//------------------------------// // Spike sees through Sapphire eyes // Story: Becoming who he loves // by Skaltrox Defiance Knight //------------------------------// That afternoon, the duo that was Spike and Rarity returned to the latter’s boutique to drop off the haul of gemstones that made up their hard day’s work. Rarity dumped the precious stones into a special storage compartment around the back of the Boutique that held most of her gemstones for any use she desired. She would sort them later. Spike came up beside her and marvelled at the pile, beaming with pride at the vast amount of gems and the high rarity they possessed; especially the mystery one. “I simply can’t thank you enough for today, Spike.” Rarity said. Spike grinned. “No problem, Rarity. It was my pleasure to help out. And you know I’m happy to go again whenever you feel it to be necessary.” he followed up by bowing, eliciting Rarity to giggle lightly. “Oh, you are such a gentlecolt, Spike!” Rarity returned her sight towards the gem pile “ We got so many, in fact, that we might not need to go for another two months or so! Plus that mysterious one you found that I just can’t wait to use, Oh, I must see it!” Rarity started to enter the storage room to find the aforementioned “mysterious stone”, when an unfamiliar voice called out from behind the two friends. “Excuse me? Letter for a ‘Miss Rarity’.” they said. Rarity halted. She spun around to face the pony and was greeted with the mail pony holding out a letter. “The front door was locked, but I heard talking from behind, so I went to investigate” the mail pony continued. “Oh my! A letter...for me? Who is it from?” Rarity replied, her voice laced with great curiosity. The mail pony read the info on the top. “Well, it doesn’t have a name, but it's from Canterlot so that’s your first clue.” Rarity’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “From Canterlot!? It must be important! Thank you very much, sir.” Rarity levitated the letter out of the mail pony’s grasp and directly in front of her giddy face. The mail pony said no more, he tipped his hat and started to leave, letting Rarity eagerly open the letter and read its contents. Spike tried to read the letter over the unicorn’s shoulder, but his efforts were all in vain as Rarity constantly moved about, swinging the letter, unintentionally robbing Spike of the satisfaction of reading the letter’s contents. Spike recalled that Rarity was always the type to be moving around. She just seemed to lack the ability to stay still for more than a few minutes at a time… unless she was busy working on a new design. Rarity mumbled the text written down as she paced, halting all of a sudden with a great gasp. “Today!?” she screamed, bolting inside the house mere seconds later, briefly leaving Spike in a befuddled state. Jogging inside, he observed the mare frantically running about collecting an array of miscellaneous items and stuffing them into a large suitcase, mumbling more indecipherable words. “Rarity what did that letter say?” Spike said, in a worried tone. The mare answered the question while she continued on with her packing. “Sapphire Shores has just asked me out of the blue (hehe) to come to Canterlot and help create a new line of outfits that relate to a given theme for her newest album coming out this year, and she wants me there to do it... today!” Rarity rambled excitedly. Spike was barely able to comprehend those words. “How long will you be gone?” Rarity stopped on the spot, putting a hoof to her chin and considering that. “Probably three or four days, give or take. But that’s if everything goes smoothly.” she estimated, before resuming her activity. Spike idly scratched the back of his head. “Is... there anything you want me to do while you’re gone?” Rarity finally managed to finished her packing. She closed the case and set it with a couple of other smaller ones that Spike swore were not there before. Then she stood in front of the young dragon. “Well, there is one thing. But I’d hate to make you do it, though.” Spike frowned, rolling his eyes. “Rarity, when I said that I’m happy to help with anything you need, that wasn’t a figure of speech; it was the real deal. No matter how big or little the request is, I’ll take it.” Rarity hesitated still, and only gave in when Spike gave her a reassuring smile. “...Fine, I-I need you to look after the boutique. That’s all.” Spike grinned, “That’s all?” he mimicked. Rarity nodded a little hesitantly. Spike pretended to think about the request. He hated to do it, but he found some amusement in fake-thinking so as to make it that much better for Rarity when he eventually answered. Soon enough he replied with a beam, “No problem.” Rarity sighed pleasantly. “Oh, thank you Spike! Now, don’t you worry! If this all goes well, you’ll be rewarded handsomely.” Spike perked up at the mention of being “rewarded handsomely”. He was intrigued by the prospect. “How so?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Rarity, with a smile on her face, whispered in his ear what she had planned. Spike’s face made a complete change from purple to red in a split second and it made the unicorn giggle, which only furthered his blush. Rarity stepped forward, taking all her bags in her aura. “Now, I need to get going, Spike. I have no time at all to inform the girls of my sudden departure, so I need you to let them know as soon as you possibly can. ”Rarity gasped as she recalled an important item Spike needed “ Oh! I nearly forgot the keys! So that you can get in and out of the boutique.” Rarity hoofed over the bedecked keys to Spike. Spike stared up at the sunset scorched sky, Celestia would be lowering the sun at this moment and Luna should be ready to raise the moon for the coming night any second now. “WAY too late to inform everypony.” Spike thought. “I’ll let them know tomorrow, Rares. It’s a bit late now to go and wake the girls up to explain something that can wait, don’t you think?” Spike said, taking the proffered keys.. Rarity, in turn, also looked at the sky and grimaced. “I suppose you’re right. Well, no matter, So long, Spike! I shall be back within three to four days!” She turned for the front door and departed for the train station. Spike waved, eventually closing up the boutique and also departing for his desired destination. ============================================================= “I’m home!” Spike said drowsily, stepping through the door of the castle of friendship, looking for his best friend in the world, Twilight Sparkle. “Hey Twi? You here?” Spike went up the stairs and toward the lavender pony’s quarters. “Or awake?” Spike grinned to himself. After some brief walking through long crystal corridors, Spike arrived at Twilight’s room and peered inside. What he found, was the princess herself sleeping soundly in her bed, Spike chuckled, Twilight wasn’t the most ladylike of mares from Canterlot, but something the dragon knew about her was that she looked quite graceful when she slept. Shaking his head lightly, Spike left for his room, tiredness crashing down on him almost instantly, as he fell asleep the second his head met the pillow. As the dragon slept, the effects of the stone took their full course. The small tufts of purple hair grew like wildfire, replacing spines as it grew longer and curlier. His limbs grew more lengthy and all appendages on his feet and claws disappeared. His bone structure cracked and changed to that of a four legged equine, his physique slimming down to that of a mare. His face started to morph and a spiralled horn jutted from his head. Snow white fur covered the entirety of his now pony body. His tail thinned, losing the spines and was replaced with more purple hair, changing into a curly mass. Finally, the last changes occurred, such as the gender change and the three blue diamonds appearing on his -now her- flank. Once the changes ceased, Spike the dragon had turned into Rarity the unicorn. Spike woke the following morning, eyes screaming as they glared at the sun’s rays bleeding through the window. “Agh! That friggin’ hurts!” she squealed. “Wait... did I just… squeal?” Spike thought. “And my voice sounds really high.” Spike pretended that what she heard was just a figment of her imagination-easier said than done. Hopping off the bed she stumbled and fell flat on her face with a thud. “-Oww…” she growled, Spike no longer could stand on two legs and so when she got off the bed, she realised her balance was different. Shakily she tried to get back onto all fours and noticed now that she had four snow white hooves instead of her normal purple claws. “C-Calm down Spike.” she said to herself in the unmistakeable voice of Rarity, “This is just a d-dream- Yeah, a dream.” Spike touched her face with a hoof and gasped: she could feel it. Spike was losing confidence fast that this was a dream- Nervously, she trotted over to a mirror and was met with Rarity’s face. She raised her hoof up and the Rarity in the mirror did the same- She twisted and turned her head around this way and that. Each time, the mirror mimicked it perfectly. Spike couldn’t believe it--he had turned into Rarity. “How am I going to explain this to Twilight and the girls-how will I explain it to Rarity herself?!” Spike rambled at a mile a second, pacing about, still wobbly on her four hooves. Returning to the mirror, Spike unintentionally admired Rarity’s form that he now possessed and smiled “Well, this is all pretty strange, but at least it makes me look like Rarity. I mean, this can’t go wrong, can it?” Spike asked herself in the mirror. “Spike?! Was that you screaming before?” a familiar voice yelled out from behind the door- Spike froze, her sapphire pupils shrank to pinpricks upon her face. Growling internally she muttered "I need to punch myself every time I say something like that"