//------------------------------//
// Dedication Has No Reward 
// Story: The Fate of a Magical Mare 
// by AkemiTheSunbro 
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	Spike slowly trudged along streets of his hometown, devoid of all activity. He guessed that most the ponies had made for shelter so they wouldn't get caught in the oncoming storm. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the decorative, indigo door of Carousel Boutique. He smiled as he tiredly rapped on the door, wondering how he'd tell Rarity about his powers. He mumbled as his mind mulled over potential options, "Heya, Rarity! Did I tell you that I have magical powers now? I'm a magical mare! No..." he rubbed his chin, "Too straightforward... And she might be all weirded out when I call myself a mare... How about 'Hey, Rarity? Wouldn't be cool to have magical powers?' No... that's not specific enough..." 

He snapped his fingers, "I got it! I'll ask her what she thinks about the giant monsters I've been fighting! Then, I'll follow up by asking what she thinks about the pony stopping the monsters! She HAS to have heard of the giant, rampaging monster incidents! They're all over the news! It's foolproof!"

With his heart all aflutter, he began whistling a happy tune. It didn't matter that the rain began to pick up. His spirits were pretty high in that moment. However, he began to worry when no one answered the door. If Rarity was busy, her sister, Sweetie Belle, usually welcomed visitors. And, in the off chance that both were absent or otherwise unable to open the door, Rarity's very talented feline, Opalescence, greeted any guest. Rather irritably, but she still greeted them all the same.

However, none of these scenarios happened this time. Spike hesitantly reached for the door and called out, "Rarity? You home?" To his surprise, building was unlocked. He slowly opened the door, creaking every inch. "Rarity? Sweetie Belle? Opalescence?" He cautiously walked in and wiped his feet on the welcome mat, knowing how much Rarity absolutely disdained a messy floor. 

What really caught Spike off guard was what he noticed next. The entire foyer was bare. Usually, rolls of cloth littered the place, with as many manikins to match. The various sewing and stitching tools normally lay strewn about the room were now nonexistant. Even all the curtains and other wall hangings had disappeared as well. It was as if Rarity had been meaning to move, and finally got around to packing everything away. In fact, the only furniture left worthy of note was the small, round table surrounded by mirrors that Rarity always used for modeling her dresses.

Spike's worry grew as he stepped further inside his friend's empty home, "Rarity? Where are you?"

"You won't find her here." A voice coldly commented behind him.

He turned and gasped, "Fluttershy?"

The yellow pegasus stood in the doorway to the building, shadows from her large mane covering her eyes. She started walking towards him and she asked without emotion, "What did you wish for?"

"What?" Spike asked, confused,  "What do you mean by 'wish'?" he paused, "...Do you know where Rarity is? What happened to her house? Where are her things?"

She calmly replied, "In order to become a magical mare, one must create a contract. In return, the pony will get one miracle granted of their choosing. What was the miracle that you had granted?"

"You know about me being the magical mare fighting the monsters?" Fluttershy simply nodded. Spike shrugged, "I didn't really wish for anything, I guess. It all kinda just happened."

"Impossible," the pegasus callously rejected. "To become a Magical Mare, you MUST have a wish granted. It is the only way. Think: Even if you did not speak your wish aloud to anyone, what could you potentially have wished for the most in your heart?"

"I guess..." Spike tapped his chin, thinking back to when he made his contract, "I've always wanted to be useful to you guys and help save the day..." He gasped and snapped his fingers, "That was my wish! I wanted to be able to help, rather than just sit back and watch!"

Fluttershy paused, "Spike... You idiot..."

Spike recoiled, "Fluttershy, what are you talking abou-" He noticed tears streaming from the shadows covering Fluttershy's face. He  reached a claw to lift her face and asked, "Fluttershy? What's the matter?"

Fluttershy finally met his eyes with her own large, turquoise irises, overflowing with sorrow, "I... I couldn't save her, Spike! She's gone and I couldn't do anything about it! I... I was such a coward..."

Spike raised his eyebrows, "What are you talking about?"

The pegasus lowered her head once again and sobbed, "Rarity... was a magical mare... She and I fought witches together... She trained me and showed me how to beat them. With the two of us, no witch stood a chance... But two weeks ago, that witch you and I fought together, Hildegarde Ornstein..." 

Fluttershy couldn't continue as she full-on wept into her hooves. Spike's eyes grew wide as tears of his own began to form and a lump grew in his throat. He choked, "N-No... Fluttershy, Rarity didn't..." Fluttershy slowly nodded and sobbed. With his tears uncontrollably flowing now, he cried as he grasped her shoulders, "Rarity isn't dead! I don't believe it!"

When Fluttershy didn't reply and continued weeping, Spike reeled and fell to his rear, leaning back on his arms. His mind flew into a frenzy, thinking of all his wonderful memories he was able to share with his crush, and lamenting over the things that they would never be able to do together.

"Why didn't you save her?!" he screamed, rage and tears burning his eyes, "You were there! You could've done something!"

"I tried, Spike!" Fluttershy sobbed, "I tried to save her..."

Spike stood up, legs wobbling and voice shaky, "Isn't there some way we can bring her back? Ichibey grants miracles, right? Let's just ask Twilight to-"

"NO!" Fluttershy yelled through her own tears, "No... I... I promised Rarity that I wouldn't allow anyone else to make a magical mare contract..."

Spike fell back to his sitting position once again, staring at the foyer's ceiling, "...I-Is that it then? Rarity's just gone?"

Fluttershy nodded. She wiped away her tears and sniffed, "Don't you see now? That is the price we must pay for our wishes."

"We..." Spike sobbed, "We have to have a funeral..." His green, teary eyes pleaded, "We have have to find her body and give her a proper funeral! She can't leave this way!"

Fluttershy denied as she shook her head, "Do you remember when you got closer to Ornstein and your surroundings changed to that nightmarish setting?" he nodded. "That is what's known as a witch's Labyrinth. If a magical mare dies to a witch, her body stays inside. She's gone from this existence..." She choked, "Rarity will forever be a missing pony to the rest of the world; to her friends, a memory."

Spike just sat, frozen with grief, "How... did she die?"

Fluttershy lowered her head once again, "Protecting me. She told me to run as she held off the witch. I ran... I left her to die... I was so afraid..."

Spike's eyes were replaced by apathetic pools of toxic green, "...Is that how it happened, then?"

As she turned to leave, the pegasus coldly remarked, "That is the sin we carry as Magical Mares." The dragon fell silent. She muttered bitterly, "Being a Magical Mare is not a blessing; this is a curse."

Just as she was about to exit into the now-pouring rain, Spike asked unemotionally, "...What was your wish?"

She paused, glanced back to him and answered reluctantly, "I... I wished to be brave..." She resumed her exit and added dispassionately, "A lot of good that did me..."

Fluttershy closed the door behind her, leaving Spike alone in the dark, empty home.


*     *     *


"Oh..." Twilight sighed as she began categorizing her libraries books for the umpteenth time that night, "I hope Spike is okay..." She gazed out the window at the rain crashing heavily against her window. She was about to place the next book back on the shelf, when a round of deafening thunder startled her and caused her to drop it. "That's it," she decided as she placed the book on a nearby table, "I'm going to find him."

Her horn flared with magic and she cast a protective bubble spell to repel the weather conditions. She briskly trotted towards the door, but as she was about to exit, the door flung open on it's own, revealing Spike, drenched in rainwater. Twilight gasped, "Spike!" She wrapped a wing around him and pulled him inside. She chastised him, "You had me so worried! You could've gotten sick!" She threw on a small smile, "Even your magical mare powers can't protect you from an internal battle."

Spike replied bitterly, "You have no idea how true that statement is..."

"O...kay..." Twilight responded, confused. She wrapped a warm blanket around him, sat him down in a comfy chair and cooed softly, "Come now, sit down. I'll make you some hot chocolate."

As she turned towards the kitchen, Spike dispassionately moaned, "What's the point? We all just die in the end. It's inevitable."

The alicorn froze and turned back to her assistant. "Spike, is everything okay?" It was then that she had noticed that he had been crying, and his eyes no longer held the vibrant glimmer they once had. They were dim and lifeless. Worried, she walked over to him and asked, "Spike, what's wrong?"

He didn't even focus in on her, rather, just stared blankly at the far wall of the library, "Did I ever really help anyone?"

Twilight furrowed her brow, "Of course, Spike! Those monsters would've-"

He blandly interrupted, "You guys stop monsters like that all the time." He paused, "...What good are my powers if I can't even protect the ones I care about?"

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

He slipped the pitch-black pendant off of his neck and examined it, "I guess that's just the way things are..."

Twilight gasped, "Spike! I thought that amulet was magically attached?"

He turned over the ebony stone and soberly replied, "There are a lot of things that I thought were truth... I see now that it was only a distortion of my hopes..." He closed his eyes, "Heh..."




























"I was stupid. I was just so stupid."