Don't Say It

by Trick Question

Don't Say It

Rarity's voice coaxed Spike from his nightmare.

"Spike?! You're the rampaging dragon?" she shrieked.

They were falling from the sky. The jagged mountainside was far below, but rising quickly. Spike realized he was about to die.

He screamed, and Rarity screamed with him.

Even though Spike was just a little kid, his life was about to end. Memories of the past hour were hazy, but he remembered enough to know this was all his fault. He had doomed himself. He had doomed his lovely friend.

At least he wouldn't die a monster. Rarity's friendship had saved him from that much. Her love had redeemed him. Spike had only a few moments left, so it was now or never.

"Rarity? I need to tell you something!" he shouted, and Rarity stopped screaming. "Just in case we don't make it! I've always sort of had a crush—"

He stopped the moment an immaculately-hooficured hooftip gently tapped his upper lip. Rarity's eyes were streaming with tears. She didn't want him to say it. Her smile told him everything. She already knew.

But of course she did, thought Spike. How couldn't she? He liked to pretend his feelings were some kind of secret, but they were obvious to everypony.

As Spike and Rarity stared at each other, everything else faded away. He was floating in emptiness, at peace with his life. Rarity was with him, and nothing else mattered. Spike didn't want to die, but he couldn't think of a better way to go than looking into the eyes of his—

—just at the last moment, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy plucked them right out of the air. They had survived!

Rarity gave Spike a kiss, and his little heart soared.

For the rest of the day, he beamed with pride. It was a warm happiness punctuated by several short bouts of crying he didn't understand.

When night fell, Spike was unable to sleep. In his mind, the same scene kept playing over and over again. He was falling to his death, and Rarity silenced him. Yes, it was obvious she knew, but even so, why didn't she want him to say it? He couldn't make sense of it.

Spike sighed and tugged at the covers of his tiny bed. He knew he was still a little boy, and his crush on Rarity was an unrealistic fantasy. But someday, he'd be older and wiser. Spike imagined growing up. In the future, he'd have more to offer than mere affection and a cute sense of humor. He would develop a mature personality, adult interests, and a steady job.

At that moment, Spike resolved that he would stop at nothing to become somepony worth Rarity's love, no matter how high that bar might be. He'd push himself to do it sooner rather than later, so she wouldn't need to grow old waiting for him.

He'd do it for her, because it's what she deserved.

---

Spike stood up straight and adjusted his tie with his tail. The door finally opened.

"Why hello, Spike! My, don't you look dashing today," said Rarity, looking up to her old friend. "Might I ask what the occasion is?"

Spike smiled warmly and pulled a bouquet of roses from behind his back. "Hay, Rarity! Um, I got off work early today, and I was wondering if you might want to go—"

A soft tap pressed against his upper lip as Rarity held out her hoof. The touch was very delicate, yet it held all the stopping power of a cockatrice's gaze.

"Darling, you are so sweet. You'll always be my little Spikey-wikey," said Rarity, as she reached up to kiss him gently on the cheek. "And these look positively delicious, thank you so much!"

Rarity took the flowers from him and closed the door. Spike stood there in silence for at least a minute before deciding to walk away.

---

Rarity's mascara ran black tracks down her delicate white cheeks. Even in moments like these, her beauty shined through. She still looked as young as a mare half her age.

Spike carefully held back her mane as she cried into his shoulder.

"It just isn't fair!" she bawled. "Oh, all those stupid, stuck-up stallions are exactly the same..." Rarity reached over a bunch of crumpled, blackened tissues and grabbed a photo of herself with the unmentionable scoundrel, and violently tore it up. Then she resumed sobbing against her friend.

"You're too good for them," said Spike, his soft voice belying his rage. "None of them know how to treat a lady. I mean, if it were me, I would—"

His face fell when he felt the familiar tap to his lip. Looking down, he saw Rarity had stopped crying long enough to wait for his gaze, then shake her head. He sighed and nodded, then held her closer in his arms as the tears returned to her eyes.

They held each other for more than an hour, and then Rarity slept.

---

"There's not much to say that the Princess of Friendship hasn't already said," said Spike, standing at the head of the throng who had gathered before his friend's crystal casket. "Rarity touched so many lives with her generosity, mine more than most. I'm honored and humbled to have been her friend."

He paused for a moment, staring out at the crowd; then added, "I will always lo—"

Maybe it was the wind, or maybe it was his nerves. But Spike could feel the gentlest sensation tickling against his upper lip.

Of course it wasn't Rarity. She was gone. Besides, Spike knew Rarity would be thrilled for him to profess his heart to her in eulogy. There was nothing Rarity loved more than to be fawned over and crowed about. In all her years, she'd never made the slightest effort to hide Spike's affection from their friends. And yet...

Spike looked down into the casket at the smiling, beautiful friend he'd spent a lifetime getting to know, in the only ways he could.

It felt like he was falling.

"That's all," said Spike, and then he took his seat.

Comments

[Hillbe]

you monster you made Fluttershy cry!

I didn't know I wore a red shirt on STAR TREK?

orig01.deviantart.net/ac09/f/2015/335/d/b/family_photo_by_hillbe-d9ioq1j.jpg

[Trick Question]

6807983

[Phoenix Nebula]

But someday, he'd be older and wiser.

FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLS!!!!!!
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSsOwbiqyuEm51txK82UxxKw1KdmAWhPusJTyhdXrM8u5Jnld1g

[OmniFox]

Friend Zoned!

[Pyro The Reader]

6808111 Even in death!

[goaway]

Ouch.

[CoolestBrony]

Well...that took a turn, didn't it?

[CommisarSilver]

Well it certainly lives up to the sad tag. None of spikes friends managed to get through to him, at least I assume they tried to get him to realize rarity just wasn't into him.

I'm not sure if rarity just thought it was better to let spike give up on his own but gee it seems a little unbalanced of her to use him as a shoulder to cry on but not even do him the kindness of outright stating she didn't and likely wouldn't ever like spike that way.

Which I guess fits the narrative. As much as I found the writing good I'm left feeling like its a start and a middle with no end. Spike doesn't seem to have changed at all. I'm really not sure how to rate this one.

[Calipony]

Spike the eternally rebuked swain…

[FallBlau]

How poignantly said. Like some Byronic sort of poetry. Short...but oh so powerful.

Well done.

[goaway]

6809262

I kinda like that, though. Some people don't ever change as time goes on, and they pine after that one girl/guy.

[Grungar3x7]

Except, y'know, with hooves on scaled lips.
I kinda feel this should have a comedy tag, but I was previously spoiled by the above clip, so there's that.

[Jordan179]

Inevitable, if he ages sufficiently slowly, and she never Ascends.

Also something Rarity may fear, because she may have done the research. Some fans miss the fact that Rarity is extremely intelligent -- she's just not a scholar like Twilight Sparkle. She's an artist, which is a different psychological orientation.

In the SWSV Rarity eventually decides "To hell with developmental stages," and goes by the letter of Equestrian law regarding age-of-consent and Equestrian culture regarding perceived-old-enough, for exactly this fear. And then, soon afterward, she Ascends, making the point entirely moot.

And one day, their ki-rin fly over Canterlot.

[Jordan179]

6809262

I think the point was that Spike's lifespan was so long that he remained developmentally a child while Rarity aged and died.

[randome284]

Beautifully sad. You've won my heart over with this one. Ugh, I have to stop reading sad stories right after super sad stories right after listening to super sad songs... Oh well, it doesn't matter too much (I guess .)

[Zyrian]

It hurts Tricky it hurts

[Trick Question]

8058830
I know.

I do occasionally write uplifting things, I swear!

[Zyrian]

8058893

I know the feel. I usually write as an emotional release, so a lot of my stuff has a darker/sad undertone to it. Occasionally I write happy things.

[Trick Question]

6809262
7359331
Not the intended point, no.

Reactions to the draft of this story which appeared in the Writeoff were amazing in how O.J. verdict disparate they were. Most readers had strong opinions, and either felt Rarity was completely at fault, or Spike was completely at fault.

I think they're both responsible for the tragedy, but I have significantly less sympathy for Rarity because of the way she used Spike in the story, despite knowing how he felt about her. It's kind of creepy how she does that on the show (use Spike's crush to her advantage rather than ever shutting him down because he's a child).

Like, imagine if the genders were reversed: if Spike were a little girl named Frill and Rarity were an adult man named Curio (those are my names rather than Trotsworth's). An older man getting a little girl to do things for him because she has a crush on him, and giving her kisses as rewards, seems pretty sketchy to me.

Let alone using his ass as a pincushion, which happened in the first season.

[Jordan179]

8058914

It's kind of creepy how she does that on the show (use Spike's crush to her advantage rather than ever shutting him down because he's a child).

The simplest explanation is that she returns his feelings, but only acts on them as he grows older. Spike is not the "baby" Twilight perceives him as, nor is Rarity as romantically experienced and sophisticated as she pretends to be. There is ample evidence of both these points in canon.

We might find this creepy in our society today. We would not have done so a hundred or two hundred years ago, and I can make no predictions about whether we will still find it creepy a hundred or two hundred years in the future. Considering that Equestria is not even a human society, I have no idea what they would think of it.

I do notice that in canon Twilight originally disapproved of Spike's crush, but merely to the point of warning him. She did nothing to stop him acting on it, nor is there any reason to believe that she holds it against Rarity.

[Trick Question]

8059603
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's anything bad about ... I just know better than to say anything good about it that can be traced back to me.

[mishun]

Rarity took the flowers from him and closed the door.

She did what?!

Maybe it was the wind, or maybe it was his nerves. But Spike could feel the gentlest sensation tickling against his upper lip.

And that's how PavlovianSpikeovian conditioning was discovered in Equestria.

[MixMassBasher]

Interesting premise

[Daneasaur]

Short and intense. Well done.