River Road's "Brave Little Pony" (King of Beggars' "The Surprisingly Complicated Love Life of Spike the Dragon")
Moondancer smiled and giggled at Lyra’s joke, though her heart wasn’t quite in it. She and her friends had eaten cake and other unhealthy foods, played games, talked and danced and done just about everything else they could think of that they could do at her birthday party. It should have been the greatest day of the year, and it probably was, but her thoughts kept going back to him.
He’s really late… Did he just forget about the party? Didn’t he want to come?
“Equestria to Moondancer! What are you thinking about?”
Moondancer blinked, looking at the giggling fillies around her. Twinkleshine poked her side with a hoof, grinning. “You spaced out on us for a full minute there. What were you thinking about?”
“Oh, uhm…” Moondancer glanced around, blushing lightly. “I-I’m sorry, I was just…”
“Moondancer!”
Everypony turned around to see a small purple dragon running up to them. He skidded to a stop in front of them, panting heavily as he tried to talk.
“Sorry I’m… late… Twilight… Celestia… Ponyville…” He took a deep breath, swaying dizzily for a moment. “I had to convince her to let me stay here and follow her later. She only agreed after the pegasi at the chariot promised to make a second flight…”
Moondancer blinked, trying to make sense of what he said before just giving up on it and grinning happily. “Well, I’m just glad you were able to make it after all.” She turned around to her friends. “Everypony, this is Spike. I know most of you have probably met him before or at least heard of him.”
The other fillies smiled and waved at him, though Lemon Hearts tilted her head. “Isn’t he a bit young to be here, though? I heard he’s still a baby dragon.”
Moondancer huffed and took a step forward. “Hey, leave him alone! Spike’s just as old as I am, and he’s at least as smart, too. Ponies just call him that because he doesn’t grow as fast and gets a lot older in the end, but it’s not nice.”
“Really? Oh gosh, sorry for that, then.” Lemon and the others nodded and filed back to the table, leaving Spike and Moondancer alone for the moment.
The dragon stepped forward, giving her a nervous smile. “Hey, uhm, thank you for that… I don’t think anypony has ever really stood up for me on that. I just got used to hearing it over time.”
“I-it’s nothing, really.” Moondancer blushed and hid behind her mane, glancing at him nervously. “Hey, uhm… Spike…”
Spike turned his head from where he had been watching the others, tilting it questioningly. “Yeah?”
“I, uhm… I…” She bit her lip. Just be brave. This is your day, just tell him! “I-I saved you a slice of cake!” She squeaked and pointed at the table where a corner of the birthday cake was still sitting on a paper plate.
“Really? Awesome!” Spike grinned and waddled over to the table, oblivious to the filly that was watching him with a bright blush and silently cursing to herself.
Moondancer bit her lip, watching the little dragon wearing a blindfold and trying to pin a piece of fabric to the drawing of a pony. The party was almost over and she still hadn’t managed to do the most important thing she had planned for the day. Maybe she wasn’t so brave after all…
“Hey Spike, did you bring a present, too? I never saw her unwrap anything.” She looked up just in time to see Spike take off the blindfold and the other fillies looking between her and him.
Spike blushed and fidgeted with his claws in that fascinating way no pony could ever properly mimic as he walked over to the table. “Well, I did have a present…” He pulled a battered red gift box with a large gash from under the table, rubbing his neck. “I had a little trouble with it… the present should be good, though.”
Moondancer shook the box a little, frowning when the sound of shards reached her ear. She reached into it and pulled out a small bag.
“I didn’t really know what you might like, so… this is the only thing I could really come up with. I heard fillies like gemstones, so I put together the ones I thought looked the nicest.”
Moondancer shook the bag and carefully slid the contents onto the table, looking them over. Several gemstones of different colors gleamed and sparkled in the late afternoon sun, none of them more than half the size of her hoof but all definitely pretty in their own way. Her heart beat a little quicker as she levitated a ruby in front of her face. If you turned it a little and looked at it just right, it almost had a heart shape.
“I don’t really have any experience at this. I’d understand if you don’t like them. Maybe I should have looked for pony candy instead of dragon candy…” Spike looked down and rubbed his arm nervously.
“No way! These are perfect!” Moondancer shook her head and turned around to him, then blushed and retreated behind her mane again. “I-I mean, they’re very pretty. I like them.”
She squeaked and flinched back as Dolphin Dream suddenly appeared right in front of her face, staring at her intently. “Something’s different about you…”
Moondancer flinched back a little, looking down. Then she looked up again and stepped forward, pushing the other filly aside. “Spike... There’s something I need to tell you…”
Spike looked up, giving her a confused look. “Is something wrong? I didn’t say something stupid, did I?”
Moondancer glanced back to see all her friends watching; several confused fillies and one widely grinning Dolphin Dream. Now or never. “I… I really like you.”
Spike gave her a nervous and slightly confused smile. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? You’re my best friend aside from Twilight.”
“No, Spike…” She took a deep breath. “I mean I really like you. Like like.”
Spike stared at her, his eyes slowly widening in realization. “Y-you mean…?”
Moondancer nodded, blushing. “I know this is kind of sudden… M-maybe I shouldn’t have–“ She paused and looked down at the scaly hand Spike had put on her shoulder.
“Listen, I…” He blushed and looked down. “Gosh, I don’t know what to say… I never really even thought about something like this happening up until now.” He looked up and into her eyes again. “I’m not sure if this can work out. I mean, it’s not just what Twilight and the Princess might need me for; if she sent us to Ponyville today, who knows where else she might send us someday. And that’s not even considering that we’re completely different species.”
Moondancer nodded, her legs shaking a little. Her throat felt dry and she had trouble keeping the tears back. He was right, of course. Nopony had ever heard of a pony and a dragon being romantically involved. Spike was the first of his kind to even actually live among ponies, as far as she knew.
“But…” Spike gave her a nervous smile and leaned closer. “That doesn’t mean we can’t at least try. And it does feel like something like this was supposed to happen today, if that makes any sense…”
He leaned a little closer.
The kiss was sweet. It wasn’t hard and passionate like the ones she’d read about in the romance novels her sister owned. There was no gasping for breath or anything like that. Just the chaste, innocent expression of affection, a filly and a colt sharing their first intimate moment with a member of the opposite sex.
Moondancer opened her eyes, staring into the darkness of her bedroom. She could still taste a hint of charcoal on her lips, a little bit of sweet bitterness that she knew was just a remnant of her imagination.
She paused when her hoof hit something hard and papery.
Her horn lit up for a weak light spell and she sat up, picking up the scroll in her magic. The seal was purple with a silver lining, something she recognized as the seal of the Ponyville Crystal Palace. She carefully unrolled it and began to read the words written in all too familiar handwriting; the only handwriting she’d ever seen.
Dear Moondancer,
I guess first of all I owe you an apology, if not a couple dozen. I’m sorry.
I’m sorry for missing your birthday.
I’m sorry for not writing and apologizing for that when I should have.
I’m sorry for missing all the signs that I really should have seen in hindsight, and I’m sorry for talking about girl troubles with you when you were probably the last pony who wanted to hear that I have other girls to have trouble with.
All in all, I’m sorry for five years of being a dense idiot.
I asked Luna Princess Luna for a favor. It might not be much – maybe it just hurts you more and it’s the last in a line of really dumb stuff I’ve done – but I wanted to give you at least that one moment you couldn’t have. I just wanted you to know that if things had gone just a little differently… well, I guess I would’ve gotten my first crush on that day, one way of the other.
I should probably just say it: yes, I’m in a relationship now. I don’t know if it is love yet on my part, but I do know that she is a wonderful young mare who deserves at least a chance…
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
I’m not sure what else I can even write here. There isn’t much else left to say, except thank you. Thank you for being there for me that week and taking my mind off things, and thank you for being there for me and forcing my mind back on them at the end. Thank you for helping me with my problems and sending me off to face them, when any lesser pony would’ve tried to keep me in Canterlot.
Thank you for letting go. And believe me when I say that I know exactly how hard and painful that is. I owe you a debt that I will never be able to repay, even in a dragon’s lifespan.
I promise that this time I will keep in contact. I’ll write regularly and stop by for a visit whenever I’m in Canterlot. I hope that you find a special somepony someday who will make you as happy as you deserve to be.
Your love in a different past,
Your friend forever in the present and the future,
Spike
Moondancer slowly and carefully rolled the scroll up again, levitating it over onto a bookshelf so it wouldn’t get lost or damaged overnight. Then she laid back again, staring up at the ceiling.
She smiled through the tears running down her cheeks, feeling something that she had been lacking all those years; a sense of closure. Some day she would find another pony that would make her heart flutter… She would finish her studies, find work, marry a handsome stallion and have foals with him, and find her own happy ending.
Tomorrow she would stand up and leave the house and be a brave filly again.
Tonight though, in the darkness of her bedroom, she was allowed to cry.
Additional Author's Note:
Dedicated to King Of Beggars, the one damn writer on this whole site who found my weakness and got me to cry myself to sleep (in the good way, that is). Thank you, and here's to many more of your uncommon Spike ships. Because they're seriously awesome.
— River Road
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Definition: Being stuck in Carousel Boutique for 5 straight hours for one of Rarity's garment "fittings".
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I'll say, I'm absolutely horrible when it comes to finishing stuff I'm writing.
But how do you know about that? 
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(It was a link to an explanatory blogpost. Click the link.)
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...I'm getting predictable! D:
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You get the cash, I'll get the chloroform.
It Was All a Dream? :/ I have to say, I don't particularly like this.