The blizzard came in late last night without warning, blanketing the sleepy town of Ponyville with it’s powdery snow. Usually the weather team would catch these type of rogue clouds, making them disappear before a single flake would touch the blades of grass below, but it was the holidays, and be it too much spiced cider or too little attention, the blizzard was here and it was here to stay, taking its sweet time to leave the town alone.
The cold, snow, and wind were too much for most ponies to handle all in one sitting, so most of the residents stayed inside, biding their time until the blizzard was gone so they could continue to go about their daily lives uninterrupted. Spike, on the other claw, was not most ponies. So there he was, marching through the terrible weather with letter in claw, barely making it out the door before sucking in some cold air, making him tense up. The letter was kept in a beautifully made envelope, the base of it being a alabaster color with streaks of purple creating a swirl with the white, an uneven mixture of the two with the white being the dominant color in it. The swirl started in the center of the envelope and stretched to the edges of the envelope itself The fold had been liberally garnished with pieces of blue sapphire on its edges. On the front the envelope was ribbon in a nice bowtie. If it was for anypony else, Spike would’ve just stayed home like the rest and gave it to the pony the absolute second the storm died.
But it wasn’t for anypony else. It was for Rarity, the gem of his eye. After moons of agonizing over what to do, he had decided he’d send her a letter telling her his feelings. Although he was good at writing down dictations of friendship and checklists, he wasn’t very good at putting his own thoughts onto parchment, much less telling somepony he was in love with her. He had spent most of his days in the castle’s library, quill in claw, staring at a blank sheet of paper on the main circular table, secretly hoping the letter would write itself.
One of the massive oak doors had given way, revealing a lavender alicorn levitating more books than any normal pony could read in a day. It had taken Twilight Sparkle a while to notice Spike at the table due to her organizing the books she had just brought in. When she had noticed him, she had slowly stopped what she was doing and went over to Spike.
“What are you working on Spike?” She had asked.
“Trying to write Rarity a love letter.” Spike had said, sighing. “I don’t think I can just tell her since I get so queasy, but it looks like I can’t write a stupid letter either.”
Twilight’s eyes had grown wide. “Aw Spike, that’s so sweet! Why didn’t you tell me? I could help you write it!”
Spike had looked up to his best friend and smiled. “Could you really?”
The alicorn had smiled back. “Of course!”
Twilight Sparkle’s horn had lightened up, and brought over one of her special writing quills. “Now Spike, if we’re gonna be writing a letter I think we’re gonna need to make it fit Rarity’s tastes.”
Spike had scratched his chin with a claw. “I don’t think a salad with zap apple vinaigrette dressing would be a good idea to put into a letter Twilight.”
His friend had giggled. “No Spike! Tastes as in like what she likes to read! I know when this used to be Golden Oaks, she would always check out old romance novels, so we should try to write it like that.”
Spikes eyes had lit up. “Oh! So something like ‘My love for you is as strong as a thousand oxen’?” He has even changed his voice to sound like a old actor from a movie he had seen once.
“Kinda.” Twilight had said. “But I don’t think she’ll like oxen, try something like a diamond!”
“Alright!” Spike had shouted happily, and jotted that phrase down.
Some time had passed while they toiled away at Spike’s confession, but they had done it. The letter had been folded. The purple dragon had jumped towards Twilight and had given her a hug. “Thank you so much, Twilight!”
She had returned the hug. “You’re welcome, my number one assistant. Now,” she had brought a boring, manilla envelope to her face. “Let’s get this thing sealed!”
“No way, we’re not putting it in that!” Spike had shouted, pointing at the dull envelope. “If this is for Rarity, I need it to scream Rarity too. Can you use your magic to make it like purple and white or something?”
The alicorn had shrugged. “I can try. I haven’t done much with envelopes so it might be too great.”
Twilight had tried her best, but she just couldn’t make the envelope visually interesting. She tried to use magic to change the color but it only seemed to change to just a singular one. Blue, red, green, orange. Never multiple. She had put the envelope down on the table, it only being a pearly white now. “I’m sorry Spike.” She had apologized. “This is the best I can do so far. If you give me a minute I could find a book on stationery magic, I can find the right spell.”
The dragon had waved a claw at her. “Don’t worry Twilight, I know you tried really hard on this. I think I can handle the rest.”
Twilight had nodded. “Okay Spike, good luck!” She had then left the library, letting the lofty oak door shut.
Spike had found himself staring at the envelope and finished letter. How could he make this more Rarity? It had taken him some thinking but he finally had got an idea. He had burst out of the spacious library, and beelined straight to his room, where he could grab supplies to make his idea. He hadn’t made it very far down the hallway, however, he ran into somepony. After he had got up and scratched his, head, he had noticed that he ran into Starlight Glimmer.
“Why are you running in the halls Spike, left something in the oven?” Starlight had asked jokingly, chuckling a little.
He had begun running again and shouted, “No, I need to get something from my room!” He had paused, his eyes darting between Starlight and his room. "And sorry for running into you!"
He had rummaged through his chest in his room that he had kept all his gems in and had pulled out two shiny sappieres, one’s he had knew Rarity would love. He had put them under his armpit and he had almost gotten through his door before Starlight had blocked him, though she had not done it antagonistically.
“Why did you need to run to your room to get some gems?” Starlight had asked with a raised eyebrow.
Spike had taken a deep breath. “IwantedtotellRarityIlike-”
Starlight had put a hoof up to Spike. “Wait. Start over, I couldn’t understand a single thing you said. And please slow down.”
Spike had exhaled. Breathing in again, he had told her everything that had happened recently from deciding on the letter to Twilight helping him write it. He had even told her about the envelope and how he needed to leave his room so he can make it perfect for Rarity.
Starlight had began to laugh. “That’s all? You could’ve asked me to help you with the envelope, I love arts and crafts!”
Spike had started laughing too, but with embarrassment. “Sorry Starlight, I just really wanted this to be perfect and I didn’t know you liked decorating. Would you be willing to help me with this?”
The unicorn had nodded. “Of course! Come on, let’s put these gems on, I even got some great ideas to make this scream Rarity! Do you know if we have any ribbons in the castle?”
When he was making the letter with Twilight and Starlight he was in the comfort of the warm castle, but now here he was, outside with frostbite and chill for company. Clutching the letter as tightly as he could, slowly moving in the knee deep snow. His cold blood was getting the better of him, making it all the more freezing for him. His vision was blurring as his scales and claws gathered frost. Even if he could get his fire out, it wouldn’t nearly be enough to keep him going. He cursed himself, cursing his inability to handle the cold, cursing the fact that he had to live with a lump in his chest for however long the dang blizzard will last, cursing the fact anxiety got the better of him and let him make this choice.
The last thing Spike heard before his vision blacked was Twilight and Starlight calling out to him and the crunching of snow.
When Spike’s vision came to, he found himself covered head to toe in a wool blanket, and a freshly brewed hot cup of coffee next to him in his favorite mug (one he made in his earlier years with him and Twilight crudely drawn on with bits of glitter and gem fragments) with steam still escaping freely. The castle’s fireplace near him was comforting as it gave off slow crackles and heat. Near the fire was Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer, right at him, their eyes filled the brim with concern.
Twilight was the first to break the silence. “Oh my goodness Spike, you’re okay! I’m so glad we were able to get you in time!” Tears were streaming down her eyes and her voice was extremely brittle, close to breaking. She leaned forward as quickly as she could and gave Spike a hug, one that to Spike felt longer than it actually was.
When the hug ended, Spike moved a claw out of the snug blanket and rubbed his head, eyes slowly blinking. “What happened…?”
“Well, you decided to go outside in a blizzard without telling me or Twilight, and you made it roughly five feet out of the door before you passed out.” Starlight Glimmer explained to him. She sounded relieved but her voice also was rising. “You could’ve died! Why did you go outside in the first place?”
His eyes grew wide. “Oh no, the letter! Is it—”
“You mean this one?” Twilight asked, levitating the purple white envelope over to the three, her voice slowly composing itself again. “We found it in your claws when we teleported you back inside. It was really crumpled because of your grip but I was managed to restore it.”
Starlight levitated a mug to her face and took a sip of her own coffee. “So you were trying to give the letter to Rarity? You could’ve waited until after the blizzard, Spike! It’s too dangerous to be outside like that! I couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if we didn't find you sooner.”
Spike stared down into his mug, his head drooping heavily. “I know, but the thought of waiting to give it to her was eating me up inside. I needed to give it to her today, so then I can feel more at rest.”
Starlight let out a little sigh. “Spike, I know what it's like to have that feeling. Trust me when I say that if you wait for after the blizzard, you will feel so much more at ease.”
Twilight crooked her neck a little. “Who did you like Starlight, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Glimmer shook her head, “It’s fine Twilight. It was Starburst.”
Spike was a little surprised. He knew that Starlight and Starburst were best friends but he didn’t know that she wanted them to be more. “What did he say?” He asked, eyes brightening up just a little.
She dropped her head a little. “He said no, but I told him at what I thought was the perfect time. He told me that he’d rather stay friends. Just being able to get that out in the open and telling him made me feel so much better.”
Spike furrowed his brow, his head doing logical calculations. “Then I need to just give it more time and give it to her when the time is right?”
Both of the mares nodded. “Yes Spike.” Twilight said. “Waiting hurts but the release is worth it. Rainbow Dash waited for the right time to ask me out. Every time I saw her I knew something was up, but she wouldn’t say anything about it and it was driving me crazy! She had to have known that I liked her! When we went to a Songbird Serenade concert, she popped the question during one of the songs and I got excited and told her ‘Yes!’ before she could even finish it. Four months later and we're still fast flyers in the skies of love.” She giggled at her own prose.
Chuckling, Starlight said, “Celestia Twilight, that was bad, even by your standards!”
The three laughed all through the night, enjoying their coffee, the fire, and their own company as the storm outside raged on.