//------------------------------// // Ch. 5 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love // Story: Youthful Expression // by Closer-To-The-Sun //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love The Saturday sun rose into the sky to wake Ponyville and its inhabitants for a brand new day. In the library, Spike was helping Twilight organize the library as they did every weekend. While his hands were busy putting books back up on shelves, Spike's mind was elsewhere. He was thinking of a certain yellow filly that had fully fallen head over hooves for. Lost in his daydreaming, he didn't hear the knock at the door. Annoyed, Twilight walked to the door to answer it, "Oh, it's okay Spike, I'll get the door. It wasn't like I wasn't busy moving tables and desks with my magic. Nope, not at all," the purple mare said with an extreme sarcastic tone. She opened the door to a white unicorn with a deep purple mane, styled into perfect curls. "Oh, hello Rarity. What brings you here today?" Rarity smiled to her fellow unicorn, "Oh Twilight, I was wondering if I could possibly borrow Spike from you for the day." "Borrow Spike?" Twilight asked. Spike slowly made his way to the door when he heard his name mentioned. "Yes, if you don't mind. You see….oh this is so embarrassing….I'm behind on this order for a client and I could use the extra help," Rarity seemed to be very frazzled about being behind, "I'm sure if Sweetie Belle and Spike help me, the dresses will be done just in time." Twilight thought for a second and replied with a nod, "Sure, I'm pretty sure Spike will be happy to help you out, Rarity. We're basically done with our cleaning for the day," she noticed Spike standing nearby and looked to her assistant, "Do you mind helping Rarity out, Spike?" "Not at all! I'll be more than happy to!" Spike smiled, he did like being helpful to anypony that needed it. "Oh, thank you Spike! You really are such a great helper around my shop!" Rarity mused as she guided the dragon back to the Carousel Boutique. Twilight closed the door behind Rarity and Spike and turned back to her task at hand: moving furniture with magic. "Okay, Twilight Sparkle, you can move these….no problem. Your magic can do this," she said to herself. Moments later, a window in the library was broken by a small table flying out. Elsewhere, at the Carousel Boutique, Spike and Rarity went upstairs to her workroom where Sweetie Belle was. The unicorn filly was physically moving rolls of fabric aside and out of the way of Rarity's worktable. Rarity saw that her sister was done, "Oh, thank you, Sweetie Belle for cleaning up my work area!" Sweetie Belle smiled happily as her sister praised her work. The filly then saw Spike standing in the doorframe, "Oh, hi there Spike!" Her voice was cheerful, but she still remembered what she had saw the day before at the farm. She masked her sadness and gloom very well. Her sister didn't even notice anything when she returned yesterday, grief-stricken. Rarity walked to her three ponyquins with dresses on them, one with a blue gown and the other two with a deep purple color, similar to Rarity's mane. "Now," she began to speak, "what I need you to do, Spike, is to help Sweetie Belle here to put the gems on the dresses. You place them on the marked areas like so." She placed a few on using her magic to demonstrate, "Can you do that for me, dear?" "Of course! No problem!" Spike grabbed one of the gems and placed it on the fabric in one of the places. "Oh, marvelous, dahling! Thank you ever so much!" For about an hour, Spike and the two unicorns worked on the dresses. Every so often, Sweetie Belle would hum a song on the spot to liven up the atmosphere, which would also liven up Rarity and Spike as they worked. The only time that there was an interruption was when the doorbell rang. "Oh goodness, I wonder who that could be. I'll be right back, dears." Rarity said as she trotted down the stairs. Sweetie Belle stopped applying gems to the dress she was working on to peer down the stairwell. She saw that her sister was helping a new client, a green unicorn with a cream colored pony with a pink and blue mane. Sweetie Belle knew it was going to take a while talking with them, so she hatched an idea. She re-entered Rarity's workroom and started back to work and waited before she made her move. "Hey Spike," she started innocently, "I've been meaning to ask you something." Spike kept his hands busy working on the dress as he replied, "What is it?" Sweetie Belle continued working too when she saw she was almost done with her dress, "I've been wanting to ask somepony this, and I'm sure Rarity doesn't want me to ask her so I was wondering if you could tell me about something," the white filly wanted to beat around the bush before she really asked him. "Well, what is that something?" Spike peered over the ponyquin. "What is it like to be in love?" Spike's face turned pale. He had no idea how to answer that. He just really felt the emotion a few days before and he still didn't have a vague grasp on the idea. And to top that off, he couldn't tell Sweetie Belle about him and Applebloom. "I-I don't actually know…." he was finally about to speak, trying to hide behind the ponyquin. "Really? Well, don't you love somepony?" Sweetie Belle kept an innocent and childlike appearance about her as she asked the dragon. "N-Nah, not at all…." Spike really wanted to disappear or just change the topic. "What about my sister? I thought you loved her?" Sweetie Belle slowly walked over to Spike who still was trying to hide. "Well, th-that was just a small crush…." "So you don't really love her?" "I do, but….I mean she's out of my league and all…." Spike tried to laugh at his own statement but found it difficult. "So, you don't love anypony?" "N-Nope!" "Well, what about Applebloom?"