//------------------------------//
// – 9: Sadness Won't Prevail – 
// Story: Sparity Shipping Mega Epic 
// by Mareity 
//------------------------------//

The very next day, once he’d received Rarity’s response Spike flew back to Ponyville as soon as was feasible that afternoon. He landed in the Ponyville town centre, which was still being cleaned up after yesterday’s event and finishing debacle, and dropped in at Sugarcube Corner to get some candy to share before heading over to the Carousel Boutique.

He flew up and opened the top half of the shop door, intentionally as to ring the security bell to announce his arrival, looking around at the ponequins, mirrors and red drapes surrounding the wide, open expanse of the pink shop floor that contained a couple of clothing racks and a fitting platform. While the shop was open, neither Rarity nor any customers were to be seen, with just faint, piped parlour music filling in for ambience and her apprentice Yona sitting at the far end of the sewing desk, seeing to the sequins on a freshly stitched dress. While she was sticking her tongue out in concentration at attaching the tiny things at first, once she’d threaded her current backstitch through she looked up at Spike and smiled politely.

Since before she’d graduated from the School of Friendship and taken this apprenticeship Yona had been quietly but steadily gravitating towards a more sophisticated look than her earlier schooldays, and Spike took notice of how replacing the pink ribbons in her hair with golden bands, along with another pair of the same around her horns, complemented her shaggy brown fur. She’d also gained earrings since the last time he’d seen her around, one small gold bell hanging from each lobe. The shawl on her back was one he hadn’t seen before besides, now a xanadu-green tasselled piece that matched her eyes with an elaborate design, likely a traditional Yak pattern sewn with gold thread. Golden anklets atop each of her hooves and one final gold chain double-wrapped around her neck adorned with a translucent blue diamond completed the look. As well as all that, he caught a whiff of what he was sure was a slightly overapplied aniseed scent from her tawny locks as he approached.

‘Ah, purple dragon arrive!’ she trilled in the urbane but still-gruff voice she’d been cultivating, loud but hardly unfriendly as she tousled her looped plaits, her bells jingling gently as she did so. ‘Ms. Rarity say to keep an eye out for you sometime today! Can Yona help or are you here only to see her? Yona not suppose you interested in more jackets? Spike look fine in the one Ms. Rarity made yesterday, in Yona’s opinion! Many creatures noticed!’

‘Hey, Yona. You’re looking… shiny, I like the ear bells!’ Spike said, raising a claw to the yak in greeting as she smiled at his compliment. ‘Yeah, actually, she’s why I’m back in Ponyville so soon… although now you mention it, I might patronise the boutique while I’m around. Uh, she is around, right?’

‘Ms. Rarity busy as bumble bee in workshop,’ Yona replied nonchalantly, waving a cloven hoof in the direction of the beaded curtain behind the counter where the faint clacking of a sewing machine could be heard, ‘You know, Ms. Rarity not come out of there much today. Working hard, yes, but took tea back there today too. Usually we have some together for lunch and talk. Strange.’

Spike sighed. ‘I upset her applecart yesterday during the picnic, that’s why. I did something stupid and I think it’s put her, uh, out of balance a bit… I wanna set things straight. Hey, do you like chocolate limes? I just bought a bag off of Mrs. Cake! They’re for Rare but you’re right here, so what do you say?’

Yona grinned and pushed the dress aside, placing both hooves on the desk. ‘Candies good! Limes better! Nothing alike in Yakyakistan!’ Spike flicked one into the air and Yona jumped to catch it in her mouth, nearly cleaving the desk in two upon landing. Then she laughed with it residing in her cheek, ‘Ah, tres bien, Spike. Anyway, Rarity in back. Yona go let her know you here. Go nowhere!’

Then she scuttled behind the counter and shoved the hanging beads aside before banging three times on the doorframe. ‘MS. RARITY! SPIKEY-WIKEY HERE! SAYS HE WANT TALK!!’ she roared.

She hopped aside as Rarity appeared at the door within just a few seconds, wearing her orange-rimmed detail spectacles and a tape measure around her neck. ‘Thank you, Yona, but what did we agree about bellowing so, darling?’

Yona looked slightly sheepish. ‘Yona use indoor voice only inside boutique. Sorry. Yona get overexcited.’

‘It’s quite alright, just try to remember,’ said Rarity, before peering over the counter at Spike, who was still clutching the rest of his bag.

She turned paler than usual for a second. ‘Spikey? Oh, yes, yes, of course,’ she said before becoming singularly tongue-tied with a voice shifting multiple octaves seemingly at random, ‘I’m, ah, ableh, um, Yona, could you possibly take any orders that come in for a short while, darling? We, ah, I need, we need some, eeh, um, we may require some privacy for a tad? Or we will, after I finish the, ah, the dress, the dress I’m sewing! Cloudchaser’s order, yes, the dress I’m making must be finished before the end of the day! If the door here is closed entirely, I’m, ah, we’re otherwise occupied. Is that quite okay, dear?’

Yona nodded. ‘Mmhmm, Yona get it. Quiet afternoon anyway. Yona get on with sequinning… if Yona need anything Yona let Ms. Rarity know.’

Yona returned to her threading as Rarity looked at Spike. He wasn’t certain what to make of her expression… it wasn’t happy, he could tell by her eyes, but she was smiling. ‘So… can I come in?’ he asked.

‘You may,’ she said as her voice settled into a tone that, while not completely devoid of warmth, was definitely imperative. He responded by slowly flying into the organised chaos of the workshop after her, lengths of fabric, costume jewellery and various dressmaking implements strewn around on the floor, coagulating in its corners and more besides in the overhead shelves around its edges. As she trotted back around to where she’d been using her sewing machine to resume her current project, Spike took a seat to the right of the sewing table next to a basket of gems and waited for her to finish.

He waited for a while, clasping his claws together and pressing his thumbs against one another, eyeing the gems but not daring to touch them, crossing his legs nervously as the clacking continued. Rarity didn’t acknowledge him further, as absorbed in her work as she was. After sitting and waiting for a few minutes, he inhaled and asked ‘Rarity, can I help–’

She waved a hoof at him dismissively. ‘I’m almost done, Spikey. I simply need to get the posterior of the skirt fanned outwards a tiny bit and these puffy sleeves curtailed.’

‘Well, alright.’ He resumed waiting. As Rarity continued working he looked closely at her face – she was prim, every hair in place and as perfectly well turned out as she’d ever been, but her deep concentration was an affectation for delaying talking to him, he could tell. At the absolute least he knew Rarity had a habit of narrating her own actions without realising it while she worked, and her continuing silence made the room seem icier than normal. Compared to how much she’d wittered with happiness when he’d visited a week prior it felt tense and unnatural to be sitting and waiting for her to finish like this, like he’d been called into a headmare’s office for an impending detention.

After another couple of minutes Spike piped up, ‘So, how’s the adjustment coming along?’

He shouldn’t have. Whatever Rarity had been doing went awry the moment he spoke as the sewing machine shuddered and the fabric bunched up. Rarity growled and shut it off with a flash of her horn, still not looking at him. ‘Oh, dash it… what a nuisance!’ she sighed before turning to him accusingly with a furrowed brow, ‘You surprised me and my hoof slipped! I’ve no choice but to start with a new length!’

There was an impasse as Rarity seemed to expect Spike to do something. Part of him wanted to apologise for making her slip but he was becoming increasingly annoyed by the mixed signals she was sending out. ‘Well?’ she asked, ‘I’ll need another half-metre of this azure blue fabric, Spike.’

He almost got up to do her bidding, but stopped himself mid-stand. ‘Actually, I won’t, Rarity. If you really need it, just levitate it off the shelf or out of one of these piles yourself. You’re avoiding talking to me and I’m not playing along. It’s still early afternoon, and I won’t take up too much of your time, promise.’

She turned her muzzle up at him and sniffed. ‘Well, I never! If you’re not going to help me out here, Spike, perhaps you should just be on your way.’

She looked down at him with a frown, one hoof raised. He returned her gaze right back up at her and crossed his arms. Then he shrugged and turned away. ‘Alright, you're in charge here, Rarity…’

He flew towards the door, then swung it shut, just loudly enough to send the signal to Yona, and turned the key in the lock before turning back to look at her. ‘Listen, I know you didn't just invite me here to treat me like this. We need to talk. I know you’re upset with me, but please hear me out…’

Rarity bristled. ‘No, not before you hear me out, Spike! I don’t quite know what you were thinking yesterday but I’ll tell you this right here and now, I refuse to be, to be a little toyboy’s rebound fling! I’m far too self-respecting of a mare to allow myself to, to… to just let you take me, then cast me aside as you see fit!’

‘Say what?!’ Spike said, his voice cracking under the disappointment he felt at Rarity’s apparent read on the situation, and his lower lip curled involuntarily.  ‘Oh, Rarity, you can’t be serious, that was the last thing I intended. Won’t you at least listen to me? I’m really sorry…’

Her stance became slightly less hostile, although she didn’t relax much. ‘Hmph. I suppose you owe me an explanation, and I plan to cash such in, so to speak… do go on,’ she said.

He approached her, though she didn't move aside from her eyes tracking him, sitting stubbornly on the floor as he paced around. He looked down and closed his eyes as he spoke, half-reciting what he’d rehearsed on the way over and wringing his claws together as he did so. ‘Well, I owe you a full apology first. I guess I want to tell you how sorry I am about the whole thing, properly, I mean. I thought it was a good idea in the heat of the moment to… y’know… you on the… y’know… and it wasn’t, definitely not around so many other ponies, but it was completely sincere…’ he looked up at her with soulful eyes before continuing, ‘But regardless, I understand if you’re angry or upset at me for making you uncomfortable, or, or anxious. I mean it when I say I’ll do anything you want to make it up.’

Rarity’s frown softened a little as he continued, and she bowed her head. ‘I… I confess, yes, I am angry, and upset, Spike. But… not really at you, darling, not just at you…’

She sighed and stood there, looking both of those things. Spike stood a few metres away from Rarity, unsure what action to take next – despite her opening up ever-so-slightly in response to his apology she still wasn’t giving much away. ‘Uh… you know, I brought candies, as a peace offering! You like chocolate limes, don’t you?’

Rarity exhaled. ‘Yona enjoys them more than I do as an exotic delicacy, but they are a most delightful confection,’ she said before moving, encircling Spike for a moment before walking towards the fainting couch near the window. ‘Why don't we sit here together and discuss this properly at last? I, I’m… I can’t stay angry at you, truthfully…’ she trailed off with a guilty look in her eyes.

Spike followed and sat down, putting the bag of limes between them. Before long Rarity magiced one out of the bag and tipped back her head as she popped it into her mouth, scooping it in with her tongue before giving it a few contemplative sucks. Spike took two, crunching the hard candies down rather than taking his time. ‘Mmm, not bad at all,’ she said eventually, licking her lips briefly,  ‘Piquant, yet mellow. Thank you, Spikey.’

Then she looked at him, inspecting him closely as she adjusted her spectacles, and smiled mildly. Unlike the ones she'd displayed thus far, this one seemed genuine. ‘So… you kissed me. On the mouth, in front of everypony. Fortunately nocreature was looking our way except for Discord, for whom I suppose it was more amusing than anything… nonetheless, whatever possessed you to be so forward?’

Spike blushed. ‘Yeah… it wasn’t my best idea, in retrospect. I could have at least asked, I guess.’

Her serious face remained as she probed him. ‘We have established that, and I accept your heartfelt apology as well as your lovely sweets, Spikey-Wikey. But… I need to understand why you’d act so… well, unlike yourself. Why? Was it because of Fluttershy and Discord?’

After everything that had happened Spike had almost forgotten the impetus behind what he’d done, but when Rarity inquired it became obvious. ‘No, I’m used to them getting all cute with each other, that doesn’t bother me, and before you say it, no, it didn’t give me any funny ideas either. But… ugh, you’re actually kinda right about the “rebound” thing you just said, after a fashion, and that stinks. I should’ve told you after it happened but I didn’t… at the smoothie stall…’

‘Yes? Peach Melba was working that stall, wasn’t she?’ Rarity prompted as Spike trailed off.

‘Sure was. I don’t think I told you at the time but she had that note you wrote on the receipt for her back at the plaza market, all mounted and framed behind the counter!’

Rarity’s smile became twenty-percent wider. ‘Really? She didn't have to do that, but I'm honoured… if that silly little ten-second doodle brightens up somepony’s day, so much the better.’ Then she giggled, her mood obviously improving from how accusatory she’d been before. ‘You know, that was a truly magical evening we spent together…’

‘Yeah, it sure was,’ Spike sighed before realising they were getting off track already, ‘Anyway, while I was buying that smoothie we shared I bumped into Gabby and Button Mash and uh, let’s just say they were enjoying each other’s company a lot?’

‘Ah,’ said Rarity, immediately understanding, ‘You mean they were kissing.’ Spike nodded before she continued, ‘So… how did that make you feel?’

‘How do you think? Like Button Mash had moved in and instantly picked up on where I’d left… actually, you know,’ he second-guessed himself mid-sentence, ‘This is weird and possessive of me, isn’t it? Now we’re talking about this I’m back to wondering why I should care. It’s none of my business.’

Rarity inspected Spike closely to the point it made him slightly nervous before speaking again. ‘So you felt some anxiety until you returned to our group… and after we shared our drink you took some of those possessive feelings out on me, didn’t you?’

Spike looked down, ashamed. While Rarity plainly sought to understand rather than scold now, this was the admonishment he’d feared, honestly worse than her vituperative accusations earlier. ‘Yeeeeeeeeeahhhhhhh…’ he just about managed to croak out.

Rarity pursed her lips and frowned. ‘So you see how we could have avoided the ensuing situation if we’d talked about it, don’t you. I suppose I shoulder some of the blame… I noticed you were a little off when you returned to us afterwards, but I let it lie. We were all having such a lovely day, after all! Speaking personally, I very much wanted to play Fluttershy’s birds’ game with you!’

‘Yeah, plus we’d agreed not to fuss about Gabby in the meantime. Maybe that was a mistake?’

‘I’d say it was the correct call, insofar as her business remained her own, but…’ Rarity paused, ‘You say they were enjoying each other's company. How, exactly?’

Spike looked back up. ‘How do you mean? I already, uh, you already guessed they were kissing at the stall.’

‘I mean, were they “just kissing” kissing, or, ah, were they putting on some kind of grand display of it?’ Rarity asked matter-of-factly.

‘Uh, on a sliding scale? More of the latter than the former. They were pretty up in my face with it, anyway…’

‘Hmm…’ Rarity had a very serious look on her face now. ‘Now, I don’t wish to sound overly suspicious, but, ah…’

Spike raised an eyebrow as Rarity failed to close that sentence. ‘Well, maybe I will if you won’t, because it was on my mind. You think she was trying to make me jealous of her new guy?’

‘Perhaps so… and, ah, oh, it doesn’t matter what else I’m contemplating accusing her of right now, but if it becomes relevant I might. I mean, we could both be way off! But, call it pony’s intuition…’

Spike had some idea what Rarity was thinking about, but silently agreed to let it lie, for now at least. ‘No, I think she played me, although not in the way she intended, like, maybe she hoped I’d fight for her honour or something crazy like that? From what she said she doesn’t seem to think of you as, uh, uhh… uhhhhh…’ he felt quite flustered as he stopped himself from saying it aloud.

Rarity blushed and looked away. ‘As a romantic rival?’ she asked, in a very small voice.

Spike blushed just as much and giggled nervously before inhaling through his teeth. ‘I guess…’

Still seated close together, the two of them cast their gazes down onto the workshop floor. It couldn’t have lasted more than twenty seconds, but for both of them the awkward silence felt eternal until they both simultaneously glanced back at one another. Spike saw Rarity had turned so red in the face that for a second he felt faintly concerned she might burst a vessel, but she looked otherwise calm and collected, with a demure smile on her face.

She spoke again in that soft little voice. ‘You know, darling… I didn’t dislike that kiss you gave me…’

Spike’s own cheeks felt aflame as she shared that fact with him, but this time he looked into the facets of her sparkling eyes. They looked like a tropical ocean on a glorious sunny day. ‘Well, it was pretty obvious you felt something from it, but it didn’t seem like a good thing…’

That little voice flattened out into a plaintive sigh. ‘I felt everything from it, Spikey,’ she said, removing her glasses and putting them on the side-table with a click. ‘That’s the problem…’

‘The problem?’ asked Spike. There was another long, long pause that lasted a million years. ‘...It’s because I’m a baby dragon, isn’t it?’ he almost-choked. It was phrased as a question, but he knew the answer.

Which was as well, because Rarity didn’t reply. He slowly looked up at her and realised she was quietly crying, covering her face with her hooves and softly shaking as black tears rolled down her cheeks. He extended a claw to her forearm and said, ‘Rarity? Aw, Rare, don’t cry… c’mere…’

Yet she persisted in her sorrow. Spike gave her a tight hug around her waist and one shoulder as she embraced him desperately, giving him a doleful, tender squeeze as she sniffled and wept, a small wail in the back of her throat gaining momentum until she was sobbing into his neck and shoulder. She blubbered something in between hiccuping breaths, but it was so jagged and inchoate he couldn’t understand her as he got splashed upon, positioned as he was beneath her lachrymose ocular organs. If they’d looked like the ocean to him before, they were stormclouds consuming that bright sunny day now, pouring dark, bitter droplets onto his head. As he continued holding her he whispered, ‘Rare, oh, Rarity, it’s alright… c’mon, let it all out. I’m here.’

‘I was horrible to you…’ she eventually managed to enunciate once she’d dried up slightly, ‘I, I, I was just horrid to you, just now, and y-yesterday and, and s-so m-m-many times in, in the past… oh, Spikey-Wikey, I’m a terrible pony…!’

‘No you’re not! Well, I mean, when I arrived just now and you tried to push me around did kinda feel like the bad old days…’ Spike said with a smile despite the situation, which faded from a surge of pity as he looked up at Rarity, catching an eyeful of the depths of her wobbly-faced misery, ‘Uh, worse, actually. You never needed to put up with me back then, I was a dumb kid with a crush and you were nice to me and let me do stuff for you… I was lucky you tolerated me, really…’

Rarity snorted and swallowed the slime that had made its residence inside her face while she’d been crying. ‘It’s not just that, Spike… I mean I, I’m scared and I was horrible to you because of it… if I hadn’t pushed you away when you kissed me, if, if I’d let you kiss me, l-like that and I’d, I’d kissed back, I don’t know where it would’ve ended… and you’re a baby dragon…! Oh, I don’t feel… I mustn’t…’

Then she wailed again, and Spike gave her another reassuring cuddle as best he could, letting her shake with little sobs until they subsided. Eventually she spoke again. ‘I feel terrible… I could never reject you, my precious little sweetheart, but I simply can’t be… like that with you, even though I love being with you, and life just feels better when you’re with me… and I’m falling for you, darling… oh, drat it! I simply can’t deny it any longer, baby dragon or no…!’

Spike wished he felt happy at her confession. ‘I can’t help my species, Rarity. I’m working on shedding the puppy fat, although I kind of feel like I’m tossing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, so to speak.’

Rarity pulled away from Spike. Her eyes were still somewhat red and her face still puffy, but she had a serious look on her face. ‘If I could make myself clear, Spike, your draconic nature is absolutely not the issue here. Just maybe I like you slightly more for it, as a matter of fact… no, what scares me is… what if I’m a, a, what if, oh, I can’t even say it…! I know we established that you are, ah, of age these days back at that friendship meeting but you still look so young, and you are young, still, and I’m, I’m, I am so ooooold…!’

Spike looked Rarity dead in the face and stroked under the left side of her jaw as she whimpered. ‘I don’t care about that… well, alright, I am curious now that you bring it up… how old are you, Rarity? I’m aware you’re a few years older than Twilight.’

‘Twentysomething…’ Rarity answered under her breath.

‘Twilight’s closing in on thirty, Rarity. Be honest with me.’

‘Alright, alright! Thirty-one! I think, I don’t keep count nowadays! Are you happy now you know I’m positively ancient?! There’s over a decade of lived experience between us and you’re so little and I’m so, so preoccupied with what a grown up, mature, fabulous ladylike mare I am! We just, I shouldn’t feel this way about a little dragon no matter how sweet he is…’

‘That’s not old,’ said Spike, ‘Ponies can live to be a hundred, princesses notwithstanding, and you’re barely a third there. And I’m not one-hundred-percent sure I understand what you’re afraid of. If it’s the judgement of other ponies, may I remind you that we both have the backing of the Princess of Friendship herself? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but she is very supportive of, um, us?’

Rarity chuckled bitterly before inhaling. ‘Oh, it’s just not that simple… this is selfish of me but my career is my calling in life, and ponies talk, and being branded, a, a scarlet pony for being publically with you, the way you are, would be nothing short of career suicide! Being Equestria’s premiere seamstress is what I was born to do, Spike… I could never simply swan off into Princess Twilight’s ivory tower, never to be seen again, metaphorically speaking… I know I’d be miserable, bereft of purpose, even with you by my side!’

Spike felt deflated by Rarity’s words, but they weren’t altogether surprising to him and this was a practical matter more than a personal one. ‘Not that I would dream of it, but I can’t make you choose… but I get it, Twilight couldn’t make ponies buy your stuff. And maybe that is a bit selfish, but it’d be just as selfish of me to ask you to abandon your career for me, Rarity.’ He teared up and hugged her as he sniffled, ‘Oh, I’m really sorry I forced the issue onto you now. Heck, onto both of us. We were having a great time at the race, I had no idea…’ He couldn’t suppress a sob of his own as he spoke.

‘You don’t need to apologise anymore, Spikey-Wikey. Don’t think for one minute that it means I don’t like you, darling, I absolutely, absolutely do. It is bittersweet, but I’m strangely happy like this despite such sadness,’ said Rarity.

They hugged for a minute more and Spike felt the moisture on her cheeks mingle with his own tears. She rocked him gently and squished him against her chest fur, nuzzling the crest of his head frills against her lips and muzzle.

Spike exhaled with a protracted sigh and a wisp of smoke escaped, as if exorcising the sadness inside his chest. ‘So,’ he whispered into her ear slyly, ‘All that “scarlet pony” stuff aside, you mean it when you say you’re falling for me? Even though I’m a little baby dragon?’

Rarity emitted a small, protracted sigh in confirmation. ‘A minor confession… you called me “the most beautiful mare in the world”, Spikey. Would you believe nopony’s ever said that to me outright? You’re actually the first and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way…’

Spike felt her warm breath against his neck as she spoke, her ear pressed against the area just behind his frills a little farther upwards, and exhaled likewise. ‘I have a secret for you, too, Rarity… you know how I had a crush on you when I was younger?’

‘Ah, I was always aware, darling, but that was a sleeping dragon it seemed best to let lie… you were still a child, after all,’ she whispered.

‘Yeah… well, it never really went away, but you don’t keep a crush for years on somepony close to you without it becoming something more,’ Spike explained, ‘In the early going I just thought you were pretty like a geode, like the gems you’re always working with, but I really came to admire you as the years wore on; you’re so talented and creative and dedicated to what you do, how could I not?’

‘You did seem to drop it somewhat after a little while, though you never stopped coming around here, so for some time I presumed that was an end to it… but you were silently pining for me, weren’t you? It took me quite some time before I noticed at all… I suppose I can thank Gabby for putting our relationship into perspective for me. I just woke up one day two years or so ago and you weren’t on call for me all the time, and, well, you know I acted less than nobly, to you and to her, because it hurt, inside. I’d never examined it before then, you know… I suppose I just thought, “Well, he helps Twilight out with her work, and I don’t mind it,” for years and years. It wasn’t really fair on you.’

‘I mean, I hung around because being around you and doing things with you was good enough, and I hardly ever acted on it because it never seemed like the right time. And then time just seemed about up when Gabby flew into my life and asked me out on a date pretty much the second time we met at the post office! So I went for it, ’cuz I figured we were just never gonna happen, mainly ’cuz of stuff you’ve just said to me, the age gap and all and maybe you just preferred other ponies anyway, and it was time to let it go. And, heh, looks I was kinda wrong about that, huh? But I’ve always had… feelings for you, you know?’

‘Well, I’d suspected such the last year or so before Gabby, like when you wrote me that, ah, “I’m Not Gifted At Gifting” song a few Hearth’s Warmings ago…’ Rarity giggled, pulling away from Spike before sitting upright, ‘But that ended up being a gift for everypony in its own way, us and the girls and Discord, and Twilight’s brother and his family, since we were all rather down in the dumps after what had happened with the magic pudding and the rampaging monster.’

‘Yeah, I’ll be the first to admit that song wasn’t very good on its own, but it was, um, appropriate given the terrible gifts we’d all brought along, or hadn’t in your case, and we all sang it together. It definitely felt special for all of us.’

Rarity gave Spike another affectionate nuzzle on the head, this time rubbing her cheek against his brow. ‘It was a lovely song, Spikey-Wikey, and I recall I kissed you for it, it was so nice. I don’t care how proficient your singing voice may or may not be, it made everything better for everypony. That’s the gift you have… making things better like that, in your own way…’

‘Aw, I try,’ said Spike, ‘Isn’t that what assistants are for?’ As they relaxed Rarity gave Spike a loving, but worried look as she wiped her face with her hoofkerchief, which he returned with a smile. He sat back on the couch for a moment, getting comfortable with a cushion before deciding to attempt to put her mind at ease. ‘Rarity, could you answer a personal question for me?’

Rarity sighed. ‘I suppose so, but I’m feeling a bit all “personalled” out at this precise moment, darling.’

‘Well, you’re so afraid of even saying it I won’t say the word outright, but… well, you’ve had eyes for other ponies in the past… were any of them, uh, colts?’

Rarity’s eyes widened with muted horror. ‘Heaven forfend, Spikey! No, no, absolutely not, not since I myself was a filly, and even then, most colts were ah, not my type at all! I need somepony, ah, somecreature mature, of a romantic nature, in my life! To that end, most stallions I’ve liked turned out not to be so likable up close, I mean you remember the rather silly fairytale fixation I had on marrying Prince Blueblood around the time we met, don’t you? Five minutes in his company at the Gala made it clear he was spoiled and dreadfully conceited all the way into stallionhood! I could barely stand to be around him!’

‘Sure do. And Trenderhoof, the big phony baloney pony who made you cry when he went chasing after Applejack… heck, Capper Dapperpaws, who I’ll admit, he was actually a stand-up guy in the end, albeit after he’d failed to sell both of us into slavery alongside everypony else that time in Klugetown…’

Rarity frowned. ‘Ugh… for one minute that rogue had me eating out of his paw, you know. That betrayal is still somewhat hard for me to swallow even now, even if he made it up to us tenfold afterwards! I mean, you know I’ve been a pack pony before and it was awful, being kept in a cave, prodded with sticks and yelled at by vagrant Diamond Dogs! Oh, I was so taken in by his suavity and his trenchcoat, and I shan’t lie, he was attractive in a pleasantly feline manner… and he seemed kind initially, and any port in a wretched hive of scum and villainy, as they say… I suppose I have a bad habit of falling in love with the ideal somepony projects, and then I find there’s zero substance behind their posturing. It’s so disappointing when you assume the best of somecreature and they just throw it back in your face.’

Spike chortled. ‘And you’re so much the opposite of that for me… some ponies think you’re all surface with nothing beneath, I’ve heard ’em talk, but you’re anything but…’ he caressed her chin again, ‘While I wouldn’t call you a “still water” especially, you run so deep.’

Rarity tipped her head towards Spike and blushed. ‘Oh, I know what some elements of pony society think of me, Spikey-Wikey, but at my level of fabulousness some envy is sadly inevitable. I’ve never seen the point of dwelling upon that overmuch all on its own, but tossing you into the mix besides, I just don’t know.’

‘The point I’m trying to make is, regardless of their personalities, Blueblood and the rest were all mature creatures in age terms. And I am, too, y’know! I don’t think you should worry that an attraction to me is some kind of, uh, sublimated fondness for foals. I’m mostly through my growing pains mentally, my current, well-documented neuroses aside, and geez, we’ve been over and over those lately…’

‘You know? You’re right, I’m hardly a serial cradlesnatcher… perhaps I’m turning my social fears about us inwards, Spike, given your appearance. You’re the only little, well, anything, I’ve ever felt this way about and I, oh, this sounds awful, but it’s in spite of your, ah, stature, not because of it…’

Spike sighed. ‘I know you don’t mean it in a mean way, Rarity, but all you’re doing right now is confirming for me that my smallness is because I’m inadequate. That’s basically my worst fear…’

She gave him another tender squeeze in an attempt at reassurance. ‘Aw, Spikey-Wikey, I’m trying to soften the blow the best I can, my darling… again, I’m very sorry about this but I’m positively certain your being little won’t last forever… and your personal issues aren’t shortcomings, you know,’ said Rarity, ‘If I’m a deep water like you say, then you’re a little flame that burns brightly, and you’re thoughtful, and sweet, and quite romantic, and you’re lovely to have around. Remember what Smolder said at the meeting? She’s quite right, you are easy to like, as sweet and charming as you are. I couldn’t imagine any reasonable creature disliking you!’

‘Well, folks keep saying that to me, so it must be true. I guess for now I’m doing what I can and keeping my claws crossed that the rest of me catches up soon, maturity-wise. You’re right it’s not gonna be forever, but the wait is brutal… honestly, for some time I was despairing that I’d be small forever, but getting wings a while back gave me a bit of hope.’

‘Not to mention a modicum of uplift that same day you moulted, good thing too given the sudden presence of that giant bird that looked to devour Zecora and I! I suppose we wouldn’t be having this conversation if you had already, ah, grown up, though… oh, wouldn’t that be divine? A big, strong, kind, tender hunk of a dragon by my side… simply you, but bigger!’ Rarity gained a faraway look in her eyes as she contemplated that.

Spike looked at the ceiling as he envisioned the future self Rarity had just sown in his mind, then grinned. ‘Think I’d be your type? Honestly, in my worse moments I worry that I’ll wake up one morning and find myself bizarre and misshapen somehow. You’ve seen some of the dragons out there…’

Rarity smiled wistfully, and her eyes watered as she prodded Spike’s snout with the soft underside of her hoof. ‘I feel rather confident that you will be… but however it turns out, I for one can’t wait, Spikey-Wikey.’

‘Could we… kiss after that, then? From what you’re saying to me, the distance between us kinda closes up once I’m taller.’

She averted her gaze and scrunched her muzzle. ‘Again, I am so sorry, Spike… but the answer’s most likely yes, we shall both have to wait. My societal concerns aside I just feel confused, in a bad way, kissing a youngling in appearance of any sort the way you kissed me, even if it was quite nice…’

Spike sucked at the insides of his cheeks as he tried not to look sadder than he already did. ‘Message received, although it kinda stinks that Gabby didn’t have a problem with it, but you’ve, uh, got some issues on the matter.’

‘It’s the way it has to be, mon petit, and again, I am very sorry. I’m not putting this obstacle between us for no good reason, truly, it’s simply a boundary we mustn’t breach for now… as I say, Gabby’s, what, three years older than you? Multiply that a hoofful of times for us.’

‘Yeah, true enough… well, it’s not the end of the world. Maybe someday we can go for it.’ Then he perked up a bit. ‘And when we do, we can make up for lost time, heh.’

Rarity smiled and batted her eyelashes at her favourite little dragon. ‘I think I’d like that, Spikey. You gave me a little preview yesterday, after all.’

‘For better or worse, I sure did,’ Spike exhaled, ‘In the meantime though… we’re still good to hang out and do fun Rarity stuff now though, aren’t we?’

‘Of course, whyever wouldn’t we be able to do all kinds of fun Spikey things together anytime we wanted, professional obligations notwithstanding?’ said Rarity, before smiling and putting one hoof on Spike’s claw, ‘Just no kissy-kissy on this lady’s mouth without her say-so. There are other, subtler ways to show you care…’ Then she guided his claw onto her shoulder and smiled, ‘And in the spirit of that, before we get back to work, which I simply must do soon, the dress I darned-well near weaponised against you earlier is almost due, could you… ah, would you mind if I asked you to, um, stroke my neck and ears? It was a lovely sensation when you did it at the picnic right before you kissed me, and it’s not, um, that…’’

Spike smiled mischievously. ‘No trouble at all, Rare,’ he grinned before putting his other claw on her other shoulder and raking one down towards her side and the other upwards, caressing her silky-soft mane and paying extra attention to scratching behind her ear. He felt a thrill as she gasped and closed her eyes, biting her lower lip and looking down as she leaned into the claw petting her ear, her sides noticeably contracting and shivering as he drew a line down her neck and beneath the shoulder with the other.

He hadn’t really paid attention to it at the picnic, as preoccupied with making out with her as he had been, but the pleasure Rarity seemed to be getting from just a little petting looked intense and writ large on her blushing face. He didn’t dare tell her after everything, making the comparison didn’t seem appropriate, but Gabby had never responded to his touch like this, the most he’d gotten out of her was ticklish glee from ruffled feathers, which was nice in its own right, but this was something else entirely…

She tossed her mane back and made a low whining sound as he continued. ‘Mmm, yes… oh Spike, oh Spike, that’s wonderful…’ Then she shifted onto her back, held Spike to her chest and wriggled as he massaged her some more and breathed, ‘Oooh, I’m so… oh, ah! I’ve been so tense today, oh, mmm, Spikey-Wikey, they should employ you at the spa…!’

That continued for a moment longer until Spike chuckled, then stopped and gave Rarity a soft, brief smooch on the neck. ‘Aw, we’ll never stop unless I put the kibosh on this. I think I understand better what you meant before about why you pushed me away, now.’

Rarity’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, you’re right… and you kissed me again! Oh, I suppose that’s perfectly alright if it’s you…’

‘Not on the mouth is fine, right?’ Spike asked, just in case. She nodded with a serious look in her eyes.

Then she stretched and smiled, rolling over onto her side. ‘I’ve done it to you on the cheek on a few occasions, it’s quite alright… oh, I suppose there’s a peculiar advantage to having a close, close friend with claws, though, the scratching… your average stallion simply couldn’t, ooh… that is such a fascinating sensation!’ she gasped before getting up and gazing at Spike with eyes half-lidded, ‘I like it.’

Spike hopped off Rarity as she rolled over and grabbed the bag of chocolate limes he’d left on the floor. ‘Well, it’s my pleasure to do that for you, anytime,’ he smiled before popping two candies into his claw, then one into his mouth, ‘Want another?’ She nodded and levitated the lime out of his open palm before delivering it into her own mouth.

‘Mmm, yes, quite good. Ah, I’m truly sorry for clamming up, then being horrible to you earlier, sweetheart…’ she said, rubbing a watery eye up against Spike’s jaw as the lime candy bulged in one cheek, ‘I was so sad after the race, and I dearly wished to see you so I responded to your apology note, but then I actually saw you and the strange confusion I felt yesterday came over me all over again, and I suppose I didn’t handle it with the elegance I’d usually expect from myself…’

‘I figured as much while you were weeping tragically all over me, Rare,’ said Spike, his voice muffled while his mouth was full, ‘It’s alright… we’re friends again now, aren’t we? Things became a lot easier once we started to actually talk about it, it just took a while to get there. No harm, no foul.’

‘You say that, and I believe you, but I’m rather cross with myself now for being so cold and calling you a, some kind of user, when you’re anything but! I’m feeling right now that things break down between us when we don’t communicate, doubly so during crises. Oh, I must resolve never to be so foolish again, I won’t allow myself!’

‘I mean, if I mess up you probably shouldn’t hold back, Rare,’ said Spike, ‘Just do me a favour and be a bit more direct, you know?’

She nodded, then magiced her glasses back onto her face and stepped back towards her work desk. ‘If I can trust you to be open with me, it’s the least I can do, Spikey-Wikey. Now, how about we finish off Cloudchaser’s dress together, properly this time? A handy pair of claws will make swift work of what remains!’

‘I’d be happy to,’ beamed Spike, ‘How much of that blue silky stuff did you need again?’

‘A half-metre of azure silk, Spike,’ Rarity instructed as Spike scanned the piles of fabric, ‘As opposed to cornflower, cobalt, royal, lapis or sapphire blue. Mark the difference, my dear!’

Then she looked to her side. ‘Oh, and I ought to let Yona know we’re back to business,’ she continued, before unlocking the door, pushing the beaded curtain aside and popping her head through before calling out, ‘Yona~! We’re all done with the chit-chat back here. Is everything going well in the shop?’

Yona was measuring a light yellow, clover-maned earth pony filly up on the fitting stand, roughly in the centre of the shop floor. ‘All well here, Ms. Rarity. Yona just measuring customer for new top. Dress all OK? Spikey all OK? Waterworks over?’

‘We’re both very well, my eyes are perfectly dry, thank you very much, and the dress will be all finished up soon. Give us, ah, ten minutes, maximum! I have a new addition in mind that I’m certain our client will love! We shan’t be long now!’

Now that they’d made up with one another it took next to no time to fulfil the adjustments needed to complete Cloudchaser’s dress, which, as Rarity explained to Spike as they worked, was destined for birthday wear. Rarity stitched and snipped and added the removable charcoal-grey fleece collar and cuffs she’d imagined while Spike hovered nearby, keeping an armful of haberdashing implements and fetching accoutrements as required. Once they were finished Spike tagged it by name before Rarity levitated it onto the nearest clothing rack, and once Spike had rolled that through the curtain into Yona’s care it was all ready for pickup.

Rarity emerged from the workshop shortly thereafter and smiled at the two of them, just as the customer had left an order for the week’s end. ‘Well, that’s our big jobs for the day all done, I believe, unless somepony rushes in seeking a dress at the eleventh hour!’ Then she scanned the dress Yona had been sequinning, along with the others she’d decorated throughout the day on the rack, and complimented her prowess. ‘Exquisite work decorating that dress by the way, Yona, the others too. I’m sorry we didn’t have tea with our lunch today like we normally do…’

‘Spike explain when he arrive, Ms. Rarity. Yona, uh, understand your panier de pommes upset?’ Yona had taken to imitating some of Rarity’s affectations in speech once in a while, and reciting certain words and phrases in Prench was one expression of that.

‘Quite…’ Rarity breathed, ‘Well, I feel much better, so why don’t we take a little break now? No more appointments now, we’re just waiting on today’s pickups so we should have some time to ourselves. What do you say, Spikey?’

‘I’d love to take tea with both of you. Do you still have some of that black tea you gave me last time I was around, Rarity? I enjoyed that!’

‘With the spoonful of zap apple jam, as I recall… I most certainly do, I saw a jarful of it the last time I went shopping and snapped it up, as a matter of fact!’ Rarity smiled.

Spike closed his eyes and beamed. ‘Thanks, I mean it. Other teas are nice too, but that’s what Spikey likes best.’

Yona licked her lips and eyed the contents of Spike’s bag, trying and failing not to make her craving too obvious. ‘Yona just take spicy chai and milk as usual. More limes too if not all eaten! …so, Spike not buying jacket today, then?’

‘Oh, yes, I was so preoccupied with, er… well, that discussion that I completely forgot!’ said Rarity, adjusting her spectacles further down her snout and peering over the rim, ‘Spikey-Wikey, while you’re visiting… would you be interested in another jacket? Half price, same style as before barring embellishments, if you’re interested!’

‘Tea first, friends, then we’ll see where a fabric and accessory safari takes us,’ said Spike, rustling and peering into his bag of candies, then flicking a few into Yona’s waiting mouth as he hovered between the two, ‘I actually have an idea for a new one in mind! Can you make one in green? But not just any green, something with pizzazz… anyway, you’ve both been working hard all day, I’ll fix the brew, alright?’

‘That would be lovely, my darling,’ said Rarity, as the three of them retired into the back, leaving the door ajar should anypony else enter before the business day closed.


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