But First!! Here are Some Doubts....

Chapter 5

Alright men, here we go.

Now...we can do this one at a time......*beats chest*.....OR ALL AT ONCE!!

          Spike sat down hard on the bed, his eyes never leaving Rarity's smiling face.

          'What did she just say?'

           The mare turned to prop the letter open on her vanity table, her humming shielding her from the awkward silence coming from Spike.

           'I'm hearing things, that colt was just a friend or something right?'

           Spike steeled the last bit of his courage to form a question, ignoring the horribly cold flames lapping at the inside of his stomach.

           "Like coltfriend as in, a special somepony?" As Spike spoke those words, for a second, he could have swore that time had stopped. As if the world had taken pity on the little dragon for just a second, giving him one last moment to look at the unicorn in front of him as someone he could come home to one day. And in that gifted moment, the only thing that processed in the mind of the baby dragon was 'She's gorgeous when she smiles'.

           "Actually, I was hoping to keep it a secret for just a bit longer," Rarity squealed and flopped down onto the bed next to Spike, staring at her ceiling like it was a fireworks show.

           "It just kind of happened, it was like magic Spike," Rarity spread her hooves out, painting an imaginary scene that the dragon couldn't seem to turn his mind from.

           "I was coming home from a party Pinkie threw for Twilights indoctrination into Celestia's library," Rarity paused to look at Spike, to see if he remembered. However, Spike was quick to react and cast his eyes away to Opal, who was napping in the corner.

           " How could I forget, Twilight kept me up that whole night talking about it," Spike said with a forced chuckle. He prayed that Rarity would buy the act. And  of course she did.

          "Well anyway I was walking home and I swear I heard singing. So I followed the sound all the way to a clearing just by the Everfree Forest--

          Rarity adjusted her scarf tighter around her neck, doing her best to block out the chill of the night. Her ears had led her just outside the forest, where no trees stood to block the wind. For a second she entertained the thought that perhaps it was Fluttershy running about in the dark. That was a silly thought of course, no matter how close her house was to the forest. After all, she was too scared to leave her house at night let alone find something to sing about in such a context.

          A soothing crescendo shook her from her thoughts and pulled her gaze down to a patch of strange flowers. They were impossibly proportioned, with skinny stems and large petal bulbs that glowed gently in the moonlight. Perhaps the oddest thing about these flowers were the fact that they seemed to sing just when the breeze picked up. She was nearly touching one of the bulbs with her nose when a voice behind her made her jump back to her feet.

           "Gorgeous aren't they?"

           Rarity spun around to face the speaker, expecting to see something out of a ghost story. Instead what she saw was a colt who nearly blended into the dark, with the exception of his blue mane and golden eyes. She took a step back, ready to run if she needed to. The colt paid her no mind and pulled a pail of water back up from the ground, which he had no doubt put down to speak to her.

          The colt stepped beside her and gently poured the contents into the grass around the flowers, leaving the pail at his feet as he finished. Upon second glance, Rarity couldn't help but notice the powerful wings that were folded at his side. His fur had blended so well with the dark that she had completely missed the fact that he was a Pegasus, and a very handsome one at that.

           " W-why are they making that sound?" Rarity managed to blurt out, realizing her silence was most unladylike.

           The black colt, looked at her for a second before turning his attention back to the flowers.

           "I actually don't know. See, my little brother was the one who found them when he snuck out to play one night. He said the moon was full when he found them, and well.....," the black colt held out a hoof to the orb resting in the night sky. Luna had outdone herself tonight.

           "So they make music when the moon is full?" the mare asked, her ears cocked towards the flowers expectantly.

           "And when there's a breeze blowing thought their petals. Me and Rumble just call them Singing Pinwheels. Name's Thunderlane by the way," the black colt had turned back to look at her, his hoof outstretched.

           Rarity blushed a bit as the colt took her hoof in his. "Charmed, my name is Rarity."

            "Well Rarity, what's a pretty mare like you doing all alone out here at night?"

            The fashionista stumbled over her next words, suddenly realizing the danger she could have put herself into.

           "I-I just wanted to see who was making music I suppose. And just what are you doing out her hmm?" Rarity recovered like a champion, batting her eyelashes at the handsome stallion. "Surely you're not here to simply water a few flowers?"

            The black colt chuckled and ran a hoof through his mane.

            "Promise you won't laugh?"

             Rarity sat back on her haunches and gave the colt a smirk, before giving him a playful "ok".

              "Well Rumble, uh..that's my little brother..., he said that the flower wasn't in any of the textbooks in Miss Sparkle's library and that maybe it was a new species or something." The colt paused and brought a hoof to the back of his neck. "And he kinda made this plan to get one of the flowers to Canterlot."

             Rarity crossed her hooves in front of her, intrigued by the tale so far and wondering if she had perhaps seen the little colt Rumble in town before.

              "See he got this crush on the princess last Nightmare Night, and he said she might be his marefriend if he gave her a flower that would sing to her when she raised a full moon," the colt smiled bashfully at the mare, who had put a hoof to her mouth to stifle a giggle. "And well, he tried to give me all his hoofball cards so I'd promise to take care of them for him until he found a way to ship a potted plant to the Royal Castle. And uh....he seemed so set on it that I agreed to help him out for free."

             Rarity let out a giggle at the blushing colt, suddenly pleased that she had followed the flowers' music.

             "Well I must admit your little brother sounds like quite the charmer. I'm sure Princess Luna would be absolutely smitten with him." she laughed again as she got back up to her hooves.

            The colt smiled again as he picked up his pail and put it on his back, his wings stretching out to support the watering can as he turned to leave.

            "Well uh...miss Rarity, I don't mean to cut and run but I gotta get back home soon. Got work in the morning with the weather team," he paused to clear his throat before continuing, "would you like me to walk you back home? I-I mean it's kind of dark and well...yunno..."

             Rarity stepped up beside the stallion, brushing out her mane with a hoof.

             "That's quite alright dear, I'm actually about to head back to my friend's house. I'd like to ask her to have her assistant mail a potted plant directly to Princess Celestia to give to Luna." Rarity stopped to watch the the stallions mouth drop.

              "You mean Miss Sparkle's assistant? The dragon who sends those letters with that magic fire thing he does? You can get him to do that for me?"

              "Why of course, Spikey-Wikey is the most dependable little dragon you'll ever meet."

              Thunderlane's eyes widened as he took in the dragon's name.

              "Oh gosh miss Rarity are you sure, I mean if it's not too much trouble for uh...is Spikey his name?"

              Rarity shushed the stallion with a wave of her hoof and smiled, walking back int the direction of the library.

               "Don't worry dear, I'll have a word with Twilight about how exactly Spike's flames work. And if he can get a plant through, I'll ask him when Rumble feels the time is right to present the Princess with a flower."

              Rarity walked on, hearing the black colt turn and walk in the opposite direction.

             "Oh and by the way," Rarity stopped to look back at the stallion, who had turned around as well, "stop by the Carousel Boutique sometime. We can talk about the shipping arrangements over some tea."

             The stallion smiled and nodded his head, bidding her a goodnight before he disappeared into the darkness. And with that the mare left the clearing, intent on telling Twilight about a brand new species of flower and a simply charming little colt's crush on a princess.

              "Of course it didn't exactly work out the way I planned," Rarity said with a giggle, "she told me your fire can't move living things so we decided to look elsewhere."

               "Is that why I haven't met him yet?" Spike gave her a faux-stern, trying to hide the fact that his heart felt like it was in pieces.

               "Oh darling he was just a friend at the time. But after I told him the bad news he insisted that I let him take me to dinner and...well.....," She looked at Spike with a sheepish smile, "I mean he's definitely not the type of colt I figured I would want to have anything intimate with but...he's kind of cute," she fidgeted with her hooves as she said the last bit.

             Spike just gave her a fake smile and turned away from her to get up off the bed, desperate for a distraction before he let his emotions get the best of him. He let out a fake yawn and stretched a stretch he didn't need, just to keep up his act.

             "Hey um--didn't you say we were gonna head over to AJ's house for breakfast?" Spike asked, facing away and pretending to be suddenly by interested in his claws. Rarity blinked at the question and hopped off of the bed, giving Spike an apology as she raced out of the room.

             "Oh dear me, you're absolutely right. We'll be late at this rate. Just give me a moment dear, we'll leave in just a moment."

             As Spike heard the door close he felt his walls crumble. The little dragon crumpled to the floor and covered his face in his claws, feeling the hot tears run between his fingers. The inevitable truth bounced around in his head like a million bricks hitting him all at once.

             'Rarity needs a stallion. A real stallion. Not a dragon.'

*Doesn't it just suck when you're crush's boyfriend turns out to be a really nice guy? What do you do then? What will our little hero do? Find out next time on But First!!.....Here are Some Doubts.

"it was the sweetness of your skin

it was the hope of all we might have been

that fills me with the hope to wish

impossible things"