Welcome Home, Darling

Dear Spike,

I don't know if Twilight told you or not, but they are releasing me today. They say I am all better....but Twilight doesn't believe so. I don't really care what they say anymore...all I care about is you. Meet me at my boutique at 11:30. DO NOT GO INSIDE!

All My Love,

Rarity

Spike had sat outside on the porch of Carousel Boutique for hours reading and rereading the letter he had received earlier that day. He couldn't believe that she was coming home after 2 years. 2 very long years waiting to hear word from her, waiting to hear that it wasn't true what they said. Waiting to hear that she wasn't the one who killed Sweetie Belle. Every pony, even Twilight and the rest of her friends said she did it. They didn't even give her a chance to defend herself. The lawyers had her plead insanity, and thanks to her long standing relationship with Princess Celestia, they only put her in a mental institution in Stalliongrad, but she wasn't supposed to get out for nearly 20 years.

He glanced up quickly at the clock tower that stood off to the west of the small dress shop. The time read 12:15 AM. "Where is she, she was supposed to be here by now."

He turned to peak around the edges of the building to look down the streets. All the dirt roads that lead past her shop were cold and empty in the air of a winter night. No sight of any pony at all. The sky above him was beginning to darken as the moon down behind a cluster of trees and a steady wind began to sweep across the land. Even under his tough scaly exterior, the cold seeped deep into Spike's body. He glanced back towards the door that creaked with every gust as it moved ever so slightly, beckoning him into the warmth of the boutique.

Wow it's getting cold...maybe Rarity wouldn't mind if I stepped inside just for a second...just to warm up...... No, she told you to wait for her here and not to go inside. Another gust of wind swept across him and his body began to shiver violently. Hmm.... maybe I should go inside and get the place nice and clean...she'll like that...won't she?

He didn't think about it as the winds continued to pick up. He stood and ran over to the door, surprised to find that in 2 years it had not been locked and creaked open slowly. The inside of the boutique was dark and nearly quiet, save for the sound of the floor creaking beneath Spike's claws as he walked into the main showroom. He searched around and found a small oil lamp on the edge of a table, blowing a small green flame onto it causing the oil stained cloth to catch fire and illuminate the room.

The room wasn't as he remembered it. The once bright and lively colored walls and beautiful marble floors where dust covered and stained with a dark substance that Spike couldn't identify. The pony-quins that once were decorated with some of the most luxurious dresses and suits in all of Equestria were now covered with the tattered remains of the moth eaten cloth. Every aspect of the room seemed to be an alien and hellish landscape to the young dragon.

"Wow, this place is a mess. I almost didn't recognize it under all of this filth. Rarity won't approve of this at all!" He ran off to the kitchen to grab the broom that usually stood right inside the doorway. He felt his way along the walls until his claws found and opening and searched the other side of the gap for a light switch. After several seconds, he reached the switch and gave it a few flicks, but no light flickered on in any room.

"Figures." He muttered under his breath as he moved slowly into the room to avoid tripping over anything. He felt around in the darkness until he reached what he believed to be a counter or the sink. HE felt along the length of the granite until he heard something hit the ground as soon as he touched it. The object was soft, yet gave off a loud wooden thump as it knocked against the tile floors. "Uh oh, what the hay did I knock over?"

He got down on his claws and knees and searched around in the darkness for the object, only succeeding in finding the broom that he originally set out to find. He stood and made his way towards the opening that led to the den, shrugging the noise off as a wooden spoon with a cloth wrapped around it, or a wooden holder for paper towels.

He raced back into the den after he found the opening in the wall, the light from the oil lamp enough to illuminate through the entire room. "Ok, Spike, time to do this for Rarity!"

He started to sweep the dusty floors and gathered up a large pile of dirt, cloth remnants, and broken pieces of glass and gems. He continued his clean up of the shop until he bumped into the table that held the lamp and sent it rolling towards the fireplace. A small amount of oil dripped onto the floor and caught, causing the whole fireplace to erupt into flames. Light poured through the room and destroyed the darkness around him, allowing him to witness the horrific panorama that he had previously been unable to see with the small amount of light he had.

The strange substance that clung to the walls was illuminated, and to Spike seemed to be a mixture of blood and fecal matter. The pony-quins had been covered in it too. They also had been stabbed and cut with any object that could puncture the soft fabric that covered their wooden interiors. Needles, pins, knives, and a potato peeler where stuck into the five that he could see. The only thing that scared him more that the severe damage that had been done to them was the liquid that dripped from the "wounds". He crept closer and wiped abit of the viscous liquid away from the pony-quin with a shaky hoof. He sniffed at it abit, a deep iron smell burning his nostrils.

W-what...what's going on here? He thought as the liquid on his claws began to dry and crack at the slightest movement of his phalanges. He wiped another bit of it away from the pony-quin, the same smell striking his nostrils with a pungent iron smell, yet it was one that was familiar to him.  His mind flashed back to a time a few months ago when Twilight had accidentally smashed his face in with a door. He sat crying with his claws to his nose for hours afterwords, the same smell aggravating his senses from the...

"N-no way. These pony-quins are bleeding.....actual blood?" He jumped back in fear as he stared up at them.

Quite Marvelous, aren't they Spike? A high-pitched voice echoed through his mind as bright purple glow filled the room behind him. He nervously turned to face the source of it.

A white unicorn that he knew instantly to be Rarity stood in the doorway that entered the boutique. She wasn't much taller than Spike had remembered her, but things were defiantly off. Her mane that used be a long, flowing, dark purple hue was now short, matted and black. Her usually whiter than snow coat was dirty and nearly grey, a few areas of red staining the fur. A few areas were bald where her fur had apparently been ripped out by something or somepony. She looked terrible.

"Rarity?" Spike looked at her in shock. "What do you mean by that?"

Rarity's face twisted into a wicked grin as her eyes widened in excitement. "They didn't want me to be around anymore. They we're being very bad ponies...and they needed to be punished. They didn't want me to come back. They never did!" She chuckled abit, sending a chill down the baby dragon's spine. "They thought they could stop me. They thought that they would send me back to the nut house. HAHAHA! But I won't be going back. No pony is ever making me go back to that hell hole!"

Rarity began a slow trek towards the pony-quins, while spike backed away and into a wall. Her facial expression never changed.

"W-what are you talking about Rarity?" Spike asked sheepishly, prompting another dark laugh from the love of his life. She started to caress the pony-quin in the center of the 5, lightly running her hoof up and down the surface.

"I wanted you to wait for me...I wanted to show you what I had made for my return...." She grabbed hold of the knife sticking out where the horn of a unicorn would be, and in one swift movement pulled it straight out. The force of the instruments removal caused a fountain of blood to spray from the wound, coating every inch of Rarity's face. She licked the blood away from the blade and placed it's edge against the surface of the pony-quin. Slowly, she carved the fleshy covering off of the inanimate object while the blood continued to rain down on her coat. "I wanted you to see them before any pony else..."

Spike stared at where she was slicing, a lavender layer of fur becoming visible beneath the peeled surface. Rarity continued the cut down the side of the pony-quin, all the way down to the flank. She pulled the fleshy material away and started to cut a chunk from the lavender area beneath. She ripped the piece away and threw it right in front of Spike. He slowly lifted the mass of tissue up to his face, his heart dropping at the sight of a 6 pointed pink star with several other smaller white ones around it.

He dropped the chunk and backed all the way towards the door. "R-rarity...you did didn't you. I didn't want to believe them...they we're all lying...but Sweetie...and Twilight....why Rarity....why!" The small dragon snapped as he collapsed to the floor bawling.

Rarity took slow steps towards him, each echoing loudly through the quiet house. "They didn't want me around...they never wanted to see me again. When they heard I escaped...they knew I would come here. They wanted to send me back...but Mama would never have survived in there....I took them out...before they could take me out...and now...we can all be together forever!" She trotted happily back to the pony-quins. "ALL OF US!"

To the first one, she procured a small flint lighter and set it ablaze. "Fluttershy!"

She went on to the next after the first had burned down to nothing but a pile of ash. "Applejack!"

She screeched as the glow from her horn enveloped the one she faced as it began to crumple down. Spike could hear every single one of Applejack's internal organs exploding from the immense pressure exerted on them. The motionless form that wrapped around Applejack eventually reached the size of a marble before Rarity tossed it into the fireplace.

She looked back at Spike, her smile mimicking the caring smile she usually showed him, but it faded away as she pressed him to the wall with her magic. "It's almost over." She cooed.

She walked over to the fourth pony-quin in line. "Rainbow Dash...." She glared at it as her magics glow enveloped it and  began to rip it apart bit by bit. It took her mere seconds to have Dashie divided into hundreds of tiny, blood soaked lumps of muscle and bone.

She made her way to the last one in line. "Pinkie Pie....." She raised the knife up to the side of the statuesque form and stabbed into it until there was a hole big enough to slide a whole filly in. She focused harder than ever and formed a helium tank in Pinkie's chest cavity and opened the valve. Spike could only watch as Pinkie began to expand and split apart. Rarity on the other hoof laughed to herself as the helium tank finished and Pinkie floated all the way to the ceiling and right into a large glass chandelier. Pinkie burst like a balloon, and the mare that Spike used to love danced as blood and guts rained from her ceiling.

She levitated Spike to her side, staring straight at his eyes."Only one more left, my little Spikey-wikey." She cooed his name affectionately as she placed the knife in his claws. Her magic forced them to close around the knife as they moved over to the last pony-quin in the middle. "Twilight...."

Spike squirmed abit as Rarity raised him to eye level with the inanimate and featureless form that contained Twilight underneath it. His claw was raised back above his head, ready to strike. "Rarity...please don't!"

"We have to...they want to send us back... but we don't want that do we....DO WE!" She laughed maniacally as the knife drove all the way through the mare and more blood squirted out from the top of her head. Rarity had done what she had set out to do, while Spike had fallen into shock. Even if it was forced, he still killed Twilight...he still killed his mother.

Rarity's laughing slowed as she pulled Spike's claws out of Twilight's skull. "Oh wasn't that just lovely darling?"

Spike glared at her and yelled as loud as he could threw his tears. "NO! It wasn't lovely! You killed all of our friends! You killed them...in front of me... You killed Sweetie Belle too! I know you did now! You should've stayed in the nut house! I...I HATE YOU!"

Rarity growled and slammed him hard up against the wall. " YOU.... UNGRATEFUL....LITTLE....SHIT!" She slammed his face into the piles of ashes, flesh and blood until he was soaking in it. "Now Rarity...maybe he didn't mean that...yeah that has to be it..." She raised the knife up to his neck and pressed him hard against the wall. "You didn't mean that...DID YOU!"

Spike knew if he didn't give her the answer she wanted, it would be the end of him. He needed to stay alive longer enough to send a letter to the Princess...or at very least the authorities. "O-of course not, Rarity! It was....just the wind..."

She loosened her grip on him. "Yes...just the wind...nothing but the wind..hehehe..." She lowered the knife to the ground and picked levitated him over to her. "Y-you still love me right, Spikey-wikey?"

"O-of course I do...Rarity....I always will..."

"Oh, good...that makes me happy!" She laughed and headed up the stairs with him in tow. She walked straight into her room, which looked a lot different from the rest of the house now. It was nice and clean, the way Spike remembered Rarity before tonight. The only thing that was different was his basket bed laying right beside Opal's empty one. It wasn't a reproduction or a cheap version... it was the same one Twilight had made for him years ago. She laid him down in bed and covered him slowly. "Welcome to your new home, my darling. Welcome home.....:"

She crawled up onto her bed and curled up into a ball humming a tune that Spike had never heard before. "Na na na na~ na na~na na na~da na na na na~na na na~ na na na~da na~. Na na na na~ na na~ na na na~da na na na na~na na na~na na na~da na~."

Spike stayed awake for several hours after Rarity had stopped humming and fallen into a deep sleep. He was waiting for his opportunity to rush downstairs and grab a quill and some parchment. Maybe he could write a letter to the Princess and she could get here before Rarity even woke up. Maybe.

After several more long minutes, he slowly uncovered himself and stepped out of his bed. He crept as quietly to the door as he could, the floor beneath him creaking and groaning slightly. The hardest part was the door, with his size he could barley reach her gilded doorknob, and once he did, the door swung open with a loud groan. Spike tensed up in fear as he turned around to look at Rarity, but to his relief she was still deep asleep.

He quickly rushed down the stairs and straight into a small room to the side of the floor room. He quietly closed the door and locked it tight. His mind knew that if he was caught, Rarity would probably kill him. He searched every drawer that he could, throwing bits of fabric and completed ensembles around the room. He even overlooked a pile of several large rubies in his panic, the last thing he cared about right now was food. After several long minutes of search and destroy, he located a stack of parchment and a quill, but not a pot of ink in the entire room. He didn't want to risk going back out into the floor room or the den and waking Rarity, but there was another option. He went back over to a drawer near the window at the back of the room and withdrew a letter opener. It wasn't the smartest idea, but it was his only option at the moment. He pressed one of his scaly claws to the sharp point and pressed as hard as he could. He winced in pain as a line of blood trailed down his claw and dripped onto the paper. It wasn't the best feeling in the world, but it was better than waiting around to die. He threw the quill to the other side of the room as he began to scratch out a quick letter with this claw.

Princess Celestia,

It's Spike. Rarity is back and she is holding me at risk of my life. Twilight and the others are dead....please help!

He quickly rolled the parchment up and breathed a green flame upon it. The letter was set ablaze as it shot off out of the room through a broken window and threw the night sky. He quickly looked around for something that he could wrap around his claw to keep it from bleeding more than he needed it too. He noticed a small scrape of denim hanging from a chair in the corner. He seized the fabric and carefully wrapped it around his claw.

I-it's almost over...I just have to wait for the princess to get her and everything will be...everything will be just fine... He thought as he slowly made his way back up towards Rarity's room. The stairway seemed to grow longer with every step he took, as if whenever he took a single step forward, the stairs extended two more steps. He eventually reached the top, the door still standing wide open as he stepped inside, and turned to close the door. The heavy wood groaned even louder as the door was pulled too. He glanced over at Rarity, glad to still find her sound asleep as he walked back over to his bed and crept inside. As much as he didn't want to sleep, his eyelids were fighting a losing battle and he knew that if he wanted to have a fighting chance of getting out alive, he would need to rest. He gave up his fight and let his eyes close as he drifted off into a fearful slumber.

A loud thump and a sharp stinging pain on the back of his head jolted Spike from his somewhat peaceful slumber. His eyes shot open to a pair of large blue eyes glaring down at him, the face that contained them soaked with what seemed to be fresh blood. He couldn't help but stare in horror. He managed to stutter out two words in his fear. "G-good morning..."

"It's morning alright, but it isn't good in any fucking way you shit!" Rarity's glare intensified along with the volume of her voice. She wrapped her hooves around the dragon's small neck and lifted him up to her eye level. "You tried to send a letter to the princess! You betrayed me!"

"No! I swear I didn't! I would never betray you, Rarity!" He choked out as the grip on his neck tightened.

"Oh, you didn't did you." She said with a small grin as she turned him around to face the darkness. "THEN HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THEM!"

Rarity flipped the light switch beside her as the room illuminated. Spike stared in horror at the carnage that surrounded him. The corpses of 10 royal guards lay strewn about the room, each one with their necks slit and their jaws ripped backwards as far as they would go without falling off. Spike noticed that there was not a single drop of blood staining any of their thick white coats, in fact he didn't see a drop of blood anywhere, but the sight made him gag and scream all the same.

"I do have to thank you, Spike. If you hadn't sent that letter when you did, I wouldn't have been able to intercept it and trick these guards into coming here." She giggled a bit to herself. "Now I have just enough material to make me a nice wedding dress."

"W-wedding?"

"Why of course, darling. You're going to marry me and we are going to live happily ever after. " She laughed a bit before turning around and walking towards a small room that was to their left. "But first, you must be punished for your disloyalty."

Rarity levitated Spike out of her hooves and threw him against the wall, his head smashing against the cold cobblestone walls of what he assumed to be the basement of the boutique. He felt his claws being pulled away from his body, before the sting of cold metal shackles enclosed around them and shrunk to hold him securely in place. Despite all the pain from the impact, he had enough mental focus to know he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He closed his eyes tight, but felt Rarity's magic hold them open.

"Now now, no hiding from this! You brought this upon yourself for being a naughty little dragon and you must pay the penalty!" She walked over to him, a small rolling cart trailing behind her. The tray was covered by a small tarp, several knives and needles laying on top. Spike could also make out a small syringe, a large Tupperware bowl and a large black wine bottle. He didn't know what was in it, but the thought of it made his shiver and cringe.

He looked up at the crazy mare. "R-rarity, please don't do this. I..I can change. I won't run away again! Please! I swear I'll be good!"

"Oh, Spike. I believe you'll be good." Rarity giggled as she picked up the syringe from the tray and pressed the needle to his neck. "But you have to face the consequences when you are naughty!" She let out a halfhearted laugh before the needle sunk into his neck and her hoof pressed on the plunger.

Spike screamed as whatever fluid was being injected into him entered his bloodstream. The liquid burned as it pumped through his body, every beat of his heart seeming to increase the pain. He could barely keep his eyes open as he broke out into a cold sweat. His vision started to fade as he saw Rarity's face light up with the brightest smile he had ever seen.

"You like that, don't you Spike?" She giggled as she reached over to the tray and grabbed a knife. "It's a little concoction I made myself. A bit of bleach, a few drops of hydra's blood, some crushed up glass, and just a tiny bit of my...hehe...special juices."

Rarity lifted the knife up to his eye and positioned  the tip just inside of his eyelid. "I think that a good little dragon should look at his lover as much as possible... and with these gone..." She lifted the knife and began to cut away the upper part of his eyelid. The scaly flesh did not move slice easily or cleanly, but with one quick slice she pulled it away. She cut away both of his eyelids and tossed them into the bowl on the tray. " You will be able to look at me all the time!"

Spike couldn't even being mentally describe the pain he was in. At this point he couldn't even tell if he was still alive or if he had finally died. He hoped for the latter.