A Dragon's Confession

As Spike was heading towards the outside of the castle, he began to have thoughts about his time with Celestia. He began to the remember the times when she would feed him the gems that he loved growing up, often playing hide-and-seek around the garden maze, along with the fact that he never really knew where he came from. Regardless, he was really happy being with Celestia, feeling as if he had a mother. What he couldn’t wrap around on why she laid herself on him like that. Nevertheless, he made a commitment to the promise he made to himself: to confess to Rarity.

“There she is!” Spike thought as he found her room.

Spike knocked on the door.

“Yes?” she answered in her high societal voice.

“It’s me. Spike!”, he said.

“Oh. Hold on, dearie.” she replied.

“Okay.” he said.

As she was getting ready to come out, Spike gave himself a moment to tidy up his own appearance, even going so far as to spit into his hands to make his spikes slick back. Then, Rarity appeared, as elegant as ever. She was wearing her business attire, which consisted of a medium-sized shirt, a blouse, coupled with a mare’s sports jacket. She was also wearing her glasses, which added more to her charm.

“Yes, Spike?” she asked as she opened the door.

“I wanted to talk to you.” he answered.

“Oh? What about? Do come in. Be careful though. My room is awfully cluttered.” she said.

It was true. Her room was riddled with fabric everywhere. From decorations to clothes, her room was entirely messy, or in her case, organized chaos. He was very mindful to watch his surroundings as the floor could be filled with sharp objects, even though he was a dragon, and dragons can’t feel sharp objects.

“Well, there was something that I want you to hear, and it’s…” he said, before being interrupted by a male voice.

“Rarity? What’s all the commotion?” he asked as he entered her room.

“Oh. Spike, I would like for you to meet Courtly Aristo. He was a friend of mine and my old boyfriend when we were still in high school. He just arrived from Manehattan.”, she said.

Courtly Aristo appeared to be a unicorn, with origins of high society. He was wearing clothes Ponies would normally seen on the cover of a fashion magazine. His black mane was well-combed, his teeth were white as snow, and he looked healthy and strong. Spike was heavily intimidated by the Stallion’s appearance.

“Pleasure to meet you. Was I interrupting something?" he asked.

“Well, I was…” Spike said before being interrupted by Rarity.

“Oh Aristo. You shouldn’t be bashful around Spike-wikey. He often assists me at the Boutique, and I must say, he is quite useful in messy situations. So Spike, what was it you wanted to tell me?” she asked, still curious.

“Well, I was…” Spike said before looking at Courtly Aristo.

He then began to have second thoughts about confessing Rarity. It wasn’t what he was about to say wasn’t the problem. It was because her friend was in the same room with them. Spike didn’t want anything going wrong, so he said,

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just thought I’d check up on you to see how you were doing.” he said, blushing a little.

“Oh Spike-wikey. You say the most cutest things.” she said, cooing at his situation.

“Anyway, I’ve gotta go. Twilight must be freaking out by now. I’ll let you two get reacquainted with each other.” he said as he exited her room.

“Okay! Toodle-loo, Spikey-wikey!” Rarity shouted in a playful manner.

As Spike was walking across the castle, he began to feel a sense of doubt welling up inside him. He could never compete with a guy like Courtly Risto, let alone to woo Rarity over. But he knew that if he didn’t try, he would never get Rarity as his girlfriend. He then decided that he would confess to Rarity on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, which was only two nights away.

“How will I ever catch a break?” Spike thought as he walked along the gardens of the castle.

Celestia was watching from her room in sadness as Spike was entering the castle. She wanted to be with Spike, but she knew that she had her duties as a princess, and the fact that Spike was a grown dragon and that he has his eyes on Rarity. The difference was that she didn’t want to accept it. She loved Spike as she ever have in her own lifetime. Sadly, she couldn’t live with the fact that he wanted to move on. Just then, she was called by Princess Luna.

“Sister! Are you inside?” she asked outside Celestia’s door.

“Y-yes Luna. I’m in here.” she replied.

Before Luna entered her room, Celestia wiped the tears from her eyes and approached the door as calmly as she could.

“Yes, dear sister?” she asked.

“Are you feeling well? I have not heard from you all day.” Luna said, worried.

“Oh. I’m fine. I’m just trying to…”, she said before being interrupted by Luna.

“It is about Spike, is it not?” she answered.

Hearing his name just made her even feel worse. She tried her hardest to fight back the tears, but it did her no good when she heard Spike’s name said out loud.

“Shhh. There’s no need to worry. It’s only a phase.” she said, hugging Celestia.

“I know, but he’s the only one that has been like a child to me. He was like the son I could never have.” she said as she continued to sob.

“It is okay. I am here now…” Luna said as she continued to hug Celestia.

Spike was walking through the main hallway, looking for Twilight.

“Twilight! Where are you?” he shouted.

Just then, he noticed Starlight.

“Hey Starlight!”

“Yeah, Spike?”

“Do you know where Twilight is?” he asked.

“Dunno. Said she was headed towards the kitchen or something. Needed to check on Pinkie Pie. Did you need something?” she replied.

“Well… Twilight said that she needed me to do something about the confetti. Told me to keep it a secret from Pinkie Pie…”

“Why?”

Just then, she remembered what happened back at Sugarcube Corner.

“Oooh… don’t worry Spike. Mum’s the word.” she assured.

“Hmm… better get going, or Twilight’s gonna have a fit.” he replied.

“You go on ahead. I’ll make sure the decorations for the Gala are in place.”

Spike went on ahead towards the kitchen as he walked. During the time he took walking over towards the kitchen, he started thinking about Courtly Aristo.

“Just who is that guy? Things were going well until this he showed up. Also, why would Rarity date a guy like that? He looks like a serial killer! I can’t believe that Rarity would go for a guy like him! Well, either way I’m gonna confess to Rarity and she’ll be my girlfriend! I just hope I’m not too late…”

He made it towards the kitchen and entered, only to see it as one big mess. And it came from none other than Pinkie Pie, who’s always as rambunctious as ever when working in the kitchen. Just seeing the mess made by her just put Twilight in a frenzy.

“Oh thank goodness you’re here, Spike. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Twilight said, relieved.

“Sure. What do you need me for?” he asked, still gawking at the messy kitchen.

“I need you to help Pinkie sort out the ingredients, and I need you to help bake enough sweets for the entire Gala. Can you please do that? It’s just too much for one pony.”, she says as she and Spike look at Pinkie baking.

“Really? ‘Cuz it looks like Pinkie’s doing well. Are you sure? You could just-”

“I could, but my job is the overseer, and I have no place in cooking for this job.”

Spike lifted an eyebrow at her statement. Twilight sighed and she replies,

“Look, there’s a lot to do for this event, and I just simply don’t have the time for helping right now. So, if it isn’t too much trouble, could you please help Pinkie out?”

Knowing that her request didn’t mean any harm, Spike says,

“Okay Twilight. Anything to help you.”

“I knew I could count on you, Spike.” she said as she left.

“C’mon Spike! We’ve got sweets to bake!” Pinkie shouted excitedly.

After helping her out for two hours, they finally left the kitchen. Spike was extremely exhausted from helping out Pinkie Pie.

“Thanks Spike! Here’s a cookie for helping out!” she said as she gave him a chocolate-chip cookie.

“Glad to be of help, Pinkie. And thanks for the cookie.” he replied.

Pinkie smiled as she went back to her room. While Spike was proceeding to walk back towards his room, he saw Rarity and Courtly Aristo walk by each other. Aristo had his arm around Rarity and it seemed like they were talking about something. Spike couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he was hoping that they were just friends, and the part of Aristo and Rarity getting back together just angered him.

“Do not let it bother you, Spike.” a mare’s voice told him.

He turned around and he saw Luna.

“Hey Luna. How are you?” Spike asked.

“I’m fine. I came to talk to you.” she said.

“Alright. What about?”

“I’ve spoken to my sister.”

“Okay…? What does this have to do with me?”

“She told me about what she did to you, and what you were doing before she tried to ‘help’ you with your practice. The real reason I wanted to speak to you is because Celestia came to apologize to you in person.”

Celestia appeared from the hall when Luna finished explaining the situation to Spike. Seeing her made Spike jump back a little, but Luna was with him, so he felt a little bit at ease. Celestia spoke,

“Spike, I came to apologize for what I did to you back at your room. I understand what I did to you was beyond reason, but I have been so busy that I have never been able to speak to you, nor be with you. So please, would you accept my apology and practice your confession to Rarity?”, she said, looking away from Spike.

Spike was surprised about what she told him.

“I have mixed feelings about that…” Spike said, feeling hesitant to trust Celestia.

“I know…”

“But why didn’t you just tell me? I would’ve spent some time with you.”

“Because I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what? Just tell me, Princess. I can’t trust you unless you tell me what all this fuss is about.”

“Dear sister, I understand you have no desire to confess your secrets, but Spike will not be able to-”

“I know!” Celestia shouted.

Both Spike and Luna felt the heat surrounding the hall when Celestia shouted. Fortunately, she calmed down enough to speak to Spike.

“I was afraid that I would lose you to Rarity.” she confessed.

“What?” Spike said, shocked.

He had no idea what to say at this point. He was shocked enough when Celestia came onto him, but hearing her speak her feelings about Spike, was just too much for him to take in. He took a deep breath and asked,

“Why didn’t you tell me all this? I would’ve spent some time with you.”

“Because… everyday, whenever you’re away with Twilight, I feel a gap growing between us. It was like we were becoming strangers to each other. Even if it was just for one day, I wished that we would be together, just like when you were a baby. When we used to play together, when we… I just wanted to see you again.” she said with tears coming out of her eyes.

Feeling ashamed for not only being oblivious to Celestia’s pain, but also hurting her feelings, he hugged her.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve been more sensitive to what you were going through, but if you’d have-”

“It’s okay. I was… just too caught-”

“Don’t worry. You have nothing to be ashamed of, Princess.”

“Spike… for this moment on… could you please just call me mommy? Like how you used to? You could just call me Celestia, if you want to.” she tearfully asked.

“Oh dear sister…” Luna said before leaning down to hug her with Spike.

It was all so emotionally painful for Celestia. She was too distressed to explain how she felt towards Spike for leaving her alone by herself at Canterlot, but nothing could explain how relieved she felt when Spike has forgiven her.

“You know… I’m having a little trouble with confessing to Rarity. Could you help me practice tomorrow?”, he asked when she calmed down.

Feeling more than happy that he asked, she replied,

“Tomorrow morning? Maybe we could spend some time with each other without any interruptions.”

“Yeah.” he said, quietly.

Little did they know was that Twilight was listening in on their conversation, smiling as they were reconciling their differences. When she proceeded to walk back to her room, she thought about what they would be doing tomorrow as mother and son. They all welled up within her, warming her heart. Just then, she heard a noise.

“Huh? What was that?” she thought.

She kept walking, trying to look for the source of the noise. She couldn’t make it out, but it sounded like moaning. She had no idea who the noise belonged to, but she kept going, listening in on where the sound was coming from.

“Whoever’s making that noise is gonna get a piece of my mind when I find these culprits.” she said in frustration.

When she got closer, she peeked behind the door from where the sound was coming from. She got a closer look, and she saw Courtly Aristo.

“Courtly Aristo? What’s he doing in there?” she wondered.

Just then, she saw someone with him. She got a closer look. She was shocked to see who it was.

“Rarity?!” she thought.

She was in utter disbelief at what she saw. She walked in and confronted the two.

“Rarity!? What are you doing?!”

Rarity and Aristo were shocked when they heard Twilight’s voice.

“Twilight? What are you doing in here?” she asked while putting her clothes back on along with Aristo.

“I should be asking you the same question. And why are you with Courtly Aristo?”

“Sorry Princess. We just got lost.” he said, sarcastically.

“Right… you got lost.” she replied sarcastically as well.

“What is it, Twilight? We were busy at the moment.” she said, buttoning her shirt.

“I was- does Spike know about this?!” she demanded.

“No, why?”

“I promised him that I would keep this a secret, but since you two were going at it like ponies at a prom, I have no other choice. Spike was planning on confessing to you.”

“What?”

“He loves you, Rarity. And do you think this…”

She saw Aristo’s body and she was captivated by his looks and his overall appearance. A second later, she snapped out of it.

“Rarity, Spike was planning on confessing to you on the night of the gala, and he was practicing everyday, trying to get it right, and you’re gonna put all of his time and effort to waste?”

“Well, I-”

“Princess, tell me something. Do you really think that dragon can provide to such a beautiful mare such as her? He’d might as well try and date a young school pony.”

“Say what you will about Spike, but no matter what may come his way, he will always accomplish what needs getting accomplished. And if you so much as poke him, I swear I’ll-”

“Oh, don’t worry. I have no intention of hurting him, but sooner or later, he will have to confront the fact that he is not Rarity’s ideal boyfriend.”

She turned towards Rarity.

“Rarity? Is this how you really feel about Spike?”

“Twilight… no matter how many times he helps me out or rescues me, he will only be a friend to me. I would never do anything to hurt him, but…”

“But what? Is that all you can really say? He was-”

“Twilight. This is my choice, no matter what happens. Aristo is my boyfriend now. I’m sorry.”

“Really? Or are you just trying to shield yourself from your true feelings?”

Twilight walked out of the room, feeling terrible. She could not imagine the pain that Spike would go through if he found out that Rarity was actually with a stallion. As she walking back to her bedroom, she debated with trying to tell him, but she couldn’t deal with the pain of breaking his heart. Eventually, she decided to leave it alone for tonight until tomorrow when she would have to tell him the entire truth of what happened.