Love Anchor

by Pia-chan


Chapter 2: Discoveries

Chapter 2: Discoveries

“What’s that for, sis?” Sweetie Belle asked her older sister, while watching her carrying a saddlebag full of gemstones.
“Sweetie Belle, could you help me with these, please?” Rarity asked, pointing to a pile of gemstones inside a basket.
“Uh, thanks for the response. Of course, as long as you tell me what is this stuff for” The filly insisted.

“Did you bring your saddlebag, darling? Because I have another one just in case…”

“RARITY!” Sweetie Belle couldn’t stand her sister ignoring her questions.

“Whatever do you want, Sweetie Belle!?” Rarity cried out.

“Are you going to tell me what are all these gems for, or not?” Sweetie Belle frowned, a bit exasperated.

“Oh, the gems... well, these are for…” She responded, avoiding her little sister’s gaze. “Did you brush your teeth, dear? We have to go out in few minutes; I’m ready so I’m just waiting for you to be, too” She tried to change the subject, while levitated an empty saddlebag towards her, and started filling it with the gemstones of the basket.

“Yes I did.” The Filly responded, with an annoyed voice, “And I’m ready to go. But what’s wrong with you, sis? Why are you avoiding my questions again? Aren’t you going to tell me what all these gems are for?” The filly remembered something about certain dream her sister have about a very particular kind of spikes, and jumped into a conclusion, “Hmmm I got it. These are for him, aren’t they?” She said looking at her sister with a mischievous grin, while levitating her own saddlebag towards her sister. Rarity received the saddlebag with her own magic.

“Oh, darling, the things you say. I was not avoiding your question, Sweetie, I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. I just got a bit distracted, that’s all, hahaha…” She laughed nervously at her sister’s inquiry, “I have a lot of work to do today so… I need to go to the Library quickly, that way I can be back to my job ASAP. That’s all. And…” She cleared her throat, while few gems fell to the floor in her clumsy attempt to move the gemstones from one saddlebag to another. “Umm yes, these are for Spike. Discarded stuff, that is.” She took the gems that were laying on the floor with her magic and put them in her sister’s saddlebag, levitating it towards the filly once it was full.
Who in this world fails to carry just few gemstones using magic” Sweetie pointed to herself, rolling her eyes, and gave her older sister a suspicious glare. She didn’t say anything else, though. She knew the older mare would insist on acting as if all was going in a very casual and normal way, while she could clearly realize something really strange was going on with the fashionista today. And it had something to do with Spike, that was for sure.
The pink and lavender haired filly decided that she needed to find her fellow crusaders to discuss the subject; they would probably give her more clues regarding the matter at hoof.
That didn’t matter right now though, as they were going out to the Library. She figured that since her sister was going to be with Spike, she’d be able to investigate a bit more and learn something about her older sister’s weird behavior.
“Are we ready to go, darling?” Rarity asked, a slight blush appearing over her cheeks, something her sister immediately noticed.

“Of course, dear” She teased imitating her sister’s tone of voice.

“Very funny, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity whined, while levitating her sister’s saddlebag over the filly.

“Uh, this is kind of heavy, sister! Why don’t we better use a cart?” Sweetie Belle complained.

“Nonsense, dear. You have to be kidding! Stop whining and let’s go!” Rarity ignored her sister’s complaints and opened the door. They both left the Boutique, and started walking to the Library.


“Wow Spike, this breakfast was really delicious. You always find a way to overdo yourself, don’t you?” Twilight complimented her assistant after sipping the last drop juice from her glass.

“It’s nothing really. Although I would just want…” Spike said, with a fainted voice.

“Huh, what did you say?” Twilight noticed he hadn’t finished the phrase.

“Uh, um… It’s nothing, Twilight… I was just talking to myself, sorry.” The dragon stammered nervously as he started clearing the table. But it was late: Twilight had already noticed he was hiding something from her. And she was not going to give up with knowing just what it was.

“Spike, look at me” She gave him a concerned glare directly to his eyes, standing in front of him and putting her hooves on his shoulders. Spike tried to avoid her inquiring gaze. “I know you’re hiding something from me. You’ve been acting really weird these past days, and I need to know why.” Twilight stared at him, her eyes deadly serious. “You know I love you, that you are like a brother to me, right?” The dragon couldn’t help himself and broke down.
“It’s… it’s about, well… about her…” He said, in an almost inaudible tone. Even Fluttershy could speak louder than that. Twilight tried very hard to listen to what he was saying. Being in a library had the advantage of providing a very quiet ambience.

Her. Ok. So we’re talking about Rarity, right?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“Every time you’re either too down or too happy, it’s because of her. I know you very well, Romeo. I hatched you, remember?” She said, smiling and winking at him. Spike giggled, looking at her.

“Ok, you’re right, you know me better than anypony else, I know that.”

“So, what’s going on this time? Did she say something to you? You have to understand that sometimes she just doesn’t think before speaking her mind…”

“It’s not that, Twi.” Spike interrupted. “She didn’t say anything at all, me feeling this way is not because of something she said. It’s just that I so miss her when she’s not with me. I just can’t stop thinking about her and knowing that I won’t see her today just makes me feel a bit depressed, that’s all.” He explained himself while wiping the breakfast table, avoiding her eyes once again. “But it’s ok. It’s ok. I just need to keep myself busy so I can stop thinking about how badly I want her and…” He stopped, bringing his claws to his face and covering his mouth, eyes wide like platters staring right at Twilight, frightened. She returned the look.

“S-Spike! What did you just say?” It was not what he had said but the how it had been said. Like if he gotten possessed, some kind of demonic lapsus. His voice was hungry and wild, like that of a beast.
They both stared at each other for few minutes, without saying anything. Then Twilight broke the silence.
“Spike, I thought… this was a simple crush, nothing else… right?” She gave him a stern look, waiting for his response, despite the fact she already knew the answer.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s more like it was, as you said…” He responded, looking at the table as if he would find an answer in the woody surface. “It was a crush at first, but later become something more, something stronger… I don’t know why… Wait, No. I do know. She’s so… beautiful, so fine, so generous, so hardworking and really, really talented, and even the dramatic way she whines for something others may consider insignificant, even fainting sometimes…” They both giggled after this last statement, Spike blushing bright red. “…All these things, I-I-I” He stopped, Twilight eagerly looking at him. “Ok, why try to deny it? You’d have figured it out sooner or later: I love her, Twilight. I love Rarity, more than anything else in the world” He finished, this time giving her a mix of determined and ashamed glare, just a second later he looked away.

“Awww Spike… That was the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard, you’ve really grown up…” She
said, with a tender voice, and emotional face, slight smile on her lips.

“Come on, Twi, I’m not that much younger than you are!” Spike exclaimed, frowning at his ‘big sister’.

“But still, it’s like just it was yesterday that you were a little egg…” She insisted.

“This is serious, Twi…” He said harshly, still frowning.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Her face now showing concern, as did her tone. “So, you really love her, it is not just a simply crush anymore,” He nodded and she continued, “And how far are you willing to go with this? Do you even know how she feels about you?” the lavender pony inquired.

“I don’t know Twilight. You know, I don’t want to set my expectations very high… I know she would never see me as more as a friend, since I’m not the stallion she’s looking for and deserve-”

“Don’t say that, Spike…” Twilight interrupted. Spike didn’t let her finish.

“I’m a dragon, Twilight! I knew this was just a dream but my feelings for her overcame me! I really tried to stop… but they grew stronger. Even when I know I’m way out my league here, sometimes I get confused, I mean… sometimes I feel like she… maybe…” He groaned in madness. “See what I mean? I know it’s imposible, but still have a little hope! I’m so naive, but can’t help but feel like that, and then I get depressed when I come back to earth and confront the truth once again...”

Twilight now was starting to feel sad. How could he think like that? He was just too awesome as to feel that way. “What you mean, what is this ‘truth’ you’re talking about?”

“Are you listening to what I’m saying, Twi? The truth! The fact that she would never feel the same way for me” He said, this time a tear escaped from his eye and ran down his cheek. He groaned. “Oh my… all this sappy stuff just drives me all… um… well, sappy!” Spike added, sniffing loudly and wiping the furtive tear away by brusquely rubbing its watery path with his claw.

“Nonsense! This is serious, you said so yourself!” Twilight cried out, trying to hold back her own tears. “And why are you stating this as if it was a fact, have you even told her how you really feel?”
Spike rolled his eyes, sniffling. “Please, Twi…”

“And why do you say you sometimes get your hopes up? Isn’t she very attentive to you too, always showing to everypony and to yourself she really appreciates you! She doesn’t treat anypony else like she treats you and you can’t deny that fact” She stared firmly at him.

“That’s true, and that probably means she really loves me, but just like a friend. And that’s all. She’s also very affectionate to all her other friends. It just so happens that I’m her closest male friend, so it’s quite obvious she’d treat me differently than she does other stallions” He stated. Twilight just couldn’t find a counter to that.

“Ok Spike.” She gave in, embracing him. “I can’t tell how she really feels about you but you don’t either. You should ask her. After all, Rarity is… well… Rarity. She has a big heart, so you might never know unless you ask, and the sooner you find out, the better.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’m just so afraid this could ruin our friendship. I couldn’t live without her in my life, even if just as a friend…”

“But you can’t keep on getting depressed either, because you really want her”. She pointed, looking straight into his eyes.

“Uh… Twilight… about that… I don’t even know why I said it. It was just a weird lapsus.” He said in his defense, breaking the hug apart, and looking away, avoiding her gaze.

“Are you sure it was just a lapsus? Spike, if there is anything else you have to tell me, then please do, I need to know. You know I will do all I can to help you, as your friend and as your almost-older-sister.” She said, frowning.

“I know that, and thanks, really. But again, I didn’t mean of what I just said.” Spike finished, without letting Twilight see his face.

A few minutes of silence passed, and Twilight sighed.
“Ok, right. Anyway, what you have to do next is go and tell Rarity how you feel, ASAP! You have to solve this, and not for your own sake only. You can’t continue to hide your feelings.” Twilight said bluntly.

“Ok, Twi… Easy to say, but how the hay am I going to do that?” He asked in an exasperated tone of voice.

“Ask her to go out on a date.” Twilight suggested.

“A date? Are you crazy? That would be too obvious!”

“But, if she says yes, then you’re not that far from her feeling the same, because why would she accept if she wasn’t even a tiny little bit interested? Then you’ll be ready for the next step!” Twilight was getting excited now.

“Yeah, you are really crazy. But crazy or not you do have a point there. So I will do it. I will do it!” He couldn’t help but feel excited himself after hearing Twilight’s last words, and gave her a shy smirk. He shouted his thanks with a hearty: “Thanks Twi!” and immediately ran out of the kitchen and upstairs.

“Hey Spike! You forgot to wash the dishes!” Twilight cried out, but didn’t get any response from the dragon. She sighed and decided doing it herself. “This one goes for you, Spike, my not-so-anymore little brother”.

Spike entered his room, and searched for his tuxedo, the one he had used for the latest Grand Galloping Gala. “If I’m going to invite her to a date, it has to be a nice and elegant place. And I have to be on a par with that”. He pulled his tuxedo from the wardrobe and tried to put the outfit on, but it got torn at the shoulders. “Oh, the hay!” He cursed at the realization. He certainly grown up since the Gala, and his muscles and back were now larger. His suit didn’t fit anymore.

“What in Celestia’s world will I do now?” He sighed. He suddenly heard a giggle behind him and turned to find Twilight laughing at him from the doorway. “What are you doing in my room, Twilight? Are you spying me?” He questioned, really annoyed.

“I’m sorry Spike, but you forgot to close the door, and I heard you complaining, so I got curious. Now I see why…” She said, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Yeah, I knew this wouldn’t work anyway. Now I don’t have a proper outfit to go out with Rarity. What am I going to do now? Sheesh!”

“You only need a new one, Romeo” Twilight mocked her assistant.

“And how I’m supposed to get a new one? Oh, of course, I can just tell Rarity to make me a new one!” The dragon sarcastically commented.

“Sure, that’s what you have to do.” The purple unicorn said, seemingly pretty sure of herself.

“How can I ask her to make me an outfit for me to ask her out, that doesn’t make any sense!”

“You don’t have to tell her why, just tell her it’s for the next Gala, or for a Royal business trip to Canterlot, and she’ll be happy to do it, she won’t suspect a thing. It’s just an excuse for her to make a new dress and you know how much she loves to make new dresses!” Twilight knew this was not totally true, though. Rarity was very smart and could get suspicious but she wouldn’t say no, even if Spike was lying to her, so it was okay.

Spike’s eyes widened and he looked back to his mirror, with the ruined old tuxedo still on him.

“Ok, I’ll do it. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea after all”

“And, you’ll get to spend more time with her too, Casanova.” She teased.

He rolled his eyes. After one minute or two of not saying anything, he spoke up. “Thank you, Twilight. I-I really love you. No in the same way as I love Rarity, though!”

“I know that, silly! And… I love you too, in that same way you do to me I mean!” She laughed, and Spike hugged her tightly, both of them continuing to laugh until they broke the hug.


Few minutes later, Rarity and Sweetie Belle arrived to the Library. Twilight opened the door, inviting her friends to enter.

“Good Morning, darling!” Rarity smiled happily while entering the Library, followed by her by her sibling.

“Why, hello Rarity! And Sweetie Belle, what a surprise!” The lavender unicorn smiled at her visitors.

“Hi Twi!” Sweetie Belle waved with a hoof. And almost instantly, as she stepped into the library, she levitated her heavy saddlebag from her back onto the floor. “Oof” She complained.

“What brings you both here today?” Twilight asked.

“My sister wanted to give these gems to Spike. Is he in?” The filly responded, before Rarity could speak. The perfect mane unicorn just looked away, blushing.

“Oh, even more gemstones? You’re giving Spike enough to start his own hoard, Rarity, seriously…” Twilight pointed out.

“What, Twilight? Why you do say that?” Sweetie Belle asked, curious.

“Well, she gave him another pile just few days ago…” Now both Twilight and Sweetie Belle stared at Rarity.

“Oh! Um- Well, yes! I just needed some more space, as I said. And as this new Sapphire Shore’s order requires some very specific kind of gems, I…”

“Yeah, you already explained that the other day Rarity, about your lack of space problem in your store…” Twilight interrupted, with an unexpressive glare.

“Lack of space? But I saw you have quite a lot of free room in your cellar, Sis…”

Both Sweetie Belle and Twilight glared at Rarity, as if they were trying to read her mind. They were not oblivious to the bright blush on her face, and how nervous she was getting but a quick set of footsteps (or clawsteps in this case) coming down the stairs saved her from the awkward questioning. It was Spike, who had just heard Rarity’s voice and had ran downstairs to meet her.

“Hi Rarity! How’re you today!” He waved his claw to the anxious white mare, a big smile on his face, and cheerful tone in his voice. He noticed Sweetie Belle was there, too. “Oh and, Hi, Sweetie Belle!” He added, looking at the filly just less than a second before looking back at Rarity.

Sweetie Belle felt as if a light bulb shined up inside her mind, and grinned at her realization, “So… I finally get what’s going on here!” she thought, proud of herself. She looked at Rarity’s face, and later to Spike’s. They were both standing in front of each other. Dumb giant smiles over both flushed faces. Rarity seemed to have forgotten about the recent awkward questions she had been subjected to a few minutes ago and then, Spike came and it was as if everything had turned into a magical parade of rainbows and flowers.

The fashionista waved at the dragon, greeting him back.

“Good Morning, Spikey-wikey, how has your day been today?” She added, still looking at him with an ear to ear smile and sparkling eyes. The funniest thing was he had a very similar dumb smile.

Look at that, did she call him Spikey-wikey? What a silly nickname!” The filly thought to herself, amused.

“Very nice, Rarity, though it’s getting better by the minute, ever since you first set a hoof in here.” He said in a gallant tone that made the white mare blush in an even brighter shade of red, if that was even possible.

“Aw, Spike… you flatter me…” She said, giving him a seductive glare, as she blinked her eyelashes. This time the dragon could feel his face burning under his scales, trying hard to look casual by scratching his neck.

Oh and look at that… can’t wait to tell Applebloom and Scootaloo about this!” Sweetie Belle laughed at herself, really excited. She had the urge to use this as a weapon to tease her older sister. “Um, hey, Rarity, aren’t you giving him the gemstones you selected for him now? You should get that heavy saddlebag off your back, before you get back pain or something…” She said, trying to sound normal.

Before Rarity could say anything, Spike stepped in and took the saddlebags off of her back.

Now that’s speed” Sweetie Belle thought.

“Why thank you, Spike! You are always such a gentledragon.” Rarity complimented him with a sweet smile.

“Oh, it was nothing.” Spike responded, still holding the heavy saddlebag that, at least to him, didn’t seem to be heavy at all actually.

“So sister, tell him what we came for already! Remember we don’t have too much time!” The white filly said, levitating her saddlebag with great effort towards Spike’s side. Then Rarity fell into the trap.

“Oh, be quiet, Sweetie Belle.” She reprimanded her teenage sister. “Here, Spike, I brought these gems for you.” Rarity looked away from his eyes, blushing slightly once again.

“Wow, these are a lot! I don’t know what to say say, Rarity… but thankya!” Spike said to the object of his affection, looking in amazement at the two saddlebags filled to the brim with delicious gems. “But why… is it my birthday today, I seem to have forgotten about it.” He teased, trying to understand why Rarity had come on a Saturday morning just to give him this present, at least if one had to go by what Sweetie Belle had just said moments ago.

The fashionista was naturally generous, and was quite used to giving him discarded gems as snacks. In fact, she had already done this a few days ago, but this seemed to be something more special, maybe to thank him for the help he had provided during the gemhunt the other day? But that was no need to give him a thank-you present, he had done it because he wanted to, he didn’t want her to feel obligated to give something back as payment.

Rarity was speechless. She felt like something was wrong, out of place. But she didn’t know exactly what it was. Sweetie Belle’s interventions made the whole situation all messy.

Rarity was used to choosing each word she said to Spike very carefully when she was in front of Twilight or any of the others, to avoid misunderstanding, but now it was all out of control. She couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, as if she was a little filly that got caught making a secret prank. Her blush couldn’t be redder and more obvious than it was right now.

“W-well… n-no, Spike. I-is not that, I mean…” Then she remembered something that may save her. The ‘real’ reason they came to the library today! “These are discarded gems, after all, just like the ones I gave you the other day, remember?” She laughed nervously. “And Sweetie and I just came to ask Twilight for a book for her to read, so we’ll have something entertaining to do this weekend, wouldn’t want her to get bored while I work. Sapphire Shore’s order, as you know. That’s it!”

She sighed after the last phrase, feeling as if she were a soldier coming back from the battlefield. However, it didn’t take her long to regain her composure, as if everything was returning to normal, finally. She was sure that she would have not been able to handle the awkwardness for another single second. Rarity felt herself smile, satisfied and proud of her achievement.

But then she noticed Spike had a disappointed look, his smiled had banished from his face, his eyes locked on the floor with a sad expression.

“Oh but Spike dear, I don’t know how you came to think this was a special gift, as if it was your birthday or something. What a nonsense darling, for such a really special occasion I would have prepared something really fabulous for you. I wouldn’t come here to give you just with a pile of ordinary gems!” Spike’s smile returned in response to the unicorn’s sweet words.

Had she noticed how he was feeling and tried to do something to fix the situation? His heart skipped a beat at this realization. He wasn’t able to say anything though, because what could one say? “How can’t I love you, Rarity…” he just thought. His smile was enough to make Rarity feel at ease, happy that she had made up for he earlier comments that might have hurt the dragon. Such an occurrence would certainly be the WORST POSSIBLE THING to do, even if it wasn’t her intention.

“So Twilight, darling,” She now looked up at the lavender unicorn, who was already heading towards one of the shelves.

“Sure, I have few books you may be interested on, Sweetie Belle” Twilight said to the filly.

“Thanks Twilight” Sweetie Belle moved closer to her, to check the books the lavender unicorn had started to levitate from various shelves. The filly decided to stop teasing her sister; she already had what she wanted. For her, the facts were clear and undeniable, her older sister had a crush on Spike and even better, it seemed he felt the same way about her, what a thrilling and touching thing.

After Sweetie Belle made her choices, three romantic novels to be accurate, both her and her sister stepped towards the door, saying goodbye to Spike and Twilight.

“See you soon, girls!” waved the unicorn librarian.

“Bye…” The dragon muttered, in a slightly angry tone.

Once he made sure both white unicorns had left, Spike sighed and snorted smoke out of his nostrils, frowning madly.

“What’s wrong, Spike?” Twilight asked, concerned.

“What? Nothing. Nothing at all” He replied harshly.

“Come on Spike, you were so happy when Rarity got here, but now you seem to be… angry?” Twilight insisted.

The dragon tried to manage a fake smile, Twilight was right. But he didn’t want her to worry and he certainly wasn’t in the mood to start explaining himself. “Oh it’s nothing. I just… didn’t want her to leave so soon, that’s all,” That was true, in part at least. “I’m going to put these with the others.” He quickly took both saddlebags and stepped upstairs. Twilight just sighed, and headed back to her books. It was noon already and she was in the middle of a very interesting book.