//------------------------------//
// For Love 
// Story: For Love and Nothing More 
// by CloudWatcher 
//------------------------------//

	A simple gift and a small motion can make all the difference to whether a day is made a great on or not, the words of a certain pony's praise can light up even the darkest of nights. Life's simplest things can bring the most joy to anypony who enjoys them, even if they seem to be meaningless acts that one enacts whence they become bored or feel too to themselves to join in with anypony else's activities.

Sleeping in a library surrounded by many memories, most good, but some being bad, was Spike. It was the middle of the afternoon and Twilight had done exactly as he had asked of her last night, to let him sleep in a bit longer today. The last week or so of his time has been consumed by work for his friends, not without it's own forms of compensation however. One pony in particular gave him an item that he will forever cherish, holding close to his heart even as he slumbers. A nice reminder that he is still her favorite little dragon, and that nopony or dragon could ever replace him. 

Spike's eyes open suddenly at the sound of thunder, the steady clamoring of the rain on the library soon filling his ears. "A thunderstorm...?  I thought today was supposed to be a beautiful day?" His bed felt to comfortable to leave as he lay for another twenty minutes, the sound of the rain being soothing while the thunder kept him awake, he roused himself after a loud clap of thunder shook the library. "Stupid thunderstorms, why are you so loud when I'm trying to fall asleep?" 

and he slowly lift himself out of it, standing straight up and stretching his arms. As he stretched his arms behind his head the joints in his shoulders let off several pops as they settled out of the stiffness from the night's sleep. "Breakfast time, I hope that Twilight left me something edible, instead of what she calls 'food'. I'd really rather not have what she 'cooked' last time..." 

His mind replayed the scene from the last time he had asked to be left sleeping for a bit longer than normal. He awoke that morning to a half burned library and the smell of burning vegetables. He shudders and shakes the image off, "That, was a horrible experience for both her and I..." Proceeding with his task as he had planned, he picks up his bed and puts it underneath Twilight's full sized bed frame, out of the way. He turns around with a small yawn and walks drowsily toward the bedroom door, easily turning the doorknob and pushing open the door. He nearly jumps out of his skin at the sound of a small bottle popper going off in his face, "Aah! What the hay?" His eyes widen when he saw all of his friends down the stairs around a cake, with an obvious smudge in the side from where Pinkie couldn't stop herself from 'tasting' the frosting to make sure it wasn't poisoned.

"Morning, or... Afternoon you sleepy dragon! I was wondering if you'd ever come out, I thought I'd of had to eat the cake myself, and nopony wants to miss cake on a day like today! Especially the one who the cake was made for! Oh, you probably want to get down the stairs huh? Silly me!" Pinkie turns her head toward the bottom of the stairs and began trotting down the stairs, the bounce in her step being the same as it always was at a party.

Spike took a quick glance around the room after Pinkie had gone downstairs, not really understanding why in Equestria they would be having a party for him. "Sorry but, why am I being thrown a random party...? Did I do something so mega important that you thought it was necessary to treat me?" He cocked an eyebrow at Twilight and she stared back him, silently smiling.

"Spike, did you really forget your own birthday? You love your birthdays, especially when Pinkie Pie makes the cake special for you." Twilight puts a hoof gently on his head and chuckles, softly rubbing her hoof across the rounded scales on top of his head. This small action coming from Twilight, was enough to make him blush and smile nervously.

He moved away from Twilight after a few seconds and she let her hoof slowly drop back down to the table, "You still act like a mother to me Twilight... I love it but, it's- kind of embarrassing.." He scratches the back of his head with his clawed hand, chuckling nervously as he looks at the five friends around the table. His eyes get a small tinge of hurt at the notice that his favorite pony in the world wasn't there to share this moment with him. "She wasn't able to make it..?" 

Rarity looked at Spike with interest in her eyes, "Fluttershy spoke to us shortly after we made the arrangements for this party, she made it clear to us that it wouldn't be quite right of her to appear without a gift to present to you." 

Applejack smiled as she saw the same thing in Spike's eyes that Rarity had, "Shy'll get here later'n us but, ah reckon ya'll be glad ta know she isn't 'bout ta miss yer birthday." She looked over to Rarity and they began to smile a bit at each other.

Rainbow Dash had been sitting at the table silently the whole time. Dash never really was that great with mushy stuff, birthdays were no exception. She looked around the room for several minutes before her leg muscles suddenly tensed up, moving her away from the table. "I'll be back." Her legs moved quickly as she walked toward the door, Spike watching her the whole way. Spike opened his mouth to speak but Rainbow Dash interrupted him, not allowing him to speak his mind. "You know, you don't have to stare, I will be back." 

The door silently opens and a yellow hoof steps in out of the light rain that remained of the once torrential downpour, "S-sorry I took so long... I-I couldn't choose..." Fluttershy smiles warmly at her friends and puts a hoof on Dash's shoulder as she whispers something inaudible.

The muscles in Dash's legs relax as she nods her head, turning her head toward Spike with a smile across her lips. She looks at her friends again and slowly walks over to them, returning to her place at the far part of the table. 

Spike's eyes lighten up the moment he sees Fluttershy enter the library, his heart beating faster than ever as she looks directly at him and smiles, "Hey... F-Fluttershy..." He smiles nervously as she walks toward him, the same smile still present on her lips as she quietly sits down next to him. A blush crept onto Spike's cheeks as she sat down next to him, his lips quivering as he smiled. Instinctively he reached out a claw and put it around her shoulders, eliciting an audible squeak from her.

She answers the claw around her shoulder with her own hoof around him, her skin being soft and warm was comfortable against his cold, rough, scaly skin. Gently she pulled him closer and put her wing around him, her head lowering to his forehead and resting there, not having to speak a word to let him know.

Spike's mouth opened as if to speak when he felt her wing, but he was immediately silenced by the short acknowledging gasp from Twilight's lips as she had just now found out his wish this year. The blush that had been slowly forming on his cheeks, immediately deepened as he felt Shy's steady, warm breathing on his scaly skin. 

Pinkie Pie had calmed herself enough to hop in one place, still smiling as she watched the party she had set up, it was much more calm than she had expected for it to be. Though, she felt nothing but happiness for how the party had proceeded. For, wasn't it the point of a birthday party, to get what one wanted? Fluttershy had always adored the little dragon and he had always kept his feelings for the gentle pegasus a secret until just the other day, when he had slipped and blurted out his secrets to Rainbow Dash in a flurry of mumbles and gibberish. 

Rainbow Dash's smile changed to a cocky smirk as she opened her mouth to speak, "Fluttershy, did you bring birds with you? I think I can hear them." A slight snicker escaped her lips from her sly remark.

Applejack chuckles lightly as she gives Rainbow a hard stare  "Rainbow, Y'all leave em' be now." 

This statement was quickly heeded as Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly, hiding another slight chuckle from Applejack as she looked back at Shy and silently apologized.

Twilight sat in the same spot looking at Spike. Now, she was smiling at him, knowing she should have realized before. "It isn't so strange, It's actually kind of sweet really." This causes Spike and Pinkie to look at her, one holding a blank expression, and the other a joyous grin.

Pinkie Pie, who was getting bored of just bouncing in one place, hopped energetically over to Fluttershy and Spike. She leans down and whispers a question as quiet as possible, "When are you going to kiss?" 

Fluttershy's face turned beet red at the question and she just looked at Pinkie, unable to form words to respond, she instead squeaked quite audibly. 

Spike looked up at Pinkie and blinked a few times, "Seriously? I figured somepony else would of asked that." He was entirely unfazed by the odd question, this helped Fluttershy calm herself a bit, even though all eyes in the room were directly on her. Nopony else had heard the question.

Fluttershy looked up an around at her friends as they looked at her, wondering why she had made that odd noise, "N-nothing... It was nothing..." She smiled nervously and looks back down at Spike, kissing him on the cheek before slowly turning toward the table.

Pinkie knew exactly what time it was as she began to cut the cake into slices of varying sizes for each of her friends, giving nearly half of the cake to Spike. "Birthday dragon's gotta take the first bite! I'm sure you'll love it as much as you love your friends!" She giggles and hops back around to her spot at the table, in between Applejack and Rarity.

Spike looked down at the cake and noticed immediately why it was made especially for him, she put gems in his portion of the cake, remembering exactly which kinds he liked. "Pinkie, you didn't have to do that... I still would've loved it, you know that..." He gives Pinkie a joy filled smile before taking one large bite of his cake, easily crunching through the gems that had been mixed into it. "Delicious! Thanks Pinkie!" His smile remained on his face as he looked at Pinkie again, then to Fluttershy, who smiled a slightly and wiped a bit of frosting off of his lip. 

Fluttershy was the next to take a bite of the cake, followed by Twilight, then Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. They had gone in order around the table, and loved each bite of the cake they tasted. The first one that had finished their cake was Pinkie, who pushed her face right into her slice of cake, wearing more of it then she had actually eaten.

Rarity was the next to finish her small slice of cake, smiling happily as she hadn't gone too far off from her strict diet of sugarless products. "Pinkie, that cake was most exquisite." 

This elicited a giggle and a short reply from the pink pony, who still had a large amount of frosting covering her face. "Fluttershy helped to! She helped me bake it and make sure it was perfect, so you should thank her to!" 

Fluttershy shook her head and spoke quietly, "No, it's alright... You did most of the work Pinkie Pie, I just helped you time it right..." 

Applejack had finished shortly after Rarity had, wearing a wide smile as she swallowed the last piece of her cake. "Almost rounds with mah Apple Pie." This was her form of complimenting Pinkie's baking, as the Apple Family held their recipes near and dear to their very heart.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash had both finished their cake at around the same time as the other, neither needing to voice their opinions on the cake they had eaten, they had already been voiced by the others. 

Fluttershy stood up from the table suddenly, everypony at the table looking at her again as she had only eaten half of her cake, and gives Spike a small wrapped item. "So you won't forget... If anything happens...?" 

Spike looks up at Fluttershy and reaches for the item she held in her hoof, smiling up at her and responding in his normal tone, "Forget what? It's something to do with you, how could I forget?"

Fluttershy blushed as she thought about something, smiling for several seconds before leaning down and kissing him on the cheek. She then stands and heads toward the door quickly, embarrassed that everypony had seen what she had just done. 

Rarity smiled warmly at the sight of the small kiss, "I knew you'd surely find somepony if you tried." Her voice held the same upbeat tone as Pinkie usually had, which seemed odd for Rarity.

The other ponies in attendance, all except for Pinkie who had expected this, looked at the two as Fluttershy kissed his cheek, each on of them smiling to themselves.

After Fluttershy kissed his cheek she had headed home, hoping that he wouldn't open the gift until after everypony was gone, except for Twilight, he could show her if he really wanted to. "Th-that was new..." 

Rarity stood and headed for the door shortly after Fluttershy had left, using her magic to wrap her scarf around her nexk securely. "I surely hope the rest of your birthday goes as perfectly as this." She opens the door and exits the library, closing the door without a noise.

She is shortly followed by Rainbow Dash who gave Spike a hoof bump before she left the library, not speaking another word and taking off toward her cloud home.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack stay for a little while after the others' had left, helping Twilight clean up what was on the table. Applejack looks at Spike for a second, he is staring dead on at the gift he had been given, not moving a muscle. "Spike, are ya okay?" 

Spike nods his head in response to her question and speaks quietly, "Fine... I'm perfect actually." He smiles and continues looking at the small item in his hands with happiness welling visibly in his eyes.

Pinkie Pie was the next to go as she had to make sure the Cakes were able to get the babies to sleep on time, "See you soon Spike, Twilight, Applejack, I hope you enjoyed the cake!" She bounded out the door and closes it with her tail, causing it to slam a bit harder than she meant for it to.

Applejack was the last to leave as she felt obligated to help Twilight finish cleaning every little bit of the main room if the library, which had only taken the two mares 10 minutes after Pinkie had left. "I hope ya'll have a fine day." She goes out the door quietly and looks back before closing the door, smiling at Twilight.

"Hey Twilight, do you think I could go talk to Fluttershy?" He asked Twilight as he was unsure of how she would have reacted to him just walking out and leaving.

Twilight nods her head with a smile as she answers his question happily, "Of course you can Spike, you didn't really get that much time to talk during you party." 

"Thank you Twilight!" He quickly stands and rushes to the door, closing it soflty as he goes on his way toward the outskirts of Ponyville. "Talking to Fluttershy will be odd, to say the least..." On his way past SugarCube Corner, he sees Pinkie Pie through the window on the door, baking Celestia-knows-what. He chuckles as he passes the door, "What a surprise." He speaks in a jokingly sarcastic manner before speeding up his walk.

He doesn't see many ponies on the way to Fluttershy's cottage, the one's he does see, wish him a happy birthday and the best of wishes for him, to be happy with her, though none actually say a name to go along with 'her'. Everypony in Ponyville had learned by now who Spike had feelings for, not because of Rainbow Dash entirely. Dash, however, does tend to talk in her sleep at times. Which may have helped spread it around much faster as she tends to sleep in several different places throughout the day

After about ten minutes of walking, the cottage had come into view, speeding his walk into a run. He stumbled once or twice on loose rocks but caught himself each time, making it to her house after only a moment or so. He raised his hand to knock on the door but as he did, the door slowly opened. On the other side of the open door he saw the most lovely smile in Equestria, the timid smile of the pony he had come to see, Fluttershy.

"H-hey Spike... I thought you'd come here afterword..." She spoke softly as she fully opened the door, allowing Spike to come in. Angel sat impatiently on the small end table in Fluttershy's cottage, glaring at Spike as the door opened for him. 

Spike immediately began to smile upon seeing Fluttershy, his smile growing wider as he slowly steps inside not even noticing the bunny on the table. "Well, we didn't get very much time to talk before the party ended so... I figured I'd come over and have a chat with you while nopony else was listening." 

Fluttershy closed the door softly after Spike had entered her home, slowly walking to Angel and patting him on the head. This made him leave the room rather quickly, as he knew what she was going to say. "Spike would you... like anything to drink..?" To this he responded with a slight shake of his head and the smile she ever so adored that made her heart soar. She fought the urge to just reach out and hug him for hours on end, 'He came here to talk... not be smothered the whole time...'

He looked at Shy and waved a hand in front of her face once, "You okay Fluttershy? You're staring off into space like Twilight does when she's thinking." He smiles as she blinks a few times, "There you are, lost you for a minute there." 

She motions her hoof toward the living room and takes a step forward, "We should sit down to talk..." She leads the way into the living room, followed closely behind by Spike. They sat on the couch next to each other and after a moment of silence, Spike was the first that began talking.

"Fluttershy... I came over because I really wanted to tell you why I feel the way I do, and ask a single question. The question can wait until after I explain things though..." He held his hand out to her as he paused.

She listened to him and nodded each time he took a pause, making sure that he knew that she was still listening. She blushed lightly as she saw him reach is hand out to her, moving her hoof slowly into his hand. 

He smiled and continued talking, looking into her heart melting eyes, "I feel the way I do because... You're so loving and caring... You care for everything regardless of what other ponies think. You can look at anything and see the good in it, even if it's down in the deepest, darkest part of it's heart you still see it and you'll do everything in your power to get it to show, even in the slightest." He paused to take a breath before continuing, "I like that you're gentle with everything you do, even if it would normally call for the roughest of ponies to work through it, you manage with just the gentlest of hooves. I'm not sure if there's anything about you that isn't a reason that I feel how I do, I haven't found a one yet..." 

Spike still had more to say, but Fluttershy already knew his what it was that he felt. She moved her hoof from his hand and gently set it on his lips to shush him. "I know this... I know how you feel Spike..." She moved her hoof back to his hand and she felt his hand tense up quickly before relaxing again, a slow reaction to his feeling nervous. "You don't have to explain... I understand without you saying a word about it..." She smiles softly at him and puts her hoof on his shoulder, pulling him in closer to her and hugs him tightly. "You're an adorable little dragon and... you'll always be my favorite in Equestria... Just promise me... That you won't forget me... when you get older..."

Spike tears up a bit while she talks, not of sadness, but of joy. He hugs her back as tightly as he could, nuzzling into her shoulder. "I could never forget you... No matter what happens, I couldn't forget you..." 

She nodded when she heard him answer her request. They sat on the couch hugging for nearly an hour before Fluttershy had noticed the sun dipping to the horizon, "Spike...?" She smiled when she noticed he had fallen asleep, picking him up and kissing him on the cheek before waking him up. "Spike, you should probably get home... Before Twilight starts to worry about you..."

Spike blinked several times in an attempt to quicken the focusing of his eyes to the lit atmosphere of Fluttershy's house, "Y-you're right!" He pulled closer to her and, on impulse, left a quick kiss on her lips before running to the door. "L-love you!" He quickly opens the door and runs out, leaving the door to close on it's own.

Fluttershy stood there, blushing and staring blankly at the wall. "H-he just... I... K-kissed..." She brought a hoof up to her lips and gently set it there, a smile forming slowly at the corners of her lips. "Thank you... Spike..." 

Spike didn't think about much other than Fluttershy on his way home from her cottage, he no longer saw anypony on the main dirt road through Ponyville either as it was getting too late for them. He whispers to himself, a phrase he had said to Fluttershy as he was bolting to the door. "I-I love you... Never thought I'd say it..." He hadn't realized that he had kissed her until he was just outside the library, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

Twilight stepped onto the stairs from the hallway to her room, "Hey Spike, I didn't expect you back until at least tomorrow." She smiled warmly at him, even after noticing the odd look on his face. "Feelings get the best of you then?" 

After a moment of silence when Spike had gotten back from Fluttershy's cottage, Twilight breathed in deeply with the smile slowly fading from her face in an attempt to steel herself to finally ask Spike the question that had been wracking her mind all afternoon. "Spike? I'm actually quite curious... Whatever happened to your crush on Rarity?" She asked the question as plainly as she could, trying not to stumble over her words and confuse Spike.

Spike was taken by surprise as he had been thinking of Fluttershy and the small parcel he held in his hand, the gift that had been given to him by Fluttershy. "I can't really explain it. Really, it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. It was there, and then it was gone. But when I met Fluttershy... I just couldn't shake the thoughts of her gentle nature, her soft voice and her love for everything... I guess that I was taken aback by the beauty at first, but as I got to know the pony behind the beauty, I learned that she wasn't the one for me. She's beautiful, generous, loving, and has an uncanny fashion sense but... None of that holds a candle to Fluttershy's soft and gentle approach, it's nearly impossible to get to her like you could somepony else. Fluttershy and Rarity share many traits but, one that they do not share, is the love for anything and everything living. It doesn't matter what it is, if it lives and breathes, Fluttershy will be kind and supporting and every way that she can. Rarity, I'm not so sure about. She seemed lovely, then I saw her more and more. Her pros, per say, can be outweighed by the cons at several times during activities she may partake in. Fluttershy's pros outweigh her cons. In truth, I see no negative side to Fluttershy. How can anypony so lovable and caring, have any bad side to her?" 

Twilight sat and listened to his long and somewhat confusing explanation, smiling at several points in it. "Spike, I'm not sure if I say this enough but... I love you. Like a mother to her colt, or dragon, in this case. I love you as a mother would her child." 

Spike chuckles as he looks at Twilight, still holding the wrapped gift in his hand, "I know Twilight, I've always known." He looks down at the parcel in his hand and begins slowly unwrapping it, tearing up as he realizes what it was. "This is... She kept it after all this time...?" He held an emerald in his hand. This emerald, however, he had carved by focusing the flames he breathed into one spot for several seconds and copying this in different spots. He had left this in Fluttershy's cottage when he was watching all of the animals for her. He put it on a stand near her bed shortly before she arrived home. "Hey, Twi..?" 

Twilight smiled as she looked at the baby dragon, noting the joyful tears in his eyes, "Yes Spike?" 

Spike quickly looked up at her and went to her, his feet making small padding noises on the floor as he ran to her and hugged her tightly. He felt more joy in this moment, than he ever had in his life. He had gotten yet another gift from his favorite mare in Equestria, the first being a picture of Fluttershy smiling sheepishly, and the second being a gift that she had kept and gave back as an answer to a question that had yet been asked. "I love you... Mom..." 



For love, may be blind, but not ignorant nor insincere.
First as it may seem, unsure, but it will become always clear.