Spike walked next to Rachel in the midmorning sunlight. The light of the sun glistening off of the crystal structures in the Empire.

"So, you ate breakfast?" Spike asked Rachel as they walked. He was a little nervous venturing out. With that article being spread around saying that he attacked Blueblood for no reason, it may leave some of the citizens a bad taste of him.

May of which make him not pass this challenge date.

Spike has started to think there was a pattern; He gets into fights, rumors spread, ponies afraid of him. Same shit from the cruise, similar situations.

He'll deal from what he did last night later, his full concentration was on his mate.

"Yeah," Rachel said as she walked next to him, her arm linked around his. It does look awkward to see how Spike was towering over his girl, but the two didn't mind that. "When Flurry Heart kidnapped me, she and her mom made me breakfast."

"And they didn't bother to wake me up?" Spike asked with a smirk.

"You looked cute asleep...last night was a rough night."

It sure was…

When the young couple passed by the flower shop, one of the shop owners quickly rushed out. "Psst, Spike!" she called him out in a whisper.

Spike stopped walking for a moment to turn around. The pegasus flew over to him, in her hand a bouquet of Rachel's favorite black and crimson red roses. These roses were different than the last time he presented her roses; these guys were glistening like crystals and shine like diamonds.

"We had to dig through our leftover Nightmare Night batch." She explained. "But would these do?"

Once Rachel saw them, she gasped at the sight of the bouquet. "Oh my god, those are gorgeous."

Spike nodded to the shop owner and she handed them to Rachel. She grabbed them and looked at the flowers. "Spike, these are so beautiful." Rachel loved them cause seeing the beautiful crystal design on the flowers was giving her artistic ideas. Spike could see that artist's gears turning.

And that's just how he wanted it.

Rachel giggled before looking at the shop owners. "Thank you, very, very much."

"We were lucky to even find the black roses." The pegasus giggled. "We almost had to call our friends from the funeral home to see if they have some in stock."

Spike majorly facepalms at that.

Rachel blinked at that. "Yeah… good thing you did have some."

"Well, enjoy your day!" she said before looking at Spike. "Can I have your autograph first?" She beamed in joy.

Spike went ahead and signed her apron just to get it over with and took his girl and the flowers away from that.

"So, where are we going?" Rachel asked him as she continued to hold her roses. Thinking how she can preserve them and find a way to make them a part of a painting.

"You'll see, we're almost there." Spike said with a smile. He just loves that look she gets when inspiration strikes her.

The art gallery should definitely score some tallies, he hoped.

When they approached, Rachel blinked when she saw that there was a sign posted on the door.

Due to unexpected circumstances, the Gallery will be closed due to remodeling.

"Um...well ain't that crap." Rachel muttered.

Spike smirked. "Not so much, my love." He confidently walked up to the door. Using his pinky claw, he jiggled the lock before the door opened with ease. "After you."

Rachel raised a brow at that before looking at him. "Won't we get in trouble for breaking in?" she asked.

With a grin, he chuckled. "Well, that's the beauty of being me, I can get away with a lot of shit." He giggled before that smile quickly turned into a frown.

Way...way too soon.

She gave him a dead-pan look.

….

….

….

"L-lets just go in." Spike quickly said then, ushering her inside.

Inside of the tall building, the crystal walls glistened as various paintings and sculptures were displayed all around. Paintings that go back decades before the reign of Sombra. Princess Amore's portraits, portraits of Cadence, Shining and Flurry were everywhere.

What else was everywhere, Spike's portraits, sculptures, all of them in elaborate poses and making him appear bigger than life.

"Wow...full of yourself, much?" Rachel giggled as she looked around, seeing the various works of art.

Spike looked around the Gallery, one of the workers who worked at the gallery spotted them and grinned at him. The dragon spotted them and gave them a thumbs up.

The worker gave him a thumbs up as well.

Good, it's ready.

"You sure we won't get in trouble by breaking in?" Rachel asked him after studying a snowy landscape.

"Oh we won't." Spike grinned. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently ushered her towards a set of velvet blue curtains. "Babe, what do you see when you look at all of these?" He asked her, motioning towards his portraits and sculptures.

"All of them filling your massive ego?" Rachel teased, taking a jab at him. Which in results had Spike tickling her sides, having her outburst in laugh. "Oi!"

Spike giggled. "Well, what these guys have in common is the fact, they don't capture who I am." He retreated from her and walked over towards the curtains and grabbed them. "How about you change that." pulling the curtains back, he revealed the wizard.

More like there was an artist space. A stool stood in front of a large easel. Off to the side on white cloth tables had various color paints, tools and brushes an artist could only dream of having at their disposal.

"So, you want me to draw you?" Rachel asked the purple dragon, but her eyes were on the art display.

"I owe you two art sessions, remember?" Spike giggled, seeing her gears turning in her head. "Might as well cash them in. All of your art supplies are here at your disposal, ready and waiting for your command." He looked over his shoulder and saw the worker who helped him out and nodded him thanks.

The dragon turns back to Rachel and giggled. "So, what do you say?"

"I say get your scaley on that stool and let's get started." Rachel giggled, a little excited to do this.

Spike gave her a bow and smiled. "As you wish, my lady." He said before they got into place. He got to sit down on the stool while his dragoness got to the easel.

Rachel took her plaid shirt off to tie the sleeves around her waist, grunting when the fabric tangled with her splinted fingers getting it off.

"Any poses you have me do?" Spike asked as she was getting ready. When she winced, he frowned. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just stay relaxed as you are." She told him as she grabbed a pencil and approached the easel. Rachel smiled at Spike to reassure him. "But I wouldn't say no to have some music playing."

Spike chuckled, "Skullen Fang?"

"Just anything,"

With a smile, Spike dug into his pants pockets to pull out his phone, when the twin's crappy pop ringtone played on Rachel's.

Spike groaned. But he then paled. Ruby and Gemcity must have seen the article…. It details the part of him giving Rachel a black eye.

"Sorry," Rachel said, answering the phone, holding it with her left hand. She grabbed the pencil with her right and began drawing. "Hey girls~"

"Oh fuck yeah, you gonna take this thick cock, you fucking slut?"

"Ooh yess! Oh yes, Galaxy, harder!"

Rachel's face alone had this annoyance and deep urge to punch something. "Hello?" She grunted.

"Oh shit, I have this on speaker." Ruby coughed. "Gemcity, Gal, tune that shit down!"

"No promises!" Gemcity giggled.

"Business or food?" Rachel grumbled, her face turning cherry red.

"What's the difference, they are both deliciously fun!" The twins sang in unison, as if this wasn't the first time either they called Rachel or she called them during their sexual food time or performing for clients.

"Anyway, before we pay a visit to that sack of shit you called boyfriend, care to explain why he hit you?" Ruby asked, her tone dark and serious.

Rachel glanced at the nervous Spike and gave him wink to have him relax as she continued to sketch out the portrait. "Girls, since when do you read the gossip article? You know those guys make up lies."

"Oh, so if we go up there and meet up with you and Spike, you won't have a black eye?"

"Ooh fuck yeah, hit that!" Gem cried in bliss before speaking. "After saving his ass, he shows his gratitude by hitting you? Bitch that doesn't cut it with us."

"I-I know some g-guys that can help." The male known as Galaxy offered.

Both the twins and Rachel told the stallion to shut up.

"Gem, I can't talk to you while you're fucking." Rachel grumbled, having Spike look at her phone with an odd look.

"You better say something cause we're on the first train to the Empire in the evening." Ruby grunted.

"Girls, what happened was an accident. I got injured breaking up fights before at the bar. Besides, I'm having Spike serving his punishment now." She gave Spike a flirty wink. "So don't worry."

"If you get hurt because of him one more time, we will come. Got it?"

"Rube, I can handle myself. Look, I gotta go. I'll talk to you guys soon."

"I mean it, Rachel. Don't make us find out he's hurting-"

"Talk to you later." Rachel quickly said before hanging up on her.

"Verdict?" Spike asked her.

"Crisis averted for now." Rachel said, taking the battery out of the cell and setting them aside on the table. "I got them."

Though he had a feeling they'll make an appearance soon, he relaxed. Spike turned to his phone and put some music on. Just a collection of various music played in the speakers.

Getting into the groove of the first song, Rachel tied her hair back in a messy bun before going over to her paints. After getting what she needs, she goes back to the easel and begins painting. At first she was slow, expressionless, but as the first song transitioned towards the second, that was when she became meticulous. Humming and smiling in enjoyment; the paint brush stroke the large sketched canvas in various colors of warm hues of red and brown, cold colors of blues and purples.

Every once in a while, she would glanced over the canvas to look at her boyfriend before returning to her work of art.

Spike smiled warmly as he watched Rachel paint. He admired how fun she was having while doing art. The way her eyes lit up in enjoyment applying paint or a pencil down on anything.

"I love it that you're like this." He commented to her.

"Like what?" Rachel asked as she scratched her nose, not caring that she smeared gold metallic paint all over it,

Spike giggled. "This; when you are creative. The way you smile while working on a piece. I love the fact you don't care if you get paint all over the place, getting dirty. Heck, I love the way you put your hair up; long hair or short, you find a way to put it up in a bun. When you can't find a bow, you use pencils or pens and they are never to be seen again."

Rachel shook her head with a smile.

"Seriously, does your hair have a catch-all like Pinkie Pie?" He giggled more. "You know, I talked to the curator before we came here. He said that if you want, you can have this piece be placed here."

Rachel had to pause painting to look at him. "Come again?"

Spike nodded. "In fact, there is a spot here that is an empty spot here in the Gallery. If you want it, maybe you can have all of your paintings here."

"You shitting me, right?" Rachel asked, she had to double check.

"No shitting here," Spike giggled, seeing how big her eyes had gotten. "No recreating old paintings like you did for Filthy Rich. All original works. And instead for one day like at the gallery on Bahoofmas, it's as long as you want it to be."

Rachel walked away from the easel and gave him a big hug. "Oh thank you, thank you!" she smiled in joy. "You didn't have to do that for me."

"I had this one planned for yesterday. After we had a good time dancing, I was going to take you here." He sighed softly after that. "Things didn't turn out right...our first Hearts and Hooves day…"

"Yeah, blame Blue Waffle for ruining our dance." Rachel said.

Then a song came on.

A perfect opening happened. Spike smiled, "No he hasn't." He said as he grabbed her hands while getting off of the stool.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked confused for a moment before he started to dance with her. "Seriously? I look like a mess like you said I was." She giggled.

"I meant to say you looked beautiful, silly."

So in the middle of the gallery, the two shared a loving dance.