One Step Forward
by MissyAngel
“Spike. What’re you doing?” Twilight emphasized his name to voice her suspicions. Given the date, however, she wondered why she was questioning this at all.
“You know what day it is, Twilight,” he answered, a gleam of pure delight in his eyes as checked his reflection. He adjusted his big and red tie in the mirror, winking at himself in approval of his getup. “Lookin’ good, Spike.”
Twilight grinned ear-to-ear. She approached him and ruffled his green scales. “So, going to try and impress Rarity again?”
“Oh, c’mon, I’ve got this! I’ve got the flowers and everything!” He brought out the brilliant bouquet of roses and the box of chocolate shaped like a heart.
She frowned. “Do you think you’ll be ready? You do get nervous whenever you try this.”
“This time is for real, I swear! I’m going to do it! I think I can, I think I can - “ he muttered as he opened the door and out into a new world of opportunities and possible makeouts. It sounded pretty sweet.
“Don’t hurt yourself, Spike.”
“That wouldn’t look so impressive, now, would it?” Spike asked. He paused. “Unless mares like that.”
“We don’t,” she deadpanned.
With that, he shut the door behind him. Twilight sighed and grabbed a notebook she titled inside How to Deal with a Broken Hearted Dragon. Only nothing else was written inside. “One day,” she muttered. “I’ll figure it out.”
***
Despite Twilight’s teasing, Spike took a confident step towards the Carousel Boutique. Never had he felt so good with his odds. Something about the holiday gave a quick burst in his walk and his heart, and by Celestia, he was going to try!
When he approached the building, however, his chest began heaving as reality settled in. He was going to ask Rarity out… oh, he was going to ask Rarity out. On Hearts and Hooves Day!
He knocked before his hands became too shaky to function. It took a minute of waiting and knocking every once in a while before he stepped back.
Oh no, she’s not home! What if she’s in Canterlot, getting married to that Fancy Pants guy? This is terrible! He doesn’t even WEAR pants! His thoughts brought sweat to his forehead, and his heart started pounding.
He searched far for Ponyville, looking at all the cute little couples eyeing each other lovingly. He began taking mental notes on all the sweet little gestures the stallions made to their dates, from making her laugh and buying her smoothie for her to see her beam thankfully. There was also one stallion who burped in the mare’s face and earned a dagger-like stare in response. Okay, no burping. That’s cool.
Then he saw two mares kissing in the middle of the park, their eyes shut as their lips brushed one another. They both sat on a bench, holding their front hooves together. They looked... familiar, and they were certainly familiar with one another.
Something bothered him, right in the gut. He took a step closer as he examined the couple. Then it clicked, and everything - everything - fell apart. The flowers fell to the floor, and the chocolates scattered onto the grass.
The couple heard the noises and broke apart. Upon seeing a wide eyed Spike, they gasped.
“Rarity? Applejack?” he asked, as if in disbelief this was happening. Bad dream, bad dream! The throbbing in his throat, however, disagreed with him. “You’re… you’re!” Dating, kissing, lesbians!? He didn’t quite know what to say.
“Spike-y wike-y, please, give us a second to explain.”
“Do we really have to explain anything by now? Seems… kinda obvious,” Applejack asked, fixing her hat that had nearly fallen off not a minute before. "We're real sorry, Spike. We didn't want ya to know it like this."
Rarity tilted her head Applejack’s way. “We’ll discuss this later.”
“In bed?”
“Applejack!”
“I was just asking!” Applejack raised her hooves in defense, also in slight fear at Rarity’s loud tone.
“You’re right. I’m sorry, dear.” She returned her attention to Spike, who watched this all with tears forming in his eyes. She trotted over to him, putting a hoof to his chin and wearing a far calmer expression. “Spike, I wish I told you sooner, but… we haven’t really told anypony. Not even the girls!”
“Why?” His voice cracked, and sympathy flashed in both Applejack and Rarity’s eyes.
“‘Cause, well… we’re nervous. What’re the girls gonna think now?” Applejack crossed her hooves around her, a slight blush to her face. “I mean, some farm pony and a gorgeous fashion designer; a lotta ponies might think it’s weird, y’know?”
“Oh, dear, you’re lovely,” she said with a roll of her eyes and a smile to Applejack, who grinned in return. When she looked at Spike, she frowned again. “You’ll be alright… won’t you, darling?”
No, I won’t. I’ll never be happy again. It’s like that time with Glimmer Heart in Canterlot. Except she was married… and she was leaving for her honeymoon. Th-that was pretty bad.
“Yeah,” he answered, extremely glad he chose not to say what was on his mind.
Rarity hugged him tightly. “I’m so glad you understand. That’s why you’re my favorite dragon.” She squished his cheek with a wide smile.
"Again, we're awfully sorry we didn't tell ya," Applejack added, a sincere look in her eyes. "We still hope we can all be friends.”
“Totally!” Spike nearly shouted, startling the two. Clearing his throat, he added, “I mean, why wouldn’t we?”
“That’s my Spike-y. Now, I have some things to do. Perhaps we can have lunch sometime this week.” She nodded and went to Applejack’s side, her face pressed against hers gently. She whispered, “Now, let’s go someplace… private.”
Spike watched them walk off, his jaw fallen to the floor and more tears threatening to slip out.
“I’ll be okay… this isn’t a big deal! Not at all!”
It took a second for that lie to fall apart, and everypony heard a screaming dragon run across Hearts and Hooves Day. It ruined whatever sweet, touching, or possibly gross moment the couples were in ever so slightly.
***
Twilight approached the open door with slight caution. A crying Spike was the last thing she wanted to handle; one wrong word and he’d race to the ice cream shop to buy gallons upon gallons of strawberry ice cream.
They had his name and everything, for Celestia’s sake!
“What happened?” she asked.
“I saw Rarity…”
“That’s a good step.”
“And she was with Applejack!” he yelled, burying his face in his knees as he sobbed uncontrollably.
Aaaand that’s a bad one. As in, ten steps back! But wait... “Wait, Rarity and… Applejack?” Twilight asked, jaw dropped. “A-are you sure they weren’t just talking about something? And you’re not just assuming things? Like when you thought Fluttershy had that fang from the fruit bat epidemic.”
“It was there, I swear! But… no. They were kissing and everything.” He wiped his eyes of any remaining tears. “They were like one of those cute couples in Ponyville… it was awful.”
Twilight frowned, walked over, and nuzzled him, wrapping her hooves around him. “I’m so sorry, Spike.” She lifted his head up and had him look her in the eye. “How about we go and eat some ice cream?”
“Can we bring some home?” he asked hopefully.
Twilight stared at him, making sure to note this in the book for later. “I’ve seen this before; not buying it.”
“I won’t wallow in the strawberry goodness this time, I swear!”
She chuckled. “Maybe some other time, alright?” She walked over to a table and grabbed some bits. “There’s a lot of ponies in Ponyville. You’ll find somepony.”
“But not like her. She’s like, the most perfect pony ever. Her eyes sparkle like stars in the sky, and her mane falls over her shoulder like a river--”
“Alright, step one: no more romance novels for a while. You’ve got ideas in your head that’ll only cause trouble for everyone.” She gave him a kiss on the forehead, gently like a mother would, before handing him the bits. “And second step: try and get over it. She’s out there. I promise. Now, come on. We have some ice cream to eat.”
She felt a wave of relief to see a weak smile on his face. It was a smile, though, which was enough to assure her there wouldn’t be an ocean of ice cream to deal with later that night. He already made his way to the door, his steps perking up. Maybe, just maybe, he could get out of his funk.
Then she slipped a couple extra coins into a small bag, eyeing the dragon behind her.
“What are those coins for?” Spike asked, still sniffling. The tears, however, were only stains on his face.
Twilight winced, hiding the bag away from his perspective - though it was now pointless. Biting her lip, she turned around and said with a slight stutter, “I have something to give to Rainbow Dash, that’s all."
I should've known those two were up to something.