Make Believe
Where was he?!
It had been a mostly restless night for Flitter. After parting from Spike’s company the evening before, she made sure to just ignore her sister and lock herself up in her room for the night. That being said, sleep didn’t exactly come easy. Between the looming heartache of her true love spending the day with her sister and the anxiety of spending her whole day with a relative stranger… getting some shuteye wasn’t easily achieved.
Regardless, there was only one way to make this all better and it was completely within her hooves. She had to win this scavenger hunt with Spike, rub it in her sister’s face and show Poptart that she was indeed the superior sibling. That would solve all of her problems for sure.
But to do that she needed her partner and he was nowhere in sight! It was already eight forty-five in the morning, the games started at nine and she hadn’t seen Spike anywhere. She had been pacing back and forth near the entry table in the park for the better part of half an hour waiting for him, but to no avail. Honestly, she probably expected too much. There’s no way this was going to work. It was all too random, too out of left field. It was just her being stupid again, losing to her sister as usual and—
“Hey, Flitter!”
Her ears perked up. “Spike?”
Sure enough, she looked up and saw the dragon walking over to her, sipping on a travel mug that stated ‘I Love Caffeine’ on it. He slowed down as he got closer and finally came to a complete stop about a few hoofsteps away..
“Sorry I’m late,” he replied. “The flier didn’t specify which park to be at so I guess I went to the wrong one.”
Flitter raised an eyebrow. “But Spike, there’s only one park in Ponyville.”
“Huh?” He scratched the back of his neck. “I wonder where I went then? Weird, crazy stuff.”
Flitter was about to argue his clear lack of instinctual direction further but thought better of it . “You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’m just glad you’re here now. The event starts in like fifteen minutes.”
“Fourteen actually,” Spike replied, looking at a watch held on his wrist. “Well, it’s closer to thirteen now since time is constantly moving and whatnot.”
Flitter smacked a hoof to her face. “Are you always like this?”
He shrugged. “Only on Saturdays, and maybe Sundays if I fill up enough on gems. Those things are addictive, let me tell you. They’re like pills but don’t kill ponies with ‘Lil’’ as their first name.”
Flitter snickered under her breath, a nice break from the wallowing in self-doubt she’d been accustomed to recently. “Okay, fine. I can live with that. Come on, let’s go to the sign up table.”
“That’s where you get signed up, right?” Spike asked.
“Just shut up and come with me,” she replied with a shake of her head while pointing to the nearby table. The table itself was nothing more than a park bench with three female ponies sitting behind it and a clipboard in front of each of them. “But remember, we’re a couple, so you have to make it look believable.”
Spike took a sip of his beverage and gave her a thumbs up. “Got it.”
They walked side by side over to the table and the three mares waiting on them smiled brightly. Right as Flitter was about to speak, however, Spike saw fit to throw out his first verbal nonsense of the day.
“Boy Flitter!” He said, sending a wink in her direction. “I sure am happy to do this scavenger hunt with you. You make me… uh… very happy! And I like your bow! It’s cute!”
“Ugh,” she muttered under her breath. He’d need to work on his affectionate phrasing later. She paid no heed to him as she addressed the mares in front of her, “So, put me and the dolt together as a couple, please.”
“The dolt?” One of the mares said. She was practically eyeing Spike up and down, smiling all the while. “Spike, you managed to finally snag a mare? I’m so happy for you!”
Spike stared with a proud poker face at the mare. “I did! I’m so glad I didn’t have to bribe Rarity to this shindig.” He chuckled. “In all seriousness, it wasn’t an easy choice, but I think I lucked out.” He made a show of putting one his arms around the now impossibly annoyed Flitter. “You know what they say, once you’ve tried the best, try the rest! ...Or the other way around. I’ve tried the rest but not the best… or… something like that. You get the idea.”
Flitter turned to glare at the drake, who threw up his claws. The rest of the mares giggled at the couple. The oldest one, a very fair elder who didn’t look her age, spoke up first, “We get the idea, Spike. We’re all glad that you netted the best. What’s your name, dearie?”
“Flitter,” Flitter said lamely. Spike was very well known around town, but Flitter? She was known for being Cloudchaser’s sister, not her own pony. Every time someone asked her name, it was like she was invisible. And that absolutely sucked.
“Great!” the elder cheered. She scribbled her name and Spike on the paper. Then, she levitated it with her magic and slid it in a ballot box.
Flitter was just about to leave when she felt something graze her side. She turned back to the mares at the table. It was a pair of nametags, with a nice little clip on each. If it was any other situation, it would be just Flitter’s name and nothing more. But this wasn’t normal. No, this was abnormal, as her name was paired next to Spike’s like a foal playing with two dolls and smacking them together while making kissy noises.
“These are your nametags, Flitter, and Spike. Instead of them actually showing who you are directly, they will show that you’re partners by both name and color. You’re part of the purple team, or at least, that’s what color you’ll have. It’s quite fitting, actually.”
“Definitely,” Spike replied. He watched Flitter snap to him once again, this time with a raised brow instead of a fury of emotions. That must’ve meant she was totally okay with him saying something here. “It won’t make us stand out as much when we take over the competition. We want to be the underdogs, right, Flitter?”
Flitter smiled. “Exactly. We’ll show everypony who’s the best couple!”
The two shared a very confident hoof bump, a smirk both gracing their faces. Then, Flitter giggled as Spike’s eyes nearly went cross-eyed for a second, probably because he was focused too much on her. Why would he be? Flitter wouldn’t know. This was relatively new territory for her, even if it was all pretend.
Spike turned away from her and looked at the casting couch of mares in front of him. “Well, ladies, I’m going to go win this thing with my mare. It was a... pleasure talking to you all.”
“Same to you!”
“Of course, Spike, congratulations on getting a mare! Do let us know when a Spike Jr. is on his way!”
“When are you both going to get hitched?”
Spike and Flitter both mirrored each other. The combined strength of infinite disappointment in both of their glares made the two ponies who were not the elder pony shrivel back in their seats. Then, they laughed their way past them, walking straight into the park.
There were a lot of ponies there. Flitter didn’t really expect the turnout, even if she herself didn’t expect to be here either. But with Spike walking beside her, his claw slowly reaching towards her hoof, she could accomplish anything—
Wait, what.
“S-Spike?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing?”
Spike tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
She watched his confused face morph into a smirk. He knew what he was doing! “Spike, you know what you’re doing.”
“Nope. Have no idea what you’re talking about. You must be love drunk or something.”
“Love drunk?” Flitter said, an octave higher than she thought she could ever muster. “What does that mean?”
“It’s when ponies start seeing things when they’re with someone they care about, or something. I don’t know, Rarity started saying it to me one day after reading a book about ‘romance’. To be honest, I can’t remember the title, but if it wasn’t ‘The Turbo Virgin’s Guide to Romance’, I’d be shocked.”
Flitter blushed. “Spike, that’s silly. It was probably some teen drama with a sprinkle of relationship issues mixed in.”
“You’re right. I’m just wanting you to be distracted while I get to hold your hoof.”
“Exactly, I know I’m right, and—” Flitter abruptly stopped to look down at her left forehoof, which was now being held gently by Spike’s claw. Suddenly, everything felt real. Her hoof, the dragon beside her, even that dog peeing on the tree near them.
Oh no… she was getting lost in the moment.
She shook it off with great haste and took her hoof back. “Look, I appreciate the effort towards believability here, but I’ll be taking my hoof back. Walking with just three legs isn’t as easy as it seems.”
“Fair enough,” Spike replied with one final smirk. “Regardless, it looks like we’re gonna have some competition.”
“Huh?” Flitter was now completely undistracted as she looked around the park. Couples were absolutely everywhere. There had to be at least twenty or more. “Why are there so many couples?”
“Well,” Spike chimed in. “You know what they say. The birds and the bees are a powerful motivator.”
Flitter took just a moment to take in the surroundings. Couples young and elderly, rich and poor and even new and old all seemed to be here to take part in the game. This wasn’t fair. She didn’t think in a million years she’d be having to deal with this much competition. Her path to victory just got that much more complex.
“You know what, it’s all good,” she said aloud. “We’ll just have to work extra hard to win, Spike. Failure is not currently an option on the table for us. Understood?”
“Got it!” He replied. “And we’re supposed to have fun too, right?”
“Huh?” She raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah, that too I guess. But don’t forget our primary objective.”
“Beating your sister?”
“Exactly!”
“Speaking of which… Hey, Cloudchaser!”
Spike was waving at the couple in the distance. Much to Flitter’s dismay, it was her sister… and Poptart. Oh no, she wasn’t ready to see them yet. She didn’t have anything planned to say to justify her action of being here with Spike! What would she say? What would she do?
With her mind racing a thousand flaps per minute, she turned to Spike and put a hoof to his mouth. The drake tried to move it away, but she had other plans, especially when he was trying to practically talk through her hoof.
“Oh, Spike, is that you and—” Cloudchaser gasped. “Flitter, you’re here with Spike?”
Flitter sighed and turned to ‘greet’ her sister. “Yeah, sis. Spike and I are—”
“Dating!”
Cloudchaser’s ears twitched at hearing Spike’s proclamation. “Really? When did this start?”
Flitter’s eyes widened. Think of something filly. Think! “We started dating—”
“Yesterday,” Spike said, smiling. “She asked me out by going to this scavenger hunt with her. It was pretty sweet, actually. She said I was one of the coolest and most attractive drakes out there! I hadn’t really talked to Flitter before, but I thought, you know what, she’s really cute and kinda funny. Found all that out when we started talking last night, and I think we have that connection. Do you know how hard that combination is to find these days?”
Flitter felt her heart nearly burst out of her chest. What in the world was that? Was that a weird attempt of a love confession that she somehow did? What was her sister going to think of that?
Cloudchaser smiled. “Wow, that’s… really cool, actually. I’m quite happy that she finally found somepony that wants to be with her for her.” Flitter swore she saw her sister smirk at her for a split second. “I’ve been wanting her to find somepony to be with for a while now, and I’m glad it’s you, Spike.”
This had to be a joke. That tone of voice she used. The eye contact. Poptart literally scratched his head at the whole situation and—Flitter gasped—he didn’t think she was weird for dating Spike, did he? If Poptart thought of her as a weirdo, that would completely shatter any possibility of her and him being together.
Not that, well, her sister was already dating him now. And she herself was apparently dating somepony, too. That didn’t shatter it one bit.
“Well, I’m glad that she wanted to be with me, too. I feel incredibly lucky to be with her and all. After all, my track record has been incredibly lackluster up until this point.”
Flitter had to resist the urge to facehoof. When Cloudchaser and Poptart were out of their earshot, she would tell him off. This was way too much for her.
Cloudchaser, however, ate this up like it was her breakfast. Heck, it probably was. She laughed, hard, while Poptart took center stage.
“This is pretty cool, huh guys?” the pink stallion asked the group. “The four of us are competing against each other on such a beautiful day. By the way, what’s up Spike, I haven’t seen you in awhile. You still go hang out at The Aftermath?”
Spike reached out and gave a hoof bump to Poptart, much to Flitter’s dismay. “I haven’t been over to Manehattan in awhile actually. Been too busy with work at the castle. But I’ll make sure to catch one of your guys’ next shows for sure.”
“Wait,” Flitter interjected. “You two know each other?”
“Oh yeah,” Spike replied. “I always try to keep up to date on the local metal scene. Just turns out that Poptart is at the front of it.”
Things just went from awkward to plain weird in his head. Her pretend boyfriend knows the love of her life. Could things please just stop being crazy for a single minute? Was that too much to ask for?
“So you’re with Flitter now, huh?” Poptart resumed. “She’s pretty cool. We got a little ways back, too.”
“Yeah,” Spike stated. “She’s pretty awesome.”
Flitter was about to faint. This wasn’t what she expected. Heck, nothing ever went the way she thought it would. However, things hadn’t exactly gone wrong yet either, even if she felt like Spike and Poptart knowing each other was too absurd for her to comprehend. She was still standing, and Cloudchaser wasn’t talking anymore. It was perfect.
Well, until everypony ducked from the sound of a poorly made megaphone gracing their eardrums.
“Hello, citizens of Ponyville!”
“Twilight, you’re using your Canterlot voice.”
“My, what?” All eyes were on her as she took a step back from the podium, sheepishly grinning. “Heh eh, sorry everypony. A bit too formal, wasn’t it? Let me retry that!” She cleared her throat and began a bit more softly, her wings a bit at attention. “Attention, everypony! Before we start the scavenger hunt, we have to lay down the ground rules here. And no, I don’t mean literally. Don’t get your wings all in a bunch.”
Some of the ponies in the park chuckled at that, while others remained quiet, looking onward with interest.
“Anyway, let’s set the stage, shall we? Princess Cadance wanted to make sure that everypony had fun while completing this event. You will each receive the first clue, which are being passed out to you now, that will eventually lead to five others. Each clue you find will be attached to a Hearts and Hooves Day related item and the first couple to return to our lovely assistants at the sign-in table will win our grand prize: an all expenses paid magical night out in Canterlot. You’ll receive dinner at the finest of restaurants, namely The Trot and Whinny, followed by backstage passes to the Canterlot Theater’s production of ‘Bats’! Doesn’t that sound like fun!”
The announcement was followed by a flurry oohs, ahhs and even cheers and hoof stomps.
Flitter raised a brow after seeing Spike giggle out of nowhere. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, the fact that she sounded like Rarity for a second. It’s like she asked Rarity to write the script for what she was going to say. Rarity is the only pony I know that would say that being out in Canterlot is ‘magical’.”
Before Flitter could respond, Twilight continued.
“Now, that won’t be the only prize of course. For second place, you will receive a lovely bouquet of the finest flowers Roseluck’s Flower Shoppe has to offer, and for third, you’ll receive a twelve-piece box of assorted chocolates, straight from Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s bakery. Both are fine prizes indeed!”
The crowd cheered once again. It was like lightning, everyone was ecstatic over this, except for them, that is. Cloudchaser was too busy staring at Poptart, while Poptart was too busy staring at Twilight. Spike was just looking around, and scratching his head and Flitter was trying not to stare at all three of them. He was probably looking for Princess Cadance or something, which did also baffle Flitter, who had now found her gaze honed in on Spike’s spines. Had he always had spines like that? They were pretty cool looking.
Flitter shook her head. She needed to stop looking at Spike like that. She should be looking at Poptart. Yeah. That hunk… that her sister was dating.
She groaned, and went to adjust her bow with her wing. “Well, looks like everypony is excited over this.”
“Yeah,” Cloudchaser said bluntly.
“Yeah,” Spike said excitedly.
“Yeah,” Poptart said in general.
Flitter rolled her eyes. This was her life. How she got here was something she marveled at.
“Attention, everypony! Princess Mi Amore Cadenza wishes to—bah!”
The stallion who was holding the megaphone got hit in the back of the head by a rogue wing of Twilight’s. “Oops!” she exclaimed enough to be heard faintly enough over the megaphone, prompting a few chuckles in the crowd. It brought everyone back into the announcement, if they were dozing off or distracted, that is.
Princess Cadance slowly drifted the megaphone towards her and smiled. “Sorry about that. Even after all this time, Twilight still has a malfunctioning wing.” Twilight glared at Cadance after that one, causing the pink alicorn to stifle a giggle. “Sorry, somepony had to say it! I hope you all are having a wonderful belated Hearts and Hooves day! This would’ve been sooner if we had control of Flurry Heart’s ability to destroy everything in her path, but alas, she takes after her father!”
Flitter laughed at that one. Spike, however, didn’t. He just tilted his head. Guess he was lost.
“Anyway, I’d like to say a little bit about the event, particularly as to why we decided to have this in Ponyville. I’ve always wanted to host something like this, and when Twilight decided to find what her purpose was here in Ponyville, it felt like I needed to show this place a bit more love than I already had. I’m glad that Twilight was able to meet all of her friends here, and now they have slowly become friends of mine too. However, unlike Twilight, I am not the Princess of Friendship. If I was the Princess of Friendship, there wouldn’t be so many rules…”
The four of them had their attention to the speech broken by a young mare approaching them with small satchel.
“Here are your first clues guys,” the mare stated whilst handing a small, folded piece of paper to both Spike and Poptart. “Good luck!”
The two couples eyeballed the papers for a brief moment before turning their attention back to the speech going on.
“...and that’s why rules suck!” Princess Cadance chuckled into the megaphone. “Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed my view on why I, and Twilight’s friends wanted to give you all a slice of what love truly is: an extension of that word of friendship. And all these ponies that have registered for this event want to not only enjoy the love they have for their partners, but also to ensure that their love will continue with purpose and integrity. With that all being said, let’s get this scavenger hunt started, shall we?”
The crowd reignited with life full of stomping, cheering, and excited neighing to remember. Flitter facehooved. She needed to stop herself before she wrecked herself.
Flitter turned to see Spike looking at her. She tilted her head. “What’s up, Spike?”
Spike’s eyes widened. “Oh, was just thinking. Didn’t realize I was staring at you, Flitter. My bad.”
He was staring at her? What for? “Got your head in the clouds?”
She gave him a smirk that made the dragon groan. “No, dragons don’t get their heads stuck in clouds. We get our heads stuck in everything else. Like gem hoards. And coincidental holes, for some odd reason. Not sure why I keep running into the one on the way home. It’s like the tree runs into me!”
Flitter giggled. “Well, I’ll make sure to guide you while we’re out today so you don’t run into any more trouble, Spike. Literally.”
“I appreciate that, Flitter.” For once, she saw a genuine smile on his face as opposed to the supposed fake ones he’d been mocking up all morning to look like a happy couple. It looked genuine at least: his lip just tucked in a bit more than he did before, and his teeth were shining in the light. It actually looked… nice, on him.
“Well, that’s that, isn’t it?” Cloudchaser stated, interrupting Flitter’s ill-fated thoughts. “Looks like it’s time to get down to business.”
Flitter snapped back to the real world and saw her sister take the small slip of paper from Poptart and open it up. “Yeah, I guess it is.” She did the same with her and Spike’s paper.
Cloudchaser looked up from her paper. “Oh, this is gonna be a walk in the park. C’mon Poptart, let’s show everypony how it’s done.’
The pink stallion followed her as she began to walk away. “Sounds good to me. It was great seeing you, Spike! You too, Flitter.”
“See you later… Poptart…” Flitter trailed off, watching him walk away.
The games had begun.
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Whoever drew the cover is a sexy beast master. Bro has me quaking.
Wow, a Flitter story? She's such a wonderful character, I can't wait to read this!
F+F? Now that sounds pretty gay. I can't believe y'all published this before finals were over. Not very cash money of you.
10219514
Damn that grass is
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Also, other writer here. :)
gay
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10219522
Hey, leave his parents out of this. Let Famous enjoy himself enjoy his story, it's all he has.
This story is so awesome I did heroin and I would still rather do this first.
Cute, I was expecting this to be an entry in the May contest for original ships, but it's not. Still cute.
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Yeah, its gonna be too long for it or I would. Thanks for reading though!
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I'm glad you like it! We've got about 45k words written already so its definitely a trip.
Oh, this is going to be good!
P.S. There are a few times around the end of this chapter you use "him" when I think you meant, "her".
P.P.S. Yes, im to lazy to point the lines out, I want to enjoy the story, not proofread it!
Swag as always, bruh!
Three-fourths of Spike's lines in this chapter are some sort of wisecrack.
I approve.
I knew this premise sounded familiar...pour one out for It's All Downhill From Here.
Looking forward to more. I'm always happy to see the pega-sisters.
Spike is an absolute legend
Err, does she have the ability to do that? It's not a nitpick, I just don't if Twiggles has ever actually used or had the power of caps lock like that.