Chapter 1: A generous gift

Love Anchor

Chapter 1: Generous Gift

“Okay, so that's why this variable was showing up as negative. Of course that wouldn't have made any sense, now would it?" Twilight said aloud, despite nopony was around to hear, as she crossed out an entire sheet of parchment filled with complex mathematical formulae. She used her magic to crumple the paper and then threw it at the nearest bin, which was by now almost overflowing with paper. Of course, she didn’t care to check if it got inside or simply fell with the others, scattered all over the floor. Not like she was going to clean it up later, anyway.

A knock on the library door made her groan in complaint. Why did ponies always interrupt her when she was working? Couldn't they see that her calculations were extremely important to the future of Equestria? The librarian sighed and got off her rump. It seemed that the answer would have to wait.

“Hello~! Is there anypony home?” a sing-song voice called from the library’s doorstep.

Twilight’s purple aura unhitched the lock, before another bluish one swung the door open.

“Hi, Rarity! How are you doing?” greeted the purple unicorn, already resigned to the interruption and smiled at her friend while the white unicorn stepped into the library.

“I’m doing well, thank you for asking, Twilight,” Rarity said, smiling politely. “And what about you, darling?” the white unicorn asked in a distracted way, while taking a few glances around.

"I’m doing fine,” the librarian responded, her eyes narrowed. Rarity was searching around with such an uneasy glance; just coming for a casual visit was not her friend’s goal, that was for sure. “So tell me, what brought you here today?"

The fashionista now turned her look to Twilight, fluttering her eyelashes. “I say, dearest, is Spikey-Wikey home?”

“Sure, he’s upstairs in his bedroom,” said Twilight, before walking closer to the stairway. “Spike! You have visitors!” she shouted, raising her head up.

“Coming…” The dragon’s footsteps could be heard going downstairs. His heart jumped in joy when he arrived at the bottom, Rarity's familiar figure clear as crystal against the dark wooden walls.

Rarity smiled warmly at the dragon, and subconsciously batted her eyelashes. “Hello, Spike, darling.”

“H-Hi,” Spike stammered, blushing like mad. The poor dragon was just lost in the unicorn’s azure eyes. Only once he was able to break from her eyes, did he notice the saddlebags she was carrying. “Need any help with those? They look awfully heavy.”

“Awww thank you, Spikey-wikey. You’re always such a sweet gentledragon,” Rarity said, smiling appreciatively at him. She lifted the heavy saddlebags off her back with her magic and placed them next to the dragon. “It’s not necessary, though. Even if I am a lady, I’m not as weak as I may seem.”

“Huh? N-no, that’s not what I m-meant...!” Spike stammered, scratching his nape in embarrassment.

Rarity giggled. “There’s no need to fret about it, darling. I appreciate your chivalry, it’s such a nice quality to find in a colt, or a dragon, in this case.”

Now the purple dragon reddened even more, the blush clearly visible even through his thick scales. Poor Spike felt like his body was melting, as if he would end up forming a puddle on the library floor. Though knowing Twilight, she’d just put Spike back together to make him clean himself up.

Rarity chuckled, gently covering her mouth with a hoof, amused by the teenage dragon's reaction to her compliment.

“Ahem! If you guys don’t mind… I’m here too!” said Twilight with a wry smirk, in an attempt to defuse the awkward situation. Moments like this were a common occurrence between the fashionista and her number one assistant, and even though Twilight didn’t mind, she really wanted to get back to her reading as soon as possible.

“So, why are you here, Rarity? And what’s in your saddlebags?” Twilight couldn’t help but to be a little curious to know what brought her friend to her home, and more importantly, what did it have to do with her little brother Spike.

“Darling, no need to be impatient. Remember that a lady should never lose her composure.” Rarity lectured, much to Twilight’s chagrin, before she turned back towards Spike. “I have a little gift for you, Spikey-Wikey. Please feel free to take it from my saddlebags anytime.”

“A gift… for me?” the dragon asked, his eyes going wide.

“Yes, dear. A gift from me to you.” Rarity replied, trying to subdue the faint blush that came to her cheeks. Attempting to draw attention away from herself, she continued, “So... what are you waiting for, Spike? Those saddlebags were awfully heavy while I carried them up here.”

That statement did it. Spike rushed toward the saddlebags and nearly ripped them open in his haste before he discovered a multitude of brilliant gemstones inside. There was a wide assortment of varying sizes, shapes and colors, and they seemed to all be really delicious. He could only stare at them, even more wide eyed if possible, open-mouthed and paralyzed.

“Wow, Rarity, this is really generous of you. Spike, you should at least thank her.” Twilight poked him with a hoof to catch the immobilized dragon’s attention.

Spike snapped out of it. “Oh! Uh… Th-thanks a lot… Rarity. I… don’t know what else to say or do in order to… well I just can’t thank you enough!” The dragon said, trembling and blushing heavily.

“Awww… No needed to worry at all, Spike. I’m just happy you liked my little present… because you did, right?” She smiled, waiting expectantly for an answer.

“Of course! Of course I did! Thanks a lot!” The dragon just couldn’t help but give her a tight hug in gratitude. She just received the gesture with pleasure. Her Spikey-Wikey had really liked her gift after all.

“I just want to thank to you for all the hard work you’ve done for me, Spike. I really needed more free space for my gemstone stores, so I thought it would be the best to give you these gems. It is not as if we couldn’t find more, right? If you don’t mind helping me once again, of course.” Rarity added after they broke apart.

“Sure I’d love to!” answered the dragon excitedly. He was used to accompanying Rarity when she went gem-hunting any time she asked him. However, asking itself had become obsolete since they had decided that it would be easier to schedule weekly trips. Spike thought of himself as his lady’s protector from the wiles of the wilderness—especially the Diamond Dogs, who seemed to always hide from their presence nowadays.

Rarity herself had gotten used to the presence of the teenage dragon, and enjoyed his help. Sure, she could just go alone, or get anypony else to help, but she really preferred to spend the day hunting with little Spikey-wikey, who seemed to enjoy their adventures as well.

“Well… I suppose I’ll have to head back home. I have a lot of work to do today, as usual actually.” Rarity sighed, heading towards the door. Before she crossed the threshold, she halted and turned back to say goodbye to her friends. “Have a lovely day you two!”.

“You too. See ya later, Rarity!” Twilight responded smiling.

“See ya…” Spike said with a fading smile upon his face and barely waving his claw. He always hated seeing her leaving so soon. He watched her disappear in the distance through the window, sighing.

Two days had passed since Rarity’s last visit to the library. The day before, Spike accompanied the fashionista along to a another gem-hunting mission, and they came home with hefty amount of fine quality jewels. It was now high time for Rarity to start her usual gem sorting, this time sadly without Spike’s help.

He’s Twilight slave, really.

It wasn’t as if Spike didn’t want to help her in their usual task; it was just that he had promised Twilight he’d help her with other issues in the library. Rarity couldn’t help but feel a little bit jealous. Just a bit.

That Twilight, Rarity thought, She’s so lucky. She can have him around every day without having to even ask.

Oh, please, another part of herself countered.What are you thinking about, darling. Do not forget, he IS Twilight’s official assistant after all. Besides, being jealous just doesn’t suit a lady such as you; a lady is never jealous. Even less so if the pony you’re claiming that you’re jealous of is your best friend!

Rarity stopped arguing within herself, it was kind of moot considering she always won and besides, that last one was true. She sighed and began her tedious task.

“Lovely. Lovely. For Spike. For Spike, Spike… Spike. Lovely…” She classified the gemstones into two piles: the first into a pile that she would use to accentuate her dresses, and the second into a pile that would go to Spike.

The fashionista had just gotten a commission for twenty new dresses from Sapphire Shores, which the pop star needed for her Equestria-wide tour. The popular singer knew the work of the fashionista and admired the special attention the unicorn put on the little details, not to mention her avant-garde style and high quality hoofponyship.

Rarity knew this was one of the most important traits her work had, what really set her apart from her competitors, and thus the reason she required more space for the special kind of gemstone she had selected for Sapphire’s order. Two baskets were on either side of her worktable—Sapphire’s gems piled on the left, and Spike’s placed on the right. Spike’s basket of was full long before Sapphire’s, as the type of gemstones she needed for the singer had to be a very specific color, size, and shape. Sighing tiredly, the unicorn continued her work, until all gems had been sorted. Night had fallen while she worked, and after yawning and stretching her spine, Rarity decided she’d get some sleep.

Tomorrow I’ll have to go to Twilight’s house again… Spike’s basket is full once again... But wait, why tomorrow? She had enough room to store the gems for a few more days at least. She didn’t HAVE to deliver more gems to Spike tomorrow. What was the hurry?

Rarity bit her lower lip in embarrassment and confusion. She couldn’t grasp the reason why, but she wanted to go back to the library. In her head, she couldn’t stop replaying the sweetly astonished look on Spike’s face when he received her present the other day, over and over again. And she couldn’t wait to see his new reaction when he discovered his new supply of delicious gems. Rarity had always felt like this way when she gave her friends gifts, but this time it was slightly different.

This time when she gave a friend a gift, she blushed. That blush came with a specific sensation in her stomach, as if it were full of butterflies. That specific sensation left her with a feeling that looked for any excuse to visit her dragon again.

What are you thinking, Rarity? It is normal to want to see your friends all time you can, isn’t it? This is not different with Spike.

That was a lie. She knew it. However, she didn’t want to continue thinking about it, so to distract herself, she began preparing for her beauty sleep and decided not to go to Twilight’s tomorrow. Rarity didn’t want to acknowledge that her feelings for Spike were getting more and more intense ever since the incident that had taken place on his birthday three years ago. Her relationship with the dragon wasn’t very close before that but afterwards they had become very close friends.

Yes, they had become close. She’d started calling him Spikey-Wikey; she hugged him and squeezed his little chubby cheeks—even if he didn’t seem to especially like that. He seemed to prefer kisses on the cheek much better though. Whenever he was in danger, she found herself holding her hoof to her heart and screaming his name, just like when he was falling to his death in the Crystal Empire. A life without Spike… She couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrible that would be. She had gotten so used to him being around.

And barely three years ago, he had confessed his crush on her. Back then, he was so cute and sweet, but now he had grown up a little… Spike was still a little dragon compared to the adult ones she had seen before, but he was actually a bit taller than anypony in all Ponyville--almost as tall as Princess Celestia herself—and had grown wings. He was not a baby dragon anymore, more like a teenager. And by pony standards, he was a young adult…and mature…and kind of handsome…

For Celestia’s sake, Rarity, what are you thinking? He’s a dragon! And also four or five years younger than you! How in Equestria could a dragon be handsome?

She realized that she had started thinking about the “Spike” subject again. Forcing herself to clear her mind, she sank her face into one of her numerous fluffy pillows on her enormous bed. She fell asleep quickly. After all, she was really tired.

Early the next morning, a slightly squeaky, but familiar voice interrupted Rarity’s beauty sleep.

“Rarity! It’s time to wake uuup! Don’t tell me you forgot. You told me we’d have a sister’s weekend last week!” Sweetie Belle yelled, roughly shaking her drowsy older sister. Rarity groaned. Even after receiving her cutie mark, Sweetie Belle was still as rambunctious as ever.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle? What in the world are you doing here at this early hour…” Rarity asked sleepily, rubbing her eye with a hoof.

“I’m sorry, sis. But I had to! Mom and dad are gone, and I was so hungry, but you don’t like me doing anything in your kitchen by myself… I still haven’t eaten any breakfast.” Sweetie Belle complained. Her stomach joined in, growling very audibly.

“Oh… Of course, Sweetie Belle. It’s excellent that you are finally listening to me…” Rarity mumbled. Minutes later, the fashionista was downstairs preparing both her and Sweetie Belle’s breakfasts while her sister hummed a happy tune, obviously excited about their ‘sister’s weekend’.

“So, how is everything going, Sweetie?” Rarity asked, using her magic to chop some carrots.

“As usual. Nothing really interesting…” The green-eyed filly replied. Suddenly she leaned closer to her older sister. “And what about you, Rarity? What did you dream about last night?“ Her face was curious.

“W-what?” If Rarity had had fingers, she would had suffered an accident while chopping her carrots. “Sweetie Belle, when did you become so interested about my dreams?” She asked, a little flustered. It was not as if she remembered what in Luna’s Realm she had dreamed about last night, but something made her nervous.

“Well, sis, you were talking in your sleep. Don’t be mad at me but it was kind of funny, ” The teenager filly giggled.

“Oh my Celestia! What did I say? How long were you standing there?” The carrots she was chopping began to take irregular shapes, very different from her usual precise slices. Her eyes widened in horror.

“Oh, only about a few minutes before I woke you up,” Sweetie Belle said innocently. “Well I didn’t get most of what you said. You were mumbling, and then you were kind of giggling and said something about… bushes… no, not bushes, spikes! You were talking about spikes!”

Rarity’s face went bright red. “SPIKE?!”

Sweetie Belle, ever the curious filly, did not fail to notice her sister’s discomfort. “Oh, yeah… now you say it, it was more like you were whispering about Spike… The rest of what you were talking about was illegible, though.” The filly said, pouting slightly.
Rarity felt a shiver going through her entire body. She knew what a gossip her little sister was with the rest of CMC. She might as well have yelled Spike’s name in the middle of town square at midday.

“Illegible?” Rarity asked, after noticing the oddity on her sister's speech.

“Oops, I meant… indecipherable. Well, whatever. What was your dream about, sis?“ Sweetie Belle insisted, now eager to finally learn about the mystery of the spikes. Rarity blushed and turned away from her ever-watchful little sister.

“Uh- well, actually, I-I don’t usually remember what I dreamt, you know, Sweetie,” Rarity responded. Technically she wasn’t lying at all. She remembered having a dream involving Spike, but not exactly what that dream was about. Sweetie Belle noticed that her sister had finished chopping the carrots and was now busy chopping air.

“Um, Rarity, what are you doing?” The younger mare asked bemused, her head over Rarity’s shoulder. Embarrassed, Rarity put the knife down and blushed again. Celestia-darn-it, her face couldn’t seem to stay white today.

“Oh dear, I was a bit distracted! Ha ha ha” Rarity giggled nervously. What in the world did I dream about… that involved Spike! And what else did I say? Or worse, what else did Sweetie Belle hear? This subject had to end. Now. Not that she didn’t want to know the answers, but Sweetie Belle talked about everything with her CMC friends. The truth would be their subject an entire week. It wasn’t as if like they wanted other ponies to know, but they were not very good at hiding things when other ponies were around. At the very least Applejack would find out about the matter, at least.

“Rarity, are you okay? You seem… nervous?” Sweetie Belle asked; her face showed concern.

“I’m fine! Fine! Fine!” Rarity made a superponied effort to regain her composure. And she almost succeeded. She had to find someway to kill the topic, or her little sister would suspect something about her feelings toward Spike. Wait, not suspect, Sweetie Belle just might jump to conclusions. Although a part of Rarity’s mind wanted this awkward conversation over and done with, her curiosity was stronger. Exactly what had she said while dreaming?

“But, I’m just curious, Sweetie… I wonder if just maybe, you heard anything else? I mean, did I say anything else in my sleep?”

“Rarity, are you sure you’re really feeling okay? Your face is…red!“ Sweetie Belle touched her older sister’s forehead with her forehoof. “Well, your forehead isn’t that hot, but maybe your cheek-” She didn’t finish that sentence, however, because Rarity quickly slapped Sweetie Belle’s hoof away.

“Sweetie Belle, whatever are you talking about? I’m perfectly fine! Why don’t you sit down and wait for breakfast?” Rarity stated. Her sister sighed, before complying. “And I asked you a question,” the fashionista pressed.

“Oh, well… I guess that was it important to you, huh? Ok, whatever, I don’t have anything else than what already told you. I just heard you say ‘Spike’ and then you giggled. The rest was illegi- indecipherable.” The teenaged filly was proud of catching herself.

“Sweetie Belle…” Rarity began.

“Yeah, I got it. I know ‘illegible’ isn’t the correct word to use…”

“No... It’s not that, darling. I just want to say that I don’t want you to tell anypony about this subject. Everything that happened from this morning when you snuck into my shop until this very moment, I don’t want anypony to know.” Rarity frowned. She was truly serious about the matter. “Not even your best friends, I mean the crusaders…”

“Huh? Is it that important? I don’t see why; it was just so funny…” The filly asked with a puzzled look.

“Even worse, I, Rarity, am not just for anypony to mock!” Rarity cried, slightly annoyed.

Sweetie Belle pouted. “But…“

“Do you promise?” Rarity stared at her sister.

“Oookay, I Pinkie Promise!” The younger filly said, nearly poking one of her eyes with a hoof.

“Oh, thank you so much, Sweetie! I really appreciate your confidence. Shall we eat our breakfast now?” Rarity served the two dishes that made up their breakfast: one for her and other for Sweetie Belle, along with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

“Rarity…” began Sweetie Belle, after gulping the last sip of her juice. “Do you have to work today? Because I can help yo-“

“Nooo! I mean… No, thank you! Don’t you have to go out with your little friends, Applebloom and Scootaloo today?” Rarity tried to control the nervousness in her voice.

"Mmmm nope, not today. Applebloom is stuck at an Apple family reunion at Sweet Apple Acres, and Scootaloo is racing with her scooter. She didn’t want any of us to cheer her. I have no idea why…” Sweetie Belle said. Her voice sounded a little down.

“What if you read a book?” Rarity asked. Even though Sweetie Belle’s “help” was always disastrous, Rarity didn’t want to see her sister spending the day around the shop, bored out of her mind.

“A book? I’m already tired of reading your boring fashion books…” The filly said, looking at the floor.

Then suddenly, Rarity’s face lit up, as if something really fabulous came to her mind. She was so excited about her sudden realization she even let herself giggle. Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but be puzzled; her older sister had been so weird today, more so than usual.

“What’s going on?” The filly asked.

“I-deeeaaa!” Rarity crooned, with an excited smile and sparkling eyes. “What if we go to the library? We could visit Twilight to ask her for a fabulous and thrilling book for you to read this weekend!” She blinked while waiting for her sister’s potentially equally excited response.

Sweetie Belle stared at her sister with an skeptical look. That book idea was not so exciting as to match Rarity’s level of reaction to it. Personally, Sweetie Belle had thought something cooler, like picnicking or visiting Pinkie Pie. “Oh, I thought it was something more… well, fabulous, as you said” Sweetie said, disappointedly.

“And isn’t it?” Rarity’s eyes sparkled in her little sister’s direction, thoroughly using the fatal ‘pouty face.’ What was it the urge to go back to the Library anyways? It was not like she wanted to go only to give Spike the new group of gemstones she had carefully selected for him, of course.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t sound too bad. And perhaps, you know, when you see Spike, you could even remember what you dreamed about last night!” Sweetie Belle gave a knowingly mischievous look at her sister.

“Sweetie Belle!! Have you already forgotten about our deal!” Rarity was horrified once again, her eyeballs almost popping out of their orbits.

“Of course not… Sorry!” Sweetie Belle said, before she started to giggle.

“What’s so funny?” Rarity asked now changing from horrified to slightly annoyed.

“Oh, nothing.” The green-eyed filly covered her mouth with her hoof, trying in vain to hide her grinning face from her sister.

“You’re not laughing at me, are you?”

Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but burst in laughter right there and then. Rarity simply signed, shaked her head and closed her eyes with a frown. “At least you should try to hide it!” she cried.

“I’m sorry,” apologized Sweetie Bell, holding in her chuckles.

Chapter 2: Discoveries

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Chapter 2: Discoveries

“What’s that for, sis?” Sweetie Belle asked her older sister, while watching her carrying a saddlebag full of gemstones.

“Sweetie Belle, could you help me with these, please?” Rarity asked, pointing to a pile of gemstones inside a basket.

“Uh, thanks for the response. Of course, as long as you tell me what is this stuff for” The filly insisted.

“Did you bring your saddlebag, darling? Because I have another one just in case…”

“RARITY!” Sweetie Belle couldn’t stand her sister ignoring her questions.

“Whatever do you want, Sweetie Belle!?” Rarity cried out.

“Are you going to tell me what are all these gems for, or not?” Sweetie Belle frowned, a bit exasperated.

“Oh, the gems... well, these are for…” She responded, avoiding her little sister’s gaze. “Did you brush your teeth, dear? We have to go out in few minutes; I’m ready so I’m just waiting for you to be, too” She tried to change the subject, while levitated an empty saddlebag towards her, and started filling it with the gemstones of the basket.

“Yes I did.” The Filly responded, with an annoyed voice, “And I’m ready to go. But what’s wrong with you, sis? Why are you avoiding my questions again? Aren’t you going to tell me what all these gems are for?” The filly remembered something about certain dream her sister have about a very particular kind of spikes, and jumped into a conclusion, “Hmmm I got it. These are for him, aren’t they?” She said looking at her sister with a mischievous grin, while levitating her own saddlebag towards her sister. Rarity received the saddlebag with her own magic.

“Oh, darling, the things you say. I was not avoiding your question, Sweetie, I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. I just got a bit distracted, that’s all, hahaha…” She laughed nervously at her sister’s inquiry, “I have a lot of work to do today so… I need to go to the Library quickly, that way I can be back to my job ASAP. That’s all. And…” She cleared her throat, while few gems fell to the floor in her clumsy attempt to move the gemstones from one saddlebag to another. “Umm yes, these are for Spike. Discarded stuff, that is.” She took the gems that were laying on the floor with her magic and put them in her sister’s saddlebag, levitating it towards the filly once it was full.

“Who in this world fails to carry just few gemstones using magic” Sweetie pointed to herself, rolling her eyes, and gave her older sister a suspicious glare. She didn’t say anything else, though. She knew the older mare would insist on acting as if all was going in a very casual and normal way, while she could clearly realize something really strange was going on with the fashionista today. And it had something to do with Spike, that was for sure.

The pink and lavender haired filly decided that she needed to find her fellow crusaders to discuss the subject; they would probably give her more clues regarding the matter at hoof.

That didn’t matter right now though, as they were going out to the Library. She figured that since her sister was going to be with Spike, she’d be able to investigate a bit more and learn something about her older sister’s weird behavior.

“Are we ready to go, darling?” Rarity asked, a slight blush appearing over her cheeks, something her sister immediately noticed.

“Of course, dear” She teased imitating her sister’s tone of voice.

“Very funny, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity whined, while levitating her sister’s saddlebag over the filly.

“Uh, this is kind of heavy, sister! Why don’t we better use a cart?” Sweetie Belle complained.

“Nonsense, dear. You have to be kidding! Stop whining and let’s go!” Rarity ignored her sister’s complaints and opened the door. They both left the Boutique, and started walking to the Library.

“Wow Spike, this breakfast was really delicious. You always find a way to overdo yourself, don’t you?” Twilight complimented her assistant after sipping the last drop juice from her glass.

“It’s nothing really. Although I would just want…” Spike said, with a fainted voice.

“Huh, what did you say?” Twilight noticed he hadn’t finished the phrase.

“Uh, um… It’s nothing, Twilight… I was just talking to myself, sorry.” The dragon stammered nervously as he started clearing the table. But it was late: Twilight had already noticed he was hiding something from her. And she was not going to give up with knowing just what it was.

“Spike, look at me” She gave him a concerned glare directly to his eyes, standing in front of him and putting her hooves on his shoulders. Spike tried to avoid her inquiring gaze. “I know you’re hiding something from me. You’ve been acting really weird these past days, and I need to know why.” Twilight stared at him, her eyes deadly serious. “You know I love you, that you are like a brother to me, right?” The dragon couldn’t help himself and broke down.

“It’s… it’s about, well… about her…” He said, in an almost inaudible tone. Even Fluttershy could speak louder than that. Twilight tried very hard to listen to what he was saying. Being in a library had the advantage of providing a very quiet ambience.

“Her. Ok. So we’re talking about Rarity, right?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“Every time you’re either too down or too happy, it’s because of her. I know you very well, Romeo. I hatched you, remember?” She said, smiling and winking at him. Spike giggled, looking at her.

“Ok, you’re right, you know me better than anypony else, I know that.”

“So, what’s going on this time? Did she say something to you? You have to understand that sometimes she just doesn’t think before speaking her mind…”

“It’s not that, Twi.” Spike interrupted. “She didn’t say anything at all, me feeling this way is not because of something she said. It’s just that I so miss her when she’s not with me. I just can’t stop thinking about her and knowing that I won’t see her today just makes me feel a bit depressed, that’s all.” He explained himself while wiping the breakfast table, avoiding her eyes once again. “But it’s ok. It’s ok. I just need to keep myself busy so I can stop thinking about how badly I want her and…” He stopped, bringing his claws to his face and covering his mouth, eyes wide like platters staring right at Twilight, frightened. She returned the look.

“S-Spike! What did you just say?” It was not what he had said but the how it had been said. Like if he gotten possessed, some kind of demonic lapsus. His voice was hungry and wild, like that of a beast.

They both stared at each other for few minutes, without saying anything. Then Twilight broke the silence.

“Spike, I thought… this was a simple crush, nothing else… right?” She gave him a stern look, waiting for his response, despite the fact she already knew the answer.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s more like it was, as you said…” He responded, looking at the table as if he would find an answer in the woody surface. “It was a crush at first, but later become something more, something stronger… I don’t know why… Wait, No. I do know. She’s so… beautiful, so fine, so generous, so hardworking and really, really talented, and even the dramatic way she whines for something others may consider insignificant, even fainting sometimes…” They both giggled after this last statement, Spike blushing bright red. “…All these things, I-I-I” He stopped, Twilight eagerly looking at him. “Ok, why try to deny it? You’d have figured it out sooner or later: I love her, Twilight. I love Rarity, more than anything else in the world” He finished, this time giving her a mix of determined and ashamed glare, just a second later he looked away.

“Awww Spike… That was the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard, you’ve really grown up…” She

said, with a tender voice, and emotional face, slight smile on her lips.

“Come on, Twi, I’m not that much younger than you are!” Spike exclaimed, frowning at his ‘big sister’.

“But still, it’s like just it was yesterday that you were a little egg…” She insisted.

“This is serious, Twi…” He said harshly, still frowning.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Her face now showing concern, as did her tone. “So, you really love her, it is not just a simply crush anymore,” He nodded and she continued, “And how far are you willing to go with this? Do you even know how she feels about you?” the lavender pony inquired.

“I don’t know Twilight. You know, I don’t want to set my expectations very high… I know she would never see me as more as a friend, since I’m not the stallion she’s looking for and deserve-”

“Don’t say that, Spike…” Twilight interrupted. Spike didn’t let her finish.

“I’m a dragon, Twilight! I knew this was just a dream but my feelings for her overcame me! I really tried to stop… but they grew stronger. Even when I know I’m way out my league here, sometimes I get confused, I mean… sometimes I feel like she… maybe…” He groaned in madness. “See what I mean? I know it’s imposible, but still have a little hope! I’m so naive, but can’t help but feel like that, and then I get depressed when I come back to earth and confront the truth once again...”

Twilight now was starting to feel sad. How could he think like that? He was just too awesome as to feel that way. “What you mean, what is this ‘truth’ you’re talking about?”

“Are you listening to what I’m saying, Twi? The truth! The fact that she would never feel the same way for me” He said, this time a tear escaped from his eye and ran down his cheek. He groaned. “Oh my… all this sappy stuff just drives me all… um… well, sappy!” Spike added, sniffing loudly and wiping the furtive tear away by brusquely rubbing its watery path with his claw.

“Nonsense! This is serious, you said so yourself!” Twilight cried out, trying to hold back her own tears. “And why are you stating this as if it was a fact, have you even told her how you really feel?”

Spike rolled his eyes, sniffling. “Please, Twi…”

“And why do you say you sometimes get your hopes up? Isn’t she very attentive to you too, always showing to everypony and to yourself she really appreciates you! She doesn’t treat anypony else like she treats you and you can’t deny that fact” She stared firmly at him.

“That’s true, and that probably means she really loves me, but just like a friend. And that’s all. She’s also very affectionate to all her other friends. It just so happens that I’m her closest male friend, so it’s quite obvious she’d treat me differently than she does other stallions” He stated. Twilight just couldn’t find a counter to that.

“Ok Spike.” She gave in, embracing him. “I can’t tell how she really feels about you but you don’t either. You should ask her. After all, Rarity is… well… Rarity. She has a big heart, so you might never know unless you ask, and the sooner you find out, the better.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’m just so afraid this could ruin our friendship. I couldn’t live without her in my life, even if just as a friend…”

“But you can’t keep on getting depressed either, because you really want her”. She pointed, looking straight into his eyes.

“Uh… Twilight… about that… I don’t even know why I said it. It was just a weird lapsus.” He said in his defense, breaking the hug apart, and looking away, avoiding her gaze.

“Are you sure it was just a lapsus? Spike, if there is anything else you have to tell me, then please do, I need to know. You know I will do all I can to help you, as your friend and as your almost-older-sister.” She said, frowning.

“I know that, and thanks, really. But again, I didn’t mean of what I just said.” Spike finished, without letting Twilight see his face.

A few minutes of silence passed, and Twilight sighed.

“Ok, right. Anyway, what you have to do next is go and tell Rarity how you feel, ASAP! You have to solve this, and not for your own sake only. You can’t continue to hide your feelings.” Twilight said bluntly.

“Ok, Twi… Easy to say, but how the hay am I going to do that?” He asked in an exasperated tone of voice.

“Ask her to go out on a date.” Twilight suggested.

“A date? Are you crazy? That would be too obvious!”

“But, if she says yes, then you’re not that far from her feeling the same, because why would she accept if she wasn’t even a tiny little bit interested? Then you’ll be ready for the next step!” Twilight was getting excited now.

“Yeah, you are really crazy. But crazy or not you do have a point there. So I will do it. I will do it!” He couldn’t help but feel excited himself after hearing Twilight’s last words, and gave her a shy smirk. He shouted his thanks with a hearty: “Thanks Twi!” and immediately ran out of the kitchen and upstairs.

“Hey Spike! You forgot to wash the dishes!” Twilight cried out, but didn’t get any response from the dragon. She sighed and decided doing it herself. “This one goes for you, Spike, my not-so-anymore little brother”.

Spike entered his room, and searched for his tuxedo, the one he had used for the latest Grand Galloping Gala. “If I’m going to invite her to a date, it has to be a nice and elegant place. And I have to be on a par with that”. He pulled his tuxedo from the wardrobe and tried to put the outfit on, but it got torn at the shoulders. “Oh, the hay!” He cursed at the realization. He certainly grown up since the Gala, and his muscles and back were now larger. His suit didn’t fit anymore.

“What in Celestia’s world will I do now?” He sighed. He suddenly heard a giggle behind him and turned to find Twilight laughing at him from the doorway. “What are you doing in my room, Twilight? Are you spying me?” He questioned, really annoyed.

“I’m sorry Spike, but you forgot to close the door, and I heard you complaining, so I got curious. Now I see why…” She said, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Yeah, I knew this wouldn’t work anyway. Now I don’t have a proper outfit to go out with Rarity. What am I going to do now? Sheesh!”

“You only need a new one, Romeo” Twilight mocked her assistant.

“And how I’m supposed to get a new one? Oh, of course, I can just tell Rarity to make me a new one!” The dragon sarcastically commented.

“Sure, that’s what you have to do.” The purple unicorn said, seemingly pretty sure of herself.

“How can I ask her to make me an outfit for me to ask her out, that doesn’t make any sense!”

“You don’t have to tell her why, just tell her it’s for the next Gala, or for a Royal business trip to Canterlot, and she’ll be happy to do it, she won’t suspect a thing. It’s just an excuse for her to make a new dress and you know how much she loves to make new dresses!” Twilight knew this was not totally true, though. Rarity was very smart and could get suspicious but she wouldn’t say no, even if Spike was lying to her, so it was okay.

Spike’s eyes widened and he looked back to his mirror, with the ruined old tuxedo still on him.

“Ok, I’ll do it. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea after all”

“And, you’ll get to spend more time with her too, Casanova.” She teased.

He rolled his eyes. After one minute or two of not saying anything, he spoke up. “Thank you, Twilight. I-I really love you. No in the same way as I love Rarity, though!”

“I know that, silly! And… I love you too, in that same way you do to me I mean!” She laughed, and Spike hugged her tightly, both of them continuing to laugh until they broke the hug.

Few minutes later, Rarity and Sweetie Belle arrived to the Library. Twilight opened the door, inviting her friends to enter.

“Good Morning, darling!” Rarity smiled happily while entering the Library, followed by her by her sibling.

“Why, hello Rarity! And Sweetie Belle, what a surprise!” The lavender unicorn smiled at her visitors.

“Hi Twi!” Sweetie Belle waved with a hoof. And almost instantly, as she stepped into the library, she levitated her heavy saddlebag from her back onto the floor. “Oof” She complained.

“What brings you both here today?” Twilight asked.

“My sister wanted to give these gems to Spike. Is he in?” The filly responded, before Rarity could speak. The perfect mane unicorn just looked away, blushing.

“Oh, even more gemstones? You’re giving Spike enough to start his own hoard, Rarity, seriously…” Twilight pointed out.

“What, Twilight? Why you do say that?” Sweetie Belle asked, curious.

“Well, she gave him another pile just few days ago…” Now both Twilight and Sweetie Belle stared at Rarity.

“Oh! Um- Well, yes! I just needed some more space, as I said. And as this new Sapphire Shore’s order requires some very specific kind of gems, I…”

“Yeah, you already explained that the other day Rarity, about your lack of space problem in your store…” Twilight interrupted, with an unexpressive glare.

“Lack of space? But I saw you have quite a lot of free room in your cellar, Sis…”

Both Sweetie Belle and Twilight glared at Rarity, as if they were trying to read her mind. They were not oblivious to the bright blush on her face, and how nervous she was getting but a quick set of footsteps (or clawsteps in this case) coming down the stairs saved her from the awkward questioning. It was Spike, who had just heard Rarity’s voice and had ran downstairs to meet her.

“Hi Rarity! How’re you today!” He waved his claw to the anxious white mare, a big smile on his face, and cheerful tone in his voice. He noticed Sweetie Belle was there, too. “Oh and, Hi, Sweetie Belle!” He added, looking at the filly just less than a second before looking back at Rarity.

Sweetie Belle felt as if a light bulb shined up inside her mind, and grinned at her realization, “So… I finally get what’s going on here!” she thought, proud of herself. She looked at Rarity’s face, and later to Spike’s. They were both standing in front of each other. Dumb giant smiles over both flushed faces. Rarity seemed to have forgotten about the recent awkward questions she had been subjected to a few minutes ago and then, Spike came and it was as if everything had turned into a magical parade of rainbows and flowers.

The fashionista waved at the dragon, greeting him back.

“Good Morning, Spikey-wikey, how has your day been today?” She added, still looking at him with an ear to ear smile and sparkling eyes. The funniest thing was he had a very similar dumb smile.

“Look at that, did she call him Spikey-wikey? What a silly nickname!” The filly thought to herself, amused.

“Very nice, Rarity, though it’s getting better by the minute, ever since you first set a hoof in here.” He said in a gallant tone that made the white mare blush in an even brighter shade of red, if that was even possible.

“Aw, Spike… you flatter me…” She said, giving him a seductive glare, as she blinked her eyelashes. This time the dragon could feel his face burning under his scales, trying hard to look casual by scratching his neck.

“Oh and look at that… can’t wait to tell Applebloom and Scootaloo about this!” Sweetie Belle laughed at herself, really excited. She had the urge to use this as a weapon to tease her older sister. “Um, hey, Rarity, aren’t you giving him the gemstones you selected for him now? You should get that heavy saddlebag off your back, before you get back pain or something…” She said, trying to sound normal.

Before Rarity could say anything, Spike stepped in and took the saddlebags off of her back.

“Now that’s speed” Sweetie Belle thought.

“Why thank you, Spike! You are always such a gentledragon.” Rarity complimented him with a sweet smile.

“Oh, it was nothing.” Spike responded, still holding the heavy saddlebag that, at least to him, didn’t seem to be heavy at all actually.

“So sister, tell him what we came for already! Remember we don’t have too much time!” The white filly said, levitating her saddlebag with great effort towards Spike’s side. Then Rarity fell into the trap.

“Oh, be quiet, Sweetie Belle.” She reprimanded her teenage sister. “Here, Spike, I brought these gems for you.” Rarity looked away from his eyes, blushing slightly once again.

“Wow, these are a lot! I don’t know what to say say, Rarity… but thankya!” Spike said to the object of his affection, looking in amazement at the two saddlebags filled to the brim with delicious gems. “But why… is it my birthday today, I seem to have forgotten about it.” He teased, trying to understand why Rarity had come on a Saturday morning just to give him this present, at least if one had to go by what Sweetie Belle had just said moments ago.

The fashionista was naturally generous, and was quite used to giving him discarded gems as snacks. In fact, she had already done this a few days ago, but this seemed to be something more special, maybe to thank him for the help he had provided during the gemhunt the other day? But that was no need to give him a thank-you present, he had done it because he wanted to, he didn’t want her to feel obligated to give something back as payment.

Rarity was speechless. She felt like something was wrong, out of place. But she didn’t know exactly what it was. Sweetie Belle’s interventions made the whole situation all messy.

Rarity was used to choosing each word she said to Spike very carefully when she was in front of Twilight or any of the others, to avoid misunderstanding, but now it was all out of control. She couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, as if she was a little filly that got caught making a secret prank. Her blush couldn’t be redder and more obvious than it was right now.

“W-well… n-no, Spike. I-is not that, I mean…” Then she remembered something that may save her. The ‘real’ reason they came to the library today! “These are discarded gems, after all, just like the ones I gave you the other day, remember?” She laughed nervously. “And Sweetie and I just came to ask Twilight for a book for her to read, so we’ll have something entertaining to do this weekend, wouldn’t want her to get bored while I work. Sapphire Shore’s order, as you know. That’s it!”

She sighed after the last phrase, feeling as if she were a soldier coming back from the battlefield. However, it didn’t take her long to regain her composure, as if everything was returning to normal, finally. She was sure that she would have not been able to handle the awkwardness for another single second. Rarity felt herself smile, satisfied and proud of her achievement.

But then she noticed Spike had a disappointed look, his smiled had banished from his face, his eyes locked on the floor with a sad expression.

“Oh but Spike dear, I don’t know how you came to think this was a special gift, as if it was your birthday or something. What a nonsense darling, for such a really special occasion I would have prepared something really fabulous for you. I wouldn’t come here to give you just with a pile of ordinary gems!” Spike’s smile returned in response to the unicorn’s sweet words.

Had she noticed how he was feeling and tried to do something to fix the situation? His heart skipped a beat at this realization. He wasn’t able to say anything though, because what could one say? “How can’t I love you, Rarity…” he just thought. His smile was enough to make Rarity feel at ease, happy that she had made up for he earlier comments that might have hurt the dragon. Such an occurrence would certainly be the WORST POSSIBLE THING to do, even if it wasn’t her intention.

“So Twilight, darling,” She now looked up at the lavender unicorn, who was already heading towards one of the shelves.

“Sure, I have few books you may be interested on, Sweetie Belle” Twilight said to the filly.

“Thanks Twilight” Sweetie Belle moved closer to her, to check the books the lavender unicorn had started to levitate from various shelves. The filly decided to stop teasing her sister; she already had what she wanted. For her, the facts were clear and undeniable, her older sister had a crush on Spike and even better, it seemed he felt the same way about her, what a thrilling and touching thing.

After Sweetie Belle made her choices, three romantic novels to be accurate, both her and her sister stepped towards the door, saying goodbye to Spike and Twilight.

“See you soon, girls!” waved the unicorn librarian.

“Bye…” The dragon muttered, in a slightly angry tone.

Once he made sure both white unicorns had left, Spike sighed and snorted smoke out of his nostrils, frowning madly.

“What’s wrong, Spike?” Twilight asked, concerned.

“What? Nothing. Nothing at all” He replied harshly.

“Come on Spike, you were so happy when Rarity got here, but now you seem to be… angry?” Twilight insisted.

The dragon tried to manage a fake smile, Twilight was right. But he didn’t want her to worry and he certainly wasn’t in the mood to start explaining himself. “Oh it’s nothing. I just… didn’t want her to leave so soon, that’s all,” That was true, in part at least. “I’m going to put these with the others.” He quickly took both saddlebags and stepped upstairs. Twilight just sighed, and headed back to her books. It was noon already and she was in the middle of a very interesting book.

Chapter 3: Hypnotic Effect

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Chapter 3: Hypnotic Effect

“Sweetie Belle, just what in Celestia’s name was that?” Rarity exclaimed, furious, as she slammed the door shut behind her.

“Oh, so you finally decided to speak with me after giving me the silent treatment during our way here…” Sweetie Belle replied nonchalantly.

"You should be happy I'm even talking to you," Rarity said, her front legs crossed, "Even if it's only because you're my sister. Now, do you want to get anything off your chest?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Sweetie Belle said, looking away from her sister, whose patience was wearing very thin by now.

"Well! If you aren't planning to apologize or explain yourself, then I suppose there's nothing more to say!" Rarity raised her nose into the air and sniffed, "But now I know not to trust my sister again." And then she turned and walked away to her studio, not looking at her sister.

“Trust me? When have you ever trusted me? I should be the disappointed one, I mean, you had something that important and didn’t think it was necessary to tell me, your own sister!” Sweetie Belle countered with an annoyed voice. Rarity stopped right in her tracks and turned to face her little sister, approaching her with a clear frown on her face.

“Excuse me, just what are we talking about here?” Questioned Rarity, her nose practically glued to her little sister’s.

“That’s exactly what I’d like to know.” Sweetie Belle fired back, bearing the same stern expression as her sister.

Rarity stopped before she left the room and sighed, deciding to give it one last chance, "I don't suppose you want to at least explain why you were trying to complicate things with Spike? Did you even think about what it would do to him?" She turned to face her sister again.

Sweetie Belle grinned in a decidedly mischievous manner, "I bet Spike's the most important thing to you right now, isn't he?" Her grin quickly turned to a smug smile as Rarity shot her an angry glare. Her remark had definitely hit the target dead on.

“Excuse me? Of course not! I mean I’m obviously worried about, well you know, hurting his feelings. There is something that you should know, it is something complicated… but maybe it is time for you to know. After all you are almost old enough…” Rarity tried to avoid Sweetie Belle’s gaze, blushing a little bit. Sweetie Belle was surprised by the sudden reversal of the mood, staring back with eyes wide open and a severe case of anxiety, waiting for her older sister to say something about her relationship with the dragon. Perhaps she would even confess that she liked him.

“Come on Rarity, you know you can trust me!” Sweetie Belle encouraged her sister, her big green eyes beaming with anticipation. Rarity shut her own, a faint trace of the blush still visible under her white cheeks.

“Fine… but what I’m about to tell you is only for you and you only. It is not something that I want all Ponyville to hear about, understood? This also applies to your friends.” Rarity said, her tone deadly serious, and then silently waited for Sweetie Belle's response.

“Of course silly, and since you are finally trusting me then you have my word, Pinkie Promise!” claimed the small pony while going through the motions and finally placing one her hooves in her eye, punctuating it with a loud “Ow!”.

“All right.” Taking a deep breath, the unicorn with the perfectly stylized mane continued “Spike confessed to me that about… umm… 3 years ago? Do you remember when Ponyville was almost destroyed by a gigantic dragon?”

“Of course I do, everyone else does. Everyone knows he did it, too… but what does that have to do with his confession?” The little pony’s eyes where blazing with curiosity her small body unable to contain all of her excitement.

“Well, you know… he was… he had… he sort of has a crush on me…” Said Rarity, avoiding her sister’s eyes. “Now do you understand why I was so hesitant to tell you and why it’s a delicate matter?”

Sweetie Belle was astonished at what she had just heard. All of the jokes she had been hearing about Spike and her sister started to make a lot of sense, but this raised other, more important questions, how had everyone found out, had Rarity told them too?

"That’s impossible, she would never do that." she thought. Noticing the confusion reflected on her little sister's face, Rarity inquired:

"What’s the problem, Sweetie Belle? This wasn't really a well-kept secret; as a matter of fact, somebody else already knew."

“But how did he say it? And what did you tell him?”

“What did you expected me to say?” Rarity’s cheeks started to glow hot red as she abruptly added “Anyway, that’s beside the point, the reason I’m telling you this is because that your attitude back at the Library could have hurt Spike’s feelings. Now, I understand that you weren’t aware of this but from now I expect you to be more polite and cautious.”

“But what about your feelings Rarity?” asked the little pony, concern dripping from her tone.

Rarity looked back at her sister with a confused look on her eyes.

“M-my feelings? W-w-what are you talking about Sweetie Belle… we are not talking about that.” After she recovered from the shock she continued “Anyhow, to me Spike is… he is… a great friend. And I would hate to lose his friendship because a misunderstanding caused by your recklessness!” Nevertheless, her eyes never met those of her sister.

“Misunderstanding? I’m sorry to ask but, what misunderstanding are we talking about? We both know you like him back and I sincerely can’t see the probl-“ Sweetie Belle was interrupted by Rarity, who by now seemed to be quite shaken and extremely nervous.

“What did you just say? I never said that… umm… that I have feelings for him, where did you get that ludicrous idea?” Cried the purple maned unicorn.

“Nopony, it doesn’t take a genius to realize your have feelings for our dear dragon” Sweetie Belle replied with a frank and natural tone, not the best idea if she wanted to calm down her sister. Rarity’s response was composed of a stuttered series of incoherent words and sounds and it took a couple of minutes before she was finally able to articulate something that made sense.

“Pl-eeeease Sweetie Belle, I have no idea what you are talking about. As I just told you I lov… like Spike as a friend, that’s all there is to it. Now, if you excuse me, I need to do some chores before lunch.” Rarity turned around and left to her room, not giving Sweetie Belle a chance to say another word. Resigned, Sweetie returned to her room with one of the books Twilight had lent her.

“Well I just can’t seem to understand anything. Let’s see if these romantic novels have any clues.” Sweetie Belle opened a book with her magic and lying on her bed, started reading.

Twilight kept knocking on the door to Spike’s room, it wasn’t normal for the drake to sleep in, especially considering it was already 10 AM on a Sunday. He was usually quite diligent in his job as her number one assistant “Spike, I’m coming in.” warned the lavender mare while opening the door softly and carefully. What she saw inside left her perplexed.

There, sleeping on a pile of gems, laid the dragon, almost as if he was hugging the precious stones. Goosebumps ran through Twilight’s body with the shady look Spike gave her when he opened his eyes. She stammered a lot and could only utter a weak “S-Spike, are you feeling well?” Spike remained motionless in the same position, hugging the jewels even tighter than before. Eyes still fixed on his big sister he snorted, some smoke coming out of his nostrils. Only then did he return to his usual and proper self.

“Oh Twilight!” babbled the young drake after shaking his head and leaping away from the jewels that were improvised his bed, still quite embarrassed. “G-Good morning, I’ll get started on our breakfast right away. I’m sorry I overslept” Spike excused himself, while scratching his neck nervously. Twilight kept on looking at him, still looking confused and not knowing how to react to what she had just witnessed. Suddenly the sound of her hungry stomach broke the awkward silence, and forcing her to put her inquiries on hold, at least until breakfast.

“Ok Spike…” was all that Twilight could say while leaving the room and heading downstairs to the kitchen.

“Thanks Spike, this smells wonderful” said Twilight while she prepared herself to devour her pancakes, freshly prepared by the dragon that she almost considered a brother.

“You are welcome” said Spike and added “I’m supposed to do that anyways.” He concluded in a humble way just as he took a pancake and engulfed it without even munching. After the breakfast took place, the interrogation, that was inevitable, started.

“Spike about this morning…” Said Twilight in a comprehensive tone seeking to prevent Spike from running away from the situation “Is there anything you would like to tell me? Because being brutally honest, I found your behavior somewhat weird. Not to mention I had to enter your room to see why you weren’t answering.”

“I knew you would ask” said the dragon apologetically “Honestly I don’t know myself. All I remember is waking up this morning in that position.” His voice now with a desperate edge to it as he continued “I don’t know what is happening to me Twilight, I’m scared” said the young drake, on the verge of breaking into tears.

These last words softened Twilight’s heart. Trying to console her friend, while aiming to gain his trust, she got closer to him, embracing the dragon with one of her front legs. “You can trust me Spike. Maybe if you tell me what is happening I could help you out? Come on, tell your older sister.” She looked at Spike with a reassuring smile, trying to inspire the dragon to open his heart and tell her everything that was tormenting him.

Her efforts were not for naught and Spike began telling her what was happening. He told her about his fear of being consumed by greed that would transform him in a monster. The strange feelings he felt for Rarity, love in one hand and the desire to possess her as the most important part of his hoard on the other.

Twilight couldn’t help but worry about the fact that Spike considered Rarity as his most precious gem, to keep and treasure, but in the end as a gem. Spike tried to explain that he really loved Rarity, but deep inside felt the need to have her as his possession as soon as possible.

“That is the reason I feel so irritable whenever she leaves. It angers me not being able to be with her all the time.” After one long sigh he continued “Do you believe you can find an answer to this problem? Or do you believe is better that I… leave Ponyville forever?” Spike added, his eyes betraying his sorrow and despair at the mere thought of having to leave his friends and family behind.

“I don’t want to hear you say something like that ever again, Spike! This is your home and you have no reason to leave! We will find an answer to this problem. If you have been able to overcome this on your own until now, then you should be able to keep going until we do. I trust you and I believe that you are capable of solving this.” Twilight started patting his head, being a little bit brusque due to all the intense feelings coursing through her.

“But I’m scared of destroying Ponyville again, or worse, hurting you… or Rarity, don’t you remember that I even kidnapped her?”

“That’s true, but don’t forget that you were able to regain your senses and come back.” Twilight smiled playfully. “Rarity is always the first to tell that story whenever there’s a chance to.”

Spike couldn’t avoid blushing.

“That said, I’m happy you decided to trust me and told me about this, now we can start working on your problems and on finding a solution. And well, you know that even the Princess will be there for you if you need her.”

“Please don’t get the Princess involved in this; she has many things to worry about…”

“For crying out loud Spike, you are one of the heroes of Equestria, just remember how many times she had to place the fate of the kingdom in our hoofs, claws in your case, so don’t be silly. We will find a solution but for the time being I believe you need to relax a little bit. Although I would like to ask, how did you manage to return to your normal self that time? Maybe the key to all of this lays there.”

If Spike was already red, this last statement made his face bright as a ripe tomato. The memory of what happened there and how Rarity got involved in all of that were the cause of his actual state. “Oh that, well you see” he stammered, for he felt a little bit embarrassed to explain how everything came to be. Fortunately for the dragon, Twilight decided to give everything a rest, as she felt that she had already attained enough information and didn’t think it would be wise to press the issue anymore.

“You know what, Spike? Let’s just leave it at that for the time being. What is clear indeed is that some distraction will make you feel better. Also, do remember that you still have something to say to Rarity.” Twilight gave Spike a suggestive look, while floating a pair of saddlebags towards the dragon. “How about you go to the boutique and gently return these to their owners?.”

Spike smiled excitedly and took the bags with his claws, pausing only to give his surrogate sister a strong and tight hug. “Thanks Twi, you are the best.” Twilight returned the affection for a minute and then nudged her assistant to the door, watching as Spike dashed out of the library to accomplish his new appointed task.

“Rarity, there’s somepony at the door!” Sweetie Belle shouted, waking up her sleeping sister.

“Ungh… what time is it?” Rarity yawned, waking up slowly and removing her mask only to find that she had been hugging a pillow. A bit embarrassed, she pushed herself away and started rubbing her eyes.

“Almost eleven”

“Oh my, why didn’t you wake me up earlier, did you already have breakfast?” She inquired, sounding somewhat worried.

“Yeah, don’t worry; I made something since I couldn’t find a way to get you up… you worked so hard last night that I figured you could use the extra sleep” The younger unicorn said.

“Awww… that’s really sweet, but I do hope you didn’t burn anything.” Rarity commented, noticing that the bell was still chiming, a sure sign that her sister had yet to see who it was. “Would you be a dear and get that for me, Sweetie? I need some time to get ready.”

Sweetie dashed downstairs, while her sister ran to the bathroom to shower at the speed of light; using her magic to dry and comb her mane to the perfect form it always has and then jumped after her little sister, intending to find out who had dared disturb them on a Sunday morning (actually, it was almost afternoon, but it would have been impossible to convince Rarity of that right now). While making her way down, the dressmaker heard a voice that made her heart jump with rejoice. It was Spike’s. Suddenly the idea of an unwelcomed visitor seemed to vanish away as Rarity hastened her steps to meet the dragon.

“Oh Spike, Darling, what a pleasant surprise” the unicorn greeted the dragon with a warm smile.

Spike started scratching his neck; somehow it felt as though she had been expecting him, what with her acting so cozy and warm.

“Hey Rarity… I just came to return these saddlebags, it was the least I could do after you presented me with those gems yesterday.” Spike quickly explained himself while looking down at the ground, blushing and a bit embarrassed.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have Spikey-wikey” She took the saddlebags with her magic and set them aside.

Spike tried to gather some courage for what he was about to say but with Sweetie Belle around this was proving to be quite a difficult feat. Thankfully, something completely unexpected saved him the trouble of having to rise up to the occasion, right after the awkward silence that took place after they had both said their greetings.

“Oh my, look at the time, I believe we should get started on our lunch.” said Rarity while looking at the watch and then added just before Spike had a chance to speak “So um... how about you stay over, darling?”

Spike was stunned by the sudden invitation, but he couldn’t ignore the also sudden blush that appeared on the cheeks of his beloved, the very mare who was, right now, looking at him expectantly, waiting for his answer. Spike staggered a little bit but realized that this was the perfect opportunity to do what he really had come to do. “O-of Course I would love to, though I wouldn’t want to impose…”

“Don’t worry about it, Spike. Besides I can make you one of your favorite dishes, I have a couple of gems that I just know you’ll adore!” saying no more, Rarity headed into her study, just to reappear a couple of seconds later with a bunch of gems held in her magic grasp, accompanying her into the kitchen. “Lunch will be ready soon.” She added before disappearing from Spike’s and Sweetie Belle’s (who had remained discreetly silent) sight. And just like she promised, the table was soon set and ready.

“Wow, Rarity, these look delicious, thank you!” Spike exclaimed upon seeing his plate, which was, obviously, the one with the gems. The treats were placed in a beautiful pattern that matched their colors and sizes, denoting great care and taste from the fashionista’s part. His chair was placed exactly opposite to Rarity’s, where they could both look at each other, while Sweetie Belle sat between them.

During lunch, the dragon and the designer talked happily, while Sweetie Belle finished her lunch without even having a chance to take part in the conversation. They spoke about Canterlot, fashion trends and duties Spike had in the Library, which didn’t sound too appealing for the younger pony and gave almost no opportunities to add anything. She started to feel a little bit awkward since the other two had seemingly forgotten about her presence. They just talked, smiled and looked at each other. Hence, she had already finished her lunch while Spike and Rarity had barely touched theirs. Sweetie Belle asked for permission to leave, to which her sister consented paying no mind to what she was asked.

Finding this to be the perfect opportunity to speak with Rarity, Spike mustered all the courage he could find in his body and got ready to ask about his new tuxedo. As soon as the unicorn finished talking about her new line of hats, he decided to speak his mind.

“Um Rarity… changing the topic…” the dragon’s tone reflected extreme nervousness, so Rarity encouraged him to speak, curious as to just what could make the otherwise friendly and outgoing dragon to become so shy and timid.

“Please tell me, darling, you have my whole attention” She smiled winking at him without letting the dragon leave her gaze.

“Well you see… I wanted to ask you something… not really a favor, but more of a commission, so to speak.”

“Whatever it is, I will be delighted to do it for you” Rarity interrupted him, sounding excited and blushing slightly when she noticed the awkward silence that had followed her outburst “I mean, you want some kind of suit, am I correct?” she followed her statement with a nervous giggle.

“Oh, sure, that. Well, you know the Gala is getting awfully close and…”

“The Gala, darling, but isn’t a couple of months away?”

“Yes, yes, you are right but… well, you know I usually go to Canterlot on official business due to my job as Royal Envoy and such, and well…” Spike couldn’t find any more words or arguments to justify his request. He obviously couldn’t tell her the REAL reason, that he wanted it for the date he had planned to invite her to. The drake realized that, in hindsight, his plan was rather blunt; perhaps he could ask her out first and then ask for a suit? Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t ready to invite her out just yet. Rarity’s next move, however, rescued Spike from his current distress.

“Of course, I understand darling, so what you really need is some kind of tuxedo, right? I noticed you have grown a lot these last months and the one you used the last gala probably doesn’t fit anymore, am I correct?” Rarity batted her eyelashes at him, clearly she wasn’t easily fooled.

“That’s exactly it!” Spike said, beaming with satisfaction (in no small part due to the fact that she had noticed his last growth spurt).

“Then, we have a deal Spike. Of course I will have to take measurements… would tomorrow be all right, say at about five or six?”

“Sure, I’ll make sure to be here.” Spike beamed at her. One thing was for sure, he had lucked out on this one, either Rarity’s generous nature of maybe her fascination with the new challenge presented before her (or both) made the reason behind the drake’s request unimportant. Glad to have reached a satisfactory conclusion, they both continued with their lunches.

In the meantime, Sweetie Belle had tried to read her novel but to no avail, she couldn’t stop thinking about what her sister and the dragon could be doing or talking about while she was gone. Sighing loudly, she closed the book and was about to take a nap when a bright new idea crossed her mind. Smiling mischievously, the small unicorn silently made her way towards the kitchen where Rarity and Spike were still going at their meals. She peeked through the door, making sure she could pass unnoticed.

There they were, eating from their respective plates, not speaking at all. “At this rate it will take forever for these two to admit they have feelings for each other” the young unicorn sighed again. What she wanted was some action; a kiss would be a good start she thought. And it just happened that she had a plan.

Spike finished his meal, making sure to savour the last gem as much as he could: it was delicious, not only because of its quality but because Rarity, of all ponies, had given it to him and that alone made it the best gem he had ever eaten. He smiled sheepishly at his own thoughts and then at the pure white unicorn before him. “Thanks for inviting me, Rarity, this was truly delicious.”

“I’m glad you liked it and there is nothing to be grateful for dear. It was my pleasure” She smiled with a slight blush in her cheeks.

“It’s amazing, you know, that besides being a talented designer, you are also a master chef” claimed the dragon, making the unicorn blush even more.

“Um… thanks for the compliment Spike, but I believe you are exaggerating a little. Most of the flavor of those gems came from their own nature, not my ability to prepare them.” She concluded while fixing her mane and looking to another side with a timid smile.

Spike, that looked at her while squinting shooting her with his best, most seductive smile, resting his head on his fist as he did so. “But you are the one who found them with your magic, and you are also the one who chose them, if not they would still be underground. The credit is still all yours.”

To say Rarity was stunned would be an understatement, she had never seen or heard Spike act like that, and she had to admit it was extremely gallant. She liked what she was hearing, not because of her ego but because Spike was the one saying it.

Meanwhile, Spike had no idea as to where that… that courage, that smoothness, that willingness to hit on Rarity so openly had come from. He felt more and more confident, he felt strong, so strong that he could even imagine himself asking his love out on date right there and then. If Rarity’s cheeks and the way her eyes were fixed on him were anything to go by, she would certainly say yes.

A romantic melody seemed to play in the background, adding even more ambience to the already charged situation. Rarity found herself lost in Spike’s green eyes, she was at a loss of what to respond to his incessant (and quite charming, she had to admit) compliments. She felt her heart racing under her chest, making her feel as if she was floating among clouds. The background music beckoned her closer to him, luring her into a deep trance that slowly pushed her to… wait a second, background music? Rarity blinked the spell that had her now broken as her muddied brain struggled to comprehend what was going on.

“Sweetie Belle!” She shouted, standing abruptly and looking at the door: standing there was her little sister, a terrified look on her face having just been caught in the act (so to speak). Spike was still trying to figure out what had happened. It was obvious that the music had come from none other than Sweetie Belle, the beauty of her voice certainly did her cutie mark justice, for she was not only able to sing with an amazing tone but also to compose melodies that had an hypnotic effect to them, or so it seemed to Spike.

“I’m sorry sis, I was just… just passing by and felt like singing a tune that just came to me while I was reading. Oh, look at the time; I must be going now, bye and see you later!” Sweetie Belle made a quick escape, laughing nervously and locking herself in her own room as soon as she was out of sight. Facing an angry Rarity was something that she definitely did not want to do.

“Come back here, Sweetie Belle, I’m not done with you!” shouted the fashionista. She was about to give chase when she remembered that she was not alone and that charging after a, arguably, defenseless foal was not very ladylike. “I’m sorry Spike, you know how she just…”

“Don’t worry about it, everything is fine. She didn’t do anything wrong.” Spike acted nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.

“Oh, of course you would say that, being a gentledragon and all, but I’m afraid Sweetie Belle and I are going to be having another Sister to Sister conversation very soon…” Rarit thought frowning as she stared at the doorway where her sister had stood just seconds ago.

Upstairs Sweetie Belle felt a chill running down her spine.

“Anyways, I believe I should be leaving… Though I’ll help you clean up first.”

“Oh, please Spike, there’s no need to worry yourself over this. You already did enough just by coming all the way here just to return our saddlebags…”

“I insist” The dragon jumped from his seat and started to pick up the dishes. Rarity sighed, defeated, and proceeded to help him.

The Art of the Tuxedo Part One

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The Art of The Tuxedo Part 1

The dragon stood in the entrance of Carousel Boutique, smiling boyishly at his white unicorn companion. “So… Thanks for lunch, Rarity.”

The dressmaker couldn’t help but smile back. “Please, there’s no need to thank me. It was my pleasure to have such a delightful meal with you.” She felt his claw taking her hoof and before she could react, he moved it to his mouth, bowing down to place a gentle kiss on it.

“The pleasure was all mine, milady,” he whispered, looking charmingly up to her.

And there he was, doing it again. Rarity felt a slight blush warming her cheeks. “Spike… you’re such a charmer, but I think I’ve already told you that, haven’t I?” She giggled awkwardly.

Spike gave a rumbling chuckle, gently releasing her hoof.

The whole situation made Rarity feel a bit overwhelmed. Spike was acting in a way she couldn’t resist. She felt her heart fluttering, and her cheeks getting even warmer at every passing minute. She tentatively wondered why she was feeling like that, her mind coming up blank, though she couldn’t care less right now. It felt like a dream, like being surrounded by pink and soft fluffy clouds, while imaginary bubbles of varying sizes and complex floral arrangements floated around them.

A couple of minutes flew by while they both stood there, at the boutique’s entrance, lost in each other’s gaze. Then reality flooded back in, or at least for her. She looked at him, noticing he was still staring at her eyes with a lost dreamy look and a goofy smile. She chuckled surreptitiously at this, gently covering her mouth with a hoof, enjoying the idea of regaining control over the situation, as it should be. And she also felt the urge to break the romantic atmosphere once and for all.

Wait, could the situation be called romantic? Her heart was beating faster than usual, and somehow Spike’s eyes were sparkling like gems, as the background flourished with floating petals and shooting stars. Still, that didn’t mean it was a romantic atmosphere! She was just being imaginative because of that romance novel she read last night! Yes, that was it! Reading tawdry romance novels before bed was to blame. And maybe Sweetie Belle, but she could take care of her rebel little sister later.

Rarity cleared her throat loudly before speaking, making the dragon snap back to attention and blinking all the little background stars out of their imaginary existence. No matter how cute he looked like that, they needed to move on from the lovestruck staring. Her attempt to lure him back to reality was successful, as the dragon jumped slightly at her cough, his pupils shrinking to be more serpentine like, the normal state of his eyes.

“So don’t forget, darling. Tomorrow at five o'clock,” she said with a polite smile.

“Of course, I’ll be here at five o’clock sharp!” he responded with a wide smile, and waved at her as he started for the library.

She waved back at him, watching the dragon until he disappeared around the corner. The smile in her face slowly faded away and she sighed in disappointment.

Oh my... disappointment? About what, him… leaving?

She shook her head in a feeble attempt to banish such thoughts and stepped into the Boutique, shutting the door behind her with her magic. Even with the change of environment, her mind did not find peace, she couldn’t help but feel... lacking... as if something or somepony was missing.

In any case, she still had a certain filly that needed to be lectured about her misbehavior. That would surely distract her from this matter.

There was an intense urge to laugh and giggle like a filly, and Spike couldn’t contain his giddiness as he ran across the road. The dragon soon spread his wings and took off with powerful flaps, his body trembling with excitement and his heart beating wildly in his chest. He flew ever higher and soon found himself far above the clouds.

Spike felt as if he was on cloud nine, somewhat literally as he soared higher above, and arched through a batch of clouds, weaving the number nine out of the puffy clouds for anypony to see. Just remembering how Rarity looked earlier made his stomach want to perform feats of acrobatic wonder.

Blushing Rarity is best Rarity. He smiled goofily at the clear image of the ivory unicorn beauty in his mind.

Sparkly images of the glamorous pony who owned his heart continued strolling through his mind as he squinted against the strong winds. He took the moment to conjure another image, this one with Rarity smiling that oh so beautiful smile and gazing at him with those sparkling azure eyes, as she lovingly leaned in and... okay, maybe he was getting teensy bit carried away here. Besides, what was the chance that she could feel something other than simple friendship for him? Could she even like him back? Could he ever be that lucky? Was that even possible? Just because he could think of ponies as being attractive, didn’t mean ponies could see a dragon such as himself the same way.

Just thinking about it sapped away some of his previous euphoria. She had been always so nice to him, especially after she had started calling him Spikey-Wikey, just a few years ago. But that could all just be her thinking of him as a good friend, and nothing remotely more.

Nothing like the way I feel about her...

But he could dream, couldn’t he? It wasn’t like Rarity minded his company. She was even willing to see to his needs at the expense of her own free time, and even seemed happy at the prospect. Could it be that she wants to spend more time with him, that she eagerly wanted to see him the same way he did with her? Was there anything to any of this? How should he think?

In just a few moments, he saw the Library, its sight bringing him out of his wandering thoughts. But the small strand of hope remained, the hope that maybe, just maybe, there was something to all of this.

As Spike touched down upon the ground, the hope he felt lit up his face in the form of a small smile.

As soon as the door to her room opened, Sweetie Belle dove into her collection of critter plushies for dear life. “I’m sorry! Please don’t destroy me!”

Rarity took a needed moment to blink in bewilderment. “Sweetie, what on Equestrian earth are you talking about? Certainly, I might make your life miserable for the foreseeable future, but I’m not about to destroy you. Per se.”

The teenage mare didn’t listen though, and kept rambling apologies as she tried to arrange her plushies into defensive formation against her obviously hostile older sister.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, do be quiet. I was joking. Stop being such a drama queen.”

Sweetie paused in her attempts to use Mr. Beaverton as a proper fluff shield, and incredulously raised an eyebrow. “Drama queen? You really just called me that?”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” the older unicorn huffed.

“Nothing!” the young singer cried, before she tried to plaster on her most charming smile “It’s just that… it’s kind of ironic, that’s all. You’re the High Queen of Everlasting Drama, remember?”

“What!?” Rarity cawed as she raised a hoof theatrically as if ready to release a clarion call. “Absolutely absurd! I am not associated with such a tacky title! I am, er...” She paused upon seeing her sister’s flat stare. “I am, um, I am your older sister, and you’re grounded!”

Sweetie blinked. “You can’t ground me!”

“While you’re staying in my boutique, you live under my rules. And I say you’re grounded!” Sweetie Belle still looked unimpressed, so the fashionista decided to bring out the big cannons. “You’re...you’re also forbidden from buying more chocolate pudding!”

Sweetie gasped emphatically. “No! Not my chocolate pudding! It’s one of my reasons for living!”

“Well, I suppose you’ll just have to make due with Apple Bloom’s apple pudding.”

Or at least what vaguely resembled apple pudding. As far as Rarity knew, pudding of any kind wasn’t supposed to smell like burnt glue and week-old compost. Still, the threat seemed to work as Sweetie Belle threw herself at Rarity’s hooves in a cry for mercy.

“Please forgive me, most generous and prettiest of older sisters! I’ll do whatever you want me to do! Just let me have my pudding~!” The pink-purple haired unicorn tried to appeal to her sibling with the most radiant of puppy dog eyes as she enhanced the effect by holding Mr. Beaverton in her hooves like a frightened little filly.

Rarity was, of course, immune to such emotionally manipulative tactics, but, well, Sweetie Belle did look appropriately sorry, and maybe she was overreacting just a tad, and depriving somepony of pudding was probably a bit harsh...

The white unicorn closed her eyes and counted to ten, inhaling deeply before letting it all out, easing her frayed nerves. “Alright, you’re not grounded. But in return, you said you’d do anything I ask of you, so you better listen closely, little miss!” She crossed her forelegs and gave the young mare before her a sharp stare.

Sweetie Belle squeezed her face next to Mr. Beaverton’s and gave the widest, most innocent smile she could.

“Now, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said with a calmer voice. “Please, in the name of Celestia, Luna, and all of Equestria, stop interfering with my relationship with Spike. That’s all I ask. You are not helping!”

Sweetie Belle blinked and pouted. “What? But I even almost got you two to kiss!”

Rarity blinked. “Wh-Wh-What? You did… WHAT?! Are you crazy? You tried to get us to get us to...! Since when do you even have such abilities?” The eyes of the older mare went wide, as she frowned in near stupefaction. “What on Equestrian earth made you do such a thing, Sweetie Belle?”

Sweetie Belle poked her hooves together and looked away. “W-well, I just wanted to help. You two looked like you needed a push and I just thought..”

“That’s enough! Stop jumping into conclusions. I am not in love with Spike! And as far as I know he doesn’t feel uh... love for me, either. I told you, he had a crush on me, and that was years ago! You’re reading far too much into nothing. There is no love story to be had here.”

“Pfffft! Yeah right, and Scootaloo’s a chicken,” Sweetie quipped, looking at her sister and raising a mischievous eyebrow.

Rarity shook her head. “Whatever it is that you’re thinking, please keep those thoughts to yourself, and do stop your odd behaviors and constant scheming.”

“Constant scheming?” The young singer tried not to laugh aloud, but couldn’t hold in a snicker. “Come on, Rarity, I’m not scheming. I’m just trying to help! Both of you look so cute and pretty, why not be cute and pretty together?”

Rarity didn’t like her sister’s sinister grin and the way she was wagging her eyebrows. Somepony was
spending way too much time around Bon Bon. “Enough,” Rarity said with finality. She closed her eyes, breathing in slowly, counting to ten and then releasing her breath in a controlled manner. “This conversation stops here. Now, please, cease all this nonsense and all that magical flowery background absurdity and behave.”

The purple maned mare turned her back to her sister as she stepped out of the room. Ugh! Sweetie Belle and her ridiculous obsession with getting ponies paired up as if were some sort of game. Well, at least now I know that all the sparkling and pink flowers weren’t all just my imagination.

Sweetie Belle poked her head out the ajar door. “Just so you know, the only thing I did was toss in some flower petals! I don’t know how to make things sparkle yet~!”

Rarity blinked at the sound of the door shutting.

Wait...then what was...?

She felt her heart flutter in her chest, like little dancing butterflies in the breeze. She shook her head rigorously. She needed to focus on something else, something to keep her mind busy and off the tingling feelings in her chest. She headed to the art studio; there was an important design that needed to be seen to. A certain tuxedo for certain dragon, of course.

Once in her studio, the talented fashionista immediately set off to work, levitating a colored marker and a set of purple parchment with her light blue magic as she moved to her desk. She stared at it for tense moments, just trying to get the gears in her mind to mesh and work. But the more she pushed, the further the sparks of inspiration fled from her.
“Oh, what am I doing?” Rarity sighed. She knew from years of experience that artistic flare couldn’t be forced. Inspiration was like a small, running stream, and she, the tiny white fish that flowed within the currents of a world of wonder.

She set her marker down, and gazed at the window, where warm beams of sunlight poured in through the peach-colored curtains. Twilight was probably being the little busypony that she was, arranging books and whatnot with perplexing glee; Applejack was, of course, heartily working at the farm, harvesting apples with confident strides and strikes; Fluttershy was undoubtedly enjoying the pleasant weather with her critter friends; Rainbow Dash was likely noisily napping on some drifting cloud; Pinkie Pie was...well, mutilating physics or whatever it was that Pinkie does. And Spike...Spike was...

Rarity’s sapphire eyes sparkled like jewels in the light as the magic of inspiration finally dawned upon her. An excited “eureka!” broke the silence of the room as she picked up the marker and nearly pounced upon the paper, her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration while a grin shaped her lips. She scribbled furiously, almost like a mare possessed. Once finished, she held the design sketch up by magic before her, a preview for the upcoming piece of a most smashing attire.

The dressmaker stood there, staring at the piece of paper of which displayed her now most recent fabulous design, images forming in her mind, of its would be model wearing it with a delightfully boyish smile, as he thanked her while looking at her with those deep emerald eyes...

She no longer heard the tenor of her thoughts nor felt the itchy warmth in her cheeks. All that mattered was bringing to life her artistic vision and the charming little drake who will complete it. With a smile, Rarity set off to ripen the fruit of her generosity, all in order to make the ones she loved even happier with her creations.

When Spike entered the library, he expected to see Twilight buzzing around, working on this and that, but instead found the first floor absent of anypony. He even went upstairs to make sure she was not in her room, and confirmed he was all alone in the library. Not even Owlowiscious was around.

Aw, man. What’s going on now?

Once he was back on the ground floor, he noticed a little letter over a nearby table and went to investigate, quickly deducing it to be a note. He smirked. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Twi’s own hoof-writing, er, horn-writing. Ah, whatever. Let’s see here...”

Spike,

I’m off to the Canterlot Archives, I wanted to check if they have any information regarding dragons and their greed-related behaviour. With any hope I’ll be able to find something that will help you. I took Owlowiscious with me in case I needed any extra help, so don’t worry. I’ll try to be back tomorrow before lunch! Be a good dragon and stay out of trouble.

—Twilight

Spike smiled with his eyes shimmering, tears of joy threatening to spill forth. He gently put the letter back on the table and mentally thanked Twilight, a bit regretful for any bad thoughts he might have had moments before.

“Well, time to make sure the library doesn’t burn down,” he said aloud, before stepping upstairs.

Rarity sighed contently, breathing in the fresh, crisp air. “Oh, Opalescence, isn’t this a most beautiful of dawning mornings?”

She stood before the open entrance of her boutique, taking in the scenic sight of early morning Ponville. The sky was a rare dark blue today, the sky bereft of any wayward clouds even without the machinations of the weather team. The air surrounding the boutique smelled of a mixture of honeydew and dewdrops, and the silence melted around her.

The white mare was in a particularly good mood, as evidenced by her humming and the slight spring in her steps as she trotted back into the boutique. It was a bit strange to see the fashionista in such a delighted mood so early in the morning, that even Opal was giving her a strange, questioning look. But Rarity didn’t care. She was having such a nice start to her day and nopony (or kitty, as the case sometimes be) was going to ruin it.

The secret to her fabulously uplifting frame of mind was a delightful dream she awoke from. She didn't quite remember any details as of now, but there was a distinct impression that whatever the dream was about, it was definitely something more than just a little pleasant.

So distracted by her joyful disposition was Rarity, that she snatched up the flowers from the vase near the front door and began arranging them into various intricate shapes and styles with both her hooves and magic. It was finally when Opal mewed at her did she notice the green, white, and purple patterns of the lilacs and tulips that were arranged into a garland of sorts.

"Oh my," Rarity uttered. "I must've had a wonderful dream to be this out of sorts. Still, something fabulous came out of it, why complain?"

She was beginning to finish the last perceived touches to the mini-project, intent on giving the finished product to perhaps Sweetie Belle, when the colors of the flowers suddenly sparked something in her mind and a large smile took form. As her classic sing-song “Idea~!” came forth and she quickly made her way into the studio, levitating a new set of quill and paper to her at the same time, she loomed over the draft of the latest project and began sketching.

“This will be fabulous!” Rarity gushed, looking at the sketch she just made with sparkling eyes. The simple thought of the would-be owner of this new creation and how she imagined him (surrounded by few pink bubbles and complex floral designs as a charming smile adorned his face) gave her enough of a distraction to keep her mind focused on the task at hoof; nothing would stop her until it was finished.

The front door of the library swung open, a purple unicorn and an owl soon made their entrance “Hi, Spike! I see the library is still in one piece.”

Spike, who was currently busy dusting a shelf, looked up at the pony with a wide smile. “Hey, Twi! You’re back!” He went over to give the sister of his heart a great big hug.

Owlowiscious took the moment to fly up the second floor, intent on getting some sleep.

“Hey there,” Twilight laughed. “Somepony is feeling affectionate today. Did something happen? I’ve only been gone for a day.” She levitated her saddlebags and placed them over the floor after breaking the hug.

The dragon blushed slightly and scratched his snout with a small grin. “Maybe~...” He looked at the seemingly empty saddlebags. “So, mission failure?”

Twilight sighed and moved to sit by the staircase. “I’m sorry, Spike. I suppose it was to expected, but I couldn’t find anything new about dragons, even in the Canterlot Archives.”

“Oh, well,” Spike said casually. “It’s alright, Twilight. We’ll figure it out somehow.”

Twilight blinked. She had expected something in discontent, at least a grunt of disappointment in passing, but definitely not casual dismissal. Now she was starting to worry about the nonchalant reaction her friend had had to what was supposedly an important matter. “Somepony is taking this remarkably well. Now I know something happened. Care to fill me in?”

The dragon smiled as he made his way over to sit down next to the pony, and patted her shoulder once. “Don’t worry about it, Twi. Everything's going fine.”

“Now you’re just being a tease,” Twilight said with a slight pout. “Come on, tell me, tell me!”

Spike smiled. “That’s just the thing, Twilight. Nothing happened. At all, since you left.”

Twilight blinked. “You mean, you haven’t had a greed episode all yesterday?”

“Yeah! I can’t really explain it, but I haven’t had any of those episodes for the past few days. Not a single one since the last time we talked about this.” He grinned confidently.

“Oh, that’s good to hear, Spike,” Twilight said after a pause.

“I know, right?” Spike agreed, laughing slightly.

Twilight smiled at the look of joyful ease on the dragon’s face, before she frowned slightly. “Any idea how?”

Spike shrugged. “Not sure. Maybe I just outgrew the problem. Heh, who knows, maybe all that time spent with Rarity was more worthwhile than we thought, eh?” He gave an exaggerated grin and nudged Twilight, clearly making a small joke.

Instead of rolling her eyes with a smile, though, Twilight stared at the dragon with a thoughtful look. “Hey, Spike...?”

Spike blinked at the lack of a retort. “Uh, yeah?”

“Do you remember your first birthday in Ponyville?”

The scenic desolation of the village and the remnants of gigantic claw prints sprang up in his mind as Spike winced and rubbed his arm. “...how could I forget?”

Twilight gasped a little. “Wait, Spike, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, I just--”

“It’s alright,” Spike interrupted, took a deeper breath, and nodded to himself. “I’m okay. I’m not a kid, anymore, and we’ve already talked about this, remember? So, what was it that you wanted to know?”

Twilight smiled proudly at her dragon assistant. “I’m glad you’re being understanding about all this, but still, I’m sorry for bringing bad memories up so callously.”

“It’s alright,” Spike said, again, but with a smile this time. “Now, c’mon, stop getting us all mopey and ask your question already.”

“Well,” Twilight began, “I wanted to know how much you remember about that day. In particular, how much do you remember after you became a fully grown dragon.”

Spike stared upwards and scratched his chin with a thoughtful grimace. “I can’t say I really remember much at all. It’s all kind of like a big blur.”

Twilight nodded. “Do you remember how you changed back?”

Spike’s eyes widened a little and tilted his head. “Sort of?”

“What do you mean by ‘sort of’?”

“Well, it’s kind of a blur too, but, I think I remember something about a heart. And, uh...” He shifted a bit.

Twilight prodded him with a hoof. “And what?”

Spike gave the unicorn a calculatingly look. “And, well, Rarity.”

Twilight nodded, and pondered aloud. “Hmm...”

“So...?” Spike asked after he watched the unicorn intently.

A smile sprang up on the mare’s face and she shrugged. “No idea.”

Spike blanched. “Well, thanks for all the suspense, now I’m hungry.”

“Me too,” Twilight said, excitedly. “What’s for lunch?”

Spike gave an exasperated shake of his head. “I’ll whip something up for both of us. Just give me a few minutes, it’ll be done in a jiffy.”

Twilight casually picked up where Spike left off in organizing the shelves and books, as she waited or lunch to be prepared.

She wasn’t able to find anything useful in the Canterlot Archives, and at this point, she was thinking that there weren’t any books in Equestria that could shed light on the situation about her draconic assistant. Still, she was Twilight Sparkle, and if she could make a biased documentary on Pinkie Pie, she could definitely do the same for Spike.

It was obviously to her now that whatever triggered these episodes of hoarding tendencies was somehow countered by a different type of greed. Specifically, the want to spend as much time with a certain pony while not under the influence of the urge to commit manic hoarding rampages. Recalling what Zecora said about dragons in all her rhyming glory, it was possible that a dragon’s greed growth could be countered by more positive emotions. If the young dragon kept his mind more on what made him happy instead of elements of temptation, there was a possibility that all the greed tendencies could be pulled away from the surface of the mind. A sort of anchor, if you will. And right now, the purple unicorn had a sinking suspicion of what—or who—that particular anchor might be.

The problem now was that everything could end on a happy note, or it could all fail spectacularly with the most disastrous heat of sublimation this side of Equestria. Twilight herself was happy as long as everypony else was happy, and if Spike and Rarity could be happy together, well, that was just a lot of happy to be had all around. But as things were as far she knew now, there were plenty of chances for said things to go horribly wrong. Rarity was the element of generosity, and seemed to be really sweet on Spike nowadays, but was still vague about her intentions and actions. If anything were to occur that would drive a wedge between those two, undesired results were very likely to erupt. It was essentially a double-edged sword, with how precariously stable the situation was.

It was obvious how Spike felt; it had been for years. What Twilight needed to know was how Rarity felt in return. The purple unicorn needed to know what the variables were in the equation, and if it was possible to get a happy ending out of all of this.

As she trotted towards the kitchen towards the alluring scent of food, Twilight silently decided, for the good of everypony involved, to find out as soon as possible, at the first available chance, and at any cost.

The Art of the Tuxedo Part Two

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The Art of The Tuxedo Part 2

“Oh, Opalescence, isn’t it just the most magnificent bowtie you have ever seen? Opal?” Rarity, who had just finished her latest fabulous creation, looked around at the lack of response from her dear companion. It was odd; usually her darling Opal was around to at least mewl lazily in place of actual commentary to humor her. The mare didn’t dwell on the peculiarity for long, though, figuring that the little dear was probably off playing with a ball of yarn stolen from her supplies or some such sorts. There were more compelling matters at hoof!

Rarity once again turned to her gorgeous design and sighed contentedly at the sight, marvelling at her own artistic brilliance. Now for the most important part: where to hide it? Her eyes darted around her room, searching for a proper place to safeguard her little project from very possible danger. From years of experience, she knew it was only a matter of time until something woefully tragic would befell her creations. Excess sunlight was always a threat, idle hooves from a customer was another, and then there was the worst case scenario: a certain ponyfied bundle of walking disaster she called sister.

“There is only one thing to do!” The fashionista finally declared with gusto as she headed into her room. Once inside, she cantered to a corner of room, where an innocuous painting hung on the wall, right next to her bed. With magic, she pulled the painting aside, revealing a secret opening, containing a onyx-coated safe sitting within. Opening it with the proper code, Rarity levitated out a strongbox that was lined with emeralds and opened it with her hooves. After casting a few cautious glances around, she finally deemed the situation clear enough and placed her creation within. “It may have cost me two weeks’ worth of Alterna Ten shampoo, but it was well worth the price!” She smiled proudly until she noticed the sun was past its noon position.

“Oh goodness, I’ve certainly lost track of time,” Rarity gasped and with a quick flick of her horn, deposited the safebox back into its hiding place before she hurried into the kitchen. She would have to settle her hunger before she dealt with more important matters, even though the thought of crumbs on any of her attire, in her fur, or, heaven forbid, in her hair, made her shudder. What would Spikey-Wikey think of her if he saw her in such a state? Hopefully a less messy option such as a daffodil sandwich would do the trick. Thus decided, the mare set off to prepare.

Spike checked his breath once more. He'd spent the entire day crunching mints, but he was still nervous, knowing how much Rarity valued proper cleanliness and a breath that doesn’t smell like leftover apple pies. He took a deep breath, no more time to worry, though. It was time to be a stallion, er, dragon, guy thing. “Alright, buddy,” he told his mirror image, “it’s go time!” Spike flexed his arms in a pose reminiscent of Iron Will, coupled with a charming smile that would’ve left Blueblood green in the face. In envy, of course. Too bad the dragon was unable to convince himself of this, as moments later he slapped his face into his claws and groaned.

The dragon wallowed in embarrassment for a few more moments before shaking himself out of his funk. “Alright, just keep it together. As Rainbow would say, ‘stay cool and frosty.’” The drake nodded at his reflection before picking up his gift for Rarity: a beautiful bouquet of flowers that he claw-picked on his own. It was held together by a neat, purple strap and wrapped up by a charming light blue ribbon ending in a nice bow.

With bouquet in toe, Spike marched excitedly towards the library’s wooden entrance, where Twilight was waiting for him.

The unicorn gave Spike a quick hug then looked at the massive and beautiful bouquet he held in both claws. "Wow, Spike," she said. "Rarity's going to love that, but it must've been quite costly!"

"It would’ve," Spike said, grinning proudly, "if I didn’t arrange it by myself.”

Twilight blinked. “Really? I didn’t know you could work with flowers. You’re just chock full of surprises lately.”

“Thanks, Twi. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m afraid I must take my leave. It’s rude to leave a lady waiting!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and pushed Spike outside. “Then get going, Romeo!” After letting out a prolonged sigh and making sure Spike was out of sight, Twilight closed the door and levitated a book before heading to her room.

"Oh dear me!" Rarity exclaimed, marvelling at the claw-crafted bouquet that Spike presented her with on her doorstep. "I have no words," she said tenderly. It was as beautiful as one of her own creations, if not more, and it hardly hurt that it had been made for her. “Where did you even find something like this?" She turned the bouquet this way and that, admiring it.

Spike smiled widely at the mare’s excitement. "Actually I made it myself..." Spike said, blushing as he scratched the back of his neck nervously with a claw. "I saw these flowers and I thought of you and I, uh..." he blurted before the saw the look on Rarity’s face.

Small beads of tears clung at the corner of Rarity’s shimmering eyes, not from misery, but from happiness. The combined joy of something this beautiful, and knowing it had not just been bought, but crafted for her by him, brought warm feelings bubbling forth. Seeing Spike's look of worry, she gave a warm smile and pre-empted his visible concern. Slowly, with great care, she kissed each of his cheeks, leaving marks of lipstick against his purple scales.

Spike's eyes widened considerably and his cheeks turned bright crimson, the shade soon spread over his entire face like a fast-acting pigment altering disease. He brought both claws up to gingerly touch the places where Rarity had kissed him and felt the dire need to somehow immortalize the moment in stained glass splendor. He was never going to wash his face again, ever. Maybe he could get somepony to preserve it in plaster.

"Thank you, Spike," Rarity nearly whispered, smiling at him once more before gazing lovingly at the bouquet in her magical hold and brushing away the clinging moisture at her eyes.

Spike, both claws still lightly touching his scaly, warm cheeks, leaned in and smiled widely in return. “Trust me, the pleasure was all mine.”

Rarity giggled even as she sniffled delicately, dabbing the last of her tears away with a hoofkerchief. She gestured to the open door with a smile. “Shall we, darling?”

Spike nodded and followed the mare into the boutique, closing the door gently behind him. Asking her guest for a moment alone, Rarity carried her gift up to her bedroom, whereupon she gently placed the flowers in a vase, looking lovingly at the gift that the gentledrake downstairs had gotten specially for her. The pristine purple parchment used as the envelope and the sky blue ribbon wrapped around kept the fresh flowers arranged in a such a way that the bundle almost resembled the facets of jewel themselves. She then gazed at a case adorned with lined emeralds, the same she kept the fire ruby in, along with a certain object she’d need for later, and decided placing both new objects inside, after folding them neatly. After briefly consulting her mental checklist, the unicorn went back downstairs, where Spike was waiting for her.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Rarity batted her eyelashes with a mildly teasing smile, and inwardly enjoyed immensely the bashful blush she received in return. “Let’s get down to business then,” she said, voice tinged with a lilt as she headed back to her studio now followed by her guest.

When Spike entered the room, he couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward. He had been there before, of course, the studio that also doubled as her bedroom. But being there alone with her in the current situation made the situation slightly different. He gulped as whirling thoughts came to his mind once he took an inadvertent glance at her enormous bed.

“Is something wrong, dear?”

Spike snapped to attention. “N-no! I mean,” the dragon stammered a bit before taking a breath to compose himself. “Nothing at all. Just thought of something funny.”

Rarity stared at the dragon bemusedly, but decided to let it go. She really wanted to get a start on getting the measurements. She already had the design planned out and just needed the numbers to start working. Thus, the white unicorn floated a measuring tape over as she donned her trademark red-rimmed glasses and instructed Spike where to stand before getting on with her task.

Spike felt himself swallowing a nervous lump as Rarity instructed him to spread out his arms as she sidled up to him and began taking his measurements. It only actually lasted for a couple of minutes, but to Spike’s senses each “hmm” and “hum” made by the unicorn as she worked sent tiny shivers jumping across his scales. He finally carefully released his bated breath when Rarity moved away and began jotting numbers down on a small notepad.

“Hold on for just a second, Spike,” Rarity chimed, pulling something out of her drawer with her magic and grabbing it with her hooves before helping herself to a small stool, placing it right in front of him. She got up, ending up face to face with him, and put the mysterious object around his neck. It was a bowtie, the one she had been working on during the morning. The white mare stepped off the stool and levitated a small mirror towards Spike while smiling excitedly.

Spike stared at his reflection in the mirror, finding himself looking at a familiar, youthful dragon now sporting a spectacular purple bowtie with four diamonds on each side, forming an “S.”

Rarity watched from the side, smiling slightly as she evaluated with an experienced, keen eye. Soon her eyebrows scrunched slightly together as her lips pursed in thought. “Hmm...something seems to be smidgen off, please give me a moment.” She levitated the mirror out of the way and stepped back onto the stool, carefully straightening the bowtie with her forehooves.

“There we go, now we—” The unicorn stopped when she realized how close her face was to Spike’s. Her nose was almost pressed against his, and she could actually feel his warm breath over her snout. Without thinking, her eyes fixed themselves on his, which were staring right back at her.

Both their hearts were now beating at a hundred miles per hour, it felt as if they were going to explode at any moment now. That’s when she felt it, the same impulse that had taken over her the day before at lunch when her sister had used her musical talent to put them in a drunken haze of romance. The unicorn didn’t even notice she was leaning closer, her lips ever so close to his, though this time there was no music to go with it; Sweetie Belle wasn’t even home.

“My music doesn’t force anypony to do something they don’t want to do, it only gives them a small push,” Sweetie’s words flashed in the fashionista’s mind, making her realize that what she was about to do, just like yesterday, was purely out of her own free will, something she wanted, nay, needed to do. Her mind went blank again as she got closer and closer to her dragon.

Spike thought he was dreaming as she started leaning towards him. Was she going to kiss him? It certainly looked like it, but it couldn’t be so soon!

Oh, what the hay! The dragon closed his eyes and he too leaned forward, contributing to making the ever diminishing distance between their lips smaller. They were about to reach each other when he felt a familiar sensation in his belly...

Rarity felt a sudden push that made her flew off the stool just as she heard a... burp? The unicorn fell hard on her side right as a bout of green flames crossed the space where her face had been just seconds ago and some strange object fell a few feet away from where she was laying.

“No! Why in Tartarus did this have to happen right now?!” Spike complained desperately, shaking his fist at the unseen heavens before moving down to assist Rarity, who was still on the ground, in pain from the fall and trying to understand just what the in Celestia’s world had happened. “Please forgive me, Rarity! I had to, if I didn’t then you would’ve—”

Rarity had just processed what had happened. A letter from Princess Celestia had arrived via Spike, and were it not for Spike’s quick reaction, her face would be looking like a roasted marshmallow. “I-It’s okay, I understand, no need to worry about me...” she mumbled.

“A-are you sure you’re okay?” Spike asked, concerned over the pained look on the unicorn’s face.

“Yes, I’m fine, dear,” Rarity said while getting back on her hooves with the drake’s aid, simultaneously thankful and disappointed by the spontaneous arrival of that untimely letter. “Perhaps you should read it now. It could very well be an urgent matter, no?” And it better be.

The dragon opened the letter and gave it a quick read, rolling his eyes as he did so, as an annoyed look appeared on his face. Rarity just stared at him, not wanting to be un-lady like by asking what the letter said and hoping he’d reveal the mystery out of his own volition.

“Princess Celestia...” Spike deadpanned, looking as if somepony just told him that the grass was green and apples were fruits. “Wants to know if Twilight had a nice trip back to Ponyville.”

The thoughts passing through both Spike’s and Rarity’s minds right then, mostly about a certain white alicorn that governed Equestria, were not fit to be repeated in a tale meant for all audiences. However, and this we can say, the prize for worst-timing now had an unanimous nominee: Princess Celestia!

“Thanks again, Rarity, that bowtie you made for me is wonderful, to say the least. I’m pretty sure it will match with the tuxedo perfectly. I can tell I will look fabulous, as a certain somepony might say,” Spike said with a sly chuckle.

Rarity smiled pleasantly. “There’s no need to thank me, Spike, darling. But promise me you won’t eat the trimmings.”

The dragon almost laughed but managed to frown in attempt in trying to look offended. “Sheesh, of course I won’t! How could I eat something so amazing you made and generously gave to me.” He made a big show of harrumphing.

The unicorn gave him an amused smile. “Oh, I’m sorry, truly. Just wanted to be sure, that’s all,” she finished her sentence with few giggles. After a few moments they both burst into laughter. Finally, after several minutes, farewell time had came, and they didn’t seem to enjoy that fact. So they stood there in silence, watching the sky as it slowly turned into darkness, bathing in the pale moonlight. As they stood outside the entrance to Carousel Boutique, they were completely unaware of some ponies giving them curious glances.

Finally, Rarity was the one to break the silence.

“So, Spike, I don’t wish to sound rude, but isn’t it time for you to go, dear?”

After another moment, the dragon nodded almost imperceptibly.

Rarity remained silent. She didn’t want him to go, but she also wanted to finish that certain ensemble she had in mind. Farewells wasn’t something she enjoyed, so the shorter the better. If Spike was going to leave, she felt it was a good time to do it right now.

She was about to speak again, when he suddenly leaned towards her, and she felt his scaly lips pressing against her furry cheek. After a moment he broke the kiss. Her mind went blank, feeling the warmness from the spot his peck took place moments ago, now extending all over her face.

“SeeyalaterRaritythanksforeverything!” Were Spike’s trailing words, as the dragon nearly sprinted down the road in his exit.

The unicorn stood flushed and frozen still like a ponnequin. She was unable to twitch, let alone wave goodbye.

A fair distance away now, Spike was cursing himself for acting so rashly on his emotions. Without turning back during his near dead sprint, he spread his wings and rose into the sky towards the library, thoughts on a still dumbfounded unicorn and feelings left lingering in both his heart and lips.

Once inside her house, Rarity headed to her bedroom, her heart beating wildly. She levitated a fancy box lined with emeralds and opened it with her hooves, retrieving a certain object from its contents and placing it around her neck while stepping towards a mirror.

She gazed at her own reflection. A beautiful white unicorn with gracious purple curls and a set of enormous and charming sapphire eyes adorned with a set of long playful eyelashes stood in front of her, wearing a regal golden necklace with a marvelous sparkling heart-shaped fire ruby in its centre. She held her shining gaze upon it; the one gifted to her by her little Spikey-Wikey, the sweetest, kindest and most generous dragon ever. Soon, she decided the only thing missing from the entire ensemble, was a heartfelt smile. When the pony in the mirror beamed back, Rarity knew those sparkling eyes and rose hued cheeks were because of a certain darling dragon.

The one that now owned her heart.

Chapter 5: Admission

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Admission

Spike knew it was only a matter of time until Twilight would come to interrogate him, but for the moment, he couldn’t bring himself to care. Right now, he just wanted to lay on his bed and replay all the wonderful moments he had with Rarity just scant hours ago, especially the almost-oh-jeez-so-close-it’s-a-dream-come-true-oh-no-why-Celestia-why-kiss that nearly miraculously happened mere hours ago.

Just thinking about the kiss again made his heart race and his blood circulate up to his face, and made a loopy, woozy smile form on his face. Sure, his expression might cause him to become the target of ridicule by children and insensitive animals everywhere, as well as give reason for Twilight to try and drag him off to the veterinarian in concern that he might have contracted some sort of facial parasite, but what did it matter? He was happier than he had ever been, and no jerky petting zoo or an overreacting Twilight was going to spoil that for him.

He now had a sizable pile of sparkling gems, a new favorite memory of all time, and even a newly acquired prize in the form of the awesome gemstone-trimmed bowtie made just for him. His hoard was looking to be building up nicely.

Spike’s brows creased deeply as he frowned. Wait a minute. Hoard?

Did he just think of all the gems, bowtie, and could’ve-been-kiss as a hoard, instead of what they actually are: gifts from Rarity. That’s right, they were gifts from the most lovely mare in the world, not some sort of pilfered goods.

Spike smiled and looked at the sparkling bowtie held delicately in his claws in an attempt to drive that thought home. When he did, however, his vision suddenly blurred and everything became foggy, as though he was somehow thrust into a dream. What he saw in the blurry after-images of the bowtie was a mountain of gems, stacked from the basement to the very tip of the library, with the fire ruby he gave to Rarity as the cherry on top, as well as Rarity herself, who licked her lips and beckoned him with a sultry gaze, a teasing swish of her tail, before blowing him a kiss.

It started as a prickling sensation, like the after-sensations from eating large spoonful of lemon mint flavored ice cream. Eventually it became a hazy torrent of deafening noises, something akin to the buzzing from hundreds of swarming insects, and all thoughts were quickly drowned out. The dragon felt his heart start to pound. The image of the imaginary hoard was somehow becoming more and more vivid, and a voice, something gravelly, so strange yet familiar at the same time, pierced through the buzzing to whisper at him.

Make it yours...it can be true...take what belongs to you...

Spike began to feel something pulsing in his body. His muscles started to contract, his heart thumping stronger than ever. One moment he was on the bed, in the next he found himself pushing open the window, leathery wings unfurled and ready for takeoff. And he instinctually knew there was only one possible intended destination for his seemingly subconscious actions: Carousel Boutique.

With a yelp, Spike scampered away from the open window, nearly tripping over himself and flailed back onto the bed. He stared at the high ceiling of the library for long moments, waiting for his thundering heartbeat and breathing to come under control as the ambient silence once again registered. He looked at his open claws.

What the heck was I getting ready to do?

It was a rhetorical question, of course. He knew what he was about to do, and it involved breaking and entering, vandalism, abduction, and probably ungentlecoltly advances. All under the guidance of some sort of voice in and atop of his skull.

With the noise dying down and his vision still hazy, he looked at the bowtie, trying to concentrate his thoughts on anything else. But the buzzing was picking up again, threatening to envelop any sense of clarity in a sea of blank, and he fought the tide with all the mental strength he had in him.

Spike wants...

A reel of images began to swirl through his clouded thoughts; gems, gold coins, trenchcoats, silver, pottery, Rarity, hats, mustaches. Rinse and repeat. He held the bowtie tighter against his chest as he felt himself slipping, as if holding the gift from the one he loved the most would help him to overcome the greed. And he really wished it would work because he didn’t want to hurt the ones he loved or his town, the place he called home. He didn’t want to see gigantic trench-like clawprints spread amongst the desolation of Ponyville. And yet, the gems he had, were all his, and he had the right over them, and they were so shiny, and delicious.

He needed more. There were never enough around, so he had to find more, dig and snatch any that he could find and put it all into a wondrous, neat pile and, and—

And there was even a jeweler in the town, he could get them all... he wanted more, the pile was quite small compared to the amount he could get, and in Rarity’s house there had to be more of them. It’d be easy for him to grab them all and make his hoard bigger, and not only the gems but he’d have the most precious one, the one pony who collected them in the first place, then he could have even more! And he could have her! He always wanted that, right?

Right.

“Spike, are you okay? What’re you doing?”

That sounded familiar, whatever it was. But instead of comfort, the voice only brought a surge of hostility from the pit of his gullet. There was something in the vicinity of his hoard, probably looking for a chance to steal from him. His hoard. His gems, his prize, his stuff from Rarity. That was not cool, whatever it was.

So it should be on fire.

It was with a heavy heart as Twilight realized that ‘something was wrong’ would likely win top prize for the ‘no shit statement’ award of the century.

“S-Spike. It’s me, Twilight, remember?”

Unfortunately, instead of bringing about some light of recognition in the dragon’s eyes, what she got were clenched fists and a slowly slacking jowl already sparking with the first signs of green ignitions.

Eyes blazing with a white light, Twilight prepared to defend herself.

It’s mine. It’s Spike’s. Everything belongs to Spike!

Spike’s grip over the bowtie was so strong that a little gemstone of the trimming bounced off, falling to the floor. The raging dragon noticed this, quickly grabbing it, forgetting about roasting alleged enemies for the moment.

He tried to stick the little jewel into its original position on the bowtie again, but it didn’t work. Then the gem started sparkling from the reflection of the moonlight, and something managed to break through the white hot haze and catch his attention.

“But I hope you won’t eat the trimmings.”

An angelic laugh. White. Purple. A warm, beautiful smile. Lovely. Ever so lovely. Something he loved.

Something that was his everything. Something, someone who he’d protect with his life. Nothing was more important for him than seeing that beautiful smile and those charming sapphire eyes and hearing that angelic voice once again. Nothing.

At once, a shockwave boomed throughout his thoughts, sweeping through every crevice of his hazy mindscape and shattering the swarm of noise and fogs. And in its wake, it was blissfully quiet.

It was with a joyful, relieved smile as Twilight decided ‘things are going to be okay’ was her favorite thing to say for the duration of the remaining days of the month.

She had been ready to raise a shield, shoot a magical cannon of pain, turn things into oranges, and a slew of other actions that could have ended very badly. But now it looked like everything was getting back under control.

Spike was now clenching his eyes shut as he folded his head with his claws. An object, a jewel encrusted bow tie from what she could tell, and another gemstone dropped to the ground. He shook his head once again, and opened his eyes, still a claw over his head, and looked around him before settling his gaze on the pony before him with tired green eyes. “T-Twilight?”

“Spike?” Twilight cried out, some moisture clinging to the corner of her eyes as she took several tentative steps forwards.

“The one and only,” Spike mumbled, his entire body almost slacking to the point of falling to his knees.

Twilight leapt over to the dragon, hugging him tight with moisture at the corner of her eyes. “Oh, Spike, thank Celestia you’re back to your senses!”

Spike’s eyes began watering too, though for different reasons.

“Twi...I feel sick.” Grumbling stomach. Sounds of preliminary retching.

Twilight’s eyes flew open. “Bathroomtoiletbathroom, gogogo!”

He didn’t quite make it. Twilight was beginning to suspect the day was smelly and going to suck.

“So, Spike,” Twilight said, once they took a seat in the middle of the library and the scent of gastrointestinal hydrochloric acid finally wafted away through the window. “Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?”

Spike grimaced. “Uh, not really. But I guess we gotta, don’t we?”

“You were about to either set me on fire or bite my head off or some gruesome combination of both, and I was ready to transmogrify you into a mustached orange and catapult you through the library walls at the speed of sound...so yes, I do believe we should talk about things.”

“Well, I…” Spike blinked. “Wait, a mustached orange. Really?”

Twilight shrugged. “I was in a panic.”

“What kind of mustache?” Spike asked after a pause.

“Spike,” Twilight chided, “stop trying to stall the inevitable.”

“I’m not stalling, I just…” Spike sighed. “I don’t actually know what came over me. All I remember are these crazy noises and some kind of big blurry image of gems and...stuff.”

Twilight frowned. “From what I’ve seen and what you’ve just told me, it seems like you just went through some sudden surge of dragon greed related complications. Did something happen when you were with Rarity earlier?”

The previous happy moments featuring Rarity flashed through his mind at Twilight’s prodding, but instead of a feeling of giddiness, what he experienced could aptly be called a numbing chill down the spine. While the recall was fuzzy, he knew exactly what his body had intended on doing.

“Spike, what’s that?”

Spike blinked out of his thoughts and looked up. “What’s what?”

Twilight pointed with a hoof. “In your right claw. You’ve been holding on to something this whole time. I think it’s a...bowtie?”

Spike’s eyes widened and almost snarled as he pulled his arm behind his back. “So what if it is? Why does it matter?” He winced when Twilight immediately straightened up and took a couple steps back. “Ah jeez, Twilight, no, sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Twilight took a steadying breath and halted him with a raised hoof. “It’s okay, Spike. We’re both still a bit jumpy from earlier.”

The two of them lapsed into a period of silence. During that time, Spike kept casting furtive glances between Twilight and the bowtie still clenched in his claw. He had been ready to attack again, like some kind of feral beast with no sense but those from the back of skull, a hijacking by parts of him unknown.

“Let’s leave this matter alone, for now,” Twilight said, causing Spike to snap out of his tunneling thoughts.

“Wha…” He gaped slightly. “Leave this alone? A-are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Twilight stared the dragon in the eyes. “I don’t, but, there’s not much else we can do about it now, and we’ve both had a tiring day. So, maybe it’s for the best we get some sleep instead. We’ll discuss this tomorrow morning.”

That was not the entire truth, Spike knew. Twilight was as perceptive as they come, and she must’ve come to the same conclusions he just did, such that he was experiencing another rather vicious episode of dragon greed. This also meant that she was going to be pulling an all-nighter and going through research reports and documentations in lieu of actual rest. He yawned loudly, feeling a huge wave of drowsiness wash over him.

Twilight grinned. “See? You’re going through a huge energy crash.” She sniffed and made a face like she just tasted a toilet. “Not to mention a terrible case of halitosis.”

“Ha-ha,” Spike countered before yawning again. “Yeah, I guess sleep does sound wonderful right about now.”

“Go to bed then,” Twilight said ten yards away with a smile. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Spike blinked rapidly as he felt the weighty difficulty in keeping his eyes open. Deciding against replying, he gave a small wave of the claw and sluggishly made his way upstairs and into his room.

“And make sure to brush your teeth first,” Twilight called after the dragon. “Or at least floss!”

Spike grumbled an assuredly witty response if it could be heard and disappeared from sight.

Twilight took a deep breath. She gazed at the spot where Spike just was, and sighed. With a flash of her horn, she summoned several lantern sprites to illuminate the dark as she approached the bookshelves and began browsing through the scrolls.

Rarity pursed her lips as she appraised her work. She smiled when everything about the outfit seemed to meet her critical standards. “Now I just need to make sure it matches Spike’s bowtie and the ensemble will be complete. It most likely will, of course, but one can never be too careful with ensuring fabulosity!”

Being extra careful, she enshrouded the outfit with her azure magic and packed it carefully within a trunk she prepared for the occasion, because a magnificent piece of art had to be wrapped in an equally magnificent package.

She had never actually put so much attention in the packaging before, since there were the standard boxes and bags aplenty, and they all met the criteria of fabulous fit for Carousel Boutique, of course, but outstanding occasions such as this called for a dash of special attention and Rarity never one to skimp on necessary details.

After making sure her fabulousness was in expectant order in the mirror, Rarity snatched a ribboned floppy sun hat from her wardrobe as well as the ornamented trunk then descended down the stairs and out the door. She smiled as the early sun greeted her with warm rays all the way to the Golden Oak Library.

“Good morning, everypony,” Rarity sang as she entered. “How are we doing this fine morning?”

On a cushion intentionally located equidistant from the numerous bookshelves, Twilight smiled weakly at the guest before failing to stifle a yawn. “Hey, Rarity. What brings you here so early in the morning?”

Rarity carefully placed the trunk to the side after pulling it through the doorway. “Well, I…” She blinked. “Oh dear, Twilight. You look terri—er, I mean, you look like you’ve seen better days.”

Twilight blinked blearily. “More like better nights, when I was in a warm bed, and unconscious. I stayed up all night doing...research.” She turned away momentarily to yawn and rub her eyes. “Staying up late is taking more out of me than I thought possible. I must be losing my edge from being in Ponyville for so long.” She gave the unicorn a slightly dour glance. “Glad at least one of us looks well rested.”

“Oh, I’m just more adept at covering up,” Rarity said with a placating giggle. “I’ve actually only really had several hours of sleep myself. If I may ask, what were you researching about?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed for a moment. “Just some information about ancient magic and the likes as well as taking care of some lingering business for the library. Yesterday had been somewhat... eventful.”

“I know that feeling, darling,” Rarity said with a genial wave of the hoof. “There’s always something more at the end of the day to keep enterprising mares busy. Speaking of eventful..” She gave a dainty cough. “Is Spike up and about as well? I imagine he would be giving you a hoof with whatever you needed.”

“No, unfortunately,” Twilight replied after a long pause. “He probably had a more eventful day than I did, so I insisted he get some rest.”

“Oh,” Rarity said with a small frown before she resumed smiling. “Well, I simply came to deliver this.” Her magic came to life and she presented the trunk to the librarian. “It’s just a shame he’s still asleep, I wanted to see his reaction. But perhaps I can return later… I wouldn’t want to wake him up so brashly, I know how enjoys sleeping in more than the rest of us.”

“That’s very generous and thoughtful of you, Rarity,” Twilight said after another pause, during which she seemed to scrutinize both Rarity and the apparent gift trunk. “Why don’t you leave that with me and go home. If what you said was true, then I think it’s best if you get some rest yourself. I’ll make sure Spike knows about the gift when he wakes up.”

Rarity smiled. “Thank you ever so much, darling, but if it’s alright with you, I’d rather deliver it to him personally. Professional courtesy and all, you see.”

Twilight frowned. This was probably as good an opportunity as any. “Professional courtesy? I was under the impression this was a gift to Spike.”

Rarity seemed taken unaware by the unicorn’s tone but quickly resumed smiling pleasantly. “You’re mistaken, darling. It’s an order from Spike—”

“An order in which you took the measurements for just yesterday, right?”

Rarity blinked. “Uh, yes. Is there something—”

So you finished under a day and delivered the product personally because of... professional courtesy?”

Rarity blinked several times more. “Well, I… I just happened to have enough inspiration and drive to get things done.” She tittered. “Haven’t we been over this before? Making clothes isn’t hard for moi, especially if it’s for a friend.”

Twilight nodded stiffly. “Uh-huh. Well, let me get my saddlebag so I can compensate you for the work—”

“Oh, no,” Rarity interjected. “There’s no need for that. I’m not charging anypony for this…”

“Then it’s a gift.”

“Twilight, just what are you trying to get at? I’ve never asked for payment from any of my friends. Why would Spike be an exception?” Rarity said, all signs of a practiced smile gone.

“What I’m trying to get at is that you’ve been insisting on giving Spike so many gifts lately. I mean, you came by twice in less than a week to give him a pile of gems and later a jewel encrusted bow tie, and now a trunk that for all I know is filled with pajamas entirely constructed of sparkling diamonds dug out of Canterlot Mountain. What’s going on?”

Rarity harrumphed. “I still don’t know what it is exactly you’re trying to convey here, Twilight, but I’m rather certain I do not owe anypony an explanation for something that is strictly between Spike and I. And not to be rude, dear, but just because Spike is your assistant does not mean he has to answer to your every beck and call.”

“That’s not the point here!”

“Then please, explain because I simply don’t see what point there is to make.”

Twilight took a deep breath.

After being awake for a few minutes, Spike eventually mustered enough control over his faculties to climb off the bed. He yawned as he lumbered out of the room, his growling belly demanding some breakfast. The dragon went to the stockpile of gems and popped a clawful of jewels into his mouth to soothe his grumbling stomach. As he was savoring the taste and the memories from whom said gemstones came from, voices from the floor below carried up to him.

“The point is that you keep showing up here with all these so-called non-gifts for Spike, and I think you’re doing so out of more than just simple friendship.”

Twilight? He did his best to stealthily approach the top of the stairs for a better position.

“I...I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Spike blinked. And Rarity? They’re talking about me?

“I think you do, and it’s time you stop being so ambiguous and come clean. You don’t know what you’re doing to Spike. Or maybe you do, in which case you really need to be clear with your intentions.”

Twilight, what are you doing!? Spike thought in panic. He wanted to tumble down the stairs to interrupt what could potentially be a disaster, but the questions that Twilight was asking...this could be the opportunity of a lifetime to find the answers he’s been wanting for so long. Now, fierce curiosity kept him rooted to the spot.

“H-hints? In-intentions? Twilight, darling, I think you’re over analyzing this way too much—”

“You don’t get it, Rarity. All those gems and that bowtie and your constant flirting...you’re tempting him and drawing out his draconic nature. Did you forget that he’s a dragon?”

Rarity huffed. “Of course not. I am well aware Spike is a dragon.”

“Then you must remember all the times when his greed became a big problem for him in the past. Haven’t you considered the possibility that what you’ve been doing could be detrimental to his control over himself?”

There was a pause as Rarity shuffled her hooves on the spot. “I...I…”

“Now just that, but all these hints that you’re dropping when the two of you are around each other. I know you’re not oblivious of his feelings for you, and sometimes...sometimes it looks like you’re just stringing him along for sport.”

“Wh-What?” Rarity nearly shrieked in offense. “Twilight, I can’t believe you would think of me as a mare who’d do something like that!”

“I’m sorry, Rarity, but it had to be said. In case you forgot, there was a time when you would use Spike’s feelings to your own advantage, whether it’s to dig up gems for you or deal with garbage for, from where I stand, little to no appreciation.”

Rarity stood there, agape, before she turned away when her eyes started to shimmer. “...I, I know I wasn’t the virtuous pony in the past, but I’m more aware now, and I try to be considerate of others. I’ve changed since then...h-haven’t I?”

Twilight smiled a little sadly. “You were a good pony since the first day I met you, Rarity. I’m sorry if I sounded reproachful. It’s just that sometimes you can be inconsiderate of others, but as you said, you’ve gotten better. And I can tell that you’re doing your best to be thoughtful about our friends. At the same time, though, what you’re doing now with Spike...it might not be for the best.”

“What...what do you mean?”

“I mean that the manner in which you treat him is quite different than the ways you’re with the rest of us, and I want to know why that is.”

“W-well, that’s because Spike’s a special individual, not that the rest of you girls aren’t spectacularly special yourselves, it’s just…he’s Spike,” Rarity said, her face considerably more colorful than moments before, and turned away in a manner reminiscent of Fluttershy.

Twilight blinked at the unicorn’s admission and squirmy posture and soon a smile slipped out before she resumed a stern visage. “Then you should understand how I’m feeling about this whole situation. You’re not the only one here who considers Spike as somepony important. So I have to know: How do you really see Spike?”

“Uh,” Rarity uttered as she brushed through the curls of her coiffure with a hoof. “W-well, I think he’s a great dragon.” She blushed at Twilight’s silent nod. “And he’s kind. He’s charming and funny. He’s very thoughtful and helpful, even though he occasionally messes up.” Here, she giggled. “He’s such a dear with his compliments, even if he’s sometimes clumsy with his delivery, but he’s always sincere and, and…” Gingerly, she pressed a hoof to her lips as she stared off to the side, her blue eyes unfocused. “He’s a wonderful friend.”

Twilight studied the white unicorn silently before ending the pause by taking a steady step forward. “Rarity. Do you like him?”

The question certainly seemed to catch Rarity’s attention as she snapped out of her daze to stare back at Twilight with wide eyes. “P-pardon?”

“You heard me,” Twilight said.

Rarity visibly tried to comport herself with a strained smile. “O-of course I like Spike. I just told you what a fantastic friend he is, how could I not—”

“We’re really doing this?” Twilight said with a flat stare. “Fine. Rarity, do you like like Spike? Or better yet, do you like like like Spike? I’ll throw as many ‘likes’ into a question as it takes for you to just answer the question. And if that’s not enough, I’ll use every synonym for ‘romantic affection’ in the equine language. Don’t think I won’t!”

The two mares were so focused on the rather escalating conversation that neither of them heard the entire library seemed to compress upon itself to give a subdued, vibrational squeak.

Rarity seemed to emulate a goldfish with the way her mouth opened and closed as her hair bobbed to the motions of her jaw malfunction. The two mares entered a short staring contest that quickly ended with the fidgety Rarity averting eye contact with a wavering laugh.

“Dear me, Twilight, darling. Do you even hear yourself?” She gave another nervous laugh. “Really. Are you seriously asking...I mean, me and Spike? Why, he’s a dragon, a-and I’m a pony for goodness’ sake. How would...how could that ever work?”

For a split second, everything seemed to hitch to a halt, as if for that one imperceptible moment the planet ceased rotation out of protest. And once that indescribable instant passed, the tension that seemed to clench at the bark of the library slipped away...only to be replaced by something else. Something neither Twilight nor Rarity, both frazzled by different but equally pensive emotions, could notice.

Twilight took a steady breath and gave a leveled stare. “I didn’t ask you if a relationship was feasible. I asked if you feel anything for Spike. Beyond friendship.”

Rarity’s breathing increased in pace.

“I don’t claim to fully understand myself, and I do know that a relationship takes more than two ponies liking each other, but right now, I just want to know how—”

Rarity mumbled, her hair obscuring her face.

Twilight blinked. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

Rarity mumbled again, louder.

“Sorry, still didn’t quite catch that.”

With the same ferocity that would impress her own pet cat, Rarity stomped her hooves and declared, “I like like like like like him, okay!?”

Twilight blinked owlishly.

Rarity huffed as she fumed clamorously. “Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Uh...yes, actually.”

“Well, then there you have it,” Rarity more or less growled out. A mysterious spotlight honed in on her as she struck a dramatic pose. “You’ve wrung a confession out of me. Congratulations! You’ve successfully uncovered the truth, that I, Rarity, the fabulous pony, have romantic feelings for a dragon! You now have me at your tender mercy. What do you wish for me to do next? Announce it to the rest of Ponyville at the town square? Have it all printed on next week’s headlines? Craft my confession into the mountains themselves!? Whatever it is, I’ll do it!” With that, she quickly descended into a jumble of flustered ramblings as she seemed ready to start thrashing around in agitated embarrassment.

“Rarity,” Twilight called, grabbing the unicorn by both shoulders. “Rarity, please, calm down!”

The fashionista quickly came to her senses when Twilight cast a tranquilizing spell and coached her through Princess Cadence’s breathing exercises.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, after the two eventually lapsed into an awkward silence. “I’m really really sorry, Rarity. I can’t believe I just kept pushing you towards distress without regard to your comfort. I’m...I’m a bad friend.”

Rarity shook her head gently. “No, Twilight. While I would have preferred a more...dignified reveal of my feelings, I suppose it was something inevitable.” She gave a soft laugh. “Even if you didn’t bully me into it, Sweetie Belle would’ve eventually pestered it out of me with her mischiefs.”

The two shared a moment of genuine smiles, before Rarity’s slipped away first.

“It’s just...I only really admitted these feelings to myself these last few days, and I still don’t have a clear grasp on exactly what these feelings are and—”

“It’s okay,” Twilight interrupted. “You don’t need to explain to me anymore. In fact, it’s me who owes you an explanation for all this.”

“Twilight,” Rarity said, with a new wave of distress in her voice. “Spike’s a dragon, and I’m a pony. Can it ever work out? What are we going to do? What will the others think?” She wiped at her eyes. “Not like I’ve made it easier for him and myself. I’m such a coward.”

Twilight silently hugged her friend, who returned the embrace receptively.

The previous streak of unnoticed shifts in the library ended when the entire Golden Oaks shook violently, followed by a vicious roar and crashing sounds of exploding barks.

Twilight gasped as she pulled away from Rarity and immediately teleported to the second floor. In a burst of speed, she pushed through to Spike’s room and felt her body stiffen in a proverbial flash-freeze. Instead of a purple possibly rampaging dragon, what first greeted her was the wind flowing through the rather gaping new hole. The room was a mess, with shredded furniture and curtains and scattered items all over. So stunned was the unicorn that she didn’t even respond when the other mare walked passed her into the room.

Rarity moved to the shredded bed, carefully navigating through a carpet of shattered gemstones, and levitated the jewel encrusted bow tie she gave to Spike. Or at least what was left of it. She stared at the hole through which the wind howled with the echoes of a dragon’s roar.

“Spike…?”