My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Matchmaker

Chapter 3

Sweet Jealousy

Sweetie Belle hummed a all-too familiar theme tune as she tried to think of a way to get Spike over.
“(I had to say something that required Strength instead of Magic. Stupid, stupid me. Well, let’s think…)”

Sweetie Belle looked all over the Boutique, hoping to think of something and her face making the notions as she thought her plan though. “(Rarity’s Magic isn’t as strong as Twilight’s but still pretty good. It would have to be something big that she can’t do. Raising the floorboards to find house keys? No, sis is bound to have spares somewhere. Moving around the furniture? No, she could do that. Wait. Wait. Un-Huh! That’ll work. Hehe. This is too good.)”

she was so giddy, she sing-songed the next line. “oh, Ground Control to Major Tom!”

Twilight laid in her bed, slowly rubbing her preggo belly while reading a book, was ruined when sudden explosions came from below.

“HAHA! Take that, Darth Canter.” Req cheered.

“oh, man.” Spike groaned.

Twi chuckled. “Guess their playing Star Hooves or something.” she muttered. She placed a bookmark where she left off, got up, and headed downstairs.

“HAHA!” Requiem cheered as her game avatar of Obi-Mane Kenobi defeated Spike’s Darth Canter.

“oh come on. I had you with that combo move.” Spike exclaimed.

“yeah but there’s a little trick to dodging it. It’s called ducking. Very simple, just press down.” Req said with a laughing sneer. Spike sputtered as he put his controller to the floor.

“got your tail handed to you again, Spike?” Twi asked as she walked on down.

“she cheats. I sweat, she cheats.” Spike insinuated.

“nope. Just more skilled.” Req snickered with a wide grin.

Twilight chuckled. She remembered something from the other day. “aren’t you supposed to be helping Sweetie Belle with something at Carousel Boutique, Spike?”

“Oh, crap. I completely forgot!” he exclaimed. He got up and ran on out.

“he’s gonna get in trouble.” Req said in a sing-songy matter. Twi chuckled in agreement.

Sweetie Belle struggled as she both pushed with her hooves and pulled with her magic the large rock Rarity thought was a Diamond back when Discord turned her.

“Come on, Tom. Twilight was able to move you with ease. Why can’t you move now?” she strained. With one last push, she was barely able to make it inside. She panted as she rest on the rock and slid down to the floor.

Spike knocked on the door and entered to see Sweetie on the floor and Tom right behind her. “this is why you needed my help? To move Tom?”

“yeah. Rarity brought him in for… some kind of sculpting thing. Think she’s trying something new.” Sweetie panted.

“you try to move him by yourself?”

“yeah. It’s a LOT harder then it looks. Not sure how Rarity got him in. It’s heavy as Tartarus.”

“hey. Language.” Spike sneered. Sweetie Belle chuckled. “so… this should be easy. Just a big ol’ boulder. Should be easy.” he cracked his knuckles and his neck before walking over.

Without giving him notice, Sweetie snuck over to the other side and put down a couple of small wedge’s beneath the rock, keeping it in place. “(this’ll work.)” she snickered to herself.

Spike pushed against ‘Tom’ to try and get it to move. It was firmly stuck. “wha…” Spike snorted smoke out of his nose and pushed again. Still nothing.

“Ugh. I don’t remember it being this tough to move. Twi was able to move it with ease.” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “why not ask Rarity for help? She could move it with magic and--”

“NO!” Sweetie suddenly exclaimed. Spike’s reaction is what you would expect when someone suddenly yelled. Belle immidatly calmed down and coughed. “er, I mean no. we don’t need Rarity’s help. Besides, she’s gonna be gone all day. We’ll have it out by then, right?”

Spike rubbed his neck as he looked at the rock. “hopefully.” he spit into his hands, rubbed them together, and pushed on the rock again.

Sweetie Belle watched Spike push against the rock and dreamily sighed. “(he’s just too cute.)”

Marble sat behind the counter of Sugarcube Corner, flicking a pencil up and down the table as he thought about the other day.

“(what was I thinking? Why’d I say Diamond’s name out loud? Now everyone’s gonna get suspicious.)”

His mind raced back to 5 years ago.

“Diamond! Look Out!”

“AHH!”

“Diamond! DIAMOND!”

Marble snapped back to reality and shook his head. “I was hoping I buried that.” he groaned as he held his head.

Pinkie also thought back to that day as she laid in her bed, holding a pillow close, but was thinking about something else.

“(we kissed? It was a accident but we kissed. His lips felt… so soft. And the way he looked at me… oh, boy. My heart’s beating a mile a minute just thinking about it. Maybe… I’m falling in love… with Marble?)”

Spike grunted as he pushed against the rock for the umpteenth time. He had been at it for a whole but it didn’t budge a inch.

Spike stopped and panted. “man. This is heavy.”

“I know.” Sweetie Belle dreamily said, still watching him with bright eyes.

Spike took notice of this and got curious. “eh… you okay, Sweetie Belle?”

“Yeah… I’m more then okay…” she dreamily said.

Spike raised a eyebrow in confusion. The door opened as Rarity walked in carrying a saddle-bag filled with groceries. “Spike? What are you doing here? And why’s that rock in here?”

Sweetie tried to choke Rarity with her mind but kept up a silent pleasant front.

“Rarity? Sweetie Belle said you were gonna be gone all day. And as for Tom…”

“Tom? The rock Discord made me think was a Diamond? What of it?”

“well, Sweetie Belle said you moved to sculpting and were trying out on Tom.”

“Sculpting? I’m not doing sculpting. I just went out to get groceries.”

Both looked to Sweetie Belle, or rather where Sweetie Belle was as she was long gone.

“why do I have the feeling that this was her fault?” Spike asked, still looking where Sweetie was.

“because it probably was.” Rarity sighed. She looked around Tom and found the wedges she put beneath it. “yep. This was her doing.” she used her magic to hold the wedges up for Spike to see.

“no wonder it was taking forever for me to move this thing; Sweetie Belle made sure it wouldn’t move.” Spike kicked the boulder. This time, it worked and it was went rolling right out the door. They both leaned to see the boulder run right into a stand, instantly destroying it. Both Spike and Rarity winced when the stand turned into splinters. “sorry.” Spike called out.

“guess you gained quite a bit of strength when you grew up.” Rarity said. Spike shrugged in agreement and chuckled. Rarity noticed a wound on his left hand. “oh, Spike, you’re hurt.”

“huh?” Rarity pointed to it. Spike looked and found it. “oh. When did that happen?”

Rarity used her magic to pick up the saddlebag and set it down. “Come on. I’m sure I have something to help with that.”

“it’s no big deal, Rarity. It’s just a scratch.”

“I insist.” Rarity walked off. Spike slowly followed, still insisting that it’s nothing.

Sweetie Belle repeatedly hit her head against a wall in her room.

“damn, damn, damn, damn!” she yelled. “why did Rarity have to show up now of all times?! I was SO CLOSE! Damn it, Rarity!”

She glanced to the side and found some child’s paint. “hmm… that gives me an idea.”

Rarity wrapped a bandage around Spike’s wounded left hand with her magic.

“I still can’t place where I got this scratch. Don’t even remember scratching my left hand.”

“This things happen, Spike. I mean, I get scratches all the time and I don’t know where I get them.”

“speaking of which, I’m sorry for scratching you when I turned into a teen.”

“you told me that a thousand times already and I said you have nothing you have to apologize a thousand times. Trust me, it’s okay. You weren’t in control of yourself. As Aura would put it, you were spazzing out of control.”

“I know, I know.”

“you should really learn to let stuff like that go.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just like that when it’s with ponies I love.”

“I can bet. Twilight and the others, myself included, are lucky to have a friend like you.”

Spike’s chest tightened. Friend? He didn’t want to be a friend. He wanted something more with her. “r-right.”

Rarity stopped bandaging the hand and cut off the cloth. “there we go. All fixed.”

“Thanks.”

Rarity smiled and turned to put the bandage up. She stepped onto a roller-skate and fell back. Spike was able to catch her. “Dang it. I kept telling Sweetie Belle to put her toys up.” Rarity shook her head at it. She looked up at Spike and felt weird. “I mean she… she…”

The light was hitting him just right, making him look dashing. The light was also hitting Rarity just right, making her look like a angel in Spike’s eyes.

“she… doesn’t matter right now…” Rarity dreamily said as she looked into his eyes.

They both closed their eyes as their lips moved closer and closer to each other. They were just about to touch when…

“AAAAHHHH!”

Sweetie Belle let out a blood-curtailing scream, ruining their moment.

“Sweetie Belle!?!” Rarity called out, worried about her sister. She ran out to her, Spike not far behind.

The 2 ran into Sweetie Belle’s room to find her covered in blood.

“SWEETIE BELLE!” Rarity yelled in fear as she ran to her side. Spike followed not far behind.

“Rarity… a Timberwolf… came in and…” Sweetie Belle couldn’t find the strength to speak.

Spike looked at Sweetie suspiciously as Rarity just blubbering. “it’s gonna be okay, Sweetie Belle, it’s gonna be okay. You’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”

“un… Rarity…” Spike said, not even fazed by this.

“why aren’t you getting help, Spike? Sweetie Belle’s dying!” Rarity cried.

Spike walked over and kneeled over. “you want me to get help…” Spike wiped some of the ‘blood’ off of her back. “…for red paint?”

“Paint?” Rarity took a sniff of the stuff on Spike’s finger. Sure enough, it was paint. Both gave Sweetie Belle suspicious glares. Sweetie Belle chuckled nervously as her trick was revealed.

“unbelievable, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity angrily said as she washed the paint off her sister. “What possessed you to do such a thing?”

She wasn’t speaking. She was staying tight-lipped on the whole subject.

“forget about it, Rarity. I don’t think she’s gonna say anything.” Spike said as she handed her a soap bottle. Rare took it and poured the whole thing onto Sweetie Belle’s hair.

“now you wash up. Me and Spike are going to clean the mess you made.” Rarity got up and walked out behind Spike.

Sweetie Belle snarled as she gave Rarity the evil eye and sank into the water.

Spike put a mop to the paint on the floor and began, well, mopping.

“I have no clue what got into Sweetie Belle, Spike.” Rarity said as she used her magic on a mop. “she never did that before.”

“maybe it’s a phase. Give it time.” Spike assured.

“if you say so, Spike, but I’m worried about her.”

“you and me both.” Spike stopped for a moment and thought for a moment. “do you want to get something to eat when we’re done?”

Rarity thought for a moment. “Sure. I’d like that.”

“Great. It’s a date.” he said. That caught Rarity off guard. “oh, man. I forgot to grab steel wool. It helps with paint.” Spike got up and headed out of the room. “I’ll be right back.”

Rarity stood there with surprise in her eyes. “a… date?” she touched her lips as she thought back to the kiss they almost had. Her mind also flashed back to the day Spike went on a greed-filled rampage and that she was the thing that snapped him out of it. “am I… special to him?”

Sweetie Belle heard all of what had transpired though a crack in the bathroom floor.
“(RARITY! She’s trying to steal MY boyfriend. Well, I’m gonna have to make sure their date goes bad. Spike is mine and mine alone!)”