The One Gem That Spike Will Never Eat
Day One.
Rarity sat on the couch and stared at the medical report. Cancer, it said. Tears streamed down her furry cheeks. Her makeup dyed the majority of her face. Opal pawed at her side, trying to calm Rarity. She loved her owner, unlike many cats, but her paw will never fix Rarity’s problem. Rarity had cancer, and she will never be cured and she will never live past it. Rarity will die. Her disease, unknown of until today, will kill her and there was nothing anypony could do.
Rarity would never save herself. She had no life left in her, not for another few days. The report was directly in her eyesight, she was certain to be dead within the week and should have been dead a long time ago. Rarity wondered on why it was her, why she had to take such a devastating bullet and why it happens now. Why did she have to know she’d die this week? Rarity stared at the paper, now drenched in saltwater tears.
And finally Rarity came to her senses upon realising why it was now and why was so. She had at least one more day to live and there was only one way to spend it.
Day Two
Fluttershy groomed her animals slowly. Her gentle touch comforted the animals, getting them to stay still as she cut and brushed each one. The hair tangled and flowed like the surface of the sea in Fluttershy’s eyes as she pulled at the hair with the comb and cut at the long strands. Clumps of hair matted the ground beneath Shy as she giddily did her job and before long, a firm mattress could be crafted from the flat bed of the fur.
Animal after animal came into Shy’s arms as she continued to comb each beautiful creature, until finally, she arrived at a small white cat with an anger issue.
“Opal?” Fluttershy asked, staring into the annoyed eyes of the Ponyville, premiere clothes producer’s cat.
“That’s right, dear,” came Rarity, standing close to the curious mare, half startling her as she did so.
Rarity held a large purse, positively filled with items of any imaginable shape. She wore nothing, now, just a necklace with a large red gem in the shape of a heart. The frame holding the gem was gold and went all the way around Rarity’s neck with barely any room to spare. But Rarity hadn’t seemed bothered, her face flushed with excitement as her eyes met with the yellow pegasus.
“Oh… Why hello, Rarity,” sprouted the mare in a bubbly voice.
“Hello, Fluttershy,” offered the unicorn, giddy with glee, “I was wondering if you could please preen Opal for me?” asked the mare, fluttering her eyes.
“Why, of course,” responded Fluttershy, “I would love to,” Fluttershy took Opal fully into her arms and started to run a comb through Opal’s fine fur, finding that Opal needed at most one suave to untangle her coat. “She is Rarity,” thought the yellow mare, grooming the clearly perfect coat, “and Rarity does seem to love everything perfect.”
Fluttershy worked over the animal for about a minute before returning the animal back to the original owner.
“Here,” Fluttershy gave rarity her the cat.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” announced to the shy pegasus, “Now you must allow me to repay you, darling.”
Shy’s eyes widened. Even for the element of generosity, Rarity was never generous enough to just hand out payment for about no help whatsoever. Rarity patted her bag down and placed it in front of Fluttershy.
“I think this should do it,” cooed the white mare, an almost outrageously casual smile on her face.
Fluttershy opened the wide mouth of the purse and looked inside to find the unmistakable geometric patterns of gems. The entire purse was filled with them. Fluttershy’s eyes became about as extended open as the wide rim of the cowrie cloth bag as she looked back up towards Rarity.
“Rarity?” questioned the mare for the second time today.
“Is that not enough, darling?” asked the now slightly less happy unicorn. Rarity used her magic to grab a bag about the size of the gem around her neck and began fishing in it for more gems.
“No, no that’s not it!” shouted the pegasus.
“Oh, well, what’s the problem?” asked Rarity, in the most questioning of voices.
“It’s too much!” shouted Shy as she opened the bag to Rarity, wondering very strongly whether or not Rarity had taken either a distant cousin of the poison joke or something that tree hugger had once talked about using in her “magical” relaxing baking.
“Oh, Darling,” giggled the white mare, “Is there such thing as being too generous?”
Fluttershy’s eyes went blank as she tried to think, “yes.”
“But what if I want you to take it and if I need it, I’ll just take it back.”
Fluttershy thought over it again, “That’s… Okay, I guess.”
“We’ll work by those rules, then,” responded Rarity as she turned and walked away.
Fluttershy gazed as her friend, walked ignorantly away, her tail swished, enthusiastically and Opal, now riding on Rarity’s back lay comfortably, her eyes shut.
“Rarity might definitely be using Tree hugger’s herb,” thought Fluttershy aloud to herself.
Twilight read books alone in her library and nodded off slowly as each word found its way into her mind. A pile of books sat stocked up on either side of the reader as her eyes gave one more flutter and she fell asleep only to be interrupted immediately.
The door rang out with a cruel nock, sucking the hopefully good dreams she was about to have directly into a deep crevasse. Twilight looked at up at her balcony, hoping that Spike was awake to get the door for her. Sleeping, again. Of course Spike was sleeping. Twilight ascended the long stairs to the front door and tried to assemble her hair into a more controlled look before swinging the door inside.
“Oh, hello, Rarity,” commented the purple alicorn.
“Hello, Twilight,” responded Rare, “I was wondering if you’d come with me to see a book convention.”
“A book convention?!” shouted the mare, “Sure!”
“Also, you wouldn’t happen to know if Spike was around, would you?”
“He’s sleeping. Do you need something with him?”
“No, I was just wondering…”
“Okay, then. So when’s the convention?” asked the optimistic mare.
“Actually, Twilight, it’s already started.”
“Really?” asked Twilight, thinking about how she was going to get a message to Spike that she was leaving for a convention last minute before finally deciding to just go. Late was Late. Twi didn’t have time to wake him. He had to leave now.
Rarity guided Twilight away from her house and towards the center of Ponyville, trotting at a slightly faster pace than she would regularly trot. Twilight, now having time to think, noticed that Rarity had an expensive necklace wrapped tightly around her neck. “Rarity’s dressed a bit overdone for a book convention,” Twilight thought, “and does Rarity even like books?”
“Are you sure you really want to go to a book convention?” asked Twilight aloud to the white unicorn.
Rarity sighed before answering, “I have to honest now. We’re not going to any convention.”
“Oh. So why’d you bring me out here?”
“I needed you to see this,” Rarity acknowledged, approaching her own doorstep and turning the knob.
Twilight let herself into the front entryway, to find all of the shelves of Rarity's house were empty. There was no fabric or sewing machines or needles for Twilight to see.
“Woe. What happened in here?” asked the mare.
“Well, you told me that you were running out of space in your library, so I thought I’d give you this part of my house for you to use to study and store your books.”
“Well, that’s nice, Rarity, but I can’t take away part of your home,” responded the confused purple alicorn.
“That’s alright, Twilight. You don’t have to own it. You can just use it on a temporary basis.
“Well that’s very nice, Rarity,” Twilight responded, her face blushing.
Rarity adjusted the undersized necklace and opened the door to the empty boutique. “I’ll be off now, Twilight.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Rarity responded before closing the door behind her.
“Weird,” came the breathy call from Twilight’s mouth as the small room contained only her.
Day Three.
AppleJack was out bucking trees. Her hooves smashed into the trucks, shaking the apples down into the baskets. With each basket filled, AppleJack saw about 25 bits to pay for her family. AppleJack needed more, though. There was not a lot of hope for the Apple Family. The cider season hadn’t started and they needed the money from selling apples to pay for food and for their land. The amount of customers over the past few days had been shot to none and AppleJack knew if nopony came soon, her family will not be able to get by.
With all the baskets full, AppleJack started to wheel each wagonful into the barn. The apples shined bright. There was nothing wrong with them. Each one was beautiful, but that didn’t matter so long as nopony bought a single one.
Rarity stood at the fruit stand, waiting patiently. The wagons filled with apple creaked along the road, coming to a stop behind the counter of the storefront.
“Can I help you?” asked appleJack, confused at the appearance of a rather strange, random customer.
“Yes, please. I would like those apples please,” explained the unicorn, pointing to the apples.
Applejack looked at the apples before staring back at Rarity. “How many of them?”
“All,” replied Rarity staring into AJ’s eyes.
“All of the them?”
Rarity nodded. “I’m making a very, very large apple pie.”
AppleJack nodded, now somewhat understanding what Rarity was doing, but it still confused her. She counted the barrels that were put into the wagon and asked Rarity for the payment. “That will be… 500 bits.” asked AppleJack, still confused. Rarity place a bag of bit on the counter before wheeling away the cart at a very slow rate.
AppleJack went to count the money that Rarity had put on the counter, finding that she had overpaid by about twice the amount.
“Rarity, I can’t take this, You’ve overpaid,” quoted the mare, turning to find that both the apples and her friend were gone.
“What in tarnation?” mumbled the farm pony to herself.
Sweetie Belle walked into her room, to find that the walls were now covered in gems, placed so that each color was placed beside another to form the drawing that sweetie had made for her sister. It was the drawing of her and her sister, in a baby-blue sapphire heart. The entire thing was made in gems, like a pane of glass in a chapel and it was all for her.
“Rarity did this,” Sweetie Belle thought, a tear came to her eye, thinking about what her sister had to do in order to make out this art piece just for her.
Day Four.
Rainbow Dash flew through the sky, her mane flying in the breeze. She could feel the rush of the wind as it whistled through her coat and look her bushy tale into the breeze. The feeling was amazing. She could only focus on how great everything here was.
But then that feeling ended, when an unexpected breeze threw the mare off and sent her spiraling to the ground.
Rainbow Dash blacked out, being scared of her injuries and what would happen when she hit the ground and the only thing she saw was the color black.
Rainbow Dash woke up with no visible wounds. Rarity stood over her smiling. Her hoof rubbed over bandage on Rainbow’s wing.
“What happened?!” Rainbow screamed.
“Why, Darling, you hit a very hard breeze and now you’re here,” responded the white unicorn.
“Are we dead?!” Rainbow startled.
“No, no dear, we’re not. I noticed that you needed help, so I healed you.”
“You healed me?”
“Yes, and your wing is better now.”
“Oh?”
Rarity nodded.
“What happened to my wing?” asked Rainbow.
“You landed on it. I wouldn't fly for another few days if I were you,” The white unicorn responded, gleefully.
“But why does it feel…?” Rainbow asked wondering on why she didn’t feel pain in it.
“I used a healing spell.”
“Oh, well thanks.” Rainbow said, putting her hoof over the strange white bandage and feeling that the bone had in fact been fractured in a painful way and feeling the pain of touching arch through her body.
“Don’t touch it,” said Rarity to the cyan pegasus.
Rainbow groaned from the pain and stood up.
“I have to go. You can handle yourself from here, right?” Rarity concluded.
Rainbow nodded looking into Rarity’s eyes.
“Good,” responded Rare, as she turned to walk away.
Pinkie Pie brought a cake out of the oven and laid it down on the counter. The smell went directly into her nose, filling it with its sweet scent. This cake was special to Pinkie. This cake was all for her own birthday. Pinkie got the frosting and began to coat the cake, making sure that it was perfect for her birthday, thinking strongly about what she wanted this year, what she was going to wish for. She wanted her friends to be with her forever. She wanted another year like this one, full of friends and parties and cakes, but most of, Pinkie wanted Cheese to be there for her birthday party. She wanted to have the one friend there that could barely be seen as a friend in her eyes. That’s what she wanted most, but cheese was away on official party business.
Pinkie let out a sigh and gave an empty stare at the doorway, resting her head momentarily on the countertop. She closed her eyes and thought deeply about her wish. “That’s what I will think about when I blow out the candles,” thought Pinkie to herself.
“Pinkie!” came a deep voice from the other side of the counter, startling the pink party pony out of her trance.
“Cheese?!” answered Pinkie, her eyes suddenly coming back to life.
“Yeah!” shouted the yellow party stallion, a wide grin consuming the majority of his face.
Pinkie reached forward and hugged at the stallion, taking him into her arms once again.
“Who sent you?” Pinkie asked, on the verge of tears.
“Your friend did,” responded the excited earth pony.
“Who, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, pulling out of the embrace to look at her largely favorited friend (not that she would tell anypony else about that).
“No, I think it was Rarity, that sent me a note telling me to come over.
Pinkie grinned strongly staring very happily into the eyes of the stallion.
“Really?” Pinkie said, tears coming to her eyes.
“Really,” responded Cheese.
Pinkie brought her cake down the kitchen and sat down on the couch as her friends came in one by one to celebrate her birthday: Cheese came, then Rainbow, then Twilight and Spike, then Sweetie Belle along with AppleJack and Applebloom, then came Fluttershy and Scootaloo. Everypony was here except for Rarity.
“Where’s Rarity?” asked Twilight, looking around the room for her.
“She’s probably at home, preparing an outfit or something…” Pinkie offered to Twi.
“I’ll go get her,” jumped Spike, impulsively looking for an opportunity to speak to Rarity.
Twilight nodded at the critter that was now staring at her for a permission, telling him that he may go and get Rarity.
Spike dashed out the front door and ran as fast as he could to the Carousel Boutique.
Spike arrived and knocked on the door before waiting for a response.
“Come in!” shouted a weak voice inside the building.
Spike opened the door and ran inside.
“Rarity?!” he shouted, trying to ask Rarity to come to the party.
“In here, Spike,” came her voice again.
Spike rushed to what seemed to be a bedroom and upon entering it, confirmed it as Rarity’s sleeping quarters. Rarity was curled up in the bed her hooves lay over the sheets and her eyes gazed at his. A wagon full of apples sat in the corners going bad and Rarity looked tired beyond words.
“Rarity?”
“Don’t speak now, Spike, I have something to give you,” interrupted the unicorn, taking off the now visible necklace that she had been wearing for the last few days.
Spike came close to Rarity’s bed and she wrapped the gold frame around Spike’s neck, hooking it in the back.
“I’ve shown all of my friends how much they’ve meant to me,”Rarity began.
“Rare…”
“Sh,” Rarity interrupted, “I’ve told all of my friends how much I love them. I just haven’t told you yet.”
Spike nodded slowly to confirm that he understood what she was saying.
“And Spike, dear?”
“Yes?”
“I wanted you to know that although I did give a lot of time and a lot of gems away to my friends that there is only one gem that matters to me and only one I want you to have...”
Spike looked down at the fragile necklace that she had given him, admiring what looked like to be a delicious substance, but Spike wasn’t hungry right now, he could tell something was wrong with Rarity.
“... and it’s all because you had given it to me,” she finished.
Spike swallowed hard, trying to understand what was happening.
“But even more so, Spike you are the gem I will hold close to my heart so matter what happens now.”
“Rarity, what’s happening?” Spike asked, tears coming from his eyes at a now regular pace.
“I love you, Spike.” Rarity said, kissing him on the head and completely ignoring his question. Rarity’s eyes closed and a smile stayed on her face.
Spike checked for Rarity’s pulse felt nothing, and he knew now that Rarity’s eyes will never open again.
Pinkie’s party continued to get louder as the remainder of Pinkie’s friends talked and laughed. Food started being served and punch started being poured.
The door slammed behind Spike as he entered the loud room and everything went silent as they noticed the necklace dangling around the neck of the traumatized Spike.
“She’s gone,” Spike muffled as he walked forward and buried himself in Twilight’s arms.
“She’s gone, she’s dead! Why, Twilight?!” He asked, trying to make reason of why she was gone, why she had left his arms, never to return.
“We don’t know, Spike,” Twilight answered, trying to make her voice sound strong, now understanding why Rarity had done what she had done recently.
Spike clutched the new “dragon heirloom” as he cried out into Twilight’s arms.
Day Five.
“Rarity is gone,” echoed Twilight over the open casket of her dear friend, Rarity, “Rarity was good friend. The one that comes once in a lifetime. We know that maybe we will never find somepony as good of a friend as her… But maybe that’s not a bad thing. Since we all loved her so much, we can all understand just how much she meant to us, and as we say goodbye, to one of our greatest companions, we will remember who she was to us and why we loved her and will continue to love her as she’s passed on.”
Twilight then exited the podium, glaring at the ground and clearing her tears. Cheese Sandwich held Pinkie in his arms as her tears came.
Rainbow Dash forgot to hide her own emotions as well and let the tired tears fall from her cheeks.
Spike held his gem up to the tombstone and the coffin was laid down in the hole, marking it dead center on the carved rock, his own tears rolling down the sides.
“You’re gone, now,” Spike said, “but your love is still mine.”
Author's Note
Wow, I needed a good cry. This wasn't edited by anyone, so if there're any typos, then please comment them to me.
Thanks for reading my project improv,
The Derpy Doctor.
