Two Weeks

by NotARealPonydotcom

Midnight Dancers

Time passes by quickly for me, as though I'm in a tunnel with nowhere to go but ahead. Beside me is Rarity, and in a way, she is the tunnel. With her, time flies by, from lunch to the walk in the park we take afterwards. We talk about this and that, and on many occasions there's simply nothing either of us can say, so we're just standing there glancing at each other awkwardly. Everything has this sort of romantic air to it, like something out of a cheesy B-movie. Each time she looks at me, she gives me a small, sad sort of smile, and turns to look back at the path we're following. It makes me feel like a jerk, and I wish that she'd stop.

Time passes. We finish our walk and she offers to show me the town, in case I haven't gotten a good look at it yet. I agree, and we make our way along street after street. I find similarities between here and Ponyville in everything that we stop and look at closely. All the shops and stands I know and love are there, but it's the places that don't exist in my world that interest me. I avoid the butcher's shop, a friendly-looking place with a smiling pig head on the large sign above the front door and a few headless cows hanging in the window, and visit instead a building called the Gemery, a tall octagonal building filled with gems of all shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors. The point of the shop is similar to that of a candy store, and I find all sorts of unique delicacies there. Fortunately, I've brought along my payment from working at the Boutique before, and I spend about half of it on three boxes of crystal jelly beans, a creation of mine from the build-your-own-confection station that looks like Rarity's cutie mark (she blushes when she sees it), and a bouquet of ruby-roses. The latter, I give to her when we leave the store. I feel giddy, and wish she'd stop making me nervous with those weird little glances I get.

Time passes. We walk, and watch dragons setting up booths and stages and rides for the Celebration tomorrow. One such attraction is particularly interesting: a wide, red tower stretching up at least a hundred feet in the air. Entrances pepper its sides, each one connected to another by a set of tracks. At the base of the tower is the loading station, where a lime green dragon is setting up carts for dragons to sit and ride in. I can tell by the design of the seats and the way that Rarity tightens her grip on my hand that this is a couple's ride. She leans close to me and makes me promise to take her on the ride tomorrow. I one-up that promise, and say that we'll be at the top of the tower when the sun rises. She nuzzles my neck, and my heart soars higher than the tower could ever take me.

Time passes. The world darkens, and suddenly there are couples and families out on the streets, looking for somewhere to eat for dinner. I wonder to myself how the larger dragons are going to use any of the rides, and contemplate asking Rarity about it before we find ourselves chatting with a familiar spectral dragon larger than Applejack. Rainbow Dash greets us, and Rarity introduces us officially. Dash, as a dragon, is visually magnificent: a slim build, with powerful wings that extend further than she is tall; spines that jut out proudly from her back and head, each a different color of the rainbow, lined perfectly to provide the least possible resistance when flying; a thin tail that curls, flashing more rainbow spines in a way that seems as though there are actual rainbows radiating from her body. It's impossible for me not to blush, something that Rainbow harshly jokes about and Rarity laughs at, to my great relief. I wish Dash would just get out of here so I can enjoy my time with her.

Time passes. I take Rarity home, and we stay for a long time on the porch, smiling at each other and waiting for one of us to say so long and leave. Drums roll off in my head, and I'm seriously beginning to consider if waiting is worth it. She tells me that she had a wonderful time, and that I should stop by the Boutique tomorrow at six to pick her and my suit up. I just nod, and before she goes inside we hug, tightly, for what feels like forever. My heart is pounding hard, and I wonder if that's what's been making those drum beats I've been hearing. I don't want to let go, and neither does she, actually, but we both do it anyway, and there's another minute of us just standing there smiling at each other before she finally says good night and shuts the door softly behind her. I stand on her porch for another minute, and I tell her door that I love her before I turn and walk away. The library is warm and welcoming when I enter. Spike and Twilight are nowhere, and I realize that I'm exhausted. I move silently down the stairs to my room, and the bed welcomes me even more than I welcome it.

Time passes. I fall asleep.

No blue. Not anymore. Now, there's only the gray, with it's twinkling white snowflakes all around me. I'm tired, so ridiculously tired I can't move my legs without stumbling. So I just stand still, and turn my head as best as I can while trying to figure out the situation I'm in. None of the windows are around, so I think I'm safe. I wonder what happened to-

"Spike."

Ah. There she is. Now that I've heard her, I feel as though I can move, and I slowly turn around, to where the voice is coming from. I turn around, and I meet the blue, face to face. She's standing there, not a blob of color anymore, but a pony, and a beautiful one at that.

She's

He dreams of a dance. He dreams that it is a dance made for two, and that he and she are gliding together across the floor, moving in perfect time with its irregular rhythm. He holds her close, but she keeps a gap between them, for her own safety. He does not notice that there is nothing more than a floor in this world. He does not even notice the floor. He sees only her, and her beauty, and her smile, as they dance through their pocket world silently, letting the dance speak for them. He does not know he is dreaming.

The tempo shifts, slowing, becoming more intimate. He is sitting by a river, with her, and the sun is beginning to set, and the world is beginning to feel the chill of night. She is laughing, and her laugh renders him speechless. He cannot resist, and leans over to kiss her. She doesn't notice, and gasps when he pulls her into an embrace. She continues to laugh as he holds her close, kissing her neck and face, but as the sun sinks behind the hills they are surrounded by, the laughter turns to coos and then moans, as the darkening nighttime sky engulfs them in its intimacy, hiding their passions from the rest of the world. He still does not realize he is dreaming.

Once more, the tempo shifts, morphing into something more upbeat and lighthearted. She has become bored of the daily routine, so he decides to take her someplace. He takes her to a beach, on an island where they will not be recognized, and she is happy again. He feeds her tropical fruits as they lie together on the oceanfront, she buys him a necklace in the shape of a flame for their anniversary, and they take a class on hoofpainting. That night, they stay up and practice on each other's bodies. He cannot see that he is dreaming.

The tempo slows once more, dropping to nothing more than a melodic tapping of keys. He is in the hospital, waiting for the news. He is scared, and worried, and nervous. He has been there for hours. She has been there for almost two days. He knew that there would be problems, issues that would make thing difficult, but he had been reassured that she should be fine. He looks up as a nurse steps into the waiting room. She is wearing a face mask, still, but he can see the smile underneath it. She tells him congratulations, it's a--

He is dancing again. She is closer now, having closed the gap between them. He can feel her wrapped around him, feel her breath on his lips, and he sinks into her and is drowned in her love. They stop dancing, and the rhythm that echoed around them fades. He pays it no mind. She is everything now, wrapped around him, on top of him, inside of him. He understands now what being one half of a whole means, and he knows that he cannot survive without her now.

It is this that makes it all the more horrifying to find that he is alone when he opens his eyes.

gone.

I am alone. Truly, absolutely alone.

Get up, I tell myself after lying awake in bed for five minutes. Get up, and try to act as though everything's alright. My body takes its time answering, before tossing away the sheets lying limply across most of me. It pulls me across my basement to the stairs, where my hand rests on the wall to keep me from falling to the ground. I glare up at the door at the top of the stairs.

I really wish I had forgotten what I dreamed about last night.

It's bright outside when I step into the library's main room. To my left, Twilight sits at a desk, frantically searching through a large pile of important-looking papers. She doesn't notice me as I walk past her towards the front door, and for a brief second I hope that I might be able to sneak away without her seeing me. Then Spike comes trotting down the stairs.

"Hey Emerald!" he says when he spots me. "Glad I could catch you before you left for the Celebration!"

My groan escapes me (and the usual wave of repulsion passes over me) simultaneously with Twilight's gasp. She looks up from her desk and swerves around in her chair to glare at me. In her eyes is a hint of the madmare that likes to take control of my sister from time to time.

"You're leaving for the Celebration already?" she snaps. "It's already six o'clock?" She stares at me, then at Spike, then at the window letting sunlight into the room. I can't answer her, because I have no idea what time it is either. In fact, Twilight's frantic comment has just reminded me that I need to go and pick up my suit and date in...however much time I have before the Celebration begins.

"Umm...No." Spike says, looking at Twilight oddly. "It's only five. Emerald's gotta go get his suit, though, right?" He doesn't wait for an answer, and rattles off another question, this one to Twilight. "Wait, how long have you been working, Twi?"

Twilight blushes, and stares at her feet sheepishly.

"...Uh, not long?"

Spike groans. "Twi, seriously? You've got to stop with the binge-working, okay? You're gonna hurt yourself one day, or forget where you are or who your friends are or something." He trots down the rest of the stairs to comfort Twilight, but she's already stood up and is barreling toward me, or more specifically the door.

"Move, Emerald!" She shoves me out of the way. "I have to go over final preparations for the opening ceremonies!" With that, she bursts out the door, trailing various bits of parchment in her wake as she sprints into town with all the speed of a cartoon character. Spike and I watch her until she's out of sight, and the purple unicorn shuts the door nonchalantly.

"Well, that takes care of her for the rest of the day."

"Is it really already five?"

"Yep." Spike trots over to Twilight's desk to reorganize the cluttered mess atop it, so he misses me face-palming. I really need to stop sleeping so much. I think I might be developing narcolepsy, or something. I have no time to get ready for Rarity. Heck, she might be waiting for me right now.

As though he can read my thoughts (and perhaps he can), Spike says, "You should get going. Rarity'll be waiting for you."

No need to tell me twice. I turn and reach out to open the door Twilight almost tore apart when Spike calls to me again.

"Good luck," he wishes to me when I turn to look at him. "Get it right for both of us."

I smile at him, regardless of any repulsion I may feel when around him, and nod. He salutes me on my way out, and I can't help but think of how happy he could make Rarity. If only she were a pony...

To my horror, I manage to get lost (again) on my way to the Boutique, and I spend at least half an hour searching for a building that's familiar. The towering structures that dot the town of Dragonsville might have been recognizable to me if I could see more of them: the dragons that roam these streets can be larger than Applejack, and that really messes with a drake's vision. Even after I manage to find a familiar building, I've somehow managed to end up further away from the Boutique than when I started out. So, fighting the crowd that's headed towards the areas reserved for the Summer Sun Celebration, I inch my way to Rarity's home, taking forty minutes longer than I thought I would. It's all worth it, though, when Rarity opens the door standing in her dress for our date.

"Oh, Emerald, thank goodness!" She notices where I'm gazing, smiles slyly, and spins. "What do you think?"

I think a lot of things, looking at her: I think the radiant color of the dress matches her eyes perfectly, and that the fabric shimmers like a curtain of water; I think the starred pattern that trails down from the midsection of the dress to its hem gives her the appearance of the night sky, glittering with the celestial bodies above; I think the golden pendant she's wearing, with a flawless emerald embedded in its center, shines the brightest of all just above her cutie mark, second only to her gorgeous and equally flawless eyes; I think her complexion, her eyes outlined with dark, glittering mascara, her lips accentuated with ruby red lipstick, her scales shimmering like the moon's reflection in a lake, everything, is simply jaw-dropping; I think she is, without a doubt, the most beautiful creature in the universe; I think I might have a nosebleed.

"I think," I say, after checking my nose for any bloodstains, "that whoever made your dress is easily the finest seamstress in all of Serpentia."

She blushes, and fans her face with her hand.

"Emerald, please, save that for later, when I can actually have the chance to hide my blush!" She giggles. I'm getting so much better at this whole flirting thing. Rarity lowers her hand and continues: "If you really like this, then you'll simply adore what I've got made for you." She gestures for me to follow her inside with a finger, and I do so eagerly.

The boutique is a mess, for obvious reasons. Rarity tells me to ignore the mess, and pulls me to the stage she uses. There, she covers my eyes with a spare piece of fabric and tells me not to peek. There's the sound of shoes tapping against the wooden stage, the squeaking of wheels on the ground, and then I feel the blindfold heat up slightly with the energy of Rarity's magic and it's pulled off to reveal my outfit for the evening.

"What the..."

It's simple and elaborate at the same time. She's put so much work into this, thinking of how to make the perfect match for her dress in a way that wouldn't leave me looking drab, and the result is...flawless. A solid purple jacket, several shades darker than my scales, with an emerald green vest stitched with a scale-like pattern that would make it look as though I weren't wearing anything under the jacket. The cuffs of the jacket are covered with the same silver stars as Rarity's dress. Sitting comfortably at the neck of the collar is a diamond-patterned bow tie, colored the same as the vest. A pair of purple dress pants lay folded on a chair next to the suit. Atop them is a silver pocket watch that appears to have emeralds studded around the face of the timepiece.

"Do you like it?" Rarity asks nervously, as if she thinks I might hate it.

I take time to answer her, thinking of how to phrase what I think about it. Finally, I answer: "You made this?"

"Y-Yes?"

"How could I not?" I love seeing her blush.

I step up onto the stage to try on my new attire, but Rarity stops me. Her tone shifts violently from flattered and giggly to defensive and blunt.

"Stop!" She puts a claw on my chest, putting herself between me and the suit. "You aren't ready for it yet!"

I don't understand. "What?"

She gives me a serious look, and asks as politely as she can: "When's the last time you've washed yourself?"

My turn to blush. She notices it and smirks, and when I don't answer immediately she pushes me off the stage towards the stairs leading to the upper floor of the Boutique.

"Up you go!" she insists. "I understand that you love it, and I truly am flattered, but if you so much as touch that couture without being clean as a whistle, then so help me Celestia I will tear each and every scale off your body and disinfect them myself!"

When I'm finally allowed to put on the suit, I look very, very handsome. I can't resist flexing in the mirror, and the good-looking drake in front of me does the same and checks me out. Behind me, I can see that Rarity's doing a bit of checking out as well; when I turn, she does an impressive job of making it appear as though she were checking to see if her claws were perfectly trimmed (which they are).

"Finished?" she says nonchalantly when she looks up from her claws, smirking slightly.

"Yep," I answer, and turn my back to her again, keeping my head turned towards her as best as I can manage: "Are you?" I shake my tail at her teasingly, and even though she denies it sharply, I can still see a blush on her cheeks that says it all. I laugh, and walk over to her while she talks about her claws needing perhaps a bit more filing. She breaks off mid-sentence when I take the hand she had been talking about and kiss it. Her face turns bright red; it's ruining the look her dress gives her.

"Well?" I say, smiling down at her (somehow, I've become taller) and her adorable, blushing face. "Shall we get going?"

Rarity nods, and, with my hand still holding hers, we make our way to the door of the Boutique. I open the door for her and gesture outside.

"After you, milady."

Rarity giggles and says, "That's a very good impression of Spike you're doing, Emerald. Don't think that that will get you any points tonight, though."

My heart stops beating for more than a few seconds, and my eyes, previously held closed and pointed at the floor, snap open for the briefest of moments. I manage to regain some control of myself, and I look up at her with a look in my eye that I pray doesn't show the panic I'm feeling right now. Apparently it doesn't, because Rarity simply laughs and walks out the door. I'm so frightened by what she just said that I'm afraid to follow her out, but of course I'm being silly, and I shut the door behind us as we walk in the direction of the Summer Sun Celebration and the late afternoon sun.

We walk through the shops in an odd sort of silence. I think Rarity is content with this, because she's leaning against me and wrapping her arm around mine snugly as we walk, but I can't really tell because I'm focused on deciding whether or not I should be worried by her earlier comment. I figure I shouldn't: she wouldn't believe I was Spike if I told her, mush less if I just acted like him, but something about her comparison is still horribly unsettling to me. My thoughts turn to what-ifs: what if I tried to prove that I was Spike? I can't imagine how I'd do that, but I can imagine how that situation would play out: Rarity panicking, thinking I'm a stalker, or a maddrake, or worse. Which leads to another what-if: what if Rarity believes me? How would she react, I wonder, to the knowledge that the drake that stole her heart in only a matter of days is the same in soul as the unicorn that has been trying for years and never succeeded due only to the fact that he and she were of different species? I wonder what she would do, knowing I was Spike, how differently she may treat me. What if she decided, knowing how happy I make her, that the Spike that's actually spent all those years chasing her is who she would want to be with, because she knows that he deserves it more than I do. What if she knew that I might, or will, be leaving at the end of next week, without any hesitations? No doubt she would be upset, whether or not she knew the truth behind it, and perhaps she would scream and cry and tell me please please be lying, Emerald, or Spike, or whoever I am at the moment, please don't leave, and perhaps she would hit me. I hope, should that be how this all goes down, that I'll be able to somehow make things work between her and Spike. What if-

Okay, that's enough of that. We're approaching the first booths, so I try to push these worries out of my mind. Rarity's grip on my arm tightens as we enter a crowd of dragons of all shapes and sizes. All of them are crowding around a stage, where a familiar lavender dragoness is reading off what appears to be the last page of a pile sitting in front of her on the podium she's standing at. I realize that many of these dragons around Rarity and I are asleep.

"...and so the Summer Sun Celebration was established," Twilight Sparkle is saying, "in the name of Princess Celestia of Serpentia, to celebrate the coming of the longer and warmer days." She seems completely unaware of the countless slumbering dragons around her. "And it is this tradition that we continue today, and tonight, and well into tomorrow, so that we may watch the sun rise on yet another wonderful summer in this country we all call home. So, it is with the greatest of pleasures that I hereby declare this year's Summer Sun Celebration open!"

With these words, Pinkie Pie appears from behind Twilight, an impossible feat easily achieved by Pinkie's disregard towards the laws of physics. She kisses Twilight passionately, and then shoves the lavender dragin away from the podium so that she can get to the microphone.

"Alright, party monsters!" she yells into the device, waking up most of the sleeping dragons around Rarity and I. "Now that the talkin's all done, it's time..." She pauses and pulls her infamous party cannon out from nowhere. "...to have some serious Summer Sun super fun!" With the yank of a cord, confetti, streamers, and countless other objects eject themselves from the cannon, rocketing out to the audience members. Rarity herself ends up with a quartz crystal in her claws. Pinkie continues on the mic while the dragons in the audience scramble to grab themselves a prize from the party cannon's shot. In the ensuing madness, I grip my date's hand as tightly as possible and pull her close, to the extent that her horn is jabbing me in my forehead.

"We should get out of here, before we're trampled and the outfits are ruined," I suggest. Rarity nods quickly, her pupils having shrunken to mere pinpoints at the prospect of her dress being dirtied. I pull her through the crowd of dragons, and we somehow manage to escape the living trap of civilians without a tear or stain or anything. Rarity, after a thorough inspection of both of our outfits, takes a look around, and notices a stand boasting an array of steaming, multi-colored objects in a display window. Her face lights up.

"Oh, they have steamed gem buns!" Now she pulls me along, towards the stand. "Emerald, you simply must try one of these! You can only ever get them during the Celebration, and they're to die for!"

So we kick off the evening by getting steamed gem buns for ourselves (which really are as good as she says they are) and strolling around the still slightly mad crowd of dragons fighting for prizes from the canon. Pinkie and Twilight have vanished from the stage along with the podium, and now it appears as though it's being set up for a rock concert. Multiple dragons that I can't recognize pedal out speakers, stands, and other equipment to the front of the stage while the main curtains close behind them. Rarity, her mouth full of pastry, lights up again and points excitedly at the stage until she swallows, at which point she tells me that her sister will be performing as the opener for the Celebration.

"She's absolutely fantastic!" she fawns. "You should have seen her the day she got her cutie mark: she sang a Hearts and Hues Day valentine for her friend, and it appeared just as she finished. She was so happy, she started crying." She gave a watery smile to the stage. "I think I did, as well."

"You must love her a lot," I remark, noting the odd name of Hearts and Hooves Day, "to be so happy for her."

"Of course I do! She's my sister! No matter what she might have done in the past, to be there when she found her calling in life was one of the happiest moments of my life." She turns to me. "You must have somedragon in your life like that?"

I smile at her, and squeeze her hand. "As a matter of fact, I do."

Before she can answer, the stage lights up, making the near-sunset evening seem even darker. Pinkie Pie appears from behind the curtains and outstretches her arms ecstatically to us.

"Dragins and gentledrakes!" she announces loudly. "Tonight, or maybe today, since the sun's still sort of up, we've got something super duper special prepared for the opening of the Celebration! They've come a long way since the days they tore our town up looking for their cutie marks, and now that they've got 'em, well, what better way to celebrate than start a band! Especially since it's headed by a dragin who got her cutie mark in singing!" She giggles, finding something hilarious in what she's just said that nodragon else understands. "Anyway, without further ado, I give you, The Crusaders!"

She waltzes off the stage in the direction that the curtains retract. The audience applauds excitedly; apparently, the Crusaders are rather famous in Dragonsville. On stage are a quintet of familiar dragons, each in outfits that were no doubt designed by the dragoness whose hand I'm holding now. It's interesting to note the differences between this version of The Crusaders and the version from my world: Featherweight was never added to the roster, at least not as far as I can remember. From the center of the stage, a periwinkle dragin in a vibrant pink gown steps up to the microphone Pinkie had been speaking out of a minute ago. Sweetie Belle looks out at the crowd, and her gaze rests on us for a second longer than anydragon else. She smiles with that "I know something you don't" face before addressing the crowd.

"Thank you so much," she says, sounding slightly sheepish. "This song, I wrote in a day, for my sister. It's called 'Friends.'" She turns, and nods to the orange dragin holding a guitar. Scootaloo smiles, looks at the gray drake on the other side of the yellow mare at the drums, and the two count off a beat simultaneously. Featherweight, at the keyboard behind Rumble, begins the song with a simple riff, and the song quickly expands as Sweetie Belle takes center stage with the microphone in both hands:

Rarity's giggling beside me, telling me how adorable it is that they tell stories with their songs, seemingly oblivious to the message the band is sending out to her. I'm almost shaking with terror: they're up there giving my identity away through song. I didn't even think it was possible to do something like that.

Up on stage, the beat seems to shift, as though changing into a different tune altogether. And yet, when Sweetie step up to sing again, it feels exactly the same, though she rattles off lyrics at a much quicker pace:

Scootaloo comes forward, her face contorted into a twisted, focused, and completely ridiculous expression as she tears into a guitar solo punctuated by the occasional strum from Rumble. The way the young dragin moves about the stage would have made me laugh if I wasn't so nervous about Rarity, who has snuggled into me and has her head resting on my shoulder. Glancing down at her, I see she's still smiling, but her eyes, directed at the momentarily wordless Sweetie Belle up on stage, are now aware of the oddness of the (admittedly rather impressive) song's lyrics.

"Oh dear..." I hear Rarity mutter, as Sweetie snatches up the microphone once more. This time, she pulls it out of its stand, and goes strolling across the stage as the lyrics, now sung to something close to a rock ballad, come flowing from her maw:

The song ends with an abrupt final chord from Featherweight, and when Sweetie has replaced the microphone and steps back from it breathing heavily the crowd explodes into applause. Rarity herself is screaming alongside them, louder than most of the dragons around us. I applaud and watch her cheer for her sister. I look back up at the stage, and Sweetie is looking directly at me. She has on the same smile she gets each time she sees me with Rarity, that "I-know-more-than-you" smile that pisses me off so much. I stare her down, but she doesn't look away, and our gazes hold for a long, ridiculously slow-moving amount of time before she turns away, still smiling, and takes up the mic again.

"Hope you liked it, Rare," she says, chuckling lightly. The audience applauds some more, and Sweetie looks off into the distance. "Oh look," she says, breathlessly, "we're just in time for the sunset."

Everydragon, including Rarity and I, turn, and sure enough, there's the sun, dipping below the trees of the Everfree. While everyone else turns back, I continue to stare at the forest, and wonder if there's anything waiting for me in there. Rarity gets my attention, and I realize Sweetie Belle is talking again.

"...and there'll be more of our own songs later," she's saying. "For now, though, let's kick off the evening with something to match the colors going on right now." It takes me a second to realize that everything's tinted gold by the sunset.

"You might recognize this one," Sweetie croons, "from a famous little movie starring Secret Scale..."

Featherweight takes this as his cue, spins around, taps a few buttons on another keyboard behind him that doesn't have any real keys, turns back to us, counts off the tempo, and suddenly a full brass orchestra is wailing out of his fetlocks. Speaking of which...

Rarity pulls me away from the crowd suddenly. I follow her, albeit hesitantly (Sweetie's voice is very, very enchanting), and we reach an outdoor café that we can sit down at without losing sight of the stage.

"Your sister is fantastic," I mutter, still half zoned-out and absorbed in the music.

Rarity sighs, a little sadly. "Yes, she is."

"What's wrong?"

She looks out at the stage briefly. "I don't know if you heard those lyrics, but I can't help but feel-"

"-she wants me gone?" I finish. She looks at me and nods. I laugh. "Well then, I guess I'm done for. May as well call it quits after tonight."

Rarity giggles, but there's still genuine concern in her eyes. I take her hand in mine, and give her a comforting smile.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I bet she just feels like you might be neglecting her or something." I doubt that's it at all.

"I doubt that's it at all," Rarity says. "Sweetie Belle is simply holding onto the possibility that I might change my mind about you and go running after Spike, or something like that. She's always believed that the two of us were soul mates, and that we were destined to be together."

"Hmm. So she thinks I'm not right for you?"

"Apparently not?"

"Do you think I'm right for you?"

She doesn't answer immediately. In the distance, Sweetie Belle is warning the golden dragonesses about Goldclaw's kiss. It's the kiss of death, you see.

"...Yes. I do."

I lean back in my seat. "Well then, I guess she'll just have to accept it. I hope she can: I'd hate to have a sister that hates me."

What did you just say, Spike? Rarity blushes, I blush, and I foolishly try to correct my mistake.

"I, uh, I meant that, um, I'd hate it if T-Twi-"

Again, I realize what I am saying, and shut up a second time. Fortunately, Rarity stops me, laughing quietly with her hand over her mouth, and she squeezes my hand with her free one to comfort me.

"Emerald, please!" She moves her hand away from her mouth and smiles kindly at me. "There's no harm done."

I'm still blushing, and I'm nervous again, and I wish I had ordered a drink when the waiter asked us if we wanted anything. We sit in silence for a minute, listening to the music echoing from the stage (the audience is dancing along to a light, bubblegummy rhythm with some chilling lyrics about lights or something). I consider what to do next. I think back to what I saw the day before, when the Celebration was being set up, and an idea pops into my head.

"Hey, what was that place we passed with those huge hedges?"

The phrase "time flies when you're having fun" is an idiom, used to express a passage of time that feels as though it's passed quicker than normal, due to an increase in one's level of enjoyment during said period of time. This includes all forms of entertainment, though some, usually of the sexual or adrenaline-rushing manner, can make time "move" faster than other forms would. The origin of this idiom stems from a day in Canterlot in which the sun did not rise for an extended period of time. Princess Celestia of Equestria could not be found in that time, and when the elusive alicorn finally did show her face, it was covered in cake frosting. The princess, it seemed, had deemed that she deserved a night off, and had "lost track of time" during the night, though this may have been due to the massive attack of amnesia that had come over her at some point during her unexpected vacation. She never truly remembered what happened that night, and the gap of missing hours in Celestia's memory and the sun's presence led to the phrase's creation. I read that in a book, once.

Time flies when you're having fun, and nodragon knows it better tonight than Rarity and I. Minutes blend together by at the hedge maze that's been set up in the center of town, where we take five tries to find the center and then keep trying until we have the path to it memorized (left straight straight right right right left left straight left right right straight left straight right right straight right right straight straight left left left left) and we've danced to a melody playing from a speaker nearby. Rarity pulls me close and I kiss her on the cheek, and we get out of there when another couple, this one much more affectionate than us, shows up and begins, uh, showing their affection towards each other. Seconds speed by when we approach the Gemery once more to find it open, literally. The innards of the building are on display, and the unicorn-dragon who runs the place has used his magic to give the town a show: the seemingly infinite gemstones kept in the store are pouring down into two enormous tub in twin waterfalls, arranged into a sparkling waterfall of jewels. Hatchlings play in the tubs, splashing each other with waves of gems and holding their mouths open while more cascade down on them from the waterfall. Rarity is content to stand and watch the gem falls, but I manage to keep a tight enough grip to drag her into the nearest tub, at which point she gives up trying to stay clean (though I can't really see the harm in swimming in gems) and begins splashing me like the hatchlings do, giggling giddily. Her splashing turns into a gem war, and after ten minutes the shopkeeper informs us that he's sorry, but we'll have to leave, because we're scaring the children. Under the waterfall, Rarity tries to say something, but I pull her along to our next destination before she can utter a single word.

At a restaurant near the river bank where we plan to have dinner, a problem finally arises: we don't have a reservation. It seems one was necessary, and that we'll have to wait, oh, an hour or so before a table frees itself up for us. I've had my fill of gems, so I don't mind waiting, for Rarity's sake, but apparently she'll have none of that tonight, as she spots somedragon from inside the restaurant, waves, and insists that she and I are part of their party. The waiter at the front desk apparently buys this, and Rarity and I step into the restaurant and walk over to the table holding the dragons Rarity recognized. I recognize them, too, when we get near enough: it's Pinkie Pie and Twilight, sitting together in a booth large enough for either the four of us or one enormous drake, like the one we pass that's chowing down on what appears to be two entire cows.

"Hello, you two!" Rarity greets as she and I scoot into the booth, Rarity across from Twilight, me across from Pinkie. A half-empty bottle of wine sits in a bucket in the middle of the table, and Twilight takes a long drag from her glass before returning the greeting. Pinkie just giggles and waves, her smile almost bigger than her head will allow.

"Rarity, Emerald," Twilight says, a little curtly. "Nice of you to join us." She seems to force that sentence out. I get the feeling that we weren't expected to show up here tonight, and that we aren't wanted at this table.

"Ooh!" Pinkie draws our attention with the wild waving of her hands. "Now it's like a double date! This is so much better than a single date, because now there's double the fun and double all the 'awwww' moments and double the romantic gifts and-"

I'm a little more than thankful to see Pinkie's lips light up with a magenta glow and then shut. Turning to the spell's caster, I see Twilight give Pinkie a dangerous glare that says, "Please, I love you, but if you don't stop talking I might have to punch you." She turns to Rarity, leaving Pinkie to struggle with her zippered mouth.

"As fun as that sounds, it'll have to wait until after I've used the restroom. Care to join me, Rarity?"

Rarity raises and eyebrow, and is met by a deadpan stare from Twilight. A moment later, the other eyebrow slides up to meet the first, Rarity makes an "Ohhh" sound, and she excuses herself along with Twilight. The two dragonesses retreat from the booth, leaving me with only Pinkie to talk with. I savor the few seconds before the spell holding her mouth shut fades, and when it does Pinkie gets right down to business.

"So did you tell her the truth?" She practically shouts this, but I don't check to see if anydragon heard her. I put my hand over her mouth and shush her.

"No," I tell her after some hesitation.

With my hand over her mouth, she speaks with her eyes, giving me a look that's somewhere between disappointment and anger.

"But I will, I promise. Just not tonight."

Pinkie raises her eyebrow: why not?

"If I tell her now, then our date will be ruined, whether she believes me or not, which I doubt she will."

The other eyebrow rises: don't you think you're being a little unrealistic?

"Pinkie, if, in the middle of this dinner, or whenever you and Twilight are alone tonight, you told her that you were from another dimension where she was a unicorn and you were an earth pony, do you seriously think that the rest of that night wouldn't be just the least bit awkward?"

Repetitive blinking, then a shrug: ...yeah, I guess so.

"Exactly." I pull my hand away from Pinkie's mouth and settle back in my seat.

"But you promise you'll tell her?" she asks after smacking her lips dryly, "When the sun rises?"

I nod. "Tomorrow, I swear."

A pause. Then: "Pinkie Pie Promise."

I do a double take. "What?"

"You heard me." Pinkie leans forward, propping her head up with her hands. "Pinkie Pie Promise me that you'll tell her by sundown, tomorrow."

I can't. "Pinkie, I don't think that's necessary-"

"Were you lying to me?" A rare look of anger crosses over Pinkie's face. She leans forward further, pointing a stern claw in my face. "Did you lie when you said you would tell her?"

"No, I just-"

"Then why are you so nervous about Pinkie Pie Promising?"

"Well..." Oh, screw it. "...What if I can't?"

Pinkie is angrier than I've seen her in a long, long time. "If you don't tell Rarity who you are, then the lies will just have to get bigger and bigger, until you can't control them anymore, and they all come crashing down on top of you, and you end up hurting Rarity, and the real Spike, and Twilight and me and Applejack and everydragon else involved in this in any way!" She punctuates each phrase with a jab of her claw, and it pokes me roughly in the nose twice on her last two words. "So, you Pinkie Pie Promise me that tomorrow, before sundown, you will tell her that you aren't from this world. You Pinkie Pie Promise me that, or I Pinkie Pie Promise you"--here she goes through the Promise's motions--"that I will tell her myself."

I have just been threatened by Pinkie Pie. I will tell dragons or ponies this, one day, and they will laugh at me. I have no choice in the matter, I can see, so, very slowly, I make a Pinkie Pie Promise I may have to break.

"Cross my hearts..." I slide a claw over two areas of my chest, slowly.

"...hope to fry..." The smoke billows from my nostrils in slow, green-tinted clouds.

"...stick a diamond in my eye." I think I've poked a hole in my eye from holding my claw in it for too long. "I promise I will tell Rarity I'm not from this world before sundown, tomorrow."

With the ritual over, Pinkie Pie leans back in her seat and smiles at me, her anger vanishing as quickly as it had come.

"Good." She holds up her glass in toast, either unaware or indifferent to my lack of one, and says, "To our super-romantic dates, and the Summer Sun Celebration, and Princess Celestia, and Luna too, can't forget her, oh, and-"

"Pinkie, darling, I wouldn't make too many toasts. The restaurant may run out of wine before you're finished."

Rarity appears at my side, sidling up close to me. She leans in, and whispers in my ear, "Twilight is quite adamant about being alone with Pinkie Pie tonight."

I glance up at the lavender dragoness. She's staring at me, the same dangerous glare on her face as before.

"It would be best, I think, for us to find some other location to dine at," she finishes. I nod, and the two of us turn to the other couple.

"I just remembered," I lie, "I did make reservations. At a different restaurant." I look Twilight dead in the eye. "On the other side of town."

"Aw!" Pinkie whines, ignorant of mine and Twilight's silent exchange. "That's such bad luck! We were gonna have the best, most fun-and-romantic-date-night-dinner of all time!" She bangs her head down on the table, drawing some odd looks from other patrons of the restaurant. They promptly dismiss the dragin's behavior when they see that it is indeed Pinkie Pie who's doing this, and Rarity glances around nervously before continuing.

"Yes, well, I'm afraid we simply can't let Emerald's reservations go to waste!" She wraps her arm around mine. "Come along, Emerald. Show me where we'll be eating tonight, and let's leave these two to their evening."

"Of course," I reply, giving a small bow to the pink and purple pair as we exit the booth. I wink to Twilight on the way out, and she gives me a smile that totally says, "Thanks, I definitely won't punch you now, maybe." I also catch a look from Pinkie, who is still resting her chin on the tabletop.

It says, "Forever."

We exit the restaurant and walk for a while in silence. Rarity is still gripping my arm, and after a minute she rests her head on my shoulder. We have no set destination in mind, so I stop us and ask where she had in mind for dinner.

"I feel that, staying up until the sunrise, I'll need plenty of energy." She smirks, and runs a claw teasingly down my chest. She repeats, "Plenty of energy." I tense up, and she smiles playfully and pulls her claw away. She points it behind me, and I turn to face a row of booths. All of them sell foods that are either fried or sugary, and I am certain that all of them are in some way bad for one's health. Rarity whispers, "For tonight, I think I can let myself off my diet."

I turn to her, grinning.

"Let's have some fun, then."

What follows is the closest thing to a feast of gems I'll ever know, barring any sudden treasure troves I may stumble upon. Gems, fried gems, boiled gems, gem pies, deep-fried gems, gems in a blanket, molten gem cake (veeeeeeery risky), double-fried gems, gems a la mode, carbonated gem "juice," gem dumplings, gem kabobs, triple-fried gems, chocolate-covered gems, gem cupcakes, fortune gems (I eat the fortune on accident every time), gem fraîche, powdered gems, and that's all I can remember because I eat so much that I think I have brain damage by the end of the night. I can say nothing of how Rarity acts in the hours it takes for us to work our way along the rows of food booths, for that I also forget that night. I know that each and every stand that sells gems is approached by us, and that each and every stand that sells meat is ignored (the both of us do not eat meat, it seems; what a wonderful thing to have in common), and that by the end of our spree it is past midnight and my suit feels tighter than it did when I put it on yesterday evening.

"Oh Celestia!" Rarity groans, rubbing her stomach. "I feel thirty pounds heavier!"

I wrap an arm around her and say, "I think you look just as beautiful as before, milady, if not better."

Rarity laughs and pushes me. "Stop it, Emerald. You're compliments aren't making this dress feel any less tight. Remind me, please, never to do something as unladylike and self-destructive as that ever again in my life."

"Alright, I promise."

She hiccups, and takes my hand in hers. We stroll through town, passing couples, families, and other celebrators, all of whom are glancing at a large clock tower every few seconds. The time is 3:54.

"Goodness!" Rarity says when she reads this time from the clock's face. "How in Celestia's name did so much time pass?"

I shrug. "Time flies when you're having fun."

"Well," she replies, nuzzling me again, "I most certainly have had fun tonight." Her lips press against my neck in a gesture that, if I knew any better, might have been a kiss. "It's certainly a shame to know that our date's almost over."

I can feel her smiling into my neck. "You say that like we're never going to see each other after tonight," I say. Rarity pulls her head away from my neck and looks up at me, smiling. I feel her grip my hand tighter. I realize with sudden sorrow that I'll only be here for a week more, perhaps a bit longer. I turn away from Rarity and find myself looking at a familiar stage: on it are Sweetie Belle and The Crusaders, playing yet another song. I wonder if they've been there all night, and if so, how in Celestia's name is Sweetie Belle still able to form words? As the song currently playing ends, Sweetie Belle speaks to the slightly smaller (but still very large) audience:

"Okay, everydragon, it's been a long night, full of party music and freak dancing and the like, but I think it's time again for a slow dance. So, grab your special somedragon, drag 'em on over to the dance floor, and get ready." She turns and says something to Scootaloo, then adds: "This is isn't ours, but it's still pretty good." With that, she begins to count off, and breaks into song before the rest of the band starts playing. Couple after couple walk to the area in front of the stage and begin to dance together. I look back at Rarity, who's still looking at me, though not with the small smile from before on her face anymore, and I offer her my hand. With the other one already locked in her grip, I look absolutely foolish. Exactly my intention.

"Dance, milady?" I mentally slap myself for using a Spike phrase, but fortunately, Rarity seems to be focused on something else. In fact, she seems to only half-hear me as she stares into and through my eyes. I feel as though she's not looking at me, but at my soul. That was oddly philosophical of me.

"Of course," she says quietly. She let's go of the hand she's holding, takes the other one, and we stroll out onto the dance floor. For whatever reason, we begin to dance as though the song is a waltz (which it isn't; it's more of a rock ballad), and I move slowly in step with Rarity as she pulls me close to her. We move close enough to touch chests, and she rests her head on my shoulder, relaxing into me as the music starts to control us more than we do. I relax too, embracing the lovely white dragoness pressed against me, and the more we dance, the more I feel detached from myself. As the melody of the song drops into the chorus for the second time, I have what I can only call an out-of-body experience: I blink once, while standing on the dance floor in front of the stage with a beautiful dragin wrapped around me, and when my eyes open next I'm watching myself dance, somehow twenty feet away and five feet off the ground. I can see us gliding across the floor to the beat of the music, the music that is now all around me, around me and reverberating through me and radiating from me in the form of bursts of color, bursts of color that paint the scene of Rarity and I dancing into a work of art impossible to create in the world I'm watching, watching with eyes filled with stars and shapes that can't exist in the world I've left behind. I watch my head nestle into Rarity's neck as hers has in mine, and the dance grows in intensity with the music. I realize that I might be dreaming right now, that this entire night or indeed this entire week has been nothing more than a trick, and I suddenly don't want to be in this state of being anymore, and just like that I snap back into myself, and my feet become tangled in themselves. I stumble, and Rarity snaps out of her daydreamy state, but the stumble turns into an awkwardly large step instead as I do my best to correct myself. Rarity pulls away enough to look me in the eyes, and I stop moving as the music builds once more towards the chorus. She leans in, and her eyes begin to close. I can feel her breath on my lips, and my head leans towards hers of its own accord, despite my common sense screaming in my head that I can't do this because... I just can't.

Our noses touch, but I pull us back into the dance as the chorus booms out once more, startling Rarity into moving away. I pull her tightly to my chest, and lean into her, my neck nuzzling hers. Her claws dig into my back, and I wonder stupidly what might have led her to harm one of her own designs. The song reaches its climax, and I swing her out in front of me, spin her under my arm, and pull her back into me so that she bends back. The song fades into gentle, serene chords from Featherweight, and Rarity's hands slide up my back and pull my head down towards her. Her gleaming sapphire eyes disappear behind ivory lids, and my own eyes shut tightly as I will myself to finally-

Underneath my eyelids, I see a vivid picture of Rarity, as a pony, crying on a balcony.

Stop. I open my eyes, letting something like a gurgle escape me, and I make the deadly mistake of pushing Rarity away from me. The song ends as I do this, and my pushing her away is simultaneous with the separation of most of the other couples on the dance floor, though some stay together longer to do what I know I should have done. I'm sweating, somehow. I stare at the ground, breathing hard, then look over a pair of larger dragons who are looking at me oddly. My gaze meets that of the dragoness, and she looks away quickly while I take my time, running my eyes slowly across her form and taking in her enormous curves before looking back at Rarity. I describe the action this way because that is how Rarity must have seen it, for when I meet her gaze I almost stumble backwards again in fear: smoke is pouring from her nostrils, and in her eyes, flames of rage are dancing around. I think I've just made the biggest mistake I will ever make in my life, ever.

She opens her mouth to say something (scratch that, yell something), but nothing comes out. She raises a hand, probably to slap me, but she can't do anything more. Her own inability to react infuriates her more, and angry tears form in her eyes and begin to run down he cheeks. Realizing this, she spins on her heel and simply runs, without a word to me, and vanishes into a small crowd of embracing couples. I'm too numb to do anything about it immediately, but I find that I can stumble in her direction until I'm off the dance floor. I can just see her escaping down an unlit street, and before I can follow her any further, my legs stop working, and I have to sit at a table to keep myself from falling flat on my face. Not that I haven't done that already.

"Rarity..." I am faintly aware that I'm the one saying this. I'm also faintly aware of the Crusaders being begged for an encore of the slow dance. All of it fades to background noise as I feel something dangerously painful tighten up in my chest.

I ruined it. I ruined everything, even after all the second chances she gave me, all of the patience I asked of her, I took it, abused it, and threw its carcass into a fireplace where I could leave it to burn. I led her on, without meaning to, and I hurt her, badly. And I deserved more than her simply running from me. She'd trusted me, gotten close to me, and I'd let her down. I was just the same as Blueblood, perhaps even worse. What I had just done would probably scar her for life; I doubt she would ever be able to trust anydragon ever again. I wonder what Spike will make of it, when he hears that "Emerald" is responsible for Rarity's broken state. I can hear him pounding on the door of the Carousel Boutique, trying to see Rarity, to comfort her. I can see him giving up, can see him walking away, can see the emerald flames flicker in his eyes as he recalls who is responsible for her misery. I can see myself hiding from him, knowing full well what's in store for me. I watch Spike, in my mind, as he breaks into my hiding place and tears me to pieces, literally. Everything I worked for, going up in flames, and I wonder if I'll even survive until the end of "Two Weeks" before the flames of my mistakes consume me along with everything else, which they will, I know.

Unless I can put them out.

Reality snaps back into place. Sweetie Belle is calming the crowd by promising an encore. I want to fix this, I have to fix this, even if it'll only be for a few days. I feel doubt clouding my head, and it's that same doubt that's responsible for this whole situation. That doubt stopped me from kissing her, that first day I worked for her. That doubt made me run away from her, that night at the library Welcome Party. That doubt made me push her off of me when she showed interest in me the next day, at her Boutique. That doubt made me break my promise to her, when I said that I wouldn't push her away anymore when she made advances toward me, it made me lie to her, it made me afraid of her, it put me in this situation, and right now it's keeping me from getting up and going after her one last time. And I am so, so, so sick of it.

The Crusaders have started playing again. It's the same song that Rarity and I danced to: they must be out of tunes or something. I feel it surround me again, and this time instead of leaving my body I just close my eyes and listen:

This isn't a coincidence, I decide: I was supposed to hear this. I look over, and my eye catches Sweetie Belle's. She passes to me a message in the split second our gazes connect, and that look gives me better advice than anything I've been told in all of my time here. I'm probably exaggerating, probably have been since everything went downhill, but that's what I do when things go bad for me. I don't tend to stay all that optimistic.

I banish the fog in my head. The numbness in my body dissipates. I know what I have to do, and I know what I want now: I can't be afraid anymore of the future. I can't let my fears of what's ahead hurt me now, and I especially can't let them hurt Rarity. I can never let myself hurt her again. If I don't fix this, then I won't give Spike the chance to finish me off. The song is right: I've been hers, all this time, and there's no choice in the matter anymore. I need her, she needs me, and Celestia damn me if I'm going to let a little slip of paper get in the way of that need.

I stand up, and squint past the activity of the Celebration (how can it still be going on when she's out there sobbing and running from it all?!?) to try and find the street Rarity ran down. With one last glance at the Crusaders, I silently thank Sweetie Belle for her surprising wisdom, and go sprinting into the night.