“Rarity!?!” Sweetie Belle said as soon as she saw who opened the door.

Rarity stood there motionless for a few seconds before looking at her sister, “Yes… and what are you three doing out here… in the Everfree?”

“Well what are you doing out here Rarity?” Sweetie Belle questioned her sister, “Especially in Mr. Slade’s house!”

“Wait… you know Slade?” Rarity questioned.

“Course we do!” Apple Bloom answered.

“We tried Cutie Mark Mining… but…” Scootaloo began a little sheepishly.

“But nothing. You three through your destruction of the rock revealed a rich deposit of copper!” Slade said as he walked up behind Rarity, “Now come on inside.”

The three fillies entered Slade’s home. Sweetie stepped off to the side and glared at Rarity.

“You still didn’t answer my question Rarity. Why were you out here?” Sweetie Belle questioned again.

Rarity glared at her sister, “So I could get to know Slade a little better…”

“Oh so he’s going to be like those other stallions you wanted to ‘know’ better?” Sweetie Belle responded putting air quotes around know.

Rarity huffed, “No. Not like the others.”

“Oh really?” Sweetie questioned angrily.

Slade sighed and slammed the wrong hand into his face, “AGH! WRONG HAND!”

Both of them jumped to attention to help him.

“Slade are you alright?” They both questioned.

“Yes… yes… Just in a little bit of pain.” Slade answered as he rubbed his snout. “You both need to stop fighting!”

Sweetie looked at Rarity who had just planted a gentle kiss on Slade’s snout. She gasped, “Rarity!”

Rarity looked down at her sister, “I know… I’ve done this before but… I know Slade is the one!”

Sweetie rolled her eyes, “Sure… sure. That’s what you told Mom and Dad the last two times! And they all were cheating on you!”

Slade sighed, “I’m going to go get a drink… you two… just please stop…”

He walked away from the two of them and into the main room.

“You wouldn’t dare tell mom and dad…” Rarity stated coldly.

“Why wouldn’t I? Mr. Slade’s been so nice to us! He’s been helping us design some of our devices!” Sweetie responded, “I don’t want you to do anything to him!”

Rarity got down to her sister’s level, “Sweetie Belle. I’m not going to do anything to him. He’s been just as nice to me!”

Sweetie continued to stare down her sister, “And are you going to be that nice to him?”

Rarity sighed, “I stayed the night here because I wanted to return the kindness he gave me! It’s wrong that he has to spend so much time alone!”

Sweetie sighed too, “Fine. Just don’t do anything to him!”

Sweetie ran off to join her friends.

Rarity stood up and sighed, “It’s almost like she has a crush on him…”

Slade walked up the stairs and handed Rarity a cup filled with freshly brewed tea. “Here… you look like you need it.”

“Thank you…” Rarity said quietly as she got in his arms.

Slade kissed her neck a little, “Rares… I think you should…”

“Slade… you know I don’t want to hurt you right?” Rarity questioned.

“Yes I do.” Slade answered, “But…”

“And you know I love you… right?” She cut him off again.

“Yes I know you love me and I love you too…” Slade said. This time he didn’t try to speak again.

“Slade… I… I want to…” Rarity began, “No… no you need to meet my parents first… and I need to…”

“My mother died when she gave birth to me… My dad… He died after a fire consumed the hospital he worked in… He got a lot of ponies out though…” Slade said sadly.

“Oh… I’m so sorry…” Rarity said quietly, “Well… you need to meet my parents… I can set up a date for you to meet them…”

“That’d be great… now I need to go watch those three to make sure they don’t blow up half my storage room.” Slade said with a laugh.

“I’ll come with you…” Rarity said.

Slade grabbed her hand and led her back down into the main room.

Author's Note

A short and sweet chapter. I'm working on the next one which will be much longer.