Chapter 1

"She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me. She loves me not," chanted Spike, pulling a petal off the daisy with each sentence, "She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me..." He plucked the last petal off the daisy and gazed at it, happily. "She loves me!" he squealed!

"Spike, what are you doing?" asked Twilight Sparkle, watching him dance round in glee.

"Oh!" exclaimed Spike, immediately stopping, "Oh, nothing! Nothing at all! Not like I'm counting petals to see if Rarity loves me or not! Oh no! Not at all!"

Twilight gave him an I'm not buying it look. Spike deliberately looked away. Everypony (except Rarity, it seemed) knew that Spike was totally head-over-heels for Rarity. Ever since he had come to Ponyville, he had been practically drooling over her. It had been a quintessential love at first sight. He just loved everything about her, from her ravishing beauty to her unimaginable generosity, to her mind-blowing talent of fashion. Sadly, Spike had never been able to tell her. He wanted to so much, but his nerves just made it impossible to tell Rarity how he felt.

"Spike, we all know you want Rarity to be your Very Special Somepony for Hearts And Hooves Day," smiled Twilight, "And you can ask her whenever you want."

"My, what particularly nice weather we're having today," mused Spike, avoiding Twilight's eyes.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Come on, Spike, we'd better go. We're meeting Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity at Sugarcube Corner to talk about Hearts And Hooves Day."

"Rarity? Oh boy!" exclaimed Spike, jumping to his feet.

"I'm SO excited about the Hearts And Hooves Day dance!" squealed Pinkie Pie, bouncing round the group of friends, "My Pinkie Sense is telling me it's going to be the bestest Hearts And Hooves Day party EVERRRR!"

"I'm looking forward to it too," said Twilight, watching Pinkie Pie bounce around, "So do any of you have Very Special Someponies this year?"

"In your dreams!" said Rainbow Dash, in disgust.

"Big Mac's bringin' along Sugar Belle," said Applejack, "But no. Ever since that Trenderhoof showed up and started chasin' me all over, I've lost interest in all this relationship hooey. Fluttershy?" Fluttershy shook her head.

"What about you, Pinkie?" asked Twilight.

"Well, I wouldn't quite call him a Very Special Somepony, but I did invite a friend to come to the dance with me," said Pinkie Pie, joyfully.

"Really?" asked Rainbow Dash, "Who?"

"It's...it's..." Pinkie Pie suddenly burst into a fit of giggles! "It's—ha ha ha ha—oh, I can't say it—ha ha ha ha! Fluttershy, you tell them! Ha ha ha!"

Fluttershy gave a small giggle. "She's going with..." she said, grinning, "...the Smooze."

Everyone stared at her.

"What did you say?" queried Twilight, looking at Fluttershy, intently.

"You know! The Smooze!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who had finally gotten out of her fit of giggles, "That awesome green blob thing that Discord brought to the Grand Galloping Gala that ate up all our shiny things and spread glob all over the room before Discord tried to banish Tree Hugger to another dimension! I told Fluttershy to tell Discord to tell Smooze about the dance, and then Smooze asked Discord to ask Fluttershy to ask me if he come to the dance with me, and I told Fluttershy to tell Discord to tell Smooze that I said yes! Isn't that just super-duper FUN!?"

"You're goin' to the Hearts And Hooves Day dance...with the Smooze?" said Applejack, in disbelief.

"Yup!" declared Pinkie Pie, "We've really grown on each other."

"That's unbelievably weird," said Rainbow Dash, "I mean, even for you, Pinkie."

"Indeed," exclaimed Rarity, "Why in the wide, wide world of Equestria would you want to bring along the...gah...Smooze?"

"I don't see anything wrong," said Fluttershy, kindly, "The Smooze is a friend, and friends can come from anywhere."

"Exactly!" declared Pinkie Pie, "So what about you, Rarity? Who are you taking? You're practically a magnet for guys!"

Spike sighed. This was the moment he had feared. Rarity was going to be taking somepony else to the dance. Somepony handsome, fancy and rich. Somepony worthy of her. She would never love Spike.

Rarity squirmed, with a painful look on her face. "Well..." she said, uncertainly, "It's just..."

"Rarity?" repeated Pinkie Pie.

A look of embarrassment crossed Rarity's face. She chewed her lip, nervously and didn't say anything.

"Spit it out, Rare," said Rainbow Dash, impatiently.

"Oh, fine!" exclaimed Rarity, slamming her hooves onto the ground, "Nopony! I'm going with nopony!"

The other Mane 5 and dragon gasped!

"What!?" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "But you—"

"Nopony loves me," Rarity said, tears dripping from her eyes, "Every time I win somepony's heart, it never lasts. Trenderhoof never lasted long, Thunderlane was barely a chance, that other one from Manehattan I can't even remember the name of left me almost instantly, and the less I say about Prince Blueblood the better! Not to mention I've been on speed-dates with practically everypony in Equestria!" Being the fragile Rarity, she burst into a stream of sobbing!

Spike's eyes snapped open! "So..." he said, instinctively, "You're saying you don't currently have a love interest?"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Rarity, miserably, "I don't have anypony to be with!"

Spike's face clicked into a grin. "Well..." he squirmed, "Maybe if you don't have anypony to be with, you could..."

"Yes?" asked Rarity, with intrigue.

"Well..." Spike said, nervously, avoiding Rarity's gaze. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy all gave him encouraging nods. He gulped!

"What is it that you want to tell me, Spikey-Wikey?" asked Rarity.

Spike gulped. "Well...I...er...oh my gosh! What's that!?" he exclaimed, pointing behind Rarity!

Rarity whipped round, before Spike bolted down the road and out of sight. Rarity looked back. "What did you see?" she asked, then suddenly realized Spike was no longer there.

"An opportunity to run," sighed Twilight, watching after Spike.