Spike Finds Love At Last

Chapters

Five Years Later
This Isn't Awkward At All
Practice Makes...Well, Not Perfect, But...Maybe Not So Bad?
Pinkie Gonna Pinkie, Even At 10,000 Feet
Intermission: Meanwhile, in Cloudsdale
Take A Deep Breath. You'll Need It.
Your Dreams Are A Mirror To Your Heart
Crash
Don't Lie
Fulfilled
Eleven Months Later
Epilogue, Part 2: The Purple Wedding, Now With 100% Less Death
Epilogue, Part 3: At Last
Epilogue, Part 1: It's Not A Real Wedding Until The Wedding Planner Gets Stressed Out

Five Years Later

“Anything else you need me to do around here today?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know. You’ve already done so much. The cages for the birds look a lot cleaner, and you were just what I needed to get that boulder out of the river. What else could you do?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Well…” He looked around the sanctuary to see if anything looked a little off. As it turned out, there was a pile of snow in the middle of the valley. “What about that? I don’t think they got it during Winter Wrapup. I could always get that out of the way.”

“How did I miss that? I helped clean out the sanctuary myself. Okay, you can get that snow and call it a day.”

Spike smiled at the news that he could do more to help out. He went to the pile of snow, roughly as tall as a snowman, and got the fire in his chest ready. Just a few seconds later, the snow was all burnt up in a burst of flame. Some of the bunnies were terrified at the sight of a five foot eight dragon setting fire to their snowy shelter, while other animals, like the bears, watched in marvel as the snow became a puddle of water.

With that business settled, Spike clapped his hands and took a seat on the same bench Fluttershy was resting on. It was a long day’s work, having taken up all of the morning and most of the afternoon, but with the way the sanctuary was looking, it was worth it. The sanctuary was all clean and tidy, ready for the upcoming spring season.

“Thanks again for everything,” Fluttershy chirped. She was sporting a brown uniform, some cozy jeans, and thick boots.

“You know, the winter seasons is over now. You don’t have to dress warm anymore, and you’re welcome,” Spike teased. As he grown up, he couldn’t help but feel a little conscious about not wearing clothes around other ponies, so he sported some jeans and a regular blue shirt, still as barefoot as ever.

“Yes, but it was a brutal winter this year. Why did it have to be so cold?” she shivered.

“Dunno, but who cares? This place looks amazing. All your hard work really showed.”

Sure enough, he was right. In the passing years, the sanctuary had grown in size threefold. It stretched almost to the boundaries of a nearby forest, and the amount of animals sheltered inside had exploded, as she could take care of far more critters now. It sure helped that there were more ponies around to handle them, each sporting the same brown uniform Fluttershy wore.

“I guess you’re right. It was just so daunting, turning this into a full fledged company, but I’m glad I had help along the way,” Fluttershy smiled, patting him on the shoulder. “So, what are you doing once you’re finished?”

“Not sure yet,” he admitted. “Don’t have anything to do with Twilight or Ember, so my schedule’s clear. You sure you don’t have anything left to do? Need a bear’s teeth brushed? Need a bunny that needs to learn to play nice?”

“I don’t think so--oh Celestia, how did I forget?” She slapped herself on the forehead. “I was supposed to give Rarity some sheep wool today! She needs it for her shop in Cloudsdale. I really don’t want to ask you to do it, you’ve already done a lot, but there’s still a lot on my plate.”

“No problem. Just hand me the wool and I’ll--”

“That’s not the only reason why I’m hesitant to ask you. It’s because of…him...”

Spike’s ears dropped down to the side. “Oh. That. Look, the past is in the past. I’m totally over it now. I’m fine.”

“That’s what everypony says when they’re not over it,” Fluttershy commented. Her ability to cut through the crap only grew with age.

That made the dragon sigh with the thought. “I’m just going to drop the wool off, and I might talk to them for a little bit, and it will be just fine. That even sounds easy to me.”

“Okay, if you say so. Just take it easy on yourself. You deserve it, after all.”

There were so many benefits to growing wings for Spike. Well, beyond the extremely obvious reason, he could go farther than he ever had before. He didn’t need Twilight’s help or a flying taxi or anything like that. If he needed to get somewhere, he just did it by spreading his wings and flying over there. No wonder Dash loved flying in the air so much, this was far more convenient.

Another reason was rather unexpected. Since he had wings, he could now touch down on clouds whenever he pleased(although, Twilight gave him a spell just in case), so he could travel through Cloudsdale whenever he wanted.

He carried around the bag full of wool on his back as he landed in the middle of the city. Where he was, the Carousel Boutique’s newest location wouldn’t be too far off. He would just need to look for all the advertisements plastered around the place. Rarity was always good about getting the word out, even if the store wasn’t exactly brand new.

Sure enough, just like he imagined, there were posters everywhere of the place, with helpful arrows leading the way. He followed them closely and took in the sights of town as everypony would be doing their early evening activities by this point, so it was a pleasant sight. It was nice seeing families flying around town peacefully.

Within a few minutes, he found what he was looking for, and he took a deep breath to get himself ready. Just as much as a pony would assume, Rarity modified the design of her previous stores to fit in with the cloud motif of...well, Cloudsdale. It had a thin, airy two story design, appearing as if it was fashioned out of clouds itself. The store’s lights were on, so it was still open for business. Perfect.

He took a few steps forward but stopped in his tracks, right when he saw a pony that was still the most beautiful figure he had ever seen. Rarity had gone from her trademark curly mane to a straight one, with just an inch cut off to make it more manageable. In his opinion, it was perfect for her. It sure didn’t hurt that she had a beautiful blue dress with hints of a sea motif, being dark blue with little wave patterns to compliment her pearl earrings. However, there was always one thing that caught his eye with her getup, and that was a blue diamond ring on her wedding finger.

She knocked on the door a few times, looking ready to explode. “Deary, can you open the door? I have some good news that’s sure to knock you out of your shoes!”

The door opened for her, and it always took a moment for Spike to adjust to the sight. In front of her was another pony, one that could be confused for a mare in a few ways. After all, the pegasus’ figure was rather slender, with its aqua blue coat, dark blue mane, and sand brown eyes hinting that they loved the ocean. The outfit this pony wore was not far off from a kimono style dress, with purple designs all over it. But there were telltale signs that this pony was a stallion, with the jawline being closer to a man’s, and the sound of his voice was also a giveaway.

“Rarity, what a surprise. Actually, it is a surprise,” he greeted. “I take it you mastered that spell that lets you walk on clouds, since you’re not falling through the ground right now?”

“Oh, Misty Weave, you know I can do anything I put my mind to,” she giggled. “Now, then, you want to hear the good news?”

“Of course. Seeing you is good enough, but this could serve as icing on the cake. Did we get that land deed to Las Pegasus as promised?”

“YES! Our fourth store is just waiting for us to open it! I already have ideas for it! I’m thinking ‘Las Fashion’, but that’s just a working title. It doesn’t matter. We’re expanding again!”

“That’s awesome!” Misty ran up and hugged her tightly. Now there were two ponies exploding with joy. “I knew you would do it, you just had to show them your charm and the rest was history. And to think, we just expanded the location in Manehattan. Is there anything you can’t do?”

“I can’t be as cute as you,” Rarity grinned mischievously, giving him a little boop.

“Come on, we both know you’re cuter. Let’s celebrate inside, I have a bottle of champagne to that’s perfect for the occasion.

The door shut behind Rarity, and Spike stopped in his tracks to let that whole...something sink in. Come on, you know this would happen. She’s happy with Misty, and she had good reasons for what she did. You should be happy for her. Don’t be THAT guy that can’t let things go. Don’t be just like Garble if he had emotions other than “ego” and “anger”.

He walked up to the door and gave it a few knocks. There wasn’t any noises inside the store for a moment, so he knocked again. This time, he heard somepony come in the door. As it turned out, it was the one pony he wanted to talk to.

“Spike? Ah, it’s so wonderful to see you again. Did you come up here all by yourself?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, yes I did,” he stated calmly. His fists were trembling from sheer nerves.

“That’s right, you have wings now. Sometimes, I forget they’re there,” she mentioned as she looked at them. “They’re simply divine. I could use those as an inspiration for my next line. Wait a minute, are you carrying the wool Fluttershy made for me?”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m here. She’s really busy at the moment, and I figured I could take the load off of her.”

“That’s wonderful, darling. A lot of things have changed about you, but your generous spirit hasn’t diminished one bit.” She picked up the wool with her magic and brought it inside the store. “Do you want to come in? Misty and I are celebrating that--”

“You’re opening a store in Las Pegasus. I heard.”

“You did? Well, you can understand why I’m so ecstatic this evening. Come in, I’ll pour a glass for you! I would never leave you out of something this monumental.”

Spike sighed and went inside the store. He hadn’t been in this location very often and he forgot what it was like, so he took a look around. Sure enough, the memories of this place came back to him. The cloud and air motifs didn’t stop on the exterior; there was a big window to show the great blue yonder outside. Some of the outfits exclusive to this location had Wonderbolt designs, with one rainbow colored dress having obvious input by somepony he might have known.

In addition, a customer here could rest on a cloud seat or two, as they were set up around the store. The two other employees here were also pegasi, as to be expected for Cloudsdale, and they were wrapping up for the day. The store would have been quiet, if not for the constant giggling Rarity was making.

“You’re free to go home if you want,” Rarity told the other employees. They took note and finished their chores, calling it a day and leaving. Once they were gone, she turned over to Spike and gave him a big hug. “You couldn’t have picked a better time to come over! I’m here, you’re here, and there’s nothing but good news going around. How are you, by the way? I realize I haven’t even asked you how you were feeling.”

“I’m fine, I guess,” he fidgeted. “Being an ambassador to the Dragon Lands has its ups and downs, and you can guess what they are.”

She groaned at the thought. “Let me guess, dealing with Dragon Lord Ember is an up, and dealing with Garble is a down?”

“Was it that obvious? You know what it’s like over there, but still?”

“Wasn’t exactly a secret. Here, let me take it off your mind by fetching that champagne bottle. We still need to celebrate!” She went up the stairs to the second floor to go get it. That left the dragon alone with Rarity’s finance.

Spike wasn’t sure if he was dreading or looking forward to this moment, dealing with him one on one. Misty, on the other hand, was as giddy as he could be.

“This is the best day of my life! Well, one of them,” he said as he thought about the ring on Rarity’s finger. “I don’t know when her business will ever stop growing, and I feel like this is just the start of our expansion.”

“I know. I’m really happy for her. She deserves it,” Spike said solemnly.

Misty picked up on Spike’s tone and demeanor quickly, and he dropped the carefree attitude. “I’m sorry. I keep forgetting about you and her.”

“Why are you sorry? You had nothing to do with that,” the dragon snapped.

“You might be ring, but I can’t help but feel partly responsible for what happened between you two, and I feel awful about it. It doesn’t matter that she’s my fiance and we’re happy together--”

“Then leave it at that.” Spike let out a heavy sigh. “The thing is, if you know that much about us, you also know what happened. I asked her out, she turned me down because I was still a child at the time, life went on. It was awful when it happened, but that was four years ago. I should be over it now.”

Misty only felt more downtrodden as Spike went on. “I understand. It’s just that things happened so fast. One day she hires me to manage this store, then we hang out all the time, and you know the rest, and not once did I realize you felt that strongly about it.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” He turned his back on Misty to hide his anger swelling up.

“The thing is, had I known how much you loved her, I would have taken it slower than I ended up doing. Do my best to take your feeling into account.”

That got Spike’s attention. He turned around with a hint of shock to his face. “You would?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Your exploits all over Equestria are the things of legend, and from what she’s told me, you’re an exquisite dragon that could charm any mare into loving you.”

“Thanks. Now you just sound like Rarity.”

Misty chuckled. “Well, we’re together for more than a few reasons. Still, anypony who would have you as a partner would be the luckiest mare in Equestria--”

“Finally found it!” Rarity proclaimed as she held up the vaunted bottle of champagne. She carried three glasses in her magical grip with it. “This bottle is a Canterlot blend from over 200 years ago, so this should be perfect. It’s a brand I haven’t heard of, but knowing you, it’s one of the best brands ever created.”

“You know how I like my liquor,” Misty complimented. “Spike, do you want to join us in a toast?”

“Sure. Why not? Would help me relax after all that’s happened today.”

“I’ll take that as a resounding yes,” Rarity responded. “Oh, and if you’re interested, the Wonderbolts are having a night show tonight. I hear this is the first one with Rainbow Dash headlining it.” She then popped the bottle and poured each of them a fine glass of delicious champagne.

“Well, here’s to your new store doing well. Knowing you, it’s gonna do even better,” Spike toasted as he rose his glass.

“Here here. To all of us having a bright and promising future!” Misty added as he looked to the poor dragon.

“I can drink to that!” said Rarity. They clung their glasses together and downed the whole shot together.

Spike couldn’t help but find it weird that he was the only dragon sitting in the stands for the show, but it was a feeling he experienced a hundred times before, and likely a hundred times from now. Guess there were experiences he would never truly get used to. Still, he felt the excitement in the air, as the audience waited in anticipation for the huge show the Wonderbolts promised tonight. Knowing Rainbow Dash, there would be about ten zillion fireworks, and it would be the most lavish thing he would see all day. Well, other than Rarity’s dresses.

The Wonderbolts gathered around to their starting positions on the ground. He could see Rainbow so clearly from his seat with her rainbow mane, and she was as confident as ever as she gave each Bolt last minute instructions for their parts. After that rehearsal, they flew up into the air and began the show of a lifetime.

As expected, a huge firework lit the entire sky with yellow sparks, and Rainbow and friends flew right through them to begin the spectacle. Some of the sparks stayed frozen in the air through magic to make it easier to see the performers up in the sky. They did all sorts of formations, some of which Spike didn’t know the names to even after seeing them for years. Still, he could tell Dash had organized one hell of a show, and he could see her grin as she lead the Bolts for the first time.

“She might be a bit of a show off, but she sure knows how to give ponies their money’s worth,” a familiar voice said next to Spike.

“Applejack? What are you doing here?” he asked. Applejack was sitting on the seat right next to him, wearing clothes similar to her human counterpart, except she traded the skirt for some long jeans.

“Came around to sell some wares during the preshow,” she responded, pointing at a wagon full of Apple Family branded products. “I get a free ticket to the show and I make some bits on the side, not to mention, this here ground platform sure is friendly to non-pegasi, so I don't have to worry about fallin' through the ground. Why wouldn’t I turn that down?”

“Huh. Good to see business is doing good for you, too,” Spike commented, looking up just in time to see Dash fly right through a huge blue flame. Of course she would do that. Even then, he couldn’t help but look down, given recent events.

Applejack picked up on that just as quickly. “Let me guess. You saw Rarity today, right? I heard she was rolling in town for something big.”

“Yep. And Misty was there with her.”

That got AJ to grumble in her seat “That ain’t right to you. You been with her every plucking day and did every little thing she asked you to, and she didn’t even think to thank you.”

“Can we drop it? It’s not like she did anything wrong. She didn’t want to hurt my feelings too much, and she made it obvious I was just too young for her.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” she muttered. She looked back up to the sky to witness Rainbow do a Sonic Rainboom with two other Bolts, all at the same time, in three different places in the cloudy canvas. It caused the whole sky to light up in the nighttime. “Well, I think she taught Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger well.”

“No kidding. That is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen!” he marveled. He then stopped to think about the pressing matter. “Applejack, you think things didn’t work between us because I waited too long to ask her out?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to drop it? Nevermind, that’s not important. But if you want the truth, maybe. You wouldn’t be the first colt that’s too much of a coward to ask their crush out. Happens all the time for colts your age. Well, five years ago, I mean.’

“Yeah, I know that’s a thing a lot of colts do, but I want to get past that. Look, I don’t know if I’m ever gonna find the one for me, but it won’t be Rarity. It stings, but I have to face that. And if there’s somepony I have feelings for in the future, I have to know how to avoid the same mistakes I made with her. I can’t do that to myself again, wait too long and miss the whole thing before it even starts. You have any ideas?”

“That’s a good question. You know what? I think Twilight might have some answers for your problem.”

“Twilight?” The thought of TWILIGHT SPARKLE helping with romance nearly broke his mind. “Twilight doesn’t really have a love life. You know she’s only had one crush in her entire life, and that was with a human?”

“That was a weird moment I’d rather forget, but that’s not my point. She knows a lot of things, probably from all that readin’ she does in her library. Maybe she’s got a book or two about it?”

“You really think she would do that?”

“She read a book about sleepovers. Nothing’s below her.”

Spike paused at the thought. “You know, you’re right. I’m gonna ask her about it.”

“That sounds like a good plan, partner. Hope you find the one for you, whoever she is.” And hopefully she’ll know what she’s got, unlike Rarity…

The two of them watched the rest of the show quietly, enjoying all the fireworks and Sonic Rainbooms that would soon become trademarks of a good Wonderbolts show ran by Rainbow Dash.

Author's Note

Well, here goes nothing. This is gonna be probably my most ambitious story in terms of word/chapter count since Kiss of the Dark, and I hope it goes well. I'm planning the romance to be a little bit of a slow burn leading up to it, and the next chapter should start tackling it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I (likely) will writing it.

This Isn't Awkward At All

In the years since Twilight and her friends defeated the Pony of Shadows, Ponyville went through quite the boom period. Once the townsponies wrapped their heads around the fact that they actually housed a princess, the town drew a lot of attention from builders and investors. As a result, Ponyville grew in every sense of the word, with the size and population going up. It was still the same charming small town--admittingly, a magnet for world ending catastrophes--and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

By the time Spike touched down to solid ground, it was getting late in the evening. Nopony would be roaming around the streets at this hour save for him, so he had some time to think over Applejack’s proposal. It was still a crazy idea in his mind, but he didn’t have any other ideas to work with. What was the harm of finding out if Twilight had something else in mind. You know, unless she went back to her younger self and thought the Want It Need It spell could still be used for good.

Twilight’s crystal castle gleamed in the moonlight as Spike came to the front door. Sure enough, he could hear her walking back and forth inside the library from the outside. Of course she would do a late night study for her latest pursuit. That was classic Twilight for you.

After some time roaming through the halls inside the castle, he stumbled into the library to find...exactly what he expected to find. A pile of books were on every table, with whiteboards placed right next to them. The whiteboards were covered in complex equations he didn’t even attempt to understand. Oh, and don’t forget the huge glass of coffee resting on one of the tables.

To complete the adorkableness of this picture, Twilight was wearing basic pants, no shoes, and the dorkiest shirt of all time: A graphic shirt with the question of “Best Princess?” on top. Below the question were a bunch of checkboxes, each featuring a picture of all four princesses, but the box that was checked out had the label of “All of the Above”.

“I know I’m close to enchanting coffee with double the caffeine. Can you imagine all the late night studies I could pull off with double caffeinated coffee?” she marveled.

“It’s called an energy drink, if you’re wondering,” Spike laughed. “Why am I not surprised to see this? You’re having a late night study so you can have more late night studies.”

“Spike? Um, forget you saw anything,” Twilight squeaked. She used her magic to put every book back in the shelves, and she pushed the whiteboards out of sight as well. “I’m so sorry. It’s just that I got on this kick, and I needed to see it through. You understand what that’s like, right?”

“Yep. You did that all the time and you’re still doing it.” He pulled a chair to the nearest table and rested a bit. “Was that all you did today?”

Twilight sat down at the same table with her trusty coffee cup. “Well, not everything. I scheduled a trip to Saddle Arabia to catch up with Starlight. Her ‘friendship crusades’ around the world are actually going great, last I heard. She even managed to get a conversation with Garble going!”

“Wow. I think Tartarus just froze over.”

“No doubt. So what happened with you today?”

“Nothing much. I went over to help Fluttershy with her sanctuary thingy, then she had me go over to Cloudsdale, so I could drop some stuff off at Rarity’s shop over there.”

“Rarity’s Cloudsdale shop? I know what that means.” Her ears dropped down to the side. “Did it go as bad as it sounds?”

“Not really. Seriously, Misty’s a good guy, so I don’t care that much.” Then it occurred to him why he wanted to talk to Twilight, and not hit the sack after a long day. “Actually, that’s why I’m here…”

“Oh, Spike, you know I’m always willing to help you with that friendship, err, relationship problem. So what is it?”

“Um...well...the thing is...okay, I know this is going to sound weird, but here goes nothing.” He breathed in and exhaled. “I need your help to figure out how to talk to mares.”

“Talking to girls?” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the sound of that. “You’re talking to one right now, and judging from your past, you’re pretty good at that.”

“No, not that way. I mean, how do I talk to mares I have a crush on?”

Now she could see why he looked a little hesitant to talk about it. “Ohhhhhhh. That. Listen, I’m glad you asked, but you know I’m not good at talking to stallions, either. I was a nervous wreck when I tried talking to Flash in the human world, remember?”

“That’s what I told Applejack!” Spike groaned. “But when I asked her about it, she recommended your help for this. Said something about how you probably read a book or two on it.”

“You know, she might be right…” She turned to the nearest shelf and pulled down the first book she thought of. “How to Properly Woo Your Partner by Cupid Arrow.” Another book was came into her waiting hands. “Dating 101 For Nerdy Ponies. Can you guess why I got that?” she blushed.

“Oh Celestia, Applejack was right about you,” he said in awe. “You’re telling me you actually read those books?”

“I read a book about sleepovers. Anything’s possible.”

“Right. So I heard. Thing is, you’re the closest thing to an expert I have right now. Yeah, I could find ponies with cutie marks in this stuff, but it would be weird, and you do know a book or two about this. Any ideas on what I should do first? I want to make sure that I don’t get cold feet when I’m asking somepony out again.”

“I understand. In almost every book I’ve read, they say a charming personality can go a long way to getting a partner to like you.”

Yeah, like that will ever happen, he thought.

“So you got that part nailed down already.”

“Wait, what?” Spike cleared his ears to make sure he was listening clearly.

“Come on, don’t be so harsh on yourself. Here, let me see if I can find any other good pointers.” She collected a bunch of books and swirled them around her with her horn, creating a magical carousel of legit to questionable romantic books, picking one up to read over. “Work out constantly? That is always good for your health, but Spike’s already in good shape.” She let that book go into the carousel and picked another one. “What’s this about drive? There’s an s-word tied to it...NOPE!” She shut that one and went for a more family friendly title. “Oh my goodness, they all say different things! There’s one that seems to think being a jerk picks up all the mares! Who does that? Big Mac barely talks at all, and we all know how he ended up! Twins on the way!”

Spike sighed in defeat and got out of his chair. “Well, thanks for trying. I’m sure I’ll find my own way out of this mess.”

“Hang on a minute, Spike. I’m not giving up on you that easily. I just need to find actual advice, rather than all these horrific tips from those amateurs.” She flipped through multiple books at once, doing more reading in five seconds than most ponies do in a day. It was hard, but she was going to put her effort in, even if most ponies would have thrown in the towel by now.

“Twilight? Are you still going? You don’t have to do that. I’m fine, really. I’ll just--”

“Eureka! I finally found the solution to all your problems!”

Spike was amused. He normally would see right through her bluff, but he knew that face. It was the same face she made when she genuinely found a breakthrough. He sat back down and crossed his arms. “I’m listening.”

“I just stumbled across something huge. So your problem is that you don’t know how to talk to mares when you have feelings for them, right? Like you freeze up on the spot?”

“Way to rub the salt in the wound.” He snorted smoke of his nostrils. “You summed up my love life in one sentence.”

“Then we just need to warm you up to the idea of the actual talking part. You know how I held practice quizzes and tests for myself, so that way, I was ready for the real quiz or test when it was time? We should do that for you! And since everypony goes out on dates, I was thinking of a fantastic new idea: Practice dates!”

Spike’s eyes widened at the sheer dorkiness of it, which was saying a lot, given who was sitting across from him. “Practice what now?”

“Admittedly, I don’t know if this will work or not, but what if we set up a thing inside the castle to simulate a date for you, and you talked to somepony to get the hang of it? That way, when you really do have feelings for somepony and you need to ask them out, you’ll know what to do!”

Spike found himself in awe once again. “You realize how crazy this sounds, right? I can understand doing practice quizzes and tests, but romance is nothing like that. It’s a lot more emotional and weird. I don’t think you could prepare me for that, even if you tried.”

“You may have a point that they’re different things, but this could still help you. Like, maybe practice dating could hone in your social skills, help you know what to say and do whenever it’s time? It may not be the same experience as the same thing, but at least you’ll have some idea what you’re doing when it’s time.”

“Hmm…” He took a moment to consider all his options. True, this was a crazy idea to him. But the thing was, it was an idea. He had nothing going into the library, and now she was offering him one. No matter how badly it went, he would be doing something to work towards his goal. And he wanted to move on from Rarity ASAP.

On top of that, there was one thing he knew about Twilight; she gave 110% on anything she put her mind to, and this wouldn’t be any different.. She did it time and time for him over the years, such as accompanying him to the Dragon Lands to help him achieve his destiny, both to figure out his identity and to overcome the Gauntlet of Fire. In comparison, this would be nothing for her.

“You know what, I’ll do it. I just...I mean...how are we going to do this? What you’re proposing, that seems really out there, and I don’t really know how you have a practice date to begin with.”

“That’s a good point. How about this? You call it a night, and when you wake up in the morning, I’ll have everything set up for you so we can begin.”

“You’re not going to spend all night doing this, are you? I don’t think there’s enough coffee in the world for that.”

“Don’t worry, I got this. Just meet me back in the library in the morning, okay? When you’re ready, I’ll have a course and everything set up for you.”

Of course there would be an entire course for dating. “Uh huh, sure. I needed to call it a night, anyways. See ya later, Twilight.”

“Good night. Oooh, I can’t wait to get started on this” She brought back the whiteoards and flipped them over to their blank slates, bringing back all the good romantic books to get started with her planning.

With that settled, Spike got up from his chair and headed out the door. He went to his bedroom and tucked himself in for the night, wondering just what he was in for tomorrow. When he stepped into the library, he could be taking the first step to the mare of his dreams, or he would learn all the wrong things and stumble along the way. Wouldn’t be the first time he was guilty of that.

Either way, no matter what went down tomorrow, it was going to be an interesting day with Twilight. Oh, he had no idea.

On this morning, it was Spike carrying around a cup of coffee for the day. He had a decent night’s sleep last night, not letting the surreal nature of the situation get to him. Everything was going to be fine. He memorized Twilight’s schedule for the week to know what to expect, and he knew that she didn’t have a whole lot to do today. That left her schedule wide open for him, so she had all the time in the world.

He opened the door to the library to see the most shocking image of all: Twilight sitting there at the table, looking totally tidy and not like she spent all night making a dating curriculum. In fact, with a fresh shirt, jeans, and shoes, she looked normal. She even wore her crown just because she felt like it this morning.

“Good morning, Spike. Are you ready to learn how to woo a mare?” she gleamed.

And there was the awkward feeling again. “Yeah, sure. No matter what happens, thanks for helping me out,” he said as he took a seat.

“No problem. After going over things, I came up with a way to help warm you up to things with several practice dates. As we keep going, the practice dates are going to feel more and more like real ones. You’ll see why soon enough. That way, we can warm you up to the real dating process when it’s time.”

“Huh. That’s not a bad idea, but I have a question. Who exactly am I doing this with? I don’t just wanna be dating a bag of flour in the name of ‘practice’.

“I’m glad you asked. To be honest, I was thinking it would be best if you started off with me.”

Spike’s cheeks turned bright red. Him? Practice dating Twilight? “Oh no no no, I couldn’t do that! That would be the weirdest thing ever! I don’t want to date somepony in my own family!”

“Relax, Spike,” Twilight comforted as she patted Spike on the shoulder. “I’m not really going out with you. The thing is, it might help exactly because it’s me, we know each other so well. Therefore, I figured you wouldn’t be so nervous to talk to me when you’re practicing, and I can give you feedback along the way. I won’t be too mean about it, I promise.”

Spike’s shirt was starting to get drenched in sweat. “Um...uh...are you absolutely sure it has to be you?”

She sighed a bit. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. It’s just that I want you to feel like you don’t have to be somebody you’re not when you’re out there, like some of those awful books said. They’re written by jerks, for jerks. My line of thinking was, if you’re practice dating with me, you won’t pretend to be another dragon because you know you can be yourself around me. And really, that’s who you want somepony to fall in love with, the real you, right?”

Spike realized how serious she was about this. It miiiiight be better if he got the hang of this with somepony else, but then again, he knew firsthand that Twilight could be a great teacher when she wanted to be. By Celestia, she wanted to be one for him. He just hoped this wouldn’t be as awkward as he feared it could be.

In a million years, he would never guess the path this decision would take him.

“Okay, Twilight, I’m in. I’ll try the first few dates with you. Just understand that it might be weird at first. Take it slow for now, alright?”

Twilight’s eyes, for lack of a better word, sparkled at the news. “That’s wonderful! You don’t worry about anything. At the end of this Crash Course In Dating, you’ll be the most eligible bachelor in Equestria! Here, we can try it at the table we’re at right now.” She scooted closer to Spike, fetching a notepad full of the notes she took for this occasion.

Well, here goes nothing. He adjusted in his seat, took a few deep breaths, and braced himself for his first real attempt to get it right. “You know, we’re just sitting at the same old table. What’s so different around this?”

“Remember, we’re going to ease into it for a while,” Twilight replied as she cracked her knuckles. “I’ll make it feel like like a typical date when we get there. But right now, let’s get started with the basics.”

Spike gulped. This might just hurt after all.

“So, I’ve read a lot of books on how to have the proper date, the right books, and I found a really good way to start the date off right: Complimenting your partner. That’s pretty easy. Here, try it with me. What compliments do you think would ‘flatter’ me, Spike?”

“That’s a cakewalk. If I wanted to give you a compliment, I would say you have a really big brain. That’s probably because you’ve read every book here a thousand times.”

“Pfft, I’ve only done it a hundred times,” Twilight smirked. “Thank you. That was a really good compliment, but I think whoever you’re dating should give a compliment back, like this.” She leaned back and took up an accent that was, well, a pretty terrible impression of Rainbow Dash. “Hey, thanks for clearing up the library just last week. It looks twenty percent cleaner.”

Spike laughed at the impression. “That’s not too far off from the stuff Dash always says. This isn’t bad so far. What’s next?”

The purple alicorn looked down at her notes for the next part. “I think you’ll like this. A lot of ponies get nervous when they’re out on a date, so they need something to ‘break the ice’, whatever that means. I heard one way to do that is to engage in small talk. Huh. We did that just yesterday, so I have to come up with something else.”

“Twilight, are you doing this to teach yourself how to date at the same time?” Spike piped up. “That’s a lot of notes you took for something meant for just me. Almost looks like one of those book reports you did as a filly.”

“NO! I mean, not really. I could always use the practice…” She turned away so he couldn’t see her blushing. “Let’s just get back to the lesson. I’ll do some small talk first so you get the idea.” She shifted her voice to be something closer to Applejack. “So, partner, you been seeing how big the apple harvest has been this year? I reckon we’ll make a huge profit this year.”

“Not a bad Applejack impression, but that sounds more like Mage Meadowbrook than her.”

“Really? Well, she is a wonderful pony, so I’ll take that lightly. It’s your turn now. What’s been happening with you and Ember lately?”

“Ember? She’s been fine. It’s kinda weird, though.”

“I wonder why. You two seemed to be getting along fine.”

“No, it’s not that. She’s been getting bigger lately. I know all dragons are supposed to grow, but it’s strange. When I got to this size, I thought she would still be the same size too, but now she’s two feet taller than me. To be honest, if things didn’t work out between me and Rarity, I would thought about dating her, but I think she’s getting close to Thorax lately.”

Now it was Twilight finding something off color. “You know, I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am. I knew they got along well when they first met, but I didn’t think--you know what, let’s drop it. How are you feeling, now that we’re breaking the ice?”

“Yeah, the sooner we change the subject, the better. So, the breaking the ice thing, I like it. Things don’t feel weird anymore.”

“See? You are getting the hang of it after all!”

Spike blinked in surprise. “Wait, I am?”

“Of course you are. Things like breaking the ice and compliments sound like small things, but they can make you feel more approachable to your date. She might want to open up to you now that she knows she can hang out with you, and maybe you’ll want to open up more after talking to her for a few moments.”

“Really? I don’t feel any more ready than when we started.”

“You may not feel that way yet, but this is a really great start. Don’t forget that this is just the first practice date. Just like with every field of study, you’ll get better the more you do it. The next time we practice, I have something in mind that may make you feel more ready. I’ll think you’ll like it when you see it.”

“Huh. I see what you mean. Are you really sure I’m learning anything?”

“Spike, believe me, you never feel like you’re learning anything on the first day. Then the next few days pass, and you’ll realize you’re learning things you never considered, and before you know it, you’re a master at whatever it is you’re studying. Trust me, with the second date, you’ll see what I mean.”

Spike nodded. “I believe you. Guess I’m just nervous.”

“Great! So that’s the end of the first practice date.”

“Really? Come on, we just started.”

“I know, but it’s the first practice session, after all. Don’t worry, though, the second date is this afternoon. Join me in the map room, and I’ll show you the next part of the lesson.”

“Okay, then. I just hope I’m not going too fast. I want to make sure I’m not missing anything.”

“And you won’t. Just trust me on this.”

With that settled, they went on their own ways to do whatever chores they needed to do for today, Twilight with the few royal duties she had for the day, mostly document signing, and Spike making sure he would be ready for the next trip to the Dragon Lands next month.

He just hoped Twilight knew what she was doing. To say he had a lot riding on this would be an understatement.

Author's Note

The real fun starts in the next chapter. At least, I think so.

Practice Makes...Well, Not Perfect, But...Maybe Not So Bad?

Well, that was the best night’s sleep in weeks for Spike. He figured he would be a mess, or have some really bad dreams or even worse, but it turned out to be a peaceful and deep sleep. He assumed it was because his love life actually had a direction for the first time in years. That was a feeling he missed dearly.

Yet, he wasn’t sure what to make of the future with his training, or what exactly Twilight meant by “the dates being more like real ones” as time went on. It weighed on his mind frequently as he did his morning routine. He looked at the mirror when he was brushing his teeth, and for the first time in a while, he didn’t see a loser. No, he saw a dragon ready to move on with his life, and today was another day to work towards his big goal.

Spike fetched himself a short sleeved black shirt, with some khaki shorts to go along with it. It was kinda weird when he thought about his clothing situation. He started wearing clothes a few years ago to feel more comfortable around other ponies, but he never took to wearing shoes, as they always felt uncomfortable to his claws. Perhaps that was the one part of his dragon nature that never changed with time.

After a quick bowl of cereal to tide himself over until lunch, he kept true to his word and stepped into the throne room. However, he was surprised to see that he beat Twilight to the punch, as the room was empty. Maybe she just needed more time to prepare. She was always good at that.

In the meantime, he took a seat in his old throne by the map. It was nice that Twilight found a way to make his spot by the map bigger, so he would feel more at home as he grew up. A few minutes passed and there was still no purple alicorn to be found. He whistled and dangled his legs over the floor, groaning at the wait. “Come on, it can’t be that big of a deal. What’s taking you so long?”

As if she could hear him, Twilight opened one of the doors and came in with a bag draped over her shoulder. With a blue casual dress, she was more than ready for the day, and she had the biggest smile as she sat down at her respective throne.

“Good morning, Spike! You must be really eager if you got here before me. How are you feeling?”

“Okay, I guess. Hey, I just realized something. I came to you first for advice, but it hit me that Cadence knows a lot about love. Like, that’s why she has her cutie mark. So why did I come to you first?”

“Huh. You’re actually right.” Twilight took a moment to get over her mental mistake on that one. “You know what, if this fails, you should go to her and ask her for advice. She’s probably way more qualified. But I guess you came to me first because you’re closer to me, that and she lives all the way in the Crystal Empire. Even if you fly, it’s way away from here. Still, thanks for asking me first. I’ll try my best to do this right.”

“No problem. I guess I’m ready to begin when you are.”

“Excellent. So, I kept true to my word and made this date more like a real one.”

Spike looked around the place to see her point. “Um, Twilight, this place looks like it always has. You know, cool crystal table that doubles as a map of Equestria, seven seats, tree roots from your old place, same old, same old.”

“That’s just the beginning. See, there was this spell I learned last year that I thought I would never need, but when I was thinking about this next part, I realized it was just what we needed.” She closed her eyes and concentrated, as her horn glowed bright with magical energy. The air around the windows crackled as she got to work, closing any doors that might still be open to help with her idea.

The whole room was full of energy, and when she deployed the spell, the windows looked very different out of the blue. Rather than showing the morning sky, it looked like Luna just raised the moon outside, with dazzling stars illuminating a pitch black sky, with the beauty of the moonlight coming in. It changed the entire look of the room as a result. The gems on the tree roots planted on the ceiling shone with the reflection of the stars, and the room got a lot darker. It was almost like the room was covered in candles now.

With the spell in place, Twilight wiped the sweat off her face. It was a rather demanding spell after all. “It’s an illusionary spell. You can make it look like it’s nighttime when you look out the window, but it’s still daytime in reality. What do you think?”

Spike’s jaw was on the floor. He flew up to one of the windows to see if he was seeing things right. It really did look like it was after sunset out there, but when he brought his head out the window, the illusion was shattered and he saw the morning sky as he did before. Bringing his head back inside brought the image back to life.

“That’s one of the coolest things you’ve ever done!” he gawked, amazed as he flew back down to his seat. “You should write a book on it when you get the chance.”

“I can’t. That was Starswirl’s idea. He used it as another way to fool an enemy, should he ever need it. That said, I thought it would be great for today, because I learned that a lot of ponies go out on dates in the evening. So, after thinking about it, my big idea was to use that spell so it would feel almost like a candlelight dinner in here.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. I’m just...how did you do that?”

“Practice. Lots and lots of practice. You know what they say, practice makes perfect!” she squeaked.

“Maybe.” Gonna take a lot of practice for me to get this right. “What’s in that bag of yours, anyway?”

“Oh, this thing?” Twilight had completely forgotten she had the bag at all. She opened it up and looked inside to make sure everything was in there. “It’s some materials I made last night to help get the illusion even closer to the real thing. Next time we do this, they’ll be real.”

Spike was curious what was in the bag and what she could mean by that, until he recalled her previous experience with crafting stuff. And sure enough, she pulled out a bunch of hastily made paper plates to the table, along with pieces of paper with wine glasses scribbled--more like vomited upon--on them.

“You’re going for a dinner date with this, right?” he said, trying his best not to laugh at the cute nature of this ‘date’.

“Exactly. That’s always a classic among lovebirds. Shining and Cadence must have gone to a million of them before he popped the question.” She handed Spike a plate and ‘glass’, and gave one of each to herself. “Before we begin, you have any more questions?”

Spike took a look at his surroundings, really soaking in the mother of all illusionary spells on the windows,, along with the less impressive dining ware in front of him. “Well, I can definitely say you tried your hardest with all this. Let’s go ahead and get started.”

“That’s just what I wanted to hear!” She clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “Let’s begin the second practice date...now.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Now that we’ve begun, let’s cover the next part of your training. If you’ve taken your crush out on a date, you had a good reason for it, right? LIke, there was a reason you had feelings for her?”

“I guess so. I would have to be pretty into her if I asked her out on a date like this.”

“In this case, it might just help if you remind your date why you have feelings for her in the first place. In other words, tell her why you like-like her.”

“You know, that sounds like something real ponies do all the time.” He coughed up a lung to clear his throat. “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that you’re really beautiful. Some ponies might say you’re not a knockout, but yeah, they’re wrong.”

“Good, good. Keep going.”

“Alright. You’re not just beautiful, either. You’re really smart and think on your feet like it’s nothing. That’s really hard to do.”

“Excellent. Just one more time and I think we’re finished.”

“Heh, you know, with all those things you do, no wonder you’ve saved Equestria so many--” He stopped in his tracks when he realized where he was going with it. He turned around for a moment in embarrassment, his cheeks turning bright red.

Twilight stopped in her tracks as well, her eyes widening a bit from what she just heard. “Okay, that was, um, weird. But you passed with flying colors. If you say you have feelings for your date before you go too far with things, you’ll be off on the right foot. What you think about that?”

Spike, what were you thinking? This was just supposed to be a casual thing, and then you took it way too personal. You were supposed to come up with generic compliments, and then say ACTUAL compliments about her? Just get over it and get your mind back in the game. “That’s a good idea. I’m sure this will come in handy,” he stated calmly, using a claw to wipe the sweat off his forehead before she could see it. “It’s your turn now. I know you’re using this for dating practice, too.”

Twilight tried to brush it off again with a hand wave. “Oh come on, you know I’m fine. This is all about you, like it should be.”

“Really, Twilight? You know you could use the help. Go on, give it a shot, and we’ll see how it goes.”

“Alright, fine. Let’s see...well, you’re smart and funny?”

Spike shook his head. “Heard that a million times. Keep trying, though.”

“Come on, Twilight, you got this!” She thought long and hard about her next words. “You’re really cute for a guy?”

“Ehhh, I’ll give you a point for trying. You’re getting closer.”

Twilight felt relieved that she was getting there. “Thanks, Spike. Okay, how about, maybe, you’re really nice, very kind to everypony you know, and I think you could be a good father?”

She was greeted with a polite clap. “That’s good. I’m not kidding, either. You finally got there, and you weren’t even close when you pulled that ‘smart and funny’ line. That’s a lot of distance in just a minute. How do you feel now?”

“Like I finally got out of this bubble I’ve been stuck in for years,” she admitted. “Is this how you felt when we started?”

“Yeah, kind of. It’s not easy to get out of the bubble, believe me, but once you’re out of it, it feels like a huge weight has been taken off your chest.”

Twilight squeaked in glee. “That’s wonderful. I guess we can cross that part off the list.” She got out the notepad from the bag and looked it over. “Next part is going back to what I’ve been teaching you already, just to make sure you’ve got the hang of it. You ready for some more small talk?”

“Yeah, why not.” He adjusted his collar, as it was starting to feel hot in here for him. “You got any idea for it this time?”

“Yeah, actually.” She looked down at the table quietly. “Did you mean what you said about me?”

Spike stood silent for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“I mean...when you said I was smart and beautiful. Did you mean that?”

A trickle of sweat went down the side of his face. “Well...I mean...I want to say…”

“Please don’t feel like you have to hide anything to me. Just say what’s on your mind.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll come clean. To be honest, I was being honest with you. I mean, doesn’t everypony know you look good? It kinda comes with being a princess, even if you had it before you became an alicorn. I just never really thought about it. And the other thing, how smart you are? That’s just a given. Everypony knows you’re smart, just like they know there’s no Santa Hooves.”

“Right, right. I just had a feeling you had more to say, but if that’s it, we’re okay. I’m sorry if I made it awkward.”

“Hey, I’m the one that should be apologizing. I’m the one that made it really awkward, and I knew it when I said those things. Can you forgive me.”

“Absolutely. No harm, no foul.”

Spike sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. So we should probably go back to our small talk, right?”

“Right. You know, I did want to thank you for volunteering to help me out, too.”

“No problem. It’s no big deal or anything for me.”

“Exactly. Don’t take it for granted, though. You’ve been a really big help through the years. You’re probably the best helper in Equestria.”

Now he was blushing for another reason. “Like I’ve really done anything that big with my life. Well, other than that time I saved the Crystal Empire. That was just me being awesome.”

“And then there was that time you stayed with me after we visited the seaponies and I had that big freakout. When all my other friends couldn’t look me in the eye, you were still there, even if I didn’t deserve it.”

“Um, Twilight? What are you doing?”

“Then there was that time you went to the Dragon Lands to participate in the Gauntlet of Fire, just to keep Equestria safe. You would have stayed there permanently if it was the right thing to do to keep us safe.”

“Twilight, hello? You’re weirding me out.”

“No wonder you have a statue in the Crystal Empire. You’re practically a legend!”

He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Twilight!”

“Huh? Oh, Spike, I’m so sorry,” she pleaded. “Did I ruin this whole thing for you?”

“No, but you were acting weird for a while there. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Maybe we should just call it a day for now. I think you’ve learned a lot today, so it’s not like we need to cover more ground or anything.”

“Okay. Thanks for everything. It really did help, but I think it might help if we kept moving forward with this, and not think too much about what happened today.”

“Absolutely, and the next practice date will have you talking to another mare.”

That was just the news he wanted to hear. “Perfect. I don’t know how this is going to work, but yeah, that sounds fine. I had some chores I needed to do in the first place. You know, help Derpy move a huge shipment of mail and stuff.”

“You go ahead and do that. I’ll get you tonight for the next session. If you’re wondering, don’t worry about the mare you talk to. I’ll make sure it’s somepony you’re very familiar with, and she should be happy to do this.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later, Twilight.”

He left the throne room as soon as he could, making a beeline to the post office. He met up with Derpy, who was always happy to have a hand around there, and he started moving some mail for her. It was his way out of that situation with Twilight when he desperately needed one. There was no way he wanted to stay in that place when he said those things, and with her making the same mistake.

Yet, he couldn’t help but dwell on the compliments he said while he was in the middle of dropping off packages throughout town. Everything he said to Twilight, it really was sincere. She was a beautiful, smart mare that either saved or helped save Equestria many times. It was almost a shocker that she was still single. She was perfect for somepony out there. Come to think of it, was there more to what he said to her?

Of course not. It’s not like what he said was news or anything. A lot of ponies considered Twilight cute or heroic. Name a positive trait that could describe a pony, and it likely fit her to a tee. This was nothing to worry about. He just had to let it go, return to the castle for the next practice date, and things would feel normal.

What he didn’t count on, though, was the way Twilight handled things in the map room. She looked over her notes for the course again, making sure she didn’t make an error with it. She had very mixed emotions, to put it lightly. On one hand, she couldn’t have been more proud of Spike’s progress so far. He was taking baby steps along the way, and before he knew it, he would know how to ask out any mare he had interest in.

On the other hand, she was beginning to doubt if she was the one that should be teaching Spike. Even if she didn’t intend to do so, this course was helping her overcome her own awkwardness, too. This was all about Spike, and he should be the one learning from this. But why did she have to say all those things about him to his face? And would he even want to come back after this?

In the end of the day, she knew what he knew: She was being transparent with him. She made a lot of close friends ever since moving to Ponyville, but Spike was different. He was there with her ever since he hatched from his egg, and they were inseparable ever since then. The other Elements were wonderful ponies, deserving of the credit they earned, but they did leave her a few times over the years. He never did. Not to mention, he was kinda cute after he grew up--

Nope. No more entertaining those ideas and thoughts.

She pushed her issues aside and left the confines of the castle. This next date would need somepony new. That way, Spike would know how to talk to somepony that wasn’t Twilight, and she knew just the pony to do the job. She just hoped that this certain pink pony wouldn’t destroy the castle along the way. It wouldn’t be the first time that happened.

Author's Note

And so the plot thickens...oh, and major thanks to all who supported the story at launch. That means a lot to me, and I couldn't be happier with the response so far.

Pinkie Gonna Pinkie, Even At 10,000 Feet

To the surprise of nopony at all, Twilight delayed the following date by a day. She explained to Spike that she needed more time to make it just right, given the mare she handpicked for this task. The news put him on edge; if Twilight Sparkle needed more time to organize something, that meant things were about to go very, very good, or very, very bad. There was no middle ground for her.

When he woke up the following morning, he found a note next to his bed, saying the time and place for the next part of his training. It grabbed his attention when he realized the location was Sugar Cube Corner. Did that mean...no way. There was no way Twilight would think Pinkie was the pony to use for this occasion. That would be the craziest thing ever, which only made it more likely.

The date was set for noon. Spike went to his dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans, a green polo shirt, and a matching color jacket to go along with it. It was supposed to be a little on the cool side outside, so it wouldn’t hurt to dress a little warmly. He spotted a set of armor to the side of his usual clothes. Ember gave the set to him as a present recently, and given his potential date, it might just come in handy. There was no telling what antics Pinkie might be up to. Still, he decided against it and closed the dresser.

Before he walked out the door to the great outdoors, he braced himself for the idea that he might actually be going out on a kinda-sorta date with Pinkie Pie. Whatever would happen today was going to be noteworthy. Oh, would it ever.

Just as he expected, the weather was a little on the cool side. Not too bad, but it was definitely jacket weather. It was a little overcast for the day, so there were clouds everywhere you looked. Spike zipped up his jacket and made his way through Ponyville, heading over to the Corner to see what he was in for.

Sugar Cube Corner was largely the same charming store through the years. A few minor renovations and new coats of paint kept it up through the wear and tear, but the store never changed too much from its original design. Spike knocked on the door and waited patiently for his date.

To his surprise, Twilight answered the door. She sported a blue jacket on top of a simple black blouse and capri pants. Guess he wasn’t the only one wanting to dress warm. “Hey, you’re here ahead of schedule by a good five minutes. Good thing, too. Pinkie needed the extra time to get everything ready.”

Spike gulped in horror. “I knew you were setting me up with Pinkie! Okay, it’s not a real date, but she scares me sometimes. She’s a good friend but when she goes too far, she really goes too far.”

“Don’t worry. Pinkie’s always been really nice with you, and I helped her with the date myself. I think you’re going to like it when you see what we came up with.”

“Fine. I just hope you know what you’re doing.” He was about to head inside the Corner, but Twilight halted him in his tracks.

“We’re not doing it here, Spike. You see, Pinkie really wanted to do something special, so she went out of the box, like she tends to do. That’s why we waited until today. What she has in store only really works in the daytime.”

Yep, this date was going to be as crazy as he feared. Oh well. At least she knew how to put a smile on somepony’s face in the middle of her craziness. He followed Twilight down to a valley just out of town. HIs mind was racing at all the possibilities that could come from this. Did Pinkie throw a happy date party? Did she follow Twilight’s example and make a fake diner with nothing but cardboard? With this pony, it was possible. She was just as insane and reality breaking as Discord, so that wasn’t too much of a stretch. Once they arrived at the valley, he stood in awe of the sight in front of him.

Pinkie was hard at work getting a hot air balloon ready for the two of them. She was wearing a jacket like everypony else, too, but it was a flight jacket, and she even had flight goggles for what she was about to do. The balloon was exactly what one would expect: The basket at the bottom was big enough to have two chairs to enjoy the sights, and the balloon design sported sketches of all six of the Elements’ cutie marks. Just to be nice, though, a cartoon of Spike’s face sat right in the middle.

“A hot air balloon ride? That’s actually kinda awesome,” Spike admitted. “I might be able to fly all the time, but nothing beats a ride on one of these.”

“The ride was Pinkie’s idea, and I thought it would be perfect for your next date,” said Twilight. “So you’re going to go up there, join Pinkie for a ride, and let your experience do the rest. And don’t worry if you’re nervous or anything like that. There’s so many clouds out here, so I’ll try to find a cloud nearby and be available if you need some help.”

“Almost makes me think you made it overcast on purpose. Either way, that’s a relief. Let’s go do this thing.” Without further ado, he went down the valley and headed for his ride.

Pinkie was hard at work getting the ride ready by the control panel. “Maximum heat for the balloon, check. Ropes, check. Totally awesome lunch with Spike, check,” she noted. There was a smaller basket with a blanket over it. Judging from the smell, she made something really good earlier that morning. “Huh. That was easy.” She pulled away from her handiwork to catch Spike coming by. “Oh hi, Spike. Did you come here to fly with me? Of course you did, but you have wings and everything. You don’t need silly old me to go flying, but nothing beats a hot air balloon ride, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve been flying for years, but this is way more relaxing,” Spike greeted her, gazing up at the balloon above him. “That looks amazing. Did you make it yourself?”

“I can’t make a balloon that big myself, silly. I can make the perfect cake, but really big balloons are hard. I found this really nice pony that makes big balloons all the time, and he let me design it myself, but then I thought ‘hey, Spike is a big part of our group, so we need him in there!’ And then we did. What do you think?”

“It looks...cute.” Then he caught the scent of the food in the basket. “Did you bring lunch? I’m starving.”

“Yep. Flying is no fun on an empty stomach, but flying AND eating is a lot of fun. So, you ready to go on a fake date? I’ve never been on a fake date, but I could pretend to be your girlfriend and we could say sappy things to each other. I’ve never done that before!” She squeaked and grinned from cheek to cheek.

“You don’t have to do that, Pinkie. It just means a lot that you’re helping at all.” He climbed into the ride and got himself ready for takeoff. He waved over to Twilight to indicate he was ready. Twilight nodded and spread her wings, going up into the clouds to be ready once they joined her up in the atmosphere.

“Alright, let’s go flying! Well, more like sit down while the balloon does all the work, but that’s almost like flying if you’re a lazy pegasus!” She cut all the bindings loose with Spike’s help, and with nothing else getting in the way, the balloon took off.

Spike had years of flying experience, but the feeling of lifting up into the sky never got old. The ground below got smaller as the clouds came up to greet him. He marveled as the balloon was a hundred feet up in the air, then over five hundred, then there was no way he could keep track. Birds flew all around them as he could see all of Ponyville from his seat. Pinkie steered the ride to bring them between Ponyville and the surrounding mountain ranges. If Spike took a peek in a certain direction, he couldn’t just see Canterlot from here, he would be able to spot the library that he once called home.

Even up here, It didn’t take him long to spot Twilight sitting on a cloud closeby. She still had her wings spread out in case she needed to go elsewhere, but she looked thrilled with what she was seeing so far. She waved to her dragon friend and hoped for the best from here.

“This never gets old,” he said to Pinkie. “The cool air on your scales, the current carrying your wings, all of it. I didn’t get why Dash liked coming up here all the time, and then I got my wings. Didn’t take long for me to see the appeal.”

“That and you can make a side business of it, too,” Pinkie added. She unzipped her jacket to reveal she was sporting a graphic T-shirt for her business. “Pinkie’s Balloon Tours Around Equestria, where you can see everything from a pegasus’s view! I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but Earth Ponies and Unicorns love it! Who knew. Oh yeah. I forgot to do the other thing. We are out on a date, after all.”

She pulled the blanket off of the smaller basket, and Spike was more than a little amused by what was inside. Despite the fact that the package was small, it spread out to reveal a full blown three course meal for the two of them. They shared the same appetizer with a few donuts apiece. Main course was a salad for Pinkie(she did need real food every now and then) and a giant fire ruby for Spike. Desert was a couple of huge slices for each of them.

“How did you make all that stuff in a basket that tiny--nevermind. I don’t know the answer now and I’ll never know for sure,” Spike interrupted himself.

“Eh, it’s just practice,” Pinkie answered. “Even though I’m helping you with your issues, I really should be thanking you.”

“Huh? What am I even doing?”

“Well, that fire ruby just gave me the idea of taking my catering business to the Dragon Lands, because what dragon ISN’T hungry, and I made a lot of food today, and that could be helpful because, and don’t tell anypony this, I heard the Cakes want to give me the Sugar Cube Corner and retire after they save enough money for their kids, and I’m just happy to help any friend in need!” She pulled all of this off in one breath.

Spike couldn’t believe his ears. Years of hearing Pinkie talk like this, and he still wasn’t used to it. He glanced back at Twilight with a “can you believe this?” look. Twilight shrugged and mouthed off “hey, this is like that small talk I told you about, maybe you should do that with her?”

Fair point. He picked up a glazed donut and had a bite before practicing that theory. “That’s pretty cool. Just look out for Garble if you ever go up there. He’s red and yellow, has sharp teeth, and you’ll know him when he says ‘what’s a puny pony doing here?’”

“That big meanie dragon? I’ve heard everything about him.” Pinkie’s mane deflated for a moment, before it reinflated along with the balloon. “At least it’s just one big bad dragon. Dragons really warmed up to ponies ever since that Fire Gauntlet or what’s-its-name you did. Especially Ember. She’s awesome!”

Spike turned again to Twilight to make sure he was doing okay. The princess had to jump to another cloud that was further away, but he could spot a thumbs up anywhere. He went back to business and had himself a second donut. However, he dropped his meal as soon as he saw where the balloon was heading. “Um, Pinkie, are we in Cloudsdale?”

“Maybe. That is one stop on the tour. Is something wrong?”

“I’m pretty sure we just by the Wonderbolts’ camp.”

Pinkie glanced over to see what he meant, and sure enough, she caught several Wonderbolts come within inches of hitting the balloon. Their training facility was just right below them, and the Bolts that weren’t almost crashing into them were on the ground, wondering just what the hay they were witnessing. Spitfire, in particular was not exactly happy. Neither was Rainbow Dash, standing right next to her.

“Who broke protocol and let a hot air balloon get within range of camp again? This is the third time this month,” Spitfire barked.

Rainbow Dash covered her eyes and groaned. “Pinkie…”

“Huh, guess you were right. Don’t worry, this isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last,” Pinkie said. She went to the steering controls and spun the wheel right around. It didn’t take long to steer the ride away from camp, and she brought them right over the heart of Cloudsdale. Spike wasn’t surprised to see a lot of pegasi stopping to figure out what exactly was flying through their town. Spotting an Element of Harmony and that one Crystal Empire saving dragon inside the ride made them realize this wasn’t a threat or anything, but it was still a surreal image.

Spike had to take a moment to breathe in and out. “Wow. I thought we were gonna die or make somepony else die. We’re totally okay. We are going to be fine.”

“Why wouldn’t we be okay? I’ve been riding one of these things for three years now, so I know what I’m doing.” Pinkie locked the controls into place and went back to her seat, bringing the salad to her lap and having at it. “Hey, Twilight told me all about what’s going on with you, and I kinda felt bad about it, but I have something that might just help you out. If you wanna hear something from your Auntie Pinkie, that is.”

Spike was just busy making sure they didn’t bump into a building along the way. “What? You said something? Oh. Sorry, just keeping an eye on things. What do I have to do again?”

“Dating is really confusing and I don’t really talk to stallions, so I don’t know if this will help or just make things worse, but it’s easy peasy if you just let go.”

“Let go of what?” His mind was running on so much adrenaline, it took five seconds for him to register anything she was saying. They were going so fast, the thought of bumping into a building was still fresh on his mind.

“Let go of things. Don’t worry about it. If you don’t get it right today, you could always try tomorrow. Well, with dating, at least. It doesn’t work if you procrastinate on saving the world. But it’s easy to let go of everything else. Like this!” She stood up, took a look at the sky below, and jumped out of the ride without warning.

Spike’s jaw hit to the floor. “PIIIINKIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!” He sprinted to the side of the basket and got his wings out to save her, only to stop when he saw what she was up to.

Pinkie was wearing a bungee cord around her ankles, having put them on without him knowing. She laughed at the top of her lungs as she bounced around the city of Cloudsdale, almost fitting the side of the buildings, only to pull away at just the right time. That was a relief to Spike and the worst possible image he could imagine, all at the same time.

“Let me pull you up!” he said as he started reeling her in, getting her back into the basket as quick as possible. While he was doing that, he noticed Twilight was close by the ride, having flown in to rescue Pinkie as well. When she realized what Pinkie was really doing, she went back to the nearest cloud, still hyperventilating at the mere thought. Pinkie, however, was being Pinkie.

“Don’t look up my skirt! Wait, I’m wearing pants. Nevermind,” she joked. She climbed back into the basket a few seconds later. “See what I mean? I let go, I didn’t think about it, and I had a lot of fun. If you want, you could try it after me.”

“No no no no no, I can’t. Just...what were you thinking?” He took the fire ruby and started to stress eat like crazy.

“Come on, you’re telling me that wasn’t the most fun thing in the world? Oh well. I guess everypony has their own idea of letting go.” She went back to her seat and finished the rest of her salad like she wasn’t dangling over Cloudsdale a few minutes ago. “Oh hey, you’re eating that gem I found in the mountains. Do you like it?”

Spike finally realized what he was eating, and his next bite was a little slower to savor the flavor. “Yeah, it’s good. It’s really juicy and crunchy. It must be the hardest thing to make a gem for a dragon like me. Thanks for putting in the effort and everything.”

“You think that’s hard? The hardest thing I’ve ever done is babysit the Cake Twins for the first time. Or was it going to Yakyakistan for the first time? First times are really hard. Maybe it was when I made that ten layer cake? What am I saying, ten layers are nothing. A fifty layer cake is when it gets tough. Add chocolate on top of that, and I don’t think even Luna could make it, and she’s an alicorn…”

She kept going, and going, and going. Spike was amazed how a pony could continue for this long, but then again, it was Pinkie. However, he was beginning to wonder if he bombed during this date, given how most of it was handling Pinkie’s antics, and he lowered his head at the thought.

Twilight picked up on that and flew in just behind Spike, right outside the basket. “You’re doing really well. Granted, I might have had a heart attack when she went bungee jumping, but you’re doing exactly what you should be doing. The small talk was nothing, and you even complimented her for making the gem. Looks like you were listening in class.”

“Are you really sure? Just listen to her right now.”

“...but Somnambula said you could totally do anything if you’re blindfolded, as long as you trust your other four senses. But she’s never poked a manticore in the butt by accident. Then again, I think a centaur might kick you in the face if you did that, I don’t need to ask Tirek to know that…”

“Look, I know Pinkie’s a little out there, but that’s just how she is. I think you’re doing a wonderful job,” Twilight comforted him, giving him a pat on the back. “Just remember what I taught you and you’ll be fine. I have to go for now, though. I heard Dash might have been injured back there.” She took off back to the Wonderbolts’ camp, leaving him alone with the pink one.

He sighed and brought his attention back to Pinkie. He didn’t stop her, but her ramblings blurred together after a while. His mind finally started to cool down after almost crashing into a few Wonderbolts AND seeing Pinkie bungee jump without warning, but the expression on his face started to give away how weary it had made him.

Somehow, in the middle of all that, Pinkie noticed it as well. “What’s wrong? Am I doing something that’s making you upset?”

“Not really. I’m just not used to this is all. Not just what you did, but the whole dating thing. I’m kinda scared I’m messing it up.”

“Hey, what did I say?” Pinkie interrupted, getting real stern and pointing a finger at Spike. “Let. Go. You could always go bungee jump with me if that would help. Never did it with a friend before.”

“I don’t think we need to do that,” Spike replied, scared at the mere thought of that. He picked up his slice of cake with a plate and ate the icing off of it.

“Hey, I did want to ask something since we’re talking about it. What’s your dream mare like?”

“That’s a really weird thing to ask. Why do you ask?”

“Well, let’s be honest, it’s not going to happen between the two of us. You never really liked me that way, and I’m okay with that. If this whole fake date thingy helps you find a mare that makes you happy, I’m happy. But I was wondering what kind of mare you would like, since it’s not going to be Rarity anymore.”

That was a good point to him, and he gave it a moment to ponder it. “To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it. I always knew in my heart that Rarity was the one, but I’m moving on now. So, when I think about what I want in a partner, I guess I would like her to be really beautiful.”

“Mares are really good at that,” Pinkie snickered.

:”Heh, yeah. But I don’t want my mare to be just a pretty face. I also want her to be really smart. Like, one of the smartest ponies in Equestria. If she knows things that I don’t know, that’s great. That means she can show me things I never considered, and if it makes me smarter, I’m all for it.”

“Note taken. Anything else?”

“There is one last thing, probably the most important of all. When we’re together, I want to be able to know she can support me when I need it. I’m not always going to be happy, and there will be moments where I’m miserable. It would be nice to have somepony to lean on when that happens. I would like to do the same for her, too. If she needs a shoulder to rest on, I want to do that for her. It should be a two way street between us. We need to be able to trust each other when it counts.”

“Um, Spike, can I say something and you won’t get upset or angry at me?”

“Go ahead. I doubt you can catch me off guard at this point.” If reality had a voice, it would tell him to hold its beer.

“If I had to be honest, like in a good way, that sounds a lot like Twilight to me.”

And then she did the impossible and caught him off guard at this point. He almost fell over in his chair and couldn’t understand the mere thought of it. “Twilight? With me?”

“Well, yeah. She’s really cute and smart. And you’ve come through for her in the tough moments, she’s come through for you in the tough moments, get what I’m saying?”

“Yes. I mean, n-no! I mean, nevermind. It’s that…” His mind raced at all the ways he could change the topic. He needed to. “You know, I never realized you were so good at hot air balloons! How did you do this for three years, and I just now found out about it?”

“That’s easy. One day, I was walking through Canterlot, and I stumbled upon a whole school on hot air balloon rides. How could I turn that down? That’s the best idea for a school ever! So I went to the school and signed right up, but the lobby was really smelly, like a chicken died or something. I almost left over that.. Thank Celestia I changed my mind, right? Then I went up to the desk…”

Just as Spike had hoped, she went back to her rambling, just when he needed it. It would give him some time to process the craziest suggestion of all time. Since she went into extreme detail with her story, he would have all the time in the world.

Was she really right? Was Twilight the perfect mare for him? Did she ever consider the fact that Twilight kinda-sorta adopted him the moment after he hatched? Did she even care? No matter what, it only added to the already heavy weight on his heart. It was getting so heavy, it was proving to be unbearable. Deep down, however, he had to admit that Pinkie’s suggestion struck a chord with him, as if he heard some hidden truth for the first time.

He couldn’t believe himself. Was he really taking these thoughts seriously? Twilight would hate it if he came clean about this. They were virtually siblings, after all. Or was it really like that at all? They weren’t in the same species when he thought about it. But why he still thinking about it? Why couldn’t he just let go, like Pinkie suggested? It should be easy for someone like him.

And yet…

“Spike? Earth to Spike? You know we landed, right?” Pinkie interrupted.

“Huh?” Spike’s thought bubble popped, and he realized that they really did land already. The hot air balloon was back on solid ground, and Pinkie had already cleaned up the basket from leftovers and silverware. “How long have we been here?”

“We just got here, actually. Hey, could you help me deflate the balloon and help get it back to storage? It won’t take long, and it will help take your mind off whatever it is you’re thinking about.”

“Right. I’m so sorry. It’s just me being stupid. Let’s go ahead and get it done.”

For the next half hour, Spike and Pinkie deflated the balloon together, taking it to a storage facility once they were done. It was a tough job, but it helped him relax and take it easy in the middle of it. Once they were done, he walked her back to her place home, finding it the right thing to do after such a long day.

“So, did that help you or anything?” she wondered. “I feel like I did and I didn’t. Does that make sense?”

“I know what you mean,” he mentioned, feeling like he was closer and further away from the solution to his pickle. “This was a big help, Pinkie. Thank you. It’s just that I realized I’m a huge, horrible romantic mess. At least I’m less of a mess than I was yesterday.”

“Oooh, so I didn’t mess it up. Well, you said you’re a mess, but a smaller mess is way better than a big mess. You’re getting there. And don’t forget, just let go.” She shut the front door to the Corner and headed for her bedroom. That left Spike by himself in the street, alone with his thoughts. Not something he wanted to deal with.

He started to head back to the castle, still just as confused as ever, when he heard somepony coming from behind. He turned around to see Twilight touch down on the ground in front of him. She had been through a long day herself, judging from all the sweat and dirt on her forehead.

“Was it that bad with Dash?” he asked. “We didn’t make her crash when we got close, did we?”

“She’s fine. Just collided with another Wonderbolt by mistake, but it was just a bruise or two. It happened after you left, so you’re fine,” Twilight explained. She wiped all the stuff off her forehead. “So how was the date?”

Spike grumbled and looked down at his feet. It felt like it took a Herculean effort to look her in the face by now. “It went okay. She’s still Pinkie, but she helped me realize a few things about myself. I’m still confused about the whole thing.”

“That’s perfectly normal. From what I saw, you did great.” She couldn’t help but find Spike’s behaviour weird, though. “Is something wrong?”

It took a lot of courage from Spike to bring his eyes back up her. “No, everything’s fine. Just been a long day, I guess. Do you have something planned for tomorrow?”

“Am I that predictable? Weird. If you want, I did book the next date for tomorrow, so I guess you read me pretty well. Out of all your dates so far, this one is probably the closest to a real date you’ll ever get to.”

Spike felt extremely conflicted at the news. A part of him was hoping it would be with Twilight, another part wished it wouldn’t be the case. “Who’s it with?”

“Apple Bloom, believe it or not. I figured she would be a perfect candidate, since she’s about your age. I asked if she wanted to volunteer this morning, and she was fine with it. If you would rather have somepony else, now’s probably the time to do it. The date’s tomorrow evening.”

Tell her you want to take her out, Spike. This is your chance to let her know how you feel!

“Sure. Apple Bloom’s a nice filly. Err, mare. Still getting used to that. So where’s the date at?”

“It’s a really awesome restaurant that just opened up last year, the Magic Wheatball. Probably the fanciest restaurant in town now. I’ll still be around the place if you need any help, but I think you’ve got this now.

“Good, good. I do feel better knowing you’ll be there if I screw it up, but it shouldn’t be that hard.” I can’t believe I just said that. She can’t know how I feel about her. That would be the end of me.

“Great. We’ll go pick her up at 7 in the afternoon, and the rest is up to you. But for now, let’s just call it a day. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

“Go on ahead. I ate a lot of food with Pinkie, and I’ll meet you back home. I could use a bath after all that, anyways.”

“Alright, I’ll meet you there. Oooh, I can’t wait to see you knock it out of the park tomorrow!” With that business concluded, she went on her way to the nearest restaurant or cafe or whatever. She was so hungry that she would eat anything at this point.

Now that she was gone, Spike went home as fast as he could. Not just to take that back he desperately needed, but to have the place to himself. He would need a lot of time to think before the next date. The sooner he got rid of that heavy weight on his chest, the better. If he could ever get it off, that is.

Author's Note

Funny story with this one. Originally, this chapter would just have Spike having his practice date with Pinkie at Twilight's kitchen, and that would be the way Twilight would make it feel "more like a real date". However, after I was done with the first three chapters, I felt like the story as a whole lacked a spark. Too much talking and not enough stuff going on beyond that.

So I hunkered down a few days ago and redid a lot of the outlining ideas for some of the chapters, and the final product of the Pinkie date is what you see here. The story beats are still the same(this would have made Spike realize his feelings no matter what) but the date concept itself couldn't be more different if it tried. I'll leave it up to you to decide if it was an improvement, but I thought it was, and it REALLY helped me find that "spark" I was looking for. Getting this just right was why this came out later than I expected, but it was worth it methinks.

And thank goodness Google Docs helped me realize I misspelled the name of Egyptian pone lol

Intermission: Meanwhile, in Cloudsdale

Later that evening, Cloudsdale was as quiet as it could be. Impressive, given how close Pinkie was from creating a huge catastrophe a dozen times, if not more. That was normal for Equestria anymore, come to think of it. In the meantime, everypony was resting up in their homes, with some of them calling it a night and heading to bed. Those that stayed up, however, were treated to a beautiful clear sky, where they could see Luna’s moon from anywhere in the town.

“Isn’t it marvelous?” Rarity commented as she looked out the window. She had put on a black evening gown, since she wasn’t too far away from calling it a night herself. “Sometimes, I wonder how Celestia raised the sun and the moon by herself for all those years. Must have been the hardest parts of the day for her.”

“She could handle it. Come to think of it, she could handle nearly anything during that millennium,” Misty replied from the bathroom, taking care of his evening chores. “Although, she never had to organize a wedding. Now there’s where the challenge is.”

“I know, darling. It can be so draining,” she groaned as she flopped down to the bed. “Every little detail needs to be perfect. Where should we have it? What time of day is premium? I knew it would put us to the test, but never did I expect this.”

“No doubt, but we can handle this together, just like every other problem thrown our way.” He walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but boxers, showing off just how slender he was. With the body he had, no wonder a few ponies thought he was a mare at first glance. However, he noticed that Rarity was dressing much more conservatively than he was, drawing a blush. “I feel underdressed now.”

“Pffft, like I haven’t seen your body before,” Rarity chuckled. “Come here, I’ve been feeling lonely without you.”

Misty smiled and joined her in bed. He gave her a hug, then a kiss, and more kisses; now they couldn’t stop kissing each other. There were nights where they would go further than just kissing, but the urge wasn’t there tonight. They didn’t need to do that right now.

Once they were done kissing and embracing each other, she exhaled contently. This was always what she wanted: a stallion that shared her interests and loved her deeply, supporting her professionally and personally, something she feared she wouldn’t be able to experience. She put a hand on her chest and started to pet him, and he put a hand on top of hers to show how much he appreciated that.

“You heard about that hot air balloon that went through town earlier?” he asked.

“A hot air balloon? Through Cloudsdale?” she thought. “How preposterous. There’s a reason they nearly banned them last year in the city council. Who knows what kind of tragedy might occur with one of those in Cloudsdale? Do we know who was in it?”

“Oh yes. The newspapers already have pictures of them. The one steering it won’t surprise you. It was none other than Pinkie Pie.”

Rarity snorted and laughed at the news. “Oh, Pinkie. She’s still so random. As long as she’s not hurting anypony, she can be as crazy as she wants to be. Was anypony else with her?”

“Yeah. I think she was taking Spike for a ride.”

“Spike? Intriguing. I wonder what he was doing with her. He seemed so happy yesterday, if a little grumpy as well. Who knows. Maybe he had an anniversary of some sort? Pinkie would make an anniversary out of anything.”

“Actually…” Misty’s ears dropped down to the side. “You weren’t there when I was talking to Spike alone. He wasn’t what I’d call happy.”

The unicorn groaned and started to sit up. “Please tell me he’s still not angry with you or say ‘you stole Rarity from me’ again. I thought we were over this.”

“It’s not that. He’s a lot more mature now. It’s as if he’s still sore that you turned him down. If I had to be blunt, he’s not over you. At least, it appears that way.”

The thought made her wince in pain. “Oh dear. I was afraid of that.”

“I know.” Misty wrapped a hand around her waist and hugged her tight. “It wasn’t something you wanted to do, was it? Break his heart like that?”

“Never. I wouldn’t take delight in hurting a pony’s feelings like that. He really was too young, you know. When he asked me out, he wasn’t much older than Sweetie Belle, and she was just barely a teenager. It would have been more than awkward to date a dragon that age.”

“I figured. Well, I should, since we’ve been over this many times. I guess it still stings because of things like that. Knowing he’s still not over you.”

“I feel awful whenever I think about it. I wish there was another way to handle it that wouldn’t hurt a soul.”

“Rarity, I love you, but there’s something you need to be honest with me on.”

She gazed at him with a hint of worry. “I don’t like the sound of this.”

Misty sat up with her and took a deep breath. “Would you have gone out with Spike if he wasn’t so young at the time? Like, if I was out of the picture and he was an adult, would you love him?”

The idea got her to gulp. “Misty, I love you with all my heart, and I couldn’t see myself with anypony--”

“Don’t dodge the question, please. If the answer is yes, I won’t be hurt. We are getting married, after all. Doubt a thing like this would ruin the whole thing.”

Rarity still took a while to answer, afraid of the consequences. “Yes. I might have gone out with him once, at least. His personality was never an issue for me. He was and is such a wonderful dragon. Very helpful, too. I might have had some feelings for him on occasion, but his age was impossible to overlook.”

Misty nodded. “I thought so. And to be honest, had I known that his interest in you was that serious, I would have handled things with him a bit differently.”

The idea had her scoffing. “Whatever do you mean? You were perfect. We took things slow, we made certain we were close friends before we went steady. What was wrong with that?”

“Nothing. It was the perfect pace for us. The thing is, I barreled through the whole relationship, and not once did I consider how much he was hurting along the way. Do you recall the way he looked at us when he entered the same diner we were having a date at?”

The memory made Rarity wince again, even more so. “That face will forever be etched into my mind. But...Misty…” She pushed him back down and nuzzled his face. “If anypony should apologize to Spike for what happened, it should be me. Please don’t think you had anything to do with that. You never did. I guess we still feel bad for him after all these years, don’t we?”

Misty groaned and nodded again, rubbing her shoulders tenderly. “Yeah. Do you think he’ll ever find the one for him, like we did?”

“I hope to Celestia that he does. He deserves it. I just wish I didn’t hurt him for the rest of his life. Do you think I did?”

He lowered his head and gave her another kiss on the lips. “Hopefully not. That will be up to him, however. It’s his choice on what he wants to do with his life. Although, I find that he’s too charming and charismatic to remain alone for long. You know?”

“Oh yes. I know that more than most ponies. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take him too long to find the one out there.”

“Amen.”

Author's Note

Yeah, it's a bit on the short side, but it's intentionally so. I figured the story could use a breather before it starts going into the really heavy stuff after this. That, and Rarity's feelings on the matter was a thing that needed to be addressed. If you're curious, I would be fine if she got together with Spike in canon, but yeah, that age issue is a legit problem they would need to get around.

Just be ready for what's next. The following chapter will be the last "normal" chapter, then things will REALLY hit the fan.

Take A Deep Breath. You'll Need It.

If somepony wanted an idea of how much things changed in the last five years, they would need to look no further than the night sky by Ponyville. In the past, it would be all lit up, but it wouldn’t reach very far, since it was still a small little town. But now, it was like watching a metropolis in its early stages of life. It was almost as bright as Canterlot, and whenever there were clouds above, they would be illuminated from the lights down below.

As a result of all this growth, the streets would be a little crowded that evening. It made sense; Saturday night was a busy night, no matter where you were in Equestria. It was a good thing Twilight already reserved some space at the Magic Wheatball, as all the walk-in diners would be in a line wrapped around the building.

Speaking of the princess, she was taking Spike down to Sweet Apple Acres. She wore a slightly more upscale blue dress this evening with plenty of sequins to go around, and he wore what could be best described as a casual tuxedo shirt. It was a little tight and rubbed his back spikes the wrong way, but considering what was going down tonight, he would be okay with it for an hour or two.

“How do you feel? Nervous? Excited? A little of both?” she asked.

“A little of both,” he admitted. “I know it’s still not a real date, but it sure feels like one. I don’t think I’ve worn anything like this since Shining and Cadence’s wedding, even if it’s just a shirt. Let’s hope tonight will go better than that.”

“Like things will ever get that bad. I don’t think Chrysalis would pick tonight to strike again, just because you’re going out with Apple Bloom.”

“Hey, you never know. You gotta be prepared for anything.”

It wasn’t long until they found their way to the farm. Applejack kept the place up over the years, and while it was still the same farm at its core, she added a few acres here and there to help out with the business expansion. Meanwhile, the house was pretty much the same, just with a repair here and there.

Twilight and Spike came up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Applejack walked up to the doorstep, happy to see familiar company. “So, you brought a dragon here to date my little sister, right?”

“N-No!” Spike blushed. “We’ve been over this a few times. I’m only doing this for the practice. Didn’t Twilight tell you before you signed off on it?”

“Yeah, just messing with ya. Nothin’ to worry about.” She turned down to holler down the hallway. “Hey, AB, Spike’s here. Why don’t you go give him a warm welcome?”

Apple Bloom didn’t take long to come out to do just that. Compared to Spike’s “dressed up” get up, she was far more casual, enjoying the comfort of a green shirt with some overall jeans. It was...actually not that far off from what she normally wore when she was a kid, just a little bigger and nicer. She was now just a few inches shorter than her big sister, but it looked like she took up working out in recent years. Being more hands on at the farm would do that to a pony.

“How’s it going?” she greeted. “I like your dress, Twilight, and that’s a really cute tuxedo-ish shirt, Spike.”

“And you said she wouldn’t like it,” Twilight nudged. “Apple Bloom, I know Applejack told you about everything before we started, but do you have questions before we get started?”

“Yeah, I had one. I don’t have to do anything with love potions, do I?”

Twilight and Spike glanced at each other, a little horrified at that particular outing with Big Mac and Cheerilee. “Ehh, no,” Twilight answered. “We’re just doing this to warm him up to the dating scene. If you don’t want to do this again after tonight, that’s okay with us.”

“Alright. I do like helpin’ a friend in need, and I’m dying to see what all the fuss is about with this ‘Magic Wheatball’ outfit. I’m ready when you guys are.”

“Just don’t hurt my sister, you hear?” Applejack teased. “No love potions, no weird magic stuff, nothin’.”

“Applejack, cut him a break,” Twilight laughed. “He’s been through a lot these last few days.”

“I know, I know. Just have a good time and take it easy out there.”

“We will, AJ. He’s a good guy.” Apple Bloom waved her big sister goodbye and headed down to the heart of Ponyville with Twilight and Spike. Twilight took note of Spike’s state along the way, noticing how relaxed he appeared to be this evening. Granted, it probably helped that he was good friends with the Crusaders, but considering he was a nervous wreck at the start of practice, this was a positive sign.

It sure helped that Apple Bloom was rather curious about this Magic Wheatball as well, since it was open for less than a month at this point. It was out on the outskirts of Ponyville towards the Acres, so it only took a few minutes to get there. And oh boy, were they surprised by the size of the line outside the place. Twilight knew it would be a good idea to reserve in advance.

The Magic Wheatball was a rather interesting place to say the least. It was originally a small restaurant in Canterlot, but business was good to it, and it opened a second location soon after. Ponyville was the perfect place to open it at, given the growing population. As a result of its roots, it had a lot of characteristics of a Canterlot place, with light blue bricks on the outside and a sign with bright lights to advertise the place right next to it. Inside, the restaurant would be dimly lit with brown lights to give it a cozy feeling, and having the servers wear real tuxedos would give it an upscale feeling. Considering it sat over two hundred customers at once, it said a lot that there was still a massive line to get inside.

The party of three came up to the front desk and looked around to get a feel for the place. “What do you think so far?” Spike asked. “It was Twilight’s idea to come here. She used to eat at the Canterlot location all the time before we moved to Ponyville.”

“It’s a little fancy for my liking, but nothin’ wrong with that every now and then,” Apple Bloom commented. “I kinda like it. Just crazy how you get a Canterlot place goin’ in here, and now everypony wants in.”

“It was even crazier up in Canterlot,” Twilight commented.

Soon, the lead waitress came up to the front desk to attend to them. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she realized who she was talking to. “Princess Twilight? What an honor to serve you. You didn’t even need to ask for a reservation. Merely showing up would be enough.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s more fair to everypony else, anyways. I believe it was a party of two for Spike and Apple Bloom, and a party of one for me.”

Spike was a little worried at the sound of that. “You’re not sitting with us?”

“”It might get in the way if I sat down with you two. Not to worry, I got the table right next to your booth. It will be just like yesterday, where I’ll be on standby if you need a tip or two. Just remember your training, make Apple Bloom happy, and everything will work out.”

“Okay. I hope it works out.”

After verifying the reservation, the waitress led them to their tables. Spike and Apple Bloom were taken to a booth by the side, and Twilight sat down at a table for one right next to them. Each customer were given their own menus, which was a rather big selection of meals to choose from.

Spike took a deep breath and went over things in his mind. Compliment first. “I just wanted to say--”

“I hope you find what you’re lookin’ for,” Apple Bloom interrupted.

That wasn’t something he expected. “Yeah, me too. You didn’t have to do this, you know.”

“Hey, I know what it’s like to want something for years, and feel like you’re never gonna get it. If I can get my cutie mark after all the messes I made for months, you can get yourself a mare. Just don’t give up on yourself.”

“You know, you’re probably right. It was pretty awesome when I got my wings, and I wasn’t even thinking about that. I just don’t feel like screwing up anymore.” He picked up the menu and went over all the options. This place had quite the big liquor selection. “You’re still too young to drink, right?”

“Eeyup,” Apple Bloom noted. Apparently, Applejack wasn’t the only sibling to rub off on her. “I heard they make darn good pizzas here. Maybe we should split a four cheese one? They’re supposed to be big enough to share.”

“Yeah, that should hit the spot. I’m pretty hungry, anyways.” He flagged a waiter down and made the order, getting them a couple glasses of sparkling apple juice to go along with it. Since the Apple Family supplied the apple juice, that would likely make his pretend date happy.

Meanwhile, Twilight treated herself to a simple salad, but that wasn’t really on her mind. No, her full attention would be at the booth next to her. Deep down, she was still a little worried for Spike. She felt like he wouldn’t blow it by this point, but she didn’t want him to get hurt, either. Still, she knew he needed to do this as little help as possible. It seemed to be going well so far. He was relaxed, paying full attention to the other pony, and soon enough, he would go back to the things he learned in his training. She just hoped her training idea would work as well as she wanted.

Speaking of which, back to the training. “So I noticed that sparkling apple juice was made with apples from your farm,” he pointed out. “How has business been treating you guys?”

“Ohhhh, you have no idea how good we got it,” Apple Bloom responded. “It’s made Applejack the happiest pony in the world. She’s found the sweet spot between makin’ all the bits she could want, while still keeping her integrity or whatever you want to call it. Made enough money to pay my way through college this autumn. Thinkin’ I’m gonna do some counseling course, so I can keep helpin’ ponies learn more about their cutie marks when I’m not working at the farm. It’s the other thing I’m good at.”

“That’s awesome. Who knows, maybe you’ll be running the farm one day.” He leaned back in his seat, relieved that it was going so well on the small talk.

“Thanks. But I can’t imaging anypony but Applejack doing that. So what you been up to? If you’re doin’ a whole thing on practice dating, things must be rough on ya.”

Their waiter came up and dropped off the glasses of apple juice, just in time. He found himself drinking the whole thing rather quickly, as she wasn’t exactly wrong about the rough part. “I’m just...well, you know what it was like, what happened between me and Rarity. You’ve heard the whole story before. I want to move on from that, you know?”

“I get what you’re sayin’. Doesn’t help nothing when you stay one place for a while, even if you’re a dragon and you live for, like, centuries or something. But practice dating? That sounds a little out there. Let me guess, it was Twilight’s idea?”

Since Twilight was right there, he had to stop himself from laughing. “Yeah, it was all her idea. I couldn’t dream that up even if I tried. Not like I had a better idea.”

On the other hand, Apple Bloom didn’t stop herself from chuckling at the news. “That sounds like Twilight, alright. She would write a book on anything, even on something stupid like sneezing, and her whippin’ up a whole thing on practice dating isn’t too much of a stretch. Don’t forget, she tried making the whole town go gaga for a toy, just to get a friendship lesson out of us.”

The princess winced a bit when she overheard them. It wasn’t exactly her proudest moment when she used the Want It Need It spell, and being reminded of it was like pouring salt on the wound. She stayed quiet about it so she wouldn’t get in the way. Thank goodness she got her salad around the time, eating would help her forget that awful day.

“Give her a little credit,” Spike responded. “What she’s doing, it’s helping me get out of my shell big time. I wouldn’t have even thought about asking you out until today. If somepony told me I should go out on a practice date with Apple Bloom, I would have shot it down already.”

“Okay, I’m giving her a little credit,” Apple Bloom teased. “I’m not sayin’ she’s a bad pony. Saved Equestria more times than I can count. I can still say it’s a silly idea, but hey, if it helps you find somepony, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Shortly after that, the waiter came up to them with their pizza. They knew it would be big, but not that big. Forget about feeding two people with it; four people could share that pizza and leave happy. Don’t forget the stuffed crust along with it. Their stomachs were growling at the mere sight of it, so they split it among themselves, having six pieces each, and they dug in.

“No wonder Twilight liked this place so much,” said Apple Bloom. “This is the best pizza I’ve had in months!”

“No kidding. I gotta figure out how you make this,” Spike noted. “Nothing beats a fire ruby, but this is pretty close.”

Twilight couldn’t be happier with the way things were going. She could tell they weren’t going to hit it off for real, but Spike was being himself. That wouldn’t happen a week ago. However, something still felt off to her, and she wanted to address it. She leaned over to Spike when Apple Bloom was distracted with the stuffed crust, and she whispered some advice in his ear. “Don’t forget about the compliments thing. I’m not going to mention the small talk thing, since, well, you know why.” She went back to her table like nothing happened.

Spike was a little surprised. How did he forget something like that already? Oh well, better late than never. “Hey, Apple Bloom, you’re a big help around Sweet Apple Acres. I’m sure Applejack’s really happy to have you around as a sister.”

Apple Bloom liked how that sounded, but she wanted to make sure Twilight wasn’t around to hear what she was about to say. Coincidentally, the princess just headed out for the restroom. “Did she tell you to say that?”

“Well...um…” He looked to make sure Twilight wasn’t there, either. “Yeah. Well, yes and no. She said I should compliment you because it goes a long way with my date. What I had to say was my idea.”

“That was a pretty good compliment. And what Twilight said about compliments, it’s not a bad idea. But you wanna know something? They like it a lot better when you’re sayin’ something nice from the heart, not because you think you have to say it to get on their good side.”

“Right.” He exhaled and shuffled around in his seat, checking to see if Twilight was back yet. “To be honest, I feel weird around her lately.”

“She hasn’t been on one of her binge reading rounds again, has she?”

“No. It’s more like...like…” It took everything in his bones to get the next part out. “I felt weird ever since we started the whole dating thing. It’s getting awkward.”

“Hmm. Sounds like you found yourself between a rock and a hard spot.” She finished her crust to start on another slice of pizza. “You talked to her about it?”

“Not yet. I’m not even sure why it’s happening,” he said, with one hell of a poker face. “Maybe it’s how I’m just now starting to move on from Rarity, and it’s kinda scary.”

“That sounds an awful lot like what we Crusaders went through when we got our cutie marks. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves for the first month.”

“What did you do to get past that?” He spotted Twilight coming back to her table, and his voice started to go down in volume.

“Honestly, it just kinda came to us,” she admitted. “You can’t force a round peg into a square hole. Don’t force it or anythin’. If there’s a way you’re feeling pulled to, that might be a sign that you’re supposed to do that. You know?”

That was the worst thing he could hear at that point. When he saw the princess return to her seat, he noticed that his heart skipped a beat. Then he hears that bit of advice, and now he couldn’t stop thinking to the thing giving him problems yesterday.

As it turned out, he was thinking of Twilight during the entire day. All the memories he had of her throughout the years, the things he liked about her, the way they worked well with each other, all that stuff. Come to think of it, Twilight was probably the mare that made him the happiest, maybe just below Rarity on that list. It was like, when they were together, he always knew he would have the answer to her problems, and she would do the same for him.

And that’s when it dawned on him. It was a moment he didn’t think would happen, was dreading the day that it might happen, and then it happened. When it did, his jaw hit the floor, and he got up from his seat without warning. “I have to go to the restroom for a moment. Are you okay if I’m away for a moment?”

“Sure. The food’s still warm, so there’s no rush. I won’t leave or anythin’ while you’re gone.”

With that blessing, Spike rushed to the restroom as fast as he could. Thankfully, nopony else was there, so he had it to himself. He turned on the sink and threw a bunch of water on his face, doing anything he could to shake this thing off him. It didn’t work. It was still there. He could feel it in his heart, he could see it in his face, he could feel it in his mind.

There was no way this was happening. He couldn’t be falling in love with Twilight. Out of all the ponies to fall in love with, why did it have to be her? Somepony that was kinda in his own family? That was preposterous. Even then, there was no use in denying it anymore. This was happening.

Even if he was in love with her, how was he supposed to handle it? There was no way she would handle it well. They still lived together, so what would happen to him if she didn’t love him back? Would she kick him out of the house? Would she have somepony else be her assistant? Why did he have to make this so hard on himself? Why was there no good answer for this?

For now, he knew he had to get through tonight. This was something he should tackle tomorrow, when he had a good night’s rest and plenty of time to think it over. He grabbed a few paper towels to dry his face off and went back to the table, pretending that everything was fine.

When he got back there, Apple Bloom was almost finished. As it turned out, the check was on the table, with a few hundred bits on top of it. “Hey, Spike. Twilight was nice enough to take care of the bill for us. That was mighty nice of her, right?”

“Right. Right.” He was barely able to look Twilight in the eye and gave her a very, very awkward smile, taking his seat back across the booth. His shirt was drenched in water around the collar.

“Hey, you sweaty or something?” Apple Bloom noted. “You didn’t look like that when you left.”

“Why do you say that?” He brought a hand to his neck and realized he forgot to wipe himself there. “Uh, it’s nothing. Just didn’t feel so good out of the blue. Must have been all that pizza I put down.”

Apple Bloom looked down at her empty plate. “Sure hope that wasn’t food poisoning you went through. Would hate it if the pizza did all that, it was pretty good. Maybe we should ask for a leftover box? You didn’t touch half of your stuff.”

“Good idea. I’ll pack it up and take you home once we’re done. Thanks for everything, by the way. I can see why everypony finds you so helpful.”

“You sure you’re not feelin’ sick? You’re awfully clammy right about now.”

“No! I mean, it’s just a little hot in here.” He tugged at his sweaty collar. “Let’s just go ahead and leave now.”

Apple Bloom and Twilight were both a little worried for his well being, but they went ahead and left with him. Twilight went ahead and headed back to the castle, wanting to meet up with Spike back home once it was all over. In the meantime, he took Apple Bloom back home. The sooner this was in the past, the better.

“If I did something bad, you can tell me,” Apple Bloom said. “I didn’t make you upset, did I?”

“Trust me, you did nothing wrong,” he admitted. It wasn’t like he was lying when he said that.. “I’m just not feeling well. I’ll sleep it off tonight, and everything will be back to normal.” I hope.

“Okay, then. I’ll let you know if I get any food poisoning later, so we’ll know if we should avoid that place. Have a good night, Spike.”

“You too, Apple Bloom. At least Applejack won’t kill me.”

“Not yet,” she giggled, sticking her tongue out. She walked the rest of the way to Sweet Apple Acres. There was still a part of her thinking she made Spike unhappy along the way, but she had to let that go.

In the meantime, Spike couldn’t help but panic a little bit as he was walking back home. He had no idea what he was supposed to do with himself anymore. He knew himself way too well to know this wouldn’t just go away. He was going to have feelings for Twilight no matter what. But this might be a good time to learn how to let go of things like that for his own sake.

It would be so easy for him if he pretend that this never happened. That was never going to happen, though. Maybe if he blocked out his feelings for tonight, he would be able to go home, have some chit chat with Twilight, convince her that it really was just a case of bad food that made him act up, and he would sleep like a baby and tackle this another day. However, fate wasn’t going to make things easy on him.

When he got to the castle and opened the door, Twilight was already waiting for him inside, just as stressed out as he was. “Are you okay? Did you get sick from all that pizza?” She put a hand on his forehead to check. “You are a little warm. Maybe you should lay down.”

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Might have been something in the pizza.” Yeah, this was working.

“Come to think of it, you were acting up after she said something to you. I didn’t catch it, but was it hurtful, whatever she said? I hope not. I thought she was a nice filly.”

He looked up to her and raced through all the things he could say. It would kill him inside if he came clean, but it was also killing him to even consider it. So he came up with the only thing he could imagine.

“It had nothing to do with her. It’s my fault. The thing is, I’m scared about what’s happening to me,” he half-admitted. “This is the closest I’ve ever come to moving on from Rarity, and it’s just now hitting me that I’m doing that. Now, I can date anypony I want, but I don’t know what to do when it’s time for a real date. You know, when I ask somepony out for real, because I love them.”

Twilight’s heart soared for him when she heard that, and she pulled him in for a tight hug. “Oh, Spike. I didn’t know how much this was getting to you. I should have considered how hard this was going to be.”

He was terrified when she hugged him out of the blue, and he should have stayed that way. But he was so stressed out, so worried for his well being, that he found it comforting. He found himself hugging her back, trying his best not to let it show. “Thank you…”

“No, I should be thanking you. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but you’re the best dragon I’ve ever met,” she responded. “I know I didn’t always treat you right, but I’m so glad I got your egg for that magic exam all those years. I couldn’t imagine another dragon in my life other than you.” Her arms started to get tighter around his waist.

She couldn’t see it, but a tear streamed down Spike’s cheek. “Me neither, and don’t say you treated me badly. That’s wrong. You’ve treated me like a friend, like a brother, and I couldn’t ask for more. I just…” He realized what he was about to say, and he pulled away from her. “I’ve gotta lay down for now. Thanks for paying the bill.” He left for his bedroom without another word.

That left Twilight all alone by the castle entrance, left to wonder what just happened. There was something he left unsaid. She could feel it. Deep down, she knew she left something unsaid as well, even if she didn’t know what just yet.. She couldn’t help but feel like she was at fault for what happened at the Magic Wheatball, but that was another thing she didn’t know.

The two unresolved threads left her wide awake for the next few hours. She went over to the library and went over the notes she made for the the dating course. Somewhere along the way, she made a huge miscalculation, and it had to be there somewhere. Things like tonight, they don’t just happen. They happen because she didn’t account for something, but she couldn’t find what it was, no matter how hard she tried.

Poor Spike. She made a mental checklist of things to do and added “make a big breakfast for Spike” at the top of the list. It was the least she could do to make it up to him. And maybe, just maybe, she could get to the bottom of this. The sooner she figured it out, the better.

Author's Note

The one before the one before the one where things explode. That will make more sense later on.

Your Dreams Are A Mirror To Your Heart

That night turned into one of the worst nights of sleep Spike could remember. He was a nervous wreck by the time he stumbled into his bedroom, and he couldn’t get into bed any sooner. His whole body was warm and sweaty, and he tried shedding all his clothes to feel better. That didn’t help one bit.

It was like his body split in two, and the two halves were wrestling with each other. One of them hated himself for not coming clean to Twilight about his crush, and the other went deep into self loathing for not ending it on the spot. The weight on his chest plaguing him for an entire week felt like it grew into a tumor, and he was dying inside because of it.

He groaned and threw a pillow over his head. It was early in the evening, but he wanted to call it a night and fall asleep already. There was no way he could handle being like this for another few hours, it was bad enough for the last two.

However, just to make it worse on himself, something came up in his brain: What would he do tomorrow? His feelings for her would still be there, and there was nothing he could do to stop that. The situation would still rear its ugly head, day after day, never stopping and always going. In other words, he was doing exactly what he did with Rarity, letting his fear of the unknown stop him from coming forward.

Yeah, that’s what he needed to be reminded of. Why not just replay the whole thing with Rarity and recall how that ended for him. It made him feel like his training counted up to a grand sum of nothing. How stupid could he be? Was he really that pitiful and not worth it?

What he didn’t realize was that all this thinking and pondering made him sleepy. The stress and anxiety wore him out, which was music to his ears. Before he knew it, he fell asleep in the middle of his pity party. He got what he wanted, even if it wasn’t the best way to get it.

Spike didn’t know where he was or how he got there. The only thing he knew was that this was a forest, one he never had seen before. The stretch of trees appeared as if they went forever in all directions. There was no sign that there was anything else nearby, just more trees and the occasional shallow lake. It almost didn’t feel real, how this forest felt and looked.

Matter of fact, the forest seemed to have a life of its own. He realized he was resting against a tree trunk and thought about exploring this place, but he didn’t feel like doing anything. Not because he was lazy, but the forest soothed his soul with its peace and tranquility. He could use it after such a stressful week.

Not that he didn’t mind it. Having some time along was the cure for his problems, and he didn’t want anything else filling up his mind. The forest welcomed him, and he didn’t care what was going to happen. When was the last time he said that about himself? It felt like a long time ago. When a pony is stressed out like he was, a week can feel like a month. However, the peace and tranquility would not last.

Out of nowhere, he felt something sit on his lap. He didn’t think much of it at first, but then it leaned down and rested against his chest and belly. The dragon looked down to see what it was, and his heart nearly skipped a beat at the sight of the mare.

Twilight Sparkle was the pony resting with him. She wore a basic shirt and jeans, just like him. She enjoyed the sights of the forest with him, snuggling up and enjoying the sounds of nature. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked. “So far away from Equestria, but it feels like home.”

Spike didn’t fully acknowledge the pony with him, and he wrapped his arms around her belly without much thought. “Yeah. We needed it, didn’t we? I forgot the last time we spent a day together. No friends, no Cutie Map hijinks, no threats to Equestria, just the two of us.”

“Yeah. About time, too.” She rubbed her head against his neck and cooed quietly. “And right on our anniversary. I couldn’t think of a better place to spend it.”

Now it was starting to dawn on him what was going on. “Anniversary? What anniversary?”

“Stop ribbing around, Spike. You didn’t forget the date of your wedding, right?”

“What wedding--” He gazed at his left hand and gasped. There was a ring on his wedding finger. “W-What’s going on? Why is this happening to me?”

“Okay, this isn’t funny anymore.” She pulled away and turned to him with a scowl. “We’ve been married for a whole year now. Why are you acting like that never happened? Don’t you love me?”

Sweat started to pour down his face when he realized she had a wedding ring of her own. “I...I gotta get out of here!” He scrambled up to his feet and ran as far away as possible. It didn’t matter what she had to say, he had to get out of there now.

So he ran. And ran and ran and ran. The forest never stopped expanding, never opened up, and there was no end in sight. Who cared? He just needed to get away from her. This had to be a joke the universe pulled on him or some sick vision by Discord. There was no way he went to bed and woke up a married man. He was doing his best to hide everything from her, and now they’re married and everything? No way. No way in Tartarus was this real.

A few minutes later, he ran out of stamina and stopped running. Twilight wasn’t anywhere within a few miles, so he laid down in the grass to catch his breath. His heart was pumping with equal parts adrenaline and fear, and he didn’t know what to do anymore. It was tempting to cry at this point; his worst nightmares were coming true in front of him.

Then he heard footsteps in the distance. He was horrified at the sound and flew up, using the tree branches for a hiding place. There was no way he was going to see Twilight again. Not like this.

The footsteps got closer and closer with time. He figured she would be looking all over for him, and he covered his mouth so his breathing wouldn’t give him away. HIs face was drenched in sweat by then.

“Spike, come to me,” a voice called out. It was familiar, but it was not Twilight’s. “I sensed your distress from afar. You need not hide from me. I only wish to help you.”

“Huh?” He recognized that voice anywhere, but he wasn’t sure if he was just hearing things. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“Show yourself, and I will explain everything.” The voice was just below him when it spoke.

“Okay. Just don’t do anything weird. I’ve had enough of that for a lifetime.” He climbed down the tree and touched back down to earth. He saw who it was, and it definitely caught him off guard to see a certain blue alicorn.

Princess Luna presented herself to the dragon, her dazzling purple dress glimmering in the sunlight. She waved her hand in the air and channeled magic with her horn. It didn’t take long for all the trees to evaporate, leaving only an everlasting meadow around them.

“Princess Luna? What are you doing--oh Celestia, I’m in a dream, aren’t I? That would explain everything,” he said. He slapped himself in the face when it hit him.

“Indeed, this is merely but a dream,” Luna replied. “I sensed that you were in deep distress from within the dream realm, and I deemed it necessary to visit your dream. Never did I imagine I would witness the vision that greeted me.”

Spike got blustered and kicked the ground around. “You saw the two of us with those rings, didn’t you?” He noticed that he still had his ring on, and he hid his left hand behind his back.

“Nothing that occured was hidden to me, only the meaning behind it.” She came a step closer to him. “Explain to us, why would you imagine such a dream? I’ve seen things like this before, and there’s always an ember of raw, unbridled emotion fueling it.”

He looked away in shame, but he knew he couldn’t sit on this anymore. “Will you promise not to tell anypony about this? It’s embarrassing for me.”

“I cannot make guarantees, but I will handle your secret in a graceful way.”

Spike took a moment to brace himself. “I...I...I think I love Twilight Sparkle. Like, I really love her. I guess my dream looked like this because, deep down, she might be the one for me.”

Luna was a little surprised with that statement, but she nodded and continued. “I see. It is not hard to envision why you kept this to yourself. Does she know?”

“No way. That’s what’s bothering me. I don’t want to tell her, but I want to tell her at the same time. The thing is, it feels so wrong. We grew up together, so it feels like I’m asking my own sister out on a date. You see why that would be a bad thing?”

“Yes, I do see.” She draped a wing over the poor dragon’s back. “It must be distressing to face such a dilemma, to know what you want and deny yourself the privilege of having it, because you think it’s the wrong thing to do.”

“Exactly! I think she would be really, really mad at me if I tell her the truth, and that’s something I can’t afford to happen. Not after what happened with Rarity. Just...this really sucks.” He lowered his head and covered his face in shame.

Luna remained quiet for a moment, attempting to comfort him with a brush of the wing, but she acknowledged how she needed to do something about this. “Spike, I admit that I can’t tell you what it is you need to do concerning your situation with Twilight.”

“Then why are you even here?” he glared at her. “What was the point of all this? You know I’m a hopeless cause, right?”

“I didn’t say that, but there is one thing I will say. If you desire more than anything to solve your problem, you must resolve this in your own way. Will you let yourself fall in love with Twilight, or brush your feelings away and keep her as a friend?”

The dragon recoiled at the proposal. “Please stop that. I know I blew it. But--”

“Then don’t delay on addressing this matter. Make your choice before your indecision consumes you and you find yourself choosing no road at all.”

“Are you sure? This isn’t just something you pick and move on with. This is something I might have to live with for the rest of my life.”

“Spike, I can see the inner turmoil in you. You’ve been fighting with this for a long time, it’s written all over your face. If you continue to do nothing, the cloud of depression over your head will only grow. Don’t let it. Do the right thing.”

The dreamscape started to fade away when she was finished. The ground beneath them turned into nothing but white space, and the meadow vanished along with it. Spike could see himself fade with them, and so was Luna.

“But what is the right thing to do?”

“Only you can know that.”

Spike’s body was drenched in sweat when he woke up. It took a while for him to realize he was in the real world again, and he couldn’t have been more disoriented. His heart was pounding like crazy, and he was pretty sure he had a massive headache.

That might have been the only time in the world he wasn’t happy to see Princess Luna. She had very good intentions, sure but that tumor-like feeling in his chest only got bigger. Now it felt like it covered his whole body. He felt absolutely awful when he came to, and he hoped it was still early in the morning so he could go back to bed.

“Spike? Breakfast is ready!” Twilight yelled from the kitchen.

He groaned and flopped back into bed. She just had to choose today to throw her trademark big breakfasts. Could this morning get any better or what? He didn’t want to go down there, but she would just keep calling him out if he didn’t show up. She always wanted him to have a healthy start to the day, and she would stop at nothing to do so. That made her the second pony with good intentions driving him crazy today.

Spike didn’t even bother throwing on any clothes today, and he got through his morning chores as fast as he could. He stumbled down to the dining room and sure enough, there was a massive spread waiting for him at the table: Biscuits and gravy, pancakes sprinkled with gem dust, vegan bacon. It was all waiting for him.

Twilight was still working hard in the kitchen nearby. As it turned out, she worked nonstop for the last few hours, and her cooking apron was covered in all sorts of stuff from her hard work. She always knew those cooking classes from Pinkie would pay off eventually, and today was one of those days. She heard Spike come in and waved him in. “Good morning, Spike. Wait, why aren’t you wearing anything? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m fine,” he grumbled as he took his seat. He went out of his way to avoid eye contact with her.

“Okay. Nothing wrong if you don’t want to wear clothes again. You are a dragon, after all. What you think of everything I made you?”

He glanced down at his food. To be fair, she went all out with her cooking. The pancakes covered in gems, in particular, looked delicious. “What’s all this about?”

“I wanted it make it up to you for last night when I could. I know you said I didn’t mess anything up back there, but I still felt responsible for it. You’ve come a long way, and I’d hate to do anything to make you stumble, so think of this like it’s a big ‘I’m sorry’ breakfast. Come to think of it, that’s something Pinkie would do. Either way, go ahead and dig right in!”

Spike shrugged it off and treated himself to those gem dusted pancakes. The ruby and sapphire shards mixed well with the pancakes, but he stared at his food the whole time, never looking up to see Twilight. He couldn’t bare to do this so soon after the incident with Luna.

Twilight took the seat across from him, just to see how he liked her cooking. She waited for a reaction or comment to get a read on it, but he gave her nothing to work with. It was beginning to worry her, seeing him blankly stare at his food while he ate it. She couldn’t help but wonder if she left out a key ingredient or used too much flour.

“Is the food any good?” she finally asked him. “You haven’t said a word since you sat down.”

“It’s good,” he said quietly.

“Great. I was hoping you would like it. I’ve been trying a few recipes here and there. It was hard getting all those gems for the pancakes, with all those trips to the caves, but it was worth it. Right?”

Please leave me alone. I really don’t want to do this right now. He grabbed all the empty plates and dropped them off in the kitchen sink. “Yeah. I gotta get out of the house for a while. Pretty sure Fluttershy needs a hand at her place again.” He cleaned his hands off and left the kitchen, stopping right before he left the dining room. “I was serious when I said you did nothing wrong, but I can’t do this anymore. I’m just terrible at dating, and there’s nothing you can do to fix that. I just need to grow up and life my live alone. Thanks for everything, though. You’re a really great teacher. Nopony could have done it better than you.” Then he went out the door.

That left Twilight heartbroken in the dining room. She felt absolutely awful and didn’t touch her plate, and she felt like she let him down. It didn’t matter if he told her it was his fault. She believed in the saying that there are no bad students, only bad teachers, and right now, she felt like a pretty bad teacher.

Everything seemed to be going well last night, but something went wrong along the way. What was it? She asked herself that question a million times when she went back to the library, sitting down at the study desk to address it. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself until she figured out the solution to this pickle.

No matter how much she threw herself at the problem, she hit brick wall after brick wall. Something didn’t add up. He was learning at the beginning, he was getting more comfortable by the time he went out with Pinkie and Apple Bloom, and then he acted like everything was wrong last night. What was the missing piece she wasn’t seeing? There had to be something she miscalculated, and once she found it, things would be better for him. Hopefully.

The obstacle was getting to her big time. Before she knew it, she was passed out on the study desk, snoring in the middle of the nap. The stress had gotten to her.

Think of the biggest library in the world. Once you envision that, multiply it by three times. Do it again. Now you have a library that stretches around the world, and it would still feel too small to describe the library Twilight found herself in. Every book in the world was there, and maybe a selection of books from other worlds as well.

She couldn’t help but be awestruck by the huge selection in front of her, and she didn’t know where to start. She flew up to see how high the shelves went up for, and it didn’t take long for her to realize it stretched all the way to the stars, so she went back to the ground and picked up the first book she found. There was a comfy couch right next to her, so she took a seat there.

The book was nothing but gibberish, just a bunch of scribblings and nonsense, but she was getting something out of it. Her mind was soaking up all the knowledge it contained, but something was missing in this picture. Maybe a reading partner of some sort?

Right after that thought crossed her mind, she found Spike sitting next to her on the couch. He glanced over at the book in her lap. “What are you reading?”

“This? It’s nothing special. It’s just a book on Starswirl’s methods with dark magic. I heard it was banned once or something, don’t know why. Guess I’m just being a silly bookworm again. It’s all I ever do.”

“You’re not just a silly bookworm, Twilight, you’re an intelligent bookworm. You’re probably the smartest mare in the world from all that reading.”

“Yeah, right. We all know Celestia is the real smartest mare in Equestria. She’s got a thousand years of experience on me.”

“Nope. I still think it’s you. Still, there’s more to you than your brains.” He came a little closer and brushed her mane to the side. “You’re really beautiful, too.”

She was a little surprised from the touch, but she found herself enjoying it, even if the compliment made her blush. “Don’t say things you don’t really mean. I’m not that pretty. Rarity is way prettier than me--”

“Wrong. You’re more beautiful than she could ever hope to be. Why don’t you think you’re pretty?”

“Because I’m not. Well, I don’t think I am. I just...why are you saying this?”

“Because you don’t give yourself enough credit. Everypony can see how smart and good looking you are.”

She liked the sound of that, and his words drew her closer, with one hand grabbing his shoulder. She couldn’t help but feel flattered with what he had to say, and then she realized she put a hand on his chest to rub it. “Wait, what are we doing? What am I doing? I’m so sorry, Spike. I think I let myself go for a second.”

“No. It’s okay. Just do what you want. I like seeing you happy.”

Suddenly, all those feelings from the practice dates started to spring up again. She could feel it when she closed the distance between them. He was what she wanted more than anything else, even if she didn’t know why. Then she realized she was drawing her lips towards his for a kiss, and that’s when it clicked. She pulled away at disgust with herself.

“Oh my gosh. I think I’m love with you.”

Right when she said that, Spike vanished into thin air without warning, and so did nearly every bookshelf in the library. The floor and couch were the only parts that remained, that and a nighttime sky above. Soon after the scene shifted, a new figure came into view. While Twilight took a moment to figure out what just happened, she recognized the figure immediately.

“Princess Luna? What are you doing here? Is this a dream? I don’t know what’s going on, but I think I took a nap in my library, and suddenly I’m here.”

“Yes, it is I, and you were correct to assume this was a dream,” the moon princess greeted, pulling up a chair next to her fellow royalty. “My intuition told me it would be wise to check back in the dream world this morning, and it was proven right.”

“No kidding. You were just what i needed,” Twilight commented. “So what’s happening to me? This all really came out of the blue. Please tell you didn’t see what I did before you got here.”

“Nothing in a dream is hidden to me. You were about to kiss Spike. Pardon the pun, but this might be worse than I dreamed of.”

“I don’t care if you’re being punny, I need to know what’s going on. Why was I about to kiss Spike again?”

“If I must be blunt, I’m not sure if you’re ready to hear the truth. It might trouble you to your core. Are you sure you want to hear this?”

“Absolutely. I’d rather not be this confused and scared about everything.”

“Very well, then I will explain. First, have you noticed any new feelings or desires concerning Spike?”

“I’m not sure. Well, come to think of it, I have been acting weird around him while I’ve been teaching him about dating. You know, like a tight hug or going on about how wonderful he is.”

That explained a lot. “Anything else?”

“Okay, so he’s been acting weird around me, too. Right when I think he’s about to make a breakthrough, he snaps and tells me he sucks at dating, and he doesn’t want to do this anymore. Then I have this dream. So...does this dream mean I love Spike?”

Then came the fun part. “It appears so. Everything I saw in this dream indicates that you are in love with him, but you did not know it beforehand. Tell me, how does that make you feel?”

Twilight’s ears parted to the side when she thought about it. “I don’t know. It makes me feel like I’m being creepy with him. He’s really sweet and nice and considerate, but me falling in love with him? That doesn’t sit right with me. We practically raised each other, and I counted him like a brother to me.”

Luna couldn’t help but lean back in her seat, both amused and terrified at the proceedings. “This is far worse than I thought.”

“That’s not good,” Twilight gulped. “Am I a bad pony? Did I do something really bad to Spike?”

“No. You’re the furthest thing from a bad pony. Here is why I say that. Earlier this morning, I visited Spike’s dream to check up on him, and I found something intriguing. Everything you told me about your feelings for Spike, he said the same thing...about you.”

“What?” She cleaned out her ears to make sure she wasn’t hearing things. “What did you just say?”

“Twilight Sparkle, Spike is in love with you, and he’s been keeping it a secret. He feels extreme guilt about it for the same reasons as you, as he views you as a sister.”

“WHAT?” She couldn’t believe it, even if she tried. Was this really happening?

“Please take a moment to let it sink in. I know it’s a lot to handle.”

As it turned out, Twilight needed that moment desperately. It was a shock to her system, and she couldn’t believe this was really happening. So she wasn’t the only one stuck in this terrible situation? Despite how wrong this felt, he felt the same way about her? And then it dawned on her. “That’s why he didn’t want to talk to me this morning. He realized that he loved me more than anypony else in the world, but he didn’t want to tell me, so he kept to himself all morning!”

“That’s what he chose to do? Really?” Luna shook her head. “That was unwise of him, bottling up his emotions like that and hurting you in the process. Twilight, you must fix this before it gets worse.”

“What am I supposed to do? I don’t feel comfortable doing this, either. Bottling up his emotions might have been a really stupid thing to do, but I get why he did it.”

“Then you must do what I told him earlier,” the moon princess replied. “Choose what you must do about him. Will you pursue him as a partner with all your heart, or lay this to bed and remain friends with him? That will be up to you.”

“You know what you’re saying, right?” Twilight balked. “This isn’t something you just do. ‘Hey, Spike, I love you, I know you love me, let’s get together! Or hey, maybe we just be friends!’ It’s not that simple.”

“I acknowledge that this is rather complex, but don’t do what he and pick the worst of two roads. You must decide what to do about this on a permanent basis. Can you do that?”

“I don’t know. Let me think about it.”

Twilight got up from her couch and paced around the library. Considering what her options were, this was going to be a rather tough decision. All of her options had a huge risk to them, and she wasn’t comfortable with the consequences if they went wrong. There was no way she was going to dance around the issue, though. So, if she was going to end this whole dilemma right now, what was the option that would make them both happy? When she thought about that, she looked back up to the other princess in the room.

“Luna, I know what to do. The next time I find Spike, we’re going to talk about this. No more secrets and no more practice dates. It’s about time we handled this once and for all.”

“Then it shall be.” Luna’s horn glowed with her magic, and the rest of the dream started to vanish as well. “I just hope that you two will still be on good terms when this is all over. That is my biggest fear in this situation.” She faded into the rest of the dream as well.

“Yeah, me too. I don’t want to lose him for good, even if I screw this up...”

Then the dream ended for good. Reality was about to set in for everyone involved.

Author's Note

Tune in next week to see things really hit the fan.

Crash

Out of all the days Spike decided to go without clothing, it had to be today. He ran around town self conscious about it, and he had to put it out of his mind when he went down to Fluttershy’s little sanctuary. Just a few hours of work, then he would go home and (hopefully) have the castle to himself.

However, Fluttershy’s weird looks made it impossible for him to get past the whole clothing problem. Yes, he didn’t wear clothes when he was a baby dragon, but his friends adjusted to the sight of him wearing something when he went out in public, and seeing this now was a little awkward. As a result, he decided to go back home and throw something on, say a quick hi to Twilight if he had to, then come back here, using the rest of the day doing every little chore he could find. And besides, if he played it like everything was fine, she wouldn’t catch on. Everything would be easy peasy, as Pinkie would say.

Fate sure had a tendency to have its own plans, didn’t it?

After some time walking, he arrived back at the castle and got himself loose before going in. Remember, play it cool, don’t be the stubborn mule you were this morning, and you got this. It worked; he felt a lot looser when he went in the door.

To his surprise, Twilight was waiting at the lobby for him. There were two chairs pulled up right by the entrance. She looked at him with a mix of fear, longing, anxiety, and a lot of other emotions. “We need to talk, Spike.”

This wasn’t something he expected to see, but he remembered to play it cool. “Uh, sure, Twilight. It might be weird that I’m not wearing any clothes, but--”

“It has nothing to do with that. Take a seat, please. There’s something I need to tell you.”

Knowing that she wouldn’t let him go, he took the seat opposite from her. He had no idea where this was going, but his mind started racing to conclusions. Was there a loose thread that gave him away? Did she figure it out through logical deduction? Or was he freaking out over nothing? Please let it be the last one.

Meanwhile, Twilight sat down in the other chair. She kept her glance at him for a few seconds, scared about what she was about to do. Her biggest fear wasn’t what would happen today, but what happened after this. Things wouldn’t be the same after this conversation. Then again, things had already changed in a way. This wasn’t the time to second guess herself, however. This was the time to act.

“Spike, I can tell you’ve been going through a lot of changes. You should be proud of yourself. After all, you did an excellent job with my training course in dating. Just wanted to let you know that before we go on.”

Spike nodded. He swore she could hear his heart pounding, as it was filling up his ears.

“However, I was starting to worry when you acted up at the end. We’ve been over it before, and yet I couldn’t get over what happened. I thought I missed something, and I thought I messed up…” She had to stop to compose herself.

“Twilight, please stop blaming yourself for this,” he said, feeling bad for her and relaxing at the same time, as he imagined his secret was safe for now.

“...and then I took a nap after you left this morning. I had a dream, and Luna was there.”

His heart stopped with the news. That was the last thing in the world he wanted to hear. “Princess Luna? That’s a shocker. What did she say?”

When she saw that he was beginning to crumble already, she second guessed herself about going forward with this, but there was no use going back now. “She told me everything. She told me you had developed feelings for me, and it turned into something deeper over time. I know you love me, Spike.”

With those words, Spike’s world felt like it came to an end. His mind went into a million directions, none of them good. Each of them went to the worse case scenario, in fact. He held his head in his hands and groaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have told Luna anything! Why am I so stupid? I knew it was wrong the whole time, but here I am, still in love with you. Why am I...should I...geeeehhhhh…”

Twilight’s heart sank like a stone in her chest. It felt like she was stabbing him in the chest emotionally, but she knew she had to keep going for their own sakes. “Is that why you acted the way you did this morning?”

“YES!” he cried out. “I felt so bad about it. You have to understand, I feel really, really guilty about being in love with you--”

“--because you see me like a sister, right? Luna told me that, too.”

“Right! Wow, she really didn’t leave anything out. Anyways, I still found myself falling in love with you, and the guilt was getting to me like crazy. I was scared you would find out somehow, and I couldn’t live with myself if you found out. And now that you know, I feel like…like I ruined things between us…”

He couldn’t take it anymore and started to cry in front of her. Any moment now, she would lash out at him for this, just like he deserved. There was no way he would be able to bare it, but it didn’t matter to him anymore. It was the right punishment for the crime.

Twilight was silent for a moment, feeling like he needed some time let it out. The loud sobbing only made her feel more like manure for what she had done, but she was almost done. “Spike, there’s another thing you need to know. The thing is, and I hope you don’t get mad at me for saying this, I’m in love with you too.”

The dragon looked up at her, tears still coming out, as he was shocked by the revelation. “You’re in love with me? Why? After everything I did, you...you love me? Like, as part of your family or, you know, the other way?”

“The other way,” she whispered quietly. “Spike, you’re not the only one that feels bad about this. I found out this morning that I love you, too. Luna helped me realize that as well.”

Spike took a moment to process all that, and the process took a while. He was wondering if he was dreaming, as it felt almost too perfect to be happening. This was starting to go into the realm of the surreal, and his mind was now a mishmash of confused feelings and thoughts.

“I...I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. “Just, the thing is, you know, I really don’t know what to say.”

“Neither do I. I’m kinda scared,” she replied. Tears started to form in her eyes. “All I know is that I really love you, but I don’t know what to do about it. Have to say, now that I spent some time in your shoes, I don’t blame you for keeping it a secret.”

“What? I made the same mistakes with you that I made with Rarity!” he snapped. “I kept it to myself when I shouldn’t have, and I was being all awkward and antisocial whenever we hung out. How is that okay?”

“I’m not Rarity, though. I’m somepony you’ve grown up with for your whole life. You said it yourself, you saw me as a sister. And since we’re being honest today, I saw you like a brother for most of my life. You’re not that much younger than me, and you were always by my side ever since you hatched. If I was in your spot, I think I would kept the whole thing secret out of shame. What I’m saying is, I understand your position.”

He slowly nodded and wiped the tears off his face. “You’re not going to kick me out of the house for this, right? I messed up pretty bad, and we both know this was an awful thing to do.”

“Oh, Spike.” She came over and joined him in his chair, hugging him tightly. “No matter what we do after this, I would never kick you out of the house. Even if I didn’t return your feelings, I would still love you like you’re part of my family, because you are. Nothing will ever change that.

Then the dam broke for her. She let herself cry dearly as she let it all out, and he found himself doing the same. He didn’t know what to feel about the whole situation, but maybe that was okay for a moment. Just cuddling the mare he loved would be enough for now.

They let time pass by in each other’s embrace, not sure how long they had been doing this for. It didn’t matter in the end. They knew they needed time in silence together, and that’s what they would give their possible new partner.

However, there was still an elephant in the room. After a long time, Twilight looked up to Spike. Both of their eyes were reddened from all the tears they let out.

“What do we do now?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse from all the heavy emotions she was going through.

“I don’t know. That’s the scary part,” he admitted. “I still feel guilty about asking my kinda-sister out.”

“None of that matters. We can’t live like this anymore. I don’t think our hearts can take it, and come to think of it, we’re not really siblings when you get to the heart of things.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. We’re technically not related, are we?” he sighed. “But it feels like we are. You said it yourself, I’m like a brother to you. You remember that?”

“I do. But we’re from different species, you come from a different family than me, and all that stuff.”

“Are you trying to look past that, just so we won’t feel guilt about being in love?”

“I don’t know. I just really want to love you,” she cried again. “I don’t care if it feels wrong. I love you, you love me, and you’ve been through so much.” She caressed one of Spike’s cheeks with a hand. “Can we see if this is going to work out before we throw it away, at least? I have to find out.”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind that, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do,” he stated, nuzzling her hand quietly. “I want to love you too, and yet it’s really hard to get past the whole sister thing.

“Please, Spike? Do it for the both of us. I don’t want to see your heart broken again. Just one time?”

Spike took a moment to consider his options. This was going to hurt no matter what, but maybe this would be the last time he would feel the pain. “You know, you’ve been getting me ready for all these practice dates, with mares I only kinda like, and it was all to get me prepared for the real thing.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, catching onto his idea. “You want to go out on a real date with me?”

“Yeah. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I’m okay with that. You’re right about one thing, this is scary. But I don’t want to run away from this. If it doesn’t work out, at least I saw it through. And yet, if it works out…” He rested his forehead against hers and sighed. “What do you say? Want to see this through to the end?”

“Yes,” she answered immediately. She wrapped her hands around him for a tight hug. “I would love that. Pretty sure I’m open tonight last time I checked, so let’s try it then. That and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t take it if I had to wait longer than a day. Can you promise me one thing before we go out?”

“Yeah. Name it and I’ll do it.”

“If we’re not together after tonight, we’ll still be family, right?”

Spike gave her the most heartfelt smile she had seen in a long time, and he nuzzled her face again. “Yeah. No matter what happens, I’m never going to leave your side. Honestly, I was scared you wouldn’t like me anymore if I told you the truth, so that’s a relief. It’s all in the past now.”

Twilight laughed softly and nuzzled back. “Yeah. I’m really happy that we cleared that out, and I got a place in mind for our date.”

“That’s awesome. I just hope to Celestia we find what we’re looking for.”

“Me too. We both need it.”

Author's Note

Yep, the moment you were all waiting for, it happened here. Well, more like it started here. There's still a few chapters to go.

Interestingly, this chapter was shorter than I planned(I usually aim for 3K words or more for my chapters or oneshot stories) but given what happened, I didn't mind. It was straight to the point and what went down was something that needed to go down. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I have, and the next chapter will likely arrive in a couple of days. It's another big one, folks.

Don't Lie

True to her word, Twilight didn’t waste any time in setting up their date. At Spike’s request, she didn’t force anything fancy or do anything that would make her try too hard. She didn’t need to do that tonight. They just had to hang out with each other, and that would be fine enough as it was.

On the other hand, he likely didn’t expect the place she had in mind. What he did expect was some awesome library in Canterlot, a visit to the new Pillars museum, something along those lines. No, she chose the hayburger fast food joint in town. He couldn’t stop snorting as they came up to the place that evening.

“What? I haven’t ate anything today, and they have good hayburgers,” she replied. “Besides, don’t you think hay fries sound really good right about now.”

“They do,” he said. His stomach growled at the sound of that. “I just didn’t expect this from you, but it doesn’t matter. Their hayburgers really are good.”

They went in and casually took their seats at a booth. Given the time of day, nopony would be there, save for one customer and the usual staff. From the looks of it, they were about to wrap up for the day. That was fine with the kinda-maybe lovebirds. They would have the place to themselves this way.

Twilight got herself comfortable and looked back to Spike. “Are you still scared?”

“I’m terrified,” he confessed. “I don’t want to say anything that could ruin our friendship, or relationship, or whatever we have right now.”

“Me too,” she sighed. “Just be honest with me while we’re here. If you do that, I’m not sure what will happen, but at least you’ll know you didn’t hold anything back.”

He slowly nodded, still anxious over this date but doing his best to keep his cool. They ordered a couple of soft drinks and got them in just a minute later, ordering some simple hayburger combos on the side. He took a sip from his straw and tried to calm his nerves. At least he threw on a shirt and pants again, so he wasn’t worried about the public nudity thing again. One less thing to worry about.

Twilight was as silent as a mouse at first, as she didn’t know where to begin. She was aware that this could have long term consequences, so she wanted to choose her words more carefully than usual. Here it went.

“Why do you love me?” she asked at point blank range.

“We’re cutting to the chase just like that? Oh man, this is gonna be hard,” he groaned. “It’s not like I don’t have my reasons, but it’s gonna be tough to get it out.”

“Please do. Not like there’s anything else to do but wait.”

“Well, remember that one time we had that practice date in the map room, and I said all those things about you by mistake?”

“I think so. Just go through it again, so I know for sure.”

“Okay, I’ll take it from the top. I find you to be a beautiful mare. Like, really beautiful. Ever since Rarity turned me down, it helped me realize she wasn’t the only perfect mare in Equestria when it comes to looks.”

Twilight blushed in front of him, not trying to hide it. Wasn’t like there were any more secrets to share. “Thank you. I don’t see the beautiful mare you’re seeing, but I appreciate it. It’s nice to know you see me that way.”

“And that’s not all. I always made fun of you for spending more time with books than actual ponies, but it kinda paid off in the end, didn’t it? You know everything about everything, like the date Starswirl made that spell you completed--”

“--right at three years before Luna’s banishment,” she squeaked.

“My point exactly. It came in handy whenever we had to save the world from some threat, and there’s a reason you were the only Element to become a princess. You deserved it after all you did for ponies.”

“Wow. Didn’t know you looked up to me that much,” Twilight smiled. She placed a hand on top of his and squeezed tight on it. “You’re not just flattering me, are you?”

“No. I mean what I say about everything. You would probably call me out if I was lying, anyway.”

She giggled at his point. “Yeah, probably. I’ve gotten pretty good at calling out bluffs. That’s why nopony wants to play poker with me, but I guess it’s my turn to share all my deepest, darkest secrets.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.” He had another sip of his drink. “This is gonna be good.”

“You little tease. Believe me, I have a lot of good things to say about you. I noticed you touched upon how smart I am, but you’re not too bad yourself. Not sure if it’s from all the books I made you read or all the thousands of notes you took for me, but I think you’ve turned out to be an especially smart dragon.”

“Yep, it’s from all those books you had me read,” Spike said with a smug tone. “Let’s see, how many times did you make me read that book on obscure unicorn history?”

“Probably seven times,” Twilight sincerely answered. “You took it seriously, though, so there’s that. Not only that, but...okay, promise that you’ll actually believe me on this part?”

“I’m listening. Been doing that all night.”

“I think you’re really handsome, now that you’re all grown up.”

Now it was Spike’s turn to do the blushing. “M-Me? I’m not handsome. I’m still just a cute Spikey Wikey to everypony. That’s what my friends say.”

“That’s because they still see that cute little baby dragon in you,” she pointed out. “I don’t. I see a dragon that’s grown up to become an awesome young man, and honestly, you’re kinda handsome.”

He couldn’t stop blushing, and he tugged at his shirt around the collar. “T-Thanks, I guess? Now I know what it’s like when everypony calls you beautiful. You don’t really believe them because you don’t believe it yourself, I assume?”

“Oh yeah. We can be our worst critics, after all.”

After she was done, a waiter came by with two trays in his hands, filled to the brim with hot and ready fast food. “Two number ones, one with extra ketchup?”

“That sounds like me. Oooh, I can’t wait to dig in!” Twilight gleamed.

“Princess Twilight? You’re eating here? Thought this place would be too low for you, but hey, a paying customer is a paying customer.” He dropped off the meals and went back to the counter.

“About time. I was starving.” She dug into her hayburger without further ado, and man, she was hungry. Even if her cheeks got stained with ketchup, she was faminished, dang it, and she was going to fix that problem.

Spike couldn’t believe anypony could be that hungry, but her hayburger was halfway done in just a few seconds.“And I thought dragons got hungry,” he joked as he dug in a swell. Right when he tasted his first bite, it hit him that he hadn’t eaten anything all day, and he tore into the burger like it was his first one in months. “Mmmmm, so good. Just what I needed after today.”

“I know, right? I come here every now and then, and the food’s always good. Do you like it?”

“Yeah. I see why you come here now.” He wiped off the ketchup on his face with a napkin “So what do we do after we’re done eating?”

Twilight stopped in the middle of a bite and paused. “Honestly, I never thought about that. I was thinking we would just let things come as they are and go from there. I’ve been trying so hard to make sure you were ready for the real thing, but you should be able to do whatever you want to do tonight. You had anything in mind?”

“Really, I just wanna hang out with you,” he said. “I like hanging out with you. You don’t have to do anything to make me like you, because you know I already do. Let’s just have some fun together for a while. No chores, no lessons, just us.”

“That sounds perfect. Maybe we could walk around town when we’re done here? Ponyville is really pretty at night.”

“Yeah. As long as I’m with you and we don’t force it, I’m happy.”

When Twilight heard that, she had a bunch how this was going to end between her and Spike. She wasn’t sure if he knew, but it was as clear as day to her know. That made her the happiest mare in Equestria, and she couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

They ate together in peace and quiet, stuffing their faces with hayburgers and hayfries and unhealthy amounts of soda. At least it tasted good to them. They paid the bill soon after. All their eating built up to a rather huge total due, but it was chump change to royalty like Princess Twilight.

After that was settled, they went out to the great outdoors, just after sunset. All the lights in town were lit up, and it illuminated the streets in front of them. They went out for a walk in the middle of town, holding hands without realizing they were doing it. As they walked through town, they spotted Vinyl Scratch’s very own club, thumping with bass drops and beats. Sugar Cube Corner smelled like the best mix of cakes and donuts, and the Magic Wheatball had another line of patrons waiting to get in.

Twilight glanced at the sights and sounds greeting her as she enjoyed this time with him. The town really did grow exponentially in recent times, and she was aware that she caused the boom period. Canterlot wasn’t a big town at first either, but when Celestia moved on, it turned into the high class city it was today.

She soon found a bench to rest on, and she took a seat on it. “Spike, do you think it was a good thing that Ponyville turned out like this?” she pondered. “It’s not exactly the small town it was when we moved in.”

“Haven’t really thought about it,” he shrugged as he sat down next to her. “It was always going to change no matter what, but I kinda miss the small town feel it used to have. Not like it’s a bad thing that it got bigger, it’s just different than what I remembered. That happens with everything, though. Fluttershy used to be the biggest scaredy cat we ever met, and now she’s making friends with a draconequus like it’s nothing.”

“Heh, yeah. I guess everything changes over time.” She leaned down and rested her head on Spike’s shoulder. “Some changes are better than others, but...I think I like this one the best.”

Spike was a little surprised to feel her head on his shoulder, but he found himself nuzzling her head. “What change would that be?”

“Being in love with you.”

That’s when it dawned on him how this would end, too. “We’re supposed to be together, aren’t we?”

“I think so. I want to be. It just felt right, going on a date and sharing everything with you. What do you think?”

“I’m still feeling a little bad about the whole brother-sister thing, but...yeah. I would like to be with you.”

Then she pulled back and looked him dead in the eye. “If that’s your only concern, should we do this? I mean, I don’t feel guilty about it anymore, and I doubt anypony would look down at us for it. Hay, with the way my friends talk about stuff, I’d think they’d be happy for you.”

“Let me guess, it would be a sign that I got over Rarity.”

“Yeah.” She gripped Spike’s hand tightly with both hands. “What do you say?”

“I still don’t know. I want to think about it, just overnight. I’m pretty sure the answer is yes, but you know that’s a huge step for us, being a couple.”

“I understand perfectly. It is a huge leap of faith, and I want you to be sure before we do this. You think you’ll know when you wake up?”

“Oh, definitely. It’s not gonna take that long to come up with an answer.”

Well, that was progress, at least. She turned her gaze back to the town to enjoy the scenery “You know, this is one of the prettiest towns I’ve ever seen. I don’t just say that because I live here, either.”

“It’s not as pretty as you.”

That made her laugh softly, and her heart started to burst at the seams. “If you say so. I’d like to stay here, but I’m starting to get tired. Why don’t we go back to the castle and keep talking there?”

“Sure. I’ll walk you home, too.”

With that settled, they got up from the bench and started making their way home. It wasn’t far away, but it felt like it took forever to get there. Maybe it was the fact that they were still holding hands or whatever, but they didn’t mind how long it took to get back to the castle.

They found themselves back at the castle in just a few minutes, opening the door and making themselves...well, at home. Nothing in particular stood out for them to do, so they just went over to the living room and shared a big couch together.

“That was a good first date, right?” Twilight inquired. “It wasn’t a big deal, but I liked it.”

“Me too,” Spike replied. “I didn’t mind if it wasn’t fancy or whatever. I got to spend some time with you and figure things out. Figured that’s what we were trying to do tonight, and it worked. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“Right. I’m glad I got to help you with this. Just let me know what you think of us when you wake up tomorrow, alright?”

“Actually, I think I came up with the answer when we were walking back home.” His hand started to tremble, not sure if he could bare what he was about to say. “Are you ready for it?”

Twilight’s heart pounded in her chest. She wanted so desperately for a certain answer, but she tried to keep an open mind about it. “I’m ready. Let’s hear it.”

“I gave a lot of thought, and I think you’re a wonderful mare. The whole brother-sister thing might still get in the way, but then I realized I didn’t care. I want to get together with you, like as a real couple. Do you want to be with me, Twilight?”

At that moment, she didn’t hold anything back for him. She brought her lips to his for a kiss right away, letting her actions do the talking. Her heart exploded into a million pieces when their lips touched, but she wasn’t thinking anymore. She was letting her emotions show for him.

Never in a million years did Spike think he would be kissing Twilight, but now that he was, he kissed her right back. In fact, he couldn’t stop kissing her. He brought his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly and passionately, his heart exploding as well.

Their lips smacked in the air as they couldn’t stop kissing each other, embracing each other, letting each other know just how much they were loved. They practically melted in their embrace, wanting nothing more than to be together.

Spike was the first to pull away after the kiss. HIs eyes were full of tears of joy. “So you’re saying yes, right?”

“Oh, Spike, of course I want to be with you,” Twilight cried happily. “I love you so much, you wouldn’t believe it. Oooh, this is the best feeling in the world!”

“I know, right? Do you know how much I wanted something like this?” He started to shiver again from all the emotions coming over him. “After Rarity dumped me, I thought nopony would ever want me. I actually thought I was going to die alone. And now...now you’re…”

Twilight interrupted him with another kiss, and she placed a hand on the back of his head to hug him even more. He took the hint and kissed back, his hands going all over her backside as he continued to embrace his newfound love. Their hearts melted together in the best possible way, and they didn’t really need anything else for now.

Their deep embrace soon became more than that, though, as Twilight’s hands started to feel Spike’s chest and belly. He didn’t know what to make of it, but he pulled back and started to groan. “What are you doing? I kinda like it, but…”

“I don’t know, it just came to my head. Part of me wants to take this further, but I’m not sure if that’s what we should be doing,” she breathed heavily.

“You mean...you want to do that? Um, uh, I’m not sure, either, but…” He noticed that he was starting to place his hands on her hips to feel her up, and it occurred to him that he wanted to do much more than that.

“You’re right. Maybe we’re taking this too fast. We just hooked up after all. If you don’t want to go that far tonight, we don’t have to.”

“Thanks, but then again, how long have we known each other? Over a decade? Maybe two? I know a lot of things about you, and you know a lot about me. Nothing about this relationship is going to be a surprise for me. And thing is, we should be honest with ourselves. We haven’t been very good at that as of late. Twilight, do you want to take it all the way tonight?”

Twilight stopped to think about it. Either option felt like it would be perfect for her, but she knew where to take this at the moment. “Maybe it would be best to take it slow before we go that far. I want to go that far one day, but it doesn’t have to be today. You’re not upset at me for that, are you?”

“No no, I would never be upset at you for that,” he said. He pet her face with both hands and kissed her on the forehead. “I wouldn’t live with myself if I forced you into it. Our first time should be a happy moment for both of us. We’ll just give it some time for now.”

Twilight nodded and leaned her head against Spike’s neck, hugging him tenderly. “Good. I would feel horrible if I hurt your feelings that way. Either way, I didn’t know it was possible to be this happy! Is that what love feels like?

“Yeah. Feels pretty good, doesn’t it?” he asked. He caught his breath and pulled her up to his side. “I could die a happy man now.”

“Good thing you’re not gonna die for a while now, are you?” she smirked, placing a loving hand on his chest. “We have decades together to look forward to. It doesn’t have to end after tonight.”

“I know. That’s why I could die a happy man. Did you think I would ever find the one after what happened with Rarity?”

“Yes,” Twilight answered right away. “I didn’t think it would be with me, but you were too good of a pony--err, dragon for that. There was no way you were gonna die alone.”

Spike replied with a kiss on her forehead. “I love you so much, Twilight, and I don’t want this to end.”

Twilight cooed a little and rubbed her head into his snout. “I love you too, Spike. I promise you’ll never be alone when it comes to me.” She trailed off and fell asleep with him on the couch.

Spike picked her up in his arms and carried her over to her bedroom, laying her down on her back. He joined her under the sheets, and he noticed the huge smile on her face as she slept. It was a truly marvelous sight to behold. Thing were never going to be the same after tonight, but if these were the consequences he had to live with, he wouldn’t mind one bit.

Author's Note

Yeah, interesting story with this one. I was going back and forth on whenever or not they would actually go that far, but you see what I went with. I had them go this way for a mix of personal reasons and thinking that yeah, maybe it was too soon for them to go there right now.

Either way, hope you've been enjoying the ride. This was pretty much the climax of the story, but don't worry, this isn't the end of it just yet. We still have two chapters to go, and I have a feeling you'll love how this ends.

Fulfilled

The rest of the night felt like a blur to Twilight. She dreamed many dreams in her sleep, some of which felt real to her mind; others felt just as imaginary as a normal dream. When she opened her eyes, she wondered if she was still dreaming. She didn’t recognize the room she found herself in, wherever it was, but she knew it was a bedroom. Then it hit her that this was her bedroom. She groaned and stretched out her hands, but she ended up touching something right next to her. Spike was wide awake in bed with her, content with watching his lover sleep peacefully.

“Wait, I don’t remember coming in here last night,” she murmured.

“That’s because you fell asleep in the living room,” he replied. “I picked you up and laid you down in bed right after that. Do you think it’s weird that I slept with you, too?”

“Not at all. Just weird we’re still in our clothes from yesterday.” She kissed him on the forehead and snuggled up. “Last night happened, right? We kissed, hooked up, the whole thing? It doesn’t feel real to me anymore.”

“It doesn’t feel real to me, either.” He was relaxed as he sighed contently, snuggling up to her. “But it really did happen, and I couldn’t be happier if I tried.”

Twilight followed that up with a tender kiss on the lips. Spike returned the kiss and came in for a hug. Their emotions started to well up from the touch, and they found themselves cuddling and kissing each other for a long time again. For all they’ve been through lately, they definitely earned a moment alone to do this.

“You really like kissing me, don’t you?” she laughed.

“I think you like it more,” Spike teased with a boop. “And here I thought your first kiss was gonna be with Flash Sentry.”

“Which Flash? The human one or the pony one?”

“Both. Come on, you were looking at him with gaga eyes in either universe.”

“Spike, you can be a real tease sometimes,” Twilight snorted. “It was never going to work out with him either way. The human Flash was from another world, and the pony Flash was never interested in me to begin with. Honestly, I’m glad it didn’t work out. That left me open to be with you.”

He replied with another series of kisses, something they were eager to have more of. “I know what that feels like. It stung a lot to have Rarity dump me like that, but come to think of it, you were more perfect for me, anyways.”

“Oh, Spike…” They found themselves in the middle of another intense cuddle-and-kiss session. However, she turned to the window and saw the sun shine through. “It’s morning already? How long was I asleep for?”

“Not very long,” he noted. “Oh crap, you got a meeting with the Yak prince later today! I should have reminded you. I had the whole schedule in my mind and I forgot. Granted, a lot of things happened yesterday, but that’s no reason to forget all this.”

“You did nothing wrong, Spike. I just gotta get dressed and stuff for the day. We’ll hang out after the meeting, okay? I don’t want to leave you out in the cold when I’m done.”

“Like you’ve ever done that. What do you want to do when the meeting’s over?”

“Come to think of it, there is a pretty cool forest I just discovered that we should check out. It would take some flying to get there, but since we both have wings, why don’t we give it a try…”

Tall trees. Green grass. Fresh air. A clear blue sky. It was starting to come to him. Whatever this place was, it was where he needed to be. Get his mind straightened out. Take a deep breath. Another one. He felt relaxed and still. It was what he wanted. It was what he needed. The difference was, this forest was real. It wasn’t a figment of his psyche or imagination. He knew it it was the real deal.

Just like he did in his dream, he laid down against a tree trunk with Twilight laying on his lap, resting her head on his chest. This time, he wasn’t fearful or thought that this was the stuff of nightmares. No, this was quite the opposite. He enjoyed this as much as she was. She kicked off her shoes to the side and enjoyed the feeling of grass blades on her feet.

“How did you find out about this forest?” he asked, resting his chin on the top of her head. He was careful to avoid the horn, and her mane felt silky smooth today.

“I found it when I was flying home from Cloudsdale,” she explained. “I had some time to kill after the last Wonderbolts show, and this forest looked amazing from the clouds. So I landed down in the middle of it, took a look around, and fell in love with it. It’s almost kind of magical, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It really is.” He thought about the situation he found himself in, and he started to laugh a little. Then some more. A lot. It turned into a huge outburst of laughter.

“What’s so funny? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. It’s just so funny though, because I had a dream that went almost exactly like this. I was in a forest, you were laying down with me like you’re doing right now, and we were together. That was back when I knew I had feelings for you, but I still didn’t want to come clean about it, so it was almost like a nightmare.”

“Please tell me that’s not how you feel about this,” she thought.

“Are you kidding? It was a nightmare at the time, but now, this is the best thing I could be doing at this moment. It’s probably what you needed after that Yak meeting, right?”

“You think? The Yaks are getting a lot better at the friendship stuff, but Rutherfold’s social skills could still use some work. Thanks for coming through with your note taking, though. You’re still a lifesaver when I need it.”

“You mean your #1 assistant, right?”

“I wouldn’t say that. More like my partner in crime.” She brought her hands on top of his and started to intertwine their fingers together

Spike let out a tear as he felt it happen. “I like the sound of that. It’s just that...the thing is…”

“Okay, now I know something is wrong. You don’t have to hide anything from me.”

“You’re right. The thing is, dragons live for a long time. Everpony know this by now. Like, the oldest one I met is over 1200 years old! And now that we’re together, it does have me thinking about that.”

“Wait, I see where this is going. Are you scared that you might outlive me?”

“All the time. It’s something I’ve thought about in the past, not just recently. I really don’t want to outlive my pony friends, but that’s something I have to live with, but I started thinking about us last night. What it’s gonna be like when we get older? I really, really don’t want to see you die when I’m still young for a dragon. Is that something I should be worried about, or should I just let it go?”

Twilight pondered the question for a little while. He had a good point, and she couldn’t just brush it off like it was nothing. She didn’t want to give him a fluffy answer that didn’t fix anything. This one needed a special touch to it. When she figured out what to say, she turned around to meet him face to face.

“Spike, you have to keep in mind that I’m an alicorn. I wasn’t born into it like Celestia and Luna were...and Flurry Heart...but I’m still an alicorn. You know how long they live, right? The royal sisters are over a thousand years old, and they look wonderful for their ages. And now that I’m one of them, maybe I’ll live as long as they have.”

“That’s true. I thought the whole ‘you ascended into being an alicorn’ thing might stop you from living that long, but I hoped that wasn’t the case.”

“Even if I don’t, there’s something else to consider. You might be right that we’ll have to deal with this one day. But what would you rather do, enjoy the time we have together right now, or turn me away and remain forever alone, all because you live longer than most ponies ever will?”

“Well, when you put it that way, I’d rather enjoy the time we have now.”

“Exactly. Look, I don’t want to see my friends die when I’m still young for an alicorn, either. Those will be the worst days of my life when they happen. But my friends are alive right now. They’re still young, and they’re still in the prime of their lives. I need to cherish every moment I have with them when I can. If you stay with me, I’m going to cherish every moment I have with you, too, and I will do everything I can to show how much I love you. Nothing will ever change that between the two of us. Can you do the same for me?”

“Yes. I love you so much, and I want to spend all the time I can with you. I just can’t believe how stupid I am. I need to stop that.”

“You aren’t stupid, Spike. It is a pretty serious thing to think about. Just don’t let it get in the way of what’s happen in front of you, okay?”

“Okay. Then let’s do something together right now. Err, what did you want to do?”

“I think we both know that answer. It is pretty fun, kissing and cuddling you.”

She kissed him yet again. It was getting almost impossible to keep away from him for very long anymore. Spike was eager to get back to it like he was, smacking his lips with hers. His arms pulled her in a little closer, as they couldn’t stop touching and kissing each other. Her hands cradled his chest as the two new love birds were eager to express their love for their partner, in whatever way they could imagine.

“I’m kinda happy nopony’s here to see this,” she commented. “This felt like it was a long time coming, wasn’t it?”

“It feels like that, come to think,” he wondered. “How long do you think we’ve been feeling this way for? Years?”

“I don’t know. You’re just now an adult, so it wasn’t on my mind until recently, Keep in mind that I loved you like a brother to begin with, but maybe there was more to it all along.”

“That sounds right to me. Does it really matter in the end? We’re together right when we need to be, and that’s all there is to it.”

“Yeah. Just don’t want to leave anytime soon…”

“I don’t think we have to. There’s nothing on your schedule for another couple of hours. Even then, it’s just reading to a class of fillies at Cheerilee’s class. Nothing you can’t handle.”

“Good. That means more time with you.”

“You always know what to say, don’t you? I noticed you’ve developed a knack for that recently.”

“That’s all those years of friendship lessons talking,” she giggled. “Just be glad you didn’t ask me out when I was using time travel spells, just to tell myself to stop worrying.”

“Yeah, I think I picked my moment out perfectly…”

They would remain in the forest for a long time after that, cherishing and loving each other. They still weren’t ready to go all the way just yet, but they would get there one day. For now, though, simply expressing their love through a heartfelt kiss and touch would be enough to get the point across.

It seemed like things could get any better for the love stricken dragon and alicorn, and they would only get closer with time. However, that wouldn’t be the best part of their relationship. Matter of fact, that moment would come in eleven months’ time.

Author's Note

And then somepony caught them in the middle of this and made fun of them :facehoof:

Don't worry, there is still one last chapter before the end of this. Expect it sometime next week. Man, this has been a fun journey.

Eleven Months Later

The Sun and Moon Diner gained a reputation in recent years for being the most exquisite restaurant in all of Canterlot, if not all of Equestria. As one would guess from the name, it was meant to be a homage to Celestia and Luna, and it combined their motifs in a beautiful fashion, so much that a certain fashionista unicorn made frequent visits over there whenever she was in town. Of course, it helped that the food was good, too. That was probably an important thing to nail down.

Adding to the upscale feel, each waiter wore uniforms that matched either the moon or sun designs, and one of them went to a table to see how their customers were doing. “Miss Rarity, were you expecting somepony else to arrive? You’ve been here 15 minutes and haven’t said anything.”

“Of course, dear. I’m sure they’ll be here momentarily,” Rarity replied. “I do have royalty arriving, after all. It is only customary to expect them to be slightly delayed.”

“Are you sure? Twilight is always on time whenever she can help it,” Misty Weave noted. “Should we make sure they’re okay?”

“Misty, I’m surprised at your lack of faith in her. When has she ever let us down?” She waved the waiter away, but she still noted the two empty chairs across from them. “You might still have a point tonight. She’s always so punctual.”

Right when she was done, they would hear a dragon and an alicorn run to their table as fast as they could. Rarity would recognize the alicorn’s adorkable laugh anywhere, and she would also note the handsome dragon keeping her company. Ah, she always knew Spike would look good in a tuxedo, and a blue sequin-filled dress fit Twilight perfectly. No surprises there.

“I’m so sorry about the hold-up,” the princess explained. “There was an emergency meeting with Celestia about a new treaty with the Griffon Kingdom. I had to handle it right now, but I should have said something ahead of time.”

“Twilight, why are you apologizing? It’s not like you kept us waiting for an hour. Nice tuxedo by the way, Spike,” Rarity replied.

“Yeah, it does look good on you. Do you have to get it tailor made for the spikes on your back?” Misty asked.

“Nah. They’re not that sharp, guys,” said Spike. “I’m just glad we made it in time. Last I heard, we’re not the only ones with big news to share.”

“Oh, if only you knew,” the fashionista grinned.

The waiter came by, and like a lot of waiters in Equestria were prone to do, he was in awe of the royalty at the table. “I’m serving a princess? Not only that, but Princess Twilight? Okay, I gotta remain calm. I got this. So, what would everypony have to drink this evening?”

“I’m feeling a little generous tonight. Why don’t I treat you all to a bottle of Fierte de Canterlot? It’s just a fancy way of saying Pride of Canterlot. It’s aged from the year just after Nightmare Moon’s banishment. Should be rather intriguing to see how well it aged.”

“I say we try it. I haven’t punished my liver in a long time,” Misty joked.

“Why not? It will be a perfect way to toast our little secret,” Twilight cheered.

“I’m in, too. One bottle of Fierte de Canterlot,” Spike ordered.

“Very well. I’ll bring four glasses with me.” The waiter nodded and went on his way, secretly fanboying that he was not only serving Princess Twilight, but another Element of Harmony, Spike the Brave...and some other guy.

After he left, the party of four allowed themselves to soak up the atmosphere of the place. The piano music playing in the background really made it a soothing, welcoming environment, and given the history these four ponies had, being relaxed and calm would be perfect.

Misty noted something off when he looked at his guests “Forgive me if this seems intrusive, Princess Twilight, but I noticed you’re wearing a glove on your left hand, but not your right. Why is that?”

“You don’t have to call me by my title, you know. But it’s a good thing you asked.” She brought her hand to the middle of the table. She couldn’t stop giggling, and neither could Spike. “It’s a good thing you brought it up, because I was about to tell you what it is.”

“I can’t wait to see your faces when you see it,” Spike added.

“So here’s the thing...the thing that we were going to tell you, it’s right under my glove. You want to see it?”

“Pffft, you couldn’t keep this a secret from me forever. Let’s see it,” Rarity answered.

“Do you want to see it, Misty?”

“Just get on with it!” Misty begged. “The suspense is killing us.”

Twilight grinned again. She had them in the palm of her hand and she knew it. Spike had to cover his mouth with both hands, just to keep it together. After this long, drawn out suspenseful moment, she finally removed her glove to reveal a wedding ring on her finger. It had a bunch of purple diamonds all over it, with slight hints of green to compliment the design.

“Spike proposed to me just a few days ago, and I said yes!” she gleamed.

Misty and Rarity both gasped at the top of their lungs. They gasped so loud, in fact, that they got a lot of nearby ponies wondering what was going on. One look at Twilight’s extended hand would tell them the whole story, and now they were all gasping, too.

“Oh my goodness, I don’t believe it!” Rarity gawked.

“You two must be the happiest ponies--I mean, happiest pony and dragon in the world right now!” Misty chirped.

“And that ring, oh, so gorgeous!”

“I love the little hint of green on the sides! It’s so perfectly designed. Full of purple diamonds. It must be because you’re both purple, so it matches wonderfully!”

Spike and Twilight laughed and enjoying the sight of their friends going on and on about every little detail of this incident, leaning on each other for a quick hug. They expected some sort of reaction, but never like this. It was just as perfect as they imagined.

“Yes, we really are the happiest couple in Equestria right now,” Spike replied. “Well, I don’t know. You two are really happy from the look of it. But yeah, it took a lot of nerves to pop the question to her. I didn’t do anything fancy with it. You know I’m not good at that. I just went up to her after she was done with her daily royal duties, got on one knee, and you know the rest. I was so nervous the whole time.”

“You were nervous?” Twilight pondered. “I wouldn’t know with the way you were behaving. You were so casual about it. Then again, it must have been easy for you, since you knew I would say yes.”

“Ohhhh, you two are so cute when you’re together!” Rarity proclaimed. “I’m so glad it worked out for you both. I must admit that it took me off guard when I heard you two were an item, but you have such a naturally rich chemistry. It must have been true love from the start.”

“Hey, if you need any help with the wedding or anything like that, you know where we live,” Misty piled on. “With the way our wedding’s been going, I’m pretty sure we could run a wedding or two by ourselves. That’s how well acquainted we are with the process at this point.”

“Oh yeah, how’s that going? I haven’t heard anything about it lately,” Twilight asked. “It’s been a long time since the engagement, and I almost forgot about it. Nothing’s going wrong with it, right?”

“Everything’s going according to plan. I didn’t mean to snap, but you know how weddings are,” Rarity noted. “You have to get every little detail right, and I admit that we did get carried away at times.”

“More like all the time,” Misty snickered. “We’re both guilty of that.”

“That’s true, as much as I hate to admit it. But we finally have a time and place set in stone. We were going to have the ceremony the day after the upcoming Winter Wrapup. As sappy as it sounds, wouldn’t it be lovely to be married right at the start of a new season? It’s almost symbolic, the wedding being the beginning of the next season of your life.”

“Huh. That’s pretty poetic,” Spike thought. “Then again, that was always your other special talent. If you weren’t supposed to be a fashion designer, you could have easily been a poet. At least, that’s what I always thought. Congrats on getting the date down! What place were you thinking of having the wedding at?”

“Winsome Falls,” Misty squeaked. “We looked all around Equestria for the perfect place, but the moment we found those falls, we knew our hearts were set on it. All those rainbow waterfalls, the wide open air, we couldn’t turn it down. Good thing we found a company willing to hold weddings there.”

“Absolutely. It will be something you will never forget,” Rarity winked. “I guess you two will be thinking about your own wedding ceremony soon, won’t you?”

“I haven’t even thought about it yet,” said Twilight. “It’s just a lot to take in, the fact that I’m going to get married! Seems like Cadence really wants to arrange it for us.”

“And she’s wanting to go the extra mile, too,” Spike added. “I guess I never thought about this being a royal wedding, but…” He gulped at the realization that he was going to have a royal wedding. “It is gonna be a little nerve wracking when the day comes. There’s probably going to be a lot of ponies there.”

“I almost envy you two, being part of a royal wedding,” Rarity marveled. “If you ask me, just let Cadence arrange it. With all you’ve done for her, each of you, it’s the least she can do.”

“I guess you have a point. She is pretty good when it comes to love,” Twilight noted. “The thing is, did you ever think it would work out the way it did for all of us?”

“You mean, like how Rarity found the stallion of her dreams, and we got together?” asked Spike.

“Yeah. I won’t lie, it was a rocky road at times, but I think the outcome was worth it, wasn’t it? We’re all with the one we want to be with, and we’ll all getting married in the next year or so.” The princess sighed happily at the thought.

“I’m just glad Spike found you. I would have felt terrible if he never found somepony,” Misty confessed.

“Good thing he did, didn’t he?” Rarity teased him. “Oh well. There is no point dwelling on the past when the future looks this bright.”

Right when she was done speaking, the waiter came by with the bottle of wine. He gave each of them a glass, and he wiped the sweat off his forehead with a napkin. “I apologize, I did not know the wine cellar was that far underground. No matter, I have a fine bottle of Fierte de Canterlot for you all. Enjoy!”

Rarity used her magic to pour each of them a glass of the wonderfully smelling wine, and she lifted her glass in the air. “I don’t think there’s a better time to toast than this. To everypony having a happily ever after!”

“Happily ever after,” said Twilight.

“A very, very happily ever after,” Spike agreed.

“All that and to see our friends have the time of their lives, all the time,” Misty added.

They clinked their glasses together and enjoyed the taste of sweet wine together. It would only be one of many sweet moments they would have with each other, with many more to come. The best part about all this was something Spike knew deep down, that it would only get better as time went on.

He did have a wedding to look forward to, after all.

Author's Note

If this seems like a finale, it's because it originally was. Yeah, my first outline for the story had this as the last chapter, but it felt...unfulfilling to end it here. I talk up a big wedding between Spike and Twilight and then it just cuts off before it happens. As a result, I decided to change plans.

There's going to be three more chapters after this, acting as the story's epilogue. I've already begun work on the first piece, and you'll see it later this month. Hopefully, that works as the finale this story deserves.

Oh, and Happy Hearts and Hooves Day. :heart:

Epilogue, Part 2: The Purple Wedding, Now With 100% Less Death

After the Summer Solstice, after the several months of planning and replanning and re-replanning, the day was finally here. Much like Hearth’s Warming Eve, it felt a day that would never come, and then it came out of nowhere. Royal wedding days tended to bring a special kind of reaction from everypony.

Down at the castle’s reception room, Twilight was dressed for the occasion. She wore a simple white wedding dress(designed by Rarity, because there was no way she was turning down a chance to design TWO royal wedding dresses), but when she looked at herself in the mirror, she had to stop. This was finally happening for her, and she was overwhelmed by the bride that looked back at her in the reflection.

Rarity was there with her, along with her other friends, and she came by to check on the wedding girl. “What’s the matter, darling? Are you feeling nervous? Do you need a moment to compose yourself?”

“I need a moment,” the princess admitted. “It’s just, I can’t believe this really is happening. I’m about to marry Spike, and I couldn’t be happier.”

“You could be happier, you know,” Pinkie butted in. “You’ll say your vows, you’ll eat fancy wedding cake, and then you’ll actually be married to Spike. Isn’t that more fun than just waiting to get married?”

Twilight laughed a bit. “I suppose you’re right. Thank you all so much for helping me out over these years. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

“Hey, don’t let us hog all the glory,” Rainbow Dash commented. “You are the princess in the group. Honestly, I had Rarity pinned for the first to get married, but I didn’t think you’d be the second. Always figured Fluttershy would be next.”

“My time will come,” Fluttershy smiled calmly. She turned her thoughts to Discord for a moment, but she reminded herself what she was doing today.

“Hey, doesn’t matter to me if I’m taken or not,” Starlight said. “Even if I’m ‘alone’, I’m not really alone when I have you all as my friends. Although, it helps that I hit it off with Sunburst.”

“Alright, girls, this ain’t a competition,” Applejack spoke up. “We’re here to make sure Twilight has the best wedding possible, and that’s what we’re gonna do, ya hear?”

“Right. Just got carried away.”

“Me too. I couldn’t be happier for Twilight.”

“So, should I stop all my hidden confetti cannons? Oh right. I forgot where I hid them.”

“Let’s just focus on point here. We’re not gonna mess this up or have another changeling invasion here.”

In another area of Ponyville, specifically the Town Hall, Spike was adjusting to the sight of himself in a tuxedo. Granted, it wasn’t his first time wearing one of these things, but it felt different for very obvious reasons. He adjusted the tie to make sure it fit well, and he looked all over the jacket to make sure there weren’t any wrinkles. He was joined in the room by two very familiar friends.

“Don’t worry about your outfit, Spike. You look really good,” Thorax interrupted. “I’m sure Twilight will love it.”

“Is anybody else noticing that a dragon is wearing a tuxedo?” Ember said. She had grown a few inches in the last few years. “Seriously, it’s weird seeing a dragon wear clothes like that. Is this some Equestrian custom for weddings?”

“You could say that, and it feels pretty nice,” Spike thought. “I’m not going to screw this up, right? I wouldn’t be able to live it down for the rest of my life.”

“You might have messed up a few times here and there, but this isn’t one of them,” Thorax commented, giving him a bump on the shoulder. “And she said yes, right? That means she wants to do this with you. Just let it happen and see where it goes.”

“Yeah, whatever he said,” Ember added. “Just be yourself and I doubt it will go wrong. You were Dragon Lord for a minute, after all.”

“Right. I can pretend to be myself pretty well,” Spike nodded. “I just got to focus on her and only her, and we’ll be husband and wife before I know it. You know what, I got this.”

After the pre-wedding jitters were in the rearview mirror, the stage was set. The wedding ceremony would begin momentarily, and not a moment too soon or late. Here went nothing.

Two guards opened the door to Twilight’s castle. The princess held a bouquet of flowers in her hands as she walked down the carpet to the ceremony, her heart pounding in her chest.. Her friends joined her in the back, wearing their own dresses that matched their color schemes. Pinkie had a blast throwing flower petals all over the carpet, probably more than she needed to.

Despite knowing this was a royal wedding, the princess was overwhelmed by the huge crowd that greeted her. Ponies, griffons, and a few hippogriffs filled up every street of Ponyville to see the big ceremony. It was almost like Ponyville turned into Canterlot for a day. Still, she took a deep breath as she adjusted to all the camera flashes greeting her along the way.

Down at the Town Hall, two guards opened the door for Spike’s entrance. Thorax and Ember kept him company as he started the long walk down to the altar. Just like Twilight, he couldn’t believe the huge crowd that showed up for his wedding, and he stopped for a moment from the sheer nerves trying to stop him. He took a deep breath and resumed the longest walk of his life.

The altar was set up at the Royal Oaks Memorial Garden as requested. It was a lovely collection of flowers taken from all over Equestria. A small tree was planted in the middle of it, starting to grow where the old one stood. Celestia and Luna were there at the altar, along with Twilight’s family and other friends. As everypony learned to expect by now, Shining was a crying mess, and Cadence brought an extra box of tissue just in case.

After what felt like hours, Twilight and Spike could see each other on the other sides of town. They couldn’t stop smiling from this moment, looking forward to it for seemingly their whole lives. By then, the walk felt like it took days to get over with.

Rarity, however, almost froze when she caught Spike in his tuxedo. Seeing him so happy to marry another pony was...well, she wasn’t hurt by it. She was perfectly fine with Misty, who was waiting by the altar. The right way to put it is that she wondered how happy he thought he would be with her, and if it matched how happy he was to marry Twilight. From the look on his face, he was.

Fluttershy noticed her distraction as they were on their way. “Are you alright?” she whispered.

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine. Let’s get back to task here.”

On the other hand, Ember was bewildered by the crowd size above everything else. “Is this normal for a pony wedding? I didn’t think this many people would show up.”

“It’s a big deal in Equestria for a princess to be married,” Thorax explained quietly. “So Spike’s going to be a prince right after they make their vows.”

“Prince Spike, eh? Guess he just finds a way to keep taking positions of power.”

Down at the altar, Luna carried the pillow that had both wedding rings on it. She stood by dutifully, but she noticed that Celestia had a tear running down her face. “Sister, is everything alright? I could take over the ceremony if it’s getting in the way.”

“There’s nothing to worry about, Luna. It’s just that...my little student is all grown up now…”

“Ah, I see what is going on. These are ‘tears of joy’, are they not?”

“Precisely. Wait, they’re coming up here right now. Here’s our moment.”

The two carpets merged into one in front of the garden, and the lovebirds met each other at that point. Their eyes were also glistening in tears of joy, and they had to do everything to keep it together when they linked up arms. Their two parties also merged into one big party, Ember and Thorax joining the Elements and Starlight right behind them. The couple went up the steps to the altar, as the crowd quieted down for the biggest part of the ceremony.

Celestia was well past a thousand years old now, and she delivered many speeches in her lifetime. And yet, this would prove to be her hardest speech to date. At least it was hard for all the right reasons. It would take a lot of willpower to get this done perfectly, but she would find a way.

“Citizens of Equestria, Seaquestria, and the Griffon Kingdom, we have come here today to honor the wedding of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her soon to be Prince, Spike the Dragon. I have been with them throughout the years, and I can assure you that their bond is strong, strong enough to face the challenges that life will present them with. No matter what their differences are, they see each other, not as a pony and a dragon, but as their fellow man and woman, and that is why they are here today.”

Twilight squeed and turned to Spike to let her know how happy she was. He smiled and nuzzled into her.

“Therefore, I have no doubts that they will grow closer in their marriage, and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next chapter of their lives. If anyone has any objections to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Nobody had a thing to say about it for a while. Then, one voice did speak up. “Wait, somebody thought this was a bad idea?” Pinkie gawked in wonder. “Don’t we all think this is the bestest marriage ever? I know I shipped it!”

The audience burst out laughing, while Cadence tried to object that her wedding was better. After all, she defeated a changeling queen before the real ceremony even started.

“Settle down, everypony, settle down,” Celestia interrupted. “I take that as a sign that nobody will object. Now that we’ve established that, bring forth the wedding rings, Princess Luna.”

Luna nodded and stepped forward with the wedding rings. Twilight’s ring was a modified version of the engagement ring, while Spike’s ring was a simple gold band...with a hint of fire ruby, of course. Rarity would have hated to see such a lucky dragon get such a simple ring. Celestia levitated the rings up in the air and came closer to the couple.

“Spike the Dragon, do you take this woman to be your wife, now and forever?”

“I do,” he said without hesitance. She levitated the ring to his wedding finger and slipped it on.

“And do you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, take this man to be your husband, now and forever?”

“Yes. I do,” she cheered. Easiest question in the world for her. She held her hand out for Celestia, and before she knew it, she had her wedding ring on her finger.

“Then I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Celestia had to do everything in her power to say those words, knowing how poignant they were.

Twilight jumped up as soon as she could and kissed Spike. He kissed her back and held her tight, to the applause of the audience in the background. Yet, all the attention didn’t seem to matter to them anymore. All they really cared about was each other, and their enthusiastic kiss only further established that.

“I love you so much, so, so much,” she cried. “I don’t ever want to let you down.”

“You won’t. I just hope I can do the same for you,” Spike replied with another kiss. “I love you too, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” She tossed the bouquet up in the air, landing in the hands of a very expectant yellow pegasus. “Pinkie’s throwing the afterparty, then we got a honeymoon right after that!”

“Yeah, let’s get right to it!”

And so the town of Ponyville turned into the biggest party ever, which was saying something considering Pinkie’s other parties. It was a bit overwhelming at times, yes, but it was quite fun, which fit the whole relationship pretty well. Pinkie made a 15 layer cake because of course she did, and Twilight’s friends from Canterlot also showed up. It was quite the way to meet up with Moondancer, introducing her to Twilight’s new husband.

The party seemed to go on for a long time, and Twilight noticed the sun was starting to set. “Hey, remind me what time we’re supposed to get on the chariot to our honeymoon again?”

Spike glanced at the big clock in the middle of town and couldn’t believe it. “Actually, it’s right about now. You ready to head out of here? I hate to leave, though. It’s so much fun.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been looking forward to this honeymoon for a while. Would be nice to spend some time alone after today. You ready?”

“You have no idea.” He swept her off her feet and carried her bridal style down through town, all to a still-enthusiastic crowd. She heard her friends and family say all the nice things they could imagine as they went on their way, while he heard Ember and Thorax applaud him on top of that. It might sting to isolate themselves from friends and family, but it wouldn’t be that long of a break away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

A chariot waited for them on the other side of town, manned by four Royal Guards waiting to take them away. Twilight couldn’t stop giggling as she hugged her husband, and he had the biggest smile on his face the whole time. On their way, she couldn’t help but think of how shy and confused he was when they started their practice dates. Time sure changed things along the way for both of them.

They arrived at the chariot, and he put her down on her feet, opening the door for her. She stepped inside and waved to the crowd before they left. “Hey, we won’t be gone that long. We’ll be back before you know it!”

“I’ll send you letters every single day!” Pinkie shouted back.

Spike joined her in the carriage right after, and they kissed each other as soon as they took their seats. The guards realized it was time to go, and they spread their wings for takeoff. The carriage went off into the sky soon after.

Ponyville would soon disappear beneath them, along with all their friends and family. Thankfully, it wouldn’t be long until they were back.. Once the wind howled around the carriage, the royal couple pulled away for the first time in a while.

“Some wedding, huh?” Spike thought.

“I can’t even think about it right now,” Twilight admitted. “I’m just...we are...look at our rings!” She held up her ring and looked down at his. “Do you know what this means?”

“I do. I can’t believe it, either. I just…” He stopped and kissed her again. She did the same and stayed quiet with him for a while. They were going to enjoy being in the other’s company as long as they wanted, now that their wedding had finally come and gone.

And there was still a honeymoon to look forward to.

Author's Note

I make no apologies for that cheesy chapter title. If you thought that was stupid, I did my job. Oh, and wedding happened. Yay. :pinkiesmile:

Anyways, just one chapter to go. Expect it within the next two weeks, along with some deeper thoughts on how I felt about the story in general.

Epilogue, Part 3: At Last

When the happy couple looked over all the places they could go for their honeymoon, Rarity would always suggest one place in particular. It seemed less exotic, being in Cloudsdale and everything, but the fashionista insisted on this destination. After all, she spent her honeymoon there, and she knew they would love it. So, after some last minute persuading, they booked the High Rise Hotel for the occasion.

The hotel was coming up on the carriage in a hurry. It was a fancy ten story place, just out on the edges of town. Canterlot was still visible from the view, and Ponyville wasn’t too far away, either. A pool marked the edges of the hotel ground, and right by it was a huge waterfall--cut off with glass, of course. Couldn’t have customers falling off the edge. Of course, there were guards at the entrance, given who was coming to stay here.

“They don’t let their guard down, do they?” Spike commented on the big guard presence.

“I don’t mind,” Twilight replied. “Just as long as they don’t harass anypony else over here. Anyways, what do you think? After Rarity showed me the pictures around here, I was all in.”

“It’s amazing. All the waterfalls, the sights, I even heard they have gems for dragons at the diner. I can’t really complain at all. Why didn’t Rainbow Dash ever let us know about it?”

“Probably didn’t have the time, Wonderbolts stuff and everything. Either way, this looks like a fun place, and I can’t wait to get started with you.”

“Yeah, me too. A week by ourselves sounds like just what I needed after that big wedding thingy.”

The carriage soon landed by the entrance. The guards escorted Spike and Twilight as they climbed out of their ride. While they probably should be wondering if it was safe out here, they were just in awe of the hotel instead.

Yeah, it was easy to see why Rarity loved it. The entrance doors were made out of gold, there were plenty of gems to go around on the walls--Spike couldn’t eat these ones, though, no matter how good they looked--and two employees opened the doors for the couple.

“Remind me to thank Rarity when we get back,” she whispered.

“I’ll write a letter before we go to bed,” he commented.

The guards then brought them up to their room on the fifth floor. The room itself was rather nice, with a big king sized bed and a huge patio to take a look outside. “Do you need anything else?” the lead guard asked.

“We’re good to go. If we need anything, we’ll find you,” Twilight waved them away.

The guards nodded and shut the door behind them. Once they were gone, she went over and glomped Spike onto the bed, kissing all over his face.

“Wow, you’re really eager,” Spike teased.

“Are you kidding? We’re married now! I get to spend all the time I want with you. Why wouldn’t you be excited about that?”

“I am. I really am. Just that...I’m wondering when I’m going to wake up from this fever dream. It feels too good to be real.”

“Well, it’s real now,” she said, booping his nose. “You know what, we should probably change our clothes before we do anything else. This dress may be awesome, but it’s a little uncomfortable, and I’m not ready for that just yet. Maybe later tonight.”

“Yeah, was thinking the same thing. Take all the time you need. We’re gonna live for a long time together, so there’s no rush on that.”

And so they took turns in the bathroom, changing their clothes for something a bit more casual. Twilight put her wedding dress neatly in the closet, as she knew Rarity would kill her if she did anything else to it. A simple T-shirt and jean shorts would do for now, and sure enough, Spike was wearing something similar to her outfit.

“Huh, guess we were thinking the same thing on the clothes stuff,” he thought. “So what should we do first? Go swimming? Take a look around the hotel?”

“I don’t know, actually. I haven’t thought about it.” She came over and hugged him warmly. “Isn’t the whole point of the honeymoon to spend all the time we want together?”

“It is. I just...don’t wanna blow this,” he sighed. “Yeah, I’m still worried about that every now and then. I never really thought about what would happen after our wedding.”

“Spike, you know you won’t blow it with me. When have I ever been upset with you?”

“That time I grew into a massive dragon because I got too greedy for my own good?”

She snorted at the thought and kissed him again. “That was a long time ago. You know you’re a lot more mature than you were back then. Just...don’t force yourself to be someone you’re not, alright? I married you because I love who you are, and vice versa.”

“Yeah…” He kissed her back, and they stayed silent for a while in their embrace. Just standing in the middle of the room in a hug seemed to feel like the perfect moment, and so they kept doing that for a while.

The sun would set soon after, and the stars came out of their hiding in the nighttime sky. Luna decided to make the moon a little closer to Equestria for the occasion, and it caught Twilight’s eye. Looks like she knew just what she would do with her husband tonight. She pulled away from him and opened the door to the patio. The sight of the moon caught his eye as well, and when she spread her wings out, he was already on the same page as her on things. He didn’t need to hear a thing to see what she had in mind.

The pony princess and the dragon prince took off into the open air together. They flew side by side, clasping hands as they went as far and away as their wings would take them, not minding if the guards would freak out while they were gone. Tonight, it was just about them, just as it should be on a honeymoon.

They flew up, down, to the side, anywhere they felt like going. The clouds zipped right by them, and their surroundings were all a blur. Just as long as they didn’t hit anything, they didn’t care. Their hands stayed tight around each other as they spun around, all while laughing on the way from pure joy.

The stars kept coming out above them as they went on their merry way. The nighttime sky was almost as bright as the daytime sky as they flew aimlessly, wherever the air currents would take them. Just as long as they could find their way back to the hotel, they would have the time of their lives.

“Wow, you got a lot better at flying over the years!” he marveled.

“Not as good as you!” she replied. “I couldn’t keep up with you at full speed!”

“Oh come on, you could be a Wonderbolt if you wanted to!”

“Whatever! I’m just happy being your princess and wife!”

Soon enough, their wings would get tired from all the flying together in due time. They found a cloud nearby and took their seats in the middle of it. He stretched out his legs and wrapped a hand around her waist, and she snuggled up to him just for fun.

“Luna did that for us, didn’t she?” Spike asked, pointing up to the moon.

“I don’t think so. I know so,” she laughed. “She does that for us every once in a while. It’s really beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Not as beautiful as you.”

“Oh, Spike…” She kissed him again just for the hay of it. They were quiet once more in their embrace, but something felt different this time. This time, she found herself feeling up his back, his chest, and his belly. In return, he was feeling up her back, careful to avoid the wings, caught up in the moment she was inviting him to. She blushed at the realization and pulled away from him. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t--”

“Does this mean you’re ready for that?” he interrupted her.

She was surprised at the question, but she pondered it anyway. Didn’t take long for her to know how she felt about it. “Yeah. I’m ready for that. Are you?”

He slowly nodded. “Honestly, I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time now. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you’re happy when it’s time.”

“Like that’s going to be a problem,” she smiled back at him. “You remember the way back to the hotel? I kinda got lost while we were out.”

“Yeah, I kept track of that. I’ll lead the way.”

They took off from the clouds and went back over in the general direction of Cloudsdale. With him leading the way, it would take a while to find their way back, but the hotel was within view again before long. Thankfully, the guards didn’t see them leaving the hotel, so there wouldn’t be a ruckus or anything on the way back.

Once they touched down, they shut the patio door and closed the blinds. Spike slowly approached her, trying to remain calm as he kissed her on the lips. That kiss felt much different than the ones before, and he heard her breathing picking up.

“You’re nervous,” he said, stroking her cheek slowly.

“A little bit,” she confessed. “I’ve never done this before.”

“We can wait if you like. I won’t be upset at you.”

“No, please do it now. I’m not going to force you to wait any longer. The jitters will go away once we start, I’m sure of it.”

“What about you, though? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. It would just get in the way.”

“I want this.” She slowed down her breathing and calmed down. “I really want this with you. If you do something I don’t like, I’ll warn you.”

“Alright.” He laid down on the bed softly, bringing her down with him. “I love you so much…”

Mornings in Cloudsdale were a curious thing. With all the clouds in the atmosphere, the air would be full of dew and moisture, giving it a nice and atmospheric fee to the air. Of course, things would go back to normal just after 10 in the morning, but it made things feel fresh once the town woke up to life.

Spike woke up with the sun shining in his face. He groaned and turned to see his princess curled up next to him. The memories of last night came back to his mind, and it was a night he would never forget. It was a long time since he felt that vulnerable and comfortable with it, and she felt the same way in their intimate embrace.

As much as he loved the sight of her sleeping, he wanted to move around and stretch his legs. He slowly climbed out of bed, making sure he didn’t disturb her. Once he was done, he threw some boxers on and walked out to the patio. He sighed happily as he let a million thoughts go through his mind, thinking of what happened before, what just happened, and what would happen. Made sense to consider those things, now that he was married.

However, he heard something in the room behind him. He didn’t turn back to see what it was; he knew who it was already. He was soon joined by his princess by the patio, wearing a bathrobe to cover up with. She gazed all over the horizon and enjoyed the sunrise with him.

“Really beautiful at this time, isn’t it? And you can’t say I’m more beautiful this time. We know that’s not true.”

“But it is true,” he said, planting a kiss on her cheek. “I’d ask if you had fun last night, but I think I already know.”

“I’m just glad we didn’t annoy anypony else in the hotel,” she blushed. “Just...wow. I got over my nerves pretty fast, and…” She blushed and gave a slight giggle. “It was fun.”

“It did have me thinking of something right after. Um...Twilight...do you know if dragons and ponies can have children?”

That question made her eyes widen. “Oh. Right. Guess I should be thinking about it now. Um, to be honest, I don’t know. We might be the first dragon-pony couple known in existence.”

“So you don’t know? Then again, Equestria didn’t know much about dragons until Ember came along and you wrote your books about them, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Yeah.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “Spike, do you want kids with me?”

“What?” The question actually made him stumble a bit. “Um...uh...well, I’m just now getting used to being your husband. It’s a lot to take in.”

“We might have to think about it soon, given what we did last night. I don’t want to push you into it right now, but we should probably find out where we stand on having children.”

Spike sighed again and considered it. “First off, what do you want? Do you like the idea of being a mother? I don’t know what our kids would look like, since I’m a dragon and you’re a pony, but are you okay with the idea, no matter what happens?”

“I wouldn’t mind it,” she admitted. “I would looooove to teach them when they’re getting older, and whatever gender they are, they would be royalty, so we can give them the world and all that’s in it. I just need to make sure they’ll get out of the castle and make some friends every now and then. I bet this is how Celestia felt when I was younger.”

Spike imagined it in his head, and he smiled at the thought. “You know what, I wouldn’t mind it either. I’d be raising them with you, and that’s going to make things a lot easier. I just hope I’ll be a good father, and they’ll grow up to be great stallions, mares, dragons, whatever they are.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll be a good father, Spike,” she said warmly. “Just don’t let me go overboard with reading assignments, okay?”

He laughed at the idea. “Yeah, I’ll keep you in check, just as long as you keep me in check,” he answered, pressing his head to hers. “Twilight...I just…”

“I know. You love me.” She kissed him again and held on tight. “We’ll be together for a long time, right?”

“More like forever. Can we do that?”

“Yeah. We can.”

As they embraced each other again on the patio, it dawned on them that this was merely the beginning of their time in their union. There would be challenges along the way, yes, but they would be challenges they would face together, whenever it was another threat to Equestria or more personal issues to wrestle with.

No matter what happened, though, Spike would remember this day for a long time, for it was the day he knew he had found love at last.

Author's Note

Major thanks to Salnalus and Amber Solaen for helping me throughout the process of making this whole thing.

First, unless you found this chapter within the first 5 seconds of this chapter being up, you'll notice a certain new tag on the story. I only now applied it because I wasn't sure I was going to go that far with things until I started planning the epilogue, and while it's not that detailed, it was probably enough to get the tag anyways.

So...what were my thoughts about this story? I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking on my end with this one, as it was intended to get me warmed back up to multichapter stories. It's my first one in a few years, and I needed the practice. Still, I have, well, mixed feelings about the way it turned out.

Usually, when I start a story like this, I have an outline and stick with it the whole way through. This time, I edited the outline big time because I thought it was too much "Spike talks about his feelings with somepony else" and it was that same story beat, again and again. That's why his date with Pinkie involved the pink one bungie jumping off of a hot air balloon, to make it more interesting. And the epilogue...well, it wasn't originally planned, and I think there were ways I could have made it better. That, and I was a little upset that I had so many chapters in the 2k word range. That's something I want to address if I ever do one of these things again.

Still, I was very happy with the way I handled the drama with Spike's feelings for Twilight. I see their relationship in the show like they're brother and sister, and finding a way to acknowledge it while still presenting it as a barrier for their romance was an interesting challenge. Given some of the comments I got from you guys, I take it that I handled that aspect very well.

All in all, like any long term story, I learned a few things, was happy about other things, and saw things that can be address for future stories. In the end, I was happy with it and was glad to see I can still do romance in stories well...at least, in my opinion.

What did you guys think of the story at the end of the day? I'm rather curious how you liked the overall product, along with the ending. The floor is open.

Thanks for sticking with this story all the way to the end, the positive reception this got, and for being my first story in almost a year to break 1,000 views. It was a huge motivator to get this thing finished, and good thing I finished it now, because season 8 is right around the corner. Happy trails.

--Soothing Stone

Epilogue, Part 1: It's Not A Real Wedding Until The Wedding Planner Gets Stressed Out

The happy couple spent the next few days enjoying each other’s company, helping out with the following Winter Wrapup, tackling any royal duties that reared their ugly heads, that sort of thing. The thing was, now that they were engaged, they had to start thinking about their wedding date. They started working together to get that taken care of, only to find out they were the least qualified people in the world to handle something like that. Every little detail felt like the biggest hurdle to overcome, and there was no way they could keep get this done.

When they realized that, they knew there was only one pony capable of handling this burden. One certain pink alicorn that ruled a kingdom not far from Equestria. Therefore, they sent a letter to her about it. She agreed to the job the first chance she got, and Twilight really shouldn’t have been surprised by the news, yet she was. Maybe it was because she always saw Cadence as her foalsitter, not as her wedding planner.

A few days later, Twilight and Spike found themselves waiting outside their front door, along with a bunch of suitcases and bags to take along with them. He tried passing the time with some whistling, but she was only getting more antsy from the wait.

“Spike, do we really need to jump through all these hoops? It’s a lot of work just to plan a wedding.”

“Just to plan a wedding? Do you know how big of a deal this is?” he responded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to panic, but this is a big deal for both of us. We only get one chance at something like this, and it’s going to be one of the biggest days of your life.”

“Don’t you mean the biggest? It is our wedding day, after all.”

“Really? Always thought you’d consider your coronation day for that honor.”

“It was pretty awesome, but I think this is gonna be better.” She kissed him on the lips to make it the cherry on top.

Spike found himself kissing her back, and then they returned to their regularly scheduled kissing and cuddling session. They couldn’t help it at this point; it was getting hard to keep their hands off each other with the way things blossomed between them. Still, they couldn’t have picked the worst possible time to get into it, as it was the moment that their ride arrived.

A chariot arrived at their doorstep, carried by four Crystal Pony pegasi guards. They had straps around their waist and arms, and the chariot they brought was rather large. There was plenty of trunk space in the back for their luggage. Twilight managed to pull away from Spike right when the guards unstrapped and bowed before the couple, thankfully not catching them in the middle of making out.

“Welcome, Princess Twilight. You too, Spike, future Prince of Equestria,” the lead guard greeted them.

“Future Prince Spike? What are you talking about?” the dragon balked.

“It’s the title Princess Cadence ordered us to address you by. After all, you are to be wedded to a princess in the coming months. It felt appropriate, given the occasion.”

“Come to think of it, he is right about it,” Twilight thought. “Never really considered it. Wait a minute, does this mean this is going to be a royal wedding?” She slapped her forehead in disgust. “How did I forget something like that? That means it’s going to be a huge hooplah. How are we going to handle that?”

“Let’s just get in the carriage and figure that out later,” Spike offered.

“That’s probably for the best. Don’t want to keep Cadence waiting.”

The soon-to-be royal couple picked up their luggage and threw it in the trunk. Once that was done, they took their seats in the carriage and made themselves comfortable. The guards then strapped themselves back in and took off, setting sail for the Crystal Empire.

The princess felt so stupid about forgetting that one little detail about her marriage. This really was going to be a royal wedding, and as a result, it was going to be a monumental day And here she thought that it would just be a simple thing, marrying Spike and they would get to live their own happily ever after. Nope, life decided to make it more complicated, as it likes to do.

Spike caught Twilight acting flustered, with the way she was scrunching her forehead and fingers. He came over and held her hand in his, giving her a “you know we got this” look. She nodded and took a breath to calm down. He was working on his habit of calming her down when she needed it, given things were about to get a lot more serious between the two of them.

The Crystal Empire was just over the horizon in no time. It was just as glamorous as ever, and just like Ponyville, it hit a bit of a growth spurt. Not by much, but it was enough for Twilight to tell the difference from the past. It still looked like the same old Empire, one of the few reminders of the old days.

The chariot touched down by the castle grounds. As it was custom to do, there were a collection of guards ready to greet them. What really grabbed Twilight’s attention, to the surprise of nopony, was the pink princess, white unicorn, and pink filly waiting for them. Right when the chariot came to a stop, the newly engaged couple piled out and greeted their fellow royalty. Spike brought his attention to Shining and Flurry Heart, while Twilight got to have Cadence to herself.

“I can’t believe you’re finally getting married!” Cadence gleamed. “I always knew there was somepony out there for you, but I didn’t think it would be a dragon.” She caught a good look at the ring on Twilight’s wedding finger and squealed again. “I wouldn’t have guessed Spike would get your attention. Not that I think he’s a bad choice, he’s actually the perfect guy for you. I just didn’t think you’d be interested in him like that.”

“I know, right?” Twilight smiled. “I feel like the luckiest mare in Equestria. Is this how you felt when Shining proposed to you? It’s a pretty awesome feeling if it is.”

“I don’t know if it went exactly like it did for you, but it was amazing. We have so much to catch up on. I want to know everything. Don’t leave any details out.”

Meanwiile,, Spike came up and fistbumped Shining Armor. Flurry Heart was there as well, and she was now seven years old. Somehow, she only got more adorable as time went on.

“You’re Spike the Dragon, right?” she asked.

“Yep, that’s me. Saviour of Equestria twice and proud of it.” He flexed an arm muscle to show how courageous and strong he was.

“Oh yeah, you’re that really big dragon. I heard you kicked Sombra’s ass!”

“Flurry Heart! What did we say about language?” Shining Armor told her.

Flurry winced and held her arms behind her back. “Language is really bad, and I shouldn’t do it anymore?”

“That’s right.” Shining then turned his attention to the dragon again. “So I hear you’re marrying my sister. How do you feel about that?”

“Nervous, excited, stressed out, looking forward to it, afraid about it, whatever you can think of,” Spike replied. “Does that sound about right?”

“Oh yeah. Every stallion feels the same way leading up to their big day,” Shining noted, patting Spike on the back. “What you should be feeling like is that you’re the luckiest guy ever, since you’re marrying the best sister in the world. You’re not gonna set the castle on fire, right?”

“What are you talking about? You know me. Besides, the castle is made out of crystal--”

“And you’re not going to go through any sudden growth spurts? I might need to help build a bigger castle for Twily--”

“Daddy, you’re being a dork again,” Flurry Heart piped in.

Spike burst out laughing at the comment. “Is that what she does all the time now? Flurry, are you keeping your dad in check?”

“All the time. Mommy said it helps him stay calm and not go into ‘Dad Mode’. What’s Dad Mode again?”

Shining hid his face with his hands. “It’s when your daddy freaks out over nothing and acts like a big dork. In other words, Twilight’s not the only one that goes through freakouts in this family. Still, we have a lot to talk about.”

After some time had passed, Cadence and Shining came together to address both Twilight and Spike. “We’re happy for both of you, and we wish you nothing but the best,” Cadence began. “And it means a lot that you’re coming to us for help with the wedding plans. While we work on it, we promise we’ll do everything we can to make sure this is the possible wedding for both of you.”

“We’ve been discussing how to handle this for a while, and we think it would be best if Cadence handled things with you, Twilight,” Shining added. “Flurry, you can come with Mommy. You’ve been a big help with stuff like this.”

“Yay! I get to do stuff with my B.A.E.!” cheered Flurry Heart. She went and gave Twilight a big, warm hug.

“Spike, you’re coming with me,” Shining continued. “We’ll handle things together, and once we’re done, we’ll have a better idea of what this wedding will look like.”

“Sounds perfect. Very organized, too,” Twilight noted. “You’ll be okay if I’m not around for a few minutes, Spike?”

“I dunno, that might be really hard,” Spike grinned. “Are you sure you can’t handle things without me being around to sweep you off your feet?”

“I think I can manage for a few seconds, but that’s it,” Twilight chuckled, sticking her tongue out at him. “Let’s get this wedding thingy started!”

With that business in the rearview window, the two groups would go on their own way, with Cadence, Twilight, and Flurry Heart going to the royal library, while Shining and Spike would have their little talk over at the observatory.

Speaking of the royal library, Twilight would always find herself in awe of the collection Cadence had built up. It never held a candle to her own library, of course, but there were a few books here that she didn’t have yet. Despite all the Crystal Ponies standing around in the library, in awe of her, the books were the only things that had her attention.

“How did you have Basic Teleportation Spells, Volume 3 by Starswirl before me?” she pondered “I have to get back to work on that. The sooner I get back on expanding my library, the better.”

In the meantime, Cadence was a big ball of energy, eager to get started. “It is an amazing library, but we should get down to business,” Cadence cut in. “Where should we start with the wedding? There’s so much we need to do.”

Twilight stopped in the middle of her thought, right in the middle of smuggling all the Starswirl books she could find. “To be honest, I haven’t thought about it at all. It all happened so fast. We might have gone steady for a year now, but it’s been a blur ever since our first date.since then. A really, really fun blur, but still.”

“You haven’t done anything with your wedding?” Flurry gasped. “Oh no. I think Mommy is in wedding planner mode…”

“Wedding what now?”

The gears in Cadence’s brain started to whirl. She couldn’t help but think of all the possibilities that were in front of her, now that she knew this wedding would be a blank canvas for her to work with. It was her version of being a filly in a candy store.

“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that,” she replied. “You know the best place to begin? A wedding location, of course I can draw up a whole list of places to hold the wedding.” She levitated a huge list, big enough to match Twilight’s own checklists, over to the Princess of Friendship. “Winsome Falls is a classic, but I heard Rarity is having her wedding there, so that’s not happening. Oooh, what about somewhere Canterlot? There are so many good wedding spots there. Or, if you don’t mind the tackiness, Las Pegasus is a goldmine for this.”

“Actually, I had some place in mind. That’s the one thing we could agree on. It’s a really special place to me.”

Cadence couldn’t wait to hear it, while Flurry was just happy to hear that her mother didn’t have to do everything for Twilight. She knew how carried away the Princess of Love could get.

“It’s the Golden Oaks Memorial Garden. You know, where the Golden Oaks Library used to be.”

“That garden? To be honest, I didn’t count on that,” Cadence admitted. “Then again, I know how much that old treehouse meant to you. Good thing the town of Ponyville put a garden where it used to stand, rather than just let the remains rot after a while. It was the least they could do for you, given how you left your mark there.”

“I know. I miss that treehouse more than anything, but the garden was the perfect idea for it. It should be gorgeous in the summer. Since we were living there together for a while Spike and I thought it would be a perfect place for our wedding.”

“Excellent. I will make a note of that right now.” Cadence went to the very bottom of the list for places to consider, wrote in a box with the name “Golden Oaks Memorial Garden”, and checked it off. She started to sniffle once she was done, and she found herself doing it again already. Then she couldn’t stop at all.

“Are you okay?” Flurry asked. “You look really sad.”

“It’s fine, sweetie. It’s just that…” She had to sniff again, bringing a tissue to blow her nose into. “Your aunt is all grown up now, and she’s having her big wedding day. You know how big of a deal that is?”

“You’ve told me all about it,” Flurry replied. “You said your wedding day was the second best day of your life, and the best day was my first birthday. That’s what it was, right?”

“Yeah. You got it down perfectly. That’s why it’s a big deal for me.” Cadence patted her daughter on the head lovingly. She then looked over at Twilight with a big smile. “I honestly don’t know where I’d be without you. How else would we have taken care of Chrysalis and Sombra?”

Twilight nodded and gave her former foalsitter a big hug. “Well, we have to give Spike some credit with Sombra. You know how brave he was that day.”

“Yeah, he kicked Sombra’s--” Flurry stopped herself from dropping another cuss word. “--flank!”

“Exactly.. You couldn’t have been luckier with your choice if you tried. I just hope my husband doesn’t get carried away with this like I have,” Cadence noted.

“How long have you been dating my sister?” Shining demanded.

“A little over a year now. Why are we doing this again?” Spike asked. His collar was starting to get sweaty again.

“I have my reasons. Where do you plan to move after you get married?”

“The same castle we’ve been living in? It’s a great castle. We’d never move out of that place. Why does this feel like an interrogation?”

As it turned out, Shining had Spike sitting down at a table in the middle of the observatory, with the prince walking around the table in bad cop mode. To say it was awkward was a very accurate statement, actually.

“I can’t leave any detail unchecked,” Shining explained. “If my sister is going to marry somepony, or in your case, somedragon, I need to make sure she’s marrying the best. That’s just what I’m going to make sure of.”

“But you already know me so well! Come on, I have a big statue right by the castle. Don’t you remember what I did for you guys when Sombra invaded, and how I saved the Equestria Games from certain doom? And you know how well I’ve treated Twilight over the years.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” Shining rubbed the temples on his forehead. “But I’m not finished asking you questions. When was the last time you had a growth spurt?”

“I don’t know. There was that time I grew into a giant right when my greed got the best of me, but that was years ago. Hasn’t happened since. I did get these babies since then, however.” Spike extended his wings out for Shining to see.

“I feel like the only person in the family without wings,” Shining groaned. “But...what was the next question...maybe it was...I got nothing. Huh. I thought you would crack under the pressure.”

“Okay, what are you trying to do here? You should now how much I love Twilight by now. It’s been that way even before I realized I like-liked her, if that makes any sense. If you’re worried that I’m going to treat her badly, it’s not going to happen.”

“That wasn’t what I was worried about,” admitted Shining. He gazed around the room to make sure they were alone, which they were. Not many ponies came to the observatory unless they were using the telescope. “Keep this a secret between us, but I’m actually terrified about this wedding.”

Spike blinked his eyes in surprise. “That’s it? I thought it was over something a lot worse than that. Still, your sister’s getting married soon. Pretty sure every brother freaks out when that happens.”

“Well, that too. You have to understand, I still see her as the little foal that Cadence came over to foal sit when I was younger, and the same one that hatched your egg. It’s really hard to match that Twilight with the princess that’s about to marry you. It’s a lot to take in.”

The dragon sighed and nodded. “Yeah. It all went so fast with us, but I was in a relationship for the first time in my life. It was the best feeling I ever had, especially with the way things ended up with Rarity. It just felt right, but I should have considered how you and Cadence would feel about it. Did feel like you were part of my family for a while there.”

“Don’t worry about Cadence. She’s fine, and you’re still a part of the family, Spike,” Shining replied. “I really shouldn’t be freaking out about this, but I’m still doing it. I’ll try to work on that in the future. There is one thing I wanted to know, and it’s something you’ll have to consider when you marry her.”

“Let’s hear it. I’m all ears.”

“Spike, are you ready to be an Equestrian Prince?”

Now that was the last thing Spike expected to hear. “Huh? Why are you asking?”

“You realize that since you’re marrying a Princess of Equestria, you’ll be a Prince through this union? It’s just like how I was a prince the moment when I married Cadence.”

The dragon nodded again, but he didn’t look happy with himself. “I realize that now. Oh my goodness, what did I get myself into?”

“I hate to dump that on you, but you’ll have to consider that the second after you make your vows,” Shining piled on. “That means there’s going to be a lot more responsibilities for you in the future. Now that I think about it, this could really help pony-dragon relations. You know, since one of the princesses will be married to a dragon.”

“That’s...actually a good point,” Spike thought. Sweat started to pour down his face when it dawned on him that Shining was right. He was going to be a prince, and having seen Twilight’s royal duties firsthand, he had a good idea of what that would look like. He was going to deal with a lot of royal duties, and he would have to keep his eye on the other kingdoms every day.. Suddenly, this wedding started to feel like the most stressful day of his life, rather than the greatest day he first imagined.

It didn’t take long for Shining to pick up on things. “Look, I don’t want you to be scared from things, but you need to know what you’re in for. I loved Cadence and I couldn’t imagine marrying anypony else, but it took a while to adjust to my new title as Prince of the Crystal Empire.”

“Do you think I have what it takes to be a good prince?” Spike asked bluntly.

“Yes,” Shining answered. “You were her #1 assistant for years, and you know how to organize things as a result. You’ve made it possible for Equestria to connect with the dragons for the first time in centuries. And from what I’ve heard, you’ve done a good as the official Equestrian Ambassador to the Dragon Lands. I say you’ve got what it takes to do your job the right way.”

That took the edge off things for Spike, and he started to calm down. “Whew, thank Celestia. You have no idea how good it feels to know I don’t always screw things up. You can forget about the good stuff you’ve done every now and then.”

“We all have days like that. I almost did it to you just now,” Shining confessed, wincing at his brainfart. “Just take good care of my sister, okay? I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Spike swore. “I love her more than anypony in the world. I want her to be happy with me as her husband, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure she’s happy. You have my word.

“Just what I wanted to hear. I wanted to ask one more question, though. It’s nothing serious, but I was curious about the answer.”

“What is it?”

“Are you looking forward to the wedding? Like, once you get past the nerves, is this something you want to do?”

“Have to admit, I’ve never been more nervous in my life. It is a big day, after all, being a royal wedding and stuff.” However, he couldn’t stop grinning at the thought in his head. “I still think it’s going to be the best day of my life when it comes time.”

“Trust me, it will be. At the very worst, it will the second best day of your life.”

“Second best? What could be better than your big marriage day?”

Shining’s thoughts started to turn to his beloved daughter, and what it was like when she came into the world. “I think you’ll know what it is when it happens.”

“I don’t know. It’s going to be hard to top something like that.”

“Oh yeah, it is. You’re going to remember your wedding day for the rest of your life.”

“That just gives me more reason to look forward to it, then.”

Author's Note

Check out dat long title

So begins the beginning of the story's conclusion, with two more parts to come. I think you can tell where this is going to go, but it will still be fun to see it on screen--err, on paper. The next update might be a little longer than usual, as I have a couple of projects, both pony and non-pony, that I need to see through. After that, it's gonna be full steam ahead to the end of the story. I can't wait to get started on it.