Spike sipped his wine, bored out of his mind. Ever since Twilight became a princess, his responsibilities increased. He often found himself helping her host dinners alongside Lemon Hearts, solving minor friendship problems, doing diplomatic jobs and gaining funding for certain bills Twilight wanted to introduce. He was doing the last one right now. Across from him sat Sheer Perfection and her husband, Star Hunter. They were up there with Fancy Pants in the upper society of Canterlot. They had a lot of sway with politics and funding. Their funding was important to the bill Twilight needed money to enact.
"I so adore these get togethers, Sir Spike," Sheer Perfection said as she ate her pasta. "It's always nice to see you."
"Likewise," Spike replied with a warm smile. That couldn't have been further from the true. He despised the mare, very egotistical and condescending. Take Rainbow Dash, turn up the ego by a trillion, shove it into one unicorn mare and you'd come close to having a copy of Sheer Perfection. Why anypony would do that, he had no damn clue.
"Are you sure this bill Princess Twilight wants to introduce won't affect our personal standing at all?" Star Hunter asked in his typical stuffy voice. Spike gave a subtle sigh.
"No, it will not. If anything, the Foal Care Act will increase it. Supporting such a bill that takes care of sick foals will make you even more liked by the other high class ponies," Spike reassured him.
"Excellent," he said in a relieved tone and Spike bit his lip to prevent a scoff escaping it. These ponies only cared about their reputation and it annoyed him to no end.
"Well, you can tell the Princess we are fully on board. We will send the money immediately after this," Sheer Perfection announced. "A toast." She and her husband held up their wine glasses and Spike grudgingly did the same. The three drank the rest of it and Spike gestured for the bill. He slapped the bits down and worked his way to the exit.
"Spike?" He turned around and faced the mare. She gave him a faint frown. "The point of these things are for you to also bring a date, show off. Increase your reputation. If you need help, I have a lovely daughter who would love to meet you."
"I can find a mare, thank you though. My social standing is not that important to me," Spike told her calmly.
"I'm sure you can. Bring her along next time, we would love to meet her," Sheer said with a faint smirk as she and her husband walked past.
"This is gonna be so easy," Spike mumbled.
"Why is this so hard?" Spike quietly questioned as he sat down next to a stall in the market. Every mare in town either had a partner or was happy being single, he had gathered from his subtle research using the lie of helping Cadence for the upcoming Hearts and Hooves day. I need a date for this stupid dinner next week to shut this stupid mare up, he mused. But I have literally have no idea who.
"You could always ask a friend." Spike glanced up at the pale yellow colored mare leaning on the stand above him.
"What?" The mare smirked at him.
"I'm talking about your dinner and date issue," she explained. Spike raised an eyebrow.
"How do you know what I was thinking, Roseluck?" He questioned her. She rolled her eyes at him.
"You said all of that loud out, kinda hard to not notice you," Roseluck sighed. "Ask a friend to do it as a favor, or you can get lucky and find an actual marefriend." Spike looked her over real quick.
"Well, you're my friend and cute, can you help me?" A faint blush crossed Roselucks cheeks.
"I'd love to Spike, but I'm busy that week. Thank you for the compliment, though." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Most ponies viewed a kiss on the cheek as a sign of trust or gratitude. So it wasn't weird for either of them for her to kiss him on the cheek, nor when he returned the kiss on her cheek. "If I wasn't busy next week, I'd have loved to." She gave him a wink. "But I'd have expected the full thing, flowers and a hug."
He chuckled.
"I expected no less, Rosie. Thanks anyway," Spike smiled at her.
"Hey, Spike!" A light blue unicorn with a periwinkle mane and a blue streak in it trotted up with a wide smile.
"Hey, Minuette!" He hugged her foreleg and she quickly nuzzled him. Nuzzling was also seen as a sign of trust, but mainly affection. Typically only Twilight did it, but Roseluck did it on a few occasions.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She shot an apologetic look to Roseluck who smiled and shook her head.
"Nah, you aren't interrupting anything," Roseluck shoved Spike forward gently with her hoof and bumped him into Minuettes flank. He glared back at her and she jerked her head with a smile and a wink towards Minuette.
"Hey, Minuette?" He asked shyly. Minuette glanced back after admiring some roses.
"Yeah, Spikey?" She resumed looking over the flowers.
"I need some help with something, would you be interested?" Spike asked.
"Of course! Anything for my oldest friend!" Minuette eagerly exclaimed as she turned to face Spike and gave her him a hug. "Let's go talk in the castle." She jumped and skipped in the air, giggling. Roseluck tapped Spike with a hoof, grinning. She shoved the dark blue roses Minuette had been admiring into his claws.
"Remember, all the stops. Roses and chocolates," she reminded him. "Mares like that." He gave her a grateful smile and ran to catch up to Minuette.
"So Spike," Minuette began, her tail swishing back and forth, "what do ya need help with?"
"So you know how I take care of most of Twilights diplomatic stuff and other things while she is out taking care of friendship problems across Equestria?" Spike asked as he pushed open the door to the castle and strode in, Minuette following close behind. She shut the door with her magic.
"Yeah, I remember she mentioned that. What about it?"
"Well, I need a date to shut this annoying rude mare up. Could you pretend to be my marefriend to get her stop?" Spike asked. Minuette shrugged.
"Sure, why not. As long as you help me out."
"Uh, with what?" Spike asked.
"Twinkleshine has been bugging me to get a coltfriend, so if you pretend to be mine, I'll pretend to be your marefriend," she explained.
"Sounds like a deal," Spike agreed. Minuette held out a hoof and Spike quickly shook it with a claw. "I don't have to pretend having, you know what with you around Twinkleshine right?" Minuettes cheeks burned red hot at the implication.
"N-nah of course not Spike," she stammered out, still red faced.
"Okay, it's in Canterlot next week on Tuesday."
"I'll be there," Minuette promised. "You can stay with me!" She eagerly bounced around him with a grin. "It'll be like old times!"
"That sounds good to me," Spike admitted. Minuette wrapped her hooves around him and smiled.
"So Spike," Sheer Perfection began, hiding her smirk behind her wine glass. "Where's your date?" Spike nervously looked around for Minuette. She was late after promising she had a quick errand to run.
"She will be here," Spike mumbled.
"Sure she will," Sheer smirked as she sipped her alcohol. The door swung open and Minuette trotted her in frantically, looking for Spike. Her eyes lit up as she saw Spike and sat down. Spikes eyes widened as he took her in dark blue dress and white necklace. She quickly sat down and smiled at the three.
"Hi there," she greeted. "My name is Minuette, Spikeys marefriend. What's your guys names?"
"I'm Sheer Perfection and this is my husband, Star Hunter." Minuette kept smiling at them.
"Pleasure to meet you both," Minuette announced with her trademark giggle.
"Well Spike, you surprised me. You found a gorgeous mare," Sheer Perfection grinned. "Tell us about yourself, Minuette."
"Well, I went to Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns alongside Princess Twilight. We've been friends since foals. She's my best friend, other than my dragonfriend here," Minuette grinned as she planted a kiss on Spikes cheek.
"Adorable," Sheer cooed. "What's your occupation?"
"I work at the Canterlot Astronomy Foundation as lead scientist. I've made multiple articles about my discoveries of our solar system and space," Minuette announced with a hint of pride in her voice.
"Very impressive," Star Hunter admitted. "I knew your name was familiar. I've read your article on Lifeforms in the Stars. Very fascinating."
"Thank you, sir," Minuette said with a blush. He waved a hoof nonchalantly.
"You can call me Star. I look forward to seeing what you come up with next," he smiled at her genuinely. "Thank you for meeting with us, Spike. Give the Princess our regards."
"Will do," Spike raised his wine.
"Just one thing," Sheer Perfection grinned wickedly. "If she's your marefriend, why haven't you kissed her yet? That is proper upperclass procedure when courting a young mare." Spike glanced at Minuette and hid the nervousness on his face. Minuette leaned close and gave him a quick kiss on his lips.
"Because I told him I make the first moves," Minuette purred. "He's just respecting my wishes as a good partner does." Sheer Perfection nodded as she and her husband left the bar.
"I could kiss you for real now!" Spike exclaimed. "I didn't know all that about your job." Minuette blushed and stole his wine, taking a sip.
"There's a lot about me you don't know Spike," she teased with a wink. "Thanks for the date, it was fun. Even if it was pretty shortlived." She slid off the stool and trotted slowly to the door, tail swishing. "Remember, tomorrow at Twinkleshines. Come back to my place tonight when you're done." Spike stared as she walked out the bar, bouncing as she walked.
"She's beautiful," Spike mumbled quietly to himself. "Wait, did I just call her beautiful?" He sat there till closing, mulling over his words.
Author's Note
I absolutely adore me some Minuette and wish more stories were on here of her. She's definitely one of my favorite backgroundish unicorns.
