Talk
The Third Day
The bell tower above the Ponyville Schoolhouse rung proudly, signaling the end of another school day for Ponyville’s young fillies and colts. But of course, today was a special day for Cheerilee’s class.
“Alright, my little ponies! Class is over, and now you can start exchanging the cards and gifts that you all got each other for Hearts and Hooves Day!”
Cheerilee’s classroom was a vibrant scene of excitement and surprises, as the students all celebrated in the love and friendship of Hearts and Hooves Day. Dinky Doo and Pipsqueak were seen exchanging cards with one another, and then embracing with a hug. Ruby Pinch had brought a special present for an excited Truffle Shuffle.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had gone out to their lockers to bring in their special gift for Cheerilee, whilst Silver Spoon was near the door, tapping her hoof impatiently.
“Ugh!” she groaned. “How long does it take a filly to use the bathroom? We need to ditch this lame scene!”
“Um, excuse me Silver Spoon…” She responded to a tapping on her back to see Rumble, the young brother of lazy pegasus Thunderlane, clutching a card in his hoof. “I was- I was just wondering if you wante—” But she interrupted him by swatting the card away.
“Ugh! Get that thing out of my face.” Rumble began to walk away with his head down. Silver gritted her teeth and sighed. “Fine. Let’s see it.” And so, Rumble excitedly picked it up with his mouth and handed it to her.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders finally finished dragging in their large papier-mâché heart made for Cheerilee. It was painted pink on the front and back with red on the sides. White lace bordered the big heart, and a streamer rendering of Cheerilee adorned the front corner along with some confetti.
Once they brought it in front of an astonished Cheerilee, the Crusaders quickly stood next to the heart to present it. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both had beaming grins, whilst Sweetie Belle looked like she was trying to put on her best fake smile.
“Why, girls!” said Cheerilee, with stars in her eyes. “This is… amazing! You three made this all by yourselves?”
“We sure did!” Scootaloo replied.
“We told ya before! It’s to show ya how much we appreciate you as our teacher!” added Apple Bloom. “You deserve this super-special gift because you’re the best teacher ever!”
“…Yeah,” said Sweetie, a little less enthusiastically than Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. This drew curious glances from them.
“Aw girls, you flatterers!” said Cheerilee. “I love it! This is even better than the heart you made me last year! And uh… a lot better than what you tried to give Big Mac and I that day,” she reflected.
“Eh heh heh…” said Sweetie as the three of them all looked down sheepishly.
“Thank you so much for this, girls.” Hmm… how odd. Sweetie Belle usually bugs me about my special somepony on Hearts and Hooves Day. I guess what happened last year finally made her realize...
The girls walked aside to let Cheerilee be alone with her gift. At the same time, Silver Spoon was now intently reading Rumble’s card, her cheeks blushing. She was even beginning to crack a smile.
However, Diamond Tiara then reappeared, and Silver Spoon hastily shoved the card back to Rumble and nudged him away, now blushing with embarrassment.
“There you are! Now let’s go! All this Hearts and Hooves Day junk is gonna make me wretch.”
“Hold on,” Diamond Tiara replied. “There’s… something I need to do first.”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom glanced at each other, and then at Sweetie Belle, who was looking down and kicking up at the ground. Both of them could easily tell that something was wrong.
“Hey, Sweetie Belle…” said Apple Bloom. “Rarity wasn’t too mad about y’all coming home late, was she?”
“Huh?” Sweetie replied. “Oh. No. I mean, she was a little mad at me this morning, and she gave me her usual, ‘Sweetie Belle, you had me worried sick! Next time, you need to come home before it gets dark so I don’t have to worry about you!’ Same old, same old…”
After a few moments of silence, Scootaloo decided to break the tension.
“Sweetie Belle… is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, okay?” She turned herself away from them, signaling that she didn’t want to talk about it any further.
Why did Hearts and Hooves Day have to come now? I’m trying to forget about this stupid crush for Spike, and seeing everypony with cards and flowers and special someponies and stuff sure isn’t helping!
Why won’t it go away? I still feel like I’m in love with Spike. How long do I have to ignore my feelings in order for things to go back to normal?
She turned to face her friends again.
“I guess it’s just because I haven’t received any special gifts or anything from any of our friends, that’s all.”
“Aww, that’s nothing to be ashamed of,” said Apple Bloom. “Scootaloo and ah haven’t gotten anything from our friends either!”
“Yeah!” added Scootaloo. “So we can all be unloved together!”
Apple Bloom was about to rebut, until Scootaloo felt a tap on her back. She turned around to see Featherweight behind her, looking very twitterpated. He was sweating heavily and his hooves were trembling. He was carrying a blue card in his wing.
“Hi, Featherweight! Uh… what’s up?”
Featherweight quickly handed the card to her and dashed away, leaving her astonished. Curiously, she opened up the card. The writing on it was so small that she had to squint her eyes in order to read it.
“I… love you.”
Scootaloo drew back and put her hoof to her mouth as her cheeks flushed intensely. Apple Bloom took a peek at the card and began to snicker at her. Scootaloo awkwardly started rubbing her hair.
“Hey, Apple Bloom!” Diamond Tiara said as she approached them.
“What do you want, Diamond Tiara?” said Apple Bloom dully, after she stopped snickering. “Here to tease us because Sweetie and ah haven’t gotten anything?”
“Normally, I would do that. But…” She gave a heavy sigh. “Look, daddy said I wouldn’t get any allowance this week if I didn’t make a card for at least one pony. The thing is, all of the boys in this class disgust me, and if I gave them anything, they’d be all over me. Don’t want any of that.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes.
“So… here.” Much to Apple Bloom’s surprise, Diamond Tiara tossed a card her way, which she caught in her hooves and began to read. “Don’t think it means anything though! You’re still a loser,” she remarked as she went to join Silver Spoon.
Despite this rude gesture, Apple Bloom still found herself blushing. Scootaloo shot a grin at her, and she responded with a sheepish shrug. Sweetie Belle huffed, directing their attention back to her again.
Scootaloo decided to change the subject. “So, do you have anypony to give a special surprise to, Sweetie Belle? I already gave a card to Rumble.”
“Yeah…” said Apple Bloom. “And I gave Twist a big ol’ candy cane. How about you?” But despite their best efforts, Sweetie began to walk towards the entrance, with her eyes still to the floor.
“Nopony. You guys are my only friends, and I don’t have a special somepony. And now I’m starting to think I never will…”
“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo called. “Where are you going?”
And that’s when her patience finally wore thin, as all of the frustration and heartbreak she had been trying to bottle up the past couple of days finally resurfaced.
“I’M GOING HOME, OKAY?” she harshly shouted to them, her voice cracking to an extreme degree. Tears were welling up in her eyes. “WHERE NOPONY HAS TO SEE ME FOR THE ALONE AND UNLOVED FREAK THAT I AM!”
She then ran out of the schoolhouse, leaving Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Cheerilee, and the entire class stunned, their mouths agape and their eyes wide with shock.
Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had their jaws hanging as they watched the filly scamper away, crying harder and harder the more she ran.
Sweetie immediately noticed that something was wrong as she approached her home, her eyes still red and her cheeks wet. The curtains were all draped over the windows and Sweetie saw a peculiar sign on one of the windows.
’Closed’? She observed, wiping her eyes and face. But… why would it be closed? Rarity never closes on a Wednesday.
Things got even stranger when she stepped inside. The door creaked as she slowly opened it. She stepped into the house to see an unusual sight.
The foyer was miraculously clean. It was typically cluttered with dress materials and other such objects. But today, the floor was cleared and everything was neatly piled on various tables. A stack of six finished dresses were neatly hung on a rack and tucked away into a corner.
And standing at the center of the room was Rarity herself. She was facing the door, as if she had been standing there calmly waiting for Sweetie Belle for a while.
“Hello, Sweetie Belle,” she said blankly.
“Uh, hi, sis.”
“How was school today?”
“Um… great?” she answered nervously. What’s… going on here? “Hey! You… finished all your dresses.”
“Indeed I did,” Rarity replied. “I tried to get them done as fast as I possibly could.”
“R-Really?” Sweetie was starting to sweat again. What does she want? Why does she keep staring at me like that? “Why? Is something wrong?”
“Actually, there is,” Rarity replied, her blank expression suddenly becoming a determined one. “There’s something I’ve been trying to get done all week, and today’s the day I’m finally going to do it. There’s no escaping me now, my little sister!”
“What are you talking about?” Sweetie asked, her hooves trembling. “Rarity, what’s going on?”
“Sweetie Ophelia Belle…”
Her eyes went wide. She only uses my full name when she’s being really serious.
“We need to talk.”
“T-talk? What about?” Sweetie asked, crouching down in fear.
“Now, Sweetie Belle, please don’t play any games with me anymore,” said Rarity, walking straight over to her.
“B-but I thought you loved playing games with me!” she rebutted. “You always look like you’re having fun when we play Attackboats or Hide and Seek or Align Five!”
“That’s not what I mean, Sweetums,” said Rarity with a facehoof. “Listen… do you remember the other day, when you confided in me about your friend whom you said had a crush on one of her other friends?”
“…Y-yeah,” Sweetie replied after a few seconds, finally starting to realize what this was about.
At this point, Rarity dropped her upfrontal approach and gently crouched down to be on eye level with her sister, and began using a much gentler tone.
“Sweetie Belle... it’s not actually a friend a yours, but rather, you who is in love. Am I right?”
She hesitated to answer. She even scrunched up her lips trying to remain silent.
“Sweetums…” she whispered. “Please. You don’t have to be afraid. It’s okay. I’m your sister, and I will always love you. No matter what. You know that.”
Rarity gently nuzzled Sweetie’s mane, until Sweetie immediately began crying profusely into her sister’s chest. She had been hiding her tears from Rarity for a while, and now she finally had the chance to let all her sadness stream through.
“Yes! Yes!” she replied in-between tears. “It is me! I made up the whole ‘friend’ thing! It’s me who has a crush, sis! It’s me, it’s me, it’s me-he-he!”
Rarity embraced her sister tight, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks.
“It’s ok now, Sweetums. It’s okay.”
She continued to let Sweetie cry into her shoulder for a good number of minutes, until eventually the filly’s tears finally started to dry up, and she lifted her head to look at her big sister.
“Do you feel better now, Sweetie Belle?”
“A lot better,” she answered, her voice still shaky.
“Relieved now, am I right?” Sweetie nodded in response. “Now you no longer have to be so secretive about your feelings for Spike…”
“Yeah, I guess so— Wait a minute!” She suddenly pulled herself away from Rarity and stared at her with wide eyes. “H-how did you know that I was in love with Spike?
Rarity put both hooves over her mouth as she realized her mistake.
Oops, that was a mistake. What am I supposed to do? I can’t tell her that I was eavesdropping on her! I just gained her trust back, I don’t want to lose it again!
“Well… I— Uhh… Well, because I… heard you saying his name in your sleep! Yes! And after seeing you generously hand that ocean blue sapphire to him after our earlier talk about your “friend”, well… I just put two and two together!” she lied, chuckling nervously.
“Rarity?”
“Yes, Sweetie Belle?” It was Rarity’s turn to be nervous now. This is it. She’s going to call my bluff. Way to go, Rarity.
“I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you before that I had a crush on Spike.”
“Oh, that’s all right, dear sister,” said Rarity was a breath of relief. “Though, I am a bit curious now. Why did you keep your affections a secret from me in the first place?”
“Well, it’s actually kind of silly,” Sweetie Belle responded, feeling much more comfortable. “You see, I thought that if I told you I was in love with somepony, you were going to make a big deal about it. And then you were going to put me in a fancy dress, and make me and Spike have a romantic dinner together or something…”
Rarity gasped. “Why, Sweetie Belle! What an excellent idea!”
“Exactl— wait, WHAT?”
Rarity immediately began running towards the cabinet in her back room. “That’s just exactly what I was going to propose! Oh, if only that dress I had made for you hadn’t gone missing…”
Now looking incredibly fearful, Sweetie tried to make a break for the front door, but just before she reached the knob…
“Oh my stars! This is AMAZING! The dress! It’s back again!”
Rarity rushed back to her, levitating the blue dress in tow. As she rambled, she fit the dress onto her younger sister despite her resistance.
“Now granted, Spike is still in Canterlot with Twilight until tomorrow, but there is still time for you to practice! Oh, this will all be so romantic! I can set the two of you up on a blind date at the Plaque de Pâtes Pour Le Pony restaurant on the fancy side of town! You two will get caught in the moment, staring into each other’s eyes, as the violinist plays a song of passion. Spike will finally realize what he’s been missing all along, and you’ll be fully content and gushing tears of hope as he finally…”
But all her aloud planning and daydreaming ceased when she opened her eyes again and looked at Sweetie Belle.
She was cowering against the wall, fearfully looking up at her sister. She was shaking heavily as sweat trickled down her face, and her pupils had shrunken in pure terror.
“P-please… no…” she stammered. She put her hoof over her face and squinted hard, trembling even harder.
And all at once, Rarity had an epiphany.
Oh my word. She’s terrified. The poor child is cowering… from me!
She looked at her sister, and at the dress she had just forced onto her, and then she realized just how close she had been leaning her face towards her.
…Sweet Celestia! Rarity, what are you doing? You can’t just rush her into such an escapade like this. She’s only a little filly who still has but the smallest inkling of what love even is. And here I am, trying to take full advantage of this situation and man the helm on my own.
This is why.
This is why she tried to hide her feelings for Spike. Because… because this isn’t what she wants. No, this is what she’s been fearing all along.
Rarity stood there for a minute, completely dead silent, still leaning in close to Sweetie.
“R-Rarity?” she uttered, her voice and body still trembling.
All of a sudden, Rarity embraced her sister again and began crying, just as Sweetie had done mere minutes ago, much to the younger sister’s pure shock.
Rarity’s crying noises were much louder and more pronounced than Sweetie Belle’s, keeping in tune with her infamous penchant for acting overly dramatic with her emotions.
“Oh, Sweetie Belle! My dear sister! I am so sorry!” Rarity pleaded. “I don’t know what I’m doing! I wasn’t thinking straight! Of course this isn’t what you want! What was I thinking? I’m sorry! Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”
“I—” Sweetie had been rendered speechless by Rarity’s sudden change of behavior, and struggled to find a way to respond.
After a few moments, Rarity looked up to her with a wide puppy-eyes look and pouting lips. It was then that Sweetie finally found her voice again.
“Of course I can forgive you,” Sweetie said, returning the hug. “You’re my sister Rarity, and I love you too.”
Both sisters were crying now. But they were mutual tears of happiness, relief, warmth… and sisterly love.
“If we had just been honest with each other the whole time…” Rarity thought out loud.
“I know,” Sweetie chimed in. “Now I wish I had told you sooner.”
“Oh, my sister. I just don’t know why I would...” But then she stopped, and made a loud gasp. “Of course… THE BOOKS.”
“Huh?” replied Sweetie.
“The books!”
Rarity’s mind flashed to the bookshelf that stood in the corner of her bedroom, and all the romance novels that filled its shelves, minus the ones that Sweetie had “borrowed” recently.
“My romance novels. They are the true culprits behind this love catastrophe!”
“How so?” Sweetie replied again.
“Those fictionalized accounts of amour and liaison have been nothing but trouble! Their evil strokes of literary passion have been corrupting my mind this entire time, warping my perceptions of what it truly means to love and be loved! They taught me that the first flirt was a big fuss, and should be treated with the utmost careful planning.”
“But they’re wrong. Love is something that’s natural and to be cherished. And I’ve been blind this whole time. It took my little sister to realize that. Sweetie Belle, I’ve been a fool. I’ve been relying on some dumb old books to teach me what amore is instead of letting my own heart guide me.”
She began to giggle to herself. “Well, how ironic. I’m always telling Twilight that books aren’t the answer for everything. What a massive hypocrite I’ve turned out to be.”
“Rarity…?”
“Yes, Sweetums?”
She looked up to Rarity with big eyes. “…What do I do now? About Spike, I mean.”
“Ah, yes. All that aside, what have you been doing about Spike as of late?”
“Well…” she shuffled her hoof on the floor. “Not much, really. In fact, I’ve… kind of been trying to forget about him.”
“Oh Sweetie, you mustn’t do that!” Rarity exclaimed, extending both of her hooves to her. “Just because Spike has been absent, that doesn’t mean you should try to pretend the feelings aren’t there. You have to take action and show him how you feel! And besides…” She gave her sister a knowing smirk. “I can tell that you’ve been trying to do that already.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh come on now, Sweetie. First several of my aforementioned novels turn up missing, and then the dress I had specially made you vanishes too.” She took a sniff to the dress, and her face twisted up. “And now it’s reeked of sweat since it reappeared. Did you honestly think I wasn’t eventually going to put two and two together?”
Of course, I didn’t fit all the pieces together until just now. But still.
“Yeah, I kind of… tried to borrow the dress without you noticing, and I was going to tell you about your books,” Sweetie explained, chuckling in embarrassment. “You see, I kind of talked to Fluttershy, and she told me that I had to be more… ‘anominous’ or something like that. So I… was going to use the dress to try to make Spike love me back without telling him. …He was already gone, though.”
Rarity contemplated this revelation, not noticing how distant Sweetie became around the end of her explanation.
She talked to Fluttershy about her crush? Before me, even? That’s… a tad puzzling. I wasn’t aware Fluttershy even had the slightest inkling about love and passion.
Hmm… anonymous… hold on, that’s it!
“IDEA!” She exclaimed. “Sweetie Belle, I know exactly what to do!”
“What is it?” she asked excitedly. “Tell me!”
Rarity started searching through her drawers. “Now, your idea was on the right track. It will take some extra effort to make Spike notice you, when he’s already trying to direct all his affection towards me and…”
“Wait!” Sweetie suddenly shouted. “You mean even you knew that Spike had a crush on you?”
Oh petunia, not again! Curse you, you slippery tongue!
“Ugh, come on!” Sweetie grunted. “Did everypony know about this but ME?”
Rarity couldn’t help but giggle softly at this scene.
Well, thinking about it, I suppose it was very obvious to everypony else, even if I’m still trying to take it all in. Now wait a moment though… Sweetie didn’t know about Spike being enamored with me before? I wonder who told her…
Oh, I can’t worry about that now!
“Focus on this now, Rari— I mean, Sweetie Belle,” she cut in with a smile. “Because this is the answer to all your problems.”
Sweetie Belle beamed with a big smile, which was then replaced with a frown of confusion when Rarity levitated a pen and a small square of paper in front of her.
“Huh? I don’t get it.”
“It’s fairly simple,” Rarity explained. “While Spike is still in Canterlot until tomorrow, you are going to write and send him a note that says…” She whispered in Sweetie’s ear. Her cheeks immediately flushed. “Once Spike returns home, he’ll be in an air of confusion because he’ll have discovered that somepony in Ponyville loves him. Then it’ll be a much greater opportunity to get out there and, more subtlety mind you, let him know how you feel!”
She let Sweetie take the pen and paper in her hooves.
“I-I don’t know, sis,” said Sweetie. “I’m… afraid.”
“Would you like me to write it for you, then?” Sweetie silently nodded. “Very well, then.” Rarity quickly wrote a message on the paper and then proceeded to slide it into an envelope. “Now, all we need to do is make sure this gets to Spike.”
“How are you going to get it to him before the end of the week?” Sweetie asked.
“Don’t worry,” Rarity said as she put the envelope in her saddlebag and opened the front door. “I know just the mare for the job. I was going to go out for a stroll anyway, and I’ll get this delivered while I’m there. Fear not, Sweetie Belle.”
“Hey sis, can I take this dress off now?”
“Oh yes, of course. Get that silly thing off as soon as you can.”
After she left, Sweetie Belle went up to her room, pulled off the dress, and sat onto her bed. Tears rose from her eyes again, but they were more tears of happiness.
“Everything’s… going to be alright after all,” she mused. “Spike and I… it’s going to work.”
“And well, I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright with her,” said Cheerilee as she and Rarity walked down the streets of Ponyville Square together.
“Thank you for telling me about this, Cheerilee,” said Rarity. “Now I see why she seemed so upset when she came home. I’ve already talked to her though. It’s a personal issue, but we’re working it out now.”
“Well, that’s good to hear. I was just worried about her, that’s all,” said Cheerilee. She started to separate from Rarity. “Oh, and Rarity?”
“Yes?”
“I think Sweetie Belle is very lucky to have a sister like you who cares for her so much.” She finally left to go shop at the market.
A small tear ran down Rarity’s cheek. What a touching gesture.
Now let’s see, I’ve already sent the letter to be delivered to Spike, but I still need to talk to somepony else about her infatuation. Because frankly, I don’t trust myself to help plan her next course of action anymore.
But who can I confide in? Twilight and Spike are still in Canterlot. Applejack is usually busy bucking apples at this time of day. Rainbow Dash is… probably not the best pony to seek for love advice.
That just leaves Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. However, I haven’t seen either of them in several days now. Nopony I’ve talked to seems to have seen mane or tail Pinkie Pie at all, and the last I saw of Fluttershy was after she helped me carry in groceries a few days ago and then flew off…
Wait, why does it seem like everypony is disappearing on me? There’s no reason for them to, unless…
Rarity gasped loudly. “Oh, no!” She raised her hoof and took a small whiff. “Maybe it is the perfume after all! It must be repelling all my friends! Oh, I have to get to the spa immediately!”
She started to make a dash towards the spa, but then she suddenly collided with another running pony, and they both tumbled down.
“Hey, now!” Rarity shouted, getting up. “You need to watch where you’re walking, you… Pinkie Pie?!”
“Rarity?” Pinkie Pie responded.
“Thank goodness I found you!” they both said simultaneously. “I really, really need your help with something! What? You need my help? Let me go first, my problem is more important! No, mine is! No, mine! IT’S ABOUT SWEETIE BELLE!”
They both covered their mouths at the same time, and then they both started to laugh. Rartiy spoke first.
“Wait, you came to talk to me about Sweetie Belle, Pinkie? What were you going to say?”
Pinkie gasped. “Oh, no! Never! I’m not going to ruin another secret this time!”
“Pinkie Pie… is this about her affection towards Spike?”
“Oh well, that’s a relief,” Pinkie said cheerily. “Because that’s what I was going to tell you, but it was also the secret that I needed to keep, so I couldn’t tell you, but I wanted to tell you even though I couldn’t, and now I don’t have to tell you because you already know!”
“Well, it’s a good thing I bumped into you then, because you see, I…” But Pinkie silenced her by putting her hoof to Rarity’s mouth.
“Not another word, Rarity! Because I have the perfect plan!”
She whispered her plan into Rarity’s ear. Rarity experienced mixed reactions of intrigue, confusion, excitement, and finally jubilation.
“Why Pinkie, that plan is surprisingly clever!” she excitedly noted. “But… are you sure that it’ll work?”
“As sure as I’m pink, which I am, or at least, I hope I still am! I’ll check in the mirror later, but for now, let’s get moving, Rarity! Because we need to stop talking and start PLANNING!”
“Come on, Spike!” Twilight urged. “You need to start packing now. After all, you need to wake up and be ready to take the train back to Ponyville at the very crack of dawn!”
“I know, I know,” said Spike.
He got up off of his bed and started tossing things behind him into his suitcase. He had a glum look on his face the whole time he did it.
Twilight watched him for a while, and then she finally felt compelled to speak.
“It’s a good thing that we remembered Hearts and Hooves Day,” she said. “I’m really glad that we were able to catch up with all our old friends and give them something special. Remember when Moondancer just stared at me and said, ‘Who are you and where’s the real Twilight Sparkle’?” She giggled.
“…Yeah.” Spike answered flatly.
“Spike… is something wrong?” she asked. “You haven’t been yourself ever since you woke up this morning, and you’ve been distant the entire day. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered. “I’m just… thinking, is all.”
“Oh.”
She went back to watching him, until he picked up his snow globe of Canterlot off the nightstand and tossed it behind him. It was about to miss the suitcase and smash straight onto the floor.
However, Twilight predicted the ornament’s trajectory and she made a dive to catch the falling snow globe with her magic just in time.
“Spike, you need to be more careful!” she scolded. “You almost smashed your favorite snow globe!”
“Huh?” replied Spike, turning around. “…Oh. Sorry.”
“Spike, are you sure you’re alright? Is there anything you want to talk about?”
He contemplated for a minute. And then he fully turned around towards her.
I can see that sad look in his eyes, Twilight thought to herself. I wonder what’s wrong.
“Actually, Twilight… there is something. You see, ever since last night, I’ve been thinking really hard about something. And I think I’m ready to ask you a big question. Because there’s just one thing I really need to know.”
“Go ahead,” she cheerfully replied, pleased that Spike was being so open to her. “I’m all ears!”
“Twilight… does Rarity love me back?”
Her eyes snapped open and her smile flipped into a frown, as she dropped the snow globe. The loud CLUNK it made on the floor contrasted against the otherwise eerie silence in the room.
“W-what?”
“Rarity. You know how I have a crush on her, right?” Twilight nodded, her face still in shock. “Something else has come up and… I just gotta know this, Twilight. Does she love me back? Please tell me.”
Twilight turned away from him and stared out at the window. The room was silent for a minute or two. Spike almost wanted to break the silence. But eventually, it was Twilight that did.
“Spike…” she said softly. “There are some things that I was going to wait to tell you until you were older.”
Spike remained silent.
“Most children develop crushes on adult ponies as they get to know them, and believe that their love will eventually be reciprocated, and that they’ve found their life-long soul mate. But the truth is… Oh Spike, I really don’t want to have to be the one to tell you this.”
“Please, Twilight,” Spike pleaded. “Just tell me.”
“The truth is…” She turned around again, and Spike finally saw that her eyes were full of tears. “…their love is usually unrequited, and is eventually outgrown.”
Spike sat down on the bed, starting to feel a great pain in his heart. Well, this is it. That’s the answer I was expecting, but… why does it still hurt so much?
“I’m so sorry, Spike. The only way you’re going to get a fully honest answer is to ask Rarity herself, but as for what I think…” She hesitated, but Spike gestured for her to keep going. “She most likely sees you as just a friend Spike, and nothing more.”
The room was silent again. Spike had a blank expression on his face as he stared down to the floor.
“Spike?”
“…I’m fine. It’s okay, Twilight, I guess that’s the answer I kind of expected. I mean really, could you imagine a dragon and a pony ending up together anyway?” he mused, giggling a little.
“Well, don’t give up the battle so fast,” Twilight said, starting to giggle herself. “I’ve read about pony-dragon relationships before, and they’re not as uncommon as you would think.”
She started to leave, but before exiting the room, she turned around. “You want to know something, Spike?”
“What?”
“In my honest opinion, it’s not so much a species difference, but an age difference that separates the two of you.” And then she walked out.
Spike ran over to his nightstand, and opened the shelf. The two drawings were there, but this time he only pulled out one.
Sweetie Belle’s.
“WHOOOOAAAAOOOAAAAAA!”
Suddenly, Spike heard a loud noise behind him, and shards of glass landed on the floor in front of him.
He quickly turned around to see a certain wall-eyed gray pegasus lying on the floor, the bedroom window behind her completely shattered. Dozens of letters poured out from her mailbag.
“Oww… always a rough landing, huh?”
“Oh, hey Ditzy Doo!” said Spike, going over to help her up and gather her mail. “What are you doing here? Did you fly all the way here from Ponyville?”
“You bet!” she enthusiastically replied. “I didn’t break anything this time, did I?”
“Uhh…”
“Aw, horse feathers!” she said, when she looked behind her. “That’s the fourth window this week! I’m always getting the flight path wrong! I knew I should’ve accounted for the change of windspeed around Canterlot.”
Spike just rolled his eyes as she continued rambling. Despite appearances, Ditzy Doo was actually a very intelligent pony, much like Twilight, and a frequent visitor to the library. But she was also soft-spoken around ponies she wasn’t well acquainted with, so other ponies mostly remembered her for her extreme clumsiness and goofy appearance, as well as her love of muffins.
“Uh hey, Ditzy?” Spike said, interrupting her thinking. “Do you have mail for me or something?”
“Oh, yes! I almost forgot!” She began sifting through all the mail that Spike handed back to her. “Let’s see now… Nope… Nope… Ah! Here it is!”
She handed Spike a letter. He drew back however, when he grabbed it and noticed there was no return address.
“Say Ditzy, who’s this letter from?”
“Sorry, can’t say!” she replied, slipping her mailbag back on. “The pony who gave that to me told me not to tell you who it’s from. Anyway, I gotta fly! Big muffin sale at the Sugarcube Corner today, can’t miss it! Bye, Spike!”
“See ya, Ditzy!” he called out. “Tell Dinky I said hi!”
Turning his attention back to the letter, he quickly opened the envelope and pulled out the small piece of paper.
“…Huh?”
Hey, I know this handwriting…
The message on the paper was written in a very distinct black cursive handwriting and it said only one thing.
“’I love you’?”
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
990 users online
69,967 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
“…their love is usually unrequired, and is eventually outgrown.”
True, but I think you may have meant unrequited.
i read it as soon as you posted it and yea i think you meant unrequited love: when your love is not returned in the manner given.
YAY! Update!
I wish there were more stories like this, cause Spike and Sweetie Belle would make a really cute couple. 
Oh shit handwritings is bad
Excellent chapter.
misinterpretation awaaaay! also, 2 wrong words that sound almost right: in order "recuperated should be "reciprocated" and "unrequired" should say "unrequitted"
Oh..my..bucking...god... I see where this is going. Great chapter, can't wait for the next one. :o
I think there is a problem developing... mainly that now he will think that Rarity loves him back due to noticing the hand-writing.
oh no he gonna think rari and then steetiebe oh no
So much facehoof.
"Handwriting" Only Spike and Discord have something we might call hand. I suggest you change it into hoofwriting or hornwriting, except that excellent chapter as usual
884327 Just had the same thought... This is gonna end badly, ain't it?
-Glassed
oh no, the handwriting
its blatently going to send spike for a loop 
and Sweetie was just getting him back as well 
> “’I love you’?”
Oops. Not as much of an oops as Rarity's though.
As a rule, I don't read romance stories or pairings or any of that...
...but this looks too adorable to avoid! I must read this when I get the spare time! *adds to read later list*
Man! I just knew Spike was gonna recognize Rairty's writing as soon as she asked Sweetie Belle if she wanted her to write the letter! Man! Sweetie Belle is gonna be heartbroken!
D'AWWWWWWWWW It's so sweet, wait, he expects Rarity's handwriting huh?
Rarity you fool you should have let Sweetie belle write the damned thing duh, spike knows everything about you.
Rarity go ahead and start crying cause you might lose your sister over this one.
Her. Name. Is. DERPY!!!
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/245/350/1e2.png
Sigh, I see a plot twist. Rarity's hand...hoof...horn writing(?) but letter from Sweetie belle
884502 Too true! I saw it too. One pure and obvious way to muck everything to grand high mucker muck!
And the plot thickens... just when he was about to finally realize... ahhh. Quality trolling.
Uh oh. He thinks it's from Rarity. Rarity, you fool. Why is your hoofwriting so noticable?noticable
FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..........
Thy should have known that Spike would recognize Rarity's calligraphy.
Did everypony forget about applejack, I mean I think there has been one reference to her
Yes, yes, and yes.
Will definitively be reading this.
811091 LEY GASP I apologize but I just noticed your avatar which I for now will assume that you got from the customize your own pony game from Equestria games and my reaction basically was LEY GASP because the avatar looked almost exactly like the pony that I made apart from (I can't see clearly but yours appears to be a unicorn) I made mine an Alicorn with different colored eyes mane and tail, as well as an element of magic
Gosh dang it.
This is getting good, Keep up the good work! and good job!
Blast! I knew the handwriting would be a giveaway.
I saw the handwriting thing a mile away. Also, why does Twilight make a dive to use her magic to catch something?
884593
Agreed.
Most children develop crushes on adult ponies as they get to know them, and believe that their love will eventually be recuperated, and that they’ve found their life-long soul mate. But the truth is… Oh Spike, I really don’t want to have to be the one to tell you this
reciprocated
Nice chapter.
Thanks to everyone who pointed out the "unrequited" and "reciprocated" typos. The simple things I completely miss when I'm proofreading.
884303
There IS no history to it, but that's the point. SweetieXSpike seems like such a logical pairing to me, and yet there exists very little actual fanart and fanfics about it. That's why I made this fic. I'm trying to start a revolution.
884571
Nope, sorry. I's a reference to a SweetieBot line in Friendship is Witchcraft.
884435
Eh... that's kind of debatable. I actually caught that myself but I decided to leave it as 'handwriting', since unicorns write with their magic and not their hooves. Also easier for people to understand, and Spike is probably used to thinking of it as 'handwriting' anyway.
884593
TROLOLOLOLOLOLO
884721
She'll be in the next chapter.
884885
Limited range, I guess.
*
tells 
the truth about 
*
handwriting (hoofwriting?) comes*
Me: Oh wow, this looks like it'll work itself out pretty well and nopony (or dragon) will get hurt.
*letter in
Me; *THUD* THUD* THUD* *THUD*
On a related note, anypony know a good place to get a new keyboard?
884426 *pats on the back* There there. Maybe it's all part of the plan? I mean surely Rarity would know, with Spike's obsession over her, he would know her handwriting anywhere? Especially with him being a scribe for Twilight most. Now cheer up and enjoy this picture!
img.ponibooru.org/_images/93cd56ed81124dff6b8402c955f00a04/159240%20-%20demotivator%20implied_facehoof%20rarity.jpg
"Rarity put both hands over her mouth as she realized her mistake."
What are these hands of which you speak?
Loved the chapter, didn't see any big errors besides what I mentioned and the word mix ups others have already stated.
At first I was like:
Then:
Then:
Then:
And finally I was like:
Rarity why are you not thinking of your actions in advantage. You silly silly filly.
Thoughts before finishing chapter:
"Spikes totally gonna think it was Rarity."
Thoughts after:
"CALLED IT!"
And so the confusion continues...
RARITY Y U SEND ANONYMOUS NOTE?!?!
Nice choice of middle name for Sweetie Belle. "Ophelia." Very fitting.
Nice to see the sisters bond within this tale and I Must say it would be interesting to see Sweetie Belle and Spike together.
Plus, I always love a good Ditzy/Derpy moment such as this one in this tale.
Please do keep up the good work.
The plot fogs up even more. Even more. MORE. Godspeed and goodluck!
884593
IK!!!! DERPY!!!
Still a great fic though.
The moment Rarity suggested she should write it for Sweetie Belle, I knew something like that would happen. Keep up the good work.
(Gosh it's so hard to type with my laptop)
Nice to see that even a filly like Silver Spoon can pick up a crush, let's just hope Diamond Tiara dosen't get jealous.
And now Spike is about to find out the truth Pinkie Pie style.
Is the featherweight thing a reference to a certain featured ScootsXFW story? if so...
I SEE WHAT YA DID THERE!!!
I already hated DT and SS (her Initials are the abbreviation for Nazis, she's gray, and a total bitch) so when SS swatted rumble's card I wuz like: AWWW HEEEEELLLLL NAWWWW! then she read card with blushing and DT sent AB a card
now I don't hate them, as for trixie and Filthy Rich however...
>> the Rarispy
pwease
Gypsy pinkie pie ?
NEED MORE CHAPTERS
Side note the fanfic is beyond perfect
Side side note anypony else not understand how rarity didnt notice spike had a crush on her
Last side note Derpy? AWWWWW YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAA!!!!!!
i.imgur.com/d9qVS.gif
Finally! There were countless times when
&
almost talked. Seriously. It happened in every single chapter up until now. It was like a requirement for every update for Rarity to sigh and say to a non-present Sweetie Belle, "You need to let this off your chest, dear. We never talk anymore, anyway. Romance is my thing, for fuck's sake!"
And is anyone surprised that she had to basically have a one-mare intervention to do this? It's just her first crush!
As an apology/celebration, I demand that Pinkie thows a What-the-hell-took-you-so-long party!