I traced the facets of the ruby in my hand with a claw again, while sitting on the edge of my bed, for what must have been the hundredth time since I had arrived at the royal palace in Canterlot. It isn’t like I needed to memorize the red heart shaped fire ruby. I had committed its crimson angles and surfaces to memory a long time ago.
It came back to me sixty years ago. It’s still hers. I’m taking care of it for her.
It is a companion of mine, a reminder. It mourns with me over her death. Found in a bedroom full of the richest of gems collected over a pony’s lifetime, a tempting hoard for any dragon, it was the only gem I truly wanted. Her younger sister Sweetie Belle saw how much significance it had to me and let me keep it. The fact that it was in a beautiful gem bedazzled box, the only occupant of the top left hand drawer of Rarity’s nightstand, is not lost on me. It was a treasure from the first year of our relationship. No, relationship isn’t quite right. Companionship fit us better.
“Spike! I need your help. I’m looking for my costume and for the life of me I can’t find it anywhere. Oh I hope we brought it with us!” The Princess of Friendship’s alarmed voice breaks my reverie like a bucket of cold water, the makings of our suite in Canterlot Palace returning to me. Rambling nervousness from Twilight Sparkle hadn’t ebbed one bit since she hatched my egg for me about a century ago. I looked up from the ruby in my hands and watched her as she nervously looked around my room, under the nightstand, under the lamp shade. It wasn’t like her old Star Swirl costume could have magically sprouted its own hooves and walked in here, but this was Princess Twilight Sparkle, tonight was Nightmare Night, and that Star Swirl costume was tradition.
I rolled my eyes and looked through my mental list of questions. “Where did you have it last? Are you sure you packed it? Did you check all your luggage? Is it possible that you are wearing it but have been so busy that you forgot putting it on?” I ended the list, adding inflection to the end of each. None of these questions were unimportant. They’ve been asked of her many times in the past, even the last one had been used at least once.
Twilight stopped and looked at me with an arched eyebrow. “In my chambers in Ponyville. Yes. Yes. And I’m not wearing it right now!” She spread her wings to punctuate her point and she indeed did not have the AWOL costume on her body. If I could describe Princess Twilight to someone who had last seen her in her heyday as Celestia’s pupil, I would say not much has changed. Her century old body has pointed a bit at the tips of her wings and her horn, owing to her phenomenal magical abilities over anything else. She’s still the same height as she was in her twenties.
Her ascension to Alicorn means that she will never age, she will never die. Sure, she could suffer a mortal wound. There are many stories, some legend, about how close she came during times of crisis. But it just seemed unlikely that anything could earnestly kill Twilight Sparkle. She was far too stubborn a mare to allow something as inconvenient as death to overcome her.
I stood up from the bed. I was twice Twilight’s height then. I was the same height as Princess Celestia. Twilight followed my eyes as I stood up and sighed. “I’ll help you find it.”
“Oh thank you thank you thank you!” She repeated sincerely, completely unintimidated by my stature over her. It’s understandable. I’m her dragon, she’s my princess. I’ve sworn my life to protect her, and will do anything to keep her safe and happy, as is my oath to her, unspoken and unbroken to this very day. That doesn’t mean I can’t grumble about it every now and then.
I sat the fire ruby down on the nightstand and started walking towards the door, expecting Twilight to follow me. “I think we should ask your personal servants if they’ve seen it.” I waited a beat for Twilight to say ‘good idea,’ but her silence instead prompted me to turn around and look.
Twilight was standing beside my bed, turned towards the nightstand, looking down at Rarity’s fire ruby. It was sparkling beautifully under that dull electric lamp. It had a magic all its own. “I remember when you gave it to her.” She said softly to me.
I nodded. She is not only my princess, but she is my deepest and closest connection to my past. To our past because we have shared so much of it.
“Rarity was genuinely happy when you gave it to her. Not that dramatic kind of happy that she was prone too from time to time, but, I think you made her day then, Spike.” She turned to me. “Are you still planning on going through with the spirit candle ceremony tonight?”
It took me a moment to respond to her. That precious memory of Rarity’s presence as she kissed me on the cheek played through my head in full color fury. It was a haunting thing. To this day I can smell her wonderful hair, and whatever lavender shampoo that was her favorite. Her smile and her blue eyes filled my reality and she utterly and completely stole my heart right then and there, both physically with my fire ruby, and figuratively with my very soul. I could not stand to be around lavender after her death for that very reason. Her voice haunted my footsteps, her scent permeated my senses.
In death, Rarity had been a force more pungent and prominent than in life, her absence screaming to me. I had been…inconsolable…but only for a time. As Twilight was wont to point out, Rarity would have been heartbroken to see me mourn her so. She had always preached to her friends about life being for living. I did her no honor by putting my life on hold on account of her departure. And so I moved on. Not forgetting her, but keeping her in my heart. The fire ruby was a constant reminder of my companionship with Rarity, but also of my vow to be true to her spirit, and embody her Generosity as best as I could.
Letting go of my thoughts, I focused in on Twilight again and was thankful she had let me stammer for a moment. “Yes. Yes, I do. I still need your help to enchant that ruby with the spirit attraction spell. I also need you to enchant a gem with a light spell.”
Twilight approached me and looked up. I could see the concern in her eyes. Damn it all. She had agreed to let me do this. She agreed to let me try the spirit candle.
I remember finding references to it in Twilight’s personal library. The books were light on details. It was a spirit projector of some sort. Rumored to be in the deepest hallways of the Canterlot palace, moved from its previous home in the Castle of the Two Sisters after the banishment of Nightmare Moon.
Poking and prodding that library, itself stocked with books from the old castle, finally revealed the answers I was looking for.
The candle was made of beeswax from the royal hives by the sisters’ personal chandler. It was enchanted by a powerful zebra magic. Legend says the sisters used it to consult the spirts of ancient rulers during the earliest days of their reign, when Equestria was still a fleeting little haven from the cruel world at its edges.
It required dragon fire to light. Not a problem for me. It also required enchanted crystals to act as attractors for the spirits. It could only be used during a full moon, and was at its most efficient when one occurred during harvest’s end. A night which we all know now as Nightmare Night.
Prodding of books turned to prodding of Twilight, who enthusiastically acknowledged its existence. She had seen it herself back when she was Celestia’s student in Canterlot. Celestia admitted that most of the time it’s actions seemed to amount to a parlor trick. It only truly worked a few times and was quickly forgotten.
I knew in my heart that they were missing a crucial piece. They didn’t need just any enchanted gem to act as a spirit attractor. They needed an enchanted gem that had significance to the spirit they were trying to attract.
I looked over at Rarity’s fire ruby when Twilight said “What if I said no?” It wasn’t a mean question; it wasn’t Twilight trying to hold something over my head. I looked back at Twilight and at the worried look she gave me.
I shook my head and walked past Twilight, back into the room. “No. I’ve got to do this. I need to do this.”
“Spike. Thousands of ponies every day lose somepony close to them. They leave us with unanswered questions. It is the nature of things, even if nature can seem cruel.”
“But Rarity was different!” I protested, and sat down on the bed again.
Twilight levitated herself up on the bed to sit beside me. “She was your unanswered question.”
I could not respond to that because I knew she was right. There I was, a century old dragon, on the verge of acting like a big baby drake. So, when Twilight tried to nuzzle up against me to comfort, I moved away. I didn’t want her comfort, because I wanted to cultivate my pain. Twilight is my closest friend, like an older sister or even a mother, and she was trying to get out of her promise to help me. I refused to make it easy on her.
That I was in love with the Element of Generosity had not been lost on the Princess of Friendship. I must have been giving off all the classic signs of a smitten dragon, whatever they were. I was young. Twilight let me indulge instead of forcing me to keep Rarity at claws length.
I didn’t truly know if Rarity knew to what extent my heart bled for her. I never got to complete my pronouncements of attraction turned love. This was the reason I was sitting there with Twilight, arguing over a candle that might or might not have let me see Rarity one last time. She was a mare who had been dead for so many moons that the adventures of the Elements of Harmony were printed in school textbooks as history and not current events.
Twilight jumped off the bed with a sigh and approached the gem. “We don’t even know if this gem will serve as a proper attractor.”
“It will.” I said. It had to. I needed it to.
“Also, there’s so many other variables. This candle hasn’t been lit for centuries. What if it doesn’t light? What if clouds obscure the full moon? What if you do succeed but the spirit you get isn’t Rarity at all?”
“I’m well aware of the risks.”
“But what if. And this is a big if,” Twilight looked up at me with intensity. “What if Rarity does appear, and she doesn’t answer your questions, or, heavens forbid, the answers you get are not the ones you are looking for. What then?”
I gave her nothing but silence. She had promised me this after all. True, it was in a moment of pure excitement when I had put a tantalizing piece of an ancient magical puzzle together all by myself, or seemed to. It had set her off on an intellectual contact high, probably thinking about all the possibilities this revelation might have. Would she be able to use it to talk to intellectuals like Haycarte? Now, as we stared each other down, I having not budged at all since I first brought up my plan, and Twilight having had several nights’ worth of contemplation to convince herself that my plan might not have been a good idea after all, she called my bluff.
“Fine.” Twilight said sharply as she turned to the gem. She tilted her head down so her horn hovered over its surface. I could see little sparks of light jump from her horn to the fire ruby. They danced upon its surface and then sunk deep within, coalescing at its center, before they faded into its structure. I smiled inwardly. I did feel sheepish about getting my way like this. I still do. But they say dragons are instinctively greedy, and I am a dragon.
Twilight lifted her head up and looked at me. “We’ll enchant another gem with an illumination spell tonight.”
“Thank you.” I returned sincerely.
“Now…” She walked towards the door. “Let’s find my costume.”
“Right behind you.” I said. “And Twi.”
Twilight turned her head to look back at me.
“This will work.” It was almost a plea to her to understand.
She nodded quietly. With no other words spoken between us, we started our search for her Star Swirl costume. The questions began to swim in my head.
Would this work? Would I see Rarity? What would she say?
~ ~ ~
It was a bright sunny spring day, after the ground had thawed and cave entrances were once again revealing themselves to the world from under mounds of snow, slumbering inhabitants of the caves were leaving for the sun above ground.
Rarity and I had scouted out this cave before, but had never entered it. Instead we stalked it like a couple of secret agents; watching it for signs that it had been claimed by something or somepony else. It showed no signs of being a dragon’s cave, which meant whatever was inside wasn’t a hoard.
We had spent a fall and a winter planning and plotting together to finally hit that cave as soon as the thaw had come and gone. So, once the ground was dry of the remaining melt from the winter snow, we descended in to the cave. A few close calls with falling rocks in past excavations had prompted me to don a hard hat of my own. Just a plain yellow one. Rarity’s was a sight to behold. It had a special light on the front, made of a gem that she could attach a light spell to. She had bejeweled the entire hard hat so that it could almost light up the cave just by its presence alone, which made the light almost comical. On the back of the hat, she had attached the cutest blue bow I had ever seen. Add a white gemmed saddle bag and she was truly a sight to behold.
I was her official basket holder slash bodyguard. Though over time I had agreed to just basket holder. Bodyguard was foolish of me. Rarity had proven herself more than capable of navigating and surviving a gem cave, even outsmarting the occasional diamond dog pack we crossed paths with.
Innocent romantic fantasies of a young dragon saving his fair mare from certain peril aside, my role in these gem hunts made for a lot of fun and special moments. Rarity got assistance in holding all the gems she found, and I got to watch her put her true talent to good use. It was very special to me, very special to us, I think, and that day in a newly discovered cave wasn’t any different.
It didn’t take long for us to find a big chamber. Rarity’s gem detection spell was screaming at us that we had found the mother lode, but for the life of us we couldn’t find it, until we both looked up above us and there it was.
At the center of the chamber’s ceiling, its highest point, was an outgrowth of rock with a very different color from the rest of the cave. It glistened under the light of Rarity’s hard hat, which made it obvious that water had worked its way throughout its entire structure. It was absolutely studded with gems of various varieties.
“Do you see that?” I asked.
“Oh I do, darling, I do.” Rarity’s voice trailed off in astonishment. “It looks like all it needs is a gentle push.” She mimicked a gentle prod with her front hoof.
“Or some heat to boil the water.” I offered. We looked at each other and a smile crept across our mouths.
“Do you suppose if I levitated you up there, that you’d be a dear and use your dragon fire on that hideous rock?”
I bowed to Rarity with a flourish. “It will be my pleasure.”
Rarity turned to me and let her head down slightly. “Are you ready?”
I sat the basket down beside me and assumed what must have been one of the most ridiculous poses, like I was about to run a marathon. “Ready.”
“Okay Spikey, stay still.” With those words, I could feel Rarity’s levitation magic taking hold. It gently lifted me up off the ground and towards the top of the chamber.
“W, whoa.” I yelped quietly, feeling as if I had lost my footing. In truth, I had. Twilight’s liberal use of her levitation spell on me gave me no forewarning. I never had a chance to truly take in all the ramifications of suddenly not being on the ground. Rarity’s levitation magic was much more gentle, which made me half thankful, half terrified that she’d be too gentle and then drop me.
Half way up, I looked down at Rarity, who was concentrating on keeping steady, and my fears started to ebb. Not that I should have worried. I never felt unsafe around her. Perhaps sometimes like this she was more my protector than I thought I was of her. I didn’t take my eyes off her until I was right beside the outcrop.
“Okay, now hold me steady.” I called down, then looked at the rock. It was brittle, hardly containing all the gems throughout it. It even sounded hollow when I knocked at it with a fist. “Oh this is gonna be a cakewalk!” I exclaimed, and inhaled a breath.
Calling my dragon fire from deep within, I exhaled a bright green flame at the rock. In a split second I could hear steam forming from somewhere within the rock as it began to sizzle and hiss. Then, absolute chaos erupted.
I could see from below me, just as the rock exploded, that Rarity was beginning to realize just as I had that this plan could have been better executed. I should have gone for the slow roast and not a full-on barbeque. Now we had hot molten rock and scorching gem shards to contend with.
I knew I had a few embedded in my scales from the initial explosion, but I was more concerned with how gravity had just taken hold of me when Rarity’s levitation spell let go. I started to fall and could see Rarity gasp then crouch into a ball as the gems started to hit the ground along with the hot rock.
“Rarityyyyy!” I called out while halfway to the floor.
Rarity looked up just in time to realize she had dropped the spell, and by extension me, and quickly grabbed hold of me again with her magic while shielding her eyes with a hoof.
It wasn’t a soft landing, but I’m still here to talk about it. Once the dust settled, I looked around at the aftermath as I got up. I ignored the burning sensation from the gem shards that were obviously sticking out from my cheek and arm. Getting my bearings, I limped over to Rarity. She was still crouching down, in shock from what had just happened.
I reached out and placed a hand on her hoof. She flinched and then dropped her hoof to look at me. It was as if chaos erupted a second time, as soon as she saw the shards embedded in my cheek. “Oh my dear Spikey-Wikey. You’re injured! Hold still.” She craned her head slightly to get a few items out of her saddle bag with her magic, and I noticed the bright green crystal shard embedded in her shoulder, opposite of where she was looking. It was long and nasty, and seemed very deep. Blood was oozing from underneath her white fur, darkening her coat around the wound in a deep, menacing maroon.
How can she not feel that, I thought, then realized she was shaking slightly, probably from an adrenaline rush. But once it wore off…
I reached out a hand to stop her. “Uh, Rarity, I don’t, think you should move much right now.”
“Oh but my Spikey-Wikey is injured and I insis-”
“I…” I cut her off, “will be fine. You…” I decided to be blunt with her, “have a big gem shard embedded in your left shoulder, and you need to lay down now, so I can take care of it.”
Her eyes softened a bit from their franticness of a few moments earlier, and I could tell the adrenaline was wearing off. “Oh.” She responded, and tilted her head the other way. “Well that’s not good, I, I think I shall lie down, now, that you… Mention it…” I made a mental note that Rarity couldn’t stand the sight of blood, let alone her own, and I had to catch her mid faint. Catching a pony that’s tipping over is a rather difficult task. This was not a jab on Rarity or any pony, but you guys are heavier than you look.
Panic set in as I realized that she could be in shock. I looked over her body again and noted no pools of blood, no other injuries. I held a hand in front of her snout, and could tell she was breathing. I let out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding and made a quick conclusion that she had just fainted.
I gently let Rarity’s head down on the ground and removed her hard hat. The enchanted light continued to glow, so I sat it beside me to illuminated the area, and made my way to her saddle bags. I gently removed them from her body and began rummaging around inside for bandages and cloth before finding some, along with a bottle of medical grade alcohol and a canteen. After a few close calls with stalactites we had decided to bring a first aid kit, and I had become forever grateful we had decided to do that.
I turned back to Rarity, and noticed that while not bleeding, the wound still had a lot of blood around it, which would make this next step a little difficult. I grabbed the offending shard with both my hands and pulled it gently out of Rarity’s shoulder. The wound started to bleed, though not as bad as I had thought it would.
Banishing thoughts of my own carelessness leading to Rarity suffering this horrible injury, I took the cloth and held it to the wound. “Stitches for sure…” I muttered to myself, so I reached again for the saddle bags. I found a needle and some blue thread, which seemed fitting. After all, it wasn’t every day you got to apply stitches to somepony you adored, and style seemed fitting.
I quietly cleaned Rarity’s wound with cloth and alcohol, and then began to stich her up. After sterilizing the needle with a bit of dragon flame and alcohol, I threaded it.
As soon as the needle poked into her skin, Rarity let out a loud yelp.
“Oh thank goodness, you’re awake.” I said.
“W-what are you doing?” Rarity tried to lift her head up but I pushed it back down gently with a hand.
“Hold still. I removed the shard and now I’m stitching you up.”
“Stitching me up? Goodness, is it really that bad?” She said, then breathed in sharply as the needle pierced her flesh again.
I laughed nervously as I worked. I hated doing this, but it had to be done. “That is what I’d call one of the biggest green crystals I’ve ever seen embedded two inches into your shoulder muscle. Now, just stay with me. Breathe in, breathe out. This’ll only take a few moments and then I’ll bandage you up.”
Rarity said nothing, but I could almost predict her mind was awash with thoughts of what would become of her beautiful shoulder. Would there be a scar? Truth be told, I was thinking the same thing. I had to shake my head gently and focus on the task and hand.
“Spike?” Rarity asked quietly.
“Yes?”
“Thank you for coming with me on these gem hunts. I couldn’t begin to imagine what would have—ouch!,” she squeaked, “…happened to me if you were not here by my side. Being my basket carrier, as it were.” Rarity offered.
“Some basket carrier.” I laughed bitterly. “I was the one that thought full on flame broiling that stupid outcrop was a good idea.”
“Oh hush.” Rarity admonished me. “I-” she inhaled a sharp breath as I ran the needle through her skin again, thankfully for the last time. “let go of you and almost killed you. Will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me? I’m not used to levitating dragons.”
“You’re forgiven, if you’ll forgive me for such a stupid and dangerous plan.”
There was a pause. “Yes, I forgive you of this most unfortunate transgression.”
I smiled. Her proper Trottingham accent assured me that nothing was truly wrong. No concussion or anything. I snipped the rest of the string, and bandaged up her wound in silence.
“All done. You can sit up now.” I said, standing up. Rarity sat up on her haunches. I offered her the canteen of water and she levitated it from my hands quietly, then drank from it greedily.
Saying nothing, I sat beside her, and tended to my own wounds, which turned out to be superficial considering how close I was to the outcrop. My scales took the brunt of the damage. We looked around at all the colorful gems scattered around the floor. They glittered in rainbowlike colors under the light of Rarity’s helmet. Her wonderful smile returned and her eyes lit up. Her happiness alone made that cave trip worth it. “This is an absolutely splendid find.”
“Yeah, it’s too bad we destroyed most of it just getting them down off the cave ceiling.”
Rarity nodded, she offered me the canteen and I accepted. “Although darling, I’m sure I could still find some purpose for them. We shall collect the largest pieces, when we’ve caught our breath of course. I can see it now.” First Rarity tried to lift her shaky left hoof, but decided to raise her right hoof. She gestured to the air in front of her. “Rarity’s summer fashion line, it’ll practically explode onto the scene.” The words of a true visionary.
We both broke out into laughter, and once that subsided we turned to look at each other. Rarity’s eyelids were tired, her mane was unkempt and fell over her right eye, but that sincerity in her smile became my reality, like it always did.
“Thank you for tending to my wound, my dear Spikey-Wikey.” She paused, then looked down at me with eyes half lidded. “My, bodyguard…” Her voice came to my ears like song.
“Awww shucks…” I blushed and giggled bashfully. A thought crept into my head at that moment, that this was one of those opportunities that I would have been remiss not to take advantage of. The words began to fall from my head and onto my tongue. “I only do all this because I lfffff…”
And just like that, a gentle hoof muffled me. It stopped the flow of words quite effectively. Then Rarity let her hoof down. It was maddening how she could just stop me with a hoof like that. But she did.
“Let us collect what gems we can and depart post haste. I should see a doctor about this wound, and I think I see an iced gem cake in your future.” That same hoof that stopped my profession of love earlier, then poked me gently in the nose.
I laughed. “Okay. Let’s go.”
~ ~ ~
I looked at the plain looking gemstone in my left hand. Its glow was the same raspberry color as Twilight’s magical aura. It would serve as my light source before I lit the candle. The books were very explicit:
The room shall not have anything but magical light illuminating it, from a gemstone enchanted by an Alicorn. This is to prevent disturbing the spirits. In the presence of the candle, the gems light will fade when the candle is lit, and will return when the candle extinguishes.
In my other hand, I held the fire ruby. Its brilliant crimson didn’t reflect in the light of the gemstone.
Truth be told, I didn’t even know if Rarity would be in there. Twilight was right, I could have been walking right into a centuries old parlor trick. Would I see any spirits? Would Rarity even visit me? Would she know to be in Canterlot at the very same time I lit the candle? I closed my eyes and put the thoughts of the mechanics of the unknown spirit world out of my mind.
I was standing in a long and very cavernous hallway towards the back of the palace and close to the mountain. This was an older section, built early in the palace’s life. The room itself was unassuming but hard to get to without the help of a princess. I’m sure there was disorienting magic at play as a defense. Inconsequentially, this is not part of the palace tour.
In front of me was an old wooden door on iron hinges. It was old oak, thick and worn with time. The door handle looked like it had barely been used. What could I prove that three powerful alicorn princesses could not? The questions repeated themselves. Would I see a spirit? Would I see Rarity?
I had only one way to find out. Only one way to prove this. I had only one real chance to see her again; my beloved Rarity.
I put both gems in one hand and then reached for the door with my other. I opened it slowly, and it was immediately obvious the door hadn’t been opened much. It creaked and groaned as it protested giving up the secret that lay in the room behind. I imagined that the last time the door had been open, Princess Celestia and her young excited student had peered in on a darkened room and an unlit candle as a story was told.
“Spike, wait.” The timbre of Twilight’s voice stopped me instantly. I turned around, expecting more objections from her, a continuation of our earlier argument. Instead, there stood my princess, eyes cast downward, as if she too were going through the same emotional turmoil inside. Longing. Mixed with fear.
She was wearing her Star Swirl costume, complete with comically loose fitting fake beard. I didn’t even hear her approach. Those bells were constantly jingling when she walked. We had found it in her room, in a piece of luggage on her bed. Irony of ironies. It had to practically be rebuilt once a decade, from scratch. Now only the bells were original. Each Nightmare Night saw “Nightmare Moon” Luna versus Twilight “Star Swirl the Bearded” Sparkle in an epic battle between good, evil, and candy. Their mock battles were stuff of legends among the foals that got to see it.
I’m ashamed to admit now, that I wanted to turn around and ignore Twilight that very moment. But try as I might, she was my best and my oldest friend. Her opinions mattered to me no matter what, even when I thought she was wrong.
“Whatever I say isn’t going to stop you from going in there. What you and Rarity had between each other was special. But, please understand that she’s been dead for over half a century now…They’ve all been.”
Images of Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow, Starlight, and all the other friends that left us behind in death began to plague my thoughts. I couldn’t hide the retort that came to my lips. “Do you think I don’t know that?” It sounded sharper, more biting than I meant it to.
Twilight seemed to brush it off her back though. Her retort came as a fact like only Twilight could deliver. “No. Just please understand that the stories and legends you and I have read about that candle give a very simple caution. You may not like what you learn in there. Spirits cannot lie, they have no cause to.” She said meekly, almost a whisper.
I frowned and looked at the doorway. “I know that, too.”
“Then you must do this I guess. But please, be careful.”
I matched the softness of her voice. “I will.”
Twilight looked on as I stepped through the threshold of the door and into the darkened room. I shut the old wooden door behind me. This left only the illumination of the enchanted gem with which to see. The darkness was profound beyond the gem’s light. This was so unlike the caves that Rarity and I explored in my youth. But here I was, attempting to excavate something more precious than gemstones…
Truth.
I held out the gem in front of me towards the center of the room, and the light fell on it. It was indeed the only object in there with me. It seemed lonely; a plain beeswax candle resting atop an adorned gold table. It was ancient and laden with dust. It’s yellow-brown color was that of the royal bee colony as it existed hundreds of moons ago.
I noticed the coal black wick sitting at the center of its top had a gentle curl to one side as I approached. It was a taper candle, half the height that it once was. A thin tunnel of wax formed a lip that the wick had burrowed itself in. It scattered the light from the gem in an almost impossible purple and amber glow from underneath the dust. A rivulet of wax spilled from one side where it had cut through the barrier, and pooled at the base of the candle.
I could imagine Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in a room like this on the earliest days of their reign as they secretly consulted the spirits of the ancients for advice and guidance, because even timeless leaders have moments of indecision and need honest answers to show the way.
Various gemstones of various sizes, cuts, and colors laid out around the candles base. I had no doubt they were enchanted with alicorn magic, but they were not as beautiful as the heart shaped fire ruby that I had gifted to Rarity so long ago.
As I placed Rarity’s ruby on the table with the others, I read another passage in my mind:
The candle, itself enchanted, will act as the light source. Its light will cast through the gems and across the floor, bathing the walls in light. Its flicker will be the breath of the dead, and their presence the shadows on the walls.
All it lacked was a flame. It needed dragon fire to complete the magic trifecta…
“Here goes…” I whispered, then inhaled. I leaned down to the small lonely candle. Channeling my dragon magic, I let fourth a small wavering green flame from within my parted lips.
It started with an ember, teased by the flame. Then a few seconds later the candle lit, the little white dot of an ember brightened and wavered into a gentle fire. Its light bathed the entire room in a greenish amber light. The light gems magic extinguished on cue like the books said it would.
I stood in the center of the room and began a silent vigil, watching the gentle burning flame for any signs of disturbance; A flicker to the left or right, something to tell me I wasn’t alone in the room.
Fifteen more minutes saw me sitting against a corner of the room, front legs circled around hind, as I stared at the flame. The loudest noise was my own thoughts, thoughts of Rarity, and the excitement I had of seeing her again.
From somewhere outside the door, I could hear the chiming bells of a dozen or so grandpony clocks stationed throughout the palace. I counted the bell chimes to twelve. Nightmare night was over. But the night had just begun, so I stayed there. I stared into the flame until my eyes hurt.
Somewhere between midnight and when the clocks chimed one, I fell asleep.
Author's Note
This will be a three chapter story. I hope to have chapter two posted on Halloween night. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more!
- Pyrex
Edited by Lord Malachite and Molly Mittens
I trudged carefully through the rain-battered streets of Ponyville. I was on my way to Rarity’s home and shop, the Carousel Boutique. In one hand, I had a small green umbrella that shielded me adequately from the rain. In the other I clutched a freezing cold and very fresh carton of her favorite Ice Cream, Vanilla Oat Swirl. The cold against my scales and the relentlessly dreary rain matched my mood perfectly.
After opening her Canterlot Boutique along with Rarity for You in Manehattan, Rarity had begun to split her time more liberally between all three. She didn’t have to visit her two stores outside of Ponyville all the time. She did have some great managers, Sassy Saddles and Coco Pommel, taking care of business for her. But her reputation was something that Rarity fought very hard for and she did not want to be known as an aloof fashionista.
She wanted to be there for her customers. I don’t think it was just a way to drum up repeat buyers. A pony walking in to one of her boutiques was in for the personalized shopping experience of their lives if Rarity were present. That’s something that no amount of careful business planning and plotting could cover for. It helped secure her an entire room and a dozen preserved dresses in Canterlot’s fashion museum. I still visit it to this day when I’m there.
It was no surprise then, that the occasional stallion that walked in for a custom suit would find Rarity to be quite a charming personality, and available too.
There was a pattern to it all. Rarity would be in one of her stores fussing over this or that, and in would walk a very well dressed and mannered pony. He’d see Rarity approach and it was if suddenly all lights were on her, as if she were his one true destiny. It would be followed by small talk and a bit of flirting while she helped him find a suit, or would most often suggest something new and unique that she could make because she didn’t have too much of a stallion wardrobe available.
Talk about the perfect suit would end and the stallion would proceed immediately to asking Rarity what her plans were for the evening. Faced with an evening alone in her shop versus going out for a nice meal and some refined dancing with a gentlestallion, Rarity would make the obvious choice. The date almost always ended with the stallion finding Rarity to be much too independent and married to her business for his liking. I narrowed my eyes. Said stallion didn’t want an independent mare who would ignore him.
I stopped in front of Rarity’s home and looked up at the imposing purple door, shifted the ice cream around in my arm, and knocked.
The worse of the bunch, faced with such a ridiculous and self-centered dilemma, would opt for a one-night stand. Those unique dregs of pony-kind did significant damage to Rarity’s spirit. She made clothes for them, she gave freely of her special talent and her smile, she wasn’t there to “put out” for their moment of carnal pleasure. She was generous to them, and in turn, they preyed upon her generosity and her longing for a special somepony to share her life with.
Rarity opened the top half of the door and immediately I knew which kind of stallion it had been. The usual dump would get dramatics, water works, the fainting couch, and boxes upon boxes of ice cream. I took one look at her sunken tired blue eyes, lack of blue eye shadow, unkempt eye lashes and completely undone hair, and knew with the silence that greeted me that it had been the worse of the worst possible thing.
I smiled and held the carton of Vanilla Out Swirl out between us. “I brought this for you.”
She looked at the treat in my hand, then back to me. Moments of indecision past. The rain seemed to get thicker. Rarity unceremoniously yanked the ice cream from my palm with her magic. The door slammed shut, but then I heard the lock disengaging. The entire door creaked opened slightly, and out came cold, drab air.
Once more unto the breach. I thought to myself as I carefully pushed the door open and walked in. Rarity hadn’t even bothered with the lights, so the entire space was dim and shadowy. I pushed the door shut and let my eyes adjust. Our other friends had tried before to do what I was about to do, with varying degrees of success. Pinkie Pie just seemed to make it worse for some reason. Usually Apple Jack would make the call while winking at me. “I think it’s up to you again Sugar cube.” Because if anypony could bring Rarity out of her days of self-imposed post-dump exile, it wasn’t a pony at all. It was me. A dragon.
After my sight adjusted, I noted that the front room was completely clean. The fainting couch sat alone and unused in its corner. I could hear hoofsteps up the staircase, so I followed them slowly up to Rarity’s room, and entered abject chaos.
The bedroom beyond the open door was also a sewing room. To the left was an elegant four post bed, ahead was a desk and sewing machine, along with several shelves. Several mannequins stood silently throughout the room, showing off dresses and strips of fabric in various states of completeness.
The entire room was covered in all kinds of fabrics, papers with half-hazard scribblings of early dress designs, balls of yarn, bobbins of string, and pincushions with colorful pins. In the middle of it all, stood Rarity. The open carton of ice cream hovered in the air while she ate it slowly, almost methodically, with a spoon.
She turned around to see me, and then walked over to her bed, where she sat down quietly. This all was the result of Rarity trying to put past events out of her mind by busying herself with a very long and uninspiring days of sewing and stitching. Because of that, everything else suffered, including Rarity’s appearance.
I walked over to the bed and climbed up to sit beside her. Looking closer at her eyes, I could see where the mascara she had worn days ago had run down her cheeks. The blue eye shadow had been mostly hoof smudged away, but still left a faint presence around her eyes. This was the look of a mare who had given her talent, and her generosity, freely to the world, only to have one asshole come along and ask if it included the entire quesadilla. It must have hurt bad every time it happened.
I watched the profile of her muzzle as she ate and the way her mane cascaded around her ear instead of flowing around it in a curl. My heart leapt out to her like it always did.
“Wanna talk about it?” I broke the silence.
“…No.” Rarity finally answered. She shook her head and levitated another spoonful of ice cream to her mouth. Her voice seemed to croak like she hadn’t used it much in the past few days except to sob privately.
Okay. Try small talk. “You missed dinner at Applejack’s yesterday night. She invited everypony over. The apple fritters were really good.”
“Mmmhmmm” Came Rarity’s answer, a spoonful of ice cream lodged firmly in her mouth.
I switched stories. “You’re not going to believe what Twilight did while you were gone. She tried organizing her entire library chronologically, then realized, while all the books were on the floor that many of the books don’t even have a year on them! We ended up putting them all right back where they were again. Can you believe it!?” I mocked a laugh over the unpleasant experience of Twilight saying “hey, wait a minute.” At the most inconvenient time.
My laugh trailed off though at the lack of response.
I pulled a line from one of my favorite comic books. “The mothership arrives tomorrow. We’ve been told to prepare our offerings to appease the overlord.”
This time, no response. Not even a raised eyebrow at how ridiculous that sounded out in the open. I lifted my hand to my chin in thought. There had to have been some way to get Rarity to open to me. I looked around the room, and then an idea struck me.
I leapt off the bed and immediately went to work collecting items off the floor. I started with the balls of yarn farthest from Rarity.
It took only moment before Rarity locked her eyes on me. Opalescence, whom had been sleeping on the bed, now peered around Rarity, looking perplexed and a little peeved that I had woken her up from a deep cat nap. I kept at what I was doing.
“What are you doing?” Finally, a complete sentence!
I looked over at Rarity and then continued. “Picking up this mess.”
She closed her eyes with a huff, sat the carton of ice cream beside her, and then grabbed balls of yarn from my grip. They fell unceremoniously to the floor. One white ball rolled all the way to the bed where Opal pounced on it and began to disembowel it with her claws. If there’s one word of advice I’d give about Rarity, it would have been ‘do not stand between that horse and her fits of creativity.’
“It’s not a mess.” Rarity protested and got up off the bed. She approached one of the mannequins and adjusted the small red hat atop it with her magic. “I’m simply having a dreadful time figuring out what the theme will be for my fall fashion line. I was thinking of going for a Running of the Leaves affair, but I’m having awful trouble coming up with a way of combining the sleekness of athletics with the elegance of couture.
Now that I had Rarity talking, my mission was only half over. She needed to smile again. Perhaps helping her with her fashion dilemma would work. I noticed Rarity fussing with the red fabric wrapped around the barrel of one of the mannequins and approached to stand on the other side. I looked up at her. She had levitated a pincushion and was working the fabric into a shape, almost like a sculptor would with clay.
“Well.” I started. “How about dispensing with the couture and mixing it up with a line of fall sportswear. Warm and clingy for speed, but not chafy?”
“GAH!” Rarity yelled out. Several of the needles that were being held in thin air shot right into the fabric in front of her and embedded deeply into the form. She stomped away from the mannequin. “That’s just what he said during the party!”
I winced and jumped back away from the mannequin as it teetered slightly from the sudden murderous movement. Rarity had said something that piqued my curiosity. “Who’s he?”
“Swift Tailwinds!”
“Swift Tailwinds? The acrobatic pegasus that does those awesome spinning barrel rolls?” Rarity shot a glare of daggers down at me and I shrunk away.
“Harrumph. That brute! That vile! Vile…… Pegasus!.” Rarity growled. She sat the pin cushion down and stomped towards her desk where she started rifling through papers.
“He came in to my store and requested something that he could wear to some soiree in lower Manehatten where he was the guest of honor. I happened to have something that would look positively stunning on him, and he thought the idea was marvelous. I just needed to work in a few simple alterations for his wings.”
I walked towards Rarity. Swift Tailwinds was an up and coming flyer, part of an Equestrian stunt flying family. They were not the Wonderbolts, but a family that travelled around with a circus. He was so talented that both Spitfire and Rainbow Dash had tried to recruit him on multiple occasions, but his excuse was always the same. He claimed his solid dark blue mane and coat would clash with their uniform.
Rarity’s hurried paper sorting slowed. She turned to me and sat down on the stool. She then sighed and closed her eyes. “It was a black number, sleek and deliciously noir, you could barely see any creases or stitching in the fabric. He loved it, said it would make him look mysterious, which by coincidence is exactly what he was going after.” She snorted. “It did indeed make him look tall, dark, and mysterious.”
I felt a blush coming to my cheeks as my mind ran away with a fantasy. Small. Check. Dark, I could do that, so check. Mysterious? Just call me the dark mysterious drake of Ponyville. Yep.
“After I sold him the suit, he started flirting with me. He said he was confused and thought that I came with it as well. Then he asked me to the party with him, as a date and, and I couldn’t resist saying yes.”
There was wooden box of fabric nearby. I looked at it, turned it over, and then sat down on it.
Rarity’s voice came softer. Her anger from earlier had melted away. “I went with him, and had a simply marvelous time, but unfortunately I dare say I had a little too much to drink and I think he caught on to that. Miss Pommel was out of town so she let me stay at her place. As we were walking back I started to sober up, thankfully, and noticed that Swift would, he would, hang back every so often and stare, at my flank. So we, got to, Coco’s and, he, he shut the door and he…”
Tears began to flow from Rarity’s eyes as she screwed them shut tightly. Unlike most time where they washed out eye liner, these came pure and clear against her cheeks. I looked around for a strip of fabric, reached down for it, and offered it up to her, only to end up enveloped in the tightest hug that I had ever experienced in my life.
We fell from the stool and onto the floor with a thud. Papers perched on the edge of the desk fell on top of us. Her sobs came fast and heavy. She heaved every single one with short breaths as she cried. “There, there.” I whispered. “It’s okay.” Her whimpers of emotional agony vibrated into my body. I closed my eyes and tried to rock her back and forth.
“It was horrible.” She cried into my ear. I could feel her hot tears run off her cheek and onto mine. “He approached me and tried to kiss me, and asked me to bed with him that night. I refused, and he called me a tease, a harlot! He yelled and yelled, and he, tore up his suit right in front of me. He stomped on it, kicked it into my face, and then ran out.” She finished with a squeak. Rarity’s body was racked with trembling sobs as I held her close to me and rubbed my hands against her back. From behind me I could feel Opal’s head rubbing up against my tail. She could sense her mistresses distress and was helping in any way that she could.
As Rarity sobbed into my shoulder I realized that I had never seen her this emotional before in my life. The other times had a flair of dramatics in them, and it didn’t take too much effort, not counting that book that will not be named, to bring her back from despair. This time I truly didn’t have any clue what to do. And it scared me. I scrunched my face in anger against the sharp breaths that Rarity was breathing as she tried to keep herself from falling apart any more.
It was bad enough for somepony to see Rarity as just an object for them to conquer. But to then go and tear up something she put her very soul into, her own work, and to throw its remains into her face as revenge for refusing to give her body to him?! I was hoping that very moment that Swift Tailwinds, wherever that jerk was, could feel what I was imagining; ripping his wings out feather by feather, bone by bone. Yes. I would do that, and then I would go for his-
“Am I really a hideous mare?”
“What!?” I raised my voice and moved to look Rarity in the eyes. They were bloodshot and dry, from the last of the tears that were cool against the fur of her cheeks.
“That’s what he told me.”
“You…” I cupped Rarity’s cheeks in my palms and forced her to look at me. “Listen to me. You are not hideous. You are Rarity Belle, the most breathtakingly beautiful unicorn in all Equestria. You are everything from generous to talented. You’re a good friend and a pure soul. You put your heart into your work where other ponies just try for what’s in style.”
Rarity chocked back a sob and I continued.
“Swift Dickwinds is the one who’s hideous. He took advantage of you the minute he walked into your store. None of what he did was your fault and don’t you dare think otherwise.” A tear fell to my cheek, and I realized I was getting just as emotional as she.
At some point in my diatribe, a smile had begun to form along the corners of Rarity’s mouth. “S-Spike?” She sobbed.
“Yes?” I asked, and sniffled.
Rarity sniffled back, and her smile had returned. It was wavering, but it was there. She breathed out. “You’re crying. I thought Dragon’s didn’t cry.”
“Well. Most dragons don’t have a pony that they umph-” And as I was about to get that word out, the mare of my dreams enveloped me into an even tighter hug, and buried my face into the fur of her chest.
~ ~ ~
Something stirred me awake. I sucked in a breath and snorted it out as my eyes flew open. I realized where I was and stood up.
“How long was I out?” I asked the darkness, no one really. I didn’t have any way to tell; the room had no windows and the grandpony clocks weren’t talking. All I had as companions was the dark enchanted crystal in my claws and the candle in the middle of the room.
I noticed that the candle was now half the size it was when I had lit it. I remembered Twilight’s caution not to use the candle too much, because it was ancient magic and she wasn’t sure if it could be reproduced. “Stupid, stupid, stupid spike.” I swore under my breath.
I looked around at the walls, at the shadows, and while there were shadows there, they were faint and easily attributed to the crystals at the base of the candle, or the table. They didn’t waver much, for the flame itself was very steady.
I thought of blowing the candle out and calling it a wasted night. Inwardly I was starting to fear that this was indeed just some sort of foolish magic trick. Perhaps the candle could project spirits in passing, but the spirits themselves paid no attention to it. It had been a long time since that candle had been used. Perhaps the magic had worn off.
Nightmare Night had passed with midnight, but the moon should have still been high in the sky, and the pegasi had promised no clouds. Really, the walls should have been crawling with shadows. What was wrong?
My thoughts began to turn to despair as I thought of all this wasted effort, before finally turning to the image of Rarity in my head, her haunting visage. I thought of everything I wanted to say to her, and everything that would have to remain unspoken until I died, which given the lifespan of a dragon, was a very, very long time. My heart began to ache terribly.
I felt a chill against my side. It was gone almost as fast as it was there. I shivered and looked for the source, but there was none. It’s like something had passed through me.
I stood still and looked at the candle. The flame began to dance. It flickered and nearly jumped off the wick excitedly before catching it again in a desperate attempt to hold on to its perch. I was so far away from the candle I knew it couldn’t have been me.
I quietly approached the candle and kneeled to inspect it. There was something in the room with me. I just knew it. I looked around at the walls. No shadows. But, I was sure something was there. Did it have a name? Was it her?
“Rarity? Is that you?” I asked, and looked at the candle again.
The flame flickered and flashed. I held in a breath and stood up. The flame’s rhythm was hypnotic as were the angles of the crystals casting shadows against the table that danced along with it. Then another shadow emerged. It started out as a point in one of the crystals, and it grew bigger. It seemed to leap away from the table in an otherworldly fashion, against the direction of the dancing flame.
It grew across the floor before it found the wall, and then on that tableau a shadow coalesced into focus.
Given all that had happened, you’ll understand why I looked at the shadow in disbelief. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? There before me stood the shadow of a unicorn. It was at a slight angle, as if pointed towards me. I could see the tip of a horn that seemed swallowed up in a flowing mane towards its base, and four elegantly angled legs. The mane itself had an unmistakable flowing arch, and I could swear its color was shades of indigo and purple that flowed together just like that extravagant curl on either side of its face.
I slowly approached the wall, and the shadow turned, as if keeping sight of me. I stopped when I could see the entire profile, and the flowing curl of her tail. I knew that shadow was of Rarity. She was looking up at me so I kneeled. I saw an unsure hoof raise up cautiously and touch my arm. I felt a chill where the hoof connected with the shadow of my arm. It was Rarity! Oh Celestia, it was her!
“It’s been a long time.” I said to the shadow.
The shadow nodded. I sat on the floor in front of where I thought she was standing. From her shadow, I could see Rarity stepping slightly so she could be in front of me. Shen then followed suit and sat down on her haunches.
I reached out to her face and brushed the air. I could feel her presence, a mass of otherworldly chill that seemed content to steal the warmth from my body. Rarity raised a hoof and I could feel a chill on the tip of my nose where she had poked it. I did something I hadn’t done in a long time. I giggled like a little dragon.
Rarity’s shadow bounced. She was giggling too.
It had worked. The spirit candle wasn’t just a trick after all. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. “You don’t know how much I miss you.”
I could see from the shadow that her mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear anything. She stopped mid-sentence as she realized the same thing, then looked at the ground.
The books were just as silent about how to communicate with the dead, as if the writer knew that we’d be able to communicate with ease. Well, they were wrong. I went into this thinking that she could talk to me and I would hear her. I looked through the air as I thought of ways we could communicate. Pantomime was out, and completely silly. This wasn’t a shadow play. This is life. She’d have to use her shadow in some way, then I looked at her hoofs and had a thought.
“I know what to do.” Rarity looked up at me. “Try this. I’ll ask you questions. You stomp a hoof. One stomp for yes, two stomps for no. And, you can make any other movements you want, if you need to. Do you understand?”
A hoof stomp. ‘Yes’
“This. This is going to work!” I exclaimed.
I could see rarity laugh and make a motion that looked like she was clopping her hooves together. She was just as excited as me. After the excitement died down, I began to think of a thousand and one questions to ask, but I had only so much time to ask them in.
“Did you miss me?” I asked, to start simple.
One quick hoof stomp. ‘Yes’ She finally could answer that one.
“Are our friends all there too?”
‘Yes’
“Are they okay?”
‘Yes’
At that point all I had were yesses. I needed something that she could say no too. To make sure I could see two hoof stomps. I know it was possible but I just had to see. I thought of the very illness that took Rarity from me. Cancer.
“Are you still in pain?”
There was a pause and then, two slow hoof stomps, ‘No’ It meant she was no longer in agony, no longer tired for days on end. She was free. I felt what would possibly be the first in a long series of times that night, that a weight had just been lifted from my heart. The weight itself being those memories of Rarity tired, bedridden, as the life ebbed from her body.
“Do spirits get sick?”
‘No’
“You know, Twilight and I both miss you guys. But, you’re a spirit. You can go anywhere. Have-” A thought came to my mind. “Did you guys visit us after, you know, you died?”
‘Yes’
“I have your fire ruby. I’m keeping it safe for you. Sweetie Belle let me have it.” Rarity probably already knew that one already.
She confirmed that with a ‘yes’.
Sweetie Belle had died thirty years after Rarity, her husband Soda Pop had died a few years before his wife. They left behind a precious and precocious filly. Radiance was named in honor of her late aunt and turned out to be just as kind, loving, and generous.
“Have you seen your Niece’s Cutie Mark?”
One hoof stomp and an excited nod. ‘Yes’
I smiled. When Radiance received her Cutie Mark, we were all shocked to see a single diamond in the shape and color of the ones that graced her late aunt’s mark. She was an adventurous youth and didn’t have much time for old Spike and Twilight. But that was fine. She grew up to be the most generous and caring pony around. Her talents in helping the poor and downtrodden meant that she was true to her name and her mark. The world needed Radiance.
“Her kid takes a lot after you, you know. Twilight and I are very proud of her.” I narrowed my eyes. “Hey, you didn’t have anything to do with her Cutie Mark, did you?”
Rarity responded with a politely bashful ‘No’
Sadly, Radiance never had any children of her own, meaning Rarity’s own bloodlines ends there. But the indelible mark they left on Equestria means so much more than mere genes.
I looked at the floor. I had come in here without a real plan. This was turning out to be a polite conversation, not seeking closure with somepony I missed dearly. The first decades after Rarity’s death were tolerable. Then I had found that first book that told of a way to talk to the dead, while idly looking around the library, bored, one oppressively hot summer day. Memories of her came flooding back and the Rarity shaped hole in my heart that I brushed off as just something that made me who I was began to burn away at my sanity. The memories of Rarity made me miss her so much that I feared they’d consume me. Up until that night, where I sat there quite literally next to Rarity in spirit, I didn’t know how I would live another thousand or two years.
“I have to apologize.” I began. “I didn’t just come here to catch up. I’m the one that discovered the spirit candle, by accident.” I swept a claw around the room. “I had twilight enchant your fire ruby. I don’t know how it attracted you here or what it looks like to you now, but please understand that this is all my doing. The reason I can see your shadow is because the candle has an old magic that allows it to project your spirit. Twilight doesn’t think I should be going through with this, but by Celestia, Rarity, I need to talk to you.”
Rarity’s shadow didn’t move, prompting me to continue.
“I’ve been a mess since I found out about this candle. Lately I’ve realized how much I lost when you died, and I need closure so I can go on living. But.” I looked straight ahead at the mass of empty cold air. “You’re the only one that can help me.”
I sighed and looked at the shadow. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
A single hoof stomp…. ‘Yes…’
Author's Note
I was originally going to have three chapters for this story but I have decided to expand it to five. I was hoping to have more by now but last week was nasty at work so I couldn't find time to sit down and continue banging on my keyboard until the weekend. This week is looking better so expect another chapter by Friday. I promise you will not have to wait long for another installment.
Thanks again to my editors, Molly Mittens and Lord Malachite. Their finishing touches are here and there in this story and I'm grateful for all their help. 
Also, she will always be Coco Pommel. Fight the power!
-Pyrex
