//------------------------------// // Burnt, Blotchy Messes // Story: Cuddling // by cooopercrisp //------------------------------// Chapter 13: Burnt, Blotchy Messes Spike had just awoken from a vivid dream in which he and Rarity had been having a picnic out in the park. They had been watching the sun set, its rosy shades casting a radiant light through her mane. The ecstasy of the dream only made his reality all the more bitter. He rose from his bed in order to make breakfast for himself and Twilight. He was surprised to see Twilight already down in the kitchen, using her magic to flip some pancakes. Spike expected to see burnt, blotchy messes in the pan, but the pancakes were round and golden brown. “Since when have you been able to cook?” Spike asked. “It’s pretty hard to screw up pancakes, Spike,” Twilight said. “How’d you sleep?” “Fine,” Spike said. “It’s the waking up that’s killing me right now.” “Oh?” Twilight asked, setting the delicious stack of pancakes on a plate. She had made four to split evenly between the two of them. “I was dreaming about you-know-who again,” Spike said. “That’s the third time this week,” Twilight said, her face showing a look of concern. “Was it the—?” “Yeah, it was the park,” Spike finished her sentence. “I see,” Twilight said. “Well, how are you still feeling about that whole situation?” “What do you think?” Spike snapped, and Twilight felt the harshness of his words lash at her like a whip. Spike saw the hurt in Twilight’s eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry, Twilight,” Spike said in a calmer tone. “This whole thing’s just got me feeling depressed.” “I wish I could understand,” Twilight said, “but you know me. I wasn’t even interested in making friends until I came to Ponyville! I have yet to harbor romantic interests for anypony.” “You should consider yourself lucky,” Spike said. “Then your heart can’t get broken.” “Oh, Spike,” Twilight said, trotting over to him and taking his head into her hooves. “I know this hurts, but you have to accept that Rarity just doesn’t feel the same way.” “I already know that,” Spike said, “and it wouldn’t be so bad if that was all that was going on. But what does she see in Rainbow Dash, huh? She’s snarky, arrogant, a bit of a bully—” “Hold on a minute. When did you start feeling such hostility for Rainbow Dash?” Spike sighed again. “That’s just my jealousy talking. I know she’s also loyal and willing to fight for what she believes in, but that wasn’t the point. I mean, what does Rarity see in her that she doesn’t see in me?” “I can think of one obvious difference,” Twilight said, finally sitting across from Spike and levitating the plate of pancakes to the center of the table. The two of them took two pancakes each and got to work eating them. “What difference is that?” Spike asked. “It’s biological,” Twilight said. “If you’re going to say it’s because I’m a dragon—” “It’s because you’re a boy.” Twilight said. “Clearly Rarity isn’t attracted to colts, or young male dragons, for that matter.” “She can’t like both?” Spike asked. Why would he ask that? Twilight thought. I mean, he has a point, but still… “She certainly liked that Blueblood character well enough,” Spike said. “Until she actually met him,” Twilight said. “Who knows? Maybe her bad experience with Blueblood soured her view of boys in general, and her natural tendency was to seek companionship with the other sex.” “Then I ought to go to Canterlot and give that pretty boy a piece of my mind!” Spike growled, shaking a fist into the air. He deflated, though, when he realized how pointless that pursuit would be. “I know it’s not his fault,” Spike added. “It isn’t even Rarity’s fault. I think it’s something you’re born with, who you’re attracted to, I mean.” “Absolutely,” Twilight said. “So you can’t go wallowing in something that’s simply a matter of nature.” “But that’s not the only reason she doesn’t like me,” Spike said. “She treats me like a baby.” “Has she started doing that again?” Twilight asked. “Again…?” Spike wondered. “What do you mean, again?” “I actually talked to her about that,” Twilight said. “I said, even though he’s a baby dragon, he’s too old to be coddled and spoken to like he’s an infant. She apologized, said she didn’t even know what she was doing was wrong, and I thought it stopped after that.” “I guess it did get a little better…” Spike said. “But I think she still sees me like I’m a baby, and she never took my crush seriously.” “You don’t think she noticed how the memory of her generosity snapped you out of your greediness?” Twilight asked. “Why’d you have to bring that up?” Spike asked. “I told you that in confidence.” “Yes, and unlike before, I’ve kept that secret hidden,” Twilight said proudly. “But Rarity definitely noticed that it was her who made you shrink back down to size, and she told me about that moment you were about to confess to her and she stopped you with tears in her eyes.” “You mean she knew what I was going to say?” Spike asked. “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” Twilight asked. Spike grumbled. “Okay, I’m sorry,” Twilight said with a sheepish grin. “No, you’re right,” Spike said. “I guess I’m just one of those guys who wear their hearts on their sleeves.” “I guess you are,” Twilight said. “How’d we get so off track anyway? We were talking about her and Rainbow Dash.” “Oh, right…” Spike said. “Let me just ask you this, Spike,” Twilight said. “Even if it doesn’t mean being with you, don’t you at least want to see Rarity happy with whoever she has affection for? Wouldn’t you feel better knowing that she could be happy with Rainbow Dash?” “That’s kind of bittersweet,” Spike said. “And that’s not even happening, because Rainbow Dash said she doesn’t like her back.” “That’s…a good point,” Twilight said. “Why didn’t I think of that?” “I guess you can’t be smart all the time,” Spike said chidingly. “Spike,” Twilight said, but she chuckled. “Well, Rainbow Dash is an idiot for not seeing what she could have,” Spike said. “I wish I could talk some sense into her.” “It’s not really any of your business,” Twilight said. “I think it’s best to just let this go for now. Do you think you can do that?” “I can try,” Spike said. “It will take a lot of effort, but I suppose I can keep it together for their sake.” “That sounds good to me,” Twilight said, and the two of them happily continued their breakfast. *** Rainbow Dash was resting on a cloud floating above the outskirts of Ponyville, still wrestling this whole mess with Rarity in her head. When Rarity had told her how she felt about her, she had been sure that she didn’t feel the same way. But thoughts of Rarity have been haunting her ever since then, and it was becoming more and more impossible to drown them out. At first she wrote it off, saying that she wasn’t even into mares to begin with. That false belief vanished when she remembered that she used to have a small crush on Fluttershy. To this day, Fluttershy didn’t know about it, and Rainbow Dash was determined to keep it that way. That poor mare was so sensitive to anything involving romance; Rainbow Dash could imagine Fluttershy’s face becoming red with embarrassment even if she told her now, years after those feelings had subsided. So, that explanation was out. She then decided that she and Rarity were completely the opposite ponies. Rainbow Dash liked high speed and adrenaline, while Rarity preferred the soothing comfort of the spa. Rainbow Dash didn’t mind working in the mud, while Rarity feared even getting a hoof dirty in the muck. So, if they were so opposite, Rainbow Dash couldn’t possibly have feelings for her, right? Wrong, Rainbow Dash thought. Don’t you know? The old saying goes that opposites attract. Rainbow Dash scoffed at herself and wrote that off. That whole “opposites attract” thing didn’t really hold water…did it? Why are you thinking about this? Rainbow Dash asked herself. Stop it! Rainbow Dash then started to fantasize about being in the Wonderbolts, something she always did when life became too stressful for her to think about. She imagined soaring alongside Spitfire and Soarin and all her other favorite pegasi. There she would be, performing amazing feats of acrobatic and thrilling flight. The ponies in the audience would cheer, screaming her name. And in the midst of all of those ponies, an alabaster mare would be cheering with all the rest with tears of joy streaming from her eyes. Once the show was over and all the autographs had been signed, Rainbow Dash would join this mare and recount her most daring stunts and how it felt to fly so dangerously and dear Celestia I’m thinking about HER again! What is wrong with me? I can’t even have a decent Wonderbolt fantasy without HER butting in! Suddenly from the ground came a sound that excited her and filled her with dread all at once. “Yoo-hoo, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity called, sounding much warmer than she had the last time they had talked. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if she wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard her. It wouldn’t be that unusual for the pegasus to be snoozing on a cloud, so she could just pretend to be doing that. But something in her gut told her to fly down and at least talk to her. “Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked, floating down to ground level. When she saw her, Rainbow Dash noticed she was levitating something pale green. “What is that?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s Fluttershy’s gala dress,” Rarity said. “I was borrowing it to see if I couldn’t recreate some of the patterns on an order from out of town. I was just on my way to return it. Would you care to come along?” “I guess I don’t really have anything better to do,” Rainbow Dash said. Rarity’s face flattened a bit, but she shook it off and smiled. “Excellent,” Rarity said. “And I know there are so many interesting things to talk about on our way, like the weather or our work, but I wanted to clear out the elephant in the room. I treated you less than warmly the last time I saw you, and the first thing I wanted to do after I left was to find you and apologize.” “Oh,” Rainbow Dash said. “Um…thank you?” “You’re quite welcome, darling,” Rarity said. “Now, you’re probably wondering why I treated you that way. Well, it is a bit awkward for me to discuss right now, but if I were to say—” “You’re still bumming out after you told me you were in love with me,” Rainbow Dash said. “Well, that’s one way of putting it,” Rarity said with a cough, her cheeks flushed slightly. “Look, Rarity, I’ve been thinking a lot about that, and all it’s gotten me was total confusion,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “What do you mean?” Rarity asked. “Like, ever since I turned you down like that, I’ve been thinking about how miserable it made you and I was really worried for you. I felt terrible for making you feel so bad, and then I thought, why am I thinking so much about this? And I couldn’t come up with an answer.” “I see,” Rarity said. “Well, we are friends, are we not?” “What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Well, since you’re my friend, naturally you would hate to see me get hurt, and you being the one to do it must have made you feel terribly guilty. Does that sound about right?” “Have you been talking to Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked. “No. Why do you ask?” “She told me I was only worried about trying to help you feel better to get rid of my own guilt. I stormed out on her, because she was totally wrong about that! I didn’t want to make you feel better for me. I wanted to make you feel better for you.” “That’s very chivalrous of you, dear,” Rarity said, “but I’m not worth such fretting, really I’m not. With time has come some healing, as they always say it does, so I’m not quite as upset about the whole mess anymore.” “That’s good to hear,” Rainbow Dash said. “Hey, look, I have the day off, and I was wondering if maybe I could hang out at the boutique or something.” “You want to spend time with me at the boutique?” Rarity asked. “Good heavens, am I really talking to Rainbow Dash here?” Yeah, Rainbow Dash, what gives? Rainbow Dash asked herself. You wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out at that boutique, so what’s got you so interested in going all of a sudden? “It’s really me,” Rainbow Dash said, “and I’m really asking if I can hang out with you. With this whole mess happening we’ve barely had time to catch up.” “Well, I could use a model for this order. The client and you have very similar frames, if I recall…” “Don’t press your luck,” Rainbow Dash said. “All right, then, I’ll take you up on your offer. I don’t know what help you could be at the boutique though. Maybe I’ll have someone to bounce ideas off of. Talking to somepony about a dress you’re making is usually better than thinking about it on your own.” “Whatever you need, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said. “Whatever you need.”