The group scattered with one last shared nod as Shining Armor, Flurry Heart, and the guards charged back into Canterlot while Twilight and Cadance flew toward the castle entrance. The two alicorns found the courtyard largely deserted, save for a few stragglers, but as they continued deeper into the castle grounds, they discovered more and more wandering ponies, dazed and confused and in dire need of direction that Twilight and Cadance were more than happy to provide. A few they found had become injured in their rush, and their retreat required magical aid, either through teleportation or a gentle levitation.
“There’s too much ground to cover like this,” Cadance said as she helped an old butler rise to his feet and hobble towards the exit. “Should we split up?”
“Good thinking. Wait.” Twilight’s horn began to glow, and from it expanded a bright purple ring that spread to the furtherest corners. “Start with the west tower. Looks like there are creatures hiding on the third and fourth floor. One of them is in a broom closet.”
“Right. Be careful, okay?”
“You too.”
The two separated as they went in opposite directions. Bright flashes followed Twilight as she made ponies disappear and reappear a safe distance away, all while keeping an eye out for several specific creatures. Every time she thought she saw a blue feather or a pink mane, an old farmer’s hat or a coat of white, Twilight’s heart would skip a beat. She finally released her breath out of relief when after some time she came across Applejack and Fluttershy who were both helping a pony in a noble’s dress attire with what looked to be a sprained ankle.
“Thank goodness you two are alright,” Twilight gasped as she carefully pulled the two of them into a hug. “You, are alright, right?”
“Right as rain. Maybe a little winded, but nothing too bad,” Applejack assured, which Fluttershy supported with a nod. “You know what’s going on here? All I got was that there was that quake followed by that roar. Didn’t sound like any critter I’m familiar with.”
“Fluttershy? Did you recognize what it was?”
The pegasus shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure. I was so busy getting my birds under control, I couldn’t focus. It did sound like it was in a lot of pain though.” She frowned. “Maybe if we can solve whatever’s ailing the poor thing, it’ll leave without hurting anypony or causing any more damage.”
“Then we need to get to it before Celestia and Luna go too far,” said Twilight grimly. “Have you seen Spike? The monster looked dragonish. Maybe he can communicate with it better than the rest of us can.”
“Last I saw of him was in the kitchens when we were trying to figure out how all our sugar got swapped with salt,” Applejack explained. “Not sure where he stomped off to after that though.”
“Spike was with me earlier during choir rehearsal,” Fluttershy added, trying to raise a hoof while still supporting the hurt stallion, “but he went to talk to Pinkie Pie after one of her party cannons went off and spooked the sopranos.”
“Alright then, so where is Pinkie Pie?”
“Here is Pinkie Pie!”
The three mares turned to see Ponyville’s premier party pony approach wearing a light and airy pink bridesmaid dress, a relatively simple gown elevated by the decorative sapphires embroidered into the fabric in the shape of balloons. Hurrying behind her with her mane in almost as much a frazzled mess as Pinkie’s normally was and with a cushion stuck with pins strapped to her leg was Rarity.
“Good gracious, what in Equestria is going on here?” Rarity demanded. “We were right in the middle of fittings when all of Tartarus seemed to break loose.”
“And it wasn’t me this time, Pinkie Pie swear.” Pinkie held up one front hoof as she drew a X over her chest with her other. “All the magical explosives I got from Trixie are gone, Spike made sure of it. Sheesh. Hey, has anypony else notice how short that guy’s fuse has been lately?”
“Focus, everypony,” Twilight groaned, tiredly rubbing her forehead. “Right now we have some huge dragon monster attacking the castle. Celestia and Luna are fighting it right now, and if we’re going to have any chance of ending all this before things get too violent, we’ll need Spike. Does anypony, anypony know where he is right now?”
There was some noncommittal mumbling, some quiet mentions of previous sightings, and some shifting of gazes for a bit before every eye present found its way to Rarity. Rarity, upon realizing that all attention was now on her and what was being insinuated, huffed and brushed a loose strand of hair back into her mane.
“I’m very sorry to say that I, most unfortunately, have seen neither scale nor tail of my dear husband-to-be since we first awoke this morning. Not exactly something I appreciate being reminded of, thank you very much,” she added in a barely hushed whisper.
“Can’t you just locate him or call him over with some fancy-schmancy magic?” Pinkie asked Twilight.
“I could, but the locator spell needs time to calibrate before it can pinpoint a specific target.” Twilight gave the hall they were in a quick glance. “Is there a pen and parchment anywhere? I could send him a letter through his dragon fire, that should be faster.”
“Hold on now,” Applejack jumped in as she too looked around the area. “I think we’re still missing somepony. There’re only five of us here, by my count.”
“Ahem.”
“Ain’t counting you, pal,” Applejack said to the stallion leaning against her shoulder before she turned back to her friends. “Where’s Rainbow Dash? I know she needed to talk to Spike about something, maybe she knows where he is.”
The last word was punctuated by a sudden gust of wind following a blur of blue that zoomed by. Less than a second later, the blur returned and stopped right above the group as the rainbow maned pegasus hovered over them with a lightly lime colored stallion draped over her back.
“Oh hey, you’re all here. Great!” Rainbow Dash landed and let a trembling Sandbar slide right off her. “Saves me time trying to find all of you. So what’s the plan? Search and rescue? Or kicking flank and taking names? Please tell me we’re kicking flank and taking names, because I’m getting real sick of being everypony’s flying taxi.”
“I’m actually hoping to keep the flank kicking to a minimum if we can,” Twilight answered. “Do you have any idea where Spike might be?”
“Heck if I know,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “I flew off to cool off after he kept asking silly questions about my planned routine, like what’s the safest distance to be to see a sonic rainboom without being hit by the backlashing force or if those storm clouds for lighting effects were really necessary.” She rolled her eyes. “Like seriously, chill. I’ve been a Wonderbolt for a couple of decades now, I know what I’m doing. But yeah, no, I’ve got no idea where Spike is now.”
“Um.”
“Alright, fine. We’ll just have to do this without him,” Twilight said with a groan. “Fluttershy, see if you can communicate with the dragon and convince it to leave quietly. Rainbow Dash, go with her and back Celestia and Luna up in case things go wrong.”
“O-oh my.” Fluttershy took in a deep breath to steady herself. “I’ll do my best,” she promised more assuredly.
Rainbow threw her hoof up in a casual salute. “You got it.”
“Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity? You three are with me. Keep an eye out for anypony else who needs help getting out of here and any pen and paper lying around.”
“Uh, hello?”
“I still want to get a message to Spike if possible, but we don’t have time to waste. I just hope he’s somewhere safe,” the princess continued. “As soon as we’ve cleared this area out and regrouped with Cadance, we’ll join the rest of you and face that monster together, if it still wants a fight. Everypony understand? Ready? Good, then let’s—“
“Hey!” Sandbar exclaimed, hopping up and down with a hoof raised and waving. “Hello, hey? Yes, I’m here too.”
“Oh, right. Um, Sandbar,” Twilight said, struggling to keep her reluctance from showing as she was forced to turn her attention to him. “Why don’t you, help this poor stallion out of the castle?” she suggested with a gesture to the limping noble.
“Um, sure, I guess. But, uh, I meant I know where Spike is.”
“You do?” Twilight said, her focus now directed towards Sandbar undivided.
“Yeah. I mean.” Sandbar winced as he grabbed at the collar of his vest. “I think I know where he is. Or, you know, what he is.”
Expressions of relief turned to bewilderment. “Beg your pardon there?” Applejack said, vocalizing their collective confusion.
“Oh, yeah. Pretty sure he’s that massive dragon monster outside.”
The hall went quiet. One of the pins in Rarity’s cushion had gotten loose and dropped to the floor, its clattering audible by all present had there not been another great bellow, and this time, the howl was accompanied by discernible words.
”WHY AREN’T YOU WEARING PINK? YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE WEARING PINK!”
The noble vanished from Fluttershy and Applejack’s shoulders with a sudden flash, and Sandbar let out an alarmed yell as he was scooped up into a magic floating bubble that was carried off as the six mares rushed out of the castle hall.
“Start talking, Sandbar,” Twilight ordered, her longer legs and increased worry putting her ahead of the bunch to the point where even Rainbow Dash with her wings was having a little trouble keeping up. “What happened?”
“Um, okay. So you know how Yona and I were here delivering the last couple of parts for Rarity’s wedding dress, yeah?”
“Yes, and I can’t thank the two of you enough,” Rarity interjected through gasps of breath as she ran. “You and Yona did a fantastic job. Truly wonderful. It’s everything l’ve ever dreamed of. I question whether even I could have achieved such perfection.”
Sandbar shuddered. “Y-yeah. Perfect. Great.”
“Hey, focus!” Twilight snapped. “Come on Sandbar, what about Spike?”
“Right, right, I’m getting to that. Anyways, we accidentally grabbed a couple of extra stuff that wasn’t actually meant for the dress. More for the groom and tuxedos, like bow ties and those flower pins.”
“Boutonnières?” suggested Fluttershy.
Sandbar clapped his hooves together. “Yeah, those. Anyways, I figured that since they were with me, might as well see if Spike had any use for them. The guy was in a pretty bad mood when I found him, but I thought trying on a couple accessories might help cheer him up.”
“Did it work?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Because boy, that dragon could really use some cheering up.”
“Didn’t get a chance to find out. I mean, Spike was pretty receptive to the idea, but when he tried to put on his suit, well.” Sandbar grimaced.
“What happened?” Twilight demanded once more. They were now outside and approaching the offending colossal who could be seen swatting away at the former diarchy in the distance, roaring as beams of dark blue and whitish gold bounced off its scaly hide.
“Well, the suit wouldn’t fit,” Sandbar explained. “His stomach was bulging out at the bottom and he couldn’t get the top buttons to fasten. Think I saw some tearing when he tried to force it.” Again the stallion shuddered. “I kind of made a weight joke, you know, just some teasing about the extra pounds he was packing, and boy I wish I hadn’t because he had this real crazy look on his face, like his eyes were both wide and narrow at the same time and had this creepy yellow color to them and he was hissing and growling.”
“Wait, he didn’t attack you, did he?” demanded Rainbow. “Is that why I found you all bruised up?”
“Huh? Oh, no. That was me tripping down a flight of stairs when I was trying to get out. Anyways, it looked like Spike was about to explode out of his suit, like I could see the whole thing ripping apart at the seams, and then he jumped out the window. Like bam, right through the glass.” Sandbar slammed a hoof into the other. “One second later, the ground was shaking, and I saw this huge eye staring back at me through the window. I noticed that the purple scales on the claws looked pretty familiar when he was trying to grab at things in the room, but I didn’t put it all together until I bumped into the rest of you.”
“Come now, that monster’s scales aren’t nearly as brilliantly purple as.” Rarity squinted and stopped herself with a frown. “Er, well, those wings are, I mean, that long stretched out face, with those big green, exotically beautiful eyes. Oh, alright, fine, I can see the resemblance, but surely we can turn him back from his current monstrous form,” she said with a beseeching look towards Twilight.
“Look out!” Rainbow screamed before the alicorn could respond, and everypony stopped and braced themselves as something smashed into the ground right ahead of them. Out of the small crater that resulted from the crash stumbled out Luna, her head rocking with dizziness and her body wrapped in a torn pink linen that might have once been a window curtain.
”PINK LOOKS HORRIBLE ON YOU! WE CAN’T USE PINK! I NEED A NEW COLOR, NOW!”
“Tis a difficult foe,” Luna mumbled as she dropped against the offered shoulder of Applejack.
“Well if that’s Spike, we can’t exactly beat him like a drum until he’s had enough and goes away,” Rainbow Dash noted with a frustrated glare. “So what do we do?”
Twilight set the bubble containing Sandbar down. “Is that everything?” she asked him.
Sandbar nodded furiously. “Yep, that’s everything. Hey, uh, just to be sure, this is one of those magic protective bubbles, or—“
There was a flash, and both the bubble and the stallion contained within disappeared. “Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, I need you two to keep Spike distracted while I figure something out, and let Celestia know who she’s dealing with so she’ll pull her punches. Can you do that?”
“On it!” Rainbow grabbed her fellow pegasus off the ground and shot off toward the raging beast with Fluttershy in tow.
”NO! NOT BLUE! THE BRIDE’S DRESS IS BLUE! IT NEEDS TO BE DIFFERENT!”
“Okay, let’s see here,” Twilight muttered as she started to pace, keeping her eyes on the apparently transformed Spike. “Let’s see. I feel like, no, I know this has happened before, when we were still living in Ponyville.”
Pinkie gasped. “It was the day after Spike’s birthday, when he got all greedy and grabby and growy.”
“Right, of course! That was it!”
“Hold on now, you talking about the time when Spike went around town taking other ponies’ stuff and getting larger?” Applejack glanced around and frowned. “Well those trees there still have all their leaves.” Raising a hoof to shield her eyes, Applejack squinted out towards the distance. “And I ain’t seeing a huge pile of stolen belongings anywhere. We sure this is the same thing?”
“From what Spike and I’ve gathered about greed induced bigness, it seems to be less about what the dragon has and more about how they feel,” Twilight explained, biting down on her lip as she watched Spike roar triumphantly at the neat bow he had just tied around the tower. “Spike must be experiencing an extreme overwhelmingly strong desire for something, something other than just material goods.”
“I’m guessing just letting him have whatever he wants isn’t going to work.” Pinkie hummed as she rubbed her chin. “I can’t remember, did assaulting him with cake help at all?”
”WHERE IS THE WEDDING CAKE?”
“Um, forget I said anything.”
“Well, I remember from last time Rarity was involved in whatever made him stop rampaging,” Applejack presented. “Is that what we need to do, have monster Spike kidnap Rares here and have her, I don’t know, sweet-talk him out of whatever this is?”
“Excuse me?” Rarity exclaimed with an indignant gasp. “Don’t go volunteering me as a damsel in distress so readily. I’ll have you know that one time was traumatizing enough. I lost a poor, defenseless cape in a horrific crime against fashion that day.”
“Applejack does have a point, though,” Twilight said with a thoughtful frown. “You were the one that helped him to return to his old self that day. It’s a good bet that you’d be able to do it again here.”
“Good enough of a bet to stake my very safety on?”
“Come on, that there monster’s going to be your husband in less than a week,” Applejack countered with a small smirk. “This is Spike we’re talking about here. No way in all heck would he let himself hurt you.”
Luna in her concussed stupor released a groan before letting her head drop back against Applejack’s shoulder. “Er, probably,” she added quietly as her grin faltered with lost confidence.
“Don’t worry, Rarity.” Twilight placed a comforting hoof over Rarity’s own. “I’ll be there too, ready for anything, just in case.”
“Oh, very well then,” Rarity said with a sigh. “Let’s go save Spike.”
With a final nod toward Pinkie and Applejack, Twilight and Rarity ran forward to where Spike was waiting. Neither Celestia nor Rainbow nor Fluttershy could be seen, but in his claw Spike held a bulging bedsheet through which the outlines of kicking legs and squirming equine forms could be spotted.
”MORE GIFTS!” Spike hollered as he tied the cloth closed.
Rarity swallowed and turned to Twilight. The alicorn gave her a supportive nod and a motion prompting her to continue. Taking a deep breath, she returned to Spike, doing her best not to overstrain her neck as she looked up at the giant standing over her. She cleared her throat. “Ahem, yoo-hoo. Spike, darling?”
The dragon stopped to glance down and saw the little white unicorn below. ”RARITY!” he exclaimed and caused the ground to shake as he dove down to Rarity’s level.
“O-oh.” Rarity swallowed again. Being so close to Spike’s face in his transformed state was more than a little unnerving. “So, I see you’ve been busy. Perhaps it’s time to, take a break and, wha-ha-ha!”
Claws curled around Rarity’s body as Spike stood back up, and she was suddenly lifted high into the air. She could see all of Canterlot and even make out the tops of Ponyville’s tallest structures from her new height, though with her heart beating with such force and tempo that it was a wonder the organ hadn’t bursted out of her chest, she was hardly in the state of mind to enjoy the view. Instead, Rarity’s focus was largely on the dragon holding her. The grip around her body was firm, but there appeared to be enough Spike present in the beast to at least keep the hold from being too tight and painful. An encouraging observation and one that supported Applejack’s last assertion.
A quick glance to the side let Rarity know that Twilight had successfully freed all three mares from the improvised gift wrapping. She had little time to dwell on the safety of her friends however as a second large sheet of white linen was dropped on top of her. ”WEDDING VEIL!” Spike roared as Rarity struggled beneath the cloth. ”HERE COMES THE BRIDE!”
Rarity felt herself move, and once she managed to throw the cloth off her head, her eyes widened and threatened to swallow up the rest of her face upon realizing just how close she was to Spike’s now massive maw. Just the tips of his teeth peeking past his lips were as large as her body, the sight of which incited a primitive and animalistic panic in her. Rarity’s futile struggling intensified as she drew closer and closer to those vast parting, puckering lips.
“Wait, wait, wait wait wait!” Rarity screamed. One of her hind legs had gotten free, and she propped it against Spike’s upper lip in an almost certainly useless attempt to maintain a bit of distance between herself and Spike’s mouth. Despite the incredible difference in physical strength, Rarity, much to her own surprise, drew no closer to the dragon’s mouth as her approach was abruptly halted.
”WHAT’S WRONG?” The very force of Spike’s words caused Rarity’s mane to whip back and her eyes to shut.
What’s wrong?” Rarity repeated. “Well, to put it bluntly, you.” She tried to gesture to the chaos behind her, to the fleeing ponies, the screams and cries coming from the city, the abandoned castle grounds, but her current position made the motion difficult. “Why are you doing this?”
Spike’s head tilted to one side, his confusion apparent. ”SO WE CAN GET MARRIED!” was his nearly immediate response. He started to pull Rarity towards him again as his lips again arranged themselves into a kissing position. Up went Rarity’s leg, once more wedging itself between the rest of her body and Spike’s mouth.
”COME ON!” Spike started to growl. ”WE HAVE TO KISS TO GET MARRIED!”
“Stop it, Spike,” Rarity gasped as she managed to get her other back leg up and on top of Spike’s puckering lips. “Spike, that’s enough! I don’t want to get married to you the way you are now.”
The world seemed to go still. Rarity no longer felt herself being forced forward, nor could she feel Spike against her hooves. The grip holding her in place appeared to have relaxed, giving her more room to move around. Slowly, she opened her eyes to find Spike’s own staring at her with liquid rapidly welling up in them. Those massive lips that she had been fighting so desperately were slightly parted, and the bottom half was beginning to tremble.
The dragon suddenly started to shake, and before she could react, Rarity found herself in free fall as the claw that had been holding her up drastically shrunk to a small fraction of its massive size along with the rest of the dragon’s body. With flailing limbs and an ear-piercing shriek, Rarity plummeted to the ground.
The painful impact that she was expecting never came as powerful limbs wrapped around her, and her rapid descent became a gradual float down. The sound of rushing hooves drawing close caused Rarity to open her eyes and see her friends running up to her, their faces a canvas displaying expressions of relief, worry, and triumph. A quick glance upwards confirmed her suspicions, and with a smile, Rarity grabbed hold of Spike’s neck and nestled into his broad, familiar chest.
“Oh Spike, my hero.”
She felt Spike’s entire body grow stiff. Wordlessly, the dragon removed Rarity from him and set her down and backed away. His gaze was averted, avoiding Rarity’s own and those of their gathered friends. Rarity extended her hoof and tried to reach out to the dragon, but at the gesture Spike took another step back, his shaking hand held up to his mouth.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, I only, I’m sorry. I-I should go.”
Before anypony could stop him, Spike took off, ignoring the shouts and cries for his immediate return.