Perchance to Dream

by David Silver

85 - Perchance to Dream

I was tired, exhausted from my emotional ride. Spike led me to my room, not by walking, but by nudging me along from above. I was being guided like a horse by a rider. On some level I wondered if such things could ever catch on, but it never seemed hard to figure out what direction he meant with the presses of his feet against my sides. "Spike?"

"Yeah?" He slid forward until he bumped into my neck. "What's up?"

"Thank you." I wanted to give him a little pat on the head. I hoped my unicorn magic made it happen. "You are the best little dragon I know."

He gave a little chuckle at that. "I'm the only little dragon you know, but I'll take it. Feeling any better?"

"I hear you never really do..."

"I... can understand that." He hugged me from behind. "Hopefully we'll find out you're fine and this will be a completely awful little chapter we can move past. If... it's the worst... you're not alone at least."

"Yeah..." I turned back to him as we reached my door. "I'm not up for it, but I'm... Thank you, Spike, really."

He slide down from me to the floor. "Yeah yeah, I get it. Don't even worry about it."

"But I am worrying about it." I put a hoof on his nose. "Someone should worry about you sometimes."

His cheeks warmed. "W-what? I'm fine."

"I'm not sure you are." I leaned in close, my hoof returning to the floor. "After I get some sleep, if you want to talk, just talk, let me know."

Spike hiked a thumb at my rump. "Already feeling your cutie mark?" His tone was jesting as he said it, a sly smile on his face.

Fixing relationships was my... calling, as a pony. Was this a relationship thing? "This is a friend thing," I decided out loud. "But right now, it's a sleep thing. I'll talk to you later, Spike. You're not alone either." I left Spike with a parting wave and stumbled into my room. It was nice that door opened themselves for me, so long as I thought about opening them as I reached them. It closed behind me with an equally simple thought, and I flopped over onto the comfortable bed.

I thought going to sleep while wound up would be hard. I was wrong. I was pulled right away from my stallion body into somewhere else.

---

It was dark. Something wasn't right. I felt a presence. It was warm and friendly. Concerned? It was dark...

I couldn't talk, or move, or even open my eyes. Did I have eyes? Was I breathing? I couldn't tell. It was dark.

I wanted to move. I wanted to say something, to scream. Anything but... nothing. Nothing was all I got. It was dark.

---

I jerked awake. The darkness of the room unsettled me, but I could make out the curtains and wanted them open, so they slid open for me, letting the light spill in and chase away darkness I didn't want to deal with. I was breathing hard. I didn't feel as exhausted as I had when I first flopped onto the bed. I let out a slow sigh as I slid free of the bed and rose up. I could feel my alien body moving at my command.

The knowledge that I could be stuck with it for a while, maybe forever, made me more aware of it. I raised each hoof in turn and tried to get a look at each. Then there was the fact that I wasn't female. That wasn't hard to see. I couldn't have even been some soft effeminate male. No, there I was, a literal chiseled masterpiece of masculinity. I laughed, a short strained noise that I stopped almost as soon as it began. I was a stallion, better get used to it...

I snorted softly as I put all four hooves on the ground and lifted my bow instead. It felt... familiar, and I held it close to my front in my magic. It felt nice to hold, like an old friend. It had no complex needs for me, just to shoot some ponies and make them spill their secret feelings for one another. I gave a soft laugh, thinking back over the ponies I had already shot with it.

A thought came to me. "Does it work on one person?" The bow seemed almost confused at the question, and so was I. The little bursts of empathy from the bow, snatches of emotions, were hard to explain. Was it a living thing? It felt like it in some limited way.

A knock interrupted my thoughts. "Who's there?"

It cracked open and Spike poked his head in. "I thought I heard you, so, uh, just checking in."

Twang! I hadn't even thought about it. I put an arrow right between his eyes, oh god! The arrow sank into his skull and vanished, and he didn't instantly die.

Spike squealed with alarm, but didn't seem to be hurt. "Warn a guy, would ya?!" He had a hand over the spot he had been shot, rubbing it. "What brought that on? Rarity isn't even here." He let out a love-struck sigh, thinking of his fair unicorn lady friend.

I had to shoot someone else. It was a maddening itch. Well, there was only one other person around. I turned the bow at myself. Was this a good idea?

The bow agreed. It tingled in anticipation. Firing it was always a good idea.

But I was more than the bow. I lowered it a few inches, resisting its call. "Are you alright, Spike."

He slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. "It was just surprising, is all. I'm fine." He gave a thumbs up. "You shouldn't point that at anypony you don't plan to shoot, uh, like yourself?"

I dropped the bow, or so was the idea. It was still drawn tight. The arrow fired from the falling bow and poked me right in the belly. I let out a deep grunt as it faded away.

"Oh..." Spike took a step back and ran right into the door he had finished closing. "Look, uh, I don't..." His eyes glassed over and he sagged, a feeling I could imitate easily. "Oh..."

We were in thrall, but we still needed a little nudge. "Spike."

"Yeah?"

"I worry about you. You're a good person."

"Oh, uh, thanks." He rubbed behind his head. "I admit, I was worried a moment, uh, you know... I'm a taken dragon, besides, you're, uh, not a mare, uh, right now..."

"Taken? You have a girlfriend?" My ears perked right up. "That's great news."

He smiled, but it fell almost as quickly. "Well, you... know... it's... I mean... I'm still trying to woo her. She's a high class lady. She needs proper wooing first."

Oh, Rarity. "Maybe I could help." Oh god, what was I saying?! "I know a thing or two about dating." Arg! Maybe I had more experience than him, but still!

"Wow, would you?" He looked so happy then. "I want to sweep her right off her hooves!"

"Well, what have you tried so far?"

Spike tapped at his cheek before he took a step forward, same finger thrust in the air. "I've always been available to help her and show how awesome I am."

"That's good, but not specifically romantic." I tilted my head at him. "Have you given her some poetry about how you feel, or some flowers and told her you love her?"

He went darker than ever before I had seen him. "N-no!" He could not lie, in this conversation we were having. "I'm g... go..." He was trying to lie.

"Spike, you have to be direct. Tell her. She either accepts it, and you get what you want, or she spurns it, and you will hurt, but you can move on. This halfway thing is just setting yourself up for that hurt to be worse and worse the longer it goes." I closed the distance and put a hoof on his shoulder. "If she turned you down, her loss, but you deserve the truth."

"That's easier said than done! I mean, she's Rarity! She's the most enchanting unicorn ever... She has stallions drooling over her every day..."

"Which is why just being helpful isn't going to cut it." I plopped down on my haunches in front of him. "She can get a helpful stallion whenever she wants. What makes you stand out?"

"My... awesome physique?" He flexed for me. It was adorable, and sad.

"Spike, as someone who is a, you know, mare most of the time, no. Just, no. I care about you, I really do, but no. You may grow into a huge and fearsome dragon some day, but you are not there yet. Muscles will not bring the ladies calling. What else do you have? Besides, she's a classy lady. Would she ever fall for someone just for their muscles?"

"I guess not." He sagged. "I don't know then. What do I have?"

I put a hoof on his chest. "You have you. That will be enough, or not, but you have to believe you are enough first. Offer her that: not 'Spike the handydragon', not 'Spike the muscly dragon', just 'Spike, the dragon who loves you very much.' She either takes it, or doesn't, but you'll have made your honest bid."

Spike was quiet for a long moment. "What if she... says no?" His voice was so small, vulnerable. I wanted to grab the little guy up and hug him forever! "What if she doesn't even want to talk to me after that!" Tears were starting to escape his big eyes. "What if--"

So I did grab him. I grabbed him in my magic first, but that quickly moved to my arms, hugging the little reptile tight. "If she never wants to talk to you again, that makes her a crappy friend. If she says no... that's her right, and you, being a proud and noble dragon, will accept her decision, with respect."

He made the saddest little sound, so I just hugged him tighter, as if squeezing hard enough would just make the problem go away. The magic of the arrows faded away. I didn't feel compelled to speak, so I didn't. I just sat there with Spike.

He squirmed a bit and I let him hop back to the ground. "Uh... thanks?" He gave a big fake smile. "But, you know... that was just... the arrows, right?"

I frowned at that. "We may have been nudged, but we didn't lie. Spike, tell her, for better, or worse."

He wrung his claws nervously. "But I'm just... 'Spikey-Wikey'... She... I mean..."

"She will never stop thinking of you as a helpful friend and not even a potential romance if you don't force her. You owe it to yourself to just ask." I rose up to all fours. "I can't do that for you. It has to be you, Spike. You. Anyone else and she'll brush it right off and keep doing as she's doing."

"I don't want to make her, you know, uncomfortable."

My brows fell. "She's already making you quite uncomfortable. Relationships are like that. It's a saying where I come from 'The truth will set you free', but that's only half the story. I know... what you're afraid of. It may be that way. She may... turn the whole thing down, but even then, you'll be free. It will hurt... so bad, but you'll be free to grow, to open your eyes to others." I suddenly laughed. "For all you know, there's some mare giving you little eyes, wondering why you never notice, because you're focused so squarely on Rarity. Win or lose, you have to get past this. Either start building that relationship or moving on."

The image of some foal closer to Spike's age batting her lashes at him while he daydreamed of Rarity made me give a masculine chuckle. "I believe in you, Spike. I just want you to start doing that."

How did I get from existential dreadful nightmares to giving Spike relationship advice? I wasn't sure, but I preferred this to that by a large degree.

Author's Note:

We interrupt this moment of terror to speak earnestly with a young dragon.

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Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Warm and friendly describe neither a hospital or the beach in the morning...
Is Spike mature enough to actually move forward? Maybe,
Keep going! ;)

[badninja]

I get the feeling that Linda will not be happy when they find her body. Getting kinda creepy that she hasn't returned to it yet.

[Booster Spice]

Unhappy dragon is getting unhappier, but its a lot better than him going on a grief rage fueled growth rampage in not much longer. Especially if Blueblood has anything to say about it.

[RadicalDishonesty]

It's the advice Laud doesn't know to give to Spike! Hooray!

Interesting that True Shot tries to not use the arrow but does anyway.

And... maybe Linda is in the hospital, but ill and immobilized? That... might be a thing.

[Warrior Kitten]

Judging by that little snippet, she's in the hospital. She's either in a coma, or her body is too weak.

I've had that happen to me before. I was literally so weak I couldn't move. It was terrifying. The memory of it is hazy, though.

[Greenhorn]

Our good drake really need a full-time dating counselor.

[Sylica telca]

So she's probably dead or in a coma. I'm betting on the latter