//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Spike's Longing // by justanothertuesday //------------------------------// The world was spinning, everything in Spikes head was awash in bright light. All he could think of was pain, it filled every nook and cranny of his young brain. Why couldn’t someone turn off the light? It was as though he was being forced to stare at the sun, except that the blinding rays now came from everywhere. Unfortunately, his eyelids provided no protection from this internal evil. All he wanted was for the pain to end, and to slip into cool darkness. Luckily, the pain began to die down. It slowly receded, and the blinding lights began to dim until they were no longer damaging, although they still gave off a trancelike glow. Spike realized that he had been lying on his back. Looking around, he began to take in his surroundings. Everything was made out of ice cream. Chocolate, Vanilla, strawberry, peach, sapphire; every flavor that the little dragon could imagine made up the vast expanse, taunting him with its dazzling colors. There were cherries, sprinkles, fudge, syrup the likes of which had never visited inside the doors of Sugar Cube Corners. The baby dragon’s eyes started to glow and his mouth started to water. What he wouldn’t give to eat all that ice cream. Mounds and mounds of it, delicious and enticing. He took a quick look around, hoping against hope that Twilight would not be there to scold him. Not seeing her, he felt elation at being one step closer to his prize. His visual exploration had revealed two things, however. One, his claws were all tied together above him. Strangely, in his dreamlike state, he had not noticed this before. Such a strange realization was at odds with the world around him, which, after the pain, had quickly come to seem peaceful and idyllic. He absentmindedly struggled with his bonds, his mind distracted by the second object he had discovered. The beautiful white unicorn slowly advanced on Spike, who was still lying on the ground. Her hoofsteps were slow and methodical. Her drenched mane hung loosely around her face, adding to the mischievous expression in her gleaming, crystal blue eyes. Her whole coat shone with its own light, dazzling the dragon and dwarfing every other object in the area. With every step, the dragon’s heart beat faster. His eyes focused solely on the pony, whose beauty had drowned out the surrounding ice cream wonders which had previously enticed him greatly. She was the only thing that he saw. She was coming closer now, even closer, so close that her face was merely several feet from his. The dragon’s heart pounded, it felt as though it would soon explode right out of his little purple chest. Beads of sweat ran down his face, as which began to glow hot with a blush. “Rarity, what are y-you….” He weakly muttered. A perfectly manicured placed over his mouth silenced his feeble protests as the distance between them became even smaller. The unicorn’s taunting eyes were locked onto his own, her body poised provocatively over his. The ends of her mane tickled his exposed belly. Quickly, however, Spike began to feel an odd sensation. His nervousness began to wash away, any feelings of awkwardness were quickly overcome. His mouth again began to water and his eyes gleamed. This time, however, there was no ice cream involved. He was no longer nervous, but confident. Finally, after all this time, he would succeed. All of his nervousness had been washed away, every pore of his body filled with his passion, his desire, his…. “Spike” “Spike” “SPIKE, wake up!” yelled an unfortunately familiar voice. Again his world spun, and Rarity, who had been so close, suddenly disappeared, brutally tearing a hole in Spike’s utopia. “Noooooo!” he shrieked, as the false reality was cruelly torn away from him. “Spike, are you alright in there sugarcube?” the voice over his head spoke, a little more gently this time. The dragon opened his eyes, hopefully for real this time. His claws were still tied unceremoniously together, and he was still on his back. Quickly, more of the area around him came into focus. Applejack was standing over him with a concerned look on her face, her end of the lasso forgotten. In addition, he seemed to be surrounded by a multitude of roses. Looking to his right, he quickly discovered that a whole crowd of ponies were sitting there, watching him intently. Not one spoke, but all were staring. “Uh, what happened,” he muttered groggily. “Uh, ya’ll, uh, volunteered, to be lassoed in our competition, remember?” the orange pony replied, shuffling her hooves nervously. “You musta hit your head pretty badly; I’m mighty sorry about that.” “On the bright side, I won,” she smiled proudly. “Oh that’s great Applejack, I’m so happy for you,” Spike replied, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “I’m the real loser,” he thought to himself, thinking about his long lost dream. “If only she hadn’t woken me up for one more minute”…. Upon being untied, the baby dragon got slowly to his feet. He was in ill humor after the whole event. Why had he even agreed to this in the first place? Thinking back, he couldn’t remember. He reasoned that the shock of hitting the ground must have caused him to forget, even though he seemed to be able to remember most events clearly. “Oh well,” he sighed, turning around. “I guess I’ll just head home and take a nap, I sure hope Twilight doesn’t have any chores for me, I’m definitely not in the mood.” Upon completing his turn, however, his depression was immediately cured. Rainbow Dash, while demonstrating her extreme incompetence with the lasso, had somehow managed to tangle herself to a tree, and was currently struggling to get out. The rainbow maned pony was blushing a deep shade of red, hoping that nopony would notice her failure, even though they obviously had. Some had gone so far as to snicker gleefully, attempting to hide their smiles behind their hooves. “We’ll,” Spike thought with a chuckle, “Maybe I’m not the only loser today after all.” The baby dragon yawned, turning towards home. Tonight he would go to bed early, in hopes of sweet dreams of his beloved Rarity.