Setting Things Straight
Chapter Two: His Secret
Spike woke up in the middle of the night, because he needed to use the restroom. He went back to bed once he was finished in there. Not long after going back to bed, the baby dragon heard some rustling in the direction of the other bed and then hoof steps that gradually got quieter. Spike opened his eyes and his suspicions were correct. He saw no sign of Prince Blueblood in the room. The stairs weren't squeaky, so Spike hurried down them. At the bottom, he saw the guest leaving the house through the main door.
He decided to check on Twilight, as going out too early could ruin his cover. She was sleeping on her side in the middle of the room he was in, so all Spike had to do to see her was to turn his head. Twilight Sparkle was laying her head on a pillow, but the blanket that she brought out wasn't covering her body. Spike got up close and wrapped it around her. It was then when something on the pillow caught his eye. Parts of it were damp. Since they smelt slightly salty, Spike took a look at Twilight's face and saw that tears were still trickling out of her shut eyes. Enraged, Spike said out loud, "That monster! He is going to pay for what he did!"
Just then, Spike got knocked onto the floor by one of Twilight Sparkle's hooves. Since she was still wearing the socks she got, it didn't hurt him as much as it could of. It was almost as if Twilight was trying to gallop away from something. "No...don't get me..." she muttered in her sleep. The wild swinging of her legs caused the blanket to slide off of her. Once they stopped moving again, Spike decided to put the blanket back on her.
Right before heading outside, Spike took off his socks so that they wouldn't get dirt on them. They are from Rarity after all. Thinking that looking at hoof prints would help, he grabbed a stick and breathed fire on a tip to turn it into a makeshift torch. He was sort of right, as he immediately spotted freshly made prints away once he had a good light source. However, they became much harder to distinguish from the other hooves in the areas that are usually crowded during daytime. Since trying to pinpoint the correct ones would take too much time, Spike decided to go straight ahead and hope for the best once he found himself in that predicament. Fortunately, he found the path again once the other hoof prints weren't so dense again.
The hoof prints lead Spike to some plains right outside of Ponyville. By that time, the stick was completely burnt out. Fortunately, he no longer needed to look at the ground, as Prince Blueblood could now be seen out in the distance. He was heading in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Once Blueblood got to one of the farm's fences, he stopped there. It appeared that he was watching something. Curious, Spike climbed up a nearby apple tree and tried to find out what he was looking at. Since he was now so close to Blueblood, Spike's heart was beating fast again.
The only thing that looked like of interest was Big McIntosh who was currently watering the flowers of the big barn's window sills and that was the direction Prince Blueblood was looking in. Spike had no idea why Prince Blueblood would want to watch him, so he assumed that he was planning something malicious.
Spike wanted to tell Big McIntosh what he thought Blueblood was going to to, so he began to head down. However, he slipped off the branch he was on and gave out a shriek. Prince Blueblood took quick notice of Spike and used his magic to slow the fall down. When Spike landed, it was almost as if he didn't fell.
"It's a good thing that you didn't get hurt," Prince Blueblood told Spike. "By the way, what are you doing out here so early?"
"Why am I out here? I'll tell you why! I was watching you watch Big McIntosh! I know that you are thinking of doing something nasty from behind him and I'm going to tell him and everyone back in Ponyville!"
"Please don't do that! I know that you may not accept me for who I am, but at least have enough decency to not do something like that!"
"Look, if you weren't so mean to the ponies I care the most about, maybe I could accept you, maybe... Why are you acting all nice to me anyways?"
"For some reason, I feel that I can trust you. That was why I was polite to you."
"Then why were you such a jerk to Twilight? She tried so hard to make you nice!"
"I was afraid that she was trying to change who I am. She wanted to straighten me out, didn't she?"
"Well, Princess Celestia's letter said to straighten you out and make you a proper prince, so yeah, Twilight would make sure to do that. Wait a minute... If you reacted so badly to it, then could being straightened out mean something different than just making you behave better?"
"So you don't know then?"
"About what?"
"My secret."
"You actually trust me enough to tell me one of your secrets?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. Character seems to be what you care the most about others, and I respect that."
Even though he was still angry with Prince Blueblood for how he treated Twilight, Spike felt a comforting presence within his body. He didn't know what to make of those feelings.
Blueblood then said, "I feel comfortable with telling you that I'm gay."
"Is that when a guy likes other men?" As he imagined what it could be like to fall in love with another male, Spike felt a sudden flash of heat throughout his body.
"It is."
"So that means you weren't going to pull some sort of mean prank on Big McIntosh then?"
"Of course I wasn't. Was that really what you thought?"
"Yeah, it was." Spike took another look at Big McIntosh. "He has a good looking body, so I can see why you like him. Does Celestia really have a problem with you being gay?"
"I'm sure that she does. Princess Celestia always encourages me to date a mare every year at the Grand Galloping Gala and there are guards that watch to make sure that I do so."
"Is that why you were so mean to Rarity?"
"Yes, it was. I'm sorry for not treating her with the respect you wanted given to her."
"I have a secret as well. Would you like to know?"
"As long as you feel comfortable, go on ahead."
"I like Rarity. If you ever meet her again, make sure to apologize."
"I'll be sure to do that."
"What are ya doing out here?" a female voice with a slight southern accent sounded. Spike was familiar enough with her voice to tell that it's Applejack. She came up to the two and told Prince Blueblood, "I remember what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala and how you treated Rarity. I knew that yer a jerk, but even I didn't expect you to kidnap Spike an' try to invade Sweet Apple Acres."
"It isn't what it looks like Applejack," Spike tried to explain.
"Nice try Blueblood, but I know that Spike would never defend you if he wasn't kidnapped. My legs are mighty strong from kickin' these apple trees, so I advise you to free Spike and scram before I kick yer-"
"Let Blueblood explain!"
"You sure you aren't kidnapped?"
"I am sure. None of this will make sense unless he explains, right?"
"I guess I'll have to explain why I'm here then," Prince Blueblood stated. "At the Grand Galloping Gala, I was forced to maintain an image of a duke. There were guards paid by my parents to ensure that I don't betray what they want me to do. Both of my parents don't like anything that relates to the country. That was why I spat out that sample you gave me. In reality, I love apples, but my parents frown down on them for being poor pony's feed."
"I see. It's a real bummer they think that way. I bet that it was also expected of you to date a mare, since Rarity said that everything you did to her was mean in one way or another." Applejack didn't even need to ask about his sexuality. "I'll let you onto something. Big McIntosh over there is bisexual and he'd like to date another stallion. You can meet him right now if ya want to."
"I would love to."
Applejack began to head over to the building Big McIntosh was in. Spike and Prince Blueblood promptly followed.