“Hey Rarity,
By the time you read this, I’ll have left the Hive. I’m really sorry that I gotta go without telling you to your face, but I have to get away from everything, not just this place. I appreciate what you’ve been trying to do for me these past few days and everything, but it’s no good – I need to be alone to clear my head, and that means alone alone. Right now I don’t feel like I can talk with you about things, and if I try I’m going to say or do something that’ll hurt you worse than if I just left.
It isn’t your fault, Rarity. It’s a rotten feeling after everything we’ve talked out until now. I feel like my heart’s snapped shut after Chitin attacked me, like it’s turned me cold against my will. I feel like I’m in mourning somehow, beyond how violent things got. Twilight keeps asking me I just feel bad, about what happened and what I did, and the last thing I want to do right now is rehash the gory details. Not for now, anyway.
So I’m off, heading north, then east, then south, taking a tour round the North Luna Bay, checking in some places I’ve always wanted to see, never got around to but they’re close to the Hive and I have the opportunity to visit ’em – Seaddle, Vanhoover, past the Crystal Mountains – then back south via Neighagra Falls to Fillydelphia to check in with a friend in the Dragontown there I haven’t seen for a long time. I’ll be gone a while; beats me how long it’ll take altogether, but I’ll definitely be back in Canterlot before Hearth's Warming.
Please don’t come after me, Rarity, at least not for now. I’m giving you this itinerary because I want you to know that I’m OK, and because I trust you to respect that. I’ve left a copy with Twilight besides, in person rather than just leaving some crybaby scrip on your bedside table, what is my freaking problem??? so she knows. She wasn’t real happy with it, but she eventually agreed to it so long as I keep in touch.
I’ll keep in touch with you, too, not like it’s hard for me so long as I’ve got some parchment lying around, but sorry in advance if I don’t get back to any messages you shoot my way immediately.
By the way, after I told Twi she lent me one of Starswirl’s Safeshadow Amulets the same as yours, so there’s no need to worry about any potential entanglements with you-know-what while I’m en route. She’s probably already told you, but they work; using the Crystal Empire as a test Cadance had the Crystal Heart augmented with a few drops of a potion solution based on the same formula, and they’ve reported a twenty-percent magic use decrease in its aura after two days. Since that twenty-percent was unaccounted for by natural phenomena at the Crystal Weather Station, chances are pretty good it’s effective against Meus’ intrusions.
Anyway, have a safe journey back on the train home with Sandbar and Yona, and tell them not to worry about me; I’m fine, physically. Sorry if I’m repeating myself here, but I just need a change of scene. This definitely isn’t goodbye forever.
Sorry again. Please don’t blame yourself for this.
Love you,
~Spike 🔥”
Rarity sighed as she sat at her bedroom desk, bathed in lamplight from outside and by the flickering green of her dragonfire burner several hours after closing the boutique, scanning Spike’s note from top to bottom for the umpteenth time. She’d kept it neatly folded into quarters, soberly and intently reflecting upon it when nocreature was looking. It had been near a week already, and Spike had had yet to communicate meaningfully since.
She hadn’t sat down to brood over it, but its presence dragged at the corner of her eye whenever she approached it, be that first thing in the morning to apply her make-up, or vice versa the last thing before bed, as was the case now. This time she’d gotten as far as to wipe off her eyeshadow, mascara and lip gloss, but no further before experiencing those dreadful mixed feelings she got every time she checked it over, as if to locate any changes since her last read.
An irrational bit of her brain was irritatingly persistent in the idea that Spike might have left her some sort of clue or secret message somewhere, something that would explain fully why he’d stolen away in the dead of night like he had, or why he apparently no longer desired her company. She rather wished it would hush up and return to regulating whichever of her vital functions that normally kept it occupied, be it blinking or breathing or colour co-ordination, as she nevertheless found herself compelled to obey its whims. Rationally she knew that Spike had laid everything out to the best of his ability, the straight-shooter that she trusted him to be, and his appeal to that rationality had indeed prevented her from pinpointing his precise whereabouts out of respect to his wishes.
The letter had actually afforded her more communication than Spike had permitted in person following the incident at the Hive, just in time for him to slip from her hooves, she pondered. He’d clammed up entirely besides the cold facts of the situation, and she’d perhaps overcompensated in the face of that. The simple truth was that she was aghast, just horrified at what Chitin had tried, partially succeeded, to do to him. Part of her wanted to fling herself at her long-suffering chaise-longue the moment she’d returned like in moments of emotional duress in the past, but instead of moping, she’d taken action, regardless of the futility of it. She just couldn’t help herself from trying to solve a plainly unsolvable problem.
To that end, she’d sent him a series of letters once she’d access to her dragonfire burner. She full well remembered what he’d told her about his flight from Gabby before she’d visited him that day back in the late summer, and perhaps there was a modicum of vengeful connivement in shooting a number of protestations his way, given the inconvenience random scrolls’ reception gave him on occasion. The content had been sincere enough, though; she’d written at some length how dearly she already missed him, how she understood if he needed space but how she didn’t appreciate him not telling her to her face, that she nevertheless hoped his circumnavigation of Northern Equestria went well, that it would be terribly disappointing if he missed his birthday, shortly before Hearth’s Warming, or the second anniversary of Twilight’s coronation shortly before that.
On those last points he had actually replied, with a simple “I’m aware, Rarity. ~Spike 🔥”. She’d spent a while looking at that particular scroll with incredulity, before folding it away with a spurned sniff. She tried not to take his terseness personally, but it threw his studious ignoring of her notes into stark relief. She hadn’t sent another since, as a matter of fact – partly because she could feel the one-sided correspondence breeding resentment on her part, and partly because badgering him seemed unconstructive without his co-operation. If it hadn’t worked in person, she ultimately rationalised, trying to force the issue through the medium of magical scroll was a surefire way to worsen it further.
She sighed again, then yawned, rubbing her eyes with one hoof before magicing her hairbrush and administering it upon herself, long gentle sweeps on her unfurled mane that tickled her ears and gave her a pleasant frisson on her scalp. No, he would write back when the time was right to write back, he’d been clear, but Rarity wasn’t used to having something she wanted tantalisingly out of reach in the way Spike had become.
Despite the assurances in his goodbye note she felt to blame, just a little. Not enough to believe that she alone was the reason he’d taken off, heavens no, but the situation had switched the mothering instinct Spike’s companionship sometimes instilled within her into high gear, definitely prefixing an “s” to that compulsion without truly taking in the troubles he was going through. She recalled what Fluttershy had said a while ago at the Running of the Leaves; nocreature really enjoyed being smothered. She’d forgotten that in the moment.
She had to admit to herself that she didn’t fully understand Spike’s problems at this juncture, and she wasn’t certain she wanted to. What he’d described had happened between Chitin and himself had affected him a good deal worse than the changeling snot bath she’d been subjected to herself. That had been foul, true, but she’d not been knocked around and it hadn’t been anything a further dip in the hot springs couldn’t cure. She’d been trapped, most likely to prevent her from protecting Spike from Chitin’s wrath, and in the aftermath of that she’d clung to him too much.
Spike’s altercation had been altogether more violent, and plainly a traumatic experience for him. It was as if… she shuddered to think, then felt, with teary eyes, that she wanted nothing more than to coddle her sweet little dragon all over again, regardless of the ferocity of his retaliation in the moment. Poor, poor Spike! Such pain and anguish had been laid at his little feet, and thinking about it much at all gave her sympathetic pangs all over.
But it wasn’t possible to shower him with concern and affection in his absence, and without knowing she had his presence to at least look forward to, Rarity had felt glum throughout the second half of her fortnight-long break.
Yona had offered to stay on at the boutique and keep Rarity company in the aftermath of their return, rather than stick to her next scheduled journey not long after to Yakyakistan as she did every winter, but Rarity had insisted she keep to her plans to retreat homewards until the spring.
She regretted that somewhat now; on top of Spike’s absence, her apprentice’s leave had been keenly felt, and the truth of it was that Rarity was feeling lonely. Thank goodness for Sweetie Belle’s regular drop-ins for a spot of distraction, and of course, her closest friends were abreast of the situation, offering their support.
This very day, even, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had strongarmed her into tea and cake after their buckball match against Trottingham (which the Ponyville team had narrowly won), accompanied with a spirited discussion of the details regarding how the Changeling Hive was forging its own destiny. Both ponies had been extremely curious on the matter, neither having been in its ancient neck of the woods since its bad old days, but reticent to ask questions after hearing about what had happened to Spike until Rarity had opened up somewhat. Pinkie Pie had been fascinated by her descriptions of changeling pastries, while Fluttershy was delighted to hear about the controlled chaos and myriad transformations in the play Ocellus had written.
It was nice to be reminded of all the good things about the Hive, even as one bad event had tainted the memories so soon. Upon reflection Rarity had no regrets about her visit overall – it was a wondrous place for the most part and she’d been overjoyed to see how well Thorax’s reign there was progressing – it had just ended on a terribly sour note. Now the day, indeed the week was approaching its end, she was looking forward to getting stuck back into planning next summer’s range, as a distraction from worry and guilt over Spike’s plight more than anything. Nothing was stopping her from starting on it right then and there, but Rarity had long been fastidious about her breaks – once she’d made the decision on a start and end date she stuck to them, reasoning that rest was every bit as important as work. So she’d said to Yona, so she intended to follow her own rules.
She yawned again, then looked in her desk mirror as she brushed her mane, then winced before another yawn. Her locks fell soft as she finished, and the brush fell with a “clink” as she looked in the mirror, affording herself a smile in spite of her reverie as she admired herself. Then she looked down at the crested silver amulet around her neck, a synthetic, smooth, teardrop-shaped black jewel in its centre.
It was one of the two gemstones that had been of keen interest to her lately; Twilight had lent her the Safeshadow Amulet early on account of arriving at the Hive. The manufactured ward crafted by Starswirl the Bearded that Spike had mentioned in his letter was, if nothing else, reassurance to Rarity that both she and her favourite little dragon may be separated for the time being, but were united in safety from icy harm via a certain raging light elemental thanks to the realm’s premier magician. Wearing this, she no longer felt the mild unease that had recently pervaded her use of mirrors, which she had to admit was unnatural behaviour for her.
The other gemstone of significance caught her eye as she stood on all fours, away from the desk and turned towards her four-poster bed. It remained placed neatly by its bedside lamp, gleaming under its yellow light. Rarity pulled the fluffy pink nightgown down from its hanger on the bed’s curtain rail, then laid it atop the red sheets before magically draping it over her body, tugging and tying its sash around her waist for warmth before giving the heart-shaped gemstone a closer inspection.
She’d made a bee-line for where she thought the fire ruby may have been stored several times in one day after her return, not finding it until well into a second day of rummaging. It was cliché to say it was in the last place she’d looked – logically, literally anything was in the last place one looked, as once one had found it, one ceased looking, she thought to herself with a grin – but she really had turned the boutique upside-down looking for the thing, exhausting the possibilities until its radiant, deep red facets had revealed themselves to her somewhere at the bottom of the faux-Cloudsdalian urn in the first floor hallway, under a dusty pile of smaller rubies.
It really was a gorgeous hunk of rock. Its facets so perfectly smooth, its translucence so like a deep pool when one peered into it, one would think it was the work of an accomplished artisan, not that of natural magical phenomena. Fire rubies were rare occurrences as it was, usually formed far enough east that their meagre number were thinned further by hungry dragons for whom they were a delicacy, and this one indeed had nearly met such a fate as Spike’s birthday treat, once upon a time before Rarity’s intervention.
Nonetheless, it was such a fine specimen it took her breath away far before its more recent history came to mind; not an iota of evidence of its past exploits could be seen on it, either, which gave her no small relief. Of course, its concealment these past years had aided in its preservation, not to mention its magical reformation during its last major outing. Once Spike was no longer incommunicado she intended fully to show it to him, albeit in private, such was the personal nature of how it had touched both their lives.
‘Ah, you beautiful little object,’ she sighed to it as she stepped beneath her comfy sheets, her mane cascading onto her velvet pillows as she tucked herself in, ‘At least I found you. Spikey-Wikey and I have much to consider… about… things… and other stuff…’
She paused, then yawned yet again, a low rumble in her belly that quickly became a protracted breathy squeak as it left her open mouth. Rarity was tuckered out after what had been a longish day; vicariously from watching all that buckball, although she’d also spent time trotting around Ponyville on her own terms besides, spending bits for both leisure and work and carting the goods back to the boutique, not to mention how dark it had become lately. While it wasn’t terribly late it felt near midnight as the nights drew in on Hearth’s Warming’s approach.
Now that she pondered it, Spikey’s birthday was very soon… did he intend to spend it alone in a city or on a train, or was he due to meet that friend he’d mentioned in his letter to mark the occasion, she wondered? She didn’t know who that was, but she pondered sending him the first parchment in a few days to congratulate him on his nineteenth full sun.
Goodness, she could draw something nice for him – it was just a matter of consideration as to what. Nothing too maudlin, something cute, perhaps; Opalescence in ribbons? Plans for that range she was mentally planning? Making its debut to him via the medium of magical scroll would mark a few firsts!
Rarity wriggled about for comfort beneath her covers, feeling warmer just from that thought as she looked up at the bed’s canopy. She put her hooves over the sheets, then emitted a piquant sigh as she envisioned Spike’s journey up the western coast of Equestria and around the Crystal Empire. She hoped he was feeling at least a little better from his travels, and she wondered if he was looking up from whatever resting place he was curled up within right now, thinking about her like she was thinking about him.
After a minute, she rolled over onto her side, hugging her head pillow with one hoof and closing her eyes, surely not far from slumber now. Yes, Rarity thought, first thing tomorrow morning she would draft out and send a letter to her darling Spikey, response be darned, just to let him know he was still on her mind. She let out one final yawn, and that was when it happened.
“fwomp!”
The serendipity of the moment was perfect; a green aura manifested right in front of Rarity’s open mouth as a scroll materialised before her eyes, as if she’d spat it out herself, before plopping itself onto her cushion. She stared at it for a moment, with surprise at first, then with glee; she sat upright, forgetting her tiredness now that this newest message from Spike was here!
‘Oh! Oh! Sleep can wait, I simply must read this!’ Rarity breathed to herself, grabbing the rolled-up parchment with a glow of her horn and removing the triple-diamond wax seal that addressed it to her. As it unfurled it dropped down to her knees, being a fairly long message.
She read it aloud to herself with a slight drawl, imitating Spike’s voice as she went. Call it force of habit, but sounding out the words while nocreature besides possibly Opalescence in the next room could hear felt so good to her.
“Hey Rarity,
How’re you doing? I’m doin’ alright. I hit the cities like I said, played tourist for a few days (the weather was great, I got some really nice snaps of the Star Spire in Seaddle and these weird laughing dragon statues in Vanhoover, remind me to show you later) before taking an airship to the station overlooking the Galloping Gorge and taking the train to drop in at the Crystal Empire.
I got mobbed as soon as I arrived – I only shot a message to Shining Armor the day before and it was too short-notice for a distraction – but it was actually kinda nice? Nice to see things are normal here. The weather up here is kinda blizzardy but not like it was when I arrived with Twilight a month back. Like I said in my goodbye last letter, the Safeshadow treatment the Crystal Heart got is ticking over nicely, with a renewal from Princess Cadance herself once a day to keep it trucking.
This is actually my first sleep not on the move since leaving the Hive, staying at my visiting quarters over here, so I thought I’d shoot a message over before sinking into my guest basket (sorry if I woke you up with this, by the way). Shining and Cadance have been super nice since I arrived; Twilight hadn’t told Cadance about what happened at the Hive and I haven’t either, but she definitely suspects something went down. One look at little ol’ me and she was, well, accommodating, and she didn’t ask questions outside of how Thorax has been.
Shining, well, he’s his usual self, cool and responsible on the outside but a real bro when it counts. Flurry Heart was real happy to see me, too, since we’ve only seen one another once since the magic mirror was put out of commission, and there wasn’t really time to play then, what with Meus and the weakening forcefield and all. I spent a while in her playroom getting climbed all over by her and a couple of her friends while we played with toy trains and dolls, and I read them all some breezie tales, with a little embellishments of my own devising that they really enjoyed – Red Dobbin Hood didn’t actually have ninja skills in the Grimm & Gramm original, but don’t tell her that!
Cadance spent a while with us before a royal meeting she had to attend, then Shining came in shortly after with a tray of OJ and cookies once he was done soldiering for the day, and then her friends’ parents came by to pick her up. It was great, actually, not just because Flurry Heart is housebroken better behaved these days (well, there was one explosion on the tracks… but I digress). Great to feel normal for the first time all week, at any rate. For a royal family that’s ⅔ alicorn the Mi Amore Cadenza household is pretty down-to-earth, which I never really noticed until now.
Maybe I just noticed now ’cuz that’s what I’m looking for. Normal. To be a normal dragon in a normal domicile, and not a violent sadist a screw-up who stinks at his job a weird mutant. It really is like a sanctuary away from the rest of Equestria here, once you’re safe from the screaming fanfillies, anyway.
I’m welcome to stick around for a few days before I head back south by the Neighagra Falls. Tomorrow I’ll see if either Cadance or Shining will put up with me while they do their duties to the Empire, and if not, Flurry Heart will definitely have me as a playmate again. She still misses Sunburst, y’know, and I definitely remind her of him. I should have a word with Cadance, an invitation to Ponyville to visit him sometime would do her good.
By the way, I sent a couple postcards out your way while I was in Seaddle and Vanhoover; they’ll definitely take a while to reach you so keep an eye out! I’d send them via dragonfire if it’d work, but it won’t and I’d just incinerate them, so regular old snail mail it is…
Anyway, feel free to shoot me a message when you’ve got the time, tell me what I’m missing over there!
See ya,
~Spike 🔥”
Rarity kept up the Spike-voice for the duration, but her face slowly fell and her voice more muted as she read through the letter, and as she reached its bottom she raised an eyebrow before pursing her lips, then flipping the parchment over to see if there was any text on its flip-side. There was nothing more. She couldn’t stop herself emitting a disappointed ‘Hmph.’
Silently she laid back onto the bed with it in both hooves. That was it? How… perfunctory. Not that she wasn’t happy to hear from her dear Spikey-Wikey, of course, it had been a most thoughtful note, it was nice to know he’d had a good time lately, and he had requested she write back, but…
She laid in her bed, looking towards her mirror before again focussing upon the fire ruby, holding onto that ambivalence. Not a word about how he missed her. Nothing about how much he wished she were there by his side. Not even a little “I love you” at the end, which he had at least afforded in his farewell note. Just the facts, a brief update on his mental state, and a little pontification on family life in the Crystal Empire.
She looked at the fire ruby, catching her reflections in its facets once more, then clutched her pillow. ‘Is it selfish of me to want more than just a greeting and a summary?’ she murmured to it, rolling the thought around in her mouth. She stopped, then continued, ‘I fear it is. I suppose I should be happy that he’s at least communicating now, and that he's feeling more comfortable in his own scales.’
She laid there a little longer, rereading the message again, finding it better upon review; perhaps it truly was ego that had dampened her enthusiasm. Spike was doing well, she told herself; he was definitely in a better place than when he’d left the Hive, and he certainly wanted to hear back from her. So his message hadn’t been a passionate outpouring about his feelings for her, so what? It was a little silly, somewhat counterproductive even, to expect that of him so soon. It had barely been a week after the incident that had hurt him so badly, after all. All the wanting in the world couldn’t force him to be magically fine again.
No, Spike was recuperating on his voyage, and when the time came, they’d be together once more. Rarity was simply feeling impatient for that time. In her own words to him, a lady understood the virtue of patience, but it was harder to wait for him when he just wasn’t available in person.
She felt bereft, she admitted it, in such a way she hadn’t felt since that first time he’d flown off with Gabby out of the blue that morning – no, not during that two years or so they’d been together, although that had had its unpleasant gooseberry moments – but its initial flush, that awful, she hesitated to call it love at that point but it had certainly been an intense like-triangle that had formed until they’d all three reconciled and learned to work it out like grown-up creatures.
That had been hard, not to mention rather emotionally grueling in the moment, but this time there weren’t any participants to quietly blame. There was just the ongoing situation, one in which she was, well, functional enough? She hadn’t had a bad week this second week of her break, it had hardly been a week of weeping while shovelling ice cream down her maw, but it would have simply felt better with Spike’s presence. An entire week without him around to help out, have fun, make delightful silly jokes and give her his two bits on whatever he wished to comment upon. But he was out there, in the great, wide realm of Equestria, and here she was in little Ponyville, making little plans for her next little business endeavour.
Rarity pouted. Her mind was starting to run away with her now, inasmuch as she caught herself and tried to halt the churn, lest it keep her awake until morning. She started to wish Spike hadn’t written, now, the growing anxiety it had instilled in her. She’d meant to wait until morning to return it, but maybe…
“fwomp!”
There was another green puff in front of her as another scroll appeared, then fell directly onto her pillow with a trace of smoke. Once she realised its presence her ears pricked and she turned over before sitting up beneath her covers, staring at it for a second before once again holding it with her horn and removing the seal.
It unfurled, and this time she read silently:
“Hey again, Rare.
Still can’t sleep since I sent you that last letter. Hopefully you’re reading both these messages in the morning and not as soon as I’ve sent them (if you are, this is the second one), but if you’re reading them as soon as I’m sending them, well, sorry about that last one. I meant to say I love you, then I spent the whole thing waffling about the in-laws. I mean, it is real nice here and I’m happy to have such a supportive family out here, but it’d be even better if you were here with me.
I know I apologised when I ditched left you at the Hive, and I meant it when I said it wasn’t your fault. Now my head’s a bit clearer, I just need to tell you how much you mean to me… I love you, and I’ve not been able to stop thinking about you since I hit Seaddle. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit some of what‘s been on my mind and maybe it’s a bad idea to confess some of it in a letter, so I won’t. For now, I’m just gonna say you mean the world to me, and if I upset you by slouching off up north at all, I’ll do anything to make it up to you.
To that end, why don’t we meet up near Neighagra Falls, or in Fillydelphia, if you’re not too busy in the next few weeks? I can rustle up the bits for travel costs, it’s the least I could do. I’d love to see you again before Hearth’s Warming, and we can catch up.
And speaking of, did you find the fire ruby? Not that I’d expect you to bring it all the way out here if we did meet up, but maybe take a photo if you have. I’d love to see it again.
Anyway, please write back when you can! I miss you!
With love and lots of it,
~Spike 🔥”
Rarity welled up slightly as she laid on her back and let the newest message wash over her. A smile spread across her face as she read this time, and as she finished, she wiped away a tear and exhaled happily. She should have known that would happen – Spike was sensitive when it counted, after all, and it didn’t seem like his style to leave things as impersonally as that last message, not without a follow-up.
A little thrill sent a shiver up her spine. Of course she’d meet him. She wanted to give him something for his birthday, anyway, which he hadn’t mentioned, but it was soon; she had been keeping one eye on a calendar with that in mind. Chances were good they’d meet then.
As for the rest, well, she couldn’t suppress a snort amidst her excitement at the thought of “embarrassing admissions”. Whatever he meant by that, she didn’t expect it to be anything too strange. Spike had enough tact to keep his dirtier thoughts to himself, like those times he thought she hadn’t noticed him checking out her posterior. She wondered what it could be, but chose not to dwell on it for now.
Instead she stood, returning to her beauty desk, taking a piece of parchment and readying the peacock feather quill she kept in an inkwell, currently parked beside his folded initial message. It was sorely tempting to draft and send an entire dissertation here and now, but she wasn’t growing less tired as the evening drew ever later. She vowed to keep her acknowledgement short, but genuine.
“Dearest Spikey-Wikey,
Thank you so much for writing at long last, sweetheart, I had been waiting for word from the north! Suffice to say I read both your messages the moment they arrived, and of course I accept your offer to meet; I was thinking around the time of your birthday 🎂, perhaps? Do let me know if that would be alright, mon petit. If not, we can come to some other arrangement.
Don’t forget, darling, you can talk with me about anything at all, or even nothing at all. I promise to listen properly, anyway – I am truly sorry if my concerns about your well-being were expressed in a manner most dominating back before you left. Call it a neurotic habit if you will; Sweetie Belle does when she thinks I’m not listening, so you’d be in marvellous company. 😋
I’m so pleased to hear you’ve found a little piece of sanctuary with your extended family. Not that it’s a surprise to hear, of course – there is love, platonic perhaps but love nonetheless, to be found at many hearths and homes, and as the reigning monarch of such Cadance is bound to have one of the most loving. Give my regards to her, Shining and Flurry Heart when you can. I’m so glad to know little Flurry’s doing well and has made some friends lately, from what you’ve written.
To answer your question, yes, I have located the fire ruby, tucked away in a difficult corner of the boutique as we’d both guessed. It looks as lovely as ever, and I’ll bring photos to whatever future meeting we agree upon. Right now resides upon my bedside table, but I will keep it safe for Hearth’s Warming. It would be most irresponsible not to. 💖
As you have quite rightly noted, it is rather late, and a lady requires her beauty sleep eventually. 😴 I shall send a longer letter tomorrow and we can have something of a back-and-forth about future plans, can we not? Also, I have new dress schematics I’m increasingly desperate to share! I know you’ll just adore what I’ve devised! That’s a promise, precious-scales! 👗
Thank you once more for writing to me, my favourite little dragon. I love you very much. 💋
~Rarity 💠”
Vow immediately broken, she smirked before drawing the purple curls and alabaster horn onto her last micro-drawing of herself, then marking the letter with a kiss. It didn’t leave a mark without her usual gloss, but it didn’t feel right not to. Then she yawned again, and wryly glanced it over; Rarity’s natural verbosity was harder to rein in when she was growing tired, too tired for a rewrite now. Deeming it good enough she rolled it up, stamped a seal onto it, then levitated it over to the green flame that crackled away in the corner of the room.
She ignited it with the dragonfire burner and it disintegrated with what was likely the final “fwomp!” of the evening, transmitting its smoke instantly into Spike’s throat, she had every confidence. Then she twirled and plopped herself upon the bedsheets, bouncing once on the mattress before floating the burgundy sheets back over herself.
As she laid flat with her sparkling soft curls spread across her pillow, she exhaled happily. Knowing Spike was at last ready to write again really was a weight lifted, she thought to herself; Celestia and Luna willing, they’d see one another again sooner rather than later. True, they’d spent quality time together at the Hive, but… well, she wouldn’t say no to more, and that fact made her feel awkward, especially back here in Ponyville. While the Hive had had hidden pratfalls, her familiarities with the potential for a relationship with a little dragon in Ponyville to be perceived poorly, regardless of his age and social standing, still necessitated their promise to one another.
But she was too tired to worry about that right now. Sleep washed over Rarity as she watched the lamp’s dragonfire flickering in the facets of the fire ruby, her eyelids growing heavier as she gently cogitated. Well, despite her enthusiasm in this precise moment, she was aware of… well, while Chitin’s attack had been the trigger for Spike’s departure, she was aware that some of their activities during the visit may very well have facilitated his decision. Most unfortunate that he hadn’t deigned to discuss that with her properly, and although she wasn’t interested in casting aspersions it was something she eventually wished to bring up to him once cooler heads prevailed.
She exhaled again, this time a yawn that escaped between her teeth. Her vision became unfocussed through her lashes as she looked at the ruby, and her languid thoughts turned to something they had discussed that night just before things went awry; Spike’s suggestion that she make contact with Luna about the nightmare force that had taken them both, one shortly after the other, way back when.
Since she hadn’t had Spike around as an intermediary, she’d used a sheet of monogrammed letter paper normally reserved for professional dealings to write to Luna midweek via “snail mail”, as Spike had just put it in his newest correspondence, and was yet to receive a reply; circumstances the way they were, Rarity hadn’t dared ask him to send a message her way. It had just seemed inconsiderate to the poor darling to use him as a utility in his darkest hour.
Therefore chances were good that her letter was still rattling around in Equestria’s postal service, eventually to land at Silver Shoals, and even upon arrival there was every chance that Celestia and Luna would both be away having some new sisterly experience together. She supposed there was no rush, but it was something she wouldn’t have minded having some response to by now.
Which was her final, final thought before Rarity drifted off to dreamland, perchance to dream of dresses, or dragons, some phantasmagoria she generally barely remembered upon awakening, a normal occurrence given the deep well her life and times afforded. Perhaps dear Luna herself would walk into her dream for a word or two… wouldn’t that… yes, that would be perfectly acceptable…
Five minutes after Rarity had fallen asleep one more scroll materialised and landed softly on her pillow, but it would need to wait until morning now. She was already fast asleep, with her muzzle buried beneath her sheets, muffling her gentle but persistent snores.
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