//------------------------------//
// The Celebration 
// Story: Precious Heart 
// by Thunder Bolt 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2


The sounds of laughter and friendly pleasantries filled the air encompassing Sugarcube Corner that day. All the ponies in Ponyville were there, making conversation, playing games, or just enjoying the food and atmosphere. Colorful banners were strung up all across the nearby roads, decorating the entire area, and outside Sugarcube Corner was a wide variety of stands, all with food or activities of some sort. From inside Sugarcube Corner could be heard music, and many cheerful shouts of the ponies inside. Pinkie Pie was formally placed in charge of the celebration by the town and she made sure to have the front room of the building cleared out, to make space for a small stage, where Ponyville’s local d.j. Vinyl was supplying music. As the celebration filled and progressed, the sun stayed exceptionally bright in the sky that day, due to the arrangement between The Royal Sister’s to allow the sun to remain up longer and extend the day, intending to give the Equestrian citizens plenty of time to celebrate as they wished.

Some time after the celebration had began, Spike arrived with a cheery smile, ready to join in on the festivities. He did, of course, look around for Rarity when he arrived, hoping to have the opportunity to speak to her, but she was nowhere to be found so he assumed she would show up at a later time. Instead, he looked around for Twilight who he found standing just outside, greeting the various ponies attending the celebration as they walked by.
“Hey, Twilight!” Spike said as he walked over and sat down on the ground next to her.
“Oh, hey Spike. I’m glad you made it, I was starting to think you were cleaning the whole house.” She replied with a smile.
“Oh no, I did a lot, but I wouldn't want to miss a Pinkie Pie party.” Twilight giggled at this.
“Ohh no. Certainly not.”
“Anyways, why are you sitting outside Twilight? Don’t you want to go inside where the music is?”
“Well I would, but to be honest, I’m not a big fan of Vinyl’s music, it’s a bit loud for me. I asked Pinkie earlier about inviting Octavia and her group out here but they were already booked up in Canterlot.” Twilight pauses here momentarily and hooves at the ground. “Anyways, I’m just fine out here, I’m enjoying the day.” Spike nodded his understanding to her and they both just sat there for a moment until Spike overheard a group of ponies nearby making discussion about Cloudsdale.
“Hey Twilight, what’s up with the pegasi?” Spike interjected into the silence.
“The pegasi? What do you think silly?” she laughed, “They’re all at a loss for what to do now, seeing as how they wont be needed to keep the weather in balance.”
“You don’t think Asili would shut out any room for them do you?”
“No, no. I’m sure they’ll still have tasks. He wouldn't do that to them.” Spike once more provided a simple nodding gesture in agreement and the sat silent for another moment longer, before Spike stood up and made to start off.
“Well, whatever, we’re here to celebrate, so, why don’t we go do something? It’s more fun than sitting.”
“Hmm, I don’t know, this is a pretty comfy patch of road.” Spike stared blankly at her for a second, then they both laugh as she stands and they walk off.

After they had deciding to really start enjoying the celebration, Spike and Twilight went about doing mostly what everypony else was doing. They played some of the games, especially the more traditional ones like apple bobbing, as well as horse shoe tossing in which a lot of the partakers ended up finding themselves making little bets over each match. When the two of them found themselves tired of exploring the various games and booths scattered around the place, they decided to find a nice spot to sit down again and enjoy some of the party food. There were all kinds of things to eat, which showed just how much effort Mr. and Mrs. Cake put into this celebration as well. Out in front of Sugarcube Corner was a massive table which was almost completely covered in pastries and cakes of all shapes and sizes, from carrot cake to apple upside-down cake, and jelly donuts to éclairs even, which was odd actually, because the Cakes didn't typically bake donuts, which suggested Pinkie likely got a donut baker from another town to help out as well. It was all good either way, and Spike had fun sampling this and that, granted, it wasn't quite the same as a ruby or a plump juicy sapphire.
As Spike and Twilight were sitting there enjoying themselves, they were startled abruptly when a familiar face bounced up from behind them.
“Hey you two!” The pony shouted out at them, despite being directly behind the two of them.
“Wah!” Twilight cried out in startlement as she jumped up in the air, dropping the cupcake she had just started to nibble on. Spike was quite as startled, his only reaction being a large jolt, but he managed not to cry out. Twilight resettled herself and sat herself back down onto her haunches. “Uh, hey Pinkie Pie. It’s nice to see you, though could you try not to startle us like that next time?”
“Oh! I’m so sorry Twilight, there’s just so much going on I thought you’d expect it!” She stated in her typical cheerful manner of speaking, with an almost continuous giggle permeating her sentence. “Here, let me get that for you.” She swiftly grabbed up the cupcake Twilight had dropped during her startle and almost just as swiftly produced a fresh cupcake for Twilight, which she accepted and thanked Pinkie for. “Don’t mention it! I hope you’re both enjoying the party! It’s a lot of work making sure everypony is having fun at a party this big, I’ve been running around all day!”
“It certainly does sound like a lot of work.” Twilight replied, “I have to say I’m impressed at how well the event is going too, you sure put a lot of work into this party.”
“Oh boy have I! Do you have any idea how long it takes to string streamers up all over Ponyville?! For-ever!” Pinkie said as she made a comically exhausting face, using expression to emphasize her statement as she does quite frequently. While the two of them caught up, Spike only sat and listened to them, as they seemed to be in pretty deep conversation. After a moment or so, Spike had gotten up and gave Twilight a brief notice that he would be taking off for a walk. He did so, and as he walked around the grounds outside he searched around intently, hoping that he might spot Rarity as she was arriving.
The celebration had been going on for quite some time at this point, and fortunately enough, it had not been too much longer before Spike had spotted Rarity. This was not a great feat thought as Rarity was always amongst the easiest to spot in a crowd, given that she almost always over-dressed. As she came into Spike’s view she was coming down the main road through town, and she was wearing one of her slightly less formal dresses. The dress in particular was the one she had designed for a fashion show with her friends some time ago. It was soft shade of pink with golden trimmings, and it had several complimenting colors of gems spread around along it, as well as short frills trimming the neck and legs and a short tail of ribbon that hung off the back. Granted it was still a very fancy dress, but this was Rarity.
When Spike saw Rarity, he could feel his heart jump within his chest and he took off straight ahead to go meet her, almost as if it was out of reflex. He ran as fast as he could, eager to spend time her, but, as he grew closer, for some reason, he slowed down. His legs slowly drew to a halt, and he stopped in his tracks, just staring ahead, his heart pounding. Spike wasn't sure why, but he felt something odd today, something that he had never felt before. “Am I getting sick?” The young dragon thought to himself. He couldn't tell why but just looking at Rarity made his heart throb immensely, and he felt as if he was choking, forcing him to breathe harder for more air.
Spike turned away from her and looked at the ground, his arms lightly hugging himself. Spike had always felt bubbly when he was around Rarity, but this was the first time that he had felt something this powerful. It confounded his young mind, but, he decided that it might be better for him to go relax himself before he went to speak to her. Putting his arms down, Spike looked up and began to head away from Rarity, aiming towards the outer edge of the party grounds in the hopes of getting more open air. Just as he began to do so, he felt a light tap on his back and a voice come from behind him.
“Spike? Is everything alright darling? You look a tad peaked.” Spike froze stock still and turned his head slightly, looking back to see Rarity standing almost beside him from the corner of his eye.
“Oh, uh-hi Rari- er yea, It’s just a bit crowded, I think I’ll go get some fresh air.” Spike responded rather quickly and took off in a hurry, leaving Rarity rather confused.
“Huh? Well that was rather odd, what in Equestria has gotten into him?” Rarity thought to herself as she watched Spike quickly vanish behind the dense crowds of ponies.
Spike continued making his way through the crowds until he reached the outer edge of the party. As he exited the crowd, Spike slumped over onto all four of his legs and gasped, breathing deeply to fill his lungs with fresh air. Until that moment had felt relatively fine, but as soon as Rarity had actually spoke to him, he could feel as his body temperature rose immensely, and he could have sworn his heart was about to fly right out of his throat. The feelings he was having were so alien to him, yet he felt like he knew these feelings, despite the fact that he knew he had never felt so before. Spike sat there and pondered, wondering about this new occurance, with the biggest question on his mind being as to why it was today that he began to feel this way.
Sitting there thinking, Spike lost track of time, and when he finally came back to what was going on, he wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there. He turned around and looked into the crowd of ponies still filling the grounds in front of Sugarcube corner. Deep within Spike saw a glimpse of Rarity in her gorgeous dress, chatting with some of her friends.
“She is so beautiful.” Spike thought to himself as he sat there, now feeling a might more relaxed than he had earlier. Standing up and brushing the dust off himself, Spike resolved to head back into the party and try to have fun for what was left of this fantastic day, but, he felt it might be best if he kept his distance from Rarity for now, not wanting to repeat the previous events. Perhaps he would be feeling better when he stopped by her boutique the following day. For now, he would try to spend time with the rest of his pony friends and simply enjoy himself.


End Chapter