It's A Lonely Cause

by FamousLastWords

Back Before We Were Broken-Hearted

It was early afternoon at this point, the morning breeze a far gone memory. It was getting rather warm actually as the midday sun hung high in the air, restricting all below in its bright embrace.

Long story short, it was hot and Spike and Flitter were tired. The two had decided to hunker down on a shaded bench in town while they attempted to figure out the next clue. They may have been getting just a bit behind their competition, but even Flitter knew they couldn’t just bounce around town all day without any rest.

That being said, she had sent Spike on a mission to retrieve some beverages for them. She could only pray for his mission to be a success as she was quite parched at this point. She needed water or death would surely consume her and then she’d never win! Luckily, she saw him approaching from the horizon. She felt faint, but he was only a few hoofsteps away. She had to make it.

“Alright, Flitter, I got a blueberry slush for me and a grape slush for you.” He sat down on the bench next to the ridiculously overdramatic mare. “And I also got a big cup of water for us to sha—”

The mare greedily snatched the cup of water he had just produced and chugged the whole thing in one long gulp and then attempted to hand the cup back to him.

“...share.” Spike finished his thought, taking the now empty cup from her. “Gee… thanks.”

“Sorry, Spike,” Flitter replied. “I was just really thirsty. I didn’t know you wanted any.”

Spike rolled his eyes and set the empty cup to the side, taking a sip of his slush instead. “Well, this will have to do, I guess.”

“Thanks a lot, by the way,” Flitter said, taking a sip out of her own slush. “Grape is totally my favorite.”

“I’m aware,” he replied with a chuckle. “You told me specifically ‘get me the grape flavor or I’ll kill you’ before I left. I figured your message was pretty loud and clear. Although, not gonna lie, I was tempted to get you that nasty orange flavored one just to see your reaction. But, ultimately,” Spike rubbed the part of his back that Flitter had seen fit to hit multiple times since they met, “I thought better of it.”

“Good thinking,” she stated with a grin. “But thank you regardless, even if you were thinking about being a jerk.”

“No problem.” Spike smiled at her. “Now that we’re in the recovery process, let’s say we try and buckle down on what the next clue could mean. I have a feeling it’s way more obvious than we’re making it out to be.”

They took out the clue and looked over it one more time. “When you arrive at the next destination, you’ll bear-ly be able to keep your eyes open.”

Spike rubbed his chin. “Hmm, I feel like they wouldn’t have put a crappy dad joke in here for no reason. Especially if this is a clue that Twilight wrote. Everything she does has a purpose, even if it's a lame one.”

“Excellent deduction,” Flitter agreed. “So let’s just focus on that part. ‘Bear’. Do you think it means we have to go to the woods? Like Everfree Forest?”

“Nah,” Spike stated. “The clue is too indirect for that. I don’t think they’d send us mindlessly into the forest like that. I mean, they might, but I doubt it.”

“Well, where else would have something bear related?” Flitter asked. “There’s gotta be someplace right?”

“Heh, I wish Fluttershy were here,” Spike said. “She knows everything there is to know about animals in Ponyville. She even has a pet bear.”

It was at this moment that Spike realized exactly where he ranked on the evolutionary totem pole and spoiler alert, it wasn’t very high up.

“Fluttershy’s cottage!” The dragon exclaimed, thrusting his arms out, accidentally tossing his slush through the air and to Celestia knows where. “Awe man…”

“I’m glad you figured out the clue,” Flitter said, taking an extra loud and obnoxious slurp of her beverage. “But don’t think you’re getting any of my slush. You made a poor life decision and now you get to live with it.”

Spike sighed. “Fair enough. But I’m totally getting another one on our way there.” Spike stood up to leave but was pulled back down by a hoof.

“Wait a minute, Spike,” Flitter said. “Before we get up and go get into who knows what kind of awkward situation, I wanted to ask you something.” Flitter set her slush to the side and gently fiddled with her hooves.

Spike blinked a couple times. “Okay. What’d you wanna talk about?”

Flitter released a sigh of her own. “Look, you can’t laugh at me or anything. I’m not good at these kinds of conversations.”

Flitter did her best to not let Spike see it, but her heart was racing on the inside. It had been since he touched her mane to give her the flower. A flower which she has made sure not to lose or even bend a single petal out of shape since she got it. She was terrible at talking about her feelings, so there was no way this conversation was going to go in any positive direction, but she needed to get a couple things out there. She had no choice. She couldn’t keep dealing with the building anxiety.

“Well,” Spike cut into her thoughts. “I poured my heart out between the last two clues, so it’s only fair I hear you out this time. I promise I won’t laugh. At least not out loud.’

Flitter stuck her tongue out at him in jest before clearing her throat and starting the sure to be doomed conversation. “So, I just wanted to say thanks again for the flower. It was really sweet and all.” She reached up and gently touched it, ensuring it was still where she left it. “But I have to ask: did you actually mean what you said?”

Spike leaned back a little and gave her his full attention. “Did I mean what I said?”

“Yeah, about the whole ‘beautiful and stand out’ thing. You know, the reasons you said you picked the flower.” Flitter diverted her eyes from his and instead opted to look out in front of her. “Did you mean it… or was that just acting? I mean, it’s totally cool either way, I just—”

Flitter was cut off by the feel of his claw gently touching her hoof.

“I meant it,” Spike said. “Every single word.”

Flitter chanced a glance at her hoof and sure enough, she had his claw gently resting on top of it, just firm enough to feel secure but not so much it felt suffocating. He was good at this.

“You really meant it?” she asked again. “The whole thing?”

“Yep,” he replied. “You are moody, you’re beautiful, and you definitely stand out in a crowd. And ultimately… I love all that about you. You’re different.” This time it was his turn to clear his throat. “I know we talked about it a bit, but getting love letters left and right gets really boring and is honestly a bit depressing. Every mare seemed to be the same: just another floozie after my money or trying to get some kind of political gain. But you… you were different. You were honest! And honesty goes a long way.” Spike briefly chuckled. “I can’t remember the last time a mare straight up told me she planned on using me. It was refreshing.”

And there he went again, effortlessly wiggling his way into her heart like a plump worm digging into a mushy apple. Okay, maybe not a worm, but the same principle applied. She couldn’t quite shake the feeling that something much bigger than she intended was happening here.

She actually liked him. Dang!

“Well,” she replied, scooting a bit closer to him, making sure to keep her hoof interlaced with his claw, “I meant what I said about you, too. You know, that you’re big and strong, and bright and funny and stuff.”

“Really?” Spike asked. “Heh, and here I thought you were just trying to show me up in front of Roseluck.”

“No, not that I couldn’t have if I wanted.” She giggled and shook her head. “But no, I actually meant it, I promise.”

A moment of silence passed between them as they sat on the bench, hoof in claw. A small breeze blew between them, adding a nice coolness to the air, relieving them of some of the heat that had been building up inside of them throughout the conversation. Spike turned his head and looked at Flitter, who did the same.

“So, maybe I’m reading too far into this, but I have to ask you a question,” Spike said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free claw,

Flitter nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Does this all mean that we can officially call this a date now?” Spike asked, his cheeks reddening a bit.

“Hmm…” Flitter scooted just a bit closer and looked up at him. “I guess that depends on if you can answer one last question from me.”

“Which is?”

“Will you kiss me?”

Spike opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t find any words. All that came out was a muffled gasp for oxygen as his brain tried to process what he was hearing... and thinking… and—

“...and I’ll take that as a yes.”

Flitter gently brought her hoof up to his face, lightly placing it on his cheek. She looked him deeply in the eyes as the distance between them closed before closing her eyes right as their lips touched.

Spike kept his eyes open a moment longer than she did, but after feeling the velvety touch of her lips on his, his eyes closed as well and he reached his free arm around her back at the base of her wings and pulled her in closely, deepening the kiss.

As it went on, his claw held her hoof tighter and tighter as the kiss grew deeper and more intimate. What lasted for a few seconds felt like hours but they finally separated, each taking deep breaths to catch up on the oxygen they were missing out on.

“Wow,” Flitter said, taking a few staggered breaths. “That was… that was…”

“Nice,” Spike said, finishing her thought for her. “Really nice. I just… it was…”

“Something else,” Flitter piped up.

The two of them both had flushed red cheeks at this point but neither cared. They were both feeling awkward and embarrassed, but they were awkward and embarrassed together, so all was good.

“I uh… I guess we should go to Fluttershy’s place now?” Spike asked with a nervous grin. “We don’t wanna get too far behind.”

“Right,” Flitter nodded. “We still have to do the… whatever it was we were doing. The scavenger thing.”

They both got up from the bench and started to walk off toward Fluttershy’s cottage… very close together.

“You know you forgot your slush back there,” Spike said as they walked away.

“Eh, I’m not thirsty anymore.”

---

It had taken them a bit longer than usual, since, well, they finally admitted to each other that they sort of, kind of—actually, they really liked each other. It was obvious to the both of them now that they were together. They didn’t need to fake it anymore.

Which meant a lot more time to be a bit more carefree than what they were before.

It was shocking to Flitter. She knew she had some feelings for Spike, but that dragon had a way with words and his actions, and she couldn’t help but grow even fonder for him. However, had they grown close enough that she wasn’t into Poptart anymore? Well… she didn’t know how to list Poptart now on her ‘possible date partners’, especially since she now had Spike.

She had Spike.

Flitter felt bubbly again, that feeling where she just wanted to fly, but she knew she had to stay grounded. It wasn’t because of Spike or anything. He had wings too, after all, but… flying wasn’t her strong suit. It was just an urge she had to satisfy nowadays, and she still enjoyed flying even if she probably would crash into a tree or two each time she did it.

And Spike was okay with that. Sure, he’d tease her for almost running into one of them, but that dopey smile of his as he held her close told her a different story. He did not care that she couldn’t fly well. He liked her all the same.

A smile stayed on Flitter’s face as she felt his claw graze her wing. It was just a slight graze, but it made enough of an impact to have her squeak just a bit. She tried to hide into his form, nuzzling his side as they walked, but that was all moot, as he looked down at her with a raised brow.

“Something wrong, Flitter?”

She shook her head. “N-Nothing!”

That stutter of hers made Flitter internally facehoof. She couldn’t get away from her nerves, even if she wanted to. She waved her forehooves out in front of her, while shaking her head.

Spike, however, took the opportunity to take it a step further. “That doesn’t look like ‘nothing’. Did I do something?”

“Kind of,” Flitter muttered softly, her eyes darting from his face to his claws. She started staring at the claws, wondering if that touch was on purpose or something, but then she realized she was staring at them, and yelped. She closed her eyes tightly shut.

And then he felt her cup her cheek. “Hey, look at me, Flitter.”

She did what she was told here, looking to see the dragon’s face peering into her eyes, full of concern.

“What did I do to you?”

“You… uh… grazed my wing.”

Spike tilted his head, only to realize that she had been staring at her claws before she decided to close her eyes. His eyes widened. “Oh. I see.”

“Yeah. Hehe,” Flitter said, awkwardly giggling while shuffling her hooves. “Uh… could you let go of my fa—”

Spike quickly pulled his claw off her face. “Sorry!”

“It’s okay, Spike. Just uh… don’t do that again, for now. It’s way too early for that,” Flitter warned.

Spike nodded. “Agreed. It was an accident, I promise.”

Flitter rolled her eyes. “I didn’t doubt you before, but with how you said promise there, I’m starting to think otherwise.”

“Let’s just say that word choice was accidental too,” Spike said. He looped his arm back around her, being extra careful of her wings. That got her looking up at him and sighing, which he was very happy to see. “Anyway, we’re pretty close to Fluttershy’s. I mean, didn’t we just pass over the bridge a little while ago?”

Flitter raised a brow. “Why are you asking me this? Do you have short term memory loss or something?”

Spike chuckled. “No, I’m just making sure you’re not melting into me, Flitter. Gotta make sure you’re on your ‘toes’ so to speak.”

“I hate you for saying that,” Flitter said bluntly.

Spike smirked. “You totally don’t, but I won’t refute it. Don’t need you to smack me in the back again.”

Flitter frowned. “I didn’t realize I was hitting you a lot, Spike.”

“Pfft, don’t worry, you don’t hit too hard. Besides, I don’t need you going soft on me now. We still have this competition to win, don’t we?”

“Yeah!” Flitter cheerfully replied. She found herself smiling. Her cheeks hurt. “Alright, let’s get going, Spike!”

With that, Flitter trotted on ahead of him. There was the mare Spike loved!

The two ran forward on the dirt path leading to Fluttershy’s cottage. Thankfully, it actually wasn’t too far at all, so the impromptu race ended as quickly as it started.

The pair was now in front of the humble abode. The grassy roof canopy contrasted the cream-colored walls and brown flower holders. The door, which was still as it had always been: sawed horizontally so Fluttershy could probably easily shove it open if she needed to, was still there. Light peered into the windows of the abode. Spike tried to peek inside, hoping that Fluttershy was inside.

But she wasn’t. Not at all.

“Huh…”

“What’s wrong, Spike?”

Spike turned around. “Fluttershy isn’t home.”

“She isn’t?” Flitter said, her voice squeaking. She threw her hooves over her mouth and peered at him, hoping that he hadn’t noticed, but the dragon was too in his own head to notice, which made her slowly move her forehooves back on the ground.

Meanwhile, Spike spent his time tapping his chin. Where in the world could she be? He could just knock on the door, but he wasn’t a normal dragon. No, he was thinking of something way more elaborate and over-the-top, because he was Spike… who so happened to have lived with the most prominent over-thinker of all time.

Spike sighed and pitched his idea to Flitter. “I’m going to try and see if I can see her from above. Maybe she might be in the back or something feeding the animals.”

Flitter tilted her head. “Or we could just knock on the door like a normal pony.”

“Ha!” Spike began as he spread his wings. “And you think I’m a normal dragon?”

“No, that’s why I said ‘normal pony’,” Flitter bluntly put it, deadpanning. She clip-clopped toward the door and raised a hoof. “I can see that you’re not going to do this, so I’ll do it for you.”

Spike smirked. “See, now you get it! Glad I have a marefriend as understanding as you, Flitter!”

Then, he shot up in the sky, leaving a poor blushing mare to weakly knock on the door.

Knock… Oops!

She had done it twice, mostly because she accidentally nudged it a bit harder than she would’ve liked on the first knock, and due to her being unluckier than most, it actually pushed the door open, which meant that Spike was wrong, and Fluttershy was actually home.

The second motion she took, however, was more the result of Flitter trying to get the part of the door she accidentally pushed in back into place, so it didn’t look like somepony came and broke into Fluttershy’s home. She had scrambled to get it shut, and thankfully, she managed to do so without Fluttershy ever coming to check out the noise.

Flitter sighed. She hoped Spike had better luck in finding Fluttershy than she did.

Spike flew down, landing a bit haphazardly as a plume of dust flew into the air.

“Spi—” Flitter had begun, before she had realized what was coming towards her face. She had shielded her face with her wing, but not before she ate a muzzle full of dirt. She was now coughing manically, her lungs begging for her to keep her muzzle shut next time.

Spike dusted himself off and turned to Flitter. “Hey, Flitter, I found Fluttershy and—ack!”

Unlike the many times before, when Flitter would just smack his back or his shoulder, the mare he had fallen in love with decided a different tactic, one that meant charging him head on. She had headbutted him, which sent the poor dragon sailing through the air, before he landed on his back.

Spike groaned. He’d definitely be feeling that later. Thankfully, later wasn’t now. Even though his head hurt just a tad, his eyes caught sight of something mind-numbing. Flitter was on his chest, apparently sharing the same injury he had. Her eyes were flickering, as if she was trying to figure out if they even worked anymore. Her fur was rubbing up against his scales, which made Spike feel about twenty times hotter than normal, yet he couldn’t shake her off. He didn’t want to make her angrier than she already seemed.

So he waited, his arms nowhere near her, as she recovered.

“Oof… note to self: never run head first into a dragon.”

Spike felt the heat smoulder on his cheeks. “Hehe,” he uttered, sheepishly smiling at his mare. “That should’ve been obvious.”

Flitter shook her head and glared at Spike. “What was with that landing Spike and—” She stopped rather abruptly when she noticed her position: her flank sitting right where his legs were. She yelped, flinging herself off him like he was on fire, which would be a bit more ridiculous since he was resistant and—

She quickly turned that part of her brain off and smiled at the dragon. “Sorry, Spike. Didn’t mean to land on you.”

“No worries. Like I said, you don’t hit too hard.”

“Says the dragon who’s grimacing right now.”

Spike was grimacing, holding his head with a claw. “This injury was due to me hitting my head against the ground, not because you hit me.”

‘Right…” Flitter sang, her voice trailing off. She flicked her tail and smirked at him. “Well, where is Fluttershy, then?”

“R-Right here, Flitter.”

Suddenly, Flitter turned scarlet. Her eyes widened. “F-Fluttershy?”

Yellow and completely mirroring tomato-faced Flitter, Fluttershy slowly trotted in front of them, her head hung low. “I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything. I just… didn’t want to intrude.”

Spike shook his head. “You wouldn’t have intruded. Heck, if you said anything earlier, you could’ve saved Flitter over here from turning into an apple.”

Flitter glared at Spike again. “I’m not an apple,” she said lamely.

That got both Spike and Fluttershy laughing, the dragon holding his gut while Fluttershy simply giggled into her hoof.

Flitter groaned. “Yeah, laugh it up. Me being an apple is funny.”

“It’s not funny because of that,” Spike replied with a smile. “You’re just too adorable to not tease.”

Fluttershy gasped, which caused Spike and Flitter to turn her attention to the canary pegasus. “Wait, are you two here for the Scavenger Hunt?”

Spike and Flitter nodded, together, almost as if they were the same pony...er, dragon thing.

“Wow!” she exclaimed, her voice sounding slightly less like a shout. She was now grinning at the couple, her forehooves cupping her face. “I’m so happy for you, Spike!”

Spike saw the ground being way more interesting than this conversation. “Thanks,” he muttered. He then pointed at Flitter. “She’s one of a kind.”

Flitter’s heart was jumping out of her chest. That was way too sweet of him. She needed to top him in that category.

So, she gave Spike a smile. “Thanks, Spike. But I could say the same for you.” She walked over to the dragon and offered him a hoof. “There isn’t a dragon out there that’s like you.”

“I hope there isn’t one like me, because if there was, I’d have to fight him,” Spike said as he grabbed Flitter’s hoof. With a bit of a tug, Spike was able to get himself off the ground again. He dusted himself off before he continued, “But I’m glad you think so highly of me. So, thanks.”

The couple shared a brief smile.

And then Fluttershy squee’d.

“Oh, you two are so cute together!” Fluttershy’s wings were on full display now. “How long have you two been dating?”

“For a little while now,” Spike put it simply, his arm wrapping around his mare. She nuzzled into his leg.

“Yep!” Flitter added. “And I’m already feeling like we’re pretty close.”

Fluttershy grinned. “Well, I’m glad you finally found somepony, Spike. Maybe you’ll finally get all those ponies to stop sending you mail.”

Flitter turned to Spike, a brow raised. “How many ponies sent you requests?”

“Uh… I kind of lost count after twenty,” Spike said, awkwardly chuckling.

Flitter blinked.

Fluttershy blinked.

Spike shrugged. “What? I stopped caring after the twentieth one asked if I wore pants!”

Flitter rolled her eyes. “Anyway! Fluttershy, do you need us to read off our clue?”

“Well… kind of,” Fluttershy began. “Twilight told us all that we had to ask the couple for the clue, so we’d know which one we’d have to give them…”

“Wait, I thought each pony had their own adventure?”

Fluttershy’s grin fell. “Well… they kind of lied. It was like a half-lie and—” Fluttershy stopped when she felt a tugging at her leg. She looked down to see Angel, who was looking at her with a glare. “What’s wrong, Angel?”

The bunny shook its head and pointed directly at Spike.

Fluttershy tilted her head. “What’s wrong with Spike?”

Angel somehow shook his head even harder and pointed again at Spike, almost like he was accusing him of something.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Oh… I’ll make sure to tell him!”

“Sorry, I’m not fluent in Bunny Sign Language,” Flitter said. “What’s Angel saying?”

“Well… Angel basically said that I was being a bit insensitive since Spike is a dragon and—”

Spike put his hand out, promptly stopping Fluttershy’s rambling. “Look, I appreciate the whole language thing, but that’s not important to the scavenger hunt. Besides, Angel, you know how I am. Fluttershy couldn’t hurt me without feeling guilty afterwards.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks turned to a slight pink. She smiled. “Sorry, Spike. Angel’s just making sure I don’t say something out of place. He doesn’t want me to have to deal with somepony complaining to Twilight later. You know how it is.”

The bunny stood proudly in front of the three, puffing his chest out.

Spike chuckled. “Oh I definitely know how it is.” He held out a curled up fist to Angel, who promptly bumped it with a smile on his face.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes at Angel and smiled. “So, what is your clue?”

Spike scrambled to find the paper, only to remember he put it in his pocket. Quickly, he snatched it and opened it up. “When you arrive at the next destination, you’ll bear-ly be able to keep your eyes open.”

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy began. “You got that one.”

Flitter raised a brow. “Is this one bad or something?”

Fluttershy chuckled behind her hoof. “No, not at all. It’s just… a bit more about feeding the animals than anything.”

“Wait, are you saying we’re going to be taking care of your animals for you?” Spike asked.

“In a sense.”

Spike groaned. “Great, free manual labor for a clue. Should’ve known my good luck streak was coming to an end.”

“Oh, it’s not manual labor, you just get to feed the animals and—”

“Wait, that sounds like fun,” Flitter said. She clopped her hooves together. “So, where are they?”

Fluttershy turned around and beckoned the couple with a hoof. “Follow me.”

Flitter looked at Spike, who promptly pulled her close to him, before he looked at her, smiling. “Lead the way.”

They walked down the hill, walking towards the backyard of Fluttershy’s cottage.

---

The dragon, the mares, and the one agitated bunny stared at the other animals in front of them. There were many animals: bears, deer, squirrels, koalas, goats, giraffes—there were so many different ones that Spike didn’t even know all of them to be able to categorize them.

“Huh. Fluttershy, how many animals do you take care of these days?”

Fluttershy hummed to herself, before she let out a shaky breath. “Would five hundred animals shock you?”

Spike blinked, and then blinked again. “You know, that’s not exactly shocking. Especially considering you probably have about a thousand more down at your animal sanctuary.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Flitter jumped in, rolling her eyes. “He’s just joking. That’s a lot of animals.”

Spike ruffled Flitter’s mane, being extra careful of her bow and the flower in her mane. “This is why I’m dating you. You just, get me.”

She batted his arm away from her with her wing. “Ruffling my mane isn’t going to save you from my wrath if you keep being obnoxious.”

Fluttershy’s giggling tickled the air.

Spike chuckled too, his lungs feeling fuzzy. “So, what are we going to do, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy cast a hoof out at the animals sitting in front of them. “You two are going to take care of one of the animal’s babies for the day.”

Flitter tilted her head. “That’s it? Just babysitting an animal of our choice?”

“Yep!”

“And there’s no catch?” Spike asked.

“Hmmhmm,” Fluttershy hummed. She walked over to one of the baby squirrels and cups it in her wing. “Look at how cute they are!”

The squirrel squirmed in Fluttershy’s wing, before looking up at two new visitors.

Flitter squealed. “Oh, he’s so cute! Can we pick him, Spike?”

Spike sighed. She already decided to pick the squirrel without even looking at the others? He wanted to see how cool a baby lizard looked, but, at the same time, he knew it would hurt him more if he saw Flitter heartbroken.

So, he spoke up, “Sure, Flitter. We could do that.”

Flitter trotted in place, stomping around excitedly. “I’m so happy! Gimme, gimme!”

Fluttershy cooed at the squirrel, before he offered the little one to Flitter. “Be careful. Make sure to leave him in your wing. He likes cuddling a lot.”

Flitter, for once in her life, felt like her heart was about to implode. She couldn’t handle the squirrel's cuteness, but now she was being given the opportunity to die by cuddling.

This was the best opportunity she was ever given.

Flitter took a deep breath and mimicked Fluttershy’s wing position. With a little bit of effort, Fluttershy slid the squirrel into Flitter’s wing. She was able to keep him steady, even if the squirrel was crying a bit. She softly shushed the squirrel, rocking the baby with her wing. It purred and snuggled into it further.

And Flitter’s heart was gone. Blown up. Destroyed. Murdered in a shed by Fluttershy.

Then she felt a claw gently clutch her shoulder.

“Aww, he’s adorable!” Spike said, smiling. “He really looks like he likes your wing.”

Flitter nodded. “Yeah, he does.”

Spike shrugged and looked up at Fluttershy. “So, what do we have to do? I would assume there’s more than just holding it.”

“Yes, well, you see…” Fluttershy stated calmly, her voice trailing off ever so slightly. “This baby squirrel has been naughty recently and hasn’t been eating his acorns, so you have to feed him from a bottle and then put him back to bed afterwards.”

“Oh joy,” Spike said with an eye roll whilst Flitter was still cooing over the infantile animal. “Well, whatever, that doesn’t sound too hard.”

“Oh, have no fear, Spike, it’s not,” Fluttershy said with a chuckle. “But here you are.” Fluttershy produced a bottle from behind her and handed it to the dragon. “Make sure he eats for at least fifteen seconds to get his proper nutrition. And then he has to go to sleep right afterwards. No staying up past his bedtime!”

Spike looked up at the sun still shining bright in the sky. “It’s like 3 pm. He goes to bed that early?”

Fluttershy nodded vigorously. “Mhm, he’s just a baby so he needs lots of rest. Oh, and one more thing, his name is Hamilton.” Fluttershy waved and began walking away.

“Wait, where are you going?” Spike asked, a slight element of distress to his voice.

“Oh, I have a few other animals I have to feed in the meantime,” she responded. “But don’t worry, I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Spike gulped. “But what if we do something wrong or lose him or something?”

“Nonsense!” She exclaimed. “I have full faith in you two. Good luck!”

And with that, Fluttershy was gone, leaving Spike and Flitter to fend for themselves. Spike walked back over to Flitter who was still cuddling the baby squirrel. He found it amazing that her eyes weren’t doing the comic book thing where her pupils turn into giant hearts. It was pretty adorable seeing her fawning over Hamilton like that, however.

“Okay, Flitter,” Spike said, holding out the bottle. “I guess it’s time to feed him. It shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“Oh, of course not,” Flitter said, still rocking the baby back and forth. “He’s just a little angel.”

“Cool.” Spike stretched out his arms, ready to get down to business. “Well, you’re obviously the master of getting him to sleep, so I guess I’ll take the reins with feeding him. I’m gonna have to do it the old fashioned way and hold him in my arms, though. My wings aren’t exactly comfortable like yours.”

Flitter nuzzled Hamilton on the cheek before gently holding her wing out. “Alright Spike, just be careful with him. If you hurt him I’ll probably have to kill you.”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I took care of Twilight for years. I’m pretty sure I can handle a baby squirrel.”

The dragon gently took Hamilton from Flitter and cradled him in his left arm, being careful not to squeeze too hard or drop him. The little guy was pretty adorable with his soft fur, twitchy nose and bushy tail. It wasn’t hard to see why Flitter fell in love on impact. Spike, of course, was above such things, but he had to admit the squirrel was adorable.

But he was still asleep and needed to be awoken for feeding time.

“Alright little guy, time to wake up,” Spike said to Hamilton. Of course, there was no response. The squirrel just kept snoozing away. “C’mon bro wake up.” This time, Spike jostled his arm just a bit, hoping for success. But failure was all that came.

“Heh, he’s a pretty heavy sleeper, huh?” Flitter asked with a snicker. “Try rubbing his belly or something. I bet that’ll work.”

“Good idea,” the dragon replied.

Spike gently touched the sleeping squirrel’s small stomach, rubbing his claw back and forth on it. The tiny creature began to sir ever so slightly. Finally! Now Spike could start the feeding, get it over with after a few seconds and they could move on with their day and get to the next clue.

Hamilton stretched himself out and yawned in an adorable display, followed by cracking one eye open… And that one eye was pointed directly at Spike’s teeth.

“SKRAAAAAHHHHH!”

The squirrel immediately flew into a mad frenzy and began climbing all over Spike. Up his arms, down his legs and up his torso before settling in on his face as the point of attack.

“Ah! Get it off me!” Spike danced around trying to get the enraged creature off his head. Scratches, bites, kicks: the demon child had a whole arsenal of pain-causing attacks up its sleeve. “Help me, Flitter!”

“Ah, okay!” Flitter immediately leapt into action, trying to catch the rambunctious rodent. “Hold.. Hold still, Spike!”

“I’m trying!” he replied in his pain-induced panic while he was still under siege. He did his best to remain motionless but every nip and scratch caused his body to jolt. “Hurry!”

Flitter nodded and did what she had to do. At this point, this involved leaping onto Spike’s back and wrapping her wings around his whole head. This allowed her to perfectly capture Hamilton in her floofy grasp. She wrapped him up in her wing and hopped back off the now battered dragon and cuddled him up close to her.

“You alright, Spike?” Flitter asked whilst holding the now completely calm and collected squirrel.

“That is not a child,” Spike said, pointing at Hamilton. “That is a ten on the Richter Scale.” He brought a claw up to his face and felt all the scratches and eventual bruises laced over his once reasonably attractive features. “I need a vacation.”

Flitter rolled her eyes. “It’s not hard, Spike. You just gotta learn how to handle him… you know, without scaring him half to death. Maybe try not showing your fangs next time.”

Spike covered up his mouth with his claw for a moment. “Huh, I kinda forget that animals are naturally afraid of these things. But whatever, take this.” Spike tossed the bottle he miraculously was able to hold onto to Flitter who caught it with ease and immediately plugged it into Hamilton’s awaiting mouth.

“There you go, that’s a good boy,” she said, rocking him back and forth again.

Spike, who remained a safe distance away at this time, let out a deep sigh. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Celestia knows I never would’ve been able to handle all that on my own.” A lightbulb lit up in his head. “Hey Flitter, do you think that’s the point?”

“Huh?” she said, breaking away her attention from the feeding squirrel. “What point?”

“You know, the point of these tests. To show that we can’t do them alone.” Spike rubbed his chin. “For example, I never would’ve been able to do this one, obviously. And you wouldn’t have been able to get on Rarity’s good side without me being the common denominator. Like, it’s almost as if these challenges are specifically designed to bring ponies together.”

The squirrel burped, notifying Flitter to take the bottle away and begin the rocking process once more. After she had initiated project Make Hamilton Sleep, she spoke up. “Uh, yeah. Duh. It’s a romantic scavenger hunt, after all. It’s supposed to bring ponies together.”

“I know, I know,” Spike replied. “But I guess I’m honestly just a bit shocked that we’re experiencing it together. It’s almost a bit surreal. Like, holy crap, the world is actually being cool to me for once.”

Flitter chuckled at the dragon’s antics, about to speak up again, but they were interrupted by a new set of hoofsteps approaching them.

“Sorry, that took a bit longer than I thought,” Fluttershy said as she entered the scene. “The snakes were being a little more picky than usual today. They were tired of eating rats, for some reason.” She clopped her hooves together and gave them a smile. “I hope you two were able to handle little old Hamilton.”

Flitter nodded vigorously and held her wing open for Fluttershy to see the peacefully sleeping squirrel. “Yep!” she stated. “It wasn’t hard at all.”

“Ha!” Spike shouted. “Speak for yourself. Fluttershy, you’ve got some demon animals under your care. You might want to check around to make sure there aren’t any portals to Tartarus lying around your property.”

“Ooh, oh no!” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “Your face is hurt. I completely forgot to warn you that Hamilton is terrified of dragons.”

“Yeah, that would’ve been nice to know before he decided to use my scales as his personal scratching post.” Spike folded his arms and sighed. “But whatever, Flitter made it work. So if we could just get the next clue, that’d be great…”

“Oh, of course.” Fluttershy gently took Hamilton from Flitter and put him back in his nest from whence he came. She then produced the next clue from a small satchel she was wearing and handed it to Spike. “You guys must be getting pretty far along now on the hunt. I wish you the best of luck!”

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Spike said with a smile before walking over to Flitter. “Okay, let’s pop this bad boy open and then get the heck out of here before I’m attacked again.”

Flitter grinned. “Sounds good to me. But I do have to admit it was pretty funny seeing you taken down by a squirrel.”

“Ha ha, that’s so funny I almost forgot to laugh,” Spike said, trying his best to stifle the grin growing on his face.

With any luck, this next clue would be less painful than the previous one.

Hopefully...

Comments

[DarkDMan]

Cute chapter. Glad to see that the whole "dating" thing is out in the open now. Good for them!

Cool, that Angel was trying to look out for a bro!

[truenorth14]

Hamilton sounds like he is going to be some kind of dragonslayer later in life, if he can take down spike as a baby imagine his power as an adult.

[Scyphi]

10236204
Now I'm imagining a great big full grown adult dragon like the one from Dragonshy...getting stared down by one little squirrel.

[truenorth14]

10238974
then the Squirrel becomes Dovahkiin

[Ice Star]

A very adorable chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing these two have a real date too.