//------------------------------// // Intermission: Meanwhile, in Cloudsdale // Story: Spike Finds Love At Last // by Soothing Stone //------------------------------// Later that evening, Cloudsdale was as quiet as it could be. Impressive, given how close Pinkie was from creating a huge catastrophe a dozen times, if not more. That was normal for Equestria anymore, come to think of it. In the meantime, everypony was resting up in their homes, with some of them calling it a night and heading to bed. Those that stayed up, however, were treated to a beautiful clear sky, where they could see Luna’s moon from anywhere in the town. “Isn’t it marvelous?” Rarity commented as she looked out the window. She had put on a black evening gown, since she wasn’t too far away from calling it a night herself. “Sometimes, I wonder how Celestia raised the sun and the moon by herself for all those years. Must have been the hardest parts of the day for her.” “She could handle it. Come to think of it, she could handle nearly anything during that millennium,” Misty replied from the bathroom, taking care of his evening chores. “Although, she never had to organize a wedding. Now there’s where the challenge is.” “I know, darling. It can be so draining,” she groaned as she flopped down to the bed. “Every little detail needs to be perfect. Where should we have it? What time of day is premium? I knew it would put us to the test, but never did I expect this.” “No doubt, but we can handle this together, just like every other problem thrown our way.” He walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but boxers, showing off just how slender he was. With the body he had, no wonder a few ponies thought he was a mare at first glance. However, he noticed that Rarity was dressing much more conservatively than he was, drawing a blush. “I feel underdressed now.” “Pffft, like I haven’t seen your body before,” Rarity chuckled. “Come here, I’ve been feeling lonely without you.” Misty smiled and joined her in bed. He gave her a hug, then a kiss, and more kisses; now they couldn’t stop kissing each other. There were nights where they would go further than just kissing, but the urge wasn’t there tonight. They didn’t need to do that right now. Once they were done kissing and embracing each other, she exhaled contently. This was always what she wanted: a stallion that shared her interests and loved her deeply, supporting her professionally and personally, something she feared she wouldn’t be able to experience. She put a hand on her chest and started to pet him, and he put a hand on top of hers to show how much he appreciated that. “You heard about that hot air balloon that went through town earlier?” he asked. “A hot air balloon? Through Cloudsdale?” she thought. “How preposterous. There’s a reason they nearly banned them last year in the city council. Who knows what kind of tragedy might occur with one of those in Cloudsdale? Do we know who was in it?” “Oh yes. The newspapers already have pictures of them. The one steering it won’t surprise you. It was none other than Pinkie Pie.” Rarity snorted and laughed at the news. “Oh, Pinkie. She’s still so random. As long as she’s not hurting anypony, she can be as crazy as she wants to be. Was anypony else with her?” “Yeah. I think she was taking Spike for a ride.” “Spike? Intriguing. I wonder what he was doing with her. He seemed so happy yesterday, if a little grumpy as well. Who knows. Maybe he had an anniversary of some sort? Pinkie would make an anniversary out of anything.” “Actually…” Misty’s ears dropped down to the side. “You weren’t there when I was talking to Spike alone. He wasn’t what I’d call happy.” The unicorn groaned and started to sit up. “Please tell me he’s still not angry with you or say ‘you stole Rarity from me’ again. I thought we were over this.” “It’s not that. He’s a lot more mature now. It’s as if he’s still sore that you turned him down. If I had to be blunt, he’s not over you. At least, it appears that way.” The thought made her wince in pain. “Oh dear. I was afraid of that.” “I know.” Misty wrapped a hand around her waist and hugged her tight. “It wasn’t something you wanted to do, was it? Break his heart like that?” “Never. I wouldn’t take delight in hurting a pony’s feelings like that. He really was too young, you know. When he asked me out, he wasn’t much older than Sweetie Belle, and she was just barely a teenager. It would have been more than awkward to date a dragon that age.” “I figured. Well, I should, since we’ve been over this many times. I guess it still stings because of things like that. Knowing he’s still not over you.” “I feel awful whenever I think about it. I wish there was another way to handle it that wouldn’t hurt a soul.” “Rarity, I love you, but there’s something you need to be honest with me on.” She gazed at him with a hint of worry. “I don’t like the sound of this.” Misty sat up with her and took a deep breath. “Would you have gone out with Spike if he wasn’t so young at the time? Like, if I was out of the picture and he was an adult, would you love him?” The idea got her to gulp. “Misty, I love you with all my heart, and I couldn’t see myself with anypony--” “Don’t dodge the question, please. If the answer is yes, I won’t be hurt. We are getting married, after all. Doubt a thing like this would ruin the whole thing.” Rarity still took a while to answer, afraid of the consequences. “Yes. I might have gone out with him once, at least. His personality was never an issue for me. He was and is such a wonderful dragon. Very helpful, too. I might have had some feelings for him on occasion, but his age was impossible to overlook.” Misty nodded. “I thought so. And to be honest, had I known that his interest in you was that serious, I would have handled things with him a bit differently.” The idea had her scoffing. “Whatever do you mean? You were perfect. We took things slow, we made certain we were close friends before we went steady. What was wrong with that?” “Nothing. It was the perfect pace for us. The thing is, I barreled through the whole relationship, and not once did I consider how much he was hurting along the way. Do you recall the way he looked at us when he entered the same diner we were having a date at?” The memory made Rarity wince again, even more so. “That face will forever be etched into my mind. But...Misty…” She pushed him back down and nuzzled his face. “If anypony should apologize to Spike for what happened, it should be me. Please don’t think you had anything to do with that. You never did. I guess we still feel bad for him after all these years, don’t we?” Misty groaned and nodded again, rubbing her shoulders tenderly. “Yeah. Do you think he’ll ever find the one for him, like we did?” “I hope to Celestia that he does. He deserves it. I just wish I didn’t hurt him for the rest of his life. Do you think I did?” He lowered his head and gave her another kiss on the lips. “Hopefully not. That will be up to him, however. It’s his choice on what he wants to do with his life. Although, I find that he’s too charming and charismatic to remain alone for long. You know?” “Oh yes. I know that more than most ponies. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take him too long to find the one out there.” “Amen.”