> Precious Heart
>  by Thunder Bolt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Where Heart's Journey Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1


Far away from the small town of Ponyville, Canterlot, and even beyond the small settlement of Hollow Shades, just north of Neighagra Falls, the sun shined brightly upon a small forest, nestled near the very top of the highest peak amongst the Crystal Mountains. Above even the clouds, the sun always shined over this small forest, as a favor from sister to brother. The small valley of which the forest was inside had walls that shined brightly in their vibrant reflective nature, making every tree seem to glow. The forest possessed many exotic animals of every kind, from birds flying through the canopy, to fish swimming in the small ponds scattered in the forest. Despite the many inhabitants, the forest was mostly quiet, aside from the occasional chirping of birds and chittering of small mammals, but today it was slightly less so. There was an exceptionally large visitor in the forest, having come to see its guardian. Deep in conversation, the visitor seems to have come distressed, pleading to the guardian for help.
“I’m sorry child, but I warned you about tampering with the natural balance. I wish I could help, but this taint can not be reversed. Every thing that exists has a time it lives, and a balance in its existence, as was intended by its creation.”
“Please! You have to help me! I didn’t want for this to happen, you have to be able to do something, you’re our prince!” The guardian silences the visitor.
“Oh dear son, I wish that there was something I could do, but even if some elements in nature can be persuaded without breaking harmony, I’m afraid I can not affect a creature such as yourself. You are born of magic, child, and unlike those that I watch over, the events that you have set in motion can not be persuaded.”
“But this has happened before, and I stopped it then!”
“Of natural means! Do not question my knowledge of the occurrences in our world. I know all the anomalies of our world, and I know what is and what is not.” At this point, there was a brief period of silence.
“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean-”
“You’re forgiven.” The guardian stood quietly for another moment, and stared at his visitor, his eyes saddened by these events. “I can see it on your face. You seem to think I’ve forgotten, about who I once was.” The guardian placed his hoof on the visitor’s shoulder. “Though you are now a child to me, as all the creatures of this world are, you will always be my best friend, Spike.” The dragon stared at him solemnly and lowered his head to the ground, letting out a soft, yet depressing sigh. He stood there thinking to himself with regret, his mind recalling the day when this all began, and futilely mulling over what he might have done differently that could have prevented himself from forcing this outcome.


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The day when this event first came into conception was a particularly joyous one. Spike and Twilight were just returning home after a nationwide summons to the royal palace in Canterlot. During which, the royal sisters declared the dawning of a new era in Equestria, and the addition of a new member to the throne. To most denizens this was big news, but Twilight and her friends, as well as Spike, had been expecting it. 
Spike and Twilight were making their way home merrily, Spike walking along side her rather than riding on her back, seeing as Spike had a couple small growth spurts in the last few years, and was starting to get just a tad exhausting for Twilight to carry. Regardless, they still enjoyed eachother’s company while traveling, and both reveled in the bright and sunny weather that day, which The Royal Sisters made sure would be present to mark the occasion of the day. The two of them spoke cheerfully to eachother about the events that had just passed, and of what they’re plans for the rest of the day were.
“So, what are you going to do now Twilight? That speech didn’t really take up a lot of time.” Spike inquired of Twilight.
“Hmm, well Pinkie Pie is going to be throwing a party later today to celebrate. That seemed like a good idea.”
“Oh really?! Well, that’s actually not surprising, but anyways I love Pinkie’s parties. When are we going?” Twilight looked at him with a faintly stern smirk.
“Excuse me mister? You seem to be forgetting that mess you made in the upstairs library the other day. You said you’d clean that up.” Spike simply frowned and slumped a bit.
“Oh yea. Ahw, but Twi-”
“No buts mister. You’ve got to clean that mess up, and I’m not going to do it for you. You need to learn to be more careful. What are you going to do when you get bigger and you end up knocking things down all the time?” Spike only responded to her with an understanding nod and followed her back home.
When they arrived Twilight stepped inside and opened up the curtains of her windows to let the bright daylight fill the interior of her home.
“There, no need to let this gorgeous day go to any waste. Now.” She then walked over to the stairway and pointed a hoof up to the top. “March on up there and get cleaning.”
“Alright.” Spike said sadly and began slumping up the stairs. Satisfied that Spike would do as he was told, Twilight began heading back over to the front door of her tree-home.
“Now, I’m going out to go help Pinkie and the rest set up the party, and I want you better be cleaning that mess up while I’m gone.” She then turned towards the door and opened it before abruptly looking back to see spike still ambling up the stairs. “Oh and, well actually, Spike.”
“Yes Twilight?” He responded, looking up quickly.
“I suppose given the circumstances, it wouldn’t be right for you to miss this party, so I’ll tell you what. Just get started on cleaning up for a little while, then once you’ve made some progress, come meet up with me and the others outside Sugarcube  Corner, okay?” Twilight gave Spike a big grin as she said this, and he returned it.
“Oh thank you Twilight! I’ll get started right away!” Spike replied cheerfully, after which he ran swiftly up the stairs.
“Just make sure you finish the job tomorrow!” She shouted up at him, before smiling and giggling to herself then exiting her home.

It was roughly an hour later that day while Spike was cleaning up the upstairs library when he heard a nock on the front door to Twilight’s home. He placed down the charred remains of a book he held in his claws and walked over to the top of the stairs. A moment later came the sound of the door creaking open.
“Hello, darling, are you home Twilight?” Spike jumped from where he was standing, nearly biting his tongue the moment he recognized that familiarly elegant voice. He rushed down the stairs to greet the welcome guest.
“Rarity! Hey how- er, uhm. Hi.” Spike tripped over himself on the way, and realizing that he’d ran further than he had planned, stumbled over his words.
“Oh! Spikey Wikey! What a pleasure to see you.” She smiled warmly at the young dragon and set a bag she was carrying on the floor beside her. Spike noticed she wasn’t wearing any of her dresses today, so he figured she must be doing something business related as she always seemed to go fancy if she was heading to something casual. Though Spike didn’t think about it much due to being a bit stunned by her usage of words.
“Uhm, uhuh. P-pleasure?”
“Hmm, yes. I’m looking for Twilight and was hoping you might be able to tell me where she is, if she wasn’t already here, of course.” Spike then seemed to have a sudden snapping moment, as if he was coming back into reality from some fantasy in his head.
“Oh, uh-yea. She went to help Pinkie and the others set up for the celebration.” Rarity’s mood then seemed to change into a somewhat disappointed one.
“I see. Hmph, well now who am I going to get to help me?”
“What, exactly, is the problem?” Spike asked, concerned.
“Oh Spikey, I haven’t been able to create any new designs in the last week, and I desperately need to freshen up my selections. Everypony will start to lose interest if I don’t keep all my designs as recent as possible.” She sat down on the floor then to continue talking, a very faint pout on her lips. “So, I thought one of my friends might be able to assist in a bit of inspiration. Everypony has been busy today, though, and Twilight was the last pony I could go to.” Spike nodded, listening intently to her the whole time. He sat quietly for a moment before speaking out.
“Well. I could help you Rarity.” To which Rarity giggled in an elegant way and stood up, putting her bag back on.
“Oh no Spike, I’m sure you’re far too busy with that mess you’re cleaning up. Anyways, inspiration comes more naturally from somepony with a bit more. Age. Don’t you worry though Spikey, you can still help me if you’d like. Feel free to stop by my boutique tomorrow. It’s always nice to have a little helper around.” She giggled once more and turned around to leave. Spike looked down at his feet in response and grumbled.
“I’m not little.” He said to himself, before abruptly looking up. “Hey wait, how did you know about the mess?!” Spike asked loudly, though Rarity had already gone through the door by then and was on her way down the road. It was then that Spike slumped again and turned around to start back up the stairs.

Some while after Rarity had left, Spike was still upstairs cleaning up his mess. He went about sorting books into piles, making sure to separate all the burnt and scorched ones from those that managed to go without a mark. With how bad it was, it really seemed a shock to Spike that Twilight hadn’t reacted worse than she had. Despite this, Spike grumbled quietly to himself as he worked, somewhat frustrated by Rarity’s comment of him being little. It seemed like such a small thing, and Spike had never minded being called little in the past, because he was, but now, even though he realized that for a dragon he was rather small, he stood just barely taller than most of the ponies now and being referred to as little was a bit upsetting. This fact even more so coming from the pony that Spike so dearly feels affection towards.
Regardless of his irritation, Spike continued his work, thinking about how it would have been nice to have gone and helped Rarity. So very much did he enjoy to spend time with her, though, he supposed that seeing as how she wouldn’t be able to get much done today anyways, she would most likely appear at the party later with the rest of the ponies, so that would probably be a good chance to see her anyways. With that conclusion arrived at, he felt more settled and stopped his grumbling. He stood back and summed up the amount of work he had done so far and felt that Twilight would be pleased with it, so off to the party he would go.
Spike began heading over to the stairway, now with a hum on his scaly lips, rather than a grumble, ready to head out and hopefully to see Rarity. This now happy strut of his was halted rather momentarily though as he accidently stumbled over a small pile of books he’d tossed aside while sorting, and mistakingly left in his path towards the stairway. The stumble shocked Spike for a moment, catching himself just at the top of the stairs.
“What the-!” Spike spoke out to himself in surprise as he tripped. Turning around and looking down, he saw the small pile of books. “Oh,woops. Forgot I left those there, heh.” He bent down to move the hazardous mound, but paused for moment as he noticed the book laying on top. Picking it up, Spike looked at it. It was an older book from Twilight’s library, bound in a very tough cover. The title of it was rather washed out by age, but still just barely legible, reading, ‘A Spell of Ages’.
As Spike read this title a thought appeared in his mind. He opened the book to take a look at the first page, but only to find that what he thought were pages, was actually just tightly packed ash which crumbled to the floor as soon as he opened the book.
“Oh.” Spike muttered aloud to himself, and with the book surely gone at this point, the idea formulating in his mind faded as his thoughts of the party and Rarity quickly jumped back to the forefront of his thought processes. Setting the empty binding aside, Spike started down the stairs and on his way to the party to meet up with the ponies.


Chapter End

> The Celebration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


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

> The Boutique
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3


As the final vacant space on the shelves of Twilight’s library was filled, a small cloud of dust was blown out, directly towards Spike’s nose. Fortunate enough, the dragon promptly covered his nose, deterring any dust from entering it, lest the incident from before were to be recreated. Satisfied with his work, the library once more clean and orderly, Spike had decided to head downstairs to see what Twilight was up to. While he was doing so, Twilight was busy with herself, writing at the small desk in the entrance room of her house. She was working intently on whatever it might have been, until she heard the thumping of Spike heading down the stairs, making his way steadily. She looked up from the desk and over to Spike, smiling warmly at him and giving him the chance to reach the bottom before speaking.
“I take it you’re finished then?” Twilight asked.
“Yea, I’m done. Looks like I never touched it. Well, it actually looks cleaner than before to me.” Spike replied, his tone having turned somewhat distant near the end as he looked toward the window nearby, noting that the sun had been shifted to full daylight since he had begun cleaning the library that day.
“I’m sure it is. Good job Spike.” Twilight responded with a short, light chuckle. She then proceeded to resume whatever it was she had been working on previously, speaking back to Spike. “So what will you be doing today Spike? I don’t have anything else for you to do, so you might as well go out.”
“Oh, well, don’t you have anything to do in town today Twilight?” Spike asked, to which Twilight paused for a second to think.
“No, not particularly. I have a long report I need to finish for Princess Celestia, anyways. So you go ahead and do whatever it is you want.” Spike stood there quietly for a second as he thought, knowing that he had wanted to do something today. After a moment it hit him, his face brightening up a bit as he remembered that he was planning to go to Rarity’s boutique that day. He started briskly toward the door and looked back at Twilight.
“Well alright! I’ll be down helping Rarity out at the boutique if you need me.” He said back to her rather quickly, reaching the door just as he had finished his statement. Twilight was about to give him a quick goodbye, but Spike had already gone out the door before she could speak, his exit followed promptly by the slam of the door. She sat for a moment staring at where he had been standing just a second ago, then simply smiled to herself and returned to her writing.

What a sunny day it was, Spike had thought to himself as he walked through town. Two days in a row had the sky been perfectly clear, not a cloud to be seen. It was certainly nice, and all the inhabitants of Ponyville hoped it would stay that way for some time. Spike wouldn’t have minded a bit rain, though, as he enjoyed the cool feeling on his scales, but regardless, he was just happy to be heading to see Rarity. As he walked though town Spike hummed to himself, just some random tune that happened to pop into his mind, a product of his elated mood.
Spike was just rounding the corner of Ponyville’s clock tower and head out towards one of the main streets, a clear view of the river and the top of Rarity’s boutique now within his sight. His face growing into a larger grin, Spike moved faster now, almost running across the street, excitement to see his love filling his thoughts, oh the wonderful time he would have being beside her. Then all the thought ceased. Spike’s eager steps were interrupted with a crash as he too late realized that he had ran into somepony.
“Wooah there sugarcube, what’s the rush?” Spike stood up, as the abrupt stop had caused him to fall flat on his tail.
“Wha?- Oh, hey there Applejack. Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Uh- I’m heading over to Rarity’s, she asked me to help her.”
“Ah, I catch ya there. Well alrighty then, y’all have fun now.” Applejack replied with a joking wink and began to set off on her way again. As she started to walk by Spike, he realized that she was harnessed up to an abnormally large cart full of bright red apples.
“Hey, Applejack.” Spike called to her quickly, getting her to look back at him, “Are you setting up your apple stand? I’ve never seen you bring this many into town before.”
“Oh, yea, well we need to get these apples sold right quickly. Since the inaug’ration Sweet Apple Acre’s trees have been producing faster than a herd o’ jack rabbits. We can hardly keep up with our own supply.”
“Oh.. Well I hope sales go well for you. I’ll, be on my way again.” Spike said, then set back on his way towards the boutique.
“See y‘round lover-boy!” Applejack called as Spike walked away, slightly embarrassing him.


Several short minutes later, Spike had crossed over the river just outside the edge  of Ponyville and arrived at the doorstep of Rarity’s boutique. Getting close to the front door, Spike could hear some sort of racket coming from inside. He pressed the side of his head firmly against the purple-finished door, attempting to hear what was going on inside. Just as he had done so,  the door swung open, smacking him in the side of his head and sending him staggering back a few feet as somepony went bolting down the road at impressive speed. Right after, Rarity stepped out of the front door and waved a hoof at whomever had just ran down the dirt road. Rarity would have just walked back inside right away at that moment, had it not been for the young dragon on the ground by her front door, rubbing the side of his snout.
“Oh Spikey! Are you alright darling?” She asked, lending a hoof to help him up, “We hadn’t had the faintest idea you were standing there, I do so apologize.”
“It’s...alright. I’m fine” Spike replied, his response split by the small grunt of pain he produced, as a result of trying to rub the area where he had been hit.
“Well, if you say so dear. Oh, but do come inside, I have ever so much work to be done.” Rarity turned quickly and trotted inside, Spike following close behind.
“So, who was that? The one that just ran out, I mean.” Rarity looked over her shoulder at him blankly, then smiled and let out a short chuckle.
“That was Sweetie Belle, dear. She was in quite the rush today, running about to gather her things around. She’s heading out to Canterlot with her friends.”
“By themselves?” Spike asked in a concerned tone, knowing how big Canterlot was, it wouldn't be hard for a young pony to get lost if they had not lived there to begin with.
“Well of course not. Rainbow Dash offered to chaperone them.”
“Rainbow Dash? She’d offer to do that?”
“Hmm, perhaps offer isn’t the right word. I suppose one could say she was...coerced?” Rarity smirked. She then walked over to her design pedestal and, promptly, her horn began to glow and several sheets of fabric and threads began to lift into the air as Rarity began working on whatever it was her next project was.
“Well, what were they heading out there for?” Spike asked, attempting to continue the small talk for a bit longer.
“Ah, well they were heading out there for Sweetie Belle actually. She recently got her cutie mark and has been quite eager to to find ponies willing to hire her for performances. Her friends have been a real help in the endeavor as well, they are really quite supportive of her.” Spike grunted his acknowledgment, not quite sure what to respond with, and began to look around the boutique, finding that it was actually quite a mess inside, all sorts of fabrics, threads, needles, and even a few tasty gems lying around the entire room.
Spike stood quietly for a moment as he waited to see if Rarity would say anything to him. She seemed very intensely focused on whatever it was she was doing at the time, though, so Spike spoke up first.
“Uhm, Rarity?  Would you like me to help clean this place up?” Spike asked in a somewhat awkward way.
“Oh no darling, it’s quite alright. I tend to keep my work space a tad disorderly when I work, it helps me think.” Rarity paused for a moment here to eye the design she was working with. “Actually, what I was hoping you would help me with is..well, you see I recently had a large shipment of materials come in and it’s a frightfully large amount, so much that I ran out of space for all my old materials. So, if you would be so kind as to take a step upstairs.” Rarity pointed over to her left at the staircase leading to the next floor. “I have a few boxes filled with my old things, and would be ever so grateful if you would haul them up to my attic for storage.” Spike looked over at the stairs and started towards them without thinking twice, more than willing to help out Rarity.
“Sure thing Rarity, consider it done!”
“Thank you so much Spikey, I’m just so busy with this design.” She thanked him, never looking away from her work as she spoke. Set and determined on a job, Spike was done speaking for the time being and hurried his way upstairs, with hope that he would finish the job quickly so he would be able to speak with Rarity more, or perhaps help her with another task. When he reached the top of the stairs, Spike hurried out into the room but was thrown back a bit once he had notice the massive pile of boxes in front of him. Almost reaching the top of the room, is was a wonder how she even had that many things. Regardless, Spike said he would do it for Rarity, so he began working without thought of it. At least she had opened the stairs to the attic for him, so he knew immediately where to go.

Time flew by as Spike worked, carrying box after box up those stairs. Despite some of the larger boxes it was a relatively simple task, just pick one up and move it. Spike slowly made progress through the pile, bringing it down in size bit by bit, he wasn’t even sure if all of them would fit in the attic but he just kept working. Though, as Spike worked, he stopped to think for a moment at one point, curious as to why it was so quiet in Rarity’s boutique today, because there was typically something going on, whether it was from a friend stopping by or a customer. There didn’t seem to be anything going on that day, save for the occasionally moments when Spike could just make out the sound of Rarity humming to herself downstairs, which put his thoughts back at ease and allowed him to resume working.
It was after some time, seeing as the sun was slowly being brought down at that point, when Spike had finally finished moving the boxes to Rarity’s attic. Spike let out a long breath of exhaustion and made his way back downstairs, glad that he could go back to being next to Rarity.
“Hey, I finished moving those boxes like you-”
“Spike! Come here, quick.” Rarity interrupted him, looking rather excited about something.
“What is it!” Spike ran over as fast as he could and halted next to Rarity, not sure what she wanted, yet immediately his eyes were drawn to what the subject of interest was at the time. It was the dress that Rarity had just finished. The base color was a deep purple, laid out in a frilled, layered pattern, somewhat resembling scales, and it had a vivid green trim that ran down the back, hanging down in a short train.
“What do you think of this design?” Rarity asked, staring intently at the dress she had just created. “I’d say I took quite the risk with this one but the idea just seemed too original to pass up.” Spike just stared at the dress for a moment, not really sure what to say as he wasn’t really one to critique dresses. He did eventually respond, but in the most trivial way he could think of, simply just to make Rarity happy.
“It looks. Great!” Spike finally answered, his reply followed by a thought that came to mind. “Uhm, what is the ‘original’ idea you meant Rarity?”
“Well isn’t it obvious dear?”  To this response, Spike stared at the dress and thought, trying to think of what the idea might have been, but he shortly gave up and shook his head. “Oh silly, very well then. The idea came to me yesterday, shortly after my arrival at Pinkie Pie’s celebration. It was what I saw there that gave me the idea, which, actually was you in fact. There was just something about the way the light was reflecting off of those scales of yours. That deep violet shines very well, and the green of those spikes make a perfect accent. Now, I had to make slight shade alterations to fit a dress format mind you, but I feel I’ve captured that same image I got from you almost perfectly!” For a short while longer Rarity continued to ramble on about her creation, and how proud of it she was. Spike had lost her some way through it, though, because once she revealed where her inspiration came from, Spike ended up losing himself in the moment. He face grew at least two shades darker out of blush, and his thoughts went a bit fuzzy which led to his loss of attentiveness. 
From that point on, things seemed to move a bit faster than usual, Spike came too a bit, after Rarity called out his name to see that he was alright. He snapped back and looked up from the floor to her face, his gaze catching her eyes directly. Then something strange happened. Spike began to fall into the similar pattern of behavior that he had experienced the day prior. His body temperature lifted, his heart rate sped up, and he began to feel a faint loss of balance. Spike’s young mind raced, thought after thought coursing to the forefront of his brain, compelling him to share them. They were all very precious thoughts, ones he did not wish to share, but one question leaked out, and without thinking about it, Spike asked Rarity something unexpected.
“Rarity, do you like me?” Spike’s clawed hands flew over his mouth then, not fully realizing the question he had just asked. Rarity seemed slightly shocked at first, as she was not expecting such a question either. She was quick to smile and respond, though.
“Well of course I like you Spikey, how could one not like a kind little dragon such as yourself?” She placed her hoof softly on Spikes head and let out a soft chuckle with her response. This reply seemed to calm Spike’s nerves somehow, yet he felt a strange drop in his chest.
“I, uh..That’s, not really what I meant Rarity.” Spike said, hoping he would clear up the misunderstanding. Rarity’s smile faded a bit, and exhaled, almost sounding as if she was sighing.
“Spike, darling, I understand what you meant...It’s just, your still so young. It just wouldn’t seem fit for me to condone such a rash choice like that. You still have a lot of time to meet others, Spike.” Rarity stared squarely at Spike as she said this, every word hammering at his heart, the pain made greater by the serious and concerned look etched on her face. Spike stood there quietly for several awkward moments, not really sure what to say. It was so quiet in those moments, so intensely so that it didn’t seem as if time was moving at all for Spike. It finally grew unbearable until Spike was forced to break the silence.
“I...understand.” Spike replied in a monotone voice. The young dragon slumped deeply and turned away, towards the front door of the boutique. He walked away and in short time left, not another word being said, Rarity only standing there, her eyes aimed towards the ground as well. Her eyes seemed full of sorrow, possibly feeling bad towards herself, that she hadn’t seen this coming, or that she had needed to turn Spike down at all. Whatever it was, she did not speak, and she allowed for Spike to leave in silence.
As Spike made his venture back home, he looked up into the sky, watching as the sun was just setting over the horizon, and Luna’s moon was beginning to lift into the sky. After the event he had just been through, Spike had a lot to think about, about himself, Rarity, and what he was to do now. Many thoughts came and passed as he walked, many ideas, evens plans for an action of some kind, but he could not feel complacent with any of them. Spike stopped walking, his body feeling heavy for some reason, so he say down to rest for a bit. He stared at the ground in depression, lifting a claw to his face and wiping away the moisture that had begun to accumulate beneath his eye. Spike had never had anticipated such a serious rejection form Rarity in the past, so he was not prepared, not to react to it nor cope with it. He could only release sorrow, and hope that some light might shine on him.
Spike cried on the road for some time before the chill of the night air finally reached him, urging Spike to stand again and make his way back home. He did not hurt any less, but he was a sight calmer than he was a while ago, letting his mind clear a bit, allowing space for a thought to occupy. He remembered something, an idea that had occurred to him the other day, while he was cleaning the library, which had evaded him until now. He stopped moving once more, allowing this thought a moment to breath in his mind, until it became clear.
“‘Still so young’ huh?” Spike said to himself, a smiling slipping onto his face. He resumed his walk at a heightened pace, now more eager to return home quickly.


End Chapter