//------------------------------//
// Troubled Waters 
// Story: Somepony to Care For 
// by CNUBRONY 
//------------------------------//

	The magic of that first date was something Spike never wanted to forget but, unfortunately, was also something he could never recreate.

Spike and Rarity had been on several dates, each time they seemed more and more bored with each other. They had kissed, once, on the third date, hoping it would ignite a spark, but it just didn’t. Spike wanted to make it work, but more and more he found himself buying into the idea that since he was a dragon, and she was a pony, it would just never work out.

Spike was alone, even when he was with somebody. His deepest thoughts and feelings were once again the daggers poking through his heart. Even when he was loved, he wasn’t loved. It was that same thought that replaced the previous thoughts of never finding love. And it pained him, it pained him deeply. For, truth be told, Spike still deeply cared for Rarity. He just couldn’t entertain her. He had tried everything he could think of, he took her on a boat-ride, but that was crashed by the antics of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, splashing about. He tried taking her to Canterlot, but she was more impressed with the city than she was with him.

Spike had one last idea, one last chance he thought could make Rarity love him… or at least like him. He had invited her to dinner at Sugarcube corner, the location of their first date. He hoped that, if he couldn’t recreate that night elsewhere, perhaps he could discover it back where it began.


****


“You do know this is hopeless, right Spike?”

Spike shrugged. Rarity had done a good job of hiding her emotions, her pity, her desire to be elsewhere, but there was no denying it tonight. It was a hit or miss for Spike. He was either going to win her or lose her, and it would be tonight.

So Spike, trying to ignore what his heart told him, went over and pulled out the chair, as he had done that first night just a couple months ago. She sat down, but this time, there were no fancy dresses, just she. No makeup caked on her face, just her natural self. Spike still thought she was beautiful, despite the clear fact that she was no longer trying to impress him.

“I just wanted you to know, that when I looked into your eyes that first night, or even the very first time I saw you, I was in love. I was head over tail in love in love with you. You were, you are the most beautiful pony I have ever laid eyes on, and I’m so happy to be with you.”

It was Spike’s heartfelt confession, his attempt to win Rarity back, but he could see it in her eyes, in the emptiness within them as they stared off into the distance, he didn’t succeed. He was a total failure, just as always.

“Well, that’s nice Spike, but there is something I must tell you.”

Spike’s heart hung as low as his head. That dreaded “but” hung on to Rarity’s sentence and made its presence known to Spike.

“I only agreed to date you because Twilight wanted me to. I owed her a favor for letting me visit Canterlot and sleep in the castle, and what she wanted was for me to go on a date with you. Truth be told, darling, we’re just not meant for each other. Our differences are too great. I did have a splendid time on our first… well I wouldn’t call it a date, more like a ‘night’, but the point is, we will never be. You need to accept that, and recognize that. I really do appreciate your affection, but it’s wasted, find another pony, or better yet a dragon, because it will never be anything but wasted on me.”

And with that Rarity stood up and left, leaving Spike alone, a miserable wreck, in the middle of Sugarcube Corner. His heart had left with Rarity, not because she stole it, but because she ripped it out and walked off with it. Spike put his head in his knees and began sobbing, not even caring that the Cakes were standing right behind him, faces full of sorrow.


****


Spike had the dream before; it was nothing new, though it certainly felt more powerful. A beautiful pony waited for him, arms outstretched at the end of a hallway. The hallway was always black, with pictures of other dragons lining the wall, as if to remind Spike he wasn’t a pony like the ones he loved.

He called out to the pony, wanting to know her name, but she laughed and turned the corner. Spike chased after her, calling out, but the hallway grew longer and longer and his running was futile.

Spike always awoke to the sound of voices mocking him for being a dragon and not a pony. It wasn’t his fault, he was a dragon in a pony’s world, and that meant there was little in the way of “love” for him. Every Hearts and Hooves day all the ponies found their special somepony, and Spike was left to wonder why he was placed in such a world were he was alone, and unloved.

Deep down, Spike resented Ponyville. Sure, the ponies were nice, but they were ponies at the end of the day. And, as everyone seemed to constantly remind him, “ponies and dragons don’t mix.” 

Spike was lonely, and that was truth. He turned over and cried himself to sleep, wishing there was someone that would understand and love him.