Twilight couldn't keep her thoughts in her mind any longer. She knew she was going to yell. No. She was going to screech. She could feel it rising in her throat. Before she did however, she put up a sound muffling spell keeping all the sound inside the map room while blocking sound from the outside, hoping to concentrate on the very important conversation without disturbances. "WHY THE BUCK IS SPIKE LOOKING AT THOSE MAGAZINES! WHERE DID HE EVEN GET THEM?!"

Twilight's wail woke up the two fainted ponies as Rainbow Dash was laughing at Twilight's priceless and completely un-princess like reaction. "Haha! Oh geez Twilight, you should see your face!"

The princess of friendship then turned to look at the laughing pony with frizzy hair, a twitch in every part of her body, and a maniac look in her eyes, all while smoke was seen coming from her head. "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING? THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE! SPIKE'S WAY TO YOUNG TO BE LOOKING AT THINGS LIKE... LIKE THAT!

"Twi-" Applejack tried to put in some calming words to calm the purple mare but before she was able too, another scream was heard. "AHHHH MY EYES! I'll never be able to clean such filth out of my beautiful eyes! Rarity yelled, all while running around the room with her eyes closed

The pink party pony then decided to add to the volume. "WHY ARE WE ALL SCREAMING?!" Pinkie Pie then yelled out with her mouth opening at impossible levels.

As all this was happening, Fluttershy was hiding underneath Rarity's fainting couch, attempting to hide from all the noise currently bouncing around the room. "Ummm everypony, could we all just umm, all calm down please. I mean, if it's okay with you.

Applejack couldn't take all the screaming and hollering and finally couldn't take anymore. "EVERYPONY QUIET!" Finally, all seemed to calm down as the farm mare smiled at the sudden noise drop. "Listen, we all need ta calm down and think about this fer a moment-"

Applejack was suddenly cut off by the purple unicorn. "How can I be calm when my number 1 assistant is currently in his room ogling over mares in erotic poses like eye candy?!" Twilight asked loudly, though much calmer. At least calm enough to not risk a magic bolt flying from her horn hitting anything or anypony.

After getting over her laughing fit, Rainbow Dash spoke up. "I agree with AJ here Twilight. Lots of ponies look at that stuff. It really isn't as big of a deal as your making it."

"How in Equestria could you say that?! He's not even 16 yet! All my books state that colts only start getting those feelings and looking at those things between the ages of 15-16. This is a disaster, Spike is way off schedule! Twilight said with anger and fright laced within her voice.

Fluttershy spoke up trying to help calm the stressed purple alicorn. "Actually, dragons age differently then ponies. There are lots of things we don't know about dragons too. Is it possible that this could be normal for dragons that are Spike's age?"

Twilight was about to retort but stood frozen in thought. It's true that much about dragons has still been undiscovered by pony kind. Could it really be possible that this is normal? If so, what should my next course of action be? What if I'm behind schedule?! I could be tardy!" Twilight then began to breath heavily as she tried to calm herself down. "No, I can't think like that. I will not have a repeat of the "Smarty Pants" incident"

Pinkie Pie then yelled again, though this time it was from excitement. "Oh this is perfect! I know exactly what kind of party to throw now!

All the girls looked at the party pony and screamed in horror. Surprisingly even Fluttershy screamed. "NO!"

Pinkie's mane suddenly deflated as she pouted. "Aww come on, I've got it all planned out. I'll set up a pole so Rarity can–"

"I ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT DO ANYTHING VULGAR AND UNLADYLIKE!" Rarity screeched in disgust.

Pinkie's mane seemed to droop even lower. However, her mane suddenly poofed back up. "I guess that's okay. I'm sure I can think of another way to throw a party for Spike. Maybe I'll make a 'So glad your getting older but don't grow up to fast' party."

Rainbow Dash decided to speak up without thinking. "If it makes you feel better, the issue Spike had wasn't even as bad as some of the others. The one Spike had was pretty tame. It was also outdated by a month which means no new 'trends' were shown in it."

Everypony stared at Rainbow Dash, not sure how to respond. Finally the most perceptive member of the group decided to speak up. "Wait, how do you even know that Rainbow?" Twilight asks in relief and shocked confusion.

Applejack caught on pretty quickly and grinned cheekily. "Yeah RD, how do you know that?"

The rainbow mare knew she made a mistake and tried to redeem her pride. However, it didn't work too well with the red blush on her face. "Oh, well umm, I have a friend and he umm, he showed me the newest edition. I of course refused to look at it, telling him he should be ashamed of himself. He tried to show me anyways and I got a glimps of it before bucking him real hard."

Everypony just looked at Rainbow Dash in surprise, shock, and disbelief, except for Applejack who wiggled her eyebrows and grinned, giving her a "your already caught. there's no way your getting away with that" face.

The silence seemed to make the cyan on Rainbow's face turn completely red before she finally gave up. "Ugh, yeah whatever! I read those magazines, big deal. I make them 20% cooler just by reading them! The prismatic pegasus shouted in defiance with an embarrassed face.

Twilight didn't care about Rainbow Dash reading pornopraphic magazines involving mares. That was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. The purple pony only cared about one thing. "Rainbow Dash. Did you say the specific magazine Spike had was a month old? Are you absolutely sure about this?"

Rainbow Dash was surprised at how Twilight didn't make a joke about this being another type of "literature" she enjoyed besides "Daring Do" and how the bookish mare suddenly got serious. All Rainbow Dash could do was look at the alicorn questioningly. "Well, yeah. I'm definitely sure that specific one Spike had was about a month old. Why are you asking?

"Don't you think it's odd how Spike read that magazine even though I'd left or been busy many other times within the last month? Why would Spike choose to read something slightly outdated now of all times instead of getting caught up on the newest ones? He had multiple chances to read that old magazine without anypony around and yet, he chose to read it right as we started watching him" Twilight states logically with confusion and suspicion on in her tone.

Rainbow Dash then speaks to Twilight uncertainly. "What are you suggesting? Don't you think maybe your thinking a little too hard into this? Maybe Spike was saving it or something."

Twilight spoke up to make sure everypony heard her. "I'm not thinking too far into this. Thinking back to what we had seen, Spike didn't even look like the pictures affected him. In fact, all he did was smile. Other then looking at the pictures, Spike didn't physically do anything inappropriate at all. It didn't even seem like he was attracted to the mares in the pictures. He looked at it like any other regular magazine."

Rarity spoke up in surprise. "Hold on one moment darling. Are you suggesting that he planned on reading that... trash... as we were watching?

"Well it certainly is quite the coincidence, don't you agree?" Twilight asked the white unicorn with a thoughtful look on her face.

Applejack then spoke up with anger hidden in her voice. "So it's possible that Spike knew we were watchin him and he decided ta teach us a lesson by embarrassing us or sumthin?"

"It is a possibility, yes. Though, If he really did know then why would Spike deliberately use inappropriate magazines in the first place when he could've just told us to stop snooping? Why make a performance and show off?" Twilight asked the girls, still attempting to wrap the situation around her head.

Pinkie Pie then started to wave her hoof in the air wildly. "OH, OH, I know, I know! What if Spike used that mean trick to hide an even bigger secret?"

The girls all needed to take a moment to consider Pinkie Pie's conspiracy theory. While the idea seemed crazy, it did sorta make sense.

"I may be a lady but even I want to snoop and figure out what Spike is hiding. Why would he keep something that could be a big deal from us?” Rarity asked confusedly.

“Well, I don't really think we should spy on Spike. If this was all actually planned out by Spike then maybe it isn’t our business” Fluttershy stated shyly, trying desperately too avoid any looks thrown her way.

“Sorry Shy but I’ve gotta disagree with you here. I thought Spike was boring and all he did was work 24/7 but the stunt he just pulled proved me wrong. I say we keep digging till we find out what’s really going on. Besides, the little guy is our friend so he should just tell us anyways. What gives him the right to keep such a big secret from us. Even if we have to force him to spill it, I’d say it’s necessary” Rainbow Dash said with excited determination.

Twilight then smiled and spoke up with an equal amount of determination. “Don’t worry Rainbow. We won’t have to force him to tell us at all. In fact, I’ve got a plan. Group up girls, were going to solve this mystery once and for all.

Applejack then forced out a laugh and spoke with a smirk on her face. "Once we figure out what's going on with Spike, we should question a certain Rainbow pegasus about her magazines."

"Shut up AJ or I'll buck you to the moon" Rainbow Dash stated with a face which looked more like a tomato. Obviously she was more embarrassed then angry and serious."

As all the ponies in the room laughed, Twilight couldn't help but worry.
”Spike... What are you really hiding?”

Author's Note

Hi everybody!
I hope you liked this chapter as much as myself. I love the whole "cat and mouse" scenario in which plans of some sort are put into action in order to catch the other and one individual getting a "one-up" on the other or making a small mistake which could change the ENTIRE story. I also love the aftermath of such events.
Let's just say, I have plans for the next chapter. Big plans.
If this works out the way I have it envisioned within my chaotic mind then the next chapter will hopefully be much more interesting.
My hope is to really kick one of the next two chapters up a notch and get a bit more extreme.
While I can't guarantee anything, I will do what I can to make this happen.
Thank you all for stopping by!
~Sincerely Jordan Olson
PS: The next chapter is already done. I'm going to look it over a little and then post it later. Maybe.... I might wait a full 24 hours to post it after posting this chapter. I guess we'll see....