It was safe to say that Spike was nervous. His hands were clammy and his heart was racing. Half way through the night, he paced around his room, trying to think of things to do for his first date. Not just a luncheon or spending time with the other girls. It was just going to be him and Rachel.
Rachel… Just even thinking about her gives him goosebumps. How in Equestria could he even have goosebumps? He doesn't even have hair on his body!
Spike was so nervous that he was having trouble finding the right shirt to wear in his suitcase.
"No, too old," He tossed out this one orange faded shirt. "Too stupid." Spike tosses out this blue novelty T-shirt that had a pink dinosaur imprinted on the front that Pinkie Pie gotten him years ago. "Stupid, ugly, out of date!" He grunts loudly as he digs around.
As he went through his suitcase, he finds a Rarity plushie in his case and picked it up. The dragon stared at it, remembering when he first made it before tossing it over his shoulder. The plushie hits the back wall before falling into a trash bin.
"I can't wear that suit, it's all burned up." The dragon groans, thinking about the tux he wore on the first night. "Why didn't I pack something nice? Or flame retardant for that manner." He sighed, shaking his head. "Look at me, worrying about clothes…"
The dragon walked over to his bed and sat down, his tail draping off of the edge and his wings sagged into the mattress. "Okay, just calm yourself down, Spike." He told himself, rubbing his face. He had long since removed the bandages from his face and his eye wasn't black.
Outside of the room…
"Pss! Twilight, you see him in there? Has he left for his date yet?" Pinkie loudly whispered to her.
All of the mares stalked outside of Spike's room. Twilight was using her magic to peek through the door without being detected.
"No, he's having problems getting dressed." Twilight answered quietly. "He seems nervous."
"This is his first date, he is going to be nervous." Fluttershy said. "I remember how nervous I was with my first date."
"Yeah, first dates are always awkward." Dash said. "Once he gets the boost he needs, that girl won't stand a chance."
"We don't want them to get hurt." Flutters said.
"That's not what I meant." The cyan mare said.
"Let's just be there for support. That's all he needs." Applejack said. "What's he doing now?" The country mare asked the princess then.
Twilight looked back to the room, her ears drooped. "Oh no, he got the mustache out and putting it on."
Six out of seven of the mares groaned. Not the dreaded mustache!
"Welp, this date is botched." AJ sighed softly.
"Not if we give him help when he needs it." Starlight said as Twilight backed away from the door.
Rarity blew her mane out of her eyes, crossing her arms in the process. "I still say we make him not go on this date. That girl will do nothing but break Spike's heart."
"Can't break it anymore than you did." Rainbow Dash said underneath her breath.
"As-as much as I want to help Spike and his date, should we...let them be and see how they do?" Fluttershy asked.
"Guys, I-"
The door then swings open, Spike, wearing now just a simple black sleeveless t-shirt and jeans, giving all the mares one hell of a menacing glare. Causing Twilight to jump and turned around to face him.
"He-hey Spike." Twilight chuckled nervously. Scratching at the back of her mane. "You seem...refreshed for your date today."
Spike just stared at them, leaning against the doorway. "I'm only going to warn you girls once." He said. "As much as I appreciate you guys wanting to help...Don't."
"Spike, we were only-" Starlight was then cut off by a raised hand from the drake.
"I mean it, if you girls do anything that can potentially ruin this date — I am already nervous as it is — I don't need any help. So please," He then says. Taking a deep breath before staring at all of them. "Stay away from us today or else." He threatens them with a smile.
"Don't know what yer talkin' about." Applejack said. Her eyes turned away from him and her pupils dilated.
Spike just grunted, grabbing his jacket that was hung on the door, stepping out and shuts it. "Applejack, don't play poker." He says it as he slips the jacket on. He then gave the girls one last warning look, especially towards Rarity who just stared at Spike with an unamused glare.
"I mean it guys." He said before walking off down the hallway. Hopefully these girls would heed his warning and stay away.
Like that's ever gonna happen!
As soon as the drake was out of earshot, the girls huddled together in the hallway.
"Okay, how do we help Spike and not get our butts turn to ash?" Rainbow Dash then asked. "I gotta make it back for Wonderbolt practice. We got a show to do in Salt Lick City."
"Obviously all of us tagging along together will only make things worse." Applejack said. "We gotta be smart about this."
"I say we just leave them alone, let them figure things out." Fluttershy sighed. Shaking her head before placing a stray strain over her pony ears. "It is their date after all."
"More importantly, it's Spike's first date." Twilight said. "All these years he has help us a lot with everything. Now it's time to help him. Here's the plan." The girls, and reluctantly Fluttershy, leans and listen to the princess.
"It's gotta be fun." Pinkie said quickly. "Dates are meant to be fun and exciting, memorable."
"Since Rachel's human, it's not going to be hard. Humans are amazed when it comes to magic and other creatures they haven't seen before." Starlight said.
"Um, guys, you do realize she's been here for a while. During which she knows more about dragons than us." Rainbow Dash said. "We gotta step up our game."
"Right," Twilight said. "Now, we'll each take a turn following the two. If it seems like the date is going to be a bust, we'll do our best to make this the best date Spike and Rachel ever had."
"But what of Spike's threat?" Fluttershy squeakily asked. "He sounded like he'll hurt us if we intervene."
"We'll deal with that when it comes down to it." Twilight said, sure of herself. "Now, let's split up, scatter across the island. When we see them, we'll step in. All with me say aye!"
Six out of seven agreed.
"Okay, next topic," Starlight says, "where is Rarity?"
"Huh?" The others looked about and saw that Rarity was long gone.
"Maybe...she went back to her room?" Fluttershy asked. Though it was unlikely.
Spike ventured outside at the docks. Going over the plan for this day in his head, he and Rachel would go walking through the amusement park, check out the local scenery, hang out on the beach - which reminded him that he needed to head back to his room to retrieve his trunks he had forgotten when he left - grab some lunch, walk-
Sheesh there was a lot of walking involving in this.
"Okay, calm down," Spike muttered to himself as he thought of things for them to do. "Don't get yourself worked up." He watched as other passengers walked out of the ship and headed towards the island. "We'll just go to the park and work our way from there."
His stomach then growled and he groaned deeply. "Crap, I need to eat first." He sighed.
"Good, I'll buy." Spike turns around and Rachel stood there. How the heck did she ended up behind him? Dressed in a button up red and black plaid shirt, dark jeans, and heeled ankle boots. Her hair was up like yesterday but she had hot pink streaks in her hair that shimmered in the morning light.
"How the-" Spike motioned his head towards her and back at the ship confused. "How did you get behind me?"
Rachel grunted before pointed up at the ship where Gemcity had her head stuck out of the port hole. "She needed help!" The purple unicorn cackles before slinking back in.
"We have a rule where they don't use magic on me, I don't hurt them." Rachel sighed. "Gem there is close enough for me to throw her overboard."
"That's kinda brutal for you to say that."
"You spend five minutes with her and Ruby and see you don't want to throw them hoes off the railing." She said before letting out a laugh. "We played around with each other enough to get away from saying that stuff to and about one other." She approached the dragon and took hold of his arm. "Now, let's get this date started."
Spike let out a nervous laugh. Going blank right now. All what he had just planned went down the drain as he stood there with a stupid look on his face.
Both of them stood at the docks for a few moments. It was clear that each other anticipated on who would start this day off. Already… it was awkward.
Thank goodness though, Rachel spoke up. "Um, let's get some chow, sound good?"
"Yeah," Spike said that way too quickly.
With a nod, the young couple walked off of the docks and headed into town.
The weather pony depict the usual; all clear skies, sunny, not much of a temperature drop sometime this afternoon. The two made their way to a small local diner and sat in. Their booth just next to the window. Spike and Rachel ordered a meal from the waitress and waited.
"So, is there anything interesting you would like to do after we eat?" Spike then asked her. Sipping on his cup of joe.
"Hmm," Rachel thought, her blackened nails tapping on the table. "I'm pretty much good on anything you think of."
"You sure?" Spike asked, feeling a bit uneasy.
The two took a sip of their drinks in silence.
"Um…, I guess we can go out and play some of the games the amusement park has to offer." Rachel said.
"That sounds like a plan to me." Spike smiled. He takes another sip of his coffee when his eyes caught a reflection from the window. A familiar pair of purple wings and horn sticks out from a booth from across the diner. Spike choked and sputtered on the hot drink.
"Spike?" Rachel asked alarmed, looking at him. "You okay?" She asked as she then reached over and patted his back as he coughed.
"Y-yeah." He coughed, taking a paper towel and coughs into it. Spike looked back into the mirror and saw that the purple reflection was not there. "Thought I...saw something."
"What was it?" Rachel asked as she stretched out her neck to see what he saw.
"It's nothing probably."
"You sure?" Rachel asked as she continued to pat his back.
Spike nodded as the coughing bit stopped. "I'm good. I'm good." he said, breathing heavily as the waitress brings out their breakfasts.
He let out another cough before grabbing his fork and began eating his food and Rachel eating hers.
Across the diner, Rarity sat at the very back booth, concealing herself with the menu, she spied at the two eating their breakfast. Decked out in one of her noir mystery detective outfits. Though this time she wasn't there to solve a mystery.
Rarity was there to break the couple up before things get too serious. Adjusting her hat, she looked at the two.
She watched as Rachel reached for the honey and poured some into her coffee before taking a drink of it. Setting the honey right next to the ketchup and mustard bottles, an idea came to mind.
And what a coincidence, the human scooted out of the booth, patted Spike's shoulder before heading towards the restroom. Spike had dug into his eggs and his fork slipped to the ground.
"Oops," He said before bending down to grab the fork.
Rarity smirked before using her magic - which the aura was a light shade of jealous green - to raise the condiment bottles and squirted it into Rachel's coffee, using a spoon to stir it rapidly. Then quickly setting the items down as Spike came back up after wiping the fork down.
Now, the fun begins.
Twilight, who was hiding somewhere in the kitchen area, saw the bottles and let out a gasp. Recognizing Rarity's blue aura. Rachel then comes out of the restroom and walked back to the table with Spike. Seeing her hand reaching for the containment coffee!
The princess grabs a random waitress who was just walked in by surprise. "Excuse me, but do you see that couple over there?" She asked rapidly, pointing at the couple. "That girl needs a new cup of coffee, can you go give it to her, now?"
The waitress looked at the princess and the two back and forth before sighing. "I'm not their server, sorry."
"Please!" Twilight shouted, not meaning to use her royal canterlot voice. It caused everyone to turn their heads towards the kitchen area. Luna, eat your heart out.
The mare quickly did what she was told, grabbing a fresh cup of coffee and raced over to Rachel and Spike. Lucky enough, the girl didn't take a sip of her mug yet.
"Here, this one's-" The waitress ended up slipping on a wet spot on the floor and the hot coffee flung out of her hand and went to spill on Rachel.
Spike lunged forward and instead of the coffee landing on Rachel and severally injuring her, the hot liquid splashed over his chest. Lucky for him, he was pretty good in resisting the hot spill so it didn't hurt him at all.
"Oh my god!" Rachel gasped, she jumped up in surprised. "Spike!" The other customers jumped and turned to the commotion.
Rarity stood where she was at with a frightened gasped, Twilight came through the kitchen door and rushed towards them. BSPM - Big Sister Panic Mode activate. Rarity quickly made a run out the door.
"Are you guys alright?!" Twilight asked alarmly, checking to see if Spike was hurt at all or Rachel for that manner.
The waitress looked to Spike. "I am so so sorry." She quickly apologized as she stood up. "Clumsy fool I am."
"It's okay." Spike said in response to everyone. "Accidents happen, no fault here." He said, patting the wet spot on his chest. It doesn't really bother him, he surfed lava pits with other dragons, he can handle spilt coffee. "Dragons are highly resistant to extreme heats, this is nothing." He assured everyone, especially Rachel who looked frightened at the moment, scared for him if he was actually harmed.
It actually touched him.
"You sure?" Twilight asked before using her magic to start checking on him to see if he was truly okay. By there, meaning that she lifts his arms hold him close for inspection, looking for any wound he might gain.
"Twilight, I'm good! Put me down!" Spike snapped at her as he was lifted in the air and was magically examined.
"Just give me a sec to…" She trails off as she continues to inspect him.
Spike couldn't move at this point as she did this, in front of everypony. Embarrassing him in front of Rachel. He knows Twilight means well… But she knows that he doesn't get hurt by this, it was proven many times in the past. For a smart alicorn, Twilight isn't exactly a sharp tool when it comes to his wellbeing.
Especially right out in the middle of the freaking diner!
And boy it was annoying the crap out of him, hearing the snickers and comments others are saying about Twilight's search. Embarrassing him in front of his date. His clothes started smoking.
"Twilight, sweetie, please put him down, now." Rachel quickly tells Twilight, warning her.
"I'm just seeing if-"
In a sudden quick burst of anger, Spike opened his snout and blew a heavy stream of fire at the princess. Reduced to a golden pile of ash that was then carried off magically away out of the open door.
The pink aura disappeared and Spike plopped heavy on his bottom. He rubbed the back of his head when he looked up and saw the looks and frightening expressions on everypony.
"She's fine...everypony…" Spike said nervously.
Already, this looks bad to those who don't know him on a personal level…
"Why me…?" Spike grumbles as he and Rachel quickly left the diner. Even after explaining truthfully to everyone that Twilight was actually fine, he could freaking cut the tension with the tip of his tail.
"Hey, it's gonna be alright." Rachel assured him, rubbing his back. "I'd get pissed off too if I had someone did that to me."
"But you can't breathe fire." He grumbles.
"No, but I probably snap at them." At least she's trying to make him feel better.
"Like I don't already have others looking at me like I'm some type of monster. I snapped and look what it got me. I'm lucky that I don't have the police after my tail as we speak." He rubs his snout with his hand as they walked.
"You think just because you're a dragon means that you're this big monster?" Rachel asked, stuffing her hands in her pockets.
"You saw how they were looking at me." Spike sighed, shaking his head. "I can already see how this day is going to turn o-" Suddenly, he was caught off guard by Rachel flicking him on the nose. He looked at her with wide eyes.
"I will not have any negativity talk coming out of your snout." Rachel said. "You say these things and it'll happen. Say things positive and it'll be a good day."
"Why did you flick me?" He asked, rubbing his nose, It felt weird, really, really weird.
"Ruby does that to me all the time when I feel bad about something. She tells me what I told you all the time." Rachel shrugged.
"So you just happen to pick that up from her?"
"Did it work on you?"
Spike chuckled then. "You're so random, you know that?"
"Yus, yes I am." Rachel giggled cutely as she grabbed his arm. "Now, let's go check out the games. I'm in the mood for some fun."
"Ask and you shall receive." Spike grinned before leading the way.
Barely past ten in the morning but the amusement park was packed full of tourists, Checking out the rides and playing the games. Though word has now spread of Spike's anger episode so everypony around them was at high alert. this time, all Spike could do was blame himself. Some even steer clear from him as they walked by.
Though it hurt, Spike tried his best to push those bad remarks about him behind and focus his attention on Rachel.
"Any games you think are interesting?" Spike asked as they walked.
"A few," Rachel replied, scanning the park. "A few rides and attractions." She looked about at the booths and her eyes lit up like Hearth's Warming lights. "Oh my gosh!" Rachel squealed, taking off towards one of those ring toss bottle games. Spike follows and sees what she was eyeing at. It was a blue alicorn plushie with half of its face a skull like, orange messy mane. It looked obscene and kinda freaky.
But to Rach from what Spike saw of her, she was looking at a puppy and wanted to adopt it and take it home.
"I want that one!" She pointed at it.
Spike cocks his head to the side as he stared at doll. Next to it were other strange malform dolls. One was another alicorn but a much brighter blue, spiky purple mane, and an orange beak than a normal muzzle and the other was a violet pegasus with bat wings, actual claws on the hooves and fangs. To any other tourist, they may comment on how these dolls looked like rejects from the plushie line.
Even Spike thought about that but the way Rachel was freaking out like a little kid - which is actually adorible and somewhat surprising.
"Only three bits my good sir!" Spike's wings drooped the moment he recognized that carny voice. Approaching towards them was one of the Flimflam twins.
Great, now he has to deal with this asshole.
"Well hello there young lady," Flam, Spike thought, says, "do you think you got what it takes to win these one of a kind prizes?"
Spike straightened up and glared at him. Looking at the bottles, most of them had wide necks and the rings were small. Almost impossible for the rings to even fit. A rigged game "What are you guys doing here?" Spike then asked.
"Working vacation, gotta pay the bills to head back to Las Pegasus." Flam chuckled. "Just a bit of fun." He looks at Rachel. "So little lady, you want to give it a whirl?"
"Rachel, him and his brother are con artists," Spike then warned. "Don't trust anything what comes out of their mouth. Let's go to another booth." Spike quickly said.
"Now now, Spike, my boy, take the load off." Flam chuckled, tilting his hat back. "The young lady here wants to try her hand."
"I really, really do." Rachel said, staring at the strange toys with a wide smile.
"Then step right up, don't be shy," now Flim shows up behind them, walking around with a grin. "Grab a ring and shoot to the sky. It's easy-"
"Peasy," Flam chimed in to as the brothers came together, link arm to arm.
"Lemon squeezy!" The duo shouted. Almost like a musical number.
If they start singing, I'm torching their hats, Spike grumbling thought.
"Just let me try." Rachel giggled as she dug into her pockets and pulled out three bits and put it on the bar top.
Spike held his tongue as the twin carnies gave Rachel three rings and step aside for her to take a shot.
Stalking just a couple of feet away from Spike and Rachel, Rarity stood between two other booths. She grinned when she saw the games. "Nopony likes losing, may have her act out a bit." Rarity planned.
Most ponies never win at these types of games. This human can't possib-
The first ring, on a whim in the far corner, it slid just right down the neck of the bottle.
"What?!" She yelped. Rarity then hide before Spike turned to see who was yelling. He narrowed his eyes before turning back to Rachel.
"All you have to do is find the right bottle, logic." Rach grinned. She threw the second ring, tossing it on the left up front, it slid down as well.
"Nice shot." Spike smiled, watching her.
The carny ponies looked at each other, both surprised how Rachel was able to figure out the system.
Even Rarity was surprised by Rachel's aim. This wasn't good.
When Rachel threw the third ring over in the center, Rarity quickly got to work. With a flicker of light aura, it quickly engulfs two of the bottles and make a switch and the ring bounced off and landed in the ground.
"Crap." Rachel sighed, shaking her head. "Thought I had it."
"Oh, what bad luck." The carny twins chuckled as they reached for the money.
Spike then grabs the money before they could get it. "Hold up." Spike said.
"Now now, Spike," Flim said.
"She lost fair and square." Flam said. "Those are the rules."
"What's fair when you don't give others a fair try." Spike grunted.
"What do you mean my scaley friend?" Flim asked him.
"The rings are too little to even fit the bottles, I saw it." Spike said, though he could've sworn he saw magic being used. Could've been sunlight shining through the bottles.
"Spike, it's okay." Rachel said. "Games are mostly made to be rigged."
"Sorry Rachel, but I don't really do well with cheaters." Spike said. "A pet peeve of mine."
"Our pet peeve are sore losers holding up the line." The carny twins said in unison.
The couple both made almost the same annoyed look on their faces.
Spike glared at the twins. "Rachel, you still want that prize?" He asked.
"I want all of them now." Rachel said, pointing at the dolls.
Meanwhile, Starlight was walking down the street when she saw the tension coming from the Flimflam booth. Then noticing Rarity. With a grunt, she teleported behind Rarity.
"What are you doing?" She whispered to her. Her hand placed firmly on her hip and her eyes narrowed to a glare.
Rarity yelps and turns around and faced her. "It's rude to sneak up on ponies, Starlight Glimmer."
"What's rude is what you're doing." Starlight hissed. "Stalking Rachel and Spike? Trying to ruin their date? What's wrong with you?"
Mirroring Starlight's posed, Rarity scuffed. "You girls are doing the same thing."
"What we're doing is trying to help Spike-"
"That's what I'm doing: helping Spike by getting him away from that barbaric creature!"
"You need to stop or else you're going to make things worse between you and Spike." Starlight warned. "It's like walking around eggshells when it comes to you two since the first day. Spike is enjoying himself with Rachel, leave them alone."
"Then what are you doing here?" Rarity said, coming close to a snarl.
"I'm trying to help them make this date as best as they can be!" Starlight snapped.
"You know we can hear you two, right?" One of the Flim Flam twins called out to them.
Starlight and Rarity turned around to find all four of them staring at them. Spike annoyed more than anything else.
Starlight gave him a nervous wave. "Hey, bud, just walking around with Rarity. Right?" She glared at the unicorn next to her.
"Yes...just enjoying the summer sun." Rarity said with a smile that was filled with venom.
"Then why are you wearing a hot furry trench coat in the middle of summer?" Rachel asked. "Aren't you sweating in that get up?"
"Nothing for you to concern, darling." Rarity gritted her teeth.
Sublty, to where it could be seen by the two unicorns, Spike waved them off with his tail, telling them to scram or he gets sparky at them.
Starlight nodded before grabbing Rarity's hand and held her close. "What are you-"
"Enjoy your date." Starlight tells Spike and Rachel before she and Rarity teleported away.
"Well," Flam starts, tilting his hat back.
"That was weird." Flim ended.
The two turned back to Spike, their shit-eating grins returned. "So, where were we." They said in union.
Rachel sighed and wrapped her arm around Spike's. "Let's go. This game sucks anyway."
"You sure?" Spike asked her then.
She nodded. "Yeah, we got other things to do today." She says.
Spike looked at the twins one more time before the couple walked away.
Though, as they gotten farther from the booth, Spike couldn't help but think about how Rachel wanted that doll. As silly it was to think of it, he wanted to make her happy. Just another part of Spike, his need to make everyone satisfied. Just wanting to make sure Rachel was having a good time.
And that means winning her those toys.
Spike looked at Rachel as they came to a water squirter booth. "Hey, I gotta go to the restroom, wait for me here?" Spike asked.
"Oh no problem." Rachel said in response. She reached up and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Don't get lost."
Spike blushed and smiled. "I won't." He said before taking off, disappearing from the crowd.
Rachel watched him go and went go play one of the nearby games while waiting for him to come back.
After a while, Rachel was ordering her a soda when this large shadow drapes over her, nearly scaring the server pony. She turns around and gasped loudly.
"I got them." Spike said with a grin ear to ear. In his arm were the plushies from the FlimFlam booth.
Rachel squealed, leaving her drink on the counter and grabbed the weird looking dolls from him and hugged them. "Oh my God, these are amazing!" She says loudly, jumping around like a child and cuddling her prizes. "I love them, I love them, I love them!"
Spike watched her freak out on something like this. No doubt other tourists and workers in the park were looking at her. A grown woman jumping around in joy about her new dolls. Rachel then turned to Spike, stood on her toes and planted a huge kiss his cheek. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Wow, you really like those dolls." Spike said, chuckling from the kiss. He used up all his bits he had for the cruise playing that stupid rigged game. Spike was about to burn that booth when he finally won the dolls.
"I happen to have a small collection of strange looking plushies back home." Rachel admits with a giggle. She stuffs the dolls under her one of her armpits and takes her phone out of her pockets. Managing to find her pictures, her finger swiping the screen before turning it around and showing him the pic.
From the looks of things, the pic was in a bedroom, three shelves hanging on a wall. And on those shelves were ten plushies aline on those three shelves.
All ten were them were strange looking, a couple were creepy as hell.
"Now with these three, my collection is complete." She giggled. "My little thirteen."
"Good to know." He said. Spike stepping away, not because of Rachel and her doll collection. He has a collection of Power Ponies comic book collection in alphabetical order and in display and decorated his room in everything related to Ogres and Oubliettes (Spike freaking has an actual replica of his Garbunkle The Wizard costume he wears on Nightmare Night!) back at the tree castle. One of the dolls in that little contraption she has at hand, he swore to Celestia that one of their heads turned and was looking right into his soul.
Rachel giggled before sighing, looking up at him. "Thank you Spike." She said tenderly. "I...I actually got you something too."
Spike's eyes widened at that. "What?"
"Yeah, I did." Rachel said, digging into her pockets again, putting her phone away. "Though it's not as extravagant as these dolls, but I won this for you."
Rachel gotten something for me? Spike thought as he watched her. It took a minute before she pulled it out. It was a necklace.
The clasp was metal and the long string was braided and from what Spike could tell after being at Rarity's side for so long, he could tell that the fabric of the string was super durable and doesn't break easy. The pendent was made out a real dark amethyst, chipped and chiseled to form a shape of a heart. All hand crafted. The color of it was the same as Spike's scales.
"When I saw it being used as a prize over there," she points at the booth where she got it from, it was a matching game and had other different gem necklaces. "I thought it reminded me of I won it for you."
"Rach," Spike said, walking up to her. He looked at the necklace and smiled. "I love it." and Spike meant every word. He gently takes it from Rachel. He undid the clasp and puts the necklace around his neck. Though granted it was a struggle to get it around one of the spikes on his neck but when Spike finally managed to get it on, the pendant hung loosely, draping below his collarbone. Surprisingly, it fits perfectly.
This was one gem he won't be feasting, not by a long shot.
Up in the clouds…
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were kneeling on a cloud, Dash held binoculars up against her face and peer down below.
"Okay, that's both sappy and cute at the same time." Rainbow chuckled as she just watched Spike and Rachel interact with the carny prizes each other won.
"I still don't think this is a good idea, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said, her arms folded across her chest. "Why can't we just leave if they are having a good time by themselves?"
"Because, there are going to be moments when it's going to get awkward." Dash replied, still peering down at the couple. "We cannot allow any way shape or form of this date turning to a big waste of time."
"Like we're doing?"
Dash glanced from over her shoulder to look at her childhood friend. "No one likes a sassy pants."
Fluttershy's cheeks grew to a rosy glow as she smirked at Dash. "Soarin likes it when I get sassy." She says, talking about her boyfriend.
Rainbow Dash grumbled something harshly under her breath before turning back to Spike and Rachel. She sees the two walking off. "okay, they're leaving, let's go." She said before taking off. "Hurry up, Fluttershy, we can't lose them."
The buttercup mare sighed before following Rainbow Dash.
The pegasi traveled across the skies, keeping a close eye at Spike and Rachel as they went for a walk. Keeping their distance but also keeping close enough to when something is afoot, they would swoop in and save this date.
After a few minutes of walking, they followed the couple as they came to the ferris wheel.
"Why would anypony pick the wheel? It's not fun, slow, all it does is go in circle. No rush of adrenaline." Rainbow grunted. "A sure way for a date to get boring real quick."
"Dash, let's just leave them, please." Fluttershy begged Rainbow as they landed on the roof of a donut shack. "The wheel is meant to be somewhat romantic. Which is what a date is supposed to be: Romantic and a chance to bond." She knew what she's talking about.
"So, it's okay if these two don't have an awesome time?" Rainbow asked with a raised brow. "Let's just have them fall asleep from the boring ride."
The girls looked at each other before turning back to the couple at question.
"You sure you want to ride on this?" Spike asked Rachel as they came closer to the wheel.
"I do." Rachel sad, holding his hand and holding her dolls with the other. "It'll give me a chance to sit and rest my feet for a second from all this walking."
"Rach, if you were to ask I'd let you on my back and I'll carry you." Spike grinned.
"That is very, very tempting." Rachel giggled, looking like she wouldn't mind at all taking that offer.
As they came up and handed the operator the tickets, she looks at them with a weird look. "Um…"
"Is something wrong?" Rachel asked her.
The operator shook her head. "No, sorry. I just...never see this pairing before."
"And?" Spike raised a brow.
The pony looked at the two, as if she's trying to place them before quickly realizing they were holding the line up. "Okay, you two, go in." She moved out of the way and let Spike and Rachel in the car.
Taking a seat on the bench the metal groan slightly under Spike's weight. "Um, you really sure about this?" He then asked Rachel with a hint of nervousness in his voice. Like he needs to have a fear of them plummeting off of the wheel right now.
Rachel nodded, putting the dolls on the floor and wrapped her arm around Spike's. Leaning against him. "If we fall you can catch me." She points at his wings with her free hand.
"Oh," Spike mutters, looking at his wings, forgetting he had them for a moment there.
The wheel then gave a hard jerk before starting up and the two were going up.
"And they're off." Rainbow drawled, watching the wheel go around and around. Just by the look of her, she was about to go asleep just by watching it. "How long does this ride lasts?"
"Up to ten minutes at least." Fluttershy replied. Rainbow Dash groans. Fluttershy then takes the binoculars from her friend and looked into it. "Aw, they look cute. They're listening to music now and leaning against one another." She then hands them back to her. "We can go now."
"We got work to do!" Rainbow said. "Rides are meant to be fast, not slow!"
"My my aren't you impatient." Flutters said. "Are you too cool to let them enjoy this moment?" She smirked.
Rainbow Dash glared at her before turning to the ride. It spun slowly around and around for a few moments before it suddenly stopped. The girls see Spike and Rachel at the very top of the ferris wheel.
"Oh crud." Rainbow Dash said, looking at the scene.
The operator was messing with control panel and it sparked up. Grabbing a bullhorn, she sighed. "Everyone on the wheel, we are experiencing some difficulties. If you can may all of you calmly exit out of the cars. If you can't just sit back and relax, we'll get the wheel going soon."
Spike then looked to Rachel. "You wanna get off?" He asked her as he took one of her ear plugs out of his ear.
"I'm cool sitting up here." Rachel shrugs.
"We might be up here for a while."
"I don't mind." she smiled then. "As long as I got you for company, I don't mind the wait."
Spike's heart fluttered softly as he smiled down at her and relaxed and sat back. Rachel handed him the ear bud back and they went back to listening to some more Skullen Fang.
There are just moments when you're with somebody you care about that silence is just the right response and enjoy one another's company. There are those who think this is boring, it's really not.
Glancing down at Rachel, Spike coughed a bit. Taking this moment to admire her. She is very beautiful, the way she smiles as she just leaned against his arm. The look of happyness on her face was genuine, actually enjoying being this close to him. One of his hands reached up and fingers began fumbling about the heart pendant. The way the sun hit it casted a shine on it.
With a fake yawn, Spike then stretches his arm out and draped one of them over her shoulders and Rachel leaned her head on his chest. His tail wrapped around her waist and rested on her lap.
"That move was so cheesy I can actually smell it." Rachel giggled, glancing up at him, meeting the dragon's grin.
"Hey, it worked didn't it?" Spike chuckled, planting a kiss on top of her head, taking in her scent a bit. "Speaking of smell, can I ask you something?" Spike asked her then.
"Ask away." She replied.
"What do you use to make yourself so smell nice?" He asked. "Ever since the first day, you just have this smell that's been driving me bonkers, what kind of perfume you use?"
Rachel starts giggling. "You are not the first creature asking me that." She said. "I don't wear perfume, Spike. I'm allergic to the chemicals they use to make them and in cologne. Small doses are fine, but heavy concentration sends me into hives and my throat closes up. And garlic. See?" She digs into her back pocket and pulls out an empi pen case.
And suddenly Spike's allergy of the Dragon Sneeze Tree was reduced to nothing more than allergic to dust bunnies. Now if he ever cooks for her, he'll remember to remove everything garlic base and not wear any cologne for that manner.
"So you're telling me that your scent is… natural?" He asked.
She nodded. "Other than the usual plain minty bar soap, my scent has always been sweet. One time a Yak from Yakyakistan came to my work place, storms in 'cause apparently my scent could be smelled from outside, takes one good look at me and - I shit you not - says 'Tiny human smell nice, You be wife now!'."
Spike snickered but also a sense of protection came over him. If any creature find her scent pleasant, he'll have to fight them off. "What did you say then?"
"That day I had a bad attitude for some reason, so I was being a smartass and said, 'Tiny human no marry yak. Yak must take human dinner and see movie first, pay for all.' Lucky it was a slow day and no other pony but my boss and a bouncer and myself were in that bar when that yak tore up the place to hell. Needless to say I went three months without a paycheck. Had to live off of tips for a while."
Spike let out a laugh. "You sure got some balls on you for saying that!" He laughs, shaking his head.
Rachel giggles. "Yeah, I've been told that a few times too. I guess some scents attract to a few individuals." She playfully nudged him in the side before she began tucking the empi case away.
"C-can you teach me how to use that?" Spike then asked, pointing at the case. "If you need to use it I mean."
Rachel looked at him in silence for a moment before she tendly smiled. Like no one else but the twins asked her how to use it. "Yeah." She takes the case out and opens it up, there were three pens inside. She demonstrated on how to use it if she was ever in shock and can't menistor it herself. Told Spike what to do and where it could be placed. Spike paid very close attention her instructions, not letting her words fall on deaf ears on something that could literally mean life or death.
Over where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy was, Rainbow was really impatient. "Sweet Celestia, Spike has wings, he can just pick Rachel up and carry her off."
"You need to calm down." Fluttershy said calmly. "They're just fine."
"I'm gonna help them out. It's our job." Then the cyan mare takes off to the clouds, taking a big chunk off and dragging it over to the wheel.
"That's not good." Fluttershy whimpers before flying after her. "Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?!"
"The machine stopped. I'm gonna give it a jumpstart." Dash said as she gets in position.
"Rainbow Dash, you haven't been a weather pony in ten years! You need to stop now."
"Relax Flutters! I've done this a bunch of times. It's like riding a bike."
"Oh I can't watch!" Fluttershy yelps, covering her face with her hands.
Dash blew on her rainbow bangs, using her pegasi magic and jumped on the cloud.
Instead of a lightning bolt, she ended up making it rain, soaking those on the wheel and around it.
"The hell?" Spike alarmly said, quickly raising his wings up and held them over his and Rachel's heads.
"I thought it was supposed to be sunny?" Rachel asked confusedly.
Gritting her teeth, Dash jumps on the cloud again twice but instead of lightning, it stopped raining and began snowing. Quickly creating a layer of frost and had ponies and Rachel shiver in the strange weather phenomenon.
Or so they thought.
Spike looks up at the sky then and saw Dash and Fluttershy above them. He snarled deeply.
"Rainbow Dash, please stop!" Fluttershy shouted at her.
"I got it this time, don't worry." Dash said before jumping on the cloud thrice. She finally created a lightning bolt that hit the machine panel. It starts up again alright.
It ended up breaking the speed control and the wheel began rapidly spinning about. Spike held onto Rachel with all his might as the wheel kept on and on. Rachel and the other ponies were screaming in fright.
"OH SHIT!" The two pegasi in the sky both shouted. Rainbow shot down and went to the control panel with the operator, trying to fix it.
The operator tried to pull the emergency stop lever but it broke in half. That was when the cyan pegasus knew...
Rainbow Dash done fucked up.
Hearing the familiar sound of metal groaning under pressure, Spike gasped. He made sure Rachel was strapted in down tightly before he jumped off the car, wings flairs and took to the sky. Spike spun out of control for a moment, remembering that flight training Rainbow Dash had him gone through when he got his wings and managed to get back in control.
The ferris wheel needed to stop before the whole thing breaks and many lives were at stake.
Especially Rachel's.
Looking at the wheel, Spike looks for an opening. He'll have to stop it manually. When Spike found an opening, he shot straight at it. He then goes around the same speed as the wheel, Hands reaching for one of the main joints, the claws came out.
The dragon grabs hold of the main joint, his claws crushed the metal siding for a firmer grip. The wheel pulls him for a few more spins, hearing some faint snapping really had him worried. Not wanting to look at the cars and stay focus, Spike, with all of his draconic strength, pulls back on the joint as hard as he could with a loud roar.
The ferris wheel screeched as the force of the pull starts to slow it down. It went around a few more times before it slowed down to a stop. If it would've kept going, cars would've started flying or the wheel would might've taking off.
Rescue ponies came then on the scene and helped the trapped ponies off the ride. All of them were very dizzy and most of them doubled over puking. There were some medics out there to check of any of them were hurting or whatnot.
A very tired Spike draped over two joints, taking a heavy breather. He was strong but stopping an out of control ferris wheel filled with other creatures had him worn out. He panted softly, watching all the ponies below getting help. Rachel was on the ground finally, disordinated but was okay.
A very scratchy nervous laugh had Spike see red again. Rainbow Dash flew up slowly to his view.
"Nice moves there, slick." Dash said with a nervous chuckle. "Good job saving everypony. Looks like my training paid off, huh?"
"Five…." Spike snarled, pushing himself up. "Four…"
"What are you doing?" Dash asked, slowly backing away from him. "I-it was an accident, c'mon buddy!"
That should be a clear sign of get the hell away of the pissed off dragon. Endangering other ponies' lives, endangering his girl. Spike wasn't having it.
"Three…" The taste of sulphur and a green glow ignited from his snout.
"Dude, we can talk about-" before she could even finish, Spike shoots out a heavy burst of fire. Rainbow let out a scream before turning into golden ash and drifted off to Canterlot.
"S-s-s-s-s-spike?" This soft mouselike squeak trembled behind him. Spike whips around and snapped at whoever was behind him. Fluttershy screamed out of the fright and takes off flying while crying.
"Oh crap!" Spike quickly snapped out of his hostile form and takes off after pegasus. "I'm so sorry Fluttershy!" Now he feels bad.
Intermission!