Empty Claws

by CalebH

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Starlight Glimmer, Drama, Spike
Length: 2404

If you love something, then set it free.

Spike had always loved Rarity, from the day he first saw her. There were always reasons why it would not work, why he should just give up his crush and move on. He was too young, he was a dragon, he had never caught her eye the way she caught his. Spike had planned around them all, after all what great romance is complete without a few obstacles? But when Rarity says she will be opening a boutique in Manehattan Spike finds that this is one obstacle too many.

Published 2016-04-20 03:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-04-20 03:50:02 UTC

Chapter 1

The sound of doors slamming echoed throughout the castle. After a few seconds another resounding slam echoed through the empty halls followed by a frustrated snort. Starlight Glimmer’s blue magic wrapped itself around the next door. If she remembered correctly and if this was the right hallway there was a small mountain of cleaning supplies lurking behind the door, waiting to jump her.

The door silently eased open and Starlight braced herself for the worst. She heaved a sigh of relief once the door had opened enough for her to see a bookshelf full of comics and Power Ponies figures.

“There you are!” Starlight said to the small dragon sitting up on his bed. She was walking down the hallway about to turn and shout for him to follow before her mind truly caught up. The Power Ponies figures were all still lined up neatly on the shelf along with each and every one of Spike’s comic books. Hesitantly Starlight poked her head back in Spike’s room.

Spike was sitting upright on his bed with his back against the far wall. His limp tail was clutched to his chest by nervous claws. The frills and Spikes that decorated his head hung limply along with his expression.

Starlight heard herself gasp once her eyes finally met Spike’s. The slitted green pupils looked straight through her to somewhere very far away. Spike blinked and tears spilled out of his eyes and down already worn tracks on his cheeks.

Everything she had learned about friendship told her that she should comfort him. Fluttershy would have soothed him with soft words and hot tea, Twilight would have held him close until all his tears had dried up. Any of the six would have known how to comfort Spike because they knew him so well but Starlight, feeling very much the outsider, could only walk stiffly to the bed beside him and laid a hoof on his shoulder, hoping her comfort was not as awkward as it felt to her.

“Spike,” She said gently.

He blinked, spilling even more tears down his scaly cheeks an instant before his hand came up to rub them dry.

“Starlight? When did you get here?”

Starlight opened her mouth to tell him that they were going to see their friends off but the words never came. It would have been easy to walk him down the hall in silence as he built up some mask of normalcy and simply pretend that she had never seen him crying. In the Crystal Empire it would have been easy to let the awkward silence with Comet to extend forever. It would have been easy to pretend that she wasn’t a villain and he was a wizard, but Spike hadn’t let her and he had shown her that even if the truth is painful facing it with a friend will bring you closer. He had taught her that friendship wasn’t always easy but it was always worth the effort.

“Spike, what’s wrong?” she asked, pushing back the temptation to take the easy way out.

"Nothing,” Spike said too quickly, too loudly. “When is Rarity’s train leaving? We need to see her off.”

“This won’t be the last train she gets on Spike.”

Starlight gasped as Spike’s face twisted in pain. Fresh tears made their way down his face and a muffled sob escaped his throat.

“Spike!” Starlight pulled the baby dragon closer to herself and wrapped him in an embrace. “Spike what’s wrong? Was it something I said?”

“Nothing,” Spike growled as he struggled out of the hug. “I’m just going to miss Rarity is all. Pinkie too.”

“Oh Spike,” Starlight couldn’t help but sound a bit motherly. Spike was always such a helpful and smart little dragon, it was easy to forget that he was still just a kid. She gave the baby dragon one last squeeze and let him out of the hug.

“Spike, Rarity and Pinkie are just going to be gone for the day. You could have breakfast with them tomorrow if you wanted.”

Spike crossed his arms and turned his head sullenly. He muttered something that Starlight didn’t catch. The image was somewhat ruined by him sniffling and wiping away a tear.

“Spike?”

“You don’t know why she’s going, do you? She’s shopping for a new boutique!”

Starlight blinked. “So,” she asked, “doesn’t she already have one in Canterlot?”

With an angry groan Spike laid back on the bed. “I used to live in Canterlot,” he said. “I could show her around the city, give her a native’s perspective. Wouldn’t that be a sight, a dragon playing tour guide to a unicorn in a unicorn city. I could show her all the best spots to go and relax after a long day or to just clear your head.

“I could show her all these hole in the wall restaurants that she would just die for. I could maybe even use some connections to get us a table at one of those fancy Prench places that are so popular.” Spike gave a little chuckle. “I do have a direct line to a few princesses you know.

“Some nights when I stay late helping her I could stay with Celestia or even Twilight’s parents. Faust knows Twilight doesn’t write enough and they’re all desperate for news. I could even get Rarity an invitation to have dinner with the princesses. She would love that. She would have to make a new dress for the occasion and maybe even a dinner jacket for her escort. Nevermind if Luna is eating pancakes.”

Starlight watched Spike’s wistful smile grow as he imagined the life he and Rarity would have in Canterlot. She wondered if he even remembered she was in the room as he continued.

“Eventually my wings would grow in and then I could really come and go as I please. I could stay in Canterlot the whole week and fly her back on the weekends. I could get a real job, not just helping Twilight but working. And one day I would take her out to dinner. We would have eaten dinner together but this would be different. This would be me taking her out. This would be a date.

“She would forgive me for shopping from her competition because I surprised her by wearing a suit. Like always she would be wearing something radiant. A black dress, I think, but set with little diamonds so that she shone like the night sky. I would be the perfect gentleman for her. I would try to be suave and charming every step of the way and she would hide her mouth behind her hoof and giggle because she had never seen me trying so hard to impress her.

“Dinner would be a little awkward at first while we try to think of something to say. I can only gush about how gorgeous she is for so long after all. But sooner or later we would remember that we have been friends for years and that there was nothing to be nervous about. After dinner there would be music and I would ask her to dance. The second song would be slow and as our steps slowed to match it I would hold her closer. Soon we wouldn’t be dancing as much as we were just leaning against each other and swaying.

“She would lean her head against my shoulder and I would lean down and whisper the same question she was asking herself: What if I wanted to be more than just friends? She wouldn’t move and she would hold on to me even tighter while she thought but eventually I think… I hope she would come to a decision.”

Spike brought a hand up and rubbed the underside of his jaw. “I can almost feel her hoof lifting up my face and guiding my lips to hers. I can almost feel how happy I would be after all that wait. But Manehattan,” Spike all but spat the word, his face turning in disgust as he said it, “I don’t know anypony in Manehattan. I’ve only ever been there once. She’ll fall in love with the glamor of it all, at least for a while but more than that she’ll do well. She’ll do so well that she’ll decide to open another shop in Baltimare, and another one in Fillydelphia.

“Pretty soon she’ll be so busy with all her shops that we’ll never see her in Ponyville or Canterlot. When I go to help at Carousel Boutique it won’t be Rarity I’m helping it’ll be some other mare. It won’t be Rarity that picks out a gem just for me and so it’ll just be some rock I could have dug up on my own anyway. Pretty soon we’ll be distant friends at most and by the time I have my wings, by the time I’m old enough for her she’ll be too busy running an empire for me. She’ll have some stallion I’ve never met.”

Starlight blinked. Spike’s crush on Rarity had been a badly kept secret that she almost instantly picked up on but she had seen how dead his face was when she walked in. She had seen how it shined when he described the kiss they might share. Spike’s feeling went deeper than a simple crush. Nothing could do that to a pony but love. The kind of all-or-nothing love that young hearts beat for but love all the same.

Spike brought his claws up over his face and stared at them. “If you love something, set it free,” Spike finally said with a bitter smile. “If it comes back to you it’s yours. If not, it was never meant to be.”

Starlight had always secretly hated the saying. Trusting fate was a fool’s hope. If you loved something then fight for it. But then again that sort of thinking had lead Starlight to rob an entire village of their cutie marks and battle Twilight through one timeline after another.

Spike dropped his claws and clenched them against his forehead. The room was silent except for Spike’s strained breathing.

Starlight chewed on the inside of her cheek. Spike was making one of the hardest decisions of his young life and she could only watch. She wanted desperately to give him some advice or even just to tell him that she knew he would make the right decision but she didn’t know what the right decision was.

Spike drew in a deep breath. He brought his head up and Starlight could see the look of pain and determination on his face. “Come on,” he said as he slid off the bed and wiped his face, “let’s go set something free.”

Starlight followed behind Spike through the castle. Normally she found his awkward two-legged gait cute but now it held a sense of purpose she had never seen. She found herself having to hustle to keep up with the baby dragon. He didn’t say anything as the walked through the town until he was on the train platform.

The conductor was calling out to board and Rarity and Pinkie were standing on the platform saying goodbye to the friends who had come to see them off. Spike walked right up to Rarity without hesitation and wrapped his arms around her.

Starlight saw her blue eyes widen with surprise at the sudden hug. At how tightly Spike was holding her.

“Good luck Rarity. I know you’ll have the best boutique in all of Manehattan.”

“Oh Spikey,” Rarity said. “I don’t know about the best but I shall certainly try to live up to the faith you place in me.”

For a moment it seemed that Spike would not let go but prompted by one last call from the conductor Spike finally set Rarity free.

Starlight looked around the group, seeing soft smiles she knew what they must be thinking. How cute it was that Spike would miss his crush. None of them knew what had really just happened.

Spike gave Pinkie a quick wave as she boarded the train. They stood on the platform and waved until the train had disappeared out of sight.

The group that walked back through town together in relative silence until Scootaloo tagged Applebloom on the shoulder and ran away with a shout of “your it!”

Starlight had heard stories about how much trouble these three fillies could cause before they got their cutie marks. She never believed it until she became an unwilling obstacle in their game. Applebloom chased after Sweetie Belle who ran through the group of adults, ducking under and through legs. Applebloom chased doggedly after, pushing through gaps that had all but closed behind Sweetie Belle.

Finally Applebloom was close enough for a desperate dive. She just barely caught Sweetie’s back hoof with a cry of “Gotcha!” Sweetie tripped into Spike who just barely managed to stay upright and catch the filly. Starlight thought she saw another poorly hidden crush in the unicorn filly’s blushing cheeks.

“I guess that means I’m it now doesn’t it?” Spike asked with a playful smile.

With a delighted shriek Sweetie ran away and Spike was sure to chase Applebloom out from under the group’s legs before going after.

Spike had made the right decision, Starlight decided as she watched them play. She was surrounded by ponies fate had dictated would be the best of friends and what’s more she was one of them. Perhaps fate could be trusted after all. But as she watched Spike play Starlight came to realize that wasn’t the right reason either.

Spike’s smile reached further into his eyes, his laugh sounded easier than she had ever heard it. It was the first time she had ever seen him play with another child. He was always so helpful and serious, always trying to be an adult. Always trying to convince her that he was an adult.

No, Spike hadn’t made the right decision because fate was worth trusting in or anything like that. He had made the right decision because it wasn’t Rarity that he had set free.

Author's Note

I identify with that little dragon way more than I should. I hope we get to see some more great Spike episodes and see him continue to grow beyond just 'Twilight's assistant who has a crush on Rarity'. Anyways happy reading everyone.