What was missing
“It feels nice, but...”
“But?”
“I feel empty.”
“Empty?”
“Empty... Lonely... All this treasure is great, but... something is missing.”
“Missing?”
“Yeah missing.” Spike picked up a piece of purple cloth.
*Ding*
“Hey Shaman, I am stumped. I gave him gold, gems, treasure, even flowing rivers of magma. Yet he still wants something else.”
“The treasure of his eye,
May be something gold cannot buy.”
“I see. Do you know who?”
“Indeed I do,
And so do you.
If you just take a look,
At what he took.”
“Aaaa. That’s it, we just give him a little hint and he will do the rest.”
*Ding*
“So you still feel like something is missing?”
“Yes. Something is just not right.”
“Walk a little more, maybe you will realize what you are missing.”
Spike continued to walk through the gold. From place to place hanging from the gems were pieces of cloth, smaller at first, but every time he looked they seemed to get bigger and bigger.
*Ding*
*Crack*
*Ding*
“Huh?”
*Ding*
*Crack*
*Ding*
“That sounded like glass.”
*Crack*
“Breaking.”
Spike started running, pushing the gold out of his way.
*Crack*
A voice could be heard in the distance, it was faint and the words were not clear.
“Could it be?”
*Crack*
He ran faster and faster to the sound of the voice and the cracking glass.
“...break...” Was the first word Spike could make out.
*Crack*
He was now knocking away everything that stood in his path.
“...won’t you break...” The voice was coming in as clear as day, and Spike knew that voice all too well.
“Why won’t you just break.”
“Rarity!” Spike yelled as he saw her.
“Spike.” She said raising herself on her hind legs looking towards him.
Spike could now see her. She was inside a transparent dome, standing on two legs and using her front ones to balance herself on the glass.
“Spike! Help me.” She yelled again.
“Rarity! Are you alright? Are you injured?”
“I’m fine. I’m not hurt, but I can’t get out. Spike help me I’m scared.” A few tears were visible at the corner of her eyes.
“Rarity.” He said as he got closer.
He was now standing right in front of her, the only thing that separated them was the glass wall. He stretched out his hand to reach her, touching the wall, Rarity put her hoof on the other side.
Something seemed wrong. There was no doubt in his mind that that was Rarity standing before him, but, she seemed... smaller.
“Rarity. I will find a way to get you out.”
“Look for the heart shape gem.”
"A heart shape gem? Where is it?”
“Spike? Who are you talking to?”
“No one Rarity. I will search for something to break the glass with.”
Spike searched through the piles of gold and treasure. He used swords, staffs, any manner of heavy object he could get his hands onto, but no matter how hard he tried nothing worked, the glass would not break. He would hit it again and again but it did not even leave a scratch.
“Spike...” Rarity told spike who had just fallen down from exhaustion. “Spike it’s alright.”
“No it isn’t Rarity. I said I will find a way to get you out, and I will.”
He got up and returned to his search, time did not seemed to matter. It could have been an hour or it could have been years since he found Rarity.
While digging up a mountain he had found it, a red heart shape gem.
“This is it. The fire ruby I gave Rarity.”
He picked it up and ran towards the trapped pony. As he got nearer the gem started heating up, it got hotter and hotter, until Spike could not bear the pain anymore and dropped it. It landed on a pile of coins and started melted them, it was slowly sinking in the puddle of molten gold. Spike looked at his hands, his scales were black and red, while some had fallen off revealing small patches of pink skin.
“It’s all right Spike,” Rarity said, “You did what you could.”
“NO.” He screamed as he stuck his hand in the molten gold, reaching for the ruby. It had sunken deep. He pushed his arm further, after almost his entire arm was covered in gold had he found it.
He pulled it out and ran the rest of the way, gold dripping from his arm. He reached towards the glass prison, when the gem touched the dome it shattered.
The fire ruby cooled instantly, draining heat from wherever it could, and the nearest source of heat was the molten gold covering Spike. It shrank as it cooled and hardened around his arm, encasing it.
From the tip of his claws to just below the shoulder Spikes left arm was now made of gold, but the pain he felt carrying the stone, the pain of his flesh melting off his bones was gone. In fact all his pain was gone. Where his arm had once been he could not feel anything, only dead weight.
“Spike!” Rarity yelled as she jumped onto Spike knocking him down.
She placed her hooves around his neck, embracing him. Tears of joy were flowing from her eyes. He tried to embrace her back but could only move an arm, it was enough for him.
After the moment passed and Rarity stopped crying, they got up. Now standing next to her he noticed just how small she was. He sitting down and Rarity standing on four legs were about the same height, after getting up he was more than twice her size.
“Rarity what happened?”
“I don’t know Spike. One moment I was working on a new dress back at the Boutique, the next I was here, trapped inside that horrible glass prison, surrounded by so much treasure.” Her eyes seemed to sparkle at the mention of the word treasure.
“But why are you so small?”
“Spike I am not small. You have grown.”
Spike was looking at himself. First he noticed his arms were now longer and his claws were sharper, than that his legs, his tail and the rest of his body were bigger as well.
He grabbed his tail and looked at his fins, some had hardened and looked almost like scales. He patted his face to see if there were any differences. There were some, mostly around the jaw line and the size of his eyes compared to the rest of his head. He opened his mouth and found that more of teeth turned to fangs. Over all he seemed bigger and less chubby.
“I guess I have.”
Rarity got up on her hind legs and tried to kiss him on the cheek. He was a little too tall for the pony to reach, so he lowered his head a little while grabbing Rarity with his arm allowing her to kiss him and to thank him for saving her.
”How do you feel now?”
“I feel happy.”
“So do I Spike. So do I.” Rarity said placing her hooves around him again.
“Is this everything you wanted?”
“It is.”