//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Old Friends // Story: Learning to Forgive // by The Fields of Ice //------------------------------// Once again, Spike found himself in front of the same mirror, fastening the same tie. This was the first time in his life that he’d worn a suit twice in one week. However this time, he wasn’t as focused on appearing his absolute best since he assumed the night wouldn’t be devoted to the one pony he was trying to impress. Twilight on the other hand, appeared to have a different idea all together. As she stepped out of her room, she caught sight of Spike beside the mirror. Carefully, she did her best to stay out of his sight. Twilight then came up right beside him, and tapped him on the shoulder. The un-expecting dragon jumped slightly, but when he saw the full beauty of the mare beside him, all he could do was stare. Twilight stood before him, her mane resembling a similar fashion to the one in which it was done on their outing, her eyes were as well, but what wasn’t the same was her dress. Tonight, she was wearing a beautiful yellow dress that wasn’t too revealing, yet at the same time was very slightly seductive. Twilight hadn’t really considered that Spike would react like this, but as long as it was him looking at her this way, she didn’t mind. This, however, did nothing to stop a blush from creeping up upon both of their faces. “So, um, do you like it?” she asked, her tone obviously embarrassed. Spike’s mouth opened, but all that managed to escape was an inaudible squeak. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at this. “I’ll take that as a yes then?” she asked, still giggling. Spike only nodded. Again, this caused Twilight to giggle. --------- As the pair descended the stairs to the castle’s main room, they were greeted with the sight of hundreds of ponies they were unfamiliar with. They then looked to the bottom of the staircase to see Princess Celestia smiling to both of them. “Spike, you look very handsome.” The dragon smiled. “Thank you, princess.” She then looked to Twilight. “And you look beautiful yourself, dear.” Twilight was taken aback by this. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time Princess Celestia complemented her. Despite that, she found herself smiling. “Th-Thank you, princess.” She then leaned in a little closer. “Do you think that I could speak to you in private for a moment?” Twilight’s expression quickly shifted to one of confusion, but Celestia’s warm smile was somewhat of a reassurance. “Of course, your highness.” She then looked to Spike, who appeared as confused as herself. “I’ll catch up with you in a minute, okay?” He nodded before walking off. “What is it, your majesty?” Princess Celestia sighed. “Twilight, Spike spoke to me after his return, and I just wanted to apologize for how I’ve been treating you these past few years.” Twilight’s smile once again returned, though this time, it was more somber. “It’s fine princess, I’m not worried about that anymore.” Celestia returned the smile. “Either way, I still want to make up for it. Now, I know since moving to Canterlot, you haven’t been seeing much of your friends. So, I managed to get them all here for this occasion.” Those words caused Twilight’s expression to fill with excitement. “You did!?” Just then she leapt up and wrapped her hooves around the princess. Princess Celestia chuckled. “I know it’s not much, but I’m glad you’re happy about it.” “Thank you so much!” “TWILIGHT!” screamed a familiar high pitched voice. She turned to see Pinkie Pie darting through the crowd of ponies, completely disregarding any one in her way. Then, just as Twilight broke the embrace with Celestia, she found herself tackled to the ground in yet another hug. The pink ball of energy then proceeded to lift up her friend, not for a second loosening her grip. “Oh Twilight, we missed you so much! How have things been in Canterlot!? What have you been up to!?” She laughed. “I’ve missed you too, Pinkie.” The rest of the mane six then made their way through the crowd, and over to their friends. “Uh, Pinkie, you gonna let the rest of us have a chance?” asked Rainbow Dash. The pony looked to her friends with embarrassment. “Oh, sorry,” she said as she made room for all to get in on the embrace. Twilight soon found herself at the middle of a group hug, yet this wouldn’t last long, for unknown to the six friends was the fact that a young dragon was currently walking up behind them. “For a second there, I thought there was a fight happening,” said Spike. All eyes were suddenly on him, and in that second, Pinkie Pie leapt over her friends and tackled Spike to the ground. “SPIIIIIIIIIIKE!” she squealed. Spike found himself with the wind knocked out of him, not having the briefest second to brace for impact. Though, he really should have expected Pinkie Pie to act in such a manor. Twilight smiled as her friends jumped from her to Spike, though as she watched the affectionate display, something caused her to do a double take; Rarity. As she looked at her red dress, she was quickly reminded who the creator of her own dress was, for the only difference was the color. ‘You have got to be kidding me!’ she thought. As her friends began to unleash a barrage of questions unto Spike, Twilight began to trot away. She figured she wouldn’t get very far in their reunion while Spike was at the center of attention. She wasn’t jealous by any means, but she felt awkward just standing there watching. As Twilight made her way to the punch table, and began pouring herself a glass, Rarity caught sight of this and decided to reintroduce herself. She smiled as she walked over to Twilight. “Good evening, Twilight.” She looked to her and returned a halfhearted smile. “Good evening, Rarity. Already done welcoming Spike?” Rarity shook her head. “Heavens no, I just assume we’ll have plenty of time to talk after Pinkie Pie finishes playing twenty questions.” Twilight giggled. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m afraid you may be waiting half the night for that.” Rarity giggled as well. “Hopefully the dear will get distracted by something before then.” She then eyed Twilight’s dress. “Though, that’s quite an interesting fashion for you darling.” The Alicorn eyed Rarity’s dress as well. There was absolutely no doubt, it was almost exactly the same as hers. “Yeah, you as well.” At this, the conversation began to take a turn for the awkward. The two shuffled around, looking in no particular direction, both awaiting the other to say something conversation worthy. “Soooo,” began Rarity, “How are things living with Spike again?” Twilight smiled at this, thinking of all they had done since his arrival. “Oh, it’s wonderful. He’s gotten much more mature, and all he’s been is a tremendous help.” Rarity returned the smile. “Is that so?” Just then, the dragon who was the topic of discussion, walked over to the two mares. “Good evening ladies,” he said with a grin. For the briefest moment, Twilight found herself wondering if Spike was going to ask her to dance. Unfortunately though, this thought was quickly shattered when he turned away from her, to face Rarity. “Would you like to dance?” asked Spike as he extended an open claw. Rarity allowed him to take her hoof. “Of course, Spike.” This action filled Twilight with the utmost rage. Though she was currently doing a good job at hiding it, she was seconds away from exploding with anger. Though what truly sent her over the edge was when, as they started dancing, Rarity rested her head upon Spike’s chest. With a shaking magical grip, she laid her glass of punch atop the table and was fully content with acting out one of the various, mostly violent, fantasies currently playing out in her mind. “I swear that boy will never learn,” came the voice of a familiar cowpony. Twilight looked up to see Applejack standing beside the punch table, a few feet away from her. Once her rage had subsided to the point at which she was able to comprehend her statement, Twilight began to laugh halfheartedly. “Yeah, you think?” The pony chuckled and trotted over to Twilight. She rested a hoof atop her shoulder and turned her away from the dancing couple. They were now facing one of the castle’s many balconies. “Now Twi, before you blow a blood vessel, how about you come talk to me outside? We have a lot to catch up on.” Applejack’s comforting smile was enough to convince Twilight. “Okay,” she replied, shooting her a smile of her own. As the two mares trotted out into the brisk night air, Applejack began to shiver. “Wow! It is a cold one tonight.” Twilight giggled. “It appears you’re not used to Canterlot’s elevation, AJ.” “You’re darn tootin’!” Once Twilight’s laughter died down, her expression began to grow more serious. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Applejack looked up to her with a smile. “Well, I could ask you how things have been goin’ since I last saw you, or we could talk about your obvious crush on Spike.” The Alicorn’s cheeks flushed a bright red. “Is-Is it that obvious?” She smirked. “As the moon, Twi. I mean, preparing to rip a pony’s head off is kind of a dead giveaway. So, when did all this begin?” Twilight sighed. “Well, I always used to like him when we were little, but I didn’t really start to like him until after he left.” Applejack nodded. “About how long after?” “About two months, why?” The earth pony looked into her friend’s eyes. “I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but I want to see if you really do like him.” Twilight raised her brow. “Of course I like him. What kind of question is that?” Applejack shrugged. “You’d be surprised how badly we can misinterpret our feelings. What many feel as love may simply be loneliness, not true love. Or in your case, it could be regret… Did you ever like him before he left?” Twilight thought a moment before she began to smile and blush heavily. “Hearts and Hooves day, a few months before.” Now it was Applejacks turn to raise her brow. “Go on.” “I-I don’t really want to talk about it,” admitted Twilight, her voice full of embarrassment. The cowpony began to eye her carefully. “Um, you two didn’t, uh…” Twilight looked to her with confusion. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she fully comprehended what was being said. “Applejack! No!” She couldn’t contain her laughter. Seeing Twilight’s reaction to statements even close to that topic were always priceless. “Just checking, Twi,” she said as she wiped away a tear. The pony then looked back to the dance and noticed a song was ending. “Hey, I’m gonna go get some more punch, be back in a few.” As Applejack trotted back into the castle, she caught sight of Spike making his way towards the balcony. This caused her to grin immensely. ‘Dang, I’m good!’ she thought. Twilight looked up to the night sky as she awaited Applejack’s return. She let her mind wonder to many different aspects of her life, but each time she did this, she’d always find her way back to Spike. This caused her to sigh in disappointment. “Twilight?” Upon recognizing the voice, she quickly spun around to see Spike. However, she did a fairly good job at hiding the excitement she was feeling. “What do you want?” she asked. Spike looked down, obviously a little embarrassed. “I was wondering if you might like to dance.” Twilight turned away from him, yet as she did this, she thought to herself ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ “What? Get tired of dancing with Rarity?” Spike’s expression became one of confusion. ‘Oh my gosh! Is she jealous!?’ he thought. He laid a hand atop her shoulder, which she promptly shook off. “You know, I didn’t just dance with Rarity. I danced with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie too… Though to be honest, I wasn’t really counting on you to be jealous.” Twilight quickly went on the defensive and turned to face Spike, though as she did this, he couldn’t help but notice how deep of a blush she had. “I’m not jealous!” she snapped. Spike grinned. “Okay, that reaction right their just proved that you are.” Her blush intensified. “I… Er… Shut up!” Spike couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, do you want to dance or not?” “No!” Twilight lied. He leaned forward and placed a hand atop her shoulder. He was pleased when she didn’t attempt to pull away this time. “Twilight, if you want to know the truth, I’ve kind of been looking forward to dancing with you. I was only saving the best for last.” This caused Twilight’s eyes to widen. “You were?” Spike nodded. It’s then that Twilight noticed his other hand out stretched towards her. “Shall we?” Hesitantly, she gave him her hoof. “O-Okay.” The two made their way onto the dance floor just as a new song was beginning to play. Twilight recognized this piece of music, and smiled for it was one of her favorites. However, her attention quickly shifted from the music, to Spike wrapping his arms around her. As Spike did this, he couldn’t help but notice how tense she was. “Twilight,” he said softly, “you don’t need to be so nervous.” She once again found herself blushing. “I’m sorry, it’s just, I never really dance with anyone.” He chuckled. “It appears that’s one thing that hasn’t changed about you.” “Oh quiet,” she scolded jokingly, though as she did this, she noticed Spike pull her in a little closer. “So, what were you and Applejack talking about?” “Oh, we were just catching up,” she lied. “Wait, how did you know we were talking?” Now it was Spike’s turn to be embarrassed. “I… Um… I saw you two leave together.” She smirked. “What? Was someone worried about me, when they were supposed to be keeping their eyes on a certain unicorn?” His face turned bright red. “No, I… Shut up.” Twilight giggled and leaned her head against Spike’s chest. This action surprised him, since Twilight was rarely one to take the lead in anything. Despite that, the less distance between them allowed Spike to envelop his arms around her more easily. The pair continued to hold each other like this for several more minutes, as they swayed gently with the music. “Spike,” began Twilight. “Yes?” “Can you promise me something?” He looked down to her to see her head still resting atop his chest. “What is it?” “Just promise me you won’t leave… again.” Spike held Twilight closer to him. “I promise I won’t.” He grinned. “Besides, I don’t think I could leave anyone who acts this cute.” This caused her to giggle as she nuzzled against him. “Thank you.” Spike slowly leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Thank you, too.”