Spike Finds Love At Last

by Soothing Stone

Your Dreams Are A Mirror To Your Heart

That night turned into one of the worst nights of sleep Spike could remember. He was a nervous wreck by the time he stumbled into his bedroom, and he couldn’t get into bed any sooner. His whole body was warm and sweaty, and he tried shedding all his clothes to feel better. That didn’t help one bit.

It was like his body split in two, and the two halves were wrestling with each other. One of them hated himself for not coming clean to Twilight about his crush, and the other went deep into self loathing for not ending it on the spot. The weight on his chest plaguing him for an entire week felt like it grew into a tumor, and he was dying inside because of it.

He groaned and threw a pillow over his head. It was early in the evening, but he wanted to call it a night and fall asleep already. There was no way he could handle being like this for another few hours, it was bad enough for the last two.

However, just to make it worse on himself, something came up in his brain: What would he do tomorrow? His feelings for her would still be there, and there was nothing he could do to stop that. The situation would still rear its ugly head, day after day, never stopping and always going. In other words, he was doing exactly what he did with Rarity, letting his fear of the unknown stop him from coming forward.

Yeah, that’s what he needed to be reminded of. Why not just replay the whole thing with Rarity and recall how that ended for him. It made him feel like his training counted up to a grand sum of nothing. How stupid could he be? Was he really that pitiful and not worth it?

What he didn’t realize was that all this thinking and pondering made him sleepy. The stress and anxiety wore him out, which was music to his ears. Before he knew it, he fell asleep in the middle of his pity party. He got what he wanted, even if it wasn’t the best way to get it.

------

Tall trees. Green grass. Fresh air. A clear blue sky. It was starting to come to him. Whatever this place was, it was where he needed to be. Get his mind straightened out. Take a deep breath. Another one. He felt relaxed and still. It was what he wanted. It was what he needed.

Spike didn’t know where he was or how he got there. The only thing he knew was that this was a forest, one he never had seen before. The stretch of trees appeared as if they went forever in all directions. There was no sign that there was anything else nearby, just more trees and the occasional shallow lake. It almost didn’t feel real, how this forest felt and looked.

Matter of fact, the forest seemed to have a life of its own. He realized he was resting against a tree trunk and thought about exploring this place, but he didn’t feel like doing anything. Not because he was lazy, but the forest soothed his soul with its peace and tranquility. He could use it after such a stressful week.

Not that he didn’t mind it. Having some time along was the cure for his problems, and he didn’t want anything else filling up his mind. The forest welcomed him, and he didn’t care what was going to happen. When was the last time he said that about himself? It felt like a long time ago. When a pony is stressed out like he was, a week can feel like a month. However, the peace and tranquility would not last.

Out of nowhere, he felt something sit on his lap. He didn’t think much of it at first, but then it leaned down and rested against his chest and belly. The dragon looked down to see what it was, and his heart nearly skipped a beat at the sight of the mare.

Twilight Sparkle was the pony resting with him. She wore a basic shirt and jeans, just like him. She enjoyed the sights of the forest with him, snuggling up and enjoying the sounds of nature. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked. “So far away from Equestria, but it feels like home.”

Spike didn’t fully acknowledge the pony with him, and he wrapped his arms around her belly without much thought. “Yeah. We needed it, didn’t we? I forgot the last time we spent a day together. No friends, no Cutie Map hijinks, no threats to Equestria, just the two of us.”

“Yeah. About time, too.” She rubbed her head against his neck and cooed quietly. “And right on our anniversary. I couldn’t think of a better place to spend it.”

Now it was starting to dawn on him what was going on. “Anniversary? What anniversary?”

“Stop ribbing around, Spike. You didn’t forget the date of your wedding, right?”

“What wedding--” He gazed at his left hand and gasped. There was a ring on his wedding finger. “W-What’s going on? Why is this happening to me?”

“Okay, this isn’t funny anymore.” She pulled away and turned to him with a scowl. “We’ve been married for a whole year now. Why are you acting like that never happened? Don’t you love me?”

Sweat started to pour down his face when he realized she had a wedding ring of her own. “I...I gotta get out of here!” He scrambled up to his feet and ran as far away as possible. It didn’t matter what she had to say, he had to get out of there now.

So he ran. And ran and ran and ran. The forest never stopped expanding, never opened up, and there was no end in sight. Who cared? He just needed to get away from her. This had to be a joke the universe pulled on him or some sick vision by Discord. There was no way he went to bed and woke up a married man. He was doing his best to hide everything from her, and now they’re married and everything? No way. No way in Tartarus was this real.

A few minutes later, he ran out of stamina and stopped running. Twilight wasn’t anywhere within a few miles, so he laid down in the grass to catch his breath. His heart was pumping with equal parts adrenaline and fear, and he didn’t know what to do anymore. It was tempting to cry at this point; his worst nightmares were coming true in front of him.

Then he heard footsteps in the distance. He was horrified at the sound and flew up, using the tree branches for a hiding place. There was no way he was going to see Twilight again. Not like this.

The footsteps got closer and closer with time. He figured she would be looking all over for him, and he covered his mouth so his breathing wouldn’t give him away. HIs face was drenched in sweat by then.

“Spike, come to me,” a voice called out. It was familiar, but it was not Twilight’s. “I sensed your distress from afar. You need not hide from me. I only wish to help you.”

“Huh?” He recognized that voice anywhere, but he wasn’t sure if he was just hearing things. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“Show yourself, and I will explain everything.” The voice was just below him when it spoke.

“Okay. Just don’t do anything weird. I’ve had enough of that for a lifetime.” He climbed down the tree and touched back down to earth. He saw who it was, and it definitely caught him off guard to see a certain blue alicorn.

Princess Luna presented herself to the dragon, her dazzling purple dress glimmering in the sunlight. She waved her hand in the air and channeled magic with her horn. It didn’t take long for all the trees to evaporate, leaving only an everlasting meadow around them.

“Princess Luna? What are you doing--oh Celestia, I’m in a dream, aren’t I? That would explain everything,” he said. He slapped himself in the face when it hit him.

“Indeed, this is merely but a dream,” Luna replied. “I sensed that you were in deep distress from within the dream realm, and I deemed it necessary to visit your dream. Never did I imagine I would witness the vision that greeted me.”

Spike got blustered and kicked the ground around. “You saw the two of us with those rings, didn’t you?” He noticed that he still had his ring on, and he hid his left hand behind his back.

“Nothing that occured was hidden to me, only the meaning behind it.” She came a step closer to him. “Explain to us, why would you imagine such a dream? I’ve seen things like this before, and there’s always an ember of raw, unbridled emotion fueling it.”

He looked away in shame, but he knew he couldn’t sit on this anymore. “Will you promise not to tell anypony about this? It’s embarrassing for me.”

“I cannot make guarantees, but I will handle your secret in a graceful way.”

Spike took a moment to brace himself. “I...I...I think I love Twilight Sparkle. Like, I really love her. I guess my dream looked like this because, deep down, she might be the one for me.”

Luna was a little surprised with that statement, but she nodded and continued. “I see. It is not hard to envision why you kept this to yourself. Does she know?”

“No way. That’s what’s bothering me. I don’t want to tell her, but I want to tell her at the same time. The thing is, it feels so wrong. We grew up together, so it feels like I’m asking my own sister out on a date. You see why that would be a bad thing?”

“Yes, I do see.” She draped a wing over the poor dragon’s back. “It must be distressing to face such a dilemma, to know what you want and deny yourself the privilege of having it, because you think it’s the wrong thing to do.”

“Exactly! I think she would be really, really mad at me if I tell her the truth, and that’s something I can’t afford to happen. Not after what happened with Rarity. Just...this really sucks.” He lowered his head and covered his face in shame.

Luna remained quiet for a moment, attempting to comfort him with a brush of the wing, but she acknowledged how she needed to do something about this. “Spike, I admit that I can’t tell you what it is you need to do concerning your situation with Twilight.”

“Then why are you even here?” he glared at her. “What was the point of all this? You know I’m a hopeless cause, right?”

“I didn’t say that, but there is one thing I will say. If you desire more than anything to solve your problem, you must resolve this in your own way. Will you let yourself fall in love with Twilight, or brush your feelings away and keep her as a friend?”

The dragon recoiled at the proposal. “Please stop that. I know I blew it. But--”

“Then don’t delay on addressing this matter. Make your choice before your indecision consumes you and you find yourself choosing no road at all.”

“Are you sure? This isn’t just something you pick and move on with. This is something I might have to live with for the rest of my life.”

“Spike, I can see the inner turmoil in you. You’ve been fighting with this for a long time, it’s written all over your face. If you continue to do nothing, the cloud of depression over your head will only grow. Don’t let it. Do the right thing.”

The dreamscape started to fade away when she was finished. The ground beneath them turned into nothing but white space, and the meadow vanished along with it. Spike could see himself fade with them, and so was Luna.

“But what is the right thing to do?”

“Only you can know that.”

------

Spike’s body was drenched in sweat when he woke up. It took a while for him to realize he was in the real world again, and he couldn’t have been more disoriented. His heart was pounding like crazy, and he was pretty sure he had a massive headache.

That might have been the only time in the world he wasn’t happy to see Princess Luna. She had very good intentions, sure but that tumor-like feeling in his chest only got bigger. Now it felt like it covered his whole body. He felt absolutely awful when he came to, and he hoped it was still early in the morning so he could go back to bed.

“Spike? Breakfast is ready!” Twilight yelled from the kitchen.

He groaned and flopped back into bed. She just had to choose today to throw her trademark big breakfasts. Could this morning get any better or what? He didn’t want to go down there, but she would just keep calling him out if he didn’t show up. She always wanted him to have a healthy start to the day, and she would stop at nothing to do so. That made her the second pony with good intentions driving him crazy today.

Spike didn’t even bother throwing on any clothes today, and he got through his morning chores as fast as he could. He stumbled down to the dining room and sure enough, there was a massive spread waiting for him at the table: Biscuits and gravy, pancakes sprinkled with gem dust, vegan bacon. It was all waiting for him.

Twilight was still working hard in the kitchen nearby. As it turned out, she worked nonstop for the last few hours, and her cooking apron was covered in all sorts of stuff from her hard work. She always knew those cooking classes from Pinkie would pay off eventually, and today was one of those days. She heard Spike come in and waved him in. “Good morning, Spike. Wait, why aren’t you wearing anything? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m fine,” he grumbled as he took his seat. He went out of his way to avoid eye contact with her.

“Okay. Nothing wrong if you don’t want to wear clothes again. You are a dragon, after all. What you think of everything I made you?”

He glanced down at his food. To be fair, she went all out with her cooking. The pancakes covered in gems, in particular, looked delicious. “What’s all this about?”

“I wanted it make it up to you for last night when I could. I know you said I didn’t mess anything up back there, but I still felt responsible for it. You’ve come a long way, and I’d hate to do anything to make you stumble, so think of this like it’s a big ‘I’m sorry’ breakfast. Come to think of it, that’s something Pinkie would do. Either way, go ahead and dig right in!”

Spike shrugged it off and treated himself to those gem dusted pancakes. The ruby and sapphire shards mixed well with the pancakes, but he stared at his food the whole time, never looking up to see Twilight. He couldn’t bare to do this so soon after the incident with Luna.

Twilight took the seat across from him, just to see how he liked her cooking. She waited for a reaction or comment to get a read on it, but he gave her nothing to work with. It was beginning to worry her, seeing him blankly stare at his food while he ate it. She couldn’t help but wonder if she left out a key ingredient or used too much flour.

“Is the food any good?” she finally asked him. “You haven’t said a word since you sat down.”

“It’s good,” he said quietly.

“Great. I was hoping you would like it. I’ve been trying a few recipes here and there. It was hard getting all those gems for the pancakes, with all those trips to the caves, but it was worth it. Right?”

Please leave me alone. I really don’t want to do this right now. He grabbed all the empty plates and dropped them off in the kitchen sink. “Yeah. I gotta get out of the house for a while. Pretty sure Fluttershy needs a hand at her place again.” He cleaned his hands off and left the kitchen, stopping right before he left the dining room. “I was serious when I said you did nothing wrong, but I can’t do this anymore. I’m just terrible at dating, and there’s nothing you can do to fix that. I just need to grow up and life my live alone. Thanks for everything, though. You’re a really great teacher. Nopony could have done it better than you.” Then he went out the door.

That left Twilight heartbroken in the dining room. She felt absolutely awful and didn’t touch her plate, and she felt like she let him down. It didn’t matter if he told her it was his fault. She believed in the saying that there are no bad students, only bad teachers, and right now, she felt like a pretty bad teacher.

Everything seemed to be going well last night, but something went wrong along the way. What was it? She asked herself that question a million times when she went back to the library, sitting down at the study desk to address it. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself until she figured out the solution to this pickle.

No matter how much she threw herself at the problem, she hit brick wall after brick wall. Something didn’t add up. He was learning at the beginning, he was getting more comfortable by the time he went out with Pinkie and Apple Bloom, and then he acted like everything was wrong last night. What was the missing piece she wasn’t seeing? There had to be something she miscalculated, and once she found it, things would be better for him. Hopefully.

The obstacle was getting to her big time. Before she knew it, she was passed out on the study desk, snoring in the middle of the nap. The stress had gotten to her.

------

Think of the biggest library in the world. Once you envision that, multiply it by three times. Do it again. Now you have a library that stretches around the world, and it would still feel too small to describe the library Twilight found herself in. Every book in the world was there, and maybe a selection of books from other worlds as well.

She couldn’t help but be awestruck by the huge selection in front of her, and she didn’t know where to start. She flew up to see how high the shelves went up for, and it didn’t take long for her to realize it stretched all the way to the stars, so she went back to the ground and picked up the first book she found. There was a comfy couch right next to her, so she took a seat there.

The book was nothing but gibberish, just a bunch of scribblings and nonsense, but she was getting something out of it. Her mind was soaking up all the knowledge it contained, but something was missing in this picture. Maybe a reading partner of some sort?

Right after that thought crossed her mind, she found Spike sitting next to her on the couch. He glanced over at the book in her lap. “What are you reading?”

“This? It’s nothing special. It’s just a book on Starswirl’s methods with dark magic. I heard it was banned once or something, don’t know why. Guess I’m just being a silly bookworm again. It’s all I ever do.”

“You’re not just a silly bookworm, Twilight, you’re an intelligent bookworm. You’re probably the smartest mare in the world from all that reading.”

“Yeah, right. We all know Celestia is the real smartest mare in Equestria. She’s got a thousand years of experience on me.”

“Nope. I still think it’s you. Still, there’s more to you than your brains.” He came a little closer and brushed her mane to the side. “You’re really beautiful, too.”

She was a little surprised from the touch, but she found herself enjoying it, even if the compliment made her blush. “Don’t say things you don’t really mean. I’m not that pretty. Rarity is way prettier than me--”

“Wrong. You’re more beautiful than she could ever hope to be. Why don’t you think you’re pretty?”

“Because I’m not. Well, I don’t think I am. I just...why are you saying this?”

“Because you don’t give yourself enough credit. Everypony can see how smart and good looking you are.”

She liked the sound of that, and his words drew her closer, with one hand grabbing his shoulder. She couldn’t help but feel flattered with what he had to say, and then she realized she put a hand on his chest to rub it. “Wait, what are we doing? What am I doing? I’m so sorry, Spike. I think I let myself go for a second.”

“No. It’s okay. Just do what you want. I like seeing you happy.”

Suddenly, all those feelings from the practice dates started to spring up again. She could feel it when she closed the distance between them. He was what she wanted more than anything else, even if she didn’t know why. Then she realized she was drawing her lips towards his for a kiss, and that’s when it clicked. She pulled away at disgust with herself.

“Oh my gosh. I think I’m love with you.”

Right when she said that, Spike vanished into thin air without warning, and so did nearly every bookshelf in the library. The floor and couch were the only parts that remained, that and a nighttime sky above. Soon after the scene shifted, a new figure came into view. While Twilight took a moment to figure out what just happened, she recognized the figure immediately.

“Princess Luna? What are you doing here? Is this a dream? I don’t know what’s going on, but I think I took a nap in my library, and suddenly I’m here.”

“Yes, it is I, and you were correct to assume this was a dream,” the moon princess greeted, pulling up a chair next to her fellow royalty. “My intuition told me it would be wise to check back in the dream world this morning, and it was proven right.”

“No kidding. You were just what i needed,” Twilight commented. “So what’s happening to me? This all really came out of the blue. Please tell you didn’t see what I did before you got here.”

“Nothing in a dream is hidden to me. You were about to kiss Spike. Pardon the pun, but this might be worse than I dreamed of.”

“I don’t care if you’re being punny, I need to know what’s going on. Why was I about to kiss Spike again?”

“If I must be blunt, I’m not sure if you’re ready to hear the truth. It might trouble you to your core. Are you sure you want to hear this?”

“Absolutely. I’d rather not be this confused and scared about everything.”

“Very well, then I will explain. First, have you noticed any new feelings or desires concerning Spike?”

“I’m not sure. Well, come to think of it, I have been acting weird around him while I’ve been teaching him about dating. You know, like a tight hug or going on about how wonderful he is.”

That explained a lot. “Anything else?”

“Okay, so he’s been acting weird around me, too. Right when I think he’s about to make a breakthrough, he snaps and tells me he sucks at dating, and he doesn’t want to do this anymore. Then I have this dream. So...does this dream mean I love Spike?”

Then came the fun part. “It appears so. Everything I saw in this dream indicates that you are in love with him, but you did not know it beforehand. Tell me, how does that make you feel?”

Twilight’s ears parted to the side when she thought about it. “I don’t know. It makes me feel like I’m being creepy with him. He’s really sweet and nice and considerate, but me falling in love with him? That doesn’t sit right with me. We practically raised each other, and I counted him like a brother to me.”

Luna couldn’t help but lean back in her seat, both amused and terrified at the proceedings. “This is far worse than I thought.”

“That’s not good,” Twilight gulped. “Am I a bad pony? Did I do something really bad to Spike?”

“No. You’re the furthest thing from a bad pony. Here is why I say that. Earlier this morning, I visited Spike’s dream to check up on him, and I found something intriguing. Everything you told me about your feelings for Spike, he said the same thing...about you.”

“What?” She cleaned out her ears to make sure she wasn’t hearing things. “What did you just say?”

“Twilight Sparkle, Spike is in love with you, and he’s been keeping it a secret. He feels extreme guilt about it for the same reasons as you, as he views you as a sister.”

“WHAT?” She couldn’t believe it, even if she tried. Was this really happening?

“Please take a moment to let it sink in. I know it’s a lot to handle.”

As it turned out, Twilight needed that moment desperately. It was a shock to her system, and she couldn’t believe this was really happening. So she wasn’t the only one stuck in this terrible situation? Despite how wrong this felt, he felt the same way about her? And then it dawned on her. “That’s why he didn’t want to talk to me this morning. He realized that he loved me more than anypony else in the world, but he didn’t want to tell me, so he kept to himself all morning!”

“That’s what he chose to do? Really?” Luna shook her head. “That was unwise of him, bottling up his emotions like that and hurting you in the process. Twilight, you must fix this before it gets worse.”

“What am I supposed to do? I don’t feel comfortable doing this, either. Bottling up his emotions might have been a really stupid thing to do, but I get why he did it.”

“Then you must do what I told him earlier,” the moon princess replied. “Choose what you must do about him. Will you pursue him as a partner with all your heart, or lay this to bed and remain friends with him? That will be up to you.”

“You know what you’re saying, right?” Twilight balked. “This isn’t something you just do. ‘Hey, Spike, I love you, I know you love me, let’s get together! Or hey, maybe we just be friends!’ It’s not that simple.”

“I acknowledge that this is rather complex, but don’t do what he and pick the worst of two roads. You must decide what to do about this on a permanent basis. Can you do that?”

“I don’t know. Let me think about it.”

Twilight got up from her couch and paced around the library. Considering what her options were, this was going to be a rather tough decision. All of her options had a huge risk to them, and she wasn’t comfortable with the consequences if they went wrong. There was no way she was going to dance around the issue, though. So, if she was going to end this whole dilemma right now, what was the option that would make them both happy? When she thought about that, she looked back up to the other princess in the room.

“Luna, I know what to do. The next time I find Spike, we’re going to talk about this. No more secrets and no more practice dates. It’s about time we handled this once and for all.”

“Then it shall be.” Luna’s horn glowed with her magic, and the rest of the dream started to vanish as well. “I just hope that you two will still be on good terms when this is all over. That is my biggest fear in this situation.” She faded into the rest of the dream as well.

“Yeah, me too. I don’t want to lose him for good, even if I screw this up...”

Then the dream ended for good. Reality was about to set in for everyone involved.

Author's Note:

Tune in next week to see things really hit the fan.

Comments

[Armyidiot]

MMMMMMMMM THE SHIIIIIIIIIP

[He23t]

I can't take the suspense!

[Knight N Gale]

8691726
Nooooooooo!!!!!!!! Please don't make us wait till next week!!!!!!!!!!!

[The REAL Mister Pkmn]

Well, I didn't expect Luna to go blab like that... Note to self: Never tell Luna important secrets.

[Soothing Stone]

8693367
Yeah, that was a thing. Luna told Twilight flatout like that because she feared what would happen between them, namely their secrets keeping them apart and becoming unhappy in the process. Spike was already starting to do that before Twilight's nap, so Luna chose to intervene.

[Steadfast Hoof]

I really enjoyed Luna telling twilight. Yes, it was something personal, but this was a situation where telling the truth benefits all.

[ChronoMitsurugi]

8693367
Exactly, Luna is a blabbermouth.
If you ever see her in your dreams, tell her to fuck off.

[diamondtiaraisbestpony]

"vegan bacon" I rate that from Twilight.