Smolder and her friends were walking through the park on their way from Sweet Apple Acres, talking about their latest lesson in friendship from Applejack. As they went Ocellus spotted the familiar purple and green of Spike the Dragon. He was sitting alone, looking not only troubled but slightly sad.
Confused, she pointed him out to the others and suggested they all check on him, to which they all agreed.
As they walked toward him the were accompanied by Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo. All wondering what was wrong with there friend. "Hey Spike. Is everything ok?" Sweetie Bell asked when they had all reached him.
"OH. Hey everyone. How your day been." Spike asked, putting on a fake smile and acting like he didn't hear Sweeties question.
"We're fine. Now answer Sweetie Bells question and tell us what's wrong." Smolder said bluntly. If there was one thing that drove her nuts about Spikes personality it was that he always tried to hide when something was wrong.
Letting out a sigh, Spike could only submit to dragoness' demand. "Alright, if you must know I've decided to give up on Rarity, ok? But I'm having a hard time coming to terms with it."
They were all stunned. Spike was giving up on Rarity? Silverstream was the one to ask the questions they were all wondering. " Why? Did something happen? You've liked her for so long, Spike. Why give up on her now?"
Letting out another sigh, Spike told them how Shadow saw how he felt about Rarity and encouraged him to tell her, "He said that I was holding myself back from being happy, if not with her then somepony else. He told me that every creature deserves to be happy with the one they love and if Rarity doesn't feel the same way about me then I need to move on. He was pretty blunt about it. He called it tough love." He finished with a small chuckle.
"Geez. Talk about harsh, but that doesn't explain why you're giving up her." Ember said.
"It was kinda harsh, yeah, but it was the kick in the pants I needed, really. I went to Rarities boutique to tell her how I felt about her but as I was obviously nervous." He said.
"Understandable. It would be your very first confession after all, but we still dont get your reasoning unless..." said Ocellus her face taking on a sad expression.
"Yep. You guessed it Ocellus. She didn't even pay attention. I don't think she even heard half of what I was saying, really. Before I was done she had already walked away and was flirting with some guy, planning a date with him! She skipped off happily when they got done talking too. After that I just left." Spike explained sadly. "So yeah, I'm done. I not going to chase her anymore. The problem is that even though I've made up my mind about this, my heart isn't on board yet. So here I am trying to move on with my life but struggling to do so. Anyway, I'm going to head home and get some things done around the castle before I head to bed. See you guys later." With that he stood up and headed home.
They all stood watching him for a few seconds before turning to Sweetie Bell, who looked furious. If looks could kill they would all be dead as casualties of her rage.
"THAT STUPID, INCONSIDERATE MARE! HOW CAN SHE SO SELFISH WHEN SHE'S THE ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY?! WHEN I GET HOME IM GONNA-"
"Sweetie! Calm down! Right now isn't the time to have it out with your sister! We should be more concerned about Spike at the moment!" Smolder shouted over her, cutting off her tirade.
As much as Sweetie wanted to argue she knew Smolder was right. Spike needed help moving on and they needed to be there for him.
"Hey girls! What's up?" A voice called out to them. Turning to see who had called out to them, they saw both Starlight and Trixie walking toward them.
"Hey Councilor Starlight. We were just trying to stop Sweetie bell from going off and killing her sister." Silversream said. Seeing the look of confusion across the pairs face she quickly explained what had happened with Spike and what he told them. By the end of it, Starlight look torn between wanting to have a go at Rarity herself and checking on Spike.
"Wow. Talk about rough. I feel pretty bad for him. You know maybe he could use some help moving on from her. Maybe taking him on a date or something would help." Trixie said, giving Staright a nudge in the side with her elbow with a teasing look on her face.
This drew everyone's attention to Starlight as her face had turned completely red from not only the thought of going on a date of with Spike but also having her feelings for him exposed to the others as well.
"Wait. You too?" Ocellus asked.
This, of course, caused everyone's attention to turn to her. A look of confusion on their faces. Before anyone else could speak she continued," So not only do all of us like him, minus Yona of course, but you too? Exactly how many love rivals do I have?!"
There was a stunned silence for a few seconds before Trixie burst out laughing, rolling on her back. The rest looked completely embarrassed from what Ocellus had said, while said changeling look as though she wanted to dig her self a hole and hide in it.
As her laughter subsided, Trixie began catching her breath before breaking them out of their embarrassment saying," Why don't you all go out on a date with him?" As they looked at her, she continued," I mean, all of you like him right? So why not work together, and at least that way all of you aren't competing with each other right?"
They couldn’t decide what was more shocking to them, the logic behind what she was saying or that it was Trixie being the voice of reason here. Either way she was right. It was better to work together, especially if it helped Spike forget about Rarity.
Looking at one another, they nodded their heads in agreement, making a silent pact with each other. The only question now was, who should ask him out first?