It was an early morning in Sanctuary City as Spike had already gotten up to cook his house mates some breakfast. Joining him was his country friend Applejack, who had grown used to helping Spike wake in the early morning hours.

"Thanks again for the help AJ, I really appreciate it," Spike said as he flipped some pancakes he had cooking up.

"C,mon now lover boy, there's no need to keep thanking me like that. Ah'm getting kinda embarrassed," AJ said turning to hide a thin pink on her cheeks while she poured some fresh apple juice into the cups she was going to set at the table.

"Sorry Jackie, I guess I just really enjoy your company." Spike said with sweet smile on his face. A smile his earth blood roommate found almost unbearable as the butterflies in her heart were suddenly fluttering faster. "I just wish there were more people like you who don't just... say....I don't know, gobble up all the muffins I'd made for the girls breakfast today.

"Phlew ould du sumthimmg laig dak?" A certain bacon haired agent said with a mouthful of chocolate chip muffin.

"Speakin of which, not to be rude there agent shimmer, but what brings yah by this mornin,?" Applejack asked as she set the drinks onto the table and took a seat.

"Oh just stopping by to make a routine check on my favorite house hold in the program. Making sure everything is in good condition , you're well treated and fed, which you obviously are," She said taking a bite out of another muffin.

"Well yeah, Spike's a real good feller to us, Ah wouldn't trade him fer the world," She said proudly while spike smiled nearby.

"That reminds me, I also need to check to make sure Spike follows all the rules regarding his interaction with you all," She said scooting herself almost uncomfortably close to the earth blood. "Has he been....affectionate towards you?"

"W-what do yah mean?" Applejack asked. "He's real nice to me and the gals if that's what yer-"

"Does he ever...express his care for you girls physically?" She asked raising an eye brow.

"Sunset..." Spike said in a sigh as he face palmed himself. " I know this is part of your job but c'mon"

"Well Pinkie says his hugs are 'sweeter than a sugar pie' and...ah think she's right." Applejack replied.

"These hugs, do they ever get....intimate?" Sunset asked putting a very short distance between her shade covered eyes and Applejacks increasingly pink face.

"I-intimate?" She asked as she realized just what sunset was talking about.

"Sunset that's enough, don't embarrass her," Spike chastised.

"C'mon I'm just joking there bud. I know you're not that kind of guy." She suddenly looked at AJ and whispered just enough for her to hear... "Even if some wish you were" She punctuated her statement with a wink.

"H-huh!?"

"Morning Every Pony!" The sound of Pinkie's voice drew everyone's attention to kitchen entrance where her and the other girls were standing in their PJ's.

"Morning girls, hope you all slept well" Spike said with a smile as he set down breakfast.

"Morning bae," Twilight greeted as she gave him a hug, she'd chosen to wear actual pajamas this time around much to Spikes relief, the last thing they needed was for Sunset to see that.

"Hiya Agent Sunny!" Pinkie called "You're here early."

"Indeed she is, may i ask what this is a about?" Rarity said sitting down.

"Well it looks like she's here to eat all the muffins," Spike said taking notice as the agent inhaled another chunk of the baked goods.

"Oh haha very funny, actually I'm here with a gift" She said wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Have you guys heard of the up coming Equine talent tournament?" Sunset asked .

"I seem to remember hearing about something like that over the news," Spike said. "It's something like a talent show?"

"That's a pretty bland way of putting it but yes, come this weekend several different groups are gonna be showcasing several of their most mesmerizing talents and performances, some are going to incorporate humans into their acts as part of the general theme of "We can do great things together" Sunset explained.

"Oh that sounds incredible!" Fluttershy commented.

"I'm glad you girls think so, cause I've brought you tickets to go see the show in person at the New Celestial Stadium!" Sunset cheered.

"Wowee! really?!" Pinkie asked as she jumped onto the table.

"Well shoot, that sounds like ah hollerin good time," AJ commented.

"That's great Sunset, I don't know how to thank you," Spike said taking a seat.

"Oh I can think of a certain way~" The red head said in a husky voice as she slid from her seat into Spike's lap.

This caught the greenette off-guard as was evident from his rapidly reddening face. He wasn't the only one however, Twilight had a look on her face that indicated Sunset may or may not be turned into a potted plant in the next 5 seconds, Fluttershy and Applejack seemed rather flustered, Rarity raised a brow as she sipped on her tea while pinkie gave a 'Whaa?' face.

"W-what do you have in mind....?" Spike asked in a shaky tone.

"Make me some more of those fantastic muffins of course!" Sunset proclaimed jumping up. "How about some blueberry this time huh?" She asked with a smirk and a wink.

"Uh....yeah sure no problem." Spike said sweating a bit.

"Great! I'll be back for them later. The event is this Saturday at about 5 PM, you all have a good time!" Agent Mary said taking her leave.

"Miss, are you certain that you want to go through with this? you're injured."

"Of course i'm sure, and this is just a scratch," a raspy but high voice said as the speaker pointed to a few bandages wrapped around her wing. "Sometimes its the risk that worth thinking about, so sign me up now!" She said in a harsh tone.

The person taking names for the show sighed in defeat, the fact that this was the first event of its kind meant that the rules and regulations were't quite yet standard.

"Alright, I've got you down for Saturday night so please take this form and give a general description of your act," The man said giving the cyan feathered equine a paper and pen.

The Pegasus blood took a seat nearby and began to write down what she had planned for the upcoming show. "Aw yeah, this is gonna knock their socks off," She bragged to herself. "A few flips here.....some flaming hoops there.... "She muttered to herself. "Perfect!" With that she returned the form to the registration officer.

"Thank you for your submission, you'll receive a letter soon that will provide you with all the necessary details for your performance." He said putting her form in a folder.

"Awesome," The Pegasus said as she flew towards her temporary living facility.

"Good morning Sanctuary City! I'm your host Doug Domedima coming to you live from the brand new Celestial Stadium," The announcer spoke to the camera and the audience. He stood in the middle of a stadium roughly the size of a the average football stadium.

"Before we begin I'd just like to thank all our contestants for showing up to give us a show we soon wont forget, lets hear it for the inter-dimensional exchange!" He Cowboy-esque dressed man yelled as the crowd of Equine and human attendants cheered.

Among the ecstatic crowd a certain household had taken their seats in the very front row.

"This is super duper incredible!" Pinkie cheered in joy.

"Yeah, ah gotta say Ah'm kinda surprised that these seats are this dang good," AJ said giving the field a look across.

"I can't believe that Sunset said this was just some sort of hurry made stadium, this place isn't small by any means," Spike noted.

"I must say it certainly was generous of her to give us those tickets, I hope she's enjoying those muffins you made Spikey," Rarity commented. "Although from what i saw she may have been after more than that..." Rarity trailed off.

"W-what are you talking about Rarity-"

"Yeah what ARE you talking about?" Twilight asked jumping in her Bae's lap.

"Oh nothing at all dearie's. Fluttershy dear, how do you feel about the show?" Rarity asked the shy pegasus.

"Oh it's all quite lovely, but I'm glad that I could come spend time with you girls and Honey," She responded with a blush.

"I'm happy to spend time with you girls too, you five have been the best friends a guy can ask for. It Wouldn't be right if I didn't show you any love," He finished with a smile.

"L-love!?" AJ yelped in surprise as she covered her face with her hat.

"Oh Spikey stop, you'll make a mare blush," Rarity said with her hands on her cheeks.

"cupcake loves me! cupcake loves me! cupcake loves me!" Pinkie said bouncing around the green haired man.

Of course Twilight and Fluttershy both had similar reactions to Spikes comment.

"W-wait! hold on I-"

"Let the games begin!" The host called as the first act had already made their way to the center of the stadium. The performers were a unicorn female with a black coat and periwinkle mane and a brunette human female, both dressed in lab coats, standing in front a table containing several potions in strangely shaped bottles.

"Ohhhh I recognize these two!" Twilight said as she got on her feet. "They're Double Data Duo! I recall hearing about them on the news!"

"What do they do?" Spike asked.

"They found a way to combine a Equine magic and human science to create something they call Magitek madness," Twilight explained.

The two quieted down as the duo began their act.

First the human pulled out what appeared to be a six foot long quadruped dragon made of robotic parts. At first when she set it on the ground it moved around sluggishly making some roar sounds and even breathing some small flames. Then the unicorn mare stepped up and poured a purple potion on the metallic monster. A few seconds passed and then the par opened up a box containing several more pieces of metal and robotic limbs. In a flash the metal parts came flying out and converging around the dragon in a small tornado or parts.

moments later the alloy animal was now a whopping 18 feet tall, it was now a copperish color and it let out a roar worthy of any monster movie. The crowds cheered and hollered at the achievement of magitek, mystified by its movements.

"Okay that's downright awesome," Spike commented. "I always thought dragons were pretty cool."

The act continued for several more minutes with the duo performing several "magitek" tricks. In one they somehow managed to reverse the effects of fire and ice, causing ice to burn objects to a crisp and fire freezing them solid, in an another they turned an old fashioned crank TV into a holographic machine.

Alas their time came to an end as the two took a bow and moved off stage for a the net act.

Up next out came three teenage earth blood equines, with them they brought several cases upon cases of cups.

"Well what in the sam hill they gonna do with all those?" AJ asked.

"I dunno, but it looks promising," Spike replied.

Seconds after Spike finished talking the trio began what could be called a marvel of cup construction. The first earthpony who was aqua blue all over used his cups to build a two story high pyramid. The second built a replica of the Eiffel Tower that was roughly 12 ft tall. The third and final equine stacked the cups to look like the leaning tower of pizza minus the lean.

The crowd was amazed not just at the art that the trio created with the cups but she sheer speed as which they were built, it was like their hands had minds of their own. The trio continued to put on a show for the admiring masses until their time was up, with a bow they quickly dissembled their cup sculptures and walked away.

"That was incredible," Fluttershy commented.

" Yeah, its gonna be tough to follow that act," Spike said.

Meanwhile watching from the waiting area inside the stadium a blue pegasus observed the competition with almost nervous curiosity.

"Man, those first two acts were really got the crowd going huh...." She said to herself. "Whatever! wait till they get a load of me!"

Later that night.

"Tonight sure has been incredible," Twilight said cuddling up next to Spike.

"Yeah, all these performances have been mind blowing. Hard to believe the nights almost up," Spike said turning back toward the stadium.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I think I speak for all of us when I say our participants have all done an excellent job tonight!" The host announced into the microphone. The crowd cheered in agreement at his statement. "Well I'm glad you think so! cause we have ourselves one more act that I'm sure will knock your socks off! Allow me to present to you the stunt extraordinaire! the speed demon! the self proclaimed fastest from the equine dimension! RAINBOW DASH!"

Suddenly out came a speeding rainbow colored trail from the arena. It dashed up into the darkening sky and froze revealing a pegasus blood with messy looking but colorful hair, she was wearing a black skintight spandex suit, it looked rough around the edges making it look rather old and worn. That however didn't stop the crowd from giving her a warm welcome.

"Wowee Zowee that was fast!" Pinkie said in astonishment.

"Very fast, she's probably the fastest I've seen." Fluttershy commented.

"Yeah, pretty impressive." Spike agreed.

The high flying mare flew around the stadium a few times, stopping every now and again to pose for the crowd. On one circle she paused and hovered right in front of Spikes house hold and an gave the young man a wink before speeding off again.

"what was..." Spike asked himself watching the equine fly back into the stadium. He turned his head when he heard the laughter of his unicorn housemate.

"Oh dear, there he goes again," She said with a snicker.

"What are you talking about?" Spike asked. It seemed as though him and Rarity were the only ones to notice the cyan feathered mares move.

A hush fellow over the crowd as the clouds came down and formed hoops through out the stadium.

"Whats she doin?" AJ Wondered.

"It looks like she used magic to turn the clouds into obstacles for her stunt," Twilight replied.

"Pegasai can use magic?"

"Yes but not like how me and Rarity could, I guess you could call it there own signature magic. They can grab onto clouds like they're solid objects and shape them like play-dough. They can even walk on clouds, back in Equestria they built a city in the sky called Clouds Dale." Twilight explained.

"wow..." Spike attention was drawn back to she show as the mare was now swiftly speeding through the clouds. She did flips, made sharp turns and demonstrated great prowess in Ariel acrobatics.

sigh sigh sigh...."c'mon rainbow.....just one more stunt to go" She said to herself mentally, trying her best to ignore the sting slowly building in her left wing.

A few seconds later what looked like a large seesaw was brought out into the middle of the stadium.

"Ladies and gentlemen prepare yourselves! for Rainbow is about to perform her signature move, the SONIC RAINBOOM!" The host bellowed. "By dropping this 2,000 pound slab of metal and this large seesaw she's going to give herself the momentum she needs to combine with her already impressive speed to give us the show of a life time!"

"wooooow that sounds so cool!" Pinkie commented.

"Yeah, this should be interesting." Spike said as he watched the speedster land on the opposite end of the plank. For a brief moment however he noticed some white straps on her left wing. "bandages...?"

"Ladies and Gentlemen if you look closely you'll notice that Rainbow dash has a small purple crystal attached onto her suit, this is to prevent any magical interference while she is performing." The host explained as the dare devil stood on the plank and waited for the one ton object to be dropped on the opposite end.

"I can do this....I know I can."

In a flash the metal cube was dropped causing the momentum to launch Rainbow into the air at alarming speed. The crowd gasped as she elevated higher and higher, amazed as she had yet to actually used her wings.

As rainbow finally reached her target elevation she extended her wings and began to flap with determination. She drew closer and closer to her target speed....

"almost....got it....." The daredevil whispered to herself as she she could feel the breaking point approaching. A split second later she reached breaking point, but not the one she expected.

With a violent spasm her wing froze entirely. Immediately she veered off course and began to spin wildly in the air.

The crowd on the ground was unsure of how to react, to them this could have just been another trick of some sort. However there was one in the stand who knew better, and realized something had to be done.

"She's in trouble!" Spike declared.

"What? are you sure?" Twilight asked.

As if to answer her question the crowd suddenly gasped as she now began barreling towards the ground at break neck speed. Her right wing had kept flapping after her left one froze and this caused her to change direction straight down, going almost as fast as she first went up.

"HORSE APPLES!" She yelled as her other wing gave out from exhaustion. The wind was blowing on her harshly as she fell, the ground as coming closer and closer.

The crowd on the ground began to realize what was happening as crews on the ground hurriedly attempted to prepare some kind of safety net.

"There's no way to set those up in time," Spike realized. "Twilight can you use magic to get her out of there?"

"The crystal on her suit wont let me! It'll stop any magic to touching her!"

Thinking quickly Spike gave her an idea. "Twilight, teleport me as close as you can to her! I'll rip the crystal off and then quickly catch us with your magic!"

"But-"

"Please!"

Twilight closed her eyes and did as she was asked.

As rainbow now saw the stadium closing in her she saw a flash of purple before second later the green haired man she'd winked at earlier had latched onto her and started speaking.

"Just hold on tight okay? I got you," He said with a smile. Rainbow looked down one last time to see the they'd stopped inches above the ground, surrounded by a violet aura.

"What....magic? the crystal was supposed to-"

"When I grabbed you I ripped it off and chucked it away, my friend nearby caught us." Spike said as she aura gently put down.

"You risked your life for me....why?" She asked feeling her legs go shaky.

"Sometimes it's the risk that's not worth thinking about." He replied.in a soft tone.

A few seconds later, everything went black.

The sound of beeping and a cold chill were the first things rainbow took notice of as she opened her eyes.

"Where....am I?" He asked.

"Oh good, you're awake," came a voice.

Rainbow turned her head to see a woman in a bright red blazer with bright red and yellow hair. However it was the person next to her that caught her attention.

"It's you!" She said seeing the green haired man who saved her life. "you're here...to see me?"

"Well yeah, after you passed out they took you to the hospital. When I asked where your host was they told me you hadn't gotten one yet."

"This is where I stepped in," The agent said. "See I've been getting reports about your antics for a while now and I couldn't find a place that seemed like it could hold you for long and accommodate you for your athletics based visit. When Spike heard you didn't have a host or a real home since you've been staying he offered to take you.

"Really?" Rainbow asked looking at Spike.

'Well yeah, one of our visitors really shouldn't be left alone to recover and live alone, especially one as amazing as you," Spike replied. "I just hope you wont mind taking staying with me and...having a few housemates."

Rainbow was at a loss for words, she smiled and slowly sat up in bed to give him a hug.

"Thank you so much...I don't even know your name actually,"

"It's Spike."

"Well Spike, thank you so much!" Rainbow said with a smile.

Spike looked away briefly with a small smile. "Hey I brought you some soup, I made it myself since I know personally hospital food isn't the best." He said pulling out a bowl.

"Wow really? Thanks Spike, you're a real stud."

Author's Note

Hey guys, glad I could get this to you in time! Merry Christmas!