The great outdoors
The Great Outdoors
By Wanderer D
Spike walked happily towards the Carousel Boutique. He was dressed to the nines in a sleek black tux, bright red rose included, studded diamond cufflinks, a top hat and a grin on his face that would have him arrested were there police ponies in Ponyville.
Stopping outside the door, he politely knocked on it and waited, swaying back and forth on his heels. He cleared his throat, suddenly nervous, despite the bouquet of roses he held in his claw or the little box he was holding in the other.
"Come on, Spike," he whispered to himself. "She likes you, too! She almost said it that one time you became a giant, wingless, weird-looking, mindless dragon and almost killed her." He sighed and looked at the closed door, then at the roses, then at the little box he held in his other claw, a sense of dread coming over him. He sniffed the roses, to make sure that they were as fresh as Roseluck had promised. His nose tingled and he sneezed, engulfing the bouquet in green fire and completely disintegrating them. Not a good start. "Maaaybe I s-should come back later," he stuttered, turning around just as the door opened.
"Oh, Spike!"
Rarity's voice froze him in place, unable to turn to look at her and yet unable to step away.
"Why, look at you! You look like such a- a gentle-dragon! How lovely!" Rarity cooed.
Gulping, but encouraged by her reaction, Spike slowly turned around.
"You look adorable, Spike!" Rarity giggled, doing that little cantering in place she did when she was delighted by something cute.
Spike took a deep breath. "Just like I practiced..." he whispered, then looked up at her. "Rarity, I need to talk to you." No stepping back now.
Rarity blinked at the seriousness of his tone and stepped back, allowing him to walk into the boutique, closing the door behind them.
Once inside, he looked around nervously until they were both sitting down at the table, cups of tea steaming gently in front of them.
"What did you want to talk about, Spikey Wikey?"
Spike grimaced, trying to remember what he had planned. "O-oh, th-hese are for you!" he blurted out putting the little box on the table and pushing it towards her.
Rarity's magic engulfed the box and floated it up to her, opening it.
He could see her eyes widening as a delighted smile grew on her face.
"Oh, Spike..." she whispered, levitating the five gems he had selected out of it. "These are... these are just amazing! Thank you!"
"W-well, Rarity..." Spike cleared his throat. "I brought them to you because... well, I want to show you that you'll never lack anything with me..." he trailed off. Was this how he had written it down?
Rarity slowly tore her eyes from the gems and concentrated on him. "I... um... what?"
"Yes!" Spike said forcefully, forgetting about his notes. "R-rarity, I... I want to spend my life with you."
Rarity's eyes went wide.
"You're beautiful, Rarity," Spike said quickly. "And generous and so perfect!"
"Spike... I—"
"You love gems, just like I do!" Spike said enthusiastically. "I got you those because, think about it, we can gem-hunt together! And, you can use them for dresses or to look even prettier and I can eat them and bake gem-cakes!"
"Spike..."
"A-and we'll make an amazing couple," Spike added immediately. "You said I looked pretty good, right? And a mare as beautiful as you wouldn't just say that if she didn't mean it!"
"SPIKE!"
"An—" Spike stopped. "Y-yes, Rarity?" He watched as she slowly deposited the gems back in the box and, very carefully closed it, sliding it back to him. 'Oh no...'
Rarity took a deep breath and took his claw in her hoof. "Spike... you are a very sweet and caring and handsome baby dragon..."
'No. Nonononono...'
"You are quite the catch," Rarity said gently. "But..."
'No. Please, Rarity...'
"...you are a bit young for me," Rarity said. She held his eyes in her own, both of them tearing up. "I know you like me, Spike, and if we had a lot in common, and if you were a bit older..."
"I-I'll grow!" Spike stammered. "You are only around seven years older than me, Rarity."
Rarity sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Spike, I'll still be older... and what happens if I do meet the right colt?"
"B-but you won't need him! You'll have me!"
"No, Spike, I would be waiting for you to grow up. And in that time, what happens if another mare, or dragon, catches your eye? I'll grow older and older, until you are old enough to court me, but I'll be past the age where I can give birth to a foal. I'll have waited for you to catch up and denied any other chance I could have had." Rarity said firmly, but gently, looking deep into his eyes. "You are without a doubt the sweetest dragon I have ever met, and you are a very smart and handsome young dragon. You have a crush on me, Spike, but if I agreed... you would grow out of it, don't you see?"
"B-but..."
"And as much as I enjoy our outings gem-hunting," Rarity insisted. "It's not the only dream I want to fulfill. I don't know where my career will take me, but I want to push it as far as I can go. Gems are part of my design, but not the only thing I do or like," she lowered her voice when Spike looked down. "And, Spikey... as much as I am honored by your interest in me... I would be stopping you from growing."
Spike blinked and looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean? I'll keep growing."
Rarity chuckled. "Of course you will, physically, but what I am worried about is your emotional development," she explained. "You have so much to live for, Spike. Saving your love for me alone is not going to help you grow as a dragon." She motioned out of the window with her hoof. "All the world is yours, and you're limiting yourself to my little part of it." She smiled. "Just like I encourage Sweetie Belle to find her talent, I must encourage you to look outside. You have to experience the great outdoors before you make a little niche of your own."
"But, Rarity, I..." Spike trailed off, then he looked away. "I'm not good enough, am I?"
"Spike, you will always be my Spikey Wikey," Rarity promised. "And you are more than good enough for any mare worthy of you," she declared. "But to find such a mare, or dragon, or even gryphon... whoever you choose, Spike, you have to love more than gems. More than simply looking at them." She paused. "More than me."
"But that's not possible!" Spike insisted. "I can't love anypony more than you!"
Rarity chuckled, pulling him into a hug and sniffling a little bit. "Oh, Spike, you say the sweetest things," she whispered. "You are such a kind dragon. If you give yourself a chance, you will... and whoever she is, she will be so, so lucky."
"But I wanted it to be you," Spike's voice was muffled by her mane.
"I know, Spike," she whispered. "I'll always be here for you..."
"...just not like that," Spike finished for her and felt her nod. He nodded back and slowly pulled away from the hug, not trusting himself to look at her. "I-I should go."
Rarity gave him a concerned look. "Will you be okay?"
Spike nodded, still not looking at her. "I think I will... but... it'll take some time for me to visit again."
Rarity simply smiled sadly. "But you will."
"I will," Spike whispered, taking the box of gems and making his way to the door. "T-thank you..."
"Spike, don't," Rarity interrupted him. "As much as I did this for both of us..." she sighed. "I couldn't handle a thank you for it. Not right now."
Spike nodded and walked out.
o.0.o
Spike kicked a pebble as he walked down the streets of Ponyville. He had taken off his suit and burned it away.
"Find another mare," he muttered. "somepony or somebody else to love, how does she expect me to do that? Marefriends just don't fall from the sky!"
The next thing he knew he was rolling on the floor in a bundle of limbs, branches and grunts. When he finally stopped he pushed himself up and looked down into the green eyes of a young filly, lying under him and staring right back at him. His breath caught in his chest as he just remained in the same position. She didn't complain.
"Spike!" Sweetie Belle called, alarmed.
"Babs!" Apple Bloom added worriedly.
"Are you guys okay?" Scootaloo asked finally.
"Y-yeah," Spike stammered, pushing himself back and offering his claw to Babs Seed, who took it gratefully and pulled herself up with his help.
"I'm sorry, Spike," she said, looking away and blushing. "I didn't think I was gonna go through the tree."
"It's fine," he said, smiling and puffing out his chest. "I'm a tough dragon!"
Babs giggled. "Say, we're trying to get our 'Catapult Daredevil' cutie marks while I'm here. Want to help us out?"
"Y-yeah! Absolutely!" he gushed, before stopping. "Uh, if that's okay with everypony?" Spike looked at the other fillies, who nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay, then!" Scootaloo spoke up. "Let's go! I wanna fly past Rainbow Dash and I know which cloud she's napping on right now!"
The three Ponyville crusaders trotted off, while Spike and Babs walked a lot slower, stealing glances at each other.
'Maybe... maybe I should experience the world first...' Spike thought, grinning at the filly at his side who returned the smile and motioned with her head before setting off trotting after the other crusaders. Spike chuckled and started running. 'Yeah... it can't hurt.'
The End
...
Celestia considered the bouquet of roses that had dropped on her head. Was Twilight trying to tell her something?
When the tuxedo fell on top of her, Celestia nodded. Maybe she needed to talk to her student about courtship and how to approach a mare or stallion.
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WHO THE HELL DISLIKED THIS SO QUICKLY
THEY SHALL SUFFER
I loved it! All that preparation
lol @ the ending.
What the buck? I'm not following Wanderer D and I get an update he published a new story?
Lame. I don't care.
Cute.
2215290 Not sure why you did, but... I do wonder if that's the right way to react to it.
Yes Celestia.
Twilight is trying to tell you to eat some flowers and lay off the cake.
Yeah Spike... besides you will live 1000000000 years more than Rarity and she belongs to Wanderer D so better if you find someone else.
I laughed so hard at the... Ending? Err... paragraph after the ending. Twilight is gonna learn something new today!
Edit: P.S. Wow 2 vote-downs already?
Pretty good; that is almost exactly how I've pictured the inevitable 'reveal' in my head all this time. But that ending...
Spike, enjoy it while you can; youth doesn't last forever.
Dat ending. Write a sequel.
lol that story was cute, and frankly brings up one of my issues with Sparity.
Babs+Spike... huh.
Eh, I'm more of a TwiLuna guy myself.
2215321
Oh, do forgive me then. I just found it suspicious an admin can notify those who don't follow him that he wrote something.
2215479 If it happens again, let me know. I noticed you're part of the World-Building Alliance. I'm wondering if members got it as well because of that, even if they don't follow me. If that's the case it's something that must be fixed, I'll still ask knighty & Xaqu to check on it.
The afterword or whatever it was was awesome.
2215329 I don't know what is up with the downvotes, I think some readers on the site just downvote everything they can.
2215513 Well... some of them are legit, given their rating history and some of them I wonder... but to be fair, RariSpike is heatedly defended by its fans.
OH MY GOD SPARITY, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WROTE A SPARITY FIC, I MUST UNFOLLOW YOU NOW AND TELL OTHERS TO DO THE SAME.
......is the exact way NOT to react. Well written, and I liked it.
2215523 ~shrug~ it's cute and all, but it can't happen, you pointed out exactly why. It's as likely as FlutterMac, two ponies who wouldn't say two words to one another without some prodding. Also I have to admit I enjoyed the little part at the end with Celestia.
The whole Spike and Rarity relationship is interesting. It can be used as a lesson that you shouldn't ever declare you're in love with a girl and want to marry just cause she's your first crush. But Sparity can also be used as a lesson that your "prince charming" isn't usually the one you expect him to be.
2215523
It may also just be people that are upset over this NOT being more Sweetie Chronicles.
Why would you lose followers for this? I thought it was kind of adorable.
2215369
I concur.
2215598 To the point of downvoting it? That's... childish. Plus it won't stop me from writing what I want.
2215577 This is indeed true, good sir. There is definitely something to that effect as well.
2215486 Actually this happened to me about a week ago with a different author. I figured it was just a weird one time occurrence.
As for the story I saw the title and the first thing that popped into my head was:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/ce/The_Great_Outdoors_%28film%29_Poster.jpg/220px-The_Great_Outdoors_%28film%29_Poster.jpg
2215618
I approve a sequel of Celestia teaching Twilight about courtship.
SpikeSeed is something I see cropping up here and there. Wonder why people are becoming interested in that.
Ouch, D... Careful with those typos.
That, I believe, should be *sitting*.
You said this already. Rewording is advised.
Change that to *gonna* and you're good.
Final personal thoughts of this cute story:
I never would've thought of shipping Spike with Babs! Nice job there! And the funny joke with Twilestia made me laugh quite a bit. Cute story! I liked it a lot. I hope there's a continuation of this as well. Can't wait til your next story!
2215712 Thanks! Fixed!
Commence read.
Poor Spike. Rarity wasn't too harsh. Just a downer for him.
SpikeSeed. Huh. Never thought about that until just now...im interested.
Hell I like Sparity but you gave a fine reason why not, and it was very well laid out with a cute ending.
The ending after the ending
2215523 Honestly, I was debating whether to downvote or leave it neutral because I do enjoy a good RariSpike ship and that scene was rather heartrending. You made me feel sad for poor Spike! Although if I'd downvoted I'd've left a comment that the story is well-written and emotionally powerful, but I'd rather not watch Spike get his heart broken. My plans were ruined by the postscript, though, and had to upvote. I want to see more of that postscript scene and its aftermath.
2216003 Well, I am glad you didn't dislike it, but I also want to thank you for being the only one who might have disliked it, but left a reason why! That's a great thing to do.
2215685
Especially if it's a comedy where Twilight has absolutely no idea what's going on.
Neat little story, sir.
Now write the side story involving Celestia and Twilight? 
(Has anyone done one in which Celestia likes Twilight but Twilight does not feel the same? I don't think I've personally come across that.)
2215282 They're not worth our time.
Dat ending.
2215262 i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/6/29/wqqFKbW4WkuIoLYxjntOdg2.gif
pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw7849-134400108220.gif
2216044 It's the only decent thing to do, unless the story (or author) is obviously entirely beyond redemption. You can't please everyone, and oughtn't try to, either. Dislikes are inevitable. But everyone deserves a reason for a dislike, even if it amounts to "I'm really not sure why, but whenever I look at this I am filled with a sense of unutterable loathing." In this case, it was more like "damn it, now I'm sad since I'd really rather hoped that would go another way and am displeased with this outcome." But the brick joke saves (if not makes entirely) the fic. Well done.
2216182
The Equestrian Gentlecolt did one. It's extremely tragic though. And dumb. That is an opinion. And I stand by it. But committing suicide by proxy because a goddess took you as a concubine and you don't like her that way is dumb. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.
Well written and well reasoned. Spike should be spending time with ponies his own age.
Only one thing didn't fit with the rest of the story logic:
Foaling doesn't come into it because ponies and dragons can't interbreed. Right?
My sides...
2217218 No, but, what if she wants kids? She'd be waiting for Spike to grow up so she would also lose her chance of having one of her own. Sure, she can definitely adopt, but it's on the same lines of not marrying just because she's waiting for him.
Awwwww
It was so adorable i couldn't take it! and the ending made me lolz all the way home! Great job on this story and i can't wait to see what you will come up with next. 
2217388
I know it can be read that way. I just felt it could have been phrased better.
I had to try really hard to find something that could be improved, and that was the best I could come up with. This is really well written
.
hah. Fell right out of the sky.
2217218
Well, dragons have, in old and modern myths, been able to have a child with most anything, having magical reproduction and everything. It could be applied here as well.
That was very good Mr. D. I've never gone from
to
to
to
all in the span of <2,000 words. Wield this power of yours for good you silly Latias.
Loathe,
Your Antagonist
2217218 I hate it when people assume that Spike's some little child. He's somehow old enough to consider matters of the heart, clean up after an adult, travel to Canterlot, and be someone that confided in. Yet, people want to throw him in with toddlers.
As I saw the direction this story was going, I thought I would end up loathing this. Yet, Rarity's points about emotional development and limiting himself was actually quite good. The ending with Babs came off as sudden and ruined the effect though.
Maybe one day, the writer should come back to this story and consider doing an expansion where Spike slowly gets over his heartbreak, albeit not by instant rebound.