Eye of the Beholder

Chapter 10: What goes up

A few weeks have passed since the party that not only welcomed Silver and Azure to Ponyville, but also revealed Silver and Fluttershy’s relationship. Since then the two have been on a few more date, fight free to their delight, and Silver offers to help Fluttershy care for the animals when he can. From everything that their friends have seen, they looked like the perfect couple. But now that Fluttershy’s situation was cleared, another one with a different pony seemed to arise. And it was that very reason that Rarity was standing outside of the library.

The door opened, however unlike usual, it was not the young dragon that opened it. It was instead Twilight who had her eyes glued to a book. “Hello Rarity, come to check out a book?” said Twilight as she magically placed a book mark and closed the book.

“Not this time, I wanted to talk to you about something”

“Okay, come on in” she said walking back from the door to allow Rarity to step inside. While Rarity closed the door behind her, Twilight put her book down on the table. “So what’s up?” Rarity looked around, noting a lack of presence.

“Is Spike here?”

“No, he’s with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom again” Rarity knew of Twilight’s attempt to have Spike spend more time with ponies his age, although the dragon could be very mature for his age, it could do him some food to have some fun. Spikes days were usually filled with chores, sure it wasn’t uncommon for fillies and young colts to have chores, but even those who have a lot of them would have fun sometimes. However lately, Rarity had grown some concerns.

“They sure have spent a lot of time together lately”

“Yeah, Spike says he’s having fun”

“I can imagine; does he ever talk about the any of them particularly?” it seemed like a strange question to ask, but Twilight thought about it for a moment.

“Well, he did say he’s gotten to know them a lot better, I think they’ve really become closer friends now” she said proudly. “Why, had Sweetie Belle been talking about Spike?” she asked.

“Well, yes, quite a lot actually” Rarity did not sound too happy to say this, there seemed to be something else to it.

“Something wrong, Spike isn’t being mean to her is he?” said Twilight sounding a little angry from the implications.

“No, not at all!” Rarity said quickly, she placed her hand to her chin and began to think for a bit, wondering how to phrase what she would say next. “You see, I am starting to think that she’s growing too close to Spike” she said finally; however Twilight wasn’t able to follow what she meant.

“Isn’t it a good thing for friends to grow close to one other?”

“Well, yes, but I’m talking about a different kind of close actually” Twilight looked at Rarity with confusion. She was unable to understand what she was talking about, was other kind of close could to friends be?

“I’m sorry but I’m just not…” Twilight paused for a moment, as if something had just lit up in her mind. “Wait…you don’t me, close, close…do you?” Rarity simply gave he a nod, Twilight’s eyes grew wide. “Whoa, and all this time I thought he, well, you know” Rarity knew what Twilight was talking about.

“It didn’t take me long to figure out his…attachment towards me, at first I thought it as a childhood crush, it wasn’t until he went through his hording phrase on his birthday that I found out how deep it runs.” Rarity couldn’t help but smile when she remembered his words. “At times, he can be a lot more mature than most colts our age, but age was and still is an obstacle he’s forced to deal with.” Rarity knows this, Twilight knows this, and all of their friends knew it too.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that actually, have you ever figured out how to, you know, let him down easy?” Rarity shook her head.

“I have given it some thought, however, I’m not sure that there is an easy way to do so, I fear it will end with him being crushed. The boy would walk to the ends of the earth and back for me if I asked, how do you tell someone who is that love-struck that it can never be?” Rarity looked towards Twilight for an answer, but she didn’t have one.

“I’m sorry, maybe if I’d have explained it to him earlier, it wouldn’t have escalated this far”

“Don’t blame yourself, nopony could have predicted this.”

“Okay, then maybe it isn’t a bad thing that Sweetie Belle might have a crush on Spike, if he has one on her too, then it would mean he’s moved on”

“I want to believe that, I really do, but I can’t help but worry that he might be…settling” Twilight looked confused again.

“What do you mean by settling?”

“Well, she is my sister” Twilight seemed to stare into space; she thought it over for a bit and was still unsure.

“True, but, you two aren’t exactly mirroring copies of one another” Rarity blinked a few times and thought it over. “And besides, we don’t know that Spike has a crush on her or anything like that. I mean, I could always ask him whenever he gets back home if that’ll help” Twilight offered. It would be a lot simpler than just making assumptions based on what one pony says.

“I’m not so sure that he’ll admit it right out, and if he doesn’t have a crush on Sweetie Belle, there are still two more fillies that he could.”

“Then what do you suppose we do?” Rarity knew that Sweetie Belle had been talking about Spike a lot more than before, but she didn’t know about Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

“Perhaps we should ask Applejack if Apple Bloom has been bringing up Spike more often too

“It’s finally done!” Apple Bloom said happily as she looked over the basket that she and Scootaloo had been building. For a pony with not much prior experience in construction, the basket was well crafted. It was wide enough to hold the three ponies and dragon, and could probably hold a cow without breaking.

“I thought we’d never finish this thing” complained Scootaloo, a few of her fingers had bandages on them. Needless to say, the hammer did not want to agree with her throughout the construction process.

“How are you two doing?” asked Apple Bloom as she turned towards Spike and Sweetie Belle. Spike was holding up a cloth while Sweetie Belle was working a thread and needle on it. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walked around to see what she was stitching right when she finished.

“Done!” she said in glee as she and the others beamed at their cutie mark crusaders symbol stitched to the cloth. The cloth was then pinned to the basket and the four fillies plus one dragon got to see their completed project. All that was left was to mount the balloon to the basket and they would be ready for a test flight.

“Okay, not let’s tie the balloon to the basket” said Apple Bloom as she grabbed on to the rope for the job. Nodding in agreement the others grabbed the balloon and carried it over to Apple Bloom who started making knots. The balloon wasn’t much in terms of looks compared to the basket, but they only cared that it would hold without tearing. It didn’t take Apple Bloom more than a couple minutes to tie it to the basket, which was good because the others were starting to get a little restless.

“Well I’m not as good as Applejack, but these should hold just fine” she said pulling on the rope to insure they were properly knotted.

“Awesome, now let’s get this baby in the air!”

“Hold on, there are too many trees here, we need to set up in an open area” interjected Spike which put a damper in Scootaloo’s mood.

“Fine, let’s make it quick though, help me put this on the wagon!” she said with an impatient grunt. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle walked up to it and tried to lift it off the ground, but it was heavier than they expected. “How about a little help from the heavy lifters?” Scootaloo grunted still unable to get the basket off of the ground.

“That’s our cue” said Apple Bloom as she grabbed in to Spike’s arm and pulled him with her towards the others. Spike and Apple Bloom each took one of the empty corners and began to lift, surly enough, the basket got off of the floor. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle weren’t exactly lightweights, but Apple Bloom was a lot stronger than them due to the farm work she does with her family. Spike was also in the same boat in a way, the constant lifting of heavy books on top of the natural strength he gains with age made him stronger than he looks. Soon enough they were able to place it on top of the wagon.

“Great, it should be easier to move now” said Scootaloo as she grabbed on to the handle of the wagon. “So where should test this at?” she asked looking back at the others for an answer. The all thought about it for a moment, eventually Spike spoke up.

“I know the perfect spot, just head straight ahead for a bit” said Spike pointing forward. The others agreed and began to push the basket forward, or pull in Scootaloos case. While they weren’t sure where Spike was going to take them, they couldn’t wait to get their hot air balloon in the air and see if it’ll land them their cutie marks.

Rarity and Twilight made their way to sweet apple acres so they could talk to Applejack about Apple Bloom. “I still don’t know why I have to go too” said Twilight, but for some reason Rarity insisted.

“Come now, you’re telling me you aren’t the least bit interested in the thought that Spike could be forming feelings for somepony?” asked Rarity.

“We still don’t know if there are any feelings to form” Twilight pointed out. “For all we know they could just be close friends now” she added.

“Oh don’t be so closed-minded” responded Rarity which got an eye roll from Twilight. When they arrived at the farm they spotted Applejack carrying a cart filled with freshly picked apples.

“Hey Applejack!” Twilight called as she waved at her friend. Applejack turned her head to see Twilight and Rarity walking towards them and give them a friendly smile.

“Hey there girls, what brings you here?”

“Rarity’s got something she wants to ask you” said Twilight as she pointed at the mare standing next to her. Applejack turned her head towards Rarity wondering what she wanted to ask her, and had a slight feeling she wasn’t going to like where this was going.

“Well, as you know, Spike has spent a lot of time with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo lately.” Rarity began.

“Oh yeah, Apple Bloom says she’s been having fun spending time with him” with that, Rarity’s first question was answered. Now she knew that Sweetie Belle wasn’t the only one that had been talking about Spike lately.

“I see, has she said anything specific about him?” Applejack wasn’t sure what Rarity meant by that, but she thought it over for a bit.

“Well, she says that he’s funny and a lot stronger than he looks” there was a small twinkle in Rarity eyes that the others didn’t notice.

“Could Spike be trying to put the moves on Apple Bloom?” she asked herself.

“Why did you want to know anyway?” asked Applejack.

“Rarity thinks that Spike might be crushing on one of the girls”

“Is that so?” said Applejack readjusting her hat “And here I thought he’d never get over you, no offence” she added towards Rarity.

“None taken, I just hope it’s true”

“Still don’t know how to let him down easy huh?” Rarity wasn’t surprised that Applejack knew, chances are half of Ponyville knew.

“Not without it ending with him being crushed…” some would say she thinking highly of herself, but it was true. If she were to try and let him down easy, it would just end with him being heart-broken. It was a nice thought, to be able to have a scapegoat that could prevent you from doing something you dread, but it wasn’t that easy.

“Sorry to say this Rares, but there’s no way you’re going to get out of that” Rarity simply blinked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that the little guys drive to be with you could rival Rainbow’s drive to join the wonderbolts” Applejack explained.

“And that’s saying something” said Twilight.

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a bit?” said Rarity.

“No, I think Applejack is right, Spike is just too into you, what with all the false hope he keeps getting from you” Rarity got caught off guard with that one.

“False hope? What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s the nick name, the way you baby him, and every time he sees you wear the jewel he gave you his eyes sparkle like a star” Rarity stared blankly at Twilight, she never thought about it till now, but she was right.

“Oh my…I’ve been leading him on…” guilt suddenly overtook Rarity, all this time she was hoping he’d move on at some point, but it turned out she was making things worse.

“It’s not like you intended for this to happen though” Twilight tried to reassure Rarity.

“Of course not, but still, you have a point”

“Don’t let it get to you Rares, who knows, maybe your right about Spike and the girls and this will turns out for the best” said Applejack. Rarity appreciated her friends attempt to cheer her up, but she knew they were right, in order for Spike to move on and find somepony he could be with; there was something she would have to do first.

Spike and the crusaders finally reached their destination, an open plain that Scootaloo knew all too well. “This is where Rainbow comes to practice her awesome stunts!” she yelled happily as he looked to see if she could spot her Pegasus idol.

“Yeah, a lot of open space so we can make sure we have a clean spot to land after the test” said Spike. After finding the perfect spot, Spike and the crusaders lifted their hot air balloon from the wagon and placed it on the ground.

“Alright, do we have everything we need?” Spike said turning to Sweetie Belle who was carrying the check list.

“Looks like it” she said looking through the list to see if they were forgetting something.

“Alright, let’s do this already!” said Scootaloo who was already climbing inside of the basket. Seeing no reason to wait, Spike and Apple Bloom climbed in as well. As sound as the construction was, Apple Bloom neglected to build a door to it, but this was not a problem, well to most of them anyway.

“Little help here” said Sweetie Belle as she tried to climb in to the basket, unable to get a good hold on to it.

“Here, grab my hand” Sweetie Belle looked up to see Spike extending his hand for her. Once she grabbed it, Spike pulled with enough strength to lift her off the ground.

“Whoa!” Sweetie Belle tried to keep her balance when landed inside of the basket, but the momentum caused her to lean forward a little too much causing her to fall. The next thing she knew it, she had bumped into spike and the two fell to the floor.

“Are you okay?” Sweetie Belle looked up to see that hers and Spike’s faces were only inches away from one another. This was the first time she had ever gotten a good look at the dragon’s eyes; she never noticed how pretty they were.

“Uh, yes, I’m fine” she said getting up quickly, Spike didn’t get a good look, but he could swear he saw a shade of red on Sweetie Belle’s face. When he looked at her again however, he wasn’t able to spot it and figured that he imagined it.

“Help me hold up the balloon, Scootaloo!” said Apple Bloom as she stood on the frame of the basket. They needed to make sure the hot air would inflate it and make sure that Spikes flames didn’t ignite the balloon in the process. Once they both got a good hold of the balloon and angles it properly, it was then time for the hot air.

“Alright Spike, you know what to do” making sure that they were all in a safe position, Spike began to feed his flame into the opening to the balloon that they made for him. Spike made sure to use and nice and even flow of flames allowing the hot air to enter the balloon. Eventually the balloon began to inflate and ride enough that Scootaloo and Apple Bloom no longer needed to hold it open. Soon enough he balloon had inflated enough that it was fully open and had already floated about a foot off the ground.

“Alright, nothings burst into flames yet!” This was saying something when one was talking about the crusaders. Their past attempts to achieve their cutie mark have always ended up with very unlikely results. Like the time they tried high diving and through some unknown force, they were able to set fire to the water. To this day experts are still trying to figure out how in Celestia that was even possible.

“Alright Spike, ready to take us higher?” Scootaloo asked the dragon.

“Actually, given our track record, maybe we should test this basket a bit to make sure it won’t fail on us” added Sweetie Belle.

“How do we do that?” Spike asked, he got his answer about a second later when the two fillies began to jump up and down. The basket trembled and tossed with the out of rhythm jumps, but it showed no sign of giving way, even the ropes help on strong.

“I’d call that a pass” said Apple Bloom noting the lack of give in any of the hot air balloons key points. “Alright Spike, take us up” the said to the dragon who was checking one last time to make sure everything was secure.

“Alright, next stop, the sky” said Spike before letting out another stream of fire, this time he made sure the blaze was a bit hotter. It took a little time, but eventually the balloon began to ascend once again, the fillies looked over the frame to see themselves getting farther from the ground by the second.

“Okay Spike, I think that’s high enough” said Apple Bloom as she tapped Spike on his shoulder. Spike discontinued his flames and joined the others to get a look at the view around them. They were high enough that they could touch a cloud, had one passed them, and they were high enough to see Ponyville out at the distance. The three fellies were ecstatic to see how smoothly this was going, though one of them were a little too in a rush to find out if any of them had gained the fruits of their labor.

“Did it work; did we get out cutie mark?” Scootaloo was used to checking to see if her cutie mark had formed whenever she was alone with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom that she forgot something.

“Whoa there!” said Apple Bloom as she grabbed on to both of Scootaloo’s arms “Remember who else is here” Scootaloo looked over to Spike who wasn’t paying attention at the moment as he was watching the view of the ground from the sky.

“Whoops, that could have been embarrassing” said Scootaloo.

“We’ll check later, for now, just enjoy the ride” Scootaloo couldn’t wait to see if all this had gotten them their cutie mark, but it looked like she didn’t have a choice. The three friends were going to join Spike and take in the sights, but that’s when the dragon spoke.

“You know, I have to admit, when Twilight suggested that I hang out with you three, was a little on the fence about it. I thought I would have been bored out of my mind the whole time” he couldn’t see them standing behind him, but there was a mix of hut, sad, and annoyed looks being given to him. “It didn’t take me long to see that I was completely wrong thought” all three fillies expressions changed to surprise when Spike said this. “It’s never a dull day with you three; I had a lot of fun building this thing with you. I guess what I’m saying is” Spike turned around now, there was a smile on his face and his eyes closed. “I really like being around you three”

They didn’t know what to say, they never expected to hear Spike say that to them, sure they were friends, but there was still an impact in his words. They hadn’t thought or talk about it till now, but after spending a few weeks with him, getting to know him better, they’ve grown to enjoy his company as well, probably more than they would admit. Almost in perfect sync, their face began to grow a shade of red, this did not go unnoticed.

“Is it too hot in here, your faces are a little red” he couldn’t tell for himself, heat never really affected him. All the blinked and gave each other a look before breaking eye contact, they didn’t even know their faces had become flushed.

“Um, yes, must be because of all the hot air!” Scootaloo said quickly before trying to laugh it off. The three fillies felt a little awkward, though no one of them couldn’t figure out why.

“Well stand over here then, I’ll see if I can get a breeze going” said Spike as he moved away from where he was standing. They weren’t sure how he was going to do that, but they did what they were asked and saw Spike move to the other side of the basket.

“What are you going to do?”

“Just give us a little push” said Spike before she looked out towards the opposite direction and began to let out a breath of fire. This time the fire was a lot stronger, the others started to wonder what he was doing, but their question was answered when they felt the hot air balloon shift.

“We’re moving!” Sweetie Belle said in glee, it wasn’t record breaking, but they were moving at a good pace.

“Good thing too, we didn’t think of a way to steer this thing” added Apple Bloom. Though it was probably something they should have given thought during the construction process. But it was good to know that there was nothing to worry about in the end.

“Hey, take us close to town so we can show everypony what we did” said Scootaloo. Although the idea of showing the town that three fillies and a dragon were able to build a working hot air balloon, she also hoped to spot a certain cyan colored Pegasus.

“On it” said Spike as he changed the path of the flame slightly so that the balloon would start to move towards town.

“Hey, think you could make it go a little higher?” asked Apple Bloom, she wanted to see just how high they could take it.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” wondered Sweetie Belle.

“What could possibly go wrong?” said Scootaloo with no sense of worry in her voice. “Take us higher, Spike!”

“Okay”

The four friends have been up in the sky for what was probably half an hour or so, the concern that they could get in trouble overpowered their want to show off so they had Spike stop the balloon. Regardless of that, they were still enjoying the sight around them, but as much as they liked it, they couldn’t stay up there forever.

“Okay, I think it’s time we get down. Applejack’s gonna be angry if I don’t do my chores” said Apple Bloom.

“Okay, where’s the parachute valve?” Spike asked looking around but unable to spot it. There was a short silence, one that made Spike feel uneasy. “You did remember to add one, right, Sweetie Belle?” he said looking at the unicorn in question. Sweetie Belle however, was unable to make eye contact with him.

“P-parachute valve?”

“You didn’t add one…did you?”

“W-well I…I may have…forgotten…” Sweetie Belle said looking away from the others.

“What’s a parachute valve?” asked Scootaloo.

“It’s like a plug on the hot air balloon that can be undone manually to let out the hot air letting the balloon go down” explained Spike. This caused Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to worry; now they knew that they had no way to return the balloon to the ground.

“How could you forget to add something that important!?” yelled Scootaloo.

“I-I don’t know” said Sweetie Belle.

“Easy, easy, it’s not like we’re stuck up here, we just need to let the air inside the balloon cool down. It will take a while but we’ll get back to the ground eventually” said Spike making sure to keep anypony from losing their cool. The three let out a sigh, at least it wasn’t as bad as they thought it was.

“Can’t we like, make a hole in the balloon?” asked Scootaloo.

“Not unless you want to crash down to the hard ground” all the fillies gulped at the idea of a crash landing from this height.

“Right, so we wait” not knowing what else they could do, all four sat down and talked to help the time pass. Spike asked them about all their attempts to gain their cutie marks, he figured that there would be enough of them to keep them busy till the balloon was low enough.

“And then the royal guards took it away…” Spike was left speechless at one of their stories.

“You actually tried to go to the moon…can’t say I put it past you” said Spike to their story. He had to admit though, if there was a cutie mark for never giving up, he was sure that all three of them would have one by now. The girls were going to tell Spike another story, but they didn’t have the chance.

“Whoa!” they all yelled when the balloon suddenly shifted causing them all to slide in one direction till the hit one of the four walls of the basket.

“What’s going on!” yelled Apple Bloom, they could feel it, the balloon was moving, and this time it was a lot faster. Although the basket was off-balance, Spike was still able to get himself to stand.

“We’re caught in a strong head wind!” he said as he felt the wind flow around his head when he stood. “Hold tight, I’m going to see if I can slow us down!” said Spike as he turned around a bit but still making sure he had a tight grip of the basket. Spike then tried to use his fire to stop the balloon was moving, or at least slow it down, but it led to no result.

“We’re getting pushed too far; I can’t even see Ponyville anymore!” yelled Sweetie Belle when she was able to look over the basket walls.

“Forget where we aren’t, look at where we are!” yelled Scootaloo. Although they didn’t want to, the other three looked down an immediately felt their hearts stop. They were no longer within the safe area of Ponyville, there were now over the Everefree forest, and the winds were taking them even deeper.