The sun was beating down heavily during the early mid-morning, and Ponyville was absolutely bustling with the beautiful nature of the day. The skies were clear and cloudless, and birds sang wildly as they fluttered through the warm summer's air.

Big Macintosh, the eldest of the Apple siblings, was currently in town hefting large barrels of apples off his kart. It had been his turn this week to sell his family’s produce at their stale in the market place, while Applejack tended the farm. Using his powerful front legs, he hoisted yet another barrel and was near about to place it on the ground, when suddenly:

“Woah!”

Something small and scaly swiftly darted right under his raised forelegs. The sudden surprise nearly caused the large stallion to topple over.

Big Mac soon steadied himself, placing his barrel down so he could fall back onto his front hooves. In his shock, he searched the road to see what could have whizzed by him so fast. His gaze was soon met with that a little purple dragon giving him an apologetic look.

“Sorry, Big Mac!” The little dragon shouted before continuing off in the opposite direction.

Big Macintosh smiled good-naturedly. He waved back and shouted, “Eeyup!”

Spike was sprinting as fast as his little draconic legs could carry him. He was going to be late if he didn't. He silently chastised himself for not thinking to pick up Twilight’s order at Sugarcube Corner earlier.

Spike skidded to a halt upon reaching the famous bakery’s front door, nearly sliding passed it in the process. He leaped from the road avoiding the shop's steps and burst through its swinging doors with the force only somepony trying to avoid being late could manage. Spike rushed forward towards Sugarcube Corner's front counter.

“Good morning, Mrs. Cake!” Spike shouted franticly through heavy breath and a wide spread smile.

“Hmm?!” A quick sound of surprise resounded from behind the counter.

A plump blue earth pony mare, with a mane like pink and white frosting, quickly rose up to see the little dragon standing on the other side of the counter. She had been taking inventory of all the pastries in the counter’s display case before the exhausted drake had rushed in. The smile she gave him was as wide, if not wider, than Spike’s own.

“Oh, why good morning Spike.” She said warmly. “What can I do for you today, dearie?”

Spike reached his claws on the counters high ledge and stood on the very tips of his toes to better see over it, as well as better address the mare standing behind it. The adorability of the moment sent a warm feeling throughout the mare's chest.

“I’m here to pick up the ingredients Twilight ordered yesterday.” Spike asked politely. The baker mare smiled. “Well isn’t that sweet of you, rushing over here to pick up her delivery.” Spike blushed.

“I placed them right over there on counter, sweetie.” Spike looked toward the right edge of the counter and spotted a large paper bag of cooking supplies. He reached and grabbed the bag by its bottom and pulled it off the counter.

Mrs. Cake's smile grew larger. By the way he was holding the large paper bag, Spike was now practically hidden behind it. Only his adorable little legs and arms stuck out as he hugged it closer to his body.

“Thanks Mrs. Cake, I’ll see you around.” Spike turned and started to waddle back towards the bakery’s still swinging double doors. Mrs. Cake waved him goodbye. “Good bye, Spike. Say hello to Princess Twilight for me!”

“Sure thing!”

******
Spike quickly slipped between the swigging doors of the bakery, cautiously taking care not to let them clonk him in the back of the head as he left. At the steps back down to the road, Spike took slow and tentative movements for each step he climbed down. To avoid even the slightest jostle he held on closely to his paper bag, focusing on nothing else except getting to the ground safely.

“YOU FINISHED IT!”

A very sudden gaggle of cries caused the young dragon to stumble forward and nearly fall face-first down the stairs.

He danced and fidgeted awkwardly as he made his way down, all in his attempt to keep the ingredients safe. He had barely made it to the bottom of the stoop without dropping the precarious bottles of milk sitting on the top of his bag. He breathed a deep sigh of relief upon regaining his footing.

Righting himself, Spike repositioned his grip on the bag. He glanced around in annoyance. "Who’s shouting this early in the morning!" He grumbled. His gaze soon found a energetic trio of excited bouncing fillies to his right. Upon seeing them, he questioned how he didn’t realize the answer sooner; The Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Spike sighed, again in annoyance. “Okay..." He said mapping out the situation in his head. "So they’re squealing and giddy in the early hours of morning.” Spike mumbled, sounding nonplussed. “They've apparently also been working on something, which usually leads to fires and devastation if gone unchecked.” He placed his bag against the bakery’s front wall and started walking over. “For safety reasons, I'd better check this out.”

Cautiously, the young drake made his way closer towards the fillies, their joy-filled shouts still permeating the air. “So where is it now!?” Scootaloo asked as she bounced around with blatant excitement, her tiny wings noticeably buzzing.

“Ah hid it by the clubhouse away from Sweet Apple Acers.” Apple Bloom responded. “Testin’ it, Ah recon, is goin' to be a tad dangerous, seein’ as we can’t be havin’ the big ponies knowin' about it just yet. But it ain’t like it's nothin' we haven’t dealt with before.”

The other two fillies nodded in agreement.

“This is going to be so amazing!” Sweetie Belle said, practically singing with elation.

“Hey girls!”

An unexpected male voice startled the three fillies, causing them to turn. They saw that Spike was approaching.

“Aw shoot! It’s Spike!” Apple Bloom whispered with unease. “Do ya think he heard what we were talkin' about?”

“No way.” Scootaloo waved off her dismay with a laugh. “We been working on this project for months, and still nopony even has a clue it exists. There’s no way we’d be stupid enough to let it slip this close to completion.”

“You three have been working on something?” Spike asked nonchalantly. “What is it?”

“D’oh!” Scootaloo shouted in frustration.

Sweetie Belle ignored Scootaloo's outburst, and smiled innocently. “We don’t know what you’re talking about Spike.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom continued. “We weren’t talkin’ ‘bout anythin’ important.”

“Oh really?” Spike asked. Apple Bloom nodded feverously.

Spike could see the visible sweat rolling like rivers down her brow. He could also see through the forced smile she was giving him. He smirked mischievously. “She's just as bad a liar as her sister.” Spike thought.

Wordlessly, Spike turned on his heels and walked back into Sugarcube Corner, much to the Crusaders’ confusion. He returned only a few seconds later with a freshly baked apple fritter, glazed with white frosting, held firmly in his claw.

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She began to drool.

“Well, I believe you can make it sound important.” Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes hatefully. She scowled at the dragon, as Spike continued to smirk.

“That is unless, you don’t want this delicious apple fitter?”

The southern filly didn't answer, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he found her weakness. Spike slowly brought the glazed apple treat closer to his mouth, his sharp teeth looked about readty to dig in. She couldn’t take anymore.

“Huddle!” Apple Bloom called.

The two other fillies locked forelegs with her and joined her in her auditable whispering match. To Spike, they looked like they were discussing the play that was going to use to win them the hoofball championships.

“So what do ya think, girls? Can we trust him?” Apple Bloom spoke only loud enough so Spike wouldn’t hear.

“I say we trust him!” Sweetie said with a smile. “I mean he’s been Twilight’s trustworthy assistant for so many years. His credentials are in his title.”

“You’re only saying that because you think he’s cute.” Scootaloo snickered as Sweetie Belle blushed.

“Shut up Scootaloo! It’s nothing like that. I just honestly think we can trust him.”

“Girls, girls, we shouldn’t be fightin’. Besides, I agree with Sweetie Belle, Spike has proven more than trustworthy plenty of times.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes at Apple Bloom’s words.

“And you’re only saying that because you want that apple fritter.” Apple Bloom smirked at her naysaying friend.

“Doesn’t matter, still two against one.”

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle cheered happily.

Scootaloo sighed begrudgingly before she answered. “Fine.”

“Break!”

The three fillies broke from their huddle before turning back towards the dragon. “Alright Spike, ya win. We’ll tell ya all about our new super special secret project.”

Spike smiled victoriously, tossing the apple confection towards the filly. “Glad to see the Apple family’s weakness for apple related desserts is still effective.”

She began to mow down the treat as Spike continued to speak. “So what’s going on?”

Apple Bloom swallowed, smirked and wheeled away in the opposite direction, the other Crusaders copied her action. “Meet us tonight on the outskirts of Ponyville and find out.”

Spike was taken aback, then shot an annoyed glance at the escaping fillies. He gave chase. “That wasn’t part of the deal!”

“You didn’t say when I had to tell you about it, did ya?” Spike opened his mouth to make a remark, but gave a defeated sigh instead. He had to admit his curiosity was peaked.

“Alright fine, what time!” He asked pursuing the fillies for a short distance further.

“Midnight, and be quite about it. We don’t want to unveil anythin’ to anypony else before we’ve ironed out all the kinks.” Spike rolled his eyes before stopping, and watched the three fillies continue on their way.

“Okay, it’s a date!” Spike shouted. Sweetie Belle swooned.

“A date?! A date!!” she squeaked with joy, earning an irritated sigh from Scootaloo.

Once the three fillies had made it out of his sight, Spike turned to his left and saw a giant crystal castle standing before him. He was closer to home then he had originally thought. Rushing back towards the bakery, he retrieved his bag and started out on his way home.

Spikes mind began to wander. The true scope of the plans he had made were starting to dawn on him.

“Midnight?” Spike pondered.

“Twilight, would never even think about letting me go out that late.” An awful idea suddenly popped into his head. “Of course, she doesn’t really need to know I was out that late.”

He rolled the idea around in his head. Twilight would never know he was gone if he got back before she woke up. Even still, lying to Twilight was something Spike always tried to avoid.

“Lying to Twilight?” He repeated his thought. It made him feel a tad guilty admitting it. It wasn’t right, but his curiosity had to know what those three were building. Besides he needed to make sure they didn't get hurt, right? Finally, he came to a decision.

“This secret had better be good!”

Author's Note

The first chapter of my crossover idea, combining both Mlp and Ni No Kuni, one of my favorite games for the PS3. As always feel free to like and comment on how the story is progressing. Also please, if you spot any errors or problems in the story that you would like fixed tell me in the comment section below.

(Disclaimer: I do not own anything, all property belongs to it respective owners)
(The beautiful cover image is property of Radiant--Eclipse)