes (and about half of her stir-fry being eaten, WOW this turned out delicious!) she'd already found out the exact temperature at the ceiling height of the room she was in. It was technically knowledge drawn down from nothing, acquired serendipitously: But it was useless, trivially guesstimated, and a fact she could verify with minimal effort. That was the nature of this spell: Even when it was operating correctly and not twisted into a testing tool? You didn't learn anything you wouldn't be able to figure out regardless.

Twilight has a dab horn with her magical control, at least in terms of expenditure. Right now she was casting at about 115% of what had formerly been her first-safe threshold, just a few days ago. Now it felt like she still had room to go before the second line, so Twilight pushed more mana into the construction while externally complimenting Spike's work with the wok.

A few minutes later they were completely finished with the delicious main course (she'd have to get Spike to start experimenting more, if it kept turning out this well), and Pinkie brought out her dessert.

"Dig in everypony! Well, singlepony and singledragon. And me!"

She held back a giggle at that: Little did Pinkie know she wasn't single any longer, even if she had meant the other form of single. That was just how puns worked sometimes, which had admittedly taken her a while to pick up on in her youth. As for picking up the fork... Mmmh! Sweet Celestia it was so good. The extra crunch and texture from the gems elevated the mix of airy cake and dense cooked fruit, and the sweetness had an There are exactly ninety four pieces of cutlery in the silverware drawer almost savory... layer.

"WOW! I mean... Wow. That is something else, Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie was blushing at Spike's compliment, and Twilight filed that away under Things Not To Think About Right Now. She had barely pushed The birdsong coming from the southeastern window is that of a rufous-tailed scrub robin the spell any further but it was already reacting significantly faster. She kept the proportion of mana steady for a moment, and counted the seconds in her head. Spike and Pinkie were having some kind of exchange, but This trifle can be safely kept at current room temperature for longer than most due to containing no eggs she'd gotten fully distracted now.

Despite keeping her mana output at a steady percentage of Pinkamena Diane Pie has more hairs per square inch in her mane than active follicles in the same space capacity, the spell was working with muchgreater efficacy. And improvements to magic efficiency didn't work like that! Which could only mean that the change was...

"Spike?"

He turned to look at her, and she could see a hint Your current heart rate is 94 bpm of excitement in his eyes: Had he realized what was Your current heart rate is 108 bpm happening, or was he just enjoying the food?
"Yeah Twilight?"

She struggled to get the words out for a minute, stubbornly (even by her own standards) keeping the mana input Precisely three minutes have passed since you finished your main course to the spell flat. She could dial it back later, but she had to know first.

"Can you tell me exactly what this combination is doing, according to your system?"

"Oh! Sorry, one second... It says Increased maximum mana, 4 hours."

It was pure instinct when she shifted her power-flow into a memorized teleportation matrix, blinking out of the dining room as rudely as possible. Also as smoothly, quickly, and accurately as she had ever teleported in her life. A reflexive levitation brought a paper bag up near her mouth in case she started hyperventilating, and she scrambled over to her writing desk and started making new plans.

It was real.

Twilight's Perspective (2)

Now.

By the time Spike and Pinkie came into the room to (presumably) confront and-slash-or comfort her, Twilight was already cutting a much more sedate path around the room. Of course she was also maintaining seven levitation matrices, an object blinker to flip the hourglass, an acceleration spell and her usual dictation spell (for when Spike was unavailable). That brought the aforementioned dragon to a slow and shocked stop, and she really had to work to suppress her giggle. Even for her notoriously absurd magic this was over the top, and some explanations were owed... On all sides.

"H-hey Twilight, we... wanted to check in on you, after-"

"You bolted outta the blue like Rainbow Dash dodging a super-literal bolt!"

The comparison almost caught her off guard, but she'd been preparing to shut down the Superb Stenographic Spell anyways. The note-paper and quill sent themselves back to their respective drawers and she turned to her friend and (word-not-found) with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry Pinkie, sorry Spike. I really didn't mean to get so worked up, but... This is a big deal."

Spike gestured to all the floating objects nearby, and the thick corona of magic around her horn.
"Like emergency big, or just the usual freakout?"

"Oh it's not an emergency!"

"Goo-"

"Not yet anyways. Assuming neither of you two, or me I guess, ever inform any other pony about what happened with dessert today. We might have an emergency on our hooves then, but not any sooner!"

"...uh?"

"I second that uh. Doubleuh!"

Twilight rolled her eyes at that, wishing she could rush over there and hug them both: They were clearly unnerved by things and she wasn't exactly helping with her dialogic nature. It just made more sense to explain this kind of thing slowly rather than blurt it all out and then sort the aftermath, you know?

"There won't be an emergency, I trust you both. At the very least we will be able to tell other ponies about this... Once we find a way to mass-produce it!"

Pinkie's eyes narrowed and Twilight quickly realized how bad her phrasing was.
"Twitwi, you know how I feel about ponies asking me to do factory scale desserts! Especially if it's something like this that was supposed to be special."

"Of course! I misspoke, that wasn’t my intention at all. I'm... Still sorry. More sorry? Sorrier. Although I'm feeling quite good at the moment, which is rather surprising given the workload I'm maintaining. But what I meant was the buff, not the food. Your trifle was incredible Pinkie, and I'd never ask you to do something like that. But I mean... Spike and you working together made something that can actually increase a pony's reservoir of magic!"

Of her audience? Pinkie Pie clearly didn't understand the significance at all, while Spike only recognized it as a topic she had harped on in the past. Either she'd never been explicit on the details or his Eidetic Memory skill wasn't retroactive... She was fairly sure it was the second one, but yesterday was still kind of a blur.

"Spike, I assume you did get the benefits of those foods added to your menu? The way our experiments at breakfast did?"

He made a few passes of his claws through thin air, and yet again she wished it was possible to see his Menus with her own eyes... Although they were supposed to test his Party system after this, so maybe she could! Oh the data, the sweet sweet science...
"Yeah, one of them."

She tried to keep the sudden horror off her face. If it was lost, so soon after she found it...
"J-just one?"

"Yeah, the stir fry said it had an error because it 'couldn't reach its full potential', so I think I must be missing some kind of subskill or specific supporting ingredient."

The relief flooded her from hoof to horn and she physically sagged back, putting her flanks against the nearby dresser. Above her, the hourglass flipped again and a small cone of incense ignited in an automagical spark to keep track of the overall passage of time.

"That's fine, then: I'm sure you'll figure that part out someday. But I'd really like to ask you, speaking as your... Me. Speaking as Twilight Sparkle with whatever that means, I'd be grateful if you don't use that effect on any pony except for myself or Pinkie. Or yourself, I suppose."

"...Why?"

As expected, he didn't take that without questioning, and she was incredibly proud. Not despite the fact that he was questioning her, but precisely because of it. It had taken Celestia much longer to get her to grasp the same lesson, sad to say.

Of course, it helped that she actively wanted to be questioned under these circumstances! Because to be brutally honest? If she didn't get to go on an expository blitz about this right now she would surely go mad. The cursed life of a researcher, forever doomed to want to talk about things no other pony in their right mind would understand, much less care about.

That meant it would be best to make her presentation as interesting as possible, and for bonus points her prior display would even double as a demonstration! Sweet marefriend, Twilight really loved efficiency.

Her other spells quieted and inverted in places: Incense snuffed out, hourglass set into a balanced position that sent no sand. Quills and paper away, books marked and replaced. Windows closed, curtains drawn, candles lit... It was time for a dramatic reveal.

Twilight arranged the details in her head, which wasn't difficult. She'd been thinking about all of this quite recently anyways, and it was a subject near and dear to her. Pinkie would have little prior information about the topic however, and Spike's knowledge wasn't going to be much deeper. So she got to explain it all from the start, which she'd always found useful when constructing a new thesis or way of thinking. Summary and review, rephrasing and explanation: Critical tools!

"Unicorns, ponies in general, don't... There's no concept of a 'Magic Point' outside of games, at least not an established one. There's no standardized unit of measuring magic as-it-is-spent and as-it-is-kept. We can measure magical radiation, the remains and offgassing so to speak, but the actual inputs? It's all relative!"

Neither of them interrupted her or asked questions yet, which Twilight was very grateful for. It was harder to verbalize the concepts than you would think, but she had been practicing! Questions could come later.

"For unicorns it's taught as a matter of what is comfortable, and what is safe. Think of them as different thresholds. Or bands! First is the absolute maximum, all the magic in your body. Then how much of that you can spend without permanently hurting yourself, that's the safe amount. And then there's the normal 'limit' for a unicorn: How much can you spend without pain or major discomfort."

She'd relearned those limits over and over again growing up, between one study binge or another. Outside sources like the Rainboom-induced overload that hatched Spike? Those were special. But even on her riskiest binge she never dipped into unsafe territory... Barring national emergencies, of course.

As she continued to speak, she took a moment to look over her audience. Spike was clearly running the ideas down in his head, while Pinkie hadn't shifted her expression at all... Which was very Pinkie, all things considered.

"So, there's no quantification except for relative values! It might be 'Oh, levitating this box would take about half of my comfortable limit' or however a given pony would phrase it. It could even be a hard number like 'My safe limit is 20 and this spell is a 10', but those numbers wouldn't translate to any other pony's use of magic: They're just a relative measure that specific unicorn came up with."

Now she finally got an interjection, right in the pause she left for it: If it weren't for the interpersonal aspects? She'd probably be an OK teacher. Then again, she was always improving there as well...

Pinkie poked her head up, having come to a conclusion rather quickly.
"So just by raising the big total, you raise all those other smaller ones too!"

"Exactly! More magic means a higher safe limit and a higher comfortable limit. But it's an even bigger deal than that, because-"

"...Because you didn't freak out like this at breakfast. I made a dish that boosted efficiency, but I'm going to guess that doesn't have the same impact."

She couldn't hold back the pride in her heart, reaching over to ruffle Spike's spines... It was a lot easier now that he was tall enough to look her in the eye.
"No, I didn't. And yes, it doesn't. Efficiency is a concept we already have an understanding of, scientifically-speaking. And it’s more... A unicorn putting magic into a spell gets most of that magic back afterwards, returned through the spell's circuit. It's like if you went to the store and the clerk required you to pay with 20 bits, even if your item only costs 15. You do get the remaining 5 back in change after but for whatever reason he can't accept a smaller coin to begin with."

"Oh, oh! So efficiency would be like you were still paying 20 up front, but getting back more change! A rebate instead of a discount, like with the cereal box flap thingies!"

At this point Twilight was prancing on her hooftips with joy: It was so easy to talk with smart ponies! Well, a smart dragon and a smart pony. Whatever. It was a wonder she hadn't done research with Pinkie in the past, if she was this quick on the uptake! Although maybe that had been an instinctive dodge of all her other quirks.

"Yes! Which is very useful for sustained casting, but it's not going to give you a bigger budget for one purchase... So to speak. Um, this is where that analogy breaks down unfortunately. I tried to figure out a good way to bridge the comparison into my next point, but the last time I really tried? There was some Hearth's Warming cider lying around, one thing led to another, and I might have blacked out and rewritten a quarter of the Equestrian postal code instead."

The joke (and only Spike's exasperated expression showed that he remembered it was no joke) helped lighten the mood, and got her mind back in position. The last part was... hard to talk about.

"If anypony is doing magic, whether that's a pegasus working with the weather or a unicorn casting a spell, an earth pony tending their trees or Fluttershy... doing her things. When that happens, there's three main factors that make it possible: How much power they can put in, how complex the working actually is, and their affinity for what they're doing."

She let that pin drop, but neither of the audience members interrupted: Either they hadn't reached the natural conclusion, or they were waiting for her to say it. This was really so much better than the Canterlot symposiums.

"...Complexity and difficulty, you can overcome that with practice and understanding. You could even figure out a better, more efficient version of the spell! Affinity, you can improve through learning and immersion, or changing the angle of approach. But power? There's no easy way to change that apart from long-term growth, and that has limits. As for other methods of increasing power... We all remember what Trixie did when she came back to town."

Pinkie raised a hoof to her muzzle, as if making sure it was still attached. Twilight cursed herself in her head, wishing she hadn't picked that specific incident, but... It was equally serious business.

"What Spike discovered here today changes everything. This ‘buff’ raised what is essentially the density of my magic. The same volume in the body, if we were talking about a material substance, but with a greater weight in that volumetric space! More value for every coin, in the previous analogy. That’s a direct increase of power and potential across the board, even if I don’t change the perceived ‘input’ at all.”

Twilight took one more deep breath and finally arrived at the conclusion.
“If this is even a little replicable, especially if we can find a way to reproduce it without leaning on Spike as the source? We could be talking about a complete upheaval of everything the scientific world knows about magic! That is why I want you to be hush-hush about it, and why I don't want anypony but us three to find out until we know more."

Spike laughed, and for a moment she thought it was a nervous thing... But then he kept going. When he finally leaned back he was waving his claws through the air, looking at menus again.

"And the best part is, none of this applies to me! All my skills either have variable costs or they have a maximum within my limits: I don't know if I even could learn something I don't have the MP capacity for, instant wards aside. So it's a buff that means everything to other ponies, and... It still helps me. But it's so much less important for me, to the point where I hadn't even thought about the difference it could make for you."

Twilight nodded solemnly, even as Pinkie went through the visible motions of a Pinkie Promise. Spike did the same thing, and Twilight followed: They were all going to hide this information until it could be properly researched... At which point, even Celestia might not know what would change.

"You two... Today you accidentally, in one moment, helped me achieve a lifelong goal. Even beyond that! This is an advancement that ponies have been seeking since before my lifetime. I-"

Spike held up a claw to stop her, looking as if he had seen some kind of ectoplasmic apparition.

"...Say that again but slower."

Chapter 59: Plans...

Spike startled when Twilight finished her impassioned speech, and realization dawned on him.

"...Say that again but slower."

He couldn't see her expression given his focus, but he had to imagine it was half-confusion half-bemusement. Befusion?
"Um. This is an advancement that po-"

He started swiping through his character sheet, looking for the information he was thinking of while waving at Twilight with his other claw.
"The bit before that! Sorry."

"Oh! The two of you helped me achieve a lifelong goal?"

There it was. The dropdown with his Title option. Option singular, apart from just being The Gamer.

[Number One Assistant]

You gain a special sense of what others need to achieve their goals.
All benefits of your aid and assistance are increased significantly.
WARNING: Simple acts of kindness can have far-reaching repercussions.

He could have stressed over this internally before telling anypony else about it, but... Why? He had a pair of friends right here, and two more heads meant two more sources of insight. It wasn't like hiding it would really help him any.

So Spike explained both what he found, and his theory as to what happened: His title wasn't just giving him passive benefits all the time. It had activated in some way, likely impacting his ideas on what the best gems to pair with the food would be.

"Well hold on now, that's not the right way to think about it."

"Do tell! I mean, we're all pretty equally in the dark here. But maybe you're seeing a section of the room that's not lit up for me?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at his choice in metaphor before carrying on regardless.
"I doubt it changed your ideas or your thoughts. It seems significantly more probable that it just changed the association between the gem and the food! Nothing I've been able to find implies that your ‘Dragon's Kitchen’ is drawing from known magical correspondences for these stones. So if your engine is making it all up as it goes? What's to stop it from making it up on the fly, in accordance with other abilities like your titles? It helped me achieve a personal goal, after all..."

"Helping us achieve two goals, actually! I really super-duper wanted this new dessert to impress you both, so I deffo wouldn't be surprised if it counted me too."

"And if the effect was working twice, that would explain the severity! And not just the severity of the magical implications. Seriously, that was easily one of the best desserts I've ever eaten in my life. And since I've known Pinkie for four years now, and spent most of my life before that as Celestia's student in Canterlot..."

"Compliment taken with gustatory gusto, Twily!"

The questionably-titular mare in question went pale.
"Please no. It's bad enough Shining keeps calling me that, we've got to put a moratorium on the nicknames before they get out of control."

"I think what we really need to worry about controlling is the 'far-reaching repercussions' I'm being warned about here. I mean the nicknames thing too, that's a slippery slope, but in terms of urgency... Maybe this is a bigger issue?"

Pinkie bounced over to him on her hoof-tips and slung a foreleg around his shoulder.
"Maybe not! Trust me Spike: Pretty much any act of kindness can have 'far-reaching repercussions', even ones that aren't backed by weird Gamer magic. And if anypony would know, it'd be me!"

He leaned into her half-hug and thought about that for a minute.
"...You know what? You're right. There's no more harm in leaving it on than taking it off: Either I might have my kind acts come back to bite me at extra strength, or I give up the ability to help somepony I otherwise couldn't. I'll take the chance of consequences over the risk of failure."

Twilight looked over the two of them with a smile.
"Does that mean we can get back on schedule?"

"Sure, sure: Game party first, or party party?"

"The second one: It's mostly just going to be logistics and preparation, list-making. The actual mechanical Party is going to be the bigger deal in its way, and we've got all afternoon ahead of us."

"Woohoo! So what's the occasion?"

His (*word) was wearing a faint blush, but apart from a bit of pacing she kept her composure.
"I'd prefer not to say at the moment: Just think of it as one of our normal weekly get-togethers with the girls, but moreso!"

"Awww, so it's not gonna be a party to celebrate you and Celestia boinking?"

Aaaaand there went the composure! She hadn't even been at a light canter when Pinkie replied, but she still managed a perfect ninety-degree faceplant. Twilight went straight into the floor as if she'd been running at top speed. Before she even started recovering she was already blushing.
"P-pinkie! What. WHAT. No, I-"

"Oh come on Twilight, I know you were probably trying to save it for a surprise but... Pinkie Sense is still very much a thing! I got a lot of twitch-a-twitches yesterday that meant a good friend was getting laid. A bunch of times. And the timing didn't line up for anypony else I'm close with, so... I just sort of did the mental math!"

At this point Twilight had managed to get back up onto her haunches, and Spike had already pulled away from the not-a-hug to check that she wasn't hurt. All clear there: Ponies were remarkably squishy when it came down to it. That meant these slapstick injuries never seemed to, well, stick.

"...Assuming I believe you have a dedicated Sense combo for that, why would you kno- I mean, think it was Celestia?"

The excitable earth pony rolled her eyes at that.
"It's super duper obvious that you've been crushing on her for forever! You couldn't be any hotter for teacher unless you burst into flames. Again. And hay, you never did tell me how you did that!"

Twilight brushed Spike away so she could bury her face in her hooves uninterrupted, clearly making an effort not to freak out too hard. He kept the claw on her back, rubbing in little circles until her breathing levelled out: You got used to this kind of thing growing up in the Sparkle household.
"A-alright. OK. It's fine! You know already and that's fine: Great even! This just means we can plan the party without me trying to coyly talk around the specific details, right? Right."

Pinkie looked a little abashed, but it was pretty clear to her and Spike alike that Twilight was just... going a little above and beyond, right now: Nothing to be worried about. Just worry for worry's sake.
"Exaaaactly~! And nopony else needs to know until you're ready to tell them: I didn't say anything to Spike yesterday because I couldn't spoil the surprise for him! So I super-duper Pinkie Promise I won't allow for even a tiny bit of bean spillage between now and... When are we doing this?"

Twilight straightened up and cleared her throat.
"I was thinking we could... overlap it with our usual weekly hangout? Short notice and all that, try not to disrupt schedules too badly."

"I dunno, this seems like a perfect opportunity for a little disruption!"

"Pinkie, most of the time when I have to interrupt you girls' schedule it involves the impending destruction of Equestria."

"...Point!"

Spike took the opportunity to butt in with his own (admittedly biased) perspective.
"If we wait for the get-together, I can make time to tell all the others about the whole Gamer thing earlier in the week. That way, we can dedicate the whole party to delivering your big news without me weirding anypony out beforehand! Which will also mean I'd probably have time to come up with a full course of gem-infused food to celebrate..."

Twilight and Pinkie were both clearly thinking back to the quality of their lunch (and in Twilight's case, breakfast) before they nodded.
"Deal. Pinkie, I don't say this lightly... I want to be surprised."

There was a lot of blinking all around at that declaration.
"What I mean is, I'm going to leave the actual party preparation entirely in your capable hooves. I'll make sure the main floor of the Library is cleaned, available, and closed early in time for you to come over day-of. And it sounds like Spike will be handling the refreshments."

Pinkie's smile went wide as a mile at that, and she nodded rapidly.
"Okie doki loki! Sounds like a plausible prep plan pursuant to a purple pony party par perfection!"

Twilight got back up on her own four hooves and shook off the flurry of alliteration before heading downstairs. Given the chance alone with Pinkie, Spike just had one thing on his mind...
"Should I even ask what the Pinkie Sense combo was for... uh, the way you found out?"

"Mane tug, hoof jiggle, tail lift, wink, wink!"

"You only winked once just now."

Her eyelids dipped low and she looked at him with a salacious smile.
"Did I? Or did I?"

She bounded down the stairs giggling, and Spike tried very hard not to watch as she went.

Author's Note

Decided to break the title format for this one and next week's chapter for An Reason. I'm sure nobody will mind. :P

Chapter 60: ...and Ponka

To access Party Options, first form a party with others using the command "Invite NAME". Note that some features are only available if members are within certain level ranges.

"Invite Twilight Sparkle."

Spike had no idea what to expect, but what he got was even better than his best theory: Twilight jumped, fully leapt into the air with all four hooves. She landed on her hooftips and danced around briefly, looking at something he couldn't see... Which meant she had her own menu, in this context.

"Spike! Oh my stars it's... I know we'd already confirmed everything but seeing the menu with my own eyes is so different. Alright, let me just..."

She dipped her head down and tapped with her horn (still nervously dancing on her hooves) and became almost palpably disappointed when the menu... presumably vanished. He guessed as much because at the same time, a new box appeared in front of him.

Your party invitation was accepted! Please make a name for your party.

"...Team Purple Pink and Green."

Is the name 'Team Purple Pink and Green' acceptable?

"Yes."

He noticed Twilight was going to interrupt, but his engine beat her to the punch and intercepted her interruption: A new screen popped up for him, and given the angle of her glance he could tell she was looking at the same thing. Pinkie stood off to one side for the moment, just softly smiling and watching. He didn't want to make her wait too long, so he flicked through the new screen quickly.

A nice cutting-edge heads-up-display showed Twilight's level and name, as well as her HP and MP bars (no numbers, just the fullness) and then his info-box above that. Spike's precise HP and MP values were shown, probably because it was his own information... And he also had a crown next to his name. At the very bottom were buttons for Options, Eject, and Promote: Presumably he was the party leader, with the ability to pass off leadership to another or kick out offending members at will.

Options could wait: They had a guest, after all.
"Invite Pinkie Pie!"

"Ooooh, bluebox! Lemme just... doink!"

Pinkie practically whipped the button with her mane, and he was unsurprised at this point to see that it worked. This time he only got the invitation-accepted notice, and no follow-up question. Pinkie started looking through her menus... While Spike stared above her head. His eyes had been caught by a sudden change in the text there, and where he expected to see another joke?

Pinkie Pie
LV 19

Nineteen? And no title... Were these the 'real' stats for Pinkie Pie, and everything before had been confused or the engine messing with him? Or was the engine just coping like most ponies and struggling to keep up with her? She certainly had HP and MP bars just like his and Twilight's. For once he refrained from using Observe: This was something he could take his time figuring out.

"Neat! So what all do we have goin' on here?"

He flicked through the various options, extrapolating from the information there.
"Alright, so there's a setting for Experience Division: By default it's set to Fair Share, where each member of the party gets as much XP as the work they put in. Half the work, half the spoils. But it has other options too, and they're all locked to only work if everypony is within a 10-level range of each other, so I can't turn them on."

"Would you be able to make a party with just me and Pinkie so we could test them?"

"...Ah. Um. Two problems there: First off, I haven't figured out any meaningful way to get levelling experience apart from quests, and the other thing is... That still wouldn't work."

It only took a moment for Twilight to realize what he meant, and she immediately seemed to regret asking. Pinkie on the other hoof was still grinning like usual, flipping her hoof up and down across whatever menus and buttons she could access.
"Yeah I thought as much! I've never really been one for getting better at stuff the usual way, so I bet my level isn't a ton better than a normal pony's, much less up there with Twilight Sparkle... This Pie has plenty of her own tricks though!"

"Don't we know it, Pinkie! Alright, so that's not an option. I assume the other settings were the usual fare for games with multiplayer partying?"

Spike nodded and rattled off the options on his fingers.
"Equal distribution, final blow only, leader distributes. And from that middle one, I'm going to guess that combat experience is sort of the 'default' for whatever reason... Which would explain why the ponies of the Guard I've seen are so high, and why Rainbow Dash is above average too."

"Well in most engine-driven games and a lot of tabletop campaigns, combat is a core driver of the mechanical interactions. I'm not surprised the system kept that intact... Even if you don't have the luxury of a GM giving you fodder to fight."

He shrugged and gestured up above his head. It brought a smile to his face when Twilight gasped: It had been a hunch that she could see his title and level, but he was glad to have it proven out.
"It looks like it gives me Story Arc quests to compensate: If a military pony had a power like this, I doubt it would hoof them 50,000 experience in the average day."

"Oooh Spikey, look at this one!"

Pinkie pointed into thin air, and he held back a sigh... and another smile.
"Pinkie, I know we can both see our own menus, but I can't really see yours."

"Oh, right. What if I just..."

You have received an offer to share skill information. Would you like to view the skill?

"...Yeah you're going to have to show me how you did that."

He hit confirm and then read... Something that simultaneously explained a lot and yet very little.

The Ponka Nature Lv YesEXP: No
Some ponies defy explanation. As such, this description shall not overstay its welcome.

Demands the partial or total obfuscation of personal statistics, even from the user.
Allows for the limited use of Chaotic effects and methods, with unknown limits.
Grants a personal form of clairsentience with unique tells and related conditions.
Partially replicates the effect of the [Broken] status with none of its drawbacks.
This ability enhances and scales extremely strongly with LUK and no other attributes.

"It's basically the only thing I can see on my chara-sheet-thingy, except for my blue and red bars. The numbers on those are pretty big: I don't think they're the right size? But that kinda makes sense because... Well, exactly because it doesn't!"

"I've seen you on a three-day kitchen binge leading up to the holiday rush: The fact that you have unnatural amounts of health and magic is as natural as anything else about this situation."

"Ponka-point! Which is not a thing I'm trying to make a thing, it just felt like it was relevant to the discussion at hoof. Skill name jokes, that sorta dealie."

After a little searching, Spike found the menu option Pinkie had used. Apparently contextual options were added to existing menus now that they were in a party. He'd have to keep an eye out for that, and other contexts, in the future... While he was shuffling through all of his options, Pinkie was sharing her only visible skill information with Twilight. Twilight, naturally, was taking notes.

"And Spike, you said you've seen most of my character sheet through using Observe already?"

"Yeah, although I couldn't read the skill descriptions then. They all seemed self-explanatory, to be honest. Don't really need an entire infobox for something like [Tremendous Mana Control] or [Splendid Mana Capacity], and your spells seem to have their own list that I couldn't see."

"So apart from giving us the ability to see these statistics, and the experience sharing... What else is there?"

He looked over his sheet and tried to think. If he were a non-Gamer given access to this, what would he do... first...
"Twilight, can you make a visual reproduction of your sheet real quick? Actually, just the part with the attributes."

"Sure?"

She produced a floating visual image with her magic, the dancing magenta lights showing Spike exactly what he had hoped to see.
"Hah. Hahahha... Oh BOY, this is going to go places!"

"...Uhhh?"

"Twilight, look: You don't have any points to spend... But you have the buttons to spend them."

It took a moment for the implications to sink in, but once they did his (unword) was dancing around on her hind legs, clapping her forehooves together in excitement.
"Spike~! This is such a huge... Oh, does it only work if I actually acquire the level in your party or would it have some level of retroactive function? We need to do testing! I should find a way for us to acquire some Experience as soon as possible, and-"

"Calm, Twilight. Breathing, remember the oxygen. It's your friend."

"Right. Pheeww. Alright. I just... We were just talking about how lopsided my statistical allocation was yesterday, so the idea of being able to correct for that..."

"Why correct for it?"

She blinked at him, while Pinkie picked up on the idea immediately.
"Spike's got a point! For somepony who's just finding themselves it might make sense to cover up those bad spots and get a good solid round-a-base: I told Spike as much already the other day! but you're already an established brainiac and magical wonderpony! If anything, you should be excited about leaning in harder. Play your cards right and you'll never waste a point on Strength again!"

"And that's assuming you can't directly train your stats, which... I think you might be able to? I mean, anypony can, that's what exercise and studying are for. But I know the rate I was getting stat points yesterday was way faster than natural growth and practice. That might carry over through the party too! That way you could have your char-op cake and eat it too."

Unfortunately they didn't have an immediately suitable way to test that: He'd gotten Intelligence and Wisdom points for making leaps of logic and moments of comprehension, but Twilight was already far too advanced in both to have any luck. As for Luck itself, it was... predictably inconsistent. That left the physical stats, which would be too hard to try and level up safely and effectively on such short notice.

Still, they had the idea firm in their minds for later testing, and could turn from that to look at other aspects of the Party system. Promotion and ejection worked as expected: Anypony could leave the party whenever they wanted, but the current leader could also remove them at-will. Spike did notice that even when he passed off leadership, he still had the ability to disband "Twilight and Pinkie's Party Party", as Pinkie had called it. Apparently being the one whose power allowed the parties to exist in the first place gave him administrative privilege.

So members of a Party could gain experience and (assumedly) train stats like the Gamer, spend stats like the Gamer, and view their own character sheets and skill descriptions. They got less precise information than he did, with the notable exception of Pinkie's bizarre passive. Twilight didn't suddenly gain the ability to precisely quantify her MP costs, which was a shame... A shame that also made sense: His magic only worked the way it does because he’s The Gamer. It didn’t do anything to the world around him or the ponies in it without acting through him.

With all of that handled, it only left Options... And there was only one major point of interest there.

"Voice Chat."

He'd already gotten an ability related to his Party's voice chat system yesterday: Susurration, which allowed party members in a fairly long range to communicate 'subvocally', whatever that meant. Looking the word up provided the definition 'Words occurring in speech order inside the mind without audible articulation'... So some kind of silent communication, like telepathy? But getting a skill for silent communication over range probably meant the system already provided a non-silent method.

Spike flicked the toggle to enable the voice chat... And then realized a rather obvious problem.
"Uh, I guess there isn't much point in trying to test voice chat when we're already in earshot, huh?"

Twilight looked at him with a dry expression, eyes pointed down her muzzle.
"While that would normally be true, aren't you supposed to have perfect recall now?"

"Actually I think it's just eidetic memory at this point, I sometimes still have to look things up to-"

He got the actual gist of her joke when she vanished in a crackle-puff of pink energy, leaving him and Pinkie to stare into the empty space for a moment... Until Twilight spoke again, loud and clear as if she had never left.
"I'm practically outside Ponyville town limits at this point: Can you hear me clearly?"

"Crystal! Wow. This is super neat actually: It's sharper than when you were in the room yourself, somehow? It's like helping the DJ with a party mix, it's so different using headphones compared to hearing it over the speakers!"

Spike looked through the voice menu as Pinkie continued to talk, while he fiddled with some of the sliders: Output volume, receiving volume, etc.
"Yeah, she's not wrong: I don't get as many chances to use them myself, but it's definitely more like you're speaking over my shoulder than talking to me from a distance... Much less, what, a mile or two?"

"One point four and a bit lost to rounding, yes. Your replies are likewise very precise and vocally clear... Although I wonder if we could subvert that. Spike, didn't you mention having subtitles available?"

With the bases established, they went on to perform an entire battery of tests. Spike's subtitles did work with the voice chat, but neither of the other members in the party had the option to use them. Another benefit of being the actual Gamer, he supposed. They also tested the language barrier by having Twilight quote a few passages from a science text: His subtitles didn't even show him what she was saying properly, only rendering it as (Spoken Germane) in the subtitle. However, as long as she spoke even barely loud enough for Voice Chat to transmit it? That was displayed just fine.

Pinkie lip-synching words without speaking, on the other hoof, didn't get subtitled. Even when she was clearly intending to speak but not producing sound, he didn't get a hint of it. As soon as her voice raised up even a little, then it worked. That segued cleanly into testing out Susurration, which did have subtitles, but...

Alright, so everypony can hear me? Or, I guess, 'hear' me?

Yuppers! You're a lot more pleasant than the normal voices I get in here.

Hah, good one Pinkie. I say-think because the idea that you're not joking is enough to unsettle me quite a bit.

Oh Twilight, you know I'm just trying to make you laugh!

Of course... But that still doesn't mean you're joking.

Pinkie didn't respond to that, and Spike didn't bother trying to get clarification: Sometimes it's best to just let sleeping dogs lie. Susurration conversations were weird, happening almost entirely in your own head... With the added wrinkle that Spike's subtitles worked on this not-speech. True to the skill description it had a range limit of a hundred yards, which went up as it levelled. Also true to the description, they could use other party members as a relay: If Spike went to the furthest end of the Library and Pinkie stood by the front door, then he could talk to Twilight from outside his max range, as long as Pinkie was close enough in the middle.

Pinkie apparently didn't hear what they were discussing when she did this: Conversations using the Voice Chat and Susurration both had options for privacy within the party, and being the middlemare wasn't enough to override that. Spike confirmed that when he switched positions with her, and then Twilight made her own testing efforts. Eventually the three of them had exhausted the features worth noting (at least, the ones that were able to be tested in this environment) in the Party system. With that done, they regrouped back at the central Library table to discuss the next step.

Chapter 61: Abrupt Arc

The sturdy stump-based table at the core of the library's ground floor was made primarily for ponies to read around, not for having conversations: The carved bust in the center existed purely to disrupt conversations. Despite that the three of them made do: Spike settled into a central position with Twilight on his left and Pinkie on his right. From there they treated it more like a diner booth or a park bench, as opposed to a table with individual chairs.

Snacking on the leftovers of their lunch definitely helped with the atmosphere. It also helped in more tangible ways, since his levelled-up Dragon's Kitchen and Layer could work in concert to extend the duration of existing buffs. He'd already been able to refresh his own Kitchen buff duration with gems alone, but now he could use his MP to directly extend Twilight and Pinkie's benefits from both. Pinkie described the sensation as 'very tickly', although that might have just been his claws.

Going too hard on a subject for too long was an easy path to burnout, something Twilight had learned (and relearned) early (and often), so they were currently just having a relaxed conversation. Topics drifted here and there, between Pinkie asking polite-but-pressing questions about Twilight and Celestia (she insisted Pinkie would get answers alongside everypony else at the party) to Spike and Twilight getting caught up on Pinkie's wide net of Ponyville town news. The details were the kind of things that Rarity would probably call gossip, but Twilight never thought of it that way. She just liked to be informed about things, in general, as a matter of case.

Of course, that urge for information eventually led to Twilight asking him about one topic in particular...
"You never did tell me about that plan you were working on for the Ticket."

Pinkie suddenly leaned across Spike, poffing her entire body into his lap to reach her head closer to Twilight. He didn’t particularly mind, even if the pose was kind of ridiculous.
"Oh! Did you finally come up with an idea? I was so excited about that!"

Spike cast his mind back to the moment he'd acquired that Ticket. It had been a reward specifically for discussing his Gamer nature with Pinkie, along with Unlockers. Those were apparently an annoyingly vague number of intangible items he could use to 'open up' how skills worked: He'd already spent one Unlocker making it so that the Dragon's Heart buff could have variable duration, intensifying power by sacrificing time. The Ticket, on the other claw...

[Late Bloomer's Ticket]
Rank: Mythic Consumable
This special pass allows for those with a slow-growing power to surpass their boundaries one time, and one time only: Creating a skill, item, or other mark on the world beyond their current potential.

It may only be used once, but the creation born from it is permanent.

Yeah, he was still not sure about that. Plus:
"...Pinkie, it has been one day. Singular day. I mean I'm excited too, but-"

"W-well yeah, I just... I got kinda nervous and silly-filly when you said that you'd be willing to let me use it! That was such a big thing for me to think about. I'm really glad you came up with something to use it for, for yourself."

Spike wiggled a claw at that, levelling it off in mid-air to signify his ambivalence.
"Not... exactly? It'd actually be way more for other ponies than for me. Sort of the point, really! But the idea does have a lot to do with your advice, and you in particular."

The earth pony rolled herself up so that she was facing up at him from below, still wriggling around across his legs. The expression she had was... He'd never seen this kind of smile on Pinkie before.
"Awww, Spike."

He cleared his throat and his mind... This was still not really a fully-baked idea, and he knew it would take a while for him to get there even if the Ticket did allow him to create something 'beyond his current potential'. Because this was what it meant to go even furtherbeyond, if Spike was being honest.

"So, we were talking about me becoming a generalist, an everydragon, that sort of thing. And it seems like so far the Skills I’ve gotten allow me to boost up other ponies a lot, and bolster myself even more. But... If there's anything I've learned from Princess Celestia, it's that one pony can only do so much on their own. I, that is to say we, need friends and allies. No matter how strong the individual may be, they can excel as part of a team."

Pinkie pivoted back into a seated position, now that he'd gotten serious. The look she gave him had not changed at all though: It was kind of like the proud expression Twilight had, with overtones of something else entirely. He carried on regardless, letting his thoughts spill out.
"So like... There's a metaphor I heard Granny Smith use at some point, and I didn't quite get it then. She'd been talking about the time before Princess Celestia granted them the land to found Sweet Apple Acres, and she'd said... I mean, I'll paraphrase, because Granny Smith. But it went like this:

'If you farm food for somepony, that could save their life. But if you make it so that they can farm for themselves, that'll change their life.'

And the more I think about that the more it makes sense, on a lot of levels: Even if you teach somepony a new skill they never use? They still have the new knowledge, and the new perspective! I never got to go with the colts and fillies, but I think that's a lot of what school is about when you get down to it. The lessons themselves are only kind of important. The bigger part is the actual act of learning how to learn. Well, that and broadening your perspective. And tolerating others. Dealing with irrational schedules... You get what I mean!"

"That's a very meaningful lesson in and of itself, Spike: Many older ponies don't even grasp that concept, much less students young enough to benefit from it in the moment."

"Heh, thanks... I mean, you're a big part of me figuring that out. When we switched to doing home lessons for me here at the Library, you taught me so many things that I didn't think were important. But eventually I caught on to the big picture. Which is what I'm thinking of here, along with Pinkie's advice about covering all my bases and being the best generalist I can be."

Just discussing this idea with others was helping solidify it in his mind, and he realized that even if the Ticket wasn't able to support this goal? He wanted to strive for it, make it his own personal quest. It felt like a worthy goal to set in his sights, even if it ended up being an impossible dream. He’d seek it out and try.

"Even if being The Gamer, whatever that means... Even if it makes me the ultimate support the world has ever seen, I want to have a bigger impact. I want to spread the benefits as far as I can, even when I'm not around to do things personally. That's something I think I picked up from watching how the Princesses handle ruling, and... I want to follow their path."

"Leadership?"

"Immortality?"

"Benediction."

Pinkie wrinkled her muzzle in confusion, Spike leaned back in relief at having said it, and Twilight? She stared into thin air. At first he thought he'd offended her, but then he noticed that both her eyes and Pinkie's were moving as if they were...

Reading...

Yes, they were in fact all reading from the screen in front of them. They hadn't broken the Party after their testing, so they could all see his system’s major notifications. Which meant that now all of them were looking at an absurd and absurdly large panel of menu-light.

When he set eyes on it? He heard the chimes again, felt them again just like the previous morning. That colossal bell and that flawless chill, up and down his spine. Whatever had caused Spike to become The Gamer had decided that it was time to kick off a quest again.

This one was just a bit bigger than the last...

STORY ARC: A Benediction Befitting a Gamer‽

By boldly choosing to lay foot on the path trodden by deities, you have set a tough row to hoe. One time and once only? Your grand quest may fail yet still continue: This is an Arc that can be cut short without doing the same to you. Should you succeed, should you learn enough to create your own unique and irreproducible blessing? This world will never be the same again. Stride forth! See what there is to see in the land of Equestria, before necessity takes you and yours beyond it.

Objective: Complete all Quests*, then consolidate your knowledge with the Late Bloomer's Ticket.

Failure Condition: Using the Late Bloomer's Ticket for another purpose, or if one year passes.

Reward: All Sub-Quest and Quest Rewards, variable EXP, Bits, and Items*, Your 'Benediction'

*NOTES:
Notall Subquests are mandatory, only a portion must be completed within each Quest.
Your rewards and the quality of the power you create will, however, depend on your completion rate.
Quests which are mandatory are not marked: Only you can know the moment that you are ready.
Some Subquests have a variable rate of progress, and will not be considered finished normally.
These mark as complete when a maximum reward is reached or when the overall Story Arc is completed.

Celestia Sol Invictus, She of The Rising Sun

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Learn the nature of Celestia's Benediction from her.
Learn the nature of Celestia's Benediction from a bearer.
Selflessly serve the ponies of Equestria for many days.

Luna, She of The Diamonds In The Sky

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Learn the nature of Luna's Benediction from her.
Learn the nature of Luna's Benediction from a bearer.
Survive untold instances of life-or-death combat.

Mi Amore Cadenza, She of All Loving Things

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Discover the nature of Cadance's Benediction.
Help Cadance create her Benediction.
Successfully guide the creation or repair of numerous healthy relationships.

Twilight Sparkle, She of Thine Wordless Name

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Achieve a base of 75+ in every personal statistic, and 2,000+ points of both HP and MP.
Learn at least 40 Skills and at least 10 Subskills (Consumed / Merged Skills do not count).
Reach at least Level 50 with the skill 'Observe'.
Acquire the skill 'Internal Alchemy' and raise it to at least Level 10.
Create at least one Original Skill using more than two components.

ERROR

A portion or portions of your Story Arc have been veiled from your eyes by a great power.
Upon the moment of revelation, these tasks will be exposed to you.

Author's Note

And so it begins: Welcome, formally, to Spike of All Trades Act 2!

Chapter 62: Rapid Return

Before Spike could even comment on the absurdity that had unfolded before them? Pinkie Pie beat him to it. The earth pony did some sort of acrobatic half-slink half-backflip out of her seat, flopping across the floor and springing back up onto her hooves. It would have been amazing to watch if he weren't so distracted by, well, everything else. She looked over to Spike with a big and extremely forced smile before waving at them both.

"That is super duper neat, b-but I've gotta go! To a place. For some things! I'll be back! Riiiiight back, I Pinkie-swear on that one."

She was gone well before either he or Twilight could even affirm they'd heard her... Which left him alone with Twilight and the quest. Quests plural, really... An entire year's worth, if the time limit was even slightly strict.

Twilight tried and failed to keep the mingled emotions out of her voice.
"Well Spike, I guess you are never ever allowed to get on my case for overreaching EVER again!"

"Awww come on Twilight, I was just putting an idea out there! How was I supposed to know the system would hold me to it without even a chance to get your opinion?"

She 'tapped' the screen in mid-air very pointedly, her hoof landing on the single step that was already completed: Asking Twilight for her perspective.
"It seems to think you already got my opinion, which is news to me! I should honestly be concerned with this level of ambition, especially so soon after you acquired this power... But from everything I know about both gaming and magic? It's not like your ability would give you an impossible task."

"...So you're not mad?"

She pulled him over into a one-legged hug, laughing softly.
"Spike, the only thing I'd be mad about is if you refused my help. Even if it says this is optional... I agree with the descriptive text. If you succeed then it's going to change the entire world forever. Not just Equestria, but everything."

"Big ask for a little dragon... Which is an excuse I can't even use anymore, because consistent size is totally optional for me now."

Twilight laughed at that, but it faded quickly.
"Speaking of optional, we can only hope that the part hidden behind that Error isn't required."

He frowned and looked over the list again... Assuming it was similar to the other quests and subquests, it couldn't be that bad, right?
"Why's that?"

"Look at all the first subquests in each header: It refers to us all as 'person of great power'. And then the Error says that 'a great power' is what's keeping you from seeing it. Which means whatever it is, your system thinks it's as powerful as a Princess!"

Spike shrugged and nudged her in the flank.
"If that's the case, it thinks you're as powerful as one too: At least in potential. And I'm inclined to agree!"

Twilight blinked rapidly for a few moments before burying her face in her hooves, trying and failing to hide her burning cheeks.
"Spiiike! That's not. I. UGH!"

He rolled his eyes and looked back to the objectives. Three very similar subquests with four objectives each, and then Twilight's category with six (one of which was already complete).
"Well hay, if we ignore the sort of nebulous final subquest for each Princess, at least this is all pretty simple... Helping Cadance aside. And then your requirements are extremely you."

"Do tell, Mr. Gamer."

"Like I said: Nebulous. Many days, untold instances, numerous relationships. But then we get down to your section and it's all hard numbers! 75 stats, 40 skills, 50 Observe... It's as rigorous as these things get, and I really appreciate that. In a way you're helping me already just by being yourself!"

"Ah yes, assistance-by-stereotype. So glad to help."

They both broke out giggling at that, because at this point sarcasm was their first shared refuge when things got particularly weird. When they got back to normal Spike could also tell that Twilight was trying to suppress a smile: That comment about her scientific and mathematical rigor had really hit where it counts.

"...I guess this means Cadance and Shiny really haven't finished figuring out her Benediction."

"Yeah, that's true enough: But it also means that unless I fail this quest, she will figure it out by the end of the year! It just might take a little outside inspiration from friends and family."

"Celestia only knows I've given her my fair share of that already: Ever since they got back from the honeymoon I've been helping her do research. Ritual techniques, sympathetic principles, even magic from outside of Equestria. That big batch of books on non-unicorn overt magic wasn't just for the sake of the Library, you know."

"That makes a lotmore sense in retrospect."

Given the time he'd spent Observing all of the books and cases when unpacking it with the Crusaders yesterday, he knew quite well what topics they had covered: Zebrican potioncraft (he'd have to compare notes with Zecora, see if her knowledge was from a different tradition), modern occult practices, Griffon and Minotaur artifice... Anything and everything that had seen the publishing circuit in the last twenty years, as far as Spike could tell.

"Well, I'll do everything I can to help her... Which will be a lot more now than it would have been."

"We should see about getting some letters out to Celestia, Luna, and Cadance: We already contacted Luna about the Discord issue, but we'll need to arrange a proper visit."

"No rush: I mean, not in the short term anyways. I'd like to try getting things handled sooner than later of course, but if I'm going to be able to make real progress or help Cadance? I want to get my stats higher first. And we've got the party this weekend to think about!"

Twilight turned to look at the door, but the expected Pinkie did not rematerialize when ‘called’.
"...I'm sure she'll be back soon. Are you sure the stat requirements are going to be attainable? Like you said, experience is hard to come by from what you've seen so far."

"I'll figure something out... Whether I like it or not, if Luna's subquest is any indication."

"Yeeeeah, I am going to put that out of mind for now. Although the histories certainly do imply she was the more warlike of the Two Sisters."

Right on time with the mention of war, the front door of the Library suddenly buckled in. It didn't start breaking, instead almost comically stretching as it opened across the hinges to reveal a shambling mound of items. By the time the hulking heap poured itself inside, Spike wasn't even sure how it had managed: The stack of stuff was easily twice-again as tall as the door, and a little wider too. His confusion abated a little when he realized Pinkie Pie was the pony piloting this pile of peculiar particulars. Then his confusion was swiftly replaced with flashbacks to training with the Crusaders.

"Special delivery!"

Even if he hadn't figured out it was Pinkie from context (or her curly tail bushing out on one side of the mess) the muffled-yet-enthusiastic voice cinched it.
"You alright back there?"

It takes her a moment to catch her breath (had he ever really seen her out of breath before?) but her reply came out eventually, even as stuff started sloughing off the stack.
"Yepper-pepper! Sorry I had to dash so fast but I realized we'd worked up a ton of a sweat while cooking so I needed to freshen up at the lil' mares' room! Back home. En-suite to my bedroom. And then while I was there I realized I should totally bring more stuff so I can be a better helper!"

Now that Pinkie mentioned it, she had dragged a strong smell of buttercream icing back with her and the ever-decreasing pile of accoutrements. It was light enough to be pleasant rather than cloying, although he was curious just what she meant by 'better helper'...

Pinkie’s mane started to become visible as her speech sped up.
"See, 'cuz this whole thing is sort of my fault two ways right? Like, I gave you the idea to be all generalized and broadbase, and the quest that gave you the Ticket involved me too! So it'd be super-duper unfair if I weren't going to give 110% helping you get through this doozy of a dinger."

...ah, she meant it like that. He really wouldn't have put the blame on her, no matter what she was saying: If anypony was responsible for this giant pile of quest requirements it was Spike himself. But at the same time?
"I’m really glad to know somepony's got my back, Pinkie Pie: I'll be counting on you."

His reply synchronized perfectly with her total divestment of the stack. That meant he got to see her blue eyes go watery, right before she nodded so hard that her expression blurred in the air.
"Yes!"

Chapter 63: Musical Manipulation

Putting their thoughts (and all the stuff Pinkie had brought) in order brought up some concerns. Twilight wanted to make as much progress as possible on learning the intricacies of her own MP, using her newly-enhanced maximums and the Party system's meters to better learn herself. Spike wanted to start putting his foot down on single-stat training, focusing on grinding his attributes as far as possible to figure out how soon he could meet the Story Arc's needs. And Pinkie... really just wanted to help, although she had big plans for some collaborative cooking along with Spike to get dinner ready for that night.

They had a wide spread of things they wanted to do, some of which involved cooperation and most of which needed them to work separately yet in the same space. At times they'd be moving from one concept to the other very quickly, and other times they'd focus on one thing for hours straight. Somehow they had to take advantage of the Party system, their supplies, each other, and their own niches all without any advance preparation.

"...Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinkie?"

"I think so Spike, but where are we going to get a one-mare-band on such short notice?"

"Uh. You brought one with you?"

Pinkie giggled and snorted, shouldering the harness of her instrument assemblage.
"Right! Haha."

Twilight looked at the two of them like they'd... Well, not like they'd grown second heads. More like they were Pinkie and Spike, which was entirely true but maybe more emphatic than usual. Spike pulled a scroll and ink out of his inventory and started jotting down ideas. Twilight probably couldn’t see his face from this angle, but he knew the smirk was audible in his voice.
"We're gonna need a montage."

"I. Yes. But. Alright, in the literary sense I can certainly agree that this would be the optimal scenario for that sort of thing. And there are records of Heartsongs producing effects of perceptive time dilation and significant increases in endurance and effectiveness... But are you saying you're going to try to force a montage?"

"Less force and more compose: Cantus has picked up a few songs from other ponies. All of those are original compositions they sang to themselves in times of need or high emotion. So... I figure if I'm the Gamer I might as well try to metagame myself."

It seemed like Twilight wanted to lecture him on the implausibility of that concept, but it was clear that her curiosity was going to win that fight. So rather than wait, Spike turned his impromptu lyric sheet towards Pinkie and began taking her notes on... notes, the musical kind. Within minutes they had a rough sketch of a first draft down. None of them were really songwriters in any meaningful capacity, Heartsongs aside. That much was made extremely obvious when Twilight wrinkled her nose at their lyrics sheet before eventually sighing in assent.

"Alright. We'll give it a try: Do you have a backup plan? I seem to remember you saying that the Cantus buff made a significant difference in training with the Crusaders."

He nodded, because that was the entire reason he was going out on this limb.
"I do, actually! When me and Pinkie were finishing up the tamale prep yesterday, I picked up a song that enhances Vitality, as well as Stamina recovery. It's not going to help us do more stuff in less time, but it should help us use the time we do have more efficiently."

"Good enough. In which case... Pinkie?"

The pink party pony put her prodigious pipes to the point of powering all the woodwinds and bellows in her rig. A few hoof-pumps, tail waggles, and mane-shakes at the strings and percussion later... They had a decent beat laid down for the lyrics to go on top of. He'd wait for the piece to come back around to the introduction (which was slower than the chorus and verses) and then they'd give this thing a shot.

Spike's opportunity came sooner than he expected, and he began forcing MP through his veins into the sequence that would trigger Cantus.

Sometimes you need to take some effort, and make your minutes count!

He could feel his magic trying to get a foothold in the music, a grip which slowly grew more steady. On the next line Twilight interjected with her part, and then Pinkie with hers, all right on the beat.

You've got a lot to do - and not much time - before you're down and out.

His MP was dwindling fast, so he began to fall into the Exposure-enhanced grip of meditation. Omphaloskepsis smoothed out the drop and he could tell it was starting to work. The effects were shaky, and slow... But it was working.

Working with friends can make it better, but if that's not enough?

Pinkie was smiling at him from behind her harmonica, Twilight had her Dissertation Face on, and they had eight hours between now and dinner. It was time to groove.

Work a song into it, a beat and a rhyme, and call reality's bluff!

Current Song: "Montage Song (Untitled Draft)" (+Growth, +EXP Gain, Minor Time Dilation)

Twilight was running an incredible number of calculations inside of her head, even as the magic around her kept dozens of objects in suspension. He could see hints of white light pouring out from the corners of her clenched eyelids, at least when he wasn't looking away. Pinkie had started him off with a series of stretches, crunches, lunges and lifting exercises. A week ago his body would have been an inflamed mess and he'd be aching or bedridden for days after just ten minutes. Now?

Your Strength has increased by one! Your Dexterity has increased by one!

Now there was nothing but blue sky ahead.

It's a montage song!
With composure, speed and grace.

Pinkie was so glad that Spike had brought her into this early. She'd been having sort of a gloomy-doomy mood lately and it was really good for her to get out and do things. Not usual things, those only made it worse: She'd decided to make the zacahuil on a random weekday for a reason, after all! And just like the tamale, this was exciting and new and extremely fun! For her, at least: Twilight had been spending the entire musical number doing mental brainy things, and now even Spike was reading... Although when he shot her a thumbs-up with one clawed hand, she decided it was appropriate to cheer even for things like that.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through lexivorous consumption a skill to inundate the mind with data, [Photographic Speedreading] has been created!

We've got a lot to do!
Against the clock we're in a race.

Unlocking a technique for reading as quickly as he could stabilize the text in front of his eyes... The timing was too good. He'd already been suspecting that the 'engine' of his game was trying to force him down certain avenues, and this cinched it. Either that, or Equestria's natural musical montage magic was interacting with his powers to produce appropriate dividends. He didn't particularly care either way: If Spike's engine was taking him for a ride? He'd strap himself into the seat and plunge down the road care-free, just to see where it took him.

We have to learn fast, our efforts need to last!
We've gotta stand fast or we'll end up last.

She'd 'accidentally' bumped into Twilight's levitating objects the first seven times, if anypony asked. Asking would have been silly because of course Pinkie wasn’t doing it on purpose... And it felt like her purple pal wasn't participating, and today had been way too alliterative for that to be OK! Until she realized that Twilight was the one doing it on purpose, bringing stuff near Pinkie just to mess with her! At that point it became a game. Or maybe it had been a game from the start and she'd been the last one to realize it for a change? It didn't matter much given the workout she was getting, chasing down the quill that had just drawn a crude moustache on her flank.

Cross-rhyming a word against itself absolutely breaks a rule!
But when the work is experimental, not trying makes you the fool!

It would have been easy to assume that Pinkie's influence had somehow corrupted Spike, when he first suggested trying to force a Heartsong. But given that his 'Cantus' ability allowed him to initiate them at will with known songs... Twilight was willing to give it a shot. And yes, her heart hadn't really been in it at first. But she noticed the change in the flow of time by the first chorus, and at that point it was undeniable. They had a lot of research to do in the near future... But for now, she was getting ever-closer to pinning down the value of her own MP, so that could wait. And in the meantime she could enjoy herself while working: She decided to give Pinkie a few backup dancers during the next chorus, in the form of animated spellbooks.

It's a montage song!
Doing many things at once
We've got so much to do!
Even if we're weighed down by lunch.

Pinkie slowed down as she came off the chorus, lying on her back and kicking her hoofsies up in the air: She really was feeling a bit burdened, which is saying a lot giving her usual appetite!

"I think the midline in the second chorus should end on crunch for a better rhyme: Somethin’ like ‘Time pressure, working in crunch’ or that sorta thing. Can we try starting over?"

He took a deep breath, while Twilight was still fully engrossed in her own research and had kept up the song without really thinking about it... Which seemed to be enough to keep the Cantus-controlled Heartsong going, even if Spike himself had stopped.

"I don't know if we'll have to restart... Keep the music live, hum a few bars, and let me try something."

Spike drew his mana back through his body, and began marshalling its flow more carefully. He'd noticed that the recorded lyrics in the menu for Cantus were strange: Differences in color and typography seemed to imply some level of... Criticism? Was his ability conscious? No, it would be more accurate to call it subconscious: His subconscious, given form through the power. That would certainly explain the system’s sense of humor.

Adjustments were made and corrections applied, and he couldn't help but grin when he saw the text change to a more consistent hue. He added an instrumental break behind Twilight's interjection about the fast/fast last/last rhymes, tightened up the second chorus, wrote a new verse... And then Spike's mana started slipping away in huge drafts, drawn down different paths adjacent to the old ones. He was reinvigorated, and could see that it was having the same effect on Twilight and Pinkie.

Spike didn’t even have to communicate the change in the lyrics to his partners: They both clearly picked up on the adjustments, some instinct of Heartsong or a natural effect of the ‘Accompanied’ mechanic. Either way, the song began to naturally morph into its new form during the next instrumental solo.

"Alright, so that worked. Second verse, notthe same as the first, let's go ponies!"

By adapting the means of [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 10%

Current Song: "Montage Song (Second Draft)" (++Growth, +EXP Gain, Moderate Time Dilation)

And the beat went on, and on, and on...

Chapter 64: Dinner Dash

Eight hours later and all three of them were meditating: Twilight had broken off of her binge-testing to teach the earth pony the technique and Pinkie was incredibly appreciative. They also maintained a humming pattern to keep ‘Birthday Telegram’ maintained as a low-grade Cantus. Not only did it help Spike’s training, but it let them cool back down after the vertiginous influence of the montage. Anypony looking at this from the outside would probably be concerned (perhaps rightly so) that they had stumbled into some kind of weird cult or religious ceremony.

Still, don't knock it when it works: None of them were being sick or collapsing, they'd all achieved their goals, the door knocker was clacking, dinner was ready... Wait. Door. Knocking.

Spike dredged himself up out of the Innervision and turned to look at the others. Pinkie was the first to follow his lead and stop humming, at which point she began bouncily pronking into the kitchen to get the dishes and set the table. Twilight cracked one eye open and stretched with a yawn.
"Set it for four, Pinkie: I doubt anypony is just coming over for business this late, and we made plenty."

"Roger dodger!"

Spike flicked through his own personal gains as he made his way over to the front door. Two new effective recipes, plus multiple levels of Dragon's Kitchen and Cooking. Levels in every one of the other Dragon's skills, several levels in Cantus, Omphaloskepsis, Exposure... Not much progress on the resistances front, since neither Twilight nor Pinkie had been comfortable subjecting him to the repeated brutality which the Crusaders were so cavalier about.

One new skill in the form of the stupidly mana-intensive Photographic Speedreading: It seemed to take advantage of a mix of his Eidetic Memory and Observe, plus some other stuff, in order to instantly 'record' and then 'absorb' all the information on any page he looked at. Downside was? It rudely burned not just several MP per page, but an additional couple of points per second, making it his most expensive skill so far... Unless you count supercharging Dragon's Heart, but semantics.

Still, the absorption speed was enough to make Twilight jealous, and also inspired her to try developing her own spell with a similar effect. He was confident she'd make it happen: She was Twilight Sparkle for crying out loud.

Speaking of loud outcries, the pony at the door was knocking again: Spike was fine with letting them stew out there for a minute... If only so he could admire his precious babies, the real biggest gain from this montage. Not the new song, the new skill, all the skill levels... No, it was the stats.

Every single one of his attributes had hit 20 sharp, a total of eighteen extra points! Given that in the same amount of time Twilight had only gotten her Strength and Vitality up by two points each? He knew for a fact that The Gamer had some big bonuses to training times.

And speaking of times, it was about time that Spike actually answered the door...

It wasn’t the biggest surprise in Equestria when he found out who had come around this late. Rainbow Dash was standing in front of the Library with her hoof a mere inch from where the door had been before he opened it. The pegasus smiled sheepishly as soon as he came into view, and he felt a bit of rekindled pride and joy that she had to look up to meet his eye-line for a change.

"Aaay, just the dragon I wanted to see!"

He tried to raise an eyebrow at that, but he didn't really have those. The ridge of scales managed a good enough job regardless.
"Really?"

"I dunno dude, would I show up to your house if I wasn't looking for you?"

"It's also Twilight's house. And the library! For all I know you're here for a book."

"First, I'm Rainbow Dash. Second, Twi hasn't put another good adventure novel on the shelves in months. Third... It's already pitch black out! What pony is coming over for a book this late?"

That got her a proper shrug, even as he cleared the way for her to come inside.
"Point to Dash. Wanna cash that point in for some free grub? We're just setting up dinner and we made waaay too much food."

Rather than follow him inside, Dash recoiled when she heard that.
"We made? I've seen what happens when Twilight tries to cook before- I'm probably fine!"

"Oh! No, sorry, I forgot to clarify. Pinkie came over: Twilight prepped ingredients but she didn't do anything in the kitchen itself, no need to worry about that."

Dash did a total about-face at his correction, stepping inside and moving past him towards the kitchen. He probably should have been miffed on Twilight's behalf, but given that Dash was hurrying so much for his (and Pinkie's) cooking? Completely fair.

When they got through the door into the adjoining room, Pinkie immediately caught Dash in a tackling-hug, swinging around the shorter pony by her neck in a brief display of gravity-defiance.
"Rainbow! Super-duper neat to see ya so unexpectedly! Whatcha doin'?"

Dash brought a hoof up behind her head and nervously scuffed the back of her mane.
"I... mostly came to apologize to Spike."

He saw it coming, but it would probably be rude to point out that her title spoiled her plan: It still hadn't changed from last time he saw her, when she was marked [Penitent Pegasus] after the whole Scootaloo argument.
"Apologize?"

"Yeah, some stuff went down that... Well, I want to apologize and thank him."

He took his seat at the table and gave credit to Twilight for setting the table for four: She'd probably heard the door and correctly assumed he was going to invite whoever in to eat.
"So I guess Scootaloo is feeling better?"

"Hundred and ten percent dude: You're a real lifesaver. And I promise we're not going down that road again anytime soon: Me and Scoots set some new boundaries for our practice. No more peeking or spying without a planned-ahead time window, that sorta thing. It'll be a fair game!"

"Fair's the best we can ask for, right?"

She nodded and took her own seat at the table, sniffing a few times before smiling widely.
"Awww yes, cornflower tea? I gotta be careful with it so I don't dehydrate, but I love that stuff."

Spike raised his own glass and tipped it to her before leaning back to sip at the chilled drink.
"My own new recipe: Give it a shot, see what ya think."

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Twilight all swigged as well, but only the makers of the meal saw the phantom text box that appeared after.

Sapphire Cornflower Iced Tea: Enhanced recovery from debuffs and diseases, 4 hours.

"Mmmh, perfect. I don't even usually like it cold: What's your secret?"

"Sapphires!"

Before the pegasus could do a spit-take, he held up a claw.
"And I figured out some fun new tricks, like making gems palatable for ponies. Plus this one: Invite Rainbow Dash."

She startled back from the box before tentatively poking it with one hoof-tip. When nothing visibly changed, Spike started explaining how the Party features worked. While Dash scrolled through her various menus and got extremely excited over her own stats, he took the opportunity to grind skills. With her permission he used Layer to extend the tea's benefits, then passed her all the other buffs he knew except for the mana boost... And the main course for their meal.

They knew that this would produce results: Dragon's Kitchen had sapped quite a bit of MP while he and Pinkie were working on the food, and he suspected that 'failures' only took a fraction as much mana. That, and they had explicitly developed this next recipe based on knowledge from past successes. Yesterday's speed-boosting souffle had, according to the chart, gotten its main aspect from the sharp cheddar cheese and not the eggs themselves. So he went out of his way to think of another good dish to use the same cheese, and after a few failed experiments one of Pinkie's ideas worked.

He had to admit her reasoning was kinda weird, but especially where Pinkie was concerned, weird didn’t even come close to meaning wrong. She'd pointed out that his skill descriptions leaned epic and poetic, and that the recipe names were often either alliterative, or they had rhymes and other repeating patterns. So they'd gone with griddled corn fritters using hot peppers and cheddar cheese, and his first bite would prove if it had worked or not...

Crispy Calcite Cheddar-Chile Corn Cakes: Improved reaction time and reflexes, 4 hours.

That... was interesting. He nudged Rainbow and made sure she tried some (she was still engrossed in reading through her own skills) and then used Layer to boost the buff for her. A quick pass around the table refreshed everything on Twilight and Pinkie as well, and then himself...

He wouldn't have been able to spam out this many enhancements this fast, before they finished cooking. But he'd managed to pull out his 20th point of Wisdom for figuring out the appropriate gem for the corncakes, and that had revealed something big. Apparently his base MP recovery of 1% per minute was actually 1% per 10 base Wisdom per minute, and it didn't do rounding. So as soon as he got to 20 it instantly snapped up to 2% per minute base, and with all of his new skills and training... Well, he had far more MP to spare.

Eventually Rainbow Dash stopped being so concerned with her character sheet and the Party system, and they got down to some serious eating. It was good food, and Pinkie had brought some extremely nice high-end butter and salt from Sugarcube Corner to complement the corncakes. Within a few dozen minutes they were all leaning back and letting things digest... Until Rainbow poked him with a wingtip.

"So like, are you just eating for the buffs now or what?"

"What? I didn't stop liking food when I became the Gamer."

"Right, right! But did you stop needing it? Because I can't think of a game where you NEED to eat. Sometimes it's like a healing thing, but..."

"...Oh. Huh."

She kept going, oblivious to his sudden self-reflection.
"I mean, I dunno if you even have to sleep anymore! You sleep to skip time or save in a few games, but that's about it right? I mostly only play the action ones or the cooler flight sims."

Gamer's Body specified that he could heal himself and restore any injury by sleeping for eight hours. Why phrase it like that if he would be sleeping every night anyways? And that wasn't even taking into account his meditation, which some ponies already used to replace sleep...
"No joke, I hadn't thought of it quite that much before. Do you really think I might not need sleep or food anymore?"

Dash shrugged, a big exaggerated motion with her wings behind it.
"Eh? I'm not the egghead super-scientist. I'm just saying you could probably test that stuff out. I know I'd be crushing my race times if I had an extra half of the day back."

Twilight wrinkled her muzzle.
"Rainbow Dash, eight hours is only one third of the day."

"Uh-huh. And?"

That got the entire room laughing because... Yeah, that was Rainbow Dash alright.

Chapter 65: Droning, Delivery

Eventually they ran out of reasonable excuses to keep hanging out unscheduled this late in the day, doubly so when two or three of them had actual jobs to attend in the morning. Dash said her goodbyes and Spike removed her from the Party: She had a written copy of her character sheet clutched under one wing, and he had a feeling they were going to see some incredible things from her in the weeks to come. Of course, that wasn't the only reason he thought that: The other one was hanging over her head as she flew away.

[Winged Wonder]
Rainbow Dash
LV 29

She'd still had yesterday's title and level upon arrival, and he hadn't noticed the moment of change... So the best assumption Spike could make? Like his pickup of Balanced Soul, moments of catharsis and personal growth could lead to the system's concept of 'Experience' as well. Maybe some ponies had low levels because of unfulfilled ability, issues that restrained them or held them back? It might even be possible to regress in level... He'd have to keep his eyes open.

Pinkie wasn't having much trouble with that as she bounded away from the Library, and Spike didn't break her connection to the Party. They were keeping it active as an experiment, whose results they would check during a trip to the Arcade tomorrow. On the topic of results and experiments, Twilight was staying up until her buffs ran dry, refusing any further extensions from Spike: She would be up all night if they didn't keep it held back somehow.

And Spike... was going to be up all night. Dash had piqued his curiosity, so this would be his first test of "does The Gamer need sleep?" as a concept. If it worked out, and he went almost overnight from ‘sleeping over a dozen hours a day’ to none... He could see the huge vista of potential opening up on the horizon, his entire life changing for the better even if nothing else was different.

But so much more wasdifferent, so he had a lot of things to experiment with, test, and understand. After all, it would be a big waste of time to stay up overnight just idling around! So he started by reviewing his current abilities and setting up a game plan for the week to come. They'd already discussed a lot during their montage, but even his Eidetic Memory couldn't store that information perfectly: Twilight said it had to do with inherently lossy storage formats and time compression.

Spike had 20 in his stats across the board (technically 20.4 thanks to Balanced Soul, but again his game seemed to either abhor rounding or not do it in his favor) and a high reservoir of both HP and MP. He had four Subskills supporting twenty-five fully-fledged Skills, which ranged from 30 flat for Observe all the way down to the nearly-unlevelled Photographic Speedreading. He had Affinity for Earth, Fire, and Metal... and he felt it was just as likely that he could get any Affinity, or that he'd be hard-pressed to ever see another one.

He had six masteries in progress: Internal Alchemy at 55%, three mysteries at 3% each, and then Sense Danger and Detect Bloodthirst at 80% each. He had really hoped to make more progress on those two today, but neither Twilight nor Pinkie had been willing to do anything risky enough to raise them further than the Crusaders did yesterday. Some of his abilities like Cantus, Stagnet, and the Dragon's Kitchen (shared with Layer) had their own subsets of powers, but those weren't being directly tested by his Story Arc.

So he had a lot of progress to make, but also a fair bit of time to make it: Fifteen new skills, seven new subskills, an enormous gigantic leap in the quality of his attributes... So tonight would be about figuring out what areas he could cross-train for the best possible return on investment. At least, as much as he could figure out without making too much noise.

While there were a lot of different plans swimming around in his head, only one of them fit the bill perfectly: Figuring out how to make further progress on Internal Alchemy. He had theories, and so far a lot of those had been proven right with time... That was something else he probably owed to growing up with Twilight: It's amazing how much of that stuff you can osmose given enough exposure!

Right now the leading concept was simple and proven: Internal Alchemy had something to do with extremely refined and taxing use of his internal energy system. He'd made progress by surviving (and boy was that still a worrying way to phrase it) the Mana Confusion status, so that likely meant the debuff was putting his mana... veins? Capillaries? Capacitors? Whatever they were, it put those to the test and helped strengthen them through endurance and recovery.

But he hadn't gotten even a fraction of a percent of gain from suffering Mana Confusion again today. And since the simplest solution was often correct when in doubt? Spike had gotten past the point where brute force could make progress. Now he'd need to figure out how to improve on purpose.

At least he had a good lead: Their experiment with forcibly inducing a montage Heartsong was successful, and the process had generated Mastery for Internal Alchemy. That left him with something resembling a plan: Push more limits, do more absurd things, and focus on trying to use or change his mana in weird ways.

The first step to facilitating that plan was simply to use the Innervision. It felt like a kind of luck or destiny that he'd trained in a style of meditation specifically designed to look inward on the self... Omphaloskepsis echoed through Spike's mind as he sank down within himself. He had there were other forms and styles before, and during the training earlier he made sure to read up on the subject. Some forms were more directed than others, taking place in a constructed mental space. Others were purely metaphorical, driving the mind away from the body. And still more involved looking out at the world, to place oneself as part of the greatest whole.

Spike figured he'd look into learning other types eventually, since some of his skills implied they would each have distinct benefits. Right now though? He felt perfectly suited to the style at hand, and it seemed like the optimal route to the current destination. Within a minute he fully spread his consciousness out: Settling it into his mind and his heart, his claws and his throat, his scales and his bones. Dispassionately observing the pieces that made up the whole and the microcosmic way that they reflected both the whole and each other.

Slowly and steadily Spike used Dragon's Hoard to extend his body up and out, growing larger with each passing second. Eventually he arrived at the largest size available so far: Tall enough that he had to lie down on his belly to avoid damaging the ceiling. His spinal ridges and fins had hardened and sharpened, his scales growing inflexible even as his muscles swelled with power. After taking his time to grasp all the changes and the newfound enormity of his body, he reversed the process and began drawing down.

Spike's body shrank and compacted until he was even smaller than his 'original' height, his form narrow and lithe. The joking center of his mind pointed out the similarities to crabs and lobsters: At full scale he was a tough monster full of dense muscle, but now he could charitably be described as 'softshell' at best. He continued to fluctuate between the two points slowly, trying to make one continuous stretch from smallest to largest and back.

Of course, his mana system was far more than just the physical avenues power took through his body: But it wasn't notthose either. This slow and constant pain, the flares of creaking bone and the shrieks of multiplying muscle... It revealed things to him. He started to understand himself on a different level, finding the nature and the reason behind how he was built. This muscle tethered here, these tendons carried that load. He was a fluid system, resources being carried from place to place without end: Blood, lymph, interstitial fluids, nerve impulses... and magic.

By preparing for the rigors of [Internal Alchemy] processing, your Mastery increases by 1%

If he had been more conscious, Spike would have done a little fist-pump at that. As it was, he had slipped deep into the meditative trance. The benefits to his body, mind, and Dragon's skills were all very appreciated, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to slip through entire hours or days like this. He'd need to figure out a more time-efficient method, at this rate...

Or maybe he already hadone.

Drawing on his earlier experience with the Montage Song, he tried to find a new beat. It was harder without Pinkie's musical accompaniment, but eventually he settled on the one beat he was never apart from: His own! Heartbeat, breathing, the rhythm of his involuntary muscle movements; all of them could contribute to the music he needed. As for the other half... He would go without. Cantus was the root for words like chant and incantation, but the skill worked off of songs, not just lyrics. Not all songs had vocals, and this one was meant for a stranger purpose.

Before he could find the nature of the song, Spike's concentration was upset by a soft DING that rang through his mind. It didn't break him out of meditation, even as he started feeling a light itch in the back of his throat. It was almost like when he was receiving a letter. But he hadn't spat it out yet, so maybe that noise meant...

Mail.

The menu opened in front of his closed eyes (or possibly directly in his mind?) and revealed a waiting message. There were options to read it directly, receive it to his Inventory, or eject it in a gout of fire like usual. A moment later, a second pop-up overlaid the first window.

A new sender and receiver has been added to your MAIL subsystem! Registered: Princess Luna.

Oh! It must have been a reply about his warning from this morning. He'd sent it care of Celestia, since he figured the moon-ruler would still be asleep at the time. Seems like Luna went ahead and sent the reply direct, which his system obliged by adding her to the mechanics. He wasn't one to turn down that kind of convenience, so he opened the letter- Or he tried, before a second letter arrived and interrupted that train of thought.

...Well alright then.

He gave it a minute in case a third missive arrived, and then popped the first one open in his system: Might as well test the new mechanics while he was at it.

Dearest And Most Singular* Nephew,

Salutations! I confess that your letter both heartened and troubled me in equal parts, but having spent time taking measures? It is my inexpert opinion that there is no trace of the Dreaming upon Discord's statuesque form. Inexpert, of course, for his magics and my own are as incompatible as any two things could be: Figuring him out was always big sister's duty and not my own.

However, I was reliably informed that the subject of games came up in your correspondence with my sister yesterday, and on that subject I can claim far greater grasp. This past year I have been following the development of modern electromagical technology with wide eyes and an open heart, as well as some of the recommended past-times of your elder Shining Armor. Please do consider confiding with me, in turn, about this issue.

It is my hope to receive a return letter from you in the following days, that I may formulate an excuse to stretch my wings and spend some time in Ponyville. I still owe untold thanks to her citizens, your friends especially, for helping me with the taming of the Tantabus.

Your Indebted Aunt,
Luna

*P.S.- I will believe that hay-maned churl's claims to our relation the moment he sprouts wings and not an instant sooner. In my heart you are of our blood, and that matters more than you may know.

He held back a laugh at her 'touching' postscript. Well, it was good to know about Discord, and as for the gaming? He'd have to get back to her in a minute. Which left the question of why she sent a second letter so closely after the first... Turns out that the second was much shorter, and far less formal.

Drat! My sincerest apologies, I sent the missive without thinking and did not consider your schedule of sleep. I will have to make due for this error upon my visit, which may be quite soon if I can find the time. Or, more likely, make the time despite my aides' complaints.

...There was probably something he could say about her sending a letter that might have woken him up in order to apologize for sending him a letter that may have woken him up... But thankfully she didn't have the whole story yet and he was far from asleep. Although that did give him an idea.

Looking through his Mail system revealed that he was now also able to just send letters directly without writing. That was a weird concept: Would the receiver get it as a letter? If so, where did the ink and paper come from? And if they didn't get a physical letter, would they temporarily gain a menu to accommodate the message?

No way to find out except to test!

Dear Princess Luna,

No problem at all! Funny story about sleeping patterns, actually... And a quick question. Does sufficiently engaged meditation get close enough to a dream-state for you to visit somepony? Don't bother replying with a letter if so, just drop in and say hello anytime in the next few hours.

Faithfully and consistently your awesomest nephew,
Spike T. Dragon

With that sent off through the Mail system, he did a quick check... Ahha! There was a half-sheet's worth of scroll paper missing from his inventory, and highlights around his inkwell to show it had recently been used. Well, that was going to be convenient compared to always having to flame his messages. On the off chance he ever needed to send something covertly... More options were more options, as Shining said at the game table.

That reasoning, that options-were-options no matter the type, was what directed Spike back down into Omphaloskepsis. This time however? He made more preparations as he began to sink. Using Exposure to move and meditate at the same time, he retrieved items from his Inventory: Rocks, gems, a lump of clay, bits, and pieces of metal. He made sure to exclude the steel unicorn horn as well as that impervious piece from the Hopeless Case, since he still wasn't sure what to make of them. Finally, he breathed out a few gouts of fire and stabilized them with Stagnet.

This time as his meditation drew deeper, he focused on those objects. He had an Affinity for them, whatever that meant: Fire and Earth and Metal. The process of Alchemy, as far as he knew, was all about the refinement and combination of elements. Therefore? If he wanted to understand Internal Alchemy, he needed to figure out how the energy inside of him and these objects were alike.

It was slow going, and treacherous to boot. Slow because the style of meditation he knew was all about looking inwards. That made it fantastic for figuring out the interior half of this problem, but far fuzzier for getting the baseline he needed by studying the material samples. Treacherous because every time he made direct adjustments to the flowing or the nature of his magic? In the best case scenario he ended up nearly shaking himself awake with the disruptive sensations, and in the worst case it was time for another trip down the old Mana Confusion road.

Keeping the results of those tests in mind, Spike began to dial it back. What had started as crude movements became smaller and more subtle. Attempting to violently shift the metaphysical (and metaphorical) 'color' of his mana from 'red' straight to 'blue' gave way to steady progression through shades and tones. Instead of rerouting entire veins, he teased off a single tiny thread at a time. There were still plenty of injuries and untold close calls, but after thousands of lost HP he could tell that he was getting closer.

Once he was making solid forward progress with that method, he returned to his original plan from before Luna (accidentally) interrupted him. Drawing on the nature of the Montage Song from earlier in the day, but working in the opposite direction.

Using his biological cadence instead of an external source of music. Replacing sung lyrics and conscious thought with stable, drifting mindlessness. If this worked, then the amount of time he would save by forsaking sleep would be far larger than Rainbow Dash's most generous estimate.

After an unknown and unknowable amount of time, Spike felt it slide into place: The tune he was humming synchronized and became part of his breathing while his MP dwindled down to a single point and then stayed there. He clearly didn't have enough power to do this properly yet... But it was a start.

Current Song: "The Subconscious Drone" (Sacrifice of Perception, Minor Time Expansion)

By using a technique that normally requires [Internal Alchemy], your Mastery increases by 1%.

Chapter 66: Dreaming Discussion

Spike wasn't sure how long he drifted. The impact of the Heartsong he'd 'composed' was rather extreme, probably a sign that he was overreaching his grasp. He lost all sense of time and every perception of the outside world, save for things within an inch of his scales. His MP had dropped down to the very bottom of the meter and refused to rise, while his HP and Stamina constantly drained in slow, steady drips. In return? His perception of time on the inside was stretched out.

He'd had dreams, and he was sure many ponies had, where it felt like he experienced entire days or weeks in what ended up being hours. This was starting to step into that same territory by using the power of Cantus and his meditation combined, along with other processes he didn't understand just yet. And since it was so close to a proper dream-state, he had a feeling that eventually-

A potentially unwanted intrusion has been detected. Permit mental projection?

Spike nodded, or thought about the idea of nodding: That was apparently close enough.

"...I shall admit that it was uncertain if thine idea would work."

He didn't have to open his eyes... He wasn't even sure if he could without ruining the effect? He could perceive Luna's presence, but he couldn't actually see her, or himself. It would be kind of weird to treat it like an issue of Mystic School Train and just picture them both inside of his... insides. It seemed like Luna could tell that he was hesitating: He wouldn't be surprised if she said she ran into a lot of dreams this weird or even moreso.

"Shall we persist on voice alone, or carve out a space to stretch our legs in, as it were?"

"Second one sounds a lot better. Emphasis on sounds, though: I'm not sure how to even start."

Without words, she directed him into the process. Her magic reached out and began to make subtle adjustments to their environment. But she wasn't actually changing anything, more like... Suggesting. She made those motions and he followed suit, like a martial arts student copying the instructor's movements. Through visualization and willpower a space took shape inside of his self-image, coexisting safely with its surroundings. It was a simple cave-like hollow, dark and nearly featureless.

"Splendid work! Now you must simply visualize another version of yourself: And do not be worried, outside of true Dreaming it is quite common to make mistakes in this portion. I will still know it is you, of course."

He probably wouldn't have been able to perfectly visualize himself before he acquired his skills, that much was true. But he had spent a huge chunk of the last two days in Omphaloskepsis, viewing himself from the inside out. On top of that his Eidetic Memory worked perfectly well on mirrors, so even with all of his recent physical changes? Spike brought a perfect copy of his mental self-image into being with no effort or hesitation.

Within the cave he could see and move and act as if it were a fully real space, even though it was only a mental projection. 'Above', or so it felt, his body continued to run on autopilot and maintain the Heartsong and trance. So now he really was dreaming, or as close as he could force himself. This would be very interesting to experiment with later...

Before he could follow that avenue much further, Princess Luna materialized in his newly-carved-out dreamspace cave. She was as regal and stark as ever, dark blues and night black standing out cleanly against the distant dim-red cavern in his mind. Her regalia made no sound as she stepped forward and gave him a look from top to toe.
"Very close, for a first time. The changes in height and proportion are totally normal, I assure thee."

He blinked and looked himself over, before realizing the problem.
"Oh! Nope, this is all a hundred percent accurate: I had a growth spurt the other day!"

Spike didn't even get to explain the details, or the real big news, before Luna swept him up into a hug with her wings and hooves alike. He returned it, laughing a little at just how... well. If any pony knew how often he'd dreamed of growing up? It was definitely her.

"Truly a joyous occasion! I see now why we were called here this evening."

"Haha, no that's... That is a muchweirder thing than just some height. But they are connected!"

A part of him had definitely leaned towards waiting to reveal all of this, get Luna and Celestia and Cadance all together first. Not to mention Shining and the rest of the family! But they were all busy ponies and Canterlot was far away. Even assuming they could open up a space in their schedules soon? It would be a lot to ask for a roundtable meeting with them all without something more substantial to discuss. Twilight could justify a big meeting for her reveal with the girls because they were going to get together anyways, just like every weekend.

Instead Spike decided that the best route was to explain the underpinnings and details first, saving the nitty-gritty of his Story Arc for the face-to-face meeting. Which meant that here in the Dreaming, he took the chance to explain his newfound nature as The Gamer to Princess Luna.

If it had been Celestia here in her stead, he was positive she'd have stayed quiet the entire time, only interjecting as needed to move things along or provide an extremely specific reply. Luna was much more vigorous and involved, cutting him off frequently and asking a barrage of questions, some of which he had never contemplated himself. By the time he got to the end of it all, she was looking at him with a peculiar expression and slowly pacing in a very small circuit.

"A game engine personified, powers tailored to the user and defined through the medium of modern entertainment. 'Twere I a more superstitious mare I would question my acquisition of that very hobby over the last year... But no, these are clearly distinct events."

"Yeah, it seems like the ability has a lot of power but I really doubt it's... what would Twilight call it, retrocausal? It didn't reach back in time and change things. At least, if it did? Then we would have bigger problems."

That got a wide smile from her, and she gave him another embrace: This one with her wings alone, her chin dipped down around his shoulder.
"I am so terribly proud, Spike: Although I have spent time with you less often than I would like in these years, you have played no small part in my rescue and rehabilitation both. And now this... It is a fitting power, and exactly the kind of glory you deserve after being short-shrifted so long."

He teared up a little at that, momentarily: The feeling faded strangely fast, probably due to the nature of their not-quite-dreaming state.
"Thanks, Luna. Coming from you that means a lot... I have some other things to talk about, but maybe we should save them for later? I don't want to keep you from your duties."

Now it was Luna's turn to correct him, giggling and looking off into the distance.
"You need not concern yourself with that: Thanks to your friend Rarity, I have acquired assistance in that regard this last year."

Spike wasn't sure what she meant by that, although thinking back to the last time he'd seen Luna...
"Oh! Does it have something to do with the Tantabus incident?"

"Indeed! The creature was originally a part of mine own magic, after all: Turning it to a new purpose was not a difficult task. Working together we can take more time with each individual dream... Or I can take a break from the work, if need be."

"Well, I'll have to thank it next time I see it! It'll be a nice change of pace from when it was a huge monster threatening to destroy Ponyville."

His alicorn aunt raised an eyebrow at that.
"Art thou really one to speak on such a matter?"

"...Takes one to know one?"

They both lost themselves in a giggle-fit at that, until eventually Luna stood tall again.
"Ah! Speaking of the village, I should say: I plan to visit soon!"

"Really?"

"Yes, truthfully! As I said in my letter, I had been hoping to make time to come and thank the Elements and yourself for all you have done, once again. Although I did have another reason..."

Spike didn't have to put too much thought into figuring that part out.
"You probably wanted to visit the new Arcade, right? Like, not just for games, but I know that the couple who own it are Night Guards."

"Astute observation again. Yes, the Ammo couple are among my favorite scions, although no blood of mine flows in them."

He considered bringing up the Benediction, given how she was nearly saying it outright... But that was still probably best saved for a later time.
"Did you know they were coming out here?"

"Know? They were assigned here by my hoof! Well, to an extent. I knew they wished to spend some of their bits, branch out into new skills, and relocate their work closer to family. Given that Ponyville is home to their precious niece and a newly-available estate for investment... Well, suffice to say that Sister and I have been seeking ways to assign more agents of the Diarchy to Ponyville regardless."

He thought back over the four years that he'd lived here. Specifically he thought about the near-monthly disasters, mishaps, insanity and 'Just Ponyville Things' they dealt with.
"Good plan. Extremely, highly appreciated good plan."

Luna accepted the praise demurely, as she always did: The few times he'd come back and seen her and Celestia ruling over their Courts, neither of them made a big deal out of thanks or gratitude. It was a reflex that stayed steady even among family and friends.
"Thank you, Spike."

"And thank you, for coming to visit me like this: It means a lot that you'd make the time, even if you do have somepony... somespell? Somespirit? Something helping share the workload."

"Hah! It was no loss to spend this time, as it seems this dream is proceeding with unusual slowness... Perhaps due to one of your aforementioned abilities?"

"Got it in one shot, Princess: It's taking a lot out of me, but I'm trying to experiment as much as possible. Multitasking seems to be one of my new strong suits."

"As if 'twere not before: I have seen the labors to which you strive for Twilight Sparkle's sake."

Even if she didn't see him and Twilight too often... Yeah, that tracks.
"What can I say: Nopony in the Sparkle household likes to sit still. No dragon, either!"

Luna reached out to ruffle his spines before turning and walking noiselessly across the dream.
"See that it stays that way dear Spike. In our findings? Power attracts attention in many ways."

That gave him something to chew on as he drifted back into the meditative trance, letting his mentally-imagined space dissolve... And then bringing it back together again, along with the visualization of himself. That had been an interesting new trick she'd shown him, so maybe with enough repetition he'd work it into a new skill! Sure her last message had probably been meant as a warning, but if so... His power would attract attention anyway, why not go for broke?

Chapter 67: Waking & Whittling

Spike started breakfast off on his third morning as The Gamer properly: By taking a break from all the training. The first test of Rainbow Dash's hypothesis was a success, and meditating overnight had completely replaced his need to sleep. He likely could have stopped halfway through even if he did still require sleep, but he was getting so many benefits that there didn't seem to be a point. A personal Notes entry (a custom feature he rigged up to record data onto his notebook through his Inventory, based on how the Mail system worked) summarized the progress.

He looked that over while Twilight began listlessly picking at her breakfast. Some of the entries were verbatim copies of the text boxes from his notifications, but others were summaries that he wrote, whimsically, in the same tone and style. It just felt right, yaknow? Getting too granular would be a pain though, especially since his Log already kept track of all the boxes. This was just for quick reference or copying and not absolute precision or anything.

I have achieved Level 20 minimum in all of the Dragon's skills!
I have achieved Level 30 Omphaloskepsis and Exposure!
I have achieved Level 15 with Layer!
I have surpassed 1,000 HP and 1,000 MP!

Through [Dragon's Mind] you have acquired the magic of [Lucid Dreamspace Control]!
You have begun the process of acquiring a [Dream Affinity]!

Those last two were left as-said, and were probably the most interesting. Sure the milestones he hit were amazing, but these were entirely new things to work with. He'd known since the start that Dragon's Mind could allow him to acquire the magic of other species, but hadn't really known how until now. Repeatedly breaking down and remaking his mental show-stage and dreaming incarnation inside of Omphaloskepsis... Well, that whole mess had functioned as a kind of grinding or training. By the end of the night he was able to learn the technique that Luna demonstrated for him, codified as a spell.

And then there was the idea of a Dream Affinity. Metal was already a stretch from most games, so the idea that his affinities weren't just for classical elements... Elements. TheElements! Oh jeez, he should try acquiring an Affinity for those, if it was even a little bit possible. Did that mean there were Solar and Lunar affinities too? What about Love? He had even more on his plate to think about... But none of that took priority over his actual plate, so he sat down to eat.

Two straight days closed had been plenty for the Library, so Twilight was going to open up for the usual schedule today. Spike, meanwhile, had a chance to knock out most of his chores for the week in advance. That would just be the start: Then he'd meet up with Pinkie for a trip to the Arcade so they could eat and check on the results of their Party experiment. Fit in some gaming, research, and a chat with the Ammos... Finally, he'd head home and start figuring out the plan of attack for the big party. He did have a plan, but it would take some digging to figure it out further.

"Have fun with the books, Twilight: You need me to get anything in town?"

She blinked owlishly a few times (he should visit Zecora and see how Owlowiscious is doing! the list just keeps growing) before waving him off with one hoof.
"Naaah, you go ahead Spike. I should be good until dinnertime."

He shrugged and deposited his plate on the cleaning rack: That was his cue to hit the door.

Chores were easier than ever before: He'd hit a new breakpoint with Dragon's Breath last night and got his very first slot to assign his own dedicated Mail receiver! Now he could send things to Twilight, which they tested this morning. Unlike Celestia and Luna, she didn't have a method to send him stuff in return. Yet: He was almost certain the Princesses could teach her the spell. Spike had no plan to remove Twilight from the Mail list, but if he wanted? He could apparently spend a good chunk of mana and a half-hour of effort to replace her slot with somepony else. Presumably he'd get another slot every 10 skill levels or so, or maybe it would get more generous at higher tiers? Either way, the result simplified shopping immensely.

As he moved around town he was constantly using Exposure and Omphaloskepsis where possible to recover his mana and train his skills. At each stop he'd amplify his physical stats with Dragon's Heart and carry everything in one over-eager trip. When he spotted the rare unicorn doing their own shopping, he'd work out Dragon's Mind to (fruitlessly) study their magic. And once he checked out at each shop, Dragon's Breath would send everything to the Library.

The sheer distance Spike had to cover meant that his shopping still took time, but it was fast and effective. He decided to surprise Twilight with a little pick-me-up after her long night of studying, which led him on a trip to Lyra and Bon Bon's place. Then that led to him firing a box of chocolate musical notes back to her at home. It was only after he sent the package that Spike realized he wasn't sure if the chocolate would melt... The paper he sent letters on wasn't burnt on arrival, even if it did look like it was being consumed in the process. Eh, worst case he'd just tell Twilight that it was for science. She'd forgive a lot, for science.

Maybe she'd even forgive him coming back to this shop again soon. Dietary concerns aside, he had things he wanted to ask some of Ponyville's residents about.

[Handy]
Lyra
LV 22

[Secret Agent Mare]
Sweetie Drops
LV 22

...Yeah, he was pretty sure Twilight wouldn't have a problem with him making a few new friends.

When Davenport said there would be a significant wait before their order was ready, that left Spike with time to kill but no reason to go too far away. Given the area he could find a nice spot on a bench and grind one of his skills or practice something new... Oh! There had been one idea that occurred to him which he hadn't gotten around to trying yet, and now was as good a time as any.

Spike plopped himself down onto the boards and then exhaled a gout of fire across his claws. A quick application of Stagnet froze it, and left him with a disorganized mess of stilled flame. Looking it over from a few angles, he decided it didn't suit his purposes and let it disperse. He'd wanted to try using frozen fire as a tool for doing other work, something he could breathe-to-order as needed. Trying that would have to wait until he had better breath control, both the normal kind and the magical type: It was too reckless to do in public right now.

He did have a backup plan, however: Dragon's Scales. One aspect of the skill he had yet to test was the ability to shed scales and adapt them into temporary equipment. Spike decided to start small and pulled away a few scales from his arm before running mana through them. Finding the right route for the skill's power took a few tries, but eventually he got the trio of purple flakes to fuse into a small carving knife. It was lifeless and dull, a very pale dusty purple: It resembled his past sheds from when he got sick, honestly.

But a knife was a knife was a knife, so it would be good enough for his purposes. He wanted to train Earthshaper without training his Dragon's Claws at the same time, to see whether multi-tasking or focused training were better for low-level skills. He'd gotten fewer than a half-dozen levels into the skill before now, so it was a good candidate. He could try using a Scales tool, then using his claws, then using a totally normal knife... There were options! For now he would just focus on being a whittlin' dragon, alone with his clay and his blade.

It took several minutes for Spike to breathe enough fire to send the entire crate of quills, ink, and parchment paper back to the Library. Then it took a few more minutes for him to explain that no he hadn't bought all that stuff just to destroy it, although come to think of it most ponies in town had only ever seen him send letters... OK, maybe the focus on efficiency was causing some issues. But hay, at least it was closer to lunchtime now!

He'd managed to get a few more levels into Earthshaper and one into Dragon's Claws, plus bits of actual levelling-up XP from the act of creating particularly good items. Those were few and far between with how little practice and time he had, but still! It was a sign that his levels weren't purely a factor of quests and fighting... He still hadn't even confirmed how combat would give experience, but he also had an inkling of how to test for that. It was hard to tell how many things were occuring in his 'engine' because of repeated effort and trying new avenues, and how many were just... changing as time went on.

Modern games could send out updates to their rules and systems through new expansions for the boards that stored their information, and the ones that connected to other cabinets could even be sent updates straight from the master-cabinet. It wouldn't be completely far-fetched if Spike's rules and mechanics changed over time... Although he hoped that wasn't the case and these little intricacies were just taking him multiple tries to properly ferret out. Learning all of his own rules was one thing, having to relearn them every time they self-updated on a whim? Let’s hope not.

After he finished putting away all of his simple clay creations (and throwing away the powdered remains of his third scale knife: they didn't last long!) he popped through his menus to the Party system. Team Purple Pink and Green was still formed, with himself and Pinkie as members. They had left it up overnight as a test, and now he'd be using it to check in before the second half of the plan.

Voice chat, turn on... Subvocal for privacy's sake of course.
Hey there Pinkie!

Oh hey Spike voice in my head! Which I assume is actually Spike, but you can never be too careful about that sort of thing.

Is there even anything I could say that would definitively prove that? I'm sure there's some kind of paradox on the subject.

There was a very actually-vocal giggle over the line at that, but Spike doubted it was weird for ponies in Sugarcube Corner to hear Pinkie laugh at nothing.
See, Twilighty stuff like that is totally good proof!

...Fair. You good for our trip to the Arcade?

Yuppers! Gimme five or six to get out and box these last few orders, then I gotta tag out with Mr. Cake. I can drop off the deliveries on my way to meetcha!

Sounds like a plan: I'll be outside the front entrance!

He left the communication line open after that, just in case Pinkie needed to tell him something or adjust things. Apart from their Party research, this trip was going to be focused on research and digging into games they weren't familiar with: Easier for Pinkie than Spike, since she hadn't spent a lot of time at the old Arcade and had never visited the new one at all. It would be nice for him to get into touch with the Ammos again as well, let them know a few things before their training started.

When he approached Arcane Ammo's All-Day Arcade for the second time, he did it while mired in the depths of walking meditation. The change in his senses made everything seem more personal, viewed as it was from the perspective of self-investigation. It would probably be very different if he used a different style of meditation (another thing for the lists), but right now? Even more than the first time, the arcade felt comfortable. There was still an aura of Gillie's work in the place and it reminded Spike of his early days in Ponyville: Simultaneously exciting and relaxing, down-home and yet unfamiliar.

It's amazing how much something could change and still stay essentially the same, at its heart.

Chapter 68: Gaming Gamified

Pinkie Pie arrived at the Arcade sooner than he had expected, bouncing on all four hooves as she crested her way over a nearby hill. He let himself rise up from the Omphaloskepsis and waved to her, and she waved back... still using all four hooves. It was a little surprising how well she could time the flailing between each bounce: Maybe it had something to do with her musical skills? The entire display was offset by the perfectly immobile package dangling by a string from her muzzle.

"Hmm thr Spk!"

"...You know you could just use Party chat."

Ooooh yeah! Welp. Turns out my last delivery goes here, so I'm here!

"Huh. For the Ammos? Or somepony with a gaming binge ahead of them put in an advance order."

She nodded and then shook her head a second later. Spike took that to mean "Yes the first part, no the second."

"Well I know where they might be working, and failing that I know what they look like: Follow me!"

In retrospect he could see why Rarity wanted to bring him to the Arcade in the way she did. The place was awe-inspiring in its scale and style, and she was the type of pony who took pride in the works of her friends and family. Despite their slightly antagonistic ribbing, he was sure that her Aunt counted as both. Pinkie was suitably impressed as they made their way past the table games and the first few banks of cabinets, around the corner beyond the shop and into the food court.

There was a pale orange pegasus mare he didn't recognize behind the service counter, but off to her side Spike could just barely see the familiar leathery wings of a Night Guard. Figuring that any random ponies of that persuasion would be working the night shift instead, Spike made a logical guess.
"That you Pierce?"

Rarity's uncle turned around and swiveled his eyes down, a single fluid motion that betrayed his military training.
"Aaay, Spike! Glad to see you again so soon: And that must be Ponyville's Pinkie Pie herself, right?"

The aforementioned mare leaned forward and let the package swing towards the counter before letting go, sending it arcing to land perfectly in front of Piercing Ammunition.
"The one and only! At the moment. Hah... Inside jokes. And heeeeey!"

Piercing raised an eyebrow at that, and Spike's quick use of Observe wasn't the only way in which he could see the stallion's Emotional Status go from 'Jovial' to 'Nervous'.
"Yeeeeess?"

"You lied to me! I asked if you and your pretty wife with the thorny horn were gonna be staying in town back when you first showed up and you said you were just here for work! I would have held a party months ago if I knew you'd be staying in town!"

"...Right. But I never said we weren't. I just said we were here for work. Those can both be true things: I'm sure Spike could tell you all about that, right kid?"

Pinkie turned to look at him, but he just shrugged: The guy had a point.
"I only found out they were here two days ago, and I only found out they were here on duty last night. I guess you've heard from Luna since then, Mr. Ammo?"

"Sure have, Spike: She got a hold of me and Arc about a little informal visit in the near future, among other things. Speaking of AA, I assume you wanted to talk to her about your training schedule?"

He nodded vigorously, and got a hoof in the right direction: Apparently Arcane was currently working on some paperwork in the main office, and would be for some time. That would give him and Pinkie plenty of time to eat, check out the games, and cover the findings of their Party testing... and make some plans for her party-based revenge. He knew all too well how intense a Pinkie Pie party could be when she was scorned or put off. It was way better to be on the correct side of the Party Cannon in those occasions, for sure.

There was a little haggling over their meals, and eventually Pinkie settled on cattail cores with a spicy mustard while Spike tried to shatter some diamonds onto his hay fries. It worked in that the sharp crystalline flavor was like super-strong sea salt, but it didn't benefit his Kitchen.

"Hrmph. Thinks he can avoid a Pinkie party just 'cause he's Rarity's family. He'll see how well I treat family, oh yes he will."

"...Pinkie, he probably just had to put a lot of focus into getting this place up and running over the winter season, right?"

"Hm? Oh, sure! I just think it's way more fun to plan my parties when I've got a really good motivation going. No party is ever humdrum if you do it right (unless that's the point) but the best parties come from the heart!"

Depressingly, he couldn't actually find anything wrong with that logic... And thinking back over his own gaming career, there was more than one boss or stage he'd beaten through sheer determined frustration. Yes that means you, friggin' The Study from Aureola CE. Must have thrown two dozen bits into that machine over the course of a month...

"-Spike?"

"Oh! Sorry, I was just... Lost in thought."

"No worries: You've got a mapping system now, right?"

"Hah! Trust me, if it worked for the inside of my own head..."

He froze up and Pinkie just grinned at him from across their meals, popping another deep-fried stem into her mouth.
"Lemme guess, you're about to have a little epiphany about how it totally might?"

"Yeah, testing this stuff out with you was a hundred percent the right decision."

Her expression warmed at that, or maybe it was just the spice... Either way, they went back to eating their food, trying to clear the table before they got too deep into discussing the experiment.

The next few hours promised a cascade of lights and sounds, but before that it would be far more subdued. Hopefully more subdued. No promises, Ponyville and all that. It started with Spike directing Pinkie to the target range while he ducked into Arcane's office: The last thing he saw before the door closed was the earth pony scooping up a full-length steel dart in the curl of her mane, and a second one in her tail.

...Eh. The attendant would probably stop her if it was a problem!

Probably.

Arcane Ammunition looked at him from across her desk, setting down a pen that had been dangling in her magic before he entered. Her expression was not exactly stern or soft, just placidly neutral. He recognized it from a lot of the palace guards back in Canterlot as 'work face', and knew that she was happy underneath. It just didn't pay to show that, and old habits died hard.

"Good to see you again, Mr. The Dragon."

"Are we gonna keep that joke running perpetually? It has to get tired eventually."

"You would think so, but the drill instructors back in Canterlot have their own ideas and some foul tasting sports potions to prove them."

He tried not to shudder in horror at the idea and failed, settling on just plopping down across from her desk in the small wireframe chair. Decor was sparse, multiple unpacked boxes jockeyed for space in between filing cabinets and lamps: The lighting was half-dim, bright enough to read by but only just barely. Probably a Lunar Guard thing? Maybe just a personal preference.

"Eugch, count me out... But count me in for your training! Which is why I wanted to drop in: I looked at the schedule you gave me and talked it over with Twilight, and I should be good for the last day this week. We're hosting a party on the weekend, so that's my last free day if we account for the inevitable cleanup."

"Sounds like a plan, Spike. Anything you want to know before we start? Or anything I should know, rather?"

It was a pretty leading question, but he'd wanted to explain things to her anyways.
"Like I said the other day, I'm a pretty quick learner for this kind of thing... Maybe not very naturally though? I pick up new skills and learn spells very quickly, but I don't actually know if the way I learn them is the way a unicorn would. So I might... you know, need some patience with the quirks, as we get started?"

Arcane nodded a few times as he spoke, lighting a faint orange spark on her horn.
"Back before the Return and my induction to the Night Guard, I knew this unicorn. Traveller, vagabond, real piece of work. Could tell every single difference between two pieces of magic as soon as they were cast... but couldn't tell you what either one did. Amazing eye for balance and structure, no head for the actual function."

"Ah. I guess that's to say you're used to it?"

"Extremely. I don't even know if any two unicorns learn their spells the same way, once you get into specialties. Levitation and such are one thing, but the unique stuff? We're all different, kiddo."

He raised a claw and exhaled some fire out onto the tips, letting it dance there as he tried to stabilize it without Stagnet. The display chugged MP like crazy, but it got the point across if Ammo's expression was anything to go by.
"Wouldn't have it any other way: So we're good for Friday?"

She nodded and pointed to the door with one hoof, never taking her eyes off the fire.
"As long as you don't breathe a bullet that sends half my targets to Celestia's desk, yes."

While he did go to leave, he decided to send a final jab on the way out.
"I promise that if I do that, she'll send them back promptly."

"Not reassuring!"

Her complaint was cut off by the sound of the door clicking shut, and he couldn't keep himself from laughing... Doubling over when he heard her own chuckling behind the office door.

As Spike recovered he saw that Pinkie Pie had just finished throwing a dart in a long arc towards the ceiling. It gracefully sloped down, eventually finding its way to the center spot... on the next board over from her.

"Aww, I'd been going for the pentuple double!"

Looking across the range, Spike realized that Pinkie had several clear spaces to either side of her: And every board but the one in the center had exactly two darts, one somewhat centered and the other on the outside rings. Now the center board only had its outer dart, and the board to the side had two bullseyes.

"I was in there for five minutes. Tops."

"Yeeeah, I totally would have went for the septuple if you were gonna be gone longer than that!"

He shook his head and waved her off with a claw, scoping out the arcade machines in the distance while she plonked a few bits on the counter for the attendant.

"Any particular order we should tackle this in?"

"We shouldn't tackle the nice machines, Spike! It's bad for their insides."

"...Left to right it is."

Spike got plenty of data from their gaming expedition: Unobtrusively, thanks to the Notes system. Whenever he and Pinkie Pie were playing head-to-head (smaller cabinets without a lot of room, designed for two players to be able to jockey for position and bump shoulders) he'd focus on the game almost entirely, but when they were playing solo he'd grind skills in the background.

Pinkie squarely ruined his times in ULTRACOOL over and over again, but he had her pinned into a corner every time they ran a new generation through Enormous Goblet. Both of them did well guiding the silent colt through the floating ruins of civilization in Sanctuary, although the narration seemed to have a bigger impact on Pinkie than Spike.

That same pattern played out across every cabinet whether they were pushing for scores, speed, or direct competition: Spike had a strong tactical mind and an eye for the future consequences of his actions, while Pinkie had positively unreal twitch reflexes and some sort of unholy pact with the random number generator. She trounced him at shooters, he beat her in strategy games... And then they tried their first fighting game.

Most ponies would think that Pinkie was impossible to predict, but Spike knew better. In a system with limited options, there were only so many 'unexpected' actions, and you could reverse your way of thinking and just expect those instead. The problem came in the arcane and complex controls: Pinkie could make her inputs quickly and Spike could make his with precision, but neither of them could get off more than a basic combo. If that.

It seemed like it had the potential to be a perfect meeting of their specialties, somewhere they could be equal. And it was! It was somewhere they could be equally sucky. They stopped trying after the third cabinet and vowed to leave fighting games alone for the foreseeable future.

Pinkie Pie was fairly new to video games but it was clear he'd gotten another friend in deep with the hobby: By the end of their free time in the arcade they had to swing back to the food counter just to make up for how badly they'd worn themselves out.

The first few minutes were nearly silent as Pinkie slurped down her lemonade and Spike slowly nibbled a super-thick caramel. Eventually she rested her head in her hooves on the table and looked up at him, smiling.
"I really had a ton of fun this afternoon, Spike!"

"Me too Pinkie: I'm glad we got all of this done. Shame the other part of it didn't work out so well."

That was the other reason for their subdued mood: The Party experiment had been a near-total failure: Pinkie couldn't acquire skills the way he did. While her efforts to train Attributes had more fruit, that wasn't anything they didn't already know. She could initiate voice chat if he left the system turned on, and she could still view her own character sheet... and that was about it. With some reluctance, they broke the Party as they finished eating.

"I've got to get back to the Cakes, and then I'm gonna be pretty deep in the party-planning paint until this weekend. Edible paint, of course!"

"Naturally: Want me to walk you back to work?"

She stood up fast enough to rattle her chair, sweeping all their assorted trash into her hooves cleanly before it all seemed to consolidate itself onto one tray.
"Sure!"

They were interrupted by a gruff voice from behind, and the flap of loose leather: Piercing was standing over their shoulders, looking every bit the jovial arcade operator... As opposed to his usual resting guard face.
"Before you go, mind chatting with me briefly Ms. Pie? It's about the order from earlier."

"Okie doki loki!"

Pinkie spun on her rear hooves and poked Spike with one of her free legs.
"I'm gonna take a rain check on that walk, Spikey! Feels like we're talking business stuff and I don't want to keep you too long."

He patted her hoof with a claw and nodded to her and Mr. Ammo.
"I'll take your word on that: Good luck with whatever it is, and I'll see you both again soon!"

The trip home alone was unexpected but not unwelcome: Maybe he'd detour through the market and pick up some extra materials for experimenting, then spend time training at the Library? Wouldn't hurt to check on Twilight either, make sure she hadn't gotten up to any shenanigans. Not that she was particularly shenanigan-prone lately, but it was Ponyville.

One market detour later...

Spike got back to the Library without issue, and found Twilight checking out an older couple with a small satchel of books. He didn't recognize them, but he realized that was going to be a temporary thing: Between his Eidetic Memory and his ability to see names and titles? It would probably take more effort for him to forget somepony now than it would to remember them.

"Welcome back Spike! All the packages from your trip arrived safely, including the surprise: Thank you for that, by the way."

He ran up and slung an arm around her neck for a brief hug, stepping back to let her finish filling out the checkout card.
"No problem Twilight! I've got some exercise to take care of before dinner, clean up and all that. See you later?"

"I'll be here. We're closing an hour later than usual today, so you might want to get the food started without me."

That was fair, and actually pretty convenient. He would be able to use the extra time to work on testing out new recipes for the weekend and still get their usual meal in order. In the meantime he could grind out skills while preparing ingredients, and catch a shower. That last part was probably just an afterthought: In the same way that his body didn't 'actually' get injured when he took a hit from the Crusaders the other day, he was pretty sure he no longer got dirty in any real sense.

Of course a shower was still comforting, relaxing, and nothing would stop him from meditating during the process! Or he could even just relax without doing anything Gamer related. He had a serious mentality of 'making up for lost time', but it was important not to let that control him either. And he was in no rush to use all these ingredients from the market, since his Inventory would keep them from spoiling or taking up space better than any fridge in Equestria. So he had options!

But the first step either way? Exercise.

The rest of Spike's night and time spent 'sleeping' all went by in a blur. He didn't pick up any new skills from practicing his claw strikes on a wooden fence-post (courtesy of Barnyard Bargains), but he could tell it was close. Maybe he just needed a live sparring partner to make the leap? It wouldn't be easy to find, but it wasn't impossible either. His cooking experiments all ended in failures of a sort. 'Of a sort' because he did manage one nice sign of forward progress.

By seeking the recipes of a [Creative Kitchen] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 30%

That single window confirmed a lot of things for him: One, the recipes he was dreaming of would definitely work. Two, the way forward was probably a Dragon's Kitchen subskill. And three, he was gaining Mastery fast enough to be ready in time for the weekend. With his mind settled on that it was a lot easier to go ahead with their normal dinner before he helped Twilight around the Library.

Spike spent the time after that working on Crafting and other quiet skills, drawing up plans and doing tests for the gifts he'd picked up for the Crusaders. Once all of that was complete he settled in to meditate and try out the Lucid Dreamspace Control spell. He only allotted half as much time to meditation compared to yesterday, pushing further on his discoveries about not needing sleep.

With that (and a projected version of himself) very literally in mind, he ended another day.

Author's Note

Bonus extra-thicc chapter today because 68 is my favorite number. Not for the obvious joke reason, I just kinda latched onto it as a kid and I still like its aesthetic symmetry. :V
No cookie to anybody who saw the accidental mid-edit upload earlier. :P
Also, a cookie to anyone who can name all of today's game references.

Chapter 69: Acres Advice

Author's Note

LEGITIMATE WARNING: Most readers likely didn't see last week's chapter due to a posting error. If you have not read Chapter 68, with Spike and Pinkie at the Arcade, please go back and do so.

Chapter 69: Acres Advice

WARNING REINFORCEMENT: Seriously read the Author's Note today. :V

His Notes journal entry the next morning was significantly less full, but still exciting!

I have achieved Level 25 minimum in all of the Dragon's skills!
I have achieved Level 20 Crafting!
I have achieved Level 35 with Cooking!
I have one-third of the Mastery for the Creative Kitchen!

I have sharply accelerated the process of building on a [Dream Affinity]!

Even holding back enough magic to keep both the Dreamspace Control and his 'reverse-montage' song going at the same time? It had felt like Spike overslept in the short four hour span of his meditation. It was still strange and unfamiliar, but not too not familiar. He had always been a drake of vivid dreams: Hay, the very thing that awakened him to being The Gamer was waking up from one! So it felt right that he was en route to an Affinity to match... He would need to remember to thank Luna, and then ask her for advice immediately after.

Spike also made a lot of smaller progress that he didn't bother noting: Gains of HP and MP came in semi-regularly, his Stamina seemed to increase with exercise, and a few stat point dings here and there were unsurprising. He even got a few more bursts of actual level-up Experience from his Crafting excursions, but nothing close to his next true Level. Maybe a trip out into the Diamond Dog warrens or the Everfree were on his future schedule at this rate, see if subduing a live opponent was enough to count for combat...

But that was all future stuff! Today was a wide-open free day, one he planned to spend trekking out to Sweet Apple Acres in order to tell Applejack about his situation. Probably Big Mac as well: They hadn't actually gamed together, but he vaguely remembered Shining Armor talking about miniatures with him at one point. Between Mac and AJ they could certainly provide him with insight, but more than that they were his friends. He wanted to tell everypony in their inner circle before the party on the weekend so that he didn't cause much fuss and detract from Twilight's big news.

Of course he was still going to cause a little fuss, because he wanted the party to be special. Since he was in charge of the food, that meant going the extra mile. Ideally he'd be able to make a nice varied service so that everypony could have something they loved. As nice as that idea was? He couldn't spend all day in the kitchen testing recipes, so the rest of his time was going to be spent on attribute training and looking for ways to progress his skills.

Visiting the Apples would probably be best done around lunch if he didn't want to interrupt them in the orchard. As anypony in Ponyville knew, you stopped making that mistake after the third or fourth near-miss with falling fruit to the face. Twilight had gotten back into gear with her work, so she took a very simple breakfast before he even made it to the kitchen himself. He'd have to do something about that soon, make some better options for her when he wasn't available.

He understood most of Twilight's tastes better than she did, after all these years: It wouldn't be hard. Maybe something like a snack bar? He could get to that later. First on the docket was his own breakfast, and then recipe testing for the weekend. Diamonds seemed like a good start for both come to think of it...

By the time The Lunching Hour came around Spike had put on another point each for some of his stats (putting him further out of sync with Balanced Soul) and made more headway to the so-called 'Creative Kitchen'. A lot of his initial successes, even before he got Dragon's Kitchen in fact, had come from very common and 'primary' gemstones: Emerald, ruby, that sort of thing. He was trying to go back to those roots and work with the big-name stones, the rock stars if you will, instead of using obscure gems that fit his ingredients more precisely.

While none of those experiments had actually yielded a working dish, he was on pace to have the new skill Mastered by tomorrow night at the latest. If that was the only gate holding him back? Then he could easily have everything ready in time for the party. And if not... Well, he had backup ideas. He'd been thinking about food for most of his life now, so it was all second nature in a way.

First nature was being a dragon, of course! He didn't have any other dragons to base his example on, but sometimes that felt like it was a benefit more than anything. No role models means no expectations he could fail to meet, right? Right. That was the easy way to keep from feeling bad about it. For sure.

...He should probably just clear his head and get over to Sweet Apple Acres.

Rather than go straight through Ponyville however? Spike decided to take a detour around the outside of town. It was a long and loping path that would arc out past the edges of the forest and deep into the woods, just on the right curve to put him at the Clubhouse on the way. He wanted to double-borrow a few of their already-borrowed tools for inspiration when he crafted his own... It would only take a minute to get a feel for their structure and design with Observe and his new memory, after all!

He took his time with that relatively speaking (a full minute per tool instead of just Observing the entire lot in one rapid-fire chain), primarily so he could put it all back in order instead of leaving things in disarray. Despite their reputation, the Cutie Mark Crusaders liked to have things where they could find them... If only so they could use them to cause more chaos later. With a proper lexicon of tools ingested, Spike took the second leg of his trip at a much faster pace. Layering (and Layer-ing) all of his buffs and bonuses along with a hefty helping of Dragon's Heart... He blasted off in a dead sprint to the Acres.

Spike was pretty pleased with his time when he checked the system Clock on arrival: He wouldn't be coming close to Rainbow Dash anytime soon, but he was way ahead of the curve otherwise. Let's just ignore the fact that he bottomed out his mana twice and spent two solid minutes casting buffs, yeah? Yeah. But before his thoughts derailed further he heard the reason he'd come here.

"Load's comin' up!"

"Eeeyup!"

Up in the loft of the barn Big Macintosh was hauling a rope back with each heavy step he took. Down below, Applejack was steadying and pushing a crate attached to the rope. Spike could hear the faint clinks and sloshes of full bottles inside even at this distance, so he waited until they had everything clearly under control before he spoke up to get their attention.

"Stocking away cider?"

"Hay Spike! Yup, just makin' room for a new batch of the hard stuff up there: Gotta age it purty well before we put it to use, right? That sorta thing's best done out of the way. Once it's done it'll go into the cellars with the rest."

"Awesome, good to see it's going smoothly. Might have to pick up a few bottles myself for cooking in the future."

The farmpony tilted her hat at that, looking Spike up and down. Applejack had already seen the change to his height and bearing the other day, but it was clear she was looking for something else.
"...Ah reckon we could swing that, yeah."

It was nice that it didn't come down to his age at this point, or even Twilight's enforcement of his legal majority. AJ was a consistent top-shelf judge of character: If she vouched for him? That spoke volumes all on its own... 'Speaking volumes' being a contrast to Big Macintosh, who had just made his way down from the hayloft-slash-aging-room.

"Afternoon, Spike."

"Yo Mac! How're things on the farm?"

"Reasonable."

"Glad to hear it. I don't wanna intrude too much, but I promised Applejack the other day that I'd explain some stuff, and I figured I'd tell you at the same time. Mind if I sit in on lunch?"

Big Mac didn't ask for clarification, just looking over Spike's new height and turning to his sister. She gave a curt little nod, and he did the same.
"Nope, don't mind at all."

"Great! I'll pitch in any help if you two want, but I already ate so don't worry about that."

"Nope. You come for lunch, you get lunch."

"...You know what? Fair enough. I pulled the same thing on Rainbow Dash yesterday, least I can do is be consistent."

Within a half hour they were all settled in around the farmhouse's dining room table. They had tall glasses of milk and thick sheets of crispy hash browns arrayed in front of them, along with a crock of beans and a plate of hay bacon. For anypony not doing the kind of heavy labor farm life required? It was a lunch that would knock you out for a nap. For the Apples it was standard procedure.

Granny was sleeping upstairs and Apple Bloom was still in school, so Spike took his time explaining the situation. He gave them just as thorough of an overview as the one that drove Rarity to drink the other day, plus the highlights of his new findings since then. True to her nature AJ just took the entire thing in stride, letting him talk uninterrupted. Macintosh asked questions from time to time that showed he was pretty knowledgeable about tabletop, but not much in the way of arcade gaming.

"...and so that's that. So far my best guess is that this is somehow part of how dragons grow up? I guess it would be different for every dragon, like a Cutie Mark is, and since I like games so much..."

Applejack leaned back from the table (and her clean plate and cleaner glass)
"Whoo! That's a lot to take in there, Spike. And I guess ya wanted us ta know 'bout it, so you don't gotta be secretive or nothin'?"

"Well, there is that. But also, you're my friends! Even if I was being secretive, I wouldn't really want to hide it from all of you... And I probably wouldn't be able to if I tried. Plus, I figured getting more eyes on the problem would help me get some new perspectives. I mean if you're going to do something then do it well, right?"

"True 'nuff. Mac?"

"...Ah might try out some of those digital games later. Keep my peace until then, 'stead of run my mouth about problems I don't quite get."

"Feel free! The arcade here in town expanded a lot recently, so there'll be plenty to try. The owners are some of Rarity's family, real nice ponies."

He left out the bit about them being Night Guards, in part because of his new understanding of that role. Plus it was always cool to see ponies get surprised out by the unexpected, and he'd hate to ruin the surprise.

"As fer me... Well, Ah aint' much into games of any stripe mahself. But that don't mean I've got no advice for yah, it's just what came to mind."

"I'm all ears!"

Applejack leaned back and looked up at the ceiling... Spike rarely saw her doing that, and it usually meant she was deliberately avoiding eye contact. He'd only seen her lying for a short while during the whole Discord incident, but he imagined this might have a lot in common with that. In this case she was probably just trying not to get too emotional.

"Ma 'n Pa... Me and Mac both grew up knowin' a pony couldn't do work unless they had the energy in 'em. That can be hard sometimes, finding the fuel to keep goin'. And ah can't speak to that on an emotional level, that's Twilight an' Fluttershy's sorta thing. But ah do know it applies just as much to hard work: Look how we just ate, right?"

Spike didn't want to interrupt, so he simply nodded and waited.
"Ah guess what Ah'm trying to say is... Keep yerself goin' both ways. As long as ya stay grounded with yer friends and family, that right there's the first kind of fuel . And for the second one, you can see how winded ya are, and how hurt, with numbers?"

"Yeah, I do: I've even got skills that let me work on those directly."

Her expression brightened as she swiveled her gaze down to look at him again, and he politely ignored the barely-noticeable tear at the corner of one eye.
"Well there ya go! That's mah advice: Work real hard on that. Even if'n ya got a thousand different skills or what-have-you, aint' none of it means a thing if ya can't pay the bills for 'em."

That made... a lot of sense. Some of his skills got more efficient as he levelled them, but so far he'd yet to see anything change from having a cost to being free. That made his resources a bottleneck for everything, and in turn that made meditation even more important. It was a one-stop solution for directly training HP, MP, and Stamina. Second in importance would be the raw stats that fed into those resources, and so on.

"Thanks, Applejack. And thanks to you too, Mac, even if I'm taking a rain check on that advice."

"Eeeyup: Get back to ya sooner than not, Ah imagine."

"Never a problem Spike: Y'all come back when need be, ya hear?"

"Absolutely!"

He had a lot of food to work off after that extra meal (could The Gamer even gain weight, or did he have a strict 'size class' for that now?) so Spike took the long route home again, this time testing even more skills at a slower pace. A little bit of harvesting here and there to get material for working on Crafting and Cooking, the occasional claw workout on a downed tree or a sizable rock... He filled the time until dinner happily working away and making progress, piece by piece.

Chapter 70: Dark Dreaming

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 71: Hearts and Hands

Library duty in Ponyville was always a mixed bag: Sometimes you'd be staring down multiple dead hours with nothing to do. Other times? You'd get Cheerilee's entire class on an unannounced trip, backed with what felt like every single shop-pony in town doing industry research all at once. Thank Celestia that the average fell somewhere in the middle, or even a hard-working person like Spike would probably go mad.

Which isn't to say he felt particularly sane right now, far from it: Lyra had come in, and he was trying to keep his eyebrows from twitching as he led her on a shelf-by-shelf expedition to find the books on mythical cryptids and humans. He'd seen plenty of books in the 'mundanity' genre that had settings without magic or the other natural features that made Equestria so fascinating... But even with that, he found it hard to believe some ponies wanted to hunt down weirder things than the ones Ponyville already dealt with on the regular.

That was the default frustration that came with any Lyra visit. Today he was trying not to freak out for a completely different reason that nopony else noticed. How could they, since they weren't The Gamer?

[Cold Hand, Warm Heart]
Lyra Heartstrings
LV 23

This time it wasn't just somepony's title that changed. Her entire name was different! Was this another pony entirely? He'd heard rumors to that effect about Lyra and Bon Bon, and the other mare's name had shown up differently from his expectations. The problem is that Bon Bon could just be a nickname, and his system showed Sweetie Drops as her actual name: He had yet to see her with Bon Bon as a displayed name. This on the other hand was a direct change in his system, Spike seeing different names on different occasions.

Lyra (Heartstrings?) must have noticed his staring because when he started paying attention again she was looking right at him. There was a moment of silence as they locked eyes, and then she broke away with an affable giggle.

"Oh geez, sorry lil' guy! I must have forgotten to dial it back after my morning practice. Not used to anypony noticing, yaknow?"

She closed her eyes and stepped away, her hooves following some kind of measured path. Spike could tell there was a structure and a pattern to the movements, it gave him a sense of grounding and returning to the center. Then, when she exhaled and stopped...

[Handy]
Lyra
LV 22

"...UH."

Lyra, just Lyra, shrugged and flipped her mane.
"Yeah, it's a weird feeling right? I only just noticed you were a fighter yourself when you visited the other day, actually: Never pegged ya for the type even with those claws!"

He pretended to follow along with that chain of logic, while inside he was furiously marking down all this new information.
"R-right. It's... uh, my situation's a little more complicated I guess? It sorta sprung up on me out of nowhere a few days ago."

"Oooooh, natural talent huh? I can respect that! You'll have to put in a lot of work still, don't think that it's a free pass just because you have the right... I was gonna say Cutie Mark but you're a dragon so I don't think it works like that?"

Spike scrambled for an excuse before realizing he could hit two targets with one shot.
"...Yes. Dragon stuff. Hey Lyra, I've got a packed week ahead of me but... maybe we could chat about this sometime soon? The whole 'natural talent' thing means I'm sort of adrift, don't really know what's what."

"Sure thing! Just swing by me and Bon's place whenever: I work out of the house so I'm there p. much all the time... I mean, unless I'm practicing out in the woods or at the dojo. If that happens I guess just try back later? Or try to find me if you're feeling lucky and-or plucky."

He nodded his assent and the strange mint-green unicorn went right back to trotting alongside the shelves, picking out a book here or there to add to a basket. He hadn't thought about it before, too distracted by her title... But when she first came in with the new name? Her magic was a much brighter, lighter amber compared to the almost burnt umber color it had now. Now he really wished he'd been watching her magic when she did whatever it was to change her name and title.

"OH SNAP it's the new edition of Boring Tales~! Gotta pick that up, forgot to renew my subscription last month."

...All the new weirdness aside? That pony sure does love humans.

The clock had almost exactly struck on the end of their open hours (which was to say lunch time) when one final pony came through the door. Spike would have gladly served whoever, even if it cut into his food time, but he was especially glad to help a friend.

[Behind a Curtain]
Fluttershy
LV 25

She took a moment to catch her breath before straightening and brushing her mane off her muzzle.
"Hello Spike! I'm so sorry to come in this late, but Angel was simply being a little terror this morning."

"No problem at all! Do you wanna stay for lunch since it's so close to my break? I'll lock up behind you and we can check out your books in peace and then sit down with a salad."

"That would be lovely!"

Thinking of her returns from the other day Spike directed her to those areas: Fictional dramas, romance, Neighponese comics, and... magical theory. That last one had been surprising to him, doubly so when she'd been so excited to hear about their new shipment. Apparently Fluttershy had gotten into the subject over the last few years and was just starting to branch out into self-study, or so she said as they walked around the aisles.

"It's a bit of a long story, I will admit. I made some pen-pals and we started exchanging tips and stories on the subject, and over time we've really become good friends! I even met a few of them recently when they came through Ponyville, it was very nice."

"Sounds great, Fluttershy: I guess the whole long-distance communication thing helped ease things for you?"

The pegasus nodded, running her hoof along the shelf she was looking over.
"It was so much easier getting to know a new pony without having to meet them first, if that makes sense. By the time we finally saw each other in person I was... Um. Well I was still nervous but it wasn't even half as bad!"

"Hah, nice! I'll have to meet them at some po-"

"Oooh!"

Spike was cut off when Fluttershy’s eyes caught a particular book he'd unpacked the other day, On The Arrangement of Elements. She quickly swept it off the shelf into her hooves and flipped the cover open before turning it to face him.
"Here!"

He hadn't been planning to read anything right away... And then he realized she wasn't showing him the main text of the book, but the inside of the back cover: The author's blurb and picture.
"...Ardor Ray is a pegasus who travels even more than most but calls Cloudsdale her home more often than not. She has written multiple books on non-unicorn magical theory, magic-powered item creation, and ritual magic. This is her seventh, and if you ask her? The best is yet to come."

The picture was of a mare with a sharp mane worn high, and he couldn't tell for sure in black-and-white but both her coat and mane were lightly-colored, maybe orange or peach? He turned to look at Fluttershy's wide smile and obvious excitement, which clarified exactly why she'd been so glad to see this piece.
"One of those new friends, huh?"

"Oh yes! In fact I know I told her not to but I bet in the front... Of course she did."

Fluttershy sighed and turned the other inside cover of the book to face him.
"Special thanks to Lolly and Shee for keeping me on track. Um..."

"Ah, it's a nickname she started using after trying to use a magic tool for reading things out loud so she could get more work done: It wasn't very good with names and such. The other name is from the same time, actually: Lilac Lack is another friend from the letter circle, they've known each other forever."

"So your letters helped her stay motivated during the process?"

"Oh yes. Well, and some light editing. I wanted to check it out from the Library soon and see how things turned out in the final version! I've never really worked on something like that before, and visiting a strange new bookstore to buy my own copy... No."

Spike shrugged and gently grabbed the book before setting it into the basket with the others she had picked out along the way: He also had a second copy of some of the comics in his Inventory so he could check them out himself. He would have grabbed a second copy of Ardor's book too, but arcane theory didn't exactly fly off the shelves so they hadn't stocked another... Although maybe Twilight had a copy? He might not have been paying close enough attention when he unloaded that shipment.

"Lemme get these all into the logs and then we can grab a bite to eat: I've got a lot to tell you about, so maybe we can trade stories!"

Fluttershy walked along just behind him, but he could hear her continued smile in her tone.
"Certainly!"

Over the course of devouring their salads (with jade dressing, whose color and shine Fluttershy found fascinating) they ended up trading quite a few stories back and forth. Spike explained the nature of his new powers piece by piece, and in between them Fluttershy had her own personal tricks to reveal and explain. He watched with no small amount of surprise (and a fairly large amount of Dragon's Mind) as she slowly and strenuously wove a cloud out of the condensation on her drink: Her hooves moved through the air languidly and turned the droplets into a suspended mist over the course of a minute.

"It's lots of little things like this: Other adult pegasi could do that sort of thing with no problem, but they'd have to use their wings and weather magic, or factory tools."

"Right. You're just sort of... doing it more directly. Or maybe less directly, because you're already a pegasus yourself?"

"That's exactly the sort of thing we talk about in our letters! It's very interesting, or at least I think so... Especially since it's not risky or scary, compared to a lot of other things about magic."

He glumly turned and looked at the title and level over her head, thinking about how much of his power seemed to revolve around combat. Last night he'd been excited about the prospect, but...
"Does that include me?"

She immediately leaned across the table and put a hoof on his claws, giving him that hard-eyed glare that he recognized from when her animals misbehaved.
"Of course not! You're a perfectly nice dragon, which is much more than I can say for so many ponies! Just because you have these traits that suit you..."

"You think they suit me?"

"Well, um. I was thinking about the things you're describing. And I admit that a lot of the gamey parts go over my head. But you did say you think it's a natural dragon thing, just expressed differently for you because of your upbringing, right? A personal talent like a Cutie Mark."

"Yeah, I uh, I think so. Either that or it's just something innate to me, even if I hadn't been raised in Equestria? But that's a pretty big existential question to tackle on top of all the other stuff."

Fluttershy leaned back into her chair and let go of him, picking at what remained of her food as she spoke.
"It's only natural for a lot of creatures to have things that are special or unique to them, even when compared to their brothers and sisters. I know that really well, and not just because of my talent... But I think that all those special traits do more work when they're used together with others, instead of just being used for their own sake. Strong individuals succeed more as leaders than as loners."

"Pinkie told me something kind of similar, the other day. Actually just about everypony has been giving me some kind of advice on the matter. Which I definitely appreciate: If anything I've been seeking it out on purpose. So you think..."

"Well! Not to be too forceful, but... It sounds like you have the potential to use your strength to make others stronger too. I imagine you could work on medical skills, leadership, nurturing and education... So many species excel because they can help each other and use social bonds to share their wisdom. Ponies are very good at that sort of thing, but you might be even better in your own way."

He didn't bother turning his eyes upwards to try and see the Number One Assistant over his head.
"Yeah. Yeah! I think you have a point: This isn't just something about me in the end, even if it only gives me power directly. That just means I have more power I can use for helping others improve... I wonder if I'd be a good teacher."

Fluttershy nodded and stood up, coming around the side of the table to hug him.
"I'm sure you will be."

A nearby clock chimed the hour, and she suddenly straightened and stepped back.
"Oh dear! I totally lost track of time: Will you be alright cleaning up lunch alone?"

If it had been anypony else he would have given them a deadpan stare and no answer. Fluttershy clearly just meant the best for him, so he was a lot softer in return.
"Yup: You're all checked out, too, so don't fret about missing any obligations. Have a good day!"

"You too Spike. Thank you again for the meal!"

She trotted out at a (relatively) fast pace with her books safely in her saddlebag. For a moment it looked like she was going to take her empty basket as well, but she remembered to set it down by the door on the way out. That left Spike alone again apart from his thoughts... And the impending approach of more patrons.

Chapter 72: Crunchy Creation

Spike had been half right earlier! Twilight did indeed get herself some Hayburgs while she was out. The thing he hadn't predicted was that she would come back home with a second order for him. Her entrance was presaged by the smell of sage, as well as fryer grease and sesame seeds and all sortsof other things. Even...

"You got me the burnt ones?"

"I got you the burnt ones!"

Twilight Sparkle slipped through the door levitating a few grease-spotty paper bags around her. One of them was open just wide enough to let a tiny mid-air space-train of horseshoe fries dance out of the bag and into her mouth. Another was held well away from the others, and that was the center of the wonderful char-black miasma Spike had just noticed.

Once they found out about his unique dietary interests, a few of the local restaurants started saving their really unsalvageable rejects. At some places that meant under-oiled entrees that had stuck to a pan so bad it required surgical intervention, but at Hayburgs? It meant that when they strained the fry oil after every shift, all the conglomerated bits of detritus got sent to the ‘Spike Sack’. Then when Twilight or Spike came by they'd tip a little extra, and the salespony would hoof over the goods.

"Half of me doesn't want to ruin my appetite for testing later, but the other half of me already has his claw wrist-deep in the bag."

"Trust me, my self-control was no closer to succeeding. This bag was a double-hayburg heavier before I got home!"

"And now you're a double-hayburg heavier, ey?"

He was fairly sure Twilight scrunched her muzzle behind the burger she was already unwrapping.
"Awful. I rescind my gratitude for your incredible assistance and willingness to put up with my foibles."

"Does that mean I get to rescind the assistance and willingness?"

"Nope!"
His (word!?) booped him on the snout and they both broke down laughing.

Their meal went by fast (even considering that he had a normal combo on top of his collection of carbonized crispity-crunchities) before Twilight had to head back into town: Her work was far from done and the break to eat had been just that, a break.

"Be safe out there! And if I'm right I'll have a real doozy ready for when you get back tonight, so don't fill up. Again."

"Roger that Spike!"

Fueling up on all of that fast food had given Spike a bit of an idea, and he could get a hint of that same burgeoning pressure-pain sensation from the other day. It felt like the minutes before he'd acquired the Dragon's Den, and if that was any example to go by? It meant he was right on the cusp of the Creative Kitchen.

"...Nopony will mind if I close a little early. Oh! Wait, no, duh, Twilight has a sign for this."

He walked over to the drawer with all of the front door signage, cleanly stacked with little tabs of hard paper in-between to make it easier to lift them out. OPEN was already in use, and they had a spare since it was a critical binary: Same was true for CLOSED, HOLIDAY HOURS and SAVING THE WORLD. He was looking for... There we go!

A quick trip out to the front door to switch it for the current sign and he was ready to get to cooking.

ATTENDANT OCCUPIED: PLEASE COME TO THE BACK WINDOW FOR SERVICE.

That was his favorite sign: It might as well say they were closed but it technically didn't. Nopony bothered with the inconvenience for pickups, and they had a drop-off slot for returns. It was only rare school emergencies or vehement arguments that would ever be big enough to draw a pony all the way around the bulk of the tree to visit the back window.

It would be good if nopony showed up, since he was going to be working with poison! Well not like literal poison, but food that was fairly toxic if prepared incorrectly. He'd heard rumors that griffons and even the rare pegasus would delicately remove the deadly glands of pufferfish to get at their prized meat, but in pony culture the food Spike had in his claws right now was nearly as fatal and far more common.

He had a sizable quantity of the dread potato, harvested from the edges of the Everfree. Apparently some species could tolerate them despite the whole 'nightshade cousin' thing, but ponies of any of the three races? Not a chance. But Spike could eat them and rather liked them: They had a weird sort of fluffy-creamy thing going on that seemed to go perfectly with fresh butter. He'd ordered these in from a bovine grocer, since their freaky stomach arrangement allowed them to handle potatoes more easily than hay.

Not that Spike had any plan of baby-birding this stuff, no no. Twilight banned them both from using the lab's digester in the kitchen after her last experiment with 'energy drinks' went awry, anyways. He had a much simpler and much Spikier plan: See what the Dragon's Kitchen could do about it.

Previously he'd gotten an alert that his Tiger's Eye Stir Fry wasn't going to give its full benefits, and ever since he'd been brainstorming what to do. The failed dish had still managed to give Vitality a boost, which was both the only raw-stat bonus he'd seen yet and an interesting sign of potential. Now he had the perfect test subjects: A half-bag each of solid baking potatoes, and smaller yellows that the shop owner said could be used 'any which way'. But the most appealing? An entire bag of positively tiny spherical gold potatoes, almost gem-like on their own.

Spike's recipe plan was extremely simple, all things considered. Toss them in butter and oil, hit it all with salt, pepper and maybe some herbs, finish with the powdered gems left over from last time and then roast them. If he was right about what the Creative Kitchen meant? This was a sure-fire way to find out, and it'd leave him with plenty of time afterwards to handle their real dinner.

Optimally, the Creative Kitchen would expand his potential and allow him to render these weird little roots safe for his pony friends. If not... Well, it was always nice to have an indulgent little snack to himself from time to time.

The entire time he'd been thinking all of this, of course? His hands and body had been running more-or-less on autopilot, and the spuds were already in the oven. So now it was just a waiting game, and a tentative planning game, and... Well, everything was a game to him now, right? So it was the game of life as he watched the clock tick down.

- Forty Minutes Later - -

Ding!
Ding!

...Spike couldn't help but smile, because the oven timer had not just gone off twice. One of those was the clock, but the other sound represented the real fruits (vegetables, technically) of his labor.

A skill has been mastered through persistent effort! By pushing the boundaries of what society considers palatable and seeking to expand the culinary world, you have set foot in the [Creative Kitchen]!

Creative Kitchen Lv Max EXP: 0.00% MP: ALL+
It is the domain of the creative, the scholarly, and the exceptional to move the limits further away from their fellows. Those who find this power are all three in one way or another, destined to make a mark in the world... If by no other means then feeding those in need of growth. Is that not what we all seek to achieve, in the end?

Your Dragon's Kitchen has expanded to include a new class of recipes, the Creative Kitchen.
Creative Kitchen recipes require Internal Alchemy, or alternately cost entire bars of mana.
Creative Kitchen recipes can directly improve the core Attributes and enhance their growth.
Your studies of Dragon's Kitchen can now create different recipes that provide identical buffs.
All Dragon's Kitchen recipes can now make any physically-edible food digestible and harmless*.

*- Intoxication, gastric issues, pain, spiciness, bitter and sour flavors et al do not count as harm.

And then aside from the actual skill box was another notice, a subsection of sorts:

The iconic gems of the Creative Kitchen are as follows...
Strength, which shines like Diamond
Dexterity, of the dazzling Topaz
Vitality, from the vigorous Tiger's Eye
Intelligence, in an innocuous Amethyst
Wisdom, like wood's wild-worn Amber
Luck, to find luxurious Gold

...Got there.

Spike took a bite of his newest creation and just sat there for a moment, appreciating the way the thin crispy skin split and the creamy interior spilled across his tongue. It was perfect, and it would be the perfect fuel to help him in figuring out... At leastfive more recipes by the weekend, although to be honest he was aiming to lap that. While he focused on more ideas he took another bite from the dish and couldn't help but smile. Wait until Twilight got a load of this!

Tiger's Eye Roasted Potatoes: Modestly increases Vitality, 4 hours

It was only when Twilight was already home and halfway through her own dish of potatoes (she had taken an immediate liking to them, no surprise given her taste in burgers and hayfries) that Spike realized maybe he was planning to go a little overboard.

"...Uh, listening to myself now I kinda wonder if that's a bit much? Like, the whole point of me telling everypony about the Gamer in advance was so I didn't upstage your reveal."

"Spike, that's... Quite mature of you, to think of it in that way. But don't worry! I promise it will work out even if you want to make two dozen dishes: If anything I'll appreciate the chance to get ponies distracted from the magnitude of the secret I've been keeping."

"Hahaha! Yeah, I can only imagine how stunned Rarity is going to be when she realizes that you managed to get together with royalty before her."

Twilight giggled and went to take another bite.
"Well maybe it runs in the family!"

There was a silent pause, thick like lead, before Twilight gently set her fork down.
"There's no way it actually runs in the family, right? I'm not somehow genetically predestined to have an attraction to mares in positions of power, or a thing for horns-with-wings, or-"

Spike stood up and booped her with one claw over her nose, causing Twilight to scrunch her face.
"Even if that is a factor it wouldn't change how you feel emotionally, right? Also I'm pretty sure I remember Cadance saying she made the first move with Shining Armor, so..."

"Right. Yes, of course, that... that makes sense."

"Freakouts about biologically-encoded leanings aside, we're still on track for the weekend?"

"Yes! Absolutely yes. I checked in with Pinkie Pie while I was out today, and her portion of the prep is going perfectly. And it's pretty clear from these that you're similarly on track!"

Good, good. Good. He'd still be able to look forward to everypony's reactions without having to worry about upstaging Twilight or turning it into being about him. Then again, maybe he was just so unused to getting attention at all that he was overreacting? Eugch, that... Well, he still had a long way to go on the road to being a better dragon. And another cobble on that path was waiting once he went to 'bed'... After he dialed in a few more recipes!

Chapter 73: Gillie's Gold

Spike finally settled down to go to bed when Twilight did the same: They had very different goals for the next eight hours, of course. Twilight had started looking into new meditative techniques for sleep replacement, since she already was optimizing her waking hours to the point of perfection. The only way to get more time, she had reasoned, was to drive herself to sleep less. The real challenge was going to be finding a way to both do that and still get an equinely-feasible amount of rest. Spike on the other claw was burnt out on recipe testing (but he also got more than half of his plans done!) so he was going to take tonight to focus on the missing element.

Combat.

Just about every skill and feature in his Game so far had implied that he'd be needing survival skills... Either that or it was just inclined to make him more survivable and regularly alert him to things like damage numbers, resistances, etc. He'd gotten into a few scraps over the years, and confronted villains and monsters... Usually from the background of the metaphorical shot, of course. Twilight and the girls were more experienced in the direct hoof-to-hoof side of things, although even they only got into that kind of danger somewhat rarely.

Luna had told him that testing combat out in his Omphaloskepsis-induced 'dream' space would be, quote "reasonable" unquote... But also said that the mixture of so many different types of magic and mental structure could make it unpredictably weird. Or maybe predictably weird? She claimed it would be rude to spoil the surprise. That implied that either she knew what was going to happen or that she had good reason to assume something would happen, even if she didn't know what.

The only way for Spike to find out was to move forward, and he trusted the Princesses implicitly: If Luna said it was a reasonable thing to do, he was willing to do it. So down, down, down he went into the core of his visualized self. He imagined the red-lit cave again, and brought himself into being inside of it. Now he just needed something to work with... In the end he settled on a ponnequin (technically a dress form), a nice simple inanimate target. He knew there was a martial arts space in Ponyville, but he'd never gone himself and had no idea what their training dummies looked like.

A simple white cloth exterior over a hard body. The interior needed to be firm enough to keep its shape, but not so solid that it couldn't receive pins. Padding over wood made sense to him, both in general and for his current purposes. Rarity would probably be furious that he was planning to maul a few of these, even in the dreamscape... But then again he'd seen her take out some mounting frustrations on her own collection before, so maybe she'd just give him pointers.

Once he brought it into the pseudo-reality of his meditation space, he ran into a new problem. If Spike wanted to get some real combat testing with this, much less with a target that fights back? He'd need to figure out a way to let go. Right now everything in his dreamscape was still constantly under the control of the spell Luna had taught him. If he wanted something to happen, it would happen: Lucidity writ large and strong. But if he wanted genuine reactions that matched reality then he'd need to disengage his creations from the spell without letting them disappear.

It took him a little while to figure it out, but eventually he managed to withdraw the spell without accidentally sending the metaphorical command to disperse. And it only took him six ponnequins, so he was under estimate! He'd originally guessed it would take more like ten or fifteen to get the hang of it, but it seemed like the nature of dream magic helped him here: It made things 'sticky', so they inherently tried to persist. Once he realized which bit of his mental control told them to go away? The very next attempt was a success.

So now he was alone in a visualized cavern with a ponnequin that should, in theory, react to his attacks and powers like the real physical thing. Kinda emphasized how lonely this was... Eh, he'd have to get used to it if he had any intention of grinding combat skills! Either that or he'd need to find a repair spell and an out-of-the-way training space in the dead of night... or a healing spell, and an equally-nocturnal partner, and an out-of-the-way training space in the dead of night.

...Yeah, probably best just to focus on this for a while. Make sure no time is wasted!

Well that was a waste of time.

Spike was probably being a little hard on himself the next morning as he prepared breakfast. Sure, the entire evening had ended up being a dull and painful exercise in learning the limits of his new Dreamy Thing with basically nothing to show for it, but hey!

...He forgot what he was going to think to cheer himself up.

Initial tests had been fine and even a little fun: Once the test dummy was decoupled from his dream control, it reacted perfectly. He could swipe it, crush it, blast it apart with fire breath or let it burn long and slow... But then he tried to actually attack it seriously, using his Gamer abilities.

Meditating Pseudo-Dream Projection Spike, as it turned out, was still just Regular Spike for most purposes. Which meant a lot of his concentration (and well over 90% of his mana) was all still tied up making the dream happen to begin with! Activating more than a few simple skills or stars forbid trying to cast a buff? Best-case scenario it failed, worst-case scenario it knocked him into Mana Confusion and back into consciousness!

He'd stubbornly kept at it for most of the eight hours he'd allotted for 'sleep' anyways. Eventually he found that the process, failures included, was a good improvement for several of his skills... But not much better than what he'd been doing on previous nights, and much more painful and frustrating.

In the end he 'got up' a few hours early and pivoted to work on more dishes for the party. He'd almost gotten the entire menu together: Currently he was just auto-piloting his way through the process of making sure his blueberry syrup didn't get burnt. He wanted to avoid caramelization, but without a candy thermometer that was tricky, even when you made the fire yourself... Maybe Bon Bon (Sweetie Drops, whoever) would have a spare one for sale? He'd check that later.

Once the syrup was finished he put it in his Inventory with the rest, and then stretched and popped his back with a groan. He didn't really need to? Still felt pretty nice, so he did it anyway. He had a feeling a lot of things were going to be like that from now on, as the Gamer: Eating was a luxury or a method of getting buffs so far, sleep was a method of healing and not much else... Well, at the end of the day Spike was still Spike, so he would probably go out of his way to keep it 'normal', for given definitions.

Breaking out of his reverie and looking at his schedule, today was the last day before the big event. Apart from his first training session with Rarity and her Aunt Ammo? There wasn't anything on the docket. He could take it easy, and he planned to do exactly that: Today would be a nice change of pace.

He cut a meandering path from the entrance of the Library across most of Ponyville, and just... Took it all in. Things were different now that he was The Gamer, and not just because of his powers and changed perception. Yes, he saw titles and levels everywhere he went, and he had a newfound appreciation for the flows of magic in the air. More than that, it was how others treated him. Ponies hadn't exactly kept him at an extra distance or anything before, but the change was still palpable.

Maybe it had to do with the Crusaders or his own weird behaviors, with his new 'normal' "sleep" schedule or something else entirely... Whatever it was, Spike felt like he fit in better. Ponyville had always been a weird little village and he'd been weird even for Ponyville, the only dragon in all of Equestria... The only civil one anyways. Now enough time had passed, enough things had changed, and he'd grown up physically and emotionally: He'd become part of the social fabric, and it felt nice.

He made his way through Sugarcube Corner and bought a Walking Breakfast (Pinkie's name for the most densely-nutritious muffin she could make without sacrificing flavor) before taking a long route out past the fountain and through the far side of town. Today his feet could just take him where they wanted, and he'd follow along... Above. Whatever.

Some of the pegasi were flitting around Town Hall, hanging flowers and small banners for an upcoming festival... Or maybe just for fun? He lost track of that kind of thing pretty easily, at least he used to. The market stalls were still just filling in this early, leaving space for him to move fast without worrying about running somepony down. A few colts and fillies, on their way to the school-house, got him caught up in a little race.

Things kept going in that sort of pattern, little moments of familiarity and quiet activity, until he finally wound up at a small not-quite-house out near the AAAArcade. More accurately it was near the Arcade, the original, because this little temporary structure was where Gillie Horse lay homestead. Not his home, that was out on the road with his family: But he was an older pony, and he'd decided to spend a few years settling around in Ponyville while the rest of his relatives found their way to new and exciting places.

Rarity and the Ammos had said he'd be moving on with them later in the year. Spike felt that it would be a crying shame if he didn't get to visit and thank him before he left, so he decided to stop in now and see what there was to say. He had never visited him personally like this before, but they had talked and played together plenty back in the original open-air arcade.

Ponyville wasn't lacking for strange architecture, and Gillie's 'house' was high among them. It kind of resembled the living-space wagon that the Great and Powerful Trixie had originally brought through town, but with an emphasis towards decoration. Not gaudy or overbearing, but... It was a little hard for Spike to put into words. Putting some thought to it, he settled on 'lovingly' decorated- There was a sense of care, affection, and even honor given to the structure.

It was inherently mobile and temporary, yet still designed to weather the nastiest storms that Equestria could throw at it. Even taking those features into account, the wagon still looked nice as opposed to being just utilitarian: The window shutters were gilded, the curtains plush and thick. Scrollwork and images of prancing ponies covered each panel of the exterior, and the entrance stairs were solid wood instead of flimsy planks.

Another difference between this wagon and Trixie's? Gillie's sat off-wheels, settled on a foundation: Gillie had been here since before Spike and Twilight came to town, although now it seemed they'd be here once he left. Seeing a wagon like this so heavily disassembled was unusual, but only if you didn't take the stallion's age into account.

He was old, and it was natural for him to take things a bit slower and calm down for a while. But before then... The Roama had their own sort of insulated culture, apart from Equestria as a whole. They travelled and scouted, finding new places and exploring old ones: Living on the roads even if it meant making those roads themselves.

As he looked at the pony pulling weeds from around the wagon's elevated supports, Spike thought back over what he knew about him. He had heard lots of stories during his past visits to the Arcade, so he knew that Gillie Horse got up to a lot of interesting things back in his younger days: Maybe even more than Spike had originally assumed.

[The Stallion With the Golden Bit]
Gillie Horse
LV 55

...Yeah, a lot more than he originally assumed. Observe was limited by the difference in their levels, but what he could see showed him the nature of the situation: Gillie was old, and had done so many things over the years that all those experiences accumulated into a lot of, well, Experience. He had a veritable ton of traits, Titles, features and bonuses that were likely accumulated over a long life of travel and interesting work.

Those days were clearly behind him now, because his actual stats were degraded way, way below what his level implied. The exact numbers were hard to see, but even rounding in Gillie's favor put him closer to a pony half his level and a fraction his age. In O+O, he'd be the picture-perfect example of a retired adventurer or a seasoned guild captain: Once formidable, and still nopony to mess with, but... Well, time changes all things.

Spike closed the Observe screen and took a closer look at the pony himself: Gillie was a light tan and kept his dark green mane cut short and loose. His Cutie Mark was a large square-bottomed bottle with a blue ribbon wrapped around the neck. He had that tightly-drawn look of age, as if he'd once been inflated with muscle and then shrunk down to the bone over time. His movements matched the aesthetic: Where a lot of older ponies would work slowly and smoothly, Gillie was snappy and quick like a bowstring letting loose.

Even as Spike approached the wagon, the old horse still moved from one weed to the next with ruthless efficiency... But there was a moment where both of them stopped moving, very briefly. Spike's foot had just crossed some arbitrary distance away from Gillie, and at the same exact time they both... noticed each other, for lack of a better word. Actually, Spike did have better words for it.

Or at the very least, his system did.

Through the continuous accumulation of Mastery, you may now properly [Sense Danger]!
Through the continuous accumulation of Mastery, you may now properly [Detect Bloodthirst]!

Detect Bloodthirst LV1 EXP: 0.00%
An instinctive ability to sense killing intent and battle tendency directed at the user.

Detects bloodlust within 30 meters of the user's location and alerts the user to its origin.
Increased levels of this skill extend the range and precision of detection.

Sense Danger LV1 EXP: 0.00%
A natural survival instinct honed into an additional full-fledged sense, a kind of deadly premonition.

Allows the user to predict the potential for danger or threats in the environment.
Increased levels of this skill extend the window of detection and nature of the premonitions.

In the tiny slice of time between Spike's eyes moving over the skill description windows and back, Gillie had produced a gardening trowel from seemingly nowhere, and brandished it with obvious comfort... Before letting it drop to the dirt with a booming laugh.

"Spike, ya silly dragon! Don't sneak up on an old grast like that, nearly gave me a palpitation."

He laughed off the momentary standoff himself, secretly thanking the old horse for finally producing the push needed for those skill Masteries.
"That makes two of us: Not every day I get a blade pointed my way... I mean, not since the first week after we moved here."

They closed the gap between them and Spike quickly gave Gillie a hug, a gesture that felt a bit overly-familiar given how rarely they spent time together properly... But well, he was coming to say goodbye, right? That added an extra layer to things. It was OK to be sappy, all things considered.

"I guess ya heard from the new kiddos runnin' the shop that I'm making headway out of ol' Ponyville?"

"I wouldn't call them kiddos myself, just for the sake of personal safety... But yeah. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get out to the Arcade more!"

Gillie shrugged, a long rolling motion that practically sent him wobbling off one hoof: Mannerisms like that made Spike wonder if he was any relation to Pinkie, however distant.
"Don't go apologizing for somethin' like that, sonny: I barely got out there some days myself, which was part a' the problem. Come inside, let's stop jawin' in the street!"

The transition inside was surprisingly quick, and Spike barely noticed the way Gillie handled things in the process: Trowel back into a sheath, the basket full of plucked weeds slid across the smooth wood floor of the wagon with one kick, door closed behind them with the same hoof. A few drawers and cabinets were opened and drinks thrown together so fast Spike could barely follow it, and the table and couch pulled out from the wagon's walls can't have been light... It's possible that years ago Gillie might have had Big Macintosh's level of strength: Even now there were still echoes of it.

"A proper toast for us both then: Me for leaving, and you for breaking that yoke you've been struggling with."

A part of his brain immediately thought yolk, of an egg, before he realized the actual word.
"Guess it's pretty obvious I started growing up, huh?"

"That and other things: 'Tswhy I gave ya the good stuff! Cheers, boyo."

Gillie raised his glass to Spike's and they briefly clinked together, before he took the drink. It was an experience: He'd had his fair share of alcohol before, between sneaking sips when Night Light wasn't paying attention at a party all the way up to the long debriefing session with Twilight (where he had demurred at first, but the night got stranger as it went on). But this was very different.

Wine was one thing, this amber-colored kick-in-the-teeth was entirely another. The immediate flavor was acrid yet sweet, like dark honey and smoked nuts. The sweetness got fruitier as it made its way across the stupendous surface area of his tongue before dissolving into something grassy and funky, then fading entirely... Except for the burn, which caught him by surprise more than anything.

"Wow! I mean... wow."

"Comin' from a dragon, that's a credit to the label! I'll have to tell the boys next time I'm out in cow town."

"Cow... I guess you met the makers while you were travelling?"

"Ayup! Bullmenach, out in the hills. Round 'bout near where I was born, come to think it."

Their conversation wound and wended over time, covering the things they'd been doing in the last few months. They had last seen one another around Nightmare Night, after all: There was quite a bit of ground to cover, especially with one leaving so soon. Spike didn't go into the details of his recent growth and upheaval, but he had a feeling (and an Observe'd sheet of skills and stats to back it up) that Gillie knew more about that than he let on.

"Yea, the comin' of age is a big moment for any-creature what-so-ever. I remember my halcyon days, and... Heh. Well, no sense talking about those bygone eras. Notwin' I can show some things to ya!"

Gillie cleared a loose pile of game engine parts off one of his shelves and began rooting around in the shelves behind it, eventually coming back with a small velvet bag on his hoof. A flick of the wrist sent it through the air, and the weight inside made it skid to a stop right in front of Spike.

"...May I?"

"Ach, would that all the kids had yer manners: Of course."

Spike delicately opened the faded green drawstrings and let the mouth of the bag open, tilting out its contents... A golden token. It was much larger than a normal bit coin, and thinner. Heavy too, and despite being both a dragon and the Gamer? Spike couldn't recognize the metal. There were no visible marks on the surface, but when he ran his claws across it he could tell there was supposed to be some kind of inscription: It was just incredibly fine and too small to make out with even his eyes. Observe... Was less helpful, somehow.

[The Golden Bit]
A seal of imprimatur from an unknown culture, carved into a disc of alloy metal. The gold in its name refers to its royal origins and not its materials: There is no literal gold perceptible.

He let out a low whistle, turning the 'coin' in his claws as he squinted at the maybe-not-even-text. The symbols probably weren't Equiform characters, but he could only just barely make out that there even were symbols by turning all his buffs up to full drive. Maybe he'd get a chance to give it a closer look next time Gillie came back to town? By then he'd have a ton of new skills to turn on it.

"Ay, quite the lovely piece: I won it years ago, decades at that. Won it off a very fair mare in an extremely unfair game..."

Gillie trailed off into reminiscing silence, which Spike eventually broke with a chuckle.

"Heh. I won't press you for the story right now, but maybe if you want to send somebody letters while you're travelling we could keep in touch? Sounds like the kind of thing that might be easier to write about, for posterity."

Gillie had a thin smile when he replied, as if Spike had just read his mind.
"Ye, I might at that. Very well might!"

Chapter 74: Diverted Disappointment

Eventually Spike made his way out and said his goodbyes: They shared a hug, this one far less awkward than the first. Gillie made triply sure that Spike had the address for the hitching post where he could pick up mail during their route, but there was a clear glint in his eyes as he did: It seemed that he just liked playing the part of the old grandpa, even if he was younger at heart.

"Ya tell Arcane that I still expect to see her before I leave town, ahright?"

"Of course! I'm actually heading over there right now."

"Walk well, Spike."

He did, at that: The walk from Gillie's to the Arcade wasn't long at all, but Spike took it carefully and made sure it was a smooth trip. He could have spent that time multi-tasking and grinding skills or trying to figure out what was up with that coin, planning recipes or composing letters... But he decided to just let the journey be a journey for a change of pace, travel for travel's sake.

Before he even had his thoughts fully collected, Spike was making his way through the front door of the AAAArcade and into the back. Piercing nodded towards him from behind the food counter as he passed, and Spike gave him a respectful nod back in return. Further into the facility he found the wall of targets and markers that comprised the shooting gallery, along with Rarity and her aunt.

Arcane Ammo was wearing a simple vest today, along with a plain visored hat. It reminded him of the pictures Rainbow Dash kept of Wonderbolt captains past and present: Maybe there was some Night Guard equivalent, or just a general trend in military dress? Either way, he had to stifle a laugh at Rarity's pained expression: She clearly didn't agree with Dash's taste in jackets, and kept her magic aura as close to adjusting the collars as possible without enraging Arcane.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late, I-"

Before Spike could finish his sentence, Rarity seized the opportunity he delivered: Her magic surged out in a soft blue cloud to snap Arcane's collar and lapels into position. Unfortunately, before she could finish her 'repairs', Mrs. Ammo had already levitated a clipboard over and started swatting at her niece's mane. That left Rarity shrieking and giggling as she tried to protect the wave of purple hair, kicking her hooves up in a feeble attempt to hold off the threat.

Arcane was clearly used to holding a conversation in the middle of battle, no matter how silly the fight was, as she turned to look at Spike with a bone-dry sarcasm on her lips.
"Good timing. That stalemate was interminable: And you're not late, it's still at least five minutes before I said to come."

Rarity finally managed to step back from the sweeping range of the clipboard, clearing her throat as she nodded to Spike.
"I believe he was mostly concerned with being Twi-late, Auntie. The Sparkles are, her brother excluded, all about punctuality. I've rarely seen her and Spike be anything less than early barring emergencies."

Spike looked at his system clock before shrugging, ruffling the spines on the back of his head with one claw.
"Eh heh, yeah, she's... not wrong. But hey, at least I arrived in time to defuse whatever that was. I'd been kind of caught up talking with Gillie Horse, and well..."

He didn't even have to explain what he meant about how Gillie had impressed him: Arcane was already nodding, the tenor of her smile shifting warmer.
"Yeah, he's quite something isn't he? The Roama are always moving, so they have to rely on the strength of their warponies over any kind of walls or fortifications. Canterlot could honestly do with having a less secure location, if the latest generation of guards is anything to go by... Your brother being a notable exception of course."

"Oh trust me, I've heard enough of his complaining during our O+O games to get the gist. I still think he should get the barracks together for the occasional campaign to get them in the tactical mindset."

That got a laugh from the others, and he finished crossing the gap now that there was no threat of an imminent sheaf of papers to the face. He looked over Rarity briefly, pausing to take everything in. She looked back to him, and while it was still a warm and affectionate expression... It didn't have quite the same grip on him that it did in the past. He could tell she wasn't rattled by his old interest either: Their entire situation felt more balanced now, more harmonious.

"...Guess you two worked your issues out last time you were here, huh?"

The delicate balance in the air broke, but they both laughed it off and turned back to their soon-to-be instructor.
"I suppose you could say that, yes: As much as I complained in the moment, I do owe you for intervening as you did. We had let things simply linger for... too long."

"Seconded: Thanks a ton, both for the kick in the pants and for offering to teach me!"

"Think nothing of it, kid: I promise that my instruction will be thorough, even if it might not be enjoyable. Rarity here has a predisposition for the kind of fiddly work involved in specialized shots, but I still don't even know if you can do magic like that. We'll be starting from the bare basics today and seeing how well you pick up, alright?"

That was exactly what he was hoping to hear anyways, since the more elementary the skill was, the better he felt like his Gamer abilities would be able to pick up on it.
"Sure!"

"I am never one to turn down a refresher: I often take time each Spring to work on barebones dresses and accessories to keep my grip on the form sharp."

"Yeah, I do the same with magic: Although in my case, the bare bones can be more literal."

The intense glint in Arcane's eyes probably should have been a lot more frightening, but... Well, he'd grown up with Twilight Sparkle. A little mania wasn't going to shake Spike T. Dragon's composure. He could take a lot!

That night lying in bed, pretending he'd even be able to sleep... Spike couldn't take it. After a day like today he had hoped to push everything aside and just go down like he used to, out like a light before midnight. But a solid week of replacing (unneeded) sleep with meditation and thinking about everything he could possibly do, all the time... It left him incapable of even trying. He couldn't sleep if he wanted to, not without a few more hours burning the metaphorical lantern oil.

"Blegch!"

Studying with Arcane and Rarity had been an unmitigated failure. He hadn't learned a single thing, hadn't even parsed out one useful bit of magic with Dragon's Mind. That had been bad enough: He went into the situation cocksure and confident and came out apologizing and questioning himself. This entire time his abilities as The Gamer had been consistently helpful, or at least consistent even when they were unhelpful. The one time he needed it the most, wanted it the most? They backed off and let The Old Spike take center stage.

Rarity had been subtly amused at his first few attempts and failures, but both her and Arcane grew obviously concerned over time as Spike kept making increasingly desperate attempts. Eventually he resorted to using his Breath and Stagnet to try and make at least an imitation of what they were doing, hoping it would jumpstart something. The best he could do with that was throw the resulting bullet, which missed both the target and the point... Even if it did blow up pretty impressively.

Rarity had remained worried about Spike, but Ammo ended up taking the entire thing in stride. She ended their session by inviting him to come back any time in the future, and also by pointing out the obvious:

"It's not like you have a horn, kid: Don't let this get to you."

He learned a lot in terms of knowledge, that much was true. Maybe even a base for future progress. But things he could do, things he could use now? Spike walked away from the Arcade feeling more useless than he had in weeks, even before the Gamer. Rarity had caught up to him afterwards, and they talked... Which had been nice. Not particularly helpful for his problem, but really just nice: A pleasant experience. He promised her that he'd feel better in time for the party, and then they parted ways.

Dinner with Twilight wasn't any better, because that's where he realized the real thing that was bothering him: How little everything else was bothering him. Ever since he'd woken up as the Gamer a week ago, Spike had noticed that his emotional responses were quick to flare out: He'd still get mad, feel affectionate, have moments of awe or sadness... But then they washed away within seconds, falling into the background without ever lasting long enough to change him.

Spike tried to make the distinction clear to Twilight as he spoke, but of course she took it differently than he meant it: She thought he was worried about feeling distant or even sociopathic, becoming unfeeling. The truth was that he still felt emotional, but his feelings didn't change things. His emotions weren't driving his actions or even having any effect on what he did... No effect. That was when he realized the truth.

Gamer's Mind Lv MaxEXP: N/A
Allows the user to calmly and logically think through any situation with a peaceful state of mind. Grants total immunity to psychological effects.

He'd been prompted to let Luna inside of his mind during the 'dream' a few nights ago, probably because Gamer's Mind protected him from mental influences even if they meant well. But there wasn't a prompt to turn it off when it worked on his own emotions: Those were also psychological effects according to his system. 'A peaceful state of mind' was one way to put it... Yet Spike wasn't ready to think about that very much, much less discuss it with somepony else. He had, at the time, hurriedly pivoted in the conversation with Twilight.

After all, he did still feel things. Maybe he just had to get used to feeling them differently?

Twilight had very obviously not bought his diversion when he dropped the subject: As much as he didn't want to, he probably should tell her about his hunch... But that was for later. In the moment, he had just changed the subject to discussing what happened at the Arcade... At which point she said the same thing that Arcane had brought up.

"Spike, I mean... It's not like you have a horn. Maybe you have to figure out another way?"

Maybe he did! His frustration could just be misdirected, aimed at a road bump when it should be aimed at the real problem. Did he need to grow or change himself until he had some kind of magic-processing organ? He could do like the showponies and craft himself a wand, substitute for his lack of a real horn with a symbolic one. Make some kind of charm or...

No.

Wait.

Spike sprung out of bed and onto his feet, grinning with a (brief) flicker of triumph in his mind.
"I do have a horn!"

He quickly moved back onto his bed, dropping into Omphaloskepsis almost immediately... But not before pulling a small piece of carved steel from his Inventory.

Author's Note

FIMFic still has a text display error ongoing, so many users might see weirdly spaced lines. This has nothing to do with the import, upload, edit, or anything else I can control: No amount of making changes on my end can prevent this from occuring. Forgive me for the failures of the site's management, I suppose.

Chapter #...#?

Spike knew that something was wrong as soon as he started to descend into the calm cycle of meditation.

Well.

What should have been the calm cycle of meditation. The world around him was shaken, shaped, in a way he could not understand. Surfaces were jagged where he expected curves and fluid where stability belonged. Something like Ponyville but entirely different stretched out in the distance, with a really heavy emphasis on stretched. At first he thought it was a product of his unsettled mental state, but he realized that the Gamer's Mind probably wouldn't allow that either...

Which meant this wasn't meditation.

No haven safer

He was dreaming.

Could it have been the mental exhaustion of the day, the frustrations, the distrust in his own abilities? Spike had a feeling it wasn't any of those things. Said feeling was backed up by the strangely chaotic nature of the surroundings... the sounds in the air... and a figure in the distance, right on the edge of ‘town’.

than our town.

Discord cavorted through a field of small buildings, each malformed in its own special way. Some of them were lopsided, and others were grotesquely engorged. A few had been split into individual towers or stacked up in offset slices, while one entire block had been lumped into a single groaning superstructure. Around all these architectural nightmares, the figure of the (seemingly not very) imprisoned lord of Chaos cavorted.

"Well hello Spikey-boy! Seems like you've come to me with a decision to make, hmmm?"

No place more barren

It could have been Gamer's Mind tamping down his reactions again, or maybe this really was what Spike had wanted. He went to bed looking for an answer, some guidance... And now here it was.

"...Yeah. Maybe you're a figment of my imagination or maybe you're real. But either way you're Discord. I guess if I have a problem involving random chance you'd be the not-a-pony to see on the matter... Even if that just means confronting my own subconscious thoughts dressed up in your skin."

The serpentine stunt-puller behaved himself, more or less, while Spike spoke: He did take the time to float over and wedge his claw-and-paw into one of the sliced buildings... But rather than toppling, the side of it came away like a slice of cake, which Discord happily chowed down on. He cleared his throat (‘cleared’ as in turned it briefly transparent) before giving a reply.

"Turning into quite the philosopher, my little Gamer! But enough chit-chat: Bring out the goods."

than to lay my life down for a friend.

Spike looked down at the steel charm that spontaneously appeared in his dream-self's claws, turning it over and passing it between them. An almost worryingly detailed unicorn horn, carved from shining grey steel. He didn't even need to Observe to see its description here in this dream: Everything just worked. The bottom of the box taunted him just as much as Discord's goading words.

Unihorn
Provides a new skill and improves Dragon's Breath... but you are not powerful enough.

Failure Chance: 9%

This was what had been bothering him: The chance of failure. All the unique and strange potential in something like this, and his system decided it needed to be like that. Growing up with Twilight meant he was no stranger to biases and preferences for chance or stability, and frankly? If this was a one-of-a-kind consumable, especially one with a permanent benefit... He just didn’t know if he could take the idea of it failing.

Even though the draconequus (hopefully) couldn't see the text box (or even more hopefully wasn't real), Discord / the figment of Discord chuckled when he / it saw the horn.

"Oh Spike. Ponies just don't seem to understand probability! They complicate it with things like chances and odds, ratios and differences and permutations. As a dragon, you’d be a prime candidate to grok the reality of the situation just a bit better. Really get to the heart of the matter."

"...Go on."

No sweeter pleasure

Discord levered his two arms back and forth like the bars on a scale, weighing out something invisible. With almost anypony else (except maybe Pinkie) Spike would have said ‘metaphorically’ weighing, or even just weighing ‘imaginary’ items. With this guy? No, he was weighing real things. Just not real enough to see.

"The truth is, there's always only two ways a thing like this can go. Either it works-"

Failure Chance: 0%

"-or it doesn't."

Failure Chance: 100%

Spike’s eyes flicked back and forth as the box changed before his eyes: One state and then the other. There was no moment of transition, no process of change. It just blinked instantly, 0 then 100, one hundred and then zero.

He watched it fluctuate for a little while before sighing.
"...Are you saying luck doesn't matter?"

Discord shot him a look so withering that Spike would have been startled awake... if he weren't fairly sure he’d put himself into this dream on purpose.

"I'm saying nothing matters more."

than the one they burned down.

The box continued to flicker back and forth as Spike watched, never settling on any value between the two extremes. There was only success and failure. It was a binary decision. Was it? That was the answer this whole thing was pointing at. Discord, Spike's imagination, the system or his dream or whatever... Seemed to be saying there were only binary decisions: Either he acts or he doesn't, either he makes it or he breaks it. The chances and odds don’t really matter, nor do his thoughts leading up to the decision: In the end there is only the result.

The smile on Discord’s face was a lot wider than the face itself, and the air was filled with static.
"So go on 'whelp', give it a shot! Try your Luck."

So that was where ‘Discord’ stood on the matter: Do it, and let the chips fall where they may.

Which meant the only question left to Spike was just... How did hefeel? How would he handle it?

No greater love

Spike consumed the charm without a second thought.

-but they that are sick.

Chapter 76: Respiration & Reassurance

When his alarm went off in the morning, Spike wasn't surprised to find that he had curled up into the bed at some point and fallen asleep. He was even less surprised to realize that the Unihorn, the steel charm from his first batch of quest rewards, was gone from his Inventory. And of course the most foregone conclusion of the entire lot... Was the message that awaited him.

By taking the first step into risk and chance, you have learned how to [Respire]!

Respire Lv 1 EXP: 0.0% MP: 50+
Equestrian life is meant to keep their magic inside of the body for the most part, only extending it outwards as part of a closed loop. This is the way that Earth Ponies commune with the land, the way that Pegasi touch the clouds, the way that Unicorns extend their auras to 'do' magic. Even dragons using their fire breath form a cycle with the world that allows them to recover remnants of expelled power. Few if any ever learn this, the breathless breath, to truly expel magic.

Using this skill allows for the exhalation of raw magic into the atmosphere.
Respire is immune to, and unaffected by, any method of cost reduction.
The amount of mana spent is the amount of magic expelled, at a 1-1 ratio.
The limitations on speed and scale are lifted as Respire levels.

Spike took a deep breath... and then let go, sending his concentration through throat and cheek and jowl, through tongue and teeth and into the air beyond. The hazy wave that came out with his exhalation wasn't green. It wasn't purple either, or any of the colors of natural fire. It was a misty silver-white, like steam hung in the air. A second box appeared as soon as the aura began to drift and dissipate, so he seized the moment to stabilize the 'cloud' with Stagnet before reading the new message.

A new Command has been added to Stagnet: Fugare, to send forth and project.

"...OK. I can work with that. So if I just..."

He reached out with a claw and began to shape the vapor, using broad sweeping motions and trying to recall the times he'd seen the Weather Team at work. It took several minutes to get moving in the right direction, and he had a lot of setbacks: Sometimes the recoil from one motion would disturb another section and undo his previous work, and other times his hesitation would lead to rebounding and dissipation. Eventually Spike found success copying Fluttershy’s condensation demonstration from the other day. With that in mind he managed to bring the entire pall into one clean sphere, around half its previous size.

Checking his system clock showed that it was still plenty early, and he was likely awake before even Twilight or Pinkie: Which was saying a lot, given that today was The Big Day. That meant he could afford to spend a little more time experimenting before he had to go help get things ready. Setting up a (very ratty, ready-to-be-replaced) pillow to catch the impact, he focused his will onto the cloud-sphere and gave it some marching orders.

"Fugare!"

Stagnet let loose with a sudden audible snap, and the suspended magic rocketed forward all at once. To his Dragon's Mind, he could see that Stagnet's mana was being consumed as fuel to send the mass flying... Which probably meant if he tried this on a freshly-stabilized cloud it would go even faster, or at least further.

Before he could finish thinking about that, the missile struck its target: Cover and stuffing alike were blasted into shreds and scattered, fluff and fabric floating down. Thankfully the damage wasn't higher, (something he rarely thought outside of monster-taming games) or he might have messed up his bed as well.

"Nice! Alright, let's give this another shot but go for something harder. I remember how Arcane was shaping her bullets towards the end of the session yesterday, kind of like..."

A long inhale and a quick puff brought out another clump of power, which got frozen with Stagnet to make it simpler for Spike to shape... Wait. No, scratch that, restart it. He scattered that attempt into shreds and let them dissipate. The third time, he brought the cloud out and started working on it directly: Why sculpt it as a solid with Stagnet when pegasus ponies can obviously craft clouds without that kind of crutch?

Now that he wasn't relying on the training wheels, the cloud was constantly fading and saturating into the air around him: He had to work faster and more precisely. But raw mana turned out to be tricky stuff, warping and twisting from even the slightest motion. Honestly it sorta felt like it responded to his claws before he even moved... in the first place...

"...No way. Wait wait wait, OK. I think-

He looked down at himself and laughed.
“Well, I think that I think."

Spike waved his claw at the vapor from a good two or three feet away, not even making an effort to shape it directly... But in his mind, he visualized the changes he desired. Up until it dissolved into the atmosphere of the room, this was definitely still his mana. So just like a unicorn's penumbral aura...

Through intuitive comprehension of the nature of magic, a skill to shape free-floating mana, [External Mana Control] has been created!

External Mana Control Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% Stamina: Varies
The mind's eye can see many things, including Imago: Your desired future image of the world. By imprinting the willpower and the shape of this desire onto raw magical energy, you can give it shape and move it purely through willworking. This is a key aspect of the mechanism of 'horn magic', as performed by unicorns, changelings, and certain species of dragon.

Allows for the mental control of the user's mana outside of the body.
Distance, precision, speed, flexibility, and number of control points all rise with levels.
Extreme specialization in any of these aspects can produce dedicated subskills.
The practice of EMC without a magic-controlling organ or bodily system is very taxing.

Spike should have been content with just that much: He'd spent an entire precious night of time asleep, making no progress with his skills or quests... Not to mention much of a precious day being sulky and getting down on himself without a good reason. But there was still something bothering him. This was all good progress, but he still had that itch in the back of his mind: It reminded him of the Dragon's Den forming from all of its components the other day. Except there was also an itch in his gut, as if...

"Oh."

He didn't really have to use Omphaloskepsis to check what was going on. It was clear enough in his head: Either things worked, or they didn't. Spike still wasn't powerful enough to handle the Unihorn as a whole, so it was sitting in his stomach. It might have catalyzed these changes, but that wasn’t its whole purpose. So now it was biding its time and waiting for the moment. He didn't plan on making it wait very long: There was already a plan forming, he just had to iron out the details, ideally between now and dinnertime. Speaking of dinnertime?

"I can deal with that later. I feel a lot better now, and I've got a goal to shoot for. So in the meantime? Let's throw a party."

Twilight was her usual self. Well, usual on the day of any major event: Spike couldn't even set one foot out of the bedroom without catching the flare of a dozen spells in the air. Telekinetic auras floated books and quills from place to place, and if it had been anypony else they wouldn't even be able to notice the difference from the start to the finish. But Spike had grown up with Twilight, helped her run this place for years... And he knew when she was distracting herself with minutiae instead of actually doing things.

"Twilight."

His (word-yet-made) teleported upstairs in the blink of an eye, the moment he spoke: It was a bit worse than he initially thought.
"Oh! Good morning Spike! I didn't want to disturb you in case you were doing something important so I've just been working on the shelving and considering our filing system and did you know-"

"Twilight."

She deflated at his tone, stepping back and shrinking down a little. The mania in her mane and eyes faded. After a moment she nodded: They’d had this conversation more than once before, and at this point it had become a little bit rote for both of them. Twilight grinned (unsteadily) as she replied.
"Right. Right. They're our friends. I shouldn't be worried about what they're going to think: That reflects poorly on me more than them, right?"

Spike shrugged and held his claws up in the air, miming the arms of a scale.
"I mean on the one hoof this whole thing is a real big deal, and you've been worrying about it for a year if not longer! That’s a lot to deal with. On the other hoof tho... You've risked your life with the girls multiple times. If anypony can be trusted to have your back when you make a big decision like this it's gotta be them, right?"

Twilight finished calming down and reached over to pull him into a hug. He gladly leaned on her shoulder and smiled, unseen but clearly understood.
"Thanks Spike. I think I just... Honestly I just needed a little outlet like that, and some perspective. Although I do think we could actually use some organizing before they-"

"Nuh-uh. Lunch. First we eat, then we clean."

"It's a lot closer to breakfast time."

He smirked as they pulled back from their hug: If there was one thing Shining Armor had taught him (other than how to hide his comics and how to tackle an epic RPG campaign) it was how to keep Twilight from having a large-scale freakout, and how to manage things afterwards.
.
"No, I mean you're not going to do any organizing until after lunch. We're going to have breakfast, and then we're going to relax for a couple hours. Just unwind with a few books and take it easy. THEN lunch, and then we can worry about things. It would be a real big shame if you ran yourself ragged before the girls even get here tonight, right?"

"...Right."

With that crisis averted, Spike held out a claw for Twilight to take as they trotted to the kitchen: He admittedly had a lot of nerves left to still on his own side, albeit for different reasons. They'd get through it together, same as always.

Author's Note

SOAT will possibly be taking time off for the weirdly-timed Christmas and New Years Fridays of the next two weeks, lack of any actual parties aside. I'll keep you all posted in the case that nothing gets... posted, but on the off-chance that this is the last 'Spikefic' upload of 2020? Thank you all for being here, and I hope to continue serving a story that I personally enjoy creating, for everyone else to find their own joy in.

Regardless: A preemptive (and cautionary) set of Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, and other wintery well-wishes to everybody out there.

The Party: Part 1

Author's Note

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

The Party: Part 1

"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 partyto 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.

The Party: Part 2

Even though they didn't use the 'montage song' this time? The hours between lunch and dinner flew by fast as far as Spike was concerned. Pinkie was a shockingly good teacher for this sort of thing: Running him through the paces of everything from the table settings to the table service, how to fill every role from top to bottom. He knew better than to question how she knew so much about fancy Prench dinner services given her stated aversion to high-class 'stuffy' parties... If he did bother to ask, she'd probably just parrot off something about the Party Patrol or whatever they were called.

After the last few months of spending more time together, and this last week especially getting closer and making hints back and forth... This felt like a calm period, a time for them to be alone together with a task to focus on but no need to worry about ‘that’. Shoulders would bump here and there, Pinkie would straighten his lapels and gaze into his eyes... At some point she'd gotten the top hat back, and he had to admit it suited her.

One of their more playful exchanges was interrupted by distant hoofsteps approaching the Library: Spike recognized it out of habit and his ever-expanding sensory skills, while Pinkie probably got more of a jolt from Pinkie Sense than anything. They both stepped back twice, creating a nicely deniable distance and breaking the spell that hung in the air.

"...Thanks."

"Anytime, Spike."

Spike didn't want to let it go quite so easily, so he winked at her and reached across the gap to brush a claw through her mane, moving a strand out from under the brim of her hat.
"I'll hold you to that."

He quickly turned and made his way to the front door, ignoring the gentle sizzling-steaming sound of Pinkie's overheated expression.

The door opened to reveal quite a few more faces than he was expecting: Rather than arriving one at a time across the course of the next half-hour? All four of the girls had apparently met up on their way through town and trotted to the Library together. Rarity was looking resplendent as always, and there was a brief double-take where she obviously was about to ask 'who he was wearing', so to speak... But then she remembered what he’d been up to lately with his powers, and just smiled.

Applejack hadn't gone out of her way to dress up or down: Mane and tail tied in their usual style, hat omnipresent. Fluttershy was wearing a simple green shift, and Rainbow Dash had a pair of her nicer flight goggles hung around her neck like a talisman. On anypony else it would seem lazy or dismissive, but Spike recognized it as the closest she got to accessorizing outside of the Gala.

"Whoooeee Spike, ya sure went all out! And don't think Ah don't see ya back there Pinkie."

The party planning pony pronked her way over to the front door with a wide smile, already recovered from Spike's little tease... Although not against payback, as she managed to run her tail all the way from his legs up to his neck out of view of the others.
"Hee! I figured if we're going to get together for a shindig we might as well make it a big one!"

"Are we licensed for shindiggery?"

"Yes! But not skullduggery, so please don't stab anypony in the back."

They both cracked up laughing, while their guests mostly just looked bemused or confused. A bit of explaining later and everypony was inside and moving to their seats, with quite a few comments on Pinkie's decorations. Fitting Spike's theory, half the comments were compliments and the other half were surprised that Twilight let her go so far over the top. Not a single pony actually questioned what the decorations were.

Jovial conversations and random pleasantries took up their time for a few minutes. Applejack and Pinkie discussed some techniques for baking filling directly inside of apples, Fluttershy and Rarity discussed their next spa date, and Rainbow Dash grilled Spike about his latest skills and pickups, while he fired back with questions about weather manipulation and her exercise regimens. If he wanted to keep his growth on pace, a personal trainer or at least some solid advice would help.

Quiet fell over the room when the clock struck: While the rest of their friends had a little inkling that tonight was going to be different, between Spike's outfit and the decor? It really struck home when Twilight Sparkle stepped out, precisely on time and not a second earlier. Her earlier point about Pinkie's decorations seemed a little hypocritical given that she was not only wearing a sun dress, but a little amulet of the self-same star. Nopony questioned it, or maybe they all had some idea what this was about: He wouldn't be surprised if they had suspicions like his own.

"Thank you all so much for being here tonight: I'm sorry we're putting on such a production, but as you've probably guessed at this point... Well, we'll have a lot to talk about later. But first, I know I am definitely famished, and Spike decided to go for broke preparing tonight's meal. So... Spike?"

He stood from his chair (making sure to straighten the headcloth Pinkie had made for him) and made a slight bow. Rainbow Dash giggled, and Applejack tipped her hat in return. Fluttershy and Rarity had a better grasp of the formalities involved, while Pinkie and Twilight both just smiled.

Spike was hoping to position this as his last big step out of his 'old' self and into his new life as The Gamer proper. Once this party was over, he'd have all the preparations and concepts set to start properly seeking the Benediction and tackling all the quests ahead. So for tonight? He'd start by honing all his skills, delivering the results of his labor to help and please those close to him.

"Good evening everypony: My name is Spike and I will be both the chef and the table-service waiter for our event. Tonight's meal will be served as seven courses, with coffee to close.”

Rainbow interrupted with a whistled intake of breath, but Rarity nudged her until she was quiet. Spike just smiled and waved his claw: He was going to be hamming it up tonight, no questions. Audience reactions were a positive, not a problem.
"Wine and water are both available at request and tableside, along with simple bread and butter.
Specialty beverages include rose quartz spritzers, emerald juleps, and sapphire cornflower tea."

Applejack seemed surprised at the drink list, but everypony else had either seen or sampled his gem-infused cooking personally. That, and they all trusted him as a friend who cared about their safety.

After a pause requests came up for beverages, and he quickly began procuring one bottle and glass after another from his Inventory. He hadn't been able to get a serving cart on short notice, but blatantly pulling things from thin air was probably more appropriate for his image anyways. A gout of fire breath, twisted in mid-air with External Mana Control, lit the series of candles around the table.

Once everypony was back to talking and enjoying their drinks, he went to present the first dish.

The Party: Part 3

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

The Party: Part 4

Shortly after the coffee was finished they broke out more of the adult beverages: In that time it also became clear that everypony already knew. Not the details, but they had all cottoned on to the fact that Twilight wanted to talk to them about something serious. Obviously positive news, given the decorations and celebratory tone... But the mare still wasn't talking. It took the fortification of even more time (and no small amount of fortified wine) before Twilight steeled herself to speak.

"I just... I love you girls so much."

A chorus of 'aaawww's and a wave of smiles went around the table before she could continue. She even got hugs from both Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, an inveterate hugger and touchy-feely kind of drinker respectively. As the other mares slinked and flapped back to their seats, Twilight took a deep breath.

"And.. But. The thing is, I'm also in love."

"GASP!"

Nopony called Rarity out on her decision to gasp audibly by literally saying the word gasp: It wasn't even in the top twenty as far as dramatics and theatrics went, and it did help lighten the mood.

"I'm in a relationship. With somepony."

There would have been cheers then, if it weren't for Twilight raising a hoof sharply.
"And I have been. For a while. A whole year! I just couldn't, I didn't want to tell anypony or risk word getting out, because..."

"Is it somepony scandalous?"

"Is it somepony famous?"

"...Is it somepony we know?"

Twilight blinked owlishly and processed the questions before replying with a smile.
"Yes. In triplicate."

The technical choice of words was only a brief stumbling block for everypony: All of Twilight's friends were used to her being Twilight, sometimes moreso than usual. With a last swig to drain the glass, she leaned back and looked up. All of their friends mostly watched her chair to make sure she wasn’t about to fall over backwards, but Spike knew to look elsewhere. He watched her gaze catch on one of the many decorations in the air above- a stylized sun that, on closer inspection, should have been familiar to anypony looking.

"I'm in love with Princess Celestia. And the two of us are dating. Courting? Rarity, is it courting if-"

Whatever her question was, it would have to wait for later: All five of her best friends dogpiled onto Twilight with a singular hugging intent before she could finish speaking. Spike dodged the group hug for the sake of both his friends (he wasn't quite as cuddly as he used to be) and his outfit: He'd already had to sneak off and replace the thing three times during the meal.

The next few minutes were a chaotic mess of questions, declarations, answers, and rebuttals.

"Holy horsefeathers... Like, literally! Hahaha, good pickup Twi!"

"Shucks hun that's great news!"

"I had a feeling it might have been... well."

"Did you now, dear? I know it never came up during our spa dates..."

"Well I wouldn't want to say something so important on just a hunch."

"I knew in advance! Not like, super-duper in advance, but somepony had to plan all this party!"

Once things calmed down and everypony got back into some semblance of order, the actual conversation could begin. Twilight explained (some) of the same things to the others that she had told Spike previously, and answered what questions she could. In return, everypony was equally supportive and encouraging, with some bringing up their past realizations on the topic.

Applejack, it turned out, had some clue that Twilight was up to something consistent out of town. She paid too much attention to schedules and seasons to not notice the increasingly-common trips out to Canterlot, but hadn't put two and two together aside from that: She figured that if Twilight wanted to tell her, she would do it in good time.

Neither Rainbow Dash nor Rarity had managed to figure it out in advance. A fact which Dash took in stride, but which Rarity treated as a failing of her romantic acumen.

Fluttershy... had gotten to the opposite half of the conclusion from Applejack: While she didn't realize Twilight was leaving for Canterlot any more often than usual, it had been clear to her that the unicorn was romantically interested in the Princess... Apparently for quite a bit longer than anypony suspected.

"How long!?"

"Um. Ever since... the start, really? Almost the entire time we've known each other. Definitely since the first Gala, at least."

"...REALLY."

"You just get this... spark, when you talk about her. It's very endearing actually! It reminds me of some of the Neighponese comics I've been reading lately, now that I think about it."

Eventually Twilight's incredulity dissolved into laughter, and the rest of them fell into the same pace. Spike couldn't wipe the smile off his face, even as he continued to ply his newfound skills as an unobtrusive server. All the worries, the stress, the buildup? It was all behind them now: They'd arrived. Twilight finally got her secret off of her back, and everypony here loved and accepted her all the same. She probably wouldn't be going public with things anytime soon, but... Well, that could wait.

Over the course of the evening their conversation kept returning to the topic of romance: Pinkie Pie traded what Spike hoped were a few knowing glances with him, and otherwise kept mum. Rainbow Dash had interesting things to say about the Wonderbolts, and nopony questioned the distinct blush she had when talking about both Spitfire and Soarin. Applejack was just as married to her work as always, but that didn't keep her from encouraging the others.

All in all, the night wound on as their weekly get-togethers often did: Ponies filtered in and out of the room (and the conversation) while Spike hung back and kept the wheels greased. By the time he started overtly gathering glasses and plates to prepare the cleanup, ponies were beginning to say their farewells: No sleepover tonight, and if Twilight's buoyant energy was any indication? Maybe no sleep at all.

Eventually they were alone again, and Twilight turned to him with a brilliant smile. She seemed even brighter than she had earlier, as if a filter had been lifted off and revealed more light from underneath.

"I did it, Spike. I actually told them."

"Yup! Hit it out of the park if I say so myself."

"...It feels like such an enormous weight off me. I mean, it was never a problem keeping things quiet, but-"

"-but you still wanted to climb up onto Town Hall and shout it from the spires, right?"

Her purple cheeks went swiftly brick red, and a stray magic aura swatted at his spines.
"Shush. Also yes. But shush."

"Still, I'm glad it all went off without a hitch! Everypony enjoyed the food, I didn't mess up during the service, no problems in the reveal, and the girls were totally supportive."

"True, all true... Oh! That reminds me, Spike, the food was fantastic. I'm still surprised by how much I enjoyed the potatoes."

"I mean, dragon, so it never bothered me anyway... But agreed. Top 5 of the night from where I sta-"

His reply was cut off by the crisp ding of a notification: Specifically from his Mail system.

"...Mail call!"

"Really?"

A genteel cough and subsequent gout of flame (no longer necessary, but still kinda fun) brought out two gold-sealed letters. One was addressed to him, the other to Twilight. Both, naturally, were from Princess Celestia: Luna had a penchant for changing up the wax on almost every missive, but her sister was consistent.

Twilight levitated her letter over while Spike literally clawed open the seal in order to read his own.

Dear Spike,

I apologize profusely for the time it has taken to get these letters to you and Twilight. That would have been the case multiple days ago, but then your (very appreciated) snacks arrived by way of dragonfire. Then Luna informed me of your situation. Needless to say, if I was already apologetic before those events? I am positively mortified now. I owe you quite a lot, dear nephew.

They were, after all, extremely good snacks.

Here the letter was interrupted by a tiny stylized drawing that Spike recognized as Celestia's own self-caricature, winking with an air of sarcastic glee. Sometimes her replies could get a little 'venty' like this, especially after a long week dealing with the nobles. Given that he'd sent her and Luna the letter about Discord more than a week ago now? Yeah, she had probably been dealing with a lot.

According to my assistants I managed to get through this week without shouting at anypony, which I am going to chalk up to a minor miracle given that, in my head, the screaming was without any end or succor.

...In all seriousness, it has been a trying time, and I regret that my time will continue to be tried somewhat regularly for the foreseeable future. My intention, in a perfect world, would be to spend as much uninterrupted time with you and Twilight as possible in light of your development, and the... well, the proverbial cat being let out of the bag on my relationship.

Another aside, this time written in the margins of the scroll: Relationship. After so long. What a wonderful word!

Unfortunately, and despite my best efforts, we do not live in a perfect world.

Which is not to say I do not strive to perfect it. As such, please find enclosed a list of dates and times when the two of you can come to Canterlot for an initial... How would Twilight phrase it? Information-sharing session? Data-gathering, perhaps. Regardless, after we have established the baseline in that meeting, we can endeavor to set aside a longer visit in the coming months.

Be well, and always strive to keep learning.

Your Ally Always,
Princess Celestia

P.S. It would be convenient if your studies involved sending more snacks. And perhaps earplugs?

Spike pulled the set of dates out from the smaller piece of included parchment, then looked up.
"I'm going to guess we got pretty similar letters, although yours probably had the sarcasm and jokes replaced with lovey-dovey mushy stuff?"

Twilight's magenta aura ripped the letter down from her face, but unfortunately that just revealed her cheeks blushing the same color: Bingo.

"Aaahh, well... Specific contents aside, yes, I imagine we received similar schedules."

He didn't press her any further, especially since she could probably just turn it around on him with how he'd been acting around Pinkie Pie earlier. Which... fair. Mutually assured embarrassment wasn't the goal, so instead they compared calendars and debated dates. After several minutes they came to a conclusion, composed a pair of replies, and then Spike sent them on their way.

Author's Note

Chapter 80
The Party: Part 4
- OR -
Tipsy Twilight's Romantic Revelation

The Party: Part 5

Author's Note

Chapter 81
The Party: Part 5
- OR -
Rewards, Reassurance, Returns

The Party: Part 5

Twilight happily tapped one hoof against the air her letter had just occupied.
"Although I'm feeling emotionally drained, I'm actually pretty innervated. And in addition to the schedule, my letter contained some new magical exercises for getting used to... well, you know. I assume you're going to keep working on your own skill progression, Mr. Gamer?"

"For sure! I don't want those buffs to go to waste. Oh! I almost forgot, once we wrapped up the meal I got a bunch of rewards. Want to help me sort through the changes before we split up?"

His (companion?) smiled at him and gestured over to the couch, extra strands of her magic almost passively working to reconfigure the table and shelves at the same time.
"Gladly!"

They both plopped down into the cushions and Spike re-opened all of the windows he had closed prior. It wasn't a huge surprise to see that some of them were shrouded in mystery: His system really did seem to enjoy presenting him with puzzles. The difference this time, compared to the odd Masteries he was working on from the Crusaders?

"I think I know what that one is."

When Twilight didn't immediately follow, he realized the problem: A quick Party invite made it so he could share his ‘window view’ with her. Once she could see, he pointed a claw to the very first box in the set:

Affinity for the Element of ???? has begun to grow.

"Oh? The message is pretty bare-bones: Why are you so certain with so little context?"

"That's exactly why! It's phrased differently from any of the past messages about affinity, and it happens to lean into a theory I had the other day. So I'm not perfectly certain, but... within a margin of error, I think that must be either Generosity or Laughter."

Twilight took a sharp intake of breath and was about to reply when the window itself changed.

Affinity for the Element of Generosity has begun to grow.

He was going to shoot her a jokingly-smug grin, but then more windows piled on.

You gained a point of Intelligence through logical deduction!
You gained a point of Wisdom through prudence and guile!
You gained a point of Luck through fortuitous guessing!

"...Well, I guess those training enhancements you cooked up must be working overtime!"

"Haha! Guess so. But yeah, I had just thought the other day about whether Elemental Affinity would include The Elements... Glad to see I was right."

Twilight rubbed a hoof along his shoulder with a smile, looking wistfully at the message window.
"I'll admit I might be a little jealous: It's not so easy for the rest of us to know we're on the right track."

"I'll see if there isn't something I can do about that, in the long run. But I think you're doing a pretty awesome job all on your own Twilight! So don't stress it too hard."

"Awwww! Thank you, Spike."

After they shared a quick sideways hug across the length of the couch, Spike opened another one of the dismissed windows. This one was another partial-progress message, sans mystery.

You have cleared the first hurdle towards becoming a [Spirit Chef]

This time he wasn't the one to figure out the details right off the bat.
"A title for cooking magical food? Or more specifically food that elevates the diners, I'd suppose."

"A title or a class, probably: Although I'm not sure if there's any difference for me? When this all started the character sheet had me down as The Gamer for both. And I haven't seen anypony with a listed Class yet, although I still can't really see the sheets in much detail for higher-level ponies."

"Well, I suppose you'll just need to keep an eye on it."

Third was... a new kind of window he hadn't seen before. This one was far smaller, totally square, and had a single interior square on the inside below text... Basing it on other games he had seen with this kind of user interface, this was an alert with an item inside of it. The comparison bore out when he 'clicked' the smaller square, producing...

"...Isn't that the outfit you were already wearing?"

Spike ran his claws over the fabric, careful not to damage it... Although he quickly realized he might not need to bother: It felt far more durable than the scale costumes he'd been using, and maybe even more durable than a fabric outfit was ever meant to be.

"Not exactly. That was just a kind of piecemeal disguise, but apparently I used it enough in the right circumstances to get rewarded with, I dunno, a permanent copy? The 'real' thing?"

"Interesting! I notice it's missing the hat. Does that have some significance?"

He thought back to the conversations with Pinkie Pie earlier, a blush flashing across his cheeks.
"Y-yeah. Nothing to worry about, just... No need to make a duplicate of the hat. I heard somewhere that copies diminish the original on some level, you know?"

"If you insist: Your ‘system’ is a subject where you definitely know more than anypony else."

"Hah, well..."

Spike didn't actually have a response to that, so he just let it pass into a brief period of silence. Before things could get awkward he opened the next message: Second to last, and a big one.

Through a perfectly-presented performance, Balanced Soul has gained ten levels!

Twilight's low whistle cut through Spike's own surprise, and he opened his main character sheet to be sure. That backed up what the other window said: The bonus to all of his base stats (even with their current lopsidedness) had made it to +4%. Putting the buff from the meal on top made them all significantly higher... Even higher than they should have been, actually. Almost twice as high...

Rather than voice his suspicion in advance, he just opened the last window.

For serving an inaugural feast, all buffs and bonuses from food are doubled for 48 hours.

That was big enough that neither of them had a response at first, electing to just stare at the words. Eventually Twilight asked the most Twilight-y question, under the circumstances.
"From when you got the message, or from when you opened it?"

Jerking his thumb across empty space at the flurry of stat gains that followed his guess about the Generosity Affinity, he gave a helpless smile.
"Been on the whole time, as far as I can tell: So minus an hour or two by now."

She stood up from the couch and, almost as an afterthought, tapped the button to remove herself from the party with her horn. Spike closed all the windows and followed her up, even as she began to trot across the library floor.
"Don't waste time on my account, Spike: Don't you want to take advantage of the opportunity?"

...Gosh, it was nice having family that really understood you.
"For sure! Are you gonna be alright-"

"While it might not always seem like it during a research binge, I can make food for myself Spike."

He just stared at her. Silent. Accusing. Knowing.
"..."

"...Sandwiches. Or a salad. Or I can just order something! Anyways, time is a precious resource: Go use it! I don't want to have to shoo you out of the Library myself."

They both started laughing, and he gave her a quick hug before turning to head for the door.
"See you in a few days then: I've got just the place in mind to really get this started."

Spike had a plan. It wasn't fully-fleshed yet, but he knew roughly what to do and exactly where to go. The Unihorn he had consumed earlier was still waiting to be absorbed, since he didn't meet the (problematically unlisted) requirements to use it correctly. He was a little worried about letting it sit too long, but he was also just generally running out of patience. Between growing up with Twilight and spending time with Celestia, he was incredibly suited towards taking the long angle on things and building up a stable base before he risked anything...

But he was also young, and a dragon, and a young dragon, and The Gamer. There's only so far that prep can get you before you just need to sink your teeth into the problem, and he felt like this was the tipping point. If he used this period correctly, he might skyrocket in power overnight (well, over two nights, but semantics) and make serious strides into the future.

Right now his baseline stats were all around 25 across the board: A few up, a few down. None lower than 20, so that already put him well past double where he'd started. But those were just the base stats: The Creative Kitchen buffs were pushing him well past the 50s with their doubled potency. And that was only the half of it, literally: The other Creative Kitchen buffs made it easier for him to train his stats even further, and were also doubled.

The thing about training is that it requires a baseline: Up to a certain point, the hardest hurdle is getting your stats (literal or metaphorical) raised to the point that you can train effectively. It's hard to study without understanding the concepts, you can't lift much weight until you're already strong enough, and you can't do any training for long until your stamina improves. With artificially-boosted stats from the meal and rewards? Spike knew that he could do tougher more-demanding training than he could normally take, which would then have enhanced results... Results amplified several times, actually!

The first amp was the food buffs themselves, and the second was the reward doubling them. A third was that his stats were only so high because of the buffs: When they went back to normal, he wouldn't lose the progress he made. But he would have made that progress 'early' in terms of the actual base, so the results would be bigger and future training would be smoother. Diminishing returns would kick in far later than usual, and he would be able to make up for his 'wasted' years.

...He'd have to look into training with the Crusaders again sometime soon. With a regimen of the Creative buffs from food or Layer, he could help them turn their already high-for-their-level stats into something truly impressive. But to help others you need to help yourself first, so until this reward bonus wore off?

Spike was heading to the Arcade.

Zero Hour: Part 1

Not only was Arcane Ammo's All-Day Arcade open all day, as the name implied, but it was a veritable treasure trove for training stats if you knew where to look. Strength and Vitality would be a little difficult, but those were also the easiest to train through traditional methods. Dexterity was a given for anything that called on precise manipulation or tight reactions, Intelligence and Wisdom came naturally from planning and problem solving... But Luck. Oh stars above, Luck was where this was really going to pay out.

Once he got inside, Spike had a plan of attack: He would start with a route through the games he had suspicions about, playing short rounds to see if there was any feedback. Based on those first findings he would assemble a list of the best avenues for growth. Then he could hunker down and really convert all those bits from his quest rewards into something truly valuable: Experience.

Almost every game with both a character growth system and expendable currency had a way to make transfers between them, or at least sacrifice one on the altar of the other. Shadow Spirits and Marrowmade, as well as their imitators? They cut out the middlemare and just made the two systems the same: Currency used to buy items could also be invested into your character, infused to purchase stats... Assuming you didn't die, dropping all your currency in the Puddle of Shame.

Spike had a feeling that the Arcade would be his own route for converting cash to progression: Coin-op arcade games took all the potential training and stat growth of Joyboy and home console games but added the resource sink of pay-per-play. It wasn't certain, but he hoped that by putting a cost onto the process he was inherently giving it more 'value', increasing the yields for his effort. It's one thing to test your Luck with a coin flip, and another entirely to bet your week's allowance.

He didn't see either of the Ammos when he got inside, but that was fine: He would say hello if he saw them, and no big deal if he didn't. It would be nice to ask them about some training tips from the Night Guard perspective... But that bridge could get crossed when it came. First? Game tests.

...Some time later...

"Well... Alright. Not as good as I hoped, but some pretty positive surprises."

Spike had started by checking options he knew would be fruitless, just for confirmation: Trail Untrodden was almost entirely deterministic and tactical, minimal Luck involved and only in the setup. Monkey Emulator looked extremely chaotic, but it was mostly just physics being enacted to a very illogical conclusion: Chaotic but consistent, sensible silliness... Which meant it wouldn't be much use for Luck grinding.

The second tier were games he hoped would be really good yields, but ended up being modestly useful at best. The Stricture of Steven's randomized dungeon-crawling, inspired by Gridslash and Bandit, only got him so far: Just like its spinoff The Myth of Hobo-Jo, the game handed the player random tools over the course of the run and simply asked that they survive using them. That did get him some Luck, but not quickly or easily. Runs were too slow, and he was good enough at the game that the random elements only held so much influence.

The biggest success... Well it was obvious, so he set it aside for now. The biggest surprise had been Basilisk's Lair and its many copycats. Stunningly animated marvels, especially given their age; they were games about moving through a pre-built animation, making split-second decisions that would either save or destroy your character. Games of the genre were technically almost set in stone: You might encounter rooms in a different order, but the solution to each room was fixed.

Why then did he get fully four points of Luck when grinding through a not-even-successful run of one such game? Spike initially thought it might have been the sheer cost of play, at 1 bit per play and instant death for failure... But then another working theory came along. When he played the game well, working on the memories and successes of past runs... The Luck stopped going up. At that point it just became mediocre Dexterity and Intelligence training, at a steep price in coin.

Then he switched to one of the sequels he had never played before, and focused entirely on just trying to predict the right answers: And there it was. When the flashes and hints came on screen too fast for his reaction time, and he didn't have foreknowledge to work from? That just left fate as the only hoof on the rudder! It doesn't really matter if a situation is actually random, it matters if he has any way to influence it. When the results are out of his claws, even foregone conclusions start to involve a little bit of Luck.

If he hadn't happened upon that lucky (heh) break, he would have defaulted to the guaranteed winner of the category: Actual straight-up gambling. There were almost no such machines in the Arcade, but that didn't mean absolutely none, and it wouldn't have taken long to find somepony with a pack of cards or a pouch of dice and some bits to burn if that failed. Spike didn't need to fall back on that option in the end, and he was rewarded for his investigation in more ways than one.

By fastidiously studying the options and finding a hidden gem, you gained 2 Luck and 2 Wisdom!

Hilariously, after two hours the majority of his Wisdom gains had been from things like that: Making wise calls about how to train his other stats, as opposed to playing games that taxed his decision-making ability. Spike absolutely wasn't one to look over a gift freely given, so he just kept riding that wave and testing more varied experiences. Maybe they had one of those old-timey strength-testing games in the back somewhere...

While Spike didn't end up finding a strength-testing game, he made a lot of other discoveries. Some were useful to his new life-as-a-game: Attribute training avenues, games that he could play while still qualifying for Exposure, that sort of thing. Others were purely beneficial to his peace of mind and less immediately useful: A new series he hadn't seen before, a game he had thought was packed away years ago. After a few hours of searching, most importantly?

He managed to accidentally find the most important thing of all: A friend.

...Does it count if they're already a friend? Does it count if they find you? Regardless.

At one point he had been moving between sections of the Arcade, making sure not to bump into anypony but otherwise just sort of autopiloting through the food court... But then he was interrupted by a polite, demure, familiar cough. He spun on his heel to confirm his thought.

"Rarity?"

The mare in question trotted over to him, looking exactly as bright and beautiful as always... Give or take the addition of a pair of saddlebags overflowing with many of her tools of the trade.

"Yes! Funny to see you here, Spike... Well, I suppose not surprising funny, given your situation... Still! Humorous circumstantially. Shouldn't you be home with Twilight after her big day?"

"To be honest I think she's better off having alone time after a big social event like that. I might unwind fine in a place like this, but Twilight's happy to recharge solo. And I should be saying the same to you, more or less: What are you doing out this late after the big party?"

His former crush coughed into one fetlock, hiding her expression for a moment.
"Yes, well... It was just such big news! I must admit I got struck and swept away by a wave of inspiration almost immediately, and the sheer pressure of it drove me for some hours. Once I caught a breath, I realized that one of my ideas was best suited to Auntie, so... Here I am!"

On one hand Spike wondered how much of that sudden jag of inspiration had to do with the news, and how much had to do with the significant boosts to Wisdom and Intelligence (and even Luck) from the meal. On the other side of things, it could just as easily be both or neither: Inspiration was fickle weird stuff. He'd just take pride in the fact that she found her work a little easier with his unspoken and (mostly) unintended help.

"Finally going to make good on that threat about the lace?"

"Pfftpsh, no, that was just ribbing between family! This outfit should be significantly more rugged and suited to her active lifestyle: Not my usual affairs, but I feel she'd appreciate the gesture. Not to mention I could quite easily adapt it for Uncle Pierce! Couples outfits are terribly chic right now."

Spike didn't really know either of the Ammos well enough to reply to that: Family could be weird sometimes. Instead he just followed Rarity as she began trotting away, until he realized where she was going.

"...Do you think they're in their office? I didn't see them on the floor at all when I came in."

"Ah! Well that's no issue at all: Aunt Ammo always answers when I knock at their house, and since I received no reply? One option remains. As such!"

Rarity put a hoof to the door and opened it with her usual dramatic flair, probably expecting to catch one of her relatives in the middle of some paperwork. What she likely didn't expect was the very thing that happened: A diffuse cloud of blue and black pomf'd out of the open door and spread through the air in front of her face.

"Hark, I suspect I heard... Oh!"

Spike didn't get a chance to react (to say even less of the stunned Rarity) as they both got pulled into a sudden embrace by one of Equestria's Princesses. Luna was wearing her full regalia and taking up a significant chunk of Arcane's office, although she managed to drag them both inside in the process of a hug using both wings and legs. Her (loud) regal voice boomed in the confined space as the door was shut behind them.

"What fortuitous luck the two of you should come at such an hour!"

"Ah, p-princess I didn't mean to-"

Princess Luna seemed to realize how sudden and jarring her action had been, and the realization stunned her just as much as the actual tackle had impacted Rarity. She stepped back as if burnt and held a hoof up in a gesture of deference.

"My apologies as well! I had simply been planning to visit you both before the night was out, so the coincidence caught me quite unawares. How nice for all my intended targets of visitation to find themselves in one place and time!"

Spike blinked his eyes clear of Luna's flowing mane and looked further into the room. In what little space remained on the far side of the desk, he saw Arcane and Piercing Ammunition. Arcane was still trying to keep up a semblance of a formal stance, while Pierce was mostly just holding back laughter. Neither of them seemed nearly surprised as... any of the rest of them.

He turned back to the Princess and went to greet her... then interrupted himself almost instantly.
"Hey L-... oh."

[La Lune]
Luna
LV ???

Zero Hour: Part 2

[La Lune]
Luna
LV ???

WELP that raised an uncomfortable number of questions. In a rare event ever since his power came to be, Spike was stunned silent. At least until that very same pony interrupted his racing thoughts.

"Nephew, art thou ill?"

"N-no! Just uh... Kinda surprised by something. I can tell you all about it later: Maybe in a letter?"

A letter would be their default form of communication, of course: Adding the 'maybe' implied, at least he hoped it implied, discussing the question of her Level in a dream visit. What he didn't expect was for Luna to take an entirely different tack: She turned and looked to Arcane and Piercing instead.

"May I take the liberty of silencing the room?"

The withering stare the unicorn Night Guard shot her boss was so strong it nearly peeled the moisture off of Spike's scales.
"You insisted you didn't need to bother when you came here with direct orders, but now you want to opt for privacy? Not my place to question I guess: Fire away."

Rarity seemed vaguely scandalized that her Aunt was backtalking the Princess, but she didn't get a chance to question it as Luna was already casting her spell. Spike immediately kicked on Dragon's Mind to attempt to figure something out, but no dice: Just like with Rarity's most complex attack the other day, his MP crashed out within seconds of trying to parse the advanced magic.

"There! Quite secure if I were to be asked. Now, shall I restart explaining from the top?"

That finally got Rarity's voice back in action, as she tried to figure out her place in this.
"I, um, that is... Should we be here for this? I try not to stick my muzzle into their work when possible, after all."

"Miss Rarity, I did choose to include you in this conversation with deliberate intention. Although you are free to leave if you do not feel comfortable."

"No no! Just... asking."

"Thank you for being willing to ask: I do not wish to make you displeased. I merely concluded, upon yours and Spike's arrival, that perhaps I may be able to solve several problems at the same time tonight."

From the sharp intake of breath across the desk, he assumed either Arcane or Piercing had just figured out what she meant by that: Which put them well ahead of Spike himself. He was willing to hazard a guess on part of it, though... Maybe it was the buffed Intelligence talking? Either that or he was just being hopeful, thinking back to his wishful daydreams as a hatchling.

"You have direct orders for your Night Guards, and you're OK with Rarity and me hearing about it. So it probably involves something in or around Ponyville that isn't too risky or secret. And the second half, solving multiple problems at once... You think I, or both of us, could help with what they're doing somehow?"

Luna's smile was broad and genuine, and she pulled him forward with one wing once he finished.
"As I said before, my most singular and favorite nephew, you really are my kin: Correct on both counts."

It was kind of funny: Earlier in the week, he had gone out of his way to tell all of Twilight's friends about his Gamer abilities. That had been intended to get it out of the way and keep him from wasting time and attention telling anypony on the night of her big reveal. But now it looked like he was going to be telling the story again before the night was out regardless.

- - - [SOME TIME LATER] - - - -

His explanation of The Gamer was met with stoic faces from both Ammos: Unsurprisingly, maybe. They had been telling him about ponies they knew with strange personal magic previously. That meant the idea of a dragon with an even weirder magic portfolio? Probably not a big shocker. On top of the general explanation of his abilities, he covered the current short-lived growth benefits (but not their origin, of course) which had brought him to the Arcade tonight to begin with.

Luna's generally affable expression grew even more obviously happy when he mentioned those buffs, so he had a feeling her plan was bolstered by that fact. At the same time, Rarity looked contemplative over the information... Maybe she was ascribing her earlier burst of inspiration to the effects? He didn't think it was so cut and dry, but they'd probably have to discuss that later.

Arcane sighed.
"So that's why you were so confident you could learn attack magic from me, huh?"

He sighed and scratched the fins behind his head.
"Yeah... And I made a breakthrough on that earlier! Next time should go way more smoothly."

"It has also had some interesting effects on how quickly he can communicate with my sister and I: Would you care to demonstrate, Spike?"

The fact that she was asking him to demonstrate this now meant it would probably be useful for her plan... Which made him even more excited about the prospect. He closed his eyes (almost entirely for show) and jotted down a quick letter through the system before mentally hitting the 'Send' button.

Before his eyes were even open again, a puff of green fire had produced a scroll directly above Luna's muzzle. Spike almost never got to see his own sending ability from this side of things, and now he wondered if any of his previous packages had bonked Princess Celestia on the snoot... Thankfully the Gamer's Mind kept him from cracking up at the mental image.

Both of the Ammos were clearly surprised at the quick missive. And while Piercing looked more intrigued than anything, his wife? Arcane had a dour frown and raised brows, looking at Luna with her muzzle wrinkled. She questioned Luna, and her line of questioning confirmed Spike's hope / suspicion.
"You want us to bring him along as a relay for information?"

Luna scoffed as she unfurled the scroll and looked it over, covering her mouth with a hoof.
"Of course not!"

"Fair enough. Pardon me for sus-"

"I want one of you to bring Spike along as the primary actor in the operation. The other can just stay here: Arcane, perhaps? You and Rarity could join me for an impromptu, as they say, 'Girl's Night' to pass the time!"

Piercing's stiff upper lip cracked with a suppressed chuckle, and even Rarity reacted with... well, it definitely wasn't shock or anger. Pride, maybe? He could get behind that. But Arcane, she was far far less pleased.
"Really, Princess? I could absolutely understand having a relay for short coded messages, but you're telling me to sit around chit-chatting with you while we send an inexperienced civilian with a niche ability-"

The alicorn cut her subject off, not with a verbal disruption, but by flipping the sheet of paper around. Spike had to admit he was extremely happy with how his Gamer powers meshed in this particular case: After picking up Photographic Speedreading the other day, his ability to transcribe text had approached instant speed, as if he were printing his System's menus and his thoughts directly from a game's screen.

So where Arcane had probably expected to see a short message of a few words? The parchment actually held Spike's entire character sheet (buttons and all) plus a transcription of the sentences they had exchanged moments before. For a kicker, the conversation made each speaker clear with matching fonts and colors: He'd expanded his inventory of inks during one of his previous shopping trips, and was glad to see the experiment pay off now.

"...OK, even with that level of communications, isn't this classed as a significant danger? The Guard doesn't deputize random ponies these days, especially not without endurance training."

"No risk at all, if I were to be asked. The biological differences of ponies and dragons aside... Spike, what's the worst injury you've suffered since 'becoming' The Gamer? I admit to being curious regardless, since I very much doubt I have heard all of your stories just yet."

Hrm. That was actually a pretty good question.
"Worst injury? Uhh... In terms of severity I'm going to say it's a tie between the first time I lit my entire mana system on fire or one of the times Sweetie Belle cut my arms off."

Rarity's ensuing screech was absolutely worth revealing that one: He'd have to apologize to Sweetie later, given that her sister was probably going to talk her ear off in the near future.
"ONE of the times? Arms PLURAL!?"

"What can I say, for somepony who can't cook very well she's really adept with a kitchen knife. Oooh actually I wonder if I could get her to help me with mise en place next time?"

"I... Hrmf. HRMF I say."

Even as Rarity scoffed, Arcane held up her hooves in defeat. Spike did notice she was also sneaking peeks at his shoulders to make sure they were still attached.
"Alright, alright: Point conceded. He'll come back from a mission of this grade safely even if you sent him alone. And I guess I don't really object on any serious grounds, apart from making certain that you are certain. It's just... Why not send all three of us, if you're looking to take advantage of his 'bonus time' or whatever?"

This time the Princess took her time considering the objection. Eventually her horn lit and traced a few graceful arcs through the air. The magical clouds came together into a set of basic charts: One had three lines and the other two. On both, one green line started far lower than the others, and made a sharp rise over the course of the graph. The main difference was that on the three-line chart, that line's rise was significantly constrained, as if the other two were pushing it down with their stature alone. Despite that, the other lines underwent no change in either chart.

"Division of labor and division of experience: From the conversations I have already had with young Spike in the past, it seems his power operates off of extremely game-like logic. Even if he did the entirety of the work? I fear the mere presence of multiple sources of strong backup would have a negative impact, leeching potential benefits away to little gain. And as you said, this task is not at all on the riskier side: What better time to introduce a squire to the field?"

"...Fine. Minimal objections retracted, do what you want. I guess I'd be glad to entertain you and Rares in their absence. Pierce, you haven't put a single word in edgewise yet. Thoughts?"

The pegasus finally stepped forward with a smile, although that seemingly-friendly expression had the edge of an experienced drill commander.
"Mostly just... pleasantly surprised: Once we moved out here I thought I wouldn't have the chance to train up a new cadet anytime soon. What's your combat experience like, Spike?"

Zero Hour: Part 3

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Zero Hour: Part 4

Author's Note

Chapter 85
Zero Hour: Part 4
- OR -
Slowly, Scrutiny, Sensory

Zero Hour: Part 4

They got out past the grasslands and into the rocky borderlands without any trouble. Past there led into the hills and (eventually) the cresting mountains and valleys around Ponyville. A river cut through the ground not too far away, and the pre-dawn air was humid despite the lack of plant life.

"...Slow to pace."

It only took Spike a second to parse the command: He cut his speed down without making any sudden movements, just leisurely dialing it back. Piercing turned his head here and there, his tufted ears bobbing to an unseen rhythm. He also didn't stop, so Spike made sure to not slow down any more than the officer.

"Do you know the local pest population very well, Spike?"

"Not really? I'm more used to the stuff closer to town, or in the edges of the Everfree: I thought the whole Diamond Dog thing meant there weren't many pests out here to begin with. Too easy to get made into a snack, right?"

"Half-right. Whatever's causing the dogs to come out here... Well either that same thing is also driving away other creatures? Or the Diamond Dogs themselves are scaring away the locals. I'm seeing a lot of tracks that are... way too small for hooves or paws: Look there."

Piercing gestured with one wing at a stretch of scuffed ground not far away, and Spike looked at the berm with a curious eye. While Observe was useful, he was trying not to rely on it in excess. He hadn't picked up many other sensory skills yet, but just checking with his own abilities...

"Thinner and smaller than anything I can name, but still pretty big like, relatively speaking."

"Correct. No drag marks either, so the species probably lifts their legs very quickly after stepping."

"Lots of prints though, so something that moves in big groups? Or a lot of repeat movement."

"Or a lot of legs on each individual."

...Eugh. While that narrowed it down to one thing, that one thing was guaranteed to be a pain.
"Bugs, huh."

Pierce shrugged and continued his forward movement, now incredibly slow.
"Way too big for normal bugs, so probably a hybrid. We'd know if it was a Bugbear though..."

Spike had some vague memories of seeing a Bugbear illustrated in diagrams back at the Library. Given that he was pretty sure that book used an Ursa Minor for scale, he really wanted nothing to do with that at the moment. Assured they wouldn't be walking into the den of such a huge creature (or at the very least that Sense Danger would kick in first), he decided to keep the slow walking pace Piercing had set.

"I can make out several burrows, caved-in and filled up. Not full-fledged Diamond Dog tunnels, but not much smaller either. We're getting close to the reported encroachment zone, so eyes open."

"I'm gonna guess that the same goes for you and that it goes without saying?"

That earned him a wry smile from the Guard.
"Bingo: But since this trip is partially for your sake and I'm technically only here as backup, don't be too shocked if I don't tell you about things in advance. A little ambush can be good for you!"

"I think the usual joke about 'character building' is a lot more literal for me so I'll skip it."

Piercing didn't reply with a joke of his own, which was fine by Spike: He wasn't going to be saying much for a bit either. The pace gave him a chance to drop down and focus on meditation. Exposure went to work in order to bring Spike up to his peak and then past it. He started to hum to himself, a slow internal song that picked up the pace until Cantus came into full swing as well.

All of his buffs were doubled up from the original source (refreshed with raw materials) and Layer. His excess MP recovery that wasn't reserved for recasting Layer was pushed into Dragon's Heart. Cantus was running at full strength, all of its special MP generation directed through the broadest song he had, Art of the Dress. His food buffs were boosted by the party reward, and he was ready to use Dragon's Scales and pivot his song to Birthday Telegram if anything tried to attack him.

The results?

Name: Spike
Class: The Gamer
Title: Number One Assistant

Level: Lv 14
HP: 2,104 / 2,104
MP: 3,505 / 3,549

STR: 25 (76) (-) (+)
DEX: 28 (74) (-) (+)
VIT: 26 (68) (-) (+)
INT: 27 (72) (-) (+)
WIS: 27 (72) (-) (+)
LUK: 29 (69) (-) (+)

POINTS: 78 (Confirm?)

Yeah the results were extremely satisfying.

It was a bit of a shame that his Arcade binge earlier had produced such lopsided results. Not a single good Strength-increasing experiment across multiple hours, but enough Luck and Dexterity to drown in. Balanced Soul was pretty ticked at him, insomuch as a purely mechanical system even could be ticked: He'd have to try to tailor his training to even those lumps out as much as possible, if only to maximize his bonus XP from the quest reward.

Of course to even get a quest reward he would need to clear the quest: No more delaying. Spike continued to move slowly alongside Piercing, taking in the scenery and getting a feel for how to really properly use his eyes. The ground around them was pocked with a large number of ex-holes, the remains of tunnels or burrows of some kind. He'd seen enough Ponyville lawns ravaged by some variety of rabbit or groundhog to not recognize it, but...

Looking from one scarred spot to another, Spike agreed that these were definitely not Diamond Dog tunnels. He still clearly remembered the gut-sinking feeling of watching the tunnels get filled ahead of them as they rushed to follow after Rarity. That had ended with huge heaps of loose dirt rising out of the hastily backfilled holes. These were exactly the opposite, the earth caved and sunken down inside the borders of notably wider craters.

"It kinda looks like these tunnels collapsed rather than being filled."

Pierce almost pulled to a stop at that, but then changed his bearing to move towards one hole in specific: The sole hole in sight that still was a hole. The others within their line of sight were all collapsed, leaving this single clear point.

"Good observation... Which is a half-point. So for the full credit, what would that mean?"

"...It was accidental or malicious. Anybody trying to keep the ground stable would fill this back up in order to get things back to the way they were. But a random collapse, or an intentional one..."

"Sharp."

It seemed like Pierce wasn't the only one who thought so:

By focusing on perception and seeking clues, you have proven your sharp [Vision]!

They continued like this for several more minutes, with Spike making continued observations and Piercing either corroborating or counter-pointing each step of the way. Their steps led around the clear hole several times as Spike's mounting excitement kept him moving. That tingling-striking pain was back, and he knew something was building as he first noticed the sound of slithering and chittering in the earth below...

By keeping a lack-of-external-ear to the wind, you have proven your broad [Hearing]!

..then felt the strangely loamy texture of the surface around each hole, despite how rocky it looked from a distance...

By feeling out for the answers to a situation, you have proven your accurate [Touch]!

...banking on his Gamer's Body and dragon's constitution in order to lick up some of the not-rock not-soil, finding it leeched of minerals and strangely acrid...

By venturing to sample all the world has to offer, you have proven your discerning [Taste]!

...and then by breathing deep and slow. Sinking down into a deeper true meditation and stopping at the edge of the hole, Spike let the air rise up and wash over him. The smell was unmistakable, drilled into him as something nopony should ever want to smell on purpose. All thanks to Twilight rigorously teaching the principles of laboratory safety to a dragon who arguably didn't even need it.

By taking in the atmosphere and the things that fall, you have proven your refined [Scent]!

But he did need this.

Dragon's Eye Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: N/A
Most living and thinking creatures have far more than just five senses, even if five hold the iconic position of power. Vestibular motion, magnetic sensitivity, dread, premonitions... The sensory potential of life is infinite and unfathomable, but even those fathoms may one day be plumbed. The all-seeing Dragon's Eye encompasses every sense there is and even those that aren't.

All of your sensory skills and perceptive abilities are consolidated into this skill via merger.
You may receive some sensory information cross-wired from other senses synaesthetically.
You can enter a trance state in order to winnow extraneous senses to focus on one set of inputs.

This skill will grow based on how many skills it has merged with, as well as their levels.

Merged Skills: Vision, Hearing, Touch, Taste, Scent

The rising hope of five new skills (and then the mild despair of watching them all condense into one svelte package, his Story Arc progress actively reverting at the same time) was pushed aside as Spike turned to Piercing Ammo with a frown. The last two had been the tipping point, and if they weren't enough then the newest input certainly was: That smell was 'green' in some way, a bright eye-searing color that flickered in his mind without ever coming through his eyes.
"...Acid. Something melted parts of this hole."

The Guard had his own grim expression at that revelation, but he didn't question Spike's methods.
"On the one hoof there are creatures that use that kind of thing to burrow or tunnel, but I don't know much about them other than 'they exist'."

His excitement of picking up a new skill and the general weirdness of this all kept Spike giddy: He raised a palm and flexed his claws, gesturing down the hole with his free hand.
"Want to find out the hard way?"

"Wouldn't be the first time I've started an op on that exact note: Lead the way, Mr. The Dragon."

Zero Hour: Part 5

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Zero Hour: Part 6

"I tried to form a Party with Princess Luna through my system, so I could talk to her directly. Turns out we’re too far out of range... But you and I are going to be in the same area. Should we form up?"

The fairly reserved Guard tapped at his muzzle with one hoof for a moment before replying.
"The Princess said that I'm primarily here in an advisory role, as backup: Would having me ‘in the party’ mess up your experience curve?"

Ah, right. Having Pierce nearby probably wouldn't impact it nearly as much as having him in the party itself, and even with the XP splitting options Spike remembered from the other day... Well, most of them wouldn't be accessible due to the level difference. Precise science on how members of the party impacted his gains could wait until he wasn’t burning time on this critical buff.

"Good point! How about this: I'll show you how the system works, that way in case of emergency we can party up reactively."

"Sound strategy: I'm all ears, kiddo."

He flicked his tuft-tipped ears for emphasis, and Spike held back something that was either a laugh or a groan and he wasn't sure which.

Over the course of the next few minutes they repeatedly formed and broke parties, testing out all sorts of configurations that Spike might not have thought of on his own. How did positioning and facing impact the invitation window? How well could other ponies interact with the menus without making 'physical' contact? Between that and Pierce wanting to look over his own character sheet, they stayed up in the crackling light of the burning mountain crawler for a little longer still.

While the pegasus pony was perusing his personal particulars, Spike decided he had to do some research of his own. Those 'monster' sheets earlier (really too small to even be called sheets, he'd need to figure out another name for them...) had a lot of terms and concepts that hadn't shown up before. And he had a skill for exactly that kind of situation, courtesy his friend Fluttershy...

'Behind the Curtain'

His eyes were quickly overwhelmed by one pop-up after another, each branching off of the original windows until they looked like virtual pincushions. The details made a lot of sense and reminded him to stay on his toes: Just because that first encounter went cleanly didn't mean he was in for a cakewalk, or even a pie-limbo... That last one might have just been a Pinkie thing, but he'd seen it often enough because of her that the concept still stuck.

Recommended Combat Level / RCL: The average level where a character could fight a monster one-on-one and win with sufficient assurance of personal safety.

Force: The raw power of the creature's physique and / or magical abilities.
Finesse: The dextrous and precise ability of the creature and its powers.
Fortitude: The endurance, stamina, and durability of the creature.

Force, Finesse, and Fortitude are usually represented as comparative values between two points: The given creature at this point in time, and a similar specimen's peak potential. These values are relative and inconsistent and may vary not just between specimens, but even moment-to-moment.

Insect: A broad category that technically contains not only insects, but many other groups like annelids and arachnids. Categories like this are defined by The Gamer's 'Slayer' Medals and the associated titles, as opposed to rigorous scientific clades.

Regenerator: This creature can recover health quickly and may be able to survive injuries that other species would find fatal.

Versatile: This creature has a variety of unique tricks and behaviors which can be difficult to categorize. This can allow them to be dangerous far beyond what their statistics suggest.

Lithovore: This creature can not only survive the act of consuming rock and stone, but draws sustenance from them.

Hive Minded: This creature is capable of unified behavior with the fellow members of its social group, either through magical or biological means. It may not have individual thought.

The only new question formed by all of this was what, exactly, a 'Slayer Medal’ was. If he had to guess? He knew games that had systems for trophies, achievements, and titles based on specific accomplishments. Sometimes they were just an advanced method of keeping score (as well as providing the arcade operator with useful reference data), but in other games those rewards came with mechanical benefits. One common form was defeating many enemies of one group or faction to get a title that improved your ability to fight further foes.

Spike guessed he'd probably be getting something in the vein of 'Insect Slayer' as a title before the trip was over, unless they were forced to retreat early. Creatures like this were already a dangerous pest to have so close to Ponyville. As such, even if the Diamond Dogs weren't also present? Taking care of these monsters would benefit everypony back home as well.

"Want a written copy of your character sheet before we move on?"

"No thanks: I can remember this much information just fine."

"Fair enough! Onwards and downwards?"

"Yes: We're definitely not in the Dog tunnels yet, this is probably all bug territory. Keep an eye out as we're moving... We'll know we've hit the right spot when we see lights that aren't ours."

Spike nodded and sparked his fire up again, since they'd be leaving the smoldering crawler behind. He did vaguely remember that the Dogs had... torches? Lanterns? They had some kind of artificial lighting down in the tunnels, which the native insects certainly didn't need.

Their journey down was defined in a few words: Musty, dim, chaotic and sulfurous. The caverns cut by the crawlers reeked of acid and reactants, while the bermite tunnels were narrow enough to force Pierce to squeeze through (with much complaining). The intersections were functionally random, and without his fire supporting their natural low-light vision? They would have been tripped up literally by the uneven flooring and random holes.

As surface-dwellers, even with Piercing being a pegasus, they did not have a history of moving straight up or straight down while walking. Burrowing creatures didn't have that compunction, so the route was plagued with strange turns that led to a lot of climbing, kneeling, drops, and frustration.

After an exhausting belly-crawl through a bermite tunnel that was too narrow for Pierce to even attempt entering, Spike found a sheer drop. Unfortunately he found it because the floor under him (which is to say the roof of the cavern below) gave way to his weight. A fraction of a second too late, he saw a message from Sense Danger pop into existence... And then he was falling.

He often day-dreamed about what it would be like to have wings, but this wasn't one of those dreams. The guttering fire he was still exhaling served well enough for him to see the depth of the drop. A hundred feet easily, maybe even more? It's a shame that nopony was around to see the huge smile on Spike's face as he plummeted through the air.

"Fine by me!"

Without a hint of panic or disturbance he shifted as much of his MP as possible into operating the Dragon's Heart while dialing his size down with Dragon's Hoard at the same time. Being larger would definitely mean having more health, but a smaller body with high Vitality should be more suited to surviving a fall. Finally, moments before impact? He activated Dragon's Scales in order to redirect his physical Strength into even further improving his defenses and Vitality.

The result was a hard landing by anypony's standards, the ground beneath him faintly quaking from the impact... But between all the lingering food buffs, the power of his active skills, and his affinity for the Earth? Spike barely took a scratch. His head didn't even rattle as he looked around to take in the new environment. Once he made sure the tunnel was clear, Spike turned his attention to the system.

"Invite Piercing Ammunition."

Everything OK down there kid?

Found the Dog tunnels: Do you have a way to punch through that narrow tunnel, or should I try to get back up to you?

Punching through... Would take a little bit, but I could make it happen. Can you confirm your exact position?

Say 'Map' to the system, not sure how it works with elevation.

The reply took a little while to come back, giving Spike time to check the map himself. While his environment wasn't filled out with any detail, the two markers representing himself and his party member were clear... And clearly a long distance from each other, even without taking the height difference into account.

...Can't lie kid, that'll take more than a 'little bit' of digging. Abort mission?

Nah, just keep the Party active and follow me from above: I bet you'll find a better route down long before you'd break through all the rock in the way.

Good call. Inform the Princess on my behalf, and I’m sorry I wasn't there for the drop.

Spike accepted the apology begrudgingly: There really wasn't anything to apologize for, if anything he was glad to get more testing and experience for the skills involved! A little separation never hurt, even if it did mean his backup was a lot more literally back and up. Hay, maybe the system would recognize that and bump the experience gains! Another letter got dashed off, this time from his inventory directly.

Hello again Princess: No major problems, but me and Mr. Ammo got separated by a very narrow tunnel and an extremely large air gap. We're working to reconvene while progressing forward at the same time: Splitting our search, as it were. Throw a confirmation back when you get the chance just so I can be sure you're OK with this plan.

The reply came quickly enough that he belched it up in a gout of fire out of sheer reflex. At least he still caught the note before it fell! It had been folded quite nicely despite the speed: Princess Luna was truly excellent when it came to sending letters. He almost wished he'd had the ability to talk with her more regularly before getting this power... Well, he could make up for lost time now.

Be safe, young Spike. We would hate to see you unduly injured in the course of our goals. Of course, due injury is natural given the circumstances, but I have the utmost trust and faith in your ability as both mine own relative and as The Gamer. As for Piercing Ammunition... Suffice it to say that he is in no danger what-so-ever. Continue as you were!

Author's Note

Chapter 87
Zero Hour: Part 6
- OR -
Curtain Checking Chert Collapse

Zero Hour: Part 7

Author's Note

Chapter 88
Zero Hour: Part 7
- OR -
Man It's Kinda Sad Chapter 88 and Part 8 Didn't Line Up, Huh?

Zero Hour: Part 7

Spike decided to get his bearings after the drop, returning to his original size as his HP and MP recovered. First he checked his Map in order to confirm the way they'd come from so he wouldn't double back. Then he began to investigate the new environment, which was... Dark. The space was so large that his light didn't even stretch from one wall to the other.

That actually gave him a bit of an idea! After giving his Sense Danger and Detect Bloodthirst time to detect if any falling rocks were oncoming, or any creatures drawn by the noise of his fall, he took a deep breath. Then he reared back and let loose the biggest gout of fire he'd ever expelled in his life, even larger than his own body. The giant fireball hung in the air and began to disperse-

"External Mana Control."

-before being suspended in the sky like a miniature green sun, wrangled by his powers. His MP was dropping like, well, the way hehad just dropped. But the process was absolutely worth the costs as EMC gained one level after another, all while Spike experimented with the results.

Slowly he let the cloud of magical fire drift and expand across the cavern, eventually providing distinct light to every single corner. The heat coming off of it was nothing to him, but he still noticed that it wasn't cooling even slightly over time: If he had to guess, the mana being consumed was keeping the fire in peak condition.

While the cavern initially appeared to be mostly natural, Spike quickly realized it had been expanded. The floor was messy and covered in churned bits of stone. It seemed like Diamond Dogs might have come across this cavern and tried to dig it out, but then decided it was more trouble than it was worth. That was fine by him: Their quitting made for his way forward! He could just find the tunnel by which they came in and follow that out to get to the bottom of this situation.

In the distance he heard a rock fall and crack against the ground... But neither Sense Danger nor Bloodlust pinged in reply. That probably meant that it wasn't from a hostile creature moving, or an impending cave-in. More likely it was just loose stone from, oh say, a hastily-dug Diamond Dog tunnel? He let the majority of the floating fire disperse until he was left with just enough to carry around near his body, slowly approaching the source of the sound.

His light shone into the darkness and the fire brushed against the walls as he approached. It was definitely a tunnel, and likely a Diamond Dog tunnel at that: It didn't have the workmanlike efficiency and little piles of coprolitic remains from the bermite tunnels, or the acrid stink and glassy surfaces of the mountain crawler's digs. But even then... Spike noticed that these tunnels were significantly worse compared to his memories.

For all that the Diamond Dogs seemed to be crude and rude scavengers who couldn't hold up under one pony's verbal assaults, their original warrens had been well-made. Lamps and prison gates on smooth worked-stone walls, places that had been cared for and built out over time. This tunnel was a crumbling ugly wreck compared to that, uneven and lumpy and totally unlit. There was no sign of care or attention, and the Dogs had clearly changed their minds and rerouted after reaching the vast and unfriendly cavern behind him.

Spike was fairly sure that they hadn't come all this way out for nothing. Had they been digging to search for something of value? No, likely not: The tunnel wouldn't be so haphazard if so. If they were escaping a threat, the tunnels should have kept going smoothly...

Unless they were fighting back, and only had some fraction of their people cutting new tunnels as backups when the pressure got too high. In that case they'd abhor trying to escape through a cave, since it would leave them open to potential attacks on all sides.

He was starting to assemble a working theory, which he communicated up to Piercing through their sub-vocal party chat. The Night Guard didn't have any trouble keeping track of his position and following from above, so it was increasingly likely that they'd meet back up if Spike followed the tunnels from here.

Things continued in this way for another half-hour or so, with both of them agreeing to take a slow pace to avoid disturbing anything or risking another spill. Spike took the time to investigate the walls and other features of the earth around him, using Observe and his new Dragon's Eye sense boosts to learn the literal lay of the actual land. Thus, it didn't even vaguely catch him by surprise when a particular message box opened up...

[Danger from above!]

Spike had seen this coming: He didn't want to go so far as to have Piercing actually jump around or attack the rocks above, but with how slipshod the tunnels were? He knew that falling rocks were more of an inevitability than a mere risk. It helped serve multiple functions, between testing his Sense Danger, exercising his perceptive and predictive abilities... And giving him a chance to test his claws in the heat of the moment.

"Earthshaper."

Concentrating on the random debris was taxing, but he still caught each stone in his vision. When they got close? One claw would sweep out and then the other, rapid slices ripping through the air to turn them first into pieces and then into fragments. In the end he still had to dodge about half of the stones, and took one to the tail, but the results were satisfactory (for a first time). It helped that it led to another message box popping up, overlapping the earlier warning.

A skill has been created through a special action! By refining the sweeping claw strikes of your race against flesh and stone alike, the power to [Slice] is born!

At first Spike was going to throw out a celebratory fist-pump or fireball. Then a second box came.

Your newly-created skill is held in abeyance due to lacking an appropriate [Combat Discipline]
The skill may be used at reduced effectiveness, increased cost, and increased risk of counters.

"...Huh. Well, better to learn that's a thing now than in the middle of a fight, I suppose."

When he got back to Ponyville it would probably be in his best interest to take Lyra up on her offer to discuss fighting. Fighting in whatever context she had meant it: Since it could change her title in his system, it had to be more than just casual brawling or hobbyist martial arts. And since she could tell that hecould tell there was a difference... Well, there was a lot going on there. But that was for later!

Minutes passed as they made their way forward, and both he and Piercing recognized it at around the same time: There was artificial light ahead. If it was visible to both of them, there was likely not just a thin spot in the ceiling above but an outright hole. And if the lights were this far out... Spike extinguished what remained of his own light before moving forward.

"Keep pushing! Stone too much to move alone."

A second voice, high and reedy and obviously annoyed.
"Push yourself."

Then a third, rougher and lower than the other two.
"Work."

Every voice stopped in response to that, replaced with the sound of scraping stones. This was the moment, the reason they were here: Diamond Dogs. In a perfect world Spike would approach, be received peaceably, then hash out their problems before offering help if it was possible. Because this wasn't always a perfect world? Spike was ready to take care of things however it went down. From the darkness, he peeked out and took in the situation.

The small... clearing? Cavern? Crossroads? Whatever it was, the area he entered looked much closer to the tunnels he remembered from his last trip here.Stone walls chipped away in clean sheets and broken into reasonably-sized passages for average bipeds: Not the crawlspaces of worms or irregular natural caverns. They still weren't identical however. The workmanship was rushed and poor, the lights were clearly broken cast-offs from other areas. But there were lights at all, and any sign of meaningful aesthetic work.

Complementing the familiar structural style were the tunnel's inhabitants: Three Diamond Dogs. Two of them worked hard to shift an enormous boulder from the center of the cavern, each clearly haggard from a long period of pressure and work without chances for good rest. Off to one side, a much larger specimen watched over them from under the brim of a rusty second-or-third-hand iron helmet. Most concerningly, all three were armed and obviously on edge. One of the shorter dogs had a sickle at his waist, the other a sharpened trowel. The literal guard dog had a proper spear, tip glinting in the lamplight.

Going to break party shortly: I've spotted the quarry.

Quarry as in a dig site, or like the targets?

You know it's funny you mention that: Twilight was just telling me the other day about how the two words are completely unrelated! Apparently the word for prey derives from an old Prench tradition... Uh, regardless, I meant the targets.

...Noted. I'll leave the party, and 'drop in' once you either talk them down or have the fight well in-hand.

It meant a lot to Spike that Mr. Ammo didn't even bother bringing up the alternative situation: The one where he would be forced to drop in to bail Spike out after a failure in combat or conversation. It showed confidence in his performance, and he promised not to betray that idea. Earlier had just been a test (albeit one that made him concerned about the system’s intentions for him), while this was going to be his first real combat. He’d aim to subdue, taking advantage of his doubly-unnatural endurance as a dragon and The Gamer if he had to... They had questions for these Dogs.

Zero Hour: Part 8

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Zero Hour: Part 9

They passed a few more guards and individual working Dogs as they went along the corridors. Passing the time, on the other hand, Spike was testing the waters by using Observe far more often. He had set grinding the skill aside for a while to avoid becoming too fixated on it, which proved to be the right call just minutes ago. As useful as its information-gathering was? Observe had inscrutable limits and gaps. Not least of all, reading the results wasn't trivial even if Photographic Speedreading was free... Which it superduper wasn't.

Now that Spike was outside of the tense exploratory and combat sections of his evening (which he had already started to break down into phases and scenes like an O+O session, in his head) he could afford to spend time and effort gathering information. The plain tunnels didn’t give him much to work with, but there were enough individuals and objects around to keep him occupied regardless.

The results were... not exactly easy to work with.

The average Diamond Dog had a higher level than any given random pony in Ponyville, but with stats that were significantly less impressive. They were focused into physical pursuits for the most part, although some (the ones currently doing less-taxing work) had a noteworthy slant towards Luck. Not a single one that he saw had a title, except for the guard Dogs.

...And those were the weirdest part. Every one of those guards was almost a cookie-cutter copy of Guard Seven, just with another number on the name. [One Of Many] title, level in the high teens or low twenties, near non-entity mental attributes. If he didn't know better he would have assumed they were NPCs in a game or some kind of magical automaton.

That last bit brought him to a concerning conclusion: Given that they were Diamond Dogs, did that mean they had distinct breeds like normal dogs? Maybe these guards weren't selected based on potential and strength but literally born into the role. Spike had a feeling he was close to the right track, but the details would have to wait. Or possibly they would end up being another instance of Equestria's constant strangeness, seen only in passing: Hard to say at the end of the day!

The detailing and quality of the tunnels began to subtly improve as they got deeper. Better lamps were used, proper doors or gates closed off side rooms, the floors were smoothed. If Spike wanted to be suspicious, he'd say this was a sign the Dogs were planning on staying this far out. Being more charitable? They probably had already stayed here for long enough that adding creature comforts helped pass the time and soothe the mind.

Eventually they reached a wall... of sorts. It was closer to a cave-in or the aftermath of an industrial accident, dozens irregularly-sized rocks stacked up without mortar to bind them. Despite the oddity it served the same purpose of keeping things in and out, breaking up what had once been a larger natural space. An opening barely large enough to fit guard dogs was flanked by two of the hulks, and the quality of the torches here was the best so far. There were even a few lonely tapestries hung in the space, making it clear that this was the local seat of power.

The left guard looked over their group and shrugged to his partner. The right guard also shrugged, but then spoke in a low and gravelly voice.
"...Prisoners?"

"Guests! Maybe allies from the outside. Helpful pony, helpful dragon."

This time it was the left guard's turn to speak up.
"...Trap?"

Rover helplessly spread his arms out and chuckled, trying to deflect.
"Ah, heh, well... If yes, not much we can do! Bad times mean bad decisions."

"I don't think that's a thing."

"Shush Tony."

Clearly the guards either weren't concerned or actually agreed with that principle: Either way they stepped aside to let Spike, Piercing, and the three dogs pass. Guard Seven stuck close to them as they went past the barricade, stopping only to briefly nod at his fellows.

The interior of the sealed-off space wasn't opulent or regal. It was barely what most ponies would consider habitable. Stark stone stretched up and down both walls while the ceiling was rife with stalactites that dripped and drizzled. The lighting across most of the impromptu hall was dim and the flooring was more raw stone, albeit cleared and smoothed. But despite the low (by necessity) quality of the environment? There was still an air of critical stability.

That sense was focused entirely where the light wasn't dim, where the stalactites didn't drip, where the walls took on the appearance of something just a little brighter and better. One thin Diamond Dog was in the back of the room, nestled on a throne carved directly from the stone. Even without paying mind to the trappings around him? Spike knew he was looking at the man in charge here.

[Top Dog In Exile]
King Rudy
LV ???

King Rudy was thin, but taller than the other Dogs they'd seen. Not the hulking height of a Guard, if anything he was thinner than normal. He wore green robes over pale brown fur which grew darker as it rose, to the point where his face and ears were coal-black. He held a simple scepter in one hand and wore a single plain ring on the other, and while his head bore no crown? Spike still recognized that a crown should go in that space, in the same way he felt the implied shape of Luna and Celestia's regalia even when they weren't wearing them.

No guards stood around the throne, but clearly the King was used to having them: When he saw the approaching guests he raised a hand to wave off his retinue out of reflex. Nothing happened for a moment, until King Rudy laughed and spread his arms as if to say 'Well what can you do?'

"...It was necessary to cut down on the... personal protection. I am sure you understand."

Spike had spent more than enough time in Canterlot to know the proper forms for greeting and speaking with foreign royals, even if he had the chance to ignore them most of the time.
"No problem at all, Your Majesty! We've encountered some of the issues you're dealing with on our way in: It's laudable to have kept order to any degree at all under the circumstances."

The King laughed at that again, this time with a little more of a sharp barking edge to it.
"I suspect you have been in royal court in the pony lands plenty yourself, Mister..."

"I am Spike, Your Majesty: Spike the Dragon. My companion and... handler for this trip is Piercing Ammunition of Equestria's Lunar Guard."

Mr. Ammo nodded to the King.
"An honor to meet you, Sir."

None of the dogs made note of it, but Spike caught that difference in address: Apparently either the Ammos had some minor title of note, or their military rank was enough to make the difference. Either that or Piercing just didn't mind the particulars as much, or any mix of the above.

"Feel free to drop the formalities if you wish. This is not a proper meeting of nations."

"Let us know if you're interested in changing that: We could contact the Princesses and make this a more traditional exchange if you prefer."

Rudy set his scepter down in the crook of his stone throne's arm and twisted at the ring on his other hand as he spoke, looking pensively at Spike.
"My preference would be closer to the opposite, now that you mention it. I notice you did not speak of your own affiliation, Mister Spike?"

"Just Spike is fine if we're ditching formalities: And I guess I didn't? I'm certainly a citizen of Equestria and I'm absolutely here working with Luna and her Guard. But at the same time I think she's always seen me as kind of independant? What with the whole dragon thing."

"I would imagine. Which, I suppose, brings me around to an apology. I have to guess you are here because our escape route is bringing us dangerously close to one of your settlements?"

That did get to the crux of the issue, and with the kind of directness that made it very clear Rudy both already knew and quite possibly didn't care.

"Yessir: The town of Ponyville."

Rover took this chance to run up and kneel by the throne, briefly speaking in the same uncertain language from before. This time Spike was prepared, and dropped into his menus to flip subtitles on: While it didn't translate anything, it gave him the notice that the words were [Spoken Rudinian]. Maybe the Diamond Dogs had specific languages in different regions? Either that or this 'Top Dog In Exile' was an even bigger deal than the title implied.

Eventually Rudy nodded and reached out to pat the other Dog on the back.
"Thank you Rover. You may stand down now."

The King made a few brief statements in that same language. Immediately, Tony scurried over to Rover and Guard Seven stepped away from Spike and Piercing. WIth the space around them cleared, King Rudy looked over them again with an expression that was surprisingly sad.

"We have had encounters with ponies of Ponyville in the past. And yourself as well, I am being told. This was during a period that I was... away from the warren, so I apologize for not recognizing that fact earlier."

"Accidents in the past are exactly that, sir: Both accidents and in the past. I don't intend to hold any kind of grudge when your people are clearly under attack."

"Even if we were once the attackers, and against a close friend of yours at that?"

That might have given others pause, but not Spike. He'd grown up around Celestia, which meant he had a tailor-made answer for any questions in that vein. Just a simple shrug and-
"...Equestria."

"Hah! Well said. If only we had the same kind of reputation... Although reputation is not much for holding off bugs."

Maybe it was ambition, maybe it was gaming the system, maybe it was the heightened stats giving him new avenues and ideas. Either way, Spike dropped a little joke with a deeper message.
"Fire tends to be a much better tool for that."

That got the King to look at him in a new light, and verynearly caught Piercing in an abrupt laugh. He'd have to tally that off on the list at home for 'Guards Breaking Character': Maybe if he kept spending time with Rarity's relatives he'd be able to overcome Rainbow Dash's high score?

"You are not wrong, little dragon. And I am told that you are not always, ah, little?"

Oh man. He'd dropped that hint on a whim, was it actually going to pay off?
"I came into some new magic in the last months. Part of it includes adjusting my size, yes."

Apparently that was enough to confirm something to Rudy.
"Rover, Tony? Go fetch up whichever council members are present. Guard? You are dismissed."

During the brief scramble of the other Dogs leaving, Piercing gestured to Spike to open their party.

Sounds like you're planning to negotiate with the King directly. I peg that right?

Yeah: I figure it's better for me to tackle this as part of my quests than to get other ponies involved needlessly. Was I wrong?

Naw, all good. Just making sure you're sure. If you decide to go with this route then me and the missus won't be able to give you any backup from here on out. Even Luna's hooves will be kinda tied if it comes to that. Independence has requirements and all that jazz.

Understood. And thank you for the concern, Mr. Ammo... Pierce. But that's only for the mission itself: There won't be any problems with me training under Arcane or learning from you, right?

Course not! That's just us doing our own thing on our own time. But as far as official Equestrian business goes, you'll be going solo.

Spike shot him a wide smile: The idea of fighting alone from here suited him just fine.

Author's Note

Chapter 90
Zero Hour: Part 9
- OR -
9 and 90! It Aligns! I am Free Of The Curse! :D
- OR -
Normal Subtitles Resume Next Week, But It Was Fun While It Lasted. :V

Zero Hour: Part 10

Author's Note

Chapter 91
Zero Hour: Part 10
- OR -
Pleas, Plans, Perceptions

Zero Hour: Part 10

By the time the two of them ironed everything out and then broke the party, the other Diamond Dogs had cleared the room. Now it was just Spike, Piercing, and King Rudy in the chamber. There was a long period of silence where all three of them kept an eye on each other... Spike wasn’t sure if it was his uncommon species or just their general presence that had gotten the King’s interest, but Rudy did keep looking back and forth between them in the quiet. On top of that, the presiding royal clearly had something he wanted to say. He kept offhandedly twisting at his ring, which got Spike's curiosity going. He decided to Observe the jewelry, but...

An aura of regnal propriety comprehensively blocks your vision of the target.
The current source of the aura has made an attempt to trace your actions...
The attempt has failed due to the nature of [The Gamer].

Crap. That last line would have been great news under normal circumstances, but there were only three people in the entire room. One was the ring's owner and another was a pegasus, so that only left one obvious source... But Spike felt like he was a pretty decent judge of character, and true to his assumptions? King Rudy only reacted with a brief flinch before giving him a broad toothy smile.

"A pleasure to see you have more than one trick to your name, 'Spike'."

"I figured I should show a little initiative before we talk about circumstances, right?"

"Not a bad plan, as far as they go. As for our circumstances... Woof."

Rudy began to explain exactly what had been happening, laying it out for his guests with little diversion or digression. It went something like this as far as Spike could tell:

Over the last year, the Dogs have been dealing with increasingly bad insect population problems. At first it was just the growth of existing groups, then the introduction of new species. They never could figure out the reason, especially given the intelligence of the average Diamond Dog. Even if there was no reason? There still had to be a source. They never found that either. Now they have been driven out of their own warrens, their homes, by one particular monster bug.

This specific monster’s no joke, and isn’t just a monster in the general 'strange Equestrian fauna' sense. The thing’s vicious and gigantic and hostile to everything it meets, even the other insects. Perhaps this was the source of the problem: An ur-predator creating its own sphere of influence wherever it felt fit. There were even rumored sightings of something worse, maybe more instances of the first creature. Either option would be unacceptable, and they were already having problems prior.

The Diamond Dogs have no intention of taking the entire situation lying down: Even a small community like theirs has its dignity. A problem like this was too big to solve overnight, but without outside assistance? Rudy is worried that it can't be solved period.

So the King found himself willing to talk, and bargain, and make a deal: He-and-his will stay put and go into a defensive stance rather than retreating. In return they need regular help clearing the infestation until they can push it back and take it out at the source. Sources plural is more likely given that there are multiple warring breeds causing problems, possibly including more than just the two which Spike and Piercing had already encountered.

All this was predicated on the idea of not taking the fight to the single enormous monster bug, but instead clearing out the other insects it was likely treating as food-slash-competition. That would force it to either retreat, show itself directly, or grow weaker over time. No matter which way it turned out and any way you cut it, those were positive outcomes for the Dogs.

Ideally they would need a small enough group to not rouse the insects before the assault, with bodies compact enough to fit into the tunnels without disturbing them... Not only that, but despite the small size required for safe entry? The team would then need enough power to actually take out the enemies and nests, then enough speed and/or survivability to get out alive after doing so.

"Which makes it convenient I came along. Like, not happy convenient but more like disturbing convenient."

Rudy’s muzzle twisted itself into a frown.
"...I had just been considering the same thing, yes. I assume from your reaction that you meet all of the requirements I mentioned on your own?"

"One individual, compact body, high power, fast and survivable? I'd like to think so, yeah."

"Do you consider that a problem?"

Spike took a minute to compose his thoughts before replying.
"I can't exactly explain my reasoning, because it's tied up in some personal stuff I've got going on. But to make a long story short, this entire thing sounds like a situation that was set up for me on purpose. Not to blame you, of course: You're the main victims here! It's just that you being victims for real doesn't mean this isn't also a setup."

King Rudy looked over at Piercing and shrugged.
"I assume your partner is not prone to paranoia?"

"Can't say I know him particularly well yet, but I'd doubt it. This really does sound a little too pat."

"Understood. In which case I will have to trouble you to contact your Princesses after all, since we-"

Spike raised a claw into the air between the two of them, interjecting with his best neutral expression.
"Hold on!"

He stepped closer to the throne, trying to hold back his smile. It was one thing to make this interjection but it was another thing entirely if he actually looked happy about it. But this was...
"I never said I wasn't going to help. I was just kind of... pointing out the details? Making sure we all had that possibility understood, before moving forward."

Piercing pulled him aside and started whispering.
"Kid, you're saying you think it's a trap but you want to do it anyways?"

"Pretty much? Trap is a strong word actually! I said set up but I meant it more like... Designed. The way somebody might design a scenario in a game or a session in a campaign."

The pegasus' eyes caught the light as he narrowed his gaze at Spike.
"...OK. I buy it. Get Luna's approval before you do anything stupid, natch, but I'll step back and let the two of you handle negotiations."

To his credit, Rudy did not question their discussion, since it obviously tied back into the 'personal stuff' that Spike had already deflected about before. Instead he nodded and clapped his paws together, the noise reverberating loudly in the open chamber. As if signalled (probably because they were) a group of Dogs led by Rover came through the door in back.

Rather than opening the party chat again, Mr. Ammo just leaned down to Spike and whispered.
"Double checking: You very sure?"

"Real people are at risk, I can certainly manage to survive or escape if there is a reason behind this all, and... I mean... Even if it's not a quest? There's the potential for a lot of growth and gains on top of helping these Dogs. And if it is a pre-planned quest being created for my sake, then I'm even further from understanding my power than I thought."

Piercing Ammunition clapped a hoof onto his shoulder and gave him a little smile. They didn’t know each other very well yet, but the gesture meant a lot coming from one of Rarity’s relatives (and Luna’s Guard).

"Understood. For what it's worth, even if anypony else disapproves? I think this is the right call."

"Heh, thanks."

As the new Dogs filed into the room, Spike started using Observe again. Cautiously at first, avoiding anything within a decent range of the King. Then more liberally, checking out individual pieces of clothing and the like. Spike wanted to get a good idea of what was going on with everything in the room while the King held court, because he'd stumbled onto an idea.

The circumstances certainly seemed too pat to be anything but a setup, but this was the strip of Equestria just on the border of Ponyville. Weirder things than these were much more normal in this territory. Plus, if he was being honest? He'd picked up so many abilities lately (with no sign of stopping) that lots of situations would look tailor-made for his skillset. But that also meant he could use those same skills to his advantage, including one of the least-called-upon in the whole lot so far...

"Indra's Net"

Zero Hour: Part 11

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Zero Hour: Part 12

Author's Note

Chapter 93
Zero Hour: Part 12
- OR -
Montage, Mission, Midboss

Zero Hour: Part 12

Before Spike had launched into the montage proper, a quest window had popped. In the blur that followed he hadn't bothered to read that message, since his focus was better-spent elsewhere. Even if focus was a shaky term in this context: By definition, a montage constructed a whole by selecting individual pieces from a greater structure. In practice? A montage really worked its magic when the subjects were taking enough diverse yet repetitive actions that skipping the nitty-gritty made sense.

To make a long story short, in order to get the montage rolling he had been forced to start splitting his attention across as many individual goals as possible. That definitely contributed to the nasty backlash he was now facing in the aftermath: While he'd suffered it before with Pinkie and Twilight, now he was going through it alone. The Dogs involved had only seen... Well, Spike wasn't actually sure what they had seen. Did he begin moving with unusual speed? Were his actions just oddly effective and quick to complete?

Whatever they saw at the time, what they saw currently was Spike sitting in a corner of the throne room feeling badly blown out. As bad and as blown out as he was capable of being since becoming The Gamer. Thanks to the Mind and Body he wasn't that dazed or particularly sick... But that was by the mercy of his power. If anypony else had solo’d a forcibly-initiated twelve hour montage? They would have come out the other side far worse for wear.

Of course the Gamer's Body had more perks than just concrete 'mechanical' ones: It had cosmetic benefits as well. Despite hauling his tiny tuchus from one end of the temporary warrens to the other over and over again, he hadn't broken a sweat or even lost pace with his breathing. Even now was just Spike putting on a show of exhaustion, since he spent most of the montage running Exposure to keep himself topped off. Rather than running dry on resources, it was mostly an issue of pain and sickness.

It had been one heck of a trip: Whistling while he worked (quite literally) Spike had accomplished enough to outweigh any of the Dogs working beside him. Eventually they had given up on doing their own work alone and focused on assisting him. That made him even faster, and while they hadn't Accompanied him in the musical sense? Something about the nature of the Montage Song (now sitting proudly at a freshly-updated Version Four) still brought the helpers along for part of the ride.

Somewhere in the middle the Diamond Dog council members had all left to go about their own business, one or two checking in periodically. Rudy had also made a few brief appearances, while Piercing Ammunition had stayed for most of the day before flying back out to Ponyville to give a report to Luna directly.

At some point in the future they would reconvene and meet back up, exchange notes again and get back to doing things formally. In the interim, Spike finally got to investigate that long-abandoned quest window... and the plethora of other popups from his montage.

SIDE QUEST: Returning Rudy's Rightful Realm!

Having discovered the reason for the Diamond Dog's encroachment from their original Warrens, you chose to help them push back to their home. While a noble goal, this does bring you more risk... Which of course means more reward.

Ongoing Objective: Return periodically to provide aid in clearing the strange infestations of hostile insectile creatures.

Optional Objective: Provide other relevant assistance to the Diamond Dogs.

Completion Objective: Conclusively stop each infestation at its source/s as applicable.

Failure Condition: Allow any pony or Diamond Dog to be significantly injured under your watch, fail to return, allow the invasive species to encroach into Ponyville proper.

Ongoing Reward: Increased reputation with King Rudy's splinter clan, Increased reputation with the Ammo family. All progress towards Masteries, Quests and Subquests earned in the contested territory will be multiplied.

Optional Reward: A variable amount of experience, Skill progression, Attribute experience, and material goods in return for each major service rendered.

Completion Reward: ???, ???, Expansions to certain systems or techniques as appropriate.

This new quest replaced the previous one: Spike got partial rewards for the original sidequest not long after he started the montage. He might have ignored that just as easily as the new quest window... If he hadn't gained a full level of experience in the process. Twenty thousand XP and two hundred Bits, plus reputation bonuses. He still didn't know how to get to the Reputation menu, if he even had one, so he just had to take the system's word on that part.

As for progress on this quest? His montage-driven efforts had produced quite a lot of 'relevant assistance' to the Diamond Dogs. A rebuilt and restructured core for their tunnel system, fire-hardened fortifications on the outer edges, significantly sharpened and (mock) battle-tested weapons. Not to mention stocks of food that would keep well for weeks, much heartier but more perishable meals which he had served on the spot, and a variety of miscellaneous other perks.

The capstone of his work had been a solid two hours using Dragon's Eye and Observe together, along with Indra's Net and Behind the Curtain. That yielded a comprehensive overview of all the Dogs he had met, each piece of equipment, and every nook and cranny of their territory. Six clean scrolls of paper were then turned into a Twilight-level List (capital L for emphasis) of strengths and weaknesses, vulnerabilities and the area’s unexploited potential.

Spike managed all of that without giving away the source or the nature of his powers: He cooked in private using materials found in the caverns more often than not. When the time came to produce things like the scroll paper, he had an excuse prepared: Using Piercing's saddle-bags as a pretense (back when he was still present), Spike 'retrieved' the pouches from the other day and wore them at his hip. Each one had been stuffed with items from his Inventory while still inside his Inventory.

As far as any of the Dogs could tell? Nothing strange with him retrieving his items from the bags.

Maybe he was being a little paranoid, but at the end of the day? Better safe than sorry in this kind of tense situation. In the end he accomplished all of his goals in terms of helping the Dogs with their living situation and defenses, and King Rudy was reading over the lists with visibly rapt interest.

"You seem to have a very good eye for quality, young one."

"I do my best! It helps that I was raised by a real stickler for detail."

The king rolled up the last of the lists and tucked it into a simple stone tube (which Spike had also provided) for safe-keeping. He seemed pleased with the results, and nodded to his new hire.

"I can see as much. In light of your contributions already, and considering the value of this report... My council and I find your terms acceptable. We will withhold payment and direct compensation in lieu of giving you possession of anything you find during the extermination efforts. Likewise, when we evacuate these tunnels to return to our original home? I will personally vouch for the value added by your hands if you choose to seek the deed for this quarry from its proper owner."

That would be much easier said than done, given that Spike was pretty sure this land belonged to Filthy Rich... Then again maybe the Crusaders could help give him an angle? Their former bully and nemesis had become a fast friend (slash object of affection), and Diamond Tiara had her dad willing to do just about anything these days, from what he’d heard... Worth thinking about, at least.

The plan for his payments had come up somewhere during the fourth hour of the montage, as he served the council a personally-made meal. There were a few dishes of buff food mixed in with recipes recommended by the King's chef, of course. He hadn't made any new Dragon's Kitchen food, instead sticking to items that he knew worked and gave subtle benefits. Even without buffs the quality and flavor had been enough to get everydoggy talking merrily, which led to negotiations.

Spike wanted to put all this effort into helping the Dogs now, especially if it could get them back to their rightful homes. He'd help them renovate once they got back if need be (especially if the insects had left behind any carnage and chaos of their own), but as for these originally-temporary tunnels? Well, he had his own plan for all of that. He couldn't keep operating out of the Library indefinitely, and not everydragon was so lucky as to live in the shadow of an unoccupied mountain.

He figured this was the best way to make his quests work out: Help others as much as possible, and find a way to get his own benefits without taking much away. Transactions didn't have to be zero-sum, value would be created on both sides if managed correctly. And since his engine and system were willing to provide direct stat boosts for hard work? Spike got to skim more benefits without anybody else losing out.

Speaking of those, Spike pulled up his character sheet and took a look at the fruits of his labor.

Name: Spike
Class: The Gamer
Title: Number One Assistant

Level: Lv 15
HP: 2,315 / 2,315
MP: 3,721 / 3,739

STR: 32 (89) (-) (+)
DEX: 33 (91) (-) (+)
VIT: 33 (88) (-) (+)
INT: 31 (86) (-) (+)
WIS: 31 (86) (-) (+)
LUK: 30 (85) (-) (+)

POINTS: 84 (Confirm?)

Still lopsided, but vastly improved: The Arcade's excess of Luck sources with lacking Strength and Vitality avenues made for a perfect pair with the hard job of renovating these tunnels: Very little in the way of luck and chance, but a lot of physical work and laborious effort. His stats were still a bit catty-cornered and off center, but that's what spending points was for! Would be for, once he ran out the remaining 28-ish hours of his buff doubling.

In the interim he would ideally head out and start dealing with all the nearest insect infestations around the temporary warren. Before he could get up and get out of the throne room to start doing the real work, one of the council members raised a paw.

"Excuse, mercenary. I don't doubt your skill in building and cooking. But a fight is different!"

He held back on snark, reminding himself these Dogs weren't Twilight. His reply was still sharp:
"I held up fine against two of your people and a guard at the same time. Not enough?"

"No! Far from enough! We have to test first, or you might bring wrathful monsters back to us!"

Hrm. Looking at it from that perspective it made sense. This first sortie might actually be the most dangerous for the Diamond Dogs' stability. If it went smoothly then the colonies and hives further afield wouldn't have much knowledge of what happened out here. If it went poorly... Well, it could draw retaliation down in such severe numbers that the Dogs would have to run again. And given they were almost out of land between here and Ponyville, the consequences of that would be rough.

"...OK. What'll it take to convince you?"

The councilor looked over to his King silently, and only turned back when his liege nodded.
"Back in the warrens, I trained fighters. Before we were separated, some came with us."

Separated. That confirmed some information Spike had guessed during his Observe binge: These weren't all of the Diamond Dogs in this group. Some had fled in other directions, maybe hoping to ensure their clan's survival in case they couldn't all escape. It made sense when matched with the sidequest calling this a 'splinter' clan, although that appellation might have deeper roots...

"Fight three of my boys, instead of just three random Dogs! That will prove it to me."

Spike looked at him and thought for a moment. Piercing was probably still too far away to try and get him into communication range, and even if he was it would require full-volume voice chat. No point sending a letter to Luna for something so minor either... He decided to make a gamble.

"How about if I fight youinstead? One on one."

Pale gray ears shot up at that before folding back down. The councilor seemed to look at Spike with a different set of eyes entirely, until his muzzle settled into a wide (and extremely toothy) grin.
"Daring dragon. Yess, please do. Have had few chances to stretch my paws."

He stepped forward, stretching and rolling his shoulders. Spike looked over his head again.

[Dog Fight Trainer]
Bruxis
LV 33

Zero Hour: Part 13

[Dog Fight Trainer]
Bruxis
LV 33

King Rudy didn't look as if he objected: If anything his eyes brightened just as much once as Bruxis’ did Spike issued the challenge. So... this was definitely going to go down. Given his earlier performance and his work around the tunnels, it was unlikely he’d get underestimated during the fight... Probably better to start at full force then. As for his opponent?

Even though many of the Diamond Dogs had a perpetual slouch Bruxis was tall and proud, with significantly stronger legs and a sleek long muzzle. Light orange eyes were set into pale grey fur, and the claws on his paws were clearly sharp and well-kept. There was a knife belted at each of his hips, and something further visibly tied onto the back of his vest: Maybe a staff or a digging tool?

Spike's new 'default' height was enough to see eye to eye with adult ponies, but that put Bruxis (tallest of the council members) a good two heads higher than him. And there was a lot of head in that measurement: All of the other Dogs he had seen carried most of their weight (and muscle) in the paws and arms, but the council and King alike had more balanced proportions.

That made ‘right now’ a great chance to really prove his ability to grow, stretching himself taller until he was exactly on par with his sparring partner. There were murmurs and brief yaps of surprise and interest, but they all came from the audience of councilors: Rudy only smiled, and Bruxis actively clapped at the show.

"Good good! I hate to fight smaller enemy. Feels beneath me. Ready?"

"As I'll ever be, big dog: Bring it on!"

No matter how many times he asked when they were younger, Shining Armor had never actually let Spike try to fight him. Maybe that'd change now, but back then Shining's focus had mostly been on keeping Spike (and by extension Twilight) out of trouble. Fat lot of good it did in the long run, since trouble seemed to hunt them down of its own volition. Hindsight and all that...

There was one big lesson about fighting he'd gotten from the older pony. Only one. But it was (at least from Spike’s perspective) maybe the only one that really mattered.

"Never fight if you don't have to. It's actually really hard to play-fight once you have some strength or skill. I mean, geez... OK. This is going to sound harsh, right? But look. The easiest thing you can do in a fight is lose. It's harder than that if you want to run away, and harder still to run away safely. The next level of difficulty past that is if you want to kill somepony. I know! I said it sounds harsh. But that's the thing. Living beings kinda... break easy. So it's harder than killing somepony to beat them in a fight and have them survive. It's even harder than that to capture them, harder still to get them under control unharmed. That's what the Captain taught me, and it's why being a Guard is so hard and so important. We always aim to capture as safely as we can: Anything less is a failure."

...This would be Spike's first serious fight since then. He'd always been sidelined during Twilight's adventures, barring the rare exceptions where he was the cause. The insects earlier had been simple things and he crushed them accordingly, treating it as more of a controls tutorial than an actual combat. With all of his buffs, the Dogs he fought afterwards were easy enough to disarm without injury. But now he was going to be fighting with a much older and more experienced Diamond Dog whose character Level lapped his own.

Maybe there were exceptions in the Gamer's Mind and its aura of unnatural calm and composure, because that idea was making Spike's blood simmer with excitement. His pulse was pounding soft and heavy behind his eyes, tingles ran up and down his limbs... Time seemed to slow down as he stepped forward, one careful foot after the other.

On Bruxis' side: The quality of his weapons, years of experience, familiarity with the territory, and eighteen extra character levels. On Spike's side: Stats that were (temporarily) triple the expected base, The Gamer's Mind and Body, a dragon's natural advantages, and his own plethora of skills.

"How do we decide a winner?"

Bruxis drew one knife, pulling from his right hip holster with his left hand.
"Throw down weapons and cry for mercy. But you have no weapons... So just cry, I guess!"

Without another word they treated that as the starting call. Spike rushed in to try and take an initial advantage with his speed. Bruxis saw right through that and didn't care. Rather than defending or retreating, the Dog stood his ground with both feet firm and met his charge with a vicious thrust of the knife. This was the real advantage Spike wanted to take: The Gamer's Body and the vague nature of Hit Points. Damage was damage was damage as far as he was concerned.

Afraid of causing too much injury to their guest, Bruxis jerked the knife aside and let it blaze across Spike's ribs instead of straight into his heart. The sudden change sapped much of the power from the strike so it ended up dealing a few dozen damage instead of hundreds. It didn't matter either way. The result was identical for an outside viewer: The knife hit the dragon and the dragon kept going. Didn't lose a scale, didn't bleed, didn't stop, didn’t even slow.

"Grasp."

With a rattled opponent he felt much more confident testing out his new combat techniques. MP flowed, and he understood it far better than he could have last night. Dragon's Eye enhanced all of his senses, including his Innervision and (by extension) the knowledge of how his skills worked. His claws came down onto Bruxis' shoulders and prepared to dig in tightly, pinning the enemy in place.

"Advice for dragon? Don't try to muzzle a hound!"

One furry paw-foot came up and caught him right in the stomach, at the same time as the southpaw knife slashed for his neck and shoulders. Spike found himself forced onto the retreat, and that set the pace for a while. Bruxis kept hounding him very literally, mixing in free-hand punches with kicks, elbows, and knife strikes. Paw swipes for the face threatened to claw his eyes out... But Spike had no need to yield for something so minor.

Spike kept his composure even under the assault, periodically taking the time to hum a few bars of the Birthday Telegram and bolster his recovery. He couldn’t keep the song up for long under these conditions, but it was enough. He was 100% confident in a battle of attrition, but that wouldn't prove his point here. If he wanted to head out and do some damage to their enemies, he had to make his power clear in this little test.

"Alright, if you're confident you'll live long enough to cry for mercy? I won't show any!"

"Words are words dragon! Show me a FIGHT!"

That brief exchange helped reset the tempo and gave Spike a bare second to breathe. Before the exhale even started, he began to throw one enhanced attack after another: Fire was too much of a risk (if not for Bruxis then the bystanders) but that still gave him a lot of options.

First came the hand strikes, Dragon's Claws and Heart and Hoard mixing the blows up in both reach and power. Then kicks, extended with the Hoard and made far more flexible through single lines from Art of the Dress. Finally he started mixing in Slices and Grasps when he got close, bumbling his way into growing mastery.

Nearly all of those attacks were fruitless, almost all getting either parried or blocked. Spike did get in a real hit here or there! He drew a little blood, cut a little fur. His opponent just didn't seem to care, calmly taking each blow with little more than a wince or growl. Meanwhile Spike was taking much cleaner hits, in greater quantity, to more vital areas. The Gamer's Body just meant he was no-selling like a luchapone regardless.

Bruxis was a savvy fighter and seemingly only used one knife in one hand to actually attack: His other paw focused on warding off blows or just hung back. Spike wasn't confident he could use Pierce in the hectic fight, nor sure it would do anything good if he did. His Slices rarely landed, and those that did barely cut the Dog. Vanilla shots without skills involved were right out, and Grasping for the knife or a limb got him cut more often than it slowed Bruxis down.

The key was that they did slow Bruxis down and the Slices did cut, no matter how little. Spike wasn't just exhausting his opponent, he was getting in meaningful damage without taking any in return. Well, not taking any visible damage. In reality his HP had already dipped concerningly low, but nodoggy in the room knew that.

When Bruxis stopped being able to hide the signs of exhaustion, that was his cue. Spike, still looking about as fresh as when they started, smiled at his opponent and made an offer. It was a bit of a gamble, but (to everybody else) it would probably seem like a fair one.
"...Settle it in one more shot?"

Another razor-sharp grin, the Dog's eyes wide as he panted.
"Hah! Show puppy. Fine by me."

Both of them stepped back and stood straight, then sank down into ready postures for their final attacks. Bruxis was low to the ground, legs slightly bent, his knife arm hanging strangely loose and distant at his side. Spike stood tall, perfectly straight, like a soldier at parade rest. He thought back to the first fight with the Diamond Dogs the previous night, when Mr. Ammunition dropped out of the sky and blasted his opponent's weapon away in one shot.

Spike twisted, coiled, fell back slightly and bared his teeth. The key was to put as much power as possible into one motion, focused and concentrated to a pinpoint that could break any defense and penetrate any obstacle. He'd seen it done by a pegasus in air using flight, wings, and momentum to provide the necessary power. But he was a dragon and the Gamer and his own creature. He was Spike, and he had a different method. Curling his toe-claws down into the earth, feeling his bond with the elements of the ground and soil...

He drove his right claw out, palm flat and fingers extended with the Dragon's Horde. Claws and Earthshaper and Heart were all pulled out to maximize his power, and he felt the power of his MP drive him to Pierce through everything in his way.

Bruxis was startled (for only a second) when he saw the fierce attack incoming. He barked out a laugh and began to move with a manic grin.
"Good!"

His right hand came down to his left hip, grabbing the hilt of the knife he'd never used in the whole fight. He didn't pull it and then attack. He simply pulled it as an attack. A single fluid arc of motion from the scabbard into the air, driven forward with such force that Spike felt the wind in his eyes double in its intensity.

A laugh bubbled from his own throat as their attacks collided.

The two blows met and made a terrible clamor, followed by the lingering ringing of steel.

A skill has been created through a special action! By meeting an expert's ultimate attack with your own and finding yourselves equal, the skill [Draw] has been created!

Your newly-created skill is held in abeyance due to lacking an appropriate [Combat Discipline]
The skill may be used at reduced effectiveness, increased cost, and increased risk of counters.

In the aftermath, Bruxis' larger knife clattered on the ground, the sole sound in the entire audience chamber. A clean chunk had been blown out of the blade by Spike's claws, and it lay alone in the middle of the room. Spike had fallen back several steps, while Bruxis had gone down to one knee, leaning over his damaged weapon.

Checking his stats, Spike winced when he saw a solid three hundredhealth missing compared to his stats before the exchange. And that was just from the backlash of an equal trade! No wonder this Dog thought Spike might not hold his own out in the tunnels...

Which made the idea of something that could drive them away from their homes even scarier.

Scary in the metaphorical sense, anyways: All Spike was actually worrying about was calculating the potential quest rewards for taking down a real-deal boss monster. Bruxis was laughing again, waving one paw at Spike while he leaned down on the ground with the other. He'd clearly taken his own losses from the final strike.

"...Hah! Wahahahaborf, bork... Good dragon. Go! Hunt. Kill bugs. You get my blessing."

"Thanks. And sorry about the blade: I can get that repaired or-"

"Nope. Good for blade to break in battle! I'll replace on my own time. This goes to the collection."

Surprisingly, Bruxis pocketed only the chip of steel, before he threw the actual knife to Spike.

"Maybe keep your own collection? Was a good fight. Maybe we fight again some day!"

[Bruxis' Broken Blade]
A smooth-bladed long knife once, now heavily damaged by the claws of the Gamer. Designed for drawn weapon attacks: It has been rarely used, and always used with the intent to end the battle. Mementos of battle can serve as reminders of the lessons learned.

Rather than waste his words thanking the Dog again, Spike chose to just nod and bow lightly. He got a nod in return, and King Rudy clapped his paws together to break the tension in the air. All of the other council members startled in place, broken from their reverie. Bruxis had made his thoughts clear, but that still left the King's final decision...

"Go forth and do what you can to secure our borders. Our gratitude will be difficult to measure."

Spike didn't hear the ringing of quest bells or a level-up, but the sense of pride was dang close.
"Understood!"

So he set out into the tunnels alone, feeling as ready as he'd ever be.

Zero Hour: Part 14

After the first hour of laboriously slow patrolling, Spike realized that he was not prepared for this... Sort of.

His prep had mostly leaned towards survival and execution, which were all well and good. And he was very good at both, a fact that served him well: The smaller lone specimens (of either species he had previously met) were easy pickings while larger ones only proved a slight challenge. Even a group of five mid-sized Mountain Crawlers mostly felt like a roadblock in retrospect.

But he hadn't been prepared for just what a chore this kind of fighting would be. The insects were too dumb to provide a meaningful challenge with their relative stats, and their tactics boiled down to the same few maneuvers over and over. Bite here, rake the arms there. Exude some terrible-smelling gunk, exude some acid. It got boring, and the experience gains even started to go down.

Of course the sheer bulk of experience gain more than made up for that last bit. Spike managed to take out a decent number of each type before he ran into any complication. Mostly stragglers, a few crowds, and then... Well, and then the complication.

A new species cropped up and Spike wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. Standing almost as tall as Spike himself but far bulkier and stockier, it took up the majority of the corridor it was currently pacing. This was an entirely new species, some kind of shiny iridescent horned beetle. He noticed it before it noticed him thankfully, which left time for Observe-ation and study. Sadly that just made it three-for-three on Observing the invasive insects being immediately confusing.

GLITTERSHELL
Recommended Combat Level: ~10

Force: 12 / 15
Finesse: 3 / 3
Fortitude: 33 / 33

Traits: Insect, Adaptive, Versatile, Hardy

He mouthed a silent "Ten?" to himself as he looked dubiously at the stats. That seemed weirdly low for a lot of reasons. It was stronger than the toughest Bermite he'd seen so far (which had sported an RCL in the 30s) and more durable than any two or even four insects put together... Sure, Finesse in the toilet, but was that enough to tank its overall value so much? It even had an entire trait over the other bugs!

Although that didn't actually give him much information to work with either.

Adaptive: This creature can respond to changes in its environment very rapidly. This response can vary between reactive counteraction, passive comprehension, and more.

Hardy: This creature is even more durable and stable than its relative Fortitude would suggest, often in the form of redundant organs, skeletal reinforcement, etc.

So it not only crushed the other bugs for Fortitude but it was even sturdier than that implied. Add to that the vague description for Adaptive, and Spike had little idea what was going on. How was this recommended for such a low level? Did it have some easily-exploited weakness? No, he'd never even heard of such a beetle before so that couldn't be it... Or even if that was the case it wouldn't be useful to him, so same difference.

He watched the gigantic beetle plod around the tunnels for a few minutes before deciding to just turn around and go the other way: The Dogs needed the entire perimeter clear before he went back to Ponyville, but the order of operations was his to choose. He'd just come back and deal with this surprise interruption once he'd spent more time on the other insects.

As is often the case, however? One surprise cascaded cleanly into another.

When Spike made it back to the original exit of the now less-temporary Diamond Dog warrens, Piercing Ammunition was standing there with Arcane at his side. The two of them were apparently looking over the work Spike had done on the exterior. He was self-admittedly pretty proud of that: Earthshaper and his flames together had melted the cobbled walls like so much glass, eventually slagging it all down into a smooth and regular exterior. What had been a barely-stable barrier, mostly for peace of mind, was now a reinforced and fortified wall.

He waved lazily as he approached the ponies, pretending to be more shocked than he was.
"Funny meeting you here!"

"Har har kiddo: Arc insisted on joining me when I came back around, said Rara and the Princess could hold down the fort."

Arcane only snorted at that, refusing to turn away from her work. A constant pale-gold glow from her horn was dancing across the walls. When neither she nor Piercing spoke up again, Spike decided to turn the Dragon's Mind towards the spell on the wall, picking out the operative symbols of her work (at least as he understood it). A lens, the edges of a paper crane, a fluted trumpet-like cone...

"Communicating back to Luna about my, uh, ad-hoc employment?"

That got him a quirk of the tightly-sculpted eyebrows, the unicorn Night Guard eventually nodding.
"She wanted to make sure you weren't getting yourself too deep out here."

"I vouched that you probably weren't doing anything stupid, but the wife really did insist. Almost like she wanted out of the Arcade, which I have never seen since we opened shop."

"Being in an enclosed room with those two was just getting stuffy."

Spike nodded in commiseration.
"Too much frou-frou? I know Rarity's all about the fancy lifestyle, and I imagine she'd be needling Luna for details about historical fashions if given the chance."

"More like the opposite, but close enough. You done clearing the filth already?"

"Ah, no... More like the opposite, to beg a quote."

"Hah! Back to ask for help then?"

"Oh Tartarus no. I took on the job alone and I intend to complete it that way unless things get really out of control. No, I just wanted to take a different route for a while: Ran into this weird beetle thing that seemed like it would be a serious pain. Figured I could grind my combat skills on the small fries before tackling it, ya know?"

Piercing waved a wing for him to pass, and Spike obliged.
"Sounds completely reasonable: But pride or pay or whatever, do tell us if you need an assist."

"Will do! And I guess the Diamond Dogs are treating you both just fine?"

"Like royalty, after the work you did: Seems you made a pretty positive impression in such a short time."

Spike bemoaned, again, his lack of an actual Reputation menu... But she was probably right.
"Well, there's plenty more where that came from: I don't plan to only fight when I come back out here in the future."

If either of the Ammos had picked up on his long-term plans for the area, neither one commented on it. They let him pass freely, and he did exactly that: Right now they were both on the job, and the idea of even just having that kind of responsibility made him a little giddy. Piece by piece, the maturation of his magic had led to maturity in other fields.

First he gained the ability to stay awake like normal ponies (and then some). Then came more trust and responsibilities. New avenues of cooking and creation and helping others. Skills and studies he couldn't have really considered just a year ago. Now he was out adventuring on his own, just like Twilight and the girls. Sure, he was doing it a bit more proactively and with a tiny bit more violence in terms of solutions...

Well, no, the Elements weren't afraid to get their hooves dirty when it came down to it. They just hadn't dealt with too many problems that responded well to a kick or a magic blast. But that was where Spike had his opportunity to shine: Because he was being proactive and he wasn't saving the whole world with his quests and endeavors? He could target the kinds of problems that reacted best to his skillset.

And right now? That meant getting back to work as an exterminator.

~ Several Hours Later ~

Spike rounded the corner and slumped back against the wall. He laughed to himself despite the seriousness of the situation: If he wasn't The Gamer then he'd probably be run pretty ragged. His stamina had floored out more than once, his HP and MP alike were down into the low hundreds, and there were plenty of bugs approaching his position. Gamer's Body made it so he didn't have injuries to show, but without it he'd be a mess of blood and mangled scales.

Earlier today he might have considered this to be a hopeless situation. While one hit from the enemies around here couldn't take him out? Spike wasn't fighting just one enemy. An accidental run-in with a cluster of a dozen Bermites led to his frantic fighting retreat: He hadn't expected to run into an entire outpost this close to the Diamond Dogs, hence the current circumstances.

It was a situation that probably would have seemed hopeless from an outside perspective: But if he had that same outside perspective he could directly see the reason for his own calm. Floating over his head, only visible to himself? There were (as Pinkie would put it) some blue words.

[The Gamer]
Spike
LV 19

Four levels in about as many hours. He'd been hounded by other packs just like this and gotten himself into some very nasty fights. Sure, this was the first time with such low resources, so close to lethal damage, and up against such numbers. Why risk it instead of hiding or seeking help?

Precisely because of one of those fights! Backed into a corner by a Mountain Crawler of exceptional size, Spike had survived and walked away with hard-earned knowledge of a benefit that only came around every so often... And right now he was planning to exploit it to the fullest.

The Bermites rounded the corner of the dim corridor, dozens of clacking legs brushing and slipping against loose pebbles. The ones leading the charge were the weakest since the survivors of the chase figured out at least one thing thanks to Spike's past attacks. Whatever goes first against this two-legged monster dies instantly, that was the lesson they’d learned. It wasn't a bad judgement call, for a splinter colony separated from their hive.

That was giving them a lot of credit though.

Something with an actual Intelligence stat would have considered that this might be a trap.

The dark corridor lit up vicious acid green and sprawling hearth-fire orange in equal measure, a pair of fireballs sent out back to back to clear the front of the wave. The weakest Bermites ate the entire assault, leaping up to block as many flames as possible from hitting their seniors. It was a noble self-sacrifice in one sense. In another it was only feeding the fire. Notifications of experience gained rolled across his vision one box after another, until Spike saw the message he'd been gambling on:

You have gained a Level!

The stronger wave of Bermites crashed forward and laid into him with all their might. While you couldn't say the half-dozen remaining bugs 'knew' that Spike was desperate, they were fiercely territorial and fought the Mountain Crawlers regularly. Their insectile instincts let them know that nobody had an inexhaustible reservoir. Not the acid-oozing worms, and not this two-legged freak.

Which is why after a flurry of completely fruitless bites and slams? They all died.

Draw sent his claws whipping out from his sides with grotesque speed, Slice cut apart armor followed by Pierce to punch through one soldier and into another, Grasp lifted the entire shish-kebug on his arm and then a flick of the wrist sent them crashing to the ground. One attack after another, enhanced with the Dragon's Claws while running Heart and the Hoard. When the dust cleared, Spike (naturally) had no visible injuries despite being back down to four hundred-odd HP and MP.

Back down. Because it turned out that gaining a Level reset his health and magic straight to the top.

A guaranteed refill to perfect condition, just waiting on enough experience to trigger it. Shame it wasn't possible to hold back from claiming quest rewards, or he'd practically be stocking up on extra lives! The next best thing if not better: Plenty of harder games didn't do the courtesy of restoring you after a respawn, and at least this way he stayed in the same location.

Spike had banked on the insects having just sharp enough instincts to get them into trouble without the intelligence to back it up. Ideally he would then be able to turn what should have been his moment of greatest weakness into an impossible-to-predict rally. The result was a clean sweep on top of the full-body head rush that was gaining a Level to begin with.

As the adrenaline boost of combat faded, Spike let out a few long breaths and then settled into meditation. Gamer's Mind kept him from being really shaken, but he still felt the tension, concern, and dread that came naturally from making such a risky play... They were just more distant and faster to fade. As the trance of meditation took its hold, he looked back over what he’d done. The instant pick-me-up of a level had been nice and he had spent it effectively.

With that done, now he had an opportunity to refill naturally and consolidate the lessons he'd learned over the past hours.

Zero Hour: Part 15

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Zero Hour: Part 16

Spike took a few minutes to Craft himself a crude belt using materials from his Inventory: First fabric for the main sash and then added an extra sturdy loop on the side. The reason he made the loop from the strongest stuff in his inventory was because he had no intention of treating it kindly. Even the belt itself was probably going to get destroyed here... Oh well. Rarity wasn't nearly the stickler Twilight was when it came to her obsessions, so he probably wasn't going to get Pinkie'd when he committed this crime against combat dressware. Probably.

He strapped the belt to his hips and took a deep breath. Then another, and another, and...

"Respire. Stagnet. Respire. Stagnet. Respire."

One long exhalation at a time, Spike began to build his own little auspicious dragon cloud. Layer after layer of mana, raw magic, shaped like cotton candy or a pegasus cloud. Omphaloskepsis took him deep and let him recover quickly enough to keep the cloud growing. The tendrils and wisps of silver-white power tried to spread and flee, but Stagnet kept them stabilized. After emptying his MP bar entirely he waited to recharge and then did it again just to make sure.

The Glittershell had noticed his huffing and puffing at some point, but didn't pay him any particular mind. If it had even really 'noticed' anything, it probably treated him the same as a cave-in or other natural disaster. In other words, if it could think it would be thinking 'just a nuisance, no reason to worry'. Hopefully he was about to prove it wrong.

Once the stage was set Spike took the damaged knife from Bruxis out of his Inventory. Looking it over, he was concerned that it might break down from this trick along with the makeshift sash. That would be a bigger deal, but he had a feeling it was still the right way to go. Tools were meant to be used, and if you were overtaken with sentimental concerns to the point of neglecting their original goals? That was way worse than using them up naturally and letting them fulfill their purpose.

I should probably think a bit harder about how / why I tend to get philosophical about abandoned and broken things. Buuut that sounds like it would be pretty terrible so... Let's not! Like Sweetie said the other day: Shoosh. Knife time.

Some things that Spike had learned came without the teacher meaning to teach at all. Twilight's accidental lessons to Spike had obviously included how to avoid emotional stress by throwing himself into work... Eh, that was unfair to her. More seriously, he didn't intend to ignore that concern forever, but there was a pressing job to be done now, and joking inside his head kept things clear. Not even the Gamer's Mind or the weirdness of the last day could keep Spike from his goofy habits.

But really for serious: Knife time!

The long knife was closer to a short sword in Spike's hands, and he looked down at it in the light of the floating magic cloud. If this was going to ruin it... Well, he'd have to thank Bruxis on the way back through the warrens either way. He was pretty sure the Dog would understand: ‘It's good for a blade to break in battle’, after all.

Once his MP meter refilled yet again, Spike made his final preparations. Self-buffs were activated at the best ratio learned from his newly-practiced understanding, the Dragon's Hoard stretched his limbs until he had the same proportions as Bruxis. The originally-loose makeshift sash fit tight against his waist, the ring on one side serving as a quick-rigged sheath.

One last deep exhale as he exited the Innervision, and then a forceful breath drawn in. It seemed like his breath was drawing in all the light from the room, but the reality was much simpler. Spike was inhaling the magic he'd created with Respire, filling his mouth and cheeks to the brimming with raw magic. If this went wrong he'd be in a lot of trouble, but he was confident in his powers and the sturdiness of a dragon's body. A dragon Gamer's Body doubly so.

'External Mana Control.'

Spike used his own mouth as a sculpting tool, taking the cloud and shaping it swiftly. Years of slurping away at ice creams and other treats gave him a practiced motion, spiraling his tongue and pressing here, pulling there, a tug and a lick and a spin. The sensation was unspeakably weird and not just 'unspeakable' because he couldn't speak with a mouthful of volatile mana.

He took up a fencing pose from one of his comics and then exhaled again, sending a flowing torrent of power onto the blade. His eyes glittered and he couldn't help but smile as the magic wrapped and took shape around the blade with each puff and spit. Like a fire-breather turning a stick into a torch, he turned the short knife into a shining moonlight greatsword, a pure silver glow illuminating the near-empty cavern with ever-greater intensity.

When his mouth was clear he slipped the Stagnet-based blade into his holster and took the very same stance Bruxis had used during their duel. A magic blade at his hip, in a cavern beneath the earth. Taking a stance he'd learned from a warrior of another species, preparing to slay the last beast between himself and freedom... More than ever before he truly knew the sensation, the idea that he was 'living life as if it were a game'.

The first motion sent him crashing forward in a forceful leap, pushing away from the stone floor and sending pebbles and debris everywhere. A cry of "DRAW!" left his lips and the blade whipped out from his belt with so much force that it (predictably) blew the entire cloth strap apart into dust and loose threads. His swing went wide, missing the beetle by a mile... Because he wasn't trying to hit it. As momentum dragged Spike's arm backwards he began to turn and convert the force, focusing it down around and then forward, bringing the blade to bear...

Spike converted every ounce of motion carrying him into a single thrust, one perfect stroke. His strike jetted forward so hard he could hear the air cracking, could see the sparks of rainbow light. The misty sword dug deep and hit true, sliding into the beetle as if there was no resistance. Soon his fist, clenched around the weapon's handle, touched down against the Glittershell's body.

Even at this moment it didn't react, didn't fight back or swing to hit him. It just tilted its head to look at him... Except now it was paying attention for the first time. Spike started paying attention too and quickly noticed some concerning signs. Its single compound eye was clouded and messy, the other already lost to an old injury. Its splotchy coat-color was probably not how it was supposed to look, and its glacial pace (in retrospect) was more pained than unconcerned.

A creature like this was all alone in a derelict cave with fading eyes, slow movements, unhealthy colors...

Spike finally realized why Observe claimed this was such an easy fight: The beetle was already dying. Stars, maybe it had come here to die. This ‘battle’ was just him speeding along the natural conclusion. He'd tried to distract himself from downer thoughts by focusing on the fight but got the opposite instead. At the same time, he had pushed himself in all sorts of ways in order to finish things off, learning new tricks and stretching his skills to their max...

Neither the dragon nor the beetle moved for a solid minute, each just looking at the other. Eventually Spike sighed and smiled: He knew the creature wouldn't understand him, but he wanted to say his part anyway.

"...I'm glad I got to fight you before the end. It was totally one-sided, but I learned a lot. Resūmō!"

Stagnet ended. The blade dissolved.

All the magic wrapped around his knife and buried inside the beetle's body... That mana went berserk in an instant. Rushing and roiling and coiling and clashing, blowing up and out, billowing into steam and power and motion. The entire world felt like it was exploding.

And then the local area very much was exploding, throwing Spike’s body on a bouncing trajectory. His path carried him past the now totally-broken lamp, past the walls, and then entirely out of the cavern. When the dust cleared he scrambled to his feet to assess the damage...

Well, I didn't cause a cave-in. Bit of a crater, which is kinda impressive. And the beetle is...

His system decided to kill the suspense and answer that question.

Enemy slain! You gained 8,888 experience!

Congratulations on slaying your 100th Insect creature!
You have gained the title [Neophyte Insect Slayer].
You may choose between [Insect Affinity] or [Insect Enmity].

Loot has been generated for the first time. Luckcheck successful! Loot improved.

...and it made a few new questions on the way out, because of course it did.

Spike could hear the sounds of Diamond Dogs running to his location, likely drawn by the sheer commotion. Rather than create any needless confusion, he rushed the cavern and searched the floor before scooping all of the remaining items into his Inventory. He’d investigate the details of the loot later, but at the moment... There was no sign of the beetle's body, and with how much magic he poured into that attack? It probably didn't leave one.

Although on that note, the sheer commotion of the explosion should have drawn even more insects from further afield... But Spike didn't hear a single sound in the distance apart from the approaching Dogs. As if the system could hear his objections? Mere seconds later a quest pop-up informed him that he was successful in securing the area, at least by its standards.

First Ongoing Target: Purge the Perimeter
Objective: Remove all invasive species within the defined area on your Map.
Conditions: Cleared!
Reward: Raised Reputation with all relevant groups. Bonus experience for all skills used.

Hmm. Well if the area was counting as clear then nothing the quest counted as an 'invasive species' had come to investigate. Maybe the insects were more afraid of explosions than they were curious about the noise? That would make sense: Not everything in this world would act like Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash in an emergency! Spike's own perspective about danger was kinda skewed by the company he kept.

The Dogs he'd seen earlier in the nearby tunnels arrived at a full run... And stopped when they saw Spike standing, (apparently) free of cares and worries, just outside of the blast zone. There was a bit of awkward silence before one of them cleared his throat with a growling sort of bork.

"...You take care of problem?"

"All taken care of! I was just on my way back to make my report."

Actually getting an affirmative answer seemed to catch them off guard.
"Ah. Good? Good! We patrol then, you go on. No cave problems?"

"Seems sturdy, but you'd be the better experts: Feel free to check."

A brief huddle and conversation ensued between the Dogs. Eventually one of the smaller among them stepped forward. Scrambling and clambering up the rocks and the sides of the walls (without digging out any part of the surface) he was clearly the most acrobatic and flexible out of those present. Spike tried to watch and learn from his actions to whatever degree he could. While nothing materialized as a skill immediately, he still felt like he picked up a few things.

"...Looks all good! Real solid top here."

The Dogs all let out sighs of relief, and Spike waved to the group before heading past them.
"Sorry about the disturbance: I'll make sure to cook up an extra-good meal for you all before I head back home."

If there had been lingering tension then that offer certainly smoothed it over. He was personally just glad to have another excuse to keep practicing with the Dragon's Kitchen without wasting food. Plus, privacy would also mean a chance to study the loot from this last battle.

Author's Note

Chapter 97
Zero Hour: Part 16
- OR -
Goodbye Glittershell

Zero Hour: Part 17

Out of a mix of fairly justifiable paranoia and Twilight-esque compulsion, he did one final lap of the tunnels before he made it back to the center of the warren. There was now a consistently safe and clear ring all the way around and out; a path that led from their current hiding place to the bottleneck entrance back the way they came. That area had already been clear before Spike came along, and was where the majority of the Guards were posted: He saw one with a number as high as Twenty Eight, so they clearly wanted to keep their current secure location... well, secure.

Spike knew his next trip to help the Diamond Dogs would almost certainly involve going out beyond that guarded gate, into the chaotic mishmash of tunnels they'd been forced to make during the escape from the still-unknown monster bug. He would have to prepare and be certain that he was in the best position first: There would be no patrols to back him up, no Ammos on the sidelines, no Princess a few miles and some mail away from bringing assistance.

He'd be lying if he said the concept didn't excite him: He was already positively buzzing with plans and ideas, and the urge to figure out this whole 'Combat Discipline' issue with his new attacks was hard to push down... Would have been hard to push down, but no matter how excited the thoughts on the inside of his head? He stayed calm and clearly focused, walking calmly into the warrens. It had been a bit of a worrying realization, but he was coming to term with the Gamer's Mind.

The Gamer's Mind didn't prevent Spike from having emotions or even feeling them: The more he got used to it, the closer it felt to how he'd always felt before he got these powers. The real difference, the reason it was a skill and not a debuff or a cost? He got the best of both worlds! He was able to feel all the sway and influence of emotions, without any compulsion to act on them. Whereas previously the idea of 'not being able to wait' could drive him to shred the wrapping on a Hearth's Warming present a week in advance, now it was just a curious little tickle he could ignore as easily as any other idle thought.

Maybe it was another side-effect of being raised by Twilight, but in Spike's mind that was a pure advantage. Distance from his emotional reactions gave him the ability to react with logical basis, but it didn't stop him from reacting the way he would have before. Sure, philosopher ponies might argue that he was just faking those reactions if they weren't genuinely driven by emotion alone... And he didn't have a counter-argument to that. Wasn't sure he needed one either.

Spike passed under one glass-hooded lamp after another on his way through the tunnels, nodding to each of the Diamond Dogs he passed. He could have called them all out by name thanks to Observe but that would easily overstep the line from 'comforting presence' to 'creepy monster', and as a dragon raised by ponies he was already toeing that line constantly. He still felt a little surge of pride at the nods and waves he got in return: The people of this warren knew he came here to help them, and now that he had made good he felt good.

He was broken out of that particular reverie when he caught a glimpse of hunter green around the corner: King Rudy was standing outside of his official chambers, idly turning that ring between his thick fingers. None of the members of his council were in sight, and there were only two Guards on either side of the T-junction between the two hallways.

"Welcome back Spike. I have been told you are done with the initial strike?"

He shot the King a smile.
"Yup! There were some close calls and a bit of a... strange ending. But we're all good as far as I can tell."

"Our gratitude needs no restatement: My people would be in ruff straits indeed without your aid. Consider yourself welcome in these halls at any time-"

"Especially if I'm coming back to pitch in again?"

"...Perceptive as always. A character trait I can truly appreciate. Yes, I will make sure to send one of my people to contact you when the time comes. Although I do worry about causing a panic among the ponies if they were to enter your town."

"Oh! I actually thought about a solution to that while I was grind... Err, taking care of the bugs. I've got a friend who throws a party for everypony that ever comes to Ponyville and plenty of other creatures besides: If she meets your envoy then it'll be easy for the citizens to just write it off as another Pinkie thing. Probably not a bad first step to getting ponies comfortable with treating Diamond Dogs as neighbors in general, as a cherry on top."

"Indeed. I assume you will inform them on your return and then inform us of the other details with the method discussed previously?"

During the impromptu dinner-table meeting where Spike had gotten the council to open up and hatched his plan to help them out, he'd mentioned to King Rudy (aside from the others) about his letter-sending abilities. Specifically he had mentioned that he could send letters to Rudy himself, not just the Princesses. That was made possible thanks to his recent gains with the Dragon's Breath, and he even had a slot to spare on top of that now.

"Yup again: I'll ping Pinkie once I'm in Ponyville and throw you a letter with a good meeting spot where she can 'accidentally' run into the new Dog in town."

The King inclined his head in gratitude, and then extended it into a half-bow.
"Thank you for that consideration, and for all else you have done and will do."

Spike knew it would probably be more bothersome to shake off the gratitude than it would be to just accept it: Even growing up around Celestia (to a degree where he often forgot the 'Princess' on the front) he still felt awkward getting this kind of treatment from royalty.

"It's much appreciated: I also wanted to offer up a few more hours of my time... Specifically so I can provide meals for the patrolling troops and the rest of the warren before I leave. It would be a bit of a waste to head back into town before daybreak, and I'm grateful to all the Dogs who helped me with finding the nests and stragglers I needed to take care of."

Rudy gave Spike's plan the OK quickly and graciously, directing a Guard to lead him back to the kitchens. It was a nice gesture, albeit one made kinda less useful by Eidetic Memory. The route was complex for sure: It wove between multiple smaller cells and tunnels before terminating in a mess hall and cooking area that had been given just a little more care than the rest of the den.

They didn't have any proper ovens or other facilities but they'd at least managed to bring along some knives and tongs, pots and pans: Apparently scavenged like all the other tools they used. Spike had thankfully been filling his inventory with a diverse pile of various useful bits and pieces over the last week... Which did bring up an idea. After checking with the one Diamond Dog cook he had seen (recognizable by his tattered chef's toque), Spike pulled out the most surprising thing in his entire inventory...

Admittedly it wasn't so much one surprising thing as it was seventy-five or eighty individual things: The (kinda) intact forms of almost every Bermite and Mountain Crawler he had defeated. Some had been cut up too badly to keep, others had been burned with dragon-fire beyond recognition. The remainder were mostly whole and put Spike in an experimental mood. Not just experimental cooking, although the Dog-on-duty assured him they were used to insect meat.

No, Spike was feeling crafty.

He looked down at his spoils... Spoils! Spoilage. Crap. Spike quickly put most of the remains back into the Inventory, leaving only the most badly damaged to start with. He took a few deep breaths: Fighting the bugs was one thing while carving them up afterwards was another... But if he just left them to rot it would be wasteful, so this felt like a way to carry on their value further. Better to go back into the world in some helpful way than to just decay in a cave, right?

Starting with the damaged parts, he let his mind wander as he worked. Bermites felt like they'd be paradoxically easier to deal with becauseof their armored exteriors. More room for error, as long as he made clean cuts with gentle force. That would be made smoother in turn by the sheer weight of the material: It was kind of shocking that he was able to haul all of this in the Inventory in the first place! Apparently there was no limit on slots, weight or even technically size.

The sole restriction was that he could only store things which he could lift and move. Thanks to the Hoard and Heart that was not a very meaningful limit. Speaking of the Hoard, ironically (a tenuous use of the word but he was going to count it) he'd even gotten a Dragon's Hoard option for his new 'collection' of body parts. Sadly it didn't provide new heights at the top or bottom ranges.

After seeing him work with the insect legs for a few minutes, the Dog eventually went off on his own and gave Spike more room to work. He let out a mental sigh and then paused his efforts, throwing all the bug bits back in the bag. Now that he was properly alone, he could take some time out to look over the yields from the final fight... 'Fight? More of an execution, really. Euthenasia?' He wasn't an expert on the topic, not that anypony probably was.

Regardless of what he called it, the thing with the Glittershell beetle. His first loot-bearing battle! And there hadn’t been just one piece of loot.

Author's Note

Chapter 98
Zero Hour: Part 17
- OR -
Returning, Ruminating

Zero Hour: Part 18

Spike divvied up the physical rewards into three parts, leaving the system benefits for last.

First up was the money: Real bits! Enemies dropped money in a lot of role-playing games whether it made sense or not. Shining said it dated back to how loot was calculated in the earliest versions of O+O, often hoarded by the monster or found in some barterable form like pelts or whatever. In this case, Spike was far more likely to chalk it up to his system being cheeky and weird: Fifty coins in a thin velvet purse. He didn't put them in the bag, they just kinda came like that.

The second item of note was the first proper item: A small black buckler shield, attached to straps made of some unfamiliar stretchy material. It was sized perfectly to fit his forearm when he was in his new day-to-day size, although the buckle holes and the elasticity meant it would probably scale up and down well.

Its description was a lot less straightforward than its appearance.

Glittershield
Rating: Rare
Defense: Special

A very small wrist-strap buckler made of chitinous shell. While it appears jet black under normal circumstances, when exposed to outside stress its true colors rise to the surface effervescently.

(+) Keep What's Precious: The user of the Glittershield cannot be impacted by any attack that strikes it directly, even if the effects should spread beyond or penetrate through the shield.

(-) Drop What's Not: The user of the Glittershield cannot protect anything with it except for their own person. Attempting to guard anyone or anything else will forfeit the shield's defenses.

So a shield with total immunity to attacks if he could block them with an extremely tiny target, and if he were only defending himself. It was an interesting trade-off, one he'd have to think hard about how to use... Or if he should use it at all. Would something that protected himself at the cost of others really fit his personality or upbringing? Maybe he'd figure out a novel use-case or situation where he could still use it to the benefit of friends and allies. On the bright side he was questing solo right now, so the negative feature was almost moot.

The last item was a sphere about the size of Spike's torso, like a gigantic shimmering pearl or a crystal ball. Its surface was constantly shining with iridescent shades, every color in and out of the rainbow. Despite the variety on display it was overwhelmingly dominated by three roiling clouds: One a crisp metallic silver, one a bright smoky red, and a placid deep grey. Without reading the description Spike probably couldn't have told you what the item was... Except for the sense of familiarity it radiated as he saw his own reflection on the surface.

Glittershell Egg Clutch
Rating: Unique

When a Glittershell beetle is cast out or otherwise separated from its swarm, biological imperative will drive it to roam far afield in order to undertake two tasks. First is to focus all of their growth and ability, however much that is, into self-defense and protection. This is all for the sake of the second task: An asexually-produced clutch of eggs that cannibalizes every other aspect of their creator, meant to be the foundation for a new swarm after they pass.

This particular clutch has been baptized by force and fire and mana in excess: The grubs within will be heavily immunized against physical trauma, heat and flame, and magic of all kinds.

"Certainly explains the injuries. And the lack of any other beetles, too. It was just... waiting."

Spike would have felt terrible if he had only seen the first half of this description... But the last line changed the tenor of the rest entirely. His fight against the mother (parent?) of these eggs hadn't caused any harm: It had done great good for the kids. An idea was brewing in his head already, but he did want to check the last of the spoils before he settled on anything. Those gains were in the system: His first Slayer Medal and a permanent choice between two mutually-exclusive perks.

[Neophyte Insect Slayer]
You've begun to practice the battling of insect infestations. There is still a long road ahead if you wish to master this field!

+10% damage dealt and -10% damage taken when fighting insects.
0.1% chance to completely ignore the special traits of insect enemies.
Insects may be more wary (Insect Enmity) or more accepting (Insect Affinity) of your presence.
This title scales and upgrades as you achieve more victories against insect-kind.

Insect Enmity
Slayer Bonus
As a profligate killer of arthropodae and insecti, your perception of these foes is ever-growing.

You can easily recognize the actions of any creature classified as an Insect by Observe.
This includes figuring out habits, spotting habitats, predicting attacks, and seeing weaknesses.
The requirements for Insect Slayer progression are reduced, and this bonus scales with medals.

Insect Affinity
Slayer Bonus
By hunting and driving out the crawling creatures, you grow to understand them more truthfully.

You better empathize with and understand any creature classified as an Insect by Observe.
This includes understanding their drives and behaviors, dietary needs and living requirements.
The benefits of Insect Slayer medals are improved, and medals improve your comprehension.

The medal's default perks were rock-solid and he'd be able to get a lot of use out of them in his future trips back here. As for the other two aspects? Since he could only get one and not the other, it wasn't much of a choice at all. Looking down at the egg clutch in his claws, Spike picked 'Affinity' without a second thought.

The bonuses for the Slayer medal changed immediately, with the offense and defense jumping up to +12% and -12%, while the chance to ignore special traits fully doubled. Doubling a tenth of a percent wasn't a qualitative difference but still! At the same time, he felt a shift in his memories of the past fights. Annoyingly it wasn't anything he could pin down... He just knew something was different, and even with Eidetic Memory it wasn't easy to parse just what.

'Oh well, that can come later. These benefits supposedly scale up with the medal anyways, so on my future trips out here I might get to make a breakthrough! Right now I have something else to break through.'

Spike had no intention of cracking the egg casing immediately: Hatching would come in time. Stars, he probably had a better idea of that than any other creature alive given his origin story. Haaaa, he used to think of it like that back in the day, when he was grasping for straws at how to feel accomplished: It wasn't how he was born, it was an origin story! But now that he was the Gamer he had another one, a second origin, and this one had an equally-large impact on how his life was shaping up.

'Alright, enough delays: Knife time, part two, second verse not the same as the first!'

A portion of his cooking kit came out of his inventory and he turned his attention to the first subject: The bug bits had come back out of the bag starting with a Bermite. He knew there was a word for the workers who prepared meat in civilizations and cultures that ate it often: Ponyville only had a single fishmonger dishing out to all the pegasi and the curious others alike, but he was pretty sure monger wasn't right. EIther that or calling somebody a 'warmonger' was a way weirder insult than he'd ever assumed.

Spike's system didn't come with a lexicon, but he was able to provide his own thanks to (just a bit arbitrarily) storing some books during his training. The unabridged dictionary informed him that the word he wanted was butcher. A bit grim, but this whole affair had gotten somber towards the end anyways. Fair's fair!

Since he still wanted to be able to craft and work with the armor plating afterwards, he couldn't just treat this thing like a lobster and cook it in the shell: He'd have to strip the plates off all the meat before that point. It was tough going, and he ruined more than a few limbs and even a main body segment (thorax, apparently, thanks dictionary) before getting the hang of it.

Storing the meat and armor in his inventory even had the double-edged "benefit" of grading their quality by nature of how each piece stacked. Starting from the forty specimens in good enough condition to work with at all, he got down to almost thirty before he managed to consistently finish one without any Degraded or Damaged parts. Towards the last dozen his work improved to the point of consistent Pristine and Perfect labels, and in a final bit of extractional experimentation he pulled out an entire flawless set of organs for Twilight's future study.

They'd discussed the idea of him potentially bringing back 'specimens' for her work, given that he was almost certainly going to get involved in something weird because of the Gamer. It hadn't been until later, in the aftermath of the big dinner, that they had come to a few related conclusions about his Inventory. Twilight felt that the most logical explanation was a deliberatelyincomplete pocket dimension, space sans time. Combining that with a previous point where he'd made a joke about specimen coolers and she'd gotten that sort of contemplative distracted look and...

Suffice to say he was prepping these organs for SCIENCE!

Doing the same with Mountain Crawlers was far harder. Spike learned that in the most annoying possible way when the first sample managed to depressurize on contact. The blowout afterwards expelled dozens of glues and acids into the kitchen, not to mention the impact on Spike himself.... Or the gasses. Or the raw inexplicable smoke. Thankfully the Diamond Dogs didn't have magical fire alarms or that would have been really hard to explain.

Four or five carcasses (carcii?) later he was able to get their oddly thick and durable exteriors off without causing any troubles for the interior. Actually getting the interior taken apart in a useful fashion was far more of a trial. Spike eventually had to dig down into Heartsongs and the Dragon's Eye in order to combine small-scale time dilation with super-focused vision and touch. That made for results, and eventually Twilight got her second set of bug organs (borgans) while Spike got another fully intact cluster for his own experiments.

After a long session of grinding he managed to get a variety of Specializations for Crafting and Cooking: [Disassembly], [Preparations], and [Butchery]. They weren't Skills in their own right but they gained their own experience and levels, giving them the potential for focused growth. Maybe in the future he could work on taking things apart and putting them back together, get something like 'Crafting: Assembly' to match?

The major haul from all of this was much more complicated, and he'd been forced to improvise a lot of containers once he realized how many potentially-useful liquids were involved. Between Bermite hemolymph, Crawler blood, and the two-dozen-odd other fluids inside any given Mountain Crawler? He had a lot of decanting to do. Thankfully all of the assorted Crawler fluids were content to stay in their pressurized bladders, but Spike had to craft up two gigantic clay vessels (in the Greycian style) for the blood-equivalents.

From the Bermites he managed to get a pile of armor plates and pieces that, mounded up into a pyramidal heap, was taller than Spike himself. The sorta-shed skins of the Mountain Crawlers added up to another gigantic pile, and between the two he was already starting to get a lot of ideas about armor and accessories for future testing.

Leaving Twilight's portion of everything (some of which might even end up in a natural history museum: He was pretty proud of the last few extractions) that just left the meat. A lot of meat. Given the way the other bugs avoided the Glittershell's territory earlier, Spike had a feeling it was their natural predator... Just in case he set aside half of the meat for the future hatchlings. That still left a veritable mountain of assorted insectile proteins that would need to be tested, tried, and cooked for his going-away-for-now feast with the Dogs.

Spike reiterated to himself: He was about to start testing out recipes based on bug bits and rocks in order to feed himself and a bunch of displaced Diamond Dogs.

'...Dang it. I'm not allowed to rag on Twilight for her weird life anymore, am I?'

In the end things went more smoothly than expected: Most of his effort went into preparing the ingredients, making and serving the meal were trivial after. 'Braised Bermite with Bauxite' was an immediate hit, and while it took a bit more to catch on? Even the 'Marinated Malachite Mountain Crawler' got cleaned out in the long run. Spike didn't bother keeping (many) excess portions, both because his pony friends probably wouldn't dig it and because the buffs were pretty niche.

'Digging it' was really the operative phrase: The Bermite dish raised carrying capacity while the Crawler improved stonework and tunneling. Fantastic stuff for Diamond Dogs, fitting for Spike's niche... Not super helpful for anypony he knew. Come to think of it Applejack might appreciate the hauling power, but she also might take offense at the idea that she'd need help with that.

It felt right on a couple of levels (scheduling, personal, convenience, dramatism) to head back to town just as dawn broke. To fill the intervening hours Spike sat down with the Diamond Dogs (the ones that weren't sleeping or working) to try his hand at the local entertainment. With how abruptly they left behind their real home they hadn't exactly brought a lot of things to do... But if there was one thing he'd learned, it was that all thinking beings were driven to play and creative endeavors.

That was how the cultural exchange began: On the outskirts of a village that rarely made the news for reasons other than monster attacks, in temporary tunnels under vast barrens. A dragon traded dogs his food and advice in return for their palm tricks and dice, swapped modern music for mole-manic myths, taught them how to roleplay and learned in turn how to play-fight. He went out into the open air hours later, saying his goodbyes quickly and without much concern.

After all, he'd be back real soon.

Author's Note

Chapter 99
Zero Hour: Part 18
- OR -
Disassembly, Departure

Zero Hour: Part 19

Author's Note

Chapter 100(!!!)
Zero Hour: Part 19
- OR -
Awkward Arrivals

Zero Hour: Part 19

Spike had just under sixteen hours of his 'double-stats double-training' buff remaining as he crested the first hill out of the barrens. Ponyville was dark but beginning to wake in the pre-dawn glow, and a thin drizzle of rain covered everything out to the horizon. He wasn't an expert in weather control but he had a feeling this storm would last well into the afternoon if not the entire day.

Normally he'd spend a rainy day like this playing around with the Crusaders or tucked inside at the Library doing some reading... ‘Normally’. There was a word that had changed meanings lately. 'Day' was pretty weird too: He'd last seen Twilight two days ago, spent that time cooking and fighting and doing stranger things alongside near-total strangers... It was a lot.

He'd put himself through the wringer by most standards, and if he was still 'the old Spike' his plan now would be 'sleep for the better part of a week'. Whether it was pride and excitement over growing stronger and more capable, his Gamer's aspects, or something else entirely? Spike didn’t feel like he needed a rest. He felt energized and driven. He faced the rain head-up on the walk into town, long strides giving way to shorter steps as he returned back to his 'new normal' for height and scale.

There had been plenty of time during his last few hours at the warrens for Spike to figure out the way forward from here: Letting everypony know he had succeeded would be the first step.

He flamed off a quick note to Twilight giving her the rundown, but didn't bother sending the samples just yet. Not only was he a little unsure how well they'd travel by flame, it would be rude to give her busywork without being able to see her reaction. The Ammos already knew he was doing fine since they had stopped in. That also meant they'd reported back to Luna about his status, which just left Rarity out of all the ponies who knew he'd been gone.

Rather than send her unexpected and unexplained dragon-mail, Spike figured it would be better (and more befitting her style) to drop off a claw-written note at the door of the Boutique. That was the plan-

Well that was the plan for all of eighty feet, until he rounded a hilltop and saw her home over the horizon. On the outside of the Boutique, built around the front door? Somepony had draped bolts of dark cloth across a series of poles to create an impromptu porch.

The makeshift extension was revealed to be even more ornate as he got closer, complete with lawn furniture. The awning itself even had one sheet of clear material that allowed the ponies underneath to watch the rain pattering down from above. Seated on the lawn furniture, the actual ponies under the awning were... Rarity and Princess Luna, sharing cups of tea and dainty cakes to match.

Spike tried not to feel weird as he watched from a distance, and eventually decided that even if they were out in public it was kinda rude to keep staring at whatever-this-was. Perhaps the two of them were discussing classical fashion? He knew Rarity had made off-hoof comments about her interest in the subject before, and that they'd last really spoken during the Tantabus incident.

He had to guess that they'd started talking on that and other topics while waiting together in the AAAArcade to get back news about his trip to the Diamond Dogs. Arcane had said something about the two of them being bothersome to spend time around, so he could only imagine how dry or frou-frou the topics had gotten to drive Rarity's aunt away to that degree. Of course if Princess Luna had met up with Rarity again afterwards? That also meant she likely already told Rarity about his status when he’d updated her, which made his idea of a note redundant.

That cinched the need for a change of plans: Rather than interrupt their (quite pleasant) breakfast hangout, he'd go spend as much of his remaining 'double up' time training instead. They could get in touch again later after all: No sense bothering them or spending his time inefficiently. Given how Rarity told stories, it would probably be a lot more fun hearing about this from her afterwards!

Even with that set aside, Spike still had a lot on his mind and his plate (his mind-plate if you will): Unanswered questions about his new attacks and the related systems, the stalled progress of his Internal Alchemy, his general skill growth, the Crusaders, Pinkie, Twilight... One by one Spike took a methodical look and pruned the list for the moment. Too early for the Crusaders, he'd already ruled out Twilight, Pinkie was working. He needed information to move forward with IA and his skills overall included the last remaining option: Combat Disciplines.

That left him with the hunch from earlier: The idea that Lyra (Heartstrings, apparently) would have a pretty good idea how to help. He didn't know the unicorn terribly well, just the same level of passing facts he had about anypony in Ponyville. She lived with the confection-crafting Bon Bon (Sweetie Drops?) above the other mare's candy shop. Played music for a living as far as he knew, although Rainbow Dash had mentioned seeing her at a few athletic competitions. She had been involved in the Changeling-invasion-slash-wedding debacle a few years ago, but recovered well afterwards.

Of course there was the biggest note, which he and Twilight knew well from her many visits to Golden Oaks: The mare had a fascination with 'humans', a race of (probably) fictional bipedal creatures. These beings appeared in everything from conspiracy-fueled screeds to completely, achingly mundane stories of life in a world without magic. Spike wondered if his own grasping claw-hands and two-footed stance made her consider him in a new light? Previously he'd been so small that it would be easy to overlook, but with his new height and proportions he did resemble one of those creatures. According to the covers of crudely mimeographed magazines, anyway.

I could go and research this all in the Library, actually... But I've got the buff timer to think about. Even if Lyra can't give me any information on this topic after all, she can probably give me general advice that I can use. Researching at home just leaves me back at square one if it fails.

With that decision made, Spike started heading out to find the minty mare: From what he knew and what she'd said, the first place to check was Bon Bon's eponymous candy shop. They made sure to stay well away from baked goods to avoid stepping over any boundaries with Sugarcube Corner, and vice versa. That didn't stop them from collaborating from time to time, filling samplers with enrobed cakes and studding rhubarb muffins with glistening sour raspberry crackle.

Surprisingly the proprietor herself was already out front this early, curled up on a bench under the awning and looking into the clouds with an expression that... There was honestly no other way to put it: Bon Bon seemed really angry... Angry at the sky.

[Conspicuous Chocolatier]
Bon Bon
LV 21

The fact that this time her title actually matched the name he expected didn't even take Spike by surprise: He was getting used to the irregularities (more like semi-regularities at this point) of his engine. He did hesitate a bit before interrupting the obviously-annoyed pony, but eventually just went for it.

"Uh, hey Bon Bon! Rough morning?"

She whipped her head around to look at him, and when the curls stopped bouncing he saw that the mare was grimacing ferociously.
"You have no idea."

Spike decided it would be way funnier to be honest than to pass up the chance.
"I just spent the entire night fighting and killing bugs bigger than my entire body. Try me!"

He figured a 'joke' like that would have gotten a lot of possible responses, depending on the pony: Derision, a joke in return, sarcasm, genuine curiosity or empathy... All possibilities! What hadn't been on his list was the sheer dark hatred that rolled across her face, accompanied by a flicker overhead. By the time Spike realized her title changed, looking up to check revealed that it had already turned back... and by the time he looked down again? Her expression had also reverted, to a degree where she could let out a very natural-sounding laugh.

"Haha, good one Spike! Not like a Bugbear or anything, right?"

"...No, definitely not."

Probably better to just go along as opposed to asking the big obvious "uh what" right now.

Bon Bon (relatively) smoothly transitioned back onto their original topic.
"Sorry that I'm being moody: The featherbrains at the weather brigade gave me the wrong freaking schedule again, and this rain ruined my entire day."

"Oh. Did you and Lyra have plans, or-"

"HAH. Hah. No, it was a work thing. I'd been all set up to work on taffy, fudge, and hard candy."

He nodded sagely: While he might not be a candy-maker himself, he liked it and knew a fair bit.
"Humidity, huh?

"Yeah, I didn't expect to be living in a swamp today!"

Bon Bon directed that last bit directly at the air above them, as if a passing pegasus would realize their error and immediately begin changing the entire weather pattern. Since that didn't happen, Spike eventually had to awkwardly continue back onto the original train of thought.

"I, uh, saw Lyra the other day at the Library and we ended up talking a bit: She said to ask here first if I wanted to meet up with her again? Either that or go find her in the woods, but I think I've had my fill of exploring for a bit."

"Good thing too: She's not in the woods today. Should be out at the dojo."

He'd thought that was weird when Lyra had first mentioned it, but now it really stuck out.
"Ponyville has a dojo?"

"Sure! Little place on the veeery edge of town: Head down the main road until you're nearly to the train station, hang a hard right, and just keep going until you're almost into the hills. Can't miss it."

"Huh. Fair enough! Thanks a lot, and I hope your candy plans can get unjammed."

"...Jam, huh? That actually gives me an idea. Thanks to you too, Spike! Oh, and if you're going to see Lyra? Tell her I'm mad and expecting an apology present before she gets home."

Well that was kind of a big ask. Spike frowned and went to turn away.
"Um. I'd rather not get in the middle of-"

The mare shook her head rapidly, trying to correct herself and only sort of succeeding.
"No, no, it's a joke thing! Sort of a code phrase. Not that we're in the habit of using code phrases or anything! That would be a needlessly complicated way for a musician and a candy maker to keep in touch, right? Right."

"...Riiiight. I'll be going now!"

After a conversation that awkward, they both ended up keeping eye contact for a good five or six seconds while he slowly backed away from the shop. Eventually Bon Bon was the first to crack, and they both started laughing uproariously. Spike turned and picked up the pace as he walked away, waving back over his shoulder with one claw.

Shouldn't have been any surprise that the mare Lyra lived with was just as weird as her, but... still, good to confirm.

Zero Hour: Part 20

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Zero Hour: Part 21

Eventually (after crossing over into an open-air hallway on the far side of the building) they came to their stopping point: A much smaller and darker room, where two statues dominated the space. They were both well-worn wooden pieces, with the look and feel of proper antiques. He had to imagine they were extremely old because, well... One of them was of Princess Luna.

Its pale birch surface was very unlike the mare herself, but it paired well with the rich and dark mahogany of Princess Celestia's statue. Combined, the sun and moon both looked down on the room, seated on their plinths as if they were thrones. This room took in far less daylight than the previous few, so the only illumination came from candles on the pillars and a gently-glowing incense burner beneath the hooves of the two statues.

Lyra turned and smiled at him, flourishing her hooves around like a game-show host.
"Neat, huh? I figured it would be good to start things out with a little clarity before we moved on to any of the tougher topics, and the meditation chamber is pretty much always empty this time of day."

Spike walked past her and raised a claw to the cheek of Luna's statue. She was depicted with a smile of serenity and grace, while the portrayal of Celestia had a grim and firmly-set expression of... anger? Disappointment? Judgement, maybe. He regarded them both with an unusual amount of solemnity: Maybe it was because of the darkness, the quiet after Lyra stopped speaking, or the faint scent of jasmine and amber.

"Do you know how old these are?"

The mare shrugged.
"Eh, couple of months?"

"No, not how long they've been here-"

"No no, I got it. But I was serious: I watched them getting carved! One of the stallions involved with the dojo does this kind of thing. I guess the aging look is a side-effect of how he works? Definitely makes them feel more authentic."

He blinked a few times and then laughed: Growing up with Twilight should have made it easier for 'don't judge a book by its cover' to be his default, but sometimes the outer shell was just that convincing.

"Alright, so... meditation, I presume?"

"Not a lot of other reasons to be in a meditation chamber, yeah?"

She hunkered down onto the floor and took the same posture from when he walked in earlier: Hind legs crossed, back straight, instrument in her lap... He hadn't seen her carrying it this whole time, but maybe she'd pulled a Pinkie and just kept them stashed around the place? Or magic, which was way more likely.

He followed suit, realizing it wasn't too different from his default posture when meditating: It just made a lot more sense with his body plan... of course for her it was probably emulating the bipedal gait of humans.

"So, you mentioned you learned your style from Twilight Sparkle, right?"

"Yeah: You?"

"Self-taught for a bit, and then found a more formal method once I joined up here. Wanna try it?"

Spike had to bite back his enthusiasm and respond calmly, even though he wanted to cheer: The odds of this being a new skill were pretty dang high, and this was one of the areas where he was most lacking in options.
"Please."

A flicker of magic closed off some of the vents on the incense burner, and after a minute or so the scents in the air had leavened out to only be the bright summery mix of agar and amber. Lyra seemed a little awkward at first, but slowly warmed up as she talked through it.

"Alright, so I'm not really used to this whole teaching thing. This style comes in three parts, which all kinda have their own uses but they use the same base: I call it the 'moving center', but when Head Space taught me she called the whole set of three 'Sun-Moon Meditation'. Appropriate, right?"

"Totally. Go on: I'm all ears."

He closed one set of eyelids to dim out the lights and block the wisps of smoke, waiting to close his outer lids until he was sure Lyra wasn't going to pull out any visual aids. Again, that was probably more of a Pinkie thing...

"OK, so first you focus down on your... feet, right? Hind claws, whatever works."

She led him through the process slowly, periodically pausing to make sure he was following along. Despite her protests, Spike felt like she actually had the potential to be a pretty solid teacher.

"This is the base for everything that follows. Keep your focus and attention in that area, all your concentration, use it to really get a feel for yourself. Let it linger for a bit, grasp the lay of the land. Take your focus from just one limb and start to draw that back. Pull it away and bring the whole with you, carrying it along. Your focus, your thoughts, the power you carry inside you; take it when you go. Leave behind an empty frame as if you were drinking the water out of a glass with a straw, or emptying out some other container. Take it slow at first, just pause if your attention starts to slip."

Lyra chuckled a bit before adding an extra tip.
"I'm a really physical thinker, so it took me a bit to get it at first. It might help to tense all the muscles in that spot when you focus, and then relax them as you pull away. Rolling in a kind of wave from the outer edges of your body into your core, that kind of thing. No matter how you do it, bring the whole thing together in your chest as one single point."

Spike picked up the gist of it comfortably given his own experiences with meditation: Instead of Omphaloskepsis' method of sensing his entire body at once, this method focused and collapsed the senses down to one point. He slid backwards and lost progress from time to time, but never let that be a discouragement: Instead he just paid attention to the regular cycle of his breathing and let it carry his focus back together and on its path again.

Over the course of a few minutes they continued the process moving inwards from each limb and the head as well, eventually bringing everything together into one spherical mass in the center of the body. His body felt both distant and very relaxed, having deliberately stripped all his attention and tension away from each part one at a time.

"That's the base, and this point of focus is what I call the moving center. In the three meditations that build from this base, it will sort of act as the sun and the moon. We'll start with the sun. The base is kinda freeform, but this part really requires you to use a breathing pattern. The numbers aren't important, just the consistency: I go for four, but Horse Stance has real deep lungs so he likes to use a seven count."

Lyra seemed to favor a pattern of breathing that moved in beats of four-by-four: Breathing in to a four count, holding for a four count, breathing out for four, holding four. Spike already used a similar box-like pattern himself, so that was a nice commonality.

"Let the center of your attention gently move, dropping down to the base of your hips. Give it a few cycles of breathing to settle... Good. Now on the next inhale, let it rise up the back of you until it comes just below your neck, between your shoulders. Hold it on the hold... and let it drop down the front on the exhale. From hips to shoulders and back, a big smooth... Uh, curve?"

Twilight's drills brought the specific geometry to mind instantly.
"Ellipse."

"Right! Keep it up like that for a few minutes: Up on the inhale, hold at the peak, down on the exhale, hold at the base. Rise and fall, zenith and nadir, motion and stillness. Don't sweat it if your focused center starts to fray or come apart, just let it slowly draw back together over time: Rather than force it, just let it take the shape it wants."

The cycle was smooth and almost self-sustaining: Spike was surprised at how quickly the focus of his attention fell in and followed the path of an endless track. Over time the movement started to behave like Twilight in his earlier anecdote, cutting a rut into the path. Each sweeping pass of his 'center' left a lingering trail, and it was strongest at the two points where it stopped in each cycle. It felt similar to how he would describe his magic in Omphaloskepsis, but not quite the same...

"You might be feeling it already: Everypony I know describes it a little differently but there are, like, common points and references. There's a lingering warmth, a persistent heat, something that seems like it would be sharp and pointed if you touched it. Radiating and reaching."

Spike didn't nod physically, or even say anything, but then realized this wasn't like his dream meetings with Princess Luna. Some actual communication would be useful.
"Yeah, definitely."

"That's the 'sun' in the Sun-Moon meditation: A pure solar aspect."

This time he did nod, even if she couldn't see him: Her description sounded right on multiple levels.
"So the next form would be about the lunar aspect?"

"Bingo! Take a minute to breathe, stand, stretch, let that lingering stuff all settle back out: It's easier to transition between them once you're used to it, but better to clear the slate. Just remember what that side of it felt like."

He unfolded himself off the floor and paced around the room for a minute. During their break Lyra switched the incense burners into the opposite configuration, dimming out the brighter smokes and leaving the smell of jasmine in the air.

As Spike stretched he got a feel for the state of his body after the first meditation: She was right in that the lingering sensations faded and drifted away quickly once he was moving... But he felt like it could still be very useful once he could bring it to bear. The system backed him up on that idea:

By practicing a facet of [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 3%

Not long after, they settled in for the second style. It started exactly the same as the first, drawing all of himself together into one 'moving center', one focused sphere of attention and concentration. Idle thoughts might drift in the background, but he let his actual mind return to that point naturally.

"Now that you're centered again, take that core of your attention and raise it up, slowly. Treat it as if it is extremely heavy and difficult to move: Give it a sense of weight and density."

Whether it was his actual magic or just a visualized construct, that wasn't too hard for him: The center began to take a kind of metallic luster in his mind, growing dense and earthy as he dragged it up in his chest.

"Once it is sitting at the zenith from the previous exercise, just let it linger there. It's suspended, held up and waiting. Give it a few cycles to linger and sit... and then let it just drop."

The plummeting sensation built in Spike's gut quickly, as if he were actually falling. The sphere of his attention sank fast, eventually recoiling and starting to rise once it reached his hips, near the bottom of the last method's solar cycle. In the wake of the drop, things were... cold. Not a negative or sad kind of cold, but pure and crisp like a fall morning. If the last meditation left a sensation of lingering warmth and motion, this was dark and chilly stability.

"You might already have a feeling for it, but give it another shot: It's an easy reflex to let it spring back quickly, but you'd be surprised how far you can let yourself plunge down. I've been told this side of it makes for a great hypnotic induction, but I uh... Yeah. Not my kinda thing obviously."

This time Spike made sure to really concentrate on the sense of depth within him and beneath him, the sheer gravity the world exerted just to keep its own surface from shearing off. His focus was reflective and smooth like a ball of silver steel...and this time when it dropped, it truly dropped. He felt the sinking and falling, but this time he ignored the vertigo and focused on the wake it left.

It felt the way Luna's mane looked, dark and vast. There was a sense of incomprehensible space even in the small area of his body, a perfect opposition to the focused heat of the first style. That had been living and crackling and trying to crunch down into a tighter huddle. This feeling spread and wallowed, billowing and flowing like deep dark water. He luxuriated in the sensation for a bit before opening his eyes.

By practicing a facet of [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 3%

Lyra just nodded to him and they let the specifics go unsaid: If that wasn't the lunar aspect to match the previous solar one then nothing was. Both of them stood and shook themselves off for a few minutes, stretching and returning their heads back to the world around them. While he had already picked up a lot, he was most interested in this part: Since the previous two stages formed an obvious pair, what did that mean for the part that stood alone?

Lyra stood one more time to flip the burners a third time, mixing the two smokes in equal measure.
"Alright, number three: Take everything inside again and draw it together. Gather the core and give it a place in your chest. Make room and space, let it sit and settle."

It came easier now, but he still took his time: Rushing was antithetical to the nature of (most) meditation, and Spike had no need to force it right now. This was a kind of training, after all.

Lyra's voice was steady, the volume never fluxing too far up or down: She probably sang, right?
"Let it fall apart and split along those lines you learned just now: Solar and lunar aspects. They want to come away from each other and spread. Separating them should come naturally without too much effort. Don't focus on it or try to sort them deliberately, just give them the chance."

She was right about that: Once he let his thoughts settle on the idea of his magic splitting into the two distinct types, it began to do so automatically. In his visualized mind's eye, the almost unreal shimmering purple-silver-green of his magic began to burnish out and flicker into new shades. Blue and orange, silver and gold, white and black, all resolving and fading together. Even that seemed to be a trick of the lack-of-light, his brain assigning associations where none had formed on their own.

Eventually two distinct and very different-feeling spheres had formed, and he could feel the tension.

"Draw each orb up and out from your chest, following the natural flow of your body. Each goes to one forelimb, then down and into the hands: Solar to the right, lunar to the left. Once they pass, think of your joints as a filter or a lock: Let the matching type in, keep the other out, and don't let anything go back up the arm again."

Spike visualized a porous rock (something in the pumice range but with a bit more density) slowly coalescing into his wrists, forming two discs that served the purpose Lyra described. The right-hand gate allowed only solar aspects in, but didn't let them fall back out. The left-hand gate behaved the same but inverted, accepting and sealing in the lunar power. His hands started to feel... not warmer or denser but somehow more charged.

"Bring up your arms: You want them to come out a bit away from your chest. The goal is to press your claws together until they almost touch, without the rest of your limbs jostling against your torso."

He cocked his shoulders out a bit to get his elbows clear of his belly, and then did as she said: Palms facing together, he brought his two claws through the air until they almost made contact.

Lyra's voice smoothed out and became a bit more wakeful, and under that his improved senses could make out the sound of her hooves moving in the air.
"Now pull back, push in, and repeat: Keep it going in a steady cycle. You'll start to notice the change soon enough."

It took a bit over a dozen passes back and forth before he started to feel it. It wasn't a sensation in his claws or his arms, but in the air between where his hands were pushing. Where the lunar and solar aspects came close together, something was being born in the wake of the friction. By reflex he tried to stretch his Omphaloskepsis-style senses to get a better 'feel', but the entire framework fell apart when he did. Rather than get frustrated, he took that as a positive and started again.

Any mistake you can walk away from is a learning experience, and with that new information Spike took another try. It only took him a minute to gather the opposed forces, get both halves corralled down into his hands, and start the push-pull motions again.

This time he let his passive senses wash out instead of trying to split his mind between two totally distinct styles of meditation. Between his claws in the air, something was changing and growing. It had the feel of his magic in its normal state, but magnified and clarified... And most importantly, he wasn't actually putting effort into making it. His MP was steady as a rock and he wasn't using any kind of active skill to make this happen... Well, not exactly.

The sensation started as being similar to his magic and equally elusive, but the longer he kept up the pattern the more physical the sensations became. Dragging his hands apart became difficult as if they were magnetized. The air between them started to grow heated, crawling with a static tingle. The entire thing was made turbulent and swirling by each pass of his hands.

"Focus on that new sensation in the air: I won't try to explain it or give it a name, but I think you've got a pretty good idea what's going on."

She said that with a finality that implied her lesson was over, and Spike's system agreed.

A skill has been created through a special action! By taking an expert's lessons to heart and studying the nature of magic, the skill [Syzygy] has been created!
Additionally, by practicing a facet of [Internal Alchemy] without the skill, your Mastery increases by 7%

Syzygy Lv 1 EXP: 0.00%
In the astronomical world, a syzygy is the alignment of three bodies in space. Metaphorically, it can mean to bring two poles into alignment around a central force... Or to bring a new force into being between those poles. This is at the heart of a style of meditation that draws on the sun, the moon, and the things that lie sleeping between them.

This skill encompasses four distinct styles of meditation, built around two polar aspects of magic.
Transitioning into this meditative state takes more time than with other styles.
The time taken can be reduced through practice and improved levels in this skill.
These styles of meditation are not initially compatible with the skill 'Exposure'.

Suncycle
Improves HP recovery based on both WIS and LUK while meditating.
Improves MP recovery based on only WIS while meditating.
Improves Stamina recovery based on only LUK while meditating.
Grants insight into solar concepts and certain aspects of magic.

Moonsetter
Improves HP recovery based on only LUK while meditating.
Improves MP recovery based on both WIS and LUK while meditating.
Improves Stamina recovery based on only WIS while meditating.
Grants insight into lunar concepts and certain aspects of magic.

Sun and Moon in Harmony
Nearly halts HP recovery while meditating.
Nearly halts MP recovery while meditating.
Nearly halts Stamina recovery while meditating.
Generates an externalized clump of purified magical energy.

????????
You have not learned this subskill.

Author's Note

Chapter 102
Zero Hour: Part 21
- OR -
Statues and Stillness

A BONUS NOTE:
Today's chapter is a little unique. While the results shown are supernaturally potent due to Equestria's magic and Spike's own nature, the actual visualization and practice Lyra describes is a real style of functional meditation. I wrote this sequence to be (what I feel is) a solid instruction on the practice, which is the same one I've used for most of my life. I hope folks can get some benefit out of it, and even if you don't? Enjoy the chapter on its own. :moustache:

Zero Hour: Part 22

Suncycle, Moonsetter, Sun and Moon in Harmony, and one other unknown. Interesting.

Lyra only mentioned this meditation being a set of three styles, but Spike had a lot of trust in both his engine and his own intuition. Pattern recognition comes easy to an avaricious media-consumer of any kind: Comic reader, gamer, what-have-you. Spike was all of those and a few more beside, so looking at this set? The missing piece was a pretty small leap of logic.

First there was the Sun alone, then there was the Moon alone. The third style was the Sun and Moon taken together, and then a blank. So if you treated the united version as the default, you could rephrase the first two as 'Sun minus Moon' then 'Moon minus Sun'. That made the fourth option clear: Somehow subtract both the Sun and the Moon, leaving nothing at all.

He tried to bring the idea up casually. Casually all things considered, at least.
"Well that was a refreshing change of pace: So what about the fourth?"

Tried was the operative word there, especially when Lyra's expression went dark in an instant.
"I said there were three."

Spike didn't say anything in response to that, and Lyra didn't say any more either. They both just sat there looking at each other for a while, silence and incense filling the air. Eventually the unicorn was the one to crack first, heaving out a sigh. This entire time she had been teaching him, Lyra was professional and very straightforward. From what he understood, in town she was known for being light-hearted and off the cuff. Now her bearing was far more serious than either of those. Her eyes were arresting as she stood on the side of the room between him and the exit.

"Why do you want to get stronger?"

He did a double-take at the divergence.
"...What?"

Lyra shrugged and started pacing as she spoke, jabbing one hoof in the air to punctuate her words.

"Just tell me why. Whatever your reason is, I'm not one to judge. But from what you said earlier? You've been putting yourself through a ton of crap. Working constantly, spending every waking hour (which I guess is all of them at this point?) just doing stuff! And now you're on the outskirts of town in a weird dojo you've never been to before, meditating with a weird mare you barely know, asking weird questions about weird stuff. There's gotta be a reason, right? I'm curious what that reason is."

Spike didn't think this was a question that had a right or wrong answer in the traditional sense: There was only his truth, the right answer for 'him' and 'here' and 'now'. So that's what she got.

"I want to get stronger."

"...and?"

He lifted both claws in the air to shrug, a posture that put him firmly between both Celestia and Luna's statues in the dark.
"No and. That's it! I'm a simple dragon at heart, and I've got simple needs that are all pretty much met already. It would be a joke to say I'd protect my friends: They're the ones who protect Equestria most of the time! I've got all the things the average pony could want: Friends, family, hearth, home, food and games... Actually that last bit's the most important thing, in a way. I mean my life is now 'like a game', right? So my reason is like a game's logic too: I want to get stronger to get stronger."

A minute passed without Lyra replying or Spike pushing his angle: He'd made all the points he wanted to make, so even if she found his logic wanting? He couldn't change the outcome.

Eventually her sour and dour expression turned into a smile, and then a giggle.
"Power for power's sake... Good answer!"

Spike wasn't even entirely convinced by his own speech, so that caught him off guard.
"How good?"

"In general? No freaking clue. For me? Perfect. It's like... OK, talking time. Wanna spar again?"

"Maybe just a walk this time: I've got a lingering sense of serenity from that meditation and I want to hold onto that for a bit longer."

"I mean those aren't mutually exclusive... But yeah, probably for the best."

They left the statues of the Princesses behind as they moved back out into the open-air halls that connected the various rooms of the dojo. Lyra was walking on all fours this time, apparently valuing the stability over her quirky fighting posture since they weren't... well, planning on fighting. He might get the urge to surprise her with a punch of his own (as payback for earlier) sometime later, but it'd be rude now.

"So from what you said earlier, all your gamey menu stuff calls it... what, disciplined?"

"It says I'm lacking 'an appropriate Combat Discipline', to be specific. And just to be a bit Twilighty for a moment, 'an appropriate' would be needless unless there's multiple Combat Disciplines, some of which would be inappropriate."

She slowed her pace for a moment and giggled.
"And by that same sorta logic, I guess that means there's also non-combat disciplines?"

He slowed down for a totally different reason, stunned as the realization hit him.
"...Crap I actually didn't catch that."

"Oh trust me, living with Bon Bon is like running through a field full of verbal pit traps: I've gotten reeeeal good at getting around the holes. Which is to say phrasing."

Spike was pretty sure he missed (or subconsciously ignored) some kind of joke there, but let it slide: He had more pressing priorities.
"Given we're still having this conversation, I guess you figure you must know what it's on about?"

"Yeah, and it's why I asked that question earlier. It's also why I think your answer was good for right now, but like... If somepony else asked you, it might have been a realbad answer."

"Are you able to fill me in on the details?"

"Totally: You up for me kinda ranting for a bit?"

She was walking ahead of him, so she couldn't see his deadpan: Hopefully it was audible.
"I live with Twilight Sparkle."

Lyra giggled again.
"Point taken! K, so..."

Lyra's explanation rambled a bit, but as far as Spike could tell? Her main thrust was based on comparing and contrasting the driving purposes of a guard, a soldier, and what she called a fighter. He summarized it in his head as she went, and used his skills to create another copy in his notes for future reference and discussion: This was certainly a topic Twilight could do some digging on.

A guard learns how to fight in terms of specific situations and how to respond to them in order to keep everypony safe: Is the target a pegasus, earth pony, unicorn? Are they armed? Already violent or just belligerent? Guards have to be able to see the sitch, figure it out, and find the best response. They need to do all of that quickly. And their responses, used and picked properly in a situation they've trained for, are the best. Officers can take out a target without ever letting themselves, the bystanders, or even the target come to any more harm than is absolutely necessary.

It reminded him a lot of how Shining Armor had talked to him in the past, and the things he'd seen in the palace during their years with Celestia.

A soldier learns how to fight in terms of winning battles. Get in alive, disable as permanently as possible, get out alive if possible. Their tactics aren't complicated or flashy or showy or even safe. They're all about maximizing harm to the enemy side and minimizing harm to allies. Sometimes personal safety comes second to the mission, and the enemy's safety almost never matters.

Spike could easily visualize that template and how it fit Bruxis, or the Ammos.

The previous two explanations had been things Lyra covered somewhat dryly, as if reciting from memory (for somepony who wasn't Twilight, who could recite the phone book with fascinated gusto) instead of speaking from the heart. That changed when she hit the crux of the topic.

A fighter learns how to fight for the sake of fighting. Battle is both means and end. It's not about dealing with the situation, but making a situation for others to deal with. Fighting is more like colors or notes combining, it's mixed and messy yet focused and precise. Parts add up in unpredictable ways: The same way you can make a sentence out of words, stringing words together until you get a meaning you can communicate. Add oneword and you might change the entire meaning, but you can also change every single word and still get the same core message, just phrased differently. 'Fighting' is about taking components and stringing them together to find new potential in the moment, in the mix.

The passion and excitement in her tone showed through in how she moved, her steady gait first accelerating and then moving up into her hind-legged stance, until by the end she was gracefully punching and striking the air to punctuate her sentences with pugilism.

He didn't reply for a bit, afraid of breaking the spell. Eventually she realized that and trailed off with a cough, falling back to all fours.
"...So I guess what I mean is that you... Your answer was a fighter's answer. The right answer to me, at least right now. I'm pretty obvious about what I like. The idea of getting strong because strength is just a positive trait to have? That is my jam."

He jolted at that last bit.
"Right! Jam. Almost forgot: Bon Bon said to tell you "I'm mad and expecting an apology present before she gets home." Verbatim."

Lyra just rolled her eyes.
"Way to get off-topic, Spike... But yeah I get it. Lemme guess, she was caught off guard by weather again?"

"This happen a lot?"

"Bonnie sets plans way in advance and never thinks to check for weather updates during the week."

"Gotcha. But I really wasn't trying to throw us too far off-topic, just making sure I didn't forget."

"Didn't you say something about perfect memory earlier?"

"Huh. OK I guess I was just making sure I didn't get distracted: Memory and focus aren't the same thing yaknow."

"Gosh do I ever."

They shared a laugh at that, timed almost perfectly to their arrival right back where they'd started this meeting: The still-empty training room. Lyra's instrument was laying on the bench right where she'd left it, but Spike immediately noticed that the broken string was replaced. Lyra clearly saw that herself, since she smiled before yelling at the closed paper door.

"Apology accepted Hoofsies! How soon until the next class needs this room?"

Hoof Strike's voice floated back after a pause.
"Hour and a half?"

"Got it!"

She turned back to face Spike again, and gestured off towards a different exit of the room.
"Spike, let's head to one of the other sparring spaces. I don't want to be a liar and guarantee you that I can teach you exactly what you came here for... But even if I can't, I can teach you something."

Author's Note

Chapter 103
Zero Hour: Part 22
- OR -
Reasons and Rationale

Zero Hour: Part 23

Spike certainly wasn't going to turn down that kind of opportunity, so he gladly followed. Their route this time was a lot more straightforward: Just moving through two connecting rooms until they hit a second very similar-looking space to the one he’d first entered from the lobby.

"So, you were saying?"

Contrary to all her earlier actions and in defiance of what she'd said? Lyra sat down before speaking this time, plopping herself onto a bench with her back up against the wall.
"Right. About your question earlier, with the meditation I taught you... That's a personal thing. I'm taking a leaf out of Bonnie's book here and saying 'I can neither confirm nor deny' if there's a fourth way to use that base. So let's just shelve that before we talk about anything else, alright?"

That made sense to Spike, and he wasn't in any rush: If anything he'd leave with an interesting new puzzle to try and figure out on his own. Plus the almost nervous tone of her voice made it clear she was either being genuine or had a lot of practice lying. Or both. Could be both.
"Crystal clear: Should I be calling you teacher or sensei or anything here?"

"Please don't: I'm not about the super-formal stuff, and even if I were we'd save that for if I was really going to teach you. Which is the other thing: I'm not. Not today anyways, this isn't me saying I'm totally against the idea. Try back in a couple of days or something, give me some time to decide if I'm ready to teach anypony. We'll work that out when the time comes."

"But since we went out of our way to take up a training space, I'm guessing you've got something in mind?"

"For sure! Specifically? You need to learn how to train."

He'd already told her about everything he'd put himself through so far, and she had even commented on how hard he was pushing himself. That didn't stop the mint-green mare from giving him a smug expression as she leaned into the wall behind her.

"Seriously man, it's like... Twilight Sparkle probably taught you about learning how to learn, right? Proper studying habits and that sort of thing. It's the same deal with exercise and training, sparring, the works: If you really are interested in learning how to fight from the ponies around here, this would be a sorely-needed first step."

That made a lot of sense: He'd been taking advantage of his Gamer's Body to do absurd things this whole time. The closest he'd gotten to proper exercise was having the Crusaders pile objects onto him as if he were preparing for the tournament arc in a Neighponese battle comic. Even though his powers made it so he lived 'life as if it were a game', which in turn made his body behave weirdly? It was still a body at the end of the day. He had muscles and bones and nerves working to make him move. That meant there was a right way and a wrong way to move, right and wrong ways to train.

Lyra continued with a frown on her muzzle.
"The only problem with that is, uh, I don't really have any idea what the right way to train is for you? Like, you can imagine I mostly deal with unicorns. Some pegasi and earth ponies, but not so much other species. And 'dragons' is completely out of my ballpark."

Now that was a problem he could solve easily enough: They'd had the exact same problem for different reasons back when he was a hatchling, after all.
"Well, me and Twilight have been in and out of enough study sessions and doctors' offices over the years to get a pretty good idea of how my dragon body works. So I bet if we use my anatomical knowledge and your general experience with training others we can figure something out, right?"

"Hah! Totally makes sense that you'd know your own body best. Well... Let's get started then!"

The difference between his 'training' (real hard air quotes there) with the Crusaders and his sparring with Bruxis... It was like a world's width. The difference between that fight and this new training with Lyra was equally distant, but along a different tangent. It wasn't about swift execution or the most precise way to get the job done, it was about paths of least and most resistance: When he swung his claws through the air, what was the best posture for his arm? If he wanted to train the muscles connecting his hips and legs, how could he focus on exactly those parts and nothing else?

Spike's ambition wasn't limited to only training his body, and this dojo shared his absent limitations. Lyra took him through dusty rooms filled with pamphlets and scrolls of all ages and styles, wooden shelves and cubbies filled with all sorts of information. He took his time poring over each section in turn, saving Lyra's time by using Photographic Speedreading to record most of it for later perusal.

Some conversations about Spike's stats led them down the halls to a storage room where Lyra levitated out a variety of unusual items: A bag, a bundle of intricately-carved sticks, a stone bowl with a lid, dice, and even small smooth stones. She decided that if Luck was on the table for things he could train, she would introduce him to the little games and tools of fate the dojo favored. After all, students needed a way to pass the time during cooldowns... And to pick the odd-mare-out for partnered exercises.

As the hours whiled themselves away, Spike decided to give back the best way he currently could: First a little luncheon, presenting each of his buffing foods (with one obvious exception) one after the other. Then another bout of sparring and play-fighting while he gave Observe a full-textbox workout, parsing Lyra's moves and statistics in order to let her measure her ability by his system's scales. In the cooldown period afterwards, she sat down with her newly-repaired instrument to provide a sonic backdrop while he reinforced her meditation lessons.

Other ponies came through as the day wore on, but he'd gotten a bit of the old Twilight tunnel vision and Lyra was clearly no stranger to being seen as strange. He'd heard enough of the rumors around town and seen plenty of her behavior himself: Giving pointers on stretching and muscle-load to a bipedal dragon was probably not that far off from anything her fellows had seen her doing before.

Time slipped over them and through while leaving a marked difference in its wake. Spike leveraged every piece of information he could, gathering knowledge and creating a bespoke tome of his own personalized exercises. Everything from cardiac to core, burst and balance, reach and respiration, strength and stamina. He folded in his own experiences with Lyra's formal procedures, anatomical knowledge mixed with breath control and plain old physics.

They didn't just train muscular methods but mental ones as well, mantras and sutra matched with drills of data and particular puzzles. He leaned back on the history he'd built up with Twilight and the girls, cross-referencing the isolated pools of knowledge until they began to run together into a much wider and deeper sea of information.

Their day was rounded out with tricks for not just reinforcing his engine-driven Luck, but how to use his senses in concert with that ineffable state of being lucky. Not just grinding away at randomized events, but taking those random chances and turning them into meaningful action: Seeing potential in the moment and figuring out how to grasp it. Luck didn't matter if you couldn't take advantage.

That was the third mantra he learned, actually! Set your sights on good fortune: Concentrate.

Lyra taught him a lot of new things, but at the same time she kept reinforcing and reminding him just how much of this he was teaching himself. Adapting his knowledge of how the engine worked and of how his dragon body worked, turning it into training methods using her lessons as a guide. Using past experience with science and history to form a base for further education. It was exactly what he'd expect from a good teacher, regardless of whether or not Lyra believed herself ready.

Putting her intent aside, she had a resounding success in terms of putting him in the right frame of mind: The idea that this was his work, and his creation. Something he was doing using all of his history, assembling bits and pieces to make a sum much bigger than the parts list implied. Just like anypony else he couldn't start from scratch: He had to learn from somewhere, from someone. But then he took that learning and made it his own.

Twilight would have made a comparison to chemistry at one point, where Pinkie might have drawn the line to baking instead: After all, 'baking is just chemistry you can eat'. They would both agree that the real comparison was to friendship, different and distinct parts making a greater whole.

It was when Spike focused on that idea, when he really settled on the concept of this being a new creation that was made up of everything he could bring to bear... That was when it clicked. This did not represent some ultimate completion. There would always be a step above and beyond, because he could take today's pinnacle triumph and turn it into the base again, building up a tower on top of the tower. Onward and upward, first growing and then establishing new foundations on that growth-

You have created a completely original skill on the route of personal fulfillment.

What would you like to name it?

A completely original skill. Not a skill he'd learned from somepony else, from an example or a book or an inspired dream. This was a skill made by himself, for himself, from himself. Not inherited from his parents or taught by his elders. This wasn't a Gamer's skill, this wasn't a Dragon's skill. It was his and his alone. So the name ended up being an obvious one: This skill might have been his own unique creation, but it was still rooted in the lessons that inspired it, the things he learned to reach this point.

"Spike's Studies."

Spike's Studies LV1 EXP: 0.00%
This is a skill without a history, only a backstory. Without a legacy yet, but with one to come. You will author the future of this skill, and perhaps it will fade into obscurity... or perhaps it will become a legend passed down to others. Either way it is the first step, in your own pace, on your own path.

You have created an optimized personal process for studying, exercising, and practicing skills.
While using these optimal methods you improve with significantly greater stability and safety.
Further experimentation and practice can expand and refine these methods to a greater degree.
As you grow and develop, you must keep improving this skill in order to keep the above benefits.

This skill represents a consolidation of past practice: You gain five points each in every attribute.
This skill represents a new pinnacle of personal growth: You gain one character level immediately.
This skill represents the opening of your eyes: Observe's experience requirements are halved.

Author's Note

Chapter 104
Zero Hour: Part 23
- OR -
Spike's Studies

Zero Hour: Part 24

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

Previously Spike would have gone out of his way to share his new discovery, but this one felt different.
"Nah, just breathing."

His trainer looked him up and down, clearly not believing him... But also apparently trusting him, since she dropped the subject immediately.
"It's not getting too late for you, right?"

"I was actually going to ask you the same thing: For all the talk you did earlier about me spending time with a weird mare in a weird dojo... You basically spent your entire day hanging out with a dragon. I didn't take up too much of your time or anything, right?"

Lyra pfft'd his concerns away, waving her hoof through the air in a flagrantly Rarity-esque manner.
"Nah man, I had today set aside for training anyways. Which worked out pretty well, because doing this whole ground-up training thing with you has probably helped me more than anything I could have been doing solo."

He flicked his claws in the air as if shaking off some dust, fake-trying to look casual.
"So does that mean you are willing to keep teaching me?"

"Dork. Also no. Maybe? I dunno: I'm starting to see the potential appeal, but I still want to take a few days to think about it. Also to uh, make sure I didn't forget any plans with Bon Bon. Would not be the first time, but I'd like if it could be the last if you know what I mean."

"Naturally."

That segued cleanly into their cooldown, after which Spike left the dojo. They had a few more parting exchanges (verbal and combative alike) on the way out, and he dropped off a small pouch of bits at the counter: Lyra would have probably stopped him, but he was pretty sure he managed to do it without attracting any attention. It just felt like it would be weird taking up all that time and space without actually giving anything back.

Lyra waved her goodbye and rushed on her way back into town, which left Spike to take a more leisurely route back home. Part of him wanted to check in with Pinkie Pie and see if she was free to chat... Even if not, he could probably tease her a bit and just enjoy her company before leaving. Other parts of him had their own arguments, but in the end? The so-far unspoken bond between him and the party pony won out.

Ponyville at (heh) twilight was not a bustling burg or dead-quiet, but a nice mix of sparse strolling ponies and lingering scents from restaurants and markets alike. The lights were on in windows on some houses, out in others: Sometimes on a night like this he'd see a night shift worker just barely starting their day as other ponies went to wrap their own up.

He'd been totally prepared to make the walk all the way to Sugarcube Corner, but got saved the trouble by his old friend 'coincidence'. Pinkie Pie was already out and about on her own, a pair of plain tan saddlebags uncharacteristically draped over her barrel. Spike caught up with her by one of the side-roads leading off to various homes: He could just barely spy a weird two-tone-fronted house at the end of the nearest paved path.

In a really uncharacteristic moment, Pinkie almost let him get the jump on her: He managed to get a few feet behind before he saw the first twitch-a-twitch, and a quick pounce sent him around her side to land right in front. Pinkie Pie reared up on her hind hooves and then dropped back down in an instant, her cheeks flushed cherry-red.

"Heeeey! Pretty sneaky Spike: What's got you ambushing poor innocent mares in the street, huh?"

"I dunno if that was an ambush, given that you jumped before I did. Then poor? I don't think the Cakes pay you badly at all. As for innocent..."

She whistled in the silence he left for her.
"Heyo. Gosh, confident Spike is real darn cute and I've got to say I like it."

Now it was his turn to blush, or at least he hoped that came through: His Gamer's Body was pretty inconsistent about signs like that. This definitely felt like blush time.
"Right back atcha: What're you doing this evening?"

"Was that rhetorical, conversational, or probing?"

He wiggled one claw in the air, making sure not to block any nearby walking paths with his knife-hands.
"Like a ten-sixty-thirty breakdown?"

She rolled her eyes at that, but it was done with a big smile so he took it as a compliment.
"Doing some personal shopping and then heading back home to reset a little. Been a long day, and I didn't sleep off Twilight's party as well as I expected: You cook a mean feast."

Spike gave her a little half-bow, ignoring how that might look to the passersby.
"Glad to be of service. Anything for my friends, really!"

Rather than rolling her eyes this time Pinkie just levelled her view on him and smoldered.
"Don't tempt me, Spikey-wikey."

This time Spike felt the blush on his cheeks without having to check: Hearing that nickname from Rarity in the past was one thing. Hearing it from Pinkie today? Yeah that was another thing entirely.

They kept bantering back and forth for a bit, Spike following Pinkie's path as she hit up a few of the still-open market stalls. He picked up ingredients for dinner with Twilight since the opportunity had presented itself, and they pivoted from teasing into talking quite easily. Things were comfortable and easy in a way they had never really been with anypony but Twilight before, and even then...

"So uh, Pinkie Pie?"

Her ears perked and swiveled at the formal name.
"Mmhmm?"

"I really do want to come over soon. Maybe... try on that hat?"

Most ponies would have a hard time picking out one small motion in Pinkie's endless energetic sea of twitches, but Spike was neither most nor ponies. Pinkie's mane shivered, and then the ripple moved all the way down her back until the tip of her tail flicked the air like a cracking whip.
"I said it before: I think I'd like that! Got a date planned?"

"Do you mean like on the calendar or-"

"Yes! Scheduling."

"Week or two from now? I've got a lot of stuff on my plate right now that I need to take care of, and any further out might interfere with a potential trip out of town."

Pinkie nodded at that, first once and then a few more times until eventually her head just kind of bobbled itself back into position.
"Roger dodger! On that note I absolutely gotta go get... one last thing. Have a good trip home, Spikey, and be safe for me OK?"

"Sure th-"

Before he could even say anything resembling the word 'thing', Pinkie Pie had already darted away and beat feet (shooved hooves?) raced down a nearby side road. Despite how their shopping trip had brought them back around full-circle to the very spot he first ran into her? That wasn't the path back to Sugarcube Corner or any shortcut that he knew of... As far as he could tell, it was just the winding front drive to Vinyl and Octavia's home. Vacation home? But they were often still doing music there... Home-away-from-work.

He tried to decipher why she would be rushing so urgently to ‘get one last thing’ at their house, and then sighed. At the end of the day, even their growing closeness left him with the occasional chance to shrug and put something down as "Pinkie being Pinkie". Spike made his way back to the Library with a smile on his face regardless, letting the past few days percolate through his body and mind alike.

Seeing Twilight again after his trip to the Warrens felt surprisingly refreshing... Well, ponies did like using the phrase 'like coming home again', and this was definitely his. Even if Spike had plans for something a little more personalized in the future, his real home would always be with Twilight.

She met his return with an immediate hug, pulling him inside the library with a surprisingly Pinkie-esque spin before setting him down. He quickly realized her actual motive when he saw the glint in her eyes: That was the look that presaged science.

"So! A certain somedragon has been going off on adventures of his own, which I totally expected. What I hadn't seen coming was the promise of research materials, and biological ones at that!"

Twilight's manic gaze softened briefly into a frown, and she brushed imaginary dust off of his scales with her hooves.
"Is everything alright?"

"Absolutely: You know me, I wouldn't hurt a fly that didn't deserve it... Ugh, that just made me wonder if there's going to be giant angry flies down there too. But really, it's fine Twilight: I already had the whole 'fighting living things' talk with Lyra earlier-"

"Lyra was there? Lyra Heartstrings?"

"Sometimes. I mean sometimes Heartstrings, not sometimes there: I went and visited her here in town once I got back. Long story! And also off-topic: Aren't you still interested in the samples?"

That got her attention refocused (even if he had to admit it was kind of a dodge), and the two of them made their way down into the basement. He filled her in on more specifics from his trip as they walked, and continued as they hauled various slides and storage units out of... storage. Once she realized the sheer scope of material he had brought back into town, Twilight sighed.

"This would probably be less of a chore if we both had levitation magic to move all this stuff: I really have to apologize. My sorting system for all this equipment had been based on me being the only one doing major work in the lab-lab, so-"

Before she could continue with any self-recrimination, Spike puffed out a silvery breath and then focused his mental image of the world. The cloud swept in to lift all the items he'd been carrying.
"It's a little cumbersome but I do have something similar now!"

"...OK, as much as I hesitate to say it? We have to put off doing the sample list. Sequencing is important, so first: What was that!?"

He gave the best explanation he was able given that he didn't have a full understanding himself. It really did not help that he still hadn't fully digested (consumed? devoured? integrated?) the Unihorn over the last few days. There was a constant ever-present reminder of it in his guts... which actually doubled as a reminder that he hadn't visited, or needed to visit, the restroom since he became the Gamer...

Yeah that particular revelation was going onto a shelf way in the back of the old mental logs and then never coming off: Chalk it up as 'convenient' and then walk away, that was the right call.

"Hrm. So you can create a magical field, but it's a finite resource that you need to replenish with manual breathing... And it is usable for TK at the very least."

"And projectiles! First thing I tested, actually. Had a ratty old pillow that needed getting-rid-of anyways, and... Well now I don't."

Twilight smiled sheepishly, obviously thinking back to her own early experiments with missile spells and 'target practice'. They eventually settled on using scrap paper as targets after much argumentation. Why the fuss? The family fruit budget had gotten out of control but even as a filly, Twilight refused to dispose of anything even adjacent to a book without good cause and proper procedure.

"How much practice have you gotten in with it since then?"

"Basically none: I figured trying to use it without practice in a dangerous situation would be kind of risky, and doing a lot of focused grinding without any idea what I was doing... Well, it's not good to build a house on bad foundations, right?"

This time her smile was wry verging on exasperated.
"I don't exactly disagree, but... Sheesh Spike, just about anypony who got magic for the first time would jump at the chance to figure it all out. I'm surprised you didn't dig in already!"

"What, and pass up the chance to learn the basics from the best unicorn there ever was?"

"Flatterer. If you insist, I guess we'll have to start in on the remedial magic lessons ASAP."

He frowned.
"...What about the samples?"

"They can wait: Your Inventory keeps things preserved just fine on its own. I'd much rather spend this time teaching my favorite dragon."

There was that manic expression again, but this time it was aimed squarely at Spike. Knowing how Twilight could get when it came to her favorite topics, this had every hallmark of a long story waiting to be shortened on future retellings...

Author's Note

Chapter 105
Zero Hour: Part 24
- OR -
Cute Collision

Zero Hour: Part 25

- - - TWO WEEKS LATER - - - -

Yeah well, I was right about that.

Spike sighed as he levitated the last bit of interred insect entrails into the storage shelves. The days since then had been a doozy, although he'd made sure to pace himself as it went along. Magic time with Twilight had started immediately and became a daily (and often nightly) occurrence. His own self-study had been focused on refining his current haul of skills, rather than trying to pick up even more new avenues and sidetracks. Hangouts with the Crusaders and their other friends were short but sweet, since everypony seemed to be dragged into a late-spring frenzy of activity.

His first big surprise came from Lyra at the library door one day, extending her hoof in invitation back to the dojo. After that? Even if he'd had more time to spend on hangouts, his sleepless days were chock-a-block full. Twilight's teachings in the morning, dojo trips most afternoons, a visit to the AAAArcade every other night for more hands-off lessons on magic, then Twilight again when he got back home...

For a normal pony this would have been a run-ragged schedule fueled entirely by sugar and sheer willpower, but for Spike it was just his new normal. A total lack of sleep meant he only had to take downtime when he wanted to meditate and consolidate his lessons. Disruptions to the schedule did happen from time to time: At one point the Elements went out of town for a surprisingly-brief adventure that he only heard about third-hand from bystanders, and the week after that Spike made a trip back to the Warrens.

The Diamond Dog that came into town to pick him up that day was one he'd never met before, and as they had predicted the local ponies were initially confused or scared or both... Until Spike's prior Pinkie Plan picked up with perfect timing. After a whirlwind party (complete with literal cotton-candy whirlwinds), Spike and his much-fuller messenger were on their way out of town with waves and cheers behind them.

The Dog (Snarly, according to the name overhead) looked back with a mix of appreciative confusion.
"Pony town has many strange pony."

"Preaching to the choir man: So what's the target?"

It turned out the target was an extended Mountain Crawler nest that had started forming above the main warrens, swiss-cheesing their ceiling within days. The crevices were far too small for the Dogs to fight effectively, but Spike was able to use the Dragon's Hoard to squeeze his way into every last nook and cranny. He came back dusty and drained, but they were one step closer to solving that particular problem... And he was one bit of treasure richer!

Wormwrap
Rating: Uncommon
Defense: Mediocre

A thin waist-belt made of porous leathery hide. While the belt itself is flawlessly albino-white, when injected with the owner's magic it exudes a surprising number of colorful and useful fluids.

(+) Spray-Sash: At varying MP costs, the belt can produce any one of its fluids: Quick-setting foams, acids, glues, binding agents, cleaning solvents, perfumes, oils, smoke screens, etc.

(-) Depletable Dermis: The Wormwrap has a limited supply of all of its fluids. The remainder slowly regenerate when supplied with magic, but if one set is totally exhausted that option is gone forever.

While it lacked the dramatic gravitas of his fight with the lone Glittershell, the matriarch of that Crawler horde had provided Spike with his very own utility belt. Hum Drum, eat your heart out!

Twilight and Pinkie alike had both fretted over him on his return, and he made sure to spend a little extra time with Pinkie over dinner to help calm her concerns. Not like a date-date kind of dinner! Just a casual thing at one of the outdoor cafes nearby. Sure, they'd had candles on the table, but it was pretty late! That totally nullified any romantic implications... that, and the fact that both of them knew they were angling for a better starting point than that.

It really did help ease things along when both sides of the equation were equally dramatic.

Twilight's concerns had been more about him over-working himself, so he'd taken a day or two to mostly cool down and relax. That had been when he found time to chill with the Crusaders, catching up on comics and swapping stories: The girls had a lot going on at school (although no progress with the apples of their respective eyes) and he had plenty to talk about with his exploits. Those conversations paled in comparison to their run-in on the way to the ice-cream shop, however...

Spike, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had all stopped in shock when Princess Luna stepped out of the store, levitating a dark wooden basket at her side. Sweetie Belle of all ponies had just kept trotting, waving to royalty as if this was regular for Ponyville... Which, yeah, kind of? But still!

The other Crusaders had both nudged him in the belly rather than say anything, so it came down on Spike to try to figure out what had just happened.
"...So uh, do you see the Princess often or something? I thought that would have come up."

Sweetie actually took a second to process that before striking the ground with her hoof.
"Oh! Gosh I guess it kinda slipped my mind. Rarity's been working on some kinda whole-new wardrobe project with Princess Luna! It's been all she talks about ever since they met up the other week. I keep seeing her around the Boutique so often that I just kinda... forgot it wasn't normal?"

While it didn't seem to bother the little unicorn at all, both of her constant companions had the kind of expression that read 'Should I tell her or should you?' while Spike just shook his head and got in line for his triple-scoop. They'd burn that particular bridge once they got to it, if there was even a bridge there to begin with... The metaphor was breaking down.

... Speaking and thinking of breakdowns, that kinda led up to Spike's biggest problem during this time. He'd managed to get up to what was (in his mind) a rock-solid and respectable point, 50 flat in every single stat and Level 23. Observe was approaching the benchmark for Twilight's quest, he'd made progress on other objectives... But then there was the breakdown, or rather the lack thereof.

The Unihorn was still lingering in his guts. And it wasn't doing so patiently, as Spike unfortunately discovered. It happened almost two weeks to the day after his dream-time devouring of the little steel charm. He'd rounded out the last few hours of his "night" by meditating and practicing the dreamscaping spell Luna gave him. That all went fine, if not better than usual: His dreamspace crafting bench was making it easier than ever to practice those skills without wasting material.

The problem became obvious when Spike brought himself up to consciousness and checked his stats. He was down about 1% of his HP. Not in terms of the bar getting shorter or the total number getting smaller, but just... damage. Damage which wasn't recovering past that point, empty space in the UI filled with an ugly black gunk. At first he'd shrugged it off as an Internal Alchemy backlash, since those had also been getting a little nastier over time... But when he got up from meditating the next day and saw another sliver of the bar taken over? That was cause for concern.

Either it works or it doesn't. No room for in-betweens or indecision. Ponies didn't really understand luck the way Discord did, and Spike wasn't sure he did either. He'd hoped on some level that hitting the stat benchmark was enough to complete the process. On another level he'd put his hopes in the magical training with Twilight. That had produced results, at least! He picked up a single new skill to his name during these two weeks. Another 'original skill', this time from Twilight's teachings.

There had only been one logical thing to name it, given that and past precedent.

You have created an original skill through the precise tutelage of a person of great power.

What would you like to name it?

"Twilight's Teachings."

Twilight's Teachings LV1 EXP: 0.00%
Magic is a science and yet a personal art as well. It's precise and imperfect, emotional and calculated. Bridging this gap is as mysterious as friendship itself, and the ties that bind both sides are the ties that bind all things. Your knowledge of magic comes from the best possible source.

You were bestowed an optimized personal process for studying, analyzing, and practicing magic.
While using these optimal methods you learn with significantly greater stability and safety.

These methods emphasize safe and stable magic, and make it harder to perform ad-hoc spells.

This skill represents the magic of friendship: You may pass your knowledge on by teaching others.
This skill embodies many scientific methods: You may analyze spells piecemeal and in pieces.

Come to think of it, he'd just acquired that skill not long before this little problem started. He hadn't told Twilight about it yet, not wanting to cause a panic or lead to any problems: If his dreams were any indication this was his own issue to solve anyways. There wasn't a quest but Spike knew this was a system issue that had to be solved in the system: 'Engine repair' for lack of a better concept.

Once he finished all the shelving and reminiscing, he had a quiet meal with Twilight (he'd done some more potato experimentation, tonights' were scalloped) and then excused himself up to his room. There was one idea he had about this issue...

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

That was the warning text in the skill for External Mana Control. He'd assumed that was a matter of Stamina and MP consumption. To be fair it was probably also that. The fact remained that he was doing a lot of complex and draining magical exercises, multiple times per day, without meeting the real requirement for handling it. Until he bridged that last gap there was going to be... strain. Wear and tear, which might be tolerable on a game engine but was a lot less exciting to see on his body.

He curled up in his bed, using Dragon's Hoard to shrink back down to the size he'd always been before... all of this. The pain made him wince a little but he shook it off: The acid burns back in the warrens had been a lot worse, and that memory was still fresh. This new HP-reduction wasn't even painful at all, just... dreadful. If it weren't for his Gamer's Mind it would probably be filling him with dread, but as it is? Spike just calmly looked at the now-3% reduction to his total life and sighed.

He didn't think that his power had a mind of its own, but it did sometimes have a... conversational tone. Observe results were weirdly sarcastic sometimes even by his high standards. Alerts were congratulatory as if speaking from some position of authority or power. Even his menu options had a more distinct personality than you'd expect. Maybe it was just equivalent to talking to himself?

Well, this was the Sparkle household (Ponyville branch), so talking to yourself wasn't even weird. Maybe the fact that he was about to bargain with himself was.

Author's Note

Chapter 106
Zero Hour: Part 25
- OR -
Damage...

Zero Hour: Part END

How to bargain with himself. Cutting a deal with his own brain, or whatever it was that made his internal game engine tick...

Meditation came first, sinking down into his own body and mind. He found it easiest to settle into the rhythms using Syzygy, Lyra's methods each in turn giving him a grasp on magic's essential parts. Then he shifted into Omphaloskepsis, with which he took his sweet time investigating his frame. This time it wasn't just the metaphorical self-image, but a proper analysis, biopsy-by-magic. He used Observe and Dragon's Eye back to back and in concert, focusing down on his stomach.

There sat the Unihorn: A solid piece of gleaming steel, still shimmering with leftover magic. He'd kept up appearances around Twilight and continued using Respire and EMC to do the last of the sorting and shelving earlier: Now he could see the cost of that. The area around the horn was sick, twisted up and mangled in unusual ways. Spike had been forcing himself to use magic with no real horn or organ or horgan or whatever, and this was the result.

Now he was planning to change that. Or he at least had an inkling of an idea of a plan. It started by just saying...

"How do I fix this?"

Spike didn't expect a verbal answer, or even a system message. He was just asking himself to try and get his thoughts in order, not a literally rhetorical question but an act of self-reflection.

That made the fact that he got a reply extra surprising.

You are attempting to resolve a system conflict. Would you like to peruse potential known options?

If his body had been doing anything but maintaining a breathing pattern, his jaw would probably be slack. As it stood even his self-image was kinda flabbergasted, 'staring' into the metaphorical null-space where the message box just impudently jutted into view. Was this actually going to work?

"...Sure?"

There are no known potential solutions. Would you like to devise a solution?

He almost growled his response in frustrated anger, until he realized. No known solutions. Devise one... This was helping. It wasn't self-reflection at this point, he was nudging himself in the right direction. The system was only a part of his mind, but it was a deeper and more unconscious part, a more subconscious part. By using meditation as a tool to confront it, he could ask his waking mind the questions that his sleeping self already knew.

"Yeah. I want to... make a skill. But not just any skill."

He'd already gotten so many pieces and parts of his heritage from the system: Claws, Heart, Mind, Breath, Hoard, Scales, Bones, Kitchen, Den, Eye... All the Dragon's Skills. Not all of them were literal parts of a dragon's body, but so far the ones that were had all been part of his body. Now he was missing something that (apparently) some kinds of dragons had. That was the solution: Make the missing part, whether literal or not.

```

Checking character values... 50+ base value in all core attributes. A personally-created skill for growth. A personally-attuned skill for magic. Access to reference skills and spells. Personal character level 19 or higher.

All requirements are met for the creation of the [Dragon's Horn]

Missing element: System for the interweaving of existing skills. Current system {Skill Merger} is insufficient for this purpose.

```

That had bothered him, but always in the background: Twilight's portion of the Benediction quest required him to hit a minimum number of skills. Yet every time he got a few in one swoop they were all Merged together into one big unit. Sure the result was probably greater than the individual skills would have been functionally, but it bugged him anyways. It felt bad (as both a gamer and as a person) to have all those individual prizes get snatched away at the last minute. Now it was clear that it wasn't just annoying: It wasn't good enough anymore.

"What does it take to add an entirely new system?"

Potential.

He thought back over his past changes to skills, and the answer was obvious in retrospect.
"How many of those 'Unlockers' I got do I have left? The ones I got from Pinkie Pie on the first day."

Indeterminate.

Right: He'd never had an actual value for them, no inventory space or counter. They were just there when he needed them, like when he had turned the Dragon's Heart into a scaling buff in order to launch Scootaloo up to Rainbow Dash's house. So if he didn't know how many he had...
"...Is it enough?"

This time the answer wasn't something he knew, or even something he could possibly know. But that didn't matter: He'd apparently gotten far enough along in his mental math for the engine to carry the rest of the weight. Just like after his defeat of the Glittershell, two mutually-exclusive options appeared in their own distinct boxes. In front of them was another message to-and-from himself, standing before the metaphorical doors like a prize show host.

``` You are attempting to upgrade your ability to bring skills together, {Skill Merger}. You may choose between {Skill Combination} or {Skill Synthesis}.

```

{Skill Combination}
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Through combining skills together into one cohesive whole, their sacrifice makes one grand skill.
This consumes skills used in the process and removes them from your skill list, as {Merger} does.
Their Level and EXP is retained and contributes to the created skill's starting Level and growth.
The created skill retains every function of all combined skills and additionally gains new functions.
The created skill will automatically consume new future skills in order to improve and evolve.

{Skill Synthesis}
Just as one thing gives birth to one thousand things.

Through fusing specific aspects of skills based on common grounds, you can create new skills.
This does not consume the skills used in the process, but denotes them as its 'parent skills'.
All skills created this way start at Level 1 with 0 EXP, and require more EXP than usual skills.
The created skill's properties are not certain and usefulness cannot be guaranteed in advance.
The created skill itself can be used as a parent skill for future synthesis, and so on with no limit.

There were two competing voices in Spike's head. Everything else was silent except for the two sides, one slithering like a serpent and the other comforting and soft.

The first voice was far more familiar, more personal, more real. That voice was one he'd been trying to find, seeking it his whole life. It was his heritage and the voice of family he had never seen, and it said Listen: Everything I love, I will devour. The other voice was infinitely more important, since it was the voice that he chose every day. He grew up beside it, lived with it, immersed himself in it from the day he was hatched. It said The magic of friendship grows.

Spike didn't hesitate.

"Skill Synthesis. Parent skills: Respire, External Mana Control."

You have consumed all of your remaining Unlockers. Through a choice of heritage, you have made a decision that echoes across Equestria. Somewhere, your choice has been made known.

A one-of-a-kind skill has been created by The Gamer! Through the blood you own and the family you choose, the [Dragon's Horn] has been created!

Dragon's Horn Lv 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
One day, long ago and far away, an elder dragon said this: "Let no dragon who comes after me bear a horn or use the magic of ponykind." This was an immutable Law set down by something that will always hold a grudge and never forgive a transgression. Was an immutable Law, past tense. In breaking this Law, you have proven that the code which binds is not absolute. Laws serve the People and People help each other.

May your magic, like your friendship, ever grow.

Your entire body now doubles as a mana-controlling organ at all times.
You may choose to grow or retract a number of horns at will, at the cost of HP.
External horns can be used as weapons and tools, and improve the channeling of magic.
Spells cast without an external horn cannot be detected until the moment of casting.

This skill will grow indefinitely based on your age and accumulation of spells and MP.

Parent skills: Respire, External Mana Control

The Unihorn began to dissolve then, first on the edges and then furiously bubbling across its entire surface. Spike felt the power of it, the essence, spreading through his body. Fire in the belly, fire in the blood... It roiled and steamed and sprang from place to place, making uncannily subtle changes to every aspect of flesh and bone. His scales too: An impossibly faint silver tone underlined the spines and ridges of his body, just visible in the way they caught the light.

That same glinting silver also overtook the MP bar in his status screen, turning the blue a shade lighter and ever-so-slightly metallic. Most importantly for his peace of mind, the black sludge on the corner of his HP meter burned away in a flicker of (comically pixelated) silver flame. That got Spike to smile, and as he stretched and stood up from his bed? He returned back to his normal form. Not a little chubby fledgling, no longer a baby dragon in a world of adults, but properly and truly The Gamer.

Author's Note

Chapter 107
Zero Hour: Part 26
- OR -
Zero Hour: Part END

Thank you all again for joining me on the journey so far.
Next time, we continue Spike's adventures with Chapter 1 of One If By Land

One if By Land: Part 1

"Aaand that's when I passed out! Sorta undercuts the big heroic moment of self-actualization, but it turns out Skill Synthesis kinda kicks my butt."

Twilight's gaze over her coffee mug was incredibly unimpressed. Normally she tried to avoid the stuff due to what we’ll call ‘Prior Incidents’. That was normally: As soon as Spike mentioned having a second Discord-centric dream, one that happened weeks ago and yet he was only telling her now? She'd gone straight for the burr grinder.

It wasn't like Spike had meant to keep it a secret from her for that long... But 'the day of' had been the party, so that was right out. Then he'd gone out to the AAAArcade, then the Warrens, then to Lyra... There definitely hadn't been a good place to bring it up during the whole magic training thing! Which had been pretty much their last two weeks of interaction in a nutshell: Quiet meals, magic training, or doing their own separate thing. It was kind of nice in its own way, but after he was 100% certain he didn't have any lingering side-effects from the health drain? She had to find out.

"So to reiterate: You got your new horn-magic abilities after having another dream with Discord. Whether it was an actual projection or a personal delusion is immaterial to the conversation, so let's not even get sidetracked with that again. You then proceeded to not tell me for weeks, ran into a problem that directly impacted your health and maybe threatened your LIFE, and then you only said anything after finding a solution and handling the problem yourself?"

"...Yes, that about covers it."

His (word-not-found) swooped in and hugged him with a smile and a giggle.
"Gosh we really are family: You think Mom and Dad are going to count that for the Disaster Chart?"

"Easily! I mean, you never managed to melt yourself from the inside out-"

"-not for lack of trying. Remember during that one school break when I tried to make the Gelatinous Form spell from O+O?"

"PFFT, yeah I kinda forgot about that one. How much did you manage again?"

She glared daggers at him.
"We both know the answer to that."

"Humor me. It never gets old."

Twilight heaved out a sigh.
"I managed to jellify most of the hairs on my coat and ended up looking like I was shorn for the better part of a month. In the dead of winter."

Spike snickered alone in the face of her straight-faced disappointment... Up until they both broke down laughing. The stress and worries of the past little while flowed out dissolved, although maybe precipitated was a better metaphor? The anxiety was already in solution and now it was escaping... Eh, not actually relevant.

"Well, one more thing for the pile to explain when we meet with Celestia."

He didn't even bother raising an eyebrow at the lack of 'Princess' this time.
"Speaking of which, I am glad we didn't make this talk too protracted: I have an appointment."

"More martial studies with Lyra?"

Spike chuckled as he got up to head out.
"Nope! I'm getting fitted for an old hat."

"Don't you mean a new-"

He left Twilight with a wave and a quip on his way out the door.
"Said what I meant, meant what I said!"

When he arrived at Sugarcube Corner, Spike couldn't find Pinkie Pie anywhere. It was only when Mrs. Cake behind the counter gestured out the back door that he understood. Pinkie was probably doing some work in that new personal space she'd gotten, where the two of them had worked on the zacahuil tamale back... back when this all began. Was it weird to feel nostalgic for a thing that took place earlier the same year? Time felt strange lately no matter how he cut it.

He nodded his thanks to Mrs. Cake and made his way through. It wasn't until later that he found out Mr. Cake closed and locked the door behind him, going so far as to put up the Employee Only sign. The two of them smiled at each other and went back to work, but Spike never saw that himself.

The shed-like space ahead had a light on even this early in the day. A soft snatch of music was floating through the air as he came outside, quiet but just loud enough to level out the noise of the morning crowd behind him. The music grew louder as he got closer, so out of reflex and instinct Spike started walking more quietly to let it cover his movements.

When he reached the door he found a record player on a small end table, its horn turned to point into the shed's open window. The horn also blocked any view of the interior... but the door was left ajar, just barely open. Spike spared a glance at the record jacket on the table before he entered: Whether by luck or by Luck or because of Pinkie Sense, the lyrics hit as he crossed the threshold.

I think I'd cry
If you touch me
one more time

Pinkie Pie was dancing, floating through the air on the tips of her hind hooves. The dress flared around her with each movement... The dress. The dress, because of course she still had it and of course she'd wear it today. That saloon-style pile of fluff and lace still hugged against her and kept time with her dance just like it did years ago. His hat from that same song-and-dance routine sat in the corner; resting on the arm of a plush couch beneath a makeshift chandelier.

Well I guess that
I'm going to cry
No matter what

Her skirt bounced and flicked through the air with each movement, falling down as she dropped to all fours and rising back up when she stood tall. Pinkie's eyes were closed and her head bobbed slowly to the beat, even if her dance was fast and frenetic. Spike almost couldn't believe his eyes as he watched the way she moved, sinuous and lithe and graceful... Strong. In this private moment she was showing a different kind of Pinkie than he'd ever seen before.

[Piteously Pining Pink Party Pony]
Pinkie Pie
LV 23

In more ways than one.

Pinkie smiled to nopony in particular before swaying her way into another movement. It was rare that he ever got to see ponies dancing outside of Heartsong or the stuffy orderly things they did in Canterlot. This had a very different feeling, a passion that was somehow both matched to the music and completely distinct. It fit in a way, but only because Pinkie Pie made it fit. She leapt with a manic grin, springing up into the air with the sudden uptick of the chorus.

LOVE!
Soft in the air
Ponies think love is everywhere

The music being played was purely instrumental, but her voice layered in like it was made to fit. Her free hooves moved down the lines of her body as she moved, hips flaring and tail wagging in the air. Even as lyrics and instruments both wound down, Pinkie kept a measure of energy in her dance. Pace by pace it carried her towards the door, she kicked the hat up off of the couch...

They think I'm always pleasantries and food
You know I just want to be understood
I've got a match:

Spike let the hat settle down on his head.

The music came to a sudden silent stop.

Pinkie opened her eyes and looked into his.
"Hey."

"Hey."

He panned his vision from Pinkie, to the candles, to Pinkie, to the (very conspicuously out-of-place) couch, to Pinkie, to the door that swung shut behind him... But always back to Pinkie.

"Spent some time planning this?"

Her giggle caught him off-guard with how simultaneously sweet and tired it felt.
"You have no idea."

"You'll have to tell me about it sometime later."

Most ponies hated trying to walk backwards, but Pinkie Pie made it look effortless as she strode back to the couch without breaking eye contact.
"Later?"

"Much later. I think talking is on hold for a bit."

Her tail-end bumped up against the cushions on the couch, so he took the chance (more like his cue) to step closer.

"I dunno Spike, I'd imagine if I'm gonna be quiet then you'd be doing a pretty poor job-"

"Mmmh. Or a really good one."

Spike had a feeling she was going to reply with another song reference, but the first line didn't clear her lips before he lunged.

Hours later, the two of them were still cuddled together on the couch, lazily tracing patterns on one another; Spike's claws barely digging into Pinkie's fur, Pinkie's hooves gliding across his scales. They hadn't gone far enough to call this the afterglow, but they were unquestionably exhausted... The aftermath then. In the aftermath, each of them luxuriated in the presence of the other alongside the candles burning low in the afternoon heat.

"Spike?"

He looked up at Pinkie's worried grin, both of them a little bleary-eyed. She took a deep breath in...
"I really enjo-"

"I love you."

Pinkie restrained a shocked gasp but couldn't restrain her full-body shiver: He felt that where their bodies were pressed together.
"Spiiike."

"What? You were going to say it too."

"I was gonna say a bunch of other stuff first! You don't just put a gift in a box without padding it first, that's like an uninflated balloon or a cake with no icing!"

For all that she was vocally complaining they hadn't stopped staring into each others' eyes, and he could clearly see the curve of her smile in his periphery.
"Are you really comparing packing paper to icing? That seems pretty un-Pinkie."

"...Bubble-wrap, maybe. Pegasus stuff is amazing sometimes."

"I can get behind that. I wonder if they could make a version of it that's edible?"

Pinkie's eyes crossed briefly and he could almost hear her thoughts spinning up and into action.
"...No distracting me, mister: We're having a very serious relationshippy conver-type-sation here!"

"I didn't think 'serious' was either of our jams. And who would know better about jams?"

"I mean there is that one stallion who lives out by the Acres, but-"

"Oof yeah no, I forgot. Who else would know better about jams?"

He watched as she prepared to reel off an entire list of fruit-preserves experts, and timed his boop to land right on her muzzle as she started. Her words sputtered out, but that was when the trap got sprung: Spike had not considered their changing relationship when he made that move. Rather than just accept her boop in silence? Pinkie leaned up and slurped at his claws, pulling them between her lips with a sweep of her tongue.

"Mrrf?"

Deep steadying breaths. Four by four, four by four. It's a game, don't let her win... Make it a draw.

The claws of his free hand went from lazily tracing across her back to digging in just hard enough over the ridges of her spine, sliding down and along. This time when she went cross-eyed it stayed that way, and her grip parted enough to let him retrieve his claws.

"Truce?"

"...Do that again."

He obliged, and they whiled away another hour or two without any further questions.

Author's Note

Chapter 108
One if By Land: Part 1
- OR -
Your Embrace and My Collapse

We got there folks. :V

All parody lyrics have been appropriately modified according to site moderation standards and pre-checked with a mod. Thanks go out to the long-lost bybat_ for the cover edit all those years ago. I've been brewing this particular kettle of fish for a LONG time.

One if By Land: Part 2

They didn't spend the entire day glued to each other, although it was a dang close thing: Other than using the oven to make themselves lunch and some time spent dancing (and very carefully stowing away both his hat and her dress) they were mostly couch-bound. Conversations were sparse but had their own presence: Meandering between topics while avoiding bigger relationship questions: Those could wait. That didn't stop them from reflecting on the past in some smaller ways, of course...

"We really should take the balloon out for a joyride sometime soon."

"Aww Spike, a little private wicker room just for the two of us, far away from anypony on the ground?"

"Yeah see the problem is really that last part: What are the odds Rainbow would crash the, ahem, party?"

"...Hrmph. Preemptive private-party pooper."

"Shame on me for wanting the 'private' part of that to be a little more secure than a basket... Given that I still sleep in one sometimes, actually, that'd be kinda weird for entirely different reasons."

Pinkie broke down giggling, while Spike just watched her with a smile on his face. As the giggles trailed off into snickers and chortles, she wiped the corner of one eye and kissed him again.

"I'm just... really proud of you Spike. I've always thought you were super-neat and fun to be around ever since you first came into town, but now that you've grown up... You're a lot more than that."

He wanted to make a reply with equal emotional weight, something endearing and uplifting... but he was cut off by a pop-up in his vision. Pinkie's perspective on the world allowed her to see some of his user interface, sometimes. A blurry impression of unreadable text, usually. This time? He could tell through the transparent box that she was reading it just as clearly as he was.

"No dragon shall share in the 'special talents' of ponykind."
A veil has fallen and the scales have been lifted from one eye.

A previously-concealed portion of the quest chain:
STORY ARC: A Benediction Befitting a Gamer‽
has been revealed to both parties.

Pinkamena Diane Pie, An Exception To The Rules

Meet with this person of great potential and share their perspective of your power.
Exchange and share at least five skills and/or Titles between each other.
As a party, gain at least 2 levels apiece and lead another group in doing the same.

Pinkie's nervous giggle broke the tension, picking up where they left off in some sense.
"Well gosh, I had been looking forward to how you were gonna top that but I guess your lil' system beat you to the punch!"

"Hah! I mean... No yeah, honestly. Look at the first line: It's not the same as the rest."

Without the flashy flair of popping out a horn (a subset of the skill he had yet to test), Spike put the Dragon's Horn to its first proper test: A simple light projection spell to copy his menus into the air. True to the skill's description, there was no sign of the spell until it was already happening, and then a copy of his current Story Arc floated in the space between them. The list had been updated since he last looked at it, although not by much.

STORY ARC: A Benediction Befitting a Gamer‽

By boldly choosing to set foot on the path trodden by deities, you have set a tough row to hoe. One time and once only? Your grand quest may fail yet still continue: This is an Arc that can be cut short without doing the same to you. Should you succeed, should you learn enough to create your own unique and irreproducible blessing? This world will never be the same again. Stride forth! See what there is to see in the land of Equestria, before necessity takes you and yours beyond.

Objective: Complete all Quests*, then consolidate your knowledge with the Late Bloomer's Ticket.

Failure Condition: Using the Late Bloomer's Ticket for another purpose, or if one year passes.
Remaining Time: 11 months.

Reward: All Sub-Quest and Quest Rewards, variable EXP, Bits, and Items*, Your 'Benediction'

*NOTES: Not all Subquests are mandatory, only a portion must be completed within each Quest. Your rewards and the quality of the power you create will depend on your completion rate.
Mandatory quests are not marked: Only you can know the moment that you are ready.
Some Subquests have a variable rate of progress, and will not be considered finished unless a maximum threshold of reward is reached or when the overall Story Arc is completed.

Celestia Sol Invictus, She of The Rising Sun

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Learn the nature of Celestia's Benediction from her.
Learn the nature of Celestia's Benediction from a bearer.
Selflessly serve the ponies of Equestria for many days.

Luna, She of The Diamonds In The Sky

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Learn the nature of Luna's Benediction from her.
Learn the nature of Luna's Benediction from a bearer.
Survive untold instances of life-or-death combat.

Mi Amore Cadenza, She of All Loving Things

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Learn the nature of Cadance's Benediction.
Help Cadance create her Benediction.
Successfully guide the creation or repair of numerous healthy relationships.

Twilight Sparkle, She of Thine Wordless Name

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Achieve a base of 75+ in every personal statistic, and 2,000+ points of both HP and MP.
Learn at least 40 Skills and at least 10 Subskills (Consumed / Merged Skills do not count).
Reach at least Level 50 with the skill 'Observe'.
Acquire the skill 'Internal Alchemy' and raise it to at least Level 10.
Create at least one Original Skill using more than two components.

ERROR

A portion of your Story Arc has been veiled from your eyes by a great power.
Upon the moment of revelation, these tasks will be exposed to you.

Below the ERROR it reproduced the new information about Pinkie Pie, but notably the reveal of that sub-quest hadn't removed the error itself. He and Pinkie came to the same conclusion at around the same time, claw and hoof both pointing to the line in tandem.

"More hidden stuff, huh?"
"So you're not the only one..."

Pinkie read over the list slowly, comparing bits here and there, while Spike looked at one particular finished subquest with an aura of confusion. Observe 50 was complete, but last he'd checked (just before solving his problem with the Unihorn) the skill was only at 48. There were no quests and no new notifications... until he actually opened the menu to check. Once he did, a new message appeared as he was looking at the list.

Through your connection to a particularly perceptive pony you more easily pick up on little details.
[Observe] has gained a large amount of experience.

Checking the actual skill window proved that it had indeed gained a 'large' amount of experience. How large, one might ask? Well since he recently picked up a whopping 50% discount to Observe's XP requirements...

Observe LV 58

That was a pleasant surprise, and Spike was really looking forward to figuring out if passing the 50 mark had any special effects on the skill: Even if it didn't, Observe was such an oddball out of his entire list that it wouldn't preclude the possibility in the future. As for the other completed quest line, he was less confused about that one. Acquire 40 distinct skills, without counting any subskills or consumed skills. It helped that for once his system had gone out of its way to assist...

[Gamer's Mind], [Gamer's Body], [Observe], [Cooking], [Earthshaper], [Dragon's Claws],
[Omphaloskepsis], [Dragon's Heart], [Dragon's Mind], [Dragon's Breath], [Cantus], [Stagnet],
[Dragon's Hoard], [Balanced Soul], [Exposure], [Craft], [Intimidate], [Dragon's Scales],
[Dragon's Bones], [Dragon's Kitchen], [Susurration], [Layer], [Disaffiliation], [Dragon's Den],
[Photographic Speedreading], [Gathering], [Detect Bloodthirst], [Sense Danger], [Respire],
[External Mana Control], [Dragon's Eye], [Slice], [Grasp], [Pierce], [Draw], [Syzygy], [Spike's Studies], [Twilight's Teachings], [Dragon's Horn], [Pinkie's Potential]

The four attack skills he'd learned during his first trip to the Warrens (and not a single one since, notably) had all counted as full-fledged skills for the quest! It was unexpected since they had such stringent notifications about being held in abeyance and everything... But he wasn't one to overlook a gift right at his doorstep. The 40th skill, now that had been a gift of a different kind entirely.

An original skill has been created to commemorate a budding relationship.
A benefit of equal measure has been granted to your partner in return.

Pinkie's Potential LV1 EXP: 0.00%
Chaos and Harmony only exist in opposition due to their true opposites being far too terrible to contemplate: Chaos truly opposes entropy and decay, while harmony stands against the loss of all connections and bonds. Through this shared opposition of one ending or the other, the two forces have more in common than most can know. Balanced through the two extremes, there is Laughter.

You have touched on the true heart of Laughter in this world, and understand it more than most.
Your connection to the Element of Laughter and its Bearer grants you a modicum of its nature.

This skill knows the importance of timing: You always know when to strike and when to fall back.
This skill finds the best Laughter is shared: You can learn skills and teach others more readily.
This skill makes it clear when to explain the joke: Your use of the Inventory is not seen as odd.

Your Affinity for the Element of Laughter fluctuates in accordance to your bond with its Bearer.

Spike didn't ask Pinkie what she had received, nor did he tell her about what he'd gained: He had a feeling it would come up when it mattered. Maybe that was the skill talking? 'When to strike' likely meant much more than just its use in combat, especially knowing Pinkie's sense and sensibilities. Between her general sense of the world around her and her literal Pinkie Sense-

...Almost as if him thinking about it brought it to bear, Pinkie had a series of twitches overcome her right before she said something. Her mouth remained hanging open, while he saw her ear flop and her tongue waggle. Finally she kicked out with one hoof and then smiled at him, nervously.

"Message coming!"

Spike quickly banished the menu magic from the air, and the two of them moved a little further apart. Moments later a knock sounded on the door outside, and then Cup Cake let herself in. In classic motherly fashion, she did so the instant that there was no objection.

"Pinkie dear, that nice Diamond Dog fellow from the other day is back! I figured you'd want to get his order personally and all."

No comments were made about Spike's continued presence hours after his arrival, or any of the general atmosphere... He knew the jig was up, but discussing it was probably better for later. In lieu of going out to the rock farm this was as close as he'd be getting to meeting Pinkie Pie's parents anytime soon... Then again, the Cakes already knew him pretty well. And from her smile it was clear that she didn't have any objections.

"Thanks a ton Mrs. Cake! We'll be right out in two shakes, just gotta clean up back here."

They both busied themselves with getting things set back into order: Candles cleanly put away, literal wax stripped off tables, the metaphorical wax on the record player carefully returned to its sleeve. Was that actually a metaphor? He'd have to check with Twilight if there was a better word for 'outdated but once-correct term still used as a reference', because if so he didn't know it.

By the time they made it back out to the front of Sugarcube Corner it was a little closer to sunset, and Snarly was seated comfortably near the counter. For all he'd previously complained about ponies being strange after his last visit, the Cakes' cooking had clearly won him over on some level.

"Ah! Small dragon friend here already: No need to go-between, Pink One!"

"Heeh, yup, I definitely know: You two going to head out right away then?"

That was when Spike realized that maybe his new skill was more complicated than it first let on, because he got a little twitch of his own. Not a physical twitch but a tiny twinge in the back of his mind. It was less than an instinct, smaller than a reflex, but he still gave it a listen... And it kinda made sense in a ridiculous way.

"How about all three of us head out?"

Snarly blinked at him, while Pinkie practically vibrated in place. A second later she was pivoting on her hooves in a perfect one-eighty, turning to step back into the kitchen with Mrs. Cake. He couldn't hear the conversation they had, but after a few minutes Pinkie came back out with a wagon full of baking supplies and a miniature wood-fired oven. Spike started moving things into his Inventory one at a time, relishing how nopony and nodog present questioned it: Just like with Pinkie's random caches of supplies, his use of the Inventory was now just glossed over as being 'normal for him'.

"I've got vacation days like woah built up, and it's looking to be a pretty dull week anyways. Figure if I'm ever going to take a break for my own sake it'd be for this, you know?"

Their unsuspecting Diamond Dog companion probably thought she was being very selfless and talking about helping them, but Spike realized that she was taking the chance to spend even more time with him now that they were together together. It warmed his heart and put an extra pep into his step, pep which easily carried him out and on the path back to the Warrens.

Author's Note

Chapter 109
One if By Land: Part 2
- OR -
Lifting a Veil

One if By Land: Part 3

Spike's intention for inviting Pinkie, once he actually had one... Well initially it had been to get her help in making things more comfortable for the Diamond Dogs. She could have brought support in addition to the protection and aid he'd already offered. Having been driven from their homes wasn't something he could entirely make better on his own, no matter what powers or skills he had gained along the way. While he knew Pinkie was no stranger to combat, he also figured she probably didn't want to join him in killing off a large infestation of insects.

Maybe if today's target had been any other group of insects that would have been true.

That is not how things turned out.

Snarly brought them through the tunnels and into the warren on the same increasingly-regular trail Spike had used before. Pinkie had given an array of ooh's and aah's at what they’d accomplished, with extra-emphatic approval for Spike's reinforcement and decorations. It warmed his heart, doubly so as the two of them exchanged nudges and giggles mid-walk.

Their tour ended with a final stop just outside of the throne room: King Rudy wasn't present, but a council-member Spike had met before was. Pinkie stayed by him and listened to the explanation of what they'd be dealing with today, since Spike hadn't even brought up his hypothetical plan yet.

And he never got a chance to do so. The moment that the councilor mentioned their problem was with Bermites? Pinkie Pie went ramrod straight and whipped her head around to stare. A real proper capital-S Stare, really. Her eyes were practically burning with blue fire and the tone of her voice was underlined with a vicious growl.
"Where are they?"

The relatively docile Dog was shocked and surprised by the force in this pony guest's voice, although he eventually stuttered out a reply.
"U-under the tunnel we used to reach this place. Long wide nests, we think."

Spike raised a claw to ask what was even going on but Pinkie's sudden continuation cut him off. She spoke rapidly and moved even faster, pacing the ground outside the throne room at full speed.
"Under the tunnel!? That's no good! We've gotta act fast if you care about going back home ever, because that place is all gonna collapse like a bad cake otherwise! The problem always starts from down below with these darn things."

When Pinkie saw Spike's surprise and confusion, she just giggled and pronk'd back over to him as if a switch had been flipped.
"Rock farm, remember? I've been dealing with those nasty lil' bugs for as long as I can remember! You should have seen my sisters last time we had a nest to burn out. Super duper scary... I guess I probably was too, but I was inside my own head at the time so I couldn't exactly tell."

That made sense, or as much sense as anything did adjacent to the concept of a rock farm.
"Right! I guess that would... threaten the... crops?"

"Oh for sure. Which would be bad enough on its own, but now there's all these dogs down here! Not that there's any chance of things going wrong: With both of us working on it, I bet we can take care of the problem in even less than half the time it'd take alone!"

That... was honestly a better plan than his original idea. Heck, the two plans weren't even mutually exclusive! They could both handle comfort and hospitality for the Dogs afterwards. Why skimp on resources in the front half? And given his past experiences with both Bruxis and Piercing, he had a feeling that watching Pinkie Pie fight against a foe she had history with could be... illuminating.

"Sounds like a plan: Out to the nests, clear the place at full force, come back here for pastries?"

Pinkie quirked an eyebrow and leaned towards him, trying her best to loom over him... Ignoring how their heights were a lot closer these days.
"I dunno if you're ready for my 'full force' solution to rock-biters, Spike."

"Hey, I eat rocks too!"

"Yeah but you're people! Person. Dragon? Cute. Whatever really: You know what I mean."

He leaned up across that last bit of distance in order to kiss her cheek in lieu of a reply. Then he thanked his perfected memory for safely storing the image of Pinkie Pie's blush in the shadows. With that taken care of he turned back to the somewhat rattled Diamond Dog nearby.
"I got a pretty good feeling for the layout over my last few visits, councilor: Want that we just take care of business? I don't think we'll need any guides or guards."

The foppish Dog still seemed a bit rattled by Pinkie's earlier display, or maybe unnerved by their displays of cross-species affection? Whatever, his loss.
"Y-yes that would be for the best! Thank you again for your hard work, er, both of you."

If Spike or Pinkie had been down here alone in this situation, maybe they'd have been held up for a few minutes with pleasantries. Disengaging from the conversation slowly and making sure there weren't any issues, that kind of thing. As it is, both of them exerted wordless pull on the other: If they put it into words, it might have been a bit like 'The Dogs here can handle their own affairs just fine, as long as we get out to the frontline.'

So that's exactly what they did.

The wide and exceptionally carefully-carved tunnel would have surprised a lot of ponies: You'd usually think about an escape tunnel as something hastily-made and designed to be abandoned, or even the sort of thing you'd backfill to slow pursuit. But there were a couple of problems with that train of thought.

First, that logic works just fine... when you're moving a small group, one time. When you're moving your entire civilization in one amorphous exodus, with hope of returning the way you came one day? You take your time on safe and stable workmanship, even if you're trying to work fast within those constraints.

Secondly, that concept also only works if your pursuers aren't better tunnelers than you. Doubly bad was the fact that Bermites actively fed on loose rock, so trying to cave in the tunnels would only make the bugs happier and give them a direct trail to follow. Empty space was less appealing to them, smoothed and reinforced stone even less so.

So the Diamond Dogs had made their egress from their traditional homes slowly, with intention and clarity. The resulting tunnels were clean and smooth, with fractures and loose pieces carved away to avoid any rubble or scree. (Actually, was it still even scree underground? Whatever.)

Pinkie Pie whistled as the two of them walked down the path, her eyes darting from one segment to another with a kind of nostalgic joy.

"Yeah, it'd definitely be a shame to lose this tunnel: Once this all blows over I'll have to get Maud out here! She's more of a stand-alone rock girl, but if any Pie can appreciate a good burrow it's her."

"Maud of the infamous muffins from last year?"

"Yuppers! Oooh, maybe I could bring her out here for her birthday this year!"

Spike kept his nerves tamped down under sarcasm, which wasn't anything unusual. The nerves were, but they just boiled down to his mounting realization of how bad this situation could get.
"Assuming there's a ‘here’ to bring her out to by then."

Pinkie poked him in the shoulder and set him, not stumbling, but gently sproinging back and forth. She covered a giggle with her hoof: He knew she appreciated having a willing player for her gags.
"Don't be negative about it Spike: Nopony gets things done by planning to fail!"

"Yeah. I just... It was one thing when I was helping out the Dogs at first and thinking of this as a series of small problems. But now it's looking a lot bigger."

"Well Spike, you know what I like to do when a problem looks real big?"

He raised an eyebrow, wordlessly asking her to continue... What he got in return was a glimpse of that full-force Pinkie Pie they'd joked about, as she stalked down the tunnel with purpose in her steps and a truly manic grin on her muzzle.

"I like to break it down into pieces."

Inspection Results:

It started dramatic and ended a little more subdued: Pinkie Pie's declaration was weighty and honestly kind of hot, but she (probably) meant it a lot more metaphorically. They took things slow and steady, starting from the obvious. A party was formed under the name 'Another First Kiss' and the two of them demarcated their halves of the enormous stone hall.

Spike used Dragon's Eye, Earthshaper, his affinities and Observe in order to scope out his share. Pinkie Pie had a life spent growing up on a rock farm coupled with all of her usual oddities in order to gather her own conclusions. After they stopped finding obvious signs of damage partway down the tunnel, they doubled back to where they started and shared information.

"I counted about thirteen rooms... No that sounds too formal. Chunks? Thirteen chunks on my half."

"So... chunks, huh?"

Pinkie Pie let that statement linger for a moment, looking slightly above and past his shoulder.

"But yeah I got about the same! Twelve-and-a-bit: I can hear the burrowing still going on at the end."

"Seems to be a large-scale work in progress, and they're probably clutching. Breeding? Whatever the term is there's a lot of them, and regularly-sized groups are staying in the finished... chunks."

"They're not going too high up and messing with the stability of the floor yet, and I can't find any spots where they broke through on my side either. Kinda weirdly organized, honestly!"

Spike pointed off to one corner, to the area where he'd found the most important detail. The rock wall there was just a hair thinner than the rest, and there was no equivalent on Pinkie's side of the hallway. Observe was a little bit cheating under the circumstances, but...
"Rather than breaking through into the tunnels, I think they just went straight under: There's a weak spot on the other side and I think it ties into some of the nests I cleared out on my past visits."

"Ew, that kinda does imply they're spreading out more. I guess whatever scared everything out of the old house musta been so scary they've got no plan of going back!"

"Makes as much sense as any alternative, yeah. So what's the plan?"

"I didn't think we had one! Momma Pie always used to say "Tis not ours to wonder why, only to do our duty", and I think this is one of the very few situations where it actually applies. I kinda just wanna go down there and take care of business toot sweet! Although I guess we're only gonna be baking and cooking afterwards so the sweet part isn't as relevant. And there won't be much music so the toot isn't very helpful either. Prench is a silly language is what I'm trying to say!"

Spike held his claw out to Pinkie Pie and pulled her close, cherishing the way her giggle effortlessly melded into her faux-surprised gasp. They were going to need stamina for the work ahead, so...
"Silly or not I think it's at least half right: Care to join me in a song?"

Cantus.

Author's Note

Chapter 110
One if By Land: Part 3
- OR -
Right at Home

One if By Land: Part 4

Their adventure through the various chunks of Bermite territory started small but quickly got weird.

After The Second Chunk...

Pinkie Pie had switched from humming along to her old song and went straight into belting it out: The bermites didn't seem terribly sensitive to noise one way or the other, and after she was through with them it really didn't matter. Spike had thought he was an efficient fighter himself, but watching Pinkie do the work of exterminating bugs was like a revelation. While she was always pronking and leaping about like usual, none of it was wasted motion: Never a sweep when a jab would suffice, not a single aimless hoofsie kick that didn't block a thrashing mandible.

It helped them both that the current swarm of creatures was actually pretty anemic. Not in terms of their lymphocytes or anything literal, they were just weirdly weak. Stronger than the ones in the previous chamber but still. He'd fought tougher specimens of the species back on his very first visit! And that judgement was factoring in the stat differences and his weeks of training with Lyra. Maybe it was just the benefit of a co-op partner? His life may be 'like' a game, but it wasn't as if the enemy here could scale up because he had a teammate for a change.

After The Fifth Chunk...

Pinkie took a break in her singing and leisurely backhoofed a Bermite guard that was trying to take a bite out of her. The bug went spinning away through the air before taking a bad landing onto the nearest wall... close to the ceiling. She turned towards him and tapped his shoulder: The fights had been getting harder, but not hard enough for either of them to be taking it remotely seriously.

"Hey Spike?"

He couldn't help but smile at her nonchalance, especially because she didn't so much as flinch when he quickly turned his head to spit a gout of flame at an encroaching insect.
"Yeah Pinkie?"

"I just wanted to say that fighting with you is super-duper fun!"

Both of them paused and took a moment to parse the phrasing.

"Wait no that sounds wrong. Alongside you? With you against them. Whatever!"

"I got ya Pinkie: Same thing back at you. This is really... refreshing."

He only caught a glimpse of her ear-to-ear smile before she suddenly shivered and then whipped her head to the side, perfectly parrying a set of grasping jaws with her mane.
"Sorry, just wanted to say that. Back to work!"

After The Fifteenth Chunk...

Spike gasped for air and took a moment to drop a snide comment before continuing the Heartsong.
"Fighting with you, still fun. Fighting these things... increasingly less."

Things had been getting harder as they pushed through the chambers, which was honestly both a bit positive (the experience payouts were definitely better, and he'd even started getting small stray bits of loot here and there) and a bit strange. Normally you'd expect something like an egg chamber to be well guarded on the outermost layer, to avoid even slight losses. Then there would be patrols on the inside to push back; just in case the outer guards were slipped-past or defeated.

In contrast to that common wisdom, this had been an almost linear rise in difficulty from one room to the next, alternating across both sides of the complex to sweep it clean. And rather than the egg-laying chambers they had expected to find, this was nothing but guards and workers, not a single matron or grub or egg in sight.

It had gotten to the point where even Pinkie's dual fuel of 'hatred for these creatures' and 'being Pinkie Pie' was starting to run a little thin.
"Wanna take a breather after this one and then sweep the rest in one big push?"

"Might not be a bad idea: I'll see about dropping some persistent fire on the entrance to give us peace and quiet."

"What a gentledrake!"

"...I don't think this is the weirdest first date Ponyville has ever seen, to be honest."

They shared a laugh and got back into the thick of it, uplifted by both commentary and company.

After The Twentieth Chunk...

Pinkie Pie had taken to bringing out some of her more unique tactics over the last few rooms: While her normal Party Cannon was far too important to disgrace with this kind of work? It turned out she had lots of smaller prototypes that were apparently A-OK for bug busting. Hoof-held party poppers loaded up with stones launched bursts of shrapnel mixed with confetti and stray propellant, while the half-size model she pulled out of her mane 'only' unleashed a blast of pure air pressure... Which is not to say it didn't kill the Bermite! It was just a lot stranger to see a mangled bug floating back on the breeze than it was to see the other parts of its hive getting shotgunned.

They were fighting their way into the eleventh chamber on Pinkie's 'half' of the tunnel, the twenty-first in total, when she started putting the smaller 'hoof cannons' to more frequent use. They both got a fun surprise when some of the rocks she loaded up included a patch of flint, leading to dozens of little sparks that sent the nearby Bermites scattering.

While the insects got stuck on gluey traps and tripped up in weirdly-sturdy confetti, Pinkie and Spike both paused to appreciate the bursts of light in the otherwise-dim chamber.

"Oh! Oh my gosh, that totally reminds me. Wanna hear a fun and relevant story?"

"We've got nothing but time: Hit me, Pinks."

She bopped him on the shoulder out of reflex before telling her tale.

"So like, I said my sisters were really scary when we got together to deal with this kinda thing right? But my Dad was always super serious about it! He'd stomp his way into a nest or whatever and pull out this big ol' book and read a passage to the bugs before we got started. They couldn't understand him of course, but I guess he just felt like the ceremony helped make it better? I can get behind that cuz I kinda do the same thing for a lot of my parties but hoo boy he got dramatic! He'd put on this booming deep voice and say something like, gosh lemme think of a good one..."

Pinkie Pie trotted in a circle a few times while mulling it over, until eventually she sprung back up with an idea in mind. Spike watched with bemusement as she quickly molded her mane into a set of sideburns and a hat then switched her cheerful tone to a gravelly deep-toned voice. She kept one hoof curled to her chest as if holding an imaginary book as she made a dire proclamation in (what he assumed) was a pretty good imitation of her father, repeatedly stomping her hoof for emphasis.

"Tis' better if you would set yourselves on fire, for there is cleansingin the flame!"

...and then the entire room caught on fire.

Pinkie's stomping had come together with the loose bits of flint to raise a few more sparks as she finished speaking. That then combined with the assorted streamers, confetti, and spray string littered around the cavern. Throw in the foggy vapors of party cannon propellant... The result was an enormous wave of fire that left even the dragon in the room impressed, as well as a total wipeout of the remaining Bermites.

The explosion caught them both completely off-guard. Spike turned to Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie Pie turned to Spike. They quickly reached out to wipe some soot off of each others' cheeks, before falling back and rolling on the floor laughing. The endless field of enemies had been frustrating both of them, so the perfect mix of comedic timing and a little help clearing the space? That was very much appreciated... Doubly so when Spike finally got back up.

A skill has been created through a special action! By witnessing and comprehending how even jokes have power when made by a master, the skill [X-Factor] has been created!

Your newly-created skill is held in abeyance due to lacking an appropriate [Combat Discipline]
The skill may be used at reduced effectiveness, increased cost, and increased risk of counters.

You glimpsed something...
Cantus has gained a level!
Cantus has gained a level!
Cantus has gained a level!

Author's Note

Chapter 111
One if By Land: Part 4
- OR -
Unexpected Explosions

One if By Land: Part 5

The Twenty-fifth Chunk...

It seemed like the spark incident earlier had managed to spark inspiration for the both of them. While Pinkie Pie began trying her hoof at deliberately setting things on fire (an idea that made Spike more than a little nervous on instinct, but he trusted her implicitly), Spike had spent the last few fights trying to figure out his new skill. Yet no amount of testing or brute force could get this quote-unquote 'X-Factor' to activate.

He'd had skills before that weren't acquired in whole, or that were difficult to use properly. He had yet to get one that was literally unusable, so clearly there was something else going on here. It was a shame his metaphorical 'game' weren't a little better tutorialized, then at least he would have had something to explain what was going on.

A little shiver crawled up his spine as he thought that.

Spike stopped in his tracks and paid attention. Thought back over his rumination... Was the answer there? It was kind of a similar feeling to when he had decided to bring Pinkie Pie along earlier, a hint of some new sense. He didn't expect to have a perfect-

There it went again.

He had already started to notice a pattern before, weeks ago when discussing his various skills with Lyra and Twilight (on separate occasions: better not to get those two in the same room) and testing theories. He'd gotten four skills 'held in abeyance' due to lacking a Combat Discipline: Slice, Grasp, Pierce, and Draw. Two were self-taught, two were learned from watching others do their specialty. Now he had a fifth, and it kept up one of his potential pattern theories: All of his Combat Discipline skills so far had unique initials.

Lyra said that a lot of the 'proper' fighters she knew, herself included, had some kind of core theme or concept that their skills were built around. Having a related and relatable structure made it easier to find connections and weave things together. And what better fit for the budding fighting style of a Gamer, one raised by Twilight Sparkle of all ponies, but one based on wordplay and linguistics?

But X-Factor itself didn't mean anything. It meant just that: An unexpected variable that-

...Third time.

And he knew very well what ponies said about third times. So rather than try to force it he just waited. There were a few Bermites in the area, some of which kept their distance, at least one of which was oddly still. It seemed to be blocking his view, as if it had been ordered to keep him from seeing the tunnel behind it. That wasn't actually working, if anything it helped him recognize it in advance: The tingling beneath the pads of his feet wasn't just the itchy instinct of combat, it was another premonition. There was an attack coming from below, which meant he had something to...

"Exhume!"

Spike stabbed his claws down into the ground, Earthshaper making it smooth as butter. The bug that tried to bite his ankles apart got a nasty surprise of its own as he uprooted it like a gigantic angry turnip, and then got the nastiest possible surprise when he sliced it apart... also like a turnip.

He could almost feel the surprise and vague sense of concern from the remaining enemies in the room... Which made it all the easier to explode forward with a kick off the ground, exerting his full strength in order to expose their weaknesses with each strike of his claws. X was an interesting letter when you got right down to it: Sure, it didn't actually start many words on its own. But it had a kind of not-quite leading role in dozens if not hundreds, adding a unique twist to every one of them.

Pinkie Pie definitely deserved an extra-special 'thank you' once they were done here.

The Final Chunk

Spike and Pinkie had been theorizing as they covered the chambers of this bizarre nestless nest. The first guards had been almost offensively weak, while the final batch before this chamber had been strong. Really strong. Powerful enough to endure a sustained and dragged-out fight, scoring meaningful hits on them both in the process. It had been an almost linear curve between the two points, and that didn't sit well with either him or her.

"This whole thing kinda reeks of a setup, right?"

"Oh sure! I was thinking it might be more of a gamey thing: Like a dungeon! Gotta throw some weak pokes at the front door to get the party all warmed up and loosey-goosey, then really catch 'em on the back end with the big one!"

"...That was bait. I am not even gonna call you out on your phrasing because that was clearly bait."

Pinkie shot him a dazzling smile.
"I'd totally say that making a conspicuous statement about not calling me out is calling me out. But I made my point either way!"

Spike shook his head and looked ahead to the last chamber. There was a persistent gloom in the air, and the offputting smell of the insects was vastly stronger here. Not even his full-force Dragon's Breath flames could light up the air, much less anything he could make with his inexperienced level of magic.

"But we're still totally going in, right?"

"Oh yeah, 100%. We're gaming: A trap is just an invitation with better XP."

"Love you."

"Love you too: Last one in's a powdered creamcake!"

Before Spike could decide whether or not that was a good thing by Pinkie Pie's metric, she was already hurtling ahead of him into the darkness. He felt a twinge of concern at the sight: Even with the regeneration boost from his emerald-infused juleps, Pinkie still had a notable bruise on one of her forelegs. The idea of her getting hurt because he brought her along...

Well, it didn't make him happy but he also didn't want to go out of control. That was a road that led to unhealthy dragon greed, and honestly? She was a full-grown mare and could make her own decisions. Plus he'd seen her dodge natural disasters and come out the other side clean as a whistle! Settling his worries down into his gut, he followed her into the murky stretch between the last chamber and their destination.

Things were considerably less dark in the final chamber, but that didn't make it better. Two huge insectile forms took up much of the space, each of them twice as tall as Big Macintosh. One of the figures was much wider and bulkier than the other, its silhouette broken up here and there by large irregular plates. The other was tremendously long, an ugly trailing mass dragging at its backside.

They were both Bermites to be certain, but not like any Spike had seen before. The first wasn't just more naturally defended, it was literally armored: Despite being a simple insect monster, this enormous jet-black Bermite had plates of rugged stone draped across its frame. The second one was tan and bulbous and very clearly the queen. It bore an uncanny and upsettingly disgusting resemblance to a termite dam that had been inflated hundreds of times larger, its long abdomen distended and swollen with uncountable eggs.

Each of the two beasts had wide gossamer wings and prominent eyes, unlike their... children? Spike was at least glad to see that neither of them was moving yet. It seemed that right now they were all sizing each other up. Off to his side Pinkie Pie had skidded to a stop in the chamber, looking back and forth between the two huge insects.

She pinged him in their party chat

...Welp. I guess this'll be a fun one! Got any data?

Yeah, one second: Observe.

The result he got back wasn't quite like the Monster sheets his system gave to the lesser Bermites, but it wasn't a normal character sheet either. It had a sort of hybrid appearance he'd seen before with the (much less intimidating) Mountain Crawler matriarch. He decided it was best to think of these as Boss Monster sheets, and the data was... Concerning.

BERMITE KING
Titles: None
Estimated Combat Level: 60+
Traits: Insect, Lithovore, Hive Mind Ruler, Imitation Armorer, Unbreakable
Feeling: Haughty, Agitated
Attributes: STR: 130 DEX: 45 VIT: 230 INT: 40 WIS: N/A LUK: 20
Statuses: None

BERMITE QUEEN
Titles: None
Estimated Combat Level: 60+
Traits: Insect, Lithovore, Hive Mind Ruler, Generation Bearer, Immovable
Feeling: Anchored, Voracious
Attributes: STR: 110 DEX: 10 VIT: 180 INT: 60 WIS: N/A LUK: 40
Statuses: None

He prepared to display the information for Pinkie with his magic, but then hesitated. It wasn't like he could just show the image or send her a letter right now, not without those two creatures noticing it. Instead he recited it all to Pinkie Pie through subvocal chat, completely understanding her wince as he got to their attributes. The 'feelings' were concerning too: He'd switched titles to [Neophyte Insect Slayer] earlier as the battles got harder, but even with his Affinity bonus everything had been hostile and the rulers seemed to be no exception.

Nasty! Don't suppose you've got any definitions for those traits?

Thankfully they weren't so far out of his league that he couldn't use Behind the Curtain here, which also hopefully meant they would be a feasible fight. This was going to be a 2v2 after all!

Hive Mind Ruler: Predominates an entire nest of a subordinate species with the Hive Minded trait.

Imitation Armorer: Despite not being traditionally intelligent, is capable of crafting armor plating.

Unbreakable: Cannot be stunned, staggered, or have its attacks interrupted.

Generation Bearer: Is currently bound to the children of the nest, reducing DEX massively.

Immovable: Cannot be pushed, pulled, thrown, or toppled from its position.

Well that could have been a lot worse. They're already so big that it'd be kind of a pain to do most of those things to them anyways, right?

Fair. And at least the Queen...

He had almost 'said' something about the Queen being bogged down with her eggs, when the bug in question suddenly turned to stare at him with palpable hatred. The 'Anchored' state in its feelings shifted in the menu, turning to 'Spiteful'. With a terrible chittering that split the air, the queen started thrashing and waving its egg-laden backside... which began visibly shrinking as they watched.

[Bloodthirst detected!]
[Danger ahead of you!]

Spike felt a little sick as he thought about the idea of fighting however many thousands of Bermites that might have been... until he realized nothing was hatching. The splits on her shrinking thorax were withering along with the rest of it, and no eggs or enemies were coming out. The roiling feeling in his guts only got worse when he thought of the alternative. If she wasn't hatching them...

Dragon's Eye. Observe. Behind the Curtain. Indra's Net.

Eventually one of them worked, or maybe all of them. His system told him what he already knew.

The Bermite Queen smells the favor of a Glittershell Beetle on you: She will not meet the same fate. Out of equal parts spite and hatred, she has cannibalized an entire generation.

For the same reason that he felt an affinity for that egg clutch all those weeks ago on his first visit, Spike felt real horror and pain watching all those eggs just... vanish. Bermites weren't intelligent creatures like a dragon or a pony, yes. But at the same time he had been an egg once, and the clutch in his inventory felt like hope for a positive future and a mirror of his own past. Watching a parent (even an insectile one) take an entire generation and eat them, just to spite the dead?

It wasn't the same as sending her spawn out to war, or leading them to fight the Diamond Dogs. It wasn't even the same as discharging the eggs before they were prepared to hatch, for one reason or another... This was just mindless hateful destruction.

Spike had never been this angry in his life.

Author's Note

Chapter 112
One if By Land: Part 5
- OR -
Big Bug Battle Begins

One if By Land: Part 6

Author's Note

Chapter 113
One if By Land: Part 6
- OR -
The Power Is Yet Unknown

One if By Land: Part 6

The Gamer's Mind made it so the rage he felt was distant, controlled. It didn't cause him to lash out or snap... But it was still there, pure proof that he could experience anger and even hate the same as ever. He stepped forward once and then twice, slow and methodical. His strides took him ahead of Pinkie Pie, and he sent one more Susurration message before dropping into one of the combat stances Lyra had taught him.

The Queen's my target. Ping me back if you need anything.

The Bermite Queen's sheet flickered, the creature's Dexterity rising rapidly. 10 became 20 became 50 became 120 became... well, that's when the sheet disappeared in a puff of ERROR: Too strong for him to judge with his current skills. Spike didn't mind or even care, really. His casual humming and seemingly relaxed posture belied the way he felt inside. His claws rested at his hips and he walked with smooth strides, looking as non-confrontational as possible. Magic roared through his veins and his MP dropped in huge sweeping gulps until he was right in front of the enormous creatures.

[Exceed]

Spike didn't stop walking, he just let his arms whip out from his sides at full speed and maximum extension, roaring in fury as he exploded out to his full height. The creaking of the Dragon's Hoard stretching out his bones couldn't overwhelm the terrible sound of his claws tearing into chitin and flesh with volley after volley of attacks.

Draw out his full power into a perfect Slice, Pierce the skin and Grasp the meat. His Dragon's Claws ripped and tore their way through everything he could, and he only dimly recognized that Pinkie Pie had come in to start supporting him. The Bermite Queen thrashed and screamed, an ugly chittering noise that only served to make him angrier. He didn't let it overwhelm him (not that he even could), instead burning it as fuel for his attacks. Defense an afterthought, the aftermath secondary, he just put everything into striking as many blows as possible.

His target was too fast for him to land every hit, and too enormous for him to do much damage quickly. The speed he couldn't do much about, but when he finally came to his full scale from the Dragon's Hoard? That took care of the size difference.

Spike at his maxed-out current height was just as large as the Queen, his entire trunk thickening into something more like a classical rendition of a dragon: A burly lashing tail, vicious spines and wicked spikes curling in the light. His maw was a gaping pit of teeth and fire, and he could feel his heart pumping volumes of blood that would outweigh his whole body under normal circumstances.

Even at this mythic size and throwing everything he had into just sheer violence, Spike was still focused. He had spent the majority of every day for weeks now learning and practicing, picking up on the lessons he was being taught by Lyra. His fighting style wasn't just focused as he let the queen's mandibles tear off one of his arms (the bug coming away with nothing for her effort) it was disciplined.

Spike hated this 'queen' for many reasons. It was threatening the Diamond Dogs that he was slowly learning to see as friends and neighbors, it had put himself and Pinkie Pie in danger, it was part of the encroachment that threatened Ponyville itself... it had sacrificed so many eggs just for what? A little bit of temporary power? Unacceptable. He took blows and sent them back, taking advantage of the Gamer's Body to shrug off every blow.

Leaning on that advantage had downsides: His attacks like Slice and Pierce were unquestionably useful and he wanted to take them even further, but their downsides were becoming clear. With the high chance of being countered, he took more blows than he sent out. With their compromised power, he didn't deal as much damage as he wanted to. The lacking efficiency capped it all off, forcing him to mix in unbuffed attacks and even dial back his other powers from time to time.

Still, Spike was confident that his intelligence would see him through this just as much as brute strength, if not more. The Bermite Queen was much faster than him, but he didn't need speed to outmaneuver it.

Why bother when he had height?

He couldn't fly (even after years of yearning) but he could leap. Just like a pegasus springing into a takeoff stance he dug his claws in and pumped his legs, lifting off the ground and far into the air. The baffled bug didn't have a single response to that, and in the time it took for him to come back down to the ground he'd already regenerated a sliver of the damage taken.

Spike fell into a kind of trance as he kept up the pattern: Blow for blow, leap away to recover, jump back in to trade more. That was the method he used to overcome the downsides of his attacks and emphasize the weakness of his enemy. When he was able to spare attention to check on her, it was clear Pinkie Pie had a similar idea: She focused entirely on harassment and abuse, keeping the other combatant out of the battle entirely.

He could heal and dodge, the queen couldn't do either. Pinkie Pie wasn't able to damage the king's rocky armor, but her ability to keep it distracted was second-to-none: Being immune to stuns didn't make it immune to being annoyed. Their specialties melded under even the most threadbare tactical plan, and the scales of the fight started to tip in their favor. Spike had brought together everything he had learned about fighting in this moment, and it showed.

You have created an original skill through consolidation in live fire combat.

What would you like to name it?

"Lyra's Lessons."

Lyra's Lessons LV1 EXP: 0.00%
Some great works come from passionate duende, uncontrolled and inspired. Some great works come from scientific perfection, measured and uninterrupted skill. Others come from discipline: The creation of a framework and the manipulation of its guidelines in order to achieve your goals. Discipline as a philosophy is just as viable in music and life as it is in battle.

You were taught how to study, comprehend, and recontextualize the nature of battle-born skills.
Through the principles you were taught and have created, you can finalize a unique Discipline.
Due to your unique potential as The Gamer, you can have one Discipline cover any number of fields.

This skill represents multifarious versatility: You can use combat skills for non-combat purposes.
This skill represents disciplined combat: You can access a Lexicon, and easily seek new Words.
This skill represents passionate obsession: Repetitive training grows more effective over time.

Your skills held in abeyance due to lacking an appropriate [Combat Discipline] seek fulfillment.
You have assembled all skill requirements needed to develop a personal [Combat Discipline].

He'd been waiting to see that for a long while now, but ironically it would have to wait further still. Spike just couldn't take the time for it: Things were looking favorable but he didn't want to drag this out. If he let Pinkie get hurt just so he could try something out on a whim-

Ah-ah! I just got a twitch-a-twitch in my tail, buster! The kinda twitch that tells me somepony, or maybe somedragon, is about to skip out on doing something neat just because they think I'm holding them back!

...Sorry, Pinkie. Feel comfortable buying me a little time?

I dunno, time's pretty expensive these days! You might owe me a lot of cuddles. And a nice dinner. Plus interest!

You've always got my interest, Pinkie. Thank you.

Dork. <3

Spike didn't even bother asking how she managed to vocalize the shape of a heart: Pinkie Pie was always going to be Pinkie Pie, and he shouldn't have even briefly considered that to be a bad thing. His marefriend pulled out one of her larger party cannon prototypes and unleashed a huge volley on the queen, suddenly pulling the aggro of both Bermites. The two regolithic royals turned their weird beady eyes onto her... And she just pulled a perfect smile in response.

"Hey big bugs! Why is bug big!?"

She punctuated her total non-question with another salvo of fireworks and loose shrapnel, while Spike fell back and shrank down to a more comfortable form to take a moment on the sidelines. Pinkie could handle herself, and once he had this done? Ideally it would be easy to clean up the rest of the mess.

"Skill Synthesis."

Everything went dark around him as he focused his mind into meditation. Instead of his usual pace of breathing he focused on bringing everything together: Consolidation and comprehension. It went in, in, out through the mouth, breathing exercises he had yet to figure out. Spike heaved a sigh on the exhale and continued to speak aloud, unheard by anyone else under the din of battle.

"Parent skills: Spike's Studies, Twilight's Teachings, Pinkie's Potential, Lyra's Lessons."

He heard the sound of an error message cascading through his system, and felt the burn of his veins as magic went awry... But the process was a success.

Just not the success he expected.

[An Unnamed Nascent Discipline] Passive, Incomplete, ???
A dragon torn between accepting his nature and denying his heritage decided, one day, to get into a fight. One fight became two became ten became twenty, there are hundreds more ahead of him, and still he seeks to do it right and do right by it. This is the culmination of his own fighting style. Or rather, it will be once he finally makes up his mind. Until then it is a start. And that is enough.

You can become one with the spirit of battle at any time.
This causes a perceptible change in bearing and aura which even the untrained may recognize.

Increases physical damage by 25%, magic damage by 15%, and consumable item power by 5%
Improves damage resistance and defensive skills proportionally the lower your Health becomes.
Your kinetic recognition of motion is heavily improved, as are Detect Bloodthirst and Sense Danger.

This skill has no cost or resource consumption.

This Discipline is broad-based and may grow to cover any number of subjects as well as Combat.

This skill should have an active form.
But...
You have yet to create the thesis.

Parent skills: Spike's Studies, Twilight's Teachings, Pinkie's Potential, Lyra's Lessons

One if By Land: Part 7

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

One if By Land: Part 8

Author's Note

Chapter 115
One if By Land: Part 8
- OR -
The One I Had Trouble Giving a Snappy Title

One if By Land: Part 8

A few hours later...

Spike and Pinkie finally had a little time to themselves after the Whatever They Were Going To Call That Entire Mess in Retrospect. The Diamond Dogs had all heard the commotion from the start of the final fight, and certainly noticed the swift collapse of the nests beneath their tunnel home. The two of them were hailed as heroes on their return to the warrens, and it turns out that heroes who make their own celebratory feast are even more beloved than the normal type.

Rather than actually head out to eat with the Dogs, they stayed back in the kitchens and treated themselves to the chefs' plates. It was an uncharacteristically silent meal for the both of them, but as the deserts died down they looked at each other across the crumbs.

"So like, we both agree that was absolutely a set-up, right?"

"Thousand percent and change. I don't think the Diamond Dogs were involved either: Somebody out there is playing both sides."

"OK thank you for saying 'somebody' in this case, because like, it absolutely isn't something!"

"RIGHT? Right. The pace of it all was too neat, like it was begging to be attacked and tackled just the way we did it. The timing's too neat, and the nature of the entire situation..."

"Not to mention the narrative sensibilities! I've seen plot hooks (not like that) before but that one took the entire cake. Nearly took the Pie, come to think of it."

"I dunno if it did, actually. The thing that really clinched it for me? The Bermites were hostile to us from the first to the last, that was never in question. But the 'Antlion' at the end didn't trip Detect Bloodthirst at all... and the cave collapse didn't trigger Sense Danger. I could get the first one if it was like, really good at hiding its intentions. But in the face of a clear and present wave of crushing rocks, if Sense Danger didn't trigger that implies it was never a threat to begin with."

Pinkie Pie booped his snout with her hoof from across the makeshift cooking-counter-cum-table.
"Don't think I didn't notice those conspicuous air quotes Mister: What was so funny about the Antlion? I thought it was perfectly anty and entirely lionlike, and even a little scary!"

He stabbed a forkful of remoulade-soaked bug leg into the air to punctuate his own point.
"Exactly! Which is really interesting because Antlions are fictional. Bugbears are real, we both know that. But I've read articles in Ogre magazine from the stallion who made them up: Antlions are just supposed to be a stronger and more intelligent Bugbear-equivalent for higher-level adventures."

"So we've got an obvious setup with weird timing, which looked threatening but didn't actually pose any risk of hurting us, connected to a fake monster that is probably the very cause of the Diamond Dogs being pushed into Ponyville territory to begin with. Do you know what this means Spike!?"

"Somepony intelligent is manipulating the Diamond Dogs as a catspaw to threaten Ponyville?"

"We need to get a lime green panel van and a quirky-but-marketable talking animal sidekick!"

"...What?"

"What?"

The inexplicable joke passed over both of them like a fog, and then Pinkie Pie shrugged at him.
"Well it's not like that was your only reason: Out with it Spikey, I totally bet you saw more gaps."

"Actually yeah: Monsters don't usually get titles, although I saw the potential for them on the rulers just now. But they definitely never get nameplates as far as I have seen. That Antlion had both and they were excessively obfuscated... To a degree where I wonder if the whole thing was fake."

"What, like not just a made-up pretend monster but an entire illusion monster?"

"Illusion monster and illusory cave-in. Sure it seems unlikely, but did either of us get hit by any falling rocks, or actually feel the walls closing on us?"

Pinkie frowned and looked off into the distance.
"My Pinkie Sense was super-duper certain something was falling and collapsing at the same time: Only had that twitch a few times before, it's pretty distinct."

"Right, and I saw a title. Which is actually what makes this just an idle wonder and not a real theory. Because if it was an illusion..."

"...then it must have been somepony who knows plenty about Pinkie Sense and a lot about your Gamer abilities. Not just knows about it in, like, a general sense, but well enough to fake a title."

"Which would make the only possible culprit Twilight: You're the only pony who's shown the ability to see titles, but you can't do magic like that. I've shown Twilight extensive mock-ups of all my menus and all the related stuff... But I would bet you bits to bagels that she's busy."

"Theory goes alibi-bye?"

"Exactly: Heck, lemme prove it!"

Spike extended a party invitation to Twilight (she accepted immediately, which said a lot about how the two of them had spent the past few weeks) and then tried to establish subvocal communication. And just like he expected, he got... a... reply?

"Oh! Hello Spike. I assume you have some news for me?"

"...Uh. Yeah. Kinda surprised you're in range: I'm still out-"

"At the warrens? I figured as much! I went to go pick you up from Sugarcube Corner when I figured out what you meant about your hat earlier, but by then the two of you were already gone: Mrs. Cake told me you'd left with a Diamond Dog so I figured you were busy helping them out."

"Right. Right on the money, actually. Funny question-"

"Congratulations by the way!"

His blood went a little cold(er than usual) at that. Was she really implying...

"Congratulations... on?"

"Spike, don't tell me you named your party with Pinkie something that sappy and then forgot about it."

He actually had forgotten: 'Another First Kiss' was the name on top of their party in the menu, a title that felt more than a little awkward with Twilight added into it.

"Haha right! Yeah. Um. Surprise?"

"Hardly! Pretty sure anypony with functioning eyes knew you two were working up to something."

"You wound me, Twilight! Sibling treachery. I must inform Captain Armor of this rank betrayal!"

Pinkie Pie cut into the call abruptly, which made him realize that A.) they were on an open line and not using private communication (after all, he hadn't expected Twilight to reply) and B.) this was now even more awkward than just the party title.

"Oh my gosh do you keep track of backstabbing too? I swear Limestone's never ever gonna forgive the time I dropped her diary and broke the lock. Also hi Twilight!"

"Hello Pinkie Pie: Should I save the traditional big-sisterly warnings for when we meet face to face again?"

"Oooh that'd be great! I've got a script and everything. 17b, So You've Gone And Started Dating One Of Your Best Friends' Little Sibling And-Or Sibling Surrogate Figure."

"...Oddly specific."

"It needed revisions on the off-chance silly stuff happened with Scootaloo."

Under normal circumstances Spike would have laughed at the obvious joke. Problem 1: Pinkie and Twilight, his marefriend and his (lack of proper word), were the ones talking. Problem 2: He wasn't entirely sure that was actually a joke, given that Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie. Problem 3: After the conversations he'd had with Scootaloo about her romantic prospects, he had a growing concern that she might not take it as a joke at all.

Not that Spike was entirely against the idea, but... Off topic! Banishing all thoughts of that forbidden triad from his mind, he prepared to edge his way back onto the unstable shores of the conversation. Then a Category 4 Pinkie Pie slammed into his footing and turned the shores into so much dust and chaos.

"Quick question first though: Did you come down here and fake some kind of giant monster attack to test Spike or something? Cuz we got into the weirdest encounter earlier and I just wanna make super-duper sure we're still okey-dokey on the low-key."

"...Uh. What?"

"Nope, wasn't her, Spike!"

"Are we just gonna take that on advisement? Because I trust Twilight with my life and like, the lives of everypony I know. Once every couple of weeks on average. But if we're going so far as to make accusations then that seems like a bit of a quick abandonment."

"Au contraire, mon frère! I've got a surefire way to know it wasn't Twilight."

"Do tell."

While Pinkie's jibe was quick and snarky, Twilight's voice was drier and more sarcastic than he'd heard in a while. That was a sure sign that she was busy assembling details in her head: Her vocal replies were running on automatic.

Pinkie giggle-snorted both in the subvocal call and in the flesh, rumbling against his side.

"If it was you, you'd have a way better excuse prepared in advance! It'd be totally unlike you to leave something like that up to chance or faking innocent. Plus we both knew you weren't involved, it was just dinner-time chatter! See previous note in re: sibling betrayal."

"...I really hate that you're right. Not about the me-being-obviously-innocent part, but just about the me-being-obvious bit. Am I that predictable, or are you that perceptive?"

Spike and Pinkie's replies rolled over each other almost simultaneously.
"Bit of column A bit of column B."
"One doesn't preclude the other."

"Oh my gosh you two are already doing the couple thing way too well."

It took Spike a moment to realize why Twilight's voice sounded different at the end there: It wasn't through the chat. He looked up from his plates to see the unicorn standing in the kitchen's doorway, smiling wide at them. Pinkie Pie waved cautiously from her seat, while Spike sprang up to hug her.

"Pretty sneaky sis."

"Slash mom slash warden slash employer, etc, etc. She treating you right?"

He rolled his eyes at that, all of his eyelids fully retracted for emphasis.
"It's way early for that kind of thing Twilight: Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Hey, I only get to rib my younger whatever about this once. Shining was the big sibling, and he still hasn't heard about me and Celestia so-"

"Wait, please don't tell me you're going to spring it on him like he did to you with Cadance."

"Hah! No, I'm going to at least do him the courtesy of telling him before the wedding... Not, uh, not that I'm thinking that far ahead or anything! Honestly I'm planning to tell him very soon."

Spike did some mental math and made a quick leap of logic.
"Like in the next few weeks or months kind of soon? Maybe during a trip up to Canterlot?"

Twilight smiled and sparked a little checkmark in the air with her horn.
"Got it in one: We finally got the news back for when they'd be in town, so we're going to make our initial planning trip tomorrow and come back to Ponyville a day or two later once everything is figured out."

Spike looked back over his shoulder to Pinkie, who was picking at her remaining food and trying not to make eye contact. Despite the danger they'd been having a lot of fun (and other experiences too) getting comfortable with one another. She'd even taken vacation from the work she loved in order to spend more time with him in these early days, so he felt... pretty weird having to leave immediately.

"Which is why you're out here: You wanted to tell me in advance?"

It was Twilight's turn with the Awkward Ball, because as soon as the Gamer's Mind calmed his roiling veins he saw her eyes darting back and forth between him and Pinkie Pie.

"Technically? But once I realized what had been going on, I also had the idea to... extend the invitation?"

Pinkie Pie shot up from her chair, eyes brightening and mane poofing out even further than her already voluminous base state.
"Wait, ser-real-iously?"

Twilight held up three train tickets in her telekinesis, quickly raising them higher to avoid the crushing force of Pinkie's impending tackle-hug. Spike joined in on the affection pile after only a moment of delay, cuddling up to both of them. They didn't bother pulling apart at first, instead all leaning into the group hug.

Eventually Pinkie pulled back just enough to get her head clear of Twilight's ears, because talking otherwise would have been uncomfortable for everypony involved. Subvocal communication just lacked that certain emotional weight, yaknow?

"So did you know about our whole thing in advance or what? You definitely aren't the type to just get an extra train ticket on a whim or 'just in case', after all."

The unicorn of the pile (shame he didn't have wings, or he'd be able to fill in for a pegasus in a nice little pony trinity hug) smiled weakly.
"Well, I uh... I hadn't been certain, exactly? The signs were obviously there. I think what tipped me over to the decision was thinking back over all the time I've been spending with Celestia this last year, and how important that was to making our relationship what it is today. Denying you two the chance for something similar felt really sad, and since you don't have to hide your relationship..."

"Better that we get the honeymoon phase all in at once instead of stretching it out over months?"

Pinkie and Twilight both blushed at his phrasing, filling him with a burst of prideful excitement.
"Aheh! More or less. That and I figured if you didn't manage to get over the hump to actually asking her today? This would give you two a chance to be together privately. Train rides are romantic, or so I've been told."

He would have normally thanked Twilight for that courtesy and forethought, but the way she phrased it made his new Pinkie-adjacent senses tingle. He turned to look at his marefriend, watching as her head cocked back and forth and one ear flopped. Spike shot her his best deadpan and switched back over to private subvocals.

"That felt weirdly ominious to you too, right?"

"The most ominous. ...Om-most-nous?

They looked at each other, silently laughing, while Twilight watched in confusion.

Iiiii gotta workshop that one."

One if By Land: Part 9

Their concerns about Twilight's ominously leading statement were proven as soon as they arrived at the train station later that night. Spike had two envelopes in his claw as he considered the scene. Upon their return to the library earlier, he and Twilight had been stopped short by a note on the door. It said a parcel (with his name on it) was awaiting his signature at the railway post office. Everything was in order once they got here, and he'd picked it up without any fuss.

Opening it could come later: The return address gave him a pretty good idea about what was inside, which also made the small package's weight... Concerning, but not pressingly so. Something he should have expected, really!

The second envelope was a real unusual case for him: Spike actually had to send a letter of his own. And he'd be sending it through the postal system, instead of by his own magic! He wanted to check in with Zecora about how things were going with Owloiscious and his brood, and hopefully he'd have an answer back shortly after their return. He had just been about to drop off that letter with the postmaster when he got caught from behind by Pinkie's gasp of shock.

The reason for her sudden surprise?

The overnight sleeper car to Canterlot was very rarely occupied by more than a few business-ponies looking to save vs. the express. Yet this evening, the platform was populated by an unlikely melange of friends and family: Not only were Spike and Twilight there with Pinkie Pie, but they were now caught in a little friendly staring match with... Well, several ponies. Several very familiar ponies.

Princess Luna was looking her regal finest as usual, wearing maybe a slightly more self-satisfied smirk than Spike could ever remember seeing. Rarity was at her side with an oddly large amount of luggage for a day-trip, but then again it was Rarity. Standing past the two of them (and looking at their boss / commander with some degree of concern) were both of the Ammunitions: Piercing with a light pair of saddlebags and Arcane magically lugging a huge trunk on a flat-top trolley.

Spike suppressed the urge to laugh out loud, although it still rang out through their subvocal chat.
"So Twilight 'has been told' train rides are romantic, huh? Wonder by who."

"I'd make a sentimental observation about the moon but I think that would be in poor taste. And also Rarity might chase me around with her fabric scissors again!"

Rarity, being the most socially-sensitive out of everypony present, took the lead to break through everypony's weirdly silent funk.

"Ah! It's... funny to see you all here tonight. Isn't that right Pinkie?"

"Yuppers! Six or a seven on the Joketer scale I think, not quite a laugh-out-loud but definitely has a chuckle warning attached. What brings you all here?"

Arcane coughed bruskly and nodded towards her niece.
"I was about to ask Rares the same exact thing, actually: We came separate."

Pinkie Pie nodded rapidly and let out a soft oooooh of understanding.
"Well then yeah this is more like a solid eight. What are the odds the whole lot of us would all be taking a couples' train trip up to Canterlot tonight?"

Spike had to stifle a groan: There was subtle probing on a topic and then there was Pinkie's tactical lack of tact. At least there were a lot of reactions to appreciate: Rarity's silent flop-sweat, Arcane's glare at the lunar diarch, Piercing's suppressed laughter, and Princess Luna herself silently looking over their tickets as if she had missed something. For her own part Pinkie Pie just barreled forward without missing a beat.

"Not like an official one or anything! I've just had that kinda thing on the brain today and I let my phrasing get ahead of my thinking. Plus Spike and I have Twilight here with us and that wouldn't fit the pattern at all, right Twi?"

Twilight had been practically frozen in a fit of confusion and curiosity ever since she saw that Rarity and Luna had come to the platform together. It took Spike nudging her shoulder to get her moving.
"...Yes! Haha, yes, absolutely. I definitely hadn't just been recently discussing the relative value of a private train trip for interpersonal purposes. Heh. Hehe. Heeee..."

Rarity grew calm as soon as she realized her own relationship status wasn't being called into question... but then she jolted backwards and looked between Pinkie and himself. He gave her a smile and a helpless little shrug: That 'eh, what can we do?' sort of feeling.

"Which accounts for Twilight, certainly. But this is an unofficial couples' trip for... the two of you?"

One quick swing of her hooves brought Pinkie right up against his side, wrapping a leg around him at the same time. Her closeness was warm and (after years of friendly hugs) already very familiar. The context however was still new and exciting and strange, to the point where he guessed that the Gamer's Mind was the only thing keeping him standing.

"Uhhuh! Sorry to jump on the opportunity so soon after, um, everything that's been happening! Not that you'd have any issue with it, right?"

Rarity's expression was still mostly confused, but she briefly looked over to him before smiling.
"Of course not dear: Congratulations to the both of you. I just have to say I am a little... surprised."

Luna's smirk came back even wider than before as she looked over them both.
"I for one am not."

Pinkie made a theatrically exaggerated shushing gesture at the Princess of the Night, but Spike noticed that she was giggling behind that hoof. Had she really been dreaming about... this? Them? He was flattered. It helped that his own dreams were often about her as well. Or, uh, they didn't not include her...

Look, being a budding young drake meant having what you might call a 'rotating cast of characters' in his dreams, something he was sure Scootaloo could commiserate about. And while his Gamer traits meant that he hadn't slept much in a while or dreamed during sleep in even longer? Pinkie's presence was pretty consistent in his mind.

His internal beratement was interrupted when the Ammos both cleared their throats. At the same time. And in tune, which was honestly just impressive.
"The two of us, for what it's worth, are heading to a Canterlot arcade operators' conference. Week-long business trip mixed with a short stay back home. That leaves Twilight as you twos' chaperone and then..."

Piercing let the question linger in the air. Princess Luna seemed completely content to just let it linger, but obviously Rarity would cut in eventually.

"As much of a pleasure as it has been to host one of the Princesses for the last little while... and as much fun as I've had watching the surprised reactions from townsponies who didn't know just how quiet she can be-"

"Sister may have her ways at court, but I will always be more adept at the other forms of subtlety."

Rarity sighed with a tone that suggested she was used to this kind of thing.
"Yes, well, Luna mentioned needing to return to do some of her duties in person. And since our project is nowhere near complete, she also invited me to come up for a short stay to see... Some of her old 'ceremonials', I believe is how you put it? Whatever of her personal clothes and affects may have... endured in her absence."

Twilight's expression lit up at the idea of being able to excavate the preserved closet of their long-absent diarch, and she quickly zoomed closer to the two of them to ask more questions. Pinkie pulled away from Spike and gave him a little wink before striking up some kind of conversation with Arcane about... deliveries? That might explain why Pinkie had been talking 'business' with them a few weeks back...

Well, regardless! That gave Spike his opening to post his letter to Zecora, and with a little bit of time to spare before the train hit the station to boot. He could probably grab Piercing and talk shop about games or even some combat advice. This had started off a bit awkward, but now it was promising to be an interesting trip down the tracks...

Taking the night train was a new experience for him: They all had sleeper cars they could head to at any time, but there was also a kind of open social space in another. Dim lights shone out of small cubbies in the ceiling above the windows, probably connected to a system of wicks or something. A few tables and chairs were bolted into position around the car, and the overall ambiance was... Weirdly comforting. Ponyville didn't have a lot of nightlife or twenty-four-hour establishments (until recently, anyways) but Spike recognized the air of a diner between booms as a quiet welcoming space.

Twilight had continued her conversation with Rarity and Luna ever since the train platform, while Pinkie was now playing some kind of two-player card game with Piercing, and Arcane had stomped off at one point to deal with some issues regarding that oversized cargo she brought. That left Spike on his own for the moment, which gave him the chance to open the letter he received at the station earlier.

Even if he already knew what would be inside.

A fairly familiar velvet bag slid out of the envelope first, dropping lightly onto his claws. He pulled the pair of green drawstrings out to open the pouch, although he didn't bother to tip out the contents. Just looking down the mouth of it in the dark was more than enough with his current senses.

A large token of solid golden metal, heavy for its size. Not actual gold though, he knew that already. It was thinner than a real bit coin, covered in near-microscopic inscriptions, and almost worryingly gorgeous. That 'worrying' aspect was doubled given that it was sent to him without warning. The last time Spike had seen this was before Gillie Horse (original owner of what became the AAAArcade) left Ponyville with his family. That had been weeks ago, when the idea of The Gamer and how it could change his life were still very new.

Spike closed the bag and thought back to how Gillie had originally described it.

"Ay, quite the lovely piece: I won it years ago, decades at that! Won it off a very fair mare in an extremely unfair game..."

The alert window didn't even surprise him at this point.

You have been passed The Golden Bit!
When ownership was transferred, you were granted the title [Bearer of the Golden Bit]
This title has no effect except granting recognition by the Bit's original owner and creator.
Despite its royal origins, the Bit will not be recognized as a symbol of any land or royalty.

That... also didn't surprise him, actually.

Spike pulled the letter out of the thick envelope, popping the trifold paper open with that nice crisp snap ponies did so that they could look dramatic. The letter was written with a shockingly tight hoof, the letters small and clean... Spike didn't think Gillie had any unicorns in his family, so the old stallion must have had great pen control even at his advanced age.

It was interesting to see that Gillie wrote in much the same way he talked, dropping letters and swapping them to match the pace and pattern of his patter. Old habits really do die hard...

Spike

Aint' much to say in this letter. The travel's been fine and the weather's better. Family best of all: It's good to see the folk again and be with the people. Really all there is to say fer me! I aint' like a drink, age makes the little details stand out less instead of the op'sit way 'round.

As for the other thin', the pouch. By my reckon and ken you've got a good idea just why this has come to you. So there t'aint much ta be said there either, yeh? Keep it well and keep it witcha as ya go about yer days. Seems far more'n likely to me that ye'd be gettin' up to enuff adventures that the thing'll have more use for ye. I probably disappointed that ol' girl quite a bit back in the day, damn near retired to the homestead the same year I got the thing.

But maybe that was the idea? Not fer me to know I suppose, less'n you come back around and tell me about it once things shake out. Could be the start of a particular good surprise, sorta thin', yeh?

The address on this'n'll be good for the whole year thru and beyon', we got one of those relay services settled. Next stop's out pas' Vanhoover, so I'm bracin' for the cold. Keep yerself warm while we're at it, right? Won't wish ya safety or peaceful times, all that whatnot. Always seemed... counterproductive.

Gillie

Spike smiled and folded the letter back over. He'd have to consider his reply during this day-trip (turned night trip) out to Canterlot, maybe send his own letter with a postcard from the capital? Not exactly an equivalent exchange, but a little gesture. As far as he knew there was nothing in his hoard which could be an equal for this gift.

Hah, gift. That reminded him of the old man at the start of that one adventure game after he gave you the sword: 'This isn't a gift. It's a curse. A burden for you to carry'. Maybe this was the same? Regardless of which way it lay, Spike was willing to carry it regardless. He folded the letter an extra time so it would fit along with the coin into the pouch (and then moved it into his Inventory) before leaning back on the bench. This was going to be an interesting trip for sure...

One if By Land: Part 10

Of course, the best way to make sure something was interesting was to do it yourself... Spike started looking through his options. True to his system's word, the title [Bearer of the Golden Bit] did absolutely nothing and had no descriptive text. Toggling between all of his various titles didn't provoke any kind of reaction from the ponies in the car along with him... But come to think of it, he did have one power that claimed even untrained bystanders would notice its activation.

Spike took a deep breath and settled himself down into the 'spirit of battle', as his Discipline called it. His mind focused on preparing to fight, measuring out the space around him and taking stock of his own health. Without any target in mind or a need to respond to pressing danger, his thoughts simply drifted from their normal peaceful flow into a different state.

One of his claws curved and pressed into a near-fist, while the fingers on his other side spread out open and flat. That paired posture made sense and seemed almost automatic, for reasons he didn't understand. It was closer to an instinct. There was something there, but he couldn't comprehend it-

Before he even had a chance to think more, all the heads in the car whipped around as one: Luna seemed furious until she realized the source of the disturbance. Rarity had a pensive expression, Pinkie was grinning (moreso than usual), and Piercing kept his expression neutral in that measured military way. A second later he heard Arcane slide open the door behind him and step back inside, so quiet that he might have missed it if he weren't using his powers.

Twilight just quirked her head to one side while staring at him, maybe the most subdued of them all.
"Spike, was that-"

He quickly detoggled out of that state, hands relaxing along with his entire body.
"Aheh, sorry all! Just, uh, testing some things. You know how it is with new toys!"

Rarity smiled at him with an unfamiliar seriousness, which was contrasted by the familiar tone she then used to address Princess Luna.
"Well, so long as there's no harm in it. But that does remind me: You haven't properly introduced everypony to your companion, have you Princess?"

Spike's jaw almost dropped as he watched the resulting exchange: Princess Luna's ears actually pinned back, and the otherwise bombastic ruler of the night turned away from her subject without saying anything. Rarity continued to hound the royal without restraint, apparently used to this behavior. Just what had Luna's stay at the Boutique been like these past weeks?

After a few whispered pushes back and forth Rarity began pouting and raised her voice again.
"Oh come now, you did say it was going to be one of your highest priorities."

"Yes, although I had been assuming you would expect a more formal occasion for such-"

Half of Equestria's highest power had her concerns waved off with a dainty white hoof.
"Psh, surely not! Pinkie Pie can absolutely back me up on this: Not everypony wants their introductory... party, as it were, to be the most ostentatious of events! Isn't that right Pinkie?"

His marefriend (*insert very mature and masculine mental squee here*) backed away at that, mostly for show. Her performance of fleeing was immediately stopped by her chair, although she made sure to shoot Rarity her best nervous glance while scooching backwards (fruitlessly) repeatedly.
"I make it a personal policy to never get in the middle of romantic arguments, Rares!"

This time it was the unicorn's turn to blush and sputter, relieving some of the pressure on Luna: The Princess giggled at the joke, or at least giggled and played it off as a joke. Spike wasn't sure if he just had the topic on the brain like Pinkie's excuse from earlier, or if he really was noticing some... tension? Tension between the alicorn and the dressmaker.

Rarity finally got back enough of her composure to reply, albeit barely.
"Pinkie! I thought we made this clear at the, the platform! That is not at all what. I mean, we. That-"

Luna laid a hoof on the table right next to Rarity's own, just barely avoiding direct contact.
"What Rarity is trying to say is that she appreciates your levity but we do not currently have that sort of arrangement."

"Y-yes. Well said. Although do not think I've forgotten my original point, Princess!"

Luna heaved a theatrical sigh and looked around the traincar. It was well into her domain and hours, and there was nopony else to be seen apart from their party. Maybe there were other conditions, or some unspoken conversations involved? Regardless, she was eventually satisfied with the situation and stood up, her horn lighting with magic.

"I suppose you are right: A private introduction in a controlled environment would be better for her than a more jubilant debut. Although I do suspect we will need to make one of the vaunted Pinkie Promises as promissory for a future welcoming party. Not that this would mark her first time in or around Ponyville environs..."

Pinkie nodded to that happily, although her words didn't quite match her actions.
"I do like a good mystery buildup before an introduction! And it's gotta be a special one if you're gonna teleport somepony onto a moving traincar: Twilight told me that's pretty tricky stuff."

Spike had personally jumped to a different conclusion, and his assumption was supported by the way Luna's shadow stretched and twisted in the glow cast by her horn.

"I never said anything about teleportation... Nor did I mention a pony at all. Rise up, little one."

A trace of silver stroked up from the base of Luna's skull and covered the entire spiral of her horn. Dragon's Mind failed him once again, the spell too strong or too specialized to be copied. Soon the Princess' mane cracked and whipped in the air, casting a wild and flickering shadow in extension of her natural one. Then that shadow burst and bubbled up from the floor of the train car before taking on a coherent form. Flat darkness twisted its way into three dimensions while maintaining the rough outline of Luna's body. Finally it began collapsing down and inwards until it fully coalesced.

The first reactions were from both of the Ammos: Laughter. Pinkie followed suit, and Twilight did her best to restrain herself but still ended up chuckling. Spike just looked with curiosity at the form of the train car's new occupant: A few solid feet of manifested darkness, looking for all the world like a pony-shaped hole in space. A hole into space? Her body was studded with stars and rimmed with faint blue-black light. 'Her' was the operative word because this creature was emphatically female.

To be more specific, Luna's shadow had taken on an exact copy of Rarity's appearance, right down to its perfectly coifed squiggle-coil of a tail. The title overhead made their new guest's identity clear (for Spike at least).

[Me And Your Shadow]
The Tantabus
LV ???

Rarity leaned over from her seat and hugged her doppleganger, pulling the silent creature down onto one of the cushioned benches. The Tantabus seemed to take this in stride even as Luna's cheeks puffed out from exasperation and frustration. Apparently she'd seen this appearance theft coming?

"I must admit that she has taken a liking to your form."

The form in question fluttered her eyes at the Princess, smiling coyly.
"Well isn't that only natural darling?"

Luna's composure continued to break down, and Spike had to hand it to Rarity: She just had that effect on ponies. It would explain a lot about why a creature without form of its own might seek to imitate her, although he had a feeling that this particular case might have deeper roots...

"Observe."

He got back very nearly nothing. It said a lot about the still-unknown level gap between himself and Luna that her creation was so far out of his league. As for the little information he could find... Well, maybe his powers had a nuanced sense of humor? Maybe the Tantabus itself was so powerful that it could present false data to Observe, and also had its own feel for comedy?

Perhaps one (or both) of them simply had the same reaction most ponies did to 'will they / won't they' romantic tension and wanted the entire thing to be over with. Regardless of the reason behind it, the Tantabus' description had exactly one piece of readable text:

This reborn creature of shadows has frequently taken the form of Rarity Belle in the months since her introduction to the physical world. This is often used to provide a comfortable pillow and sleeping partner for the Princess of the Night while they both go about their shared duties.

...Might be for the best if he didn't bring up that discovery to anypony. Maybe privately mention it to Luna? Some light ribbing and a little discussion about the topic could make for a good foothold into Cadance's step of his Benediction quest. Either that or it would be a recipe for getting disowned: It seemed like he'd stumbled onto sensitive secrets. Eh, it was Luna! She'd probably take it in stride.

Probably.

When Spike looked back from the description, Princess Luna had already finished introducing the Tantabus to the Ammos. Over the course of the next half-hour (maybe more like twenty-two minutes once they took breaks for drinks and snacks) he and the mares who had been there explained the entire situation of their initial meeting with the Tantabus. How Luna's self-recrimination and guilt had been given form with a spell to keep her perpetually tormented. How last year the creature escaped her dreams and into those of Twilight and her friends, and from there into all of Ponyville.

How, in the end, Luna found it in herself to forgive... herself. What followed that was Luna's addition to the story, a little personal addendum none of them had been privy to. It explained a lot about why the Tantabus existed as it did now. Rarity was blushing before the Princess even got into the story proper, but also made no move to stop her.

After the disaster had been resolved and everypony else had gone back to find proper sleep, one pony among the crowd had stopped Luna for a conversation. The two of them spoke and the mare (an obvious figure even before Luna dropped Rarity's name with the look of a storyteller expecting shock on her audience's faces) explained that she had something to show the Princess, something related to the problem they had just solved.

It turned out that this mare had an uncanny sense of fellow-feeling and commiseration with Luna's form of self-inflicted torture. So she took Princess Luna into her home and business, in order to expose her own personal Tantabus.

At this point Rarity herself stepped in and haltingly explained the details, probably wanting to keep the retelling as controlled as possible. Just off of her bedroom in the Carousel Boutique was a walk-in closet, one that saw very little use but very regular consultation. The entire space was lined with suits, dresses, designs, and other relics of her craft, with a clear space in the middle so somepony could enter and immerse themselves in the surrounding works.

It wasn't an archive of achievements or a scrapbook of success. It was Rarity's shame embodied. Guilt given form. These were all of her worst failures, and she looked at them every day. Dresses that went out with errors and gaps, designs that were fatally flawed by the time of submission, even things as simple as accessories that went out of style before she could complete the work. Rarity had a very good idea of what it felt like to punish yourself over past mistakes, and while the magnitude could never compare? The depth of a pony's emotions didn't work that way.

The two of them had probably talked about it after that, but in this retelling neither of them deigned to explain what was said. They claimed Luna had simply thanked her, wished her well, and returned to Canterlot. The hour had grown late (more honestly early but from the other end) and it was time for everypony to rest.

And rest they did: Luna had the first peaceful night of sleep since the Nightmare, and Rarity also slept more soundly than she had in months: Just telling somepony lifted a portion of the weight.

That next day (unbeknownst to each other) they both took action to reverse their past decisions.

Rarity kept her closet of damning designs and properly studied them, figured out the real issues and learned lessons from each one. Some stayed in the closet to remind her, experiences or ideas worth revisiting in the future. Others were laid to rest, their failings now really understood as outside circumstances or uncontrollable variables. It was obvious in retrospect! Then again, so was the idea that she had been too hard on herself for far too long.

Luna took her spell, originally made for torture and self-flagellation, and reexamined its core conceit. While it had been named and made as a creature of nightmares, there was no reason it had to stay as such. If anything, its budding self-awareness and desire for freedom was proof of potential for it to be greater, to be real. So she spent a few months working and refining the magic until the spell she had recalled into her dreamscape was able to take a new form.

This immediately led to Arcane ribbing her liege about whose form exactly, and Spike had to resist making a follow-up joke based on his own knowledge. Within moments this led to the casual air coming back into the car, everypony chatting excitedly and interacting with their newest guest.

Jokes and new meetings aside, that story had helped flesh out the events of the night. It even gave them all insight into how Rarity and Luna had grown past some of their issues together. If he hadn't seen the description of the Tantabus with Observe, he might have taken their closeness in stride as a natural progression. It was just a matter of shared trauma and mutual passions!

Except Spike had seen the description, so he knew there were at minimum one-sided feelings, almost certainly romantic ones. And since he did have that quest for Cadance (plus a lingering personal need to see Rarity happy), it would be in his own best interests to help push things here and there. Maybe he could even get Pinkie Pie involved and work out some party-powered plans!

Regardless of what he thought might be between those two, this was not the time or the place. Not only was the train car emphatically public (despite it currently being populated solely by their group), he had to take better care of his own problems before worrying about somepony else. They only had a scant day in Canterlot to accomplish a lot of preparations, and he was hoping to get the jump on several steps of his Benediction quest...

Plus he'd already had improbably convenient run-ins with Twilight, the Ammos, Princess Luna and Rarity in the last few hours. It wasn’t like arriving in Canterlot would put yet another weird disruption onto the list before he even got to see Princess Celestia again, right?

...Right?

One if By Land: Part 11

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

One if By Land: Part 12

Author's Note

Chapter 119
One if By Land: Part 12
- OR -
State, Secrets

One if By Land: Part 12

Despite what felt like a dozen disparate conversations keeping everypony spread across the platform in the early-morning light, as soon as the first whistle blew they all snapped back into place. Shining Armor and Cadance said their (very temporary) goodbyes, promising to return to Canterlot within the next two moons. Their guard detail went with them, trading begrudging nods of respect with the Ammunitions on the way out.

Twilight was basking in the joy of another sibling struggle well-won, Rarity was exhausted by the early hour and Cadance's scrutiny, Luna was clearly shaking off her own schedule issues... Spike and Pinkie were, if anything, feeling fresher and more active than when they started! He chalked his extra energy up to the Gamer's nature, and if he had to guess Pinkie had her own reasons.

Their group continued to splinter apart from there; starting when the Ammos took their luggage and went down a side street towards the conference site. Before they left, Piercing gave Spike a small flyer: Apparently this gaming industry event was the precursor to a much larger public show that anypony could visit... And the timing would line up almost perfectly with their trip back up here in a few months!

Spike thanked him for the tip and waved them off, head buzzing with ideas. Some were about the idea of a games conference, but the other part of his mind was already making other plans: Plans for how to work on his magical combat training before they met back up again. He had aspirations to really impress Rarity and Arcane next time...

That left five of them travelling together (technically six, but the Tantabus had long since returned to Luna's shadow) up to Canterlot Castle. The streets of Equestria's capital were active this early, but far from bustling: Apart from a few joggers and early-risers, most of the traffic they passed seemed to be runners for large businesses and workers from the bigger houses in the city.

That made a lot of sense seeing as their path was taking them through the markets and shopping centers. What was unusual about it was how calm it was compared to the same kind of morning in Ponyville: Everypony was professional and self-contained, and carried themselves calmly. The idea of a quiet market district would surprise plenty of ponies back home, although the members in their own group were used to seeing Canterlot at all hours of the day.

Despite the other ponies on the streets, Princess Luna's presence didn't cause the uproar Spike had feared or expected: Maybe she was leaning into the subtlety she'd mentioned before? Some ponies nodded and a few bowed, but their group was mostly undisturbed. It was easier than it had been in a long time to get through the streets of Canterlot: Admittedly, neither he nor Twilight were on the best of terms with 'mornings', so they didn't get out this early too often... and when they did, it was from the other side of the night before.

Even though it was currently the achingly early hours of the morning, it definitively was morning. The Castle came into view over the last set of buildings before the royal courtyards began, and he could already see how it was bathed in light that turned white walls gold and painted the entire scene. Pinkie and Twilight didn't audibly react, but Luna let out a contented sigh just as Rarity had her own squeal of joy and reverence.

An unusual pair of guards came up to greet them as soon as they came into view. Rather than the pair of Celestia's retinue you would expect this early they were met by a mixed set: A Day Guard unicorn and a Night Guard pegasus trotted up side by side, in clean lockstep. The Day Guard was thinner and a little taller than most, the Night Guard almost stocky by comparison, both stallions. They saluted their group immediately, the unicorn with a hoof and the pegasus with a wing.

"Welcome back, Princess!"

Luna nodded to the pair of them and fluffed her wings out for a moment.
"Well met to you both: Are we to assume my sister has sent you to retrieve me?"

That got a smile from the Night Guard even as their counterpart tried to keep stone-faced.
"Close enough: When you informed us you would be returning to continue your projects, a room was arranged for your guest. I made sure cooler heads prevailed so that our newest Crown Tailor could get herself settled without too much fuss."

The idea of her becoming titled(even temporarily) during all this had clearly not crossed Rarity's mind: She whipped her head back and forth quickly before raising one hoof to cover a gasp.
"Oh! I-"

The bat-winged pony winked at her.
"-would prefer to keep it on the down-low for now? Completely understood! I used to work in the fashion field myself: La Lune only knows how vicious the industry rumor mill can be."

Spike looked over the Guards' heads: He didn't recognize either of them, but there was plenty of evidence here that they were the real deal, and probably high rankers to boot.

[By Incisive Horn]
Zenith Flair
LV 40

[With Protective Wings]
Gibbous Trace
LV 40

Luna rolled her eyes at the casual deification (and subsequent taking-in-vain) of her name. Spike had to wonder just how often the new breed of Night Guards treated her like a living relic, for that to be such a practiced reaction. He definitely couldn't blame them: The Princesses were a huge part of Equestria's existence, doubly so now that they were plural again. Maybe in a few more years (or decades) Cadance would be getting the same treatment?

"W-well yes then, I suppose I will come along quietly, Officer."

That jab from Rarity was enough to get both Guards to break character: Gibbous had a faint pink blush scattered across his muzzle while Zenith outright laughed, a surprisingly booming tone for such a lithe unicorn.

Twilight nodded to the guards and stepped forward.
"In which case the three of us will head to meet with Princess Celestia-"

Spike raised a claw.
"Two of you, actually, Twilight! I kind of need to talk to Luna about something real quick."

Luna quirked an eyebrow at the unexpected name drop and request for an audience... but she also decided to go along with it, raising a hoof up to his shoulder.
"Well that divvies things just fine then, gentlecolts: Trace will take Ms. Belle to her new quarters, our Solar friend will present Celestia's student and her friend, and I will stay back with Spike."

The Guards took that as a direct order and immediately split up to move back towards the castle: The rest of the girls followed them without any questions, although Pinkie shot him a look as she walked away. Spike winked and blew her a kiss, hoping that would settle her concerns. He'd just figured that, with what he saw with the Tantabus last night, it might be better to raise that note in advance of all the awkward questions he was going to be asking anyways...

Paradoxically, he felt like a large open plaza was probably the best place to have a private conversation. Inside of the palace there could be all sorts of ponies listening from all kinds of angles, not to mention interruptions from the workers or dignitaries, visiting ponies... Here they were outdoors, but the space was so open on every side that nopony could approach without getting noticed. So Spike decided to spring his question and hope he didn't get sent off to some random celestial body for his trouble.

"So back on the train car when we met the Tantabus..."

Back in the meditation dreamscape, he had explained his abilities to Princess Luna in a fair bit of detail. Still, he walked back over the logic of everything that happened, since this was a strange case... By the time Spike finished awkwardly pointing out what he learned Luna's expression had settled into a grim and tight-lipped frown.

"So, uh, yeah. I think it's pretty cool! Like, I don't... I had my crush on her and that didn't work out obviously, but it also means I can totally understand what somepony might see in her. She's a really special pony, and if it were going to be anypony interested in her I would want-"

"Dearest nephew, be quiet for a moment."

He shut his mouth and braced himself. A slap? A binding spell to never speak the truth to any other pony? Banishment?

...Or a hoof on his shoulder. When he opened his eyes, Luna was looking at him with a strangely sad expression.
"I really do worry about how my sister has taught you over these years, and it seems like even Twilight's influence wasn't sufficiently tempering."

"What?"

Luna raised her head to look up at the sky, where her sister's sun was still cresting the mountains.
"Spike, your concerns here are clear. And I am a little mad, and most certainly disappointed. But it is likely not for the reason you think. My infatuation is a matter of great potential interest to others, and you took precautions before telling me... But why tell me at all?"

He blinked a few times and looked around to make sure there wasn't an audience or something: Maybe this was a play? It was also possible he had completely lost the plot.

"I feel certain Celestia taught you that Honesty is a virtue: It is one of the Elements of Harmony after all. One of my elements in fact, back when the two of us were challenging Discord for control of the realm. The problem is that she fails to approach Honesty with any sense of nuance outside of the hours when she holds court."

Spike didn't want to interrupt what seemed like a long-bottled-up concern, so he let Princess Luna continue without asking any questions.

"Not long ago you asked me about battles of life and death. To bring our conversation back onto that topic... Too much of anything can kill. Too much magic can overload the system, water can flood the body, Kindness can smother and patronize... Honesty can kill as well. Holding nothing back and speaking only the truth diminishes the self, hurts others with blunt and tactless words, and cuts off options and paths to the future."

"...But you're not telling me to just lie all the time either, right?"

She smiled, albeit barely.
"Forbid the thought: Lies kill too, in ways slow and insidious as well as fast and tragic. But what I am saying need not require you to lie at all! No need for lies or truths, no half-truths either. If the truth would cause undue injury, and a lie would not help guide things onto the right path... then why tell anything at all?

That made sense to Spike, in a way. Doubly so because it was coming from the Princess of the Night, and who better to know? Warden of dreams for all of Equestria, watcher in the darkness...
"You're saying I should have just kept it a secret."

"Indeed. Sister would tell you, how would she say it..."

Luna stiffened and stood tall, stretching up onto her hooftips and flaring her wings to catch the sunlight, liminal across the edges of her feathers. The words that followed felt holy.
"Honesty, my little pony, shows that you are both mature and responsible."

He couldn't help but laugh, at least until she cut him off.
"And one of our dear enemies these past few years, she would probably claim..."

Abruptly her back twisted, her head arched, her horn cracked with a sickening light... She struck a perfect parody of Queen Chrysalis' posture and stance. Even her voice came out ragged.
"Lies are how we sculpt the world to turn the way we want it."

She dropped back down into her usual stance and grinned again, wider this time, her smile almost glowing as the light above her faded.
"What I will tell you is that neither of these ways are wrong: But that doesn't make them right."

Alone in the plaza before the palace, it almost felt like time was crawling backwards to the night before, darkness encroaching as the sun plunged into the clouds. Luna's mane sparkled and even sparked, throwing off faint traces of light as she locked eyes with him. The stars spun in the air behind her, and everything she said felt enormous and important.

"To be honest is a sign of being mature and responsible. To lie well shows you are prudent and adaptable. But to keep secrets means that you are cunning and capable."

She cleared her throat and the spell (literal or metaphorical) was broken, the sun peeking back through the clouds to shine on the two of them.
"I am sure you can guess which side finds my favor."

Spike thought back to his own most-recent secret, keeping his slow and constant rot hidden from Twilight until he was able to solve the problem himself. There were definitely times that could have backfired, situations where it would have caused far more harm than good... That was the trick though, knowing the when and the where and the why. Honesty has its place, deceit plays a role, and secrets have work to do as well: It's all about the context and the content.

"...Thank you, Auntie Luna."

For the briefest fraction of a second it looked like her eyes began to tear up... then it was gone, whisked away by a blink or a glamour or a trick of the light.
"You are very welcome, Spike. Now I do believe you have other business to which you must attend?"

In all the chaos and complexity of the last few weeks, he hadn't actually gotten the chance to tell the Princesses about his quest, his goal to seek the Benediction... But in light (or dark, as the case may be) of what they'd just discussed? Spike decided to save that for later. He could make plenty of progress without explaining his reasons, and there might even be some benefit to being a little more secretive about his goals.

So instead, he clapped his claws and then pointed past Luna to the castle.
"You and me both: Take it from an expert, Rarity might claim otherwise to be polite? But she really doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"...Noted."

One if By Land: Part 13

If he had gone into Canterlot Castle blind it might have taken him entire days to find the ponies he was looking for: The palace was big big. As it was, all it took to find Princess Celestia and his friends was a quick pointer from one of the guards. The three of them had apparently taken their meeting to a room Spike had never been in before, so he paid special attention to the path as he followed the guard's directions.

They weren't anywhere near the Princesses' chambers, nor the open halls for holding court. The kitchens were in a different wing entirely, same with most of the service quarter. The closest room he could place from memory was Twilight's old study hall (although for him it had been more of a napping hall), which meant they were close to the archives. The unassuming door on one wall wouldn't have caught attention from most ponies. But he was not most, nor (heh) was he pony!

This door was unusually thick according to his senses, and strongly reinforced on both sides. There was no lock and no handle, the hinges buried directly into the stone of the surrounding wall. It would be a real chore to try to open this thing without getting particularly destructive. Doubly so because Observe informed him there was a lock, just not a visible one: The entire mechanism was concealed inside with no way to apply a key.

Originally Spike had been confused as to why Princess Celestia would be meeting with her star pupil and secret lover in such a random location, but now he wanted to applaud her security. If he ran into a door like this in one of Shining's dungeon crawls, it would be brute force time unless they had an earthshaper or a teleportation scroll!

He knocked hard and waited for a moment, watching the door with regularly-refreshed Observes and his Dragon's Mind. For good measure he cut off his senses of touch and taste and smell and hearing, focusing entirely on watching and perceiving magic. A few moments after his claws hit the wood the door began to swing. There was no sign of Celestia's aura on the door itself, but Spike could see the delicate push and twist of magic manipulating the interior...

Dragon's Mind didn't record it as a spell, but for once it wasn't because his ability failed to grasp some huge and complicated spell. It was more like the opposite: The unlocking came down to the most basic telekinesis applied with impossible delicacy across a few dozen points at once. Very easy to observe, significantly less easy to mimick... But he learned quite a lot from watching it.

Dragon's Horn has gained a level!
Dragon's Horn has gained a level!
Twilight's Teachings has gained a level!
Twilight's Teachings has gained a level!

Spike stepped inside, and immediately had to hold back a laugh. His marefriend, his (word), and the Princess were all arranged around a tiny table having a positively Rarity-esque teatime. There were delicate cakes and fragile cups, although Pinkie's cup had manifested a crazy straw and her teacakes were suspiciously frosting-heavy.

He hadn't been back to Canterlot in quite some time, but Princess Celestia's mannerisms were very hard to forget. She had poised herself perfectly, taking a sip of her tea exactly as he crossed the threshold of the door. That made it all the more special when he saw her visibly pause, eyeing his newly-grown form with the barest hint of surprise. He smiled back to her and then looked up to check something he had been wondering for weeks...

[Soleil, Soleil]
Celestia
LV ????

The Princess nodded to him and her smile widened just a touch.
"Welcome, Spike: I've missed your company. I trust you've been keeping Twilight on track?"

The mare in question immediately blushed but Spike just nodded.
"Regular-ish schedule, reasonably-reasonable diet. She's totally got socialization covered now."

He winked at Celestia with that last bit, and while she didn't break character a second time (that would have been a record) she did nod back.
"Very true, as I can attest. Congratulations to you and Ms. Pie, by the way: I've been told Twilight took care of the formalities there?"

Pinkie nodded vigorously.
"Yuppers: Warned and re-warned for good measure! Gave me plenty of ideas for if somepony decides to start shacking up with my sisters, actually! I gotta be the big pony sometimes even though I'm not the oldest."

Twilight groaned and buried her face in her hooves.
"I am regretting my decisions already. Should have left it to Shining... Oh! Spike, that's right, before we get down to business I had a really important question."

He perked up his ears (to the extent he could) and waited, but he wasn't expecting the question he got.

"How much stronger is Shining Armor?"

"...Compared to?"

"Me! We had our little sibling showdown back at the train station but I forgot we had an unbiased arbiter with a defined metric of levels available."

Spike blinked a few times and then scratched at the back of his head sheepishly.
"Aheh, funny you should say forgot in this context..."

She caught his meaning immediately.
"Really?"

"I was kinda preoccupied! It was so novel to see eye to eye with him that I forgot to look any further up than that. Didn't catch Cadance's information either, come to think of it."

Twilight puffed her cheeks and fell back in her seat.
"Phooey... Alright. I suppose it's best if I don't rely on that sort of thing anyways"

Pinkie and Celestia both laughed at Twilight's reaction, but Spike just sighed. He was actually kind of disappointed he'd forgotten to check that! Princess Celestia's title didn't tell him much he didn't already know, and her level was no surprise at all. He could try to use Observe: It had become a habit over the past month, even when he knew it wasn't likely to yield results. So far the only time anycreature had even noticed it had been King Rudy, and that was more about the ring he wore than his own abilities. Luna hadn't commented on his attempts back on the train, so...

"Observe."

Spike's vision was overtaken, edge to edge, by a pulse of deep orange-red that faded away into darkness and then sparks. It reminded him of the way his eyes reacted after he rubbed them too hard, especially as it slowly transitioned back to normal vision. Once that cleared he didn't have any information about Celestia to read... Not exactly. There was an error message in an entirely new style, eye-catching red and gold text plastered onto a foreboding pure black background.

!WARNING!

Do not stare directly at The Sun.

!WARNING!

He quirked up an eyeridge. That wasn't too shocking for a variety of reasons: If anything it made him more surprised that there hadn't been a similar message for Luna. Something about a shroud of darkness or a cloak of stars, maybe? Putting that thought aside, this message echoed a classic saying and it definitely seemed like a warning... Although given how his engine had been behaving ever since he got his affinity with Laughter and Pinkie Pie, perhaps this was more like a hint.

Spike began turning his view to look around the space. Twilight Sparkle was looking like her usual self, maybe just a bit more relaxed in her Princess' presence? That was kinda cute. Pinkie Pie was enacting a proxy war between her tea cakes, although he could see how she made sure the silly shenanigans didn't spread any disturbance past the borders of her plate. Also very cute. His eyes glided past and around the Princess herself while he took in their surroundings.

The room itself was a large double-chamber, two circular rooms connected as one. In their room a table had been set up with chairs, and a few small gallery lights illuminated paintings he didn't recognize. An open track on the floor between the two spaces marked where the shutters closed to separate the rooms. The second chamber was festooned with just as many paintings and other hangings on the wall, but lacked a tea table. In roughly the equivalent spot was a mirror, a huge mirror that stood so tall that Princess Celestia's horn likely wouldn't meet the top.

Under normal circumstances he would just chalk it up as another art piece in this little gallery, but between the heavily-secured door and its odd position in the dead center of the floor... Well, Spike had a way to try to find out what it was. After all, if he couldn't look directly at the Sun? He should look at the things connected to it!

"Indra's Net."

There was a... chug? A hiccup? There was a break in his powers, a moment of hesitation as the information tried to process and present itself. Eventually it resolved as a simple menu box with a web connecting the items he tried to Observe... But unlike all of his previous uses, the web and the window were greyed out in the background, and overlapped with a new message.

Significant improvements to Observe and sensory skills, as well as other breakthroughs, have allowed for a new method to visualize Indra's Net. Use this visualizer now?
NOTE: The enhanced visualizer requires an extremely high degree of concentration. Do not activate this mode during combat or other high-risk situations.

High concentration? That (at least these days) was something he could manage no problem! Spike shrugged his assent and then immediately winced as his body grew deathly cold. His MP dropped in a single sweeping motion until it was a sliver off the bottom of the bar. Every inch of him felt drained of warmth and totally numb, as if he were falling back and out and down and-

Syzygy: [Moonsetter] has activated automatically, improving MP recovery and certain perceptions.
[The Subconscious Drone] has activated automatically, slowing perceived time to a minimum.
[Dragon's Eye] has activated automatically, disabling: Vision, Hearing, Touch, Taste, and Scent.

Everything slowed down around him: Princess Celestia's demure giggle at something Twilight said frozen in time, Pinkie's cakes seeming like they could retreat at any moment, his own body still in the chair. Then those visions blurred out to black on the edges and faded to leave empty space. His own sense of the chair beneath his butt, his body in the chair, the flow of air in the room... All of it stopped. The smell of the drinks and snacks whisked themselves away, the sound of voices grew distorted by the drop in speed before they too vanished.

Spike was left in total darkness for an unknown stretch of time, and... Well true to his word, he just waited and focused. This was probably worthy of a freak-out, except he trusted his system. He trusted himself. Time passed and he simply maintained his focus, letting things take their course. Honestly there was probably no better place in the entire world to pull this stunt: If something did go wrong he was literally surrounded by friends and loved ones. Specifically friends and loved ones who knew more about magic and weird happenings than the rest of Equestria combined.

His faith paid off when a second bank of messages scrolled across his lack-of-vision, popping into his head as simple thoughts. They weren't quite like his own, having a distinctly neutral and maybe slightly feminine tone? He hadn't thought about attributing a real persona to his system, but if stuff like this kept happening it might have to go on the docket.

Preventing direct observation of celestial bodies...
Discarding assumptions to prevent errors...
Enabling advanced perception of Indra's Net...

One if By Land: Part 14

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

One if By Land: Part 15

Spike blinked both layers of his eyelids a few times and stretched in his seat. He had managed to dredge himself back up to consciousness before anypony got worried, or even before they noticed his altered state of mind. That was definitely helped by the fact his entire reverie took place in very slowed down time... His perception of the outside world (before his senses went away, at least) had been waaaay slower than even the deepest and most powerful use of the Subconscious Drone to date.

That same lack of perception made it pretty useless for most other purposes, but he had to admit there could be benefits... And speaking of benefits, while he didn't come away with an entirely new meditation skill? He did manage to get one major perk.

Syzygy: [Moonsetter] is now compatible with [Exposure].
NOTE: Abrupt deactivation of the Syzygy forms can lead to personal harm.

The downside made a lot of sense: Omphaloskepsis passively changed his perception and how he looked at the world, but the Syzygy meditation was based on actively messing with his magical mechanics. Stopping partway through without a cooldown period could probably do a lot of damage, so he'd be extra-cautious with this new piece of the arsenal.

Princess Celestia looked over to him and he shot back a dazzling smile. She definitely had genuine joy behind it, although it was supported with the fact that she (hopefully) hadn't noticed his magical excursion or what he'd discovered.

"We will have quite a lot of time to catch up and spend time together when you return, but I do believe Twilight said you had something very particular to ask me about?"

Now there was a branching point in his plans: Not half an hour ago he had decided to refrain from asking Luna about the Benediction directly. Should he keep that tack, or open up and start asking for advice now?

Like he did in a lot of games, he picked a third route.

"Yeah! I'm sure Luna told you about what has been happening with me, but I thought it would be a good idea if I showed what I can actually do now, rather than just second-hand explanations."

Twilight quirked an eyebrow at him but he just shrugged, hoping she'd catch his intention.

Celestia nodded to his suggestion, so he went ahead and started displaying his skills. This wasn't a great spot for him to show off everything he was now capable of, so he focused on things that were the most unusual and (in his opinion) of interest to her.

She already knew that he had become able to send letters to new targets, but he showed off his fire-breath anyways... freezing it with Stagnet and then shaping the flames by hand. Dispersing the fire out into the air, he took another breath. This time he unleashed a cloud of pure magic with Respire and then shaped those just the same, now using External Mana Control.

On some level he felt like an old-school court performer, doing tricks for his liege, but on another level it was nice to prove his growth to somepony so important to his life. Actually, that gave him an idea...

"I might need a bit of assistance for this next part: Princess, would you be so kind as to use some unique and unfamiliar bit of magic? Something I wouldn't have ever seen before."

The alicorn across the table had already been smiling at his previous displays, and his sudden bout of stage magician's patter had her giggling in turn. She complied with his request wordlessly, sitting just a bit straighter in her chair and beginning to glow. Radiance flowed down from her horn across her shoulders, down to her wings... Celestia fluffed her feathers and a cloud of miniscule sparks spread out like a swarm of fireflies.

Dragon's Horn has gained a level!
Dragon's Horn has gained a level!
Dragon's Mind has gained a level!
Dragon's Mind has gained a level!

Spike nodded along with the display as if he were thinking very hard... and then he shrugged.
"Thanks!"

He went back to displaying his tricks without missing a beat, ignoring Twilight's exasperated sigh and Pinkie's laughter. It had been useful to see the Princess showing off such fine control, but he still didn't have the vocabulary to put what he'd learned into words. Instead he leaned back on the balls of his feet and propped himself up with the tip of his tail: Showing off any of his combat skills in here wouldn't be a great use of the space, and he was trying to keep to a theme...

First he raised his teacup up to his lips and took a long sip from it. That was probably pretty impressive given that his eyes were closed... and that he was standing five or six feet back from the table. Dragon's Horn was always fun to show off, and it made a good segue into his last bit of unique ability. Relaxing in his tripod stance, he brought his claws up and began to meditate.

Discern the aspects of the sun and the moon, divide them in his body and mind. Sun to one hand, moon to the other, lock at the wrists and then move. Slow at first and slow afterwards, never trying to gain speed but instead just keep focus. The air between his palms began to feel turbid and then turbulent, the opposing poles of magic in his body stirring and mixing the ambient energy of the world into something new...

Spike raised his hands and (with no small bit of effort) pushed the clump of externalized magic out and away. It really wanted to stay stuck to his hands just like in all of his previous practice. He had gotten used to that fact: With a brisk snap of power from his External Mana Control he set it floating free like a single giant dandelion seed.

He opened his eyes to see Princess Celestia calmly prodding and poking at the orb with her own magical aura, while Twilight looked on nervously. Pinkie Pie was just waving vigorously from her chair, so he waved back with a smile. Eventually her inspection ended and Princess Celestia looked him in the eye...

And now she laughed, chortling until she was seemingly out of breath. Pinkie puffed up her cheeks in indignation and darted her eyes back and forth between the two of them.
"Did you two share a joke without me!? I demand compensation. Equal jokes for all!"

Princess Celestia wiped a hoof under one eye and waved the other towards the irate ponk.
"No need, Pinkie Pie: I just found it funny that after all these years, Spike of all creatures would decide to be coy about something."

Spike blinked. Had he been...?

"After over a thousand years at the Day Court I have to admit I am very used to knowing when somepony wants to discuss something with me. Doubly so when they are trying to prove a point... even if only to themselves."

She stood from her chair and walked over to settle a wing on his shoulder.
"So I suggest that we set aside the intermediate steps and just talk about my Benediction, hmm?"

Twilight gasped and Spike had to agree with the sentiment: Ouch. There was busted and then there was 'Celestia catching you in the act' busted. He looked up and tried his best to smile.
"What gave me away?"

"Well, I surmise you might have spoken with my sister earlier and gotten a small earful of her thoughts on secrets and lies. Not advice I would ever contradict, for what it's worth: She knows both fields infinitely better than I. But since the idea is so newly presented, you might still be trying to find the right balance between open admission, covert suggestion, and outright concealment."

"...Yeah, more or less. That's not a problem though, right?"

"Of course not, Spike. Many ponies dozens of years your senior still can't grasp when to speak and when to keep quiet! To ask you to learn it perfectly in an hour would be an insult if anything."

All of them laughed at that one, although Pinkie's was the nervous laughter of somepony who wasn't sure if she should have just heard that.

"As for how I knew this was about the Benediction... While Twilight didn't admit anything, she certainly had a nervous air I have learned to recognize. And while Luna told me quite a number of interesting things you had learned to perform? You didn't show me all those things. Instead, what you showed me was very focused on magic and the transmission of power. From there I just... guessed."

Her warm smile belied the calculation involved with what she was describing, and yet again he was given a reminder of how this pony wasn't just his (not-parent) but had been the surrogate mother to all of Equestria for generations upon generations.

"As for the reason you are asking about such a thing... I have no intention to pry. My sister is right about the idea of secrets having tactical function, after all. So I will gladly discuss the topic with you without asking for reciprocation. I assume there's no issue with everypony here listening to us two chatter on for a while?"

Twilight nodded vigorously, and Pinkie did the same after the briefest delay. Spike agreed: If there were any ponies who should know about this particular endeavor, it was the two of them.

Princess Celestia trotted back to her seat, pulling Spike along with her until the two of them were both seated on the same side of the table, while Pinkie and Twilight pulled their own chairs back to give them extra room. Once the seating arrangements were rearranged, the Princess pulled closed the shutter doors between the two halves of the room. Spike didn't literally feel anything change when the mirror left his view, but there was a little tickle of a sense in the back of his head that he would be seeing it again soon.

Celestia's reason for closing the partition became clear as soon as she began shutting off all the other lights in the room. She was using the doors as a projection sheet, casting her magic onto the wooden panels in lieu of a screen. Golden lights sparkled and cast a shadowplay on the dark grey wood as she began to speak.

A shadow of an alicorn, tall and lanky, radiated a golden aura that (even in two dimensions) felt regal and authoritative. A second pony, smaller and more compact, instead had a slight aura that barely escaped its frame and shuddered like a candle-flame. Even though both were just projections of Celestia's raw magic, the two auras had distinctly different tenors and colors. After the images resolved clearly, Celestia began to speak.

"When it comes to the details I can only speak for myself, but in broad terms... A Benediction is something granted, by its very nature. For a blessing to be a blessing there has to be an unequal position, or it would simply be a trade. But that doesn't mean that it is purely a one-way: While one party gives far more than they receive, the other party does still give something back. That, in turn, makes that smaller part all the more precious. Certainly, as Diarch of Equestria I have a colossal amount of power to give... But the ponies who receive my blessing do not, and that makes what comes back upstream to me in the process infinitely more cherished."

Backing up her words, the figures she projected demonstrated what she described. The smaller image bowed down to its knees while the larger dipped its head, and each of them shed a fraction of their auras. Compared to the total, they were both probably giving an equal percentage of what they had... but given the difference in those totals, it meant that the large figure shed almost as much power as the smaller shadow's entire natural aura.

"The process itself is very old magic, older than Equestria as a nation... I suppose Starswirl and other scholars would have argued it's even older than Equestria as a landmass. Regardless of the little things, it's much more... ritualistic, compared to modern magic. Fewer laws and more rules."

In the shadowplay the two transferred bits of magic began to mingle and bind. The overflowing wave of gold came down onto the pony, fusing cleanly into their own aura and taking on its shade. Meanwhile the tiny spark of power that went the other way began to orbit the alicorn, not merging but keeping its own distinct and unique nature.

"And so the Benediction is granted and a bond is formed: Power goes both ways, each providing their own unique quirks. This is where the general case breaks down, I am afraid, and it comes down to the details. Every creature strong enough to perform the Benediction (or anything like it) gives and takes in different ways. Where I am concerned..."

Princess Celestia sighed and shut off her projections one bit at a time, until all that was left was the single small pony standing in the center of the doors. Their enhanced aura hadn't changed in color at all, but it had gone from a faint and fragile flicker to a proper bonfire, roaring and iconic around them.

"I don't give them anything except perspective: The truth is always in the world, as I like to imagine my dear Twilight would put it. Science isn't an act of creation but one of discovery. Discovery of something that wasn't even inevitable but instead was just always there. That's the truth about the power I give: Their strength was there before me, but sometimes my little ponies need help to see it. And once they do, there is a light that never goes out."

The lights in the room came back up quickly, each candle and crystal shining again in turn. When the space was back in full brightness, there was no sign left of Celestia's little display... Except for that aura, the shape of a unicorn and its anima burnt into the wood like a flawless seal. Actually, Spike would have bet anything that saying it was 'like' a seal was an understatement.

Observe.

[Seal of Regnal Dominion]

A burnt and ever-burning reminder of the powers that rule this world, this seal provides an extra layer of security around one of the Unconquered Sun's failures. The time is coming soon for her to finally decide how to handle certain past mistakes, and with this mark the first step has been taken.

The seal massively reinforces the structure onto which it is burnt.
The seal prevents all unauthorized entry into the space it binds.
The seal ensures that information regarding the contents will not be leaked.
The seal cannot be forcibly removed, even by its own creator.
The seal will naturally open of its own accord on an unknown schedule.

Spike resisted the urge to whistle and just nodded to the Princess. Maybe she had noticed his power-aided peek at the other room, or maybe there was just a coincidence of timing. Either way, the less he gave away the better.
"Thank you so much: I know this is supposed to be pretty secretive information, so it means a lot that you'd share it with me without knowing why!"

Celestia giggled again and stood up to head towards the door.
"Oh I never said I didn't know why. I just said I wouldn't pry or ask for reciprocation: I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job, Spike."

Twilight stumbled as she was getting out of her chair, while Spike just facepalmed. He really should have seen that coming. The Princess laughed again as she helped her student-turned-lover get up.
"On that note, however... would you like to speak to some experts regarding both mine and Luna's Benedictions? It would undoubtedly serve your purpose well, whatever that purpose is, to get other perspectives. And I am sure my dear sister is occupied with her new project so her thoughts may have to wait some time."

Experts? That would probably mean Guards who had the Benediction themselves: Something he needed for his quest, and a hard thing to accomplish outside of Canterlot. No sense turning down an offer that convenient! Spike happily agreed and they left the room and its contents behind... for now. He couldn't help looking back over his shoulder towards the second set of doors, the seal, and the mirror behind them...

Eh. A problem for another day.

Author's Note

Chapter 122
One if By Land: Part 15
- OR -
Benediction, Bound

One if By Land: Part 16

Checking his Benediction quest as they moved through the halls, Spike was pleased to find that there was progress. He was kinda surprised by how much progress, actually!

Celestia Sol Invictus, She of The Rising Sun

Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
Learn the nature of Celestia's Benediction from her.

He hadn't thought that she had given her perspective on what she thought he was capable of... At least not until he thought back over exactly what she said at the end there.

"I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job, Spike."

Something about the sheer simplicity of that being enough made him extra proud. Having that kind of faith put in him by Celestia herself was a big deal! Even as the Gamer's Mind kept his head cool, he still kinda wanted to crow his victory out on the rooftops or something equally cliche. He was soon snapped out of that daydream by their arrival at a small meeting room, lined with gently-tinted windows that let in the late morning sun.

"I trust you'll have no problem keeping yourself occupied for a little while? I'll send the word out for your interviewees to meet you here, and they should be over shortly."

"Sounds like a plan! I have plenty of stuff I can practice pretty much anywhere."

Celestia smiled again, the knowing sort of grin she used... almost all the time, come to think of it.
"So I've seen. Girls, shall we?"

Twilight and Pinkie both waved to him on their way out, and he nodded back before leaning back in one of the chairs. The meeting room wasn't opulent by palatial standards, but it was definitely nice: None of the chairs were particularly bigger or nicer than the others, and the dark hardwood table was round to keep everypony on equal footing. The windows were single panes of stained glass in a myriad of pale colors, lighting the room with a subtle gradient rainbow from wall to wall.

The Princess hadn't actually said how long it would take for the experts to get here... In fact she hadn't even said who they would be, although he had to assume she'd pick from among the Guards on duty. Given his location in the castle... He probably had a bit of time to practice more skills!

Spike's newest acquisition was the ability to use 'Moonsetter', the dropping-sinking lunar aspect of Syzygy meditation, while still being physically active through use of Exposure. He started small by just attempting to initiate it while pacing around the room. After a false start he got into the groove without breaking his own focus, redirecting his magic to the beat and rhythm of his own steps.

The earlier warning about abrupt deactivation made even more sense once he actually got rolling. The intense vertiginous sensation of the 'set' in Moonsetter almost sent him stumbling, Gamer or not. This would definitely have to be reserved for times where he wasn't doing anything risky or using bladed tools... Although come to think of it, maybe he could try to force the same upgrade for the Suncycle form?

...

After a few minutes Spike decided no, no he could not try that. The risk of interruption was always on his mind, and while that didn't impact his concentration (Gamer's Mind and all) it did still have a real risk of danger. He was long past the point where mangling and rebuilding his mana channels would make progress towards Internal Alchemy, so he didn't have any interest in that kind of fail. Instead he decided to properly meditate, using Syzygy's third style and messing around with the, uh, 'externalized purified mana clump'.

Even after a few weeks and many trial attempts, he still wasn't sure what this thing was useful for. Maybe it was just an unintended side effect of the meditation itself, and not a useful product at all? That didn't strike him as very likely: His system wouldn't have put emphasis on the 'externalized' and 'purified' aspects otherwise. Actually, he should probably focus less on the object itself and more on those facts: It's outside his mana system, and it's more pure than usual magic power.

It would probably be a useful way to instill magical energy into a... recipe? He could try cooking with it, although he had no clue if mana toxicity was a problem to contend with there. By game logic potions would be an angle, but he didn't know anypony apart from Zecora who did magic that way. He had no clue how magically-charged crystals were made, although this might help there. Actual-factual magical items were the realm of fantasy and ancient history as far as he could tell, but it wouldn't hurt to do research...

By the time the doors opened he had gone through a dozen other hypotheticals in his head while lazily messing with the purified mana. The end result was that his claws were positively coated in the stuff, a thin shimmer of silver-white that constantly dissipated back into the atmosphere before he could doanything with it. He sighed and leaned back in his chair just in time to catch the pair of doors opening to let in two somewhat-familiar ponies.

Spike nodded to the guards: The same guards from that morning to be specific, Zenith Flair and Gibbous Trace. Sending Guards who had the Benedictions themselves to be interviewed was the perfect solution as far as he could tell, and not just because it was mandatory for his quest.

The lanky Day Guard saluted first, followed by his portly bat-winged companion.

"Greetings, Mr. T. Dragon."

He quickly stood up and gave them a little bow back, uncomfortable with the formal address.
"Just Spike, please: How are you two doing this morning?"

Gibbous pulled a wing out to one side and wibbled it in the air.
"Eh. Work is work. You?"

Spike waved a claw in a similar motion and smirked.
"Practice is practice: I don't really have a job unless the stuff I do for Twilight counts."

The Day Guard nodded at that gravely.
"I believe anything where Ms. Sparkle is involved qualifies as a labor worthy of the name 'work'."

"...I can't tell if that was a joke or not."

The unicorn's (presumed) partner rolled his eyes.
"Yeah that's Flair in a nutshell: Come on, let's take seats and hang out a bit. Not like we've got anything critical going at the moment."

Spike sat back down and waited as the other two did the same. The Guards ended up at seats around the circular table in such a way that they were all three evenly spaced out. Zenith Flair looked back and forth between his Night Guard companion and Spike before speaking again.

"Any topic of interest, in that case?"

Not terribly surprising that the Guard would be taciturn, but Spike decided to cut to the chase.
"I'd like to hear about the Benedictions the two of you received from Celestia and Luna."

That brought total silence for a while, whether it was because of his irreverence in referring to the Princesses with their names alone or his bringing up something as secretive as the Benedictions without batting an eye. Eventually they finally spoke back up, almost covering each others' words.

"I suppose we can discuss it, considering the circumstances."
"Figured being who you are meant you'd already know it all!"

Spike blinked at the Night Guard's reaction.
"Do I really have that much of a reputation back here?"

"Among the Guard you're pretty famous, if only because plenty of ponies need to be drilled not to over-react to a sudden dragon sighting. Plus the Twilight Sparkle thing, Elements of Harmony, all that jazz."

"...Yeah that, uh, that tracks. But enough about me!"

Zenith and Gibbous shared a look and then shrugged. Zenith was the one to actually pick the conversation back up from there, his voice neutral and low.
"What exactly do you want to know?"

That... was a pretty good question. According to his quest, what he needed to know was just 'the nature of the Benediction' according to them. Anything else would be in excess of requirements where that was concerned. But as for what he wantedto know?
"I'd kinda like to know everything, really! I mean, not everypony in the Guard is part of a long-time Guard family."

Both of them nodded, and Spike pivoted off quickly: No sense belaboring the point. He waved a claw at the Night Guard in specific, thinking back to when they met that morning.
"And you even said earlier that you used to work in fashion, right? What made you join the Guard? What was the change like? How did this all start, and what... is it, to you?"

"Well, I don't like speaking for my partner-"

Zenith's laugh was so dry and sarcastic it almost seemed more like a cough.
"Hah."

"...fair. But really, I kinda left out that me and him both came from the haute couture scene."

That kind of surprised Spike, although given there were ponies like Photo Finish in the industry maybe a stone-faced unicorn stallion wasn't that odd?

"We've known each other forever, and the Guard thing is relatively new to us. Last three years?"

"Four by the end of this summer."

"Four years! Split me, that long huh? Well yeah then, four years. Before that... Hoo boy."

The two of them began recounting their history together, albeit in what Spike had to assume was a brief and sanitized form. Zenith's contributions were always straightforward, blunt, and clear, while Gibbous seemed like he was embellishing details or focusing on his resonance with past events. It was obvious from how naturally they passed the story back and forth that they had been friends for maybe their whole lives, even if they only told him about their recent exploits.

Zenith Flair worked as the head tailor of a major Canterlot boutique, but he was purely a creator, a 'fabricator' in his own words. Producing perfectly-sewn outfits with insanely meticulous, intricate designs was foal's play... Actually coming up with the ideas for them? Not so much. That's where Gibbous Trace put his hoof in the industry: He worked with Flair, and other creators, as a concept artist and planner. Apparently he'd even been one of the architectural designers for the latest wing added to the Castle before they joined the Guard.

Over time they each had (undiscussed) issues and dissatisfactions with both the industry and their related social circles. Rather than confront those problems head on, they tried to branch out and explore other options. It didn't work: Zenith was shiftless without the challenge of his labors and their intricacy, while Trace felt unfocused after having his passion ruined by the fashion scene. Neither had solutions or direction so they both simply drifted through life for a while.

That all changed with Princess Luna's return to Equestria. Gibbous felt a draw to the revelation of a long-lost alicorn, especially given his moon-based cutie mark. He, quote, 'just kinda decided' to visit the castle one day and show his respect to the new old diarch. Zenith came along to keep his friend out of trouble, which seemed like a running theme for the two of them.

The two approached the Night Court together, one of the very first Luna held after her return and subsequent recovery. Princess Luna had gotten into the swing of her position well, as far as Spike remembered, and their retelling here seemed to agree. Luna heard their praises (soft-spoken and effusive, respectively) and then calmly asked about them in turn, which they took as simple tit-for-tat. A measure of (possibly sincere, possibly affected) appreciation for the common pony.

But unlike a ruler that was listening solely for the sake of appearances, Luna had seemed troubled by their statements. She asked them, quite kindly, to step aside and stay at Court with her for a little while longer. What initially seemed like a moment for her to collect her thoughts had instead become an hour and then two.

Neither of them wanted to risk offending everypony by making a break for it, and while the Court attendants were present with water and simple refreshments, the air only grew more awkward as the other querants filtered out. Eventually it was just the two of them left alone with the attending courtiers, the Guards, and Princess Luna. There was a minute or so where nopony spoke...

That was when she called for Princess Celestia and things really got out of hoof.

Spike finally decided to step in and interrupt: Everything so far had been straightforward enough.
"...Huh. So did she see something in the two of you, or in what you told her?"

"Neither."

Neither? But-

Luna's smirk came back even wider than before as she looked over them both.
"I for one am not."

Oh, right.
"Dreams."

Author's Note

Chapter 123
One if By Land: Part 16
- OR -
Dreams Defined

One if By Land: Part 17

Zenith seemed surprised he caught on so quickly, but Trace just rolled his eyes.
"Bingo: Our Princess of the Night keeps a watchful eye out for disturbances in her domain, and that includes both the night itself and the visions that dance in it. So since both of us had been sleeping pretty uneasily for a while and had all sorts of crap on our minds-"

Trace's partner cut him off.
"We had been very ripe targets for nightmares both natural and otherwise. She recognized us on sight, moreso than she would most ponies. And from there she made... assumptions."

"To this day I still don't know what about my dreams or my whole anything made her think I would make a good Guard, you know? But I have to admit she wasn't wrong. Back when I was all work and no play I had a lot of problems with focus and direction and authority. All the crap you would think a Guard needs! But whether it was the Benediction itself or the training or even just not always being immersed in the work? I came out feeling leagues better about all of it."

"Likewise when she turned me over to Princess Celestia: I had always been an isolated ruler in my studio, head tailor in name only. I was on top because I was factually the best, but having a position and being able to lead from it are two very different things. Princess Celestia's light made a change there, showing me that I had the potential to lead and communicate. That in turn helped every aspect of my life."

Spike whistled.
"And so now that you're both Guards, what happened to your old work?"

They shared a look and laughed, Trace high and tittering while Zenith had a booming chuckle.
"Nothing."

"Everything."

"...To be more specific, we picked up where we left off. Our work in the Guard is relatively narrow compared to the average stallion, and our time splits quite well between both sides of it."

"Although Zenith's a solo act now! I still provide like 90% of his ideas and designs. I think hanging around with the Princess gives him the other 10%: Lots of gold, pale cloth, pastels, yadda yadda."

That comment earned the bat pony a dirty look, but notably not a correction, from his partner. The entire thing left Spike with a lot of food for thought. He thought and ate quite a lot faster than he used to, so it was only a minute before he had another question.

"You mentioned having comparatively, uh, narrow work?"

"Yeah: We're 'liaisons' for the most part. Less offensive bodyguards, I guess? A lot of stuffy upper-crust types and weirdo scholars hate having muscle around, even if they need it. But if you give them a protection detail that can talk the talk, walk the walk, read the books? Then they are way more likely to take the bait. Saves everypony a lot of trouble lemme tell you."

"Our uncommon past working with the so-called 'upper crust', especially as recognized names in art and design, gives us an edge when dealing with all manner of situations. So we do also get the rare call for hoofwork related to our fields of expertise."

Gibbous Trace raised a wing up next to his muzzle.
"Translation: Art heists, forgeries, frauds, that jazz."

That's when it clicked for him.
"Oh! That's why you were both here for Rarity and us this morning!"

"And it's why we're here with you now, kid!"

Spike was caught off guard by that, but it kinda made sense.
"Huh! I never really considered myself upper crust, but the compliment is appreciated."

They both laughed again, although he hadn't thought it was that funny. Trace waved a wing.
"No, we're not here for you. I mean, technically?"

"I will admit they are relatively late."

Spike blinked a few times and looked around, confirming to himself there was nopony else present. Had he missed something?
"...They?"

Zenith nodded.
"The ponies you're meant to be speaking with? The Princess called in a pair of specialists on the subject you're researching, although she did not deign to tell us what the subject even was."

But he... they... Oh. Uh. Probably best to just run with it rather than trying to clarify things! This really did still solve two of his problems with one sweep, so he shouldn't neglect the benefits no matter how unintentional they were.
"Funny you should mention the subject: That's why I started asking about the Benediction in advance!"

"Ooooh. Doing clandestine research for Ms. Sparkle?"

Obfuscation aside, there was no sense stretching the truth further than he had to.
"With Twilight, actually: This was primarily my idea, but she's providing her full assistance."

"Given that, and with the backstory out of the way, what is it you want to hear specifically?"

"...What is the Benediction to you? What does it mean, how does it impact you? I want to know the nature of the thing, I guess."

It was a big question, and a pretty philosophical one at that. Most ponies that he knew didn't think about things that way often, so he was asking a lot... But it either said a lot about the Benediction itself or a lot about these two that he got an immediate pair of answers.

"Celestia's Benediction is something that simultaneously burned me and illuminated me, like a fire inside. The dross was burnt up in the dawn, toxic connections were illuminated by the harsh day's sun, and talents I never knew I had were illuminated in the zenith. Above it all shone a fragment of Her own authority and power."

"Luna's Benediction calmed and supported me from every angle, a place of solace and serenity in the darkness. Temper receded until needed, damage healed while old grievances faded away, and new potential had a backbone to rise up... All with a little touch of Her grace and ideals."

Spike didn't react to their words on the outside. Internally he watched his quest tracker with one eye, even as processing their words took the majority of his attention. It was one thing to just hear the words, but to properly internalize them and think about what that must have been like, how it had an impact that changed their lives and all the lives around them...

Learn the nature of Celestia's Benediction from a bearer.
Learn the nature of Luna's Benediction from a bearer.

"...Thanks."

Zenith frowned as he spoke, grasping for words for the first time since Spike had met him.
"Really? I had expected you would want something... more."

"Nah: If anything, the automatic like, immediacy of how you both said it spoke volumes. Either you prepared that in advance or you just spoke off the cuff and from the heart... And I think I'm a pretty good judge of character, so I don't have to bother saying which one it was."

Gibbous raised a wing in a half-salute and nodded silently, accepting the implicit compliment.

A knock from the nearby doorframe caught them all off guard, although neither he nor the actual Guards reacted visibly. Years of training and the Gamer's Mind respectively, Spike supposed. A slim blue filly with a golden-blonde mane leaned into the open door and spoke, voice surprisingly deep for her appearance.

"Are you boys done with your bonding session? Ray and I have been waiting for ages."

Nopony answered but she stepped through anyways, at which point Spike realized that the filly in question was actually an earth pony mare, albeit a short and thin one. Her mane and tail were both almost absurdly long, barely restrained with a few simple ties to keep her face visible. Her cutie mark looked like a trio of lilacs, and she walked with the confident stride of somepony who belonged exactly where they were, doing whatever they pleased.

In her wake came a pegasus mare, and one he was shocked to realize he recognized: Even if it was just from a black-and-white author's portrait. Back with Fluttershy at the Library, weeks ago...

Spike was cut off when Fluttershy's eyes caught a particular book he'd unpacked the other day, On The Arrangement of Elements. She quickly swept it off the shelf into her hooves and flipped the cover open before turning it to face him.
"Here!"

He hadn't been planning to read anything right away... And then he realized she wasn't showing him the body of the book, but the inside of the back cover: The author's blurb to be specific.
"...Ardor Ray is a pegasus who travels even more than most but calls Cloudsdale her home, more often than not. She has written multiple books on non-unicorn magical item creation and ritual magic. This is the seventh, and if you ask her? The best is yet to come."

The picture was of a pegasus with a sharp mane worn high, and he couldn't tell for sure in black-and-white but both her coat and mane were lightly-colored, maybe orange or peach? He turned to look at Fluttershy's wide smile and obvious excitement, and knew exactly why she'd been so glad to see this piece.
"One of those new friends, huh?"

"Oh yes! In fact I know I told her not to but I bet in the front... Of course she did."

Fluttershy sighed and turned the other inside cover of the book to face him.
"Special thanks to Lolly and Shee for keeping me on track. Um..."

"Ah, it's a nickname she started using after trying to use a magic tool for reading things out loud so she could get more work done: It wasn't very good with names and such. The other one is from the same time, actually: Lilac Lack is another friend from the letter circle, they've known each other forever."

Now that Spike could see her in color he realized he was correct: Ardor's coat was pale gold and her mane was a platinum blonde, her cutie mark a bright red diamond with a brassy solar aureola. Even if he hadn't recognized her from the portrait, their titles made it clear that these were the pen-pals Fluttershy had spoken about... as well as the 'specialists' Princess Celestia arranged for him to meet.

[Rise With The Moon]
Lilac Lack
LV 30

[Bed With The Sun]
Ardor Ray
LV 30

Seeing their levels made it clear that these mares were definitely qualified, but they were also lower than the last few interesting names he'd run into. That meant he might be able to take a peek...

"Observe."

Author's Note

Chapter 124
One if By Land: Part 17
- OR -
Interdiction Introductions

One if By Land: Part 18

"Observe."

Matching his hopes, Spike didn't just get a truncated bit of detail, but full-blown true-blue character sheets for both mares. It would take a bit of time and (externally) conversation in order to actually grasp it all without just staring at thin air, but he could multitask with the best of them!

"Pleased to meet you both! I'm Spike, the dragon, as you might have guessed."

Ardor's reply was enthusiastic, her voice surprisingly strong and mature, very deep for a mare.
"Naturally! We would hardly be citizens if we didn't recognize Equestria's sole dragon."

Identity: Ardor Ray, 37, Female, Pegasus

Lilac's tone was far drier and had a high lilt, and he noticed she wasn't even looking his direction.
"Of course we hardly are citizens regardless but that's for different reasons."

Identity: Lilac Lack, ??, Female, Earth Pony

"Shush, Lolly. Never mind my companion: I'm sure it would be more polite to say forgive her, but I am also pretty sure that forgiving her never works."

Everypony else in the room chuckled at that: The guards probably because they appreciated the jab, but Spike laughed after he heard the older (maybe?) mare's nickname for her friend.
"I thought I recognized you: Can I guess that Fluttershy's told you two plenty about me already?"

Ardor clapped her hooves together with a grin.
"Yes! We've spoken a bit about your recent studies too, no details of course, but she did mention you were very interested in my work. I'm flattered by the way."

Personal Information:
Job: Magic Researcher, specialized in non-unicorn magic use
Title: Bed With The Sun and 2 others
Discipline (unknown fields): Lights in the Sky

"Personally I think she's leaving out a lot of critical details like always, but we're good at reading between the lines."

Personal Information:
Job: Unknown / Freelancer, specialized in disruptive guidance
Title: Rise With The Moon and 7 others
Discipline (unknown fields): Dark of the Earth

He bit back a response, figuring that she was probably just trying to bait out a response. 'Disruptive guidance' kinda implied as much, and he wasn't exactly unfamiliar with the idea. Pinkie Pie did it all the time even if she didn't name it as such: Rattling somepony and knocking them off their current train of thought could help provide a new perspective once they got it back on the rails. As for why Lilac was so hostile about it... Well everypony's got their own methods, right?

"But social connections aside, I was told we'd be coming to the Palace today to discuss your part in Twilight Sparkle's current research into our... fields of expertise?"

Current Status: Exuberant, Energized, Exasperated
Experience: Not visible: User level too low
Attributes: STR: 35 DEX: 147 VIT: 38 INT: 114 WIS: 74 LUK: 26

"By which she means both of us being way too obsessed with the Princesses and anything related to their aspects."

Current Status: Sarcastic, Subdued, Sunburnt
Experience: Not visible: User level too low
Attributes: STR: 99 DEX: 33 VIT: 77 INT: 166 WIS: 22 LUK: 55

Ardor shot her companion a dirty look.
"Really?"

Lilac flicked her mane at the other mare's face in response
"You brought me outside this early, you reap what you sow."

Spike let their argument continue in the background while he thought about those stats.

Ardor's spread made a lot of sense for a pegasus magical researcher who tried to use her existing talents to branch out: A strong mind and an extremely adaptable body, but not much attention paid to raw power or sustaining it. The poor Luck was less clear-cut, but wasn't anywhere near as bad as Applebloom's deficit had been. All in all she was clearly well-suited to her chosen career and could probably handle herself very well in a race with anypony save a Wonderbolt.

Meanwhile Lilac was scary. Even if he buffed up she'd be able to take him on in a close-quarters fight with Strength like that, and she had the Vitality to keep chugging for a while. Most concerning was that she now took second place for the highest Intelligence he'd ever seen, behind Twilight of course. Significantly solid Luck rounded out a strong package, although in practice she might be held back by her lack of flexibility, and her Wisdom... well, he was seeing the results right now.

Once there was a gap in the slowly-brewing shouting match between the two mares (he could tell it was friendly from their smiles and bearing, but it was still kinda funny) he interjected again.

"I really do have to thank you both again for showing up on such short notice: Given what you said about yourself in your dust jacket blurb, I can't imagine you're in Canterlot often or for long."

The larger mare rolled her eyes.
"Oh, the publisher keeps me from updating that: Have to maintain the appearances and all. I do technically still call Cloudsdale home, but only in that my family is there. I operate out of Canterlot these days, and my travels have been getting shorter and shorter."

"If only because she won't let us do anything interesting lately."

The last chunk of their character sheets was identical, shared between them: The history block wasn't visible at all, but the Skills section...

Skills: Not visible: User level too low
Discipline subskills can be studied through traditional observation, in combat or otherwise.

Ardor flapped a wing out as if trying to swat her friend, although it fell far short.
"Would it kill you to be slightly less... yourself?"

"Literally speaking, yes: If I weren't myself then who exactly would I be? Entry-level philosophy student bait aside, as far as I am concerned the real Lilac would be dead then."

"Oh my sweet Celestia, please Lilac, we are not trying to start a fight today."

The smaller mare smirked and giggled to herself before leaning back in her chair.
"Aren't we?"

OK, there was bait and then there was stuff too good not to take: Spike had to jump on that.
"Well hey, all that aside? You two do seem like you might be qualified to help me with what I'm working on."

Ardor winced. That had hit the mark dead on, and Lilac turned her gaze to him slowly.

"Seem? Might? HELP? If I didn't know any better I'd call that a challenge or even an insult."

He raised one claw up over the table and breathed a wave of green fire across the tips.
"I mean somepony was just talking about trying to start a fight..."

For a little extra emphasis, he slipped into the 'spirit of battle' with his Nascent Combat Discipline. The reactions were all immediate and honestly hilarious: Gibbous and Zenith had both been staying out of the argument between the two mares, quietly talking to themselves on the side. They sprang to attention instantly once they felt the change in the air. Lilac Lack started laughing even more as if it were some kind of joke, and Ardor Ray...

Ardor looked at him coldly for the first time, slowly settling into a smile with a wicked edge to it.
"So it's like that, is it Mr. Dragon?"

Spike shrugged.
"I mean I don't think we're supposed to actually fight in here, but I definitely recognize that we might have common ground to work from. Aren't professionals supposed to do trust-building exercises during meetings like this?"

The guards cleared their throats and stood up. Gibbous spoke for them both as they quickly made their way towards the exit.
"We're just going to keep an eye out for disruptions on the outside of this room, where there's a wall in between us and whatever happens next, yeah? Yeah. Bye!"

Zenith, however, got in the last word before the door slammed shut behind them.
"Plausible deniability if anything gets broken. I trust you all to avoid permanent injuries."

Ardor and Lilac exchanged an extremely brief glance before looking back to him. He watched with a fascinated hum as both of them tensed briefly, closing their eyes... When they opened them again he caught the slightest glimpse of a change in the colors, perhaps reflections from the light? The bigger and more obvious change was in the tone of the room, suddenly torn between an oppressive heat on one side and a deathly chill on the other, with him caught in the middle.

Over the heads of both mares, he was almost glad to see something unrecognizable again: It was always good to learn things, even if it had to be the hard way.

[Sunspeaker]
Ardor Ray
LV ??

[Moonseeker]
Lilac Lack
LV ??

Spike heaved out a sigh, entirely for show.
"So yeah, I guess that is half of what I want to ask... But the other half is about the Benedictions. How do we want to handle this?"

Lilac licked her lips in a truly unsettling way, staring at him in an entirely different way than the few and brief glances from before.
"If I had my say of things I'd give up a bit of information for each hit you could take before I beat you into the floor."

Ardor's appearance was far more aloof, almost as if the two of them had changed personalities. But instead of a bitter cold distance, this was a haughty and regal authority.
"Since you do not have your say of things, I propose we take the path that minimizes damage to the castle we both so dearly adore."

"If only you'd stop dressing up your obsession in such pretty words, maybe I'd stop mocking it."

"And if only you'd have good ideas maybe I would actually listen to them for once in my whole life."

Spike raised both of his hands in the silence that followed.
"Don't look at me! I didn't even know Princess Celestia was going to be getting outsiders involved, much less two... esteemed persons like yourselves."

The pair laughed at that, Ardor's giggle strangely high and sharp while Lilac's chuckles were low and throaty. The earth pony turned her gaze back onto him, staring, until she heaved her own sigh.

"Big questions for a whelp your age. I know Sparkle hatched you, so you can't have been around long enough to know about any of this stuff first-hoof. Why the sudden interest? And no, unlike my stellar companion I do not buy that Ms. Twilight's suddenly developed a new avenue of research."

He took a little offense at the jab about his age... but only a little. She was right after all.
"Well you can tell I do have my own experience with half of it. As for the other question, let's just call it... aspirational. I've got Princess Celestia's backing for it. I mean, she wouldn't have sent for you two otherwise right?"

Ardor went to agree with him, already nodding before she spoke, until Lilac cut them both off.
"HAH, experience. If I called that little bit of presence 'experience' then I'd be ashamed of myself. I would answer any question you asked about the Benedictions if you could actually impress me..."

She left that statement hanging, seeing no need to elaborate. Spike wouldn't have expected any less from a pony who specialized in 'disruptive guidance'. It meant she was probably trying to help even if she went about it in a pretty... well, disruptive way.

Author's Note

Chapter 125
One if By Land: Part 18
- OR -
Disruptive Disposition

One if By Land: Part 19

"Another demonstration? Well that's fine I guess: I didn't get to show off any of these skills with the Princess earlier, and it'd be a shame to neglect them."

What he didn't bother telling them was that one of his new attacks was something he had never actually tried before. Maybe they'd be able to notice? It was a fact-finding exercise at its heart!

Spike brought up his claws into that unusually familiar stance, one half-clenched and the other flat, before exhaling a dense ball of fire. Stagnet kept it in place even as he added more material, the structure growing from an orb into a column and then into something like a target dummy. This wasn't what he wanted to show however: He immediately moved into his actual techniques.

The usual quartet he had built up across his time in the tunnels came out one move at a time, and he even used each one several times: Grasp and Slice and Pierce and Draw all breaking the pillar of fire apart into chunks and pieces. He made sure to use his External Mana Control to dispose of those safely inside of his Inventory even as he prepared his two newest attacks.

The X-Factor he learned from Pinkie Pie was extremely flexible and unpredictable, but some instinct told him it was best to keep it that way. So instead of trying out new things he used repeat words with the skill, Expose to pop open the outer layer of the flames and Exert to deliver a particularly nasty shot to the core.

His target piece was in pieces plural now, and there was only one trick left in his current bag: Alter. One of the annoying parts of these Disciplined attacks was that they didn't have any kind of full description, so he had to figure out how to use them himself. Whether it was the best way to use it? He had no idea. But the first way he thought of was to adjust the trajectory of an attack during the actual swing. So he started to bring down a devastating overhead with both of his claws together but then pivoted on his feet, altering the blow into a whirlwind slam to the side of the 'head'.

Given all the damage he'd already done? That sent the target's faux-skull flying across the room, dislodged from the rest of the mass by the strength of his blow. Spike went to dismiss it and then see how the mares had reacted... but they beat him to the punch quite literally.

Ardor Ray gave the rushing chunk of magically-frozen fire a completely bored look, just watching it pass by her with tired eyes. Her wings snapped up and fluttered, weaving and pushing at the air in some extremely precise fashion, and he watched in awe as the fire began to collapse. Starting from the edges inwards it began to run and trickle as if it were ice cream caught in the midday sun.

Before it got any further through the air Lilac Lack brought up one hoof and slapped the offending projectile: Striking it with her hoof, a dismissive sneer, and a verbal insult for good measure.

"Completely worthless."

As if it had emotions that could be swayed by her words the dripping flame started to dissolve, tearing apart and effervescing into the air. By the time it should have hit the far wall it was already gone, nothing but a thin sense of his own mana dispersing through the room.

By witnessing a shadow of an imitation of the power of the Sun, you have begun to see the way to make things [Melt].
By witnessing a glimmer of an imitation of the power of the Moon, you have begun to see the way to make things [Upset].

Spike took a deep breath to steady himself and then bowed to the two of them, although he was already smiling by the time his head came back up.

"So? I have to assume that last bit wasn't the verdict, because you seem like the kind of pony that would have slapped me directly for wasting your time."

Lilac actually laughed at that, pointing a hoof at him.
"See? Told you the boyo would understand me!"

Ardor just rolled her eyes, still slowly rolling and stretching her wing joints.
"Hrm."

Spike waited until one or both of them gave him some kind of answer... It took longer than he might have expected. Maybe they were using some sensory tricks to get a feel for how the situation had gone? Or just running it back in their heads. Whatever the case, it was Lilac who spoke up first.

"You came at this backwards. The reason you can't do anything meaningful is because your Art is a hollow thing, a frame with no portrait. It's stable and structurally sound but lacks soul. There's no dark heart: No lie, no hatred, no stress or breaking or misery, you don't have dichotomy inside of it. The Art has to be something that pulls you in two ways at once, a philosophy born of division. If it doesn't then it's just another uninteresting mortal endeavor, as far as I am concerned."

After she said her part, Ardor stood up and started to walk over to Spike.
"Despite her harsh phrasing I don't think Lolly is wrong here. Everypony I can name who does this sort of thing comes about it naturally, or accidentally. Many unaware of what they're accomplishing in the first place! They achieve their path to power based on pure instinct."

Once the pegasus mare reached him she sighed and placed a wingtip on his shoulder.
"Your method might have advantages in the long run: A skill born from truly knowing what you're doing and why, learned by grueling practice and scientific methods... But that is a Faith that is exceptionally hard to nurture. After all, the very word faith means you have to have uncertainty. You cannot have Faith in something you absolutely know or it would just be trust instead."

While he didn't actually have his subtitles turned on? Spike could tell when ponies were going out of their way to capitalize a proper noun. They were talking about a capital-A Art and a capital-F Faith, probably their own Disciplines and how they perceived them. And that tracked with what he already knew from Lyra... and so did their feedback.

When they discussed it over their training period in the past few weeks, Lyra had referred to her Discipline as a Style. Her advice hadn't been quite as biting or dismissive, but she did make it clear that he was missing something. As far as she knew, Styles were all based on emulation, either imitating or being inspired by an outside force. Martial arts were usually modelled on the behaviors and techniques that came naturally to animals and other foreign species: Lyra has based her own unusual style on humans of course, grasping and pushing and using tools to her advantage.

All three of them pointed to the same thing: It lacked a soul. It was based on knowledge instead of instinct. It didn't have a clear inspiration. Even his system agreed...

This skill should have an active form.
But...
You have yet to create the thesis.

Spike cupped his claws together and bowed again, the way Lyra had reluctantly shown him.
"...Thank you both for your time."

Lilac got up from her seat as well, striding across the table to meet them.
"Hah! He acts like we're going to leave after we've said our piece. Come on, don't you want to actually get some advice on how to improve? Most ponies wouldn't be satisfied with just getting criticism and letting us walk away afterwards."

"But-"

Ardor moved her wingtip from her shoulder to cover his mouth.
"No. We should give you some more structured advice, because it's clear that you're already making huge strides of progress. You can't have been capable of this for more than a few months at the most, by my estimate. That's a staggering rate of growth even with Princess Celestia's aid."

"...and without it?"

She boggled at him for a moment and then laughed, shrill and high.
"Really?"

"She's a busy pony! I can't just go bugging her every time I have a life-changing magical upheaval."

He winced when he realized he might have given away too much. But these were both perceptive ponies, and it was clear they already had suspicions that he wasn't showing them all that he could do. The frozen fire alone probably tipped them off to that, come to think of it...

"Come on, tell us what your real problem is. It's clearly not the lack of outside help, and it's definitely not a lack of power. For all that it lacks a heart, your Faith is clearly well-sculpted."

Ardor had just presented a good question. What was his real problem? Was it the uncertainty built into these new powers? Was he overly reliant on the abilities of the Gamer, menus that spelled everything out in perfect regimented Twilight-like detail? Or was it just that...

"I don't know what to do. I have all this power and all of these abilities but I have no idea how to apply them or put them to use. Should I be helping the Elements save the world and risk getting in the way or causing accidents? Go out and try to make my own changes in the world even if they're changes for the worse? I have too many choices and abilities and all this power, but no reason to like... motivate me. No direction for how to use it all."

Ardor frowned at him, clearly not accepting his line of thinking.
"My answer here is no different than what I would say to anypony else: Do what you can."

"It's too much. I have all these abilities, so many directions to go... I could do anything!"

Lilac laughed in his face, swatting his nose with her tail as she walked away.
"So? Answer's not changing boyo: Do what you can. If you can do anything? Just do everything."

Right. Obviously. Of course that was the solution, just... Why become Spike the warrior or Spike the paladin or Spike the magical craftsman or even Spike the freaking short-order cook when he could do all of those and more? The fact that his power had grown further than he'd ever originally dreamed didn't change that: He could do it all!

...yeah, that was it wasn't it? He'd even said as much when he took Pinkie's eerily similar advice all those weeks ago, the very first day of his life as the Gamer. He could do it all, try everything and master life itself: Be a Spike of all trades.

...In the distance, he heard a little hint of Pinkie's laughter.

Author's Note

Chapter 126
One if By Land: Part 19
- OR -
Title Drop Two

One if By Land: Part 20

After it became clear that they weren't going to be able to learn anything more from each other in that cramped and tense space, Spike and the mares decided to tour around the castle grounds. Both of the Guards made the judgement call to hang back and observe from a distance rather than get in the way or try to dive into the conversations: While Spike was sure they could have added more useful information about the Benedictions, he also recognized they weren't comfortable being around Ardor and Lilac.

Which, once they'd spent another hour or two talking in the gardens? Spike was beginning to get their point of view. For all that they were powerful and capable mares in their fields, it didn't make either of them easier to get along with. They were honestly kinda weird even by his standards.

Lilac was openly brash and abrasive, and when she wasn't being harsh she was being almost unsettlingly comfortable. Lurid? Every chance she got it seemed like she was taking advantage of acting in ways that didn't suit her filly-sized frame. Ardor had seemed like the more level-headed of the two earlier, but it was clear she had her own problems: Once she got rolling on the subject, her fervent zeal when it came to Princess Celestia's 'great glory' was fanatical and kinda disturbing.

It made a lot of sense that they had made friends with Fluttershy as pen pals, because spending this much time face to face with them was taxing. Add on Fluttershy's general issues with social time to the mix... Eugch, no.

That didn't mean he still wasn't learning volumes from them, however. For all that they could be off-putting and confrontational, they were experts in their fields. In a way it kinda reminded him of Twilight before Ponyville, back when she was 'just' Celestia's star pupil and sole personal protege. So far embroiled in her work that she couldn't even get her head out enough to pay attention to the few ostensible friends she had picked up... Spike heaved a sigh.

"Hm?"

He waved off Lilac's questioning tone with a claw, making sure not to damage the nearby hedges.
"Oh nothing, sorry: You were saying about... What had we even gotten up to talking about?"

Ardor spun around, seemingly just excited to be in the very gardens that Princess Celestia owned and cared for. She thrust one hoof towards him with a particularly dramatic tone and posture.
"Restoration! Repair. Succor and balm, healing... A particularly mythical topic all things considered: Even the Princess herself does not dare to claim access to such powers."

Spike whistled, genuinely impressed... on a few levels.
"Really? I had thought it was pretty rare, but you’re saying..."

Lilac scoffed and plucked a bud from a nearby bush, earning a scowl from Ardor in the process.
"Rare? Bordering on impossible maybe. Recovery is one thing: Potions are capable of that much, although the species with that level of herblore keep things under wraps or behind a veil of mystic obfuscation. Still, you can learn a lot during wars. And we weren't always at peace with Zebrica... Their brews can bolster and even speed up the natural healing of the body, but nothing further."

Ardor stomped her hooves for emphasis, although softly enough not to divot the earth below.
"Exactly! And healing through the use of unicorn magic is beyond absurd: The incompatible nature of two ponies' energy alone would make it futile. Attempting it would likely cause more damage than it could ever consider repairing! That is why in Her infinite wisdom, the Princess has seen fit to make sure that all research on the matter is extremely regulated and deeply scrutinized."

Which left Spike with the curious case of the clinical cupcakes from yesterday: Pinkie Pie had not even used a special recipe to produce them, they had apparently just been elevated into something by their shared abilities and the victory rush. But here were two experts on the subject, as far as he knew, saying that such a thing was extremely rare if not completely out of the question.

He'd previously been a little disappointed in the power of that recipe: Only capable of healing a third of the injuries that were taken in that battle, only if you won rather than just fleeing or conceding, and only if you ate the cupcake immediately afterwards. Now he was significantly more impressed and interested... Maybe they'd have to whip up a batch later and do some unsanctioned experiments? If he could elevate his cooking skills or the quality of his ingredients to the point where the healing value got higher, or the requirements less stringent...

Problem for another time. He'd barely caught a pivot in the conversation while he was having that thought, and jumped back in just in time. Ardor and Lilac had switched on a dime (not for the first time) to talking about another topic entirely.
"Why the sudden switch to talking about the Dis... er, your Art and your Faith?"

While he had been thinking about the potential of Pinkie's pastries, the two of them had started discussing and fooling around with their respective techniques again. Now that he'd had the time to see them in more action it was all the more interesting and yet somehow less impressive. Much like Fluttershy's trick with the condensation on her drink, these two were just using their natural talents with a bent towards copying the effects of other kinds of magic.

Ardor's 'Faith' was based on trying to emulate Princess Celestia, more specifically unicorn-style horn magic with the aspects of the sun. Manipulating static electricity and humidity along with the refraction and reflection of light... It was a very complicated process to achieve results that, while pretty dang unique, weren't going to make any huge splashes in practice.

Lilac's 'Art' was very similar, calling on earth pony talents to bring the moon's nature... Well, down to earth so to speak. Pulling reservoirs of cold out from the depths of the ground, using the dark within the dirt, precise vibrations and shakes in resonance with things... Again, it was a lot of hard work and calculation to achieve things a pegasus could do with one wing.

But if he had learned anything when talking with these two it was that they were on the right track, and had reaped huge benefits from their Disciplines (or equivalents). By taking the long hard road to get to otherwise common destinations, they understood their actions on a much deeper and more complete level than the average pony! And they could put them to use accordingly.

Yes a pegasus could do many of the things Lilac did, but when it came to explaining it? Nowhere close. Ardor's tricks were about as potent as Sweetie Belle's magic, but she knew what she was doing in her heart and her bones. The result was that otherwise weak options produced extremely powerful effects, used with absolute instinctual knowledge of how and why they worked.

In the end they weren't able to give him a ton of directly actionable advice on his own Discipline, but by showing him what they had accomplished? It opened up whole new avenues for Spike's future.

Of course they hadn't even heard his question, busy arguing about their own abilities: Lilac had been freezing the bud she'd ripped off the hedge, while Ardor warped the heat in the air to try to keep it fresh in a false unicorn corona. Rather than repeat himself he narrowed his eyes and looked at the spot where their powers met in the air, trying to analyze what was going on with the Dragon's Eyes...

"Alter."

Spike just pushed with his magic, sending both of their powers off-kilter at the same time... and in the tumbling turbulence of the heat and cold, the flower bud blossomed open in their hooves like a magic trick. Both mares looked down at it in surprise before looking over to him. Ardor's expression was approving while Lilac's was almost hungry, and they spoke up at the same time.

"Well done."

"...Six and a half."

He waved his own claw in the air ambivalently.
"Out of ten?"

Lilac's laugh was just as chilling as always, even as she threw the flower over her shoulder to him.
"Try a hundred boyo: You're not impressing me that easily."

The next half-hour or so was just him and Ardor talking as they walked through the hedge maze: She had taken an interest in his ability to control the magic of the outside world so freely, and while he had to admit it wasn't (probably) the 'normal' way dragons did such things? He was glad to show it off a bit and get in some more practice.

"Aaah, to be Twilight Sparkle. Not only for her closeness to the Princess, but imagine having such a fascinating presence available to work with day in and day out."

He chuckled a little, trying to bring the conversation somewhere less uncomfortable.
"Well hey, there's got to be some advantages to how you live, right? Writing about your passion, living free and travelling... Twilight and I have our own problems, so don't be too jealous."

The mare nodded.
"True! I am still stunned by the divine serendipity: After centuries without, Princess Celestia took two apprentices within my lifetime! What a blessing to live in Canterlot in this day and age."

Wait, what? Spike knew he was often out of the loop, but that seemed like something big.
"Two? Is she starting to teach somepony new now that Twilight is in Ponyville? I figured she would have told us about something like that."

"No, she... Oh."

Ardor cut herself off and stopped walking, looking at him with an unreadable expression.
"Yes. This would have been before your time very literally, come to think of it."

Lilac came back into the conversation (from behind them somehow) with a laugh.
"I wonder when you're going to stop stringing the kid along, Ray. Maybe in a few years at this rate?"

"Shush, you pest. Weren't you complaining about getting sunstruck earlier?"

"I've been keeping cool this time. More of a pain early in the morning, ya know?"

If the pattern held, they were both about to bicker like this until they were actually interrupted. And while he wasn't exactly angry, he was definitely getting tired of the roundabout way everything kept happening. Spike considered not letting his frustration show, but then he realized that with these two it was probably better to just be honest. Or even a little over the top! He snarled and stepped between them both, making a show of his bluster and ‘rage’ in the process.
"How about explaining yourselves while I'm still keeping my cool, huh?"

Ardor didn't even flinch, and Lilac actively threw a foreleg around his neck in a brief hug.
"Awww, cute! Little dragon's got fangs after all."

This time he cut the diminutive mare off before her friend could do it for him.
"Lilac."

She just blinked innocently up at him as if there was nothing wrong, playing the foolish filly.
"Mmmh?"

"Answers."

She rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh before gesturing to a nearby bench. At first he didn't want to sit down between the two of them... But then they started to tell him about Princess Celestia's previous personal protege, one who had disappeared just a few years before he was hatched...

And that was how he learned about the existence of Sunset Shimmer.

Author's Note

Chapter 127
One if By Land: Part 20
- OR -
The First Big Reveal of 2022

One if By Land: Part 21

Spike wasn't sure how long they talked, but it gave him more than enough food for thought. Well before he had all his concerns on the matter settled, their Guard attachment caught up to them and cleared their throats discreetly.

Zenith looked over their arrangement on the bench and the uncomfortable silence and sighed.
"Your allotted time is almost over, Mr. T. Dragon."

"...Lemme guess, my group is on their way to pick me up?"

Gibbous wiggled a wing in the air.
"For given values of all of those words, sure."

No sooner had he said that than the answer rounded the corner: And indeed, his group was there. Twilight and Pinkie Pie and Rarity were all approaching, along with two others. Naturally it was both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, which made him a little curious as to how these two weirdo ponies might react to an actual impromptu meeting with their respective idols...

Ardor Ray went dead silent as soon as the Princesses approached, wordlessly standing and clearing space for the royal arrivals. Lilac Lack was also quiet, but instead of rising she fell further back into her seat as if trying to disappear.

Princess Celestia smiled at them all and waved one wing at Spike.
"Hello again, my little ponies! Thank you for being willing to speak on such short notice... Spike, I suppose these two answered all the questions that may have been raised during our meeting?"

There was a lot of emphasis on all the questions, and when she specifically asked about their meeting back in the room with the mirror? He was more than willing to put two and two together. The seal she had placed referred to what was inside as one of her failures and a past mistake, Indra's Net made her emotions about the mirror itself clear, and there was a line connecting him to something either inside or on the other side of the mirror...

She knew. Whether she'd planned it or overheard their conversation or just made an assumption, she definitely knew exactly what he'd just learned and what kind of conclusions he was jumping to. That was just the kind of thing that made Princess Celestia the pony she was. He decided to try his own subtle follow-up as a reply.

"Even some of the questions I didn't know needed answering! Thank you again, the both of you."

Ardor nodded stiffly and Lilac just made some small indiscernible motion in her huddle. Celestia smiled, even having the temerity to wink at him since nopony else was looking directly at her. So now she knew that he knew, and... hoo. HOO boy, this was going to be a lot to unpack.

Rarity hung back at a socially-appropriate distance, Pinkie Pie bounded over to give him a proper squeeze of a hug, and Twilight stayed where she was standing with Celestia. Princess Luna came over and leaned down to whisper to Lilac Lack... and although she was being extremely quiet, his newly-enhanced senses were able to pick up exactly what she said.

"Have you been handling the dreams well, my child?"

"mmh."

"Alright. Just remember: Your past actions do not define you, unless you allow them to do so."

"...mmh."

Princess Celestia watched the near-silent conversation with a bemused expression until she very calmly, possibly accidentally, and absolutely calculatedly laid a wing over Twilight Sparkle's back. Ardor Ray had been watching her with dumbstruck fascination, and as soon as that happened she sprung up from the bench with an enormous blush coloring both cheeks.

"Thank you again for the opportunity Your Glorious Majesty, we have to be going now!"

"...what she said."

Ardor was already half-running away before Lilac cleared the bench, although before she left in the other mare's wake the small earth pony turned back to look at him.

"Boyo?"

"Yeah?"

"Everything."

Spike had to laugh at the cryptic (to everypony else) reminder. Laughing didn't mean he didn't appreciate it, of course: He'd already known his path, he just needed some 'disruptive guidance'. Not to discover it in the first place, but to get his head out of his hind end and see just how far he was meant to take it.

"Be safe you two!"

Gibbous Trace and Zenith Flair both went to follow the two of them, presumably to see them off the grounds of the castle and back home. Zenith discretely cleared his throat as they trotted away.
"Don't worry about it: That's our job."

Which left the six of them together for the first time today. Maybe not even the first time today, but possibly ever? Spike had rarely spent much time with both Princess Luna and Celestia as a duo before, much less in a situation like this. He could tell it was the same for everypony else present, although they each handled it in their own way.

Pinkie shot suspicious glares at the retreating mares in the distance (he'd have to tackle that when
he got the chance), Rarity was having a hushed conversation with thin air, and Twilight was looking up at Princess Celestia with the kind of expressions he probably gave Pinkie on the train ride over.

Eventually Twilight broke the silence with a mischievous grin.
"Your Glorious Majesty, huh?"

The taller of the two alicorns just blushed in response, while her little sister burst out laughing.
"I keep telling her to give in and accept the adulations, but apparently in Our absence she became even more reluctant to receive worship!"

Rarity tittered and covered her mouth with a hoof, clearly finding that phrasing to be... questionable. Twilight just blinked innocently up at Celestia before rubbing a little salt in the wounds.

"Should I find a new term of address for you as well, Princess? I'm sure we could think of a few if we put our heads together, maybe had a private 'brainstorming' session..."

Celestia just barely managed to choke out an answer.
"That won't be necessary Twilight, thank you."

"I am sure my sister finds your worship more than sufficient as it is, Twilight."

Now it was time for Spike's (word!?) to be the blushing one, while Rarity's facade of covering her own giggles broke down completely. Eventually they all got in on the joke and laughed along for a moment, although that only made the awkward silence afterwards more obvious. It was Rarity who spoke up again in the end, although he definitely hadn't expected what she said.

"I'm afraid you all might have to go home to Ponyville without me: I do believe I am going to stay in Canterlot for a while longer."

Pinkie Pie immediately lunged over to look at Princess Luna from beneath, probably trying to ape her earlier exchange with Cadance... Spike pulled her back gently while fishing for an explanation.
"Project that big, huh?"

"Well I wouldn't say big necessarily. Mostly for phrasing reasons, as that implies a certain level of volume, which would be quite offensive to many mares-"

"Not myself, of course, but I will admit the connotations of weight have changed with time."

"Ahem. As I was saying... Voluminous might be the better word. I have to thank you, Princess Celestia, for keeping so much of your sister's original wardrobe in such immaculate condition! I have never seen so much classical fashion outside of Twilight's museum trips, and we rarely ever got to spend much time in those wings."

Twilight nodded, looking a little introspective.
"I really should consider blocking out time for each of our interests in advance for those... I just end up getting so absorbed sometimes!"

"Yes well, scheduling aside... There is much work to be done here, and very much the opposite at home in Ponyville. Late spring and early summer are the worst times for the Boutique: As much as I love our town, everypony works far too hard to consider investing in clothes during froth season."

Pinkie nodded vigorously, her mane sprawling out briefly to emphasize the ever-encroaching heat.
"Right!? And fresh warm baked goods don't sell nearly as well either. We don't have the facilities to do any super-fancy ice cream stuff at volume, so... Well, I took time off for lots of reasons, but that was deffo a contributing factor."

He leaned over and wrapped an arm around her neck, laying a little kiss behind her ear. She turned on him (gentle as ever) and nipped at one of his spines, and they left it at that... It was probably a little much even, given the company, but she was just too cute and caring for him not to show some public affection. And they'd have this whole next week together, just the two of them...

Well, barring the trip back with Twilight. And day-to-day stuff. Meeting up with the Crusaders. He'd probably have to go check up on the Diamond Dogs at least once... There wasn't really anywhere the two of them could feasibly be really alone together, since both of them lived with other ponies and had all sorts of stuff that might impinge on their time. Really, any time they were in Ponyville...

An idea hit Spike like a bolt from the blue. He leaned back away from Pinkie Pie and made a few adjustments in his menu, then turned her head to point at the window. She nodded silently and accepted the change, and they started a subvocal chat. Everypony else was talking about Rarity's potential longer-duration stay here in Canterlot, but the two of them had their own side conversation.

When they came out of their mental huddle the plan was set and Pinkie broke the news.
"Welp, I guess that means you're taking the train home alone Twilight!"

She stared at Pinkie for a moment before slowly turning to look at him, then back to Pinkie.
"...Are you two finding some excuse to stay too?"

He waved a claw dismissively.
"Oh we're not staying!"

Pinkie grinned and threw a hoof around his shoulder.
"We're just not taking the train."

"We'll see ya again in about a week either way though!"

If there was anypony in Equestria who could do the relevant math in her head instantly, it was Twilight Sparkle. She paused for the briefest fraction of a second before stomping her hoof.
"...Are you two planning on walking home!?"

"I think over that distance it's technically hiking?"

"Saddlebagging, if it weren't for my Inventory."

Princess Luna reared back and clapped her forehooves, clearly excited by the prospect.
"An overland trek! We have not had the chance to trot such a distance in many moons: I wish the two of you the best of fortunes in your travels and travails."

Rarity chimed in with a sour expression.
"I will admit that my last trip over such a distance was with Pinkie Pie, actually... although it was a bit of a harrowing scenario for the both of us."

Spike remembered hearing about that one from the girls afterwards, when they'd gone to fetch Applejack from her attempt to flee some personal mistakes. Rarity and Pinkie Pie had been left behind in a high-octane chase sequence and had to travel most of the way back to Ponyville on a hoof-cart... Thankfully, he didn't plan for them to be taking anything nearly that obnoxious to use.

"Well hey now, I think I've matured a lot since then!"

"I never said you were the problem dear: I did get quite annoyed at the time, but really that was just transferring my anger at Rainbow Dash for abandoning us like that. I'm sure you and Spike will have a lovely time 'roughing it' together."

He smiled and did a little half-bow, mind already racing with possible plans.
"We'll absolutely make the best of it... Assuming you're OK with it, Twilight?"

The unicorn nodded to him and levitated one of her bags from the earlier train trip. He never had gotten to ask what she was carrying...
"Absolutely! To be honest I thought it was just going to be the three of us coming up here, so I had packed a ton of my latest reading material. When we ran into everypony at the station I ended up spending the whole time socializing, so... Book time for Twilight!"

Her smile was big and bright enough to outshine Celestia's own presence, which was saying quite a lot given the adoring expression the alicorn was giving to her marefriend.
"Well then, should we split our parties here again and let the two of you prepare to leave?"

"Actually, I did still want to talk to you about some things... And Luna as well, if you'd have me. So maybe we should stay over dinner?"

A loud rumble from Pinkie Pie's stomach punctuated his suggestion almost perfectly.
"Oooh, good timing! Where do we wanna go?"

She'd clearly made that suggestion without remembering that they were at Canterlot Castle with both of the Princesses, although when Spike expected Celestia to bring up the royal kitchens...

"Indeed: I am open to any suggestions from the group."

"...Really, sister?"

Celestia raised a wing in faux offense, probably just hiding her smile behind it.
"What? Can an old mare not simply desire to go out for a group meal?"

Princess Luna looked over at Celestia, and the free wing that she had settled back over Twilight's withers. Looked over at himself and Pinkie Pie: He made sure to avoid eye contact, while Pinkie just sounded like she was revving up for another Hmmmm. And then she looked over to Rarity. Rarity, for her part, was already muttering under her breath and talking to herself: Likely running down all the top-end restaurants where their group could make a socially-acceptable appearance.

"...Fine. It is rare enough we have our schedules open for the day together and have our schedules align so cleanly, after all. I accept, for what it is worth."

Twilight was giddy at the idea of going out with Celestia in public, even if not publicly so to speak.
"I'd love to!"

Spike shared a glance with Pinkie Pie (and another message over their subvocal comms) before he shrugged.
"Out is fine with me: I was going to offer to cook as a fallback option, I'm always glad for the chance to stretch those skills."

"Me five! Which just leaves-"

Rarity finally raised a hoof and pointed into the distance, although he had no clue if she even had the direction right for what she said next.
"Morricolte's. They serve a very wide variety of seasonal dishes, they have a private dining room that I know for a fact nopony occupies during patio season, and I would absolutely trample somepony for a parmigiana right now."

The rest of them stayed silent for a time until eventually Spike shrugged.
"Alright then!"

Author's Note

Chapter 128
One if By Land: Part 21
- OR -
A Long Walk Home... But First, Dinner!

One if By Land: Part 23

Their trip down the mountain took less than a whole day, although they definitely took advantage of Spike's durability and Pinkie's bouncey nature to hit that speed. That might have contributed to the fact that he didn't get any kind of climbing or mountaineering skill from the endeavor: A pretty small disappointment all things considered. One less skill he could level, one less skill he felt compelled to level. Definitely a wash overall!

Victory Cupcakes wouldn't be useful under the circumstances, but the improved regeneration from Emerald Juleps more than offset the scrapes and bruises they racked up on the way down. They'd even found a few interesting stones and herbs in the mountainside, all of which got Inventory'd right away to avoid losing track of them. Their trip down had been less 'athletic spectacle' or 'leisurely stroll' and more 'hilarious mad scramble', so they were only just settling down to their first and only meal of the day at the foot of the Canter Mountains.

Rather than worry about what to make, Spike decided to start testing out more of the food that he picked up from Morricolte's. It was a change of pace to eat restaurant-level stuff, especially fancy Canterlot-tier Istallion food, when they were out on the road like this. He definitely didn't knock the experience: It was a nice way to add some civilized comfort to what had been a hilariously uncivil sort of day.

"Well I've got to admit, that was less of a failure than I expected it to be!"

Spike quirked an eye-ridge at her.
"...How badly did you expect us to fail?"

Pinkie shrugged.
"Badly enough that we'd give up and like, walk the safe way down or something? This was way more fun! Plus I learned all sorts of fun new cliff-bouncing tricks, although there hasn't been a real cliff-bouncing competition since my Nana Pie was a little filly."

Spike decided the better part of wisdom here was in quietly serving pasta and refusing to comment on anything: Plus, he basically agreed. A more measured route with actual guides might have given him a new skill and some benefits, and a safer route that started with returning all their rappelling gear would have been far less painful. This was definitely more fun than either of those, so it won.

Dinner passed quietly and comfortably, both of those being surprising. The weather was quite nice now that they were down here, mostly sheltered from the woods and undisturbed by anypony else. The quiet was odd because, well, him and Pinkie Pie. But they did both have voracious appetites and since they were actively trying to study this meal...

In the end they spent a solid hour talking after they were done, comparing potential spice blends to replicate the seasoning and figuring out what the optimal pasta choice was. At some point he would break out the gemstones and try to add something inspired by this to his ever-growing recipe book! For now they had to decide if they were going to push through the night or hit the hay after what had ended up being a long day. He didn't need to sleep, biologically, and Pinkie Pie had her own weird enigmatic energy, but... still, he'd feel bad forcing her to keep marching with him.

He turned to Pinkie Pie and spread out his claws to both sides.
"Well, does this seem like a good spot to settle in for the night?"

Pinkie looked around a few times (including roaming around his body as if she expected him to pull some kind of trick) before nodding.
"Yuppers! So what are we goin' with? Tent? Open sleeping bags? Raw ground?"

Spike smiled at her just-barely-off prediction and silently pulled a chunk of lumber from the Inventory and onto his open arms, so now it was laid across his shoulders in a cheeky sort of pose.
"I was thinking more ‘entire house’, or a crude attempt at one: Kinda surprised you didn't question me during all of our supply shopping."

She blinked a few times and then gave her own wide-hooved shrug, rising up onto her hinds.
"I have learned never to question a professional at work!"

Right as she finished her sentence, a claw hammer and a box of nails dropped out each side of her mane, landing in her open hooves as she grinned at him.
"From one professional to another, of course."

He leaned forward and kissed her before pulling out more items so they could get to work.
"Of course."

Assembling a sparse shelter out in the middle of nowhere was a lot easier when you had enough material to build an actual house in your Inventory, and said Inventory to move it all... plus a Pinkie Pie to lend her own unique talents to the endeavor. For actual long-term habitation this would end up being a disaster, but Spike was putting this all together with the intent of taking it apart again in the morning.

Why go through all the effort? He had learned during idle testing that he got Crafting experience from breaking things down into their component parts: Not just some experience, but sometimes even more than the initial build-up! He had a hunchy sort of feeling that disassembling things he hadn't even built in the first place would be able to give him access to either guidance or schematics for them.

With that in mind, they would be building a minimal shelter each night before bed by putting all of his tricks to work: Gamer's Body and his Dragon's traits, the Montage Song, his ability to grow and shrink on command... Not to mention everything that Pinkie Pie could bring to bear. Even some professional work crews would be put to shame by what the two of them could accomplish with just a few hours and a (magically potent time-stretching) song in their hearts.

Since Pinkie had her mouth occupied with hammers and nails for much of their work and Spike had his full of music, they didn't get to talk much during the process. Sometimes he'd let the song drop out for a few beats to ask a question or fire off an answer, and they could trade information readily in the small gaps between chorus and verse. Any prolonged conversation would have to wait, however.

Spike had a lot of plans for this technique in the future, but he had to start small to build up skills and experience. It was really a lot like any of the other things he had trained, and his Gamer's abilities were just as helpful. Observe and his Crafting experience allowed him to lightly modify the simplest blueprint he could find and trim it down even further. The stallion at the camping shop had explained this was the most popular cabin design for those looking to 'get away' from the Canterlot day-to-day, and Spike had snatched it up along with all the others he saw at a real steal...

Which is not to say he stole them! At the very least, he hadn't triggered a thievery skill in the process, so that had to count for something. But he couldn't help the fact that he had Photographic Speedreading skills and an Eidetic Memory, now could he? So every single blueprint he had perused at the store got recorded cleanly, and his system or engine or subconscious (or Discord?) or whatever even did the courtesy of adding them to his crafting repertoire.

This plan had been for a two-story cabin with a loft overhang for a bedroom, and one U-shaped core room taking up the entire bottom floor. A few modifications based on his knowledge and he had the plan stripped down to just the core first floor: More than enough for the two of them to sleep through the night, and much easier to take apart in the morning. Ideally he'd be able to keep adding wrinkles and new complexity each time, or even upgrade to more complex designs entirely.

After just two hours (realtime) they were done making a home at the foot of the mountain range. He had to admit that they were definitely overdoing it... But overdoing it to this degree was a ton of fun!

[A Nameless Shack]
Construction Quality: 84/100
Material Quality: 90/100
Location Optimality: 72/100

A personal shelter built by an unlikely couple on vacation together. Adapted from the original plans made at Piton's Provisions, this trimmed-down version will not have stability or weather resistance enough to last more than a few days before damage sets in.

Spike smirked at that last bit: As if he had any intention to use it for more than eight hours. Plus...
"And now for the finishing touch: Dragon's Den!"

Pinkie ooh'd and aah'd as... well, as basically nothing happened. Not visibly anyways! But she and Spike were both able to see the little shack's description leap in quality, transformed entirely. His own view of the description briefly blurred from the pain of burning through his entire mana bar in one shot, even dinging off a tenth of his health in the process... But it was worth it.

[Spike's Shockingly Sufficient Shelter]
Construction Quality: 84/100
Material Quality: 90/100
Location Optimality: 72/100
Enchantment Level: ********
Warding: Forbidding- Entry, Ban- Insects, Avoidance, Ignorance, Seclusion, Soundproofing

A personal shelter built by the Gamer and his partner during their quest to return home. Built with the first-generation of the Gamer's modified shelter schematics and then reinforced with his own warding and home-keeping skills. Despite its lacking roof, supports, foundation, and placement? Even a direct magic attack on this ramshackle building would likely leave no marks in the process.

Pinkie held up a hoof to him and smiled at him in the ever-growing dark.
"Shall we retire for the evening?"

He ignored the hoof to sweep her up in his arms entirely, letting the door swing open under his mental command as she squealed and giggled.
"I believe we shall!"

Author's Note

Chapter 130
One if By Land: Part 23
- OR -
SPIKE'S SHACK IS A LITTLE NEW PLACE WHERE

One if By Land: Part 24

Breakfast the next morning was 100% Pinkie Pie's business, by her own insistence. Spike let her go wild, because Twilight was so rarely a morning pony that breakfast was easily his weakest area. Even hehad only technically become a morning person when he also became an all-day every-day never-need-to-sleep person.

Their little cozy cabin had a single recreational space with a pair of beanbag chairs (Pinkie claimed they were the best ratio of comfy-per-coin out of all their options) where they sat down to eat after Pinkie whipped up a series of sizzling cinnamon griddlecakes in the small open kitchen. Around the other bend of the building was a little workspace in case either of them wanted to craft anything in the shelter before breakdown time, but Spike had mostly just built it for the practice on all the fiddly little cubbies and cubicles.

"Order up!"

Spike gladly pounced over to grab his plate from Pinkie's platter, loading it high with cakes and throwing on a heavy glug of dark syrup before he retreated to the beanbags. Pinkie herself followed a moment later, her stack laden with butter and whipped cream on top.

"Sure you don't want a creamy topping?"

"Not this morning: I wanna focus on the cakes themselves for now. I've practically never had you cook for me personally before... It means a lot."

"Aaawww, Spike! I thought my meal was supposed to be sweet."

"Pffft, far be it for me to usurp its position."

They dug in together and quickly tore the food apart. Two voracious eaters plus the quality of Pinkie Pie's cooking more or less guaranteed a quick clear. Once their plates were clean they settled in to talk a bit before leaving, bouncing plans back and forth. Ever since they decided to leave Canterlot together, Pinkie had been curiously prodding him over team chat to figure out what they could do on the way back, and doubly so what they'd get up to in Ponyville.

Being open and public about their new relationship status was an obvious given: Neither of them had anything to hide in that regard. Sure their age gap was larger than some ponies may be comfortable with, but Twilight had seen to that problem with her whole 'forced recognition as an adult' spell on his first day as the Gamer. Just like how Pinkie's bond guaranteed nopony would see his Inventory as strange or unusual anymore, Twilight (and Celestia) had given him the gift of nopony questioning him due to their own idea of how old he ‘should’ be.

After that though, they both had a lot of divergent plans: Pinkie would obviously have to get back to work, and Spike needed to make sure the situation with the Diamond Dogs had actually been fully taken care of. If that weren’t possible he wanted to assure himself of their defenses should more attacks come in, and they’d have to figure out what was up with the (probably fake) Antlion either way.

One project they both wanted to work on together? The Crusaders. Spike still had a fair bit of work to do on his gifts for them, and Pinkie Pie had a lot of opinions about what their mystery Masteries could possibly be. Training those three in any kind of actual dangerous environment would be akin to throwing applejack (the beverage, not the pony) onto a bonfire. That meant finding a way to get them all powered up in a safe and responsible manner, without making the terrorizing trio into even more of a risk to themselves or others.

"So you're thinking discipline training first?"

"I mean Discipline is a bit of a loaded term given my recent skill pickups, but yeah, self-discipline."

Pinkie raised an eyebrow at that.
"I keep telling you-"

Spike waved a claw.
"No yeah I definitely agree, that's the most likely thing it could be, puns and coincidental overlap aside. I'm just kinda scared of what it might mean if that's true."

"That they have a lot of potential and are very good little fillies?"

"Apart from that."

"Well... Yeah. I think you've got the right plan, to be frank. Or to be Pinkie really: I don't exactly look the part of a frank!"

"No bun, for starters."

"Why I never!"

"You know what I mean."

She stuck her tongue out at him and he stuck his right back. Given the whole 'dragon' thing, he kept sticking it out with the intention of meeting her across the small room... but given the whole 'Pinkie' thing she somehow met him halfway. They both burst out laughing before leaning back into their respective bags of beans.

"So training first-"

"More like training third. Responsibility first-"

"Responsibility second, personal safety first?"

"...Point taken. Safety, then caution, then training. THEN, and only then, do we even think about getting up to any adventure shenanigans with them around."

Pinkie had brought up that idea because of her portion of his Benediction quest.
'As a party, gain at least 2 levels apiece and lead another group in doing the same.'

Gaining levels as a party was no issue for the two of them, especially if the Diamond Dogs kept having trouble or if this trip back home had any surprises. But leading another group to gain two levels... That was trickier. Eventually they settled on the idea of leading the Crusaders for a variety of reasons. Although it was going to be complicated, Spike figured it would definitely be worth it.

He wasn't the only one who thought so, and neither was Pinkie Pie. A menu popped in thin air right as they were cleaning up the plates and spiritedly discussing training menus for the three fillies...

You are qualified for the title [Mentor of Young Heroes]
...Unfortunately the title is currently held by another.
Seek to uncover the current Mentor and learn from him.
In this way the title may be passed down, benefitting you both.

"...Any guesses?"

Pinkie poked at the pink plaque of phantasmal plasma before shaking her head.
"Cheerilee is definitely a mentor we know that works with the young, but probably not heroes. Twilight's brother would make a lot of sense for that half but he doesn't really mentor young ponies."

Spike sighed and looked up at the plain flat ceiling of their cabin.
"I've got an idea but I'm not sure if I like it."

At first he thought he might have to say it out loud, but then Pinkie's eyes widened with a gasp.
"...For really-real?"

He shrugged. The idea had been brewing in his mind for days now, but after yesterday...
"We both saw the statue. He's probably free for a reason: What if this is the reason?"

She tapped her hoof on the floor a few times before shrugging as well.
"Is it weird that I don't find that nearly as scary as I would have, like, a year ago?"

"We have come a long way since then."

Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out again.
"Some of us longer than others!"

"Hah hah hah. But seriously... That's my leading theory so far. Like, what would this whole thing he's been doing with my dreams be if it wasn't 'mentoring' a 'young hero'? Not trying to forcibly call myself a hero or anything but like-"

"No totally, I getcha. It makes sense! Or as much sense as anything does around us anymore."

Spike raised a claw and snapped his fingers in the air.
"Maybe that's the real reason it's not as scary!"

His marefriend's muzzle scrunched at that idea.
"...Awww now I'm not sure if I like it."

"I mean hey, if he's not going to be doing villain stuff anymore then he might be willing to make some of those choco-cotton clouds on demand."

Pinkie's eyes lit up.
"Dislike retracted!"

Author's Note

Chapter 131
One if By Land: Part 24
- OR -
Breakfast Before Breakdown

One if By Land: Part 25

They had been absolutely correct to assume something was going to go wrong on the trip back to Ponyville sooner or later. Spike was just kinda surprised by when and where and why things went off the rails. He would have had his money on when they got to the woodline at the earliest, maybe at an outpost or a small village that was secretly taken over by Changelings or something? Instead he ended up getting himself into trouble about a hundred feet away from camp.

Deconstructing the house and making their way back onto the road had been fun work: They were more careful with disassembly than just going full-blown wrecking crew on the structure, but not by a large margin. Repairing and replacing materials could be even more useful experience for him in the long run! Plus there was something joyous about kicking a support beam in half, just in general.

Once that was all packed up it was time to go, and it was easy going... or should have been. They had several good maps to cross-reference with Spike's own (seemingly) infallible system Map, so they quickly got onto the best possible path to get home quickly. It took a few minutes before Spike noticed anything wrong, but eventually he stopped to clear out his ear-fins and look over at Pinkie.

"Are you hearing something, Pinkie?"

"Hmmm?"

"Like a sort of... low dull beep?"

Pinkie shook her mane vigorously.
"Nope! Kinda quiet to be honest, I was about to start singing if it went much longer."

If Pinkie wasn't hearing it with her keen ears? That didn't leave a lot of options. Mostly it leaned on things either being in his head or in his system. Spike quickly sorted through all of his menus until he eventually found the beeping's source: A new entry had appeared in the Game Options section.

GAME OPTIONS

DIFFICULTY AND MODES
HUD MANAGEMENT
[INSUFFICIENT MALIGNANCY]
DUNGEON OPTIONS
CONTROLS / INTERFACE
BACK

Checking his other sections here did not provide much more information than it ever had: The very first option still only contained a blank space of foggy uncertainty and a warning about how he had no control over his life's difficulty. HUD Management still let him control the visibility of lots of stats and information and how it appeared for him. Dungeon Options was entirely blanketed in fog and a mish-mash of unreadable info boxes.

Controls and Interface didactually have some options he had never been able to turn on before that were now available thanks to his improved stats (he absent-mindedly flicked the toggles to make himself ambidextrous and improve his tongue and tail control), but that was all there was to see.

All that left was the new error message crammed in-between the menu options: He didn't have any experience with the word 'malignancy' outside of disease. 'Malign' was a bit more common in both Twilight's books on magic and Rarity's romance novels, but still rare. Either way the message was an unsettling thing to see: Why would 'malignancy' ever be 'insufficient'? The best way he could parse it was either 'things aren't getting sufficiently worse', or maybe 'things are getting worse but not at a sufficient rate' and either way that was concerning.

The beeping was getting louder and even a little faster too. Spike braced himself and turned back.
"...Hey Pinkie, I think something bad's about to happen? Clear some space and be ready."

She cocked her head in confusion... although the same motion then transitioned into her head turning further, her shoulder shaking, her tail wiggling, and one hoof popping up off of the ground. Pinkie gasped and did some kind of mental math before smiling at him.
"Ooooh, that was definitely a doozie of some kind! Kind of a weird one though: I think you're about to get a sorta present type thingy, or a gift maybe? Like a surp-"

Your [Balanced Soul] demands equilibrium.
You must improve and test the growth of your powers.
All challenges available in the region are insufficient.
Accordingly, the Random Battle System has been enabled.
Initializing Random Battle System Tutorial...

Spike vanished.

There was no break between the two moments: First he was listening to Pinkie Pie prepare herself and describe the results of her Sense, and then he was elsewhere. It was a very similar location to the one he had just left but with just enough details messed up that it all felt unsettling. There was no road, but lots of clear space that was trampled down akin to the road... just in random squiggles and patterns. Trees were present in weirdly uniform rows off to one side, and a small pond cropped up on the other side.

In the middle of the trampled ground, Spike was standing in exactly the same position as before. A new window of information was open in front of him, and there was a small dark figure visible on the opposite side of the window. There was no real shape to it, a constantly churning mass of shadows with a nameplate overhead. Not the usual blue text either, but a much muddier reddish-brown.

[In Potentia]
Undetermined - Level ?

Spike let out a long exasperated sigh before looking back at the system window. He could already tell that this was going to be a weird situation even by his newly rarified standards: While the blob of shadows was moving, nothing else was, not even the air. There was no sun in the sky, just a vague sense of illumination spread everywhere. The grass was... 'rendered' in distinct uniform chunks, as if somebody was imitating the style of an underpowered game engine without the reasons behind it.

The information in the window doubled down on the strangeness he expected and then some.

Welcome to the Random Battle System!
A collaboration between The Gamer's powers and DisCo Discorporated, all slights observed.

In accordance with Draconic Law (ref: No dragon shall ascend the heights of power without being sufficiently challenged) and in defiance of Draconic Law (ref: No dragon shall receive the aid of outside powers in their growth) this system has been created on a lark, because it will be a fun twist. As such, the Random Battle System is designed according to your needs and situation in order to provide the most obnoxious possible experience while also granting more benefits than you could ever get on your own.

Every gamer loves loopholes, right?
Eh whatever: I just thought I'd snark since I was in the area.
I'll stop hijacking the text now, you do your thing Ms. System!

...
...
...

Spike sat staring in bemusement at the fact that text managed to look confused. He didn't have any other option than just staying still and watching either: He couldn't move, like everything else in this strange false environment. Eventually the messages resumed, returning back to their normal tone.

The Random Battle System may trigger at any time, based on your accumulation of experiences.
You control frequency, intensity, style, and content of Random Battles with appropriate Skills.
You lack any appropriate Skills, so the Random Battle System will adjust its traits automatically.

Before initiating Random Battles, a tutorial will be used to introduce the System's features.
This battle has no consequences for any kind of failure up to and including total brain death.
This battle is not designed to reward you for any kind of success up to and including victory.

Battles take place in dedicated 'stages' based on the local environment when they are triggered.
When a Battle begins only the user is drawn into the stage, barring the use of appropriate Skills.

Random Battles have a Par Time and a Breach Time. Completion under Par Time grants rewards.
Failure to complete under Breach Time causes all combatants to be ejected into the world.

Enemies fought vary depending on difficulty settings, environment, scenario, and user's Level.
Despite appearances, enemies here are not people and can be killed with no moral concerns.

You set the difficulty of this tutorial as you see fit, starting at a system-determined minimum.
The maximum difficulty available is the highest level the system is currently capable of providing.

Finally the box changed to something he could interact with: A single piece of menu he recognized as a difficulty slider. The marker (the same as the stylized flame Pinkie had used for his headrest back home) was currently a good bit off the left edge of the bar, and that entire segment of the bar was grayed out. Nice to see his system thought so highly of his power... or that it was only able to produce enemies with at least a certain level of risk. Maybe both? No sense not checking: There was a very clear CONFIRM button, so he could jog it around to get a feel for what was possible.

Sliding the meter higher caused the blob of dark matter [In Potentia] to split and multiply, with some of the individual pieces getting bigger or shrinking down further. Eventually it started taking familiar shapes: About a third of the way in, it took the distinct forms of the Bermite King and Queen along with dozens of progeny... Apparently the weird amorphous shape it took the rest of the time was because it wanted to produce enemies he had never seen before? Spike’s best guess, anyway.

A few notches further and suddenly all the blobs rushed together into just three, sitting at the center of the field with very familiar, if somewhat generic, shapes.

[Self of a Former Shadow]
Stalker - Level ??

[The Wings in Waiting]
Controller - Level ??

[Helping a Lending Hand]
Defender - Level ??

An earth pony, a pegasus, and a unicorn stared at him. They resembled the Tantabus in that they were all pony-shaped blobs of shadow, but that was where recognition ended. These had not even a hint of features or personality, all dark and no stars. Despite that Spike felt endless hostility, and he thought back to the last few messages: 'Despite appearances, enemies here are not people and can be killed with no moral concerns.'

But this was only halfway up the chart. And the most important message was not that, nor was it any of the obvious interruptions: Speaking of the interruptions? He really had to figure out Discord's involvement and what it amounted to one of these days, because he knew in his gut that Discord was absolutely not the source of this power. He was just... pitching in, maybe? Contributing.

The most important message, in Spike's opinion, was 'This battle has no consequences for any kind of failure up to and including total brain death.' No consequences, not even death. Every battle he had fought so far was one where (in theory) his life had been in danger. Maybe not much danger but still! There was always that little concern holding him back. Not out of instinct, because Gamer's Mind and Gamer's Body kept that from hampering his actions. But he still held back out of his own very rational worries and concerns and just... caution.

Now he didn't have to! And if this was only half of what this system could throw at him... Spike pulled the slider further to the right, watching as the ponies arrayed against him began to multiply and spread out, sometimes morphing back into blobs or into other creatures entirely. At one point an eerily recognizable pegasus outline led an entire field of Timberwolves and bears, while the pond flooded with octopi and sharks and stranger things still, the sky dark with birds of prey...

But eventually he reached the end of the line. In several different senses of the term.

[Ex Nihilo]
Incarnate - Level ???

Dark like a hole had been cut out of space and exuding endless pressure even without properly existing. All others were gone: One single enemy stood alone to face him at the highest difficulty.

An alicorn.

Spike closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Eidetic Memory guaranteed he would remember every last hit and blow of this battle, lessons learned the hard way. This was a chance he wouldn't get twice, a chance you normally never even got once. He could push himself to the limit and go for broke without concern for their safety, his safety, this environment, resources... Not even his life.

Even without moving he could still channel his power and activate skills, layering one buff and mod after another until he was in peak perfect condition. An attack ready to fire as soon as he could move, every layer of defense stacked up, eyes on target...

"Confirm."

Author's Note

Chapter 132
One if By Land: Part 25
- OR -
Now You're Gonna Have To Street Fight

One if By Land: Part 26

Author's Note

Chapter 133
One if By Land: Part 26
- OR -
Appalling Aftermath

WARNING: This chapter pushes the edge of acceptable damage and injury descriptions for this fic's rating. Skip the first half if you are uncomfortable with that fact.

One if By Land: Part 26

"-rise!"

Pinkie Pie finished her sentence just as Spike snapped back to reality in more ways than one. She noticed the abrupt shift immediately and overcame her confusion just as quickly, leaping to his side and checking him over for injuries... Not normally useful given the Gamer's Body, but despite that she still found plenty to look over this one time.

Spike's scales were cracked or charred, smoking black in some places yet impossibly dead-cold in others, while the section of skin and muscle under his right eye was missing entirely (as was the eye, and most of the socket for that matter). He didn't have to look at the HP monitor in the corner of his vision (the only corner at the moment) to know it was empty. Before Pinkie could ask what happened or get too close of a look at his damage...

Tutorial complete.
Restoring body and mind to prior conditions.
Processing results of the battle, judgment pending.

He let out a string of disgustingly congested coughs until eventually a thick wet strand came out and landed on the ground... Probably his trachea? His old one maybe: This time he did pay close attention (with both eyes) as his HP meter shot back up from rock bottom all the way to perfection. All of the wounds on his body closed or repaired themselves at the same time, sometimes leaving sloughed-off parts in the process.

The ground was eventually littered with scales and bits of muscle and tissue, some bones, even a few spiral-shaped purple and green horns. Spike started moving all of the mess into his Inventory as Pinkie stood there staring at the entire process. Eventually his health came back to the top and he let out a much healthier-seeming sigh: Pinkie's sigh of relief came just after.

He fell back on his butt and looked up at the sky.
"OK, maybe that was a little ambitious."

"Um? Umumumum."

"Yeah I know trustme that was weird for me too. Sorry. Extremely apologetic actually, just... any chance you could watch over me for a minute? I want to think about what just happened before I go trying to explain it."

She nodded, even if it was a little hesitantly. Which was extremely hesitantly when you put it into Pinkie perspective, practically a null motion. But it was enough for him to relax his hackles and let his slowly-recovering powers take over. If there was ever a time to try and meditate to re-settle his state of mind, it was right now.

He didn't use Omphaloskepsis, or any of the methods Lyra taught him. He didn't even try to reach for her fourth method, although his gut instinct said he was much closer to figuring it out than before this test. Instead he just let his mind go empty, trying to replicate how his Random Battle System tutorial had ended.

He had died, obviously.

Spike chased after that feeling now, trying to bring himself to the same state of mind he'd reached after his loss. It had not been a long battle in terms of clock time, nor had it been much in terms of blows traded. He let loose maybe a dozen attacks before it was over, but even that was probably a modern record. Princess Celestia and Luna rarely ever raised a hoof unless they were forced, and every time that happened they seemed very low-key or even weak.

Spike had a much better idea why that was, now that he'd seen an imitation of it with his own eyes. At the very least it was a working theory: There had to be some natural trade-off between power and control, and when you moved the Sun in the sky every single day and night? That was far off one side of that scale. With concentration and a small focus Celestia could outshine even Rarity or Twilight in terms of intricacy. That was a level of control she had worked at tirelessly across entire millenia. In a battle? That probably wasn't viable.

The alicorn simulacrum he had fought in the 'stage' wasn't held back by those compunctions, and the space where they fought had nothing that needed to be protected or kept safe. It was just a knock-down drag-out fight between a dragon and an alicorn using their full power, no more or less.

He could still feel pain with the Gamer's Body, and he could still experience emotions with the Gamer's Mind. Those powers kept the pain and emotions from meaning anything: Preventing harm from damaging his functional body or appearance and stopping emotions from swaying his behavior. Neither of those facts mattered in the face of an unleashed alicorn, even accounting for his system's (probably) limited ability to reproduce that power.

You have received a true crippling blow that exceeds the protection of Gamer's Body.
You are struck by an all-consuming rage that exceeds the protection of Gamer's Mind.
You burn with flames that come from higher powers, exceeding your Utter Fire Resistance.

That had just been the first attack. It went for his eye right away, and even through the pain and fury Spike kept himself on pace to for a severing claw swipe to try to take a wing. He didn't succeed, trading an eye for a bruise at best, and that set the tone of the entire battle to come. Each attack he made was on the back foot while his opponent got more dangerous with each blow exchanged.

Without lingering pain to distract him, with Gamer's Mind and Gamer's Body at full strength again, he sank down and focused on recalling the aftermath. In mere minutes he had been crushed and ruined, laid out without any more chance to fight back. The entire landscape had been reshaped by their battle, even his own fruitless attacks were enough to shake the ground and shatter trees. At the end he lay beneath the bed of the pond as the water fell back down from the sky to flatten him. Watching the near-endless rain and the pitiless eyes of his enemy above him, he had one thought.

"Never again."

Judgment complete. Reward determination complete.
By facing the ultimate challenge despite the risks and costs, you have learned of Death!
By crossing shamanic thresholds and touching the face of Death, you have self-initiated!
By having absolute defenses breached by absolute power, you have achieved [Defiance]!
By unflinchingly meditating on the boundary, your [Exposure] has become true [Dualism]!
By drawing the line between what you can and cannot accept, you enact [Demarcation]!

[Defiance] (Passive, Special) LV100 EXP: N/A
Never again.

Any effect that would attempt to breach the sanctity of the Gamer's Mind or Body is likely to fail.

Dualism LV1 EXP: 0.00%
By understanding the real division between the inner self and the outside world, the user of this skill has learned that there is no need to lose mental focus to the actions of the flesh. This allows for all forms of meditation to be permanently active regardless of the actions of the body, and transforms the nature of traditional meditation. A myriad of future skills WILL develop from this root...

The user is capable of permanently meditating while active, using any form of meditation they wish.
Excess HP, MP, and Stamina recovery are converted to other benefits during 'normal' meditation.
This skill cannot be deactivated, and the act of meditation is now protected by the Gamer's Mind.

Dualism replaces Exposure for all purposes, resetting its level in the process.
Dualism acts as a precursor to many other skills.
Meditating trains Dualism and all skills that follow from it.
Acquiring new forms of meditation enhances Dualism.

Demarcation LV0 EXP: N/A
No dragon shall set themselves apart from my Laws.

You are being watched...

A violation of the Rules you set has activated [Defiance]. Recalculating...

Demarcation LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: ALL
No dragon shall set themselves apart from my Laws.
In proper Defiance of improper Law, you have marked yourself as unique. You are now a singular entity in the world of Dragons as defined by those who came before. Rules of a game are different from the Laws of the world, but no less powerful to the right mind: It is your decision who the Rules apply to and when, within your domain.

All area effects you create will only impact chosen targets regardless of physics, law, or logic.
You may attempt to shrug off or ignore effects which are applied to an entire group or type of target.

This skill consumes all your remaining MP when used and only applies to a single effect at a time.
This skill is limited and may fail to consistently remove you from the subject of some great powers.
This skill will never fail to exclude others from effects of your own creation or under your command.

Spike cleared his mind and exhaled slowly. Breathe in... He could already feel the massive change between having to meditate and simply being meditative, not in a metaphorical or conceptual way but truly living in that state at all times. He had questions about the other skills, the messages, the entire concept of having random combat encounters interrupting his life from now on... But those could wait until he talked to Pinkie.

That took some time.

Pinkie Pie's reaction was about what he expected: In roughly this order, she was...

Disappointed he didn't take her along with him to join in on the fun.
Annoyed at Discord for dropping more hints without showing up to explain himself.
Furious at his system since it didn't let him take her along, replacing her prior disappointment.
Unsurprised at the idea that Fluttershy could pose an enormous threat in combat.
Curious about what he had experienced in his fight and what happened after.

She wasn't annoyed that he had put himself through something like that: If anything, she might have done something just as crazy if given a chance to act without any consequences. Just because she wasn't concerned about it didn't mean that anypony else would react the same way. They both put a joint moratorium on ever telling anypony else what he had experienced, just in case. Again, lack of consequences meant there was no reason for them to spread the information anyways, not even the most tenuous of worries about disclosure or honesty.

The idea that he might get pulled away for more fights at any moment did concern her, however.
"Sooooo, what are you planning to do about all these randobattles?"

As much as this was a serious conversation, sometimes snark was the answer: He shrugged.
"Win!"

"...Good plan!"

Pinkie pronked back onto the trail alongside him and they got back on the path. They were ready to hit today's projected end goal even faster after this sudden interruption: After all, this encounter had taken no time in the 'outside' world, and if that was true for all random battles? He would get faster as he improved under the pressure.

One if By Land: Part 27

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

One if By Land: Part 28

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

One if By Land: Part 22

Dinner started well: Rarity almost accidentally made good on her earlier statement about trampling somepony! The doormare at the restaurant had thrown herself down to bow before the unexpected visiting Princesses, and Rarity was given no time to react. Nopony actually got hurt, but the first few minutes of conversation inevitably revolved around ribbing her for that little incident.

The private room she had mentioned was indeed open, although Spike wasn't sure if that was due to all the ponies out in the patio seating or because of who exactly was coming in to dine. Regardless, he splurged a little and ordered every single item on the menu. That was only 'a little' both because of the manager insisting on applying a royal discount, and because he was positively swimming in bits after all of the questing and bug-slaying he'd been doing.

Of course he wasn't planning to eat it all now, or even to eat most of it. The vast majority went into his Inventory for later portioning and study: If he could reverse engineer even just two or three new dishes with the added gem power from the Dragon's Kitchen? It would be worth every single coin. Everypony else had far more restrained orders, although Pinkie Pie and Princess Celestia tied at a close second behind him: Two starters each, an entree apiece, and desserts for the entire table.

The food came quickly and in waves, so they ended up putting off all thought of conversation until dessert and the subsequent cooldown from such a gigantic feast. Admittedly more than one of them were catching up after an entire day of skipping meals, since they'd all ended up engrossed in their own meetings and conversations. The teacakes during the meeting with Celestia had been a nice snack, but definitely not substantial enough to cover a growing dragon's needs.

Assuming he still had any needs in terms of food, but, again, Gamer.

He tried his best to dance around the subject of Sunset Shimmer when talking to Princess Celestia rather than confronting her so openly. He still wasn't sure what to think about everything he had heard back in the gardens, but... Well, time would tell. As it was they still ended up talking about the meeting room and their respective magic shows, but more focused on his end of the equation.

"I didn't have a chance to comment on it cleanly at the time, Spike... But recall the little magic trick you used earlier today?"

Spike didn't even need to think back to narrow it down: She was probably talking about the mana clump he had thrown around during his demonstration.
"Yeah! I guess you had something to say about it that would have been too far off topic then?"

"Indeed. I was wondering if you might have learned any other special tricks from the same pony who taught you how to do that?"

Ah, so he wasn't the only one poking around for information about that fourth form, huh?
"Lyra didn't teach me any apart from that and its prerequisites, but I do know there are other forms."

The Princess leaned back against her chair and levitated another cannoli up to her muzzle. Her expression was wistful and her tone suggested she was being even more roundabout than usual.

"Lyra Heartstrings, then? I've often enjoyed her works in the past. It's a shame about the trouble she has had with the Changelings in the past, especially during the incident at the Royal Wedding."

Spike read between the lines quickly, parsing all of the Celestia-speak in that little bit of dialogue. 'Her works' was a very specific phrasing that didn't limit it to just the mare's music. 'The trouble' implied that there may be ponies who didn't have problematic relations with the other species, and most importantly, especially during the incident at the wedding? She might as well have outright said that Lyra had encountered other trouble with Changelings before or after, totally unrelatedly.

While he could definitely parse all of that quickly, his own ability to reply was still limited by how quickly he could formulate a good response... for now. Just another thing to grind, right?
"...It is a sad thing to have gone through: I'm happy to say she seems to be getting on fine these days!"

"Good! I am always concerned when my little ponies are forced to endure such things, and I can't look after them all individually forever. Send my regards next time you see her?"

"Gladly!"

The conversation took a more normal turn after that, winding away into other conversations as one pony or another dropped in or out. Eventually Spike decided he'd gotten everything he was going to get out of Celestia tonight, so he went to tackle the other major question that needed answering.

When everypony else was embroiled in a conversation except for himself and Princess Luna, he quietly sent her a party invitation. She accepted it without question, and he initiated the silent communication from Susurration.

"Princess... can you tell me how you would describe your own Benediction?"

The Princess of the Night looked at him silently before replying, turning her eyes towards the ceiling as she did.

"Imagine if you went to sleep and dreamed a beautiful dream. You see things in the dream that could lead to greater understanding, to new potential, to a different way of life. But it isn't real. It's 'only' a dream. But what if, upon waking in the morning? A little bit of that dream came back with you. Something unreal that reality has no choice but to accept. My Benediction is like that, a slice of the moonlight which its bearers carry forever."

He thought about that for a while in silence: There was no need to check his quest after a reply like that, but he took a peek just to be thorough.

Learn the nature of Luna's Benediction from her.

"Thank you, Luna."

She smiled, whether at his simple reply or at the dropped title or something else entirely.

"You are very welcome, nephew mine. I am sure you will make us even more proud with time."

Spike didn't have a reply to that, so he just broke the party connection and dug into his tiramisu.

Everypony said their goodbyes and split back up after dinner. Twilight and Celestia went on a trip of their own, probably taking the rare chance to be together outside of the castle. Luna and Rarity went back to the castle to continue their work: Even as they walked out they were engrossed in a conversation about modern fabric technology and advancements in sewing. That left Spike and Pinkie alone together to make preparations for the trip back to Ponyville.

The first step of prep was always planning, as Twilight had often told him. Traveling back home was somewhere around a hundred miles, if they went straight as the crow flies. That was a pretty dang big 'if', actually: He and Pinkie were both faster than the average pony, they had great stamina, and they were willing to take more dangerous routes instead of detours. That meant they could allocate twenty miles a day as a baseline and have a hefty margin for errors or issues.

They talked about their options as they started roaming around the early-evening streets to reach the market districts of Canterlot. Supplies would be the next big thing, and they both had... a lot of different ideas for what to pack. They decided that rather than spending time with a more traditional new-couple experience of arguing over conflicting needs, they'd split the difference and pool their assets to buy everything from both lists. An Inventory is a beautiful thing, after all! Not to mention Pinkie Pie's own little tricks for carrying all of her bits and bobs...

Suffice it to say their shopping took the better part of the evening, and they only left the borders of Canterlot proper after the moon was high in the sky. The hoof paths out of Canterlot were kind of a boring way to leave, so they cut through the Royal Gardens in order to get to the highest point of the castle first: Pinkie Pie had suggested they try rappelling and Spike had to admit he was stoked. Normally the Gardens would be closed to the public this late at night, but the Dragon of Canterlot and an Element of Harmony were about as far from the public as it gets.

They both gave polite nods and made polite conversation with the guards they met along the way, mostly Luna's brood but with the occasional Day Guard mixed in. Eventually they were alone in the hedges as they made periodic notes about their route. It'd be nice to have a record of their dumb plan in case it backfired... or even better, if it succeeded!

Trampled but well-cleaned dirt paths eventually gave way to pavers as the hedges opened up and let them both out into the statue garden. There were replicas and relics of all sorts of ponies here, and even a few non-ponies... including the statue form of Discord. Spike stared at that last one for a good little while, at least until Pinkie Pie poked his prone posterior.

"What'sa matter Spike? Does he have a super-scary level or something?"

Spike looked over the statue's head and spoke honestly, if evasively.
"Nah, I actually can't see his level at all."

"Ooooh, like the Princesses!"

They'd discussed some of his discoveries while shopping. He didn't correct her.
"Yeah, something like that..."

It was more like there was no level or title at all, not even a name. He already knew what he was going to find, but he decided to check anyway: 'Observe'.

[Ordinary Statue of Discord]
"There is Chaos in the hearts of little children." -- Unknown

A clever, lack-of-life-like decoy left behind by the Lord of Chaos in a very typical fit of whimsy.

P.S. -- Nice try kiddos! See ya soon.

P.P.S. -- Hey 'Spike T. Dragon', if you see this? Consider it to be me cashing in that Y.O.M I metaphorically gave you earlier. Yaknow, a 'You Owe Me'? I figure some vacation time is worth an enlightenment or three.

Spike pursed his lips, cleared his throat, and kept walking as if he never saw anything. There wasn't really anything else to be said about the matter... Although he almost started laughing when Pinkie Pie scrutinized the statue herself before turning to follow him, whistling innocently all the while.

He had a gut feeling that the avatar of chaos wasn't going to be causing the same kinds of problems this time around. If that were the case then why bother leaving a message? Not just any message, but one that nobody could see except for Spike (and possibly Pinkie Pie, apparently)... A message that nopony even knew he could see, except a small handful of trusted friends.

Well a handful of friends and apparently Discord, who didn't just know he could see descriptions on items but knew how to edit and use them to communicate. Which also settled the issue of whether or not those dreams were the real deal or just his mind providing a figurehead for what it was doing. So... Yeah, Spike was fully justified in keeping this to himself for now. Discord was really out and on the loose, and had really been helping him along so far.

It's not like it could be part of some weird plan on Discord's part: Information like this wouldn't sow strife between him and his friends, and if Discord decided to just start stuff again then there was no way the Elements wouldn't be on top of him in an instant. As far as Spike could tell, this wasn't a con or a trick. It was just a genuine request that Spike had no reason to turn down. Plus, Discord and plan didn't seem like words that went together comfortably if at all.

As for how Discord managed to get free in the first place, and how long he had been out of position? Spike had a few suspicions. At least one of which concerned his own recent growth and the events surrounding it... But he'd burn that bridge when they crossed it, or however the saying went.

Either way they didn't talk about anything else until they got to the target point for the start of their descent. The sheer drop from this side of the castle was a long unforgiving-looking sheet of rocks and harsh plant life. Pinkie looked down at Spike as well as all the spikes they had acquired, along with ropes and clamps and hooks and some kind of harness...

"So... do either of us have even the slightest idea how to rappel?"

Author's Note

Chapter 129
One if By Land: Part 22
- OR -
Well Well Well, What a Weird While

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...it has certainly been one. Hey again everybody, welcome back to your irregularly-scheduled SOAT! After finally clearing away the (mostly) metaphorical debris of six or seven months of the most ridiculous IRL upheavals and a variety of creative tangents, posting has resumed. No schedule guaranteed, breaks may occur again (although this time it'd likely be due to me running out of lead time), all the usual jazz.