Spike looked at the entrance of the Everfree Forest with fright, gulping. "Come on Spike!" he told himself, trying to gather as much courage as possible, "You can do this! For Rarity!"
Spike looked up to the sky, recalling the events that made come to the forest in the first place. It had been like any normal day, with him doing the most mundane chores such as organizing the endless shelves of books and dusting. When he had finished the chores, Twilight thanked him and left him to do whatever he wanted, so he decided to talk to Rarity, seeing if he could do anything for her.
"Well darling, there is one thing," Rarity had said.
"What is it?" Spike asked with heart shaped eyes.
"You see, there's this client and she wants some sort of flower on her dress called 'White Moonlight' or something or another, but the problem is it's in the Everfree Forest."
Without even thinking, Spike puffed up his chest and said, "I can go," Spike met eyes with the unicorn of his dreams, and in the manliest tone he could muster he concluded, "If you would like me to."
Rarity's eyes beamed with joy, "Oh Spikey-Wikey! Thank you!" she trotted over to Spike and pecked Spike on the cheek, causing him to lose all connection to reality.
"Spike? Are you okay?" she asked. A little worry displayed on her features as she saw the dragonling's dreamy face and the wobbling of his body, as if he was made out of jelly
Spike shook himself and replied in a slurred voice, "Yeah, I'm fine."
Rarity cocked an eyebrow, "Okay," she proceeded to hand Spike two things; a sack and a picture. The picture was of a plant with white petals and black spots on it with a green stem, "Now Spike, these things are what you will need. The sack is to store the White Moonlight and the picture is what it looks like."
Spike nodded, "Don't worry Rarity, I'll bring back the flower."
"If you do," Rarity said, "I'll give you one of my rare rubies."
Spike's mouth watered when she said that, but once again he was able to shake off the feeling and with both prizes in mind (the rare but tasteful ruby, and the affectionate display of Rarity towards him) he spoke with courage in his voice and said, "Okay then! I'll be back as soon as possible."
As he started to walk out of the boutique he could hear Rarity's voice yelling, “Be careful Spike!”
Spike looked back down at the forest."Well, I guess I should head in now," he said to himself as he walked into the abundant greenery ahead of him, on the lookout for the plant known as the White Moonlight.
The forest was anything but a peaceful stroll. All around Spike was dread as he marched forward, eyes darting around his surroundings, not wanting to be some sort of monster's snack. To make things worse, the forest was practically pitch black, even though it was still light out. Due to the dark, the trees looked like they had faces, each face invoking fear in the dragon. He almost wanted to rush out of there, telling Rarity that there wasn't any White Moonlights left in the forest, but he stopped himself.
"No!" he roared in his mind, "You can't give up! Not when you're so close to finding it!"
"I hope you're right," he muttered to himself, walking further into the forest until he spotted a clearing.
The clearing in question had flowers scattered around it, basking in what seemed to be the only spot of sunlight thanks to the opening in the canopy. His eyes moved around the collection of flowers before him, stopping when he noticed a flower that had white petals and a black spots scattered across it with a green stem: The White Moonlight! And it wasn't just one, oh no, it was a whole bouquet of them! With the utmost speed he could muster, Spike rushed over to the flowers, resulting in him being tripped by something. He just assumed it was the root of a tree or maybe even a little creature, the latter he could probably easily scare away.
He decided to ignore it for now as he got on his legs and picked some of the White Moonlights and put them in the bag. He looked back on the thing that tripped on and walked cautiously towards it. "Well, it's not moving," he thought, "Maybe it's just a root."
Upon further inspection, it wasn't a root or a creature, it was some sort of box. He moved it from side-to-side and noticed a piece of paper. He picked it up an looked at it. It was a note, and on it the note had clear, legible writing that read:
"I HAD IT with that little green boy! Every time I use this thing he pops up and plays along, ruining MY WINDMILL! Maybe if I just get rid of this, I won't see the little brat... That's it! If anyone wants it, it's yours! I've had it with this music box!"
-Guru-Guru
He tilted his head. He didn't know who or what "Guru-Guru" was, but the note was as clear as day: Whoever finds the music box can keep it, and it just so happens to be in his arms. He shrugged. Might as well play the thing. He first put on the music box with the strap, allowing him to carry it, then he started to spin the lever on the music box, and when he did, the sun spot in the canopy was replaced by dark clouds. The forest that used to be silent was now filled with a cheery melody.
When he put his head up to look up at the canopy, his face was drenched by rain! He quickly stopped playing the music box and ran as fast as he could almost reaching the end of the forest, but when he stopped to catch his breath, it stopped raining.
"Some strange weather," he said to no one in particular, but shrugged, "I'm pretty sure it's nothing. I need to get back to Rarity!"
He picked up the pace, reaching the exit of the forest, and made his way to the love of his life.
Rarity stared at the door to the Carousel Boutique, eyes filled with suspense. "Oh, when will Spike get here?" she thought, mind racing about all the possibilities that could've happened to him. Then she saw the doorknob of the shop turn.
Rarity's heart raced as the door opened, revealing the pony, or dragon, to be Spike, his face filled with accomplishment. He walked up to Rarity and presented her the bag. She took out the contains of the bag, them being a handful of White Moonlight. Rarity squealed with joy and she put another kiss on Spike's cheek, the kiss causing him to fall over, holding is cheek and muttered something.
"Oh thank you Spike!" she thanked.
Spike got to his feet and sighed with affection, "No problem,"
"I almost forgot," Rarity said, trotting over to a chest and opening it. She levitated something out of it and closed the chest, trotting over to Spike and revealed the most beautiful ruby he had ever laid eyes on.
Instead of it's trademark red coloring, the ruby was a pearl white, only beaten in color by Rarity's coat. "This," Rarity said, placing the ruby in one of Spike's hands, "Is the rare ruby I told you about."
"Are you sure?" Spike asked, concern in his voice, "If it's rare, don't you want to use it for a dress?"
Rarity waved a hoof at him, "Oh pish posh! All that matters is that you got the White Moonlight's here darling! Those rubies can be found where other rubies are, just being a little bit rarer, but the Moonlights' can only be found in the Everfree Forest."
"Is there anything else that makes these flowers special?" asked Spike.
“They are able to emit a fragrance that smells like the pony or dragon near it likes the most,” Rarity, levitated a flower in front of Spike and said, “Go ahead and take a whiff.”
Spike quickly breathed in the scent of the Moonlight and smiled, “Smells just like turquoise!”
“See Spike, these things will make my business boom!”
“I can see why,” commented Spike, then quickly asked, “Is there anything else you need me to do?”
"Nothing at the moment dear," answered Rarity, "I just need to put these on the dress."
"I guess I should get going then," said Spike, starting to walk towards the door, but was stopped by Rarity.
"Spike darling," called Rarity as she approached him.
"Yes?" asked Spike.
"I was just wondering," said Rarity, pointing a hoof at the box being held by the straps on Spike, "What is that?"
"Oh, this thing? It's a music box I found in the Everfree Forest," he answered.
"What does it play?"
"Well, it plays this weird song," stated Spike.
"Do you mind playing it for me?" she asked, azure eyes staring into Spike.
"Sure," he responded in a lovesick voice. He started to turn the music box again, the melody returning.
"My, this song is quite lovely," stated Rarity as she closed her eyes, becoming immersed in the music. That is until the deafening boom of thunder caused her to open her eyes and caused Spike to let go of the lever, the music stopping abruptly.
"It's raining!" observed Rarity, looking out of one of the windows, "But none of the weather ponies said it would rain today. It's supposed to be sunny!"
When Spike looked up at the window, the clouds started to separate; just like the ones in the Everfree Forest. "I'm sure it's just one of the weather pegasi messing up the weather schedule." He thought, removing any doubt from his head.
After that strange weather occurrence, Spike decided he would go home and ask Twilight about it. After all, she is the most studious unicorn after all. He hated having to leave Rarity so early, but he had to get to the bottom of this!
Once he reached the library entrance, he heard two voices, both female and one clearly belonging to Twilight. "Listen Rainbow," Twilight's voice said as Spike entered the library, "There's no way that the weather can be acting on it's own!"
"Well it is!" retorted Rainbow Dash, "This happened twice today! Once earlier today and again a couple of moments ago. You saw it didn't you?"
"Well.. Yes," admitted Twilight.
"See, I told you!"
"Did any of the weather pegasi mess up the schedule or forgot it?" Twilight asked, hoping that there was some logical explanation to the recent storms.
"Not a chance," said Rainbow Dash defensively, "After the first storm I checked with the pegasi in charge of the weather this week and not a single one of them brought any rainclouds to Ponyville."
Twilight sighed, “I guess we just need to keep an eye on it. Do you mind clearing any storm that's not on the schedule?”
“Sure thing Twi,” answered Rainbow Dash as she started walking out of the library, and then noticed Spike at the entrance, “Hey Spike! Nice thingy!”
“Thanks,” he said as he and Rainbow Dash switched places with him now in the library and Rainbow Dash outside, the latter taking to the skies.
“Hi Spike,” said Twilight as she approached him and pointed at the contraption held by a strap and asked, “Is that a music box?”
Spike nodded, “I found it in the Everfree Forest.”
“You just found it?” Twilight asked suspiciously. She knew the things were expensive and she hoped her assistant didn't turn into a thief.
Another nod from Spike, “Yeah, it even has a note on it saying whoever finds it can have it.” Spike took off the strap for the box and handed it to Twilight who proceeded to levitate it in front of her, the note facing her face as she skimmed it.
Twilight levitated the music box back to Spike and said, “I guess you can keep it, but if this 'Guru-Guru' pony comes back looking for this, you need to give it back to him.”
“Don't worry Twilight, I will,” said Spike.
Twilight smiled and yawned, “Well it looks like it's getting a little late. I think I'm going to turn in for tonight.”
“I think I will too,” yawned Spike as they both made their way to their beds and quickly fell asleep, dreamland taking over them.
