A Shoulder To Cry On
Enkindled Hearts
By The Rated Ponystar
Edited by: Mr. Minimii and Adjudicator
***
Spike had always heard of the saying ‘Life isn’t fair’, but never truly understood the words until today. Life wasn’t just unfair, it was downright cruel. It had all been planned perfectly. He turned seventeen last month and finally found a proper date to ask Twilight for a day off so he could spend time with Rarity in Ponyville. Only this day was going to be different from all the other days he went to visit Rarity. He wasn’t going to just assist her with her dresses, nor was he going to drink tea while the unicorn shared the latest gossip. He was going to finally do the one thing he had wanted to do since meeting her thirteen years ago: ask her out on a date.
It was a just a fantasy when he was younger, knowing their age differences could cause a scandal and hurt Rarity’s reputation. So he decided to remain patient and bide his time until that big day when he became an adult in the eyes of Equestria. It was going to be the perfect day, the day he dreamed about for years, where he and Rarity would finally be together, no longer as friends, but as something more.
If only he wasn’t such a big dreamer; maybe then the utter crushing weight of reality wouldn’t be hurting this much. Spike slowly lifted his eyes from his crossed arms, holding his knees as close to him as possible. He gazed over the dozens of trees he had utterly ripped apart around him, thankful that he didn’t use his fire in his rage, or else things would be worse. A tiny splash of water hit the top of his spines, soon followed by a second, then a dozen more.
“Great, as if I didn’t have enough problems,” muttered Spike as his scales and drooping wings got soaked from the downpour. He knew he had to get up and find shelter, but it was a long flight back to Canterlot. The closest place he could find protection from the rain was the library, which was now in control of a mean elderly pony who he suspected had a thing against dragons; Sugarcube Corner was closed due to a mold infestation, thanks to a practical joke gone wrong, and Rarity’s shop was out of the question.
Rarity...
Closing his eyes, he buried himself under his arms, letting his wings cover him like a protective shield, both against the rain and the cruel world from the outside. Rarity. A name he would have sung in worship, but now it was nothing to him but an echo on the wind. A name he had given everything to, hoping that someday his reward would come. Yet after thirteen years of hard work and planning, it never came. He would never have her heart; maybe he never had a shot to begin with. It didn’t matter now; nothing mattered now, except to just sit in the rain.
“Spike?”
Slowly spreading his wings, he saw a set of gentle, concerned cyan eyes staring down at him with an umbrella hat. He forced a small smile and nodded in greeting. “Hey, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy immediately rushed to his side, pushing his wings aside while examining him. “Oh my goodness, are you okay?! One of my animal friends told me something was tearing apart his set of the woods and I rushed right over! Are you hurt?!” She then started looking around, biting her lip. “I-Is whate-ever caused this g-g-gone?”
Blushing, Spike rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Fluttershy’s eyes. “Well… um, that was me. Sorry, and no, I’m not hurt.”
At least not physically anyway… thought Spike as he got up, Fluttershy staring at him with her wide eyes.
“You did this? Oh my…” Fluttershy nervously shuffled her hoof on the dirt, lowering her head a bit. “Is everything okay?”
“I don’t want to talk about it…” muttered Spike, turning away.
“But…”
“I don’t want to talk about it!” yelled Spike, growling. He quickly realizes his error when he saw Fluttershy step back, shivering. “Fluttershy… I… I’m sorry, I just…”
“Do… do you want me to leave? If you’re angry then I can just go and…” A thunderous boom made Fluttershy yelp and fall down, covering her head with her forelegs while shivering.
Looking up at the storm, Spike cursed as flashes of lighting followed by cracks of thunder were spotted in the distance. Helping Fluttershy up to her hooves, he said, “Let’s get out of this storm first. Is your place nearby? I didn’t really notice where I ran to…”
Fluttershy nodded and started running in the direction of her cottage, Spike right behind her. A few more lightning bolts in the sky encouraged them to run faster, jumping over dead debris and ducking under low branches. Well, for Spike anyway, who sometimes wished he could take back his growth spurt. After a few more turns, they soon spotted the warm cottage and entered the safe haven. Gasping for breath, they sat down near the front door while shivering from the cold. The two of them glanced at each other and gave a chuckle at the sight of their wet and muddy appearances. Spike looked around and saw all the animals under Fluttershy’s care hiding in their beds, birdhouses, cages, or holes in the wall while the storm continued to rage on. The only who seemed relax was Angel, lying on the couch reading a magazine. He gave the two a dull look before shrugging his shoulders and returning to his business.
Fluttershy got up and pointed to her bathroom across the hall. “Um, you should get cleaned up. I’ll use the upstairs bathroom and then prepare some hot chocolate. Does that sound good?”
“Sounds great, thanks,” said Spike, making his way towards the bathroom. He moved slowly and carefully in an effort to avoid getting the floor muddy.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” said Fluttershy, realizing his action. “I’m sure Angel wouldn’t mind cleaning up if we make a mess.” The said bunny turned away from his magazine and gave his owner a look that said ‘Are you kidding me, girl?’, but rolled his eyes lazily and shrugged his shoulders again.
Spike nodded and continued making his way towards the bathroom. Turning on the shower, he stepped in and sighed in relief as the warm water began to wash away the filth on his scales. Taking the soap, he started to clean himself, but slowed down as his thoughts began to creep up on him. Not only did he cause damage to the trees that were home to a few of the animals under Fluttershy’s care, but he also yelled at her. And despite all that, she offers me her home as protection from the storm….
A knock on the door woke him up from his monologue. “Spike? It’s me. Um, I made the cocoas. Are you finishing up in there, or maybe I could reheat it for you? I mean, if you’d like.”
“Y-yeah, sure. I’m coming right out,” replied Spike, mentally adding another thing he should be grateful for from his friend’s kindness. He thought about her earlier offer to speak about his problems and found himself considering it. I need to talk to somepony about this, and Fluttershy is a good listener.
His mind made up, he washed off the remaining soap before turning off the water and dried himself off. Glancing at the window, the rain seemed to be only pouring down harder. Guess I’m heading home late tonight, or in the morning if Fluttershy lets me spend the night here.
He returned to the living room and spotted his host, washed and refreshed, flying in from the kitchen, balancing two mugs on her back. Landing beside him, she raised her back a bit, offering one of the hot cocoas. He took the mug with the bunny rabbit face and sat down on the couch, much to Angel’s irritation. The rabbit stuck his tongue out before getting up and stomping his way towards his bed. Fluttershy took her doggy-faced mug and sat down next to him with a gentle smile on her face.
Minutes passed by as the pattering rain from outside echoed across the room, occasionally bolstered by a small snore from one of the animals. Taking a deep breathe, Spike put his mug down on the table and folded his claws over his legs. “Fluttershy? I’m… I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“It’s ok—“
“No! It’s not okay,” shouted Spike, growling. “You were just worried for me and all I did was direct my anger towards you. It was wrong.”
He looked at the ground, narrowing his eyes while cursing his race’s anger problems that always seemed to get worse as he grew older. He lost count of the number of fights he had been in, not to mention the number of scoldings from Twilight, and swore to keep his anger in control in the future, if only to stop making his friends worry. A hoof nudged his claw, knocking him out of his thoughts before he stared at the smiling pegasus next to him.
“It’s okay, Spike. Everypony gets angry sometimes, even me. I’m pretty scary when I lose control,” pointed out Fluttershy, bashfully.
Spike shivered. Angry Fluttershy, or ‘New Fluttershy’ as some of their friends called it, was not a pretty sight to see. He recalled one time when the normally shy pony had been walking around with Angel for a trip to the park when she bumped into a rude stallion that started to yell at her. Spike was hanging out with Rainbow Dash and Applejack at the time and the three were ready to come to her aid when Angel started stomping his foot on the pony. Annoyed, he grabbed the rabbit with his magic and hurled him across the street where he landed on the ground, rubbing at a newly-formed lump on his head.
Everything else happened in a blur. Fluttershy, with fire in her eyes, screamed in rage and charged at the jerk, throwing him across the entire town where he landed on a traveling rock farmer’s cart. Fluttershy flew across the street to rescue Angel, nuzzling the bunny as she carried him back home to treat his wound. As for the unicorn, he was in the hospital for a few weeks before being released. Everypony said he ran out of town like an entire changeling horde was after him.
“Yeah, but it was still wrong of me,” whispered Spike, leaning back against the couch.
“Do you… do you want to talk about it?” asked Fluttershy.
Spike closed his eyes, his claws clenching tight as he thought about Rarity. He really wanted to just go home and hide underneath his covers, maybe tell Twilight about what happened, and have his mother figure comfort him like the old days. Still, Fluttershy was a good friend, and he knew he had to release what was building in his chest before he exploded again.
“I… I went over to Rarity’s… I was planning to ask her out,” said Spike, remembering how busy the boutique looked when he entered the building. Rarity was pushing herself to her limits, as always, but still looked radiant as ever. She had been overjoyed to see him, not to mention being given an excuse to take a break. He could still smell the jasmine tea she presented to him as they sat down to talk on their usual couches.
He glanced at Fluttershy, whose frown started to increase; she most likely already knew where this story was going. Sighing, he continued, “It was fine at first. We chatted, drank tea, shared the latest gossip – the usual. Then… she told me that she had a visit from Fancy Pants.”
Teeth gritting, Spike tried to push aside all desire to curse the pony’s name, despite what he had done. He had met ‘the most important pony in Canterlot’ years ago when Rarity introduced him, and they had become good friends over time. He wasn’t like the other nobles, snooty and snobbish, but decent, with a good sense of humor and an open-minded view on all individuals. He actually admired the guy a bit, but now? He wanted nothing more than to punch that monocle of his straight down his throat.
“He…” Spike struggled to say the words, tears flooding his eyes. “He asked her out, and she said yes…” He covered his eyes with his claw as Fluttershy wrapped a wing around him.
“I’m sorry, Spike,” whispered Fluttershy, wrapping her legs around his waist. “I know how much you cared about her…”
Spike let out a bitter laugh. “Everypony told me to just drop it… to just give up on her, that it couldn’t happen, and that I would only get hurt in the end… I guess they were right.”
“No, don’t think like that,” scolded Fluttershy, turning his face towards hers. “You had no idea if Rarity would accept your feelings. It’s not yours or anybody’s fault… it was just bad timing, that’s all.”
“I…” choked Spike, wiping his tears, “I don’t know what to do, Fluttershy. What do I do?”
Her answer was forcing his head to rest on her shoulders. He blushed a bit at the thought of them being so close, but soon relaxed and hugged her tight, letting her soft humming heal his torn heart. As she stroked his back, she whispered, “Just let it all out, Spike. Whenever you need a shoulder to cry on, I’ll be here. If you want to talk about it, I’ll be here. I’m your friend, Spike, and you can count on me to be there for you.”
The remaining resistance he had been holding for hours fell apart and Spike cried out thirteen years of unreturned feelings. He was sure that Fluttershy’s coat was now damper then what the rain had done earlier, but he couldn’t stop. He hadn’t cried this much in years, not since he was three and got lost in the castle looking for Twilight. Hours passed, and before Spike knew it, he was sleeping on the couch, two warm blankets covering him. As he began to feel his eyelids shut, he saw Fluttershy looking down at him with her usual gentle smile. He smiled back, eyes still misty.
“Thank you,” whispered Spike as Fluttershy nuzzled his cheek.
“Goodnight, Spike…” said Fluttershy, calmly walking towards the stairs and shutting the lights off.
***
Spike woke up to the sound of birds chirping in their houses on the walls, while his nose picked up the aroma of blueberry pancakes. Licking his lips, he sat up and yawned so loud he was sure it could be heard all over the house. Fluttershy walked out of the kitchen wearing a pink apron around her neck and bearing a spatula in her mouth. Setting it down on her table, she greeted the dragon by nuzzling his cheek. “Good morning, Spike. I have breakfast cooking, would you like some?”
“Yeah, that would be great,” replied Spike, rubbing his stomach. “I shouldn’t stay too long though; Twilight’s going to be worried when she realizes I didn’t come home last night.”
“Oh my, that would be bad. I’ll make sure to hurry up then,” said Fluttershy, grabbing her spatula. Before she could re-enter her kitchen, there was a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it,” said Spike, rising to his feet and stretching his back. Surprisingly, he slept pretty well last night and felt a little better after confessing his troubles last night. There was still some part of him, a small piece, that was hurting, but time would fix that. Hopefully.
Walking up to the door, Spike peeked through the window next to it, expecting to see the milk or mailpony, but upon spotting a familiar indigo mane that he could recognize from anywhere, he jumped back. Heart drumming in his chest, Spike rushed into the kitchen where he spotted a confused Fluttershy and stammered, “It’s R-Rarity.”
Gasping, Fluttershy turned off her stove and flew to the door. Spike cautiously crept towards one of the windows and peeked out. Sure enough, his former crush was standing there, biting her lip and looking around like she was nervous of being spotted. He also noticed that she didn’t have her usual make up on and that her hair looked frazzled, a sight anypony rarely ever saw with Rarity. Ducking for cover as she looked in his direction, Spike closed his eyes and pressed against the wall. I don’t want to see her… not now…
Fluttershy seemed to have read his mind as she pointed to the kitchen, which he quickly hid in. Back pressed against the wall, he poked his head out as Fluttershy let Rarity in. Before the pegasus could exchange greetings, Rarity ran inside shaking her head, eyes misty. “Oh, Fluttershy! It’s horrible! I’m horrible! How could I have been so insensitive to him?!”
“To who, Rarity? What’s wrong?” asked Fluttershy, closing the door.
“To Spike!”
Spike felt his spine freeze up as he listened closer. Sitting on her haunches, Rarity proceeded to cover her face with her hooves and started to sniffle. Fluttershy quickly glanced at Spike with worry before wrapping her legs around her teary-eyed friend. “Shh, it’s okay. What happened?”
“Spike came to visit me yesterday. When I told him I was going to start dating Fancy Pants, he just stormed out of the shop in a heartbeat, slamming my door closed and shattering all the glass,” muttered Rarity, wiping her eyes. “I only remembered afterwards that he still had that crush on me. I was so caught up in the moment, thinking of Fancy’s visit that I forgot Spike’s feelings!”
“Rarity…” said Fluttershy, rubbing her back. “I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt him.”
“I would never hurt Spike, Fluttershy,” explained Rarity, shaking her head. “I care about him, really I do. He’s been one of the sweetest friend’s I’ve ever known and I love him like a brother. You don’t know how hard it was to keep up such a façade so that I didn’t break his little heart when he was younger. I wanted to tell him we were just friends, but I… I couldn’t… I didn’t want to hurt him.”
Sighing, Rarity stared at the ground with such a sad look in her eyes that Spike only recalled seeing such sorrow once before: the first time she ever went to the gala and had her dreams crushed. Fluttershy wrapped her wing around her friend, and asked, “And you thought he would outgrow it?”
“As he got older, yes. I thought he would accept the fact that I didn’t share those feelings with him… but… I was wrong,” said Rarity, whimpering like a whipped puppy. “Had I known I wouldn’t have been so… brash about my new relationship with Fancy Pants. The way he looked at me, Fluttershy. It was like I had torn out his heart and crushed it into tiny pieces. I tried to chase after him, but I guess those flying lessons from Rainbow Dash paid off.”
She chuckled, but Spike could still see a few tears drip from her eyes. Spike turned away, growling not at Rarity anymore, but at himself. You made her cry. You swore to never make her cry, no matter what!
“I couldn’t get any sleep last night. I was just so worried about Spike and our friendship that I… Oh, Fluttershy!” She grabbed onto her friend and started shaking her, crying hysterically. “What if he hates me?! What if he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore?! I didn’t want to hurt him, Fluttershy! Oh, I’m sure he hates me!”
“No,” said Spike, slowly coming out of the kitchen. “I could never hate you, Rarity.”
Rarity gasped, standing perfectly still as Spike slowly walked over with a small smile on his face. He lifted his claw and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You really shouldn’t cry. It’s unfitting for a lady like you.”
“Spike… I…” Rarity started, but Spike held his claw up.
“No… Rarity, you don’t have to apologize. I should.” Spike sighed and struggled to say his next choice of words. “I… I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I didn’t mean to make you feel worried or scared. I… I do love you, maybe a part of me always will, but I know we can’t be together now, no matter how much I wanted us to.”
Rarity sat up and shook her head, sympathy in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Spikey-Wikey. I really do care about you, just… not the way you want us to go. I just wish I didn’t hurt you.”
“Maybe it’s best this way,” suggested Spike with a shrug of the shoulders. “I just want us to still be friends. Can we?”
“Of course,” said Rarity, holding out her hoof with a smile. Spike took it before pulling the unicorn forward and hugging her. The two continued to embrace each other, feeling their sorrows slowly dissipate before they released their hugs and chuckled. “Well, I hate to leave and all, but I think I need a good bath. I don’t want to smell like a pig.”
She turned to Fluttershy with a hesitant smile. “Uh, no offence to them of course.”
Fluttershy nodded as she escorted Rarity to the exit. The three quickly exchanged goodbyes, and one last hug, before Rarity made her way down the road. Before reaching Fluttershy’s gate, she turned around and shouted, “Spike?”
Spike raised his head.
“You’ll always be my Spikey-Wikey! Always!”
For some reason, Spike felt that it was the best compliment he ever had been given. Raising his claws, he waved back at Rarity who nodded and trotted off.
***
“Oh, Spike. I wish you told me how you were feeling,” whispered Twilight, fighting the urge to hug her assistant in a bone-crushing embrace. She too thought his old feelings were gone as he grew up, but she was so foolish to believe that. It’s like I don’t know him anymore…
Spike chuckled, rubbing the back of his scale spines. “Relax, Twilight. It took some time, but I was able to recover. Fluttershy helped me a lot too,” he said, hugging the pegasus affectionately. “She’s a great listener if you need a pair of ears to hear your troubles. And Rarity and I patched things up pretty quickly.”
“Still, you could have told me.”
Sighing, Spike regretfully looked at her. “I know, but I didn’t want to worry you. You were just starting to use the throne and I didn’t want to keep piling more problems on you. Besides,” Spike gently kissed a blushing Fluttershy on the cheek, “I had somepony helping me already.”
Twilight smiled at the sight of the couple and wiped away a small tear from her eye. He really is growing up so fast. “So what happened next?”
“Well,” spoke Fluttershy, “a month passed and everything was normal. The two of us were just friends still, but we had gotten closer. Then one day…”
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
843 users online
1,359,425 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I guess he finally gave up on Rarity. Tracking. Will read later today. I'd start on it right now, but I have a headache.
Very well done and very sweet, plus tantalising views of a near-future Ponyville. Looking forward to more!
In this part of the sentence, the "too" at the end should be a "to".
Oh boy I wonder what sort of event elevated their relationship.
Flutterspike has never really caught my eye before, but dammit you made it work!
Commence read.
Cute.
I have to say, this story is great. Please update soon, I look forward to reading another chapter.
I applaud you for trying out this very underused pairing.
2384529
Fixed
Spike you waited over ten years without telling her anything, chances are she is going to find someone else.
I will admit that he is patient and a really strong resolve.
Congrats on the feature box.
2385147
Thanks
Sorry about my earlier griping, after seeing so many fics with 'hidden' shippings in em it gets really old... but I like it at this point either way
Well I can officially say this is my first ever SpiShy...and I love it!!
Everything this guy touches turns to gold and this little tale is yet another example. Well done!
..."Flip a table"MOTHERF**KING CLIFFHANGERS!
All and all...I like this story.
Spike/Fluttershy pairing?
So someone else has written a FlutterSpike besides me, okay cool, let's read it.
Huh, it's taken them only two chapters to rival, nah, dwarf my story.
iambrony.com/gif/17652
*Several deep breaths later*
Author, if you have the time please read mine, if you enjoy it I won't feel as frustrated...
2385452
Dude, I wrote this BECAUSE I read your story. I loved it. I really didn't think it was possible, but you did it. You made Fluttershy and Spike work. I wrote this because of you. The fact that you love this story, that's making me smiling right now.
Thanks
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/263/914/ede.jpg
My feelings are mixed. I enjoy both Sparity and Flutterspike. Should I feel happy about Spike moving on with Fluttershy or sad that Rarity did not give Spike a chance? Hmmmm.... ANYWAYS! Great story so far and I hope to see more in the near future.
2385715 I was thinking the Fire Nation attacked, but that works too.
I ignore most things Spike, so I have no idea why I am going to read this. But I am.
2384066 The Fire nation attacked, that's what.
2385624 Hmm... Hold on a second, gotta find an appropriate reaction for this...
Ah here it is!
2385814
uh, video's kind of blocked, but I get the message none the less!
Fluttershy Spike?
Well, bonus points for novelty.
The Aotrs Golden Rule of Shipping is "any pairing that, upon reveal, causes one character to scream, spit-take or otherwise overreact is the best pairing" and this clearly qualifies!
Nice work, watching with interest.
2385825 ??? Blocked, odd I'm watching it right now, you on a tablet or some other mobile device? Sucks when that happens doesn't it?
2385942
No I'm on my computer, just says Youtube won't show it on the site
More Please
You sir/ madam, deserve a moustache!
Cool. I would like to see this.
2386012
Sir, just so you know
ah cliffhangers my mortal enemy
Never has a less frequent ship been done quite so right.
amazing work and i cant wait to see where this goes
I'm loving it
make more! Make more!
if.. if thats ok with you 
Dawwwwww. Tracked, liked, follow. Please continue good sir.
This is a wonderful story. Every character is acting exactly as I would expect. No-one is being OOC at all, and it works beautifully.
One thing though, Fancy started dating Rarity a day or so before Spikes 17th birthday. Rarity is now pregnant, three months after their wedding. Spike at this point is still 17, so Rarity started dating Fancy, and got married to him less that nine months later, if my math is correct. Seems a bit quick, only a bit though I suppose.
when do u update?
THERE IS NOT TIME TO WASTE!
WRITEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
2387051
Blame College
i got the same problem but i got some tricks! if you wanna hear dem out just ask away!
2385795 And of course The Avatar vanished when Equestria needed him most as usual.
2386325 If you add be to the end and change too to to, then it might work.
Finally a FlutterSpike story that isn't about rape...
Well, well, well I think I found a very interesting stories. So far, you did very promising.
I wish you a wonderfull week sir, for you have give me a wonderfull day with this fic.
woooow man D: that was soo damn awesome u was almost to make my cry in da touchin moment with spike and rarity ,
really really damn awesome fic !!!!!!!!
I love incredibly creative stories like this. I can't wait to read more! Stay Tastical. Love, TheMultiTraveler