Spike Finds Love At Last

by Soothing Stone

Epilogue, Part 3: At Last

When the happy couple looked over all the places they could go for their honeymoon, Rarity would always suggest one place in particular. It seemed less exotic, being in Cloudsdale and everything, but the fashionista insisted on this destination. After all, she spent her honeymoon there, and she knew they would love it. So, after some last minute persuading, they booked the High Rise Hotel for the occasion.

The hotel was coming up on the carriage in a hurry. It was a fancy ten story place, just out on the edges of town. Canterlot was still visible from the view, and Ponyville wasn’t too far away, either. A pool marked the edges of the hotel ground, and right by it was a huge waterfall--cut off with glass, of course. Couldn’t have customers falling off the edge. Of course, there were guards at the entrance, given who was coming to stay here.

“They don’t let their guard down, do they?” Spike commented on the big guard presence.

“I don’t mind,” Twilight replied. “Just as long as they don’t harass anypony else over here. Anyways, what do you think? After Rarity showed me the pictures around here, I was all in.”

“It’s amazing. All the waterfalls, the sights, I even heard they have gems for dragons at the diner. I can’t really complain at all. Why didn’t Rainbow Dash ever let us know about it?”

“Probably didn’t have the time, Wonderbolts stuff and everything. Either way, this looks like a fun place, and I can’t wait to get started with you.”

“Yeah, me too. A week by ourselves sounds like just what I needed after that big wedding thingy.”

The carriage soon landed by the entrance. The guards escorted Spike and Twilight as they climbed out of their ride. While they probably should be wondering if it was safe out here, they were just in awe of the hotel instead.

Yeah, it was easy to see why Rarity loved it. The entrance doors were made out of gold, there were plenty of gems to go around on the walls--Spike couldn’t eat these ones, though, no matter how good they looked--and two employees opened the doors for the couple.

“Remind me to thank Rarity when we get back,” she whispered.

“I’ll write a letter before we go to bed,” he commented.

The guards then brought them up to their room on the fifth floor. The room itself was rather nice, with a big king sized bed and a huge patio to take a look outside. “Do you need anything else?” the lead guard asked.

“We’re good to go. If we need anything, we’ll find you,” Twilight waved them away.

The guards nodded and shut the door behind them. Once they were gone, she went over and glomped Spike onto the bed, kissing all over his face.

“Wow, you’re really eager,” Spike teased.

“Are you kidding? We’re married now! I get to spend all the time I want with you. Why wouldn’t you be excited about that?”

“I am. I really am. Just that...I’m wondering when I’m going to wake up from this fever dream. It feels too good to be real.”

“Well, it’s real now,” she said, booping his nose. “You know what, we should probably change our clothes before we do anything else. This dress may be awesome, but it’s a little uncomfortable, and I’m not ready for that just yet. Maybe later tonight.”

“Yeah, was thinking the same thing. Take all the time you need. We’re gonna live for a long time together, so there’s no rush on that.”

And so they took turns in the bathroom, changing their clothes for something a bit more casual. Twilight put her wedding dress neatly in the closet, as she knew Rarity would kill her if she did anything else to it. A simple T-shirt and jean shorts would do for now, and sure enough, Spike was wearing something similar to her outfit.

“Huh, guess we were thinking the same thing on the clothes stuff,” he thought. “So what should we do first? Go swimming? Take a look around the hotel?”

“I don’t know, actually. I haven’t thought about it.” She came over and hugged him warmly. “Isn’t the whole point of the honeymoon to spend all the time we want together?”

“It is. I just...don’t wanna blow this,” he sighed. “Yeah, I’m still worried about that every now and then. I never really thought about what would happen after our wedding.”

“Spike, you know you won’t blow it with me. When have I ever been upset with you?”

“That time I grew into a massive dragon because I got too greedy for my own good?”

She snorted at the thought and kissed him again. “That was a long time ago. You know you’re a lot more mature than you were back then. Just...don’t force yourself to be someone you’re not, alright? I married you because I love who you are, and vice versa.”

“Yeah…” He kissed her back, and they stayed silent for a while in their embrace. Just standing in the middle of the room in a hug seemed to feel like the perfect moment, and so they kept doing that for a while.

The sun would set soon after, and the stars came out of their hiding in the nighttime sky. Luna decided to make the moon a little closer to Equestria for the occasion, and it caught Twilight’s eye. Looks like she knew just what she would do with her husband tonight. She pulled away from him and opened the door to the patio. The sight of the moon caught his eye as well, and when she spread her wings out, he was already on the same page as her on things. He didn’t need to hear a thing to see what she had in mind.

The pony princess and the dragon prince took off into the open air together. They flew side by side, clasping hands as they went as far and away as their wings would take them, not minding if the guards would freak out while they were gone. Tonight, it was just about them, just as it should be on a honeymoon.

They flew up, down, to the side, anywhere they felt like going. The clouds zipped right by them, and their surroundings were all a blur. Just as long as they didn’t hit anything, they didn’t care. Their hands stayed tight around each other as they spun around, all while laughing on the way from pure joy.

The stars kept coming out above them as they went on their merry way. The nighttime sky was almost as bright as the daytime sky as they flew aimlessly, wherever the air currents would take them. Just as long as they could find their way back to the hotel, they would have the time of their lives.

“Wow, you got a lot better at flying over the years!” he marveled.

“Not as good as you!” she replied. “I couldn’t keep up with you at full speed!”

“Oh come on, you could be a Wonderbolt if you wanted to!”

“Whatever! I’m just happy being your princess and wife!”

Soon enough, their wings would get tired from all the flying together in due time. They found a cloud nearby and took their seats in the middle of it. He stretched out his legs and wrapped a hand around her waist, and she snuggled up to him just for fun.

“Luna did that for us, didn’t she?” Spike asked, pointing up to the moon.

“I don’t think so. I know so,” she laughed. “She does that for us every once in a while. It’s really beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Not as beautiful as you.”

“Oh, Spike…” She kissed him again just for the hay of it. They were quiet once more in their embrace, but something felt different this time. This time, she found herself feeling up his back, his chest, and his belly. In return, he was feeling up her back, careful to avoid the wings, caught up in the moment she was inviting him to. She blushed at the realization and pulled away from him. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t--”

“Does this mean you’re ready for that?” he interrupted her.

She was surprised at the question, but she pondered it anyway. Didn’t take long for her to know how she felt about it. “Yeah. I’m ready for that. Are you?”

He slowly nodded. “Honestly, I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time now. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you’re happy when it’s time.”

“Like that’s going to be a problem,” she smiled back at him. “You remember the way back to the hotel? I kinda got lost while we were out.”

“Yeah, I kept track of that. I’ll lead the way.”

They took off from the clouds and went back over in the general direction of Cloudsdale. With him leading the way, it would take a while to find their way back, but the hotel was within view again before long. Thankfully, the guards didn’t see them leaving the hotel, so there wouldn’t be a ruckus or anything on the way back.

Once they touched down, they shut the patio door and closed the blinds. Spike slowly approached her, trying to remain calm as he kissed her on the lips. That kiss felt much different than the ones before, and he heard her breathing picking up.

“You’re nervous,” he said, stroking her cheek slowly.

“A little bit,” she confessed. “I’ve never done this before.”

“We can wait if you like. I won’t be upset at you.”

“No, please do it now. I’m not going to force you to wait any longer. The jitters will go away once we start, I’m sure of it.”

“What about you, though? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. It would just get in the way.”

“I want this.” She slowed down her breathing and calmed down. “I really want this with you. If you do something I don’t like, I’ll warn you.”

“Alright.” He laid down on the bed softly, bringing her down with him. “I love you so much…”

------

Mornings in Cloudsdale were a curious thing. With all the clouds in the atmosphere, the air would be full of dew and moisture, giving it a nice and atmospheric fee to the air. Of course, things would go back to normal just after 10 in the morning, but it made things feel fresh once the town woke up to life.

Spike woke up with the sun shining in his face. He groaned and turned to see his princess curled up next to him. The memories of last night came back to his mind, and it was a night he would never forget. It was a long time since he felt that vulnerable and comfortable with it, and she felt the same way in their intimate embrace.

As much as he loved the sight of her sleeping, he wanted to move around and stretch his legs. He slowly climbed out of bed, making sure he didn’t disturb her. Once he was done, he threw some boxers on and walked out to the patio. He sighed happily as he let a million thoughts go through his mind, thinking of what happened before, what just happened, and what would happen. Made sense to consider those things, now that he was married.

However, he heard something in the room behind him. He didn’t turn back to see what it was; he knew who it was already. He was soon joined by his princess by the patio, wearing a bathrobe to cover up with. She gazed all over the horizon and enjoyed the sunrise with him.

“Really beautiful at this time, isn’t it? And you can’t say I’m more beautiful this time. We know that’s not true.”

“But it is true,” he said, planting a kiss on her cheek. “I’d ask if you had fun last night, but I think I already know.”

“I’m just glad we didn’t annoy anypony else in the hotel,” she blushed. “Just...wow. I got over my nerves pretty fast, and…” She blushed and gave a slight giggle. “It was fun.”

“It did have me thinking of something right after. Um...Twilight...do you know if dragons and ponies can have children?”

That question made her eyes widen. “Oh. Right. Guess I should be thinking about it now. Um, to be honest, I don’t know. We might be the first dragon-pony couple known in existence.”

“So you don’t know? Then again, Equestria didn’t know much about dragons until Ember came along and you wrote your books about them, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Yeah.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “Spike, do you want kids with me?”

“What?” The question actually made him stumble a bit. “Um...uh...well, I’m just now getting used to being your husband. It’s a lot to take in.”

“We might have to think about it soon, given what we did last night. I don’t want to push you into it right now, but we should probably find out where we stand on having children.”

Spike sighed again and considered it. “First off, what do you want? Do you like the idea of being a mother? I don’t know what our kids would look like, since I’m a dragon and you’re a pony, but are you okay with the idea, no matter what happens?”

“I wouldn’t mind it,” she admitted. “I would looooove to teach them when they’re getting older, and whatever gender they are, they would be royalty, so we can give them the world and all that’s in it. I just need to make sure they’ll get out of the castle and make some friends every now and then. I bet this is how Celestia felt when I was younger.”

Spike imagined it in his head, and he smiled at the thought. “You know what, I wouldn’t mind it either. I’d be raising them with you, and that’s going to make things a lot easier. I just hope I’ll be a good father, and they’ll grow up to be great stallions, mares, dragons, whatever they are.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll be a good father, Spike,” she said warmly. “Just don’t let me go overboard with reading assignments, okay?”

He laughed at the idea. “Yeah, I’ll keep you in check, just as long as you keep me in check,” he answered, pressing his head to hers. “Twilight...I just…”

“I know. You love me.” She kissed him again and held on tight. “We’ll be together for a long time, right?”

“More like forever. Can we do that?”

“Yeah. We can.”

As they embraced each other again on the patio, it dawned on them that this was merely the beginning of their time in their union. There would be challenges along the way, yes, but they would be challenges they would face together, whenever it was another threat to Equestria or more personal issues to wrestle with.

No matter what happened, though, Spike would remember this day for a long time, for it was the day he knew he had found love at last.

Author's Note:

Major thanks to Salnalus and Amber Solaen for helping me throughout the process of making this whole thing.

First, unless you found this chapter within the first 5 seconds of this chapter being up, you'll notice a certain new tag on the story. I only now applied it because I wasn't sure I was going to go that far with things until I started planning the epilogue, and while it's not that detailed, it was probably enough to get the tag anyways.

So...what were my thoughts about this story? I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking on my end with this one, as it was intended to get me warmed back up to multichapter stories. It's my first one in a few years, and I needed the practice. Still, I have, well, mixed feelings about the way it turned out.

Usually, when I start a story like this, I have an outline and stick with it the whole way through. This time, I edited the outline big time because I thought it was too much "Spike talks about his feelings with somepony else" and it was that same story beat, again and again. That's why his date with Pinkie involved the pink one bungie jumping off of a hot air balloon, to make it more interesting. And the epilogue...well, it wasn't originally planned, and I think there were ways I could have made it better. That, and I was a little upset that I had so many chapters in the 2k word range. That's something I want to address if I ever do one of these things again.

Still, I was very happy with the way I handled the drama with Spike's feelings for Twilight. I see their relationship in the show like they're brother and sister, and finding a way to acknowledge it while still presenting it as a barrier for their romance was an interesting challenge. Given some of the comments I got from you guys, I take it that I handled that aspect very well.

All in all, like any long term story, I learned a few things, was happy about other things, and saw things that can be address for future stories. In the end, I was happy with it and was glad to see I can still do romance in stories well...at least, in my opinion.

What did you guys think of the story at the end of the day? I'm rather curious how you liked the overall product, along with the ending. The floor is open.

Thanks for sticking with this story all the way to the end, the positive reception this got, and for being my first story in almost a year to break 1,000 views. It was a huge motivator to get this thing finished, and good thing I finished it now, because season 8 is right around the corner. Happy trails.

--Soothing Stone

Comments

[Night Spinner]

Very sweet, and sad to see it's finished.

[Viper Pit]

this was very sweet and i wouldnt mind a sequal

[djthomp]

That was pretty cute. Welcome back to writing.

[The REAL Mister Pkmn]

I cried. Truly I did. Good on you.

[Soothing Stone]

8766098
What was it about the story that made you cry? I want to keep track on this for future references.

[The REAL Mister Pkmn]

8766210
The tender moment between the two of them at the end. It really got me.

[Soothing Stone]

8766226
Thank you. Figured a quiet little moment like that would be the perfect way to bookend this story.

[edgeman]

As much as I hate to say it, anthro gets an immediate downvote. Pony or human would be fine, but the mix is a major turnoff. Stick to the canon or it just feels like furry wank material.

[Sammyjay]

8767528
Thats easily explained really, since spike having a crush on rarity is part of show canon any writer thats not going full au generally has to address it in someway. Add to it that drama is a good source to drive a plot from, having rarity reject spike either directly or indirectly gives a starting point and frees up the relationship with twilight to happen.
This is a type of thing is something that pops up in most fanfiction across many series, and result in these similar story beat. For a non pony example, Dumbledore being a grand manipulator is common for Harry Potter give because it causes conflict and explains why the story followed the books until when the fanfic starts, and thus frees the writer to do what they want with Harry and others.

[ShadowSpider]

8767528
Pretty much what Sammyjay said.
Though considering Spike's crush on Rarity has been significantly downplayed since season 4. I do think it's now easier for writers to just hand wave the crush on Rarity by saying he got over it.

[ChronoMitsurugi]

8854932
Hand waving is the first mark of a lazy author. If you dont want to deal with canon, you have to go AU before that part of canon exists.
Otherwise you need to address it in some way.

[Viper Pit]

9547989
Yeah

[ChronoMitsurugi]

9641559
Agreed. But sometimes a cheap laugh is nice. Its why shows like Family Guy exists.