Broken Hearts and Diamonds

The next few days remained uneventful for Rarity; she spent most of her time assembling her new line of spring and summer fashion items as well as fixing torn and ripped garments other ponies brought to her to be repaired. When the weekend finally came up she was happy to finally be able to close up shop for two days and have some fun and relaxation. She hadn't had a chance to see any of her friends due to her workload and she was anxious to catch up on any news or gossip she may have missed.

"Hello, girls." she said happily as she carried Opalesence on her back, bringing her unhappy feline companion to the field for their weekly animal play date.

All five of her closest friends greeted and hugged her, happy to have their final member back. As Rarity looked at her friends she couldn't help but feel like somepony was missing.

'I think everypony is here. Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash... who's not here?' she wondered.

It finally hit her. "Oh, Twilight, darling. Where's Spike? I thought he would be here, too, since he bonded so well with all our pets. Or is he back at the library sleeping in?" Rarity said.

"Oh, he has another date with Flitter." Twilight said. "They went off to the clock tower to do some bird watching."

"Bird watching? That's so boring!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Spike may have well as taken her to watch paint dry at the hardware store!"

"Um, I wouldn't mind bird watching there." Fluttershy said. "I think it's a nice activity to do for a date."

"He can do whatever he likes with her for all I care!" Rarity snapped.

The other five ponies stared silently at Rarity, shocked by her outburst.

"I-I-I mean, it's his date with Flitter, he can choose to take her wherever he likes. We shouldn't be criticizing their preferred activities." she said calmly, hoping the explanation would mask her earlier outburst. Luckily for her it did, and the six friends continued their gathering without further issues.

Having said goodbye to her friends, Rarity returned with Opalesence to Carousel Boutique. As soon as she closed the door behind her a frown appeared on her face as she stared at the rack of materials on the wall. Her eyes went straight to the pale lilac she had refused to use earlier that week as well as every day after. Levitating the roll of lilac fabric down to her, she looked it over carefully and made a disgusted face.

"Ugh, I can't imagine why I ever thought this was a good color to use." she said. She walked the roll over to the trash bin and unceremoniously dumped it into the garbage without a second thought. Glancing back at the shelf, she saw the purple and green fabric next to the white roll together alone on the shelf. Something about that color combination soothed her mind and she smiled. "That's much better." she said.

She turned to walk away, but an idea struck her. Unable to resist the calling, she put on her work glasses and brought the two colors down to her and began cutting and stitching a new piece. Rarity lost track of time, and before she knew it night had fallen and was almost half over by the time Rarity stepped back to admire her newest creation. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was a piece that she made lovingly and tenderly. The top portion of the dress was pure white, while the bottom was made of the purple material with the green trim lining the bottom. Slipping on the simple dress, Rarity looked at herself in the mirror and made sure it fit her figure perfectly. It did, but she felt that it needed a bit more flare. Returning the dress to the mannequin, Rarity opened up her box of jewels and began picking out only the best ones she could find. Normally she reserved the best of the best for the more expensive pieces she made, but something about this particular creation demanded only perfection. She gathered the jewels she found to be perfect and delicately laid them out and secured them to the dress. She ringed the neckline with small diamonds, letting the line dip down in the front. The midsection where the white and purple material met was adorned with small rubies, and just above the green trim was dotted with emeralds.

"Perfect!" Rarity exclaimed, stepping back and admiring her work. "Now, one last thing to check."

She ran upstairs and opened a heavy box that contained her most prized gem; a necklace with the fire ruby Spike had given her. She rushed back downstairs and draped the necklace on the mannequins neck. The fire ruby was perfectly bordered by the diamonds around the neckline of the dress, and Rarity's eyes lit up at her masterpiece.

"This will surely get his attention." Rarity muttered to herself, not quite realizing what she just said. Yawning, Rarity turned and headed back upstairs to go to bed, not even bothering to put on her nightgown due to her excitement for tomorrow.

'I'll surprise Spike with my new gorgeous creation and take him on a nice stroll before treating him to dinner.' she thought to herself. Before sleep overtook her, she said something that no pony would ever believe the Element of Generosity would ever say;

"He's mine, only mine."

The next morning Rarity awoke earlier than usual. Ignoring the fact that she had just gone to sleep a little over four hours ago, Rarity hopped out of bed and raced downstairs to look over her masterpiece. As she walked up to the mannequin holding her work, she couldn't help but gasp.

In the morning sunlight the dress looked more magnificent than it did in the dark. The sunlight seemed to be sucked in to each gem and diamond, causing the entire ensemble to sparkle. The fire ruby seemed to radiate its own light and turned the diamonds around it a beautiful hue of pink. "Oh my gosh, it looks even better than I thought it would!" Rarity exclaimed in excitement. Without wasting any more time she quickly but carefully put on the dress, finishing by carefully draping the fire ruby necklace around her neck. As expected, the necklace fell perfectly into place, and with one last careful examination Rarity felt confident that not a stitch was out of place.

Rarity left her home and joyfully trotted through Ponyville, headed to Twilight's library. The ponies around town made no attempts to hide their stares, and almost every single stallion let his jaw drop at the sight of the posh unicorn in her new outfit. Even Big Mac was unable to finish his trademark 'eeyup' as he watched Rarity pass his apple stand.

Rarity smiled as the other ponies stared, but there was only one creature's opinion she wanted to hear. Finally getting to the library, Rarity quickly looked over herself before knocking on the door. She knew Twilight would be sleeping in and send Spike to open the door, and after waiting a few moments her hunch was proven right.

"Hey Rari-" Spike managed to get out before being rendered mute. It was a feat in itself that Spike managed to stop from drooling all over the ground as he looked over Rarity's choice of clothing.

"Hi there, Spike. I just wanted to stop by and see how my favorite little dragon was doing." Rarity said.

"I'm goo... go..." Spike stuttered, still unable to form a full sentence.

Twilight came down the stairs and saw heard assistant stuttering. "Hi Rarity. Wow! That's an amazing outfit. What's the occasion?" she asked.

"Oh, this? Just something I threw together last night." Rarity said nonchalantly, turning around to give Twilight and Spike a full view. The outfit sparkled in the daylight, and Spike wouldn't have been able to turn away from the sight even if the library behind him caught on fire.

"So, dear Spike, would you like to accompany me on a walk around town?" Rarity asked, smiling seductively at him. "Maybe afterwards we can have dinner somewhere and then go back to my place for dessert?"

Spike turned red in the face and nervously shuffled his feet, all good signs for Rarity. "I, um... I, well..." he stammered.

'You got him, Rarity. He's all yours.' she thought. She licked her lips sexily, making sure to do so when Spike's eyes were on her.

"I'm sorry, Rarity, I can't."

Rarity felt a familiar pain in her heart, but this time it felt over ten times stronger. "I'm sorry, dear, what did you say?" she asked him.

"I can't, I'm really sorry. I have plans with Flitter later today. We're going to the bowling alley and then stopping by the market after. But I'll go with you some other time! Once I finish reorganizing the library... again. I'm really sorry, Rarity."

Rarity fought to keep her kind smile on her face as she felt a knot twist in her stomach. "Oh, don't worry about it, Spike. Some other time, I'm sure. Have fun with Flitter!"

Turning away, Rarity walked calmly back to her home, but as soon as she closed the door behind her a flurry of rage exploded from her. She levitated a mannequin and smashed it against the wall, unable to take her anger out on her clothes.

"He... he'd rather go on a date with Flitter than with me? HE turned ME down?" she yelled out. She stormed up to her room and took off her dress, thinking about throwing it in the corner in a heap but quickly decided against it. She hung the dress carefully on an unbroken mannequin and then removed the necklace from around her neck. As she placed it back in its custom made box she started crying as she thought back to the symbolic importance it stood for, and how Spike had overcome impossible odds thanks to it.

"I... he... I thought he loved me." Rarity softly said, tears still running down her cheeks. She threw herself onto her bed and cried into her pillow, refusing to move for over an hour as her emotions poured out. Spike... HER Spike, was now with another mare, and he'd rather spend time with her.

Removing her face from her now-wet pillow, Rarity finally sat up and sniffled as she tried to think of what to do.

'Well, it's not like I shouldn't have seen this coming. I did always tease him and toy with him.' she thought to herself. Thinking that she could accept this new development, she washed her face in her bathroom and decided to go complete some errands to take her mind off of her loss. Putting on a sun hat and over-sized sunglasses she left for the Ponyville market to pick up groceries for the week.

By the time she reached the market Rarity was smiling once again, and she had the good luck of running into Applejack at the market entrance. The two friends decided to go shopping together, both mares needing almost the same items. Rarity had completely forgotten about her worries and troubles from earlier, until she noticed Applejack looking at something behind her.

"Everything okay, Applejack?" she asked the earth pony.

"Yeah, just ah thought ah saw... yeah, that there's Spike and Flitter." Applejack said.

Turning around, Rarity felt the pain in her heart return as she saw that Applejack was correct. On the other side of the market was Spike and Flitter, walking together and laughing.

'Keep it together, Rarity. You're not jealous of her. Spike's happy, so you should be too.' Rarity told herself. She watched as the two walked up to a stand selling strawberries and Flitter bought a small bag of the bright red fruit. Turning to Spike, she picked up one strawberry with her mouth and leaned in, inviting Spike to bite it. He took the bait, his lips connecting with hers for a split second.

The world seemed to freeze for that one second for Rarity, and something in her head finally snapped. 'No....'

"Wow, that was a really good strawberry." Spike said, barely audible to Rarity and Applejack.

"Heehee, you have a small bit of it stuck to your face." Flitter giggled.

"Huh? Where?" he asked cluelessly. Flitter didn't answer him. Instead she leaned in and licked the small bit of strawberry stuck by his mouth, causing him to blush. Still giggling, Flitter led the blushing dragon away from the two ponies watching them, leaving the market and headed elsewhere.

"Aww, ain't that jus' adorable. Ah think Spike found himself a real sweetheart." Applejack said.

"Uh, yes... yes he did." Rarity said, gritting her teeth angrily.