“Oh, Spike, how could you ever know what it's like to be totally obsessed with a pony only to find out they're obsessed with somepony else?”
That was the last thing he'd remembered. After that, it was all a blur. A horrifying red blur.
“Spike? Spike, darling, aren't you listening? I need somepony to hear this!”
Spike walked closer to Rarity's shrine to Trenderhoof, steam issued from his nostrils, and grabbed the end of the table so hard, his claws pierced the wood. With a pull, the entire table was not only upended, but sent several feet into the air, spilling every single picture, frame, newspaper clipping and memento on it to the floor.
Rarity was brought out of her misery with a healthy dose of shock. “Spike!” she squealed, “What . . . how could you? What's gotten into you?!”
“Oh, of course you do,” Spike growled through his fangs, breathing out clouds of black smoke, “Of course you need somepony to hear this. You needed somepony to cry to about Prince Blueblood. You needed a shoulder to cry on after what happened in Manehattan. And now that this pony has broken your heart, you need somepony to talk to about how unfair it is that he doesn't love you back! OF COURSE YOU FUCKING NEED SOMEPONY!!”
“S- . . . Spikey . . .” Rarity's shocked anger had quickly given way to deep concern, “. . . Why are you acting like this?”
“How DARE you!! How dare you sit there and tell me I don't know what it's like!! You spoiled, selfish, arrogant, egomaniacal cunt!! You wouldn't know love if it ripped your horn off and shoved it up your ass!!”
Now, Rarity was beginning to feel fear, “Spike, why would you say—”
“DON'T YOU GET IT!?! I've loved you since I first met you!! I've done nothing but try to make you happy! To be the guy you deserve! And you do nothing but walk all over me!! And now you have the gall to tell me I don't know what it's like after being repeatedly rejected by you!?! Who do you think you are, you vicious, heartless bitch!?!”
Rarity was appalled. Such foul language, such unhinged rage: Spike didn't even sound like himself anymore. His anger had reached such a peak that his voice was significantly deeper, a throaty roar of years of buildup from constant heartbreak and failure.
And one moment was all it took for him to snap.
“But, Spike,” Rarity tried to reason through her fear, “This is . . . completely different . . . Trenderhoof and I belonged together . . . . but you could . . . always . . . . . get over me—”
And that was the moment.
Spike's roar shook the entire boutique as he grabbed a shard of glass from a broken frame and lunged at Rarity. He had taken advantage of Rarity's shock; by the time she had finally snapped out of her stupor, it was too late.
“Finding your gems! Carrying your bags! Sticking your pins in my back! All because I thought it would get you to care! BUT YOU DON'T!”
“AHHH!! Spike! Please! AHHHHHH!! Stop! You're hurting me!! PLEASE!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!”
“Doing your chores! Giving you my fire ruby! Sitting here listening to you bitch about your shitty love life! And you didn't stop to think about the only one in Equestria that really loves you!!”
“AHHHHHH!! HELP!! Somepony please help me!! AHHHHHHHHHH!! Oh, dear Celestia, it hurts!!”
“You and Twilight and all the others see me as nothing more than a joke!! A loser!! A little kid in over his head! A little boy with no sense at all! A stupid little sidekick good for a laugh at my expense!!”
“Spike . . . stop . . . . please . . . . it hurts . . . .”
“And you go on looking for a stallion with money and status, who can give you anything you want! You selfish bitch!! How can you possibly want more!! You already have everything!! You go begging rich assholes to love you, and the one guy who gives you what you really need means NOTHING TO YOU!! I TREAT YOU LIKE GOLD, AND YOU TREAT ME LIKE SHIT!!!”
Spike continued to scream and roar, Rarity's pleas falling on deaf ears. The shard of glass almost slipped from his wet grasp.
“Sp- . . . . . Spi- . . . . ike . . . w- . . . . why . . . . ?”
She was barely audible, now; she was growing weaker and weaker by the second, and her breaths came out in violent coughs and sputtering. But Spike was relentless—seeing his love thrown away one too many times had finally broken him, enraged him, sent him spiraling into a limbo of emotion more agonizing than the fires of Tartarus.
And the only thing he wanted was to spread that agony to the pony who caused it.
Rarity lie on the floor, taking breath after pained, wheezing breath, her tears pooled under her head. “Sp- . . .” she struggled with her dwindling breaths, “Sp- . . . Spike . . . . . please . . . help . . . me . . .” She desperately reached out her hoof to him with the last of her strength.
The glass flew one more time, her words (among other things) were cut, and Rarity breathed no longer.
Spike released a series of heavy breaths and dropped the glass shard. It seemed to snap him out of his furious blackout, for he now saw what he had done. He saw it on the floor. He saw it on his claws.
He saw the blood. There was so much blood.
“No . . .” Spike muttered, hardly able to process the grisly scene before him, “No . . . . what . . . what have I done? No . . . NO! RARITY!!” He dropped to his knees and sobbed. He couldn't believe it. The mare he'd loved for so long was gone. She looked so broken and disgraced, thrown away like a piece of garbage. Broken heart or no, he would never hear her sweet voice calling him 'Spikey-wikey' ever again.
And it was all his fault.
What would happen now? Sweetie Belle would be devastated, naturally. Twilight would surely send Spike away, if she didn't call Canterlot's royal guards to incarcerate him first. Even before then, Rainbow Dash and Applejack would surely hunt him down for their own vengeance. Fluttershy would be utterly inconsolable. And there was no telling what this would do to the normally cheerful disposition of Pinkie Pie. And now, the Elements of Harmony would forever lose its Element of Generosity. This meant that Discord would be free to throw Equestria back into chaos again, if he wanted to. Chrysalis could lead the Changeling Empire back into another uprising. With one Element gone, Equestria was teetering on the brink of disaster.
This meant that Princess Celestia would hold Spike accountable for more than just this. This was more than a 'banished to the moon' offense. This was even more than losing the love of his life forever.
This was murder.
Almost without thinking, Spike walked away from Rarity, wandering around the boutique and leaving red footprints in the carpet behind him. He located the one thing that supposedly meant the world to Rarity—her precious gift from Spike, her fire ruby—and grabbed it, taking it with him in his wanderings. He wandered around the store for a good few minutes, not doing anything but clutching that beautiful jewel with his blood-stained claws. Without Rarity, life was already not worth living. If he was caught, if Twilight and the others found out what'd he'd done, he would be deemed unfit to live a decent life, anyway. But what really struck Spike the hardest, what really destroyed him inside, was knowing that he was responsible. He had done the unthinkable to the pony he'd felt deserved it the least. Even after all she'd done to him, and all the times he'd failed to earn her love, she didn't deserve this.
He did.
Still clutching the fire ruby, Spike stared at a wall of the store for a few minutes (it could have been hours, guilt had a way of distending the passage of time). Then, still no thought passed through his mind as he took a deep breath and shot a jet of green fire at the wall. The wall caught the flames and slowly spread them up to the ceiling. Spike turned away from the growing tower of flames and did the same thing to the wall behind him. Another jet of fire, and a set of mannequins caught the heat, causing it to combust instantly and spread the fire by way of the clothes they displayed. Another jet of green intensity caught on a set of curtains; another sent a desk up in flames; he sprayed the green inferno across the carpet, spreading heat and destruction all over Carousel Boutique.
They can't see us like this, he thought as the flames ate away at the building's integrity, They can never know. I can't let them see Rarity like this. It's for the best. It went through his mind again and again as a form of comfort in the face of what he had to do. This was the best way to him; it preserved Rarity's dignity, made her look as though her last actions involved the Ponyville Days festival she'd worked so hard to bring together. It made her look like the responsible, passionate pony she truly was, to have died doing what she loved. And it disguised the truth about her end. Nopony had to know how violently and disgracefully her life had been ripped from her.
Maybe it was cowardly. Maybe it was a way for Spike to avoid owning up to what he'd done. But in a way, it was also taking responsibility for his evil actions. After what he'd done to Rarity, he deserved death.
In fact, to die by her side was too much of a privilege.
The heat was intense, and would surely destroy all traces of the blood. Nopony knew what happened here except for Spike, so there were no witnesses. All there was to do was to find a fitting end for himself; his dragon scales would surely protect him from the flames. He'd found the perfect method, in the form of a letter opener he'd pulled from a desk drawer (before setting that desk on fire, as well). He walked back over to Rarity and lay himself down in front of her, placing the fire ruby between them. He held her limp, reddened hoof tenderly in his claw; she still looked so beautiful, even in such a shameful state.
Well, she looked much better after he'd closed her eyes for her.
“I'm so sorry, Rarity . . .” he muttered as he shook the letter opener from its case with his free claw, “I'm so sorry . . . I still love you, Rarity . . .” He pointed the end of the blade directly over his chest, pressed it down past the thick scales, and felt pain as he pierced the skin. He gave his lost love one last look through tears before pushing the blade in the rest of the way.
“Please forgive me . . . .”
There was an intense pain for a split-second, and the world fell away in a blur of dark. The fire converged around two corpses as the blood from Spike's wound spread underneath him, mixing with Rarity's. Spike the dragon died a lonely and miserable, though appropriate death for the brokenhearted.
News had spread fast of the fire at Carousel Boutique. The place had burned down more quickly than anypony could have predicted. Everypony was worried at first that Rarity's designs for the Ponyville Days festival would be destroyed, setting the festivities back many days, or even weeks.
When it was discovered what had really been lost in the blaze, the festival was canceled altogether.
Firefighter ponies digging around the wreckage had discovered two bodies. They had relayed their information to the mayor of Ponyville, and she had in turn released her statement confirming who had been found. Rarity's body, charred and nearly unrecognizable, had been discovered under the smoldering rubble. By her side, Spike's corpse was found, largely untouched by the fire and apparently having died of unrelated injuries. Between them sat a beautiful fire ruby, singed and covered in black ashes, but otherwise undamaged.
The entire town was awash in grief. A double funeral was held for the two, which everypony attended. Fluttershy was completely incapable of speech; she'd cried from the moment she'd arrived to the moment it was over, and long after she'd left for home. Pinkie Pie's puffy mane had become perfectly straight and drooped, and it would be several days before anypony realized that it would stay this way permanently. Rainbow Dash had held it together the longest, but when they'd finally lowered the coffins into the ground, she'd lost it, and sobbed louder than anypony in attendance.
“I just can't believe it,” Applejack had muttered after hearing the news, “I'm just bowled over. I talked to Rarity the other day . . . how could this happen . . . . I . . .” soon, the pain was too much for even her to bear, and she could go on no longer. Losing her friend so tragically had caused a need for comfort and strength she hadn't felt since the deaths of her own parents.
Luckily, Trenderhoof was there to provide it for her.
Princesses Celestia and Luna had made their way through the Everfree Forest to see if this tragedy had the impact they were dreading. They had located the Tree of Harmony, and sure enough, the surface of the Tree had become cloudy and rusted, branches had broken off and fallen to the ground, and where the Element of Generosity was once inserted, there was now a hole.
“Sister,” Luna had said, distressed, “The Elements are incomplete. Unless we bring back the Element of Generosity, all hope may be lost for Equestria.”
“I know,” Celestia nodded, her heart heavy, “but we can never bring her back.”
The main worry regarding the Elements of Harmony had been that, with one missing, there would never be a way to stop Discord from taking over Equestria if his reformation relapsed. The worry had been canceled out as soon as Fluttershy returned home from the funeral. Discord had visited her as soon as he'd heard the news, and had tried to cheer her up with his usual wacky hi-jinx, but Fluttershy hadn't responded. He'd done everything, from silly parlor tricks to lame jokes to transformations. He'd even pulled her cottage out of the ground and made it dance the mambo. Nothing had worked, and Discord had realized that he'd somehow lost his knack for causing anarchy.
It was just Fluttershy's misery at first, but he soon felt the sting of the loss of Rarity and Spike as badly as anypony.
But if there was one pony who had taken the news harder than anypony in town, even in all of Equestria, it was Twilight. It wasn't just the loss of one of her best and closest friends. It wasn't just the loss of her dragon friend, whom she'd considered not just the best assistant a pony could ask for, but the closest thing she'd had to a younger brother. It was even more than knowing they'd died together, with Spike having found Rarity's body and killed himself out of grief and pain (as the official report had concluded).
It was because she alone knew the truth of what happened.
She had been reading a new book on time spells when she'd heard the news, and had shown up at the scene of the fire minutes after it had been put out. As she'd stared in horror at the ruins of the Carousel Boutique, the fireponies had announced that they had found two bodies in the wreckage. Through logic, Twilight realized that one of those bodies must almost certainly be Rarity, and felt her heart freeze. She'd thought at first that the other could be Sweetie Belle, but she was still in school; in fact, she might be coming home to this catastrophe any minute now. Everypony else had been hard at work on the festival, and Trenderhoof was at the scene at around the same time. This left only one possibility, which seemed frighteningly probable once Twilight realized something.
She hadn't seen Spike all day.
Keeping herself as distanced from the gathering crowds as possible, Twilight poured through her book and found a spell that could display past events occurring at whatever area she lay her eyes on. Studying the spell carefully, she remembered the process, set the book aside, and gave the ruined boutique a good, long look. She began casting the spell, and a small screen of light appeared in front of her. On the screen, displayed vividly and with clear sound, was Rarity inside the Boutique, sobbing and wailing beside her shrine to Trenderhoof. Seconds later, Spike came into the frame and upended the shrine, spilling everything to the floor.
He was screaming and roaring, using horribly foul language and blasting Rarity with every last little injustice she'd ever done to the little dragon. She tried defending herself, but in her saddened state, it wasn't enough. She had finally offered to Spike that he could get over her in time, and that's when the true horror began.
Picking up a shard of glass from the mess on the floor, Spike roared again and stabbed Rarity in the neck. Over and over again, he kept stabbing her, driving the glass into her back, ribs, stomach and chest, and saturating her pristine white coat with crimson liquid.
“Finding your gems! Carrying your bags! Sticking your pins in my back! All because I thought it would get you to care! BUT YOU DON'T!” The Spike image on the screen punctuated his every hate-fueled word with another vicious plunge of the shard into Rarity's body.
“AHHH!! Spike! Please! AHHHHHH!! Stop! You're hurting me!! PLEASE!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!” Rarity begged and screamed and tried to force him away, but because he had taken her by surprise and taken advantage of her shock, she'd already been too injured to fight back. There was no avoiding him now.
“Doing your chores! Giving you my fire ruby! Sitting here listening to you bitch about your shitty love life! And you didn't stop to think about the only one in Equestria that really loves you!!”
“AHHHHHH!! HELP!! Somepony please help me!! AHHHHHHHHHH!! Oh, dear Celestia, it hurts!!” Rarity's screams were becoming hoarse and watery as she gargled her own blood mid-scream. She struggled and pulled herself along the floor, but she grew weaker; not even her magic was strong enough to disarm Spike by this time.
“You and Twilight and all the others see me as nothing more than a joke!! A loser!! A little kid in over his head! A little boy with no sense at all! A stupid little sidekick good for a laugh at my expense!!”
Twilight heard this part, and quickly and without warning, a flood of scenes that proved this point came into her head. Leaving him on a piece of floating ice; laughing at his bad stomachache; having him serve as a dummy for Applejack and Rainbow Dash's 'Iron Pony' contest; being left behind by the train to Appleoosa; being beaten up by Diamond Dogs; leaving him behind on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala; spending time with a group of abusive dragons; numerous moments of not batting an eye when Rarity gave him the most exhausting, strenuous, painful jobs to do; incalculable numbers of events of falling, slamming, tripping, tumbling, running, jumping, falling, and having things dropped on him—Twilight was shocked at how much came to mind. And how long she'd gone without even asking about his welfare.
“Spike . . . stop . . . . please . . . . it hurts . . . .” This made Twilight's blood run cold. As much as Spike had been through, it wasn't worth watching Rarity beg for her life. Twilight felt nauseous, horrified, as if watching a train wreck of the most destructive and soul-crushing proportions. She couldn't even understand how she'd hung on this long without ending the spell.
“And you go on looking for a stallion with money and status, who can give you anything you want!”
TWHACK!! The shard of glass made a sickly sound as it slashed through Rarity's flank.
“You selfish bitch!! How can you possibly want more!!”
THWACK!! Another strike through her ribs.
“You already have everything!!”
THWACK!! The shoulder was next.
"You go begging rich assholes to love you, and the one guy who gives you what you really need means NOTHING TO YOU!!”
THWACK!! THWACK!! Two more in the neck.
“I TREAT YOU LIKE GOLD, AND YOU TREAT ME LIKE SHIT!!!” The shard almost slipped from Spike's claw, both gleaming with Rarity's blood.
THWACK!! THWACK!! THWACK!!
Rarity could only lie on the floor, spurting blood from every new orifice and coughing up more. She could barely move at all now; escaping was out of the question. There was no way to save her at that point. She was as good as dead. And Spike continued to make sure of that.
“Sp- . . . . . Spi- . . . . ike . . . w- . . . . why . . . . ?”
Finally, Spike stopped, and he raised the glass shard above his head, shaking and panting in a low, throaty growl. Rarity lie in front of him, her breaths wheezy and forced. Now, even speaking was nearly impossible for her. “Sp- . . . Spike . . . . . please . . . help . . . me . . .” she cried through her coughs and rasps, tears sliding down her face and disappearing into the puddle of blood beneath her.
When it seemed as though the worst was on display at that moment—Rarity pitifully reaching out a hoof to her murderer—Twilight gasped as she saw the final stroke. Spike sent the glass flying, slashed Rarity's throat, and it was over. Rarity released a death rattle as more blood cascaded from the open wound on her neck. She was dead.
Only Twilight saw Spike snap out of his enraged, murderous psychosis. Only Twilight saw him fall to his knees and cry out her name. Only Twilight saw him wander around the boutique, setting fire to everything in sight with a blank look on his face. Only Twilight saw him place himself in front of Rarity's mutilated body, setting Rarity's precious fire ruby between them. And only Twilight saw Spike beg for his victim's forgiveness as he slowly stabbed himself through the heart and died alongside her as the building collapsed in flames around them.
Only Twilight knew the truth behind the deaths of Spike and Rarity. And for the sake of her friends, for Equestria, and to honor the memory of her two dearest friends, it would stay that way.
Once the fire had engulfed the bodies of the dragon and the mare, the screen vanished.
