One day after school behind the building, Spike, Snips, and Snails were sitting down while looking at some dirty magazines compliments of Snails.

"Ooh, look at the jugs on this one." Snips said, while salivating.

Snails was looking at one picture looking excited, "Oh, yeah. That's my sweet honey."

Spike was looking at one magazine himself. As he peered at the pages he couldn't see the images in the magazine himself, but instead saw Twilight and the others in place of the magazine girls.

'Oh, now that's hot.' Spike thought in arousal. He kept envisioning each of the girls fondling and touching each other, until he was snapped out of it by his cellphone ring.

"Oops. Gotta take this," he answered it, "Hello? Twilight, hey," Snips and Snails leaned in hoping to hear something juicy. Spike glared at them, and they backed off, "Right now? Sure, I'll be right there. Ok, see you in a bit." he hung up.

"What's the story, Spike?" Snips asked.

"You gonna get some with Twilight?" Snails asked curiously.

"That's between us, you guys. I'll catch ya later." Spike hurried off.

"No fair, man!" Snails called.

"What happened to not keeping secrets from your bros?!" Snips shouted.

Spike had made his way to the groups club building, and went inside. When he entered the main room, he saw Twilight at her desk.

"Hey, Twilight." he greeted her.

Twilight smiled, "Glad to see you made it, Spike."

"You said you wanted to see me about a matter?" he asked with a hint of worry.

Twilight sensing his worry spoke, "No need to feel nervous, Spike. You're not in trouble."

"I'm not?" he asked in confusion.

"Not at all. I called you here because of a favor you owe me."

"A favor?" Spike pondered before recalling, "Oh, right. I said I owed you for helping me out with my dragon breath problem."

Twilight nodded, "And I've decided you can pay me back by joining me on a date."

Spike was speechless, before he worked up the courage to speak, "A date? That's what you want in return?"

"It's a simple payment for helping you." Twilight said.

"Logical," Spike agreed, and thought, 'Damn she beat me to it again. Why can't I get a good chance to ask her out myself instead of her always asking me? Oh, well. No sense complaining about it,' he spoke up, "Sure, Twilight. I'd love to take you out on a date."

Twilight smiled, "Thank you. So shall we go?"

"Lead on." Spike said, as Twilight led Spike out.

Soon enough they were out in the city at the shopping mall checking out the their favorite stores and showing each other some of their favorite spots. They were in the mall's book shop with Twilight checking out some astronomy books, while Spike was looking at a graphic novel about superheroes.

After they paid for their books, they walked through the mall, as Spike spoke up, "What say we get a bite?"

"Sounds good to me." Twilight agreed, as they walked.

To Spike's surprise, Twilight linked her arm with his and walked closer at his side. Spike thought to himself, 'Locked arms. Man, does this feel great. If my elbow brushes up against her breast, that would be even better.' he grinned.

Meanwhile in Nightmare Moon's lair, the corrupted one sat on her throne as Descent entered, "You summoned me?"

"Descent. I have reports that Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike are seen out in the city alone." Nightmare began.

"I see. What is it you want me to do?" the shadow bolt inquired.

"Take your troops and launch a full scale attack on them. Can you do that with no problems?" Nightmare squinted her eyes at him.

"No problem at all." Descent answered.

"Then get going," Nightmare ordered, as Descent took off. The corrupted one looked out the window of her lair seeing the land, "Soon this land will know its true ruler."

Back with Spike and Twilight, the two left the mall and were in the park having an ice cream. Spike sighed in relaxation and spoke, "It feels good to just hang out without having to worry about anything, isn't it, Twilight?"

"Yeah. It's been awhile since we were able to do just this. You and I." Twilight admitted.

"I really wish we can do this more often." Spike said with a sigh.

"You know? I do to, Spike." Twilight replied.

Spike looked at her, "You too?"

Twilight nodded, "While I know it's our responsibility to help protect this city and even Equestria itself, I wish all the danger didn't get in the way of our social lives."

Spike agreed, and spoke, "Maybe once this Nightmare thing blows over we can do more like this with lesser threats to get in the way?"

Twilight smiled at that possibility, "I'd love that."

Spike and Twilight smiled at each other, and were ready to move in for a kiss, only to be interrupted by a laughter.

They looked up and saw Descent hovering above them, "Well, isn't this sweet?"

"Descent?" Spike gasped.

Twilight frowned, "What're you doing here?"

"I have my orders, Princess. And that's to take you two down."

Spike looked around, "Just yourself? Hate to say it, pal, but without Trixie you don't stand a chance against us two."

Descent smirked, "Then let's fix that." he answered, and on cue multiple Shadow Bolt pegasi appeared looking ready to fight.

"Oh, shit." Spike cursed.

"Spike, transform!" Twilight ordered. Spike nodded, as the two transformed into their pony and dragon forms looking ready to fight.

"Take 'em!" Descent ordered, as he led the Shadow Bolts on the attack.

Twilight and Spike took it to the air and started fighting their enemies. Twilight was blasting at them with her magical energy, while Spike was spitting fireballs at them.

As Spike thought he realized they were out in the open, "How come none of the people are noticing this?"

Twilight looked and could sense something, "A magical barrier has been set up to stop time for this area."

"You guessed it." Descent answered, as he flew in and knocked Twilight off balance.

"Twilight!" Spike called, as he tried to go and help her only to be blocked off by more shadow bolts.

"Where do you think you're going?" one asked.

Spike frowned, "Out of my way!'" he started blasting them with fire, while trying to get to Twilight.

Twilight continued fighting Descent and some shadow bolts with her magic, but the more she attacked, the more they just kept coming back.

"It's useless, Princess. You two against me and my troops, you don't stand a chance in Tartarus!" Descent mocked.

"Then maybe this will even the odds!" came a voice as multiple shadow bolts were blasted by magic and fell to the ground.

Descent seeing this growled, "Who dares?!"

Spike and Twilight looked over and down on the ground they saw two more anthro ponies. A boy and a girl who looked like they were the age of college students. The colt was a unicorn dressed in soldier armor, and had a white coat, and his mane and tail were a mix of moderate sapphire blue, moderate cerulean, and dark phthalo blue. The girl was an alicorn with a light pinkish coat, and her main and tail was a mix of moderate violet, moderate rose, and pale gold.

"Who're they?" Spike asked in confusion.

"Shining Armor! Cadence!" Twilight called in joy.

Spike turned to her in more confusion, "Huh?"

"Sorry to drop in without an invitation." Shining Armor said with a chuckle.

Descent growled, "This is not your fight! It is now, intruders!" the shadow bolts dove in to attack the newcomers.

Shining Armor was blasting them with his own unicorn magic, while the girl named Cadence flew around blasting them with her own magic. The older girl flew to Twilight and Spike, before asking, "Are you two ok?"

"We are now." Twilight answered.

"We'll take it from here." Cadence said, as she flew around and used her magic to knock out several more shadow bolts leaving Descent and only a few conscious.

Descent groaned knowing Nightmare wasn't going to like this. He turned to Spike and Twilight, and called, "You two lucked out, but next time you won't be so lucky!" he vanished along with his defeated troops.

Twilight, Spike, and Cadence landed on the ground, as Shining stood by the older girls side. Shining smiled, "Twily, it's so good to see you!" he hugged her.

"It's great to see you too, Shining, you and Cadence." Twilight replied, as Cadence joined the embrace.

Spike spoke up, "Am I missing something here?"

Twilight remembered, "That's right. Guys, I'd like to meet my new friend and teammate, Spike Drake. Spike, this is my older brother, Shining Armor, and his wife and my old sitter, Cadence."

"Your brother and sitter?" Spike asked, as he looked at the two.

"That's right." Cadence confirmed.

"It's nice to finally meetcha, Spike," Shining began, as he and the dragon shook hands, "Twily's told us all about you in her letters."

"I must say for the new wielder of the dragon king's power you're quite the handsome boy." Cadence admitted.

Spike felt flustered from such a compliment by an older girl, but acted professional, "Well, thanks."

Twilight asked, "So what're you two doing here all the way from the Crystal Empire?"

"Crystal Empire?" Spike asked.

"My brother and Cadence rule over one of Equestria's kingdoms known as the Crystal Empire." the girl explained.

"Rule? Then that would make you two..." Spike trailed off as Cadence answered.

"A Princess and a Prince? That's right."

Spike looked at Twilight in disbelief, "Wow, does royalty seriously run through your family?"

"It's hard to describe," Twilight answered sheepishly. She turned back to the two, "So why are you both here again?"

"Well, for one thing to see you." Shining answered.

Cadence continued, "But really, we're here by order of Princess Celestia."

"Princess Celestia?" Spike and Twilight inquired knowing it had to be important.

Shining nodded, "She wanted us here to talk about the up and coming event the Summer Sun Celebration."

Summer Sun Celebration?" Spike asked.

Twilight explained, "It's an event held every year before the start of the summer in Equestria. It dedicates the day when Princess Celestia imprisoned Nightmare Moon."

"I see." Spike replied.

"We were on our way to meet with Princess Celestia until we saw this magical barrier set up." Cadence said.

"We went to investigate it and to our surprise found you two." Shining added.

"Well, we're glad you showed up." Spike admitted.

Cadence spoke, "You two certainly were handling things well until more started showing up."

"Thank you." Twilight smiled.

"Well, we better go see Princess Celestia." Shining said.

"We'll join you, we need to alert the others about what just happened here anyway." Twilight said.

"Then let's go." Spike ordered.

"First thing's first." Shining said, as the four resumed human form. Shining Armor stood wearing sneakers, jeans, a black shirt with the symbol of a blue shield with a star in it, and covering it was a blue jacket.

Cadence wore pink high boots, a blue skirt, a white shirt with the symbol of a crystallized heart, and a blue ribbon in her hair.

"And second of all." Cadence used a bit of her magic to break the magical barrier, as time around them resumed.

"Now we can go." Shining said, as the four walked on.

As they walked Spike thought, 'Twilight has a brother. I think maybe my chances of getting with her could be complicated now. If there's one thing I've learned about dating girls is you have to be prepared for overprotective parents and older siblings.' he dreaded.

Meanwhile at Nightmare's lair, Descent was kneeling before her in shame. Nightmare Moon was not pleased with the news she just heard.

"The rulers of the Crystal Empire?!"

"Sadly, yes. We didn't take in account of them showing up." Descent answered in shame.

Nightmare growled, but calmed down, "No matter, not even they will be a problem once the time is right. And when the time comes, it'll be the end of day and the beginning of an everlasting night." she laughed maniacally.