16 Hot Moon 1008

‘’Yes, move those books over there, please,’’ Twilight requested, pointing at the corner.

‘’As you say, Twilight,’’ Spike replied, before lifting up the box and walking away with it to the place Twilight had just pointed at, before setting it down again. ‘’What’s in this?’’ he asked as he tapped his claws on the lid of the box.

‘’The more expansive spell books,’’ Twilight answered. ‘’They’re like encyclopedias, and cover basically every avenue of magic not illegal or dark.’’

‘’I thought all dark magic was illegal,’’ Sweetie mused from her seat at the table, where she was busy laying out a set of maps that, if Twilight remembered correctly, showed Equestria, Equus, and the most recent acquisition, a map of the Rambling Rock Ridge.

‘’Well, most of it is,’’ Twilight admitted, turning to face Sweetie, ‘’but some minor spells are allowed, and some aren’t even regulated! Like the lineage rituals, for instance. All blood magic is considered dark magic, but the lineage rituals and a few others are all legal to use as long as you have the proper training and certification.’’

‘’Huh,’’ Sweetie said, before turning her head to look at Spike. ‘’Is she always this detailed?’’

‘’You should know that by now,’’ Spike returned with a slight grin.

Sweetie blushed, and averted her head back to the table. Twilight saw Spike blush too, and couldn’t help a smile of her own forming.

Even if they are taking an awful long time for it.

Twilight had tried her best to help it along by giving Sweetie duties that put her in proximity to Spike as often as possible. If either of them had noticed it, they probably hadn’t put two and two together yet.

Well, Twilight wasn’t going to spell it out for them.

But…

‘’I’m going to check on the others,’’ she said. ‘’You two can continue your work here, alright?’’

‘’Sure thing, Twilight,’’ Spike said a moment too late. Was he still trying to inconspicuously stare at Sweetie?

‘’Y-yeah, sure,’’ Sweetie agreed. ‘’I’ve still got plenty to do, after all.’’

‘’I’m sure you do,’’ Twilight said. ‘’I'll tell the others you said hi, alright? Bye!’’

‘’Bye Twilight!’’

‘’Bye!’’

As soon as the door was closed behind her, Twilight’s smile turned into a grin. Time to listen in.

She turned around and cast a listening spell on the door, before casting another spell to make herself invisible. That done, she leaned close to the door and listened.

|-x-X-x-|

16 Hot Moon 1008

The silence after Twilight closed the door was deafening.

After a few very awkward seconds, Spike cleared his throat. ‘’I’ll just…’’ he trailed off, unsure of what he could actually do. His eye fell on another box. Perfect.

‘’Move this,’’ he said, grabbing the box and lifting it up. He had no idea where Twilight wanted it to go, but he’d just put it somewhere out of the way for now.

And in doing so, keep himself from thinking about that beautiful mare…

Focus.

The box was moved, and now he had nothing to do again.

Sun, he was embarrassing himself so much! Sweetie probably hated just being in the same room as him.

‘’Spike?’’

‘’Wuh- yeah?’’ Oh fuck.

‘’Can you come here, please?’’ Sweetie asked. Her voice was like a sweet - pa-dum bsssh - caress to his ears.

‘’Of course,’’ he agreed, quickly walking over to the table. Sweetie pulled out a chair for him with her magic, and he sat down in it, trying to ignore the flowery scent of Sweetie’s shampoo entering his nose.

He hadn’t been this close to her in months. Intentionally, of course, but the point remained. ‘’What do you need?’’

Sweetie was silent for a moment. ‘’I’ve been thinking,’’ she then said.

‘’About what?’’ Spike asked when Sweetie said nothing more.

‘’About…’’ Sweetie’s eyes, which had been looking at the table even as her face was turned to him, looked up and met him. ‘’Us.’’

What.

‘’Wu-’’

‘’Want to go on a date?’’

It took Spike all of one second to reply to that. ‘’Of course!’’

‘’Great,’’ Sweetie said.

And then silence.

‘’Well this is awkward,’’ Spike managed to say after a full minute of silently staring at Sweetie’s face.

Sweetie giggled. ‘’Yes, a little.’’

‘’So…’’ Spike wasn’t used to searching for words like this, but eventually he found them. ‘’What’s our date gonna look like?’’

‘’Good question.’’

Not the answer Spike would have wanted to hear, or maybe he would have. He didn’t know for sure. ‘’Well, there’s not much we can do,’’ he thought aloud. ‘’Maybe just find a place to talk? One that’s nicer than this.’’

Sweetie giggled again. ‘’Yeah, this place is a little stuffy.’’

‘’Twilight would probably object to that,’’ Spike pointed out.

‘’Probably,’’ Sweetie agreed with a smile, before blushing a little. ‘’I should have thought more about this.’’

‘’I don’t mind,’’ Spike said reassuringly, and he really didn’t.

|-x-X-x-|

16 Hot Moon 1008

Well, that’s interesting.

Twilight leaned away from the door and turned around. She needn’t know anything more about Spike’s dating life, thank you very much.

Instead, she made her way to the central chamber of the hideout. The caverns were spacious but rough, though the underground was stable enough. Still, if this was to be their headquarters they needed to refurbish.

Luckily, that was what the others were doing. Or at least, it was their assigned task. Whether they were actually doing it was another thing.

Twilight arrived in the central chamber pretty quickly; she hadn’t placed her own rooms too far from the centre of everything for a reason.

The central chamber was currently filled with ponies moving all sorts of things, mostly crates containing various items that Twilight could probably remember if she put her mind to it.

‘’Princess Twilight!’’

Since they had joined the resistance - which they still needed a good name for, and a logo, and so much more - Rumble and Diamond Tiara had taken a leading spot in the directing of new members. Rumble did more work than Diamond, obviously, what with the foal and all, but Diamond was a natural at directing ponies, when she wasn’t scolding them.

‘’Good day, Rumble,’’ Twilight greeted with a smile. ‘’How are you and Diamond?’’

‘’We’re doing good,’’ the young pegasus replied with an easy smile of his own. ‘’Amethyst has been getting better at staying quiet through the nights too, so that’s a plus.’’

‘’I can imagine,’’ Twilight chuckled. ‘’Whenever Spike woke up as a baby, my mom would have to be careful or she’d end up with a burnt muzzle.’’

Rumble winced. ‘’Yikes. Nasty. The worst I can expect is her vomiting all over me.’’

‘’Still not a pleasant experience,’’ Twilight remarked. ‘’But let’s move to a different topic; how’s everyone settling in?’’

‘’Well, I think,’’ Rumble replied. ‘’I’ve only heard a few complaints and I’ve addressed all of those as best I could.’’

‘’Good, good.’’ Twilight nodded at him. ‘’We need everyone to be happy; we’re going to be staying here for a while.’’

‘’And then?’’

That was a very good question. Building up a nation-wide resistance was no mean feat. But Twilight had ideas, and she had her friends. They could make this work.

‘’We’ll build a resistance,’’ she told Rumble. ‘’To make sure Amethyst can grow up in peace.’’

Rumble smiled, and nodded. ‘’You’ve got my wings, Princess.’’

He stuck out his hoof, and they shook it.

Author's Note

And here is Ch 17! For those wondering about my other fics, I am busy working on those as well.

Comments are appreciated, and have a good day/night!