”I’m leaving the library now, Twi”, Spike yelled at the doorstep before slamming the door shut. Twilight’s voice could be heard from the nearby room.
“Wait just a minute Spike”, she said in a friendly tone. “I need some help with…” but she never finished that sentence when she realized Spike had already left the building. She walked out to the main room and looked out the window. She could see Spike, not too far away, strutting around in happiness. Twilight smiled when she saw the happy, little dragon. Oh, Spike. Always with his head in the clouds. Then she turned around and walked into the other room again, where stacks of books were waiting for sorting. She sighed. She supposed she had to do this on her own… again. Spike has been out of the library a lot lately. She had asked him many times what he was doing, but never got a real answer. She smiled yet again. I guess I’ll find out sooner or later.
Spike was half running and half jumping towards the centre of Ponyville. He has had an eye on Rarity lately. Well, he always has, but this was different. He has been courting her for quite some time now. Nothing special, really, but small signs showing her that he loves her. It could be anything from assisting her in her daily duties to giving her gifts and writing poems. She had started to really appreciate the things he did for her, so Spike felt like now was the perfect time for him to ask her out on a date. What could possibly go wrong? It didn’t have to be anything big. As long as he and Rarity got to spend some time together, he was more than satisfied. But first things first. Now when he was going to ask her out on their very first date, everything had to go just perfect, or she might reject him.
That’s why Spike was heading for the Ponyville centre, even thought there is a much faster way to get to the Carousel Boutique, Rarity’s fashion shop and home. He needed to get the right “equipment” if this would go according to Spike’s plan. First he made a stop at Roseluck’s flower shop to by a bouquet of red roses. He went inside the store to look for some roses. Roseluck was standing behind the counter, looking down at some paperwork. When Spike came in through the door she looked up, smiling when she saw who it was.
“Ah! Hello, Spike!” she said with a happy tone. Ponyville wasn’t the largest of villages, so most ponies knew each other. And since Spike was the only dragon, a lot of ponies wanted to get to know him. “What can I help you with today?”
“I’m looking for some red roses. Do you have any left?” Spike asked politely. Roseluck’s smile widened.
“Of course I have!” she said and left for another room behind her. “And for you, Spike, I’ll give you the finest roses we have”. She was actually running this business on her own, but saying “we” instead of “I” sounds better, so that’s why she used that term. When she came back, she was holding a small bouquet of the most beautiful roses you could possibly imagine. The flowers were just as red as Roseluck’s mane and smelled just as a rose should smell.
“They are beautiful”, Spike said and looked impressed at Roseluck. She was indeed the most talented pony in all of Equestria when it comes to flowers.
“Indeed they are”, Roseluck said proud and gazed upon the lovely flowers. “So are these for somepony special, perhaps?” Spike laughed warmly and placed three bits on the counter to cover up for the flowers.
“Perhaps they are, Rose. Perhaps they are”. Roseluck chuckled and waved Spike goodbye as he left the store. Spike waved back and left the flower shop for Sugarcube Corner, the bakery where his dear, hyperactive, friend Pinkie Pie worked as both cashier and baker. A tough job perhaps, but not for Pinkie. She had more than enough energy to handle this job, and then throw parties two or three times a week. She was indeed the true image of hyperactivity.
When Spike opened the door there was just one other pony inside, except for Pinkie herself. That was good. Because then it wouldn’t take so much time until he could buy what he wanted. The other pony was soon done with her order and so he walked out of the bakery with a bag full of sweets. When Spike walked up to the counter Pinkie shone up. She jumped over to the other side where Spike was standing to greet him.
“Hi, Spike! What are you doing here? How’s Twilight? Are you going somewhere? Do you want a cupcake? And how…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa… Take it easy Pinkie Pie. I can barely understand you”, Spike interrupted Pinkie with a friendly laugh, showing that he meant well. “Twi’s just fine, but I’m actually here for some sweets”.
“Oooh. What kind of sweets?” Pinkie asked. “As usual… we got everything and more”.
“Well…” Spike started slowly. “It’ll be a gift for somepony. A kind of romantic gift”.
“It’s for Rarity, right? Well then I think I can give you just what she likes the most”, Pinkie sand and started looking among the many candies, cakes and all sorts of pastries.
“Yes, actually… wait, what? Rarity? How did you…?” Spike was surprised that Pinkie knew his gift was for Rarity. Spike was sure that he had been very and utterly discreet about his love for Rarity. The only one who should know is Twilight… and perhaps Rarity herself had figured it out. But it’s not like he’s running around telling everyone about it.
“Oh, well I know because you are basically running around telling everyone”, Pinkie said unperturbed. Spike was just looking at her with big eyes. All that went through Spike’s mind was a simple "oh…".
“Ah, here we go!” Pinkie said and picked up a box of mint chocolates. “I know Rarity just love these mint-filled chocolate candies”. Pinkie walked up to Spike and handed the box to him. It was a red box wrapped in a nice silver colored ribbon. Spike was very satisfied and made an attempt to pay Pinkie, but she rejected the bits that were handed to her.
“You don’t have to pay me, silly”, she said and pushed the coins back to Spike. “My treat. Especially on such a special occasion like this. Good luck, Spike!” Spike thanked Pinkie for those words. Even though he wasn’t quite satisfied knowing that more or less everypony in town knew about his crush for Rarity, he looked forward to make the first move. He still had plenty of time, though. Rarity had a lot on her hooves this week and shouldn’t be available for at least another hour, so he thought he could have a quick chat with Pinkie before leaving.
“So, what’s going on? Anything new happening?” Spike asked Pinkie. Pinkie thought for a few seconds before answering.
“No not really…” she said. Spike was about to say something, but Pinkie was faster. “But I’ve heard there is a new pony in town. I think he is a unicorn from Canterlot, but I can’t seem to remember his name”. But then a new costumer stepped through the door. Pinkie gave him a sad smile telling she was sorry. She had to take care of this new costumer. Spike nodded to tell her that he understood.
“Well, then…” Spike said while shrugging. “If I see him, I’ll ask him to drop by”.
“Oh, that would be awesome!” Pinkie shouted as he was halfway out of the store. Spike waved goodbye and took a deep breath of the fresh air. So, what now? There was still some time before Rarity would be available, so he needed something to do to make the time pass. Nothing to sketchy, though. He didn’t want to ruin his gifts to Rarity.
Well, since there wasn’t much to do, he decided to look for that new stallion from Canterlot. What he would look like wasn’t the biggest problem. He could just look for somepony he didn’t recognize. The problem was, he could be anywhere in Ponyville and even though Spike had time of his hands, it wasn’t enough to go look through the entire village. He guessed he could ask for help. There was bound to be somepony who knew where he could find this stallion. When he was looking around he saw a very special gray pegasus with a blonde mane. It was Ditzy Doo, the mailmare of Ponyville. She was a bit clumsy and not the brightest of mares, but she was really nice and usually knew about whatever that was going on. As the mailmare of Ponyville he get to hear a lot of gossips and see a lot of things as she was flying through the village with, hopefully, not crashing into any buildings.
“Hey, Derpy!” Spike shouted to get her attention. The reason he called her Derpy was because Derpy Whooves was the name most ponies used and it had almost led to that point that she addressed herself as Derpy Whooves.
“Hi, Spike! What’s up?” Ditzy said and flew over to Spike.
“Not much”, Spike replied. “I was just wondering if you might have seen a new pony around lately. He’s a unicorn who’s from Canterlot”. Ditzy thought for a while before answering.
“Yes… Yes, I think I remember”, she said while still going through her mind to make sure she was correct. When she was, she nodded and smiled to Spike, giving him the opportunity to ask further questions.
“So, do you know where he might be?” Ditzy shrugged after hearing the question, but she answered it as good as she could.
“I think he’s supposed to be here for… business duties or something”, she said, looking a bit unsure. “I’d check if he’s at the Carousel Boutique. If not, I can’t help you, sorry”.
“Thanks, Derpy! That really helped”, Spike said happily. This was convenient. If this unicorn from Canterlot was at Rarity’s boutique it would make things a lot easier. He could do Pinkie a favor and ask Rarity out, all in one shot.
“Glad I could help”, Ditzy said and turned around to return to whatever she was doing earlier. But as she turned around, there was a brown stallion standing behind her, which she completely fell over. As she was still lying on top of him, she smiled and said:
“Hi, Doctor!” The pony known as Doctor pushed her aside and stood up. Then he helped her up and said irritated:
“Come on, Ditzy! There is no time to fool around. Where in a hurry!” Ditzy nodded seriously and followed him without question. Spike wondered why the Doctor was in such a rush. It must have been something important, he guessed. But on second thought, perhaps he didn’t want to know. That brown stallion was a bit odd, and as far as he knew, he was living in a small blue box. Spike chooses to ignore that and focus on what he had to do. He decided to go straight to Rarity. He might as well when Ditzy said the unicorn from Canterlot would be there. Perhaps they could talk for a few minutes while waiting for Rarity, or something.
In just a few minutes, he was already at the Carousel Boutique. The wonderful architecture was just stunning and the colors matched perfectly. The windows were far from symmetrical, but that didn’t really matter. What mattered is what’s inside. And currently, Rarity should be inside.
Spike walked up to the door and knocked. Nothing happened and he heard no sounds from the inside. He knocked again, and now he heard some quiet hoofsteps. The pony who made these sounds were obviously too small to be Rarity, so he assumed it would be Sweetie Belle’s. And as he thought; Sweetie Belle opened the door. Behind her, both Applebloom and Scootaloo were waiting for Sweetie. Sweetie Belle smiled when she saw who had been knocking on the door.
“Hi, Spike! What are you doing here?” she asked him in a sweet tone.
“Hi, Sweetie! Is Rarity there?” Spike asked. He couldn’t see her from where he was standing, but this house had more than just one room, so it was possible for her to be in one of the other rooms.
“No, she isn’t”, Sweetie said. “She went out to discuss some important business with some fancy pony from Canterlot. I think they went that way”. Spike thanked Sweetie Belle for her help and left the boutique for the direction where Sweetie had pointed.
Spike followed the path for a few minutes before finally catching up to Rarity. He was a bit outside Ponyville by now, near the Ponyville Fields. It was a nice path, but a pretty unusual place to discuss business. This is the place where you go to with your friends or a loved one.
He could hear Rarity talk just behind some trees. Spike took a shortcut by walking through the tree line. He found himself walking up behind them. Rarity was sitting on a bench with a light gray coated unicorn who looked really fancy. That must be the stallion from Canterlot. They both had their backs turned against Spike, so they couldn’t see him. He was just about to walk up to them and introduce himself to the stallion and ask out Rarity. But he stopped as soon as he heard Rarity’s voice.
“Oh, come on, sweetheart. I know you want to”, Rarity said very intimate. “It will be good for us both”. Spike stopped as he heard that. He started doubting that they were actually talking business, but didn’t want to jump to conclusions.
“Yes, I do. But if we are going to do this, it needs to be done right”, the stallion answered.
“But of course!” Rarity replied. “We can go back to my boutique and I’ll give you whatever you want”.
The stallion was about to answer, but Spike didn’t want to listen anymore. He’d heard enough. He was running away from the two ponies and back to Ponyville. He didn’t really know why he was running, but he felt like he needed to. When he came back to the boutique, he looked sadly at the structure. So Rarity was attracted to that fancy stallion from Canterlot? Sure Spike had seen Rarity being attracted to other stallions before, not to speak of stallions being attracted to her, but this time it felt different. Spike had been so mentally prepared for this moment that this just broke him. And what about the words Rarity said? He didn’t even want to know what they were going to do. Spike sighed. How could he ever compete with that? He wasn’t even fully grown up yet. In her eyes he was probably just a kid. A tear came falling down from his eye and hit the ground. Spike looked as the wet dirt slowly returned to its normal, dry state.
Won’t be needing these anymore, Spike thought as he looked at the flowers and chocolate. He walked up to the closest garbage can and threw the gifts in it. He walked back to the library with his head hanging. What was he going to do? He had tried so many times to get a bit closer to Rarity without any progress. And when he finally tries something special it turned out to the worse. Perhaps he should give up? He had a really hard time just to make Rarity really understand his true feelings for her. And as it looked like now, he had no chance in the world to get Rarity to share these feelings.
On his way back home he bumped into Pinkie Pie again. She was as happy as ever, bouncing up and down.
“So did you find the new stallion?” she asked eagerly. Spike just looked at her with a straight face.
“Kind of…“ he said and continued walking past Pinkie. He really didn’t feel to talk right now, but Pinkie noticed something was wrong and didn’t want to let Spike go just yet.
“Is something wrong, Spike?” she asked worried. Spike just sighed.
“Can we talk about it later… please?” Spike said tired and continued to walk past Pinkie. Right now he just wanted to go home and think. Pinkie stepped aside and allowed Spike to continue. Pinkie looked sad when the broken little dragon dragged his tail after him and his head hanging.
Did something happen at Rarity’s? She wondered. But then Mr. Cake called for her so she had to return to Sugarcube Corner. Spike said they could talk later and Pinkie was so going to find out what went wrong. She just had to wait until ‘later’. Whenever that was.
A couple of minutes later, Spike finally reached Ponyville Library, also known as his and Twilight’s home. Spike just hoped that he could walk in, go to his bed and escape under his blanket without having to talk with Twilight. But that hope didn’t last long. As soon as he opened the door to the library, he received a warm welcome from Twilight.
“Hi Spike”, she said happily and gave him a hug. “What have you been up to?” Twilight was hoping to hear exactly what Spike has been doing today and the many times he’s gone out for no apparent reason. But all she received was a weak push. Spike rejecting her wasn’t something she was used to. Something must be wrong.
“Twi… not now, please”, Spike said and tried to walk past her, but couldn’t as Twilight kept standing in his way. Spike glared at her. He really wasn’t in the mood for this. He just wanted to be left alone.
“Not until you tell me what’s going on”, Twilight said determined. Spike sighed. Even though Twilight was just a few years older than him and they usually had a brother-and-sister relationship, she sometimes got some kind of mother instincts whenever something wasn’t right. He knew Twilight wouldn’t let him go until he told her everything. And by everything, he meant everything. Spike sighed once again. All he could do now was to explain what he had been doing whenever he went outside without telling where he went.
Spike explained how he’d been courting her for quite some time now. Or at least being generally nice and helpful. He then explained that today would be the day when he would finally ask Rarity out for dinner or something. Twilight listened carefully as Spike talked and didn’t interrupt him even once. But now Spike stopped. He was unsure how to explain what he saw.
“Something didn’t go as expected?” Twilight asked very seriously. She wanted to help Spike in any way she could. She knew that it might be hard for Spike to tell her everything, but if he wanted her aid, he had to tell her more.
“You… could say that…” Spike said slowly. He suddenly got a very sad look, which Twilight didn’t like at all. But Spike had to continue.
“What happened?” Twilight asked. Spike was quiet for a few seconds before answering.
“Sweetie said she had a walk with a… business partner from Canterlot. I followed her and… it seemed like… they liked each other…” Spike stopped there, but Twilight didn’t quite get it.
“Of course he liked her”, Twilight said, clearly not understanding what Spike really meant. “Rarity is a very nice mare”.
“No…” Spike said impatient. “I mean they really liked each other”. Twilight just looked at Spike with a blank face.
“Really, really liked each other” Spike started to become irritated.
“Oh…” Twilight said slowly. “Did you… see them?” Spike just glared at Twilight after hearing that. But then he got his sad look back. He looked down at the floor.
“No… but they were talking about going home to ‘do it’”, Spike said sadly. He realized that he had officially lost his chance of ever making his relation with Rarity take a step forward. He had a really hard time talking about this, as well, but guessed it was for the best. Thinking about it, he was moved to tears. Twilight saw this and embraced Spike in a warm hug. But this time Spike didn’t reject her. This time he returned the hug and held her tight. Twilight patted Spike on his head to calm him down.
“If Rarity is with this stallion I don’t think there is much I can do”, she said sincerely. “But I can talk to her if you want to”. Spike nodded and let go of Twilight as she let go of him. Then Twilight proceeded by walking towards the front door. Before she opened it, she looked back at Spike.
“Stay here… I’ll be back as fast as a can”. Twilight went out the door, leaving Spike alone in the library. Spike just stood there, looking at the door, for a couple of minutes. Then he let his eyes scan through the room to see if there was anything that could keep him busy while she was gone. But Spike gave up. He was not in the mood to do anything right now. And now he finally had the loneliness that he longed for. But now that he had it… he didn’t want it. He thought he would feel safe, but the opposite was true. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and looked up in the ceiling. Then she made a short, dry laugh. What was he thinking anyway? He was so young compared to Rarity. To her, he was just a baby. And besides, he was a dragon and she was a pony. It didn’t surprise him that she would chose somepony else. But thinking like this just made things worse for Spike. He started doubting that he really has a place in this society. He looked at the door. His instincts told him to leave and run away. But that wouldn’t solve anything. Spike lay down on the floor, waiting for Twilight to come back and tell him what he already knew.
Rarity walked out of the Carousel Boutique to say farewell to her associate from Canterlot. She was satisfied with what she had accomplished today. All her assignments for today were done as well, so she figured that she could take a walk around Ponyville. But when she was about to leave, she noticed something very odd. Somepony had thrown a perfectly fine bouquet of red roses in her garbage. She couldn’t understand why anypony would want to throw away such beautiful flowers, so she took them inside, cleaned them and placed them in a flowerpot. They sure were beautiful and smelled just as good as they looked. If she only could figure out who would throw such wonderful flowers away. But she didn’t have to think for too long. When Sweetie Belle came in the room, the flowers immediately caught her attention.
“So, Spike found you, after all?” Sweetie said and smiled at Rarity, who just looked confused.
“What do you mean, little sister?” Rarity asked. Now Sweetie looked just as confused as Rarity did.
“Well they look exactly like the flowers Spike had when he came over”. Rarity stared at Sweetie.
Spike’s flowers? But why would he…? Rarity wondered. Then she went straight out the door. She headed for Ponyville Library where she was likely to find Spike. She had to know what was going on, if something was wrong and why he had left those flowers in her garbage bin. She hoped Spike hadn’t gotten himself in some kind of trouble. She took the path through Ponyville centre because that should be the fastest way to the library. But on her way there, she saw Twilight and Pinkie talking to one another. Twilight looked a bit worried as she talked to Pinkie and Pinkie listened carefully. Twilight’s look worried her. She hoped everything was all right with Spike. When Rarity was getting closer she noticed the looks she received from Pinkie and especially Twilight. It seemed like Twilight was really eager to talk to her, so Rarity walked up to her.
Spike had been lying on the floor for a few minutes now, but it had felt like hours. What was taking Twilight so long? Rarity’s boutique wasn’t that far away. But just as he thought about getting up to go after her, the door opened. Twilight came inside, followed by Rarity. Spike sat up from his lying position. Spike looked questioning at Twilight but when he saw Rarity, and his sad look returned. Twilight didn’t say anything. She just stepped aside, allowing Rarity to come forward.
“Oh, Spike…” she said, walked forward and gave him a friendly hug. Spike didn’t reject her, but he also didn’t return the hug.
“So how’s your new friend?” Spike said coldly. He sounded a lot more aggressive than he intended but didn’t take it back.
“You mean the stallion that visited me? He’s nothing more than a colleague”.
“But I heard you…” Spike began but couldn’t continue. Rarity silenced him by putting a hoof over his mouth.
“Twilight told me everything”, she said. “We were actually just talking about a business contract. He was a bit unsure in the beginning, but he lightened up”.
“So it was all just a misunderstanding from my part, then?” Spike said to himself more than to Rarity or Twilight. He felt kind of stupid now. Not to mention how embarrassed he was.
You have really made a fool of yourself this time, Spike thought to himself. He looked up to Rarity. “I’m sorry Rarity… I just…”
“I understand”, Rarity interrupted. Then she took a deep breath. “I have met stallions before, and I’m quite sure I will do it again. But please don’t feel jealous. You are something nopony can ever compete against”. Spike looked confused at Rarity.
“What’s that?” Spike asked questioning.
“You will always be…” Rarity began. She leaned forward and whispered to him. “My Spikey Wikey”. With that said she gave him another hug. A hug which Spike returned. Rarity then gave Spike a kiss on his cheek, took two steps backwards and looked at Spike. Spike was so overwhelmed that he couldn’t find anything to say. He carefully touched the cheek where Rarity kissed him. And then he smiled and looked up at Rarity. Rarity giggled.
“Now, what about that dinner you had planned?” She said with a friendly tone. Spike’s smile widened, and so he answered her. But the only thing that went through his mind was Rarity’s voice. It repeated over and over again in his head. My Spikey Wikey.