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

Chapter 6

               Spike's foot had been hurting quite a bit at this point, as he walked side by side with Rarity to Sweet Apple Acres. Along with the occasional small talk, he had mostly kept his eyes to the ground. He kept up the act by pretending to be utterly fascinated with kicking a rock along the path. Each crash of his foot against the hard stone numbed his toes with pain, but he paid it no mind as he wound his leg backwards for another kick.

              This time however, his foot sent the little rock spiraling off into the grass beyond the road. He watched the stone bounce out of sight before dropping his eyes back to the ground, intent on finding another before his brain could make his mouth start moving again. Unfortunately, the little dragon found no rocks in time to help him.

              "So uh...," he sheepishly began, "how DID you end up getting that flower to Luna?"

               Rarity fell back into reality as she heard the question. For almost half an hour the dragon had been quiet, and an uncomfortable fear had been bubbling up in her stomach.

              "Oh well I ended up asking around the post office," Rarity cleared her throat as she observed Spike's eyes still trailing the ground. "As it turns out, the mail carriers have to ship all special deliveries with a Pegasus team about twice a month. Of course that includes anything that could remotely be considered erm.....'alive'--I suppose."

               "Oh, I wish I could do that. I would have sent Owlysius to the Princess to keep llllooooonnnnggg ago," Spike let out a laugh he didn't truly feel, letting his vision lock with Rarity's for good measure.

              The unicorn smiled at the dragon's humor and tried to squash the gnawing cold in the pit of her stomach. It was already an awkward thought to think, that Spike just might have feelings for her. And now that he was upset about Thunderlane....

             Rarity bit her lip and turned away from the dragon as nonchalantly as she could. She just didn't know how this was supposed to be handled, how to tell a child that his feelings weren't shared. How was she to assume that his little crush would actually stick?

              The mare nearly let out a sigh of relief as the fences of Sweet Apple Acres came into view. Perhaps he would just forget about this nonsense after an hour or so playing. After all the day was gorgeous and the red delicious' looked ready for eating. It was the ideal play day.

             Rarity cleared her throat to get Spike's attention.

            "I actually have a bit of work to do here today while we're eating. Granny Smith apparently has a rare stock of baby blue sapphires under the barn. She was kind enough to offer them to me at a fair price if I advertised for Sweet Apple Acres in the shop," she turned to look at Spike, pleased to see he was looking back intently at the mention of the delicacies that were baby blues.

            "How did Granny Smith get her hooves on a bunch of gems like that?" Spike asked, energy slipping back into his voice.

             "Courtship gift. Apparently the stallions in her days were keen on extravagant gifts. There isn't enough of that nowadays I'm afraid." she ended with a sigh.

             Spike looked down at his claw, scanning over the digits.

             "Did she marry that stallion?" he asked, hoping there was a happy ending to the conveniently familiar tale.

             "Uh...no. She had already met Applejack's grandfather at that point, but the stallion was such a gentlecolt he let her keep the gems. I suppose that's why she would be willing to part with such a rare variety of gem."

              Spike closed his claw. 'of course,' he thought bitterly.

             "How much does she want for them?" He asked, letting no weakness betray his voice.

             "It depends on their size really. But I'd say...mmm..." the unicorn paused to think, pursing her lips and wiggling her nose as she played with her mental calculator, "about.....well I can't imagine the price going above 20 bits a gem."

             "Well that's not so bad...," The dragon replied, staring down at the path ahead. It simply hurt too much to look at the mare, and the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres was only a few meters away, thank Celestia.

          "Applejack!! Spike n' Rarity are here!"

          A young filly bounced excitedly around the front yard of the Apple Family home. Her large red bow hung on for dear life as she tore across the yard to the front porch, her impossibly loud voice echoing in the nearby orchard.

          "A-aaaplejack!! We got comp'nee!

          "I HERD YA THE FIRST TIME!!"

          An orange mare with a Stetson hat set upon her head kicked open the screen door. She didn't look too pleased with the filly who sat in front of her on the porch.

          "Just what in TAR-nation are ya screamin' like that for?" the orange mare bent down to lock eyes with the filly, who looked up with large innocent eyes.

          "I thought ya might still be in the bathroom, what with all that old cake you ate....HEY!"

          The orange mare smiled nervously as she shoved the filly through the doorway with her back hoof, while her front hoof tipped her hat politely toward the two in her yard.

              "Morning' Spike, Rarity! I take it you're here about those ol'  blue whatsits in the cellar?" Applejack smiled politely at the two, descending the porch steps to meet them in the yard.

           "Baby Blue -sapphires- darling, and yes I'm here for the deal proposed by Granny Smith," Rarity corrected with a smile.

          "Uh-huh..., and I'm suppooooooosin' this little fella's here cause he's hungry," Applejack turned her attention to Spike before the fashionista had a chance to  agitate her. The orange mare accentuated her words with a poke to Spike's round belly.  The dragon couldn't help but giggle as he felt the hoof tickle his sensitive stomach scales.

           "Aw come on AJ," he whined through giggles, "you know I hate that!"

          "Is that right? Well come on them, Big Mac just put the pancakes on the table," the mare motioned for Rarity to follow her back into the house right after she had flopped Spike onto her back with her head.

          The Apple family mealtimes where, in short, pleasantly surprising to the unicorn who sat next to Spike. She had often entertained the idea that the farmer family was as loud and unruly as AJ was in her circle of friends. Not only did she find that the family had decent table manners for Earth Ponies (albeit odd conversations), Big Macintosh was turning out to be quite the skilled cook. He wasn't exactly a French culinary artist, but his homemade apple cinnamon syrup was to die for.

          The fashionista held out her plate as the stallion silently stacked (bam, tongue twisted) a few more pancakes onto her plate. She was going to hate herself later, but the poison was MAGNIFICIENT. The little dragon sitting next to her sure seemed to think so, his mouth full from his fifth pancake in a row. Where he put all that food, the mare had no clue.

          "AJ guess what?" Applebloom said suddenly as she slammed her fork down on the table, leaning forward in her chair.

          "Yeah?" Applejack said between chews.

          "Miss Cheerilee said that Nurse Redhart works in tha hospital deliverin' babies! And I was thinkin' that maybe me and the crusaders could go and help out tomorrow. Cause I was thinking' that a bunch of baby ponies is an awful bit heavy for one bird to carry all by himself, and it must be twice as hard for Nurse Redhart to get em' all into the rooms with their mommies. So maybe there's a cutie mark for deliverin' babies from the stork at the hospital! Can I go tamarraw with the girls to the hospital, huh huh can I can I?" The filly had abandoned her chair to hop excitedly next to Applejack, who had seemed a bit preoccupied with her food during the filly's rambling.

         "Sounds mmmmiiiiiiighty fun there Applebloom," she said with a practiced smile as dunked syrup on a fresh pancake.

        "Oooo thankyouthankyouthankyou, I'm gonna go get Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and tell em' the news!" the little filly became a blur of yellow and red as she raced out the screen door.

        The table became quiet once again as each pony (and dragon) were too preoccupied to have paid any attention to the filly's intention. Except Big Macintosh, or so it seemed. He stopped chewing a few minutes after the filly had left, and his eyes grew wide for a few moments before he placed his fork down on the table and stood up.

          "I'll be back AJ, gotta find Applebloom," the stallion excused himself as he walked through the door the filly had left through not five minutes ago.

          "Hmm? Oh uh yeah, that.....gotta.....get that done," Applejack said before immediately diving back into her plate with gusto.

          "Well now isn't that just like Macintosh, always eager to get back to work. Ifin his pa could only see him now," Granny Smith piped up from her end of the table, where she had been quietly working her dentures through a stack of pancakes of her own.

         "He'd say he needs to take longer breaks, that colt was up before the roosters were crowin'," Applejack said, adding under her breath, "no doubt ta goof around with that Eiffel feller in the evenin's..."

         Granny Smith nodded sagely, although she had missed the last comment completely. "Fine colt to take over when I'm gone."

        "Now Granny don't talk like that! What would any of us do if somethin' was ta happen to you?" Applejack put her fork down for the first time that morning to face Granny Smith.

        "Oh fiddlesticks!" Granny Smith shooed Applejack back to her pancakes with a wave of her hoof, "Macintosh and yourself would do right by that filly, she's loves the two of ya moren' Celestia herself." The elderly mare shook a napkin from her lap as she stood on shaky legs.

        "Now miss Rarity, I'm supposing' you'd like to see those old Sapphires in the cellar?"

       "Oh yes ma'am!" Rarity sprang up in her chair before looking back down at her plate, where her remaining two pancakes sat. She hastily swept them into Spike's plate saying "Spike be a dear and finish these up for me? I'll be back in a bit."

        Spike nodded at the unicorn and watched as she walked out of the room behind Granny Smith. The glacier in his stomach had been melted down by the company at breakfast, but the chunks at the bottom were still there. He waited until the unicorn's tail had disappeared beyond the doorway before he set his utensils down and pushed the plate slowly away from him.

        Applejack was the only other pony left in the room with him, and he was grateful that she wasted no time in killing the silence.

        "So whatchall' doin' at Rarity's house?" she asked between chews.

        "Mm...Twilight said I needed a babysitter," Spike frowned at the memory of the argument him and Twilight had only two days ago. "I told her I'd be fine but she didn't listen."

        "Aren't you by yourself when you go to Canterlot for Twilight?" Applejack asked in return, confusion etched in her face.

       "Well not really, Princess Celestia escorts me around."

        Applejack placed her fork down, disbelief replacing the confusion.

        "You mean ta tell me thatn' the Royal Princess of Equestria is your caretaker on them fancy business trips?"

        "Well.....yeah....I mean its no big de--"

       "No big deal!? You get ta stay in the Royal Castle at no charge and it's no big deal? Rarity would keel over!"

      "Yeah...," Spike let his eyes drop at the mention of the mare's name. This abrupt change in behavior didn't go unnoticed though, as Applejack immediately dropped the subject of the castle. Instead she began to make questions back at his stay at Rarity's, figuring she was onto something strange.

      "So is uh.....Rarity feedin' ya right?"

       Spike nodded, "I actually bought her dinner last night, and she bought mine."

      "Sounds mighty romantic, how'd it go?" she asked, wiggling her brow at the hidden context.

     "Oh you know, she's just too preoccupied to notice." Spike gulped back the answer that had tried to force its way out of his mouth.

     "Too preoccupied? Too preoccupied fer the only one that's got patience fer all that fancy frou-frou mumbo-jumbo," Applejack asked fussing as she gathered the dishes from around the table.

     "I'd say it'd take one mighty fine colt ta get that mare to stop gawkin' at Princes and whatnot," she continued as she tried to balance the dishes in one hoof. "Uhm....Spike you mind givin' me a hoof with this?"

      Spike gulped and wordlessly took the plates from Applejack, making his way slowly to the sink. Word desperately clawed at the inside of his skull, words he should have asked Rarity. But they turned their attention to Applejack instead as they forced his jaw open.

      "What do you think the perfect colt for Rarity would be like."

      Applejack smiled widely at the little dragon, completely happy to give the little guy's ego a good polish.

       "Well letseee.......he'd have ta be down ta Earth, but still innerested in her hobbies. He'd be willin' to help others, but not be snobby bout it. He'd want to be friends with her friends.....Hmmm.......," Applejack tapped her chin with her hoof, oblivious to the droop of Spike's shoulders. "Well I'd say he'd be a lot like you champ." She smiled at his back, completely unready for the question that followed.

        "But he'd be a stallion right?"

        Applejack's smile faltered and she had to ask, "come again?"

       Still the dragon did not face her. He only asked again in a cracking voice.

       "He'd be a pony right?"

      "Now sugarcube, I don't think that matter none..." Applejack moved to touch his shoulder, but stopped as Spike whirled around and thrust his face into her chest fur.

      "Oh! Uh...hey now Sugarcube what's.......," she stopped as she felt warmth dripping down her coat, and for once not knowing how to proceed. "S-spike? Sweetheart? Just calm down and tell me what happened? Sugarcube?"

      She followed him to the ground as he dropped away from her legs and sat heavily upon the kitchen floor, his face in his claws. A thick silence fell over the kitchen, save for the muted sobs coming from under Spike's arms. For a good five minutes, nothing was said. Applejack just sat watching, unsure of how to proceed until Spike finally spoke up.

        "She found a stallion who's all that." He said, as his breathing finally calmed down.

***Hoo boy, things have been wacky here at school. Shits piling up and my writing is suffering because of it. But fear not good readers, for those of us who have been waiting for the Leslichu to update his damn story, here is an early piece of the next chapter.

Go!!

           "Now I hate to ask, but these are genuine correct? They're so rare it's hard to tell what is fake and what is real."

          Granny Smith licked her lips as she reached into her mental vault for a memory spanning nearly 65 years ago.

         "Now lessee.....Monty told me he got these here sapphires from a dragon looking fer Canterlot. Said something bout her wantin' to donate eggs to a fancy smancy Unicorn IQ test or something' or other. Said he drew her a map. And she gave him a bag of sapphires in return."

         "Oh? I didn't know dragons donated their eggs to Unicorns.

        "Well most don't missy, but thisun here said she was a-runnin' from the law and couldn't bring her babies into such a world."

         "How terrible, I can see why she wouldn't want to keep her eggs. But the Unicorns didn't harm them did they?"

        "I'm supposin' not with Princess Celestia in charge. We heard word through the traders that she gave the hatchlings to her best students."

       Rarity made a mental note to ask Twilight a few questions when she got back into Ponyville, as she counted out her bits. Each one had ended up costing her a different price, as the sizes of the sapphires had turned out to be largely random. One was small enough to be a raindrop, while many others were about the size of an apple. However each one shone just as brilliantly as the other in the dim light of the cellar. The perfect sheen and brilliance almost made her forget that there was dirt and dust literally everywhere. Almost.

       A few minutes later found the fashionista happily bouncing up the cellar stairs with a bag of jewels jingling merrily on her back. Granny Smith followed suite, the bits safely tucked away in her shawl. The half hour they had spent negotiating in the cellar had certainly yielded great results, but the time spent was a little more than the unicorn had originally planned.

        "Well now, I should probably go and collect Spike, there is much work to be done back at the Boutique."

         The old mare reached the last stair before she giggled, "always so quick to run off these young uns', at least be sure to send the little un' over tomorrow. We'll be startin' to test on the this harvest's cider, and I could have Applejack give him a wagon with our first keg."

****Aaaand stop! Time for my night class guys: Statistics.

Cause there are lies, damned lied, and then there are statistics. So therefore a class dedicated to damned lies wouldn't be useful right? Sssooooo it's cool if I just go to sleep right?

I wrote this on my iPad so if anything is wonky, be sure to let me know!