Author's Notes:

Another Spike focus chapter, go back and read chapter 5 if you missed it (I realized I actually posted chapter 6 as chapter 5, it messed with my written chapter to posted chapter comparison until I took care of it recently).

Next chapter, we get to see an old “friend” again, one that hasn’t been seen in a while.

After six days the train finally arrived at the destination Daring said was the starting point for their hike, Spike predictably groaned as they got all their supplies from luggage storage. Due to his greater physical abilities, he was forced into carrying most of the supplies along with his personal gear. Daring was no slouch when it came to strength, she was carrying the crate of energy bars and replica idol along with her personal effects. But Spike had to carry the books and water in addition to his personal effects, an annoyance he grumbled about for the first forty minutes of the hike. Coincidently, the time they arrived at the station was the early morning just before sunrise.

Thankfully as dusk began to settle Daring had them stop and find a reasonably open area to set up camp. Spike started a fire in a pit he dug out with his own claws after he managed to erect his tent and place everything he carried with him in it, seeing as he could just breathe fire, starting a campfire wasn’t much of an issue for him. Unfortunately for him, Daring walking around was a massive distraction, especially with her declaration that she preferred to sleep in the nude and asking if he had a sleeping mask or some other kind of blindfolding item to act as a guard against witnessing such things.

Spike’s main problem was the fact he wanted to see a naked Daring, very much so. Add to that, the way she was moving around with much more pronounced sexy gait than when he first met her and he had himself a real temptation he would be more than glad to give into with no regrets. He wanted very much to tap that plot and hear her scream in pleasure from his very touch, so much so that his letters to Celestia, Luna, and Cadance all asked for help keeping his urges more in check, he was very worried that at some point his greed would take the wheel and he would no longer be in conscious control of his body. Celestia sent him a note enchanted to have thirty seconds of any sound they wished, which had its entirety of her laughing hysterically. Celestia apparently thought it hilarious he was having trouble keeping things under wraps with Daring when it came to sexual attraction, the fact she had told him outright this was likely to be a twelve-day hike did not bode well for him.

When he woke up the next morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise, he heard the telltale sound of a pony splashing in water nearby, likely Daring bathing. The thought of seeing Daring in the buff, dripping wet from her bath, came unbidden to Spike and he felt his double boner rising again. Why did almost everything about Daring Do have to be outrageously sexy to him now? He had never thought of Daring Do like this, he’d never used any of the Daring Do Books as clopping material.

Spike hoped the next ten days or so weren’t going to be torture, he felt like some higher power was testing him for some reason. Whatever higher power got a kick out of his torment was a jerk of the highest order, if him being tortured was just a byproduct of their actual attempts it would be more forgivable. He looked over to see the idol replica staring at him with its eyes of literal gems and said, “I bet you’re getting a kick out of this, why can’t you just tell me what you want from me? If you have been talking with Daring, which I doubt, then why hasn’t she passed on any messages to me?”

The statue didn’t respond, not that he had expected as much. Just as he was getting ready to go back in his tent to grab a towel then wait for Daring so he could ask where the bathing site was, he saw a completely naked and wet Daring approaching the campsite. Spike could feel the drool building up in his mouth, her breasts weren’t just perky like he felt on the train during that rather intimate makeout session on the train, they were practically lively orbs of desire that he could almost hear beckoning him to come and do all manner of naughty things to them.

And to think, this was technically the second day of the hike. Spike quickly ducked into his tent before Daring noticed him looking at her, Spike could feel his self-restraint being assaulted. It would probably be non-existent by the time they even got to their destination.

After waiting a few minutes after he had seen Daring approaching the camp, in all her unmitigated glory, he approached her tent and asked her if she knew where a good place to bathe was, with a casual drop of hearing her splashing in the water earlier. What followed next pushed his self-control to its limit, in more than a few ways.

Daring came up to the entrance of her tent with a sexy smirk that had Spike suspecting he had been found out, in only her shorts and no top. Spike could feel his boners getting hard again, her abundantly ripe fruits were literally on display before him and he was afraid of what would happen if he tried to touch them without the barrier of cloth that shielded them during his last encounter with them. She then told him the directions, while making movements that drew attention to her bouncing, juicy, and super sexy mammaries. They actually looked like they might be bigger than when they started the journey, but that was crazy talk.

Spike thanked her and hurried to the pool Daring pointed out. When he got in he noticed it felt a lot purer than he had anticipated, almost as if something had cleansed it before he got there. After he was all washed up and dressed he returned to camp and they got to getting the whole place down and filling in the firepit. Then, once again, they were hiking through the trail Daring had set for them to follow. Eating energy bars for meals while on the go, all of which tasted like stale peanut butter and oats to Spike.

They did the same thing that they had done the day before, the following morning followed the same notes as the day before, almost exactly. In fact, the cycle kept going for the entire hike until the day arrived at the temple. Why did this mare have to task him so? And why did he find it so darn sexy? It was almost like she was trying to give him an excuse to “punish” her, but that was just crazy.

Just what was Daring up to? Why? And why did he find almost all her motions incredibly sexy?