A gentle breeze rustled the leaves in the canopy of branches. The sound was pleasing to the small dragon that waited below as he sat with his back to the large tree. He looked up to see the wind playing with the branches above him, causing them to move and allow some of the bright sunlight to pierce through into the shade. The warm light bounced around in the shade, touching a few parts of the ground, including on the dragon’s body. He smiled as he took a deep breath of the air and smiled, he could tell it was going to be a good day.
Looking back at the area around him, he could see Ponyville in one direction and the fence that bordered Sweet Apple Acres to the other. He looked at the empty pathway before him, waiting for the pony that instructed him to met with him there. He saw some movement on the road coming from Ponyville, not far from where he was. His head perked up as he saw who it was. His enthusiasm fell as he saw it was only Big Macintosh pulling a wooden cart behind him.
The red stallion saw the dragon sitting underneath the tree. “Howdy, Spike,” the stallion greeted.
“Hey, Big Mac,” Spike replied, waving his claw to Big Mac.
“What’cha doin’ way out here?” the stallion asked as he trotted off of the road and to be underneath the shade of the tree with the wooden cart.
“Oh, just waiting for somepony. They told me to meet me here,” Spike explained adjusting himself to become more comfortable where he was sitting.
Big Mac unhooked himself from the cart and took off the harness. With it off, he took a deep breath of the cool air within the shade, “Waitin’? For who, if ah may ask.” The stallion’s curiosity was getting the best of him.
Spike smiled, despite his best attempts to not, “Well, I’m waiting for Rarity. She told me she has something big to share with me. And, to tell the truth, I recently gave her a letter telling her how I feel about her.” The dragon was becoming a little giddy with his behavior and demeanor, “I’m really excited to see her and what she has to say. I mean, I’m almost positive that she’s gonna say that she feels the same about me, or even something more!”
A concerned expression appeared on Big Mac’s face, “Ya seem pretty confident about this, don’t ya?”
“Of course! I mean, she’s the perfect pony ever! And I just know that Rarity feels the same way about me!” Spike proclaimed boldly, “But….about me being a dragon instead of a pony, that is.”
“Well, if ya say so, Spike,” Big Mac gave a small smile as he took a seat on the grass under the shady tree. The coolness of the grass against his coat caused him to shiver slightly.
Spike turned to the pony, “Since you asked me, it’s only fair to ask you, what are you doing here?”
Big Mac kept his small smile, “Takin’ a small break from workin’. Ah just got done makin’ a delivery of apples in town. Once in a while, ah like to take a short break after ah go ta Ponyville.”
“So you slack off when you should be working?” Spike joked.
This caused Big Mac to chuckle slightly, “Not exactly. Ah’m just takin’ mah time gettin’ back to the farm. That’s how ah see it anyway. Besides, how can ah not want to enjoy this pleasant day.” The light breeze lightly ruffled the stallion’s mane as he finished his sentence.
The dragon nodded, “I agree with you there, Big Mac, today seems like a perfect day to just lie down under a tree and watch all of Equestria go by.”
The two sat in silence underneath the tree’s shadow, listening to the rustling of leaves in the tree and the not far off chirping of birds. The wind continued to playfully blow the branches of the tree and the grass below as Celestia’s sun continued to pierce through the canopy and warm the dragon and the stallion. This picturesque atmosphere was interrupted, however, by the sound of hoofsteps from the road. The sound grew closer as the trotting continued onto the grass. Spike and Big Mac looked up to see a white unicorn with a stylist purple mane and a saddlebag on her back drawing closer.
Immediately, Spike was elated to see her. However, he kept his composure, “Hey, Rarity!” His voice, however, was still excited.
The unicorn, on the other hoof, seemed to be troubled. “Hello, Spike….and to you as well, Big Macintosh.” Rarity greeted them both as she trotted up to them and their seats on the grass.
Big Macintosh simply nodded, “Afternoon, Miss Rarity.”
“So, what’s up?” Spike tried to sound casual and relaxed, “Why’d ya call me out here?”
Rarity held her tongue. She looked to the side, almost regretting even showing up, “I….have something for you, Spike. A letter.”
This not only surprised Spike, but also Big Mac who was watching to the two.
“A letter?” the dragon asked.
Silently, Rarity used her magic to open her saddlebag and levitate an envelope out. Still using her magic, she floated it to right in front of the sitting dragon.
Taking the letter into his claws, Spike looked up to Rarity and started to speak. “So, what’s in the lett-“ he paused as he saw Rarity avoid eye contact with him. Her expression was unsettled and it looked as if she wanted to just vanish from existence.
Shaking her head, with her mane flying around in the process, Rarity spoke up, louder and clearer than she had before, “Well, I best get back to my shop and get some work done. Have a good day, Spike, Big Mac.” Bidding them farewell, the unicorn turned around and trotted back to town, leaving the stallion and dragon alone.
The two of them watched Rarity leave for some time until Big Mac broke the silence, “Aren’t cha gonna open it?”
Spike looked at the letter in his claws, “To be honest, I’m kinda scared now.” He looked at the folded parchment for a bit before breaking the sealed envelope. With the upmost care, he opened the envelope and pulled out the contents: a single piece of folded paper. Opening it up, the dragon began to read it quietly.
The red stallion looked on as Spike read the letter. From his spot, he watched the dragon’s optimism turned into despair and melancholy as he reached the bottom of the page.
Placing the letter on the ground, Spike fell backwards to lean up against the tree. Staring up at the tree’s canopy he finally spoke. His voice, however, was choked up, “She….doesn’t feel the same way….”
“Ah’m sorry ta her that,” Big Mac apologized as he looked at Spike’s defeated state.
Closing his eyes, Spike fought back against tears. While he was struggling to do so, some were able to escape and slide down.
“What exactly say in the letter….if ya don’t mind me askin’,” the stallion asked.
He continued to struggle with the tears and his words, “She wrote that while she still cares deeply for me, she just….doesn’t see me in the same way. And….she cherishes me as a friend and she doesn’t want to ruin what we have.”
Big Mac simply closed his eyes as he listened to Spike.
“It hurts….” Spike added, “It hurts because I….I need her.”
“You haven’t lost her, ya know. She’s still your friend,” the stallion explained.
Spike opened his eyes to look at Big Mac. This meant he had to wipe away the tears that were both in his eyes and the ones that rolled away. “But all this time I’ve been waiting for her is….wasted. All gone…..for nothing. It’s like she doesn’t even care….”
The stallion looked back at Spike, “Ah’m sure it wasn’t easy fer her.”
“Huh?”
Big Mac continued, “Remember how she looked when she came on by? She certainly looked like she was troubled ta just even show up, much less give ya that letter.”
Spike looked at the letter, “I guess….”
“An’ ah’m sure writin’ it was even harder fer her. Ah know ya think that we all ignore or forget ‘bout ya from time ta time, but the truth of the matter is, Spike, ya mean quite a lot to us all. Yer quite an amazin’ little dragon and ya have a big affect on all of us,” the stallion spoke in a calm and soothing manner, “As fer Rarity, ah’m sure it was really hard fer her to write something like that….something she knew would hurt ya.”
The dragon picked up the letter, folded it, and placed it back in the envelope. “I get it now….it just….”
“Hurts?” Big Mac interrupted, “Yeah, somethin’ like this always hurts. But ya can’t just let yerself get all caught up in it.”
“Yeah, cause doing that would just be really dumb, kinda like how I feel right now about all of this,” Spike had a slight smile on his face as he tried to laugh at how currently felt.
Big Mac gave a smile back to Spike, “Ya just gotta keep movin’ forward with yer life, hopin’ fer the best, Spike.”
“I understand, but trying to forget all of this isn’t going to be easy.”
“It never is.”
END
