The moment the train came to a stop, Spike hopped off onto the platform. The only thing on his mind was getting out of there as quickly as possible, and heading to his long overdue meeting with Rarity. But he still had to wait for his travel bag to be unloaded from the train. As he stood there on the platform, he noticed a group of ponies coming towards him. One of them was a storm cloud gray earth pony. Accompanying her were two other earth stallions. Vinyl stepped onto the platform and immediately waved them over.

"How did it go?" Octavia Melody asked.

"Rowdy as usual," Vinyl replied. "But my big purple buddy here helped out big time. He got me home safely, even when I was completely trashed."

"Cool..." Octavia responded nonchalantly, as if Vinyl did this on a regular basis. "Well...lets start getting all your stuff unloaded and back to the mansion."

The two ponies with her began unloading gear from the train car. Seeing that he escorted Vinyl to Canterlot and back safely, Spike figured he wasn't needed for much more. Quietly, he went to retrieve his bag, which had appeared further down the platform.

"Hey...Spike!" Vinyl called out.

Spike turned to see the unicorn walk up to him.

"Thanks again for everything the past couple of days," she began. "When you get some time, come see me and Tavi over at Rich Mansion. I need to do some accounting, but I promise I'll pay you by early next week."

"No problem, Vinyl," he replied. "Why Rich Mansion though? I thought Filthy Rich and his family lived there?"

"Filthy Rich moved his family to Manehatten a few months ago. So, me and Tavi have been renting the place out. Let me tell you, it's a great place to make music in. Tavi loves having practices there. It's also a great place for a recording studio. Plus you wouldn't believe the amount of space we have! We have parties there all the time, and we can invite almost the entire town over there's so much room..."

Spike nodded as the DJ prattled on. He really wanted to get going badly see another unicorn that he hadn't seen in over six months. But he didn't want to seem rude either. He found that he actually liked hanging out with Vinyl Scratch. She was way more fun to spend time with than Twilight.

"Anyway...I should let you go. Good luck with Rarity," Vinyl turned and walked back to where the other ponies were unloading gear.

Spike was a bit taken aback at her choice of words. Seeing no reason to hang around though, he picked up his bag and began to leave.

"One other thing," she called back to him. "If you're getting bored hanging out in that castle, come by the mansion sometime. Me and Octavia can show you a good time." She winked at the purple dragon then went back to collecting her gear.

The Carousel Boutique wasn't normally open on weekends. But Rarity had so much extra work that needed doing, she decided to open up for a few hours that day. If a customer happened to show up, it would be business that she wouldn't have gotten had she been closed. If no ponies showed up, then it allowed her time to finish up her most important projects. Projects such as dresses for the Summer Sun Celebration Gala, which was occurring in a matter of weeks.

Rarity, of course, knew all about this event. As an Element of Harmony, and on a first name basis with the Astral Sisters, Rarity had an open invitation to attend all of Canterlot's highest society parties. Indeed, she had been looking forward to this for months...and not just because she had an opportunity to mingle with the elite of Equestrian society. No, what had her so excited was that she finally had the opportunity to attend a Canterlot gala with a significant other.

She had asked Black Marble if he would accompany her to the gala about a month ago, on one of her trips to see him. To her delight, he had said yes. He also said that he would be honoured to accompany such a beautiful mare to the gala. This made Rarity swoon with passion. To her, Black Marble had a way with words and knew exactly what to say at the right time. She had never met anypony like him before. If things went well at the gala, and Rarity was certain that they would, then perhaps this stallion was the special somepony that she'd been searching for all these years.

Her reverie was interrupted by a knocking on the door of the shop. That was odd she thought. Most customers just entered if they saw that the sign was turned to open. When she didn't go to open the door right away, there was a second round of knocking.

"Whoever is there...you may enter..." she called out. "The door is unlocked and the sign says open..."

But whoever was at the door didn't heed her instructions. Slightly annoyed, Rarity trotted over and opened the door with her magic.

"As I was saying, the shop is open today..." Rarity began but her words died as she saw who was standing there.

"Spike...?" she asked somewhat confused.

"Hey, Rarity..." Spike smiled nervously at the unicorn.

"Darling...what ever are you doing out here?" she asked incredulously. "You, of all the beings in Equestria, know that you don't need to knock when you come to my shop."

"Sorry Rarity..." he replied sheepishly. "I always used to knock. I guess old habits die hard."

He looked at her apologetically. "I hope I'm not interrupting your work. I can always come back later."

"Nonsense, Spike," she responded. "I can always interrupt my work for a dear friend. Especially one that I haven't seen for months. Please come in, won't you?" She batted her sapphire eyes at him.

It was like she knew exactly what buttons to push with him. Regardless of all his growth, Spike still couldn't resist Rarity no matter how hard he wanted to. Standing close to her, she was still the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria. The way her curly mane bounced when she cantered. The way her flank swayed. The smell of her perfume. Her perfectly done makeup. It was just too much. Yet, he needed to focus on the task at hand. He needed to tell her what had happened the night before no matter how much he dreaded her reaction.

"It would be my pleasure, Rarity," Spike shrugged off his nervousness and entered the boutique. As usual, since his transformation, he had to duck to get through the door of a pony's home. At least the ceiling inside was high enough for him to fit his head.

Rarity motioned towards her couch that sat in the centre of her shop's showroom. "Please sit down, Spike. Can I get you anything to drink?"

Spike shook his head no and sat down. Since he took up most of the space on her couch, Rarity used her magic to pull a cushion over so she could sit down in front of him on the floor.

"I suppose it's been a long time since you've been over here," she began. "You must have many stories to tell from your time in the Crystal Empire."

"Indeed I do, Rarity," he replied. "I could go on all afternoon about my experiences there. About how I discovered my inner dragon, and about how I grew up and became what you see now."

"Yes, Spike. I was about to say...you've certainly undergone quite the transformation." Rarity marveled at the drake in front of her. "You must be very pleased with the results."

"I certainly am," he agreed. "It took me some time to get used to the changes, but I think that I'm finally comfortable with my transformation."

"Well...I'm very happy for you," she smiled at him.

Spike was getting the feeling that Rarity was trying to make small talk to avoid talking about something else. Unfortunately, he knew what that something else was. There was no point in avoiding the topic any longer.

"So..." he began hesitantly. "I heard that you've made some changes in you life as well."

"Yes...you could say that," she acknowledged nervously. Rarity and Spike both stared at each other awkwardly for what felt like forever.

"Why didn't you tell me about your coltfriend?" Spike finally asked the question hanging over them.

"If you must know, Spike, I hadn't told anypony until very recently," she answered almost nonchalantly. "Including our friends."

"That's what's troubling me..." he responded. "Why so much secrecy? It's not like you to keep information from us."

"Are you saying that I can't have a private life, Spike? That I have to spill all the details of my personal relationships like a cheap tabloid newspaper?"

Rarity was becoming indignant. Who was he to lecture her on how to live her life?

"Absolutely not, Rarity," Spike tried to smooth things over. "I just don't understand why you've been going back and forth to Canterlot to see him all this time without telling anypony."

"Who told you that I've been going back and forth?" she asked pointedly.

"I had lunch with Fluttershy a couple of days ago. She filled me in about what you've been up to the last few months."

"I see..." Rarity gave him a hard look. "I did confide in her about my relationship not that long ago. However, I hoped that she would have kept this information to herself..."

"She was just concerned about you, Rarity," Spike offered. "We both know that Fluttershy wouldn't gossip about you or anypony else. She's never been like that."

"Fluttershy is a dear..." Rarity acknowledged. "I'm sure she meant no harm in her concern for my well-being."

She paused. "But...what I'm concerned with now is how you feel about my situation?"

Spike gulped. "I don't quite understand what you're getting at Rarity." he replied after a moment to regain his composure.

Rarity sighed. "On the contrary...I think you do. There's still an unresolved issue between us Spike...and I think you know what it is."

Spike suddenly felt extremely nervous. He wondered if she'd known about his "secret" all this time.

"I suppose I've known about your feelings for me...well...for a long time now." she began. Apparently she could read his mind as well. Spike's eyes went wide with fear or surprise...he wasn't exactly sure.

"You weren't very good at keeping it a secret, darling..." Rarity saw his reaction and giggled a little bit.

Spike laughed nervously. "I guess you've got me there Rarity..." So far, things weren't as bad as he thought.

Rarity's expression changed to a serious one, however. "I must know, Spike. Was I the reason you chose to go away to the Crystal Empire?"

"You're not the first pony to ask me that," he responded.

"It's a valid question Spike."

Spike held his silence. But Rarity continued to stare at him expecting an answer.

"Ok, Rarity. You win," he finally relented. "I left for two reasons. One...I didn't want to be a kid anymore. I felt like sometimes I didn't get any respect from other ponies based on my size and appearance. Lots on ponies thought that I was still a baby, when in reality I was almost as old as them!"

He paused to choose his words carefully.

"To answer your second question...yes. I left in part because I thought that you would look at me differently if I went away for a while and transformed myself. I thought that if I changed my physical appearance you would feel the same way I felt for you. I thought that you saw me as a baby just like everyone else..."

"Oh, Spike..." Rarity looked at him with a sadness he'd never seen before. "That's very noble of you, but I always respected you no matter what size you were. Your age was never an issue with me either."

Spike suddenly felt some hope creep into his heart. Did this mean she felt even a little bit as he did?

"I'm glad that you respect me, Rarity." he responded hopefully. "I'm glad that you didn't see me as a kid either. Does this...does this mean that you felt the same way towards me?"

Rarity looked at him with the same sadness as before.

"I'm sorry, Spike. I don't feel the same way about you...but I will always like you as a friend."

Spike felt his heart break. It might have been a longshot all along, but that didn't make the hurt feel any better.

"Fine, Rarity..." Spike replied tersely. "So, I suppose this is it then? I guess now that you've finally rejected me, I'll just go about my life while you spend time with your wonderful stallion..."

"I'm not finished yet, Spike." Rarity put her hoof on his arm.

"What do you mean...?" he looked at her in confusion.

Rarity considered her words carefully.

"It's complicated, Spike..." she finally admitted. "At one point in time I did feel something for you other than friendship. But...I'm afraid that those feelings are gone now."

"Ok...now I really don't know what you're talking about." Spike pinched the bridge of his nose with his claw in frustration. "First, you tell me that you don't like me more than a friend. Now, you're telling me that you used to have feelings for me but they don't exist anymore? Frankly, I don't know what to believe..."

"I'm sorry Spike..." she apologized.

"Instead of apologizing, why don't you enlighten me as to what the hay is going on?" Spike snapped at her. "Tell me why you changed your mind about me?"

"Because..." she stated. "You left me all alone."

Spike stared at her in confusion.

"You see Spike...while you may have thought that your crush was one-sided, in fact it wasn't. Certainly, in the beginning, I saw your love...or should I say infatuation as nothing more than an adorable but childish emotion on your part. It wasn't until you gave me the Fire Ruby that I realized that your feelings were genuine. Many other selfless acts followed, and as you kept giving of yourself and asking for little in return, I began to seriously contemplate about returning your affection towards me in a way that would make us much more than friends. Truthfully, I realized that your simple crush had evolved into you caring deeply about me."

The room became so silent that a pin from her work desk could have fallen to the floor and been the loudest noise in the room.

"So..." she continued. "Not that long ago, and after much thought, I finally decided to act on these feelings. I had planned on inviting you over to the Boutique around the Hearths Warming holiday for a dinner just for the two of us. At that dinner I would have brought up the subject of us...and hopefully we could have had an open and honest discussion about how we felt about each other. I'm sure we would have both come to the conclusion that we needed to take the next step in our relationship. Imagine, Spike...we could have spent Hearths Warming and Hearts and Hooves Day together. I'm sure you would have loved that...no?"

Spike sat there expressionless. He didn't know how to react to her confession that she actually felt the same way about him as he did about her.

"But...it turns out you had other plans." Rarity's tone became one of hurt. "You left for the Crystal Empire before Hearth's Warming and left me all alone here in Ponyville. I didn't even know you were leaving until Twilight told me in passing. Of course, I made sure that I saw you off at the train station...but even then it felt like you were a million miles away. You were so focused on your quest to become an adult that it was like you didn't care about me."

Her words cut deep as she spoke.

"Rarity..." Spike finally found his voice. "I had no idea that you felt that way about me or that you had felt this way for so long..."

"Why would I have spent so much time with you over the years if I didn't have feelings for you? Do you think I was leading you on?"

"I...I don't know the answer to that," he admitted.

"Spike!" she admonished him. "Are you saying that you felt I was playing with your feelings?" A hurt expression came over her face.

"Rarity...it was never my intention to abandon you." Spike began. "Had I known that you had felt the same way about me, maybe I wouldn't have gone to the Crystal Empire. Maybe I could have found a way to grow up here. But...I did what I did because I thought it was the best course of action at the time."

"In other words, you were being selfish..." Rarity's tone changed from hurt to bitter.

Spike, for his part, was getting past the shock and now was feeling angry. He could feel something inside of him snap.

"Selfish?" he addressed her with malice in his voice. "Ok, Rarity, lets talk about being selfish then..."

Rarity tried to say something in reply but Spike cut her off.

"You act like I needed to be a mind reader to figure out how you felt about me." he continued. "You could have just told me a long time ago and saved us a lot of trouble! Celestia knows I told you. I told you when we were falling through the air to our potential deaths!"

Rarity began moving her mouth but Spike wouldn't let her talk.

"You knew exactly how I felt! But did you do anything about it? Did you encourage me to do anything about it? You've known how I've felt since I first came to Ponyville...and what do you do? Nothing...other than chase around after guys like Blueblood and Trenderhoof...!"

"Trenderhoof turned out to be more of a gentlecolt than I gave him credit for..." she finally managed to interject. As for that horrible prince...DO NOT mention his name in my presence ever again!"

"I suppose Black Marble is better than both of them?" Spike asked pointedly.

"He's everything I've ever wanted in a stallion and more..." Rarity's stare bore holes in him. "He's been there for me the entire time we've been together."

"Too bad he's a complete douchebag..." Spike replied casually.

"I BEG YOUR PARDON...?" Rarity's eyes went wide.

"Oh...that's right," Spike smirked. "I almost forgot. I have a story to tell you about your coltfriend. In fact, it happened just last night when I was in Canterlot..."

After telling Rarity the complete story of his evening in Canterlot, including everything that he had seen her coltfriend doing, Spike leaned back on the couch and waited for her reaction. For a moment, he couldn't really tell what she was thinking as her face was a blank mask. Suddenly...she reared back and proceeded to hit him as hard as possible across the face with her hoof.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" she screamed at him while her face contorted with rage. "I don't want to hear anymore of your lies!!"

"These aren't lies, Rarity. This is the truth..." he responded calmly while rubbing his face. "Sometimes the truth hurts. But real friends tell you the truth even if you don't want to hear it.

"I can't believe you!" she cried. "You're just making up stories because you can't have me! You want to undermine my happiness!"

"Go ask Vinyl Scratch what happened. She'll tell you exactly the same things I told you. Black Marble is the biggest flankhole and player in Equestria..."

"To Tartarus with Vinyl Scratch!" she shouted. "Do you think I'm going to listen to somepony who's a habitual drunk?" She probably made eyes at him last night and he rejected her! I wouldn't be surprised if she's saying all this because they broke up years before and she wants him back!"

"Don't talk about my friends like that!" he roared.

"Oh...so now she's your friend?" That's wonderful, Spike. Why don't you go spend all your time with your new friend then?

"Fine..." he got up off the couch. "I know when I'm not wanted. I'll leave."

He walked over to the door of the boutique intending to leave. But, something inside of him demanded that he get the last word in. He turned and faced her.

"Before I go, I want you to understand one thing, Rarity." Spike began. "I'm not some immature, entitled jerk. I would have no problem if you dated another pony who was actually a stand-up guy and was good for you. But I can't support your decision to hook up with Black Marble. Everypony I've talked to says the same things about him. About how they get a creepy feeling around him, or about how he's a total jerk."

"Are you finished yet?" she asked him coldly.

"One last thing," he said with a look of genuine sadness in his eyes. "After all of this...I still love you with all my heart and I always will. But, I'm sorry Rarity...this guy is worse than anypony you've ever thrown yourself at...and considering your track record that's saying something..."

Rarity's face went completely crimson. "You...you...immature...selfish...entitled...BRUTE!!!" GET THE BUCK OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!"

She began throwing objects with her magic at Spike. It was a good thing that his scales were thick, as the flying debris just bounced off him. He realized now that he'd gone too far with his criticism of her. Dodging a pair of scissors, he threw open the door, ducked down, and exited the building as quick as he could. Behind him, a magically thrown lamp smashed into the wall where he once stood.

Once she was alone, and surrounded by the mess she had just made, the floodgates opened for Rarity. Her utter rage towards the dragon was replaced by abject sorrow. As she sat in the middle of her boutique, the tears streamed down her cheeks and soaked her pillow as she sobbed uncontrollably.

Author's Note

This was a hard chapter to write, and I hope I did the characters justice...

Thank you to all who waited patiently for this chapter. Keep up the support guys!