–––✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*💎*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧–––
Spike basked atop a recliner on the edge of the natural spring, a red robe draped over his shoulders and a pair of flip-flops on his feet, one barely hanging onto his toes as he looked down into the wobbling reflection he cast into the gently bubbling, milky water. Upon one arm rested his head while the other reached down, and he skimmed the steaming surface with his clawtips.
The heat was perfect in his estimation, bracing in comparison to a dip in lava perhaps, but that was every bit a relative judgement; it was warm and cosy here compared to the sharp evening dew outside, making him a little drowsy. Yes, perfect after such a long, eventful, but mostly pleasant day.
The hot springs below the main chambers of the Changeling Hive were upstream from the wider public baths its denizens enjoyed after a long day, just a corridor away from the cells they’d been inhabiting all week as guests alongside Yona and Sandbar, as a matter of fact. That pair had taken their leave with the changeling troupe to celebrate the raucously-received debut of Ocellus’ play shortly after they’d all met backstage, and likely were this very minute feasting on creatively arranged spiced vegetables and pastries at Boscis and Elytron’s place.
These springs had always existed below the Hive but, much like the amphitheatre they’d just arrived from, had been more of a toxic lake in its basement until Thorax had had them cleaned. Post-purification the only trace of their old life was the bleached brown-streaked white rocks that stretched up to the vents in the high ceiling, and even those had mosses and lichens sprouting from their outcroppings now that joined the general reforestation around the structure’s upper echelons. It was more of a sequestered cavern whose inlet fed into the public chamber, illuminated by glowworm lamps towards its top and some luminescent white flowers sprouting from the mossy stones closer to its floor.
The steam from the three pools in the room, one large one with two smaller, shallower ones, diffused as it reached the palm branches planted near its apex, but down at water level it was mistier here than in the moonlit fog outside. The greater share of the steam flowed from the steady waterfall pouring from the spring that gave the room its purpose, approximately halfway up the sheer face of the south-eastern wall. It looked hotter than it truly was as its vapours hit the room’s cool air, more the temperature of a nice warm shower than heat intolerable to changeling or pony. As well as this main chamber there were a few alcoves burrowed into its lower walls made by changelings wanting privacy. At least two were behind modesty screens that made their function beyond doubt.
Spike swished his claw into the water, submerging it for a moment to fully whet it before giving his face a quick wash. True to his earlier word to himself he’d kept Rarity’s glossy smooch mark from just before the play intact, but it wasn’t long for this world either way in the current environs; the makeup she’d worn had for sure been erased in these steaming waters by this point, and once he’d taken his turn under the falls the trace she’d left upon him too would vanish. He’d miss it, but its impermanence was a big part of why he’d relished it as much as he had.
With that done his attention rose from the water’s surface to the spring’s only other inhabitant, and he sat up as he looked over to her. Rarity had requested a bit of space while she took the time to cleanse herself from the long day they’d spent together around the Hive, and Spike had granted that without question. It was unspoken between them but bathing together seemed that little too intimate at this point in their relationship, and they’d accidentally overstepped the line once already today. Chitin’s admonishment at the feelings forum about it had stung somewhat, some truth in there despite the untrue assumptions they were rooted in; while Spike certainly didn’t feel taken advantage of by Rarity, he figured they needed to cool their heels, so to speak, and Rarity’s slightly more distant behaviour since reinforced that feeling. While Thorax’s granted access to this room felt like a tacit endorsement of further closeness, neither of them wanted to make such intimacy a habit lest it became an issue back in Equestria proper. Not yet, anyway.
Besides all that, she’d been, while not morose since their conversation during the play, significantly muted, and Spike knew that whatever it was she’d signalled she wished to discuss, it would be in her own time. He was prepared to coax it kindly from her if needed but he was fairly certain what troubled her, and he was likewise confident she would confide in him when ready.
In the meantime, he idly enjoyed the view from the poolside. A prancing silhouette, submersed halfway up her flanks and obscured by the foam and steam of the waterfall, trilled semi-tunefully what Spike’s ear frills interpreted as one of the songs from Ocellus’ play as she lathered up with a specialised herbal shampoo she’d bought from the potion brewery on the Hive’s ground level. Changelings tended to use the hot springs for leisure rather than sanitation, and one had to be specific with one’s unguents when the water flowed into such a public space lest it be considered a type of pollution. No chance of that with this stuff, Spike thought as he inhaled deeply; whatever citrus scent wafted from the pouring warm waters was fresh enough to send a tingle all the way down his spine to the tip of his pointed tail.
A bristle-brush also hovered around Rarity’s form, delicately scrubbing her in particular places, mostly her body and legs, the latter of which rose from the water one by one so she could give her haunches and hooves the attention they richly deserved. The vapour veil surrounding her, Spike noted, left a lot to the imagination as it obfuscated the particulars of her personal hygiene routine. Perhaps it wasn’t the most gentledragonly thing in the world to peer into the mist to catch a glimpse of a wet, nude Rarity, but he was growing bored of waiting for her.
After a moment more he sat up, rolling his shoulders and spreading his wings as he more obviously paid attention, deciding to break through the sloshing, splooshing sound of bathing. ‘Hey Rare, you gonna be much longer?’ he called half-seriously, loud enough for her to hear over the tumbling waters, ‘I want a turn under there eventually and you don’t want pruney hooves, right?’
Momentarily the scrubbing stopped, and Rarity turned her neck to look at him, peeking from the side of the waterfall as if it were a curtain. Having been thoroughly submerged for a while beneath the hot springs’ point of origin, Rarity’s mane cascaded over her bare back as though it too were liquid, a silken sheen enveloping her front half with just her face and chest visible. Her white horsey ears, tinted pink from the heat, as well as her horn, poked out from its top as she acknowledged Spike’s comment with a slight but genuine smile. As Spike had conjectured her usual blush and eyeshadow had all run off now, but she was no less beautiful for it.
‘My apologies, Spikey-Wikey. It’s wonderfully warm in there, quite refreshing after the relative coarseness of the nectar tub in my cell at any rate, and I confess I’m dining out on it,’ she said, ‘But you’re quite right, I oughtn’t to hog it. By all means, if you wish to take your turn go right ahead, my darling. I can finish up in the calmer waters now I’m quite rinsed through.’
‘Well, we’ve got all evening,’ said Spike, standing before hopping off his seat, kneeling by the pool to get closer to Rarity’s level, ‘If you wanna finish up in there it’s fine, but… well, why don’t we just talk for a bit? I know something’s on your mind.’
Rarity looked up at the little dragon sitting on the edge of the natural pool, looking quite like a merpony as he returned her gaze with a concerned smile. ‘Ah… of course, sweetheart,’ she sighed, ‘I fear I’m unfairly keeping you in suspense, but, ah, while today has been overall quite lovely, events have given me some, shall we say, pause for thought? I’ve accumulated various feelings and I’m somewhat processing them…’
‘We can process them together, then,’ Spike said, shuffling closer to the edge and dangling his legs into the spring, ‘What first? I know I’m thinking about the crag, and the forum, the immediate stuff… but you’ve been thinking about, geez, it’s so long ago since it happened and it feels like a dream itself these days, but… at the play…’
Rarity inhaled, and Spike was faintly disappointed that she didn’t finish his thought for him.
‘Nightmare Rarity,’ he stated simply after a few seconds. She closed her eyes and frowned as he said it outright, ‘All that travelling to the moon and songs about changing on the moon reminded you of the time you were… transformed the same as Luna was when she was Nightmare Moon, didn’t it?’
She swallowed. ‘You’re quite a mind-reader, Spikey. Yes, I don’t recall much of what happened those nights,’ she eventually said, ‘But I do remember you and the girls suffered greatly at the hand of moon shadows at my behest. You in particular…’
‘You weren’t yourself, Rarity. The nightmare force that possessed Princess Luna for a millennium and change was on the lookout for a new host, and you were the pony unfortunate enough to have it burrow into your ear. You weren’t to blame… you were a victim of an outside force, and you know, me and the girls would have done anything to rescue you. Heck, we went farther than we’d planned at the time, but we were prepared to get you back no matter the cost.’
Rarity’s response surprised Spike. She’d been composed, if subdued, until now, that when her face crumpled with sorrow, it was all he could do not to jump into the spring to comfort her. ‘Oh, Spike, perhaps I wasn’t, but it, it spoke to me, you know! It convinced me to, to let it in as I dreamed…’ she hiccuped as she bared her teeth.
Soaking wet as she was, it had become difficult to tell, but Spike was sure she was crying as she continued, ‘It told me that, that one day some dreadful chunky sweater pony would just waltz into Ponyville and take over my life, and my business, even… and then nopony would need me! I had to relive that over and over the entire time I was, I was… ohh…’
She trailed off, plainly weeping as Spike leaned forward and held her by the head. ‘Shh, shh, it’s alright, Rarity, I know full well what happened to you,’ he assured her as she whimpered into his chest, ‘It used you as its, uh, vessel as it trapped your mind inside itself. It made you imprison the girls, and one of its minions tossed me all the way to the moon’s dark side. Heh, I really bit the moondust there for a moment, but ya can’t keep a good dragon down. Once I was back on my feet I knew I needed to get back over there as soon as possible.’
He stroked her wet mane and gave her a scratch behind her ear, to which she responded with a quick nuzzle before pulling back. ‘Oh, you poor thing, taking such a nasty fall. And chalk that up to another time I was less than generous in our interpersonal dealings once you finally found me, sweetheart,’ she exhaled, ‘Even if it was the nightmare force’s doing, I suppose it invaded my memories of… well, I suppose there’s no point denying it now… even back then I was a little doting on you… draconic pincushions were already just a memory by then, and it wasn’t all that long after the “Spikezilla” incident.’
It was Spike’s turn to look solemn now. ‘Yeah, those were the old old days, back before Twilight was even a princess,’ he breathed, feeling nostalgic, ‘You know, I almost told you I loved you for the first time that night. Pretty tragic that you were, uh, possessed, and I was definitely not capable of following through. I couldn’t quite spit out the word, and “you”,’ he twiddled his claws twice each time he emphasized the pronoun, ‘And I am completely putting that word in quotation marks because it wasn’t really you, mocked me for it. At least I didn’t fall for “your”, quotation marks again, illusion where we were the married king and queen of Equestria. The implications of falling into that mind trap could have been really bad.’
Rarity pulled back from Spike’s embrace at that, splashing backwards. ‘Oh, dear me… at the time it simply wasn’t possible for me to reciprocate feelings like that, and in truth, I did spend some time back in those days quietly pondering how best to reject you if you ever tried…’
Spike winced. ‘I guess that’s why I didn’t dare say it, then. I knew on some level even back then it would’ve been unfair on you even at the best of times, and my baby dragon ego was not tough enough to handle that gracefully. Even so, it stunk hearing it from “you” like that. Uh, quotations again.’
Her expression softened. ‘Well, I’m sorry the nightmare force made me such a vain and cruel mare in the heat of the moment, precious. You’re entirely correct that I wasn’t myself. It doesn’t stop me feeling at least a little responsible for being so insecure in the first place.’
‘Don’t worry about it, Rare; I think both our insecurities clashed together in a bad way that could’ve gotten way worse. Like I said, it doesn’t feel real these days, way less than, uh, “Spikezilla”, anyway,’ Spike smiled before shrugging, ‘Although I should ask, since we were talking about the Tantabus during the play… have you ever talked to Luna about this? It’s something the two of you have in common.’
‘She who I laid so low in the throes of my madness as the nightmare forces tried to conquer our home and take me for good, Spike? Now that’d be an awkward conversation, especially between a monarch and her subject, Element of Harmony or no!’ Rarity rebuffed as she tipped her head, nearly looking at him upside-down before conceding, ‘Although if it had been Twilight I’d have little issue broaching the matter, since we are an order of magnitude closer… at any rate, I’d never really thought of it like that, that Luna and I both experienced such a dreadful thing.’
‘I just wonder if she’d appreciate you reaching out. Just saying, you could do worse than get in touch with her… I’m sure she could make the time now she’s no longer a princess. I know for a fact that she’s spent the last few years working it out for herself, even discounting the Tantabus incident.’
Rarity turned around in the pool and sat with her hooves in her lap, still half-submerged in its shallows as she relaxed against its stoney curvature and swished her tail in the bubbling water, watching its hair diffuse as she thought upon that idea. In time she looked up at the little dragon dangling his feet up and to her left as she pontificated, ‘Ah, perhaps I have a little Tantabus all of my own, lurking within the canyons of my mind and denying such things of myself. You’re the first I’ve ever had a serious conversation with about this, you know… I’ve generally just told myself to move on and never think of it again over the years. And yet, something inside me holds myself responsible for it.’
‘Well, I’d call it simple misplaced guilt rather than any sort of supernatural manifestation,’ said Spike, reaching down and giving her a rub behind one ear, ‘But she’d understand better than anypony what it was like, I’m no expert – as far as I’m concerned, “Spikezilla” was kind of, but not really, the same thing? Ultimately, nothing made me end up like that besides my own immaturity, but Luna was true-blue nightmare possessed, the same as you.’
Rarity lips crept upwards, and Spike smiled in turn as he saw her eyes brighten. ‘You’re quite right, precious-pants. Ah, I rather feel as if we’re going around in circles about the past together, although that’s no bad thing, chatting, communicating, parlaying. I know you’re getting your previous anxieties ironed out, but as for myself…’ she trailed off.
‘…It’s okay, Rarity, I know nopony’s perfect. I know what I said back on the crag about how you were, but I was kinda kidding? Meanwhile, I was serious back at the feelings forum when I said I don’t hold any missteps from the past against you. And that goes double for Nightmare Rarity.’ He stopped for a moment, before his smile broadened and he continued, ‘Man, right now you might not appreciate the compliment but you looked pretty glamorous when I confronted you. Very… regal. Distinguished. You filled out pretty well as a megalomaniac!’
‘True-blue nightmare possession… ah, navy blue never suited me, darling,’ Rarity sniffed after a second’s thought, ‘And frankly, I’d want nothing to do with a look that made me act so cruelly. I’m more than happy to leave the “Evil Queen” look to this place’s petrified former ruler, and specifically as a statue at that.’
‘I liked the white streak, that’s all I’m saying!’ Spike said, momentarily flustered, ‘And it just lends to the idea that you look great wearing anything, in this dragon’s opinion… But you’re right, it’s kinda inappropriate.’
Rarity chuckled. ‘As I said before the play, I’m not offended by a sincere compliment, darling. I suppose something halfway decent came of my possession.’
Spike swallowed his awkwardness before continuing. ‘Anyhow, we all had faith in you, me and the girls, and everyone back in Ponyville besides, and we saved you from turning to the dark side. That’s always how we get through crises, all of us; together, y’know? It keeps us strong. At least, I’ve never seen convincing evidence to the contrary; we stick together, we win. Every time.’
Rarity’s voice became noticeably smaller than before as she leaned back, all of herself besides her face now in the water, her mane spreading outwards beneath her like watercolour from an artist’s brush. ‘Do you know what truly saved me, sweetheart? That last little thing that tipped my heart back into being me, and not some awful perversion of myself?’ she asked.
Spike grinned despite himself. ‘Was it me? It was me, wasn’t it,’ he half-asked, not bothering to conceal the confident swell in his voice.
‘Well, everypony wanted me back to my normal self so much, and everypony in Ponyville sent their deepest love and support in that moment the girls sought to extricate me from the grip of the darkness permeating my soul… but it was you, Spikey-Wikey, it was you that sealed it,’ Rarity said, her eyes wide as she looked upwards, ‘Your love shone the brightest, between that and the memory of our little chat after the “Spikezilla” incident invoked by the shards of the fire ruby you still held was what truly broke through to me. The nightmares hadn’t a chance after that.’
‘The fire ruby,’ Spike breathed in turn, looking into the waterfall, blinking as he plumbed the depths of his recollection for a moment. He almost failed not to salivate as he remembered its cut, then turned back to his wallowing special somepony in seriousness, ‘Geez, I almost forgot all about its shattering, but yeah, I took it along for the ride. It reformed in that moment of your final re-emergence, if I recall right, such was the power of that memory. I had a gut feeling the ruby could bring you back to your senses, the same way it did for me that day. I didn’t see its destruction coming though, to be fair.’
Rarity sank into the milky liquid warmth, visibly uncomfortable with her next confession as her mane spread ever further. ‘In that moment I felt love, true love, love upon love, and your love atop the pile, sweetheart… and recalling that just makes the guilt worse. I was so needy in my need to be needed, it’s rather embarrassing! I suppose I’m so used to playing the independent mare that it’s another reason I’ve been repressing it. The ruby too, as a matter of fact. I do still have it tucked away in a jewellery box somewhere deep at the Carousel Boutique, and I haven’t as much as glanced at it in quite the while…’
‘I figured it was still somewhere in your collection, even if it hasn’t had an outing in years,’ Spike said matter-of-factly before grinning, ‘You never seemed the type to pawn off items of personal importance like that. Anyway, if you’ve just been “playing” at being an, uh, independent mare all this time, you do a fine job at it. Fooled me!’
‘Well, it’s a very beautiful and rare gem, you know, disregarding any personal importance… and you know that’s not what I mean, Spike,’ Rarity said haughtily, rearing from the depths in defiance, ‘My mannerisms and poise are quite my own. But, you know, the Element of Generosity needs other ponies and creatures in general to function! One can’t really be generous to a stone wall, wouldn’t you agree?’
‘Maud managed it with Tom after he got beaten up by that trolem a while back,’ Spike quipped again, sobering up before Rarity’s scrunched muzzle and furrowed brow, ‘No, no, kidding, sorry, I see your point. So,’ he hopped back with a wing flap and kneeled towards her, looking hesitant, ‘Uh, I mean, if it’s not too much trouble… when we’re back in Ponyville, I’d really like to see it again. Don’t you think it’s an important historical artifact between us?’
Rarity looked up to Spike, up to her flanks in the steamy water as she considered his request for a moment. After a moment’s thought she said, ‘I rather think I should locate it, for both our sakes, darling. Now that we’re more out in the open about us, I suppose it is misguided to keep such a beautiful gemstone under wraps the way I have, and, well, hiding it and denying its significance to either of us the way I have been… I suppose I fixated on that abiding shame I described, and the poor thing being ensconced in some dark box in a forgotten corner has rather become an expression of that.’
‘Well, That’s why I wanna see it again, Rare. Like you, I never brought it up because it represented my own shame at almost levelling Ponyville as a horrible greedy monster. But now we’ve brought up Nightmare Rarity…’ his pupils dilated as he searched for his words, ‘I’m not sure either of us has anything to be ashamed of. We’ve both learned our lessons from the past, we were both brought back to our normal selves with one another’s help, and neither of those things would happen now, right?’
Rarity put her arms forward, leaning her full weight against the pool’s edge as she rested her head on her arms as she looked at him, her lips pursed at first, but with a tender smile that broadened as she spoke. ‘Since we’ve touched upon the issue I’m quite inclined to agree that I should uncover it, and I shall once I return to the Carousel Boutique. Just for the closure if nothing else,’ she said, before inspecting her hooftips with mild surprise, ‘Ah, with all this talking I lost track, I fear I really am going to prune right up if I don’t withdraw from this warm water quite soon. Trade places, sweetheart?’
‘Thought you’d never ask, Rarity,’ Spike snickered, and she obliged, dripping as she emerged from the water by pulling herself up by her front hooves. Spike tried not to stare as she flicked her mane back once she was fully out, but a spray of glistening droplets flew behind her as she reared entirely in front of him before standing on all fours, looking quite doused, but now as ever, no less beautiful for it.
He retracted his wings for a moment before standing upright and shrugging off his robe, tossing it back onto the recliner by the poolside. Still quite wet and with her mane clinging to her fur, Rarity moved in and craned her neck downwards, giving him a half-lidded gaze that he returned with a toothy smile. In expectation he raised his cheek towards her, the opposite one to where she’d left a lipstick deposit just before the play.
‘No problem at all, darling, I’ve had my fill of paddling about for now,’ she said before indeed landing a lingering smooch right there, after an adoring pause continuing, ‘And I shan’t be long. I just need to dry off to the standard to which I’m accustomed and I’d rather do that in private… you do understand, don’t you?’
Spike giggled despite himself, then sobered up while blushing furiously. ‘Haha, oh, oh man… of course, Rare, I’ll survive for a few minutes on my own while you take care of yourself. Hey, I’m glad we’ve had this talk, but once you’re back, are you up for more heart-to-hearting?’
She stood upright and nodded. ‘Of course, darling, much happened today… and both despite and because of it, we do need to discuss things between us going forward once our little vacation reaches its end, just so there’s zero confusion once we’re back in Ponyville. In the meantime, I promise I’ll find that gem… it’s been so long that I’m certain it’ll be like gazing upon its beauty for the first time once I do, and as soon as I can I’ll show you lickety-split!’
‘I don’t doubt it, Rare. Thanks,’ Spike smiled, ‘It’ll mean a lot. To me. To both of us.’
Rarity half-turned away, a hoof raised as she looked over her shoulder at him. ‘Well, I’ll be back in two ticks and we can, ah, converse further. Enjoy your bath, sweetheart!’
Then she turned her tail fully and pranced away, waving as she departed towards a towel-stocked alcove on the far side of the room, concealed by an iridescent pink folding screen with a mottled pattern on it. Spike waved likewise then turned away, leaving her to her own devices as he finally had free reign of the bubbling, milky pool she’d been wading around for some time now. He definitely intended to do as he was told, and although she’d just left it he was still in for a fresh dip rather than a glamour mare’s bathwater due to its steady flow. Part of him was faintly disappointed by that thought, truthfully.
He shook it off, inhaled deep of the last, lingering lemony shampoo scent as she left, then looked at the water. Then he hopped backwards out of his flip-flops with a flap of his wings, almost taking a running cannonball before thinking better of it. A year ago he would have done that without a second thought around Gabby, but with Rarity, things felt more serious, more mature. That was no bad thing, he reflected – part of why things had broken down with Gabby, he had reflected these past moons, was something of a failure to communicate the way he and Rarity were proving quite adept.
Time and experience had proven to him that just taking the time to speak, listen and understand one another only strengthened their bond, and they both were willing, happy even, to do that, regardless of whether the point of the matter was opening old wounds – up to now frank discussions about their feelings had, to a one, been healing experiences, even if they had unearthed a hurt at first. He’d definitely had his moments of stepping on eggshells when Gabby had been denying a bad mood, but with Rarity, talking it out felt as natural as breathing, breathing air rather than fire, he mentally noted. The worst of it had been the afternoon after the race, and the pair of them had turned that around, hadn’t they?
As he hopped into the pool tail-first with a light “plop”, he thought about all those times they’d just enjoyed being around one another, providing one another emotional support as well as very happy company. What had started as an old friend’s concern about his wellbeing after his break-up one afternoon had blossomed into so much more since, he thought as he laid back and floated in the spring.
He was sure, he thought as he looked at the hazy overhead lighting, after today of all days, that they had so much more to offer one another besides, much deeper and more soulful things, that even this was merely scratching the surface. That, on the other claw, wasn’t altogether a good thing, he pondered as he idly swam on his back towards the waterfall, gazing upwards at the drooping foliage decorating the cavern’s ceiling.
Spike was becoming quietly concerned that things between them were running up that little too quickly, like a cart on a rail going down a slope; Rarity’s reaction to his massage on the outskirts of the Hive, nevermind what they’d discussed prior to that, had illustrated keenly how the two of them were plainly approaching the brink of something, something they’d been subtly ameliorating since, be it an unspoken precaution like taking turns in this spring, or like earlier when Rarity had gently admonished him for getting that little too clawsy with her right before Ocellus’ play.
Those were the right calls to make, he wasn’t questioning that for a moment. For now they were behaving themselves, even within the relative laxity of the Hive now the fluctuations that had disrupted a few of its denizens were taken care of. The real question on his mind, and he was sure Rarity wondered similarly given her behaviour these past afternoon hours, was if they could really keep it up in the weeks and moons to come?
As good as it felt to be with Rarity, their relationship, their love was only growing, and he feared it was getting ever closer to straining against the straitjacket of what polite pony society would tolerate between a mare and – he mentally edited himself from that awful, blatantly inaccurate “b”-word to her own euphemism – a dragon of juvenile stature.
The last thing he wanted to do was separate from his special somepony, they had a really good thing going here, he was surer following the feelings forum than ever before. Nonetheless he was close to making a decision, just in case he or Rarity broke the agreement they’d reached that day back at the Carousel Boutique.
If he had to, he would slam the brakes on the cart before it careened into a wall and hurt them both irreversibly, he told himself, no matter how much it might sting to do so. Even if he broke a toe on the brake, he thought, better that than to break half the bones in both their bodies.
He decided to leave that metaphor behind as it was turning kind of violent, and he didn’t much like to think about Rarity in traction. Besides, it was a last resort that he wasn’t keen to dwell on, especially right now he was approaching the waterfall’s tumult. He flipped over and doggy-paddled towards it – lava it wasn’t, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t relish its warm spray.
Once he was fully beneath its flow, he realised that his aforementioned juvenile stature meant that he was getting pushed underwater more than he liked, so he picked up the pace a little and swam outright to the shallow undercut just behind it, where there was a flat stone for bathers’ comfort. He hopped out of the water, noticing Rarity had left her shampoo bottle and body brush right next to where he planted his tail, and took stock of the most efficient path to total chill in hot water.
He looked more closely at the bottle as he stretched his arms, wings and legs, giving the green changeling with the flowing, sparkling frills on its label a sensible chuckle. Magical they may have been, but dragons were still reptiles, without much in the way of body odour, and nothing in the way of fur or a mane. Resultingly, Spike generally eschewed the need for the shampoos and fruity, floral herbal soaps like this that Rarity required when taking a bath. Unless he was really dirty, he normally elected for a few simple squirts of a masculine fragrance to eliminate any burning scents once dry.
At least, that was how he normally rolled… but since today had proven itself something of a special occasion, he grabbed it and soaped up anyway. Necessary or not, some bubbles wouldn’t hurt, he reasoned, giving the bottle a squeeze and getting a generous glob of it out. Then he lathered up his claws before sitting close to the gushing fall, rubbing it into his scalp and frills. He winced as he got some in his eyes and wiped it off, then tipped his head forwards as he let the milky water slosh onto his head and shoulders, grunting involuntarily as he doused himself. As he felt it run all the way off him it wasn’t hard to see why Rarity had spent that bit too long under here; it really was extremely relaxing, far moreso than the poolside.
Spike spent the next few minutes using the herbal concoction, along with Rarity’s brush to get himself as soft and clean as he’d felt after the massage he’d had first thing this morning at Chitin’s behest. The bristles were just right, more flexible than he’d imagined but rigid enough to give even a dragon’s thick scales a satisfying scrub. He cupped his claws under the water, sitting as close as possible, and made sure he was sparkling clean from the tips of his wings to the point of his tail. The brush handle was long enough that he was able to give the soles of his feet particular attention, which he appreciated after a long day spent shlooping around the Hive, although he did pause for a second as he considered why Rarity would need a handle on it at all given how she floated it around when cleaning herself.
Absorbed as he was in his ablutions he almost didn’t hear her voice calling him. ‘Spikey, darling?’ he heard.
He looked up from washing his leg and saw Rarity’s form through the obscurity of water, definitely seeing her just as she’d seen him when he’d called to her in his earlier impatience. He could just about tell she was wrapped in pink towels, but the particulars escaped him. ‘Welcome back, Rare,’ he called, ‘Hope you don’t mind, but I borrowed your shampoo. Man, you sure weren’t kidding about how nice it is under here, and that stuff just makes it even better!’
‘Quite, darling, the springs here are most invigorating,’ Rarity said in a voice Spike registered as more staid than before. He washed the shampoo out of his frills as she continued, ‘Now, I believe we have much to discuss, have we not?’
‘Heck, I suppose now’s as good a time as any, Rare,’ he answered, ‘Just one moment while I scrub the last of this soap off my scales. Uh, I also borrowed your brush I guess?’
She chuckled, trotting a little closer and becoming easier to hear over the tinkling water. ‘Ah, take as long as you need. Sharing is caring, sweetheart, and if you need more time beneath the falls, we shall talk like this. Now, what was it you were saying about our, ah, togetherness before?’
Spike wasn’t desperate to come out just yet; he’d just found his comfort spot, and since Rarity had come closer, they could communicate just fine. He sopped off the last of the lather as he started, ‘Well, you know as well as I do what happened on the crag, right? Probably better?’
‘That I do,’ she said simply, in a pointed manner, sitting down.
Spike paused for a moment, expecting her to speak further. When she didn’t, he continued, ‘Uh, well… we’ve spent the afternoon dancing around it, but… well, we need to be more careful about that kinda thing. Sure, we worked things out with mostly everybug here, but, well, you know what I mean, right? Ponyville is different.’
Rarity paused for a second. ‘I do indeed,’ she said blithely, ‘“Spoiled Milk’s sewing circle” and all that rot. Ponies may not have the love receptors of a changeling, but they make up for that with flapping gums that make the most disagreeable mouth sounds about one another!’
Spike raised an eyebrow, peeking out from behind the waterfall. ‘Uh, sure…?’ he started, getting an eyeful of Rarity. One purple curl sprouted from the towel adorning her scalp, the rest tidily drying beneath, while the other covered most of her body besides her lower legs and upper chest. He scanned her from hoof to horn, before noticing the finer details. ‘Hey, you put all your makeup back on! I'm impressed, but, uh, it’s almost the end of the day…?’
She paused, then tipped her head sideways towards him. ‘Good of you to notice, darling. The pursuit of fabulousness knows no rest, after all. Ah, I’ll likely take it off again and slap on a face mask overnight besides… anyway, back to the topic at hoof. Causing a scandal back in Equestria would make us both prime targets for others’ ire, no doubt.’
Spike drifted further towards her, swishing his arms in the water. ‘I mean, yeah. Talk like that’s bad for business, and whether it’s fair or not to either of us the last thing I want to do is give you a bad reputation… but the way we’ve been going, well, it’s just as unfair not to tell you what I’ve been thinking. You ready? You can stop me if I’m talking crazy.’
Rarity reclined forward, looking at the dragon, waist-deep in the spring as he was, with half-lidded eyes. ‘I daresay I’m ready for any proposal you care to give me,’ she said, ‘If it’s coming from my favourite little dragon, you have my undivided anttention. Do go on.’
Spike waded out of the fall, a little reluctantly – it was way too cosy under the splashing waters he was leaving behind, but again, he told himself, this matter needed taking seriously. He looked up at her as he started, ‘Well,’
Then he suddenly felt much less bold as he looked her in the eye, his mind turning blank. Or was it? Nothing was coming out of his mouth, at any rate. He knew what he wanted to say, but all he could do right now was mentally kick himself in the tail for freezing on the precipice of communicating with her, an anxiety spiral very rapidly developing that he could feel swirling at the base of his brain. All that stuff he’d been pumping himself up with, about how easy Rarity was to talk with about matters of the heart, had evaporated, leaving him alone in the room with her.
‘Well what, dearie?’ Rarity prompted, that stray curl bouncing as she tipped her head further, ‘I’m aware that whatever’s on your mind, it’s about our love, or the lack of it, or the too much of it, or what have you. I promise I won’t be offended by whatever you have to say on the topic, darling.’
The ice block sank from Spike’s throat into his stomach, and he took a breath before trying again. It was all in his head, he told himself, this was the exact same Rarity he’d had no trouble at all speaking with just a quarter-hour or so ago about quite personal past matters, but his own concerns about naming the elephant in the room were obviously a more fearsome barrier than he’d anticipated.
Nervous energy propelled him forward. ‘Uhh, uhh, well… neither of us wants to get into trouble? I guess?? Like, we discussed this back at the Boutique that day, but if things get, uh, more intense than they already have between us… you feel it too, right?’
‘I do indeed,’ Rarity said with a frown, inhaling while nodding her head, ‘Why, I’ve never sensed such love between, I mean, anycreatures other than you and I, it’s positively thrilling! Though I must admit I’m rather torn on the matter, too. I do fear, ah, that the two of us could easily immolate upon the burning wave of passion we’re riding, if we ride it too much longer. Perhaps it may be best to break up by choice before we’re inevitably forced apart by circumstance.’
She fluttered her lashes at Spike and smiled sweetly as he was lost for words again. He’d been gearing himself up through his sudden shakes to break the plan to her gently, and she’d pre-empted him with the sonic rainboom option like it was nothing. ‘I’m sorry, what?’ was all he could muster at first, ‘I, I mean, I… what?!’
She didn’t blink. ‘Oh, come now, Spikey-Winky. We established this afternoon that short-term gains from our mutual affections are all well and good, but in the longer term… well, it would be foolish to deny that we’ve been walking a tightrope with regards to self-control, one without much in the way of a safety web. Besides, you agree with me, do you not? You were just about to say it to me first! I could see it in your eyes.’
Spike was still in knots of incredulity. ‘I, uh, well, sure, actually, Rarity, but, uh, hold up. No, no I wasn’t! I was gonna say once we were back home, I mean, once you’re back in Ponyville and I’m back in Canterlot, we oughtta take a quick break. Cool off a bit ’til the next Friendship Council, y’know? But breaking up? No, no, no…!’ he composed himself before appealing, ‘We’ve got a really good thing going on. Didn’t you say before that you were waiting for me? Heck, I’m waiting for me, that’s what this whole… it’s at the core of everything I’ve been thinking about our future. And I do want a future with you. I don’t wanna… it’d really stink if we just dropped everything out of fear of judgement. Wouldn’t you at least miss me, Rare?’
Rarity’s upper lip puckered for a second, as if he’d offended her. It straightened up as she reared over him and spoke again, ‘Well, perhaps a watched kettle never boils, Spike. I have been thinking that consorting like we have while we play this waiting game, so-called, is rather dangerous, what with you being a baby dragon and all.’
She paused, before continuing with a deep sigh, ‘Ah, whatever have I been thinking, leading a little thing like you around by the snout like a foolish, selfish filly as I have, fecklessly with nary a thought of the consequences of her actions? No, if our existing friendship is to stand any further chance, better to wrap up both our passions within separate depositories and bury them deep, at least until you are much older. It would simply be safest, given our circumstances.’
Spike was getting upset now, but he’d found his footing after his earlier panic. ‘Rarity, you wound me,’ he said with gravity, ‘I thought we were in this together, not, uh, one of us talking down and telling the other what they think is best! After everything that’s happened between us, both in the past and with the whole Meus thing going on back home, I figured we had a pretty good understanding about mutuality, emotional insight, all that stuff Twilight’s been on about. I don’t understand why you’d want to toss that away all of a sudden. What about what we were just talking about with the fire ruby?’
Rarity cogitated for a moment before responding. ‘Hmm… while I appreciate the symbolism, it is simply an object, albeit a beautiful one… better not to dwell overmuch upon emotional attachment to such a gem. Upon further reflection it’d be better served in a museum, somewhere in Manehattan perhaps, where ponies can see it. I’ll consider that when I take a gander for it later on.’
‘Rarity… after everything we’ve talked about and done… you’d really throw it away like that?!’ Spike gasped.
‘As the element of generosity it seems churlish not to share it with creatures far and wide, and far away from us,’ Rarity’s voice deepened, ‘As a grim reminder of our shameful pasts, I believe it would need to go. Of course I wouldn’t simply toss it away. It’s much too expensive for that!’
‘You know what I meant!’ Spike exploded. The block in his gut suddenly turned hot, and he realised that his visceral reaction to Rarity’s reappearance had been a reflex as that stone observation dropped into his ears.
He’d been so wrapped up in mentally rehearsing the most diplomatic way to phrase it that he’d mistaken his bad feeling as something he needed to pluck up the courage to power through, not as the instinctive rejection of an impostor that it was. Without a doubt in his mind now that he was being duped, he recoiled with an angry frown, ‘And Rarity is all about value, she doesn’t care about expense. You… you’re not Rarity! What have you done with her?!’
Suddenly a black face was an inch in front of his, angry scarlet eyes and gleaming white fangs creased like a snarling wolf’s, hovering over him and hissing. He recoiled in horror at the leg holes and buzzing green wings of this aggressor that was Rarity just a second ago as she growled, ‘Oh, discovered at last! She’s a little wrapped up… but you’re just too young for that silly, vain old maid, “darling”! If I can’t break your oblivious little dragonheart into pieces like I’d planned, I’ll have to sssuck some of that misguided, but oh so ssstrong, love out of you! It’s for both your own goods!’
Spike leapt up and backwards, water splashing everywhere. He clenched his fists as he flapped his wings and cried, ‘Chitin?! Thorax told us you were grounded! I don’t know what your game is, but you’re not getting a piece of this dragon!’
Chitin, for it was she, took to the air fully a second after Spike, lunging for him and knocking him against the flat rocks by the waterfall. He hit it hard, just about avoiding hitting his head, but not his upper back. ‘Ugh!’ he cried, feeling the impact rack his bones, but too het up to dwell upon the pain; he knew he needed to save his special somepony from wherever she’d been wrapped up by this rogue changeling.
The buzz of Chitin’s wings just about overwhelmed the blood roaring through his ears as she hovered in front of him. ‘King Thorax and his court are fools for letting the two of you run rampant around the Hive the way you have been! It’s very dangeroussss! It’s been driving me bugnutssss, even now after that indulgent little confession of yours!’ she yelled, obstructing Spike’s way as he failed to swoop past her, ‘You’re fooling yourselves if you think that fixed all the problems! If the king won’t and nobug else will listen, it’s up to me to address the imbalance! Sssss!’
‘Rarity!’ Spike cried as he and his once-guide, now adversary deflected one another’s blows in midair, ‘You sucked her love out while I was in the waterfall, didn’t you?! How could you do that? She didn’t do a thing to you!’
‘I wasn’t – ah! – I have not harmed her! I just needed to – ugh!’ Chitin hissed as Spike barrelled through her defenses and almost dunked her into the spring, ‘When the two of you are together, I, I need, I have to – agh! Hold sssstill, you little twerp!’
She narrowly skimmed the surface of the pool before resuming flight and grabbing his ankle, then yanking it hard enough that for one critical second it felt like it had dislocated. With a flash she changed into a very large bird, the likes of which Spike had never seen, and the sight of which filled him with terror.
A huge beak that took up most of a head atop a long neck and a body with iridescent spiked plumage and little wings hurled itself at him, and he was too startled by the change to react quickly enough to evade. The only thought he could muster before she floored him was that it looked like an especially savage griffon’s front half with no leonine back end.
She pinned Spike down by both forearms with her thorny feet and squeezed as he yelped, ‘What the heck–! Auggh! Chitin, stop! You’re hurting me! Stop!’
‘I’ll stop if you just let this happen! Just let me syphon that sweet love from you! I’ll leave most of it! I just need to skim the excess!’ Chitin cawed, ‘Just enough to stop you! It’s for the good of the Hive!’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking abo– ahhh!’ Spike said, his voice turning weak as he struggled under the changling’s weight. Her maw revealed a purple, slimy tongue that tapered to a point, lolling out as she began to drain Spike of his love. Her eyes rolled back in their sockets as he felt it start to leave him in a stream of pink smoke, the life force ebbing from his extremities with a harsh tingle travelling towards his throat, then flowing out of his mouth. He fought against it, gritting his teeth and holding his breath in an effort to stop it leaving, but it was no good; it just seeped out from between his fangs.
‘Guards! Help…’ He groaned, unable to muster a shout. He defocused away from Chitin’s face, gazing at the vines hanging from the ceiling for a moment as he felt the deflating sensation of love leaving him bit by bit.
In an effort to slow the process he screwed his eyes shut and thought of Rarity, all the good things about their relationship, all the things they’d done together, in an effort to resist Chitin’s lovesucking. It came to him easily enough, he had so many amazing feelings about all the times they’d spent together, be it in the city, at the races, at the castle, the boutique, even right here in the Hive… how loving and caring she’d been ever since that fateful day she’d visited him at his lowest with nothing but kindness and support in her saddlebag, the absolute sweetness of every precious second they’d spent together since, the perfumed soft hugs and the lilting, posh but never insincere voice she had during those heartfelt discussions they’d become accustomed to having, those deep blue eyes he could gaze into for eternity, not to mention that wonderful fashion sense, that purestrain expression of her indomitable creative spirit…
…And in his mind’s eye he could see Rarity in all that loving beauty, cruelly suspended in green ooze and weeping bitterly in whichever dark corner of these caverns Chitin had trapped her within while her guard was down. It had been years, but Spike hadn’t forgotten what it was like inside one of those sacs just before Starlight caused the love explosion that had changed the changelings, when Chrysalis and her minions had abducted and replaced the entirety of central Equestria, and the thought of Rarity going through that all over again made his scales crawl far worse than his current situation. He was certain she was suffering greatly. By any means necessary, he couldn’t give in to this love-addled changeling. Rarity needed him right now…!
‘NO!’ Spike roared, trying to shake free from Chitin’s grasp with all his might. When it proved futile, he remembered something important, then acted upon it; he shot a spout of orange fire right into her face, forcing her back with an even louder screech. She recoiled and stumbled, failing to right herself with just two legs and stepping backwards one time too many, flailing violently as she fell into the hot spring.
Spike’s reflex was to flee once he realised Chitin’s disorientation, and as she splashed around in the waterfall he turned tail and once again swooped away, aiming for the screen behind which Rarity had vanished. To say he was gravely concerned about her was a vast understatement; adrenaline coursed through his veins and his heart felt like it was about to pound right out of his ribcage as all the horrible things a malevolent changeling might do to a pony brimming with love like hers. ‘Rarity! Hold tight, I’m coming to free you–’ he started, before suddenly feeling something elastic lash around his waist.
A giant orange squid was behind him now, its triangular fin almost at the top of the waterfall as it glared with two red eyes and a morass of squirming suckers and tentacles just below those. It had shot out a feeding tentacle which had quite handily ensnared him, and he almost fell to the ground as it reeled him in. ‘You’re going nowhere, Spikey-Winky!’ it yelled in a bubblesome voice, ‘This won’t take a minute! Just taking a little off the top! You’ll thank me later, I just… you need a course correction, and I’m going to give it to you!’
Spike snarled as he beat his wings hard, resisting Chitin’s latest grab dramatically. He strained and strained, his ankle and shoulders ached badly from Chitin’s abuse, and resilient as he was he’d had enough. If she wouldn’t stop doing this, he’d just have to make her. ‘No, what you’re doing is wrong, Chitin! This is messed up! Just let… me… go!’ he tried desperately one final time.
She paid as much attention as he’d expected, to his chagrin, but at least he’d tried before going in swinging. He surprised her by suddenly turning, but as he tried to land a fist between her eyes she deflected the blow with the shorter tentacles around her maw, almost but not quite entangling him within them. He didn’t speak further, nor did she; there didn’t seem much point if Chitin refused to listen to reason.
What followed was furious, abrupt and violent as Spike took Chitin head-on, while she shapeshifted right back at him, cycling through at least a dozen forms. After Spike landed a few shoves, punches and more shots of dragonfire, still spouting from a belly full of rage but somewhat less potent in the billowing waters, Chitin transmogrified into a snapping hammerhead, a squirming eel, a spiny blowfish, many more besides, slowly shrinking as their battle continued until she was just a frantic, splotchy koi splashing around. He had no idea how long their entanglement went on for, be it minutes or hours, just that Chitin was in his way from rescuing Rarity, and that this had to end as quickly as possible.
Once she’d shrunk down to that point, while refusing to back down Chitin articulated for the first time in a while as Spike hovered over her, trying to grab the angry little fish. ‘You can’t… you won’t… get away with this…!’ she gasped, ‘Sweet Luna, it’s radiating off you now, I can see it… that fool Orbweb would go critical if she was exposed to this…’
‘Orbweb, the sensitive changeling at the forum? She… she was fine, Freelove was fine, Thorax was fine, everybug at the forum was fine before you turned up and ruined everything!’ Spike cried, fatigued from their battle, ‘I’m not the problem here, nor is Rarity! And this ain’t love, Chitin! I’m really mad!’
She leapt, surprising him with a slap of her black back fin to his face. ‘Anger is an energy closely related to desire, the same as love!’ she spat, ‘And I’m, I, it makes me feel… I don’t know how to explain it but it’s, I want it! I hate it! I have to have it!’
‘I don’t give a… I don’t care! I’m sick of you trying to take what isn’t yours! It’ll never be yours!’ came Spike’s riposte, before he breathed orange fire once again.
A rapidfire stream of fireballs hit her fishy form in midair. With that she flashed green one last time, back into her usual purple self rather than the hole-ridden war-face she’d initially shocked him with when she’d revealed herself. She looked dazed, and definitely in pain. ‘Augh! Oh, that did it. I give, I give… I can’t transform anymore, I can’t…’ she gasped.
Her surrender fell upon deaf ear frills as Spike stared daggers down at her. It was no accident; maybe it was residual anger from Chitin’s chosen resemblance to the changeling minions of yore as she’d attacked, perhaps sheer fury at any potential harm she’d visited upon Rarity as well as the pain she’d just caused him. It could have been any number of things. Whatever it was, Spike’s peaking anger flared further from her unrelenting attempt at coercion, and simply laying her low was no longer enough for him.
As he overpowered Chitin, he was murderously incensed by what she’d just tried to do to him, not to mention whatever unspeakable thing he imagined she’d done to Rarity. That was when he did the deed he’d soon regret; he slammed her against the side of the pool and roared at the top of his lungs, spitting one last mouthful of fire aloft as water splashed everywhere. His muscles tensed, his claws clenched and he tore at her carapace with a primal scream, ripping part of it off at the back and taking the root of her wing with it.
That done, he stumbled back, agog. Immediately Spike knew what he’d done, the last of his dragon’s rage gone at last, that ice block from before freezing once more in his stomach. What he’d just inflicted upon Chitin looked like an irreversible injury. Seemingly in slow-motion a plume of green liquid ribbon blossomed in the water as the entire cave rumbled with an agonised shriek as she thrashed around, then fell near-silent. He jumped off her with a disturbed look on his face, near-hyperventilating, bent over and panting with fangs bared in horror as he looked at the spray that’d gotten all over his claws. Changeling blood.
She tried to get away from him, crawling up the pool’s curvature. She whimpered and gasped for breath as she bled into the water, and its soothing warmth seemed irreversibly polluted by what had just happened, regardless of its downstream flow. She looked a crumpled mess, all broken wings and jutting limbs like a swatted insect.
Drinking in the reality of it all Spike backed off, colour draining from his face. As he looked at Chitin he felt very small and frightened, shaken by what she’d just done and very aware of the potential consequences of Equestria’s premier diplomat injuring a member of the royal court like this, nevermind who had started their conflict. He hovered there stunned for a few seconds, barely seeing through his open eyes and dimly aware through the trauma that he still didn’t know where Rarity was.
‘I’m so sorry, Chitin,’ he almost-whispered, tears forming in his eyes as he found himself unable to stop shaking. She didn’t answer aside from one last, drawn-out hiss.
Then his head whipped around as there was a hammering at the cavern’s barred door and a gruff voice. ‘Spike? Rarity? Open up!’ Pharynx’s voice came through, and for a moment Spike considered absconding through the waterfall’s inlet.
It also was no accident when he decided not to be so cowardly – after all, as a friend to King Thorax and a diplomat representing Canterlot it was his duty to face the music, he told himself. He turned from Chitin and croaked through the lump in his throat, ‘Pharynx?! I’m opening the door. If you can fetch any sort of medical aid we need it here now, and please don’t freak too badly when you see what’s happened… please…’
–––✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*💎*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧–––
Mistakes had been made, it was surmised once Chitin had been stretchered away to the emergency wing for triage, and Rarity’s whereabouts discovered inside a cocoon in a deep burrow inside the private spring’s wall. She’d been plastered from horn to hooves in preservative green gunk but essentially unharmed and un-lovesucked, to Spike’s heaving relief. The rogue changeling had, it turned out, given one of Pharynx’s guards the slip while he’d chatted to a friend, and had stalked Spike and Rarity once they’d returned from the play, disguising herself for the duration of their baths and poolside chat.
Spike told his side of the story, keeping it together the best he could as he recounted how Chitin had forced herself upon him. Thinking about it nearly gave him a panic attack, but he was among friendly faces who gave him the time he needed – his main fear was that the brutality he’d visited upon her in retaliation was decidedly not a good look, and certainly undeniable.
Rarity was able to back him up to some extent, having half-heard the altercation while powerless to intervene – having seemingly no apparent knowledge of the wayward discussion he’d had with her false self, to Spike’s relief – but while Chitin was in hospital it was up to Thorax, Freelove and the royal court to decide privately what happened next.
While Spike made clear that he was ready for whatever punishment Thorax saw fit the king’s kindness was evergreen, instead regretting aloud not taking more action sooner about what seemed clear to him was some sort of denial-induced craving insanity on Chitin’s part. Whatever it was, he deemed it something the changelings hadn’t seen manifest on such scale before and something entirely more complex than the fluctuations. Given her near-incoherent snarling about redressing balance and administering correction during her altercation with Spike, it wasn’t difficult to believe.
The way he told it, the sensitivity displayed by the likes of Orbweb was a physical affliction, while Chitin was displaying an exacerbation of underlying mental illness that could only partly be explained by that same thing. To Spike’s surprise Thorax barely mentioned Chitin’s physical injury, seeing as how irreversible ripping off a changeling’s carapace had to have been. He seemed keenly disappointed by the situation, but not judgemental of any involved party. Of course, Spike discovered why later on.
The remainder of Spike and Rarity’s visit to the Changeling Hive was inevitably cut short by the incident, which included Twilight herself flying out west via chariot with attendants in tow to support her little brother in his time of need. The first flush of her engagement had been that of mild annoyance, but once Thorax had filled her in on the situation completely, she was shocked, sympathetic to his plight.
Of course, Rarity was there too. Once they’d been reunited following Pharynx’s guards slicing her back out of Chitin’s cocoon she hadn’t left his side, doting and fussing and making it amply clear that nothing, nothing else bad would happen to him now. He appreciated her caring hugs and tears now more than ever, but it was difficult to reciprocate; partly from the love Chitin had sucked out of his body, but mainly through the sheer horror of the incident, he had been left feeling listless, more helpless than he’d ever felt before in his life even as surrounded as he was by his good, good friends.
To that end, Yona and Sandbar were bowled over by the turn of events that had happened while they had been celebrating a job well done over the evening’s entertainment. Yona refused to grasp the subtleties of the situation at first, feeling as protective of Spike as anycreature present and demanding to know where Chitin was being kept, only stopping from storming the hospital when restrained by a half-dozen guards. Sandbar attempted to level with Spike equine-to-dragon, but plainly failed to grasp the severity of what had happened – Rarity had turned red and almost sputtered something very rude in response when she’d overheard Sandbar’s well-meaning inquiry as to why Spike hadn’t picked up on the impostor by the pool sooner.
Ocellus and the acting troupe were mortified, Dearlove in particular a hair away from joining Yona in her effort to attack the hospital, but when Thorax explained what was to happen and told them to stand down, they obeyed. Changelings generally respected what their king ordered, Chitin more than most, which was why her behaviour throughout the afternoon was considered so out of character.
In the meantime, Spike never left Rarity’s sight. From her perspective, the last time she’d left his she’d been knocked out and cocooned, and while she hardly held it against any of the kindly changelings around her she was adamant about sticking by him no matter what.
Spike would normally have basked in the attention, not to mention the clingy hugs and faintly tearful kisses on his cheeks and brow, to an embarrassing degree, but given his general unease following his ordeal it just felt increasingly embarrassing. In his heart of hearts he didn’t believe her insistence on his blamelessness, not after he’d mutilated Chitin in a very focussed rage the way he had. He didn’t feel like he deserved any of it. He knew saying that would hurt Rarity, she was trying her best to comfort him, but he could feel her earnest attempts at validation simply roll off his scales. Between Rarity’s behaviour and Twilight dropping in to check in with him in full psychologist mode every hour on the hour, he felt suffocated by their good intentions.
But there was some good news after a day or so, sort of. Once more to Spike’s immense relief, Chitin's injury, once she’d received a transfusion and some resuscitating nectar, was healed as if nothing had happened, physically at least, with a simple transformative green flash. The beating and bloody wing detachment she’d received from Spike had still been very real, though, and the moment she was back on her hooves she’d spat out her intent to exact her revenge.
That detail was somewhat less reassuring to the little dragon, though he also was informed that exactly five seconds after that she was restrained into a cocoon by guards as a preventative measure, to remain there until all visitors had departed the Hive, a day earlier than originally scheduled. His regrets and fears aside, he hoped that she’d get the help she needed. He also strongly felt that should happen a long way away from him, for now at least.
Once Hive justice was meted out and he knew he was in the clear he was gone, he decided. He needed to be alone for a bit, and he needed to rip off the band-aid, so to speak. It was for the best.