"Er, Sweetie Belle? How much longer do I have to keep this thing on?"

Through the darkness of his blindfold, Spike could only hear a brief giggle in response to his question. All he could sense, aside from what he heard, was the feeling of the young filly's hoof upon his claw as she carefully guided him to their destination. Throughout it all, the young dragon couldn't help but feel warmth in his cheeks. She's holding my claw. Oh jeez. I'm glad this blindfold is on, otherwise who knows how red my face would be right now. He let out a sigh as he continued to walk with the filly. Okay, Spike, keep calm. You're with a friend. It's Sweetie Belle. A filly just like any other. You don't need to feel nervous...even if she is leading you blindfolded to a secret place that you don't know about. Er...okay, maybe there is a good reason to be nervous after all. But, you shouldn't! Remember what happened last time? Twilight's teasing never ended, especially when Trixie joined in. Just play it cool. He kept telling himself that, over and over, until eventually, he felt that Sweetie Belle had released his claw, causing him to stop walking. As he stretched out his arms in an attempt to feel what was around him, he heard her voice.

"Okay, Spike. You can look now."

Reaching up, the young dragon yanked off his blindfold. After taking a few moments to let his eyes adjust to the light around him, they widened with surprise at what was before him. It was a large tree, right in the middle of the land he knew was a part of Sweet Apple Acres. But, within the tree itself was a bright and colourful tree-house, freshly painted and looking like it was it pretty good condition. Spike stood there, mouth agape, at the sight of it, prompting Sweetie Belle to giggle yet again. Hearing this, Spike promptly shut his mouth and coughed nervously. So much for playing it cool. Still, this is a pretty good job they did here. Last time I saw this place, it was an utter wreck. I know Applejack meant well when she gave it to them and all, but still...yeesh. Stepping forward, Spike looked the place over. New windows, a fully-repaired staircase leading up to the place, and even a few new support beams to help it stay secure in the tree itself. Turning, Spike looked on as Sweetie was bouncing up and down.

"Isn't it great?!" she asked excitedly.

Spike nodded with a smile on his face.

"It sure is! You girls did a great job here!"

Sweetie blushed at that, which was a sight that threatened to cause the redness in Spike's own cheeks to return in earnest. However, before that had a chance to happen, Sweetie spoke up to him.

"Well...it was mostly Apple Bloom. Scootaloo and me just helped bring the materials over."

Spike nodded at that, turning to the tree-house once again. Apple Bloom did all this? By herself? That filly has some real talent with a hammer, I'll say that much. As he thought on that, he heard a sound from up above, and looked up to see, sure enough, that Apple Bloom herself was now exiting the tree-house, with Scootaloo close behind her. As the two looked down, they noticed Spike, who waved in greeting to them. Waving back, the two fillies marched down the stairs to meet both him and Sweetie Belle, with the former speaking up first.

"I heard this was your doing, Bloom?" Spike asked.

The earth pony filly puffed out her chest with pride.

"Eyup. It weren't easy, but ah got it all fixed."

Scootaloo stood beside her, smiling widely as she looked to the young dragon.

"Now the four of us get our own clubhouse!"

Spike nodded to that before looking up at the tree-house.

"You know...you could have asked me to help, if you wanted."

Sweetie stood beside him, placing a hoof upon his shoulder and giving a reassuring smile.

"We know, and thanks for offering. But we know how busy you are with all the chores you do for Twilight, so we figured we'd keep this to ourselves, at least until it was time to surprise you."

Another nod from Spike followed that. Makes sense. Still, we get a new clubhouse out of it, so that's good. Looking down, Spike watched as all three fillies began to enter the house, prompting him to follow in their hoof-steps. In a matter of moments, he was inside, and looked around at what was presented before him. A map of Ponyville, a few motivational posters, and even a podium for assembly speeches. Wow, they really went all out for this, Spike mused. Looking back to the fillies, he watched as Apple Bloom took her place behind the podium while Scootaloo and Sweetie stood before it. Spike walked over, standing in-between the latter two fillies, before Apple Bloom addressed them.

"So, as this is the first official meetin of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, anythin we need to discuss?"

Scootaloo stepped forward, smiling widely.

"You bet! There's that talent show Miss Cheerilee and Twilight told us about!"

The other fillies all smiled at that, but Spike was thinking the matter over. Oh yeah, I heard about that. All the local colts and fillies are going to be showing off to Ponyville in a few days time. It'd be a good way to see what they can do. Guess the girls want to participate. His guess was soon proved to be accurate, as Sweetie Belle then spoke up.

"Ooh! This'll be a great chance for us to earn our cutie marks!"

Apple Bloom nodded.

"Ah'll say. But...what should we do?"

The four of them fell silent with that question, thinking things over until, finally, Scootaloo spoke up.

"I've got it! How about a concert?"

Spike turned to her with a raised eyebrow, but was stopped from speaking when Apple Bloom spoke first.

"That's a great idea! We can put together a concert with singin an dancin, an everypony would see us!"

We'd be sure to get our cutie marks then!" Sweetie Added.

The three fillies started bouncing around at that moment, all squealing with joy over their new idea. Spike, by contrast, just stood there, rather bemused by the whole thing. Well...they're enthusiastic, I'll give them that much. But, if living with Twilight has taught me anything, it's that enthusiasm isn't enough. You've gotta work for it. Looking around, Spike caught sight of Sweetie Belle, and he began to walk towards her, clearing his throat as he did so. Hearing this, Sweetie stopped bouncing and looked to him while tilting her head a little.

"What's wrong, Spike?"

The young dragon let out a sigh at that.

"Sweetie...I don't mean to sound negative..but do you girls actually know how to put on a concert?"

It was a question heard by all of them, and soon enough, both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had also stopped moving, and turned to their drake friend.

"Well...I know we've got to do a whole bunch of singing and stuff," Scootaloo noted.

"An dancin," Apple Bloom added.

"And props! Lots of props and costumes!" Sweetie concluded.

Spike nodded to all of that.

"Okay then, but the talent show is only in a few days. We'll need to get to work if you're going to be able to pull this off."

The three fillies looked to each other briefly before turning back to him, each bearing looks of determination.

"Then let's get started!" Scootaloo called out.

The three huddled together and started talking, with their barely-contained excitement just brimming under the surface.

"I'll do the props and costumes!" Sweetie stated.

"I'll do the singing!" Scootaloo continued.

"And ah'll get ta work on the dancin moves!" Apple Bloom finished.

Spike raised an eyebrow after hearing that, only to be taken aback as all three of them began to charge past him and towards the door. There were a few false starts on his part, but eventually, Spike just let out a grunt of annoyance, put his claws into his mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle. Immediately, this caused all three of them to stop dead in their tracks, turning to him with looks of confusion. After going down the steps to follow them, Spike cleared his throat a little before beginning to explain himself.

"I appreciate that you girls are excited about this, but I think you might be better off doing different jobs here."

The fillies seemed even more confused by that statement, prompting Spike to explain further, turning to Apple Bloom first.

"Apple Bloom, I know dancing sounds pretty exciting and stuff, but I think you might be better off doing the props and costumes instead. I mean...just look at this!"

He turned, pointing to the clubhouse to emphasise his point.

"You have a real talent for making stuff. If you put that kind of effort into the stage and props, I guarantee that you'll come up with something great to look at."

Apple bloom gained a look of uncertainty at that, even though the other fillies were nodding in agreement with what had just been said. But, she didn't have a chance to respond, as Spike then turned to Scootaloo.

"Scoots. You should do the choreography. Everypony in Ponyville knows how good you are with acrobatics. Those stunts you do on your scooter? Those are amazing!"

Yet again, the other fillies seemed to agree with him, much to Scootaloo's surprise. The pegasus filly gained a look that was very reminiscent of when Rainbow Dash tries to look modest, at which point, Spike turned to Sweetie Belle. Here though, he gained a slight blush as he spoke.

"And Sweetie? You...erm...well...you have a really nice singing voice."

Those words prompted Sweetie to let out an "aw", much to Spike's embarrassment, leading to him clearing his throat a bit more before continuing.

"You'd best be in the front of the concert, singing as much as you want. We've all heard you do songs before, and we know you can do it well."

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at her, nodding enthusiastically at what had just been said, even though Sweetie herself still looked a little unsure about it all. With his words finished, Spike watched as the three fillies looked to one another, trying to gauge each other's reactions. I don't like telling ponies what they should be doing, but I think this might be good for them. If they'd done it the other way, who knows how bad their final performance might have been? After a few minutes of silence, the fillies turned back to him, with Apple Bloom speaking up.

"Are y'all sure about this, Spike?"

The young dragon nodded.

"I am. You three have real talent in those things, and I think you'd be selling yourselves short if you didn't take advantage of it. If you focus on what we all know you're good at...I think you'll probably blow everypony away at that show."

The fillies all blushed slightly at the praise they were being given, with Sweetie in particular choosing to step forward and place a hoof on Spike's shoulder, giving him a look of appreciation. Now blushing himself, Spike chuckled nervously at this before watching the fillies walk off, hopefully to do what he suggested. It took only moments, but the fillies were fast enough that they were soon out of view completely for the young dragon. Now alone by the clubhouse, Spike smiled to himself. Huh...it's kinda nice to see ponies listening to me like that. I wonder if this is what Twilight feels when she gives advice? A smile crept even wider onto his face as he considered that. Twilight. She'll probably be there at the show. I hope she likes it. The girls will probably be trying really hard to make this work. If they pull together and use those talents of theirs, then this'll be one heck of a concert. A look of pride crossed his face as he began to walk off, ready to join the fillies and help with their preparations. Who knows? Maybe they may even discover their true calling from this. A dry laugh escaped him as he thought about that.

"Yeah, not likely. I mean, I know they're good, and will be great to watch...but what are the chances they'll actually get something like cutie marks out of this?"