Moonlit Eternity

Chapter 5

"Ah! Finally. The last book aphabetized." Spike said to himself with satisfaction. He had been working on putting all the books on the bookcase in front of him in alphabetical order for the last hour. And given that it was the nonfiction area, it was quite a physical task for the small dragon. He sat down on the incredibly tall bookcase ladder and looked down at Twilight Sparkle, nose in a book, as always.

"Yep. One bookcase down three to go, Spike." Twilight said to him. The baby dragon sighed in annoyance.

"Twilight, why do I have to do all of this today?" He asked the mare. She looked at him incredulously, smiling.

"What exactly is the significance of today?" She retorted. He sighed heavily again.

"Nothing, really. I just don't want to do this kind of stuff today. Today is the kind of day we'd go out and see everypony and do stuff. Not stay in this library."

"Spike, this is all very necessary. If we don't get this done today, we'll just keep putting it off over and over again until it gets too out of hand. Did you ever hear the expression, 'Diligence is the mother of good fortune?'" She asked.

"No...no I haven't." He said plainly, looking down at her again. She shook her head.

"Well, it doesn't matter." She said. "Once you get the other three done, you'll be done for today and you can do whatever you want."

"I guess so." He said, apathy lining his words. Twilight thought for a moment for something to say to insipire the baby dragon to work harder.

"You know," Twilight said, looking up at him slyly. "Rarity really likes hard workers." She had no idea whatsoever if what she had just said held any truth. But if it got Spike going...

"Really?" He said, looking down at her, all of a sudden interested.

"Yep." She said simply. "I'm sure she would see you differently if she knew how you like to do a job right." Spike stood up on the ladder and quickly rolled it to the next bookcase.

"Alright! Let's do this!" He said, excitement and a hint of passion now taking over his speech. Twilight laughed quietly and went back to her book. She continued to read about spells to heal wounds quicker than the body's normal process. A knock at the door rung out through the library.

"Don't worry, Spike. I'll get it." She said. He did not reply, busily going about his task. She barely heard him say something about Rarity before she went for the door. Another set of knocks came.

"Coming." She said. She opened the door to find none other than Steel Anvil standing before her.

"Steel!" She said warmly. "Good to see you. What do you need?"

"I just figured I could come and see what kind of books you have here." He said to her. She smiled at him.

"Well, if there's anything I know, it's books. Come on in." She said. He smiled at her and nodded. He walked into the expansive main atrium and marveled at it's size. He whistled.

"It looked a lot smaller from outside." He said. Twilight giggled.

"That's what a lot of ponies say." She retorted. "So, is there any kind of book you're looking for in particular?"

"Fiction, I suppose. I never really liked the factual stuff. I like the fantasic stories. The ones that make you think and wonder about what exactly is happening to the characters. Nothing too out there, though. Mostly action with a bit of romance maybe." Twilight had spent this time while he was describing the book to look around for the proper volume. She eventually picked one out and handed it to the red stallion with her magic.

"I have a feeling that you'd like this one." She said proudly. He observed the cover. Blood in the Snow was it's title, written in large red letters. It had a stallion crossing a frozen wasteland in nothing but a small jacket. A pair of red eyes stared at him from the darkness. "The's hero's fiancé is kidnapped by vampires, and-" Steel's expression changed as he put the book down on a small table. This perplexed Twilight.

"I don't think I'd like it, actually." He said.

"Oh, okay. Well, I guess I could find you a different one..."

"Actually, I'm here for another reason, as well." He said to her. She looked at him and nodded. "Well...you know Rainbow Dash pretty well, don't you?"

"Absolutely." She said with a small smile. "Why?"

"Well, what kind of stuff does she like?" He asked her.

"That's a pretty broad question." Twilight retorted. "Care to narrow it down a little?"

"Well, what does she like to do?" He said.

"Well, usually, she likes to sleep, or practice tricks in the sky. She-" Twilight stopped in mid-sentence. "Why do you want to know so much about Rainbow?"

"It doesn't really matter..." He trailed off.

"Sure it does. Now, tell me, or I'm not going to tell you anything about her." Twilight said. Steel chuckled.

"An ultimatum, huh?" He mused. "You don't seem to be the type to give those." Twilight smiled to herself.

"I'm full of suprises." She said. "Now spill it."

"Okay, okay." He gave in. He looked to the side nervously. "I'm...going to ask her out on a date." These words seemed to make Twilight happier than she was as she smiled widely.

"That's great!" She said. "I thought you two were talking to each other an awful lot."

"Yeah, that has been happening. So, what do you think she would like?" Steel asked.

"Honestly, Steel, I have no idea about what kind of things Rainbow would like when it comes to dating. If I had to guess, I would say to just be calm and confident. I don't think that she'd want to go out with some insecure, babbling stallion who's tripping all over himself."

"That seems like it would be true." He said.

"How were you planning to do it?" She said, leaning forward slightly, eager to hear about Steel's plans.

"Well, that's another reason I came here. I need to know if you can get me up to her home in Cloudsdale." He said to her.

"That won't be a problem." She said happily. "I can take you up there on my hot air balloon."

"Great. Then, I guess I'll just walk up to her door and ask her out. Seems simple enough."

"Well, Unicorns and Earth Ponies can't walk on clouds like pegasi can. I'd have to use my cloudwalker spell on you."

"Well, if it's no problem for you..."

"It really isn't." She said. "I'm just glad to see that you're making a move. Rainbow needs somepony." Steel nodded and smiled at her.

"Well, thank you." He said. "Could it be ready by seven o'clock tonight?" She nodded at him. "Perfect. I'll see you then." He turned around and began to leave.

"Wait, Steel." She said, before he could reach the door. "There is one more thing I think you should do when you ask her out." He nodded at her. "Do something special. Don't just ask her, make it mean something, you know?"

"I have a feeling that I do." He said. "Thanks again, Twilight." He left the library and headed for the market. He walked to the flower stand and looked around at them all. The mare behind the counter regarded him.

"Is there anything I could help you with, sir?" She asked him in a pleasant voice.

"No, thank you. I'm just looking." He considered a bushel of roses, or daisies. He looked at the mare behind the counter.

"Thank you for your time." He said to her as he turned to leave. He turned in the direction of his forge to finish a project that he had been working on for a week. He didn't need flowers. What he already had planned for the cyan mare was more than enough.

_____

Rainbow Dash struggled to focus on her Daring Do novel. It was an effort that was valiant, but doomed to fail, due to frequently passing thoughts of the dark red stallion, Steel Anvil. She started another paragraph, reading aloud.

"Daring Do, now possessing the Staff of the Basilisk, turned to face her enemy, the evil Ahuitzotl. She jumped at him and swung the staff, utilizing it's ancient powers to connect with Ahuitzotl's head. Recovering from the blow, Steel Anvil-" She groaned loudly as she slammed the book shut and put it on her bedside table. She layed in her bed, thoughts of Steel's charming face and alluring eyes invading her mind.

"Why can't I stop thinking about him?" She said to herself. She smiled to herself, remembering her exchange with him two days before. She had dropped a pretty heavy hint to him that night, after her prank, organized with Pinkie Pie was executed perfectly. He would have to be the stupidest stallion in Ponyville to have not gotten it. She had gotten him, though. She had the last laugh. She had left him flustered and blushing this time. She giggled to herself and threw a hoof into the air to congratulate herself. She sat up and looked around her bedroom, idly sitting, not seeing anything else to do besides lay in bed. She laid back, looking up at her open roof, Luna's moon hanging over Cloudsdale, lighting up her room naturally. She stared at the moon until she heard a knocking at her door. She sat up again, looking down her hallway in slight confusion.

"Who could that be?" She said to herself. She went to her door and opened it, expecting to see Derpy with some letter she forgot go give her. Instead, to her complete and utter suprise, there stood Steel Anvil. He was hiding something behind his back with one hoof. He smiled at her. Her eyes grew wide.

"Suprised to see me?" He asked her. His brilliant red eyes filling her with desire.

"Yeah, just a little bit." She said. Behind him she saw Twilight's hot air balloon. "So, you brought Twilight's balloon, huh?" She looked a little closer and barely saw a bit of navy blue and pink mane and a purple horn. "And Twilight herself too."

"I'm not here!" Twilight quickly said, blowing her already blown cover even further. Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked at Steel. He still had that charming smile planted on his face.

"So, what's this all about, Steel?" She asked him. He exhaled heavily, pulling what he was hiding from around his back. It was an iron heart, intricately made with exact patterns, lined with bronze that had a small, silver center. It shined brilliantly in the moonlight. Rainbow gasped. It truly was beautiful.

"I made this for you." Steel said to her. "So that you would know how I feel." She looked at him, blushing heavily. "I would love to take you out on a date." Rainbow smiled at the gift and looked up at Steel. She chuckled to herself.

"Geez...this is so sappy..." She said, smiling more. This cut to the core of Steel. His expression turned sad.

"Oh, okay. Well, I understand if you don't want to." He began to turn to leave, but Rainbow stopped him.

"Of course I'll go out with you." Steel smiled heavily and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back, closing her eyes to bask in the moment. She opened them to see Twilight's balloon rotating, slowly revealing Pinkie Pie clinging to one of the ropes. She squealed.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow exclaimed. "What're you doing here?"

"I just couldn't help it! I just had to come! You two are so cute together, and back at the library, I overheard Steel talking to Twilight about it-"

"You were never at the library, Pinkie." Twilight interjected, poking her head up.

"Yes I was, I was hiding in the branches, ready to scare you. So anyway-"

"I got it, Pinkie." Rainbow said, half-laughing. "Leave it to our friends to do something like this."

"You can say that again." Steel responded. "So, when did you want to go out?"

"Well, if I go fast, I can usually get off work sometime around three p.m. So, I could just fly down to the forge tomorrow and we can go from there." Steel nodded.

"Sounds like a plan." He looked at the heart he had presented to Rainbow Dash. "Eeeehhhh....This was really sappy. I'll just take this and melt it down-"

"No!" Rainbow quickly said, grabbing it from him. He recoiled slightly raising an eyebrow, suprised. "I mean...I guess I'll take it off your hooves...it's pretty cool looking." He handed it to her slowly, not breaking eye contact.

"Okay then. I guess I'll see you at three tomorrow, then?" He said to her.

"Yep. See ya then!"

"Alright...bye." He said with another smile. She smiled back at him, still blushing heavily.

"Bye." Steel turned and walked back to the balloon. He got into it with Twilight and Pinkie.

"Well done." Twilight said to him, happy at his success.

"Oh...my...Goddesses!" Pinkie said happily, bouncing up and down. "I'm so happy for you two!" Steel looked back at Rainbow, who was headed back into her house. She looked back at him and smiled one more time before closing the door.

"Yeah..." He said. "I am too."

Rainbow had gone into her bedroom and stood for a moment. She put the iron heart on her bedside table. She went into her kitchen and got a glass of water and drank it. She walked into her living room and from her front window, she watched the hot air ballon disappear below. She then walked back to her room and flew out of her open roof and did a gigantic loop at high speed, finishing up above Cloudsdale, throwing a hoof into the air triumphantly and letting out a tremendous-

"YES!"

_____

Steel walked through the streets of Ponyville. The moon hung in the sky, suspended in near motionlessness. He had asked Rainbow Dash out on a date only an hour before, and was now back down on the ground where he usually was. He crossed onto the street that his forge resided on. He continued to walk down the street, past the forge, leaving Ponyville. He looked forward at his goal, his current destination. The Everfree Forest.

Rainbow awoke from her night's slumber with a smile. The morning sun shined through her window and lit up her bedroom with a brilliant yellow hue. She sat up and stretched, yawning widely. She hopped from her bed and regarded her pet tortoise. He was still sleeping.

"Today's the day, Tank!" She said happily. He looked up at her slowly. "My date with Steel! What I've been waiting for!" She imagined that if he could speak, he'd say something like- "Why would you wake me up like that?" in an excessively deep voice. Rainbow just snickered to herself and filled Tank's food bowl with reptile food. He looked at it slowly and got up to eat. She patted him on the head before she went to her bathroom for a shower. She needed no irrigation system like the denizens of Ponyville. She merely kept about twenty small clouds filled with water floating above an area with a small hole for a drain. She took one of the clouds and punched it lightly a few times, making a steady stream of water flow from it. She held it above herself and let it start floating as the water played down her forehead, soaking her mane and her body. She rinsed out her mouth and washed her mane, body, wings and tail. After she was good and clean, she went to her sink and brushed her teeth. Finally, after she had completely freshened up, it was time to take to the skies above Ponyville. The weather order for that day was nothing but sunshine, so she and her team had quite a lot of work to do.

"Bye, Tank!" She said to her pet before leaving. He looked up from his food bowl at her and blinked, then went back to eating. She giggled as she shut the front door behind her. She then took off at a leisurely speed. But a leisurely speed for Rainbow Dash was exceptionally fast for most other Pegasi. She bobbed and weaved through the clouds, coming to the place in the clouds above Ponyville Town Hall where she usually met her team. She looked around for anybody else, seeing no members of her team. She then realized that, in her excitement, she had gotten going about an hour ahead of schedule. She layed down on the soft, comfortable coulds and shut her eyes.

"I little nap couldn't hurt..." She drifted off to sleep, letting the clouds conform to her body shape, slowly taking her into them. She woke up. It was dark outside.

"Oh, no...How long did I sleep?" She said to herself. The darkness was nearly fully encompassing, the sky having no moon, cutting visibility down so low, she couldn't see five feet in front of her. Then, at that moment, out of the darkness opened two red eyes. They were completely red, showing through the darkness. There was only one pony she knew with eyes like that.

"Steel?" She called. "Steel, are you there?" She slowly began to walk toward the eyes. It seemed to her that with every step she took, they got further away from her. She slowly increased her speed. "Steel! Hey, come on, this isn't funny!" She continued until the eyes, finally and suddenly, were close to her. She squinted her eyes to see what exactly had posessed those eyes, whether it be Steel, or something else.

"Steel?" She said one last time. The shape of a large stallion began to take shape in front of her, but she still couldn't quite tell what exactly it was. It's mane was long and spiked, falling over the side of it's face. The mane was much too long to be Steel's. It was much larger than Steel, as well. It began to growl, low and guttural. The thing's mouth opened to reveal long, razor-sharp teeth. It began to walk toward her slowly, laughing. The laugh went from a quiet chuckle and steadily increased in volume. The thing began to howl with laughter. Rainbow's heart felt something that it had not felt in a very long time. Something she had trained herself to conquer on a moment's notice. Fear. The thing hunkered down, ready to pounce. Rainbow began to fly away as fast as she could. But it was no use. She felt a pair of hooves grasp her shoulders.

"Rainbow!" It said in a very feminine voice. It shook her a few times. "Rainbow, wake up!"

Rainbow shot up from her dream, breathing heavily, to meet two faces from her Pegasus weather team. They looked at her concerned. She stood up and sighed to herself as she regained her composure.

"Sorry, guys. I guess I fell asleep waiting for you." She said. "Thanks for waking me up, Cloud Kicker." She flitted to the front of her weather team. "Okay, everypony. You remember the weather order for today. Pure sunshine. Let's get to work!" She flew up, ready to begin. Whatever that creature from her nightmare was, it certainly wasn't Steel. She smiled happily at the thought of Steel and the date they were going to have later that day as she bucked the first cloud of the day.

_____

Twilight was three-quarters of the way through the book on advanced healing spells she had started the previous day. Given that it was nearly seven hundred pages long, it was quite the read. She hadn't gotten very much sleep the previous night, and the exhaustion was catching up to her. Her eyelids slowly began to drop, closing very slowly.

"Hey, Twilight!" Spike exclaimed right next to her head. Twilight awoke suddenly with a small shout. She looked at him, slightly annoyed, yet smiling because she knew that he did nothing wrong.

"Yes, what is it, Spike?" She said to him. He held up a book with an old illustration of a large dragon on the front.

"Anatomy and Phy-physa...." He struggled to read the title. "Mind helping me out here?" Twilight leaned forward.

"Physiology." She said.

"Anatomy and Physiology of Dragons! I have got to read this book!" He said. "Isn't it cool?" She smiled at him.

"Yes, Spike, it's very cool." She said to him. "Now please let me get back to my studies." Spike nodded and took the book up to their room. She shook her head and tried to focus on the book again. Just as she began reading about healing broken ribs, a knock sounded at her door. She groaned and stood up to open it. She opened it to find Steel Anvil standing there, again.

"Hey, Twilight. Sorry to be bothering you so much lately." He said to her. She smirked.

"Don't worry about it." She said, trying to mask her exhaustion. "What did you need?"

"Could you tell me the best way to get from Ponyville to Canterlot? I want to take Rainbow there for dinner tonight." He said.

"Dinner in Canterlot, eh? That's very expensive." She replied.

"Well, making an iron fence for the richest stallion in Ponyville does have it's perks." He said to her. She smiled at him.

"The best way is by a chariot pulled by Princess Celestia's royal guard, but I don't think they pick ponies up. I would take a train. It'll get you there in about an hour and a half, so you can have some good quality time with Rainbow and be back with a little time to spare." She said.

"Well, then, I'll take the train." He said to her and nodded. "Thanks for your help." He looked over at Spike, who was quite interested in his book. "Hey, Spike, what're you reading?" Spike looked up at him.

"Oh, hey, Steel. It's just this book about dragons. I wanna see what I'll look like when I grow up. So far, I haven't found any kind of dragon that looks like me, though." Spike replied.

"Oh, well I'm sure you'll find it eventually. I'll see you guys later." He said as he left. Twilight sighed heavily and went back to her book. She continued reading about more healing spells, turning page after page, the process continuing on for what seemed like an eternity. Slowly, her eyes began to close...slowly, she began to drift into the sweet bliss of sleep.

"Hey Twilight!" Spike's loud voice shocked her from her near slumber. She fell backwards in her chair. She looked up at him, annoyance no longer present, replaced only with exhaustion. "Oh...sorry..." He said, slightly guiltily. 'Buck it.' She thought to herself. She had the innate urge to cover her mouth as if she said the words. She sighed as she stood up, closed her healing spells book and turned for her bedroom.

"Make yourself some hay fries for lunch, Spike. I'm going to bed..."

_____

Rainbow bucked the final piece of cloud above Ponyville into apparent nonexistence. She smiled as she finally got the last bit of her work for the day done. She looked around at the clear skies surrounding her.

"Are we done for the day already?" Asked Cloud Kicker. Rainbow nodded at her and sped off toward Cloudsdale. She could now go and prepare for her date with Steel. She felt a small rush of exitement flow through her body at the thought of the stallion. She quickly flew into Cloudsdale to her home to freshen up. She quickly ran into her bedroom.

"Hi, Tank!" She said quickly to her pet as she rushed into her bathroom. She took a cloud and punched it a few times to get the water going and washed herself again. After she was clean, she went and looked at herself in the mirror. She shook her mane out and brushed it once, separating it perfectly. She then poured some reptile chow in Tank's food bowl. He slowly and gingerly began to eat as the mare looked at him in adoration. She patted his shell lightly. Rainbow looked at her wall clock. It was two forty-five p.m. Just in time. She had begun to leave when she saw a small bottle of perfume that Rarity had given her for her birthday one year, much to her chagrin at the time. It had never been opened. She stared at the bottle and wondered whether of not she should put some on for Steel. The words on the bottle, written in impressive cursive, said "Midnight's Desire: By Photo Finish"

'Oh, barf...' Rainbow thought. 'but still...' She picked up the bottle, did a spray of it into the air and smelled it. The smell was incredibly feminine, most likely made to make most stallions amorous in the moonlight, hence the title.

"Nahhh..." She said quietly to herself, putting the small bottle back on her dresser. She reached the door of her bedroom and looked back briefly. She started to turn around again when she stopped herself. She looked back at the dusty bottle one more time.

"Maybe I should...nahhh..." She said as she left the bedroom. She quickly turned back and sprayed it on her neck once. She shuddered slightly as she turned to leave. She closed the front door behind her and exhaled heavily.

"Here we go..." She said to herself as she took off in the direction of Ponyville. After a short time, she reached the small town and touched down close to Steel's forge. She ambled over to the building and knocked on the door. Steel answered and brightened up significantly when he layed his eyes upon Rainbow.

"Hey, Rainbow." He said to her, smiling. "Ready to go?"

"Yep!" She said to him as he locked the front door behind him. "Where exactly are we going, anyway?"

"Well, I figured that we'd take a train to Canterlot and I'd take you to an early dinner. After that, we could just look around for something fun to do while we're there, and then I guess we'll just come back." He said as he walked next to her.

"Canterlot, huh?" She said to him, smirking. "That's pretty huge for a first date."

"This isn't our first date, and you know it." He said to her as they approached the train station. She snickered at his comment.

"So, we're taking a train?" She said.

"Yep. Twilight told me that's probably the easiest way to get to Canterlot." He responded. They sat down and waited for the train to arrive.

"Alright. So, how exactly did you make me that heart? It's pretty awesome looking."

"Well, like I said," He responded to her. "Smithing is kind of an art for me. It took quite a while. But as far as I'm concerned, it was time well spent." Rainbow smiled and blushed. "You sure were prompt today. I'm guessing you had your team work extra hard." She nodded. "Couldn't wait to see me, huh?" He said, smirking. She looked at him and slugged him in the shoulder.

"Oh, shut up..." She said, smiling. Steel laughed. The train arrived at the station, squealing loudly.

"All aboard for Canterlot!" The conductor yelled. Steel stood up and turned to Rainbow.

"I guess that's us." He said. "Let's go." Rainbow nodded and followed Steel onto the train. They took their seats across from each other.

"You look great." Steel said to her. Rainbow snickered.

"That's all you could come up with?" She said, smirking at him.

"I was saving all of the interesting stuff for dinner, thank you very much." He responded. Rainbow laughed. Steel sniffed the air briefly. "What are you wearing? It smells fantastic." Rainbow raised her eyebrows in complete and utter suprise. She hadn't thought that he would notice from one spray.

"Oh, it's Midnight's Desire: By Photo Finish." She said in a model-like tone of voice and struck an outrageous pose. Steel laughed.

'Thank you, Rarity.' She thought as she sat back down. The train had begun moving toward Canterlot, and Rainbow eagerly anticipated what would happen.

Obligatory end-of-chapter Author's Note: Originally, this chapter was upwards of ten thousand words long. Seeing as how that is a lot to take down in a multi-chapter fic, I have decided to split it up into two seperate chapters. Cheers!