//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Breathing Underwater // Story: All The Small Things // by Closer-To-The-Sun //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Breathing Underwater This new feeling was bothering Spike quite considerably. It wasn’t just him not understanding his feelings that bothered him, but also how they would affect Pinkie Pie. Spike was determined to not let it encompass him, however it was all he could think about. Because of it, Spike kept his distance from Sugarcube Corner and Pinkie Pie in general for a few days. In his mind, Spike came to the conclusion that it’s for the best for both of them because this way, it won’t be weird. That’s what he thought anyway. Early one evening, Twilight spied the troubled dragon hiding behind a large book, “Spike, what are you doing?” “Looking up something about….science….” he lied. The truth of the matter was that he was trying to get lost in a random book so he wouldn’t think about the feelings that vexed him so. It wasn’t working. “Uh huh….” the unicorn was not buying it, “What kind of science?” Spike froze, “Sciency science….that deals with….science?” Rolling her eyes, Twilight spoke on, “Well, how about you take a break from your ‘research’ and go out for a bit? It’s a very lovely evening.” Using her magic, Twilight levitated the book away from her assistant, closed it, and placed it on the table. “But I really don’t wanna….” he whined almost like a little filly. “Why not? It’ll be good to get out. A little trip around the town might do you a world good,” the mare continued, “We’re lucky not to have any clouds right now. You can look up in the sky and see a lot of the constellations tonight.” The dragon sighed, “Sounds like that’s more up your alley of interest instead of mine.” Twilight lightly giggled, “Well, true, I certainly do love astronomy, but I still mean it when I say you should get out for a bit.” “Why?” Spike echoed. “Because for the last few days, you have done nothing but mope around the library during your free time,” Twilight’s tone grew stern and motherly, “I’m worried about you.” “I’m fine,” Spike looked away from Twilight, not wanting to get caught in her gaze. The expression on Twilight’s face was filled with doubt about her assistant’s statement, “Spike, I don’t want to play the bad pony here, but I really want you to get out of the library for a bit. I’m almost positive that it can help you a great deal. Okay?” Sighing as he stood up, he agreed, “Alright, alright….just don’t expect me to be out there long.” A warm smile appeared on Twilight’s face, “Just walk around and enjoy the evening a little, okay? I promise it won’t kill you.” Dragging himself to the door, Spike responded with a sigh, “Alright, I’m off.” He opened up the wooden door and took a step out into the evening. Once on the other side of the door, Spike looked up at the night sky. It was apparent that Celestia’s sun had just set beyond the horizon. The glow, however was still visible, causing the sky to be painted a mixture of all the colors in the rainbow. Without noticing it, Spike had a content smile on his face as he looked at the beautiful sky. Spike began to walk and move about Ponyville. He watched on as a number of different ponies in town began to chat amongst themselves together, laugh, enjoy each other’s company, and trot about town. Again, Spike had a small smile on his face as he watched the other citizens of Ponyville continue with their routine. The sky grew darker as glow of Celestia’s sun faded away and Luna’s moon and the star were the only lights in the sky. On cue, the lampposts turned on to light the streets of Ponyville. Seeing a bench next to one of the lampposts, Spike walked up to it and took a seat. Taking a deep breath of the evening air, Spike looked up to the night sky, watching the stars in the sky. As he stared upwards, he heard a familiar voice, “Spike?” Returning his gaze back down to Equestria, he saw a figure lit up by the lamp. It was a pink pony with a extremely frizzled mane. “Oh, hey, Pinkie Pie….” Spike’s voice was a bit depressed. Pinkie didn’t seem to take notice, “What’cha doing? I haven’t seen you in, like, forever!” “It’s only been a few days,” Spike pointed out. “But that’s forever times forever in Pinkie Time!” the pink mare stressed. Spike wasn’t sure about how to respond to Pinkie’s statement, “Uh….anyway, I was busy with….stuff….” “What kind of stuff? Fun stuff?” the party pony asked as she took the seat next to Spike on the bench. “Well, it wasn’t really anything like that….it was something a bit more….serious….” “Serious? Like Queen Chrysalis coming back?” Pinkie quickly gasped, “Did Queen Chrysalis come back?!” “What? No….not that serious. It was having to do with me and….stuff….” Pinkie Pie still had a pleasant smile on her face as she continued to ask, “Well, are you gonna tell me what it is or do I have to keep on guessing?” Sighing and looking away from Pinkie, Spike answered, “I….I was thinking about how I feel about you and what we are….” “Well, we’re friends, duh!” Spike continued, “I meant more than that….I….I think I love you, Pinkie Pie.” After a few moments of silence, Spike turned his head back to look at Pinkie. Expecting to see a confused mare, the dragon was surprised to see that Pinkie Pie had almost not changed her expression from when he had taken his eyes off her. Her smile was as big as ever. “Pinkie?” Spike edged on. With a squeal of delight, Pinkie wrapped her front hooves around Spike’s body, hugging him tightly. She pulled him close as she spoke, “Oh, this is wonderful~! I’m so happy! And here I thought that you didn’t like hanging out with me anymore! Silly me, am I right?” The dragon was struggling to breathe as he was hugged tightly. With his claws, he tapped on Pinkie’s limbs and struggled to speak up, “Pinkie…..I can’t….breathe….ease up….please….” “Oh, hee hee, sorry!” Pinkie relinquished her hug on the dragon. Catching his breath, Spike asked a question, “Now that you’re not trying to kill me with a hug….what do you mean?” “Well, when you didn't stop by lately, I thought it was because you didn’t like being around me anymore, and it made me sad because I really like being with you, Spike!” Pinkie beamed as she spoke. Spike was piecing the puzzle together, “Wait, does that mean that you-“ “Yup! I totally love you, Spikey!” “I don’t get it….why?” Smiling largely, Pinkie looked up at the night sky, the light of the stars reflecting off her wide eyes, “Well, I feel like we totally get each other, ya know? We like the same kind of stuff! And even when we don’t like the same stuff, we still have fun!” Spike looked on as Pinkie continued, “Ya see….I can’t explain it that well, but when we are together, it feels like I’m floating in a giant pool of water. Water all around me, but I can breathe, that way so I don’t drown. But yeah, it’s like I’m floating underwater, surrounded by this warm fuzzy feeling….and I like it a lot! And I only get that feeling when I’m with you, Spike.” The dragon was speechless. “I….don’t know what to say….” he admitted, “I never knew you felt that way about me, Pinkie.” Turning her head back to Spike, the mare still had the smile on her face and it was as if the stars in the sky were shining out of her eyes themselves, “Well, I do! I’ve always liked ya a lot, Spike! And when you started to hang out with me, it made me really, really happy! And since you love me too, it makes it even more great!” Her face seemed to grow pinker than normal. Spike also became flushed as he listened to Pinkie speak. Smiling back, he agreed, “Yeah, it really is.” “But there’s one thing I don’t understand, Spike, why do you like me? I mean I thought you had a crush on Rarity,” Pinkie added. “How did you know that?” Spike was confused. Giggling, the pink pony replied, “Duh, ya told me! And I didn’t break my promise, no pony knows!” Spike couldn’t help but chuckle a little, “Well, when we were together, I kind of forgot about all of that. I could only think about you. Just how you find the beauty in all of the small things in every day life, it’s something I envy about you. While I really can’t do it all the time, I really love it when you show me how to do that, like with exploring around Ponyville, playing games, whatever….I just really like it.” Pinkie chuckled as well, “And I love it too!” Rubbing his arm with one of his claws, Spike asked a very pressing question that was on both of their minds, “So….what do you think this make us, Pinkie? Best pals? Coltfirned and marefriend?” Smiling, Pinkie scooted closer to Spike on the bench and wrapped one of her front limbs around him, pulling him close to her body, “How about we be super-duper good friends who really, really like each other? Then we can go from there when we’re ready, okay?” “Okay,” Spike nodded with a smile, his face blushing red. Both Pinkie and Spike looked back up at the night sky. The night continued on as they watched the stars in the sky and enjoyed being with each other. END