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// A New Love 
// Story: Absolutely Dash-ing 
// by Mlws 
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	Meanwhile at Twilight’s house, Spike was getting her ready to see the surprise. He quickly checked it all through a crack in the door, to see nothing was missing other than a fallen book off the bookshelf. He wondered how this had happened, but he quickly guessed that Owlowiscious had simply knocked it over while he was out. He giggled and said “I can’t wait to see your face!” as he smiled and leaned against the door. Twilight was frightened, but Spike knew she would get over it. He kept smiling at her as he slowly opened the door behind him as his back was still turned, and slid into the house. Through a sliver of the door, he told Twilight to stay outside for a moment while he fixed the problem, and she did as she was asked. 
She stood outside and tapped her hoof in the dirt and stared at the little filthy clouds that puffed away from her it. She wondered what he had in store for her, and what he had done wrong to need fixing. She thought about how excited he had been when they first got home. What could he have possibly done while she had been gone? She sure didn’t know. All she knew was that it was something big. But why would he do it? She, yet again, had no clue as to what was going on. This being said, she couldn’t predict what it could be, so she just worried and stared at the ground. 
The door flew open, and there stood the little dragon. He stood nervous and excited at the same time, and put his arm out to his side, motioning her to walk inside. Inside the house, was the library of course, but there was definitely a different mood set to it. Twilight stepped into the library, which was very dark.  All the blinds were shut, and candles lit the room. A row of small candles lead her over to the desk, where something was on it, but it was definitely too dark. It was too dark for her to see most of the things, so he walked over to the candles in front of the desk, and breathed on them with his fire breath. They lit up, suddenly making the desk clearer, and she saw what was there. 
Spike said “I shall leave you alone with your thoughts” trying to be sophisticated and romantic, as he swept himself upstairs and hid while she looked at what was on the desk. 
At first look at the desk, she saw a theme, and shook her head with sadness. A vase of roses, a card, chocolates, and a present lay on the desk, and she knew what all of these had in common. They were all things you gave to someone to express your love. She always thought he loved Rarity, but now she knew she had been mistaken. 

The card read:
Dear Twilight,
This is all I have ever wanted to say to you in a shortened, condensed version. I love you, and always have. Rarity was basically a cover. I love YOU. I didn’t want people to know. That’s how much I love you. I love you so much it’s embarrassing. I have loved you from the day we were placed into a partnership. Whether you love me or not, I will always be your assistant, and I am your loyal, faithful partner. I love you, Twilight Sparkle. And I sure can tell you why. You are the smartest pony out there, you are the most gorgeous mare, and you learn from your mistakes, rather than push them aside. I love that about you. You hatched me. How could I not love you? Open your gift. It’s specially made for you. And I wouldn’t mind if you went and devoured those chocolates like a pig, because I love you unconditionally. 
Love,
Spike
Twilight was ready to sob. This is the first time anypony ever really complimented her. She had always dreamed of the day that someone would sweep her off her feet, but she always dreamed of knowing what to do. Right now she was truly touched, and shocked. She wanted to say “Spike, I love you too.” But she knew society, and society would frown upon this whole love between different species. She knew what she was going to do, but first, she’d open her gift. She ripped the ribbon off the top, and undid the wrapping paper, and soon enough she had opened the box. 
Inside the box, was a quill and bottle, as shown in the cute little drawing on her card, except for one thing… On the actual bottle, her cutie mark was engraved and painted. It wasn’t painted with regular paint, it was painted with glowing magic paint that she could control. It was sort of like a little light. Not to mention that, but the ink was actually pink, and the feather was the color of her coat. It made her very happy, considering she needed a special quill to write to Celestia on important occasions. 
She smiled and placed it back in the box and hugged the box as she squeaked a little bit with joy. She had only now just thought of him as more, and as she thought about it more and more and more, she grew accustomed to the feeling. She liked him. She loved him. She had to declare it to him before anypony else, so she was getting ready to go upstairs, by looking in the mirror nearby, and fixing her hair.
As all of the opening happened, Spike was upstairs in their room nervously twiddling his thumbs. He hadn’t planned it would get this far. He sat in his bed and checked himself in the mirror across the room real quick, getting ready for rejection. He thought about it a while. How would telling her this even help? They couldn’t actually be together. Who knows what Ponyville would say? He just kept thinking, and then he remembered his diary was left out. He used it to think about what to write when he was pulling together the card. He slipped it underneath the sheets in his bed. He would never want Twilight to read that, even if she loved him back. It was full of dirty dreams, confessions to pranks, puberty stories and diary logs about it. A lot of awkward things were in there. He needed to dispose of it soon. 
Twilight burst into the room and slammed the door against the wall before yelling “Spike! I love you!” 
Spike shook his head quickly to clear his mind and sat up “Say again?”
“I love you!”