Chapter 2
The short walk from the ground level to the royal apartments was quiet and honestly a little awkward, since I was dreading bringing up a painful memory for Rarity. Besides that, as much as Fluttershy tried to call the night “friend time”, I was practically going to be swimming in a sea of estrogen. Not that I really minded, since I had a lot of experience dealing with the fairer sex, but I would be spending the night with six of them, and though I had my own room, it was likely Twilight was going to force me to sleep in a room with all of them, since a slumber party practically demanded sleeping bags and talking late into the night...or at least that’s what Twilight’s “The Ultimate Guide to Sleepovers, Vol. 3” stated.
Yet again, not that I minded any of that much, save for the fact that I was a light sleeper nowadays, and Rainbow Dash’s snoring was legendary.
What I saw when Fluttershy and I entered into the common room was pretty much what I expected: Rainbow Dash and Applejack were arm-wrestling while Pinkie was placing bets against Scootaloo on who would win, and Twilight and Rarity were chatting quietly while Rarity brushed the princess’ hair. While I hadn’t thought that Scootaloo would be here as well, I guess it made sense since Rainbow Dash would be at the slumber party, which would leave the younger pony by herself at Rainbow’s cloud home.
Upon seeing me, Pinkie gasped, which startled Rainbow Dash and made Applejack forcefully slam her opponent’s hand onto the table, simultaneously toppling the rainbow-haired mare and causing Scootaloo to burst out in a fit of guffaws. Rarity brushed too roughly through a knot in Twilight’s mane, yanking the alicorn’s head back and causing both to fall off the edge of the large bed they sat upon.
Yeah...I lost it.
Fluttershy squeaked adorably as I fell past her onto the floor, hugging my sides as I laughed uncontrollably at the sight of so much going wrong all at once. This in turn caused Fluttershy to begin giggling, and within only a minute, the entire room was full of laughter the likes of which was so rare that I treasured every second of it. Not that laughter was a novelty with us or anything, but it was so uncommon for us to be all together, all at once, and be laughing like idiots. It felt good, and I wished we had more moments just like it.
After nearly five minutes of excessive laughter, we all calmed down enough to greet each other.
Pinkie was first, of course, deciding that an overly-strong hug would suffice rather than words. From there, Applejack stood and approached, extending her hand with a warm smile.
“Glad to see you could make it, Spike. Ah was wonderin’ if y’all were really comin’.” the farm mare greeted in a friendly manner.
I wrenched myself from Pinkie’s grasp and shook her hand firmly, smiling as well. “Well, Fluttershy said it would be alright if I came by tonight, so here I am. I didn’t have anything else going on tonight, so…” I shrugged. “Besides, I’m always in the mood to hang out with you girls; I just didn’t want to intrude or anything.”
“Spike,” Twilight began, trying her best to fix her mussed hair, “this is your home. Beyond that, I think I speak for everypony when I say you’re always welcome being around us, no matter what; you could never ‘intrude’.”
“She’s right, Spike.” Rainbow Dash added with a grin. “Honestly, we were hoping you’d join us sooner; it just doesn’t feel right anymore without you around.”
I raised one of my brows. “Since when?”
Scootaloo stepped forward now, smiling brightly. “You’ve helped everypony in this town in some way or another; you’ve become a part of everyday life for everypony -- some of us more than others.” She stopped right in front of me, tilting her head back to look at me, as she was a rather petite young mare. “Do you remember when I found out from the doctors that I would never be able to fly like a normal pegasus?”
Her words brought to mind the memory, and I nodded slowly. “Yes. It was a hard day for everypony close to you...Rainbow most of all.” I glanced at Rainbow Dash, and she nodded to me with a smile. “We all banded together to make sure you knew that just because you might be short in the flight department, it didn’t make you any less of a pony; we love you for who you are, not whether you can fly or not.” I rolled my eyes and sighed, nodding. “Fluttershy and I talked about this on the way here. Apparently I’m really important to all of you.”
Scootaloo nodded, her gaze never breaking with my own. “You are. To older ponies, you’re the kind of dragon they wish most younger ponies could be like, and to the youth, you’re the one we aspire to be like. You inspire us to be our best, even if you don’t realize it.” Her smile then dropped away as it was replaced by a more somber expression. “We’ve all seen what your kind can be like Spike, and that’s why you’re so special to us; you’re not like other dragons, but you’re still willing to protect your home and everypony in it.”
Scootaloo held a special place in my heart. She was my first flame, so to speak, after I let go of my childhood crush on Rarity. Scootaloo and I had always been closer to each other than I had to the other “crusaders” seeing as how we had a lot in common as far as personality, hobbies, and even sense of humor. Beyond that, I had been the one to inadvertently prove to Scootaloo that she was not interested in stallions, and was subsequently the first one she had spoken to about her preferences. Now I know a lot of others out there that would see such a realization by a filly or mare right after dating them as a failure as a stallion, but truthfully I was relieved. I had noticed the whole time we were together that she seemed to just be going through the motions as far as a relationship was concerned, which had originally led me to believe that I was doing something wrong. She had later admitted to me that I was the one male she would ever consider marrying, if only for the fact that I was one of her best friends and she knew I would never hurt her. I’m still not sure how I feel about the whole situation, but I choose to see it as a positive.
“Don’t let all this praise give you a big head though, Spike.” Rainbow Dash commented with a smirk. “I’m more than happy to knock you down a few pegs if you get all full of yourself.”
I raised my brow again, this time with a smirk. “Is that a challenge? I’ll throw down with you right now if you’re feeling brave, and I’m pretty sure we both know I’d win.”
Twilight then stepped in front of me, her eyes narrowed in a glare. “If you two want to do that, take it outside.”
I looked out one of the nearby windows and saw clouds gathering for an overnight rain. I shook my head with a sigh as I looked back to my prismatic friend. “I guess we’ll have to wait until another time for you to get your butt kicked.”
Rainbow Dash just smirked right back. “Anytime anywhere, scales. Bring it.”
I simply shook my head and settled in for a night with a few great friends.
Night had settled in nicely in Ponyville, and Twilight’s gramophone was putting out some soft music for us all to listen to as we relived the adventures of our past. Scootaloo, of course, hadn’t been there, but seeing as how Rainbow Dash told her everything, she already knew of many of the things we had done. Needless to say, the eight of us had quite a bit of fun talking about old times and reminiscing about how we all came to know each other. It was a night that I think we all enjoyed immensely, since for those few precious hours we could forget about our responsibilities and chosen professions to just be friends again.
I found it funny that some things never changed about all of them, such as Pinkie’s exuberance or Fluttershy’s gentle nature. Though we had grown (some of us more or faster than others), we had never forgotten or forsaken the bonds we had with each other. It was worth more than its weight in gold or jewels to me, and I would protect what we had to my last breath.
On a less dark note, Applejack was happy to announce that she and Thunderlane would be celebrating their six-month anniversary soon, which meant that among all those present, she would have the longest-standing relationship. It was kinda sad when I really thought about it, but I guess we can’t all be winners. Besides, I pretty much had everything I could want anyway, minus anything physically intimate...and I’ll admit, the latter is something I do crave, as any other sane stallion does.
Nonetheless, we were all happy for Applejack, since she had so little time to herself with work on the farm and everything, which meant that not only was it nearly a miracle for her to even find someone, but also incredible that he understood just how much time she would have to devote to the farm. We all knew of course, but then again we weren’t her special somponies, so I don’t think that counts.
After that little congratulatory moment, we all sat down to watch a movie in Twilight’s bedroom, which from what the others told me was a regular thing, as was the fact that everypony would likely fall asleep around or on each other. Twilight told me (much to my disappointment) that scantily-clad female pillowfights were “not a thing”, as cited in her issue of “One-Thousand and One Things that Never Happen” (yes, it’s a real book, and yes, the rule was in there). However, I was overjoyed at the fact that mini-pizzas and chips were in plentiful supply, which more than made up for the fact that I wouldn’t be living every young stallion’s dream.
It was around one in the morning when I felt nature call, so I slowly and carefully extracted myself from the grasp of Twilight and Pinkie Pie -- the latter of which was drooling on me -- and made my way to the public lavatory.
After relieving myself and cleaning up, I strolled over to the railing of one of the balconies on the first floor of the apartment wing and gazed up at the moon, simply enjoying the night air. The night had gone pretty well, even though I had never gotten my chance to speak to Rarity alone, but I had come to find that perhaps sleepovers weren’t so girly after all. Besides, who doesn’t love hanging out with best friends?
“You seem troubled.” whispered a voice from above.
I looked up and smiled, waving to my visitor. “Hey, mom. Do the guards know you’re sneaking out at night?”
Princess Celestia, in all her sweat pants and tee-shirt’ed splendor, flared her wings quietly before landing on the balcony next to me, returning my smile. “I think what I do during my off-hours is none of their business. Besides,” she continued, reaching out to rub a hand along my newly-growing cranial fins, “I’m allowed to visit those most important to me from time to time, am I not?”
I raised a brow at this. “And Twilight?”
She shrugged, shifting beside me and extending her wing to wrap around me. “You do realize I hear from her every day, right? I haven’t heard from you in nearly two weeks, Spike. I’m starting to think you don’t love me anymore.” She then pouted in a way that immediately drew me to assume she must have been a real brat when she was younger.
I sighed and shook my head. “I just didn’t want to bother you is all. Besides, you told me that now is the time when I should be striking out on my own.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t keep in contact with family, dear.” she admonished gently.
I leaned against her side, enjoying the feeling of her soft, warm fur. “I guess. I just can’t help but think of how much you and the others have to do every day to keep this country running. By comparison, my daily routine seems pretty unimportant.”
I felt the large feathered wing tighten ever so slightly against me, and found two pink eyes almost glaring at me. “Comparing your wants, needs, and habits to another who lives a life so different from yours will always lead to a feeling of insignificance, my son.” Her hand once again brushed my soft head fins, and her glare softened into a loving smile. “To those that matter, how you feel and what you do are the most important things in the world. Never think for a moment that I or any of the others whose lives you have touched do not wish to keep in contact, no matter where life may take us.” She then smirked mischievously. “Besides, I know of no one else who was artificially aged by a curious princess.”
Her latter statement referred, of course, to Twilight; more specifically, it referred to the time when she was dabbling in magic and unfinished spells that were dreamt up to control or alter time. One such spell would allow her to open a portal to a fixed point in the past if she could figure out how to get it to work right. Instead of doing what was intended, the spell had backfired and altered both our ages by five years. It was after this incident that Twilight destroyed all copies of the spell and forwarded the original and all her notes to be kept safe in the Canterlot Royal Archives. She had later told me that seeing me grow five feet within two seconds had scared her more than she initially thought, especially when she recognized the fact that the spell could have very well aged me far past that point had it gone even worse...and by worse, she meant death, even though she never actually said it. Regardless, she promised both me and herself that she would never experiment with dangerous magic on another living subject again.
“That might very well have been one of the strangest things to ever happen to me.” I commented dryly. “Though, it did have some nice side effects; for one, I’m not small anymore.”
“You have a long life ahead of you, Spike.” she chastised gently. “Don’t ever be in a hurry to grow up.” I noticed as her ear flicked, and she grinned slyly. “It seems we have company.”
I turned with her toward the balcony door and smiled when I saw Rarity walk out before stopping abruptly, nearly falling in the process. “O-oh, I’m sorry. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
Celestia looked at me before shaking her head and spreading her wings. “Not at all dear, I’m just saying goodnight to Spike here.” She then turned to me with a smile as she stroked my cheek lovingly, kissing it shortly after before ascending with one powerful flap of her wings. As she hovered for a moment in the air, she looked Rarity and I over with a knowing smile before waving. “I’m off to the palace, dear. Take care of them.”
Rarity watched in confusion and awe as the alicorn of the day flew away, clearly unsure what to make of what she had just seen. “S-so, umm…”
“It’s not what it looks like, Rarity;” I began, still not taking my eyes off of the ruler as she continued to retreat in the distance, “she’s my mom.” Before she could say anything else, I turned around to face Rarity. “Why are you awake?”
Rarity looked away from the sky to focus on me, shifting uneasily on her hooves. “I-I heard you get up, and I was worried.”
I closed my eyes and exhaled through my nose. “Rarity, we’ve been dancing around this for awhile now, and it has to stop. For months now, any time you don’t know where I am or where I’m going, you act as if I just took up a fight with a hydra. Accidents happen; I forgave you and-”
“You were dying,” she spoke suddenly, her voice very soft and her tone vulnerable, “and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it.” She stepped forward and leaned her rump against the railing, unwilling to look me in the eyes anymore. “We’re lucky there were guards on standby that knew what to do, because the sight of you suffocating was so horrifying that I just locked up in terror.” Rarity shook her head shamefully as the tears began to come, more quickly than I would have expected from her. “It was all my fault, and there was not a thing I could do to correct my mistake…”
I shook my head. “Rarity, we didn’t know; hay, I didn’t even know until afterward what had happened to me. It wasn’t-”
“IT WAS MY FAULT!” she suddenly shouted, her voice echoing briefly before the sounds of night once again enveloped us. She was hunched over, shaking with the effort of trying to keep silent, but choked sobs and tears still escaped.
We were all used to Rarity being dramatic, but there was a clear difference between something that she thought was important at the time, and something that truly bothered her. The way she presented herself the past few months -- her tone, her posture, and even her outfits -- screamed shame and depression. She had hardly ever approached me since the day of the incident, and spoke to me only in passing. For a long time I had worried I had done something wrong, but it was this night that confirmed to me that she didn’t feel worthy of being around me anymore; no...worse, she thought herself to be a hazard to me.
“Rarity…” I began, stepping over to her only to have her flinch away. I sighed and shook my head, shooting my hand out and grabbing her wrist before she could retreat, and pulling her close to me as I wrapped my arms around her. For a moment she struggled to escape and her horn even lit up with magic in an attempt to push me away or something, but soon she slumped against me and began sobbing against my chest. Her arms suddenly shot up and encircled me, clutching on for dear life as the two of us fell to our knees as her legs gave out.
“I-I’m s-s-s-so s-” she began, only for her words to dissolve into unintelligible babbles as she cried harder. Unable to do much else, I simply held her tightly as she soaked my shirt with tears.
Whenever it comes to anything dealing with emotions, Rarity truly goes all-out. When she falls in love, she falls hard, and the same extreme reactions happen whenever she’s very happy, very sad, or any strong emotion. Because of that, what would for anyone else be a mere few minutes of crying, she spent two hours on it, reducing my shirt to nothing more than a wet rag to be used for the explicit purpose of drying a unicorn’s tears.
One good thing did come from her breakdown though: she finally looked at me without shame swimming in her gaze, and didn’t retreat from me when I was close to her. While it’s true I didn’t actually say much to fix the issue, I think she may have finally gotten over her guilt that very night, as her behavior toward me did a complete turnaround.
Those hours later found the two of us laying together back in Twilight’s bedroom, her head on my chest and my hand lovingly stroking her mane. As I’d gotten older and larger, Twilight had been in Rarity’s very position a few times before, though never because of something having to do with me, luckily. This instance would make the first time I’d held Rarity in such an intimate manner, and I must admit, it felt exactly like I’d dreamed it would all those years ago when I was just a little whelp.
“Spike,” Rarity whispered suddenly, turning her head to look up at me as she pushed herself up from my bare chest, “why do you do all this for us?”
I raised one of my brows in confusion. “What do you mean?”
She gestured to the six others who were sleeping. “Everypony here cherishes you for one reason or another. You are there for us whenever we need you, and ask for nothing in return. My question is: why? What do you gain from all this?”
Rarity’s eyes were still a little puffy from crying so hard, but to me, she was still as beautiful as ever.
I looked down to her with a warm smile and motioned to the position we found ourselves in. “What, this isn’t enough?”
She slapped my chest gently, frowning at me. “Spike, don’t play with a lady’s feelings.”
I nodded slowly, but didn’t lose my smile. “Okay, you want to know the truth? It’s because you all are family -- every one of you. We’ve been together so long and been through so much, and I’ve made sure we stay close no matter what.” I continued my act of running my claws through her mane, and brought my hand around her back, rubbing my thumb along her shoulder gently. “I do what I do for all of you because I like seeing all of you happy, and when you’re happy, I’m happy.”
She nodded a few times before setting her chin on my scales, still looking up at me. “Spike, do you lov-”
“Yes.” I interrupted plainly, with no hesitation or doubt in my tone.
Rarity’s eyes of sapphire continued staring deep into my own as she considered my answer until finally, “You know, I’ve spent a large part of my life looking for a fairytale prince to marry.” She paused and glanced away briefly before looking back to me with a sad smile. “And it appears I’ve overlooked the precious gem that lay in plain sight.”
My heart raced as I began to imagine the possibilities of what she meant, though it was pretty clear by now where this conversation was headed.
‘Easy Spike,’ I chastised myself sternly, ‘be cool and don’t be too eager. Yes this has been a long time coming, but don’t act desperate even though...though…” I closed my eyes and inhaled as my eyes rolled back in my head. ‘G-gah, she smells good...’
“Spike?” Rarity called quietly as I opened my eyes, concern and nervousness etched on her face. “Are you alright?”
Deciding to turn the tables, so to speak, I brought the palm of my hand to her cheek and asked her, “Rarity, do you love me?”
My dream was now within reach; she only needed to give me the answer I craved -- the answer I knew she wanted to give -- and all would be well.
For a long few minutes of silence, she simply looked at me, as if contemplating what to say to my question before she answered not with words, but by crawling forward and hovering for just a moment before planting her soft lips against mine.
It wasn’t my first kiss. Fireworks didn’t explode in my mind and the sun and moon didn’t weep at the sheer right-ness of the action between Rarity and I, but across my entire body a pleasant warmth spread, and my heart sped to match pace with Rainbow Dash on her best day.
Slowly, I reached up as we continued our liplock to gently grasp the back of her head, pushing her deeper into the kiss. Rarity let out a quiet moan of surprise and happiness as her hand began to roam over my chest and neck, seeking to heighten the pleasure of our shared experience as it continued. Without consciously thinking about it, I slid my free hand up under the hem of her violet nightgown, caressing the diamonds on her flank, eliciting a gasp-turned-moan.
Rarity disconnected the kiss, pushing away and whispering, “S-Spike, stop...please.”
I swallowed hard at what I realized I had just done and began stammering, “O-oh Celestia. Rarity, I’m so s-sorry.”
To my surprise, she was smiling as she stayed mounted on my stomach. She brought a hand down to mine and pulled it to her lips, kissing it gently before saying, “Don’t ever apologize for desiring me, Spike.”
I raised my brow in confusion. “B-but then why…?”
“Because,” she purred softly, bending down to hover just in front of my face, “it wouldn’t be very ladylike to explore each other in a room filled with our friends, now would it? Besides that, I have saved myself for the one who will be my husband, and I’ll not give what no other has had after only one night, Spike; not even to you.”
I felt blood rush to my cheeks at what she insinuated, and I cleared my throat nervously. “Um, I-I wouldn’t have let it go that far…”
I felt Rarity’s muzzle push past my cheek as she settled right against my ear frill and whispered, “But much more and I wouldn’t have been able to stop.”
I felt Rainbow Dash move down by my feet, and glanced to our mutual bedmate before looking back to Rarity with a smile. “Alright, my lady.”
Rarity nodded before dismounting and laying beside me once again, laying her head across my chest and placing her warm hand against my shoulder. She sighed happily before looking to me and whispering, “Goodnight, Sir Spike; I love you.” I closed my eyes and resumed stroking her mane as I reveled in the embrace my own personal princess, only to feel the bed shift as somepony began to crawl toward the head of it.
Rainbow Dash then settled next to me while mumbling, “S’cold,” and shimmying underneath the duvet. Her hand then reached for mine, and I let her take it as she laced her fingers in mine and smiled sleepily with her eyes shut.
While Rarity might have been the only one that loved me as more than a great friend, all the ponies in the crowded room were my family, and I was more content than I would be with a mountain full of the most priceless gems and precious metals.
With a final happy smile and shift of my wings, I let Luna’s realm of dreams take me, though one of my greatest dreams had already come true.