Chapter 3: Spike's thoughts
The day was good, most of it, Spike helped Ember solve all of the mess that created itself when Ember won the gauntlet, and Spike was a great ambassador for the ponies, he defended them with pride, determination and, most importantly, love, but Spike couldn't get that word to go away from his head and mind, after all, Spike only cared for one unicorn, but something about his feelings for Rarity was bothering him, and worse, Spike couldn't know what it was until later.
Spike was on a train on his way to ponyville, it was night time, and trains aren't supposed to go in that time, but when you have a dragon lord with demands and bigger dragons behind her, you can't deny their wishes; the conductor was afraid for his life, and he pleaded to every princess he knew, but he stopped when he heard that the dragon only wanted to go home, the conductor knew it was a long trip, but when your life is at risk, you just obey their demands.
Returning to Spike, he was bored, he knew the ride to ponyville would take 2 days, but he didn't care, he just wanted to see his friends again, specially one unicorn that lived inside the carrousel boutique, but there was something different, Spike didn't thought of her that way like he did when he first moved to ponyville, like the burning fire that reflected his love for her was suddenly... gone.
Spike rolled in his seat, trying to get some sleep, but his mind didn't let him, so instead, he just went along with it; in his mind raced all sort of thoughts for Rarity, how much he has done for her, what did he saw in her, and what part of her made him fall for her.
But again, when he asked himself why he liked Rarity, nothing more than her appareance came. Spike felt angry, not with Rarity, but for himself, 'There has to be something more than her looks, right?' He asked himself, but nothing came from his mind, and in that moment, he felt more lonely than anyone, a dragon among ponies, a monster, a freak, an abomination, who could love something like him?.
Spike thought of his friends, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, in all of them, and somehow, thinking about them made him feel more comfortable, he knew that they would stand for him if he ever gets in trouble; but it wasn't enough. Spike wanted to feel loved in a special way, he wanted somepony to love him like a mare loves a stallion, but he knew that the only unicorn he loved would never return his feelings, and just thinking about it hurt.
Love, that word was still in his head, and he didn't know why, but he couldn't get it to go away. So, he started thinking about his friends once again, one by one; he stopped when he thought about a very special filly for him, a yellow filly with a big pink bow on her red mane, the youngest of the apples: Apple Bloom.
Spike remembered all the times they hung out, like the time when they first met, it was a night when he and Twilight went to Sweet Apple Acres to talk to Applejack, Twilight said that if you want to make more friends, you should start by talking to them, and when she first met Applejack, they didn't go much further than the presentations and the food, so she thought Applejack was the first pony they should talk to.
But when the time arrived, Twilight and Applejack were super distracted, in fact, they bored Spike, and he went outside to take some fresh air, he was relieved, at that moment, he heard hoof steps behind him, he thought it was Twilight, but he was surprised when he saw who it was, it was Applejack's younger sister, Apple Bloom.
The rest of the night was wonderful, they were talking about stupid things, and they were both happy just being with the other one's presence; eventually, Spike had to go to sleep, but he knew that day didn't go to waste, he earned a new friend! The time passed, Apple Bloom introduced Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to Spike, and they got along very well! Spike once defended the CMC from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon back when they didn't have cutie marks, and they defended him from other ponies that bullied him for being a dragon.
Spike still remembered the day when the CMC got their cutie marks,he was so proud of them! but he remembered the day when he almost died, he was accompanying the CMC on another of their ideas to get cutie marks, he was also the one that was going to bring them fire when they needed it, but all went downhill when they heard timberwolves approaching and they ran for their lives.
Spike got out of the forest first, then Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, but when Apple Bloom was going to come out of the everfree forest, he saw a timbrewolf grab Apple Bloom's tail and throwing her back to the forest, in that moment, something inside Spike broke, that part in his brain where the fear came was destroyed and replaced with his draconic instincts, he felt flames going all over his body, as a dragon whose treasure had been stolen, his only emotions at that moment were the need to save the filly and anger towards the beasts.
Spike ran back to the forest, and he spotted Apple Bloom being surrounded by three timberwolves, and by the looks of it, Apple Bloom couldn't walk, so Spike charged against two of them, knocking them over and started fighting the third one, the impact was so big that those two timberwolves were just a bunch of sticks in no time, then, Spike blew a little bit of fire, which scared the timberwolf and made him run away, finally, he grabbed Apple Bloom and started running towards the exit.
When he was running, he saw Apple Bloom's eyes glow in the moon, her eyes sparkled in the dark, Spike never noticed how... beautiful she was, her bow adding more cuteness to her image, and those eyes completed her, Spike looked back to see if the timberwolf was hunting him, but it wasn't, so he went back to contemplate those eyes, her eyes were reflecting tranquility and fear at the same time, eventually, they were back in the grass, out of the everfree forest.
Spike asked Apple Bloom if she was okay, and, almost instantly, she yelped, Spike was worried about her, the anger he felt before was gone, and his mind was a mess, just a little more anger and that monster, which some citizens of ponyville called "Spikezilla" would've gotten out of control. But he felt more relaxed now, Apple Bloom was safe, Sweetie and Scootaloo ran to their homes and the night was still young.
They agreed to keep this as a secret, Rarity and Applejack, and probably Rainbow Dash would kill them if they found out what they did, and since that day, he felt different towards Apple Bloom, he felt butterflies in his stomach whenever he saw her, and he blushed when she talked to him, you can tell that was odd, he only felt like that when Rarity was around, and now he was feeling like this for Apple Bloom, just like that, and he saw that Apple Bloom acted weird when he was around her, but he didn't care, he could only stare into those eyes, those beautiful eyes that just killed him in his insides.
"Am I in love?" Spike asked himself while closing his eyes; Spike instantly knew the answer, but he knew this was going to end just like Rarity, besides, he didn't know if Apple Bloom would feel the same way, then, he curled into a little spiky ball and slept, in two days, he would find her, and he would tell her how he felt, he just hoped he would not be so hurt when he heard her answer.