Fairy Tales

by Closer-To-The-Sun

Ch. 4 Call And Answer

Chapter 4: Call And Answer

The white unicorn froze at Spike's question. Her mind was trying to form an answer as quickly as possible, but nothing was coming to her. Tripping over her words, Rarity mumbled something that was almost impossible to understand.

"What was that?" Spike asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Well," Rarity started, "I….uh….well…." The unicorn looked at the purple dragon, whose eyes gave a hopeful look to her, "I….honestly don't know, dear."

Spike raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

Rarity sighed, "About this being a date, I don't know, Spike." The tone of her voice was a bit depressed, knowing she gave an answer that Spike did not want to hear.

"I….don't follow…." Spike admitted to being confused.

Rarity looked upward to the partly clouded night sky. A few stars were visible and the waxing moon of Luna's was hiding behind a cloud. "Well, that's just it, I don't know if this is a date. I did insist I take you out for supper for all of the hard work you've done for me."

"Yeah, doesn't that mean you asked me on a date?" Spike asked trying to piece the puzzle together.

Rarity closed her eyes and looked down at her front hooves on the ground, "Not exactly…." Rarity paused before continuing, "To be completely honest with you dahling, I felt I should do this for you because I've think I've been taking advantage of you."

Spike was perplexed, "Taking advantage of me?"

"Yes, with you helping me around the boutique."

"Oh…." Spike finally understood.

A silence grew between them. Rarity looked down at her front hooves, moving her right hoof lightly against the ground beneath her while Spike rubbed his left claw against his right arm. Neither of them knew what to say.

"I'm sorry, Spike…." Rarity managed to say. Her voice was very soft and full of sorrow.

Spike didn't respond right away. However, when he did, he replied, "It's alright, Rarity. I'm just happy to help my friend is all." His voice sounded calm and his facial expression had a smile. While he seemed to be fine, it was apparent he was masking his true emotions.

"Are you sure, dear?" Rarity was very concerned for the young dragon.

"Yeah," he replied, still hiding his true feelings, "No big deal or anything." The unicorn wasn't completely convinced. The dragon changed the subject, "Actually, I'm feeling really tired. I think I'm going to go home early and sleep. Twilight said I shouldn't be out too late anyway."

"Spike…."

"Really, Rarity, I'm fine!" Spike's voice became slightly distorted as he replied, "No need to worry at all."

"Okay…..shall I walk back with you then, dear?" the unicorn asked, trusting Spike's word.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I'll see you later then, Rarity!" Spike called out as he turned around and headed back to the Ponyville library.

"Buh-bye, Spike!" Rarity called back, worried for the dragon.

Slowly walking back to the boutique, Rarity thought about her words to Spike. She felt completely horrible with her words. The only thing that she was pleased about the entire ordeal was that she was honest. Rarity knew that if she wasn't, she could never forgive herself for hurting Spike in that manner. 'Oh my, I feel just awful about all of this. I do care for Spike, he's such a wonderful dragon and all. I just feel….like such a mule for all of this. I do hope the poor dear is okay.'

Back at the library, Spike had returned and told Twilight Sparkle that he was going to retire to bed early. Unbeknownst to everypony else, the purple dragon was in his bed, quietly weeping and hugging his pillow tightly until he fell asleep.

Comments

[Swashbucklist]

It would make a lot more sense for Spike to be excited about Rarity's uncertainty. Means she's on the fence about how she feels about him, meaning he's got a chance with her.

[Delais]

1424010
It could be that he thinks she did it out of pity.