Derpy and Spike walked out the front doors of the hospital, laughing uncontrollably and smiles ear to ear. The sun was beginning to set in the sky at this point, it’s orange glow providing a soft illumination of the beautiful scenery of Ponyville.
“Oh my gosh, did you see her face when you busted in there?” Spike asked, managing to get the words out between fits of laughter. “She couldn’t believe it!”
Derpy nodded, trying to suppress her own chuckling. “I know. It was so great. Not to mention the look she gave you when you called her Note Pad.”
Spike grinned. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we just made her entire night. Maybe even week!”
“Yeah, you really did,’ Derpy said, calming herself down.
“Nah, we did,” Spike said. “I honestly wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. We both got to be heroes today, it would seem.”
“Spike…” Derpy trotted up to his side and rubbed her head against his arm. “Thanks so much.”
“It was, uh, it was no problem, Derpy,” he responded, looking down at her.
His heart rate jumped to fifth gear as he felt her mane pressing against him. Given his general lack of remotely romantic contact he’s experienced in his life, he wasn’t sure what to do. He decided to just throw caution to the wind and gently wrap his arm around her. He heard her let out a soft hum, so he figured he must’ve made the right choice. He let out a small sigh of relief before gently letting her go.
Derpy stepped back. “But it was something, Spike. Nopony else I know would’ve been able to think of something like that. Nopony I know would’ve had even cared enough to try and think of something like that.”
Spike rubbed the back of his head and emitted a nervous snort. “Ah, well, there honestly wasn’t a whole lot of thought involved. I just kind of went with the flow, one idea to the next.”
“Whatever you say,” Derpy said with a snicker. “It was really sweet, either way.”
“Gosh, you’re making me embarrassed out in public,” Spike said with a grin. “You’re gonna ruin my reputation as a vicious, fire-breathing dragon if you’re not careful.”
“Sorry, Spike,” Derpy responded, hiding a chuckle behind her hoof. “I promise I won’t let it happen again.”
The two shared one more laugh before the settled down, letting a calm silence between them. The rays of the beautiful sun, shining over them. Its soft warmth was comfortable, lending itself to ease any tension that may have been present in the still air.
Spike broke the calm first, pointing a claw at the sky. “Man, that sure is pretty. Normally I’m already in my room by this point, vegetating with my comic books or getting into a board game war with Starlight. This is kind of nice.”
“It really is,” Derpy responded, taking a deep breath of the gentle evening air. “Normally I’m sleeping by now.”
“I guess fate had other plans for both us, huh?”
Derpy closed her eyes and bobbed her head. “Yep. I’m okay with it, though.”
“Me too.”
The two took a few more moments, enjoying the peacefulness of their surroundings. It had been an eventful day for both and both were sad to see it come to an end. But as the setting sun dictated, there wasn’t much time left.
“So,” Spike spoke up. “I guess that’s a wrap on today, huh? You should probably get back home and sleep.”
Derpy sighed. “I guess so. I just wish there was more time. Days like this… it doesn’t seem fair that they have to end.”
“Heh, I know what you mean,” the dragon said. “If you ask me, that’s why Manehatten is probably the coolest place in Equestria. Day or night, it doesn’t matter. That city never sleeps.”
“Really?” Derpy asked. “That sounds crazy. I’ve always wanted to go, but I’ve never really had the chance.”
Spike’s jaw hit the floor. “Hold on a second. Are you telling me you’ve never been to Manehattan?”
She shook her head.
“Not even once?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Even for just a little bit?”
“Nope.”
Spike was in disbelief. He thought everypony everywhere had been there. Such a huge place, so much to do and see.
“I can’t believe it,” he finally spoke up. “I’ve never met anypony who hadn’t been there at least once.”
The mare kicked at the ground and shrugged. “Well, growing up in Cloudsdale when I was little and then going to Ponyville, there was just always a lot to do and not a whole lot of bits to go around. I’ve heard about it, and even seen some pictures, but going there… it’s never happened.”
Spike finally snapped out of his disbelief long enough to process what she was saying. He knew that his circumstances and ability to travel around where quite a bit more generous than that of the average citizen. But actually knowing somepony now who’s never had the luxury, it really made him think.
By the good grace of Celestia, he was gonna make her night if he could.
“You know, Derpy…” Spike spoke up, causing the mare to lift her head up.
“Yeah?”
The dragon smiled at her. He was well aware of how corny and cliche that line he was about to say would sound, but he’s always wanted to use it. “The night doesn’t have to end yet.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Well, if you don’t mind losing some sleep for a night and you trust me enough, what say you and me go to Manehattan.” He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Would you be down for that?”
Derpy’s eyes widened. “A-Are you serious? Right now?”
He nodded. “Right now. I can get us the train tickets, it’s only an hour or so over there and then you can finally say you’ve seen the place. I know it’s kind of last minute, about as last minute as something can get, but there’s no time like the present. And this way, the day can go on just a little bit longer.” Spike averted his gaze from her. “That’s if, you know, you want to.”
Derpy leaped from her spot and wrapped her hooves around him.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
The train ride over was uneventful, to say the least. There was only so much one could talk about aboard a train. The scenery passing by. The discomfort of the seats. The rude staff.
Luckily, Spike and Derpy were far enough past the awkward stage that a little silence didn’t feel awkward anymore. And even more importantly, the excitement that awaited them was enough to make the hour trip feel more like a few minutes.
Once the railway car finally made it to the city terminal, Spike led Derpy out and into the station.
“Alright, Derpy, are you ready to be amazed?”
She vibrantly shook her head. “I’m ready!”
The train station was an enclosed building, so there was nothing to see at this point besides the poorly maintained flooring and the rush of ponies darting around. But as they made their way to the hustle and bustle and up the stairs, the real magic began.
Derpy took her first step out of the station, her eyes lit up. “Woah!”
Densely populated streets were encased as far as the eye could see by towering buildings. More ponies than she’d seen in her life seemed to be on every street corner. Smells she’s never experienced before wafted from various food carts and restaurants in the area.
It was night at this point, the sky completely black, but the city was awake as ever, and the lights from all the building illuminated the streets as if they didn’t even need the sun.
“My dear Derpy,” Spike said, taking a few steps forward. “Welcome… to Manehattan!”
She walked up to him, eyes to the sky, taking in the sight. “It’s so… so… big! I’ve seen pictures but I never imagined it’d be this… beautiful!”
Spike was about to add on to her thought, but the two were interrupted by a strange pony running up to Derpy.
“Hey! You look new here!” An older, silver stallion with a black beard ran up to the mare. “The name’s Lucid.”
“Oh, um, hello!” she said, with a nervous wave.
The stallion gave a quick bow. “Well, seeing as how you’re a visitor, I’d like you to know that I’m selling only the finest of Hoofex watches, and of course, I’ll be giving you the guest discount.” The stallion seemed to pull a few watches out of the air and show them to Derpy. “Only twenty bits per.”
Spike rolled his eyes and swatted the watches out his hoof. “Bro, take your bootleg crap out of here. We’ve got stuff to do.”
The stallion dashed off, leaving a very confused Derpy in his wake. “What happened?”
“Eh, ponies will try everything to make a quick buck here. Fake watches, drugs, stolen anything… the whole shebang.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Yeah, just ignore it.”
Spike led Derpy around a few blocks, showing her a general idea of the town. The restaurants, music clubs, shops. They didn’t have the time or energy to experience them first hoof at this point, but Derpy was happy enough to just get to see some of what Manehattan had to offer.
After strolling beneath the night sky for a bit, Spike stopped in his tracks. They were in a dense area of the city, but not lost, as Spike knew his way around.
“Where are we?” Derpy asked.
“There’s something special I wanna show you before we go back home. I know we don’t have all the time in the world to experience everything, but there’s something you have to see. If you think you have the time, that is.”
Derpy bobbed her head enthusiastically. “Sure!”
“Alright, follow me.” Spike pointed toward a thin street between two nearby buildings. “We just gotta cut through here.”
Derpy looked at the ominous darkness and gulped down a breath of air before nodding and following after him.
Spike held a tight grip on her hoof as they strode down the dark alley. The moon held high in the sky, barely visible through the dense canopy of lit skyscrapers and apartment buildings. There was a soft stench of old garbage and murky puddles, lending a feeling of uneasiness to the mare.
“Are you sure we should be back here, Spike?” she asked, glancing around, gripping his claw as tight as she could. “This feels kinda… scary.”
Spike paused for a moment to turn around. “I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ve been here before, so don’t worry. Do you trust me?”
Derpy bit her lip, taking one last look around. She nodded. “Yeah.”
“Cool,” he said. “We’re almost there. I promise you’ll love it. Just hold onto my claw, alright?”
“O-Okay.”
They traveled through a few more similar alleys, littered with garbage, stray cats, strange smells and the occasional drunk pony before they finally got to a particularly tall building. It was a large brick structure, much like many of the others.
“Here we are,” Spike said, letting go of her hoof.
Derpy eyed the building up and down. “A building?”
“Yep.”
“Is this the surprise?”
Spike shook his head. “Not quite, but almost. To show you the surprise though, I need you to close your eyes, okay?”
Derpy stepped back, a slight hesitation in her voice as she spoke. “Close my eyes? I, um, do I have to?” Derpy looked around her, paying special attention to anything that might be behind her.
Spike nodded. “I mean, I’m not gonna force you to do anything. But, if you really wanna see the surprise, you’ll have to trust me. It’ll be worth it.”
Derpy let out a sigh and walked up to him. She grabbed his claw and held onto it as if her life depended on not letting go. With another deep breath, she closed her eyes and nodded.
“Okay, I trust you.”
“Alrighty. This way.” They slowly trudged through various puddles and piles of debris before reaching a spot behind the aforementioned building. Derpy couldn’t see where they were going, but she followed accordingly, never once cracking her eyelids.
“Okay,” Spike said. “It’s going to get a little awkward here, okay? We’re gonna be going up some stairs.”
“Stairs?”
“Yeah,” he reiterated. “But I’ll be right by your side.”
Spike stepped back and let go of Derpy’s hoof. He instead placed his on her back to let her know he was there and began to direct her up the steps.
“Okay, so we’ll do this one step at a time.” They took the first step onto the metal staircase. It creaked and almost seemed to bend under their weight, but Spike gently held onto her, putting a soft calm over the mare. “Okay, we got the first step, now let’s just keep the rhythm going. Step, step, step…”
The two made their way up the first flight of stairs and were able to do the same over the next several flights. As they got higher and higher, Spike could feel Derpy getting more nervous. He couldn’t imagine a pegasus being afraid of heights, but there was probably a difference between flying and being led up a mysterious flight of stairs without knowing where you’re going.
“We’re almost there, alright?” Spike said, reassuring her. “Just a few more steps to go.”
She shakily bobbed her head. “O-Okay. Just… just please don’t let go of me.”
Spike rubbed his claw light on her back. “I won’t let go, I promise.”
The made their way up a few more creaky steps before the feel of flat concrete was finally under them. The feeling of danger and stench of rotting garbage was nowhere to be found, replaced by a gentle breeze and a still quiet.
“Are we there yet?” Derpy asked. “Where’d we go?”
“Almost and you’ll see,” Spike said, trying to contain the excitement in his voice. “Just make sure you follow me really close.”
He took her hoof and led her no more than a few yards away. “Okay, we’re gonna sit down, now, so be careful. It’s a bit of a ledge” He gently led her to the ground in a sitting position, which he then followed himself. He then put both of his claws over her eyes.
“Derpy, are you ready?”
She nodded. “I guess so…”
“Alright, on the count of three I’m gonna let go and you can look.”
The mare nodded. “I’m ready.”
“Okay. One, two, three!”
Spike lifted his claws, allowing Derpy to take in the sight. And what she saw left her speechless. As far as the eye could see were the tops of skyscrapers, lit up by the moon hanging in the sky. She looked at herself, realizing where exactly he took her. From her vantage point, they must’ve been on top of the tallest building in Manehattan.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Spike said. “You can see the whole city from here!”
Derpy, jaw still agape, took another moment to look around. There was an endless sight of buildings, more than she ever knew existed. When she looked down, she could see carriages and what looked to be ponies moving around, all the size of ants.
“Spike, this is amazing!”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, inching a bit closer to the edge of the building to dangle his feet over the edge. “I have to come here quite a bit to help Rarity with the shop she has in town. One day I just looked around to find the tallest building, and this was it. I don’t really have the ability to fly like you guys, so if I want to see things from the sky, this is the best I got.”
Derpy shook her head, trying to get rid of the shock, but she was still breathless as she looked over the lush cityscape. “I can’t believe it. This is so beautiful.”
“It is up here, at least,” Spike said with a snicker. “Looking at all the lights and star, you’d never guess the den of scum and villainy that hides out in the alleyways.”
The two took another moment to look at everything, letting the quiet wash over them. It wasn’t the first time Spike himself had seen this view, but getting to share it with somepony else… that made it feel like the first time all over again.
Derpy slowly reached a hoof over and laid it on Spike’s claw that was resting on the ledge. He widened his eyes and looked down at the sight, just to make sure his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him. This wasn’t the usual hoof holding, like when he was leading her through the alleys. This was… different. Warm, fuzzy almost.
“Spike?” Derpy spoke up.
“Y-Yeah?” he responded, trying to control the shakiness in his voice.
“Thank you… for everything.” She moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. And from what he could tell, she had no intention of moving.
He gently lifted his claw from underneath her hoof and wrapped it around her, holding her close. “No problem.” He let out a small chuckle, trying to ease his nerves. “You know, we’re not even allowed to be up here, really. That’s why we had to sneak up the fire escape to get here. So, you’re an outlaw now.”
She nuzzled into him. “Well, you told me before you were a bad influence. I guess I should’ve listened, huh?”
Spike leaned his head over and rested it against hers. “I guess so. But, if it’s all the same, I’m kinda glad you didn’t.”
The bright lights of the city combined with the soft glow of the moon on the two only enhanced the beautiful silence of the moment. It didn’t last for more than a few minutes, but a few minutes of perfection was more than they could have ever asked for.
Spike felt his head move involuntarily as Derpy shifted hers from under it. She looked up at him with a soft gaze.
“Spike?” she asked, barely above a whisper.
“Yeah?” he asked, returning the gaze. An answer wasn’t needed, however.
She lifted his claw up and rested it against her cheek. Spike could feel her soft coat and the warmth radiating from her. He had no idea what he was doing so he didn’t even try making sense of it. He gently stroked her cheek with one of his claws. His heart seemed to be jumping out his chest, but he wasn’t about to let go.
Derpy rose her hoof up and rested it on his neck, never breaking eye contact with him. The feel of her warmth on his scales, the soft breaths on his muzzle… the entire world outside of her golden eyes was completely absent.
And that was when his instincts took over.
After a few more strokes on her cheek. Spike slowly brought his head toward hers, closing the distance between them. He felt her hoof putting a light pressure on his neck, meaning she was doing the same. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but he knew what he felt and there was no going back. He closed his eyes, wrapped both of his claws around her and pulled her toward him.
And then their lips met for the first time.
He had never done anything like this before, never felt anything like it before. He felt the soft feel of her lips closed on his. Her hooves wrapped tight around his neck. Her mane brushing against his face. Her forehead pressed firmly against his. Her heartbeat beating against his chest, causing his to beat even harder.
And just when he thought it was over, he felt her wings open up and wrap around him, her soft downy feather caressing him in an even tighter embrace. He felt a rush to his head, almost as if he had been drinking a bit too much cider, but this one was so much more pleasant.
And then it was over.
Derpy pulled her head back, taking short gasps of air, looking him dead in the eyes. She still had him wrapped in her hooves and wings. Spike, still with his arms around her, shared the same stare.
The mare leaned forward and rested her head against his chest. Spike followed along, stroking her mane and resting his chin on her head.
“Spike…” she whispered.
“Yes?” he responded.
“Don’t let me go… Not tonight. Please?”
Spike hugged her a bit tighter. “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on it.”
