It was a sunny day in Ponyville as Spike was enjoying his day off. He had stopped by the Cakes earlier, picking up a gem-cake and was now taking a nice stroll through town. The sky was clear, the heat of the sun warming his cold-blooded veins. It seemed like the perfect day.
Little did he know though, that it was a certain somepony else’s day off as well.
As Spike was walking, he took the time to admire the craftsmanship of the gem-cake. The Cakes always put such detail into their goods; the gem-cake’s ruby luster glistening underneath the sun’s glare. As he was admiring it, he had forgotten to look up and see where he was going. By the time he realized this, he had crashed right into another pony, almost losing his precious gem-cake in the process. By utilizing quick reflexes, Spike managed to catch the jewel-encrusted morsel before it fell to the ground.
After making sure the delicious delectable was safe, he looked up to see who he crashed into. This pony was none other than Cheerilee; Ponyville’s number one schoolteacher. Upon noticing who exactly he had crashed into, he flashed back to his birthday, where the exact same thing happened. To Spike’s relief, Cheerilee didn’t seem to be carrying anything like when they crashed into each other on his birthday. He felt really bad when he had caused Cheerilee’s assortment of groceries to fly in all directions; essentially tainting it.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry Cheerilee!” Said Spike, echoing their previous encounter.
It took Cheerilee a second or so to put her head back on straight.
“That’s okay. Where are you off to?” Asked Cheerilee.
“Me? Oh I was just taking a walk through town, it’s my day off!” Replied Spike.
“Oh well that’s nice! Today is my day off as well!” Cheerilee said with a smile on her face. “I don’t really have much planned for today, but would you like to spend some time together?”
As Cheerliee said this, a smile came to Spike’s face. “I’d love to spend time with you Cheerilee!”
Cheerilee met this with glee. “Great! What would you like to do first?”
“Well to be honest I’d really like to eat this gem-cake!” Spike said as he proceeded to munch on the crystalline cake.
Cheerilee let out a giggle as Spike ate the cupcake. “Alright, that’s one thing done. Now what else would you like to do?”
Spike took the time to swallow before answering. “There’s lotsa’ fun places we could go! We could go take a walk in the park, or have lunch, or fly a kite, or look at the clouds!”
Cheerilee couldn’t help but be endeared by Spike’s adorableness. She let out another quiet giggle. “Well what sounds the most fun to you?”
Spike contemplated this for a second as he scratched his chin. “Hm, well actually, I’d really like to take to take a walk in the park!”
“Well, I guess that settles it!” Exclaimed Cheerilee.
Spike paused for a second and look at Cheerilee worriedly. “But, it wouldn’t be fair if we just did things that I want to do…”
Cheerilee simply smiled. “You don’t have to worry about me Spike!”
The worried look on Spike’s face did not dissipate. “I don’t want to do just things that I want to do. Let’s do something that you want to do next Cheerilee!”
Cheerilee sighed then smiled. “Well, it looks like I won’t be able to argue; we’ll do something I want to do after the park.”
This brought a smile back to Spike’s face. “Right! Let’s get moving!”
As the small dragon turned, Cheerilee merely smiled.
As the two walked on the grass, sounds of laughter could be heard originating from them as they conversed; both of them talking excitedly.
“So then it turned out that future Twilight looked like that because she was trying to keep her from freaking out, but ended doing that anyways!” Spike said while laughing.
“That certainly sounds like it was a lot of fun!” Cheerilee said as she softly laughed.
“Well it wasn’t very fun for me afterwards, since I ate an entire tub of ice cream…” Spike said regretfully, grasping his stomach.
Cheerliee shook her head disappointingly. “Spike, you should know better than to eat entire tub by yourself…”
“Yeah I know…I certainly paid for it…” Spike said remorsefully. “Sorry.”
Cheerilee softly laughed and put a hoof on Spike’s head. “It’s okay Spike. We’ve all done things like that!”
Spike looked up at Cheerilee expectedly. “Really?”
“Of course! Even I’ve done my fair share of things that weren’t very good ideas.” Said Cheerilee. “Why I remember one time when I was younger, my friends and I thought it would be a good idea to try and jump into the lake that’s outside of Ponyville by jumping off of the high rocks surrounding it. I tried to do a front-flip off of them.”
“Needless to say, it didn’t turn out very well…” Cheerilee said as she scratched the back of her head with a slightly ashamed look.
“Oh, wow.” Spike said, concern laced in his voice. “How bad did you get hurt?”
“It was pretty bad. I ended up having to stay in Ponyville Hospital for a couple days…” Said Cheerilee, the shame in her voice noticeable.
“Wow…that’s weird…” Spike said; puzzled by Cheerilee’s story.
“What’s weird?” Inquired Cheerilee, confused at the little dragon’s statement.
“Oh; it’s just, I never expected to hear something like that being done by you.” Spike said as he tried to explain.
“What do you mean?” Cheerilee asked, almost offended.
“I mean, you always seemed to me like the one of the most level-headed ponies ever. I never would have thought that you could do something like that.” Spike said with a smile, trying to show that he wasn’t disappointed, just surprised.
Noticing Spike’s intent, Cheerilee giggled. “Well I’m flattered you think that of me Spike. But I have to admit, I lacked a lot of common sense when I was younger.”
The two walked onto a grassy knoll and decided to take root there for a bit; laying down a looking at the clouds.
“Looking at the clouds is actually what I wanted to do after, so this works out!” Said Cheerilee.
“Really?” Spike said as he turned to Cheerilee.
“Sure!” Exclaimed Cheerilee. “Just lying down and looking at the different shapes of the clouds is something I’ve always loved to do; ever since I was a filly!”
“Yeah me too…” Said Spike as he looked up at the clouds. “Not since I was a filly I mean.”
“I know what you mean Spike.” Said Cheerilee as she laughed.
Spike’s face became flushed as he pointed to a cloud in the sky. “What do you think that one looks like?”
Cheerilee pondered this for a second before answering. “I think it looks like a star.”
“Yeah, me too.” Spike replied.
“What about that one?” Inquired Cheerilee.
“That one looks like a ship!” Spike exclaimed.
Cheerilee let out a relaxed sigh and closed her eyes; her consciousness drifting away. She thought about how much fun she had today and how boring it would be if she had just spent it by herself. Today made her feel like a little filly again; all thanks to Spike…
Before either of them knew it, both of them had fallen asleep. By the time they had woken up, evening had arrived. The two woke up in a rather awkward position; Spike had been firmly cuddled by Cheerilee and Spike was nuzzled next to her. As Cheerilee woke up she noticed this, the awkwardness setting in; but she couldn’t bring herself to wake Spike up, who looked so adorable asleep. Spike yawned as he opened his eyes to Cheerilee’s face, sending his heart into arrhythmia.
“Cheerilee!” Exclaimed Spike as he jumped back, out of her embrace. “S-s-sorry.” A blush came over Spike’s face. “What happened?”
“That’s okay.” Cheerilee said, not looking at Spike. “We ended up falling asleep…”
“We did?” Spike asked confusedly, looking at the sky and noticing its dark ochre color. A frown came to Spike’s face as he looked down at the ground. “We didn’t get to do a whole lot…”
Cheerilee lifted up Spike’s face and said “Spike, this was one of my best days off that I’ve had in a long time.”
Spike looked confused for a second. “Really?”
“Of course. Spending the day with you was the best decision I could’ve made. I had so much fun.” Said Cheerilee with a soft smile on her face. “Even though we fell asleep, I wouldn’t want this day to have gone any other way.” She then hugged Spike tightly and said “Thank you Spike.”
The deepest shade of red came across Spike’s face as he reciprocated Cheerilee’s hug. “I had fun too.”
The two broke their hug after what someponies might say was a little too long.
“Well, we really should be getting back…” Cheerilee said, the slightest tinge of red on her face.
“Yeah we should…” Spike said in agreement.
With that Cheerilee began walking back towards Ponyville before she was stopped.
“Cheerilee wait!” Spike exclaimed, a claw reaching out for her to stop.
“What is it Spike?’ Asked Cheerliee as she turned around.
“Cheerilee, I feel kind of weird right now…” Admitted Spike, who couldn’t even look at Cheerilee.
“What do you mean?” Asked Cheerilee, ignoring the little voices in her head telling her to just leave it be.
“I feel really nervous, tingly, and like it’s taking all of my strength to keep me on my feet… Also I feel this weird fluttering in chest… And…” Spike said, trying to utter the last part of his sentence.
“And?” Asked Cheerilee, knowing exactly how the sentence was going to end. She could hear the voice of reason in her head telling her that this was a bad idea, but she just couldn’t turn away.
“A-a-and it seems to get worse, every time I look at you…” Spike said, mustering all of his courage.
Cheerilee was right on the mark; she didn’t know how to respond though. The thought of being with a dragon, a baby one no less, was no matter how she looked at it; a very strange concept. But she couldn’t help but feel like saying yes; she didn’t know why. After what seemed to her like hours of debating in her head, she was finally ready to answer.
“Spike, I’m really happy you feel this way.” Cheerilee said, a deep blush visible on her face. “I can’t say that I don’t feel the same but, if I say yes, we will have a lot of problems.”
A frown came to Spike’s face as his eyes began to get big and watery.
“That being said…” Cherilee said, a smile coming to her face. “I think if we take it slow and play it by ear, everything will turn out okay.”
As these words left Cheerilee’s mouth, Spike beamed. Inside him he only felt one thing.
Euphoria.
“You’re a sweet dragon, and you make me feel like a filly again.” Cheerilee said as she gave Spike a small peck on the head. She then gestured for him to hop on top of her. “C’mon. Let’s head back.”
A smile came to Spike’s face as he hopped onto her back. After hopping on, her hugged her and said. “I love you Cheerilee…”
Cheerliee just giggled and thought to herself as the sun had almost set, “They say that dragons live for a very long time. I figured why not get one early?”
Fin.
