Gone in 1800 Seconds

by True Blue Spark

#322. Changing the Plan

The Prompt: Write a story in the second person in which the perspective character is one of the Mane Six or Spike.

Written as a follow-up/companion piece to My Life as a Teenage Dragon, but can be read on its own.

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It isn’t until you realize that you have spent the last half-hour staring at (or, more accurately, “over”) the same page of your manual on expert stitching techniques that you finally admit to yourself that you have a problem, and that your problem’s name is Spike.

You’re being unfair, and you know it. Spike is about as far from a problem as one can get—he’s eagerly helpful, always pleasant conversation, and now that he’s started building his hoard and growing, very easy on the eyes as well. Really, the fact that he isn’t a problem is the problem, as much as that sounds like a sentence Pinkie Pie would construct. Because he’s quickly demonstrating the same ability that the other ponies in Ponyville seem to share: an uncanny knack for absolutely decimating your Plans.

You’ve always had a Plan for your life, ever since you discovered your talent and gained your cutie mark. Your fashion designs will lead you inexorably to Canterlot, where you will earn fame, fortune... and the attention of a classy, noble stallion. Certainly Prince Blueblood has been stricken from the plan for possessing class and nobility only in the most technical of senses, but that only means that your Mr. Right, your Prince Charming, even, is still out there, waiting to be found! He’ll fall for you at first sight, sweep you off your hooves and romance you, and the two of you will live a life full of love and luxury together.

Spike was never a part of the Plan. A baby dragon, your true love? Of all the crazy ideas, that took the cake! Certainly he had turned out to be a wonderful friend, to the point where you found yourself preferring his company to that of your Canterlot suitors. And certainly his old crush on you was sweet, if just a touch overbearing at times. But you never believed it would become anything more. After all, he was just a child.

Until, suddenly, he wasn’t.

He’s as tall as any pony in Equestria now, but svelte and serpentine—a word you never considered attractive until you saw how well he wears it. His face is leaner now, but his eyes are, if anything, even more expressive than before—he still wears his heart on his sleeve like he always did. His voice has deepened ever so slightly, and somehow he’s picked up a distressing purr that makes you shiver. You had never in your life entertained the idea of being attracted to a dragon, but now the idea seems disinclined to give you a choice in the matter.

Like a single spark setting a bale of hay ablaze, Spike has blown your old, comfortable presumptions to dust, left you stumbling and blushing like a schoolfilly. Only now are you seeing just how much you prefer his company, how much you appreciate his attention and his assistance and even simply his quiet presence. It’s as if you were falling for him all along, just a little at a time, and all it took was this nudge to make you realize it.

And to your great shock, you find yourself not wanting to follow the Plan any more. Not if it means losing him.

He pauses in his dusting and glances over at you. You quickly pull up your book again (what were you even reading? you can’t remember), but it’s too late. He’s walking your way. “Everything okay, Rarity?”

“Just fine!” Oh, curse that blasted squeak in your voice!*

“You sure?” You lower your manual just a bit, to see those accursed green eyes seeking yours out. “You don’t seem to be getting much out of that book. Want me to look for another one?”

You shake your head, with a bit more force than necessary. “No, really, Spike, I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

He smirks and leans against the table. “How many times do I have to say it’s no trouble if it’s for you? Seriously, is there anything you need?”

A wake-up call back to reality. A rescue from this crazy crush. A way to save your Plan from the tornado of emotion inside you. A kiss. “You.”

Those lovely eyes go wide, and you realize the last word slipped out unbidden. You gasp and cover your mouth, mortified beyond belief, hoping that one of Twilight’s old abandoned experiments will spontaneously explode and distract from your embarrassment.

But then he smiles shyly, pink gently tinting his cheeks. “I thought you knew? I’m already yours,” he says, and you think you may just swoon on the spot.

Maybe the Plan will work out after all. You never really said it had to be a pony sweeping you off your hooves and romancing you, right?

Author's Note:

My last fill was Rarity in first person, now this one is Rarity in second person. Obviously whatever I write next has to be Rarity in third person to complete the trifecta. We shall see if it actually turns out that way or not. (Or, if you’re reading this in the future, you can just click the “next chapter” link and find out right now.)

This one took me forever to pound out, mainly because I had no real plan for it. I just jumped in and kept typing on and off until like five minutes before the prompt window closed. After I wrote it, I wasn’t 100% happy with it; I kinda felt like I retreaded old ground with it? Like the only thing new here was the fact that I put it in second person. But sleeping on it has inclined me to look on it more favorably, and the fact that the TMP mod enjoyed it helped too. Maybe it’s not groundbreakingly original, but not everything I write has to be.

In the end, I’m happy with it, even if I do kinda wish I’d gone with Pinkie Pie and a mini-choose-your-own-adventure, or a snippet of a Daring Do text adventure. Actually, maybe I should go ahead and write those anyway. ...sigh. What was it I said last chapter about being swamped with ideas?

Comments

[InkFathom]

You know, I would absolutely love it if you wrote a separate Pinkie Pie choose-your-own-adventure and took suggestions from the comments. That would be awesome.

[Fury of the Tempest]

Hahaha! Awesome, so cute and heartwarming.

[Butterkeet]

*reads the authors note* I'm in the future