Chapter 5: Coming clean
Both of them were looking at each other, worried about the other one's thoughts, about where was this going to go, worried about the possibility of rejection, but there was a light of hope that made them more confident, fighting the urge to run away.
"Umm, Apple Bloom, where are the others? I mean, Twilight sent me a letter where she said that all of my friends were going to give me a good, warm welcome. "Said Spike, looking around for the possibility of his friends to be hiding around the station.
"Well, I have something to tell you, and I wanted to say it with nopony around, because is personal, don't worry, I'll give you the tour back to Twilight's castle, but you have to stay with me for a little bit." When Apple Bloom said that last part of her sentence, she instantly blushed, causing Spike to be more and more confused.
'Is she... blushing? Is there a chance that she cou...?' Spike thought, with a small smile and a big blush, but other thought made him reject that idea.
'No, that's not it, I have been chasing after Rarity since, practically forever, there is no way she could love me back after I chased after another pony this long.' That thought made him quite sad, his small smile was gone almost instantly and his blush turned into a pale tone that was covered by his scales.
"Umm, Spike, should we go now?" Said Apple Bloom, this made him snap out of his train of thoughts.
"Yes, but where are we going to go?" Said Spike, with curiosity, the stores were closed at this hour, ice cream wouldn't be a good idea because it was starting to get cold, and she said that they would walk towards Twilight's castle afterwards, so, is there any other place left?.
"Is only going to be a walk around town, don't worry, I'm not taking you to somewhere fancy, it's just a small walk around town, don't worry." Said Apple Bloom, with worry in her eyes, this could work out and maybe he will love her back, or it couldn't work out and she will be left alone because she had messed up the opportunity of being in a relationship with the one colt, (dragon in his case), that had caught her attention.
"Okay, let's go." Said Spike, not truly confident in himself.
The town was quiet, not a lot of ponies were in the streets at this hour, which was perfect for the both of them, you would think that they were talking to each other, and that they had confessed at this point, but they were far too stressed to even look at each other.
Their walk brought them to a lot of symbolic places around ponyville, like the old treehouse library, Fluttershy's cottage, Sugarcube corner, and... the home of the element of generosity, the place Spike went every afternoon to help Rarity, the Carrousel Boutique.
A lot of thoughts ran inside Spike's head when he looked at the building: 'Wow, this is the place I've been going since Twilight and I came to Ponyville, who would've thought that I have spent a lot of time trying to get the attention of somepony who doesn't even know I exist? And the pony that I've spent the most valuable moments with was in front of my face the whole time and I didn't even look at her? I am so lucky that I even have Apple Bloom as a friend, I deserve that she would not have wanted to see me after all this time, I'm such a blockhead.'
Apple Bloom looked at Spike for once, and she noticed he was staring at the Boutique, which caused her to lose a little more confidence: 'Is he staring at Rarity's home? Great, he must be after her still, I don't know what to do, I don't stand a chance against somepony like her, she is like the most beautiful mare in Equestria, and I am just a little farm pony, not a mare, not even an unicorn, and not beautiful at all. I won't confess, it's far too obvious he will not accept me, I just want a chance with him, I can show him that an ugly earth pony like me can be better than a fancy unicorn like her.'
Their walk ended at the end of the Everfree forest, Apple Bloom and Spike stared at a specific point, they both remembered that night, the night that Apple Bloom almost died, the night Spike fought for her, the night they fell in love without knowing it.
Apple Bloom sat on the grass, far from the forest, because she knew that a creature could come out and attack them, and she had enough for a lifetime, when Spike saw Apple Bloom sit, he did the same, the grass was cold, the moon was starting to come out, and the lights all around Ponyville turned on.
They stood in silence for a couple of minutes,until Apple Bloom spoke: "Spike, do you still love Rarity?"
"What!? How did you know about that?" Said Spike. How? He was sure that he hid it so well from everypony, right?
Apple Bloom giggled, breaking some of the tension between the two: "Well, I think almost everypony knows by now, Spike, you don't do a very good job hiding it."
Spike sighed:"Yeah, I wasn't very good at it, but despite it, she still doesn't know".
Apple Bloom was almost out of hope, that sentence amost made her lose it. "W-what do you mean, you love her, right? You have been helping her since you came to town, right?"
"Yes, but she didn't show any sign of love towards me, I mean, she loves me as a friend, but she doesn't love me in that way, you know? Besides, I don't know if I love her for real."
"What?" Apple Bloom's hope was starting to increase now.
"Yeah, I always have been attracted to her, when I came to Ponyville, she was the most beautiful pony I've seen, but I don't know if my crush goes further more than just her looks..."
"Yeah?"
"And when I go to visit her, she treats me like a servant!"
"Yeah."
"And I want somepony who treats me right!"
"YEAH!"
"And she can be so unbearable sometimes!"
"YEAH! Who needs an unbearable unicorn when you can have a down dirty earth pony?"
Both of them were in genuine shock after that. Apple Bloom instantly covered her mouth with her hooves and she mentally slapped herself. 'Why did you say that? If you didn't screw it up before, you certainly did now!'
Spike asked with curiosity. "Apple Bloom, do you really...?"
Apple Bloom interrupted him. "S-Sorry, I don't know what was that, anyways, what were we talking about?"
Spike was in awe, was Apple Bloom refering to herself? Did she say that because she loved him back?, there was only one way to know.
"Apple Bloom, do you like me... you know... in a special way?"
Apple Bloom didn't expect that question, but inside she knew that this was the perfect moment to confess and hope for the better.
"I... I... Yes, Spike, I love you, I didn't know it until the night when I almost died, but I didn't say anything because I was afraid that that you wouldn't like me, I mean, you are still after Rarity, right? How am I supposed to compete against a beautiful mare like her?"
Apple Bloom felt tears in her eyes, suddenly, she felt a warm and caring hug, she saw that it was Spike, and she wiped her tears by mashing them against his chest. They stayed in that poition for a couple of moments, until Spike pulled away with a smile, Apple Bloom smiled too, and, with loving eyes, Spike said:
"Apple Bloom, how could you possibly imagine I would say no to you? I care about you, and I love you too, but, why didn't you say it sooner?"
"Because I was afraid, I thought about it when you went to the dragon lands without saying anything, and I knew I should confess when you got back, I don't know if you're gonna disappear without saying anything again! There are ponies here who care about you!"
Spike hugged her again, and he looked at her eyes, with relief in his chest, he said:" Apple Bloom, I'm not gonna go away again, now I have a real reason to stay, and if you're wondering what it is, my reason to stay and protect Ponyville is you."
They both blushed, then, started moving closer, and finally, their lips met, it was a sensation neither of them experienced before, a rush of feelings ran inside them, for Apple Bloom, it was like getting her cutie mark all over again, and for Spike, it was like all the pain in his past, like when he attacked Ponyville and when he saw Rarity kiss another stallion, was changed for happiness, they liked the feeling, and didn't want it to end.
The kiss was unexperenced, and a little bit messy, but neither of them wanted to end it. They kissed for what it seemed an eternity to them, and then, they finally pulled away with a smile, not an awkward smile like before, this one was a smile formed by pure happiness and joy, all the fear and worries they felt, now was melting with the warmth of love. Everything seemed perfect, until Apple Bloom remembered something important.
"Oh! I completely forgot!, we must go to Twilight's castle! It's too late!"
Spike frowned. "Awww, but we were having a great time!"
Apple Bloom laughed. "Yeah, I don't want to go either, but I think they are waiting for us to arrive, besides, we will be together after this, right, Spike?"
Spike blushed once more. "Yes, I guess so, come on, I don't want to miss my 'Welcome back' party"
Apple Bloom looked at him with curiosity. "How did you know we were preparing a party?"
Spike laughed and said: "Well, Twilight is not very good at keeping secrets either."
They both laughed and raced towards the castle...